A New Family

Chapter 4: Breakfast

It was a very sunny February day. Winter was soon coming to an end, and spring would have brought Calamary County to its very best. It would have brought it to glorious life, with flowers blooming, longer sunlight hours, more birds ready to fulfill the air with their singing, Trees regaining their beautiful green color, and much more. If one wanted to experience real spring, Calamari County was surely the best and easiest choice.

Every inhabitant had already awoken, opening their house's windows to let the typical spring odors fill their homes.

But that seemed not to be the case for the Squid Sister's residence. Not even Callie seemed to be awake, which was unusual, because she was quite an early bird. But she wasn't used to staying up as much as she had the previous night. And that last night in particular had been rough for everyone.

Marie hadn't moved an inch in her bed, after falling asleep. She was too tired to. She surely had a long, heavy sleep. Her slumber was, however, about to come to an end, as the sunshine slowly made its way through the bedroom's window. The squid was easily awoken by the disturbing light.

She groaned, slowly leaving her dreamland to make contact with the real world once again. She sat on the bed and let out a huge yawn, rubbing her eyes.
"How long have I slept for? I hope not too much..." she mumbled.
She gave a look at her alarm clock. 12 noon. Definitely not very early...

 "THE WHAT!?" Marie let out a small yell, but she immediately covered her mouth with both her hands. She had forgotten she was not alone in her room... She slowly turned her glance to Four. Luckily, the Agent didn't seem to have been disturbed. It would not have been nice to wake her up by an accidental scream. She let out a sigh of relief, putting on her slippers. She then grabbed her phone, and walked outside, trying not to make much noise.

 "I have to be ready for 1:30 pm...well, this isn't looking good." She quickly went downstairs and headed to the kitchen. But there was a little, unexpected surprise waiting for her there. When she entered, she saw Callie sleeping. Her cousin had quite literally fallen asleep on the kitchen's carpet. Typical Callie.
Marie shook her head, smirking.

"Oh, Callie, Callie, Callie...". She gently shook her cousin's body. Callie quickly got up, still a bit sleepy, on guard.
"HUH- Who's there! I know kung fu!" She exclaimed.
"No Callie, you do not know Kung fu." Replied Marie, still smirking. Callie blushed, embarrassed by what she had just said.
"Oh...Marie. It's just you. I was, uh- trying to confuse you! Or better...intimidate you!"
"Well Callie, if you really want to intimidate someone with your, ahem...Kung fu skills. You'd have to prove to them you know how to fight." She added, opening a closet and taking out three cups from it. One for each member of the house. She was preparing a healthy and energizing breakfast for everyone, to start the day in the right way, and mood.

"What do you mean!?" Asked Callie, visibly offended. "I am great at kung fu! Watch me!" She then threw 2 kicks in the air. After a third one, however, she almost tripped on her own legs. Fortunately, a chair was conveniently placed close by, so she used it to prevent herself from clumsily falling on the floor.
"Wouldn't you rather have breakfast before performing any weird and potentially dangerous action?" Asked the older cousin. Callie nodded, scratching the back of her head.
"You're right, maybe I should gain some energy first! And then I'll show you!" And as she said that, she sat on the chair that saved her from the awkward fall.

"Sooo...you slept with Agent 4 last night, correct?"
"Oh, yeah. She...needed a bit of company tonight" Marie paused for a while, filling the cups with some milk.
"I... It was worse than usual, to be honest with you. I'm glad you weren't there, it was heartbreaking."
As Marie finished that phrase, Callie's look suddenly got worried. She stayed in silence for a few seconds, before asking...

"What was up with her?" She asked, watching her cousin preparing their meal.
"Well...it might have had to do with a nightmare of her old family, nothing new. i cannot imagine what they must have done to her to make her have such recurrent nightmares...it's disgusting just to think of it." Marie explained, anger slightly taking over her. 
She put aside the three milk cups she had just finished preparing while talking and turned to her cousin.

"...And do you have any idea what the Nightmare could have been about?" Callie tried to insist.
Marie looked at her, crossing her arms. She took a deep breath, trying to make order in her head.

"Well, it was...very bad. She cried too. Something about her mother calling her ugly..."
Callie looked at her, visibly upset. The bare mentioning of Agent 4 crying was enough to bring her to cry herself. She was really sensible, sometimes. She wished she could be like Marie, sometimes; her cousin was way better than her at handling her emotions.
"...Hey...you're okay?" Marie asked, feeling slightly guilty. She felt like she had ruined her Cousin's morning. But...

"I-It's fine, Marie. I'm glad she feels better now. You did the right thing, letting her sleep with you. I still don't see why you don't want her to be my niece, heh. I've got to prepare to be the best aunt ever too, you know?" Callie answered, putting sadness aside and winking.
"Oh Callie, you are something special, really." Marie said, heartened.
"Aww, thanks. I love you too.".

Marie grabbed the three cups, and put them into the microwave, setting it up for 2 minutes. As she did that, a memory barged into her mind. 
"Oh, how could I forget to tell you! Now that you mention that, something else happened right when we went to sleep. I was left speechless."
Callie's curiosity grew greatly, as her cousin said that.
"Whoa?? What do you mean??" She asked, staring at her and giving her all of her attention. Marie had to hold back a laugh from how goofy Callie looked at that moment.

"Four called me "mom". Before falling asleep." Total silence dropped into the kitchen. The two looking at each other, awkwardly. It almost seemed like Callie's jaw had dropped, from how wide open her mouth was. And then...
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! OH MY COD YES!!! I KNEW IT!!!" Unable to contain herself, Callie let out a cry of joy, standing up and running around excitedly.

"Woah woah! Lower your volume! Four's still sleeping, don't wake her up!" Marie grabbed Callie by her arm, putting a finger on her mouth. Callie stopped with the yelling, but she couldn't stop moving from the hype. As she sat back down, she started to frenetically move her legs under the table. Callie was never good at containing herself when she was overjoyed.
"I told you she saw you as a mother figure! I told you! Now you should definitely offer her that adoption thingy for her birthday!"

Marie stopped to think for a moment. Well, Callie was right. She no longer had any excuses. Now it was certain that Four saw her as her mother. But was she ready?

...

It was then she realized that maybe the real problem wasn't Four's reaction...maybe it was her? Her insecurity holding her back for so long...

"Callie Cuttlefish to Marie Cuuuuuttlefiiiiiiish...are you there?" Said Callie, quickly moving her hand up and down in front of Marie's face. The idol snapped back into reality. As the microwave let out a beep to signal that the milk was ready.
"So have you decided yet? Will you..."
"I think...well...yes. I think I should-"

 "What's going on?"

A familiar voice interrupted the two Cousins' conversation. It was Leah. She had probably awoken from all the mess Callie had made up before. Marie frowned and slapped her cousins' neck. She didn't put much strength into it, though.

"Nothing. Good morning Four. Forgive Callie for the unneeded screaming."
"OUCHIEEEES! MARIEEEEEEE!!" Cried out Callie, massaging the place where she was hit. Four laughed at the scene. Sometimes, she saw the Squid Sisters as a comic duo, more than a group of singers. They sure had quite a dynamic.

"It's late anyway, don't worry. I have a meeting with my friends and I don't want to be late...Three and Eight are probably waiting for me at the outpost!"
"Right, let me get done with the cups so we can all have breakfast." Stated Marie. Both Callie and Agent 4 looked at each other.
"Can we please have bread and Nutella?" They begged, at the same time. Marie rolled her eyes, smirking.
"Yes, we can also have bread and Nutella." The two celebrated, high-fiving each other. They were one of the same, at times.

That sure was a great beginning for the day.