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Instantly, the smell of smoke was present upon entering the kitchen. Clarice was cowering underneath the table. Not surprising. The officer made himself useful began doing damage assessment on the food. The food, whatever it was to begin with, was now little more than burning carbon with a terrible smell. Luckily, the fire was no more alarming in size than a burning marshmallow. Clean up would be easy. Cheering up Clarice wouldn't. Clyde calmly took out an oven mit to grab the handle of the frying pan full of burning meat and placed it underneath the kitchen sink with running water to quench the small burning fire. The fire and frying pan his in a screeching pain as the heat extinguished itself in a fine white steam. The rookie then began to open all of the windows to let out the smoke and clear the air before finding the ogre hiding underneath the table. Dutch accompanied his master and went under the table to lick Clarice's face. "Hey, Clarice. I took care of the fire. You can come out now." Clyde offered his hand to the ogre. "It looks like you were just overreacting."

After almost a year of living with Clarice, Clyde had developed a bit of a bad habit of easily forgiving the ogre. Sure, it was probably her fault letting the food burn, but know her, it couldn't really be helped. The hand Clyde had stretched out for the burger waitress turned and simply patted her on the head. "It's ok, Clarice. I know you were just trying to be helpful. I'll help you clean up before Dallas come in here. Now come out from under the table." The officer's hand turned back to it's previous gesture, waiting for the ogre to take it. The two now had to think of a replacement meal for the three of them to eat. What could they eat on such short notice, though? Clyde held his chin while tapping his foot in thought. It had to be something easy, but not ridiculously easy. Dallas and Clarice had bigger stomachs than Clyde, so a simple sandwich probably would suffice. In the past year, Clyde had spent his time learning how to cook on the side for occasions such as this. "I got an idea!" The rookie announced, looking to the ogre with a smile. "We still got that leftover curry. I'm going to heat that up and make some stir-fry. Clarice, could grab me some chicken breast veggies and also the rice bag from pantry? This shouldn't take too long." Clyde began grabbing pots and pans and getting ready.

When the ogre finally took his hand, Clyde braced himself for what could possibly happen next. With Clarice, Murphy's Law was always a factor. As soon as the ogre started moving, Clyde's dog moved out of the way and the officer took a step back to avoid Clarice's horn. Before getting to work, Clyde was embraced in the ogress' giant bosom. His face almost submerged in Clarice's boobs. Despite this being a pervert's wet dream, it was suffocating. Death by smothering in giant jubbly breasts wouldn't be the worst way to go, but Clyde didn't think it was a dignified way either. Thankfully, he pulled out before the ogress could accidentally kill him.

Clarice then went to go get all of the items Clyde had asked for. While officer had hoped this would be a simple enough task for the ogre waitress, it probably wasn't going to be without it's complications for her. When she thanked him, CLyde thought back to when the actual best lunch he had ever had with two voluptuous girls was when they went to Linguini's. The rookie prepared for the worse in his own way by leaving the dangerous activities for last. The last thing Clyde wanted was to be stabbed or burned or anything inbetween.

Despite anticipating the ogress to mess up somehow, Clyde was relieved to have her do as he asked correctly without any mishaps. Everything was in order and the rookie could get to work. "Ok. Now, I can get started." Clyde took a saucepan and poured the rice into it, along with water before putting on a spot on the oven, along with some of the chicken. While everything heated up, Clyde began chopping vegetables on the kitchen counter. It was about that time he heard the sound of hooves clopping. No doubt that was Dallas. The minotaur asked about the smell, Clyde felt the need to speak in Clarice's defense. "Unless house is somehow on fire, I don't think you have to worry." He joked with a dry wit. "Clarice was trying to make sloppy joes when some Clarice things happened and the meat caught fire. Nothing big. If you want what's left of the burnt carbon, it's in the trash. Mind you, it's soggy and wet." Clyde took the chopped lettuce stained butcher knife in his hand and pointed toward the trash can. "Hey Dallas?" The officer asked the farm head. "I forgot about it, but could you check the fridge for some teriyaki sauce or something? I also need the curry to heat up in the microwave. Would you mind doing that for me, please?"

As expected, it didn't take much for Dallas to scare off Clarice. Clyde felt bad for the poor ogress and her clumsy ways. Perhaps there was some kind of program she could join that would curb the occurrence of her mishaps. With Dallas now helping him, Clyde could focus more. Or he would if Dutch would stop bugging the rookie officer for a hand out. "Shoo! Go mooch somewhere else." He scolded, gently kicking the bloodhound away. Dutch then sauntered off and out of the kitchen to sit next to Clarice. At least she would give droopy pooch the time of day.

Meanwhile, Clyde continued to prepare the small family's lunch with the help of the hardworking minotaur. He took the syrupy sweet sauce that handed to him and added it to the mix. The oven was almost at full capacity for the pans in use. Clyde happened to chuckle when he was sternly reminded by Dallas of how she and the microwave didn't get along. "Ya know, in the year that I've been in Janhall, you're lucky the microwave isn't sentient, otherwise it might think you're racist. And I'm just making a backup lunch. Plus, we need to use that leftover curry anyway. I don't want to waste it." For some reason, Clyde was able to take most heat Dallas put him under. Perhaps after knowing her for long and seeing certain sides of her gave him some edge or perhaps it something else.

Clyde began mixing all the ingredients together now, making sure they all meshed with one another. The hot smell was starting to permeate and replace the rank odor of burnt meat in the air. The officer laughed to himself, think of how well everything was coming together. "Maybe I should take up up culinary classes and ditch being a cop." He joked, smiling as he scrambled the large frying pan. "Sure would be doing paperwork all day."

With lunch coming together nicely, Clyde's stomach yearned for something to eat. In due time, they could all feast on the fruits of their labor. The officer was even congratulated by the minotaur with a "pat" on the back before making a joke about Clyde being the house cook. "I don't think you should get your hopes up on that one." He replied, hoping to bring the bullish woman back to reality. As soon as everything was ready, Clyde got out the plates and dished everyone up on the dining room table. A heaping helping of curry stirfry for the too big ladies of the house and a moderately sized portion for the rookie officer himself. "Alright everyone. Dig in and let me know how it is."

Clyde took a bite himself, hoping it would taste good. The meal itself was good, but it made the man run for a glass of water. He had forgotten that the curry they had was the spicy kind. Next time the crew went out for curry, it would be the spicy kind. Clyde would make sure of that.

Clyde returned to the table with a glass of water. The girls seemed to be enjoying the meal. The measurements of praise were differing between the two ladies, each respectively expressing through their own personality. Clarice was very open with her delight, whereas Dallas was reserved and mitigating how good the dish actually tasted. In Clyde's mind, he was probably exceeding the minotaur's expectations as far as cooking went. Nevertheless, they all enjoyed the meal made of leftovers.

The rookie officer eventually finished his meal. The spices burning in and around his mouth, making his lips glow slightly from the heat. He was also the only one to go back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen to get more water and even napkins and tissues. His nose ran like a waterfall and was in constant need of maintaining. At least the girls enjoyed it. When everyone was done, Clyde took everyone's dishes to the kitchen for cleaning. Dutch, the bloodhound, followed after the off duty officer, hoping to mooch off some of the scraps left clinging to the plates.