you should say "in jail."

SLIDING INTO THE SHEETS      practiced arms seek out the familiar form of her daughter. Not exactly a surprised that her daughter still fits so easily against her, it is a comfort all the same. Mo secure’s Leila’s place against her, a mess of brown hair resting above her beating heart. Once more her lips touch down on the girl’s forehead, a seal to the promise she is making. I’m right here, I’ll stay right here. Her eyebrow raises at the small admission, a grin not far behind.    “      You keep sayin’ things like that and I have half a mind to cut off the cable in this house,     ”      she  ( mostly ) jokes, if only for the fact that Billy would never agree to such an arrangement.

THE BIG HOUSE      is too quiet on nights like these. And while it was boasted by the salesmen to be top of the line, it’s rare Mo can sleep on nights when Billy is away. The sound of her daughter breathing offers soothing, ambient noise. The sound of her voice only causes her smile to widen.   “      Just you and me.     ”   One more night. A hand reaches out to pat Benjamin on the head – she couldn’t forget that he probably needed some comforting after the scary movie too, after all.   “      I told the guys we needed some alone time with him.     ” 

          “No, mama, you can’t!” Leila exclaims, eyes wide as she emerges from the burrowing to blink wildly in the dark in the direction she figures her mother was in. “Will Rick Grimes shoot everybody??? Will Ned Stark teach Arya how to swordfight - do you think Daddy will at least teach me how to throw a punch -... please?” She asks, squeezing Benjamin in the process as she snuggles back against her mom. It was the very best place to be. Tied for first with sitting on her Daddy’s shoulders, but she thinks she’s probably getting too big for that now.

          “Do you promise, mama? You’re always going to be around, right?  Forever and ever?”

She’s more than old enough to go to sleep by herself; twelve years old, it had already been three whole years since she had reached double digits. But when she sees her mom passing by the hallway, she calls out, seeking comfort. Leila is all snuggled in with her stuffed puppy - (Benjamin Pupperton III, Head of the Pupperton Estate), and she peeks out, wriggles up when her mom presses a kiss on her forehead. 

Likes it when it’s the two of them, too, but the house is so big that Leila’s half afraid the house will swallow them all up and Daddy won’t be able to find them, and what would he do, then?

Shifts over some when her mom lies down next to her, and Leila will automatically curl up against her. Doesn’t even have to ask and her mom has read her mind. Leila smiles against her chest, nodding her head.

           “Yes, please.” She says, Benjamin safely tucked under one arm. “ --...I might have caught the tail end of a movie I wasn’t actually probably meant to see.” Leila admits, peeking up before burrowing back down.