Work Text:
Susan’s not surprised that the house is already dark when she finally gets home from work over an hour later than she’d planned on. She kicks off her heels and hangs up her coat, then unceremoniously drops her purse onto the nearby armchair. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she slowly makes her way through the living room with only the moonlight to guide her and stops halfway down the short hallway when she notices a soft, warm light coming from her and Jackie’s bedroom. The door is ajar, and when she pushes it the rest of the way open, she finds Jackie sitting in bed dressed in her pajamas and flipping through a magazine by lamp light.
“It’s two in the morning!” Susan exclaims, more than a little amused. “Why are you still up?”
Jackie looks up from her magazine and smiles back at her. “I sleep better when you’re here to play big spoon,” she says with a casual shrug of her shoulder, “so I waited a little.”
Susan chuckles. “I sleep better when I get to play big spoon too,” she says fondly. “Give me a few minutes and I’m all yours.”
Jackie gives her another smile and returns to her magazine as Susan begins getting herself ready for bed, disappearing into the bathroom long enough to brush her teeth and wash her face before she returns to the bedroom and slips into her pajamas. She sits down at their vanity then, releasing her hair from the clip it’s been held in all day, and lets it fall down past her shoulders. Shaking it out, she slowly runs her fingers through it, massaging her scalp before finally picking up her hairbrush.
“Can I do it?”
Surprised, Susan leans back in her chair and glances over at her girlfriend. “You want to brush my hair for me?”
“Yeah,” Jackie says simply. “Can I?”
She throws back the blankets covering her legs and gets out of bed, then walks over to the vanity and stands behind Susan’s chair. Susan hands her girlfriend the hairbrush without a second thought and studies her thoughtfully through the mirror.
Seemingly oblivious to the attention, Jackie gently runs the hairbrush through Susan’s hair as if it were the most natural thing in the world, even expertly disentangling a particularly stubborn knot without pulling even once. She focuses on her task without saying a word, and Susan begins to wonder if there’s something bothering her. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate the gesture, but she thinks Jackie seems more subdued tonight than usual, and she hopes she didn’t accidentally do anything to cause it.
“You missed me today, huh?” she finally asks after a minute or two of silence, teasing her just a bit and hoping to get at least an amused chuckle in return.
Pausing for a moment, Jackie makes eye contact with her through the mirror and shrugs. “I always miss you when we’re apart.”
She goes back to brushing after that, but Susan keeps quiet and waits, knowing from experience that her girlfriend is more likely to share her thoughts if she doesn’t feel like she’s being forced into it.
“Plus,” Jackie continues, still brushing, “your schedule’s been kinda crazy lately, and between that and Andy and the restaurant and just….life….,” she shrugs again, trailing off without finishing the rest of her sentence.
“You’re feeling a little neglected?” Susan suggests softly, realizing Jackie’s right. They have been functioning like ships passing in the night lately, and a pang of guilt shoots through her. She’s been so busy feeling grateful that Jackie is always so understanding when it comes to her work hours that she hadn’t thought about taking the time to actually check in with her.
Jackie’s cheeks go pink. “Not neglected,” she clarifies, “I just miss us, you know?”
“I miss us too,” Susan says honestly. She reaches for her girlfriend’s free hand and presses a kiss to her palm. “How about the next time we have the same day off, we won’t make any plans or do any housework? We’ll just chill out together. Maybe not even get out of bed?”
The smile she gets through the mirror in return warms her from the inside out.
“Yeah,” Jackie says, her eyes lit up with delight, “that sounds really good.”
“Good,” Susan says, smiling back at her. “It’s a date. And in the meantime, I think we should set aside some time every night just to check in. Or every night that we’re both home, anyway. How’s that sound?”
Jackie nods. “I like that too. There’s a bunch of gossip I need to fill you in on.”
“And I can’t wait to hear it,” Susan says with a laugh. She drapes Jackie’s arm over her shoulder and leans her head against it. “I love you, you know.”
Jackie’s whole body visibly relaxes as she shoots her another smile. “I know you do. And I love you too”.
She puts the hairbrush back down on the vanity and bends over to rest her chin on Susan’s shoulder, still looking at her through the mirror. “You’re all done by the way,” she says softly, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Look how beautiful you are.”
Susan doesn’t reply right away, but her cheeks flush at the compliment, betraying her reaction.
Jackie chuckles and lowers her voice a little. “And I love turnin’ you into a blushy mess when I say so.”
“Me?” Susan scoffs playfully. “I don’t blush. In fact, the only time I blush is when I think about how lucky I am that I get to wake up next to you every morning.”
She gets up from her chair and pulls Jackie close, then tucks a stray strand of hair behind her girlfriend’s ear. “And it’s not exactly a blush of embarrassment, if you catch my drift,” she murmurs seductively.
“Suze,” Jackie protests, her own cheeks flushing pink with pleasure this time.
“Uh uh uh,” Susan admonishes her gently, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Don’t argue with me. You’re gorgeous.” Another kiss follows, this time to Jackie’s cheek. “And you’re perfect.” A third kiss, this one to Jackie’s other cheek. “And I’m so grateful that you put up with me and my ridiculous work schedule.”
Jackie rolls her eyes, still blushing. “I’m not perfect.”
“You’re perfect for me,” Susan points out. “Same difference.”
With that, she cups the side of Jackie’s face in her hand and kisses her for real this time.
Jackie gives a delighted hum and enthusiastically returns the kiss, hooking her arm around Susan’s waist and pulling her even closer. Encouraged, Susan slips her other hand under Jackie’s pajama top and begins to lift it off her, letting her knuckles brush against the soft warmth of her girlfriend’s skin as she pushes it upward. Jackie lets out a tiny, delicious gasp at the sensation. Her fingers are tangled in Susan’s hair, and she’s got her other hand wrapped around her hip, her thumb pressing insistently against Susan’s hipbone. It takes Susan a few seconds to realize she’s being steered backward, but once she does, she goes willingly.
That is, until Jackie breaks their kiss and pulls away a bit, yawning one of the biggest yawns that Susan has ever seen in her life. She laughs and tugs Jackie’s pajama top back down into place.
“Okay,” she says teasingly as Jackie covers her mouth and fails to stifle another yawn, “I think it’s time for bed.”
“I’m sorry,” Jackie says, looking contrite as she slips her arms around her girlfriend’s waist again and rests her forehead against her shoulder. “I want to, I’m just really beat.”
Susan gives her an affectionate squeeze and drops a kiss into her hair. “Me too. But snuggling up in bed together is just as good, right?”
Jackie snorts. “If you say so. I didn’t think we were that old yet.”
“Oh, come on,” Susan insists. She takes her gently by the elbow and maneuvers her back toward the bed, then gives her a playful shove toward her own side of it. “Get back in there. You just got done telling me how much you like being the little spoon.”
“I do,” Jackie says with a mock whine, pretending to drag her feet before plopping back down on her side of the bed. “I just like other things more.”
“While you’re awake enough to enjoy them, I hope,” Susan says dryly. She slips under the covers on her own side and holds out an arm. “C’mere already, would you?”
Despite her objections, Jackie immediately switches off her bedside lamp and scoots across the bed, spooning up as close to her girlfriend as she can get. Susan snakes an arm around her waist and pulls her even closer, then buries her nose in the curve of Jackie’s neck and breathes deep before letting out a contented sigh.
“I really have missed this,” she murmurs softly. “You make me happy.”
Jackie yawns again. “You make me happy too,” she says sleepily, “but if this is the kind of night we’re gonna have every time I bring stuff up to talk about, I’m going to have to start inventin’ problems. ‘Cause this is really nice.”
“So, what I’m hearing is that I need to be more annoying,” Susan mumbles around a yawn of her own. “I can do that.”
There’s silence for a few seconds before Jackie finally responds. “Okay,” she agrees, barely coherent. “’Night. Love you.”
Susan smiles against the back of Jackie’s shoulder, already drifting off herself. “Night, honey. Love you too.”