A/N: A hundred thank you's to dream's sister for this speedy contribution!! More Laurie/Jo goodness to be had. :)

Laurie couldn't help but smirk a very little bit as he watched Jo's expression, hovering over him. Unfortunately, the smirk seemed about to bring her to her senses, and as she blinked he said swiftly, "Jo, you've a leaf in your hair. Just up here—" he raised a hand to her forehead.

"Have I?" she said confusedly, her eyes instinctively flicking upwards and straining to see. "I'm covered in all manner of rubbish, I'm sure, and my new suit will be completely—"

A sudden movement from her companion interrupted her as Laurie, tugging her closer, took advantage of her distraction by pulling her face down to his and cutting her sentence off abruptly. For a brief moment or two, his lips, surprisingly warm, pressed against hers, and the leaf (which she fleetingly realized was probably fictional) was entirely forgotten—then all of a sudden Jo recognized just what was happening, and pulled away with speed. "Teddy!" she gasped, "what, exactly, do you think you are doing?"

Laurie raised his eyebrows. "Well, Jo dear, at the moment I'm not doing anything, thanks to you."

"Don't 'Jo dear' me, you rascal! You know perfectly well what I meant."

He looked up at her innocently. "What could I be doing? I happen to be pinioned."

Jo glared at the boy lying beneath her. "Stop that," she commanded sharply.

"Stop what?"

"Being infuriating."

Laurie suppressed a laugh with difficulty. "Me? Infuriating?"

"Yes, you."

"You must be joking."

"Truly! Do you make a habit of kissing the girls you fall down hills with instead of helping them up?"

"Certainly not. All the other girls I know are too proper to fall down hills. Anyway, I wouldn't really call that a kiss, it would have to be a bit longer—"

"Teddy!" Thoroughly irritated by Laurie's dancing eyes and calm expression, Jo, rendered temporarily speechless, gesticulated wildly with open mouth and red face.

"Yes?" the infuriating boy said mildly.

"You…you—I—oh, Jehosephat!" And with that exclamation Jo threw propriety—or what was left of it—to the winds, shocking Laurie for the third time that day by seizing his face and kissing him soundly. He stiffened and made a strangled sort of noise as his arms came up in surprise; but after only a moment of astonishment he gave in wholeheartedly, and Jo felt a curious warmth spread from the pit of her stomach as his mouth moved against hers. It felt a little like falling, and with her eyes closed and the distracting pressure of Laurie's lips, she wouldn't have been able to tell you which way was up.

Laurie sighed, and Jo, suddenly realizing with a start the effect she was having on him, grinned to herself. She let her mouth linger on his for a moment or two longer before, forgetting her own disorientation, she rose to her elbows, pushing him away mischievously. With one eyebrow quirked, she asked breathlessly, "Long enough for you?"

Laurie, grinning all over his face, had just opened his mouth to respond when—

"Ahem," came a sudden voice from behind them.

Jo slid off Laurie in shock, landing with a bump and twisting to look around. Upon taking in the view, she turned red as a poppy before paling again with alarming speed.

"Oh, tarnation," she mumbled.