Author's Note: Okay, fine. More inspiration hit. Apparently I can't promise anything with my fanfics, even when I say I'm going to take a hiatus I go back on it. Geez... Never take my word on ANYTHING I say in these Notes. EVER!
Chapter 10: Cake
Abigail examined the bandage on her leg where her stitches had been. It still itched.
"I never thanked Mr. Ratburn." Abigail mused aloud on the ride home from the hospital.
Jane quirked her head a little at that.
"Didn't you?" She asked.
Abigail shrugged.
"Well, a cursory thank you, yeah." Abigail consented. "But that's not really a thank you. That's just something you say at the time."
Abigail could walk straight again and most of the scrapes were finally off her leg and elbow. So she was feeling more herself. She was even considering getting back on the bike... maybe. Well, if she stuck to the sidewalks for a little while she should be fine.
"Anyway, he went out of his way to help, it seems like I should do something nice in return." Abigail said, getting her thoughts back on track.
Jane bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling but Abigail noticed.
"What?" Abigail asked.
"Nothing." Jane assured quickly.
Abigail frowned suspiciously at her, then crossed her arms defensively.
"I just wanted to be nice." Abigail sulked.
"Oh, of course," Jane corrected apologetically as she pulled into the driveway. Abigail rolled her eyes.
"It's a really good idea." Jane encouraged as they came in the door.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Abigail said. "I'll write him a thank you note, or something."
"Oh no, I'm sure we can think of something better than that." Jane protested as she hung her keys up on the peg.
Abigail made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat.
"What's this all about?" David asked, coming out of the kitchen and wiping his hands on a hand towel.
Jane opened her mouth to respond but Abigail cut her off.
"Nothing. She's just making a big deal out of nothing." Abigail insisted, then bolted upstairs as fast as her newly recovered legs could carry her.
David gave Jane a bewildered look.
"Should I reiterate the question?" He asked.
Jane opened her mouth and closed it again before replying.
"She just wants to do something nice for Nigel to thank him for helping her to the hospital last week." Jane explained.
"Well, that's a nice idea." David said mildly, going back into the kitchen. Jane followed.
"We could help." Jane suggested. She came up behind David, who was at the sink, wrapped her arms around him and set her chin on his shoulder.
"Oh?" David asked, distracted from the dishes now.
"Let's invite him to dinner. I mean... we should probably thank him too shouldn't we? He did let us know she was hurt." Jane nodded slowly.
David turned around and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"So he did." David agreed. "So, when is this dinner?" He asked.
"Oh, I dunno. I should probably run it by Abigail first. Let her have some forewarning." Jane answered.
David nodded. Then stopped.
"Warn Abigail?" He asked. He pondered that a minute and then the light dawned.
"Oohhh..." David nodded. "Well that's adorable."
"You're inviting him over for dinner?" Abigail asked, looking up from her sketchbook.
"It seemed like a good idea." Jane said mildly. "He's a good friend of David's, and we wanted to thank him too."
Abigail just looked at her, holding off on being suspicious.
"And, as he's coming over for dinner, we thought you might like to make the dessert." Jane added.
Ah hah! Wait...
"What?" Abigail asked.
"Mr. Ratburn happens to really love cake. Making him a cake would be an excellent thank you gift." Jane assured her.
Abigail contemplated this. It was a pretty good idea overall. Unobtrusive, easy, and she didn't have to go out of her way to track him down to give it to him and therefore look really really weird.
"Okay, I can make a cake." Abigail said. "Thanks for the suggestion." For the sake of her ego that was all the credit she was going to give Mrs. Read.
Mrs. Read gave her a knowing smile anyway. It was very annoying.
Abigail opted to do the cake in the morning before Mr. Read woke up for the day, just because that seemed like it would be more convenient.
D.W. was making her wish she'd waited until the afternoon when she was going to be out of the house.
Nevermind the constant questions about what sort of cake she was making and if she could help, D.W. had nearly toppled the batter bowl twice and she'd broken three eggs.
"D.W., this is supposed to be a thank you present. I should really be making it all by myself." Abigail had tried to reason.
"But Daddy says that we should never try to cook without superfission." D.W. insisted.
"Supervision, D.W." Abigail corrected. "And I'm pretty sure that that rule only applies to those of us under 12 years old." Abigail joked.
"Oh." D.W. replied.
Abigail finally got the batter into the oven and started to work on the icing.
This drew slightly more attention as Arthur had smelled the cake starting to bake and decided to move his reading into the kitchen.
As Abigail mixed the icing eyes strayed to the bowl hopefully.
"You guys realize that bowl won't be available for scraping until the cake is cooled and ready to be iced, right?" Abigail asked.
Arthur gave her a look that implied that he was above that sort of thing and had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
"Can I lick the spoon?" D.W. asked.
"You got the last one!" Arthur whined, revealing his true motive.
"But that was a cake DAD made. We should start over for Abigail's." D.W. insisted.
"What? That doesn't make any sense." Arthur said.
"Alright, alright!" Abigail interrupted before it turned into an 'is not, is too' fight. "Get me a quarter." She told them.
Arthur pulled a quarter out of his pocket.
"Thank you." Abigail took it out and flipped it. "Call it."
"Heads." Arthur said.
"Tails." D.W. said at the same time.
Abigail caught it and put it on the back of her hand.
"Tails." She said, showing it to them.
Arthur groaned and D.W. cheered.
"That means Arthur gets first dibs on the bowl though." Abigail added. Abigail pulled the spoon out of the icing and handed it to D.W.
"Stay in the kitchen and don't make a mess." Abigail warned darkly.
"So, when will the cake be done?" Arthur asked innocently.
"It's for dinner tomorrow." Abigail replied, answering the real question. Arthur wilted a little and Abigail rolled her eyes at the pathetic display.
After a little while the cake was done and cooling on a rack on the counter while Abigail was cleaning the kitchen/keeping watch over them.
David came downstairs looking very professional and only somewhat distracted. He was catering something at a big hotel today and only needed to get a few things before heading out. One of which was a hurried breakfast.
He stopped in confusion upon seeing his children sitting sedately at the table, then spotted the cake on the counter with Abigail nearby and seemed to understand. He looked at his watch before opting for some toaster waffles and orange juice for breakfast. While waiting on the waffles he eyed the cake layers approvingly, they'd come out nicely.
"You did a good job." David told Abigail.
"Thanks." Abigail said. "When I lived with my grandmother she taught me how to bake."
"I learned from my grandmother too." David remarked. "The cooking skills sort of skipped a generation in my family." He grabbed the waffles out of the toaster.
"Dad, can we have cake today?" Arthur asked, whining only a little. "Please?"
David thought about his schedule and sighed around his waffle.
"Arthur, I just don't think I have time to make a cake today." He said apologetically.
"But Abigail could make us one couldn't she?" Arthur asked.
Abigail glared at him.
"What makes you think I'm going to make you any cake, brat?" Abigail ruffed Arthur's head.
David chuckled.
"If you can convince her to do it then yes, she can." David told Arthur in amusement.
David looked at his watch and jumped a little.
"I'm going to be late." He said suddenly. "I gotta go."
D.W stood up on the chair and put her arms out. David, even distracted and in a hurry, knew the cue.
Rather swiftly he hugged D.W. and kissed her cheek, he pulled back and ruffled Arthur's hair, and put a hand on Abigail's shoulder and pecked her on the cheek just like he had D.W. before disappearing out the door.
Abigail scratched her cheek where he'd kissed it and turned back to the table.
"I'm not making you a cake." Abigail said seriously. Arthur and D.W. sagged in disappointment before Abigail dropped the other shoe.
"But if your Mom agrees, I could be convinced to make a batch of cookies." Abigail said lightly.
"Mom!" Arthur and D.W. were out the door of the kitchen like lightening.
Author's Note: Yeah, okay, I was gonna pull this out into a longer chapter... but then decided not to. Nyah nyah.
I'm in need of reader opinion. Should I repeat the 3rd grade in this one? Notsomuch making it a time loop or anything, just one repetition of the weird time loop the Arthur universe is in, then continuing onto the 4th and such?
Actually, since I'm probably not going to get any answers from this I'm probably just going to do a repeat of the 3rd grade simply because I want to. So... whatever.
If I get a lot of negative feedback on the idea I won't do it.