Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once done, they prepped to head outside with their little man in tow. Before he knew it he was bundled up and ready to...well. Not be in the snow, but to go outside and enjoy the snowfall at least a little bit.

Seren chuckled when he began to laugh, glad to hear her words were working, and just nodded at his thanks, beginning to eat as well. She kept an eye on him, in case he needed any assistance cutting anything or the like, but otherwise leaving him to handle it himself, because she knew he really would prefer that.

Once they finished, and she had tossed the rest of the dishes in the dishwasher, they worked together to get all bundled up. She had, as promised, found several of their water resistant bags for camping, and selected two to wrap around his casts, before they headed out. If they ended up needing to replace the big one because of the wear and tear, it was worth it to her for every extra moment he got outside in the snow... His healing was going to take weeks, and the snow might be gone before he was at the point where he was cast free, so as long as there was snow and he wanted to go out in it... She'd pull these bags back out.

She let Remy run around, laughing at the way he charged through the not too deep snow, and tried to bite snowflakes out of the air, though she made sure he did not run underfoot for Nate, not wanting even the tiniest chance of an accident. She led them to the garden bench, dusted off the snow and laid a towel onto it, before sitting on half. "It's beautiful out, isn't it?"

He carefully sat beside her after watching the pup run around a bit more, a content smile on his face. "Yeah," he murmured while huddling in close to her, slipping his arm over her shoulders. Hopefully she wouldn't mind the cast too much...

"I can't remember the last time we had a snowy Christmas, actually," he said thoughtfully as he looked up at the sky. It was a light snowfall at best, and he could swear it was already starting to dwindle bit by bit. For Dai's sake he hoped it would stop and then start again once he was here, safe and sound. "But it's definitely nice."

She snuggled, carefully, against him, happy to be with Nate. The cast might not be the most comfortable thing but she did not care. What mattered is he was here, he was alive, he was ok! As such, the cast was a mild discomfort she could ignore in favor of being close to the man she loved.

"Mmm I know it's snowed around Christmas a few times since I've been here, but I don't recall specifically about the day of... I just know that as someone who only experienced snow for the first time as an adult, it's still kind of magical..." She paused, then wrinkled her nose. "At least until it gets dirty."

"That, or black ice," he said with a little chuckle, turning his head and leaning down to press a little kiss to her forehead. He was about to comment more, but decided to leave things there thinking it was better not to bog down the mood too much by bringing up his own accident. Not that black ice was a factor in his case, but still.

"Mmm I've missed that so far..." Was all she said on the subject, her own mind going to accidents she'd seen, and starting to extrapolate... For a moment she went a little tense, then forcibly relaxed herself, shoving away the thoughts and memories and fears, and instead turned a little to press a kiss to his cheek, to remind them both he was here and safe.

Finally, after a good while of enjoying the cold, she sighed and said "We should head back in. I want to start the turkey breast, and Remy is going to become an icicle if we don't stop him from burying himself in the snow."

And his casts were a concern, of course, but she didn't bring that up, avoiding things that were unpleasant for the moment, sizing to the light hearted. "Once it's in, I will join you in the living room with cocoa, you find a nice fire in the TV to watch?"

She'd also dry off their dog and hang things up, but that was incidental. At least all she has to do was put the turkey breast on the roasting pan and into the oven after she got it heated... She'd had it brining for a couple days already.

When she was anxious and not able to be with him at the hospital, she'd given in to stress baking and/or prep. All of the other girls had gone to wherever with batches of cookies, and she had two set aside. One for Dai and one for Nate and her to share. She planned to bring that out with the cocoa.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he said, actually starting to feel a bit more chill from the cold than he thought he would. He’d always been more of a cold weather person, so he attributed his lowered tolerance for the cold to his injuries, and gave a little sigh before shifting so she could get up. And while he would have loved to be able to ask her to go ahead, he knew better than to try and get through the snow on his own in his condition. Inside, where it was dry and significantly safer, maybe, but out here?

Best not to risk it. His pride wasn’t worth their ruined Christmas, after all.

So with her help he was safely up and they headed inside, pup obediently at his side. Once the cast covers and the layers were off, he nodded toward the couch. “I’ll get started on that fire, then,” he said with a little smile. “Anything else I can help with before I settle down?”

She smiled at the fact that he did not try to argue, knowing that it was a bit hard on his pride but proud of him for making a choice that was best for them both. She leaned over, kissed his cheek, and stood up. She was more than happy to help him get inside, after all.

It did not take too long, and gathered all the layers to hang up. "Mmm there's some blankets in that ottoman there..." She gestured at it. "If you can grab a couple, we can snuggle under them, once I'm back." It was positioned such that he should be able to grab the blankets, and toss them gently to the couch, before he moved over himself.

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, then headed off to the kitchen. It took about twenty minutes to get the turkey breast set up and in, get the water boiled and the cocoa prepped. She pulled out some holiday shaped and colored marshmallows, and decorated the top, grabbed the basket of cookies she had set up, and carried them all out on a tray, carefully.

When she rejoined him, she set the tray to the side, pulled over a nice sized side table, and placed the tray on that, before she sat down and snuggled in with him.

“Got it,” he said, glancing over at the ottoman she mentioned before nodding. “I’ll see over there, then.”

And with that he set off. It wasn’t too much to grab the blankets and toss them closer, but he was again winded by the time he settled down, and he eased onto the sofa into as comfortable a position as he could manage, making sure that it allowed for Seren to snuggle in when she joined him. He set up the fireplace loop and pulled one of the blankets on before closing his eyes and starting to relax.

He managed to relax a little, but it was only when Seren had rejoined him that he was able to fully do so. He leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead once she settled against him, and he sighed, the sound one of pure contentment.

“Talk to me, love” he asked after a few minutes of silence. Not that he was uncomfortable, but the sound of her voice was also something he loved and found particularly soothing. “Doesn’t matter about what, I just wanna hear your voice.”

She tucked another blanket around herself, and smiled at the kiss, feeling relaxed in a way she only ever did when they were snuggled up together like this. She found herself wishing that nights like this were more common, that he was coming home to her when he came home, things like that.

His words had her eyes widening for a moment... She had never had anyone just ask her to talk about anything and she had not realized how much her voice helped him relax. She smiled, though, and considered for a long moment.

"Mmmm. I'm so happy to have you here with me on Christmas, babe. You know how much I love having you with me. I wish you could just live here, so that whenever you weren't working, you'd be coming home to me, to us. But I understand, you're not the first fan of roommates, and mine are why you've not wanted to."

There was no accusation, no complaint, just wistfulness. As things stood, unless one of them moved into the other's place, they didn't really think moving completely was the best plan, since it would be somewhere more expensive... Rents were rising everywhere. Honestly if they COULD move together into one of these places, they'd save so much... But she didn't want to go back to that less than nice neighborhood, and she had roommates here. So unless he changed his mind, this was where they were.

"But having you with me, anytime you can be, is the delight of my days and my life, because you're the delight of my life. Love you so much, baby." She leaned down and grabbed a cookie, handing it to him, before getting one for herself. "This basket is just for the two of us, by the way. I have one for Dai, so enjoy them as much as you want to. It's my Christmas cookies that I know have been your favorites over the past few years, I made sure the ones I saved for us where from those recipes." She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "The recipe for the simplest one is in the book I made you, but the rest are gonna stay with me for now." She teased.

A smile settled on his face as she started speaking, and he closed his eyes. Between the sound of her voice and what she chose to say, he found himself settling into a peaceful state of mind. Whatever thoughts of civilian and powered work left him–and he was able to finally just focus on Seren, on the two of them, for the first time since coming home.

He opened his eyes when she finished, and took the offered cookie with a quiet thanks. It was, of course, delicious, and he basically inhaled it before commenting.

“I love you, too.” he said with a little chuckle. “And you’re honestly spoiling me at this rate, but thank you. Again. And as for coming home…you know ‘home’ for me is wherever you are, no matter what it says on my driver’s license.” He left it there, though, not wanting to press into any topics that might be heavier than he could handle for the moment.

She sighed a little at his response, not in any kind of trying to guilt him way, or anything like that, but just wistfully. She honestly had the room for them both, she knew her roommates would be ok with it (she had quietly checked at one point, in case it ever came up...) but she would never ever press him on the situation, just as she was unlikely to press him on any.

She worried, after all, that he would get annoyed by it and... She knew he loved her, she truly did, but there was still a part of her that worried that he did not want to live with her for reasons more serious.

She did not say anything about, and instead, just gently rested against him. "I love you, babe, 'Spoiling' you is just doing what feels right for me when you're here."

He heard the sigh and gently hugged her to him, turning his head to press a kiss to her hair. It was a conversation they could always visit again later, he thought. Moving in together, in his mind, was an inevitability, so for him it was more just the timing of it. That, and it just didn’t occur to him that she might have had other concerns about why he wasn’t asking to move in with her just yet.

“Mm…well that’s fine, then,” he said with a quiet laugh.