Mister and Missus

The meeting that Millie was sure Kieran was referring to was the one that had come when they met as equals, when their lives had been joined together in the first instance at the will of a Ministry official who they had both dealt with in the past. There they had entered into a situation as two parties, unequal in what they offered but equivalent in their misfortune at being faced with an inextricable fate.

However, their first had been forgettable, incidental: a mere blip in the new Transfiguration Professor’s afternoon, colliding awkwardly with a nonsensical blonde who disappeared as quickly as she had penetrated his personal space, disappearing down one of the corridors behind him after gathering up her dog eared books and sheets as though nothing had occurred at all. That had been nothing, a mere mix of life for a second that was washed from the mind as quickly as it brushed in.

Millie smoothed back a piece of hair that was sticking out a little and smiled at him, tickling her fingers behind Kieran’s ear before sweeping them back over his cheek.

“Maybe you just didn’t know the benefits of Sundays,” Millie joked gently.

She didn’t really understand where his reserved nature came from. His mother was a delight. His father, granted, was wooden and stoic but Millie saw the love they had for their son. The idea that they had overcome that together, softened the hard outside of a man who should have known happiness, laziness and contentedness lightened Millie’s heart considerably and again her chest warmed with affection for him, warmed with love for him.

Light-heartedness returned and Millie squealed as Kieran changed the game and at once she found herself beneath him, the heavy warmth of his figure over hers. Millie’s ankles linked together behind Kieran and she held her legs up either side of him, keeping him as caught as he was her. She smiled cheekily at him and nudged his nose with hers once more before giggling in response to his laugh, the contagion of his happiness infecting her completely and utterly.

“It’s because I’m so sexy, clearly!” Millie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively with a laugh. “Can’t get enough, can you?”

Millie’s expression softened as his words changed and she closed her eyes, arching her neck a little, her skin sizzling at the feel of his mouth on her skin. She hummed a little, her fingers sliding over Kieran’s back, and a slight whinny of dismay speckled past her lips as he lifted his head back up to look at her.

A ghost of a smile, a little sad one, poked at Millie’s lips and she looked at her husband, her fingers combing around back to his cheeks. She wanted to tell him somehow that if it was meant to be it all would’ve happened the right way anyway but fate had not been the one to intervene in their lives. Their stars weren’t meant to cross over but the game had been changed for them and there, they were together. Without the Ministry, they never would’ve been together.

She met his eyes hesitantly as his features changed yet again and Millie’s hand slipped behind Kieran’s neck as he lowered his head to hers. Then, their lips met and like so many of their kisses lately it actually felt real. It felt whole and palpable and right. The kiss at the wedding simply did not compare and as it deepened and the nature of the affection changed, their mouths changing their dance from laziness, gaining a slight fever to them, Millie couldn’t imagine a place she would have rather been.

He was everything now. Her recent past. Her ever present. Her near future.

After their weirdly rocky start and the problems with Avery and Robin, Keiran was completely amazed with where he and Millie had ended up. The week had passed, feeling uneventful compared to their past weekend. That wasn't to say he hadn't enjoyed it more than the previous weeks. No, indeed, with Millie popping into his office more and more he couldn't find reason to complain.

December had come 'round with the ending of the first semester of classes, winter break just on the horizon and staring all of the students in the face like a race they couldn't finish. Keiran had finally graded those essays from the previous weekend, having been forced to shoo her out of his office to get work done (with the promise of making dinner in return for her being nice about it). Friday rolled around, meaning that he had to start packing if he ever wanted to be ready to leave the castle. Usually, he would head to his flat, and at some point transfer over to his parents' home in Ireland for holiday. Unlike most years, he would have been the only person coming to visit them. With Avery off and married, Keiran wasn't sure if he should expect her there for Christmas Day or not. He just knew he wanted Millie there, even if that meant his mother treating them like children and embarrassing him any time he made any sort of gesture or comment in Melissa's general direction.

That afternoon, he had set down the options for her and they'd decided to head to his parent's for the break. Keiran would admit to being slightly surprised, but after the wedding and seeing Millie's apparent awkwardness with her mum, he wasn't feeling up to asking her about that just yet. Better to let her keep that to herself, unless she actually felt a need to share it.

When break finally and inevitably came upon them, the two gathered their trunks and anything else they thought might be useful over their time away, and took the floo to his childhood home. It was rather curious, he thought, that Millie had never actually seen his home before. He would have to give her a tour - especially of the outdoors, considering how much space there was and how much he wanted to see his mum's horses (the few that there were).

"Mum?" Keiran called, expecting Aiden to be down in his lab - the man had hardly been up to anything else lately, according to Bridget's letters. He was right, of course, as the one who came to greet him was, indeed, his mother.

"My dears!" She grinned, ignoring the fact that her face was spotted with bits of flour from whatever she was cooking, and came through the living room to hug Millie and then Keiran.

"What are you making, mum?" He laughed, brushing the white powder off of her cheek.

"Oh, you know me. I always make all sorts of things for Christmas." Bridget winked at Millie and let out another laugh before brushing spare bits of flour off of her hands and Millie's shoulders. "Sorry, hun."

Lifting his wand, Keiran started the trunks up the stairs and let them sit on the landing, deciding that he didn't feel like unpacking just yet. Bridget passed the two a last smile before returning to the kitchen with a warning that her food might be burnt. Keiran turned to face Millie, pocketing his wand, and offered both of his hands palm-up. "Care for a tour?"

The winds around the Finnigan household, buried in Cumbria where they could not be so readily sourced from their beds, had long since changed. They had altered from the way they had crashed and burned around their world upon the death of their patriarch. He had meant everything to all of them. He had been the centre around which the children had gravitated and absorbed the irrational, irrevocable, forever-love that Seamus Finnigan had to give to his son and daughter. Without him, the bitterness that their mother was famed for, renowned for, across every land that had ever dared cross in her path had increased a hundredfold. Her flashes of anger were directed, ultimately, at her children. Her weak, wounded son and daughter who had foolishly looked to her for love and affection. They got neither: only hatred and scorn for they were every bit like their father and produced in Lavender a mixture of lividness and betrayal no one could emerge from, truly. They thought they had. They all thought they had: but they hadn’t.

Rather like a lost boy, Elliot Charles Michael Finnigan had turned up on the doorstep of his sister’s in-laws feeling completely ridiculous. With a duffle bag slung over his shoulder and a jitter in his body that came from not owning a proper coat he managed to raise a smile to his lips as a harried, flour-covered woman opened the door, looking every bit like the kind lady who had hugged him needlessly, naturally, at his sister’s wedding. She hugged him again upon sight of him and he only just managed to keep hold of his bag as he was tugged into the Irish house that was a beautiful building, too pretty to really be called home, too large and impersonal from the outside. Inside, though, it was most certainly home and they had welcomed Christmas to it in every way: small and large. Bridget welcomed Elliot, too.

Ironically he’d beaten his sister and brother-in-law to the house. Being that he had a lot less to pack and a lot less to do in the build up to the season, he could Apparate out of Hogsmeade as soon as he broke the anti-Apparation wards of Hogwarts’ grounds. He was home free, beaming from Hogsmeade to Dublin to the countryside where he knew he’d come to find the Hayes household. He hadn’t had to look far. Rummaging through his brother-in-law’s things (hey, he had to make sure the bloke wasn’t a crazy axe murderer who was going to murder his baby sister in the night) had told Elliot exactly where he needed to go and thus it was onto the doorstep and into the house he’d ended up, sitting at the kitchen island with a mug of cocoa and a freshly baked cookie, watching as his, what, mother-in-law, could he say that, baked away, happily talking to him about the Christmas plans he was suddenly privy to in a way he hadn’t at all realised or intended.

It seemed as though she knew. Without having to say anything she knew. A true mother’s intuition. She knew when a little lost boy needed somewhere to go, someone to love him. Merlin, he was grateful.

Of course, what Elliot hadn’t been expecting was the thorough scrub that he go as a result of lingering. While vegetables were bubbling on the aga stove getting ready to be made into bubble and squeak, a tin tub was put in front of the large fire place in the hearth of which a whole pig was calmly turning on a spit. Hot water was thrown in as well as a few bars of soap and after that so too was Elliot, spilling water all over the stone floor. Bridget wasn’t a woman who admired the modesty and washed him head to toe without so much as blinking, looking at Elliot funnily when he stole back the sponge long enough to give a cursory glance of it around his lower echelons. With the way she’d dug her nails into his hair and his back, there was no way he was letting her have a go at the crown jewels – not that he would’ve let her even if she had been soft about it.

From there he was dragged from the bathtub and given a pair of old flannel pyjama bottoms. A clean, crisp shirt that smelled like morning dew and grass was pulled over his head and following that a green woollen jumper that the smell of which told Elliot that it had once been Kieran’s and recently too as it smelt just like the chambers that he and Millie shared at Hogwarts. Then, a sheet was draped around Elliot’s shoulders and he was put down on a stool and his hair was given a good hack at. For a year or so since his father’s death he’d left it in a disarray, left it to grow long. He’d plaited bits. Other bits had become matted and useless. Some bits had bells and charms and beads hanging and just as they were cut off, the fish earring in his ear was taken out too.

He was left with a puff of sorts.  The woman seemed to know something about haircuts and Elliot played with the thin course of hair that covered his scalp interestedly in the mirror when she was done. A dusting of blonde hair still covered his jaw much to his delight though that too had gotten a trim lest it become too unruly and just like that he was a man again and less like a dramatic yellow beast. He was a human again. The only evidence that he’d ever been anything other was the thick bit of chord still sat against the hollow of his throat holding his father’s signet ring with two red ornamental beads either side. But even that was taken off and the ring was slipped onto his finger. There, he was normal again.

Elliot turned to thank the woman but as though she’d not spent the last hour hacking at his form as though he was a marble block and she a sculptress searching for the real form, she’d returned to her baking. None of it had happened. The cookies, the cakes and the pastries needed doing. Uttering his thanks that she paid no mind to, Elliot returned to his chair and chuckled a little before refilling his mug with cocoa. He then flicked his wand at the radio and Christmas tunes began to play merrily into the kitchen.

Time elapsed comfortably and Elliot had left his perch to try and get a baking lesson. Bridget happily complied and set him to kneading bread dough which she was incredibly happy about – a good pair of strong hands was always a useful addition in the kitchen. Soon enough the bread was twisted into its shape and set in the oven and as Elliot eagerly moved on to cakes, Bridget’s whole countenance changed, as if she sensed something. Just as Elliot was about to ask, a million-watt smile lit up her face and she hurried out of the room as Kieran’s voice called out to her. Elliot smiled despite himself, wondering how on earth she’d even known. Mother’s intuition, it must’ve been, yet again. What a lady.

Millie looked away from her staring first drink of the world around her: Kieran’s world that he tottered around in when he was a baby, barely able to keep on his feet. He must have fallen, have tittered and cried before stifling his wobbly lips and picked himself up again, pressing on regardless of the pain that ruptured through his hands and his knees, perhaps even his little bottom. He pressed on throughout the house until each room he walked into he walked through it a man, an adult, a changed creature entirely. Now she was his. Walking into his home as a married man.

When she settled her gaze it was upon a flour-covered, jovial Bridget who she eagerly returned her embrace to. Millie laughed as Bridget reached belatedly to brush off the flower. Millie couldn’t care a whit about it though. She was just excited to be in a home. A real, proper home. It wasn’t made of card or fake flours or kept up with useless, petty money. There was a mother in it baking and cooking and making all of these treats for her family. She used endearments like ‘hun’ and ‘dears’ and it all so desperately mattered to Millie that she was there to feel that atmosphere. She wanted to feel that unconditional love.

Of course, while she didn’t know about it, that didn’t mean she wanted to be scrubbed and dressed and have a haircut courtesy of Bridget. She was quietly quite fond of Kieran’s mother but she wasn’t nearly as absurdly tolerant as her brother on that front. She wouldn’t take to water quite like the fish he was. She much preferred showers, regardless, and washing herself.

The blonde turned to her husband and slid her hands contentedly to his, lacing his fingers in around his longer ones. She leaned up, stealing a kiss from him before sliding her hands up his arms to tuck her limbs around his torso. She hugged him tight to her and smiled again before pulling away, taking his hands in her littler ones once more.

“Where first, maestro?” She asked, tearing her eyes across the foyer once more with a bright smile before turning her gaze onto him, a devilish grin replacing her gentle look. “Do I get to see baby pictures?”

Keiran watched Millie as she returned Bridget's greetings, her laugh infectious. He knew immediately that they had made the right decision by heading straight home. Granted, it wasn't his home anymore exactly, but it sure felt like it was. Keiran had a feeling his room was probably still untouched after all of this time. They had no need for an extra guest room, as he was really the only guest that came to visit. The only other person who had visited aside from a friend here and there was Avery, and she had discovered a love of staying in the living room with a blow-up mattress or a magicked one if it meant she could leave the tree lights flickering and sleep in front of the fire. Lucky for Millie, she needn't sleep on a mattress or in the spare guest room.

The tree his parents had picked out wasn't yet decorated – a tradition of theirs being to drink wine and adorn the pine tree with their homemade and store-bought ornaments, tinsel, lights and everything in between. But it stood tall and proud, even in its plain state, in the corner of the room next to the window where the outlets were set into the wall. The sight broadened his already painfully large grin until he was practically beaming with the feeling of everything.

As tempted as he was to tug her back towards him once she'd taken a step away he knew they had the entire break to be free to think about things other than school or his job. Christmas was always his favorite time of year, after all. He could come home from school during his Hogwarts years and ignore the fact that he was lying to everyone. Guilt was always painful at first, but as the break passed he could let it drift away for a while. Keiran pushed away that thought before his expression clouded over completely. Millie was asking about the tour so he let another smile spill onto his face.

“First, I think we should grab a snack of sorts for our walk. Mum always has hot cocoa on during winter so we could pick up some of that since I'll be dragging you outside.” Keiran joked, pulling her towards the kitchen, his back to the arch that opened up into their dining and cooking area. He was turning around to ask his mother to get down two mugs when he realized someone else was in the kitchen. He stopped short, standing up straight from his bent-down position from before where he could talk to her directly.

“Um, hey.” Keiran greeted awkwardly before taking a closer look and realizing he looked a hell of a lot like Millie's brother. An eyebrow lifted but he didn't question it, greeting the other man with a nod instead. The professor still wasn't sure what Elliot thought of him – and he wasn't about to question that, considering how 'close' the two had been as of late.

As if his mum had expected it – which, granted, made sense as Keiran always went for cocoa first when he got home – she had mugs sitting out on the counter and a smile directed at him. Shaking his head with a laugh Keiran let go of Millie to pour them each a mug.

He extended a mug in his wife's direction, leaning on the countertop behind him to look over at Elliot who seemed to have settled in and must have been there for a good while. After letting Millie and her brother greet each other properly, Keiran gestured with a nod in the direction of the rest of the house as he suggested Elliot join them.

“We were about to go for a little tour. If you haven't been around yet, you could come with. Or stay here and be Mum's test subject.” Keiran laughed, ignoring Bridget's amused scoff. Ever the mother she was, the woman was setting a plate of his favorites on the table in front of Elliot, drawing her son over to kiss her on the cheek in thanks and pick up a cookie. Yes, he was a grown man who liked cookies, thank you. If his Hogwarts dorm-mates could see him now.

“How about it?” Keiran asked after swallowing a bite, then took a drink from his mug. Millie's tasted almost the same as his mum's. That in itself was rather amusing but he kept it to himself, instead tossing a warm glance in Millie's direction. Hopefully Elliot wouldn't get all nervous about the two of them considering how new everything still was.

There was due to be nothing finer than the Christmas that awaited the young couple. There was to be hot spiced cider and en mass a platter of sweet treats. They would be filled to bursting until all that could be done is to collapse into bed and curl up together until morning when the birds began to twitter once more they’d rise and laugh and dress and start it all over again. It was their first Christmas. It couldn’t be anything other than steady after their shaky start. She was determined that some good would come and in the New Year there would be a sense that something better was beginning and that there would be a new world waiting for them that they could tackle together, hand in hand, because they were a team.

It was becoming apparent to Millie that she would follow the man before her to the ends of the earth if it meant she could keep him. That possession was something she’d never felt with such passion. She’d felt the neediness, the desire to have what she could neither call to her name nor keep. What she had was someone who she could feel palpably as hers. Whether either of them had wanted it in the initial stages it was now a partnership, a real (sort of) marriage that was beginning to take shape and really, really work. She wanted it to stay that way and she would’ve done anything because everything rested on it going well. New lives rested on it going well.

Millie zipped up her coat with a giggle and pulled her hood up, the faux-fur trim sliding down to obscure her eyes for a moment before she lifted her hands up to push it away and poke her gaze out from beneath it. She stole another kiss again, like the kissing thief she was, and laughed again before tumbling her way through the arch that Bridget had exited through, Kieran catching her by the waist part way there so that they could walk in together.

Her eyes were attentive on Kieran’s face as he spoke but Millie frowned a little when he broke off, his expression changing. The sense that something wasn’t quite right was immediate and Millie flicked her head round just as Kieran spoke again, her own features morphing from slight panic to total and utterly delighted surprise. Her mouth fell open and she broke from Kieran’s side immediately, throwing herself into Elliot’s willing and open arms.

The taller of the two siblings laughed as he caught hold of his sister and spun her around a little bit as he lifted her off her feet. It had been a while. Elliot hadn’t been around in the last few weeks and she’d been bursting to talk to him. Seeing him as him. As really him. That was a real Christmas present and when he set her down again on her little feet Millie brought her hands up to pull at his hair which was so very much like the way he used to have it when he was studious and boring to her.

“Hello you. Who did away with my raggedy man?” She inquired with a laugh, dropping her hands to his shoulders.

Elliot ducked his head embarrassedly and cocked it over at Bridget who remained stoic and noncommittal to their conversation. Millie laughed and shook her head, patting Elliot on the cheek before reaching up to kiss the opposite one. Her brother. Her precious brother. It was actually him again. She hugged him again, a little more forcefully, if possible, than the last time, before returning to her husband’s side, still quite unable to believe it was Elliot stood there.

“Nah, mate. Your mum’s great. Bakes like a dream. I’m helping. Besides, only an idiot would want to go back out there after being in here in the warm. You’re welcome to go and freeze your arses off but I’m going to stay in here by the fire.”

Millie laughed and shook her hand reproachfully at her brother who stuck his tongue out at Millie before resuming his earlier excursion into the world of baking.

“We’ll go and freeze our arses off then, Elliot Finnigan.” Millie admonished with a grin as she slid an arm around Kieran’s waist. She looked at her husband with a smile decorating her lips as she reached for her hot chocolate, picking it up and relishing in the warmth that made its way through her gloves to her palms.

“Ugh,” Elliot complained, provoking Millie’s glance over once more. “Go away. You’re sullying the purity of the kitchen with your cuteness. Shoo. Go freeze. Come back later. Take your cookies and be gone, heathens!”

Keiran nearly found himself surprised that Bridget wasn't saying anything about their need to keep from knocking things over. Then again, the three of them were wizards and could simply fix anything that was broken, so he joined in on the smiles and laughter that their reuniting produced. The professor nearly missed the indication that his mum had been the one who had changed Elliot's appearance, but didn't find it in him to question her. Frankly, it wasn't the first time Bridget had practically adopted someone when they'd walked through the door. If she didn't do the same to Robin when he showed up, Keiran would have to file a complaint that his best mate was being treated so poorly. That, of course, could only end with the laughs that her over-attentiveness would bring the lot involved in the Hayes family Christmas. That's what it had become after all.

The word 'family' rang through his head a few times as he listened to Elliot's reply and chuckled with a nod. “Alright, but don't blame me if you can't find the loo or sommat.” He warned with a joking shrug. Bridget or Aiden could easily direct him if need be, and of course they all knew as much.

Keiran looked down at Millie as she came up to his side, leaning down nearly far enough to press his lips against her head or settle his cheek and nose into her hair. Elliot's apparently distasteful reaction stopped him, though, as Keiran figured he could manage to hide his affections around her brother. He probably should have thought about that already, though, knowing that when he turned to lead Millie out, his mum would be smiling to herself. After her reaction to their wedding was so sad, then suddenly pleasant, he wasn't quite sure what his parents thought of it all. His dad had yet to make an appearance in the house; maybe Keiran could persuade him to come inside with the promise of Mum's baking and even Christmas tree decorating. It had to be done sometime.

He was right, of course, about his mum. The hand on Millie's lower back nudged her towards the living room again, deciding that they should head out back before their cocoa chilled and did little good on their outing. After opening the door as best as he could with a cup in his hand, Keiran led her straight to the barn – it was almost entirely dark out and he didn't want to keep her in the cold too long. They could always come out the next morning or whenever they got a spare moment. Aside from their need to shop for gifts – Millie would be required to stay home at some point so he could gather up some things for her – he was certain that his mum would be chucking them outside fairly frequently so she could wrap up the last of her bits and gifts and things.

“You probably wouldn't guess it by looking at me, but I actually am quite excellent at riding horses. Fun fact of the day there for you.” Keiran grinned down at her, not caring that the light was poor outside and that he could only see part of her face in the light from the barn and the house. “I think I'll need to teach you how. And then we can make Elliot play Quidditch with us so he can suffer the cold, too.”

His words poured out in an attempt to keep all of him moving as well as to keep her interest up in the wake of the a burst of cold air. His arm slid fully around her back to rub whatever warmth he could offer against her jacket, even though she probably couldn't feel anything except the motion of his hand. Once inside the barn, he passed her his mug and let himself into one of the stalls. Although Bridget only kept three horses, they seemed to get on alright and he felt an enormous relief when his hand settled on the poll of the horse's head before passing down to settle at the withers where he could toy with the stray hairs at the bottom of her mane as he looked over at Millie.

“I shouldn't make you stay out here. But hopefully you'll come out with me tomorrow?” Keiran suggested, feeling oddly like one of his students in an attempt to ask whomever they were interested in to head down to Madame Puddifoot's or somewhere. He didn't even know if she wanted to see horses or even liked them. Settling on the idea of suggesting another trip out to the yard the next morning, he closed the stall and locked it, plucking his cup from her hand as he turned to face her again.

Between that breath and the next, his course of action changed rapidly. He had intended to let Millie head back, if she so desired, as he went to fetch his father. But then he remembered that Elliot was in the house, assuredly uninterested in the idea of seeing his sister cozied up to a Professor, even if he was her husband. Instead of directing her towards the doors that led back to the house, Keiran took her hand and tugged gently to get her to follow him over to the stairs that led up to the storage and spare room meant for stable hands that they never had. He set his cup down several steps up before sitting himself on the fourth one from the bottom.

“So I figured that Elliot probably wouldn't be a fan of me doing this, so I'll do it here.” Keiran began, taking her mug and setting it next to his own. He turned to face her, knowing full well that he hadn't explained his intent. A smirk flashed across his face from his perch a few feet below her – odd, he noted, to be so much shorter than her in a situation like this.

His hands took up hers again so he could move them to settle around his neck, making his intention extremely obvious. Keiran's gaze locked with hers, waiting for her to decide if she wanted to stoop down to kiss him. He wasn't sure how many times they would get a moment like this – even at night – with his parents and her brother watching over them.

Out in the grounds the winds whipped up their wintry howl, warning trespassers against lingering too long. The light had long since given up its fight against darkness and was dying its last noble fight at the horizon’s end. Inky murkiness had chased it away but a thin sliver of red still shone out, defiant against its enemy. It was in that scarlet hue that they walked across the land surrounding the house, their feet crunching into the already frozen grass.

The barn was only marginally warmer but enough, Millie supposed, for the horses who whinnied and huffed, scratching at the hay strewn floor with their hooves upon hearing the doors groan open. Millie took the cup she was handed without complaint but continued to hold hers against her cheek, warming it through to a new level of numbness as she watched Kieran.

“I’m sure you can convince me, love.” Millie smiled indulgently.

The blonde’s eyebrows rose when Kieran took her hand and she followed willingly. She laughed at him as moved between his legs and let him drape her arms around him. She let one lay across his shoulder while the other tickled around his neck, smoothing her fingers gently through the hair at the nape of his neck. She slid her other hand back and nudged his jaw gently so he’d look at her before moving to speak.

“He’s not really so against you.” She told him gently. “He’s teasing.”

Millie leaned down and gave Kieran what he was vying for, a slight brush of her lips against his. She didn’t linger long, though. As soon as it began, Millie slipped away, a broad grin tugging her lips upwards. She backed away from Kieran, picking up her mug of cocoa as she did so and bowed dramatically before turning around and striding away, her gate wide and mocking.

“You’ll get a damn sight more than a kiss if you’re lucky but at this rate my nipples will freeze off. Can we go inside, love? You can give me a tour in the warm.”

Millie laughed and drank some of her hot chocolate but frowned as she realised it was losing its heat. Regardless of Kieran’s desire, Millie headed off at a small run, hopping along back to the house until she’d pried open the doors once more and was back in the warmth of the building. She smiled and set down her cup long enough to remove her coat and smooth out her clothes. She then reached down and pulled off her shoes and both were stowed easily in the little coat closet not too far from the door.

That was it. The shoes were off. The coat was away. The toes were wiggling in the socks. She was staying inside now, horses and husband be damned. There were cookies to be had and her rampant sweet tooth was going to indulge as much as possible over the Christmas break.

Millie picked up her cup once more and strode into the kitchen, confident of where she was heading. Soon enough she came over her brother and Bridget, the former of whom was twisting more dough into a plaited shape. The latter smiled brightly at the sight of Millie who eagerly filled up her cup once more. As if sensing it, Bridget held out the plate of cookies, the ones they’d taken having been recently replaced, and Millie grinned as she found that the new one was toasty warm.

“Thank you,” she murmured, bringing it to her mouth to nibble on carefully before starting on her hot chocolate.

Despite knowing he was acting ridiculous, Keiran couldn't shake the ease of being home where he had only ever been himself – even though sometimes that meant he was a little odd. Peering over the stall gate at Millie, he ate up the endearment like a man starved and grinned at her.

He took her at her word about Elliot, but moments later he was staring at her as she moved back towards the door. She was far too entertaining for Keiran's good. One minute she let him be as absurd as he wanted, or would be a complete sweetheart. His sweetheart. And yet there she was, bolting back inside and leaving him sitting on the step torn between the parts of her departing comments. His eyes fell to the hand that apparently had reached after her as she went.

“Of course.” He called as she was reaching the doors. “I just need to get dad to come inside first.”

Keiran let out a laugh as he picked up his mug and headed back outside with a last glace back at the stalls. Weird, he thought, how easily Millie could fit into this mess of a life he'd concocted with his parents. Maybe she wanted to so she made it so. His wife tended to do things like that. His feet carried him to the little room that perhaps would have been a garage if not for Bridget parking her car out front so Aiden could use it for his work. Years ago he had developed a short knock that his father could always recognize as his being at the door. It opened, apparently from Aiden's spell as he cast it from across the room.

“Keiran, you're home.” His dad's voice called from the table in the middle of the garage where the man bent over a pad of papers.

“Mum's been baking.” He grinned, leaning forward on his hands at the end of the table. “And Millie and her brother are here.”

“Her brother?” Aiden looked up – more in interest than in surprise or disapproval. Keiran had long since learned to read his father's expressions and reactions.

Keiran nodded, then gestured towards the door that led into the hall inside their house. “Why don't you come and say hi? Mum's made your favourite.”

After a moment of apparent debate, Aiden smiled at his son and put away his quill (some habits die hard) next to the Muggle measuring equipment he'd been using. He asked a couple questions about work and the like on their way inside, coming in through the arch as Keiran had not too very long ago. Passing a smile to Elliot and Millie, he watched as his father walked over and pressed a kiss to his mum's forehead before snatching up a couple of the treats she'd made.

Bridget handed Keiran a newly warm mug of cocoa as he made his way to the table and took a seat. He shrugged out of his jacket and let it fall back across the top of his chair and turned sideways in the chair to face everyone. Aiden had taken up introducing himself again to Elliot, though they'd met at least once, at the wedding, and asking about how the man's day had been. It was strange to see his dad acting so outgoing if not entirely pleasant. He was content to just observe for a minute or so.

Without his realizing it, Mum had come to stand behind his chair and settled her hands on his shoulders. “It's getting late. Maybe you should let Millie unpack her things. We can give Elliot the spare room. He and Robin can fight over it later.” She laughed, having apparently assumed that Avery and her husband would be coming over for Christmas. Keiran smiled up at her and nodded. “I'll show Elliot up in a few minutes. You go ahead.”

Bridget left his side to stand next to Elliot and join in their conversation, leaving Keiran to reach for Millie's hand after putting away his cup. “Mum's going to help him get settled,” He promised, nodding in Elliot's direction. “Time to finish the tour, eh? Put your things away and all.” He would definitely have extra room with all of the things he had left at Hogwarts in his rooms, so he wasn't quite worried about her clothes and whatever else fitting.

As they reached the hall, Keiran looked over his shoulder into the kitchen again. “I think mum's going to adopt you both if you're not careful.” He said cheekily, letting her head up the stairs first. Reaching the top, he decided to simply pick up their things and carry them the length of the hallway to where his room rested at one end. Kicking the door to open it, he entered, set their things down, and turned around to look at his wife.

Sleepiness was bound to set in and with a contented belly and a delightfully warm room, Millie could feel her eyes beginning to grow heavy. She leaned her head in her hand and continued to chat amiably with Aiden and her brother, persisting against her fatigue despite it. She finished off her cocoa and nibbled on her cookie until she reached her last chocolate chip and then she felt Kieran’s hand on her own. Millie turned, a bright smile lighting up her features and she looked over for a moment as Elliot whisked her cup away and she thanked him with a smile for him before wishing Bridget and Aiden a good evening.

The couple disappeared from the kitchen and Millie followed Kieran slowly, speeding up a bit to help him with the bags only to find that he was coping well enough. Millie laughed a little and trundled up afterwards happily. She shook her head, registering belatedly his words and she retorted that she certainly hoped Bridget would before reaching the room that she assumed must have been Kieran’s.

The room was dark upon first entering but Millie quickly found the switch and light was bathed into the room generously, waking her up a little bit. She smiled upon meeting her husband’s gaze and brought herself up close to him, curling her arms around his neck. She leant her head against his chest and drank in his scent before lifting her head again. She brushed her fingers across his cheek before leaning up and stealing a kiss.

“Does this tour extend to a bath with my darling husband and then bedtime?” She inquired with a teasing smile, lowering her hands to pull slightly at the buttons of his shirt. “If it doesn’t, I want no part of your tour, Mr Hayes.”

Keiran was far more content than he deserved to be, all things considered. He wasn't near good enough for the Ministry to stick her with him, but he wasn't about to go complain to them or anything. No, she wasn't getting away if he could help it. He didn't care if the law was ever repealed; She couldn't leave him. He wouldn't know what to do if she did.

He shook off the feeling as she walked over to him and set down some of the snark he'd started to search for in her. He laughed into her hair and smirked down at her as her hands toyed with his shirt. “Of course, Missie. The tour includes whatever the lady wants.”

A grin lit his features as he led her towards the attached bathroom and opened the door for her. “Besides, I daresay you owe me.” Keiran added cheekily, feeling a little smug. He sometimes could get what he wanted, too – though not as often as Millie seemed to. He let his arms slide off of her back to let the water heat before he pulled out the towels from their home in the small closet by the door. Keiran frowned and replaced them,  then used his wand to set a charm to warm them before closing the closet once more and smiling to himself. He despised the cold that came after a shower or bath.

“Mkay,” He gathered a bit of the hem of her shirt on either side to use as leverage as he pulled her towards him. “We can always skip the rest of the tour after my room. I mean, just ask someone and they'll send you in the right direction.”

The past week had felt rather like the honeymoon period they hadn't had. It just came a month or two later than usual couples' would. Aside from that first night – when he couldn't recall exactly who had started it or how they'd slept – it had been a rocky start. Now it felt normal, ignoring the history of the relationship. But there they were, regardless of each person's past, practically sneaking off (with his mum's permission and at her suggestion) in his own parents' house.