Modern Family

Something Right

There was smoke everywhere.

Liam coughed as he waved a towel in the air, trying to clear the fog, but having no luck. Not wanting the smoke detector to go off, he quickly switched off the griddle and proceeded to wave away the remainder of the fog until only a thin mist of smoke remained. Blinking to readjust his eyes, he sighed in frustration as looked down at the pancakes he had been attempting to make for breakfast. They were now burned to a delicate crisp.

Shaking his head, he picked up the griddle and tossed the black disks into the trash and placed the pan in the sink. Apparently some things never changed. Having to be a parental figure to Jace's daughter for the past four years hadn't made his cooking skills much better.

The sounds of his distress had made it to the basement and a few moments later, Austin and Ryan came skidding into the kitchen from where they'd been working out guitar riffs for a new song.

"What the hell happened?" Austin asked, thick brows furrowed in concern as he surveyed the kitchen, a thin mist still surrounding the stove area.

"I was trying to cook," Liam shrugged, hoping they would see it as an act of kindness rather than an epic failure.

Ryan snorted, his lips stretching into a wide grin. "Haven't you learned by now that us plus cooking is always a bad idea?"

Liam rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I was just trying to do something special. It's a big day you know?"

Austin parted his lips to agree, but was kept from doing so at the sound of Savannah's small pattering footsteps running down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Uncle Liam! Uncle Liam!," she cried out as she toddled into the room as fast as her little four year old legs could carry her, blonde curly ponytail flying outwards. She stopped at Austin's side, turning in a slow circle as she directed her question at whichever one of her uncles would answer. "Is the house on fire?"

Ryan laughed as he scooped her into his arms and smothered her cheek with kisses, thinking she must have smelled smoke and assumed the worst. "No, Sav. Nothing's on fire. Uncle Liam just burned some of the breakfast food."

"So there's no danger?" she asked, her blue eyes wide because she didn't quite believe him.

"Nope," he said seriously, shaking his head, his hand rubbing slowly up and down her back to calm her nerves, a technique they all had learned worked well in these types of situations.

Not that crises were frequent occurrences in the New November household. At least, not anymore. When Savannah was a bit younger, they considered every time she cried to be a crisis. But now that they'd somewhat got the hang of the whole parental figure thing, they'd learned to remain calm whenever possible.

"Then why is daddy crying?"

Ryan and Austin both snorted with laughter, but Liam pursed his lips and furrowed his brow at the strange question before smiling softly and stepping forward to reassure Savannah that everything was alright. He had a hunch as to why Jace was particularly emotional this morning.

"Alright, sweetie," Liam sighed, reaching out to pull Savannah from Ryan's arms and turning to set her atop the kitchen counter, his two band mates coming to stand at his side, curious as to how the conversation was going to progress because they themselves weren't quite sure why Jace was currently upstairs, wiping away tears as he fixed his hair in the bathroom mirror. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, alright?"

Savannah nodded, pursing her lips in focus, her blue eyes fixated on her uncle.

Liam's turned upwards as he continued. Savannah really was too adorable for her own good and it was making having a serious conversation difficult. "Sometimes daddies have a hard time letting go."