"Hah, what can you do?"

Dan laughed with a shrug. "Let me get my stuff ready for tomorrow. Then I'll crawl into bed," he said as he rose from the table.

Laura nodded, without saying anything. She paused and looked at him. "Do you think you could hold me for a little tonight? It felt... good," she asked.

"Yeah, I don't see why not," Dan answered with a smile. "We end up basically cuddling every night anyway."

Laura gave a little laugh and shook her head. "We do, don't we? Well, once we get a real mattress we don't have to worry about getting tossed around if one of us moves," she remarked as she headed for the bathroom.

Dan got ready for bed and laid out what he was going to wear the next day. After that, he plugged up his phone and crawled onto the air mattress, careful to not damage their fragile bed. He thought he could see what his mother meant by the way he sagged down a little farther into the mattress.

"Scooch over, you're getting the wall tonight," Laura ordered as she came out of the bathroom, wearing two shirts. "I'll get the lights."

"Okay," Dan laughed. "I offered the first night."

"I know, but that's normally my side of the bed," Laura smiled as she turned out the overhead light. In near darkness, she made her way back to the mattress and slowly climbed in.

"You good?"

"That feels nice," Laura muttered with a small sigh as she wiggled into the sheets. "Here, put your arm around my stomach. Don't touch where you aren't supposed to," she ordered with mock anger.

"Sorry about that," Dan apologized. It'd been an accident in his sleep.

Dan felt her reaching for his hand so he allowed her to position him however she wished. Once settled, he put his head against her back and closed his eyes. It was a nice feeling, having a warm body to cuddle up with. He remembered having a body pillow as a child. This was much better than a squishy pillow.

"Does that work for you?" Laura asked, her tone hesitant.

"Yeah, why? I was just thinking of the body pillow you got me as a kid. This is so much better."

Laura laughed. He could hear the smile in her voice. "I'd imagine it is," she said. "Don't squeeze too tight or you might get dinner in your lap."

Dan laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, I don't want that," he answered and lightly squeezed a little tighter.

Laura grunted and slapped his hand, but didn't comment. He smiled but didn't say anything. "Dan?" she asked a while later.

Opening his eyes, Dan realized he'd started to doze off from the sounds of his mother's warmth and easy breathing. "Mhm?" he mumbled.

"I... I need to get this shirt off. It's... well, it's getting a little hot," she hesitantly said.

"Oh, okay."

"Close your eyes," Laura ordered. "I need to peel off this undershirt."

"No problem."

Laura sat up and fiddled with her shirts. Dan had seen her perform a trick where she pulled her arms through the shirt sleeves and out the bottom of the undershirt. Then she'd snake her arms back up the outer shirt and put them back through the armholes. With little effort, she could pull the undershirt over her head and never expose more than the skin of her stomach.

With his eyes closed, Dan heard a bunch of rustling as his mother fought with the shirt. Less than a minute later, she sighed and laid back on the bed, scooting in. "Thanks, you can open your eyes. Just needed to get comfortable. Get some sleep... and thank you for cuddling me tonight."

"Hey, any time you need it," Dan answered with a smile as he pulled her tighter into him.