“Eat for Daddy, button.”
She clutched her elephant closely. “Not hungry, Daddy.”
“Just a bit. To make Daddy happy.”
Well, she could hardly refuse to do that, could she? She took the small mouthful. He held up some more. She shook her head, frowning slightly.
“Button, open for the train. Choo-choo! Chugga-chugga!”
She couldn’t help but laugh as he made train noises while moving the spoon closer and closer to her mouth. She opened up as he slid it into her mouth.
“Open wide for the airplane! Here it is, coming into landing!” She opened up as the spoon grew closer, shocked that he didn’t spill a drop. No way could she do that.
In the end he managed to get several spoonsful of soup into her that came from a car, a shark, a boat and a hot air balloon before she really thought she might be ill if she ate anything more. After brushing her teeth, he tucked her up into bed.
“You’re not leaving, are you?” She grabbed his wrist.
“No, button, I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
Sleep on the couch? Why would he sleep on the couch?
“Why? Don’t you want to sleep with me?” She could hear the hurt note in her voice but she couldn’t stop it.
He groaned. “Button, I want nothing more. But I haven’t slept in a few days and I’ve been fucking stressed out.”
“Isn’t that all the more reason to sleep in the bed rather than the couch?”
He let out a breath. “Sometimes when I’m over-tired or stressed, I have nightmares. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you while I’m dreaming.”
“Nightmares about what?”
“About my time in the Special Forces,” he told her.
“That last mission?”
He nodded.
“Is there anything that helps?”
“When I get too stressed, I need to feel more in control. That’s often the times I end up at Fringe. Because I can take control there. Touch, feeling close to someone also helps,” he admitted quietly as though worried she might be hurt by that admission.
“Then sleeping beside me should help,” she told him.
“I don’t know, button. I don’t want to risk hurting you.”
“You won’t,” she told him. “I know you won’t. And you can hold me and maybe that will keep the nightmares away. Please. I…I have my own nightmares.”
She knew it was a bit of blackmail but she really didn’t want him to sleep apart from her. She needed to feel him close. To know that they were both safe.
“All right, button.” He quickly stripped off until he was dressed just in his boxers. And the sight of all that skin made her body warm. Her nipples harden. He climbed into bed with her and turned off the light. She immediately tensed and he switched the lamp back on.
“Too dark?”
“Yes, sorry.”
He ran his fingers through her hair. “Don’t ever be sorry for your needs.”
Climbing from the bed, he walked over to the bathroom and turned on the light, leaving the door partially open. When he got back into bed, he turned off the bedside lamp then rolled her into him.