This has honestly been in my head since before the wedding stuff so it had to happen. I can't resist more closure.

There wasn't exactly a solid rationale for why Soul had picked up the phone when his brother's name blared across the front. It wasn't usual, and while he had talked with his family maybe a handful of times he hadn't actually seen any of them since he destroyed that nice place-setting in front of his mother. He had assumed that kind of behavior earned you only sporadic phone calls, but the intent this time seemed to be to set a meeting, brother to brother. It felt like a trap and Soul was sure he was signing away his soul on the dotted line as he set a date and time.

Soul got there early since he'd brought Victor in tow. His son was anything but your normal toddler, completely blowing their experience with his sister out of the water. Like his father before him, the little boy was practically mute, but that hadn't caused any worry to either parent since it was always evident by the boy's face that his mind was working double time. Hence the timely arrival, since Soul knew Victor would need a multitude of minutes to analyze his surroundings, to compute and sketch before being asked to give anyone else his attention and while Soul was partially sure Wes would be at least minutely interested in him, he knew that Victor would most likely take the spotlight.

Victor had just settled down completely, his hand playing with Soul's as he softly babbled half-nonsense even though Soul was fairly sure it was something close to schematics when Wes popped his head into the small cafe that was halfway to the city. Soul raised a hand, drawing the attention of what could practically be a carbon-copy of himself but felt his fingers tremble into disarray as the tightly appraising face lined up next to Wes's. "Shit," Soul muttered and sent a forlorn look to his son in the highchair.

"Dada," Victor replied.

"Yeah, buddy, but don't repeat what I just said, OK?" He murmured as he reached out a hand to stroke the tiny head, trying to pull some sort of comfort out of the motion. By the time they arrived at the table, Soul was on his feet and outstretching a hand to his brother. The shake was firm but sizzling with life that Soul couldn't buzz back as his eyes fell on his mother. "Mom."

"Hello, Soul." Her arms bowed for the embrace and Soul let her, biting into his lip as the pinpricks danced across his skin. "And who's this?" It sounded sweet enough, especially as she reached down a soft hand to offer to Victor but it didn't thaw Soul, his skin still feeling like paper-thin ice.

"Victor, our youngest," Soul managed to choke out as he sat back into the seat and watched his son appraise the new arrivals.

"You have a daughter, too, right?" Wes smiled as he slid across from him.

Soul nodded, "Yeah, Isadora, Izzy." He couldn't help but watch the glint of dissatisfaction on his mother's face as she primly adjusted herself next to Wes.

"I understand naming him for my father but the way my mother treated you boys," she sighed.

"Nana was good to Soul." The soft reminder from Wes left Soul speechless, only able to muster the ability to watch the way his brother added a splash of a challenge with his eyebrows.

That twitch sprung up in her lip as she turned her attention to Soul. "And where is Izzy today?"

"With Maka," Soul found the air rushing from his mouth, the excuse feeling strained even though there was nothing but the truth coming from his lips. "Maka had the flu last month, had to be kept away from the kids and Izzy took it a little too hard. Doesn't want to leave her now, gets really anxious and the pediatrician said it was sort of normal, that she'd grow out of it, but…" He sighed, trying to let his mind believe the look that he was getting from Wes was sympathetic but still feeling the sting of his mother's icy glare. "She's not great with strangers to begin with, so her staying at home was probably for the best."

"Strangers," his mother huffed.

Wes was wavering in the middle, his hand planting over his mother's on the table before turning his eyes to Soul. "I can imagine it must be hard for her. How is your girlfriend, Maka?"

The word strangled anything else of Soul's lips for a moment and he had to force a grating breath against the back of his throat to clear it. "She's fine. We, um, well, I guess you should know, we didn't really tell anyone, not even her parents, but we've actually been married since before Izzy." With a new breed of panic, he watched the jump of his mother's eyebrows but the words wouldn't stop from his lips. "We just had a ceremony last year."

His mother's hands stamped into the table as she pushed to her feet. "This is ridiculous."

"Mother, you said-" Wes started but the sound was yanked from his mouth just as her wrist from his hand and she started stomping steps towards the door. Both boys watched her go, sighs synchronizing from their lips. Wes slowly turned his head back, running his fingers through his hair. "Is there a reason why you couldn't have at least told her that before?"

While he always had the floundering powerlessness with her he felt the same old blustering anger starting that tempered every moment with his brother. "You mean during the once a year phone call I get? The one where she doesn't remember Maka's name to begin with?"

"It's not as if we're hiding," Wes snapped back. "Your fingers aren't broken, you could dial-"

"I'm not hiding," he sent the last word twittering with a bitter laugh. "Hell, you all know where the damn farmhouse is. If she actually wanted to see her grandchildren she could come over whenever the hell she wanted. Why did she even come along with you anyway?" Soul leaned into the table, red eyes gleaming as he started to seethe. "And why did you really want to see me? Or was that just a front for Mom to try to - I don't know - reconcile?"

"She complains about it, you living there, your happy little family, that company-"

"And I should give a shit?" The bitter note snapped between them and Soul heard the faint start of a sniffle. He set his eyes instantly on Victor, the tremble in the little boy's lip and the fear in his eyes enough to fizzle out Soul's rage. Nimble fingers negotiated Victor out of the seat and into Soul's arms, calloused fingers still moving with well-practiced soothing as he nuzzled his nose to his son's cheek. "It's OK, Victor, just one more minute. Give Daddy one more minute," he murmured before giving the boy one of those smacking kisses that always at least brought a smile. "Just tell me what you want, Wes."

"Mother wanted, wants to reconcile, like you said," Wes sighed out.

Soul's eyes scanned out the window and into the parking lot, jumping from car to car until his mother came into view, stewing quietly in the passenger seat. "She did a bang-up job of it right now, didn't she?" He asked the question to no one in particular and the only answer he got was Victor's tiny hands clutching at the collar of his shirt. "Here's all of it out on the table. Maka's my wife, has been for over five years. Izzy, then Victor about a year and a half apart. We live with another family, Marie and Stein who have been my parents for the past, well, for however long it's been since you saw me in that damn house. They've got their own brood and each one gets treated like my brothers, sisters. I don't-" the rest threatened to croak out and he swallowed hard to force the rest clearly, "I don't know how you, Dad, and Mom fit into that."

Wes's eyes rolled and Soul tried not to give in to the exasperation. "It shouldn't be this hard."

"No, it shouldn't." He should have felt a modicum of relief at some agreement but it only brought a trace of bitterness to his tongue. "But it is. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen damn slow, and to be honest, that's about the maximum I can stomach today." Soul dug into his back pocket, sorting a couple of bucks from his wallet to toss on the table for the coffee he'd worried over while waiting. "Tell Mom I said bye."

As soon as Maka heard the door open she was scooting Izzy off the chair she'd been standing on to watch over the oven. "Go get Daddy, bring him in here. Don't take no for an answer, OK?" Izzy sent her golden hair waggling with enthusiastic nods before her feet slapped against the hardwood floor. She started piling the cookies on a plate as she heard the cacophony of footsteps on the return along with Victor's start of Mama that melted her heart. His little arms were digging around her legs before Izzy could even get to her side. "Here, Izzy, both hands. Give this to Daddy."

Izzy followed orders to a T - carefully balancing the tiny tower of cookies all the way to the table where she placed it in front of Soul where he'd sunk into his seat.

Maka picked up Victor, getting a few sweet but wet kisses from him before he started to nuzzle in against her neck. She had tried to keep herself from it but she finally let her eyes fall on Soul, not necessarily wanting to see what she knew was going to be there. While there were many ways that Maka had mended his heart, this was always still a gaping hole and she saw it just as clearly on his face as she had so many years ago. Maybe that's why she had laid out his clothes this morning or as soon as he was out the door she'd started the snickerdoodles with Izzy. Just as she was trying to balance Victor to free a hand that could run through his hair or wrap around him, she froze in wonder.

Soul had been eyeing the cookies but his fingers went for the tiny ones at the edge of the plate, scooping up his daughter to pull her into his lap.

"Daddy, you're crying," she started.

While her tiny hands were trying to clear his face, Soul was pulling her close, pressing his cheek into the crown of her head as he murmured on repeat, "Izzy, I'm sorry."

"Why, Daddy?" her voice was a sweet little melody of confusion and humor. "Those aren't my cookies, they're yours. You didn't steal them."

A sharp laugh left his lips before he pressed them to her hairline. "Just… you still scared? Or did you feel OK when I went away today?"

"I missed you," she urged back and that choked another quick sob from his mouth. "But Mama was here."

"Yeah, Mama was," he nodded solemnly as he used the back of his hand to clear the tears off his cheeks. "And you two made cookies."

"Snackerdoodles."

"Snickerdoodles," he corrected softly.

"Snickerdoodles," she repeated as she turned to the table, taking one off the plate and brandishing it at his lips. "Bite."

Maka had to bite back the sting in her own eyes as he played through a huge bite, gnashing his teeth playfully as he overexpressed with his eyebrows. "I didn't mix up the salt and the sugar, right?" she whispered.

Soul finally brought his eyes to hers, spending the moments he needed to chew examining her face, his eyes drawing lines over every inch. It was the same weak laugh, but this time he reached for her, his hand tightly grasping at her hip to bring her a step closer. "They're fine."

Maka angled as she stepped closer, making sure that Victor's dangling feet weren't going to clock Soul in the face as he leaned into her, his face pressing against her stomach. "Daddy, your cookie," Izzy reminded impatiently.

"Give Daddy a minute," Maka murmured as her fingers ran through his hair.

Soul took in another deep breath of Maka before turning his face back to Izzy, offering an open mouth for the rest of his cookie. There were serious giggles of delight as he threatened to nibble her fingers as well. "Izzy, can you do me a favor?"

"What is it, Daddy?" She tilted her head sweetly and he couldn't help but cup her cheek to catch it.

"Can you take Victor into the library with you and play for at least ten counts of ten?"

"That's too many," she answered quickly.

Soul sighed, "Well, until I come get you. I promise I won't be that long."

"Is Daddy in trouble?" Izzy offered a look up at Maka who couldn't help but laugh.

"No, but do what he says, please," Maka cooed back. She let her little cuddle-bug to the floor, sad to lose the warmth but happy to see Izzy immediately jump to leading Victor, grabbing his hand and forcing him to toddle out of the kitchen. "Soul-" she started but he silenced her with a shake of his head, his hands grabbing back to her waist and bringing her tightly to him, face buried into her shirt. Maka exhaled with the squeeze, digging both hands into his hair to smooth and draw lines to his neck and over his shoulders. A few even breaths passed before she danced tentative fingers over the back of his neck. "Why did you apologize to Izzy?"

His breath was hot against her center and it sent a not so unpleasant rumble up her spine. Soul untucked his face, staring up at her with eyes still glossy. "What if I…" his jaw worked as the words jumbled together. "How could she be scared that we're going to leave her? It must mean I'm not doing a good enough job at lovin' her and that means I'm no better than my own damn mother and her-"

"Stop that," Maka snapped without an ounce of pity, moving to snag him by the short-hairs. "If you dare to even insinuate-"

"I'm not insinuating, I'm saying," Soul cut in flatly.

Maka sighed sharply, tugging at him again to elicit a grunt from his lips. "That was something completely out of our control, and I know how much you hate that - it's not like I like it very much either - but it is not something we did. And I know I don't know for sure, but what happens with your mother is something that she chooses. She does these things to you with full knowledge of how you'll react, what will happen, and that's something that should be apologized for." She moved her hands to clench into his cheeks, jumbling his head slightly for emphasis. "Our daughter, our son, will never fear seeing you. Will never for one moment stress about how to act or how to exist in front of you. So there's no comparison between you and your mother and if you even consider doing it again, Soul, I'll-"

"Got it," he murmured softly as his hand reached up to quell the rage on her lips. "Loud and clear, Maka."

She drifted fingers over his, pulling them enough away to get less rage dripping words out of her mouth. "What you did do today was wonderful, Soul."

He blinked at her, eyebrows furrowing.

"As far as I saw, you didn't come home in a rage," Maka tapped a finger to his to start the list. "I think Victor would have been much more upset if you had which was honestly surprising enough but then you…" She sighed sweetly as she let another finger play in the counting game, "Soul Evans, you reached for your daughter and took every last bit of comfort you could from her and then you calmly asked the same from me, grabbed me and instead of shying away from it, apologizing for it, let yourself have it."

A shaky breath left his lips as he stared up at her, letting the old memory replay back. I wanted her so badly then, I wanted to ask for it then and she's right, without thinking I did it now. I took what I needed and… did it feel selfish? Does this feel selfish? His fingers sought the softness of her skin just under her shirt, eyes still begging as his voice hummed sweetly up at her, "I didn't take every last bit from you. I'll… need that tonight, after the kids go to bed."

Maka couldn't resist the girlish blush from her cheeks. "Oh?"

With fingers clutching to her he stood from the chair, his cheek brushing to hers before tipping in to catch her lips. "It's your touch, Maka. It's always been that. I've always wanted that."

A satisfied smile hit her lips, "You can have as much of that as you want, as you ask for."

He teased her with another kiss, parting her lips just to suck enough sweetness to tide him over before he sighed hotly. "Izzy's probably at fifty counts of ten." Soul let his finger steal one last ounce of her warmth before he took a step back, turning towards the doorway. He paused at the threshold, tapping his fist to the molding. "Tonight, huh?"

As he peeked back at her he found the best gift, a glowing smile, amusement and thrill dancing across those jade eyes. "Tonight and every night."