Tony and Naomi

(as I missed yesterday, there's two today)

Tony added a splash of red to his canvas, the paint hitting white with a satisfying effect, both visually and audibly. Nice. He looked at his palette, the green calling to him next. He dipped his paintbrush into it and swirled it around, making sure to pick up a lot of paint.

Something nagged at him from the back of his mind. Like there was something he was forgetting. He heard whistling in the house, soft and low, weirdly familiar.

A drop of green fell from his paintbrush, landing on his foot. He contemplated it for a second before shaking it off and giving his paintbrush a twist. The paint flew from it to land on the canvas. The green made a perfect complement to the red already there.

He kept going, losing himself in the swirl and ebb of the paint until the scents of ginger and cinnamon and nutmeg started encroaching on him. Mmm... brown. Light and reddish brown and that funny almost yellow brown. His stomach growled as he found the colors he was looking for.

The next scent was coffee -- rich and strong and close. His muse. She brought him coffee. He looked over. And... gingerbread men?

Frowning, he put down his brush and padded toward the smells. Kitchen. They were coming from the kitchen.

He saw Naomi, a bright red apron around her swollen belly. His babies were in there. His. Two of them. Christmas carols were coming from the little radio in the window, Naomi whistling along to the tunes.

Christmas! He knew he'd forgotten something.

Then she turned and saw him, smiled. It didn't matter.

He opened his arms and she flew into them. They had all they needed right here.

Tony and Naomi (m/f) are from Storm in the Desert