Myths & Rejections

Chapter 44 - Preparing for the Elders

Word Count: 5110

Harper was surprised and had to do a double take when she walked into the kitchen at seven am and found Celie and Eden making breakfast, Celie was at the stove laughing hysterically as she tried to coach Eden through making an omelet. Porter and Lorelai were also sitting at the island shouting pointers and encouragement and snickering together at Celie's comments.

"Okay, I might be in the twilight zone," Harper said, rubbing her eyes as Matt came up behind her, also blinking in shock.

"Yeah, since when are you a morning person Celie?" Matt asked.

"I was always a morning person when we were younger, if you'll remember, Harp. I just started sleeping later when I started working later and didn't get to bed until two in the morning every night," Celie explained. "Harper and I have switched places, when we were in high school I was the perky morning person, and she was the grouchy sleepy one. All that changed after we got to Miami. But I'm assuming you're referring to this morning in particular, well, I actually got to bed early last night, so I woke up early today. I had a nice warm, great smelling Eden pillow, and my shoulder is feeling, much, much better, so I'm in an awesome mood."

"That is so amazing!" Harper said, smiling in relief. She went to the sink and washed her hands, then started inspecting Celie's stitches, she gently poked and prodded a few and watched Celie flinch a few times, but over all her reactions were normal. "I think I can probably take the stitches out day after tomorrow, you're healing up really well, considering how deep the tissue trauma was."

"I thought you said I'd get them out today," Celie frowned.

"I would have if they hadn't been so deep," Harper said, apologetically. "But the tissue damage was worse than I realized at first and you're healing a little slower than I expected because of that. Plus I'd rather be safe than sorry, I'd rather have you on standby for an additional day, than cause worse damage by taking them out before you're fully healed."

"Safe is certainly better than sorry," Eden said, and he slid his mutilated omelet onto a plate as everyone in the kitchen chuckled at his sad attempt.

"I shouldn't be laughing, my omelets aren't much better," Lorelai said. "Cooking is not a skill I possess."

"What?!" Porter exclaimed. "Well, you'll need to learn because I can't cook."

"Excuse me?" Lorelai said, cutting her eyes at him. "I don't think so, you can forget any of that, 'you're the woman', bullshit with me. I'm a warrior, I don't cook, I kill shit. If I get hungry, I go catch a rabbit or a deer and eat it raw. I have no problem living wild, so if one of us needs to learn to cook, it's you."

"She told you!" Celie laughed. "I'm a little disappointed that you even said that Porter. Get your head out of your ass, being mated is a partnership, you don't dictate to her, she doesn't dictate to you. You figure out what works together."

"Well said, Cel," Matt said. "Sometimes I cook, sometimes Harper, we share that shit, just like you will. You're young and kinda dumb though, so it might take you a while longer to figure that out."

Everyone in the kitchen cracked up, after a second even Porter laughed.

"Okay, well I guess you all told me," Porter shook his head. "But sorry, I grew up in a house where my mom took care of the house, kids, and domestic stuff. Dad took care of the yard, the cars, and the warrior stuff, though truthfully Dad took care of me as much as mom, so that was a group effort. But I see where you're coming from, Mom wasn't a warrior, she trained, but that wasn't her primary focus or how she was raised so her role was different."