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It took a while for them to clean him up and calm him back down. Sven gently laid the sleeping boy in the crib before sneaking into the bathroom. The door remained slightly ajar, giving them a clear view of the crib and Reuben.
Only a few minutes later, Reuben sat up and immediately removed his socks. He used his bare feet to help him climb the wooden slats on the crib. He maneuvered over the top and again used his hands and bare feet to pretty much rappel down the side. He toddled over to the bathroom door and shoved it open.
“Hi!”
Geoffrey stared down at him, stunned. “He’s never going to stay in that crib, is he?”
“Now I know why my sister built that weird contraption onto his crib at home.”
A low sigh slipped from Geoffrey as he scratched his head. “She did warn us.”
“A little more detail would have been helpful.” Sven picked up his nephew and looked at Geoffrey. “Our romance is going to have to wait.”
Two hours later, Geoffrey dragged with exhaustion as he followed behind the little boy, who apparently needed no sleep. “He has to pass out sometime, right?”
“You’d think.” Sven picked up Reuben for the hundredth time that night and cradled him close. He softly crooned to him, and Geoffrey held his breath as the toddler’s eyes started drooping shut. They stayed as quiet as possible as he finally sagged in Sven’s arms.
Sven walked him back to the crib and laid him down, Geoffrey following. They moved to the hall, and Geoffrey drooped to the floor. Sven sat across from him, a smile playing about his lips. Geoffrey couldn’t help but grin at his sheepish look.
“Some Valentine’s date, eh?” Sven whispered.
Geoffrey crawled across the floor and turned to snuggle back into Sven’s chest. Sven’s arms came around him and as always, he felt safe and sheltered. Sven kissed the top of his head, then his ear. Geoffrey tilted his head, eyes closing with pleasure as those lips nibbled along his neck. “We’re going to have to save the sex for after he goes home. I’d hate for him to walk in on something.”
“It’s definitely giving us a glimpse into the future.”
Geoffrey pulled away enough to look up into green eyes. “The future? You want kids?”
“A little Geoffrey running around here getting into everything? Of course.”
He hadn’t thought about kids, not in any serious way, but the idea of a family with Sven appealed to him more than he expected. “What if we get an escape artist like this one?”
“Then we’ll build a contraption like my sister has on Reuben’s crib. We make it work.” Sven ran his finger along Geoffrey’s lower lip. “What about you? You want them?”
Geoffrey thought about the years he’d spent raising his brother. Granted, Finn had been a teenager and a good kid, so he’d been easy to take care of, but the thought of building a family with Sven made him all warm inside. “I do. But not yet. I’m still enjoying it being us, you know?”
“So am I.”
They heard a noise from inside the bedroom and Geoffrey rolled his eyes. “Let’s just put him in bed with us tonight. It’s the only way we’re going to get any rest. And in the morning, when Alida comes to get him, we’ll continue what we started on the couch.”
“Sounds perfect,” Sven agreed just as the door opened.
“Hi!”Sven raised an eyebrow at his sister the next morning when he answered the door, and she threw her head back, laughing.
“So, where did he end up sleeping?”
“With us.”
She walked past him into the living room, then on to the kitchen where the diaper bag rested on the island. “I could have told you not to spring for a crib. We had to build the sides up on his and add a locking mechanism, so I could bring the top down enough to reach inside. Then I slept next to that crib for three weeks to make sure he couldn’t get out of it. It looks like a prison, but it’s the only way anyone gets any sleep—including Reuben.”
“He still got up twice when we were trying to sleep, so I gave up trying. I don’t know how you do it. He’s relentless.”
She got the juice out of the refrigerator and placed it into the bag. “You should hear his daycare teacher. She finally just gave up getting him to nap. As it is, he’s already succeeded in helping other kids escape the room. Twice.”
She picked Reuben up from where he’d been playing on the living room floor with blocks. The baby immediately squealed and hugged her neck. “You gave them quite a night, didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Sven admitted. “But poor Geoffrey is still passed out. I took Reuben out early this morning, so he could catch up on some sleep. How was your night?”
