Castle -- Meghin and All: "Breakfasties!"

[Gina Ritter]

Noel was already in the kitchen when Meghin came down to
help with breakfast. She stood in the doorway and watched him, smiling.
He looked a bit out-of-place (much as she and Elo had on that day not
so long ago, she supposed) in the kitchen, with his silver-gray mage's
robes (the more she saw him in those, the more it looked somehow *right*),
and calm quiet demeanor. He glanced up from the bowl he was stirring and
smiled at her. A little amazed (he still cares for me! how can he still
care for me after all I've put him through!), she walked over to him and
grabbed him by the arm. Looking amused, he bent so she could kiss him
on the cheek. "Good morning!"
"Good morning indeed. Did you sleep well?"
What little sleep she had managed to get had been refreshing.
Or was it only having him back that made her feel that way? "Yes. What
are you doing making breakfast? I was going to bring breakfast to you."
"I can go back to bed if you like," Noel offered, with a shy
sort of grin. She gave him a stern look.
"You behave."
"*May*be I will, *may*be I won't."
She tried not to laugh. "You *better*."
"You are so cute when you act proper," he teased, and set down
the spoon. He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I'm
so glad I found you again."
"Yah ..." she barely said. They needed to talk sometime. About
things. About the Prophecy. But could she bring herself to ... Still,
if it had to be done ... "I haven't really gotten a decent look around the
Castle grounds yet. If you'd be up for it ... maybe we can wander around
and talk."
"Ah ... that would be nice ..."
"Hey," a rather impudent voice said from behind her, "I always
knew you were damn cute, but affectionate too? Never woulda guessed. Now
I want a priest!"
She turned in surprise. Her old (well, kinda) friend Fenwyck
stood there, grinning foolishly. She bounded up to him and gave him a hug.
"Fenwyck!"
"You didn't try to kill me this time. I'm almost disappointed."
"I can't kill you. Well, I could, but I won't. You brought
Noel here. Thank you." She stepped back and smiled at Noel. "Thank
you *very* much."
"Ah, doan mention it. Someone had to come find you. You'd just
get killed or something otherwise," he said with a mocking laugh. She
gave him a chilly look.
"Oooh, so sure? Let's see how tough you are when the Goddess
swats you one!"
"Uh, hey there," Noel said quietly, "you two really aren't
being very nice."
"I'm not being very nice?" Meghin asked, narrowing her eyes at
him. Noel bit his lip and looked suitably worried.
"It's okay, sheep-boy. We're just fine." Fenwyck pointed at
Meghin and laughed. "Tho' I do think you should see about getting her
declawed."
Same old Fenwyck, same pain-in-the-neck-- She reached out to
thump him on the nose. He danced back, ducked, and grabbed her around
the waist. Effortlessly and amazingly gently, he tossed her to the floor.
Noel quite audibly gasped. She rolled to her feet and laughed. "You're
*such* a twit, Fenwyck!"
"I shall take that as a compliment," he said with a curtsey.
She laughed. Noel looked bemused, so she winked at him, which only made
him look even more bemused. Across the room, Elo walked through the door.
"Elo!" Meghin exclaimed.
"Megs! Morningies!" She began walking towards them. Her eyes
fell on Fenwyck and suddenly she looked very angry. By the time she stood
before Meghin and Noel, though, she was all smiles again. "Well hello
there," she said, looking up at Noel. "You must be Noel." She looked
more than impressed. "Wish I could give ya the traditional elfin greeting--"
"Don't you *dare* kiss my intended," Meghin warned. Elo giggled.
"Awh, you're no fun. I'm sure I could find someone though, someone
*who* *isn't* *in* *this* *room*..." She looked at Fenwyck and sniffed.
Fenwyck went pale.
"My lady Elotheria." He held out his hand. "Elotheria, I'm
*bunchies* sorry..."
"Ha!" Elo slapped his hand. "You left me, you son-of-a-goober!"
"I came back. I even went looking for you."
Elo sniffed again. "Must not have looked very hard!"
"I looked all over. You hide really good. Not my fault."
Meghin blinked. "You *know* him?"
"Kinda. He's the guy from last night."
"Oh. Oh. *Oh*." She gave Fenwyck a look that was almost as
amused as it was displeased. "Ever the ladykiller, *ne*?"
"I don't know nothin' 'bout killin' no ladies," Fenwyck said,
and bowed to Elo. "Please forgive me. *Pleasies*. I'd hate to think
I've got no chance with you."
"No chance for *what*?" Elo asked with a twitch of her ears.
"For ... well ... lots of things," he said hesitantly, his
eyes all amber-golden. Elo looked at him and sighed.
"Oh, darnit, all right, I forgive ya," she said, and broke
into a grin. Meghin noticed Elo was blushing and decided not to point it
out to her. "Can we get breakfast now?"
"Well, that was the general idea, if I wasn't mistaken," Noel
said, picking up his spoon again. Elo leaned over the bowl.
"Whatcha makin'?"
"Pancakes."
"For us too?" Fenwyck leaned around his shoulder and grinned. Noel
laughed.
"Yes yes, for you too."
"Keep 'im," Elotheria told Meghin. "He can cook."
"Hey," the young magician said irritably, "so can I."
Meghin and Elo looked at him incredulously. "Yeah, right."
"I can! Really!" He gave Noel's sleeve a tug. The shepherd blinked
at him. "Lemme help!"
"You could help best by getting out from underfoot," Noel replied
quietly. Fenwyck sputtered. "But nevermind. Go get some ham from one of
the pantries and slice it into nice small pieces."
"I can do that!" Fenwyck exclaimed. He bounded off.
"Oooooh! It's a kitty!" Elo squealed, as a huge tan-furred cat
hopped up on the counter beside Noel. The cat looked at her disdainfully.
"Hey there kitty!" She meowed at it happily.
"His name is Jones. Say hello Jones." Noel stared at the cat, then
nodded. "Jones says hello."
"No he don't," Fenwyck said, dropping a hunk of ham on the counter.
"Jones says 'Get that long-eared twit away from me!'" He laughed. Elo
swatted him.
"Obviously you know even less about cats than you do about girls,"
Elo pronounced, and picked up Jones. Jones tolerated this behavior, looking
pretty unhappy about it. "Whoo, he's so soft! And ... erk ... heavy!
He's a *big* kitty!"
"He has to be. Jones is my sheepcat."
"Whazzat?"
"Well, he watches my sheep, and keeps them from straying away."
"This cute kitty?" Elo held Jones at arm's length and purred at him.
Jones squinted and went hopelessly limp. Elo giggled and hugged him. "You
never told me Noel had a cat, Meghin. Now I say you keep him for sure."
"I wasn't aware I was being gotten rid of," Noel said, frowning.
Meghin put her arm around his shoulder (having to stand on her toes
to do so) and smiled at him. "I'm not getting rid of you for awhile, Noel."
"*Awhile*, she says. My, she's committal." He walked over to the
stove and started pouring out pancake batter. Meghin stood looking at him,
ears twitching.
"Are they spatting?" Elo whispered loudly to Fenwyck. "I can't
tell." She bent her head down to Jones and asked, "Hey, kitty, are they
spatting?"
"We are not!" the young priest said, and went over to Noel. "We
never spat, isn't that right? Light of my life, joy of my heart?"
"Well, when you put it *that* way," Noel began, and picked her up.
He set her on the counter and kissed her. Elo made a face.
"Hey. I thought she was supposed to be a priest!" She shook Jones'
paw at them. "*Bad* Meghin, no Cheezit!"
"Jealous much?" Fenwyck asked with a smirk. She sniffed.
"*Never*."
"You better get back to work there, Noel," Meghin said a bit
regretfully, pulling away. "At this rate we'll never get to go out."
"Out! Out where!" Elo demanded. Then she grinned.
Oh no, not company! Meghin thought miserably. Noel continued on
oblivious. "We were thinking of going outside to have a look around the
grounds."
She scowled at him. "No we weren't." But Elo was already looking
fairly excited, and Fenwyck even looked interested. Noel sighed.
"That's right, we weren't," he said somewhat belatedly. "But we
are now, I expect."
"Outside! We get to go *outside*!" Elo sang, tossing Jones in the
air and catching him only barely. The cat did not so much as blink.
Fenwyck gave her a very odd look.
"Fenwyck!"
"Uh, yeah?" he asked, turning to Noel.
"If you want ham with breakfast, you might want to set about slicing
some. Go find a knife."
"Oh, good, give him a knife," Elo said uneasily.
"My, you're stern," Meghin told her intended. "Remind me to
behave myself."
"Oh, the most I would do is scold you, and you like that anyway, so
what good does that do?" He sighed, looking sheepish. "I am sorry about
that outside thing, Meghin. We really do need to talk. I didn't mean to
invite people along as such ..."
"No, not as such."
"Still, we could ... you know ... get lost."
Meghin looked at him hopefully. "Yah."
"I heard that!" Elo screeched. "I'll have you know that I can get
lost too!"
"Why would you want to?" Noel asked curiously.
Elotheria looked sidelong at Fenwyck, blushed, and turned away
fast. Fenwyck scratched his head, looking confused. Meghin coughed.
"Oh. I get it."
"Pretty shameless, this friend of yours," Noel confided.
"Which one?"
"Jones wants breakfast!" The blond elf dropped Jones in Meghin's
lap.
"Jones is going to have to be patient," Noel said, pouring more
batter. "All the moreso if you insane people want eggs too."
"Eggs? Really?" Fenwyck grinned. "Keen beans! Go for it,
sheep-boy!"
"You can start helping any time now," Noel said to Meghin. She
shrugged.
"I could, but you're doing well enough on your own, I think."
"You are very lucky I love you." He kissed her again, then turned
to Elotheria, who was scowling in annoyance. "You, on the other hand ..."
"Eggs! Yeah! I'll find 'em!" She bounded off. Fenwyck blinked,
then bounded after her.
"Hey, I wanna help ya!"
"I don't want your help!"
"You long-eared twit!"
"You *goober*!"
Meghin smiled. "Is it just me, or are they getting fond of each
other?"
"Must be. They tease each other almost as well as we do."

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Gina Ritter ----^_^---- art...@cwis.unomaha.edu
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