Ayden watched Tess for a moment after she fell asleep. She was bathed in the golden glow of afternoon sunlight that poured in through the open window. He leaned closer and kissed her forehead, then left the room. He closed the door softly and went down to the kitchen.

Matt was sitting at the small round, walnut table, cutting up apples. “Don’t,” he warned.

Ayden smiled. “Wasn’t gonna say anything,” he told him honestly. “You know, contrary to your belief, it’s not unmanly to cook or help take care of people.”

Matt grunted. “Just don’t tell Tess,” he said. They both knew she would be tickled pink to tease him about being so domesticated. “Where is she anyway? I thought you were walking into town today.” He leaned back in his chair to look out the doorway.

“She was tired so she’s taking a nap,” he answered. “We’ll go tomorrow.”

“So you running off to your Mages Guild then?”

“No, I think I’ve read everything there now,” Ayden told him. “You want some help with those?” He nodded to the rest of the unpeeled and uncut apples. Matt shrugged, making Ayden smile because he knew he didn’t want to be doing it in the first place. Ayden was just happy to see that Matt cared enough to help Sera when she asked. He pulled a knife from a block on the counter, sat down and started peeling. “Sera making pies again?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “Apple’s her favorite.”

Ayden knew that, but he just nodded. They were quiet for a while. It was a bit strange since they were never actually alone, Tess or Sera was always there.

“So… Tess gets tired a lot these days,” Matt noted conversationally.

“She’s eight months pregnant, it's normal.”

Matt nodded. “So…” He hesitated, concentrating on slicing his apple. “You really don’t want the kid, huh?”

Ayden took a deep breath, focusing on his own task. “Ever since I met Tess, she didn’t want kids, so it was just a fact of life that I’d never have any.”

“You always knew you’d be with her?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you ever been with anyone else?” he asked.

“I’ve never wanted anyone other than Tess."

Matt nodded and it went quiet again for a few minutes. “Did I ever say sorry?”

Ayden didn’t have to ask what he meant. He was referring to his seducing Tess when they had first met. “No one did anything wrong,” Ayden told him. “She wasn’t with me at the time. But thanks.”

Matt nodded again. “So… why don’t you want the kid?”

He smiled. “I already have Tess to take care of.”

“Yeah, I see that,” Matt said, rolling his eyes. “You know it’s you that keeps her so completely spoiled.”

He shrugged. “It’s her dad’s fault, too. But I like the way she is. I like taking care of her.”

“But not enough energy to take care of a kid as well?” Matt guessed.

“No, it’s not that. I just… don’t want to share her.” He blushed slightly at the omission. “I hated being on Earth because she was so much more distracted. I joke about how she doesn’t let me get anything done, but honestly… I don’t want her to stop clinging to me. Now… with her being pregnant, she’s not so much… I really miss that and just want her to hurry up and get back to normal.”

“So the puppy’s selfish after all,” Matt said approvingly.

Ayden rolled his eyes, but still smiled.

Matt started peeling a new apple. “Can I tell you something and you not tell Tess? At least not until it’s decided.”

Ayden nodded slowly. “Okay.”

Matt took a deep breath. “Sera wants the baby.”

Ayden looked shocked for a moment as he met Matt’s gaze. He wasn’t thinking about Sera being a mother, he was thinking about Matt being a father. After a minute, he swallowed and went back to cutting. “How… how do you feel about that?”

Matt gave a short, humorless laugh. “Terrified.”

“But you want kids?” Ayden asked.

“No,” Matt said firmly, but then softened and sighed. “Yes. Sera wants them. And… when I’m around Gavin, I know that behind the fear, I do too. But… it’s me. Not that Sera gets that, she’s seriously blind to that monster part of me. She acts as if I was never some evil bastard, that I never did any horrible things. Even now, it’s not like I never lose my temper or… mess up sometimes.”

“You think she’s crazy because she believes someone like you can be a good dad?”

Matt nodded. “She keeps telling me I’ll be great. But she can only see the good.”

“But you are good now,” Ayden pointed out. “Everyone messes up sometimes. And all the serious stuff with you is in the past. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“The past is still part of me. You know what I’m capable of, even without Malluk’s mark. You were there at the Temple of the Gods, you know what I did.”

“You had to. It was only to help Sera.”

“Still… that’s part of who I am.” He looked over at Ayden with an even stare. “Honestly, would you really want someone like me raising your child?” There was an edge to his voice, a hint of self-loathing and doubt, a peek behind his confident exterior.

Ayden was quiet for a long while, wondering at the answer. He thought of how Matt was with Sera, completely devoted and loving, so gentle with her because she was delicate and with his strength, he could so easily hurt her. He thought of how Matt was with Vivyka, a woman he had abused in the past, how he had sworn to never hurt her again, and though he had had plenty of provocation, he never did and even gained her forgiveness.

He thought about how Matt was with Tess. They liked to fight, but not to honestly wound. They acted more like brother and sister, and he knew that Matt loved her very much, she was family to him. And then he thought about Gavin, who so often wanted as much attention as his sister did. He annoyed Matt at times with his idolizing and continuous pestering, but Matt had never said so much as a harsh word to the kid.

Finally, Ayden nodded. “Yes.” As he said it, he realized that he wanted Matt to have the baby. “I think you’ll actually make a good father.”

Matt stopped cutting and stared at Ayden for a long moment, astonished. “Out of anyone I would have thought you’d—”

“I know about bad fathers,” Ayden said sadly. “So do you. You won’t be one. You know… when I met you, you were such an asshole. I absolutely hated you. And my opinion of you just got worse as time went on. The more I found out about you, the more I really wanted to do the world, and myself a favor, and just kill you.”

“She might be a little annoyed if I killed you,” Matt said, quoting what Ayden had once told him after Matt had put fingerprint bruises on Tess’ arms. “But she’d get over it quickly.”

Ayden smiled. “Yeah, well… I’m glad I didn’t do it. Regardless of whether it was losing your mark or Sera’s amazing ability to love even the most vile of people, you changed and I saw it for myself. I accepted you at first only for Sera’s sake. I think I actually started liking you when you proved to Vivyka that you’d never hurt her again. But really, it was the Temple of the Gods that completed the transformation of my opinion of you. I wasn’t as surprised as the others when you were able to torture that man. I know how a god’s mark works, and it doesn’t take away your capabilities. But seeing what it did to you afterward, and then what you said to Aryst.” He shook his head. “You’ve proven that you’re a good person now, more than a few times.”

He paused for a moment, studying Matt who looked completely dumbfounded. He knew that Ayden saw clearly, he didn’t just see the good in Matt like Sera did, he saw all of it. And he didn’t care about hurting Matt’s feelings, if the truth was harsh, he was more than willing to say it.

“But the real reason I know I want you to raise my child,” Ayden continued, “is because of Tess. If she were in danger and I couldn’t be there to protect her. I’d want you there. You might not be quite as good as Cael or Falcon when it comes to fighting, but you’re stronger, tougher, and you don’t go down with out a serious fight. I’ve seen that for myself. I know you’d die before letting anyone or anything hurt her. I was there when you took two arrows and a sword through the middle for her. I know you’ll do the same for this child, which will be part of Tess… if you decide you want it.”

Matt wiped his hands so he could light a cigarette. “Well…” he said, too overwhelmed to really say anything.

Ayden went back to his task. “You can come in now, Sera.”

She moved into the doorway. “How’d you know I was there?”

“Years of Tess trying to sneak up on me.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “You used a spell.”

He smirked. “Yeah, alarm spell. Once it’s set I can hear a bell sound in my head when someone new enters the area.”

“I forgot about that one,” she said, then went to kiss Matt. “I told you I wasn’t lying about you being wonderful.” She went to Ayden and held his face in her hands. “Thank you so much,” she told him, then gave him a light kiss and hugged him tightly. “I love you.”

He smiled and hugged her back the best he could without putting his juice covered hands on her. “I love you, too.”

She smiled at him, then returned to her husband. Matt slid an arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. He kissed her cheek and sighed. “Okay.”

Her face lit up as she turned to look at him. “Really?”

He glanced at Ayden, then nodded. “Yeah.”

Thank you.” She kissed him fervently for a moment then beamed at him.

He transferred his cigarette to his other hand so he could wipe away her tears. “Why are you crying?” he asked, frowning.

“Because I’m happy,” she said and kissed him again. “Oh! Will you tell her?”

He let out a soft groan.

“Please? It’ll mean more coming from you.”

Of course he couldn’t say no when she looked at him like that with her big blue eyes. “Fine,” he grumbled.

She looked like she was about to burst with joy. “Go tell her now.”

“She’s sleeping, Angel.”

“Okay, then I’ll go tell her and you can stay here and make the pies,” she teased.

He rolled his eyes at her then chuckled. “I’m going.”

She smiled widely. “You’re wonderful.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He moved her off his lap so he could stand, then headed upstairs.

“Would you mind finishing the apples?” Sera asked Ayden when Matt was gone.

“No problem.” He smiled, thrilled to see her so happy. She grinned as she hugged and kissed him again before going to the cupboard and gathering the ingredients to make the pie crusts.

Matt knocked on the bedroom door before he entered, but it didn’t wake Tess up. He crossed the room and sat beside her on the bed. He just watched her sleep for a few minutes. She looked so sweet, no sign of her typical feisty self.

He wondered what it might have been like to be her father. What was she like as a child? He grinned, she had probably been a wild little brat who never listened. Pretty much the same as she was now. But back then it would have been Falcon caring for her instead of Ayden. It wasn’t really hard to imagine her as a little girl, in so many ways she still was, but that was what made her so endearing. He loved that about her—her playfulness, her exuberance, her openness, the way she trusted people. Especially how she trusted, it made him feel extremely protective of her.

He remembered back, when they had been at Malluk’s temple, when she had been desperate for comfort, begging him to touch her, to hold her. For a moment he had had the insane urge to just take her and run, to keep her from harm, to save her. Even though he was the one she needed protection from at the time.

And still, after everything he had done to her, she never actually hated him. She had still looked at him with those childlike eyes, so unwilling to believe that he could really want to hurt her. It was because of her father, her uncle, and Ayden. Her whole life she had been well loved by the men around her, kept safe from the horrors of the world, until she had met him.

Suddenly he really wanted to be like them. He wanted part of her to hold and cherish, to love and protect. For the first time he was able to see himself as a father, he could see himself with that little girl in his arms. Ayden was right, he would give his life for this child, just like he would for its mother.

He brushed a lock of hair out of Tess’ face and smiled down at her when her eyes fluttered open. “Hey,” he said softly.

“Hey,” she returned, looking bemused.

His fingers trailed down her cheek gently. “You’re beautiful, you know?”

She frowned. “Have you been drinking?”

He chuckled, “No. I just don’t think I’ve ever told you that seriously.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Well… thanks.” She sat up and put a couple pillows against the headboard so she could lean back against them. “So is that what you woke me up for?”

He shook his head and took a deep breath. “No, I have something to tell you.” He decided to get straight to the point. “Sera and I… we want to keep the baby.”

Her mouth fell open and she blinked in shock. “You… want this?” she asked, putting a hand on her large, round belly.

“Yes,” he answered. “Ayden already knows and he’s okay with it. But are you?” he asked, searching her eyes.

She surprised him with her sudden happy laugh. “Yes! It’s wonderful!”

“I did say it was me, right?”

She smiled widely. “Yes. I never thought… I never even considered... but… it’s perfect. I mean Sera is obviously the best person in the world to be a mom.”

He nodded his agreement.

“But you… oh you’ll be great,” she said, blinking back tears.

“I think you, Ayden, and Sera are all nuts.” He chuckled weakly.

She rolled her eyes. “Just because you don’t see that you’re awesome, doesn’t mean we’re nuts because we do,” she told him, then pulled until he came close enough for her to hug him. “I honestly don’t even know why this makes me so happy. But it really does.” Suddenly, she laughed again. “Ugh, it might as well be your kid with how much it likes to beat me up.”

He sat up straight and frowned in confusion. She took his hand and placed it on her belly, then watched his face when the baby kicked under his hand and grinned. “Shit,” he murmured. “Does it hurt?”

“No, it’s uncomfortable sometimes, but it's okay. Luckily, it’s not really your child, then it’d have your strength and I’d probably have broken ribs or something,” she teased.

He gave a small smile. He kept his hand where it was, with hers on top of his, and stared at her in wonder. “Thank you,” he breathed after a while.

She smiled warmly at him. “You, too.”