Chef Ramsey is still frustrated, with only five days left to turn their marriage around and save Tyr's business, he's only started to get through to the man. But he has a plan, one that is guaranteed to put their marriage to the test. It's likely that the next few days will make or break them as a couple. The chef spends most of the day on the phone, making arrangements for three days from now.
[To the camera] "I figure that the best way to end this feud between the two of them is to give Tyr exactly what he wants. We'll see what happens when he 'wins' and his wife works a service with him. Sounds like his dream come true, right? Well, Kena may have some unpleasant surprises in store for the business owner tonight. That's assuming that she's recovered from her night organizing the office. I honestly didn't expect her to get through even half of that atrocious room. Kena is quite the industrious little worker when properly motivated. Let's see if her trust in me holds up and she doesn't bite my head off for this next part. This is one girl that I don't want to be on her bad side."
He had to wait until the next day to put his plan into action. Kena showed up at the restaurant at three, but she was a zombie, in desperate need of more sleep. He actually sent a stagehand to follow her home just to make sure she made it home safely. In the meantime, he kept his plans to himself and focused on the minutiae of running a business. Mostly Tyr had it all together, despite his abysmal organizational skills, but there was always more to learn and Tyr and Ramsey spent the better part of the shift that night reviewing his business plan.
The next afternoon Kena showed up at The Queen's Dish looking refreshed. The chef's people had worked through the night to redo the decor of the restaurant. It hadn't needed much, but now the place sparkled. ["This place looks amazing now. I've always been proud to work here, but now…"] In the meantime, the chef had worked with the chefs to update the menu. Getting rid of the more obscure menu items, he'd narrowed down their focus so that only their best dishes were being showcased tonight. ["It's not a dramatic change, which I think everyone appreciates. Our food was already good, we just needed more focus."] Kena marveled like the rest of them. It was finally time to put his plan into action.
"Mekena. I need you to trust me and not freak out," he murmured to the woman when she walked by, admiring the decor.
"What?"
"Alright, is everyone here? Is this all the staff that's going to be working tonight's dinner service?"
"All present and accounted for," Tyr said, excited despite himself. Ramsey had been bouncing off the walls with excitement since unveiling the new and improved Queen's Dish that afternoon and he was dying to know what the man had in store for the group tonight.
"Tyr, you get your wish. Tonight is Relaunch Night. Mekena is going to be the Expediter of the kitchen for the night."
"WHAT?" was everybody's response.
"She's going to be working with us?" Juan the server asked.
"She knows nothing about running a restaurant." Darryl the chef mumbled. "What, does Chef Ramsey want Relaunch Night to fail?"
Tyr looks completely shocked. This is something that he's dreamed about since the place opened, but… "I never imagined that my beloved wife would ever agree to work with me without a lot more persuading." He looked over at her and cringed. His woman had a look on her face that went beyond fury. He'd only seen that look on her face once before; when he'd tricked her into coming to the restaurant and announced that she was going to work with him that very first time.
"Chef, can I talk to you for a minute? Outside?" No one recognized that calm tone for what it was except Tyr. It was the calm before the storm. He went to go with his wife to try and calm her, and she shot him a look of pure ice that froze him to the bone. Maybe it was best if he let Chef Ramsey handle this one.
Kena looked for a place down the street and away from prying eyes to talk with the chef. She finally found it in a back alley.
"Have you lost your cotton-picking mind?" she screamed in a forced whisper.
"Kena, just let me explain…"
"Oh, you'd better explain! I've watched your show before. 'Expediter' is the most important job in the whole restaurant! It's the crux of the whole operation. I don't have a lick of experience in a restaurant. How could you possibly assign a post like this to me? How could you betray me by making me a part of Tyr's business at all?"
"Mekena, do you want to end this rivalry between you and Tyr once and for all?"
"Of course I do! But-"
"I'm not looking for a stalemate like you've had all these years. I want flawless victory. This is the fastest and best way to get it. People practice for years and go to restaurant school to learn how to Expedite. This is your very first time. This should show your man that you have no place in the restaurant. I'm sorry that you don't trust me-"
"Oh no, I trust you just fine, but I don't think I can do what you're asking me to do. This is an important night for the restaurant and I refuse to ruin it for them. I want your word that should I prove unequal to the task, that you will step in and save the restaurant."
"I can't do that," he shook his head.
"That is my price. If Relaunch Night proves too much for me, you will personally step in and take over so that the night goes off without a hitch. I'm asking you as the weakest link in the restaurant. I won't jeopardize his business."
"I thought you didn't want to work in the restaurant?"
"I never said that I wanted the restaurant to fail. I just don't want to have to sacrifice my dreams to it. I'm a nurse. I'm not a restaurateur. Your word, sir. As a man of honor."
"You have my word as a man of honor. Relaunch Night will not fail."
"Then I'll do it. Just this once, I'll run The Queen's Dish."
"Good, because I'm tying Tyr to you all night to help you out with your task."
She rolled her eyes Heavenward. "Of course you are."
"You don't have to talk to him anymore than you want to, but he'll be a great resource for you during the course of the night."
"Of course he will."
"Mekena," He laid a fatherly hand on her shoulder. "I'm only trying to help. This war between the two of you must end. It's tearing this place apart."
"Okay," she whispered, focusing on not crying.
"And I have someone going through your closet to look for something appropriate for you to wear tonight. You're a little underdressed for your role tonight."
"Of course I am," she sighed with a deprecated look at her jeans and t-shirt. "In my defense, though, I didn't expect to be thrown face first into the food industry." The two shared a laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation and walked back into the restaurant.
Once back in the restaurant, Kena makes a beeline for the bathroom. The sounds of retching are heard.
"I'm tethering Kena to you all night so that you can guide her through the Expediter process. She's in charge, and you are not allowed to speak unless she speaks to you first."
"Wait, what?"
"Isn't this what you wanted?" Ramsey asked with a cruel smile. "You've won. In one move you now have your wife working in the restaurant with you."
"I didn't think I would have to deal with her wrath all evening! Kena will murder me!"
"Your problem, not mine," the chef told him. "Kena has never been an Expediter before. Unless you want your Relaunch Night to be ruined, you'd better figure out some way to co-exist."
The retching sounds have stopped and the stagehand that Chef Ramsey assigned to raid her closet for work attire is hovering near the door with the clothes after knocking. Kena emerges from the bathroom to grab the clothes and hair supplies from the stunned woman. She emerges a half hour later looking like a vision in a black floor length skirt and a black and white floral patterned long sleeved top. With her hair done up in a large, severe bun, she looks the part of a young professional restaurant owner. There was no smile on her face though. She came straight to the two men, ignoring Tyr's drooling.
"You look lovely, Bliss," Tyr said, still looking entranced. "I've never seen-"
"I've been told that we have to work together," the furious woman replied, ignoring his words. "I ask a question, you answer the question, that is the extent of our conversation. Got it?"
"You can't just ignore me the whole night, Bliss. I have-"
"I ask a question, you answer the question. Or I can just leave this whole stupid farce behind. I got better things to do tonight than save your butt, bud."
Tyr dreamed of this day many times, but there's no look of nervous delight on her face, no whimsical smile that says she's ready to learn. With a dejected sigh, he nods at his wife.
"I want to hear you say it. Cause I want no mixups when you start a fight and I walk away."
"I'm not going to-"
"Say it!" she snarled.
"You ask a question, I answer."
"Exactly," she said. "And my name isn't 'Bliss'. It's Kena. Mekena to you. You lost the right to call me 'Bliss' a long, long time ago."
She walked away with an annoyed gait that did interesting things to her hips. He was still dejected, but watching her swishing those hips of hers was helping.
"This is all your fault," Tyr growled, turning on the multi-Michelin starred chef.
"I think you'll find that you have no one to blame but yourself, Mr. Anasazi. You insisted on bringing her here. I simply granted your wish." He walked away after that, not liking the continued growling emanating from the man.
Kena went and found the servers. Juan, Paul, Freda, and Candace were all lounging in the dining hall, having already divided up the tables among themselves and cleaned up the place for the Launch tonight. When they saw her coming, they all tried to look busy.
"No, no. I'm not- look, I just want to talk to you all."
The group all looked at each other nervously. "What about?" Candace asked.
"Well I'm new here," she started in an awkward tone. "And yet, Chef Ramsey has made me the Expediter for tonight's service. So that I can keep up, I'm going to do things a little differently than you're probably used to. I plan to have the cooks prepare one table's dishes at a time. That way the food stays hot and goes to the tables all at once. The idea is that I get the plates from the chefs, clean them, and hand them off to you. Everything comes through me tonight. I will be speaking with the chefs about this. I don't need a bunch of partial orders coming at me tonight. So one table at a time tonight, okay?"
"What if we get backed up?" Juan asked.
"Just be really apologetic. Blame it on the new kitchen staff. I don't mind, this is a one-time thing anyway."
"You're not going to-"
"No," she said. "I'm most effective in the hospital. Are we good?" The four all looked at each other again and started nodding.
"You'd better talk to the chefs about this. I'm not sure how good they're going to be with this," Juan said.
"They'll fall in line. It's only for one night after all," she said.
Danny, Darryl, Linda, and Bishop aren't taking this edict as well as the servers did.
"What the fuck kind of idea is that?" Darryl yelled. "We'll never turn the tables with all of us working one table at a time!"
"I believe that you will turn the tables and turn them faster with everyone doing little bits of one table at a time. And everyone at the table will get their food instead of people having to wait for the rest of the table to get theirs."
"Look," the man groaned. "That all sounds good in theory, but we've been working our own fucking way for fucking years now. You're new here-"
"That's right. I am new here. And there's no need for excessive profanity Mr. Darryl," she said in a calm voice. "Because I'm new here and have been put in a position that is crucial to the smooth operation of your kitchen, we will need to work out a new, temporary system for the duration of the night. I know that I won't be able to keep up with partial orders for tables 6, 13, and 2 at the same time. That is why I'm suggesting that we complete table six so that it can go out, then table thirteen, and then table two. I don't believe what I'm asking is unreasonable."
"We're only concerned that things will get backed up, Mrs. Anasazi," Linda said, trying to make the woman understand.
"I'd rather things be backed up and people have to wait for their food a little longer than people get the wrong things for their orders and such. Everything has to go through me tonight; I'm the Expediter."
"That's a loose term," Darryl tried again.
"Not to me it isn't," the woman said. "The presentation of the food, the timing of it, the temperatures of it… that's all my responsibility. I take my responsibilities very seriously."
"We know how to plate food!"
"Then prove it to me tonight. But in the meantime, we will be cooking a table at a time for tonight, Mr. Darryl. Adjust your plans to that idea." She stared him down until he looked away. She walked away after that, knowing that this wouldn't be her last battle with the foul-mouthed man tonight.
"Lousy, self-righteous, no good bitch," Darryl muttered under his breath. "Her idea is going to put us hopelessly behind tonight. I can't believe Tyr is allowing his woman to sabotage the restaurant on our most important night in years!"
"You better watch your mouth, Darryl," Bishop said, preparing himself for a busy night. "You know how Tyr is about his woman."
"I'm not afraid of Tyr," Darryl sulked. He did lower his voice though. "But we can all agree that this 'one table at a time' idea is a bad one, right?"
"It'll be interesting to see how fast we can prepare food for each table," Danny said, sharpening his knives as he said it. "If we keep things at a good clip, we shouldn't fall too far behind."
"Suck up," Darryl growled.
"Stop picking on Danny, Darryl," Linda said. "Whether or not we like it, this is what we're doing tonight until we get other instructions. Save all the complaints for after the shift. This is going to be a hard one."
"Like that's going to happen," Darryl muttered. "She's going to run us out of business."
"She can't do that in a day," Linda shrugged.
"The staff doesn't seem happy," Chef Ramsey commented as he changed for the shift.
"That's because I told them that we're doing one table at a time tonight so that I can keep up with the orders."
"That's… unusual," the chef said in a neutral tone.
"I understand that, chef. But it's the only way my nursing brain can keep up with all the orders we're going to be receiving tonight. Everything comes through me, so it's up to me to come up with a system that works for me. They're willing to work with me tonight, but they're not exactly thrilled about the change."
"I'll just have to remind them that-"
"I don't believe I asked your opinion on this, Tyr."
"I'm just trying to help!"
"I also didn't ask for your help. Tonight, the staff belongs to me. I have made my wishes known and I expect that between myself and the floor manager, we will have order tonight. Things may get a little backed up, but I refuse to believe that your staff is incapable of following directions. You speak when spoken to, not before. I don't need a babysitter to deal with your people."
"God, you're hot," he whispered lustfully at her.
"Liar," she sneered in disgust, walking away from him.
[Fifth Commercial Break]
The stage is set. Let's see how Little Makena handles being an expediter in the kitchen. So far she seems to be taking charge and implementing a system that works for her, but will that last? Join me next time to see how Relaunch Night works out for the staff of The Queen's Dish. Remember, I love me some reviews! ^_^