Title: Gumbo
Fandom: The Princess and the Frog
Rating: G
Length: 402 words
Content notes: Pre-movie (teenagers)
Summary: Lottie says something without thinking, Tiana has a hard choice to make


"Tia, What do you want to do when you grow up?" Lottie asked suddenly. They were sitting in her bedroom, Tiana helping to sew the buttons on Lottie's newest dress while her mother did the lace detailing. Tiana looked up and saw that her friend had collapsed onto her bed and was staring at the canopy idly.

"I want to open a restaurant," Tiana replied. "And cook all kinds of wonderful food."

"Mmmmhhh! That sounds so good!" Lottie giggled. "What would you serve?"

"Gumbo," Tiana promptly replied. "And Jambalaya, and beignets, and frogs legs, and crawdads, and just every good thing you can think of!" she replied.

"Mmmhh!" Lottie rolled over and hugged her pillow close. "Now I'm hungry! Why can't you open up your restaurant right now? Then you could make me dinner!"

Tiana snorted. Lottie was going through a phase where she was always hungry, it seemed. "It takes a lot of money to open a restaurant, Lottie. I've only just started working this summer, so it'll take me a while to raise as much as I need."

Lottie waved a negligent hand in her direction. "If money's all you need, I can give you that! How much does a restaurant cost?"

Tiana gaped for a second, and then quickly looked down at her work. Lottie had no idea what she was saying - she rarely did. She had no idea what a monumental thing she had just dangled in front of Tiana – a thing she could never bring herself to accept. Tiana wanted to look to her mother for guidance, but she didn't dare. She already knew what she had to say, what her mother's eyes would say, and she couldn't bear to see disappointment there that she had even needed to ask.

"Thanks, Lottie, but I can't accept a gift. I have to earn this restaurant myself, through my own hard work!"

There was a bit of a pause before Lottie replied, 'if you say so, Tia."

"I do." There was no way Lottie would understand, but that was the way Tiana had always been raised.

After another long pause, Lottie asked, "well, if I paid you for it, would you go make me some gumbo right now?"

Tiana glanced at her mother, who nodded, and took the pile of buttons from her hand. "Alright, Lottie, you're in luck," Tiana declared, "because gumbo happens to be my specialty!"