Mouse had arrived late the night before, and had spent most of it unpacking, while Leo was out with his father; as a result, tonight was the first night they were all spending "in" and settled. Henry had told her that, during the week, breakfasts would be "mixed," which meant that it might involve the three of them, or just Mouse and Leo, depending on the circumstances. Lunches, during the week, would obviously be just Mouse and Leo, since Henry would be at work, but dinners were to be separate. Henry had made it very clear that he wanted his private time with Leo in the evenings, and that she was "off" as soon as he came home. Weekends, he said, could be played by ear.

Mouse was therefore very surprised that first evening when Leo came bursting in without knocking just as she was settling in to bed with some popcorn to watch The Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition), and landed on her bed with a flying leap, nearly upsetting the popcorn.

"You love this movie too?" he shouted. He was freshly bathed, and smelled absolutely delightful. His unruly hair was neatly parted and combed, and he was wearing summer cotton pjs with dinosaurs all over them.

"I do, I do," Mouse assured him as he dove into her blankets. "It's one of my all-time favorites, though I can't believe it's one of yours. Aren't you a little young for this? It's really long, isn't it?" She looked at him carefully. "And kind of scary?"

He shook his head. "Nope," he disagreed. "I'm brave. I've seen it lots of times," he assured her. "My favorite part is when Gandalf tells the Balrog 'You shall not pass!' like that, you remember that part?" he turned his head to look at Mouse.

Mouse stifled a smile at his imitation of Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, which was actually pretty good. Meanwhile, he had gone on, reaching for a handful of popcorn as he said, "My other favorite part is when Pippin is all worried about eating, and he goes, 'What about second breakfast? Elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon Tea? Dinner? Supper?' And Merry goes, 'I don't think he knows about second breakfast,' remember that part?" And he looked up at Mouse again, this time with a mouthful of popcorn. His Scottish accent was actually pretty good, Mouse thought. She remembered that Billy Boyd, who played Pippin, was a native Glaswegian.

"Wow, I guess you've seen this movie many times, huh?" she asked, grabbing some popcorn herself. Onscreen, Gandalf had just made some fireworks explode, making some hobbit children very happy.

Leo nodded. "Lots and lots of times," he asserted. He snuggled in to Mouse's side, leaning his head into her body. She lifted her arm out of the way and he actually crawled in closer, burrowing like a little forest creature. It was one of the dearest things Mouse had ever experienced.

"You smell good," he announced. "Soapy. And you're soft," he added. "Because of, you know, in front?" He smiled and poked at the side of her breast. "Is that bad?" he asked, looking up at her. "Is that bad that I said that?"

Oh god.

"Leo, of course not," Mouse said. "I'm a girl, a woman, and we have different bodies, we're built different than boys and men, that's all. Those soft parts in the front are called breasts," she told him. He smiled a little when he heard the word, but that was all. "And boys and men have them, too, they're just much, much smaller, and not nearly as soft, like you said."

"But I've leaned on Madeleine's sometimes, just on accident, and they're not soft and nice like yours," Leo said stoutly. "Hers feel hard and mean." And he shook his head, like he'd smelled something acrid. He poked at the side of her breast once more for emphasis.

Mouse could no longer contain her laughter. It bubbled up from inside, and she set the popcorn bowl on the table so she could hug Leo with both arms and let loose with a huge laugh.

Leo put his arms around her, arms that still had a bit of baby roundness to them, and laughed with her, not really understanding why she was laughing, but joining in because he was young and didn't know how not to. The two of them laughed and wrestled, because it was fun, and they could.

"What in the world is going on?"

Henry's voice stopped them, mid-giggle, and Mouse and Leo looked over at him where he stood, arms crossed, in the doorway. Leo was sitting on Mouse's midriff, straddling her like she was a horse.

"Leo Henry Gardener, did you come in here uninvited?" Henry asked. He, too, was in sweats and a T-shirt, obviously dressed for bed.

Mouse took a breath to respond, but Henry held up a hand to silence her, keeping his eyes on his son.

"Leo?"

Slowly releasing Mouse and climbing off her, Leo nodded.

"Do you remember the rules about the nannies and nighttime?" Henry asked.

Leo nodded again, climbing off the bed. Mouse sat up, looking down to make sure she was appropriately covered as Leo walked to his father. Henry grasped his son's shoulders and turned him around to face Mouse.

"I'm sorry I came into your room uninvited," Leo said with a sigh, pulling his shirt down to cover his tummy. His father nudged him. "I promise it won't happen again," Leo added.

"I'm so sorry," Henry added. "I was changing and cleaning up, and suddenly he was gone. He's never done this before. I mean, he's never come to bother a nanny at night before. It won't happen again."

"No, it wasn't a bother, honestly," Mouse said. Henry could tell she felt awkward to be in her bed, in her pjs, in front of him, and mentally cursed his young son for putting the two of them in this position. "I--I don't mind, I really don't." She smiled at Leo, who smiled back. "I mean, I know this is your time with him, and I--I don't want to intrude on that--"

She wasn't sure how to proceed.

"I was just going to watch a movie," she finally rushed on. "And he said it was one of his favorites?" She gestured at the screen, where the hobbits were now hiding in some tree roots from one of the Nazgûl, the ring wraiths, holding their breaths as the terrifying hoofed creature with the glowing red eyes pawed the ground above their heads. Leo looked at her imploringly. "Maybe we could all watch it together? Out in the family room--?" she finished haltingly. "If I wouldn't be intruding?"

"Daddy?"

Mouse realized that the one word was much more effective than all the whining and begging in the world could have been. He turned huge eyes to his father, who looked down at his son. He then looked over at Mouse, lips pursed.

"That rule was instituted in part for your sake, Mouse, so Leo wouldn't drive you demented at night," Henry said with a smile. "By all means, if you don't mind to spend the evening with us menfolk, let's all watch together, then."

"Yay!" Leo jumped up and down. Henry caught him on one of these jumps and scooped him up into his arms, into a huge hug. "You, you manipulative little bugger," he exclaimed with a kiss for his son.

"I thought 'bugger' was a bad word in England English," Leo said accusingly, giggling as his father blew a huge raspberry on his tummy.

Mouse laughed as she got out of bed, grabbing the popcorn on the way. It was only as she was sitting on the couch with them that she realized she wasn't wearing a bra. Of course she wouldn't be, not under pjs, but she felt a little weird to be in such an unharnessed state in front of Henry. She wasn't exactly flat-chested, as Leo had pointed out, and she was wearing a fairly form-fitting shirt, chosen for comfort when sleeping and nothing else. She told herself to stop being ridiculous; Henry spent his days photographing the most beautiful women in the world, he wasn't going to think anything of her Martha Mouse boobs. In addition to his glamorous job, he had a glamorous girlfriend, with long legs and a slinky body. No doubt she had tits to die for as well.

Leo sat between his father and Mouse with the popcorn bowl in his lap, and after a few minutes, Henry went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of wine for himself and for Mouse. She accepted it with murmured thanks.

As she expected, Leo fell asleep before the movie was half over. He slouched comfortably into Mouse's side, and she eventually just pulled him over so his head was on her lap. Henry lifted his legs onto the couch and he slept between them, a soft presence on the sofa. After about an hour, Henry picked his son up and carried him off to bed.

Mouse was surprised when he returned, sitting back down on the couch and picking up his glass of wine.

"You don't have to keep me company," she told him. "You must be tired."

"Are you kidding? I love this movie," Henry said, sounding so much like his son that it made Mouse smile. "I'm a total night owl, I have been since college. I have insomnia, too. It's gotten pretty bad these last couple of years," he admitted.

"Maybe you should take something for it," Mouse suggested. One of her brothers had bad insomnia, and he'd struggled for years.

"My doctor has said that to me, but I don't really want to medicate, you know? Not with a narcotic, anyway, not while Leo's so little. I mean, what if he needs me in the middle of the night, and I'm drugged, stoned out of my mind, you know?" He looked at Mouse. "I'm all he has right now, I need to make sure I'm here for him." He lifted his wine glass. "This is as strong as I want to go, for now anyway."

"That makes sense," Mouse said. "He's a really great kid, you know? You probably hear that from a lot of people, but I mean it."

Henry smiled at her. "It's nice to hear you say it, you have no idea," he replied. "I've actually never seen him take to someone so quickly, to tell you the truth," he continued. "It's been a real struggle. I think this is going to be a good summer for both of us." He finished his wine. "For all three of us, I hope." He gestured toward Mouse.

"I think it will be," she assured him.

So they finished watching the movie, winding up sitting quite close together, now that Leo was no longer between them. Henry noticed the same smell that Leo did, the nice, clean smell of soap and nothing else. He also noticed that she had a lovely figure, but he told himself that he shouldn't notice things like that, that she was his employee, a college student, practically a child, and that he was in a committed relationship, all perfectly good reasons not to notice what he had noticed.

"Good night," she said to him when the movie was over.

"Good night," he replied. And he found himself walking quickly where she'd passed, hoping to catch another whiff of her elusive scent before he went to bed, hoping to catch another glimpse of her in her pjs before she closed her door.

He managed to do both.