Marie could tell as soon as Kris came into her room that all wasn't right. "What is it?" she asked.

"Marius Boudreaux is here. And he's already found Emil."

"Merde!" Marie exclaimed, running towards the stairs. She came to an abrupt stop when she saw Marius holding Emil against the wall by his neck. "Marius!" Marie yelled. "Let him go!"

"He's gone too far dis time, Marie," Marius replied.

Marie ran to Marius, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Please, for me, let him go. We can talk it out. Everything will be okay. Don't hurt him."

Marius turned to Marie, her eyes the one thing in the world that had ever been able to quell his anger. He let go of Emil, letting him drop to the floor, gasping for air. "He stole my fiancée," Marius said.

"I didn't steal her," Emil replied, trying to get back up. "Only borrowed her. You can have her back now."

"You little bastard," Marius growled, trying to go after Emil again. Marie held him back.

"Now Marius, y'know my parents were good an' married by de time I came along," Emil replied. "Well, if dat really is my papa. Maman didn't find Jesus 'till I was t'ree."

Marius narrowed his violet eyes at Emil. "I'm still gonna kill you, Lapin. Jus' gonna have t'wait until de femme ain't here t'protect ya."

"In dat case, Marie, you t'ink mebbe you could never let me outta your sight?" Emil asked his cousin.

Marie sighed. "This is crazy. Marius, you can't just kill people because they piss you off, no matter what that mother of yours tells you. And Emil, I told you your habit of trying to seduce every woman who comes within a five-mile radius of you was going to get you in trouble."

Emil looked almost chagrined for a moment, before he looked back up at Marius and said. "Y'know, I probably saved you. She wasn't dat great."

Marius slipped out of Marie's grasp that time. Emil screamed and ran with the blonde Cajun close on his heels. Emil smacked into Vicky Creed, then got behind her, ducking. "Save me! De crazy man wants t'kill me!"

Vicky jumped back. "Get off me, swamp thing! And if he wants to kill you, I doubt he's all that crazy. Sounds like a pretty rational thought to me."

Emil gave her his best puppy dog eyes. "But I'm too handsome t'die!"

"That's debatable," Vicky muttered.

Marius came charging into the room. "Hiding behind a woman, Lapin? Dat's jus' like you."

"But look at her!" Emil said, getting back behind Vicky. "She's all tall an' she's got little claw t'ingies."

Vicky rolled her eyes. "Oh fer the love a… What's wrong with you people? Did you drink swamp water?"

Marie and Kris came in then, and Marie grabbed Marius's arm, trying to pull him back. "Please, Marius. I'm begging you. Don't hurt Emil. He's my cousin. If something happened to him, I'd be devastated."

"He ruined Claire's honor!"

"Uh, Marius, Claire's honor was pretty much ruined long 'fore I got dere."

Marie shot her cousin a dirty look. "You're not helping, Emil." She turned back to Marius. "Look, if Claire was so quick to jump in bed with him, then you're probably better off without her anyway."

Emil frowned. "I t'ink I was jus' insulted."

"You were, gator boy," Vicky replied. Emil pouted.

"Marius, can't you just give up on wanting to hurt Emil?" Marie asked. "It won't really bring anything except more fighting between the Guilds."

Marie could tell that hit a nerve with Marius. He'd always seen the tension between the Guilds as nothing but counterproductive, believing that together, they would be able to accomplish much more than they ever could at odds with each other. "Fine, I'll let him go. As long as he promises t'stop tormentin' me every chance he gets."

Emil shook his head. "Sorry, can't do dat. I never make a promise I know I can't keep."

Marius started after Emil again. "You little…"

Marie jumped in front of him. "Stop it! And Emil, really. Just apologize or something, and the two of you can go home."

"I'm not goin' anywhere," Emil said. "De second I step back on Louisiana soil, he's gonna come after me again."

Marius crossed his arms over his chest. "An' I'm not goin' anywhere 'till he stops bein' so damn pigheaded."

Marie threw her arms up in the air. "I give up!" She grabbed Kris's arm. "Come on. I want to get out of the mansion."

"But, earlier, you said…" Kris whined.

Marie narrowed her eyes. "Take me out."

Kris decided this might be one time that he should do what she said. "Let's go, dushka."

"Marie, don't leave me!" Vicky called after Kris and Marie, but it was too late. She sighed, glancing from Marius to Emil. "Great," she muttered. "Two swamp boys."

Marius turned and stomped out of the room. Emil looked at Vicky with a huge grin on his face. "So you wanna touch my gator?"

Vicky slapped him then left the room in disgust. Emil rubbed his sore cheek and smiled. He loved a woman who could pack a mean punch.

*** *** ***

Rachel had to give Elisabeth credit—she knew her stuff when it came to Cerebro. It pushed any doubt from Rachel's mind that this woman was anything but what she said—how else could she know Cerebro so well? "Elisabeth?" Rachel asked.

"Lizzie."

"Huh?"

Elisabeth didn't turn away from Cerebro's control panel. "People call me Lizzie. Now what did you want to ask?"

"Am I, um, alive in your reality?"

"Yeah. Your kids were X-Men with me. Twins. Jean and Scott."

Rachel's eyes grew wide. "I have kids? With Warren?"

Lizzie frowned. "I don't think I should answer that question."

"Why not?"

"Always in motion is the future."

"What?"

"Yoda," Lizzie replied. "Haven't you ever seen Star Wars? Anyway, the future's always changing—and me coming back here surely didn't make it any more static."

"Is that your way of circumventing a negative answer?" Rachel asked.

"Let me put it this way. One of these days, you're going to learn the different between comfortable love and knock-your-socks-off love. Now where's that weird looking hat thing. I think I have everything set right finally."

"There," Rachel said pointing.

Lizzie smiled. "Then let's fire this baby up and see if we can find ourselves a time eating midget."

*** *** ***

"Hey, Ric."

Ric LeBeau looked up, startled. "Marius! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to kill your cousin, but your little sister wouldn't let me."

Ric smirked. "Marie's like that. Have a seat."

Marius sat in a chair across from Ric. "So how's life been treatin' ya, LeBeau?" he asked.

Ric looked around to make sure they were alone. "All right, I guess. I have a girlfriend I can't get rid of."

"I know de type."

"This one's especially bad. I think she's crazy. Literally. I'm scared to break up with her."

"Can't be dat bad."

"You should see her mad. Although she's usually only really bad when she's drunk."

"Is that often?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

Marius chuckled. "Sounds like you do have yourself a bit of trouble den, Richard. Why'd you get wit' her in de first place?"

Ric shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. And Tristan was here then."

"Tristan?"

"Logan's ex. She's who I really want to be with, but she won't have anything to do with me."

"An' I t'ought de LeBeaus were supposed to be able t'get any woman dey wanted."

"Apparently the Family Charm doesn't work on cranky little Canadians. So how long you stayin', Boudreaux?"

"Until Emil admits he was wrong in sleepin' wit' my woman."

"Your gonna be here a while then."

"Dat's the idea." Marius smiled. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Shoot."

"I wanna marry your sister."

Ric sat straight up. "Now wait just a minute. For starters, she's not even sixteen yet. She's got years before she's old enough to get married. And you're what—twenty two?"

"Twenty one. Just."

"Close enough. She's too young, and you're too damn old. Well, for her anyway."

"I didn't say I was gonna marry her tomorrow," Marius replied. "I just wanna make a start—see if I can get her to warm up to me. An' it looks like I have to get rid of some big Russian guy, too."

"That's Kris Rasputin," Ric said. "He's actually my girlfriend's brother."

"How cute."

"I didn't plan it that way. In all honesty, if I weren't stuck dating Illyana, I'd probably be pounding Kris's face into the pavement. He's gotten way too close to my sister."

Marius bristled. "In dat case, if ya ever need help wit' dat face poundin', let me know."

"Will do. So before I kill you for bringing it up, why exactly do you want to marry my sister?"

"De Guilds. We marry, dey have t'stop fightin'."

"Um, Marius, in case you've forgotten, that's already been tried," Ric said. "My dad and your mom. Didn't work."

Marius grinned. "Yeah, well, I ain't gonna kill you on de weddin' night."

"Nice to know," Ric muttered.

"Remy an' Bella Donna, dey never stood a chance. Dey cared about each ot'er yeah, but it was forced. If I can get Marie to really fall in love wit' me, when she's old enough, we can marry an' stay toget'er. And if we have a child…"

Ric held his hand up. "Stop right there. I don't want to hear anything about my baby sister having your kid. Besides, I heard you were engaged to Claire Brasseaux."

"Claire was a whore. Never really wanted t'marry her. Dat was Bella's idea. She wanted to make a union wit' Claire's family. But Claire sleepin' wit' Emil got me outta dat."

"So Lapin did you a favor?"

Marius's grin spread across his entire face. "A huge one. Not dat I'd tell him dat. Never t'ought dat boy would come in handy. But now dat Claire's outta de picture, I'm free to go after Marie."

"I don't know if I'd say that," Ric said with a frown. "It's admirable that you want to stop the Guilds from fighting, but I'd rather you didn't do it with my sister. She deserves someone who loves her for who she is—not for what she can do with her position as next leader of the Thieves Guild."

"I'd be a good husband to her, LeBeau."

"I don't want her used."

"Since when did you care about your family, anyway?" Marius asked. "You won't even become the next Patriarch of the T'ieves Guild."

"I care about my family," Ric said defensively. "I'd just rather not run around stealing things. It's not my style."

"I always t'ought you'd make a better assassin," Marius replied.

"I don't kill people either."

"Suit yourself," Marius said with a shrug. He got up. "I'm goin' t'find your sister."

"Marius…"

Marius winked before walking out of the room. Ric frowned. He was going to have to figure out some way to keep Marie far away from Marius Boudreaux.

*** *** ***

"So I guess your probably going to fight the Ultramites or whatever they're called too, aren't you?" Peter Wisdom asked Briana.

"Of course," Briana replied flippantly, going through dresses in her closet. "Captain Britain never walks away from a fight."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Don't get yourself killed, woman. I'll lose my job."

"Your status of employment is not my concern," Briana replied. "Besides, you're supposed to keep Howard from killing me—not some sort of supervillain."

Peter mumbled something about not being the slightest bit surprised Briana had driven her husband to homicide. "Are you sure you're not just here because you want that Craig bloke to jump back in bed with you?" he asked.

"I'm doing my duty as Captain Britain!" Briana exclaimed. She held up two dresses. "You're male—I think. Which one of these would make you want to shag me the most?"

"Neither," Peter replied. "The only way I'd want to shag you is if you got me too pissed to see straight and then put a bag over your head."

Briana glared at him. "I don't know why I got stuck with you. I could handle myself just fine without some bloody wanker following me everywhere. Now get out of my room so I can change."

"Gladly. Wouldn't want to be blinded." Peter walked out into the hall, slamming the door behind him. He saw Craig Marshall coming up the stairs and went over to him. "Watch your back, mate. Briana's on the prowl again."

Craig smiled. "Thanks for the heads up." He turned around and went back down the stairs in search of a place to avoid Captain Britain.

"Any time." Peter went back to lean against Briana's door hoping he'd just helped make her a little more miserable.

*** *** ***

Craig thought outside the mansion would probably be the best place to get away from Briana. She didn't spend extended periods of time exposed to natural light. He saw Elisabeth Summers standing beside a tall tree, her eyes closed and her head tilted towards the sun. Craig stopped short. There was something about her he couldn't quite figure out. He was drawn to her. "Hey, Lizzie."

Lizzie turned sharply. "Craig! You surprised me. Wait. How did you…how did you know to call me Lizzie?"

Craig frowned. "I don't know. It just said it. Is that what you go by?"

"Yes."

"Must just fit you then. So what are you doing out here. I thought you and Rachel were inside with Cerebro."

"I needed a break," Lizzie explained. "Telepathy is draining."

"I can imagine."

"You know, it's so weird being here," Lizzie said. "I've spent my whole life at this mansion, and yet everything seems foreign to me. People I've known forever are strangers. Like you, Craig."

"So you did know me in your time."

Lizzie nodded. "I was your staunchest supporter."

"Supporter?"

"It's a long story. Basically, you formed your own splinter team of X-Men. Most of the other people didn't agree with it. They thought it was just because you were all old and bitter. But I knew you were doing what you thought you had to."

Craig wasn't sure he much cared for that version of the future. "Bitter?"

Lizzie took his hand. "I promised myself when I came here that I wouldn't try to really change anything…just stop the Ultramites. But I can't help it. Don't let her get to you, Craig. Don't let her ruin your life."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Briana."

"Briana? I could care less about her."

Lizzie shook her head. "You say that, but you know it isn't true. You're not hiding from her because you don't want to be around her—you're hiding from her because you know that if you spend more than a couple of minutes with her, she'll be back in your arms and in your heart. Don't let her do it, Craig. That woman's poison. She'll ruin your life." Lizzie pulled away. "I should get back inside."

"Yeah," Craig replied.

Lizzie started to walk away, but suddenly stopped. There'd been one thing she wanted to do for as long as she could remember, but had never had the guts to. But seeing as this wasn't really the Craig Marshall she knew, and that as soon as the Ultramites were gone she'd be back in her own time anyway, she decided to do it. She grabbed Craig and kissed him hard on the mouth before running off.

Craig stood there for a minute, wide-eyed. He started to ask Lizzie what the hell that had been all about, but by the time he shook off the shock, she was already gone. He walked back towards the mansion, deciding that Elisabeth Summers had to be the weirdest woman he'd ever known.

*** *** ***