Things were not looking good. Despite their seemingly uncanny ability to overcome any obstacle together, Jack Bauer and Chloe O'Brien found themselves at a total loss. The carcass before them, once so full of promise, was now little more than a blackened, desiccated lump of charcoal.
"I give up!" Chloe finally snapped, literally throwing up her hands in defeat and stepping back several paced. "We seriously can not do this! "
Jack was still staring at the blackened wreckage, an expression akin to awe on his face. "I can't believe this. Terrorists, nuclear warheads, traitorous government officials, international conspiracies… we can handle those, no problem," he said unhappily. "But we've been bested by a turkey!"
Neither of them could recall who had decided that they should attempt to make Thanksgiving dinner together, but someone had the foresight to suggest they do a dry run the weekend before the holiday. On Saturday, they killed two turkeys and were presently regarding the ruins of a third.
"What was I thinking?" Chloe grumbled, unhappily pouring herself another glass of wine. "I mean, I've never done up a big turkey before. Hell, I hate cooking. Even my mashed potatoes suck."
"I can do potatoes," Jack commented off handedly, "And yams and veggies…Never tried a turkey before."
"Well," Chloe said with an unhappy shrug, "we could take the meat part out of some turkey frozen dinners. I don't think Prescott will care."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I was thinking Plan B would be ordering a pre cooked bird from the deli by my place."
Chloe stared at him. "Why was that not Plan A?"
He shrugged. "I thought it would be fun to try and do it ourselves."
She blinked, then pointed at the door. "Go order the bird."
Something in her tone had Jack out the door in a matter of moments, leaving Chloe to dump the blackened turkey into the garbage. She smiled as she stuck to pan in the sink and turned on the water. Maybe they'd survive the holiday without too much humiliation after all.