“I’m pretty sure that it’s supposed to be my turn to cook breakfast,” Jane muttered as she shuffled up to the kitchen counter in her housecoat and slippers.

  “It is. I just felt like cooking this morning,” I replied, grinning as I whipped up some pancake batter.

  Jane’s eyes swept over the array of breakfast food I’d set up on the counter, then looked up at me. Eyes narrowed. “Alright, what did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything!” I exclaimed. As I threw my hand up in mock outrage, a glob of pancake batter flew off the spoon in my hand and landed at her feet. My eyes flicked from the mess on the floor to Jane’s unimpressed expression. “I’ll clean that up!”

  “If you didn’t do anything… why are you cooking?” Jane asked as I grabbed a cloth from the sink to wipe up the spill. “You usually volunteer when you’ve done something wrong and want to butter everyone up.”

  “That’s not true,” I pouted. “I cook all the time!”

  “When you’re scheduled,” Jane said. “The last time you spontaneously decided to cook breakfast, it was because you got so distracted by one of your projects that you stayed up all night working on it. We wouldn’t have known what was happening if Nyx hadn’t called to let us know.”

  “Okay, that’s fair,” I muttered, “but the time before that…”

  “Was when you got so bored with the lack of action that you decided you wanted to perform some weapon checks and blew holes in the side of the Shelter,” Jane said, cutting me off. “Everyone in the neighbourhood thought we were under attack.”

  “Oh yeah… I forgot about that…” I mumbled, embarrassed, as I bent down to wipe up the batter. When I was done, I threw the rag back into the sink and turned towards Jane, a smile on my face. “I’ll admit, I have used my cooking as a shield whenever I’ve done something wrong in the past, but not this time!”

  Jane sighed and shuffled past me, heading towards the coffee pot. “Alright then, assuming you’re not trying to cover something up this time, what’s the special occasion?” she asked without looking at me.

  “Well… I just feel like everything has been going extremely well the last couple days. The vacation is going smoothly, and I’ve been connecting with the family. I just felt like doing something special,” I said.

  “Smoothly? You set the Badlands on fire yesterday and spent most of the afternoon trying to put it out,” Jane snorted.

  “And things could have gone much, much worse. That solution, while not elegant, was effective,” I said. “I’d rather spend a couple hours extinguishing the rocks, than a couple days tracking down thousands of Antithesis after they scatter to the four winds. That doesn’t require an apology meal.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jane muttered. She poured half the pot of coffee into an oversized bear-shaped mug before bringing the black brew up to her mouth and taking a giant sip.

  “I don’t know how you can drink that sludge,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “It’s disgusting.”

  “It’s an acquired taste,” she replied with a content smile.

  “Acquired taste? We weren’t able to afford it a year ago. When did you have the time to acquire it?” I asked. “I suspect the corps dump a bunch of addictive chemicals into the mix.”

  “While that’s probably true for the mass-produced stuff you get from the cheap diners, these beans come from Nyx. Nothing but pure roasted coffee beans,” Jane replied. She pushed the mug towards me, a mischievous look on her face. “You sure you don’t want a taste?”

  “I’m sure,” I hissed, shying away from the vile brew.

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  “Then more for me,” she smirked, slowly withdrawing the cup and taking another massive sip before clutching the cup to her chest. “You said you were connecting with the kids the last few days?”

  “Yup! I looked at what Jennifer has been working on and promised to sponsor her latest project. I provided Alan with painting supplies and spent several quiet hours watching him work, and I spent several hours listening to Issi talk about her frogs and her plans for a pirate invasion.”

  “Wait… Do you mean she had plans to hold a pirate invasion, or she had plans in case she ever encountered a pirate invasion?” Jane asked.

  “It’s Issi,” I snorted. “Both.”

  While Jane wandered over to the table, I evaluated my pancake batter. It was finally starting to look smooth, without any of those annoying powdery lumps, so I spooned a bit onto the grill to test it. Perfect.

  “What about Eddie?” Jane asked.

  “I’ve spent some time with Eddie,” I replied, “it just didn’t feel as big and meaningful as the time I spent with the other kids. I just don’t get what’s going on in his head. Sometimes he’s deep and introspective, and other times he’s a regular hyperactive eleven-year-old. I’d like to schedule some more time to sit down and talk with him later, maybe listen to his poetry. We have a little time until we reach Kansas City.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Jane said softly. She took another sip of coffee before looking over at me. “What are your plans for Kansas City?”

  “I didn’t really have one,” I replied idly as I spooned out more batter and tried my best to shape it on the grill. “I didn’t know anyone there until yesterday, and I hadn’t heard of any super famous attractions, so I was just going to ask Nyx to put together a list of sites to visit. Why?”

  Jane cocked her head to the side. “If you don’t have any set plans, why are we stopping?”

  “I figured you and the kids would want to get off the ship and explore a little. Stretch your legs,” I explained.

  “Although I appreciate the consideration, it may be a better idea to avoid Kansas and continue moving for now,” Jane muttered.

  I looked up from my masterpiece. “You don’t want to stop? Why?”

  “Because there’s a lot of tension in the samurai community right now, and I wouldn’t want to risk someone shooting at us again, like they did in Seattle,” Jane replied quietly.

  “What? Who told you that?” I shouted before I remembered the kids were still sleeping. “And just so you know, no one shot at us, they just targeted us a little.”

  “Evelyn…”

  “I can absolutely protect you, there’s nothing to be worried about,” I declared.

  “I believe you, but perhaps it would be better to avoid aggravating the locals. If they’re experiencing the same sort of unrest that we experienced on the west coast, bringing a flying warship by unannounced is bound to attract more than a little attention.”

  “I can park the carrier out of range of the city, so no one will feel threatened,” I said.

  “And do you know who the troublemakers are in town? Can you be sure that all the locals will be civil?” Jane replied. “Even with all your preparations, I don’t want to risk the kids.”

  “So what? We just fly on by? What about stretching your legs?” I asked.

  “We’ve been getting off the ship nearly every day. We were just in the Badlands yesterday. We can handle an extra day on the ship,” she replied.

  “Shouldn’t you be just as concerned about Indianapolis?” I asked suspiciously.

  “They’re expecting us there since you were invited. That’s a lot different than showing up outside the city unannounced,” Jane explained.

  “Alright… I kind of see your point,” I muttered, poking at the pancake. “If we push the engines, we could probably make it to Indianapolis by late tomorrow anyway, so I guess it’s not a big loss.”

  “Glad you agree,” Jane declared. She pushed her chair back and started wandering back towards the kitchen. “Now that we have that settled, more coffee.”

  “I’m really starting to suspect you are addicted to that stuff,” I grumbled. “And you know how I feel about drugs and addictive substances. Maybe I should get rid of it…”

  “If you do, they'd never find your body!” Jane declared jokingly. “You may be a samurai, but I’m not going to let anyone get between me and my coffee.”

  “Did someone say coffee?” Jennifer asked as she stumbled into the room.

  “Yes, and you can’t have any!” I barked. “I may not be able to prevent Jane from partaking, but I can certainly stop you.”

  Behind me Jane emptied the pot into her mug. “Besides, we’re all out!”

  Before Jennifer could pout, I scooped up the pancake in front of me and flipped it onto a plate. Grabbing a handful of chocolate chips, I added a couple eyes and a mouth. “How about a pancake instead?”

  As she accepted the plate, she looked at me strangely. “Why is it a mouse?”

  “It’s a bear!” I exclaimed. “Look at the muzzle.”

  “Then why does it have ears the size of its head?” she asked, a small smile growing at the sides of her mouth.

  “Eat your breakfast,” I grumbled before returning to the grill. “No one understands my art.”

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