Moving Forward (Completed)

Chapter Fifty One

Katherine pulled the Christmas tree out of storage the moment they returned from Rafael's mothers house after Thanksgiving lunch. She always liked having the tree up for as long as possible and with the addition of MJ, hoped to continue the feeling of the Thanksgiving holiday into the evening, even if it switched to a more Christmassy feel.

MJ furrowed her brow when Katherine dumped the plastic bin containing the dissembled tree in the living room only to disappear again to the buildings basement where their storage unit was located. "Does she always do this?"

Rafael slipped the last of the leftovers Lucia and Catalina had sent home with them into the fridge. "I'm just waiting for her to remember her mother's comment about the tree not being large enough."

"Does it really matter how big the tree is?" MJ's eyes scanned the storage container, feeling it looked large enough to her. She had never had a Christmas tree, a three demential one anyway, so she felt she may not have been the best one to judge it.

"No," Rafael smirked, "but she will grumble at the memory when it hits her."

It wasn't long before Katherine had all of the Christmas decorations pulled, bins left open with their plastic lids propped against them from where she'd assessed their contents. MJ watched curiously from the couch, her eyes peeking over the top of her book as Katherine wrestled the sections of tree together, plugging in the strands of lights attached to each as she went.

"There," Katherine grinned, plugging the tree into the outlet once it was shaped and close to the corner she wanted it, "too small my ass." MJ chuckled to herself garnering Katherine's attention. "Want to help me decorate?"

The book was dropped on the couch without regard for her spot as MJ dragged a bin containing ornaments toward Katherine.

The school semester passed quickly, Katherine finding herself planning her class holiday party while MJ studied for midterms. The tree was plugged in everyday as soon as Katherine arrived home from work, MJ spending most of her time studying in front of it, somewhat distracted by the ever growing pile of gifts. Amber had made sure she'd had a Christmas present every year, but there had never been a pile.

"Do you feel prepared?" Katherine asked when she noticed MJ was no longer looking at her notes.

MJ sat up, turning to face her. "I'm over prepared."

"Do you want to help me make cookies for my classroom?" Katherine smiled when MJ grinned. "Come wash your hands and we can get started."

All the necessary ingredients and utensils were laid out on the kitchen island. Katherine walked MJ through measuring the different ingredients for the sugar cookie dough. She had made them so many times by that point that she no longer needed a recipe, but still wrote the measurements out for MJ. They made two batches of dough, the second Katherine let MJ do more of the actual mixing, mostly checking that everything was blended properly and the consistency was right.

"We have to wait two hours before we actually bake anything?" MJ asked watching Katherine set a timer on the microwave.

"Yep."

"Can we make the icing while we wait?"

Katherine smiled and shook her head. "I always wait to make the icing until I put the first batch in the oven since the cookies have to cool before they're decorated. If I don't I get impatient and end up decorating too soon."

"We've made a mess." MJ looked around the kitchen. It had spilled sugar and flour around where the mixing bowl had set and the used dishes hadn't been moved to the sink yet, much less cleaned.