Mac came through the door, grinning and carrying a carefully wrapped box. Mel turned from washing her hands after feeding the cat and gave him a very approving smile. "How do they look?"

"Very official. I still think the whole 'Save the Date' thing is a little bit of overkill, but …"

"But you don't want to argue with my mother and father either?"

Mac's grin spread. "At least they're on the other coast. And they ought to be so happy about spending Christmas out here for the wedding where the weather doesn't suck that they'll forget to be pissed at how informal it's gonna be."

He put their box of cards, invitations, and thank you notes on the kitchen table and held out his arms for the expected and altogether welcome embrace. Mel wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him before asking, "So, how's the leg? What did the PT say?"

"That you're not allowed to yell at me when I go for a run tomorrow because that's what she wants me to start doing next."

Mel pulled away and led him in to their sofa. "Did you mention that you've already been doing that all week?"

"It didn't come up," he smirked. "Has Jack been by?"

"No; why?"

"I haven't heard from him and I texted him around when I'd be home. I was half expecting him to be here since I told him we had a surprise."

"Yeah, I have a mighty need to see his face when we give him our official 'we've set a date' announcement. His expression was too cute when we told him we'd officially moved in together. Dad-mode is imminent, I think. And I suspect he's going to be worse than my parents."

Mac chuckled. "There are worse problems to have than people who love you worrying over your wedding plans, I suppose."

Mel was quiet for a few minutes. "You don't think this is all premature, do you?"

He squeezed her around her shoulders. "Getting cold feet on me, Nurse Sullivan?"

She elbowed him playfully, but then looked into his eyes with some seriousness. "I know we said we'd set the date when you knew you had Murdoc on the ropes … And I'm glad that you got him there and the worst thing that happened was a bullet graze that gave me an excuse to move in so I could wait on you a little … But what if he's still out there at Christmas, Mac? What if you don't catch him, and he does something …"

"Hey," one hand cupped her cheek. "We'll take him down for good, Melody. And soon. We know where he is all the time now. He's not in custody yet because Phoenix is picking apart his creepy league of assassins. Once Oversight gives us the go ahead, we'll bring him in."

She sighed. She wanted to believe that everything would work out okay, but Murdoc had been responsible for so much hurt in their lives in the past couple of years that even feeling hopeful about their future made her also feel vaguely panicked. And when he was awake, Mac was as reassuring as ever about things, but she wondered if he even realized how often his dreams betrayed his own worry.

Instead of voicing that, she just snuggled against his chest, refraining from commenting on how he was massaging his thigh. Mona must have been feeling particularly sadistic today, since he rarely came home from physical therapy sore at this stage of the game. Wanting to distract him from that discomfort, as well as wanting to talk in a more cheerful way about their plans, she asked, "Have you told your father that we set a date yet?"

Mac shrugged. "Nah. I wanted to tell Jack and your folks and … He's pretty good about reading his mail; we can just send him one of the cards like everybody else."

She wrapped her arms around him a little tighter. "You're worried he won't come."

He shrugged again, like it didn't matter. "I don't ever know what he'll do, Mel. I'm glad we've made something like peace … And I'm happy enough to include him in my life … But, I learned a long time ago that he's not someone I can count on."

"You think he'll be any better if we have kids?" she asked, and she could feel him start grinning like a fool into the top of her hair.

"So that's on the table for sure now, is it?"

"It's never not been on the table!" she laughed. "Just, it was really hard to think that way with a crazy serial killer in the wind. So yeah, kids are … maybe a thing."

He kissed the top of her head. "Glad we can both really think about our future now. I'm so tired of Murdoc, of Phoenix, being all there is."

"So … do you think he might step up to the plate more if he's a grandpa?"

Before Mac could answer, their front door opened. "Hey, bud, sorry I'm late but guess what, man? We got a whole houseful of Murdoc's people operating in DC. I wasn't there, but …"

They heard Jack stop in the kitchen. "Woohoo, Christmas Eve, huh? Guess I better plan to eat light on the holidays or I'm gonna have to rent a tux instead of wearing the one I own."

As Jack made his way into the living room, Mac answered Mel. "If he does that'll mean they get two on my side is all. And if he doesn't, we've already got awesome grandpa covered."

"What now?" Jack asked leaning on the door jamb looking at them fondly.

"Nothin' man. Tell me about this takedown we missed out on."