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Trinity hadn’t expected to be invited to Yolanda’s for a domestic afternoon of hot chocolate and cookies. They’d hooked up a few times since making amends after Trinity’s first day, but this was different. This was like relationship shit.
It was a clear overture, a show of intention, and Trinity found herself mildly nervous as she knocked on Yolanda’s door.
“Hey,” Yolanda said as she opened the door and stepped back to let Trinity inside. “I’m glad you were able to come.”
“Yeah, of course, thanks for inviting me,” Trinity replied as she took off her coat and boots.
Yolanda pulled her in for a quick kiss and Trinity’s hands cupped her face, holding her in place, turning the quick hello peck into something softer, lingering. It had been almost a week since they’d seen each other outside of brief glimpses in the ED, with the holidays coming up their schedules just hadn’t aligned, and Trinity had missed her more than she wanted to admit.
For a moment Yolanda humored her, letting her mouth open against Trinity’s while one of her hands traced Trinity’s spine, making her sigh.
“Come on,” she said when she pulled back far too soon. “I have everything set up in the kitchen.”
Part of Trinity wanted to say fuck the plan and drag Yolanda to her bedroom instead. But she’d been looking forward to seeing what Yolanda had planned. And she knew that there was very little chance of Yolanda allowing that to happen if she already had things set up. So she let Yolanda’s fingers thread through hers and followed her to the kitchen.
“Oh wow,” Trinity said as she took in the ingredients spread across the kitchen counter. There were bars of chocolate, jars of spices, sugar, and cocoa powder “I didn’t realize this would be a whole production.
Yolanda laughed at that, “The hot chocolate’s a family recipe. We take it seriously.”
“What can I do to help?” Trinity asked.
“Oh,” Yolanda paused, looking at her. “Well…”
“Did you forget to plan for this to involve dual participation? Am I just a guest on your cooking show?” Trinity teased.
“Maybe,” Yolanda said with a sheepish smile. “How about you just sit at the counter and look pretty?”
“I guess I can do that,” Trinity said with a smirk, pulling one of the stools out so she was sitting facing Yolanda. There was music playing softly in the background, nothing she recognized but it had a calming, jazzy quality to it. She watched as Yolanda unwrapped a bar of chocolate and began chopping it into pieces.
Grabbing a wooden spoon from the utensil holder nearby, Trinity pretended it was a microphone and put on her best television host voice, “Can you tell us what you’re making today, chef?”
She held out the spoon to Yolanda, who laughed and said, “I’m making a spiced hot chocolate.”
Turning the spoon back to herself, Trinity said, “You also mentioned something about cookies?”
“That’s right, I did.” Then she paused and added, “Actually, that’s something you could help with.”
Yolanda opened the fridge, digging through it for a second before pulling out a roll of store bought sugar cookie dough with a reindeer pattern in the center.
“Wait, your hot chocolate had like a dozen ingredients but we’re making slice and bake cookies?” Trinity asked as Yolanda handed her the package.
“Baking has never been my strong suit,” Yolanda said. “Believe me, this is preferable.”
“I could’ve baked something, these are an atrocity,” Trinity said as Yolanda placed a cutting board and a knife in front of her. Then she pulled a sheet pan out of a cabinet and placed it by Trinity’s elbow.
“They’re nostalgic,” Yolanda insisted. “But that’s good to know for the future.”
The future, Trinity had to bite back a grin at that, but she could feel her cheeks warm as she stared down at the cookies she was slicing.
Shaking herself out of it, she turned back to Yolanda. “I thought this was a cooking show, where’s the narration?”
Yolanda gave her a look, but she said, “I’ve just finished cutting the chocolate, good seventy-percent dark chocolate, into small pieces. Now, I’m going to heat up some milk on the stove. Low heat, because the last thing we want is scalded milk.”
“Thank you, that’s very informative,” she said and Yolanda just shook her head.
“While the milk heats up, I’ll measure out the rest of the ingredients,” Yolanda continued. “Also, the oven’s already pre-heated so I can put in the cookies whenever you’re done.”
“I don’t know, it’s a kind of labor intensive task you’ve given me. It might be a while,” Trinity said as though she wasn’t already basically done.
“Really?” Yolanda raised her brows, glancing up from where she’d been measuring cocoa powder.
Trinity nodded, “Yeah. I’ll expect payment for my labor later.” She threw Yolanda a cheeky grin and a wink and Yolanda tipped her head back as she laughed.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
While the cookies were in the oven and Yolanda stood at the stove, whisking the cocoa constantly to keep it from getting lumpy, as she’d explained to Trinity, Trinity sat back and watched her. She always loved watching Yolanda work, and this was no different. Her eyes roved over the line of Yolanda’s neck as she looked down at the pot on the stove, the muscles of her forearms where she’d rolled up the sleeves of her sweater, the way her always competent hands wielded a wooden spoon instead of a scalpel.
God, Trinity was gone on her. It was almost pathetic how every tiny detail burrowed its way into her brain, making her feel like she was losing her mind. And having Yolanda’s voice wash over her made it even better. She’d fallen into the habit of narrating her actions without Trinity continuing to prompt her.
Trinity was in such a hazy lull that she jumped when the timer for the cookies went off.
“Perfect timing,” Yolanda said, not noticing how startled Trinity had been. “The hot chocolate’s just about done too.”
She poured the steaming hot chocolate into two large mugs and pulled the cookies out of the oven, plating them before they had any time to cool and Trinity said nothing because how badly could cookies from a plastic tube be fucked up?
“No mini marshmallows?” Trinity asked as Yolanda handed her one of the mugs.
“I just spent half an hour making it from scratch and you want to sully it with marshmallows?” Yolanda put on a tone of mock-offense.
“Because you have such high culinary standards,” Trinity gave the cookies a pointed look.
“I thought you were more capable of whimsy than this,” Yolanda said with a head shake.
Trinity scoffed, “Mini marshmallows are whimsy. “Those cookies are basically just flavored play-doh.”
“And yet, you’ll still eat some,” Yolanda said and Trinity just shrugged. She had a sweet tooth and wasn’t that picky, of course she’d eat some. “Should we put on a movie while we eat?”
“Yeah. Something stupid.” Trinity couldn’t handle trying to follow a plot line right now. Not after watching Yolanda cook, and her voice, and the banter. She was far too distracted.
Yolanda just grinned at her before heading to the living room.
As Trinity settled on the couch and watched her browse through different streaming apps, she took her first sip of hot chocolate.
“Holy shit, this is incredible,” she said, taking another, longer sip.
“It doesn’t need any marshmallows, does it?” Yolanda smirked at her.
“Hm,” Trinity pretended to consider it, “I think some extra sweetness could—”
“Shut up,” Yolanda laughed. She continued scrolling aimlessly through movie options, when Trinity realized she knew the perfect one.
Sitting up straighter, she made grabby hands for the remote. “I know what we should watch. It’s very whimsical and kinda dumb but actually very cute and funny.”
“I’m intrigued.” Yolanda handed over the remote and Trinity pulled up The Knight Before Christmas. “Seriously?”
“It’s fun, I promise,” Trinity said, pressing play before Yolanda could object further.
As the movie began, she grabbed one of the cookies from the plate that Yolanda had put on the coffee table. She took a bite and it was just as chemically-sweet as she’d expected.
“It’s good, right?” Yolanda said, watching her as she ate a cookie of her own.
“It’s edible,” Trinity said, “and that’s the most I can offer.”
“I’ll take it,” Yolanda said with a huff of laughter.
As the movie, which Yolanda had laughed at several times despite her skepticism, ended, Trinity realized that this was officially the longest amount of time they’d spent together, outside of work of course, with their clothes still on. She was comfortable, leaning against Yolanda’s side, head resting against her shoulder, but she was also starting to feel a bit antsy.
“You know, I think I really need to work off some of that sugar,” she said, trailing her lips along the line of Yolanda’s jaw to suck at her pulse point. “I’m feeling a bit of a buzz off it.”
“Really?” Yolanda looked down at her and Trinity could see the heat in her gaze and nodded. “I think I also owe you for your early labor.”
“That’s right,” Trinity had forgotten that comment, but she was thrilled that Yolanda hadn’t. “I can think of a few ways you could make it up to me.”
Yolanda leaned down, her mouth meeting Trinity’s in a kiss that tasted like terrible cookies and really good chocolate.
“Bedroom?” Yolanda asked when she pulled back.
Trinity was off the couch immediately, reaching down to pull Yolanda after her.
“Let’s go,” she said. They could worry about the dishes later.