Three Years Later...

Detective Murdoch slowly wiped the chalkboard clean and then intensely stared at the blank slate for several seconds. In some ways his own life had been like this board. Everything leading up to meeting Julia had been a precursor to his real life, the one he was always meant to have. Once he loved her his tormented life had been erased completely, allowing him to rewrite himself into the character he was fated to be. It seemed in the end, God had not forsaken him, had in fact always had a plan in mind. As such, Murdoch's faith was fully restored and he prayed every single day, like he hadn't done since he was an eight year old boy.

"William," called the voice of an angel.

Murdoch turned and came face to face with his wife. She was dressed in a beautiful golden gown and it took his breathe away, not unlike the first time they had kissed. He could swear there had been a halo above her head for the briefest of instances but knew it had just been his imagination, something that always seemed to work overtime when Julia was involved.

"You look marvellous," he managed to choke out. He pulled her in for a slow kiss and they savoured the feel and taste of each others mouths as if it was the first time.

She broke contact but still kept her arms around his neck.

In a breathy manner she said, "As much as I enjoy that, William, we really shouldn't start. Otherwise we are bound to be late." He raised an eyebrow, confused and she chuckled in an exasperated way. "Don't tell me you've forgotten about our engagement tonight?"

"I'm afraid I have," he replied sheepishly. "What were our plans again?"

Julia shook her head and chuckled once more. He was lucky she wasn't the type to get angry over his often absent mindedness. Otherwise their marriage would be far different than it was.

"We're meeting The Pendricks for dinner and then going to a production of La Boheme."

"Oh yes, of course."

Without further ado they parted and got down to their well worn routine. Julia closed all the blinds and doors while Murdoch stripped into his long johns and clothed himself in the tuxedo he always had at hand in his too small to change in closet. The dark room was out of the question. There were far too many chemicals one could spill or accidentally stick an errant sleeve into. No, this was the only way to go about it at work and more times than not, this is where it was done. The lads were well trained through embarrassing trial and error to never even bother knocking when his office was in lock down in the evenings. He should have just installed locks on either door but never seemed to get around to it, there was always something else to do.

In any case he was quickly dressed in the essentials and Julia came over to fix his bowtie. Murdoch was incapable of getting it straight no matter how many times he tried. Afterwards they smiled at one another.

"Thank you, Julia."

"You are most welcome, William."

Then she lifted his top hat from his work bench and placed it atop his head.

"Well, we best be going or we will definitely be late. And you know how much Emma hates waiting."

"Vividly."

James' wife was not an overweight woman by any means but she enjoyed eating and got very grumpy when she was hungry. The last time Murdoch had kept them waiting for more than an hour, Emma had nearly bitten his head off, quite literally, upon their arrival. Other than that she was a lovely woman, both in looks and demeanour and reminded him a lot of Julia. They were both headstrong and intelligent and interested in things most women were not, which in his opinion made them a hundred times more interesting than the average woman. Needless to say, they had quickly become fast friends and often made time for each other, by way of play dates with their children. So it was a bit of a welcome relief when it was just the adults getting together.

That's not to say he and Julia didn't love their adopted children very much. Because they did. Almost ridiculously so. Strangely it was usually Murdoch spoiling the children rotten and Julia trying to get him to show some restraint. She knew all too well what kind of people they would turn into if they always got everything they wanted. Her sister was a shining example of that. George was going to have his hands full with her, of that they had no doubt.

After the opera they wearily made their way home in the personal carriage her father had bought for them as a wedding gift.

She leaned against his shoulder and sighed contentedly. "That was lovely."

"Indeed."

"I wish we could attend these events more frequently."

"We could always retire early," he said with a grin.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Yes, because it's very likely that you will give up the position you just attained a few months ago. Besides, you wouldn't even know what to do with yourself if you had no profession. Neither of us would."

"Oh I can think of a few things," he said seductively, fingers lifting her chin upwards until their lips met. It was a sweet tender kiss, with little heat behind it. They were both too tired for anything else.

"That was lovely," she said afterwards with a smirk.

"Indeed," he replied and they both laughed softly.

As was their habit, they went to check in on their children before doing anything else, even removing their hats and coats. They were both sound asleep and Murdoch smiled at them, planting a kiss on their foreheads.

With the nanny now sent home it was just the two of them and they sat in front of the fireplace, simply holding on to one another, quickly drifting off to sleep like they had done in Markham all those years ago.

They were roused by a knocking at the door. Slightly startled they shared a look and then Murdoch forced himself to his feet and over to the disturbance.

Malcolm was on the other side and Murdoch was taken aback. They hadn't spent much time together since the forest incident. His friend had gone off to travel the world, as he hadn't been able to given his duties here.

"You're looking very dapper tonight, Will," he said, giving him a hug.

Murdoch patted him on the back. "Malcolm, what an unexpected surprise."

"I take it a welcome one though."

"Of course," he said with a smile.

His wife came up behind him. "Julia, my dear," Malcolm said kissing her gloved hand, "you are a vision."

"Thank you. You're looking, um..." her smile faltered.

"Dreadful, I know." Murdoch hadn't even noticed that his friends appearance was somewhat haggard and his hair was unkempt. "That's the price one pays when having constant adventures."

"Won't you come in and tell us about them?" she asked.

"I'd love to but it's late and I wouldn't want to disturb the children."

"Nonsense! They can sleep through anything."

Malcolm still seemed hesitant to come in and Murdoch wondered if there was an entirely different reason for his friend being here so late.

"Julia, do you think we could have a moment alone?"

She glanced between them. "But of course," she said with a kiss to his cheek. "I'm going to bed."

He highly doubted it.

"Goodnight," they both said almost simultaneously.

Murdoch closed the door and joined Malcolm outside.

"What's happened?"

"Nothing bad I assure you." Murdoch released his pent up breath. "I just thought you'd like to know that Dr. Harwick and his colleagues have finally developed a safe transfusion technique."

"Indeed? Why have I not heard of this before?"

Surely Julia would have heard something given her line of work?

"Well, it's just happened within the last few days and it's hardly common knowledge. All very hush hush. In any case, Dr. Harwick's associates plan on demonstrating the procedure to a group of medical professionals and investors in different parts of the world in a weeks time. They hope to impress them enough to get widespread approval. If they are successful, the public will soon be called upon to...donate their blood to save lives. And then the vampires will never have an excuse to hurt another human again."

There had been remarkably few incidents of this over the past three years. The ancients had held fast to their promise after a rough start.

"Thank you for telling me this Malcolm but I'm a bit confused. How did you come to know about this development? I thought you had severed all your ties to the other hunters...and vampires alike?"

"Not quite. I still had a foothold in the door. I found it difficult to completely say goodbye, something that I've always envied about you. Tell me, Will, how did you manage to put it all behind you," Malcolm snapped his fingers, "just like that?"

"Ah, well, it wasn't easy at first. I struggled for months after that night in the forest to put it out of my mind. But I eventually learned to focus my attentions on more important things."

"Such as your family?"

"Yes," he said nodding, "they are a large part of it."

"Hmm, maybe it's high time I settled down too."

Murdoch placed a hand to his shoulder. "I think that would be wise, old friend. You've seen better days."

"Well, I suppose I should let you get some rest. We'll catch up tomorrow, all right?"

He wasn't sure he would be able to given his unpredictable schedule but he agreed nonetheless.

"I would like nothing more."

They waved to each other and Murdoch watched Malcolm's progress until he was out of sight. Then he turned around and headed back to his three loves.

As expected Julia was not sleeping but was instead attempting to keep herself awake by reading a scary book, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

She put it aside when he made an appearance and started disrobing.

"Is everything all right?" she asked a bit worriedly.

He hung up his suit jacket, moved to her side and leaned over, planting another kiss on her supple lips.

"Everything is perfect."

You know me, I'm a sap for the happy endings. There are just certain characters that inherently deserve it, you know?

Well, on to that zombie fic. Cuz nothing says Christmas like a bunch of graphic violence. Am I right, or am I right?