Muffins

Charlie wakes up at two in the morning. She replaces herself with an extra comforter on Jackson, scoops up Jupiter, and pads down the hall—

"/*FFFFFTT*!"

—and nearly slips on a furry, apparently living, thing in front of the beans' door.

A flash of gray down the stairs.

Jupiter smacks her lips, wiggles.

Charlie huffs, listens.

Movement from the kitchen.

"Wanna say 'hi' to your uncle?" she whispers.

Jupiter sleeps on.

Charlie kisses her crown, follows the cat at a more sedate pace.

A pair of eyes glow from atop the fridge.

"Hey, Logan," greets Charlie.

A cupboard rattles.

She hits the night-light, lays Jupiter in her bassinet. "Muffins're better than energy bars."

"Making some?"

Charlie turns on another couple night-lights. "Get the flour, please."

.

Charlie rubs the meat above her heart, turns on the mixer—

"Logan?"

He grunts.

Charlie checks on the bassinet.

Two spots of shine stare in her general direction.

"I'm feeding Jupiter." She moves aside. "Hand on top and hold the bowl to keep it steady. Keep the power on 'two'."

"How long?"

"I'll let you know."

Logan puts a hand on top and aside the bowl.

Charlie turns the mixer on 'low'—

Snicket presses himself to fridge.

—asks with her eyebrow.

Logan's adjusting his grip.

Charlie turns the power up a notch.

Logan kinda looks at her.

Charlie—

Snicket lands on her shoulders.

—goes to the bassinet.

Jupiter's concentrating.

"Hey, sweetie."

Jupiter's eyes flick her way.

"Hungry?"

Jupiter resumes concentrating.

"I'm just over there."

Jupiter wiggles.

Snicket leaps down, curls up away from Jupiter's feet.

"You hanging around?"

Snicket hides under his tail.

Charlie shakes her head, scratches his ears, caresses Jupiter's head, and returns to the mixer.

Logan yields, kinda frowns.

"I'll check in a bit. Her brain's working right now."

Logan resumes preparing the muffin tin.

Charlie gets the batter mixed and gives it to Logan. "Know the drill?"

He raises an eyebrow.

"'s not like we've shared a kitchen anytime recently."

Logan concedes, turns back to his workspace.

Charlie returns to the bassinet.

Logan starts spooning in batter.

Jupiter looks toward the noise; she smiles around the foot in her mouth.

"Does that mean you're hungry?"

Jupiter makes a happy sound in that nigh-ultrasonic way that only babies can.

Snicket merrows, looks pleadingly at Charlie.

"Sorry about the sounds," says Charlie. Offers her hand. "Want up?"

Snicket slinks over, prowls up her arm, drapes himself across her shoulders.

"Good?"

Snicket purrs.

"Bee time." Charlie eases Jupiter into her arms, settles in a chair, and pulls aside the neck of her jumper. "There you go."

Jupiter mouths about, latches on.

Logan glances over.

Charlie tilts her head.

"That hurt?"

"Depends. Am I well-hydrated? Are we feeding on time—" Winces, adjusts Jupiter. "How hard the bean's nursing, how hungry they are."

Logan spoons more batter. "Don't think of bodies as 'life-y'."

"Yea." Glows at Jupiter. "Babies are special like that."

Logan spins the tin around.

"This is gonna take a while, by the way."

"'s was your plan all along."

"Obviously. I totally compelled you to break in tonight."

'Got me there.'