Saph was nervous; It wasn't the normal kinda nervous, either. It was that once in a life time nervous you got before something big in your life happened. His palms were sweaty; he rubbed them off on his jeans, and looked about the crowded airport baggage claim for the ten millionth time.

He didn't know why he was even bothering; her flight was late; the screen said her flight was late. What if it was wrong? He stopped and took a breath... What a week it had been, huh? He'd prepared her spot in the room, finished up that last bit of paperwork for her visa, the Judge was dead as far as anyone else was concerned, and his life had been put in order so that it would consist of himself, Andrea, the X-Men, and nothing more; Everything was falling into place, so what was he so nervous for?

That was actually a pretty easy question to answer. He'd proposed to a woman, and then promptly been sent back home without her. He hadn't seen Andrea in months!

And now she was on her way, and he was here to pick her up. He took another deep breath. What if she had second thoughts? He'd wondered what the nicest person in New York had wanted to do with him in the beginning, but they were about to take the leap for crissakes!

He found himself wishing he'd brought Cafas or someone to talk things over with. What would he say to her? Oh jesus, he hadn't even thought of that! Wait, what were they gonna do with the day? Unpack. Yeah, she had stuf- oh right... She had nothing to unpack. Er... pie. They would find and eat some pie. That was it. Yep. Pie.

The entire plane ride over have been nerve wreaking. First the flight had been stalled before liftoff, then mid-flight they had hit a ton of clouds and turbulence-- and, no matter what the flight attendants seemed to think, it was simply not possible to calm down a head-full of serpents who rightly had no reason to ever be 30 thousand feet in the air (and so help her if she heard one more snarky comment about snakes on a plane...)--and on top of it all sat the cherry on the cake.

Saph had proposed to her.

Saph... had proposed to her.

She'd been so caught up in distress that she hadn't heard him the first time, which honestly made her feel terrible for the lengthy car ride back to the hotel room they shared afterward. But, Saph being who he was, had shrugged it off and asked her again, and that time it was impossible to miss.

So, here she was. Strolling off the plane-- setting foot in America for the second time in her life after months of being away... and... jesus, her stomach was doing back-flips.

Ira was the first, surprisingly, to spot him. Andrea turned her head in the direction Ira was looking, distracted from her thoughts by him tugging at her head, and spotted Saph in the distance. His back was to her. He seemed to be pacing and/or walking in circles. She wasn't really sure which from where she stood. After a seconds hesitation, she felt her feet move before her brain gave the order, and she propelled herself as swiftly as possible toward the X-man.

A few moments later, and a dozen dodges and near slips, the Greek crashed into him from behind, wrapping her arms around his waist as she dropped her one and only bag on the floor. "I agápi mou!"*

*My love!

Yep. It would have to be a big pie. She'd proven time and time again that she could outeat him on the worst of days... Maybe they would go to that fame jumper's place... They had big desserts. Maybe he could bake her a p- nope, that was a crappy idea. He would ruin it. Maybe he could PAY SOMEONE AT THE MANSION to make them a pie! Did Gemma bake? CS certainly didn't bake. He also didn't need money.

Was he pacing? Aww, man, he was pacing, wasn't he? How much time had gone by? He looked up at the clock just in time to feel a familiar shape moments from hitting him.

"I agápi mou!"

"Gah!" OHSHI- He hadn't thought of anything to say! He stumbled a little, and then realized he was smiling the biggest smile he ever remembered smiling.

"WELCOME HOME!" Oh. That was... actually pretty easy. All that time worrying and it just came out!

He turned to hold her tightly in his gasps, clinging to her like some sort of eucalyptus eating marsupial to a eucalyptus tree, bush, or what ever the heck a eucalyptus sapling grew up to be.

And then he kissed her. Hot damn did he kiss her! Was Ira kissing too? Yup. He couldn't help but chuckle-kiss-chuckle as he felt the tickle of the snake's tongue on his cheek.

His heart pounded in his chest as he held her at arms length. "I missed you so much..." Aww, crap, there went on the water works. Well, at least he hadn't brought Cafas, He'd never live blubbering in an airport down.

She was virtually crushed when he returned the embrace, which was just fine with her, actually, and then nearly smothered with an onslaught on kisses that had probably been stewing in him since he'd had to leave her behind in Rhodes.

"I have missed you too!"

Month after lonely month- boy had she missed him. Sure, they'd called each other, but between dropped lines and wonky time differences, it hadn't felt like much contact.

"I am so happy to be home to stay..." She nuzzled her face into his chest, content with melting into him and staying right there forever, when she spotted a rather large figure walking past and suddenly thought of something.

"Saphirus! How is piggy? Has she been terribly distraught without me?"

"Saphirus! How is piggy? Has she been terribly distraught without me?"

"Hah! Every time I walk into the room she perks up, realizes it's only me, and then sighs and sits back down. It's prolly the most adorable and sad thing I've ever seen. O can tell, though. She knows you're coming back. dang thing's been antsy as hell- eh... Mind my french."

He stood for a moment, holding her, and then abruptly realized he wasn't saying anything. "So... Um... Want some pie? I uhm... Well, I don't have any pie, but I figured you might be hungry after that long flight, and... Well... I love you." Yup, that went well enough. The pie plan was a bad one, wasn't it? Oh well! Who cared! She was here and he was happy!

"We gotta do something, though, because standing here, I might just have to stay forever; This is the best I've felt in months!" He winked, grabbed her bag, and grabbed her hand, heading out toward the parking lot.

"You gotta tell me what happened after I left! How'd the ad thingy go?" That was, after all, how she'd paid for her stay there; heck she might even have more money left over! One billboard had turned into seven photo shoots and a commercial after they'd found out she was available for longer.

Whoda thought cement was such a big deal in Greece?!

Her lips spread in a wide smile as she grinned. There was nothing quite like having a pet, or pets if you counted the snakes. She could only imagine the reaction she'd get once that little pig caught sight of her.

But, for now, there were other things to think about. What was this about pie? her stomach growled in response, and she promptly flushed brown. Damn thing always seemed to have something to say.

Saph snatched up her hand and bag, though. So she didn't have a moment to comment on the thoughts of her demanding tummy. "You know, I have felt the same way." She giggled, and flushed deeper. "How about he go grab lunch, then pie, then head home?"

Which... brought her back to why she was here in the first place. She was getting married. They were going to be married!... didn't she need a ring?... Didn't he need a ring?

"Oh.. that." She replied in response to his comment about the commercial."I... er..." How did one do about explaining being in a commercial, on billboards, and having a relatively minor-but-still-existent Greek fan-base?

"It went... well?" She was sure he'd be happy to know she was at least bringing home some savings with her.

... even if it was a different currency.

Saph couldn't help but laugh when Andy's stomach growled, and she blushed. What could he do to resist that? It was like a heat lamp for the heart. A veritable death ray of adorable. He was vexxed!

"You know, I have felt the same way. How about he go grab lunch, then pie, then head home?"

More blushing! He was like a kid in the candy store.

"Hah! You're so goddamn beautiful, babe! Off to food!"

He grabbed her hand as she gathered her shaky reply on the modeling situation. More adorable; she was trying to kill him. Time to say something to ruin it!

"Well is good! Heh heh... You'll have to tell me more; Don't want me getting jealous and thinkin y'got a boyfriend in Greece!" He chuckled, and wondered for a moment if she would take that statement seriously. Naaaah... Right?

Right?

"Oh Saphirus, will you please watch your language?"

She allowed him to drag her off, pursing her lips at him for a moment before a weary smile recaptured her lips. She really was glad to be home... Feet on familiar soil, Saph's hand gripping hers-- it was everything she had missed so dearly while she'd been away.

She could only imagine--

"Well is good! Heh heh... You'll have to tell me more; Don't want me getting jealous and thinkin y'got a boyfriend in Greece!"

She almost tripped, and her smile faltered. "Saph! How could you even say such a thing!?"

... Maybe it was due to how long she'd been separated from him, but the joke flew right over her head. Shuffling along behind him to keep up, her words carried a slight hurt, whiny tone, and she wrinkled her nose at him ruefully.

"I've barely been off the plane for five minutes, too!"

"Oh Saphirus, will you please watch your language?"

"I can't help it! I'm all unciviized and stuff; yer gunna hafta make me a gentleman." He winked at her as she tried not to smile. Big pointy teeth made their way onto the scene, and he knew victory was his!


... Until, he went and opened his big ol mouth.

"Saph! How could you even say such a thing!? I've barely been off the plane for five minutes, too!"

He paused for a moment, and scratched the back of his head shamefully. "Aww, babe, you know I was just foolin. I know you'd never do anything like that. It was a joke is all. f... forgive me?" Aaaand, flash them baby blues; puppy dog face. Was he taking this 100% seriously? Nope.

How could he? It was almost surreal; he could accuse her of conspiring to assassinate the president of the united states and it couldn't ruin the moment.

Well... The cavity searches might, if he spoke it loud enough.

Baby blues usually wouldn't have had an effect on her, considering she couldn't see the actual color of them... but, considering that it was Saph and that he was poking that bottom lip out at her...

"Well... alright." She was a bit weak when it came to Saph. Especially when he did something wrong. It was just so gosh darn hard to stay mad at him! "... Not too much happened while I was there. They had me come in for a lot of photographs, and that one commercial, but mostly it was just pictures."

She blinked, her lips pursed, and tilted her head at him. "Though... I did get in a fight with the costume designer a few times."