Naomi had been gazing with ever increasing wonder and fascination at the fragile, delicate frame of the young girl sleeping beside her for almost ten minutes now. Not that this was a particularly unusual thing for her to be doing first thing in the morning. In fact, for the last few weeks it had become a regular habit, on waking up, to start a brand new day indulging in a bit of silent and undisturbed Emily-gazing.

She thanked her lucky stars that Emily had proved to be by far the heavier sleeper of the two of them so the opportunity to lie quietly next to her, as Naomi was doing now, taking in every contour of her body, every facial feature and expression, every slight movement that she made was always available if she chose to take it. And invariably she did. Because there was something about a sleeping Emily that never failed to hold Naomi entranced and captivated almost as much as a wide awake, laughing, smiling, talking Emily.

Naomi was lying just inches away from the redhead, one elbow propped up on a pillow while her other hand reached out from time to time to gently brush Emily's face, neck or hair, but oh so gently because she was afraid to wake her up and spoil these delicious secret moments that she so enjoyed. It was partly the fact that Emily's deep slumber rendered her totally oblivious to Naomi's up close and personal observation that created the heightened sense of excitement that she felt. She would never have got away with such a prolonged and intimate examination of the girl she had come to adore if Emily had not been fast asleep

. ''What? Why are you staring at me like that? Have I got lipstick all over my face? Come on, what is it?'' she would have asked Naomi with a nervous smile breaking over her bemused face. But this early in the day, with Emily still sleeping off the effects of the previous night's heavy drinking and frenetic dancing, Naomi had the luxury of a completely acquiescent Emily who was quite unaware of her girlfriend's spellbound attentions.

Despite being such a heavy sleeper, Emily slept silently with barely a sign of any life visible to the interested onlooker. Then for no apparent reason and prompted by nothing in particular, Naomi's heart seemed to miss a few beats as a fit of panic suddenly overwhelmed her and her eyes opened wide in horror. 'Jesus! I can't hear her breathing any more!' The thought flashed through her mind like an express train. As her stomach started doing somersaults Naomi leaned forward and put her ear to Emily's chest, desperately praying for the tell-tale sounds of the girl's rhythmic breathing which to her relief she immediately heard.

'OK, OK!. Calm down, it's fine! Rigor mortis has definitely not set in yet' Naomi said softly to herself under her breath. She resumed her position, still not taking her eyes off the young girl who hadn't stirred a muscle during Naomi's momentary panic stricken actions.

She wondered if she would ever get tired of just looking at Emily, trying to work out in her mind what on earth she had done to deserve having this drop dead gorgeous girl sleeping next to her in her bed. It seemed like only yesterday that the idea of the two of them waking up together like this would have sent her running for the hills and far, far away. But that was like in another life to Naomi. Right now, she couldn't imagine not waking up next to Emily, couldn't bear the thought of not seeing her every day, didn't want to even consider the possibility that she might not spend the rest of her life with her.

The sunlight was slowly filtering in through the gaps in the curtains and was playing pretty patterns on Emily's distinctive red hair, one of the many features that Naomi had learned to adore over the last few months. Her small but beautifully sculpted lips were slightly parted and Naomi couldn't help but turn her attention to them as they immediately reminded her of the last warm kiss they exchanged before both of them fell silent and quickly drifted off to sleep the previous evening, curled up in each other's arms as they always did so as to ensure nobody could separate them whilst they were sleeping.

As Naomi was increasingly getting lost in her thoughts about Emily's lips, eyes, hair, smile, laughter from last night, all of a sudden she became aware of movement next to her. She reluctantly broke off from her sweet daydreaming and watched with a broad smile on her face as Emily grunted (could she alone grunt in a really sexy way?), turned slightly towards Naomi and slowly opened her eyes. On seeing Naomi smiling sweetly at her just inches away from her face, Emily smiled sleepily back and said 'Hi!'

'Morning, Sleeping Beauty!' said Naomi who leaned swiftly forward and, putting her arms around the back of Emily's face kissed her softly but deeply, lingering as long as she could before easing herself gently away from the redhead's eager lips and smiling at her again. Their first kiss of the day was something Naomi looked forward to with a longing that grew ever passionate as the weeks had gone by. Indeed the thought of it was usually the last thing she remembered thinking about before she lost consciousness and fell asleep at night. Of course it always signalled the end of her silent, secret Emily-gazing activities but in Naomi's mind that was a small price to pay for the sheer unadulterated heavenly pleasure of kissing the love of her life good morning.