IAN'S POV

Ray of Evening Light had quickly become the center of my world. There is nothing quite like the pure bone deep joy of watching the love of your life holding your child. Seeing Wanda sitting on our bed humming a song to a sleeping Ray was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, and lucky me I was treated to that sight almost every day. The way that the two most important people in my life shared such a simple, tender, and profound connection awakened parts of my heart I didn't even know existed. It was something that flowed from the deepest parts of my soul, something that happened as naturally as my heart beat or the sun set. The first tradition that had emerged in our little family was eating our lunches together in our room every Friday. It was at the end of one of these family lunches I found myself enthralled in the easy way Wanda soothed Ray into her afternoon nap. I knew that eventually I would have to gather our dishes and take them back to the mess hall and get back to work, but I allowed myself the simple luxury of looking at my girls for a few moments longer.

Wanda caught me staring and smiled "I wonder how long this nap will last?" she whispered, playing with the edges of Ray's blanket.

"Hopefully not too long," I pressed a kiss to Wanda's hair and looked down at Ray placing a protective hand on her little chest, "If she naps too long, she won't be able to sleep tonight"

"I wouldn't be too worried, I've got to go back to the daycare with Evie and the kids aren't great for letting her sleep" Though Wanda feigned an exasperated tone I could hear the fondness behind her words. Wanda had taken to motherhood like a fish to water and her maternal instincts extended to all the children in our community. Working at our little 'school' gave Wanda endless joy, even if it was sometimes harder work than anything I or the others did out in the fields.

"I know I'll sleep well tonight!" Winterizing the cave was always a task. That day I had been working with Kyle and Jared organizing our winter stockpiles. We had spent the morning taking out all the winter blankets and clothes we had stored, and if hauling enough winter clothes and blankets wasn't enough work, after lunch we would be loading those now empty stores with all the food we had canned.

"Well, make sure not to work too hard," Wanda smiled, "I could send Jamie to help you guys if you need"

"No don't worry, we can handle it, I honestly was hoping to talk to Jared a bit today and it would probably be best if Jamie wasn't there."

"What are you going to talk to him about?"

"About him being a head strong homophobe" I sighed sitting back down next to Wanda and she set a comforting hand on my lap.

"Is he still avoiding Evie and Luce?"

"Yeah, and honestly, have you noticed something between Jamie and Anthony?"

"You mean the heart eyes?" Wanda asked and I laughed.

"Yeah, I guess that is one way to put it" I grabbed her hand and looked at her with my own heart eyes, "I am almost sure there is something happening there. With how much Jamie looks up to Jared, I just want to see if I can knock some sense into Jared before he says something he will regret in front of Jamie."

Wanda started rubbing her thumb across my hand, "My Ian, always looking out for others, you see that Ray, your daddy is a very good man." She patted the sleeping baby in her arms as she smiled at me.

"Well, I'll try" I gave Wanda a kiss as I got up and headed back to work, "Wish me luck girls!"

"Luck!" Wanda called to me as I left.

It turns out that I wasn't the only one with an agenda for our afternoon. As we started working Kyle started the conversation with his usual tact.

"I heard Luce is going to do a concert for Thanksgiving, are you guys going to go?" If the question wasn't direct enough, the stare that he leveled at Jared made the intent of the question abundantly clear.

"And if we don't?" Jared asked, turning to face Kyle.

"I'd ask you what other fun plans you and Mel have in our post-apocalyptic caves" Kyle kept his tone light, but his words were sharp.

"What is this about?" Jared set down the box of corn he was lifting.

"I think it's time we had a talk about your problem with two women who have been nothing but kind and helpful since they got here." Kyle took a step towards Jared and at that point I started planning ways to break up a fist fight.

"I just don't get why I have to justify my decisions to everyone. And it's not like we have even done anything to them!"

"What you don't do is the problem" Kyle countered, "We live in caves with less than a hundred people, when you ignore someone's existence they notice and it makes you seem like a jerk."

"It's not my fault that people get caught up in who is hanging out with who like we are in high school." I could almost see the rude comebacks forming in Kyle's brain as a result of Jared's glib tone. As much as I appreciated the back up I thought a gentler approach would be best.

"Hey, look man, we all grew up the same way" I intervened, placing what I hoped to be a calming hand on Kyle's arm. "I know why you might be uncomfortable with lesbians, but really you're clinging onto something that is doing more harm than good."

"I just don't think that there is anything wrong with it. I get it, Luce sings nice songs, but I just don't feel comfortable around them." Jared crossed his arms and kicked the dirt under his feet.

"Look let me put it to you this way, when Wanda got her new body did you see Ian flirting with Mel?" Kyle took a step back taking himself out of my reach but his eyes never strayed from the man in front of him. "No! You didn't because sometimes when you love someone it's about more than their body. When I'm with Sunny it's not her tits that make me love her, I mean yeah they are good to look at." I couldn't help but smile at the way my brother managed to be crass even in his earnest defense of our friends, "But when I come home at night, it's the way she rubs my hand and the way she looks at me like I could do anything. The way that makes me feel like I could do anything, that's what makes me love her. And I don't think I could tell you when I decided to love her. Ian, can you tell me when you decided to love Wanda? Cause as far as I remember you hated that soul and wanted her to leave, now you have a kid together."

"No I can't" I agreed, enjoying the glimpse at the softer side of my brother I got to see whenever he spoke of Sunny, "I don't remember when I decided to love Wanda and I think if they put her in Jebs body I would still love her. Love is something that I don't think anyone understands, you can sit there and act like you understand what love should or shouldn't be. The truth is we don't know, we just know that we are lucky to have it."

"Well I thank you for the O'Shea moral lesson, but I would just like to keep working." Jared picked up the box he had set down and started working. But then Kyle said something that made me think he and I had similar motivation for his confrontation.

"When you make people feel like outsiders for who they are, people see that it's not just about Evie and Luce. People you don't even know are looking see you snub those girls and it hurts them, or it makes them think that the way you treat people is okay, when it's not. You're hurting people when you act like this. I want you to think a little more about everyone else. Believe what you want, but don't take it out on people who haven't done anything to anybody. Just come to the concert."

Jared continued working without replying and the problem hung over us unresolved as we finished. I like to think that Jared was actually thinking about what we said.

After hours of work I was exhausted and sweaty when I was finally able to go wash up and get to bed that night. Wanda and Ray were in the room and Wanda was reading to her from Jane Eyre.

"Do you think she understands?" I asked toeing off my shoes and toweling off my wet hair.

"Oh definitely" Wanda smiled and closed the book, "She is very fond of Jane." I sat down on the bed and Wanda placed Ray into my arms.

"You're lucky you have your mom's brains then" I ran my hand through the soft tufts of hair on the top of her head, "Daddy can't even understand that book!"

"I bet you could if you tried," Wanda leaned herself into my shoulder as I began to rock Ray tring to lull her to sleep.

"I might, I like to think that I am smarter than I was when I tried to read it in high school."

"I like to think that too. I don't think I would enjoy dating someone who hasn't changed since high school."

"Ohh I don't think you would," I pressed a small kiss onto the crown of her head, "Most of my problems come from people refusing to change. Though the world we live in couldn't be more different from the one we went to high school in."

"Change is scary" Wanda began to rub small soothing circles into the small of my back, sensing that things with Jared must not have gone very smoothly, "You know I think I remember someone who was fairly against change when Mel and I first came here."

"Yeah, I guess that if Kyle can end up with Sunny then anything is possible."

"I was talking about you, but good point."

"Thanks!" I yawned, letting myself be lulled by Wanda's soothing presence.

"Well, hopefully after a good night's rest things will be better in the morning."

With that, I let go of everything outside of Ray and Wanda and got ready for bed. That night, like every night, I slowly drifted to sleep to the soft sounds of my family resting safely by my side.

AUTHORS NOTE: Finally! The Couple this was originally about! How many more chapters? I have decided that maybe 2 or 3 more feels appropriate. (or maybe that's just the amount of creative juice I have in me) How long will that take? Who Knows? But you don't have to worry because as I have already said you won't get to read this until all those chapters are already written :) Just to keep track of my slog I am writing this April 1st.