A Gallagher Girls & The Listen Series Promptober

Baking

Haven't read Gallagher Girls or The Listen Series? Please do not continue if you wish to avoid spoilers.

As always, please don't hesitate to reach out. Comments, feedback and any interaction are appreciated and loved!

Liz Sutton (Anderson) POV / Timeline: Sometime after the last book in the GG series, "United We Spy" but before the Listen Series. Alice is maybe 2 or 3?

Oct. 14th | Baking:

They had read every single parenting book. They had highlighted, made notes, and prepared.

But nothing and no one could properly prepare for Alice Anderson.

Liz was convinced that her daughter was super human. Already as a toddler opening baby proofed things after examining and finding a solution to her problems. She was determined, resilient, and smart.

But she wasn't a calm and quiet smart like Liz or her husband, no she was a terror, a tornado, a moving cloud of chaos.

There had to be something that Alice could channel her energy into, there had to be something that would calm the storm that coursed through her brain and body.

Liz and Jonas tried everything, sports, musical instruments, dance, but all of it seemed to only rev Alice up more. She became an adrenaline junkie at too young of an age, wanting to climb, run, and leap to heights far too high for someone so tiny. Honestly, most of it not even feasible for someone her age.

One cold October morning, Liz was staring at the mess of their living room, drinking her tea. She had not a drop of energy to spend on cleaning the blocks, stuffed animals, balls, and ropes that littered the floor.

She sighed and stood, feeling a restless energy in her own hands and started pulling down ingredients for cinnamon rolls.

Liz was lost in thoughts, ideas for new projects, new things for Alice to try, and a running grocery list consumed her, making her jump when a tiny hand grabbed her leg.

"Momma."

Liz picked up the tiny girl, running her hands through her blonde curls, appreciating the sleep that made her energy slow to awaken. Lazy Alice in the mornings was her precious and fleeting time before a day full of buzzing energy.

Alice yawned, her hand reaching out for the counter, pointing, "Help."

Liz grabbed the wooden step stool, setting Alice into the cubby and locking the back, telling herself that really it was pointless as Alice knew how latches worked already.

Alice started grabbing the bowl of eggs and Liz held one up, "Crack."

She hit the egg on the counter and split it with her fingers, the egg dropping into the bowl and she placed the shell back in the container to discard later.

Alice watched, her blue eyes wide and she rubbed one of them and whispered, "Crack."

She picked one up and smashed it on the counter with too much strength, it splitting open everywhere, her lip jutting out and tears welling in her eyes.

Liz soothed, "Hey, hey, that's okay. Gentle."

Alice nodded and sniffled, "Gentle."

Alice grabbed another egg, this time her strength too weak, barely a hit to the egg and she dropped it, letting a soft wail come out of her lips and in her distress the carton of milk fell to the ground spilling everywhere.

Liz watched the milk spill on the ground, she watched her daughter cry over not being able to figure out cracking an egg. She watched it all happening and then closed her eyes, overwhelmed.

She didn't open them for a few seconds until she felt a hand on her lower back. When she looked up, her vision was blurry from tears forming and Jonas was rubbing his eyes under his glasses. His shirt from the previous day wrinkled and Liz knew he had spent the night in the office again, staying up till an ungodly hour working on the next design. She should let him sleep. She should get Alice to stop crying. She should do a lot of things.

Jonas grabbed Alice out of the stool, her tears and cries only getting louder, her fists grabbing at his shirt and pulling. She was so frustrated, they both could tell, wanting to tell them with words she didn't yet know.

Liz bent down and cleaned the milk as Alice cried and Jonas whispered quietly to Alice, "Hey, hey, hey, baby, breathe."

Alice hiccuped around her cries, getting so worked up and gasping for air, "Help. Crack."

Jonas grabbed an egg, "This, egg? Cracking an egg?"

Alice wailed, "Egg!"

Liz sighed as she stood up, "I was showing her how to crack the eggs, we were a little too hard the first time and not hard enough the next time."

Jonas smiled at Liz, then at Alice, "Ah. I see. Let's practice with something else how bout?"

Alice was still crying and Liz didn't know how he could have her in his arms, her hands hitting him, her cries right in his ear. He was so patient.

He sat at the table, grabbing a piece of paper and some crayons, they had just picked them up, her hands still too small to really grasp something so small, but he was willing to try anything.

Alice wailed as he sat her in his lap, clinging to his neck, her legs around his waist and he just stared at the table, "When I'm frustrated," he blinked and changed his wording, "Upset, I draw."

Jonas started sketching something on the paper and Liz watched silently from the counter, noticing that Alice's wailing was slowing down, her hiccups and breath becoming more dispersed.

Jonas didn't look at her but he noticed and looked up at Liz, his eyes wide, both of them holding their breath. He pushed harder on the crayon, making dark marks, "Hard." he pushed harder and the crayon snapped and Alice blinked and Jonas said, "Too hard."

He held the broken crayon and showed he could still draw with it, pressing lightly, "Light."

Liz whispered from the counter, "Gentle."

Jonas nodded, "Gentle."

Alice whispered, "Gentle."

She scooted on his lap closer to the table and grabbed one of the colors, her fist wrapping tightly around it and holding it up right and touched it to the paper, and they watched as she moved her hand back and forth.

Alice's eyes widened, "Gentle."

She pushed harder, "Hard."

She looked at the marks, her breathing back to normal and the pink flush in her cheeks lessening. She pointed to the paper, "Blue."

Jonas nodded, "Blue."

She held up a new color, "Red."

Jonas shook his head no, picking up the red crayon, "Red," then he pointed to the one in her hand, "Orange."

Alice looked at the crayon, "Oange."

He kissed her forehead and nodded. She placed it on the paper and she started scribbling. Her face was determined and focused.

Liz let her breath out finally and continued to bake the cinnamon rolls. After cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, making the grocery list, cleaning the mess in the living room, and pulling the rolls out of the oven she realized it had been over an hour.

She looked over and Alice had six sheets of paper filled with marks, a stack of plain ones next to her, both of her hands holding crayons and coloring at the same time. Jonas had his arms around her waist, his head back against the chair, asleep.