What Happens When Mommy's Away

By Kcracken

"Daddy?"

Brad Wolfe moaned as he rolled over. "Yes, Rebecca?" He saw his five year old daughter standing beside his bed, a blanket in her arms, the end of which was being chewed on by his best friend's dog, King. His daughter, however, was rubbing her eyes fiercely with her knuckles. He sighed and sat up, frowning at the lack of warmth that should have been in the bed.

He glanced at the side of the bed where his wife, Ally, should be sleeping. She was off with King's master, Danny Gunn - his best friend since school - taking care of a pack of wolf-demons that had been terrorizing Ally's cousin Rita's, who he had dated in college, neighborhood. He was glad that Pat was with them as well, even though he was a vampire and didn't care much for Brad since he was a werewolf. At least he was a little more experienced at sorcery than Danny.

Rebecca had climbed up into the bed and was huddled up against him. "I can't sleep."

Oh, hell. An awake five year old at - he looked at the clock beside the bed - crap, three fucking am. No wonder he was tired. "What does your mom usually do when you can't sleep?" Ally was normally there to take care of Rebecca at times like this. While he loved his daughter implicitly, he wasn't all that good at normal, every day things like this.

"She makes me some warm chocolate milk."

Brad swallowed hard. Warm milk… with chocolate. That required use of the dreaded stove. The stove he'd promised his wife he wouldn't use. But he loved his daughter and would do anything for her.

"Will you make me some warm chocolate milk, daddy?"

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and then hugged her. "Sure thing, sweetheart." He got out of the bed and picked her up, carrying her into the kitchen. King was still wrestling with the end of her blanket and was dragged along behind them.

He sat Rebecca on the table and went to the cabinet to get the chocolate. He blinked a couple of times, sleep trying to take him over again. He took down the bag of chocolate morsels and then looked around for a pot. He poured some of the morsels into the pot and then went to the refrigerator for the milk.

Finally, he had all the ingredients.

"Mommy usually puts some cinninnamon in it, too."

"Right." He reached into the cupboard and got down the cinnamon. He sprinkled a bit into the pot, yawning as he did, and then turned on the burner. He wasn't supposed to be doing this, but it was for Rebecca. He couldn't very well go out in the middle of the night to get her warm milk from somewhere. That was impossible at this time of the night. He would just be extra careful.

He moved over to sit beside her on the table. She curled up next to him as they watched the pot begin to warm. Warm, just like Rebecca's body next to him. He yawned, his eyes drooping.

"Daddy?"

Brad started, his eyes blinking open quickly. "What?"

Rebecca pointed towards the stove. "Daddy, my milk is on fire."

He rubbed his eyes and saw the flames. "Oh fudge." He moved over to grab the pot, only to find that the handle was quite hot. He tipped over the pot, dumping its contents on the stove, igniting the cinnamon that he'd sprinkled earlier that missed the pot. The flames leapt up, licking the cabinets. "Crap."

He heard a sharp whine and realized it was King. "Sweetie, you and King need to go outside. Daddy's gotta put this out." He ushered her and the dog out the back door then grabbed the fire extinguisher. When he got back to the fire, it was burning the edges of the cabinets. "Oh hell, Ally's gonna kill me."

He grabbed the cabinet door on the right and wrenched it open, breaking the hinge, pulling out all the spices and throwing them on the floor. He then turned on the extinguisher and quickly put out the flames. The damage wasn't that bad, but the chocolate milk was a disaster.

Brad let out a disgusted sigh as he went to find Rebecca. She was sitting on the back steps playing tug-o-war with King, using her blanket as the rope. King stopped tugging when he came out and sat down, looking up at him. His little tail wagged back and forth. Rebecca noticed he was distracted and pulled the blanket out of his mouth then turned to her father.

"Come on, little one," Brad said, hefting her up into his arms. "I'm sorry about your milk. You'll just have to wait until your mom comes home."

She sighed and snuggled up to his shoulder. "It's okay, Daddy. I promise I won't tell Mommy what happened."

He kissed the top of her head as he carried her into the house and upstairs to his bedroom. "That's my girl."