Natasha quickly had breakfast before proceeding to take her leave. She stopped by the kitchen to speak to Alfred.
"Alfred, I am on my way out now." she said as he turned to her and smiled.
"Oh, alright Madam, have a good day and come back safely." he smiled.
"Thank you Alfred, before I leave, are you sure that you can take care of Joy all by yourself?" she asked concerned, she was starting to feel that maybe it would be best if she switched all her meetings to the afternoon when Lulu had returned from work so someone else could watch Joy.
"Of course I can madam, have you forgotten that I have looked after her several times before?" he asked laughing, he was not offended, rather understanding that she cared both his wellbeing and Joy's.
"I know you have Alfred, I do not doubt your skills, but that was back when she was two or three years old, she could barely walk and she followed you everywhere." Natasha laughed.
"But now she's way more active and she jumps up and down, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but you're not as young as you used to be, you need to take things easy." she smiled.
"I do appreciate your concern for me madam, I really do, and I agree with you, age is no longer on my side, but what will a few hours with my favourite person do to me that would be so bad? And please don't tell Ernest I said that Joy is my favourite person." he said as Natasha laughed.
"He definitely won't hear it from me, but trust me, even I get tired of Joy's energy after a few hours with her, I'm considering switching my meetings to the afternoon so when Lulu get's back from work you can have an extra hand to watch her." she smiled.
"No, no, but you are already prepared to go out and changing your meetings last minute would be stressful, I assure you madam, I will be perfectly alright with Joy." he smiled.
Natasha did not want to insist any more, he did say that he was sure he could handle joy for a day on his own, and she did not want to sound like she did not trust him.
"Oh, alright then Alfred, but call me if something goes wrong." she said.
"Of course madam, I will." he smiled.
"Thank you, have a good day." she smiled before taking her leave and Alfred waved.
...
Joy yawned as she rubbed her eyes and woke up. She could see the sun's sharp rays peeking through a gap in her curtains.
She got out of bed and walked into her bathroom, she lazily brushed her teeth and saw how messy her hair was in the bathroom mirror.
She finished brushing her teeth, then she wiped her mouth with her towel and rushed out her room.
"Mommy, mommy." she called as she entered Natasha's bedroom only to find it empty.
"Daddy, daddy." she called walking all the way to her father's bedroom only to find that it was empty as well.
She rushed down the stairs as she called for her parents. She was confused, they were not in the living room, they were not in the dining room, they were not even in the toilet, where could they both be?
Joy walked into the kitchen sadly when she saw Alfred and her face lit up.
"Good morning Alfred." she smiled.
"Good morning Joy, look who is finally awake?" he smiled as she giggled.
"Alfred, do you know where my mommy and daddy are? I cannot find them anywhere." she said worriedly.
"Well your father went to work and your mommy had some meeting today, but she'll be back by afternoon." he explained.
"Oooh, but why didn't anyone wake me up?" she asked saddened, she had forgotten that unlike her, her parents were not on summer break. There was no such thing as summer break for adults, which was really sad.
"They tried to wake you up Joy, but you didn't want to get up." he replied softly.
"What would you like for breakfast?" he asked her.
"I don't know, I'm not hungry." she said. Alfred could see that she was sad, which made him sad as well.
"Oh come on Joy, don't say that, just tell me what you want for breakfast, anything at all and I will make it for you." he smiled.
"You will?" she asked surprised and he nodded.
"Okay, then can I have scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast?" she asked.
"Of course you can, scrambled eggs and toast coming right up." he replied as he went to get the skillet out of the cupboard.
"Would you like to go and watch tv or watch me make breakfast?" he asked.
"I want to watch you make breakfast!" she replied excitedly as she jumped around.
Alfred put the skillet on the stove and switched it on, he put two slices of bread into the toaster as he cracked some eggs into the already hot skillet.
Joy watched in awe as he moved so swiftly, it was clear that Alfred's domain was the kitchen.
"That smells so good Alfred." she smiled as he laughed and proceeded to scramble the eggs.
Once the eggs were done he brought out a plate and dishes the eggs onto the plate, in the same moment the toast was also done, he placed the toast by the side.
"Breakfast is served." he smiled.
"Yayyyy, you're so fast in the kitchen Alfred." she giggled as he smiled.
"Thank you, so would you like juice, hot chocolate or tea?" he asked.
"Hot chocolate! Hot chocolate!" she replied.
"Hot chocolate it is." he smiled.
"Oooh Alfred, can I make it myself? Pretty please?" she asked.
"Well do you know how to make it yourself?" he asked as she nodded.
"Yes, I've been watching all of you make it, I know how to make it, can I make it pretty please?" she asked so cutely.
She was just so cute that Alfred found himself unable to say no.
"Oh, alright." he said.
"Yayyyyyy." she smiled jumping around, she quickly rushed to the cupboard to get her little yellow stool.
She pushed it to the cupboard where the hot chocolate powder. Alfred got her a cup and a spoon but Joy did not use the spoon, she just poured the powder into the cup creating a mess.
She giggled as she got the sugar, but this time she used the spoon Alfred had gotten her.
"Now we need hot water." she said her eyes swiftly going for the kettle on the stove.
Alfred who saw just how messily she had poured the hot chocolate powder was not about to let her accidentally burn herself with scorching hot water.
He got the kettle and poured the water in for her.
"Thank you." he heard her say as he smiled.
"You're welcome." he replied.
"Now we need some milk." she said as he walked to the fridge and carried the jug of milk, he poured in the milk for her since it was heavy.
"Now we mix, mix, mix." she said as she mixed it all together and created a mess as she did so.
"And viola." she said sounding really proud of herself.
"Alfred, would you please have breakfast with me?" she asked softly, she did not want to eat breakfast all alone in the big dining room, she would feel sad.
"Of course." he smiled.
"Yayyy, then can I make you a cup of hot chocolate too?" she asked.
"Sure." he smiled.
...
Alfred and Joy happily had breakfast together as Alfred told Joy funny stories that made her laugh.
After breakfast he washed all the dishes and Joy asked to watch tv, so he decided to watch tv with her.
"So, what exactly is going on?" he asked confused.
"Well the boy is trying to apologize to his friend because he was mean to her yesterday." she explained.
"And why was he mean?" he asked.
"Because he was dared to be by the older boys at school, he allowed himself to be peer pressured." Joy said as a matter of fact as Alfred laughed.
He definitely could not understand the sort of cartoons that young children watched nowadays. Back in his time, their children only watched funny cartoons with animal characters that hated each other and didn't speak.
Now there were several different cartoons and tv shows, which was good, however, they definitely did make the children way more mature than they ought to be.
"I see, I see." he said smiling.
"Alfred, I am going to take a shower now, I'll be back soon." she said as she rushed off.
"Okay." he replied as he smiled. So far so good, this was easy, he wondered what Natasha had been worried about? Everything was perfectly fine.
He felt like he could continue watching Joy for much longer.