Malta

[peace_inthe_violence]

This is a fairy tale of blood and bullets
It is the story of three men and three women and a small island between Italy and Africa.
This is a story about tragedy and pain, about healing and hope, but mostly it is about
love.

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[orgilotes]

It took Andy a while to drag herself out of sleep to the smell of fried dough: it took even longer for her to wriggle herself out of bed from under the pile of the boys' bodies. Joe had reached out and snagged her underwear band and she'd proceeded to shimmy out of them before heading to the stairs. Following the smell--and pulling on pants she was half sure were Nicky's--meant she had to wake up a bit.

"Early for breakfast, isn't it?" she asked around a yawn, raking her fingers through her unkempt hair. "I'm not complaining, though."

[notariver]

"Yeah." She agreed with a nod, flopping some of the fresh batch -powdered sugar and cinnamon- onto a plate to set on the counter in front of the other woman, "But I couldn't sleep, and I know the rest of you don't really have like, normal circadian rhythms, and I haven't met anybody yet who didn't like to wake up to breakfast. So I figured now was the time."

She gave a little shrug as she went about cutting the next strip of dough right into the pan with a pair of kitchen scissors, "And if you don't like cinnamon there's plain sugar and cocoa ones too, those are just the freshest right now."

[orgilotes]

Andy smiled, her pleasantly sleep-creased cheek tilting with a smile as she picked up one of the fresh cinnamon-sugar ones, biting into it with a sigh so satisfied it might have been a moan. The others all knew Andy had a sweet tooth: it had been the subject of several bets over the years, usually when Nicky found some weird pastry or candy and made her try it though he'd had to tone it down after the scorpion lollipops.

"Thank you," she murmured, still chewing. "I'm never the first one down here when Nicky's cooking." That almost always fell to Joe, because he slept right next to and curled around Nicky and was usually awakened by the movement. "Booker will adore you for making these, he loves pastries for breakfast. Or any kind of bread, really."

[notariver]

"Me and bread aren't on speaking terms." She replied, shaking her head and bobbing the now-cooking beignets carefully with a wooden spatula, "But I can definitely make these. I can even make the traditional yeast-dough ones, but you've got to let that set up in the fridge for twenty-four hours and nobody's got that kind of time."

She paused, brow creasing as she actually looked at the other woman, realization striking as it had been doing off and on since they'd been rescued, "Oh, I guess I do have that kind of time now." She shook her head then, going back to what she was doing, "Don't have that kind of patience, though."

[orgilotes]

"You don't have to get used to it all at once," Andy said, shaking her head as she picked up another of the beignets. If she was down here before the others, she'd take advantage of it. "Having that kind of time," she finished idly.

Here they were relatively safe, and while Nile would have to give up quite a lot very soon, she had a grace period. "I saw Nicky gave you the back garden. How do you like it?"

[notariver]

"Still not sure what to think of it. Not used to people just up and giving me that kind of thing, but it's a gift I know what to do with, if nothing else." A little nod, mostly to herself, "And if we're going to be here a while, I might as well, right?"

Especially when her doing the upkeep actually benefitted all of them, because fresh produce was nothing to scoff at, in her experience, "And I'll take suggestions into consideration."

[orgilotes]

Andy chuckled, shoulders moving a bit as she showed her teeth. "Nicky's just that kind of person," she said lightly. "He's caring that way."

It was obvious even if Andy didn't bring it up often that the four of them were very close: they were her everything.

[notariver]

She nodded, "He believes in deeds instead of words. I get that." A little shrug, "My dad was the same way, it's why he enlisted. He always said not to make a promise if you weren't going to follow through."

She shook her head as she turned the batch of beignets in the pan, quick careful movements with the spoon, "It's a rare thing."

[orgilotes]

"So why'd you enlist?" Andy asked, taking another beignet and getting comfortable at the kitchen table. The boys would be down soon enough, and she hadn't had much time to get to know their newest member; maybe breakfast and some conversation with her would do them both good.

[notariver]

"I say it's because of him." She replied, focused on what she was doing now, "And it is, a little, but it was also so my brother wouldn't. Losing him would have killed my mom." She shook her head, "Losing me won't be much better, but he's a good kid, wouldn't hurt a fly, never would have made it through basic, and if he did he wouldn't have come back."

Turning the fresh beignets over into the dish of sugar, shaking them carefully and dusting them with more, "I wasn't going to let that happen."

[orgilotes]

Andy listened, attentive and quiet while Nile spoke. "Not going to make it any easier on her to lose you instead of him," she said softly. "You're still her child, and it's still going to hurt."

She shrugged. "Ask Book. It'll never get easier to lose someone the way we do--all of us can tell you that. But losing your children is harder." Andy shook her head, but it was good Nile had the instinct. It was likely going to come in handy among the rest of them.

[notariver]

"It'll still hurt." She agreed with a nod, "But me she'll recover from, him she wouldn't. She knows he's a gentle soul, for whatever that's worth, but he's also all she's got left of my dad."

Realizing belatedly that sounded off, she added: "He's a junior. Named after our father."

[orgilotes]

"Are you two the only ones?" she asked, listening and attentive. "Only kids?"

She couldn't remember what her family looked like, but she remembered having them. She remembered losing them, and knowing how much that hurt.

[notariver]

She nodded, "Yeah. They always talked about having a third, but by the time I was ten I figured it wasn't going to happen. And then dad was killed in action the next year."

It had been a bad year, and the one after hadn't been much better, but they'd pulled through, and somewhere between that and Nile's own enlistment, things had leveled out again. Not quite the same as they had been, but still for the better.

[orgilotes]

"So you lost him early," she said. "But you managed. You think your brother will manage as well?"

[notariver]

"He'll get over it, eventually." She replied, though after a moment added: "He's only a couple years younger than me, not like he's actually a kid anymore. He'll be alright. He'll be able to help get mom through it."

That much she was sure of, it had taken both of them to get her through the first time, but Nile was sure he'd be able to do it alone this time.

[orgilotes]

Andy let out a breath quietly. "I don't actually remember much of my family," she said softly. "It's been too long. I don't remember what my mother looked ike, or my sisters. I don't remember their names, even though I've tried to look."

She shrugs. "You're lucky, people keep better records now. They write things down like that."

[notariver]

"I'm starting to think that might not always be a good thing." She replied, starting in on the next batch, because even with conversation she still needed something to do in those early pre-dawn hours when everything started feeling too heavy and too close.

It was also part of why she changed the subject, nodding to Andy's plate, "If you all want to make sure there's space in the fridge for a big-ass mixing bowl for twenty four hours, I can make traditional yeast ones sometime. They get a lot puffier, but not as soft, basically the same otherwise."

[orgilotes]

Andy chuckled. "I'll make sure there's room," she said. "But the boys will be pissed if we eat all these before they get up and they have to wait two days for any more."

Especially Booker. He loved anything bread-related. "Only thing like this I ever learned was choux pastry, once." And only then because a fundamental step was beating the snot out of it.

[notariver]

"Well if they want some maybe they shouldn't sleep in." She replied, as if she and Andy were the ones who were up at a reasonable hour and everyone else was sleeping late.

"And I can do beignets, spice cake, and cookies that look like those fancy decorated ones, but that you won't break a tooth on trying to eat them."

[peace_inthe_violence]

"What are we breaking our teeth on, sorellina? And why are we doing it this early in the morning?"

The voice came from the man in the doorway, bare chested and squinting in the bright lights of the kitchen. He reached up to rub the sleep from his eyes, then made his way into the room proper, his bare feet making little padding sounds on the tile.

"Are those beignets? Please tell me this is not what we are talking about." Because he was already reaching for one of the cinnamon sugar ones.

[notariver]

She blinked up at the new arrival, "They are, and no, if you chip a tooth on one of these there's something wrong." She shrugged, turning to continue the next batch, adding: "or you found one of the rocks I put in the batter." more quietly.

She shook her head then, realizing that this time of morning probably wasn't the best time for jokes like that, "No rocks, promise, and this early in the morning because I couldn't sleep. Happens sometimes. I can be quieter next time."

[peace_inthe_violence]

Her joke actually earned her a chuckle and a mischievous smirk as the man bit into the fried dough. His mirth was quickly forgotten in favor of making a pleased humming sound as he chewed, claiming a chair that was within easy reaching distance to the plates.

"You didn't wake me, sorellina. She did." He gestured at Andy with his half eaten beignet. "I'm pretty certain she danced on my bladder when she got up." He made a face at the older woman, though it was quickly gone in favor of shoving the last half of his treat into his mouth.

"I smelled the food, though, so I came to investigate. This is delicious. When did you start the dough? Did I miss it in the fridge yesterday?"

[notariver]

She considered, just for a moment, teasing about having missed a mixing bowl in the fridge, but decided against it, just shaking her head again, smiling a little, "Didn't miss anything, baking soda dough instead of yeast, so totally a chemical reaction instead of having to wait for microorganisms to do their thing."

A nod towards Andy in turn, "We were just talking about making sure I've got room for a mixing bowl in the fridge to do actual yeast ones sometime, though. I just don't usually have that kind of patience."