Title: M is for Memory

Prompt by: meg63005

Pairing/Characters: Eliot/Parker

Rating: PG/PG-13

Setting: non-specific

Word Count: 508

"How come you can do this?" asked Parker, almost managing to startle Eliot with her sudden appearance this time, almost.

"It's just food, Parker, it's not that hard" he told her, as he continued to move around the kitchen, adding a little more flour to the dough he was mixing together with his hands, "You never helped make cookies as a kid?"

"I don't think so" she replied from her place sat lotus-style on the opposite counter, "None of my foster parents were the baking kind, they were mostly the yelling kind" she said, without a hint of emotion.

Eliot had no doubt she felt it though. Sometimes he forgot she was a foster kid, that she hadn't had a nice family upbringing with folks that loved her. It really wasn't any wonder that she turned out a little odd, but then she wouldn't be Parker if she were anything else.

"You wanna help me?" he found himself offering and immediately she was at his side with the biggest grin on her face, Eliot didn't reproach hisemlf for a second, "Alright, here's your dough" he said, pulling the mixture into two halves and placing one lump in front of her on the counter.

Next he found her a rolling pin and instructed her on rolling out the cookie dough all even and flat, whilst he hunted around for another so he could do the same. Soon he had a whole set of cookie cutters laid out before them, and Parker was free to cut out whatever shapes she liked from her piece of dough.

"You did this with your Mom when you were a kid?" she asked, not looking up from what she was doing, applying careful concentration, to the point where her tongue was sticking out the corner of her mouth as she cut out her cookies.

"Yeah" Eliot nodded his reply as he worked on his own dough, "She'd have me stood up on a stool beside her when I was like three years old, helping her bake sugar cookies or something. Mama said I could be some big important chef some day..." he smiled, that expression fading as he had another thought, "Daddy said with long hair and cooking skills, all I was gonna be was a prissy freak" he said bitterly.

A deep breath pushed the anger away easily enough, but Parker couldn't ignore so easily what she knew she'd heard in his voice - seething anger, hurt, and pain.

"I think guys with long hair are sexy" she blurted out, "And guys that cook are totally hot" she added, turning fast and planting a kiss on Eliot's cheek before going right back to her cookies, "So, how long do we bake these for?" she asked, all innocence as if she'd said and done nothing out of the ordinary.

It took Eliot a minute before he could even answer her. He really couldn't remember ever meeting a woman like Parker before in his life, but he sure was glad she was here right now.