Waking up as the early morning sun crept through the gap in the curtains, it's warming rays touching her face. Isabel slowly opened her eyes, squinting slightly she sat up, stretching widely as she yawned and blinked away the sleep induced mist from her vision.
Pulling herself out of bed, she plodded off into the bathroom, grabbing a hot shower before attending to fixing herself some breakfast, her eyes wondering over the corner where Theo was sat yesterday morning. His tie still laying abandoned in the back of the toilet, serving as a reminder that the unfortunate event that occurred here wasn't a dream.
In all honesty, she regretted flipping her lid at him, what he said was hardly wrong, if anything he had hit the hypothetical nail right on the head, a little too precisely for what her mind could handle at the time.
Sighing deeply, she got out of the shower, wrapping a towel modestly round her body as she set about getting her hair dry and getting dressed for the day. The pleasant smell of cooking food whiffing in from the kitchen, making her stomach growl.
Following the smell, she found Ezekiel cooking up a storm in the kitchen, all the while dressed in a white apron with little blue flowers and frill up the sides. An item that most certainly didn't belong to her. It, none the less, succeeded to bring a small smile to her lips "Morning Zeke... what are you wearing?"
"Good morning~" the wavy haired man greeted with a warm smile, "oh, you mean this fetching apron? I borrowed it off Nicholas's wife. Thought it might help guide you back into a good mood, I was never been a big fan of moppy Mel" he justified with a flourish of the spatula within his grip.
Shaking her head good humouredly, a soft chuckle leaving her lips. Continuing forward, her eyes locked on the plateful of perfectly crispy bacon sitting on the counter, she craftily stole a slice. Narrowly avoiding getting thwacked on across the knuckles by the weapon Ezekiel was currently banishing as he plated up the cooked food. Sticking her tongue out defiantly, taking a bite of her bounty... only getting the single bite in before the rest was nabbed, and devoured by said, frilly aproned cook.
Brushing off her scowl, he carried on serving the hearty breakfast onto three plates... earning him a curious look "I promised I save Nick and Penny some in return for the apron" he explained with a shrug, stashing the one of the heaping stacks of food back in the oven, before carrying the other two over to the pre set dinning table.
Following him over, she went about pouring them both some tea from the awaiting teapot, which was sitting on it's own silver tray, accompanied with cups, milk jug and sugar bowl. Fixing her tea as she pondered over where to start on her plateful of goodies.
He really had out done himself; sausages, scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and crispy fried potatoes... with butter scotch scones, syrup and juice already sat on the table. Tucking into her breakfast hungrily, enjoying every mouthful... she hadn't eaten a meal this good in such a long time.
"Damn... I'd almost forgotten how good you're cooking is..." she sighed between bites,
"You chose to stay away... you should know you are always welcome here with us" Ezekiel reminded taking a sip of tea.
Isabel nodded sadly "I know, it's just... after everything that has gone on back then and recently..." she uttered thoughtfully, struggling to find the right words.
Raising his hand to silence her "there is no need for that, I understand, but it never stopped me and the gang missing you like mad" he countered, placing his hand over hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"I really am sorry..." she mumbled giving him a small smile,
"Finishing you're breakfast, dearie" he bid softly, waving away the rest.
Isabel nodded, going back to finishing off the last of her breakfast, more for something to occupy herself with, than appeasing her hunger at this point.
In amongst attending to his own breakfast, he remember what he had been meaning to tell her "Oh yea, before I forget, you had a visitor last night, showed up shortly after you finally sparked out" Ezekiel informed her, attempting to sound nonchalant, suppressing the urge to chuckle.
"Mmm?" she sounded, looking up as she was half way through chewing through a chuck of sausage
"Seems like you've gotten yourself a new admirer, Melaine~" he teased, grinning at her confused look "a certain grey haired manager?"
Feeling her lips twitch up at the mention of him "Oh you mean Theo... he's just a friend" she replied attempting to sound nonchalant, but slipping up with "well I hope he is still is."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He's the one I ended up blowing up at yesterday..." she mumbled sadly,
"Well he did come back, sneaking in at half eleven no less, so I wouldn't be count him out just yet"
"Did he say anything?"
"Nope, just stood in the doorway looking quite downhearted and lonely"
A bitterness started to seep into her stomach at the thought...
"Not seen my old apprentice look quite so down in the mouth in quite some time" Ezekiel speculated thoughtfully, rubbing his chin, continuing to covertly watching her out of the corner of his eye.
"He's you're apprentice?" she inquired raising a eyebrow,
He nodded once, shooting her a slightly disappoint look "I thought you would have realised this by now. I've been told many times that he is just as nuts as I am"
"Does explain an awful lot, I must admit" Isabel reasoned with a little nod, taking a drink of her now lukewarm tea, mentally kicking herself for not picking up that more than obvious detail.
A smirk pulled at the corners Ezekiel's lips "Would that include the obvious soft spot you have for him?"
"He's just a friend" she reiterated with a sigh...
Rolling his eyes at her "you keep telling yourself that, dearie" he grumbled, clearing away the plates "see where that gets you"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she demanded, her chair screeching as she forced her chair back, hastily following him into the kitchen.
"You may think that business with Matthew gets you off the hook, but there is only a matter of time before you will have to face the truth..." Ezekiel stated in a matter of a fact tone as he washed up the dishes.
"Oh and just what is that, oh mighty all knowing Master Ezekiel?"
"That even though you refuse to admit it, the last decade or two with Matthew were a complete sham... nothing more than clinging onto the past, simply because it was easier than facing the fact that the love you may have shared had vanished quite a while ago."
Clenching her fists "are you call me a coward?"
"For holding on to a long since deceased relation no, that was just your hopeful heart showing through." he reasoned, it taking every ounce of resistant he owned to keep from raising his voice "Now this blinkered denial, this is cowardly..."
"What do you suggest then, crawling into his office and begging him for forgiveness, offering him a change to take a sledge hammer to my damned heart too?" she exclaimed animated, intentionally over exaggerating.
"Stop being childish, Melanie..." he groaned exasperatedly, pitching his nose "lord knows I love you like a sister, but you can be so damn hard headed at times..."
"That's rich coming from you..."
"Would it kill you to give him a chance? Reach out to him like you once did to me and the others? Or have you been Isabel far too long to remember how too?"
Isabel's anger faded, a deep set frown etching across her brow, laying hints of her true age "Everything seemed so much easier back then, before I knew it, I was surrounded by people that honestly cared about me... my brother, you... and all the others..." she uttered faintly, her voice soft and intensely thoughtful "but now... I frankly don't know... whether I've forgotten or I simply weren't all that good at it to start off with, I'm not sure"
Bridging the gap between them, he gently pulled her into his arms "I believe in you, Melaine... perhaps it's simply time you believed in yourself a little more..." he expressed gently, softly pressing his lips to her forehead "keep your chin up, little sister"
Clinging closely to him, resting her head on his shoulder "What will I ever do without you Zeke?"
"You mean other than smash yourself through your entire wage's worth of furniture, get yourself in a permanent rut and sulk for the rest of your days... who knows?" he mused, teasing her very mildly as to not end up just enraging her once more.
"Oh shut up, mop top" Melaine grumbled back half heartedly.