Chapter Text
Rodney didn’t tell Elizabeth about the session with Dakota and when their son called them for his nightly phone call, he didn’t mention it to her either. The nightly phone calls went on as planned until Wednesday when it got later and later without the telephone ringing at the Dare residence. Josh and Chevy were sleeping on the couch sucking on their selected comfort fingers. Reid was sitting on Rodney’s lap reading a book, while his daddy watched the History channel. Elizabeth had their cordless phone sitting next to her on the couch. Her and Cecilia were making a fleece tie blanket together.
“Mama,” Cecilia tied a corner on the blanket, “Why hasn’t Kota called yet?”
“I don’t know, Sissy.”
Reid put the bookmark in his book, “Yeah, he always calls by now. Do you think he got in trouble or something?” He rubbed his sleepy eyes. “He’s called every night since bein’ allowed too.”
“Paul would have called if he lost his phone call.” Rodney answered. “He’ll call babies.”
They went back to what they were doing. Reid fell asleep like his little brothers, nervously sucking his thumb. He usually had the habit under control, but not tonight. Reid really wanted to talk to his big brother. The girls had finished their blanket and Cecilia was covered up with it, leaning against her mama, watching the television. She was almost asleep. A half an hour later, their phone rang.
“Hello, Dare Residence, Lizzie speaking.”
“Hi, Ma.” Dakota said relieved to hear her voice.
“Sweetheart, is everything okay?” Elizabeth asked him.
“We had a stupid fire drill.” Dakota was irritated. “Logan missed his phone time too. His is before mine, so, I had to wait for him and Papa to finish for it to be my turn, cos it’s just him on night shift in our wing. Are the kids sleeping?”
“That doesn’t sound like much fun.” Elizabeth validated. “The boys are sleeping, honey. They all tried to stay up. I’m sorry. Sissy is still awake. How about you talk to her while I carry them to bed?”
Dakota was disappointed, “Okay, Mama. I’ll talk to Ce.”
“I love you, Kota.” She waited for him to say it back. “Here’s your sister.”
Cecilia took the phone, “Hey, Kota!”
“Hi, Sissy. How you doing?”
“I’m tired, you called late.” Cecilia turned her braid around her finger.
“I know.” Dakota was too tired to pick a fight with her. “We had a freaking fire drill. I was in the damn shower when the alarm went off. That was real, real fun. I had like a second to get dressed before Paul was telling me we needed to go outside.”
Cecilia laughed, “That’s funny.” She couldn’t stop grinning, “Did you get the knots out of your hair? It was hot today, I bet it dried while you were outside.”
“It took all of Lo’s phone call, but yeah, I did.” Dakota told her. “I wish Mama, or you were here to braid it though. I’m too tired.”
“Really?” Dakota rarely let her touch his hair, “You’d let me?”
“If you were here,” He teased, “But you ain’t, so sorry about your luck.”
“Jerk.” Cecilia sassed.
“Love you too.”
“Love you more.” Sissy meant it. “You wanna talk to Daddy?”
“Uh, huh.”
“Kay.” She gave the phone to Rodney, then went to her room.
“Hiya, Ace.” Rodney drawled.
“Hey, Daddy.”
“Mama said you had a fire drill when she took RJ down to bed.” Rodney noted. “I’m sure you enjoyed that.”
“Oh, so much.” Dakota said sarcastically, “It was the highlight to my day.”
Rodney snorted, “There’s my boy.” He rubbed his beard, “Besides that how was your day, baby?”
Dakota moaned, “Long.” He switched ears with the phone, “Logan and I had group with August in the morning. Then in the afternoon a bunch of us did a road clean up today. It was nice to be outside all that time, but it was friggin’ hot out. What did you do today?”
“I’m glad you got to do some work outside, honey. That always helps your mood.” Rodney put the footrest down on his chair. “I worked with the horses today. Hershey’s doing good. He misses you. Reid helped me clean the stables, then I took him to get some ice cream since he was the only kid who volunteered.”
“Awe, man, I can’t wait to ride again.” Dakota emphasized. “I bet RJ had fun with you. Is he doing better with handling Kit-Kat without a saddle?”
“He’s waiting for you, kid.” Rodney promised. “RJ actually practiced bareback today. He did pretty good, but he gets nervous on turns.”
“I remember bein’ that way too.” Dakota yawned.
“You tired, baby boy?”
“A little.”
Rodney grinned at his son’s sleepy voice, “Then let’s say goodnight. I love you, Kota.”
“I love you too.” Dakota replied, “Night, Daddy.”