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“Hannah-bear,” a soft voice coaxed her from sleep. “Hey, come on, it’s time to get up.”
A smile slipped on to Hannah’s lips as she snuggled in to the girls neck. The edges of her consciousness were still soft and frayed, leaving her warm and content, “Bakes…” she mumbled in to the hollow of the other girls neck—just loud enough for her to hear, “Just five more minutes okay?”
Baker’s laugh vibrated on to Hannah’s skin, “Why is it that you always say five more minutes, and then end up lounging around for another hour?”
Maybe Hannah would’ve been inclined to get up, if her girlfriends words weren’t laced with fondness she knew so well. Instead, she leaned in to Baker’s warmth even further, pressing butterfly kisses to her girlfriend’s neck, her heart squeezing just a bit at the realization that this was her life. She would get to wake up next to Baker for the rest of it, god willing.
“No no no,” Baker giggled shifting off of their bed, leaving a cold divot in her place. “It’s your birthday, baby. Come on.” Light flooded the room, making Hannah scramble to cover her eyes.
“Baker!” She shouted. Her girlfriend let out a soft laugh as she padded back to their bed.
“Well? You’re awake now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah…” Hannah grumbled, feeling Baker’s hands on her own, peeling them away from her eyes.
“Good. Now come on, Joanie and Luke get in at one and you know your sister’s gonna to want us to take them around the city the minute they touch down.
She sighed but reluctantly sat up—she loved that Baker knew her better than probably even herself, but did she have to be right all the time?
Their hands danced around each other, something they’d taken to doing when the other didn’t want to get up. “Okay it’s time,” Baker decided, her fingers laced with Hannah’s as she crawled off the bed, “Up!” She tugged hannah’s arms, hoisting her girlfriend out of bed. “I’m making you breakfast, okay? And i’m sure Wally will be knocking at our door sometime soon now.”
Hannah smiled, letting Baker pull her out of their bedroom, “I feel like I haven’t seen him in forever!”
“It’s been three days Han!” Baker snorted, sliding open the windowed double doors to their kitchen. Making a beeline to the pantry, beginning to take out ingredients for what looked like pancakes while Hannah popped on their favorite playlist. Oh, Hannah hoped it was pancakes .
It was pancakes, and bacon, and eggs, and toast, and probably anything else Hannah could dream up, making it almost physically impossible for her to wipe the dopey grin off her face as she watched Baker cook— she had insisted that there would be no cooking for Hannah unless she needed help. Looking back Hannah would have been so embarrassed of looking at Baker so openly like that (though that wouldn’t have stopped her then anyways). But as the years passed, she found herself minding less and less. She wanted Baker to know just how much she loved her and how happy she made her.
Baker spun around to face Hannah, her goofy little apron—“kiss the baker” it said, with a arrow that Baker had sharpied on, pointing up to herself—fanned out over what was originally hannah’s oversized blue shirt that somewhere along the way became Baker’s too, much like the rest of their closet, and her hair caught in soft sun rays that spilled in from their living room windows. Hannah had to stop herself from pulling Baker away from the stove and in to her arms.
“Would you mind watching these while I go grab something?” She asked, a mischievous smile graced her lips, catching Hannah mid-daydream.
She blinked, settling back in to the real world and nodded, “Mhm, yeah of course.” She smiled.
“Thank you baby,” Baker handed her the spatula and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek before slipping out of the room, leaving Hannah still slightly dazed as she walked over to the stove. Maybe she really did need those extra five minutes of sleep .
Eventually Hannah heard Baker slip back in to the room, but she kept her eyes focused on flipping the pancake that may or may not have been slightly burned. Though that focus was quickly dissolved as she heard a small thump on the counter and felt small hands settling around her waist, palms pressed flat to her stomach, and the soft press of lips just behind her ear. “Happy birthday,” Baker whispered and Hannah finally let her eyes drift over to the small yellow wrapped package, probably a book of some sort, and all thoughts of the now sizzling black pancake were forgotten.
Hannah picked up the package, definitely a book, and turned to face Baker. Her eyes were lit with the familiar look of happiness, but also a faint tinge of nerves. “What is it?” Hannah asked dumbly, knowing exactly what Baker would do before she did it.
“Open it and see!” She nudged Hannah’s hand.
“Okay, okay.” Hannah put her hands up in mock innocence before she began unwrapping the package, her eyes caught a flash of the familiar spine and Hannah’s heart dropped, “You didn’t!” She gasped.
Her hands began moving faster and faster, removing the paper as Baker urged her on— “Finish unwrapping Han!”
When the book finally sat in her hands she couldn’t believe it. She’d seen it online, she even thought about buying it for Baker, but she never did. And now here it was, real, solid in her hands, the book that had brought them together as freshman. “It’s the first edition,” Baker said, though Hannah was sure Baker knew she knew that already, “and I uhm,” She slipped the book from Hannah’s hands and opened the first page before handing it back to her. “I annotated it.”
Hannah looked down, her eyes scanning Bakers careful scrawl. It wasn’t just any writing, “I was so nervous to ask you, I mean you were so pretty and poor freshman Baker didn’t even realize why I was so scared! but then I turned around and you made a joke, I was so happy, I didn’t even know that by the end of the day you would be my best friend. And i’m sure I didn’t know that you would be the love of my life” Hannah’s eyes filled with tears and she shut the cover without finishing before any tears could spill out and ruin Baker’s words.
“Bakes,” She barely got out before she pressed a soft kiss to Baker’s lips, “I love you, so much. ” Her words fanned across Baker’s lips, only mere centimeters apart.
Baker smiled, wrapping her arms around Hannah’s neck, “Does this mean you like it?” Laughter bubbled up Hannah’s throat in response.
“ Like it? God Baker, nobody else could ever give me something so perfect, this is the second best birthday present i’ve ever gotten.”
“Second best?” Her girlfriend asked, arching a brow and letting a pout slide on to her lips.
Hannah’s mind drifted. “What do you get for the person who gave you everything?” Baker had asked on her birthday many years ago, “And I realized, that there’s one thing I haven’t truly given you yet, and that’s me. My self. My whole self. Without the fear or the shame. Just with love, and abandon.”
There were times over the course of their relationship that Hannah would mark as having never been happier. But standing there, foreheads pressed together in the kitchen of their apartment, exchanging soft kisses with sunlight slipping through their curtains—The ones Baker had seen at a thrift shop not too far from their apartment during their first week in New York and fell in love with, “I will break up with you if we don’t get these curtains” She had teased— Hannah knew that it wasn’t really those small warm moments that made her happy. Any moment with Baker could easily be the happiest moment of her life.
“You’re my perfect gift Bakes, remember?” Hannah smiled, pulling Baker closer to her body and nuzzling their noses together.
“Yeah, I remember,” Baker laughed and pressed a small kiss to the corner of Hannah’s lips. “I love you.” She whispered, and Hannah could feel her soft smile against her lips. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” She spoke between chaste kisses, “Happy birthday, my love.”