The combination of being drugged, attacked, and healed could take a lot out of a person. It had certainly taken a lot out of Isabelle Granger, but she'd known before she fell asleep that she was home. Home meant Rhy'Din, Maple Grove; and Maple Grove meant safe. So it was no surprise to her that she woke first the next morning, finding herself ensconced in one of the guest suites at the big house, tangled up with Jax. Smiling at the sight of him fast asleep, she brushed her fingers gently through his hair, raising her head to look around. Someone had already been in to see them, it seemed - there was a thermos flask on the far chest of drawers, no doubt containing coffee, and a pile of clothing that looked familiar. She bit down a laugh; her mother had found the stash of Jax's clothes Izzy had brought back from Earth, it seemed.

Someone had taken off Jax's shoes and left the scarab and the string of beads alongside the coffee on the dresser. His shoes were on the floor, and though he might lament the loss of his belongings, he hadn't brought anything with him that couldn't be replaced. He'd slept soundly enough to snore a little, and he twitched a little in his sleep as Izzy touched him.

She could feel a faint ache in her calf, knowing that was all that was left of the horrific injury she had taken the night before. But more than that, she was aching in other places, too. Her eyes wandered to the second door out of the room, and her mind wandered longingly to the thought of hot water. Unable to resist it, she gently began to disentangle herself from Jax, eager to get into the bathroom and have her first proper shower for a couple of days.

He made no protest when she disentangled herself from him, still too lost in sleep to consciously react to his surroundings. The soft bed and warm body at his side only helped to lull him into a deep sleep, feeling a strange sense of comfort and safety for the first time in a long time.

Gently tucking the covers around him, Izzy stretched, wincing as her spine decided to crack itself loudly in the process. But her mind was on other things, and her body was following through, taking her into the bathroom to set the water running as she shucked out of the torn and bloodied clothes she had been wearing for nearly 24 hours.

It was the sound of the shower that woke him. Confused and disoriented, his brain slow to engage, he forgot where he was at first, thinking he was still at Alonzo's mansion, waiting for his turn in the shower. It was the aches and pains upon waking that reminded him he was mistaken. There was the favorite word of his again, muttered quietly as his body reminded him of the ordeal of the last 24 hours or so.

As he woke up, the sound of the shower changed, from water hitting the ceramic to water hitting a body. There was only one person that could be, hinted at by the feminine groan of pleasure as Izzy enjoyed the relentless beat of the hot spray against her skin.

He echoed that groan as he threw the covers off and tossed his legs over the side of the bed. He was still mostly dressed, though someone had seen fit to pull off his shoes. He was more than a little surprised to find he and Izzy hadn't been separated, as evidenced by the unmistakable smell of her lingering nearby and the sound of that groan in the shower. Oh, God ....The thought of a shower was tempting, not to mention the woman he was tempted to join there. But then, he spied the thermos of coffee, and he was tempted further. Coffee or Izzy' In the end, it was his bladder that decided for him, stumbling to the bathroom to relieve himself before he made an embarrassing mess.

"Just warning you," he said, before stepping into the bathroom. "I'm not at my best this morning."

She jumped at the sound of his voice, grateful that her blush was hidden by the curtain concealing her from his gaze as he entered the bathroom. "I shouldn't think either of us are," she managed, still rinsing the soap from her hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a truck, but I'll live. You?" he asked, more concerned for her than himself. After all, she was the one who'd been shot. There was another brief sound of running water as he relieved himself, and then the toilet flushed and he was washing his hands and scrutinizing his reflection in the mirror. He didn't think he looked so good, but he was alive, and he couldn't argue with that.

"Like I need a really good rub down," she admitted with a faint chuckle. Her hand appeared in the reflection behind him, groping blindly for the bodywash. "There's clothes out there for you. Looks like Mum brought them over while we were sleeping."

"I might be able to help with that," he mumbled, leaning close to the mirror to scrutinize himself further. Well, Alonzo's goons hadn't damaged his face anyway. "Your mother was here?" he asked, darting a glance at the hand that was groping for the bodywash and turning to hand it to her. "And she didn't kill me in my sleep?"

"Thank you." Her smile was audible as she felt him put the bottle into her hand. "Mum's not as unforgiving as you might think," she assured him, setting to work on cleaning the lingering feeling of dirt form her skin. "She'll wait until she knows what?s going on before she reacts to it. I have no idea how Dom knows about you, I am sorry about that."

"Probably from your mom," he replied, filling in the blanks, which seemed fairly obvious to him. He wouldn't hold it against the woman, though; after all, she was Izzy's mother. He didn't much blame her for spilling the beans. "My reputation precedes me," he muttered, checking the medicine cabinet for a razor.

"Yeah, well, Dom's going to get a piece of my mind if I can find him this morning," Izzy promised in a dire tone. She was not pleased with her brother's over-protectiveness last night, and she intended to make sure that he knew it. Her hand reappeared to put the bodywash back on the little shelf. "Do you want me to leave the water running when I get out?"

"Don't be too hard on him," Jax replied, debating the razor and shaving cream. "He's just being a big brother," he said. "If I had a kid sister, I'd probably feel the same way. Vicki - I think she said her name is Vicki - said I shouldn't be too worried, as your other sister married a pirate." He seemed to decide against the razor, turning to put the bodywash back on the shelf for her. "If you don't mind," he answered her question, knowing he was in dire need of a shower.

"Well, yes, James is a pirate," Izzy agreed, edging to the other end of the curtain to lean out and grab a towel. She didn't know why she was so shy of letting him see her. Perhaps it was because they still didn't have privacy, even here. "Elle - Dom's wife - is a reformed thief, too." Stepping out of the shower with the towel tucked around herself, she offered him a faint smile. "Shower's all yours."

His jaw dropped at her news, wondering how a man whose own wife was a reformed thief could stand in judgment of him. "A pirate and a thief, and he's worried about me?" he asked, chuckling with irony, but there was no humor in it. Then again, it was because of him that Izzy's heart had been broken and because of him that she'd almost been killed. "I'm sorry, Izzy. I never meant for any of this to happen," he offered with a serious frown. Then again, they were together again, and he'd have braved the fires of hell to accomplish that.

She shook her head, moving to lay her fingertips against his lips. "You couldn't have predicted it," she told him quietly. "No one could have. But Alonzo has his own problems now ....he promised to deliver us, and he can't, and we both know how forgiving Alistair is. So long as we keep moving, keep our base here on Rhy'Din, he won't be able to touch us."

"You stop that right now." She put her cup down and stood up, reaching to cup his face in her hands. "It wasn't your fault. None of it was. I'm the one who insisted on going for the scarab, so getting shot was my fault, not yours. Alonzo's the greedy bastard who will be ruing the day he ever contacted Alistair right about now. So stop trying to take on a burden of blame that isn't yours to shoulder, and put some pants on, for goodness' sake, or you may well end up mooning my family if they decide to come and check on us."

He smiled feeling fractionally better, more amused by her insistence to wear pants than relieved that she didn't blame him. "I'm not sure if I should be relieved or disappointed," he said, regarding her remark about putting his pants on, rather than taking them off, only just barely covered by the towel that was wrapped around his waist. "Your brother is still likely to kill me," he added, taking a sip of his coffee before setting it down so he could get dressed. He glanced at the scarab and beads that were laying nearby on the dresser. "We should probably lock those up somewhere. I assume your family has a safe of some kind or other."

"He won't lay a hand on you," Izzy predicted confidently, sitting back down with her coffee in hand. "If he tries it, he and I are going to go around again the way we did when I was a teenager. If you're lucky, you'll get to see Ash cheering us on indiscriminately too." Her eyes wandered to the scarab, only now noticing the string of beads, too. "Was that what you picked up last night?" she asked, moving over to inspect the beads curiously.

"Yeah, I don't know why. Just to piss Alonzo off, I guess," he replied with a small shrug of his broad shoulders as he moved to get dressed. There wasn't much point in hiding in the bathroom when she'd seen all of him before and then some. Besides, he wasn't exactly shy. He did, however, turn his back to her while he traded the towel for clean clothes - a pair of faded blue jeans and a gray t-shirt, thankfully casual enough to be comfortable. There were fresh scars marking his torso she wouldn't have remembered - faded reminders of Alistair's revenge three years past.

Luckily - or perhaps unluckily, it depended on your perspective - Izzy was too focused on the beads she had identified the day before, genuinely shocked that he had picked these out of everything else that would have fitted in a pocket. "I wish I'd learned cuneiform," she muttered, rubbing her fingers gently over the wedge marks that made up the language stamped onto the beads. "I might have to get someone at the museum to take a look at these. They're Hittite, but I have no idea how to date them."

"It was stupid to take them, I guess. I've no idea what to do with them," he said. He'd never been one to put the cart before the horse. He was usually hired to obtain some item or other with the understanding he'd be paid for his trouble upon delivery. The price for the scarab had been his life, which amounted to coercion, but he didn't want Izzy to know that. "I'm sure the museum will know what to do with them," he added, unconcerned about the beads. They were just a bonus.

"Well, items that turn up on Rhy'Din generally end up with provenance made up for them if they make their way back to Earth," she nodded, setting the beads down reverentially. "But this ..." She picked up the scarab, shaking her head at the sheer enormity of what she was holding in her hand. "We know it was broken from a royal headpiece, and if that was all it was, it would be one wonder among many. But the name ....a surviving cartouche bearing the name of Akhenaten in situ on a piece of royal regalia. It's seismic."

"And they were willing to pay an obscene amount of money for it," he added, brooking no argument with anything she was saying. She was the expert, after all - the brains to his brawn, so to speak. Or course, none of that money was ever going to benefit him, but line Alonzo's pockets. Maybe he'd planned on stealing the thing all along, but he wasn't going to tell her that. Despite that, he had been more than willing to leave it behind in exchange for Isabelle's safety. He tossed the towel over an arm and started toward the bathroom to clean up the mess before her family arrived to interrogate him. Or was it, them' "So, do we get to eat breakfast before or after the interrogation?" he asked, from the bathroom.

"It's priceless, Ryan," she told him, and it was rare indeed that she laid that label on anything, usually able to value something to within a thousand dollars. "Its gold value alone makes it a treasure that can't be matched, not to mention the historical value." She bit her lip, watching as he headed for the bathroom again. "I should ask Uncle Humphrey to put them in his safe," she conceded. "It's keyed to his biological imprint, no one would be able to get to it without his willing assistance." The comment on the possible interrogation made her smirk faintly. "I think we should be able to get something to eat before anyone shows up to demand answers."

"So, what are we gonna do' Just give it them?" he asked, as he gathered up his dirty clothes and tossed them in hamper. He wasn't exactly the most tidy of roommates, but he was at least trying to stay in her good graces. "Dare I remind you they were willing to pay Alonzo an obscene amount of money for it' Ob. Scene."

"Yes, you are going to give it to the Egyptian government," she informed him pointedly. "I, however, will point out that they owe you some compensation for the risk to your life and the lack of protection they offered you, not to mention the fact that you got an independent expert to verify the piece before acquiring it." She flashed him a sweet smile. "I've got better at negotiating."

"It's not about the money," he replied, a small frown on his face, though he thought it only fair he receive some amount of compensation. "Kinda makes us partners, doesn't it?" he asked, the frown fading to be replaced by a faintly amused smile. "I've got better at compromising," he countered.

"I know it's not about the money," she assured him. "But they put your life at risk to get this. They'll pay something for that, or I'll spread the word through the academic community that they can't be trusted. They need their reputation more than I need mine." She stroked her thumb over his lips as he smiled. "I'd rather be your wife than your partner."

He felt his heart melting as she drew close again and touched his lips to soothe him. "Then marry me," he told her. "Now, today." What did it matter if they'd been apart for three years or that they needed to get reacquainted" As soon as he'd seen her face, he'd known that his feelings for her hadn't changed, and wasn't that all that really mattered" The rest would work itself out somehow.

For three years, Izzy had been working hard on not letting her impulses rule her life, and all she had to show for it was a sterling academic reputation. It wasn't enough, not by a long shot, but no one could ever match up to Jax in her eyes. But there was the issue of her family to consider. "Make it tomorrow," she suggested softly. "I still have to convince my brother not to rearrange your face."

"Look, I know we haven't seen each other in three years, and I know a lot has happened since then, but my feelings for you haven't changed, and they're not gonna ..." He trailed off as he seemed to belatedly realize that she'd said yes. Sort of, anyway. He blinked in obvious but happy shock. "Tomorrow" Really?" he asked her, doubtfully, wondering momentarily if she was just teasing him or if he'd misunderstood somehow.

"Well, it's going to take me at least a couple of hours to convince Dom to do it, and they'll want to make sure it happens this time," she pointed out, but her smile was warm and tender as she looked up at him. "I've been an idiot for three years. I'm tired of making the same mistake over and over again. So ....if you'll have me, it sounds as though I'll be trading in a Granger for a Jackson very soon."

Lucy shook her head at her son. "It would be nice if you could explain to us, both of you, what happened last night, and where you're going from here," she said gently.

"And no sex details, we all know what goes where," Ash added, making Izzy snort with laughter.

"There wasn't any," Jax blurted, truthfully. As much as he might have wanted it, nothing had passed between them but a few kisses. Oh, there'd been nudity, but surprisingly - and disappointingly - no sex. "You must be Ash," he added, offering her sister a polite smile. He turned to look at her brother, who seemed a lot calmer now than he'd been the night before. "Dom," he greeted the man. "Mind if we get something to eat' I don't know about Izzy, but I'm starving!"

"That's me," Ash nodded cheerfully. "This is James, my husband, and the pregnant lady is Elle, Dom's wife. Introductions must have slipped his mind, what with the fear of being spanked by Izzy if he puts a foot wrong this morning."

"Shut up," Dom told his baby sister pointedly, but the fact that their mother was laughing at them proved that this was just run-of-the-mill conversation. Dom looked over at Jax, obviously making a sincere effort to keep calm. "Food's plated up and in the oven," he nodded toward the appropriate kitchen device. "Help yourself."

James nodded his head in greeting and kept his mouth shut. If they could accept him - the notorious Captain Hook - into the family, he didn't think Jax would have much problem.

Elle wiggled her fingers at Jax, a cheeky smile on her face. She wasn't really one of the decision-makers here, but her presence might help keep Dom in check.

Jax remembered Dom and Elle from the previous night, and he already knew Lucy. "Thanks," he replied, moving over to pour two cups of fresh coffee, wondering if he should start explaining or let Izzy handle it.

"All right." Seeing as her family were waiting, and Jax appeared to have lost the power of speech, Izzy moved to the oven to extract the plates, shortening the story as much as she could. "We met up unexpectedly at a weekend auction being run by a crook, who drugged us and made a deal to sell us to another, worse crook," she told her family. "We escaped, and on the way, we took back a couple of national treasures that we'll be taking home. Long story short, big mistakes were made three years ago, and we're getting married tomorrow. Questions?"

There was a pause as at least three jaws dropped, and finally Dom erupted. "What?"

James winced at the sound of Dom's voice, ready to step in the middle of the two men if a fight broke out. Dom hadn't been all that thrilled about Ashlyn marrying him either at first, but he seemed to have gotten used to the idea. "Easy, mate," he quietly warned Dom. "Give them a chance to explain."

"Just think of it this way," Jax interjected, possibly putting his foot in his mouth, which he had a bad habit of doing. "It was like we had a long-distance, three-year engagement," he said, before taking a sip of his coffee.

"In which Izzy spent every night all alone, crying into her pillow!" Dom protested, and instantly knew he should have kept his mouth shut.

Izzy's focus had turned on him with blinding intensity. "Eat your breakfast," she told Jax, abandoning her own to stand over her brother. "Everyone else, be nice. Dominic ..."

Dom squeaked as his sister gripped his ear and hauled him onto his feet, dragging a man at least a foot taller than her out of the kitchen and out of sight, if not hearing.

Lucy glanced at Elle with a smile, unable to avoid enjoying the sound of Ashlyn sniggering into her tea cup.

"Come and sit down, Jax," Ash suggested. "They might be a while."

Elle laid a hand on Dom's arm, as if to remind him to keep calm, but it was too late - Izzy was already dragging him away to have a word, and who was she to stop her" In fact, she was having a hard time keeping the smirk off her face.

"He does have a point," James broke in, the only other male left at the table other than Jax, who was frowning and looking just a little guilty.

"Look, Izzy and I have been all over this already. We were both at fault, but I'll take the blame. I didn't get cold feet and leave her at the altar. I was detained against my will. I tried to explain, but she wouldn't listen. Maybe I didn't try hard enough, but she made herself clear that she didn't want anything to do with me. I had no idea she was going to be at the auction. I tried to talk her into leaving as soon as I knew things weren't going well, but she insisted on getting the scarab first. If I'd known she was going to get shot, I would have done everything in my power to stop her, but you know as well as I do that once Izzy gets something in her head, there's no talking her out of it. It's taken me three years ....three years to get that woman back into my life, and I'm sorry, but I'm not letting her go. Approve or don't. I love her, and we're getting married, and that's all there is to it."

"Yes, well ....Isabelle has always gone her own way," Lucy said quietly, not trying anywhere near as hard as Elle to keep her own smirk under control.

Ashlyn looked at her mother and rolled her eyes. "Look, what it comes down to is that it's none of our business," she pointed out, seemingly unaware of the sound of her brother and sister growing strident with one another outside the door. "Izzy's a big girl, and if she's made a decision, then we should stand by it. Just, you know, we reserve the right to emasculate you if you hurt her again." She offered Jax a wide, cheeky smile. "Just so you know ....I have access to highly trained sharks."

"I think if that happens, you'll have to get in line," he told Ash with a straight face. The truth was if he ever dared hurt her again, it was Izzy's wrath he'd have to fear most. "I know I'm not exactly a model suitor, and I know you have no reason to trust me, so if you can't trust me, then trust her. Trust her judgment, trust her wishes. We've already wasted three years. We just want to be together," he said, spreading one arm, as the other was still clutching his cup of of coffee. He was still standing, breakfast still in the oven, untouched.

Elle snorted, mumbling under her breath, "Sounds familiar." All too familiar for a woman who had deemed herself unworthy of a place in Dom's heart.

"Yes, and you know what?" Lucy said, leaning forward. "I'm going to tell you exactly what I've told Elle and James here in the past. If Isabelle loves you, if you are her choice, then what you've done in the past doesn't matter. The mistakes you've made together, don't matter. It's her life to live, and her heart to give, and she's made her decision. And when she's done with Dominic, he'll apologize to you for being an idiot."

As if on cue, there came the sound of a foot meeting a shin outside the kitchen door, and a very Dom-like yelp of pain.

Ash cackled quietly to herself. "Sounds like they're reliving 2000."

"Wouldn't it be better to just get him a new suit, rather than have one of Jon's fitted to him?" Ash asked, smiling up at James fondly. She knew he liked seeing her in dresses, she just wasn't that fond of them on the whole. "Miranda does menswear - there's bound to be something off the rack that only needs minor adjustments, and she can always cheat."

"Are you an archaeologist then, Jax?" Elle asked, turning her question on the man who'd just got out of the hot seat. Izzy was right in assuming Elle was the most likely to understand the situation, but because of that, she was also the most likely to wonder what exactly it was that Jax did for a living. She said nothing more about suits, leaving those decisions to the others.

Jax froze with a forkful of eggs mid-way in air to his mouth, frowning over at the woman he assumed was the "thief". "Um, not exactly," he replied.

"Hmm, then what do you do exactly?" Elle prodded further. It was unlikely that Izzy would kick her for asking aloud what everyone else was wondering to themselves.

The silence from her left side was enough to make Izzy chuckle, knowing that there was no answer in the world that would make Jax sound legit in any way. "He's a cross between Indiana Jones and Lara Croft," she offered, setting her knife and fork down to take up her coffee cup in both hands. "Only he doesn't need a bra to keep his boobs gravity-defyingly perky."

There was a splutter from across the table as Dom choked on his own coffee, not even trying to keep his laughter to himself as he let the mental image wash over him.

"Yes, but not only are Indiana Jones and Lara Croft fictional characters, they are glorified thieves. Thieves with Ph.D.'s. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tomb Raider. What is a raider if not a thief" Whether you rob a tomb or museum or an auction. A rose by any other name is still the same. So, let us look around the table, shall we" We have an anthropologist, an archaeologist, a marine biologist, a reformed jewel thief, a pirate, and a tomb raider - all of us thieves in one way or another, save perhaps, Ashlyn."

"Privateer," James corrected quietly.

"I'm trying to make a point, Captain," Elle replied, giving James a pointed look.

"I'll have you know, Mrs. Granger, that I have never taken anything from anyone that wasn't freely given," Dom pointed out, more amused than offended by his wife's free generalization of their job titles.

Lucy chuckled, looking around at them. "Is it any wonder my children do what they do' Their father was an explorer, after all," she pointed out.

"Yes, I'm sure, Dominic. You're the exception to the rule," Elle replied sweetly and patted his cheek. Lucy, it seemed, had at least understood her drift. "Who are we to judge when we are all adventurers, of one kind or another?"

"In other words," Ash grinned from her comfortable lean, "quit your whining and get a ring on her finger before anything else gets in the way, Jax."

Izzy glared good-naturedly at her sister, but she was smiling. She hadn't thought her family would be quite so ready to accept Jax, especially after their break up years before, but she was happy to be proved wrong.

Jax swallowed down his last forkful of breakfast, mirroring Ashlyn's grin. "Already done, but tomorrow we'll make it official!" he declared, gesturing with his fork. He made a mental note to thank the reformed jewel thief later for making her point. "If you all will excuse me, I really should call my mom."

"And I need to talk to Uncle Humphrey," Izzy added, her glance about the table softer than it had been for a long time. She had forgotten what it was like to be accepted and embraced by her family, deeply grateful to all of them for not being difficult over this. "Mum ....you should probably call Miranda and warn her we're descending en masse."

Lucy laughed. "Oh, that's a good idea," she agreed. "Jax, don't forget to tell your mother to call me as soon as you're done talking. She can come with us. I'm going to see all of you done up smart for tomorrow, even if it kills me."

Relieved but a little uncomfortable with the unexpected acceptance of his joining their little family, Jax turned to Lucy with a smile that could warm the coldest heart. "I will. Thank you," was all he said, but he wasn't just thanking her - he was thanking each and every one of them for not making things difficult, and most of all, for making Izzy happy. He touched a kiss to Izzy's cheek and told her quietly, "I'll be upstairs." In the guest room, calling his mother, no doubt.

"I'll join you there," she promised, letting him go with a gentle smile. Her eyes scanned her family - a family that included Elle and James, even if they still felt a little unworthy sometimes. "Thank you," she said softly, finally letting them see how much their acceptance meant to her.

Dom was the first to move, but Ash got there first, wrapping her arms around her sister fondly. Lucy's arms went about her girls, and Dom's arms finally went around all three of them. For a long moment, there was no movement, and no sound. Then Lucy's hand uncurled from the crush of bodies, beckoning to James and Elle to join them. They were family, after all. Finally, after years of distance, this branch of the Granger family had been healed.

Thankfully, Jax had already made his exit or he might have gotten dragged into this group hug. Not that it was a bad thing, but he was already feeling awkward enough and a group hug might just put him over the edge, especially if he had to hug Dom. In time, he'd likely feel just like one of the family, but it was going to take more than one breakfast to do that. Elle laughed and joined the fray, dragging James with her. A disaster had been averted, and this little branch of the Granger family was about to witness yet another happy ending - or was it a happy beginning?