Laius woke up the next day with determination to make things right. He didn't have anything else fueling him but the anxiety and shame he has been building up inside. He got up and downloaded a recipe for a popular breakfast in order to thank and appease his tired son. He wasn't worried about Caetia because her enthusiasm and lack of understand didn't make her conscious of his decisions. But Apius, he was deeply concerned about. As he read and ordered the cooking supplies Laius was preparing himself to make the best damn pancakes he could manage. He's only seen them before, he and Alnia were curious of human cuisine growing up going to school together. The strict household she had only had her eat food made by and for turians. Laius's family was more lenient but only explored Salarian, Asari and Krogan at best. The first time he tasted a full human cuisine was the most perplexing, the texture was different but filling. He couldn't specifically describe it though but Alnia said it was more firm and over flavoured, in a good way. Laius had only a faintest idea of what these pancakes were going to be. The description clearly stated soft, fluffy and delicious. But the picture looked like it was plain, tasteless and not fluffy. More of a slightly raised weird flat bread. Fluffy sounded like something of a bird would be comprised of. But he kept in mind the extra additions to make it worth the while. As he kept cooking he was fixated on the pleasant smell of them pancakes cooking. All he thought about was "Apius should love this!." and fueled him more to continue until the batter was all used up. When he waited for the pancakes to cook on each side he would step back to catch his breath. His heart pounding out of anxiety, he didn't know why. But he assumed it was because he was hoping his children would love it, as well as his burning desire to try to make up for who and what he was. As he finished the last pancake Laius couldn't help but be taken back by the amount of pancakes. The batter was of a large bowl size but made what looked like double the bowl. At least his kids won't go hungry and can have something home cooked instead of ordered food. He prepared plates but decided that the dinner table wasn't where they were all going to eat. In the living room in front of the TV was looking really good to relax, lounge and hang out comfortably. Laius walked over to his kid's room. He knocked on both and opened them up and took a breath to say good morning. "Morning Dad." The both of them said from each room, each groggy and rubbing their eyes. The smell of home cooked food lofted into each room. "Oooooo what's that smell!" Caetia snapped out of waking up to instantaneous energy, she ran up to her Dad. "I decided to make some breakfast for all of us. Another human cuisine that we are yet to try." Laius bent down to pick up his daughter and held her close as he stood up straight after. "What is it what is it?" Caetia squirming a bit but hugging her father really tight. Apius got out of his bed as well and rubbed his eyes some more. "I made pancakes!" He lifted Caetia to the side for her to rest and balance on his shoulder, he turned around in a blissful smile. "Pancakes? They sound nice." Apius slightly hobbled over to his Dad and reached out for his hand. Laius grabbed it and guided him to the living room. "Yeah I know. We're on a roll with human cuisine so I figured I give some of their recipes a go." Apius noticed that they weren't going to the dining room, "Why are we going into the living room Dad?" He asked while rubbing his right eye once more. "Because this way we all can relax in the living room and can watch anything you two want." When the three entered the room Caetia was let down and Laius let go of Apius's hand. The two kids ran to their spots in the living room with pancakes on a platter with some syrup next to them. Caetia squealed in joy and Apius was gasping along with her. The living room confines of a long purple lounge that had 6 seats, 4 of which were across with a metre square wide each. The other two were situated at the front of the ends for those sitting on the corners could lie. The corner seats had pancakes, Laius put them each there because those where their favourite spots. Laius would sit in the middle of his kids and be content there to make sure his kids were most comfortable. There was a large screen monitor on the other side of the room of which the family would watch videos, TV, Internet content and play video games. Caetia jumped onto the far corner of the lounge and sat in front of her platter of pancakes clapping her hands laughing. Apius sat on the closest corner and held his platter up looking at them. Laius sat down between his kids with his plate, he grabbed it from around the corner while his kids sat down in the lounge. "What are they?" Apius asked with wonder. He placed his down and grabbed some cutlery, "The recipe said that these are soft, fluffy pancakes." "But they don't have any feathers!" Caetia yelled. "I know I know." Laius mused back, "And yet here they are. The recipe also recommends the syrup next to your plate as well. Maple flavoured syrup." "What's maple? What does Maple taste like?" Apius opened his syrup bottle and sniffed it. "I have no idea. But I hear it's very delicious with pancakes so, dig in your two." Laius cut his first pancake and squeezed some syrup out over it while Apius and Caetia watched. When Laius ate the piece of pancake with syrup on it he at first coughed as he swallowed it, then licked his lips. "Wow that's sugary. But that's really nice." Laius looked at each of his kids and directed his cutlery at his pancake at them. "Come on, it's really nice you two." "I bet! I just wanted to see you eat first." Apius then tried a piece of pancake and syrup and reacted the same as Laius. "Wow that's sugary. But that's so nice!" Caetia immediately got into hers as she watched her brother eat his. She however did not cough and kept on eating fast making a bit of a mess. "Hey now Caetia. Slow down and enjoy it." Laius instructed Caetia, he wanted her to savour it. Because the pancakes were really soft like they said, and the flavour was so exotic. Caetia stuck out her tongue with a cheeky smile and giggled. Then started eating slowly. Laius put something on the tv, a game with a AI arena fight to have in the background. The three ate silence watching the TV and in no time at all Caetia was finished. "All done! That was yummy Dad, can you do them again?" Caetia scooted over to her Dad. "Of course, I didn't know how tasty these pancakes would be." Laius paused for a bit, "Wait you are already done? Caetia!" Exclaimed Laius. Caetia laughed and rubbed her fingers across Laius's arm, it still had syrup on them. "Gaaahh" Laius moved his arm away with his daughter constantly approaching him to paint more syrup on him. Apius couldn't help but laugh at his Dad trying to avoid syrup being put across him. Laius grabbed Caetia's arms and held them still instructing Caetia to stop, she could only laugh. After getting her to stop Laius took his and her plate away to be cleaned. Apius handed his over along the way. As Laius took the platters away Caetia scooted all the way over to Laius and sat directly next to him handing him the remote. "Let's watch the DRK Manifest tournament." Apius said excitedly, Caetia leaned into him getting comfy getting Apius to hug her close. As the two watched the tournament Laius cleaned up his breakfast experiment, feeling really pleased that he provided for his family instead of taking away. His mind kept going places though, his daughter wanting to paint him with Syrup and how much he wanted to do it back. Going across her body and painting syrup clan marks across her face, as well as down in her pelvic region. He kept trying to think about other things instead like how happy his kids were and the delicious food. But the alluring thoughts kept happening. "Dammit." Muttered Laius to himself. "Get out of my head." He rubbed his eye trying to wipe away any sweat to only get water in his eye from the washing. He ignored the discomfort pretty quickly as the onset of dread filled him up about his thoughts about his daughter. When he finished his washing he sighed and stared forward trying to clear his mind entirely. He snapped out of it 2 minutes later when he realized he wasn't doing anything so he immediately went back to the living room. When he entered his children were in Apius's corner, Apius with Caetia between his legs being hugged from behind with Caetia bobbing up and down slightly to the rhythm of the beat coming from the TV. He smiled as he walked past them and sat next to Apius and Caetia, he loved how close his kids were at such a young age. "How goes the Tournament you two?" "Delius got knocked out!" "Langer barely won, it was stupid." "He was timed out!" "Because Langer cheated, he just stood there waiting for the time to run out." Laius couldn't help but laugh hearing his children banter back and forward, it was one of his favourite things. "That's ashame, I really hoped that Delius would win." "I know right!?" The two of them said in unison, both of them smiling. Apius nudged Caetia to get up so the two of them can sit between Laius's legs. The three of them sat and kept watching the tournament making gestures and shouting at the TV. Laius wanted this to never end, Caetia wanted to be loud, Apius was glad to be with his dad and Sister and relax. The rest of the day Laius spent time with his kids, playing videogames, some boardgames and watching videos. He make every bit sure that Apius was alright, all of his anxiety and drive to do anything was because of him. At times it took a bit to get an answer from him, other times he answered on point. Worse the matter Caetia was feeling overly energetic, more than usual that is. Wanting to climb all over Laius, putting her butt to his face in the meanwhile as she was trying to grab something. Apius could feel is Dad's dick harden up and tried to ignore it. Laius eventually had to leave the room feeling desperate to catch some air and to not bother his son with his erection. Apius could tell his Dad was doing this for him, Apius couldn't help but feel bad that his Dad had to leave. He understood enough that his Dad was ashamed about his dick getting hard around his kids, Apius also assumed he left because he was trying to keep his promise. But that made Apius feel good that his Dad was trying, then again that his Dad is moving around doing anything was still something even if it was at the cost of discomfort and embarrassment upon Apius. Caetia was so oblivious to the whole situation still, at least that's what both Apius and Laius though. To Caetia she thought it was a game, if she could get her Dad's dick hard she would win. She watched her big brother take Dad's dick in his butt and that fascinated her. She wanted to be able to do the same thing but at the same time wanted to see if she can do it like her brother. Her Dad hasn't done it with her yet and she was eager to give it a go, all because it was a game to her. After a while Apius noticed his Dad hasn't come back yet which made him worried that something was wrong. "Hey Cae?" "Yes Api?" Caetia yelled back, she didn't like being quiet. "Dad hasn't come back, I want to see where he is." Apius let go of his sisters hand and moved his legs to get up but immediately had her hand grapple onto his. "I'm coming!" She turned around quickly and stood up trying to pull Apius up. "No, stay here." "No! I'm coming too!" Apius couldn't win with his little sister insistent with coming along. He strangely felt annoyed to the point of angry that his sister couldn't listen, but Apius relented with a sigh because she wasn't going to give up. The two of them walked through the house calling out for their Dad. He wasn't anywhere to be seen. They checked his room, each of their rooms, the bathrooms and the kitchen. Apius couldn't understand why but he got more and more worried that they couldn't find their Dad. There was only one place they haven't checked and it was the veranda out the back. When they opened the door they saw their Dad sitting on his lonesome in a panic and sat upright to see them both, one hand on a circular table and the other behind his leg. "Daddy we found you!" Caetia came running over to her Dad to hug him, Apius breathing easier. "Why are you out here?" Asked Apius, "Daddy just needed some alone time. He'll be back in to join you two in a bit." He paused and looked forward, "I just needed to think over something." "Ok. We were thinking of playing a party game." "The fabled Mario Party?" Laius's face lit up which caused his kids to do the same. "I'll be there in a few min." The two kids ran back inside excited leaving Laius to come to terms with himself once more. In his other hand hidden behind his leg was a soldiers gun, the safety fire off and the lights active. He held it to his head for a solid 20 minutes staring into the void desperately wanting to pull the trigger. He couldn't cry because he felt so dead inside but trembled immensely in deep despair of his life and his life choices. He held it to his head once more and heard silence for a minute. He didn't do it because of his kids, they still needed him. He was a monster but they needed him. Perhaps another day he will pull the trigger, to end his and their suffering. But not today, because he was going to play a game with his kids and be there with them as long as possible. That's all he ever wanted to do.