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lewispandawrites · 6 years

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Christmas cookies

Jaia, 2411 words, T rated

Huge thanks to my beta - @wewalkadifferentpath <3

It was barely after 5pm, when Maia got home. It had been an eventful day at the Youth Centre where she worked, so she felt as if she had been on her feet for 20 hours, instead of 8. Christmas was a tense period for the kids from dysfunctioning families who went there, so her service as a psychologist was needed more during that time. She just wished she could help all of them, but her abilities were limited. Were it not for Luke, who had ordered her to go home, she would probably have stayed at work until the late hours of the night.

Once she opened the door, she was greeted with the smell of freshly-baked cookies and the sounds of laughter and christmas songs. She smiled, taking off her coat and hat, then followed the music.

“Mmm. And what is that smell?” Maia said over the tune of ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’.

“Mommy!” an excited voice shouted, then two tiny arms wrapped around her middle. The woman chuckled, petting her daughter’s hair, then looked at her younger child, who was wiggling in Jace’s grasp.

“Zoe! Let go of mom, your hands are dirty,” Jace chastened, while trying to keep Aisha firmly in place.

“It’s okay. Those clothes need to be washed anyway,” Maia replied, and only then did Jace put Aisha down on the floor so the girl could run up to join the hug.

“We made gingerbread cookies!” Zoe proudly announced, looking up at her mom. Her own clothes were protected by a linen apron, that stated ‘best cook in the universe.’ Aisha, on the other hand, was clinging to Maia’s pants, and jumping excitedly up and down, singing along to the song. The words were barely understandable, since she was a little breathless from all the jumping, but she was having fun anyway. Her own apron had ‘unicorns are real’ embroidered at the front, and was a present from granny Maryse.

“So soon? We may eat all of them before Christmas.” Maia looked at Jace in a silent question. She was glad the girls had so much fun, but it was indeed a little bit too early for doing any Christmas preparations.

“Not too early. Cookies are good all year,” Aisha chimed in, then licked the rest of the icing from her tiny hand - most of it had already been transferred to Maia’s shirt.

“Girls. Why don’t you wash your hands, then find another Christmas playlist? This one doesn’t have Ariana Grande on it,” Jace suggested.

Aisha immediately bolted towards the bathroom. Both of her parents knew that she would only wipe her dirty hands on the towel, skipping the washing part altogether, but it was a still a small victory - at least there would be no red or green icing on the keyboard.

“Wait!” Zoe called after her sister, running after her.

Once they were out of earshot, Jace turned to his wife to finally answer her question. “Aisha’s class was baking gingerbread cookies today.” Maia already knew where it was going, and her tiredness came back with a renewed force. “I told her teacher that I could bring carob, so she can enjoy some cookies with her classmates, but her teacher thought it would be ‘too much fuss.’” Jace huffed angilly, while arranging the already decorated cookies on the tray.

He looked up and saw anger and resignation battle on Maia’s face. “Hey.” He wiped his hands clean on the kitchen towel, then walked to her to embrace her from behind, careful not to dirty her clothes even more. “We made more than enough cookies to last us through the whole month. The kind of cookies that you can enjoy.” Both Maia and Aisha were allergic to cocoa, so the family used carob in their recipes instead - it was a safe substitute for the brown powder. But, clearly, baking a few cookies without cocoa had been too much to ask from the school. “And I can always go there again and make a scene. I didn’t want to make one with her present, or take her back home for the day. She was excited to bake with her classmates and she is a smart girl - just like her mom.” He emphasised the statement by kissing Maia’s cheek, and she couldn’t help but smile. “I knew she wouldn’t try to eat them.”

“There’s no need for a scene. But I will have a conversation with her teacher next time I’m at school,” Maia replied, then turned around in Jace’s arms. “Hey.”

“Hello.” He leaned in to kiss her again, but they were interrupted by the shriek coming from the living room. Jace buried his face in Maia’s neck with a smile, while she chuckled.

“That’s what your day is like, when you have kids,” she told him, then pushed him back gently. “Go check what happened and I’ll get changed. Did you leave me some cookies to decorate?”

“Some? Honey, we still have 50 cookies to go through.” Her eyes widened as he showed her the amount of cookies that were on the various plates on the counter.

With a smile, Jace went to check on the girls, who, apparently, had decided to have a throwing contest. Aisha was climbing on a chair, clutching her plushie bunny, while Zoe was measuring the distance between the chair and her own plushie using her steps.

“You are cheating!” Aisha shouted while giggling. “You are making smaller steps!”

“I’m not!” Zoe yelled back.

“Girls.” Jace picked up Aisha before she could stand on the chair again. “You were supposed to pick a playlist, not try to break something.” The little girl giggled again, while her sister crossed her arms.

“We won’t break anything. We’re throwing soft objects, and all the glass things are in other direction.”

“We won’t!” Aisha agreed loudly, then threw the bunny-bun in a random direction, barely missing the lamp.

“Alright, enough of that,” Jace told them. Before any of the girls could object, he motioned towards the kitchen. “Don’t you want to decorate cookies with mom?”

Aisha squeaked in delight, clasping her hands around her dad’s neck tightly, while Zoe reluctantly followed them to the kitchen. Jace felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, so he put Aisha down on the kitchen stool, then checked his texts.

“Anything interesting in there?” Maia asked him, while eyeing Zoe pour sticky green icing over a few cookies, unsupervised. Her husband seemed to be completely elsewhere, while their kitchen turned into a warzone.

“What?” He glanced up from his phone, just in time to see Zoe drop a huge dollop of icing on the counter. “Shook.” He pocketed his phone quickly, then reached for a rag. “The icing should go on the cookies, Zo.”

Maia watched in amusement as her husband and her eldest daughter had a silent staring contest, the little girl still mad that her dad interrupter her fun. All that time, Aisha was drawing eyes and buttons on the gingerbread men, and singing under her breath.

“Stop you both, or no one will get presents this year.” Maia was met with three sets of eyes, one amused and two pleading. Aisha was the one being amused; Jace might be in his 30’s, but he still enjoyed the thrill of unpacking gifts on the Christmas morning, and a threat of not getting to do so was a serious one in his book .

“So.” He glanced down, slightly embarrassed that he had gotten into a staring contest with his kid. “Grandpa Luke has texted me. He and granny Maryse want to take kids out tomorrow, then keep them for the night.”

Out of the corner of his eye Jace could see Aisha getting ready to jump high in joy, so he wrapped his arms around her waist, to ensure that she would land on the stool safely. Zoe’s eyes were shining, the short feud with her dad already forgotten.

“Wow. He didn’t tell me anything at work today,” Maia replied, joining them by the kitchen isle. She reached for a plate full of cookies and a confectionery sleeve, filled up with yellow icing.

Luke was Jace’s adoptive dad, and all three of them had met in the Youth Centre years ago, where Luke had been working. She had been one of the kids who had gone there to escape their families, and then had stayed to work there, inspired by Luke and his heart of gold.

“Maybe it is their Christmas surprise for us, Magnus, and Alec. Baby Max will also be there.” Jace replied, and Maia’s face softened.

“Awww. He is such a cute baby. His eyes are sooooo blue.” Maia slobbered over the little boy. “And he is already sleeping through the whole night. I have no idea how Magnus and Alec managed to find him.”

“Uncle Magnus is a warlock,” Aisha said from her place by the kitchen isle. “He showed us magic tricks last week. And Maxie was helping him.”

“That explains a lot,” Jace replied, amused. “Hey, Zo.” The girl turned towards him. “Wanna finish my cookie? I think pink and purple would go great together.” He showed the girl a huge gingerbread heart, already done in pink icing by him, and she nodded eagerly.

“Those cookies are really good.” Maia commented, after biting into one. She hadn’t eaten anything since early lunch, and was now growing hungry. Jace’s eyes landed on her, concerned, and she tried to brush off his worry. But he knew her too well.

“How about the three of you finish decorating, while I make dinner?” he suggested, putting down his confectionery sleeve. The three girls nodded, so he went to the bathroom to wash his hands.

“Mom, look!” Aisha held up her cookie proudly, her tiny hand messing up the icing work. A cookie in a shape of a dinosaur was covered in a checkered pattern of white and silver lines, decorated with pale pink sugar pearls.

“It’s a beautiful cookie,” Maia praised her daughter, and the girl beamed.

“Can I add pearls to your cookies?” The youngest girl asked, pointing out to a plate of gingerbread snowmen, decorated by her mother.

“Of course,” Maia replied, then glanced at Zoe’s workstation. “Those little hearts are very pretty. We could gift some to granny and grandpa.” The girl smiled, then nodded, and started to pick out the most beautiful cookies for her grandparents.

Jace made it back to the kitchen, just in time for ‘Last Christmas’ to come through the speakers. “Daaaaaad,” the girls pleaded, and Jace rolled his eyes, already knowing what they wanted of him.

“I’m only doing it one last time,” he warned them with a smile, then quickly grabbed for a rolling pin and started to sing. “Laaast Christmas, I gave you my heart. But the very next - Aisha, stop jumping - it away.”

Maia laughed, as she saw her husband wipe the invisible tears from his eyes, then reach for a heart-shaped cookie and hand it to Aisha. He then put the rolling pin down, picked up Zoe and twirled her around, while she giggled.

“Once bitten, and twice shyyyyyyy.” Jace dramatically bent over the only clean surface on the kitchen island, lamenting loudly with the singer. When ‘but you still catch my eye’ line came up, he glanced at his wife, and sent her a wink, which made her shake her head in return.

Both girls shouted “Merry Christmas!” when the line came on, as their father walked around the kitchen, dancing and singing to the song. He stopped next to Maia, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“”I love you,” I meant it. Nooowwww, I know what a fooool I’ve been. But if you kiss me now…” Maia didn’t even let him finish - she tangled her hands in his hair and pulled him down for a kiss. Zoe’s ‘ewww’ could be heard over the lyrics, but the two adults only smiled into their kiss.

“Thank you all for listening to my amazing performance!” Jace bowed down, after breaking the kiss, then pecked Maia’s lips again, before going to the fridge to fetch some ingredients for dinner.

-------------------------------------

Long after the girls had gone to sleep, Maia and Jace found themselves cuddling on the couch, two empty mugs left on the coffee table. They didn’t have the christmas tree yet, so they took out one set of christmas lights and drapped it over the tv, to create the mood.

Jace was slowly dozing off - the soft lights, the weight of his wife against his chest and the warmth of the blanket wrapped around them lulling him to sleep. His stomach was full of delicious veggie couscous and hot chocolate, that he and Maia had finished a few minutes ago.

“I don’t think leaving the kids with Maryse and Luke is a good idea,” Maia spoke softly, and Jace pried his eyes open, trying to make sense of her words.

“Uhm?” he hummed quietly, careful to not wake up the girls.

“Remember the last time we were left alone, unsupervised? The Bali vacation?” she continued, with a small smile.

“That was 6 years ago. And we behaved nicely - we just had a head start on our second baby,” Jace replied, the corners of his mouth quirking up at the memory.

“Yes. A head start 2 weeks before we’d even started to consider when to have our second baby.” Alec liked to tease them that it was their fault that Aisha was such an energetic child - how could she not be, if she had been conceived during an exotic vacation, where Jace had broken his arm. “I’m afraid we may eat all the cookies while the girls are gone. You have really outdone yourself with them this year.”

Jace looked down at his wife. “If that’s the case, then we will have enough time to bake a new batch. And the girls won’t mind decorating again. We could have them for every meal tomorrow,” he replied, then wrapped his arms tighter around Maia. “I propose that we start celebrating our off day by falling asleep here, just like we did all those years ago.” He was referring to their first Christmas spent together in their first apartment, where they only had a couch - no bed - and a tiny tree, decorated with the cheapest set of lights.

“I knew there was a reason why I married you,” Maia said, then closed her eyes.

#jaia #dailyjaceherondale #maiarobertsdaily #Maia Roberts #Jace Lightwood #Jace Herondale #shadowhunters #shadowhunters fanfic

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