It was a peaceful afternoon on the ship.
Opal had decided to make her seasonal favorite recipe; Pumpkin Bites. She had made up in her mind that Leo was going to help her.
Her plan to rope him into this adventure was to fairly heavily tease him with that was to come afterward.
Opal huffed softly at the rather crude comment Leo had made, “Leo…”
Leo smirked as he stepped away to grab a bowl and sack of sugar for her,
"Mmm yes my lovely Opal dear?” He eyed over his wife with a tomcat smirk.
The blonde baker chuckled at him, "Naughty.." she knew damn well where her husband’s eyes were. It was not on the bowl he was failing to pick up.
He gave her big, innocent eyes,
"I don't know what you're talking about."
His voice was playful as he finally got his hand onto the sack itself and grabbed it. He tugged the heavy sack of cane sugar over to his wife.
She smirked and crossed her arms,
" Mhmm fetch the bowl now dear." she shook her head a little, tutting at him.
He huffed slightly and brought the bowl over, giving her a coy smirk, "I love you~" he purred into her ear.
Opal purred loudly to Leo and kissed his head gently when he had finally retrieved the bowl,
"Fetch the butter and eggs as well, will you darling?"
She was determined to keep him as focused as possible on the task at hand.
Figuring her dearest husband could handle the relatively simple errand she turned back to the spice mix she had in the bowl, she had developed it herself and was very proud of it.
Leo nodded, as he walked across the kitchen his eyes stayed fixed on Opal as she bent over to grab her mortar and pestle.
The eggs and butter were possibly the furthest things from his mind. The lewd writer did manage to tear his eyes away from her orange silken dress for long enough to gather the butter and eggs, though the gaze of Mr. Hamilton quickly returned to his wife.
Opal, still with her back to Leo purred happily,
"Oh isn't this wonderful Leo? Oh! We should bring the children in so they can help too!"
She was blissfully unaware of Leo’s wandering eyes as she focused on evenly blending the spices.
He smiled gently and set down the ingredients on the counter,
"I think that's a brilliant idea love…”
He paused for a split second, remorseful to give up any time with Opal, then offered, “'I’ll go get them for us." He gave her a snug squeeze before he went to leave the kitchen.
Opal jumped and blushed, "Darling!"
She went to give him a pat on the cheek, hitting him a bit harder than intended.
"Go on now! Quick Quick!”
Leo was all too eager to repay the favor and gave a resounding smack onto Opal rear which made her jump and blush harshly, "Oh, Leo!"
He gave his wife a haughty smirk and wink as he left the kitchen.
Leo stepped out onto the deck of the ship, considering which little ones to retrieve first. Then after a moment’s consideration, he left tot he nursery to pick up the two youngest first.
He located Oliver first, he was not that challenging to find as he is only a baby. With a nod his youngest he ventured further into the nursery in search of Billie.
Billie was to be found atop the dresser in the playroom that contained the children play clothes, how such a small child had climbed up there was beyond Leo,
“Billie! Come on down, mama’s baking and she wants your help.”
Billie turned in her Gremlin-like pose, “What mama baking?”
It seemed as though she was weighing the advantages of helping, versus staying on her perch and plotting whatever her small child mind had created.
Leo sighed softly, very sure of the response he would receive upon telling her what was being made,
“Mama is making her pumpkin bites Billie, like las-”
He was cut off by an excited shriek that anyone unfamiliar to the child may have thought to be some unearthly creature.
After her screech, Billie leaped down from her perch onto her father scrambling up to his shoulders,
“We go NOW!”
Once Leo had recovered from the aerial attack by his second youngest. He started to regret not coercing Phillip into wrangling Billie as he walked out to the main room and scooped Oliver up in his arms as well.
On the way back to the kitchen Billie let out another screech,
“K I T!!”
Not moments later, her young friend was clung to Leo’s leg. The poor man nearly tripped, which caused Billie to release another shrill howl, but also Oliver to squeal loudly as Leo regained his footing.
Eventually, Leo made it to the kitchen once more, where Billie launched herself off his shoulders and onto the table, bouncing around chanting “Punkin Bites!”
Kit carefully climbed the leg she had been residing on and stood a few steps back from Opal so as not to get in the way.
Opal spun around excitedly upon hearing the little ones arrive,
“Billie, Kit, Oliver! Oh lovely! Only three more and then we will have all the babies!”
She cooed and handed Billie a bowl, “
Now little one, mama needs you to hold this as hard and tight as you can, because Kit is going to help mix!”
Billie huffed, “I Wanna mix.”
The bubbly woman nodded, “I know Billie dear but, you mixed last time, so now it is Kit’s turn.” with that she lifted Kit up to the table and handed her a spoon.
As the two girls were sorted, Leo buckled Oliver into his baby chair, he nodded in approval at his handy work. He slipped out to retrieve the three oldest children of the ship, he figured the older children would be less difficult to gather, so long as Newt was not reading.
After a while of looking, Leo had found Phillip and Toby! Yet no Newt yet.
Due to this, he enlisted the boys’ help to find the last of the children on the ship.
Newt had several places he liked hiding out all around the ship, which could make him difficult to hunt down.
Toby and Pip had set off to search the upper deck, and did they not find him; they were to go to Opal anyway. Leo searched the lower decks which included three of Newt’s reading spots.
Leo rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the dark underside of the ship. He sighed gently, strongly suspecting Newt was at the furthest hiding spot. Despite his instinct, he checked every single place where his son was known to hide, under one of the blankets, behind a cabinet, and then finally at the far end of the ship, he found Newt.
Newt thought the furthest spot was the best because, he was usually left undisturbed. The boy hid in the side opening of a long broken barrel.
Mr. Hamilton called for him, as much as he hated to admit it, he did not know where the hiding place was specifically, he just knew that it was in the far storage room,
“Newt! Newt! Mama is baking and she wants your help! I know you’re probably reading but, it would mean a lot to her if you would come with me to the kitchen, I’ve found all of the grem- I mean your siblings and their friends…” he squinted into the darkroom.
Newt paused and considered, his little brows furrowed in quizzical manner. He had just finished the page he was on.
The young lanky boy nodded slowly to himself and quietly blew out the candle he had with him and very cautiously made his way out of his hiding spot.
Newt thought that no one knew where this spot of his was, and he was almost correct. None but, the Captain knew.
Leo watched as Newt emerged from the pile of barrels and boxes and nodded to him,
“Let’s go pa.”
Leo couldn’t help but smile, “Thank you Newt, you know how much her baking means to her..”
His father took Newt’s hand as they both made their way back up to the deck.
Phillip and Toby arrived at the kitchen before Leo and Newt did, as they had an easier search. Toby walked in and up to Opal, who had settled Oliver back in his chair once more,
“Mrs. Hamilton? You wanted us..?”
Opal jumped and turned quickly, “Oh Toby! Yes dear, I have been making pumpkin bites and I wanted to let all of the little ones help!”
She smiled happily, looking around,
“Pip baby boy, where is your brother?”
Phillip blushed hard and grumbled,
“I’m not a baby. And I don’t know he wasn’t on the deck where we were looking.. I think pa’s probably going to find him downstairs in his hiding spot..”
Opal blinked, nodding a little bit, “Well since I have the both of you here I need your help with measuring and pouring all the wet ingredients. Billie and Kit mixed up the dry ones all ready!”
The older boys followed all her instructions as best they could while Opal wiped up the powder that had gotten knocked out of Billie and Kits bowl,
“Once we have all the ingredients mixed up, we can all mix the dry and wet ingredients together by taking turns, and then we shape them and into the oven they go!” She cooed happily.
By the time Phillip and Toby had all the wet bits mixed up together, Leo walked in with Newt.
“We have all of them!”
He smirked, rather proud of himself for rounding up all the children on the ship.
Opal popped over to him and kissed his cheek,
“Lovely! Then we can let Newt have the first go at mixing everything together!”
She cooed as she picked up Newt, setting him up on a chair so he could mix the bowls together on the counter.
As each of the little ones took their turns, the mess in the bowl slowly but, surely formed into a an orange dough. Opal beamed happily as her hands flapped from excitement,
“It’s ready for us all to make our pumpkin bites! I made enough that everyone can shape two of them!” She beamed happily
Billie immediately dug her little goblin hands into the dough and pulled out an amorphous chunk, she split this in half and set both halves onto the baking sheet as they were and grinned.
Kit tried her best to make little ball shapes but, her’s ended up more like ovals. Phillip, Toby, and Newt all made roughly spherical shapes.
Leo “helped” Oliver make his, then finally Opal and Leo formed two each for a total of 16 pumpkin bites, which perfectly filled the baking tray.
Opal set the tray into the oven and squealed happily,
“They just all look so wonderful! Thank you little ones for all your help with this batch!” She was grinning ear to ear at all the kids,
“And a special thanks to Leo, my love, for rounding up all the little bakers of the ship.”
Opal gave him a big kiss.
Leo kissed her back happily and nodded,
“Mm the bakers of the Baker.” he chuckled softly and held her close.
“Alright little ones, we’ll come and get you when the pumpkin bites are ready to eat.” Mr. Hamilton waved away the children, who all dispersed back across the ship.
Leo grinned to Opal and held her close to him, giving her another firm squeeze,
“I think I know how we can keep busy till the cookies are done~”
Opal blushed harshly at this, “Oh Leo!~” she purred to him.
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