Chapter 30

"Mom!"

I smiled as my four year old son came running down the stairs.

"Don't run young man."

Severus got to him before I could and lifted him into the air as he laughed wildly. Severus wore a huge smile on his face as he kissed Aaron's head and put him back down. Aaron ignored the warning and ran to me instead.

I giggled as he hugged me gently before pressing a kiss to my stomach. It was quite a shock to him when he realized that he was going to be an older brother and a definitely difficult task for Severus to explain to him how I wasn't a child eating monster while I cried in the corner.

Sighing, Severus took off his coat and hung it on the rack before placing a kiss on my cheek and gently caressing my stomach. Both the males in my family- scratch that- all the males in my family had a weird infatuation with the baby growing inside of me.

I was only three weeks into the pregnancy so it didn't show however Severus was even more protective of me this time than he was the last time and now I had Aaron- a four year old- also babying me and reprimanding me if I didn't stop eating all his sweets. Luckily for me, he was Severus's son, so a pair of watering eyes and wobbling lips did the trick.

Aaron didn't know of what had happened and we intended to keep it that way, we left that life and that time behind. Instead we chose a better life, we grew and now here we were. Happy and expecting our second kid.

Severus and I didn't have many problems I  think the major factor for this would still be the situation we met under. It seemed that neither of us could forget the past so we lived with it. Doing our best to prevent it from coming back for us or the ones close to us.

Severus was now long employed, he didn't choose a profession which excluded danger though. Now he was a detective and had more than enough confidential cases piling up. It was shocking how effortlessly he carried them. But there were days where I would call up his boss randomly and ask for a day off for him.

I had known his boss because it was an older man that I had met while grocery shopping and helped on several occasions, then I met him when I visited Severus at the secret spot him and his buddy against crime- Edward- would spend their time at to keep us safe and away from the dangers of information.

It was fun though, his boss liked me and I could actually say that he looked up to me with happiness. From what he had told me, he was simply glad that someone from this time was still willing to help older people.

We had moved to the outskirts of a city, a few other members from the organization that Severus had a contract with stayed there so we weren't completely away from life and we weren't totally bare to any enemy. The safest thing was that all of those work acquaintances were armed and I had made progress with them, mum and dad lived close by as well while Donna lived further in the city somewhere near the area Edward had recently bought an apartment in.

Aaron loved when everyone got together. He absolutely adored my dad and Edward because they would play video games with him and tell him tricks to impress the ladies while my mother and Donna would sit back and sometimes reprimand him or at other times just settle with telling him what girls liked in boys.

It was funny how they were trying to teach him the ways of life at four, they usually confused him so much that after they were all gone he would ask Severus to explain everything. I still had the picture of the time I caught Severus sleeping with him on his chest after one of their usual chats to understand all the tips that his relatives had given him. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, both my boys huddled together and my next child already starting to step into life.

What was more amusing though, was watching both Edward and Severus talk with Donnas new husband. They didn't exactly dislike the man and neither did I, he was a retired army general and he made Donna truly happy. After all that she had to go through, she deserved to be happy and the two brothers agreed to it.

They had recently adopted a 5 year old from what I had heard and experienced, it was a girl and she was extremely shy. Donna told me that she had been through a rough patch in her last foster home and was still learning to talk to people. I thought she was cute when they showed me a picture of the girl.

She had swollen eyes though and a very skinny body, from what I could tell, she was sleep and food deprived. Ryan-Donna's husband- was scared at first, afraid that since he had hit 45 the child would be hard to keep up with but after he had learned of her past he gladly took her in. So far, the two of them and I were the only people that little Ellen had even said a word to. The only thing she said to me was 'hi' but that was enough to reassure me that the child would be fine.

The knock on the door pulled me away from Severus's arms and towards the door.

"Boy what are you doing with your life? Still single?!"

"Absurd! Are you sure you're not gay?"

I giggled to myself as I heard Ryan and my dad attack Edward yet again. I threw open the door and was greeted by the sight of all of them standing in front of the house with massive smiles. My father and Ryan were in the middle of rubbing Edward's head with their knuckles while the women ignored them with huffs and little Ellen was staring at me with wide eyes.

"Welcome."

"To our humble aboard, my room is off-limits!"

Aaron completed my sentence for me, appearing beside me with a wide smile before throwing in a warning to the grownups who tried to decorate his room the last time they came around. The grown ups chuckled before entering the house as we gave them way.

I was greeted by gentle hugs and kisses on the cheek while Edward gave me a distanced hug, which was just him patting his hands into air and smiling at me as I glared at him. Severus walked down the stairs, wearing a dark turtle neck and black jeans while I stared at him with wide eyes, unable to tear my gaze away.

Ever since I indirectly expressed to him that I liked that look, he would try it out whenever he felt that he looked fresh enough and each time it would leave me speechless. Sometimes pregnant too. It was his weapon of seduction. The confusion was; why was he wearing that now?

Edward nudged my shoulder with his, drawing my eyes away from my dashing husband and whispered to me.

"You look better than him."

He winked at me and I noticed the glare Severus threw at him. I rolled my eyes at them before drawing the family to the dining room.

It was a busy night, one that was filled with food and laughter and jokes, I even saw Ellen smiling at something Aaron did. My grin only widened as I remembered Aaron picking out his favorite toys, books and puzzles to make friends with Ellen, they were around the same age and because of Ellen never having gone to school, they were also in the same grade. And Aaron wanted to protect her from the bad kids.

I doubted the bad kids would even dare try to take on Aaron, he was a martial arts regular and Severus and Edward didn't leave a chance to teach him new methods. At such a young age, he knew how to counter more than enough attacks and since he was still small his training was focused more on how to bring the enemy to his level and then destroy them completely.

After finishing the food, we were all seated in the living room. All of us calmly seated on the couches as we talked about new happenings in life and Edwards non-existent love life.

"I think he's gay."

Dad whispered to me, loud enough for all of us to hear. We laughed as Edward glared at us.

"No, I'm too busy with work to care about some stupid female."

I 'awed' in disappointment and he turned his head away. Severus looked at him and sighed.

"Edward actually likes someone."

Everyone went quiet as Severus announced that and Edward stared at him with wide eyes. As if silently pleading for him to shut up.

"But she's taken."

We gave him depressed looks as he face palmed and glared at Severus, who curtly directed his attention away from his scowling brother.

"uhm uhm, may I have everyone's attention please?"

Aaron spoke up, standing straight like a host would and turning around as all of us quieted down. Once the only sound in the room was of us breathing he followed with a quick 'thank you' and turned around, gesturing for someone to come out.

I watched quietly as Ellen stepped out from behind the wall, her eyes were drawn to the floor as she fiddled with her sleeves, her hair had fallen down her shoulders and covered her face so all we could see were her nervous gestures.

"Go on."

Aaron urged her with a shooing gesture from him and she looked at him, shaking on spot as if her whole body was regretting her decision.

"I-I... I know I'm new, and I'm quiet- and no one would want someone like me in their family..."

Everyone tried to interject but a look from me and all of them silenced themselves, Aaron winked at me and smiled thank fully as I grinned back at him. I was going to help him with whatever he was trying to accomplish, especially if it meant helping Ellen.

"I, don't talk much... I don't respond when you talk to me- I don't make eye contact and I always act scared of you all... I know I wouldn't like me either if I was you so i-it's really okay if you don't either."

She sniffled, calming herself down as Aaron did another shooing motion with his hand as a gesture for her to continue, She looked over her shoulder to him and I saw a faint smile grace her lips.

"I never knew what family was- but the last year with all of you was t-the best a-and I want to thank you... I might not bring much to the family a-and I might never be good enough to actually consider myself anywhere c-close to all of you but I want you to know that I'm happy. I love my new parents and I love my new brothers, I might not show it a-and I'm not the best sister out there b-but please accept me a-and~"

She trailed off as tears fell down her cheeks and she hiccuped, Donna and mum were the first ones to embrace her as dad and Ryan fought back their tears, Aaron grinned widely and both the brothers stared at me in sweet relief but slight confusion.

I knew how badly the two of them wanted to interact with her but thought they would scare her away and the age difference really wasn't on their side either, 20 and 22 years was a lot of time to fill up. But with a bit of effort, it could be almost non-existent. As the ladies let her go, I smiled at the two baffled brothers reassuringly and they turned to her.

Severus extended his hand with a warm smile on his face as Edward sat beside him holding a napkin, she took his hand and the gesture made their smiles widened as she freely walked between them. Edward wiped away her tears as Severus held her hand patiently.

"We accepted you the day you came into our lives Ellen and we'd be more than happy to have an awesome little sister like you."

Ellens tears were back to falling down her cheeks as Edward freaked out and slapped Severus on the back.

"You're married, For gods sake do you still not know how to talk to girls!"

Severus, who I believed would reply a bit differently, took me completely off guard.

"And you're single for Gods sake, are you really in a position to complain about me? At least I'm hitched."

My jaw hit the floor as they argued, forgetting that Ellen was standing there, she was giggling at them as Severus let Edwards crush slip through. I really hadn't expected it to be a drama actress but I was more than happy that I knew her.

As the night drew on and all of us sat together to watch the sun rise on new years, I smiled to myself. At one point, life was hard, I really wanted to give up but the important people in my life were a reminder of why I should hold on and I'm more than happy that I did.

I sat against the wall on our back porch as Aaron slept in my arms and Severus leaned against my shoulder.

"Happy new year momma, I love you."

"Love you baby."

I cooed back at my son and kissed his forehead as he smiled and leaned against me. The grownups smiled at us and I smiled at them, watching how my parents stood with dads arm around mom and Donna leaned into Ryan's chest while Edward held a sleeping Ellen in his arms.

"Thank you love, for another amazing year and an advance thank you for all the mesmerizing years to come."

Severus kissed my cheek as I turned my head towards him and caught his lips in a gentle kiss.

"I love you too, forever and always."

I muttered, leaning my head against his as he smiled and the sun rose above the horizon. Shining light down on our own cozy little family.

"Forever and always."

~The End~