Madeline had been away from the mansion for more than a month. She returned to find it an unexpected hive of activity. A large marquee was being painstakingly erected on the front lawn. Workmen hustled here and there bearing large spools of fairy lights, benches and tables. Sturdy women in wellington boots carried steel buckets of heavily scented tiger lilies from the hothouse to the icehouse. And in the midst of all this bustle, she found Raven, in her usual disguise, with a long list of items haranguing everybody within reach. However she dropped what she was doing when she saw Madeline walking up the drive, and her face split into a grin.

"Hello stranger! I'd pretty well given you up for lost again. This skipping town without a proper explanation is getting to be a really bad habit. Hey, do you feel like being a bridesmaid?" Maddy's jaw dropped.

"What, yours?"

Raven nodded obliviously.

"Uhuh! Crazy right? But well, Hank asked me and... well I guess we thought, why wait? It's been ten wasted years for both of us... Whatever the next ten have in store, we don't want to face it without each other. And you never know what's coming, so..." she shrugged. "I guess we both just need a bit of hope in our lives. Is that so wrong?"

Madeline shook her head slowly. It took a lot of getting her head around, but it was nostalgically comforting to be swept up in this impulsive, optimistic version of Raven, the girl she remembered from her happiest days, not the guarded, secretive woman she had become since leaving the mansion. The temptation to ride that wave with her, not to look too deeply below the surface, was very tempting. Nonetheless, something was niggling at her as she looked at Raven's expectant expression, tried to return her smile.

"Raven, have you talked to Hank about... everything? About Azazel, about Karol, everything that's happened to you since you left?"

A shadow crossed the peaches and cream face. Raven jutted her chin defensively.

"I haven't, no. And you won't either. Hank doesn't need to know any of that. It's all in the past and it can't be changed. This is about our future, mine and his. I won't feel guilty about that."

Madeline felt a shadow of foreboding, but said nothing. Heartened by her hesitation, Raven tried a more disarming tack, giving the younger girl a friendly squeeze around the shoulders.

"I'm so happy you made it here in time. The ceremony is tomorrow..." she lowered her voice conspiratorially. "All these people will have gone by then, they're just here to set everything up and then go tonight, so tomorrow it's going to be just us - there'll be no need for all this." The last was said with a dismissive wave at her flawless disguise. "Don't look so anxious! Please just be happy for us. I know everything will be ok." Maddy shook her head.

"I am happy for you Raven, for both of you. I really am. I'm sure you'll be very happy." She kept the doubt out of her voice, it seemed, and was rewarded with a brilliant smile.

"Great! Now go find Charles. He's been tearing his hair out trying to get the whole thing organised, says its madness to even try to have a society wedding with anything less than a year's lead in. I keep explaining to him that we're hardly going to invite 'society', unless he thinks the Astors and the Vanderbilts of this world are ready for a blue bride... but God love him it's his upbringing on autopilot. Wedding equals huge amount of fuss. Go see if you can soothe him down for me! He'll be so happy to see you've come home."

And with that Raven flew off to pick an argument with an overalled workman about the right and proper way to hang bunting. Madeline stared bewildered after her, then wandered up towards the house in search of Charles.

Charles was just as flatteringly pleased to see her as Raven was, wheeling towards her and squeezing her hand warmly. But when she mentioned her encounter with Raven, his brow furrowed.

"Absolutely bloody terrible idea this marriage. I'd expect it of Raven, of course, but I'm surprised at Hank, being so rash. I can only attribute it to his being in a state of arrested infatuation for a decade. I have tried to put the brakes on a bit, to no avail as you can see!" He shrugged and gave her a weary smile, gestured for her to sit down. "But if this past year has taught me anything, it's that Raven has to make her mistakes herself. There's no point trying to reason with her, about this or anything else – she was born to learn everything the hard way."

Madeline hesitated, and then nodded and flopped into the embrace of the sofa. "Sounds like someone else we both know."

She gave Charles an overview of her discussion with Erik, including her disabusing him of the idea Charles had disregarded his pleas for release. Charles paled at that.

"I had no idea he had believed that. No wonder he was so angry, no wonder I couldn't reach him. He must have felt so utterly betrayed."

Madeline winced at the pain in Charles's voice. She moved swiftly on, giving as brief an overview of the rest of her talk with Erik as she could without being evasive.

"So he just won't even think about coming home. It's like he thinks he's... cursed or something. I'm sorry Charles, I tried."

Charles patted her knee consolingly.

"I know you did my dear. I spoke to him you see."

Madeline started.

"You spoke to him? How? When?"

Her heart was pounding in her chest. She had stayed away long enough for the blood to leave her eyes, to hide her crimes from Charles… but Erik. She had shown herself to Erik, heedlessly, foolishly. It had never occurred to her not to, somehow – with him she had always been naked, undefended. What would he have told Charles? The thought of him knowing what she did, what she was… it made her weak and sick with shame. She schooled her expression to one of innocent surprise, tried to tame her thoughts, prayed that Charles's promise not to go where his mind had not been invited would hold good. Certainly if he had picked up on the tenor of her thoughts his wistful face gave no sign of it. He sighed.

"I did what I had sworn I wouldn't do; I found him with Cerebro. Your fault actually, love," he chided gently. "After you went off so boldly, I struggled to continue lying to myself that there was anything noble in my restraint, that anything at all really but cowardice. I was scared to speak to him again. Afraid I wouldn't really be able to forgive him… or that I would, all too easily."

The adrenaline slowly seeped out of Maddy as Charles gave his wry smile. Surely, if Erik had unwittingly betrayed her, Charles wouldn't be looking at her as he was now, that familiar fondness. If he knew what she was, what she did in the dark… a chill went through her at the thought of how he'd look at her then. If he could bear to look at her at all. If she could just avoid giving herself away by practically shouting it at him mentally… She focused her full attention towards Charles, away from her inner turmoil.

"So what did you say? What did he say?"

Charles shrugged helplessly.

"Nothing, really; everything. It's hard to explain." He made a gesture familiar to her from their very first meeting, holding his fingers to the side of his head questioningly. She flinched at first, wondering if he was asking to see her thoughts; but then she realised he was offering to show her his. She nodded cautiously, her curiosity winning out over her misgivings as his memories flowed into her mind.