What Dom heard most in the hushed whispers of people at the memorial gathering for Yuki was how well Neal was handling the death for, well, for Neal. Dom himself questioned where the melodramatics and passionate outbursts were. But then again, like he was in his love for Yuki, Neal was quiet about his grief for her too. He gave a sad smile and thanked people when they came to give him and Karin their condolences and he would share stories about the wonderful person she was, but he was not retreating and he was not crying. It was true that Neal had seemed to go out of his way to have good humored banter with Dom and with Kel and that his laughs sounded a bit forced now and then, but Kel had agreed with Dom that they would do anything Neal wanted. Mostly that included sharing two pallets pulled up against each other in his sitting room while he slowly removed Yuki's personal things.

With Kel helping Neal, they packing and stowing of things was cathartic. Both of them shared stories with each other about the woman that Yuki had been while carefully folding and wrapping the item that reminded them of it. Dom sat back in those moments and just listened. He sat waiting for the moment where things got a bit too heavy for either person and would comfort whoever appeared to need it most. And mostly he sat with Karin keeping her entertained while the two of them worked through what needed to be done.

It took a week for Neal to officially pack up all of Yuki's clothing, jewelry, and personal effects. He left behind the decorations that she had hung on the walls and a few personal things he had chosen to keep of hers. The rest were boxed and shipped to his parents' townhouse for Karin when she was old enough to understand. By the time they had completed the task, Neal no longer needed them around all night and all day and Midwinter had officially started.

On the first night of Midwinter, all of Neal's friends save Prince Roald and Princess Shinkokami forewent the feasts and parties and joined Neal in his rooms for a quiet get together. Dom joined them, in Kel's company and ignored any inquiring looks when he and Kel got a little too close. While Neal knew of their courtship, they had been quiet about it during their mourning. It was when Dom wandered away from Kel to join Neal as he spoke to several other friends that Dom found himself on the spot.

"You two look cozy together," a dark haired, dark eyed man Kel had said was Sir Faleron of King's Reach, Sir Merric of Hollyrose's elder cousin, commented with a nod back towards where Kel sat with the other ladies chatting. She looked comfortable amongst the women but she also looked out of place having opted for breeches and a blouse rather than a gown.

"We happen to have known each other for nearly ten years. I'd hope we can be comfortable together," Dom gave his easy charming smile.

"What my cousin means," Merric told Dom, obviously more comfortable with him than Faleron was, "is that if you hurt our dearest Protector, we'll have you drawn, quartered, and hung off the side of the palace walls before you could pray to the Black God." Dom grinned at the redhead. They had come to an understanding back during the war in Scanra and when they had served Kel in her mission to kill Blayce the Gallan.

"Why that was perfectly understood. However, have you considered if it ever even crossed my mind to harm her, either physically or emotionally, that she is perfectly capable of making me regret it all on her own?" Dom could feel Kel's eyes boring into him from across the room. She always seemed to know when he mentioned her even if she couldn't hear him.

"Besides, Dom and Kel are good together," Neal ignored the looks that his own friends gave him. Of course they expected a fit from Neal about his cousin pursuing his best friend. There had been a lot of bets before Yuki came around that Neal would pursue Kel at some point. And while it was hardly fitting or proper for him to think of such things now, they still expected him to have some sort of possessiveness over his Lady Knight.

"Why thank you, Sir Meathead," Dom didn't even dodge the playful punch Neal threw his way.

"You know what still bothers me," Neal turned to face Dom completely. "That stupid lilac gown. I know it's silly, I mean it's gone and I should forget about it. But I still keep thinking about how perfect it was."

"A gown of Yuki's?" Owen quipped before one of his friends, Esmond Dom believed, smacked him in the shoulder.

"No, it was a gown at Lalasa's that Kel tried on for us and it was just… I've never seen her look like that," Neal sighed. "Yuki and I thought to buy it for her but we couldn't talk Lalasa out of selling it to someone else. She only let Kel try it on to show her what the style would look like. Dom saw the gown too. He could tell you how amazing she looked."

Dom felt himself flush with a bit of embarrassment as he met Neal's eyes. "Of course I could tell everyone, but you'd have to see it. It's just, Kel and I thought it was a bit gaudy considering that we don't plan on attending any parties this Midwinter." Dom waited a moment, and then two before Neal gripped his arm.

"You! You bought the gown?" Neal looked back at Kel. "And why won't you two attend parties? You don't have to stay in just because of me."

"Neal, she lost a friend too," Dom turned his gaze fully onto his cousin. While Neal seemed to understand for the most part that Kel had also lost Yuki, Neal probably didn't fully grasp the idea that Kel had lost one of the few women in her life her own age that understood her and was truly a friend to her. On top of that Kel had been there when they were attacked and Kel had not been able to save her friend. That had cut her deeply. It was something they discussed at night when they were alone and he could hold her.

"Oh," Neal blushed. "Right." No one spoke for a moment then Neal added, "is it just sitting in her closet until next year then?"

"It's there along with all of the other ones Lalasa delivered yesterday. Until there's an occasion she feels is worth a gown, I don't believe we will see any of those." Dom shrugged. "Next year will come soon enough."

"So how does a relationship with the two of you work? You're called out for most of the year and she's called out on other things all year round," Merric pointed out.

"Not to mention men in the Own can't marry," Faleron piggybacked on his cousins comment.

"For now, we aren't talking marriage. We are simply letting things fall as they may and we'll deal with where it all lands." Dom didn't mention he had yet to return to the Own's barracks even though Neal had evicted them. He liked sharing a bed with Kel though they hadn't done more than cuddle and kiss. Mostly they talked late into the night. He didn't plan on returning to his rooms much at all, honestly. He figured he'd warn Raoul of the change of his location when he was done with his leave time. Kel's rooms were close enough to the barracks he wouldn't be too far away if an emergency call came up. She did, in fact, have the closest rooms to the barracks available, second only to Raoul's rooms.

"That doesn't sound particularly fair to her," Seaver frowned and his concerns were echoed in the faces of everyone but Neal.

"Actually, Kel is the one who told me if I try and quit the Own she'll go to Raoul and tell him to chain me to my desk." Dom grinned. Kel had threatened him when he had jokingly brought up that she was so beautiful she could charm a Captain away from the Own. Not only had the compliment worked well enough to get her to threaten him because she half believed him, but it also proved to Dom that Kel really wasn't like the other women he had courted who would have asked him to turn in a resignation right then and there.

"That hardly seems productive," Neal offered. "I mean, chaining you to your desk. You can't command from the desk unless they somehow load you onto a wagon with it and tote you everywhere."

"The point is, Meathead, that Kel doesn't want me to quit," Dom rolled his eyes. Neal could be so impossible and it was getting harder to be nice to him when he made such an effort to be annoying.

"I give her a year before she changes her mind about that and wants you to marry her and give her children," Merric kept his voice low.

"I'll bet on that. Two gold nobles it's two years," Neal held out his hand to shake. Before Dom could stop them, all of the men besides himself had a bet on when Kel would ask Dom to quit the Own. Dom made absolutely certain that was the wording, that Kel would ask him to quit the Own. He was fairly certain, if the time came to become more than sweethearts, that she wouldn't have to ask him at all. And he was fairly certain they would all lose the bet in the end because Kel would never ask anyone to quit the Own. The horrified look on her face when he had teased her told him as much.

Anything else that would have been said about it to Dom was lost as something collided with his leg. Looking down Dom saw Karin clinging to his calf with a big silly grin on her face. While Karin had most likely noticed her mother's absence, she had not seemed to grasp the forever part yet. It was likely she wouldn't grasp it. He reached down and scooped her up much to her glee. "Let's go see your auntie Kel," he told the little girl in his arms. Without a glance back he carried the giggling girl over to the ladies and made himself comfortable next to Kel while he entertained Karin.

"He'll make a good father if he doesn't wait until he's an old shriveled up man before quitting the Own," Faleron folded his arms.

"They only just started courting this week. Let them plan out their lives," Owen chided. "And no one made you give up your career for marriage and children. Don't go pressuring him. It's not jolly of you."

"When did you get so smart?" Neal teased him.

"Well the Stump is my father-in-law, and my former knight master, I had to learn at some point" Owen grinned. Neal had teased him mercilessly when he had announced his betrothal, his love match, to Lady Margarry of Cavall. The fact that Lord Wyldon had not only accepted the betrothal and approved of it without having a heart attack, and then publically approved of it was cause for wonder amongst all of those who pitied Owen's choice. Only Kel had not teased Owen and had stood up for him. Neal suspected that that was the main reason Owen felt honor bound to stand up for Kel at this point in time.

While Neal had taken part in the bet, he really didn't think any pushing had to happen. He could clearly see as all of his friends did that Dom loved Kel and that Kel, even through her blank mask, loved Dom. And the way she watched him play with Karin told Neal that she did think he'd be a good father as well. But no pushing had to happen. Dom would love Kel the best he could even when he was riding with the Own. And Kel was already receiving more positive personal attention from a man that she probably ever had in her adult life.

He smiled at the pair they made and at his daughter sitting between them now. He had intended to ask earlier that week if anything happened to him if they as a couple would raise her. He had intended to ask, but his own overthinking had stopped him. It sounded bad for him to be thinking about his own possible demise right after his wife's death. People actually thought him dramatic enough to do it too. But he had grown up since the dream with Yuki. But he also knew he would have to make that plan in case he had to go on duty before he could find a palace job. A knight's job was always with a chance of death. And he was a single parent now, and provisions had to be made for his daughter. He would just have to make sure when he asked that he gave his reasoning for why he was asking now.

Come the end of Midwinter, Dom and Kel faced the inevitable separation. It was bound to happen as Third Company had been stationed at the palace for two full months. It had been a long stretch for Raoul even with a wife to return home to. Dom and Kel said their goodbyes in private and then Dom exchanged a few words with Neal about looking out for her. Exchanging one more brief kiss with Kel, Dom mounted up in front of his men and led the way out. Neal knew Dom and Raoul had planned to head south to deal with the winter raids on the southern coast. They would be gone at least until spring if not until summer. Neal doubted Kel would be as upset by the distance and time as everyone suddenly expected her to be. She had a lover now, but that didn't change that she had known for years how to cope when Dom and Third Company, or any of her friends were away. And, Neal reasoned, she had dealt with Cleon being away for longer without the melancholy everyone suddenly expected.

Kel caught his look and gave him a wry smile. "Don't you know people can't see things both ways? Either I'm a woman, or I'm not. If I'm a woman I'm prone to terrible dramatics and hysterics. And since Dom has revealed that I am indeed a woman…" she shrugged.

"Some women are prone to hysterics and dramatics. You should see my sisters if you thought I was dramatic. But no, we'll be just fine. By the way, I wanted to discuss what age you started training in the Islands. How young is too young to start Karin?" Neal slung an arm over Kel's shoulders and steered her inside away from the frozen air.

A/N: And so concludes everything I had written over the weekend when my husband was gone and I didn't have to work. Updates will be a bit slower again, my apologies. There is a brief chance I will be able to get more done towards the end of the week as I will be having some very very minor procedure done that keeps me from my job for awhile. I love all of the reviews and favorites and follows, and just watching the reading numbers climb on the traffic meters. You guys are all amazing.