dulcinea - 5
in which dulcie wakes harry up in the middle of the night for a midnight snack.
word count: 1525
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Harry
The sound of gentle sniffles and a soft cry of "mumma" pulls me from my very light slumber. The first thing I notice is the bedroom door has been left ajar, the night light in the hall illuminating the bedroom just enough to see Dulcie standing next to Edora's side of the bed. She's gently tugging on the duvet wrapped tight around Edora's body, desperate for her mum to wake up but has no luck.
When I begin to sit up, I grab Dulcie's attention. She lets go of the duvet and turns to face me, her bottom lip wobbling, relieved that someone is finally awake to be with her.
"Come here, Bee." I whisper and hold my arms open for her.
She rounds the bed, her bare feet slapping against the hard flooring before I'm lifting her up into my arms and cuddling her in close. She lays on top of me and wraps her arms around my neck.
"Can't sleep?" I quietly ask as I rub her back, something that always seem to calm her down.
"My tummy hurts." She tells me, sniffling. "It's making noises."
I hum in response, already knowing it's because she had refused to eat dinner with us earlier. She was playing and wasn't ready to leave her blocks. Edora and I are trying not to repeat toxic actions that our parents used on us when we were kids so we will never force her to eat. We don't want to create any unhealthy relationships with food for her, or any of the kids for that matter, but instead want her to listen to her body and her needs. We told her to find one of us when she was feeling hungry and I guess now is the moment it's caught up to her. I can't even be mad that it happened at two in the morning, I'm just glad she felt safe enough to wake me up to tell me what she needed. I'd rather wake up in the middle of the night and feed my child than send her back to bed hungry as some kind of punishment.
"Do you want to know why your tummy hurts?"
She nods her head.
"It's because you didn't want to eat dinner with us earlier so your tummy is trying to tell you that you need food." I quietly explain to her as I stand up with her in my arms and walk out of the room, not wanting to wake Edora up. "Those noises it makes is your tummy demanding some food." I playfully grab her tummy and she squeals before a belly laugh leaves her lips. Her head falls back as the laugh takes over her entire body and I can't help but become overcome with love for her.
She's so perfect and she's mine.
"What would your tummy like to eat?" I ask her when her laughter has subsided.
"Can I think about it?"
I know she doesn't need to think about it because I know exactly what she's going to request but I nod my head anyway and carefully walk down the stairs, turning on the lights as I move through the house.
When in the kitchen, I sit her down on the countertop and watch her as she sleepily rubs her eyes. Her little legs dangle off the side and I just memorise it because I know soon enough, she'll be able to climb onto this counter by herself. As I memorise her, it's then that I get a good look at her; her light brown skin damp from the tears she's cried and a little red from how worked up she's gotten herself. She's warm, a little sweaty, her dark brown curls sticking to her forehead, hair dishevelled and completely untamed. She wears the same rainbow pyjamas she always does because she doesn't sleep in any other set (we have bought five pairs of the same pyjama to decrease the number of meltdowns).
