TITLE: That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles
AUTHOR: Kirsten
FEEDBACK: PnyExp1860@aol.com
COMMENTS: Author's Note: I guess you're supposed to mention it when you've taken a
story based on one of your own experiences or those of others...so, here it
is folks. Basically this is the outline of what happened to me when I
attempted to plan a surprise birthday party for a friend (with many
differences added and taken away from this story of course). Sometimes our
perfect plan just doesn't work out the way we perfectly planned it! *sob*
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: The Young Riders don't belong to the author, but to 
MGM/UA Television, Ed Spielman and Josh Kane. I'm just borrowing them. No 
copyright infringement intended.

                     That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles
                                 By Kirsten

"Shhhhh! Shut up, will you!" He screamed.

"I'm trying!"

"Will both of you quit it!"

"He started it!"

"Who's idea was this anyway?"

"I don't know, but I'm starting to think that maybe this wasn't such a good
idea. What if Cody blows up the house or something?"

"Get serious."

"I am serious!"

"Are not!"

The boys continued to argue over who did what, said what, and who came up
with the whole lousy idea in the first place. It was dark outside, which
probably made matters worse because none of them could see exactly where
they were walking.

Kid, assuming his 'unofficial' leader role stepped forward, "I'm going to go
in there, but you all better stay quiet!" He whispered harshly, "If we wake
Rachel, Lou, or especially Jesse, it's going to be all over!"

They all nodded in understanding and anxiously hid in the shadows of the
house, watching as Kid made his way inside...deftly missing the third step,
the one that squeaked.

He slowly opened the door, knowing that if their station mistress were to be
awakened by a loud noise, she could end up coming down and shooting him by
mistake. Well, okay, so maybe that was slightly exaggerated...still it was a
legitimate thought, and not one to be cast away completely.

"How's it coming?" Kid whispered to his friend. He glared down at whatever
it was that Cody was making, and was immediately thrilled that he wasn't
hungry. He knew that after looking at that goop in the bowl, he would have
lost his appetite for sure.

Cody turned to Kid with a look that was completely perplexed. He'd been
struggling with this problem for the past two hours. It was now 3 am, he was
tired, and this whole scheme was starting to get very old.

"It's not coming at all," he stated flatly, "Kid, I've never baked a cake in
my life!"

Kid looked once again into the mushy mass of mixture that was supposed to be
the batter. He tried not to let the foul smell cause his nose to wrinkle,
but it was no easy task. "Um, Cody, is it supposed to be that orange color?
I thought vanilla was white."

"That's just the flavoring I added," he replied licking the formula off of
his finger. "Here, taste it."

Turning his head away, Kid shook his head, "No thanks, I'll just take your
word for it. Just hurry up, will you! I know you got the votes to bake this
cake, but I've seen Rachel make them in half the time it's taking you. I
mean it isn't even done yet!" Nobody could miss the slightly panicked tone
in the young man's voice. This whole thing had practically been his idea, so
naturally he wanted it to work out right. In the back of his mind Kid began
to wish that he hadn't started this. The whole plan had been an uphill
battle from the first.

"I'm doing the best that I can here, so I'd appreciate it if you'd get off
my case about it," he shot back, flicking some of the flour off his hand
into Kid's face.

Kid stepped back and raised his hands in a surrendering position, "Fine.
Just make sure that I see it on the table in the morning. The rest of us are
going to get to work on our other projects." Cody nodded in acknowledgment,
and went back to his mixing, stirring, mixing, and stirring.

                                    *****

"How's it going?" Jimmy asked as Kid squatted down beside him.

"It's not," he replied before laying out the rest of his plan, "Now, Buck,
you've got the gifts, right?"

"Which ones?"

"What do you mean 'which ones'? The things that were being held for us...the
jewelry," Jimmy was beginning to get worried. He had spent so much time
picking out the two unique things that Rachel and Lou would like. The
thought that they were never bought or brought back almost made him sick.

Buck figured that he better tell it as it was rather than stalling with some
weak excuse. "Yeah, I got them, but there's just a slight problem," he
cringed.

Kid was now involving himself in this discussion, as he had given Buck a
considerable amount of money to help pay for those pieces of jewelry. "What
kind of problem?"

Noah looked at Buck and they both swallowed hard. Neither one of them were
quite sure how they should go about explaining the scenario. "Well," Noah
began, "Buck was doing just great, but then we had a slight accident."

"Accident?" Jimmy and Kid asked at the same time, both of them leaning
forward.

"Better tell him, Noah," Buck urged.

Reluctantly, he began the tale, "We got the ring back just fine, but it's
one of the earrings...you see, Teaspoon ate one of them." Noah said it as
quickly as he could, hoping that it wouldn't sound as bad as it did.

Kid shook his head, not believing what he was hearing, "He did what?"

Buck leaned forward. He felt so stupid having to explain this. The worst
part of it was that there was no solution. "He didn't mean to, in fact he
doesn't even know that he did. You see we had just gotten back when Rachel
was serving dinner. I told Noah to put the jewelry in a safe place so that
we wouldn't loose it. Well, when Jesse came running through the door, he
knocked Noah's hand, and one of the rings went flying into Teaspoon's mashed
potatoes. By the time we made it over there, he'd eaten the last bite."

Kid and Jimmy looked at each other wanting desperately to laugh, but knowing
that the seriousness of this situation outweighed the humor. There was
nothing they could do now, except get another gift.

"Okay, then we need to come up with something else," Jimmy said as he began
mapping out all the ideas and possibilities in his head. Nothing he could
come up with right away matched the first and best idea that they had
formulated originally.

Kid went on to the next item on his list, "What about decorations?"

That was Jimmy's department, and from the look on his face, that hadn't gone
well either. "Kid, about those decorations..."

"Yes?" Kid said slowly.

Jimmy nervously cleared his throat, "They burned."

"Burned, as in caught on fire?"

Jimmy nodded, "Yeah, as in caught on fire."

Kid was starting to get pretty frustrated at this point. He didn't even want
to hear the story about what had happened with that. It was probably one of
the craziest stories one might hear. The only thing left now was to start
reworking their plan...from scratch.

                                    *****

Lou woke up and pulled the covers back over her head. It was Valentine's
Day, and she had a run to make. She couldn't help but wonder why she
couldn't be like normal girls, have a guy take her out, bring her flowers,
or even just write a sweet poem dedicated to her. "Instead, I dress like a
boy and go out on the dirt-covered trails," she mumbled to herself.
"Besides, none of the boys, especially Kid, even know what Valentine's Day
means," she sighed.

Yawning as she tried to force herself to sit up, she was shocked to see that
there was no one else in the room. "Boys?" She called out softly, easing
herself off of the top bunk. When there was no response, she shrugged and
began pulling clothes on over her long johns.

With those guys, there was no telling what they were up to on a day like
today.

                                    *****

"Please tell me it looks better than it smelled last night," Kid pleaded as
Cody snuck into the barn with a plate in hand and a towel neatly resting
over the top. He smiled in pride at the work he was about to reveal.

"Well, show it to us," Kid urged.

With one swift movement, Cody removed the covering of his masterpiece. "Here
it is, the pride of the West."

The cake was flat and the left half of it was higher than the right. It was
still the same bright orange, and the center was sunken in like a crater.
Basically it looked like a blistered pancake with sunburn, and just about as
appetizing as a rotten tomato on a hot August night.

"Cody, we can't give that to the girls!! It was supposed to be shaped like a
heart, remember?" Kid said, trying to hide the disgust in his voice at the
sight of....'it'.

"I've watched the pookie that comes out of my horse look better than that."
Noah offered, as he gazed down at it.

Kid took the cake off of the plate and held it in front of Cody's horse, who
took one snuff before turning away. "See, you're horse won't even touch it."
He let it fall to the ground with a loud thud. "Look, we gotta come up with
something. I'm open to ideas," he said, the determination rising in his
voice.

As they all stood at a loss for words, Lou came in with her riding clothes
on and a small bag slung over her shoulder. She was surprised to see them
all standing around, but tried not to show it. "Good morning boys," she
offered.

"Mornin' Lou," they replied as cheerfully as they could be under the
circumstances.

She took a step closer to her horse and stepped on the cake that had been
dropped to the ground. Hastily she picked up her foot and looked at the
bottom of her boot. "Ewww, did one of the horses throw up?"

Jimmy, Kid, Noah, and Buck lost all composure and busted out laughing. Cody
just looked meek and then started laughing as well. Lou was really starting
to worry about the boys now. Politely she excused herself and began the
process of saddling her horse.

As she looked over her shoulder at the hysterical men, she began thinking
that perhaps having to ride out this morning wouldn't be so bad after all.

                                    *****

Kid and Noah began gathering the things that they would need to prepare for
the great task ahead. Jimmy and Buck were inside the bunkhouse getting
things fixed, and Cody was doing his very best to keep Rachel distracted so
that she wouldn't find out what they were doing.

"Cody, there's dirty laundry over there that needs to be taken care of," she
pleaded, beginning to get very agitated with the whole situation. The
thought that the boys might be up to something hadn't even crossed her mind.

Cody sat her down and poured more tea into her cup, "Just sit for a while,
you work too hard anyway," he said sweetly.

Now she was starting to grow suspicious, "Cody, I don't know what you are up
to, but I don't like it." Rachel sat back in her chair and eyed him
skeptically.

"I'm not up to anything! Can't a guy just be nice to a woman anymore?" He
replied, trying to make his blue eyes look sad and hurt.

For obvious reasons, his baby-faced expression didn't work...Rachel saw
right through it. She had been around these boys just long enough to know
when they were up to something. I might as well play along with this, she
thought to herself with a smirk, who knows, it might be kind of fun.

                                    *****

Lou was determined not to have this day wasted. She wanted to do something
special for herself for Valentine's Day, because it was probably pretty
guaranteed that none of the boys would be doing anything for her anyway.

She made her delivery and was headed back towards Rock Creek when the
thought suddenly hit her, why don't I stop in the next town, buy myself a
real fancy dessert, and just enjoy an afternoon alone?

                                    *****

"There, I think that is just about the way we all wanted it," Jimmy said,
smiling at his artwork. They had taken some red ribbon and draped it all
over the bunkhouse in an extremely unfashionable manner.

Buck had confiscated some white paper from the schoolhouse which he
carefully began cutting and designing into little perfectly shaped
hearts...or should I say was trying to cut into little perfectly shaped
hearts.

"Hey, those look great," Jimmy said, leaning over his friend's shoulder as
he admired his progress. Picking one of the crafted objects off of the
table, he examined it closer. There was something about it that wasn't quite
right, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. "Buck, aren't hearts supposed
to have a 'm' shape at the top?"

Buck looked at him, quite sure of himself, before he went back to his
cutting. "No, I saw a drawing of one when I was in school. One of the town's
doctors brought it to show us, and that's exactly what they look like."

Jimmy nodded in interest, "Oh."

                                    *****

"Kid, I think Rachel would like this," Noah said, handing him a bottle of
some perfume straight from France.

He took one sniff of it and handed it back to Noah. Kid turned his nose away
in disgust at it's sicky sweet fragrance, "If she started wearing that, I'd
find a new job."

Sadly, he placed the object back on the shelf. They both desperately wanted
to stop searching for another gift. How were they supposed to know what
Rachel would like or not?

"What about this?" Noah tried again, handing Kid a hat covered with lace
trimmings and a flower on the side. They both looked it over carefully, not
sure of what to say.

"Think she'd like this?" Kid questioned, unsure of his own impression of it.
After all the flower was kinda...well, big. He'd seen women around town
wearing them though, so maybe Rachel ought to have one for church on Sunday.
"Let's get it," he finally said.

                                    *****

She emerged from the hotel, feeling like a new person. Her dress was
wrinkled and smelling kinda 'horsy', but she didn't really care. It was just
nice to be out and feeling like a lady. Lou looked out at the beautiful
sunny day and was quite glad that she had followed her instincts and brought
along one of her dresses.

Walking down the center of town, she took in the sights and smells that were
emanating from the buildings. Some of the shops were decorated with red
trimmings in the windows, while others boasted of the best sales in town.

The towns attractions were all wonderful, but it was probably the way in
which he smiled that caught her attention so fiercely. Lou didn't realize
how long she stood there gazing into the eyes of one of the handsomest men
she'd ever seen. The thought didn't even cross her mind that he might think
it a bit odd for her to be staring so.

"Excuse me," he called out to her, noticing the way that she was looking at
him.

She was startled back from her stupor, "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry," Lou felt her
face flush and she quickly looked around for something to look at.

His smile was alluring and he drew her attention back to himself one again,
"No, it's quite all right, I was just wondering if something was wrong."

Hastily she turned and acted as if she knew where she was going. It was too
embarrassing to be caught in such a moment! "Oh, no, I'm fine, thank you.
Just making my way across town," she replied absentmindedly.

He stepped into her path and gently touched her arm. Her smile was so
tempting, causing him to want nothing more than to hold her close, "Wait, I
was thinking, I mean that is if you don't have something planned, we could
have something to eat together. I mean you look like you're new around here,
and it is Valentine's Day after all. Unless there's someone else...?"

The offer struck her by complete surprise. If she had thought that simple
act of staring was going to pull her into something like this, she never
would dreamed of doing it. "That's very kind, but you see I really can't.
I'm going to have to be on my way, and there is someone else." Lou started
to walk away, but she felt a harsher grip on her arm which immediately made
her body tense.

She seemed so sweet and wonderful, therefore he just couldn't resist. This
woman was not going to slip through his clutches so quickly. "Maybe you
don't understand, darlin'," he snickered, his face changing from the sweet
visage that it was before. She tried to step back in fear but found that she
couldn't move due to his iron grip. "I just want some company for a while,"
he said, brushing his hand across her cheek.

"Let go of me!" She cried, trying not to panic too soon. When he didn't
release her, she struggled harder. Not all too soon, another young man came
running to her assistance and helped her to break free. She ran as fast as
she could, found her horse, mounted, and began riding towards home. Lou was
desperate to get away from her terror and that town as quickly as she could.
That was certainty not the type of day that she was looking for.

                                    *****

Kid and Jimmy stood back to take a final look at their accomplishments. It
felt as if they had just won a major battle of war. There wasn't one of them
that didn't feel completely exhausted, and deeply desire a long long long
nap.

"Think it looks all right?" Kid questioned as he stepped into the center of
the room, not quite sure if ribbons hanging from every piece of furniture
was quite right. Still, he did have to admit that it seemed pretty
romantic.......in an odd, queer sort of way.

Jimmy shrugged, "Well, I think this is as good as it is going to get."

Kid contemplated, "Yeah, you're right, let's get everything else finished."

                                    *****

"Rachel?" Lou called out as she opened the door and quietly stepped in. Her
nerves were a bit shot, and although she didn't think she was going to tell
anyone what had happened to her earlier, just being in another woman's
presence was therapy in itself.

"I'm upstairs Lou!" The woman replied.

Taking the steps two at a time, she reached the top to find Rachel sitting
in a chair by the window reading. It was a very unusual sight, especially
since the stationmistress was commonly busying herself with various chores.

"Is something wrong?" Lou asked, not hiding the worried sound in her tone.

Rachel looked at her and smiled, realizing why the young woman might think
such a thing. She offered her a seat and carefully placed the marker back in
her book. "Actually, it's the strangest thing. Cody came over and said that
I wasn't to do anything for the rest of the afternoon because he was taking
care of everything."

Lou didn't hide her look of bewilderment. "You're serious?" It was a
commonly known fact that whenever Cody, or any of the boys, offered to do
more than they were told, they were scheming something.

With a slight laugh, Rachel replied, "That was pretty much my reaction, but
then I got to figuring...why should I stop him from doing something so kind
and thoughtful?"

                                    *****

Kid and Jimmy took their time as they headed out to find Rachel and Lou. The
other boys promised that they would have the presents wrapped by the time
that they returned with the girls. The last thing they needed now was to
mess up the whole surprise by not even having the gifts ready.

Deftly they entered the house without either of the girls hearing their
arrival. The two walked side by side up the stairs until they heard the low
voices of the women. Simultaneously they stepped into the room and caught
the ladies completely off guard.

"Boys, is there a problem?" Rachel said, trying not to get too alarmed
before she even knew what was wrong.

"No," Jimmy replied pulling a scarf out of his pocket, "We were just hoping
that you'd be willing to join us."

"In what?" Lou asked, knowing that she wasn't about ready to commit to
something that might turn out to be a disaster. It wasn't that she didn't
EVER trust the boys, she just certainly had the times pegged when she
wouldn't. By the smirks on their faces, this was going to be one of those
times.

Kid came up from behind her and covered her eyes with the scarf that he had
taken from his pocket. She resisted at first, but then sat back and figured
she had nothing to loose by letting him go through with it. "Just a little
something," he replied after a few delayed seconds.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of being led by someone when they
have literally 'pulled the wool over your eyes' and taken you for a walk.
Although both Rachel and Lou trusted the boys leading them, that didn't stop
the anticipation they were feeling with each step.

After what seemed like a mile-long stroll, Lou heard the familiar sound of
the creaking bunkhouse door. She felt Kid guide her by the shoulders and
ease her down into a chair by the table. Rachel, came to a halt beside her
not a few instances later.

There was a whispering sound as the boys got in their positions. On the
count of three Jimmy and Kid both uncovered the eyes of the two extremely
curious women.

Lou's eyes got big as she surveyed the room, while Rachel let out a slight
gasp at all of the ribbon and pieces of paper spread around the room. She
hastily realized her shocked reaction and tried to force a smile.

"Wow, this is really something," Lou said as she stood up and began looking
around.

The boys smiled in pride at what they had done, and at each other for their
successful work at piecing everything together.

"That's not all," Jimmy said, stepping forward and handing Rachel a
gift-wrapped box. Noah did the same thing, only he extended the smaller
present to Lou.

"You boys didn't have to do this," Rachel said, smiling.

Lou looked at the small box and then at the faces in the room. I guess I was
wrong about the boys not knowing what Valentine's Day is all about, she
thought to herself, beginning to feel guilty that she could have ever
doubted any of their affections.

Something under her foot caused her to break her concentration and look down
at the floor. She picked up the white piece of paper and studied it
carefully. Lou knew that she had seen that shape before, she just couldn't
figure out where, and why it would be on the bunkhouse flooring.

"Buck made those," Cody said, "They're hearts."

"Uh, yeah." Lou examined it more closely, "So they are. Interesting," she
added trying not to laugh. "That's very artistic of you, Buck."

"Indeed," Rachel added.

                                    *****

As all happy stories turn out, the girls ended up loving their gifts,
although we'll never know if Rachel truly cared about her's because she did
such an outstanding performance of acting like she did...even if she didn't!

You probably could have guessed that the rest of the afternoon was warm,
pleasant, and lovely. Although, there was most definitely NOT a cake for
them to eat. That was one of the things that Cody decided they'd have to
live without, because he wasn't about to bake another one. It's just as well
though, after all, would you eat an orange vanilla cake?

                                    *****

The night was beautiful and perfect in every respect. The moon had decided
to completely reveal itself to all who chose to take a stroll. And it just
so happens that under this particular moon there were two people, holding
hands, and feeling very much in love.

"Kid, I want to thank you for what you did for us today. It meant a lot."
Lou said, allowing her gaze to drift from the sky to his gentle face. She
stared at him and realized that even if he wasn't the most handsome man in
the world, she would always find herself looking into his eyes and smiling.

There was something in her eyes that made him suspicious. Maybe it was the
mischievous glance that he was throwing her way, or it might have been the
way her face was perfectly silhouetted by the moon's tender light. He wasn't
sure. "You deserve so much more, Lou, and I'm sorry that I don't have the
ability to give it all to you."

She stopped him with a gentle tug on his arm and a scolding look on her
face, "Kid, what you gave me today meant more than anything. Quit being so
hard on yourself. The greatest gift that I have is you."

Wordlessly, he took her hand and smiled, "I love you."

"I love you too, Kid," she returned, kissing him gently before stepping back
to face him. "There is one thing that I'd like to know though..."

He gently pushed away some of the hair that was resting against her face,
and then he sat down, gesturing for her to do the same. "What's that?"

She carefully seated herself close to his side and rested her head on his
shoulder. Lou looked down at the lovely ring that they had all picked out
for her and thought about how special the boys had tried to make this
Valentine's Day. From the odd decorations, to the perfect hand-selected
gifts, it had definitely been a day that she had no intention of forgetting.

"How did you and the boys plan all of this out and make it work so well?"

Kid looked as if he just might want to cry and laugh all at once. That was
the problem...none of his plan had worked out as he had wanted it to. "Lou,
ask me in a few years."

She lifted her head and flashed him a confused expression. "What do you
mean?"

"What I mean is, next year we're going out just the two of us. Jimmy can
help pick out the presents, but I'm not letting him, Buck, or Noah decorate,
and Cody will certainly not to bake the cake."

If she wasn't sure before, she was certainly positive that she was confused
now. "Kid, I don't understand...you mean as beautiful as it all seemed to
me, it didn't happen the way you had intended it?"

"You could say something like that."

                                  The End
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               [Image][Image]