Prompt #26: "You've got flour on your face"


Sweet Surprise

~oOo~

"Elliot, how in the world are you already out of brown sugar?" Bernie asks with exasperation, rummaging through all the cupboards. Light Christmas music is echoing throughout the kitchen, mixing with the sounds of all the busy hands working together to prepare an array of sweets.

Elliot glances over at her. "Mama, I don't think there's ever been brown sugar in this place," her son responds.

"Gracious." She shakes her head, untying her apron and tugging it over her head. "I must've missed it on my list. I'll have to go get some from that corner store," she says, already heading for the closet to retrieve her coat.

"No, stay here. I'll go get—"

"That's okay, Dad," Kathleen interjects. "I'll take her. You know she always has to get a specific brand," she tells him in a quieter voice.

"Alright," he agrees, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. "But take this." He pulls out a $20 bill and offers it to his daughter.

"Dad," she chuckles. "It's brown sugar. It's not that much."

"Right. Well, then take Noah," he gestures to the young boy sitting at the counter reading, waiting patiently to decorate cutout cookies. "And treat yourselves to some hot chocolate. If that's okay," he quickly adds. Olivia meets his gaze and smiles while Noah perks up.

"How's that sound, Noah?" she asks him.

"Okay!" he exclaims and launches off the barstool. "Thanks!" Elliot sneaks in a knuckle-bump as Noah scurries past him to dress in his winter gear.

"You don't have to keep asking my permission for everything," Olivia says, and Elliot diverts his attention from the ruckus of winter coats and accessories over to her. She's smiling at him warmly while her hands stay occupied with transferring the freshly-baked peppermint cookies to a cooling rack. "You can make decisions too."

He approaches her, so their conversation can stay a bit more private. "I just never want to overstep." He grabs the rack and carries it over to an empty spot on the island, then he's back at her side.

She looks up at him with a glimmer in her eyes. Trust. Appreciation. Love. "You don't. You never have." Knowing he still actively tries to keep a boundary when it comes to Noah makes her fall even more in love with this man, if at all possible. The respect he has for her as a parent is astronomical, and she's insanely grateful, but they're a team now. "We're in this together," she includes.

"We'll be back shortly," Kathleen announces once they're all ready and walking out the door. She pauses in the doorway and narrows her eyes at her dad. "Don't get off Grandma's schedule," she warns with a hint of a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah." he waves her off sarcastically. "We can manage."

"I'll keep him in line," Olivia calls with a wide smile before the door closes. "Alright," she says seriously when it's just the two of them. "Onto the sugar cookies." She brushes her hands on her apron then flips through Bernie's recipes until she lands on the right one.

"What can I do?" Elliot offers, looking over her shoulder at the new recipe, but she shrugs and tells him she isn't sure yet. "Oh hey, Liv?" he asks casually, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against him.

"Hm?" she hums, absentmindedly leaning into his embrace while keeping her focus on what she's reading.

"You have flour on your face," he chuckles, bending down to place an open-mouth kiss to her cheek — swirling his tongue to rid of the powder.

"El!" She jumps back in shock, unprepared for the sensation of his warm tongue on her skin. She laughs and wipes at the trace of saliva he left with the back of her hand. "No way that tasted good." He shrugs with another quick chuckle. She rolls her eyes at him, adjusts her reading glasses, then returns to her place in the recipe.

Elliot watches her intently, waits for the sign that she's refocused — the slight furrow of her eyebrows and subtle squint. He's preparing to catch her off-guard again, as he dips a couple fingers into the powdered sugar with a devious smile.

This kind of playfulness isn't a feeling he's too familiar with. Something about Olivia — everything about Olivia, actually — makes him feel relaxed, lighter even. On top of it being the holiday season, he's not certain there is ever a time he doesn't have a huge smile plastered on his face when she's around. He's truly, genuinely happy at this point in his life. And it just feels... so good.

Right as she goes to reach for a fresh mixing bowl, he pounces — smothering her lips with the sugar as her eyes widen. Before she can even react, his clean hand is snaking around her neck and pulling her face towards his. "Figured this would taste better," he says lowly with his lips a mere inch away from hers. His tongue darts out and slowly trails across her bottom lip, then her top, before fully capturing her lips with his own.

She elicits a soft whimper against him, perhaps from the surprise of it all, perhaps from the sweetness dancing between his tongue and hers. One of her hands finds his cheek as he softly sucks on her bottom lip, ensuring no trace of powdered sugar is left behind.

"El," she mumbles against him, trying to break away, but he follows her head back and finds her lips once more. "El," she repeats with a giggle this time, and he sets her free. "I have to get this batter made before they get back. I can't throw off your mother's schedule," she insists.

"Our," he says gently, which sends a warm, fuzzy feeling fluttering through her chest and belly as she glances down to the floor with a small smile. He pulls her hand away that had slid from his cheek to his shoulder and runs his thumb around the diamond ring on her finger. "They're all your family, Liv... Our family."

Her eyes lift back up to find his, and it's incredible how such a shocking blue can exude so much warmth. He notices the tears welling up in her eyes and mentally prepares to wipe them away should they overflow. She sniffles slightly, "Well," and her smile grows a little more, "then we can't throw off… our," her breath shakes lightly on that word, but only from the overwhelming joy it brings her, "family's schedule." He squeezes her hand as she steps back to rewash her hands and finally retrieves that mixing bowl.

"Oh, and El?" She looks back at him with a smirk, and he raises his eyebrows to encourage her to continue. "You're the one with flour on your face now."