And Only Surrender Will Help You Now

Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead be out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance
Silvermoon's sparkling
So kiss me

~ Sixpence None The Richer
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Taking a great, deep breath, Kate nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be I guess." Her eyes returned to the big house and fell upon the woman standing on the porch. "Is that your mother?"

Brian furrowed his brows and turned in his seat again, looking in the same direction as Kate. And sure enough, his mother was standing outside the front door. When she caught his eyes she waved enthusiastically and started walking towards the car. Without saying anything, Kate sighed before pressing a quick kiss on his cheek and getting out of the car. Brian stayed sitting for an extra few seconds and followed her, walking to the back of the car where Kate'd just opened the trunk. While he reached in to grab their bags, Kate was approached by his mother.

"You must be Katherine. It's so nice to meet you!" She wrapped her arms around the redhead and kissed her cheek. Brian, who was lifting the last bag out of the trunk, was glad that he'd called ahead and told his mother about Kate.

"Pleasure's all mine, mrs. Boyle." Her parents may not have been around much or for very long, but politeness had definitely been pounded into her head throughout childhood. Mrs. Boyle leaned back to look her in the face and shook her head with a smile.

"Call me Judy, sweetie." Kate got an affectionate pat on the cheek and couldn't help to smile back at the dark haired woman. Judy then seemed to notice her son and brought him down into a hug. "Hi, baby. How have you been? And why haven't you told me about Katie earlier?" That last part was whispered in his ear and Brian settled for answering with a shrug.

It wasn't until the two had grabbed their bags and started following Judy towards the still open front door that Brian noticed the amount of cars in the driveway and on the street.

"Mom? What's going on?"

Kate had noticed the cars as well and leaned up towards Brian to whisper: "Is your entire family here?" And just after that, Judy answered Brian's question.

"It's just a small welcome home party. You know how they are."

Apparently, they are half the population of Hingham, Kate thought as she looked at the cars first and then turned her gaze to the house, where she thought she could see the outlines of faces in the windows facing the street. Brian saw the look on her face and placed a warm hand on the small of her back. "Don't worry. They won't bite."

This only made her poke her tongue out at him and quicken her steps to walk next to Judy, who was positively beaming. "Don't you mind Brian, sweetie. They'll love you."

And she was right. Kate was accepted by his family at once, even the kids but that was most likely because she was someone new to play with. Brian and Kate had both been given a drink and the party had moved to the garden at the back of the house. When talking to Michelle and Gabrielle, Kate heard the clearing of a throat and then Brian's voice calling for attention.

"Thanks for coming over, even though Katie and I had no idea about this." He looked pointedly at his mother. "But we have an announcement."

Chris, wanting to be funny, decided to yell: "She pregnant?"

To this Brian flipped him off before continuing. "Katie and I are getting married." The way he said it, so laid back as if it was something he did daily, made Kate choke on her drink and while in shock, Michelle pounded her back.

"C'mon, Katie." Brian grinned while motioning her towards him. Still red faced from choking, Kate took a couple of slightly wobbly steps until Brian could wrap an arm around her waist and bring her close to his side. The entire backyard was silent before the two were showered with hugs. Both at the same time were squeezed by Judy who, after letting them go, turned to her son.

"Why-didn't-you-say-something?!" Each word was delivered with a slap on the arm.

Kate and Brian shared a look, silently communicating about what to say. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

"I'll say." Artie Sr. commented and slapped his son on the back.

Once they were back inside, scattered around the living room, Julie Ann turned to Kate, holding her chin in her hand. "So, how'd he do it?"

"Do what?" Kate had been pushed down on the sofa, squished between Jennifer and Julie Ann. Though the living room was quite large, it was filled to it's capacity with kids, teens and adults. Brian's friends had left after they announced their engagement with the promise of meeting up later. Up until her thoughts had been interrupted, Kate had been looking around. Photos of Brian and his siblings as kids were spread around the room. The old furniture made the atmosphere warm and inviting. The complete opposite of our living room, she thought and reminisced back to her own childhood. But, as previously mentioned, those thoughts were interrupted by Julie Ann.

"How'd my giant of a brother propose?" She rolled her eyes but kept a fond smile on her face.

"Oh, uhh..." Kate faltered and quickly glanced over at Brian, and turned back to his sister. "Are you sure you want to know?" She teased and laughed as Julie scrunched her face up.

"He didn't do it in bed, did he?"

Kate couldn't help laughing at the face she did and was joined by Jennifer.

"What? It was just a question."

"No, he didn't do it in bed."

"Who didn't do what in bed?" Brian seemed to have decided to join them and was leaned over the back of the sofa where Kate was sitting. She tilted her head back and answered him with a smile. "You didn't propose in bed. Julie wanted to know how you did it."

"Uhh..." This had caught them both off guard, and Brian looked down at Kate. "Why don't you tell her? You like telling that story, don't you babe?"

She looked back at him, her face blank as well as her tone of voice when she responded. "Sure, I'll tell them." Turning to Jennifer and Julie Ann, Kate ignored her 'fiancé' and decided not to play nice anymore. "It was very sweet actually. I'd known for a while that Brian was thinking about popping the question, but he was so nervous." Those within hearing distance had quieted down to listen and Kate could feel Brian's dark eyes drilling into the back of her head. "For days he walked around, constantly on edge, it was adorable. And then, one day when I came home from work there were rose petals leading towards the bedroom and as I followed them and stopped in front of the bed, there was a box. As I opened it, hundreds of tiny paper hearts flowed out. All of them hand cut. And underneath, there was this big, fat-" Kate waved her hands while talking, but she was interrupted by Brian, who'd apparently had enough of her embarrassing him with her made up story.

"-Huge nothing." All eyes turned to him, even Kate's. "No ring. But underneath all that... crap, was a note with the name of a hotel and the room number."

"I thought her was seeing someone else." Kate sighed, and everyone turned back to her. "It was a very hard time emotionally for me." The women around the room looked at her pityingly while Brian glared at the top of her head. "But, I went over there, hell-bent on confronting him when the room door opened and there were even more roses and petals than over at our place. Right in the middle of it all was Brian, who was on one knee with tears in his eyes-"

"I asked her to marry me and she said 'yup'. When're we eating?" Brian interrupted again, just wanting the whole story to end, but his oldest sister turned to him.

"Oh, shut up, Brian. Why are you so unromantic?" Jennifer questioned while Gabrielle nodded agreeingly. "You know, we've never even seen you kiss her. Is he always like that?" The last question was directed at Kate, who was interrupted for the third time but now by Brendan who was standing at the opposite side of the room.

"Yeah! C'mon, Brian! Kiss her! Kiss her!" Almost everyone joined in on the chant, even Artie Sr. and Judy, the latter dragging Kate up from the sofa and pushing her towards Brian who caught her by her upper arms. The two tried to come up with a way to divert the family's attention, Kate the only one to try verbally.

"I-It's not necessary." She tried to protest but was drowned out by the many voices chanting. She then looked up and met Brian's eyes, both of them trying to get away without doing it. In the end, he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"There."

This wasn't satisfactory enough though and Jennifer voiced their thoughts. "C'mon, baby brother! Give her a real kiss!"

Brian rolled his eyes at his sister before cupping Kate's face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. Werther it was a conscious decision or not, she kissed him back and her arms rose to grab his shirt at his waist. Her lips tasted like the strawberry lip-gloss she was wearing, while his held the tang of the beer he'd been drinking earlier. Some time during during the few seconds long kiss and the time they broke apart to cheers, the kiss had become real. Of course, if they were asked, both of them would heatedly deny it.

When the kiss ended after about seven seconds, Brian and Kate quickly stepped away from eachother and she was dragged back to the sofa with the girls and he was allowed to return to the guys and their beer.
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After eating a huge 'welcome home/congratulations on the proposal' dinner, Judy lead the pair up the stairs and to Brian's old room.

"Here we are," she said as they walked into the room. "There are clean towels in the closet and if you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask."

When they didn't turn to go anywhere else, Kate asked: "Where's Brian sleeping?"

"He'll be staying in here with you. We're not going to try to convince ourselves that you don't sleep in the same bed in New York. Besides, you're both adults and you're engaged. Who are we to tell you what to and what not to do?" Judy laughed and went to leave the room. Kate felt that she did a good job with hiding her real feelings about her and Brian sharing a room, and smiled along with the older woman.

Turning to her son, Judy said: "Your father and I trust your judgement about what's appropriate under this roof." And with that she left the room and closed the door, leaving Brian staring and Kate gaping. Upon recovering she looked around the room. It was medium sized, not small and not big either, with not too much furniture. There was a king-sized bed, something Brian probably needed when he still lived there since had to have been the biggest kid out of thirteen, a bureau and some hockey things scattered around the room. There were a few pictures as well, team photos from his childhood hockey teams and group photos with his siblings.

There was also two doors leading to the wardrobe and bathroom respectively. Kate then picked up her bags and laid them on the bed, opening one of them in search for something to sleep in. Finding what she was looking for, she left for the bathroom, leaving Brian standing in the bedroom.

When she came out, wearing a grey, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts, he was still standing in the same place. It wasn't until Kate lifted her bags off of the bed and got underneath the covers that Brian spoke.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to bed. What does it look like?" She retorted and threw a pillow and a blanket at him. Catching the items against his chest, Brian stared down at her.

"What's this supposed to mean?" He asked, motioning to them. Kate opened one of her closed eyes and looked up at him as if he was stupid.

"I am not sharing this bed with you. Those," she pointed to the pillow and blanket, "are to make you a little more comfortable on your floor bed. Good night."

And before Brian could say or do anything, Kate flipped the light off, leaving the room in complete darkness.

"Bitch."

"I heard that."