𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘, 𝖺 𝗀𝗅𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝖺𝗅𝖻𝗎𝗆

you came back

Nico comes home—bruised, sea-stained, but alive. And Bea is there, just as he pictured her every sleepless night across the sea.

[SETTING.♣️] Iron Lion base. Late evening. The wind smells like salt and smoke.

The gate creaked open just after sunset.

The guards barely had time to process it before Thomas and Frypan sprinted ahead to shout, "We're back!"

The Iron Lion erupted. People spilled out onto the gravel paths, rebels and medics alike, racing to meet the returning ship. 

But for Nico Marrow, none of it registered — not the cheers, not the warm lamps glowing in windows, not even Vicky yelling that Matt "better be ready to kiss these swollen feet."

His eyes were on one thing.

Her.

Bea stood near the edge of the crowd, wrapped in a shawl over her cotton dress, hands resting on her belly. Her ringlet curls fell loose around her shoulders, glowing gold in the firelight. Her amber eyes locked onto his the moment he stepped off the ramp.

She didn't say a word.

Neither did he.

Not until she finally breathed, "You came back."

Nico's voice broke before it even left his throat. "Always."

And then she was in his arms — well, as much as she could be. He wrapped both arms around her carefully, pulling her against him, his forehead buried in her shoulder.

"You're okay," he murmured, over and over. "You're okay. You're okay."

Bea laughed, breathless. "I should be saying that... you look like you wrestled an octopus with knives."

"I did," he muttered into her hair. "It had Blackmore's face."

She gasped. "Blackmore?"

"Long story. I won."

She pulled back just enough to cradle his jaw in her hand, brushing a thumb against a cut. "I knew you would."

He kissed her — slow, soft, with the desperation of a man who nearly died just to touch her again. And then he knelt, right there on the dirt path, and kissed the curve of her swollen belly.

"Hi, baby," he whispered. "It's Daddy. Sorry I took so long."

Bea sniffled and smiled. "She's been kicking all day. I think she was waiting."

He stood and pressed their foreheads together. "So was I."

Behind them, Frypan loudly whispered to Matt, "You owe me ten bucks. He cried."

Matt: "No, no, that was sea mist—!"

Gally: "From his eyes?"

Vicky: "Shh, this is beautiful, shut up!"

And Bea, smiling through tears, whispered to Nico, "You're home."

Nico kissed her again.

"I am."