shimmerandsing | Tis the season!

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Tis the season!

The only thing better than Christmas at home with her husband and family was Christmas at home with her husband, family, and friends. Alison had been eagerly awaiting the return of Rogue and Dakota's bunch to the castle for the holidays. She had already picked out a Christmas tree, which Longshot and John hauled home for her. It had lights on -- mostly Miyuki and Lisa's doing with Alison's supervision -- but, no ornaments yet. She figured that Gloria Jean and the boys could help with that when they arrived.

And they were coming early! That made it even better.

Despite her decreased mobility, Alison had been up early on the day they were scheduled to arrive. The castle was generally kept pretty clean, but she straightened anyway. And then... the baking! She hadn't felt such a strong urge to bake since the early months of her pregnancy. But, now, it was back in full force. By the time she finally tired of it, she had sugar cookies, gingerbread men, a gingerbread house, snowball cupcakes, and chocolate dipped pretzels.

She sat down in the kitchen to rest her feet and nibble on some gingerbread. Her little tea pot sat on the stove, happily brewing some peppermint tea. It might not be Christmas yet, but it sure smelled like Christmas.

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Lisa had acquired an armload of different candies and other decorations for the cookies. She set them down on the table and then climbed up into the chair on Longshot's other side. There were lots more cookies to decorate.

Robbie blinked and thought for a moment. "Cheesecake?"

All his time spent living with Alison had given him ample opportunity to develop a taste for it.

Longshot would have reached over and ruffled Lisa's hair if he knew he would have survived the experience. Instead he eyed Gloria Jean's frosting with a tiny bit of cookie. Man, was he going to by hyper later.

Miyuki looked away from Rodney and squinted in thought. Then she grinned. Well, Alison asked. "Daifuku with strawberry filling."

Christmas wasn't her holiday really, so she did not expect to get it. Until Momoko made some around New Years.

Rogue shakes her head and steps forward. She hopes she manages to block him enough to keep him in place. "No," she replies softly. "Ah need to talk to you."

Her voice has to be soft so it doesn't carry down to the kitchen, but she isn't sure her husband will keep his voice low. She carefully places a hand on his chest gives a gentle push back into the bathroom. "We need a minute outta the hallway."

Wow, that was quite a list. But, she had asked. She smiled and nodded, making a mental list of what she would need to make those treats. A recipe for the last one would be in order. She'd heard of daifuku in passing, but never how to make it. Hmmm.

"Well, I'll see what I can come up with then." One way or another, she would manage.

Gloria Jean looked up from her masterpiece at Miyuki. "What's Die-funk-ew?"

That did not sound tasty to her. It ended in an ew!

Rodney snorted in laughter. Will tried not to choke on his cupcake.

Dakota, meanwhile, was looking quite confused. His wife should have been having the holiday cheer with everyone. So he could sneak away and get lager. This was not going according to plan. He backed up at being pushed. He was glad he had done nothing aromatic while in here.

Lisa was not too impressed with the sound of Miyuki's request dessert, either. In fact, she'd found that a lot of Japanese food was not to her liking. Although, her brother seemed right at home with it all. Boys were weird.

"Does it have squid?" She asked without looking up from her tree-shaped cookie that she was icing an electric blue color.

"It's a rice cake," Robbie spoke up, amusedly. "It usually has a filling of some kind. In this case, strawberry. But, there are other kinds. It's a good luck treat for New Years."

"Very tasty," Longshot added to his squire's explanation. If it had a strawberry filling, Alison might give it a try. He somehow doubted she would willingly try the normal sweet bean paste. "Goes good with mochi and green tea."

"No squid," Miyuki answered Lisa. "No fish, no octopus, no scallops, and no seaweed."

She had experience with those questions for some reason.

Once they both are inside the door, Rogue pushes it closed behind her. She looks up at Dakota. She can't quite figure out what's going on behind those eyes. She couldn't really before, but she thinks she has some familiarity with it.

"What's wrong, handsome? Are you still angry over our fight earlier?" She wants to reach out and hold him. Though with him acting oddly, she doesn't know how that will go. So she rubs a hand up and down her arm.

"Well, if it's good luck, then we'll have to find some. Can never have too much good luck." She smiled and squeezed her husband's arm lightly. She was careful not to jostle the little artist on his lap.

"As long as there is no squid, fish, octopus, scallops, or seaweed," she winked at Miyuki teasingly. "I think strawberries can be managed."

Gloria Jean finished! Well, once she put a singular M & M on top. She held it up. "There you go, Longshot!"

Will eyed what his sister had made. "Good thing Longshot has two hearts. A cookie like that would make a regular person's chest explode."

Rodney chuckled.

Their father scratched his head. He did not particularly want to go down the road his wife was steering. "Not mad, no."

"Yay!" Lisa put down the cookie she was working on and clapped happily for Gloria Jean's work of art. She didn't know what Will was talking about. The cookie looked perfectly safe to her.

Robbie clapped politely with his sister. Just because he didn't get along well all the time with her brothers didn't mean he couldn't like Gloria Jean just fine. She was like a less annoying version of his own sister.

"Thank you very much," Longshot said to Gloria Jean before giving her a hug. Then he took the cookie and tried to figure the best way to eat it. He took a nibble and made appreciative noises.

Miyuki clapped as well, but she wasn't sure Will had been too far off the mark. She might need to tell Asuka and the jonin to help catch Longshot when he tried to burn off all that sugar energy.

"Then what's wrong, Laertes?" She keeps her voice even. Despite her need to growl. No one could frustrate her in no time like the bullheaded man in front of her.

"We're supposed to sittin' and relaxin' here. Enjoyin' bein' with our family and friends. And you're a million miles away." She is still hesitant as she fingers the collar of his shirt. "Y'all can tell me. Ah promise to try to help."

Alison was so glad she had a legitimate excuse to not be the one chasing down her husband when his sugar high hit. She patted her belly gently and smiled at the little answering wiggles.

"I think the rest of the cookies should be iced a little less. That way the one you made for Longshot can be an original, unique piece of art." She smiled at Gloria Jean.

"Okay," Gloria Jean agreed as she picked up another cookie. She hummed to herself as she started to industriously work on some more cookies.

The boys eyed her being busy. The shrugged almost simultaneously.

"Excuse us," Will said as Rodney got up from his chair. He quickly followed suit. "We're gonna unpack and, uh, make sure Dad hasn't removed the doors to our rooms again."

They both scooted out of the kitchen. They were full of sugar. And possibly mischief.

Their father was oblivious to any mischief because he was caught in a very hard place.

"Nothing's..." he trailed off. He had a feeling Rogue would not believe him no matter what he tried. "I just don't like the holidays. They've been pretty bad to me. I'm trying, hon, honest I am, but it's, mm, it's hard to be festive. Alison's making up for me in spades, though."

Lisa looked up at Will and Rodney with a perfectly pleasant expression and advised them, "Walk carefully. Stairs are dangerous."

And then returned to her cookie decorating, whistling happily.

Robbie quirked a curious eyebrow and made a note to find out what that was all about. He also just barely managed to keep a straight face. So, that was what his father had meant by being worried that Lisa was spending too much time with Tasha.

Longshot raised an eyebrow but continued to work on eating his cookie. He would finish it all! For Gloria Jean!

Without getting a lot of crumbs on her. That might be nice.

Miyuki looked from Lisa to the receding twins. There was something she was not getting. Something that could have possibly happened while she was kissing Robbie. Which made whatever happened not all that important to her in comparison. Oh, well.

"Ah don't care if Ali's making it up for you." She fights to keep her fingers from clenching in the fabric of his shirt. "Ah want you to be happy. Last year wasn't so bad was it?"

Though she admittedly has a hard time recalling. She remembers he spent a lot of his time in his workshop. This year did not have that option so much when she pointed out she would like to spend more time with her husband than he does with pine boards.

Hmmm. It sounded to Alison like they had the makings of a mini-war going on in the castle. That could get dangerous later. But, she'd let it be for a little while and see what happened before she stepped in. If it stayed prankish and not dangerous, then she wouldn't mind so much.

She reached over to rub her husband's shoulders gently. "How's the cookie, sweetheart?"

Teenage boys were oblivious to dire warnings. Especially when they weren't aware their prank had already fired. So they just sort of blinked at Lisa and thanked her for the safety update. They picked up their denseness from their father.

Who at this moment was treading water with lead boots on. "Last year was okay. I had moments of being happy, but it wasn't all the time. It's hard for me. I can't be."

Gods, he needed four six packs of Moosehead fifteen minutes ago. He reached over and gingerly rubbed her shoulders.

"It's not your fault. It's not something that's easily fixed. I'll be okay."

Boys. Lisa rolled her eyes and continued cookie decorating. Obviously going too subtle wasn't going to work. It was a good thing she didn't actually have anything planned for them on the stairs. If she had and they'd been that oblivious, it wouldn't have been as much fun.

Robbie could see the wheels in his sister's head turning. He was infinitely pleased to know he wasn't the target this time. He'd feel bad for the twins if he didn't think they probably deserved it.

He picked up the tray of chocolate dipped pretzels from the counter and offered them to Miyuki with a smile.

"Fery fud," he replied to Alison. he managed to spray his wife with cookie crumbs instead of the little girl on his lap. It was a talent. His eyes widened, and he stuck more cookie into his mouth to look cute or something. Maybe Alison wouldn't noogie him.

Miyuki smiled at Robbie and took some pretzels. She was oblivious to the cute waves rolling off of the two of them from their interaction.

"You're not actin' like it will be." She drops her hand from his collar and wraps her arms around his waist. She rests her her head against his shoulder.

"Why aren't you tellin' me what's wrong? You're sayin' everythin' but."

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Tis the season!

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