I'll Always Choose You #Watty's2023

23. Nico

I jolted out of bed and ran across the hall towards Tanner's room to find the little four year tossing and turning on the kiddy bed with his blankets kicked at the foot of the bed, sweat covered his little body and my heart cracked in my chest as I watched helplessly as he thrashed in his sleep. He was whimpering and crying but I knew that if I touched him that it would only cause him to become wilder in his thrashing. All I could do was sit on the floor by the end and softly whisper comforting words hoping that they'd reach his fogged mind.

"You're alright, Tanner," I whispered not looking over my shoulder when I heard the door open knowing that it would be Gio coming to see what was wrong. "No one's going to ever hurt you again."

Soft whimpers filled the room a few moments later as his thrashing began to subside, his chest rose and fell as he took deep breaths, "Papa and I are right here with you and we're not going to let anyone hurt you."

"That's right, bud," Gio whispered as he sat on the other side of the bed making me look up at him and he only smiled as he wiped the sweat off of Tanner's forehead. "The bad guys will never hurt you again. I promise."

Tanner leaned into his touch with a soft sigh before his restlessness stopped and his breathing evened out letting us know that he was asleep once more. But I refused to leave his side in case he had another night terror. This has been happening almost every night since we got back from Missouri with him and Aros. Aros on the other hand has gotten comfortable here at the house. He's even began making friends as soon as we had introduced him and Tanner to the gang. But he's also very attentive when it comes to Tanner and his well-being always looking after him like a little bodyguard.

"Don't ever touch my baby brother," I had heard him yell at a boy near his age a few days after we got back. I had been in the kitchen helping get dinner ready when I heard a loud cry coming from the living room and to my surprise and horror, Tanner was crying and bleeding while Aros punched a boy knocking him to the floor.

"AROS!" I had yelled catching his little fist before it could come back down again on the bleeding boy, "what on earth is going on here?"

"He punched Tanner and made him cry," Aros said as he glared at the boy who was the son of one of Gio's snipers.

"Carl, why did you do that?" The boy's mother asked shocked that her child had hit a boy two years younger than him

"He was annoying," the little bastard said making me glare at him which had him cowering under my gaze

"You have no right to hit my son," I snapped then turned to the woman, "you're lucky that Gio wasn't around and saw what happened," I picked Tanner and carried him down the hall to clean off the blood

"I'm going to tell my daddy," I heard the boy yell after us

"And I'll tell my Papa!"

Needless to say, Aros got Carl in trouble with both Gio and his father when he told them both why Carl was sporting a bruised nose that matched Tanner's.

"He hurt Tanner and I was defending him," Aros replied with a glare at Carl who hid behind his father's legs.

I didn't even stay to listen to the exchange after that as I focused my attention on Tanner.

"Does it still hurt bud?" I asked and he shook his head and I nodded leaning over and pressing a kiss to his forehead, "What do you say if we make some rice crispy treats?"

"Mallows?" He asked and I nodded making him beam and nod his little head in excitement making me chuckle before getting to work on gathering the ingredients that I'd need to make home-made rice crispy treats.

"I'll get the inflatable bed and then we can get some sleep, how does that sound?" Gio's voice broke me out of my thoughts and I nodded. He stood up and leaned over pressing a kiss to my forehead before exiting the room to grab the inflatable bed.

*******

"When is Cara due?" I questioned Gio as he walked into the room while I was folding our laundry and putting them away

"Any day now," he replied going to the closet as he undid his tie, "at least that's what the vet said."

Cara was Gio's dog and has been for the past five years. She's an absolute gem. She has even taken to sleeping outside of Tanner's room for the past couple of weeks—before she got pregnant but now she sleeps on the living room in her little doggy bed—since we brought the boys home with us. She's a Pitsky, a cross between a pit bull and a husky. She was absolutely beautiful with crystal blue eyes and gray fur. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her when he showed me the kennels a few yards away from the house.

"She's only ever out here when she's training but she's usually always inside as she's an indoor dog." He told me when he showed her to me.

"So that means she doesn't go on missions with the gang and the other dogs?" I asked and he shook his head,

"Her dad is the only one that goes on missions. Her mom and her are the only indoor dogs," he replied as he led me to a kennel next to Cara's, "This here is Lily, Cara's mother," and my gosh I fell in love with her just as I did with Cara. Lily was a beautiful black and white husky with mismatched eyes-one black and one crystal blue. She was a beauty.

"And this one here is Thanos," he said as he motioned to the kennel beside Lily's. Thanos was huge—but not in that's he's fat huge but more so in that he's buff huge. He was built like a tank. No wonder he was the only one of the three to be involved with the gang.

We met all the dogs that belonged to the gang before we headed back into the house for dinner.

Needless to say Cara went into heat a few months ago and got knocked up by Zeus—another of Gio's dogs, this one is a mastiff. It'll be a surprise to see what the puppies will look like seeing as Cara is a mix and Zeus is a full breed. It'll be an interesting breed, to say the least.

"I was thinking that we could get the boys each a puppy," I said as he emerged from the closet wearing a pair of gray sweatpants that hung long and a black v-neck that showed his tattoos. And he nodded.

"We can even train one of them to help with Tanner's night terrors," I added

"That's a good idea, I mean I've heard of dog train to help with depression and other mental health problems so I don't see why we can't train one to help him with his terrors."

I smiled and nodded before putting the last of the clothes in its rightful place, "Speaking of, let's go see if he's awake,"

"Papa! Mama!" Tanner exclaimed as soon as we stepped into his room making us smile

"Hi bud," Gio said walking over to the bed and picking him up, "Did you have any more bad dreams?"

He shook his head before resting it on Gio's shoulder, "Let's get some food in that belly of yours then,"