Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to the responsible parties. Anything you don't recognize probably belongs to someone else. The particular way I've filed off this tale's serial numbers, though, is totally mine, and I'll be a mite ticked off if someone tries to claim it as theirs. That said, please don't sue me over anything in this fic. I don't even own my own soul anymore, so all you'd get is a bunch of legal fees.
A/N: Final Chapter.
Warnings: This is that sickeningly sweet ending I was warning y'all about earlier.
Epilogue
"…all of ten seconds, maybe, before this voice interrupted us. 'Dragon – oh, my. I apologize,' he said, then high-tailed it out of there before either of us really knew what had happened," Brynjolf said, retelling the tale for what had to be the millionth time. It still managed to get everyone to laugh, Nick most of all. She was nodding along, but laughing far too hard to say anything comprehensible.
"An' ya didn't ask her right then?" Delvin asked, obviously teasing. "Can't imagine why."
"Pro'ly because I'd just blushed redder than Bryn's hair?" Nick teased back, making as much fun of herself as Delvin. "I've been told that red just isn't my color."
"Ya din't ask 'til later, right?" a small voice piped up from her position on Delvin's lap.
"That's right, sweetling," Bryn replied, reaching across the table to tug at the girl's pigtail. "We were on our way home, as it turned out. Had too much to talk about before then. But our last night before we got back to Riften was a clear one. The moons were hiding that night, so the sky was all stars and auroras."
"An' dat's when ya asked!" the girl exclaimed. "'Cause ya thought the sky was just as pretty as Momma."
Brynjolf leaned back in his chair, smiling at Nick. He shook his head. "Not quite, Liss," he corrected. "Your momma's far prettier," he lifted their intertwined hands and kissed the back of his wife's. The four year-old giggled.
A plaintive wail from over behind the bar cut through the air. Before either Brynjolf or Nick could react, Vex sprang out of her chair and scooped up the source of the noise. She carried the boy over to their table. "I think he's hungry," she announced, handing him over to his mother. Unlike his sister, baby Rory had his mother's honey-blonde hair, rather than Brynjolf's firey red, but even at just shy of six months old, it was obvious the boy would share his father's eyes.
"It still surprises me, Vexy, how good ya are wi' the rugrats," Delvin commented.
Vex rolled her eyes and flopped back into her chair. "I was the oldest of twelve, Delvin. Twelve. I could take care of a baby before I could freakin' read."
Nick let out an impressed whistle, even as she arranged her son against her breast. "I didn't know that. I always assumed you were an only child."
Vex snorted in amusement. "I wish. No, my folks had a large farm down in Cyrodill. Bigger the farm is, the more hands you need to work it. And what's the cheapest way to get farmhands? Breed them yourself. Is it any wonder I took off as soon as I possibly could?"
Brynjolf snickered, then sighed. "Hate to break up the party, but if we're going to actually be awake at noon tomorrow, we should all see about getting some sleep."
Mara's temple was packed to capacity for the ceremony. Not only did the Guild show in force, but what seemed like half of the Khajiiti merchants in Skyrim had also shown up, much to the consternation of the guards. Brynjolf had a few quiet words with the ones on his payroll while Thane Nicole had similar words with the jarl, and so the only thing the 'honest' guards could really do about it was mutter and glare.
Vekel looked both stiffly uncomfortable and blissfully happy – an odd juxtaposition of emotions that shouldn't have worked, yet did – during the ceremony. Tonilia's expressions were harder to read, simply because she wore a crimson veil as was the custom back in Hammerfell. But no one changed their minds at the last moment, vows were said, and before the room could get stiflingly stuffy, the deed was done.
The party that followed went down in Guild history.
A/N2: Alright, that's it. The fuckin' end. Probably the shortest thing I've written in literal years, and fuck but it was harder than hell to limit myself to less than twenty pages.
I hope y'all enjoyed. Even if you didn't, I'm just happy this damn thing is out of my freakin' head now.
If y'all did enjoy this piece of drivel, I might be convinced to write more in this universe. I just need suggestions on what y'all wanna see.
