The whole house was awoken by the horrid sound of a child screaming. David jumped out of bed and grabbed the rifle he’d taken to keeping by his and Brie’s bed. He ran down the hall to see who was screaming and why. He came to Jordan and Maddie’s room to see his little Maddie Jade screaming, tears streaming down her cheeks. He leaned the rifle against the wall just outside the door and went into then to the room. “What’s wrong, Maddie baby?” he asked as he knelt beside her bed.
“He’s a bad, bad, BAD man, Daddy!” she cried.
“Who’s a bad man, honey?”
“Fuzz. I had a dream that he got you arrested and carried away in the back of a BIG truck and I never got to see you again.”
He pulled his little girl into his arms and held her close. “Maddie baby, nothing like that is going to happen. Daddy’s not going anywhere. Do you understand me?”
“But, Daddy, it was so real. And the mean man that took you away looked just like that Commandant man that you always used to talk to”, she cried.
Dan, Mike and John all came into the room, weapons drawn. When they saw David holding Maddie to his chest, they put their guns away. “What happened, bother?” Mike asked.
“She had a bad dream.” He looked the other guys, anger in his eyes. He was hiding it in his voice to keep from frightening Maddie, but he was NOT a happy man in that moment.
Brie came into the room, crowding past the other men. “Let me get to my daughter”, she demanded. They
let her past and she knelt in the floor with David to comfort Maddie.
David spoke softly to Maddie. “Baby girl, I need you to go to your Mama right now, ok? I need to talk to your uncles.”
She screamed louder. “No, Daddy!”
“Baby, I’ll be right here in the room. It will take me two minutes, tops. I promise, I’m not going anywhere.”
She sobbed harder. “But what if I never see you again?”
“I’m not going anywhere, honey. Let me go talk to your uncles really fast then I’ll sit in here with you until you can fall back to sleep.”
She sniffled. “Can I sleep with you and Mama?”
He looked at Brie and shrugged. She nodded. “Yeah, baby, you can sleep with us. That’s fine. Let me talk Uncle Danny and them, and Mama and I will take you to bed. Ok?” She nodded and went to her mother, wrapping her little arms around her neck. David stood and went to the door where the guys were standing.
“I like Fuzz being here less and less, guys”, he told them.
“What was her dream about?” John asked.
“The he’d gotten me arrested. She said that the man who took me away looked a lot like the Commandant.”
“Henchly’s dead, David. You know that as well as the both of us do. Matt doesn’t miss.”
He sighed and nodded. “I know, but, if the kids’ aren’t comfortable with him here, then he doesn’t need to be here. I know I can speak for the rest of you when I say that my family comes first.”
“Oh, yeah you can”, Dan said. “Mine may be older than yours, but nonetheless, my kids are a hell of a lot more important than the Director’s orders.”
“My youngest is the same age as the twins, brother”, John said. “You know that my kids come before anyone.”
“My boys are all grown, but I’d still kill over them”, was Mike’s comment.
“Well, in the morning, I’m going to call Matt and have him do some snooping for me on what Fuzz has been up to since the war started. I’m not dealing with this shit again.”
--------------
Not long after getting Maddie into bed with them and getting her back to sleep, Meagan and Makayla came knocking on the door. “Mama, Daddy, can we seep wif you too?” Makayla asked.
David sighed, looking over Maddie’s sleeping form to their mother. She shrugged. “Tell you what, girls, go get your brothers and sister, grab a couple of blankets and a pillow each, and come on back in here. I think your Mama and I have an air mattress or two that you can all share. How does that sound?”
“Will you put Maddie on the floor with us, too?” Meagan asked.
“Yes, baby. Now, go get your brothers and sister and let’s all get back to bed, ok?”
They nodded and went to get their brothers and sister. David and Brie carefully climbed out of bed and checked in the closet for the air mattresses and got the inflated. The kids all poured into their parents’ room as they were capping off the air holes. A sheet was thrown over the top of each of the mattresses, then David moved to grab Maddie and laid her carefully down on one of the air mattresses. “Ok, kids, get laid back down and get back to sleep”, Brie said. It didn’t take long for the kids to listen at all. About five minutes
after getting settled in, all eight of the Draiman children were snoring.
David looked at his wife. “Good thing we hadn’t planned on trying to get some time alone, huh?”
“Yeah”, she laughed. “I’m too tired for all that now anyway. But, I was going to wake you up with something special. Now that all of the kids are in here, it will have to wait.”
He smiled. “Let’s try to get back to sleep, baby. I’m tired too.” They settled down into their pillows and he draped an arm across her waist, holding her as close to him as he could manage. They each sighed in contentment, and drifted off to sleep again.
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