The young girl tugged at her father’s hand as she led him through the house and into the hallway right outside the door to the kitchen.

The sound of a familiar bark quickened Brooke’s heart as she came away from the last kiss with a ragged breath. “Time…” she sucked in a mouthful of air, “…time to behave?” Blue eyes looked deeply into Sam’s eyes, hoping that she was wrong.

Regrouping her thoughts, Sam nodded her head. “Time to behave.” She took in a deep breath and let it out as she brought her hand to her mouth and kissed a single finger, then placed it across her lover’s lips. “Later Hon,” she winked. “I’ll give you all that you need later.” Sam turned away from the tall woman as she straightened her clothing.

“Sam…” Brooke parted her lips and let her tongue glide along them, making a pained looking face when she came to one particular area.

“Yeah?” Sam looked over her shoulder to see Brooke wiping her mouth on her hand.

“Did you have to bite my lip so hard?” Brooke drew her hand away from her face and looked at it. “It’s bleeding, Baby.” The dark-haired woman stuck out her lower lip in a pout, showing off the trickle of blood that was escaping her lower lip.

“Oh… Hon, sorry.” Sam heard Mario’s barks and the sound of the front door closing, then rolled her eyes. “I can see it now, between C.C. and my sister Sarah, I’m gonna die of embarrassment.”

“Hey, what does that have to do with you biting my lip?”

“I guess I got a little carried away.” Sam stepped closer to her lover. “Come here, let me kiss it and make it better.”

Brooke’s whole demeanor changed from pouting to one of excited anticipation as she welcomed her girl back into her arms. “Okay,” she smiled, and then captured Sam’s lips with her own.

With one foot off the ground, Sam felt the rush of blood going to her head once again as her strong lover’s arms held her tightly. It wasn’t long before the throbbing descended from her head to her lower regions, that she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her.

Sam twisted in Brooke’s arms until she was able to get a view of the door with one eye. The sight of her father and sister standing in the doorway brought all of her muscles to attention as she immediately started to tense up. Ending the kiss rather abruptly, Sam raised one hand from Brooke’s shoulder and gave a little wave to their audience. “Oh… uhm…” She felt the heat of a blush searing toward her head as the level degree of redness in her face intensified. “Hi, Daddy.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” the sound came from the man shaking his head in the doorway. Samuel watched as his daughter turned and slid down the length of Brooke’s tall form until both of her feet were on the ground. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that old expression?”

Half-scared to answer, Sam elbowed her lover and leaned back to whisper to the woman who was still plying her neck with kisses. “Honey, my Dad’s here.”

Samuel placed his hand over his youngest daughter’s ears and whispered out rather hoarsely, “I believe it’s, ‘get a room’.”

Sam ran her hand nervously through her short blonde hair. “Well, no one has said anything like that today. That seems to be C.C.’s job when she’s around.” The young woman looked up to her father’s face and saw the grin that was waiting for her. Relieved, she took in a deep breath.

“See, Sam, I told you that your dad wouldn’t mind.” Brooke felt the bony end of an elbow come sharply against her midsection. “Ow! What was that for?”

The blonde smiled sweetly at her father, then leaned back into Brooke. Speaking out of the side of her mouth, Sam gave her the reason. “For all the embarrassment that I’m going to die from.”

Sensing his daughter’s embarrassment, Samuel strode over to her and engulfed her in a loving embrace. “You’re not gonna die, Sweetie.”

“How can you be so sure?” Sam pouted, keeping her body stiff.

“Come on, Sam…” he pulled back and looked her in the eye. “It’s not like you never saw your mother and I kiss at home.” He saw her body ease and pulled her in tightly to kiss the top of her head. “And from the look on your face, I’m sure that Brooke has to be better at it than we are.” He stuck his head out to the side and winked at Brooke, watching as the shades of red came quickly, passing from one hued tone to the next in the tall woman’s face.

Leaning back on the counter with her elbow, Brooke turned to hide her face in her hand. “Oh God,” she groaned.

Sarah stood at the doorway, taking in the whole scene, until Brooke’s exasperated comment invoked her to speak. “Oh, no. Not you, too!”

Brooke sank back into her seat as she watched her lover unbuckle the seat belt. Riding in the jet was old hat to the CEO but she was enjoying it this time even more with the blonde by her side. The smugness of a smile graced her face as she thought about what the rest of their lives were going to be like. Together… from here on in, that’s what it is going to be for us. Reaching out, she wrapped her fingers around Sam’s hand and relished in the warmth that filled her with dreams of years to come.

Stirring from the make believe world she’d conjured up in her head, Brooke tuned back to reality with the sound of Sam’s voice. “Hmm…” Brooke opened her eyes and turned to her lover.

“I said,” Sam started again. “That was so nice of you to let Daddy and Sarah have the house for a few days while we’re gone.”

“Yeah,” Brooke nodded, “it’ll give them some time together away from your mother. It will be good for them.” She looked over to Sam to see the gentle nod of affirmation as the blonde gazed out the window of the plane.

The silence lasted for a short time before Sam turned back to the woman next to her. “So, how long is it going to take us to get to this winter hideaway that you know about?”

Looking out the window to see nothing but clouds passing her by, Brooke’s face took on a very thoughtful expression. “Well, I’d say by looks of the clouds…” Brooke hesitated for a moment, and then winked at her astute companion. “Not much longer. Johnnie’s a damn good pilot. She’ll have us there in the next couple of hours, if even that long.”

Sam let a teasing little laugh come out around her smile. “Great, so what do you want to do until then?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?”

“Hmm… let me see. We could… wax your skis, check your binding. Ah… maybe work on that lip balm?”

“Lip balm?” Brooke arched an eyebrow as Sam reached into her pocket and pulled out a stick of Chap Stick, causing a smile to come to the woman’s face. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“Care to share?” Sam offered the stick to her.

“Sure, after you.” Brooke watched diligently as Sam applied the moisturizer to her lips, letting a lazy smile come to her face.

When Sam was done, she closed the tube and held it out for Brooke, only to pull it back when she reached for it. “Ah, Ah, Ah… there’s a better way to do that.”

Brooke’s smile grew bigger as she leaned into her lover and kissed the freshly moisturized lips with her own. “You mean like that?”

“Exactly,” Sam murmured, then changed the angle of her head to make sure Brooke’s lips were fully covered.

Rubbing her lips together as she came off the kiss, Brooke sat back in her chair. “You know what I was thinking?” She saw the subtle shake of her lover’s head. “Why don’t we do some shopping when we get there?”

“Shopping?” Sam blinked in utter amazement. “You want to shop?”

“Yep,” Brooke nodded. “And I know what I’m shopping for.”

“Okay, I’m game, but what are we shopping for?”

Blue eyes dazzled with excitement as she waited for the suspense to build. “Wedding rings, what do you think?”

Green eyes gazed into blue for what seemed an eternity.

“What?” Brooke finally asked.

“Brooke, we just got engaged on Monday evening.”

“Yeah… and?” The dark-haired woman rested her elbow on the arm of the chair, and then let her chin lay on her hand as she leaned in to play with Sam’s cheek.

“Oh God, I think that I’m in love with one totally crazy woman.” Sam rolled her eyes. “We can’t get married, per se, Brooke.”

“Why not?” Brooke pulled back and stared unwaveringly. “I happen to know of a state or two where it’s legal for same sex marriages to be preformed.”

“Legal…” Sam’s voice trailed off. “Brooke Gordon, is that what this trip is all about?” The blonde’s eyes grew bigger. “We’re eloping, aren’t we?” Green eyes looked aimlessly at the tall woman when she thought about the heartbreak it would cause to her lover’s family. “Brooke… your mother’s not going to be happy about that.”

“Uh… not really.” Brooke tried to hold back the grin.

“Are you sure?” Sam eyed her lover suspiciously.

Running through the definition of the word elope in her head first, Brooke confidently nodded her head. “Yes, we’re definitely not eloping.” The tall woman waited for a moment then cleared her throat. “Just so you know Sam, same sex marriages are legal in Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts and you don’t have to be a resident of the state.”

“So we are…” Sam sat back in her seat with a huge smile on her face as she glanced over to her lover, “…aren’t we?”

“Sam, we’re not eloping.”

“Okay, then what are we doing?” Sam sat up in her seat and turned to look at Brooke.

“We’re taking a vacation in a state that just so happens to perform legal same sex marriages.” Brooke sat forward and kissed Sam on the lips briefly. “I just mentioned it to keep our options open, that’s all.”

“Open, huh?” Sam looked out the window as she settled back into her seat. “Why do I think this is an open and shut case?”