She's using her sleeves to wipe the dirt off the marbled stone plaque in the ground, it's sunken in slightly, the ground is mushy under Mary's folded legs as she leans forward to scrape the dry chunk of mud away from the curve of the M . It's weird to think that her mom is down there, underneath the dirt and mud and enclosed in a box and being feasted on by worms and bugs. She doesn't feel sad, not really, not to an irreparable degree. She knows her mom isn't down there, the body is just that; a body, and her spirit roams the earth and whatever comes after death. Maybe she's in another form of reality, a different universe, one that's different and happier. One where maybe her husband didn't die and she's raising her daughter in a healthier environment.

"She wasn't a good mom." She says softly to nothing and no one because there's no one else here. "But she was mine." She was her mom and she deserves to have a clean plaque, one that isn't caked in mud and sunken in the dirt. She's replacing the dead flowers in the vase next to the plaque when she hears it. His footsteps are light and they squish into the mushy ground as he approaches.

"I think it's going to rain again." She tells him as she looks at the grey clouds that darken over them.

"Are you ready?" Francis asks.

"I think so." She says softly as she reaches for his hand and he pulls her up. She's wiping the dirt off her jeans as he walked her back to the car.

-/-

The heat of July is pouring through the cracked window and her body is sweaty, she can hear Francis breathing next to her. It's not even light out and it's already so hot . She shoves the blanket down and groans when that doesn't help. Her groan intensifies when Francis rolls over and attempts to wrap his arms around her, well she shouldn't say attempt because he succeeds. He always seeks her out when they're sleeping but it's too hot and she attempts to untangle herself from him. It only makes him tighten his grip.

"No, too hot." She whines it, he isn't even awake, it's not like he heard her and she sighs heavily before kicking the shit out of him.

"Ow." His voice is heavy with sleep, "Rude."

"Get off."

"No."

"Franciiiisss-"

"Make me." It's half-serious, it's mostly joking but that doesn't stop her from crooking her elbow and angling it forward. "Don't even think about it." She drops her arm with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm sweaty." She tells him and he hums his acknowledgment but doesn't say anything. He just nuzzles her neck and she thinks he fell back asleep but then she feels his hand pulling the shirt she borrowed from him up. " Absolutely not."

"Why?"

"Because it's hot."

"Oh, I know." She meant temperature-wise, as in the room feels like it's on fire. It feels like they live in a freaking volcano .

"I'm sweaty."

"You could stand to be sweatier." He tells her and she attempts to close her legs but it's too late, he's already right where he wants to be, "Just relax." He whispers that and she swallows hard as his hand works. It would probably be easier for him if she opened her legs a little more but she doesn't give him the satisfaction of knowing her resolve is weakening and she's giving in.

"No." She says when he tries to pull her leg back and over his hip and she's surprised that her voice is steady. "This...is all you get." And it's less steady with the press of his thumb. She tries not to gasp or make any noise, which is difficult considering he really knows what he's doing and how to do it and she hates that he knows what he's doing. "Damnit, Francis." It comes out as a frustrated hiss and she throws her leg over his hip.

"I knew you'd come around." She makes a face at how he says it but she doesn't say anything. She just bites her lip and closes her eyes. Leave it to Francis to make jokes while he turns her into a sputtering mess. His hand eventually makes its way under the fabric of her underwear and he brushes over something that makes her eyes pop open and her body shudder. She still doesn't make any noise but she knows he felt that, it's not enough for him and he makes it his mission to get something out of her. He's insistent and unrelenting as he intensifies his efforts. He's wide awake now as he kisses and bites at her neck. With one last push of his fingers against pulsating flesh, she collapses and his name is tearing out of her throat in something loud and long and a little bit theatrical.

"Finally," He breathes against her neck, "Had me worried, I thought I lost my touch."

"Shut up." She breathes as she gathers her bearings and turns over to look at him. "Satisfied?" She asks softly as he brushes her sweat-soaked strands of hair back, taking a bit more force to peel them off her face. He doesn't say anything as he leans forward to kiss her, it's soft and sleepy, but warm and she wonders what time it is. It can't be too late, but she can see through the window over his shoulder that the sky is starting to lighten. She stops thinking about it as he pushes her under him.

"Francis." She protests lightly, for no reason other than getting on his nerves.

"Don't you dare tell me to stop." He says that quite seriously and she quiets her protests as he places soft kisses wherever he wants.

"Can we go out for breakfast?" She asks him, since they're up, "I want waffles." She thinks James would like that, but Francis doesn't answer her. He just pulls the collar of her shirt down and sucks the sweat off her collarbone, scraping with his teeth in a way that has her gasping and tangling her fingers in his hair.

And the red shirt with the slightly dipped neckline she wanted to wear tomorrow goes out the window.

"Francis, you're ruining my outfit." She whines and she doesn't care if it doesn't make sense to him, "I swear to god if you make it so I have to wear a turtleneck in July- Oh ." She sucks in a hard breath and jerks away from him when he bites down on her shoulder as hard as he can. He pulls back to look at her, smirking at her scowl.

"I'm not sorry."

"That hurt."

"It was supposed to." He tells her, his expression softens when she frowns, "You can do it to me if you want."

"I feel like you'd like that more than you're willing to admit." She mutters, but she wraps her legs around him and rolls. She's overconfident, overzealous, she doesn't realize that in her writhing a few minutes prior to this, she effectively moved them. They roll right over the edge.

Francis takes most of the impact, considering he's under her, and it's loud.

"I'm sorryI'msorryI'msorry." She's saying, the words run together, she's jumping off of him to see if he's okay.

"Wow." He breathes, "Okay, you got me. You win."

"I didn't do it on purpose." She says softly with a pout and she leans down to kiss him but he puts his hand up, like he's waiting for something. The small sound comes through the walls a second later, crying, strained as it's roused from sleep.

"I'm recovering, do you mind?" He says softly and she sighs as she stands.

-/-

Anne is one today, it's still weird to think about, that she's this old already. She feels it was just yesterday that Mary was begging Francis to make the pain stop as she tore through her body. She watches the little thing, still wobbly on her legs, chase James through the yard and various family members and friends stand around talking and laughing. She watches Francis stand with his brothers next to the grill while Bash flips frozen patties, she tries not smirk when she sees that her husband is moving a little bit stiffer than he usually would.

"Remember me?" Leeza asks as she sits next to Mary at the picnic table. It's a running joke between them now, and it's usually the first thing out of the girl's mouth when she sees her.

"Haha." She tosses a piece of her hamburger bun at her.

"Just checking, you never know with you." She jokes. Mary doesn't remember everything, she finds the earlier the memory, the fuzzier it is, but she remembers something new every day. Last week she remembered how Francis proposed, or how she proposed because she did it first. Which is something she loves to remind him of. The other day she remembered how she pulled him in the bathroom at her mother's funeral and that lead to her being irrationally angry at him for not giving her what she wanted at that moment.

She doesn't remember the accident and she hopes she never does, but she has nightmares sometimes about twisted metal and broken glass, sirens in the distance. The occasional debilitating headache reminds her that it happened at all.

Her brother is here, though they haven't talked much, this morning he couldn't meet her eyes. She turned into a blushing mess when she remembered that he was on their couch last night and likely heard... everything . That would explain the daggers he shot at Francis with his eyes. He's talking to Greer and she thinks there might be something happening there, but she doesn't know.

"Bash, no!" Is a shriek and then a splash when a shrieking and giggling Kenna meets pool. When she resurfaces, she grabs Bash's ankle and yanks him in too.

"I don't remember advertising this as a pool party," Francis comments but he laughs as he swiftly pulls her children away from the water. He sets Anne in her lap before sitting behind her and wrapping his arms around Mary's waist.

"Francis." She gets his attention as one hand goes over Annes eyes, it's too late for James, he already sees it. Kenna and Bash seem to be lost to the rest of the world around them and are full-blown making out.

"That's not family-friendly!" Francis shouts it as loud as he can and Mary tries not to laugh at how the two spring apart, sputtering apologies.

"Bash and I are thinking about eloping," Kenna tells her as she twists the excess water from her shirt and Mary tosses a towel her way. They're inside and she's getting the cake ready, a little circular thing with pale pink and white icing. Leith made it and she wonders where he is. "We just don't want anything big."

"I've never known you to pull away from a party."

"Oh, we'll have one later." She smirks.

"Are you sure you don't want a big wedding?" She asks, watching her friend wrap her hair up in the towel she gave her, she's still dripping. She shrugs.

"Eh."

"Hey, who let this wet dog in the house?" Bash asks as he walks through the back door and Kenna gapes as she tosses a soaked shoe at his head. He dodges it and just turns to Mary. "Francis is asking where you went."

"I'm almost done."

"Great." He smiles and then he's ruffling Kenna's wet head. "Do you need a hairdryer?"

"Shut up." She quips back, "How are you already dry?!" She exclaims, she wouldn't say he's dry, he's still damp.

"I stayed outside in the sun." He tells her, "Like a smart person."

"You guys have a weird relationship," Mary comments as they throw more insults at each other.

"You're one to talk, looks like someone took a chunk out of your shoulder," Kenna says it casually and Bash makes a face. Mary gasps as her hand flies to her shoulder, to her horror, that part of her shirt had fallen down enough that the mark is shining a pretty red against her pale skin.

"Ew, how long has it-"
"The whole time." Kenna says softly, "And I noticed Francis is a little stiff, what'd you do? Take your pony out for a few too many gallops?"

"Aaaaand I'm exiting this conversation," Bash says quickly before he leaves. She doesn't even know what to say to that, so she just tries to wipe the blush from her face and flicks the lighter in her hand to life.

-/-

She's tucking James in and putting Anne to bed later, after the sky has darkened and everyone has left. Her brother included because he didn't want a repeat of last night, as were his words. She finds Francis in the backyard, still cleaning up paper plates and cups.

"You can wait until morning." She tells him as she walks down the steps and heads over to him.

"Do you want our yard overrun with rodents?" He asks, "All this food and trash laying around-" She kisses him. Hard .

"Wait." Kiss . "Until." Kiss . "Morning." Kiss .

"Nice argument, but no." He bumps his nose against hers and continues picking up trash. It's still hot despite the fact that the sun has been down for a few hours now and she unlocks the gate to the pool, slipping her shoes off and sitting on the edge to dip her legs in. He doesn't ask what she's doing, he just cleans up, throwing a questioning look over his shoulder.

"It's hot." She tells him as an answer to her unasked question.

"Don't fall in." Is all he says and that gives her an idea. It's hot. They have a pool. They don't really use the said pool. She swings her legs over and checks to see if he's watching, he isn't, his back is turned and he seems to have forgotten that she was there. Mary tugs her shorts down her legs and then pulls her shirt over her head before easing herself down in the water.

He still hasn't turned around and she wads up her shirt to throw it at him, it snags on the gate and she does the same with her shorts. She throws them harder and squeaks when she hits him in the back of the head.

"What are you-" He turns, "Mary, what are you doing?"

"Swimming." She tells him with a giggle.

"I can see that."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Why are you-"
"I told you, it's hot." She says that slower, it makes perfect sense, he's just no fun.

"Our kids swim in that."
"And?"

"You're naked."

"No." She shakes her head, she still has her undergarments on, "See?" She uses the side to lift herself enough so he can see her bra-clad chest and the bare skin of her stomach. He shakes his head as he turns towards the house, but he turns back to her. "Swim with me."

"No."

"Yes." She pouts, resting her chin on her arms at the side of the pool.

"Mary-"
"Do you want to know what I remembered today?" She asks him and she knew that would pique his curiosity. He walks over but he doesn't come close enough for her to pull him in.

"What." He asks as he crouches down to her height. "Did you remember today?" It happened when she was cutting the cake, it just came out of nowhere and she did freeze a little, but she's learned over the last few months to just push it to the back of her mind and analyze it later.

"I'm not going to tell you until you get in." She teases.

"Really?" He stands, he doesn't look annoyed but he quirked a brow at her. "If James wakes up and comes out here-"

"I'll explain. I know." She smiles, satisfied that he's complying to her demands and she gets to watch him reluctantly remove his shirt and his pants and then he's in. "Yay." She says as she wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"What did you remember?" He asks, remembering the other end of her bargain.

"The first time you kissed me." She tells him, which might have a bit to do with her behavior at the moment. "When you came over unannounced to beg me to go out with you again and you had a bottle of sparkling grape juice because you knew my mom couldn't have alcohol."

"You weren't very happy with me." He smiles fondly and it doesn't feel like it was that long ago, they were so young then, and now look at them. "I can't believe it's almost been two years." He says softly, "Since I almost lost you…" It's hard for her to believe too and she isn't really sure what to say now so she just leans forward.

He tastes like a mix of fruit punch and chlorine she thinks as their mouths meet and their tongues follow, as light kisses deepen and the water around them ripples. His arms tighten around her and her legs tighten around him as her arm reaches behind her back.

"I love you." She breathes against his mouth and he smiles as he helps her pull her bra off and then he's back to kissing her and it's slower this time and less impatient. She remembers the first (second-first) time she said that to him. The night she made him close his eyes while she got undressed; after the lights were out and they were sweaty and breathing heavy. When he was pressing soft circles in the skin of her back. She remembers the way he lit up when she said it, how he confessed that he thought he may never hear her say it again.

Because she didn't remember ever loving him, he wasn't sure if she could feel that way again, not entirely.

"I love you." She tells him again when he's tossing what's left of their clothes somewhere in the yard, it should be fun looking for them later, but right now she doesn't care. She says it again when he has his hands on her hips and hers are on his shoulders and all it takes is one small movement of his hips to sink into her, the water gives it a different feeling as she moves against him.

"Remember me?" He asks her when they're coming down from their high and she laughs against his shoulder thinking she won't ever forget him.

A/N: This is it, this is the end. Thanks for sticking with it, I know this is a weird concept for these two. There won't be a sequel to this, I don't even know what I'd do for it, I think this is just better off as a stand-alone story. I do have some leftover flashbacks/dreams that I'm not really sure what to do with. I might post them as a separate thing, think of it as bonus content, there's a lot I didn't use.

I am currently halfway through another- yes another- Modern au Frary fic. I'm not sure if I'll post it on FF as I'm simply not using that account as much, but it will be on Archive of Our Own, which is also where the leftover flashbacks will be if I post them. Thanks so much for reading guys, if you have any questions just message me on here or on Tumblr. :)