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Moira blinked her tired eyes open, roused from her deep slumber by the sound of wind and rain outside her bedroom window. She turned her head to glance at the alarm clock. It was almost noon and somehow Angela was still fast asleep. Her gaze shifted from the snoozing blonde beside her to the partially opened curtains. It was dreary and miserable, the perfect kind of weather where one could rest in bed all day. Unfortunately, Moira wasn’t one of those lucky few who could do so.
Impossibly long legs untangled themselves from the blankets, feet touching the cold wood floor moments later. Moira stood, careful not to wake the peacefully sleeping woman.
She crept into the kitchen where she made herself a cup of coffee. Resting against the counter, Moira took the first sip of her drink, enjoying the taste of the rich, flavourful blend as it slid down her throat. As she did so, a thought occurred to her. She would have to thank Angela for urging her to take a day for herself because she sure as hell needed it.
No matter how many times she said thank you to Angela, it didn’t seem to have any real meaning behind it. She’d grown tired of repeating something that had lost its meaning ages ago, so she decided it was time to show her gratitude in a different way. Moira thought for a moment before an idea came to her. She was going to bake Angela something. Food wasn’t much better than meaningless words, but Angela had always been fond of Moira’s baking, so it would have to suffice for now.
With a goal in mind, Moira set to work. She put down her half-empty mug of coffee and went to preheat the oven while she gathered her necessary supplies. A large mixing bowl was tossed onto the counter and filled with milk, butter, and vanilla. Moira cracked two eggs on the edge of the bowl and poured the contents inside, careful not to get any shells into the batter. Some of the egg had managed to spill onto her hands, but Moira hardly noticed. She’d had much worse on her hands than a few egg whites to really be bothered.
Moira beat the liquid ingredients together, gripping the wooden tighter as the chunk of butter refused to melt. She should have melted it before she started, but it was her own idea to do an impromptu baking session. Eventually, the butter liquified and Moira could start adding the other ingredients. Flour, sugar, chocolate chips, baking soda, a pinch of salt, and another handful of chocolate chips for good luck. Moira didn’t even entertain the idea of using measuring cups, having memorized the recipe from her childhood a long time ago.
Chemistry wasn’t her area of expertise and neither was baking for that matter, but she could still be a culinary chemist in her own her own kitchen Moira mused to herself. She spooned the dough onto a cookie sheet, only to realize when the tray was filled that there was still half a bowl of batter. She’d need to make a second batch and buy herself a larger sheet.
She grabbed the tray with her dainty hands and placed it delicately into the oven, knowing full well that Angela would scold her for not wearing oven mitts if she was there. The oven door was slammed shut and the timer set. Now all Moira had to do was wait.
Moira took a sip of her abandoned coffee only to realize instantly that it’d gone cold. A younger Moira would have wrinkled her nose in disgust at the taste, but over the years she’d grown used to drinking long forgotten cups of coffee in between countless hours of slaving over her latest project. That got Moira thinking about her latest experiment. Had she set everything up properly? Were her calculations correct? Would this even produce results? Fortunately for the sake of Moira’s nerves, a pair slender arms wrapped around her waist and brought her out of her thoughts.
“Good morning, Liebling,” Angela greeted the taller woman with a soft yawn and a gentle kiss on the back of her neck.
“That would have been a more appropriate greeting about…” Moira trailed off and glanced up at the clock, “a half hour ago,” she said with a soft chuckle, earning a groan from Angela. “But hello to you, too, angel.”
“What are you making?” Angela asked curiously, peeking over Moira’s shoulder at the bowl on the counter.
“Cookies,” Moira answered and gulped down the rest of her coffee in one swift motion. “Your favourite,” she added, though they both knew Angela loved just about anything sugary.
“They smell delicious,” Angela hummed before pulling back, Moira turning to face her. Her lover’s light hair was tangled mess, pieces sticking out in all directions and making her look unbearably adorable.
“Is that what woke you up? The smell of food, I mean,” Moira wondered, smoothing and brushing Angela’s bangs out of her eyes.
Moira’s question was met with a slight nod and a sleepy smile from Angela.
“Typical,” Moira muttered, shaking her head. “It's better than waking up to me making a racket, I suppose,” she said and pulled back to check on the cookies.
The oven door opened and the heat hit Moira’s face instantly. She peered in and smiled faintly. Everything was going as it should be - just another few minutes and the cookies would be done. Satisfied, Moira stood, closed the door, and turned around only to see Angela with two fingers dipping into the bowl and scooping a sizable amount of dough up and toward her mouth.
“What do you think you’re doing, Angela?” Moira’s eyes narrowed as she watched Angela. “That’s going to make you sick,” she warned.
“I’ve heard the same thing since I was a little girl and it hasn’t stopped me yet,” Angela stated, a grin curling her lips as she popped her slender digits into her mouth. She sucked them clean of cookie dough before she spoke again. “Either way, I have thousands of nanobots in my bloodstream. Getting sick isn’t an option at this point.”
Moira wasn’t impressed with her girlfriend’s antics, simply rolling her eyes. She couldn’t be mad for long, though, relenting with a soft sigh and a ghost of a smile. Angela was really starting to soften her up, wasn’t she?
Moira realized she should have spoken up when Angela reached into the bowl, plucking several chocolate chips from the batter and putting them in her mouth.
“If you keep that up, there won’t be enough left to make another batch,” Moira remarked. Angela just got on her tiptoes and pulled Moira into a kiss, her tongue slipping into the other woman’s mouth, letting Moira taste the chocolate on her tongue.
The kiss broke seconds later, Moira standing to her full height and Angela settling back on her feet. “Fine, fine,” Moira caved into Angela’s will, a fond smile gracing her features.
Angela stepped away when Moira turned back to the oven, yanking the door open and reaching in to grab the tray when she heard Angela’s stern voice from behind her. “Oven mitts, Moira. You don’t want to burn yourself, do you?”
Her girlfriend’s nagging got on Moira’s nerves as usual, but her concern came from a good place so Moira had no right to complain.”Sorry, darling,” she grumbled and stood once again, grabbing the oven mitts from the counter before taking out the tray and dumping the freshly baked cookies onto a plate to let them cool.
The remaining cookie dough was spooned onto the sheet before Moira put it back into the oven, using the oven mitts this time lest she endure more of Angela’s well-meaning, but irritating hounding.
Like the two women inside, the tiny apartment was warm and comfortable. It was a relaxing scene, to say the least, and that feeling only intensified as Moira slid an arm around Angela’s shoulders and the blonde leaned against her in response. Everything was quiet for a moment until Angela reached out to grab one of the still hot cookies and took a bite, burning her mouth in the process.
“You should wait until they’ve cooled down before stuffing your face with chocolate. You don’t want to burn yourself,” Moira echoed Angela’s words with a smug smirk. That only earned her a disapproving look and soft grunt.
A few more moments passed before she bravely attempted to take another bite of the cookie that had cooled slightly. It was cool enough for her to eat, at least. Smiling brightly as she took another nibble, Angela spoke up. “These taste wonderful, as usual.”
“Thank you, Angela.”