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Jin rolled over in bed as his four-month-old’s cries pierced through the silence that the house had been engulfed in moments before.

“Hey, hey, Kookie, it’s ok.  Appa is here.”

He slipped a pacifier into the tiny baby’s mouth in an attempt to calm his crying before he woke one of the other boys up.  It was only around four o’clock and Jin did not want to have to deal with two cranky kids.  But he hadn’t been fast enough.  His door creaked open as two little feet padded their way into the room.

“Appa…?  Kookie wakey?”

Jin sighed.  Tae was usually a deep sleeper, but he had the odd night of getting up very early and finding his way into either Jin’s bed or one of his older brother’s beds.  It appeared tonight was that odd night.

“Yes, Kookie wakey.” Jin responded to Tae’s question.

“Oh!  Wan’ give Kookie bottle!” Tae was quick to climb up into Jin’s armchair next to the bed, indicating he was ready to hold the small baby.

Jin chuckled. “All right.  I’ll go get his bottle ready and then you can give it to him, ok?  Put the pillows in the chair while I’m gone.”

“Ok!” Tae clapped his small hands together and climbed back to the ground to collect the pillows to line the armchair with.

Jin scooped Kookie up off the bed and headed to the kitchen to get his bottle ready.  Once it was ready, he headed back to his bedroom to find Tae sitting patiently in the armchair, an abundance of pillows surrounding him to help him hold Kookie up.

“Ok, Tae-Tae, are you ready to feed Kookie?”

“Yeah!” Tae clapped his hands together again.

“Ok.” Jin bent to set Kookie in Tae’s waiting arms before handing him the bottle.

“Kookie, want bottle?” Tae asked, holding the nipple up to Kookie’s lips.  Kookie latched on immediately and hungrily sucked on the bottle.  Tae grinned, making Jin smile at his two tiny angels.

Pretty soon, Kookie had fallen asleep and the bottle had been emptied.  Jin took the bottle from Tae.

“Do you want to keep holding Kookie?”

Tae nodded enthusiastically. “Kookie cute sleep.” Tae whispered.  Jin chuckled.

About twenty minutes later, Tae was starting to nod off in his seat.

“Tae-Tae, do you want to go back to bed?  I can take Kookie now.”

Tae pouted. “No…wan’ stay…” he blinked back tears.

“Ok, ok, you can stay.  But let’s go cuddle in the bed, ok?  Can I have Kookie?”

Tae nodded and Jin scooped Kookie up into his arms. “Tae-Tae, go get your blankie and your paci and then we can cuddle, ok?  But be quiet so you don’t wake Minnie.”

Tae nodded again and climbed off the chair.  He wandered back to the room he shared with Jimin to retrieve the items.  Meanwhile, Jin attempted to place Kookie into the bed without waking him up.  But it didn’t work.  Kookie was awake again, wailing loudly.  He reached up and tugged at his ear a bit.  Jin furrowed his brow.  He placed his hand on Kookie’s forehead.  Oh, dear, he was definitely running a fever.  Did he have an ear infection?  Jin decided it was best to just go with he had an ear infection and treat it.

He scooped Kookie up, popped his pacifier in his mouth to silence him, and headed out to the kitchen to heat up some olive oil and sliced garlic.  However, a minute later he could hear soft cries coming from down the hallway.  Realizing it was probably Tae, he turned off the burner and headed back down the hallway.  He found Tae trying to pull himself up onto the armchair while crying around the pacifier in his mouth and clinging to his blanket.

“Tae-Tae, what’s wrong?”

Tae turned around upon hearing Jin’s voice and instantly ceased trying to climb the chair.  He ran over to Jin and hugged his leg, tears still streaming down his chubby cheeks.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

Thankfully he had gotten Kookie to calm down and he had cuddled up against Jin’s shoulder.

“Appa and Kookie gone gone…” Tae cried.

“Oh, I’m sorry, baby.  Kookie’s ear hurts so Appa was making him some medicine.”

Tae stared up at him with wide eyes. “Nuuu not give Kookie medicine.  Medicine icky!”

“He won’t taste the medicine, baby.  It goes in his ear to stop it from hurting.”

“Oh…”

“Come on, let’s go to the kitchen and finish making it so Kookie can feel better, ok?”

Tae nodded, following Jin back to the kitchen, clinging to his blanket as he sucked on his pacifier.  His tears slowly dried as they made their way to the kitchen.  Once Jin had turned the burner back on, Tae tugged on his pajama pant leg.

“Wan’ see, Appa.”

Jin chuckled and scooped Tae up.  Tae peered into the sauce pan.

“What that, Appa?” Tae asked after pulling his pacifier from his mouth.

“It’s sliced garlic and olive oil.  When it’s warm enough we’ll take the garlic out and put the oil in Kookie’s ear so he’ll feel better.”

“Oh.” Tae stuck his pacifier back in his mouth and leaned his head on Jin’s shoulder.

“Don’t get comfortable, baby.  I’m gonna have to put you down in a minute.”

Tae pouted, but willingly got down when Jin set his feet on the ground a moment later.  Jin drained the garlic out of the oil after making sure it was body temperature and coaxed Kookie to lay on his side so he could pour the oil in his ear.  Once it was in Kookie’s ear and Jin had stuck a paper towel in his ear to keep the oil from spilling, Jin took his two youngest back to bed.

Jin placed Kookie in the center of the bed before lifting Tae and putting him opposite of where he himself was going to lie.  Then he climbed into bed and pulled the covers over all three of them.

“Are you comfy, Tae-Tae?”

Tae hummed, the sound muffled by his pacifier as he drifted off to sleep.  It had been a long night for the tiny tot.  It wasn’t often he was up before 7.  Jin smiled at his son before glancing down at Kookie who already sound asleep again in between Tae’s pillow and Jin’s.  Jin bent to kiss him on his forehead.

“Goodnight, my little angels.”