“Oh… shhh…” I whisper, rubbing my eyes. Dakota and Blake are both screaming, rolling in their cradles. “Please don’t cry…” I mumble, crying a bit myself. I pick up Blake, holding him to my chest as I bounce him. “It’ll be fine…” I trail off, biting my lip. Cai wakes up, and looks over. 

“Here, I can help you,” He says, yawning, and climbing out of bed. I hand Blake to him, then reach for Dakota, who clings to her blanket tightly. “How many times tonight have they woken you up?” He asks, as I kiss Dakota’s soft blonde curls. 

“This is the third time,” I answer, rocking, half intentional because my baby needs to sleep, and also because I’m too tired to stand up normally. Cai nods, and holds out his arm for Dakota.

“You go back to bed. I’ll figure out what they want,” He tells me. “Some interrogation, whatever.” I laugh. 

“No, I want to help, I mumble. Cai shakes his head. 

“You need to sleep. I’ll feed them, sing, read, whatever. You can rest,” He explains. 

“I’m their primary source of food,” I remind my husband. He shrugs. 

“I’ll mix some formula. Sleep,” He takes Dakota from me, and carries both babies out of the room, before I can protest. I walk back to the bed, and crawl under the covers, yawning. 

After about an hour, Cai sets the sleeping babies in their cribs, and climbs onto bed. He reaches for my legs and pulls me up against him while holding on to them. 

“Why are you still awake?” He asks, yawning, and putting his cheek against my forehead. 

“I don’t know,” I answer. He nods, and kisses my forehead. “It’s so warm in here, can we open a window just a crack?” I ask, and he nods, getting up to walk over. When he opens the window, more warm air pours in, and I groan, rolling over. 

“Ivvy… you should come look at this,” Cai says, looking through the curtains. I sit up. “The snow is all gone. And there’s fire… everywhere.”