Who: Becca, Molly, Don
When: A few months after the ransom dinners.
What: Don is worried! Hush, he can worry.

"Molly, baby," Becca groaned and draped an arm over her eyes when the lights came on. "I mean it sweetie, bring me the phone, you need a sitter..."

"But you're home mom!" The little cub squeaked and jumped up on her bed, a perfect little fuzzball full of energy.

Her headache did NOT like the way the bed moved under the cub and she whimpered softly. "I'm sick baby, please, just bring me the phone?"

"You're sick?!" Contrary to orders Molly scrambled up to go peel one of her mom's eyelids open, peering at the red-rimmed and dilated orb thoughtfully for a moment before nodding grimly. "You have the measle-spots-flu!"

"Molly!" she groaned, swatting at the girl to try to get her eyelid back, "there's no such thing. Really, just get the phone!"

"NO!" Molly scampered back away from the swat but stood her (shaky) ground on the end of the bed. "I'm gonna take care of you and you'll feel better I promise!"

No, that really was not the bes-"Baby that's..."

"First you need breakfast!" The bubbly cub bounced off the bed and was dashing her way to the kitchen before the rest of Rebecca's words could be heard.

Fine. Whatever. She couldn't possible set the house on fire or anything...right? Becca coughed and curled up tighter in bed, stuffing her head under a pillow. Breakfast bought her like...five more minutes of peace. That could let her rest some...

Molly was quite the creative little thing. She knew how to get up to the stove as long as no one cared about her balancing her stool on top of a chair! And everyone knew that sick people needed hot food! And chicken soup, but not for breakfast because soup was totally a lunch food.

So she climbed her way up to the stove top and then climbed, blithely, higher, traipsing about on the counters so she could get a good look at what they had in the cupboards. What kind of breakfast did she make to fight the measle-spots-flu?! "Pepper!" She decided, something spicy to make her mom's nose clear out! She got out the mixing bowl and the tin of pepper was turned upside down until a nice, black pile was sitting in there!

Oh, but, pepper burned too, so cream? That was from the fridge so she'd get that later. Hey, Anise smelled nice and it sounded like her friend at school! And there was flour, there always had to be flour, and cooking oil! To make it...okay, that looked too soupy but maybe it'd get better when the cream was added? Hey, chocolate chips! That made everyone feel better!

She was scrambling down off the counter with her bowl when there was a knock at the door. Oh no! One of the things she forgot to do was to draw a 'Stay Away' sign! What if other people got the impection too?! "Coming! Don't come in! It's not safe!"

Not safe? That made Don's ears twitch. He hadn't liked how Becca had been sniffling at their last business meeting and so he'd thought...okay, perhaps he worried...he'd brought tissues? Still, 'Not Safe' was not a good thing to hear! With a low growl he set his shoulder to the door.

It was a...not so flimsy door.

"What are you doing?" Molly blinked when she opened the door on his attempts to break the latch in. "Are you coming to steal? I'll call the cops!"

"What?!" He barely managed to stop himself from bowling over the little girl as the door opened, leaving him pinwheeling his arms a moment before he caught his balance. Ahem, yes, "No! I am Don Karnage! I do not burgle, I am a pirate!"

"I'm gonna call the police men and they're gonna make you go to jail!"

"Ah! No, no, see? I brought this! It's a gift!"

Molly blinked and then peered up at the pirate with the oddest expression on her face, "It's a box of tissues."

"Well, haha, yes, very good, it's...for your mother?"

"Oh! That's good! she's sick! Hey, you can help me make breakfast!"

Don blinked, not exactly sure how 'I brought a thing' turned into 'Let's peel potatoes' but at least she wasn't calling those terrible Cape Suzette guards on him? They were all thugs and didn't know how to handle a gentleman such as himself! "Alright, ah...how?"

"It's easy!" Molly beamed and that was probably when the pirate was suppose to run. That or go hide under Becca's bed. "I'll show you!"

He was doomed. "So..."

"...so now we get the eggs! And the cream! And probably some carrots because those are good for you but I'm not allowed to use the grater can you do that?"

Don's ears drooped a bit more at each item listed, and he watched as the girl dumped some rather random things in the big bowl she had on the floor. Um, there was something very wrong with this picture. Yes. Aha. "You should have that on the table! To mix! Off the floor, scoot!" Why yes he left the cooking to his crew, how would anyone ever know? He set the mixing bowl on the table with a flourish and helped Molly pull a large spoon out of the hanging rack of tools before...trying to locate a grater.

"And anything with vitamins in it!" Molly commanded from her kitchen chair throne.

"Yes yes," he muttered, poking the hanging ladles. No, not a grater, not up there. Blast it, who would hide a grater? Oh, yes, the mother of a rather precocious child. "You are making a mess! Here, stir slower, smooth yes? Like mixing ah-never mind you can't mix that. Like mixing a smooth thing, what is that? Is it suppose to be black?" Or streaked in black?

Hmmm, she looked down critically, judging the slop in her bowl. It was kind of eggy? But the pepper was doing okay now! "Yes!" Molly slowed her stirring a little, grinning, "Oh we should put cereal in the bowl! Cereal is 'enriched' which means they add healthy stuff but it still tastes good!"

What in the world was...never mind, he didn't want to know. "I'll find some yes? Here, and AHA!" The grater was up in the cereal cupboard! There were all kinds of healthy things that could be grated! Carrots, and cheese, and broccoli, and "Hey, that's not healthy, get it off my grate plate!"

"But...it tastes good!" Molly countered. "And tasting good is important! Like the chocolate chips, and the strawberries, peppermints taste really good! And maybe some jelly beans!"

"Ah..." he eyed the bowl again, trying to judge when the mixture was going to explode due to too many ingredients! That could happen, right? That was why everything in professional kitchens were made out of very sturdy metal! And now she was...pouring orange juice into the mix too. "no, that is enough! There are enough things in this! What are we even making?"

Molly put the cap back on the juice with a cheerful thump and pulled a pan out from under the stove. "Muffins! To make mom better! Can you turn on the oven?"

He was pretty sure that the shredded things were trying to crawl out of the wells in the muffin pan when the glop was dished. He grated some cheese on top for good measure, cheese melted after all, it'd be like ropes to hold the stiff down as it cooked?

Maybe?

They were ALL GOING TO DIE.

He turned the dials on the oven to some number or another and then slid the tray into the heated thing under Molly's instruction. Then? Molly went to wash her hands and Don made a dash for where he assumed Becca's room was. "Ah, hate to bother you when you're ah..." ignoring him? "Hello?"

"Hnnn?" Becca peeked from under her pillow blearily. "Don? I'm...hallucinating. Great." Just like that he lost her under the pillow again.

There just...wasn't time for this foolishness! "Listen!" he rumbled, pulling the pillow up off her head. Oh but she was a pathetic little thing when she was sick! Scrunching tighter and whimpering and he should get another blanket for her she was cold and-RIGHT HE WAS GETTING DISTRACTED! "I do not wish to alarm you but your kitchen may explode."

It was hard enough to keep both eyes open that she just gave up and tucked her face against his tail since he'd taken her pillow. SHE WAS SICK AND SHE NEEDED TO SLEEP AND HE WAS A HALLUCINATION ANYWAY "...won't blow up. Molly isn't allowed to use the stove or oven." That was the important part anyway right?

"Ah, yes, about this...she did not tell me of the rules yes?" He whimpered as he heard an ominous ticking from down the hall, then at a metallic 'BING!" he flattened himself over Becca, shielding her from the explo-huh? That was a very anticlimactic 'Bing'. "Haha! It did not explode!"

"Told you." Se grumbled and pulled her guilt tighter so she could go back to sleep. Oh, wait..."You're really here and you turned on the oven for Molly?"

"Yes?"

"Why?"

"I brought tissues?" IT WAS A PERFECTLY REASONABLY ANSWER!

"Don..." she groaned and pushed her self up from the bed until she could sit and peer around him. "...why did you turn on the oven?"

Oh, yes, that, "She asked? She is making...muffins?" OF DOOM. "She, ah, says they are very healthy. And tasty. And full of enriched cereal." And she was...staring at him. That or she was fainting, he wasn't sure...ah, wait, yes, definitely staring.

"...hand me my robe, Don. NOW."

"Yes!" he whisked off the edge of her bed and looked around frantically. This was like the grater quiz all over again! Robe, robe, HAH! On the chair! "Why do you need a robe?"

"Because I"m in a night gown and there is a man in my room," she grumped, taking the terry cloth from him so she could cuddle up in it's folds. "And if he doesn't give my pillow back after the kitchen thing I'm keeping his tail."

Um. He had NO IDEA how to take that from a sick business woman? "Okay? I know it is a very charming tail!" Probably the wrong thing to say but hey, it was! With a smile he offered his arm (she seemed a bit unsteady). "Shall we?"

"You are going to eat just as many bites as I do," she grumbled, leaning on him.

"Why?"

"Because she's four and she's trying to help, and you HELPED HER."

"Ah."