(D4)[GSD] Another Afternoon

[Thomas MacLaine]

Time: Day 4, Afternoon
Weather: Heavy overcast
Warnings: None
Characters: Thomas MacLaine, Todd Thorne, [OPEN]

Thomas looked proudly at the row of cabinets along the wall, their contents all neatly re-organized and updated accordingly. He'd been working on cleaning up the department's files for a few days now... and so invested people may have not noticed him coming into work... but the feeling of accomplishment was well worth it.

Would George be pleased? He wondered, but he knew very well that the Sheriff wouldn't even notice. That was fine, as long as he could make his job easier for him by keeping the place tidy. He had more important things to worry about than small chores being done.

He glanced over at the clock and was surprised to see that it was well after lunch time. Well, the department was very quiet that day, most likely due to the on-going murder investigation. Maybe that was why no one asked for lunch? Or perhaps the other officers tried Emily's brownies and knocked out their appetites...? He did leave them on his desk longer than he should have. Oops.

After giving it some thought, Thomas decided that a late lunch was better than no lunch at all (and perhaps he could "cure" the others' taste buds, just in case).

Once he was in the small kitchen, he noticed on the counter that the tray of chocolate chip cookies he brought in that morning was already empty, aside from some sad little crumbs. He smiled and shook his head: it was nice to see that people liked them, but did they have to eat them so quickly? He expected that batch to last all day!

_{[edit: just wanted to put in a mention of emily's super brownies :P]}

[Todd Thorne]

In reception Todd sighed and twirled in his office chair. Boy was this day crawling and his head was killing him. He grimaced, maybe drinking so much on a work night really wasn't such a hot idea...would have saved him from taking such a big bite Emily's latest poisoning attempt. She had guilted him into trying some of her home made chocolate brownies for taking his sorry ass home last night and taking him to work this morning. Okay, truthfully he would have tried it anyway just to make a snarky remark but man he wouldn't have taken such a big bite if he wasn't so hung over.

And he paid dearly for it. Emily claimed she followed a recipe Thomas gave her but last time Todd checked chocolate brownies had a little ingredient called CHOCOLATE in them. It was like something crawled inside his mouth an died. At least he was able to warn Thomas before the poor guy tried it himself, Emily had given him a big pile...

Truthfully Todd thought his stomach was going to be out of commission the rest of the day after the "brownie" fiasco so he was surprised when his stomach actually let out a growl of hunger. Hey maybe his stomach was more resilient then he thought! Good to know... Steve had mentioned Thomas had some cookies in the kitchen and he was too put off by food before to go grab some. Todd was sure a delicious Thomas cookie would be just the thing he needed to cleanse his palette of the brownie nightmare

When he walked into the kitchen and almost collided with the chef himself, "Woah! Hey Tom, what's up? I was just coming in here to see if any of your cookies were left-"

Todd noticed the empty flowered china in Thomas' hand, "Awww I knew I should have grabbed some earlier when I had the chance." He pouted and tapped his chin in contemplation, "Now what am I going to do about lunch?"

[Thomas MacLaine]

Thomas took a big step back when Todd came into the cramped kitchen, not wanting to be bumped into. He took another look at the plate he was holding in his hand, then gave the other man an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Todd. The early bird catches the worm, as they say." he said, "I suppose they would be catching the cookie, in this case..." he laughed softly as he placed the dish into the sink. He'd wash it later.

"Fortunately, I came in here to prepare lunch." he informed him with some cheer in his voice, "I was thinking about making eggs benedict, but if you'd like something else, I'd be happy to make it for you."

Yes, Thomas could cook up practically any kind of food to near perfection, as long as he was able to see a clear and well written recipe beforehand. It came naturally to him, but he also had plenty of practice all through out his life. He was in charge of the meals for his family after his mother left, then he later had various cook jobs while he and his sister moved around after leaving their father.

The ability to cook good food was nice, he supposed, but he wished that he had developed a more useful skill. Like... something with medicine, perhaps? Curing people would be very useful (and to have the power to hold a person's life in his hands would be quite amazing...).

[Todd Thorne]

Todd broke out into a big smile, "Oh my God I'll take anything you make dude, I was going to get stuff from the vending machine because I thought you made lunch already! That's why I was so bummed before. How long will it take you, do you need me to do anything?"

He looked around the small kitchen unsure of what to do next, it wasn't often he got to have one of Thomas' department lunches...well at least one made for him!

[Thomas MacLaine]

"Oh, no, not yet. I've been busy tending to the file cabinets." Thomas shook his head. He made a slightly bothered face when Todd said that he had been planning on having vending machine snacks for lunch... that didn't sound substantial, or healthy for that matter.

"I... never would have thought to turn to the vending machine for lunch..." he said with a light laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. He turned to open the fridge and peered inside -- seeing some eggs, butter, and sliced ham (homemade, of course), he plucked them out and set them on the counter near the stove.

"If you don't mind eggs benedict, I should have it ready within thirty minutes." he said as he pushed up his glasses. He stood with his arms behind his back as he thought about the other ingredients he would need...

At the other officer's offer to help him, he blinked and looked over. "Well, I wouldn't want to trouble you... I'm sure you have something else to take care of." he smiled gently. He wasn't sure why he was so hesitant to accept his help, since it was kind of him to offer it. It seemed that... he was just one of those territorial chefs, though he never thought much about it. He certainly wasn't as bad as Nick Cormack, though.

"O-of course, if you would like to stay and keep me company, that's fine too." he added on after a moment, not wanting to seem like he was shooing him away.

[Todd Thorne]

Todd gave one of his 'dazzle' smiles, and pulled out a chair to sit down.

"That sounds delicious T-dog! Vending machine lunches are the best but I didn't have time to make lunch this morning and my car is still at SWERY65...so my options were kind of limited. Lucky for you since it's so dead around here I can also stay and keep you company!"

Todd idoly flipped through a months old People Magazine that had been left by HR Linda in the kitchen. He paused his perusing and asked, "So I have to know where did you learn to cook? Was someone in your family a chef or something?"

[Thomas MacLaine]

T-dog... Thomas was taken a back by the nickname (dogs were so unpleasant), but chuckled a bit in response as he turned to gather the rest of his ingredients. Eggs benedict didn't require anything too demanding ingredients wise, so it was always something easy to make at any time in the department's tiny kitchen.

"It's at the SWERY65? Oh, you must have had quite a night then." he said with faint amusement as he filled a pot with water and placed it on the stove. As he waited for it to reach a gentle simmer, he prepared another pot of water to poach some eggs on another burner, and on yet another burner he began to heat up a skillet for the ham.

"Hm?" he glanced over his shoulder at Todd when he heard his question, "Oh... no. I just learned it all on my own." he answered then turned his attention back to the task at hand, "I've had plenty of time to practice since I was young."

[Todd Thorne]

Todd leaned back in his chair and gave a slow whistle, "Wow you learned all on your own? That's impressive man, you have some natural talent!"

He laughed a bit, "Too bad that sort of talent has completely by passed poor Emily by looong ago. But God love her she doesn't let that stop her now does she?" Todd winked, "I think we have untapped weapon potential in her skills. I mean, you just have to threaten someone with one of her cookies and they will go running for the hills!"

"How's your sister doing? I heard a rumor there was a talent scout here a couple weeks ago, any truth to that? Or was that just wishful thinking on Linda's part?"

[Thomas MacLaine]

"I guess you could say that... but, I believe it was more 'trial and error'." Thomas replied modestly. As nice as it was to be complimented, he still found it difficult to accept praise.

He bit his lip at Todd's joke about Emily, not wanting to laugh too much. "W-Well, practice makes perfect. I've offered to help her, but I don't know what she thinks of that." he replied as he kept a watchful eye on the stove. "It's a talent in itself to turn food into a lethal weapon." he couldn't resist joking. Ohh, boy, he hoped Emily wouldn't catch wind of this conversation... they'd both would be in a world of pain, he was certain.

"A talent scout? In this little town?" he said with disbelief, "I haven't heard about anything like that from Carol. She wouldn't be interested, anyway... at least, I don't think so." It would be nice to see her flourish as a star though, he thought to himself.

He began to toast some english muffins as the other ingredients were almost done cooking. "Almost done now." he informed Todd pleasantly before attempting a bit of small talk. "So... how was SWERY65 last night? Fun?" He didn't often visit the Dunns' establishment himself -- the atmosphere just didn't suit him.

[Todd Thorne]

"You could say that..." Todd trailed off a bit lost in the hazy memories of the night. He remembered seeing Kevin, doing some karaoke with red, being really angry at that Lasseter guy but he proved to be really awesome somehow and they made up...Wait he wasn't sure of that last part but he did remember hugging the guy. Did they really part on good terms?

"Let's see I almost punched a lawyer for being too friendly with Em- I mean with my friend. I saw my boy Mikey cop a feel on a space cadet which sent her fleeing annnnd I almost threw up in Emily car because she kept making sudden stops to yell at our friend Kevin for offering to sleep with Mr. Cool FBI Agent or something."

Todd gave two thumbs up and with a grin said, "Overall, I say it was a good night!" Actually when Todd thought about it it probably wasn't that great but at least it ended well, the lawyer left before her could put any real moves on Emily and he got to use her as a pillow and Emily didn't smack him!

"You missed a lot of fun Thomas...OH! DUH! I almost forgot I karaoked with Red, we did Take on Me and ROCKED THE HOUSE!" Todd threw up some horns for emphasis.

"So what did you do last night?"

[Thomas MacLaine]

While Todd recollected his memories of the night before, Thomas began to plate their food as soon as it was ready. The main ingredient of eggs benedict was timing more than anything else, mostly because of the hollandaise sauce.

"Sounds like you were busier that night than I am during a whole week." he smiled as he placed their plates down on the small table in the kitchen, "I kind of regret missing it." He figured it'd be all right if they had lunch there, since hardly anyone else ever ventured in there for more than a few seconds.

"Oh, well... I..." Thomas began shyly once the questions were turned back around to him. He turned away to get a couple of grape sodas from the fridge as he reflected on his night. He'd been alone in his apartment, listening to records as he alternated between repairing some tears in his sister's dress, dancing with himself, wishing George would visit him in the dead of night... nothing he really wanted to divulge.

"... N-Nothing." he said as he set down their drinks. "I wish I had a good story for you, but I'm very boring. Maybe I should have lied..." he smiled apologetically, then sat down across from Todd.

"It's just... I prefer to stay in when the weather gets gloomy. Rain puts me in a strange mood." He loved the rain... it made him feel more alive.

[Todd Thorne]

Todd rubbed his hand together in anticipation, the food looked delicious! While Thomas' was recounting his night Todd took the time to stuff his face. He smiled and took the grape soda Thomas offered as well.

"God this is so good T-dog! Seriously, I don't know why you are working here! You could open a restaurant and put A&G out of business!" Todd took a big gulp of grape soda.

"Hey man nothing wrong with staying home! I generally don't go out that often myself. I tend to stay home and watch my dvds or workout or something but it is nice to get out once and while. Tell you what next time me, Emily or any of the others make plans to go to SWERY's I'm so going to drag your ass there!"

With a smile Todd leaned across the table gave Thomas a light punch on the shoulder, "I'll show you what fun it is to "act like an idiot" as Em likes to describe my night time activities."

He thought for a moment and snapped his fingers, "Say what are you doing tonight?!"

[Thomas MacLaine]

He shyly had a sip of his own drink as Todd raved about his cooking. "Well, I have worked in a few restaurants before. Still, I'm not sure if I'll go back to that again any time soon. I enjoy cooking more as a hobby." he confessed, staring down at the table. "I... I like it here in the department too." The Sheriff's Department was where he could see George every day, even for just a moment.

"Ne-next time? That should be interesting... okay." he agreed to the preemptive invitation. It couldn't hurt to have at least one night out with his co-workers, right? Maybe they could even bring George along! ... er, that was probably doubtful...

Thomas turned away with a slight smile as his shoulder was tapped and he laughed. "I don't know, I'm pretty good at foolishness myself. I guess my expertise is more in the area of 'hindrance' rather than 'fun', though..." he said; a bit of self depreciating humor.

"Ah... tonight I'll be busy, actually." he answered as he cut into his food with a knife and fork. "I'll be working at the Galaxy of Terror."

[Todd Thorne]

"You a hindrance? Since when..." Todd thought a moment and remembered Steven complaining that Thomas had lost the file room keys again the other day. "Oh you aren't thinking about losing those keys the other day are you? We found them and it's not the first time someone around here has misplaced something. I've lost my car keys more times then I can count and heck! Em keeps losing tons of shit herself. Why just yesterday she misplaced her police notepad and just last week she tried to blame me for stealing her Hello Kitty keychain or whatever."

Todd threw up his hands and rolled his eyes, "Seriously T-dog do I look like a guy who wants a stupid fuzzy cat head keychain, I mean REALLY. Anyway...it sucks you have to work tonight though." Todd thought a moment and then snapped his fingers, "Hey! I've got a brilliant idea! I haven't been over to Galaxy of Terror in ages and I have nothing to do tonight besides playing Call of Duty. Why don't I stop by and say hey! I can her that sister of yours, get some good food and pretend to be one of those weary souls in need of sage advice from their locale good old bartender!"

Todd nodded to himself he liked this plan. "Hey, doesn't the big man himself go to your bar often? Oh man if he is there too maybe this is my chance to buddy up! I would love it if I could follow in his footsteps. George is so awesome but I'm always so tongue tied around him though. You and Emily have such an easy report with him, how do you do it?"

[Thomas MacLaine]

Thomas wished he was only talking about losing keys (he often wondered if the squirrel-keychain-organization-system was faulty). It was a regular occurance for him to misplace things, sometimes he'd even accidentally fire off his gun somehow... it was a miracle he still had his job, now that he thought about it. He watched Todd as he went on about people losing things, false accusations, a Hello Kitty key chain...

"Oh, that's a great idea." he nodded when Todd decided to come visit the Galaxy of Terror, "I'll make your first drink on the house." he promised with a smile.

When George suddenly came up in the conversation, he looked a bit flustered for a moment. That's right... Todd admired the sheriff as well. He his heart didn't immediately spring to jealousy like it did when women were involved, but he wondered if he should be more concerned? After all, his own infatuation started off with a similar innocence.

"He often comes in to have a beer at the bar... yes. There's a good chance George will be there tonight." he affirmed as he bent the tab on his soda can back and forth. Before he could fall deeper into his thoughts about Sheriff Woodman, he was brought back into the conversation by another question from Todd.

"H-How do I do what?" he asked, startled as if he was being accused of something. "Ah, you mean... you mean get along with the sheriff?" he smiled sheepishly at his own paranoia. Of course Todd of all people wouldn't ask him anything about the things he did for his Lovely G.

"To be honest, I'm not really friends with him. I'm just his assistant... that's all he sees in me." He spoke with lying in mind, but once the words came out, he did wonder how true they really were. If only George could see he could be everything for him, if he would accept him.