Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Oh, absolutely!” Noah assured, beaming. “We have to make cookies for Santa, too. None of that prepackaged dough. Do you have a good recipe?” He wasn’t oblivious to Teddy’s love for cooking. “If not, we can use my mom’s. We could make fudge to give away, too, to the scientists working at the lab.” He looked at Dea then. It had been a tradition for he and his mother to surprise the scientists at Grayson’s lab with sweets a few days after Christmas.

He paused at Lucy’s question. “To be honest, I haven’t either,” he said. “My parents go on them every year if they can. They’re supposed to be fun, especially if it snows. There might be singing.”

“We’ll definitely have the ingredients,” Noah said, offering Teddy a smile. “We’ll hit up Costco on the way there. Why don’t you make a shopping list of all the things you think we’ll need? Your brothers and sisters can help, too. We’ll take turns making breakfast together.” He wanted this trip to be a bonding one.

He looked at Dea in surprise. “What? You guys didn’t keep up the tradition? My dad still works there, he’s probably wondering why...” he tsked. “We’ll have to make three year’s worth of fudge to make up for it!”

“I can teach you my fudge recipe,” Noah told Teddy, “I think it’s her favorite.” He glanced at Dea and smiled. She did seem to like whenever he spent time in the kitchen. He wasn’t as talented as his mother was, but he could make a soup or something sweet.

“Right,” he said, nodding. “I’ll call mom later.”

Noah liked Teddy. He thought he’d enjoy baking with the boy over the length of their trip. He smiled. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll share my fudge recipe. And besides, I know all of her favorites. I can share them with you. We can spoil her together.” He glanced—side eyed at Dea. “I’ve known her since I was three.”

“I’ll do that. She’ll be surprised! Well, she always wanted grandchildren.”

Well now he'd have another set of grandparents to share recipes with! "Yes, definitely. Always do the thing you love. That's important. Did she?" he looked to Dea. "That was a lucky day."

"I don't know, I think she'll be thrilled," Noah said.

"She must have corrupted you with her love of chocolate," Noah teased. He was looking at his wife. "Whenever my mom would make fudge with us as kids, we'd share the end of the pan she made it in. I always made sure Dea had the most spoonfuls, I had a crush on her even then." Of course, he hadn't realized it at the time. Not until that time she'd gotten so sick.

"Maybe we could call her together," Noah offered. "They could meet us at the cabin. I'm sure we'll have enough room."

“Maybe,” Noah was smiling at Teddy. “But that means you can’t blame Momma when you need a chocolate fix. Alright, then! You can be my official taste tester. Well. You and Sunny might have to share,” he added, in afterthought. He looked towards his solgaleo boy.

“You will help, won’t you Sunny?”

“I want chocolate!” Sunny piped up. Noah grinned.

“Well, of course they can come!” He said. “It’ll be fun.”

“They’ll bring their Pokémon too, won’t they?” Noah knew of Serenity’s Pokémon, but he wasn’t sure if any had transformed. Did Grayson still have that ditto he’d been caring for?

“Great! It’s my favorite part of baking too,” Noah smiles. He reached over to playfully ruffle the boy’s hair. This wasn’t so hard, getting to know them. Teddy at least was easy to know. “Excellent. You two will be my best helpers,” he said. He was glad Sunny was adjusting to his new form.