Page 37 of Wraith’s Promise

She tilts her head up to look at me. "Promise?"

"I promise." I kiss her forehead. "This war's almost over, Quinn. And when it is, when everything settles down and life gets back to normal, or whatever normal looks like for us, I want to tell Mariah. Want her to know you're not just staying as her babysitter. Want her to know you're staying as my girlfriend. As part of our family."

"I want that too," Quinn whispers. "Want all of it. The whole messy complicated beautiful thing."

"It's going to be messy," I warn. "I'm not easy to live with. I plan everything obsessively, I wake up at ungodly hours, I have nightmares about failing Mariah…"

"And I have nightmares about my father, about combat zones and the future I'll never have," Quinn interrupts. "And I'm stubborn and independent and I've spent seven years not letting anyone too close. We're both damaged, Dean. But maybe that's okay. Maybe we can be damaged together and still build something good."

"Better than good," I say. "Something great."

She kisses me. "Something great," she agrees.

We stay on the couch until late, talking about the future, making plans for when the war ends, dreaming out loud about what our life could look like. Quinn talks about maybe teaching self-defense classes in town, about being more than just Mariah's protection but her friend, her role model. I talk about maybe stepping back from some club responsibilities once things are safe, about spending more time at home, about the three of us taking a real vacation somewhere.

Eventually we go upstairs together. Quinn pauses at her bedroom door.

"Your room or mine?" she asks with a small smile.

"Mine," I say immediately. "Always mine from now on, if you want."

"I want."

We fall into bed together, and this time we make love slowly, quietly, learning each other's bodies without the desperate urgency of last night. This time it's about connection, about claiming each other in ways that have nothing to do with possession and everything to do with choice.

Afterward, Quinn falls asleep in my arms again, and I lie awake for a while just watching her breathe, watching the way moonlight through the window catches in her hair.

Two days ago, my life was duty and responsibility and fighting to protect what little I had. Now it's this. It's her. It's the three of us becoming something I didn't know I was allowed to want.

The war with the Vipers will end. Our plan will work. We're smarter, more motivated and we have everything to fight for.

And when it's over, when the dust settles and Demon's finished, I'm going to marry this woman. Going to make it official in every way that matters. Going to give Mariah the mother she deserves and Quinn the family she thought she'd never have.

But that's future-Wraith's problem.

Present-Wraith just holds his girl closer and falls asleep thinking about pancakes and the sound of his daughter's laughter mixing with Quinn's.

Thinking about coming home.

Thinking about family.

Thinking about how sometimes the best things in life are the ones you never saw coming, the ones that show up on your doorstep in yellow socks and turn your entire world upside down in the span of forty-eight hours.

I wouldn't change a single second of it.

Not one.

Epilogue - Quinn

Six Years Later

The afternoon sun streams through the front window of Sentinel Childcare Services, catching dust motes in the air and making the polished hardwood floors gleam. I'm sitting at my desk reviewing applications when the bell over the door chimes, announcing a visitor.

"Be right with you!" I call out, finishing the notes on the current file.

Former Marine, eight years of service, spotless record, references from three different officers. She's going to be perfect for the woman in Blackwater Heights who needs someone capable of protecting her twins during the ongoing custody dispute with her volatile ex.

I look up and smile at the woman standing nervously by the door. She’s mid-thirties, wearing jeans and a simple blue shirt, her posture screaming military training even though she's clearly trying to look civilian.