Page 83 of Fractured Empire

“Daddy?” Leo gasps, rushing into the room as his bare feet slap against the floor. “What doing in here?”

Katya inhales sharply, and I know she’s awake now. I have little doubt that the door slamming open brought her into consciousness, but the sound of Leo’s question probably brought reality crashing down. She’s not just being woken up by the kids whom she’s given permission to do exactly that if she’s ever accidentally overslept. She’s being woken up by them while I’m in her bed.

“Did you have nightmare, Kat?” he asks, not waiting for an answer from me as he climbs up the end of her bed and crawls further in without needing an invitation. “Daddy so good at nightmares, right Daddy?”

“Right, buddy,” I reply, going along with his prediction. “Katya needed me here to scare away her scary dreams just like you need sometimes. Were you looking for me this morning or did you come right here first?”

“We come here first,” Leo cheers, grinning. “Come on Bastian.” Looking over his shoulder, he waves a hand to gesture for his brother to join us.

Rubbing his eyes, my older son slowly pads into the room, climbing up on Katya’s side of the bed and putting his head on her pillow. He went to her like she was a beacon, knowing he could be silent and still find comfort in her.

My throat bobs as I watch my wife reach out and tuck some of his hair behind his ears, caressing his sleepy face as she does. She hasn’t said a word since being so shockingly brought out of her sleep, but she hasn’t freaked out about being caught with me either.

“Bastian sleepy,” Leo says with a giggle. “But I hungry, Daddy.”

“Is that right?” I ask, smiling as he decides to lay between Katya and I. He kicks his little legs up and giggles as he snuggles into the space that seems to be the perfect fit for him. “What are you hungry for this morning?”

“Orange juice,” he answers immediately.

“That’s thirsty,” Bastian corrects, yawning. “Not hungry.”

“And waffles,” Leo adds sweetly. “Hungry for waffles.”

“I can make—” Katya starts, but I don’t let her finish the offer.

“Leo and I will go make waffles.”

Leo cheers at the information and stands up over Katya’s hip to look at her directly. “Daddy and I make!”

Leaning over the side of the bed, I put my pants on quickly enough that Leo and Bastian don’t notice or take note of it. “You and Bastian can stay here and take your time waking up. We’ll have everything ready in thirty.”

“Yes, Bastian need rest,” Leo agrees without hesitation. “I waked him ups.”

Katya giggles lightly at his information and nods. “I’m sure you and Daddy will make us an amazing breakfast.”

Daddy.

Why does her calling me that make my heart fucking race?

“Come on, buddy.” I hold a hand out and Leo takes it, practically leaping across the bed to jump into my arms. “Let’s give these two a little bit longer in the quiet, hmm?”

“Okay, Daddy,” Leo whispers, putting a finger to his lips. “We quiet.”

On the way out of her room, I can’t help but look back at my wife. Bastian already has his eyes closed, snuggled into her pillow and facing her as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Katya covers him gently with her blanket and sighs, allowing her lids to flutter shut.

She’s perfect.

“Asleep?” Katya asks, looking up from cleaning the kitchen counter as I walk into the space again.

“Asleep,” I confirm, closing the space between us with every step I take.

Breakfast with the kids went well, and so did lunch hours later. Most of our morning and afternoon has been spent hearing stories from yesterday, and playing in the fort that the kids couldn’t wait for me to explore with them. As expected, it took a bit longer to get them down for a nap today since they went to bed early last night and woke up a bit later than normal this morning. Something I didn’t expect given that I woke up around the same time as them.

Waking up late is not something I do often, nor do I do easily. My mind is always buzzing with things to do, and getting out of bed to do them is typically the only thing that makes it stop. I can’t sleep easily knowing I could be doing something to get it out of the way and therefore have more free time to spend while my kids are actually awake. But sleeping with Katya meant my alarms weren’t set, and clearly my brain was too consumed with thoughts of her to make me feel called toward anything else.

“How long do you think they’ll stay that way?” She chuckles as she asks, moving to the sink to wash off her hands now that she’s finished cleaning up.

“We may have an hour,” I reply, coming up behind her and testing the waters by putting my hands around her waist.