Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-man.


Epilogue

Miranda looked around the little house. There was a bright smile on her face as she walked around. "Oh, Marie, this is perfect!"

"I thought I had found a good place," he smiled gently as he followed her. "The people in this town are plenty friendly, too. I'm sure you'll like it here." Marie had yet to mention to Miranda that it was his hometown where they were looking at the small home.

"Wait, how long did you spend here on your assignment?" she looked at him curiously over her shoulder. She thought he had only spent a day or two in the town on his last assignment during the duration of the Holy War.

"I was only here then for a day or two, but this is where I grew up before I joined the Order," Marie admitted, "My father helped me find this place, when I came back here last week."

"Marie, that's amazing! Your parents are still alive here?" Miranda looked around the house with a giddy grin as she walked about and looked at everything in the empty house.

"Yes, and most of my siblings, too," he nodded. He walked with her and leaned against the wall just inside one of the bedrooms. "My parents said we would be allowed to stay with them until we get settled in here and can find work. I think you'll get along very well with my mother. Even as old as she is now she's still a very active person. At least in crafts."

Miranda turned around to look over the whole room. "This room is the perfect size for a nursery... If we decide to start a family." She sounded a little hesitant on the last part. She had never asked Marie for his views on such a thing. Even if they had discussed having a life together after the war they had never thought beyond marriage.

"I think that it would be a good idea to set it aside for that," Marie could hear the quickening of her pulse. "I think it would be wonderful to talk more about possibly starting a family at some point."

Miranda relaxed with a little sigh, "This room is just the right size for that. Let's go through the rest of the house." Her excitement was back in an instant and she walked to the hallway. She next went to the room across the hall. "This one could be our room!"

"Yes, it could be," Marie followed with an ever apparent smile. Even if he couldn't see most of the house he could get a vague gauge of the sizes of the rooms that they stood in.

"Oh! I brought Time Record, Marie. Would you like to get a look at the house?" Miranda quickly asked. The thought hadn't crossed her mind the whole time they were there. She had been too excited.

"How about later? You're bound to be tired from traveling all the way here by train," Marie didn't want her overdoing it and causing herself to pass out. It had happened once before and he had been far more cautious about how often he let her heal his eyes since then. Going back a full twelve years, even if she had become far more skilled, was still too much for her.

"Are you sure?" Miranda asked with a bit of a frown. "I really don't mind doing so for a short while!"

"I'll take a look around with you later, I promise. For now I think I'm content just imagining what it all looks like," Marie assured softly. He had grown quite fond of making a game about guessing how things looked.

"Okay," she finally seemed to accept this answer. Her excitement bounced back quickly again and she looked around, "Yes, this will be the perfect room for us to stay in. The last room can be for any kids we have in the future once they're a bit older. And the kitchen was just wonderful! This place really is perfect!"

Marie smiled, "Is this where you would like to spend the rest of your life?"

"Yes, I would love to spend the rest of my life here, no matter how long or short that may be," she said softly as she looked around the room. She went back out to the front room.

Marie followed her back to the front room. He said, "Then let's live here. Komui agreed to use money from the Order to help all of us settle into new lives. I'll negotiate a price. Until then, we can go stay at my parents' house. It's not far; let's go there now so you can meet them and rest for a little while."

"This is all so wonderful, Marie. I'm so afraid I'm going to wake up and this will all be a dream," she sighed.

"It's not, don't worry. My parents are excited to meet you," he offered her a small smile as he picked up her suitcase and walked with her out of the house. He locked up the door behind them and went to the next house to return the key to the man who was currently in possession of the house. After that he led Miranda in the direction of his parents' home.

They hadn't even gotten to the front door before it was an opened and an older man leaning on a cane came out to greet them. His stature was much like Marie's with broad shoulders. In his youth he had likely been quite tall, though know he walked a little hunched over. "There you are, son! Your mother and I have been waiting for an hour for you to get here! This must be Miranda. It's lovely to meet you. Come in, you must be exhausted. Noise said you had quite a ways to travel to get here to meet him!"

Miranda seemed a little taken off guard by how quickly the man seemed to greet her and invite her inside. She followed Marie inside of the house.

"Noise, take her things to the room you're staying in," his father told him before turning to Miranda, "His mother has been quite excited about meeting you. She's just in the living room."

"All right," she smiled brightly.

Marie couldn't help a fond smile. When he was younger him and his father had really had differing opinions and often ended up arguing, but that had changed. He had been staying with his parents for that week and he was getting along so well with the both of them. He took Miranda's suitcase to the room that used to be his when he was younger. None of his siblings were still living in the house, but back when they had he had shared the room, so there were multiple beds. He set Miranda's suitcase down on the bed nearest to the door before he went back to see how things were going.

Miranda was sitting down on the couch in the living room across from his mother. Timidly, Miranda smiled, "I'm Miranda Lotto, it's very kind of the two of you to allow me to stay here."

"Anything for our future daughter in law," Marie's mother smiled sweetly. She was a woman who may have once stood tall and quite intimidating, but now she was curled and frail looking. She set aside the knitting she was doing and adjusted the thick glasses that obscured her eyes.

Miranda's face went bright red at the woman's words, "O-Oh, w-we've only really talked about things like that, we're not even engaged yet!"

"He was right, you are easily flustered," the woman gave an innocent little laugh. "I'm Edda. It's very lovely to meet you, dear." She offered a crooked little hand to shake.

Miranda lightly shook her hand, "It's very nice to meet you, too."

"You two seem to be getting along well," Marie commented jovially as he came in to join them. He sat beside Miranda on the couch.

"Yes, she's very kind," Miranda nodded with a shy little upturn of her lips.

"You found yourself a lovely young lady to bring home, Noise. She's very polite," Edda added after Miranda spoke.

Marie couldn't help a chuckle at how well they seemed to be getting on. He had expected that, "Mother, Miranda likes to sew. Perhaps sometime you two could work together on something."

"You sew, dear? Oh I used to do such lovely embroidery. I'm afraid I'm better at crochet and knitting now, but I would love to work with you," the woman was nothing but happy at this news. She hadn't had a craft buddy for a long while.

"Yes, I've sewed things since I was small. I made the jacket that Marie is wearing right now," Miranda smiled proudly, "I've wanted to learn to do other things like crochet and knit, though! Perhaps you could teach me something some time."

"That's a wonderful idea, absolutely wonderful," Edda nodded her approval. "You really did bring home a nice young woman, Noise."

Both Miranda and Marie's faces flushed at this comment. Miranda couldn't help hiding her face against Marie's shoulder out of embarrassment.

"Sorry about her, Edda likes to embarrass people," Marie's father had come back into the room. "Dinner should be ready soon. I assume the two of you will be staying?"

"Yes, we will be staying. Thank you for letting me come back here after all this time," Marie nodded.

"Of course, Noise. You're our son. We would let you come back any time," his father smiled. After a moment, he said, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? I'm Medwin. It's good to have you here, Miranda."

Miranda sat quietly until he introduced himself. She offered a hand to shake, "It's nice to meet you, Medwin. I'm very happy to be here."

The rest of the evening was filled with happy conversations and good food.

By the time Miranda was in the room where she and Marie would be staying she was exhausted, but happy. She changed into some more comfortable clothes that she had brought and laid down. "Your parents are very nice, Marie..."

"Yes, they are. I can't believe I used to get into so many arguments with them," he shook his head. He was leaning back against the wall while he sat on one of the beds. In the room there were four beds.

"Teenagers can be stubborn," she chuckled softly. "It's nice here... I think I'll like living in this town."

"I thought you would. And I'm very glad you do think so," he smiled softly and got up to walk over to her bed. He sat on the edge of the bed, "I'm so glad we both made it this far, Miranda."

"I am too," she murmured softly. She shifted so she could reach forward and hold his hand. "It's nice, thinking that we'll be able to live normally now... I just hope I can find a job that I don't get fired from."

"I'm sure you'll be able to," he pressed a kiss to her hand. "You should rest, now. It was a long day for you."

"Thank you," she smiled softly as she settled down to sleep. She let her eyes slip closed as Marie went to his own bed.


"This house does look nice," Marie agreed softly as he walked with her through the house. He was, for once, having trouble staying calm. His heart pounded and he couldn't help feeling at his pocket to make sure he had the little box with him.

"It will be perfect!" Miranda's smile was brighter than ever and her eyes shone happily. "I'm so glad that you found it."

"I am, too. I'm also glad I found you," he smiled softly at her. "I love you so much."

She sheepishly glanced at the ground before murmuring, "I love you, too. I can't wait to move in and make this place truly feel like home."

"You know, home is best complete with someone to spend your life with in it," he said softly as he slowly lowered himself to one knee and held out the little box he had carried in his pocket. "Will you marry me, Miranda Lotto? We can make this place feel like our home together."

A smile broke out wide across Miranda face and tears filled her eyes, "Yes! Of course! Yes!" She helped him back to his feet and hugged him. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Marie grinned and hugged her back. He buried his face against her hair and then pulled his head back enough to plant a light kiss on her lips. "Thank you, Miranda..." He slipped the ring onto her finger.

"I love you so much! Oh, this is the best day ever!" Miranda was crying happy tears and smiling the whole time she spoke. "I'm so happy right now! I want to stay with you forever!"

"We may not have forever, but we can stay together for a long time," he smiled and hugged her again. "Let's start a new life here. Let's start a family, and do something with the time we have left."

Miranda hugged him tightly again, "Absolutely..."


A/N: Well, there you have it! Thank you so so much to those of you that stuck with me through this story! I'm so sorry that the updates became so staggered and slow, but crocheting is slow taking over my life and I'm forgetting about all of my stories except my book Xp Keep your eyes peeled, here and on AO3, for a story called Soft Gestures! It's a modern AU involving these cute dorks, and I posted a series of drabbles on AO3 called the Strings of Time! Feel free to request anything from me in reviews or PMs, and again, thank you so much for sticking with me through this whole story!