“God, is it morning already?” Sam asked, her voice thick with sleep as she yawned again. “Oh, excuse me,” she mumbled as she tried to raise the other eyelid open.

Brooke tried stretching her long frame without disturbing the woman resting against her as she gazed out of the window. “Looks like it.”

“I guess we never made it to bed.” Sam stood up slowly as her muscles protested the movement from sitting in the same position all night. She stretched, trying unsuccessfully not to yawn.

Grabbing Sam’s small hand in hers, Brooke traced her thumb over its back “Maybe next time?” The older woman’s brow furrowed with concern.

“Next time what?” Sam turned her eyes toward the woman sprawled at her feet. She smiled coyly at first then let it explode into a smile so bright it could rival the sun that peeked into the room. The dark-haired woman basked in its glow knowing that it was meant only for her.

Placing her unoccupied hand against the couch, Brooke stood up, grunting as she did. “Maybe next time, Mario will let us make it off the floor and into bed.”

At the sound of his name, Mario lifted his head and looked back and forth between his mistress and her friend.

“Aww, Brooke…who would he sleep with?” Sam asked as she reached down to scratch the Husky behind his ears. Then noticing the dog hair all over her pants, she began to brush it away. “He seems to have been up against me all night,” Sam added with a slight giggle.

“Then I guess he’ll have to sleep with you. He seems to like you.” Brooke released Sam’s hand that she had been holding, only to place both of her own hands against the small of her back, leaning into them to stretch the kinks out from the night before. She groaned as she did so.

“You are old…aren’t you, ‘Auntie’?” Sam teased the tall woman as the creaks of old bones could be heard.

Brooke rolled her eyes at Sam’s comment, causing the younger woman to let a small laugh escape from her lips. “Yep. You know how people get when they get old, dontcha?”

“Depends.”

Confused, Brooke looked at Sam. “Depends? Depends on what?”

Sam clasped her hands behind her back and twisted her foot against the carpet, looking like an embarrassed child. She tilted her head forward; batting her eyelashes. She looked up through them at Brooke. “Do you use them? Depends, I mean…”

Eyes filled with amusement, Brooke reached out for Sam, and pulled her back onto the couch. “Alright, that does it.” She began to tickle the blonde in her arms as Sam attempted to squirm out of Brooke’s grasp.

“Hey, I just asked,” Sam’s speech was cut off by her own laughter. “You know, Methuselah, you keep telling me you’re old.”

This only caused Brooke to tickle her harder, more determined than ever to win.

“Okay…okay! So we’ve established that you can hold your water…and that I can be tic…tickled.” Sam slapped at an insistent hand as she tried with all her might but couldn’t break free. Finally in desperation she squealed, “Brooke!”

With a speed faster than Methuselah could ever move, Brooke flipped the two of them over so that Sam’s back was on the couch and the taller woman was now straddling her hips. The tickling frenzy stopped. The tall woman leaned forward to whisper into the curve of a small ear. “What?”

Green eyes flashed as Sam felt the tingling sensation that she was quickly learning could be caused by Brooke’s lips as they brushed against her sensitive ears. “Wh…what do you mean…what?”

Brooke sat back on her haunches, and then placed one hand to either side of Sam’s waist as she answered. “You,” the tall woman leaned forward now to emphasis her point. “You’re the one who called my name.”

“Hmmm…” Sam smiled as she reached up to pull Brooke down for a proper good morning kiss, letting the long, dark hair cover her in a veil of privacy.

“Mmmm…that was a very nice wake up call,” Brooke whispered into Sam’s ear as she nuzzled the skin just below it.

“Can we consider this our first fight? Because I think I like the way we make up.” The small blonde wiggled her eyebrows and smiled.

Even though it was said in a joking manner, it still left Brooke a little concerned. “I don’t know…were you angry with me?”

Green eyes sought out the blue ones above her as Sam lovingly placed both hands on either side of Brooke’s face. “Not now…not ever.” And within seconds, she was rewarded with a bright smile for her answer.

“Then, from now on,” Brooke placed a kiss on her captive’s lips and quickly pulled back. “I guess we’ll have to have lots of tickle fights so we can make up afterwards.”

“That sounds like a great plan to me,” Sam agreed as she pulled Brooke back down for another kiss to seal their pact.

“Wait a minute. Sam was that…make up or make out?” The dark-haired woman paused for a moment in thought. “Because I honestly don’t think that I can tell the difference,” she teased the younger woman. Her thought process was stopped abruptly when she felt two hands moving further down her back until they ran lightly over her buttocks.

“Hey, make out comes later,” the rakish smile looked almost out of place on the young woman’s face. “Do I have to show you the difference?” she asked as her small hands grabbed the flesh and squeezed Brooke’s behind.

“Well,” Brooke whispered. “You could explain the basics to me.” The older woman took in a deep breath as she felt the small hands running up and down the length of her spine.

“I don’t know, Brooke. That could take some time. Do we have it?”

Glancing at her watch, blue eyes bugged out as if they were animated. “Oh shit! No, we don’t,” she quickly righted herself from the couch and pulled Sam up along with her. “It’s six-thirty.”

“What?” Sam grabbed Brooke’s arm to look at the watch. “I can’t go to class showing up like this,” she picked up her shirt, indicating the chocolate fingerprint stains from the night before.

“Come on,” Brooke grabbed Sam’s hand and hurriedly ran up the stairs. “You can take a quick shower upstairs. What about your overnight bag?”

Sam ran a hand through long, blonde locks. “I thought I’d be back in time to change for class so I didn’t bother to put a good shirt in there. Damn, Brooke, let’s do this on a Saturday night next time.”

They reached the top of the stairs and Brooke made her way to the linen closet for a towel and washcloth. “Deal. You remember where the bathroom is?” The dark-haired woman watched Sam nod in reply then continued, “Good. I’ll get you a shirt to wear.”

Sam made her way into the guest bedroom where she had left her bag the night before. “Yeah, like your shirt would even fit me.” She yelled down the hall then mumbled her after-thought as she glanced at her image in the full-length mirror. “Then again, it’s got to be better than looking like the cookie monster in a chocolate chip explosion.”

Brooke couldn’t help but to laugh at the idea as she met her at the bedroom door to hand her the towel and washcloth. “Here, I think you’ll need these.”

Accepting the items, Sam placed a quick kiss on Brooke’s cheek. “Thanks, Hon.”

The endearment caught the older woman by surprise, causing her eyes to twinkle as her mouth turned upward into a smile. “My pleasure.”

Almost dumbfounded, she watched Sam walk into the bathroom and place her bag on the floor. Grasping at wit’s end for a reason to spend a few more seconds in the same room as the young woman, Brooke rushed in and grabbed her toothbrush. Giving Sam her best toothy grin, she hastily grabbed the toothpaste and spread it over the bristles on the brush then walked out the door, brushing as she went.

Soft laughter carried on the air as Sam shook her head in disbelief of Brooke’s antics. Leaving the door open, she began to strip out of her clothes before shutting it and stepping into the shower. It wasn’t until she stood under the spray of warm water that she realized her omission of shampoo in her packing. Looking swiftly at the few bottles that occupied the shelf, she could find none labeled as shampoo.

“Hey Brooke,” Sam raised her voice over the noise of the shower. “Where’s the shampoo? I don’t see any”

“Wharrpt?” came the garbled response around a mouthful of toothpaste, barely audible through the bathroom door.

“Shampoo…do you have some?”

Brooke took the toothbrush out of her mouth before talking, “Check the cabinet under the sink.”

“Damn,” Sam cursed softly as she stepped out of the shower and moved over to the sink. She looked underneath but couldn’t find the item she was searching for. “Not in here, Brooke. I’m not seeing any shampoo.”

A few seconds later there was a quick knock at the half-opened door. Brooke stuck her arm in the doorway and held out the new shampoo bottle. “Here you go.”

Reaching for the outstretched hand, Sam made sure she tugged on Brooke’s arm as she asked, “Wouldn’t it be faster if we both showered together?” First the blonde heard the gasp then felt the muscles grow tense under her fingers. Sam held back a laugh knowing all too well the effect she was having on Brooke.

“Actually, Sam…it uhm…well…I uh…” Brooke squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced at the taste of the toothpaste she had inadvertently swallowed.

“On second thought…maybe not. I don’t think you’re ready for that. Maybe next time,” she teased before kissing Brooke’s hand as she took the shampoo from it. “Thanks, Hon.”

Brooke stood on the other side of the door with her back against the wall, trying to catch her breath and calm her racing heart. As her mind ran over the events of the last few minutes, her body slowly relaxed enough to slide down the wall’s surface until she was seated on the floor of the hallway where she called out rather weakly from, “Sam?”