Next chapter up. Oh, and guys, guys, guys I realized I made a big mistake in the first chapter. Holy crap. Guys, please know that there should be two more bathrooms in this house, one on the kitchen level and one on the lounge level. I mean, would you really want to have to travel up two flights of stairs if you needed to pee? Just assume that Scott pointed them out during the tour or something.

Now, onward.

Chapter Five – The Baking Episode

The camera was set up in the kitchen, much as it had been for Gordon's interview in the second video. Virgil and Alan were on screen, the former leaning against the counter on his elbows, the latter bouncing a bit to the side of him. They were dressed casually, with Virgil just in a green t-shirt and jeans, and Alan wearing a Star Trek long-sleeved tee and board shorts. "Hello world," Virgil said with a small smile, waggling his fingers at the camera.

"Hi!" Alan exclaimed, waving. "We're baking today!"

"Mm-hmm," Virgil nodded, heaving himself upright. "Scott's had a bit of a bad week so we're making his favorite cookies for when he gets home from that business meeting in New York."

"You guys never make my favorite cookies when I have a bad week," John's voice said over the com and Virgil and Alan shared a look. They were slightly startled, as they hadn't expected to hear John, but honestly, they were more amused than anything.

"Johnny, if you come home this weekend, I'll make your favorite apple pie and even get Scott to bring home ice cream," Virgil said, aiming it towards the com that was embedded in the kitchen wall.

"You're my favorite," John replied, sounding rather pleased.

Alan scoffed. "He's everyone's favorite." John merely laughed and the com clicked off. "Okay. So now that big brother is no longer spying, we can get to baking!"

"Alan," Virgil groaned with an expressive eye roll. "You should know better." He gave a slight pause before waving a hand. "John never stops spying."

Alan laughed and then spun towards the camera. "Right. Right. Well, we're making molasses cookies, because Scott likes them for some reason. Personally, I think they're kinda gross, but whatever."

"Personally, I think he likes them because you and Gordon don't and therefore they don't all disappear before he can eat some," Virgil said, turning to the fridge. Alan merely shrugged, making a face at the camera. "Read off the ingredients, Sprout."

"What, you don't have them memorized?" Alan asked, sliding a well-used cookbook across the counter. "You make these at least once a month." He held up the cookbook to show to the camera. It was actually just a large three-ring binder, filled with print-outs and hand-written pages. Some of the pages were yellow with age, some smeared with old ingredients. All looked well loved.

Virgil shot him a look over his shoulder. "With everything else I have to remember, no. I don't have any of the recipes memorized. That's why we have a book of them. Now, ingredients, please."

Alan rolled his eyes, running his finger down the page. "Fine. Three sticks of butter." He glanced up at the camera, "That's one and a half cups for those who want to follow along."

"Healthy these are not," Virgil commented softly, pulling the butter from the fridge.

"Duh. They're cookies." Alan shot over his shoulder and then looked back to the book. "You'll need two large eggs and that's all out of the fridge."

"Cool," Virgil said, coming back to the counter. He pulled a big red mixing bowl from a cupboard beneath them and set it on the counter. "Okay, so now what?"

Alan stepped back and pressed a button on the oven before sliding back over to the counter. "Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. That's in Fahrenheit, by the way, and I'm too lazy to convert it so sorry. And then you cream together your massive amounts of butter with two cups of sugar until its light and fluffy."

Virgil snickered to himself. "I always think of that old Disney movie. The one with the blue alien."

"Also cute and fluffy!" Alan quoted, distorting his voice to resemble Stitch from the movie. He looked into the bowl. "Okay. Eggs next!"

Virgil waved a hand and let Alan crack the eggs into the bowl. "Nice. No shells."

"It was one time," Alan groused, rolling his eyes and throwing the egg shells into the compost bin. "And I was, like, eight." Virgil just grinned at him, mixing the ingredients. "You know, most people use electric beaters for this. But then, most people don't have the biceps and forearms of a god."

Virgil snorted, choking on a laugh. "You're just jealous," he muttered, turning away to hide his grin. "How much molasses do I add?"

"Half a cup," Alan grinned back, passing over the already measured molasses. "This stuff is so gross. It's like sweet, but too sweet while not being sweet at all." There was a long pause as Virgil just stared at him. "What?"

"I'm concerned that I actually understood that," Virgil muttered. He glanced towards the camera. "You know that Tracy Logic that Lady Penelope was talking about? It's hereditary; all of us suffer from it."

Alan gave his brother a shove, although it didn't even move him an inch. He huffed, slightly frustrated and then turned back to the cookbook. "Okay, and now we literally just add in the rest of the ingredients. Except the pecans." He looked at the camera, leaning against the counter. "John's allergic to pecans so we don't even keep them on the island."

"Mm-hmm," Virgil hummed, dragging the flour closer to him and pulling out measuring cups and spoons. "Read them off, Sprout."

"Four teaspoons of ground ginger."

There was a little poof of brown dust as Virgil dumped the spice into the bowl. "Next?"

"Two teaspoons of baking soda. Not powder."

"Soda, not powder," Virgil repeated, measuring it out and dumping it in.

"One and half teaspoons of cinnamon." Alan watched as Virgil added that spice before commenting, "Did you know that there was a craze a few decades ago where people were swallowing a spoonful of cinnamon and filming themselves?"

Virgil gave him a somewhat surprised look, eyebrows raising. "That's…not safe," he said slowly.

Alan nodded. "Yeah, lots of people ended up in the hospital over that one." He blinked, big blue eyes sliding to the side in thought. "Granted, it was probably better than that craze where they were eating laundry detergent."

"What the hell?" Virgil whispered, staring into the camera, brows furrowed and looking highly concerned.

Alan grinned, "And now that you're completely befuddled, we will move on. You need a teaspoon of cloves."

Virgil gave him a long, searching look before turning back to the mixture and adding the spice. "How much salt?" he asked, as it was the last thing on the counter, aside from the flour.

"Fourth of a teaspoon. And then four and a half cups of flour." Alan stepped a bit closer, to look into the bowl as Virgil dumped in the remaining ingredients. However, this time the poof of flour was much larger and caused both of them to cough as they inhaled it. Alan waved a hand in front of his face, choking slightly. "Geez, bro, way to almost kill a man."

"You'd have to be a man, first, Sproutling," Virgil countered, sputtering around a grin. Alan growled and grabbed the bowl away from him, mixing it with a glare.

It was only a moment before the mixture became too thick for Alan to handle though and he pushed the bowl back towards Virgil, rolling his eyes. "Put those muscles to use," he grumbled. Virgil huffed, amused, but continued to mix the cookies as Alan pulled out two cookie sheets.

"Okay," Virgil said, scooping up a little bit of dough. "Shape your dough into balls, about two inches big and them place them on the cookie sheet. Put them about two or so inches apart." The two brothers worked in tandem, although Virgil stuck some of the dough into his mouth, much to Alan's disgust.

"You know that's not recommended," Alan pointed out, placing a ball on the pan. "Salmonella and all. Whatever would Scott say about being an example to poor impressionable me?"

"That you should know better," Virgil responded promptly, tossing a snarky grin at his youngest brother.

Alan gave an exaggerated gasp, pressing one hand to his chest dramatically. "And you're supposed to be the good one!"

Virgil rolled his eyes, although the grin stayed firmly on his face. "No. That's John."

"John's a total Slytherin and you know it," Alan quipped. He went back to his task of rolling balls of dough, and then two the pans were filled. "Okay, and now we just stick these in the oven and wait for thirteen to fifteen minutes." He watched as Virgil slid the pans into the preheated oven. "What do we do now?"

Virgil shrugged. "Dunno. I don't usually watch YouTube and I haven't ever seen a baking video," he said.

"Me neither," Alan muttered. "Huh." They were silent for a short while, looking into the camera.

Suddenly Virgil looked to his little brother. "Kayo told me that she and John were teaching you to dance. What's that about?"

Alan scowled. "Gordon wants me to take his place at the charity function next month. But I didn't know how to dance and I'd kinda have to know for that."

"Well, you know now," Virgil pointed out. "So, what's the problem?"

Alan shrugged. "It's a charity dinner with all the big-wigs. I feel kinda out of place." He hopped up onto the counter, swinging his feet. "Besides, they're all, like, old."

Virgil had to give him that. "Why can't Gordon go?" he asked, leaning back against the far counter, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Function in London that same night he wants to go to," Alan responded, giving Virgil a knowing look. For his part, the older brother merely nodded in understanding. "And we can't leave IR unmanned, and Scott had to go to the last one and we really are trying not to make you go too often because they always beg you to play for them and John's gonna be in space. Because he hates people."

"Thanks for not volunteering me to go," Virgil grimaced. "I hate being forced to play."

"I know." Alan sighed. "But John and Kayo are good teachers, so I know how to dance now." He blinked and then looked towards the camera. "Oops…that's probably a boring thing to talk about on film."

Virgil gave a shrug. "They're the ones that wanted to know what our lives are like. Welcome to our boring conversations."

Alan rolled his eyes, smiling a little. "Why are we doing this again?" he asked, kicking his feet slightly.

"Because Lady P asked, and we can hardly ever tell her no?" Virgil asked back. "It's either her puppy dog eyes or our absolute fear of John being angry at us that keeps us from doing so."

"Let's be honest, it's our fear of John," Alan responded. He looked at the camera, eyes wide. "It's always the quiet ones, guys," he said, as though that explained anything about why John would be angry if anyone said no to Lady Penelope.

Virgil gave a solemn nod. "He's a scary dude."

The camera cut to just before there was a ding from the timer and the two of them jumped slightly. "Okay, cookies are done. Just pull them out of the oven and let them cool and you're good to go," he said, doing just that. "And remember to turn the oven off so you don't burn down the house."

"One time," Alan muttered, rolling his eyes and sliding off the counter.

"We had to rebuild the ranch kitchen, Allie," Virgil said, tossing his brother an amused smile.

"To be fair," Alan drawled, carefully putting the cookbook away on a shelf. "I was five."

"Which is even more horrifying when you think about it," Virgil replied. They tossed their dirty dishes in the sink, and Alan absently ran a wet washcloth over the counter, wiping up any mess. "And there you have it," Virgil said to the camera. "Molasses cookies."

"Have a good day, guys," Alan waved. "Bye!"

And the screen went black.

HaveAHeart97 10 hours ago
Oh thank goodness. This one didn't have me crying my eyes out by the end. Made me hungry though.
12.5k likes
View 984 replies

GimmeGimmeGimme 10 hours ago
Great, now I have to make cookies because they look so good. Thanks guys.
12k likes
View 849 replies

HungryHippoes08 9 hours ago
Aww look at the two bros making cookies for their biggest bro. And their other big bro demanding attention too. It's just too sappy sweet!
10.4k likes
View 477 replies

SamathaReaners3 8 hours ago
Dude, that comment about John. "Gonna be in space. Because he hates people." If that isn't just a mood.
9.9k likes
View 598 replies

KevinSaysYo39 7 hours ago
Was anyone else expecting a baking video from the Tracys? Cause I gotta say, I thought it was a pipe dream, but they delivered.
8k likes
View 294 replies

2348u89LovesYou 6 hours ago
That was so ****ing domestic. OMG.
7.8k likes
View 287 replies

Author Note: Guys, I need ideas for videos. Please? I'm gonna try to keep this fic going daily while I'm on this obsession, because once I cycle off Thunderbirds it's gonna be months before I make it back probably.