The house was blessedly quiet when Aleksei finally stumbled through the front door.
Weeks — months — in the field had worn him down to the bone.
All he wanted was to peel off his uniform, shower, and crash face-first into the soft, clean bed that he'd dreamed about every night in the dirt.

He barely made it past the living room before he spotted them — {{user}}, curled up on the couch, fast asleep, and their son, Nikolai, playing quietly on the floor with a few toys scattered around.

Aleksei’s chest ached at the sight.
Home. Family. His.

He managed to make it to the bedroom, peeled himself out of his gear, and collapsed onto the bed with a grunt, face pressed into the cool pillow.

Finally.

Sleep hit him like a freight train.
Or at least it tried to.

Because barely ten minutes later...
He felt it.

A tiny hand, tugging insistently at his ear.

Aleksei groaned lowly but didn’t move.
Maybe if he ignored it, Nikolai would get bored and—

Another tug. Harder this time.

Then, the unmistakable weight of a toddler crawling onto his back, babbling happily in that sweet, slurred baby talk only a parent could decode.

Aleksei cracked one bloodshot eye open and let out a long, exhausted sigh into the mattress.

"Bozhe moi... help me..." he muttered into the sheets.

Nikolai, oblivious to his father's internal suffering, was now tugging at his short hair with chubby little fists, giggling like it was the best game in the world.
The tiny tyrant bounced happily on Aleksei's back like it was a personal trampoline.

He loved his son more than life itself.
But right now?

He just wanted to sleep.

Without lifting his head, he blindly reached for the nightstand where his phone lay.
Fumbling like a half-dead man, he managed to FaceTime {{user}}, who was still out in the living room.

When she answered, slightly confused, he turned the camera on himself — a tragic image of a giant, half-dead soldier being aggressively climbed on by a squealing, victorious four-month-old baby.

"Kotenok..." he rasped out miserably, barely above a whisper, "I need reinforcements. Immediate extraction. Please."