********

"Holly?"

"Yes, hon?"

"How much chocolate do you think we've eaten?"

Holly lifted her head and cast a bleary eye over the wrappers littering her bedroom floor. She could just about see the carpet, if she strained a little. But then, she didn't have the energy to strain. Didn't have the energy for anything much.

"Seems it really *is* an aphrodisiac..."

Dana muttered something incomprehensible against Holly's navel. Even though they'd been...she searched her mind for a euphemism that was at the same time poetic and noncommittal, and settled on "exploring each other's bodies"...since the previous evening, with no sleep and only a brief trip out for supplies, the motion of Dana's lips against her skin was starting a definite tremor somewhere she was sure had been all tremor'd out.

They had flirted all the way home the night before, not touching deliberately but making the most of accidents, neither of them willing to put words to what was going on. They were just going to have dinner, that was all, and then Dana would spend the night at Holly's because she'd locked her apartment key in the office. And if she didn't sleep on the couch, that was because couches were bad for the spine, and Holly's bed was *easily* big enough for two.

Once the door was closed behind them, they had stood facing each other, smiling more from nervousness than anything else. Holly had offered to take Dana's coat, and Dana had made a move as if to take it off; but then she had stopped, and tipped her head to one side.

"Wouldn't you rather take *me*?" she'd said; and what was remarkable was that her tone of voice was not in the least bit flirtatious. She might have been asking the time of day, or the best route to DC in the rush hour.

And then there had been kissing, of course; quite a lot of kissing, in fact, and no worrying about trivial things like smeared lipstick or rumpled blouses or breathing. And they must have got to the bed at some stage, though Holly couldn't for the life of her recall how. All she could remember was skin on skin, and mouths and fingers, and bumping knees and laughing, at first from nerves and then because Dana looked so adorable when she laughed, and she didn't laugh nearly enough.

They had been tangled together in a position that would make M.C. Escher's eyes water when Dana had looked up with a pensive look on her face and said, "Y'know, we still haven't had dinner."

Holly's eyes had flicked over to her bedside clock. Good heavens, was that really the time? "It's too late for a restaurant..."

"Pizza?"

Hopeful sound in her voice; they'd have to get pizza next time. Next time? Oh yes, there'd be a next time.

"The local place is really unreliable, and if there's one thing I can't stand, it's cold pizza." Murmurs of assent from Dana, who seemed to be engrossed in licking the outside of Holly's left thigh. "I don't really feel like cooking..."

"Mmm, me either." Dana pulled her head back a little and blew gently on the area she had been licking. Holly allowed her train of thought to derail momentarily while the warm shivers engulfed her from the belly out.

"So..."

"So?" Dana had stopped with the licking and the blowing, and was now rubbing the top of her head against Holly's side. A catlike gesture, and more soothing than arousing, though there was something casually intimate about that touch that set Holly's heart aflutter.

"Umm...I don't think there's anything in the kitchen..."

"Aha!" Dana pulled herself up and rested on her elbows alongside Holly, a satisfied smirk on her face. "So, your offer of dinner was just a smokescreen for the corruption of an FBI agent!"

"I don't recall hearing any complaints, *Agent* Scully," said Holly, matching her smirk for smirk. Dana kept up the mask for a little while, then collapsed into giggles.

"No," she said, when they had finally got their breath back, "I'm not complaining. I'm just really really hungry."

It took them a while, what with giggles and posing and miscellaneous silliness and a lot more touching than was strictly efficient, but they did eventually manage to get dressed and out and into the nearest 24-hour convenience store. There had been more silliness then. It was the Saturday after Easter, but the store was still well-stocked with Easter eggs and more kinds of chocolate than Holly had ever imagined possible. She had meant to be sensible and buy vegetables, or at the very least a frozen meal; *proper* food, because after all, they weren't teenagers any more.

The grin on Dana's face when she saw the display -- "Easter Treats Down 50%!" -- put paid to that.

They had teased and giggled at each other all the way back, laden down with Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies and more sweet little candy nothings than you could shake a stick at. And, oh, how lovingly they had fed each other, licking the melted chocolate off of each other's fingers, and other areas, too...and the things Dana could do with peeps!

And now they were lying calmly in the spring morning sunshine, sleepy and sated (in more ways than one), their hormone-and-sugar high having faded to a pleasant afterglow; and Holly wasn't sure if it was possible to sleep in such a strange position (she wouldn't venture to guess how they'd got into it in the first place) but she was damned if she was going to try and wriggle out of it. Maybe *next* time they'd be civilised and get to sleep before sunrise.

And they'd have pizza. With extra cheese, of course.

[end]

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Kathrine F.