Title: Rub
Author: meagan <nutmeg@serv.net>
Summary: Xander gives Cordelia that foot massage she wanted in "The Lump." More in my still-unnamed (I have some ideas that I'm considering) Xander/Cordelia series that started with "A Return." If you missed the rest, you can find it on my page below (except "The Lump" isn't up yet).
Spoilers: For the show, none, but you really need to read the rest of the series.
Disclaimer: Of *course* they belong to someone else. I could never come up with characters like this. Specifically, they belong to Mutant Enemy, Fox, WB, and anyone else I forgot.
Rating: I'm not sure. PG-13/R for suggestive situation? PG because there's no actual sex?
Distribution: Bucky's, if Melissa wants it. Otherwise, please ask.
Note: Yes, I know this will seem very familiar to some people. Hate me, think I'm a pathetic excuse for a fanfic writer, whatever. But I just liked the original version so much that I decided to copy John Fogerty and plagiarize myself. After all, if people do NC-17 and PG-13 versions of the same thing, why can't I do slash and non-slash versions?

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"Ugh. Remind me to kill myself if I think about doing that again." A very pregnant Cordelia Harris rubbed her back, frowning at the piles of packages scattered around the room. "Why did we decide that we needed all this *stuff*? At least Oz is cooking dinner for us tonight. After that wife of his dragged me through every store in town today, it's the least he can do."

"Let me paint your fingernails?"

For one brief second, Cordelia's expression made Xander think she was about to accept, but then his wife shook her head. "You're a klutz, Xander. I don't want to walk around with streaks up my arm."

"Your toenails, then."

"My toenails?" Cordelia blinked at the sudden completely unexpected direction the conversation was taking. "Why?"

"Why not? I mean, they're just your toes. If I mess up, you just wear shoes that cover them. And then you kill me." Cordelia shook her head, and Xander grinned, leaning closer to her ear. "Don't you wonder what it would be like?"

"What *what* would be like?" But Cordelia's breathing had sped up, and her eyes were becoming nice and glassy. Just the way Xander liked them. That was one of the signs he looked for that indicated that Cordelia's mind wasn't on conversation.

And so Xander pulled away from Cordelia. "Oh, please, don't sound so enthusiastic." But Xander was grinning as he went through her nail polish collection, selecting a nice pale metallic lavender. He was fully aware that this was completely new territory for Cordelia, so some trepidation was to be expected. She wasn't used to giving up complete control like this. He grabbed a bottle of quick-dry top coat and moved back to the bed. "Okay, shoes and socks off." When Cordelia did not follow his direction, Xander frowned. "Second thoughts?"

"Not exactly." Now Cordelia grimaced. "More like feet stuck walking around in shoes all day. Remember? Little Miss Willow finally learned how to do the marathon shopping thing?"

"Ah." The grin returned. "Well, there are ways to fix that."

"Huh?"

"Hang on a few minutes." Xander made a detour to the kitchen, finding and filling large plastic bowls with warm water. He returned to the bedroom and placed them on the floor. "Okay. Shoes and socks off." Cordelia obeyed, shifting so her feet were dangling above the floor. Xander moved one bowl under her feet. "Now in the water while I go get some towels." Once again, Cordelia did as requested, and Xander ducked back into the bathroom, gathering towels, soap, and a few other items he wasn't quite sure what to do with. He felt confident that he would figure things out as he went. After all, he spent a lot of time watching her primp. Task complete, he carefully made his way back to the bedroom, placing all items on the floor beside the bowls of water. He sat down on the floor in front of Cordelia, gently tugging one foot out of the water. "Just let me know if this tickles, okay?" And he went to work, carefully massaging soap into the skin on the top of Cordelia's right foot. When he shifted his attention and began rubbing the bottom of her foot, he heard a soft thump and looked up, alarmed at the noise. "Cor? Are you okay?"

Cordelia was no longer sitting upright. Cordelia had fallen back and was staring at the ceiling. "Fine." She lifted his head from the bed and grinned at Xander's concerned expression. "You can just go back to what you were doing."

The concern faded from Xander's face and was replaced with a sort of smug glee. So Cordelia was enjoying this just as much as Xander was. How tragic. He carefully rinsed the soap off of Cordelia's right foot before toweling it dry and repeating the process with the left foot. Then he stood.

"What? That's it?" A disappointed Cordelia sat upright at the head of the bed and struggled to pull her feet up to join the rest of her body. She sighed. "Time to paint."

"Not quite." Xander took his place on the opposite end of his bed, pulling Cordelia's feet onto his lap. "There are still a few things to do first." He leaned over the side of the bed, grabbing the things he had dropped on the floor and then forgotten about in his desire to get his hands back on those appendages now resting on his thighs. The first thing he decided to do was trim. There was no sense putting that nice polish on uneven toenails. Besides, Cordelia would kill him if he left her with anything less than perfection. He deliberately focused on said toenails, carefully avoiding inadvertently cutting the flesh. He frowned at the rough edges left by the blades of the clippers and picked up an oversized emery board to smooth the problem areas away.

"Xander?" He lifted his eyes to Cordelia's and observed uneasiness. "Um, just in case you didn't know, this is really nice." Cordelia cleared her throat and shifted on the bed. "I mean, really, *really* nice. You put all those expensive pedicurists to shame."

Xander's grin just widened. "Good."

"But I still plan on getting them done professionally." She gasped when Xander abruptly leaned over and placed an incredibly sloppy kiss on Cordelia's sole. No, correction, Xander placed his lips there and then proceeded to *lick* the bottom of Cordelia's foot, gentle laps from heel to toe that ended with his tongue carefully prodding their way between her toes. Finally, he turned his face, rubbing the sole of Cordelia's foot with his stubbly cheek. "Uh, never mind. I forgot what I was saying."

"Good girl." Xander lifted the foot in his hand to his shoulder, depositing one more kiss on the ankle before turning his attention to the left foot still resting on his thigh. Cordelia watched, prepared for more of what he had just been given. But instead of lavishing more attention on the portion of Cordelia's body that took the most physical abuse, Xander licked Cordelia's big toe, tilting his head so he was gazing up at the mother of his child through lowered eyelashes as he deliberately sucked that toe. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to look at Cordelia directly, but he really, really wanted to see how this was affecting his wife. Encouraged by the expression of pure bliss, he released the big toe and moved on to the next two digits. Now his eyes fell shut, teeth gently scraping skin -- until the toes in his mouth moved. His eyes shot open, but before he could think of something to say, his gaze fell on Cordelia. She was leaning back, resting on her elbows, dark eyes fixed on Xander. Suddenly, Xander realized that things could get very intense -- that is, even more intense than they already were -- very quickly. He glanced at the clock. As much as he wanted that to happen, he realized they were on a very tight schedule if they wanted to make dinner.

And so he reluctantly released the foot that had been the object of worship. "Huh?" A dazed Cordelia attempted to remember how to protest. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Xander picked up a small pink bottle. "Just need to get moving here. It's going to take a while for the polish to dry." As he spoke, he opened the bottle and squeezed out a small amount of minty lotion and began rubbing it into Cordelia's feet, carefully avoiding getting any on the toenails. He recalled her complaints that oils on nails made for a bad manicure. Or pedicure, as the case may be.

And Cordelia fell back against the mattress, sighing. "You're forgiven." Then Xander rubbed a certain spot just a little bit more forcefully, and Cordelia moaned. "Oh, geez, Xander, I think we should rethink this going out tonight thing. We could just have leftovers."

"You think that's a plan?" He released the foot in his hand and turned his attention to the one still on his shoulder, repeating the massaging process. "And why is that?" He repeated the hard rub once more and grinned at Cordelia's extremely happy sound. "Do you like that?"

"Oh, yeah." Cordelia sighed. "You know, you have really strong hands."

"So is that good?"

"Very good."

He sighed. This would be a wonderful experience if they had more time to savor it. "Okay, now you have to keep still. I know you trust me, but this is something I haven't done before." Cordelia nodded her agreement, and Xander began. The smaller toes received tender dabs, and the larger toes were treated to long, careful strokes. He topped the polish with a thin layer of quick-dry topcoat. Toenails now coated with varnish, Xander placed Cordelia's feet back on his thighs. "Now we wait."

"Wait? For what?"

Xander waved his hand over Cordelia's feet. "Um, wet paint, remember?"

"Oh." Cordelia considered the information and frowned. "So you're just going to sit there and wait?"

"Yeah, I am." He turned his eyes to Cordelia's ankles. "Or I could do this." He gently rubbed the swollen flesh.

"That works." She cocked her head. "You could blow on my nails, too."

"Blow on them?"

"Speeds up drying."

"Ah." He did as instructed. Finally, Xander decided that enough time has elapsed, and he gingerly touched the polish to determine if it was dry or if it required a bit more time. "Okay. You're done." He sat back, observing his handiwork and grinning when he realized that he had done a pretty good job for a clumsy, large-handed husband. Carefully placing her feet on the bed before standing, he moved to the closet and picked out a par of sandals that were both stylish and sturdy, both requirements for a pregnant Cordelia. She may be carrying a second person around with her, but there was no way she would wear ugly shoes. He grinned at her as he buckled the straps. "Let's go get some dinner."

~~~ the end ~~~