She knew it was coming before she even opened her eyes. And then it came; the familiar sound that came every night at this time, and had been for several months. In the darkness she turned to her still sleeping husband. As usual he was oblivious to the sound that had abruptly interrupted another wonderful dream. But she was used to it and she wouldn't want it any other way.

She turned onto her side and gently shook her husband. "Niles…"

"Hmmm..." he said, completely oblivious to her presence. Somewhat annoyed, she tried again. "Niles."

This time he lifted his head and opened his eyes. "Hmmm?"

"Niles, I've just had an awakening." She explained.

He laughed at her comment and then groaned. "Is this your way of telling me that David is awake again?"

She said nothing, smiling at him instead.

"All right, I'll get him." He finally said.

"It's your turn anyway." She pointed out. "I got up two hours ago, remember?"

"No, because I was asleep. And I wish I was still asleep."

"Niles, come on, please?"

He yawned and climbed out of bed, pulling his robe over his body. Before leaving the room, as he always did, he walked over to her side of the bed and kissed her lips. "I love you, Daphne."

"I love you too, Niles. Now get in there."

He sighed and Daphne touched his cheek. "I promise I'll make it up to you later."

With that he kissed her once more and made his way into the hallway to tend to their son. And she was content to roll over and resume her sleep; perhaps fall into the same wonderful dream as before.

Meanwhile, Niles entered the nursery to find that David was crying; thrashing his legs about in his crib. He considered turning on the light, but he knew that his son wouldn't appreciate the sudden brightness and come to think of it, neither would Niles. And so he went to the crib, lifting his son into his arms.

"It's okay, David. Daddy's here. Oh my, you're getting heavy. Not that I mind. I want you to grow up big and strong." He said, cradling the baby against his chest.

He went to the mini refrigerator that they kept in the room, filled with bottles in case of an emergency such as this. And when he found the one that he needed, he carried it over to the rocking chair and sat down, draping a cloth diaper across his shoulder.

"All right David, here you go."

Immediately David began eating as though he'd been without food for days, when in reality it had only been a few hours. Niles was annoyed at the thought of losing valuable sleep. He had patients to attend to first thing in the morning and without sleep, he was sure to be irritable and inattentive, missing key points in his patient's thoughts, should they decide to share any. But as he kissed David's soft head, the baby's blue eyes met his and he heard his son giggle. And then he smiled. He wouldn't have traded this moment for all the slumber in the world.

Daphne turned over once more, frustrated that she could not go back to sleep no matter how hard she tried. Finally in exasperation she climbed out of bed and put on her robe. She crept down the hallway until she came to the nursery and stood in the doorway peering into the room. The sight brought tears to her eyes. Her wonderful, loving husband was sitting in the rocking chair, rocking David to sleep. The bottle still in his father's hand, David had long since lost interest and was asleep as well.

She moved further into the nursery and quietly took the bottle from Niles' hand, replacing the cap and returning it to the refrigerator. She considered putting David back into his but then had another thought. This was a beautiful family moment that she didn't want to disturb.

And so she grabbed a blanket from David's hope chest and brought it to where Niles was sitting in the chair, holding his sleeping son. Quietly she moved a wooden chair close to her husband and sat down, draping the large blanket over herself and Niles as well as their son. Soon she too drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the family that she loved so much. It was moments like these that made everything perfect.

THE END