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Language:
English
Series:
Part 4 of Here's to the Future
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Published:
2020-01-10
Words:
768
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
2
Kudos:
82
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7
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Nora Makes Cookie Cats

Summary:

Steven and Connie come home from a dinner date to find their daughter staring at a flaming oven.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

One time, when Nora was 4, Steven and Connie had just returned home from a dinner date and walked into the kitchen to find her staring at a flaming oven.

 

Connie bolted towards her daughter and pulled her back. With a quick motion she grabbed the fire extinguisher from beneath the sink and blasted the oven with tons of CO2 foam. Nora’s eyes lit up with amazement until she realized what happened.

 

“No no no!” She whined. She tried to run to the oven, but Steven held her back.

 

“Where’s Spinel?” Connie asked “she was supposed to be watching her!”

 

“Honey, where’s your babysitter?” Steven asked Nora. The little girl pouted, arms crossed, but eventually pointed to the countertop where Spinel’s poofed gem was lying in a puddle of melting ice cream.

 

“Nora I’m glad you’re okay,” Connie reassured her daughter before she shifted to the Maheswaran scolding voice “but you know you should not be playing with the oven.”

 

“Wasn’t playing!” Nora stomped her feet.

 

“Then what were you doing?” Steven asked her. The little bundle of energy jumped out of his arms and yanked open the oven door.

 

“Cookie Cats!” She gestured to cookies she had poured from the cookie jar haphazardly onto the bottom of the oven. It did indeed seem like a child's attempt to create cookie cats. Ice cream containers were left on the counter. A bag of flour had been ripped open improperly and it's contents spilt all over. Random cooking utensils were strewn about. The cookie jar was emptied off all the cookies.

 

And in front of the oven stood Nora, beaming with pride. But glancing at her handiwork caught Nora by surprise, as the cookies did not become cat shaped, but rather were burned to blackened crisps. And now they were also soaked in inedible foam. Seeing this, Nora started to cry.

 

“Oh, sweetie, it’s okay.” Connie went over to give her daughter a hug but Nora broke out into full on bawling as she ran past her parents and picked up a folded paper with scribbles and what looked like stick figures of Steven, Connie, and Nora. Nora shook the paper at her parents as if it were supposed to mean something.

 

“It’s okay Nora, we aren’t mad at you.” Steven kneeled down and put his hand oh her shoulder. That didn’t stop her from crying some more.

 

“Steven, I don’t think that’s what she’s upset over.” Connie kneeled besides her husband and pointed to a scribble on Nora’s paper that looked like “hPPY AVrsUrY!” The pieces suddenly fell into place as Steven recalled Nora asking them about why they were leaving when Spinel arrived to babysit. Spinel had just started explaining Anniversaries to her when Steven and Connie were on their way out the door. "It's like a sort of shared birthday except they're celebrating it nine months before your birthday," were Spinel's exact words that rattled in Steven's head as he thought back to him and Connie running out the door to make their reservation. Steven would have a discussion with Spinel about tact later.

 

“All this was for us?” Steven chuckled and tousled Nora’s hair, “How very thoughtful.” Nora’s crying had slowed and she gave her parents a small smile as she sniffled.

 

“I take it Spinel was trying to help you and, uh...” Connie gestured to the inactive gem and did a double take. Connie went over to examine the flour powdered all over the counter and wall with a Spinel shaped silhouette un-powdered... and a large knife embedded in the wall where Spinel’s abdomen would have been.

 

“It was a accident.” Nora mumbled looking at the floor, unable to look at her parents.

 

“You accidentally poofed Spinel trying to bake cookies?” Steven chuckled. "Maybe you are ready to start combat training with MegaPearl."

 

“Steven!” Connie turned the Maheswaran scold onto him, “This isn't a joke, Spinel was hurt!”

 

“And when she reforms she’ll find this situation funny too.”

 

Connie shot Steven an exasperated look.

 

“Nora, your mom looks mad,” Steven whispered loudly to his Daughter, loud enough so Connie clearly could hear him. “Maybe you should give her the card you made?”

 

Nora grinned and waddled excitedly to her mother, jogging in place as she held aloft the handmade card.

 

Connie couldn’t help but chuckle and shot her husband a look that said alright, we can worry about everything later.

 

Steven smiled as he walked over to join his family in a hug. Once Steven got this mess cleaned up, he was going to help Nora make enough Cookie Cats for the whole family.

Notes:

Decided to put out something short while work, sapped time and effort from "The Mystery Girl from Beach City." I haven't abandoned that fic, it's just working on it can be difficult when one doesn't have the time to really write and revise to one's satisfaction. But a one shot like this crafted and revised in about an hour and change? That I can do right now.

As for context regarding Nora Maheswaran-Universe and this possible future, there really isn't much. Just unfinished ideas on some post-canon stories which include a MegaPearl permafusion, Jasper being on better terms with everyone, and Diamonds that want to spoil their great granddaughter with gifts of starships and candy. I may return to these ideas in the future (though I do intend to focus on Mystery Girl from Beach City).

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot.

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