Mr. Mom

21

It's been a couple weeks since they went out for her birthday. A couple weeks since she held his hand. They haven't acknowledged it and he's starting to think he read too much into it.

He smiles when he wakes up and sees her dancing and singing in the kitchen as she cooks breakfast. The radio is playing at a low volume and he just chuckles as she remains blissfully unaware of him watching her. "Good song?"

She jumps at the sound of his voice. "Hey. How long have you been awake?" Her cheeks turn a deep shade of pink.

"Not long. But long enough to see your dance moves." He teasingly mocks her and she swats at his shoulder.

"Oh great." She smiles and turns back to her pancakes. "I'm making breakfast, should be ready soon."

"Ellie loves pancakes, she'll be very happy when she wakes up."

She's all too aware of him standing behind her, practically pressed against her as he watches over her shoulder to see breakfast. "They're blueberry and the small ones are chocolate chip."

"They smell delicious." He steps back a little and she instantly misses him being so close to her. "I think you may be a better pancake maker than I am."

"See I like yours better." She turns around to face him. "Though nothing beats Ellie's pancakes, an entire bag of chocolate chips? Genius."

He chuckles. "Kid loves chocolate."

They stare silently at each other, his eyes flickering down to her lips and back up to her eyes. She's so lost in his eyes that she nearly falls over when the timer goes off, scaring her.

"Those are uh... hash browns. I made hash browns too." She turns away from him and slips on an oven mit to pull out the pan.

"Smells good." He tells her. She can still feel her heart racing and she doesn't know if it's because of the timer or because of the way he kept staring at her lips. "I'm gonna go wake up, Ellie."

He walks down the hall and pushes her bedroom door open slowly. She's sleeping so peacefully, he feels bad about having to wake her up. He also finds it odd that she's still sleeping considering she's usually the one waking him up at the crack of dawn.

"Morning, El." FP whispers as he lightly shakes her awake, she groans. "Elliebelly it's time to get up."

"I don't want to, daddy." She whines.

"Allie's making pancakes." That's usually enough to get her wide awake.

"I don't want pancakes." She tells him, rolling over and pulling her blankets up high around her. That's odd.

"You always want pancakes, they're your favourite." He waits for a response but doesn't get anything. "El?" She's asleep again. He shakes her awake once more and she whines. "I'm sorry honey but you have to get up, you have daycare."

"I don't feel good, daddy." She tells him, rolling over and snuggling up against his side.

"You don't?" She shakes her head and he places his palm on her forehead, feeling how hot it is. "Yeah, you've got a fever kiddo. Come with me." He picks her up into his arms and she whines. "I just need to go check your temperature honey, that's all." She lays her head on his shoulder as he carries her out into the kitchen.

"Morning Ellie." Alice cheerily greets the girl.

"Morning Allie." She mumbles, almost falling asleep on FP's shoulder.

"Someone's not feeling very good." FP explains, searching for a thermometer.

"Oh no."

He opens up the cupboard and pulls out the thermometer. "Turn your head for me, El." He places the thermometer in her ear and waits for it to get her temperature. He reads it and sighs. "Yeah, you've definitely got a fever, kiddo."