Chapter 14: Stomach

"How long has it been now?" Adam mumbled, staring out over the valley, seated on a large rock bleached by the sun somewhere in Cabeswater.

His hand laced with Adam's, thumb running over a simple silver ring on Adam's finger, Ronan said, "Six years." With a cry from the sky, he followed Chainsaw's progress as she argued with a smaller raven.

"What do you think they've been doing?"

Ronan hummed thoughtfully as he slid is arm around Adam, pulling him into his lap. "Fighting dragons and burying kings and exploring ley lines, but also mundane heterosexual family things like building houses and filling them with screaming kids."

"We have a mundane life."

"Yes, but ours is homosexual."

Adam rolled his eyes skyward. "Why do I even try? Speaking of kids, Niall, Joseph and Lily should be down with school by now," he said, standing and holding out his arm for Chainsaw. She landed on his shoulder in a huff, chattering at Ronan agitatedly. "And Maura and Mr. Gray asked us to babysit Persephone, Elisa, Dean, Clara and Laura today."

"I never agreed to babysitting their hellion children," Ronan protested, "They need to learn what contraception is."

"It's the least we can do for them babysitting our hellion of children all the time," Adam pointed out, pulling Ronan along behind him back towards Aurora's cottage that Artemis occupied most days out of the year, "Oh, and Helen and Noah are coming up for dinner."

Ronan groaned. "I still don't understand how that even happened."

"None of us do."

…..

"Do you ever wonder how everyone is doing?" Blue asked, rocking gently in the chair she'd positioned before the fire. The fire was the only light in the room, spreading across the floor. Warmth curled around her, seeping into her body.

Gansey slowed her rocking to a stop, sliding to his knees with a clank of armor. He leaned in between her knees, stroking her bulging stomach lovingly. "I do, but then, I think I know what they're doing," he murmured, kissing the crest of her stomach. Their child kicked at his mouth, and he pulled away, laughing. "They're going to be feisty, just like you and their siblings."

Blue laughed with him, soothing over her stretched skin and the fabric of her dress. "I would think that Adam and Ronan got married and adopted a child or two because despite his protests, Ronan is a family man and family means everything to him."

"Yes, and your mother and Mr. Gray also got married and had a few children of their own."

"Noah is still living at Monmouth Manufacturing. He's living it up as a bachelor."

"Mom got that seat she was campaigning for, and Helen is still breaking men's hearts."

"Artemis is learning to live in our time, and Calla still telling people's futures while being a professional fighter on the side."

Gansey laughed quietly. "That might be a little farfetched."

Blue smiled widely, "You never know. How long do you think it's been there?"

"Well, it's only been three years here. I don't think it could have been that long. A year or two, maybe," Gansey guessed, "But then again, it might have been seven years. Cabeswater seems to make time weird between here and Henrietta."

Nodding, Blue overshadowed Gansey's hands with her own, running her thumb along his wedding band. "Do you think we'll ever see them again?"

Kissing her stomach again, he murmured, "Living in Cabeswater? Building Henrietta? I think it just might be a possibility."

With Gansey's lips brushing her stomach, she thought, maybe she'd been wrong before. She'd experienced a great number of kisses, and each one had been as sweet as the last.