82 Sleep Schedules

She colored to her heart's content on her stomach in front of where he sat until she passed out on top of her artwork. Ruby couldn't help but laugh as she bent down and saw a few flakes of crayon wax on her cheek.

"I suppose your sleep schedule will be changing to match hers once we get back," Ash said with a sigh. "I'll hardly see you that way."

"Yeah…sorry about that. She always wakes up at the crack of dawn like a rooster. We could try to work out some sort of system but I don't know how effective that would be," Ruby admitted.

Their old schedule of him sleeping 6 AM to 3 PM and her sleeping midnight to 9 AM wouldn't work with a baby fairy who was awake from roughly 6 AM to 7 PM with a couple of naps scattered throughout the day. She supposed Ash could stick to that schedule while she woke up when Flora did and went to bed a few hours later.

She ended up telling him her idea and he nodded. "That could work. We could swap out who gets the bed as soon as she wakes you up."

Ruby had been taking care of Flora for the past week and a half or so but she had no idea how to actually parent a child. Of course she had to do it—she wouldn't leave her only remaining family to fend for herself—but there was an awful lot she would have to learn.

The one thing she did know how to do was help a fairy cultivate its powers because she had been through that herself. Flora would do well helping her in the garden but she wondered if she should try and take over the nursery as well.

Had anything happened to it since Flint and Lily's deaths? Were the human employees still running it without bosses around or had they abandoned it?

She still hadn't told Flora the truth about her parents. Going to the nursery would surely make her ask where they were. It might be better to avoid it. Ruby would have to tell her eventually but she wanted to put it off as long as she could.

Avoiding unnecessary reminders would be best but she should stop by the Gardners' house at some point to pick up clothes, toys, and any unperishable food lying around. No point in letting those things go to waste.

If they truly were going to stay at Ash's castle for any length of time they would need a lot more of those electricity devices she had been on her way to pick up when she had to dash out to save Flora. She wanted the baby to be surrounded by normal things as much as possible.

"Before I forget," Ash said, breaking through her thoughts. "I have your phone."

He held it out and Ruby took it from him in surprise. "Where did you get this?"

"Thank you." She put the phone into the pocket of her shorts before narrowing her eyes at him, an earlier question coming back to her. "Why are you still wearing that anyway?"

Ash shrugged. "I thought it was funny that you played with my hair when I was asleep so I left it alone."

He was a lot more sentimental than he let on, wasn't he? Ruby smiled and shook her head. "What can I say? You have beautiful hair and it was right in front of me so I couldn't resist the urge to braid."

He laughed. "Is that so? I didn't realize that was a valid excuse; I'll have to use it later."

"Huh?"

Ash reached out and pinched her cheeks. "You have such round cheeks and they're right in front of me so I couldn't resist the urge to pinch either."

Ruby scowled and rubbed the spots where he pinched. It hadn't hurt but it wasn't the most comfortable thing on the planet. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

He didn't get the chance to respond because it was time for them to board. Ash picked up Flora and let her rest against his shoulder while Ruby took care of the coloring book and crayons. They headed to the gate right away because he had bought first class tickets, being mindful of his fairy companions' wings needing the extra space.

Unfortunately, there weren't any direct flights into the airport closest to the castle so they had to fly into San Francisco first. They were in for a long night but with any luck Flora would stay asleep.

Every time Ruby got on a plane it was the same story: she couldn't get comfortable no matter how hard she tried. Her wings always somehow got squished, even with the seat dividers up. Flora was small enough that hers managed to fit in the allotted space. Lucky her.

"I need to go see Blair as soon as we get back," she sighed.

Ash raised an eyebrow at her. "What for?"

"To make your castle habitable for Flora. I'm used to roughing it but she's not; she was born in a human-style house and has lived in one her entire life. We need more electricity. Besides, I promised her I'd see her as soon as I got out of there anyway."

He frowned. "You assumed you would get out of there unassisted?"

"Yes…after a hundred years. I had a tiny bit of bargaining power so I got Dorian to agree to keep us safe and allow me to raise Flora normally for the time being with a blood contract. If I actually had died back there, he would have too," Ruby confessed. "I may have gotten a bit carried away talking back on the night you rescued us and that's why he went a bit too far that time."