The Glass Scientists micro-fanfictions

Christmas preparation goes awry

A fresh scent of warm, freshly baked cookies blended deliciously with the far sharper smells of ginger and cinnamon, the heavenly aroma filling the large kitchen with a particularly Christmassy feeling. The chef was humming a cheery tune – a tune she had previously picked up from carollers in the town square when she was out earlier – a pleasant smile curled across her face as she took a near ridiculously large plate of seasonal goodies out of the oven.

"Whatcha doing?"

She had been entirely certain that she had been alone, and so the unexpected voice made her jump a little. Depositing the tray on a nearby bench, she turned on her heels, searching for the source with wide, startled eyes.

Her brief fear faded away faster than it had appeared, a warm – if not rather amused – smile graced her face when she caught sight of the familiar figure crouching in the open window.

"Oh! It's just you again, Master Hyde! You do know there is a door, don't you? You don't need to keep coming in through the window?" Rachel commented, a good-natured laughed in her voice, "But yes, I thought I should take up Mr. Doddle's challenge so here I am! Trying to make a gingerbread village!" As she said this, she gestured to the hunks of gingerbread, the larger pieces reaching a wee bit longer than her forearm.

"Don't villages usually have, oh I don't know, more than one dismantled house?" Edward asked, shifting into a seated position, his legs hanging off the edge of the bench, his feet rather amusingly hanging far from the floor, his mockery coming in a more light-hearted nature.

With a dramatic huff, she turned to her freshly backed treated, peering over her shoulder, "I've only just started!" said she in defence, catching his eye, her far more natural green making his all the more unsettling and unnatural, both shining with amusement.

"I'm helping." Hyde decided, this being said with much the tone that implied that she had no say in his contribution,

Though she did sigh, making a particular show of contemplating chasing him out, likely with a broom – a situation of which she had jokingly threatened in the past – before shrugging just a little bit.

"If you can make yourself useful, I won't complain of a second pair of hands."

"I can assure you, madam, that my hands are more than capable." came his response, just a little bit of a purr in his voice, a purr that resulted in her throwing a towel at his face, causing him to squeak a scandalised, "Oi!"

"Yeah, yeah," Rachel chuckled, "Hold those up, would you?" she said of the large cookie pieces, "Don't let go of them until I say so. If you do it well, I'll let you decorate one side."

Hyde saluted this in a notably overdramatic manner, letting her prop the pieces into position before scuttling over to hold them up. The look of determination on his face as he held it steady was almost laughable, staring intently at one side of the cookie wall as the woman iced the walls in order to get them to stay in place.

"I'm bored." Edward whined after absolutely not long enough to justify complaining about it, pouting as he looked up at Rachel, who swatted him cautiously with the towel, making sure that she didn't risk the dessert being damaged in the process.

Despite all of Hyde's complaining, it really was not all that long until the pieces had set and dried, leaving a delightfully set gingerbread house, the result being approximately the size of her torso and smelling unequivocally divine.

"I said you could help decorate, so here," she said, offering him a piping bag as she turned to fetch the candy – created by Mr. Doddle, approved by Dr. Jekyll – from the other side of the room, "Nothing vulgar or distasteful, if you don't mind."

The short little fellow poked his tongue out at her, but nonetheless proceeded to decorate to his heart's content.

It was to no surprise that by the time they had finished decorating the side Rachel was working on was an elegant masterpiece and Edward's was a discordant mess, much the same fate had befallen the decorators. Hyde had somehow managed to get himself covered in icing, a chunk of particularly solid icing having glued his blond fringe up, which Rachel would surely have escaped the mess entirely had the man not run sticky, icing covered fingers across her cheek, leaving a trail where they had been.

"Now, I just need to attach the little wreath and I can say the first house will he officially done!" delighted the chef, turning to grab the cute little candy wreath she had made.

It was a foolish decision to turn away, on her behalf, as the moment her back was to the treat they had put so much hard work into making nice, there was a worrying giggle from the man. Unfortunately for her, she was unable to turn back in time to stop the inevitable, but instead witnessed straight on Hyde jumping up and bringing his fists down on the gingerbread house, the house shattering into an unsalvageable mess of sweet shards, his high pitched, hoarse laughter still audible over the devastating crunch.

"Edward Hyde!" she shouted, distraught, "You get out of here right now! You monster!"

Swiping the largest piece he could reach, the blond happily obliged, scampering out of the kitchen, shoving the gingerbread into his mouth as he left the utter destruction in his wake, leaving the poor chef to not only clean the devastation – how on earth did he manage to get a bit of the wall stuck on the roof? – but to remake the house from scratch.

Oh well. She had fun and, hey, it's Christmas, and so with a laugh she set about looking for whatsoever was salvageable from the mess.