Christmas Morning Snuggles

S: Brief sweet moments for Street and Molly on Christmas morning.

Weak sun rays filtered through the curtains, playing on Molly's face. She kept her eyes well shut, turning the other side, and just then, her brain registered the sweet scent hovering in the air. Her senses now fully awake, she opened her eyes to the empty side of the bed.

"Happy Christmas, Mols." Jim's warm voice coming from behind her cleared away at once the disappointment that had started to mount in her chest. The moment Molly turned to face him, his mouth captured hers in a swift kiss.

"Ow…" she slightly retracted. "Don't. I have stale breath..." She stared at her boyfriend, baffled by the sight of him wearing a Santa hat to complete his pajamas outfit.

"Yeah." The bobble on the top of the hat tickled Molly's forehead as Jim leaned down on her and laid his lips on hers more passionately. "You sure do," he seriously said, pulling away.

Flustered, Molly pushed him back. Jim didn't oppose. Instead, he turned to the bedside table, where he'd set up a breakfast-in-bed worth a queen. No doubt that was the source of the scent Molly had woken up to.

She lifted to a semi-sat position, and Jim gently placed the tray over her lap. Once she'd gripped it, he circled the bed and pulled back the covers to step in at her side.

Jim's efforts to please her were heartwarming, even though a bit chaotic. The smell of coffee molded in Molly's nostrils with the slightly burnt one of buttered toast and bacon, her attention split between the golden maple syrup pancakes, clumsily-decorated gingerbread cookies, fruit, and orange juice. How did he manage to fit all that in a single tray?

"Did I give you the impression I was eating for two?" Molly asked, glancing at her boyfriend, then turned her attention back to the food. "Or three."

"I didn't know what you preferred," Jim shrugged, "so I prepared a bit of everything." Without making compliments, he started picking at the fruit with his bare hands, a tempting smirk lingering on his face. "It's not poisoned, and it took me a while to get everything through."

"What did I do to earn all this?" Molly's relaxed expression hardened a bit. "Jim, what did you do? Having something to apologize for?"

"No." Jim's grin turned into a falsely affronted expression. "Why does everyone always assume I've done something wrong?"

Molly beamed while helping her way to a gingerbread man. "Because you tend to mess up."

"Well, it's Christmas Day, isn't it?" He put up a disarming dimpled-underlined smile. "And I just want to spend a little time with my gorgeous girlfriend before heading in to work."

Molly gulped the mouthful of goods down, glancing at her alarm clock. "I hate that you have to work today."

"Me too," said Jim, stealing the coffee mug from the tray on her lap. "You can always complain with your father, though," he continued sipping happily.

"Hey! Wasn't that for me?"

"Want a taste?" He moved closer to her, trying to steal her a coffee-and-gingerbread-flavored kiss.

Molly turned to lay the still full tray on the bedside table, and on cue, Jim turned the other side to put the mug aside too. However, she didn't turn back to him straight away as he expected but reached out for her phone. "You're right," she said, feeling his look on the back of her head.

"Of course I am." Jim hesitated. "On what?"

"I'm calling dad."

"You really need to wish him a Merry Christmas this very moment?"

Molly suppressed a chuckle, amused by the disappointment in her boyfriend's voice. "No, I'm going to tell him you're stuck in bed and cannot go to work today."

"What?" Was that panic in Jim's voice now? "Oh, no. You're not." He stretched to steal the phone from her hands, but she put her arm out the edge of the bed.

"Why? It was your idea."

"He's gonna kill me. Give me the phone!" Jim rolled over on her and gently pinned her to the bed. Then, to distract her, he laid a passionate kiss on her lips. At a loss, Molly loosened the grip on her phone, which landed almost soundly on one of her slippers.

She felt both their mouths curving into a smile before deepening the kiss once more. Jim's kind but insistent manners weakened her will, but instead of giving in, Molly wrestled him until they'd swapped position and pulled slightly away. His Santa hat had fallen off, revealing his ruffled hair.

"I know you put a lot of effort in making me this breakfast—"

"And love."

Molly chuckled.

"And sugar," Jim continued.

"Okay, a lot of effort, love, and sugar. But what if I finish it later?" she said, a grin spreading broadly on her face. "We still have some time to unwrap a couple of presents before you have to leave for work."

Jim's eyes lit. "Presents, uh?"

"Mm-uh." Molly moistened her lips while they got lost in each other's eyes. "Merry Christmas, my love."