Dec 5th
The next gift makes him chuckle with amusement. He isn't sure if he's on the receiving side or the giving side of it. Throughout the day he keeps finding elements which, added up, make the ingredients of his mother's famous recipe. When the penny drops, he wonders if at the end he'll also find the secret ingredient, known only to a very selected few – the white Toblerone, grated over the peaches before they were covered with pastry. The ingredient that had given the pie its name: peach-cobbleron.
As he suspected, he didn't get the chocolate and has to go buy it at the store around the corner from the firehouse before clearing the kitchen and starting to bake. When he thinks about it, he can't decide if it's because his secret Santa didn't know about the surreptitious ingredient, or because they were smart enough to know, that had they added it to the game, they'd out themselves as his Santa… crafty, he chuckles to himself again as he kneads the dough.
Miraculously, as if the entire of Chicago was waiting for his pie, there are no calls while he's preparing it. A call comes in for Truck just as he puts it in the oven, and he charges Brett with taking it out; She's the only one he trusts not to screw it up, as well as guard it from potential predators while he was gone. Luckily, the call is a short one, and they make it back in perfect timing to enjoy the pie at just the right temperature.
There is something warm and happy as the house came together, sitting around the table, digging into the pie. There's comfort and security and simple, momentary joy. Matt looks around the table, feeling oddly proud and touched, that something he'd created has such an effect on the people around him. Perhaps that realization was the real gift from his Santa. His eyes roam along their faces as they laugh together and lick their spoons, trying to asses who it might be. His gaze lands on Kelly, taking him in: calm and confident and content – beautiful, really. And just in time, Kelly raises his eyes, sending Matt a cheeky wink and a warm smile, before sinking back into his conversation.
