It was Friday morning and Niall had heard from Julian that Thea and Milo had spent the whole night in their office. Though Niall knew that this was a necessity for the time being, he did feel bad, so when he came in that next morning, he brought them both the finest breakfast he could buy on his way in. He even made them their coffee himself.

After Niall dropped everything off in their office, pleased at how appreciative they were, he reminded them to make sure that they rested tonight as they had planned to take the train into Abureth tomorrow morning and would need the sleep.

Then, he made his way back to his own office to get his day started.

Of course, his plans were interrupted by the sight of Kaya, a frown forming on his face immediately. "Party planning committee at your service," the woman, who was already within his room, her feet on his desk, said.

Of course, Niall wasn't actually unhappy to see her. Honestly, he was actually quite pleased. With everything going on, the two were so incredibly busy that it did feel like it had been a long time since they'd had a chance to sit around and just be... well... friends.

"Party planning?" he asked with a raised brow as he shut his door and walked over to her.

"I heard Milo and Thea are heading out tomorrow morning?" she said. "We should have a night out as a pre-leader meeting, good luck party. I was thinking Sunday night but I talked to Luana and she pointed out that they should rest after a long trip."

Niall rolled his eyes as he took his seat at his desk. "We don't have time–"

"Niall, you know as well as I do that these kids have been working their asses off for the last week."

The fact that she called them 'kids' made Niall oddly uncomfortable. He would have thought nothing of it not too long ago, but somehow, considering Thea a 'kid' now rubbed him the wrong way.

"No sleep and no play for so long... a night to just relax would do them some good, don't you think? It'd be a good reset for them, and a reminder that no matter what happens we, their bosses, are on their side."

She wasn't wrong.

Frankly, she might have been completely right. A night out would probably be exactly what everyone may need. "Fine," Niall sighed. "But we can't stay out too late, Milo and Thea need sleep."

"Perfect," Kaya grinned. "I'll let Mayra know to keep a table reserved for us. Let's meet at Eight?"

"Seven," Naill said. "I want everyone home by ten."

She stood, giving him a lazy salute. "Understood."







Thea was more than a little bit surprised when Luana told them that they were celebrating tonight. At first, Thea thought Luana was lying when she said the General was covering it, but when Thea arrived at Mayra's with both Luana and Milo, seeing the General, Julian and Kaya already there, she was proven wrong.

When they entered the bar, it was as crowded as they expected it to be, seeing as it was a Friday night, and when they reached the three Luana slumped down next to Julian and Thea next to her, while Milo took his spot on the other side of the booth, next to Niall who was beside Kaya.

Kaya was first to speak. "Oh my goodness, look at you two," she said to Milo and Thea. "You guys look absolutely exhausted!"

They were.

Both Milo and Thea were still wearing the clothes they put on yesterday, seeing as they spent the whole night in their office doing their writeup and consolidating all that they learned. Frankly, Thea could barely keep her eyes open, but she thought it would be rude to decline the offer.

"You could have at least gone home and rested a little first," Niall added, his eyes going from Milo to Thea, and the second he looked at her she felt her cheeks warm.

She knew she looked like a mess, her hair knotted back in a messy bun and her makeup completely washed off.

Maybe she should have gone back to the hostel for a bit.

"Well they're here now, so let's start the party!" Kaya said it loudly, making the General, whose ear was right next to her face, wince.

Almost as if on queue, the owner of the bar, Mayra herself, made her way towards the table. "The whole gang's here?" she asked. "Oh... minus Aari, it seems?"

Thea had already met this woman... many times, actually, seeing as she came here often with Luana and Milo. Of course, every time they spoke it was usually just exchanging greetings or Thea chuckling at the jokes Mayra would make about Luana and Milo, but this was really the first time she was paying attention to her.

This was, afterall, the first time she had seen the woman since she found out the role she played in Niall's life.

This woman was the one who took Niall and his mother off the streets. She was the one who employed his mother and gave the two a home... despite his mother being Elorian... despite Mayra being completely Aiverian.

A larger woman, she not only stood rather tall, but was filled in all the right places. She was beautiful, yes, with long brown hair that she braided over one shoulder and green eyes that stood out because of her thick black liner. Her skin was also tanned, darker than the usual Aiverian's skin, but it still looked lovely nonetheless.

But the best thing about this woman was that she was always smiling. She was the friendliest looking Aiverian woman Thea had ever seen, though Thea did also sense that the woman had a sternness to her. She certainly did imagine that she could stand her ground... but of course, a barmaid probably needed to have that trait.

"Food, drinks, what can I get for you all?" The woman asked, placing her hand on Milo's shoulder as she spoke, though she looked directly at Niall.

Niall smiled at the woman, more warmly than Thea had ever seen him smile at anyone. "We'll start with drinks," Niall responded. He then looked at Thea, gesturing at her with his chin. "This is Thea, in case you haven't met her already. She works for me."

The woman looked at Thea with her green eyes, her smile not faltering in the slightest. "Aw, I know her already," she said. "Luana and Milo have already introduced me to this pretty lady!"

Thea's cheeks warmed.

"We don't get to talk much though 'cos she seems so shy all the time. Tell me again, you're not from the Capital, am I right?"

"No, ma'am," Thea responded. "I'm from Abureth─"

"Ma'am?" The woman laughed loudly, the other's seeming amused too. "You're spending way too much time with Niall! He may have a stick up his ass but I don't. Just call me Mayra."

Thea began to chuckle now, feeling the warmth of this woman radiating off of her.

"Keep your head up and make sure you smile like that whenever you come see me, love. Or whenever you do anything around these parts, frankly. You Elorian girls gotta do that here in the Capital. It's the only way they'll know you aren't afraid."

Her comment surprised her, but Thea smiled and nodded.

"Ain't that right, Luana?"

"That's right," Luana agreed, grinning at the woman.

Mayra then kept her eyes on Thea for a moment, smiling, before turning to Niall. "She's so pretty, this one!"

Blushing, Thea watched as Niall flashed his brows in response before shifting in his seat. "Thank you for making her thoroughly uncomfortable, Mayra, now how about you bring us our drinks?"

Mayra laughed joyfully before surprising Thea by reaching over Milo, putting her hand on Niall's head and messing up his hair. "That's what I'm here for," she responded as everyone laughed. "Our finest beer?"

"Yes ma'am," Niall sighed, trying to fix his hair again before Kaya reached over and made it worse. He whacked her hand away but then sighed, giving up on fixing the hair.

Thea watched him, smiling, both pleased and perplexed by this new side of him that she was seeing more and more these days. A side she had never seen before. She never imagined ever seeing someone treat Niall Killian, the General of the Aiverian Army and the Deputy Secretary of Defense, like a child.

"Alright, finest beer in the Capital, coming right up!"

As soon as she was gone, Niall sighed.

"She's remarkable," Thea said softly... or at least, as softly as she could in that loud pub.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Niall responded, rolling his eyes and making Thea chuckle.

"You'll never meet a more boisterous woman," Julian said. "But she's really a mother to all."

"The best," Luana agreed.

And after spending some time praising the lovely woman, Thea looked around then back at the team. "So... no Mrs. Railer?"

"Mrs. Railer never comes to these," Luana said. "Not really her thing... with her age and all."

Thea nodded. Fair enough. "And... Aari too?"

"I invited Aari," Niall responded. "But unfortunately he's been rather busy himself."

"I'm starting to think the man doesn't want to meet me."

"No, that's certainly not the case," Milo said, rather quickly.

"He's very excited to see you," Niall added. "It's just a matter of trying to find the right time."

Right time? Thea thought. But she didn't question it. Instead she sighed. "Maybe I should go say hello myself?"

"You'd still have to catch him though," Luana said with a smirk.

Could he really be that busy?

Who knows, maybe he was.

She remembered the time when she caught a glimpse of him... while Railand was harassing her... just his presence seemed to scare the man off, but even after that, he vanished. So maybe Luana was right. Maybe it was hard to catch him.

"I'll take you to him," Niall then said. "After the meeting on Monday. We'll make sure you get a chance to say hello."

Thea liked the sound of that, eager to meet the last member of this family Niall cared so deeply about, but before Thea could respond, Mayra was back, masterfully holding multiple beers on one tray.

"First round is on the house," Mayra said as she placed the beers in front of the group. "May this meeting of yours go remarkably well!"

Thea didn't remember anyone telling her about the meeting, but she assumed that since this woman was close to Niall, she probably found out from him. Whatever the case, everyone toasted to that before chugging down their first beer.







The team had a great night together and for the first time since her birthday, Thea felt her heart grow warm at the thought that though these people were coworkers and took their job seriously... they could also be good friends. Weirdly, she felt at home.

Mayra would appear here and there to check on everyone but suddenly came by to proclaim that the second and third round would be on the house too if Niall would play the dusty piano that sat in the corner of the bar for everyone.

Everyone at the table instantly became excited, even the usually quiet Julian, trying to convince him to do it as Niall waved them off.

"Like old times," Mayra had said and that seemed to do the trick as it managed to get Niall to head over to the old, wooden piano.

As the team cheered him on, some others in the bar joining in too, Thea watched and wondered if that was the same piano he would play when his mother was alive.

It probably was.

It looked old enough.

He hesitated for a minute or so after he sat at the bench, and only after taking a deep breath did he actually begin tapping at the keys. He played a song that everyone perked up to, a popular song that many of the patrons of the bar, including Luana and Kaya, seemed to know the words to, singing along as he played.

It was a rather remarkable sight, Aiverians and Elorians singing together as a boy of mixed parentage played for them.

Thea didn't know the words well, though she wished she did so she could sing along too seeing as she was drunk enough to do so, but eventually she realized she was glad she didn't know the songs.

Glad that she could sit and watch as he played.

He wasn't as lost in his own music as he was the day she sneaked a viewing, but he still played marvelously. Marvelously enough that sometimes even the drunk patrons would have to pause their singing to just watch him play.

However, as the song he played came to an end and a new one started, Thea began to recognize it. When she caught a glimpse of his face, she saw that his eyes were closed... maybe for a moment he had forgotten where he was as he began playing a version of the tune that Thea heard him play at his home. It wasn't exactly the same, but he managed to smoothly work the song in, so well that she wouldn't have even noticed it was a different song if she hadn't heard it once herself.

It seemed like no one else here knew the song and all the patrons stopped their singing to simply listen and watch him play. When she looked at Julian, he looked back at her with a smile. He didn't play the full song, cutting it short but ending it perfectly, and when it was over the bar roared in applause.

Niall sat there quietly for a moment before getting up. "Like Mayra promised, everyone's next drink is on the house," he said loudly as Mayra scoffed while everyone in the bar began to cheer.

"I said that to your team!" She hissed over the noise.

Niall gave her an amused smile before returning to the rest of them. When he got back to their table, he grabbed his coat and began to slip into it. "Where're you going?" Kaya asked.

"Just to get some air," he said as he pulled out his cigarette case.

"I'd say that smoking is the opposite of getting air," Luana responded.

The General waved her off before putting a cigarette between his lips and leaving them all behind.

Thea blinked, catching a glimpse of his face as he pushed open the bar door and left. He looked rather solemn and from the sight of that, she now wondered whether or not he was okay.

After that, he was gone for quite some time and as the rest of them continued to drink their free drinks, Thea's eyes kept flickering towards the door, wondering when Niall would be back. Soon, after maybe a half hour, Luana leaned over, her entire body pressing against Thea. "Why don't you go check on him?" she asked, her voice soft. "I know you want to."

Thea's cheeks warmed up as she looked at her friend. "What? No."

"You've been staring at the door the entire time."

"I have not," Thea pouted as she put her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. As if to try and prove her point, Thea continued to simply look at Luana, watching as the girl's grin faded.

"Listen, you idiot," she said, her voice even softer now. "I'm trying to be a good wingwoman."

"What?" Thea chuckled. "That's not–"

"Thanks to me, Niall knows you think he's easy on the eyes... now it's up to you to make the next move."

"The next move?" Thea scoffed. "He's my boss!"

"So what? If he wasn't your boss, you'd totally go after him, right?"

Thea's response was to grab the beer in front of her and chug the last of it down. She knew she'd need to be drunk to continue this conversation.

"Well?"

"Maybe."

"Then go!"

"Just because I said maybe doesn't mean he's no longer my boss."

"Who cares," Luana said before a sigh. "People date their bosses all the time! Sure it looks weird, but what can you do when you're in love–"

"Luana, I'm not in love," Thea clarified quickly.

"Oh come on, girl, do you even know what love is?"

"What's that supposed to mean, girl?" Thea responded, frowning.

"It means you've probably never even kissed a guy before."

"Have too!" Thea argued.

"Luana," Milo called, hearing their argument now that their voices were getting louder. "Leave her alone."

She ignored him. "Oh yeah, name one. Now. If you hesitate, I'll know."

"Aaryan," Thea said without wasting a breath and failing to notice Julian begin to choke on his drink and both Milo and Luana gawk while Kaya snorted into a fit of laughter. "I was ten. It was in a park."

"Aaryan?" Luana repeated.

"Aaryan Dharunan. He was a year older than me and we were childhood friends," she explained, trying to prove that she wasn't making it up by simply stating facts. "Cutest kid in town, by the way. And he kissed me."

Julian cleared his throat and gave the still laughing Kaya a look which made her start clearing her throat too.

Luana's brows were high on her forehead before she shook her head and began pushing Thea. "Go check on Niall, lovergirl," she said.

Luana's push made Thea slip out of the booth, almost falling in the process. "Luana!" Both she and Milo called together.

It looked like Luana was trying very hard to hold back her laugh, and Milo looked rather frustrated. "Checking on him might be a good idea, Thea," he said to her. "He has been out for a while."

Hearing Milo say it made Thea feel a little less embarrassed. "Well, okay then. I'll go."

Milo smiled at her.

After Thea grabbed her own coat before turning and walking away, she heard Luana begin to laugh out loud. "Cutest kid in town, huh?" she heard Luana say. "She's hilarious! Wait till Aari hear's about that!"

"Leave it, Luana," Milo responded.

"One of these days, Thea's going to hate you," Julian added.

Thea found herself chuckling, though she didn't find there to be much wrong with telling Aari... maybe he'd think Thea was funny.

That wouldn't be so bad for him to know before they met.

As Thea approached the door however, she heard Mayra call out her name. When she looked in the direction of the bar, she saw the woman standing behind it, waving for her to come over. "Dear god, that hair of yours," the woman surprised her by saying as she placed two whiskey glasses in front of her. "The way it dances when you move... stunning."

Thea chuckled, running her fingers through her hair which was now out of its messy bun. "Thank you very much!"

"Niall's mother had hair like that too... a little longer but similar," Mayra filled the glasses with whiskey as she spoke. "It's that hair that made me stop on the street to talk to her that first time."

Thea hesitated, taken aback by her bringing this up.

"He told me that he shared that part of his life with you," she clarified.

"Oh... yes, he did."

"Sometimes I think maybe I push him too much," she said, using her chin to gesture at the piano. "The boy has made up his mind that the best way to move forward is to forget his past, but I disagree. If he pushed the memory of his mother away then he would lose the good in him... the woman who made him good."

Thea nodded. "I'd agree with that."

"And that's why I push him to play for me," she looked over at the piano. "When he was little, he looked so tiny in front of that thing... but his mother would always be right next to him, singing her songs as he played."

Thea looked at the piano, a rush of emotion filling her.

"And he wasn't that good back then you know," Mayra said with a chuckle, "but with every mistake he made when he pressed those keys, his mother would somehow salvage it with her voice, making it sound like he never made a mistake to begin with... sometimes she'd even make the mistake seem like it sounded better than the original. She'd tell him that mistakes and stumbles should never hold you back. Use them to make you better."

"It's hard to believe she was so young..."

"The cruel world aged her," Mayra said. "But she took the pain and instead of focusing her energy on anger and hate, she focused it on becoming a good mother to her innocent child."

She thought back to when she made her big mistake... how easily the General forgave her. Clearly he learned from the best.

"Anyways," Mayra sighed loudly. "All of this to say, I think I may have pissed the kid off a little by forcing him to play," she winked. "I focus so much on trying to make sure that he doesn't forget her that I find myself forgetting that he's still hurting."

Thea smiled sadly.

"So give him this for me," she pushed the glasses forward. "One for you too, on me... but tell him that I'm putting everyone's round he claimed was on me onto his tab."

Thea laughed, taking the glasses. "Thank you." With that, Thea carefully carried the two glasses out the door.

It was dark out now, the streets lit only by the street lamps, seeing as the clouds were thick and the moon and stars were nowhere in sight.

However, she spotted Niall quickly.

He was across the street, sitting at one of the benches that were scattered around the tiny little park that was there, his back towards the bar.

She waited for two cars to pass before she carefully ran across the cobblestone road, and when she reached the other side, she could see the smoke coming from his cigarette as she approached him.

"How many is that?" Thea asked when she reached him. "You've been smoking since you came out!"

He looked up at her in surprise before pulling the cigarette away from his lips. "Just the second," he said. "I'm not that addicted."

She chuckled. "May I?" She gestured at the empty seat next to him.

"Of course," he even moved over a little to give her more space.

When she sat, she handed him his whiskey. "From Mayra... an apology for pushing you too hard." Niall took the glass with a smile. "Though she did add that the free round you apparently lied about is going to be on your tab."

Now he rolled his eyes. "That woman," he sighed. "She's a nightmare."

"To nightmares we love," Thea said before clinking her glass against his.

He let out an amused huff before they both took a sip together.

The whisky was smooth but burned its way down Thea's throat. It didn't bother her though, the alcohol warming her from the inside out.

After the two shared a moment of a rather comfortable silence, watching the water in the tiny little pond across from them move gently to the light, cool breeze, Thea spoke up. "You don't have to answer this," she started. "But is it hard... for you to play?"

He didn't respond right away, sipping his drink. Thea also noticed right then that he had put out his cigarette despite not being finished with it. "Not hard," he said. "Yes, it reminds me too much of my mother and that aspect of it is hard... but playing is really the only way I can... take a step away from the real world. It has the potential to put you in a state of focus that's so deep that you forget even time."

She nodded.

Everyone had that one hobby that could do that for them. For her, it was reading fiction. Sometimes she would read for what felt like moments and the whole day would pass. Other times she would read for what felt like hours and only a few minutes would pass.

Honestly she didn't know which was better... she just knew it was her favourite thing to do.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"No," he responded. "I don't always have the luxury of losing myself in something I find pleasure in."

"You're allowed to have hobbies," Thea responded.

He thought about that as he shifted and rested one arm on the back of the bench, behind her. She noticed, though she pretended not to. "Not really," he said. "Not when you directly have the lives of people in your hands."

"I think you're the only man with your kind of money and power who feels that way in all of these lands," Thea said. "Everyone else spends most of their time golfing... or something like that."

"Well someone has to," he said, giving her an amused smile. "Or else we'd be stuck in the same state forever."

Thea looked at him with a bit of admiration. "But still, I think you should still be allowed to have a hobby."

Niall chuckled. "Maybe I should take up golfing?"

Thea laughed and rolled her eyes. "That'd make you a little less intriguing."

"You think playing the piano makes me intriguing?"

Thea shrugged. "More than golf, certainly."

To that, he laughed. "So, my choice of hobbies aside, are you excited to see your family tomorrow?"

Thea smiled and nodded. "I'll be honest, as much as I'd love to spend time with them, Milo and I do have a lot of work to do and only one day," she said. "We'll probably go straight to the library first. We can then head home for dinner and I can spend the evening with everyone... but Rue is my priority right now."

Niall nodded slowly. "How about you go see them next weekend? Leave the Friday night and come back for Monday?"

"That's a good idea," she said. "I'm sure my family would be super upset when they realize how little time I have with them... telling them that I'll be back might make them relax a little."

"You deserve the time away," he said.

"If we save his life."

"Even if we don't," Niall responded. "I told you not to put that on your shoulders."

"I can't help it," was her response as she sighed. "I've grown to like him way too much."

"I can tell," he smiled. "I never imagined you two would develop any sort of friendship."

"Neither did I," she said, looking down at the drink in her hands. "I think..." She hesitated, the thought of her brother and his brother entering her mind. Almost instantly, she began to feel a little guilty, remembering that she was keeping something from the General.

All this talk about honesty and trust, yet she never told the General that her own brother was a Crow.

"I think he realized that we had a few things in common," she said. "Our relationship with our brother's... to be specific."

"Right. You're very close to your brother too."

"Yes," she hesitated. "And..." She looked at Niall and saw that he was watching her, rather intently.

The guilt in her rose.

She knew that in reality, she had no reason to have to tell him about her brother, but the relationship she had with him... the relationship the entire team had with each other... somehow it made her feel like keeping this from him was a form of lying, and she didn't want to by lying to the General. Maybe it was because she was a little drunk right now, and being drunk really did make her rather emotional.

But of course, at the same time... despite all of her guilt, she also didn't want to put her brother's life at risk. So she sighed. "And," she continued. "I guess I could really relate to him..." she said, rather vaguely. "My brother... well..."

Niall kept his eyes on her, not saying anything and when she looked at him, she felt a sudden feeling of vulnerability. His expression was calm and his eyes were warm despite the cool green of them and somehow it all calmed and warmed her too. So she let out a breath as she set her whiskey glass down beside her. "Are we... just Niall and Thea right now?"

He raised a brow, not understanding her for a moment before smiling when he did.

"Not the General of the Aiverian Army and Deputy Secretary of Defense... and Miss. Rhaanan?"

"Just Niall and Thea," he said with a chuckle.

"So what I'm about to say... it can be off the record?"

"Off the record."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

She smiled at him, trusting him. She knew she could trust him. "Rue opened up to me because I told him about my own brother. About how... the reason I started wanting to do something about the situation we all live in was partly because of him," she said, honestly, though at the same time not being specific. "My brother... is one of the best men I know. Other people may not agree with that, but I know him. And it's because of this that I wanted to help share the stories of Crows... because sometimes they're good people who are just fighting for something that's important to them."

Niall nodded slowly.

"Rue seemed to have been able to relate to that."

"Because he originally wanted to fight with words too... before what happened to his brother."

Thea nodded, looking back at Niall. "My brother... has gotten himself involved in things he shouldn't be involved in..." She paused for a moment, trying to think of the right words, but before she could continue, Niall surprised her by reaching out and putting a hand over hers.

This surprised her, though the feeling of his hand on hers was pleasant and she most certainly did not want him to move his hand away. When she looked at him though, the expression on his face made her heart skip a beat as her eyes widened.

He knew.

Niall knew... about her brother.

Of course he knew.

"How..."

"We had our suspicions when we did our background check of you, the day before we met, but then I saw him with the rifle that day... after we had our first conversation."

She blinked, remembering when he got home and saw her brother with the gun, trying to get away from their mother so that he could come 'save' Thea. "You... did?"

Niall nodded.

"But... you didn't do anything."

Niall didn't look away from her. "I didn't come to Abureth Town that day to hunt Crows," he said. "Besides, my real concern was what having a brother who was a revolutionary Crow would mean about you... but you seemed to prove yourself on your own."

Thea was dumbfounded. "You're the General of the Aiverian Army... how could you just ignore a Crow with a rifle?"

Niall still looked calm, as if his answer to her question was incredibly straightforward. "Because he was a Crow with a rifle who seemed to want to defend his sister," he said. "He settled down after you came home safe, and so I had no reason to act. If he still came after me with that rifle, on the other hand, then that would be a different story."

She was gawking.

"It's like you said, Thea... there are more to these men than meets the eye," he said. "Plus, I preach this idea that we must judge people for ourselves after observing their actions and understanding who they are and what their motives are first. What kind of man would I be if I didn't act on my own words and instead charged head first simply because he had the title of a Crow?"

"He had a rifle."

"He didn't point it at me," Niall responded.

Thea shook her head in disbelief. "Any other State Officer would have arrested him instantly."

"I'm sure you know at this point that the people you work with right now are anything but any other State Officer," he said. "And to be completely transparent, my priority was getting you to join our side... pinning down your brother and holding a gun to his head while threatening to arrest him doesn't seem like it would have been a wise thing for me to do to gain your trust."

Thea couldn't help but chuckle at that before she reached out and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly. She knew that she only allowed herself to do this because she was drunk, but her heart was aching in happiness over what she had just learned.

She knew she could trust him before, but now... somehow she knew now more than ever that she really, really could trust him.

She knew she could rely on him

Thea felt him hesitate at her touch for a moment, before he allowed himself to hug her back, his whisky glass still in his hand. "I do appreciate that you trusted me enough to want to share this with me, whether I already knew it or not."

She pulled away and looked at him. "Why did you never tell me that you already knew?"

"Because I didn't want you to be stressed out," he said. "I didn't think that you'd truly believe me when I say that, so long as he stays out of trouble, I will not concern myself over him. And that my understanding that he has a sister like you makes it easier for me to believe that he isn't a bad person."

Neither of them realized that though they were no longer hugging, they were still holding hands. Even as Thea looked down at them, she still didn't process it. "Thank you," she said. "My brother means the world to me... if anything happened to him..."

"I understand," Niall responded. "And I'd be happy to hear more about him, if you're willing to share."

Thea smiled widely, but just as she was going to respond, she felt a cool sensation on her cheek. Blinking in surprise, she looked up before smiling at the sight of a light snow that began sprinkling over them. Almost instantly, as snow often managed to do, the quiet night streets of the Capital suddenly seemed a lot more beautiful. "It's snowing!" Thea said happily.

Niall didn't respond, and when her eyes fell on him, she saw that he was looking at her with a small smile, brows slightly furrowed. He looked strangely peaceful.

The sight of him made her feel warm..

And it also made her want to kiss him.

She was drunk enough to do it, though despite being drunk, there was still a part of her that was sober enough to tell her no. Even if they were just Niall and Thea right now... he was still her boss.

She couldn't kiss him.

She could ruin everything.

And just before the drunk side of her could fight back, they heard Luana's loud, shrill voice. "It's snowing!"

Both Niall and Thea pulled away from each other instantly, only then noticing that they had been holding hands. Niall began to clear his throat as Thea turned away and grabbed her glass, gulping down the last of her alcohol.

Wingwoman? She found herself hissing in her mind.

"Hey, you guys!" She shouted from across the street as the rest of the team left the bar behind her. "It's snowing!"

"We can see that," Niall and Thea said together, both of them sounding rather annoyed. But their response made the two of them look at each other, a little surprised, before the both of them let out a little laugh.

Thea then smiled before getting up, holding her now empty glass with both her hands.

And then she decided she didn't really care that everyone was so close.

She bent over and pressed her lips against Niall's cheek.

He looked surprised, lips parted slightly as she pulled away.

"Thank you," she said, still smiling and feeling warm. "For everything."