Bed Time

Augustus Nod walked purposefully through the thirtheen floors of his mansion. Dinner was a few hours ago but it was normal for him to stay up late to throw water balloons at the unsuspecting people who passed by the mansion, although right now he was looking for his foster children. He searched for them in every room of the mansion but couldn't find them and he was staring to become worried.

Once he reached the living room he stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of a hairy, one-eyed, spider-like creature sitting on the couch watching the television. The creature glanced at the elderly man and waved a tendril at him. Augustus found the creature several years ago and named it "Pilosoculus", which is latin for "hairy eyeball", although the twins usually called it "Pet".

"Hello Pilos," Nod greeted his old friend. "Have you seen Edgar and Ellen?."

Pet "nodded" and crawled towards the elevator, once Nod did the same Pet climbed into his arm and pressed the first button on the number gird in the elevator. Then Nod remembered the only place were he didn't look into.

"They are in the roof, aren't they?." He asked Pet, who nodded.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Nod and Pet stepped out. Curled asleep in garden chairs side by side were Edgar and Ellen, and sitting near them reading a book was a black-haired woman.

"Hello, Augustus." The woman greeted Nod.

"Hello Dahlia."

Nod approached the twins quietly, not wanting to wake them up.

"They are cute, aren't they?." Asked Madame Dahlia.

"Sure." Said Nod. "When they aren't destroying my house that is."

Madame Dahlia chuckled. Nod leaned over and lifted Edgar gently in his arms, the young boy pressed closer against his chest, a pasty hand grasped his shoulder. Nod intended to carry both twins to bed himself. Pet jumped off of Nod's shoulder and into the floor so that he couldn't have to carry extra weight.

The sight of Nod cradling Edgar in his arms made Dahlia almost squeal, although she didn't want the elderly man to hurt himself.

"Do you need help, Augustus?." She asked.

"Thank you but I can handle." He said.

After a few moments of protests, Nod agreed to let her carry Ellen to bed. Madame Dahlia gathered the young girl in her arms, who settled down in the woman's arms and went still. When they were certain that the kids were asleep, they headed for the twins' rooms while Pet helped them by pressing the buttons on the elevator and making sure there wasn't anything they could trip with. Pet opened the door to the twins' room and helped Nod and Dahlia tuck the twins in. The adults caressed each twin's head before heading for their own rooms.    

A sad smile formed on Nod's face as he remembered the times when he could carry his daughter Agatha to bed. When she was a child, that is. He couldn't believe it but as time passed he had grown to love Edgar and Ellen as if they were his own children, or his own great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren. He took an instant liking of them ever since the day he met them, realizing that they, like him, posessed the gumption, the intellect, the independent spirit and loathed the Knightleigh family, the family that had caused Nod so much grief in his life. Taking them in was a decision he knew he could never regret.