Status: New && In Progress

Burn Me Away

Naptime

"Mommy, your tea's cold now." The little blonde pouted when she came back in the room.

"Maddie, you need to get ready for your nap." She said without offering the usual smile that Corey had grown used to seeing in the past few days.

"Im not sweepy." She announced defiantly.

"It is your naptime. Now, go get ready."

"No, I don't wanna." She plopped down on the floor and refused to move

"Maddox Adeline, you get up this instant. And get ready for your nap."

Sensing the growing frustration and tension in the room, he stood up and faked a yawn. "Man, I'm tired. I think I'm going to take a nap."

"Why?" The little girl wondered. If she wasn't tired, how could a big grown up like him be tired.

"Well, uhh, cause it's naptime." He answered smartly and winked at Courtnee who couldn't help but crack a little halfsmile.

"You has a naptime?"

"Yep. Everyone does. So, you gonna go take your nap?"

She looked at them both questioningly then gave in. "Yeah, I'll take a nap. But only if you tuck me in." She situated herself on top of his foot with her limbs wrapped around his own as she did earlier that morning and allowed him to take her up the steps. Her head had just hit the pillow and he barely gotten the blanket draped over her when her little eyes fluttered shut.

Stepping outside the room, he found Courtnee waiting on him in the hall.

"Thanks. I could feel a tantrum coming on at any second."

"Not a problem. You okay?" He took notice of how her attitude had changed shortly after talking with Craig on the phone and knew something was up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She lied and his eyebrow rose knowingly.

"Sure about that?"

"No, but maybe if I can telling myself that I will be." She shrugged it off and made an effort to change the subject. "So, I think Maddie likes you."

"Oh?"

She nodded, "She's taken to you pretty fast."

"Well, she's a good kid." His lips rose in a handsome smile as he ran his calloused hand over his hair. "You wanna grab something to eat from the kitchen and talk or something?"

"Ummm. Yeah, sure."

After scouring the cabinets and coming to the conclusion that Corey desperately needed to go grocery shopping, they decided take-out would be the most logical choice for food.

"There's some menu's in the drawer by the refrigerator." He informed her as his eyes still scanned the cabinets.

She slid the drawer open and laughed at the piles of things he had stuffed in there. "Geez, Corey."

He turned to see the various items fumbling out of the top and shrugged. "Oops. I assure you those menus are definitely in there.....somewhere."

Laughing, she began to dump everything on the counter in a desperate to find the papers he was talking to about. Batteries, pens, pencils, loose change, and more littered the counter after just a few moments.

"Who's this?" she asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

She held up the wads of pictures that were stuffed in the back of the drawer and his face grew white. He raced over to her and grabbed the photos out of her hand roughly.

"It's nothing." He mumbled.

"Corey, if you need to talk-"

"It's nothing. It's fine. I'm fine. Can we just drop it already?"

"Yeah, Okay." She said in defeat as he marched out of the kitchen without another word.