Rosalee and Monroe were walking up to their front door after arriving home from the Spice Shop. When they opened it, they were immediately greeted with the aromas of different spices and cooking ingredients. They entered the house and turned a corner, finding Eve in the kitchen making dinner.

"Eve?" Rosalee asked as she walked in.

"Right here," Eve said, moving a bowl to a different location on the counter. Her hair was tied back like it always was, but she had a few dark strands hanging in front of her face. "I made dinner," she said. "I figured it was the least I could do after everything that you've done for me," she admitted. Her trip to another world appeared to be a transformative one because she came back in a lot better mood. Or maybe the fact that she was showing any kind of mood at all was what was so different about her...

"Thank you," Rosalee said. "We appreciate that."

"It smells good," Monroe said. "What is it?"

"Honey pepper cedar plank vegan salmon," Eve answered, smiling slightly. Did she look shy? Rosalee thought she might.

"This is going to be good," Monroe promised Rosalee.

"It's ready when you are," Eve said

"Great! I'm starving!" Monroe almost shouted. Juliette had been an excellent cook, and he figured Eve wouldn't be any different.

They gathered their food and took it to the table. Eve was going to take her plate upstairs with her and eat alone in the guest room, but Rosalee said she would be happier if Eve joined them. They ate together, talked about their day, and shared some stories. Monroe and Eve worked as a team to describe their first dinner at Nick's house a lifetime ago where Monroe asked Juliette for the salmon recipe after he and Nick screwed up their story of how they met. They were all laughing by the end of it.

Rosalee and Monroe also asked Eve questions relating to Nick's case. Eve said she couldn't remember finding anything in the books about people becoming Wesen, and there was barely any information about people becoming Hexenbiests, either.

*************

When dinner was done, everyone worked to clean up the mess. That was also finished quickly which was when Eve decided to go upstairs so Monroe and Rosalee could have their alone time.

"That was nice," Rosalee noted.

"Yeah," Monroe said. "It almost felt like we had normal lives for a minute there."

"Almost," Rosalee said jokingly. She smiled at Monroe as he held her in his arms. "I know we worried about how safe Portland was for starting a family," Rosalee said.

"How could we not? With Nick's cases? Black Claw? All of the recent bad company? I think anyone would agree that those would raise a few concerns," Monroe agreed with wide eyes as he mentally ran through his checklist of Portland's catastrophes.

"But I like the idea of living with our family," Rosalee said.

"Like, my parents? Or your family? I don't know if-" Monroe began to object anxiously.

"No!" Rosalee yelled, laughing. "No, I mean our extended family. Nick, and Adalind, and Hank. I don't think I could stand leaving everyone."

"Me neither," Monroe agreed. "I think we can make Portland work for us. But I've been wondering about what to do with the shop. I mean, after our children are born, how are we going to keep it running? Most people can't work a job with one kid, and especially not three! How will we figure everything out? Like who will do what? And when? And how?" Monroe's concern was bubbling over. Though Rosalee was positive that he would be a great father, Monroe wasn't convinced. On top of that, they both had to worry about how to take care of three new children while keeping their livelihoods in tact.

"We'll get through it," Rosalee promised. "Like we always do. But we might need a little help doing it. Maybe we could hire someone to work at the shop. Or get a babysitter."

"We should ask Nick and Adalind who their babysitter will be. I would trust someone that could handle Diana and Kelly," Monroe said.

They both laughed nervously at the thought of the Burkhardt family gene pool.

"Luckily, we don't have to have answers for a little while," Rosalee said. Monroe leaned down to kiss her before they walked together up the stairs, holding hands as they went.

Eve was upstairs in the guest room that she had been staying in. Recently, she had flopped back and forth between staying in the shop and staying at Rosalee and Monroe's house. She knew it couldn't last forever, but she would enjoy it and be grateful for it until the day came when she had to find somewhere else to go. She and Nick and Adalind had worked out their differences, but they were dealing with enough at the moment; they certainly should have to find room in their small loft for Eve to live. She wasn't going to do anything to make their lives harder. But where, then, could she go? Could she go back to HW? It didn't seem like they wanted her, anymore...

Eve picked up the Blood Magic spell book and decided to read it. It had all kinds of interesting stories and spells. Despite the fact that none of them was something she would actually attempt, reading the book was still something to do.

************

Monroe and Rosalee got ready for bed quickly, and it wasn't long until they were snuggled together under the covers, hiding away from another cold Portland night. The lights were off and Rosalee rested her head and one of her arms on Monroe's chest. Monroe's eyes were shut, but Rosalee's were wide open, staring at the wall.

"Monroe?" Rosalee asked. She had tried unsuccessfully to tuck away the busy day and her nagging questions in the back of her mind.

"Hmmm?" Monroe mumbled. His eyes didn't open. He was on the verge of falling asleep.

"Do you think that Nick is going to ask you for more help?" she asked.

"Mmm. Yeah, he usually does," Monroe mumbled. He was still half asleep.

"Do you think you could tell him no... if you wanted to?" Rosalee asked. She pulled away from Monroe to look at his face. Monroe's eyes opened; Rosalee had finally gotten his attention.

"You don't want me to help Nick?" he asked quietly.

"I just want you to be safe," she said, revealing the hints of worry that she always hid beneath her composed outer self. "And, I know Nick would help you, too. And, I know that Nick wouldn't put you in danger intentionally, but his job, his life, and our lives are dangerous," Rosalee's voice was quiet, but Monroe could still tell that it was raising in pitch from pure anxiety. "I've been trying not to think about it, and I know it's not fair, but if I had things my way, you wouldn't be leaving the house or the shop at all. I just worry about you. And if something happened to you, I would lose my mind."

"Rosalee-" Monroe tried to interject. He was really having to pay attention because he had just been asleep, and Rosalee was talking a mile a minute.

"Just let me finish," she unintentionally and anxiously snapped. "I love you, and I want to have a long, and amazing life with you, and I just can't raise three children by myself. And now that we're here, and everything seems to be coming together, I'm waiting for the next big disaster to come and take something away from us."

"I'm not going anywhere," Monroe said gently, now wide awake. "I promise."

"I'm just, I'm just going crazy. I know I'm being ridiculous, but all of the sudden everything around us just seems so unpredictable and dangerous. I worry so much about you no matter what you do. I almost have a heart attack every time you go to the store! And when Nick and Hank ask for help-"

"They can get help from us at the shop or from someone else. I'll tell them no more cases tomorrow," Monroe promised. It was painful for him to see the love of his life so terrified.

"You don't have to. I'm just being silly," Rosalee said, sounding embarrassed and defeated. "I'm so tired, I might not even remember telling you this."

"It's not silly," Monroe said.

"I'm sorry for making you choose between me and helping our friends," Rosalee said guiltily as she hugged Monroe.

"You don't have to be sorry," Monroe promised softly, using his hand to smooth out Rosalee's hair. "I want you to know that I choose you over anything else. I choose to have you, and our family, and our future... and our clocks, and I always will. No more cases."

"I love you," Rosalee said blissfully.

"I love you, too," Monroe replied.

"Let's get some sleep," Rosalee decided, pulling herself closer to Monroe and shutting her eyes.

"I can jump on board with that," Monroe said, shutting his eyes again after pulling the blanket up higher to cover them both.