Space Cadets

Eliza wanted the floor to open up and swallow her when Colin’s family started praising hers. It felt awkward with them having no idea who she really was, and she hadn’t even wanted Colin to be her guard. She still wasn’t exactly thrilled about being forced to have a bodyguard around the clock, but now she knew why she hadn’t been able to annoy him into quitting the assignment, despite her best efforts. She supposed she’d just have to resign herself to the fact that they were stuck together while her family was on Zenia.

They finished dinner and cleaned up, then an exhausted Thalia and Josef went to bed early once he’d been given his evening dose of medication. The kids however were still wide awake and tugged Eliza to the couch.

“Can you read more of my book?” George asked. He sat close to her and handed her the book and Becca asked if she could braid Eliza’s hair.

“I wish I had a sister,” Becca said. “I tried styling George’s hair once but he complained the whole time.”

Eliza smiled slightly. “Well, sisters have their share of problems too. Trust me, I have two of them.”

“Really? What are they like?”

“They’re very pretty,” Eliza said. “Everyone loves them.”

“She can’t read if you keep asking her dumb questions,” George said loudly and Becca stuck her tongue out at him while Colin told them to keep it down. Eliza read into the evening and had no memory of falling asleep, but she woke up in the wee hours of the morning to find herself slumped on the couch in a heap with Becca and George, her neck stiff. Colin was asleep in the chair he’d been sitting in all night. Carefully easing up off the couch, Eliza gently rearranged the kids so they were in less muscle-cramping positions on the couch. There was a quilt folded up by the fireplace and she laid it over them. Then she glanced at Colin, scrunched up in that uncomfortable looking little chair. She sighed.

“Hey,” she whispered, shaking him slightly. When he didn’t budge she nudged him a little harder and he bolted awake so suddenly she jumped and almost shrieked in surprise. She barely managed to muffle it into a startled squeak.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Nothing, God. I was just going to tell you to go to bed. This chair is going to be murder on your back.”

“You’re using my bed,” he said with a yawn.

“Not at the moment.”

“It’s your room while you’re here. I’m fine.”

“You won’t be a very effective guard if you’re hunched over like an old man,” Eliza insisted. “You’re making my spine hurt just looking at you. Go to bed. You’ll be up in a few more hours anyway.”

“I really can’t-“ he broke off as Eliza crossed her arms and glared at him. Colin reluctantly stood and had to stretch to work the kinks out of his back. When he didn’t immediately go to his room, Eliza poked him in the ribs.

“What was that for?” he complained.

“Get moving, bodyguard.”

“Where are you going to sleep?”

“On the couch, with the kids.”

“Eliza, I really can’t take your room.”

“It’s your room.” She rolled her eyes.

“What are you two whispering about in here?”

They both jumped and glanced over to see Thalia, who had emerged from her room and was getting ready for work. She eyed them curiously.

“I was just telling Colin that he needs proper rest,” Eliza replied. She turned back to Colin.

“I am a nurse, after all,” she told him smugly. “It’s my medical opinion and instruction that you go get some decent sleep someplace comfortable.”

Colin rolled his eyes. Thalia came over to give him a goodbye hug before she left.

“She’s right, you know. You do need to take care of yourself. Have a good day, Eliza.”

Thalia paused to give her sleeping younger children a fond look before heading out to the factory. When they were alone again, Eliza pointed down the hall.

“Bed,” she said firmly. Clearly realizing she wasn’t going to drop the issue, Colin hesitantly turned down the hall and disappeared into his room. Eliza took his vacated chair, tucking her legs up and scrunching down in search of a more comfortable position. Then Colin returned with some blankets and pillows.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Camp out in the living room. That way the kids and I can sleep in the blanket fort I’m going to build, and you can have the couch. Everyone wins.”

Eliza sighed. “You can’t just do as I say, can you? All right, move over.”

She helped him construct a “fort,” and then he woke the kids to show them. They scrambled excitedly off the couch and into the makeshift blanket tent, flopping on the pile of quilts and pillows with delight. Colin could only really fit half his body inside and his top half stuck out a ways. Eliza took the pillow he’d given her and moved toward the couch. But then she paused and thumped Colin in the face with the pillow. He let out a muffled noise of indignation while George and Becca giggled. George hit Becca with a pillow, so she hit him back, and soon a brief but ferocious pillow fight broke out. Eliza convinced the kids to form an alliance with her and George sprawled himself across Colin’s legs to hold him down while the girls whacked him with pillows.

“Okay, okay, I surrender,” Colin said. “Totally unfair tactics.”

“We shall go down in the history books as the victors of the Great Pillow Wars,” Eliza said. She and the kids raised their pillows triumphantly while Colin rolled his eyes.

“I know you guys don’t have school today, but you still need to go back to sleep. Lay your weapons down, oh mighty warriors.”

The kids settled back down in the fort, George abruptly asleep before his head even reached the pillow. Eliza climbed up onto the couch, pulling the quilt over herself and laying down.

“I never knew you were a trained pillow fighter,” Colin remarked after a few moments.

“Go to sleep, Colin,” she said without even opening her eyes. She got the sense he was amused.

“Sweet dreams, Eliza.”