Chapter 52

Felix and Lt. Cadman met at the dining hall and got in line for food, which looked battered fish and fries and mixed veggies.

Felix grabbed some of each, got a Caesar salad and a large milk, and it was when he was getting the condiments and cutlery that he noticed the strange looks from most of the people behind him. He asked Laura in a low voice, "Why are they staring at me like I have leprosy? I made sure I zipped it up."

That earned him an elbow in the side from Cadman.

As they got to a table she managed to figure it out and told Felix, "I think its because you are the only person wearing shorts and an army style t-shirt — take a look at everybody else — pants and hiking boots and their applicable shirt colour for where they work. Plus you wear desert boots — that isn't normal for around here."

He shook his head and dove into the meal and after a minute he rebutted, "Well the main reason I'm dressing like this is I find the inside temperature to be quite warm for my liking. Give me a good —20C day anytime and I'm happy strapping on the skis or snowshoes and going for a good romp in the snow. Got to find a planet like that out this way — maybe I'll check in the database later. Which reminds me — I'm not available after dinner for a few hours — I have date with a kitchen after dinner."

Laura raised an eyebrow and asked, "You? Have a date in the kitchen? What for? What can you do in a kitchen — dishes?"

Felix gave a knowing smile and replied, "That's part of it — it's an after dinner surprise for some of you folks here, that's all."

Laura reacted favourably when she almost squealed in delight and asked, "Hey, I like surprises — what is it?"

Felix looked at her with a raised eyebrow as if to say 'give me a break' and replied, "It wouldn't be a surprise then — would it? Just hold on to your snuggies and wait for once." He could feel her trying the puppy eyes at him while he ate and he added, "No way — not telling you — you'll just have to wait."

Laura continued to try her puppy eyes at Felix even as Sheppard and Ronon joined them at the table.

Sheppard caught the weird look that Lt Cadman was trying with Felix so he asked, "Lieutenant — why are you looking at Felix in that ... strange way that you are?"

She turned away from Felix who was now trying to smother his laughter and told Sheppard, "Mr. Smarty Pants here tells me he has a date in the kitchen later and says its an after dinner surprise for some of us here. But he won't tell me what the surprise is so I'm trying to get him to tell me what it is."

Sheppard looked over at Felix who was barely smothering his laughter now and then he looked over at Ronon, who shrugged at the whole thing as he shovelled his dinner. Sheppard then shook his head and said, "I knew I shouldn't have asked her a question like that."

Ronon piped up, "So what's the surprise, Felix?"

The smaller man replied, "Same as I told her — you'll see when it is done." He looked at his watch and said, "Speaking of which — I'll see you folks in a few hours — I'm off to the kitchen." He then looked at Laura Cadman and said, "By the way Leftenant — don't try to sneak to see what I'm doing in there." He paused as he stood up and gave them one clue: "It is edible — this surprise — and I think you'll like it, but not until it is done."

With that he walked over to the tray drop-off area and then walked right into the back of the kitchen.

After about 3 and 1/2 hours Felix emerged from the kitchen carrying a large square aluminium container with a lid that contained his goodies that he wanted to share with the others. He had already given the kitchen staff a good amount of his treats, seeing as they also helped after they saw what he was making.

Felix had a small smile on his face, as he knew that the smell had been wafting through the halls of Atlantis earlier, as several people had tried coming into the kitchen to beg and scrounge but the staff had kept everybody out. Even Andrea the head cook was impressed with how delicious the treats were as she stuffed another one into her mouth and moaned at the flavour.

Felix's first stop was the duty Gate tech desk where Chuck was sitting, looking positively bored to tears. He simply lowered the box, removed the lid and told Chuck, "You can have two for now."

Chuck woke right up when he smelled something so yummy and reached in and saw what the treat was — he grabbed two and started eating the dessert immediately. He mumbled, "Fanks Felix," as his mouth was filled with the treat.

Felix then went along the duty personnel in the Gate room area and made sure they all got two treats each, then went over to Dr. Weir's office.

By now the slender leader had emerged from her office at the smell of the fresh dessert and was looking over towards Felix to see what was in the large container that everyone else was obviously enjoying.

Felix met her at the entrance to her office and smiled as he asked, "Would you care for a late evening snack, ma'am? Freshly made from the oven and yummy for the tummy."

She looked into the container and exclaimed, "Oooh! My favourite — cinnamon twists I would say?" as she removed one and bit into it and closed her eyes as she enjoyed the fresh dessert. Dr. Weir gave an appreciative moan of delight as the twist vanished rapidly and her face lit up when Felix told her, "I made enough so that everyone gets two, so dig in while you can."

Elizabeth reached in and grabbed another twist and this time before she scarfed it back she asked, "Did you make these Felix?"

He replied, "Yeah, with the help of some of the kitchen staff when I was rolling the twists. It's a family recipe and I just wanted people around here to feel a bit happier, so that's why I made them."

By now a lot of people were coming right up to the Gate room as fellow expedition members either called them or the smell had drawn them there.

Felix just placed the big container down on a vacant table and watched as everyone filed by and took two twists and he kept smiling as he saw the looks of happiness as they ate the yummy dessert.

Finally Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, and McKay showed up — with Rodney complaining as usual about being dragged away from important work again.

Elizabeth shushed him as she said, "It's worth the time away Rodney — believe me — they taste like more."

Ronon asked with a mouth full of twist, "Who made these?"

Several people motioned over at Felix, who was standing out of the way in the background like usual. Ronon gave thumbs up as he devoured the two twists in a few bites and started looking for more.

Felix chuckled when he heard McKay actually say aloud, "Oh, compliments to the chef! These are outstanding — I must see the cooks and thank them." Rodney left and then came back a few minutes later with a perplexed look on his face as he said to Dr. Weir, "They said Felix made these — that can't be right — he doesn't know anything about baking — does he?"

She smirked a bit as she answered, "Why don't you ask him yourself, Rodney? He's just over there watching us gorge ourselves."

Rodney balked at that and replied, "No, that's all right — I don't really need to know who made these."

She pulled Rodney by the arm towards Felix and stopped in front of the smaller man and said, "Rodney has a question for you, Felix."

Felix looked at McKay and gave him full attention as he replied, "Sure — go ahead."

McKay gave a weak smile and stammered a bit and managed to finally ask after Elizabeth glaring at him; "The kitchen staff ... um, they say you made ... these um ... twists?"

Felix casually replied, "Yup — they taste okay?"

McKay blurted, "They tasted really delicious, that's why I was wondering who made them, and when people said you made them..." he trailed off, as he really didn't want to say the rest of what he was thinking.

Felix gave a disarming smile and finished, "You didn't believe them. That's okay — I used to be a horrible cook. I found that if you put your heart into whatever you are preparing for other people, it always works out for the better. And as to me making them? No big deal, really — any of us could do the recipe. I simply felt like doing it as I got the impression that people were kind of hurting a bit lately due to losses on missions, so I thought why not bring a bit of happiness to their faces? This is something I enjoy doing — making goodies for other people to have so their day goes a little bit better — that's all. Depending on the supplies the cook may make them more often, but that's up to her." He paused as he let all the information sink into Rodney's reluctant mind and then asked, "Anything else, other than more twists?"