A/N:Just a quick fun little chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Cassie and Jake waited patiently in the empty restaurant where they were testing one of their catering options. Ezekiel on the other hand, was growing antsier by the minute.
"Where are they?" he whined, jumping up and down around the room.
"They'll get here when they get here Jones!" Jake shouted. "Will you sit down? They're going to kick us out of here!"
"Remind me again why we invited him?" Cassandra whispered, leaning in to her fiancée.
"Because unfortunately, we love him and we're good people"
Cassandra laughed and placed a kiss on his cheek just as Flynn came walking through the door.
"Hey!" he panted. "Sorry I'm late"
"Finally!" Ezekiel shouted. Cassandra shot him a death glare.
"It's fine" Jake assured Flynn. "Where's Eve?"
"Oh she stayed home" Flynn explained. "Wasn't feeling too well"
"Is she okay?" Cassandra asked. If something was wrong, she'd abandon the day's endeavor immediately. The Colonel's safety was way more important than her wedding.
"Yeah she was just throwing up a little this morning. She even feels better now, but she didn't wanna risk it. I was going to stay home with her, but she insisted that I come for you guys. I asked Jenkins to check in on her every so often"
Cassandra was about to interject when the chef walked into the room.
"Everyone here now?" she asked.
"Yes" Jake said "Let's go" He took Cassandra's hand and walked with her towards the kitchen. She smiled at him and turned her attention towards the day, trying to ignore the secret that she was sure she had figured out.
Twenty minutes later, the chef was bringing out the pasta course to the group.
"Alright" she said. "On plate A we have a three-cheese baked ziti and that's without meat, plate B is the meat option, plate C is a traditional spaghetti carbonara, and on plate D we have pumpkin ravioli"
"Ooh!" Flynn cooed. "Pumpkin ravioli: that sounds good"
Two seats down, Cassandra sat frozen still.
"What's wrong darling?" he asked. Her gaze seemed to be set upon the last plate. On the other side of her, Jones was dying of laughter. Jake gave him a death glare, still not understanding the situation.
"I think there's something your fiancée hasn't told you about herself" Jones teased.
"Cassie?" Jake questioned.
"I have an irrational fear of ravioli" Cassandra whispered, barely loud enough for even herself to hear.
"What?"
"I have an irrational fear of ravioli!" She shouted. Immediately she covered her mouth, not meaning for the remark to come out that loud. "Ravioli just trigger some bad memories for me. Okay?" she continued, more quietly this time. "We'll talk about it later I just…I get upset around them"
"So we're ditching the ravioli then?" the chef asked. She was doing her best to remain impartial. She'd seen some odd groups come in here, but she had to say a fear of ravioli took the cake.
"If you wouldn't mind" Jake nodded, rubbing his hand up and down Cassandra's arm to try and calm her down. "Besides, Italians don't put pumpkin in ravioli, what the hell even is that?"
The chef picked up the plate and walked back to the kitchen shyly. Flynn reached out to her with his fork, eyeing the dish with big puppy dog eyes.
"Wait" he whined. "I'll eat that if you don't want to waste it"
Jake thought he'd seen the last of the unexpected events of the day when Eve came walking through the door.
"Hi!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry about before. I'm feeling better now and I wanted to be here for you two." She took a seat next to Flynn.
"Eve sweetie what are you doing here? I thought we agreed you should stay home and rest" He placed emphasis on the last words.
"I'm fine honey really" She sounded like she was forcing a smile.
"But…"
"I'm fine" Eve yelled through her teeth, and soon husband and wife were arguing, whispering at each other things Cassandra couldn't make out, and Flynn gesturing wildly.
Suddenly, the chef cleared her throat. The entire group turned back to face her.
"Are we ready to taste the pasta now, sans pumpkin ravioli?" She had tried hard not to sound annoyed, but the last straw was approaching quickly.
"Pumpkin ravioli?" Eve quipped. She sounded disgusted. Flynn eyed her nervously, praying that she wouldn't start throwing up again. He really didn't know why she'd dragged herself here.
"Can we just try the pasta now?!" Cassandra yelled.
Everyone nodded and remained silent as they dug their forks into the various dishes. The events of the course were soon forgotten, and the tasting continued well into the afternoon.
