Sunlight slanted through the window, faded gray from the perpetual fog that clogged Gotham's streets, painting the room in watery colors.
Cloth creaked as a hammock swayed overhead, a nest of blankets and downy pillows, over the tiny twin-sized bed below, mostly buried under mounds of rainbow comforter.
Sprawled on the soft starburst sheets, brown curls flashing red in the meager light, bright green eyes blinked sleepily open as one of the stronger rays pierced her eyelids.
With a tired hum, the tiny woman rolled away, fingers sinking into warm fur as a purring body pressed closer, leafy ears twitching lazily.
A morning song drifted down from the nest, a sleek white head peering down from the nest with dark eyes, and the brunette smiled back.
Maybe she could just sleep in-
The door slammed open, ricocheting off the wall to leave another mark in the tie-dye paint, as a tiny body hurled itself across the room to jump right onto her lungs.
"Auntie Jazz! Auntie Jazz!"
With a wheeze, she rolled once more to remove the bouncing child from her-likely bruised-vital organs as three more tiny bodies scrambled up to join them.
"Mornin', Lily." She slurred, patting at the riotous brown curls as her niece giggled, big dark eyes glittering gold in the dawn.
"Teddy is making breakfast, Auntie Jazz! You've gotta get up!"
"I'm up, I'm up…"
Reaching out blindly, she patted the Eevee and snowy-white Vulpix that pushed at her back, eyeing the Torchic that hopped onto her hip with a loud chirp.
"Why don't you go get some while I get dressed, huh?"
The little girl lit up-Teddy must be making pancakes-before nodding enthusiastically and taking off, her little trio scrambling to follow.
In the silence that followed, Jazz let out a deep breath into the pillows, sharing a commiserating look with the Leafeon sprawled next to her.
Kids.
Toppling out of bed onto her feet, straightening out the over-sized "Gotta Catch 'Em All" t-shirt over her Fairy Tail-print panties, she crossed to the closet.
"What color should I do today, Dawn?"
Yawning, the Grass-type shrugged, dropping to the bright pink carpet and padding over indifferently.
"Well, you're no help. Marshy?"
Popping up over the edge of her nest, the Togekiss twittered, wings flapping.
"You always choose red." Jazz whined, pushing through the wide array of colored skirts and shorts and pants and shirts.
With a huff, Marshy glided down to land on Dawn's back, broad wings folding in as the reddish-brunette finally settled on an outfit.
A bright red tank top with the words 'Love Makes The World Go 'Round' under a big pink heart, matched with a red-and-pink ruffled skirt, was pulled free of the mass, and she turned to grab a pair of thigh-high pink-and-black socks from the drawers.
After a quick trip to the bathroom, teeth minty-fresh and long curls pulled up into pigtails with pink ribbons, Jazz bounced out into the hallway, socked feet sliding on the tile.
Turning away from the stove, tending to the bubbling pancakes while telekinetically setting the tiny table and keeping the youngsters amused with toys, a Reuniclus squeaked, floating over a large mug-shaped like BB-8-filled to the brim with sugar-heavy coffee.
"Thanks, Teddy." She chirped, giving the Multiplying Pokemon a quick peck on the cheek while skipping over to the nearby green-orange plaid armchair to pull on her clunky black combat boots.
Downing the heavenly brew in three efficient gulps, she did up all the zippers and straps and buckles, humming a bouncy tune as Lily and her Pokemon dug into a-somewhat-healthy breakfast of strawberry pancakes and banana slices.
Teddy dutifully wrapped up the butterscotch-and-bacon pancakes for her to eat later at work as Marshy collected the child's backpack, Dawn reassembling all of the forgotten crayons and papers left lying about.
"Ready to go stay with grandpa for the week, squirt?"
Cheeks puffed up like a Pachirisu in autumn, the three-year-old nodded enthusiastically, ponytail smacking her back.
"Grandpa Mike is gonna make flubber!" She managed around the mouthful, ignoring Teddy's fretful entreaties for her to swallow as Jazz pouted.
"Lucky…"
Grabbing her own messenger bag, made up more of various pins than cloth by this point, she swung it into place as Teddy cleaned syrup off the squirming toddler's face.
"Time to go."
Giggling as she ducked away from the Psychic-type's ministrations, Lily fumbled with a pair of Poke Balls, one red and the other white.
"Rosie! Moonie!"
The Torchic and Vulpix dutifully allowed themselves to be recalled, and Lily carefully stowed the shrunken spheres on the belt built into her adorable Wonder Woman themed sundress as her Eevee leapt up to cling to a shoulder.
Her own breakfast safely tucked away, Jazz recalled Teddy and Marshy-their Poke Balls an opaque green and white-red-blue respectively-before taking the child's hand to lead her towards the door.
As Dawn took her customary place on Lily's other side, accepting of the little fingers that tangled in her fur, Jazz smiled.
Today was gonna be a good one.