Closer 2

154.

Eddy couldn't really sleep much that night. All the guilt kept hurting, and more than once he found himself waking up crying. Around six in the morning, he decided he'd get up and try and get everything they needed to do around the house done. Maybe he could make some more time for all their kids that way?

He started in the bathroom, cleaning off every surface before showering and getting himself dressed in something that wasn't the t-shirt he had slept in. When he checked the time, though, it was barely half past six, so he decided to make breakfast for Brett and Elise. He knew the twins would probably wake everyone around seven anyway like they did every morning. One woke up, and it was like the other would just know.

Scrambled eggs was all he had brain power to make this morning, but he knew Elise liked that best anyway. He thought she deserved something nice, and was hoping in the back of his mind that it would set a positive tone for the day so they could have a good day together for once. He really wanted to make it right, but at the same time he was so scared he had fucked up beyond repair. He was terrified that their little girl would grow up hating him for getting her younger brothers.

Eddy knew it was irrational, but he couldn't really push the thought away.

The eggs hadn't even hit the pan yet when he heard a soft thump from around the corner. A moment later he recognized the creak in Elise's bedroom door and her light footsteps across the floor.

"Good morning," Eddy tried to say with a smile once she came around the corner. She turned to look at him, looking almost confused. It only lasted for a moment before she shifted her attention to something outside the window. Eddy felt his heart sink when his daughter straight up ignored him. She was almost two and had already decided not to talk to him.

Eddy slowly put everything down on the counter and turned the burner off. This was one of those moments she would sit in her chair, and he'd try and make her laugh with silly voices. He felt pretty sure she wouldn't want that anymore, though, so he would have to figure something else out.

"Li-Li?" he asked as he made his way over to the living room. He was nervous. What if she just didn't want to play with him?

Elise turned to look at him, looking like she thought she was in trouble for something. She didn't say anything, though.

"Wanna help me make breakfast today?" he asked, trying to smile. It felt like he couldn't breathe as she considered his offer, but he tried to keep himself together.

Something tried to squeeze his heart with a hydraulic press when the little girl shook her head and turned back to look out the window. He just wanted to go lay back down under the covers and forget about life for a bit because of it, but he knew he couldn't do that. He knew he couldn't give up that easily, even if trying hurt.

"No? Not even if we're making scrambled eggs?" he asked again, squatting down next to her. He tried to see what she was looking at out the window, but couldn't see anything specific. Just the tree, the grass and the slight wind rustling the bushes at the edge of the grass patch between the houses.

Elise turned to him again, seeming to consider it this time. It sparked a tiny hint of a hope in Eddy that maybe she just needed a little extra assurance that daddy really meant it when he asked. Her soft voice once she decided extinguished that spark as quickly as it had been created, though.

"No thank you, daddy," she mumbled, looking back out the window at the cat as it walked over to the bushes and laid down in the shadow of those instead.