"Make sure you don't chop off your fingers," Sidney teased as she watched her boyfriend mince the two cloves of garlic that will go into the sauce for chicken Alfredo, Sidney's favorite food and their dinner for tonight's date night.

"You worry about yourself before you burn the cookies like you did the first time we did this," Billy returned her jab with one of his own without looking up from the cutting board. His tone was serious, but the smirk on his face revealed the underlying joke.

Sidney blushed when she remembered the first time she tried to bake. The chocolate chip cookies, Billy's favorite, turned into hockey pucks by the time she managed to retrieve them from the oven. She was so embarrassed when he walked in on that fiasco after returning from the bathroom, and she hadn't been able to live it down since.

"I'm following the recipe and I remembered to set the timer, so that won't happen," she huffed defensively, her cheeks a bright pink.

Billy looked up, smirking. "Sure, Firestarter," he drawled, putting his football reflexes to good use by quickly setting down the knife and ducking when the flustered brunette threw an oven mitt at his head.

"For such a sweet girl, you can be very abusive," Billy commented as he rose and threw the oven mitt back at her before finishing up the minced garlic.

"You are so annoying!" Sidney groaned.

"But you looooooove me," he sang, tossing the minced garlic into the pan so it could cook for a few minutes. When it became fragrant, he set it aside into a small dish and then started cooking the chicken he cubed earlier.

Sidney watched him focus on their dinner. She loved it whenever Billy cooked. He was good at it, and she had a feeling that it had a lot to do with his mom. Although she was home most of the time, she did have her own job and since his dad was a lawyer, sometimes the two of them would be out of the house for most of the night, leaving Billy to fend for himself as far as food went. As much as he loved ordering pizza, he told her that he wanted to learn how to cook so he didn't have to rely on takeout all the time. He made mistakes in the beginning like everyone did, but when he improved, he showed that he had a talent for it. And then when his parents divorced and his mom left…well, he really had no choice since his father never bothered to learn how to cook. Sidney was sympathetic to her boyfriend's plight; it wasn't easy for him to deal with his home life, what with an absentee mother and a neglectful father.

She supposed that was also why she liked it when they had these date nights and he cooked their dinners; it brought him some peace and he enjoyed himself. Cooking kept him busy and he could focus on the task at hand instead of letting all of his worries and doubts plague him like he had a tendency to do whenever he was alone with his thoughts. Billy always looked so happy whenever he was in the kitchen with her.

The smell of cooking chicken, garlic, and chocolate was actually a pleasant combination and Sidney closed her eyes, inhaling softly and taking in the magic of the moment. Suddenly she got a flash of them in the kitchen like this, only older with wedding rings on their fingers and the sounds of children coming from everywhere in the house…

'I know we'll get to that point someday,' she thought in contentment, opening her eyes to see him removing the browned chicken cubes and placing them on a nearby plate. From then on he used all of the other ingredients to make the Alfredo sauce, deglazing the pan as he went so all of the chicken flavor would join the cream and cheese and garlic.

The sound of the oven timer going off made her jump a bit, she was so enraptured by Billy.

"Time for the cookies to come out, Firestarter," he commented, giving her an amused grin as he whisked the thickening sauce.

"Ha ha."

Sidney used the oven mitts to carefully remove the large pan that held the dozen of golden brown and perfectly cooked chocolate chip cookies. The smell of them made Sidney's mouth water as she set the pan on the counter to cool.

"Looks like you didn't burn this batch after all," Billy commented as looked at the cookies.

Sidney lifted the oven mitts she just removed from her hands and smacked his shoulder hard with them. "Shut up, asshole," she snapped, her cheeks flushing red again at yet another reminder of her terrible first attempt at baking.

Billy laughed and added the chicken back to the pan after the Alfredo sauce thickened and looked more like sauce. He only tossed it in the sauce a few times before turning the burner off.

"You're so easy to tease," he stated as he added the fettuccine noodles into the boiling water of another pot.

Sidney chose not to respond to that. Instead she shook her head and began delicately detaching the chocolate chip cookies from the cookie sheet with the spatula and moving them to the platter she had ready next to the stove. When that was finished, she stepped back and smiled proudly at her handiwork.

Billy wrapped his arms around her as he waited for the noodles to cook. "Good job, Princess. I'm proud of you," he murmured into her ear and kissed her cheek. There was no teasing note to his tone anymore; he was truly pleased with this successful batch of hers.

Hearing the sincerity, Sidney smiled softly and moved her hands to grasp his clasped ones around her waist. "I'm proud of you, too, stud bucket," she said.

When the noodles were finished, Billy stepped away from Sidney and poured them into the colander, returning them to the pot and turning off the burner.

"Let's eat, baby," he said, smiling at his girlfriend.

While Billy plated the food, Sidney picked up the platter of cookies and they carried their haul over to the dinner table, which was decorated with a nice, pristine white tablecloth, a few lit candles, and a bouquet of red roses that was currently being used as a centerpiece. It was a beautiful setup.

The first bite into her dinner had Sidney in heaven. A soft moan fell from her lips before she could stop it. "You are such a good cook," she praised her boyfriend before quickly becoming engrossed in her dinner.

Billy laughed.

After about half an hour, they finished the Alfredo and moved on to the cookies. Taking a bite, Billy made a low satisfied hum.

"Good?" Sidney asked hopefully.

"Very. You've definitely improved," he said, earning himself a bright smile.

"Here's to another amazing date night with the love of my life," she said as she lifted her cookie and extended it towards him.

Billy toasted her cookie with his, his gentle eyes and joyful smile letting her know that he was just as happy with their relationship as she was.

"To another amazing date night with the love of my life," he echoed.

Cooking was definitely near the top of the list for the couple when it came to activities that they enjoyed partaking in the most.