Modern Family

Sickly Sweet

The smell of bacon and slightly burnt toast was surprisingly relaxing first thing in the morning. Perhaps it was because eating a proper breakfast in the dining room of a hotel wasn't something they had the chance to do very often. Up until recently, Jace had tried to keep Savannah from the public eye, so they'd usually just order room service before sneaking out of the back of the hotel. Either that, or their mornings required a bit of hustle on their parts, so they didn't have the time to enjoy a proper sit down breakfast.

But they had today off and they were planning on making the most of it. Seeing as they were in Miami and Savannah had never seen the ocean before, they wanted to take her to the beach, but first, a hearty breakfast was in order.

Savannah stood between Jace and Austin as the elevator doors slid open to reveal the lobby, at three years old, coming up to below their hips. She reached up to grab her father's hand on one side and her uncle's on the other, and the boys wrapped their fingers around her tiny palms as they hoisted her upwards and swung her outwards into the lobby, causing her to giggle and ask for more.

Jace had always been a sucker for his daughter's laugh and Austin was a softie when it came to children in general, so they did as requested and swung her all the way to the hotel's dining room, Ryan and Liam following close behind and laughing at the sight.

Mornings like these were Jace's favorite. Of course, he treasured every moment he got to spend with his daughter, but the ones where they weren't rushed and just got to enjoy being together were the best.

Savannah stood on her tip toes as they reached the start of the buffet line, tilting her chin upwards in an effort to see the piles of food laid out in heated trays.

"Daddy," she stomped her foot as she looked up at Jace and jutted out her bottom lip. "I can't see."

Chuckling, Austin let go of her hand, knowing it was Jace's turn to gladly take over the parenting.

"Alright, squirt," Jace sighed as he placed his hands at his daughter's waist and lifted her to his chest, where her small legs immediately locked at his hips, her pint sized ballet flats digging into the waist band of his royal blue board shorts and her arms around his shoulder. "What do you wanna eat?"

Her eyes were wide as she surveyed the options because, generally speaking, she didn't have so much to choose from. More often than not, they were in a hurry, which meant her breakfast consisted of dry Cheerios that she picked out of a plastic snack bag or if he was in a mood where he didn't mind cleaning up her sticky messes, jam on toast. So the fact that she now had the ability to choose from rows upon rows of options was awe inspiring.

"That!" she replied firmly, pointing randomly at one of the trays of food. Jace followed the path of her small finger to the steaming scrambled eggs and reached for a plate from the pile sitting at the front of the table to give her what she wanted.

He piled her plate high with the various foods she pointed at, choosing them based on shape or color or because they just smelled good and not because she had any idea what they were. Once they reached the end of the line, Jace was holding his daughter with arm and a plate full of French toast, eggs, bacon, muffins, and assorted fruits in the other.

"Think you got enough food, Savi?" Austin laughed from his place behind them in the buffet line.

"I'm hungry!" she announced proudly, puffing out her chest as she grinned at her uncle.

"Good," Austin nodded as he scooped scrambled eggs onto his already overloaded plate.

Jace laughed lightly, looking to the other side of the buffet line to see that Liam was loading up two plates, one for himself and one that looked as though it had all of Jace's preferred breakfast food on it. Shooting the drummer a grateful smile, Jace shifted his arm to hike his daughter up higher on his hip before turning to carry her to the table where Ryan was already munching down on a strip of bacon.