The Search for Home

CHAPTER 9 -Night Night

I quickly pull a large t-shirt and a pair of shorts on while Briar toddles around our room happily in her baby pink pyjamas. "Do you wanna come and brush your teeth?" I ask Briar as I extend a hand out to her. She nods her head in reply and happily takes my hand as we walk away towards the bathroom. I sit Briar down on the worktop before squatting down to grab a new toothbrush from under the sink along with the toddler toothpaste I had stashed there. I squeeze a small amount of the toothbrush before running it under the tap and passing it to Briar. "Can you brush your teeth on your own?" I ask gently as i brush her hair out of her face. She nods her head and so I start on my own teeth in the meantime.

After I have brushed my own teeth, I take the toothbrush from Briar and place my spare hand against her chin to lift her head and keep her still while I go over her teeth to make sure she hadn't missed any.

Once our teeth are clean I let her stay on the worktopn while I wash my face and she watches me happily as she gently runs her hands through my hair that has fallen over my shoulder.

I put all of my products away before lifting Briar off of the worktop and back onto her feet. "Lets go say goodnight to Grandma and Grandpa, okay?" I ask Briar as she takes my hand and I lead her out of the bathroom and down the hall.

"We are ready for bed and have come to say goodnight" I announce as we walk into the living room. My Dad is sat in front of the piano in the corner of the room but my Mom is nowhere to be seen. "Come here munchkin!" My dad yells as Briar runs in his direction and leaps onto his lap. He places a kiss on her forehead. "I'm not sleepy" Briar whispers as she looks at at my Dad. "You're not sleepy... looks like that is a job for the sleepy... MONSTER!" Briar exclaims happily as she leaps off of his lap and runs towards the couch, shuffling towards the corner as she giggles loudly. My dad gets up from the bench in front of the piano and strides towards the couch, grabbing Briar by her waist and pulling her onto her back and tickling her sides until she is wiggling underneath his grasp.

"Patrick! Don't wind the girl up before Billie puts her to bed" My Mom scolds him mockingly as walks into the room from their bedroom.

My dad stops his assult on Briar and she jumps off the couch giggling as she runs into my Mom's legs and wraps her arms around them. "Night night" Briar says sweetly.

"Goodnight sweetheart," my mom replies cheerfully as she lifts Briar into her arms and places a kiss on her cheek. "You be good for Billie tonight, okay?" Briar nods her head in agreement and tries to reach for me. I take Briar from my Mom's arms before placing her on my hip and placing a kiss on Briar's head.

"Goodnight, we will see you in the morning" I say before heading towards the door.

"Night Billie" my parents reply in unison as I walk down the hall and into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

I lay Briar down on her bed but when I remove my arms she starts to cry and reach towards me so that I would pick her up again.

"Don't worry baby, it's okay. I'm not leaving, I promise, I'm just going to be laid in my bed but you can come and sleep with me if you get scared, okay?" I ask her but she doesn't stop crying and continues to reach for me. I scoop her up in my arms and lay her back down on her bed but instead of trying to let her go, I kneel on the floor next to her bed and I place a hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles and use the other to hold her hand in mine.

"Do you want me to sing to you?" I ask as I place a kiss in her hair.

"Please" she replies as she grips tightly onto my hand.

"It's not true

Tell me I've been lied to

Cryin' isn't like you

Ooh

What the hell did I do?

Never been the type to

Let someone see right through

Ooh"

I look down at Briar who has her eyes shut and her breathing starts to even out and so I continue.

"Maybe won't you take it back?

Say you were tryna make me laugh

And nothin' has to change today

You didn't mean to say, 'I love you'

I love you and I don't want to

Ooh"

I untangle my hand from within Briar's and step away from her bed and climb into my own, grabbing my laptop and my phone along the way. I connect my airpods to my phone and start to play the next episode of the office while answering a couple of emails before finally into my own slumber.