Author's note: So this is the last chapter. Finally. I'm saying finally because I've been struggling to let this story go, but sooner or later it had to happen... I'd like to thank a couple of people before we get the last chapter on the road. First and foremost of all, my trusty beta UntilNeverDawns, who stuck with me throughout two mega-stories about Sheamus. Thank you so much for your support, your feedback, everything.

On to the lovely people who hit the review button to let me know their thoughts. There were two very nice guest review to the last chapter, which really made my day and made me smile. Thank you guys, whoever you are.

eva505: Thank you so much for sticking with me throughout this whole story and encouraging me to go on with your comments!

qzky (Whose name will change soon :-): It was always fun hearing from you and especially your last review made me laugh.

kristal farrelly: Thanks for your enthusiasm. It was a pleasure having you along for the ride.

CidLover1: Thank you so much for sitting down and taking the time to let me know what you thought about my story. I appreciated every word of your feedback and was truly flattered by the fact that you called my story flawless... Still swooning a little over that word, in fact.

There are so many other people I should mention (darck ben - love your userpic. Xander is classy, dashinginconverse - author of so many amazing fics...), but if I went on, your hatred for me would probably exponentially grow with the length of this author's note, so I'm shutting up now. Enjoy.

So April had never gotten the chance to see Steve completely relaxed. Last time he had any time off was because of an injury and back then she hadn't known him all that well.

It was a novelty and it roused a certain curiosity in her. She was almost tempted to buy herself a journal and write down some observations about his behaviour for the ensuing ages.

The first entry would probably go like this: specimen oddly chipper and visibly nervous about upcoming visit to motherland. Mumbling about crazy plans for holiday and grinning all the time. Apparently determined to bring a bunch of flat caps for the journey because of the weather. Whatever that means... So it's probably not swimsuit season over there.

Second entry: Specimen is calmer now, settled in the routine of traveling, currently snoring in his reclined seat on board of a plane. Facing towards me as if he wants to snuggle up to me. Blinking now, waking. Oh, crap! Wait!

"April, what are ya doin' starin' at me like that?" he asked quietly. Half the airplane was sleeping. The lights were dimmed. It looked like they were the only two people still awake.

"I'm excited. I can't sleep," she told him in a stubborn, somewhat pouty voice.

His eyes, despite having been sleepy just a minute ago, now danced with mirth. "So ya wanna sleep when we get there?" he tried to reason with the one person you usually couldn't reason with. More pouting. She shook her head.

"Thought so. Go to sleep."

"I can't."

"Sure, ya can. I know somethin' that's gonna help ya," he held his arms out to her, motioning her to come closer. She obediently leaned her head against his chest, curling up in a fetal position in her seat. "Now close yer eyes," she could hear his heart beating underneath her ear even through the fabric of his sweater boom-boom boom-boom boom-boom. A steady rhythm that lulled her to sleep together with his body warmth. She was gone in less than a minute. He kissed the crown of her head and wrapped his arms protectively around her.

They awoke hours later. She with a crick in her neck and him with a numb feeling in his arm, because she had cut off his circulation. Neither of them said anything about it. She slowly circled her head a couple of times, he shook his arm.

After what felt like days, but was merely a time span that could be measured in hours they landed in Dublin. She had wanted to look at the landscape from up there over the clouds, but it was night time, so she had only seen city lights.

Yawning she trotted obediently to baggage claim after him, her hand clasped in his. He got them a little trolley for their suitcases. Upon seeing it, she got a mischievous sparkle in her eye.

"Well, come on. Hop on," he told her, already seeing those little wheels in her head spinning. She was probably asking herself whether she could jump on the trolley that with all those people around; what they would think if she behaved like a child and giggled and squealed in delight. As often times when he could practically see that idea in her head forming, he got tempted as well, so he sometimes became her enabler. Like right now. Especially when he knew it would make her laugh.

The amusement the trolley provided was short-lived. The wait for their suitcases was considerably less entertaining. He watched her play a game on her cell phone and was just thinking of doing the same when the conveyor belt hummed into life and started spitting out suitcases randomly.

Eventually theirs arrived too and he packed them on the trolley. Now for the tricky part. "April, luv..."

"Yeah. What's up?" She hugged his midriff and looked up at him from under his arm, all cute and lamb-like when he knew for a fact she could be as well be as fierce as a lioness if need be.

"I've got a choice fer ya te make right now. I need te call me ma' an' tell her we've landed safely..."

His family. She had factored that into the equation, but not that soon and it was not like he needed to feel obliged to present her to them. She was totally cool with staying by herself if he wanted go and spend some time with them. Her thought process was derailed by his face hovering in front of her...

"Hey! Hello! Talkin' te ya here."

"And I'm listening."

"Yep, sure ya are, luv. Anyway, as I was sayin', she expects me te call an' I can either tell her we'll stay at their place or we'll meet them some time t'morrow after a good-night's sleep at the hotel."

"I don't want to leave a bad first impression...," she said cautiously.

He checked his wristwatch. "It's... Oooooh. Okay. Past 11, so she'll be totally fine if ya wanna stay at the hotel. She'd love te see me and she'll be curious to meet you, no matter what time a day or night, but she's not the difficult sort, so ya needn't worry..."

"That's no straight forward advice...," she pointed out to him.

"We'll do whatever ya want te do."

"No, sweetie, we'll do whatever YOU want to do," she replied. This was her determined face, which could also be called her stubborn face. He knew it already from experience. She was being stubborn for his benefit, putting his needs before hers.

He knew by now that meeting someone's parents was a huge deal over in the States, while across the pond they made much less of a fuss about it. Still, it implied a serious commitment. And he was seriously committed to her, but she was a bit of a wild thing. It was fine with her if he told her he loved her and she made no secret about the fact that she felt the same for him, but they had never spoken about marriage, kids and all those other serious things. Meeting his parents was one step down that road.

He figured that when it came to serious stuff like that he had to be careful and slowly ease her into things, because if he didn't, she might panic. He gave her one last thoughtful look. "So I'll call her now an' let her know we've landed safely an' that we'll meet them t'morrow afternoon..."

"Okay," she said slowly, her facial expression a little suspicious because she hadn't expected him to say that.

He pulled out his phone in the meantime and called his parents' number. His mum seemed to have waited for his call because she picked up right away. He smiled in a totally unguarded way and it automatically drew her closer to him. She wound her arms around his midriff and pressed a little kiss to his chest. He looked down at her and laid his free arm around her.

"Heeey. Good te hear ya too... Yeah... Jus' got off the plane... Yeah, she's here too... Me ma' says hello," he told her.

"Hi, Mrs Farrelly!" April said with a bright smile and loud enough for his cell phone to pick up.

"Sure she sounds lovely ma'. She's a lovely lass," he said which made April grin. "No, I tink we're gonna spend t'night at the hotel an' go an' pester ya folks t'morrow afternoon... I know it's not that long a drive, ma'. But we've been on our feet fer nearly 24 hours. It's feck... No, I wasn't gonna use that word. I mean, it's really late an' we're both a bit knackered... All right. Yeah... No... Yup, say hello te da' fer me. Lookin' forward te seein' ya t'morrow...," his voice softened now. "Love ya too, ma'. Bye."

"That sounded very Oirish just now," she teased him after he had hung up. "Have you noticed how your accent gets thicker when you talk to your mum?"

He gave her a puzzled look. "Does it?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Well, what do you know... Hotel, food, sleep sound good to you, luv?"

"Sounds awesome."

With that they set into motion. It looked like they were headed straight for the exit until April spotted a bookshop somewhere and lamented the fact that she didn't own the latest Batman issue. She met some initial resistance - eye rolls and head shakes from Steve, but she had a very effective counter-attack to that: smiling and prettily batting her eyes at him. So she eventually got her will. Well, at a price. He followed her grudgingly to the book store mumbling ill humoured comments under his breath, which he eventually ceased to do when he saw her storm towards the comic section with childlike enthusiasm. He smiled as he watched her leaf through different comic issues with a huge grin on her face and eyes that sparkled with delight rivalling those of a child on Christmas Eve. She raised her head and looked at him, catching him staring at her and he quickly grabbed the next best book in his reach. Gardening? What the hell? He didn't give a flying fig for bloody gardening!

She just grinned knowingly and started walking towards him, actually she was skipping. Her relapse in a behavioural pattern that belonged to AJ must have stemmed from her exuberant enthusiasm over being here in Ireland with him. Yup, it had to be that. She had been gushing about it all flight long. When she didn't complain about not being able to sleep... He stroked his beard complacently as he stared down on the cover of the blasted gardening book. It had some odd little bitty on it who was sporting a flower dress and a disproportionately large smile. He looked up again. Where the hell was April?

She had gotten sidetracked again. She was leafing through a book with a look of fascination on her face, which got him curious, so he decided to walk over.

"What yer lookin' at?"

She snapped the book shut and turned it around, so he could see the cover. "Book of Irish fairy tales and legends" it read. He made a face.

"Waste a time. I can tell ya those," he underlined those words by proudly buffing his chest.

"Yeah. Sure," she threw him a speculative look. "Cause not only are you a big manly wrestler, you are also an expert on fairy tales, is that it?"

He should have seen the trap she had prepared right there, because it was really quite obvious, but right in that instant his pride stood in his way. "Spot on, luv."

"Okay," she opened the book and turned to the index. "So kindly complete the title of this fairy tale: Princess Finola and the..."

"Dwarf."

"Beginner's luck. Let's try another one... The enchanted...," she stopped reading and looked at him expectantly.

"Seriously now?" he raised his eyebrows and looked down on her. "She's really serious," he mumbled under his breath and spoke the following words a little more loudly. "Half of the stuff 'round here in this country is enchanted or magical or somethin'. Ya'll have te give me a little more than that..."

She shook her head and grinned. "Nah-ah-ah!" she sang. "So you're not even going to try?"

"Go and buy those stupid books of yers already," he said, but without any real spite. In fact he was smirking at her, reaching for that book about fairy tales and legends to inspect it more closely. He could see why April wanted it. It ticked a lot of boxes when it came to fitting April's eccentric taste: it had illustrations, even the cover was colorful and if he wasn't mistaken there was actually a little green glitter on it. He wrinkled his nose, appalled by the idea of getting any of that glitter on his hands, but because he loved her he said the following words: "Tell ya what, why don't I get this one fer ya, huh?"

"Really?" she threw him a cute look, her eyes all big and shining with happiness. "That would be like perfect."

Perfect was also the word to describe how good she slept that night at their hotel. She barely felt jet-lagged and apparently neither did Steve because the next day, right after breakfast, he dragged her out to a rental, telling her that they would be going to a place called Glendalough, which he claimed was much prettier than Lake Tahoe.

She spent most of the drive there, roughly an hour, with her nose pressed up against the window pane marvelling at the landscape that was changing quickly from urban to rural. For once they had no place to be, well, except for their meeting with Steve's family in the afternoon, and that was glorious. They didn't have to drive fast, which was a plus because April wasn't too fond of left-hand traffic and that way she could ease into it somehow. She actually spent the first couple of minutes of the drive clutching the handle above the passenger seat, insisting that she was fine and that she was totally used to cars driving on the left side of the road. Some minutes later, however, she was slowly releasing the handle and even able to muster a tiny smile again.

Glendalough, she learned, was a monastery settlement situated between two lakes, hence the name glen between two lakes and apparently Steve loved the place. And that was also the reason why he took her there, instead of showing her around Dublin first. She was starting to suspect that he had a certain fondness for walking and the outdoors, because those two things were becoming a recurring theme in their relationship. Fortunately she was not one of those girls that were high maintenance, always wearing heels and artificial nails, because she would have been utterly out of place there.

The gravel underneath her Converse made a satisfying crunching noise when she got out of the car. She was wearing jeans, a simple black sweater and her glasses.

"So instead of showing me around Dublin, we come here on our first day...," she summed up the situation, taking a look around and inhaling a breath of fresh air, "Hmmm... I think this will do," she winked at him and smirked.

She was a city girl. After all she was from Jersey, but she could appreciate an untouched scenic landscape, especially when it looked like the ideal setting for a fantasy movie or a very retro horror flick.

"This will do," he scoffed, but his eyes were sparkling with excitement. "Why don't ya admit it already? This is brilliant, right?" he grinned, squaring his chest proudly and stretching out his arms. He looked like he belonged in this place with his red hair hidden under his flat cap, his dark blue jacket, his washed out jeans and heavy boots. Well, no wonder. He was an Irishman in Ireland. How much more could you belong?

It occurred to her that right here and now she was the odd one out with her cinnamon skin and her Puerto Rican heritage. She kind of liked that. With a cheeky grin she got on tiptoes and stole the flat cap right off of Steve's head, leaving him with a dismayed expression on his face and his hair flattened to his head. It was the one thing he usually got grumpy about, because despite not being an overly vain person, he always fussed about his hair.

"Relax," she motioned him to lower his head and he grudgingly did, so she could run her fingers through his hair and fix it up, "There. Now you look fine again, grumpy-boo."

She clasped his hand and they started to saunter through lines of mossy, decaying gray headstones towards the Round Tower, while he told her about the history of the place which was tightly linked with St. Kevin. It was like having your own tour guide and she shamelessly flirted with him despite the rather ecclesiastical setting, because intelligence had always been a major turn-on in her book. And he certainly was smart and rather cute the way he went on about historical details, saints and legends.

After a couple of more steps they came to a stone wall that looked like it was made out of slate. At any rate very ancient and covered in moss in some places. She saw two smaller rocks on the ground in front of it and motioned at them with a nudge of her head. "Let's sit down there for a second. I wanna take it all in..."

So they sat in silence for a few moments with their legs stretched out in front of them, which tempted her to whip out her phone and snap a picture of their legs and their feet before the scenic panorama of the graveyard. It turned out in order to do that she had to practically lay in his lap, but the shot turned out great, so it was worth it. After that was done and she was sitting upright again, she lightly tapped his foot with her own.

"I like this place. Thank you for taking me."

"Honestly?"

She nodded in confirmation.

"Well, I'm glad then."

"Not too many people here. That's always a plus," she smiled and laid her head on his shoulder, reaching for his hand at the same time.

"Yeah."

"Sometimes it's nice to get away from everything...," a short pause ensued. "Hey, you think we could be hermits?" She asked him, exhaling loudly and contently after having posed that question. She liked the fresh and moist air out here.

He laughed softly at her random question and studied her profile for a second or two before he replied. "We can be anything you'd like," he said, actually meaning it.

"Good. So, we should think about setting up the house on the little slope over there," she indicated a little hill to their right, overlooking the lakes, "which would totally need to have high speed DSL and wifi, by the way," she looked at him over her glasses, making the irony in her statement fairly noticeable.

"Yeah, should not be a problem or anythin'. Why don't ya call up some IT bloke right away an' see if he can help ya." He made a face. "Aaah, that's right. Such a pity. No reception, huh?"

"Yeah. Major bummer," she shrugged her shoulders. "So no Internet, which basically means we'd be left do with nothing else but shag all day."

He made a noise like a cough beside her. Obviously he hadn't expected her to say that. "Yer aware this is a monastery, right? A holy place?" There was a rather comical expression of disbelief on his face, which made her pet his knee rather affectionately.

"Oh, don't act so pious. You're the one wearing a cross on the back of your wrestling trunks after all."

"It's a sword!"

"If you say so...," she smiled sweetly, but also ironically.

He glared at her.

"Anyway," she continued her previous train of thought, "I guess we'd end up being pregnant eventually, because apart from the lack of telecommunication, I'm pretty sure there's no local 24 hours drug store near here where you can buy condoms..."

"Doesn't that sort of put a damper on the whole hermits deal?" he questioned.

She turned her head and looked at him, probably sensing that there was more to his question than there appeared to be at first glance. He was sitting there now with his back slightly leaned against the wall behind them, his hair somewhat mussed from the slight breeze, his knees drawn towards his chest, his right arm resting upon one knee casually as the other arm held her. The expression in his eyes was hopeful, yet expectant. In this very moment it struck her again how much she adored this man. Yes, she really wanted to go with the corny word 'adore' here. But despite his many great qualities, unfortunately sometimes he really was a bit slow when it came to perceiving the subtle things, which weren't really that subtle. She had just arranged a mini-vacation for them in his home country, willingly signing herself up for meeting his family. How much more obvious could you get? Apparently he needed more obvious, because he was actually not sure whether she was serious about their relationship.

"Not really," she said simply. "Being a hermit isn't a thing you do for a week or a month and see how it goes. It's a life style." His fingers gave her hand a gentle squeeze now. He was smiling.

"What? Why are you smiling like that?" she asked, wanting to check whether he had really gotten her message.

"No reason," he said, trying to fight down that traitorous smile, which was a pity, because it was slightly leaning towards dorky and she liked that very much.

She decided she needed to get more obvious still. She was dying to see that dorky smile again full-force. "Okay," she took a deep breath, because despite the fact that she was pretty sure he would react well to her following words, she was experiencing some butterflies now. "I've got to ask you a question. Is it true that some men don't understand subtle very well?"

He shot her a quizzical look. "I don't know. Depends. I think I do..."

She let out a snort and he shot her an accusatory look.

"Well, did you get what I've been just trying to tell you?" she enquired.

"That you'd like to be a hermit?"

"Steveeeeeee! Seriously! You can do better than that. Come on!"

"All right, all right. Calm down. I'll try again, okay?" He narrowed his eyes and stared at those headstones in front of them for a couple of moments. "What you were trying to tell me was that the thought of staying with me for a longer period of time and having my children doesn't sound like a... Oh! Okay. Erm... Wow! Really?"

"Now he's got it," she grinned.

That grin was wiped from her face when he kissed her quite fiercely and unexpectedly. She chuckled against his lips.

"So jus' so we're clear here, this is a marathon then, not a sprint or a jus' a couple of laps?" he asked after he broke the kiss, while picking up the flat cap from the ground he had knocked off her head with his rather enthusiastic and unexpected kiss. He brushed the dust of it with his hand, before he placed it back on her head, adjusting it neatly and even tucking a couple of loose strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Yep, a marathon," she confirmed simply.

"Have you ever tried something like that before?" he wanted to know.

She shook her head. "But I have a feeling this time it might actually work."

He threw her a lopsided smile that was almost on the verge of being shy. "Yeah, me too."

In response to his words she gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen on her. It was pure, because it was unadulterated happiness untainted by any other emotion or thought.

"I love you," she told him. It was one of the few times she had said that ever since their stupid fight a couple of weeks back. And thanks to that, her words carried a special weight and an added sincerity.

"I love you," he replied and briefly pressed his lips to her knuckles.

"So hermits, ey?" he asked.

She chuckled. "Not really. I need coffee. Gotta have my coffee. I'll die without it..."

"How about ya get used to havin' a cuppa instead," he suggested. He got up from the ground stretching his legs with a grown.

"Geezer," she muttered under her breath. Unfortunately despite being a supposed geezer, Stephen's hearing was still rather acute.

He clasped her hand tightly and pulled, but only a fraction, trapping her in an awkward position somewhere between standing up and sitting down. "What did ya jus' say, lass? Couldn't have called be geezer, could ya?! How long do ya wanna go without coffee this week? Yer on me turf now. At me mercy. I can steer ya clear of any Starbucks places in Dublin if that's what it takes to finally teach ya some manners."

She had had enough of his teasing and decided she wanted to get her feet, so she used his arm like a climbing rope to accomplish just that. After all she had enough strength in her arms to do that. The benefits of being a wrestler chick. She flashed him a cheeky grin when she was finally standing in front of him. "Do you think I need you to find my way around Dublin? I've got my phone and I'm cute enough to find some guy to volunteer to be my new tour guide. So I see plenty of coffee in my future..."

"Don't kid yerself, sweetheart, ya'd drive any other bloke up the wall in a matter of minutes...," he grinned and pulled her towards him, so she pumped against his solid chest.

"And I suppose you're the only one masochistic enough to tolerate my presence? There's no need to play the martyr, Stevie-boy. I know for a fact that plenty of people adore me..."

"Because they don't know ya properly like I do," he regarded her with a grin.

"And I suppose everyone loves King Sheamus," she baited him with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

"What's not to love?" he winked at her and buffed his chest.

"Where do I start?" she poked him in the side with her index finger. "The orange hair?"

"Hey! It's not orange, it's red."

"The pale skin?"

"You're jus' jealous."

"Right."

"The bad jokes?"

"I'm far wittier when me lines are not scripted."

"You keep telling yourself that, sweetie-pie."

"The stereotypical image of a Guinness-drinking, chest beating, which by the way looks like you get carried away there every time because your skin always looks red after, huffing and puffing Dublin brawler from the streets..."

"Ouch!" he said. "Yer a nasty little thing, aren't ya?"

Her face softened. Perhaps she had exaggerated a little there, so she stepped closer to him and leaned against his chest, her soft, small hands coming up to frame his face. "Sorry. I guess I am." Her thumbs stroked over his whiskers. The gesture was enough to soften the lines on his face and to make the corners of his mouth curl up into smile so discrete it was almost non-existent. "But all of those things I just mentioned? They're cute. I love them about you," she told him earnestly. He still looked a little offended and pouty, so she decided to bring in the big guns. "I love them just like I love your ferocity, your no-quit-attitude, your bad-assery," she threw him a flirty look and playfully punched his chest, "your innate kindness, your humour, though you've got to admit it is sometimes a bit on the cheesy, slapstick-like side and...," she hesitated.

"And..."

"Your sexiness..."

"Now this is gettin' good," he grinned smugly and rubbed his hands. "Anythin' else?"

"I was going to say humility, but now it seems like a bit of stretch," she joked and turned around to walk away from him.

"Aaaaaaw, come on! Yer only puttin' more nails in yer coffin now," he said. Behind him the sun was poking out between the clouds and made his hair seem like a signal fire. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her against him. She attempted to break free, but with very little enthusiasm, so she walked a couple of steps, dragging him with her. Synchronized walking was very tricky, especially with a substantial height difference. It made them both chuckle because it was such a wobbly and ungraceful affair.

Eventually she stopped. She didn't want to end up being squished because he fell on top of her accidentally.

"What? Yer already done singin' me praise?" he teased her. "Have I made ya loose yer concentration, precious?"

"No," she said smugly. "I guess I have yet to mention your playfulness and your very soft and mushy core underneath all that bad-assery?" she put her hand on top of his and gave it a reaffirming little squeeze. She was still standing with her back to him.

"Well I've got to admit you've done an awesome job butterin' me up so far," he positioned his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, so she was facing him. "For some reason it's got me convinced yer gonna do somethin' terrible later, like spillin' tomato juice over me da's favourite armchair or settin' me ma's hair on fire..." He gave her a suspicious look. "Were ya gonna do that?"

"No, actually I was going to blush and stutter and make a fool of myself. How about that?" she told him with a hint of shyness.

He shot her a surprised look. "So yer actually concerned what they might think of ya?"

"Of course, you idiot!" the way she scowled at him had him convinced that her words were actually true. "I wanna leave a good first impression... Oh my God!" she exclaimed as a preoccupying thought hit her. "I can't go there empty-handed. Can we at least get flowers on the way there?" she suddenly asked in a slightly panicky voice, that was somewhat breathy, now that she realized she was completely unprepared for visiting his parents. "Everybody brings flowers to those sorts of things... And look at me! I look like a bum. I totally have to get changed... Yeah, flowers and back to the hotel for a change of clothes... Urgh! Why didn't I bring anything nice to wear?"

He gave her a stern look. At least he tried for stern, but it didn't come out like that because he found her so darn cute, the way she was so huffy and concerned. Then he gave up on pretending to be stern with her at all. He clasped her hands in his and she finally stopped rambling and looked at him. What she saw was his smiling face and for some reason it silenced her.

"April, calm down. It's gonna be fine."

"But..."

He shook his head. "It's gonna be fine," he insisted stubbornly a second time.

"How do you know that?" she asked as always providing the skeptical counterpart to his optimism.

"We've got each other," he held up their linked hands between them and gave her meaningful look, "and we've got our combined pig-headedness. Who's gonna stand in our way, darlin'?"

"I don't know. Someone. Eventually," she shrugged.

He narrowed his eyes. This was his determined face. "Yeah, and then we deal with it like we always do."

"How do you manage to always stay so positive? I mean look at what happened to you at work... They just took your title away... again."

"What am I supposed to do about it? Piss an' moan? Like that's gonna do any good..."

"No, it doesn't," she conceded.

"So what approach do you suggest?" he asked her and gave her an expectant look.

"Hmmm... Well," she scratched her head and threw him a rather adorable, but also helpless smile. "I don't know. I suppose sometimes I worry too much."

He gave her a long appraising look. The sun light made him squint a little and he raised his hand to shield his eyes. "Yeah, sometimes ya overthink stuff," he confirmed her observation.

"And sometimes you oversimplify things," she told him in return.

"Not this time around though," he replied, grinning complacently and leaning down to show her the smug expression on his face up and close.

"No, not this time around...," she conceded and took great pleasure in pinching his cheek with quite some gusto. His pale skin flushed immediately.

"Owww! I'll be damned!" he complained, "Despite the fact that me face gets slapped a lot in the ring, I've still got feeling in me cheek..."

"Awwww, I'm sorry, sweetie-pie," she kissed the same spot she had pinched seconds ago.

"Don't call me that. Or I'll tell me ma' ya smoke, booze an' curse like a sailor."

She looked at him with her mouth hanging agape. "You wouldn't lie to your mum like that... That would be like the most stupid thing ever..."

"It would," he threw her a crooked smirk and loosely laid his arm around her shoulder. "Especially considerin' you're the love of me life."

The words were said casually, while walking and for a couple of seconds he actually had her fooled into believing it was just some witty retort on his part, but then she became aware of the way he looked at her, the very sincere adoration shining in his eyes.

For a moment she said nothing. Just looked at him from the side with a dorky smile on her face. Oh, this silly man! This wonderful, ridiculous, silly man with the red, no scratch that, nearly orange hair, who had those infectious smiles that always made her feel happy. Of course, she felt the same about him. How could she not? Once you got passed the rough exterior, there was a great deal of genuine warmth and gentleness about him. And she needed someone like that. She needed someone who would put up with her. Someone she could tease, someone she could offer her help and would let himself be helped. To make matters short: him.

They were now walking next to each other. A few feet ahead there was a grey mossy rock in the middle of the path. Struck by sudden inspiration, she climbed up on top of it. For once she was taller than him, which felt odd to her, but also nice. She looked down at him with a grin on her face, which drew him closer like a moth to the flame. He stood in front of her she slung her arms around his neck and she leaned down to kiss his nose.

"Here's what you should tell your mum about me...," she paused, flirtatiously biting her lower lip to cover up her shyness. "I'm going to steal her only son away from her, because I love him and I'm going to keep him..."

He touched her cheek, his fingertips cool against her skin. His eyes were the brightest blue in the sunlight. She squinted and moved a little closer to him, seeing tiny flecks of gold swim in his aquamarine irises.

"For how long?" he wanted to know.

She embraced him more tightly, burying her nose in his hair for a second. He smelled fantastic. Like shampoo, hairgel, fabric softener, cologne and that strange secret ingredient that was uniquely him and always made her feel butterflies in her stomach.

"Forever," she told him simply, fully knowing that 'forever' was corny and stupid and perhaps more fit for a teenage romance that an adult relationship, but what was she supposed to do if she really felt that way?

He didn't seem to mind. She could tell by the way he lifted her up and spun her around once before her put her down on her feet. Both of them were smiling as they looked at each other.

"If that's what you want..."

"That's what I want," she confirmed.

He grinned and nodded. "All right then," he agreed and after wiggling his hand at her invitingly, laced his fingers with hers.

It was so typically him how he accepted her grand declaration of love without making much of a fuss that she had to throw back her head and laugh.

"Ya might wanna keep in mind however that sayin' that to me ma' right at the door might be a bit much, ya know?" he winked at her.

"I don't like to beat around the bush, you know?" she nudged his hip with hers.

"Weirdo," he commented.

"You love me," she pointed out.

"Against me better judgement I might add..."

"Gobshite!"

He laughed. "Yer favourite word again..."

"Funny, how it so often applies to my favorite person..." Her eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Me behaviour is only a direct result of yers, me luv. Cause an' effect," he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I'm a naughty girl," she bit her lower lip. "Do you really want to take me to your parents or maybe back to the hotel where you can give me a proper spanking?"

He stopped walking and looked at her with a mixture of delight and utter befuddlement. She giggled.

"Speechless?"

"No, actually I'm calculatin' the time we're gonna take te go te the hotel an' then te me parents...," he paused and checked his wristwatch. "I'm afraid we gotta leave now..." He playfully pulled her in the direction of the car.

"But we haven't seen the tower thingy up close yet...," she pointed out laughing.

"How 'bout I show ya me tower thingy up close later?"

"Steeeeeveeeeeeeeeheeeee! Seriously? Ewww! That's so...," she made a face.

"Sexy?"

"I was going to say disgusting..."

"Yer not serious about that," he made a face.

"No," she beamed at him. "But it still is a little offensive..."

"Ha! That was nothin'. I can be even more offensive if I want te..."

"I'm sure of that, but we should stick to our roles. I'm the evil, offensive one, you're Mister Nice Guy."

Her comment made him laugh. "Sure, darlin'. The cuddly next door brawler with the mad sparkle in his eyes."

"I love mad people."

"Right answer."

"Are we still going to the car?"

"Yup, I reckon ol' Saint Kev won't like us making out on his turf..."

"You know, we'd be much faster if you let me climb on your back," she pointed out shrewdly, which made him chuckle.

"Hop on," he told her and she immediately followed his invitation, laying her arms around his shoulders while she cuddled up to him.

"So forever?" he said after they had walked a while in silence. "Yer serious about that?"

"Very."

He nodded and she could see the left corner of his mouth curling up in a smile. It pretty much summed up how she felt. She had never been more content in her life.