Nico is healing. How will Nico, Maki, and the girls cope when goodbyes have to be said.

Yazawa Nico leaned closer to the piano, singing softly, fingers becoming more confident as they reached for notes to strike.

"We sing on Sundays." Dia Kurosawa declared, arms crossed over her torso, refusing to make eye contact.

"You should sing every day." Nico countered, patting the piano bench next to her.

Dia approached cautiously.

"My dad taught me that. Sing every day." Nico remembered her father and the other miners, their voices bright as the cage lowered them into the dark each day.

Dia seated herself close enough to Nico that Nico could pull her in for a hug. When Nico released her, Dia scooted a scant three inches away.

"Do you miss him?" Such a quiet question.

"Every day."

"Is that why you sing?"

Nico chuckled, "You're a sharp one, Miss Dia Kurosawa. But Nico also sings to make people happy."

"Can I do that?"

"Of course." Nico grabbed the Cowboy Songbook off the music stand, "Is your favorite song in here?"

Dia shook her head.

"What is it?"

"Oh, Shenandoah."

"That's a pretty one. And sad."

Dia nodded.

"But sad songs can be magic too and come out happy."

Dia frowned as she worked out that puzzle. "Because you're happy to sing."

"Yes!" Nico hugged Dia again. "How's it start?"

"Oh Shenandoah…"

And Nico joined in.

###

Rin dropped bags on the table. "Everything on Nico's camping food list. And the coat you ordered from Kotori."

Nico's clothes had been ruined when she arrived, bloodied and torn. Rin had ridden to the mining town last week for shirts, long underwear, and denim for both of them. Nico's boots were sound, but her coat had been shot through, bled through, ridden over. Maki knew there would soon be very cold nights on the trail so she had Kotori customize a duster with wool and extra pockets. It was finally ready, just in time for their trip to The Falls.

"I'm just gonna leave Smiley here." Rin popped open a ginger beer, "He misses Nico and is getting along pretty well with Scherzi."

Ruby ran through the door, her palm out and open, "Smiley ate an apple from my hand, Mama."

"You left her…" Maki hissed.

"No, no, not me. She must've been hiding."

"Smiley was sad." Ruby frowned at Maki, "You made him stay away from Nico."

"No, I did not…"

Rin knelt next to Ruby, sneaking her a licorice twist "We needed to keep Nico a secret. To keep her safe."

"Is Nico not a secret anymore?"

"Nico is leaving with me and the Sheriff. She needs her horse."

"You're coming back. Hanayo said." Ruby chewed thoughtfully on her twist.

Rin nodded.

"Is Nico?"

Rin glanced to Maki.

"We don't know, Ruby."

"But Nico…"

"Nico has a family of her own. You know that, Ruby." Maki picked up her tiny daughter, "Don't you want Nico to see them?"

Ruby nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Everything will be fine, don't worry." Maki gritted out, lying to her daughter for the first time she could recall.

Rin's sympathy face almost broke Maki's self control.

###

"Ruby fell asleep before I could sing to her." Nico stretched her arms, leaving the door to the girls' room ajar behind her, "Then Dia shooed me away."

"Dia is the definition of overprotective."

"Yeah, Nico gets that. It is just the two of them."

What do you mean?" Maki's hand knocked one of the glasses she was handling into the whiskey bottle.

"Not a criticism of you." Nico grabbed the glasses, her fingers brushing Maki's. She could feel the warmth. "Children live in a…harsher world, everything is immediate, so everything that hurts Ruby is something that Dia wants to take care of now."

"Were you like that with your siblings?"

"Are we going outside?" Nico asked, pointing the glasses at the door.

Maki nodded, picking up the bottle.

"Nico was…determined to keep bad news away from them. So Nico made the world glow like the sun was always up."

"You'd never see stars." Maki held the door open for Nico.

"We're talking about Nico's siblings who were under seven years old at the time. I wanted them to never be afraid of the dark. Or feel alone. Stargazing wasn't as important."

"Oh." Maki followed down the porch steps.

"Since you rescued them from a fire, Dia probably just needs to keep Ruby safe from any physical danger."

"That's too much pressure."

Nico leaned against the fence, "Yeah, Nico's glad you realize that. Is Dia trusting you more?"

"Yes. Especially this summer."

"That's a good sign. She's learning you're safe for Ruby. And her."

The night's sounds and scents were becoming familiar to Nico. She could feel herself relaxing into this landscape, the sharpness of pines blending by some alchemy into a welcoming softness.

"Ruby wants you to stay." Maki offered Nico the whiskey, Nico held out her glass.

"Ruby does…" Nico gave Maki the side eye.

"She told me."

"Ah."

"I just thought you should be prepared for when she mentions it."

"What did you say?"

"You wanted to see your family. She can understand that."

Nico hummed.

"Did I say the wrong thing?"

Nico shook her head, then took a sip of the whiskey, "No."

Did Nico shuffle nearer? Maki could feel her hand trembling and a warmth flooding her cheeks like a false Autumn heatwave. "You healed quickly."

"Yeah, yeah." Nico raised her glass to the stars in a toast, "Thanks, Doc. Must be eager to get me back out on the trail."

"No." Maki's denial rushed out, whiskey splashing at her hasty turn, "That's not…"

"Nico knows." Soft. But confident.

Suddenly Maki and Nico were almost nose to nose, Maki wondering if Nico was sweating from a sudden rush of heat as well. Too dark to register colors, but Nico's eyes rivaled the sky for infinities of space just waiting. Maki could feel the expectation, the pause as Nico slowed her breathing, each exhalation reaching Maki's cheeks another warmth on this suddenly febrile night.

Nico put the glass behind her, taking the bottle and Maki's glass out of her hands, placing them carefully on the ground. She took both Maki's hands in hers, pulling her closer. Maki raised her chin, confused eyes meeting Nico's steady gaze.

"Nico wants a family of her own sometime, somebodys to tuck in with a lullaby, someone to talk to at the end of the day, somewhere together to share warmth in winter."

"Oh." Maki froze, petrified by surprise, her eyelids the only movement, blinking, rapidly, hummingbird wings, not fighting off tears, but counting each thought racing through too fast for Maki to do anything but stare after its shadows.

Nico stepped back, raising both of Maki's hands, a slow, gentle kiss barely brushing Maki's knuckles, then letting the hands go, "That's what Nico wants."

Nico had both glasses and the whiskey bottle and had gone inside before Maki could move, before Maki could get her heart slowed enough that blood wasn't pounding in her ears.

Did Nico mean…how could such a light, short contact still linger, still burn? Maki rubbed her fingers against skin, feeling the bones beneath, glancing up to the stars above, sparkling, new and brighter somehow. There were rubies there, deep deep in the darkness, scattered among blues, brights, and yellows. Far far away. Burning. Like Nico's lips on Maki's hand. What would have happened next? What if Nico had…

What did Maki want?

A/N: This has 2 or 3 stories left so Yeehawgust will be continuing for awhile.

Take care, cowpokes.