"No doubt, endings are hard, but then again, nothing ever really ends, does it?"
Chuck Shurley—Supernatural
Julianne doesn't remember much of the journey back to the cave or the one after that to an enormous tree with human nests hanging from branches as wide as a road. She knows a few things; Resa turns into the swift at night, Violante loves her son, and Julianne herself is pregnant again. Dustfinger cries when she gives him the news and, before she can ask if he's disappointed, he scoops her up in his arms and spins her around. Dustin pouts when they break the news to him and he tells them he'd much rather have a kitten, thanks very much.
"I'm afraid it doesn't quite work like that, Dee," Dustfinger explains.
"Yeah," Brianna confirms. "Babies are much fussier than kittens." But she's smiling and she's got an arm wrapped around Violante's waist as they relax in one of the nests. Jacopo is snuggled firmly between them and Julianne thinks he'll turn out just fine.
Later on, once the fanfare of their return to Ombra is over and everything settles into normalcy, Dustfinger finds their meadow. It's just like it had seemed in their shared dreams, the gentle slopes are hidden under snow and the cabin (she'd never seen a cabin in her dreams, but it feels right) rises out of the drifts. They add onto it a little at a time, eventually ending up with the house their children and grandchildren will come to adore.
The night their daughter is born is windy and soaked with rain, Lenore screaming her way into existence the way her own daughter someday will. It's difficult and Julianne swears off any more babies, but she smiles when it's over and she's able to nurse her little girl.
"Julianne," Dustfinger murmurs. The rain has stopped and the moonlight is shining through the window across from their bed, drenching their babies in silver. Julianne hums, almost asleep. "Will you marry me?" She smiles softly because this is the perfect time to have asked, she's all doped up on happy hormones and she's got her family wrapped around her.
"Yes."
"And when our children ask about the proposal?"
"We'll tell them the truth." She shifts to look up at Dustfinger, her smile turning into a grin at the way his eyes have lit up. "After hours of a brutal fight, when I was drenched in blood and sweat and tears, you asked me to marry you and I said yes." His laugh is like music, curling around her better than any shawl.
"That's perfect, little bird. Just perfect."
Marissa likes to think she's a good enough mother, but her son seems to disagree in the strongest possible terms. He's been crying for three hours, on and off, his gums sore from teething and his brilliant blue eyes shining with tears. She's tried everything that she can think of and a large part of her aches for her grandmother's advice.
"... And you'll never know how much I love you, but I'll keep on telling you my whole life through," she sings softly. It's a song her aunt had favored on rainy nights. Meggie always had the best songs. "Now I believe in miracles and you're the reason why, so dream on while I sing you my angel's lullaby." But little Julian is still screaming and Marissa is coming to the end of her repertoire.
"Have you tried reading to him," Robert asks. He's leaning in the doorway of the small nursery, his dark hair ruffled from the summer winds. He's got their great-grandfather's hair, dark as moleskin. "Mom always said that reading cures anything." It's true, their mother had stories memorized from the years she spent around the strolling players.
"I'm not good at telling stories." Robert shrugs and straightens up, coming into the room with a certain swagger in his step. She blames that on all the influence Farid had on him, their uncle unbelievably confident for someone who refuses to wear shoes. Robert holds out his arms expectantly when he stops beside her. "What?"
"Give me Julian."
"Why? It's time for his nap or he'll be awake all night again." She's really starting to regret this having babies nonsense. She should have just gotten a kitten like Uncle Dustin did. Granted, Uncle Dustin and Uncle Sam adopted a stray kitten because neither of them was capable of carrying children, but the point still stands. Kittens don't give you stretchmarks or keep you up at odd hours with their crying.
"I'm gonna tell him a story." Marissa hesitates a moment, studying her little brother with a bone-deep mistrust. He's a good boy, she knows that, but she's also seen him throw pinecones at their sister just because she made fun of his nose. He's a devious little thing, big eyes be damned. "Rissa, just trust me."
"Fine, but don't drop him." Robert rolls his eyes, giving her the patented unamused stare of little brothers everywhere. She passes Julian off to him and is more than a little miffed when his cries start to quiet. Robert might be an ass at the best of times, but children love him. If he keeps this up, he might just end up married to the Princess despite Jacopo's reluctance to the match.
"Hey, Jules," Robert murmurs, all soft edges and bright smiles. Julian is still crying, his little hand stuffed in his mouth, but the tears have stopped. It's more a desperate whine than anything. "Don't you worry, Uncle Robbie is gonna fix you right up."
"He likes the rocking chair." Robert nods and settles himself there, rocking gently and patting at Julian's bottom. He's still smiling and Marissa wishes there was some way to capture this moment other than with a pencil and parchment. She's too afraid to leave the room to fetch her pencils, though. She can't just leave her son when he's hurting. "What story are you going to tell him?" Robert doesn't answer right away, but when he starts she's instantly transported back to her grandmother's living room. It's The Story, the one Grandmother had told so often that it's written in fine strokes of ink behind Marissa's eyelids.
"It was raining that night," Robert begins in a gentle voice," I'll always remember that…"