*Disclaimer* Don't own anything. So don't sue! BtVS belongs to Joss the Almighty and his pals. Matchbox Twenty belongs to Matchbox Twenty. Their song belongs to them. I'm just taking a stroll in their little world. No harm intended.
--------- PREVIOUSLY IN MY LITTLE FANTASY WORLD ---------
"Hey, what about this? You guys let me stay here for a while and I'll be your translator." I asked the slayer. "I can cook too."
"Alright, you can stay with us until Willow comes back. Then we'll decide whether or not we have to send you back." Buffy replied in surrender at the mention of edible food.
"I think I can settle for that." I smiled in triumph.
--------- IRONCHEF CHALLENGE ---------
The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly. Soon it was evening and I was getting ready to prepare supper. It turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. Their fridge was near empty, and whatever little that was inside was either smelling of ickiness or blooming with mold. Holding my breath, I salvaged what I thought I could use from the mass of stinkiness and began trying to whip up something creative with them. And by the way, cooking for thirty people was NOT easy!
"Hey. You need a hand?" Dawn poked her head into the kitchen and offered.
"How many do you have? I'll take them all." I was grateful she showed up. This kitchen was so unfamiliar to me I had been spending way too much time searching for spatulas and pots.
Dawn put on an apron and rolled up her sleeves. "Ok. What you've got? Eggs, bacon bits, sprouts, and EW! Oatmeal?" She examined my ingredients and asked in confusion. "What exactly are you going to do with these? Don't think they'd mix very well. Especially not for dinner!"
"Eggs and oatmeal actually mix better than they sound." I smiled to her obviously disgusted and horrified look. "It's a recipe I got from an Indian friend. Of course I have to improvise a little. They don't quite use dried bacon bits and sprouts. Where can I find salt? Oh and Tobasco if you have it?"
Dawn went to one of the cupboards and retrieved the jar of salt from behind the potato chip bags and cereal boxes. Then she looked through another cupboard and dug out a bottle of red sauce. "Will this do? It's the closest we have."
"Yup. Perfect." I said after taking a look at it. "Do you mind whipping up the eggs for me? Three drops of that hot sauce to each egg."
"Piece of cake." She said as she took the mixing bowl I handed her.
We buzzed around like bees for a moment until we had everything ready and thrown in the oven. We then sat down and let out a sigh of relief, completely spent.
"Thanks Dawn. Couldn't have done this without you. You know, I really shouldn't have offered to make dinner for you guys." I confessed. "See on TV, we never really see you eat supper. Maybe once, when Buffy was trying to get a Thanksgiving dinner going."
"Huh? My sister cooks? When did THAT happen?" Dawn asked in disbelief.
"Let's see. That would be season 4. About a year before you showed up. It was actually quite a funny episode. Spike just got chipped. Anya and Xander just started dating."
"Tell me what happened!" Dawn requested in excitement.
"Hold on wait. I wanna hear it too." Amanda and a few other potentials entered and joined in our conversation.
So I began summarizing the whole Pangs episode to them: Angel covertly appearing in Sunnydale; everybody thought that he turned evil again; Spike got turned into a hetchhog when he got shot by the Indian spirits' arrows.
"And he shouted, HEY WATCH THE HEART." I said, impersonating the blond vampire with a British accent and irritated gesture. The girls burst into giggles at my pathetic acting attempt.
"So at the end, everyone's sitting at the table having dinner, and that decoration doll thing on the table still has an arrow through it. They said something about it being a lot like the old times, with the whole gang working together and all. Then Xander said 'Yeah, especially with Angel showing up in town.' Everyone then looks at the shocked Buffy in a funny way, and that's the end of the episode. Of course Buffy then went to LA to see Angel." I finished my story and looked at Dawn and the potentials, glad to see that they were all absorbed in the story.
"So typical for Xander!" Dawn commented. "Always stating the hidden obvious, or the obviously hidden."
"My exact thought for the past seven years." I agreed with her. "But honestly, I like him a lot. He's been a really good friend with a great heart. I'd hate to see anything bad that's gonna happen to him." Oops! Spoiler alert. "I mean, hate to see anything bad happening to any of you any time." I corrected myself. Thank god nobody seemed to really catch on to my comment. Because I don't think telling them that Xander's going to lose an eye in three weeks will help with anything.
However seemed like the anything bad happening remark had successfully darkened everybody's heart. An awkward silence bestowed upon the kitchen, until the buzzer on the oven went off, announcing that supper time had arrived.
The group gathered in the kitchen, 'marveling' at my work.
"What's this exactly? Looks kinda quichey." Kennedy asked.
"Are those sprouts in there? You put sprouts in a quiche?" Andrew commented, poking it with a fork.
"Why does it look orangey? There're no bad eggs in it, are there? And you didn't happen to spill some of Spike's pig blood in it right?" Kennedy asked again.
"Hey. Stop poking before you make it a into bee's hive. And I assure you there are no bad eggs or pig blood." I said while snatching the quiche away from the curious hands, and started serving the food onto various plates.
Hesitant, they took forever to decide whether they really wanted to eat the food I made.
"Come on, guys. Just take one bite first then decide whether you want to eat it or not. Not the other way around."
Summing up their courage, they slowly took in a very small mouthful. Then their eating pace suddenly shot up to the extent that I found the scene really entertaining to watch. And of course, fortunate me that they liked it. I don't want to be kicked out of the house yet.
"That's actually good." Dawn said.
"Oh I'm hurt. Don't you have any faith in me at all?" I dramatically covered my heart with my hands and joked.
"No. We only knew you since last night! But now I'll proudly announce you to be our one-and-only-take-no-substitute chef in the Summers residence." Dawn joked back.
"Maybe you should try out for the Iron Chef competition." Anya suggested. "I heard there's lots of winning money involved."
"Not a bad idea." I said. "After all, I did manage to create edible food out of the inedible ingredients in YOUR fridge. I might actually have a chance to win."
* END NOTE * Holy crap! This chapter is STUPID! Oatmeal/sprout quiche? How did I ever think THAT up? Ok, I think I'm going crazy now. I'll classify this as a filler chapter, coz I've been experiencing terrible writer's block lately and nothing came up to continue this story. And it's already been 3 weeks since my last chapter, and Willow should be back by now according to my original plan. Oh well, guess I'll have to move it. Sorry about the bad chap, but my head is really BLANK!
--------- PREVIOUSLY IN MY LITTLE FANTASY WORLD ---------
"Hey, what about this? You guys let me stay here for a while and I'll be your translator." I asked the slayer. "I can cook too."
"Alright, you can stay with us until Willow comes back. Then we'll decide whether or not we have to send you back." Buffy replied in surrender at the mention of edible food.
"I think I can settle for that." I smiled in triumph.
--------- IRONCHEF CHALLENGE ---------
The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly. Soon it was evening and I was getting ready to prepare supper. It turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. Their fridge was near empty, and whatever little that was inside was either smelling of ickiness or blooming with mold. Holding my breath, I salvaged what I thought I could use from the mass of stinkiness and began trying to whip up something creative with them. And by the way, cooking for thirty people was NOT easy!
"Hey. You need a hand?" Dawn poked her head into the kitchen and offered.
"How many do you have? I'll take them all." I was grateful she showed up. This kitchen was so unfamiliar to me I had been spending way too much time searching for spatulas and pots.
Dawn put on an apron and rolled up her sleeves. "Ok. What you've got? Eggs, bacon bits, sprouts, and EW! Oatmeal?" She examined my ingredients and asked in confusion. "What exactly are you going to do with these? Don't think they'd mix very well. Especially not for dinner!"
"Eggs and oatmeal actually mix better than they sound." I smiled to her obviously disgusted and horrified look. "It's a recipe I got from an Indian friend. Of course I have to improvise a little. They don't quite use dried bacon bits and sprouts. Where can I find salt? Oh and Tobasco if you have it?"
Dawn went to one of the cupboards and retrieved the jar of salt from behind the potato chip bags and cereal boxes. Then she looked through another cupboard and dug out a bottle of red sauce. "Will this do? It's the closest we have."
"Yup. Perfect." I said after taking a look at it. "Do you mind whipping up the eggs for me? Three drops of that hot sauce to each egg."
"Piece of cake." She said as she took the mixing bowl I handed her.
We buzzed around like bees for a moment until we had everything ready and thrown in the oven. We then sat down and let out a sigh of relief, completely spent.
"Thanks Dawn. Couldn't have done this without you. You know, I really shouldn't have offered to make dinner for you guys." I confessed. "See on TV, we never really see you eat supper. Maybe once, when Buffy was trying to get a Thanksgiving dinner going."
"Huh? My sister cooks? When did THAT happen?" Dawn asked in disbelief.
"Let's see. That would be season 4. About a year before you showed up. It was actually quite a funny episode. Spike just got chipped. Anya and Xander just started dating."
"Tell me what happened!" Dawn requested in excitement.
"Hold on wait. I wanna hear it too." Amanda and a few other potentials entered and joined in our conversation.
So I began summarizing the whole Pangs episode to them: Angel covertly appearing in Sunnydale; everybody thought that he turned evil again; Spike got turned into a hetchhog when he got shot by the Indian spirits' arrows.
"And he shouted, HEY WATCH THE HEART." I said, impersonating the blond vampire with a British accent and irritated gesture. The girls burst into giggles at my pathetic acting attempt.
"So at the end, everyone's sitting at the table having dinner, and that decoration doll thing on the table still has an arrow through it. They said something about it being a lot like the old times, with the whole gang working together and all. Then Xander said 'Yeah, especially with Angel showing up in town.' Everyone then looks at the shocked Buffy in a funny way, and that's the end of the episode. Of course Buffy then went to LA to see Angel." I finished my story and looked at Dawn and the potentials, glad to see that they were all absorbed in the story.
"So typical for Xander!" Dawn commented. "Always stating the hidden obvious, or the obviously hidden."
"My exact thought for the past seven years." I agreed with her. "But honestly, I like him a lot. He's been a really good friend with a great heart. I'd hate to see anything bad that's gonna happen to him." Oops! Spoiler alert. "I mean, hate to see anything bad happening to any of you any time." I corrected myself. Thank god nobody seemed to really catch on to my comment. Because I don't think telling them that Xander's going to lose an eye in three weeks will help with anything.
However seemed like the anything bad happening remark had successfully darkened everybody's heart. An awkward silence bestowed upon the kitchen, until the buzzer on the oven went off, announcing that supper time had arrived.
The group gathered in the kitchen, 'marveling' at my work.
"What's this exactly? Looks kinda quichey." Kennedy asked.
"Are those sprouts in there? You put sprouts in a quiche?" Andrew commented, poking it with a fork.
"Why does it look orangey? There're no bad eggs in it, are there? And you didn't happen to spill some of Spike's pig blood in it right?" Kennedy asked again.
"Hey. Stop poking before you make it a into bee's hive. And I assure you there are no bad eggs or pig blood." I said while snatching the quiche away from the curious hands, and started serving the food onto various plates.
Hesitant, they took forever to decide whether they really wanted to eat the food I made.
"Come on, guys. Just take one bite first then decide whether you want to eat it or not. Not the other way around."
Summing up their courage, they slowly took in a very small mouthful. Then their eating pace suddenly shot up to the extent that I found the scene really entertaining to watch. And of course, fortunate me that they liked it. I don't want to be kicked out of the house yet.
"That's actually good." Dawn said.
"Oh I'm hurt. Don't you have any faith in me at all?" I dramatically covered my heart with my hands and joked.
"No. We only knew you since last night! But now I'll proudly announce you to be our one-and-only-take-no-substitute chef in the Summers residence." Dawn joked back.
"Maybe you should try out for the Iron Chef competition." Anya suggested. "I heard there's lots of winning money involved."
"Not a bad idea." I said. "After all, I did manage to create edible food out of the inedible ingredients in YOUR fridge. I might actually have a chance to win."
* END NOTE * Holy crap! This chapter is STUPID! Oatmeal/sprout quiche? How did I ever think THAT up? Ok, I think I'm going crazy now. I'll classify this as a filler chapter, coz I've been experiencing terrible writer's block lately and nothing came up to continue this story. And it's already been 3 weeks since my last chapter, and Willow should be back by now according to my original plan. Oh well, guess I'll have to move it. Sorry about the bad chap, but my head is really BLANK!