Ravenswood Estate – Living room-12106.18- 0800
A voice from the top of the stairs. "Katie, where are you?"
Amongst the sound of pots and pans clanging together, Katie replied, "I'm in the kitchen!"
"What the hell are you doing? This place looks like a science experiment!" Exclaimed Chrissy with her hands in the air.
Katie beamed as she stirred a pot of boiling liquid on the infrared cooktop. "Relax! I have this under control."
"And just what exactly is 'this' you speak of?" Asked Christine.
"Butter tarts!" Replied Katie. "I'm making some for Gracie to cheer her up."
"I've never heard of butter tarts before." Stated Christine.
"Well, you know how dad spent part of his childhood growing up in Canada. I met some Canadians from Stratford in my theatre group. They introduced me to these little comfort nuggets, and I fell in love with them. And I think that they are the perfect thing to cheer up Grace right now." Stated Katie.
"In moderation, of course. However, I saw how much brown sugar you put in there, and those tarts look sweet," stated Christine.
"Of course!" Stated Katie as she rolled out some dough and began cutting them into circles and placing them in a muffin tray.
"Do you think they work on mother's too?" Asked Christine. "There's only one way to find out." Katie smiled back mischievously.
The two began working together to prepare the sweet treats. As they did so, they began to chat. "This has been a whirlwind of the past couple of months." Finally, Katie got out another mixing bowl.
"Dad says life tends to come in waves, periods for calm with short bursts of rough seas, but we weather it all." Christine grabbed a rag and began wiping up some of the butter tarts mess on the cabinets.
"I'm going to be spending the next month or so in New York." Katie got some eggs and butter from the replicator. "I am taking over a short contract as Louise Bigelow in 'Carousel' and as the understudy for Julie." That got a raised eyebrow out of Christine. "The actress attempted a diva moment on the producers, and they called her bluff. They shorted her contract, and given that the director worked with me before, he knew I could easily slip into the part to finish the run."
"Doesn't she realize how tight professional networks are?" Crissy moved along the counter, cleaning and putting dirty dishes in the replicator.
"We grew up in the military. We know how connected officers and military personnel can be to each other. You give the same amount of respect to an enlisted as you do a fleet admiral. You never know if the toes you step on could be connected to someone important." Katie put the butter in the mixing bowl and measured out some sugar into the bowl before setting the mixer to cream it.
"People know that I am the daughter of Captain Skyler, and they hold me to a higher standard than most students, but I have earned the respect of those around me by my hard work, not by who my mother happens to be." Crissy pulled out a couple of sheet pans. "You wouldn't happen to be making Mom's sugar cookie recipe, would you?"
Katie grinned mischievously, "Maybe." She added some eggs and vanilla to the mixer. "Most people don't know my pedigree and frankly don't care. What they do care about is do I get the job done and do I do it well."
Chrissy rolled her eyes at her sister, "I'll do the dry ingredients." Grabbing a bowl, and joining Katie at the island, Crissy mixed up the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. "How many times have we made this recipe?"
"Don't ask me. You and Jack were making it with Mom for as long as I can remember." Katie slowly added Crissy's dry ingredients to the mixer.
"Be careful not to add it too fast." Chrissy teased, "We don't want another snowy kitchen."
"I was NOT the first one to do that, and I'm sure you and Jack were the first ones to attempt that." Katie playfully glared at her sister.
"Dad has images of me playing in a shower of flour while Jack and mom made cookies, so I'm sure Jack was the first one to do it," Chrissy said and got a little sad. "Most of my favorite memories with mom are when we were cooking or making things."
"You and mom would either have a "victory pie," or a "drown your sorrows" cake for me depending on if I got the part or not when it came to auditions." Katie smiled at the memory.
"Jack, Mom, and you made sure I had my favorite dinner, no matter where we were or how sick you were of the dish when I won or lost my competitions." Chrissy smiled wistfully.
"We would just add some chocolate chip cookies when you won." Katie laughed.
Both stayed silent as they scooped up the dough and got it into the oven. Then, leaving it to bake, Katie and Chrissy turned back to the island to clean up their mess.
"I never thought about how many of the family memories were based around the kitchen and food." Katie sighed, thinking aloud.
"When we were happy, we celebrated with a family dinner. When we were sad, mom or dad would bake cookies with us." Chrissy sat across from her sister. "Even Grandma Lilly loved to make things with us."
"I think it is a bit of a tradition by now." Katie chuckled as she got herself a tea.
"Grandma said when you make something by hand, and you are putting your love into it. No matter how good something tastes from the replicator, there is always something missing. It is the love." Chrissy shook her head. "I know you didn't get back until late, but Mom worked later than usual, so we just did food out of the replicator. Hence why dinner tonight, while great, seemed to be missing something."
"She has been working late since Jack shipped out," Katie commented.
"I do shifts and classes; so, I'm not someone who can say much about that." However, Chrissy noted, "Between studying, classes, and making time to spend time with Drags, and I am barely around that much."
"I don't have much to say myself. When I am 'home,' I'm typically in rehearsals for the next show, or I'm at the company's dorm." Katie sipped her tea. "To be honest, the past month or so is the most I have spent time at Ravenswood."
"A lot has happened in the past month." Chrissy grinned and began counting things on her fingers, "First Jack gets back from his first major mission, Grace graduates, and then the two of them eloped."
"At least you got to be part of the wedding." Katie rolled her eyes.
"Add in that we found out that Grace was pregnant, and three and half MONTHS pregnant to boot." Chrissy continued.
"Add in Raven's Nest, then Jack shipping out for two years at least, and now Grace shipping out to be with Jack in just a few more days, it is like our whole world has been turned upside down." Katie sat down her tea and crossed her arms.
"I've put my feelings aside because I want to be happy for Gracie and Jack, but I feel like I'm losing a part of myself," Chrissy admitted to her sister.
"Jack has been gone before, but never this long. Of course, I'm used to being away from the family, but I know I can call and talk to any of you when I need to, wherever you would be. That might be why this isn't affecting me as badly." Katie shrugged.
"You are my sister Katie, and you know I would tear down the heavens if anything would happen to you, but Grace and I have been best friends since we were little. I don't think we have ever really been apart."
"There have been many times when I have felt like a third wheel to you two," Katie admitted. Chrissy gave her a surprised look. "What? It's true. I always felt like the tag, along with when you and Grace played dolls or rode bikes. I was always playing catch up to you two."
"You know we weren't trying to exclude you, right?" Chrissy reached out and took hold of Katie's hand.
"Oh, I know," Katie sniffed slightly. "Mom was always reminding me of that. So when the two of you would be so into your 'thing,' I would go annoy Sam in the stable, or I'd hang out with mom."
"Mom has always been there." Chrissy agreed,
"And Dad," Katie nodded, "No matter how bad the show, he would be there in the audience, cheering me on."
"Jack and I loved being your audience for the little shows you and mom would put on." Chrissy chuckled, "We made sure to film it in some way so that Dad could watch it if he weren't there already."
"The new cottage is called Raven's Nest, and honestly, with all of us heading out into our careers, it is like all of us are 'leaving the raven's nest.'" Quibbled Katie.
"The only 'chick' left in the nest is Sam, and he graduates next year. All of Mom's chick has flown the nest when Grace ships out." Chrissy noted.
"Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves." Katie quoted. "We have all been reborn into our careers. We are making our nests."
"But we still have a connection to our Raven's nest." Chrissy reminded Katie.
"Do we?" Katie asked. It was then the timer for the cookies went off. She turned around and prepared to take the cookies out of the oven.
"Of course," Chrissy responded.
"Does Mom and Dad know that?" Katie sat the pans on the cooling rack.
"I would hope so," Chrissy noted, then grew concerned. "Don't they?" Katie shrugged and took off the oven mitts.
"The cookies smell great," Chrissy commented. "Grace will love the goodie basket."
"I hope so." Katie sighed. "I did make extra so that we can 'sneak a few.' "
Chrissy chuckled. "All of us managed to do that under Mom's nose." Katie laughed as well, then got a funny look. Noticing the look, Crissy got curious. "What is that look for? I know that look, and nothing good comes from that look?"
"You still love chocolate chip cookies, right?" Katie's grin got bigger.
"Yes…" Crissy started to get concerned.
"I have an idea." Katie got a mischievous look in her eye.
Lynn could hear the girls banging around in the kitchen from where she sat in the living room, trying to read an article. It was on the higher rate of lactic acid found in the livers of children born to parents who were born during the Bajoran civil war. It was a fascinating article, but Lynn couldn't keep her mind focused on the report. She swore she had read the same paragraph five times. Then, giving it up as a bad job, she thought she would follow up with Robin on how Grace was doing. A few moments later, Robin appeared on Lynn's datapad. "I hope I'm not calling too late."
"You are fine. I'm just finishing up some minor work in my office." Robin smiled through the comm. "What can I do for you?"
"I wanted to know how Grace was doing," Lynn asked.
"After a nap, some proper food, and talking to Jack, she seems to be better." Robin smiled back.
"Good. We don't want any surprises." Lynn said, a bit distracted.
"How are you doing, Lynn?" Robin asked, concerned.
"Holding up alright. Jack still calls or writes every few days." Lynn tipped her head side to side.
"He knows you, Lynn," Robin smirked. "He knows you worry about him, but he is a big boy."
"That he does," Lynn rolled her eyes, "So sue me, I still see you like that little kid I used to babysit all those years ago." Robin chuckled at her. Changing the subject, "Are you ready for Sam to come home and Grace to ship out?"
"Sam coming home will be good, but I have a feeling he is going to be a Ravenswood more than here." Robin chuckled.
"It will at least keep him busy. He has a goal to work towards, and that will do him some good." Lynn agreed.
"With Grace shipping out, I'm a little better with that. She isn't going off on her own, and she is going to Jack." Robin leaned back in her chair.
"That is easing my worry a bit. Both know how to take care of each other." Lynn smirked.
Lynn's moment was broken by a loud crash, followed by a "MOM!" coming from the kitchen. Robin looked at her friend, concerned, and asked
"Is everything alright over there?"
"I guess I'm about to find out..." she sighed as she stood up and headed towards the kitchen. Just as the two-way door swung open and she stepped inside the kitchen, she was met with a BOOM! and just then, everything turned into a white dust cloud. As she wiped off her face, she was met with giggling from both sides and rotated 90 degrees, being narrowly missed by an egg as it cracked up against the wall. Reaching the countertop, she grabbed a piping bag and returned fire.
Laughter broke out in all directions, and Lynn darted back out to the coffee table, where Robin greeted her with a confused look on her face.
"I'll call you back!" she said as she closed the link and went back into the kitchen, where Katie and Chrissy were already busy cleaning up the mess that they had made.
"I don't know how you knew it, but I needed that," she said with a grin on her face as she stole a still-warm cookie from the plate and put it in her mouth. "ALMOST as good as my own, but not quite." she teased.
