(Slash Level: 1 for most of it, 5 for the last fourth of so)
"I have a little surprise for you all," Tasha grinned, arms behind her back.
Adam brightened, "Oh! Is it a clown that makes balloon animals under water?"
Everyone stared blankly.
"Nooooo," Tasha said. She brought her arms around front and thrust fabric at each of the bionic teens in the kitchen. "I made you each an apron with your name on it!"
"Oh, I love it," Bree said, hugging her apron to her chest.
Adam looked at his and smiled, "Now I won't have to worry about forgetting my name anymore."
Tasha raised an eyebrow. "Is that likely?"
"It's happened before," Chase said as he put his apron over his head and tied the strings in the back before tying Adam's as well.
Leo came up from the lab and sauntered into the kitchen. "Is it Christmas cookie time, Mom?"
Pulling out a fourth apron from under the counter, Tasha handed it to Leo.
"Yes!" Leo put the apron on. "Peanut butter blossom time! Now, I don't want to brag, but I am the fastest Hershey's kiss unwrapper in the WORLD!" He took his superhero stance, one fist by his neck, the other held aloft in the air.
"What are peanut butter blossoms?" Bree asked.
Tasha shook her head, saddened at the normal childhood that her stepkids didn't get to have. "They are peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss in the middle."
"And then there's chocolate chip cookies, brownies, pecan fingers, and the jewel of the Christmas cookie season: Christmas gems," Leo was staring into space, dreamily.
Bree scrunched up her nose. "Leo, wipe the drool."
Tasha clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, Bree why don't you and I get started on the pecan fingers; Chase and Adam, you start the brownies," she handed them a recipe card. "Follow it to the letter. Leo, chocolate chip cookies are yours and start unwrapping the kisses for the peanut butter blossoms. Once we've got those all going, we can make the Christmas gems."
Soon, Bree was rolling pecan cookies into powdered sugar and Chase was mathematically slicing brownies into perfect squares while fending Adam's hands away from the treats. Leo put the last tray of chocolate chip cookies into the oven and spun around with a smile.
Tasha put a box of spice cake mix and some eggs down on a free space of the counter.
"Bree, I need some counter space, could you clean up-"
With a rush of wind, all the dirty dishes were suddenly piled high and sparkling.
"-Thank you," Tasha smiled. "Anyway, I'll mix up the dough, Adam, you roll it out, Chase, you use the cookie cutters and Bree can mix up the frosting."
"And I will decorate!" Leo exclaimed.
Tasha shook her head. "Leo... Adam, Bree, and Chase need to decorate the cookies and make some Christmas memories."
Davenport arrived just as the first tray of spice cookies came off the rack. "What smells so good?"
"I took a shower yesterday," Adam preened.
Tasha accepted a 'hello' kiss from her husband and answered, "We're making Christmas cookies. The kids are going to decorate them with red and green frosting."
"And sprinkles," Leo interjected. "Don't forget the sprinkles."
"Oh what are these?" Adam asked, taking a handful of red candies from a bowl.
"Adam, don't!" Tasha called.
Adam had already put the whole handful into his mouth and chewed. "These are..." he trailed off, waving his hand in front of his mouth. "Hot! Hot!"
"Red Hots, actually," Leo answered.
Chase ran to the fridge and pulled out the milk. "Here, milk binds to the capsaicin in spicy foods and loosens it from taste buds so-"
"Just give him the milk!" Bree said.
Chase did and Adam drank down the whole carton.
"You okay?" Chase asked when Adam finished.
The older teen nodded. "That was fun! I wanna do that again."
He reached for the bowl of Red Hots, which Davenport grabbed just in time. "No! If you do that... there won't be enough for the cookies."
"Here," Chase handed Adam a small spatula and a tub of butter cream frosting that had been mixed with green food colouring, "how about we frost the cookies and Leo and Bree can put the sprinkles on?"
As the teens worked on decorating, Tasha switched the done cookies in the oven out for ones that still needed to be baked, Davenport at her side to hand her oven mitts when necessary.
"Done!" Leo announced, placing the last Red Hot on a reindeer cookie's nose.
"When can we eat them?" Chase asked, hungrily eying the baked goods.
Tasha shooed them out of the kitchen. "No one eats the cookies yet. We leave a plate out for Santa on Christmas Eve and eat ours after dinner on Christmas Day."
Bree pouted, "We have to wait two whole days?"
"I'm hungry," Adam complained.
"You're always hungry," Leo replied. "You're like a one-man black hole."
Tasha was already putting the cookies into various tins and containers. "You will all live a couple days without cookies."
Leo frowned. "She does this every year. The trick is to forget how awesome they taste."
The three bionic teens stared at him.
"Which will be easy for you as you've never tasted them," he finished.
"Let's go out for dinner," Davenport announced. "We can stop for ice cream on the way home to get your minds off it." He looked at his family: Chase had frosting in his hair, Bree had powdered sugar down the front of her jeans, Adam had a chocolate streak on his cheek, and Leo was doused in sprinkles. "But maybe you guys clean up first."
Leo headed up to his room and the bionic teenagers headed down to the lab. Chase programmed the cleaning cycles to end with a clothing change and they all hopped into their capsules.
"We need to get this thing to figure out hairspray," Bree said as she stepped out, heading straight for her hairbrush.
Adam sniffed himself. "Man, two showers in one week. I smell like coconuts."
"You smell really good," Chase said, tilting his brother's head down for a kiss. He pulled back, frowning. "Adam, why do you taste like a cookie?"
The oldest lab rat grinned sheepishly and ducked behind the capsule console before popping back up with a handful of the Christmas gems. "I hid these in my apron pocket while we were making them."
Bree and Chase grabbed at the cookies, each getting two leaving one more for Adam.
"Hang on," Chase said before his siblings could bite into the sweets. "These are our first Christmas cookies ever. We really should wait and have that experience with Leo, Tasha and Mr. Davenport."
A brief pause hung in the room.
"I already ate one," Adam said.
"I'm not waiting," Bree added.
"Yeah, I stopped believing that halfway through the sentence," Chase grinned as they devoured the Christmas gems, mouths full of spice cookie and frosting.
Bree moaned, "Oh my god, these are amazing."
"I think my taste buds are throwing a party," Chase said.
Adam just beamed the entire time.
Mr. Davenport came down to the lab and they all stopped chewing instantly. "You three ready to go?"
Bree nodded, waiting until he turned his back to swallow. "That was close. Race you up!" She super-speeded away.
Chase held Adam back when the bigger teen started to run after their sister. "Chase, what-"
"I want just one more taste," Chase said, grinning up at his brother.
"We could steal some more later," Adam said. At Chase's raised eyebrow, he said, "Ohhhhhhhhh, you mean kissing. Yeah," he leaned down and kissed Chase, arms coming to wrap around the smaller boy's waist, "let's do that."
