Birthday Waffles:

5 AM

August 9th

"Angie! Wake up!" Philip whispered, shaking the three-year-old girl in the other bed against the wall in their shared room. It was still early morning and Philip couldn't help but hope that their parents were still asleep. They were normally awake before them and he wanted to get to work and get to work early so they could surprise their mother for her birthday.

A groan erupted from the girl a moment later, sitting up in her bed. "What's wrong?" She asked softly, clinging to her teddy bear in one hand, rubbing sleep from her eye with the other.

The curly haired boy grabbed her hand in response, trying to pull her from the bed. "It's Mama's birthday," he said simply. "We need to make her breakfast. It's gonna be a surprise!"

"I wanna help!" The girl cried, hopping off the bed and following her brother into the kitchen.

The two tiptoed by their parents' door quietly as to not wake them up. Philip pushed two chairs from the table and over to the kitchen counter, wincing at the sound they made, scraping across the floor. He hoped that wouldn't wake anyone up. As soon as the chair was next to the counter, Angie hoped up on it and he made his own way to the fridge, handing everything to his sister so she could place it on the counter.

A moment later, Philip climbed up onto the chair, standing next to his sister. Angie looked at him, waiting for her older brother to tell her what to make. It didn't come.

"What are you two doing?"

The two kids jumped at the sound of the voice from behind them. Philip glanced down at all the ingredients, steadying himself as he looked back to see his father standing behind them, in the doorway, eyebrow raised. "We thought we were being quiet," Angie's voice softly said as she glanced down at the stuffed bear in her arms, still standing atop of the chair that Philip had pushed into the kitchen.

"Philip, Angelica, get down from those chairs before either of you break something. I highly doubt your mother would want to spend the morning of her birthday in the emergency room." Without saying a word, the two kids climbed off the chairs that they had set there next to the counter. "Now, tell me, what are you two up to?"

"It's Mama's birthday and we wanted to make her some waffles. Mama makes waffles for your birthday, and she did for mine! And Angie's last birthday. It's a tradition."

"And surprise her and stuff!"

The look on Alexander's face softened as he nodded, stepping into the kitchen. "Give me a second to make some coffee," he began as he stifled a yawn. He walked over to the Keurig that he had convinced Eliza to put on their wedding registry, starting it up to make himself a cup of coffee/. "Alright, you two, you want to make Mama waffles?"

Philip nodded. "Yeah, sorry if we woke you, Papa. We thought we were being quiet."

"At least it wasn't Mama," he grinned, teasing them. "Otherwise your plan would have been ruined."

"Can we add lotsa fruit?" Angie asked, bouncing up and down.

"We also made her a card!" Philip called from the living room, pulling out a folded piece of blue paper. The paper was decorated with stick figures and squiggly lines all over the place.

"I did that," Angie said as she pointed to the lines. "It says 'Happy Birthday Mommy!'"

"I see, it's very nice." Alexander said with a smile as he reached up as he took down the waffle iron and got out a few other things that they needed to make the waffles. "Philip, can you check to see if there's fresh fruit in the fridge?"

Nodding, Philip rushed over to the fridge with Angie right behind him. The two of them opened the door and rummaged through all the food and returned to Alexander who had laid everything out that they were going to use to make the waffles with on the counter. "Here, Papa." They said together setting what the found on the counter .

"Perfect. Now a serious question should we put chocolate chips in the waffles in as well?"

"YES!"

Grinning, Alexander reached into the cupboard overhead and took out a package. "Philip, go get the bathroom stool so you both can help." The boy vanished and reappeared within seconds with a stool that they used to brush their teeth with at night. It was less precarious than the chairs that they had brought in their earlier.

Together the three of them made the waffles. Philip helped put the chocolate chips into the batter before stepping aside and allowing Angie to help Alexander mix everything together. "Papa?" Angie asked softly after a moment, still holding the spoon in her grasp. "Do you think Mama will like it?"

"I think she will, yeah." Alexander replied as they finished stirring the batter.

"Papa?"

"Yes, Angie?"

"Do you think Mama will be sad we didn't get her flowers?"

"Oh, I think Mama will be happy to just get something to eat that the two of you made together. I wouldn't worry about the flowers too much."

Philip smiled, carrying over a tray that they had gotten out earlier as Alexander retrieved the last waffle from the waffle iron. "Papa, can we put lotsa syrup on it?"

"With the fruit?"

"Yes!"

Alexander nodded as he assembled everything onto the plate before placing it on Philip's tray. "Are we missing anything else?"

"Our card!" Philip ran over to the kitchen table, retrieving the card and took one more look at it. "Wait-." He ran off, grabbing a crayon and used it to write a few words. "There, now it says, 'From Philip, Angie, Alex and Papa."

"Your brother is still asleep though."

"Can't we get him up?"

Sighing, Alexander nodded as he carried the tray down the hall. "Here, Philip," He handed the tray carefully back to five-year-old before opening the door to the shared room of Philip before coming back out with a still sleeping Alex in his arms. "I think we have everyone now."

Nodding, Philip carefully carried the tray down the hall. Angie ran ahead of him and opened the door for her brother before she followed through. "Mama, wake up!" She yelled as she jumped on the bed.

"Angelica! You don't have to jump on your mother like that."

Groaning, Eliza sat up in bed blinking as she looked at Angelica, then Philip before finally resting her eyes on her husband and youngest son. "What's...going on?"

"We made you birthday waffles for breakfast!" Philip said as he handed his mother the tray carefully from the side of the bed.

A small smile rested on Eliza's face as she adjusted in her bed before staring down at the tray in her lap. "Thank you, it looks so good."

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" Angie said excitedly as she bounced on the bed, Eliza letting out a small laugh as she watched her.

Carefully, she lifted a bit of the food and took a bite. "Very good, did you two make it all by yourselves?"

"Papa helped a little bit," Philip said as he glanced up at Alexander.

"Well, thank you. My birthday waffles are very good."

"Why don't you two go and get dressed for the day."

Angie groaned but hopped off the bed. "Yes, Papa."

As the two left the room, Eliza turned to look at Alexander with a small smile. "Birthday waffles?" She asked, amused.

"Oh, Philip said you made some for my birthday, then his and then on Junior's you made waffles for us to eat."

"I suppose that means I need to make some on Angie's birthday then?"

Alexander laughed, nodding. "I think so, yes."

"It seems I started a tradition without even realizing it."

"Yes, but it's a good one." As he spoke, he leaned in a bit, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Happy Birthday, Eliza."

AN: Another one-shot I had on my google drive! I'm finding all sorts of fics on there. Wrote it in 2018, just did a quick edit. Of course, no better time than to post it for Eliza's birthday~!