As a show of her gratitude, she was currently baking a ton of cookies to take down to the fire station. She'd already managed to bake a big batch of chocolate chip and she was halfway through baking off the oatmeal raisin. Not bad for 9:00am when she'd had a show the night before. While these cookies were mostly to say thank you, there was one person she owed an apology to. Oh, and it pained her to have to do it. Big something or other had been foul-mouthed and rude beyond all belief. But she supposed if the situation had been reversed, she might have had a swear or two to dole out as well. Alisha sighed as she scooped out more dough onto the baking sheet; he was just doing his job, so her pride would have to be swallowed momentarily to make room for some humble pie.
Alisha looked up as her friend padded into the kitchen and smiled. "Morning, Fabs."
Maggie took stock of her kitchen turned bakery and then glanced at the clock. "Good Lord, Betty Crocker, how long have you been at this?"
"Not long," Alisha shrugged, "a couple hours maybe."
"And why exactly are you baking dozens upon dozens of cookies?" Maggie inquired, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"I'm making them as a thank you for the firemen that responded the other night. They risk their lives on a daily basis and I think that they might appreciate a little gratitude in the form of baked goods."
Maggie smirked over the top of the mug in her hands. "Got any in there with an I'm Sorry iced on them for the one that had to rescue your dumb ass?"
Alisha frowned, but a chuckle was quick to follow. "Oh, my God! One time, Maggie. I made "I'm Sorry" cookies one time and that was a decade ago. Let it go!" She stuck her tongue out at her blonde friend and popped the cookie sheet into the oven.
"Lisha, you poured sugar into Seth Waterman's gas tank and completely screwed up his engine."
"Well, I thought he was the one that defaced Russell's locker. Hence the cookies for when I found out I was wrong."
Maggie laughed, "The look on his face when you gave him the cookies—as if that made up for ruining his car."
"Not my finest moment, I'll admit. Moving on," Alisha waved off with a giggle. "But if you must know, I do owe that fireman an apology, so yes, some of these cookies are for him. Icing free."
"Any chance that some of those cookies have my name on them?" she asked, reaching for a chocolate chip cookie to dunk in her coffee.
"There might be some peanut butter ones coming up next," Alisha offered.
"Well, carry on then. I've got to get ready for the day. Russell and I have a meeting later with Bergdorf's about possibly carrying our new line."
"Really?" Alisha asked in awe. "Maggie, that's fantastic!"
Maggie held up a hand. "I don't want to get my hopes up just yet, but we're hearing good things."
"Good luck!" she beamed. "I've got my fingers crossed for you."
"Thanks, Lisha," Maggie smiled. "Have fun with the firemen. Feel free to give any cute ones my number." With a wave of her fingers, she sauntered out of the room.
Alisha handed a few bills to the driver and stepped out of the cab in front of Ladder 34. She gathered her large shopping bag filled with the containers of cookies and headed in through the open door. "Hello," she greeted brightly to the man with a friendly, mustachioed face. She could feel several pairs of eyes on her, but she brushed that aside, figuring they were probably not used to women marching into the station.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
She flashed him a toothy grin, "You already did, actually. Your unit responded to a fire in my building the other night, and I thought that all of you might enjoy these as a thank you." Alisha reached into the bag and pulled out the container on top and handed the bag with the remaining containers to the gentleman. "There's chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and peanut butter."
"Hey guys," he called to the others, "this pretty lady here baked us some cookies." The other firemen hooped and hollered their appreciation, making Alisha's face flush. "Thanks, doll," he replied, smiling at her.
"No, thank you. If it weren't for the fast response and hard work, I might have lost everything. It was the very least I could do."
"All part of the job, but we will enjoy these," he told her with a grin.
"I hope that you do," Alisha smiled again, then shifted in place, knowing she needed to go ahead and rip off the proverbial band aid. "Could, um, you also tell me if there's someone that goes by Big working today?"
The fireman chuckled. "Yeah, Biggerman's around here somewhere. Let me see if I can find him."
She realized she was a little disappointed to learn that he was there. A part of her had been hoping he wouldn't be and that she could just leave the cookies with a note. It was cowardly, sure, but it was honest. She wasn't looking forward to encountering the rude man again, even if she did owe him an apology. "Great. Thank you so much," she told him. He nodded at her and walked away, handing the other men in the station the bag of cookies.
"What kinds of cookies are in here?", another fireman called. Alisha pasted on her best smile and went over to chat with the group of men while she waited.
Big dribbled the ball, smirking deeply when Tony started talking smack in an attempt to distract him. He saw James get open and passed him the ball, turning quickly away from Tony
