Work Text:
“Nope.”
“Alan!”
“No way,” Alan muttered as he spun on his heel in a hasty retreat, his car keys still clutched in his hand.
“Oh, come on!” he heard on a laugh behind him before he managed to push back through the front screen door, Ellie hot on his heels.
“Alan!” Ellie reached out from behind him, her hands clamping to his sides, while Alan tried to take the front steps two at a time.
He stumbled and yelped as Ellie’s fingers dug into his ribs, and quickly spun around to face her. “Really?”
Ellie laughed and raised her hands placatingly, while slowly edging towards him, his eyes darting to the side like a wild, cornered animal. “Please?"
“Ellie-”
“I’ll make it up to you...”
Alan eyed her up, his jaw clenching as he breathed out a sigh and settled his hands on his hips, shaking his head. He glanced behind her towards the front door of their DC home, before again meeting her eye.
“How?” he asked quietly, biting his lip.
“What?” Ellie took a step closer to him, trying not to smile when Alan tensed up.
“How will you make it up to me?”
She almost laughed at the indignant look on his face, angry and resistant despite his obvious curiosity. Letting a coy smirk spread across her lips, Ellie raised an eyebrow and sidled up to him, her hands sliding up his chest and around his neck.
“You can start by unwrapping me?”
“I can do that any night.”
Ellie mock-gasped, gently smacking his shoulder. “Not if you push your luck, Dr. Grant... and besides," she drawled, leaning in to whisper against his ear. "Maybe tonight you’ll find something different underneath.”
Alan let loose a grumpy growl, lowering his forehead until it rested on Ellie’s bare shoulder, her summer tank-top derailing his thoughts for a moment, before he sucked in a long, deep breath, full of the sweet, earthy aroma of her shampoo and perfume. His beard tickled her neck and she smiled to herself, feeling his arms finally wrapping around her waist. “I thought you loved me.”
Ellie laughed at his petulant tone and pulled back, forcing Alan to raise his head. “Only more than life itself.”
Alan held her gaze for a long moment, a soft smile spreading over his face, despite his best efforts to remain obstinate. “Funny way of showing it.”
“Is that so?”
He almost missed the look in Ellie’s eye, before she leaned forward and met his lips with her own. He couldn't help the involuntary moan that escaped him as Ellie quickly deepened the kiss, her fists gripping handfuls of his t-shirt in the process. Alan felt himself slowly being pushed backwards and grunted when his shoulders collided with their Subaru. As her hands loosened on his shirt and slid up and into his hair, Alan finally broke the kiss, dropping his mouth to her shoulder with a groan as he felt her thigh press hard against his groin.
“Ellie…” he breathed across the skin of her shoulder, grinning to himself when he felt a shiver run up her spine. In response, Ellie’s lips slid over his ear, sending a tremor this time through him. “…Well now it’s your fault.”
“What?” Ellie breathed, pulling back to press her lips to his again, his response momentarily forgotten. She heard his keys drop onto the concrete beside them when she leaned further into him, her hand running over his beard, her entire body molding to his. Her brain flashed back briefly to the airstrip in the Dolomites, until she felt his left hand softly glide along the skin at the waistband of her jeans. When he dipped under the fabric to roughly cup her behind, Ellie finally broke from him on a gasp.
“I can’t go in like this,” he muttered, gently thrusting his hips into her to make sure she couldn’t miss the situation she had caused.
“Oh Jesus Christ!” they heard behind them, the sound of Charlie’s voice echoing down the long driveway.
Alan groaned and turned away, while Ellie took a deep breath and slid in front of him, walking toward her offspring. "Language!"
“Are we really going to discuss obscenities right now?” Charlie asked, playfully shielding his eyes, while stepping in front of his sister. “Nope, go back inside, it’s indecent out here,” he joked, bodily stepping in front of Lily, as she tried to open the screen door behind him.
“Charlie, move!” Ellie glanced up at the commotion when her daughter pushed Charlie out of the way to fully step onto the front porch. “What’s going on out here?”
Ellie glanced behind her to see Alan facing away from them, his left hand against the Subaru, his head dropped down to his chest.
“We’re going for a quick drive to pick up Alan’s whiskey,” Ellie muttered, reaching out with her bare toes to drag her flip-flops out from the pile of shoes that had gathered next to the porch.
Confused, Lily shot her mom a look before plopping down on the steps. “Mom, we have whiskey inside.”
“Well..." Ellie breathed, finally looking up at her daughter. "Not his Wild Turkey.”
“Gross, really?”
“You’re twenty, young lady, how would you know?”
While Lily spluttered and searched for a response, Ellie rolled her eyes and turned away, until she heard Charlie’s voice behind her.
“If you’re going for a drive...” he started, dragging out the word in clearly suggestive disbelief, “...make sure Alan wears his birthday hat.”
“Charlie!” Ellie screeched, shock and outrage flashing across her face, as she turned to face him.
... Only to find her son standing on the steps, holding out a domed children’s birthday hat, complete with green T-Rexes clutching giant slices of cake in their tiny cartoon arms. Her eyes dropped to the hat for a long moment, before raising again to meet Charlie's, not missing at all the impish delight that danced in them.
“Ew, Mom.”
Before she could reply, Ellie heard footsteps approaching behind her and turned in surprise, just in time to see Alan brushing past her, a grumble on his lips.
"Welp," he paused with a glare at Charlie, before settling on the stupid, dancing dinosaurs. "That did the trick," he growled, clenching his jaw as the twenty-something gleefully slipped the hat onto the paleontologists silver hair.
Ellie bit her lip to keep from laughing as Alan shot her one last annoyed look before pulling the screen open, the sound of his entry drowned out by the chorus of Happy Birthdays from inside the kitchen.