Title: Food For Thought
Author: hardboiledbaby
Fandom: Nero Wolfe
Characters: Fritz, Archie
Rating: PG
Length: 451
Content notes: none
Author notes: For the fan_flashworks "breakfast" challenge. Written to giglet's prompt: Fritz's thoughts of feeding Archie. Well, sort of.
Summary: Mr. Wolfe was eccentric, of course, had ever been so, but this was completely unprecedented. Missing scene from In the Best Families.

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Fritz was in the kitchen, surrounded by the familiar smells and sounds of his mornings: ham sizzling in the broiler, hot cakes rising on the griddle, butter browning for the Oeufs au Beurre Noir. The rest of the house was quiet but expectant, as it usually was at that hour of the day, and for a few brief moments he tried to pretend that everything was as it always was: that Mr. Wolfe was in his room, still abed. That Archie was dressing and getting ready to come downstairs. That everything was normal and right with the world.

But nothing was normal, today. Nothing was the least bit right.

Fritz heard a door slam somewhere and he started, almost dropping the poached eggs. Theodore, expressing his objection to moving the plants and his displeasure about having to work on Long Island. As if that even mattered. Fritz shuddered.

Mr. Wolfe was gone. He had disappeared sometime in the middle of the night, had actually left the front door open and just... walked out. Before breakfast.

Mr. Wolfe was eccentric, of course, had ever been so, but this was completely unprecedented. The sun could have rose in the west that day and Fritz would have been far less shocked.

He wasn't the only one.

Archie was angry now, but Fritz had seen his expression when he first entered the brownstone. Shock, and worse, fear. Fear did not belong on his young friend's face, and the sight made Fritz's heart sink lower, if that was even possible. It worried him nearly as much as the other... but of course, it was all one and the same, wasn't it?

Mr. Wolfe was gone. Mon Dieu, it was inconceivable.

Fritz had said, "Find him, Archie."

Archie had snapped back, "He told me not to." Then, "Let me alone. I've got to think. Also I'm hungry. Beat it!"

Fritz sighed and returned his attention to the task at hand. If he could contribute nothing else, he could at least do this. He mixed sherry into the butter, then poured the sauce over the eggs. He set out the thyme honey and the coffee. The orange juice was already in a glass, nearly at room temperature.

The note had said 'do not look for me.'

So Archie could not look. But he could think. He was not Mr. Wolfe, naturellement, but he was very smart. He would think of something.

He had to.

As Fritz served up the food, he suddenly realized with a pang that he'd made too much of everything, as though.... But no matter. Archie did say he was hungry. And a man cannot do his best thinking on an empty stomach, after all.