I went digging through my files and through the internet today, looking for more of my work I haven't yet posted here, and I found several! Feel free to check the others out (four or five), and while you're here, enjoy this bucketload of fluff and sugar. :D For Renée.

Georg entered the kitchen whistling, and smiled when he saw his wife over at the far counter next to the stove, sticking a finger laden with cookie dough into her mouth and savouring it with a light smile. He went to stand behind her, placing his hands on her hips, and promptly nibbled on her ear. "You taste better than chocolate chip cookie dough any day, Maria," he murmured.

She gave a low sound of appreciation and stuck another of her fingers into his mouth. "For that, you get more than anyone else." She turned around with a wicked sparkle in her eye and kissed him on the lips, taking care not to grab onto him with her sticky fingers. The taste of the kiss was delightful, at least in her opinion, a mixture of her husband's unique taste, cookie dough, and the chocolate still melting in his mouth. "Mmm, delicious," she sighed as she turned back to her task.

Laughing to himself as Maria continued spooning cookie dough onto the tray in front of her, Georg peered into the bowl and asked, "Theoretically, my dear, how many cookies was that supposed to make?"

"Theoretically," Maria answered, plopping a glob down on the tray, "I should have about four dozen. But by the time Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl have been through the kitchen three times and Kurt about ten, in addition to your three, in actuality, I have around a dozen or less."

Georg chuckled, giving her a one-armed hug. "Why does that not surprise me? Dare I ask how many times you've had a lick or two?"

Gleam still in her eye and a smile tugging at her lips again, Maria scooped more dough onto her finger and fed it to her husband again. "Some for you," she said softly, "some for me"—she licked some off her wrist—"and some for baby," she finished, giving herself a spoonful of it and then tossing the utensil in the sink to be replaced by a clean one. "There," she stated, hands on her hips, laughter in her every word. "If you do the math, I've probably eaten more than my share of the cookie dough if you consider how many times each of the children has come through and then my husband, who says he wants a kiss but is really just searching for handouts."

"And then some," Georg murmured, staring into her eyes. Maria scrutinized his softened gaze, wiped her hands on her apron, and reached for her husband's hand, placing it on her slightly bulging stomach, where a foot or elbow could be felt pushing against the wall of her own body. He smiled at the tiny motion beneath his hand and said quietly, "You are a glutton for punishment, Maria. Our baby clearly has a case of hyperactivity due to all that sugar. You won't be getting much sleep tonight."

Gaze smouldering, Maria answered, "Perhaps not," and then lost herself in yet another kiss, arms wrapped tight around Georg's neck as his hold on her hips swayed them together in a gentle motion, their absorption with each other making clear just how inseparable one was from the other.

Watching quietly from the doorway, Brigitta smiled as Maria leaned her forehead against Georg's chin and the space between their chests and chins formed the heart that always characterized their tender embraces.

Ende