At the riot of barking from inside, Johnny had jerked back from the door with surprise. He could hear the commotion getting closer, and culminating with the curse in Katie's distinctive voice. It brought a wide grin to his face as she opened the door. "Snowflake!" Impulsively, he stepped forward to try and give her a hug, only to be blocked by a still furiously-barking dog.

Never mind that Branan, a small Norfolk terrier could've fit in one of the bags Johnny carried with room to spare, he postured and yipped with all he could muster. Caoimhe was silent, but just as imposing for all her size, positioned next to Katarina.

"Branan, cap it." She didn't know the phrase that Sianna used, but her tone seemed to get the point across as the dogs quieted, thought their bodies quivered at the aspect of new people. She blinked several times, a rush of emotions hitting her and wiping her mind of proper responses. So instead, she stood there rather lamely in the doorway, "Jo..." her voice ached, but her eyes flickered to the woman next to him, and instantly they narrowed with disliking, "who're you?"

Johnny glanced back over his shoulder at where Sarah stood. ?Oh, righ? ? Katie-kat, this?s Sarah Whittaker, Evan?s wife tha? I wen? ta help. Sarah, this?s m?cousin Katarina.? He grinned, despite the warning in Katie?s voice, and then looked at the finally-silenced terrier and much larger dog. ?When?d we ge? dogs? An? where?s Si ? an? th? babies?? His voice went anxious. ?They?re all righ?, ain? they??

At Johnny?s introduction, Sarah?s chin tipped up proudly as she addressed Katie directly. ?Whittaker-Smith. I?m his wife.?

?No, ya ain? Sarah, we?ve been over this. It was annulled, an? never anythin? more?n a ploy anyhow.? He suddenly sounded tired, as if it was an argument repeated too many times. Sarah set her jaw stubbornly.

"Go' Si dogs bahfore Christmas, an' the twins ar' jist as good as kin be. Si's upstairs checkin' 'n 'im righ' now." She didn't part out of the way yet to really give them full access inside, but Katarina's look to Sarah held no room for error for her anger. "Ya? Ya ar' th' whole reason!? Lemme tell ya somethin', Mrs. *Whittaker*, ya be 'n a fine, fine line, an' it is th' sheer grace o' Jo tha' ya're here, 'm sure." She unashamedly pointed a finger, hoping her height added an intimidating look, "Ya aren' gonna be so lucky wit' me." She was all but quaking in pent-up anger, and Sarah seemed like a good choice to unleash.

The twins sleeping soundly, Sianna had spent a moment longer in the nursery than she had ought. Tucking the coverlets over their sleeping forms, she slipped out of the nursery and shut the door behind her. Henderson had done well to insulate the room for sound and commotion, she hadn't heard more than muffles. Calling down the backstairs into the kitchen, Sianna didn't wait to hear a response before slipping into the bathroom. "Be down in a mite, Katie. An' tell that brother o' mine tae fix himself a plate if he hasn't done sae already...." Because really, who else would she assume was coming to the house in the late afternoon but her brother.

Johnny sighed and rubbed a silver-meshed hand over his jaw with the rasp of stubble. ?Katie, le? us in, please, an? don? harass Sarah. I jus? ? I wan? ta see Sianna, an? my kids. Don? even know if?n they?re boy ?r girl ye?, don? know their names. Le? us in an? le? me see m?family.? He shifted the bags on his shoulder.

Hazel eyes glared back at Katie over Johnny?s shoulder. ?I don?t need ya ta like me, Miss Smith. Johnny said he?ll take care of us, and he will.? At the word ?us? her hand fell to her stomach again, the small swell of just over four-month?s development.

"I think she'll be okay, jist a bi' o' a shock." She was rather proud to find only the slightest strain in her tone to Sarah. She was using any all and self-control she could muster. She returned to where Johnny was holding Sianna, trying to wrap the cuff around her arm.

Her eyes sought out the source of the voice, her face losing some of the panic. Still it was obvious that she could not believe it true. "Is it really ye?" Her eyes closed, the world spinning before and behind the lids. "Dinna... disappear, aye?"

?Ain? disappearin?, love. Ya jus? stay calm an? le? Katie take yer blood pressure, all righ??? He bent his head and kissed her forehead before he shifted to help make it easier for Katie to get the cuff around Sianna?s arm. Sarah, unfortunately, was completely forgotten for the moment. The red-head finally mustered up some courage and followed the sound of voices to the living room.

"There ya go, Si. Ain' goin' nowhere. Jist calm down, or Eva's gonna git mad a' me." She was just trying to engage Sianna's mind with words as she started the small machine to contract over Sianna's arm, "Jist a li'l tigh' fer a momen'. Ya know." She was quiet, watching the numbers until they settled over 180/110 before the cuff relaxed. Worry started to creep into her eyes as she removed the cuff, muttering to Johnny, "I's real high. Migh' wan'ta lay her down."

He nodded to Kat and moved again, kneeling on the floor by her head while he helped Sianna lie down on the couch after Katie removed the cuff. Gentle fingers smoothed curls of hair from her forehead, and he leaned down to rest his forehead against hers for a moment. His voice was soft to her ear. ??M so sorry, m?gal.? When he straightened, he cast an anxious look to Katie. He saw Sarah standing in the living room entrance and his eyes flinched away, back to his cousin.

Tears flooded her eyes, the cask of her emotions starting to crack. Her breathing came in shallow feathery gasps, her body shaking with each stuttering exhale. "... needed ye so...."

"Sianna." Her tone was sharp in response to the concern of the gasps for air, "Calm down, er 'm gonna go git Eva an' ya dun wan' tha'. Relax. He's here, an' ya ar' missin' ou' by panickin'."

Sianna was a chastised child, and nodded dutifully. Taking a deep breath, she held it for long seconds, a hand moving to her face to wipe at her cheeks. "S-sorry..."

"Yeah, I know. Here." Katie produced another pill, putting the cool glass to Sianna?s cheek again, "Take one more fer me, yeah?"

He could feel his heart breaking when Sianna begin to cry, guilt a knife in his chest that pulled his breathing tight. He had absolutely no idea what to say, and settled for taking Sianna?s hand while Katie administered her sharp reproof. His thumb rubbed gently over her skin, and he settled for watching her face. He deserved the guilt, and it was only when Sianna apologized that he shook his head. ?Nah, nah, love, ya don? have anythin? ta be sorry for. Nothin?.?

Gripping Johnny's hand for leverage, Sianna attempted to sit up enough to take the second pill. She coughed as it touched the back of her throat going down.

"There ya go. Be back ta righ's real soon." She gave Johnny the nearly empty glass to hold as she stepped away. Nothing she could do now. Sucking in a breath for control, she tried to not look like she was dragging her feet over to Sarah, "Look - ya hungry er somethin'?"

About to shake her head automatically, Sarah turned it into a nod with an apologetic shrug. ?We?ve been travelling non-stop for th? last three days, an? we didn?t eat anything after breakfast t?day.? She kept using the word ?we?, unconsciously emphasizing Johnny and herself as a unit.

Utterly confused, Sianna nodded and shook her head almost simultaneously, to all three of them. Blue eyes scanned his face and found nothing but weariness. Yet Sarah had spoken, and she had heard her. And so the introductions must be made. Sianna looked to Johnny expectantly.

Coming back down the stairs with Ian in her arms, she strode over carefully to Johnny and Sianna, but paused as Sianna was looking over to Sarah. She went Sarah a clear warning look to behave, before offering Ian to Sianna. She felt that Sianna should be the one to introduce the children.

Johnny sighed, rubbed his hand against his jaw with a faint rasp of stubble, then looked from Sianna to Sarah. ?Si, this?s Evan?s wife, Sarah Whittaker. Sarah, this?s my wife, Sianna.? He was distracted then, when Katie passed by carrying one of the children. It was like a magnet, how his entire attention shifted.

About to speak up, Sarah was quelled by the firm tones of Johnny?s introduction and Katie?s glare. Instead she nodded to Sianna with a polite smile. ?It?s a pleasure ta meet ya. Johnny?s told me a lot about ya.? Setting the fork back on her plate and turning to set it down on the side table, she quietly murmured ?Whittaker-Smith? while she gave a pointed look to Katie.

"Can it." She all but growled to Sarah in the same tone that she had spoken to Branan earlier. However, she returned up the stairs to fetch Meggie.

The appearance of Ian distracted her from what was at hand, and she held out her arms eagerly. He was awake and she lowered her face to place a noisy kiss to his cheek. Nodding her greeting to Sarah, she bounced the happy infant in her arms. "Evan's wife? Is he seeing tae yer lodging then?" No sooner were the questions out of her mouth, did the phrase "Whittaker-Smith" ring in her ears. Her eyes went wide and flickered between the two before her.

Sarah appeared perfectly composed as she replied, ?He passed away, just a little after Johnny got there. Johnny married me, and he said he?ll see ta taking care of me here.? Again the stubborn line of her jaw set, while her hazel eyes flashed. She was not going to let anyone forget that she was not on her own.

About to answer Sianna?s question, Johnny closed his eyes when Sarah spoke, with a wince as she continued. When she finished, he opened his eyes again and looked at Sarah. ?We ain? married, Sarah.? His diction became bitingly clear. ?Are not. It was a sham marriage to protect you, and annulled at that as soon as we got off-world.?

?Are ya saying yer not going ta keep yer word, Johnny?? Sarah?s response was lightning quick, as the argument bounced through familiar pathways yet again.

His breath let out with a woosh, and he sighed. ?I?ll do wha? I said, Sarah. Now please, le? me meet my children.? Baritone voice was almost pleading, and directed as much at Sianna as Sarah. His hand had reached involuntarily for the burbling infant in Sianna?s arms, and still hung there in mid-air.

Katarina took her time, her body trembling again as she heard the voices downstairs. Anger coursed through her veins, and she sat down unceremoniously on the floor and waited to find control before she picked up Meggie. The babe was so sensitive to what feelings were floating around, and the last thing they needed was an upset baby. Standing, she drew strength in a smile as she reached down to pick of Meggie, "Let's go, li'l one." She started back down the stairs and towards Sianna again.

Surprisingly to herself, Sianna held her tongue about the argument unrolling before her, dark blue gaze ticking away mental notes right and left. At Johnny's plea, she blinked, coming to rights again and turned the son to face his father face on. "Ian Douglas. Born first on th' twenty-first of January. Ian's th' Gaelic for John, aye?" Her voice sounded pleasant, an exercise in performance as any she ever attempted.

It was a fragile balance found, and despite the sheer joy and relief Johnny felt at finally getting home, he could feel Sianna?s questions building behind a wall of silence. His own guilt weighed too heavily to let him enjoy the reunion as he?d hoped to. The tension mounted while they ate and he helped put the babies down to bed for the first time. He tried to give them the teddy-bears he had so painstakingly sewed from rags. Ian seemed doubtful at first before beginning to suck on one cloth leg, but Meggie screamed when she saw hers, and wouldn?t quiet until it was taken away. When Johnny held her, the noise was just as loud, and eventually Sianna just shooed him out of the nursery so that she could get them both to sleep.

He retreated to the kitchen, and when there was finally silence from above he set a kettle of water on to boil for tea. All around the house was evidence of how things had changed in his absence, small rearrangings, some of Katie?s belongings.

Sianna came down the stairs, changed into a fresh set of clothes, composed of loose pants and one of Johnny's button down casual shirts. It had taken a feeding to get Meggie quiet and asleep, and her crying and fussing had seemed to pull the already fragile nerves to the outside of her body. Pausing for a moment to watch him, she was struck at how surreal it was to see him in the kitchen -- at once familiar and still hard to comprehend. "Oh, ye made tea. That sounds marvelous."

Pouring the hot water into two mugs, he didn?t look away from that task when she spoke. ?Though? ya migh? wan? some, an? figured tha?s easy enough ta do while ya were settlin? them.? Despite lines of weariness etched on his face, he didn?t sound or move as if he were tired. It was a deeper-set exhaustion, and when he looked at her, there was another pang to recognize a similar exhaustion about Sianna. He doctored her tea as she liked it, then crossed the kitchen to offer her the mug.

"Thank ye." Their fingers brushed in the exchange, and she lifted the mug to her mouth, lightly blowing on the liquid a moment before taking a sip. The parlor seemed a lifetime away, and she moved to her regular seat at the table, unable to hold back the sigh that escaped. It held no negative sentiment, other than the gratitude for quiet... and for him.

?Nothin? fer it.? Johnny took his seat at the table with his mug of tea. Instead of lifting it for a sip though, he wrapped his hands around the pottery and watched Sianna. After so many months of trying to hold her memory close, it was like he had to learn her face all over again. ?I missed ya, love, ya don? know how much I missed ya.?

Her arm reached across the table, the fingers of her hand curled in invitation for one of us. The normal bright blue of her eyes darkened in fraction. "Aye, I canna say that I do ken that, but if it I can compare it tae the ache I had for ye, I shall think we both went through a fair deal more than one should be expected tae endure."

Without hesitation he took her hand and held it. The mesh embedded into his fingers was warmed by the mug but apart from that his hand felt almost cold. Sorrow and guilt laced through his words. ?I couldn? call ya. Wan?ed ta, bu? they had th? planet blockaded from jus?a coupl?a days after I go? there.? Pain was a visible presence in his expression. ?Evan was already dyin? by th? time I go? on-planet. Wasn? a thin? I could do fer him bu? wha? he asked.?

Sianna's fingers linked instinctively with his, her heart aching for all of it, the heaviness of his words. A sip of her tea taken, she contented herself to listening, for now, letting him extract the experience from his soul like one would pull a splinter sunk deep.

A breath was taken in and then released before he looked across at her with his eyes shadowed. ?He asked me ta marry Sarah, love. There was a man tha? had some power there, some influence, who had? a lon? history of tryin? ta take Sarah whether she wan?ed it or no?.? He let out a short laugh. ?Tha?s how Evan an? I go? so close a? firs?, protectin? Sarah. So Evan asked me ta marry her, preten? ta be her husban? jus? lon? enough ta ge? off-world, make sure she was taken care?a.?

"Which is what ye did, aye? Ye acted in th' service of a friend. If Evan would no' had thought ye capable of such loyalty, he would no' have asked ye." Without his mane of hair, his features were more prominent, and in a way seemed more vulnerable.. The tea forgotten, she placed her other arm across the front of her, hand draped across the crook of her elbow.

?Yeah, i?s wha? I did. An? then thin?s started jus? goin? downhill. Blockade go? pu? up, an? Pal Jenks started comin? aroun? th? farm ?inspectin? thin?s an? tryin? ta ge? Sarah alone. Alliance started gettin? pushy, an? they threatened us when I tried ta apply fer medevac fer Sarah. M?mods are illegal on tha? world, plus ? well, I wasn? always on th? righ? side?a th? law there.? He shrugged at that, looking vaguely embarrassed. ?Then Sarah was passin? food an? money ta th? rebels, since her bro was one?a their leaders.?

"Her brother was one of the leaders, but Evan did no' trust the rest of her kin tae protect her?" So much of what he talked about went directly over her head, alliances and illegalities, why anyone would want to harm a widow. And did so little to erase the well of selfish need that had been dug deeper and deeper each night he was away.

Johnny looked at Sianna?s tear-stained face, his normal easy confidence shattered and his expression twisted with guilt. ?Wha? d?ya wan? now??

"I... " Her lower lip trembled a bit. "... want tae no' doubt ye like I did ever again. For th' pain of th' past months tae be a distant memory, like a dream ye woke up from and could never quite recall. Tae not be a selfish besom and begrudge all that Sarah's lost for what it's cost me..." The emotion in her voice trembled like an unintentional vibrato. "I want tae... tae punish ye, tae be mad at ye... and at th' same time, tae draw ye close and comfort ye and kiss every hurt away."

Of all of what she had said, it was first sentence that hurt the most. His voice was soft when he asked, ?Ya doubted me? Tha? I?d come back, tha? I love ya?? It had never occurred to him to doubt those things, that she might have. He looked down at the table, and then back up at her face, his expression bleak now. ?I s?pose I can? blame ya fer it. Tell me wha? ya wan? me ta do ta make i? righ? an? I?ll do i?, Si.?

She sought his eyes earnestly, trying to communicate through her eyes as well as with her words. "I doubted that ye could come back. Was feared that I'd lost ye... that I'd lost my heart and would hae tae live th' rest of my days wi'out ye." A hand raked through her hair in frustration. "First Yule, then Hogmanay... our family and friends jus' staring and watching, feeling sorry for me. 'Twas like they were mourning ye and pitying me. And I could hardly stand it. And then th' rumors.... " She shook her head as if willing them out of her ears. "... I could no' stand up under it all."

Her fingers tightened around his. "Seems I have m' own things tae apologize for, aye?"

From the distress of hearing how many thought him dead, Johnny?s face slowly shifted to a frown. ?No, ya don?. Ya shouldn?a had ta. I should?a been here, an? there wouldn? have been anythin? ta stan? up under. Wha? rumors, love?? His hand pressed against hers firmly.

She shook her head stubbornly. "I dinna even want tae mention th' ones I heard wi' own twa ears. They were cruel, sayin' that I'd played ye false and ye'd left because of it. But if those ladies were talking sae casual about us like that, I could no' keep from thinking that all of Rhy'din was gossiping about it... about us." Her head dipped low. "But ye are home now, aye? And all this is going tae be behind us...."

?Yeah, I?m home now, an? I ain? leavin? again.? Johnny?s baritone was firm on that when he finally reached over to tip up her chin and brush the curls from her face, with a gentle tug on one of them.