Family Tree: Hannah and Noah talking about love with grandma Catherine

"You're forgetting the blueberries." Noah impatiently says from the top of his chair to his sister.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yeah, you are! It says right here." The five year old goes on, looking down at the recipe book placed on the kitchen counter top and resting both hands on the pretty picture of freshly made blueberry muffins.

"You can't even read, Noah!" Hannah replies, knitting her brows in annoyance, proud of her reading skills. Glancing over at her brother, then back again at the flour and milk mixture on the bowl, she wonders if he's right, though. They're making muffins at Noah's request with Catherine's help. The kitchen, filled with all sort of ingredients, looks like a mess, but it's alright. Grandma is not a bit worried about it. They can clean it later. "Do I add them now, grandma?"

Catherine looks over at her grandchild, touching her soft curls with a clean hand, nodding. "Yes, baby, you do."

"Are these daddy's favorite?"

Turning her attention to Noah as Hannah takes a handful of blueberries to fold in with the mix, she sees his sparkly blue eyes shining. He's a perfect copy of his dad when Jackson was little, and he even proudly shares his tastes too. "When he was a kid, he asked me to make them almost every week."

"Did you do it?"

"Well, no, but I tried." Catherine replies. Her efforts didn't pay off in the kitchen, and her time was always short. "You see, grandma is not the best baker."

"I am!" Hannah says, exuberantly showing her very unique smile. "Mama and I bake together."

"Yeah, your mom is a great cook, isn't she?"

"She is! And she bakes too!"

"I miss mommy." Noah says, in a sad, empty tone. Playing with the pages of the recipe book, he tilts his head to the side, biting his lip. It's the first time Jackson and April left for a small vacation leaving their children at grandmother's care. Hannah, being her sassy eight year old self, seemed to be taking the distance well. Noah, on the other hand, was having a hard time, which was only normal, considering the sudden transition. "When are they coming back?"

"Soon, sweetheart."

Hannah pauses, looks at her brother and, with the most confident tone in the world, she simply says. "Don't you know they're making love?"

"Making what?" Catherine suddenly stops, knitting her brows in surprise with the young girl's expression. "Hannah, where did learn that?"

"On TV." She retorts, not even paying too much attention. "Grown ups make love when they're married. That's why they went away for a while. To make love."

Noah mumbles the words to himself, as if it was the first time he was hearing them. Then, shutting down the recipe book, he furrows his brows and leans forward. "What's making love, grandma?"

"It's what mommies and daddies do when they love each other." Catherine starts, trying to sound as natural as possible. Being practical was in her nature, and a straight answer was always the best answer. Since she didn't lie to Jackson when he asked her the same question a long time ago, she definitely wasn't going to lie to her grandchildren. "They…"

"Duh! Making love is when you kiss all the time." Hannah suddenly cuts her off, grabbing her brother's attention. With her chin up and her chest out, she speaks like she knows all the answers, like she knows exactly what she's talking about. "Mom and dad kiss all the time. Even when daddy's all sweaty and smelly."

"They look gross when they kiss, though." Noah retorts, crinkling his nose, turning away and shutting his eyes with a disgusted look.

"They kiss because they love each other. Because they're in love." Catherine tries to explain.

"Mommy and daddy say I love you to each other a lot." Noah continues.

"They do. Almost every day." Hannah agrees, nodding. Placing both arms behind her back, she looks over at Catherine, searching for assurance, and support. "You shouldn't really say it unless you mean it, right? But if you mean it, you say it a lot, like mom and dad do."

"Sometimes when they're watching TV, daddy starts massaging mommy's feet and she says she loves him for it." Noah says, interrupting his sister. He's very good when it comes to catching these small details of their little routine. It's cute, and harmless, and he usually catches them when he's playing on the floor with his toys, by the couch. "I think it's silly."

"It's love, Noah! You massage people's feet when you love them." Hannah finishes, narrowing her eyes to the boy and giving him a long stare. Then, pausing, looking down, she takes a second to think, before turning her rosy cheeks back up and eyeing Catherine from the corner of her eyes. "Grandma, I think love is silly." She starts, with her usual sweet tone. "But… I would still like to try it sometime."

Catherine smiles, placing one tender kiss on the top of her curly hair. As smart and beautiful as she is, she's going to find love someday, when she's older. Catherine can only pray the man who steals her heart is just as honest, kind and loyal as she raised her own son to be.

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Requested byilmiooceanomare (here's the light one shot with Nana Catherine you asked for. Hope you liked it!)