Holidaze
Sarah ran a hand through her wild locks as she descended the stairs of her home. It had been a long, exhausting day but completely rewarding and satisfying. She had finally gotten Kira to go to sleep despite the young girl's insistence that she was not tired. Her drooping eyelids and groggy voice told her mother otherwise though.
She passed through the kitchen and observed the plates still piled high in the sink waiting to be cleaned. Her shoulders slumped at the thought of cleaning up after the holiday meal now and she bypassed them quickly, heading out the door onto the back porch.
Her nostrils were instantly filled with a distinct smell she was all too familiar with. "You do realize your daughter and parents are asleep right inside, yeah?"
Cal looked up upon her entrance and smiled goofily. "Yeah but it's Thanksgiving tradition."
She smirked at that and cocked an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Since when?"
"Since this year," the other occupant of the porch chuckled and took another drag of her joint. She blew the smoke out and continued, "Plus Kira sleeps like a dead person and our parents don't give a damn about a little pot, dude."
Sarah laughed softly at the counterpoints and shrugged in agreement. "Felix'll wish he stuck around now."
"Yeah but he hates the woods," Cosima pointed out easily.
Sarah felt a soft tugging her sleeve and looked down to see Cal being the source of the force. When she made eye contact with him he began to pull harder until she was easily falling into his lap. He smiled happily at having her so near and wrapped an arm comfortably around her stomach.
"I don't know how I feel about the woods either actually," Cosima continued. "Kudos to you guys for doing it every day but man I need my city life too badly to last here more than a few days."
"S'not bad once you get used to it," Sarah shrugged. When Cal first guilt tripped her into moving out of the city she hated it, and made sure to vocalize her hatred of all things nature to him on a daily basis. She had grown used to it over the years though, coming to enjoy the peace and quiet that came along with being more secluded.
"You know you both love it out here," Cal grinned. He took a drag of his joint smoothly and held it in front of Sarah while exhaling. He raised a brow, silently asking if she wanted to take a hit.
Normally she would pass on the offer. She had done the whole drug phase in her teen years and wasn't much interested in it anymore now that she was a wife and mother. Given that it was a special occasion though, she gladly took the object from Cal's finger tips and took a long hit. She blew out the smoke and smiled in satisfaction at the feeling that overtook her body. She leaned her head back lazily against Cal's shoulder.
The trio sat in silence as they smoked, happy to take in the night's fresh air together. After a while, Cosima stretched and cracked her neck obnoxiously, causing laughter to bubble up from Sarah. "Alright guys, I'm off to the sack. Do me a favour and remember that you're sleeping on a pullout couch on an open room. I don't wanna walk in you both naked again."
"Oi! The first time was all your fault," Sarah objected.
"She's right, Cos. You didn't knock so what can we do?" Cal agreed and laughed at the memory of the horrific look his sister sported at the sight of him and Sarah in bed together.
"Whatever," the dreadlocked woman rolled her eyes. "I'm snagging some of those leftovers to munch on by the way. Night losers."
"Night Cos," the couple echoed and went back to sitting in silence once the younger woman had entered the home.
"You did good today you know," Sarah commented after several moments and smiled up at the bearded man.
"Yeah?" he questioned. "I wasn't sure I could pull off cooking for so many people. You liked it all though?"
"It was good," she smiled again and patted his cheek. "Ya passed, Morrison."
"I'm glad," he chuckled softly. "You did good, too. I know you and Siobhan still have your differences but I didn't hear even one comment from either of you."
"Yeah well, I try to play nice when your family's around too. Don't wanna go embarrassin' myself."
"They've known you for nearly nine years, Sar. I'm pretty sure you've embarrassed yourself more than once. My sister's even seen you naked."
Sarah laughed loudly at that and nodded in agreement. "It was a good day."
"It was," he confirmed and dropped a sweet kiss on the side of her head. "It's been a good year too. Everyone I get to spend with you is just better and better."
"Charming," Sarah commented happily.
"Truth," Cal countered and forced her head to the side so he could plant a proper kiss on her lips. They smiled into the contact and moved together with ease for several minutes before pulling away for air. "I love you."
"Love you too," Sarah replied and began shifting in Cal's lap much to his chagrin. She stood up and she swore he looked like his puppy had just been run over in front of him. "Relax man. Let's go to bed."
The smile returned to his face and he followed her actions in standing up, immediately wrapping his hand around her much smaller one. He guided them back into the warm home and locked the back door behind him.
"No sleeping yet," he announced as he made Sarah take a seat at the kitchen table. He returned to her with beers in hand and placed one in front her while keeping the other for himself.
"Okay, then what are you doin'?" Sarah questioned in confusion when he walked over to the sink and started filling it with water.
"Washing the dishes."
"What?" Sarah laughed at the strangeness of the late night activity. "Why now?"
Cal turned to her, took a swig of his beer and shrugged. "I don't know. I just wanna spend some time with my beautiful wife for a bit."
Sarah stood and swayed over to him teasingly. "I guess we can do that."
"I'll wash, you dry," he suggested as he slipped on a pair of heavy duty rubber gloves.
Sarah laughed at the sight of domesticity, never quite able to get used to doing such simple chores with Cal. "Why can't I wash?"
"Because you hate touching the soggy leftover food on the plates. Aaaaand," he chimed off, "You have a bad habit of ending up with more water on yourself and anyone around than on the actual dirty dishes."
She knew he had a point and didn't even bother trying to think up a counterargument. So what if she made washing dishes fun though! Most of the time it was Kira helping her do the chore and the little girl needed some entertainment every so often, an impromptu water fight gave them exactly that.
Cal was a trained pro at dish washing though and he was moving at lightning speed compared to Sarah's take-your-time method. "Oi! Slow down, buddy. You'd think the weed would make you move slower than normal, not faster."
"Maybe I'm not actually going faster and the weed made you go waaay slower," he challenged with a playful sparkle in his eye.
"Yeah right. I think by now I can tolerate a joint without gettin' baked," she grumbled, narrowing her eyes up at him at the suggestion.
"Whatever you say, Ms. Manning," he chuckled and continued to move at his speedy pace, giving her a few moments to catch up in between though.
She laughed when the plates began piling up in her side of the sink again. "Oi! You're doin' it on purpose now."
"You have no proof," he denied it and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yeah well, I know you," she shook her head and couldn't stop the amused smile from spreading across her face. She eyes the sink still filled with warm, soapy water. Without another thought she cupped her hand into it and forced as much water as she could up over the side of the sink, effectively soaking Cal's flannel shirt.
His mouth dropped open in shock at her actions. It only lasted about half a second before he completely processed the huge wet mark on his chest and his eyes seemed to darken at the impending though of war. There was bowl at the bottom of the sink still, he knew. It had only been used for something mundane, no gross food stuck in it.
He dunked a hand into the sink and pulled the bowl out, it was filled to the top with the warm water. Sarah immediately saw what was about to happen to her but before she could scramble away Cal had wrapped a strong arm around her to keep hr in place. He dumped the entire contents of the bowl over the English woman's head and laughed maniacally at her soaked form.
"Don't mess with the master, baby!" he cried out loudly and Sarah was sure he was going to start banging on his chest like a bloody caveman any second.
While he was still busy celebrating his so called victory, the soaking woman took her chance to pounce. There was a massive puddle of water now on their floor and she figured her best bet was to wrestle him to the ground into it. She caught him off guard and jumped onto his front, using all her weight to bring him down.
He immediately saw what she was trying to do and laughed loudly at the feeble attempt. His six-foot-something form was not going to be brought down by such a tiny woman. She may have spunk but she didn't have the strength. Figuring he may as well humour them both, Cal relinquished some of his strength to give Sarah at least a fighting chance at victory.
When she finally had him down on one knee she jumped onto his back, laughing the entire time as she still tried with all her might to get him into the water. "What the hell have you been eating, huh? You've gotten heavy."
"Hey!" he protested in amusement. "It's all muscle!"
"Whatever you say, big guy," she rolled her eyes in jest and squeezed a particularly soft spot on his side and patted it afterward for good measure. "I like it on ya either way."
"Jeez, this is some seriously weird foreplay if I've ever seen it," a voice interrupted their battle.
Cal and Sarah both froze and moved to stand up. Cosima was in the doorway with an amused smirk, taking everything in. Behind her, Cal's mother and father were both trying to keep the laughter at bay.
"Uh," Sarah scratched her head in embarrassment at being caught. The feel of her wet hair serving as a reminder that she was basically soaked from head to toe in front of them.
"We heard a bunch of noise and came down to check it out. Probably should've just ignored it, huh?"
"Probably," Cal smirked and Sarah quickly sent him a sharp glare and smacked his arm. "Sorry we woke you. We'll keep it down now."
"You two are something else. You better be quiet though, wouldn't wanna go waking up Kira now."
Sarah shrugged indifferently. "You said yourself that she sleeps like the dead, yeah? Don't think we have to worry about that one." Cosima laughed and turned to head back to her room, following behind her parents who were now fully laughing.
When they had disappeared again Cal turned to fully face his wife and smirked. "That was all your fault," he whispered conspiratorially.
She laughed and held up her hands in surrender. "Fine, you win! Now let's clean this shit up and go to sleep."
Cal nodded in agreement but halted her from actually beginning to dry the soaked floor. He disappeared down the hall and returned several moments later with a few towels in hand. He spread them out over the puddle and turned his gaze to her again. "Good enough."
Sarah didn't have the energy to argue with his half-assed method and simply shrugged. It was a good enough solution for both of them right now. Cal shrugged an arm around her shoulder and pulled Sarah as close to his body as he could.
"Since your clothes are soaked and my parents are sleeping in our room with all your changes, I guess that means Cos might not get her wish of no nudity. I'll just have to make sure to cuddle up real close to keep her view impaired, huh?"
Sarah smiled up at him playfully, allowing him to bend down and drop a light kiss on her lips. "I guess so."