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Two weekends before Christmas, Connor decided he wanted to surprise Hank. After a gruelling case at work, Hank had been completely drained.
Connor hadn’t been assigned to the case, but he’d heard it hadn’t gone well. Not for lack of trying: it had ended in a hostage negotiation that had gone sideways. He wished he’d been there to help, but unfortunately, he’d been bound to desk duty by a minor injury.
So, before Hank woke up on Saturday morning, Connor snuck his way into the kitchen. There wasn’t much need to be quiet, given that Hank was a heavy sleeper, but he didn’t want to test his luck. His surprise, to hopefully lift the man’s sprits, would take a while to prepare.
The surprise? Eggnog. He’d heard Hank talking about it when they went Christmas shopping at the start of the month. Something about not having had it in ages and craving it.
Now, Connor knew that he and any sort of cooking didn’t mix, but this wasn’t technically cooking. It was a drink. That couldn’t go wrong, right? Just milk, eggs, sugar, cream…
“Fuck!”
Connor cursed as the milk simmered over the sides of the pan for the tenth time. It was as if anything related to the kitchen and making food was a curse for him. No matter how hard he tried, it went wrong. He was made for high speed pursuit, not the home life.
Yet—he wanted to make this eggnog. Needed to. It couldn’t end like this.
Pulling his burnt fingertips away from the water for a second, he tapped his LED and phoned for help.
“Connor?”
“Thank god, Josh. I need your help—”
“Are you alright? If it’s something serious, you should be calling Markus.”
“No, it’s… cooking related.”
“For you, isn’t that serious?”
“Ha-ha. Look, it’s just something small. Eggnog. I’m trying to make eggnog for Hank, but I can’t do it… it keeps burning or I drop the pan on the floor… I just want to cheer him up, you know?”
“…have you considered buying the eggnog?”
“…”
“Yeah, I’ll leave you to it.”
“Thank you, Josh, you’re a lifesaver!”
Laughter crackled down the end of the line before it clicked off. He shook his head, looking over the mess he’d made in the kitchen. Uh oh, he better tidy that up before going out to buy eggnog. Otherwise, Hank would get a rather unpleasant surprise instead.
***************************
Connor stared at the empty shelf of the supermarket, completely devoid of eggnog. Who knew it would be out of stock this close to Christmas?
Shaking his head, he pushed the idea away of buying anymore ingredients to make it. He knew how that would end.
Turning back around, he was about to leave the store before something caught his eye. Huh… It wasn’t what he wanted, but maybe it was what he needed.
And indeed it looked like it might work, as he set it out on the kitchen table back at home. Sumo walked beside him, stopping to admire his work.
“Get it, Sumo? It’s eggnog, right?”
The dog groaned, shaking his head. He shrugged, sitting down at the counter and waiting for Hank to wake up.
As soon as he did, Connor turned around with a grin on his face to greet the Lieutenant.
“Hank. Good morning!”
“Good… morning…” Hank eyed him suspiciously. “You’re in the kitchen and you’re hidin’ something behind you. Should I be concerned?”
“No! I did try cooking today—but I’ve cleaned that up already.”
“Huh. Wondered what that burnt smell was.”
“Yes. I… know you’ve had a tough week, and I remembered you mentioning a while ago that you wanted eggnog but couldn’t get any. So, I tried to make some—”
“Oh, god…”
“But that didn’t work! So, I phone Josh, and he suggested buying some. However, there wasn’t any at the store… However! I have eggnog!”
He turned around, picked up the glass from behind himself and presented it to Hank.
What he held out in his hands was a glass with an egg in it. Except it wasn’t a real egg, it was a plush egg with a little Christmas hat on.
“What…”
“Eggnog! See, it’s an egg, in a glass. I would’ve tipped milk and cream over it to complete the joke, but that would have been disgusting.”
“You… you tried to make a joke?”
“Yes. Sort’ve like a dad joke because you tell them all the time.”
“Huh. Very convoluted joke. But—” catching the crestfallen expression on Connor’s face, he grabbed the glass out of his hands, “It’s a good start. I appreciate it. Hey, you tried.”
Connor smiled. “I know my attempts at humour and other such human customs need some work. I appreciate learning from you. You’ll also be proud to hear that I learned something else from you that I took into action today.”
“Huh?”
“Swearing.”
Hank gasped, almost dropping the glass and egg plush and all onto the floor. “You… swore?”
“Yes.”
“Jesus christ… Don’t go around doing that everywhere. People’ll think I teach you bad habits.”
“You do.” Connor chuckled. “But you are a good influence on me too. Sometimes.”
Hank rolled his eyes, placing the glass back on the countertop. “Really?”
“Of course. I tried all of this today with the eggnog because I wanted you to know that I appreciate you. I respect that you can pull through the hard times, as I know that case last week took it’s toll on you… What I mean to say is, I’d like to help you. Like you’ve helped me.”
“Right. Yeah, ‘course.”
Connor tilted his head at the short phrasing, looking up—only to be pulled into a warm embrace. He smiled, hugging Hank back.
“Just don’t try cooking again in my kitchen, got it?”
“Got it.”