Page 147 of Bones

He relaxed. Well, as much as a centuries-old father of a toddler could relax. “I don’t want her to slip.”

“Hey, hi, we’re here,” Nate greeted as he threw open the front door.

“You’re capable of teleportation. How are you late?” Juno asked from her spot on the couch as she lifted a big piña colada at Denny.

“We drove,” Denny said. “Now that she can talk, Persephone has been tellingeveryonethat her dada and Uncle Levi can poof her across the country for a churro. I mean, she’s three, so they just think she’s being cute. But if it continues as she gets older, people will think she’s a liar. Or they’ll believe her. Neither is good, so we’re drivers now.”

“Have the other drivers always been incapable of maintaining speed or signaling?” Nate asked me.

“Yes. Since the invention of the car. Actually, the horse and buggy, too.”

“Damn.” He moved over to the couch. “Sister of mine, how’re the new recruits?”

Of all of us, Juno and Stellan were the only ones who decided against having kids. They still took The Four retirement plan and would age, but Juno split her time between overseeing Novel Idea and training our replacements.

“Not as good as us, but they’re getting there. We just closed on a property outside of the city where we’ll have more privacy. Stellan is going to get it set up so we can kick their asses more efficiently. It’ll be like we’re running Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, except Professor X and Magneto are boning.Finally. As it should’ve been in the comics.”

Stellan pulled his wife closer, still looking at her with love and adoration even when most would cross the street to avoid her insanity.

“Your retirement sounds like a lot of work,” Lennon muttered.

“Says the man who went back to working at the hospital as soon as he could,” Lilith said with a laugh as she sank into her mate’s side.

“Limited hours,” Lennon pointed out. His lips quirked. “Maybe weshouldtake up golf.”

Stellan paused with his beer partway to his mouth and shook his head. “If being a detective didn’t pack the same punch after the clusterfuck we dealt with, I’d die of boredom by hole three. I’m much happier training the next gen to be prepared.”

“Clusterduck, clusterduck,” Lucy repeated—or tried to.

“Quack, quack, ducker,” Liam joined in, his blue and black eyes lit with pure joy.

“How does my kid sound more offensive than the one actually copying the swear?” I asked.

“He gets it from you,” my wife called from the kitchen.

It’s been too long since I’ve touched her.

Leaving the others to catch up, I went in and found Aurora fussing over the cake. I wrapped an arm around her from behind and grazed my mouth up her neck. “It’s fine, my one. Come visit. Everyone is here.”

We still saw my siblings at least a couple of times a month. Except instead of planning for attacks or barely making it out of them alive, we hung out. Took the kids to do whatever stupid shit kids wanted to do. Played board games—something that Denny was very competitive about, especially when her best friend joined us.

It might not have been thrilling, but after years on my own, moving constantly with no attachment, I was good with simple.

“The cake is uneven,” Aurora whispered as she worked to nudge it.

I turned her in my hold. “No one will notice. All they’ll care about is how it tastes.”

She threw her hands up, fondant and frosting launching across the room. “Well, of course it’ll be good. You baked it. It’s me who messed up the decorating.”

“Our kid picked a knife block for his cake. There’s really only so much we can do with that.”

“He likes cooking with his dada. I don’t blame him.” She smiled up at me. Small and genuine.

I cupped her cheek like in the vision she’d had all those years ago.

Content.

Whole.

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