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The grocery store was packed to it's maximum capacity, courtesy of all the Christmas shoppers who hadn't gotten their shopping in before Christmas or had run out of supplies earlier than they'd thought.

People were ripping food off of the shelves, and even if you did manage to get what you had - naïvely - come for, the long lines at the registers were enough to drive even the most patient of saints mad.

Patrons were huffing, looking at their watch impatiently and underpaid, harrassed cashiers were trying to move everyone along in a timely manner.

Not that Maddy could see any of that; the person in front of her was blocking out everything. She didn't even know how close she was to the registry!

She sighed and gave up her futile attempts to look around his large frame - this place was packed and it wasn't like she was especially tall to begin with.

"Excuse me, sir, do you see how long it is until it's our turn?" She poked the giant in the back, as politely as she could.

"Oh." There was a look of sadness on her face that would have, had it not been put there because of a line in a grocery store, heartbreaking. "Thank you anyway."

She took a moment to stare unabashedly at him. He looked familiar somehow.. didn't he? But she was sure she hadn't seen anyone this big before..

Then it hit her: "Chris!" Maddy was feeling rather triumphant for having recognized him.

"Yes!" She nodded fervently, glad to have something to distract her from the monotony of waiting. "I was her Secret Santa, see?"

"Maddy. Well, Madeleine really, but no one calls me that except Mom when she's really, really mad." She babbled nervously, suddenly becoming aware that he was large and fricking scary - it hadn't occured to her before when she was too busy being proud of herself but now..

"Didn't you get taller?" Her wings fluttered nervously, and a couple of people behind her started grumbling.

"Really?" She'd never heard of that, but then again, she hadn't talked to too many older people. "You just like.. knew in advance?" It did sound sort of cool though, and quite practical.

Despite his appearance, he was really proving to not be very frightening at all and Maddy was slowly relaxing. But that was what Kaimi had said too, right? Nice enough.

She nodded again, with less fervor and more understanding this time. Sounded reasonable. "Do you think you'll double again once you get older?"

"Oh, just some cereal." She held out the lone pack, the only thing she in her arms. "You?"

Maddy automatically moved a step forward as well. "A pizza oven?" She repeated. "That sounds so cool! You like cooking food, then? I'm rubbish at it, but Mom says she'll sign me up for classes once I get older."

She grinned: "And yeah, I can totally see how that'd be troublesome. I'll cross my fingers for you, then!" She held up a hand and crossed her fingers, still smiling.

"My Mom spoils me too, but not with anything that awesome." Her voice was distinctly disappointed.

"I got a ton of new clothes, though! Which is.. not nearly as cool as a pizza oven." She grimaced, nevermind that she didn't actually know how to make pizzas, it still sounded so much more fun than new clothes did. "My Mom wouldn't know how to cook if her life depended on it." An exaggeration; Olivia had been getting better lately, but they were still stuck with simple dishes most of the time.

"Nah, I won't, it'd be awful to have to explain to people anyway." She joked.