A/N:This was written for the lovely Meg at mindiansminute on twitter/tumblr, her and her hubby Marty at golfliquidator have an amazing tmp podcast "Mindiansminute" for season 2 eps, go listen to it if you haven't already, you can find the link on her twitter, download the podcast on itunes or listen to it on their website whiskey and teacups. With that shameless plug, I'd like to wish Meg a happy birthday, you are super sweet, funny ,awesome and a very important part of the twindian and mindian fandom, I hope you have an amazing birthday!
-Pessi .Rom
"Alright, do we have all the supplies?" Danny asked as he sat at their dining room table with his ten year old daughter Chloe.
"Yup, two galvanized nails, two copper nails, 3-jumper wire, plus two potatoes, a marker and a clock." Chloe said after putting on a pair of red glasses, similar to those of her father or aunt, and reading the printed out instructions on the sheet in her hand.
"Where did you get that instruction sheet? I did this experiment when I was a kid, we don't need it." Danny said.
"Mommy printed it out." Chloe said, just as Mindy walked by.
"Don't even think about tearing up those instructions, remember what happened last time?" Mindy said giving her husband a look.
"Ok, ok, let's get started Chlo." Danny said begrudgingly thinking back to the bunk bed incident with Gwen, a few years back.
"First it says to mark one potato with the letter 'A', the other with the letter 'B'." Chloe said grabbing the sharpie and marking the two potatoes.
"Then we're ready to put the nails in, the galvanized ones first right?" Danny said remembering the steps from memory.
"Yup, step 3 insert one galvanized nail at one end of each potato." Chloe read, and then did that.
"After that, should be the copper nails, on the other side, make sure they aren't touching each other." Danny said.
"That's what the sheet says too, but Mommy made me promise to do it exactly as the sheet so 'daddy doesn't electrocute himself'. Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that." Chloe said with a giggle as she imitated her mother, gesticulations and all, it was so funny how much of her mother was in her.
"It's ok, we'll show Mommy when we build the best and award winning potato battery ever." Danny said with a smirk.
"If you say so daddy. Step 5 says to take the battery out of the clock." Chloe said. The ten year old wasn't especially interested in science, but all of her friends were entering the fair, and her father had gotten so excited about it, and there was a two week break from her dance classes now that their spring concert had been performed. Her brother had no interest in it either; Robbie was entering the art fair instead.
"Alright. What's next?" Danny said after removing the battery.
"Now it says to connect the jumper wire to the copper nail in potato "A" to the positive part of the clock." Chloe said. Danny took the jumper cable and did that, this was their first run through of the experiment so for safety reasons, he would be doing all the connections in the experiment.
"Then you have to connect the second jumper wire to the galvanized nail of potato "B" to the negative part of the clock." Chloe read, followed by Danny connecting the wires.
"The last step is to connect the third jumper wire from the galvanized nail of potato "A", then connect its other end to the copper nail of potato "B" " Chloe read then put the paper down as she watched her dad perform the last step of the experiment.
"Alright, and the clock should start to work." Danny said checking the clock and the hands of the clock started to move.
"Wow, cool, we did it Daddy, Mommy come look." Chloe said excited.
"Wow, great job you guys. Robbie, Piper, come see what your dad and Chloe did." Mindy said. Her twin brother and little sister came over, and admired the potato battery. Mindy of course took several pictures to put on social media.
A week Later: Avenues The World School Science Fair
"Now it's time to announce the winners, I ask that we hold all applause and commentary till the end. We had so many wonderful submissions, thank you to all that participated. We'll start with our third runner up. The ribbon goes to Jesse Thompson for his monarch butterfly experiment, come on up Jesse." the Vice Principal said, calling Jesse up to the stage. Jesse accepted his ribbon and was made to stand on the stage.
"Our second runner up ribbon goes to Chloe Castellano for her potato battery powered clock, come on up Chloe." The vice principal said.
"Second place, oh come on! You've gotta be kidding me, I swear if they give first place to the kid with the ant farm, I'm gon-" Danny said from the audience.
"Danny hush, you're gonna embarrass her." Mindy said chastising her husband, she was upset too, but she also remembered what it was like to have your parents embarrass you in public, and she'd swore she would never do that to her children.
Chloe went up to the stage; hand briefly over her face as she got up. Her father was not known for being quiet when he was upset, but thank god her mother was there too, though sometimes Mindy could be just as vocal when it came to her kids. Chloe accepted the ribbon and went to stand next to Jesse.
"And the winner of the fifth annual Avenue School science fair is Valerie Winters for her baking soda and vinegar volcano experiment, come on up Valerie. Now, let's give a round of applause for our three winners as well as all the participants in this year's science fair." The VP said, as Valerie walked up accepted her ribbon and stood next to Chloe.
"You've gotta be kidding me. Why is it always the baking soda volcano that wins? Any kid can make a volcano, it's like two steps. Chloe's experiments included eight steps, this is bull, she should have gotten first place." Danny said standing up and making a scene.
"Hey that's my daughter, she worked really hard on that volcano, and clearly the judges agreed, and otherwise they wouldn't have rewarded her first place. Your daughter shouldn't even be up there, who still makes potato batteries?" Valerie's dad says with a scoff, he just happened to be sitting behind Danny and Mindy in the school auditorium.
"As opposed to what? The volcano experiment that has been done to death? Such a bore mixing two household chemicals and boom. A potato battery is something that is actually useful; it could light a whole room!" Danny argued.
"Alright, Mr. Castellano, Mr. Winters, lets settle down." The VP said.
"No, this ass wipe insulted my daughter." Mr. Winters said.
"Technically he insulted her experiment and not her." Mindy said sticking up for her husband. She also gripped his hand to keep him from responding to Mr. Winters calling him an ass wipe.
The vice principal got them to settle down, and the award ceremony finished without any other hiccups between the parents. As Danny was walking through the parking lot, with Chloe who was carrying her experiment, there was silence between them till Danny spoke.
"Sorry, kiddo, about making a scene, you worked really hard on your experiment and I just wanted you to win." Danny said.
"It's ok Daddy, I still got a ribbon, doesn't matter that it wasn't first place, plus the first place winner has to enter the fair next year. I still don't really like science, but it was really fun working on it with you. Can we do more experiments, but not in any competitions or anything, just for fun?" Chloe asked looking at her father.
"Yeah, of course, sweetheart. I don't think I said it yet, but I'm really proud of you." Danny said.
"Thanks, Daddy." Chloe said smiling up at him. They reached Danny's car, where Mindy, Robbie and Piper were waiting.
"What do you say we go out for ice cream and donuts, to celebrate Chloe's win." Mindy said.
"Can I get two scoops and a chocolate éclair?" Chloe asked as they piled into Danny's car.
"Anything you want sweetheart." Danny said as he slipped on his seat belt.
"I want a bear claw!" Piper said from her car seat.
"That sounds good, I'm gonna get one too." Mindy said with a smile.
"I just want ice cream, and a corn muffin." Robbie said. He'd inherited his father's love for corn.
Danny smiled, and then started the car. It was the little moments like this that he cherished the most glancing quickly at his family and the love and laughter radiating in the car, Danny felt like the luckiest man in the world, he wouldn't trade it for anything else.
A/N:
-Pessi . Rom