When we walked into Miss Bea's house, the unmistakable smell of food hit us right in the face. 

"Oh, hi! You're back! I made dinner! Well, I made enough dinner to feed a small army, but-" She stopped for a moment when she saw the large number of people behind them. Then she gave a relieved smile. "Oh, thank Heaven that you're all safe. Come in, there's enough for everybody."

She ushered everyone in with a gracious smile. Keris and I stood next to her and made sure that all forty-something people had made it in before shutting the door. Most of the soldiers seemed comfortable in Miss Bea's house, which I suppose made sense, since Ben apparently knew a lot of them. Miss Bea hurried to the kitchen, worried that the soldiers would eat all the food before anyone else had the chance, and Keris and I grinned at each other.

"So you and Keris are back together now?" 

I started. My brother hadn't been standing there a moment ago. "Wyndar? What are you talking about?" I ask.

My brother laughs. "Oh come on, you two. I knew the whole time that y'all were dating. You're not nearly as discreet as you think. Anyone with eyes could see it, plain as day. I'm really happy for you both."

I stared at him as he sauntered away. "Well, it seems as though we've been underestimating him this whole time." I say.

"Certainly does, doesn't it?" Keris replies. He turned to me. "Ariah, do you think that- I mean, do you want to-"

I smile at him. I know what he's trying to say. "Yes, Keris. I would like to be your girlfriend again." His face lights up with a joy I didn't even know was possible. "On one condition: that we don't try to hide it, because apparently it's pointless anyway."

He laughs. "I think I could live with that." he says, and leans in for a kiss.

DINGALINGALINGGGG! 

"DINNERTIME!" We hear Miss Bea holler, and we break apart. Keris holds his arm out. "Hungry?" He asks.

"Starving." Smiling, we make our way outside.

Since Miss Bea's backyard is bigger than her dining room, everyone had decided to make this into a giant picnic, and there were blankets spread out all over the ground. Miss Bea had set up a few tables near the house, with all the food piled precariously atop them. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw how much Miss Bea had cooked up for us: there were five different kinds of pasta, fried chicken, grilled chicken, steak, rice, baked potatoes, salads of every kind, corn on the cob, corn off the cob, hot dogs, hamburgers, practically a mound of mashed potatoes......

"I cook when I'm nervous, okay?" She mumbled, turning red when she saw how I was looking at the food. "And it's a good thing I did, too, because we've got fifty-four hungry people here, and I'll not rest until they're sent home with full bellies."

"Yeah, how are we gonna get y'all home?" Ben asks. He hadn't left Bea's side since they had arrived, and it was pretty obvious that Sergeant Walker had known exactly what he was talking about earlier. "I don't think I can sneak you in through the portal at my base again, not without being caught and court-marshalled."

"It's okay, I have an idea." Keris says. I look at him, confused. "We can open a gate here." He says, "All we really need is a doorway of some kind to tether it to."

"That...." I say, thinking hard, "...That might actually be viable. But none of us are really in a good position to pull that off; not now. Maybe after a bit of sleep, most of us will be, but not enough of us." 

Miss Bea smiled softly. "I know, the guesswork involved here isn't the most ideal. But I think I have a door up in the attic that's left over from when this house was built. It's just been sitting there gathering dust, but maybe it can be put to use now. And I'll need to air out a few more rooms, and gather up some more pillows and blankets to have enough room for everyone, if they don't mind doubling up some. Let's all try to get a good night's sleep, and we can look at this again in the morning." 

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Well, the next chapter or so will be the last. I'm torn between wanting to finish this, and not wanting it to end. I don't think the fact that I'm listening to Fathers & Daughters right now is helping. 

Irrelevant.

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