Bite-Sized Ficlet: Bed Buddies: Lynn (FINALE)

>It's two in the morning when the door opens.
>Dad groans the moment his sore feet touch the carpet.
>He slips off his coat.
>He missed his house.
>Almost as much as snack time.
>He's halfway through fixing a sandwich when he sees the note.
>"L, call electrician," he reads.
>Scoffing, he makes short work of his meal before going to his room.
>Slowly opening the door, he can make out of the snoring form of his wife.
>Her hips swell up from under the sheets, her wonderful face is hidden in that mane of blonde.
>Beautiful as the day he met her.
>Dad quickly changes into his pyjamas, pulls back the sheets and slips...
>...What's he doing here?
>Lincoln, his only son.
>In his spot.
>Wrapped around his mother, his father's wife, like some kind of...spot-absorbing...baby koala.
>Rita must think their boy's room is too cold.
>Like his wife to overreact at the winter.
>He watches Lincoln squeeze her waist and mutter.
>No.
>This won't do.
>"Hey," dad whispers, tapping his boy's noggin, "Linc, hey. Wake up."
>His eyes don't open, but Lincoln half-grunts an "uh?"
>"It's time for bed," dad whispers, slipping a hand behind his back. "C'mon, let's go."
>Lincoln grumbles, but doesn't fuss as his father hefts him into his arms.
>Dad quickly walks out of his room, through the living room, up the stairs and into the hall.
>He wants to go to bed so badly.
>He doesn't feel the cold air.
>Or notice Lincoln's door knob almost burn his hand with cold.
>Or hear the hinges strain against something.
>Or see the frost coating his son's room, his sheets stiff as cardboard.
>At first.
>The instant he feels his son, his boy, start shivering in his arms, though?
>He looks down at his fussing son and sees his breath in the air.
>He looks back into his bedroom.
>...
>"Good night, son," dad whispers, tucking his boy in.
>Lincoln immediately latches back onto his mother.
>Dad goes to the closet, and sneaks out with a comforter.
>He plops down onto the couch.
>Well, better than some junk hotel.

~Fin~