It was the night before their final challenge, and Franky didn't think she'd been able to close her eyes for even a second since she'd gone to bed. Her mind kept running through what Jared could possibly ask of them. She knew it would be something that would challenge them, and she'd have to nail it if she wanted to be in the finale.
Franky closed her eyes, and tried again to clear her mind and relax her body. It was no use, she was too hyped up. She wished Bridget was there with her. The blonde always knew exactly how to comfort her, and help her relax, and Franky always slept better when she was near. She could also think of a few things they could do to help her burn off some of her excess energy.
She had loved being home for the weekend, but being around Bridget after so long apart, and not being able to be physical with her, had only left the brunette wanting her even more. Franky looked around the room. She was all by herself, the last woman standing.
She pulled the sheets up over her head so that she was completely covered. Bridget may not be here, but that didn't mean she couldn't work off some of her energy by herself. She took a deep breath and slid her hand into her pants. She thought about when she'd come up behind the blonde in the kitchen, wrapped her arm around her, and touched her in much the same way she was touching herself now. She'd always enjoyed fucking women from behind. There was something dominant about it.
As she drew small circles on her clit, she remembered the way Bridget's breath had hitched when her fingers made contact. She concentrated on the movement of her fingers and tried to clear her mind. The blonde had been finishing cleaning up from supper when Franky had gone to her. That was a good supper she'd cooked over the fire. The chicken had been tender, and cooking it with the vegetables in the foil had made it very flavorful. Maybe that could be something she could use if they had to prepare a dish of their choice tomorrow.
Franky shook her head. She'd gotten off track. She took a deep breath, and continued. 'You can do whatever you want to me". Bridget's words echoed in her mind. There were so many things the brunette could think of that she wanted to do to her, all of them ending in a powerful orgasm for the other woman.
When the blonde had lifted her body from the bed to press against Franky, the brunette was torn between wanting to fuck her hard and fast, and wanting to make her beg for it all night. She could take her to the edge then pull her back for hours if she wanted to. Now that she thought about it, she wouldn't be opposed to Bridget doing those things to her either. They could fuck all night, then she'd cook them breakfast in the morning; Bridget sitting on one of the stools at the island in the green silk robe Franky loved so much, watching her cook. She could try to recreate the omelette she'd had at the cafe the other morning. It had spinach, zucchini, and goat cheese for sure. There was something spicy too, maybe sriracha, or it might have been a different type of hot sauce. She'd have to experiment and try some different ones.
The brunette sighed. She couldn't make her mind stay focused on the task at hand.
"Fuck it," she mumbled, as she threw off the sheet, and got up out of the bed.
She walked through the house in her bare feet, and out onto the patio. She smiled when she saw Shayne sitting in one of the lounge chairs. She'd been able to sleep a bit better after those first few nights, so their late-night conversations had become less frequent. She knew he was still out here most nights though.
"Hey." She let herself fall into the chair beside him.
"Hey. Can't sleep?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.
"Nah. I've been thinking about the next challenge all day, and now I can't make my mind stop." The brunette stretched her arms back over her head.
"Same." Shayne reached up, and scratched the back of his neck. "So how was your weekend at home?"
"It was good. Really good." The brunette couldn't help but smile before she continued. "Em is having a bit of a rough time I think. She's been sleeping in our bed with Bridget, and didn't want to go back to her own when I was there."
"She must really miss you." Shayne had only caught glimpses of Franky's interactions with Emily, but he could tell they adored each other.
"Yeah, she does." The brunette took a deep breath. "She learned how to play checkers this weekend, and she wanted to try my coffee when we went out for breakfast. She didn't like it; I knew she wouldn't, but…" Franky trailed off. She could feel herself getting emotional, and that was the opposite of what she needed right now.
"Do you guys want more kids?" He tried to move on to a happier topic for the brunette.
"Yeah, we do. Probably not right away. It's a process, 'cause, you know, I can't just go get knocked up, and we want to get married first. Not because we're all traditional or anything, but it's something we've both wanted for awhile now, and it seems like it's taken a backseat to other things. I was planning to propose earlier, then the stuff with Em happened, and now the show, so yeah, we just really want to do that before we start on another big thing in our lives." Franky stopped talking when she realized that she was rambling on.
"Well, I've been told I'd probably be a pretty cool uncle." Shayne watched for her reaction out of the corner of his eye.
"What makes you think I'll keep in touch when this is over?" The brunette was able to say it with a straight face, but the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
"Aww, Franks, that hurt." He laughed, placing a hand over his chest.
Franky just laughed and shook her head.
"Hey, Vera." Bridget entered the staffroom carrying the bags of food she'd had delivered and had just picked up from the front desk. She noticed her friend looked tired. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Julia walk over to the coffee maker to refill her mug.
"Hey." Vera gave her friend a small smile. "Thanks again for getting lunch for us. Let me give you some money."
"No worries, and I don't want any money," she said, setting the food out on the table. "I wanted to treat myself anyway, and I got extra to take home for Em to have for supper. Our meals have gone severely downhill since Franky left."
"I bet." Vera gave a small nod.
Julia gave them both a grin as she walked past the table on her way back to her office.
"I'll be glad when she's gone," the blonde said, taking a bite of her food.
"I've heard it could be as early as the end of the week, or sometime next week. I know she's already submitted final reports for some areas. Good choice on the food by the way." The governor pointed to her lunch with her fork.
"It had good reviews, so I figured why not." Bridget would have taken anything over her own cooking at this point. "I do have a favour to ask you, if you're not busy this weekend would you mind taking Em on Friday night? I want to surprise Franky with a night at a hotel. It'll either be a celebration that she's won, or just that it's over and she's back with us. She may even finish before then, but she'll be done by Friday for sure."
"A celebration?" Vera gave her a knowing grin. "I can take her for the night, sure."
"Normally I wouldn't just ask for the sake of having a night without her but…" The blonde looked around to make sure they were alone. "She just would not leave us alone when Franky was home last weekend." Her best friend was the only person Bridget would ever talk to about her sex life, and even then it was rare.
The governor raised an eyebrow. "I think every parent sends their kid away at some point just to have some time without them. It's nothing to feel bad about."
"Thanks." Bridget gave her a smile.
Bridget was in her office setting out some new pamphlets that had just arrived when there was a knock at her door. She glanced at the clock. She didn't have a session starting for the next half hour, but it wasn't uncommon for an officer to bring by an inmate in distress, or for one of them to want to talk about something that had happened.
"Come in," she called out, and heard the beep of a swipe card being used.
"Good afternoon, Bridget."
The blonde turned to see her ex standing in the doorway.
"Leave the door open," she said when she saw that Julia was going to shut it behind her. "What do you want?"
"Don't be like that. I just came to have a little chat. I know our last meeting didn't end well. I know why, but I feel like things have changed now." Julia took a seat on the arm of one of the green chairs, and crossed her legs.
"Nothing has changed." The blonde pulled another stack of pamphlets out of the box on her desk.
"Are you sure?" Julia tilted her head to try to get a better view of Bridget's face. When she didn't get a response, she continued. "I heard what you said to Vera at lunch about Franky leaving. I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out, but sometimes things happen for a reason. Let me take you out tonight."
"Are you fucking serious?" The blonde couldn't help it. She knew it was unprofessional, but it just came out of her mouth. "I think you should go now."
"I know you're probably still upset about it, but it might do you good to get out and have some fun." A small grin played on her lips.
"Franky and I didn't break up, she's away for work, and she'll be back at the end of the week." Bridget gave her a sarcastic grin when she saw the look on her ex's face.
Julia stood, and took a step towards her.
"She asked you to leave," Vera said from the doorway. She hadn't been eavesdropping. She'd been on her way to see the blonde anyway, and with the door open, sound carried well in the quiet hallway.
"Oh of course you'd show up." Julia turned her attention to the governor. "You were always sticking your nose in where it didn't belong. You spent our whole relationship trying to get her to leave me. You know, I was never sure if you were just jealous of her spending time with someone who wasn't you, or if you were jealous that I got to fuck her, and you didn't."
"I…" Vera started to speak, but her words escaped her until she saw the evil grin on the other woman's face. "You were an arrogant, abusive bitch, and you never deserved her."
The three of them stood there in silence. They were all in shock after the governor's uncharacteristic outburst.
"What the fuck is going on?" Will appeared behind Vera.
"Just escort her out of the building for now, please." Vera stepped aside to let him into the room.
"Did she call you to come save her too?" Julia asked as Will led her away.
"I could hear you all the way down in my office." He never looked down, or broke his stride.
"Are you okay?" Bridget quickly stepped around her desk and took her friend in her arms.
Vera nodded. "I think I should be the one asking you that."
"I'm fine. She'll be going back to Sydney soon, and by the looks of it she won't be back in here before she leaves." The blonde loosened her arms when she felt Vera start to pull away.
"Uh, about what she said, I-"
"Shh, Vera, no. Don't even bother addressing it. She just throws out bullshit looking for a reaction." Bridget knew that her friend didn't like talking about her feelings, and she just wanted the awkwardness to end for her. It didn't matter to her if what Julia had said was in any way true or not, and Vera didn't owe her an explanation.
"Okay," came Vera's soft reply.
"Good morning everyone! I hope you've slept well, because today you have a very important challenge ahead of you." Jared could clearly tell from the weariness on their faces that none of them had indeed had a restful night. "It's one I've been looking forward to called 'taste it, now make it'. I have in front of me three servings of one of my dishes. You'll each have forty-five minutes to recreate it from taste alone. Best of luck." He stepped aside as each of them came to the front and grabbed a plate to take back to their workstations.
Franky studied the dish carefully. There was some kind of fish in a broth, along with what looked to be dumplings. She'd had to figure out what was used for the filling in those as well. There was a lot to work out, and not long to do it. The pantry was fully stocked so as to not give away any clues as to what the ingredients might be.
She took a fork and carefully pulled away a piece of the fish to get an idea of what the texture was like. Just from how it looked, she already had two options in mind; sea bass, or halibut. She thought it didn't look flaky enough to be halibut, and once she tasted it, she was sure that it wasn't. She decided to go with the sea bass because of the sweetness of it.
Next came the broth. While many different base stocks were always available to them, she felt it was obvious that the seafood stock would form the base for her broth. She took a spoonful of it from the dish and blew on it to cool it down a bit. She found that food always lost some of it's flavour if it was too hot or too cold, and right now she wanted to be able to taste all of it. She used the trick she'd told Jenna about on their first day on set, and breathed out through her nose. She picked up hints of lemon, ginger, and something else that she couldn't quite place. She'd leave it for now.
She picked up one of the dumplings, and set it on a small plate. She cut it open to look at what was on the inside. It was a white, tender meat; some kind of seafood she guessed. Not another kind of fish though, but maybe shellfish. She pulled the meat out of one half of the cut dumpling with her fork. She didn't want to get the texture or flavour of the dough mixed in with the filling. As soon as she put it in her mouth, she knew immediately that it was lobster. It was mixed with something though. She was picking up a hint of onion, but there were also small bits of green mixed in. She thought that maybe Jared had used both onions and scallions, thinking that they would only pick up on the scallions because of the visual cue, and leave out the onions.
She set to work on steaming the lobster for the dumplings. The fish would be the last thing she would need to cook, as it wouldn't take long, and her dish would fail for sure if it was overcooked. She chopped the onions very fine, as she hadn't picked up on their texture, only the flavor.
The brunette glanced over at Shayne. He seemed to be having a hard time determining which fish he should use. She wished she was able to help him, but at the end of the day, he was her competition right now.
Once the lobster was steaming, she started preparing the broth. She poured some of the seafood stock into the pan, and added some lemongrass and fresh ginger. She knew something was missing, but she tasted it anyway just to make sure. She stood looking at her options for what else she could add. She thought it must be something liquid since she didn't see anything else in Jared's dish. Two things stood out to her, sake, and soy sauce.
Part of her wanted to choose the sake simply because it would be an unlikely ingredient. SHe pushed that from her mind though, and concentrated on the taste. In her opinion, the broth had a bit of saltiness to it, which would come from soy sauce, but not sake. She wasn't completely sure, but she had to make a decision, or she'd run out of time before she finished the dish.
The very last thing was to cook the fish. Her choice of fish was one thing she was sure she had right. She carefully cooked it to just the right temperature, making sure to baste it with the broth so that it picked up the flavours, and wouldn't dry out.
When she was happy with everything, she plated her dish. She wasn't sure if she'd gotten everything right, but to her, the finished product tasted almost exactly like Jared's. The timer rang, and she took her dish to the front counter for the chef to taste along with the others.
"Alright, first up, Shayne, let's see what you've come up with. Tell me which ingredients you've chosen here." Jared picked up Shayne's dish and set it in front of him. As the young man began to explain what he'd chosen, the chef sampled it.
"I chose halibut for the protein, it's in a seafood broth with lemongrass and ginger. Then for the dumplings I have lobster with scallions and onion." He tried to read the chef's face as he tasted the food, but was unable.
"Tastes very nice, thank you." Jared handed the dish back to Shayne. "Lucas, what do you have?"
Franky exchanged a look with Shayne as he stepped back in line beside her. They had made different choices, and the only thing she knew for sure was that they couldn't both be right.
"I have sea bass in a seafood broth with lemongrass, ginger, and sake. In the dumplings, I have lobster, onions, and scallions." Lucas wiped his forehead nervously.
"Fuck," Shayne muttered under his breath.
The brunette reached over and quickly touched his arm with the tips of her fingers so that he'd look at her. "Don't assume you're wrong," she whispered quietly.
He nodded his head, but didn't look convinced.
"That's very nice as well. You can take your dish and step back in line." The chef turned to Franky. "Last, but not least, Franky, let's see what you've made."
The brunette took a deep breath before she presented her dish to Jared.
"Tell us which ingredients you chose," the chef said, as he took a bite of the fish.
"I chose sea bass for the protein, and the broth is a seafood base with lemongrass, ginger, and soy sauce. The dumplings have a steamed lobster filling with onions and scallions." Franky said it all in one breath, afraid that if she stopped, she'd lose her train of thought.
"Hmm." Jared brought his hand up to his chin, as if in thought. "Okay, thank you. You can stand back in line."
The brunette was worried. In her mind, she'd gotten the least favorable reaction to her dish. She thought maybe she was wrong about her choice of fish, or maybe she should have gone with the sake after all. She could feel a nervous sweat start to break out over her skin. She might be going home tonight. In a way, she didn't hate the idea, but at the same time, she'd come this far, and the end of the competition was only a few days away anyway.
"First of all, I'd just like to say to everyone that you all did a very good job. Your dishes, whether correct or not, all tasted great. Unfortunately, the point of this challenge wasn't just to make something that tasted great, it was to make an exact copy of the dish I gave you, using only your sense of taste as a guide." Jared looked at each one of them. "Let's start by talking about the broth. You all used a seafood stock for the base, along with lemongrass and ginger. Shayne, you left it at that, while Lucas, you added sake, and Franky, you added soy sauce. Only one of you got it completely right. Franky, congratulations, you have a point for your broth."
"Thank you, chef." The brunette let out a shaky breath in an effort to calm her nerves.
"Next we'll look at the dumplings. I tried to fool you with those." He gave them a small smile. "Clearly, that didn't work since you each got those spot on. One point to each of you for the dumplings. Right now, Franky, you're in the lead with two points, and the men have one point each. Next, on to the protein. Getting the protein right is key. It was sea bass, so Lucas and Franky, you each get a point. Franky, that means you're the winner with three points, and Shayne, I'm sorry, but I'll need your jacket. Your time here with us has come to an end."
Franky shook her head. She wasn't ready to say goodbye to him. She didn't want to be here alone. She had barely talked to Lucas during their time there, and she didn't want to be left there with only him for company.
"Shayne," She jogged a few steps to catch up to the young man, who was on his way to the door, and wrapped her arms around him. She felt her hug returned, immediately. "You did so well, and you'd better stay in touch or else I'll have to come hunt you down."
He gave a small laugh. "I will. You got this, Franks." He gave her two pats on the back, then let go of her.
Franky watched him walk through the doors, then returned to her spot next to Lucas.
"Congratulations. You two will face off against each other on Friday evening in the season finale. You'll each be in charge of your own kitchen brigade, which you will get to choose. You can bring back past teammates, friends, family members, but no celebrity chefs. You can't ring up Gordon Ramsey or Wolfgang Puck and ask them to be on your team. Unless, of course, they're your uncle or something." He smiled as he saw both contestants shake their heads. "No? Okay, good. Now, Franky, you'll be cooking in the Red kitchen, and Lucas, you'll have the Blue kitchen. We'll need the names of the people you want on your teams by tomorrow afternoon, and they'll be able to come in on Thursday morning, then stay overnight so they're here bright and early to start prep work on Friday. Teams will be five members total, including yourselves. The menus will be completely your own. You can make whatever dishes you like, and the winner will be determined based on the ratings the diners give your food. Last, but not least, let's not forget what you'll be playing for; a cool seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Alright, you've both got a lot to think about and a busy couple of days ahead, so go try to get some rest tonight." Jared gave them each one final nod before he headed back up the stairs to his office.
"Well done," Lucas said, holding out his hand to the brunette.
Franky was still in a bit of disbelief, and it took her a second to reach out and shake his hand. "Thanks, same to you."
The brunette was already going over her team in her mind. She already knew who she wanted, she just needed to clear something with Jillian first. She looked around the set, and spotted the producer.
"Jillian." Franky jogged the few steps over to her, not wanting to miss her opportunity to talk. "Just to clarify, we can have anyone on our team, right?"
"Except a celebrity chef, yeah. If you have a friend who works at a local restaurant or something, that's fine. Just nothing too crazy." Jillian gave her a small smile and glanced back at her phone.
"I want Em." The brunette held the producer's gaze when she looked up from her phone.
"Franky, she's…" Jillian trailed off. "She's a kid."
"I know." She was completely serious that she wanted the young girl on her team.
"I just, I want you to be sure you know what you're doing. She would count as a member of your team. Do you understand what that means?" The producer hoped Franky was aware of the potential consequences of her decision.
"That she's one of my four picks? Yeah, I get it." The brunette gave her a small nod.
"Okay," Jillian sighed. "I'll need Bridget to sign the usual waiver, and it's up to you to look out for her on set."
"Sure, no problem." Franky would agree to whatever the conditions were. "Is it possible to call Gidge now?" It was getting late, and the brunette wanted to know tonight if this was something Bridget was going to allow Emily to do.
"Sure." Jillian looked at her watch. "Go to the interview room in about five minutes. I'll meet you there."
"Hey, baby," Bridget said quietly when she answered the phone.
"Hey," the brunette smiled at her. "I hope I didn't wake you. I know it's later than I usually call."
"No, I'm just turning off the lights before I go to bed. Em's already asleep." The blonde sat down on the couch. "Everything okay?" Late night phone calls from anyone had always worried her.
"Yeah," Franky couldn't help the huge smile that appeared on her face. "I made it to the finale!"
"Oh, baby, that's amazing! I'm so proud of you. Em will be so excited when she hears, too. I won't tell her though, I'll let you do that when you guys talk next." Bridget was so happy for her fiancée.
"That's kind of what I called to talk to you about." The brunette just now realized that she was a bit nervous that the older woman might not agree with her idea.
"Oh?" The blonde wasn't quite sure if what Franky was about to say was going to be good or bad.
"We get to pick our team for the finale. I get four people, plus myself. I know I want Shayne, and Liz. I'm thinking maybe Jenna. She's a good cook if she can stay calm." She looked down at her hands; she knew she was just rambling on now. "I'd like Em to be on there as well. Jillian said it was fine as long as you agreed."
"Franky…." This was definitely not something that had crossed her mind before. She opened her mouth to speak again, then closed it.
"She's really good for her age, and I want her to have a good memory of this time. Something other than just the fact that I was away for so long. If you don't want her to do it though, it's okay. I'll understand." The brunette sensed Bridget's hesitation, and wanted her to know that she respected whichever decision she made.
"It's not that." The blonde sighed and looked down the hallway at the closed door of the bedroom where her niece was currently sleeping.
"You can tell me anything you want, babe." Franky could see the other woman's mind working.
"Do you think you can win with her? I get what you're trying to do with getting her involved, and I'm sure she'd love it. You've got a big heart, especially when it comes to her, and I just don't want you to put yourself at a disadvantage simply because you want to do something nice for her. This is something that could potentially be life-changing for you. I just need to know you've really considered everything." Bridget felt bad making it sound like it was just about winning the competition, but she knew if Franky won, she'd most likely buy her own restaurant; something she said she'd always dreamed about.
"I feel like I can make it work. I'll find easier stuff that she can do, but that's still helpful. Liz and Shayne know their shit." The brunette tried to read the older woman's face.
"It's ultimately your decision. If you're sure, then I'm okay with it if Em agrees." Bridget would give her consent, but she would let the young girl decide for herself if she wanted to do it. She would be very surprised, however, if she declined.
"Thanks, Gidge," Franky's huge smile had returned. "And yeah, of course it's up to her."
"When does she need to be there?" The blonde would have to let the school know, and clear some time off with Vera.
"She'd come in Thursday morning, and stay until after filming was done sometime Friday evening." She caught the look of surprise on Bridget's face. "She'd me with me and Liz the whole time. She'd even have a bed in the same room, or she could sleep with me in my bed."
"Okay, just make it clear that once she's in, she's in. This is something important, and she can't decide halfway through that she's not into it anymore." The blonde thought this would be a good lesson for Emily about following through on something once you'd made a commitment.
"I think she's going to be so excited." Franky was pretty sure that she wouldn't be getting much sleep the next couple of nights.
"Speaking of the finale, and filming being over; I think that we should celebrate after everything is done Friday night, whether you win or not." Bridget gave her a small grin.
"Oh yeah?" She did that quick little scrunch of her nose that the blonde thought was cute.
"Mhm." Bridget nodded her head. "I want to take you to a nice hotel, and we can just spend the night together."
"Gidge, you don't have to take me anywhere." Franky would be happy as long as she had the older woman in her arms.
"I know, but you've worked hard, you always do, and you do so much for us. Besides, I want to, and that's reason enough on it's own." The blonde saw the younger woman smile, then shift in her chair. Franky had always been uncomfortable receiving praise or compliments. "Plus, it's already booked."
The brunette gave a small laugh. "Well in that case, where are we going?"
"The Grand Hyatt. I got us the deluxe king room." Bridget gave her a wink.
"That's….expensive." It was the first word that came into Franky's mind. "It'll be amazing though, I can't wait." She realized that her first comment made it sound like she wasn't grateful, so she wanted to make sure that the blonde knew that she absolutely did appreciate it. "What about Em?"
"Vera is taking her for the night. It's all worked out." Bridget had asked her friend before she'd known about Emily probably being in the finale, but she didn't think it would really change a lot.
"That's great! I hope she behaves and doesn't want to come with us." Franky could picture Vera having an awful night of losing sleep if the young girl knew that they had gone somewhere without her.
The blonde shook her head. "I'm going to tell her that you aren't allowed to come home until later on Saturday afternoon."
"Lying to her? That's not like you, babe," the brunette said with mock shock.
Bridget simply shrugged. "It's harmless."
"True." Franky looked to her left. "I have to go now. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Get some rest. I love you." The blonde blew her a kiss.
"I love you, too."
