Sweets
By rese
A/N: it is impossible to write chapters of 'Abolition' so close to each other coz it's too damn depressing. So here is some cheer! Also, little women is not mine and thus these characters aren't either.
They sit together in their underclothes on the kitchen floor. An open pot of honey lies between them and Jo is sucking on her coated finger as she studies the reflection of the candle against the window pane. Laurie's elbow bumps hers when he reaches for the pot again, dipping his finger in without modesty or hesitation and she grins at him in the small light they brought.
It is mid-spring but the night is still cool and Jo begins to wish they'd brought a blanket or a rug for the stone underneath her bottom is cold and her drawers do nothing to keep the heat against her skin. Still, she supposes as she leans against the table leg, spontaneity does not leave much thinking ahead for such conveniences.
Laurie's eyes are the colour of nothingness in the yellow light that flickers by her feet and her face feels inordinately hot in comparison to her lower half. She does not know how he does it; three years later he can still make her feel that she knows nothing of such acts she knows he is imagining.
Jo takes her time, pulling her finger out of her mouth before dipping it in the pot once more. The honey is thick and runny when she swirls a fair amount of it around her index. It feels strangely warm and natural and her mouth is already tingling in the thought of tasting it again. She doesn't know what it is about honey that makes her so silly.
When her eyes flick back up to his Jo knows she has his attention. Laurie's back is against the cupboards under the counter and his finger hangs dumbly from his mouth as he cleans the honey off it, watching her with the light dancing in the black of his pupils. The corner of her mouth twitches into a smirk before she can stop it and Jo quickly pops her finger back into her mouth.
"I wonder when the storm will stop," she says, s's sounding more like d's with her finger impeding her speech.
Laurie pushes the pot closer to the candle and leans forward over the space he has made, his large warm hand moves to encompass her wrist and Jo can't look away. Slowly he tugs her finger from her mouth and Jo watches him as he watches her lips. When her finger points in the air between them she feels like time is stopping. Laurie's mouth is sudden and hot around her finger and she blinks only once as his eyes, his deep black eyes watch her steadily.
Her finger tingles at the feeling of his tongue mapping the print of her skin, sucking the remaining honey off better than if she washed it. When he is done he releases her hand and Jo finds her finger tracing the shape of his bottom lip. A moment later she uses it to hold herself up as she leans off the table leg and towards him, her long faunish legs remaining casually crossed against the stone of the floor.
"The thunder's stopped," he finally replies and they are just words. No one watches her quite like her husband, Jo thinks and then he is propping himself on all fours to kiss her quite tamely and her mind closes itself to everything but feeling. Their lips are sticky and Jo wonders if she tastes as sweet as he does before she smiles and uses her clean right hand to hold his face to hers. Her fingers find their way into the thick strands of his hair that hang limp after such a damp day and she can't stop smiling when he loses his seriousness and scoots closer.
"I like this idea of yours," he says, breathing a little heavier than before.
Jo cocks an eyebrow. "You always like my ideas."
"Pity you didn't always like mine," he says with great cheek before cutting off any chance she has to reply by kissing her again. Jo moves to sit up better as his hand bunches up the edge of her nightdress to slip underneath. She tries not to shudder at the sudden cold touch of his hand on her ribs but he is laughing against her lips and she has thoughtlessly stuck her sticky fingers in his hair.
"I might not like them so much at first," Jo clarifies when his attention moves to her neck and she feels a sticky trail left behind. "But I do always come 'round."
"Uh-huh," he agrees, sounding very distracted as his lips explore the skin of her collar.
"This however, was not in my plan."
"Well, not explicitly," he says rather cleverly, pausing to grin at her mischievously. Jo decides she will never tire of that look and thanks her Maker she did not marry a saint. She would not be sitting on kitchen floor over honey, kissing in the middle of the night. Really she is thankful she didn't just marry someone as impish as her self but that she married Laurie specifically.
"I am not responsible for the thoughts in your head."
"I'll have you know you're the cause of a great deal of them, thank you." Laurie is kneeling in front of her now and she puts the lid back on the honey pot. The role of a wife, she thinks is a lot easier than she was led to believe. "Are you cold?" he asks and she smiles to herself.
She'd never have picked him for the husband-role either. Not unless it involved a snowy maiden of high society with coquettish smiles and frills a-plenty, she thinks, kneeling with him. His hands go to her waist as though they belong there and she shakes her head 'no'. Jo finds it isn't so cold anymore.
"I'm glad we didn't stay in bed, tossing about like a pair of flounder," Jo says, playing with the drawstring of Laurie's nightshirt. He shifts again, smiling in memory before he sits with his legs crossed, patting his knees to call her into his lap. Jo rolls her eyes but settles herself between his knees as he brushes her hair back. The action is soothing and she is a little closer to feeling sleepy.
"The thunder was too loud," he kisses the top of her head when Jo's arms go around his shoulders.
"It was too stuffy."
"I told you we couldn't open a window with the rain," his hand smoothes her hair again and she feels her eyelids drooping.
"If you keep that up I'm going to fall asleep on you."
"Then fall asleep."
"I warn you, I cannot be held accountable for any drooling or cramps," she mumbles into his collar and he laughs quietly, the motion trembling across them both.
Laurie kisses the top of her head again and she sighs. "Go to sleep," he says softly, his arms winding about her as she relaxes, her knees cold against the grainy feel of the stone.
They sit that way for several moments until Jo realises that the sound of the rain is just a little too loud as it hits the glass window above the sink. She shifts in her husband's embrace and he groans and Jo knows his back must be stiff. Lifting her head off his shoulder she yawns widely without bothering to cover her mouth. He is family and herself by now and it never mattered to him before but he smiles at her, his head against the cupboard door.
"Come on," Jo pulls herself to her feet, holding a hand out for Laurie. He takes it without a word and she stops only to blow out the candle by their feet. Hand-in-hand they stumble out of the kitchen, disregarding the tacky feel of their sticky skin as they head for the bedroom. "We can stuff our ears with pillows if we must," she announces as they climb the narrow stairs. Laurie is silent but she knows he is smiling without having to look behind her.
Jo does not stub her toes in a journey she has made many times these past few years. She is a little proud of herself and prouder yet when her husband stops her at the landing to kiss her under a portrait of Beth's kittens. "To bed," he says leading the way this time, as soon as his lips leave hers.
The room is lighter than the hallway and Jo smiles at the messy bed they abandoned for a midnight snack. She shuffles over to the single largest piece of furniture they own diving on top once Laurie settles himself on the mattress. The bed bounces with her weight and she grins at him in the blue-light of their room thinking he looks very handsome as he watches her in amusement.
"I'm beginning to think you don't want to go to sleep, bounding about like that Jo." He doesn't sound as tired as before either and she props her head on her hand to watch him.
"Fancy that," she says jauntily. Jo licks her lips then and Laurie sinks a little lower in the bed, rolling onto his side as Jo stretches out on her stomach, her hand still keeping her head high. The blankets are caught under her legs which stretch long behind her, crossed at the ankles.
Laurie is smiling at her and she leans across the gap between them to kiss him forwardly. He is still smiling as her lips move across his and she likes the freedom she has with him, has had with him always. If only she'd learnt a little earlier and a little quicker.
"Hello," he says when she pulls back, her hand free hand lingering about on his chest. Jo smiles, feeling as though she is swimming in laughs and lightness inside and knows it is because she is overtired. He is watching her teeth and not the clock beside the bed as she hooks a leg over his and his body turns into hers a little more.
"Hello," she says back in an old tradition that really isn't very old at all.
"Good morning," Laurie smiles, dragging a hand up and down her side.
"Good morning."
"Ugh," he suddenly makes a face and Jo looks to where he is staring in disgust. "My hands are sticking to your dress."
"Well," she says slowly and his eyes flick back up at her. Laurie has known her long enough to know when she is alluding and not thinking.
"I can fix this," he says quickly and sits up to peel off his shirt. Jo laughs – he has always undressed before her. His sticky hands however are soon against her flesh as he pries her dress up over the shape of her body and there is a struggle for she is laughing too hard to consider holding her arms up to help. Jo twists back onto her front before Laurie pulls her up by her waist as she laughs more, sighing impatiently when she bends over before he finally pulls the dress over her head.
"What is so funny, please?"
"Oh, you." She laughs. "Us. Honestly Teddy I had no idea you were so eager!" Jo looks over her shoulder at him.
"Ha!" he exclaims, pressing a kiss to her back, his hands reaching around her waist to hold her. "I think I made it very clear before we went to bed the first time that I am always ready and willing."
"Aye, aye crewman," she says with a full-blown grin across her face as Laurie continues to kiss her. The joke is old but she can feel him smiling as his lips reach the spot behind her ears.
"What are your orders, Capt'n?" he drawls as his hands find the curve of her breasts and she leans back into him. His head lolls to the side, resting against her shoulder and she can feel him grinning goofily at her. Jo's hands cup his as hit thumbs move intimately across the points of her breasts. "Too crude to ask permission to come aboard?"
Jo bursts into laughter again and reaches back to loop her arm around his neck and kiss him. "Never in my life have I heard something so mournful as that," she says with a smile, wiping the corner of Laurie's mouth with her thumb.
"I should hope not. I would like to see anyone try," he kisses her again before reaching for the blankets to their left at the end of the bed. Jo scuttles closer to the head of the bed as he drags the blankets closer to keep them warm. "Come on then," he says, business-like. "Drawers off!"
Jo pulls off the material swiftly, throwing the article close enough to retrieve tomorrow as she watches her husband scrunch and un-scrunch his hand in fascination, still obviously uncomfortable with the stickiness left behind from the honey. "Want me to lick it clean?" she asks, one eyebrow raised pointedly.
Laurie looks up from his hand and gives it to her. "Yes, please!"
Jo rolls her eyes, batting it away before lifting her arms up and inviting him closer for a kiss. Laurie sinks into her; careful to keep his weight off her body though he lies parallel. The rain is forgotten as her hands roam the lean muscle that stretches over his shoulder blades. Jo's fingers dance south along his spine and as she moans quietly she feels his real appreciation against her thigh. Everything is warm and familiar and incredibly relaxing and she knows they will take their time tonight.