Steve pressed soft kisses between Jax's shoulder blades, smiling fondly at the way she was sprawled on her stomach. She stirred and mumbled.

"Shhh, sleep," he whispered. "You look comfy."

He tucked the sheet around her and wandered onto the balcony. It was early still, the beach empty save for a few dedicated runners. He let his mind drift, in the way that only happened when he was watching the ocean.

It's over, he thought. The man behind my father's murder and my mother's disappearance is locked away. The man who threatened my wife . . . my children.

The enormity of it crashed over him like a wave.

"Steve."

He glanced up, surprised and confused. Jax was kneeling in front of him, carefully taking his shaking hands in her own.

"There you are," she said, smiling at him. "Breathe, sailor. Four in, hold, four out. You know."

He followed her instructions instinctively, the white noise and tunnel vision that he hadn't even been aware of starting to clear.

"Come'ere," she murmured, pulling him forward and wrapping her arms around him. He tucked his face into the crook of her neck, nuzzling through her unruly mass of curls, the collar of his button up shirt that she'd tossed on soft under his cheek.

"Shit," he whispered.

"It's okay, you're okay," she said. "You lost a few minutes, that's all."

"I didn't hurt you?" he asked.

"Nah," she said. "Delayed stress reaction."

"I know."

"You never took a breath, did you? From losing Freddy, that phone call . . . starting the task force, tracking WoFat . . . this is the first time you've really stopped to breathe, Steve. It's perfectly understandable. It was bound to catch up to you at some point."

"I know. I hate it."

She chuckled. "I know."

He pulled back and kissed her gently. "You do know. God, Jax, you . . . "

"Saw this a lot after 9/11," she said simply. "I think . . . I think as much as I loved being a cop, as much as I loved my brief stint in SWAT . . . maybe taking care of people after is what I'm really meant to do, you know? Maybe all of that was so that I would know, really know."

"It's . . . over?" Steve said uncertainly. "And everyone is okay and . . . there shouldn't be a reason for you to have to take care of me now."

"Come on, you know better," she said softly.

"He killed my dad," Steve said.

Jax slipped into his lap and he held her fiercely, tucking his face back into her shoulder. She rubbed her fingers through his hair.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured.

"I think . . . " He sighed into her hair. "I think maybe my mom is - okay, I know she isn't who she said she was, all those years, but now . . . Jax, I think my mom might not be loyal. To the Navy, the CIA. The country."

Jax was silent for a long moment. "Maybe there's a reason, an explanation . . . "

"I was Navy intel. This is what I know, and . . . I can't create a scenario that plays clean for her."

"So . . . what are you saying? What does that mean?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know."

"And that's okay, Steve. It's okay not to know."

She kept up the gentle movement of her fingers against his scalp until he relaxed, his grip around her still secure but less frantic.

"He killed my dad, Jax," he said again. "I knew . . . I knew taking WoFat down wouldn't bring my dad back, but . . . "

"You thought it would feel different than this."

"Yeah. This is . . . the first time it was personal, you know? And it was the right thing to do, it had to happen but . . . it put everyone in danger, I almost - WoFat could have -"

"But he didn't. He didn't, Steve."

"It's crazy, when they were patching me up, me and Nick, I . . . I kept thinking I should ask for a phone to call my dad and tell him, and . . . when I was running into Tripler, I knew Danny would be with you, but . . . I don't know, I had this fleeting thought that my dad would be there, too. Crazy, right?"

"No, it's not crazy," she said. "When I was coming around, in recovery, I thought maybe Danny and Billy were with the babies. Just for a moment. Until I remembered."

He held her close and relaxed back into the chair.

"Lieutenant Allen has job security," he said. "Indefinitely."

Jax laughed, snuggling against him.

"I love you, ku'uipo," he whispered.

She twisted around and cupped his face in her small hand. "And I love you."

"Would you be terribly disappointed . . . " he started, then hesitated.

She smiled, her eyes lighting up. "If we went home?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. This is lovely, and last night was . . . "

He looked at her, smug grin and hooded eyes, and she smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"Shut up," she said. "Let's go home."

He stood up, fast, and she wrapped her limbs around him with a startled squeak.

"Home," he said, striding determinedly toward the bed. "We'll leave . . . in an hour."

She left a trail of soft kisses up the side of his neck, pausing to nibble delicately at his earlobe.

"An hour . . . maybe two . . . "

#*#*#*#*#

THE END

#*#*#*#*#

A/N: All good things must come to an end. This has been a wild ride, and I can not express my gratitude for those of you who have been following this story for literally years.

I do plan to revisit this universe with one-shots, as the mood strikes. I know I didn't quite resolve all of the things you asked me to, so maybe some of those things can be revisited in the future.