Thanks to @moonflowrr for the picture! It was made for something different, but I love it here!

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Months had passed before Janis was even close to being healed, the deep gash on her leg was giving her the most trouble; Fenris had cut through several important muscles and tendons, all of which happened to be imperative to her walking ability. All the doctors told her it would be a miracle if she was able to walk again without the aid of crutches, and then they were sure that she'd need a cane to walk throughout the rest of her life; unless, of course, she was able to find a magical way to become healed completely. Despite these impairments, life went on, and even the sins were able to find some semblance of normalcy once more.

To everyone's disappointment, Janis had to stop traveling with the sins on a regular basis, they were still embroiled in fights that Janis could no longer take part in, and traveling long-term on Hawk's mom left her in constant pain; so, she returned to her little cottage outside Kaynes after she made the sins promise to visit her once a month if they could. Almost a year had passed since she was here last, so going 'home' was an odd experience for her, thankfully, someone had come by beforehand to clean, so it wasn't full of cobwebs and dust like she had expected it to be.

What surprised everyone, Janis included, was that Ban was to one who offered to escort Janis home; apparently, he wanted to do some exploring, and since Janis could travel in mist form, it would be easy for him to tag along with her and then get a jumpstart to wherever he wanted to go. Of course, Diane and Meliodas were the only ones to suspect ulterior motives, Janis was completely in the dark, as was Ban most likely.

Janis' POV

As we approached the cottage, I noticed three figures standing in front that certainly wasn't there before; I leaned on Ban the best I could, given the fact that I there was a huge crutch in between us and muttered into his ear, "I think the mafia caught up to us, we might have to make a break for it."

He squinted at the distant figures and nodded, "Well then, it's a good thing I can run faster than you, I guess you'll just have to take a hit for the team." A large grin was spreading across his face, and he winked at me happily. As fast as lightning, I used a banshee screech on him and simultaneously smacked his shin with my crutch, causing him to crumple to the ground while I doubled over laughing.

"W-who would be left behind ag-gain?" I choked, "You seem to be pretty indisposed!" I was laughing until he grabbed a crutch and pulled it out from under me, causing me to fall to the ground next to him. A startled scream left my mouth and he grabbed me before I hit the ground, pulling me into his lap to soften the landing.

"At this point, we probably both would have been caught by the mafia, though I don't think it would matter since the two of us would be able to take out an army of mafia mercenaries, even if you are gimpy." I growled and smacked his thigh, not wanting to admit that I was fighting back a blush for some reason, "I don't think we have to worry though, it looked like a woman and two children, so unless the mafia has really been lowering its age limit, I think this is a social call."

He pushed himself away from me carefully and stood, when I reached out a hand to get help, he ignored that and bent down to scoop me into his arms, "Ban!" I yelped in surprise, "Put me down, I can walk perfectly well on my own!"

He just shook his head and clutched me to his chest, which made me blush several shades deeper than I was already, "B-Ban, people will see, please put me down," I cringed as the breathless quality of my voice; if Ban didn't know how he affected me before, that would certainly tip him off.

"Do I look like I care? You are a danger to the general public on those crutches, I'm simply doing the world a favor." I opened my mouth to protest as he picked up the crutches with one hand and began walking towards the house again.

"I am not a danger to anyone on those crutches, I am quite capable," I smacked his chest to emphasize my point in the only way I could, and I felt his chuckle rumble through me, which made me happy in ways I didn't want to think about.

"Oh Janis, my shin would like to disagree with you, but hush now, I think whoever is standing at your door saw you fall and are worried about you, they're coming this way."

"Miss Jane, Miss Jane! Are you okay?" A little voice was yelling out to me, so I turned my head and allowed a huge smile to come onto my face.

"Gareth, it's been so long!" I nudged Ban once more to put me down, but he stubbornly refused, tightening his hold on me instead.

"Miss Jane, what happened to you? Why are you not walking on your own? Did you get hurt? Daddy has had to hold me like that when I got hurt before, it was really embarrassing." He looked like he was going to continue shooting of questions, but a hand slipped over his mouth and I looked into the smiling eyes of Gareth's mother.

"Hush Gareth, at least let the woman get inside her house before you bombard her. Welcome home, Miss Jane, or should I call you Janis, the hero of Liones? Alioni hasn't stopped talking about how a childhood neighbor saved his life and turned out to be one of the eight deadly sins!"

A groan came from her left as a red-faced Alioni tried to stop his mother, "Mom, you promised you wouldn't tell her about that, and stop making me sound like a little kid who has spent the last year hero worshipping someone, I'm 18."

"But darling, that's exactly what you've done, I was simply telling her the truth," I laughed at the suspiciously innocent gleam in her eyes and we started walking again towards the house, "So who are you?" She asked, directing her question towards Ban, "Are you Miss Jane's lover? I knew she would find a handsome gentleman like you someday."

I started choking at the question, but to my surprise, Ban just smirked, "I'm afraid I can't call myself her lover yet, I'm a fellow member of the sins, my name is Ban." Wait, what? Yet? What did I just hear?

We entered the house and Ban laid me down on my surprisingly comfortable bed before pulling a blanket around my waist, so he could check my bandages with some amount of modesty, "Miss Jane, what happened to your leg?" Gareth had snuck around Ban and was looking at the bandages that took up over half of my leg sadly; his mother grabbed him and started apologizing profusely for his son's behavior.

"No, it's okay, he was just curious," I said calmly, and Ban sat next to me, holding my hand gently; he of all people knew how sensitive of a topic this was for me, after they had retrieved me from Fenris, he had taken the job of nursing me back to health on himself and because of that we slept in the same room for the rest of the time we were with the sins. He had a front row seats to the night terrors I had every night; to all of the times I woke up in a cold sweat, cowering away from him because I thought he would hurt me; and to all of the times I blanked out during the day only to find myself in his arms with tears running down my cheeks. The others knew about this, but he was the only one who dealt with it day after day with unending patience, "I was hurt in one of the battles, that's actually why I'm here and not with the sins, I need to heal, and I can't do that while on the move."

Silence fell for a moment before a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, Gareth had thrown his arms around me and, if I wasn't mistaken, there were tears running down his cheeks, "Miss Jane, please don't leave us ever again! You could get even more hurt if you do!"

I ran my fingers through his soft hair gently, "I can't promise that I won't ever leave, but I'll be here for quite a while; I'll need your help to get my garden back in check. Do you think you can handle that?" He looked up with a wide teary smile on his face and nodded.

"Okay Gareth, let's go, I think Miss Jane and Ban need some time to settle in." She winked at me as she ushered her two kids out and I just buried my face in my blanket and waited for her to leave while Ban sniggered next to me.

"Shut up you butt head, this isn't funny," I growled, probably about as scary as a bunny.

"Well, she wasn't wrong, it would be nice to settle in." His self-satisfied smirk made me want to blast him with my powers again.

Wait a minute, "What was that earlier?" I remembered his weird words earlier outside.

"What'd you mean?" He asked, far too innocently for me.

"That yet when she asked if we were lovers, what the heck did you mean by that?" I pushed myself to the edge of the bed so that I could confront him more directly.

"Yeah, about that," He said and stepped closer to me, making me realize just how close we were, "Hel made me promise her something when she helped us get you back, and I've been meaning to keep my end of the bargain." I just blinked, his closeness was scrambling all coherent thought, "Aren't you going to ask what she wanted me to do?"

"W-what?" I immediately started cursing myself out for the stammer.

"She wanted me to confess my feelings for you," A hand caressed my cheek and brought raised my chin so that my green eyes met his brilliant red ones, "And since the other alternative was losing you to the Necropolis, I decided that I would do as she said and hope for the best."

"W-Wait, wh-what?" My voice faded down to a mere squeak as his hand ran down my neck and his thumb caressed my lips.

"Keep up Janis, I'm confessing to you, I like you, and if you'll have me, we can date in between my travels; does that sound okay?" He was bending down now, getting close to being at my level.

"B-but I can't walk, w-why would you want me?" A valid question, ever since I had gotten back, I struggled with that fact and Ban knew it.

"That won't stop me, you're still as sexy as hell, and the thought of you depending on me for everything turns me on like nothing else." Well crap, any remaining brain function was now gone, "Will you accept me? It won't be easy, but I'm willing to try if you are."

"Okay, that sounds... nice," I said and then everything he just said clicked and a huge smile lit up my face; at least, it did before Ban's lips covered mine.

At first, I couldn't react, but after a second my lips moved, and Ban broke the connection to sit on the bed and pull me to sit over him. I gasped in pain for a moment, but that was quickly overshadowed by Ban's tongue entering my mouth. I gasped again as he shifted me to sit sideways on his lap, making this more comfortable for me.

He broke the connection and a string of saliva connected us as he placed his forehead to mine, breathing deeply, "If I had known it would feel like this, I would have confessed a long time ago, I don't know what I would have done if you had rejected me." He continued stroking my cheek as he went in for another kiss signifying the start of a long night.

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Well, it's official, this is over! Sorry if the ending seemed forced, I've never been kissed, and I have no experience with romance besides what I read in books, so thanks for reading, and let me know if you liked it!

Thanks for sticking with me through this entire book, and know how much I love you all!

-klypso01