Chapters 24 and 25 have been posted together. We're in this five years later when Francis, Mary and Kenna graduate from university.

"Do you see Mummy, Oncle Francis and Tante Mary, Lia?" Bash asks, trying to find the trio.

Amelia shakes her head. "No, Daddy," she says before she gasps, pointing over at her mother laughing with her Nana and Popa. "Mummy's over there!"

Bash looks in the direction of his wife hugging her parents and her eyes meet his. "Let's give her a minute," he says, looking for his brother and Mary.

He finds them, well they find him and Amelia and the four-year-old (almost five) is quick to hug her aunt tightly, congratulating her sweetly with a gift bag.

"Thank you, Amy!" Mary says, kneeling to kiss her forehead and looking at the gift. "I love The Body Shop!"

Bash chuckles, rolling his eyes a little. "I said I'll never go after buying Kenna stuff when she was expecting Lia but Lia convinced me to make one more trip just for you guys," he says, handing Francis a gift bag. "Congratulations on graduating, guys."

Mary beams happily. "Thanks," she says, turning to Francis lovingly. "We didn't think we'd make it."

Francis blushes. "I had something to live for," he mumbles. Their hands meet and he presses a kiss on Mary's cheek, fully aware of their niece watching them. "And the Business degree isn't so bad..." He looks down at Amelia who grins up at him and he smiles just as widely. "Hey, Amy, let's go find Meme and Pepe!"

Amelia jumps onto his back and he, Mary and Amelia head in the direction of Henry and Catherine. Bash turns when he feels a tap on his shoulder and he grins, pressing a kiss on Kenna's lips as he hands her a bouquet of lilacs which prompts a surprised but joyful 'thank you'.

"There's my little graduate," he says against her lips. "You are very welcome. So...?"

Kenna pulls back a little, her hand in his. "My brothers are opening a clinic. Plastic surgery, private consultations, IVF, the works... I'll be their third partner with my lovely little Biomedical Science degree."

"Wow."

"Yeah," Kenna says happily. "My parents suggested it but..."

"But?"

"It's in Scotland."

Bash's brows raise in surprise. "Oh," he says. Then he brings her closer. "We can move. We'll need to start looking for primary schools right now so Amelia can join the education system. We'll make it work."

"But the house-"

"It's just a house. Francis and Mary have found a place of their own," Bash informs her. "In France actually."

Kenna's eyes widen as they trail towards the other couple. "Oh."

Then she feels a wave of anxiety and her eyes water. Everything's changing. Francis and Mary are moving on. She, Bash and Amelia are moving to Scotland. She's going to be away from immediate family but she has extended family in Scotland in the form of her mother's paternal side and her father's only brother and his family. And she shouldn't forget that her older brothers will be with her.

"Amelia's spent almost five years in this house," Kenna breathes out. "She's had her first steps, her first words, we've drawn her height every month for the past four years... I just feel..."

"Overwhelmed?" Bash asks knowingly, cupping her cheeks.

"Yeah."

He chuckles. "We'll get through it."

"But your job-"

"You're deflecting," he tells her. "You and I both know I work from home."

Kenna pouts a little, hooking her arm through his as they start towards his family first. "Are you sure you don't mind moving to Scotland?"

"I don't."

"Because Amelia is going to develop a Scottish accent-"

"It's fine!" Her husband cries out, laughing. "We can totally psyche people out with a Scottish girl speaking French and Italian fluently."

Kenna grins. "Okay... Then, it's settled. We're moving to Scotland."

Bash turns to her as she grins over at his parents. A little part of him is homesick, hoping he could bring up the subject of moving to France to be closer to his family for the first time in almost a decade but to see the smile on her face and light in her eyes at finally being at peace with what she wants to do and how she'll get there is worth being homesick in a new country. As long as she's with him and they've got Amelia, he has all the family he needs.

"I love you," he whispers into her ear.

Kenna turns to face him with a fond smile. "I love you too, Bash."

...

Their new home is a detached house with four bedrooms just like the one in England. The main bedroom has an en-suite but the other three bedrooms share one family bathroom upstairs and another downstairs.

Bash is relieved that the treehouse he built Amelia was still in decent condition enough for him to undo and rebuild in their new garden, even repainted and polished more with another level for their almost five-year-old daughter to enjoy with future friends.

They've got a study for Bash to work from home, in one of the spare bedrooms as the original office downstairs is a small boxy room downstairs that could be claustrophobic for him and turned into a playroom instead, and he stands in the last bedroom, which will be used as a guest bedroom but he has other plans for it.

It hasn't entirely been six years since Amelia was born but Amelia has breached the topic of being an older sister many times to which he sated with a puppy and two cats. Kenna didn't heavily dislike cats, he adored them, remembering when his father and stepmother got him two kittens for his tenth birthday. He saw them slinking about when he went to visit them when Amelia was a few months old. They must be dead or something by now.

So they also got a puppy to please Kenna and their daughter was satisfied with three pets.

But they can't keep getting animals for their daughter whenever she asks to be a big sister.

"Bash!"

"Guest bedroom," he calls back.

Kenna stumbles into the room, tripping over boxes almost and he steadies her. "Amelia's downstairs teaching Shinee how to fetch. Ozzie and Loki are doing whatever they want, I guess. I found Loki fast asleep in the bathroom box."

He chuckles, bringing her to his side. "How do you feel about trying for another baby?"

"Did we really try the first time?" She asks lightly.

"Not exactly," he admits wryly. "But-"

"Lia's been asking for a baby sibling after Mary and Francis announced they're expecting their first baby..."

Bash nods. "And before that," he confesses. "That's why-"

"We've got a dog and two cats?" Kenna asks knowingly. "I'm twenty-two! Bash, I've just started a new job. I can't be getting pregnant right now..."

Bash sighs. "I know."

"You really want another baby, don't you?" She asks softly.

Bash shakes his head. "Not if you don't want one."

"It's not like I don't want one," she says, sighing heavily. "I just can't think about being pregnant with the clinic. I don't want to let my brothers down if I'm feeling shitty from being pregnant and everything."

"I understand," Bash replies. "I do. At least it's not because you don't want my baby or something."

"Oh, we'll have a thousand kids if you want," she says jokingly and seriously at the same time. "Just not right now. The world isn't quite ready for another adorable baby from us. We've got to give them time to get used to Lia's stunning looks."

He laughs, nipping at her ear as he wraps his arms around her waist. "God, look at us. We're so up ourselves."

"I mean, we do make an attractive couple," she says flirtily, kissing his neck. "I wouldn't be opposed to blessing the world with our little minions. We should have three!"

He snorts. "So fucking weird."

"Don't you forget that," she tells him brightly with a kiss.

...

"I'm sorry, what?" Mary asks, sharing a glance with her husband. "We're having twins?"

Francis's eyes turn back to the screen and he grins. "But how?"

Their midwife smiles, helping Mary to wipe off the gel. "IUI does increase the chances of multiple babies..."

She continues to talk, the couple drowning her out as they stare at each other lovingly. Francis grabs his wife's hand, pressing kisses on the back of it happily as tears spring to his eyes.

They'd been trying over the years, unsure of whether his frozen samples would produce a positive outcome but it finally did at the most perfect of times. They were twenty-two, their new home in France after not that much convincing on Francis's part towards Mary.

When they get home, Mary tuts when Francis helps her out of the car. She's not even showing all that much, she's slightly bloated but not that much for anyone to say she's pregnant. Everyone important knows she's pregnant but they're surprised at how petite she is and she wonders how they'll react when they find out that her tiny belly is holding two babies.

"Are you okay?" He asks frantically when they step through their front door. "I could make you tea-"

"Francis," Mary giggles. "I'm great. I love you."

"I love you too," he says in relief. "But let me help you anywhere-"

"Remember when it was me looking after you?"

Francis pulls a face. "I'm returning the favour, my love."

Mary giggles, stroking his cheek. "I thank you for that, my darling husband," she replies. "But honestly, I can get around myself."

"I don't want you to miscarriage..."

"Baby, I doubt going up the stairs will cause a miscarriage," she tells him softly, running her fingers through his hair in hopes to calm his fears. "We're blessed, Francis. Calm down."

His blue eyes meet her brown ones and he nods. "Sorry."

"Don't be," she says, pressing a kiss on his lips. "This week is the best week of my life. We found out that you're still in remission, we found out we're having twins and well, I have a gift for you."

"Do you?" Francis asks curiously as she leads him upstairs to their bedroom.

She sits him down on their bed and retrieves a box from her wardrobe, placing it in his hands. "Open it."

He does, inspecting the watch inside in wonder. "Oh, this is beautiful..."

Mary blushes, sitting beside him. "It belonged to my dad," she explains, showing him her father's initials inscribed behind the watch part. "J.S."

Francis smiles, looking at her in disbelief. "Oh, Mary... I don't deserve-"

"You do," she whispers and then she's nervous as she places a hand on her small bump. "If we have a son, can we name him after my father? And you, of course."

"Y-Yeah!" He breathes out, kissing her. "So, you've decided we'll have one of each?"

"I'm praying for that. Best of both worlds," she says with a cheeky grin.

Francis chuckles, nuzzling his nose with hers. "James Leon and Anne Marie."

"I knew you hated 'Simon'!"

"It makes me sound so snobbish," Francis replies, laughing. "I always thanked my mother for insisting on 'Leon'."

"I think your father chose 'Simon' because you never listened and it means 'to listen'," Mary jests.

Francis scoffs. "I so listened!"

"You so didn't!"

"How do you know?"

"Your parents have loose lips when they drink," Mary says coyly. She wraps her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I love you."

Francis smiles happily, pressing a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you too, Mary."

He leans them back so they're resting on the bed, eyes closing. He could say he loved her a thousand times in a day because he will never tire of saying so. She's his life, his hand slides onto her baby bump, and soon their twins will be his life too. He has his family, the one thing he fought every day of his life to get.

He was never going to give up. There were days when they were still in school that he considered it. Saw the pain in his brother's, mother's and father's eyes and most of all, Mary's. But at the same time, they'd be even more crushed if he had given up and died. So he fought.

"Let me tell Kenna the good news," Mary says after a while. "Give Bash a ring."

Francis nods, smiling as she grabs her phone and heads to her wardrobe to probably talk to Kenna about the clothes she bought as well as the news about the twins. He grabs his phone, feeling the urge to see his niece as he heads to the video call app.

"Where's Amy?" He asks when Bash appears on the screen.

"Somewhere," Bash replies distractedly. "I'm trying to put her princess bed together. She and Kenna insisted..."

"Awh, I would have helped," Francis says, leaning against the headboard. "How is Scotland?"

Bash winces. "I'm going to love it for Kenna. Amelia's taken to it already, excited about the chance of snow every year that we rarely got in England."

"It feels so weird," Francis mumbles. "I've lived with you for years and now we've got families of our own... We're old, Bash!"

"Speak for yourself," his brother mutters darkly. "I'm only twenty-five."

Francis laughs loudly. "Okay, I won't say anything regarding ageing."

"Thank you very much," Bash replies. "So, what did you want?"

Francis smiles warmly. "We're having twins. I'm freaking out a little..."

Bash's gaze softens and he takes a seat, probably on the floor before sighing wistfully. "Wow. Twins. Congrats."

"Thanks."

"Kids are scary," Bash starts softly. "But you and Mary have this-"

"I'm scared I'll leave her and them alone..." Francis quickly says, his voice trailing off. "Like what if my cancer comes back and-"

"Kenna told you something a while back, Francis," Bash states. "Five-year plan."

Francis sniffles, his eyes tearing up. "It's almost been five years..."

"Another five years, Francis," Bash reminds him shakily. "Then ten years and then-"

"I'll stop counting and start living for good?"

"Exactly," Bash says, smiling widely. "I love you. I don't say it enough but I should."

Francis smiles. "Love you too." Thank you for everything you have done for me. I'm here because of you, he thinks fondly and Bash knows it.

"And don't worry about the pregnancy, okay? You've got Catherine, Dad and a whole army of our siblings to help out," Bash informs him. "Just focus on looking after Mary. And treating and surprising her because that earns you a lot of points."

Francis chuckles, nodding. "I will. I'll try and keep calm. For Mary at least. Talk to you later?"

"Yeah," Bash says before Francis hears Amelia ask if that's her uncle. "I got someone else who wants to talk to you."

Francis grins and playfully rolls his eyes. "Put her on. It is her I wanted to talk to in the first place."

Amelia appears in place of Bash and she grins, showing him her top row of teeth. "It came out!"

"I told you it would, kiddo," Francis tells her happily. "How much did the Tooth Fairy give you?"

"A fiver," she says, waving it. "Going to use it to buy fish 'n' chips!"

Total Brit, he thinks lightly. "Congrats! But why don't you save that up for Christmas, eh?"

"I'll save it for the baby," she replies instead.

Francis grins. "Babies, Amelia. You're getting two cousins."

She gasps, eyes wide. "No way! How can that happen?"

"Twins," Francis explains. "Ask your parents."

She nods. "Uh-huh! I miss you, Uncle Francis..."

Francis smiles wryly. "I miss you too, Amy. But we'll see each other at Christmas when you come over."

"We're staying in Scotland."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Mummy's family want to meet me so she said we'll probably stay here," she explains softly. "But can you come?"

Francis winces. "Don't think your aunt will like to travel but we will still see each other very soon, okay?"

Amelia beams happily, in relief. "Okay. I have to go. Mummy's calling me. I love you, Uncle Francis. And Tante Mary too!"

Francis watches as Mary heads out of her wardrobe, phone off. "We love you too, darling. Bye."

"Bye-bye!" Amelia cries out before the call ends and her face disappears.

He looks up at his wife. "Want to cuddle for a bit before dinner?"

Mary nods. "I'm actually fond of a nap right now," she says, climbing onto the bed beside him and snuggling into his side. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mary," Francis murmurs before falling asleep.