Tis the season where there's only one word I can think to suggest for a prompt: spice

"Spice." Jun read the recipe over again. Baking a Christmas cake shouldn't be harder than mixing a cocktail of delicate chemicals so they're stable enough to go into a small yo-yo bomb she carries on herself 24/7 without ending up dead. That was a skill she'd mastered, so why not baking. Today she was proving them all wrong. She'd been planning her mission in secret. None was around, she'd put up the closed sign on the door. "What kind of spice is 'five spice'." She examined the instructions, they didn't look hard. The mixed raisins and peel, had been soaking for a month. So far it working out. The tinkering of door bells, shuffling of feet as someone entered the Snack J sent her into a spin. "Hey what are you doing?" Ken's voice drifted from the door as he poked his scruffy head around the corner. "Oh nothing." She closed the book a little to hard. "Whats in the book?" Ken entered the room. "I'm really cleaning out the pantry of outdated items and a few old books." Sweetly smiling, hoping to throw him off the scent. He chuckled, pointing to the bench."The evidence over there says you're lying. From the packets, its fresh." Sharp Eagle eyes, he misses nothing. She thought. Surveying the evidence on the bench of ingredients, she tried to cover it with more excuses. He dismissed all of them, holding up the lined baking tin. She had thought the rest of the team were all preoccupied, and she time to bake it without them knowing. She planned to present it Christmas day after soaking it in more booze and after they'd all gushed over it... reveal she made it. "Jinpei know about this?" He quizzed. "No." She sighed heavily. "I was going to be a surprise." "Want help?" He asked. "My mom used to bake fruit cakes. I remember-" "No." She cut in. This was her project, and she wasn't sharing the credit... "You're choice." He grinned wildly. "I thought I'd stop by for a meal. Ahh... well, see you later." "There's a frozen dinner out back, put it on your tab." She indicated to the walk in freezer. Her fantasies of Ken being blown over by her wonderful cake, scattered to the winds. Opening her book again, she started reading the recipe... knowing she could do this... she just had to focus. That's when her bracelet beeped. "Looks like it'll have to wait." Ken said emerging from the freezer holding his packaged dinner, disappointed. "Yeah." She agreed stashing the ingredients into the pantry. Hiding the soaking dried fruits again. "And Ken," she levelled him a gaze the Condor would have been proud of. He hesitated at the door, waiting. Hands on hips she delivered her ultimatum."You breath a word of this, and you're life is in my hands Eagle." "Not a word." He promised with a knowing wink and dazzling smile. "You can bribe me with food." He said over his shoulder as they raced out the door.

Jinpei was hunched over his phone, tapping and swiping as if nothing else existed. Jun kept glancing his way as she wiped down the bar and tables of the Snack J, sure he was going to slide off the barstool at any moment. Suddenly, he let out a manic giggle. "KFC follows only 11 people on Twitter!" he cried before she could ask, "All five Spice Girls and six guys named Herb." He paused, waiting for a reaction. "So..." Jun finally said. "Don't you get it?! KFC...11 herbs and spices!" He then slipped off the stool as he let out a peal of laughter.

Ebonyswanne: Keeping a secret among a bunch of highly trained investigators has to be a bitch. EW: LOLOL

[unrecoverable text]

Oh dear... she may have had a chance if she hadn't violated the Prime Directive (never, ever, mess with the coffee order)

EW: LOLOL that was truly inspired

EW: 11 Herbs and Spices... oh dear... That's on a par with Sodium-Sodium Sodium-Sodium Sodium-Sodium Sodium-Sodium Sodium-Sodium Sodium-Sodium Sodium-Sodium Sodium-Sodium Batman!

ES: What kind of spice IS five-spice??? When it comes to cooking, I'm on Jun's level! EW: Okay, I have to admit this took me some time to get... [facepalm] GGO: Spot on!

Originally posted by Daniella T ES: What kind of spice IS five-spice??? When it comes to cooking, I'm on Jun's level!

DT: In my neck of the woods, it's called Chinese Five Spice. It's a powder that often has star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds; but there are varieties that have anise seed, ginger root, nutmeg, turmeric, licorice, Mandarin orange peel, or other things...that all depends on the cooking style of the region of China the five spice powder's coming from.