Operation: CAKE BAKE
He's already reaching over to turn off the alarm when he hears the front door close downstairs. It would have gone off five minutes later, but it wasn't worth waking Cortana if he was already up. As quietly as possible, he slips out of bed. She'd wake up with the sunrise in plenty of time to join Linda on the front porch, he and Fred could start—
"...where're you goin...?"
He stops with his hand on the door. "It's Kelly's birthday."
"You say that like it's an explanation," she yawns, half-heartedly kicking the blanket off. "But if you've got something planned, I want in."
"Oh, you're part of it," he assures. "This mission is all hands on deck."
"Mission?" It only takes the few steps from the bed to the door for the sleepy haze in her eyes to be fully replaced by an expression he's much more familiar with. "This wouldn't have anything to do with yesterday's suspicious shopping trip, would it?"
"Maybe."
Fred and Linda are already in the kitchen when the two of them arrive a few seconds later. Bowls, spoons, spatulas, and various ingredients are arranged immaculately on every inch of available counter space. Linda nods a greeting.
"Okay." Fred begins, crossing his arms. "Kelly will be returning from her run in exactly two hours and...fifty-six minutes. We're splitting into teams. Team Bravo—," he motions to himself and John, "—is in charge of the cake. Team Delta—" he points at Linda and Cortana, "you two are the lookouts and the distraction, if needed. If we're not done by the time she gets back, you get her out of here by any means necessary."
Linda's eyebrows twitch higher. "Any means?"
"...within reason. Use your best judgment."
Cortana shrugs, immediately navigating around the baking paraphernalia for a coffee mug. "Easy enough. I'm fine letting you boys handle the hard part."
Fred and John share a look. "I'd rather be following step-by-step instructions than trying to wrangle Kelly away from anything."
"Assuming we'll even need to." Linda swings by the coffee table to grab a book on her way to the porch. Cortana follows with coffee several minutes later.
Fred cracks another egg. "We'll have this done before she's back, right?"
John shrugs, measuring out the sugar. He can't resist the joke. "Don't worry about it. It'll be cake."
**********
Cortana returns from the patio two hours and forty-nine minutes later with her empty mug. “Linda’s up on the roof. She says she spotted Kelly about five minutes out. Status report? Ooh, frosting.” She swipes her finger into the bowl.
John ‘tsks’ but doesn’t try to stop her.
“We’re close enough that we shouldn’t need any drastic diversions,” Fred answers, cracking open another box of candles. “Give us a little bit of a buffer when she gets here.”
“Yessir.” She steals another finger of frosting on her way back out.
After a couple minutes, John sighs and sets down the knife. “This is the hard part.”
“Looks good to me. Ready for candles?”
"Mm. Frosting’s thin on this side."
A swell of voices and footsteps from the patio sends them both into an instant frenzy.
"It doesn't have to be perfect, just put the candles in. That's an order."
"You're pulling rank now?"
"I told them to stall, not divert, remember? We have thirty seconds. If we're lucky."
"You know I am."
"Well I'm not, so it probably cancels out."
John places the final few candles and grabs for the lighter just as the voices on the porch reach the front door. Fred does his best to lean against the counter in a way that hides the cake. The door opens.
"Damn, it smells really good in here. Did you bake a cake or something?"
The click of the lighter breaks the silence of the beat that follows. Fred slides away from the counter. John motions to the cake, now visible. "Happy birthday."
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