Disclaimer: I do not own Sam & Cat.

Warning: Contains depictions of consensual f/f sex.

Cat took one last look around her kitchen, making sure that everything was just right. The Christmas ham was cooked and ready to go, sitting nicely-presented in the middle of the counter, along with a generous side-dish of fried chicken and potato-bake. Surrounding these were plates of biscuits, tarts, cakes. and other pastries and sweets that Cat had been baking and preparing ever since she got up at 6 am that morning. There was a home-made pizza, as well as salad and vegetables and cold-cuts. A pitcher of egg-nog was off to one side - non-alcoholic, of course, since Cat wasn't 21 yet.

Cat knew she wasn't the best cook in the world - far from it, probably being closer to the worst cook in the world - but with the help of recipe websites on the internet, cooking shows on the 24-Hour Food Network, and a few frantic phone calls to her Nona, she felt like she had done okay; though the many bulging and overflowing garbage bags currently sitting out-of-sight-to-be-dealt-with-later on the back porch testified that the going had not been smooth, with many failures, mess-ups, and messes along the way. But it was important that everything be perfect. It was getting close to 10 pm on Christmas Eve, and that meant that her girlfriend Sam would soon be arriving back home to their shared Venice apartment.

Sam had been in Seattle the past week, visiting her family and friends that she had left behind there when she moved to LA. And also visiting her ex, Carly Shay, who was back from Europe for the holidays. Cat knew that Carly had been, and still was, a huge part of Sam's life, and Cat couldn't help but be a little nervous. She could never quite escape the feeling that Carly, and not herself, was Sam's true love, despite the life that Sam and Cat had built for themselves here in Los Angeles, despite all their shared adventures they had helped each other through, and despite all the times Sam had told Cat that she loved her. Cat had originally thought that Sam might want to spend the entire Christmas period up north, but Sam had insisted that she would take a late flight and be back in time for her and Cat to see in Christmas Day together. Cat's Nona, as well as their friends Dice and Goomer, would all be here for lunch on Christmas Day, but the Night-Before-Christmas was just for her and Sam, and after being away from her girlfriend for a week, Cat was really looking forward to it being a special time.

So now it was imperative that everything be in order. All of Sam's favourite foods were prepared, and the enticing aromas of a day's-worth of cooking filled the house. The table was set correctly, just like Nona had told her was the proper way. Christmas songs played softly in the background, and the Christmas tree was fully decorated, with the curtains in the front room open to show off the bright flickering Christmas lights, and lead Sam home. Cat was freshly showered, moisturised, deodorised, perfumed (Sam's favourite fragrance, of course), and, thanks to a trip to the salon a couple days previously, waxed and hair-free in all the appropriate areas. She felt feminine, sexy and confident, and she was going to show Sam Puckett all the good things she had waiting for her here, home, in LA, with her. And not in boring, freezing-your-tits-off Seattle with that quitter Carly Shay. Cat had even put on a special outfit - it was the cute red-and-white dress she had worn a year or two back in a Christmas performance she had done with her classmates Jade and Tori. It was decorated with snowflakes and Christmas trees and candy-canes, though for reasons of practicality she had gone without the reindeer ears, tights, or chunky red heels. Cat was barefoot and barelegged, showing off her shapely tanned calves and thighs, and the bright and sparkly red nail polish she had painted her toenails and fingernails with, to further display her Christmas spirit, and to match the freshly-washed bright-red hair cascading loosely down her back and shoulders.

Cat was snapped out of her musings by a noise on the front porch. Stifling an excited squeal, she quickly pranced across the room and snatched open the front door, to see a slightly-disheveled and travel-wearied Sam fumbling for her house keys, a fat backpack slung over one shoulder and a bulging suitcase beside her on the ground. Trying to affect a casual air, like she hadn't been waiting nervously all day, Cat leaned against the door and struck a coquettish pose.

"Hey you," she drawled (perhaps batting her eyelids just a little).

Sam did an initial double-take, but quickly masked her surprise with a lazy smirk as her eyes roved up and down the petite redhead in front of her. "Hey there, my sexy little Christmas elf. How ya' doin'?"

"I'm okay… How're you doin'?" replied Cat, smiling broadly.

"Glad to be home, Cupcake." Sam picked up her suitcase negligently in one hand like it weighed nothing, and carried it in as Cat moved aside then closed the door behind them. Sam dropped the suitcase to the floor when she saw the feast laid out before her, and turned back to Cat, a look of astonishment on her face. "Did you do all this? For me?"

"Maybe…" said Cat. leaning back against the door. "You like?"

"Yeah I like! Come to Mama!" Dumping her backpack on the couch, Sam held her arms out, and Cat threw herself into the embrace. They kissed hotly and deeply, hungering for each other after a week apart. When they separated for air, Cat buried her face in Sam's neck with a happy sigh, inhaling the scent of her lover. Sam held her tight, hands playing up and down her back.

"I missed you, Sammy," Cat murmured into Sam's hair.

"I missed you too, Cupcake."

They kissed again, this time more tenderly, though for just as long, until Sam broke off and said, "Mmm… I don't know what smells better, you or the food…"

Cat giggled. "We can eat now if you want. Are you hungry?"

"I'm hungry for lots of things, right now…" Sam said huskily. She raked her gaze up and down Cat's figure once more, but then dragged her eyes away as another waft of delicious food aroma distracted her. Sam took Cat's hand led her over to the kitchen counter, casting an admiring eye over the appetising foods laid out before her. "This must have taken you so long…"

"I wanted to make it all for you, 'cos I knew you'd like it," Cat said simply, feeling warm and tingly inside knowing that Sam appreciated all her hard work.

"You know, you keep treating me this good, I might have to make you Mrs Sam Puckett one day."

Cat's heart began to race a little faster for reasons she couldn't quite understand. She covered it up by making a joke. "Wouldn't it be Mrs Sam Puckell?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "My last name's Puckett!"

"I thought it was Puckell…"

"It's not! It's…"

Cat shushed the blonde with a finger to the lips. "I know it's Puckett. It's just cute seeing you get worked up over spelling and pronunciation." Cat giggled a little and winked cheekily, and Sam mock-growled at her in response.

"You know this food looks amazing…" said Sam "…but you look so effin' sexy right now, the food's gonna have to wait."

Now Cat began to feel even more warm and tingly inside, and seconds later Sam was pressing against her, the redhead losing herself once again in the familiar feel and smell of her girlfriend. Sam kissed her fiercely, leaving Cat in no doubt as to what exactly she was hungering after. Cat threw her arms around Sam's neck, and Sam guided her a few steps backwards, until the back of Cat's legs hit the arm of the couch. Sam ran her hands down Cat's back, then grabbed her backside and squeezed gently, before bringing her hands around front to trail up the redhead's thighs, then on up past her waist to finally cup Cat's small breasts through the front of her dress. Cat threw her head back and gasped, and Sam took the opportunity to begin kissing her neck.

"I'll have to wear cute Christmas outfits more often…" Cat murmured between gasps.

"If they all look like this, you can wear them as often as you want, any time of the year," replied Sam between kisses. "Just as long as you don't go wearing some silly little Christmas panties underneath them. Underwear is meant to be functional, not cute."

Cat froze, her eyes going wide. Her blood ran cold and her heart skipped a beat, as she suddenly remembered the very cute, very silly, and very Christmasy panties she was indeed wearing under her dress. She had bought them on an absentminded whim, because she thought the Christmas designs on them would go with the ones on her Christmas dress, and she had totally forgotten that Sam had an aversion to cutesy, fancy, girly underwear. How could she not have remembered that? Cat belatedly realised she probably should have gone with a more minimalist approach - maybe a tiny thong or some plain hipsters, something unobtrusive and quickly removed. She had wanted everything to be just the way Sam liked, and now she had wrecked it! Sam would take one look at her stupid Christmas-pants and never want to celebrate the Yule season ever again! Or maybe even head straight back to Seattle and back into the waiting arms of stupid Carly stupid Shay, who probably knew better than a ditzy SoCal faux-redhead how to please a woman like Sam!

On the verge of a full-blown panic attack, Cat desperately tried to think of something to do. Sam must have noticed her sudden hesitation.

"What's wrong, Cupcake?" the blonde asked.

"Ahh…" Going with the first thing that came into her head, Cat pointed behind Sam to the kitchen. "There's a rat trying to steal your food!"

"Arrgh! Again?!" Sam spun around and stalked over to the kitchen, snatching up the baseball bat she kept beside the pantry to deal with rats (as well as the occasional Goomer or Dice) that tried to steal her food. As soon as the blonde had her back turned, Cat reached up under her dress and yanked her panties down her legs, quickly shimmying out of them and bunching them up in one hand behind her back. While Sam was busy scanning the kitchen counter and checking under plates and saucepan lids for rodent invaders, Cat cast about for a hiding place for her no-longer-wanted undergarments, and tried to judge her chances of getting to her bedroom for a quick wardrobe change. But then Sam was looking back at her again, frowning.

"Where'd it go, man?! I hate it when rats try to steal my food!"

Cat managed to buy herself some more time by suggesting the rat had escaped down the sink drain, but she knew she had only one or two seconds tops. As Sam vacillated between trying to peer down the sink drain or shove her baseball bat down there, Cat threw the hated Christmas panties behind her, aiming to get them somewhere out-of-sight behind the Christmas tree. Moments later, Sam realised her rodent-hunting was a lost cause and turned back to Cat.

"Aww man! It's gone!"

"I'm sure you'll get it later," replied Cat, trying to get her heart-rate and breathing back under control now that the crisis had been averted.

Now that the potential threat to her food had been averted, Sam walked back into the lounge-room to where Cat was, placing the baseball bat close-to-hand in case it should be needed again. "Where were we, Red?"

"You were admiring my Christmas outfit." Cat smiled invitingly, eager to put her panty-faux-pas behind her and get back to the warm and tingly feelings.

"Indeed I was." Sam's eyes were drawn to Cat once again. Smiling seductively, the blonde walked a lazy half-circle around Cat, admiring her from every angle. Cat was suddenly very aware of the cool air on her bare crotch, and of just how short her skirt was. She resisted the shy urge to tug down on her hemline.

Sam brushed Cat's long hair off one shoulder, and began kissing her neck again, this time from behind as her hands played over the front of Cat's body. The blonde's hands went from breasts to belly to thighs, then glided up under the redhead's dress. Both girls gasped at the same time, Cat in pleasure and Sam in surprise. Sam spun Cat around in her embrace to look at her with a mixture of mild shock and strong arousal.

"Not wearing anything under the Christmas dress, Cat? I've underestimated your naughty streak…" Sam grinned.

"It's… part of your Christmas surprise?" suggested Cat sheepishly.

"Then I guess you better give Mama her surprise Christmas present right now…" Sam dropped to her knees in front of Cat, who looked at her a little puzzled. "Lift up your dress, Cat," Sam elaborated. Cat complied, sliding the hem of her dress up her legs and past her hips. "Higher…" urged Sam with a naughty smile. "I wanna see bellybutton, babe." Cat gathered her dress up under her breasts, leaving her entire lower torso bare to Sam's gaze. She felt exposed and a little vulnerable and embarrassed, standing like that in front of the blonde; but also naughty, sexy and very aroused.

"This feels a little dirty, Sam," Cat whimpered.

"It's sex. It's meant to feel dirty."

Whatever Cat was going to say next was lost in a loud moan as Sam took firm hold of the redhead's hips, and plastered her mouth against Cat's bare sex. Sam's tongue quickly went to work, darting and licking between Cat's folds. Cat planted one of her hands on Sam's shoulder to help support herself, as her knees bent and her thighs instinctively opened, inviting her lover's tongue to explore her more deeply. The other hand continued to hold the front of her dress up high, just as she had been instructed. Sam licked up and down Cat's folds, skilfully seeking out all her most sensitive places, and lapping up her wetness. The tension built quickly in Cat's body, and she soon cried out in orgasm, her legs buckling as she collapsed to her knees in front of Sam, the blonde's firm hold on her preventing her from falling too fast and hurting herself.

Before she had even stopped trembling, Cat threw herself at the blonde, kissing her fiercely and tasting herself on Sam's lips, as her fingers fumbled at the fastener to her lover's jeans. Getting them undone, Cat thrust her hand down the front of Sam's pants, inside her boxers, past the thatch of soft hair and between the lips of Sam's moist sex. Sam gasped and moaned as Cat stroked her, bucking her hips against the redhead's hand, and soon cried out in her own release. The two girls lowered themselves to the floor and lay in each other's arms, panting and basking in the afterglow, looking at each other with goofy smiles.

"So I guess you did miss me." Cat finally broke the silence.

"Of course I did, babe. Why wouldn't I?" Sam gently stroked Cat's hair, running her fingers through the silky crimson strands.

"I dunno'… I guess I was just worried that, you know, seeing Carly again might make you… rethink… stuff." Cat looked down, shyly.

"What's to rethink? Hey," Sam cupped Cat's chin and looked her in the eyes, "I'm with you. Not her. Carly's my past. You're my present and future."

"Was there a time when you saw a future with Carly?"

Sam thought for a moment. "Maybe. But I don't know if Carly ever saw one with me. It doesn't really matter anyway. She made her choice, and that was to leave, and to leave me behind. I'm not mad at her, really… I know she has a lot of daddy issues to sort out and lost childhood to make up, and if that's what she wants or needs to do right now, then I support her as her friend. But at the same time, I can't hang around forever waiting for her to sort her shit out and decide what she wants. Not if I want to move on with my life. So I've chosen to move on without her. And a big part of that is being with you. I love you, Red. I fell for you hard. Why else would I take an overpriced last-minute flight and then fight my way through horrendous Christmas traffic to get back here, If I didn't really, really want to be with you?"

"Aww…" smiled Cat. "I love you too, Sam Puckett." She moved in for another kiss, which was interrupted by Sam's stomach growling loudly. Cat giggled and Sam mock-glared at her.

"You keep distracting me with your sexiness, woman, but I need to eat! It's been hours since I've had anything except crappy airline food!"

Cat jumped to her feet. "Let's have some reheated fresh food, then!" She paused and looked down at herself. "But maybe I should change first…"

"Don't you dare!" commanded Sam. "I like you in that outfit. Just make sure you bend over real low when you put my chicken in the oven to reheat!" Sam leered at her. Cat responded by teasingly flicking the hem of her dress up and down a few times, then suddenly gasped and yanked it down, staring past Sam with a mortified look.

"The curtains in the front window were open this whole time!" she cried. "What if the neighbours saw what we did?!"

Sam turned to look towards the front of the lounge-room. The curtains were indeed wide open, though the gaudily flashing Christmas tree was sitting front-and-centre in the window. "Relax, Red. It's late, and even if someone was looking, the Christmas tree probably blocked the view. I think… Maybe…?"

"Or maybe it just drew their attention even more! A red-and-green-light peep show! What are the neighbours going to think of us?!" Cat was getting close to panic again. It was one thing to be naughty and lewd in front of her girlfriend (which was sexy and arousing), and quite another to act so in front of the whole neighbourhood (which was just plain lewd)! But then Sam was hugging her and soothing her, and the world seemed to be an okay place again.

"They'll think that we love each other very much. And have a better sex-life than them. And that we make a good couple, because I made sure to get home for Christmas, and you prepared a lovely surprise for me… Well, several surprises, actually." Sam smirked. "And if any of them say anything insulting, or even look at my girl funny…" Sam reached down beside the couch and picked up her baseball bat. "Well, you know how I treat dirty rats! Now, go finish getting dinner ready, and I'll close the curtains, because I have way more lewd things planned for you tonight." Sam grinned at her lecherously, then turned to tend to the curtains, whilst Cat skipped merrily into the kitchen to tend to dinner, making a mental note to herself to cook - and wear sexy outfits without underwear - more often.

"Umm, Cat…" Sam's voice drifted in from the front room. "Why does the Christmas angel on top of the tree have panties on her head?"