It was all Peyton’s idea really. Mike’s birthday was coming up and she wanted to do something special in the way that all kids want to do something special for their parents. So how could Madeline possibly say no when Peyton looked up at her with those big eyes asking her to take part. Madeline had a key to their apartment, not because she’d been dating Mike for almost two years, but so she could help with Peyton. The key was nothing romantic, he would have given it to anyone who helped out with his daughter- or at least that’s what Madeline told herself. She would pick her up from school or hang out with her if Mike was working the late shift, and well if she stayed for a while after Mike got home then that was just an added bonus.
The subways were always nearly empty early on Saturday mornings, so there was plenty of room for Madeline and her bags from the local market. It was just a short walk from the subway stop to their building and soon enough she was letting herself into the apartment that was her home away from home.
The second Madeline shut the door carefully behind her, Peyton bounded from the couch, all awkward limbs and youthful exuberance.
“Mads!” she exclaimed as she raced towards the door reaching for one of the bags Madeline was balancing in her arms.
Madeline smiled and pressed a finger to her lips as she shifted to hand Peyton the lighter of the two bags. “Hey Peyton, let’s try and let your dad have a little bit of extra sleep. Besides we wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would we?” she said softly as she moved towards the breakfast nook.
There was a sort of irony in cooking breakfast for a chef for his birthday, but she was looking forward to it all the same. Madeline would be the first person to admit that she was not the greatest cook in the world and she was pretty sure some people would call that assessment generous.
“Did you get chocolate chips?” Peyton asked as Madeline shrugged out of her down jacket.
Madeline nods, “Sure did, but are those more for you or your dad?” she teases as she pulls her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head.
When she steals a glance at Peyton in the looming silence she’s met with a mischievous grin. “That’s what I thought, which is why I also grabbed blueberries.” She said as she pulled the carton out of the bag.
The plan is to do everything from scratch, and Madeline has spent days pinning thing to her Pinterest page. Not that they are doing anything over the top, just pancakes, bacon, and a potato casserole- but she wanted to make sure that everything went off smoothly. She was much more likely to stop in at her local diner than cook anything in her own apartment.
Peyton made a great sous chef and Madeline found herself having fun. The usual stress of getting everything perfect, evaporated as she giggled with Peyton. The casserole was baking in the oven and the bacon had been painstakingly plated by Peyton. The table was set and ready to go, they just needed to finish the batter for the pancakes.
It had all started as an accident, Madeline had reached for the flour in the cabinet, the recipe had called for so little and it seemed ridiculous to buy a bag just for that when she knew there was a nearly full one sitting in his cabinet. So, she stood on her tiptoes and reached for it, there was a voice telling her to grab a chair or something, but like usual she ignored it. IT seemed to happen in slow motion, the bag falling from the cabinet as her fingers grasped at air. Somehow, Peyton must have seen it all happening because she was by Madeline’s side in an instant. And before Mads could do anything to stop it they were both absolutely covered in flour. She turned towards Peyton with a shocked look on her face when she heard his voice.
“Well, well what have we here.”
She spun around to find Mike in the doorway with a bemused look on his face. She looked at Peyton and then back at Mike before falling into a fit of giggles. She reached a hand up to brush a strand of hair out of her face and it came back covered in the white powder.
“Happy Birthday!” she said flourishing jazz hands before seeing the slightly disappointed look on Peyton’s face.
“Hey look, we’ve still got plenty of flour for the batter.” She said bumping her hip against the younger girl’s.
Mike rubbed his hands together and moved towards the pair, “And getting to help make breakfast with my two favorite girls? I can’t think of a better way to start my birthday.” He said.
“Really?” Peyton asked looking up with a wobbly smile.
“Really. But why don’t you go take a bath, you look like Olaf.” Mike says tugging her ponytail playfully.
“But, the pancakes…” Peyton began.
“Will be right here when you are done. The casserole still has a good twenty minutes left. I promise to wait for you. Well, maybe I’ll just go ahead and get the flour safely in the mixing bowl. You know to save us from any more accidents.” Madeline said.
“Ok, but only if you promise.” Peyton said shifting her weight and looking between them uneasily.
“Pinky promise,” Madeline replied holding out her pinky towards the younger girl.
“It’s a deal.” Peyton said linking her finger around Madeline’s and shaking her hand vigorously. “Be back in like five minutes.”
“Better make it ten Peyton.” Mike called after her.
Madeline and Mike both shook with laughter as they heard a defeated “fine” followed by the slam of a door.
Madeline poured out the appropriate amount of flour into the mixing bowl and then turned to look at Mike leaning back against the counter.
“Surprise,” she said motioning around the kitchen, “I promise this looked so much better in my head.”
And it had, she had envisioned everything being perfectly cooked and plated. She’d imagined looking adorable in perfectly done make up despite the warm flannel pants she’d donned that morning. Instead she looked Cruella De Vil’s less attractive sister, which was really saying something. The kitchen was a mess, and she hadn’t even managed to get everything pulled together perfectly before Mike even stirred in bed.
She didn’t even realize that Mike had crossed the floor to be right in front of her until she felt his hand under her chin.
“Hey,” he said softly as soon as her eyes met his.
She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face before she responded with an echoing, “hey”.
She pushed up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. She felt his hands in her hair as he tilted head for a better angle.
Madeline pulled back slowly, resting her chin on his chest to grin up at him.
“Kissing Pepe Le Pew, that’s not exactly something I had on the bucket list for today.” He teases.
Madeline pulled her shirt away from her body and made a show of sniffing it, “Are you trying to say I stink?”
“No, I’m trying to say you’ve got this. SUPER. Attractive streak in your hair.” Mike retorted as he ran his fingers through it.
They both laughed as a fresh layer of flour covers her shoulders. He tightened his grip around her waist and tugged her closer to him. She nuzzled her face into his shoulder and inhaled deeply, taking comfort in his familiar scent.
Her fingers came up to stroke the soft strands of hair at the base of her neck. “Peyton was so excited about this,” she murmured softly.
“Are you kidding me? I’m still so excited about this.” Mike responded, “I mean whatever is in the oven smells good and I’m pretty sure it did not come from the frozen section in the grocery store. I didn’t know that was something you could do.”
“Shut up!” Madeline snapped reaching behind her for a dish towel that she promptly snapped at him. “I’ll have you know I did cook a thing or two with MeMaw growing up. Just cause I don’t choose to now, or cause I’d rather have things prepared by my amazing chef boyfriend, doesn’t mean I can’t do it.”
She looked up to find Mike looking down at her skeptically. “Ok fine, I don’t really like to cook, and when I do I’ll admit it’s nothing compared to yours. But I worked really hard on this. And I had the best little sous chef in the world. So, I promise it will be better than usual.”
“I’m sure it will Mads, thank you for helping her with this.” He said seriously.
“Well I mean,” she began placing the palms of her hands on the kitchen counter to boost herself up onto the counter top, “I did do something pretty daggum awesome today. So, I deserve some kind of reward.”
“That so?” Mike asks following her so that he steps between her legs.
“Mmmhmmm, I’ve been a really good girl. And you’re a birthday boy. And we’ve got a about oh five minutes before we’re completely interrupted.” She says reaching to pull him even closer by the waist band of his pants.
“Knowing Peyton, I’d say we’d be more likely to get oh 2 minutes. She won’t want to miss a minute of the action.”
Madeline grinned up at him and pulled him down for a quick kiss, knowing that this was all playful banter. They’d never take things any further than a few kisses knowing Peyton could appear at any moment.
Still, she sighs happily when she feels his lips against her neck running her fingers up and down his back. He pulls away when he hears a door slamming.
They both look at each other with dopey grins on their faces before Madeline gives him a quick peck and then slides off the counter and folds up the bag of flour. Mike takes it out of her hands without her asking and puts it back where it belongs. They move around each other with a practiced ease, gathering the last few ingredients and preparing them.
There’s the sound of padded feet and then a voice saying, “Did you guys do anything while I was gone?”
They look at each other with twinkling eyes and Mike gives her a wink before he spins around and lifts Peyton up in the air to swirl her around.
“Nope, Mads put the flour in but the rest is up to you.” He said setting her back on the ground.
Peyton raced over to the mixing bowl and started adding the other ingredients laid out before her. With a wicked grin she grabbed the bag of chocolate chips and started adding them to the batter.
“Easy there kiddo, you don’t want to send us all into a sugar coma” Madeline says as she tries to
“Oh come on that’s what birthdays are for!” Peyton whines.
“Yeah Mads, why are you trying to ruin all the fun.” Mike joins in.
She rolls her eyes and moves to the fridge to replace the milk. “Fine but don’t blame me both of your tummies hurt later.” She relented.
“Oh don’t worry, birthdays make you immune to tummy aches.” Mike teased moving towards her to surreptitiously wipe some flour off the seat of her pants. Her eyes meet his for a moment and they both grin before they separate and put the finishing touches on the rest of the meal.
Laughter and playful banter fills the kitchen as they work together. A warmth fills Madeline’s heart like she’s never known. She sets a plate down in front of Mike and he grabs her hand to press a kiss to it as she pulls away. She smiles widely pressing a kiss to the top of his head as she takes the seat across from him. Today didn’t turn out at all like she’d planned, but somehow it was much much better.