Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Criminal Minds.


Cookie

By
N. J. Borba


Derek rinsed out the bottle and left it in the kitchen sink then grabbed one of the snowman cookies off a plate on the counter and walked into the living room where his wife was curled up on the sofa. He glanced around at all the holiday décor and smiled to see the fireplace aglow. He'd always enjoyed the holidays with his mother and sisters, but sharing it now with Emily and their girls made it even more special for him. Last year had been Kacey's first Christmas with them and soon it would be Lulu's first Christmas, even though she was still a little too young to know what was going on.

"Did you get the girls to sleep?" Emily asked.

He nodded, sinking down beside her on the comfy sofa. "Lulu is always easy; give her the bottle for about ten minutes and she's out like a light. But getting Kacey to brush her teeth took nearly twenty minutes and then she wanted three chapters of that Little House book read to her, and water, and Ginger to sleep in her bed, and the night light turned on, and the door open a crack," Derek lamented as he rattled off the list. "And she still didn't look very sleepy when I finally left her. I figured your big cookie baking day would have worn her out, but apparently not."

"It's less than a week before Christmas, Derek. She's way too excited for mundane things like sleeping," Emily pointed out with a sympathetic shoulder rub. "Of course she thinks she's going to get a real cat for Christmas. Too bad we have to disappoint her, but hopefully she'll like the other gifts we're getting her."

"She will," Morgan was confident as he finally brought the cookie toward his mouth. He stopped about half an inch before it reached his lips and then pulled back to regard the odd looking snowman. It was decorated very precisely; white frosting on one half of it and black on the other. After a moment more spent scrutinizing the item, he held it out to Emily. "I'm guessing there's some sort of story behind this cookie?"

A sigh escaped her lips as she snuggled up against his chest. "I don't want to talk about it."

Morgan was almost inclined to abide her wishes, but he was far too curious to let it go. "Come on, Em. I really want to know why frosty the snowman here it painted like a zebra," the last word out of his mouth sparked a memory that had him even more curious. "Did your mommy-daughter cookies baking day not go so well?"

"It's not that," she responded. "I'm glad I took the day off to spend with the girls. I feel like we don't have enough time together these days since I'm back to working full time. Although, next year I think cookie baking day should be about three days; one to mix the cookies, one to bake them and one to decorate. It was a bit much packing it all into one day," an unintentional yawn escaped her mouth to further prove her point.

It wasn't hard to tell she'd intentionally stopped there with no further elaboration about the day, but he still persisted. "Please, Emily. I don't think I can eat this cookie until I know how it came into existence."

A soft chuckle escaped her lips, but her merriment suffered a quick death. "Well, it all started when I took the girls to the market this morning to buy all the necessary cookie baking ingredients, as well as some other essentials. That went about as well as can be expected. There was the usual: I want every sugary cereal known to man, from Kacey. And Lulu decided to produce the stinkiest diaper in the history of stinky diapers right there in the produce section, but I got Lu changed and I allowed Kacey one box of Fruit Loops. All was calm and bright by the time we got to the checkout stand," she relayed.

"And then there... arose such a clatter?" he guessed. They really had read one too many Christmas stories to Kacey already.

"Yeah, something like that," Emily sighed. "Kacey was helping me take things out of the cart and this older woman behind us in line remarked on how helpful she was being. She even told me that I had a beautiful daughter who looked just like me." A heavier sigh escaped before Emily proceeded with the tale. "So, then she turned to Lulu, who was minding her own business while she drooled on her stuffed ladybug, and the woman says: the little girl you're babysitting is cute too. Except she didn't sound as enthusiastic about it as when she'd complimented Kacey."

"Oh, dear," Derek had a feeling he wasn't going to like this story any more than Emily had enjoyed living through it. "What did you say?"

"Nothing, I stood there like an idiot while Kacey turned to stare at the woman, and very nicely said: We're not babysitting Lulu, she's my little sister." Emily felt the fire in her belly start to rumble again. "To which the woman responded: Oh, I didn't realize you were both half-black children."

Morgan cringed. He'd heard similar comments most of his childhood, but he hadn't been quite prepared to hear it in reference to his children. "And then you blew a gasket?" he guessed.

"I wish," Emily shook her head. "Actually, I'm glad I didn't say anything because Kacey, God love her, she had several more words for that woman."

"Do I really want to know?" Derek questioned.

Emily actually smiled a little. "She told the woman that her daddy was half African American, so Lulu was only really one quarter black. You know, because she's been big into fractions lately," Emily reminded, her grin growing brighter. "And she ended with something along the lines of: Lulu is more Irish and Scottish than black."

He smiled too, proud of his little girl for speaking the truth. "So, it didn't turn out so bad after all."

"I guess not. The woman shut her mouth after that; didn't even look at us again," Emily shrugged, feeling a little bad for the way things had gone. But she was still more upset that anything. "I just can't believe that in this day and age there are still people who think like that, let alone say those sorts of things out loud."

"Well, you've never been discriminated against, Emily." Derek commented. "You get used to it."

Her mouth hung open as she pulled out of their embrace and stared him in the eye like she barely knew who he was. "First of all, no one should have to get used to that kind of blatant discrimination," Emily stated. "And second, I can't even believe you just said I've never been discriminated against. Have you completely forgotten that I grew up in different countries around the world? I mean, physical and cultural differences were bad enough, added to that there was usually a language barrier I had to overcome. I spent most of my childhood trying to fit in. And, even as progressive as the bureau is, women are still not treated as equally as men. So, don't even tell me I don't know what it's like to be discriminated against."

"I'm so sorry, Em," Derek replied, his heart having seized the second she'd mentioned growing up around the world. He felt horrible for forgetting the things she'd endured throughout her childhood, always feeling like an outsider and having to make new friends at her new schools. "I really didn't think through what I said before I said it. And…" he sighed. "I did get used to hearing those things, but I still hate it."

She forgave him pretty easily, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. "So, how do we make sure our children don't have to go through that same experience?" Emily pondered.

Morgan's head shook. "Short of changing the whole world's way of thinking, I don't know." He drew her back to his side, wrapping her up in his arms as the snowman cookie that had started it all still clung to the fingers of his left hand. "I guess all we can really do is to teach our children not to see those black and white lines. Which, judging from Kacey's reaction to that woman, we're already doing a pretty good job of it."

"I don't know how much credit I can take for Kacey," Emily replied. "I had that first year, but then I missed out on the next five."

"You have a lot to do with how she's turning out," he whispered in her ear, realizing she would probably always regret those lost years with her daughter. "Because, even when you weren't there in her life, your brains and your blood were inside her, influencing her through your super nerd, super loving, super special genetics."

Emily laughed, warmed by the way he always knew the right things to say to make her feel better. "I guess worrying about it doesn't help much."

"Nope," he agreed. "There will come a time when we just have to trust that the girls will be able to make it on their own in life, no matter what the obstacle." Derek glanced at the cookie again. "So, do you think there are any social or political ramifications to eating a snowman cookie that's half black and half white?"

"I think the only real result will be that the inside of your stomach turns gray," Emily joked.

Derek bit the snowman's head off and chewed, blurring the lines between black and white in the cookie world.


The End