Another update! This fic picks up two days after the events of the previous fics in the Home subseries.


"So what are you two going to do tonight?"

Drew chuckled, tossing the end of her scarf over her shoulder. "Well, since your parents have gone out for the night, Ari and I are going to a party one of my colleagues at the bar is hosting. Are you sure the two of you don't want to come?"

I glanced over at Grace, who was sitting on the couch reading a book, her legs tucked up to one side. As if she could feel her eyes on me, she looked up from the page she was reading and turned her head. "What's going on?"

I smiled at her. "Drew was just asking if we wanted to go to a party with her and Ari."

Grace shook her head. "I'm okay here. But thanks for the offer."

Drew nodded. "Alright. Have a nice night, you too. We should be back around 1 or so."

"Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do" I teased.

My sister's fiancée chuckled, playfully shoving me. "No promises. I could say the same for the two of you though."

I opened my mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the sound of heels clicking on the stairs. My sister came into view after a minute, wearing a black dress with a tan sweater. A gold bracelet sat on her right arm, and black stockings emerged from the brown boots she was wearing, disappearing under her dress. Like Drew, she had a scarf wrapped around her neck, though hers was a soft green instead of the fiery red of Drew's. "You look amazing," Drew said, her voice soft.

Ari blushed. "Thanks, babe."

"She's right, sis. You look incredible."

"Thank you. Are you sure you and Grace don't want to come?"

Drew laughed. "I just asked them the same question."

I looked over at Grace, who had set her book down and picked up a blue dvd case with golden writing on it. Recognizing it immediately as one of my all-time favourite films, I smiled softly. "We'll be fine here."

"Alright. See you in about five or so hours then!"

"See you then. Stay safe, alright sis?"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine too. I'll text you when we get there and when we're leaving".

Ari pulled me into a quick hug and kissed me gently on the cheek before turning and giving Drew's hand a gentle squeeze. "Let's go, babe".

Once they had made their way out into the late November air, the door clicking softly closed behind them, I joined Grace on the couch in front of the TV. "Looks like it'll just be us for a few hours. Movie night?"

Grace smiled. "Yes please. Something cheerful. Preferably with not too many murders in."

I reached over, picking up the dvd that she'd been looking at while I was talking to Ari and Drew. "This is one of my favourite movies of all time. It's got fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles… And I'm not making any of those up, that's literally a quote from the movie itself"

She nodded. I set the film up and sat down on the couch with her, pulling a couple of blankets over us to make sure we stayed warm. She tucked her feet up onto the couch and curled into my side, resting her head on my shoulder, and I slipped my arm around her shoulder, placing a quick kiss on her forehead before hitting play. The opening scenes surprised her at first, but when the exact same words I had first spoken were quoted, she gave a gentle chuckle. "You really didn't make that up."

"I wouldn't lie about one of my favourite movies."

Despite, or perhaps because of, all the death we had seen in the last few years, we enjoyed romance where we could find it. The grandson's complaints about his grandfather's narration of the kissing and romance scenes made Grace chuckle, as did the dialogue between the characters during the clifftop scenes, though by the time the two leads reunited I could tell she was barely holding herself back from complaining that 'that was not how poison worked at all'.

"It's just a film, babe, relax…"

She didn't respond immediately, and for a moment I was concerned that I had gone slightly too far with the 'babe' comment. We'd become more comfortable with being in a relationship in the two days since we'd arrived in Missouri, though we had yet to discuss anything officially, or really even refer to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend. Heck, we hadn't been on any dates yet either since we'd arrived. After a minute, Grace chuckled. "Wasn't expecting you to say that, but I can't pretend that I didn't just get a shiver down my spine. Alright, I'll relax."

We watched the rest of the film in quiet contentment, with one or both of us occasionally making quiet 'aw' noises or pausing the film to remark on interesting costume choices (though Grace did move closer to me during the 'Pit of Death' scenes, which I assumed was due to it reminding her of one of the cases we'd worked back in Grimsborough), and we both openly cheered at the grandfather's final spoken words. As the credits rolled, she smiled at me, shifting so she could meet my eyes. "That was a really fun film. I can see why it's one of your favourites."

I smiled. "Glad to have convinced you. Any special requests for the next film?"

"Actually, can we watch that one again? There's a few things I missed that I'd like to pay closer attention to this time."

As the credits finished rolling, taking us back to the menu screen, I nodded and aimed the remote. "As you wish."