Erza smiled as her little Rosemary tripped along her side, clutching wildflowers and smiling with the sun's brilliance. "Come along now, Rosey, we have to start heading home now. Who knows what your father and big brother are up to without us."
Rosemary nodded, and followed quietly by Erza's side. Usually the silence bothered Erza, for she knew she would never hear her daughter's sweet voice ever since the doctor told her and Jellal that Rosey would be mute all her life. But Rosey lived a life of light and cheer, and expressed her feelings and desires so well they never really needed that absent voice.
Rosemary tugged on musing Erza's sleeve, breaking her from her reverie. "What is it Ro….oh dear."
They had reached the house, and Erza noted with dismay that the door was left wide open. And the hallway was coated with…was that flour?
Rosey dashed in, stepping carefully around the piles of the white powdery cooking ingredient, and collided with her big brother Simon, who was carrying a tray full of batter. "Rosey! You're not supposed to come in yet! PAPA!"
"I heard you, Simon. I'm coming." Jellal appeared around the corner, wiping his hands on a dishcloth. "Welcome home, ladies. Sorry for the mess."
"Mess" was perhaps an understatement. Not only was there baking flour ALL OVER the house, but there was cream slathered on the counter in the kitchen, smoke pervading from the oven, and eggs broken in the sink. It was like a janitor's nightmare and a little boy's dream.
"Mess? This is more like a disaster zone." Erza observed coolly, while her ten year old son flustered around cleaning up the flour. "What on Earthland are you doing here? And right after I finish spring-cleaning!"
"This was your idea, Simon." Jellal hastily pushed the squirming boy in front of his mama. "Explain."
"Papa helped too." Simon grumbled. "We wanted to bake you cakes."
"Cakes?" Erza perked up while Rosey began instantly rooting around for the light fluffy treat. "You tried to make….oh my God."
"We followed the recipe Miss Wendy gave us." Simon explained, holding up a very stained piece of parchment that smelled like vanilla extract. "Word for word! Then things started to happen and now…" He gestured vainly round. "It's all messy?"
"We did manage to conjure up a few cakes." Jellal vanished and reappeared with a whole plateful of slightly sloppy but delicious looking cakes, creamy and covered with strawberries. Erza began to tear up while Rosey beamed and tried to reach the platter in her tall papa's hands.
"You dear boys…" Erza wailed and buried her head in Jellal's chest, making him stagger and nearly drop the cakes, but he managed to set the teetering treats on the counter and smiled, embracing his overcome wife and burying his head in her sweet smelling hair. "It's a small thing for all you've done for me in the past." He murmured in her ear.
"Mama and Papa are being mushy." Simon whispered loudly to Rosey, who was already happily licking the remains of a cake off her fingers. "Let's eat all the cakes while they're busy."
"I HEARD THAT." Erza loomed over her panicked son, but smiled and ruffled his head affectionately. "Thank you, Simon. Let's eat the TOGETHER, alright?"
Simon nodded sheepishly, but then yelped as Rosemary stuffed a cake into his mouth, smearing him with sweet cream and dusting his shirt with sugar.
But family could be so much sweeter.
A/N: JELLAL SHOULD BE WITH ERZA FOREVERRRRRR.