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“Rubi, that’s far too much flour.” Ori told his eldest daughter as the little dwarfling continued to drop handful after tiny handful of the sticky white powder into their mixing bowl.
“No, Amad.” She insisted with a shake of her little head. “It’s just enough.”
“Now this!” Embrí, her little sister, declared with pride as she took the bottle of cooking oil into her hands and began to pour much more than was needed into their doughy concoction.
“Embrí!” Ori gasped, stopping his smallest child from dumping the entire bottle into the bowl. “We aren’t trying to feed Adad’s entire army, my sweet.”
“I wanna mix it now.” Rubí informed her mother before sticking her flour covered hands into the unmade dough and beginning to mash it all together.
“No! Me too!” Embrí whimpered, reaching out for the bowl to help her sister.
Ori sighed, allowing them both to continue. “We should have used a spoon for mixing.” He told both girls.
“No, Embrí!” Rubí shouted suddenly at her sister, who was stuffing a large bite of the cookie dough into her mouth. “The cookies are for Adad!”
“And me too.” Embrí giggled through a full mouth.
“My loves, please behave.” Ori begged his children while he crossed the kitchen to get a pan for the oven. “We have to work together, remember?”
“She’s not stopping!” Rubí complained as Embrí continued to eat the raw dough.
Ori sighed and placed the tray down on the counter, moving then to lift his youngest from the chair she had been standing up on. “Embrí, if you eat all of the cookie dough then we won’t have any left to bake for Adad’s surprise.”
“Amad! Amad no!” The toddler protested as she was carried to the sink.
“Embrí, my dear, please don’t scream at me. You just need to wash your hands.” Ori pleaded, struggling to hold the whimpering toddler, while his unborn child aimed a few painful kicks at his ribcage.
“Amad! Amad! Lookit!” Rubí called for her mother as she very carefully rolled a handful of the dough into a small ball and placed it down onto the empty tray. “I can do it all by myself!”
“Yes, my love. I see you.” Ori assured the smiling four year old while he helped Embrí to wash her hands off for what was surely the seventh time at least.
A loud squeak came from the front door to the home then as it was opened and the girls gasped as they heard it being shut again.
“Adad’s home!” Rubí exclaimed joyfully, leaving her half filled cookie tray and jumping down from her chair to run into the sitting room.
“Adad!” Embrí shouted as well, finally wriggling free from her mother’s grasp and hurrying after her sister.
Ori breathed a long sigh of relief, rubbing his belly gently with one hand and stepping up to the counter to finish rolling out a few more cookies to fill the tray.
He managed to finish and put the tray into the oven just before Dwalin came down the hallway, a giggling dwarfling clinging to each of his legs.
“The both of ‘em’ll make fine soldiers one day.” He chuckled as he tried his best to get to Ori and kiss him without tripping. “Can’t get either of ‘em to let go fer anythin’, can I?”
“We can’t let go!” Rubí told her father. “Cause There was goblins, and they just glued us to your boots, Adad.”
“Ah. I see.” Dwalin nodded, bending to pluck both of his children up into his massive arms. “I suppose I’ll just have to yank ye’ both up then!” He laughed while the girls both squealed and giggled at him happily.
“Oh, love, don’t rile them up now. It’ll be their bedtime soon.” Ori pleaded, though he couldn’t help but smile as well as Dwalin leaned forward to kiss him.
“I don’t think they need any help with that, me luv.” He told his husband, wincing slightly as the girls began to pull on his beard, trying to twist it into two separate braids. “Looks like yer the one givin’ ‘em both too much sugar.” He nodded then to the empty bowl on the counter and the mess of flour, eggs, and oil all around it.
“For your information, sir, I did try to stop Embrí from eating the cookie dough, but she was far too quick for one fat little dwarf to handle on his own.”
“Beautiful, I think ye mean. Not fat.” Dwalin corrected his blushing husband, pressing another kiss to Ori’s cheek after setting the girls down to play on the floor.
“Oh, stop.” Ori shook his head. “You’re only saying that. I’ve seen myself in the mirror lately.”
“Aye, I’ve seen ye too.” Dwalin whispered, hugging his husband tightly against him and placing one more gentle kiss to his temple. “Yer a sight fer sore eyes an’ that’s the truth.”
Ori smiled softly until he heard something crack against the floor in the next room.
“Your daughters need to be supervised, dear.” He sighed, looking up to Dwalin expectantly. “Tend to them while I finish up with the baking?”
“Aye. I will.” The larger dwarf promised, carefully releasing Ori from his hold and walking into the sitting room.
“Now who broke this vase?” Ori heard his husband ask the girls while he got out another tray to put more cookies onto.
“It was the cat, Adad!” Rubí insisted, unknowingly making her mother laugh from afar.
“The cat!” Embrí agreed.
“His children, indeed.” Ori muttered to himself with a chuckle, rubbing his growing belly again with one hand. “I hope you’ll take more after me, little one.”