Hello, and Happy 2022 to you! It is Wednesday and I am back with the first upload of the year. How unusual it is for me that what I am uploading this week is the chapter that I have most recently written. But it feels like a good one to begin the New Year. I think without trying too hard, it captures a lot of what I hope to focus on in the upcoming year. This story features a moment in time when Justin and Sammy are just settling in to being the foster parents of Darcy and Zack. Diaster strikes! Lucy isn't around to be able to fulfill her nanny duties like she was meant to. Who is the next best person to take the children off Sammy's hands? I guess you'll find out :P I hope you enjoy :)

Ages:

Sammy: 33

Eli: 34

Darcy: 6

Zack: 3

Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!

Sammy wasn't expecting Eli to be dressed like that when he answered the door. Furthermore, he didn't understand why he himself was thinking of that sort of thing rather than the bigger questions that might have sprung to mind.

Instead of being cloaked in the moth holed black hoodie that often veiled him, in its place was a crisp white shirt and black trousers.

He looks so much like a waiter, Sammy thought to himself.

Fortunately, instead of bluntly voicing this opinion as soon as the two males came face to face, he allowed his real feelings to catch up. A child on either side of him and both of them clutching a hand each, a frown washed over naturally stern features.

"Is Lucy here?" Sammy asked, it becoming easier to forget his peculiar initial observations the more that time went on. Feeling the twitching of one of Zack's fingers against his palm, he added, unaware that he was starting to lean closer to Eli than he usually would have liked. "She is meant to be minding the kids this evening but she never came to pick them up."

In the same manner that Sammy had thoughts about the Unovan male from the moment that he saw him, it was the same vice versa. And now that the Alolan male was drawing closer into his doorway – so close that his neck was unintentionally practically straining past the threshold – he knew that his own first and foremost thoughts had been necessary.

Why on earth must it be him knocking at the door, he had thought to himself

Eli, however, managed to swallow any urge to voice his own opinion when he spied the two young children hanging around their foster parent's waist.

He answered Sammy's question after he wasn't successful in stifling his actions and lightly pushed him by the shoulder back a bit so he wasn't invading so much personal space.

"Lucy's not here right now." He began, finding it easier to cast his gaze down at the children lingering waist or less high to Sammy, one of them silently secure in their stance and the other with a thumb propped between their lips. "She had to quickly catch a fight to go and see her Mom." Eli's throat appeared to bob like there was a slimy creature in it. The doorframe felt a nudging of his own shoulder before he concluded, a frown twitching over features of his own. "Did you not receive her text? I know she contacted you."

For a moment, Sammy halted. And for just a couple of seconds, he wasn't encouraged back to life by the plopping sound as Zack's thumb dunked out from between his wondering lips.

But then, the cogs within him started to turn and he thought about a couple of things. At last, he was no longer motionless and he let go of both of the children's hands in order not to make one of them feel left out as he attempted to rummage for his phone.

"Text? She text me? I didn't get a text." Sammy started before his tattoo decorated fingers had even managed to slide into his own black trouser pockets. Eli watched as the younger male brought his phone to life and the children's necks craned in that direction too. "No… No… Nope." Murmurs escaped from his lips as he searched his inbox for any recent text messages. He soon came to a conclusion with a sharp stab from his thumb against his home button. "Not a thing from her. Damn, it must be playing up again."

For a couple of seconds, Eli had grown distracted by looking back at Zack who had since plunged not only his thumb into his mouth but two of his other fingers too. When he decided to look back at the tattoo etched male, it wasn't often that he tried to share a joke with the younger male but this occurred there and then.

Eli even bumped almost playfully with his shoulder against the doorframe as a smile twitched the corner of his mouth just so.

"Playing up again?" he repeated, mocking words falling out from his own lips soon enough. "Why, what did you do to it this time?"

The speed in which Sammy carelessly stuffed his mobile phone back into his pocket was contrary to the words that he countered with.

"I didn't do a thing." He snapped, his tone more laced with finality than the desire for a fight so Eli did little more than straighten his spine from leaning against the frame of his own door. He then went on to watch Sammy's expression change from incandescent to diplomatic, taking hold of the hands of the children once more. "Jesus, I'm going to be late and I have to be at the school for the parent-teacher meeting."

As Sammy voiced his own concerns, he was speaking them through to himself rather than trying to get any sort of sympathy or assistance from the older male. All he wanted was Lucy. He hoped nothing had happened to her, of course, and her extended family either. But he had a deadline looming and he needed a way out of it.

Eli luckily made an effort to offer him options, rather than lecture the younger male on how self-absorbed he was for not even asking why Lucy had had to shoot off.

"Are none of your friends trustworthy enough to mind two little ones?" It was his turn to wonder aloud but almost as soon as he suggested this, it dawned on him that any of his responsible friends were teachers also needing to get to the meeting. Or they were churchly folk already bogged down with other good deeds. "Are any of Justin's sisters around?" Eli posed, not unaware of the way that his tongue slurred around one particular word like he had a large boiled sweet wedged against the roof of his mouth. He had to suck on his top lip before reverting back to the bottom one to correct this feeling. "His dad, maybe?"

As pointed and precise as almonds, Sammy's eyes could cut through anybody for better or for worse at the best of times. Needless to say, they targeted Eli from the moment that certain suggestions started to escape him. It was he, however, who flinched, and he hoped that the children loitering with him didn't notice.

He prayed that they didn't notice anything. Certainly not the anxiety that was starting to course through him as he knew that he had already left the house late so was getting later and later the more that he lingered at Eli's door.

"I don't even know. I don't even have the time to make another drop off." Sammy confessed, his touch being pulled away from just Darcy that time as rather than looking to the watch on his wrist, he decided to be ignorant and tousled a hand through his long locks instead. It seemed that he found an answer loitering in a single strand. "You could look after them for me." He suddenly suggested.

Within his own consciousness, Eli knew that he was only half listening to Sammy. And that wasn't even an insult to him, even if a great many things usually were. It wasn't unusual for him to be floating off somewhere else in thought while interacting or even half feeling that he wasn't even there at all.

Yet, in the moment that Sammy had suggested this to him, he knew that these words had been spoken. For a second, any other sensation filling up in his mouth disappeared and he knew he wanted to chuckle!

But then when even he could read seriousness within the narrowed gaze of the younger male, he knew that he was deadly serious and Eli needed to hold onto the doorframe rather than merely lean against it.

"Oh, no I could not." Contrasting his prior desire to laugh out loud, his voice appeared like the kind of teacher that Sammy was meant to be. Then in the moments after he properly acknowledged the two children standing there and with words rather than a silently observational glance, his tone altered all over again. It even softened as he hurriedly clarified. "Don't get me wrong, I absolutely have loved getting to know the two of you." His touch fell away from the doorframe in order to lightly wave and reassure Darcy and Zack. An archway of wood felt a hand once more as Sammy was continually addressed. "But I would need supervision."

In normal circumstances, Sammy would have absolutely loved the fact that Eli was openly speaking of his own incompetence.

In those few moments, however, he had been brave enough to take a peep at his wrist watch and he was left feeling like he had actually been punched by the older male. He might have even preferred that.

This is why these words couldn't help but escape from his taut lips.

"Jesus…" he muttered again and Eli noticed that it wasn't for the first time that day. Initially, as his lower lip fell into his mouth, he considered pointing this right out to the younger male. But then, something inside of him changed.

It was like without intending to at all, this word slipping from Sammy made Eli absorb some of his nerves and show them far more outwardly. It was a thing of the past of him leaning against the doorframe and his hands stopped just being used to gesture reassuringly towards Zack and Darcy.

"Oh but Sammy I couldn't." Eli tried to insist, a hand of him roaming to the base of his throat before it shot away again and joined the other one slightly outstretched with his elbow tucked against the sides of his rib cage. "I'm not very-" he tried to explain, gesticulations with his hands that he had tried to suppress for almost all of his life being set free all in one go. "I mean, I-" Digits having a mind of his own, Eli finally settled on one conclusion which he hoped would deter Sammy for good. "I'm not Lucy."

It was like a dam burst as soon as these words were said and instead of water, it was air that erupted. A torrent of wind escaped from Sammy's nostrils as for a second, he didn't know what to do.

He couldn't persuade someone to do something that they clearly didn't want to do. And he certainly couldn't leave his children alone with someone who voluntarily admitted that they didn't have a clue what to do.

Again, just like the way that Sammy's own utterings caused Eli to show off movements with his hands that he would've usually tried to smother, it was his words then that in a few minutes made it clear how the Alolan male needed to proceed.

Clutching onto the hands of his foster children though they would soon be let go of once and for all, Sammy took in the face of Eli as much as he could stomach. And before he changed his mind or his lip curled so much that he needed to look away, he spoke these words solemnly:

"No, you're not Lucy. But you're the next best thing." He told him plainly.

And that was that. This was all. This is how Eli actually did find himself roped into minding both Darcy and Zack all on his own.

When Sammy bid farewell to them all for good and the front door of Lucy and Eli's annexe shut behind him, the Unovan male knew that it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Contrary to prejudiced opinion that some people might have had, they weren't actually all that challenging to mind at all.

Even Zack who was known for his explosive temper tantrums was feeling particularly adaptable on that day and soon enough found it pretty darn excellent when he was allowed to sit in the big leather chair in Eli's bedroom and somehow watch movies on his computer screen that was so large it might as well have been a television screen.

And Darcy was easily occupied too, not that she hardly was ever any bother at all. Though she couldn't understand half of the words that she longed to know, she still liked that she got to pick out a book from Lucy's collection and seat herself in the living room and absorb herself in another world for a couple of hours.

It really wouldn't be so bad, Eli reminded himself, beginning to actually believe those words that had been a doubtful mantra at first as he made his way back to the kitchen to continue what he had been doing before there had been a knock at the door.

But as I look back in hindsight as I remember a story that I wasn't a part of, I understand more than ever how much children as a metaphor for life. Right when you think things are going to go a certain way, they go the complete opposite.

And it was Darcy who grew restless at a much quicker pace than she usually would have done and even beat her younger brother by a long shot.

Eli had his back to the doorway of the kitchen and was measuring spices when it was suddenly no longer just his presence and the joyful burbling noises of the radio radiating around the room.

"How long until Sammy gets back?" Darcy questioned from the second that her bare feet stopped lightly thwapping against the tiles of the kitchen floor as she walked.

Eli, who was often in his own world at the best of times, was not expecting a sudden company other than imagining the person singing on the other end of the radio taking shape, lingering over his shoulder like an angel or a devil – depending on the day – but was always there to call upon.

Both shoulders lurched at the sudden noise and when he turned around to face Darcy and abandon the meticulous measuring that he had been doing, he thought it would be best to pretend that he hadn't thwacked his head upwards on the extractor fan and thought it would be even better to pretend that it didn't actually hurt quite a lot.

Eli did this for the benefit of himself as well as Darcy. Regardless, the six year old girl wordlessly conveyed with prominent whites around her big brown eyes that she noticed everything.

"Is it really that tiresome being here?" Eli decided to respond with this first and foremost and at this point, his hand was rising towards his curls as he didn't bother to stifle that the sore spot needing a soothing rub. He watched as the little girl's expression changed to that of a crumpled piece of paper but he was grateful that she didn't actually say anything in response. "…Maybe it's for the best if you don't answer that."

Darcy might not have actually articulated the words but her expression had made things perfectly clear! I'm told that there was a couple of seconds of wordlessness as the ticking noise of the clock on the wall was the only thing that sounded.

But then those observant eyes of the little girl were used for something else and she decided to speak of another matter entirely rather than bluntness towards the older male.

"Are you trying to do math?" she asked him, the pointing of her finger directing his attention clearly to what she was addressing, never mind the way that her feet lightly thumped against the tiles once more as she took some steps forward.

"Trying." Eli concurred; trying to act like the rubbing motion against the top of his skull was concentrative before he re-demonstrated his prior stance by hovering over the jars of spices and the kitchen scales.

He felt Darcy scoot closer to him.

"What is that?" she asked, again, her outstretched finger making it plain to see what she was referring to. Once Eli had replied in just a single word for a second time in a row and told her that it was spices, another question made itself known. "What kind?"

A sigh. A sigh blasted out from his lips that weren't from chagrin but Darcy wasn't to know this. She was naïve to the fact that it was concentration as he needed to spin the spice jars around to jog his memory for what he was actually putting in his own food.

"Quite a few." He answered, then not accustomed to the way that you had to be very specific with children and certainly with Darcy. But still, luck struck and after running a thoughtful hand through his spritely curls, he decided to educate the little girl. "Cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, ginger, nutmeg and cloves."

Though a lot of these words went over her head, even Darcy figured that she should be thankful that he took the time to tell her each and every one of them so she nodded her head, listening to Eli. She didn't say anything to him in return for a little bit of time, instead watching the way that he was sprinkling the right amount of spices all together in a pile so it would save time rather than having a dish that stuck to the saucepan later on.

It didn't occur to her how unusual it was to see a man so at home with technology and things that took bigger minds to comprehend instead doing something far more… domestic.

At that point, Darcy didn't even know what that word meant. But without knowing all that much, even she couldn't help but seem wordlessly enamoured by it. This was shown by all the questions that even her quizzical self, came out with on that evening.

"Are you making dinner?" she wondered, proving her child-like side even if her mind perceived other things while not really knowing it. Her hands roamed to her hips for something to do and she started to see the older man from an angle.

He was then rummaging in the drawer just next to the sink for a can opener so he could open a tin with a label that was mostly brown and seemed to contain little tiny specs of things that she didn't exactly know what they were.

A reply came, though, speaking over the clattering as he tried to add some order to the disorganised state of the kitchen utensils.

"Trying." This word from Eli occurred once more. Before he had left it just as that. Other times he might have done the same. But there was something on that occasion that made him tell Darcy a little more than usual. In hindsight, I wonder if he didn't want to make it seem like she was bothering him. "I'm trying to get better at learning how to cook." He admitted, turning around to look at the little girl, mirroring her stance as he more approving of the state of his kitchen drawer. "It's something that I've never made a proper effort to do."

Darcy wondered some things as she listened. There was something about Eli than was almost meek about confessing this, as if someone of his big age should have at least mastered the basics of culinary a very long time ago.

Of course, the six year old child didn't know about the lives that he had lived and that if you calculated his birth date, he was far older than his youthful appearance would lead you to believe. She didn't even know any of this about him. But she still thought he said these words sort of like an old man.

Regardless, she piped up other things rather than abruptly telling him this.

"My sister is good at cooking." She informed Eli of this bit of information like kids often did. And rather than voicing that there was a very good reason for this, he merely made a noise with his lips instead and his eyebrows knowingly rose closer to his hairline. "Are yours?"

For half a heartbeat, Eli didn't know whether he heard Darcy correctly or not. If he had still been rummaging amongst the silverware then it might have been more unclear. But then he was opening a can of chopped tomatoes after having just pierced the film of tomato paste in a tube.

He knew he was not mistaken. He knew what the child asked. And firstly, he wondered how she even knew that he had sisters but naturally, it quickly became clear. An expression of the same manner wiping across his features, letting information slip had only one person's name written all over it.

Still, he would never have dreamed of taking his lingering wound of causticity on a six year old girl.

"Oh, I would imagine that they're even better at cooking now than they were way back." He answered, those eyes that could flicker at the best of times really not making their mind up of where to look. "Especially Jasmine." His tone was flat and unabated. "What about you? Do you get involved much in the cooking at home?"

A motion had shook Eli's head from side to side before a smile twitched bravely over his features as he started to make a neat pile of all of his ingredients so he knew what he needed to grab at that time.

But then, hesitance took over him as he realised he hadn't been unable to say the name Justin or Sammy and certainly not the two of them side by side. Not even to Darcy.

He didn't have a chance to rub his brow like he had rubbed his skull because the child found her voice again.

"Sometimes." She replied, causing Eli to notice that the unkempt chips of her toenail polish seemed to be the most interesting thing that could be her focal point there and then. Her shoulders bobbed up and down like a sea bird on the ocean waves. "I'd like to. Zacky wouldn't, but he would pretend he would just so he could make a mess everywhere." Darcy took a breath like she had fallen beneath the waves. She then craned her neck up to take in the short stature of Eli. "I'd like to try too."

Eli couldn't help but observe that she had encouraged herself to speak honestly, courageously and as if this was a huge burden in her life though this couldn't have possibly been the case. He wasn't unfamiliar with generational things weighing people down without them even being aware.

What he didn't realise was that she had inadvertently taken a piece of him on long before they spent proper time together. This would go on to be the case thanks to the words that he then chose to utter.

"Well…" he set about, his hand roaming its way to his curls although the pain from the bonk of the extractor fan had mostly faded away to the occasional twinge to remind him that it had still happened. "Maybe you can watch me this evening? Then you can learn what to do and what not to do." He suggested, his fingers finally revealing themselves away from sprigs of hair. "I have a feeling that you'll learn more about the latter rather than the former."

Darcy didn't know what either of these two words meant. But she knew that this is what she wanted to do and she knew where she could best observe everything.

Contrary to her prior attitude, she hesitated before making her next move. Her curled fists loitered around the sides of her ribcage for a heartbeat or two and then she didn't like to extend her arms fully but they crooked slightly to give some semblance of an instruction.

"I can't get up there by myself." She informed Eli. At first, he was clueless. But fortunately, he didn't take too long to piece everything together.

He said words along the lines of 'of course you can't' under his breath before taking a hold of the child under the armpits in such a manner that it gave one spice in particular a run for its money. But soon enough, he had placed Darcy on a clear spot of his kitchen counter top and the six year old girl would be set to observe everything that he was doing.

She found it fascinating. The way that Eli moved and busied himself as much as the usual cooking that he was doing. He had chopped the onion and garlic too in the moments before he had answered the door to Sammy so after a splashing of oil that was heated up in a large pan, they were ready to sauté nicely.

He explained to her what that word meant. She nodded her head. He asked her if she liked the smell of onions and garlic cooking. Another shrug rolled off her shoulders and he told her that it might be a bit of a grown-up scent to appreciate.

Darcy made an inward note to tell him in a couple of years whether she was ready to like it or not or it still needed time to grow on her. She felt a smile tugging at her lips at the messy splashes that Eli made when he tipped the canned tomatoes into the saucepan but was impressed to tell him that it still hadn't speckled his crisp white shirt.

Then, she listened with her legs drawn to her chest and her hands cupping her face as he reiterated to her information that anybody could gather if they had taken the time to watch him preparing the ingredients.

He had mixed the spices all together so as not to dilly-dally measuring them all out as he went and to stop stirring all the ingredients together and leave some pesky chunks sticking to the bottom of the pan and become very charred.

The six year old child wasn't really used to men like that, she mused to herself, while her digits were continuously a loyal friend to her cheeks and chin. Sure, Justin and Sammy were very diligent when it came to looking after them both and James was methodical in his own way.

But she didn't notice it in people like she studied it in Eli. Her younger brother certainly wasn't like that. Though he was only three years old, she didn't imagine that he would ever even be like that as an adult. Maybe he would never fully mellow!

And speaking of that same boy, Darcy should have known that her little brother flicking across her mind would cause him to make his presence known. Growing restless far later than his older sister, Zack bounded in with a lot more energy in comparison to the way Darcy had trudged in, fully into the middle of the kitchen after just a few springs.

This time, Eli was more aware of his surroundings thanks to already having a young child in his kitchen so acknowledged Zack immediately while stirring his dish as he brought it to a simmer.

"Don't do any of that bouncing over here. It's hot." Eli instructed, the smallest of smiles tugging at his lips for a reason that he didn't know. He left his cooking alone for a second or two and the handle of the spoon resting in the circular slot of the saucepan handle to properly give Zack his full attention before it was too late. "Are you enjoying the movie that you chose?"

Darcy's head turned towards Eli. It must have taken a lot for him to say these words because she knew that she wasn't mistaken by the grim look that had taken over his face when the three year old boy had chosen to view something that looked quite infantile and – quite frankly - a waste of time.

Nevertheless, Zack didn't lose momentum bouncing up and down in the middle of the kitchen. One would believe that it was excitement for everything that he had seen on the big screen. He spoke in a way that couldn't have contrasted this more.

He whined and he slurred on his speech in between bouncing so even Darcy had to encourage him to stop his actions and make himself clearer.

"You'll get out of breath if you bounce like that." she gently warned him. She then spied the kitchen floor down below her and wondered how she was going to get down without asking Eli if the two of them both needed her to step in there.

Her fair instructions might have caused Zack to bring his bouncing to a halt but they changed his demeanour from seemingly sunny to entirely the opposite very quickly. And after this occurred, his voice rose even louder in speech and his words became all the more unintelligible.

Eli was encouraged to go down onto his knees to properly converse with the child and he inadvertently emulated his main caregivers as he effortlessly found the patience to do so.

See? He didn't need to doubt himself that much after all.

"I'm listening. But I need you not to whine and for you to speak clearly so I can understand." Eli didn't touch Zack but his gaze was just for him as his hand rose, his pointer finger indicating towards his ear so the three year old understood with actions as much as words. "Take your time."

First of all, Zack wanted to prove a point and to see if old habits still worked by whining for a little longer and slurring out words and even stamping his foot to boot. But after he had got that out of his system, he took a deep breath and he thought about it.

Eli and Darcy were all ears as he articulated himself as best as he could.

"Screen gone silly." He tried to explain, causing Eli to start to see him from an angle while he was bending to a height that was far shorter than even he usually was. "Buggy."

Zack hoped that this was descriptive enough. But then, taking a leaf out of the Unovan male's book, he erected his arms out in front of him and he wriggled his fingers in unison in such a motion that he thought would articulate himself even better.

Impressively balanced while half squatting on the ground, Eli's hands roamed to his hips and lightly tucked against the belt of his black trousers.

He mused to himself as understanding started to come.

"My computer screen has gone buggy?" he repeated, standing up to his full height and understanding washing over him from the way that Zack's curls bounced up and down so the rest of his body didn't need to. "Zachariah, what have you done to my computer screen?"

As changeable as the Kanto weather that Eli was still trying to get used to since relocating to that particular region, Zack's thunderous side started to fade away for good as fits of giggles erupted from his mouth at the same time that his own hand clamped over it to try and suppress some of it.

For the first time since minding those two children, Eli did actually appear to be a little bit weary but he still was reasonable as he let out a restrained sigh before leading Zack out of the room by his hand. He answered his barrage of questions along the way too.

Yes, Darcy had been watching him while he cooked. Yes, he supposed that the two of them could try some of it but it would probably be best if he put some breaded nuggets in the oven instead if the evening rolled around even quicker.

No, the screen wasn't supposed to have infinite tabs open at the same time. No, the webcam wasn't broken. There was tape over it for another reason.

Not that she really believed it at first, but something had managed to tear Eli away from his cooking for a good couple of minutes. However, he was shown not to return to the scene a different person in spite of the fact that her younger brother went on to ask him a total of seventeen questions back to back, and them growing more as a cry for attention as time passed.

Eli later returned to the kitchen as observant and as present as ever when he was back in one of the few places he could fully behave in this way. He even lightly touched the child on the top of her head before checking if the ingredients had successfully reached boiling point before turning it down to simmer.

Meanwhile, something else captured his attention. The dial of the hob had switched a different angle.

"Darcy, did you turn this down when it started to bubble?" he asked her. Her legs were no longer drawn to her chest and they were nonchalantly bouncing against the drawers below the counter as they swung. She had no reason to lie so she didn't. Eli had absorbed some of Zack's personality and asked another question. "How did you know to do that?"

After one more swing of her legs against the cutlery draw, they grew to a halt and then one leg folded over the other one. For a different reason that time, she had no reason to hold back her words. Accompanying what she chose to say, another shrug rippled off her narrow shoulders.

"I'm not silly." Came her reply, not knowing why the centre of her chest was feeling far hotter than the ingredients before she had turned it down. And she also didn't know why that feeling was spreading to the base of her neck. She swallowed roughly.

While not in his veil of a black hoodie like Sammy had imagined him to hardly ever take a proper break from, Eli couldn't quite abandon all parts of himself on that day. Upon hearing Darcy's words, he displayed an expression that he was often known for, those inquisitively wide eyes of his growing rounder than ever.

A twitch tugged at his throat, longing to copy a swallow but not being able to fully commit like the six year old child was.

Darcy, despite her embarrassment, was surprised to find Eli hovering closer to her and looking so very earnest.

"You are the complete opposite of silly." He told her. She didn't often believe words from adults after the kind that she had dealt with in her young life. But for some reason, his uninflected tones made her feel like she could take them on board. "Just next time make sure that I am in the room before you do that. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt." Eli was listened to some more. But it felt like he was being heard through cotton wool after his humbling reassurance moments before. "But I guess that's my fault for leaving you alone in a room with a hot pan."

Darcy might have done many things upon only just hearing whatever else Eli went on to say. Her cheeks could have felt even more stung that she seemingly couldn't be trusted while on her own. She could have revolved her eyes towards the ceiling, telling him that it wasn't his place to worry about her in such a manner.

She might have focused on the fact that Eli hinted there could be a next time with them cooking together. Whether this was intentional or not on his part, or whether she wholeheartedly absorbed any of the sentiment into her skin like sun cream on a hot day, she didn't express there and then.

Instead, she showed her own sentiment by pressing her lips together in a line that gently quirked up at the corner. And then, resuming swinging her legs a little more but at a more gradual pace, she took a leaf of her brother's book and had a question of her own.

"So what part is next?" she asked, the answer being unknown until Eli told her because with the rest of the ingredients simmering away nicely, he didn't have to be so organised and he could measure out while he went.

Eli went on to show her what exactly came next.

Macaroni pasta was pulled out from the pantry and a packet of spaghetti too. A packet of rice followed. A bag of flour also. You see, there was a selection of food staples that the aromatic tomato sauce would be poured onto and right near the end of the cooking session, onions needed to be fried in the flour to add a finishing garnish.

It might have seemed like a complicated recipe for an absolute beginner like Eli but the truth was, he wasn't as clueless as he made himself out to be. This hobby of his had begun at the start of a New Year and Darcy had grown a year older at that point so he was well past half an orbit around the sun into his resolution.

And additionally, it was hard to grow up in the household that he did without taking note of some of the most cherished recipes. Even if they were drummed into his sister's rather than he himself, it had been drummed into him to appreciate every time he had been cooked for.

While he didn't have too many memories of home that he kept tucked away, there was something about this dish that brought him back to simpler times. When the waft of the spice combination filled his nostrils and especially the frying onions right at the apex of the recipe, he was a freer young lad once again.

That boy would always be his closest shadow, it was true, but he still also very much lived within him. Darcy saw that when a song that particularly elevated his shoulders came on the radio and in between getting the kettle boiled enough times for all the separate saucepans, his body ran away from his mind and started to do as it pleased.

He grew lighter on his feet as he bustled around the kitchen and his wrist flicked out more than he usually would have liked. His broad shoulders and narrow hips moved in time with a rhythm that he knew almost as closely as his own heart rate and he was in his own world as he scooted around.

Well, he was in his own world until one flamboyant flicking of the head which loosened his buoyant curls even further and he noticed that Darcy had been closely watching his every move, legs pulled back to her body and this time her chin resting against her kneecaps.

Her eyes were alive with private glee. But Eli mistook this glossy look for something else entirely.

"Sorry." Was the only word that his lips managed to form at first, trying to laugh and exhale away the colour that threatened to encapsulate his tanned cheeks. He tried to tame his hair as if that was the only thing that had gotten away from him. "That was embarrassing."

Darcy never would have imagined that she would look more hurt in that moment compared to when Eli had questioned her skill in the kitchen but that was the truth. Although she didn't voice it, the way that her chin shot up and broke distance with her knees and her head jerked to the side, spoke exactly of such.

She probably wanted to speak proper words. That it was a joy to see someone enjoy themselves. But she was six. She didn't have the capability. Or the nerve.

Instead, she expressed herself in the only way that she knew how.

"I would like to learn to dance too." she spoke honestly. No hint of wistfulness captured her vocal chords and whimsy didn't set up a home in her little body as it was her cheek that time that sought refuge against her legs.

And that time around as Eli interacted with Darcy, he didn't offer her to sit there and watch him because he had something on offer that was far better. Or moreover, he had something that felt easier for him.

He too expressed himself in the way that he knew how.

"Hop down here." Eli instructed her. It was as if he hadn't learnt from the first time. But he showed that he had by waiting to make sure that Darcy was present with him and she also was okay with it before he lifted her back under the armpits and down towards the floor. It felt funny being back there after so long. But not as unfamiliar as what Eli was asking of her without really knowing what was coming. "Come right here."

She no longer felt his strong but careful hands underneath her armpits. Instead, a hand was reached out to her. And then another one. Puzzled, she took hold of his hold in return and looked down as he motioned with his feet but didn't say anything. She didn't realise what was occurring until she was where she needed to be and Eli was lightly swaying with the little girl on his toes so they could move together.

Darcy might've pretended that it was the most interesting thing in the world to stare straight at this torso in his white shirt that was as pure as snow from a nursery rhyme, and try and spot splatters of tomato sauce that had clung to there after all.

But rather than this, she didn't resist the urge to crane her neck and look right up at Eli as he was too busy focusing on keeping his body in a time that he looked everywhere other than back at her. Until she spoke to him.

"Does this hurt you?" she inquired, breaking the contact with her gaze searching for him by looking at the way that their feet pressed against each other. She didn't allow sight to linger. She didn't allow herself to feel a great many things other than Eli as he finally looked back down at her.

As soon as he heard her expression of concern, he immediately shook his head but showing that he was cultivating other traits rather than just cooking, he accompanied his action with words too.

They still swayed around the kitchen a couple of times, a new song being a soundtrack to their wanderings, before he found his voice once more.

"Not at all." He reassured her, a smile taking place within the whites and the irises of his eyes rather than curving up any single corner of his mouth. Maybe he would have liked to pat her on the head again. But maybe feeling her little hands tucked sweetly inside his was more than enough. "You're light as a feather."

And with that, Eli showed of his capability more than her lightness from the way that the moving of the two of them together grew in speed and his footwork grew more fanciful also. He might have been able to contain any smiles that longed to be expressed by more than just eyes but Darcy was not allowed to follow in the same way.

She could not choke back her giggles either. It became harder and harder for Eli to keep a straight face when he heard these joyful noises from the child, least of all when their movements slowed down all over again and he felt her chin lightly pressing against the middle of his stomach, looking up at him like she was peering up at the illuminous moon on a particularly clear and starry night.

Darcy didn't know why she would go on to comment on such a thing. All she knew was that she felt a far off sort of sparking running through her and if she didn't say something then anything could be set free from her and she didn't know what.

She needed to speak while she had some semblance of control. She commented at last in return to her being light as a feather.

"You don't seem that short to me." She spoke prosaically. In the same manner that Darcy didn't know why she chose these words out of all of them, while it's true that Eli didn't know what possessed her to say that either, he also didn't know why he went on to respond in the way that he did.

He broke one of his hands away from the clutch of hers in order to pat her on top of her head which wasn't entirely strange. But he went on to speak to her as if she had merely offered him a biscuit or to make him a cup of tea.

Still feeling her chin bedding against the pit of his stomach which had once felt so empty, he looked at her and wondered if his dishes would ever provide fullness like being in the company of a child who never let their voice falter.

"Thank you for that." he told her and with that, whether the two of them felt like they were far better at the silence than the conversations or not, they went back to allowing actions to speak louder than words.

They swayed around the kitchen, remaining close and youthful and silent and they intended to do this for as long as they possibly could. Forget the cooking for a minute. This was the kind of thing that would feel weird thinking about but when it was happening, felt like the only thing they wanted to be doing.

Eli and Darcy could do this forever. But of course, like anything, all good things must come to an end and if anyone is putting a stop to anything then it will be Zack!

For a second time that evening, he made his presence known by skidding into the kitchen and clashing against the bodies of the two other people, thank goodness, instead of the other kitchen cabinets.

He took one look at the two of them and rather than asking if they were alright or making a fuss about the fresh bump that he got against his head, he peered at them with a crane on his neck. Zack's expression spoke of a mixture of uncertainty and judgement too.

Another voice that could not be stifled.

"Cooking?" Was all he questioned. And that time not needing Eli to come down to his level and encourage him to speak concisely, a torrent of wind softly escaped from his nostrils and he knew exactly what this meant.

First and foremost, he peeled his body away from Darcy as the two of them looked together while the six year old girl did not hop away from his feet.

Then, Eli answered the three year old boy.

"Yes, we still are." He began, his touch still wrapped around that of Darcy even if, in the next few minutes, they would be encouraged to separate for good. "We will get back to it now."

And as Eli spoke these words, he put on a bit of a mock grumble that went over Zack's curly head but Darcy knew that she was not mistaken by spotting it. Even though she didn't entirely want to hop away from Eli, she did so and then she had a smirk tugging up the corner of her patient face.

Trust Zack not to be a part of something but still try to be the ruler of the roost.

But she let it go during those moments. After all, she had something he didn't. She would have been more than happy to share. But for just a bit of time, it was nice to have something all of her own. And that she had found too.

Foster children held little moments bigger than most. They were wise enough to know that little moments counted. And that they were actually big ones.

And speaking of big moments, the evening did come around quicker than expected and before any of them knew it, Sammy was knocking back at the door thanks to his parent-teacher evening at last coming to a close.

For some reason, the Alolan male still got a bit of a shock when he answered to and for half a second, his eyebrow threatened to shoot up on his face suspiciously as he wondered why his foster child was answering the door alongside Eli.

But when even Eli had enough sense to let bygones be bygones and let him in that time to collect the children before he disrespected any personal space and stuck his face right in there anyway, he knew that he had to at least pretend to copy his example for the sake of those same children.

Then, in the same manner of Eli's mantra becoming truer for him as time passed, Sammy stopped being so on edge and any exhalations of annoyance became a thing of the past and instead he inhaled deeply and almost appreciatively.

"It smells almost good in here." He somewhat complimented, causing a similar eyebrow to shoot upwards on the face of Eli before trying to control himself by focusing on the fact that Sammy looked oddly more disbelieved than when he had dropped the kids off. "Have you been cooking?"

Often, Eli thought about how his actions affected Sammy and if they impacted him negatively then he would make sure he followed through with them. In that moment, he wondered if wrapping an arm around Darcy would cause an even bigger pinch between his brows.

Soon enough, however, he decided that he didn't care and not because he wanted to irk the younger male.

"We have been cooking." He corrected Sammy, for once not too over the moon about getting to do this. He was actually far more focused on loosening his grip on Darcy's shoulder but then wrapping his entire hand effortlessly around the small ball of just one of them. "Why don't you give Sammy the box of extras that we prepared?"

Eli could not stop the natural curving of the mouth and extra lines around his eyes that etched on his face as he looked down at Darcy. She looked back at him. And then she nodded. She had been clutching the box since Eli had actually suggested they make one for Sammy so it wasn't a surprise that she still had it for when he finally knocked at the door.

In spite of her long preparation time, a wave of shyness washed over Darcy as she left Eli's side and coyly held out the plastic box to Sammy.

Immediately without even knowing what was inside, he ignored the older male in his entirety and focused on the six year old girl.

"Oh, aren't you a little gift from the Heavens?" he mused, straight away opening his arm to embrace the little girl still without peeping inside the box. It could have been a prank for all he knew! Darcy pressed up against Sammy and accepted the kiss planted on her cheek even if she still wasn't entirely used to the affection from him and his boyfriend. She felt more comforted when he went on to ask things of her. "Why don't you go and fetch your brother? Then I can see what you both made me."

For half a second, Darcy wanted to correct that while, yes, it had been two people to make the dish, that it wasn't the two that Sammy was suspecting. But when her eyes wandered to Eli and in return he gave her a look to keep that to herself, her lips pressed together in an understanding way and she headed to comply with an instruction.

Eli at least knew better than to watch Darcy as she had a bit of extra grace and rhythm in her step as she headed off to find Zack. But he should have known better than to attempt small talk with the younger male!

"I don't know how much Ammon food you have tried but I hope you like it." Eli tried to reasonably begin, his arm raising as that throbbing feeling started to appear on the top of his head once more and he kid himself it was the injury from earlier on. "I-"

Apparently bygones weren't fully bygones. The past couldn't be forgotten and Sammy thought that there was always a catch and especially always a catch when it came to Eli.

He voiced this as soon as any children were out of earshot.

"What are you playing at?" he asked, long since back to his full height after no longer occupying his arms with embracing Darcy. Sammy looked down at Eli from his much taller height and then surveyed the special dish in the box after he had peeled back the lid. "What did you do to it?"

He knew better than to lean forward and give the meal a proper inhale because in one swift movement, Eli could push his head forward and straight into the pile of warm ingredients!

With a sniff from a distance, Sammy thought that it smelled pretty enticing but knew that he couldn't fully relax without getting confirmation from Eli that he hadn't sabotaged it. He wanted a promise from Darcy too. And Zack if he could worm one out of him.

Eli rolled his eyes before squinting them closer together like Sammy was the little creature that liked to bury in soil and he could easily stamp out with one stomp of a boot. He broke the distance furthermore with the younger male. He didn't seem to mind that he came up to his neck. He knew he could handle himself.

"Oh okay, I see how it is." He began, managing not to call Sammy any of his long list of insulting names that he liked to call him. The children were still out of earshot. Yet he still held the majority of his tongue as one arm of Sammy's started to fold over his chest. "You trust me to look after your kids but not offer you a meal?"

His words came out more than a question than he would have liked. He hoped that his stance would make up for it. He had no box of his own so he was free to fold both of his arms over his chest. And that chest of his was wider than Sammy's. He might have been half a foot shorter but he knew where he shone.

Eli indignantly stared back at the younger male. Though Sammy's response ran clearly and without hesitation in his mind, he still took a second or two to speak them.

The Unovan male, however, wasn't surprised when he heard what the Alolan one had to say.

"Not a chance." He quipped, and with that, his arm fell away from his chest and he resumed holding the box with both hands.

If Darcy had appeared at that moment with Zack – which she didn't – she still would have known the truth. She would be one of the people with a front row ticket as Sammy would go on to trust Eli far more than with just her and her brother for one measly evening. Try a lifetime.

But that is a story to remember on another day. For the time being, I remember this one. And know what while other tales had their moment in the sun first, this one started the beginning of something new.

How wonderful it is to start afresh. Whatever it is that you decide to embark on. Maybe a New Year's resolution like Eli and his cooking. Or feeling what it means to be part of an actual family and not to be let down any more like Darcy and Zack.

Someone once told me that tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life. And beautifully, it was Eli and Darcy who could never have dreamt that this moment in time together was the beginning of something that they could both count on.

The End.

There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) While this takes place as Justin and Sammy are still together, I wanted it to capture Eli's relationship with Justin's two foster children (who he will later adopt with Sammy when they have their first biolgical child) and foreshadow the kind of step-father that he will be when Justin and Eli get married instead. This chapter contains a lot of details of things that I will certainly portray in full hopefully over the next year and beyond. I wonder which ones you notice the most? For me, a favourite is Eli's boogeying around in the kitchen and with Darcy too. Among other things, he is actually a pretty talented dancer and I know I'll end up featuring that skill of his properly sooner or later :P The dynamic of Sammy and Eli here was of course fun for me. And it was important to show more of a younger Zack's personality. You'll probably notice that he struggles with his speech and that is because he has delays due to being in and out of foster care as a toddler, among other things. So many little ideas to tackle in the next year! I can't wait. But for now, thanks again and I'll see you again on Wednesday with another chapter :3

Amy signing out!