"Have ya heard anythin' from Wolverine yet, sugah?"

"No, Rogue. I'm worried about him."

"I don't know, Jean. If we haven't heard from him, that probably means he's alright."

"But, Scott, what about Callie? She was so confused and scared. What if he doesn't fin-?"

The room lit with a sparkling green mist as Logan and Callie materialized over the kitchen table. They hit the table with a loud thud and Logan rolled to the floor. "Damn," Callie mumbled, rubbing her head, "Gotta work on my form."

"Uh-huh." Logan went on to grumble under his breath.

"Oh, quit your bitchin'. I got us here, didn't I?"

"Ya'd like ta think so."

Callie stomped on his chest as she stepped to the floor. "Hi, Jean," she muttered, as though it had been ten minutes since they'd last seen each other.

"Celeste!" Jean hugged Callie, who was almost as tall as she in stiletto heels, "I was worried about you!"

"Were you really?" Callie seemed comforted by the thought. "Thank you."

More hugs and exclamations ensued as she made her way to Charles's bedroom, encountering all of the X-men somewhere along the way.

Celeste felt tears collect in her throat. They all seemed to care so much about her. It was like having a second family, almost. It was wonderful.

"Hello, Charles," she said from the doorway. Logan was behind her. Charles looked up from his paper, sitting by the window and looking exactly as she had found him on her first morning here. "Callie," her name reached her ears, and suddenly, she was glad she hadn't run away. She was glad she had come back to hear Xavier say her name just like that. She flew across the room and threw her arms around him. He returned her hug. "I'm very glad to see you're all right."

"Yeah, me, too," she answered vaguely.

Charles didn't waste time. "Will you stay this time?"

"Are you asking?"

"Nothing would please me more, Callie. Or Logan, I'm willing to bet."

She laughed. "Done, then. I would love to stay."

Beast spoke up, he and Rogue having crowded in behind Logan. "Won't this be an interesting addition to our little household."

Callie grinned and said, "You bet your ass." She shook her head and squared her shoulders. "If I'm gonna stay, I have to tie up some loose ends."

"Speakin' o' loose ends, mon enfant," Callie turned to face Marie Leveau as she appeared beside Charles.

"Tante Marie, I was just going to call you. I wanted to-"

"Shhh. . .Hold still."

"For what?"

"Because," Marie smiled and drew a needle and thread from her pouch. "I'm gonna sew your knees together!"

The blood drained from Callie's face. "What?"

"You gotta be crazy, *fille!*" Marie and Celeste faced each other, arms crossed over their chests. "You ain't married dis time, either." The use of the words "this time" wasn't lost on any of them. One look at Celeste's dark face told everyone that was a conversation for another day. "And you're pregnant with the next generation." She turned to Logan and jabbed a finger at him. "And you! You better be plannin' t'marry de chere, or heads or gonna roll!"

"What do you mean you're pregnant?" Logan ignored Marie and took Callie by the shoulders, turning her to face him.

"It means I'm pregnant."

"How?" His brain was hobbled, apparently.

"Well, mon ami," Marie cut in caustically, "When two people get t'get'her and decide to-"

"Marie!" Callie snapped. "Stay out of this!"

"What for?! If I did, you'd just screw it up further."

"Because I tols you to." Celeste turned her head far enough to show her displeasure to her meddling aunt with a frigid glare.

Marie growled frustration and began to pace, although she did back off.

"Merde, girl. You in a whole lotta jambalaya now. *Ton mère est mort*. She's dead, Celeste. People's gettin' antsy wi' an empty throne. As far as dey concerned, you been spendin' the last four months wit' your skirts tossed over your head-"

"I wish."

"-And they ain't gonna take it lightly that you're followin' in your grandmère's footsteps, creatin' a whole string o' bastard kiddies."

"So?! Maman did the same. I got more half-siblings than I got hairs on my head."

"If you don't marry him now, how you gonna get a legitimate heir?" Marie forced the question past clenched teeth. "Unless you plannin' on somebody else being the father o' the next princess."

Celeste sighed. So she had a point. She looked helplessly at Logan. She might be a queen, but she was bound by so many rules and dictates, it was awful hard to breathe sometimes.

"Logan? We need to talk."

A few minutes later, ensconced in the study downstairs, Logan sat on the couch, patiently waiting for Callie to spit out whatever it was she was gonna say.

She took a deep breath and thrust the question out into the open. "Logan, you want to marry me?" She made it sound like she'd rather do taxes.

"Why?"

Her mouth fell open. She huffed and turned away, about to bounce out of the room. "I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer!"

"Wait a minute, come back here-"

"No."

"Yes." He thrust his arms under her knees and shoulders and hefted her off the floor.

"PUT ME DOWN or I'm gonna kill me a Canadian!"

He tossed her down on the couch and came down on top of her. She stopped moving. "No ya won't, darlin'. Ya don't really want to hurt the man ya spent four months savin' and your whole life dreamin' about."

She went deathly still before she started sputtering indignantly. "How-? How do you know anything about me? How do you know it isn't Gambit I have a crush on? Yeah, you know, he is extremely-"

"Sweetheart, you forget how much we've shared. We go way back, remember?" She looked away then. in a small voice, she said, "I've tried so hard to forget. I guess I really am weak; I mean, I got within' scratchin' distance of you, and I couldn't-couldn't-" She blushed and refused to continue.

"Couldn't help yourself?"

His smug grin threatened to split his face, and it irritated the hell out of her. She struck him on the shoulder so hard he crashed to the floor, dragging her with him. "So what was it about me you find so irresistible? C'mon, lemme hear it. . ."

"Ooooh, you've gotta be the most infernal, arrogant ox God ever set breath to!"

"Your mother was betting on it."

Both of them glanced up at Marie standing in the doorway. "What was that?"

"I said, your maman set ya'll up. She knew you weren't gonna be able to keep your hands, much less anything else, off of him. See?" Marie handed Callie a piece of parchment:

Marie nodded at Callie's expression on disbelief. "Dat's right, sugar pie, your maman was a smart lady. She knew she had t' get a legal heir out of you somehow, and that he was the only on y' wanted to have one with. At de time of her death, she'd already made sketches of her unborn grandkids." She sighed and glared at her niece. "So would you quit ditherin' and marry de man, already?"

Celeste turned toward Logan, focusing on a loose thread on his shirtfront as though staring at the Dead Sea Scrolls. She was afraid to look at him now, afraid he would refuse her again.

He tipped her chin up. "Well, I s'pose we can't mess with fate, now can we?"

She looked confused. Logan laughed and dug a small velvet box from his pocket. Celeste took it dreamily, flipping the lid open to reveal a pretty silver band with a tiny diamond in the shape of a unicorn on it.

Now, Celeste had jewels the size of ostrich eggs currently used as doorstops at the palace, but nothing was more precious to her than that ring. Laughing, making unintelligible exclamations, Callie threw her arms around Logan, sliding the ring on as she did so.

After a long, glad moment, Logan pulled away. "Celestial Delight, huh?" He watched a blush creep up the back of her neck. "I hate that name."

"Yeah, I guess it's a little hard to explain, but in a way it's. . .delightful."

Marie turned away before an outraged shriek split the air, followed by wicked male laughter. Marie smiled, vanishing as she watched her niece mercilessly beating the spit out of her beloved with the nearest pillow.