"Would you cut that out!" Darlene would have shouted, but it came out more of a mumble of jumbled words with Erin patting flour on her cheeks. "Quit doing that!"

"Come on, I'm bored! What else do you expect me to do while I wait?"

"Well for starters I expect you to give me the flour in a measuring cup, not all over my face."

Erin sighed and reached for the glass cup and scooped it in a bag of half-empty flour.

"There. Would you also like some salt for your salty attitude?"

Darlene rolled her eyes as she mixed the flour into a bowl of goopy ingredients. "You better watch it if you want any of this cake."

Erin stuck her finger in the frosting bowl, sampling a taste of what was to be spread over the next batch of loaf cake. "This frosting isn't so bad."

Darlene looked towards the door. "Why isn't Josie back yet?"

Erin shrugged, licking her finger. "Maybe Porter's back?"

Erin reached for the frosting bowl again, but only to have Darlene swat it away. "Leave some for the cake!" Darlene pulled the mixing spoon out of the frosting bowl and handed it to Erin. "Here, you can have that, but don't go using up the bowl."

/scene/

She pushed open the door and looked around. They didn't even notice her come in. Darlene looked like a ghost with her powder-white face and flour in her hair. Erin was sitting on a stool beside Darlene, likicing a spoon of frosting, and Jo was nowhere to be seen.

"What is going on here?!"

Both Erin and Darlene looked to the door and noticed Margaret observing their work.

"This place is a mess! Not to mention you as well Lieutenant Bradly!"

Darlene promptly picked up a towel and wiped off her face as best as she could. "Sorry Margaret, we just thought we'd try and make tonights dinner."

She frowned, "What you're making is a mess. What if I needed you two in post op? Don't you think I would have liked to know where my nurses disappeared to?"

Erin licked the last bit of frosting off her spoon before she got up and sat it in the wash bin. "We're sorry, next time we open our culinary services up for business, we'll let you know."

Margaret walked over to their work area and looked around at the mess of bowls and spoons lying about. "What are you two making?"

"I'm making a vanilla loaf cake, and Erin is taste testing everything."

Margaret glanced over to the stove and calmly asked, "and who's working on that overflowing pot?"

Both Darlene and Erin looked over to the stove to see the pot of vegetables that Jo had been working on had begun to boil and overflow, spilling water all over the countertop.

"Oh shit!" Darlene stopped mixing her dough and quickly ran over to turn the stove off. "Sorry Margaret, Josie must have forgotten to turn off the stove!"

Margaret raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised that Jo would be in on Erin and Darlene's shenanigans.

"Where is the Captain, by the way? I can't find her anywhere?"

"Here!" Jo shouted, walking in through the door, helping Porter carry a large cardboard box.

"Excuse us, ma'am," Porter said, trying to wak past Margaret. With a bit of a struggle, Jo and Porter were able to heave the large package onto the table.

Everyone gathered round the box and Erin pulled off the lid. "Holy cow! That's a lot of meat!"

Margaret turned to Porter. "Where did you get this, Sargent?"

"I went down to the 7089th and traded for some ham."

"I hope you didn't trade out anything of great importance."

"Oh, don't worry, ma'am. I was able to get all of this from the cook just by giving him a stack of my literature."

Margaret raised an eyebrow, "Literature?"

Sargent Porter blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Oh... well, you know. Paper with words and pictures... maybe a few more pictures than words."

Erin smirked at Porter and gave a whistle. "I didn't know you into that genre of reading!"

"Oh, cut that out!" He replied, his cheeks starting to turn red.

Darlene looked over to Erin. "Anyway, you better get started on this meat."

Margaret placed a hand on Porter's shoulder. "We'll leave you three to this train wreck, I have files to go through, and I'm sure lover boy has more reading to do."

Porter gave Margaret a quick glare before remembering she was a superior officer. And they left the nurses to finish their work.