As word trickled back to Pax that many of their own militia were on their way home from the valley, life was beginning to settle down again on the Dugan farm. With Eli off patrolling the outlying homesteads for the militia, and Nate having volunteered to take Aedan into town to visit the market and pick up some supplies, Brona and Cody found themselves properly alone together for the first time since they'd met. Warm and friendly though their relationship was, they still hadn't quite reached the point of absolute comfort in each other's presence, still dancing around the issue of courting one another, though it was patently obvious to anyone who looked at them.

Cody was healing well, most of his strength returned to him by now, which meant that Brona had roped him into helping her tidy her kitchen garden under the warming spring sunshine. She wasn't one to sit idle, even when her expertise wasn't needed in the village. "That's kale," she was telling him as they dug up weeds together. "It's kind of a mainstay during the winter - doesn't taste that great, but it's filling."

Cody wiped the sweat from his brow with a sleeve. It was only just spring, but the sun was warm this time of day, and though he had gotten most of his strength back, he still tired easily. It galled him a little that Eli had gone off on patrol and left him behind, but nothing could be done for it, and he didn't like the idea of leaving Brona alone, no matter how safe the village might be. "I remember," he said, taking his lessons seriously, which were really more of a refresher. His parents had been farmers once, a long time ago, but he'd been too young to get too involved in the actual care of the farm.

Brona smiled over at him, pulling weeds up by the handful. "We can break once we've done this bed," she promised him, gently nudging his arm with her elbow. Like him, she was sweating, the heat of the spring sunshine making a mockery of the layers she was wearing to stave off the last of the winter chill that lingered in the air. "You're doing pretty good, you know. Three weeks ago, you couldn't even stand up; now look at you."

"I have you to thank for that," he said with a smile, as he pulled up a few more weeds. It felt good to be doing something useful for a change, instead of just sitting around reading stories to Aedan. He had been worried he wouldn't be of much use here, but he had proved himself otherwise. He was a good cook, and he was good with kids, as evidenced by Aedan's fondness for him. Given the chance, he could be a good provider, too. He knew how to hunt and Brona was teaching him to farm. He had been going into town to help at the schoolhouse sometimes, too, when he was feeling up to it. There was only one thing he wasn't sure about and that was Brona.

"All I did was poke you about a bit," she pointed out cheerfully. "You're the one who got up and about." And she was glad of that, too. She'd grown very fond of Cody over the last few weeks; fonder than she was truly ready to admit, afraid that he might change his mind about wanting to court a healer when there were other, more attractive options in the village for him to consider. Girls who would be able to give all their attention to keeping house for him, rather than be on call for anyone who needed them, no matter the time of day or night. Tossing her handful of greenery into the basket, she sat back on her heels, wiping her grubby hand against her forehead, leaving a swipe of mud there to decorate her skin. "I could use a drink, how about you?"

He hesitated a moment before leaning forward to wipe that bit of mud from her forehead with his sleeve, which was looking a little worse for the wear. "A drink would be good, thanks," he told her, withdrawing his hand with a sudden flush to his face that had nothing to do with the heat. He moved to his feet, offering her a hand to pull her up beside him.

Surprised by the unexpected gesture, Brona blushed as Cody wiped her forehead clean, a shy smile touching her lips as she glanced down at her dirty hands against her only slightly less dirty apron. "Thanks," she echoed his sentiment, slipping her hand into his to let him help her up onto her feet. She stumbled a little as she rose, startled to find herself a lot closer to him than she had thought she would be, her head tilting back to meet his eyes. If only she'd been a little bit braver, she might have taken advantage of that closeness ....but Brona had never considered herself brave. She bit her lip, her gaze flickering to his mouth and back to his eyes before she began to untangle her hand from his shyly. "Uh, there should be milk cool in the larder, or there's water from the well, that's always cold."

Cody hesitated, too, finding it difficult to pry his eyes away from her, almost as if he was mesmerized by her gaze - by her warm blue eyes, the soft curve of her lips, the way her hair moved in the breeze. "Water will do," he replied, reluctant to let her hand go, but making no effort to stop her from pulling away from him. He lowered her gaze, wondering if she liked him only as a friend or something more, and terrified to ask it of her. Instead, he made his way toward the well to pull up a bucket of water. "How long do you think it will be before your brother is back?"

She was almost disappointed that he let her draw away, bending to pick up the basket of weeds as they moved toward to the well. The compost would be happy with this offering for the day, anyway. "A week, maybe a little longer," she told Cody in answer to his question. "It sounds like Nem was badly hurt, so Mahon will want to take his time. At least he married her before they set off." She laughed, leaning against the cool stone of the well.

For some reason, the talk of marriage made him frown. Was it too soon to share his feelings for her" Mahon had known Nemone for years; Cody had only met Brona a few weeks ago, but they'd been nearly inseparable ever since. He pulled up the pail of water from the well, offering her the first sip. A week, give or take, to get his nerve up and ask if she would be his girl. "It must have been hard for them to send their son away," he said, just to fill the silence between them. They had discussed this before.

"They didn't have a choice," Brona shrugged. "I couldn't imagine being in a situation like that. Where you have to either pretend your child died at birth, or kill them, just to survive yourself. It's awful." She frowned, truly horrified by that idea, lifting the ladle from the hook to drink from the pail before offer it to him. "I hope, if I'm ever lucky enough to have a family of my own, that I never have to make a decision like that."

"You won't," he promised her, adamantly, though he had no way of knowing for sure. "Your brother will make sure of that," he added, as if to cover his own feelings on the matter. He took the ladle from her sipped at the water, savoring the cool wetness of it. Her brother and the militia would make sure that nothing like that ever happened again, and suddenly, he felt that old sense of uselessness again. He drew a heavy sigh and took a lean against the well. "I wish I'd been here to help fight," he admitted, forgetting for a moment all the people he and his brothers had saved from mutants over the years.

"You'll make sure of it, won't you?" she asked, surprised by her own boldness. But surely, they had agreed with one another that they were courting, even if they had not yet managed to progress further than that agreement in word alone yet. Where was the harm in asking" Pulling a cloth from her pocket, she wet it and began to wipe the dirt from his face and neck as he leaned against the well, unable to stop herself from looking after him still. "Without you and your brothers doing what you've been doing for years, we would have been overrun with mutants the moment the militia left for the valley," she reminded him. "You did help - you do help, all the time."

"If you let me," he replied, saying more than he'd planned even with that innocent statement. He shrugged a little as she went on about what he and his brothers had been doing all those years, hunting mutants and keeping them away from the villages as much as they could. "I'm not sure anymore if we did it to help or if we did it for vengeance," he admitted with a frown. Maybe it had been a little of both, but it sure hadn't started out that way. Eli had wanted revenge for their parents' deaths, and it was that simple, but they'd been over all this before.

"Why wouldn't I let you?" she asked him, looking him full in the eye. "There are only two men who can tell me what to do - my brother, and my husband. I don't have a husband yet, and my brother hasn't worked out how to make me obey him." She quirked a teasing smile at her companion, turning to dip the cloth into the water again, this time to wipe her own face and neck cool and clean.

They had almost kissed just once before, interrupted by Aedan's eagerness to be a part of their "cuddle", and since that day, there had been no time or privacy for such a moment between them. But now they had that moment. Brona could feel her heart pattering in her chest as Cody's lips found hers, tasting his breath as he kissed her. He needn't have worried about the sparks; whatever else that kiss did to the young healer in his arms, it set off an explosion that brought her trembling to press closer into his arms, wanting more as her fingers curled into his hair.

Encouraged by her response, he pulled her close against his chest, his lips plying hers, savoring the sweetness of her kiss. It wasn't the same as the kisses he'd shared with Cora. Those had been the soft, innocent kisses of youth, hearts yearning to understand the feelings that were burning inside them. These were the kisses of a man and a woman who knew what they wanted and had found it in each other. His heart opened to her as their lips met, and his body came to life with desire, but he only held her there, clasped close, telling her without words that he loved her and wanted her, just as she seemed to want him.

As his heart opened to her, she gave hers into his keeping, clinging to him in the warm spring sunshine. The stories told by her friends had never warned her about this, about the warm tingling that rippled through her, or the way her heart ached with the knowledge that he loved her as she loved him. Brona had never been impulsive; she had never had the luxury of growing up slowly as other girls in Pax had. But right now, in the grip of something she knew was theirs alone, something they might not get the chance to enjoy alone again until they were married, she could feel an impulse making itself known. Her lips parted from Cody's just far enough to whisper to him as they lingered close together. "Do we have to ....wait?"

He, too, was feeling the warmth of mingled love and desire spreading through his body and setting his heart on fire. He drew a deep breath as their lips parted, still close enough to taste her breath, to lose himself in the soft blue of her eyes. His pulse raced at the prospect she was posing to him, and he was torn between desire and something else. It wasn't fear, exactly - he could never fear her - but what would her brother say if he knew" What would the villagers say or the council or Eli" And yet, what happened between a man and a woman was no one's business but theirs. "We should wait," he told her, though he was wavering.

Her cheeks flushed at the question she was asking, but there was a soft flare of disappointment, too, as he answered her just as gently. She nodded imperceptibly, obedient to his decision even as her lips found his once again. Now she'd tasted him, she thought she would never grow tired of Cody's kisses. Quite what Nate and Eli were going to think when they returned that evening was anyone's guess, but hopefully they wouldn't tease too much.

He didn't really want to wait, but it was the right thing to do. He had to reason to believe her brother wouldn't approve fo him, and he didn't want to give him any reason not to. As she kissed him again, he thought he would never grow tired of her kisses, as sweet as honey and as warm as sunshine. "If you'll have me, Brona, I'll be yours always," he told her quietly, breathlessly repeating the words she'd said to him, words that sealed the promise made between them to always be together, no matter what.

"Always," she whispered back to him, a promise that she meant more than any promise she had ever made in her life. The sudden realization that they had made such an important decision over a wash at the well sprang into her mind, and she giggled, hugging him close as her lips brushed his cheek and neck. "I love you, Cody Mullen."

And there it was - the words he'd been longing to hear, more important than anything else she might have told him. Her kisses were the proof of her words, and he found himself smiling to hear her giggle and know that she was happy. "And I love you, Brona Dugan," he returned her words of love, touching a playful but affectionate kiss to the tip of her nose.

Her smile deepened at the playful touch of his lips. "So we're going to the social together, huh?" she asked, still a little shy, but sure now that she would learn not to be. "I guess I should make an effort to dress up. I don't want to let you down."

"You could never let me down," he assured her, touching his nose to hers. Now that they'd finally expressed their love for each other, Cody was in a hurry to make her his wife, but it would have to wait, at least, until her brother returned. He only hoped that would be soon. "What do we do now?" he asked, at a complete loss where to go from there and not really feeling like any more chores for the day.

She felt the same way, not wanting to go back to chores. They had only a couple of hours before Nate would return with Aedan, and they would have to behave themselves, at least where they could be seen. Brona's smile turned mischievous as she looked up at him. "Well, I can think of one thing, but you already said no," she teased him sweetly.

"I didn't say no! I said we should wait. What if your brother finds out?" Would he kill him or just force him to do what he was planning to do already? Cody was pretty sure Brona wouldn't let her brother kill him, but it was important to him that her brother approve of them. "What if he finds out what happened with Eli?" he asked, worriedly. He didn't really want her brother fighting his.

"Who's going to tell him?" she asked Cody innocently. "He's going to be far too caught up in settling down into family life with his wife and his son, and even if he does start asking questions, why would I tell him what I haven't told any of the rest of the village?" It was a fair point - as far as Pax was concerned, the Mullen brothers had simply stopped her on the road and asked for her help. There had been no mention of guns or threats at all.

The only one of the Mullen brothers who might spill the beans was Nate, but Cody hoped his brother would be smarter than that. He was far too trusting and honest sometimes, and while those were usually good traits, there were some things that shouldn't be made common knowledge. "I should talk to Nate," he mused aloud, voicing those worries.

"If you think you need to," she agreed softly, still teasing her fingers through his hair. "When he's here." A flickering smile touched her lips once again as she looked up at him. "You, um ....you didn't say no?"

"No, I didn't," he replied, circling his arms around her waist and drawing her close again, a smile on his face, though his eyes betrayed a little worry. They weren't expecting Nate and Aedan back for a little while yet, and Eli was out on patrol. It was a tempting thought, but if Nate happened to get back early, the house was the first place he'd look. "Come on!" he said, grabbing hold of her hand. "I have an idea."

She giggled as he let her circle back to her teasing idea, letting out a soft yelp of surprise as his hand seized hers. "What idea?" she asked, tugged along behind him as they abandoned the well and the kitchen garden.

"The barn!" he replied, as he tugged her in that direction, sprinting across the grass toward the barn, hoping it would be the last place Nate would look for them. If they were careful, they'd hear him coming. It was a better option than the house, where they were more likely to get caught.

"The barn?" Brona couldn't help laughing as she was pulled along, holding her skirt out of her way as she skipped along in Cody's wake. She could understand the thinking, obviously; the first place anyone coming home would look for them would be in the house, and it would be utterly mortifying to be caught in quite such an intimate embrace by Cody's own brother. Keeping Aedan quiet about it around his father would be difficult, too. "Are we going to tumble in the hay, love?"

"I'm not amazing," he said with a faint shake of his head, touching a finger to her lips as if in awe of her kisses, her continued affection for him. Why hadn't he seen it sooner" It was in the way she touched him and talked to him and even looked at him. She loved him, and he'd been a fool not to see it. "You are the one who's amazing." The tiniest of smirks touched his lips as a thought occurred to him. "I can't wait to see the look on Eli's face when we tell him."

She laughed, imagining that for herself. "God, he's never gonna be able to get away from me now," she giggled. "He thinks I'm bad enough as it is, wait until he has to call me sister." Oddly, she wasn't concerned about telling Nate. The middle Mullen needed a sister, she thought, someone a little gentler and less inclined to tease.

Cody had no doubt Nate would have Millie soon enough, if Brona had her way, especially now that Cody had Brona. Nate and Eli could make lives for themselves now, and not have to worry about looking after their little brother anymore. "Do you believe in happy endings?" he asked her, touching his fingers to her cheek in a soft caress. "Because I think I just found mine."

She nestled close, drawing her own fingers softly over his jaw as they smiled at one another. "I don't want an ending," she said quietly. "I just want you, and I know we'll have happy." Her head tilted at the sound of the wagon returning, a reluctant cast finding her smile. "I think we just ran out of time."

He heard the wagon, too, but though this romantic interlude might be at an end, their lives together were only just beginning. "No," he replied with a smile. "We have all the time in the world," he told her, with another soft kiss to her lips. Maybe not today, but they had the rest of their lives ahead of them, together not apart.

Her smile softened as he kissed her, recognizing the truth in what he was saying. They did have all the time in the world, and it was theirs to share. Right now, though, there was an impatient toddler yelling for his aunt and his friend, making her laugh as their kiss ended. "We should get dressed, in case they come looking."

He smiled in agreement. It would never do for Nate and Aedan to find them in the state they were in and was why they had escaped to the hayloft to begin with. He picked a piece of straw out of her hair before moving to gather their clothes, which had been strewn about the loft in their hurry to strip each other. "What should we tell them?"

Laughing softly, she moved with him to find their clothing, shy enough still to duck hurriedly into her shirt at the very first opportunity. "Aedan will be happy with just telling him we were in the barn," she told him. "I don't know if Nate will just accept that, or if he'll want to know what we've been doing." She blushed at the thought of telling Cody's brother how they'd spent their afternoon, but at least they had gotten the kitchen garden weeded.

"It's hard to say," Cody replied as he pulled his pants up over his hips. As well as he knew his brothers, it was sometimes hard to predict how they might react to a particular situation. There had been a time when Cody had worried Brona was interested in Nate, but she had assured him to the contrary. "When are you going to introduce him to Millie?" he asked, not because he was feeling threatened, but because he wanted his brother to find some happiness of his own.

"I need to go to the mill tomorrow, or the day after," she mused, tying her skirt back into place as her eyes scanned the hay for any sign of her shawl. "I was going to ask him to come with me - we've wheat that needs milling down to flour, and Old Man Green needs me to change his dressings again. Nate could help Millie while I'm busy."

"What makes you think she'll like him?" he asked, as he pulled his shirt on, not yet realizing that her shawl was missing. Or that he'd like her, for that matter. Nate was the easiest-going of the three brothers - easy to please and happy-go-lucky for the most part. Some thought him a bit simple, but really he was just good-natured and kind.

"I'm not sure, really," Brona admitted with a faint chuckle, pulling her braid over her shoulder to try and pick the hay out of it as best she could. "She's shy and quiet, and she thinks no one will look twice at her because she's so tall compared to the rest of the girls in the village. I think she and Nate would be good for each other."

"Do you have someone in mind for Eli, too?" he teased, knowing his eldest brother would be the hard one to match up. It wasn't that Eli didn't like women - quite the contrary - but he had been hardened by the loss of their parents and all the responsibility that had been thrust on him since. "He's a free man now that Nate and I are grown. He can do whatever he wants with his life," he added as he tugged on his boots and laced them up, though he wasn't quite sure that that might be, as far as his eldest brother was concerned.

"Oh god," she laughed, utterly defeated by the thought of finding anyone who might suit Eli. "I wouldn't know where to start with Eli. He's just a little too difficult to read - I mean, sure, he might want a timid girl, but on the other hand, she'd annoy him, needing to be looked after. Or he might like an independent girl, but then he'd get annoyed when she didn't need him. I think he's on his own there." She smiled, locating her shawl finally and pulling it from the hay to brush as much of the straw from it as she could.

He straightened once his boots were tied and moved over to help her with her shawl, not having noticed it missing, until she had found it. "Eli needs someone just like himself. Someone who isn't afraid to stand up to him and tell him when he's being an ass." Cody chuckled a little as he drew the shawl from her hands to help her pick as much straw from it as he could. "Did I really just call my brother an ass?"

"You're allowed to, he's your brother," she assured him with a grin. "You've heard me talk about my brother. I'm not exactly complimentary all the time, am I?" Ignoring the demanding little voice that seemed to be yelling for them from the house by now, she caught Cody's hands in hers, pulling him close for another kiss.

He made no protest as she pulled him closer, and why should he" Now that they had admitted their feelings for one another, there were no more secrets between them. It was only a question of how and when to tell their families that remained. He slid his arms around her waist, kissing her with renewed vigor, but also knowing if they tarried too long they'd be found out and there would be questions. Nights were going to be hard, knowing she slept only a few doors away, as alone as he was in her bed and yearning for each other. "We should go," he said with a frown, not really wanting to leave their hiding place just yet, but Nate and Aedan would worry if they stayed missing too long.

"We should," she agreed, making no move to leave his arms. "I should feed my horde of hungry menfolk before they start to mutiny." She grinned, nuzzling close for a long moment. She was going to miss this easiness, certain it would fade as soon as they were in the company of others.

"The only one you need worry about feeding is me," he teased, kissing her again, but it was a different kind of hunger he was talking about now, and he knew she could not ignore Aedan or even Nate, though Nate was plenty capable of providing for them both on his own. Still, Aedan was just a boy, and he was in Brona's care until his parents returned from the valley. And then, what? Cody wondered. Would they ever have a home of their own, or would they be forever doomed to sneak about in the hayloft"

She giggled against his lips, embracing him tightly for a moment longer before drawing away. "I keep forgetting to ask you about the school," she said, changing the subject abruptly just to keep herself from ignoring one small boy who was very attached to her. "How have you been getting on there?"

She giggled, relieved that Cody's brothers were apparently wholly approving of the connection she'd found with him. Tugged into Nate's embrace, she hugged him back, kissing his cheek affectionately. "Gotta get used to having a little sister now, too, you know," she warned him with a smile. "You're never gonna win an argument with me ever again."

"I haven't won an argument with you yet!" he reminded her with a grin. Yes, he was fond of her - that much was obvious - but not in a romantic way. He'd never had a little sister, until now. "Come on. We'd better rescue Cody from Aedan before he talks his ears off."

"He's the one who ran away!" Brona laughed, falling into step with him as they headed toward the house. "So apart from peaches, what else did you get?" she asked him. "Did you manage to get the nutmeg" I didn't know if the spice merchant was coming through today."

"We got everything on the list, I reckon," he replied, as the two of them started back toward the house. He was quiet a moment, another thought on his mind. "Have you seen Eli" It'll be dark soon. He should've been back by now."

"If he was given an outlying patrol, he'll probably bed down at one of the homesteads and be back in the morning," Brona told him gently, one hand on his arm. "I know it's hard, but try not to worry just yet. If he isn't back by midday tomorrow, then I'll get worried. Some of the homesteads are quite far out, and even on horseback, you don't want to be making that journey in the dark."

"We've never been apart before," Nate mused aloud, unable to hide the worry in his voice. "It's always been the three of us, but now, everything's changed. Cody's got you and ....Eli's got the militia." And what did he have" He wasn't losing a brother so much as gaining a sister, but he still couldn't help but feel a little bit lost.

"You're not gonna be apart now," she told him, looping her arm through his as they approached the house. "Not unless you decide to move on. It's not like we're going anywhere. Oh, that reminds me - I'm gonna need your help tomorrow. I've got to take the wheat to the mill, and Cody's not quite up to strength enough to hulk the sacks around. Wanna come with' It's a pretty nice ride."

"Reckon so. I've nothing else to do," he replied, a little glumly. He didn't begrudge either brother their happiness; he only wished he could find a little happiness of his own. As the middle brother, his life had always been about looking after his brothers, both the younger and the older, and now it seemed it was time to find a life of his own.

Brona smiled to herself, biting her tongue. She wanted to see if her hunch had been right, after all, and giving Nate forewarning of who he would meet the next day would be priming him in advance. She squeezed his arm. "Just you wait," she promised him. "Come the social, you'll have girls throwing themselves at you, handsome fella like you."

He laughed at the idea of that. Women had never thrown themselves at him before, and he wasn't sure why they would start now. Of the three brothers, it was probably Nate who believed least in himself, but it was also Nate who was the kindest and gentlest of the three. "That would be Eli, not me." It was Eli who always drew the women, not Nate.

She snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes. "Yeah," she drawled. "He might be pretty, but that attitude's already sent three girls back to their papas in tears. Serves 'em right, too. They want a pretty husband, not a useful one. Anyone who gets the Mullen boys gets both, and they have to deserve them."

"Purdy?" Nate echoed, looking more than a little doubtful of that. "No one's ever called me purdy before," he said, unsure if that was a compliment or not. As far as Nate was concerned, pretty was a word that was used to describe those of the female persuasion. He wasn't too sure Eli would be happy to hear himself described that way either. "I ain't so sure Eli is the settling down kind."

"Well, you don't believe me when I say you're handsome," Brona protested laughingly as they mounted the steps onto the porch. "And you are, all of you, very handsome." She paused as he commented on Eli, smiling a little. "He just needs to find the right person to settle down with, that's all."

"Maybe," Nate replied, though he still had his doubts, even about himself. "Reckon I should find my own place to stay now you and Cody are courting." Or whatever it was they were doing. He and Eli had both recognized the mutual attraction even before the couple knew it themselves, it seemed.

"Don't be silly," she told him firmly, one hand on the door. "We haven't made any decisions about where we're gonna live yet, but even if we stay here, we'll build somewhere on the land so we don't crowd anyone. Nothing's set in stone yet, Nathaniel." She grinned at him as she used his full name, pushing the door open to draw him inside.

"Your brother's gonna be home soon, with his ..." He trailed off, unsure if her brother was officially married or not. "House is gonna get crowded, Brona," he pointed out, unsure what exactly the living arrangements were going to be, but he assumed all that would be sorted out eventually. As for himself, he wasn't really sure what his own future held for him, but he was glad at least Cody had sorted things out for himself.

"We'll work something out," she promised him with a gentle smile. "All of us." The sooner she threw him and Millie together, the better, she thought, casting around to locate Cody and Aedan. "I think someone laid down a challenge to my cobbler," she told Nate. "Prove it."

Nate lifted both brows, only just having realized she'd overheard his remarks to Aedan about the cobbler. Cody and Aedan were nowhere in sight, having already disappeared inside the house, so they could both clean up from their day's adventures. "You want me to make the cobbler?" Cody asked, gesturing to himself.

"That's what I said," she laughed, hanging her shawl over a chair as she moved to investigate what else had come home with the intrepid market adventurers. "It'll be good for you. And besides, if you're making the cobbler, that means you don't have to watch Aedan while dinner's on."

Nate shrugged his shoulders, going about helping her unpack the items they'd retrieved from the market and putting them where they belonged. "I like Aedan," he explained. "He reminds me of Cody when he was little."

"He's a good boy," she chuckled, impressed with the array of spices they had managed to trade for. "But he can be a little much all day every day. I can't wait to see how Mahon is going to cope with being a daddy all the time." She snickered softly, knowing that becoming parents three years after the fact was going to be something of a baptism of fire for her brother and his wife.

"You think you'll have kids someday?" he asked curiously, now that she and Cody had officially become a couple, though maybe he was putting the cart before the horse a little. Of the three of them, it was probably Nate who was most fond of children and who believed himself least likely to have them, but at least, maybe he'd be an uncle someday.

She smiled at him warmly. "I'd like to," she admitted. "We'd like to start a family, but it will probably have to wait until we're settled. Maybe a year or so." She nudged Nate playfully. "You never know, you might beat us to it."

He snorted. "Not by myself, I won't," he told her with a small frown. He wasn't the type to dwell on such things for long, but ever since they'd arrived in the village, he'd been noticing all the things that he'd been missing. He loved his brothers more than anything, but maybe it was time they decided what they wanted to do with their lives, besides hunt mutants.

"Don't be so gloomy," she told him. "You never know what?s going to happen tomorrow, or the next day. You could be married by the end of spring, but you won't be if you're so gloomy you can't see what?s right in front of you."

"What's right in front of me is you, and you're marrying Cody," he blurted, flushing with color as he realized what he'd just said. "I mean ....You are getting married, ain't you?" he asked, quickly covering his faux pas about her being right in front of him. He liked Brona a lot, but he wasn't in love with her.

She laughed, turning to gently kiss his cheek. "I don't mean me," she told him, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "Now go and wash up, and you can show me just what makes Uncle Nate's cobbler so much better than Aunty Brona's."

She didn't really answer his question, but he didn't want to push his luck. "Yes, ma'am," he replied with a smile, blushing further at the kiss to his cheek. If it wasn't for Cody, he might have been interested, but he'd come to think of Brona as the little sister he'd never had, rather than as a potential romantic partner. "I'm glad you and Cody are together," he told her with a soft smile.

"So am I," she answered, her own smile just as soft but for a different reason. "Now shoo, I'm cooking here." She laughed, waving him away to wash his hands before he set to with pastry and peaches.

He chuckled to himself as she shooed him away. It was hard to sulk when you were around people you cared for as much as he cared for Cody and Brona and Aedan. This was part of what the brothers had been missing all these years - this sense of family and home that Brona had offered them. There was some sadness to know that things had changed, that Cody belonged to Brona now, but he also felt hopeful for the future.

If only he'd known what that future had in store for him. Brona smiled to herself as Nate wandered away obediently, her hands already busy beginning to prepare their meal for the evening. There was a little worry in her mind about Eli, who would not be back tonight, it seemed, but he was a capable man. She wasn't afraid he would get into any trouble out there. Who knew? Maybe even Eli would find a reason to settle in Pax, beyond simply keeping an eye on his brothers and killing mutants. It was a future worth hoping for, for all the Mullen brothers. And she was very glad she would be a part of it.

((Mahon's in for a surprise when he gets back! Huge thanks to my partner in crime!))