AN: Okay, so this came out of no where. Inspired by Mother's Day and a particularity favorite scene of mine in Tamerlane . There MIGHT be a part 2 at some point (hint hint). Hope all the mom's had a great day! Enjoy!

Chef Dad

Mother's Day 2004

Alison McCord felt terrible that morning as she folded up the card she'd drawn for her mother, because she didn't have a present for her mother like her siblings did. She wanted to get her mum a present, but after her well-intended mis-hap at school with the present she was supposed to make for her in class, she didn't have the courage to tell dad and ask him to take her shopping for an alternate present.

When her Dad had asked her the previous night if she had her gift ready, she lied and said yes. In her mind, she was the worst daughter ever, and was prepared to be in big trouble.

Prepared to accept her punishment, she pulled her paper card and walked down the hallway to her parent's room where she and her siblings waited outside the door and knocked.

Four year old Alison had been so excited for craft day at pre-school. She had always been very creative and loved showing her parents what she'd made. She had planned to use today's craft as her mother's day present - but today they were making Aprons, and she knew her mother would not appreciate such a gift as her dad did most of the cooking.

Without a second thought, Alison happily began to work on her Apron and wrote "Chef Dad" on it with her finger paints and covered it in pretty flowers.

She'd been very proud of her creation, until some of the other kids started to make comments.

"Alison, why does your apron say Chef Dad….don't you know these are for moms?" Billy laughed.

"Yes, I made it for my daddy because he is the best cook." She defended, but the jokes continued and she eventually broke and started to cry and the teacher came over.

"Alison, what's wrong?" Miss Janey asked

"Billy and Jessica are making fun of my apron…"

"I think it's very pretty Ali, but you know they were supposed to be mother's day gifts right? What will you get for your mother?"

"I don't know." She sniffled, "But my mommy would not want an apron. My dad does all the cooking. And Mommy and Daddy tell my big sister that we don't have to be in tradd…itional gender rules." Alison countered, quite proud of herself that she had remembered gender roles, although she'd stumbled on the verbiage. She knew her big sister would be especially proud of her.

Miss Janey smiled at the young, shy girl who had so proudly just stood up for herself. "Okay then. Carry on."

"See Billy….it's not stupid." Alison whispered after the teacher left and Billy rolled his eyes.

Alison had been quite proud of her actions, and her apron until she arrived home and realized there wasn't another craft day until Monday, and she would have no present for her mother. After looking through her crafts from earlier in the week and deciding that none of them were worthy of being a mother's day gift, she cried herself to sleep.

Henry opened the door to his children, eager to greet their mother with mother's day hugs, kisses and presents. Stevie bounded onto the bed while Jason padded along on the floor and reached up to his mother to be picked up, while Alison trailed behind, putting on her best smile.

Elizabeth and Henry could quickly tell there was something off with Alison as she accepted hugs and kisses from her children. "Can I give you my present first mommy?" Stevie asked, holding a gift bag and handmade card.

"Of course." Elizabeth accepted the card and opened the bag to reveal an adorable Popsicle stick birdhouse, painted pink and purple. "Oh Stevie, this is beautiful. Thank you sweetie."

"You're welcome Mommy! Daddy got us some bird food and we can hang it outside in the tree later."

"That's a great idea." Elizabeth agreed, as Jason frantically waved a piece of paper in front of her. "Okay, Jase – you're turn!" she said accepting the paper that featured messy handprint of Jason's hand with his teacher's writing: Mom – you always clean the handprints that I leave upon the wall. I seem to make a mess of things, because I am so small. But the years will pass so quickly and I'll soon be big and tall. So here is a special handprint just so you can recall how my fingers looked when I was very small.

"Oh thank you Jason. And you are getting so big already!" Elizabeth gushed, blinking back a couple tears and snuggling her youngest closer. It was the same poem that Stevie and Alison had made when they were two, and it still got to her.

"Okay Ali, did you want to give Mom your present? Henry encouraged

Ali put on a brave face and went over to her mom with her handmade card, but crumbled when she saw how sweetly her mother looked at her when she accepted the card. "I'm sorry Mommy! I don't have a present for you and I'm the worst daughter ever." She sobbed and ran out of the room.

"Stevie can you take your brother downstairs and we'll be down in a minute?" Henry immediately diffused the situation

Elizabeth looked down at the beautiful card Ali had made. It had a crayon illustration of what she believed was herself and Ali. It had hearts all around it and said "I love you mom. From Alison." It didn't give any evidence as to why Ali didn't have a present for her, and she couldn't have cared less. She loved the beautiful picture, and spending time with her children today was all she could have asked for.

She looked to Henry, seeing if he had any insight as to why Alison had had a breakdown. He shrugged his shoulders and left to go talk to her. Henry always had a way of calming the girls down.

Henry gently tapped on his daughter's door. When he got no answer other than sobs, he opened the door and moved to sit down on Ali's bed, stroking her hair. "Alison, what's the matter?"

"I messed up mommy's present at school and now I don't have anything for her….and she deserves a present, because she is the best mommy!" Ali choked out in the midst of a full on meltdown.

"Oh Ali." Henry hugged her until her crying stopped. "Mom loved your card, so it's not true that you didn't have anything for her."

"She did?" she asked quietly once her sobs subsided

"She sure did." Henry promised

"Oh." Ali sighed, wiping her eyes

"Now, what happened to the present you were planning to give mommy? The one you said you had last night that you made at school?" Henry asked, calmly trying to determine why Alison had lied to him, as it was very unlike his sweet middle daughter.

"At school we made Aprons." Ali said, jumping off the bed to retrieve her backpack from the corner. "And Billy made fun of me because I made mine say Chef Dad…..since it was supposed to be for mom." Ali continued, pulling out the apron from her bag and laying it on the bed. "But I told Miss Janey that Mommy wouldn't like this Apron because she never cooks."

Henry had to laugh a little then. "That's right, she doesn't does she?"

"Nope. And I told her that Mommy and Daddy don't believe in gender traditions." Ali continued.

"You said that?" Henry asked, suddenly very proud of his shy girl for standing up for herself.

"Uh huh."

"Well Daddy is very proud of you for saying that." Henry said, but switched gears a bit "But you did lie to me last night when I asked if you had a present for mom….and you said yes. You know that you should have told me the truth then right?"

"I'm sorry Daddy." Ali said, nodding her head.

"It's okay Ali." Henry told her and gave her a hug and a kiss. " And you know it's okay to tell mom and dad when you need help right?"

"Yes, daddy." Ali agreed again

"Okay then. I actually have an idea on how we can use this apron to surprise mom."

"You do?" Ali asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, you know how I always make mom breakfast in bed on mother's day?"

"Yea!"

"Well, what do you say we go show this Apron to mom and we can tell her you made it for me to wear when you help me make breakfast."

"That's such a good idea daddy! I think mom will think that is a great present. Thank you Daddy!"

"You are welcome sweetie. Now help me put on this awesome chef dad apron! This is soo cool by the way."

"Mommy! I fixed your present and it's all okay now." Alison proudly announced as she pulled her father into their bedroom.

"You did? I can't wait to see what goes with this beautiful card you made!" Elizabeth said happily, glad to see her daughter was her cheerful self. She smiled at her daughter and up at Henry, very thankful that he'd worked his magic. She was also curious about the apron he wore.

Alison pointed to her dad. "At school we made these aprons for mothers day, but I made mine for Daddy because he is the best chef….and he promised that he would wear it when I help make you mother's day breakfast!" she exclaimed, as Henry proudly spun and modeled the apron.

"That's right noodle! And tell mommy what you told Miss Janey about gender roles."

"I told her that aprons aren't just for moms because we don't have gender rules in our house."

Elizabeth had to stifle a laugh at how Alison made that statement, but was so proud of her daughter nonetheless and hugged her tightly. "That's right noodle! This is the absolute best mother's day gift! I love it so much."

"Okay….so you wait here and we will bring you breakfast in a few minutes."

"Okay. I love you Noodle." Elizabeth said, letting go of her daughter to meet Henry's gaze.

"I love you to Mommy." Alison said as she got off the bed. As she reached the doorway she demanded "Let's go Daddy! Mommy is hungry."

"I'll be there in a minute." Henry told her, still holding Elizabeth's knowing gaze.

"That apron is pretty sexy." Elizabeth whispered when she heard Alison bound down the stairs.

"Good to know." Henry said, giving her a quick peck on the lips and winking at her as he went to meet Alison in the kitchen.

FIN