Thanks a lot for the early reviews and to the people who followed! The chapter below is a bit shorter than the first one, but it really is indispensable - and you'll notice why. Thank you in advance!

2 - Pancakes.

"Mummy! Mummy!" Tony cried running fast through the corridor, already with his backpack on.

Rose woke up, snorting. Hearing her little brother shout was always kind of her wake-up call. She bent her legs under the covers, enjoying the comfort of the soft mattress, and slowly turned towards the door.

"Just a moment, sweetheart! The pancakes aren't still quite ready… it's a matter of a few minutes, you can wait!" Jackie replied, nervously flipping the pancakes with her spatula.

Her mum's high voice obviously contributed to make resting impossible for her. She opened and closed her eyelids again, crushing them to avoid any lights.

"I'm going to be late for school… Mrs. Roberts is going to scold me" he sobbed, sitting on a step of the stairs.

"Oh, cut it off! We're perfectly in time! And how many times do I have to tell you mustn't shriek in the morning?! You know what happens! I don't want your sister to wake up and get all grumpy like she usually does! How dull is that… who knows, perhaps she's still having last night nightmares about-"

"Mum, I'm here" Rose announced, as she scrubbed Tony's little head and hopped in the kitchen.

"Oh… good morning, dear" Jackie looked up, her eyes and mouth open wide in distress. Then she mechanically turned the little gas knob off and started distributing the pancakes in each plate. "What is Pete doing, though? Is he still in bed, that lazy ass? Isn't he gonna go to work?"

"Mustn't he get into the office at 9? It's still 7 o'clock…" Rose reminded, playing with a curl and twisting her feet inside the flip flops.

"Well, he sure doesn't want to lie in bed for two more hours, does he? I'm not gonna cook anymore pancakes anyway!"
"Mum…" Rose started, lazily pulling back a chair from the table to sit on it.
"Mum!" Tony also exclaimed, flying on another chair already holding knife and fork.

"WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!" she yelled angrily, jumping to the hallway and then back to the stove. "I swear to God, that man…"

"Mum, I gotta hurry…" Tony insisted, in a wonderfully pleading voice, silently suggesting her to go and take his jacket. Jackie rolled his eyes. That kid was just too clever for his age.

"'Morning, everyone!" Pete greeted, walking down the stairs.

"It was about time! Please do me a favor and look after Tony while I go and take his jacket; oh and ask Rose, see if she's had any bad dreams tonight!" she commanded crankily.
Pete giggled and sat at the table.
Rose was spinning her pancakes with her fork, a serious and slightly concerned look on her face. She knew what was going to happen and she had already prepared herself more than satisfactorily, but she couldn't help but be bothered by the fact of being aware of being about to go through a tough third degree.

"So… what about the new job you got at the mall? How's the paycheck?" he started, with a very convincing and sociable smile on his face.

"Quite good actually. The work schedule isn't too hard, and I get a day off or two. Still not so sure about the holidays, though: I've heard some seriously bad complaining from some of the others. The paycheck isn't exactly what I had expected, but I can definitely live with it, so… it's all nice, really. Couldn't have asked for something better."
She was pleased with the length of her answer: the less room she left him for talking, the better.

"It's nice to hear it" he said, genuinely, taking a bite of an abnormally large pancake "And what about… Michael? Are you two going out tonight? Because I thought we could take Tony to the circus. You know, it's been a while he hasn't been there and it's setting off in a few days, so…"
Tony raised his navy blue eyes from the plate immediately.
Rose sighed, letting the cutlery lightly fall on the plate.

"No, definitely not going out with Michael tonight. I'm free for good. I'd love to bring Tony to the circus though – really, it'd be great! Are you happy?!"

"YAAAAY!" the child screamed, putting his hands up and joyfully hopping out of the kitchen, after he had given a kiss to both his sister and daddy.

"Come on, come on! I've got your jacket! Now put it on carefully, one sleeve after another… no, not like that!"

Pete weakly responded to their glee. He was clearly hoping for a 'no'.

"Is it ok with you and Michael?" he mumbled soon afterwards.

Rose was starting to get nervous. They were getting closer to the forbidden zone, and she always hated that.

"We're good! We are, really… it's just, we're splitting up for a while" she just couldn't hide it. She was blushing and her hands were getting sweaty.

"Oh… ok" Pete was pretending to be fine with that, but he really wasn't. The room was getting hotter by the second.

Rose sighed again. He was making her feel guilty. It certainly would have been better if Michael actually existed. Maybe he would've believed her… maybe.
They stayed in almost complete silence, the only noise consisting of Pete greedily chewing his pancakes, until she decided to skip the rest of the plan and just head to the final phase:

"Ok, I'm off then" she announced, getting off the chair and moving fast to her room.

Pointless move though, since her mother and Tony were just in front of the stairs.

"Off where, Rose?" Pete asked, gently.
"Ok, Tony, you can go now! Oh, Rose?! Are you going too, somewhere? Shouldn't you put some clothes on, first? Is it a new trend?" Jackie interfered, giving a rapid kiss on her child's forehead and opening the main door.

"I was just going to dress myself" she explained, a little relieved by the fact she was discussing 'how' she was going out and not 'why' and 'where'.
"Aren't you gonna have a shower first? You have some nasty bags under your eyes and your pajamas' a little… you know" Jackie continued, after greeting an eager Tony.
"Yeah, of course" Rose nodded, changing direction and starting to take her clothes off.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere in particular, I'll stick around the mall a bit, going for some new shops… what about you, mum?"

Suddenly, Jackie's face got really blue. Then she sobbed, meaning exactly: 'Oh sweetheart, who do you think you're fooling?'

She looked at her husband, who just shrugged, his back leaning on the wall. Why didn't she even try? Why did she want to keep suffering all alone? Why didn't she just admit she needed help?
They didn't talk any further- until she got out. Jackie came by her and opened her mouth to speak, but then she preferred to close it and close the door.