*FINALLY, on to Leo and Calley. Took me long enough to get to them, right? Some couples are worth waiting for, in my humble opinion. ;)
Leonardo took a break from snapping the stem end off a fresh green bean to gaze at the blond woman rinsing a knife under running water. There was nothing particularly seductive about the action. The thought of attracting him probably hadn't entered her mind, but the blue-masked turtle was drawn to Calley nonetheless.
He pushed away from the table and came up behind her, wrapping both arms around her waist. When Leo kissed the back of her neck she glanced over her shoulder.
"That feels nice." Calley twisted in his grip to face him, leaning against the sink. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Don't need a real reason, do I?" Leonardo used his thumb to smooth angular bangs from her eyes.
The woman responded with a coy smile and hovered mere inches from his face for maddening seconds before tilting her head to kiss him. He wanted to hold on to it, but begrudgingly allowed Calley to extricate herself from his grip a few moments later.
Reading his mind, she winked at him. "We can finish that later. Have to focus on dinner right now, or you might get the blame for it going south."
The blue-masked turtle returned to his place at the table with a grumble. The teasing over his "lack of cooking skills" never got easier to bear. If anything, it was more annoying now than it'd been when he and his brothers were teenagers.
"Did you get to the carrots yet?" the woman called.
"No, I'm still trimming green beans."
"You can do that later. The carrots roast the longest, so you'd better start there."
Leo nodded and reached for the peeler, settling into slicing off long strands of unappetizing skin from the vegetables. "The potatoes have to cook longer too, right?"
"Right. But remember to chop everything about the same size, okay? Otherwise they won't cook evenly."
"You know I'm good with a blade," he offered tongue-in-cheek.
"That may be, but I'd better not catch you hacking up a carrot with your katana."
"I could do it though."
Calley shot him a look. "Stick with kitchen tools please."
Leonardo sent her a smirk and then devoted his attention to meticulously cleaning the carrots, so he could move on to the next step.
Meanwhile, the woman abandoned the sink to reclaim her spot at the stove, where she promptly flipped over the meat in the skillet.
"Won't it take longer to cook on the stove-top?" Leo wondered.
Calley laughed. "I'm only browning it off. The short ribs will cook the rest of the way in the oven."
"Oh. Why are you doing that? It wouldn't cook all the way in the oven?"
"It would, Leo, but you develop more flavor and color when you take the time to brown it first."
He nodded and reached for another carrot. "You've got 'dessert' covered too, don't you? Like we talked about?" Leonardo sent a mischievous look toward the kitchen door. "I was hoping to take care of something before dinner."
"They're almost ready, Leo. I didn't forget you. Hurry up with the root veggies, and you can get a look at them."
The added incentive drove the turtle to finish peeling carrots faster, and move on to the Idaho potatoes. The heavenly scent that wafted over from the stove in the background was deceptive in its timing; dinner wouldn't be ready for at least a couple more hours. The mere smell of the meat searing was enough to make him hungrier.
"It smells great over there, Calley."
"It's such an easy cooking method, I swear you could do this on your own, Leo."
"Yeah. I don't think anyone else would be touching it."
"We wouldn't have to tell them you cooked it until afterward. When they'd already lived to tell about it." She smiled teasingly.
"No reason for you to perpetuate the lies about me," he complained.
"Decades of the same mindset are hard to change," she allowed. "But I know better. You're a great assistant."
"And that's probably where the line ought to be drawn." Leonardo picked up the entire cutting board, balancing chopped carrots and potatoes carefully so he wouldn't lose any vegetables. "You want me to set these on the counter?"
She nodded. "They look perfect."
"Did you expect anything less?"
She squeezed his bicep appreciatively. "I like having your company when I cook."
He eyed the diced onion on the counter top warily. "I'm glad you didn't make me attack those."
"We can't have our clan leader in tears," the woman jabbed. "I'm going to start cooking the veggies off a little, and you can get a preview of what I whipped up for you. They're on the middle shelf in the fridge. I'll help you finish them off when once I get dinner into the oven."
Leonardo grinned with anticipation as he headed for the refrigerator, and reached for one of the silver tins. He was immediately impressed by the sheer weight of the pie, which was already a thing of beauty topped with a glossy blueberry compote. Despite how good it looked, the turtle knew it was going to get better.
"That will stain, Leo. You're going to have to be careful."
"I know exactly how to set it up," he assured her. "Kind of a shame to waste your effort."
"It was pretty easy to do, actually. I didn't bother making my own crust – not for something like that."
"Thanks for going to the trouble anyway."
"Do you think you could beat some whipping cream for me? I won't add the green beans for another hour, so you can catch up to those."
"Why am I beating it? What did the whipping cream ever do to you?"
Calley snickered at his joke. "All of your wars with your brothers through the years, and you've never bothered making whipped cream from scratch."
"Not me personally, no. Mike is another story."
"The consistency is so much better when you make it yourself. Considering what you're using it for, that matters."
Leo snorted while he put the pie back in the fridge. "Are you going to train me first, or do I have to fly solo?"
"Get the quart of heavy cream from the fridge, and I'll tell you how to start it."
He searched through various cartons and containers of beverages until he found the unopened quart, and joined Calley by the stove. The beef short ribs were already resting on a platter while she was working with the potatoes and carrots in another pan.
"Do you have any idea how tempting those are?"
She swatted his arm. "They're not cooked, Leo. Oh! Grab the mixing bowl from the freezer."
His eye-ridges rose. "The freezer?"
"The process of making whipped cream goes easier when you keep all your ingredients very cold, and the bowl helps. Bring the pies over here too. It won't hurt to start getting them closer to room temperature. If memory serves me properly, they'll be more effective for your end goal."
"Ought to have it down to a science," he muttered, going back to the fridge to retrieve the items. When he returned, she had the mixer in hand.
"I think it's better to start whipping by hand instead of the stand mixer," she explained. "That way you can keep a closer eye on it. You've used one of these before, right?"
Leonardo eyed the appliance. "Does fencing with the beaters count?"
She threw her head back with a laugh. "This is a little different."
He shrugged. "How hard can it be?"
"Not. Just don't over whip the cream, or you'll end up with butter. You'll see stiff peaks start to form, and it'll stick to the rims of the beaters."
He took up a position to her right and emptied the quart of heavy cream into the cold bowl.
"You may want to add some sugar to that," she recommended.
"Why? Then he might enjoy it."
Calley smiled. "That way you can try it too."
"Makes sense." After taking her suggestion Leo stared at the bowl like a hawk, trying to neither mix the cream too much, nor allow the liquid to overflow in his zeal. He was so focused on the task, he almost jumped when Michelangelo's head suddenly peered over his shoulder.
"Um...what are you doing?" His brother's blue eyes regarded him apprehensively.
"What does it look like?" Leo asked haughtily. "Don't worry – you don't have to eat it. Unless you try giving me a hard time," he finished threateningly.
"Ah...Raphy is in for some justice, isn't he?" The orange-masked turtle chuckled.
"I can trust you to keep your mouth shut, right?" Leonardo glared at his youngest brother.
"I won't sell you out, Bro! Won't get in your way either. Just need to check my seasoning on the soup." Mike indicated the crock pot simmering away on the corner of the counter. "I saw all those boxes of lobster bisque in the bottom cupboard. That doesn't have something to do with this too, does it?"
Leo gave him a wicked smile and ignored the question. "Why are you making that now? Calley's got dinner covered."
"It's not for us. Ape is gonna pick it up when she gets off work. So I'm going to get out of your way, and you just...carry on." Mike gave him a thumbs up and went over to the crock pot.
Calley came up next to the blue-masked turtle. "How does it look?"
"It seems like I'm almost there. What do you think?"
She reached for one of the mixture attachments and tested the cream. "Yup, it's good. The next part won't be hard either, because you don't need to make it pretty. You can go ahead and start spreading the whipped cream on top, but try to leave some room around the border for blueberries to peek through."
Leonardo took a spatula and split the mixture down the middle to make sure he'd have enough cream to cover both pies. Calley continued tending the vegetables on the burner, but he caught side-glances from her watching him spread an even layer of the white peaks over the beautiful berries.
"You're so fastidious in everything you do," she mentioned. "I don't know why anyone would think you can't handle yourself in the kitchen."
Michelangelo snorted loudly. "Experience."
Leonardo sent him an evil eye, and the younger turtle held up his hands in surrender.
"I'm out!" His brother scampered from the kitchen at once.
"Burned popcorn has been one of my vices," Leo admitted when he was gone.
"It tastes better when you cook it on the stove top."
"They would never have let me try it." The longer Leo worked on the task, the tempation to try the pie was becoming overwhelming. "I need to make sure this is fit for consumption. Would you like to 'test' it with me?"
"I'd love to."
Leo snapped up a fork and dug into the center of one of the pies, careful not to disturb the crust. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his whipped cream complimented the blueberry filling so well. "Calley, this is really good." He grabbed another fork and retrieved her a bite.
The woman stepped over to join him and allowed the turtle to feed her the morsel. "Leo, you're the perfect student."
He beamed. "Never too old to learn something new. Raph should be thanking you for this."
She laughed. "I'm sure those will be the first words out of his mouth."
"You should come watch."
"Someone has to finish dinner," Calley chided. "But you can go have your fun without me."
Leonardo sent a long look at the pies and shook his head. "Trying it was a mistake, Calley. I don't think I can waste them this way."
She gave his shoulder a playful shove. "I was hoping you'd feel that way."
"It will mean a bit more work for me, but I think I can set up something more...fitting for the crime." The turtle leaned over to steal another kiss from her. "Thanks for not believing the hype about the kitchen disaster."
"You shouldn't let it bother you so much. If-" Calley suddenly went rigid in his grasp, and the small tendril of smoke Leo saw behind her confirmed why.
The woman hurried over to the stove while Leonardo watched bleakly.
"Did I make you ruin it?"
"It's fine, Leo. The oil got too hot; it was just starting to smoke."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm going to stop distracting you. Is there anything else I can do before I take my walk?" Leo finished meaningfully, implying he would be doing anything but. "I never finished the green beans."
"I've got it, Leo. You've learned enough for today...and later we can enjoy more of our efforts."
Leonardo nodded. "Better than Raph enjoying them. A student can only be as good as his teacher, so...thanks, Calley."