For Fiona

30. Bear Kisses

When Tim and Lucy finished tucking Fiona into bed and bade her goodnight, they stood by the light switch and shared a quick kiss like they did every night, but what had changed was that once they shut the door of their daughter's room, they crashed into each other in the hallway and kept their tongues tangled together as they made their way down the corridor, and into their own room where they made quick work of locking their door and getting comfortable on their mattress. He appreciated that their evenings together were no longer filled with quiet glances in the bathroom while brushing their teeth or settling on opposite sides of the bed anymore; he much preferred being wrapped up with her between the sheets.

She pulled away slightly but remained flush on top of him when she asked, "Are you sure you're not tired? We had a long day at work."

"If you're tired, we can stop."

"No." She brushed her thumbs over his cheek bones. "I've been looking forward to this all day. That and hanging out with Fi after shift."

"Well, now that she's asleep, it's just the two of us." He grinned and silently tugged at the drawstring of her pants to silently urge her he would like to take them off.

Lucy captured his lips while their hands started working together until...

"Mommy?" Fiona jiggled the door knob that would not budge. "Daddy?"

"Crap," Tim whispered while she rolled off of him. He went over to their bedroom door and opened it to find Fiona clutching her stuffed bear. As he crouched down, he softly asked, "Hey, munchkin. Are you okay?"

"I want bedtime hugs." She rose her arms high so that her dad would pick her up, and when he did, she clung to him.

"Bedtime hugs with you are my favorite," he said and walked her over to the bed. He set her down on the mattress, and she looked up at him grinning with her bright blue eyes sparkling.

"I thought you liked hugging alone with Mommy."

"Not as much as we love hugging you," Lucy said and gestured for their daughter to crawl up the bed towards her.

Fiona waited for her dad to climb in next to her and nestled into his side, then she picked her head up to suggest, "Mommy says you kiss when you hug alone. You can still do that while I'm here."

Tim snickered. "Not tonight. Let's all go to sleep."

Fiona wrinkled her nose, her curiosity winning out over her tiredness. "Do bears kiss?"

Lucy had to think about it. "That's a good question." She twisted to grab her phone and Googled it. The search results made her smile. "Aww, they do, and it's adorable. Look." She showed the images to her daughter and Tim.

"I love bears!" Fiona swooned.

"Me, too, now. And you're the cutest baby bear," Lucy mused then peppered her daughter's face with kisses until she giggled. "Bears sleep, too, so close your eyes, please."

"Okay," she sighed, her energy too depleted to disagree, so she cozied up with her dad.

Lucy scooted over and banded an arm across her daughter where she could hold her close and also hold onto Tim.

"I know this wasn't we planned," he murmured.

"That's okay. I love bedtime hugs with my favorite people." She strained her neck to barely graze his lips as a their final good night before drifting off.

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Fiona shook her head as her mom brought her into her bedroom. "I don't wanna nap!"