Epilogue

Aurelia took my hand,leading us off the jet bridge. They were our first steps back on earth since we'd departed on the mission five years ago, and in a way, stepping off the ship—my ship—it felt like nothing had changed.

The sun still shined. Life went on.

And yet, everything was different now.

I looked over at the woman by my side, her reddish-brown tresses glinting in the sunlight.

Everything changed because of her.

My eyes caught on the silver metal band that she wore on her ring finger—one identical to mine. My wife. What had felt like an impulsive decision after only a few months of knowing each other ended up being the best decision I'd ever made.

And ever since, she'd shared my cabin—our cabin. I'd never been so deliriously happy. Even the crew liked to make fun of the smile I seemed to have most of the time, though that normally brought a scowl back to my face.

I was happy to not be the grumpy asshole if it meant I got to have her by my side.

Picking up her hand, I kissed her ring, enjoying the blush on her face. Even after all this time, it never got old. I loved making her squirm, just as much as I loved when she mouthed off to me.

"What was that for?" She looked over at me, raising an eyebrow.

"I love you."

"Mmm. I love you too." Aurelia leaned over, softly kissing me in front of all the crew who were also disembarking.

"Get a room!" Leo called, a humorous glint in his eye.

"We're working on it!" My wife yelled back.

I chuckled. "Do you have everything?" I asked, looking back at the small transport bay that had brought us back to earth. Brina was curled up asleep in the small kennel we'd gotten to transport her in, not wanting questions from federal security.

Sure, she might have been an unauthorized transport and an illegal creature we were smuggling in, but she was family now. If people could own raccoons, surely we could have an alien otter-dog hybrid for a pet?

"Well, that depends," Aurelia said, lips curling up in a smile.

"On?"

"Daddy!" a little toddler holding hands with my sister exclaimed, before running over to us. He wound his arms around my legs, hugging them tight.

"Ah, yes." I grinned. "Can't forget the wee one." Picking up our three-year-old son, I ran my fingers through his long, dark hair. He was the spitting image of me, and fuck, I'd never imagined how rewarding it would be to be someone's dad.

Neither one of us had wanted to wait until we were back on Earth to have kids, and though we'd both been on fertility blockers, we'd quickly stopped them after getting married.

Samuel was the biggest blessing, even if having a baby in the middle of a five-year mission in the depths of space had seemed crazy to some of the crew on board. We wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, the ship was outfitted with some of the best and most advanced medical technology of our time, and no one had been more excited than Astrid herself about getting to do Aurelia's pregnancy checkups.

"You just want to leave him with me so you two can have a night to yourself," Kayle muttered, joining us on flat ground.

Aurelia laughed, squeezing my hand. "I won't lie. The thought crossed my mind."

My sister leaned in, pressing a kiss to Sammy's forehead. "It's okay, your auntie loves you very much, little spaceman."

He giggled, tugging on a strand of my sister's hair.

Rae slid her other hand over her barely there bump. The little kernel of pure happiness and joy that we'd been keeping a secret from everyone on board—including my sister.

It was crazy to think about how different it would be this time. We were back, and I had no intentions of taking up another commission soon. I wanted to enjoy my early retirement—at forty, Aurelia loved to tease me how I was an old man—and spend this time with my family before we welcomed another one into the world.

It was time. Time to say goodbye to the officers who had become friends, and then our family, over the last five years aboard the Paradise.

Adjusting our son onto my hip, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her in tight as I kissed her forehead. "Let's go home, my star."

Her eyes gleamed with happiness as I tugged her body tight to mine. "There is nowhere else I'd rather be, Captain."

I smirked. "I'm not your captain anymore, Aurelia."

"No? What are you, then?"

"Your husband." I dipped my head down, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "The father of your children. The love of your life."

"Mmm." She gave me a cheeky smile. "Verdict is still out on the last one, isn't it?"

Reaching over, I slapped her ass, delighting in her little yelp. "Oh, you're so getting it later."

"You're going to scandalize our son," she murmured into my ear.

"I fear we've already done that, sweetheart." There was nothing he could see now he hadn't seen before. Especially in tight quarters on the starship.

The number of nights I'd had to beg my sister to take him just so we could have a few moments alone in our room was… frequent.

I was looking forward to having a room with a door that locked.

"You know, I have a surprise for you." Her mouth brushed against my ear. "I had Astrid do one last scan this morning. Before we disembarked the ship."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. We normally went to the MedBay for her ultrasounds together, but I guessed it made sense to see her friend in that capacity one last time.

She nodded. "Heartbeats are good. Strong."

"Beats?" I responded. Surely she didn't mean…

"Mmm. Yeah. Turns out there's not just one in there." She gave me a little wink. "Think we can handle two more?"

I laughed, turning back to look at the transport vehicle that was now pulling away. "If we could handle five years in space, I think we can handle anything."

"That's true." Aurelia grinned. "Because I'm probably going to be twice as cranky this time."

Bring it on.I was happy to indulge any craving she had during her pregnancy, to rub her swollen ankles, and wait on her hand and foot. It was how I took care of her. How I showed her how much I loved her.

"I hope we have girls this time," I murmured, kissing her forehead. "And I hope they look just like you."

"I don't know. Those Kellar genes are pretty strong." She pinched my side, and Sammy squirmed in my arms to get down.

A laugh burst from her lips as our son ran down the jet bridge, his eyes wide as he pressed his face against the glass. The high-speed monorail would take us into the city, and then we'd board another shuttle that would take us to the house we'd rented for the next few months. The UGSF had arranged it for us, given that all our belongings had gone into storage before we'd boarded the S.S. Paradise and our leases ended.

We planned to spend the next few months looking for a big house in the country—preferably one with a pool, for Brina, and enough room for the kids.

It was crazy to think in less than a year, we'd have three.

Aurelia breathed a sigh of relief as we all loaded up into the monorail. Our luggage would be driven to our end destination by the UGSF, meaning the only thing we had to carry with us was Brina's carrier and Sammy's stuff.

"I'm glad we'll get a few weeks of alone time," Aurelia said, leaning her head on my shoulder as Sammy rested on my other side, fast asleep. "I don't think I'm going to be able to hide that I'm pregnant much longer from everyone."

"We can tell them whenever you want, Rae."

"I know." She curled a protective hand over her tiny bump. "But I want to keep it to ourselves awhile longer. After we told everyone the last time, they were all over me." She groaned. "Like, didn't they have anything better to gossip about than us?"

I smirked. "It was a small ship. News travels quickly."

Aurelia rolled her eyes. "A little too quickly."

"I just can't believe you could hide your morning sickness from the crew for that long."

A groan slipped from her lips. "God, that was awful. I swear, it was ten times worse than with Sammy. I should have guessed earlier that there were two of them in here."

"Are they…" I started, rubbing my hand over my jaw.

"Identical," she confirmed. "My egg split. Which means it wasn't thanks to your super sperm." Aurelia poked a finger at my chest. She'd teased me relentlessly about the fact that the first month we'd been off fertility blockers, she'd gotten pregnant. This time, we'd gotten in a lot more practice.

I wasn't even phased. In fact, I grinned. "This is fucking awesome."

"I can't believe you're so excited about me pushing two babies out of me. It was bad enough with him." My wife glared at me. Stubborn, but damn, she was strong.

At five-foot-seven, she wasn't small, but our genes together definitely hadn't warranted a small baby. My six-foot-two frame was probably to blame for his gigantic head.

Something she liked to remind me of daily.

"Sorry." I winced, patting her shoulder.

She sighed. "At least we made a cute kid."

"Hell yeah we did." He wasn't just cute, he was adorable. And you'd never seen so much cute in a room as when Brina—now fully grown but still as precious as ever—curled up at his side.

My ovaries are crying, Aurelia used to say, staring at them asleep in his crib.

Well, I'd certainly fixed that problem.

She pushed at me with her shoulder. "What's that look for?"

I shook my head. "Nothing." Dipping my head low, I murmured into her ear, "Just thinking about how hot it was to knock you up."

"Well, you better keep those memories fresh, because this is it. Three's enough."

Mmm. We'd see. I pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

Now arriving…

Our train was pulling into the station, and I stood up, helping my wife up before heaving our sleeping son onto my chest. Aurelia tried to pick up Brina's carrier, too, but I stopped her. I was more than capable of carrying both of them.

"I'm pregnant, not incapable," she said, blowing hair out of her face with a huff of breath.

"Don't care," I said, keeping hold of both of them as we headed out of the station. "You've got precious cargo on board. And I have two arms."

Still, she pouted. "The shuttle is picking us up outside of the station?" Aurelia asked, and I nodded.

"Yup. They'll take us back to the rental." Where I had one last surprise for her. It had been harder to arrange, especially with the long-range communication signals, but as soon as we'd gotten closer to Earth, I'd been able to get in contact with her mom. She'd be waiting for us back at the house.

I might not have parents who cared about me anymore, but I knew how much Aurelia loved her mother. How strong their family bond had been. And I wanted her to feel that now that we were home, too.

Home. The word settled into my heart. Truthfully, home was wherever she was. Where my family was. For a long time, I'd lost sight of that. I'd had my sister, sure, but we hadn't had a home.

Aurelia leaned on my shoulder, and I wrapped an arm around her, all too aware that I had my entire world in between my arms.

I'd never trade it, even for the entire galaxy.

After all, I'd found a love beyond the stars. And that was worth more than anything in the world.