Chapter Title: Family Dinner Night
Series Title: Unlikely Brothers
POV: Tanner
Ages in this chapter: Tanner (10) and Dashen (16)
Chapter Summary: Tanner shows off his cooking skills in an attempt to engage his unlikely little family into an evening together for dinner.
Dinner was ready. It was perfect. It was tasty. It was a mess.
At least the kitchen was.
Colton walked in from what he had said this morning would be a very long and exasperating day. So, he wasn't all that happy with the mess I had created.
"What the hell happened in here? Dashen?"
I giggled. That he automatically assumed my brother was responsible for the disaster, it was fun.
Dash didn't think so.
"Stop laughing, Tanner. And this mess, Colt, is all courtesy of this tiny little madman to my left. His claims that he can cook are correct, however..."
"I never claimed to be a clean cook," I said, still grinning.
Colton was not amused, walking to me, grabbing my still existing Jedi braid and pulling his face down - way down - to mine. "The deal was, you cook upstairs, make messes upstairs, drive me crazy from upstairs. Care to explain?"
I did. I could. He dropped my braid and stood over me. Way over me.
"It's family dinner night tonight."
Caught him off guard on that one and he stuttered out a reply.
"Fam...family dinner, what?"
"Family dinner night." I repeated proudly.
"I don't recall that being on my schedule this week. I have plans. I always have plans. And family...when did we become a family?"
Dashen chimed in next. "The minute you let us in the door, Colt. And what plans? Another lady in your long line of..."
A big hand slapped over Dashen's mouth. I guess to prevent him from saying more about Colton's female company that he enjoyed so much. My young ears, I guess. I didn't care about any of that. Colton had his own life long before Dash and me got here, I didn't expect him to change for us. But I did want to include him sometimes.
"I thought we could have one night each week and have dinner together."
"You thought...okay. Um. Tannerlin. You have seen how I live, yes? My evenings, when I'm home are usually full, or I'm dead to the world. Take your pick. Family dinner night seems...a stretch, especially if my kitchen will look like this every time it happens."
I set three full plates on the table. A cold ale for Colton. A baja juice for me and Dash. Then I invited both to sit, listening to Colton's excuses but having him join us at the same time.
Everyone sat. I served. We ate. Colton complained. Dash stuffed his face.
"I know you are busy, Colton," I finally said. "But we were always busy at the Jedi Temple too. We found time to spend together there. It was important to us. It helped stay connected when everyone was always going in different directions."
Colton stopped complaining so much. Dash kept stuffing his face.
"I know it's not the same here, and you have your own things you like to do. But I'm a really good cook and a good cleaner too. I promise."
He began eating his food before Dash got the idea of grabbing off of his plate. "It is quite good, kid. You do have a way with spices."
"I do. Master Ayden didn't cook. Well, he did, but stopped after he gave me food poisoning. As Jedi we didn't cook much anyway. It was something that was interesting to me and I experimented with it and found out it was a talent."
Swallowing a large bite and downing a half bottle of ale, Colton sat back and looked at me. I couldn't determine what type of look it was, it didn't seem very happy, but it was hard to tell.
"You can cook like this all the time?"
I nodded. "With the right ingredients."
"And you can clean that kitchen to where it looks brand new again?"
"You'll never know that I was there."
Another big bite. Another drink of ale. Dashen returned from the kitchen with the remaining seconds on his plate. We scowled at each other as he sat. "What? I'm hungry. And this is good stuff. Come on, Colt. Even you have to admit you don't eat like this...well...ever. Once a week won't kill you. Your ladies will understand."
"I do have other responsibilities, Dashen. You think this little empire I've created runs itself?" He pointed to his house, then to me. "I'm sending his butt to one of the most expensive schools on the damn planet. That doesn't pay for itself. I keep you employed. I don't spend all my time with...".
He stopped, giving up when Dashen started laughing. Dash was still enjoying himself when he tossed in a plea on my behalf.
"One night a week, Colt. What's your less busiest...least busiest...less busy...leastest busy...? Whatever. What night of the week to you usually have nothing going on? Zhellday? Probably Zhellday. I never seen ladies here and you're usually doing business clean up type things from the previous week."
I gave Dashen a hopeful look as Colton thought on it. Each bite he took in seemed to help. More than likely, this meal was the best thing he'd had in a long time. I knew the places he liked to eat and the food there often wasn't very...challenging, other than it had made me violently sick three times. I don't go to those places anymore, for the sake of my stomach.
He was relenting...I could see it happening.
Then a question. "Are other things required of me for this so-called family dinner night? I don't have to sit and spill my feelings or watch sappy holo-films with you two do I?"
"You don't, no. It might be fun, but at the Temple, we did eat and talk."
"Eat and talk. How long does it last? An hour maybe?"
Dashen cut in. "Really, Colt? How long? It's dinner, it's time to just hang out for a short while and catch up. One time a week. And Mouse has a point. This is healthy, I mean, we are a family of sorts. A weirdly, oddly, screwball one, sure, but it's there. In a way."
"A test run," I blurted out. "One month. Four Zhelldays. And if it interferes too much with your life, then we can stop. Please?"
Dashen polished off his second round. Colton finished his plate and retrieved a second ale from the chiller. He did enjoy an evening of cold ale and delicious food, especially when all he had to do was show up and sit down.
"One month. Four days. I'll agree to try it. But the food's got to be good, kid. This kind of good."
"Promise!"
"Fine. Now that we've eaten, what do we do? Is this when we have to talk?"
I laughed. Dashen shook his head. "You are a piece of work."
"What? I've never done family dinner night. Even when when my folks were alive, we didn't do anything like this. They were always so busy trying to make money to just put toast on the table. This is new. And no, I am not getting into the details of my childhood with either of you idiots, so close your dropped jaws. You know damn well I was a child at some point. So yes, I admit, this is new. Why am I even talking to you, Dash? The kid here is the center point for this. So, Tannerlin?"
My hands reached for the empty plates and I began my clean up. "We don't have to talk." I shrugged. "It's just something we did at home. I miss it and thought we could try. I like spending time with the people I care about. I like hearing about their days and their lives. To most, maybe it means nothing. To me, it's important."
Colton nodded in surrender. "Understood. Perhaps this can become something for us. No promises, but it's a positive start with the meal you just created. But as it's our first time and we've eaten and you did catch me completely off guard, I do need to call it a night. I'll let you clean up and we'll kick off the official first weekly family dinner night next week. Deal?"
"Deal. But wait," I agreed as Colton moved away from the table to stand. "You didn't have dessert yet."
Dashen in all his crudeness launched in with his big mouth. "He probably has a lady visitor this evening, and that's his..."
The large hand slapped his mouth shut from across the table. "Do not finish that thought or I will hurt you."
There came a mumble of agreement and our fake uncle released my fake brother.
"So, dessert you say? You made this too?" Colton said, interested. He, like my brother, did have an impressive sweet tooth.
I nodded and slid a freshly baked triple berry hard-crusted pie from the kiln. Dabbing pala cream on each slice, I served it up.
"Oh my gods, Mouse. This is...oh my, you made this?" Speed eater, Dashen was almost finished his, rambling on with a full mouth.
"I did. I told you I am good at this. Colton?"
Colton didn't respond to me, but finished his slice and raced Dashen back to the kitchen to grab another. I giggled. Those two were funny when they let themselves be. Silly even. It was nice.
Pie finished. Completely gone. And the bowl of pala cream sucked dry. I finished cleaning up as they sat and patted their stuffed stomachs. Colton no longer in a hurry to escape the table.
"Kid, I have to admit, I may grow to like this family dinner night thing. I may actually grow as well." He patted his stomach again. "I'll have to watch that, but damn it, I deserved it. I had a hell of a day. We all deserved it. You still eat like a bird, but bantha boy over here took care of the extra for you. Yes, let's do this dinner thing. Maybe you aren't so bad after all. Dashen, we can live without, but if you keep cooking like this..."
My smile was big. "I like Dashen, can I keep him?" I joked, always enjoying when I could tease Dash like he teased me so often.
"Sure you can. For now. Only because he's housebroken."
Dashen protested. "I am sitting right here, I can hear both of you."
Ignoring him, Colton did finally stand. "I really do have to call it a night. And no, I do not have a lady friend this evening. It's been a long day and I need a long hot shower and a longer rest." He walked by me and set a large hand on my head. "Nice job, kid. Clean up looks good too. Until morning, gentlemen. Good night."
"Good night, Colton!" I waved a drying towel in his direction. Dashen had begun slouching in the chair, the full stomach weighing him down and his own eventful day wearing him out. "Dash, wake up!"
"I'm just resting my eyes. I'll go to bed. Let you clean up in peace." A hand ran over his black hair, pushing it back from the green eyes that had become so familiar. He smiled at me. "This. This is a good thing, Mouse. It's not ever going to be the same as what you had at the Jedi Temple, but we can't have our pasts back. We can only move on and try and make our present better. Plus you got Colton on board. Didn't think that would happen. So, can I go, or do you need my help with cleaning up?"
"I have it. I'm glad you enjoyed this, Dash. It means a lot."
"Yeah, I know it does." He said gently. "I know. Come see me before you turn in, all right?"
"I will."
Our usual routine. I'd never gone to bed once as a Jedi apprentice without saying good night to Master Ayden. Always ending the day - no matter how trying a day it had been - with that simple gesture. In my own way, it was me telling him that I cared about him. I had told Dashen about it and he tried hard to keep that tradition. It wasn't always possible, with his jobs running late or overnight or even off planet at times, but he made every effort to reach out to me to just say good night.
As I said, it was a simple gesture, but it meant everything to me.
Just like our family dinner night would.
END
