A/N: Ginormous thanks to ScorpioSkies for betaing!
Kaelyn doesn't remember waking up. She only knows that her eyes can now make sense of the room. Moonlight drifts through the fluttering curtains, filtering silvered light around her bedroom, filigreeing the furniture in silver. She rolls onto her side, but the other half of the bed is empty. The rumpled sheets are cold to the touch. But her heart remains steady in her chest. She isn't afraid.
Dogmeat is curled at the end of the bed for once; he kicks in his sleep as she extracts herself from the blankets to pad down the hall on soft feet. Codsworth hovers in the laundry in power conservation mode. The nursery door is open; the room is vacant. Still, the fear doesn't come.
A soft noise comes from the living room.
Nate's head lolls over the couch, his hair loose and in disarray, and one arm resting along the back. Kaelyn rounds the couch to see him with his feet propped on the coffee table, Shaun nestled in the crook of his body with his head tucked under Nate's chin. Heart aching at the sight, she presses her fingers to the spot on her breastbone, willing it away. But for the two most important men in her life, she can't help but feel fiercely.
Kaelyn eases onto the couch beside them and curls into Nate's side, listening to the rhythm of their breathing. Shaun doesn't stir when she brushes a hand over his hair.
Nate's arm drapes around her shoulders. When she glances up, his eyes are open. Even in the dark, his gentle smile is bright like the moonlight that drifts through the window to pool on the living room floor. She leans up to deliver a chaste kiss, and the feel of his mouth lingers like a ghost on hers.
Kaelyn snuggles against Nate's side and strokes Shaun's silky hair. Her family is like the Commonwealth, torn apart and put back together. It isn't as it was, and it never will be again. But, she's discovered, that doesn't have to be an entirely bad thing. They have a future together.
—
fin