11th to 23rd Nov 2003
Unwelcome Ties By Western Blakehawke.
Set after LATR. 2021.
Ames meets the first human looking transgenic. Alec is reunited with a sibling and takes a road trip.
Chapter 6
Day Five.
The next day.
6:10am.
The kids had had their barcodes removed and everyone had sorted out their dirty laundry into two and a half bin liners to be washed later that day.
Will had been busy making pancakes for all her kids; she included Alec in the kid category when it came to food, while they discussed what to add to the shopping list. Top of everyone's want list was more food. That included cat and dog food.
After they had all finished eating Will ran down the list, she had written it up only for appearances sake. The only category not on the list was food, they would just collect the items they needed food wise from memory.
General
Sleeping bags
Blankets
Air mattresses
Pillows
Sheets
Pillow cases
Bleach
Washing powder
Washing up liquid
Litter tray
Cat litter
Flea spray
Flea collars
Toilet paper
Baby wipes
Kitchen towel
First aid stuff
Batteries
Towels
Grooming
Toothbrushes
Hairbrushes
Combs
Flannels
Toiletries
Soap
Nail clippers
Razors
Shaving cream
Floss
Mouthwash
Female hygiene products
Fun stuff
DVDs
CD's
Personal CD player
Books / Activity books
Computer games
Soft toys
Board games
Chess set
Guitar
Art material
Blank disks
CD Roms
Clothing
Underwear
Socks
Shoes
Coats
General
Gloves
Hats
Scarves
"Okay, I can't think of anything else, anyone?" Will asked looking at those around her.
The others all shook their heads.
"Hey you can look at Aunt Becky's stuff and see if you want any of it!" Jay suddenly piped up. "Ms. McNeill had all of it laundered." He added, before racing off to get the suitcases.
"Good idea Jay." Will stated as she hurried after him.
Cooper followed to help. After a few moments they returned with Becky's three suitcases and four bags and began going through them, organizing the contents into types, they were sorting through one at a time.
Everyone but Alec was seated on the floor, Alec just sat drinking his coffee with a bemused expression on his face, the animals having been fed and walked before the people, were napping in the bunk bed room.
"Hey a CD player!" Bret yelled grinning as he held it up. "Scratch that off the list Will."
Will nodded grinning and continued to sort through the contents of the suitcase, handing the clothing to the girls so that they could choose items then try them on later.
"There are CD's too, DVDs and books!" Jay informed them and pointed at the holdall that he knew contained those items.
Cooper ignoring the one bag at a time policy, grabbed the holdall and quickly removed the contents. He carefully stacked them on the floor as he listed them.
"Hmmm, girly type CD's, lets look at the DVDs hmm The Sound of Music; Titanic; Shakespeare in love…. The only one that might be okay is Sound of music, it says a family fleeing the Germans in World War Two." He commented then moved on. "Books…. Romances! Ugh! Hmmm, self defence pointless, recipe book, here Will!"
He chucked the book at her she deftly caught it, and grinned at him.
Will passed the book to Alec. "Here, guess who's learning to cook tonight!" She quipped.
Alec reluctantly took the book. "Hey if you want food poisoning sure!" He countered grinning.
"Oh don't worry I'll be supervising." Will replied smiling up at him.
"The kids need lessons too Will." Alec reminded her hoping to distract her.
"Alec, I'm gonna have years to teach the kids to cook." Will patiently reminded him.
Alec opened his mouth to comment but was cut off.
"You'll have a useful skill by the end of the trip, even if it only translates to one or two meals it's more than Max is capable of." She stated, hoping to engage his competitive spirit.
Alec thought about this and grinned. "Yeah Max can't cook either, yep I'll take those lessons!"
Will just grinned in response and grabbed the next suitcase, the first having been emptied of the items it contained, which was only warm weather clothes.
"Cooking lessons sound good!" Danny commented smiling. "It gets kind of boring eating cold food all the time, I don't mind having lessons Mom!"
The other kids all added their own agreements to this including Jay who added.
"Yeah making cakes and cookies is really cool, especially getting to clean out the bowl and then eat the cake or cookies!"
"Will how about you teach me cake making first?" Alec asked hopefully.
"Alec, there's no time on the trip it'll be meals only, on your visits, I'll teach you how to bake cakes and cookies." Will promised the downcast transgenic. "Hey we can still buy 'em!" she reminded him.
"Put cakes on you shopping list!" Alec ordered her.
"Yes Sir!" Will replied saluting him.
The kids laughed at the adults antics, then continued to finish unpacking all Becky's luggage, since Cooper had not been told off for opening another bag before the last was sorted, they had decided to open all the luggage at once and the lounge was now strewn with clothes and various other items.
"Okay, lets get going then!" Alec said as he headed for the cab. "The next town is in Maryland, so we're making progress!" He grinned as he started up the motor home. "Hope they have a good supply of cakes!"
Will laughed and rejoined the kids in sorting out Becky's belongings, she only raised an eyebrow over the fact that the contents of all the bags was now strewn around in no type of order, before she set to and started organizing the mess.
After five minutes or so all of the items had been categorised.
Cassidy and Nikita were now in the master bedroom trying on the clothes they had picked out, Will had declined to choose any because after identifying Rebecca she felt uncomfortable at the idea of wearing her clothes, though she thought that Rebecca would not have minded, she let the X 6's have all of the items.
The toiletries and first aid kit were placed in the shower room; CD's DVD's and books on the shelf in the lounge with Jay's and those that Will had bought along; the money that had been hidden in the bags, was placed with the majority of the funds for the trip, in the hidden safe in the master bedroom. The bags and suitcases were then placed inside each other to be returned to the master bedroom.
Cassidy and Nikita returned grinning and flopped onto the floor since the seats were all taken.
"Mom they fit us fine!" Cassidy stated smiling.
"Yep! We packed 'em all away too!" Nikita added.
"That's great!" Will responded grinning at them.
Bret stood up and grabbed the suitcase full of bags and without a word returned them to their storage place he swiftly returned.
"Hey you want to play a fun game?" Jay asked the other kids.
"Yes!" Robyn and Ryanne yelled in unison bouncing on their seat.
"Sure!" Cooper added equally interested but he refrained from bouncing.
The others all added their willingness to play a game. Will stood up and left them to it, deciding to join Alec in the cab, they both grinned hearing Jay explain the spotting game to his new siblings.
"He's ecstatic over finally having siblings and pets." Will commented smiling.
"I bet Ames would love finding out that not only is his son happy to call a transgenic mom, but also loves having a transgenic uncle and seven transgenic siblings!" Alec chuckled as he imagined Ames ballistic reaction.
"Alec remember no matter how much he goads you, no matter that you'd love to see the look on his face, you can not tell him!" Will sternly reminded her younger brother.
"Relax Will, I'd never be that stupid! No way would I put you and the kids in danger like that!" Alec firmly reassured her.
Will patted his arm. "I know you wouldn't, but still felt it needed saying."
"Yeah I know why too, you fell in love with the kids on re meeting them didn't you, that's why you got all wolf on me when I moaned about taking them along." Alec correctly surmised.
Will smiled and looked wistfully at her wedding band that she still wore as part of her pretence at being Jay and now the other kid's mom.
"Hey what's with the look?" Alec asked in concern. "You'll meet someone else, he'll be your choice, not an assignment and I'm sure he won't uh freak about what you and the kids are and add another load of kids to your brood!" Alec firmly reassured her believing whole heartedly in what he was saying.
"Only if he's a single father." Will quietly stated.
"What?" Alec asked as he glanced at her confused.
"I can't have kids Alec, Sandemann saw to that." She quietly told him. "I must have been the youngest person ever to be sterilised."
Alec looked at her in shock, the thought of an X being sterilised had never occurred to him, since he knew that none of the X-5's or 6's were. He had assumed that Will had chosen not to have kids with John because their marriage was an assignment, even if she did love him.
"Alec watch the road!" Will yelped as she lunged at the steering wheel and put them back in the correct lane.
Alec did as instructed, still silent from the shock of her revelation, he kept glancing at her but only for a few seconds at a time as with a supreme effort of will he maintained his concentration on driving.
"I'm fine bro, I dealt with my anger and resentment years ago." She reassured him. "Hey it's not all bad, I never had to suffer the indignity of heat; I don't menstruate and I'll never go through the agony of labour!" She half joked grinning.
Alec could see and hear that she was being utterly truthful with him so he relaxed and returned her grin. "Well that solves the mystery of why Renfro didn't have you in the breeding scheme." He told her. "We were all kind of wondering how you got out of it, but no one wanted to volunteer to ask!" He only half joked, since no one had wanted the task, since she had not mentioned why in her debriefing files.
Will burst out laughing at this, she had accurately pinned the querying looks she got from some of her kin after the first couple, when they never followed through with a question. "Yeah, that was something that Sandemann allowed to be known." She replied when her laughter subsided.
8:18am.
Maryland
They rolled into the town that they had pegged as being large enough to supply their needs.
Alec remained with the motor home to mind it and the dogs and cats. Will had decided to take the kids to a shoe shop first, since the transgenic kids shoes did not really fit them, being too large and were a little the worse for wear.
8:51am
Will and the kids emerged from the shoe shop, each of the children were now shod in good strong walking boots, Will had decided to get Jay some to, so that each child had two pairs of shoes. Their old shoes were in the bag that each carried. The woman in the shop had been most helpful and had directed them to a large discount store that sold everything but food.
10:24am.
They finally emerged from the discount warehouse, fully laden with goods.
"We'll take these back to the motor home and then finish the shopping." Will told the kids and they set off.
10:39am
Alec had spotted them coming and opened the motor home door, they all trudged in and haphazardly dumped their bags in the lounge.
"Hey Will, we'll be passing other towns all the way to Montreal and I'm sure Canada has shops!" Alec quipped sarcastically as he eyed all the newly acquired stuff. "How much did all this stuff cost?"
"Relax Alec I used the credit card." Will assured him. "That's why I got everything I saw that we might need here, instead of waiting until we got to Canada."
"We found a great discount warehouse!" Cooper told him. "Seemed dumb not to take advantage of it, by buying what we'd need later in Canada."
"Alec it also keeps our cover of a family moving for a better life, if we don't buy essentials like more crockery and bedding in the area where we plan to settle." Will patiently reminded him.
"Yeah point." Alec responded nodding. "So did you get any food?"
"Not yet!" Will replied laughing. "We thought we'd drop this stuff off first then hit the supermarket."
"Mom can we stay here and show Uncle Alec what we bought?" Jay asked, speaking for all the younger kids whom he had quickly assumed leadership of.
Will shrugged her right shoulder. "Sure. Okay Cass; Nik; Bret; Coop lets go get some food."
"Some? Lots Will lots!" Alec yelped.
"Alec there are other towns with shops." Will replied paraphrasing what he had said to her. "We'll get what we can, and have room for and use the credit card, we will stock up on tinned goods etcetera, other stuff." She shrugged her right shoulder. "We'll get what we can."
She and the X6's left the motor home before Alec could reply.
Alec turned to the youngsters. "Okay so what'd you buy?"
The youngsters began to excitedly dump the contents of bags onto the floor and table, basically anywhere where there was space.
12:21pm.
Will and the X'6s finally returned from shopping and dumped their new purchases in the kitchen and lounge. Cooper carefully laid down the bagged guitar that he had slung over his shoulder. They began to quickly unpack and put away the perishable items.
"You were gone a long time." Alec commented as he and the youngsters began to nose in the grocery bags. "We were about to form a search party." He quipped grinning.
Will tapped him on the hand lightly. "Quit nosing in the bags, if you want to see what we brought help unpack 'em and hand the stuff to us so we can put it away." Will ordered.
Alec pouted but complied, the youngsters bored wandered off and started playing catch with the dogs.
Will rolled her eyes. "Outside guys!" She ordered them. "Alec you supervise!"
"Geeez Will make up your mind would you!" Alec told her sarcastically, but followed the youngsters outside.
"Go on, I'll finish putting the stuff away then start lunch." Will told the X6's tilting her head towards the door.
"Thanks Mom!" Cassidy said as she swiftly joined the others outside.
"Thanks!" Bret echoed and raced after her followed by a grinning Nikita, who had nodded her own thanks to Will.
Will looked at Cooper. "Aren't you gonna join them?"
Copper had moved over to the guitar that Will had purchased for him, the reason for the lengthy shopping trip. "I'll stay inside and tune my guitar, if that's okay?." He asked her sounding unsure of himself for once.
Will grinned at him. "No problem suga."
Will had noticed a launderette nearby so she quickly collected the two and a half bin liners full of laundry that they had sorted out before breakfast and after she finished preparing lunch and put it on to cook, she headed over to it.
13:10pm
Will opened the motor home's door and yelled. "Lunch is almost ready, come and wash up!"
Everyone traipsed inside immediately, they were all starving, the dogs happily flopped onto the large cushion bed that had be purchased for them, thoroughly exhausted by their game of catch.
Ten minutes or so later.
Everyone was tucking into the stew, Will having decided to cook the main meal for lunch and only leave Alec the task of creating a light meal for tea, since he was an amateur in the kitchen and she didn't want howls of complaints from the kids over their being hungry.
Six of the kids were squeezed around the table, Cooper and Nikita were seated on the floor with trays on their laps and Will and Alec stood at the counter eating. The dogs and cats had been shut in the bunk bed room, to stop them from trying to snag food.
"Ah Will I can understand most of your purchases but an inflatable raft?" Alec queried as he helped himself to more stew.
"The kids all wanted it and since I wouldn't mind owning a property with a lake….." Will trailed off shrugging her right shoulder.
"I suppose the answers similar for the other odd purchases." Alec said rhetorically rolling his eyes.
"Yep!" Jay answered him anyways. "We got some really cool stuff!" He grinned.
"Will try not to turn them into spoilt brats!" Alec sarcastically ordered her.
Will laughed at this. "C'mon Alec we plan on being stuck in the middle of nowhere, I needed to buy stuff to keep them amused, also I hate spoilt brats so I most definitely will not let my kids turn in them!"
"You're the only brat in our family!" Cassidy sweetly informed Alec.
The other kids burst out laughing at that comment and Alec's expression.
"Damn she's taking after you already!" Alec sarcastically told Will then grinned at Cassidy. "Good come back Cass!"
"Thank you!" Cassidy replied and returned his grin.
13:53pm.
The stew had been finished and everyone was just lounging around.
Alec looked at the clock. "Okay time to head out!" He stated and made to start the motor home.
"I want to drive!" Bret told him as he also stood up.
"Look kid if I need a break I'll let you know!" Alec told him firmly and sat in the drivers seat.
"You've been driving the last few days!" Bret pointed out, in a slightly whiney tone.
"He's right Alec, quit being territorial and give someone else a go!" Will called from the back.
"But….!" Alec whined pouting.
"Alec let Bret drive." Will firmly ordered. "Not driving won't kill you!"
"It might!" Alec sarcastically responded looking at Bret.
Bret glared at him. "Hey I can drive, I excel at driving!"
"He does Alec." Will confirmed.
"And you know this how, 'cause you adopted him so he must be brilliant?" Alec replied sarcastically, still not budging from the drivers seat.
"No Alec, I know his skills 'cause I taught him." Will casually informed him.
"Oh." Alec replied his planned sarcastic comeback dropped at Will's unexpected answer. With a last longing look around the cab, Alec moved out of the drivers seat and back into the body of the vehicle.
Bret swiftly took the vacated seat and started up the motor home before Alec could change his mind.
"Cheer up Uncle Alec you can play monopoly with us." Jay informed the pouting transgenic. "You can be banker." He stated as he finished setting up the board.
Alec grinned at him and rubbed his hands in glee. "Okay I want the sports car." He stated as he seated himself.
"It looks a little like your car." Danny observed. "Have you still got it?"
"Yep it's safely garaged in Seattle." Alec replied as he swiftly sorted out every ones money.
Playing with Jay, Danny and Alec were Cassidy, Robyn and Ryanne.
Nikita was working on fixing a broken CD player that she had found a week or so earlier, since Will had indulged her by letting her buy whatever wires etcetera that she wanted, and the equipment to fix stuff, as long as they were not too expensive. She had commandeered the master bedroom and was in there happily working away.
Cooper was seated on the floor, acoustic guitar in his hands and a pad of paper next to him, he was contentedly composing.
The dogs were lounging on their bed nearby and the cats as usual were asleep in the bunk room.
Will had been sorting out the laundry and placing it in the correct drawers or wardrobe space assigned to each member of her family. Finishing that she grabbed a book and joined Bret in the cab, where she settled back and started reading.
Bret stopped at a gas station on the way of the town, Will hopped out and added gas and alcohol to the tanks, paid and hopped back in.
17:04pm.
The satellite phone rang.
Cooper answered it since he was closest. "Hello." Listens. "Mom sure I'll get her…MOM PHONE!" He yelled. "It's some guy!"
Will swiftly moved and took the phone from him. "Hello." Listens. "Hi Max." Paused. "Your at Logan's, phones on speaker, I'll put this one on speaker too, okay who's with you besides Logan?"
Nikita having heard Cooper's yell had come into the lounge and sat on the floor.
"O.C and Joshua…. Who's the kid his voice is way too deep to be Ray?" Max responded.
"Hi Max! That's Cooper and I'm Jay now, short for James!" Jay informed those in Seattle.
"Max remember the four X6's and the X8 we kept from getting caught, the ones who helped spring you from A… the governments clutches, well we found them in Virginia last night with two other X8's!" Alec informed those in Seattle before Will got the chance.
"They were supposed to be safely in Canada." Logan stated a little peeved after all his trouble to get the necessary papers.
"That's exactly what I said!" Alec informed him.
"We did go to Canada, before we crossed the boarder we found the twins, so we took 'em with us, we lived in Canada for ages, then accidentally got bought back over the boarder and ended up in Virginia, where Will caught Ralph's scent as they were driving by and they stopped the motor home and Will came and got us and said she's adopting us no arguments and here we are!" Cooper informed them then paused for breath.
"Yeah, she's now got eight kids, two large dogs and four cats!" Alec added. "The kids had pets!"
"She renamed 'em too!" Jay piped up. "Tell them your new names!" He ordered his siblings.
"Nikita, formerly Fixit."
"Daniel, Danny formerly Bugler."
"Robyn formerly Kia."
"Ryanne formerly Kat."
"Cassidy formerly Ralph."
"Bret formerly Bullet." He called from the cab.
"Cooper formerly Zero."
"Max, Will's a hell of a lot better at naming people than you are!" Alec taunted her. "Ow!"
Will lowered her hand from lightly hitting Alec on the head. "She'd do the same for me." She sweetly informed him.
The kids started laughing at this.
"So guys how are things in Seattle?" Will asked ignoring Alec's hurt look.
"Normal is still a pain! He is such a grouch 'cause your away Alec, so you better get your buns back here soon otherwise, I'm gonna be on trial for killing that tight assed jerk!" Original Cindy informed them. "Will congratulations on becoming a mom to eight! Four girls and four boys that's a nice balance." She added genuinely pleased for the transgenic.
"Thanks O.C. I think so too." Will grinned in response.
"Hey Max is it true that most X's burn water?" Jay suddenly chimed in.
"Uh yeah way?" Max asked puzzled.
"'Cause I wanted Uncle Alec to make me pancakes for breakfast and Mom said better have cereal or toast if I didn't want food poisoning and Uncle Alec agreed and said that every X series that he knows apart from Mom burns water." Jay informed her. "Aunt Becky had a cook book and Mom said she's gonna teach Uncle Alec how to make a meal from it tonight!"
"I hope you gonna be supervising him suga, cause believe me leave an X alone in the kitchen even with instructions and they still manage to make something inedible!" O.C sarcastically stated.
"Mom already promised to watch him like a hawk!" Nikita told her.
"Yeah and we had our main meal for lunch, so there wouldn't be so much pressure on Uncle Alec regarding our tea." Cooper added grinning.
"Uncle Alec." Max stated in an amused tone of voice. "Wow I find it so hard to see you being responsible enough to be left in charge of kids."
"Actually he's very good at keeping them amused." Will stuck up for him. "I actually feel fine leaving them with him."
"Hey being an uncle's fine 'cause you can hand the kids back!" Alec replied grinning. "Will's the one who has to discipline 'em! Though she's actually got that down pat, she just reverts to Manticore, I only met Lydecker a couple of times but she does a mean impression of him!"
"Well who else would I base my parenting skills on?" Will sarcastically pointed out. "'Sides giving orders in a don't argue with me tone seems to work!"
"But you're not mean like those at Manticore?" Joshua asked confused.
"Of course not Josh!" Will replied. "I think I'm pretty laid back, but on some issues I don't want a debate, like bed times!"
"Yeah Josh, she only did the I outrank you bit on bedtime and adopting the kids." Alec confirmed.
"That's good, Joshua would hate to think tiny fella is turning into Manticore person." He stated sounding relieved.
"Nah never happen!" Will firmly replied.
"Well we only called in to check up on you but since everything is obviously fine…." Logan said.
"We're in Maryland, so we're making good time." Will informed those in Seattle.
"That's great, I'll start trying to locate bigger houses for you." Logan promised
"Thanks Logan." Will replied.
"Will I know that you're still using Wilhelmina Blake Merlyn Wolfe born 4th July 1992, but what about the kids what are their full names and birthdates so I can make up ID's for each of them and send them to you." Logan told her.
"Well as Jay said he's James….. Jay I'm going to give you a new birthday okay?" Will asked.
"Yeah Aunt Becky did too." Jay replied nodding not caring when his birthday was as long as he still got presents."
"Okay then James Matthew Robert born 9th of August 2014." Will stated making a mental note of what she told Logan.
"Cool that makes me older than I would be using my real birthday!" Jay yelled ecstatic at suddenly being a few months older.
Will grinned at him. "Bret Nathaniel Tobias born 2nd January 2004; Nikita Amber Kara born 21st April 2005; Cassidy Sophia Tabitha and Cooper Sean Thomas born 3rd May 2006." Will stated.
Alec burst out laughing. "Tabby and Tom are names you give cats Will!"
"Thomas means twin and Tabitha is the only girls name I like that'll go nicely with Thomas." Will stated rolling her eyes at him.
"Oh right." Alec replied and quit laughing but retained his usual cocky grin.
"Right and the others?" Logan asked, getting Will back on subject before she and Alec started their usual annoying banter.
"Logan you'll need to put a different birth mother on their birth certificates, I'll pretend that I was my husband's second wife, he was a widower with only his four kids as family." Will advised. "Otherwise it'll look like I would have been eleven when Bret was born. The four eldest are my adopted step children, can you make up adoption papers too?"
"Of course Will that's not a problem." Logan replied his grin was evident in his voice.
"Right……. Daniel Caleb Vaughn born 2nd September 2013; Robyn Jennifer Louisa and Ryanne Jessica Laura born 10th December 2015." Will finished giving the names and birth dates.
"Okay I've got all that, I'll make up what you need ASAP, we need to be going. Bye everyone safe trip." Logan stated.
"Bye Will, Alec, kids!" O.C. cheerfully stated.
"Bye tiny fella, bye Alec, bye bye kids!" Joshua echoed.
"Bye guys!" Max called just before Logan cut off the call.
"We didn't get to say goodbye!" Jay moaned.
"I wanted to say bye!" Ryanne whined and Robyn nodded her head.
"Never mind, I'm sure they'll call again, I know they'll call again." Will told them just as they crossed the state line.
Pennsylvania.
"Hey if anyone's interested we just crossed into Pennslyvania!" Bret called from the cab.
"Cool! Vampires!" Jay yelled bouncing up and down.
"That's Transylvania in Romania on the other side of the Atlantic!" Will responded laughing.
"Yeah buddy and vamps are fictional, myths …..they don't exist!" Alec added also laughing
"How do you know?" Jay asked. "Most people would think that you guys or Familiars were myths too." He accurately pointed out.
"Well if they do exist Buffy here and I will stake 'em!" Alec replied.
"Buffy? You're calling me a teenager?" Will asked Alec not sure whether to be flattered or insulted.
"Calling you Buffy is a good thing." Alec hastily told her.
"C'mon lets finish our game!" Jay ordered bored with the adults nonsensical prattling.
"Yeah, Uncle Alec needs to be free to cook our tea." Cooper drolly stated as he picked up his guitar.
Alec groaned at the thought of his imminent cooking lesson, then turned his attention back to the game, trying to block the notion of cooking from his mind.
Everyone went back to whatever they were doing before the phone call.
18:39pm.
The kids had decided to watch The Sound of Music, all except Cassidy who was driving, though she was avidly listening to it.
Will had had to physically restrain Alec to stop him from taking over after Bret announced that he wanted to quit.
Will and Alec were in the kitchen, Alec was pouting and glaring at her.
"C'mon Alec cooking will get you points with females." Will quietly pointed out, so that only he would hear.
"It will?" Alec asked pout and glare miraculously disappearing. "Why didn't you tell me that weeks ago." He rhetorically asked.
Will just shrugged and went back to flipping through the cook book looking for a suitable recipe. "Baked bean chilli, yep we have all the ingredients, except for the beef mince, but we have veggie mince, so we'll use that instead, says feeds six, so we double the ingredients and there'll be enough for all of us." Will told him.
She then handed him the book, and started gathering ingredients and utensils etc. "Okay that's everything you need now you just follow the recipe. I'll make up the rice to go with it." She told him after placing everything onto the counter.
Alec looked up from rereading the recipe. "But Will…" He whined.
"Females." Will blunty stated. "Alec measure everything out two times and chop them up separately, make sure your ingredients for each batch stay separate." She advised.
Alec nodded without another word and started following the instructions, muttering them to himself as he did so. "680 grams of mince okay doubled that's 1360 grams which is three pounds." He weighed out the mince then went to the next preparation on the list. "Two tablespoons of olive oil, okay four, I'll do that at the appropriate time, one okay two large onions finely chopped." Alec picked up one of the onions and was about to start chopping it with it's skin on.
"Alec peel them first." Will told him patiently keeping her expression neutral.
"What, well why doesn't the stupid book say that!" He asked her aggrieved.
"'Cause it's common sense." Will patiently replied.
Alec pouted at her and returned to his task, he swiftly peeled then chopped up the onions. "340 grams of button mushrooms roughly chopped, okay double will be 780 grams." Alec swiftly weighed out the correct amount and then roughly chopped them up. "Three 215 gram cans of baked beans need six, check, okay can opener." Alec spotted it and quickly opened the cans.
"Two 400 gram cans of chopped tomatoes need four, got 'em." He swiftly opened those cans too. "290 gram can of kidney beans need two." Opened them. "One teaspoon of paprika so need two and one of cayenne pepper two again, okay will add them when needed too. Um salt and freshly ground black pepper how much…. Will?"
"Just put them on the table, so everyone can season the meal to their own taste, I'll make sure no one goes overboard before trying it first." Will casually replied. "Alec remember to stir the mince."
"Okay." Alec returned his attention to the next stage of the meal. "Um brown the mince in a large non-stick frying pan." He looked at the stove and saw that Will had placed two frying pans for him to use, he poured the mince into them and browned it stirring it with the wooden spoon that Will had placed on the counter.
"Remove the mince from the pan, draining any fat." Alec did so then. "Will what should I do with the mince 'til I need it?"
Will silently handed him two large mixing bowls.
"Thanks." He said and grinned, placing the mince in them. "Then add the oil." He carefully measured out the oil and added it to each pan. "Add the onion and gently fry until softened but not browned. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft."
"Here." Will said handing him another wooden spoon. "Prod 'em every so often."
"Thanks." Alec grinned at her and did as she advised until they were soft. "Add the mince, baked beans, tomatoes and kidney beans." Alec swiftly did so. "Stir in the paprika and cayenne pepper and simmer for 45 minutes." Alec quickly measured out the spices and added them and then let it simmer.
Thirty minutes later.
"Cassidy find somewhere that you can pull over, you have fifthteen minutes 'til teas ready!" Will called.
"Okay according to the GPS, there's a campsite about twelve minutes away." Cassidy replied.
"Sounds good, make for it and we'll stay there for the night." Will responded.
"Will do!" Cassidy replied and returned her full attention to driving.
Eleven minutes later.
Cassidy brought the motor home to a stop at the campsite. The kids all washed their hands, set the table and poured drinks for everyone.
19:58pm
"Okay it's cooked." Alec told Will. "Is the rice done?"
"Yep." Will replied. "Hand me the plates, so I can start dolling it out."
Alec complied and all the kids watched as Will dolled out the food, Alec brought it over to the table and after everyone was served the eight children looked at their plates then at the two adults.
Will sprinkled some salt and pepper on her food and everyone followed suit, all were waiting for her to try the chilli before they would touch it, even Alec.
Will guessed this and took a forkful of chilli added some rice, then ate it. "It's good Alec, see you can cook!" Will told him grinning.
At her compliment they all tucked in.
20:17pm.
They had just finished their meal.
"Okay, Jay, Danny and Nikita you have clean up duty, Cooper you get to walk the dogs, Robyn and Ryanne you feed them and the cats when they get back." Will gave out the list of assignments.
The kids started to do their tasks. Cooper collected the dogs from the bunk room.
"Uncle Alec the chilli wasn't half bad." Cooper told him grinning as he leashed the dogs, he then quickly exited the motor home.
"Yep! It was good!" Jay yelled bouncing around the kitchen.
"I liked it too!" Robyn and Ryanne said in unison.
"Me too!" Danny added.
"Yeah, it was good!" Cassidy stated grinning.
"I wished you'd made more." Nikita added.
"Yeah it was great, so what are you gonna make tomorrow?" Bret asked grinning.
"Tomorrow?" Alec said in shock he looked at Will.
"Might as well give you a few more lessons." Will stated shrugging. "It's a good idea to have more than one meal that you can cook, otherwise people might get bored." She obliquely added.
Alec got her reference and nodded. "Okay while I'm here you can teach me." He grinned.
20:42pm.
The kids had finished their chores and were starting to aggravate each other.
"I'm gonna drive!" Alec said standing up and he hurried to the cab. "Our cover won't be damaged by one night of travelling." He informed Will over his shoulder.
"That's fine Alec." Will told him.
"What you're not gonna argue?" Alec asked shocked.
"Nope, the sooner we get to Canada, the sooner we can find a large property and everyone won't be in each others space all the time." Will replied rolling her eyes.
Alec nodded and was soon starting up the motor home.
Will glanced at her watch. "Okay everyone settle down!" She all but yelled.
The kids ignored her and continued the arguments or playing.
"AAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEE!" Will let out an ear piercing howl and everyone covered their ears and glared at her.
"Thank you for your attention." Will drolly stated. "Okay kids I'm gonna tell you a story, then it's bedtime." She told them.
"A story?" Bret said in surprise. "No ones ever told us bedtime stories before."
"I know honey." Will gently replied and sat down.
"Mom's good at stories!" Jay informed them. "Can it be about Boba Fett?"
"That was the plan." Will replied grinning.
"Goody!" Jay yelled bouncing about.
"Jay, everyone, when you're sitting comfortably I'll begin." Will drolly informed them.
Jay quit bouncing immediately and he and the others made themselves comfortable on the seats and air mattresses that they had pumped up earlier.
22:07pm.
Will had finished the story and all the kids were now in bed, Cassidy and Nikita were bedded down in the lounge. Will had joined Alec in the cab, were she napped, whilst he drove.
In the early hours of the morning the motor home passed over the state boundary into New York.
Alec found a campsite and pulled in for the morning, so that they could all get out and stretch their legs etcetera. He then settled down for a nap until the kids woke up.