Celeste finished putting the kids to sleep and then walked in her room, sitting beside André and snuggling up to him. He smiled and put his arm around her as she rested her head on him.
He kissed her head. "I missed this."
Celeste smiled up at him. "What?"
"Being here with you and having you close... So many things, all involving you and our family," André replied.
Celeste smiled and hugged him, moving closer. "The feeling is mutual..."
He chuckled then was quiet for a moment. "Tell me all about A.J... When you found out, what I missed..."
"Well... I found out after my siblings and my friends freed me from the Empire. After a while, I really started trusting Arc and Clem. So... I told Clem the news. She can't have kids, so... I shared it with her. It helped, really... Having someone to talk to about it. Val's far too young for this kind of talk and it's not like my brothers would understand. I just... It wasn't too bad. I had to use my powers a bit more than I liked, considering I was the only master on earth. But it was okay and luckily things calmed down by the time I reached 5 months. I had to protect Clem from Ian though... He broke my forcefield and I passed out - don't worry, I was fine - but Nebula managed to hold her part of our forcefield instead... You know... She really took your death hard. All of us did, but... She changed." Celeste frowned then continued. "Unfortunately, the day A.J. decided to show up was the day all the girls left for a party. Nate was watching Amory, so... I only had Ender and Ian. I was sure I was going to destroy them, but... I managed. Oh! Ian passed out... But it worked out alright, I guess. I wish you were there though... You always knew how to make it better... I didn't think I was going to survive how much I wanted to destroy them. It was really hard, too..."
"You wanted to destroy me the first time too...with Nebula," André reminded her with a smile.
"Yeah...only for a while though. You're too hot for me to want to destroy you."
He chuckled. "Maybe I have a fever?"
Celeste rolled her eyes. "Funny... You know what I mean."
André smiled. "I do. And I'm honored to be the husband of the most gorgeous woman in the galaxies."
Celeste blushed and smiled. "Aww... You always know what to say."
He just smiled. "I know..." His smile faded and he looked at her with a more serious expression. "I... Celeste... I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you... And our family... It pained me to see A.J. look at me with my eyes and not recognize me..."
Celeste frowned. "It's not your fault-"
"No, it is. I died and you got captured because I couldn't protect you... You were hurt and controlled. I should've saved you...us..."
Celeste shook her head. "You did what you could, and so did I. And you're here now... That's all that matters to me. And as for A.J... He'll learn who you are over time, André... Don't worry."
Celeste leaned up, kissing his cheek, then moved away, lying down. André smiled then lied beside her.
André looked in her eyes seriously. "I love you, Celeste."
Celeste smiled. "And I love you."
Celeste then hogged the blankets, falling asleep. He just smiled and let her hog the blankets, also falling asleep.
