~ 10 years later ~

"We never said our love was evergreen or as unchanging as the sea," Celeste hummed softly to herself as she flipped the sizzling bacon, brushing a wayward curl back behind her ear. "But if you can still remember, stop and think of me."

"You still sing it as beautifully as you ever did."

She turned her head to smile at Erik where he leant against the doorway. His eyes shone at her, and his heart glowed in his chest.

She cocked her head. "Well, I did have a good teacher," she said, a teasing note to her voice.

He laughed and moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and bending his head to kiss her.

After a few moments, she pushed gently against his chest to make him pull away.

"If you want me to make you breakfast, you're going to have to let go of me for a few minutes," she reprimanded him gently.

Erik just grinned. "But there are so many other things we could be doing."

Celeste rolled her eyes and pushed him away more firmly. "Don't be silly."

The look in his eyes turned mischievous and he plucked the spatula from her hands.

"Oi!"

His grin only widened at the mixture of a reproachful frown and the smile she could never quite hold back.

She moved towards him, and he took a step backwards. Her tone only just remained serious. "Give it back."

Erik tilted his head, a smile still playing on his lips. "I think not."

She grabbed for the spatula again, but he only held it higher. She sighed, fighting to keep a straight face. "You can't be serious."

"If you're not going to put in any effort, I don't think you really want it," he teased, enjoying the way she was both frustrated and delighted that he was toying with her.

Celeste stood on her tiptoes and swiped for his hand, but he still easily evaded her. A laugh escaped her lips as she jumped and he twitched the utensil just out of her reach. "This is childish.

Erik slid his free arm around her waist and dipped her over it. "Oh, absolutely," he murmured, lowering his head towards hers.

She made a half-hearted stretch for his other hand but missed. "I hate you," she muttered.

"Mmhmm." He silenced any further complaints with a kiss that she didn't even pretend to resist.

"Ew!"

The two of them turned their heads, their eyes falling on the young boy standing in the doorway, his face scrunched up in disgust.

Erik grinned. "Is something the matter?"

"You're being gross," the boy replied matter-of-factly.

Celeste laughed and batted Erik away so that she could stand up straight again, taking back the spatula as she did.

"Where's your sister?" she asked as she removed the bacon from the heat.

The boy shrugged. "Still in bed."

Celeste sighed. "I'll go and get her." As she walked past, Erik sat down and took his mask from his pocket.

She narrowed her eyes and snatched it from his hand before he could leave it on the table.

"How many times?" she muttered, irritated. "No masks around the house."

"But, Mother," the young boy piped up. "Father needs the mask so that the villains don't know his secret identity. He's the masked hero."

Celeste arched an eyebrow at Erik before looking back to her son. "Not in my house he isn't. This is going back upstairs." She waved the mask and left after a pointed glare at Erik.

He winced. "Please don't get me in trouble with your mother," he muttered.

"Are you afraid of her?" the boy asked, frowning.

"Aren't you?" Erik responded, raising an eyebrow. He stood up, leaving the boy with a pondering expression as he collected four plates from the dresser. As he laid the table, his thoughts drifted to a fifth plate that had been part of the set but was now gone.

It had been smashed in an argument years ago - Celeste had thrown it against a wall to make him shut up and listen to her.

He had never seen her so angry, but then he had never insisted that she was having another man's child before - or since. He wouldn't make that mistake twice.

Celeste reentered the room, and he thanked his lucky stars for the millionth time that she still put up with him. She was leading a young girl by the hand who yawned widely as she followed her mother. The girl rubbed her free hand against her eyes, which were foggy from sleep yet still shone with the same golden colour as Erik's own.

"Good morning," Erik said as she detached herself and moved to finish setting up the breakfast. The girl raised her gaze to him and shook her head a little, as though throwing off her tiredness.

She gave him a toothy grin and announced proudly, "I'm a fairy." She moved her shoulders to pointedly flap the wired fabric attached to her back.

"You're the prettiest fairy there's ever been." Erik smiled fondly and scooped her up into his lap.

"And I can do magic!" She produced a wand from her dress and waved it in front of her. "I can turn anything into a handsome prince."

"Oh yes?" He raised an eyebrow. "Will it work on me?"

The girl shook her head.

"Why not?"

She gave him a bright smile, her eyes sparkling in the same way Celeste's did. "Because Mama already did."

"She's right," Celeste said over her shoulder. "Your father was a frog when we first met.

Erik laughed and bruised his daughter's hair back from her face.

Both children had dark mops of hair, but where the boy's flopped over his eyes, the girl's bounced in curls even more unruly than Celeste's. Their eyes were equally bright, though his were sapphire and hers pure gold. While the boy's face had a few more years' maturity, both were still bright with childhood delight and completely flawless.

Erik had been terrified of passing on his deformity to his children, of cursing them to live with faces as disfigured as his own. Celeste had been impressively patient with him during both pregnancies as he lamented his fear and guilt, damning himself for ever inflicting himself on her life and burdening her with the shame of his affliction.

She herself had remained perfectly calm and had consoled him through every outburst, ever kind and ever trusting in the benevolence of fate.

Thankfully, both children had been born beautiful and pure and completely perfect. Celeste had refrained from saying 'I told you so' at the births - though she pointed it out often in the following years - but had simply held Erik close as he sobbed in relief with each newborn child in his arms.

He was pulled back to the present by a soft humming. The little girl had placed her hands on the table and was moving them as though playing a piano, singing the tune under her breath as she went. She faltered after a few moments, but Erik put his hands over hers and hummed along too, pressing the correct fingers on the imaginary keys.

She eventually pulled her hands away and tilted her head back to look him in the eyes. "Will you teach me another one later?"

Erik smiled and opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by an exclamation from his son.

"You said you'd play piano with me today!"

"It's my turn!" the girl retorted, turning to him and screwing her face up in indignation.

"I asked first! And I'm better than you anyway!"

"You can't even play your scales properly!"

"Well at least I can -"

"Enough!" Both children fell silent at the reprimand from Celeste. "You can both play after breakfast - there's plenty of time - but if you don't stop arguing then neither of you gets to play. Understood?"

The girl pouted and glared at her brother. He stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the gesture, but both turned contrite at a sharp glance from their mother.

"I told you that you should be afraid of her," Erik whispered, earning himself a look from Celeste too as she set the food on the table.

Both children giggled and Erik lifted the girl into her own chair, surreptitiously moving the wand from where she had discarded it on the tabletop, removing the potential distraction.

The boy reached happily for his plate but Erik quickly chided him, "Cutlery, please. Remember your manners."

Celeste too had to quickly intervene, brushing the girl's hair back over her shoulder. "Don't let it get in your food," she sighed.

Erik glanced over and caught Celeste's eye. They both smiled and he felt his heart swell.

He had travelled the world over, and yet it was this one woman who had finally made somewhere a home for him. The woman with melody in her voice and heaven in her song, who had been the first one to smile just for him. He had spent a long time resigning himself to loneliness and yet being terrified of it at the same time, but she had appeared and filled the abyss in his life. He had lost his head and his heart, but she had given him so much more in return.

Celeste tilted her head, amusement creeping into her expression as it usually did when she knew that his thoughts were drifting.

He reached out and took her hand, his fingers curling around hers. Even after all these years, her hand still fitted perfectly in his.

Erik watched her smile widen as he raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "I love you," he said softly.

"I love you too," she whispered in return.

THE END

A/N Thank you so much to everyone who's read, followed, favourited and reviewed! It really means a lot!

And a special thank you to my best friend for putting up with my incessant emails and questions - you've been the best help I could have wished for!