Page 62 of Fractured Empire

I gasp quietly, turning to Bastian while widening my eyes wide. “How could I forget? I’m so glad you like them. I made regular, chocolate chip, and blueberry. Do you like those options?”

“Yes, all of them,” he agrees, looking over my shoulder to peek at the counter.

“I like chocolate,” Leo supplies, grinning. “You warm the sir-rup like Daddy does?”

“I can absolutely warm up the syrup,” I agree eagerly. “Why don’t you two go sit at the breakfast table and I’ll bring everything over so we can eat together, hmm?”

Leo claps before reaching for his brother’s hand to tug him toward the breakfast nook area of the kitchen. “Yay, breakfast together.”

“Do you want juice, or milk, or…”

Leo has chocolate milk, insisting that it has to be his drink to go with his chocolate waffles. Bastian opts to have apple juice with his breakfast instead, but he seems happy with his choice. The two of them devour their plates at an almost concerning pace, but seem content the entire time they stuff their little faces. Waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon all seem to be a hit with them, and much to my relief, neither of them complain about any of the food.

I’ve always been competent in the kitchen, but I’m no chef. I can follow instructions, and make a nice meal on my own, but I’m sure these two have had their fair share of fine dining. Even simple foods can be elevated to an unmatchable level when a professional is cooking them. From what I can tell, though, Leon doesn’t employ a personal chef.

Which means, he cooks.

We made pizza together last night of course, and the sandwiches that he prepared for lunch before that were super easy, but I never asked if he was in charge of making meals before. Granted, Cleo could have been the one doing a majority of that before. Or maybe they order in a lot. But something tells me that by the way Leo requested his syrup to be heated up like his daddy always does it, my husband makes fine meals for his sons more often than not.

When breakfast is done and the kids are satisfied with their full stomachs, they get up on their own without prompting. It seems like it’s their routine to change and clean up after breakfast, and neither of them requests help in the process. It gives me time to clean up my kitchen dishes and prepare to do whatever they’d like to do.

We have a whole day ahead of us, even if Leon comes home within a few hours like he planned. There’s a million things we could do around this house, but I haven’t known the kids long enough to know what they’d want to spend their time doing if given the choice. They both have homeschool tutoring some days during the week, but none coming up that I’m aware of. Leon mentioned giving them time off from learning while grieving their mother and adjusting to the changes now that Cleo is gone.

“Can we watch a movie?” Leo asks suddenly, startling me as I close the fridge. I just finished putting away the last of the breakfast leftovers after struggling to find Tupperware for five minutes. I should really take some time tonight while the boys sleep to get to know this kitchen more.

“A movie?” I ask, pretending like Leo didn’t just almost make me jump three feet in the air. “Is that what you two want to do?”

“Uh-huh,” he agrees, bobbing his head. “Bastian always sleepy in da morning.”

“Ohhh, is that so?” I look behind him to find his brother, eyes still shadowed with signs of being tired. He’s changed into his casual clothes for the day, but he looks like he could fall right back asleep either way. “I like to watch movies when I’m feeling tired too. Of course we can watch one. Do you know what you want to see?”

Of course they do.

It’s not even five minutes after Leo requested a movie that we end up in the living room, sprawled out all over the giant, cozy leather couch as the opening credits to Ice Age 2 play on the large flatscreen. We, of course, watched the first movie last night with dinner. And Leon confirmed that this series of films is their current hyper fixation. He said with full confidence that he could recite several scenes line by line, and that he wasn’t proud of it.

I, however, thought it was precious.

It reminded me of Ares rewatching Frozen and Moana a billion times with Gaia, never complaining about the repetition of the films. Kids like what they like, and if a comfort movie at 9:00 a.m. is how they want to start their day, who am I to argue?

Each of us was bundled under our own individual fluffy blanket, passed out by Leo before we could get too comfortable without one. Leon keeps the house at a comfortable temperature, but who could say no to a cozy blanket when it’s thrown to you by one of the sweetest little faces? Not me, that’s who.

I half expected Bastian to fall asleep by the end of the movie, given how tired he seemed when it started, but at the roll of the credits, he’s perked up significantly. He said that he slept well when I asked, and Leo mentioned his brother being tired in the mornings, but part of me wonders if he didn’t truly get enough sleep last night. It would be understandable, given how much he’s been going through recently. I suppose it’s a good thing that they usually need to nap after lunch, and he can get some extra rest then.

“Well, that was very nice,” I tell them, maneuvering my blanket off my legs. “Is there anything else you’d like to do today? It’s a bit chilly outside, but we could play a game or you could show me more of the house. Anything you’d find fun.”

“Bastian, you pick,” Leo decides, swinging himself up and off the couch.

“We can show you the rest of the house,” the elder sibling decides. “Dad was going to, but he got busy.”

“That’s okay,” I tell him easily. “It’s been a busy couple of days and this is a very large house.”

“Yep.” Leo bobs his head twice. “Huge.”

I match his nod, agreeing seriously. “I would be perfectly happy with just my rooms and the rooms I’ve already seen but I want to see all your favorite places too, since we’ll be spending lots of time together.”

“We have so many rooms,” Leo says, almost sighing as if it’s too many rooms.

I can’t help but let out a little laugh, hearing his tone. “Well, we should get started, then.”