Archive of Our Own ^beta

„Alright Hilda, do you have the list of ingredients we need?”

The girl nodded enthusiastically. „Yes boss! I have it right here!” She held up a piece of paper.

Sparky smiled. „Great, let’s get going then.”

…

A few minutes later, Sparky parked her car right outside of “Out of Thyme”. The two got out of the car and made their way into the store.

„Okay,” Sparky said, holding out her hand for Hilda to give her the list. The girl quickly did so and Sparky began reading. „So we need flour, butter, some vegetables… ah, let’s just start with the vegetables.”

Hilda motioned in a direction. „They’re over there, right?”

„Well yes, at least they usually are.”

…

„Huh,” Sparky commented when they got to the vegetables section. „They actually have things in stock for once. That’s weird…”

„Isn’t that good for us?”

„Well, yes, but it’s still a little strange. I mean look,” Sparky pointed at a box of vegetables. „They even have rutabagas today!”

Hilda tilted her head. „We don’t need them for the recipe though, do we?”

„No we don’t. But we’re still taking some, because who knows when we can get them again!” Sparky explained while placing multiple of the root vegetables in their shopping cart.

„Whatever you say boss! Okay, so we need potatoes, carrots, tomatoes… and maybe also some salad?”

After thinking for a moment, Sparky nodded. „Yeah, I think salad might be nice. You know, as a starter.”

Hilda grabbed the ingredients they needed and put them in the cart as well. „Hm, okay,” She peeked over Sparky’s shoulder to look at the list again, then ran off to gather some of the other things.

„Splitting up for efficiency, that’s smart thinking Hilda!” Sparky called after her.

„Thanks boss!”

Feeling very proud of her protégé, Sparky smiled to herself before walking off to get some ingredients as well.

…

When they returned to their cart about ten minutes later, they had gotten almost everything.

Sparky sighed. „Thanks again for helping me with this, I really don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise.” She buried her face in her hands. „Why did I tell Jake that I was gonna cook today…”

Unsure of what to do, Hilda petted the woman’s shoulder. „There there boss, don’t worry, we’ll make some amazing food for your date!”

„It’s not a date,” Sparky corrected her, perhaps a little too quickly. „Just a nice dinner to thank him for taking me to that art forgery exhibit at the museum the other day.”

Hilda struggled to hold back a grin. „Sure…”

Pretending like she hadn’t heard that and like her face definitely wasn’t getting warmer, Sparky turned back to the list. „Okay, so what else do we need…”

Hilda looked at the list as well. She smiled sheepishly. „Uh, boss?”

„Hm?”

„Do you think they sell thyme here…?”