TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS LATER

"I just want to stress the importance that everything go according to plan, Commander. The eyes of the entire world are upon us for the next twenty-four hours."

The Commander of Moonbase Alpha nodded in agreement. "All systems have been triple checked and verified. All calculations have been…"

"I'm not talking about those, Commander, although they're of great importance. I just want to make sure you realize there will be no going off script." NASA Director Irwin R. Shyster glared at the viewscreen in front of him. "No adlibbing about establishing the first strip club on Mars."

"That was just a joke, sir."

"Constructing slot machines."

"An exercise in engineering and physics."

"Racing the Mars Rovers and handicapping…"

"I completely understand, sir. Stick to the script. No adlibbing."

Shyster nodded. "You're the best man for your position, Commander. Act like it."

The Commander of Moonbase Alpha grunted as the NASA Director disappeared from the viewscreen. "Fuck you, Shyster," he muttered under his breath. "Somebody needs to yank that stick out of your…" He was interrupted by the knock on his office door. "Come in."

While he wasn't a distant commander and pretty much on a first name basis with the personnel on the Moonbase, he did like his privacy. When his office door was closed, you didn't enter without permission.

"You wanted to be reminded about the dinner." The Communications Officer's twinkling brown eyes caused him to smile.

"Do I have to stay on script?" The Commander whined as he got to his feet.

"Regretfully, yes." The young woman grinned. "Less entertaining for the rest of us, but also less likely for you to get another call from the Director."

"Yeah, let's avoid that if we can." He closed his office door behind him. He was Dean Reigns. Time to act like the Commander of Moonbase Alpha.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ladies and gentlemen, I won't take much of your time. However, on behalf of the personnel of Moonbase Alpha and myself, personally, I'd like to welcome you to Moonbase Alpha as brief as your visit is." Dean smiled to himself when the commander of their visitors openly chuckled. 'Take that, Shyster.' Raising a pressurized mug, he continued, "To a successful and safe mission." After the toast, he sat down then looked up in surprise when the man next to him stood.

"Thank you, Commander. Let me say, on behalf of Ares One, thank you for your hospitality and good wishes." His blue eyes merrily twinkled when Dean's lips twitched in amusement. As he sat down, he saw the Moonbase's Communications Officer competently ushering the members of the Media to their own dinner which she was hosting.

He sat down and looked at the man next to him. "Commander Reigns."

"Commander McMahon."

The two slowly grinned at each other.

"So, is this when you break out the good booze?" Finn McMahon muttered.

"Drinking within 24 hours of a mission?" Dean shook his head.

"Seriously?" Finn asked in mock disappointment.

"I'm in enough trouble with the Director," Dean grumbled as he looked at his plate. "Dammit, I told them to stop serving peas."

Finn laughed. "Still hate them, do you?"

Dean shuddered then shoveled one mouthful into his mouth, swallowed them whole then repeated the process. "God, yes!" he finally answered. He eyed the people at the table. "I've got to check on some things when this is done. Meet me in my quarters an hour after dinner is over."

Finn nodded and cheerfully ate his own peas.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dean looked up with a smile at the knock on the door of his personal quarters. "Enter."

The door opened then swiftly closed. Finn leaned against the door with a wide grin. "Tell me there aren't any of the media in here," he begged.

"Not on your life," Dean promised.

The two cousins chuckled then tightly hugged.

"If I get one more question about how it feels to go to Mars or what a coincidence it is that my cousin is the Commander of Alpha, I think I'll scream," Finn grumbled as Dean waved him to sit on the bed.

"I leave all that to my Communications Officer," Dean chuckled. He grabbed the chair at his desk and swung it around.

"Ah, the lovely Renee Young," Finn sighed, putting a hand on his heart. He noticed the narrowing of Dean's eyes and chuckled.

"Bastard," Dean grunted. "How's the family handling all this?"

"Oh, dodging the media," Finn shrugged. "When they can't, they give the standard answers of how proud they are of us. Me commanding the first manned mission to Mars, and you commanding Moonbase Alpha guarding all that alien technology."

Dean groaned. "Jesus, are they still trying to push that conspiracy theory?"

Finn leaned closer. "Is it a conspiracy theory?" he teased.

Dean smirked and Finn laughed.

"Mom told me to give you a kiss, but you'll forgive me if I don't pass it on."

"We'll keep it our little secret," Dean laughed. "Paige? Uncle Shane?"

"All doin' well," Finn nodded. "Paige thankfully came to her senses and kicked that jerk to the curb." He glanced at his cousin. "She caught him cheatin' on her."

"Do I need to pay him a visit when I rotate down?" Dean curiously asked. "Or did you take care of it?"

Finn barked out a laugh. "Didn't have to. Stupid idiot came around trying to make up with Paige and Mom laid into him with a right cross. Then Uncle Sheamus literally kicked him off the front porch."

Dean roared with laughter. "God, I love Aunt Becky! And Uncle Sheamus." His blue eyes twinkled. "He taught me how to fight dirty, you know."

"Me, too," Finn nodded. "But I think Paige was his star pupil." His eyes widened as he spotted a framed picture on Dean's desk. He got to his feet and reached past his cousin to pick it up. "Dear Lord, would you look at this? We look so young!" He sat down on the bed, staring at the photo of four children standing on a beach in Hawaii, arms wrapped around each other.

"That's because we were young," Dean snorted. "Seth and I were four. Paige was six. And you were all of eight."

Finn nodded, gently smiling. "That vacation in Hawaii when we first met." He glanced at Dean. "When we first talked about going to Mars. Paige and I had no idea what to expect from our 'new cousins'."

"Hell, neither did we," Dean admitted, leaning back in his chair with a grin. "The only cousins we really knew were Randy and Kevin. And that didn't turn out well."

Finn handed the picture back to Dean. "They were there for the photo op Director Shyster set up. Their parents, too."

"Bet that was fun," Dean grunted. "The Director wanted me there, but I told him there was too much to do here. He really couldn't overrule my decision."

"Actually, we were disappointed you didn't make it," Finn remarked. "Would've been a great family picture." When Dean didn't comment, he grinned. "But I was surprised to see Seth and Kevin actually getting along. Looked like Randy was confused about that."

"You mean U.S. Senator Randall McMahon doesn't know everything? The youngest elected Senator in Congress?" Dean put a hand on his chest as he gasped.

Finn chuckled. "He is rather pompous."

"What worries me is that he managed to get on the Senate Committee that controls our funding," Dean admitted. "It should worry you, too."

"Oh, I'm not worried," Finn shook his head. "After all, it wouldn't look good if he cut funding that might jeopardize the lives of his cousins?" When Dean snorted, he continued, "After all, I'm squarely in the public eye and will be for the duration of this mission. And probably afterwards as well. And you, you're the Commander of Moonbase Alpha, the jumping off point for all space exploration. Do you realize there's a waiting list of people wanting to be stationed here because of you?" He saw Dean's confused look and shook his head. "No, of course, you don't." He threw up his hands. "In just about every damned training module we ran through for setting up a permanent station on Mars, Moonbase Alpha and it's Commander was held up as the standard of excellence! 'Look at how Commander Reigns does it.' 'Follow Commander Reigns' example.' If you weren't my cousin and I love ya, I'd probably want to throttle ya."

Dean burst out laughing. "You're exaggerating."

"You're in the textbooks," Finn calmly spoke.

"I'm…what?"

"Look it up yourself," Finn shrugged. "You're a hard act to follow, cousin. But I'm sure as hell gonna try. So, I wouldn't worry about Randy cutting the funding. We're making him look good." He settled back on the bed. "Now, tell me how Seth and Kevin got to be friendly."

"Hell, I don't know," Dean grumbled. "It all has to do with Sami Zayn. He taught at a private school and did some youth coaching in soccer when we were kids. Somehow, Kevin got on one of his teams and became a tutor for him in something. Anyway, apparently, he was a good influence. Maybe Kevin was getting older and away from Randy's influence."

Finn patiently waited.

Dean sighed. "From what I heard, Zayn apparently inherited some money and wanted to do something worthwhile with it. Seth was volunteering some of his time with Doctors without Borders doing eye surgery and eye exams in places where bullets tended to be flying around. Which, I might add, made both Mom and Dad very proud and gave them more gray hairs than I ever did."

Finn laughed so hard he nearly fell off the bed. 'Made you proud, too, I bet.'

"Supposedly Zayn threw some funding their way and somehow Kevin wound up on one of the trips Seth was on," Dean shrugged. "Not sure why Kevin was there except maybe to see how the funds were actually being used. But they kinda bonded or something."

'And you're jealous as hell.' Finn saw how Dean's blue eyes flickered away.

"But Seth's getting married in a few months, and I figure Alexa's gonna put her foot down on more of those trips," Dean muttered.

"Wonder if Seth will agree to it?" When Dean shrugged, Finn gently asked, "Did you agree to be the best man?"

"May not be rotated down when the wedding happens."

Finn sighed. "You're the Commander, Dean. You can adjust the rotation schedule."

"Not a good thing for a commander to do," Dean snarked. "Didn't the textbooks mention that?"

"You're saying you never adjusted the rotation schedule for someone here?" Finn challenged him. "For a personal family reason?" When Dean didn't answer, he nodded, "Of course, you did. And no one will think twice if you adjust the schedule to attend your brother's wedding."

"I don't wanna talk about this," Dean warned.

"Well, I do," Finn firmly answered. "And since I'm gonna be away for the next three to four years, we're gonna talk about it."

"Dammit, Finn! You think it would be easy? Going to my brother's wedding when he's the one who destroyed the one I was gonna have?" Dean angrily hissed. "I was going to ask Summer to marry me! He knew that! And he still slept with her!"

"I know," Finn calmly nodded. When Dean glared at him, he sighed. "Dean, you didn't exactly keep quiet about what happened. You confronted Seth…in front of your parents. Well, after you blacked his eye and broke his nose." He masked a grin. "Of course, your parents were going to talk with mine. And Paige and I perfected the fine the art of eavesdropping when we were kids. She overheard it and told me since I was in training in Florida with you." He took a deep breath. "And you know Seth wasn't the only man Summer Rae cheated on you with."

"But he's my brother!" Dean angrily stood and began pacing the small room. "He knew I was coming home early! He planned it so I would catch them practically in the act!"

"Because you wouldn't believe anything bad about her," Finn calmly pointed out. "I know Seth wasn't the only one who tried to talk to you about her. Paige told me that April Joy was pretty blunt about what she said." He sighed. "I stayed out of it, but I'd heard the talk."

"I had the ring in my pocket, Finn," Dean quietly spoke. "I was gonna ask her to marry me that night."

Finn stood and nudged Dean to sit back down on the chair. He then sat on the edge of the bed and leaned close to his cousin. "Look, I'm not here to try and absolve Seth of the blame in what he did. He crossed a line he shouldn't have crossed when he fucked Summer and knew you'd catch them. But Seth said he didn't know what else to do, that you wouldn't listen." He sighed. "Paige had suggested taking Summer for a long walk off a short pier, but Seth didn't want to go that route. And I won't divulge what April Joy planned."

"Oh, God, that sounds like them," Dean groaned and covered his face with his hands.

"And Seth had no right to act like a martyr afterwards," Finn firmly continued. "He's lucky all he got was a broken nose and black eye."

"So, what's the point of all this?" Dean dropped his hands from his face and stared at his cousin.

Finn leaned back and slowly spoke. "Paige and I have fought each other for as long as I can remember. So many times, Dad would tell us that we needed to act more like Dean and Seth. They never fought." He leaned forward again before Dean could speak. "What you and I do is dangerous. People like the Director can spout all the statistics he can come up with about safety. But you and I know…this…is…dangerous. Something can go wrong…" he snapped his fingers. "…in an instant."

Dean nodded in silent agreement.

"We accept that," Finn continued. "We understand it's part of what we've chosen to do. But before I came up here, I made things right with Paige. We never disliked each other. We probably were more jealous of each other than anything else and too much alike. There was always going to be friction between us. But I wasn't leaving without making it right. In case I don't come back."

"What the hell, Finn!"

"Don't take that attitude with me. We both know the odds on this mission…on being here, for that matter."

Dean grunted and glared at his cousin.

"But consider this. Seth might not come back from one of those trips to do eye surgery in places where bullets are flying around," Finn quietly pointed out. "Is that how you want to leave things with him?"

"Shut up, Finn. I mean it," Dean growled.

Finn sighed. "I was taught as a child that forgiveness can only be given when there is true repentance. Seth can say until he's blue in the face that he's sorry for what he did…for how he did it. But you're the only one who can give that forgiveness and only when you feel he's truly repentant…that it's not just empty words."

"How can I be the best man, Finn?" Dean muttered. "Stand up and give a toast and speech? God help me, I love him; but I don't know that I trust him for one second anymore."

"You don't talk about what happened with Summer. You talk about how Seth hiccupped when Alexa kissed him the first time. Remember telling me that story? Pre-school Valentine's Day?" Finn grinned.

"Oh, my God, I'd forgotten that!" Dean shakily chuckled. "He was wearing those awful glasses that made him look like an owl!"

Finn chuckled and relaxed. "See, that's how you do it." He patted Dean on the knee. "You and Seth have to take baby steps, Dean. He's got no right to expect anything more than that." He stared into his cousin's blue eyes. "But you have to decide if that's what you want to do…if that one event with Summer has more weight than all the years that came before." He lowered his voice. "And what you can live with. Good or bad."

He slowly stood. "And on that rather somber note, it's time to turn in. You, too, I guess. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

"Yeah," Dean nodded as he stood. "Hang on a sec."

Finn curiously watched as Dean opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out two photographs. Grinning, he handed them to Finn. "Speaking of family photos."

Finn widely grinned. One photo was a copy of the framed picture on Dean's desk of the four of them as small children. The other was a photo of his family and Dean's that had been taken in Florida when he and Dean were in training.

His parents, Shane and Becky. Dean's parents, Roman and Bayley. His sister, Paige. Dean's sister, April Joy. Dean's brother, Seth.

"Now everybody can go to Mars," Dean softly spoke. He slowly wrapped his arms around his cousin and held him tightly. "If I can't go, I'm glad you can," he whispered.

"Dammit, you're gonna make me cry," Finn sniffed as he hugged his cousin back. "Not even Mom managed to do that."

Dean chuckled and hugged Finn one more time before releasing him. "Travel safe."

Finn nodded and wiped his eyes. "Be safe."

Dean watched his cousin leave his room, gently closing the door behind him. He wearily down sat on his bed, then reached under it to pull out a small locked box. Taking the key from his pocket, he opened the box and pulled out a well-worn stuffed wolf cub. He kicked the box back under his bed and lay back on the bed, placing the stuffed animal on his chest.

'His name is Cubby. He's so Dean won't be alone.'

Dean grinned, vaguely remembering waking up after his appendectomy to find Cubby in bed with him, a gift from Seth.

'Brothers always forgive.'

Dean sighed. 'I'd almost forgotten that dream…Colby.'

'Brothers always forgive.'

He wrapped his arms around Cubby and turned on his side.

'Seth might not come home from one of those trips…'

Dean took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He needed to get some sleep. He had a cousin to send to Mars in a few hours.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Communications Office Renee Young wasn't surprised to see the dark circles under Dean's eyes. There was a lot of pressure on his shoulders for this mission, both professionally and personally. She didn't have a problem running interference between him and the media and the Director, but this was decision she couldn't make for him.

Dean rolled his eyes when she approached. "Keep the media off my back, Renee."

"Not a problem," Renee nodded. "But the Director has advised that Senator Randall McMahon wishes to say a few words to the crew of Ares One." She saw Dean's blue eyes narrow. "To wish them good luck since his cousin…"

"No. Senator Randall McMahon can make speeches on his own time. He's a distraction that we don't need, and I don't want to listen to anything that douchebag has to say." Dean hesitated then added, "Feel free to quote me."

"If it's all the same to you, I'll rephrase it," Renee suggested.

"However you want," Dean nodded. He watched as she took at seat in the Command Center. His eyes flickered from station to station…from screen to screen…watching and listening as Ares One was being prepared for launch.

'Aunt Becky, me and Finn are gonna go to Mars.'

He remembered his first visit to the Kennedy Space Center with his father. He had sat on Roman's lap watching a reenactment of the Moon landing launch. Even then, his goal had been to go to Mars. Instead, he was preparing to launch Finn to Mars…and he realized he was at peace with it.

Renee appeared next to him with a commlink. "Anything you want to say that's off script, do it now," she advised. "We'll have control and be live in five minutes."

Dean nodded, taking the commlink. "My brother's getting married in two months, God help him. I'm gonna be the best man so I have to adjust the rotation schedule. I know you'll be rotated down at that time. Would you like to be my guest at the wedding?"

Renee smiled. "Are you sure they'll be okay with you bringing someone they don't know to a family event?"

Dean nodded. "They'll figure you're the one who convinced me to be the best man. Besides, I need somebody to help me write the damn best man speech and toast and keep me on script." He shyly smiled. "So, is that a…yes?"

Renee nodded. "Yeah. It's a yes." She tapped his arm. "Live in four minutes."

Dean nodded and took a deep breath. His voice and those of the launch crew would be the ones his family would hear from that point on. He knew Finn's family would pick up on any nervousness in voice so he took another deep breath.

Eyes on Renee, he nodded when she pointed to him.

"Houston, launch command transferred to Moonbase Alpha," Dean calmly spoke. "T-minus 30 minutes. Begin closing transfer hatches and disengaging tunnels."

The tunnels were long inter-connecting tubes that connected Moonbase Alpha with the launch site. It would take almost all of the thirty minutes to retract them.

Dean knew the next thirty minutes would be the most boring yet nerve-wracking for the family back on Earth who were in the NASA headquarters watching on the monitors. So, with each check, he calmly confirmed it, knowing it would give some comfort and confidence to them.

He irritably glanced at Renee when she tapped him on the arm and held out her tablet for him to read.

'Dir demands Sen McMahon speak with Area 1 crew.'

Dean rolled his eyes. He took the tablet and wrote an answer. 'Don't care what they want. I have launch control. Randy can fuck himself with a rubber hose. Director too. Feel free to quote me. No more distractions.' He heard Renee cough to cover her laugh as she walked away.

"T-minus 15 minutes. Begin launch sequence checklist," Dean ordered.

He imagined his mother and Aunt Becky, sitting together, holding hands…their husbands' arms around them. April Joy and Paige sitting together…thick as thieves despite their age difference. Seth and Alexa holding hands and probably holding their breath. Maybe Kevin sitting with them.

At least Kevin was with Seth when he went with Doctors without Borders. At least somebody was looking out for his little brother.

'Brothers always forgive.'

And Dean knew at that moment, he'd forgiven Seth for exposing Summer Rae as someone who was unfaithful to him even before becoming engaged. Trust, however…he still wasn't sure about that. He'd go to Seth's wedding…be the best man…give the toast and speech. He could do that at least.

Dean mentally smacked himself to bring his thoughts back to the launch as he confirmed the completion of the launch checklist.

"T-minus 2 minutes. Tunnel retraction completed. Transfer hatches confirmed closed. Ares One, we have a go for launch in T-minus 90 seconds."

"Confirmed, Alpha," Finn calmly replied.

Dean slowly smiled and waited.

Renee saw his smile and briefly closed her eyes. She mentally began preparing whatever apology she was sure she would be making on his behalf to the Director.

"T minus 60 seconds," Dean announced. "Begin launch sequence." He rolled his shoulders once and relaxed, he eyes flickering from monitor to monitor.

"Beginning launch sequence," Finn confirmed.

'Fuck you, Shyster, and your damned script.' Dean stared at the main monitor. "Godspeed, Ares One. See you when you get back."

Finn chuckled. "Thanks for the hospitality, Alpha. We'll do it again."

Dean kept his eye on the main monitor. "T minus 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Ignition."

"We have ignition," Finn reported as Ares One smoothly left the moon's surface. "All systems green."

"Confirmed. All systems green." Dean's eyes flickered from the main monitor to the various smaller monitors. He vaguely heard the cheers from the launch crew even as they kept a watchful eye on their monitors.

"They're on their way," Dean clearly spoke.

It was off script. But he was talking to his family anyway.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TWO YEARS LATER

Seth Reigns walked a few yards away from the hospital entrance. He took a deep breath of the night air, released it, then took another deep breath. Inside, his sister April sat with his dozing wife no doubt taking picture after picture of his newborn son. But he needed air and time…and space. He stared up at the full moon in the dark sky and took another deep breath.

"Don't tell me the eminent Dr. Seth R. Reigns got booted out of the nursery by his sister and wife. I expected to see you draped over the crib looking all dewy-eyed at your new baby boy."

Startled, Seth whirled around. "Dean?" he breathed in shock. He stared back up at the full moon then at his grinning brother who stood a few yards away on the darkened pavement holding the handle of a gift bag in each hand. "DEAN!" He ran towards his brother and pulled him into a tight hug.

Dean chuckled and returned the hug. "Surprised?" he muttered.

"How?" Seth stepped back but kept his hands in Dean's shoulders. He took one more look at the full moon then shook his head. "I thought…"

Dean transferred both gift bags to one hand and scratched his bearded chin. "I may have misspoke when I told you my rotation date," he admitted with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

"But the baby came three weeks early!" Seth pointed out. "How did you know?"

Dean laughed. "I didn't, you dork." Then he shrugged. "I had some time built up so I rotated out early. I figured I'd spend the time with you and give you a break from the pregnant wife and our sister before the baby was born." He shrugged. "In addition, I've got my normal downtime of two months so now I'll have just that much more time to spend with my new nephew."

"When I left a message with your office, nobody said anything," Seth good-naturedly complained.

"I asked them not to," Dean grinned. "You know, surprise and all. Dad and Mom still in Sydney?"

"Yeah, I Skype'd them earlier so they could see the baby," Seth laughed. "I swear you could've heard Paige squealing all the way from Australia even without the connection. Oh, and Aunt Sasha's scream probably broke half the windows in San Francisco."

"Everybody's coming?" Dean guessed.

Seth nodded. "The compound's gonna be full with family."

Family. To them it was parents, siblings, the Australian uncle, aunt and cousins, the Cesaro family and cousins and the close friends who'd become family throughout the years. The death of their McMahon grandparents had put more money into their mother's trust fund. Bayley and Roman had used it to buy property and build cottages so that all the family and friends would have a place to return to for holidays and special occasions.

"So how did Dad react to seeing his namesake?" Dean laughed. "I can't believe you actually had him believing you were going to name the baby 'Wesley'."

Seth snickered. "I think he was about to cry when Paige screeched 'He's adorable!' and scared everybody."

Dean leaned closer and lowered his voice. "So, who does little Roman Seth look like? You can tell me the truth. He's a handsome devil just like me, right?" he teased.

Seth frowned. "Roman Seth? His middle name's not Seth."

Dean's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? You mean Alexa wouldn't let you give your first-born son your name? What did she do? Slap the poor kid with a version of her name? Alexander? Zander? Alexis?" he indignantly demanded.

Seth shook his head. "Little Roman's middle name isn't Alexander or anything remotely like it." He leaned forward. "His name is Roman Dean." He watched his brother's face go completely blank for a second then slowly soften.

"Roman Dean?"

Seth silently nodded.

"You…you named your son…after me?"

Seth stepped closer to his brother. "Who else?"

This time their hug was slow, gentle, and warm.

Seth smiled as Dean's body relaxed against his own. For the first time, he honestly felt the dark years when they'd barely been able to speak to one another without a fight starting between them were finally and completely over. For the first time, he honestly felt his brother had not only forgiven him but loved and trusted him again.

"Thank you," Dean whispered. "I…I'm sorry, Seth, for all those things I said…how I acted…I…"

Seth squeezed his brother tighter. "Hush," he murmured. "I deserved it. And probably more. But we're past that, right?"

Dean nodded, his head against Seth's shoulder. "Yeah, we're past it. Totally." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Sethie."

"I love you, Dean." After a few moments, Seth stepped back. He looked up into the eastern sky. "Wish Finn could be here."

Dean sighed and turned his brother to face the western sky. "Finn's over there."

"Oh." Seth waved his fingers in the air. "Hey, Finn. Baby's here."

"He'll get the message." Dean explained when Seth glanced back at him. "When you called the office, I was already on the way here. They called me, and I asked them to relay the message in the next contact with Mars. 'Course, I didn't know the baby's real name so he's gonna think it's Roman Seth." He shrugged. "My bad."

Despite himself, Seth flinched. Mars had always been Dean's dream. He hadn't flunked the psych test, but he hadn't passed it either. Dean just wasn't psychologically suited to the solitary nature of a multi-year mission to Mars. No matter what Dean had said, Seth knew it had grated on him when Finn was accepted for the mission.

"Hey. Look at me." When Seth turned to face him, Dean continued, "What I'm doing isn't a consolation prize. I'm doing what I love to do. I'm just doing it on the Moon rather than Mars." Dean's voice was soft but firm. "Finn just gets to live that dream for both of us."

Seth motioned towards the gift bags and cleared his throat. "Something in there better be for Alexa, or your life won't be worth living."

Dean snorted. "Yeah, there's something in here for her." He held up the larger gift bag. "I've got no idea what it is. Renee picked it out. She helped pick out the baby's outfit too. I probably would've just grabbed something with Mickey Mouse on it and it would've actually been Minnie Mouse. Either of which would've looked totally stupid."

"Renee, huh?" Seth grinned. "You guys getting serious?"

Dean shrugged. "Sorta. Kinda."

Seth crossed his arms over his chest. "Dean, would you like to explain that?"

Dean peeked sideways at his brother. "I may have…sorta…asked her what she thought her answer would be if I asked her to marry me."

Seth stared at his brother for a few seconds. "What did she say?"

"That she really couldn't think of a reason that she'd say no if I ever did ask her." Dean slowly smiled. "I was thinking maybe you and Dad could help me find a nice ring? She's getting rotated down in six weeks and said she'd come over. You know, to see the baby and meet you guys again…get to know you and stuff."

"Yeah, we can do that," Seth softly spoke. Then he grinned at his brother. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, well, she hasn't exactly said yes yet," Dean mumbled. He handed Seth the larger gift bag. "Here, you take this." When Seth took the gift bag and turned to go back into the hospital, Dean put a hand on his arm. "Uh…this one is for the baby…from me."

Seth stopped as Dean took a step back and gathered his thoughts.

"I really thought about giving it to April when she was born, but I didn't," Dean admitted. "Hell, I was five years old and selfish." He paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Anyway, you gave it to me; and I kept it. And don't be giving me any grief about that either." He glared at his younger brother who silently crossed his heart and held up in hand in silent promise. "Here."

Seth slowly took the small gift bag and looked inside. He looked up at his brother, then slid the handle of the larger gift bag over his arm. Holding the small gift bag in one hand, he reached in with his other hand and pulled out a small worn stuffed wolf cub. "Cubby?" he whispered.

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "I tried to keep him in as good a shape as I could. You know, not let him get too squished or dirty or something." He glanced up at the full moon. "Cubby's traveled a lot, too."

Seth followed his brother's glance and widened his eyes. "Seriously?" he whispered. "You took him…" Seth pointed to the moon. 'You kept him with you even when you hated me?'

"He doesn't take up any room at all and didn't add any weight to the payload." Dean shrugged. "Anyway, you gave him to me in a hospital so I thought it was kinda fitting I give him to your kid in the hospital."

Seth blinked his eyes. Then sniffled. Then hiccupped. "You might have kids someday. You could hold onto Cubby for them."

Dean firmly shook his head. "My kids, if I ever have any, won't need Cubby. And I really hope and pray yours don't either. But you gave him to me out of…out of love, Sethie. So, let me do the same now. Okay?"

Seth grabbed his brother in a fierce hug. "I just hope I'll be as good a Dad as you're going to be a good Uncle," he whispered.

"You'll be a great Dad," Dean promised as he returned the hug.

"How do you know that?" Seth asked before hiccupping again.

"Because you were always a great brother." Dean held his shaking brother for a few more moments, then patted his back. "C'mon, let's get you back inside before April comes hunting you down." He shuddered. "Or even worse, Alexa comes looking."

Seth nodded and gently replaced Cubby in the bag. He handed the bag back to Dean. "It's your present. You give it to him."

Dean slowly smiled and nodded. As he followed Seth back into the hospital, he glanced over his shoulder at the night sky. His blue eyes unerringly found Mars resting low on the horizon…sitting in the middle of the constellation of Sagittarius. 'Thanks, Finn. You were right. I just needed to figure out what and who I could and couldn't live without. Come home safe, cousin.'