XXI

Muffins

Steve didn't see it coming until it was too late to deflect it.

"Hey, wh- Sharon!" he said, flinching back from a speck of powdery white that Sharon had flicked in his direction the moment he walked into the kitchenette. "What was that?" he said, rubbing his nose furiously to get the powder off.

Sharon's grin was wide as she said, "Oh, just flour."

Steve lowered his hand to find the white smeared all over his hand. Judging from Sharon's growing smile, he suspected that she'd known all along how he was going to react and chose the messiest baking ingredient to ambush him with. "So what are you making, and what's it for?" he asked, walking around the small island to reach the sink behind Sharon.

Sharon made a face, and that was when he realized that she was in an old T-shirt, jeans, socks and had flecks of different baking ingredients down her entire front. On the counter before her was the mixing bowl where the flour had come from, butter, the salt container, sugar, and a few other ingredients that took Steve a moment to recognize. Underneath it all was a kitchen dishtowel. "Well, it's going to be apple muffins once I'm finished, and it's going to be an appeasement gift to Mom when she comes up to 'surprise' us tomorrow. Dad knows that I hate it when Mom does that, so he called earlier this morning while you were out to warn us," Sharon explained. "We are appeasing Mom because she is extremely unhappy that we haven't called her in months. In my defense, I actually forgot for real this time to call her. Y'know, compared to the other times I've 'forgotten'," she said, glancing at Steve with a guilty expression.

Steve cringed at the thought. Amanda Carter, while sweet and doting on him, turned into a completely different creature when faced with her daughter. While the two actually never fought (or at least in front of Steve they didn't), there was definitely tension there between the two women. Harrison Carter, a Virginian senator and Peggy's nephew, knew about the polar opposite personalities between mother and daughter, and had quietly informed Steve that the differences between the two women kicked in after Sharon turned fourteen and went through something of a rebellious phase. Amanda evidently chose to ignore these issues as time went on, and continued doing as she pleased… such as popping in on Sharon and Steve without warning them beforehand. Despite prior warnings though, Sharon always acted surprised to see her mother, and Steve suspected though that the pleasure was genuine. No matter what Sharon said after her parents had left.

"Will you need help?" he asked, walking around to the other side of the counter.

"You know how to cook?" she said, looking surprised. "Well, I mean obviously you can cook on the battlefield and stuff, but in a kitchen?"

"No, I haven't really cooked in a kitchen before," he admitted, "But I do know how to take orders, ma'am."

A smile twitched on her face. "Really Captain? This could be a dangerous mission, the queen of Richmond is a hard lady to appease even on a good day. If she is cross, we could both face capture," she said, leaning on the counter across from him.

"Well, I have my partner to watch my back, and I trust her explicitly to work with me," he replied with a wink. Pulling away before Sharon could kiss him, he said, "Shall we begin the strategy plans?"

"Aye, aye, Captain."

A/N: Prompt: Cooking/baking