Thank you everyone for your reviews! You all have flattered me. I had a lot of fun writing the last chapter. Major superhero/Star Wars geek over here. :) I hope you enjoy this one! A good portion of it was written before the last chapter was even thought up.

Chapter 8: Breakfast

Things were getting out of hand. Seth had been going crazy with pranks - from filling the shower head with grape juice mix to putting pancake syrup in the kitchen soap container to putting a numbing oral gel on everyone's toothbrushes and more. Bracken decided he needed to put an end to it - and since Seth started it, he figured Seth should be the one to stop it. If his plan was going to ultimately work, Bracken couldn't be seen. Not by anyone. So far so good - he'd been there for about half an hour already and no one seemed to be any the wiser.

Bracken understood that Seth had a peculiar fascination with windows and things outside of windows, which still didn't really explain why he was currently in the backyard, late at night, watching Seth through the windows like a predator stalking its prey.

He was waiting for Seth to go to bed before setting up his ruse. The boy had been sitting in the living room of the house watching something on the television and occasionally trading words with his sister who had her nose in a book. She didn't look too thrilled at Seth's comments or questions or whatever he was saying, but she didn't appear to be particularly bothered either. Bracken wondered idly if this was a normal evening for them. He wouldn't know - he didn't usually make a habit of sneaking around people's houses at night, after all.

The siblings sat in silence for a little while longer. Kendra temporarily put her book in her lap, yawned and rubbed her eyes, then resumed reading. Finally, after another fifteen minutes or so, Seth turned off the TV. He said something to his sister, then headed toward the staircase to presumably go to bed. Bracken ran around to the turret where he knew the Sorenson siblings slept and waited for a few signs.

Sure enough, the light in the room turned on a couple of minutes later - Seth had apparently made a stop on the way up to the bedroom. A few more minutes passed and then the light went out.

Go time.

Bracken muttered a couple of words under his breath and a very small ball of ghostly light appeared over his open hands. He removed his hands from beneath the light and motioned upward, the ball then proceeding toward the window outside of the Sorenson siblings' bedroom. Just before the light reached the window, Bracken performed another quick motion with his right hand and the ball of ghostly light suddenly transformed into an awfully creepy-looking humanoid shape with flowing robes and the same muted, translucent appearance as the ball had held only a moment before. Another flick of his wrist and the shape held an ancient-looking axe. He directed the shape to float just outside the window and waited for some from of reaction to follow.

He expected a shout, for the the lights to suddenly turn on - something to prove that Seth had caught the memo.

He did not, however, expect to hear the sound of Kendra's shrill, frantic scream.

His stomach plummeted as he frantically motioned with his arms and the spectral figure disappeared.

Time to turn himself in. Mission failed.

"Bracken," Stan began, "We are indebted to you for the aide you provided in our darkest hours. You are a good being and you have been a great friend to my grandchildren."

Stan moved behind his desk in his study and sat down, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side in a silent offer to his guest. Bracken remained standing, feeling awkwardly like a scolded child as the stupidity of his actions was hitting home.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, his apology sincerely heartfelt.

"I know," Stan said. "I can tell you're giving yourself a worse lecture than I could." He swiveled in his chair from side to side for a few seconds, then stood up. "I don't really need to tell you how childish and utterly ridiculous that was, do I?" he asked, walking closer to Bracken.

"No, sir," the unicorn answered. "I understand completely."

Stan paused, then shrugged his shoulders and said, "Alright. If you promise not to do it again, I promise not to tell Scott and Marla that you were stalking their children tonight." He smirked at this, picturing their reactions in his head.

"Absolutely! I won't ever do it again!"

"Good. You know, you're lucky they've been at the old manor with the Larsens tonight. I think my son might have murdered you otherwise."

Bracken didn't have a response to that, so he asked a different question instead. "Is Kendra alright?"

Stan chuckled. "Oh, she'll be fine." He walked over to the study door and smiled at Bracken before saying, "Brace yourself," and opening the door.

There stood Kendra, a deep frown set into her face. She marched into the study, punched Bracken in the arm as hard as she could, glared at him for a second and then shouted, "That was all part of your stupid game with my brother!?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you - I wanted to knock some sense into Seth and get him to stop pranking people. I would never intentionally do something like that to you," Bracken quickly spat out, holding his hands out in front of him in a very apologetic fashion.

"You didn't even think about the fact that Seth and I share a room, did you!? Or that I might have been tired and decided to go to bed!"

Bracken hung his head, shame settling in.

Kendra took a deep breath and put her fingers to her temples in an effort to cool herself off before responding. "Look... I'll calm down. Give me some space and some time to get over how much of an idiot you are, and we'll be fine."

"I am so, so sorry, Kendra," Bracken said, moving toward her and motioning as though he wanted to embrace her.

Kendra quickly moved out of the way. "Try me again tomorrow. I'm going to bed." And with that she turned around and stalked out of the room, slamming the study door behind her.

Stan could tell that Bracken wasn't physically hurt - he doubted Kendra would ever be able to actually wound the unicorn - but he could also tell that Bracken was quite upset with himself.

"Don't mind her too much. She'll calm down," Stan said. "Some schmoozing on your part might help speed things along."

"Schmoozing?" Bracken looked distracted, but also confused at that particular word.

"You know... something sweet. A fancy apology. A reason to encourage her to be happy with you again."

"I never thought that she would be unhappy with me. I feel terrible." He looked like he felt terrible - it was quite obviously written across his face.

Stan walked toward the study door and stood in front of it for a moment. "You know Kendra," he said, facing Bracken as he spoke. "How many times has Seth done something dumb to make her mad? And yet she always forgives him. It's late at night, she's tired and stressed. This was just bad timing is all. I'm sure she'll feel better in the morning after she's had some rest."

"Maybe you're right," Bracken conceded, sounding doubtful. "I'll come back tomorrow."

"The guest room is open," Stan suggested. "You can sleep in there if you'd like. It would mean less travel for you."

"Thank you. I appreciate your hospitality," he stated.

"Just fix things with my granddaughter tomorrow." Stan smiled again, opened the door and exited the room, leaving the unicorn to his thoughts of how he could "fix things."

Bracken woke early the next morning to the smell of something delicious. He assumed someone was making breakfast and decided to help them - perhaps he'd be able to recover some of his dignity that way - then threw on his shirt and made his way to the kitchen.

Kendra was there, and it looked like she was at the tail end of making some type of fruit pastries. One batch was out of the oven and cooling - hence the wonderful aroma wafting through the house - another batch was in the oven, and it looked like she was finalizing a third batch for oven readiness. Bracken stood in the doorway and watched her for a moment until she started talking without looking up at him.

"Good morning," she said. Her tone of voice didn't give Bracken any hint as to how she may have been feeling or what kind of mood she was in.

His facial expression seemed to say 'here goes nothing' as he stepped into the kitchen. "Hi," he said.

She finally glanced at him after a little while and sent him a small smile before looking down at her work again. He breathed out with relief - maybe she wasn't still upset with him after all. Maybe Stan was right.

"I am so sorry about last night," he blurted out. "I should have been more careful, really thought things through, and well... been less of a creep."

"I know you didn't mean it," she said. "I overreacted. I'm sorry, too."

Bracken smiled widely at her and moved closer to look at the pastries she had baked. "Strawberry?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "Most of the ones in the oven are also strawberry. These ones are blueberry."

"Can I help with anything?"

Kendra looked around. "I've already finished making them. All that's left is to wash the dishes."

"I'll do that," he answered eagerly, walking straight toward the sink before Kendra could say anything. She didn't protest, just nodded her head and checked on the turnovers that were in the oven.

Silence fell between them. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't exactly normal either. Kendra took the pastries out of the oven and put the last tray inside at about the same time that Bracken finished washing the dishes. She then started taking the first batch of strawberry turnovers off of the baking sheet they had been cooling on and placed them on a large platter. Bracken watched her as she did that, wondering how he could breach the silence without making the slight awkwardness worse. This wasn't exactly his area of expertise.

She stopped moving, placed her palms down on the counter in front of her and tilted her head backward. "You're staring at me," she said, not looking at him.

Bracken quickly looked away. "Sorry."

"Is there something you wanted to ask me? You usually only stare when you're not sure how to say what you want to say."

"You... know me too well," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I was just wondering... what made you want to get up this morning and make breakfast? You must have been awake for a while."

She turned around to look at him. "Consider it a peace offering," she said. Then she went back over to the oven to check on the progress the last batch of turnovers was making. "They're getting close," she said. "Only a little while longer."

Stan chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. "Good morning Kendra, Bracken," he greeted. Migrating toward the cooling pastries he commented, "Those look wonderful."

"They're for breakfast. Here," she said, placing a couple of strawberry ones on a plate and handing it to her grandfather.

"Thank you," he responded, sounding genuinely pleased. "Strawberry is my favorite."

Kendra smiled. "I know," she said. "That's one of the reasons why I picked them."

Stan gave his granddaughter a one-sided hug while he held the plate in his other hand. "Isn't my Kendra wonderful?" he asked, pointedly looking at Bracken.

"Yes, she is," the unicorn responded in a happy tone.

Kendra broke away from her grandfather's side and returned to the oven, removing the last batch and bringing them over to the counter to set down the hot tray. She grabbed a couple more plates and placed two pastries on each one, then proceeded to move the rest of the second batch of turnovers to the same platter that the first batch occupied. She left the third batch where they were for now in order to allow them to cool down a little first.

Picking up one of the two plates she'd prepared, she handed it to Bracken. "These ones are for you," she stated.

Bracken took her proffered peace offering and thanked her appropriately. "Are you going to eat as well?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "Not yet. I'm going to wait until Grandma Sorenson gets up. We usually eat breakfast together."

"I'll wait as well, then," he responded. Warren and Dale wandered into the kitchen from the back yard a few minutes later and looked not only surprised, but thrilled to have fresh-baked pastries for breakfast.

"You are the best," Warren told Kendra, wide-eyed.

"I second that opinion," Dale agreed. The brothers grabbed a few pastries each and headed into the dining room to sit at the table while they talked with Stan about the morning chores and who would be doing what.

Ruth showed up not long afterward and greeted them both with smiles. "Good morning," she said. "You made these?" she asked Kendra.

"Yeah," Kendra responded. "I found the recipe in one of your old books."

"The thin one with the yellow binding?"

"Yep. That's it."

Ruth's eyes glowed with pride. "That is one of my grandmother's recipes. I haven't had these since I made them when Stan and I were young parents," she said. "What a pleasant surprise!" She reached toward the second plate Kendra had prepared earlier, but Kendra stopped her.

"Those ones are for Seth," she said. "Here's a clean plate for you, Grandma. You can choose the ones you want."

"Reserving some for your brother before they're all snatched up, are you? That's probably a good idea," she said, winking at Kendra. As if on cue, her brother walked into the kitchen at the same time as Stan came in looking for a second helping.

"Don't overdo it," Ruth warned her husband.

"I think I can manage my own diet," Stan responded. Ruth rolled her eyes, then handed Seth the plate Kendra had set aside earlier. "Here you go, dear," she said.

"Dessert for breakfast? Score!" Seth said, immediately retreating to the dining room once he secured the plate in his grip. Kendra chose a couple of turnovers for herself, then followed her grandmother into the dining room while Bracken tagged along behind her.

"Kendra, these are delicious," Dale complimented her when she sat down.

"No kidding," Warren chimed in.

"Thank you," she said before taking a bite herself.

Bracken smiled and had to agree with everyone else - the pastries were wonderful, and he told her so.

"These are pretty good," Seth admitted. "But why did you make them? You did quite a bit of shouting last night. I thought you'd have been ticked off at everyone all day today still."

"I told Bracken earlier - it's a peace offering," she explained. "Don't get used to it. These are worth every minute I spent on them, but they're still a lot of effort."

Seth looked at her oddly. "Uh-huh," he said in a tone that clearly showed he didn't believe her reasoning.

"Does it matter why I made them?" she asked. "I felt like baking. I've been doing that a lot lately."

"I've been enjoying your baking a little too much," Stan said, lightly patting his belly. "I think I'm going to need to exercise alongside some of the cattle later."

"That would be a good idea," Ruth replied.

"Thank you, darling wife."

"You said it, not me."

Conversation around the breakfast table remained lighthearted. When everyone had finished, Stan, Warren and Dale stood up and took their empty plates to the sink, then exited to the back yard to start their morning chores. Kendra, Bracken and Ruth also moved to the kitchen and Seth trotted along behind them. Ruth volunteered to do dishes while Bracken offered to help Kendra package up the remaining few pastries and Seth stole another one to munch on.

After a few moments of idle chatter in the kitchen, Bracken started to notice that his stomach was doing weird flip-flops. He shrugged it off as nothing, but then noticed that Seth had paused halfway through the pastry he had stolen and was staring up at Kendra with an expression on his face that made him look like he was about to be sick. Bracken looked over to Kendra to find her smirking and looking back at Seth pointedly.

"Are you going to stop pranking people now?" she asked.

Seth put the half-eaten pastry down on the counter and placed his hands on his abdomen. "What did you do to me?" he asked. Directing his attention to Bracken, he added, "Are you feeling gross, too?"

"A little, I guess," Bracken admitted. "Not enough to bother me too much, though. Am I missing something?"

"She poisoned the food," he muttered.

"'Poison' is a strong word," she said. "Try 'ground up a nice laxative and put it in your breakfast.' That's more accurate."

Seth paled. Ruth turned around from the sink and laughed. "Nice one," she complimented Kendra, continuing to chuckle. "Did you get both of them?"

"Most definitely," Kendra admitted, grinning.

Suddenly, Bracken's stomach lurched and he immediately understood what Seth was talking about.

"How could you!?" Seth cried out, jumping away from the counter and dashing out of the kitchen.

Kendra walked up to Bracken and shot him a smug look of triumph, then gave him a hug and said, "I forgive you now. And don't mess with me again." Then she let him go and gave Ruth a high-five as they both erupted into peals of laughter.

Bracken and Seth both learned a valuable lesson that day - if you push Kendra too far, you will surely regret it.

And thus ends the prank war. ;)

The next chapter hasn't been written yet - it's all in my head right now. It will probably be up in a couple of weeks. I still have three or four future chapters either completely or almost completely handwritten out, but we're not to those points yet. I've really appreciated this particular prompt - it's inspired a lot of silliness and fun that otherwise would have been absent from the original loose storyline I'd imagined. (I'm open to more writing prompt suggestions if you'd like to offer one up. Same as before - no guarantees I will use it, but the possibility does exist! Otherwise, I have pre-existing ideas that I will continue to move forward with.) At this point, I have no idea how many more chapters I'm planning to write. Suffice it to say I expect this will continue for quite a while longer.