(A/N: Hey there, all! (few?) I know I have now let down my own standards by not updating in over a week, and I figure I've lost just about everyone by this point, but for those of you who are still reading, hopefully this is quality enough to make up for the delay! This one's by request. I am quite confident it was a joke, but I couldn't resist. (You should know not to joke with me, with 91 chapters on my plate.) ;D Honestly, who doesn't want to see Jason Bourne bake chocolate chip cookies in a frilly apron?…well, maybe sans the apron…but you catch my drift! (Hopefully.) I have a different request in honor of a friend from 'real life' (not to suggest this isn't real…) but it was going to take more time to write than I had to offer right now, so this is it. Dig in! (heh-cooking pun…:D)

Thing Number 10: Baking

Yes, you read that right.

We've come full-circle from manliness, evidently, and here we are at baking.

Quite frankly, I understand less how Marie's mind works now than I did when she was a complete stranger to me.

If this is her odd way of taking out her anger on me, then I suppose I really can't complain.

It is productive, after all.

It's not everyday a fight ends in chocolate chip cookies…

I yawned, stretching my arms above my head and flipping my book shut. Glancing around the room, I realized that I had stopped reading of my own accord-no one had interrupted me for hours.

That couldn't be good…

Now that it had occurred to me, I noticed the house was eerily quiet. Where on earth was Marie?

Typically she had leapt into the room and dragged me away for some crazy escapade by now. This absence of her shouts in my ear was worrisome.

It dawned on me that I actually hadn't seen her since early that morning, after she had stormed off because I had told her it would be extremely stupid to write to her half-brother…

Oh. That was it. No wonder I hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of her all day. She must have still been mad at me. But it wasn't as though she couldn't comprehend the dangers (to both ourselvesandher brother) that communication would bring.

I sighed, rolling off the couch to go and find her. Having Marie angry with me was generally unpleasant. I didn't want things to get ugly…

I poked my head through a doorway. Not in the kitchen. I turned a corner. Not in the living room, either. Outside, maybe? But when I shoved the screen door open, I was greeted only by Charlotte's barked warnings at a lone passerby.

Yes, the situation was growing worse by the second. Padding back into the house in my bare feet, I glanced around. Living room, kitchen, backyard, porch, den…where else could she be?

"Oh!" I raced down the hall and threw myself at the bedroom door, jiggling at the knob, but it wouldn't budge.

Locked.

"Marie? Marie, are you in there?"

Silence. I leaned against the door, heaving a sigh. I should have seen that coming. I didn't understand why females sought refuge from their anxiety in their rooms. It made sense for teenagers, but it was almost as if, when they grew up, they forgot that the room wasn't entirely theirs anymore. I, being male, typically turned to physical activity to ease my anxiety. Surprising that males and females were even part of the same species, considering how vastly different they were…

"Look, if you're listening, I just wanted to tell you-"

"I know, already! Just leave me alone!"

"-that I'm sorry." I finished my statement despite her efforts to ward me off, in the hopes that the simple apology would somehow ameliorate her current feelings toward me.

Silence, however, again emanated from the other side of the door. I turned to reconsider my approach, but my attentive ears detected light feet moving across the carpet, and the door opened slowly to reveal Marie's face, her cheeks and eyes red, splotched in some places.

A pang of guilt and shame gnawed at my heart; she was hurting, I had hurt her, and I hadn't so much as realized, not to mention cared. What kind of monster was I?

"What did you say?" Her voice was soft, almost reluctant in contrast with her previous ferocity.

"I said I'm sorry."

Marie regarded me mutely for a second, then stared at the door blankly. "You don't mean that, do you? Your instinct just won't allow you to live with anything amiss. You were right and we both know it…"

I took her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me, and rubbed gently at the marks on her cheeks with my thumbs. "I do mean it, Marie. It doesn't matter whether I was right or wrong about the risks-I was wrong in being so insensitive and telling you it was a stupid idea. I'm so sorry about that. And I mean it."

Her composure crumbled then and she threw her arms around me, burying her face in my shoulder. "Oh, God, Jason! I just miss him so much! And I can't bear to think that anything will happen to him because of me!"

The fabric of my shirt became moist with her tears and I enveloped her in an embrace of my own, not entirely sure how to soothe away her fears when I shared them myself. "Shhhh. I know. Trust me, I know what it feels like. But worrying yourself sick over something you can't control isn't going to do any good."

She sighed shakily, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. She retreated to the bed, flopping down on her back dejectedly. "You're right, of course, I just…oh, I don't know. You wouldn't understand…"

"It hurts." I stepped from the door, crossing the room to stand above her. "You love him, you want to see him, but you're afraid your presence will hurt him. And you're afraid."

Her dark eyes blinked up at me, stunned. "Yeah…"

I leaned down, kissed her gently, running my hands through her hair. I pulled away first, resting my forehead against hers. "That day…you could have jumped out of the car, run away and never looked back, and you'd be safe with your brother right now." I paused, my eyes searching out hers. "Why didn't you?"

She smiled softly, her soulful brown eyes radiant. "I guess… I guess I needed you as much as you needed me." It was her turn to pause and a fleeting emotion wavered across her face. "I loved you, Jason…I still do."

I grinned, my eyes speaking the words I purposefully refused to voice. "What makes you think I needed you?"

She patted my shoulder with that devilish grin curling her lips. "You made it clear when you tossed me 10 thousand dollars bound by rubber band…" She rolled away, sitting up, and grabbed my hand to pull me from the room. "Besides, who else would have taught you how to be normal?"

I laughed, protesting. "I was normal!"

"No, dear." She threw a withering glance over her shoulder. "No you weren't…"

--X--

"Marie?"

"Yes, Jason?"

"You're still mad at me, aren't you?"

She grinned. "What? Of course not! Why would you say that?"

I brandished the measuring cup at her. "This! Look at this!"

She blinked innocently. "Yes? I thought you were used to the feel of cold steel in you hand."

My eyes narrowed. "I'm not laughing, Marie."

She turned away, snatching various items off of the shelves in the fridge and out of cupboards and the pantry. "I can't help it if you don't appreciate good humor." Marie dumped the pile of ingredients and odds and ends on the counter, sighing with satisfaction. "There. Now we're ready."

I buried my head in my arms. "You must really, really hate me…"

The measuring cup was snatched from my hand, placed with its brethren next to the eggs. "Indeed I do. Hatred is an imperative component of couples. It keeps things interesting."

I raised my face slightly, resting my chin on a fist. "Like this is going to be?"

She smiled sweetly. "Precisely."

--X--

"Flour?"

"Check."

"Salt?"

"Check."

"Baking soda, butter, granulated and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, chocolate chips, unsweetened cocoa?"

"Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, and check." I sighed, shaking my head. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you make sure we had everything before you dragged me into the kitchen to do this?"

"Of course I did. I'm not stupid."

"Then why-?"

The smile again, this time accompanied by her trademark laugh. "Because it's so much more fun this way!"

I glared at her. "And you say I'm not normal…"

She kissed me teasingly. "Did you set the oven?"

"375 degrees exactly, yes ma'am." I rolled my eyes.

"Lovely." Nothing could faze Marie. She spun a large metal bowl under my nose, shoving several ingredients towards me. "Mix."

"How much?" I had come to the conclusion several minutes previously that submission was the best way to go. Besides Marie's extremely powerful will, the fact that I had been such a jerk earlier in the day was weighing heavily on my mind.

"See for yourself." A printed recipe appeared before my eyes. It was placed in a Ziploc bag before being taped down securely to the counter.

"Gosh…is there no end to your ingenuity?"

She grinned, but a touch of crimson shone through her fair complexion. My words were as much a compliment as they were a joke, and she realized this. "It-it's just something my grandmother taught me…"A glimmer of sadness passed over her features when she mentioned her grandmother, and my hand reflexively went to her face, stroking her cheek and neck.

"You okay?"

Marie covered my hand with hers for a moment, then nodded, smiling wanly, and withdrew from my touch. "I'm fine. Really," she added as her eyes briefly met mine, flickering away again before I could read anything there.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Wheels jerked to life in Marie's head, her grief for the moment banished, and amusement sparked in her chocolaty eyes. "In fact," she started, no longer avoiding my gaze, as she no longer had anything to hide, "there is." She snatched up the cup measure, pressing it into my palm once again. "Mix! And not a word about it!"

A sigh escaped my lips. "That wasn't a word!" I protested, as her piercing gaze bored through my impenetrable exterior. I yielded to her will, however, pointing at a transparent container with a pink lid. "Can you pass the flour?" I couldn't keep the dread out of my voice, so adverse were my feelings toward baking.

"This? Of course." She started to hand it to me, but the lid was balanced on the rim, not completely closed, and as she brought it closer she allowed her hand to slip slightly so that enough flour spilled out to give my shirt a good dusting. "Oops!" She pressed her lips together, feigning surprise while she worked desperately to hide her laughter. "Sorry about that…"

I glared at her, brushing my shirt off with one hand and pulling her roughly to me with the other. She pushed her hands against my chest, trying to escape, but I wouldn't let her. When she saw it was useless, she gazed up at me with feigned shyness. "Jason, I-"

"Oh, no, it's too late for that!" I grinned, my eyes silencing her. "Don't apologize now!"

A twinge of confusion mingled with laughter in her face, until I reached a hand for the container and she understood.

"Jason, don't do anything you'll-!" Marie was cut off abruptly by my poring a handful of the flour over her head and she gasped in surprise.

"Regret?" I finished her thought coolly. "Not a bit…"

She screwed her eyes shut instinctively, hands flying up to bat the offending substance from her hair and slap my hovering hands away. Even as she let out a sort of stunned yelp she began to laugh. "Y-you did NOT just do that!!"

Laughter claimed me, as well, her flushed face and flailing hands striking me as particularly amusing. "I do believe I did, actually."

"Uurghh!" The sound was inarticulate-I doubted it had ever been intentioned as a word. "I am supposed to be punishing you!You're not supposed to be dumping flour on me!"

I grinned, retreating from the range of her fury. "Plans always go awry, Marie; you should know that…"

--X--

Once the counter top was thoroughly cleaned off, it was back to baking. Or rather mixing. I'm not entirely sure how it went, actually. The afternoon was all a blur until I made the mistake of mixing up my chocolates…

"Can you hand me that container over there?"

"This one?" I asked, brushing the remnants of flour off of my shirt. It still needed a good wash.

"Yeah. I've got to add it to the batter."

I peeled off the top, peering curiously inside. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Marie begin to protest, rethink her position, and sigh almost imperceptibly. I smiled. I had won this round. "Cocoa?" My attention returned to the tin can clutched in my hand. "It's chocolate in powder form…how much better can you get?"

"Actually, that's not all that tasty…"

"It smells tasty." I glanced at her suspiciously.

Marie hesitated, something close to amusement flickering over her face. An option finally won out, a decision made. She shrugged. "I could be wrong…"

I blinked. What could possibly be amusing her now? I suddenly felt ignorant and vulnerable in the presence of someone who, to be quite frank, knew more about living life than I did. My specialty was apparently taking life…

A smile stretched her lips. "You can try it if you want. Just don't eat too much…"

I hesitated, then, my eyes never leaving her face, I coated the tip of my finger cautiously in the brown powder and licked it tentatively.

I gagged. Suddenly filled with the overpowering urge to rip my taste buds off, I leapt for the sink, allowing the water to run into my mouth directly from the faucet. I rinsed my mouth out, spit down the drain, and repeated the process several times before my reflexes calmed and allowed me to lean back against the counter, panting.

"Why-"I tried in vain to avoid further agitating my taste buds as I spoke, "-on Earth-" Marie was thoroughly satisfied now, and her face was flushed with laughter, "-would you do that to me?!"

"I-I didn't do it to you! Y-you brought it on yourself!" She continued to laugh, gasping for breath. "I just can't believe you really fell for it! You are naïve!" Marie was shaking with her attempts to stifle her mirth.

"It's not like I can help it! I wasn't expecting that! You took advantage of me!" I regarded her coldly, hiding the fact that my ego was slightly bruised.

"Always expect the unexpected, Jason!" Her eyes glittered. "You should know that…"

--X--

"Well, go on! It's not like they're going to poison you."

"I don't know…the last time you told me to eat something I ended up with the worst taste I have ever experienced flooding my mouth…" I grimaced at the memory.

Marie shot me a withering look. "Do you know how much sugar is in these things? The cocoa's only bad before you add sugar." She grasped the plate of cookies with one thin hand, my own hand with her other, leading me out to the porch. Charlotte immediately appeared from around the side of the house where she had been digging a cavernous hole and planted herself in clear view of the baked goods.

I was forced to sit in the chair, a cookie placed in my hand.

"Eat."

I glared up at her. "You'd think you were the ex-military one, the way you go on ordering me about…"

"Maybe I was," She raised an eyebrow mysteriously. "Who knows? Now, eat! It'll get cold before you know it!"

The sun beat down with added vigor as these last few words came out of her mouth, seemingly to spite her. "Out here?"

It was a valid point. But Marie's eyes narrowed and I knew she meant business. "You have thirty seconds to completely devour that cookie and ask for another. If I had a stopwatch, this is when I'd start it… unfortunately I don't. So just eat already!"

Turned out her quota wasn't extremely difficult to meet. I had devoured the cookie and asked for another well before the thirty-second mark, as Marie had no doubt predicted.

"These are good!" I grinned, complementing her around my fourth cookie. "What, are you some kind of chocolate god?"

She chuckled, settling into the chair beside me. "I suppose that title will suffice…"

I sighed. "Ultra-chocolate chocolate chip cookies beat MREs any day…"

"How do you know that, if you've never had these before and you can't remember MREs?" Her glance was skeptical.

"Trust me," I grinned, "I just know. Maybe it's instinct..."

We were silent for a long moment, soaking in the gentle breeze and dancing sunlight.

"That day…" Marie murmured suddenly, eliciting a surprised glance from me. "You could have left me in the apartment, moved on and forgotten all about me. It would have been so much easier for you." She turned her face to mine, dark umber locking with crystal blue. Her voice was quiet, frail, and I half feared it would be swept away by the breeze before it reached my ears. "Why didn't you?"

I smiled softly, knowing the answer all too well, having gone over the scenario again and again in my dreams, or as I lay awake in the darkness, always reaching the same conclusion, knowing I would never regret my decision, no matter what came of it all.

"You had twenty thousand dollars of my money in your pocket. I wasn't about to let that fall to the police…"

Marie's expression was half amused and half uncertain. She had given an honest answer-she wanted one in return.

I leaned forward, pulling her closer to me, and kissed her tenderly. When she pulled away after a few seconds, I whispered into her ear, my breath warm against her warmer skin. "I loved you, Marie…I still do. And I always will…"

She wrapped her arms around my neck, laughing. Charlotte cocked her head for a moment but quickly became more interested in the still fresh cookies by our side. It was fine by me if she ate them, now. They were nice, but they couldn't really compete.

Yes, it was a beautiful day in Goa, indeed…

(A/N: So, I hope that was satisfactory…I should have been doing other things when I wrote this, but I was disgusted with myself for not having updated, and so it turned out extra long. :D I give credit for the cookie recipe (I didn't use it in full in the story, but it got me through the chapter) to Extreme Chocolate . Com. I haven't made the cookies myself, but they look extremely tasty, and anything with chocolate tends to be savory and delicious, so I figure I'll give it a shot sometime soon…If anyone wants to make them, here's the URL: www. extreme chocolate . com /chocolatechipcookierecipe1.html. I only wish cookies could be transported via e-mail…that would make my life…:'C Oh, well. Until next time, then! (And hopefully next time is sooner than last time!)