Family Found

Chapter 6

"Hey, Sam," Liz smiled after opening the door, feeding Mary. "Might not be the safest time to visit."

His eyebrows danced. "What? Why not?"

She shook her head. "I'm not in the best of places, right now. Kind of feeling like an ugly old hag today with the disposition to match." She turned away from the door and Sam followed her in and closed the door behind him.

"But you're beautiful," Sam frowned at her.

She scoffed. "Yeah," she rolled her eyes. "So beautiful. Still carrying extra weight I can't do anything about because I can't really exercise yet. I think I still have conditioner in my hair because I didn't feel like I had enough time to fully rinse it out when I showered this morning. I can't remember if I brushed my teeth and I'm pretty sure I only got three hours of sleep last night - which is an improvement over the night before."

He walked toward her. "Liz."

"Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I moved out. I needed to. I just... I miss havin' you guys around to help..."

"Liz," he repeated, patiently.

"...So, no, not feelin' especially beautiful!"

"Well, I think you are and I'm sure if I polled random men on the street, they'd agree with me."

She smiled and rolled her eyes. "You're sweet. And I appreciate you trying to cheer me up." She moved her hair off her shoulder, then frowned.

He frowned. "I'm not—"

"Oh, good lord! I think I may have spit up in my hair!"

He smiled and looked down at Mary in her arms and then at her. "Let me see," he offered, reaching out to touch her hair. He leaned forward to look at the locks but the smell that touched his nose wasn't the familiar smell of baby vomit, it was as she smelled in the hospital when he held her while she gave birth – as she smelled every time he'd gotten close to her since.

Suddenly, he was filled with an urge to do something and he straightened with surprise.

"Am I right?"

He shook his head. "No. I—"

She sighed and looked down at Mary. "Well, there's, at least that."

Almost as if of its own accord, his hand moved to her cheek and she looked up at him. His eyes searched her face for a moment.

She frowned and opened her mouth to question him.

He bent and pressed his lips to hers.

Her eyebrows rose and her eyes widened as she touched the arm of his hand touching her face.

When he pulled from her, she tilted her head downward, holding her breath and biting her lower lip, color tinting her cheeks.

"Liz," he started, surprised by his own actions. He stepped back and raised his hands. "I'm sorry, I—"

She smiled, glancing up at him. "I've been wanting that for a long time."

His eyebrows rose. "Really?" He frowned and looked at her again. "How long?"

Her blush deepened and she looked away again. "I don't know if I want to tell you."

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing!"

"How 'bout I go first?"

Her eyebrows rose and her eyes met his.

He swallowed and pressed his lips together before fixing his eyes to a spot on the wall. "The first time I thought about it was when we were washing dishes together after Bobby left for the Aswang hunt."