Star awakened, aware that something was different, but at first she couldn't place the change. Then she realized that the pressure and weight of her baby's presence were missing. She sat up with a cry and saw Matthew's motionless form lying beside her, and she almost wept. She didn't know if he was alive or dead. Then she heard a tiny sound from behind her. She turned quickly, and found the baby, aimlessly waving her tiny arms. Star's body had already healed from the damage inflicted by Matthew, and by the unexpected, and unattended, birth of her daughter. Matthew groaned, and she felt a surge of relief, followed by an equal surge of fear. She knew she could not defeat him, and she feared what he had become.
"Mama?" he said in a small voice.
"I'm here, Matthew."
"Where are we? What happened?"
"You don't remember?" He shook his head.
"Do you remember Sinister?"
"Huh uh," he responded, still in a little boy's voice.
"He made you want to hurt some people, and we had a fight."
"You didn't let me hurt anybody, did you Mama?"
"You only hurt one person, sweetheart. And I'm sure he'll be OK."
"Who?'
"Logan."
"Your husband?"
"Yes. And your father. Come on, I'll take you home."
"Back to Sinister?" he asked, drawing away from her.
"No." She turned and picked up the squirming infant, then faced her son once more. "No, I'll take you to my friends."
"The X-Men?"
"Yes, dear."
"I'm afraid of them, Mama. Please don't take me there. They'll just want to stick me in another lab, like they did with you. Please, Mama, please don't take me there."
"All right, Matthew. Don't worry. I think I know a place where you can live and be safe."
"Will you live there?"
"No, darling. But I will visit you."
"OK." He looked down at the baby. "That my sister?"
"Yes."
"What's her name?"
"I don't know yet." She peered into the cooing infant's tiny face. "We may have to ask her."
Wolverine awakened in the med-lab of Muir island. Moira MacTaggert, Kitty Pryde, and Kurt Wagner were in attendance. He sat up abruptly.
"Where's Star?" he demanded.
"I could not reach her, mien freund."
"What do ya mean, ya couldn't reach her?"
"I tried, Logan. There vas a ... barrier, through vhich I could not pass."
"Try again!"
"Wolvie,..." Kitty began.
"No! Do it, Elf! Now!"
"Ya, I vill try." The blue furred mutant, his face grim, disappeared. After what seemed an eternity, he returned.
"The barrier vas gone,"
"Good!" Wolverine interrupted.
"No. There vas no one there. No one."
Star and Matthew, along with the infant girl, appeared in a large storage room aboard the space station Avalon, home to Eric Lensherr, Magneto, and his people, the Acolytes. Alarms began to sound and Matthew cringed. Star threw a shield about them, and spoke quietly to Matthew, calming him.
The guards burst into the storeroom, ready for a full-scale invasion. They were surprised to find only one tiny woman, an infant cradled in her arms, and a half grown boy. Their surprise did not stop them from attacking the supposed invaders. Star's shield flared brightly as she warded off the combined powers of the guards. Matthew stood, frightened but ready to fight back.
"No, Matthew," Star said quietly. "This is their home and we have entered uninvited." The guards withdrew from an all out attack when it became obvious that Star was a passive invader, willing to wait them out.
The Psi among them attempted to probe Star, but met a solid shield.
"Who are you?" he demanded aloud.
"My name is Star. Eric Lensherr extended an invitation to me should I have need. Please tell him I am here with my children, and that I need his help."
Eric Lensherr held Star's tiny daughter and watched while Matthew cautiously tasted a piece of chocolate cake which one of the Acolytes had brought for him. Star smiled.
"He was raised, as I was, in a laboratory. I doubt that he's ever eaten chocolate before." Magneto played with the baby for a moment more before saying,
"What is it you expect from me, Star?" Star sighed.
"I need a home for Matthew. Someplace where he can grow to adulthood, and into his powers, without the bitterness he has suffered before."
"He does not strike me as a bitter young man."
"No longer. I believe she had something to do with that." Magneto raised an eyebrow and looked down at the drowsy infant in his arms.
"The small one?"
"Yes. She exhibited powers several times before her birth."
"She seems babyish enough now," he replied.
"Yes, she does, doesn't she? She does not seem to have inherited the frantic metabolism her brother and I share." She took the tiny hand in her own and the baby drifted off to sleep. "Perhaps there is a chance for her."
"You speak of Matthew as if you would leave him."
"Yes. Though it may be necessary for me to return as well. I do not wish to be the cause of a conflict between you and the X-Men, and I fear that Logan will not release me without a fight."
"If you wish to be free of him, tell him so. He is not always a reasonable man, but he is honorable. He will release you if that is what you want."
"It is not what I want. But for his sake, it is what must be."
"Why?" Star bent and kissed the tiny fingers, wrapped tightly about her own.
"She is not his daughter, and I would not have him constantly confronted with the face of his enemy's child as a ceaseless reminder that he was unable to protect me." She shook her head. "And I would not have her see the man she calls 'Father' grow to hate her."
"Perhaps you do not give him enough credit." Magneto said, as he gently place the child back in her mother's arms. "He is a strong man, and if his love for you is half as powerful as you have said, it will not matter to him where you got this child, or under what circumstances." He stood and watched Matthew as the boy stared out the view port at the stars. "Your son is welcome here. He will be trained in the use of his powers, as well as in more mundane matters." He put his hand on her shoulder. "And if I am wrong, if Logan is less than the man I believe him to be, you and your daughter are welcome here as well." He laughed, "Though my guards would appreciate it if you announced your arrival beforehand." Star smiled.
"Thank you, Eric. I should not have doubted Logan without giving him a chance."
"You will be going now?"
"As soon as I tell Matthew good-bye."
The X-Men had at last been contacted, and were on their way to Muir island to join Wolverine. He and Nightcrawler had returned to the lab to look for any clue as to where Star may have gone. They had no luck, and Wolverine's mood was more morose than ever. Moira and Kitty cleaned up the med-lab as they waited for the arrival of the X-Men.
"Moira, I don't understand how he can be so upset after what that woman did to him."
"Ye dinnae understand a lot o' things, girl," Moira replied. "Ye made judgments aboot her withoot havin' all the facts."
"She cheated on him, Moira!"
"She was raped, Kitty," a quite voice said behind them.
"Wolvie!"
"An' I couldn't do a damn thing about it." He stood in the doorway to the med-lab, his hands clenched into fists at his side.
"Wolvie, I ... I didn't know."
"No, you didn't. But you condemned her anyway." He turned and stalked silently away.
"Wolvie!"
"Leave him be, Kitty."
"But ..."
"But nothin'. The best thing ye can do is tae leave him be. And pray that the girl comes back tae him."
Much later, Kitty approached Moira in the makeshift kitchen they had set up.
"Moira?"
"Yes, Kitty?" Moira looked up from the cup of coffee she held.
"Um, I was looking through Star's files ..." Moira said nothing.
"Yeah, I know. I said I was sorry. I'd tell her if I could just find her. I thought, maybe, there'd be something there, some hint of where she might have gone."
"And was there?"
"No. But there was something else I found." Moira waited. Kitty sighed.
"Uh, according to the tests you ran, the baby is Wolverine's."
"Aye," Moira replied. "And yer point is?"
"Well, shouldn't we tell him?"
"It's nae our business, girl."
"But..."
"Do ye really think that tellin' him his wife was driven away from him because his friend as much as called her a whore fer thinkin' the child in her belly wasnae his, when it really is, is goin' tae make him feel better?" Moira stood, putting her coffee cup down with a bang. "Leave it alone. Ye've done harm enough." Kitty watched her go, and wondered what she could do to make amends for the terrible thing she had done.
Wolverine stood, looking out over the ocean as the sun set. The members of Excalibur gave him the privacy he obviously wanted, and left him alone. When Star appeared silently behind him there was no one to witness the expression of joy and relief that lit his face as he turned and saw her. She waited, still uncertain of her reception, until he rushed toward her and swept her up in his arms, spinning her around. The baby squalled in protest, and he put them down carefully. He stared at Star's face as if he still could not quite believe that she was there. Finally, he looked down at the tiny girl held in her mother's arms. He took one of her tiny hands in his, and grinned with delight when she clasped her fingers about one of his.
"She's beautiful, Star." He bent down and kissed the baby on the forehead. "Have you given her a name?"
"Not yet, but I have considered Galadraelle." She paused. "Logan, the baby..."
"Is the most beautiful creature in the world, Star. Next to her mother, that is." He looked up at her. "And that's the only thing that matters, girl. I'll do my best ta be a good father to her." He took the baby and put his free arm around Star. Together, they turned to watch the sunset.
Despite what Moira had said, Kitty was determined to speak to Wolverine. She had no intention of eavesdropping, but when she saw that Star had returned she phased rather than interrupt the reunion. She nearly gave herself away by laughing when Wolverine suddenly looked down at the infant and said,
"Why, you little terror."
"What is it, Logan?" Star asked.
"I guess this makes it official, Star. 'Ella has 'anointed' me her dad." Star saw the spreading stain on Wolverine's shirt and began to laugh. He kissed her and they turned back to the sunset.