Another Jara but I love them! Enjoy!

Jerome snaked his arms around his wife's waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. Mara looked at him out of the corner of her brown eyes and smiled.

"Hello, there, Mr. Clarke," she greeted, turning around to face him, his arms staying in place as he stared down at her happily. "What's got you all grinny?"

"I love you." he replied, gripping her hips and lifting her onto the counter easily.

"Okay…I love you too, but, Jerome, I'm trying to make cookies." She giggled, pushing his chest but he only came closer.

"For Santa?" he teased, kissing her neck.

"Yes, for Santa." She retorted with a roll of her eyes.

"That's a family project, Mara." He reminded.

"I didn't think the kids would like to do it this year."

"Well, I'm sure they would. It's a family tradition. We started this when we first moved into this house. The family is to make, bake and decorate the cookies together."

"You're a poet and didn't know it." Mara squeaked as he tickled her sides.

"Jerome! Jerome, stop! Stop! Oh my, gosh! Jerome, don't! Stop!" she laughed.

"Oh, gosh, what are you guys doing?"

The couple turned to their fifteen year old son, who had a disgusted look on his pale face, and Jerome groaned, his forehead falling into the crook of Mara's neck.

"Can we not have a minute alone?" he muttered.

"Jerome, say hello to your son." She scolded, pushing him away and hopping off the counter.

"Hello to your son. Hey, Aaron," he added at Mara's glare.

"Hey…"

Aaron was an exact clone of Jerome, except for their height. Jerome was still a little taller than him. His hair was blonde, hanging over his forehead, coming right above his dark eyebrows and his pale, glowing blue eyes.

"Jerome, can you go get your daughter, please?" Mara requested, unhooking a little pink apron out of the laundry room.

"As you wish, love." He replied with a small bow and a smirk.

Aaron rolled his eyes at his father and peered into one of the mixing bowls. "There's no cookie dough in here." He grumbled as Jerome left the room.

"That's because we haven't made any yet." Mara told him.

Jerome bounded up the steps and knocked gently on his daughter's door. "Hannah…"

The door swung open and the five year old grinned at her father, big brown eyes twinkling. "Daddy, look!"

She grabbed his hand and tugged him into her room. He let her pull him to her art table.

"See, there are you, mummy, Aaron, me and Cocoa." She pointed to each of the stick figures on the paper.

"Cocoa?" Jerome asked, smiling at the picture. It wouldn't be considered a work of art to a big critique but Jerome thought it was perfect, for a seven year old that is. Hannah was the artist of the family while he was a photographer, Mara was a journalist and Aaron had yet to find his talent.

"My puppy." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, pushing a black curl out of her eyes.

"We don't have a puppy."

"But I asked Santa for one. Do you think he's going to get me one?" she asked unsurely.

"I'm sure he'll do all he can, darling." He grinned.

"Daddy, super hug!" she cheered.

He chuckled and positioned himself in the hallway. He squatted and opened his arms wide for a hug. Hannah ran across the room and Jerome lifted her into the air. She touched the ceiling quickly with the tips of her fingers and then wrapper her arms around his neck, giving him a squeeze.

"Oh, come on, that's not a super hug." He scoffed.

She squeezed him as hard as she could with her little arms and he grunted, earning a giggle from his daughter.

"Jerome, Hannah?" Mara called from the first floor.

"Coming," Jerome called, lifting Hannah onto his shoulders.

They headed down the stairs and trotted into the kitchen.

"Mummy, mummy, look at me," the girl grinned down at her mother.

Mara looked up and her head flew back in surprise. Her eyes flitted to Jerome, then Aaron, and then back to Hannah, only to repeat the process. "Why is everyone in this family taller than me; even Poppy's taller than me, now my own daughter, who looks just like me, is taller than me."

"You are not short…you're vertically challenged." Jerome corrected her and Aaron chuckled, shaking his head. "You're the perfect height for me."

Mara narrowed her eyes at her husband and he shrugged, Hannah bouncing on his shoulders.

"What? It's true, I'd never change your height." He promised, meaning every word as he stood in front of her, towering a foot over her head.

"Alright…let's make some cookies!" Mara smiled, avoiding Jerome's attempt at a kiss.

"Wha—" he breathed, taking Hannah off his shoulders.

"Aaron please put your phone away and come join us." Mara scolded, tying Hannah's apron around her waist.

"Hold on a second, I'm texting Rusty." He mumbled, typing away, referring to Alfie and Amber's oldest son.

"Tell him you'll text him later, and to tell his dad to call me later." Jerome told his son.

"Okay…" he sighed in return and put his phone down a minute later, jumping off the counter and standing next to his sister, who was sitting on a barstool at the counter.

Mara made the dough and the others cut and decorated the cookies. Less than halfway into the project, Jerome pulled Mara into the corner, away from the kids.

"They aren't enjoying this. I don't know what you were thinking dragging them away from their everyday lives, for what? Making cookies for Santa Clause." Jerome said lowly to her.

"Jerome, I was not the one who suggested—" she began.

"I know, I know, but I had to blame it on someone. Alfie's not here." He mumbled.

"Well, go tell them they can do their own thing while I make the cookies." Mara instructed.

"I have a better idea." He said after a moment. "Follow my lead."

He ran a hand through his blonde hair and walked over to the kids, smiling. "Alright, you two can go ahead and do whatever. Your mother and I will take care of the cookies." He told them, Mara rolling out dough next to him.

"Awesome," Aaron sighed. He pushed off the counter and lest the room with a bouncing Hannah on his heal.

Aaron rolled his blue eyes when he heard his mom scold his father for eating the dough. He froze and Hannah ran into his legs when his mother gasped, followed by the slap against fabric.

"Jerome Eugene Clarke, I can't believe you just did that!" she sputtered.

"Sorry, Jaffray," he said nonchalantly.

"I am not a Jaffray anymore, I'm a Clarke. When are you gonna get that through your big head?" she snapped.

Aaron tiptoed to the door and peeked in, Hannah by his side.

Mara was shaking flour out of her raven black hair while Jerome was trying to contain his laughter. His expression suddenly became serious.

"Sorry, love, I'm still surprised." He shook his head, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into him.

"Surprised of what?"

"That you said yes." he said quietly.

"Jerome, we've been married for seventeen years and you don't believe that I'm your wife?" she asked doubtfully.

"Come on, it's me. I have issues, I had a bad life. You saw past all of that. I never thought I'd find someone that would look past all of my mistakes. Sometimes, I just can't believe you even said yes to go out with me in the first place." He chuckled, ducking his head.

"I love you," Mara whispered, bringing his lips down to hers.

Aaron was about to turn away in disgust when he saw his mom slide her hand past the back of Jerome's shirt collar. She took a fistful of flour and pushed it down his shirt. Aaron's jaw dropped in shock. Jerome's eyes shot open and he back away from Mara in alarm.

"Oh my, gosh, you actually just did that!" he laughed, untucking his shirt and flour spilled from the back. "You are unbelievable!"

He grabbed a handful of flour and she bolted from him.

"Come here!" he ordered playfully.

"I wanna play!" Hannah giggled, running into the room.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Jerome grinned. He lifted her from the ground and tickled her sides as she squirmed.

Mara looked over at Aaron and smiled. "Aaron, do you wanna play?"

Aaron scoffed and turned to leave when something hit the back of his head. He whipped around to glare at his father, who was whistling casually and popping pieces of dough into his mouth.

"Oh, it is on!" he cried and went for his dad first.

Jerome stepped out of the bathroom, towel drying his blonde hair, wearing only a pair of red pajama pants. He tossed the towel into the hamper and shuffled through the top drawer of his dresser. "Mara have you seen my blue t-shirt—"

Mara looked up from her notebook, damp black hair, flowing down her back. "Sorry, all of my pajamas are washing."

"No, no, it's fine. But, I think you did it on purpose." He smirked, crawling in to bed to lie next to her.

"I did not." a blushed formed on his wife's cheeks and his smirk turned into a grin.

"You're adorable." He chuckled, kissing her ear.

"So, you mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about something?" she said shakily.

"Yeah, we need to talk about a last minute Christmas gift." He replied, stretching out next to her.

"For whom?" she asked cautiously.

"Hannah."

"Jerome, we can't give her a baby sister this late, it's Christmas Eve." She scoffed.

"No, not that, but we'll work on that later. But, really, Hannah wants a puppy, named Cocoa."

"Oh, Cocoa, she was a brown cocker spaniel and poodle mix that Hannah and I saw at the mall the other day. She was adorable."

"Where?"

"The pet store…Jerome, what are you doing?"

"I'll be back, love you. Remember, we'll work on that baby when I get back." he kissed her and sending a quick wink her way, living the room.

She raised an eyebrow at the closed door and it opened.

"Can I have my shirt?"

How was that? I loved it! Especially the part with Jerome and Hannah. The super hug thing is what my dad does, and on good days, he'll let me and my mom do it! It's fun. Anyway, REVIEW! Please vote on the poll and for the Featured FanFic for the HOA Wiki January Homepage! Link's on my profile, listed under Vote!! Thank you!

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. -2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Love y'all!

-Rachel