The next morning, Eugene was up before I was. I woke up flat on my face, and he was stroking my hair when I peeled my eyes open, and he said good morning as soon as I moved to look at him.
"Morning. How're your joints?"
He chuckled at my straightforward, prompt question. "My joints are just fine this morning, thank you,"
I gave him a dubious look from under the mass of hair that had fallen over my eyes. "Hmm..you sure?"
He gave me a grin. "I'm sure. Look," he said before turning onto his side -- something he would only be able to do if his joints weren't aching.
I turned on my side to face him, giving him a broad smile, excited. At least, I tried to turn on my side. I hadn't realized that I was right on the edge of the bed, so when I turned on my side, I almost fell off the bed. He saw, though, and grabbed my shoulders, hauling me away from the edge.
"Thanks. And I'm so glad your joints aren't sore this morning!" I scooted over so I could give him a quick hug, but then he put his arms around me and kept me close.
"So...when're we going to start today's search?" he asked, planting a couple of kisses in my hair.
"I'm heading out in a bit, I think, but you're staying here with the kids," I reminded him.
"I don't really feel comfortable with you going yourself, though..." he trailed off.
"Yeah, but you did more than enough yesterday -- I'll be fine today. Okay?"
"Hmmh." he made a noise of non-commitment.
I pulled away from him and then got out of bed, suddenly eager to start the day. When he sat up, I held a hand out to him and helped him out of bed before I went to go brush my hair.
After that, I went to let him know I was going to head out. Zelia was already up, so before I told him I was going to leave, I made a pitstop to tell her to keep an eye out and make sure my hubby didn't leave.
"I'll make sure he doesn't...but I'm fairly certain I won't have to try too hard to keep him here. I'll just have to threaten him once and he'll probably cower in the corner. Unless he decides to go rogue."
I giggled. "Thanks, sis,"
"Yup. I'll see you!"
I'd no more than turned around from talking with her than Eugene had snagged my arm, leading me back behind the cutout.
"Stay safe hon, okay?" he pulled me into a quick hug.
"Yup. I'll be back in awhile. Love ya," I gave him a grin, and then he bent to kiss me before allowing me to hurry off the table.
I searched for several hours with no results before an idea donned on me. What if he was still on the shelf? I only had a few more hours of daylight, so I knew I'd have to do this quickly. Hurrying up to the shelf, I found out I didn't need to hurry after all!
I was met by a certain chameleon that was very pleased to see me.
"Pascal...oh my goodness! Tangled Fan must've forgotten you when she moved us!" I scooped him up and cuddled him affectionately up against my cheek, my heart racing with excitement. I tripped and tumbled down the face of the shelving unit, and fairly ran across the room before working my way up to the table.
When I stumbled up onto the table excitedly, Zelia immediately greeted me with a sharp "SHH!".
Eugene gave me a hopeful stare from across the table.
"The girls asleep?" I whispered, and he nodded. "Okay. We-e-ell, look who I found on our old shelf!" I squeaked quietly, holding Pascal up.
He gave me a huge grin, and was at my side in an instant. "Oh wow....I didn't even think to check the old shelf! Wait till the girls see..."
I nodded, and he reached to hug me, but I slipped past him to carefully set Pascal down between the girls, who were still napping. Then, I let him pull me into a hug.
"What, did you miss me?" I laughed.
"Yep. I missed my girl yesterday, and today...plus I'm glad you found Pascal." At least he whispered, what with my sister being present.
Zelia made muffled gag-ish, tired-of-the-mushy-stuff noises, and I pulled away from Eugene to give her a teasing glance.
"Take it you're not a fan, hm?"
"Nah," she averted her gaze down to her lap, but I caught her furiously attempting to conceal a grin and watching us from the corners of her eyes a moment later.
So I plopped a big kiss on my husband, which surprised him. When he pulled away, I tossed a glance towards Zelia, trying to get the message across that I was teasing her. He suppressed a grin and nodded. But then Audrey rolled over, grazing Pascal with her arm.
We all turned to watch.
Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and it took a moment for her to realize Pascal was lying on the bed between her and Casey. Then, she was out from under the blanket instantly.
"Casey, Casey, Casey!! Wake up! Pascal's back!" she squealed, shaking her sister's shoulder excitedly.
Casey squirmed away from Audrey's excited shoves, peeling an eye open. When Audrey dropped Pascal on her chest, she shot upright, giving him a hug. Between her and Audrey, they showered him with affection and he fully enjoyed it.
Eventually, Casey glanced up at me and then bolted out of bed, throwing herself at me and grabbing onto my legs.
Laughing, I scooped her up and cuddled her, plopping a kiss in her hair. She gazed up at me excitedly before whispering something in my ear. I tried my hardest not to grin, but I whispered a reply and then she squirmed to get down. I let her go, and she raced back to play with Pascal.
Eugene, Zelia, and I then spent the rest of the evening watching the girls play with Pascal, who seemed quite enthused to be back. Even Jordan got all excited with the return of her chameleon buddy.
We let the girls stay up until eleven, which was about three hours later than usual, since they were all so wound up that they'd never, ever get to sleep if we'd made them go earlier. By then, I was purely exhausted. I sat down on the wicker chair with Jordan to get her to go to sleep while Eugene got the other two girls settled down into bed.
But by the time Jordan was asleep, I guess I'd already fallen asleep. The next thing I remember was Jordan being lifted out of my arms. I looked around groggily and saw Eugene making his way back over to the chair.
"Hey, sleepyhead," he chuckled, brushing the hair out of my eyes.
"Oh goodness...I fell asleep with Jordan, didn't I?" I almost bolted out of my chair, but he put a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, but you had her in your arms really securely. Not sure how, but you did. It took a bit of work to get her out of your arms, but she was content in them nonetheless," he said, and I relaxed.
"Ohh. Good." I stood up, stretched, and wandered back to change into my nightie and brush my hair. Once I was done, Eugene came back. I flopped facefirst onto the bed with a groan.
"Oh, bed...I love you, bed..." I mumbled into the blanket, and I heard Eugene laugh.
When I pulled my head up to look at him, he had a teasing look on his face. "So..when I proposed to you, I knew I was second best to Pascal. But now I'm third best...to the BED?"
I giggled, sitting up and dangling my legs over the edge of the bed. Patting the spot beside me, I looked up at him. "Nah...pretty sure you're on the top of the list, don't worry."
He sat down and put an arm around my shoulders, his cheeks getting a bit red. "Hmm. Well, do you feel better now that Pascal's home?"
"Definitely!" I grinned, and he flashed me that special little grin of his, staring at me adoringly. After a couple of seconds, I squirmed awkwardly. "What?"
"I'm just glad to see you're happy again," he winked, and I rolled my eyes jokingly.
"Whatever, you goof. I'm going to sleep," I said before I gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"So I come in fourth to sleep?" he asked, and I could hear he was trying to keep from laughing.
"Oh, quit," I laughed, flopping onto my back and pulling the blanket up to my chin.
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