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It started before they did.

Not before the feelings -you can't blame them for the pull they felt that first day of Organic Chem. But, before the kisses, and 'I love yous', the 'stay here tonights', and 'Kara can't wait to meet yous'.

Before all those firsts, was the drawing.

The doodles Maggie always seemed to perfect on the edges of her notes. Sometimes small swirls, some dots, an adorable ghost near October 31st, once -notably- a surprisingly realistic winking cat that left Alex holding back a laugh and Maggie with a proud smirk.

The doodles were both a distraction and aid for Alex those early mornings.

They gave her something to look forward to as she'd trudge from her warm bed to the 8am class. Something to use as an opening during their lab conversations. Between beaker filling, measuring, and trying not to get caught staring, she'd bring them up. Or try to anyway, the sometimes stuttering mess she turned into during her attempts always had the same result.

Dimpled smile.

Slight blush.

Bright eyes.

The doodles didn't stop there.

Soon there were post-it note 'Good Mornings' riddled with hearts stuck to her door, and little comments slipped into the pages of her own notebooks once their semester of having a joint class was over.

Alex's reluctance to leave her bed is so much more difficult than those first few months. She finds herself cursing the science department's love of early schedules, because –really- how could she be expected to leave these arms?

She doesn't have Maggie's face to look forward to this semester, not in classes anyway. But the notes have continued. Maybe Maggie knows the skip they bring to Alex's heart, the jolt of energy coffee could never manage, the small smile, the-

The alarm is ringing.

Music blaring through the softly lit room.

And Maggie is curling, cuddling, burrowing closer into Alex's warmth, a soft mumble falling from her lips.

Is Anatomy really that vital today?

Alex lets her eyes close for just one more minute. Letting her body relax once more into Maggie's arms, trying to justify a morning in.

"Babe."

"Hmm?"

"Babe. Class." The words are mumbled louder into her chest, the soft feel of breath causing Alex to sink deeper into the morning's calm.

The sigh Maggie receives has her shifting, pulling, maneuvering out of Alex's embrace. Ignoring Alex's tries to pull her back, Maggie grants her a soft kiss to erase the sleep-aided pout marring her face.

"I can miss one class, Mags." Alex is grumbling refusing to move as she opens one blurry eye

The sight of Maggie's tossed hair sticking up at all ends has a smile pulling her lips. "Good morning, beautiful."

Alex's usual greeting blankets the air as Maggie shakes her head with a smirk.

It's the words she's used ever since their first morning together. The words she would use as she'd brush the hair from Maggie's eyes or lean in for a kiss. The words she never wants to stop using. With the woman she never wants to stop seeing there in her arms, there in her bed, there across the table at Thanksgiving, there at their wedding.

Just there.

As long as Maggie was there.

But the sounds of the music reminds her that she has to leave there, and she has to go there –to a cold room, with a bright PowerPoint, and a dull voice.

And no Maggie.

A prospect that is her main woe in regards to this early class, first semester's Chem class tells her that.

Alex wants to stay in, and she wants to hold Maggie, and one class really can't be that important.

But Maggie is moving, the bed shifting as she stands. And soon clothes are raining down on Alex's grumbling body and Maggie is laughing as the grumbles become muffled by Alex's outfit for the day.

"We'll get lunch after, babe." Alex equally hates and loves the smile she can hear in her voice, "C'mon, you're gonna be late."

With another grumble and determination to get just a few more kisses before leaving, Alex is moving.

And if she grumbles as she tries to find her left shoe, Maggie's kiss makes her smile.

And if she closes her eyes a little too long as she sits to put them on, Maggie's kiss wakes her up.

And if she thought todays course was going to be boring, Maggie's doodle proves her wrong.

See, Alex never forgets about the doodles Maggie slips her. But she's never ready for them. Fitting, as she was never ready for Maggie either.

Yet, they both never fail to make her smile, make her heart warm, make her lose far too much street cred.

She's halfway through her coffee and twenty minutes into lecture when she sees the slight raise of a folded paper within her book notes.

Alex bites back a smile as she tries to keep her hands from skipping the few pages forward and finding the note. It's become a game of sorts, to prove to herself that she has some semblance of control concerning her girlfriend…she never wins.

She makes it through two more long-winded slides and half a page before she's flipping the pages unabashed. Bringing the coffee to her lips to hide her love-sick smile proves to be a mistake. A mistake that nearly has her becoming the class's next cadaver.

Cause of death? Drowning from the inhalation of far too much coffee.

Her eyes widen, as she sits up trying to cover her reddening face as she coughs and sucks air back into her angry lungs.

As if she didn't already think Maggie was going to be the death of her.

Blinking the tinges of water from her eyes, Alex slouches back into her seat.

Nearly drowning takes a lot out of a person.

Un-creasing the cause of her near demise, she allows herself a near silent laugh as two versions of the Formaldehyde structure stare back at her. One, the boring and basic structure copied meticulously from the book. The other a creation of colored pencils, nerdiness, and sass that only her girlfriend could master.

"Casual-Dehyde"

The picture is labeled.

The structure donning shorts and a tank-top and, -is that? Yes, yes, it is- a cowboy hat.

Alex is cool. Alex is collected. Alex doesn't laugh about snarky drawings her girlfriend creates during 2 am study sessions.

Definitely not.

Never.

Pft.

If one were to ask her lab partner they'd hear a different story. A story of Alex's routine bright smiles, soft chuckles, and heart doodles.

But, no one asks him.

Thankfully.

He'd like to live to see his graduation. Thank you very much.

So, no. She doesn't laugh.

The smile stays.

Stays throughout the boring lecture.

Brightens with every absentmindedly doodled heart (a heart her lab partner definitely doesn't see).

And beams once the clock marks her freedom and she's rushing through the hall calmly, calmly but quickly.

Because there on the bench to the right, with the sun lighting her face and the wind sweeping her hair, is her near murderer.

And God.

If she's going to die, if it has to happen.

Let it be after a lifetime of grumbled mornings and outfit showers, of 'Good morning, beautifuls', and 'I can't find my shoe' kisses.

And God.

If she has to wake up, let her wake up to Maggie.

And if she gets to love, let her love Maggie.

And if she had to go to boring 8 a.m. lectures, let her run home to Maggie.