April 23 '79: Sleep With One Eye Open: Phoebe

[Edgar Bones]

While the chat with his brother had helped in many respects, as Edgar Apparated onto his property, he still had to shake himself out of Edgar-of-Wartime. It was more difficult than he'd thought, having a family and being committed to the Order. Now that he had both, it wasn't like he could give either up if he wanted to - and he didn't want to - but especially since they'd started having kids, he'd been questioning his work more and more. The most frustrating thing was that he was good at the work - good enough to make a sizable difference in the grand scheme of things, he was certain of it. But his mind drifted while on the job, which was a dangerously dangerous thing for a mind to do while on a job like his. But Ed couldn't help but think of the kids, of his wife, of the things he was missing in those hours or days away, of the things he would miss if he didn't make it home.

It made him fight harder, that was for sure - his whole family was against the laws good ol' Voldemort would enact if he ever won. So it wasn't like he could just stop, not when they were all in danger, not when he could help. But the what if's nagged at him more than he admitted, and while he knew his family would take care of Phoebe and the little ones, he'd promised her a life with him, and he meant to make good on it.

They just had to make it through this war.

Edgar-the-Father checked the wards, as was his nightly routine - even this late when night would soon be morning, as the creeping-up rays of the sun were alerting him - and was greeted with the sleepy thump-thumping of Sadie's tail on the floor from her post guarding the stairs as he came inside. "That's my girl," he said with quiet affection, leaning down to give her ears a good scratching before stepping over her to head upstairs to where the rest of his world was, with any luck, sleeping soundly. With quiet feet he poked his head into the little nursery, a tired smile lifting the corners of his mouth as he entered to see their youngest sprawled out and snoring lightly with a cuteness only a baby could master. Satisfied with how Cami was doing, his next stop was the bigger room opposite, where in side-by-side twin beds lay Gray and Elle. Well, "lay" was a forgiving term. Nightly, Elle waged her own war against the covers, always ending up with her legs tangled up in them, while Gray was recognizable only as a lump with hair poking out from underneath all of his. With a light breath of a chuckle, Ed gently coaxed his daughter's legs and the blankets apart from each other, and spread the blankets over her again. He stared at her a few moments more, this wonderful and strange tiny human he and Phoebe made who held roughly a fourth of his heart in her hands.

While he couldn't imagine his life without her, without any of them, sometimes it still boggled him that this was his life. It boggled him in the best way, don't get him wrong, but it was still boggling. It was time to see the woman who had made this his life, and after tousling Gray's soft hair - how was it so soft? - he went down the hall, feet heavy, legs heavy, as their bed called to him. While he tried to not make much noise upon entering, he didn't miss her slight stir underneath the sheets - never slept that well when he was away, bless her - and got ready for bed quickly as he could. As all that that really entailed was getting rid of most of his clothes - undershorts were acceptable pajamas, were they not? - it thankfully wasn't too long before he was sliding in next to her. 

"Just because I'm gone half the night doesn't give you leave to take over the whole bed," he whisper-teased, yawning widely as he moved an arm under her shoulders. Ed leaned over to give her a kiss, a while-I'm-exhausted-I've-still-returned-from-a-heroic-death-defying-mission sort of kiss, before settling in, letting himself sink into the bed as he closed his eyes.

[Phoebe Bones]

Sleeping in this bed alone was never easy, but it was worse when she knew her husband was out there fighting, when she had to wonder if he was going to ever come back. She had heard the stories from him and his friends, about how he was good at his job. How nothing would ever happen to the three of them, because they always had each other's backs. But the first time she'd stayed up worried sick, he'd come home covered in blood and bruised and she didn't know if she could ever handle that again.

But he went when he had to, and she'd learned to handle it. After Gray had been born, she'd thought she was going to drown in her concerns. Worry for her husband, worry for their son. Being alone in their apartment with a baby, scared for a war she couldn't see. She knew about the wards guarding their house - she trusted them. She had to. Because if someone was to come after them, what could she do against magic?

It had gotten easier. She'd learned how to juggle her job, and being a mother. She'd figured out how to get through sleepless nights with a newborn without her husband there. And with Elle, it had been even more difficult. But still something she had figured out. Now that they had three kids, she had things down. Getting the two older kids to go to sleep without saying goodnight to their father had become something she'd figured out. (Although on those really rough nights she just let them sleep in the bed with her. They had gotten such a big bed for a reason, and she often needed them more than they needed her).

Turning over in the bed, she checked the clock through tired eyes. It was almost morning, and no doubt the kids would be up in only a few hours. But she never slept well when Edgar was gone, especially when in situations like this where he was gone for a few days at a time. She wanted nothing more than this war to be over, she wanted the life they had planned when they were kids.

The soft sound of the bedroom door caused her to stir, rolling over onto her back to see the shadow of her husband entering the room. Finally. He was soon slipping into bed, teasing her as he did as he leaned down to give her a kiss. She snuggled against him as he closed his eyes, taking in his warmth. She knew in the morning, when she could see better, she'd find bruises and cuts that she wished weren't there. But for now, he was home and that was what mattered.

"It's not often I get the bed all to myself, I have to take advantage of it when I can," she murmured sleepily, glancing up towards him. "And I'm assuming all the kids are still sleeping, which means that we have the bed to ourselves. Just the two of us. To do whatever we want."

[Edgar Bones]

The stresses of these last days finally began ebbing in earnest as Phoebe cozied into him. He was back, she and the kids and the dog were home safe as he'd left them, and that was what truly mattered. Her adorably sleepy tease brought a low chuckle from him, and while he was content to lay there with her until they both drifted off - Edgar's eyes popped open as his wife went on. He raised his brows, returning her look, as a pleased grin spread across his face. "Missed me, did you?" He rolled over her, nudging her nose with his before lowering himself into a slow kiss. Tired as he was, Phoebe was - among many, many, other things - the most attractive woman on the face of the earth. That said, she always knew how to wake him up. And while he jested about her missing him - f*ck, but did he miss her and the rest when he was away. He'd wanted to take pictures of them all with him on missions, something to pull out of his pocket to give him a smile when things were rough, but the thought of something happening to him and the pictures being a way for those taken in by darkness to find his closely guarded family...

Whenever he came back, then - there was always something new he'd find in each of them. A new curl in Elle's hair, a new freckle on Gray's nose, a new tooth emerging from Cami's gums - and his wife? How was it that he could get home at such an unreasonable hour to find her just perfect as she lay in their bed? He was from the world of magic, and he still couldn't even begin to reason it out.

"I love you," he said hoarsely against her after a time, the words unnecessary because they'd been said so much between them, but wholly necessary all the same. Ed caught her eye, wanting to ask about how her days had been, if the kids had been good for her like those who could speak had promised, to tell her about Roddy and his girl - but words failed him, as they so often did when he was with her after being apart. Because how had he gotten so lucky?

[Phoebe Bones]

Saying she had missed him was an understatement. She missed him in every second he wasn't around. Even knowing that he was home with their kids, or at his parents place. In the small moments of her day when she was reading a case, when she was grabbing coffee. It was those moments when she missed him. She missed him when the kids did something new while he was gone, when they learned a new bad word she had let slip.

But when she knew he was fighting? She did more than miss his. His absence was that much worse. She craved him in those times, wanting the simplest of gestures to just simply know he was alive. And after a time, as he whispered to her, she nuzzled against him, "I love you." Risking a glance to the clock she sighed at the time. If they were lucky they would get maybe an hour more before one of the kids woke up. But they weren't often that lucky. "How bad was it?"

[Edgar Bones]

Ten years later and it still didn't get old, hearing her tell him that she loved him, and Ed followed her look to the clock. F*ck's sake, when did it get so late? He nudged his wife's attention back to him, and at her words...

"It wasn't good," Ed said simply, thanking what wits he'd had left after the battle that he'd gone to see Roddy first, "but we got done what we had to. And I'm here." He kissed her cheek. "With you." He kissed her lips and sighed, laying back down to take her in his arms. "And the kids are safe...so I'm not going to complain. Knew what I signed up for, and - I'm home." The young man swallowed, playfully brushing his unshaven cheek against hers in an attempt to keep his emotions in check. The kids liked to wake up bloody early, so they didn't have much time - couldn't look like he'd just been crying when Elle waddled in demanding cuddles and/or breakfast. "Stopped at Roddy's, part of why I was late, sorry," he said after a few beats, closing his eyes as exhaustion came upon him in another wave. Phoebe would know what that meant, would probably check him for evidence of whatever Roderick may have missed if he ever fell to sleep. Did we miss anything, buddy? His body still felt horrid, but nothing worse than usual after returning from a few days in the field. Wanting to get the subject off of himself and onto something that was exciting to both of them, he continued, "He's got a date later today."

[Phoebe Bones]

When he first started going out on these missions, doing more than sitting behind a desk, she spent most of her nights in the kitchen of their flat, drinking coffee and staring at legal documents to help her mind not just picture her husband trying not to be murdered. Of course, she didn't know exactly what it was he was doing. But she hadn't ever questioned him too in depth. It was almost better not knowing exactly what kind of stuff he was involved in. He hadn't been in charge of people back then, but he was now. And she was proud, if even more terrified.

But she still asked, every time. He rarely came home injured, not after the first time he had done it and she'd almost lost her mind. It was helpful, knowing that her brother-in-law was a healer. Not only for Edgar's sake, but it was good to know that Uncle Roderick could be on call when the kids managed to hurt themselves in ways she couldn't fix. She did her best to keep many aspects of her muggle life in their home, but sometimes it was just easier to give in. Especially with children that could do accidental magic.

She sat up, looking Edgar over as he talked about Roderick, before she settled back down into bed next to him. Roderick was getting better at making sure he covered all his bases. "Well, you can tell him he's done a satisfactory job. And you know where the painkillers are, should you need something before we can get a potion," she answered him, smirking before she said,"And he's got a date? Or he's convinced Kyra to go see another movie with him?"

[Edgar Bones]

His lips quirked up into a sleepy smile as Ed felt his wife move about, owl eyes sharp even in the dark as she gave him a once-over. Well - not anything so cursory, or so flattering, but it was better to think of it as her checking him out than checking for evidence of injury. It really was just his shoulder, and the common bodily aches from unsatisfying sleeps, that were lingering. He rolled said joint, chuckling low as Pheebs commended his brother, but was full on beaming through the sleepiness as she went on. "No, no, babe - girl actually knows it's a date, for one. And listen to you, 'before we can get a potion.' Merlin, I love you." He closed his eyes contentedly, drawing her close and lightly stroking her back. While the far-too-long delayed telling-of-magic to Phoebe hadn't gone well, thankfully she'd warmed up to it - and to him - before too dreadfully long. "Roddy thinks he's met his match, can you believe it? Apparently she's..." 

Ed let out a slow breath, free hand to his forehead as he tried to jog his memory. It hadn't been long since he'd been at his brother's, granted, but...know it sometimes seems like there's nothing going on up here, but there's a lot to keep track of. "She's Ava," he said with a lovestruck sigh. "Got red hair, in her last year at Hogwarts. He's taking her to that Italian place Mum loves so much, she took us there for your birthday a while back, remember? He wasn't too forthcoming about specifics, but must have a helluva good feeling about her to make such a declaration. I think it's good for him, getting out there, but..." Ed groaned within a slow laugh, realizing the hypocrisy of his thoughts. "I know we were that young and making big life moves, but hearing she's still in school...I'm starting to see why our parents gave us such a hard time back then. We worked it out, though - if they're supposed to, I suppose they will too, right?"

[Phoebe Bones]

When Ed had first been promoted to agent, she had always worried about how she was going to get through the times he was gone by herself. But now it was simply how life worked, and they’d all adjusted. The days he came home after work were easier - magic to help clean up after the kids, dishes and laundry doing themselves, it was preferable to the disarray that happened when he wasn’t around. Frankly, household chores weren’t the easiest to keep up with when you had three children under the age of four. Both Gray and Elle were walking, and attempting to communicate more with their words instead of accidentally setting things on fire, but that meant constantly chasing them around the house. And while she’d been resistant of magic at first, the benefit to not having to worry out housework was great.

“I love you,” she murmured back to him, content to curl up close to him and just listen as he talked about Roderick. Her brother-in-law was incredibly dedicated to his job, something that was admirable, but it was good for him to get out of his small world. He’d dated since ending things with Charity a few years ago, but he hadn’t really seemed happy with anyone. Hopefully this Ava was the one for him, even if she was still in school. Roderick was at least closer to her age - unlike their friends who had been dating eighteen years old (and Gideon, bless him, still was as far as she knew). “Roderick has a good head on his shoulders - I’m sure he knows what he’s doing,” she said to him quietly, nudging her husband’s face with her nose to give him a kiss.

The sounds of Cami crying were soon coming through the monitor, and she gave a sigh as she rolled over. If Cami was up, it meant Elle and Gray weren’t going to be far behind. “You get some sleep, I’ll keep the kids distracted as long as I can,” she whispered to Edgar, giving him one last kiss before slipping out of bed.