Chapter Text
Ellie
June 2026
The Wedding
The backyard looked like something out of a dream—if Ellie had ever dreamed about weddings before. Which she hadn’t, not really. But if she had, this would’ve been it. The lake shimmered just past the edge of the lawn, kissed by the last blush of sunlight. String lights stretched overhead in warm arcs, like stars that had wandered down just to watch. The firepit crackled steadily off to the side, casting amber light across the soft sprawl of people Ellie loved most.
Everyone was here. All of them.
Cat and Nora were messing with the guestbook table, arguing in hushed voices about the correct order of pens. Mel and Owen were holding hands while watching Penny spin barefoot through the grass in a sparkly dress and her favorite dinosaur sneakers. Benjamin—Tommy and Maria’s now-fourteen-year-old—hovered near the snack table, feigning boredom while very obviously eyeing the cake. Abby kept making dumb faces at him behind Maria’s back. Jesse was talking to Joel near the dance floor, and both of them looked suspiciously dressed up for people who usually lived in denim.
And Ellie—Ellie was holding Dina’s hand, half-dizzy with how surreal and perfect it all felt.
“You ready?” she murmured, bumping her shoulder into Dina’s.
Dina gave her a look that landed like gravity. “You’re the one marrying me, Miller. You ready?”
Ellie exhaled, smiled. “So ready.”
She adjusted the jacket of her suit—a slim-fit black one, tailored to perfection. Single button, flap pockets, two simple sleeve buttons. Lightweight and breathable, the kind of thing she wouldn't usually wear but didn’t want to take off tonight. The white shirt underneath was crisp, open at the collar just enough to show the line of her neck. Her long black tie sat centered and sleek. Her hair was parted clean down the middle, twisted into a knot at the back—elegant, but still unmistakably her. Her loafers were shined, her hands a little shaky.
Dina had seen her in the full thing just an hour earlier and whispered, “You clean up way too well,” before reaching up to smooth her collar and almost forgetting to let go.
Ellie could still feel the heat of that look.
Dina was barefoot for now, holding her heels in her free hand, her hair swept up in soft pinned curls with a few strands framing her face. Her dress was white, halter style with a keyhole bodice, and it clung in all the right places. A slit in the front revealed her tanned legs, and Ellie’s eyes lingered.
“You’re staring,” Dina said, clearly pleased.
Ellie didn’t even try to stop. “You wore that slit on purpose.”
“I did. For you.”
“Remind me to thank you later.”
“You’d better.”
JJ ran up just then, his little suit jacket slightly askew, boutonnière still clinging on for dear life. “They said everyone’s ready,” he announced. “You look so pretty, Mama.”
Dina crouched to kiss his cheek. “Thanks, baby. You look so handsome.”
He beamed, and looked at Ellie. “Just like my mom!”
Ellie looked at JJ, soft and loving.
Dina looked at Ellie one last time, something soft and steady in her expression, and Ellie nodded, and walked out to her place at the front, Joel giving her tie a final nudge of approval before stepping back.
She watched as Dina and JJ walked the aisle together. JJ’s little fingers wrapped around Dina’s hand, chin lifted with pride, like he understood the significance of it all—even if only in feeling, not in words. Dina’s smile was soft and full, her eyes never leaving Ellie’s, and that combination nearly undid her. The wind stirred the edge of Dina’s dress, and for a second, Ellie thought she might actually forget how to breathe.
It wasn’t just that Dina looked beautiful. She did, almost absurdly so—but that wasn’t it. It was the way JJ looked at her. It was the way Dina looked back at Ellie like nothing else in the world existed. It was the way the three of them, scattered and stitched together across the years, were finally standing in the same place, heading toward the same future. Together.
A lump formed in Ellie’s throat. She blinked hard, willing her vision not to blur. There’d been so many nights she’d laid awake wondering if this would ever be real. If she’d ever be brave enough, if Dina would ever be ready, if they’d ever stop almost-ing their way through life. And now here they were—JJ with his wild curls and wide smile, Dina glowing under the string lights, walking straight toward her.
Her heart thudded with so much pressure she could feel it in her palms.
And when they reached the front, JJ gave Dina’s hand a kiss—gentle, deliberate—and stayed right beside her, standing tall and proud, just like he belonged there. Like this was the moment he’d been waiting for, too.
Ellie’s chest ached with love. For him. For Dina. For this family they had grown, slowly and stubbornly and against all odds. She had no words for the feeling blooming in her—just this deep, expansive awe that something so good had somehow become hers.
Jesse cleared his throat, and the attention focused. “I know what you’re thinking. Took ‘em long enough.”
Laughter rippled through the gathering.
“But here’s the thing,” Jesse said, voice carrying just enough, “love like this… it’s not about rushing. It’s about choosing. Every day. Through the easy stuff and the hard stuff. Through years of almosts and not yets. Through school drop-offs and shared glances and late-night phone calls that turn into falling asleep with the line still open. Through JJ’s first loose tooth.”
JJ grinned proudly at that, holes in his smile, and the whole crowd chuckled.
“And what you’re seeing here today isn’t sudden. It’s steady. It’s years in the making. And somehow, it still feels like the beginning.”
He nodded at Ellie.
She stepped forward, palms damp, heart loud. The vows were somewhere in her head—pages of them, revised and rewritten, rehearsed a hundred times in the quiet safety of her shop or under her breath during morning runs—but none of that made it to her mouth. None of it felt big enough. Not for this. Not for Dina.
So she just looked at her. Let it hurt a little, how beautiful she was.
“I didn’t grow up thinking I’d get something like this,” she began, voice rough at the edges. “Not a wedding. Not a family. Not someone like you.”
Her eyes stung. She blinked but didn’t look away.
“I spent a lot of my life thinking I was something people left. That maybe I was too much or not enough or whatever the thing was that made people stop choosing you. I learned how to be quiet about what I wanted. Learned not to hope too loud.”
She let out a slow breath, steadying.
“But then you happened. And you weren’t loud about it either. You didn’t crash into me. You just… stayed. You showed up. You looked at me like I wasn’t a project or a burden or a problem to solve. You let me be exactly who I was and still said, come in, stay.”
She opened the carved maple box—her hands had sanded every corner, run over the wood a hundred times. Inside was Dina’s ring: elegant and understated, but not plain. A vintage-inspired diamond band, slightly curved to fit just right, with the word home etched inside.
Ellie held it delicately, like it was more than metal. Like it was a promise in her palms.
“I want every version of life with you. The quiet mornings. The dumb fights about who forgot to buy toothpaste. The dances in the kitchen, the school drop-offs, the hand on my back when I’m too tired to speak. I want JJ’s giggles and your late-night voice and our fridge full of leftovers and our porch light left on for whoever needs it.”
She looked down for a second, gathering herself, then back up.
“You are the bravest thing I’ve ever wanted. You are my home. You are my always. And I’ll keep choosing you—every damn day, for the rest of them.”
Dina was already crying, but she laughed a little as she wiped her eyes. “Okay. My turn.”
She took Ellie’s hands, grounding herself, voice steady even as her lips trembled.
“I used to think love wasn’t for me. That maybe it was something I’d ruined my chances at. That people like me didn’t get to have things that lasted. Not because I didn’t want it—but because I didn’t trust it. Because I didn’t trust myself.”
She swallowed, gaze locked on Ellie’s, soft and steady.
“But then you showed up. With that stubborn heart. That crooked smile. That ridiculous collection of plaid. And you stayed. You stayed when you didn’t have to. You stayed through all my sharp edges and bad days and all the times I tried to convince myself that what I felt for you wasn’t what it really was.”
Her voice broke a little—just for a moment—and she gave Ellie’s hands a small squeeze.
“You never asked for more than I could give. And still, somehow, you got all of me.”
She reached into the small pocket of her dress and took out the ring Ellie had made. Sleek, black, matte—understated but solid. On the inside, in her own handwriting, were the words you found me.
She held it for a moment, looking down at it, then back up.
“You became my family before I could name it. You were my soft place to land before I even knew I was falling. You’re my best friend. My partner. My safe place. My favorite view. My favorite everything.”
She slid the ring onto Ellie’s finger with both hands, her thumbs brushing over Ellie’s knuckles as if trying to memorize the moment.
“I don’t know what forever’s supposed to look like. But I know I want mine with you.”
Jesse grinned. “By the power vested in me by totallylegitministers.com—which I swear is a real website and not something I made up five minutes ago—I now pronounce you extremely, officially, and finally married. You may kiss your wife.”
Ellie didn’t wait. She kissed Dina slow and deep, the kind of kiss you never forget, the kind that seals things. That writes them down in the bones. The whole backyard erupted—cheers and whistles, clapping, laughter—but it felt far away, like background noise to the rush of blood in Ellie’s ears and the way Dina held her face in both hands like she was something precious.
JJ launched into them like a cannonball of joy, arms flung wide. Ellie caught him just in time, and the three of them wrapped around each other in a knot of love that felt infinite. Dina pressed her cheek to Ellie’s shoulder. JJ giggled into Ellie’s chest. And Ellie closed her eyes.
This. This was everything.
Then the music started—soft and slow, like the night itself was exhaling—and Ellie reached for Dina’s hand, tugging her gently toward the dance floor.
Lights twinkled above them like suspended stars. Brittany and the Jug Boys began to play something low and melodic, guitar strings layered beneath Brittany’s voice, warm and golden. The crowd clapped, stepping back, leaving space like they understood—this was for them.
Ellie turned to Dina, her chest tight and warm. She placed one hand at Dina’s waist and wrapped the other with hers, pulling her close. They began to sway, quiet and slow, with a rhythm all their own.
“This feels familiar,” Ellie whispered, her eyes never leaving Dina’s.
Dina smiled, eyes gleaming. “Except now we’re not nervous about sharing a room.”
Ellie snorted softly, breath hitching at the edges. “You look so beautiful.”
“So do you, babe.”
“I’m so stupid in love with you.”
Dina leaned in, kissed her cheek. “Good. Stay that way. Because I love you too.”
They laughed softly, forehead to forehead, noses brushing. Their breaths syncing, warm and sweet between them.
Ellie had no idea where her body ended and Dina’s began. Every nerve in her skin hummed with knowing. Like her cells were singing. Like her muscles had memory, and this—this—was what they’d been reaching for all along.
She wasn’t thinking about the crowd. Or the firelight. Or the fact that her suit was clinging a little too tight to the back of her knees. She wasn’t thinking about anything except the way Dina fit in her arms. The scent of her—floral and warm, grounded. The delicate weight of her hand. The way her dress rustled when they turned.
She whispered something dumb, something only Dina would understand, and Dina laughed into her neck. That laugh—that laugh was Ellie’s favorite sound on Earth.
She swayed with her, barely noticing the music anymore. Just the closeness. The intimacy. The squeeze of Dina’s fingers like a pulse. A tether. Like a promise sealed in touch.
It felt like something sacred.
And when the song shifted, JJ sprinted to them across the floor. Ellie bent and scooped him up without hesitation. He wrapped his arms around her neck like it was instinct, his cheek resting against her shoulder, warm and sticky and safe.
She kept her arm around Dina, and the three of them spun in slow, giddy circles. A little family orbiting each other. Ellie didn’t know how to hold that kind of love. She just kept trying.
Soon everyone else spilled onto the dance floor like joy couldn’t be contained.
Cat pulled Nora into a chaotic, twirling mess of limbs and laughter. Abby swept Penny up and spun her like a fairytale princess. Owen did the Running Man like he meant it. Benjamin tried to stand still and failed completely when Penny yanked him into motion. He followed, blushing, but grinning.
Maria and Tommy danced close, the quiet kind of closeness that comes from decades of choosing each other. Joel stood at the edge, nodding along, a soft smile tugging at his face. Jesse danced with whoever was nearest, terribly and with no shame, dragging Mel and even Brittany into his orbit.
The food was incredible. Plates were filled and refilled—roasted vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, buttery bread, summer corn salad, tangy pulled pork, cold pasta with lemon and herbs. Everything smelled like memory. Like comfort. Like home.
The cake was a dream—lemon blueberry with thick, velvety buttercream—and JJ wore most of his slice on his nose by the end of the night, declaring it “the best day ever” with his mouth still full.
But what stayed with Ellie wasn’t the food. Or the music. Or even the kiss.
It was the dance.
The weight of Dina in her arms. The sound of JJ’s breath against her neck. The burn in her chest that told her she hadn’t even known what full felt like until now.
The way Dina had looked at her, like she had the sun trapped behind her eyes. The way their love had become something seen—not just felt in glances or whispered over coffee, but witnessed. Named. Celebrated.
It was perfect.
More perfect than anything Ellie ever thought she’d be allowed to have. There had been a time—so many times—when she thought her heart was a closed room. That there just wasn’t space in there for joy. Or softness. Or anything that lasted.
But now, standing on that dance floor, holding her wife and their boy, Ellie knew different.
Her heart was full. Brimming. Stretching to make room for everything it had never dared to dream.
And still, somehow, there was space.
Space for their life. For their love. For every version of home she had found in Dina, and would keep finding, over and over again, for the rest of her days.
Dina
Wedding Night
They didn’t even make it past the front door.
The second it clicked shut behind them, the air changed—charged, thick with everything that had gone unsaid during dinner, during speeches, during that slow, aching dance under the lights. Dina turned to Ellie, half-drunk on the way she looked: wedding suit still perfect, but rumpled in all the right places—tie slightly loosened, white shirt half unbuttoned, black jacket clinging to her broad shoulders. The sleeves still cuffed. Suspenders snug over her chest.
Cool. Dangerous. And hers.
Ellie gave her that smile—low-lidded, full of promise. “Hi.”
Dina didn’t answer. She stepped into her. Kissed her.
It was immediate, needy, all tongue and teeth and soft gasps. Ellie kissed her back with both hands on her waist, pulling her in like she couldn’t help herself, like she’d been holding back all day.
They broke apart, breathing hard, noses brushing.
Dina reached for her own zipper.
Ellie was there in a heartbeat, brushing her hands away. “No,” she said softly. “Let me.”
She turned her gently, palms grazing Dina’s hips as she eased the zipper down, slow and reverent. The dress parted with a whisper. Ellie leaned in, lips brushing the back of Dina’s neck like a benediction.
“All night,” she murmured, mouth ghosting over skin. “All night I watched you. That slit in your dress. Your sexy fucking legs.”
Dina let the dress fall. Let it pool around her ankles like it meant nothing. She stepped out of it in her heels, wearing only a strapless bra and delicate lace panties.
She turned to face Ellie, smiling wickedly. “You were staring.”
“You wanted me to.”
“I’ve always wanted you to.”
Ellie’s jaw tightened. She backed Dina toward the stairs without another word, gaze locked on her like she was prey.
“Sit. Middle step. Legs open.”
The words knocked the breath out of her.
She obeyed instantly, the wood cool against the backs of her thighs, heat rising as she spread her legs slowly, deliberately. Her pulse pounded.
Ellie didn’t rush. She slipped off her loafers, then shrugged off her jacket with slow, exact movements. She slung it over the banister. Then she loosened her tie with one hand but left it hanging, dark and slim against the white of her open shirt.
Suspenders. Still up. Framing her body. Shirt clinging to the sharp line of her waist. A glimpse of skin at the collar. The long, dark line of her thighs in those tailored pants.
Dina swallowed hard. Fuck, this was hot.
“You’re gonna kill me,” she whispered.
“No, baby,” Ellie said, her voice gone low, gone dangerous. “I’m gonna make you forget how to speak.”
She dropped to her knees and kissed the inside of Dina’s knee. Then higher. Then higher. Her hands slid up Dina’s thighs, thumbs pressing gently into soft skin.
“You wore this for me,” Ellie said, dragging one finger up the soaked center of her lace panties.
Dina gasped.
“You know how wrecked I was watching you walk toward me? Every step, every time that slit flashed your thigh—I wanted to drop to my knees.”
“Do it,” Dina breathed.
Ellie smiled, slow and sharp. “I am.”
She kissed along the edge of her underwear, fingers slipping beneath the lace to peel it down her legs with maddening patience. When Dina lifted her hips, Ellie tugged them all the way off—and tucked them into her back pocket with a grin that nearly broke her.
Dina was shaking already.
Ellie kissed just above her center. “Hands behind your back.”
“What?” Dina was breathless.
“Grip the stair. Don’t move unless I say.”
Heat rolled through her. Dina locked her fingers behind her, spine arching as Ellie lowered her mouth and kissed her—slow and open, tongue warm and sure. She moaned into her like she was starving. And Dina—
Dina could barely breathe.
She trembled with every drag of Ellie’s tongue. With every pause, every teasing flick. Ellie’s grip on her thighs tightened just as her rhythm deepened, and Dina moaned, loud and desperate, hips starting to roll.
“Stay still,” Ellie warned, pulling back just long enough to speak.
“Ellie—fuck—”
“You wanna come?”
“Yes,” she gasped.
Ellie licked her once, slow and flat. “Not yet.”
Dina sobbed.
Ellie pressed two fingers in, slow and deep. Her tongue circled, deliberate and hot, until Dina was shaking, falling apart, begging without shame.
“Please—please, Ellie—”
“You sound so good when you beg,” Ellie said against her, voice wrecked with arousal. “Come for me.”
Dina shattered. She fell forward slightly, bracing herself with a trembling elbow as she came, hard, moaning Ellie’s name like a prayer. Her whole body shook. Ellie held her there, mouth and fingers working her through it, coaxing every wave out until Dina collapsed back against the stairs, spent and stunned.
Ellie kissed the inside of her thigh once more, gently.
“You’re perfect,” she whispered. “You’re mine.”
Dina reached for her, pulled her by the suspenders, and pressed their mouths together—tasting herself, tasting Ellie. “Take me to bed,” she breathed.
Ellie stood, lifting her like she weighed nothing, and carried her up the stairs. Their mouths never broke. At the top, Ellie pushed her up against the wall and kissed her like the world might end—deep and dirty, tongue pushing past her lips, hands already slipping beneath her bra.
But she slowed when they reached the bedroom.
The lake house was still glowing with candlelight. Petals were scattered across the bed from the night before—leftover decoration, now bathed in golden light. The sheets were fresh. The windows open. A breeze moved through the room like permission.
Ellie laid Dina down carefully, like something precious.
Dina exhaled, eyes wide, lips kiss-swollen.
Ellie stood over her, breathing hard, shirt half-undone, tie still on.
“God,” Dina said softly, “just look at you.”
Ellie loosened her tie but didn’t remove it. “I’m not done with you.”
She knelt on the bed and began to kiss a path up Dina’s stomach, then her chest, then her throat. Her hands were everywhere now, mapping her again like she’d forgotten nothing and wanted to memorize more.
“I wanted you all night,” Ellie murmured. “In your dress. With that mouth. You looked like something out of a fever dream.”
Dina arched under her, eyes heavy. “Then take me. Slow.”
“Oh, I will,” Ellie said. “But then I’m gonna turn you over and remind you who you belong to.”
Dina smiled, dazed and dark. “You better.”
Ellie kissed her again—slower now, deeper, full of heat and hunger and all the words she hadn’t said at the altar.
The night wasn’t over.
Not even close.
Ellie kissed her again—soft this time. Deep, steady, reverent. Like this was the part she’d been waiting for. Like the whole day had been building to this moment, this room, this bed. She kissed Dina with her hands on either side of her face, then her jaw, then her collarbone, kissing her like prayer and possession all at once.
“Lie back,” Ellie whispered, and Dina obeyed without hesitation.
The room flickered low in candlelight. The scent of wood smoke and garden roses still clung to the corners of the sheets. Dina looked up at her—wide-eyed, flushed, undone—and Ellie couldn’t help it. She just stared for a second. Let herself feel all of it.
“You okay?” Dina asked softly.
Ellie shook her head once. “You don’t get it. I’ve never seen anything like you.”
Then she kissed down her throat. Tongue dragging, mouth hot. She nudged down the top of Dina’s bra and ran her tongue slowly around one nipple, then the other, never rushed. Just enough to make Dina squirm. Her hips rolled once, instinctively, and Ellie just hummed against her skin.
“You said slow.”
“I know,” Dina whispered, voice trembling.
“Then hold still.”
Ellie kissed lower, down the soft slope of her stomach. She dragged her teeth along her ribs. Bit gently at the inside of her hip. Dina arched, breath catching, and reached for her.
Her fingers tangled in Ellie’s suspenders. Tugged at them.
Ellie froze, groaned low in her throat. “Fuck, you like these?”
“Yeah,” Dina breathed. “You look—fuck—so fucking good in them.”
Her hands slid to Ellie’s tie. Pulled her down by it. “Keep this on.”
Ellie smirked against her skin. “Not going anywhere.”
Dina’s legs fell open, already trembling.
Ellie eyes raking over her again. “You came all over my mouth earlier, and now you’re ready for more. Of course you are.”
She kissed her inner thigh once—then again, higher. And then she licked her slow and deep, and Dina gasped, one hand fisting the sheets, the other still gripping the tie like it was her only tether to reality.
Ellie moaned against her. “Hold still.”
“You—fuck, Ellie—”
“You’re gonna take it.”
Ellie pushed two fingers inside her—slow, deliberate, wet and deep. Dina cried out, hips twitching.
“Stay open for me,” Ellie said. “You want to come, you keep your legs wide.”
Dina whined, obeyed, shaking.
Ellie leaned in and pressed her free hand gently around Dina’s throat. Not tight—just enough. Her thumb brushed the hinge of her jaw. Her fingers curled loosely around the column of her neck.
Dina’s moan was instant.
“There it is,” Ellie whispered, not even moving her hand. “You like that, don’t you?”
Dina nodded wildly, mouth falling open.
“Say it.”
“I like it,” she gasped. “Fuck—I love it.”
Ellie rewarded her with a slow roll of her fingers, curling just right.
“You’re so easy for me,” Ellie murmured. “I touch you like this—” she flexed her fingers—“and you melt.”
Dina made a noise that wasn’t even a word.
“Look at you,” Ellie growled. “Look how wrecked you are. Just from this. Just from my mouth, my fingers, this fucking tie—”
Dina’s hand clawed at her shoulder, slipping under the undone suspenders, nails digging into her back.
“Can I come?” she gasped. “Please—Ellie, please—”
Ellie slowed her thrusts.
“Not yet.”
“Ellie—”
“You’re gonna take every second of this.”
She moved her hand from Dina’s throat to her jaw, kissed her again, and then kissed her stomach, her thigh, her clit. Over and over. Everything steady. Merciless in its patience.
And when Dina was sobbing, when her body arched so tight it looked like she might break, Ellie finally said:
“Now.”
Dina came hard, loud and open, mouth slack, thighs clenching around Ellie’s wrist. Ellie held her through it, eyes locked on her face the whole time.
She didn’t stop touching her. Not right away. She kissed her hip. Her belly. Licked her slowly again, just once. And then climbed up her body, kissed her throat, kissed her lips.
“You’re perfect,” she whispered. “But I’m not done.”
Dina whimpered, still breathless.
“You remember what I said?”
She nodded.
Ellie nudged her gently. “Turn over.”
Dina rolled onto her stomach, pliant and dazed, arms stretched above her head.
Ellie kissed her shoulder, then bent low to speak into her ear.
“You look so good like this. Completely ruined. Mine.”
She kissed down her spine. Bit gently at the small of her back. Her hands slid to Dina’s ass, spread her apart. She was still wet. Still dripping.
“Stay still,” Ellie said again, one hand braced between Dina’s shoulder blades. “You need to remember who this belongs to.”
Dina shuddered.
Ellie pushed in again—fingers slow, deep. Her other hand curled around the side of Dina’s neck, her body draped over her back, breathing hard.
“My wife.”
“My girl.”
“This pussy’s mine.”
Dina moaned into the pillow, high and helpless.
Ellie fucked her slow, possessive. Grinding. Teasing. Saying everything she’d ever wanted to say. Until Dina came again—shaking, gasping, sobbing into the mattress with Ellie’s name on her lips.
When it passed, Ellie kissed her back again.
“Now you know,” she whispered. “Exactly who you belong to.”
Ellie
Ellie didn’t even get the chance to catch her breath before she felt Dina’s hand curl around her tie and pull.
“Your turn,” Dina rasped, voice shredded.
She flipped Ellie onto her back with more strength than Ellie thought she had left in her body. The room swam a little—candlelight and rose petals and Dina’s flushed, wrecked face hovering above her.
Ellie blinked up at her, dazed. “Babe—”
“Shut up,” Dina breathed, and kissed her hard.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t tender. It was claiming. Teeth and tongue and hands already in motion—reaching for her chest, yanking open the rest of her shirt like it had personally offended her. Buttons popped. Ellie gasped.
“You know what?” Dina said, leaning back just enough to look her over. Her fingers slid down Ellie’s chest, tracing the suspenders, slipping under one and snapping it gently against her side. “Tailoring that suit was the smartest thing we ever did.”
Ellie blinked. “That was your idea.”
“Exactly,” Dina grinned, drunk on it now. “And we’re getting our fucking money’s worth.”
She leaned in, mouth at Ellie’s throat, and bit her.
Hard.
Ellie’s back arched off the bed with a sound that was all throat and pleasure.
Dina didn’t let up. She bit her again—shoulder, collarbone, jawline—tiny wet kisses in between like a tease. “You love this,” she whispered, licking the sting. “You love when I mark you up.”
Ellie nodded, eyes wide, lips parted. “I fucking love it.”
“Good.”
Dina kissed her again, then pulled back, straddling her thighs. Ellie was still in her slacks, shirt wide open now, bra slipping uselessly off her arms. Her tie still on, loose and dark against her flushed chest. She looked completely wrecked. Devastated. And perfect.
Dina stared for a long second.
“You destroyed me,” she said softly. “Wrecked me on those stairs. Ruined me on our bed. And now?”
Ellie swallowed. “Now what?”
“Now I’m gonna ruin you.”
She slid down Ellie’s body, slow and fluid, fingers trailing behind. Ellie’s hips twitched. Dina kissed the curve of her breast, then bit the side of it, just hard enough to make her gasp.
“I love how loud you are,” Dina murmured. “You try so hard to be quiet, but the second I put my mouth on you—”
Ellie whimpered.
Dina kissed lower.
“I haven’t even decided what I’m gonna do to you yet,” she said. “But you’re already begging.”
Ellie swallowed. “I’m not—”
Dina grinned, kissed just above the waistband of her pants, and said, “Take these off.”
Ellie lifted her hips shakily. Dina helped, tugging them down slowly, underwear and all, watching every inch of skin she uncovered like she was opening a secret. When Ellie was bare, Dina tossed the slacks off the bed without a second glance.
She ran her hands over Ellie’s thighs. Bit one. Bit higher. Ellie gasped again.
“Tell me what you want,” Dina said.
“I don’t care,” Ellie whispered, wrecked. “Whatever you want. Just—fuck, just do something.”
“Oh, babe,” Dina said, voice velvet now. “I’m gonna do everything.”
Dina smiled like she’d already won. Like she had Ellie mapped out in her mind and planned to trace every inch of it.
She leaned in and kissed the inside of Ellie’s thigh, slow and hot. “You’ve been teasing me all damn night in this outfit,” she murmured, her breath a thrill. “Strutting around in that tie, those suspenders, thinking I wouldn’t notice how wet you were getting every time I looked at you.”
Ellie’s breath caught.
“You were begging for it, weren’t you?”
A nod. A barely-there sound from Ellie’s throat.
Dina dragged her nails lightly down the outer lines of her hips, watching Ellie twitch and arch. Then she dipped her head and bit the tender skin at the top of Ellie’s inner thigh—not gently.
Ellie gasped, hand flying down toward her.
“Don’t move,” Dina warned, soothing the bite with her tongue, then kissing the mark. “You’ll get more if you misbehave.”
Ellie whimpered. “That’s the point.”
Dina smirked and licked a stripe up the inside of her other thigh, then bit again, harder this time. Ellie’s legs shook.
Then Dina dipped her head and licked her—slowly, deeply—like she had all the time in the world. Ellie jerked, hand flying to Dina’s hair, but Dina just grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the bed.
“Keep them there,” she said. “Don’t move.”
Ellie’s eyes fluttered shut, breath catching again. “Yes. Fuck. Yes.”
Dina started slow. Long, drawn-out licks that made Ellie tremble, moan, babble. She wasn’t even trying to make her come yet. She was savoring her. Worshipping her. Ellie’s body shook with the effort of staying still, of obeying. Of taking everything Dina gave her.
“You taste so good,” Dina said between strokes. “So fucking good, babe. I could live here.”
Ellie whimpered—high, soft, helpless.
Dina reached up with one hand, slipping it under the loosened tie, gripping it at Ellie’s chest while her mouth stayed buried between her legs. Ellie arched, her free hand fisting the sheets.
“You like when I tell you what to do,” Dina murmured against her, voice almost dreamy. “You like giving it up. Letting go. Being mine.”
“Yes,” Ellie breathed. “Yes, yes—”
Dina flattened her tongue and dragged it just right—then again—and when Ellie gasped and lifted her hips, Dina grabbed her tie tighter and shoved her back down.
“Did I say you could come yet?”
Ellie’s whole body shook. Her voice was ragged. “Please.”
“No, baby. It’s your turn to come when I say.”
She curled two fingers inside, slow and firm, finding that spot that made Ellie keen, and started to work her. Mouth still moving, tongue relentless. Ellie’s legs kicked, her back arched, tears welled in her eyes.
“Fuck, Dina—fuck—I can’t—”
“You can,” Dina whispered. “You will. But not yet.”
She pulled back just enough to bite Ellie’s inner thigh again, this time even higher—right below where her lips had just been—hard enough to make Ellie cry out, her whole body twitching.
Then Dina kissed her clit again, soft and sweet. Her voice dropped, rough and low. “You’re mine. All mine.”
“Yours,” Ellie gasped. “Fuck, I’m yours—”
“Good girl,” Dina whispered, and then gave her everything.
She licked her in firm, perfect strokes, fingers deep and curling just right, and Ellie shattered. Loud, broken, beautiful. Her whole body seized as she came, hand flying to her mouth to muffle the scream, then falling away again when Dina didn’t stop—when Dina fucked her through it, held her still, made her ride it all the way down.
When Ellie finally stilled, when her breath evened out in shallow gasps, Dina crawled back up her body, kissing her hips, her stomach, her chest—pausing to kiss one nipple softly, then bite it until Ellie gasped again.
She climbed up and straddled Ellie’s waist, both of them slick with sweat and glowing in the candlelight. She looked down at her—wrecked, flushed, slack-jawed and breathless—and smiled.
“Still with me?”
Ellie’s lashes fluttered. “Barely.”
“You’re so fucking sexy like this,” Dina murmured, brushing hair from Ellie’s face. “Laid out. Used up.”
Ellie’s hands finally moved—tired and clumsy, but reaching for Dina anyway. “Come here.”
Dina bent low, kissed her hard.
Ellie’s voice was nothing but rasp. “You’re gonna kill me.”
Dina laughed against her mouth. “Then I’ll kiss you back to life.”
She didn’t give Ellie a chance to recover this time. She slid down again—this time not teasing, not dragging it out.
This time she gripped Ellie’s thighs, pressed them wide, and kept her mouth just above her clit, breath hot. Her fingers moved first—two of them, strong and certain, rubbing tight circles just where Ellie needed it most.
“Dina—” Ellie gasped, breathless.
“I want you loud,” Dina whispered. “You gave me your whole fucking soul on those stairs. Now give me every sound you’ve got.”
She circled faster, harder, relentless in rhythm. Ellie cried out, head tipping back, thighs trembling around her.
“Keep going,” Ellie begged. “Don’t stop—don’t you dare—”
Dina didn’t. Her fingers moved faster, pressure building, and her other hand came up to Ellie’s breast, rolling her nipple between her fingers until Ellie’s hips bucked wildly.
“Fuck, Dina, please—please—”
“You’re so fucking pretty like this,” Dina whispered. “Wrecked for me. You love it. You love me doing this to you.”
“Yes,” Ellie choked. “I love you—fuck, I love you—”
“Then come for me. Right now.”
And Ellie did. With a sob that broke into a scream, her whole body twisting under Dina’s hands, pleasure blinding and brutal and perfect. She came so hard it shook her. And when she finally collapsed, spent and overwhelmed, Dina crawled up her body again and laid on top of her, kissing her open mouth with every bit of love she had left to give.
Ellie didn’t know how long they laid there. Could’ve been minutes. Could’ve been hours. Time had gone syrupy, slow and golden, stretching around them like warm honey as Dina’s breath tickled her collarbone.
Her own chest still rose and fell too fast. Her heart felt like it was trying to escape, then crawl back in just to do it all over again.
“Dead,” Ellie rasped.
Dina hummed, soft and smug. “That was the goal.”
Ellie turned her head toward her, muscles sluggish. “You gonna go around bragging that you murdered me with your mouth?”
“I’m gonna make a t-shirt,” Dina said into her shoulder. “And wear it to practice.”
Ellie snorted, the sound catching in her sore throat. “You’re gonna wear a shirt that says ‘Ellie Miller made me see God’ and pretend you’re the one who did the damage?”
“I did the damage.”
Ellie raised a brow. “Says the girl who nearly broke my shirt buttons moaning when I tugged her hair and sucked on her thighs.”
Dina hid a smile in Ellie’s neck.
“Ohhh,” Ellie drawled, eyes gleaming now. “Don’t get shy now. You were about two seconds from sobbing when I told you not to move and made you beg.”
Dina made a scandalized little sound, smacking Ellie’s arm. “You are so annoying.”
“You love it,” Ellie said smugly.
“I love you,” Dina corrected, flopping dramatically onto her chest. “Even when you’re cocky.”
They both laughed, quietly, the kind of soft post-orgasmic laughter that curled up between them like a secret. Ellie felt the thrum of it in her ribs. Dina’s weight was still half-draped across her, and Ellie never wanted her to move.
Their legs were tangled, skin slick, heartbeats finally slowing in sync. Candlelight flickered in soft pools around the room, and somewhere across the house, the echo of distant cicadas buzzed in the night air.
“I mean, not to toot my own horn,” Dina said, dragging her fingers lazily up Ellie’s stomach, “but I think we’re really good at this now.”
Ellie tilted her head, looked at her through one eye. “At sex?”
Dina nodded solemnly. “At sex.”
Ellie gave a lazy shrug. “Practice makes perfect.”
“God, we have so much practice.”
Ellie laughed again, quieter this time. “You know me better than I know myself, babe. I swear. You knew I was gonna come that second time before I did.”
“Of course I did.” Dina traced a small circle just below Ellie’s sternum. “You make this tiny sound right before—like a little breathy ‘unh.’ Your legs twitch. And your fingers go still, like you’re trying not to grab the headboard.”
“I don’t do that.”
“You do. It’s hot.”
Ellie rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself. “Okay, then what do you do?”
Dina propped her chin on Ellie’s chest. “I get louder than I think I will. And I hold my breath during, which is probably not great.”
“You do,” Ellie said fondly. “You go all quiet, then explode.”
“Romantic.”
“I love it,” Ellie said, softer now. “I love all of it. All of you.”
Dina kissed the place just below her neck. “I know.”
They lay there for a while longer. Skin to skin. Just breathing. Petting each other absentmindedly. One of Ellie’s hands moved to the small of Dina’s back, rubbing gentle circles there. Dina’s fingers brushed Ellie’s jaw, tracing her freckles like they were constellations.
“Today was perfect,” Ellie murmured. “From the second you made that dumb heart-shaped pancake…”
“Hey. That pancake was a work of art.”
“It had one eye.”
Dina laughed. “You still ate it.”
“Yeah. Because you made it.”
They smiled at each other, eyes sleepy and warm. Ellie reached up and tucked a piece of Dina’s hair behind her ear.
“We get two more days like this,” she said. “Joel’s got JJ all weekend. Said he’s planning some kind of grandpa adventure—buildin’ birdhouses or something.”
“Oh god. JJ’s gonna come back covered in glue and sawdust.”
“Yeah,” Ellie said with a grin. “And he’s gonna call it the best weekend of his life.”
They both smiled again, full of that shared affection that didn’t need words. Dina pressed her nose to Ellie’s cheek.
“Two more days,” she whispered. “No schedules. No work. No early alarms. Just us.”
“Just us,” Ellie echoed.
Dina curled in tighter, letting her forehead rest against Ellie’s. “We should hydrate. Eat something.”
“We should never move again.”
“We need water, babe.”
“We need a feeding tube and an IV.”
“Gross,” Dina whispered, laughing. “You’re gross.”
“You love me.”
“I do,” Dina said, kissing her again. “So much it’s actually kind of alarming.”
Ellie cupped the back of her neck, pulled her closer. “Right back at you.”
They didn’t kiss again, not really. Just touched. Pressed their faces together. Breathed each other in. A kind of worship that didn’t need movement.
Ellie eventually slid her hand over the swell of Dina’s hip, thumb brushing the edge of a bite mark. “You really went in tonight.”
“You said you loved when I marked you up.”
“I do.” She grinned. “Kinda sore. Kinda proud.”
“You should be,” Dina said, pressing a featherlight kiss to her cheek. “You took it like a champ.”
“Like your champ.”
Dina groaned and hid her face in Ellie’s chest. “I’m never letting you say that during sex.”
“No promises,” Ellie whispered, wrapping both arms around her. “You bring it out of me.”
“Literally,” Dina said, muffled against her skin.
They dissolved into laughter again—soft and full of love. And then, slowly, the world got quiet. The room pulsed with warmth, the scent of sex and candles clinging to the air.
Ellie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For choosing me. For trusting me. For today.”
Dina kissed her one more time. “Always.”
They drifted together, sleep pulling at the corners of their bodies, hearts still thudding slow and sure, tangled in the best kind of exhaustion. Two more days. Just them. And a love that kept getting better.
Dina
July, 2026
JJ’s 7th Birthday
Dina had never thought she’d want to change her name. For most of her life, she’d treated the idea like an erasure—of her grit, her past, her survival. Her name had been hers alone, unclaimed, unshared. Untouched by anything soft.
But then Ellie started saying it. Whispering Dina Miller into her skin after love-making, laughing it over coffee mugs, writing it absentmindedly in the corners of grocery lists they shared on the fridge whiteboard. And it didn’t feel like erasure anymore.
It felt like belonging.
It felt like family.
And today, with JJ’s party in full swing and a soft breeze blowing through the lake house backyard, it felt like exactly what she was meant to be.
They were the Millers now. All three of them.
JJ didn’t know that part yet.
He was too busy laughing with Penny in front of a stack of wrapped presents and a melting dinosaur cake, frosting green as grass and dotted with plastic astronauts. Joel had made the cake. “No store-bought bullshit for my boy,” he’d grunted, proud as hell. The whole crew had shown up. Mel and Owen, of course. Jesse. Ambrose. Nora. Even Cat, who brought a hilarious, oversized card that read CONGRATS ON TURNING SEVEN, FUTURE SPACE PRESIDENT.
Dina stood on the deck in a soft tank dress, paper plate in hand, watching Ellie lean over the picnic table to pass JJ a Capri Sun. Her hair was tied up. Her neck still showed the faint shadow of a love bite from two nights ago. Dina couldn’t look away from her.
“Hey, babe!” Ellie called across the yard. “You gonna come help with presents or just stare at me until I melt?”
“You say that like I can’t do both,” Dina called back, grinning.
The truth was, she could’ve stood there all day, just soaking it all in. The sounds of kids laughing. The hum of cicadas. The smell of sunscreen and citronella and frosting. And somewhere underneath all of that, the bone-deep hum of contentment.
God, she never thought they’d get here.
She wandered down the deck stairs and over to where Ellie stood. Ellie reached out and slid an arm around her waist immediately, tugging her in and planting a kiss on her cheek.
“Miller,” Ellie said quietly, just for her. “You look beautiful.”
Dina’s heart did the ridiculous flippy thing it always did when Ellie said her name like that. She leaned in. “You’re still not used to it, are you?”
Ellie shook her head. “Nope. And I hope I never am.”
They hadn’t told JJ yet. He didn’t know about the paperwork. Didn’t know that when Ellie and Dina had gotten engaged back in December, they’d quietly started the process. It hadn’t taken long. Not with JJ’s biological father long gone and his rights already terminated. All they had to do was file, sit through a brief interview, and wait out the legal clock.
It had finalized last week.
And two days ago, the envelope came in the mail. Dina opened it in the kitchen with Ellie at her side—JJ’s new birth certificate, her own name freshly printed as his mother. And right next to it, clean and perfect and official:
Ellie Miller. Mother.
They cried. Of course they did. Joel came over that night with a six-pack and a bottle of champagne and hugged Ellie so hard she made a squeak. He didn’t say much—just clapped her on the back and said, “That’s my girl.” Dina had held JJ as he drifted off that night, the certificate pressed to her chest like a second heartbeat.
Today was JJ’s birthday.
And today, they’d tell him.
Penny was helping JJ unwrap his third present when Dina gave Ellie the signal. Ellie disappeared into the house and came back with a wrapped box—white paper, blue ribbon. Dina bent to whisper something to Mel, who wrangled the kids into a seated clump near the table.
JJ’s hair was a sweaty mess. He had green frosting on his cheek. He looked up with a wide grin as Ellie knelt in front of him.
“Okay, bud,” Ellie said. “Last one’s from me and your mom.”
JJ blinked. “You’re both my moms.”
Dina smiled so hard it ached. “We know, baby.”
JJ ripped the paper like a small tornado and popped the box lid open. Inside was a t-shirt, folded neatly. He pulled it out—black with white block letters that read:
I’M A MILLER. DEAL WITH IT.
JJ stared at it. Then looked up, confused. “I don’t get it.”
Ellie pulled an envelope from her back pocket and handed it to him. “Open this one.”
He did. And inside was a copy of his new birth certificate. Dina knelt beside him as he stared at it, eyes scanning the lines. His new name. His birthday. The part that made her throat tighten: Mother: Dina Miller. Mother: Ellie Miller.
He looked up slowly.
“You’re really my mom?” he asked Ellie, voice soft.
Ellie’s voice cracked. “Yeah, baby. I’ve always been. But now it’s official.”
JJ’s face scrunched up. “Like. official official?”
“Like I signed the papers and everything,” Ellie said. “Like we’re a real family on paper. Like the judge said you’re mine forever.”
JJ launched himself into Ellie’s arms so fast she almost fell back onto the grass. He wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her like he’d never let go. Ellie clung to him, eyes squeezed shut, face buried in his messy hair.
“I knew it,” JJ whispered. “I knew it already.”
Dina felt Mel’s hand squeeze her shoulder behind her. She turned to find Maria dabbing her eyes, Tommy smiling proudly, and Joel nodding slowly with a tear slipping down his cheek.
JJ pulled back just enough to look at Ellie. “So now I’m JJ Miller?”
“Damn right you are,” Ellie said, grinning wetly. “Has a nice ring to it.”
He turned to Dina, suddenly serious. “And I can still call you Mama and her Mom, right?”
Dina laughed and kissed his forehead. “That’s never changing.”
JJ turned back to the crowd, lifted his shirt over his head, and threw it dramatically. “EVERYBODY LOOK OUT,” he shouted, holding up the new shirt. “I’M A MILLER NOW.”
Everyone cheered. Loud and chaotic and joyful. Nora whistled. Jesse pretended to faint. Owen gave JJ a high five. And as Dina looked around—at the family they’d built, the love in every corner of the yard—she felt something inside her click into place.
It was official now. But more importantly—it was right.
JJ jumped into Ellie’s arms again, and Dina stepped in, wrapping around them both. The three of them in the middle of their people, the middle of summer, the middle of the best damn day of their lives.
The Millers.
JJ
October 2032
JJ knew he looked like his mom.
People told him that all the time—usually with a double-take. Same mouth. Same sarcastic smirk. Same stubborn chin and eyes that missed nothing. He’d inherited his tan skin and curls from Mama, that much was obvious, but somehow… he still looked like Mom.
And that was pretty cool, he guessed.
He was thirteen now. Taller than most kids in his grade. Voice cracked and settled. His curly mop had gotten longer, a little shaggy on top, wild unless he wrangled it with gel. Sometimes he didn’t bother. Dina said he looked like a rock star. Ellie said he looked like a raccoon who’d just pulled off a heist. He liked both.
The front door creaked open just after four.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Dina called, her heels clicking gently across the tile.
JJ sat at the kitchen island, pretending to be focused on an open Chromebook, though he was mostly texting Penny about the science fair and whether their volcano was too cliché.
He didn’t look up right away.
Dina walked by, leaned down, and kissed the top of his head. “Hi, baby.”
JJ grunted in reply.
She smirked, ruffled his curls.
She still looked the same, mostly. Just a little older. Laugh lines had deepened around her mouth, and her curls were more often pulled back for long days at school. Her eyes held the same sparkle though—the kind she used to call her “Don’t screw with me” shine when she talked about middle schoolers. Assistant principal for nearly four years now, and according to everyone—including some terrified 6th graders—very good at it.
“Dinner should be done by six,” she said, already tugging out produce from the fridge. “Go tell your mom to come in and wash up, yeah?”
JJ sighed dramatically. “Now?”
“Yes, now.”
He dragged himself off the stool like it was a monumental task, but not without a smirk. Pickles padded over to greet him—tiny grey-and-white paws tapping softly on the wood floor. She’d been around since he was seven. Same age he was when Ellie adopted him.
He crouched. “Hey, Pickle.”
She headbutted his hand, purring so loud it tickled his wrist. He gave her a scratch under the chin and headed out.
The workshop sat at the back of the yard, just past the vegetable beds and stone path. It had grown over the years—from a glorified shed into a fully built-out structure with big windows and a covered porch. The gold-painted sign hanging over the door still made him smile: Lunar Moth Designs.
Inside smelled like sawdust and polish and warm wood. Two techs were finishing up—putting away tools, checking off something on a clipboard. They both looked up when he walked in.
“Hey, JJ.”
“Hey,” he replied, giving a small wave.
He spotted Mom immediately, in the far corner. Her back was to him, glasses perched low on her nose, sleeves rolled up. She was bent over a guitar neck, sanding in slow, even strokes. Her hair was pulled back and held in place with a pencil. There was sawdust on her shirt and pants.
She looked the same too—just a little softer around the edges. A few gray strands threaded through her loose auburn hair. She wore glasses now, something she tried to fight for months before finally giving in. He thought they looked good on her, but he’d never tell her that directly.
He watched for a second, then stepped closer.
“What are you doing?” he asked, voice quiet.
Ellie looked up, blinked once, then smiled. “Hey, bud.” She wiped her hands on a rag and set the neck down gently. “Didn’t hear you come in.”
JJ shrugged. “Mama said dinner’ll be done by six. You should come in and wash up.”
“Of course she did.” Ellie grinned and shook sawdust from her hands. “She knows me too well.”
She leaned back against the worktable, squinting at him. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Just… seventh grade’s weird.”
Ellie laughed. “Don’t remind me. Middle school is a jungle. I survived orientation by crushing Uncle Jesse’s hand.”
JJ rolled his eyes. “I know. You’ve told that story, like, a hundred times.”
She ruffled his hair. “You love my stories.”
“Maybe.”
She smiled, watching him for a second, then gestured toward the neck she’d been working on. “Wanna see?”
JJ nodded. “Can you show me how to do it?”
Ellie blinked, surprised. Then: “You wanna learn?”
“Yeah.”
Something lit up behind her eyes—something proud and warm and a little teary. “Yeah, babe. I’d love to.”
She guided him gently, showing how to angle the block just right, how to keep steady pressure and follow the grain. He mimicked her strokes, eyes narrowed, tongue peeking out in concentration.
“You’ve got good instincts,” she said. “Same hands I had at your age.”
He smiled and went back to sanding. Something in his chest fluttered. This meant something. It always did with her.
They walked back up to the house together as the porch lights flickered on. The smell of roasted garlic and cumin drifted through the open kitchen window. Ellie called out, “Honey, we’re home!”
Dina turned from the stove, radiant in soft house clothes, curls pinned up in a clip. She smiled wide when she saw them, wiping her hands on a towel.
Ellie crossed the kitchen and didn’t even hesitate—just kissed her, slow and familiar.
JJ gagged. Loudly. “Guys, seriously.”
They both turned in their embrace and raised an eyebrow.
“Kidding,” he said, grinning. “Sort of.”
“You love us,” Dina teased.
“I tolerate you.”
They sat down to eat—taco bowls, warm rice, grilled vegetables and perfectly seasoned beef, pickled onions, extra cilantro. Pickles curled up under the table, purring like a machine.
Dina lifted her fork. “So today, a sixth grader forged a note to try and get out of gym. They signed it ‘Mr. Smith,’ which is hilarious because that’s not the name of the science teacher.”
Ellie laughed. “Did you make them write an apology?”
“Made them give a verbal presentation on why forgery is a poor life choice.”
JJ snorted into his water. “Harsh.”
“Effective,” Dina said, smirking.
Ellie reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You’re kind of terrifying. I love it.”
“You better.”
They ate. Talked. Teased. And JJ let himself get pulled into the hum of it—the soft, familiar rhythm of the only home he’d ever really known. He didn’t say much. He didn’t have to. It was just one of those nights.
After a pause, Ellie looked over and said, “This is really good, babe.”
Dina raised an eyebrow. “Better than the stir fry?”
“Let’s not say crazy things.”
JJ smiled, listening to them bicker fondly, knowing—deep down—that this right here? This was everything.
He didn’t need anything more.
He had his family. His moms.
And he was home.