DISCLAIMER: Guiding Light and its characters are the property of Proctor & Gamble. No infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Loopholes and Peanut Butter
By still_nina
They were sitting on the floor, leaning against kitchen cabinets. Emma was on the floor with her head in her mother's lap, fast asleep. The two women weren't far behind.
"Fifty-two dozen."
"We made it."
Natalia moved so she could lean her head on Olivia's shoulder. "I'll never volunteer to be head of a committee again."
Olivia nodded. "We had fun, though."
"Yeah." Natalia sighed. "Emma is out like a light." She ran her fingers softly over the girl's cheek.
"It's been forever since she took an afternoon nap. Must be the full belly and the warm kitchen. And she ran around here all day, bringing us things. It just made my little Jellybean sleepy."
"Tell me about it." Natalia cuddled against Olivia's side.
"Hey, no falling asleep on me."
"I just want to rest for a bit. And you're comfy."
"Hah!" Olivia brought a hand around the other woman's shoulders, despite her half-hearted protests. For minutes, they just enjoyed the silence, their thoughts drifting, but never far away.
"This is a loophole, isn't it?" Natalia's voice was quiet as she balanced on the thin line between sleep and wakefulness. Between fantasy and reality.
"I have no idea what you mean." Olivia knew exactly what she meant.
"You said that I'd have to invite you, because you said you wanted to give me space." The tone of her voice told Olivia exactly what she thought of that idea.
"Well, if you remember that flyer, you will recall that it said 'Volunteers Welcome'. I'm a volunteer, which means that I'm welcome." Olivia grinned, even though Natalia couldn't see it.
"Very welcome," Natalia mumbled as she tried to get even closer to Olivia. The other woman smelled like cookies and expensive perfume. Briefly, Natalia wondered if Olivia's skin tasted as wonderful is she smelled. The thought made her blush and she buried her face against Olivia's neck in an effort to hide her red cheeks. There was the tiniest bit of chocolate on Olivia's chin, suspiciously the size of Emma's thumb print and Natalia couldn't help but giggle.
"What's so funny?"
"Usually, I'm the one with food all over my face." Natalia leaned back slightly so she could face the other woman, before she gently wiped away the chocolate with just a few more strokes over soft skin than was strictly necessary. Olivia's skin was incredibly warm underneath her fingertips and she had to force herself to stop the gentle caress.
"Thanks." Olivia's voice sounded funny and she coughed a little before she continued. "I don't want to burst your bubble, but half the ingredients are on your face."
Natalia reached for one of the towels to wipe her face but Olivia quickly stopped her with a hand on her forearm. "Let me." Her voice wasn't more than a whisper. Natalia closed her eyes as gentle hands made contact with her hair. "Flour." And her cheek. "Chocolate." And her nose. "More chocolate." And finally her lips. "Peanut butter." It felt so good that she didn't even care that she hadn't eaten any of the peanut butter. "There you go." Olivia settled back against the cabinet behind her and Natalia slowly blinked open her eyes.
"Thank you." She barely recognized her own voice. The air between them was filled with so much electricity that she wouldn't be surprised to see sparks fly between them. She glanced down briefly, to check that Emma was still out like a light, before she reached for the peanut butter jar on the counter behind Olivia. She twisted the lid off effortlessly and dipped a finger inside it quickly. Olivia watched her with wide eyes, but before either of them could question what she's doing, Natalia quickly brought her index finger to Olivia's lips. Only a tiny bit of the sticky substance stuck to the other woman's lips, but it was all Natalia needed. Mindful of the sleeping girl between them, she leaned forward. "Peanut butter," she whispered the words against Olivia's lips a second before she kissed her. Olivia quickly got over her surprise. Peanut butter and chocolate had never tasted that good as Olivia deepened their kiss.
Only when Emma stirred between them, did they slowly separate. The fear of being caught by their daughter, not big enough to make them jump apart.
"I'm tired mommy. Can we go home?"
"We have to help Natalia clean up this mess, but then we can go, sweetie." Olivia was very proud of not just the length and grammatical correctness of her sentence, but the appropriateness of her response. Apparently, she could speak while her mind was otherwise occupied.
"That's okay. I'll take care of this." Natalia could see that the girl really was tired and a sleepy Emma was only a very small step away from a cranky Emma. She got up from the floor and looked around.
"Are you sure? I can go find her a pillow and I can help."
Natalia smiled. "It's okay, really. You already helped a lot."
"Natalia-"
"Go. All of a sudden, I'm not tired at all." She smiled and quickly tucked a lock of hair behind Olivia ear. "Get some rest. I'll see you at work tomorrow."
"Want to come over for breakfast? I'll get some muffins and some of that cinnamon coffee you like so much."
"I'd love to." Really not caring what Emma saw, both of them leaned forward quickly for one last quick kiss.
"Good night." They whispered simultaneously.
Natalia watched them leave, Olivia almost carrying her little girl. Once they were gone, Natalia mindlessly started to clean while her thoughts were busy replaying the last few minutes. She smiled as she put the last dozen cookies in a bag.
She'd have to make sure to keep a few chocolate chip and a few peanut butter cookies for herself.
The End