Domesticity

Epilogue

Marshall woke up suddenly to his daughter's blue eyes over his head. 

He shifted, then a hand snapped to his chest and caught the sleeping baby there. 

"What's up, Dessie?" He asked tiredly. 
"Can I have hot cocoa?" 
Marshall sat up, a crick in his neck from the couch. "We should wait until your mother and sister are coming in." 

"Mommy and Jazz came in earlier and got a carrot for the snowman." 
Marshall put the baby in his little cot and turned to face Dessie as she coughed violently. 
"Are you sure that you don't want tea?" Marshall asked gently. 
"No, I'm fine." 

"Okay, let's go make the hot chocolate." 
"On the stove." Dessie demanded. "Not the powder kind."
"Okay, but you have to take your cough syrup." Marshall said slyly. 

Dessie made a face, but nodded. 

A little while later, Fionna and Jazz came in, stamping the snow off of their feet. 
"It's snowing in mid-October! It's snowing before Halloween!" Jazz chattered excitedly.
Marshall slid Fionna's mittens off, then enveloped her hands in his. "You're so cold, Fi." 
"Mm... well, Jazz won the snowball fight, so..." She laughed. "Your hands feel so nice though." 

"What else is cold?" He smirked. 
She mirrored his expression. "Not in front of the kids, Marshall." 
"Well, what if we give Blake a little friend?" He purred, swinging her up into his arms. 
She laughed again, leaning into him. "Blake has two great sisters and two amazing parents, so stop swinging me around like a sack of potatoes, or I'll do the same to you!" 

He grinned. "Well, I wouldn't exactly mind... wait, what's burning?" 
Black smoke billowed out of the kitchen, setting off the smoke alarm. Marshall set Fionna down and was about to race into the kitchen when she stopped him. "Put your height to use." 

"Rude." He kissed her forehead hurriedly, before grabbing a chair. "Jazz, crack open a window, will you?!" 
The six year old obeyed, and the beeping noise, coupled with the thick smoke and now a draft made the baby wail. 

Fionna turned off the stove then held the 'hot chocolate' under the tap and ran it, before turning it off and going to pick up Blake. "Hey, it's okay, buddy." 
The baby whimpered and curled up next to her chest. Marshall finally managed to shut off the smoke alarm. 
Marshall shut the window then took the baby from Fionna. "I'll sing him back to sleep soon enough. Right, little guy?" 

"Oh come on Marshall. You always get the baby. Let me hold the little guy." Fionna cooed. 
The baby gurgled and smiled, pleased with all of the attention that he was getting. 
"Why does the baby get all of the attention?" Dessie asked sullenly before sneezing. 
"I thought you didn't mind that." Jazz noted. 

"I didn't expect a baby." Dessie huffed. 

Jazz tackled her into a hug. "I like the baby. He's cute and smells nice sometimes." 
"Sometimes he doesn't." Dessie retorted. 

Jazz hugged her again. "You'll always have me." 

"Oh no. We're a family. We'll always be together. It's perfect." Marshall rested his head on top of Fionna's, reaching around her to let Blake grasp Marshall's index finger in his tiny fist. 
She kissed her husband's chin gently. "It's not perfect, but it is algebraic. Besides, who would want a perfect family anyway?" 

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

"Fi. Fi please." Marshall begged. "It's cute." 
"Let's not be the people who match everything." Fionna sighed. 
"We're not matching everything! We're not even coordinating with the kids! But couple's costumes are adorable." 

Fionna leaned against the kitchen counter. "What are the kids, anyway? I know what Dessie's going as, but you and Jazz are very secretive about her costume and Blake's." 
"Mm, she gets it from her father." He smirked. "I'll tell you, though. For a price." 
"Why do I get the feeling this 'price' would involve activities that might or might not involve creating another baby?" Fionna laughed. 

Marshall grinned back. "Alright, fine, I'll tell you. Just because you're so hot and amazing and everything. Not Jazz's costume, that's hers to tell. But Blake is going to be a cute little dragon to match Dessie being a princess." 
"And what do you want us to be again?" 

"One, we could ironically be King Fang and Power Heroine. Two, we could be a vampire and a slayer. Three, we could go along with the kids and be a king and queen." 
"Ha, so Jazz is going along with the other two." Fionna grinned. 
Marshall rolled his eyes. "Maybe. Maybe not. What did you want to be for Halloween anyway?" 

Fionna shrugged. "I wasn't really going to be anything." 
"Well... we could be ghosts." Marshall grinned. "All we need for that is a sheet..." 
Fionna looked at him for a minute before laughing. "You're never going to stop, are you?" 
"Nope. Anyway, come on. After trick or treating, there's a party I want to go with you to." 

Fionna laughed awkwardly. "Your friends... I don't think they like me." 
"Nah. They like you just fine." 
"Didn't they try to kill me a while back?" 

"To be fair, they do that with all of my significant others. Besides, they were just pranking you. They didn't mean anything by it." 
Fionna glared at him, and Marshall shrugged. "I'm not afraid to sleep on the couch, Fi. The couch is a cloud compared to my old one from the bachelor life." 
"I was pregnant, what if they had hurt Blake?!" 

"I never would have let it get that far. I stopped it, remember? And both you and Blake are fine." He pulled her into a long hug. "They'll behave, I promise. So, please can we do the cute thing and have matching costumes?" 
"Olivia might be going out." 
"And Hedgeford can watch the kids. Well, Jeanine. But, anyway, please?" He knelt in front of her, hands clasped together. 

"Are you going to say something about...?" Fionna began. 
"And while I'm down here..." Marshall smirked. 
Fionna smiled. "There it is." 
"Kids are gone and I've had a dry spell for about 5 years until I met you." Marshall purred. "Every chance I get, I'm going to ta--." 

Fionna rolled her eyes and tuned him out. "Fine, we can match. On two conditions; one, I pick the costumes." 
"Awww." Marshall pouted, before rising off the floor. "Cruel, but fair." 
Fionna shot him a fond, if exasperated, look. "And two, you shut up about sex for the moment." 

Marshall laughed. "Fine. It's not just lust, you know. I love you." 
Fionna leaned up and kissed him. "I love you too." 

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

*Author's Note* 

Hey, thanks for reading this story, guys. I'm super glad that you liked it. (If you didn't, you probably didn't make it this far, unless a) you were fueled purely by spite, in which case you are an interesting person in need of a hobby besides forcing yourself to read Fiolee fanfiction, or b) something recently went wrong and you were hoping I'd fixed it. I probably didn't.)