Early Ambush (TPF)

“Father!”
Samuel felt his eyelids being forced open and looked to a familiar face staring back at him with a wide smile. The small fingers prying his eyes opened loosened their grip once Wolfgang realized Sam roused from his sleep. He tried to hide his giggles from the funny face his father had, but failed, causing Sam to hold a finger to his lips. Looking around, Samuel realized Laralyn was standing behind her brother and equally excited.
“What?” Sam said after rubbing his eyes.
“It’s Mother’s Day, we are making mom’s favorite,” Wolf replied in a whispered tone.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Aniela sleeping soundly with a night mask over her eyes. Sam knew she wasn’t going to move and was good to move. Turning back, he pushed the bedding aside and slipped out of the room with the two children sneaking alongside him. They made their way into the hallway, closing the door and Sam activated quiet mode to ensure their antics didn’t wake her.
“What are we doing?” Sam asked after kneeling, he picked up Wolf and Lara with ease.
“Breakfast, her favorite,” Lara said after settling her head on Sam’s shoulder, “Strawberry cake.”
“That's your favorite,” Sam replied after seeing Lara smile, “Do you know mom’s favorite?” He asked after turning to face Wolf.
“Fruit Cre-pe?” Wolf replied, unsure of how to say crêpes.
Once he saw Sam nod yes, Wolf smiled and nuzzled into his father. Moving towards the kitchen, Sam knew where everything was to prepare the crêpes for Aniela. It wasn’t his first time and given his decades of military experience, Sam had the routine down to science. He set Wolf down on the island and then Lara on the table.
Each of them had their own mission, Lara had her first rotation with the fruit and Wolf handled the yogurt. Knowing his daughter, Sam put a little surplus in the bowl since she’d steal a few snacks behind his back. He pulled the mix from the food storage, hidden behind his snacks and tapped a device to pull up the recipe dubbed Operation Mother’s Day VI.
“Lara, that’s your last strawberry,” Sam said after looking over his shoulder. He saw her mischievous grin turn into a fit of giggles after she was caught. “Mom can’t have strawberries with her breakfast if you eat them all.”
“Aww,” he heard before turning his attention to breakfast.
Sam worked his way through the mix and followed the process he learned from a friend. He learned how to make the light pancake a bit floatier, the way Aniela loved it, without using any advanced skills. The small blender he bought had settings and customized options to create the perfect pancake. Orwell, the House Virtual Assistant, notified Sam the mix was completed and described the next directions with a flat voice.
Before starting, he moved Lara to his right and put Wolf on his left to let them watch. Sam wanted their advice on how big to make mom’s, often leading to pleas to make it as big as possible.
“How’s that?” Sam asked once he poured a small amount.
“MORE!” Both cried out. Sam poured more and was met with another equal cry, “MORE!”
“What about ours?”
“Ok, that’s fine,” Lara said after pouting, she wanted this one to be the biggest for mom.
Sam squeezed out the rest of the mix and made reasonable sizes for them. He gave what was left to Aniela and tended to them. Wolf and Lara watched in awe as their mix turned into a pancake, it was magic before their eyes. Flipping them, Sam knew they were done soon and signaled Wolf to get plates. Each pancake was laid onto a plate with ease, and they moved to the yogurt station where Wolf took charge with spreading yogurt.
“I want a turn,” Lara whined as she watched her brother.
Sam picked her up and watched her pout into his shoulder as they watched Wolf smatter yogurt everywhere. He theorized Lara wanted a helping hand in creating a mess, but he didn’t want to clean yogurt out of her hair. Once Wolf was content with his job, they moved over to the fruit station where he sat Lara down and helped her place the fruit on top of the yogurt.
“She’s not putting enough on mine,” Wolf said after seeing Lara put all the strawberries on mom’s crêpes. “I want strawberries.”
“Lara let’s give your brother a few,” he said with a light fatherly tone.
Catching the eye roll, he took one strawberry from Lara’s, one from mom’s and two from his and gave them to Wolf. Looking down, Sam saw his son smile and hug his leg. Once they were done, they folded them up to create the crêpes and were satisfied with the result. Sam brandished a knife and cut his children’s crêpes to let them eat it with their hands, then grabbed utensils for him and Aniela.
They cleaned up their stations with a hop in their step and then walked down the hall to go back to Aniela. Breakfast in bed was always a 50/50 for her since she either woke up happy or annoyed because her sleep was ruined. Sam was betting on the former given he had crêpes and Lara did a good job putting all the strawberries on Aniela’s. 30 minutes later, Aniela hadn’t moved, and they climbed onto the bed.
“Mama!” Lara whispered while pulling off Aniela’s sleeping mask and opening her eyes. “We made you breakfast!”
“Crêpes?”
“Mm-hm! Just the way you like them!”
Sitting up, Aniela took Lara into her lap and rubbed her eyes to see Sam holding her plate. The instinct to snatch the plate from him was strong, he deprived her of crêpes for two weeks and she wasn’t going another week without them. Instead, she hugged Wolf and smiled when her children squeezed her tight.
“Breakfast?”
Aniela nodded yes and took her plate after giving him a quick glare. She wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily. Lara said they were just the way she liked them and wanted to see if her husband had upped his game since the last time. One bite later, Aniela closed her eyes and smiled, they were perfect.
Seeing the look of content, Sam smiled and knew he made it just the way she only liked her crêpes.
Category:The Weekly
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