Unexpected

Part 7: Breakfast (Break Fast)

"5...4...3...2...1!" Daphne calls and moves away from the living room door and begins searching around the living room for Luna. "Hmm...where could she be?"

"It's nice that they can play like that." Helen says with a big smile as Max flips pancakes.

"Found you!" Daphne says as she finds Luna sitting under a blanket.

"It's cute." Max mindlessly says with a small smile- knowing this will never go any farther than this morning.

"My turn! Close your eyes- no peeking!" Daphne says as she faces the toddler to the wall and takes off to hide behind the couch. "Okay! Come find me!"

Helen watches as Luna wobbly walks around and picks things up and sets them down.

"Max... look." Helen quietly tells him and he glances over. Luna seems so engaged in trying to find Daphne. As she wobbles her way around the arm of the couch, she looks under the coffee table before becoming slightly frustrated.

"Hey!" Luna vocalizes and looks around. Max's smile widens and Helen becomes misty eyed watching the sweet girl search for the older one. "Hey!"

Going near the back of the couch, she pulls the window curtain a little too hard and the curtain rod comes down and hits the poor tot in the head before Max and Helen can even react.

Coming out of her hiding spot, Daphne, grabs Luna and sits down with the crying child. Max grabs Helen's hand to stop her so they can watch the reaction.

"You're alright. It was just scary. Want me to kiss it?" The baby girl wails, but nods. The young girl kisses the top of the baby's head and smiles. "That's better. Right? You're so strong."

Luna's tears slow down as she notices Daphne's smile.

"Mine..." Luna says as she touches the girl's cheek and then leans forward and kisses her face.

"So sweet, little girl." The girls hug for a few minutes before the smoke alarm starts going off.

"Shit..." Max lets go of Helen's hand and grabs a towel, fanning the smoke away from the alarm and removing the very burnt pancake from the skillet and turning off the burner.

"Your Daddy's burning breakfast." Daphne giggles and Luna in turn giggles as well, which then sparks Helen's laughter and Max just looks at all of them.

"One pancake out of twenty... jees." He grumbles and then begins to join them in their laughter. "You girls are mean to me."

"Oh, but we love you. Haha." Helen teases, but she sees the meaning has a different effect on him than as a joke. His smile disappears and his face grows long and serious. He looks away from her and goes to grab plates and cutlery.

"Breakfast is ready girls." He quickly says and makes Luna a plate with fruit, a small cut up pancake and a bit of eggs. He adds a small bit of syrup and plops her down in her high chair. "Sweets how many do you want?"

"May I have two please?"

"Certainly. Fruit and eggs?"

"Yes please." He fills her order and places the plate in front of her before grabbing a plate for Helen.

"Helen?" He doesn't even look at her as he asks. He seems so rigid and tense.

"I'm fine..."

"What'd you eat yesterday?" He asks and she thinks about it and realizes she hasn't had a single thing all day.

"I'm fine really, Max." Without another word, he sets a green apple in front of her and looks her deep in her eyes.

She immediately thinks of one of their first days together.