"Maaaaaaa!"

Maddie flinched a bit as she woke up, blinking towards the nightstand. The baby monitor's red light was shining accusatorily, the sound of her five-month-old's cries made tinny through its speaker.

"Maaaaaa-aa-aaaa!"

"Jack?" She mumbled, feeling for the warm, thick shoulder in front of her. "Jack, do you hear that?"

"Mmmmgh" was her husband's reply.

Maddie rubbed her husband's shoulder groggily. "Sweetie, d'you mind getting Danny tonight, please? I can get him tomorrow night."

She pressed up a little closer to him as he puffed through his nose. "Mmm, do I have to ?"

"It might pay off," Maddie added, stroking a hand over Jack's shoulder and down his chest. "You never know."

The man stayed silent for a heartbeat or two, before finally grunting in affirmation and hauling himself up.

"Thank you," Maddie called into the dark as the master bedroom door opened.

"Maaaaaahhh! Aaaa-a-aaaa!"

She nestled back into the mattress and yawned, cloudy gaze settling on the baby monitor. The sound of Danny's misapplied door creaked to life over the small system.

"MAAAAAAA!" howled Danny, accompanied by telltale shuffling as Jack picked him up from the crib.

"Aw, Danny, it's okay. You're gonna be fine, kiddo-"

Maddie felt the boom of a heavy thud through the top floor, clear indication that Jack wasn't going anywhere, as Danny continued to wail. She shook her head sympathetically, not knowing who to feel sorrier for—Danny for waking up with sore gums from teething, or Jack for trying to get him back to sleep.

Sleep bundling over her once more, she closed her eyes, the monitor light dim through her eyelids. If Jack rocking Danny to sleep wouldn't work, she'd just have to go in there herself, but Danny'd wake her up again if that was the case, right?

Thankfully, Danny's wailings slowly dissolved to fussing, and then to mumbling barely audible to the baby monitor. Maddie smiled and snuggled her head into the pillow as the baby monitor picked up a low, silvery voice.

"There, there. Good boy. Daddy's here…"

Maddie's eyes prised open, the red dot from the monitor boring through the dark.

"Don't you fret about the mess now, little Badger. Daddy will take care of everything."

That voice was not Jack's.

EDIT 7/15/17: Cleaned this up a little since it's, y'know, not 4 a.m. No, this will not be continued, but I will be working on a three-to-fourshot among a similar premise. Look for "Rockabye" eventually.