Little Nap
"You ready for your nap, baby?"
He nods, already in his pajamas and holding his special blanket in his hands. He hums around his pacifier, and reaches out for Mama.
"What is it, baby?"
He tugs her down, whining in frustration when she tried to tuck him in. His eyes get misty as his brows furrowed. Why won't Mama listen? He tugs her down again, then pats the spot beside him as he grumpily yells around the pacifier. Finally getting what her cranky baby was saying, she smiled.
"No need to yell, baby boy. I got you,"
He sighs in relief, his half lidded eyes fluttering closed. Mama tucks them both in, and kisses his head, cheeks, nose, then his eyes.
"Goodnight, baby."
He hums in response, squeezing impossibly closer to her. They both fall asleep peacefully, together. But, unfortunately, Marc was awakened by a alarm. He whines in protest, but sits up anyway. He turns to Mama to shake her awake, but stopped. He tilted his head, as he scanned her face.
His eyes brightened as he thought of something, his headspace only getting slightly bigger. Just enough for his plan. He slips out of the bed, and turns the alarm off, then turns to Mama. He pats her head cooing, then takes his blanket and the blanket on the bed, and tucks her in.
"Night, night, Mama."
He walks to the kitchen and sits in front of the fridge. His pushes his slipping paci back into his mouth before opening the fridge door. Granted, he struggled a little bit, but he managed to get it. He grabs a cold water bottle, cringing at the temperature. He sets it down behind him, and pets it. He then stands shakily, closing the door and opens a cupboard.
He searches with his hands until he finds what he's looking for. He grinned at his accomplishments, clapping to himself and happy stims. He gathers all of the things and waddles back to the bedroom. He carefully sets everything down on the bedside table, and turns to Mama one last time. He kisses her head, cheeks, nose, and her eyebags.
"Night, night."
He mumbled, before walking to the living room. He turned on the TV clumsily, but claps when he sees his show playing. This allows him to slip back into his regular headspace. Three episodes in, Mama runs into the living room, almost falling on her face. Marc whines in concern as she collapsed beside him, only to be pulled into a hug.
"Baby, don't scare me like that! I didn't know where you had gone! Why didn't you wake me up?"
He traced her eyebags in response, kicking his feet nervously. The realization hit her. He let Mama sleep because he noticed she was tired. He left her water and snacks in case she woke up hungry or thirsty. She hadn't hid her exhaustion as well as she could have for the past week. Everything had been overwhelming.
She kisses his head, and cups his face.
"Thank you for tucking me in, baby."
He just smiles at her, leaning into her touch. He was just glad that Mama wasn't as tired anymore. That was good enough for him.