"I can't find the cookie cutters," Artie said, closing the cupboard door a little too quickly, causing it to make a loud slamming noise. "Last time I used them, they were in here!"

Quinn smirked. "When was the last time you used them?"

He thought for a moment. "When I was 10."

"Yeah, I think your mom probably moved stuff around in the last few years..." she trailed off, looking in the cabinet behind her. "Oh, are these them?" She held up a large box of cookie cutters of all different shapes.

He looked in the box. "Yes, but the Christmas tree's not here. I can't make cookies if the Christmas tree's not here!"

She took the box back from him. "There are literally hundreds of cookie cutters in this box. How can you tell if the Christmas tree is in here without taking some out?"

"I don't know. I'm impatient today," he said, heading towards the table. "Let's dump them out and find them. I can't make cookies without that!"

Quinn rolled her eyes. It looked like it was going to be a long day. She hoped he'd stop acting like an idiot in the next five minutes.

"Sorry about the cookie cutter thing," he said, as they were starting to mix the dough for the sugar cookies. "I just...really like things to be orderly sometimes. And there can't be Christmas sugar cookies if there aren't some shaped like Christmas trees. It's just wrong. It's a crime against humanity!"

She laughed. "That's ok. I'm just glad you're...normal again now."

He grinned. "When have you ever known me to be normal?"

She shrugged, handing him a measuring cup. "I was trying to be nice. Thanks for ruining that."

"Very funny," he said, trying not to laugh. "What am I measuring?"

"We need four cups of flour."

He looked at the measuring cup. "Do you know where we've been keeping the flour lately? Apparently Mom reorganized since my last cookie baking...adventure."

"Artie...how would I know where your mom keeps the flour?" she asked, looking around the kitchen. "What's it in?"

"Um...a big blue thing with a lid."

She swatted him with the dish towel she was holding in her hand. "This kitchen is full of blue things with lids! Can you be more specific?"

"The biggest blue lidded thing?" he tried again, looking around. "Oh! I think that's it in the corner there."

Quinn pulled the big, blue container towards herself, and pulled off the lid. Sure enough, it was full of flour.

"Ok, four cups," she said, handing the flour to Artie. "It can go in this bowl."

"I know you only wanted to bake with me so you had a little kitchen slave," he said, trying not to grin. "I'm on to you, woman."

She burst out laughing. "Yup, that's me. Kitchen dominatrix. You WILL serve me."

His eyes widened, several images flashing through his mind, before he cleared his throat, and said, "So...four cups of flour?"

Once they had the cookie dough all mixed and ready to go, Quinn decided they should start cutting them. She was about to get the counter ready for this, when she realized that Artie wouldn't really be able to reach if they did it there. She scanned the kitchen for a moment, before her eyes locked on the small table in the corner.

"I think we should roll them out on the little table," she said, pointing to the corner. "It's got more space, and we'll have to roll the dough less times because it will be bigger."

"I think Mom usually uses it for cooling the cookies," he said, "so we could do that too once they're baked."

She grinned, glad that she had come up with a solution before they'd had to discuss that he couldn't really reach the counter, and passed him the cookie cutters they had selected.

Once the dough was rolled out, Artie turned to Quinn, and said, "Ok, I've made a strategic plan so we can maximize the amount of cookies each time we roll the dough. If we follow my instructions, we should have almost no dough left over after we cut out this first batch. It's perfect."

Quinn stared at the round, flat dough. "Or...we could just start cutting them out and see where that gets us. It's not like rolling the dough a second or third time is going to make those cookies unusable."

Artie agreed, obviously not too set on his "strategic plan," and they got to work.

"I think we made too much. We're going to be baking sugar cookies forever," she said, surveying the amount of dough they still had in the bowl. "We've already made five dozen, and we still have at least that many to go."

He grinned. "You can never have enough sugar cookies. And we haven't used all the cutters yet...we still have the star, candy cane, and this thing...I'm not sure what it is." He held out the oddly-shaped cookie cutter.

"Artie, I think that's a dreidel," she said, taking the cookie cutter from him. "Hey, we should make some for Rachel! She always makes cookies for people!"

Artie nodded in agreement. "Her cookies are like little pieces of heaven...or, so I've heard. Hey, is anything going on with her and Martin? I know they went out for coffee that day after the mall...how did that go?"

Quinn thought for a second. "As far as I know, it went really well. I think she has another...meeting, as she calls them, with him in a couple of days. She refuses to call what they're doing going on dates."

"Well, I guess they're not really dating yet, so that makes sense...?" Artie said, placing several dreidel-shaped cookies onto the cookie sheet. "How do we decorate these?"

"I have no idea. Maybe we should just ice them plain blue or something," she said, examining the cookies.

"HOLD UP!" he exclaimed, suddenly. "We forgot the reindeer. This is unacceptable."

"It is!" she said, feigning shock. "How could such a thing happen?"

Artie grinned. "Ok...no need to make fun of me. I just...we need to have reindeer. They're Linds's favourite, and she made me promise we'd make her some."

Quinn melted a little inside at Artie's expression as he said this. Every time he mentioned Linds, his eyes lit up a little.

"We can't have that. Let's make a bunch of reindeer for her!"

"Oh, and we're going to have to ice some of them pink," he said. "She insisted."

As the last of the sugar cookies came out of the oven, and the first batch of peanut butter cookies were ready to go in, the doorbell chimed. While Quinn finished putting them on the cooling racks, Artie went to answer the door.

"Hey guys," he said, "what's up?"

He moved aside, and Martin and AJ stepped inside.

"Word on the street is that you guys are baking cookies," AJ said, taking off his shoes. "We...well, I, want in on this."

"Word on the street?" Artie said, looking confused. "What?"

Martin grinned. "Rachel texted me and said that Quinn told her you guys were baking cookies. I accidentally told AJ, and here we are."

"I see," he said, turning and heading towards the kitchen. "Well, the more the merrier, I guess..."

AJ ran into the kitchen ahead of Artie, and stole a peanut butter cookie off the tray Quinn had just removed from the oven.

"HOLY HELL, WHY ARE THESE SO HOT?" he said, flinging the cookie onto the counter.

"Because they just came out of the oven, moron," Martin said, "Did you not just see Quinn take them out?"

AJ nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't think they'd be that hot! When my mom makes them, they're not that hot."

"That's because your mom has the special AJ cookies lying around because she knows you're going to eat them. She sticks them in the fridge for a few minutes so you don't burn yourself."

Artie and Quinn laughed, and AJ just stared at his friend. "Special AJ cookies? Does she think I'm an idiot?"

The other three looked away, trying hard not to burst out laughing.

"No," Martin began delicately, "She just...knows that you like cookies. A lot."

"Oh, ok," AJ said, looking relieved. "I was worried that everyone thinks I'm stupid or something."

Quinn and Artie exchanged a look, and Artie had to look away to keep from bursting out in hysterical laughter. He didn't think AJ was stupid...just...interesting.

While Quinn finished putting the last of the cookies in the oven, with AJ hovering over her shoulder, Martin and Artie sat at the kitchen table.

"So, you and Rachel...how's that going?" Artie said, stuffing a piece of cookie in his mouth.

A small smile lit up Martin's face, as he put down the cookie he had been eating. "It's going really well. We went out for coffee last week, and we're going to go again in a couple of days. She wants to take things slow because she just broke up with Finn, and I...don't know much about how these things work, so slow is good with me. As much as everyone thinks the ladies can't keep their hands off me...the ladies have never actually had their hands on me."

Artie nodded, grinning. "That's awesome. We should do one of those couples things one of these days...when you guys are actually considered a couple. That is where this is headed, right?"

"I think so," Martin said, "At least...I hope so. She texted me this morning with a list of acceptable nicknames of which I'm now allowed to pick one to call her."

"What about AJ? How does he feel about the whole Rachel situation? You know...epic bromance and all that?"

Martin shrugged. "He says he's fine with it, and he likes Rachel, but I'm not sure how he's going to feel when things get more serious and we start spending more time together. I know I was the one that got mad when he said we needed other friends, but now I'm thinking that might not be such a bad idea. Otherwise he's going to end up a crazed, Mario Kart-playing hermit."

"Yeah," Artie agreed. "Well, he could do stuff with me sometimes? Or with me and Quinn? Wait...isn't he already sort of crazed? And he plays a ridiculous amount of Mario Kart..."

Martin grinned. "Yeah, I know. Oh...and I'm sure Quinn would be thrilled. Right now she looks like she wants to dropkick his head. Maybe we should go back in there."

"Can I ice some?" AJ asked, as Quinn mixed a bowl of white icing. She was going to add colours later in separate little bowls.

"Um...sure," she said. "Here, you can do these ones." She handed him a plate with four cookies.

"Are these the broken ones?" he asked, looking at the plate.

"Yes. And you broke them, so you can ice them. And then you can take them home."

AJ sighed, and put the plate on the counter. "Can I ice them with red?"

"Sure," Quinn said, as she finished mixing some red icing. She passed him the bowl, before turning to Artie.

"Does anything else need blue, besides the dreidels?" she asked, gesturing towards the cookies.

Artie thought for a moment. "Well, I wanted to put blue sweater vests on some of the snowmen..."

Quinn grinned. "Ok, sounds like a plan, Stan."

"His name is Artie," AJ cut in, stuffing a broken cookie in his mouth. "Why did you just call him Stan?"

"It's an expression," Martin said, reaching over to grab some sprinkles for the star he was decorating.

"I know...I was kidding," AJ said, trying to icing glue together the reindeer who's head he had accidentally snapped off while trying to draw a face on it with a toothpick. "I'm not as stupid as you all think I am."

Quinn could swear she heard Martin mutter something about rainbows and styrofoam, but she decided it was not the time or the place to ask for more details about that.

"Don't tell Rachel we made cookies for her, ok?" Quinn asked Martin, as he stood admiring the plate of blue dreidel cookies with little silver sprinkles on them. "It's a surprise."

"I won't," he said, "and AJ won't either. Right, bro?"

"Check!" AJ said, leaning back to examine his cookies. "Quinn...I don't think you should give these ones to anyone..." he gestured towards his...creations, for lack of a better word.

"Why don't you take them home?" she asked, smiling slightly as she took in the reindeer with the missing legs sitting on the plate he was holding. Its face looked like it was in pain. She didn't realize it was possible for a cookie to look like it was in pain.

"Speaking of home, we should probably go," Martin said, getting up. "Thanks for the cookie time you guys...it was fun!"

"Yeah! You should bake cookies so I can eat them more often," AJ chimed in.

Quinn and Artie laughed, as Artie let them out the front door.

"You're going to have to stop telling Rachel stuff," Artie said, as they started to clean the kitchen. "Otherwise that's going to happen constantly. And I need some alone time with my woman!"

Quinn swatted him with the box of plastic baggies she was holding. "Alone time with your woman? That can be arranged...after these dishes are done."

Artie grinned, and promptly set to work stuffing the dishes into the dishwasher.

"Artie...the alone time offer will still be there after the dishes are stacked PROPERLY in there. You have cups in with the pots, and is that a serving platter? That can't go in there!"

"You weren't supposed to notice that until after we'd made out," he said, his face turning slightly red. "I'm a guy here, you have to remember that!"

She grinned. "Alright, dishes can wait, I guess."

Quinn could swear she heard a small cheer escape his lips, before he grabbed a couple of cookies, and they headed towards the living room.

"You brought cookies to make out?" she asked, as he set the cookies down on his bedside table. He decided last minute that his bed would be more suitable than the living room. Besides...it wasn't like they were going to do anything, right? That made them being on his bed perfectly acceptable.

"No, for after," he said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he grimaced. "I mean...I don't know. The cookies were there, I brought them...can we just move on? I'm sure you'll be thanking me later, when you're eating cookies in my bed."

Quinn laughed. "Oh...just let me go make sure the oven is turned off," she said, "I don't want to burn down the house while we're making out."

After Quinn had stepped out the room, Artie transferred himself onto his bed. He thought about doing something to attempt looking sexy, but quickly pushed that out of his head, deciding that he was already far too sexy. He didn't need to do anything to embellish that any further.

He was just thinking about eating one of the cookies beside the bed, when Quinn re-entered the room.

"Is that an elf hat?" he asked, staring at her.

She nodded. "Here, put this on."

He took the Santa hat from her, and quickly pulled it onto his head.

"This seems...wrong. Santa should not be making out with elves!"

She grinned. "Artie, you're doing absolutely nothing for the mood here. Shut up."

She hopped up on the bed, and positioned herself so that she was straddling his hips.

"Now...tell this elf how much you love her," she whispered into his ear, kissing his neck.

"I...I..." he stuttered, trying to think of something to say. "I think you're the hottest elf I've ever seen anywhere." He moved his head over, his lips meeting hers. "I love you more than AJ loves cookies."

Quinn looked into his eyes, grinning. "I love you more than Rachel loves gold stars."

"I love you more than that kid down the block loves his skateboard," he said, moving slightly so that he had a better angle towards her face.

"I love you more than kittens love balls of yarn," she said, leaning in to kiss him again.

"I love you more than anyone has loved anything, ever." He kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her down onto his chest. "I win."

She smiled, resting her head against his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You always have to win, don't you?"

He held her tightly. "...Yes."

Laughing, she turned so that they were face to face. "If we could stay like this, how we are right now, forever, I would."

"I would too...and we have cookies, so we wouldn't go hungry. See? I told you there was a reason for bringing them!"

She giggled, grabbing one of the cookies off the nightstand. "How would you feel about having this fed to you, right now?" she asked, breaking off a small piece of the green-frosted Christmas tree and holding it seductively in front of his mouth.

"I'd...be into that," he said, trying to retain some small ounce of self-control. He pretty much just wanted to take the cookie from her, toss it aside, and ravage her completely.

After she fed the cookie to him, he broke a piece off a bright yellow star. "If I had known the purpose these cookies were going to serve, I wouldn't have brought this one. Now all I can think of is Rachel," he said, his face turning scarlet.

Quinn laughed. "Gee, thanks. I'm all hot right here, and you're thinking about Rachel!" She pretended to look hurt, but couldn't stop smiling.

"Sorry. And I can't use the reindeer either, or I'm going to start thinking about Linds."

Quinn grinned. "Are you saying that the mood was just killed by cookies? Because if so...this would warrant an LOL if we weren't talking to each other face to face."

He laughed. "I think I can get the mood back. You're just going to have to kiss me...a lot. And possibly let me put my hands somewhere on you."

"Ok, feel free to put them anywhere on my lower leg," she said, trying to hold back the giggles that were threatening to escape from her mouth.

"Very funny," he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her down beside him. She frequently forgot how strong he was, and it came as a surprise to find herself suddenly lying beside him on his bed.

He turned so that he was facing her, and placed a kiss on her nose. "Have I told you lately that you're hot?"

She grinned. "No. You also haven't told me how smart, funny, and amazing I am."

"Oh, really?"

She shook her head.

"Alright. Well, I think you're pretty hot, smart, funny, and amazing," he said, "and you make the best cookies in the universe!"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for more Quartie holiday love!

And leave me a review, please? I want to know what you peeps think about these stories! I know everything is getting a ton of readers...so review!

And, while you're at it, come visit us in the Quartie Forum and Community!