"Okay, Con, let's do this!" Jess said with a grin as she hopped up onto the kitchen bar stool.

Connor grinned back at her, "You don't know how happy I am to be having a home cooked meal instead of Chinese Food tonight, Jess."

"Chinese food is yummy!"

Connor rolled his eyes, but didn't bother arguing. It was hard to care when Jess was actually here and willing to do some real cooking on her night to get dinner. "Now," he said to her, "We've already written the recipe down and it is your turn to cook, so I'm just gonna let you go ahead while I supervise. I've got all the ingredients right ready, you just have to follow them, capeesh?"

Jess nodded, "Capeesh." She unfolded the recipe that she had printed off her computer and flattened it on the counter top. She read it silently to herself once over, and then aloud again to Connor as she followed it.

"Rinse boneless lamb chops under cold water," Jess scrunched up her face a bit as she read, but she did the job. "I hate touching raw meat."

Connor laughed at her, "You gotta do it if you want to cook. Just wash your hands after."

Jess nodded and did so and then turned back to the recipe, "Chop mint into fine pieces." She turned to him, "Where's the mint?"

Connor handed her a leafy sprig and Jess stared at it, puzzled, "That's a mint? Looks like a plant."

"Mint is a plant, Jess."

"That's weird; I thought it was a candy, you know, to freshen your breath with."

"Geez, Jess, you have to do this more often. Trust me on this one; mint is a plant."

"I hope Becker knows that."

"Why? What did you tell him?"

"Nothing, but I gave him a shopping list for what we need and I put down mint. I hope he doesn't buy sweets."

Connor burst out laughing at the thought of Jess sprinkling some sort of peppermint shreds or something over her lamb.

"It's not funny! What if he buys candy? I'd better text him and tell him that mint is a plant."

Connor shook his head, "Never mind, Jess, we've got plenty of it. I'll give you a few sprigs you can hide in your purse and bring over there in case he bought the wrong thing."

Jess nodded relieved, "Thanks Con, I appreciate that."

Connor kissed her cheek, "Anything for you; now carry on."

Jess chopped up the mint as small as she could, and then Connor helped her make it even smaller. Jess turned back to the recipe, "Mix ½ tsp pepper, 1 tbsp lemon juice, ¼ tsp mint, and 2 tbsp soy sauce together."

Connor watched proudly as she carefully measured out the ingredients perfectly into a bowl. She stirred until Connor told her it was fine.

"Pour half the sauce into a large container, put the lamb in it, pour the other half onto the lamb; I hope Becker has a large container."

"Take this one with you, just in case."

"Right, I'd better." Jess said as she followed the instructions and then read, "Refrigerate for thirty minutes. Thirty minutes?! What do we do while we wait?"

"It's not that long, Jess, we'll start with the other stuff while we're waiting. Preheat the griddle and then also put some potatoes in the oven at 350. Might want to microwave them for a few minutes first so they cook faster while the oven is preheating."

Jess did so and then Connor got her to chop up some onions, ham, garlic and broccoli into tiny pieces. "So," he asked, as she chopped, "Did you ever do all that file arranging stuff for Becker like you were going to?"

Jess nodded, a slight blush creeping over her cheeks.

Connor grinned, "What's that smile I see? Tell me what happened, Jess."

"He phoned me up while I was working on it and offered to take me out for breakfast, when I said I was busy he bought me coffee and a muffin and brought it to the ARC. Plus, on the phone he said he couldn't wait to see me, and he kissed my cheek again."

Connor smiled at her, "Wanna make a bet?"

Jess looked at him, interested, "I dunno, I already lost one bet within the last two days and now I have to sit through whatever movie Becker picks…"

Connor chuckled, "Yeah, and you're so upset about having to watch a movie with Becker…"

"That's besides the point," Jess giggled.

"This bet you can't lose."

Jess raised her eyebrows, "I'm interested, keep talking."

"I bet you that you and Becker are officially a couple by the time you come home from his place tomorrow night. If I lose, then you win, obviously, but if I win, then you win even more because your dream comes true, yeah?"

Jess pondered for a minute, "You really think that'll happen?"

"I'm willing to bet on it, ain't I?'

"Fine, I accept, but what's the prize?"

"If I win, you have to cook a proper meal on your days for the entire month until Abs and I move out. I don't mind helping, but no take-out or restaurant food or pre-prepared package junk."

"And if I win?"

"I'll help you EMD Becker for being an idiot and not asking you out."

Jess giggled again but shook her head, "Yeah, right, okay if I win then you're going to prepare a dessert made out of chocolate on every one of your days to cook for a month."

"Deal," Connor said, shaking Jess' hand.

"Has it been half hour yet?"

Connor glanced at his watch, "Yeah, you can pull the lamb out now. Depending on time though, the longer you can marinate it, the better. Now, put it on the griddle for ten minutes on each side. We can start with the salad too."

Jess nodded and when the lamb was on the griddle she started washing and cutting up the romaine lettuce and Connor gave her a hand with chopping up the tomatoes and cucumbers, just because he knew it was something she'd have no trouble with later and he wanted to help save her some time. He dumped them into the salad bowl with the lettuce and told her to grate a bit of cheddar cheese on top and then to take some frozen peas out of the freezer and put them in a bowl of hot water for a little bit to defrost them. She did that and then Connor helped her to flip carefully flip the lamb over on the griddle. By that time the potatoes were about done and Connor took them out oven but left it on.

"Now," Connor told her, "scoop the potatoes out of the skins and into a bowl."

Jess did so and Connor put the skins onto a baking sheet and handed her a masher, "Mix some more grated cheese, as well as the little bits of onion, ham, garlic and broccoli that you cut up into the potatoes."

Jess did so until Connor was satisfied. Then he showed her how to scoop the potato mixture back into the skins and put just a little more grated cheese on top of each one.

"There, now they all go back into the oven. They won't take long at all, just keep a close eye on them until the cheese melts, should just be a couple minutes.

Jess nodded and did so. They finished at about the same time as the lamb, so Connor pulled them out of the oven while he had Jess remove the lamb from the griddle and turn off both.

"Now," Connor said, "Whatever you do, don't cut into the lamb for five minutes, that way it'll stay moist. You can add the peas to the salad though."

Jess did that and then Connor had her put on a honey yoghurt dressing and toss it all together with a few croutons.

"And Presto!" Connor said with a grin, "Dinner is served! You did great!"

Jess beamed and threw her arms around him, "Thanks, Con! It even smells yummy!"

"Of course it does. We'd better put it in the warming rack while we wait for Abby to show up."

"Where is she, anyway?"

"At the new flat, keeping the pets company. Said she'd be back at dinner, so she should be here any minute."

"Can we make more of the Cherry Cheese Danishes just to make sure I haven't forgotten how? Becker wants those again."

Connor nodded and they set to work. They were just finishing when Abby came in and gave Connor a kiss hello. "Wow, it smells good in here," she commented.

"Jess made dinner!" Connor said with a grin.

Abby looked at Jess suspiciously, "Twice in a week? What's going on, guys?"

Jess blushed and Abby squealed, "Oh, it's gotta be something to do with Becker then. Well, come on, let's get washed up and you two can fill me in while we eat."

Jess sighed, but knew that she wasn't going to hear the end of it until she spilled the beans about the dinner the next day. She just hoped that Connor kept his mouth shut about the rest of the stuff, she didn't really want anyone to know until it was official that her and Becker were going out. If it ever did become official. She knew one thing, cooking tomorrow better go as good as it had with Connor or she'd never hear the end of it.