A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

News of the incident at the factory made it onto television; however, the other creature's body never was found. No blood, hair or flesh had been discovered at the scene either. The only thing that could relate to the cause of the factory's destruction was the crashed truck and the blown-up engine. Law enforcement had interviewed the driver of the semi, but he only had noted that he was sitting in the diner one moment and the next he was unconscious. Everyone had noted that there was a hooded man and a woman who had entered for gas, but Vincent had confirmed that they had left before everyone was knocked out. Thankfully, no one had seemed to question that information, and Ether had grinned when he had heard the human male make such a lie; Vincent had proved more useful to him than he had been expecting. Even if any more evidence at the factory had been located, it never had been brought to public attention, and nothing seemed to be brought up about it again as time passed.

As for Nick and his team, they moved back into Teller's Den. Whether they moved or not from that location, (f/n) didn't know; they never said, and she understood the secrecy. Despite Ether promising not to kill any of them ... unless the situation changed, they probably wanted to move somewhere that he didn't know about. (F/n), however, did receive news from Deidre, occasionally Chris would send a message too, from time to time via text messages on her parents' phone.

Chris and Ren had gotten married soon after the events of the subway and factory. The ceremony had been small and just had Nick and Deidre as the witnesses. Deidre had mentioned that they had a small reception at the house before the two of them took a week off for their honeymoon. From the sounds of things, however, they didn't plan on having children for awhile, most likely when they hit their thirties. They both wished to focus on work and take some time to recover from everything before they raised a child.

Concerning Nick's business, he made sure to narrow down the jobs they handled. They only would go out to locations if the places were surrounded by people. No more isolated locations that no one had been in for a long time or carried rumors of people going missing and/or showing up dead. He was done with that, and the rest of the team was too. If they did receive requests for that line of work, they only would provide consulting on the matter so that they could stay well away from the location.

From the sounds of things, Nick still had feelings remaining for (f/n), but he kept them in the back of his mind and only would mention them to Deidre every now and then. (F/n) couldn't provide any reassurance because she honestly didn't know what to say. It's not like she could tell him that things would get better and he would get over them; she wasn't him, so she didn't know. There also was the fact that Ether wouldn't allow communication between the two of them, hence Deidre, and sometimes Chris, being in charge of the text messages.

Sometimes, however, she would get feelings of guilt popping up from what had happened to Nick's right eye. He now wore an eye patch, and Deidre had mentioned that it took awhile for him to adjust to seeing things only out of one eye. She didn't go into too much detail, but it sounded like he had broken down in tears when he first had been getting used to that fact. Ether, though, constantly assured her that it wasn't her fault. He reminded her how Nick had been the one to enter the subway, get involved with the other creature and how he practically had forced Nick into carrying out that task at the factory. That would ease her worries to a degree, and she would manage to move on each time, but it never went away completely, which increased her feelings of missing Ether since he never would blame her for what had happened; he accepted it all.

Sighing at the thoughts of everything, she leaned her head against the shower tiles. (F/n) let warm water soak her (h/c) hair and run down her back. Her right hand pushed back strands of hair and water, and she opened her (e/c) eyes. All of those memories seemed so recent. Some were, but others weren't. Since the factory, three whole years had passed, and life was ... different.

She never expected things to return back to how they were before the tunnels. She still was presumed dead, and Ether still was thought to have gone far away from the town, their town: Carnation Valley. Both of them had to remain inside, except at night and when no one was around the premises of the property. They both were on the schedule where they were up at night and asleep during the day, which honestly put everyone at ease, since someone was up at all times, after what had happened with the other creature.

Regardless of those facts, things weren't ... terrible. Yes, Ether had returned to his ways of sampling dessert, but he did so less often. Maybe, once every two weeks instead of every day. Frankly, the cutback was impressive, but she never mentioned that to him; he understood her silent gratitude and never pressed for more, which she appreciated. Personally, she'd prefer him to take no dessert, but she had a feeling that might be impossible, and she didn't wish to bother him about it in case he decided to return to his old regimen.

On top of that, he really did keep to his promise of never harming her younger brother, who only was two years and five months old now and had managed to make the full nine months in her mother's womb. It did help that her brother took to Ether quite well. For her brother, having a human-eating creature in the house was normal, and he actually really liked Ether's nails, which, naturally, concerned the rest of them heavily, minus Ether, who grinned proudly every time that Felix would try and reach for his nails. There were many glares cast Ether's way, but he didn't really care, and he promised that he wouldn't let Felix get hurt. So far and thankfully, he kept to that promise.

(F/n) smiled a little at the thought of Felix walking around on his chubby legs and saying all of their names cutely. He definitely did bring a bright mood to the household, and he sometimes would make them forget that a human-killing machine lived among them. Felix had her hair color, but it was darker like her mother's, and his eye color was the same as hers too. She hoped that he would be able to have a freer future than her, and she hoped that there would be no issue with him keeping Ether's, her parents and her secret when he got older.

Trying not to think of problems with that, she turned off the shower and dried off. As the water shut off, however, she heard Ether's distinctive giggling, though; it was softer than usual. It was the kind that he would use around Felix a lot. When she made that connection, she practically leaped out of the shower and opened the bathroom door. Her towel was wrapped around her form, and she saw Ether on the bed with Felix on his lap.

Ether was leaning back against the headboard of the bed, and Felix was lying back against Ether's chest. His chubby hands were reaching out for Ether's nails, but Ether's right arm was wrapped around his waist gently and made sure that Felix couldn't get to them. Hearing the noise of the door, though, Ether looked over to (f/n) and grinned. "You know I wasn't going to take dessert tonight, but you're tempting me otherwise, (f/n)." He giggled his more characteristic giggle, and Felix tried to use that moment to get to Ether's nails. Admittedly, Felix was learning how to be sneaky for a near two-and-a-half-year-old too well.

"Not so fast, little one." Ether held his left nails up just in time. "Anyway, my partner," he voiced, looking back to her and glad that she didn't roll her eyes at the nickname, which she had stopped doing after about a year after the factory incident, "don't worry. Felix had a nightmare, and he came in here on his own. He didn't want to wake up your parents." His very pale blue optics glanced down to the toddler proudly. "You know how smart he is and how good he is about letting your parents get some sleep."

Relaxing only a little bit, she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Her eyes looked to her brother, who peered over to her with an adorable, innocent smile. She didn't look amused, but she couldn't exactly say no to his face either. How her brother thought that Ether would cure his nightmares was beyond her, but she supposed that he was spared from Ether's darker interests. "Fine. But, you shouldn't make this a habit Felix. You'll freak out mom and dad." As if he had understood her perfectly, he nodded and giggled. That gave her pause, and she sighed again. "He's taking after you too much."

"I know!" Ether beamed and ruffled his darker (h/c) hair. "He even enjoys watching these cooking shows with me." Her eyes glanced over to the television, and it was demonstrating how to make a steak stir-fry. Knowing Ether's tastes, that looked incredibly unappealing. Felix clapped, however, and giggled again, but he tried to reach for Ether's left nails once more. "Sorry, not sneaky enough." A small pout formed on Felix's lips before he giggled when Ether ruffled his hair again.

"... I'll go get dressed." Ether directed his gaze back to her and grinned. She held a frown. "I don't need help. Just make sure Felix doesn't get hurt." A hum of reassurance hit her ears, and she shook her head before she went back into the bathroom and closed the door behind her; however, she changed quickly so that her brother wouldn't be alone with Ether for too long.

Coming back out, she turned off the bathroom light and seated herself by Ether on the bed. Her legs were crossed, and she leaned back against the headboard. "Love the pink, my little helper," he whispered into her right ear and winked to her before he focused back on Felix.

"Didn't have much of choice due to someone's forced influence on my wardrobe." She gave him an accusing look, and he only giggled in response. Her light pink, cotton night set consisted of a button-up shirt and matching shorts since someone liked seeing her legs. Thankfully, he didn't steal the sheets as often.

Forming a mental sweatdrop at Ether's antics, she managed to think no more on the subject, and her optics turned to Ether and her younger brother. Despite the worry that ate at her at times with how close the two were bonding, she couldn't help but smile somewhat either. It was ... adorable, and she was happy that her brother didn't experience the terror that her parents and she did when dealing with Ether in the past and even sometimes in the present still. Also, she was glad that Ether truly did seem to love her brother like Felix was his own sibling. Even if he told her that she always was his primary concern, she could tell that Felix held a pretty high-up spot too. Yes, she had her worries about Ether breaking his promise, but the current moment reminded her that was probably unlikely.

Glancing over to (f/n), though, Ether noted her smile, which caused his own gentle smile to form on his lips. Her smiles were addictive, and they made his heart skip a beat. "Thank you, (f/n)." She met his eyes in slight confusion before she realized how he was smiling, and it ... warmed her heart. He leaned towards her and pressed a light, soft kiss on her lips.

Instantly, her eyes widened, and she heard Felix giggle in the background. That made her ... cheeks warm up. She hadn't been expecting him to do that in front of her brother. When Ether pulled back, his own eyes widened in pure glee at her expression before he looked down to Felix. "See! I knew that she could get embarrassed like for me with time!"

Another giggle came from Felix, who looked up to (f/n). "You like him! Like him!"

If it was anyone else, she would've probably groaned and given them a death glare. Since it was her brother, she shook her head and rolled her eyes, ignoring the grin on Ether's lips. "I miss him, not like him. There's a difference, but ..." Ether froze and looked to her questioningly. "... He's tolerable ... I guess." At that, Ether beamed, and she rolled her eyes once more, but a smile was back on her lips.

Shoving Ether a little by pushing his upper left arm, she added, "Just don't let it get to your head."

"I won't!" he answered excitedly before he leaned towards her again and kissed her on her right cheek. "I'll just make sure to get you to say that more often from now on," his lips moved closer to her right ear, and he whispered, "my pink flower~" She shoved him again and shook her head, especially when Felix giggled once more at their interaction. Truly, she never would've guessed that she would've allowed herself to miss the creature, Ether, with such an infectious submission.