diff --git a/R/combine_mock_obj.R b/R/combine_mock_obj.R
index 2dc1241e19389d706889ec7f8002a99a863b9b9f..7231cfe84fa4301fd704c5a2a229391d4028951b 100644
--- a/R/combine_mock_obj.R
+++ b/R/combine_mock_obj.R
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ combine_mock <- function(list_mock_obj, min_replicates, max_replicates, sequenci
   list2ret <- list( settings = settings_df, init = list_init, 
                     groundTruth = mock_ground_truth,
                     counts = dtf_countsTable,
-                    metadata = list_mock_obj[[1]]$metadata,
+                    metadata = metaData,
                     scaling_factors = scaling_factors)
   ## -- clean garbage collector to save memory 
   invisible(gc(reset = TRUE, verbose = FALSE));
diff --git a/dev/flat_full.Rmd b/dev/flat_full.Rmd
index 430de4700b8696f727ac1b6b90ecd9b2bcef6c11..1b2c02564bcef346356a11521b6dbf7c25ed5c7f 100644
--- a/dev/flat_full.Rmd
+++ b/dev/flat_full.Rmd
@@ -10123,7 +10123,7 @@ combine_mock <- function(list_mock_obj, min_replicates, max_replicates, sequenci
   list2ret <- list( settings = settings_df, init = list_init, 
                     groundTruth = mock_ground_truth,
                     counts = dtf_countsTable,
-                    metadata = list_mock_obj[[1]]$metadata,
+                    metadata = metaData,
                     scaling_factors = scaling_factors)
   ## -- clean garbage collector to save memory 
   invisible(gc(reset = TRUE, verbose = FALSE));