The Christmas Cabin
An hour later, the former Overdrive rangers were back at the cabin. Christmas was officially underway for Rose and Mack.
Mack carried the tree in single handedly while Rose started to prepare the cookies. She rummaged through the cabinets to find a cutting board, a rolling pink, and cookie sheets. The pink ranger set these items on the counter and turned the oven on to pre–heat.
Once finished with these tasks, Rose went into the back room where the fireplace was. She found Mack was wrestling the tree into the stand. Rose smiled at the scene – it was so Christmas to be putting a tree in the living room. She stepped inside the room, surveying the tree's position.
Rose's voice caught him slightly off guard. "I think it's a little too close to the fireplace. You never know, right?" Mack jumped slightly before moving backwards, trying to see things from Rose's perspective.
"You're right," Mack decided. He seized the tree stand once more and shifted the tree about a foot towards the kitchen. "Better, isn't it?"
The tiny pink ranger bobbed her head in agreement. "Of course it's better like this. I suggested it," Rose teased. Mack rolled his blue eyes. Then he grabbed Rose's hand and towed her back into the kitchen.
"Time for cookies," Mack explained. He opened the refrigerator door and took out the cookie dough. Mack handed the dough to Rose. "I'll be right back," the red ranger promised Rose. Mack disappeared from the kitchen so quickly that Rose was sure he'd borrowed some super speed from Ronny.
The retired pink ranger had spooned some cookie dough onto the cutting board when Mack reappeared holding a CD case. "I almost forgot. I bought this a few days ago so we could play it while we did our various Christmas activities." The curly haired man opened the packaging and slid the disk into a small CD player resting on one of the countertops.
Holiday music filled the room. Mack immediately began to sing along, though he was completely off key. Rose joined him in the singing – it was Christmas, after all. She even danced her way over to where Mack stood to pull him back to the counter she had designated to be cookie station.
"In a good mood, Rosie?" Mack questioned, taking a sample of the dough. Rose nodded happily as she began to roll out the cookie dough. "I'm glad." Mack watched her for a minute before realizing something. "Flour."
"Come on, you know 'Rosie' is pushing it. Don't start calling me 'Flower,'" Rose griped.
Mack shook his curly head. He went over to the largest cabinet. "This flour. We should put it on the cutting board so the dough doesn't stick. It's an old trick that Spencer showed me." The red ranger covered Rose's hand with his, bringing hers up to his lips for a moment before freeing both of their hands to lightly coat the dough in flour.
When Mack had finished this task, Rose gave rolling the dough another try. She was happy to see that the tip Mack had given her worked perfectly. In no time at all, the dough was flat.
"Me first," Mack insisted, waving a cookie cutter shaped like a snowflake. He pressed it into the dough, being careful not to press too hard. When the stencil was removed, a pattern had been copied into the dough. "Piece of cake," Mack said with his easy smile.
Rose selected a shape of her own. She stamped a reindeer onto the cookie dough and glanced up at Mack. "Like that, right?" He nodded, and then the pink ranger went at it again, this time with a Christmas angel.
When the retired Overdrive rangers had filled up a baking sheet with cookies, Mack slid it into the oven. He then returned to Rose, and with a mischievous smile, he gripped her waist and swung her up onto the counter. "Hi," he murmured.
She laughed, looping her arms around his neck. "Hi."
"You have flour on your cheek," Mack informed his girlfriend. Lightly, he ran his thumb over the spot, brushing the white powder away. Mack then pressed his lips to where the flour had been before bringing his mouth up to Rose's to kiss her.
After a minute of this, Rose pulled back. "As much as I enjoyed that, shouldn't we start decorating the tree?"
Mack considered Rose's question, looking very serious as he did so. "Will you put presents under the tree once it's finished?" Rose shook her head, smiling. Then she nodded. The red ranger let out a laugh just like the one in the store and pulled Rose down again.
Together, they managed to string the lights around the tree, as well as the tinsel. When the ranger couple was beginning to put up ornaments, a question crossed the pink ranger's mind. "Mack…don't take this the wrong way, but why are you acting like you're five?"
He needed a moment to think of the words to explain his thoughts. To buy his time, he quickly seized a snowman ornament and tried to find the exact right branch from which to hang it. "I guess it's because…I never got to be a kid. I can't help being excited."
Rose found Mack's hand and threaded her fingers through his. He caught her gaze when she did this, his blue eyes serious. She nodded in understanding, her expression conveying her empathy. "I thought it was something like that. I get it, Mack; I really do. I was never much of a kid, either."
The red ranger smiled suddenly as he abandoned the snowman and put his arms around Rose. "I bet you never even believed in Santa Claus."
"I did, until I was seven," Rose stated sadly. Mack kissed the top of her head in comfort. Rose continued, "Every year, the only thing I wanted for Christmas was to be adored by my parents the way Lindsay was. The Christmas I was seven, I finally figured out that it wasn't happening. So I stopped."
"Baby…"
But Rose shook her head firmly and planted a smile on her face. "I'm over it, Mack. It's all in the past. Now all I want is to think about the present, and better yet, the future."
"Our future," the red ranger corrected, and then he pecked her briefly on the lips before releasing her. Mack then returned to trimming the tree. Rose joined him, inhaling the pine scent of the tree as she worked.
Ten minutes later, a different smell wafted out of the kitchen towards the Overdrive rangers. Rose scrunched up her nose, turning to Mack. "Something is burning…" The pink genius' face twisted into a grimace as she realized. "The cookies."
Rose dashed into the kitchen, taking an oven mitt from the counter as she went. She opened the oven door, and immediately the kitchen was engulfed in thick gray smoke. Rose coughed as she managed to pull out the cookie sheet. She put it down on one of the counters, still hacking.
Mack made a face as he took in the cookies. They were charred beyond recognition. "Well, we tried," he said cheerfully. "We can toss these, I guess." The former red ranger began to rummage through the kitchen drawers for a spatula, but Rose's lack of response bothered him. Mack quickly abandoned his search and turned back to Rose. "Hey, are you alright? It's just a few cookies."
"I know they're just cookies, Mack, but it was important to you to have them. It's a tradition, and –"
"It's only important to me that you're happy, Rosie," Mack replied sweetly. "I wanted to share all this with you because Christmas is generally an experience we missed out on. A few burned cookies don't matter one bit. If you want to make Christmas cookies, we will. I just want us to have a real Christmas, just once."
Rose managed a small smile and found a spatula. She scraped the hopelessly burned cookies into the trash and put the cookie sheet into the sink. "We'll try cookies again next year," she decided.
"That's my girl," Mack grinned as he pulled Rose into a big hug once more.