"We all should go though. I'm sure Hazel's very exhausted and this one is probably going to be sent in to run some tests soon." Cailen said, slipping his hands under the baby and lifting her from Ezekiel's lap.
Cailen carefully handed Aariyah back to her mother, Hazel smiling gratefully at Cailen because she knew he knew how tried she was. He's been through this enough times to know she'll probably be zonked out soon.
"Thanks for waiting, guys." Matthew said, looking to William, Cailen and Asher. "And thanks for making it, Noah."
The Scottish nodded, sending him a smile. "Of course." Noah said.
"And thank you, Cai. I know I was freaking out a bit there." Matthew chuckled, nervously scratching at the back of his neck.
Cailen chuckled, shrugging his shoulder.
"You're not the first father-to-be I've had to calm down." Cailen teased.
"Okay, mister, ready to go? You're probably knackered." Asher said, looking down at Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was caught mid-yawn, which probably made Asher notice what time it was in the first place.
"No, I'm okay." Ezekiel said simply, making everyone in the room chuckle quietly.
"Come on, it's way past bedtime and you're going to be tired tomorrow." Cailen said, helping Ezekiel off the bed.
He sent Matthew and Hazel another smile over his shoulder, sneaking one last glance at the adorable baby.
"Call us with details." Cailen reminded them before exiting the room, squeezing Noah's arm on the way in a lazy goodbye.
Ezekiel didn't even make the ride home. He was asleep before Cailen was even halfway home.
When he pulled into his parking spot, he had to wait for Asher to arrive because they had separate vehicles since they went to the hospital separately.
He had to wait for him because the boy was eight years old, nearly sixty pounds and there were stairs involved in getting up to their flat.
Asher carried him up to the flat and together, they slipped the boy out of his clothes, being careful not to wake him, then laying him down in bed and pulling the covers up to his chin.
He looked quite peaceful, soft snores leaving his nose, and Cailen couldn't help but stand there and admire the boy.
With everything that happened tonight, it had him wondering at one point if they should have found a surrogate mother and had her have a baby for them, but the thought was brief and now, looking at Ezekiel, he was thankful and very happy they hadn't.
He loved Ezekiel and he always would.
*****
Cailen swear Ezekiel must have something against a good night's sleep.
He must, otherwise, he'd go to bed when he was told, stay in bed and go to sleep, as well as stop having nightmares at two in the morning and let Asher and Cailen sleep.
He realizes that the last one isn't exactly a choice, but he can't help but look for someone to blame when he's woken up at a little past two in the morning to someone screaming bloody murder, nearly giving him a heart attack.
He had been having a lovely dream about him, Ezekiel, and Asher on a deserted beach somewhere in Cancun when he was jolted from his sleep, ripping him from his dream, making him sit upright in his bed, and jostling Asher awake as well since his husband’s arms had been wrapped around his waist.
Asher let out a groan at having been woken up before his alarm, but then the screams seemed to sink in and he sat upright, suddenly wide awake.
He wiped at his face, the shock wearing off fast as he realized what was going on and fell against Cailen, resting his head on Cailen's shoulder.
Cailen wished he could go back to the hot sun and the warm sand under his feet in his dream, but he knew there was a little boy in the next room who needed someone to come and wake him up from the nightmare- assure him that it was just a dream, whatever it was, and help him back to sleep.
It was routine- one they had gotten used to, though Cailen wasn't so sure they should be getting used to it.
It probably shouldn't happen that often.
The thing was it didn't actually happen that often anymore.
Ezekiel hadn't actually had a nightmare for a few weeks now so Cailen had thought maybe they were done with them. He was apparently wrong seeing as how he was now throwing back the covers, shivering at the cool air hitting his bare legs, and swinging them over the edge of the bed.
He should’ve put on a pajama instead of just being contented with a big, white tshirt and boxers, but he was dead tired and had no patience looking for a pajama in the bottom drawer of the closet.
He heard Asher groan again and could imagine he was doing the same as Cailen, crawling out of bed even though the bed was calling for them to stay.
Cailen stood and made his way out of the room and down the hall, sleepily shuffling along while straightening his walk and not like a robot loosing battery. He could hear Asher's feet dragging across the floor behind him as the screams that flooded the flat died off.
It was honestly a wonder how they didn't receive complaints from their neighbors.
When they reached the door to Ezekiel's room, they were met with Loki sitting outside of it, barking once and waiting to be let in so he could check in on all the commotion.
Cailen opened the door, Loki immediately pushing through first to go check on the obviously scared boy. Cailen and Asher followed the dog in, Asher flicking the light on as they tried to maneuver their way through the mess on the floor without stepping on something that would break- the skin of their feet or the toy.
When they reached the bed, they could see Ezekiel was still sleeping, his screams now small whimpers as he tossed and turned from side to side, the blankets kicked to the end and nearly falling off.
The sight was a little heartbreaking and had Cailen hurrying to the bed, sitting on the edge and reaching for Ezekiel.
"Zeke, love, wake up." Cailen said softly, gently shaking the boy by the shoulder.
Ezekiel continued to squirm, a whimper leaving his mouth. Cailen shook him again, this time a little harder and reaching out to push his hair back, feeling the sweaty hair and burning forehead of the boy.
"Zeke, wake up, you're having a bad dream, love."
Ezekiel continued to keep his eyes shut, whimpered incoherent words leaving his mouth.
Asher looked a bit troubled, now sitting on the edge as well with a confused looking Loki. Cailen decided to slip his hands underneath the boy, pulling him into his lap with great difficulty.
"Zeke, wake up." Cailen said louder, jostling the boy.
Ezekiel's eyes flew open, panic setting in until recognition crossed his face and then he sort of crumpled in on himself.
Ezekiel hung his head, soft sobs escaping his mouth as his body began to shake.
Cailen immediately shifted the boy in his lap, turning him and holding him to his chest, murmuring soft words to calm him down. Ezekiel buried his face in the crook of Cailen's neck, his arms coming up to cling onto him.
Cailen reached up, stroking Ezekiel's hair while looking over the boy's shoulder at Asher.
Asher looked very concerned, absentmindedly petting Loki as he watched his son cry. Cailen knew what he was thinking, that they had to so something about this.
They couldn't just let it go and hope it goes away, and Cailen knew this. They had to do something.
The only problems is, Ezekiel refuses to talk about it.
Ezekiel would hardly even admit to having a nightmare, even when they would wake him up from one where he had just been screaming, obviously scared.
This is the first time he's reacted like this, though.
Yes, he's cried before but not this hard and he's never clung to either of them. He usually backed himself into a corner and swore up and down that he was fine, that they could leave.
But they couldn't let this keep going on.
He knew they didn't want to push Ezekiel but if they didn't do something now, this could end up affecting more than just the boy’s sleep.
"Zeke, ssh, it's okay." Cailen said, probably for the hundredth time now. "It was just a bad dream. You're okay." Cailen assured.
Ezekiel's sobs were dying off and being replaced by small sniffles. He didn't lift his head but his grip did ease a bit around Cailen as he seemed to calm down slightly.
"Do you want to talk about it, love?" Cailen asked gently, attempting to pull away from him so he could see his face but Ezekiel gripped on tighter when he tried and shook his head.
"It's okay to have nightmares, Zeke. Everyone gets them." Asher spoke softly but Ezekiel just shook his head.
Cailen continued to stroke the boy's hair, beginning to slightly rock back and forth as he met Asher's eyes.
They both knew they needed to do something but they also knew that, that something probably wasn't going to happen tonight.
"I used to get one when I was young about sharks. I would get it almost every night. I didn't want to tell anyone about it because I was embarrassed," Asher went on to explain.
Cailen's heard this before. In fact, he once witnessed the nightmare in action at a sleepover when they first met. He was the one to tell Asher he had nothing to be embarrassed about.
"Then someone told me that it was okay and then I told my mom and it felt so much better to talk about it. Once I started talking about it, they stopped coming as often." Asher finished with a small smile at Cailen.
Cailen smiled back at him but frowned when he heard a sort of snoring coming from below. When Cailen looked down, well as best as he could, he saw that Ezekiel had fallen back asleep, still clinging onto him.
"He's asleep." Cailen said softly, slightly amused.
Asher let out a small snort, a tired grin spreading across his face.
"How can he go back to sleep so quickly after that?" Asher asked in a whisper.
"I don't know, but..." Cailen said trying and testing whether or not he could lay him down but he wasn't even able to pull away from him. "He's got a pretty good hold on me." Cailen whispered, smiling down at the boy.
"Now you're stuck forever." Asher teased, smirking at Cailen as he stood.
"Ash," Cailen said in a warning voice as he watched his husband walk toward the door, Loki following behind.
Asher paused by the door, looking over his shoulder with a smirk.
"Bring him to bed. It's not like any of us have to get up in the morning." Asher said and then he was gone, leaving Cailen with a sixty pound sleeping child in his lap.