Disclaimer:This story involves characters that belong to Marvel, and refers to events that have happened in the "Face the Music" time line.

    Rahne smiled as she walked down the narrow path to the home that she and Sam would share one day. Her home. Not a place that she came to from time to time, not a place she would leave in a matter of months. The house that she would bring her children into, where she and Sam would celebrate fifty years of marriage. A house that their love would transform. It still took her breath away just to think about it.

    Sam was in what would be her office, overlooking the nearby town. She had made an off-hand comment about wanting cabinets to hide her stuff in, and he had decided she deserved the best that he could give her. He had measured and cut, shaped and sanded cabinets with tiny red rosebuds in them, taking hours on each door. She ran her fingers over the masterpieces, in awe.

    Sam didn't think he had real talent when it came to woodworking, just a mastery of the tricks that his father and grandfather had taught him. But, to look at the blissful expression on his face as he carefully shaped a rose out of the wood, it was clear that he had a gift. Maybe their house would have been built sooner if he didn't take so much time on the little details, but she couldn't fault him for wanting to express himself. Even after the electricians, plumbers and general construction people had done their job, it was the little things that made their place so special to her.

    Sam looked up at her and smiled. "What do ya think?" he asked as he turned down Alan Jackson on the radio.

    She smiled appreciatively. "Nice." She offered him the basket of food and sat down. "A bought lunch."

    He smiled and turned off the music. "Thanks..." he said as he grabbed a sandwich. "How did the fitting go?"

    Rahne laughed a little and shook her head. "Ye would have ta ask..." She sat down next to him and took out some fruit. "Mummy didn't like the gown that Lacey and A designed."

    He reached out and touched her on the back. "She's just tryin' ta give ya the best."

    "It'll be the social event of the year," Rahne agreed glumly. "Thousands of pounds in flowers, favors, and fussin'... and it's not what A want," she finished softly.

    He shook his head firmly. "Ah hate ta break it ta ya, but Ah'm not wearing a kilt."

    She smiled at him, grateful for the chance to joke about anything related to their wedding. "But ye have such bonny knees..."

    "Ah don't care," he repeated. "There is no way that Ah'll wear a kilt- those knees are boney not bonny.." She rolled her eyes at him, a warning that she was going to start in on the puppy eyes. "If I wore a kilt, Cable would have to wear one," he added quickly.

    She laughed at that image and finally nodded. A moment later, she sobered up. "Will yer family feel comfortable at such a fancy thing?" she asked tensely.

    Sam and his mother had talked it over a couple of days ago, when he realized how impressive the guest list had become. A few members of the royal family had indicated that they would attend, partially out of respect for the daughter of a Nobel Prize winner, and as a symbol of their gratitude for Excalibur's service to the crown. Lucinda Guthrie, a woman who could boss around Professor Xavier and tell a Grammy winner and intergalactic thief to help her clear the table, had simply nodded and told her son that the vows he was going to take were more important than the guests who were watching.

    Still, it was clear even to him that this event was more than his family had ever anticipated. It had bothered him to watch his mother worry about how to pay for the clothing her family would need. But all in all, he had to agree with something else that his momma had said. "When ya consider why Moira's tryin' so hard ta give ya the wedding of ..." he paused again, trying to figure out whose dreams the extravagant event belonged to.

    Rahne nodded. "There are times A want tae remind her she's engaged tae..." She shrugged, knowing that Moira and Sean most likely wouldn't ever get married. And even if they did, it wouldn't be to such fanfare as her wedding. "But aye... A ken that she's tryin' ta give me this because she's afraid..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she mentally finished the thought.

    Sam awkwardly wrapped an arm around her, trying his best not to get any stain on her clothing. "Ah know," he soothed her. That's why he hadn't made a huge fuss, and why his mother hadn't tried to talk Rahne out of the ceremony. Moira was trying her best to give her daughter the best wedding she could because she hadn't found a cure for Legacy.

    "It's all changing," Rahne said quietly. "Brian is serious about wanting to devote more time to his research... but he knows he's still Captain Britain. Meggan just wants to do what's best for him. Kitty's goin' ta have a baby. Kurt and Amanda are separated, and he wants tae be a real daddy to his daughters. Even with Jamie here, A wonder what kind of team will we have..."

    The rapid switch of topic didn't surprise him; Rahne knew that Sam had been asked to take over as leader of Excalibur after they got married. And she was right- the team was rapidly changing. Jamie joined Excalibur when he had come over with Guido. "That's why A've talked ta Terry and Cable about having X-Force stationed out of Muir for a while," he admitted.

    Rahne's eyes grew big as she thought about that idea, and larger still as she looked around their home and considered the other team's reputation for mass destruction. He caught that and laughed. "Just until Emma has a few students graduate, or if Betsy wants to join, or we can train some people over here."

    "Trainin'?" Rahne asked as she looked at the island, as with new eyes. There were mutants in Europe who needed help with their powers, and Muir Island could be easily converted into a school. They already had enough room and enough equipment. And it would let people like Kitty and Kurt still be active and useful.

    "People like Bridget?" she said hopefully. It was hard finding a way to reach out to the girl, who Rahne had suspicions of being her sister. The idea of having her around full time was very inviting.

    He nodded. "She's part of the reason Ah thought of the idea of a school. And it's not like..." he frowned as he thought about what he was going to say best. "Emma isn't exactly training Gen-X to be X-men."

    "But Paige would want to join," she pointed out. "She's made no secret about that."

    He shook his head. "Ah don't want her here," he finally admitted. And then Sam stopped.

    Rahne looked at him. "Why wouldn't ye want yer own sister on yer team?" she asked carefully, wondering where he was going.

    Sam opened his mouth and then shut it, trying to figure out how to best say what he had been thinking for a while now. "Ah need some emotional distance from my team," he finally answered her. She waited carefully, letting him say what he needed to. "Ah don't want ta cause Paige to die..."

    Rahne squeezed his hand, surprised by the depth of pain in those words. They had talked about Sam's immortality, and how it affected their relationship. And she would have to be deaf and blind not to see the look on his face or hear the catch in his voice that he used when he talked about outliving everybody he loved. She know, on a soul level, where he was coming from. "Ah understand."

    After a heavy moment, she asked him, "Does that mean that ye want me to resign from Excalibur if yer leadin' it?"

    He looked at her, and then around the office he was building for her. The part of him that was a twenty-first century man wanted to say compassionately that it was her choice and that he was being a jerk for even thinking it. The other part of him, the part that had been reared to believe that he was the one who supported his family and that it wasn't too much to ask her to quit for his sake wanted to beat his chest and demand it. "Ah couldn't lead a team with you on it," he finally answered.

    Rahne's eyes got watery as she focused on a carved rose. She dabbed at them, and then closed them. Touching her fingertips to her lips, she exhaled and tried to think. She sat there for a long moment and just examined her soul.

    A small part of her was angry that Sam just dumped this on her like that. But, she admitted to herself, that she was more relieved. She wasn't a fighter, not deep down. It took a heavy toil on her, maybe too heavy. And she was happier writing her children's stories, showing through words that she was more than Wolfsbane, member of Excalibur. She was Rahne Sinclair, spinner of dreams.

    Pete wouldn't have dared ask Kitty to just give up fighting. Sean wouldn't ask her mum to stop working in the lab. That's what made those two women happy. And while Rahne was useful in the lab, it wasn't what she woke up wanting to do. She cried for days after a mission went bad, and an innocent ended up dead.

    Rahne opened her eyes again and looked around her office, and felt relieved. "A don't think that we can rule out ye needin' muh talents from time ta time," she pointed out slowly. She was a trained fighter with enhanced senses after all.

    He nodded. She had a point there. "The Avengers have reserves, " he started.

    "Yer not askin' anything of me that Ah'm not willin' tae give," she finished slowly. The light feeling in her heart surprised her, but she knew the words were true.

    Something Moira said flashed into her mind, something to the effect that feminism didn't mean that all women had to work, and not stay home with their children. In a perfect world, it meant that women should be able to make the choice one way or another. And the choice Rahne made wouldn't have been the one that her mum would make, or Kitty, or Celeste. But she had the right to make her own decision.

***

    Kurt Wagner was so tired even his ears were drooping as he attempted to rock Janine to sleep. The only thing keeping him up was the sound of her colicky crying, and that was losing its effect on him. Guido smiled at the sight from the doorstep. "Let me take her for a bit," he offered.

    Kurt blinked twice before focusing on the man standing in the doorway. "I'm too tired to move," he admitted softly. "I don't know what I'd do if Rina wanted me in her room..."

    The taller man walked into the room and took the infant out of her father's arms. Almost immediately, her wails started to soften as she focused on the tall man. "Nice to know I'm good for something around her," he said quietly.

    Kurt looked up, stunned by the tone of voice. It had been three weeks since Jamie and Guido had moved to Muir, and the man had tried in a thousand different ways to help out. It had honestly never occurred to him that Guido needed some way to be useful, especially with the limitations his heart put on him. Kurt swallowed, and realized how caught up he had been in his own business. "Thank you," he offered.

    Guido shrugged. "Me and the bottomless pits here get along great." Janine had settled down, prevented only by her twitching arm from sleeping. He had learned to change diapers, prepare bottles and wash their clothes in an attempt to do something besides concentrate on the oxygen tank in the corner of his room. "Amanda called," he whispered.

    Kurt's backbone shot straight up and he looked at the books on custody agreements in the corner of the room. "Great." He loved her still, but there were things that they just couldn't work through, the chief one being that they couldn't even agree on the gender or the amount of the deities they prayed to. And that difference, once easy to ignore because they had kept their personal believes to themselves, when the kids entered the picture, it had become the issue that had torn them apart. "I guess she got the papers then."

    The other man nodded. "That was the gist of the conversation." He slipped the child into her crib and walked back to sit down in the rocking chair next to Kurt's.

    "Sorry you have to get caught up in all that."

    "Hey- receptionist, gardener, cook, pool boy in a tight speedo... I do it all around here." Kurt rewarded him with a small chuckle, a sign that he had gotten through to the man, in spite all the stuff he was going through.

    "The barrister I talked to isn't sure who would get custody..." Janine and Katrina's father sighed. "She said that under the circumstances, it would be a breeze to take the children from the other parent."

    "I can see how," Guido pointed out. "In this corner you have an international Flight Attendant who is wanting to duke it out with her mutant super-hero exboyfriend. Throw in a few jabs about her new magic store, a few more about the trapeze in your room, and Jerry Springer would want to cover the fight."

    The truth in that statement made Kurt smile again, something that he hadn't done in a long while. He and Amanda's constant fights about everything had made going to an arbitrator seem like a good idea. The last one had been about him praying before eating, which made Amanda want him not to eat with the girls. They were getting so firm in their positions that he doubted that either knew how to give in anymore. "If this doesn't work, I'm going to go for full custody," he warned the man.

    "Ouch..."

    Kurt sighed and verbalized the one question he had been asking himself for weeks now, "How did it get so bad?"

    "It's all those little things... the twinges you thought were nothing, and the pulls you could dismiss, they sat there building, waiting. One day, the pain stuns you... they say you should have seen it comin' but you can't. Life changes in a heartbeat, and nothing is the same... you try to think that if you just follow the new rules, things will be okay... but it doesn't go that way. And now, you can see the end coming closer and closer, but you don't want to admit it..." The soft words, spoken the by man stunned them both. Each hard word that spilled out of Guido's mouth was the truth, and applied to the dying man as well as the father.

    "I'm sorry," Kurt turned to him.

    He shrugged, and spoke loudly now, trying to drown out the pain that had escaped from him. "Nothin' ta be sorry for..." Even the smile that followed was a lie. "Things change, you adapt... You more-or-less stop leading Excalibur, I move here." Guido looked around, still stunned by the depth of what he revealed. "And I have to make supper..." He got up and move towards the door.

    "Gudio?" Kurt called out.

    "What?" he answered, not bothering to turn around.

    "If you ever need to talk...."

    "I know."

***

    "Pete?" Kitty asked when she woke up from her nap. When Moira had told her how exhausted she'd be when she started the second trimester, she hadn't quite believed her. It seemed like she was dozing off every time she sat still for more than ten minutes now. "Will you tell me what you're up to?"

    Pete looked up from the GPS unit the rental car had installed in it and asked in a silken tone, "What makes you think I'm up to anything?"

    Kitty rolled her eyes at him. "Oh... the fact you woke me up at three o'clock this morning and told me that you had this sudden urge see the Alps! Or the fact that you've been looking at that map like you're lost, and glancing at your watch every five minutes or so..."

    Finally confident that he was on the right road, he started to explain. "I knew you were more than a little disappointed that we couldn't just elope at the Eiffel tower this weekend-" Kitty had been quite adamant about her desire for a small wedding, as opposed to the rather grandiose one that Moira had been planning for Rahne. Considering that she was Jewish and Pete was agnostic, it looked like it would have to be a nonreligious ceremony, but she didn't like the idea of getting married at a courthouse. Most of the other ideas she had had, had been ruined by residency requirements. "So I did a little digging and read about this place-"

    As if in a movie, the road overlooked a small lake with an island in the middle of it. On the island was the crumbling remains of an old stone chapel. Stunned at the postcard beauty, Kitty inhaled for a second. "Wow..." There was a small boat with five people sitting in it. When they saw the car, someone in the boat waved a hat.

    Pete smiled as he continued down the road. "The legend of this chapel is that it was built by a wealthy noble because no church would marry him and his love- He was Catholic and she was Jewish, you see- so he built this place... but by the time the church was built, his girlfriend had died giving birth to his child."

    Kitty wrapped her hands around her stomach. "That's morbid," she informed him.

    "But you haven't heard the rest of the story, now..." Pete explained as he parked the car. "He decided that this chapel should remain standing for anybody else who needed a place to get hitched, and left enough money in his will for a judge to come out and oversee it -- even to this day. And they say that anybody who gets married here will have all the joy and laughter that the first couple missed." The last was said in a soft tone of voice. "So what do you say, Kit?"

    By now, Kitty could make out Romany, Logan, and Ororo standing by a minister and somebody who she thought must be the interpreter. Stunned, she nodded. "Yes..."