Lena's tongue stuck out between her tight lips as her hands held outstretched in front of her face, forming a frame with her fingers as she stared through the visage, critiquing the decorations she had managed to assemble above and around the fireplace mantle. Her lips turned in dismay, her vision having failed to come to fruition now that she was done, and in her defeat, her arms fell to her sides, along with a gentle sigh. She shook her head as she stepped back to the tiled floor in front of the fireplace, beginning to pull different objects from its display.

"Lena, I- What are you doing?" Emily paused, surprised, midway through the room.

She groaned, dropping the small, wooden ornaments to the ground as she rubbed her arm, "It just doesn't look right. I've been at it for an hour now; no matter how much I try, nothing works."

Emily's eyes constricted as she stared toward her, turning toward the dining room for a brief moment before returning to Lena, "Wait, that's your faux lion pelt hanging over that chair at the table, right? You've never had what some would call 'traditional' style."

Lena sighed, her eye's peering off in embarrassment, "I wanted it to look good for you, not me…"

For a moment, Emily remained watching her with an indifferent look, but soon enough, her stare softened beneath a warm smile, shoving her hands into the pockets of her thin sweater, "Stick those knick-knacks back up there; I thought it looked pretty nice."

Lena only allowed a short moment of a grin before happily spinning toward the mantle once more, hurriedly bending down repeatedly as she grabbed different wooden animals to return to the display. Completed once again, Lena stepped back to examine her work, leaving Emily to approach her side, the two of them taking a look.

"Looks great to me," Emily happily noted, leaning her face toward Lena before quickly rubbing her nose against her cheek, earning a giggle from her lover, "Now, I need to get these cookies finished. Make sure you're ready; we're going to take them to the neighbors- lord knows they've dealt with enough nights of blinding lights zipping by their windows."

"Aww, c'mon," Lena smugly replied, cocking a grin, "A few light shows never hurt anybody."

"They do when poor Mr. Edson is epileptic," Emily frowned, "Hurry up and finish; there's plenty of stuff to do before the party next week."

Lena's eyes blew up wide, "P-Party?"

"We agreed to have the Christmas party here this year, remember? That was the night that you-" Emily trailed off, rubbing her face, "Crap. I forgot eggnog makes your mind fuzzy. Anyway, we're having the party here, next Wednesday."

Lena's teeth bit at her lip, nervously, as her arms curled up together in crossing, "Th-That means-"

"Yes, Angela will be here too," Emily sighed, "Why can't you two just get alo-"

"The Oxton name shall forever be protected!" Lena shouted proudly, throwing a single finger straight up into the air, "For my name isn't Lena Mildred!"

Emily cracked a short, muffled chuckle as she quickly covered her mouth, "Mildred?"

"Just- okay?" Lena answered, unsurely, as she quickly spun back around toward the fireplace, critiquing it once again as she whispered to herself, "This won't cut it in this case…"

"What?" Emily wondered aloud, "I said it looked fine. I thought you were decorating for me?"

Lena's shoulders dropped into a mischievous stance, her fingers clattering along each hand's ends as she chuckled to herself, lightly, casting a dark aura around her body, "Hehe, Ziegler won't know what hit her… She thinks she can tease as she pleases, but she has no idea what I know!"

Emily sighed, weakly, as she turned back toward the kitchen, "Rhyming like that really defeats your evil laugh, dear."

Lena shot her as intense glare as she disappeared into the other room, turning back toward her décor with a renewed vigor. She immediately rushed up to the mantle, quickly tossing everything she had assembled back into her large box on the ground.

"This is my domain, Ziegler," she evilly muttered to herself, "I shall be the victo-"

"Cookies are done!" Emily shouted from the kitchen, forcing Lena's nose and ears to both perk up as she looked over her shoulder.

She backed up from the fireplace, slowly, cackling lowly as she went along, "Vengeance waits for nothing…except sweets."

She ducked away before a flash of light flew threw the air into the kitchen, where Emily was carefully lifting up a cookie sheet onto the counter. Her heel kicked the oven closed, her eyes pointed down to assure its closing, though as she returned her focus, a flash of light flew toward her, forcing her to jump up in shock, sending cookies flying into the air.

"AH! She shouted, frightfully, both from surprise and horror from the flying cookies, though Lena's hand skillfully whipped threw the air, catching them in a masterful display.

Holding the nearly lost goods in her hands, Lena gave a childish grin as Emily sighed in relief, "Finders keep-ah!"

She quickly dropped the cookies back on the pan as they scalded her fingers, Lena quickly running her fingers under cold water. Emily laid the sheet down and began transporting the cookies onto a cooling rack, eyeing Lena from behind.

"I was gonna let you have some," Emily noted, plainly, "You didn't have to steal them."

She shook her head, hiding a grin caused by her lover's wild antics, "I swear, I don't know what to do with you sometimes."

Lena shut the faucet off, warping through the air to Emily's side, which dried her hands off instantly, before entwining her arms along Emily's free limb, pushing her body against her's, "Just love me, I s'pose."

Emily's eyes rolled, "I already have that one down, my dear."

Lena rested her chin on Emily's shoulder, eyeing her hand as it directed the spatula, her voice escaping in a low, melancholic tone, "Hey, you remember when we first met- Well, when we first got together."

"Yes, quite vividly, actually," Emily nodded, "Though, for you, it might literally seem like yesterday with how much you deal with space-time. Why do you-"

She stopped herself, grinning sweetly as she turned her head to meet Lena's downturned eyes, tilting her head to meet her lover's atop her shoulder, "You were so scared."

"W-Was not!" Lena shouted, defensively, though it only received a soft laugh from Emily.

"Okay, you were 'unsure' about anything beyond a few days, or nights, in our case," Emily explained further, "So worried that I'd quickly grow tired of you like so many other people."

Lena groaned, "Oh, come on; I knew you were different."

Her lips twisted in uncertainly, her eyes peering off as her voice returned, softly, "But, say you weren't, you still remember our promise…right?"

"Yes," Emily nodded in a soft brightness, "And I've yet to invoke it. You honestly think I could ever get tired of you?"

Lena shrugged, her arms still tangled around her lover, "Noooo, I guess not. I mean, I do think about it a lot, I guess; I just-"

"Well quit it!" Emily demanded with a lighthearted breath, "I love how exciting you make living with you. I mean, some if the jump-scares are bit much, but even those, you manage to find ways to apologize."

She quickly stole a kiss from Lena's cheek before returning her attention to the counter, "Okay, no more distractions. Get back to work. Your feud can wait until all the baking is done."

"Fiiiiine," Lena sighed, annoyingly, as she stumbled backwards, "Only if I can lick the spoons."

Emily cocked a grin, "If you were any more like a child while you were home, I'd be worried that our room wouldn't be cleaned up more often than does."

Lena gave a sarcastic laugh as she grabbed ahold of some ingredients, preparing her own batches of baked goods to add to Emily's.