Before walking out into the tourist chaos, Xael stopped Adam.
"Hey hon, it maybe a good idea to ask for Wolfen officers."
"Yeah, I got that feeling too. I'm walking you to the diner so let's get over there." Walking out front, Adam almost ran into an Elderly woman who was standing in front of his door.
{Somethings wrong with her Adam}
"Ma'am you okay?"
"Oh officer! I lost my husband!"
"Well, let's get you someplace safe." Adam escorted the woman and his Mate over to the diner. As Xael dug her keys out to open the door, they were flooded with tourists who thought the diner was opening. Adam let them know it was closed. Door opened, Xael had the woman sit at one of the booths while her pups took up spots in their reserved seats. Adam approached the woman.
"Do you have a name and description of your husband ma'am?"
"Oh yes, here's a picture we took a few moments ago. His name is John."
"Okay, well my Mate here will take good care of you while we look for your husband. I'll be back once I find him."
"Mate? Oh my! Your werewolves!?!"
"Uhh...yeah." Adam smiled to help reassure the woman that she would be safe.
"Would you like some coffee Ms...?"
"Henderson. Thank you dear, we haven't eaten yet either."
"Well you just relax. I'll take care of that." Xael gently rubbed her shoulder as the woman was still uneasy being alone with 'werewolves'.
Adam turned to his Mate. "Lock the door behind me. Link me if you need anything, understand."
Xael just gave him a quick kiss and smile as she followed him to the door. Again other tourists tried to enter but Adam turned them away. Xael got busy with making coffee. Seeing how there would be more officers, she made a lot to fill up the thermos' so they could have some for later. First pot finished Xael poured some for the elderly woman and brought it over to her. She sat with her for a bit to keep her company. Xael could tell that she had relaxed as she began firing off questions. Xael was happy to answer them all. While they sat and talked, numerous people knocked on the window to see if the diner was opened but Xael shook her head 'no'.
Thirty minutes had passed when Adam linked Xael. He let her know that the woman's husband was at the station waiting. Xael was glad and would escort her over to the station. She would also bring over some coffee for them.
"They found your husband! He's over at the police station. I can take you over there."
"Ok thank you dear! You know you werewolves aren't all that scary."
"Why thank you! Let me fix you two something real quick to eat." Xael fixed them both sandwich boxes that included chips, fruit salad and dessert. As the lady gathered her things, Xael linked her pups to guard the door as she didn't feel like locking it just to walk across the street. Xael handed the lunch boxes to the woman as they left to cross the street, Xael saw a squad car pull up with four other officers, all Wolfen and all Alphas. Walking across the street, the officers all turned their attention to Xael, having picked up her scent. She smiled and waved at them and they returned the gesture. One of the officers held the door for them.
"Dixie!"
"John! Am I gonna have to tie a bell around your neck?"
"Ohhh hush! I would have found you eventually!"
"Thank you again dear for the lunch!"
"Food!" Her husband was more excited about food then reconnecting with his wife.
"Are they not feeding you on your tour?" Xael that it odd that they hadn't eaten.
"No, our meals fell through, we won't be able to eat until tomorrow morning."
Xael was shocked. She pulled Adam and Beau to the side while the other officers got settled.
"Hey, that's not right. We can't have a bunch of old people passing out due to lack of food." Xael was irate at the tour organizers for not providing a backup plan.
"Let's hear it..." Adam already knew that Xael had something planned.
"Well, we have a lot of sandwich stuff, fruit salad and desserts that are going to go bad. I can make up a bunch of sandwich boxes and sell for $10. Do you think you can find the tour organizers and get a head count?"
"Are you sure about this babe?"
"You guys want to field a shit ton of emergency health calls while they're here?"
"Oh hell no!" Beau wasn't about to deal with any of that, not after having worked a full day already. "Hey! Vivi is on her way, she can help you Xael."
"Alrighty then. We got a plan, I'm going to go and get started."
Xael headed back to the diner while Beau got a hold of Vivi and Adam found the tour organizers. Back at the dinner, Xael did a quick inventory of items and felt that she had plenty to work with. She was going to keep it simple. Ham, turkey and a few veggie sandwiches along with a bag of plain chips, fruit salad and 2 cookies and a can of pop or bottle of water.
She quickly got about 40 lunch boxes ready. They had plenty as they hardly used them. She set everything up assembly line style. Everything would be on wheat bread and the sandwiches included lettuce tomato and cheese. First, boxes were set up along the counter. Next went in silverware packs, condiments packets (ketchup, mayo and mustard) then 2 cookies per box. By the time she had that all done, Shado and Beau were knocking on the door.
"Okay, we got a hold of the organizers. There are 80 of them all together, 10 are vegetarians. Vivi will be her in about 20 minutes. They've been told the boxes are $10 and each person has to pay for their own." Adam was still not sure about all of this but, Xael knew what she was doing.
"Okay, man I need to double the boxes. Tell Vivi just to walk on in."
Adam gave her a quick kiss as she returned to the task at hand. Xael was glad for the long countertop as she put a second row of boxes out and filled them all. Her little assembly line was working beautifully. By the time she had the second row filled with the essentials Vivi walked in. The two exchanged hugs as Vivi grabbed an apron and got to work. The Pups were passed out in the booth and didn't care what was going on.
Xael had Vivi start on the fruit cups. She had to use the tables as the counter was full. She set out the plastic cups and used one table to hold the containers of fruit. Each cup took a ladle full of fruit and Vivi was able to fill them all efficiently. While Vivi did the fruit cups, Xael worked on the veggie sandwiches. Since the cold table was already filled with pre-chopped veggies it made things go so much quicker. Fruit cups done, Vivi placed one in each of the lunch boxes then got started on the ham sandwiches. They would do 50/50 half ham, half turkey.
The two worked in tandem and were done in about an hour and a half. Xael pulled a large tub out from the back and filled it with ice. She would use it for the water bottles. Thankfully, they stored pop in the fridge so it was already ice cold.
"Oh god, thank you so much Vivi for helping me out! We got done in no time!"
"Of course Xaely! I love helping out at the dinner."
Xael opened up the register and made sure there was plenty of change inside.
"How are we gonna do this?" Vivi was looking around the diner. They had all the lunch boxes in the fridges up front for easy access. There was no way the dinner would hold 80 people.
"Ah!! We can use all those foldable picnic tables we have in the back. We can set them up on the side area!"
"Ohhhh I forgot all about that! I'll go see if two of the officers can help!" Vivi dashed out the front door as Xael unlocked and propped open the side door that led out to the large patio area next to the diner. It needed to be swept so to save time, she went to the small shed at the back of it and took out the leaf blower. The patio was cleaned in less than 5 minutes. Walking back into the diner, Adam was there with two of the other officers.
"You guys get everything done already?"
Vivi put her arm over Xael's shoulder and smirked. "We good like that!" Everyone laughed.
"We just need help getting the picnic tables out the back. We're going to set up the patio area so there are enough seats."
The three Alphas got to work pulling out the stacks of tables and setting them up for the ladies. They were done in no time. Vivi and Xael got busy wiping the tables down. Finished, they took a seat as Xael linked Adam letting him know they were ready for people.
Vivi would run the register and Xael would grab the lunch boxes and drinks. The lunch boxes were pretty hearty and the sandwiches were huge so Xael felt comfortable with the $10 price. Door opened and sign on, people wasted no time in filing in and ordering. Things went smoothly due to them having everything prepped and ready. The pups just sat and looked, making sure all the humans behaved. The couple from earlier came back and thanked Xael again for the delicious lunch, they also ordered a piece of pie to share which Xael quickly plated up for them.
Xael was glad she had decided on feeding the tourist. With the lunch boxes and extra desserts that everyone ordered, the diner made over $1k in a short amount of time. Plus it got the tourists off the streets for a minute and gave the officers some down time which they were thankful for.
While the tourists ate, Xael got busy and fixed dinner for herself and the officers. Smothered chicken breast with veggies, roasted potatoes and a cake and pie out of the dessert case. She would drop the food off at the station after they cleaned up from the tourists. She linked her Mate to let him know.
The tourists all thanked her and Vivi for the last minute meal. Any tips they gave her, Xael handed over to Vivi along with a hundred bucks for helping her out. With the dinner now empty, Xael and Vivi quickly cleaned up and locked the large gates to the outside patio area and the side door.
Vivi helped Xael carry the food over to the station. They Alphas were going to eat in shifts that way officers were always out and about among all the guests. They were thrilled to have home cooked food and desserts. Xael and Vivi stayed with them and ate, while Xael's pups found a quiet spot to relax in. The evening was dragging on and Xael wanted to take her pups out for a walk. There was no way that Adam would let her go alone, even though she had her boys with her. The Alpha insisted on escorting her on their walk, plus it gave him a chance to see how things were going in town.
Xael actually liked that he was with them and the tourists kept their distance. Pups walked and bathroom breaks taken, she wanted to head back. Adam left her at the door with a quick kiss and got back to the station. Making her way upstairs, she showered and dressed for the night. She lit some sage and opened one of the windows a little bit, the commotion from the street below flooding the small apartment. Xael settled in for the night with a movie and her pups laying beside her. She fell asleep halfway through the movie.