Hi everyone! I hope everyone's having a wonderful Holiday Season! Here is my second holiday one shot for tumblr's upsteadofficial's 12 Days of Christmas fics! This one is for the eighth day of Christmas, December 21, 2020! The next one will be for Christmas Eve! Hope y'all enjoy! Stay safe and kind!

Gingerbread Cookies & New Traditions

After a long and exhausting four day chase, Jay and Hailey were happy that the unit had finally closed their most recent case and that they could go home for some much needed rest. They had both been convinced that they would be spending Christmas crammed in their wire room, going through hours of audio and footage, but by some kind of luck, a Christmas Miracle even, one of Voight's CIs had called with hot information. Then after some chasing and a short gunfight, all suspects had been apprehended and Voight had told them not to worry about paperwork until after Christmas, another miracle itself.

With Christmas only five days away, the two detectives had made no elaborate plans for their first Christmas together. They'd agreed to a late dinner with Will for Christmas Eve, the older Halstead ending up with the Christmas shift that year, and their only plans for Christmas Day included their bed and each other. After years on their line of work, they'd learned not to make plans, or get too attached to them if they made them, for holidays and special occasions: crime had a twisted way of celebrating the holidays, and it wasn't by taking some time off. Besides, they didn't really care what they were doing for Christmas as long as they were together.

They were passing the lobby when Platt's unnaturally cheery voice stopped them on their tracks. "Chuckles, a moment." She motioned for him to walk over to her desk.

"I thought we'd agreed on Detective Chuckles, Serge?" Jay joked as they changed directions and headed towards the desk sergeant.

"I'll do you one better: how about Santa Claus?" Trudy shot back, fishing out a Santa hat from under her desk and sliding it towards Jay.

"Serge?"

"The annual CPD and the North Pole Day." Every year, the CPD arranged CPD and the North Pole Day across the city to build rapport with the community and to celebrate the holiday season. Each district arranged it at a local hall or school gym, with a designated squad in blues to hang out with the community and another squad to serve as Santa and his helpers. "It's your turn, Santa." Jay groaned at the realization that it was his turn that year to dress up as Santa for the unit's shift at the community event. As much as the unit enjoyed community events, it was no surprise that the men of intelligence did not enjoy dressing up as a fat old man in a rental Santa suit, sweating in the blasting heat of the gym or hall the event took place at with screaming kids and loud Christmas music. Now Jay was no Grinch, but after the week they'd had, CPD and the North Pole Day was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Serge, is there any way I can skip this year?" Jay almost pleaded, earning a giggle from his partner who was trying really hard not to break into full on laughter at her boyfriend's misfortune.

"And ruin the magic of Santa for all those kids, and from what I heard from a couple years ago, for some of the mothers." Trudy shook her head, flashing him a knowing grin. "Sorry, Chuckles, you're gonna have to be at the Y's hall tomorrow ar 10:00am sharp."

"You can't ruin Christmas for all those kids and their moms, Jay." Hailey added, not able to resist the mockery as she laughed.

"Oh, Chuckles isn't the only one who'll be there, Goldilocks."

"'Scuse me, Serge?" Hailey's laughter died and she looked at the older woman, confused.

"Santa needs helpers, and with Burgess on loan to Narcotics this year, you're the lucky winner! I've emailed both of you the details and your outfits will be ready as well." Trudy explained and took out a green, glittery efl's hat for Hailey. Now it was Jay's turn to laugh at his partner's reaction. "And Burgess baked these cookies that were a big hit last year, so I recommend bringing some baked goods."

"Baked goods?" Hailey asked,

"Cookies, brownies, cupcakes. Whatever you feel like baking. I'm sure you two can figure it out." Trudy casually shrugged before putting her glasses back on and returning to her paperwork. "Do you have questions?" She asked after a moment when the two detectives didn't make a move to leave.

"No, Serge." They both shook their heads no.

"Then get out of here. I have work to do and you better get to baking as well." And with that, the two detectives grabbed the hats Trudy had just given them and walked out of the district.

"So…" Jay started once they were settled in the truck.

"Yup." Hailey nodded.

"Grocery store then home?"

"Yup." She repeated and with a loud sigh, Jay started the truck. So much for getting some rest after all.

When they got to what used to be Hailey's place, now theirs, they took turns showering and changing into more comfortable clothing. Normally Jay would have suggested they shower together, save some water, have some fun, but after the week they had, they knew that if they started anything, it would end up with them asleep until tomorrow evening. So instead, Hailey took a quick shower and changed as Jay unloaded their groceries, and Jay took a shower after her while she prepared the ingredients for gingerbread cookies. She'd gathered all the ingredients on her kitchen island: a variety of bowls and pans, flour sugar, eggs and all the staple ingredients for cookies when Jay walked down the stairs to find her leaning over the marble, closely reading something on her phone. She was so focused on her task that she didn't hear Jay walking towards her until his strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her to his chest. "What are you reading there?" Jay asked, inhaling Hailey's comforting scent.

"Just the recipe for these cookies." Hailey answered, putting her phone down and melting into his embrace. She'd much rather be taking a nap just about now.

"Are you ready to feed Santa's fan club of kids?" He asked with a kiss to her temple.

"Hmm…" She mumbled, his touch warming her inside out. "Tho I was also told there were moms in this said fan club?" She teased, the opportunity too good to pass.

"Can't blame a guy for looking hot in everything." Jay shot back confidently.

"Seriously?" Hailey asked, turning in his arms to face him. "Are you hearing yourself right now?" She rolled her eyes, suppressing her laughter at how cocky Jay was pretending to be. Oh the ego! "We're talking about dressing up as a fat old man in a red suit."

"Hey!" Jay objected defensively. "Some say the fake white beard and hair really bring out the green of my eyes, thank you very much."

"Oh yeah? And are any of these people outside your fan club of moms?"

"For your information, it was actually Adam who said it." Jay said matter of factly.

"So we are taking Adam's comments seriously now?"

"He sometimes has a point, like how good I look as Santa." And as soon as he spoke, he processed his words and frowned. "Okay, I take it back. That's just straight up weird."

"That's what I thought." They shared a quick laugh as Hailey reached up to press a soft kiss to his lips. "But for the record," She murmured against his lips. "I do agree that you look good in everything you wear."

"Do you now?" Jay asked seductively.

"Don't let it get to your head, Halstead." Hailey's response was sassy, pulling back just enough to shoot him a challenging look, one eyebrow raised, before she reached over closer again. "Besides, I prefer you without anything on anyway." And with another, more heated, kiss, she pulled away and out of a very confused Jay's embrace to get to work.

"Oh that's not fair!" Jay called behind her as he watched her tie her hair up in a ponytail and pull an apron over her head,

"What? I didn't do anything!" Hailey shot him a sheepish grin while she reached for a bowl and a couple eggs.

"Oh you know exactly what you did!"

"Well, we have a few dozen cookies to bake so get a few eggs and get to cracking, Halstead, and we can talk about what I did later." She threw her extra apron at him, which he caught in mid-air, and pointed at the carton of eggs.

"Oh, you're so getting on Santa's naughty list, Hailey Anne Upton." Jay shook his head, amazed, as he followed suit and put his apron on before taking his place next to his girlfriend.

"You help me with these," Hailey put two eggs in his hands. "And I'll show you exactly how naughty I can get." She shot him a wink and they burst into laughter. Between the two of them, they had very little baking experience but the night was young, and surely they'd be able to make something edible. Right? At least they'd definitely be having fun making them.

With Hailey's instructions, they made their way through the steps of the recipe on Hailey's phone. Hailey creamed the butter and sugar in her stand mixer, a gift from her mother that she thought she would never use, and added the mixture of vanilla, eggs, and molasses while Jay measured the dry ingredients. After proving that cracking eggs was not his strong suit, having spent more of his time fishing shells out of the bowl than actually cracking eggs, Jay had been tasked with the flour.

They were doing pretty good with timing when Hailey brought over the bowl of their wet ingredients to combine it with the dries, and as soon as she caught sight of her boyfriend's flour covered arms, apron and clothes, she couldn't help the bubbly laughter escaping her lips. "Nope. Not a word." Jay warned her, knowing the teasing would follow her laughter.

"I wasn't gonna say anything."

"And I'm Santa Claus."

"Well…" More laughter. "Technically you are." Hailey set the bowl down next to him and reached to his cheek to wipe off some flour.

"You know, Hails, we really didn't need to measure this flour. We could have just dumped the entire bag in."

"And miss this view? Absolutely not!"

"Alright, what next?" He quickly changed the focus from himself to the baking they should be doing so they could get to… other activities.

"So we add the flour in parts." Hailey looked over at her phone for the next steps. "It says: "Add quarter of your dry ingredient and start kneading.""

"You got it." Jay lifted the large bowl of flour and started pouring about a quarter of it into the bowl. Well, more like dumping as he pushed the flour out of the bowl with his hand, creating a cloud of white in front of them, making both Hailey and himself cough. "Whoops!"

"Gentler, next time?"

"Yup." Jay agreed while Hailey started mixing the flour in with her hands and he watched.

As the dough started getting worked and Jay followed Hailey's instructions, things got even messier and there was flour and dough everywhere. "I think we need more flour." Hailey said, pulling her hands away from the ginormous still sticky blob of dough in front of her.

"How much?"

"Just throw a handful."

"Like this?" Jay grabbed a handful of flour and threw it over Hailey's hands, but at the height he threw it, most of the flour "accidentally" hit her apron, face and hair.

"Jay! I said on the dough not me!" Hailey screamed as they both burst into laughter.

"You said throw a handful and I did!" He defended himself in between laughter. "And I have to say, I'm digging the white hair." He gently pushed the strand of flour covered hair that just fell over Hailey's eyes. "Maybe we can make the case for you becoming Mrs. Clause for my next Santa gig?" He suggested and Hailey's heart skipped a beat at what he was implying. They'd been dating for almost a year, living together for a few months, and neither had brought up marriage until now.

"That's what, another five years? That's a long time from now, Halstead." Hailey responded half-jokingly when her heart calmed down a bit, playing with the dough covering her hands as distraction.

"Exactly." Jay, encouraged by her half serious/ half joking tone, continued. "It gives us the perfect amount of time to become an old married couple by then."

"That eager to grow old, huh?" Her eyes moved from her hands to his face, the air around them becoming more serious than joking.

"With you?" His eyes shined as green clashed with blue. "Absolutely." He answered without a beat, and if she weren't leaning onto the counter already, she probably, definitely, would have needed support to keep herself standing. "And just so we're clear, I'm not proposing right now."

"Good, because Christmas engagements are so tacky."

"Definitely." Jay agreed. "So tacky."

"But I'd still have said yes." Hailey added after a moment of silence.

"Even while we are covered in flour and dough?"

"Even while we are covered in flour and dough." Hailey repeated and Jay couldn't resist pulling her into his arms and capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. His actions took Hailey by surprise, but as soon as she felt his arms around her waist, she instinctively clasped her dough covered hands around his neck and deepened the kiss.

"I love you, Hailey Anne Upton." Jay whispered against her lips when air became necessary and they pulled apart.

"I love you, too, James Matthew Halstead." Hailey unclasped her hands and held them up between them. "But I think I can show you just how much a lot better without dough covered hands." More laughter followed as Jay pulled off some of the dough off her hands and put it in his mouth and Hailey watched his reaction to the hopefully familiar taste.

"Wait…" Jay's eyes moved between Hailey's face and her hands while he chewed. "Is this…?" She nodded with a bright smile.

"I remembered you talking about your mom's cookies last Christmas so I texted Will for the recipe. I hope that was okay?" She explained and just when Jay thought he couldn't possibly love her more than he already did, she'd proved him wrong with something so simple as gingerbread cookies.

"It's absolutely perfect." Jay could feel a bittersweet mix of emotions at the thought of his mother and how proud she would have been that he'd finally found the woman he'd spend the rest of his life with. Oh how much he wished his mom could have met Hailey and seen how much his forever had saved him even before he'd realized she was his forever. "You're perfect."

"I'd save the perfect claims until after we bake these." Hailey cautiously joked as they shifted their focus back on their task. "Still a lot of room for screwing up."

"Hails, you can burn these and I'd still think they are perfect."

"No, you would make fun of me."

"I'd think you're perfect as I'm making fun of you."

"Just like an old married couple would do?"

"Practice makes perfect, right?" He flashed her a cheeky grin and carefully added more flour to the dough Hailey was kneading. "And if I remember correctly, we have a lot of fun young married couple activities to cover before we get to the old married couple phase." He added with a low voice.

"But cookies first."

"Cookies first." And with that, they set aside their flirting and goofiness as much as they could to focus on the dozens of holiday cookies they were supposed to bake and decorate.

A couple hours later, as they stood in front of the kitchen island that displayed all their completed work, they were exhausted, covered in almost as much flour and icing as they'd put in their cookies, and in desperate need of another shower but they were proud to have about 100 cookies. Sure they might have burned one batch to the point that the fire department had had to show up and none of their cookies matched in shape size or color. And they definitely would have been done sooner had Jay been able to keep his hands and lips to himself every so often, but through the giggles and the kisses and the joyous Christmas music he had put on halfway through, they had started a new holiday tradition on their first holiday season as a couple, and this one was sure to be one they would pass onto their kids, and to their grandkids who would hopefully one day pass it onto their own.

That was the beauty of the holiday season: Something as simple as gingerbread cookies could give this couple a lifetime of memories they would cherish once they were an old blissfully married couple doing the exact same thing years from now.

Hope y'all enjoyed! Happy holiday season! I'll be back soon with more :)