115 - Pancake Breakfast

*Do you want to drive one of the Jeeps? Or would you rather use my bike? Can you ride? – Camille to Vin*

Monday morning, with an alarm blaring from her phone, Camille got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. The alarm continued to scream at her from the bedside table, telling her that Darkness was no longer in the room. Leaving damp footprints across the reclaimed hardwood floors, she left the large ensuite bathroom to turn off the alarm.

As she really looked around the room, she appreciated all the work that the crew had done on the house. Originally, this had been a half-finished room with a tiny three-quarter bath. Darkness had described the bathroom as one that you could use the toilet, take a shower and brush your teeth at the sink and never move from the spot you were standing in.

Now she could not imagine what it had looked like a few months ago.

Two huge walk-in closets were along the shared wall to the new office. The spacious bathroom had a soaker tub that sat in front of the one-way glass in the dormer window. She had taken a picture of the bathroom and sent it to Cookie and Kilo. Looking at her phone, she saw the message from Kilo.

*Too dame earli*

At least he wasn’t saying no.

The bedroom and bathroom both had the faint scent of paint, and the walls matched their bedroom in the little bungalow. Three walls were a light gray and the wall behind the handmade bed was a sage green. It worked well with the custom bedding that Darkness had bought.

In the bathroom, the walls were the same light gray, with the cabinets and trim being the sage green. The office next door was also painted so that it matched the way her office in the bungalow had been. Not sure if it was Zydeco that had decided to paint it, or Darkness, but she was grateful, nonetheless.

She found a pair of pajama shorts and a coordinating T-shirt before heading downstairs. There was no movement on the second floor, and she decided that if the kids were still asleep, she would let them sleep. None of them were scheduled to start classes until Tuesday, so she saw no reason to make them get up.

As she continued down the stairs to the bottom floor, the scent of breakfast greeted her. Bacon and sausage along with the sweet scent of pancakes. Her stomach growled and she understood why her dog was so easily swayed by meat treats.

Music softly played as she approached the kitchen. The three kids sat at the island as Darkness cooked breakfast. Smiling as she recognized the song, Camille picked up the chorus and sang along to a song by a symphonic rock band from Massachusetts.

“You know Dark Wind?” Nicki asked in surprise.

“I know the violinist of them,” she admitted. “Well, sort of. I know her brother. He’s my best friend’s best frenemy.”

“Best frenemy?” Vin asked.

“When we were younger, they were always picking on each other,” Camille grinned as she picked up a piece of bacon. “Always. So, Priss started saying that I was her best friend, and he was her best enemy. It became frenemy at some point, not even sure when.”

“If you’re going to eat before it’s all done,” Darkness told her as he gave her a quick kiss, “you’re going to cook.”

“There’s always a catch,” she grinned.

“Always,” he agreed.

“It’s why we’re sitting her in charge of the music,” Mitch explained.

“Smart,” Camille agreed. “How do you like your eggs?”

“I like them fried,” he mumbled. “But I can eat them scrambled like everyone else.”

Locating the egg skillet in the lower cabinet, she looked at Vin and Nicki. “Scrambled?”

“Yes,” they both confirmed.

“You got the fried eggs?” Darkness asked putting batter for the next pancake on the electric griddle.

“Sure do,” Camille confirmed.

“Good girl,” he softly praised against her ear.

She bit back a moan and fought against the shiver that ran down her spine. They continued to talk about the different songs that the kids picked and played through the smart speaker on the kitchen counter as Darkness and Camille finished cooking breakfast.

When everything was done, Darkness had the kids move everything to the table that Mitch had already set with the plates that Camille had picked out months ago. With there suddenly being five of them, she was glad that she had listened to her mom and bought two sets.

“Honey, trust me there will be a day that you are not going to want to wash dishes before going to bed,” Sid had told every one of her kids. “Buy two sets of dishes. You only get four in each set, even if there’s just two of you, you’re going to use them in one day. Buy two sets.”

Without any prompting, Camille and Darkness offered their hands as the kids all linked hands and Vin recited the prayer that they had said before every meal of their lives.

“God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By his hands we are fed. Let us thank him for our bread.”

The platters of food were passed around and the plates filled with more than any of them probably needed. But none were going to turn it down.

“Just to clarify,” Camille said as she drizzled syrup on her pancakes, “we don’t eat like this all the time.”

“We don’t,” Darkness confirmed. “No offense to Chowder, or Chow Dah, I was missing my pancakes.”

“You’re missing IHOP,” Camille corrected as she handed over the syrup.

“Very much so,” he agreed. “But the grocery store was pretty empty at five this morning.

“I would hope so,” Vin chuckled.

“Told you to put pancake mix on the pickup list.”

He did not say anything, but he looked at her giving her a silent warning. Grinning, she took a bite of pancake and dared him to say something. With a subtle movement that he doubted any of the kids would notice, and certainly not understand, he pointed a single finger at her. Stabbing her pancake, she simply shrugged causing him to shake his head.

They had to pull all play in the bedroom on hold while they were in a very crowded house with her brothers – one by blood and the others by leather. Since they had been home, bedroom activities had been limited as they gave the kids time to adjust to their new lives.

But now, the brat wanted to come out to play.

“So,” Vin asked, “what do I do about football? Or am I just not playing this year?”

“Do you want to play?” Darkness asked.

“Yeah, I love football.”

“I don’t,” Mitch said shrinking into himself.

“Okay,” Camille dipped her bacon in the syrup. “What do you want to do?”

Nervously, he looked back and forth between his brother and sister, and they seemed to have one of their silent conversations. After a pause, Vin nodded and then Nicki seemed to agree. With fear in his eyes, he looked at his new guardians and spoke barely above a whisper.

“I want to do drama.”

“Oh!” Camille smiled at them, “There’s a great online group that I know of, we’ll get you signed up.”

The three kids stopped eating and stared at her in shock.

“Just like that?” Nicki asked.

“Just like what?” Darkness asked, not even trying to hide his confusion.

“Just like that,” Vin motioned to Camille, “you’re not going to tell him to man up?”

Darkness laughed and pointed at Camille, “Two words.”

With a dreamy smile, she sighed out, “Daveed Diggs.”