Spoilers: Our AU up to Paterfamilias. This is sort of a missing scene from part five. But it's S/A. Because if they don't have awkward sex potential who does?
Disclaimer: No one is ours, we're just using them for fun. Well, not so much fun in this one.

Notes: Answer to the "Awkward Sex" State of the Union Challenge. We mentioned this incident in Paterfamilias 5 and somebody suggested we write the scene.

Sam pushed the door of his apartment open and immediately heard a soft southern voice yelling curses he hadn't known Ainsley knew. He followed them to the kitchen to find her crouching in front of his cabinets, rummaging around. She tilted back to look at him. "Why don't you own a cake pan?"

"Because I don't bake," he said tiredly.

She got to her feet. "Now I have all this batter and nothing to do with it." She looked at him. "I wanted it to be a surprise.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks."

She went over to him and took his hand. "Sit. I'll give you a neck rub." He sunk into a kitchen chair. She stood behind him, pulling his jacket off and tossing it to a chair. She undid his tie and pulled it off, then started rubbing his shoulders and the back of his neck.

"Mmm, thank you."

She kissed his forehead, letting her fingers dance down his spine. "Did your mom ever let you eat batter when you were little?"

"My mom never baked."

She moved away to grab the bowl and brought it to the table. She dipped a finger in the cake batter and held it up to his mouth. He opened it and sucked the batter off her finger.

She kissed his ear, sucking on the lobe. "Good?"

"Very good, can I have some more?"

She sat on his lap. "You may." She offered him another fingerful, unbuttoning his shirt with her other hand. He licked it off, nipping her fingertip. She shuddered a little, then dropped a kiss to his chest.

"Do you like batter, too?"

She smiled. "Mmm hmm." She dipped two fingers in the bowl, scooped up some batter and smeared it over his chest. Then she licked it off.

"I think I like this stuff. I also think you should take your clothes off so I can lick some off of you."

She pulled her shirt off, then her bra. She dribbled more batter on his bicep and sucked it off. He stood, getting rid of the rest of his clothes before they got stained. She kissed his mouth, getting more batter and smearing it all over his chest and stomach. She then went about cleaning him off, licking and biting at him.

He groaned. "Hop on the table, let me try this."

She moved, sitting on the table, legs swinging. She licked the sticky stuff off her fingers. Sam scooped some up, dribbling it over her nipples and then sucking it off. She moaned softly, arching her back. He licked batter off of her breasts, her stomach, the insides of her thighs.

She whimpered, bending over him to lick some off his back, hands roaming all over him. He stroked her with his fingers, sinking them into her heat. She sucked in a sharp breath, hips lifting.

And then his mouth moved down, kissing her there.

Ainsley's head fell back and she moaned, fingernails digging into his shoulder. "Yes."

There was something off about his rhythm. Usually he was very good at this, but after a moment he seemed distracted and was. . .fidgeting. She frowned down at him and saw red marks on his back. "Sam?" She ran her fingers over his skin and found the red marks swollen and hot. "Sam!"

He finally pulled back. "Ainsley, I'm sorry, but I. . .something itches like hell."

"It's okay you have something on your back." She hopped off the table, looking at his chest. There were more swollen red marks. "Jesus, Sam. Look at you."

His eyes widened. "What. . .?"

She hauled him up to get a better look at him. She started noticing a pattern to the marks. "Sam. . . are you allergic to any foods?"

"Umm, too much nutmeg makes me sneeze and my eyes water, but. . .oh."

Her eyes went wide. "Oh no." She shoved him. "Get in the shower, wash it off. Go, now."

"Oh my God."

"It's my mother's recipe." She was shoving him towards the bedroom. "I didn't know people could be allergic to nutmeg."

He stumbled to the bathroom and turned on the shower. The spray hurt like hell. Ainsley climbed in with him, trying to wipe it off him gently. When she couldn't see any more batter she turned the water off and wrapped him in a towel. She dried off and pulled on clothes then brought him some sweats. "Come on, I'll drive you to the hospital.

"The hospital?"

"You have hives. You nee a shot of Benadryl and steroids."

"But I washed it off."

"You ate some, too, Sam."

"But that just makes my eyes water. I can't possibly explain this to a doctor."

"We'll tell them we had a food fight."

"Naked?"

"Lots of men walk around with their shirts off at home."

"It's not just on my chest."

"There's just a little on your back and arm-" She broke off, looking down. "Oh, Sam."

He closed his eyes, because hives not only itched, they hurt. "I am not going to the hospital."

"Sam, hives can last for *days* without treatment. And they can scar. They'll give you the shots and something to stop the itching."

His shoulders hunched. "Okay."

She kissed him softly. "I'm sure they won't need to see all of them to diagnose."

"Okay." He sounded very young.

She got him dressed and took him out to her car, driving him to the hospital. "I'm so sorry about this. I never even thought about you having an allergy."

"Not your fault."

"All I wanted was to make your day better and I end up doing this." "I know." He closed his eyes, leaning against the seat.

It was four hours before they got home. The medicine they gave Sam made him drowsy, but it didn't hurt as much anymore.

Ainsley had an arm around his waist, letting him lean on her as she got him to bed. She took his shoes and socks off, then his shirt, tucking him into bed. She kissed him gently. "I'll run out and fill the prescription in the morning."

He curled up into a ball. "Stay with me?"

She climbed on the bed, curling around him. "Of course."

"It hurts, Ainsley," he said very quietly.

She whimpered. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"But you''ll take care of me."

"I promise. I'll take tomorrow off. You can just rest and get better."

"I trust you."

She kissed his hair. "I'll take very good care of you."

"Mmmm." He snuggled against her.

She smiled, holding him close to her, stroking his hair. "Try and get some sleep."

"Mmmm."

She hugged him close, rocking him to sleep.

The next morning Ainsley called out of a work, using a personal day. Sam was still sleeping. The hives looked like they'd gone down a little but were still there. He definitely needed a day to rest. She stared at the phone a moment before calling the only person on Senior Staff she felt comfortable telling this.

"CJ Cregg."

"CJ, this is Ainsley. I know I should be calling Mr. McGarry, or even Mr. Ziegler, but they both scare me. And Josh would just laugh and mock for days so I thought you were the best option."

There was silence on the other end of the line a moment. "Okay. What's up?"

"Sam's not going to be in for work today."

"What's wrong?"

"He has hives. We had to go to the emergency room."

"Hives?"

"He's allergic to nutmeg."

"And he got hives? How much did he eat?"

Ainsley rubbed her forehead. "He didn't so much eat it as get it. . . rubbed on him."

CJ stared at the phone a moment like she couldn't believe it had just told her what she'd heard. "Nutmeg, Ainsley?"

"It was cake batter. I was trying to bake him a cake because he'd been having such bad days but he didn't have a cake pan. Then he came home and he was so tired and upset and I didn't want to waste the batter so-"

"Okay. Okay. Okay. Ainsley, too much information."

"Sorry," she squeaked.

"I'll tell Leo and Toby he wont be in. Is he okay, can they call if they need him?"

"Yes, I'll be taking care of him." She paused. "Don't let Josh call. I'm not letting him talk to him."

"That's probably wise. Bye, Ainsley."

"Bye CJ." She hung up and heard a cry from the other room.

"Ainsley? Is there any ice cream?"

"I'll go see, honey. Don't get up." She walked into the kitchen so she could start pampering him.

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