Christine knocked on the front door and waited. Footsteps rose from behind it along with a muted voice. Erik! She's here! The door swung open and Christine found herself looking up at a kind-faced woman.

"Hi," she blurted.

The woman smiled and stepped aside. "You must be Christine. Erik's told me all about you. I'm his mom, Mrs. Durand. Please come in."

"Thanks," she said with three steps inside the small house.

"Erik!" his mother called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Coming!" Seconds later he raced down the stairs with a grin on his face as well as his mask. "Hi Christine."

"Hi Erik," she smiled.

Mrs. Durand turned to Erik and said, "I'll be in the kitchen getting everything ready. Let me know when you two want to start making the dough."

"Thanks Mom."

Once she left them alone in the front hall, Christine grabbed Erik's shoulder until he looked at her. "Erik...why are you wearing that?"

"Oh," he said with a nervous laugh, "I didn't mean to. Mom gets scared when I don't wear it when people come over. I didn't want her to freak out. Sorry." He reached up to the mask and pulled it away. "Better?"

Christine smiled and kissed his scars. "Much."

Erik blushed a bit and tucked the mask in his back jeans pocket. "Ready to make cookies?"

"Yeah! I can't wait. I've never made cookies before."

"Really? You never made them with your mom?"

"No," Christine said sadly. "She left us when I was really little."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Christine sniffled and blinked away her tears. Before she could say anything, Erik gave her a hug. She relaxed and even smiled again.

"Let's go, my mom's waiting." He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the kitchen.

His mother looked up and smiled, but gave a slight gasp at the sight of Erik's bare face. "Sweetie? Your mask-"

"I know, mom. Christine's okay with it. She asked me to."

Christine nodded in agreement, but Mrs. Durand still looked uncertain.

"Mom..."

"All right, if you're okay with it," she finally said.

Erik nodded and climbed onto a stool at the kitchen island. Christine mirrored his actions with the other stool. She watched in silence as Mrs. Durand mixed together all the ingredients with a KitchenAid machine. Erik dutifully handed her each item needed as she needed them.

"Hey, let Christine do the eggs," he said when his mother motioned for them.

Christine hopped off her stool and walked around to stand near the mixer. Mrs. Durand smiled and placed a single egg in her hand.

"Like this, dear," she said while cracking her own egg against the bowl's edge before carefully prying it open. The gooey yolk fell into the bowl with a plop. Christine tapped her egg against the bowl until it cracked, although it split completely in half. Some of the egg white slid through her fingers before hitting the floor. She looked up at Mrs. Durand with a frown.

"S-sorry..." The word was a whisper on her lips accompanied with the faint trace of tears in her eyes.

"It's fine, dear, don't be upset. We have plenty more."

Erik gave her a reassuring smile. "You should have seen how many eggs I broke the first time she showed me."

Mrs. Durand wiped Christine's hand clean and handed her another egg. This time she was even more careful and, after some gentle prying of the half-cracked shell, successfully poured the egg's contents into the bowl.

"See? You can do it," she said with a pat on Christine's shoulder.

The mixer sprung to life again as Christine reclamed her stool next to Erik. Soon Mrs. Durand set the entire bowl in front of them along with two bags of chocolate chips and two wooden spoons. Erik ripped one bag open and dumped the chips into the bowl.

"Can you make us some cocoa, Mom?"

"Sure. Stir those chips in and it'll be done by the time you finish."

Christine took the other bag and slowly poured the chips in. "Is that too many?" she asked tentatively.

Mrs. Durand chuckled. "Not at all. Erik gets upset if there aren't enough chocolate chips in every cookie. So mix it well."

Christine looked at Erik, who grinned with a slight shrug. "It's true. Put that whole bag in."

Moments later, Mrs. Durand traded the bowl for two mugs of hot cocoa with marshmallows. Erik took an eager sip of his but Christine simply held her mug. She watched with fascination as Mrs. Durand spooned small globs of dough onto a pan. Erik lunged forward and grabbed one. Before his mother could protest, he shoved it in his mouth with a grin.

"Erik!"

"What? It's good. Can Christine have one too?"

Mrs. Durand sighed at him. "You both are going to get sick, eating raw dough like that."

Christine shied away from the bit of dough Erik held out for her. "I don't want to get sick."

Erik laughed. "She's been saying that forever, and I never have. Try it. It's really good."

Christine looked at Mrs. Durand again, but she had turned her attention to the pan already in the oven. With a glance at Erik, she took the dough after he gave her another reassuring smile. He was right. The cookie dough tasted like Heaven.

"Now taste your cocoa."

Christine lifted the mug to her lips and took a small sip. The chocolate mixed with the dough still in her mouth was apart overwhelming, but delicious nonetheless.

"I'll be right back. I have to check the laundry." Mrs. Durand set a timer on the oven and vanished down the hall.

Erik looked at Christine and was shocked to find tears running down her cheeks.

"Hey. What's wrong?" He set his mug down and turned on his stool to face her.

Christine wiped at her face and bit her lip. "I wish I had a mom like yours. Why did my mom have to leave me?"

"I don't know," Erik said sadly. He hugged her again and pushed the cocoa back into her hands. "Maybe she didn't know how to bake."

Christine laughed a bit. "Or she just hates me."

"Don't say that ever again. No one could hate you."

Christine shrugged and gripped the mug in her hands. "But she's still gone."

Erik stared at the counter and tried to think of what to say. Finally he looked up and smiled softly. "We can share my mom, if you want."

"What?"

"You can come over and bake and cook with us all the time. She sews too. Maybe she can make you something. Maybe she can teach you, if you want. I already told her I don't want to learn. Whatcha think?"

"You'd really share your mom with me?"

"Yes."

Christine threw her arms around Erik and tried not to cry again. "I just wish I had a mom like yours."

The oven timer beeped and Christine released Erik just as his mother entered the room. She pulled the tray of cookies from the oven and set it on the counter.

"They smell good. Would you two like one now?"

Both Erik and Christine nodded. Mrs. Durand set a plate of still-steaming cookies before them.

"Don't burn your mouths," she warned before vanishing down the hall again.

Erik eagerly bit into a cookie and smiled. "Mmmm these are yummy. Try one."

Christine took a bite of one and smiled. "Does she always make cookies this good?"

"Yeah. But she doesn't make them a lot. Only when I ask."

"You asked her today?"

"Yeah, I wanted to do something special with you," he smiled.

Christine smiled. "You do all these nice things for me. When can I do something nice for you?"

"You do every day."

"What do you mean?"

"You're my friend. That's all I've ever wanted from you, angel."