Comfort Food

"Joe," she called out, as her feet slapped the stairs. Her hands played with her hair, fed it into a hair-tie. "What's for breakfast?"

She burst into the kitchen and found him in his usual spot, by the kitchen counter. She smiled in spite of herself. It was nice coming downstairs every morning to find him there, ready to cook her a meal, ready to listen to her rants - even if he did give her a hard time sometimes.

It was just.. nice. Ordinary. It made her feel warm inside.

"Breakfast won't be too long." Joe glanced at her, his attention taken away from the fry-pan at his fingertips. "Sit down. I'll bring it over when it's done."

She smiled. "Thanks, Joe. I had the worst sleep last night so I'm really looking forward to some good comfort food."

"Omelette sound good?"

"Sure does."

"Did someone say omelette?" Ryder loped in, his backpack over one shoulder.

"Is someone going to be late for school?" she replied. "I'm thinking so. Lennox left a half hour ago."

Ryder glanced at his watch, swore and rushed out the door.

"But he hasn't eaten yet," Joe argued.

"He'll be fine. He-"

"And he left his lunch on the counter." He pointed at a paper bag lying on its side.

"He has money."

"He's a kid."

She looked at him, trying to figure out how to respond to that. "Oh, crap."

Joe nodded at her, then grabbed the bag and ran out after Ryder.

She watched him go, and smiled. Ryder would be long gone by now. It was nice to know Joe cared so much for him though, that he would run after him with a bag of food because he didn't want him to starve. That was a part of his job description, she supposed.

But sometimes it seemed like Joe was more than just a nanny to the kids. More than sometimes, even. It felt like they were a family. And it was mornings like these that reminded her of that.

fin.