New and Improved Disclaimer-- Not. Mine.
Dedication -- To my cat, Mr. Wiskerson, because he sat in my lap the entire time I was writing this, and I like to think that his purring wards off writers block.
Neal glared at Kel. "But I don't want to!"
"You sound like my five-year-old nephew," Kel informed him. "Everyone has food preparation at some point. I've done it. You can't avoid it forever."
"You avoid carpentry," Neal retorted.
"That's different. They won't let me help." Kel sighed. "Look, if it makes it any better, I'll have Skye help you. She hasn't had kitchen duty yet either, and you two always seem to have something to talk--or argue--about."
"But I don't like cooking, just ask Alanna!" Neal protested.
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Neal surveyed the kitchen, Skye at his side. She snorted quietly, causing him to glance over at her.
"Don't be negative," he chided.
"I'm not!" she protested. They looked at the kitchen, back at each other, then at the kitchen again. Skye sighed. "Just worried."
"About what?" Neal wanted to know. "I'll have you know that I am quite adept at cooking."
Skye rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you are," she told him. "But I'm not."
Neal stared at her, then laughed. "Skye, you can't be that awful a cook," he assured her. "We'll just give it a try, alright?"
She muttered under her breath, but shrugged her agreement. "What are we going to cook?"
"Stew," was Neal's response. "With meat and potatoes in it. That's fairly easy."
Skye shook her head. "We need something green in it as well. A vegetable."
"Anything but vegetables!" Neal cried dramatically, throwing out his arms with a flourish. Skye raised her eyebrows and shook her head.
"We need some kind of vegetable," she insisted. "What about broccoli?"
"Broccoli is poisonous," Neal told her.
"Broccoli it is, then," Skye announced, ignoring Neal.
"Very well," he sighed. After rummaging about in a cupboard, he turned to face Skye again. "Oh dear. I can't find the broccoli. I guess we won't be using it in our stew."
"It's right here," Skye said impatiently, holding up a sack of the 'poisonous' vegetable.
"Oh…I must have missed it," Neal said innocently.
Skye sighed loudly and turned to look for potatoes. As she turned, her arm swept over the counter and knocked the bag of broccoli onto the floor. Skye whirled around and groaned as she saw stalks of broccoli scattered all over the floor.
"Oh no!" Neal exclaimed. "I suppose now we can't eat any of it, since it's contaminated."
"It's not contaminated!" Skye snapped. "It's only dirt. Once we boil it, it will be alright to eat."
"No, no, it's contaminated," Neal repeated as he gathered the stalks and headed for the trash bin. "We can't eat it. Do you want everyone to get sick? I know what I'm talking about: I'm a healer."
"I'm a healer too!" Skye reminded him. "And it's not contaminated!"
"But it's been on the floor," Neal protested. "The bacteria on the floor has now transferred itself onto the broccoli!"
"Has not!" Skye retorted.
"But the bacteria will make everyone sick!"
"Will not!"
"Yes it will! It's been on the broccoli for a long time now, and it's contaminated!"
"Is not!"
Neal sighed gustily. "You can't win an argument by simply nay-saying everything that I say," he told her.
"I can too," Skye said stubbornly.
"Can not!"
"Can too!"
"Can not!"
"Now who's nay-saying?" Skye taunted. She ducked just in time to dodge the stalk of broccoli Neal threw at her. Picking it up from the floor where it fell, she lobbed it back at him. Soon a full-scale broccoli fight ensued.
"Ahem."
A voice at the door interrupted Skye from jamming her broccoli heads down the back of Neal's shirt. They looked up and saw a serious-looking refugee gazing disapprovingly at them. Skye dropped the broccoli and backed away from Neal.
"Can I help you?" Neal asked the man.
"I was just…cooking…" Skye told the refugee. "We were cooking dinner. Is there something you need?"
The man glanced from Skye to Neal and shook his head. "My wife was cooking our evening meal and was wondering if there was any salt to spare."
"Oh. Of course." Skye hurriedly handed the man a package of salt.
Neal cleared his throat. "Um, look here…what did you say your name was?"
"Amos," the man replied.
"Amos. Well, Amos, there's not really any need to let the lady knight know what's been going on here, if you know what I mean."
The man lost his serious look and smiled at the two of them. "Of course, my lord. I'm sure accidents happen quite often in kitchens."
Skye smiled back gratefully. "Thank you."
Amos took his salt and left. Skye let out a sigh of relief. "This is all your fault," she told Neal. "If you had just agreed to have broccoli in the first place--"
"But it's poisonous!" Neal exclaimed.
"Never mind." Skye shook her head. "Let's just finish cooking before someone else comes in."
Two broken jars and a spilled pail of broth later, Neal gave up. "You," he said firmly, looking at Skye, "will stir the stew. And don't burn yourself. I'm going finish any preparations which involve sharp or breakable objects." She shrugged submissively and complied.
A/N I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Skye is such a fun character to write. I'm not sure Neal is completely in character in this chapter, but seeing as how Tammy never wrote him in a broccoli fight, we don't really know how he would react. This is my interpretation. As always, please review. It means so much to me.
Lady Adrianne of Queenscove-- You will always be special because you were my first reviewer who is not in any way related to me or forced to read my story. Thank you.
dreamerdoll-- yea! Someone thinks my story's awesome! And of course there's going to be Dom, I love Dom (in case you can't tell from my pen-name). I just can't figure out how to get him to New Hope, if anyone has ideas on that, I'd love to hear them.
fantasyfan-- I think I've said this before, but I'm so glad to hear that I've got Kel's character right. I've decided not to worry too much about Neal' character, this will just be my interpretation of him. That's pretty much what fanfiction is anyways.
alianne-- No I didn't like Yuki, she needs to keep her hands off Neal! I wanted to kill her off in my fic but my sister wouldn't let me.
Helka-- Thanks again for your review of the story, I hope it made sense to you.
oceanspike-- I updated, hope you like it.