Author's Note: One day I will write stories without this pairing. That day is not today... SO! Hope you enjoy this story with my favorites!

(Set in the "Need You Now" universe)

Read My Lips

If there was one thing Becky Lynch enjoyed above all else, it was surprising her girlfriend. So when she was given the opportunity to leave her job early - truth be told, the mountain of paperwork on her desk made the choice simple - she leapt at the chance to do something wonderful for Alexa. It was for this reason why she bolted home, trying her hardest to drive at the designated speed limit, so that she could prepare a delicious dinner, while also squeezing some cleaning in. It wasn't often that Becky got to make dinner for Alexa, and it also wasn't often that she got to clean.

On account of Alexa being in the house not cleaning.

While it seemed like an easy feat, Alexa would be home in exactly two hours after Becky arrived herself, which unfortunately wasn't enough time to clean the entire apartment. Still, since she was nearly finished with dinner, she could at least start with their bedroom, Becky told herself - making the bed, dusting the shelves, sorting Alexa's books.

Alexa's books?

Becky had to do a double-take as she looked closely at a well-hidden corner, where this particular, tinier shelf was covered by a large stuffed animal. Making a mental note to scold Alexa after dinner for carelessly leaving her things lying around, she decided that there was no harm in taking a quick peek at Alexa's reading choices. There weren't very many - fifteen, if Becky was being precise - but they were thick, the number of pages likely reaching a few hundred apiece.

Becky started with what seemed to be the most lengthy book of the bunch, 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.' It was certainly the heaviest, Becky mused, as she nearly broke her wrist trying to lift this monster with one hand.

"Oh ho, what've we got here? Lexi, Lexi, Lexi. You can't hide your inner nerd from me!"

Upon further inspection of the shelf, nearly half of the books were from the 'Harry Potter' franchise. That sort of amused Becky - it was good to see that Alexa had different hobbies. Becky wasn't sure why she'd never seen her reading before, considering how long these books seemed to be, but she must've been powering through them each day before Becky returned home from work. Fully intending to leave the shelf as she found it, Becky paused as one book caught her eye - the thinnest of the bunch, but not by much. It was the brightest shade of pink she had ever seen, and she wondered how it didn't keep her awake at night.

Becky felt slightly guilty about snooping - Alexa must've put these in this specific corner, out of sight, for a reason - but it was begging to be noticed. The way it basically illuminated the dark, dusty corner, the way it seemed to be calling her name. She couldn't leave it there without at least seeing what the title was. The book looked to be brand new, though she still had to wipe away the excess dust it collected from just sitting in that corner. Becky's mind reached a brick wall as she tried to process the words written on the front.

"'101 Ways to… Rekindle Your Love?'"

What was this, some sort of relationship book? Becky couldn't imagine going into a bookstore and seriously buying one of these, yet here it was in her apartment. Quickly flipping the text over, Becky began to read the short summary written on its backside. Hopefully this would answer some of her questions.

"'Is your relationship struggling? Do you need to add some fire back into your love life? Well whether it's in the streets or between the sheets, these 101 ways to rekindle your love will guarantee a spicier romance - anytime, anywhere!' What the heck has Alexa been reading?!"

Becky was more confused than before, the description offering little to go on. It seemed to be a book targeted toward people with relationship problems, especially in the romance department, but that couldn't be right. They'd been dating for two months - it's not like they weren't intimate with each other. But after thinking it through a bit longer, Becky couldn't exactly remember when they were last intimate. It had to be recently, right? Alexa would surely say something, right?

Becky was stumped, wondering if she had neglected Alexa's needs in some way. Becky wanted to smack herself. Here she was, thinking that everything was going so perfectly well, and now she finds out that Alexa thinks their relationship is missing a spark.

She found out. From a book.

Instead of answering her questions, this book only raised twenty more. Becky tried to remember the events of the past seven days. She came home from work, they ate together, watched some movie on TV, and… they went to sleep. Becky couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself. Aside from some cuddling and light kissing, she hadn't really made any attempts to get intimate with Alexa. Her mind shifted toward this dinner that she was so eager to make, and realized that she hadn't bothered to put any romantic undertones behind it - just hoped that making dinner would be a passionate enough gesture.

"Way to go, Becky. You had to come home and clean. Ooh, I swear, this author is just begging for me to beat 'em with their own limbs. Way to ruin my day, whoever-you-are."

As Becky cursed the name of this author - as best as she could, pronouncing French names proved rather difficult - she heard the sound of her door unlocking. She hastily put the accursed book back in its position, before running to greet Alexa at the door.

"Surprise!"

Alexa jumped back, her head nearly banging against the door. It took a minute for her to realize that she wasn't about to be robbed at knife-point by a deranged maniac. She was still dating a deranged maniac, apparently, who only lived to frighten her. Nevertheless, she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't ecstatic to see Becky.

"Okay, as thrilled as I am to see you, we really need to set some rules about you scaring the crap out of me every time I walk through that door."

Becky laughed, before planting a small kiss on Alexa's lips. Her mind was brought back to that book, and deepened it, if only slightly. 'Don't go overboard,' she told herself.

"Sorry. You have the cutest 'I'm terrified' face in the land."

"You don't have to terrify me. I'm pretty sure my face is cute at all times."

Alexa's eyes and tone seemed extra flirty, and Becky wondered why she herself couldn't be that flirty. Would Alexa enjoy that more? Would she think it was too much? She honestly didn't know anymore. Trying her best to push those thoughts aside, she grabbed Alexa by the wrist and led her to the dinner table.

"There aren't any candles, but I figured the fire in my heart would be enough to light the flames of… er… something or other. Desire? That's the one."

"I'm glad you've gone through all the trouble of making this dinner, because your sweet talk needs some work. But really, Becky, this is amazing."

The compliment definitely got Becky's head back in gear, the smile on Alexa's face was enough for her to momentarily forget all of the romance mumbo jumbo she'd been so focused on. Becky put the finishing touches on the food, plated it - nearly burning her fingertips as she did - and handed one to Alexa.

"When did you learn how to make shrimp?"

"Ah, you know. The internet. Figured I'd have a better chance of not burning the apartment to the ground this way."

"Good call."

Over the next ten minutes, things seemed to be going exactly as Becky had wanted them to. They got to talk about their individual days, and Alexa seemed to appreciate the dinner more than Becky would've thought. Yet, as the minutes flew by, the thought of that stupid - stupid! - book came crashing back into her head. Sure, the dinner was fine, but was it amorous enough? She was snapped out of these ponderings by the sound of Alexa's voice.

"You might not like the food, but you do realize that you're the one who made this, right?"

There was that sly smile of hers that Becky adored - nearly everything Alexa said made Becky's heart soar. Why couldn't she be that way, and better yet, why was she suddenly thinking about this?

"Oh, uh, it's not the food. I was just thinking, is all."

"Care to share? I can't pass up an opportunity to learn what's going on in that cute head of yours."

Becky wasn't sure how to go about bringing this up in a way that wasn't exceedingly awkward. So, exceedingly awkward it was.

"I was doing some cleaning - they call it 'tidying up,' in some circles around the globe. Probably Liechtenstein. In case you were wondering."

"I'm familiar with synonyms, Becks."

"Right, hah, why wouldn't you be? Well, I was cleaning up in this corner of the room…"

As she continued, Alexa nearly choked on her food, a sudden coughing fit interrupting Becky. She could swear that there were the faintest hints of red on Alexa's face. She went on, the smaller woman making no objections to the contrary.

"I happened to stumble across these books of yours."

"Oh my god. You saw the pink one, didn't you?"

Alexa buried her face in her hands, avoiding eye contact with Becky - the orange-haired woman could relate.

"It's been on my mind this whole time, so I have to ask - Am I really making our relationship a 'struggle?' I know I haven't been the most intimate lately-"

Like Alexa before her, Becky chose to avoid eye contact with her girlfriend. She felt so ashamed, but moreso than that, she felt inadequate. If she wasn't able to please her own girlfriend, then perhaps their relationship really was struggling. Much to her secret relief, Alexa seemed to be perplexed by her statement.

"What? No, no - that's not it! You're perfect!"

"That's great! I think. I'm confused. What's with the whole '101 ways' and 'rekindling love' stuff then?"

Alexa groaned, obviously not wanting to explain herself, or her purchases. Becky stared at Alexa, anxiously awaiting a response.

"I-It's me."

"What?"

"It's me! Ugh, I thought maybe it was a one time thing - we went to sleep last Tuesday and barely touched each other. But then it happened the next day, and the next day. This is embarrassing to admit, okay, but I felt like you might be getting bored with me. I wanted to try and be more romantic, so I picked up this book a few days ago for like five bucks. It's not even like I even read the stupid thing - I just wanted to know if there was something I should do. And now you're making me dinner. Seriously, could you be any more incredible? I haven't been able to do anything like that for you. It really kind of sucks."

At this point, it was impossible for Becky to not get up from her seat - impossible for her to not pull Alexa to her feet. It was impossible for her to not hug Alexa, and whisper sweet nothings in her ear.

"Alexa. You're beyond perfect. Why didn't you tell me you were feeling that way?"

"I'd like to direct you to aforementioned embarrassment."

Becky could only giggle as Alexa mumbled into her shirt. In a stunning display of terrible, terrible irony, it was Alexa that was actually feeling self-conscious. It was still a surprise to Becky, who kissed Alexa's forehead.

"We've been extremely exhausted from work lately. Guess it's been kind of hard to get this message across as often as I'd like, but you seriously have no idea how gorgeous you are. When I'm out there in the working world - getting hand cramps 'cause paperwork is an agent of Hades - all I can think about is coming home and holding you. And kissing you. And loving you. You're always romantic, with the things you say, and just by looking the way you do. Christ, Lexi - I'm a lucky lass."

Becky watched as Alexa's face lit up, her words having a significant impact on the younger woman. While she wasn't sure if either of them were the 'perfect picture' of romantic, it was easy for her to say that their romance was perfect in its own way - they most definitely did not need a colorful book to teach them how to love each other.

"Hey, Becks. You tired?"

"Can't say that I am."

"Good, because I was thinking. Maybe we could take a break from dinner and 'rekindle' some of that love."

The gentle tugging of her collar and dainty fingers brushing against her bare shoulder - accompanied by another sly smirk from Alexa - was all the signal that Becky needed. Becky ran a hand through Alexa's blonde locks, stopping only to rest a palm upon her cheek, stroking it lovingly.

"'In the streets or between the sheets,' I'm your girl."

"Only you could make a stupid quote sound so damn romantic."

As they made their way to the bedroom, Becky smiled to herself. Maybe she was getting the hang of this after all.

End