(Untitled)

[broken_brushes]

Let me tell you something, being alive is no walk in the park. Not if you want to do it right, at least, and given that I was on my second life, I kind of wanted to not screw it up. Being dead affords a person some serious perspective and I like to think that I carried some of that back with me when I found myself suddenly alive again, but the

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[rhymingdevil]

"I'm pretty sure that baking usually implies an edible result."

I was kind of a smart-ass in my first life and it looked like on life number two it was shaping up to be more of the same. In my defense, I was never a smart-ass when someone was being sincere, and if Shari wanted to, I'm pretty sure she could put me in my place about it.

Shari? Could also be a little bit of a smart-ass.

"Need help?"

[broken_brushes]

"I am not above beating you with this pan," I replied with a syrupy sweet smile and an exaggerated bat of my eyelashes. The cookies were a completely lost cause, and after a passing thought of using them as hockey pucks come December, I crossed to the garbage and tilted the pan to deposit my failed baked goods into the trash.

[rhymingdevil]

"I wouldn't think any less of you if you did," I confirmed, giving her tone right back to her. Score one for the smart asses.

I paused, and when I spoke again my tone was a little more sincere. "Do you need any help?"

[broken_brushes]

"There's not much to do," I pointed out with a wrinkle of my nose as I guided the cookies into the trash. "You can turn on the exhaust fan, it might help the smell a little bit." Pausing, I pointed my mitten-covered hand in the direction of the switch on the wall.

[rhymingdevil]

I went to turn on the switch, hoping that would help kill some of the smoke, and wondered what might have happened to distract Shari. Usually she was pretty good at this stuff, at least on the island.

"Consider yourself rescued. Sort of. I don't really make the best of knights."

[broken_brushes]

"You do alright," I countered, tipping a wry smile Peter's way. "White knights are overrated anyway. I'd rather have a guy who does the dishes once in awhile." Awkward though it may have sometimes been to have Peter living with me, I had to give him that: He always pulled his own weight, and I never had to ask him to do anything.

[rhymingdevil]

"I never read about Sir Peter of the Dish Soap before," I joked weakly, then nodded toward the charred mess that had been, I guess, cookies in a former life. Hard to tell.

"What happened, besides the obvious?"

[broken_brushes]

"What? Oh, nothing. I was just doing some research, and completely lost track of time," I answered as I carried the pan over to the sink so that I could try to do some washing of my own. I wasn't being evasive, I swear. At least, not much. "I've got this project I'm trying to put together, sort of a Council thing."

[rhymingdevil]

"Uh huh," I said, not really wanting to disturb her if she didn't want the company. Nice and nonchalant, right?"

"What kind of Council thing?"

[broken_brushes]

"I'm trying to set up a Loss Services department," I explained as I pulled off my oven mitts and reached for the dish soap. It was easy to talk about the project; it was something I was intensely devoted to. I just needed to not make it personal.

I glanced over my shoulder to Peter. "You know, support groups, help with the Island Memorial, that kind of thing."

[rhymingdevil]

"That would probably be a good thing," I said, leaning against the counter to watch her as she worked. It wasn't much work, since she was just washing her hands, but it gave me an excuse to be in the kitchen.

"Do you know any of the guys in the Psych Office? They might be able to help."

I had been by there earlier in the week and claimed to be asking for things for a 'friend' but I'm pretty sure the doctor on staff saw right through that. He had some kind of freaky perception and I was completely unnerved.

[broken_brushes]

"Yeah, I was thinking I'd ask Spencer Reid," I replied as I picked up a scrub brush to get the charred bits of cookie off the pan. Once they dried on there, it would be a serious pain to scrub them off. "He's a friend of Derek's," I continued, knowing that Peter had spent some time at the Homestead. "I cut his hair," I added with a laugh.

[rhymingdevil]

Morgan was a decent guy and I had spent plenty of time with him on the Homestead during the hurricane. I figured a friend of his would be all right in my book.

"Yeah, I know Morgan. I didn't know you two were on a first name basis though. Working with the kids, I guess?"

[broken_brushes]

"He introduced himself to me as Derek," I replied with an abrupt laugh, then wagged the scrub brush Peter's way. "You're incredibly transparent, you know that?" Maybe not entirely without reason, but Derek and I were very firmly a thing of the past.

[rhymingdevil]

"I used to be a ghost. It was a thing," I said wryly, not really wanting to touch on what she'd hinted at. Shari was astute, no doubt, but maybe if I didn't bite she'd drop it and move on.