Chapter 32: Danny V--Cookies and Milk

A/N: Jad your opinions are priceless!

Chapter 32: Danny V—Cookies and Milk

It was around one o’clock when Danny stopped by the Roy house to see Cecile. Right away, he noticed that Cecile’s car wasn’t there. Odd, Danny thought. Where else would she be? He had told her that he would stop by that day when he could.

He yawned as he stepped out of his car. The staff had him on the bike for two and a half hours to compensate for his inability to skate....and to help him shed the weight he had gained during the week. Blissfully, Danny smiled to himself at the thought of all that food he had consumed. How the hell did Michele and the kids stay so skinny? It must be a French metabolism thing or something, Danny reasoned to himself.

Danny was about to ring the doorbell when he noticed Patrick’s car in the driveway and decided against it. If Patrick were asleep, as he most likely was, then he didn’t want to be the one responsible for waking him up. So he knocked.

It seemed like it took forever but it probably wasn’t that long, for Michele to answer the door. Absolute horror overtook Danny when he saw her face. Even though Michele smiled brilliantly when she saw him, he could see that she had been crying.

"Mimi!" Danny gasped.

"Hello, Daniel," Michele said with a weaker smile.

"Are...are you OK?" he asked, glancing behind her a bit, looking for Patrick.

Michele shook her head and then nodded. "Oh, oh, oui. I’m fine, I was.. I was just chopping onions earlier for the spaghetti sauce and...and it takes me a while to recover.....what am I saying? Come in, Daniel."

That was the weakest lie Danny had ever heard. He followed Michele into the house, closing the door gingerly behind him and scanning the surroundings. Where the hell was Patrick? How could he let his wife cry like this?....Unless he made her cry....

Danny squinted at the back of Michele’s neck as she led him into the kitchen. Was it just a trick of the light or was there a fresh bruise there? When they entered the sunny kitchen, he could see there was nothing there. His imagination was running away with him, or was it? It was an unusually warm October day, and she was wearing a sweater throw over. Sure it was a cute sweater, but Danny knew by now that she wore much lighter clothes during the day. Why would she suddenly be covered up now?

"I’m sorry I didn’t start the cookies any sooner!" Michele said, turning to him with another smile. "Then I would have been able to give you some warm ones, but as it is, I can only offer you the last of the old ones. Go on, sit down."

"Oh," Danny said. "Mimi, you don’t have to, I’m not..."

Michele narrowed her eyes. "Ssssh!" she said. "I will hear none of it!"

Danny bit his bottom lip, she had a mother’s inflection in her voice sometimes that any decent male was bound to obey. And he did. He sat still and didn’t protest as Michele hummed softly to herself, plopping some fat cookies onto a plate and pouring him a large glass of milk. Danny’s eyes fluttered a bit as she leaned close to him, putting the plate and glass down in front of him. There was a charmingly floral scent to her today, but it wasn’t strong, he had to breathe in just a bit deeper to get a good smell of it.

He exhaled a little too loudly when she stepped back from him, causing her to stop and look at him. Danny blushed. "Are you OK, Daniel?" she asked.

Danny nodded briskly. "Yeah, I was just....just...."

Michele smiled. "Do I smell bad?"

"Nooo!" Danny exclaimed. "You smell great! Like magnolias and..."

Danny stopped himself and blushed. How badly had he just opened his trap there?

Michele brushed a few strands of hair from her face, nodding her head slowly. She backed away from him and leaned against the counter. Danny turned down the bottom corner of his mouth and he grabbed a cookie, dunking it in the milk. Had he just officially scared her? He thought. Now she thought he was some freak who was sniffing her neck at any chance he got. Which wasn’t that far from the truth.

"Well," Michele said with a dismissive sigh. "I was in the middle of something..."

Danny let the milk soaked cookie crumble in his mouth, and watched Michele as she picked up a bowl of cookie batter and began stirring it with a large, wooden spoon. Damn! Danny thought. He was never going to lose any weight at this point. The "old" cookies were so good that he knew he was going to finish the plate and if he stayed long enough and smelled the new ones baking.....well then that would be the end of that.

Michele began humming to herself again as she stirred. A pretty, nameless little tune. She was mostly turned away from Danny and he couldn’t stop watching her as he gulped down a third and then a fourth cookie.

Finally, Michele stopped humming and she ran a finger along the inner edge of the bowl then tasted the batter. A pensive frown crossed her face. "Daniel," she said.

Danny swallowed an uncomfortably large bite of cookie when she spoke. "Yes?" he squeaked through watery eyes. Oh that one felt like it had ripped his esophagus.

Michele looked at him. Her face looked so much clearer now, there was barely any sign that she had been crying. Danny felt guilty now, maybe he was exaggerating everything in his mind. "Taste this batter for me, there is something wrong with it." Michele requested.

"Um...OK," he said carefully.

For some reason, Danny couldn’t walk. He felt like he shouldn’t. What the hell was wrong with tasting cookie batter? Was that a sin?! That wasn’t a sin! He was going insane!!

Michele frowned. "Well?" she asked.

Danny just sat there blinking. He was really feeling like an idiot now and the look on Michele’s face told him that she was beginning to agree. What was he afraid of?

"Where’s Patrick?" Danny blurted. What the hell was that? he thought.

A narrow line creased in between Michele’s eyes. "He’s sleeping," she said slowly. "Upstairs."

"Oh.." Danny said.

The frown disappeared from Michele’s face as she broke into a confused laugh. "Daniel, it’s just cookie batter, but I don’t want to force.."

"No!" Danny said abruptly, a little loudly. "I will taste The Batter!"

Michele laughed even harder as Danny declared his intention to taste the batter, but still he remained in his seat. He looked helplessly at Michele, but noticing that the sweater throw over was falling a bit off one bare shoulder, and that there was a smudge of flour on the base of her neck was just not helping any. Michele grabbed a small, silver teaspoon and she scooped up the batter bowl in her hands and carried it over to Danny.

"Here, then, lazy puppy," she said as she placed the bowl on the table, pushing aside the naked cookie plate. Danny reached for the silver spoon but Michele yanked it out of his reach. "Non," she said. "If you’re going to be a lazy puppy, then you can’t feed yourself."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"

Michele dunked the spoon into the batter and pulled out a scoop. "Here," she said. "Open up!"

Danny blushed as he opened his mouth, Michele slipped the spoon in his mouth, tickling his chin with one finger. Danny giggled and pulled back, sucking on the batter. After he processed the taste, he wrinkled his nose involuntarily. "There is something missing," he said. And then he immediately felt like a cad for saying it.

Michele frowned. "What do you think it is?"

Danny shook his head. "I don’t know....I don’t cook very well...I just eat."

Michele grinned. Danny realized that the bruise on her mouth looked so much better. "What could I have forgotten?" she said to herself as she walked to the counter and looked over all the spices and ingredients left there.

"I don’t know," Danny said.

Michele turned around looking thoughtful. "I wonder..." she said and then her face illuminated from within. Danny held his breath as Michele walked back over to him, dipped her finger into the batter and then smudged it on his chin.

"Hey!" Danny exclaimed.

Michele giggled and then she quickly sucked the batter right of his chin, flashing his skin dangerously with her teeth as she did so. "Oh my God!" Danny cried as he almost fell out of his chair. "Mimi!"

Michele didn’t seem to notice him as she rolled the batter around inside her mouth. "Yup," Michele said vacantly. "It needs salt......"

Danny held a hand over his moist chin, he was trembling all over and worse, he now had a boner. And this one hurt. "Mimi!" he sputtered again.

Michele looked back at him as she picked up the bowl and took it back to the counter. "My apologies, Danny," she said. "I needed a quick salt source, and men are much saltier than women."

"Oh," Danny said weakly. Somehow, that made sense to him, and he didn’t want to know why. As Michele began humming again and salting the batter, Danny dropped his head onto the table and closed his eyes. "Think of Drury’s hairy ass!" he muttered softly to himself. "Drury’s hairy ass......"

"Danny?" a soft, beautiful voice rang at his side. "Are you OK?"

"Oh," Michele said. "Cecile! How nice to see you, Danny’s been waiting for you."

"Really?" Cecile asked.

Danny looked up into Cecile’s emerald eyes. "Uh huh," he said stupidly.

Cecile wrinkled her nose, a move that made her look a lot younger than she was, and that frightened Danny. He had forgotten completely about Cecile the moment he’d seen Michele’s tear streaked face and only now he was thinking of her. She looked like a child! He looked back and forth quickly between the two women. Michele was a woman, Cecile was still a girl. Danny moaned and plunked his face onto the table. He was so confused now!

"Danny?" Cecile asked.

"Maybe he had too many cookies?" Michele said uncertainly.

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