105 We Did Good

Ruby watched Dylan over the next few weeks as he and Flora stayed with them. Their sleep schedules were a little off so the two lovebirds had time alone to spend with each other first thing in the morning.

She noticed that Flora tended to take him out to see the property and greenhouses first thing. Usually she was able to find them fairly quickly once she was up for the day.

They seemed really happy together. Flora smiled at him brightly whenever they talked and the way Dylan looked at her was very similar to the way Ash looked at his wife. Their love was still in the early stages so there was no way to tell if they would last but Ruby was glad she was happy for the time being.

One night Flora stayed up later than her boyfriend so she could have a long talk with her cousin about everything that went down. She was obviously ashamed of the things she said when she stormed out after hearing the truth.

"I understand why you kept it from me," she said quietly. "I wouldn't have understood when I was younger. I loved my parents and they loved me…but they treated you terribly. I'm so sorry, Ruby!"

"It's fine."

"It's not fine! Blair told me everything that happened. I don't remember much about the kidnapping because I was so young and had no idea what was going on but she mentioned that you almost died and Ash had to save you.

"And here I was selfishly upset because my parents weren't the fae I thought they were. You and Ash were the ones who raised me and loved me and took care of me when you had no obligation to.

"I can only imagine how difficult that was now after seeing what your sleep schedules were like when Vesper was a baby. You gave up a lot to take care of me and how did I thank you? By saying the most hurtful things I could think of and running away.

"After Blair set me straight I traveled around meeting other fairies for a while before settling in Michigan. It made me realize that their families really aren't that different from ours. As long as love is there nothing else matters.

"I'm sorry I didn't come visit sooner. I was too ashamed to face you because I thought you would hate me for the things I said," Flora finished sniffling. "You mean so much to me, Ruby. I never should have treated you like that."

Ruby reached forward and wrapped her arms around her cousin. "So do you, which is why I understand. Coming to terms with things can be hard. And our family is a bit unusual so I can't blame you for what you said either. I already knew we were going against every established norm when I decided to accept Ash's feelings. It's really okay."

The younger fairy burst into tears and sobbed into Ruby's shoulder. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Flora. You can visit here whenever you want. I'd love to meet your stone fairy friend as well but don't know if it's a good idea for us to travel. Sun challenged husband and son, you know."

She laughed through her tears. "I do vaguely recall the time Ash nearly got arrested for taking me to the park. Maybe next time I can bring him to you."

"I'd like that," Ruby replied as she played with Flora's vines. "I'd really like that."

===

Everyone was sad to see the two of them leave but Vesper was particularly distressed. He had barely gotten his cousin back. It took a lot of promises to visit again to get him to calm down.

And visit they did. Flora came back every few years with Dylan in tow. She brought Peter as promised too and he and Ruby had a lot of interesting talks comparing experiences. It was nice to know she wasn't the only one out there with unique earth fairy powers.

Decades later, when Vesper was 112, the Mayhews flew out to Michigan to be there for the birth of Flora and Dylan's only child. Some of the fairies present were more than a little shocked to see a vampire/fairy family but it wasn't as bad as Ruby had expected it to be. Peter was happy to see them and he, Dylan, and Flora helped smooth out the tension.

Flora gave birth to a beautiful water fairy they named Brooke. Before her family went home, she asked Ash to give her a blood seal so she would be able to visit whenever she wanted once she grew up. He was obviously touched by that and happily complied.

Vesper understood the unique nature of his family the older he got but never resented his parents for it because of the way he had been raised. He knew they loved each other and saw no reason to be upset about it.

He did set out on his own for a while one he reached adulthood but he promised it was only because he wanted to see if he could find a loner vampire somewhere and convince her to come back with him because he didn't want to spend his long life as a third wheel for his parents. But the castle was his home and he had every intention of returning.

Ruby had been sad to see him go but had known the day would come. She and Ash kept themselves busy as usual for decades before he came back for good, though he did visit often on his mother's dime.

Nyx Edgecomb had been alone for centuries but was growing tired of her nomadic existence when Vesper found her. She had no desire to join a coven because she was used to being out in the human world so when she heard about his unique lifestyle she had been curious and ended up following him up to Alaska to give his castle a try.

She was surprised to find such a unique-looking fairy waiting to greet her son as they crossed the barrier but ended up growing rather close to Ruby. She hadn't had a female friend in longer than she could remember.

Nyx appreciated the fact that she no longer had to work night shifts with worn-out, grumpy humans too. She decided to stick around for a while but ended up staying much longer than that because she fell in love with Vesper.

The four of them lived in their castle quite happily for centuries, untouched by the ever-changing human world because of the barrier safely surrounding them. Of course they had to try new things every so often to keep from going mad with all the time in the world but doing that together was fun.

Ruby stared up at the moon with a satisfied smile on her face as her husband came up next to her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"Something you said a very long time ago," she replied nostalgically.

Back when Ash was arguing with her because she said they were impossible he had demanded to know who got to decide that, saying only they were capable of deciding whether or not their relationship failed. He had been right.

Nobody ever thought an interracial relationship would be possible but here they were, happily married all these centuries later with a beautiful family. Everything had worked out because they never stopped putting effort into it.

He seemed to understand what she meant and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "We did good, didn't we?"

Ruby smiled at him. That was the understatement of the millennium. "Yeah. We did good."