Chapter Text
The faint beeping of Linda’s phone pulled the blonde from her slumber. Groggily she rubbed her eyes and turned the alarm off, placing her mobile back onto the night table on her side of the bed.
“S’wrong?” Brenda mumbled. Her back was facing Linda, her wild curls had been loosely braided so that they weren’t in Linda’s face as she held her partner from behind. She wore a pair of cotton briefs and a loose fitting tank to bed. Her olive skin and dark, wild hair stood out proudly against the stark white of their bed linens.
Not for the first time, Linda found herself overwhelmed with tenderness at the sight of her lover next to her in bed. There was something about how the normally gruff, no-nonsense woman softened completely while laying next to her that Linda never failed to find precious. She hoped that she would never stop finding the most mundane of things between them to be so achingly beautiful. Remembering why she’d set an alarm at such an hour, Linda scooted closer to her love once more to wrap her arms around the brunette. Her lips softly reconnected with a broad shoulder; she nudged the strap of her tank out of the way to gently nip at the skin underneath. Brenda shivered and arched her back against Linda’s wandering mouth.
“Happy birthday, Brenda,” she kissed against the nape of her partner’s neck.
“Whatta ya talkin’ ‘bout?” Brenda slurred into her pillow as she squirmed delightedly against Linda’s touch.
Linda squeezed the arm wrapped around Brenda’s middle. “You’re officially a Quinquagenarian,” she chuckled.
Brenda rolled over in their embrace, flinging a possessive arm over her lover and crankily burrowing her face against Linda’s neck. “The fuck you just call me?”
Linda kissed the frowning forehead before her. “It’s midnight. You’re officially fifty.”
“Birthday’s May 10th,” Brenda grunted.
“It is May 10th.”
Brenda lifted her head and blinked confusedly at Linda in the dark. “Oh. Wait. S’not yet, is it? No…?” she insisted.
Linda pecked her adorably scrunched nose. “Mmhmm. Sure is. Go back to bed, I just wanted to be the first to say it to you.”
Brenda landed her head back down against Linda’s neck with a huff. “Fifty. Fuck, no wonder my back’s so broken.”
“Your back is broken because you’re a stubborn shit who insisted on loading the extra tile into Bill’s truck on your own,” Linda said pointedly. Yesterday had been their official move-in date. In addition to the furniture and boxes of belongings that needed to be brought into the house, Brenda had insisted that all extra materials they’d used for the renovation be removed at the same time. “It could have waited,” the blonde reasoned.
Brenda wiggled closer to Linda in response, her broad hand squeezed a hip. “Fuck no. Didn’t want to deal with the Greek Mafia coming back today,” she insisted.
“Be nice, no way we would have gotten everything done in time had your brothers not rolled their sleeves up to help. And your parents made sure we stayed fed and hydrated. I swear the food they brought yesterday alone is enough to last us another week. Even Amelia was a huge help, and she’s a far better painter than I, I’ve learned,” Linda gently chided.
“Yeah I know.” Linda could feel Brenda rolling her eyes against her neck. “But I wanted you and our house all to myself today. Didn’t wanna have to share you again.”
Loath to argue with Brenda on her very special day, and quite touched by the sentiment of her words, Linda resigned, “you’ve got us, babe, me and the house. We’re not going anywhere, promise. All yours.”
“Mmm. ‘Kay. Do I get to sleep in? For my birthday?”
“Whatever you want,” Linda said with great affection.
“Can I stay in bed the whole day?” Brenda nuzzled the exquisitely soft skin of her partner’s neck.
“Mhhmm.”
“Really?” Brenda asked, not quite able to believe her luck.
“Whatever the birthday girl wants,” Linda promised.
“Stay in bed with me? Like having you here.” To emphasize her point, Brenda kissed along Linda’s collar and chest, briefly burrowing her face in the swells of her breasts which were poking out through the top of her sleep shirt. “Comfy,” she purred happily.
Linda tipped the brunette’s face up for a peck on the lips. “Yep, I’ll even allow our morning smoke in here,” she chuckled softly.
“Yeah?” Brenda asked hopefully. She settled her head against Linda’s shoulder and neck once again. Full, pouty lips sought the skin beneath it and she inhaled the scent of her lover’s still-damp hair from their late post-move shower. The jasmine of their shared shampoo clung to the blonde locks, the scent providing a sense of comfort and security to her.
“We’ll open the window. But it’s a one time thing, Murphy, don’t get used to it. I will not have our bed linens smelling like an ashtray,” she said sternly.
“Mmm, s’good.” Brenda flug a leg up over Linda’s hip and sighed against her. “Love you,” she mumbled against her neck.
“And I love you, my birthday girl,” Linda replied. Brenda puckered her lips drowsily against her jaw in response.
“And what am I now? A quintuplet?” Brenda asked.
Linda rolled her eyes affectionately. “Quinquagenarian. It means fifty.”
“That Latin or some shit?”
“Sure is. Well done.”
“See? You’re not the only genius in this household,” Brenda huffed proudly.
“Oh, you’re plenty genius. That I know,” Linda said warmly. She brushed a wild corkscrew from Brenda’s face and tucked it behind her ear.
“M’kay. Go back to sleep,” Brenda ordered softly, “want you well rested for my birthday sex. You’re gonna have to do all the work though ‘cus I can’t fucking move.”
Linda snorted against Brenda’s forehead. “Happy to take one for the team.” She kissed the words against the crown of Brenda’s head.
A large hand reached up inside Linda’s sleep tank to hold a heavy breast and Linda smiled at the tender act of possessiveness. Within moments, Brenda was breathing heavy and deep again, safe in her arms, precisely where she belonged. Linda’s hands ran up and down the weary back, gently kneading the tight shoulders and strained neck of her beloved.
Brenda purred against the touch and Linda’s heart grew exponentially.