Michaela bumped open the apartment door with her hip, her hands filled with bags from the grocery. She had spent the later part of the afternoon with Diana, who was still home on maternity leave and adjusting to being a mother alongside being a kick-ass FBI agent. And trying to adjust to Ryder’s new moodiness. But at least he seemed to be healing nicely—physically, anyway—from the beating he had suffered at the hands of Michaela’s father.
Her father.
It had been nearly two weeks since she’d killed him and brought closure to that age-old wound.
Nearly two weeks since that fateful meeting with the Slayer Council.
She hadn’t met with them again. They were all still trying to figure out how the Council would work now. How she and Benjamin, as well as Diana and Ryder, would affect the Slayers and their mission.
A more humane mission, she thought as she lugged the grocery bags to the kitchen and unpacked them, spreading out the ingredients to make dinner.
A first. She wasn’t much of a cook, although her mother had been. Some of Michaela’s fondest memories were of her and her mother in the kitchen preparing dinner together.
It was time to build those kinds of memories again—but with J.
She had just started chopping the veggies when J came in. She heard the familiar clink of his keys in the ceramic dish in the small foyer of the apartment, the heavier thunk of his briefcase as he set it down.
Seconds later he was at the kitchen door, a look of amusement on his face. “Am I really seeing this? You’re cooking?”
“There’s a first time for everything,” she teased. She laid down her knife on the chopping board and approached him. “I’m glad you’re home.”
“I’m glad too,” he said, bent his head, and kissed her hungrily. “I missed you.”
“You saw me this morning,” she replied with a smile.
“Yeah, I did, and I want to see you every morning, Michaela,” he said, reached into his jacket pocket, and withdrew a small, velvet box.
Her hand shook as he placed it on her palm, and she opened it. The ring inside was a carat-sized diamond surrounded by sapphire baguettes.
“The sapphires remind me of your eyes,” he said as he took the ring out of the box and reached for her hand.
“J, I don’t know what to say.” She’d kind of proposed to him already, and hadn’t really thought they’d go the whole traditional route.
He winked. “Considering I already said ‘yes’ to your proposal weeks ago, all I want to hear is, ‘I love you, J.’ ”
She gazed up at him, her heart filled with so much love she thought it might burst. “I love you, J. With all my heart and soul. I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” She hugged him tight, knowing that as long as she had him in her life, she could handle anything.
Vampires.
Slayers.
Maybe even babies like her friend Diana.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too, Michaela.” He kissed her again. “So how about I help you make dinner?” he said. He pulled off his jacket and walked to the chopping board, where he began to expertly slice the bell pepper she had left there.
“That sounds like a plan, J.” And it sounded so normal, like something an average couple would do.
Michaela thought of all that awaited them in the future. Like making a thousand more dinners together, growing old together, being a real family. She smiled.
Yeah. She could learn to do normal.