Mare is giddy with excitement as she ties a brown cloak over a simple purple dress to hide her identity. Her brown hair is pulled tightly behind her head in bun, any usual hair accessories forsaken for this particular event. She has to do this quickly, twenty minutes tops if she doesn't want to get caught, either by her husband or the Sentinels. If Maven found out what she had been doing, he'd be mad for sure, but surely he'd understand, right?

David fusses a bit in the baby sized basket she has put him in. The four month old baby has started gnawing on his fist, and Julian says that she should be expecting his first tooth any day now. "Shhhh Davy, or else you'll get mama caught," she whispers down into the basket. She takes a deep breathe before taking the first steps out the palace to begin the adventure. Mare begins to sweat when a Sentinel walks by, but keeps her head down, as would a regular Red servant.

Thankfully, he pays her no attention and so she breathes a breath of relief and continues on her way. Mare's approaching the gate and her breath quickens once more as she knows that she'll have to make conversation with the Sentinels in order to leave. She doesn't see any colors from House Merandus or House Eagrie, so she doesn't have to worry about whispers or eyes.

"Halt, state your name and why you wish to pass," the gruff voice of Sentinel Provos is heard.

She clears her throat, "Molly Barlow, I was sent to town for some supplies for the kitchen." Mare hopes that she sounded believable.

"Very well." He opens the gate and Mare exhales once more. Oddly, David hasn't made a sound and when Mare peers down into the basket she can see that he is asleep. She chuckles a bit once she's outside, thankful for her baby's laziness. The town is buzzing with activity and her eyes widen at all the stalls selling a variety of goods. Boy, has it really been this long since she's stepped foot at a town market?

As she walks by, marveling at all the things happening around her, from the nymphs playing with the water fountains to the Red vendors yelling out what they have in stock, she notices a particular girl. Her hair, which looked like it was blonde at some point was moving as stealthily through the crowd as Mare had once done when she was still a seventeen year old thief.

Mare wants to follow her, she really does, to make sure that the girl doesn't get into trouble. But she's running out of time, and she really needs to see someone. She tears her eyes away from the thief's skinny figure rushes out to the outskirts of the town, towards the Stilts.

By the time she's on the dirt path that leads to the sector of her old house, David wakes up. He stares up at her face curiously and begins to babble. Mare smiles at the baby sounds her son makes and gently pats his head

Her house is in view, and all she can do is stare dumbly at the dilapidated structure. She doesn't remember her house being this poor. She feels sad and can't help but feel like a terrible daughter, she should have helped her family, sent them money no matter how much Elara disapproved.

When she stands in front of the house she feels ashamed and looks down sadly into her son's blue eyes. Would they be mad at her? What would they ask her to leave because of what she hadn't done to help them? Even if they accepted her, what would she even say?

Before she can think better of it, she knocks timidly on the door. Her heart is beating rapidly in her chest and she feels like she wants to throw up when she hears steps coming towards the door.

Her eldest brother, Bree answers the door. "What do you want-," he begins tiredly before he notices who it is. "Mare?" he asks with disbelief.

She smiles brightly at her brother. "It's me Bree," she responds happily. Mare moves past his huge figure and into the small living room where her whole family is gathered.

Her mother drops the cup she was holding as she runs towards Mare with open arms. Mare holds up her hand and her mother hesitates. "I have something to show you," she begins nervously.

She sets the basket down on the old couch and gently lifts David out. Her mother gasps once again and tears well up in her eyes at the sight of her fancily dressed grandson.

Her whole family is shocked, that's for sure and Mare stands there awkwardly for a minute before her father speaks.

"Who's the father?" he asks grumpily.

Mare gulps and looks to Giza, who is curiously eyeing the child while Shade has a wild grin in place. Bree and Tramy however, look just as suspicious as their father.

"Prince Maven," she finally answers. The whole room goes silent, and while her heart is still beating rapidly in her chest, her mother finally breaks the silence.

"Well that would explain why he's so handsome!" her mother gushes. Mare smiles in relief and places him into his grandma's arms carefully. She falls back onto the couch and watches as both Gisa and Shade crowd around her mother to get a better look.

"He definitely has His Highness's blue eyes." Gisa says as she pokes the baby's chubby cheek.

"Careful Gisa, we wouldn't want to harm the fragile Silver princeling." Jokes Shade as he too plays around with the baby's fist. Mare rolls her eyes and looks back to her older brothers and dad. Tramy stares at David in fascination, while Bree and Dad are still a bit unconvinced.

"Look at him, dear, your first grandson!" her mother calls out to her dad.

He smiles a bit and says to Mare, "Is he a burner like the royals?"

She nods and gets up, giving her dad a tight hug. "I missed you Dad," Mare says softly onto his shoulder with tears in her eyes.

"I missed you too sweetheart," he whispers into her hair. "Now I do believe that it's my turn to hold the princeling." he announces once she's let him go.

Her mother narrows her eyes, "No, I still haven't given him enough cuddles." She shifts David in her arms slightly and takes a step backward.

"Wait, now hold up, I think it's my turn," Shade says as he steps forward, "He should be held by his favorite uncle next."

Bree snorts, finally making a sound, "And who says you're the favorite uncle?" he challenges.

"Alright, alright settle down," Tramy calls out, "I think I should hold him next."

"Why?" Gisa questions, "He should be held by his only Aunt first." She advances towards her mother with open arms.

"Actually you're not his only aunt, Evangeline is also his aunt," Mare teases from the sidelines, watching this all in amusement. Gisa frowns and sticks her tongue out at Mare for proving her wrong.

"What's his name?" Her mother asks, trying to steer the topic away from who gets to hold him next.

Her family looks at her expectantly, she opens her mouth to speak but a voice calls out from behind her.

"Prince David of House Titanos and House Calore," Maven says from the doorway. He too, is dressed in civilian clothes which seem to suit him in an odd way. Maven appears to have come alone, she can't see or gear any Sentinels. Nor does she hear a horse. Was he following her on foot this whole time?

"Maven! What are you doing here?" Mare asks in surprise. She steps to his side almost immediately and holds his hand. "Please, he needed to see the rest of his family," she whispers into his ear.

Maven doesn't respond, "May I have my child back?" His voice is hard, and Mare can't help but feel disappointed with him.

Her brothers immediately tense at the prince's cold tone and protectively go to stand by their mother who still has David clutched to her chest.

"With all due respect Prince Maven, we are David's family too and we have the same right to him as you do. Even if we are just Reds," Her father spoke, not an ounce of fear in his voice.

"I am in complete agreement with that statement Mr. Barrow, but I must ask you to hand over my son, he can't stay here any longer," Maven replied. He squeezed Mare's hand before stepping forward towards her mom with open arms.

Her mom lightly pressed a kiss to David's forehead, and carefully extended the gurgling baby to his father. Maven accepted him with a smile, paying no attention to the suspicious glares he received from the Barrow brothers on each side. The sister held her breath, saying a mental goodbye to adorable nephew that she may never get to see grow up.

He walked back to a saddened Mare and grabbed her hand with his spare one. He tugged lightly at it and she hesitated but walked with him towards the door. Looking over his shoulder with a grin he said, "Well? Are you coming to the palace with us or not? I hoped to get to know my wife's family better over a private family dinner at the palace."

Once again, Maven had shocked family into a stunned silence. Bree and Shade's mouthes were widen open, while her mother looked down at her clothes in embarrassment.

"Do allow us to change Your Highness, I cannot dine with royalty wearing something like this," Her mother said worriedly.

Maven let out a good natured chuckle, "Nonsense Mrs. Barrow! You look absolutely lovely." Mare nodded in agreement and gave Maven a look of appreciation. She lifted their joined hands to kiss his knuckles and leaned into his shoulder.

Her mother blushed a deep crimson, not knowing the extent of Maven's charm. "You are too kind Your Highness.

"Please call me Maven, we are family now aren't we?" he replied.

Shade, and his jokester ways, immediately popped up next to Maven. He slung an arm over his shoulder and said, "Welcome to the family, brother."

Mare laughed at Maven's sheepish face and gave her brother a playful glare. She took David from Maven's arms as Bree and Tramy also stepped forward to properly greet their new brother in law. Bree clapped him on the back, while Tramy gave him hug, which Maven reacted to rather awkwardly.

Her father stepped up once he was released and offered his hand to the prince. Maven took it and shook it firmly. "Now you be nice to my daughter and grandson, I'm trusting you to keep them safe," he said sternly.

"You have my word, Mr. Barrow." Maven said seriously.

His eyes searched for Mare, who had moved to the back with her mother and sister. "Now I do believe it's time for us to leave, the carriage is waiting for us outside." He announced with his arm around Mare's waist.

While her family exited out the door, Mare and Maven walked behind. "I love you Maven, and I appreciate what you did today." Mare said quietly to her prince.

"I love you too Mare." He whispered into her ear.

With everyone settled into the carriage, Maven gave instructions to the driver to take them to the palace. The family chatted the whole way, and Maven realized that he got to see what a true family looked like today. A doting mother, a caring father, protective brothers, and a gentle sister. He now understood how right Mare was into taking David to visit her family.

Dinner was splendid, although Cal and Evangeline did not care to attend. It didn't matter if his real brother wasn't here, because he had other brothers that quickly accepted him for who he was. With love and laughter, the family enjoyed dinner and Mrs. Barrow had lots if funny childhood stories to share. Maven found himself laughing harder than he ever did in his whole life. The love he always longed for in a powerful Silver family, he had found in his wife's humble Red family.

I hope you enjoyed this cute family one shot! I plan to post little stories like these every so often detailing a life in which Mare and Maven married and lived happily ever after. I won't have a specific schedule as to when I'll be posting because some days I have a serious writers block and somedays I don't. However, reviews encourage me to write more... *hint* *hint*