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four

FOUR §

"Hey," I say an hour later when Theo wakes up, taking a seat at the foot of the couch where he isn't taking up space. I cast a worrying look at him, at the dried tear tracks crusted into his cheeks. I massage his tiny toes a little. "How do you feel?"

"Okay." His voice creaks, cracking some, and then a tiny giggle rushes up his throat. "Tickles," he says, smiling idiotically down at me with those cute crooked teeth as he wriggles his foot.

I grin. "Yeah?" I lean down to blow loud, airy kisses into his neck and he squeals. (His neck smells like oranges from the soap he uses.)

"S-stop Uncle, s-stop!" he laughs, tries to press his chin into the hollow of his neck to stop my assault but I don't listen to his jumbled words, don't heed. I drink in his laughter and hear the earlier events fading from his voice. His tiny fingers tug at my hair, which I guess is tickling him even more. I laugh against his skin. "T-tickles!"

I finally relent, laughing, looking down at his flushed face. Small remnants of giggles tumble past his lips. "You're delicious."

"YOU'RE MEAN!" Theo proclaims, giggles.

"Am I, now?" I ponder aloud. I start to lean down again, teasing, grinning mischievously at him.

"Stop! Please!" he begs. He starts laughing again even though I'm a good one meter away from his neck.

Grinning, I stand up. "Okay then. Let's have breakfast."

Theo heaves himself into a sitting position, his hair tousled from where they've been pressed into the pillows for an hour, cheeks flushed. "What's for breakfast?" he asks, looking up at me. "Chocolate?"

"No," I say. "Eggs and bacon.

His face scrunches, nose wrinkling. "I don't like eggs."

"Yeah," I say, my voice teasing. I force a tint of firmness into it. "Well, you're still going to eat them unless you want another tickle bomb. Do you?"

Theo groans. "But Uncle--"

I raise my brows. "Tickle bomb?"

He frowns, slumping his shoulders. "Fine." Then his voice lightens, hopeful as he looks up at me again. "Chocolate after?"

I smile. "Sure."

"Okay!" He grins and scampers off into the kitchen with me quick in his heels. (It's really just a short walk fron the living room to the kitchen).

Liam is sat at the table, munching quietly on a plate of scrambled eggs and a strip of bacon. He smiles when Theo enters and takes an eager seat in front him. "Good mornining, bud," he says as I scamper off to the dish wrack to take out a plate for Theo.

"Good morning, Lili." My back is turned to them but I feel the grin in Theo's words.

"What's with all the laughing and squealing?" Liam asks curiously.

"Uncle was tickling me."

Liam fakes a gasp just as I turn around, his face filled with feigned shock. "He didn't. How evil of him."

"Yeah," Theo agrees, nods, then says, "but he allowed me to eat chocolate after 'cause I don't like eggs."

Liam looks my way and smirks knowingly. I roll my eyes at him, placing an empty plate in front of Theo and filling it with eggs. "Just a little bit, please," Theo says.

I smile at him. "Sure. But you better eat all of it or no chocolate, okay?"

He nods. "Okay."

I ruffle his hair a little after I've a put a decent amount of food on his plate (which is like five spoonfulls and a strip of bacon). Walking over to the fridge, I fill a glass with orange juice, pocket a minibar of chocolate Greg had lying around in his fridge, and walk back to set the glass of juice beside Theo's plate as he eats. "Close your mouth while you chew," I remind him. "And slow down, sheesh. Your chocolate isn't going anywhere, champ."