"What are you doing," Ben asked as he placed bags of groceries onto the countertop.
"Breakfast for dinner! It's her favorite. She's going to love it," Leslie answered as she pulled out a frozen package of bacon from the freezer. Ben stared at her incredulously while she made her way over to the waffle iron and turned in on. "It's my favorite too. This is going to be great."
"Leslie, Leslie, stop," said Ben walking over to the waffle iron and unplugging it. "She's got a fever. You know she can't eat waffles!"
Leslie plugged the waffle maker back into the socket. "I asked her if she wanted breakfast for dinner already!"
"She's four-years-old, Leslie. She'd agree to chocolate cake for breakfast. Lets be practical, she's going to have soup for dinner." Ben began unpacking the contents of the shopping bags.
"Oh man, not stupid soup!" Leslie tried to put the contents back into the bag as he removed them.
Ben began replacing all the breakfast foods Leslie had taken out as Leslie tried to hide the bags of groceries under the sink. Leslie heard a cry from down the hall and tried to wait it out to see if Ben would respond to it so she could get a head start on the cooking as he attended to their sick child. They stared each other down from across the kitchen before a specific request for Mommy was called out. Leslie pursed her lips together and narrowed her eyes trying to stick it out longer and force Ben to stand down but when a second call came Leslie stomped her foot and walked down the hall.
Ben smirked to himself as he walked over to the sink and retrieved the poorly concealed groceries from underneath. As Leslie attended to their daughter, he began to prepare. Ben had all the utensils and ingredients laid out and was rinsing off the vegetables by the time Leslie came back into the kitchen. Ben wordlessly handed Leslie the carrots that were to be washed next.
"My mom taught me how to make this soup," Ben said.
"Is it an old family recipe," Leslie asked.
"No, I'm pretty sure she got it from the back of a Campbell's soup can," he answered as he started to chop celery. "Do you want to start chopping the carrots?"
For the next few minutes, they pair stood in the kitchen preparing the vegetables wordlessly. Leslie was still pretty annoyed that he ruined her plans for dinner but was starting to enjoy this activity. Ben made this soup for Leslie every time she was sick but she never saw all the work that went into it.
Ben instructed Leslie on the steps of the recipe and began let her take over completely as he sat on the countertop telling her what to do next. Leslie joined Ben on the counter as she let the soup simmer. She leaned into him as he wrapped his arm around her.
"Remember the first time I made you this soup," Ben asked.
"Yeah." Leslie smiled. "That waffle was delicious."
Ben kissed her head. They stayed like that until it was time to finish the soup. Leslie hopped off the counter and went over to the pot to stir the ingredients some more before it was time to stir it.
"Shit," Leslie exclaimed. The soup boiled over and spilled onto the stove. The burners hissed loudly as the broth seeped under the pot and steam rose from the glass top stove. "Fuck you, soup!"
"No, no, Leslie, watch," Ben walked up and turned down the heat on the stove and coming up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his hand over hers. "The vegetables are tender now so you can't stir too hard or they're going to turn to mush. Like this."
Leslie blushed from the heat of the soup and the contact from Ben. They stirred the soup together. Ben brought the spoon up to his mouth and tasted it. "Delicious," he said.
Leslie turned around and kissed Ben. "Mmm, it is. It's no breakfast for dinner bu-"
Ben kissed her again to shut her up about giving their daughter bacon and waffles for dinner when she was in bed sick with a fever. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back for not vocalizing how stupid of an idea that was because that surely would've turned into an argument. He pulled away and turned off the stove. Leslie poured orange juice into a glass as Ben served the soup into a bowl and placed it on a lap tray. Together they walked to their little girl's room. Leslie went in first and placed the orange juice on her nightstand before turning on the lamp next to her bed and sitting down.
"Eleanor, sweetie, wake up," Leslie whispered. She wiped the little girl's sweaty bangs off her forehead and blew on her face gently feeling that she was still very warm. "It's time for dinner."
Eleanor woke up and gingerly sat up in bed. Ben placed the tray in Eleanor's lap and sat next to Leslie.
"Hi Daddy," Eleanor said hoarsely.
"Hey kid, how are you feeling," he asked as Leslie began to spoon-feed her the soup.
"I'm still sick but Mommy said if I'm not better by tomorrow that you have to stay home with me because she has to go back to work. I hope I'm still sick tomorrow so you can stay home," Eleanor answered. Leslie fed Eleanor another spoon of soup and grabbed the orange juice from the nightstand.
"I'll tell you what. How about we hope that you get better by tomorrow and I'll still stay home with you anyway. We can play hooky," Ben said.
Leslie smiled. "You know what? That sounds like fun. I think I'll join in on that."
"You sure you won't get in trouble with your boss," Ben asked.
"I'm sure she won't mind."
"You have a pretty nice boss."
"I do. I hear she's awesome at making soup, too. What can't she do?"
Ben laughed and kissed Leslie on the forehead and stood up to do the same for their daughter.