Scott fought with the tie again, and again he lost. He cursed under his breath and tried once more.

"Looking sharp Scott," Henry said leaning in the doorway to his friends' bedroom.

Scott looked at him in the mirror and with exasperation said, "yeah? Well, if this tie doesn't cooperate I'm going to blast it to kingdom come."

"Turn around," Henry said as he crossed the room. He took the tie and placed it around Scott's neck "It really isn't complicated, you start like this, and then you go around, behind and then under, and voila!" Henry moved away and Scott looked at himself in the mirror.

"Ties must require enhanced agility, that's got to be it," Scott whispered to himself as he adjusted it.

"You know you don't have to wear a tie, Maxine isn't that high class a place."

"I want to make a good impression on Jean."

Henry raised an eye brow. "You two have been talking on the phone every nights, how much more impressed can she be?"

Scott smiled, thinking how much more there had been to those calls than Henry could know. "Have you been eavesdropping?"

Henry gave him a hurt look, "Of course not. But only two of those calls were in a sound proof room, and these ears, hear everything," he finished grinning.

Scott shook his head and chuckled. He gave himself the once over again and realized that he looked like James Bond in this black suit. He looked at Henry who was wearing a deep blue suit, custom made for his large frame. The last three buttons of his white shirt were open, revealing his black chest hair. Even with his black hair a little disheveled he still managed to look better than Scott ever could. And he was doing it looking completely relaxed while Scott felt like he was on pins and needles.

Henry held him by the shoulders warmly. "Relax Scott, everything's going to be alright."

Scott looked in his best friend's eyes and the enormity of what he was embarking on hit him. He grabbed Henry in a tight hug. "Am I supposed to be this fucking scared Mac?"

Henry wrapped his arms around Scott, part of him wanted to give him some trite answer, but they had been through too much together, he deserved a more honest answer. "I'm pretty sure you are, and it won't be the last time. Love and relationships aren't like in Ororo's romance novels. They're dirty, messy and a lot of work."

Scott pulled away and looked him in the eye "Lots of help you are Mac," he said with sarcasm, but strangely enough he didn't feel quite as nervous.

Henry smiled at him. "Only the best for you, you know that. But don't worry, as scary as it will be at times, when it's not you're going to be flying higher than the clouds."

"Speaking from experience?" Scott asked.

Henry just smiled.

Scott disentangled himself and straightened his jacket. "Come on, lets get out of here"

They walked out the room only to stop and watch Ororo walking down the hallway.

"Holy!" Scott said.

"My, my, my," was Henry's speculative comment.

Ororo turned with flourish, giving them a chance to admire her dress. It was white, covered with sparkling stones and it was tight.

"I do believe that Ms. Munroe also has a date tonight." Henry commented.

Ororo gave them a royal smile, "did the two of you think you were the only ones capable of a love life?" and then turned and walked away as if she was a queen.

Henry looked at Scoot. "You can pick your jaw off the floor now."

"She never dressed like that when I dated her." Scott said, dumbfounded.

"Then we now know why it didn't work out between the two of you, don't we?" Henry said with a smirk and pushed Scott so he would start moving.

They walked by the living room and Scott stopped. He looked at Peter and Katherine, sitting at opposite end of the room. "Ok, you two have the house to yourselves for the evening. Please use the time to work out your differences, two weeks of uncomfortable silence his enough." And then headed to the garage; there they found the Corvette was already gone.

"I guess it's the sedan." Scott said with a bit of disappointment.

"Were you really thinking of driving to Maxine in the corvette? Somehow I don't think Jean would be impressed by that."

Scott knew Henry was right. "I'm driving," he said as he took the keys off the hook.

* * * * *

Peter listened as Scott and Henry drove away. When the silence returned he put his pen to paper again and attempted to concentrate on his drawing. His pen wouldn't move on the page all he could think of was what Scott had said. He looked across the room and his heart ached for her.

"Katya," He started, using the familiar name he used to use for her. "Katherine, when we went our separate ways at Genietech, you said you'd have something for me when we got home, what was it?" He tried to keep the pain from coming through his voice, but didn't succeed.

Katherine lifted her head from the laptop she was working on in surprise, and then a look of horror crossed her face for a moment. She shook her head and resolutely focused on the screen.

Peter stood and pulled a seat in front of her. "Katherine," He wanted so badly to take her hands in his, "Kitty, when I woke up I didn't know where I was, or what had been done to me, all I knew was that you would make the nightmares go away. You would make everything be right again. What did you have for me?"

Katherine didn't look up form the screen, "Please don't," she said in a weak voice.

Peter wanted to shout at her, after all he had endure to come back to her he had a right to know, but her response stole the last of his strength. If he didn't warrant an answer then he didn't mean anything to her, and if she didn't feel anything for him, what did he have left. He stood and walked away from her, defeated.

"I asked you to marry me." She screamed at him as he was about to leave the room. He stopped dead cold and slowly turned around. "That was what I had for you. We didn't want to rush things. You died two weeks before the wedding."

Peter walked to her, but stopped when he was standing right before her.

She looked up at him, tears on her face, but her voice steady. "I don't know how to deal with this Peter, I buried you. I mourned you. I'd just made my peace with never seeing you again when you showed up again. What am I suppose to do Peter? What do you want from me?"

Peter's heart broke, but this time it wasn't for himself, it was at the pain he could see in her eyes. Tentatively he offered her his hand. She looked at it, and then him. For a moment he thought she would refuse, but then she put the laptop aside and put her hand in his.

He slowly pulled her up and carefully wrapped his arms around her. "I want to be here for you Katya, I want to take your pain away. I want to help you remember the good times you had, and," he hesitated for a moment, "I don't know how to do it, or even if I can, but I want to help you honour his memory."

She tightened her arms around him and sobbed. "I can't deal with loosing you again. I won't survive it this time."

"I will not be leaving you. I will fight the Fates if I have to, but I'll be with you until the end of the world."

Katherine held on to him as if her life depended on it pouring her fear into him and hanging on to the hope he was offering to her. She knew that if anyone could stand up to God and have even a hope of winning it was him.

When her tears ebbed and she looked up at him, her smile was honest and at peace.