For the drabble game: Xaden burns the pancakes
Well, honestly, sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between being up early and not having slept. He'd woken up from a nightmare around 3:30 and never gotten past staring at the ceiling and spiraling. Eventually he gave up and got himself out of bed so he didn't have to worry about waking Imogen up.
(Garrick, of course, could sleep through almost anything.)
On his way down the hall, he heard a sound like a child fussing and thought it best if he looked in the kids' rooms. If he couldn't sleep, he might as well make himself useful. Now that they were settling in the big house, they had them in two rooms so nobody was alone. Lyn's bed was empty, but that was normal since they'd moved.
Will and Avery were both asleep in their rooms. Poking his head into the open door of Bodhi and Ridoc's room, Xaden noted that Lyn was curled up into Ridoc's side.
He heard that small fuss again and it wasn't behind him, so that left only one other option. Tucked inside Violet's room, Claire was just starting to wake in her crib. Before her mother could stir, Xaden picked up the baby and took her intothe hall.
Wandering down to the kitchen, he used a flicker of magic to heat a bottle for Claire and sat down in one of the cozy sitting room chairs. The spells on the fireplace flickered to life, warming the room enough that he was able to doze while Claire ate.
She dropped the bottle when she was done, startling him awake again. It was just past five on the mantle clock, and Xaden shook his head to clear it. He burped Claire and wiped her face, then took her back upstairs and tucked her back into her crib.
When he opened the door to go back into the hallway he startled to find a figure there. Gwen, he quickly realized.
"Why are you up?" he asked her gently.
"I woke up to go potty and Lyn wasn't in her bed so I was looking," Gwen said, trying to look around Xaden.
He redirected her. "I saw her a little while ago in Uncle Bo's room."
"Yep, sound asleep," Xaden agreed. "How about you?"
Gwen hesitated. "I was kinda scared. Kinda still scared." She looked up at him. "How come knowing she's okay doesn't make me feel better?"
"I wish I knew," he answered. "Do you want to go back to bed?"
"We could go downstairs and start breakfast?" he offered, and that brought some light back into her face. "Yes please. C'n we make blueberry pancakes?"
"Blueberries aren't in season but I think there's chocolate chips we could use," Xaden offered, following her down the stairs. She ran her hands along the wallpaper on both sides of the stairwell.
Xaden gave her a glass of milk and let her help measuring out the pancake mix and crack the eggs. He poured out the batter for the first couple of pancakes on the stove while she made patterns of chocolate chips in the bowl. When he'd finished, he set them on a plate and then poured out the next few.
"Do you want to eat first?" he asked.
"Yes please," she said again. "Can I spray them?"
"Spray?" He blinked. "You'll have to show me."
Gwen ran over to the fridge and got out a can of whipped cream, and suddenly that made sense.
"You can spray a little," Xaden said. "Not so much you can't eat them, though."
Xaden looked up. Will was in the kitchen doorway now. He swept his son up into his arms and gave him a big hug, trying to chase away the last of his nightmare.
"Uncle Xaden!" Gwen called just as Xaden caught the smell of burning pancakes. He carried Will over to the stove with him and set his son on the counter as he pulled the pancakes off with the spatula, hoping they were salvageable.
"I'll save these for myself," he murmured, putting them aside on a plate. "Do you want a pancake, Will?"
"No, not- well, okay, I suppose it's close enough," Xaden shrugged. He started another batch of pancakes and yawned as they bubbled. Will demanded to be set down on the floor, and then he wanted his own milk, and then he shoved his whole hand in the whipped cream tower on Gwen's plate--
"What's burning?" Garrick asked as he joined them, immediately taking up Xaden's place at the stove. He flipped the pancakes, studying the blackened side.
Xaden yawned again, watching Garrick. "Sorry, I'm a menace this morning."
"Go back to bed, honeybear," Garrick told him, reaching out to ruffle his hair.
"Of course I'm sure. Go back to bed. Imogen could use the company. You're not the only one who can handle things, remember?"
Xaden felt a smile curling at the sides of his mouth. "I remember. Thanks."
