Nick awoke in the middle of the night to hear soft cries in the distance, he glanced at the alarm clock, it read 3:06AM. As he stared at the numbers for a slight second, the cries gradually grew louder. In a fast manner he lifted himself from the bed and walked into the long dark hall, then from that two doors down and into a room that was slightly lighted by a butterfly shaped nightlite. He made his way over to the bed where the cries were coming from. "Shh, daddys here, it's just a bad dream" he spoke lightly as he shook the small body awake.
"Daddy?" the little girl, Sidney asked, sitting up in the small bed and rubbing her face.
"Yeah baby, its daddy, c'mon you can sleep with me" He answered. The girl didn't answer with words, just nodded her head and lifted her arms out to be wrapped around his neck. Nick bent down further and Sidney's arms locked around his neck as he lifted her up and carried her back to his room where he sat her down on the bed then laid down beside her, she made herself comfortable by cuddling up beside him and resting the top portion of her small body on his chest. Nick laid there a few minutes watching the three and a half year old who was already back asleep and had half of her thumb in her mouth. 'You gotta break that habit' he thought, removing her hand from her mouth, only for it to be pulled back to her lips in her sleep, he laughed lightly before pulling the sheets around them and closing his eyes.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Sidney repeated as she jumped on the bed with the cordless phone in her hands, no answer, "Nickolas Gene Carter!" she yelled, getting his attention as he opened his eyes and looked up at her in suprise.
"Yes Sidney Elizabeth Carter?" he asked.
"B-rok is on the phone" She answered as she continued to jump on the bed.
Brian on the other line laughed as he listened to their conversation, "Well let me see it, silly" he could her Nick saying and could imagine Nick sticking out his tounge at the girl.
"Here" Sidney said, pushing the phone out towards him as she jumped in a circular motion.
"Finally" Brian said as Nick spoke into the phone.
"Sorry, you know how little girls are" Nick said back.
"I'm a woman daddy!" Sidney yelled in the background.
"Sorry Sid, but you got about fifteen years" Nick replied.
"Anyways, whats going on with you tonight?" Brian asked.
"What do you mean?" Nick answered.
"Oh c'mon, you know what today is" Brian replied.
"Yeah, I know what today is" Nick said back.
"Today is Alex's birthday" Sidney said, finally sitting down and staring at her daddy.
"Shes smart ya know" Brian said back.
"Yes it is, and his name is AJ Sid" Nick replied.
"AJ, Alex, same thing, geez!" Sid yelled, throwing her hands up in the air then down at her sides as she got off of the bed and ran to the bathroom before her bladder busted.
Nick laughed as he watched her run, then went back to his conversation, "What are you doing?" he asked.
"We're going to the Freaky Teaky, ya know you should really come clubbing with us, ya know Howie and Kev are gonna be there as well as AJ, Amber, Lauren, Ashley, Denise and myself" Brian answered.
"Who's watching Skylar?" Nick asked, reffering to Brian's daughter who was four.
"Our neighbor, Mrs. Leviner, you know the nice little lady who babysits whenever we needs her and brings the cookies over on Christmas...." Brian began.
Nick cut in, "Yeah, I know who you are talking about, but I dunno...".
"C'mon man, why not, I mean ever since......." Brian began.
Nick quickly interrupted, "Brian please.....I just...just.....I'll tell you later on tonight, probably yes, but I'm not making any promises".
"Well just call me later, and are you Ok?" Brian asked, feeling bad about bringing up the subject he just had, he wasn't trying to, but he just wanted Nick to loosen up again, not live life like a hermit.
"Yeah Brian, I'm Ok, I'll call you about seven or eight" Nick answered. "Bye" Brian said before hanging up.
"Bye" Nick said back as Sidney jumped back onto the bed and then jumped around it. "Are you hungry?" he asked.
"Yep" Sid answered.
"Whatcha want?" he asked.
"Apples with peanut butter!" Sidney exclaimed. Nick laughed, she was exactly like him when it came to what they ate.
"Sounds good to me" Nick replied, putting Sid on his shoulders and walking downstairs into the kitchen. He opened the cabinet and took out the jar of peanut butter, then the refrigerator to get some apples, he sat Sidney on the counter, then on her own two feet, "See if ya can find Willie, Mikey and Huston" he instructed.
Sidney nodded as she sat off on the exploration of the house, she knew the dogs weren't upstairs, she checked the downstairs bathroom, laundary room and the dining room before walking into the livingroom to find all three pugs piled up together on the couch, "Doggies" she said, tapping her hand on each one of their heads, the dogs let out content sighs before standing up and following her into the kitchen. "Here they are" she pointed to the dogs behind her who stood ready to be fed.
Nick nodded as he poured the dogs some food then washed his hands and went back to preparing breakfast. After spreading the peanut butter over the apples and pouring two glasses of orange juice, they both took a seat at the table. "What do you want to do today?" he asked.
"I wanna go see Skylar" Sidney replied, enthuastically.
"Well, we'll probably go over to Brian's later on today, Daddy might go out with Brian and Amber too, do you care about staying with Mrs. Leviner?" Nick questioned.
"No, I don't care, shes nice, she brings us cookies and lets us watch our blues clues tapes ALL night long" Sidney answered.
"Ok, well we'll worry about that later on today, its only eleven now" Nick said.