Some of the CDC and friends, on their way to town for parTay supplies, were chattering away a mile-a-minute, the van going slightly faster, when a shriek came from somewhere in the middle. Heads and eyes turned toward lynnann -- the driver cautiously glancing in the mirror.

�Someone please tell me they put k�lynn back in the closet before we left.�

�Duncan said he�d watch out for her.� Sheeza said blithely.

�Would that be the same hunk o�man that just roared past us in the T-Bird?� MacNair said from the drivers seat.

�She knows all the things she�s not supposed to do,� hayden said.

�All the things we�ve thought to tell her,� Sharz, riding shotgun, worried. �She seems to get around the rules somehow.�

lahoffy whipped out a cell phone and tried the main number to the compound and couldn�t get through. She tried another number from memory, but Sharz in the front was the one that answered. �Well, that helps a whole bunch,� lahoffy muttered. �We�ll just have to go back.�

�We�re almost to town, we�ll speed shop, breaking all Olympic records set in the event and be back to the compound in a flash,� MacNair decided.

lynnann agreed. �Sharz, give everyone assignments for the store. lahoffy, call the pizza place, we�ll take the ten pizzas back and cook them at the compound. MacNair can pick them up while we hit the store.�

�But I wanted to go to the store,� MacNair protested.

�No!� three chorused together. �MacNair, sweetie, we luvs ya, but your ability to be a speed demon in the traffic is what we need here. Drop us off and we�ll be waiting for you when you get back.�

She pouted briefly, but agreed. She had been known to get a little carried away with the shopping. And she could probably make enough time to swing by the bakery�

lynnann watched the landscape go by. They just didn�t understand. Somehow she knew there was gonna be pell to hay when they got back.

Most of the girls were out, shopping for whatever it was women shopped for in groups of three or more, when Richie stepped into the kitchen and was surprised to be greeted with a cheery "Hiya, Richiebabe," from the Clan spectre. She was sitting on the island counter top, studiously dropping spoonfuls of something onto a cookie sheet. He stepped closer, a cautious eye on her, for she was known to swarm -- without a moment's notice -- over shoulders to perch on heads like a small animal. Fortunately it was only in her ethereal form, but it was still unnerving when it was unexpected.

"k'lynn, what are you doing out?"

"Dunkie seyd we maked cookys 4 parTay. I mayked dem."

He peered closely at the container. "k'lynn... that's cookie dough ice cream."

"I dood it wronged?"

Richie panicked when the single fat tear rolled down her cheek. The last time he had made the spectre cry he had caught it from Connor, her fierce and barely forgiving protector. �Sometimes you have to treat her like a child,� Connor had explained, �if you take something away to keep her from getting hurt you have to replace it with something else. Trust me on this one, Ryan.�

The young immortal practically dove into the refrigerator, scrounging around until his exultant "Aha!" and his "Ow!" brought him out, waving a roll of pre-made cookie dough. "This is what you need, just slice and bake. We're good now, right? No more tears?"

"Baby shampoo, Richiebabe. No more tears," she giggled at her own joke, hugging the cookie dough while Richie scraped all of the ice cream on the cookie sheets into a bowl and handed it and a spoon to the sprite.

"Look, I have something I have to do, but I'll be right back, okay? Don�t turn on the oven."

"Hokey dokey." She licked the spoon, her eyes closed in ecstasy.

Ennaj strolled through a little later and saw k'lynn poking the plastic wrapped tube with a plastic fork. "What's with that, kiddo?"

"lynan sez no sharpie nifes. I almosted gotted it."

"I can take care of that for you," and with that she whipped out a sharp knife and handily sliced the sugar cookie dough. "You're all right now, little one?"

"I o k, sisser fren. U da bestest." k'lynn started placing the sliced cookies on the cookie sheets. Ennaj stuck her head back through the door. "Save me some, and remember to pull off the plastic."

"I no dat." k'lynn giggled and started all over again.

Methos entered the kitchen, stopped at the refrigerator and removed a beverage and was almost out of the room when he stopped short, blinked, and turned back. He pulled k'lynn away from where she had her nose plastered up against the oven window. "Be careful it's ... not hot. What are you doing, imp?"

"Bacon kookys, Meetoes," she replied. "Dey takin long time."

"You don't have the oven on."

"Not loud 2 tern on. U do, plez?"

He removed the trays and showed her how to put them in the oven once the little red light went off. "But I'll be right back, you should wait for me."

She stared and stared at the red light, unblinking, and she jumped back with a squeak when it finally clicked off. She tested the knob as she had seen others do -- after all, it was already on so she wasn�t breaking rules -- and the red light went back on, so she waited some more. The light went off again and she went to the kitchen door and called, "Meetoes! Meetoes?" There was no answer, and she swiveled her head around and looked longingly at the cookie sheets on the counter top that called to her enticingly. She looked at the clock and saw the big hand was almost on the seven, and she screeched, throwing open the oven door and with oven mitts donned she placed the cookie sheets like Methos had shown her. When the fast hand was straight up and the big hand on the seven she closed the oven with a satisfied grunt. She sat on the floor in the corner, nestled up against the cupboards, her arms wrapped around her knees, toes tapping as the fast hand swept around the face of the clock. After all, the package said to bake from 7 to 11. The big hand moved awfully slow.

Connor, conducting business on the computer, became aware of the odor at the same time the smoke alarm went off. He glanced at the state-of-the-art security system as he went out the door -- the kitchen! He entered at nearly a dead run just as the wild child opened the oven door, sending billows of smoke into the air. "k'lynn! What the..." He pulled her away and confiscated the oven mitts she wore on both hands. He dumped the charred remains in the sink and doused them with water as she wailed behind him.

"No! No! Kookkys 4 parTay. U runed dem!"

"They're burnt! What made you think ..." he began as he punched in the code to cancel the automatic phone call to the fire department. The call canceled, he flipped on the exhaust fan over the stove.

Three figures burst into the kitchen.

"I said I'd be right back."

"I told you to wait."

"No cookies for the parTay, I see."

All fell silent as Connor fixed his gaze on each of the culprits. "Whose idea was this," he demanded evenly, his anger barely under control.

"I only..." "She was ..." "I tried..." they spoke together until Connor silenced them all with a hiss and a motion of fingertips pressed together to 'zip it."

"You!" He stabbed a finger at the Old One.

"All I did was turn the oven on to preheat and I did ask her to wait for me. That blasted phone call took longer than I anticipated. Sorry, MacLeod, but I didn't put the idea into her head."

Ennaj fidgeted slightly, and the Highlander slid his gaze to her. She tossed her head and explained, "It wasn't my idea either; all I did was slice them for her. Would you rather I had given her a knife?"

"No, not really. That leaves you, Ryan."

"Hey, this is so not my fault. She was trying to make cookies with cookie dough ice cream so I gave her the real thing to keep her from crying. I told her not to turn on the oven.� His glance flicked to the old immortal and back to Connor. "And it should have taken some time for her to open that package.�

�A comedy of errors this isn�t. Be quiet,� he muttered to the whimpering sprite behind him. �It�s okay,� he said as he reached back to stroke her hair for a moment to calm her.

�Dunkie pwomise we mayked kookys 4 partay.� She hiccupped.

�This was Duncan�s idea?� On cue, three pairs of eyes narrowed. The younger MacLeod strolled in laden with grocery bags.

�Where�d she go?�

�Where�d who �� but he never had to finish the question. Connor turned around and k�lynn was no longer there. The last of the smoke was sucked through the exhaust fan.

The deadly silence was broken by a welcome and familiar banshee wail outside, and they rushed the door, trying to get out at the same time. Ennaj scampered over the top of the immortals, and Richie squirted out first, his youth and speed and life of crime putting him a mere fraction ahead of Connor. Methos followed at a more leisurely pace behind the Highlanders, but it didn�t mean he wasn�t any less worried; he just had more experience with spectres, good, bad, and witch-invoked.

k�lynn sat on the edge of the rain gutter, feet dangling, looking down on the crowd below her. �Dat fun!� she chortled and she jumped down to waiting hands. �Bud I feels dizi.� One eyebrow seemed stuck in constant surprise and one corner of her mouth drooped a touch.

�You�re always dizzy,� Ennaj pronounced and strolled off to her garage, flipping her knife in a manner that made even immortals cringe.

Connor gave k�lynn a kiss on the forehead, and proceeded to mold her face like clay, bringing her eyebrow down to its proper place, and her lips back to their kissable impish grin.

�You do that like you�ve done it before,� Duncan observed.

�A time or two,� Connor admitted. �Now what was all this about cookies?�

�We needed a few things, she said she would stay with you until I got back.�

�Connor said �goway� so I gowayed.�

Connor sighed heavily. �That was you? Damn it, k�lynn, you never call me Connor.�

�Okies, Connie, I nefer do �gain.�

The sound was halfway between a sob and a chuckle, but then Connor swooped her up. �Let�s go make some cookies!�

The van pulled up into the garage and the ladies piled out, grabbing bags and boxes. Sheeza sniffed the air. �Oh man, you can still smell that burned cake from the other day. We�ll probably have to paint the kitchen to get rid of the smell.�

Sharz grinned. �We�ll put it on the �honey do� list.�

MacNair snerked. �After the parTay, I�m sure there�ll be plenty for the Honeys to do. There always is.�

**************

lynnann
16 Feb 2002

So does that make it any clearer? Sometimes it's hard to explain a spectre... she just is.

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