If that's what it takes

51

The morning started slow and tiresome as Zoey rolled off Derek's bed and stepped on his back. "Morning, DD." She said as she climbed onto his back. "Whatcha doin on the floor?"

"Sleeping..." He muttered as she rolled off him and stood up.

"Breakfast time." She said as she skipped out of the room.

Derek felt like he could feel each and every muscle moving, mostly because they were all sore. He had spent half the night in his bed, and half the night on the floor after a barrage of nightmares and night terrors had brought the little girl into his room and onto his bed. At one point, he left to get her a cup of water and when he returned she was sound asleep. He had settled on the floor to sleep so that he wouldn't wake her again, happy that she had finally hit her stride of restful sleep as he found himself cramped and uncomfortable on the hard floor that was only covered by a skimpy little rug.

He couldn't understand why she was so full of energy if she had gotten hardly any sleep, but he was happy that she wasn't haunted by her dreams like he was being haunted by her howls of sadness into the night.

Derek carefully stood up and looked around, finding that his room was once again a mess of blankets and pillows that had been strewn about from her night terrors. He sighed as he made his way downstairs. "Zoey?" Derek called as he stepped down the hallway toward the kitchen.

"Yes, DD?" She said as she sat at the counter with her cereal bowl and spoon waiting patiently for Derek to arrive to serve her.

He looked into her eyes and saw the happy brightness within them, her smile was sweet and full of morning glitter as she rubbed some of the sleep out of her eyes. "Um... what would you like for breakfast?" He asked, holding off on his other question that he wanted to ask her for just another moment.

"Mmm... Froot loops... no! Sugar smacks... ! No! All of them!" She exclaimed as she grinned at him.

"How about I just pull out the sugar bowl and pour some milk over it?" Derek asked with a sarcastic grin.

"Okay!" She said with a laugh as Derek shook his head.

"Let's see what we have... how about some rice krispies?"

"Mm... okay..." She smiled as Derek poured the cereal and milk. He sprinkled just a little bit of sugar over it for some taste and watched as she devoured the cereal as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Slow down there, little monster, I don't want you to get a tummy ache." Derek said softly as he poured his own bowl of muesli and began to eat.

"I'm just so hungry, DD... it tastes yummy, yummy!" She said with a smile as she looked up, her hair mussed and standing up as she looked back down to her bowl.

Derek sighed as he watched her. She had been with him for over a week, and she was having nightmares every night. They weren't just normal nightmares, but hair on the back of your neck raising screaming fear filled rants that Derek had no idea how to quell. He had been bitten and scratched while she sleep, her eyes wide open as she screamed for her mother's arms. Until finally she would wake up, and stare blankly at Derek for about thirty seconds before she'd begin to cry.

Derek knew that she needed help, that his love and care would only go so far, but she needed to talk to someone and get these fears out, or her nights would not be the only thing affected. He wanted to discuss it with her first, being six years old, that would be quite a task, but he wasn't about to stick her in a room alone with another adult that she has never met and expect her to share her feelings. "Zoey, you had more nightmares last night." Derek said softly.

"Yeah..." she whispered, her smile disappearing for a moment as she looked at him. "Yeah, I am sorry..."

"No, no... no apology needed, sweetness... I just wanted to make sure you're alright."

"I'm okay..." She shrugged.

"Maybe after work... after school and work, we'll talk about how we can try to make these bad dreams go away, does that sound good?"

"Okay..." She said softly as she watched Derek for a minute.

"I'm going to go upstairs and get ready... you finish your breakfast and pick out what you'd like to wear today..."

"Okay." She said with a brighter smile, watching Derek as he lifted his empty bowl from the counter.

"And don't forget..." He said as he pointed to the bowl.

"Put the bowl in the sink... DD will wash it..."

"Good girl." Derek smiled as she tilted her head and smiled back, as Derek turned and walked out of the kitchen and climbed the stairs to get ready for work.