The next morning was extremely chilly.

Fletch told Charles how great he slept when they met in the hall on their way to the kitchen. The girls weren’t up yet. They had a late night and Charles didn’t expect them to get up for a while.

Robert was already up. The coffee was ready and he was cooking pancakes, sausage, bacon and eggs.

“Morning Charlie. Fletch, would you like some coffee?” Robert pulled out some mugs.

“Yes, thank you.” Fletch sat down while Charles got plates and silverware.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Robert flipped some pancakes. “I’ve made enough for a small army.”

“Starving.” Fletch blew on the steaming coffee and took a taste. “Mmm, that tastes good.” No one said anything and enjoyed their coffee. All that was heard was the sizzling of bacon and sausage.

“Did you get a chance to meet and talk to the girls last night?” Charles asked. “You didn’t join us outside.”

“I went to bed.”

“You didn’t talk to them at all, not even Heidi?” He gave Fletch a wink. “You were so excited about meeting a panda.”

“They were busy with Jackie, so I went to bed,” he snapped. He didn’t want to talk about it. Just then they heard the girls coming down the hall. Heidi, Franny and Becky came into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Becky said cheerfully. “I had the best sleep. Is Jackie up yet?”

“No, I’ve been letting her sleep in. She needs a lot of rest,” Charles told her. “The doctor only released her from restricted activity a couple of days ago. We still want to take things easy.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Franny giggled, “I seem to remember some very loud activity from a certain room at that hotel in Oregon. Has that been restricted too?”

Charles was a bit embarrassed.  “I wasn’t talking about that.” He wasn’t used to talking about his sex life with females other than Jackie.

“Franny, give him a break,” Fletch piped up. “Remember, he isn’t used to being around us. We’ve changed a lot since Charles met us.”

“When I met you, you were all afraid of your own shadows. It’s nice to see you have adjusted so well,” Charles told him.

“Luke, I mean Agent Adams, had a lot to do with that,” Franny replied.

“And Mother,” Becky added.

“Did you know Luke got married?” Franny asked

“Yes, I did. Robert and I have known his wife Paula for years. She used to work for a friend of mine. Who is Mother?”

“She’s an old fox shifter that lives down the street from Jackie’s old house. Super sweet old lady. She has always known that Jackie and I were shifters,” Franny told him. “We were always afraid of her when we were little, we thought she was an old witch. Did you know Vicki went to Seattle to work for Luke and Paula? Paula’s going to have a baby, too.”

“Yes, and I know that Luke is a Prince.”

“You really keep up on things,” Becky remarked. That made everyone laugh. Everyone sat down in the kitchen. The only one that didn’t say anything other than good morning, was Heidi. 

“How are you this morning, Heidi. Did you sleep well?” Charles asked.

“Yes, I did. Thank you.” She was very quiet. “Do you have any tea? I’m not much of a coffee drinker. I can drink water if you don’t have any tea.”

“Robert, do we have any tea?”

“I have no fucking idea!” He snapped.

“Robert, what’s your problem?” Charles yelled at him. “Apologize to Heidi, that was rude.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound very sincere. He didn’t even look her way. He tossed the spatula into the pan he was using and went to the pantry. When he returned, he had a tea tin in his hand. When he handed it to Heidi, he touched her fingers and jumped like he’d been shocked. He dropped the tin, but Heidi caught it before it spilled.

“Robert, are you alright?” Charles gave him an inquiring look.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Apparently, I’m the only one that didn’t get a good night’s sleep. Sorry, Heidi.” He looked at her this time, but quickly looked away. He reached for the spatula that he had tossed and didn’t realize it was hot.

“Ouch, son of a bitch.”

Heidi ran to her room and came back with a jar of salve and she went straight to Robert.

“Give me your hand,” she said quietly.

“I’m fine.”

She opened the jar and held out her hand waiting for his. He placed his hand in hers and she gently rubbed the salve into his palm. His hand started to feel better almost immediately. He knew his hand would heal, but she took the sting out of the burn. As she massaged the salve into his palm, he started to have feelings he’d never had before. He instantly pulled his hand away.

“Sorry. Thank you.” He couldn’t look at her. “Excuse me.” Robert left and jogged up the stairs to his room.

“Sorry, Heidi,” Charles apologized. “I have no idea what has gotten into him. He is normally very cheerful. I’ll have to talk to him later.”

“Well, don’t do it because of me. We all have our days. Some good, some bad. He’s just having a bad day. No big deal.”

“What was that you put on his burn? It seemed to quickly relieve his pain.”

“Something my mother taught me to make. It’s good for cuts and scrapes, burns, insect bites. It’s good for a lot of things, but it seems to take the sting out of burns the best. I can leave this with you if you want.”

“I’d appreciate that. Robert and I are always getting burns.” Charles liked Heidi, she was different. “I’ll be sure to get with you before you leave, I’d like to know what it’s made of.” He instantly started thinking about sending it to his brother Mack. They could produce it for Search and Rescue. Burns were bad during forest fire season. They needed something fast acting. “Can you guys handle breakfast? I’m going to see if Jackie is awake, yet.”

“What does Jackie like? We’ll fix it for her,” Franny told him.

“Her favorite is bacon waffles. My sister-in-law makes them. Give me a minute to check on Jackie and then I’ll show you how to make them.” Charles ran upstairs to check on Jackie, but stopped to see if Robert was alright. He knocked on his door. “Hey, little brother, how’s the hand?”

“It’s fine.” He opened his door. “I don’t know what she had in that jar, but it sure worked.”

“Is everything else alright?” Charles asked.

“Yeah, I just didn’t sleep well last night. I think I’m going to go back to bed for a while and see if I can get some sleep.”

“You’ll tell me if there’s something bothering you.”

“Don’t worry Charlie, everything is fine.” He closed his door and left Charles standing in the hall.

“Is everything alright?” Charles turned around to find Jackie standing in the doorway of their bedroom.

“Yes, sweetheart. Everything is fine. Robert burned his hand. Heidi had some salve that fixed him right up. Apparently, he had a bad night. He’s gone back to bed.”

“Really.” Jackie was puzzled at Roberts strange behavior.

“I promised to show the girls how to make Peg’s famous bacon waffles. Are you coming down?” He went to her and gave her a passionate kiss. “Mmm, maybe I’ll make them wait,” he wrapped his arms around her, “I love you,” he whispered.

“And I love bacon waffles,” she whispered back. She gave him a big kiss. “It’s your fault. Now I’m hungry and want waffles.”

Charles laughed, “Your wish is my command. You get dressed and they will be ready by the time you come downstairs.” He gave her another quick kiss and headed for the kitchen.

The rest of the morning was full of fun and joking around. They didn’t see Robert again until dinner time.