Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I claim to own any characters or concepts related to The Princess and the Frog. This is a nonprofit work of fanfiction.

As ever, my innumerable thanks to everyone who has read these stories and to everyone who has reviewed. Thank you all so much for the support and the kindness you've shown me, even as I persist in forgetting to update.

This story, like those which came before it, is set after the film.

Take a Late Morning

Tiana woke bit by bit, rising out of some dream, now receding, to a string of unhurried kisses dropped along her shoulders. Beneath her nightgown, high on her back, his palm traced the contour of her spine. She stretched, arching into his touch.

"Hello," murmured Naveen.

She wriggled, burrowing into the fold between his arm and his chest, bare and very warm, even through her gown. "What time is it?"

"Morning," he said. He pressed his face into her hair, his lips to her temple. "Much too early to get up."

She tipped her face up to the fleeting warmth of his kisses, which he sprinkled across her cheek, her nose, the corner of her mouth as she yawned. His fingers trailed down her back, dipping low, lower, his thumb firm on her hip.

"You're going to have to be a little more exact," she said.

"Much, much too early," he said. He mouthed her jaw, tracing the line with little flicks of his tongue. "So early it's practically indecent."

Tiana struggled up onto her elbow and he settled, running his fingers lazily down her back. She fumbled for the clock, tick-ticking away on the nightstand, and missed, then lunged for it again. She read it once, then read it again; the time didn't change.

Behind her, Naveen picked at her collar, drawing it down and away so he could layer kisses low on her nape.

Tiana twisted around. "What did you do to my alarm?"

He tugged her collar further down. "You looked so peaceful. I didn't wish to disturb you."

"Do you have any idea how late it is?"

"No," he said.

"It's--" She slithered out of his grasp. Naveen complained in his throat and followed, reaching for her. "It is half past seven. We're supposed -- will you stop that -- to be at the restaurant by nine."

"Then we will be late," he said, unconcerned. He bent to her throat, advancing down that supple slope to her clavicle.

"I've got too many things to do," she said, then, pointedly: "We both do." She set her hands on his shoulders, which relaxed beneath her touch, spreading wide.

"Lots of things," she said.

"Surely they can wait." He tucked a slow kiss into the hollow of her collar. "One hour." Another. "Two. After all," he said, palming her thigh, "there is so much to do here." He nuzzled the swell of her breast.

Tiana pushed down hard on his shoulders and slipped out of his hands, off the bed, and onto her feet beside it. Naveen latched on to the headboard to keep from spilling out of bed and across the floor before her.

"If we hurry," she said, "we should still be able to catch the seven-fifty tram." She rifled through the wardrobe. "That ought to get us to the docks by eight-twenty, assuming traffic's not too bad."

"It's Saturday," said Naveen.

"Restaurant's still open," she sang. She yanked her nightgown up over her head.

"You own it, do you not? So just close it for the day."

Tiana notched one eyebrow at him. Naveen smiled at her, blithe and hideously charming, his shoulders cocked in invitation. The sheets were very low on his waist.

She pitched a pair of socks at him. He recoiled.

"Stop fooling around and get dressed. We don't have much time."

"Gladly," said Naveen, in a tone which suggested otherwise. "But I will need more than socks."

"You've got legs," said Tiana. "Hurry up and use them."

"But I don't want to," he said. He smoothed his hand across the sheets and threw her a look beneath his eyelashes. "Perhaps if you came back to bed."

Tiana hesitated a moment. Wouldn't it be easy, just to slip in under the sheets and wind her arms about him and press him down into that big, soft mattress?

She threw a pair of trousers at him, catching him square in the chest. "You've got ten minutes," she said. "If you're not downstairs, I'm leaving without you."

"All right," said Naveen. "All right! I'm getting dressed."

She blew him a kiss as she slipped out the bedroom.

"I will not accept this kiss," he shouted after her. "It's too late! The romance is gone, never to return."

Tiana took the steps by two, humming all the way.

This story was originally posted at livejournal on 12/29/2009.

To the anonymouse who asked, my livejournal is mekosuchinae(at)livejournal(dot)com. On the off-chance FFN messes up that address, it's also linked as my homepage at my FFN profile.

To Ophelia Dawn Clark: the tragic thing is, most of these stories have been finished for weeks now! I'm just too lazy to do the minimum effort needed to upload them to and format them for FFN. I'm, uh, pretty lazy, as it turns out. Ridiculously lazy. Phenomenally lazy. That said: thank you so much for the incredibly kind things you've said, for the encouragement and the reassurances you've offered. It means a lot to me, and I owe you much for it. :)

In fact, thank you to everyone who's reviewed. You've all been so kind to me and you always have such interesting things to say, and you've made me laugh and smile and think a little about the things I've written in ways I didn't expect. You're awesome.

Thanks also to everyone who's read and hasn't reviewed! As someone who frequently finds it difficult to compose even the simplest review for a story and generally prefers to adore (or hate) in the silence and privacy afforded a lurker, on account of I'm neurotic and shy and not so good with words, I ain't throwin' no stones. Thank you for reading. Thank you, thank you, thank you. YOU are awesome, too.

Thank you all, so much.

(Wow, sorry, this kind of turned into A Thing. And it sounds like a sort of Final thing, too, but I promise, I've got at least seven more vignettes to post. I'm not going anywhere soon!)