#baking with jack

Summary: It’s your third Christmas with your boys. You hadn’t realised that the two didn’t go all out for Christmas like yourself before moving in but now they finally embrace it. Aaron comes back late that night after a case. He normally is an early riser but he was still fast asleep. Fortunately, you and jack had a surprise for him.

Warnings: Food/Baking Cookies

Word Count: 858

Christmas was a serious holiday in the Hotchner home. All outdoor Christmas decorations were put up at the beginning of December. Christmas music and Caroling were a tradition ever since you had moved in with them. Today was going to be a movie day.

Aaron was still sound asleep after coming home around three am the previous night. So you kissed him on the forehead and tip toed over to the closet to grab one of his sweaters and slipping it over your head. You scooted out into the hallway, heading to Jacks room. Knocking gently, you opened the door to find it empty. Furrowing your brow, you began searching around before hearing the clatter of one of the metal bowls hitting the kitchen counter. Walking out of the room, you padded into the kitchen, noticing right away all the ingredients were laid out. The mixer was sitting on the counter too and the metal bowl he had set there was leaning on the edge.

“Good morning. What are you making?” Chuckling as you walked closer. He looked up with wide eyes, the flash of fright disappearing when he saw your face. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked into your eyes as he spoke.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you both up. I-I just thought cookies would a nice thing to make..ya know?.” He smiled before looking around on the counter. He opened the kitchen pantry and got out the baking aprons.

“That does sound nice, can I help?” You asked, wanting to bake some cookies with him. He turned around and handed you the apron that she had brought to their home, his in hand. Smiling up at you, he replies happily. “Yes! They can be a surprise for dad! Since he’s not up yet!”

Smiling, you put your apron on. Fastening it, you looked at the ingredients. You thought to yourself how proud you were. He even remembered what ingredients to pull out. Making Linzer cookies were always a delight and Jack had really taken to them. He hadn’t liked them without something to drink so you had made he fell in love with them. You only made them the first months of the year, this day marking the start.

“Sounds good, let’s get started!” With that, the two of you got to it. You ended up turning on a quiet playlist of carols somewhere while waiting for the cookies to bake. You had got out the jam and had already dusted the powdered sugar onto the plate. As soon as the cookies were done, you pulled them out and gave Jack the tops to powder and put the jam on the bottoms. Putting them together seemed to be his favourite thing. Once they were done, you plated them. Putting coffee on for Aaron, you cleaned up.

“Are we making hot chocolate too?” Jack asked, his eyes wobbling as he hoped you’d say yes. Smiling, you nodded. Turning to the cup cupboard, you slowly pulled out a mug for you and Jacks mug. Setting them down on the counter, you pulled out milk, chocolate powder and sugar. Pouring out the milk into a small saucepan, you ushered him over. Jack quickly took over with his cup as the two of you added your particular ratio of sugar to chocolate powder. When the milk was hot enough, you turned off the stove and poured equal amounts into both cups. Jack immediately began to stir his as you got out the mini marshmallows. Handing the bag to Jack, you watched him grab a mighty handful. Sprinkling a good chunk of them into the cup, eating the rest. You mixed yours, putting a few mallows into your mug.

As the two of you stood and chatted with each other quietly, Aaron shuffled into the kitchen. The two of you smiled at him, Jack going over and hugged him gently before coming over to the plate of cookies.

“Guess what dad? We made cookies! The sweet ones with fruit jam on the inside!” Aaron smiled as his son wiggled with excitement. Coming over to the counter, he looked into your eyes before eyeing the mugs.

“That’s awesome bud, they look amazing. Did you make hot chocolate as well?” Jack nodded, holding out his mug to show Aaron, smiling widely. Aaron chuckled at the heavy amount of marshmallows there were in his mug compared to yours.

Aaron walked over to the cupboard and grabbed his favourite mug and poured himself some coffee and then stood next to you. Putting his arm around your waist, he kissed your cheek. Smiling up at him, you leaned your head against his shoulder.

“Well, let’s have some cookies shall we?” You asked, they both smiled and grabbed a cookie from the plate. Biting into them, they both groaned at how good they tasted. Shaking your head a little bit, you smiled and grabbed one as well.

“This is really good, thank you Angel.” Aaron spoke, squeezing you closer. He wasn’t expecting to have cookies that morning but it definitely was a wonderful way to wake up, with his little family.