Cookies and Creep

It had been a long week. Raynor had been working nonstop trying to get the recent spike in piracy activities in his assigned region under control, there had been a major chemical spill at Sarah's lab, and the kids had been bombarded with homework in preparation for the Christmas break. Oh, and Hybrids had attacked the planet and Sarah's identity as the leader of the Zerg was revealed to everyone. So, in a nutshell, the Raynor family was in dire need of a good, long break.

Sarah walked in the front door to her family's house on the outskirts of town. She looked around at the familiar sight and breathed a sigh of relief. It had been another long day. Despite having the day off at the lab, she had been out all day working to fix a mess at the hive outside of town.

The newly-hatched Broodmother had thought that it would be a great idea to dump an entire tonne of creep on the highway into town, effectively making it all but impossible for Terran civilian vehicles to move on it. Sure, creep would eventually disappear once the creep tumors were removed, but an entire tonne covering a good kilometre of asphalt would take longer than could be considered acceptable. So, of course, Sarah had to go out and oversee the removal of it, because she was the newly titled, "person for all things Zerg". In hindsight, she had gotten off easy after the hybrid incident earlier in the week. In fact, she considered herself lucky that the entire colony hadn't formed a lynch mob against her, but for heaven's sake, can't she just get a break?

Looking around the single-story house, she noticed that the it was quieter than usual. Claire and Mathew should have been home from school by now, and they always made a ton of noise. Much to her annoyance if she was trying to work.

Walking down the hall, she spotted Jim on a video call with Valerian in the study and decided it was best not to disturb him. Continuing down further she also noted that neither Mathew nor Claire were in their rooms. Good god, if her kids were missing on top of all the stuff she had to deal with today, she was pretty sure that she would have a stress-induced heart attack.

Meandering back into the entranceway, she moved into the living room. Much so Sarah's relief, Mathew and Claire were lying in front of the TV. However, the TV was off and they just sat there looking dejected.

Okay, time for some 'parenting', as Jim so eloquently put it.

"Hey my little swarmlings. What's the matter?" She asked as she sat down on the floor beside them. Mathew looked up at his mom, seeming as depressed as ever. "There's nothing to do." He said sadly. "Nothing is on TV, and I have played all my games a thousand times!" It was Claire's turn to join in on the complaint train. "Even Nibbles is bored!" She said pointing at the dwarf Zergling that they had as a pet. Man, things must be bad if Nibbles was tired, he was always full of energy.

Sarah reached over and picked up the small Zerg who had been sleeping on his dog bed. She gently stroked it on her lap and remembered how funny it was to have a Zerg for a pet. Claire had begged for six months to have a dog, heck, even Jim wanted one. Unfortunately, Mathew turned out to be allergic to fur, so the dog idea had to be shelved indefinitely. But funnily enough, just the day after the bad news about not getting a dog, a batch of Zerglings hatched at the hive had birthed 11 normal sized Zerglings and one small one that was just the right size of tiny to be a pet. Instead of having it melted down into biomass, Sarah had brought it home. It was an instant hit, Claire was so excited that she promptly named it Nibbles and claimed it as her own. So, no dog, but a tiny Zergling. Seems about right for this kind of family.

Nibbles squirmed a bit at first, but then fell asleep right on Sarah's lap. Mathew scooted over and laid his head on his mom's leg, closing his eyes. "I'm just soooo bored." He said tiredly. Man, this was a real funk. The instant that the family got a break, they realized that they had no idea how to spend it.

At that moment, Jim walked into the room. "Oh Sarah, you're home. Listen, I'd love to hear all about the Overlords puking on the freeway, but I've gotta go to the base and redirect some fighters to a freighter under attack by pirates." Great, now Jim was gone too. This day just keeps getting better.

Sarah just sighed. "It wasn't 'puking' it was discharging its load of creep onto the road in order to…" Sarah paused mid-sentence. "You know what? I like the term puking better. Okay, but you are going to get the whole spiel when you get back. I didn't just spend six hours cleaning overlord 'vomit' off the freeway for the hel… heck of it." Sarah looked over at her kids. They both just giggled. "Mommy said a bad word." Mathew whispered to Claire. Jim smiled at that. "Looking forward to it darlin'. Love ya, bye." With one last kiss blown in her direction, James Raynor made his exit.

Claire look up at her mom again. "Well, now that daddy's gone, I have an idea of what we could do." Mathew looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" Even Sarah was intrigued by her daughter's new idea. "Well Claire? What is your budding Idea?" Claire cleared her throat and stood up for dramatic effect. "I think… that we should bake cookies for dad!"

Uh-oh. Sarah thought to herself. Reflecting on the fact that her childhood had consisted mostly of military conditioning, and her adulthood consisted mostly of combat and Zerg, she had many usefull skills at her disposal. Cooking, however, wasn't one of them, as she, and the rest of her family, had learned the hard way. Sarah shuddered at the memory of "the casserole" incident. She really didn't want a repeat of that, or another new kitchen, or a new roof.

"Uh… Claire? I like your idea, I really do, but don't you think that we are a little unqualified for this kind of task?" Claire puffed out her chest and looked confident. "Mom, you have taken down a corrupt emperor and killed a god, I think that us three working together can bake cookies." Mathew looked hopeful too. "Yeah mommy, let's do it! I want chocolate chip cookies, and I'm sure daddy will love them. Plus, I don't think that cookies are as difficult as casserole." It was he and Claire's turn to shiver at the mention of the incident.

There was no winning this discussion, and Sarah decided it was best to give cooking another try. She didn't want to live off of take-out forever. "Oh, fine, but you guys are going to be doing most of it." Claire and Mathew both cheered. "Yay! We're gonna bake with mommy!" Claire took Sarah by the hand and led her and her brother into the kitchen. "Don't be so worried mom. It's just cookies. What could possibly go wrong?" Sarah stopped in her tracks. Claire looked up. "What?" Sarah just looked down at her daughter while face-palming. "You said it. You aren't supposed to say things like that Claire. Now it has to go wrong." Claire just laughed. "Mommy, you worry too much. Now let's bake!" Oh heaven save my house. Sarah thought to herself as she watched her kids start to look up recipes on their tablet. Well, only one thing to do now…

-2 hours later-

Jim walked into his house after returning home from the base, and man, he smelled something good. Is that… Cookies?! He walked into the kitchen and lo and behold, there was a fresh tray of the most delicious looking chocolate chip cookies. Sarah sat on the couch, eating a plate of cookies while Claire and Mathew were putting more cookies into containers for later.

Jim walked over to his kids. "Hey munchkins, are any of these for me?" Mathew smiled up in pride. "Yep, these are for you daddy!" He held up a fresh plate of cookies. Jim picked up his kids in a big hug. "Well, that's mighty nice of you. Keep up the good work kiddos." He put them down and picked up his plate of cookies, sitting down beside his wife on the couch. Sarah looked at him. "Before you ask, it was Claire's idea to do this and no, we don't have to get a new kitchen." Raynor chuckled a bit. "Hey, I don't mind the house damage as long as I don't have to eat another of your casseroles." Sarah looked annoyed now. "Oh, ha ha. I do something nice for you and you give me flak. Well, make cookies yourself next time you pig…" Raynor silenced her with a kiss. "How bout now darling?" Jim teased. "Ewwwwww!" Both Claire and Mathew said from the kitchen while watching the interaction.

Sarah smiled at Jim this time. "Well, maybe not next time. But watch out, or I might just get inspired to make soufflé next time." Jim laughed again. "Well, next time you decide to speed up cooking using psionics and flammable materials, give me a heads up." Sarah chuckled a bit at that, and the sound melted Jim's heart. "Deal"

Sarah got up to put her plate back in the kitchen. Jim relaxed and bit into a cookie. Man, these are good. Just then he noticed nibbles eating a pile of charcoal in the corner. Wait that wasn't charcoal, it was cookies! Suspiciously, he leaned back and looked into the kitchen. There were scorch marks in front of the oven, cookie batter was on everything, and a pot lid was imbedded in the ceiling. Oh well. He thought to himself. At least this isn't the casserole incident all over again.

Raynor relaxed again into the couch and prepared to enjoy the best type of food in the world. The kind made with love, and with his family, probably Creep too.

A/N: Hello again! I just wanted to say thanks for all the support I'm getting for this fic. I mean, 6 or 7 favorites may not seem like a lot, but to be honest I have never really gotten recognition for anything I have posted on the internet before. So thanks.

On other notes, I received a review that was wondering if this is going to be a series. My answer is yes and no. Yes, I plan on writing more chapters, but this is more of a collection of one-shots than a chronological story. Also, exams and summatives are coming up soon so I may not find as much time to write as I had on the winter break. If my muse and time holds out, I hope to make this as long a running story as I can.

What do you lot think of the newest chapter? Would any of you get a pet Zergling? I added a bit more fluff and a bigger role for the kids to make it interesting. As you can see, I am going for a less serious, light read full of humour.

As I said before, feel free to review. I am always looking to improve my writing skills and some constructive feedback goes a long way to helping me improve. Also, feel free to make suggestions as to what you would like to see the new Raynor family doing. I have some ideas, but I would love to hear from you!

As always, stay awesome guys.

-epiclink8480