The Phoenix and the Crow

Daydreaming

a/n: this is... i don't know how to explain it, but it's more of a filler chapter. this takes place years into the future after all the events of the war and the heist. we can call it a daydream for y/n. anywayyyy i hope y'all like it!! and thank you for being so so patient with me!

Ravka. She'd recognize the air anywhere, which she missed most from her childhood. The scent of freshly plowed grass and apple blossoms. She opened her eyes, half expecting to be standing in front of her childhood home but smiled softly when she recognized the house she stood in front of. A large two-story house painted light blue with brown roofing and a well-used wooden porch. Large fields surrounded the residence, not another house within eyesight. The uneven stone path led to the porch steps Y/N stood on while she waited. Joyous screams and laughter echoed from the back of the house.

"There she is! Y/N!"

"Jesper!" She copied him and laughed as she walked down the steps with her arms open as Nina ran to her. "We've missed you guys so much!"

The group exchanged their warm greeting but were interrupted by the squeals from the backyard grew louder causing Y/N to chuckle. "The kids are out back, and from the sound of it, Kaz just joined them."

Nina and Inej linked their arms through Y/N's, walking on each of her sides while the other followed the three girls.

"Uhg," the Heartrender groaned. "You're an official mum now."

"And Kaz is an official father," the Inferni responded.

"That's even stranger to think about." Nina shuddered causing the woman beside her to roll her eyes.

"I'd like to state," Inej spoke up. "I called it. I knew they'd settle down eventually."

"And I knew they'd have kids one day." Wylan chimed in.

Y/N smiled fondly as she remembered when she and Kaz told their friends they were adopting their first child. Their beautiful baby girl. Someone would have thought the world was ending, given the Crow's reactions. Matthias had nearly passed out while Nina stood speechless staring at the couple with wide eyes. Jesper yelled and jumped around, already claiming his role of 'favorite uncle' as Wylan hugged Y/N and smiled at Kaz. Inej had quickly followed Wylan in hugging Y/N and telling the somewhat recently married couple that they would be amazing parents.

The group of six continued their way to the backyard and caught the attention of the three Brekkers in the field. Y/N bent down with no control of her body and held her arms open for the children to run into. "My babies!" She placed kisses all over their small faces causing peels of squealing and giggles to fall from their lips, making her heart fill with a sense of love she's only grown fonder of. She quickly diverted their attention to their aunties and uncles as she walked over to Kaz, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek once she reached his side.

"What are you thinking?" Y/N asked softly as she looked up at his side profile. He hummed and looked down at her without turning his head with a small smirk. "Nothing."

She hummed in disbelief but left it be. "Go welcome our family to our home while I make dinner." She let her fingers trace his sleeve for a short moment before she turned to walk up the back steps to the house. She closed the screen door behind her and walked into the kitchen, opening the large windows above the sink so she could hear and watch her family outside. She turned the tap on and let the warm water run over her hands.

If she had told her younger self that this was the life she would get to live after everything she'd been put through, she would laugh at herself. Call her older self deranged and unstable. This was the life she dreamed about growing up in the Little Palace, but that was all it was to her, a fantasy. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would ever get to live in the countryside again with a husband and children. Children she gets to raise in a world that's as safe as could be and give them the proper childhood that had been stolen from her. This is what they were fighting for all those years ago. A life like this. This life was supposed to be her end game.

The screen door swung open and shut twice, telling her she had company.

"Why'd you sneak off like that?"

Y/N chuckled, "I'm just going to make dinner for us."

Inej made her way into the kitchen, following Nina. "We'll help then, Wylan said he'll come in a little bit."

The inferni looked out the window to see said chemist and Jesper running around with the kids. She smiled to herself knowing he won't be joining them in the kitchen.

~

"Anyone need more blankets?" Y/N called from the hallway with towels in her arms as she made her way through the two guest rooms. Wylan and Jesper in one while Nina and Matthias took the other. Inej was in the children's room, having a sleepover with her niece while her nephew had taken the middle of his parent's bed.

"I think we're all good, thank you, Y/N/N." Jesper wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rested his chin on her head, pulling a chuckle from her lips. "Alright," she murmured. "Sleep tight then."

She walked into her daughter's room and smiled as she heard the hushed whispers shared between the pair in the bedroom. "Get some sleep, missy."

Her eldest groaned softly, "I'm just catching up with Aunty 'nej. She's telling me all her new stories."

Y/N held her hands up in mock defense as she placed a kiss on her forehead. "Alright, but don't stay up too late." And she sent a smile to Inej on her way out of the room. A few more paces down the hallway and she finally made it to her bedroom. The sight in front of her nearly made her heart burst. Kaz lay on his side of the bed with their son curled into his side with a children's book resting on his chest.

Y/N grabbed her nightgown and walked to their attached washroom to get ready for the night. After washing her face, brushing her teeth, and mentally checking that everything downstairs was turned off and put away she crawled into her side of the bed and slid under the covers. As she reached over to her nightstand to turn off the oil lamp, she felt a hand brush through her hair. She turned around and kissed his fingertips.

"Thank you." His voice sounded rough and gravel-like, like rock salt. It brought the warmest smile to his wife's lips.

"For what?"

"For everything you've given us. It was nice to have everyone here today and it just... reminded me of where we were years ago."

She hummed, "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you, Brekker. You know that."

"Well, Brekker, I wouldn't be the man I am today without you. So let's call it even."

The boy tucked into his side muttered under his breath and turned to his mother's side to cling to her. She placed a kiss on his head as she ran her hand through his hair. She reached her free hand to her husband's and linked their pinkies. "Good night, my love."

"Good night, darling."