Responding to reviews:

Xfangirl123X: Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it!

Guest (guest: Hii, thank you! You will see a lot more Brella in the future chapter!

Guest (guest): Great to hear! Thanks a lot!

gabyy9810: I'm glad to hear you liked the idea of Riven working at an office since I was a bit hesitant about the idea, but I decided to go through with it. Hope you'll like this update as well!

multifandomgurlx: Hey girl! I don't know, are you thinking what I'm thinking? *wink wink* Yea the other characters are arriving and I hope you won't be disappointed. I'm glad you liked the new chapter and thank you so much for your ongoing support on my work, it makes me so happy and I really appreciate it, you rock! Xox

Saraaaaaaaa: Here's the new chapter, hope you like it!

bubbleswriites: Wow, thank you so much for all your sweet words, they mean a lot to me. I don't have a schedule for updating, seeing as some days my offline life takes up more time than other days, but of course, I try to update frequently. Don't worry, Musa is ready to enter the story any moment now. I really hope you will continue to like this story!

Lohin (Guest): Here is chapter 6! I will try to include more of the scenes you want into the story, I think I have a pretty good idea for it. Thanks for the review!

Iamfalcondude82: At your request, here is chapter 6! Really hope you'll enjoy

Guest (guest): Awe really? I mean the idea of the prequel in my head sounds pretty cool and I'm definitely thinking about it. but I'm not sure yet. but I'm very glad you seem excited about it! Lots of love

Amaryl: Hey, yea I know it's been soooo long and I'm incredibly sorry for the wait. I'm assuming you meant brella in your comment and I'm sorry to say that if you're referring to lemons and stuff, I don't think I'll be writing those. Like I'll put some suggestive scenes here an there, but no explicit detailed sexy times, ya know. Still hope you'll like the story as it continues!

Guest (guest): Here's the new chapter, so sorry it took so long!

Everlasting Glory: Wow thank you so much for the compliments. As I said, you're one of my favourite writers so it's just really cool to get such a good response from you. Also, I'm not spoiling anything but hehe you might be onto something there. Thank you so much and lots of love!

Guest (guest): Yea, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what all of that means. Maybe y laptop is spacing out or anything, but I can't really read your review properly.

"I-I don't understand." the Eraklyan queen spoke slowly as she let her bright blue eyes scan the man in front of her. The same magenta hair, spiked up to prevent his hair from covering his handsome face which held those deep mysterious violet eyes, holding an emotion that was hard to clearly identify.

It was him.

"Riven"

She uttered his name like it was something outlandish, something she had never said before or didn't know the meaning of. But she knew this man all too well. Even though their now and then squabbles, Bloom had been sad when Riven decided to leave the group. She had known him for six years and when somebody suddenly leaves like that, it's difficult.

It felt strange to see him again, especially this unexpectedly. Bloom turned to look at her husband, trying to see if she could get some answers out of him, but Sky seemed just as bewildered as she did.

Neither party said anything. It was like all had lost the ability to speak as soon as they laid eyes on each other.

However, luckily, Stella of Solaria was never one to keep quiet.

"Bloom!" she greeted the redhead happily, completely ignoring the weird ambience hanging in her office. Her heels clicked against the hardwood floor as she made her way over to the couple. "I didn't know you guys were coming, what a nice surprise." she smiled, hugging her best friend tightly.

It was almost as if the fragrance Stella's perfume snapped Bloom back into reality. She painted a smile onto her face and hugged the blonde back. "Yea we happened to be in town," she informed her, trying to keep her eyes onto Stella's hazel ones.

Still not having spoken a word, Sky silently accepted Stella in a hug as his eyes remained on Riven in an icy stare.

Riven's eyes were frantically scanning the room, looking for a way out of what he knew would be one unpleasant reunion.

"So, um..." Bloom hesitantly spoke up, turning all eyes her way. "What exactly is going on here?" she asked, however not directing the question towards Riven. She looked at Stella, truly confused.

But Stella simply shrugged, before turning to look at Riven. "You know, I think this is your mess to clean up," she told him, making him scowl at her in return. "What, I didn't ditch the group, did I? You told me you'd make things right with everyone," she reminded him, she then mentioned towards the royal couple. "Look, over there are two parts of 'everyone', so chop chop," she said, before looking at the carpet of documents on the floor and pointing a manicured finger at it. "And when you're done you can sort those out and tell Chris to send it to personnel," she said, before walking around her desk and seating herself on her office chair.

Riven suppressed the momentary urge to strangle the Solarian princess and looked up to his friends. Unsure of what to say, he leaned back on Stella's desk. "Hey guys."

"Really?"

Everyone turned their attention towards the Eraklyan King when Sky finally spoke up for the first time. However, the blonde did not look very pleased. "We haven't heard a word from you in five years and that's all you have to say?"

"Sky," Bloom placed a hand on his shoulder, making him visibly calmer. "Let him talk," she told him, before addressing Riven with a slight, and possibly forced smile. "I'm sure he has a lot to tell us."

Riven sighed. "Yea I guess I do," he admitted, running a nervous hand through his hair. "Well, um, I just got here about a week ago," he started. "I'm staying with Brandon and Stella and-"

"Why?"

Not sure to whom the question was supposed to be directed, Stella and Riven both looked up at Bloom's question. Riven assumed Stella was not going to help him explain anyway, so he decided to answer himself.

"I was living in Magix for a while when I got their wedding invitation," he told them, his mind working overtime trying to think of ways to stop them from asking too many questions. "So I decided it was time to finally see you guys again." he grinned sheepishly. He and Stella both knew there was way more behind it, but since the blonde decided to stay quiet, Riven hoped Bloom and Sky would buy it.

"So if you've been here for a week and came here to see us again, why didn't you?" Bloom asked, the story not matching up quite right. "We've been home pretty much all week, it's not like you visited. You didn't even call."

As somebody that was actually known for being an incredible liar, Riven found it difficult to put together the story. It felt almost like his subconscious didn't want him to lie to them. Like he wanted to tell the truth, to ask for help. But he couldn't.

He knew it was better to keep as much of his time after Red Fountain a secret to his friends. Sure, Brandon and Stella knew he had money problems, but they thought that was everything.

It wasn't.

"I've been stalling." Riven tried to lie. "I mean, If I were you I'd be pretty pissed at me, so I figured you guys would be too"

"So, what? You came back to make things right but held off because you were scared of the consequences of your own actions?" Sky scoffed. "Classic Riven"

"That isn't fair Sky."

Everyone looked up in surprise when they heard something that shocked them more than the entire scenario they were discussing.

Stella defending Riven.

The blonde had risen from her seat and was now leaning back against one of the many bookcases in her office, arms folded over her chest. The looks of shock almost made her grin, but her face remained straight. "Tell me Sky," Stella started, knowing she was about to pose a rather interesting question. "Did you ever send Riven a wedding invitation?"

And with that, the room fell silent.

Sky stared at the Princess, trying not to let his face show that her question was not one he appreciated very much. But his ever-present conscious bugged him even more, telling him she was making a valid statement. "No."

"Exactly," Stella smirked, obviously pleased with the answer. "Now truth be told: if it were up to me, neither would've we," she stated. "I would've had absolutely no problem leaving him off our guest list." she shrugged, not even seeming aware that the guy she was talking about was standing in the very same room.

"Feeling the love blondie." Riven glared, not understanding how she was helping him right now.

"But," Stella said, shooting Riven a look that told him to let her finish. "Brandon wouldn't have it. Said he would always regret it if he didn't at least try to find an address to send it to" she explained, her words making the emotion in Sky's blue eyes shift.

As somebody with excellent skill in reading people, this didn't go unnoticed by Stella. She sighed and ran a hand through her blonde tresses. "Listen, Sky, I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything. As I said, I didn't want to invite him either. And really, I think we had all the reasons to not want to, but I also think that that would make us hypocrites for calling out Riven for not reaching out to us" she stated boldly. "Sure, he was the one to ditch us, and that was a dick move" she shrugged. "But the contact came from neither side Sky"

"She has a point honey," Bloom admitted softly, grabbing Sky's arm. "Being angry that he left us is normal, but blaming him for not contacting us when he got here is unfair"

Sky shifted his eyes from the two women to the other man in the room. "You really want to make up for everything?" he asked him.

No lies, no secrets, sincerely, Riven nodded. "All I've been wanting to do for the past years" he admitted. "I fucked up, like really badly. And I'm not just talking about leaving, even the shit I did before that really crossed lines sometimes. I see that now" he told the King.

Bloom watched the interaction between the two males and since neither of them was taking even a step, she decided to be the grownup and stepped forward. "It's good to see you again"

Riven was never a big fan of hugs -or any physical contact, really- but when the redhead made her way across the room to hug him, he felt himself not actually minding the embrace. The gesture, paired with her sweet smile, kind of felt like a weight being lifted from his shoulders.

After Bloom pulled back, she shot her husband a look. "Sky?"

Sky sighed, making Riven grin a little, before sternly addressing the former specialist. "This doesn't mean I'm not still pissed at you for leaving," he told him.

"That's fair"

Both men grinned and for the first time in years, the two teammates shared a brotherly hug.

Bloom smiled as Stella wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I should mend broken friendships for a living," she stated proudly, making the redhead laugh.

"You'd make millions" Bloom nodded, but curiosity lingered. "So who else knows he's here?" she asked. The two men were way too busy discussing whatever to listen to the girls.

"Just Bran and me" Stella answered. "And Olivia of course" she added, grinning at the weird relationship between her daughter and Riven. "The rest still has no clue"

"Not even Musa?"

At the mention of her name, Riven immediately looked up. Musa. he hadn't asked Brandon or Stella too much about her, figuring it'd be best to stay away from her for now. "How is she?"

Bloom looked at him and smiled kindly before nodding. "She's good. The past year was busy for her with her tour and all, but now she's home and everything's good, just spending quality time with her-" She didn't get to finish her sentence because Stella had elbowed her square in the side. "Hamster" Bloom quickly finished, clutching her side while glaring at the blonde.

"Hamster?" Riven raised an eyebrow at the fire fairy.

"Real subtle girls." Sky commented dryly. It was pretty obvious Riven wasn't buying a thing they said. When Riven turned to the blonde for an explanation, he sighed. "Musa has a boyfriend."

However, against everybody's expectations, Riven seemed very unfazed as he just shrugged his shoulders. "Yea, I figured," he said calmly. "You really think I assumed a woman like that was gonna stay single all these years? I'm not an idiot"

"Oh," Stella said. "Well that's a bit of an anticlimax, but I guess better than you throwing a tantrum in my office" she shrugged, before looking at her watch. "All right, I have a meeting in like ten minutes so if we could bring this lovely and exhausting meeting to an end that'd be great"

"Yea, we better head home too if we want to get there before dark" Bloom nodded. She gave her best friend another tight hug. "We should get lunch somewhere next week," she said as the two parted. "And I haven't seen Liv in too long, I miss her little face" she grinned.

And Stella knew an opportunity when she saw one. "Great, you can babysit this weekend" she grinned.

"What now?" Sky asked.

"Uhhuh, Brandon and I are going on a date and I kinda need the house to be empty so I was just gonna send Liv to Nova, but I'm sure she would just love to spend the weekend with her godparents" Stella smiled sweetly, trying to persuade her friends into watching her daughter.

However, Bloom and Sky never needed much persuading when it came to watching Olivia. They loved the little girl and if anything she was good practice for when they decided to have kids themselves. Sky grinned and sighed dramatically. "All right, fine then," he said.

"Great, you can take Riven too"

Stella exhaled deeply as she closed the front door behind her. She threw her coat on a hanger and rolled back her shoulders in an attempt to relive some of the tightness. Exhaustedly she stumbled into the kitchen with her purse and multiple binders filled with sketches.

Not even caring anymore and just wanting to go to bed, she dumped all her stuff onto the kitchen table and kicked off her heels. She looked at the giant mess on the table but chose to ignore it, dragging her body upstairs.

Quietly, she made her way across the hall and opened the door to the master bedroom. But when she closed the door and turned around, she was surprised when she noticed the lights were still on. "Hey" she smiled at her fiancé, who was sitting in their bed with a book on his lap.

"Hey" Brandon copied, however, his greeting lacked the smile on his face.

"Were you waiting for me?" Stella asked, feeling bad when he nodded in response. "I'm sorry, I had a lot to do and then Sky and Bloom were suddenly there and I told Riven to tell you I'd be home late," she said, starting to change out of her clothes.

"He did," Brandon said, putting his book aside on his nightstand. "But when you say 'later', I think you're coming home around eleven Stell," he told her. "Not two o'clock at night"

Now changed into her pale blue nightgown, Stella frowned. "I'm sorry." She knew he, not to mention Olivia, didn't love it when she would stay at the office till very late. She had tried to finish her work at home a couple of times but she just needed the silence and tranquillity of her office to be able to work.

Brandon shot her a small smile. He knew it wasn't her fault or choice, he was happy that she was doing what she loved, but she worked quite a lot and every time she seemed to be free, it would be on a day where he himself had to work.

Climbing into the bed next to him, Stella immediately manoeuvred her body perfectly next to his. "How was your day?" she asked, trying to keep her eyes open from an exhausting workday.

"It was fine" Brandon shrugged. "Riven told me about Bloom and Sky though, that must've been awkward." he grinned, he had already heard the entire story from Riven over dinner so he knew it all turned out fine at the end, but it had sounded like an unpleasant reunion.

Stella laughed. "Yea kinda" she nodded. "But I think everything worked out as good as we could've hoped for so that's something," she said, leaning into his touch as he ran his hands through her hair, lightly massaging her scalp. "How was Livy?"

"Missed her mama" Brandon grinned at the incredible clinginess of his daughter to her mother. "Speech therapy went well, Karen says she's getting better so that's definitely a good sign."

Due to her difficulties with speaking, mainly the letter 'R', Brandon and Stella took little Olivia to a speech therapist every week to help her out with some of the things she was struggling with and it was paying off pretty well.

"That's good," Stella smiled. "She's gonna stay with Bloom and Sky this weekend, Riven too," she informed him of her sleepover arrangements. "Thought it'd be nice to have the house to ourselves for once, I cleared my entire schedule and I know you don't have to work so we have all the time in the world for just the two of us." she smiled up at him lovingly.

Brandon grinned, kissing her on the top of her head. "Sounds great," he mumbled into her hair. But the thought of his little girl awoke the trail of thoughts he had put to sleep earlier that evening. he cleared his throat and sat up a little, making Stella look up at him. "Stell, do you think we could talk?"

Thoughts of panic and stress immediately ran wild in Stella's head as she nodded and repositioned herself in their big bed. "Sure," she swallowed the lump in her throat. No good ever came of a conversation starting with 'we need to talk'. "What about?"

"Us" Brandon answered simply. "I've been thinking a lot lately about, you know, our future together. We have a daughter, we're getting married, everything's pretty perfect right?"

Stella felt most of her panic subside quickly and nodded with a smile. "Pretty much yea," she said, not being able to keep the goofy grin off her face.

"And I love our life together, I really do. But lately, I've just been thinking a lot. And I sometimes think you do too, but I'm not really sure. So I guess I'm just gonna ask you" he said, a slight chuckle escaping his lips.

Stella grinned confusedly at her fiancé. Why was he being so weird? "What's up with you?" she asked him with a laugh. "What do you wanna ask me?"

Brandon sighed, before looking her in the eyes. "Stell, I want another baby"

And like turning on the faucet, water started trickling down Stella's cheeks. She laughed as she wiped them away, cursing at how emotional she always got, before smiling up at him. "Really?" she asked him.

The brunette smiled and nodded as he cupped her face. "Really" he grinned. And within a second, he felt himself being tackled down onto the mattress, her tiny body clinging onto him like a baby koala to its mother. With a smile so big it almost broke his face, Brandon wrapped his arms around the blonde. "I take that as a yes?"

Stella sniffled into his shoulders. "Nothing would make me happier" she grinned like an idiot. "I've been thinking about it too but I was afraid to tell you" she admitted as they shifted into a more comfortable position under the sheets.

But just as Brandon was about to speak, the door to their bedroom slowly opened.

"Mama? Papa?"

The two quickly untangled themselves from one another to look at the little girl that had infiltrated their bedroom. Brandon stepped out of bed and kneeled in front of her. "Liv, why are you not in bed?" he asked her, accepting her in his arms as she hugged him.

"Nightmawe" the little girl informed him, feeling her fears die down as she inhaled the familiar scent of her father. "Can I please sleep hewe?" she asked him, looking up at him with her big teary blue eyes.

Brandon looked over at Stella, who nodded with a small grin on her face. he chuckled and lifted the little girl up in his arms. "All right princess, into the big bed you," he said and Olivia practically jumped out of his arms and onto the soft mattress with a loud giggle.

However, her smile faded as she looked at her mother. "Mama?" she slowly reached up to touch Stella's wet cheek. "Teaws?" she asked her mother sadly.

"Happy tears Liv" Stella smiled, lovingly caressing her small head. "Happy tears"

"Happy?" Olivia immediately perked up. "So happy you have teaws? Why?" she asked, a little confused as to why one would cry if they are happy.

Brandon grinned and kissed her on the cheek. "You might be getting a sibling Liv," he told her. He figured there was no harm in telling her since she'd probably forget anyway. "A little brother or sister."

But Olivia's face didn't look very pleased. "Why?"

Stella's smile faltered a little at the unexpected reaction of the four-year-old. "Because mommy and daddy want another baby. You know, a sibling for you to play with," she said, ruffling the girl's hair playfully. "Doesn't that sound fun honey?" she asked.

"No."

Stella looked up at Brandon, who gave her a look she knew all too well. It was the look he gave her to tell her not to stress out about something. But she couldn't help but feel a little down by her daughter's response to the news of the baby. "Well..." she started. "You should go to sleep baby, it's late," she said.

Olivia, oblivious to the reaction her words had triggered, smiled sweetly and clumsily climbed her way back an forth over the mattress to kiss both her parents on the cheek. "Goodnight mama. goodnight papa," she mumbled sleepily as she settled into Brandon's chest.

Stella stared at the painting across the room for a good few seconds until Brandon redirected her face his way. "Baby, relax," he told her, his voice quiet, as to not wake up the toddler who had fallen fast asleep within a matter of seconds. "It's a normal first reaction. She'll warm up to the idea" he assured her. "Now go to sleep, we'll talk to her tomorrow," he said.

"Yea, you're right" Stella sighed, carefully leaning over to kiss him on the lips. "I love you"

"I love you too," Brandon said, already having his eyes closed and being halfway into a deep slumber. "Sleep well baby"

Stella smiled and turned around in the bed, closing her eyes and letting sleep take her away.

Wow, I am awful

I'm so sorry, you guys had to wait a horrible amount of time for a chapter that I don't even really love that much. This chapter is needed though for the continuity of the story so I hope you guys will be able to live with it and don't come to murder me. Thank you all for the continuing support, I really appreciate it.

Also i would like to know, because I started noticing a little myself; Do you guys think that Riven's becoming a little too OOC? Let me know what you think and possibly ways to make him more like the Riven we know.

And as always, let me know all of your ideas in the reviews or via messenger, I love reading and talking to you guys.

And until next time!