Just as Margaret had said, the whole ordeal was turning into a train wreck.

"Where are the spices? The vegetables are almost done," Jo asked.

Darlene watched Erin's golden ham bake in the oven, "We have to save what spices we have for the ham."

"But my vegetables will taste awful!"

"Check and see if we have any cans of cranberry sauce, or any kind of sauce, that'll give it some flavor besides salt and pepper," Darlene replied, looking back to Jo as she pulled the oven door open and reached in to take out the platter of ham.

Erin was finishing up scrubbing dirty dishes as she saw Darlene take the ham out. "Darlene! Stop! Don't do that without putting on-"

"Agh! Shit!"

"-oven mitts..."

Darlene nearly dropped the iron tray on her lap, but managed to set it down on the floor, saving the meat.

Erin and Jo quickly knelt down beside her. Erin reached out to look at one of her hands, which was a bright reddish-pink. "Does it hurt?" Erin asked, now reaching out to inspect the other one, tracing her fingers over Darlene's hand.

"Yes! Stop doing that!" Darlene shouted as she recoiled her hands from Erin.

Erin and Jo held onto Darlene and helped pull her up to her feet.

"You better go soak your hands in some cold water," Jo said.

Erin quickly pulled a large bowl out of the wash bin and sat it under the sink. She flicked on the faucet and watched as it slowly filled up with water.

"Here, dunk your hands in."

Darlene put her hands in the refreshing bowl of cool water once it filled about halfway.

While Darlene soaked her hands, Erin put on a pair of oven mitts and retrieved the tray of ham off the floor. She began slicing it only to realize that it hadn't cooked all the way through.

"Darlene! You took it out too early!"

"Sorry! Just shove it back in for a while!" She snapped back.

Erin sighed and put the knife down and placed the ham back in the oven. Once she closed the meat in its iron tomb, she searched the kitchen for spice bottles.

She was able to come across one; being a bottle of old onion powder. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. That is, until she opened the cap to see that the bottle was completely empty.

Erin angrily tossed it into the trash bin. "This is becoming a disaster," she looked over to Jo, "do you think you'll have any salt and pepper left for the ham?"

She picked up the old glass bottles and handed them to Erin. "Yeah I'm done with the vegetables. And since you're still waiting on that ham, you might as well help me clean up the place."

Erin agreed and helped Jo dust off the countertops and place grimy dishes into the wash bin.

They both stopped their busy work when Margaret came in to check on how the 'chefs' of the 2087th were getting along with dinner.

"You guys almost done? Dinner is supposed to be served in an hour." She looked around the room, glad to see that it wasn't as messy as it had been earlier. Margaret looked over to Darlene, who was silently bent over the sink, swishing her hands around in a bowl of water. "What's up with you?"

"I burnt my hands."

Margaret walked over to inspect her hands. "Weren't you wearing mitts?"

Darlene winced, "No."

Erin glanced over Margaret as she swept a pile of dirt and flour into a corner of the room. "Next time, remind Madame Genius to stay out of the kitchen."

Darlene scoffed at Erin's remark and placed her hands back in the bowl once Margaret finished looking at them.

"You keep soaking your hands, and I'll be right back with some lidocaine." With that, Margaret made her way back out the door.

While Margaret was gone, Erin opened up the oven and pulled out the ham, remembering to wear mitts. She looked at the areas she had sliced before and saw it was of a sweet, golden-brown color. And by the time Margaret had come back, she had neatly sliced the ham into four smaller chunks that would be easier to cut down when it came time to serve.

"That ham looks pretty good. I'm proud of you three," She stated as she squirted some lidocaine onto Darlene's hands.

Jo watched as Erin carefully carried the tray of ham over by the pot of vegetables and platter of loaf cake. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm a mess. I'll be hitting the showers before dinner." She pulled off her sweaty, flour dusted apron, flung it onto the stool and left the kitchen.