Desperate Measures

It wasn't particularly often that they all sat down to dinner together. They'd usually eat in shifts, with Jenny and Guin eating first while Jack was doing some dishes to make sure he stayed ahead of them. As they dropped their dishes into the sink to let him wash them, Kurt would show up and eat, and would finish up shortly after Jack started, and return to his bedroom for solitude. When Jack would finish, he would finish the dishes and return to his own room.

However, they had guests today, and not the way that Guin had always been a guest before moving in. Guin was considered familiar enough, even then, to be counted as not special enough to be a "guest."

Seascape, however, was absolutely a guest in their home. Having a guest to dinner meant they would all sit down at once in the same room. It was an uncommon occurrence, but perhaps that was for the best. If they all did this every night, it would feel less special.

"How's your lasagna?" asked Seascape, tucking into her food.

"It's pretty good," answered Kurt, blushing and looking away. He'd barely touched his, mostly just poking it with his fork.

Seascape swallowed her bite. "You can feel free to be honest, you know. I ask what you think because I want to do a better job. I'm not seeking validation when I ask, but input. Please, tell me if there's something wrong with it."

"No, it's a good lasagna," agreed Jack. "It's a fine lasagna. I only see one big issue with it."

Seascape puffed out her chest, ready to face whatever criticism he had for her. "And that is?"

Jack cut out a piece of his, then held it in front of his mouth. "Kurt doesn't like basil."

Guin wasn't experienced enough to pick out flavours in her food and identify what was what, but she knew basil was an herb, and herbs were usually green. In the white layer of the lasagna, there were green flecks, likely the basil. It was the sweetest part of the dish. Why Kurt didn't like it was beyond her.

Seascape shrugged. "I didn't know that."

Jack nodded as he swallowed the bite. "I would have warned you if I'd looked at the recipe, rather than just leaving you to it, but I guessed that you knew what you were doing. I figured he'd told you already."

"It never came up."

Guin smiled to herself. She had known that Kurt didn't always stick around for dinner on nights they ate Italian, or when he did, gorged himself on garlic bread, but didn't know why. She would file that information away for later, but that wasn't what made her smile. It was seeing that Kurt and Seascape's relationship, despite being two months older than her relationship with Jack, still had problems. In a way, it was comforting, knowing that she was doing about as well as one could hope.

"Jack, could I speak to you in the kitchen, please?"

Jack glanced over to Guin, who had eaten half of her plate. "Sure."

They scooted apart and made their way to the kitchen. Once out of immediate earshot, Guin waved him down and whispered in his ear, "How long would it take to make garlic bread?"

"From scratch? A couple of hours. If you want it to just be makeshift, I can do it in five minutes."

"Can we make some for the table? I want Kurt to eat, but I don't want to insult Seascape by taking the spotlight."

Jack smiled. "I'll handle it myself. I'll bring it out when it's ready."

With a nod, Guin returned to the table. Granted, they were still in the kitchen, as it was a small house and the dining table was in the kitchen, but there was space enough for them to be unheard. Not enough space to be unseen, however, as everypony saw Jack making garlic butter and spreading it on sliced bread, then dumping that on a hot griddle. Everypony saw him flipping it over and sprinkling some parmesan on it. It wasn't hard to figure out what he was doing.

True to his word, he returned five minutes later with a platter of garlic bread. Guin took a slice with her second serving of lasagna, as did most of the table, and Kurt took half a dozen. "Thanks, dad..."

"You should thank Guin. It was her idea."

"Thanks, mum."

Guin nearly choked, and once her coughing fit was over, everyone's attention turned to Kurt.

"What?"

"Nothing," chuckled Jack, returning to his meal after rubbing Guin's back for a bit.

"You called Guin "mom."" clarified Jenny.

"No, I didn't," insisted Kurt.

"You kind of did," argued Seascape.

"I said "Thanks, Guin,"" he insisted. "She's not my mom."

"Technically, she is," shrugged Jenny. "She's married to our dad."

"That makes her a stepmother," spat Kurt.

"But stepmothers are always evil," spat back Jenny. "Whoever heard of a "good stepmother?" Every storybook says either "evil stepmother" or "wicked stepmother." Are you saying Guin is mean, after she came up with the idea of having garlic bread?"

"I didn't say she was cruel; I said "thanks,"" he growled. "What more do you want from me?"

Guin held up her claws. "Everypony, settle down!" When the room was quiet, she took a deep breath. "Look, we all know that this marriage situation is not ideal. We've all voiced our concerns on that front."

"I haven't," interjected Jenny.

Guin just held up her claw again. "None of us were hoping for this outcome. It's not ideal. But I'd like to make the most of it. So, Kurt doesn't want me to be his stepmom. So, Jenny doesn't like the idea of stepmoms in general. Maybe I'm not a good stepmom. But I'd like to try. Please, let me try. You don't have to call me mom, you don't have to call me stepmom, you don't have to treat me like a parent. Just treat me as if I'm somepony who cares enough about you to work towards your safety and comfort."

Kurt lowered his head. "Sorry..."

"It's not a big deal," assured Guin. "Just try to remember that this is a challenge for me, too."

Kurt lifted up a slice of toasted garlic bread. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Guin smiled sheepishly, "dear."