The Heart of a Villain - Oneshots

Cookies

[Rose bakes cookies. It doesn't go well.]

It wasn't so much that Rose couldn't cook.

It was that she couldn't cook from scratch.

She knew how to heat things up, use a microwave, and even had a handle on making box meals. If the directions were less than five steps, she could do it, with relatively edible results.

Margaret had a lot to do with this. She patiently showed Rose the basics, even taught her some more advanced things, like keeping the salt, flour, sugar, and various cereals in containers kept on the counter. She showed Rose how to stock a fridge, what items needed to be kept on hand in the cabinets, and how to organize the plates, utensils and cups in the cupboard. Over time, Rose had managed on her own, having only herself and Will to feed, and Will's appetite was mostly sated by the hundreds of different products that were made for babies and toddlers and their dull palate.

Now, it was different. The first time, Rose had been basically alone, at least mentally. But now she had Tom, and Will was older, and she needed to step up her game.

After all, she wasn't going to be the only mother who never baked cookies, was she?

The lasagna, which had taken considerable effort and very careful attention, was cooking away in the oven. And the cookies she had made were sitting on the cooling rack on the counter.

Truth was, she'd rarely been so proud. Sure, she had amazing business skills and had literally juggled millions of dollars and made millions more, but those things came to her naturally. This, she had had to work at it.

So when Tom and Will walk through the door a short while later and are greeted by the disheveled kitchen, and a radiant wife and mother greeting them by the sink, they think nothing of the slight burnt smell still lingering in the air. Will runs forward to grab a cookie but Rose stops him, saying dinner is going to be ready soon and he needs to wait.

"So how many mud puddles did you stomp through coming home?" Rose asks as she kneels down to pull Will's rubbers off.

"I can do that, darling," Tom says, quickly moving to catch her.

"You're filthy yourself," Rose observes, eyeing the mud on his jacket. "What were you doing?"

"Chasing worms!" Will says. Half-way to three, his words are much clearer. Rose gives a little chuckle, then frowns at her husband.

Tom is smiling lazily. "Will was fascinated by all the worms on the sidewalk, so we went walking around. It led to...a few excavations." He kneels down, and giving Will a look, points to the floor in silent instruction, where Will promptly sits, his feet going up in the air. Tom pulls off the boots, with no regard for the fact that his hands are getting filthy from the mud gathered there.

"We let it go, Mommy," Will says.

"Let what go?" Rose wonders aloud.

"The worms, the few beetles, and...the mouse," Tom finishes, his voice lower.

"Poor mouse!" chirps Will.

"It was a bit drenched. We tried to catch a few toads, but they get slippery in the rain." Down to his pants and t-shirt, Will stands up, and hugs his little arms to his sides.

"Cold!" he says.

"Your blanket is on the couch," Rose says. "If you wash your hands I'll make you some hot chocolate."

"Yay, chocolate!" Will squeals as he runs off. Rose smiles as he goes, his little bare feet thudding harder on the floor now than they did six months ago.