Mitch was nervous as hell.

The Huntley’s had been interesting so far - in a good way. But living in a family was an adjustment. For years it had been just him and his dad, and then he was moved between homes. But he was not... Used to being in an actual family. Let alone one where he had five siblings, making bathroom arrangements an adjustment at best for example. But Mitch supposed it wouldn’t be hard, Javan seemed like a good guy, and Steph was tough but she was retired military too so he expected that.

It was just weird moving from a foster home to a home where adoption was an option.

So he’d started to go out of his way to try and do things to prove he wasn’t dead weight. After school, he did things around the house without even being asked. He kept his space clean, and himself out of trouble (thank god). In hopes that they wouldn’t change their minds and promptly kick him out. The last thing he wanted to say was that after all the drama that was going on he got kicked out of a house that seemed interested in keeping him around.

So he did things like this. Making breakfast for himself, which wasn’t too hard. He’d done that a lot since his dad taught him how. It was not too hard, given he was just making eggs - but he had to keep quiet as it was still pretty early and just after his morning run. And he hardly wanted to wake up the little kids in the house or either of the adults.

It had gone well until he broke the glass holding his orange juice.

Smoooth Mitch, real smooth.

He cursed under his breath - hoping he hadn’t woken anyone up as he started to take power towels and clean up the spill. Good God, how stupid was he gonna look if they came in to this? “Hope they have a dustpan.” He muttered

Col. Stephanie Huntley

Stephanie was not the most sound of sleepers. So the glass shattering in the kitchen was an instant eye opener. She shuffled out of bed and looked at the clock. One thing Stephanie was not, was domestic. Cooking actually fell to Javan. So did apparently fixing the washing machine when it broke. Not that she couldn’t cook, it was just something much more edible when Javan was steer heading the operation. Achilles, her rottweiler, followed her out of the bedroom. She was still in her pajamas where she was leaning on the wall rubbing her eyes. “Everything okay in here?”

Stephanie could be a bit of a hard ass at times and she was rough on the edges but that didn’t mean she didn’t have another side to her. Leaving the military had been a mix of emotions and she was usually messing with her computers or something or other these days. She had to have something to do. With the youngest kids asleep she looked up at the clock. “What has you up at this hour?” Well Stephanie was the type to be up at random times of the night too.

If it was one thing Steph understood it was foster homes. She’d spent 10 years bouncing from foster home to foster home. It had been a placement of some near 13 different guardians, and it hadn’t always been easy on her. But she’d managed to build herself from the ground up, despite how people responded to her tenacity. Stephanie took a few steps into the kitchen and reached down picking up a few of the larger pieces of glass and tossed them in the trash can.

Over the years she’d learned to profile people, it had been her job and he looked scared. “It’s just a glass.” Stephanie grabbed the broom and dust pan and cleaned it up making sure she’d gotten it all going to wash her hands. Stephanie was a little OCD when it came to some things, keeping things in order was one of them but she was certain Mitch would learn where everything was sooner or later. He was still after all a teenager, hell at 15 her own son had tried to kill her, so there were much worse battles than a lost dust pan they could be facing.

Tag: Mitchell Rogers

Yep he’d woken her up.

Mitch cringed a bit - not sure how to reply. He supposed it did look weird to be up this early on a Saturday, as he thought before. He shifted a little bit to look at Stephanie, trying not to look embarrassed. Sure it was just a glass but how stupid did she have to think he looked? Up and trying to make breakfast this time of the morning and failing miserably? Usually he was better at this dangit.

After a moment though he realized he hadn’t answered the question. He sighed quietly as he made his way to the eggs, trying to make sure he didn’t overcook or burn them. “I uh. I usually get up early on Saturday. I go for a two mile run before I eat. Then usually read,” he rambled off, trying to not sound super weird about it: “Sorry about it Mrs. Huntley, I’m usually better at keeping quiet. I hope I didn’t wake the kids too.”

Admittedly he relaxed a bit more when she said it was just a glass. Sometimes people were weird about those little things but the knowledge that she wasn’t really quick to that kind of thing was a good thing to note. “It was a habit of my dads I sort of adopted after he died I guess. He’d do it before I went to school or I’d wake up on the weekend. Said it keeps you fit and healthy,” he explained - honestly. “Plus he taught me to cook so I typically just take care of breakfast myself anyway. Want some eggs?”

Mitch wasn’t sure if that classified as a peace offering or a “sorry for waking you up” thing. But either way there was plenty to go around

Stephanie had been known to break many a glass. On purpose. So she couldn’t really say anything about people just having slippery fingers. Her anger came out on object more often then people. It wasn’t to say that she didn’t punch people but it took certain things to get her there. She had after all been in law enforcement at one point in her career. The hitting had started more after her PTSD and very rarely intentionally directed at someone unless she somehow altered them into a threat. But really hitting to hit was not her style.

“This entire house is out running before breakfast everyday. Though I’ve been known to sneak out some mornings earlier myself.” One thing Stephanie had going for her was that she could run. Hell, she’d spent most of her life physically running from everyone and her entire life. Then there was the Mrs. part. Stephanie mentally cringed, she’d hated being called Miss and she hated being called Mrs. Though she supposed it came with the territory. It sounded so forward but she let it go the kid was just trying to be polite. Something Stephanie didn’t have much of was manners. No she was more like oil and water when it came to being polite. Please and Thank You were very rare in her vocabulary.

"Eh I sleep when I sleep" Oh the joys of laying down and having nightmares randomly invading your sleep. Stephanie smiled when the kid mentioned his dad having told him it would keep him fit and healthy. Well, she couldn’t knock that logic. “Sure, why not?” Usually she didn’t eat this early but she could make an exception. Pulling open the fridge she poured a glass of juice and set it on the table for Mitch before going back to the cupboard and fishing for a coffee cup.

Stephanie decided to run hot water through the coffee maker this time for her tea. No need to wake the rest of the house with the kettle. Stephanie carried herself very much with a military walk and it wasn’t about to go away anytime soon.

Tag: Mitchell Rogers,

Mitch brightened up a little.

They went out running too? Wow, he’d never had anyone to run with before - this was pretty crazy and new to him. And if he could start joining them on their runs? Well he could probably get even better. Given the shape they both seemed to be in anyway. “Wow that’s awesoem! I mean I didn’t know - I’ll have to get in on that. I mean if I’m ok to anyway,” he explained with a swallow, trying to hold back his excitement a little. “When do you guys go running anyway? Any specific time?”

Mitch gave a smile and nod as he started to continue making the food. It didn’t take too long to finish. Though given he was making it for two now, he decided to make omelette instead. Going into cabinets to find the right kind of stuff. He did go a little crazy cooking for other people, but he couldn’t help it. He liked to make cool stuff for people, so he went for it. Finishing it up slowly, he grabbed two plates and plated them out.

“Hope you like ham and cheese omelettes,” he explained. “Started as eggs but that sounded boring so I went for something more fun, y’know?” He shrugged with a small chuckle.

Stephanie was a pretty fast runner having been a cross country runner in high school. One of the few things that kept her out of trouble in her teen years. “I run when I feel like it.” Well there had once been a pretty strict regiment of running and she still got up before work and ran everyday. Working as a bodyguard for the base commander she couldn’t slack on her PT duties. Stephanie was hard to keep up with, it took a certain finesse to catch her when she took off at full tilt. Not only was she fast, but she was also a very skilled and crafty runner. Dodging obstacles and putting them in someone else’s way was one of her many tactical skills.

Eggs were okay, even eggs and cheese omelettes were okay. Ham… not so much. Mitch was trying so she didn’t want to insult him. “You want some extra ham? I’m a vegetarian.” She decided that offering to pluck the ham out of the omelette and being up front about it was a far better alternative than slipping the dog food when he wasn’t looking. Cooking fun? Well clearly Javan had more in common with Mitch than she did. “You sound like Javan.” Yeah domestic just wasn’t Stephanie’s forte at all.

Tag: Mitchell Rogers