Written for kathiann for the Paint it Red Stocking Swap 2013. The prompt is: Christmas cookies.
It was just after 8:00 pm when Lisbon heard a knock on her door. Frowning, she got up off of her couch, turned off the TV, and walked over to the source of the noise. She checked that her gun was within reach, and opened the door.
Jane was standing on the other side, sopping wet from the rain outside. He had a wide grin on his face, and he was holding a plastic bag in one hand.
"Jane?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"
"It's Christmas Eve, Lisbon," Jane answered, as if it was news to her. He pushed the door open further and let himself in to her apartment before she could stop him.
"Yes, it is," Lisbon answered somewhat impatiently. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."
"I know you don't have any plans," Jane said, "and you shouldn't be alone on Christmas Eve."
Of course Jane would play that card, Lisbon thought. If she turned him away, insisting that she was perfectly happy to watch It's A Wonderful Life and then go to Midnight Mass, she would be forcing him to spend the holiday alone.
It was true that Jane didn't want Lisbon to be alone on Christmas, but it was equally true that he wanted her company, that he needed the distraction to keep from sinking into a depression.
"All right," Lisbon acquiesced. "But I'm still going to Midnight Mass," she added, her tone telling him that it wasn't up for debate.
"Of course," Jane nodded, having expected as much. "But that's hours away."
He sauntered over to her kitchen and put his plastic bag down on the countertop, pulling out items one by one. Butter, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, baking powder.
"What's all of this?" Lisbon asked, more curious than annoyed that he had decided to take over her kitchen. She looked inside the bag to see what was left, and saw a dozen Christmas cookie cutters. A slow smile spread across her face. She hadn't made Christmas cookies since she was eleven, the year before her mother died.
"We used to make cookies every year," Jane said softly. "I thought it would be nice to do it again." He paused for a second, and then added, "It's nice to have someone to make them with."
"Yes, it is," Lisbon agreed, touched by his openness. "Do you have the recipe?"
Chuckling, Jane pointed at his temple. "It's all up here, Lisbon."
"Of course it is," Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Lets get started."
It didn't take long to make the dough, and before long they were carefully cutting out Christmas shapes. Jane had brought a variety of cookie cutters; there were Christmas trees, stars, reindeer, wreaths, bells, gift-wrapped boxes, and even Santa-shaped cookies.
Lisbon noticed that Jane gravitated towards the reindeer, but when she pointed this out, he laughed it off. "Without Rudolph, there would be no Christmas," he joked.
"How do you know it's Rudolph? You can't see the colour of the nose. There are eight other reindeer, you know," Lisbon reminded him, but Jane shook his head.
"This cookie cutter is Rudolph," he said firmly. Charlotte had always insisted on calling her favourite cookie cutter 'Rudolph', and although Jane knew it didn't really matter, it was inexplicably important to him to keep it that way.
Sensing that there was no way she was going to win the pointless argument, Lisbon backed off. "Okay. Rudolph it is, then," she shrugged.
By the time they were done, nearly one quarter of the cookies were Rudolphs. The small bit of dough they were left with wasn't enough to fit into even the smallest cookie cutter. Lisbon took the remaining dough and split it into two small pieces, making a T with one and a P with the other. "We've got to add our initials," she explained, smiling. It was a tradition she and her brothers had always maintained, and no batch of Christmas cookies would be complete without it.
"Perfect," Jane commented, examining their handiwork. He put the trays in the oven and set the timer for eight minutes.
"Look at the mess we made!" Lisbon exclaimed, surveying the kitchen. There was flour everywhere, and a pile of dough-covered bowls and cutlery.
"That's what the dishwasher is for," Jane said dismissively. He began to gather all of the items and stack them in Lisbon's rarely-used dishwasher. By the time he was finished, the timer let out a shrill beep.
"I've got it," Lisbon hurried over to turn off the extremely annoying beeping, and then pulled the perfectly-baked cookies out of the oven. She gingerly tried to pick one up, but Jane swatted her hand away.
"You've got to let them cool first, Lisbon. You don't want to burn yourself," he said patiently, as if he was talking to a child.
Lisbon narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to burn myself," she insisted, but she didn't reach for the cookies again.
It took ten minutes for Jane to decide the cookies were cool enough to touch, and they each took a Rudolph cookie to sample.
"Delicious," Jane said. He closed his eyes and savoured the sweet taste. "I really missed these."
Lisbon nodded in agreement. "I'm glad we did this. Thank you." It was entirely worth it for her just to see Jane happy, but she had to admit that baking cookies was just what she needed to really get in the Christmas spirit.