Author's Note: Ok. Final chapter, (finally, right?) but yes, but there are chances for a sequel. :D

Chapter 61: Home Sweet Home

"Hey, Micky, can I ask you something really fast?" Mike asked a few weeks later as Micky and Sarah walked toward the front door. Mike felt a little nervous, but forced a smile anyway.

"Sure, what's up?" Micky asked.

"Booth said you're going to the jewelry store?" Mike asked. He knew Micky was going to pick out rings for Sarah, but he didn't know how else to go about this. When they'd come home the first night after talking to the Hopkins, Micky and Sarah told all of them about their engagement. They had all been very excited for the two of them and had a celebratory dinner after sharing their congratulations.

"Yeah," Micky answered. "Sarah and I are going to pick out an engagement ring with my share of the money we got for the cabin."

"Yeah," Mike said. "I was wondering if I could come with you."

"Sure," Micky answered. "But why?"

"I...uh…" Mike said looking around quickly to make sure no one else was listening. "I wanted to look at a few rings for Rose."

"Really?" Sarah asked with a large smile on her face.

"I'm not gonna ask for a while, so please don't say anything to anyone," Mike said. "I don't want to take away from you guys."

"That's sweet, Mike," Sarah said. "But you can ask her whenever you want. It won't be taking anything from us."

"I know, but I still want to wait," Mike said. "But I wanted to come with you because you guys know her better than me and you can help me pick out what she likes."

"We don't really know her better, Mike," Micky said smiling. "Just longer. But of course you can come and we won't say anything."

"Thanks," Mike said as the three of them walked out the door to the car where Booth was waiting. They got in the car and Booth drove them downtown. They got out and walked down the street toward the jewelry store with Booth close behind as their bodyguard. Micky saw a small little tuxedo and wedding dress store on the way and pulled Sarah in laughing a little. Micky seemed to be back to his old personality, which made Mike very happy, but he didn't exactly want to go into a wedding gown store. They looked around the store and Micky picked out a few suits looking at himself in the mirror, including a powder blue tux with lots of ruffles that he made fun of while peering at himself in the mirror.

"Micky, it looks like someone threw up blue handkerchiefs all over you," Sarah laughed as Micky held it up. "But it's better than this, though." Sarah held up a very bright suit against Mike, who stepped back in surprise. It was a white, american flag nudie suit with a matching hat.

"What in the world is that?" Mike asked appalled.

"I believe they're called nudie suits," Micky snickered. "Worn by a lot of rock stars."

"Do I look like a rock star to you?" Mike asked slightly annoyed, but slightly amused.

"Maybe a little in the right light," Micky laughed. "You could pass for a country star in that outfit."

"Cute, but I'm never wearing it," Mike said. "Put it away."

"You sure you don't wanna walk down the aisle in this?" Sarah giggled. "Maybe wear some chaps on the honeymoon for her."

"No," Mike said firmly trying not to laugh at the image.

"Maybe wear just the chaps and nothing else, cowboy?" Micky teased, barely getting the words out through his laughter.

"Micky, stop," Mike said rolling his eyes. "Sarah, put that away. Let's just go to the jewelry store. Please?"

"We're just having a little fun," Micky said smiling and walking out of the store. Sarah lingered for a moment staring at a beautiful gown near the door, but quickly ran out after them when Booth reminded her quietly it was best she pick out a wedding gown without her fiance; bad luck to see the bride's dress or something. When they arrived at the jewelry store, Micky and Sarah picked out a ring first. For her, they found a simple white gold band with a solitary round diamond. Sarah's hands were very petite and anything more looked gaudy on her hand. For Rose, they found a white gold band with a single princess cut diamond in the middle with five diamonds lining the side of the band. It wasn't too big or flashy, and Mike knew it would look perfect on her hand.

A few weeks later, Mike sat at the table in the dining room working on some of the legal paperwork Booth had dropped by for Emmett. He found this all really tedious, but Heather's trial was coming to an end in the next few weeks, so he had to make sure it all got done. Booth was going to try and push the process through the courts, but warned them it could take over a year even after the trial. Just as he was about to call it a night and go to bed, Rose walked over and sat down next to him.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked.

"Of course you can," Mike answered gathering up all the papers and putting them in an organized pile.

"I wanted to talk to you about Emmett," Rose said. "Davy and Peter said that I was Emmett's mother and you agreed with them. But I'm not."

"I just assumed," Mike said suddenly feeling nervous. Had he gone too far in thinking Rose wanted to be considered Emmett's mother? Would she say yes when he asked her to marry him? "I'm sorry; I didn't ask you about any of this. I just kind of assumed since you were doing such a good job of helping me take care of him."

"No, no, no," Rose said quickly placing her hands over his. "I want to be Emmett's mom. But I'm not. Not legally. I can only be a babysitter; daddy's girlfriend. And even if we eventually get further than that, I'll still only be step-mom. I can't make decisions for him if I needed to. I wouldn't be his mom. And when he gets older, he may need that."

"Oh," Mike said. She had a very valid point; even as a step-mother, her rights were still limited. And he didn't want that. He wanted to be a complete family. And he wanted Rose to be as much of an influence on Emmett's life as he was. He thought marrying her would be enough, but he hadn't thought about how limited being a stepparent was.

"What's the matter?" Rose asked. "Do you not want me to do this?"

"Of course I do," Mike said. "I just haven't thought about all this stuff. I just kind of assumed that it was gonna happen, I guess. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Rose smiled.

"So what do we do?" Mike asked.

"I want to adopt him," Rose answered. "It won't take away anything from you, it'll just make me his mother legally. But we can't do it until after Heather loses her rights, so it will take a long time. But we can start the paperwork now."

"I love you," Mike smiled leaning over to kiss her. He was happy. But now he guessed he'd have to ask her to marry him sooner than he'd planned. He just had to figure out how.

A week later, Mike had everything ready. He wanted everything to be perfect and he knew Rose wasn't much of the romantic type, so it was rather hard. But he'd decided to keep it rather simple. He knew that they had to keep their bodyguards, but had told Booth his intentions and had asked him to hang back as far as he could while they walked along the beach. He remembered how much she enjoyed it while they lived at the Pad, so he figured she'd enjoy it now.

They boys all went about their day as planned, but after dinner, Mike suggested that he and Rose take a walk along the beach since it wasn't that far from Jack's mansion. Mike knew that Rose loved going on walks around and hadn't been able to for a while, so when he assured her Booth would follow them and they'd be safe, she agreed.

"This is beautiful," Rose said as they watched the sun set over the ocean. "Thank you for this, Mike. It's been so long since I've gotten to see this."

"You're welcome," Mike said. "I admit I had ulterior motives in dragging you out here. I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask me anything," Rose said.

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way," Mike said stopping and turning to her. "I don't want you thinking I'm doing this because you're going to adopt Emmett. I bought this a few weeks ago and to be honest, I hadn't planned on doing this for a while, but with you wanting to adopt Emmett, I figured I should do it sooner."

"Mike?" Rose pushed when Mike trailed off out of nervousness.

"I know we've been pretending that what we have is enough," Mike said forgetting everything he'd rehearsed. "And for the most part it is. We don't need the rest of the world to know how we feel. I could really give a crap less what everyone else thinks, honestly. But we have to admit that something's missing."

"Are you asking me what I think you're asking me?" Rose asked.

"I never thought I'd do this again," Mike said. "I never thought I'd put my heart on the table like this. In fact, I told myself I wouldn't. I told myself I wouldn't trust another person so fully as to commit myself to them. But you changed all that. I want to commit to you, Rose. I trust you with my heart. I want to marry you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes," Rose smiled and kissed him. "It means the world to me that you ask me considering everything you've gone through. I love you, too. And I don't think you're doing this because I want to be Emmett's mom."

Over the next month, the trial for Heather, Claire and Wayne wore on. The defense tried to tear down every bit of testimony and evidence the prosecution presented, but it was simply not working. By the end of the trial, it only took the jury a few hours to find all three of them guilty. The group would have to wait for sentencing, but had no doubt they would be put away for the rest of their lives.

When the trial itself was over, the boys moved back into the Pad and went back to their lives as normal with the exception of the four other additions. To their surprise, Grandpa Jones and Jack had worked together to not only pay Mr. Babbit two years worth of rent to buy the Pad for the boys, but had also made additions to the Pad to allow for the extra space. He had added two extra room downstairs, one for the toddlers to share and the other for Peter and Willow giving Davy his own room. The added space downstairs allowed for another room upstairs so that Mike and Rose wouldn't have to share with Micky and Sarah. When they asked Grandpa Jones and Jack why they hadn't said anything, they insisted they didn't want to because they knew the boys would refuse the help.

They each had their own issues to work through and over time were able to deal with them. Booth, Brendan, Angela and Jack remained close with them and Booth had even been the one to personally deliver Rose's badge and gun back inviting her to apply to the bureau. Sarah got a job as a teacher's assistant at the nearby middle school and Willow got a job in a doctor's office. As much as they wanted to go back to just focusing on their music and only taking side jobs when they wanted to, they had two children to raise now and Mike and Micky wanted to save for their weddings, so they got permanent jobs as waiters and dishwashers at Pop's Italian Restaurant again.

Micky and Rose met with Hope after the trial and took it slow. She was happy to meet them and liked Sarah and Mike, too. When they felt comfortable enough, Micky and Rose introduced them first to Serenity and Emmett, then Peter, Davy and Willow. Hope was a very smart girl and they had even gone to one of her choir recitals at school proving she got her voice from her father.

After a while, they eventually put what happened out of their minds. They'd never forget what happened to any of them, Mike still had a scar on his chest, Micky all over his body, and Peter on his leg, but they didn't let it control or change who they were. They focused on their new lives as fathers and uncles, and became a bigger, happier family.