I'm here! I'm alive! I'm OK! I'm sorry... please just... read the chapter on Aunt Cass

Cookies and Knives

Cassandra always had a soft spot for home made goods. It's why she started her cafe. It's why she loved cooking. And it was absolutely why she chopped and prepared her own herbs for her specialty teas.

Cass hummed a tune to herself, taking the tray of dried camomile and twirled her knife, her hips moving back and forth to her mind music.

Some instinct awoke suddenly and she saw Tadashi, eyes wide with fascination, staring awe struck at her hand twirling the knife. Cass caught it and set it down, "Don't even think about it young man."

Tadashi nodded, but his eyes told Cass it was too late. His mind was already moving sixty miles an hour. Cass took in a breath and looked sideways at the boy, "What do you do with sharp cooking utensils Tadashi?"

Tadashi was brought back to reality at his aunt's prompt to recall a rule, "Nothing. You don't do anything. Leave them alone." He said in a serious and monotone voice, rocking back and forth on his heels upon being asked to perform.

Cass smiled at her nephew. Too cute for words. She walked over and kissed his head, "Righto bud." She straightened and put her hands on her hips, making herself tall and important, "Now, where's that brother of yours- I have a mission for you two."

Tadashi's eyes lit up and he raced off to find Hiro. Cass craned her neck as he bolted out of the kitchen and resumed her cutting of the herbs. Every Monday was her prep day. She would be in the kitchen all day cutting and mixing and baking and stirring so she would be good for another week. It was the only day she would never enter her cafe and let her hired hands take over. It was also the only day her nephews would help her... as much help as a six and twelve year old could give that is... which was not much- at all. But oh, it was always fun!

A thunder of little feet announced the arrival of her nephews back into the cafe kitchen. Tadashi ran in first and immediately climbed a nearby stool. Small little hands and a black fuzz of black hair soon appeared over the counter as little Hiro struggled to follow his brother's example. Without looking up from her cutting, Cass ordered Tadashi, "Help your little brother Dashi."

With a little sigh but quick compliance, Tadashi boosted Hiro up too high and the boy was almost sitting on the counter before sliding back on the stool.

Cass cut in silence for one... two... three... four...

"Come on Aunt Cass! What's the mission!"

Not even five. They were getting better though.

Cass put down her knife.

Slowly and dramatically, she reached down under the counter and put a bowl in front of the boys filled with blueberries, "This bowl of berries needs to be perfect. It is not right now. Your mission young men, should you chose to accept it, is to find the bad berries and eliminate them."

The boy's eyes were wide as they soaked up the information like sponges. When Cass finished, she pulled the bowl towards herself, "This mission requires keen eyesight and precision decision. Do you accept?"

Both boys nearly unbalanced their stools as they shouted, "Yes ma'am!"

Cass pushed the bowl to the boys who were on their knees on the stools to get a better advantage over the dastardly bowl as they immediately began to dig through the blueberries. They were both extremely smart children and very OCD if they were put in the right atmosphere. Luckily for Cass, she had mastered how to zone them into said place. Both boys would not be satisfied until there was not a single green or shriveled berry in that bowl. And it was a pretty big bowl. They would be occupied for at least a little bit- usually for about fifteen minutes- twenty if she was really lucky.

Within ten minutes, she had chopped her herbs and put them in the appropriate glazed clay jars. She then started on the vegetables for the sandwiches she offered in the lunch menu. By now, her nephews were completely absorbed in their task and thoroughly enjoying themselves. The berries that were not appropriate were eaten and the good ones were kept in the bowl. Cass gave herself a parenting point. Fully occupied and not eating candy. Win win right?

Cass began to hum to herself again. Her hips began to sway and soon, as she chopped up carrots at speeds a Master Chef would be jealous of, she began to twirl her knife as well. It was only a... well, not even a hobby, but it was just something she had developed and honed in on as a cool skill to have. Knife twirling. And plus, she knew she always looked super badass when doing it, and she could do it pretty darn good if she did say so herself.

The knife began to blur as she twirled it with one hand and grabbed another carrot with the other. With a muffled clunk she ended up dropping the carrot on the floor. Well, she never said she was a professional or anything!

Cass set her knife down to pick up the carrot. As she picked up the carrot, she heard Tadashi shout suddenly, "Hiro NO!" and her head shot up and in that moment, time slowed down.

Cass saw Hiro holding her large, extremely sharp knife in his little hands, moving his wrists like he saw Aunt Cass do. The little boy jumped, startled by Tadashi's yelp and the knife slid dangerously towards his arm as Cass made a grab for the knife, thinking only to get it away from Hiro and with a yank the knife out was out of Hiro's hands.

There was a moment of shocked silence as all three breathed heavily, staring at each other- well, mostly Tadashi and Cass stared at Hiro who looked like he was about to cry. The whole hear stopping moment had taken no more than two or three seconds.

Cass snapped out of it first. Shaking her head to clear her racing heart, she bent to her nephew's eye level, voice breathy and relieved more than scolding,

"Hiro, don't ever do that again sweetie!" She begged, "You never touch sharp kitchen utensils. Ever!"

Hiro nodded mutely, his bottom lip trembling a little. Cass looked lovingly at her nephew and put the knife down to give him a hug. As her grip let go of the knife, she felt an odd pain in her hand. Still moving in for the hug, she glanced at her hand and gasped, pulling away from Hiro in a flash.

Her entire palm was bright red and wet. In thinking of nothing except to get the knife out of her nephew's hands, she had actually grabbed the blade as she yanked away. Her knifes were sharpened regularly and were always extremely keen and precise. A finger could get lost if one wasn't careful. And now, Cass had a long, deep cut across her right palm.

"Crap!" She yelped as she clenched her hand again, fingers becoming red. It wasn't the best decision but instinct had taken over. She ran over to the first aid kit she kept in the back of the kitchen. Using one hand, she struggled with opening the latch. Cass bit her lip as the pain began to set in. Her hands beginning to tremble, she fumbled more desperately with the kit.

Suddenly, small and calm hands opened the kit with a click. Cass looked down to see a nervous and blinking Tadashi staring at his aunt with a little Hiro hiding behind his legs.

"Thanks Dashi." Cass sighed in relief as she took out the gauze, the medical strips and the antibacterial spray.

Walking over to the sink with the items, she washed her hands, both red and wet from the blood which was now continually trickling out. Inhaling sharply at the sudden pain from unclenching her hand, she allowed the water to wash away the blood, revealing a deep cut that went from one corner of her palm to the other, a white flap of skin showing over the red gash.

"I'm sorry for ripping you Aunt Cass." Hiro very small, very sincere voice was heard.

Cass still rubbed her hand under the water tap, aware of the face she had to put on for her boys- if she kept moving her hands, they wouldn't see them trembling, "Oh sweetie, it's okay, it was no one's fault- I shouldn't have put my knife down just anywhere. I should have put it back in its leather case."

"Will it need sewing?" Tadashi asked, peering at the cut as Cass turned off the water and took a towel she didn't mind getting bloody to press gently onto the wound to dry her hands off. Keep moving your hands. Keep moving your hands.

"I don't think so Tadashi, it's not too too deep and it should be fine." Cass reassured him, though the pain she was feeling made her fingers twitchy.

Taking the towel and continually pressing on the cut, Cass reached for the medical strips to find that Tadashi was already holding a strip out to her, "Thank you honey!" She said, surprised. Well, she really shouldn't be. If Tadashi wasn't building something with his brother, he was reading medical books. Tadashi would know what to do with a cut.

Hiro put his hands on Cass' legs, standing on tip-toe to get a better look at what the fuss was all about.

Cass bit the inside of her lip and bounced her leg- much to the delight of Hiro who grabbed hold of the leg in a big hug to be jiggled up and down- anything to distract from the pain that was now numbingly throbbing and aching across her hand. This wouldn't be good for business. She would be unable to perform many duties with her right hand disabled. Her mind was already working out what she could do versus what she couldn't.

Finally securing the gauze and the bandage on, Cass let out a big sigh and leaned on the counter, Hiro and Tadashi standing in front of her, looking at her steadily. Cass was moved with a wave love for her wonderful boys and smiled tiredly. Suddenly bouncing off the counter, she moved towards one of the ovens and took off three cookies.

Tadashi and Hiro squealed in delight as they saw what Aunt Cass was doing.

Bending down to their level, Cass looked first at Tadashi, "For quick thinking and excellent medical practice, I give thee, Tadashi Hamada, The Chocolate Chip Cookie." She handed it to the boy who took it with a huge smile.

"And for ultimate bravery during a deadly knife fight and for giving outstanding comfort to the wounded, I give thee, Hiro Hamada The Chip Chocolate Cookie." Hiro's little gape toothed smile spread from ear to ear as he promptly began to stuff the cookie into his little mouth.

"And finally, for serving your kitchen in certain peril and being injured in the line of duty, I give thee, Cassandra, The Chocolate of the Chip Cookie." Cass moved to the opposite side to thank 'herself', "I accept this cookie with a humble heart and an empty stomach." She bowed to 'herself' and ate half the cookie in one bite.

Tadashi and Hiro giggled. Cass smiled back with chipmunk cheeks. Spraying crumbs everywhere, Cass gave her nephews a thumbs up, "Miffion Accomplifed!"

A/N: A THOUSAND APPOLOGIES! You wonderful readers don't deserve to be left alone the way I have treated you, but I was concentrating on my other BH6 fanfic (feel free to check it out btw :D). My goal is to finish this fic by the time I go to school next Thursday-so you can expect Hiro's chapter to be up sometime before or around then.

Anywho! I hope you liked this one :D It was really fun to write and I really LOVE Aunt Cass' character. She REALLY deserves more screen time!

You can also thank StarlightStudio for their recent 'follow' because, without them, I might have continued procrastinating with this fic XD So a BIG and specific callout to you StarlightStudio- you gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get this chapter out there *bows low*

Guest Reviews:

gbalck7: Hehe, I live for puns. And of course I'm going to do Hiro- the trick is trying to do it in an original way- so many people have written pieces about him being bullied, bot fighting etc, I just don't know where to start really...

Capricorny: Yes sir! (ma'am... Yes! It shall be done!)

GG: Sorry this took so long to get out hon- I REALLY loved your review! *hugs*

Our Mismatched Socks: It really did and I'm SO glad you liked the nerdy kitten's chap :D

Quest: Hmmm, that's actually a cool idea, unfortunately, I think I'm finished with the nerd herd- unless they pop into Hiro's chapter *waves arms in foreshadowing waaaaaay*