The CloserFicFest time! I was looking forward to this day. Here is the one-shot story. I do not own this characters or the show. (I forgot to do this with my other stories. This is important that I do this.) This is more of Major Crimes version than the Closer.
Prompt: 24:BRENDA/SHARON, RUSTY: rusty teaches brenda how to cook so she can romance sharon
The Meal For Sharon Raydor
Brenda and Rusty sat at the table in the coffee shop. Brenda had invited him, so they could have one on one time. She wanted to get to know him more since he was part of her girlfriend Sharon's life.
"You want me to teach you how to cook?" Rusty responded before he drank his cherry flavored Italian soda.
"Yes" Brenda quickly said.
"Why?" Rusty asked incredulously as he set it down slowly.
"I want to cook the best dinner for Sharon," Brenda explained, swirling the contents of her cup, re-mixing the chocolate that had settled on the bottom. She waited for Rusty's answer and she was prepared for him to say, no.
"Okay. I will." Rusty's arms folded across the table.
"Thank yew." Brenda's shoulders relaxed. She knew she was a terrible cook and Rusty agreeing to coach her was a huge weight off. She wanted to make a perfect date for Sharon.
"Do you want to use Sharon's kitchen or yours?" Rusty asked.
"How about mine? I'll text the time. Oh, you can't tell Sharon about it. I want to surprise her."
"Deal."
"You'll be making almond crusted tilapia, mixed steamed vegetables, and lemon herbed rice," Rusty said as he dropped the grocery bags on Brenda's kitchen table.
"Wow. That sounds delicious!" Brenda helped Rusty by taking the groceries out of the bags. He pulled his cellphone out to find three recipes that he pinned on his food board on Pinterest.
"What's for dessert?" Brenda asked as she was taking out squashes.
"Red velvet fudge pie," Rusty answered while he scrolled down all those pins.
Brenda made a humming sound. Then, Brenda and Rusty gathered all of the ingredients together to make the tilapia once he'd found the recipe for it.
"Okay, now, we need to start with one egg," Rusty said. Brenda took an egg out of the carton. Brenda held the egg and cracked it on the side, but the yolk landed on other side of bowl.
"Oops." Brenda looked down to the floor.
"Don't worry. Everybody makes mistakes every once in a while," Rusty reassured her. Then, he explained, "The trick is you use end of the knife to crack it."
He picked up the silverware knife and tapped it into the egg. Then, he set it down and cracked the egg into a bowl."Now you try it." Rusty handed her a different bowl because the recipe only requires one egg.
Brenda copied Rusty's action and it fell into a bowl.
"Perfect. Now, we'll have the best dinner for Sharon," Rusty exclaimed.
The alarm went off. Brenda stood on the chair with hair messed with flour all over her clothes and started waving to get the smoke away from the smoke detector. Rusty pulled out the burnt vegetables. He looked down sadly.
"Rusty, again, I am so sorry that I burned them."
Rusty stared at the kitchen. It was a mess. Flour was everywhere including on them. Two over seasoned tilapias stuck to the pan on the table when he realized that Brenda forgot to spray the pan with vegetable oil. There was a bag of burnt rice in the trash can because Brenda turned on the heat without water in it and left it there until Rusty came in for safety.
"Well, we have a dessert left to cook," Brenda suggested.
"No! We can work something out. I'll be your personal chef for your date. I can imitate a French accent." Rusty clear his throat and stood like he would be on his best behavior. "I am here cooking for Mesdemoiselles Johnson and Raydor," Rusty said with his effort as impersonator. Brenda believed his fake French accent was terrible. Brenda stared at Rusty then she collapsed into her chair next to table covered with flour and other ingredients.
"I'm hopeless and I want to do something big for Sharon," Brenda sadly said.
"Okay, Plan B. I'll think of something," Rusty said. Then he stood there to think.
"This is delicious," Sharon responded after she took a bite of grilled cheese sandwich.
"Thank you," Brenda said sadly. She sat there while holding her own grilled cheese sandwich.
"This is wonderful. Us: me and you. This is the best meal." Sharon teasingly nudged her foot up on Brenda's shin to try to get Brenda happy again, but Brenda's mind was focused on how terrible the date had been. Sharon decided to stop playing footsie with Brenda after observing Brenda's depressed mood.
"Grilled cheese is not exactly a type of food that meets your sophisticated palate. Besides, I wanted to impress you by making almond crusted tilapia and lemony herbed rice with mixed vegetables. Even with Rusty's supervision, I burned most of it and I ruined the fish. Grilled cheese is something kids eat, not two adults on a date," Brenda feeling angry with herself for failing the date.
After Sharon swallowed, "No, this date will be my favorite date. This date is special because it's so creative and different. Cheese is the best comfort food. I need it after the case that we just closed. You already impressed me by being yourself." Sharon found Brenda's hand and squeezed it. Brenda relaxed when she realized Sharon is saying it because it is true for Sharon. They went back to eating their sandwiches.
When their grilled cheese sandwiches were all gone Brenda announced, "I made you a dessert. Close your eyes. Don't open them until I tell you to," Brenda said. Sharon closed her eyes with anticipation. Brenda got up and went to get the dessert off the counter. She laid the plate down in front of Sharon.
"Now you can open your eyes."
"You made me s'mores!" Sharon exclaimed. Sharon cheerfully clapped her hands. She took the graham crackers with a dark chocolate bar and blackened marshmallow in layers.
As soon as she took a bite out of it, Sharon put her hand under the gooey trail from marshmallow to keep it from landing it on her shirt. Brenda watched Sharon licking her lips. "This marshmallow is cooked perfectly. I haven't had s'mores in so long," Sharon commented.
"It can be burned without ruined the taste," Brenda said. Sharon laughed and gave Brenda a quick kiss. The date was a success. Brenda will try again with cooking or she will stick to takeout. Maybe she might take Rusty's offering as being a personal chef with a funny French accent for their next date.
The End
Thank you, gracillius for setting this event up and for helping me with this story. FYI, Brenda's mistake with eggs comes from my experience. I did exact same thing and my friend had to clean the mess up when we made a dessert. So embarrassing! I had a lot of fun writing this story. I can't wait to post the other story.