xp_logs | Callie and Nate (Reply)

Another element of Jean-Paul's birthday extravaganza falls into place.

Step one: raise sandwich to mouth. Step two: take bite. Then
chew, Callie mentally instructed herself as she sat in the kitchen
pulling double duty between eating and studying. With finals so close
she couldn't afford to separate the two tasks. The only problem was
making sure that mustard didn't drop onto her book. But that was
simple enough. She set the sandwich back on its plate, wiped her
hands, and turned the page. One down, only about one hundred or so
left to go.

She was so ready for summer.

"Overworking, again?" Nathan had Rachel on his shoulders as he stepped
into the kitchen. She waved gleefully at Callie from her perch.

"Always," Callie replied as she looked up at the person who was
speaking to her and smiled broadly. She placed the bookmark to save
her place and closed her book, setting it to the side. "Hey Nathan.
Hey Rachel. What are you two up to?"

"Just taking a walk."

"I wanted cookies, and Dad didn't have any," Rachel piped up.

"Well there should be some in the cupboard or the cookie jar," Callie
pushed out her chair and rose from her seat, "but if there aren't any
to your liking you should bug your Dad to let you help me make some."
She wasn't putting off studying, really. The girl wanted cookies, the
books could wait.

"You're very spoiled," Nathan informed his daughter, swinging her down
from her perch. She made a disappointed face, but he shrugged and
smiled crookedly at her. "You're getting too big for that. Hurts my
poor old back." Rachel made a 'pbbthing' noise, and trotted over to
Callie after giving her father a little dismissive flick of her hand.

"Can you make me some?" The big gray puppy-dog eyes were out
full-force. "With chocolate chips?"

Callie crouched down so she was closer to Rachel's level and shot
Nathan a look. "I can," she started to explain, her focus on the
little redhead in front of her. "On two conditions." She held up a
thumb and began to count them off. "One, you get your dad's
permission," there was no way she was going to get on Nathan's bad
side from feeding his daughter against his will, "and two, you Miss
Rachel will assist me as my sous chef. I'll even let you lick the
spoon. What do you say?"

"Oooh! I can help cook! I can do that!" Rachel all but squealed, bouncing.

Nathan sat down at the kitchen table, hiding a laugh. "And you can eat
cookies, too, Rachel," he said. "As long as I get one while they're
still warm."

"Of course Dad," the older girl said as she stood up. "Don't
worry, we'll make you taste the first one, to make sure we didn't
accidentally end up poisoning them or anything." She smiled to show
that she was only joking, well at least about the poisoning part. She
knew that unless something went severely wrong, these cookies would
end up being delicious.

She turned back to the little girl beside her. "Rachel, I need you to
go thoroughly wash and dry your hands while I get our supplies
out okay?" She gently guided her young baking protege to the sink
before raiding the cupboards for the required ingredients. Thanks to
the amount of time she had been spending in the kitchen making cakes
recently, she was able to quickly find everything she needed and set
about arranging it all on the counter. Once everything was set, Callie
made her way over to the sink so that she too could prepare herself
for baking.

"So, still ironing out the details on that internship," Nathan said,
surreptitiously rubbing at his lower back while both girls had their
own backs turned. "Looks like it'll be fine, though."

"Really?" Callie reached for a towel to dry her hands with before
handing it over to Rachel so Nathan's little girl could dry her own
hands. The two redheads returned to the counter. The older of the two
set about measuring out ingredients and pouring them into a bowl,
while the little girl mixed them together (with Callie ensuring that
the batter stayed inside the bowls). "Well it sounds like it'll be
fun. I can't wait."

"I'll keep you posted." Rachel was having a great time, mixing the
cookie dough, and Nathan smiled at her. "You've really sort of become
one of The Bakers around here, haven't you?"

Keeping one eye on Rachel, Callie turned her attention to quickly
preheating the oven and pulling out a pan to place the cookies on. She
set the pan beside the area where Rachel was happily mixing and slowly
began pouring the chocolate chips into the giant bowl, saving a little
for her and her little assistant to snack on. "I guess you could say
that," Callie said, popping two of the tiny chocolate morsels into her
mouth. "I just enjoy baking, and there are enough people here who
enjoy eating so why not?"

"I make French toast," Nathan volunteered, almost absently.

"Dad makes good French toast," Rachel told Callie. "With fruit!"

"Does he really," Callie asked Rachel as she began dolling out lumps
of dough onto the pan. "Does he top it with powdered sugar and maple
syrup?"

Rachel seemed to ponder that. "Sugar with fruit," she finally said.
"Syrup by itself."

"Syrup and fruit always seemed to be a little much, to me," Nathan murmured.

"You know what's really good?" She gave Nathan a look. "Maple syrup on
ice cream. You should get your dad to get you some. It's delicious."

"Dad, I want some," was the immediate reply.

Nathan raised an eyebrow at Callie. "Why, thank you, Calliope," he
said drolly. "That was much appreciated."

Callie didn't even try to hide the laughter that bubbled out of her.
"Not right now though right," she told Rachel, trying to do some
damage control. "We're making cookies." With one tray filled with
dough, Callie slid it into the oven and turned to Nathan.

"And you're welcome, sir, I do my best to instill on the next
generation my wisdom of baked goods and sugary concoctions."

Nathan pondered. "Someone has a birthday this coming week, you
realize..." They needed actual cake, not just Jake-in-a-cake.

She racked her brain, trying to figure out who had an upcoming
birthday, but nothing came. "Oh really? Who?"

"Jean-Paul," Nathan said.

"He has a birthday," came the absent-minded question. Callie was more
focused on making sure that Rachel didn't eat all the raw cookie dough
than on what Nathan was saying.

"Yes. And we probably require a cake at the party," Nathan said,
giving Rachel a warning look as a little hand darted out to steal one
of the raw cookies. "Interested? I mean, I could go with the local
bakery..."

"When is it? His birthday, or the party, whichever." Ideas about cakes
were already forming in her head.

"Tuesday," Nathan said, cheerfully. "Short notice, I know."

"I can do it." There was no hesitation in Callie's reply. She had
already figured out which cake would be best suited for the Quebecois.
"Do you think you can buy me some liquor though?"

Nathan sputtered. "I beg your pardon?" Well, that had come out of nowhere...

She blinked several times. "It's for the cake," Callie explained
sweetly. "Tiramisu requires Marsala and Italian Brandy, which I can't
buy myself. I mean you can totally supervise my usage of it and then
take it to lock away or whatever. Unless you have some of each you'd
be willing to allow me to use, again under close supervision, for the
purpose of making a cake." Even if she didn't agree with the American
rules governing alcohol, it wasn't like she was going to break them.

"Silly Dad," Rachel said, in a spot-on imitation of Callie's sweet tone.

Nathan's lips twitched. "I suppose I can manage that," he said.
"Sorry. It just seemed like something of a non sequitur. But I think
tiramisu would go over very well with the birthday boy."

"And I assure you, I make an excellent Tiramisu."