|25| Floor Pancakes

I wake up to a soft knock on the door and I just groan and roll over. I feel the sheets move up and Steve say "come in." The door opens and I barely hear footsteps, meaning it's probably Alex.

"Steve? Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah buddy. What's up?"

"Is auntie asleep?"

"I think so. Why?"

"Well, my mommy told me that you're not technically my uncle, so I need you and auntie to get a baby or something." I just about choke but I'm still pretending to be asleep.

"Get, a baby?"

"Yeah."

"Well buddy, babies are in the future. I don't know if it's gonna be anytime soon."

"But I want you to be my uncle."

"Tell you what. I'll talk to your mommy and see if we can't work anything out."

"Thank you, Steve!"

"Welcome buddy." I hear the door close and Steve let's out a slight chuckle.

"Get a baby?" I ask with a small laugh.

"I guess so. Where does one... get a baby?"

"I have no clue. You think they have some at the abc store?"

"I mean I haven't seen one there before, but we could always check."

"I'm telling you, that kids imagination is unlike any other kid I have ever known."

"He's just crazy smart is what it is."

"I guess." I let out a small laugh.

"How are you feeling about yesterday?" He says rolling over and facing me.

"I think it went well. It was more than amazing to have everyone here and that we got to celebrate Alex. It honestly was amazing."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." I could tell he wanted to say more.

"What?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?"

"I know there's something else."

"Just thinking."

"About?"

"Moms."

"Mine? Yours?"

"Both I guess."

"What's going on with your mom?"

"She's just very secretive. And now her past is catching up to her, or should I say me. She may be connected to what happened to me the other day."

"You mean you getting shot and breaking your arm?"

"Yeah."

"How is she connected to that?"

"I don't know yet. The team is working on it. But the main suspect we are going after, I think he's trying to find my mother. I don't know why, or how he even knows her. I don't know. It's just work stuff. It just gets to me sometimes."

"I know it does." I say placing my hand on his cheek. "I know that I can go to you about everything, but you know you can come to me about this kind of stuff too, right?"

"I know." He says with a smile. "Just not right now. Right now I just want to be in the moment. I will worry about it when we get back to the real world."

"Okay." I smile as I place my lips on his. I hear my phone vibrate and I roll over to my night stand and grab it.

'Hey lazy. Get up.' A text from Teagan says. She's still here?!

"Guess I have to get up. Teagan is still here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I didn't realize she stayed the night. I was just so tired last night I guess I just kind of left."

"You go hang out with her for a little. I've gotta make a couple calls anyways."

"Okay." I get up and put some clothes on and go out into the living room and sit down next to Teagan. "Hey I didn't realize you were still here. Sorry."

"It's fine." She says with a smile. "I could tell you were pretty tired after yesterday."

"Little bit draining." I say with a small laugh.

"Your mom?"

"Isn't it always?"

"What happened? Emily told me that she had something to Steve and you seemed pretty upset."

"Yeah. Just kind of threw me off guard. She brought up the reason I quit being a cop."

"What?!"

"Well she didn't tell him, she just asked him if I had told him."

"Have you?"

"No. It's not that I'm keeping anything from him. I just really don't like talking about it."

"I know you don't. I can't believe she brought that up."

"I guess thinking back on it now, I mean I kind of understand why she did. With him being a cop and all, I guess she figured I would tell him because out of anyone he would understand the most."

"Still."

"I know."

"You don't still blame yourself do you?"

"Little bit."

"Why?"

"I was supposed to protect that kid."

"You did. Nobody could of seen that coming. Nobody."

"But then I decided to take the easy way out after all of that. I just quit. Boom. Gone."

"No, no you didn't just quit, Brook. You did what was best for you. I know you loved being a cop, but everyone has a breaking point, and that was your breaking point."

"Yeah. I just, I really don't want to talk about it."

"Okay."

"Guess what Alex told Steve this morning."

"What?"

"That him and I need to get a baby. Not have a baby, get one. So that Steve can be his uncle."

"That kid is on crack."

"PANCAKES! I WANT PANCAKES!" Alex yells as he comes out of his room and runs down the hall.

"See?" Teagan says causing both of us to laugh.

"Oh Auntie. Hi. Will....you make me some pancakes? Mom said she doesn't want to."

"THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID!" Emily yells from the bedroom.

"Oh how mean is she?! Of course I will make you pancakes! You want to help me?"

"Yes!" Teagan and I both smile and get up to go to the kitchen and grab stuff for pancakes.

"Wait, where's Jonathan?" I ask Teagan as I fill a bowl up with pancake mix.

"Him, Everest and Peyton went for a run. They should be back soon."

"Oh okay. Wondered why it was so quiet. Alright, Alex-" I say changing the subject "- I need you to grab the step stool, go over to the sink, and fill this with water, up to the top line." I say as I hand him a measuring cup.

"Okay!" He grabs the step stool out of the pantry and brings it over to the sink. After he fills it up with water, he "carefully" brings it over to me.

"Only a little bit on the ground. Amazing work. Usually I just spill the whole thing on the ground." Teagan says. She grabs a dish towel and tosses it down on the ground.

Steve's POV

Brooklyn leaves the room so I decide to call Chin.

'What's up. Boss?' Chin says answering the phone.

'Any news?'

'Nothing that I'm sure Danny didn't fill you in with yesterday. We're still looking into it though. We don't have a case other than this one right now so it is our main priority.'

'Okay, good. Do you have HPD on my mom?'

'Yes. They've had someone tracking her and also looking into places she's been recently. So far nothing out of the ordinary.'

'It's Doris. Everything is out of the ordinary with her.'

'Good point. We will keep you updated when we find something. Just enjoy your vacation. We will see you when you get back.'

'Alright. Thank you, Chin.'

I hang up and take a deep breath. I hear a bunch of commotion coming from the kitchen so I decide I might as well go check up on what's going on. I get up out of bed and put a pair of shorts on and a tank top.

Brooklyn's POV

"Did you just drop the batter?" I say laughing as I turn around and see pancake batter all over Alex and Teagan. They both just start laughing.

"FLOOR PANCAKES ARE THE BEST!" Teagan says. I grab a paper towel and wipe the batter off of Alex's face, but right as I lean down to do that, Alex decides to smear some of the batter all over my face.

"Oh it's on!" I wipe my hand in some of the batter from the floor and smear it all over his face, causing him to laugh. Teagan grabs the roll over paper towels and hands me a couple. I lean down to try and get the rest off of the floor and Alex decides to jump on my back. I grab onto him from behind and stand up to start running around the house, but right as I stand up I see Steve leaning against the counter smiling. "Oh hey. We were uhh-"

"MAKING FLOOR PANCAKES!" Alex yells.

"I see that." Steve says trying not to laugh. "I will make some more batter." A smile forms on his face as he sees the mess everywhere.

"You, you go clean up." I say to Alex as I set him back down on the floor.

"Awww man."

"I know. I'm so mean."

"Where is the mop?" Teagan asks me.

"You don't have to mop. I can do that."

"I'm gonna do it anyways."

"Oh, haha okay. It's in the hall closet." She just smiles at me as she passes me to go grab the mop.

"I see why you don't cook in front of me." Steve says grabbing the bowl off of the floor and washing it out.

"Woah there. Alex did this, not me."

"Oh yeah, okay. Blame the kid. I see how it's gonna go." I just shake my head at him and he wipes some batter off my face. He smiles and quickly kisses me. "You sleep good?" He asks as he walks back over to the empty kitchen island.

"I did, did you?"

"With you in bed next to me? Couldn't sleep any better." I playfully roll my eyes at him...