With most of their baked goods taken by hungry scientists, Anna and her grandpa settled down with their dinners as everyone prepared for the retiring scientist's farewell speech. Not all the caterers had as much luck attracting attention. Nobody had touched the soup station, and the churro stand parked at the end of the make-your-own-fajita buffet had plenty of deep-fried goodness to spare for after the ceremony.

Sweet Surprise had handed out almost all of its food before the ceremony even started.

"I can't believe we got so many customers," Anna said, her voice hoarse from talking so much. More than half the scientists had helped themselves to their desserts before visiting any of the other booths, with some like Dr. Woods visiting two or even three times before they ran out of goodies to hand out.

"If there's one thing that can win people over better than delicious food, it's being given a warm welcome," her grandpa said. "You were absolutely amazing, Cupcake. I couldn't have asked for better help tonight."

Once all the scientists had taken their seats and corralled their companions to rest near their tables, Dr. Woods approached a microphone in the middle of the event hall. His rats' squeaking echoed through the room as he tapped the mic with his finger. "Is this thing on?" The crowd chuckled as his voice carried loud and clear. "Thank you all for coming. Tonight we are gathered to celebrate none other than the amazingly talented, witty, world-famous—"

"Out with it! I'm not getting any younger." Scientists snickered as a woman with silvery gray hair pulled into a bun and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses scowled at Dr. Woods. The bearded dragon perched on her shoulders betrayed her happiness, proudly raising its head to bask in the attention.

"You've worked here for decades, Sophia. You should have learned how to take a compliment by now." Dr. Woods's lips twitched with barely suppressed laughter as a blush crept onto his coworker's cheeks. "Without further ado, give it up for the woman of the hour: Dr. Cross!"

Applause thundered through the event hall, peppered with herbivores stamping their hooves and birds singing a celebratory serenade. Anna's bees spiraled into the air like black and yellow fireworks as she clapped. She'd never met Dr. Cross herself, but she'd heard Taylor gush about her more than enough after her tour of the lab to know she more than deserved all the praise.

"Oh, stop it," Dr. Cross said, trying and failing to look stern as her lips slipped into a smile. "You all deserve just as much credit for all your hard work as I do, if not more so. Most people aren't lucky enough to have such wonderful coworkers, let alone the privilege of doing what they love for a living."

But Anna and her family were, at least for now. It hit her then how much she'd taken it all for granted. Handing out free cookies to little kids who came in with their parents, hanging decorations in the windows with her grandma, taste testing her grandpa's new recipes until they were finally perfect. She'd never considered that one day she'd do each of those things for the final time or that her last chance might be much closer than she could have ever imagined.

"I remember starting here as an intern," Dr. Cross continued. "Who would have thought all those hours of cleaning test tubes and editing research papers would eventually lead to me heading the Herpetology Division? I swear I still half expect to wake up as someone else's assistant. Forty years later, and I still can't get over how lucky I am to work here!" She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief, her voice cracking. "As nice as it will be to spend more time fishing and maybe doing a little traveling, it's going to feel strange not to be coming here every day. This place has been my life for decades, and I honestly don't know what I'll do without it."

It was only when her grandpa silently wrapped his arm around her that Anna realized she'd started crying. Stray tears dampened her cheeks as she contemplated her own future. She'd always thought she'd work at Sweet Surprise for her whole life. What would she do if it shut down? Would she be stuck working at someone else's bakery, or would she be doomed to another job, only having time to bake on the weekends if she was lucky?

Anna sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with the napkin her grandpa silently handed her. She couldn't let herself think like that, not when her grandpa and Sweet Surprise were counting on her.

Dr. Cross swept her gaze around the room. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you for making my life absolutely amazing. I'm going to miss you all very much."

She moved to go back to her seat, but Dr. Woods held up a hand to stop her. "Not so fast," he said as he took the microphone. "We have a surprise for you."

"On top of all this fuss? You're spoiling me!"

"As we should. Now, without further ado..." Dr. Woods motioned for the scientists to command their companions to move out of the way so there was a clear path to Dr. Cross. "You may remember her from when she visited the lab a few weeks ago. Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Taylor Reed!"

Anna's bees nearly fell out of the air. Taylor had never told her that this was what her latest painting was for!

Welcomed by a round of applause, Taylor came forward with a canvas wrapped in protective packaging. "This is for you." Despite how much Taylor's hands trembled, she gave her art to Dr. Cross with a beaming smile. "I hope you like it."

Dr. Cross carefully unwrapped the canvas and gasped. "Oh my goodness, this is gorgeous!" She held up the portrait of her in her office for everyone to see. Skulls of all sorts of reptiles from snakes to crocodiles lined one of the walls, and her bearded dragon munched on crickets in its terrarium. In the midst of jars filled with dozens of scaly specimens preserved in formaldehyde, Dr. Cross squinted at her laptop as she sipped on a mug of tea.

Not only did the painting contain an amazing amount of detail, but it also displayed Taylor's unique art style. While most painters only used a paintbrush, Taylor guided her flies to do the work for her. Anna didn't know enough about art to understand half the technical terms Taylor used to describe it, but she did know Taylor's paintings were beautiful and one of a kind, just like her.

"Thank you so much!" Dr. Cross gingerly put the painting back in its protective packaging as her bearded dragon proudly puffed itself up atop her shoulders. "This is so sweet of you. Now I'll have a wonderful reminder of this place without all the paperwork that comes with it!"

The scientists chuckled before Dr. Woods gave some brief closing remarks about how much they'd all miss Dr. Cross. With the ceremony over, everyone dispersed to go enjoy what was left of the food. A couple scientists approached Taylor to catch up on what she'd been up to since her tour of the lab and to ask about commissioning paintings of their own.

As much as she wanted to go hang out with Taylor, Anna hung back to help her grandpa clean up their booth. There'd be plenty of time for her and Taylor to catch up later. For now, she was more than happy to watch everyone recognize how talented her girlfriend was.

If Taylor could go from shy and insecure to proudly presenting a painting to one of the most famous scientists in the whole United States, then Anna could keep pursuing her passion, too.