The ranch was closed to visitors on Sundays, to give both the animals and the people time to recover from the week. Ethan and Hank had both decided they wanted to use that week's day off to go to the town's annual Christmas market. (Emily had thought that meant she'd have the house to herself for the day...but the boys insisted she come along with them, no matter how many excuses she attempted to come up with.)

"What do you want to see first?" Derek asked the boys when they emerged into the crowded city square.

There were food carts selling fruitcake and gingerbread, choirs singing carols, and so many vendors selling their handicrafts it made your head spin. There was even a little petting zoo with lambs and rabbits and even a llama. The boys were instantly both inflamed with so much excitement they could barely stay still.

"I wanna sit on Santa's lap!" Hank declared, already tugging Derek away from the others in his excited impatience.

Ethan, on the other hand, insisted, "Hot cocoa!"

Emily wasn't sure which way she was supposed to go. At least, not until Alex informed her, "I believe they're serving mulled wine..." And, with that, her mind was immediately made up.

Sipping the mulled wine, Emily hummed a pleased little note. "This reminds me of when I was growing up," she said, almost without realizing she was speaking, "My mother was stationed in Germany for awhile and my nanny used to take me to the annual Christmas fair and we'd drink Glühwein just like this."

"You got to drink wine when you were a kid?" Ethan asked.

"It wasn't a big deal when I was younger," Emily said, "But these days they make kinderglühwein that's safe for kids."

Ethan turned to Alex and informed her seriously, "We should go to Germany."

Alex laughed. "Maybe when you're older."

"You should come with us," Ethan told Emily, apparently already making plans regardless of Alex's response.

Emily blinked in surprise for a few minutes. "Oh...umm... That sounds nice," she said. "Assuming that's okay with your mom." She glanced at Alex over Ethan's toque-covered head, smiling secretively.

"It is," Ethan answered without waiting for Alex to contribute her opinion. And before further discussion could be had, he said, "Can we go look at the market stalls? I want to get Hank a present."

Together, the three of them wandered among the vendors, looking at their wares and stopping every time Ethan saw something he thought Hank might like. It was nice, Emily couldn't help but think – it just felt normal, like this was just how things were supposed to be. (She didn't like that she thought that, didn't want to feel any sort of connection to the people or places that weren't in London, but she did anyway.)

Then, without a word, Ethan grabbed Emily's hand and, for a moment, thought he was going to hold it. But only for a moment because then he'd placed her hand in Alex's...

Alex shot Ethan a confused look, then glanced up to meet Emily's gaze, finding her just as surprised and confused as she was. Glancing back to Ethan and seeing the stubborn insistence there (the kind he'd inherited from her, no doubt), she couldn't seem to find the wherewithal to pull her hand away.

Emily, for her part, seemed to feel that if Alex didn't have a problem with it, neither did she.

Ethan had insisted that he needed Emily to take him to pick out a gift for his mother, so while Alex enjoyed a few moments to herself, Emily was being dragged around the town square by a tiny dictator. And discovering that his plan to shop for his mother was actually a ploy to make Emily pick out a gift for Alex.

No matter how many times Emily tried to convince him that it really wasn't necessary, he certainly wasn't about to let the matter drop and Emily quickly realized that it was just going to be easier to go along with it. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done because everything she suggested was met with a look of disapproval from Ethan.

"What about this one?" Emily asked, picking up a beautiful garnet coloured scarf to show Ethan. She trailed her fingers along the buttery soft fabric. "I think it would look really nice on your mom."

He crinkled his nose as he examined it before giving a declarative shake of the head.

"Well, why not?" she asked with a frustrated huff.

"Mom's got lots of scarves," he said.

With a sigh, she put the scarf back and continued on to the next stall. "Why don't you just tell me what you think she'd like?" she suggested, eager to be finished with this exercise in frustration.

Ethan shook his head firmly.

"Why not?"

He gave her a pointed look. "It hasta be your idea," he insisted.

"But why?"

He very nearly rolled his eyes, but said nothing more on the matter.

When it became clear that he wasn't going to explain, she reluctantly continued on with the fruitless search.

It was several more moments of silence before Ethan once again spoke. "You should marry my mom," he said out of the blue.

Emily choked and sputtered for several moments. "Wh-what!? Why... Why would you..."

"You make her happy," he said with a shrug.

"So do you and Derek and Hank."

He shook his head. "Not like you do. You make her smile."

And rather than debate further, Emily turned her attention back to her gift search. Her gaze landed on a wooden box shaped like a book, burned with the tree of Gondor on the top and the script of the One Ring around the edges. She distinctly remembered Alex discussing her love of the series and knew immediately she'd found the perfect gift.

Ethan startled her then when he informed her quite plainly, "See? She makes you smile too..."

There was no arguing with that.