this one's probably the last Christmas-themed chapter for my fics, but I'm not totally shutting the door on a new year's one. we'll see.
no tissues required for this one 😉
enjoy.
"Mom?"
Laura glances up at the sound of her daughter's voice. "Hi, sweetheart," she says with a warm smile from her seat on the porch swing, nestled comfortably under several layers of blankets for warmth. "You finish up your shopping?"
"Yeah," Lila replies while holding up her shopping bags as proof. "Got that video game Nate's been talking about non-stop since Dad and Cooper said it was fair game for a present."
"Oh, he's gonna flip when he opens it. You may move up a few levels in the favourite sibling competition," Laura jokes.
"Whatcha doing outside?"
Laura holds up her travel mug. "I finished making this year's hot chocolate recipe."
"Ah, yes. The time-honored tradition of making hot chocolate your children can't have," Lila quips with a roll of her eyes that has Laura chuckling. "It's cold out here though," she adds after a beat, a tiny frown creasing her brow.
"It's not so bad under the blankets. If it gets too cold, I can drag out the patio heater Dad bought me and Nat a while back. Besides, I figured some time outside would be nice considering the weather is cooperating."
Lila shifts her weight from one foot to the other lightly and Laura can tell she's debating whether to ask something or not. "Can I join you?" she asks finally.
"Of course," Laura replies swiftly before shooting her daughter a warm smile. "There's some regular hot chocolate in the fridge if you want, you just need to heat it up. It's the jar with the green lid."
Lila nods once in understanding. "I'm just gonna throw this stuff in my room and then heat it up. I'll be out in a bit."
"Take your time," Laura advises, "I'm not going anywhere."
Fifteen minutes later Lila reappears, dressed in a few more layers than she'd been wearing earlier, with a travel mug of non-alcoholic hot chocolate for herself. Laura lifts up the blankets next to her and waits as she gets situated comfortably underneath them before she helps to tuck them around her daughter.
"You're right, it's warm under here," Lila says before she takes a sip of her hot chocolate.
"Told you. It's just such a beautiful night...I couldn't not spend a little time out here."
"Mm," Lila hums. "What's this year's recipe?"
"I'm recycling an old one. Red wine."
"Oh, hopefully it's aged well."
Laura stares and arches an eyebrow at her daughter. "Since when did you acquire an appreciation for aged wine?"
"I hear people say it in series and movies," she replies with a shrug.
Laura laughs. "Uh-huh, I'm sure," she says dubiously.
"And I mean, I am almost-"
"Not 21," Laura interjects with a look that makes the last traces of Lila's confidence wilt away and be replaced by the beginnings of a pout.
"Not even a taste?" she counters with those wide, hopeful eyes that always seemed to melt Clint's resolve too easily.
"You really want to?" Laura replies as she considers letting her try a sip.
"If you'll let me, then sure," Lila answers with a shrug that Laura is sure she meant to be casual, but comes across like she's trying just a bit too hard to be casual about it.
"Alright," she concedes as she hands Lila her travel mug. "Start with a little sip though, so the taste doesn't overwhelm you."
Lila nods and takes a sip and then cringes immediately. "Ew."
Laura lets out a belly laugh. "That's every mother's dream reaction to alcohol from their teenager."
Lila's expression shifts to a pout before she takes another little sip and this time doesn't wince quite so dramatically. "It's not as bad as I thought," she admits thoughtfully, "but it's still gross," she says as she hands the mug back. "Does all alcohol taste like that?"
"No, not at all. But that is not an invitation for you to start trying them-"
"Relax, Mom. I have no intention of having any more alcohol anytime soon. That taste was gross enough to put me off it."
Laura sighs in relief because she truly believes Lila is put off of alcohol for the foreseeable future, given her visceral reaction. "Wine is an acquired taste for sure," she agrees with a smile. "I hated wine when I was younger."
"What changed your mind?"
"Your Aunt Nat, actually."
Lila's eyebrows rise. "Really?"
"Mm," Laura hums fondly. "She was a fan of wine and had a habit of bringing some from the various countries she went to."
"I thought vodka was her favourite," Lila replies before taking a sip of her own hot chocolate.
"She did like her vodka," Laura agrees with a grin, "as any self-respecting Russian would," she adds with a grin. "But she acquired a taste for wine and sort of dragged me along for the ride."
"What kind of wine is in that?" Lila asks, pointing to Laura's travel mug.
"A nice merlot."
"Uh, that's red, right?"
Laura chuckles. "Yep."
"That's your favourite hot chocolate recipe, right? With wine?"
"Mm," Laura hums in reply. "Nat loved it too. She brought back a bottle from France one year specifically for our hot chocolate and it was so, so good." She pauses and smiles as she remembers how grumpy Clint had been when Nat had told him point blank that the expensive wine she'd brought was restricted for use in their recipe. "Your dad was grumpy that she didn't let us drink it with dinner instead of putting it in the hot chocolate," she adds with a chuckle.
"He doesn't like it?"
Laura shakes her head. "Not his thing. He's tried a couple of the recipes over the years but he prefers to stick with the traditional, non-alcoholic hot chocolate."
"How did you and Aunt Nat start this tradition anyway?"
Laura smiles as the memory rises up in her mind.
"Uh, Nat?" Laura says as she opens the front door just enough to poke her head out. She'd spotted the redhead curled up on the porch swing through the window and had frowned in confusion. It wasn't odd for Nat to be outside alone - she often sought out time at the farm to organize her thoughts and decompress from missions - but it was odd that a woman who hated the cold had chosen to sit outside in winter on a day when it was quite cold out.
"Hey," she says as she turns to meet Laura's confused gaze.
"What're you doing out here?"
Nat smiles and holds up a mug. "Just enjoying some hot chocolate."
Laura frowns a touch at Nat's expression which seems to have a bit of mischief in it. "Hot chocolate, huh?"
"Mmhmm," she hums in reply while doing a terrible job of hiding her smirk behind the mug.
Things click into place suddenly when Laura realizes that Nat's a bit more relaxed than usual. "You put vodka in it, didn't you?" Nat offers nothing in response other than a shrug that's barely noticeable under the four or five layers of blankets she has piled on top of her. Laura glances over at Clint, who is intensely focused on the TV, before she looks back at Nat. "There any more of that?"
Nat reaches under the blankets and pulls out a thermos, holding it up for Laura to see.
"I'm getting a mug," Laura declares before pulling the door shut and hurrying to the kitchen.
Lila's grin widens as Laura finishes her story. "And then you just did it every year?"
"Nat brought Kahlua the next year and declared she'd heard about a recipe for hot chocolate using it, so we gave it a try. And then the next time she was here for Christmas we tried a recipe she'd found that included beer. It became a sort of unspoken agreement that we'd try out something new each year and keep a copy of the recipe if it was
worthwhile."
"Did you ever repeat any?"
Laura nods. "Once or twice but for the most part, no."
"One recipe per year?"
"Not every year. Sometimes we tried more than one. Just depended on what we both found during the year."
"Any you didn't like?"
"Oh god, yeah. We had one that had brandy and two kinds of liqueur in it. That was...too much."
"You're sure it has both these in it?" Laura asks while looking down at the two bottles of liqueur.
"That's what it says," Nat replies without looking up from the printed off recipe she'd been reviewing. "It does seem like a lot with the brandy in there too," she agrees when she glances up.
"You wanna leave it with just the brandy?"
"We did that last year."
"Right," Laura says slowly. "Well, here goes nothing then?"
Nat nods and watches as Laura measures out the required amounts of each liqueur and then pours them both into the pot. "Says to stir for a minute and then it should be ready."
"Uh-huh…" Laura says as she leans in to sniff the pot. "Oh, wow. That's, um, something alright."
"That bad?" Laura gestures for Nat to lean in and sniff in lieu of replying. "Oh," she says with a cough, "yeah, that's definitely…something."
"Maybe it tastes better than it smells?"
"Maybe we should make Clint try it before we do," Nat counters with a wink.
"Oh, I like that idea very much," Laura agrees with a laugh.
"Like what idea?" Clint says as he enters the kitchen.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Nat murmurs and Laura can't hold in her snort of laughter.
"What?" he says with a confused frown.
"Here, you wanna try this?" Laura offers. "We were just saying how we think you'd actually like this one."
"Yeah, sort of tastes like a good stout beer with a bit of chocolate too," Nat adds and Laura manages to suppress her grin and laughter at the lie. "It'll probably help clear your sinuses too."
Clint eyes them both suspiciously. "What's really going on?"
Nat rolls her eyes. "I'm the paranoid one, Clint. Get your own personality trait."
He narrows his gaze but relents and nods. "Alright. Just a quick taste though."
Laura grabs a mug from the cupboard and pours a little of their concoction in before handing it to him.
"Alright, here goes nothing," he says confidently as he brings the mug up to take a sip. He sputters almost immediately when the liquid hits his lips. "Oh, god. What is in this?!"
Nat and Laura share a look and both explode into laughter.
"You two are sick, you know that?"
"So that's why Dad hates your hot chocolate!" Lila says in realization.
"Maybe," Laura hedges with a poorly contained smile.
They're quiet for a moment before Lila speaks again. "Can we do this again next year? But...like with something less gross?"
"You angling for more alcohol sampling?"
"No, I just want to carry on the tradition," she defends, smiling innocently.
"Mmhmm," Laura says with an exaggerated nod of her head.
"So...is that a yes?"
"Tentatively. You and I can pick a new recipe for next year and then I'll be the judge if you get to taste it."
Lila's shoulders slump a little. "That's my final offer. Take it or leave it."
"I'll take it," Lila grumbles, clearly a little disappointed to have not gotten carte blanche to drink the following year.
"But hey, look at the bright side, once you turn 21, we can both enjoy full mugs."
"But that's so far away!"
Laura chuckles at her daughter's frustration. "It'll be soon enough," she soothes. "Next thing you know, you'll be sitting with your kid letting them sip some alcoholic hot chocolate," Laura adds with a wink that makes Lila laugh.
They sit there for another hour, sipping their beverages and chatting about a variety of topics, before Lila declares she has to wrap the gifts she'd bought earlier that day. Once her daughter has disappeared back into the house, Laura allows her mind to wander and finds herself remembering another time she and Nat had spent time out on the porch sipping hot chocolate.
"Oh, this one's good," Laura says as Nat sits down beside her on the porch swing and arranges the blankets to cover herself.
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah," Laura agrees before taking another sip. "Definitely a keeper."
"I told you!"
"Yeah, yeah. I don't usually like schnapps, so forgive me for doubting the potential."
"You have so little faith in me sometimes, Laura, honestly, it hurts," she teases with a laugh.
"The only reason I'm not threatening you is because you're the one with the recipe of the proportions we used for this, and we're definitely going to need to make this one again."
Nat lets out another laugh. "So not the whole 'assassin of questionable origins' thing? That's totally fine?"
"Totally," Laura dismisses with a vague wave of her hand, already feeling a bit more relaxed thanks to their earlier glasses of wine and the hot chocolate.
Before either of them can say anything else, the door flies open. "Mommy!"
Laura frowns at the sight of her daughter. "What's wrong, Lila?"
"Daddy said I can't have pie."
Laura stifles a laugh at the urgency of Lila's declaration and sees Nat doing the same. "Well, that's because the pie is for tomorrow."
"But I want it now."
"You need to be patient, honey."
"But I want pie!"
"I do too but we've decided that we're going to have it for dessert tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Because it's a special dessert for Christmas."
"But I want it now."
"Myshka, did you have your piece of chocolate from your calendar today?" Nat interjects.
Lila's eyes widen in realization at Nat's words. "No!" she yells as she turns on her heel and sprints back into the house.
Nat laughs. "Well, that didn't take much convincing."
"Thank god," Laura exhales. "I was running out of patience."
"Drink more, it'll help."
Laura can't stop the snort of laughter from escaping at Nat's suggestion, which she'd delivered with a completely serious expression. She holds up her mug in a toast and grins. "To adult hot chocolate."
"May it forever be a balm to your holidays-induced exhaustion," Nat adds with a smirk.
have a guess as to what Clint was watching on TV? (it's a Christmas movie is all I'll give you 😉)
as always, comments are always appreciated.
good news is that I have a little bit of a cushion built up for most of my fics, so the updates shouldn't be *too* far apart.
also - on the off chance you enjoyed this one but aren't also reading my Conversational Junctures story - there was a Christmas themed chapter there too.
hoping everyone's staying safe, and has a nice holiday season.