After watching a bit of Tv, Zack had dosed off and was resting his head against Scott's, who was stroking Zack's head with one of the right arms. Scott glanced up at the clock, '10:30' he thought to himself. Scott turned to his left to see Mark wide awake, but Max on the far left was looking really sleepy, "Hey guys, Zack is asleep, and its already 10:30, think you could split us off so I can put him to bed?"
Max looked over at Scott and nodded, "I have a better idea! I'm pretty tired myself, I'm not sure about you guys..." He glance at Mark who nodded, then back at Scott who did the same. "Ok, let's go to bed then." Max used a left arm to turn the Tv off and tried getting up.
"Like this?!" Mark exclaimed looking down, then back to Max.
Max groaned, "Mark, I'm exhausted. I don't have the energy to split us all apart." Mark glanced over at this dad and felt him shrug the shoulder the two of them were sharing. Mark looked back at Max and sighed but nodded. Scott held Zack's head as they stood, then walked upstairs to Scott's bed.
They eased themselves down, and placed Zack gently on a pillow. Max was out as soon as his head hit the pillow, leaving just Mark and Scott awake. Scott reached over and pulled a book and little light off his night stand, he flicked the light on and tried to open his book, but was having trouble keeping the book open with the two right arms. Mark noticed right away, so he used one of the left hands to help, he and Scott glanced at each other and smiled. Max rested his head against Scott's so he could read along too, while Scott stroked Mark's head with the other left arm.
Whenever they read to the bottom, they would say 'done' to let the other know when to turn the page. Every now and then they would feel Max or Zack shift the legs around or try to roll over; a few times one of them would lift their heads briefly before going back to sleep. After a chapter or two, Scott looked over to see Mark had his eyes closed. Scott put his book and light back on the table and glanced back at Mark, "Hey Mark, you asleep?"
"No..." Mark yawned as he opened his eyes and stared at his dad, who looked back and smiled, knowing Mark was close to drifting off.
They both lay silent, listening to Zack and Max snore and groan as they tried to move around, before Scott finally spoke up, "So, I take it you spoke to Max earlier?" Mark didn't say anything but nodded in response. "What happened?"
"He and Luke..." Mark grinned, thinking about what Max had told him, "It's nothing bad, but I don't think I should tell you what happened... Max will. When he's ready." Scott was confused, but accepted Mark's answer. After a few more minutes, they both said good night and tried to get to sleep.