Chapter Text
Smeerensburg had been hit by a sudden, brutal blizzard and the post office rocked and creaked to an alarming degree in the wind.
Jesper lay wide awake, trying to ignore the moans and swaying of the poor dilapidated building they called home. Of course, he wasn’t the only one awake.
Sophie had once again wriggled her way, uninvited, into his arms and was most likely the most comfortable person in the room. She drifted in and out of sleep, seemingly mad at the storm for interrupting her rest as she grumbled and rolled over every time the wind picked up and shook the walls.
At this late an hour Jesper had resigned himself to a sleepless night with an armful of squirming toddler and just tried to appreciate being off his feet for a bit.
He felt another tiny hand on his shoulder and just barely heard Agnes' soft voice over the storm.
"Can I sleep over here with you?"
This was odd. Agnes almost always slept next to Nelly. He'd never seen it any other way.
"What happened to Nelly?" He asked.
"Nelly isn't sleeping." She told him in the closest thing to a whine he'd heard so far from the soft-spoken girl.
He squinted into the darkness behind her and saw the outline of Nelly sitting up ramrod straight with her back against the wall.
He groaned.
"Sure, the more the merrier."
Agnes had barely managed to settle in around the already disgruntled Sophie when Jesper felt someone else breathing on him.
"Hey, can I come over here too?" Joelle whispered, far too close to his ear.
"Yes, of course. Why not?" He said, barely bothering to keep his voice down since apparently no one was sleeping.
Joelle added herself to the group much less carefully, greatly upsetting Sophie who wasn't used to having all this company.
None of the girls actually went to sleep and it wasn't much later when something broke loose somewhere and the wind and snow began pouring in at full force.
Suddenly everything was knees and elbows as the boys jumped over to Jesper at the same time Nelly and Yvette jumped to the wall to try and patch up the hole.
When the wind was once again slightly more muffled Yvette made her way over to their little pile, yelled "Move over!" at no one in particular, and put her self right in the middle.
Nelly never asked to join them, but Jesper heard shuffling behind him and felt another small hand bunch up the back of his shirt as he fell asleep. Nervous and uncomfortable and bruised, but warm.
-
It had been a few months since that first Christmas, and only a few weeks since they'd all moved in with Klaus and made that cabin in the woods a little less lonely.
And it was a good thing they'd finished settling in when they did. The rapidly approaching Spring meant nothing to the weather of Smeerensburg and the island was once again expecting a massive blizzard.
They were ready for it though. Everyone was safe inside for the night, the kids were in bed, and Jesper was waiting for Klaus to settle into their bed next to him.
For once Klaus was the one doing most of the talking. He was going through a list of what Jesper liked to refer to as "Klaus Things", things Klaus always had totally under control.
They had plenty of extra food and firewood in case they got snowed in. The reindeer and horse were safe in the stables with plenty of feed. He was listing off the most likely areas of the house and workshop that could be damaged in the rough weather and made it clear he would check on them first thing in the morning.
It was all things he didn't need much (if any) help with, so Jesper tuned him out a bit. Just half listening as he lay in bed. He had his own preparations for the storm to worry about and he was trying to figure out if he should tell Klaus what to expect.
He wouldn't have to worry for long though. Almost as soon as Klaus had the lights out and had joined him under the covers they had their first intruder.
Sophie had slipped in and made her presence known by going up to the bed and smacking Jesper on the arm without saying a word.
Jesper turned over and reached down to pick her up but she climbed right over him and into Klaus' arms.
"Since when do you prefer him over me?" Jesper asked her in mock outrage.
"Papa." She said matter-of-factly, patting Klaus on the cheek.
"Mouse, how could you betray me like this?" He continued, burying his face in his pillow and pretending to sob dramatically. His emotional display only made her giggle.
Agnes was the next to sneak in, completely unnoticed over their joking and laughing.
"I still want you to hold me, Dad." She said softly.
"Well!" Jesper said, helping her up into the bed. "At least someone around here still likes me!"
Sophie continued laughing at all his noise as he tucked Agnes in next to him.
"More than one someone." Klaus said, reaching over and running a hand through Jesper's hair. "Now, let's get some sleep." He said to the girls. "The storm won't bother us in here."
"Oh, we're not done yet." Jesper told him. It wasn't unusual for them to find their two littlest curled up with them most nights, but he was pretty sure it would be more than just the four of them this time.
Even though the howling storm was much more muffled in here than it had been in the post office and the sturdy, well built walls of the cabin did an excellent job of keeping the snow out he was sure they'd have more visitors soon.
Klaus didn't even have time to ask Jesper what he meant before the boys were peeking around the side of their door.
"Can we stay in here?" Oskar asked. "Oliver's scared of the storm."
"What?" Oliver exclaimed. "You're the one who woke me up."
"No, you were awake too!" Oskar tried to defend himself.
"You were crying." Oliver said, flatly.
"Boys!" Jesper yelled over them before they could continue. "Please stop arguing and just get over here already."
The twins ran over to the bed and quickly climbed over Jesper to plant themselves right in the middle, Oskar carelessly stepping right on his stomach in his hurry.
"Sorry Dad." He said when he heard the strangled noise Jesper made as he tried not to curse.
"Jesper?" Klaus sounded much more genuinely concerned than Oskar did.
"I'm fine." Jesper said, taking a deep breath. "I've been through worse."
They had a few moments where it seemed like someone might actually fall asleep, if they didn't have to keep fruitlessly shushing the boys who would not stop loudly whispering to each other.
Then Joelle wandered in with Chekhov in her arms, the excessively tolerant cat allowing her to carry him cradled like a baby.
"That cat is not getting in this bed." Jesper told her before she could even ask a question.
"What?" She asked, clearly unhappy with that new rule. "But he always sleeps in my bed!"
"And he can go back to your bed." He said, staying firm on his statement.
"Joelle," Klaus said over them. "Why don't you set him down and see where he wants to sleep?"
Joelle frowned but set the cat on the floor before climbing into bed next to Klaus and Sophie, making no effort to hide her lingering frustration with Jesper.
Chekhov jumped up and made himself comfortable at the foot of the bed and it took everything Jesper had in him not to comment on it.
Yvette stormed in soon after, going right up to the bed and leaning over Jesper to look at Joelle.
"Why aren't you in our room?" She asked her.
"I couldn't sleep." Was all Joelle had to say.
"Well I couldn't sleep neither once I saw you were missin'!" Yvette said.
"If you're scared of the storm you can just stay here with us." Joelle told her.
"I'm not scared!" Yvette insisted. "You're just being a baby!"
Suddenly there was a loud bang, like something hitting the side of the house hard, and Yvette was in-between Joelle and the boys in an instant.
"Now who's the baby?" Oskar teased her.
"That's enough name calling." Klaus said in a firm but gentle voice.
The kids weren't even pretending to try and sleep now, just quietly bickering and joking with each other and Jesper. Klaus had gone oddly silent. When Jesper looked at him he was watching them with a soft smile and wet eyes.
"Hey," Jesper called to him quietly over the noise in-between them. "You doing alright?"
Klaus rubbed his eyes with the palm of his free hand. Uh oh.
"You know what, I think you still owe me a thank you and I can't believe I've let it slide for this long." Jesper joked, mostly for his own benefit. If Klaus started crying he would cry too, and then the kids would notice and they'd all just be a big mess.
"Oh really?" Klaus smiled. "What exactly have I forgotten to thank you for?"
"For making all your dreams come true." Jesper whispered, doing his best to sound smug.
But, oh, maybe that was a little less jokey and a little more sincere than he'd intended. Klaus' smile got wider, but tears had begun forming in the corner of his eyes. He looked away and Jesper was worried he'd really gone too far with what was supposed to be just a little teasing.
Except Klaus wasn't just looking away from him, he was looking at something behind Jesper. Jesper strained his neck to look over his shoulder. Nelly stood there silently, her own blanket bunched up in her arms.
"Well, are you getting in," Jesper asked her, raising an eyebrow. "Or are you just going to stand there all night?"
Without waiting for her answer, Jesper moved towards the center of the bed making room for her on the edge. He knew she wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle.
Everyone else grumbled and shifted over as Klaus chuckled and Nelly climbed up, pressing in close next to Jesper but cocooning herself in the blanket she'd brought with her. She made no excuses for why she was there, and no one asked her to.
Eventually the chaos settled and the children fell asleep, the adults doing there best to remain quiet. Jesper watching Klaus' face as best he could in the dark.
"You're welcome." He whispered once it seemed like the kids were really asleep. "I really want to kiss you right now, but I don't think I can reach that far without causing a disaster."
Klaus laughed, doing his best to keep it quiet and not disturb Sophie who was curled up on his chest. "I guess we'll have to wait for that."
Jesper reached over and Klaus met him in the middle, taking the man's hand in his own.
"I love you."
"Love you too."
They stayed like that for a while, hand in hand, Jesper completely trapped in bed by his not-so-little family all around him.
He knew they'd wake up in the morning with elbows in their ribs and weird aches from not being able to move and the kids fighting because someone else got up too early or because they couldn't find their way back out of bed.
But it was worth it for this.