The Years of Our Lives (Buddie Kid Fic)

Chapter 6: Teething Problems

Eddie checked his watch and sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his face when he saw that it was 3:15am. He had just gotten Romeo back to sleep, holding the exhausted little boy against his chest as he gently bounced him up and down. Romeo's cheeks were bright red and still wet with tears from his most recent meltdown. For the last day and a bit, both twins had been cutting a tooth and neither of them were taking it very well. Buck and Eddie had both taken the previous day off work as Carla had called them up to say that the twins were spiking fevers and were basically inconsolable. The following evening had seen Buck and Eddie taking turns to care for each child, while the other managed the cooking or cleaning. Buck had helped Christopher with his homework while Eddie wrangled feeding the twins. Emilia, who was cutting her 4th tooth, hadn't wanted to eat at all, instead opting to scream so hard she threw up, so Eddie had settled her in his lap and continued to feed Romeo. Buck suggested giving the babies something cold to suck on to ease the pain in their gums, so Eddie had fished out a couple of frozen strawberries that they munched on. It seemed to dull the pain long enough for Buck and Eddie to race through bath time and ship the twins off to bed. However, not 2 hours later, Buck and Eddie had begun taking turns at consoling each baby as they woke up from the pain.

Eddie lowered Romeo back into his crib with extreme care, thinking to himself how similar this felt to the time he'd removed live ammunition from a man's leg. He placed a pacifier next to Romeo, hoping optimistically that the baby would grab it if he woke up again. Tiptoeing quietly from the twins' room, he stole down the hallway back to his and Buck's room. Halfway down, he noticed a light under the door of Christopher's room. Eddie frowned. Why was the 12-year-old awake? He snuck the rest of the way down and knocked on his son's door.

"Chris? You okay in there?"

Eddie was met with silence. Worry built inside him, and he knocked again, giving Christopher a second to respond, before slowly opening the door when there was no response.

Christopher was sitting up on his bed, headphones fitted firmly over his head and tablet in his hands. Eddie walked over to the bed and gently removed the headphones from Christopher's head. The young boy looked up his dad apprehensively.

"Why aren't you asleep, bud?" Eddie asked, settling himself down on the side of the bed.

Christopher sighed and set down his tablet. "The babies keep screaming and I can't sleep" he grumbled, not wanting to meet his dad's eye. Eddie had figured that would be the case, so he didn't feel as frustrated as he'd expected.

"I know bud, Buck and I can't sleep either" he said, placing a hand on Christopher's head and ruffling his hair. Christopher shook his head to remove Eddie's hand.

"Why won't they be quiet, Dad? I wish they would just shut up" he exclaimed, turning around in bed so his back was to Eddie.

"Christopher!" Eddie chastised, "Don't speak about your siblings like that! They can't help that they're in pain".

Eddie immediately regretted speaking harshly as he saw Christopher's face crumble. The pre-teen began to sniff, and Eddie found himself facing his 3rd crying child of the night. He reached over and pulled Christopher into his arms, resting his chin on the boy's curls as he held him.

"I'm sorry for getting mad, bud. I'm also exhausted but that's no excuse for yelling at you".

Christopher rubbed his face with the back of his hand and looked up at Eddie with watery eyes.

"I just wanna sleep", he sniffled, and Eddie's heart broke for him. He too wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and sleep for the rest of the night but in his heart he knew that the twins were going to wake up again. He cast around for an idea and suddenly spotted a set of wireless earbuds on Christopher's bedside table. Reaching over to pick them up, Eddie floated an idea past the boy.