It’s the early hours of the morning as Naomi sits at a table in the quiet diner. The lights are dim, and soon a cold wind passes through as a person walks in. As the cold wind passes over her Naomi shivers a bit.

Naomi looks up from the book she is reading as a young man walks in. she looks exhausted form her long night at work. She brushes a few loose strands of hair out of her face and carefully slides her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, before putting the book away.

Colton was concerned. Was it healthy for a four year old to wake up at 5 in the afternoon, and go to bed at 3 in the morning? Was he imprinting bad habits on her? Was she ever going to be a normal kid?

Celeste led the way into the diner, skipping and humming happily. It was just enough to drive everyone in the diner either insane with delight at such a darling child or insane with anger at such an obnoxiously excited kid. Either way, Colton didn't look half able to deal with her either.

He had a headache.

"Celeste... Shhh."

Celeste seemed quite apt at tuning him out, and continued with her humming. She skipped her way over to table not far from Naomi's, and climbed up into the seat.

"I want pancakes and eggs, Uncle Cotton, with syrup and stir-berries and whupped cream."

Colton sat down across from her, nodding quietly.

The question wasn't if she was ever going to be a normal kid. She was childlike enough, with the normal sweet tooth and the normal mischievous behaviour. The question was, why the hell was she up at 1:30 in the morning.

Naomi walked over to the table to take their order, but as she got close she could see that the girl was way to hyper, and shouldn’t be this way this early in the morning. Naomi smiles at the little girl and before taking there order she heads back to the kitchen.

A few minutes pass and Naomi comes back with a glass of milk in her hand for Celeste. She sets it down in front of the child and smiles before looking at Colton.

“That should calm her down enough to put her to sleep”

Naomi looked back over at Colton and smiled shyly at him, it was obvious that she didn’t talk to many people, she seemed rather nervous, and she was very quiet when she spoke.

“So what can I get you?”

She asked, as she tried not to look at Colton.

Celeste was in the middle of some long story when Naomi walked back to their table with the glass of milk. Something about a girl named Michelle and markers that wrote in invisible ink, and you could reveal the answer if you wrote over it again... Actually, nope. That was the full story. It was just put into way too many words. Colton has his head down, resting on arms folded over the table.

"... and I chose the bright red one because I like the colour red and guess what! It showed it! It maked it show up and then..." Celeste faded into silence when the milk came, and egerly took ahold of the glass, carefully sipping from the glass like a "big girl." Drops of milk rolled down her cheeks and onto her dress, but she didn't seem to mind. She got to use a big girl glass.

"Thanks..." Colton spoke up, muffled from his hideout in his arms. He looked up to their waitress with a tired smile. Long day at work as well? Oh yes. He was still in his suit and tie, though the tie was loosened and the suit jacket unbuttoned. He managed to make himself look completely unprofessional, what with his ruddy Converse high-tops, his disheveled hair, and his scruffy, unshaven face. Managed to look unprofessional and exhausted.

"Nothing for me, thanks..."

Had he been able to drink coffee, he'd have ordered one. He desperately needed coffee.

Naomi looked over at Celeste and smiled.

“Is there anything you want sweetie?”

Naomi stood patiently and waited for Celeste to answer her.

"I want pancakes and eggs with stir-berries and whupped cream and milk." Celeste rattled off the same thing she said when she entered the restaurant.

"Please, Celeste?" Colton had returned to resting his head on top of his folded arms.

"Please! And thank you!" Celeste looked triumphant. She didn't need to be reminded about her thank you. She was a big girl, heavily decorated with a milk mustache and a pumpkin smile of missing teeth and little baby stubs.

"Good job." Colton buried his face back into his arms. Mhmm. Good job, indeed.

Naomi looks at Celeste and smiles a bit, before making her way back to cook her food. About 20 minutes pass before she comes back out with a plate, a small bowl and another glass of warm milk. On the plate is one egg, a small pancake with a bit of syrup just the right size for a small child, and a piece of toast. In the bowl there is 3 large red strawberries with a small amount of whipped cream. Naomi places the food in front of Celeste.

“There you go”

Naomi looks over at Colton and smiles a bit.

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

She says in a quiet voice as she stand there and waits for him to answer.

Celeste grins happily as Naomi walks away. She picks up her spoon and uses it to dig the ice out of her complimentary water and onto the table. Without looking up, Colton takes the missplaced ice and puts it in his own water. Celeste soon gets the idea... The game isn't, get ice on the table. The game is get the ice in Colton's drink.

By the time Naomi returns, Colton has fallen asleep, and has probably been asleep for ten minutes. Celeste has successfully placed all her ice in his drink, heedless of the fact that the water started to overflow the tiny glass three or four ice cubes ago. She's giggling because the table's all wet and Uncle Cotton is being attacked by the flood of water.

He doesn't move when the food comes. She excitedly picks up her fork and starts jabbing at the pancake. Of course, she never learned how to use her knife, so she's kinda helpless for the time being.

"Uncle Cotton... Uncle Cotton I wanna eat my pancake..." Celeste sounds so innocent; so pathetic. She's really very adorable, trying to kick him from across the table to get him to wake up. Her legs are too short to reach, though, and she misses him each time by five or so inches.

"Just a few more minutes Celeste..." Colton's voice is muffled and almost inaudiable. And then, like a gunshot, he's awake, nearly flying back from the table. The icy cold water, which has seeped into his shirt sleeves, has finally made itself known.

Celeste giggles at his shock and embarrassment. "You're all wet!" she exclaims, delighted in her mischief. She's grinning. He gets her joke, right?

"Celeste Anne Holstein... That is NOT okay." The elderly couple just a few tables away giggles to themselves and try hard not to look at Colton. He really does look quite funny, yelling at a kid who doesn't quite understand why she's being yelled at, but thinks he looks hilarious.

His hair is sticking up at odd angles. It's making Celeste giggle louder.

Colton knows he can't win... He doesn't want to yell in a public place, because then he'll look like a bad father. He turns his attention to Naomi. "Yea... Can... Can I have some napkins?"

Poor kid doesn't even know what he has gotten himself in to.

Naomi Trying not to laugh turns to walk back to the kitchen to get some napkins to clean up the mess, as she takes a few steps she isn’t paying attention to where she is walking and steps on a large ice cube that has fallen off the table and onto the floor. All of a sudden a loud thud can be heard as Naomi’s head hits the side of the table. Naomi grabs her head and curls up in pain as tears begin to fill her eyes. Soon the coldness of the water disappears as she feels a warm liquid on her hand. Quickly she pulls her hand away to see that it is covered in blood.

"Uncle Cotton, I can't eat my pancake..." Celeste is still going for her pancake with the fork. She seems to take no notice of the water. After all, it ran off on his side of the table because he was leaning on the table. Perhaps she was sending him a lesson in disguise: keep your elbows off the table.

Colton sighed and stood, just in time to watch Naomi fall like a brick to the floor. Slipped on a little ice cube that Celeste had gotten on the floor.

This was his fault. He shouldn't have taken her out to dinner. He knew he'd fall asleep. This was all caused from bad parenting... This was his fault. HIS fault. Colton stood there, blinking stupidly. Why was his luck so rotten?

Celeste stopped tapping her fork against the pancake. "Uh oh... She went boom."

Colton ignored Celeste and quickly (but carefully) rushed to Naomi's side.

"Are you all right? Are... Oh shit."

Celeste giggled. "Uncle Cotton said a bad word. Shiiit. Shit shit shit..."

He wasn't listening to her. "Do you have a phone? Should I call the hospital?"

The elderly couple had rushed over as well. No doubt someone would tell Celeste to be quiet. But no one did.