December 2000

The following morning, amidst the congratulations and celebrations that came with another proposal, Cecelia turned up on the doorstep, clutching a copy of High Society, which was the publication aimed at Everyone who was Someone in New York City.

Somehow, despite having a target audience made up of roughly 2% of the city's population, it continued to thrive.

It also happened to be produced by Brown Publishing Co.

Taryn let her in, which inevitably delayed whatever her reason was for visiting while they squealed over her engagement ring.

Warren let her jump on him and hug him, but he was a little more concerned with the magazine abandoned on the floor. "What did Dad do?"

"What?" Cecelia asked, momentarily taken aback.

"Did he give an interview?" Warren asked.

"Oh, no," Cecelia rescued the magazine from the floor. "No, this is to make you feel better. I wrote the article on last night's party."

"And it's already published?" Taryn asked, in surprise.

"Do not underestimate my mother," Cecelia said, almost darkly. "She knew the gossip circle would blow up, so we got in there quick. I wanted to make sure that you two – well, Taryn in particular – didn't get dragged through the mud." She flicked through to the party article and handed it to them. "I had to be a little coy around it, because I don't know loads about you and I didn't want to make stuff up."

"And I appreciate it," Taryn said, scanning the article and putting one hand out to catch hold of Liam as he toddled towards the front door. "Hold up, little man."

Cecelia let out a little coo and knelt down. "Hey sweetie."

"This is Liam," Taryn said, handing the magazine to Warren. "He's fifteen months. And very rarely out of Mommy's sight, are you?" She scooped Liam up into her arms. "So where's Mommy?"

As if on cue, a shout went up. "Liam!"

"I've got him, Kitty!" Taryn called. "Entrance Hall!"

Hurried footsteps sounded down one of the corridors and Kitty burst into the Entrance Hall, relief crossing her face. "Oh, thank God."

"You put 'em down for a second," Taryn joked.

"He was in a playpen," Kitty said, running a hand through her hair. "He phased through the bars."

"And that," Warren said, "is what it's like living with mutant kids. Kitty, this is C.C."

"Hi," Kitty said, taking Liam back from Taryn. "Is that High Society magazine?"

"Technically, we don't call it a magazine," Cecelia said with a wry smile. "It's 'upmarket publication'."

Kitty snorted. "If you say so."

"It's a great article," Warren said, handing it back with a smile. "Father won't be happy."

Cecelia shrugged. "I don't care. Your mother's happy; you need to call her."

"She wanted to meet us for lunch," Taryn said, "Would you like to come?"

"Love to," Cecelia said with a smile.

Cecelia's article was swiftly followed by another, announcing the engagement of Warren Worthington III to Taryn Winters.

Charlotte Worthington was absolutely thrilled, which made up for his father's disinterest, and Taryn ended up calling her mother halfway through lunch and inviting her to join them.

Over the next few days, the mansion seemed to fill up, which made a change from some other years, when it emptied over Christmas.

Sara more or less moved in, as did Judy, and both of them took great pleasure in looking after the children so various parents could get a moment's peace.

Every time Liam was pulled on to his great-aunt's lap, Pietro and Lexa made an excuse to leave the room.

Thus far, there was still no hint of a heartbeat and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't feel any kind of movement.

Christmas Eve found everyone huddled in the rec room.

The snowfall had stopped, but the ground was covered in a cold white blanket, ankle-deep in most places, and even deeper in others.

The fire was roaring, the lights on the Christmas tree were twinkling, and everyone was comfortably full.

Well, everyone except Kitty who was nibbling on a breadstick. Over the last few weeks, her ability to eat had been compromised by a stomach bug that seemed to make the smell of almost everything make her feel nauseous.

A quick trip to Bella had put her mind at ease – not that she had mentioned anything to Lance – yet.

Liam had dozed off on her lap, sprawled across her like a starfish.

Beside her, his arm tucked around her waist, Lance was watching Monica and Joey chasing each other around the Christmas tree.

Then, out of the blue, he squeezed her waist. "Want to go for a walk?"

Kitty finished her breadstick and looked at him in utter bewilderment. "Are you mad?"

"It's nice out there," Lance said.

"It's freezing," Kitty said flatly.

"C'mon," he coaxed, nuzzling her neck. "Five minutes, just the two of us."

Kitty narrowed her eyes at him, giving him a little mental prod. He didn't budge. Conceding with a small sigh, she wiggled free and stood up, cradling Liam to her chest.

Lexa glanced up as she approached, the closest person without a child in her arms. "You alright?"

"We're going for a walk," Kitty said dryly. "Because we're insane, apparently. Are you okay with …?"

"I'm not made of glass," Lexa assured her, taking her godson. He nestled into her and a tender smile crossed her face, as she kissed his head. "Go on."

Kitty shook her head, crossing the room to where Lance was waiting at the door, taking his hand.

Bundled in layers of coats and hats and scarves, they crossed the grounds, hand in hand.

At first, they didn't talk, but Kitty felt herself relax, melting into his side as they walked.

"See?" He murmured. "You needed this."

"Yeah, alright," Kitty grumbled, smiling. "You know me, I get it."

They rounded the lake and Kitty suddenly stopped, noticing something amid the trees that wasn't quite right.

"Kitten?"

"Where'd that fence come from?" Kitty asked, frowning.

It wasn't a large fence, certainly not the chain-link fence that surrounded the Institute, but certainly a sizeable fence where it shouldn't have been.

"No idea," Lance answered, in a tone that immediately alerted her to the fact that he was lying. "That's not the boundary line, is it?"

"No, no, it isn't," Kitty agreed, letting him have it.

For now.

They kept walking and presently came across a gate.

"Shall we see where it goes?" Lance asked.

Kitty giggled, but nodded. "Why not?"

Despite knowing that there was something going on, she still had no idea what. And, at first, walking through the gate didn't tell her.

The woods looked exactly the same as they always had, except maybe the path looked a little smoother than before.

"Out of interest," Lance said, "how fooled are you that I'm up to something?"

"On a scale of one to ten, about a one and a half," Kitty answered with a smile. "James Bond, you're not, sweetheart."

"In which case, can you close your eyes for me?"

Kitty pulled a face, looking down at her feet. "If you're about to dump me in the snow …"

"Would I do that?" Lance held up a hand. "Okay, I probably would, but I won't. I promise."

"Alright then." She closed eyes and took his arm, letting him guide her through the snow and the trees.

After several twists and turns – during which she gave up trying to work out where they were – he stopped and put an arm around her. "Okay, open your eyes."

Kitty did.

Whatever she had been expecting, it was not a house.

And yet it was a house that she was now looking at – a small house, tucked away among the trees, with shutters and window boxes, just like she had always imagined as a child.

"Do you like it?" Lance asked.

"It's lovely," Kitty answered. "What's it doing here?"

"Well, do you remember all that trouble Scott and Jean were having, finding a house?" Lance asked.

"Yes," Kitty said slowly.

"Well, it turns out that's a common problem," Lance explained. "No one wanted to move far away, but there's nowhere affordable nearby. So a group of us spoke to Professor X and we came up with a plan."

Kitty hadn't been a straight-A student for nothing. "You built houses?"

"Well, I didn't personally," Lance said with a shrug. "All the houses run on the same water and power as the main house. Mum and Aunt Judy insisted on helping out. So did Warren. So, what do you think?

Kitty couldn't think much of anything. Her heart was racing, and fighting with her head. Being on the same power-grid as the main house would mean a reduction in bills, especially if one or both of them worked at the Institute.

And with the growing number of children around – all of whom were beginning to show signs of mutation already – they would need more people working as teachers and instructors.

But that still left some bills, and the fact remained that neither of them were working.

Lance had been working, up until six weeks ago, when his boss – and the owner of the auto-shop – had taken sick leave and never come back.

He had died two weeks later, from terminal cancer.

As if Lance was reading her mind (and he may have been), he cracked a smile. "You're worrying about work, aren't you?"

"A little bit," Kitty admitted softly. "I mean … it's gorgeous, Lance; it's so beautiful and … I love it, but …"

Lance pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You remember that phone call I got the other day?"

Kitty frowned. "The one that got you out of diaper duty?"

"Well, it was a very important call," Lance said.

Kitty's frown melted into a snigger. "Honey, every call that gets you out of diaper duty is an important call."

Lance poked her side. "I'm serious! It was Mr Grayson's attorney."

Kitty sobered up immediately. "Seriously? What did they want?"

"Well, it turns out that he knew he was sick, and he doesn't … didn't have any family so …" Lance took a deep breath. "He left me the shop."

Kitty blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"He left me the shop," Lance repeated. "The building, the tools … It's mine. Ours."

A second later, she was in his arms, and they were spinning around in the snow, laughing like children, even through the tears of both grief and relief.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Kitty asked giddily.

"Not at all," Lance said cheerfully. "We'll figure it out." He dipped his head and kissed her slowly, caressing the side of her face. "Do you want to look inside?"

"Of course!" Kitty said, almost bouncing with excitement. "Is it decorated?"

"It's furnished," Lance answered, leading her towards the front door. "Figured you'd want input. Did I do good?"

"So good," Kitty said, reaching up to kiss him as he unlocked the door. "What?" She added, when he stepped inside. "You're not going to carry me over the threshold?"

Lance grinned at her. "Not until we're married."

Kitty rolled her eyes, following him in. "Well, for that to happen, you'd have to actually ask me."

Lance looked mildly confused for a second, before … "Oh, yeah … I knew I'd forgotten something."

And then he was down on one knee before her, a small box in his hand.

All of the breath seemed to vanish out of her lungs as she grasped the doorframe for support.

"Kitty – Kitten – you know how much I love you," he said softly. "Marry me?"

Kitty had never doubted that one day this question would come along. But now that it had, she found tears springing to her eyes.

After a few seconds of trying and failing to form words, she nodded, pulling him to his feet. He enfolded her in his arms and she finally managed to find her voice. "Oh my God, I love you so much."

Lance pushed the hair back from her face, kissed her again, and finally (finally) slipped the ring on to her finger.

"It's beautiful," she said softly, admiring it in the soft light of the hallway.

"It was Mom's engagement ring," Lance admitted.

If he'd thought that might upset her, he was wrong. Her face lit up in an even brighter smile. "Really? She's okay?"

Lance chuckled. "Actually, she told me it was about time and that if I didn't ask you soon, she'd do it for me."

Kitty couldn't help laughing as well, even though it was a little choked up. "I've been expecting that since she told me to call her Mom that Spring Break."

"We weren't even dating then," Lance said.

"That's what I said," Kitty said, wiping her eyes. "She patted my cheek and told me to give it time." She took a deep breath. "Any more bombshells to drop on me? Because if there are, can you do it before I fix my make-up?"

"You look beautiful," Lance said, handing her a tissue. "And, no, no more bombshells, I promise."

"Good." The grin split her face again and she launched herself back into his arms, kissing him again and again and again.

Finally, she planted one last kiss on his lips and extracted herself from his embrace. "Alright, now I'm ready for that tour you promised me."

The house was everything she could have asked for.

There was a lovely cosy living room with a window seat, a kitchen-diner Lance jokingly told her she wasn't allowed to use, and, upstairs, two bedrooms and an empty room.

Liam's bedroom was decked out in greens and blues and had a distinctly underwater feel to it, which was appropriate given his recent fascination with aquariums. In fact, once he got close to the fish tank in the living room, it took nothing short of a crowbar (and the closest thing Liam ever got to a tantrum) to get him away.

Once she had examined all of the obvious rooms, Kitty stood in the middle of the empty room, staring at white walls. "What's this room going to be?"

Lance shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. "Whatever you want it to be. Guest room, library, study …"

"Nursery?" Kitty suggested innocently.

"Yeah, if you …" Lance trailed off, staring at her. "Nursery?"

Kitty just smiled at him and patted the tiny bump hidden by her shirt. "Surprise."