Drabble 46: A Little Bit of Magic

A/N: This is an altered version of the request by Spitfire303 for a baking drabble. I did one in the beginning of this drabble series that focused on Fitz and Simmons having a baking mishap at the Academy. I figured it would be fun to do one with baking within the future Fitz family. So here it is.

Sorry updates have been so slow lately, too. School's really picking up, and drama season's started, so my nights are pretty filled now. But I'll try to update as often as possible, as usual. If you have any requests, let me know!

"Mummy, can I help you?" Benji asked as he walked into the kitchen. His reddish-brown hair was stuck up a bit, and his large brown eyes looked at her pleadingly.

She had never been able to refuse him small wishes like this, not when he looked at her like that. "Alright." She said. "But let's wash up first."

"What are we doing?" he asked.

"I'm baking brownies for Andrew's class tomorrow. It's his birthday, remember?"

"Yeah." Benji said. He walked over to the sink, and she hefted him up so he could wash his hands. "There." He said when she set him back down. "Ready to go!"

Jemma smiled. "Alright. Let me see… can you mix something for me?"

He nodded, watching her with eager eyes.

"Then come over to the table and I'll bring you the bowl in a minute, okay?"

He jogged over to the table and quickly sat down, kneeling as he watched her pour vegetable oil and crack eggs into a big bowl. Then she brought it over to him, with a whisk. "Stir it slowly." She said.

But Benji was way too excited. He took the whisk and started smashing it against the contents of the bowl, and his stirring movements were sporadic and violent.

It took Jemma a minute to realize what he was doing, and by the time she rushed back to her son the table was splattered with thick liquid. "Oh, Benji!"

He looked up at her. "Sorry mummy." Then he smiled earnestly. "But I mixed it!"

The liquid left in the bowl was thoroughly stirred; that much she had to give him credit for.

She smiled despite herself. "Yes, you did." As she took the bowl from him and walked back to the counter, she felt relief at not having given him a full bowl of ingredients. A bit of sticky liquid was much easier to clean up than gooey and chocolate-y brownie mix.

"How can I help now?" Benji asked.

She paused, about to pour the package mix in. Then she sighed and brought it over to the table. "You can help me pour this in."

She held the package tightly but let him grab onto it as well, and then slowly guided it forward, the powder falling into the bowl in a steady trickle. Then the phone rang.

Jemma stopped the flow of powder and moved the open package to the center of the table. "I'll be right back." She said as she walked out of the kitchen to get the phone.

She should have known better than to leave the open ingredients in front of a five year old and expect everything the same as she left it. She was gone maybe two minutes, but in that time little Benji had poured the rest of the packaged mix into the bowl – or tried to.

She guessed that he had picked it up and turned it upside down to pour it out, but lost control of it. There was powder all around the bowl, and even near the center of the table. And on the floor, and the chair, and Benji.

"I made a mess." He said solemnly when she walked back in.

She couldn't help it. She laughed. The combination of the mess he had made and the look on his face was too much to take completely seriously.

"Are you okay?" Benji asked, tilting his head to the side.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm fine. Let's clean this up."

"I thought we were gonna make brownies!" Benji protested.

Jemma looked into the bowl doubtfully. "I'll probably have to make another batch, Benji. A lot of it spilled."

He looked down at his lap. "But you're right." She said quickly, trying to keep him from getting upset. "We are making brownies. Let's try it again, shall we?"

"Together." Benji said with a smile.

Jemma nodded and went to retrieve more ingredients. "You sure you don't want to clean before we start again?"

"No!"

She chuckled. "I expected that." She walked over to him and grabbed the back of his chair. "Hold on." She said. Then she pushed him over to the island where the supplies were laid out.

"That was fun." He said.

Ten minutes later their mix was put together in a big bowl, with only minimal amounts spilled on the counter. Jemma was stirring it to even out the consistency, and when it was almost perfect she moved the bowl closer to Benji.

"Stir it slowly and carefully. I'll hold the bowl."

Benji listened very well this time; his movements were precise and controlled.

Jemma let him stir until his arms grew tired (just about the amount of stirring the mix needed), and then looked at the contents of the bowl. "Perfect!"

"Really?"

"Yep."

Benji thought for a minute. "When do we add the flour?"

"We don't need to."

He looked confused. "I thought you always used flour?"

"This mix has everything it needs in it." She said. "All we have to do now is put it in the oven."

"I'll let you do that."

Jemma smiled. She and Fitz had always told Benji to not touch the oven; he took it to an extreme, and avoided all contact with it. They would have a talk with him about it soon, but for now it only made things easier. So Benji watched from his chair as Jemma set the oven to preheat and took out a baking pan.

"Ooh, can I pour it?"

Jemma moved closer to him and let him help her tip the bowl into the pan. Then she used a scraper to get the last bits out of the bowl, and set the pan closer to the stove.

"There's still some chocolate in there." Benji noted.

"So there is." Jemma said.

They locked eyes for a moment, and then both smiled in the same way as their fingers went into the bowl. A second later they were watching each other, one finger on each hand held up and covered with chocolate and looking for an opening.

Jemma saw one first, and struck. She touched Benji on the nose with a chocolate covered finger, and laughed as he opened his mouth in surprise.

Then Benji laughed too, and tried to look at his nose.

The oven dinged and Jemma carefully slid the brownie pan onto one of the racks inside before turning back to Benji – and having just about the same reaction he had. He had waited until she turned around to strike, and hit her on the cheek with his chocolate.

"Gotcha." Said Benji with a laugh.

Jemma grinned. "It's a tie."

She moved the empty bowl to the sink and filled it with water, and then wet a washcloth and wiped off Benji's nose, and her cheek. Then she looked all around the kitchen. "I think it's time to clean up."

"No." Benji said. "Let's cook more!"

"But we don't have anything else to cook today!"

"What about dinner?"

Jemma thought for a minute. "I guess you could help me make a pasta salad."

They were both laughing when Fitz got home, so they didn't hear him open the door. They only knew he was home when they saw him standing in the kitchen doorway, looking around with a shocked expression.

That was when Jemma's amusement seemed to drain out of her. The sight of Fitz sent her back into parenting mode, and as she looked around the messy kitchen, she couldn't help but feel that she'd failed as a parent. There was brownie mix on the table and floor, liquid mixes on the table and counter, and even a few pasta noodles on the counter. It was the messiest her kitchen had ever been.

"What happened here?" Fitz asked.

Jemma swallowed hard and walked towards him. "We were cooking."

"It was fun!" Benji said. He hopped off of his chair and ran over to Fitz, wrapping his arms around his father's legs. "Mummy let me help her make brownies, and then I helped with dinner!"

Fitz smiled, but Jemma was waiting for a negative reaction; she would have been a little upset to see the kitchen in this state.

But Fitz didn't seem upset at all. "Let's clean this up, alright?" he said to Benji.

"But it's so much work."

"You can't play and then not clean up. You know that."

But Benji seemed to get an idea. "Maybe you can!" He ran out of the kitchen, leaving Fitz looking at Jemma with raised eyebrows.

She shook her head, not knowing what he could be up to.

They didn't have to wait long to find out. A minute later Benji ran back in, and he had something held carefully in his hand. Jemma smiled when she saw what it was.

Benji raised the wand in his right hand and said "Reparo", swishing it and gesturing to the messy kitchen.

Jemma just looked at him, not thinking much. Fitz, however, started moving quickly through the kitchen, grabbing paper towels and cleaning solution in a spray bottle and rushing to the mess, where he started to clean it up.

Benji opened his mouth in shock and giggled, evidently pleased with this result. That got Jemma thinking again. She grabbed a garbage bag and walked over to work next to Fitz, quickly clearing away the mess by the table.

They zoomed about the room with their cleaning supplies, laughing and jumping up and just having a good time. Benji joined them too, the wand left carefully on the counter. A few minutes later the mess was gone, the kitchen area once more clean. Fitz sat down in a chair and wiped his brow. "Phew!" he said. "That was some tough magic!"

Benji looked happy with the praise, and retrieved the wand from the counter. "Here's your wand, Mummy."

Jemma smiled thoughtfully. "I think it worked pretty well for you. It's yours now, as long as you take good care of it."

The little boy seemed like he would explode, he was so happy. "I promise I will! I love it!" Then he lunged forward and clung to Jemma tightly. She knelt down and wrapped her arms around him, and then he whispered in her ear, "This is the best day ever."

She felt tears sting at her eyes and held him even tighter for an instant; then she let him go and stood up, and he was gone from the kitchen.

Fitz stood and walked over to her. "It looks like you had a pretty good day." He said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

She nodded, still blinking away tears.

He leaned in and brushed his lips against her temple, a small gesture of affection that meant more to her than a kiss on the lips.

Yes, she'd had a very good day. She'd spent a lot of time with her little boy, and he'd enjoyed it just as much as she had. But this moment made it much better.

"You want another wand, don't you?" He said after a moment, once she'd successfully fought off her tears and was looking serious. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes." She said in a small voice, turning and burying herself in his shoulder. She wasn't upset, but she thought it a great opportunity to be close to him at the moment.

She felt him laugh, and then his hands were rubbing against her back, and she sighed as she relaxed against him. Fitz's touch made everything better, just like she knew it would.

A/N: I hope you liked it. I couldn't resist using a bit of Harry Potter in it (I'm reading the series again, so it's been on my mind), but I had to end it in a funny and sweet way, which I hope I did. Anyway, leave me a review!