Trinity drank in the fresh night air outside the chapel.

The dancing had gone on so long, and the wine had gone to her head. All her usual shyness evaporated as she met her great big new family with an open heart.

But now the night had wound down and no one was left but the six who lived in the old academy. Ever since Brooke had purchased the building, she had been super gung-ho about sprucing the place up. They had all agreed to put the projects on hold for a week after the wedding. Trinity was happy for the quality of life improvements, but she was also really looking forward to a week without waking to the sound of power tools.

Conan and Brooke headed homeward first and Lobo and Veronica followed.

The moon was bright above the overgrown boxwood labyrinth, and the stars sparkled enticingly.

“Want to go for a walk?” Hawkeye asked, as if he had read her mind.

“Yes,” she said. “Guys, we’ll see you tomorrow,” she called to her friends.

Veronica turned around and waved just as Lobo swept her off her feet and carried her toward home.

Brooke smiled and blew a kiss, and Conan waved.

Trinity turned back to her husband.

Husband.

Somehow, the word just felt right.

Together they walked into the labyrinth.

“Do you feel any different?” he asked her.

“Yes, and no,” she said. “I think everything was decided with us the night we clicked. But tonight was magical, too.”

“I agree,” he said, squeezing her hand as they turned the first corner, past a small concrete birdbath.

“The best part was meeting your family,” she told him.

“Well, we’re doing it all over again next month so that I can meet yours,” he reminded her.

“I can’t wait,” she said. “My brothers are going to love you.”

They walked on in silence for a few minutes more. It was a pleasantly warm night with just enough mist hanging close to the grass to lend the labyrinth a haunting quality.

“I had a dream about this,” she heard herself say.

“What about it?” he asked.

“Oh, um, nothing just about the labyrinth,” she said quickly.

“Was I in it?” he asked teasingly.

She hesitated. It would be wrong to begin their marriage with a lie, but she was still a little embarrassed to admit she’d been dreaming about him.

“I was,” he said with a wicked grin.

She laughed and jogged ahead, shivering a little as she passed the cavorting fox statues from her dream.

“Don’t run from me, wife,” Hawkeye teased, his deep voice playing harmonics on her libido.

She ran on and an idea came to her.

She called on her gift a little.

Sure enough, the mist around her feet began to sparkle.

She pushed a little harder.

When she rounded the corner into the center of the labyrinth her breath caught in her throat.

Snowflakes drifted down to dot the late summer roses around the old sundial. A dusting had already settled on the marble benches.

She stood transfixed for a moment, breathless at what she had done.

One moment she was alone in the center of the labyrinth. The next she wasn’t.

Hawkeye’s wide shouldered form appeared.

“Trinity,” he said, his deep voice caressing her from across the little garden.

Trinity moved toward him.

Hawkeye’s smoldering gaze was hypnotic. And Trinity would never resist him again.

Her heart seemed to beat in time with her footsteps.

Closer, closer, closer…

At last she reached him.

He wrapped his arms around her and she shivered with the rightness of it.

She slid her hands up his muscled chest. She had never looked at him without wanting to feel his pecs under her palms.

He cupped her cheek with a massive warm hand, gazed down at her as if she were the most precious treasure in the world.

Trinity looked into his dark eyes and saw her own face reflected back in them, more beautiful than she could ever have imagined.

He bent to kiss her, his eyes closing at the last moment, lashes brushing his chiseled cheek.

She felt the warmth of his mouth against hers. Her whole body welcomed the sweet touch.

He smelled like a snowy forest. His hands slid down her back, molding her curves.

Trinity felt warm all over, the cool flakes exciting her heated skin.

She swayed against him, ready for anything, unsurprised when he swept her up in his arms.

“I need to get you home,” he said roughly.

Home.

The word had never sounded so sweet.

She cupped her hand around his cheek, stroked his jaw with her thumb as she gazed into those gorgeous brown eyes.

“Just one more minute here,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he agreed. “One more minute - all the minutes in the world, if you want them.”

“No, just this one,” she whispered.

Trinity drank in one last view of the snowy garden.

“I’m ready now,” she told him.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, then cradled her close as he carried her back through the labyrinth.

Trinity leaned her cheek against Hawkeye’s warm chest, and let her gaze rise up to the sky.

Above them, lazy snowflakes blended into the background of stars so that there seemed to be no barrier between the Earth and the heavens.