Nothing But Grey

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/39116868.

Rating: Not Rated

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: Multi
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types,
Iron Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies), Thor (Movies)
Relationships: Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Original Female
Character(s), Thor (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Clint
Barton/Original Female Character(s), Natasha Romanov
(Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Bruce Banner/Original Female
Character(s)
Characters: Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor (Marvel),
Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Nick Fury,
James "Bucky" Barnes, Maria Hill
Additional Tags: Parallel Universes, Multiverse, Earth-1218, Earth-616, Alternate
Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Romantic
Soulmates
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2022-05-20 Updated: 2024-08-20 Words: 227,529 Chapters:
49/?
 Nothing But Grey
by Lexiepexie08

Summary

Hanna Marin was ready to give it all up and she did but the universe had other plans, namely
an alternate universe where she had got more than she bargained for and lot more danger.
 The End... but not really

Earth-1218

My name is Hanna Marin and today is the day I’m finally going to do it. Today I am going to
kill myself because I honestly don’t have anything to keep me going. I looked up at the grey
sky. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky but everything in my world was grey.

I was an anomaly or defective depending on who you asked. A girl that was 100% colorblind.
The only girl in the world that couldn’t see any color at all.

See colorblindness in general was not unheard of but only to certain degrees. Some people
could only see dull shades due to not having as many cones or rods in their eyes to detect
color or maybe they couldn’t see as many variations of orange and green, or just had a harder
time differentiating between red and orange, or in some rare cases instead of seeing green
they saw red and vice versa, and then even rarer than that was me.

100 percent monochromatism. I only saw shades of grey.

The odds of a woman exhibiting any form of colorblindness are 1 in 200. In men 1 in 12.

The odds of a man exhibiting monochromatism, 1 in 100,000.

The odds of a woman exhibiting monochromatism, 1 in 7 billion.

And that 1 in 7 billion was me. In fact I was the first documented case of 100%
monochromatism in a woman. Lucky me.

But that wasn’t why I was currently standing on the ledge of my favorite rooftop bar in Los
Angeles.
After 26 years on Earth, I was giving up on things getting better. I was giving up on lying to
myself that things were not as bad as I was making them out to be. I was giving up on the
placebo effect my so called anti-depressants gave me the first few weeks when I tried
something new because after all the different pills and combination of pills and just
everything I couldn’t do it anymore.

If the next 26 years were going to be exactly like the last 26 years I was done.

So I looked out at the city and raised my glass toasting to the end of my short uneventful life.
I chugged my martini in one go regretting immediately choosing that as my last drink. Still I
threw the glass over my shoulder hearing it shatter when it hit the floor before I let go of the
railing and stepped off the ledge.

I closed my eyes as I fell, happy to finally meet my end.

 Crashing into you

Earth- 616

“I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!” Natasha called out to the
rest of the Avengers as they struggled to hold the Chitauri back.

“Do it!” Steve ordered.

“No, wait!” Tony argued as he caught the missile just in time.

“Stark, these things are still coming!” Steve said.

“I got a nuke, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it.” He said
holding onto it tight as he carried it as fast as he could to the portal in the sky.

“Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?” Steve said hoping there was some sort of invention
or trick the suit could do he wasn’t aware of.

“Save the rest for return, J.” Tony said.

“Sir. Shall I call Miss Potts?” Jarvis asked and Tony hesitated. They hadn’t spoken since they
mutually agreed it was time to break up.

“She should hear it from me.” Tony said accepting the inevitable end.

Tony flew higher and higher before he flung himself into the portal. He felt himself get colder
and colder as the suit started freezing. Jarvis went quiet and he finally let go of the missile
watching it fly off towards the Chitauri ship.

He started falling back towards the portal and he kept his eyes on the missile watching it
make the ship implode. His entire life he had only ever been able to see reds and oranges but
suddenly he started seeing a color he had never seen before.

It was a cloud or mist that was moving towards him until suddenly he felt something hit him
hard as he flew back through the portal and everything went dark.

The Chitauri on Earth immediately collapsed and the battle was over. Natasha shut the portal
and at the last second Tony flew through it.

“Son of a gun!” Steve said smiling but Tony was falling fast. “Wait something’s wrong.”

“There’s something on him.” Clint called out.

“He's not slowing down.” Thor said swinging his hammer and getting ready to fly up but
Hulk beat him to it. He caught Tony and slid down a building before jumping down to the
street rolling the landing. Hulk immediately threw tony aside but to his surprise it wasn’t just
Tony he had caught but a young woman wearing a short white sequined dress.

“Where did she come from?” Steve asked Hulk who just grunted before Thor ripped off the
faceplate of Tony’s suit.

Tony was unconscious and not moving. They stood quietly mourning their friend when Hulk
yelled in anger and Tony suddenly gasped waking up startled.

“What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?” Tony said.

“We won.” Steve said finally taking a breather.

“Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day.
Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't
know what it is, but I wanna try it.” Tony said.

“We're not finished yet.” Thor said still staring at the unconscious girl. Looking confused at
the strange color of the stone on her bracelet that was a seemingly darker color than the sky
which was no longer grey.

“Who’s she?” Tony asked finally noticing what everyone was staring at.

“We were going to ask you that.” Steve said. “She came through the portal with you.”

“The portal into outer space?” Tony said in disbelief.

“She needs a healer.” Thor said noticing the blood on her knees and how pale she was.

“We’ll take her to the tower. The clean up crew and SHIELD Medics can look her over and
we can figure out where the she came from.” Steve said.

“We still have to deal with Loki.” Tony said finally standing up. “But definitely shwarma
after.”

Thor carefully bent down and picked up the unconscious girl before they made their way to
the tower.
 Lighting up your world

Loki was more or less subdued when they got to the tower. One look at the angry faces
surrounding him and he knew he had lost. His encounter with the Hulk had been more than
enough to shake some sense into him so once he was cuffed and gagged the SHIELD Strike
team.

“So she’s the one you pulled out of the portal?” Natasha said eying the girl keeping herself
composed and face unreadable as she started seeing colors she hadn’t seen before.

Clint just stayed quiet trying to come to terms with the insanity of the last couple of days and
adding to the unconscious girl that made him finally see the famous red hair his partner was
known for.

“Are you okay?” Natasha said noticing him staring at her.

Clint slowly reached over and touched Natasha’s hair before she slapped his hand away.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Your hair is red. Like…” Clint started before he looked around and saw a geometric pattern
painting on one of the walls. “Like the triangle in that painting.”

“You can see red.” Natasha said realizing what was happening. “Since when?”

Clint didn’t say anything just turned to look at the girl.

“The sky isn’t grey anymore.” Natasha said also looking at the girl.
“Still pretty grey with all the smoke.” Clint said before realizing what she meant. “Oh. Oh!”

“You are not wearing mourning clothes anymore brother.” Thor said. “And your eyes…”

Loki just gave him a look that just gave him an incredulous look.

“I think that’s…” Tony said looking at the flowers Pepper had in a vase and noticing Loki’s
clothes and eyes were the same color just darker. “Green. Okay Well Today’s just full of
surprises. Aliens invaded earth, gods are real and I met my soulmate.”

“Your soulmate? She mine…” Steve said.

“Not just yours.” Natasha said and everyone turned to look at the girl who quite literally
crashed in and lit up their world.
 Brain Damage

I was cold. It makes sense when you heart stops beating as your circulation slows down you
feel cold but this was not that. I was floating and then I wasn’t.

I hit something… I hit it pretty hard too because I felt sore. Makes sense considering I
jumped from about 20 floors up just to make sure the job got done.

But it was over. It was done and I was free except I didn’t feel free.

I kept hearing this annoyingly but strangely familiar beeping and the smell… it smelled like I
was in a hospital.

I opened my eyes and everything was bright. Way too bright.

I groaned rubbing my eyes trying to ease the burn and the headache. I really shouldn’t have
mixed drinks the way I did.

I looked down at my lap and noticed my blanket. It wasn’t grey. Or white or black or nothing
I had seen before.

I looked around and noticed that the walls of the room were grey but the abstract painting in
front of my bed and the happy faces on the pain description chart were strange looking.

“You’re awake.” A nurse said walking in and immediately turning down the volume on the
heart rate monitor.

“Where am I?” I asked.

“You’re in the Neuro observation ward at New York Metropolitan Hospital…” She started.

“New York?” I interrupted.

“Yes.” She started.

“That’s not right.” I said.

“Miss…” She started.

“I’ve never been to New York.” I said. “I’m from LA. That’s where I was before I…”

And that’s when I stopped talking. If I said I tried to kill myself by jumping off a building
they’d put me in an involuntary psychiatric hold.

“I fell.” I said finishing my previous thought.

“You fell down?” She asked not believing me.

“Fell off a roof.” I said clearing that up. “Too much tequila.”

“Do you feel okay?” She said immediately checking my vitals.

“Uh actually I think you should get a CT or MRI of my head.” I said staring at the painting.

“Does your head hurt?” She asked immediately flashing a light in my eyes. “Dizziness?
Lightheadedness?”

“No but…” I said still staring at the painting. “I’m seeing things I shouldn’t be able to see.”

She looked at me confused.

“I’m going to go get your doctor.” She said immediately running out.
 I'm Being Punk'd

Elsewhere…

“Status report on our 084?” Fury asked Hill.

“She’s still unconscious but her bloodwork came in as far as we can tell she is 100% human.”
Hill said.

“Human?” He said surprised. “She fell out of a portal to outer space in the middle of an alien
invasion.”

“Stranger things have happened.” Hill said. “Even stranger than the fact that all six avengers
including Romanoff and Barton are her soulmates.”

“Let’s keep that off the record.” Fury said.

“Of course.” She said.

“Sir she’s awake.” The nurse said. “And she’s asking for an MRI or CT.”

“She is?” Hill said surprised.

“She said…” the nurse said still confused. “She said she’s seeing things she shouldn’t be able
to see.”

Fury and Hill exchanged looks.

“If she is their…” Hill started and Fury immediately understood.

“Any injuries?” Fury asked.

“As far as I can tell she’s fine. A bit hungover and bruised…” The agent said.

“Hungover?” Fury said surprised.

“Yes apparently she was at a bar or drinking on a roof in Los Angeles when she fell and then
woke up here.” The agents said.

“Los Angeles? The one in California?” Fury said.

“I don’t think there’s another one sir.” Hill retorted.

“You’re dismissed agent.” Fury said. “I think we need to have a talk with our new friend.”

“What should we tell them.” Hill said rejecting another call from Romanoff.

“Nothing yet. Not until we know if she’s a threat or not.” Fury said walking out of the room
to the staged hospital room. The very same one they had put Steve Rogers in a few weeks
prior.

He walked into the room and saw the girl out of bed standing in front of the artwork on the
wall just staring at it.

“Fan of art?” He said.

“No I’ve never really had the type of eyes to really appreciate it.” The girl said before turning
and staring at Fury and hill wide eyed before she started laughing.

“Something funny?” Fury said not at all amused.

“Okay now I know I’m either dead or I’m being Punk’d. Are there hidden camera hidden
around here. Two way mirror?” She asked.

“Miss, you should probably sit down.” Hill said.

“By the way I loved you in How I met your mother but that ending was a total let down.” I
said.

“Huh?” Hill asked confused.

“You know us?” Fury asked.

“I don’t know you know you but I know of you.” I said and they both looked at me confused.
“You’re Samuel L. Jackson and you’re Cobie Smulders. Though if you’re method acting for a
make a wish thing I guess I should call you Nick Fury and Maria Hill.”

“Miss…” Fury asked not knowing he name.

“Hanna, Hanna Marin.” She said.

“Hanna.” He said. “I believe something’s happened to you.”

“I took a bit of a fall, like 20 stories.” I said.

“If you had fallen 20 stories you’d be a stain on the sidewalk.” Hill said.

“Okay then what did happen to me?” She asked confused.

“You fell from a lot higher than 20 stories. Think more like outer space.” Fury said.

“Outer space? Okay that’s it. Who put you up to this? Was is Amy? Theo? It was definitely
Theo he’s all into Marvel and DC…” She said. “Very funny Theo. You can come out now.”

“We’re telling you the truth.” Hill said.

“Yeah and next you’re going to tell me you’re here to recruit me for the Avengers initiative.”
I said and they froze.

“How do you know about that?” Fury said.

“It’s kind of common knowledge. Pop culture.” I said. “Iron man, Captain America, Hulk,
Thor, Black widow and Hawkeye. The Avengers. Earth’s mightiest heroes. Comic book
characters now movie characters.”

They both looked at her she was crazy. She sure sounded crazy.

“Miss Marin.” Fury said. “I think there’s something you need to see.”

“Sir is that really a good idea?” Hill asked.

“It’ll go faster is she actually takes us seriously and seeing is believing.” Fury said.
“If you’re going to show me a video or movie you should know I have seen the entire infinity
saga.” She said.

“No I think some fresh air will do you some good.” Fury said leading her out.
 Seeing is Believing

I stood on another roof, in another city and apparently in a movie or… movie universe. I was
staring at the wreckage of New York post Chitauri invasion. A few rooftops away I could see
a leviathan carcass a construction crew was trying to clean up.

“Believe us now?” Fury asked.

“What’s today’s date?” I asked.

“May 5th, 2012.” Hill answered.

“Is something wrong?” Fury asked.

“Everything.” I said. “But besides the fact that I’m apparently in a movie, on the wrong side
of the country and suddenly not colorblind, I’m apparently 10 years in the past.”

“Excuse me?” Fury said.

“The day I fell off that building in Los Angeles. It was May 18th, 2022.” I said.

“Are you lying to us?” Fury said.

“A cat that wasn’t a cat named Goose is the reason you’re wearing an eyepatch.” I said. “I
saw that in a movie that took place in 1995.”

“You’re not lying.” He said.

“I’m not lying.” I confirmed before I looked up at the sky. I finally understood all the songs
about the sky and the color. It was a nice color.

“This complicates things.” Fury said.

“So that’s blue.” I said.

“You’ve never seen blue before.” Hill said understanding.

“I’ve never seen any color before.” I said. “Which is weird right?”

“Did the movies you talked about ever mention soulmates?” She asked.

“No. They weren’t that type of movies.” I said.

“Let’s head back inside. There’s a lot to discuss.” Fury said.

“That’s great but any chance I can get some pants or anything else to wear besides this
hospital gown?” I asked.

“I’ll find you something.” Hill reassured me.

 Jailbreak

Days later…

Since the realization that I knew a lot more about the world I was declared a valuable asset
and was kept locked way on one of the residential wings of the building. With the exception
of Hill and Fury I didn’t get to speak to anyone. The only other person I saw was guard that
delivered my meals or new books to keep me entertained.

As it turns out honesty is not always the best policy.

Especially when it comes to fictional heads of secret spy organizations that are real in the
world you fall into after trying to kill yourself.

I should have taken my chances in the looney bin.

I finished reading Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar for the fifth time this week before I threw it
aside. The confinement was starting to drive me crazy. I was a bit of a homebody back home
but there was a huge difference between choosing not to be out and being stuck inside against
your will.

Elsewhere…

The Avengers with the exception of Thor who had returned to Asgard with Loki were sitting
in Fury’s office waiting for the man himself to show up. He hadn’t answered any of their calls
or given them any updates on their new friend from space.

“I don’t like this.” Steve said. “Keeping secrets.”

“He’s a spy, it’s part of the job description.” Tony said before turning to Natasha and Clint.
“No offense.”

“I’m not actually a spy.” Clint said.

“Why would Fury hide her?” Bruce said. “You said she was just a kid.”

“She’s a kid that fell from the sky.” Natasha said.

“A kid that fell from a portal in the sky that led to outer space.” Tony corrected. “What are
the chances Fury thinks she’s an alien and they’re dissecting her.”

“Are we sure she isn’t an alien?” Steve said.

“She looked human.” Clint said.

“So did Thor and Loki.” Natasha deadpanned.

“I thought I said I’d call you when there was anything that you needed to know.” Fury said
walking in.

“It’s been a week.” Steve said.

“It’s been a week and there’s still nothing you need to know.” Fury said.

“But there is something.” Natasha said.

“Nothing you need to know.” Fury said again.

“Where is she then?” Clint asked.

“That’s classified.” Fury said.

“She’s a kid.” Tony said.

“She fell out of a portal in the middle of an alien invasion.” Fury said. “All you need to know
is that she’s safe in SHIELD custody.”

“Can we see her?” Bruce asked.

“It’s better if you don’t.” Fury said. “When you need to know something. You’ll know it.”

“You know who she is to us. We have a right to see her.” Steve said.

“And you will. When the time is right.” Fury said.

“And when is that?” Tony asked.

“When I decide it’s in everyone’s best interest.” Fury said.

“Don’t take this the wrong way boss but your judgement lately hasn’t been the best.” Clint
said before walking out. Natasha followed him out.

“She’s okay?” Steve asked.

“She is.” Fury reassured him. Steve nodded before they all left.

“You guys go ahead. I’m gonna take a walk. Clear my head.” Tony said.

No one said anything everyone was lost in thought. Worried and concerned about why Fury
was being more cryptic than usual.

Tony slipped on an earpiece. After the elevator doors closed.

“Talk to me J.” Tony said.

“It seems that recently the New York SHIELD office has cleared out sublevel two.” Jarvis
said.

“The basement?” Tony said. “He keeping her in the basement.”

“Under close watch.” Jarvis said bringing up a live feed of his soulmate reading a book in her
room.

“Well that’s not creepy at all.” Tony said. “Can you put the live feed on a loop?”

“Already done sir. Take the next elevator.” Jarvis said as an elevator opened its door.

Tony got in and the doors closed.

“How many guards?” Tony asked.

“No guards. Not many people are aware she is located on this floor. Only Director Fury and
Deputy Director Hill are allowed in her room.” Jarvis said.

“Not anymore.” Tony said hacking the system to give himself clearance just as the elevator
opened. “Which way am I going?”

“Down the hall and take a right, it’ll be the third door on your left.” Jarvis said.

“Okay.” Tony said feeling surprisingly nervous. He was finally going to meet her and she
wasn’t going to be unconscious this time.

Down the Hall, To the right and Three doors down…

Well this fucking sucks I thought to myself throwing Romeo and Juliet to the side with the
rest of Shakespeare’s greatest works.

Whoever the hell is picking out my books lived to torture people. Then again maybe they did
it on purpose. Maybe this is some form of psychological torture.

No, no Hanna don’t overthink, I have to keep it together if I wanted to make it out of here.

Of course once I made it out of here what was I supposed to do? I was in a comic book movie
universe. I fell from a portal to outer space with Iron Man. I was in New York where I didn’t
know anyone or where anything was.

There was a knock on my door before someone came in. It was around lunch time.

“Please tell me that’s a real cheeseburger and not that bland depressing thing the cafeteria
calls a sandwich?” I said sitting up only it wasn’t Hill or the nurse that wasn’t really a nurse.
“Hi.” Tony said.

“Hi.” I said awkwardly. I looked behind him and saw that it was just him.

“I’m…” he started.

“Tony Stark.” I said glad I remembered not to call him Robert Downey Jr. “Or do you prefer
Iron Man?”

“Tony. Tony’s fine.” He said. “We’ve actually met before. About a week ago. We were in
outer space. Didn’t really catch your name though.”

“Hanna. Hanna Marin.” I said.

“Hanna.” He said smiling. “That’s a good name.”

“My parents thought so.” I said.

“Been here long?” Tony asked.

“About a week. This is better than the fake hospital room I woke up in.” I said.

“Fake hospital… you know what never mind. You want to get out of here?” He said.

“I don’t know, I just met you.” I said. “Stranger Danger is a real thing.”
“This is the second time we meet so we’re not really strangers anymore.” Tony retorted.
“Come on, I’m trying to save you from that depressing bland sandwich that should be here
any minute now.”

I thought about it and no matter how I looked at it my options weren’t great. But I did know
Tony, More than Fury. If three solo movies, four avenger movies, spiderman and civil war
had shown me anything it was that he didn’t do secrets and he wasn’t a serial killer. At least
not on screen.

“You’re buying me lunch.” I said getting out of bed.

“Done.” Tony said looking at my outfit. “And some clothes while we’re at it.”

I looked down and saw the grey oversized sweats, black tank top and nurse clogs I was
wearing.

“That’d be nice.” I said grabbing the hoodie I left on the desk chair before following Tony
out.

For a secret spy organization. Security was surprisingly lax. We slipped out without any
problems and made it to the garage where Tony’s Audi with personized plates awaited.

“Nice car.” I said.

“Thanks, I have three just like it.” He said.

“I know.” I said getting in.

We didn’t go too far, just a couple of blocks away to this diner with a fifties theme. There was
a lot red and still too bright.
“Has the world always been this…” I started.

“What? Red?” He asked. “You don’t like it?”

“No, it’s just… really bright.” I said.

“I get it. The first time I saw the color blue was last week.” He said.

“Did you like never take off your shades or something?” I asked.

“Uh no just…. when did you start seeing red?” Tony asked abruptly changing the subject.

“Last week. Same time I started seeing all colors. It was actually when I woke up in the
‘hospital’.” I said. “I thought it was brain damage from the fall but brain damage wouldn’t fix
a genetic mutation.”

“Genetic mutation?” Tony asked confused.

“Yeah. Colorblindness is caused by a faulty gene or in my case genes on the X-

chromosome.” I said.

“Who told you that?” Tony asked.

“Every doctor and geneticist I’ve ever met. I even did one of those 23 and me tests because I
was the only one in my family that was colorblind and I thought I was adopted. Turns out I’m
not adopted just genetically defective.” I said.

“Were your parents part of a cult that hated soulmates or something?” Tony said.
“Soulmates?” I asked. “Soulmates aren’t real.”

“Yeah they are.” Tony said.

“No they’re not.” I said.

“Yes they are. It’s a scientifically proven fact they are.” Tony said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I said.

“Soulmates, everyone has one. That’s why we can’t see all the colors of the spectrum until
we our person.” Tony said. “Does any of this ring a bell?”

“That sounds completely made up.” I said.

“So did aliens being real and then last week they attacked New York.” Tony said.

“So you’re telling me that soulmates, like one person existing somewhere in the world that is
completely perfect for you and you’re meant to be with are scientifically proven to be real
and somehow seeing them affects your perception of the whole world.” I said.

“Exactly like that.” He said and I stared at him for a minute before I started laughing. “You
don’t believe me.”

“Of course not.” I said. “But you’re a really good story teller. They did not show that in the
movies.”

“Movies?” Tony asked.

“I’m thinking a bacon cheeseburger.” I said. “And an oreo shake. After the past week I think
I deserve to treat myself.”

“Sounds good.” Tony said just giving me this weird look.

We had just finished eating and were finishing up our shakes when he finally brought it up
again.

“You know I wanted to ask, how did you end up in space.” Tony asked.

“I didn’t.” I said. “Look Fury and Hill have been asking me that over and over again all
week. All I remember was that I was at a rooftop bar in LA, I had one too many shots and I
fell off the roof. When I wake up I’m in New York and everyone’s telling me I fell out of a
hole in the sky with you. Add to that I couldn’t see any color before and now I see way too
much color and the fact that it was 2022 when I fell and now its 2012.”

“What?” He asked.

“Yeah, it gets weirder.” I said.

“Weirder than time travel. I doubt it.” He said.

“Want to bet on it?” I said. “I mean you are the one that believes soulmates are real.”

“Because they are.” Tony said.

“No they’re not.” I said.

“A week ago you couldn’t see color and now you can. A week ago I couldn’t see green blue
or purple and after I caught you in space I could.” He said.

“Are you trying to tell me we’re soulmates?” I asked and he just gave me a look. “Seriously.”

“I can prove it.” He said.

“How?” I asked.

“Give me a high five.” He said holding up his hand.

“What?” I said even more confused.

“Trust me.” He said.

“Okay.” I said giving him the high five.

“Put both your hands behind your back. Pinch the tip of any of your fingers. Don’t tell me
which one.” Tony said.

“This is weird.” I said pinching my left middle finger.

“Left middle finger.” Tony said. “Pick another one.”

I did it again.

“Right pinky.” He said. “Go for three.”

I did and tried my left thumb.

“Left thumb.” He said.

“How?” I asked.

“When soulmates touch they can connect. Their pain receptors can mirror each other.” Tony
said. “Believe me now?”

“Uh… okay this… This complicates things.” I said.

“What having six soulmates or the fact that they’re all super heroes?” he said.

“Come again?” I asked.

“I wasn’t the only one that started seeing new colors that day.” Tony said and I just stared at
him in shock. “Hanna?”

“This isn’t real.” I said getting up.

“Hanna.” Tony said quickly dropping some cash on the table before following me out.

“Nope.” I said walking down the street.

“Hanna. Wait.” He said running after me.

“Tony I… I can’t.” I said. “I can’t do this.”

“Hey. Talk to me.” He grabbing my hand.

“This is not happening. This is… This is like… a coma dream… or my brain shutting
down… and making me hallucinate me… in the last movie I saw …or something because…”
I started choking feeling like I couldn’t breathe.

“Hanna. It’s okay. Just take a deep breath.” Tony said.

“I can’t..” I started.

“Yes you can.” He said before he took my hand and put it on his chest right over the arc
reactor. “You feel that…”

“Reactor.” I said.

“Yeah. Does that feel real?” He asked and I nodded. “It’s real to me too. And I really feel it.”

“This shouldn’t be real.” I said falling to the ground in that back alley. “This wasn’t supposed
to happen.”

“What part?” Tony asked.

“All of it.” I said. “This world isn’t supposed to be real.”

“What do you mean?” He said confused.

“You weren’t alone in that cave in Kandahar.” I said staring at the spot on his chest where the
reactor glowed through his shirt. “Yinsen had you hooked up to a car battery before he helped
take apart 12 missiles to get the palladium you needed to make the reactor that saved you
twice.”

“How do you know that? I’ve never told anyone that.” Tony said.

“I know. But they showed that in your movie.” I said.

“Someone makes a movie about me in the future?” Tony said.

“No. Where I’m from all of this is a series of really popular movies based on comic book
characters.” I said. “You and everyone else aren’t real. Soulmates aren’t real. Aliens… that
one’s still up for debate.”

“You’re trying to tell me you’re from another universe?” He said.

“I don’t know how but it makes sense.” I said. “The multiverse is real. Strange won’t tear it
open for another 12 or 13 years give or take. The time jump really confused me.”

“You think you’re in a movie?” Tony said.

“No, in my universe this is all a movie. In this universe that movie is real life and apparently
soulmates are real.” I said.

“Okay I get why you thought I was making it all up.” Tony said.

“So you believe me.” I said.

“After last week anything is possible and there’s no other way you can know what know
about me.” He said.

“You’re taking this a lot better than I did.” I said.

“I’m good with weird.” He said. “How about we go get you some real clothes now?”

“You sure you’re okay?” I said.

“Never better.” He said getting me back on my feet and leading me back to the car.
 20 Questions and the Jolly Green Giant

“Alright go crazy.” Tony said as we walked into huge store on Fifth Avenue.

I was just sort of in shock and feeling really out of place. Shopping had not been something I
liked doing in my world. Mostly because without seeing color my choices were pretty
limited. I shopped for fit and comfort now… the choices were overwhelming. I didn’t know
where to start.

“Uh…” I said. “This is a lot.”

“Don’t worry about the money, you know I can afford it.” Tony said.

“Not that but thanks.” I said. “I uh…”

“Too much color?” He asked.

“Yeah.” I said.

“How did you normally do this before?” Tony asked.

“Everything was black and white. A friend of mine that could see Blue and similar colors
told me they suited me and when I asked her to describe it to me she just said they were dark
so I always picked whatever looked darker.” I said.

“Okay. So let’s start with what you’re used to and go from there.” Tony said picking up a
black scoop neck tee.
A few hours later I had pretty much an entire monochromatic wardrobe in black white and
everything else in between. Tony slipped in a few muted shades for when I was ready.

I also ended up picking a short black v- neck wrap dress with a buttoned skirt and sandals.

All things considered Tony was a surprisingly good shopping buddy. Then again he did offer
to just buy the whole store so we could go do something that was more fun after five minutes.

We were walking through Central Park eating ice cream when his phone started ringing.

“Huh they finally noticed you were missing.” Tony said.

“Do I have to go back?” I said.

“Do you want to go back?” He asked.

“It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.” I said.

“There’s plenty of room at the tower. Give me a minute.” He said picking up the phone.
“Hello you’ve reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark…”

“Stark where is she?” Fury demanded.

“Who?” Tony said playing dumb.

“You know who. Miss Marin…” Fury said.

“Who?” Tony asked.

“The girl!” He shouted.

“You mean the girl you’ve had for over a week that no one but you and probably Hill knows
where you’re keeping her?” He asked.

“You hacked our security.” Fury said.

“Did I… oh wait going under a bridge… losing… na… eeee” He said before hanging up.

“Is it concerning that a super-secret spy organization took this long to realize they had been
hacked and someone broke out of their building?” I said.

“Yeah but it’s not our problem.” Tony said.

“Actually…” I said considering telling him about Hydra but then I realized I should probably
wait a bit, maybe when Fury found us so I could warn him too. “You know what we’ll circle
back to that.”

“Well we had lunch, we went shopping, got ice cream, Where to next?” he asked.

“Uh don’t know. What’s your favorite place in New York?” I asked.

“My favorite place?” Tony said thinking about it for a minute before he started smiling and I
immediately knew what he was going to say.

“You’re going to say the tower aren’t you?” I said.

“No, but it is amazing. It was designed by yours truly.” He said. “Want to see where the
magic happens? It is the last place anyone would think to look for you.”

“You mean because they’re all going to be out looking us anywhere but there?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He said.

“The view from up there must be pretty awesome.” I said looking at the Tower in the
distance.

“Oh it is.” Tony reassured me.

“Let’s go.” I said following back to the car. The Tower wasn’t too far from where we were.
We probably could have walked but since Tony had his car we drove back. There was a lot to
the tower they didn’t show in the movie. Like the pool in one of the sublevels. The arcade…
the food court.
“So what did you do in your world? Genetics?” he asked. “I only ask because you know a lot
about genes.”

“No that was more because of my condition. I saw a lot of doctors as a kid and I read
everything I could find on genetics to try and fix myself but that never really panned out. Not
to mention they only recently finished sequencing the human genome. That sort of held
things up.” I said. “I was in between jobs when this happened. I graduated with a bachelors in
biology, but then the world got shut down by a pandemic.”

“Sounds messy.” Tony said.

“You don’t know the half of it.” I said as the elevator opened up to reveal the lab.

“This is where the magic happens.” He said.

“Aww no Dumm-E or U?” I asked.

“No they’re back in Malibu. You know about them?” Tony asked.

“High tech comic relief.” I said.

“Ah.” Tony said. “Well they’re not here but Jarvis is everywhere.”

“Welcome Miss Marin.” Jarvis said.

“Jarvis.” I said looking at the ceiling. “Can I just say you are my all time favorite fictional
robot butler.”

“He’s not actually a robot butler.” Tony said. “He’s an AI. Jarvis stands for…”
“Just a rather very intelligent system.” I finished for him. “That’s what you tell people but
he’s actually named after Edwin Jarvis, he worked with your dad but you were close to him.
Hence why Jarvis has the same accent.”

“I keep forgetting you know everything.” Tony said.

“Yeah, that’s not really fair is it?” I said.

“You do have an advantage here.” He said.

“So let’s bridge the gap.” I said. “Ask me anything.”

“Anything?” Tony asked.

“Seems only fair.” I said. “I mean the movies showed a lot. Like you and Pepper’s morning
after one night stand routine.”

“They showed that?” he said suddenly tensing.

“Yeah I think they included that to highlight your character growth.” I said.

“Oh well I don’t really do that anymore. Haven’t for a while.” He said.

“I know.” I said. “Like I said ‘Character growth’. Also you and Pepper make a really cute
couple. She’s a keeper.”

Tony chuckled a bit.

“Thanks but we actually decided we were better off as friends.” He said. “Guessing that
didn’t happen in the movies?”

“No, I guess not everything is exactly the same. I mean the soulmate thing wasn’t a part of
it.” I said. “I should make a list of all this but for now what do you want to know?”

“Uh, let’s start with the basics.” He said. “What’s your birthday?”

“November 8th, 1995.” I said.

“So you’re 17?” he said.

“26. I’m from 2022.” I said.

“Right. Scorpio.” Tony said. “Where you from?”

“LA.” I said.

“Really? We could have been just a few miles away this whole time.” He said.

“A few miles and a whole universe.” I said.

“Got any Family?” He asked.

“Mom, Dad, older brother, nephew and niece but we’re not really close.” I said.
“Boyfriend? Or girlfriend?” He asked and I chuckled.

“No, there’s no one. I’m chronically single.” I said.

“Chronically single?” Tony said laughing. “Never heard that one before.”

“My best friend came up with it.” I said. “No matter how hard she tried to set me up with
someone or how many ‘meet cutes’ I had according to her nothing ever went past the first
date. It never felt right.”

“Favorite color?” he asked.

“Uh… I’m not really used to seeing them yet. The sky is nice, so that’s probably in the top
five. I had to drink something to settle my stomach and it was this gross color, I think it was
pink.” I said. “I knew someone that absolutely hated it and I thought she was just being
dramatic but no it really is the worst.”

“What’s the one thing’s color that completely surprised you?” Tony said.

“Uh…” I thought about it and started laughing. “Okay this is pretty gross so don’t judge me
but poop. I didn’t know it came in different colors.”

Tony laughed so hard he fell out of his chair.

“How’d you realize that?” He said in between laughs.

“I ate Cheetos and… yeah.” I said. “Never doing that again.”

“Sir Doctor Banner is making his way down to the lab.” Jarvis said.
“Oh you’re going to meet my science bro.” Tony said.

“Is that really a good idea?” I asked.

“Are you scared of the hulk? Bruce is in control” Tony said.

“I know I just meant maybe the stress of the surprise might not be good for him. Considering
all the truth bombs I dropped on you.” I said Tony thought about it for a minute.

“We should probably ease him into it.” Tony said.

“Yeah.” I said just as the elevator dinged signaling the doors were opening.

“Don’t go anywhere.” Tony said before rushing to meet Bruce.

I spun on the stool trying not to panic about meeting another of my… well it felt weird to say
the s-word.

“Hey jolly green.” Tony greeted.

“Tony. Did you have a nice… walk?” Bruce said.

“I did it was really… I worked through some things.” He said.

“That’s good.” Bruce said. “I think Fury was looking for you.”
“Yeah he called. It wasn’t anything important.” Tony said.

“Really? It seemed important. He even called in Natasha and Clint.” Bruce said.

“Did Thor lose Loki on the way to Asgard?” He said.

“I sure hope not.” Bruce said trying to walk further in but Tony stepped in front of him. He
tried it again but Tony stopped him. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah everything’s great.” Tony said.

“That’s great so can I…” Bruce started.

“Yeah just… okay so I need you to be cool.” Tony said.

“Cool?” Bruce said.

“Yeah relax take a few deep breaths.” Tony said. “Be cool.”

“Okay? I’m cool.” Bruce said nodding as Tony started nodding.

“So I did a thing.” Tony said.

“You did a thing?” Bruce said.

“Not a bad thing but it’s a thing.” Tony said.

“What sort of thing?” Bruce asked confused.

“Uh… well…” Tony said stepping aside so Bruce could see me.

“Hi.” I said waving my hand awkwardly.

“Hello.” Bruce said. “Nice to meet you…”

“Hanna.” I said. “I’ve heard a lot about you Doctor Banner or do you prefer Science Bro?”

“Bruce is fine.” He said looking at me trying to figure me out. “You look a bit familiar have
we met before?”

“I think we did, briefly. I was a bit out of it.” I said.

“You could say that.” Tony said. “Last week was a bit crazy.”

“That’s an understatement.” Bruce said.

“It’s not every day you fall out of a wormhole.” I said.

“Fall out of a… Oh!” Bruce said.

“Yeah lets not do that again.” Tony said.

“You’re… She’s…” Bruce said looking back and forth between Tony and I.

“Bruce meet Hanna Marin, our soulmate. Hanna, Bruce Banner, AKA the guy that turns into
the hulk.” Tony said.

“Uh… Hi… Uh what’s happening?” Bruce asked.

“Oh nothing I just took a bit of a walk and just happened to find Hanna on the restricted
sublevel of SHIELD’s New York office and thought I’d take her to see the sights.” Tony said.

“You broke her out of SHIELD?” Bruce said.

“No.” Tony and I said.

“We didn’t break anything.” Tony said.

“He really didn’t and can we really call it a jail break if there was hardly any security?” I
said. “We literally walked out of there without anyone noticing.”

“Oh this is bad.” Bruce said. “This is really really bad.”

“Is it though?” Tony said.

“It does go against all my constitutional rights to be unjustly held against my will.” I said.

“She does make a good point.” Tony said.

“If the constitution is the same as it is in the other place… if not then I’m screwed.” I said.

“Other place?” Bruce said.

“We have some stuff to catch you up on.” Tony said.

“Though maybe not right now.” I said and Tony gave me a look. “I don’t feel like having this
talk five more times.”

“Good point.” He said.

“There’s a talk?” Bruce said.

“You’ll hear all about it later.” Tony said

 Pizza Party and the Talk

A While Later…

“Want to see it?” Tony asked after giving me a walkthrough of everything in the lab.

“Holograms? Because those are awesome.” I said.

“No but… really?” He said not expecting me to want to see that instead of the suit.

“We only have holograms in movies.” I said.

“Well…” Tony said bringing up a holographic basketball hoop.

“That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” I said.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re easily impressed?” Tony said.

“Dude this is like something straight out of Star Wars.” I said. “What can I throw at it?”

And that’s how I spent most of the afternoon.

“Okay I think I’ve almost got it.” I said holding another holographic ball in my hand.

“Just like the last twenty times.” Tony said. “You know I can just set it up to catch whatever
you throw at it.”
“I already told you that takes the fun out of it.” I said throwing one and finally making it in.
“Score!”

“Way to go Lebron.” Tony said sarcastically.

“Okay so I can’t shoot hoops but you should see me play beer pong. I never miss. I think I’m
like the one person who has better aim when drunk.” I said.

“Yet you fell off a roof into another universe.” He said.

“I never said I was coordinated.” I said. “Also you’ve never walked in heels. At least…”

I walked around the table and looked at his shoes. No lifts or modified soles.

“What are you doing?” Tony asked confused.

“Oh yeah so the actor that plays you in the movies in my universe looks just like you except
he’s a lot shorter and he wears lifts.” I said.

“He does?” He asked in horror.

“Yeah they have to use a lot of camera angles, and the other actors and actresses are either
barefoot or sitting.” I said.

“Well I’m not. I’m this tall without any help or camera angles.” He insisted.

“Sir Doctor Banner is requesting your assistance in the common room.” Jarvis said.
“Be right back. Why don’t you order dinner?” He asked. “Jarvis can get anything delivered.”

“Is New York pizza like a really big thing here? It was in my world. The whole Chicago vs.
New York style.” I asked.

“It is a thing and no contest New York wins.” Tony said heading to the elevator. “Just tell
Jarvis what you want. He’ll do the rest.”

“Okay so can I get a ham and pineapple pizza…” I started. “And whatever everyone else
likes?”

Meanwhile…

Bruce was alone in the common room making himself some tea trying not to panic at the fact
that Tony had broken his apparent soulmate out of SHIELD confinement and that the two of
them were not the least bit concerned about it. In fact those two were like two peas in a pod.
Two very witty and sarcastic peas in a pod. If he didn’t know any better he would have
thought those two had known each other for years instead of a few hours.

He was steeping the tea when Natasha, Steve, and Clint walked in arguing.

“She’s just a kid, she could not have gone that far.” Steve said.

“If she got to the metro she could be in Jersey or even farther.” Clint said.

“Where would Stark even take her?” Natasha said.

“Are we sure it was even him that did it?” Steve said.
“Who else do we know that likes to hack SHIELD just because he can?” Natasha said.

“Uh… Hey.” Bruce said. “What’s going on?”

“The girl went missing.” Natasha said.

“The one that fell from outer space.” Clint continued.

“uh..” Bruce started. “Guys?”

“And Stark won’t answer the phone. You’d think that a billionaire would have at least have
one phone in his home.” Steve said and everyone turned to look at him. “Cell phones, right?”

“Yeah…” Bruce said. “About that.”

They all turned to look at him.

“Tony did a thing…” He started.

Back in the lab…

“Okay now I know for sure you’re from another universe.” Tony said.

“Why?” I asked taking a bite of my pizza.

“Because only in another universe is putting pineapple on a pizza a good idea.” He said.
“Who even does that?”

“A lot of people.” I asked. “Who like balancing the saltiness of the ham with the sweetness
and tartness of pineapple.”

“Fruit doesn’t go on pizza.” Tony said.

“Tomato is a fruit and you can’t have pizza without tomato sauce.” I said as the elevator
dinged.

“Stark!” Someone yelled as they marched in.

“Aw party’s over.” Tony said.

“You have to be nicer to him. Not everyone can handle sarcasm.” I said.

“Sta…” Steve started staring at me before turning to Tony. “What did you do?”

“Hanna, meet Capsicle, Annie and Legolas.” Tony said. “You guys remember Hanna?”

“Hi.” I said biting into my pizza. “You guys hungry? New York pizza totally lives up to the
hype.”

“Uh…” Clint just stared at me. “They have pizza where you’re from?”

“California isn’t another planet.” I said.

“California? That’s still a state right?” Steve said.

“She’s from LA.” Tony said.

“You are?” Natasha said not totally convinced.

“Yeah, no idea how I ended up here though.” I said. “I mean not here here cause that parts
pretty obvious. I just meant in general.”

“Might be time for that talk.” Tony said.

“Actually there’s someone else that should be here for this.” I said.

So that is how I ended up having the weirdest pizza dinner party ever.

No one was saying anything they all just stared at me. Though in Fury’s case it was more of a
glare.

“Okay so I guess I should start at the beginning, Fury and Tony know this.” I said. “I’m from
another… universe.”

“Universe like another world like this?” Bruce asked.

“More or less. Most things are the same with the exception of the fact that soulmates are real
here. And that everything here is a movie in my world and you’re all the main characters.” I
said.

“You really expect us to believe you?” Natasha said still on guard.

“I’ll prove it. The movies showed a lot about your lives. Things that maybe no one else
should know. Bruce.” I said. “You woke up naked in a warehouse somewhere after the hulk
jumped off the Helicarrier, the guard gave you pants and said the other guy aimed to land as
far away from people as he could.”

“That did happen.” Bruce asked.

“Steve… Your mom’s name was Sarah, you used to wear newspaper in your shoes and the
night before Bucky left to Europe he said not to do anything stupid and you answered how
can I you’re taking all the…” I started.

“Stupid with you.” Steve finished with me.

“Clint. You see better from a distance, when Thor broke into the Shield camp that was set up
around his hammer you told Coulson to make the call because you were starting to root for
him, and not too sure this applies yet but Ronin.” I said and he didn’t answer just nodded.

“Natasha, You didn’t want to leave Ohio and…” I started before I did the whistle Yelena used
to do with her when they were kids. Her eyes went wide and for a second I could have sworn
she started tearing up but she immediately composed herself. “Anyone need more proof?”

“So maybe you’re telling the truth but that doesn’t explain how you’re here?” Natasha said.

“I don’t know how I got here. I was at a rooftop bar in LA. I fell off the roof and somehow
ended up falling through a wormhole and landed in New York at the end of one of the most
popular movies of the past ten years.” I said.

“Past ten years?” Clint asked.

“It was 2022 when I fell. This movie came out in 2012 which is the same year it is here.” I
said.

“You know what’s going to happen to us for the next ten years?” Bruce said.

“I know the major events but the gaps in between I don’t know a lot about. There are passing
mentions in the movies but I didn’t read the comics that cover those gaps.” I said.

“There are comicbooks?” Natasha asked.

“The movies are based on comics.” I said.

“Do you now understand why she needed to be kept on a need to know basis?” Fury said.
“The information she has makes her extremely valuable. In the wrong hands…”

“And SHIELD is the right hands?” Tony said.

“She would be kept safe.” Fury said.

“No she wouldn’t.” I said interrupting before the argument got even bigger. “SHIELD isn’t
safe.”

“I understand you’re not happy about being locked in the basement, that was only a
temporary arrangement until something better could be set up.” He said.

“You really don’t get it. There is no place SHIELD can put me in that’s safe because SHIELD
is compromised.” I said.

‘What?” Fury, Natasha, and Clint say at the same time.

“Compromised by what?” Fury demanded.

“HYDRA.” I said.

“What?!” Steve said standing up. “That’s not possible. HYDRA was taken out when I…”

“Cut off one head, another takes it’s place. They don’t just say that for fun.” I said. “They’re
not out in the open yet but they will be in a few years. They’ve been in SHIELD since the
beginning. Started when Zola was recruited to SHIELD…”

“ZOLA! SHIELD recruited ZOLA!?” Steve shouted at Fury.

“A lot of Nazi scientists with strategic intel were recruited after World War II.” Natasha said.

“They’ve been working in the shadows for the past 70 or so years.” I said. “And uh they took
out some key players, Like JFK, his brother… and uh Howard and Maria Stark.”

“What?” Tony said. “My parents died in a car accident.”

“They were in a car accident caused by a Hydra Assassin called the Winter Soldier.” I said.
“Your dad was delivering a serum similar to the one that turned Steve into a super soldier,
Hydra got wind of it and they sent him to take them out and steal it. I’m sorry.”

“That’s… are you sure this isn’t one of those things that’s different?” Tony asked.

“I don’t think so. And the Winter Soldier… he’s Bucky.” I said.

“Who’s Bucky?” Clint asked.

“Bucky died.” Steve insisted. “He couldn’t have survived the fall.”

“Did Zola Experiment on him in Azzano?” I asked and then that’s when he realized what I
meant.

“They gave him the serum.” He said.

“A version of it. He survived and they found him at the bottom of the ravine. Zola gave him a
metal arm. He was tortured and brainwashed into becoming their assassin. They freeze him in
between missions which is how he’s been around for so long.” I said.

“Where is he?” Steve said.

“I don’t know.” I said. “I know they have him and I know he was in Siberia in 1992 and he’s
going to be in DC in 2014, Then he disappears and you find him in Bucharest two years after
that.”

“This is all my fault. I should have looked for him. I didn’t even go back for his body.” Steve
said.

“No shit.” Tony said. “If you had my mom and dad would still be alive.”

“Tony.” I said. “It wasn’t his fault. Bucky was as much a victim as your parents and even if
Steve had gone back for him, Hydra would have just sent someone else.”

“Do you know that for sure?” Tony said.

“In this universe it was Hydra, in another comic book it was faulty brake lines and in another
one of your dad’s competitors has him taken out.” I said. “It could have gone a hundred
different ways but it always ended the same way.”

“How sure are you about this?” Fury asked.

“Did Alexander Pierce turn down the Nobel Peace prize because peace wasn’t an
achievement but an obligation?” I said. “That’s a quote from the movie where he tries to have
you and everyone else here killed. Speaking of, don’t make any suggestions on how to make
better helicarriers.”

“Noted.” Tony said.

“Maybe there’s a way to take out just Hydra and save SHIELD.” Fury said.

“Hydra has members of congress including Tony’s favorite senator, the house, at least one
member of the world security council, Sitwell and the majority of STRIKE on their payroll.”
I said. “And those are just the ones that I remember they showed.”

“This is bad.” Natasha said.

“Hill?” Fury asked.

“She’s clean.” I said.

“It all needs to go.” Steve said.

“And you need to get Loki’s scepter back.” I said. “At least before Strucker starts using it to
experiment on people.”

“Or Hydra uses it to brainwash people.” Clint said.

“Or that.” Natasha said. “How do we take them out in your world?”

“You don’t. At least not yet.” I said. “Hydra comes up with a program to identify people that
are a threat to them using an algorithm. I guess that would be the place to start.”

“Where does that happen?” Steve asked.

“New Jersey.”
 Chapter 10

“How sure are you this is the place?” Tony asked as he as well as Natasha, Steve, and Fury
broke into the former Camp Leigh.

“This place has been abandoned since the late seventies. It was closed down after the
Triskelion was built.” Fury said. He had insisted on tagging along because while he believed
I was from another universe he didn’t wasn’t completely convinced SHIELD was Hydra
because apparently that was less believable. “I’m sure SHIELD covered it’s tracks.”

“SHIELD did, Hydra not so much.” I said. “Steve keep an eye out for anything that seems…
out of place.”

“Besides the Nazi’s?” Clint asked as he kept an eye on any alerts SHIELD received. I had
warned them it was very likely that a missile strike could be ordered once they found what
they were looking for.

“You’ll see.” I said.

“Hm.” Clint said just staring at me while Bruce did his best not to look at me.

“You can ask.” I said.

“What?” Clint said.

“You’ve been staring at me the whole time we’ve been here.” I said. “So I either have
something on my face or you want to ask me something.”

“Okay… you’re from another world and you know everything about us.” Clint said.
“I’m from another world where major parts of your life are in a movie or TV show all based
in the same universe.” I said.

“So you know exactly what’s about to happen?” he asked.

“I knew a version of what’s supposed to happen next. Steve and Natasha aren’t supposed to
be in Jersey for at least another two years or so and it’s only supposed to be the two of them.”
I said before muting the comms. “But in the movie Steve is like an encyclopedia of army
regulations and there’s an ammunitions storage building that’s too close to some barracks. It
was a cover for the old SHIELD office, there’s a hidden elevator, then Natasha quotes the
movie Wargames. Though with Tony there he might say it. And Steve still probably hasn’t
seen it yet so he won’t get it.”

“But you remember all of those details?” Clint said.

“They were really popular movies and I have a really good memory. It also helps that my
nephew made me watch every movie at least ten times.” I said reactivating the comms.

“This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio.” Natasha said.

“I guess you were wrong about this one Dorothy.” Tony said.

“Wait.” Steve said. “Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards
of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place.”

“That’s one.” I whispered before they broke into the building.

“This is SHIELD.” Natasha said as they walked in.

“ Where it started.” Fury said as they moved through the office.

“There's my old man.” Tony said.

“ Howard.” Steve confirmed.

“ Who's the girl?” Natasha asked.

“Peggy Carter.” I answered. Steve hummed an affirmative before he said something.

“If you're already working in a secret office...” Steve said pushing the bookshelf aside to
reveal the elevator. “Why do you need to hide the elevator?”

“Yahtzee.” Tony said.

“Two.” I said before I remembered something. “Whatever happens next just make sure to
keep the elevator door forced open. You don’t want to get trapped in there.”

“You mean in case they order a missile strike on us?” Tony said. “You know I flew a nuke
through a wormhole.”

“We know.” Everyone said.

“This can't be it, this technology is ancient.” Natasha said.

“By today’s standards but for the early seventies this was ahead of its time.” Tony said. “At
least ten or fifteen years.”
“Let’s see what we’ve got.” Natasha said turning on the computer. “Initiate system? Y-E-S,
spells yes. "Shall we play a game?"”

“And three.” I said and Clint just looked a bit freaked out not expecting it to happen exactly
like that.

“It's from a movie, WarGames. Early eighties. Super computers… you probably missed it.”
Tony said.

“Probably.” Steve confirmed before a robotic voice was heard through the comms.

“Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. Stark, Anthony
Edward 1970. Fury, Nicholas Joseph 1950.”

“ It's some kind of a recording.” Natasha said.

“ I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me
prisoner in 1945, but I am.

“You know this thing?” Tony asked.

“ Zola. German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years.” Steve
said.

“ First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In
1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body, my mind, however, that
was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my
brain.”

“So it’s true.” Tony said.

“ No HYDRA died with the Red Skull.” Steve said not wanting to believe it.

“Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.” Zola said.

“ Prove it.” Fury said.

“ Accessing archive. HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted
with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they
resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the
war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite
inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And
when history did not cooperate, history was changed.” The computer explained.

“ That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you.” Fury said.

“ Accidents will happen. HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to
sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's
new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a
zero sum.” Zola taunted angering Steve who threw his shield at the computer.

“That enough proof for everyone?” Tony asked.

At that moment the alert on the other computer sounded the alarm.

“Right on time too, you’ve got company coming your way.” Clint said.

“Missile?” Natasha asked.

“STRIKE.” Clint said.

“We need to move.” Steve said.

“No. We need to destroy it.” Fury said.

“Hanna?” Tony asked.

“The technology is old, He can’t upload his consciousness into the cloud so you take him out
he can’t help Hydra anymore.” I said.

“And he can’t come up with the algorithm.” Bruce said.

“Not a hundred percent sure on that one. The movie doesn’t specify when Zola came up with
it so they may already have it but either way with him gone its one less thing to worry about.”
I said.

“Good enough for me.” Natasha said.

“They’re about ten minutes out.” Clint said. “So whatever you’re going to do you’ve got to
move.”

“I’ve got just the thing for this.” Tony said.

Sure enough the four of them were long gone before the HYDRA STRIKE team that had
been set out got there. All they found were scraps of what used to be Zola’s computer
consciousness.

They were back at the tower about an hour later, Fury had gone off to do whatever heads of
infiltrated spy organizations do when they find out everything they thought they knew was a
lie.
“It’s all true.” Steve said as everyone gathered in the common room.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but I was really hoping you were wrong about this.” Tony
said.

“I kind of was too.” I admitted. “When it happens in the movie its great plot but real life,
that’s terrifying.”

“What, spies and aliens aren’t real in your world?” Natasha asked.

“Spies yes, Aliens that’s still a maybe.” I said before I let out a yawn. “You know I think I’m
going to call it a night. There’s not really much we can do right now.”

“Probably a good idea.” Bruce said.

“Night.” I said excusing myself back to the room I was currently using.

Meanwhile…

Once Hanna had left the team on their own they finally brought up the elephant in the room.

“I have to ask, does anyone else think this is all.. weird?” Bruce asked.

“Which part? The fact that our soulmate is from another universe where we’re all comic book
characters, that she’s from the future, or the fact that she knows everything about us?”
Natasha said.

“Yeah… that takes some getting used to.” Tony said. “but she’s good.”
“She feel through a wormhole and into a movie and she’s good?” Steve said not entirely
convinced.

“She seems to be taking it pretty good.” Clint said.

“She’s well adjusted that’s for sure.” Bruce said.

“She really fell off a roof?” Natasha asked.

“Tequila and rooftop bars are a bad combo.” Tony said.

“And we’re completely sure she’s telling the truth?” Steve said.

“I thought she was lying until she told me exactly what you guys were going to do in Jersey.”
Clint said. “She even predicted your WarGames quote.”

“I wonder what else she knows.” Bruce said.

“Either way she knows more than she’s supposed to know.” Natasha said. “If the wrong
people find out…”

“She’d have a target on her back.” Steve said.

“She already does because of who she is to us.” Clint said.

“So we keep her safe. We saved the world from an alien invasion, keeping one person out of
trouble can’t be that hard.” Tony said.
“Depends on the person.” Bruce said.

The Next Morning…

I spent the night staring at the ceiling over my bed. I was never a good sleeper. My therapists
and psychiatrists said it was might have been a contributing factor to my depression. Of
course insomnia also happened to be one of the side effects of the medication they gave me to
treat my depression.

I slept a few hours then just laid in bed until it was early to be up but not too early to bother
anyone or raise concern.

I headed over to the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker before turning on the TV to see
the news. It was only a week after the Battle of New York so the majority of the news was
about post battle clean up efforts. It was still weird to see a serious news report about aliens
invading New York. I kept waiting for them to end with a disclaimer that this was all fake or
a spoof but it wasn’t. This was the world I lived in now.

Speaking of the world that I was now in and all the impossibilities that were now entirely
possible Steve walked into the kitchen and looked like a deer caught in the headlights when
he saw me.

“Morning.” I said.

“M-morning.” Steve said. “I didn’t know anyone else was up this early.”

“I decided to start the day early.” I said. “There’s coffee if you drink that. I know Bruce only
does tea.”
“No coffee’s good.” Steve said before going to pour himself a cup. Of course he couldn’t find
a mug.

“Top left cabinet.” I answered without him asking.

He looked at me before opening the cabinet and finding the mug. He poured himself a mug.

“Did they uh.. show that in the movies?” he asked.

I couldn’t help the incredulous look on my face as I looked at him before I tapped a finger on
my mug.

“It’d be a pretty long and boring movie if they took the time to open and close all the prop
cabinets.” I said.

“Yeah, I haven’t really seen a lot of movies lately.” Steve said.

“You’re not really missing much. It’s mostly the same as it was in the 40’s except there aren’t
any newsreels before the movie, and the special effects are way better.” I said.

“I’m sure they are.” Steve said. “I thought it was amazing when I saw Snow White and it
wasn’t in black and white.”

“I’ve only seen Snow White in black and white.” I said before I realized I had never seen a
movie in color. “I’ve only seen movies in black in white. I wonder what Star Wars looks like
in color.”

“There was a war in space?” Steve asked.

“No… at least not in my world. Star Wars is a series of movies. Six total, the original three
came out in the late 70’s but they’re still really popular. You should watch them.” I said.

“I’ve been getting a lot of suggestions. I really need to start making a list.” He said.

“You will.” I said smirking as I took a sip of my coffee.

“So what’s your… world like?” Steve asked almost sounding like he didn’t know how to say
it.

“It’s pretty much the same.” I said. “With the exception of HYDRA, super soldiers, mild
mannered scientists that turn into giant green super men, high tech suits of armor, demigods
that are actually aliens, oh and the whole soulmate thing. That didn’t happen in the movies
either.”

“They don’t have soulmates where you’re from?” he asked surprised.

“Nope. Soulmates were just a made up thing by the same greeting card industry people that
turned Valentine’s Day into a bigger holiday than it should be.” I said.

“Didn’t people find it strange that they couldn’t see color and then later on could when they
met their person?” Steve said.

“Colorblindness in my world is sort of rare and it’s caused by a genetic problem.” I said. “It
doesn’t go away because you meet someone.”

“But yours did?” He said.

“Yeah, not sure what freaked me out more, finding out I was in a movie or seeing color.” I
said. “The world is almost too bright now.”
“And you’re okay with… this?” He asked.

“I don’t really have a choice do I?” I said. “I’m here, it happened and there’s no going back.
Not to mention personally there’s not really much to go back to.”

“What about your family?” Steve asked.

“We’re not that close.” I said just as the elevator dinged and Tony walked in.

“Morning… or is it still night?” Tony said.

“Were you up all night?” I asked.

“No… maybe. I was just working on the suit and lost track of time.” Tony said. I knew that
was a total load of crap but I also knew that confronting him right now would just put him on
the defensive or he’d pull a me and just get better at covering things up. “I got this idea to
make the suit able to carry more weight…”

“Sounds cool.” I said.

“Want to see it?” Tony asked.

“Only if I can play with the holograms again.” I said.

“You’re the only person I know that isn’t impressed with the suit.” He said.
“I never said I wasn’t impressed I just think that the suit isn’t the most amazing thing you’ve
ever invented.” I said.

“Then what is?” Tony asked.

“Jarvis, obviously.” I said. “Though the holograms are a close second.”

“Even if you can’t make a single shot?” he teased.

“I already said basketball is not my game, beer pong is.” I said.

“Beer pong?” Steve asked.

“Drinking game.” Tony and I said at the same time as he poured himself some coffee.

“That sounds fun.” Steve said sounding unsure.

“I don’t think you’d like it too much.” Tony said and I elbowed him giving him the be nice
look.

“It might not be as fun for you since you can’t get drunk unless Thor brings over some
Asgardian booze.” I said.

“Wait he gets drunk in the movies?” Tony said.

“No, they’re family movies of course they’re not going to show him getting drunk.” I said.
“Yet they showed me have a one night stand?” Tony retorted.

“That was the first movie, when it was a hit they made more movies. The audience was
mostly aimed at people who read the comics and they were all… older.” I said before I
remembered how old I was when I saw it. “Mostly.”

“So millions of people have seen me…” he started.

“It was like one short scene. Barely even counted as a sex scene.” I said.

“Disappointed you didn’t get to see more?” Tony teased.

“Did you really want to flash a 13 year old me?” I said and Tony choked on his coffee.

“You were 13?” He said.

“Technically 12 and a half.” I said.

“Forget I said anything.” Tony said.

“I’m going to make breakfast.” Steve announced opening the fridge door and seeing a half
empty refrigerator. “or not.”

“Yeah I don’t really do a lot of cooking.” Tony said.

“Maybe we should do a grocery run?” I said. “If we’re all going to be staying here maybe we
should eat something other than take out and cold pizza.”
“You’re probably right.” Tony said. “Jarvis order groceries.”

“Do you require more imported coffee, sir?” Jarvis asked.

“No I mean food.” Tony said.

“What ingredients do you require sir?” Jarvis asked.

“Uh..” Tony started but not knowing obviously never having done this part for himself.

“Milk.” I offered.

“Eggs?” Steve offered.

“Bacon.” I said.

“Bread?” Steve said.

“You know what why don’t you two just tell Jarvis what you need and he’ll get it here.” Tony
said.

“Cheese, avocado, spinach, chicken for dinner…” I started. “Any allergies?”

“There are no dietary restrictions on file.” Jarvis answered.

“Okay mushrooms, strawberries, OJ, Pasta noodles, marinera sauce.” I continued.

“Cheese, sausages, apples, bananas…” Steve continued.

This went on for a while until we probably ordered half a grocery store. In less than an hour
everything was delivered and between Steve and I we had made everyone breakfast. I
stopped Tony before he could help. If the half burnt, half raw omelet he made Pepper that one
time was any indication of what he could do in the kitchen, it was better for everyone if he
was on standby at least until I got a chance to teach him some of the basics.

“On your left.” I said moving a pan of scrambled eggs off the stove and closer so everyone
else could serve themselves.

“Right.” Steve said moving aside as I past him.

“Morning…” Natasha Bruce and Clint said walking in.

“Just in time.” Tony said. “Apparently Hanna and Cap know how to cook.”

“It’s a basic life skill.” I said.

“If you say so.” Tony said.

“Has anyone heard anything from Fury?” Steve asked.

“Nothing since last night.” Natasha said.

“He’ll call when he has a plan.” Clint said before turning to me. “Unless, you got anything?”
Everyone then turned to me.

“Sorry this is all new territory.” I said. “In the movies Tony helps SHIELD develop new
higher tech helicarriers with guns that identify targets by their DNA. No Helicarriers no plan,
just one giant compromised spy organization.”

“So still nothing.” Natasha said. “Guess we should talk about us then.”

“Team Training?” I said. “Cause the teamwork is a little shaky.”

“I think she the us she’s talking about is you and us as in all of us.” Tony said.

“Oh.” I said. “Well guess now’s a good time as any to ask what’s going to happen to me?”

“What do you mean?” Clint asked.

“Well I’m from another universe with no way of getting back so I’m obviously staying and I
don’t have an ID or anything?” I said. “That might be a problem at some point.”

“SHIELD could…” Natasha started before remembering. “but SHIELD is Hydra.”

“We could get you a fake ID while we figure things out.” Clint said. “We know some
people.”

“You don’t have to worry about cash.” Tony said. “With SHIELD out of the picture I’ll
bankroll this whole operation. Guess it’s a good thing I have to remodel. Shame, I had just
gotten this place the way I liked it.”

“You would have remodeled anyway.” I said.

“Maybe.” Tony said before Natasha and Clint’s phone’s dinged.

They both took out their phones.

“It’s Fury.” Natasha said.

“Said he’s going to make some moves and we need to lay low for a while.” Clint said.

“What’s that mean?” Bruce asked.

“We need to be out of sight and out of reach until he calls us in.” Natasha said.

“Which is when?” Steve asked.

“Whenever he calls.” Natasha said.

“Well the construction crew is going to start later this week and I for one don’t want to be
here when they start tearing down walls so who wants to vacation in Malibu?” Tony asked.
 Chapter 11

Two Weeks Later…

While initially living together as roommates had not been what anyone wanted, it was better
to stay together while waiting for Fury to make his moves against HYDRA. He was probably
trying to see if there was anyway to root out Hydra and save SHIELD but I seriously doubted
that was possible.

Anyway being back in California felt weird. Mostly because it was so familiar and so
different at the same time.

From what I could tell the problems from my time still weren’t problems here. Homelessness
while still an issue was not as bad yet. The housing shortage was nonexistent. Gentrification
was not something everyone knew about yet. The beach was still nice.

I hadn’t really ventured out of the mansion. Not because I couldn’t but more because I wasn’t
sure I wanted to see it all again.

Being back also hadn’t helped out much with my insomnia. In fact I would even daresay it
was worse. Lucky for me I wasn’t the only insomniac in the house.

After my fourth day of hardly any sleep I decided to visit Tony’s lab, aka where all the magic
happened.

“Hey.” I said making Tony jump and drop his screwdriver.

“Shit!” He said. “Where did you come from?”

“Another universe.” I said. “Haven’t seen you in a few days.”

“I’ve been… here. I have a lot to fix.” Tony said.

“It looks pretty fixed to me.” I said.

“Well there’s always room for improvement.” He said smiling. “You’re up late.”

“You’re not the only insomniac here.” I said. “You’re having nightmares aren’t you?”

“What? No… I’m just…” He started and I just gave him a look. “You know I am because
you saw it in a movie.”

“Yeah. Iron Man Three.” I said. “It’s the first one right after New York.”

“I’m fine.” Tony said.

“Yeah but it’s okay if you’re not.” I said. “New York was… a lot. Including me.”

“You’re probably one of the few good things that came out of that.” Tony said.

“You’ve known me for two week. It might be too soon to tell.” I answered.

“You told us about Hydra.” Tony said.

“Yeah but now things are different.” I said. “This may be a new universe but I think the rules
of time traveling still apply to this situation. I changed this huge event and when it happened
Steve and Natasha managed to stop them but now, you know ahead of time, things are
changing, that might not happen.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Tony said. “There’s time. Is that what’s keeping you up?”

“No, I really am an insomniac.” I said looking at the third new suit I’d seen in the last two
weeks. “Are you building everyone a suit?”

“No I just… It’s good to have back ups. And back up to the back ups.” Tony said. “New York
was different. Before that I was just making things right. Cleaning up my mess, but that
almost wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough. I almost lost everything and all I have and am is this
so I’m going to build everything I can for every possible thing that can go wrong and maybe
next time it won’t be a near miss.”

“You’re have more than just this.” I said. “You have Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, everyone
upstairs and apparently the universe also stuck you with me too. A very wise man once said if
you’re nothing without this suit then maybe you shouldn’t have it. Just something to think
about.”

“Who said that?” he asked.

“You’ll meet him one day.” I said smiling as I thought about the look on his face when he
realizes he’s the one who’s going to say it. “Try to get some sleep.”

Tony just nodded before going back to work. I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep so I went
to the living room and watched some TV. Of course it being the middle of the night there
wasn’t anything on except infomercials and some old sitcom.

I don’t really remember what it was but it was some family. Functionally dysfunctional. With
ups and downs but somehow they managed to pull it together when they needed.

Totally my family, minus the functional part. Even when we had it together which rarely
happened we were a trainwreck.
I hadn’t thought about them in years but now I kept thinking about them and there was this
idea I just couldn’t stop thinking about.

I was in a parallel universe and the thing about parallel universes was that in each one there is
at different version of a person, at least in movies and that was because that was the general
theory behind the multiverse.

It might not be real, I mean the avengers didn’t exist in my world and the actors that played
them in my world didn’t exist in this one but what if… What if in this world there’s another
version of me or there’s another version of them.

I held my StarkPhone in my hand opening up the search browser. Tony had gifted me one
after I asked if his was like an iPhone.

I could google them. I could find cyber stalk them though does it really count as stalking if
they made their photos and info publicly accessible?

It was a bad idea. It was a horrible idea but I didn’t put the phone down and I typed their
names out and deleted them. And typed them again and so on and so forth. I did that all night.
And the night after that. Until I stopped doing that just at night and during the day too.

Then early one morning, I realized I didn’t have to google them or look them up on Facebook
because I knew where they lived. I knew where they would be so before everyone woke up
and I changed my mind I caught the bus downtown and took another bus that would leave me
a few blocks from my old neighborhood.

Not surprisingly this place was exactly like I remembered it. The rusted iron fences, the dead
grass, old cars, shoes hanging from telephone wires. Even in another universe this place was
still a real shithole.

I stood across the street from the apartment complex I had grown up, remembering all the
times I fell in the front patio when I was on my roller-skates. My brother on his skateboard.
My nephew playing soccer breaking the neighbor’s windows and my mom yelling at us from
inside the house.
No matter how long I stood out there I couldn’t bring myself to go across the street and see
them. I didn’t like seeing them in my old world and chances are I wasn’t going to like them
here either but I still stayed and stared at the poop brown colored exterior.

Days Later…

“Breakfast is ready.” Steve called out. “Can one of you call Hanna?”

“She went out this morning.” Bruce said.

“She did?” Tony asked surprised.

“She’s been going out all week.” Natasha said. “Surprised you haven’t noticed.”

“I’ve been… busy.” Tony said.

“Any idea where she’s going?” Clint asked.

“Where else would she go? Everyone she knows if here.” Steve said.

“Well she is from LA.” Tony said. “Maybe she’s going to visit her old stomping grounds.”

“Is it a really good idea for her to be out on her own?” Clint asked.

“We don’t know if Hydra knows about her. She was in SHIELD custody for a week.”
Natasha said.
“No one knows she’s with us.” Bruce said. “And she makes it back every night.”

“Chances are she’s probably at the beach or a coffee shop down the street.” Tony said. “She
has Jarvis on her phone so if she’s in trouble we’ll know.”

The Following Morning…

After yet another sleepless night I found myself across the street from the poop colored
building. One week later and I still could get a step closer than this. I’m pretty sure I was
turning into that creepy strange lady parents told their kids to stay away from.

Except today I wasn’t alone.

“This is where you’ve been coming all week?” Natasha said standing next to me.

“This is…” Clint said not knowing how to say it.

“Total death trap.” I said. “You two followed me?”

Neither said anything.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” I answered for them. “It’s not really much to look at.”

“Then why do you keep coming?” Clint asked.

“Morbid curiosity.” I said.

“What so special about this place?” Natasha asked.

“This… this is where I grew up.” I said. “Well in another universe. I started thinking that
pretty much everything in this universe with a few exceptions is exactly the same including
people. Figured if this place was still here there might be a version of my parents. Maybe
even a better one.”

“And are they?” Clint asked.

“No idea. I haven’t gotten farther than this all week.” I said.

“You’ve been coming here all week and you haven’t even tried to see them?” Natasha said.

“Once I knock on that door I know and I’m not entirely sure I want to.” I said.

“Were you close to them?” Clint asked.

“We haven’t spoken in years.” I said. “They weren’t the warmest people. Mom was
controlling, overbearing, nothing I ever did was good enough. She said she loved me but
most of the time she just said it to remind herself she was supposed to. Dad… well his
parenting mantra was children are meant to be seen not heard even in their 20’s.”

“Yet you’re still here?” Natasha said.

“Different universe, different version of them, maybe a better one.” I said. “Or not.”

“What apartment are they in?” She asked.

“Not doing that.” I said.

“So we’re just going to stand here all day?” Clint asked. “Maybe creep out some kids.”

“They’re used to it.” I said.

“You’re never going to be able to let this go until you know.” Natasha said.

“You think I should go up to their door and say hi I’m your daughter from another universe
how are you doing?” I asked.

“Maybe not that just knock and see if they’re there.” Clint said. “We’ll go with you.”

“This is a bad idea.” I said.

“Maybe but we’re already here.” Natasha said walking across the street.

“Come on.” Clint said putting an arm around my shoulders leading me across the street so I
wouldn’t chicken out.

So we made our way through the building until we got to the porch of the apartment in the
back.

“This the one?” Natasha asked.

“Should be.” I said looking at the strangely bare porch. Mom had a huge green thumb, she
was practically a plant hoarder.
“Achoo.” Clint said sniffling a bit. “Is your mom a cat lady?”

“No, the neighbors are though.” I said looking to the apartment next door where all the cats
lived. “Something’s off.”

“It’s not going to be exactly the same.” Natasha said knocking at the door. I heard footsteps
before the door opened without the chain lock being removed.

“Who are you?” He said.

“Uh sorry I think I have the wrong apartment.” I said quickly recognizing the man who
opened the door.

“Can’t you read?” He said before slamming the door shut.

“Okay time to go.” I said turning and walking away.

“Do you know him?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah, he’s my high school pot dealer.” I said. “He dies about two steps outside of his door
after pissing off the wrong people by trying to expand into their territory in about a year or
so.”

“Oh.” Clint said.

“You want to check another apartment to see if they’re here?” Natasha asked.

“It’s the only apartment big enough for four people, six in about three months.” I said.
“They’re not here.”
“You okay with that?” Clint said.

“I’m relieved. Not sure I can handle opening that can of worms.” I said. “You guys like
tacos? There’s a good place around the corner.”

“Sure.” Natasha said.

That’s how we ended up by the taco truck parked in an empty lot.

“These are good. Come here often?” Clint said.

“It’s the only place around here open late. Good for the munchies.” I said.

“Didn’t know you spoke Spanish?” Natasha said.

“I grew up in LA it’s the unofficial second language.” I answered.

“If you still want to look for your parents I can make some calls.” Natasha said. “I know
some people.”

“I know but I think maybe it’s better if I don’t.” I said. “Even if there is a Lillian and Grayson
Marin in this world there’s no guarantee they’ll be any different than the ones I knew and
besides with everything else that’s going on it might not be the best time to pull on that
string.”

“So I’ve been meaning to ask. You said something about Ronin.” Clint said. “Does that mean
you know everything I did when I wore that suit?”
“I know exactly as much as you want me to know.” I said. “Everyone has a past, it’s not my
place to judge.”

“But you do know.” Natasha said.

“I know.” I said but they just gave me a look. They wanted specifics. “I know Clint’s hard of
hearing. I know you lived in Ohio with Alexei, Melina and Yelena. I know Clint used to be
an assassin for hire before being recruited for SHIELD. I know he was sent to take you out
but he saw something in you that made him think you wanted out so he didn’t take the shot. I
know the call you made in Budapest because you wanted to get out badly and you needed to
be sure the job was done. I’m not entirely sure this applies here but you own a farm and your
wife and 2 kids live there?”

“I have a wife and kids in your world?” Clint said surprised.

“You don’t here?” I asked.

“I was married when I was 19 but I got divorced a year later when she met her person.” He
said.

“Sorry.” I said.

“It’s okay.” He said with a small smile. “Life got busy.”

“You know all of that and it doesn’t bother you?” Natasha asked.

“Does it bother you that I know everything about you and that I’m from another universe?” I
asked.

“We’ve killed people.” Natasha deadpanned.

“Pretty sure Thor, Tony, Steve and Bruce have too.” I said. “Life is complicated, yours more
than anyone I’ve ever met but when it came down to it you all chose to do the right thing. I
don’t judge people by their worst mistakes.”

“And you’re okay with us being soulmates?” Clint asked.

“I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that soulmates are real.” I said. “Don’t you guys
find it at all weird that the six of you have the same soulmate?”

“Stranger things have happened.” Natasha said.

“Can’t argue that.” Clint said. “Aliens… another universe. Life can’t get weirder than that.”

“Might be too soon to say that.” I said.

 Chapter 12

Days Later…

Now that I knew they weren’t at that apartment my schedule cleared up a lot more. I didn’t
see the point of standing outside the building for half the day anymore so I was around the
house a lot more.

Tony was sharing the lab with Bruce while they worked on whatever they both did. Clint and
Natasha were either in the gym or out doing spy things.

Which left me with Steve. He had finally gotten his hands on the famous black notebook and
had slowly been adding and crossing off things he needed to catch up on. I joined in since I
had nothing better to do and I wanted to see what movies looked like in color.

We started off with the original Star Wars movies.

“So you’re telling me the guy in the suit isn’t the guy talking?” Steve asked.

“Yeah apparently the guy in the suit’s voice wasn’t intimidating enough so they hired James
Earl Jones to do the voice.” I answered.

“And he’s Luke’s father.” Steve said.

“What?” I said we weren’t even half way through a new hope.

“His name is Darth Vader, he knew Obi-Wan Kenobi and his name translates from German to
Dark Father.” Steve said.
“Are you kidding me?” I said.

“Am I wrong?” He asked.

“You just ruined the greatest plot twist in movie history for yourself.” I said.

“That was supposed to be a surprise?” Steve said.

“We should have started with Indiana Jones.” I said.

“It’s a good movie and the special effects are amazing.” He said.

“Wait until you see the prequels.” I said as we kept watching the movie. “I have to say
lightsabers looked cooler in black and white. Just a white glowing blade. I mean the whole
red is bad and blue is good, I don’t get that association.”

“You never fought the red skull.” Steve said.

“True.” I said having to give him that. “You said you saw Snow White in theaters right?”

‘Yeah?” Steve asked.

“Well Walt Disney built an amusement park themed around all of his characters and they
have a Star Wars ride where you’re essentially flying around in a spaceship. It’s pretty cool.”

“Riding around in a spaceship? I don’t know. I could barely handle the cyclone.” Steve said.
“The cyclone is a kiddy ride compared to the rollercoasters they have now.” I said. “There’s
one where you’re up 500 feet in the air and once you get to the top you freefall down.”

“People actually like doing that?” Steve said.

“Some.” I said.

Elsewhere…

Clint and Natasha were across town tailing a target for Fury a so called Hydra arms dealer
that had gotten his hands on some Chitauri tech.

The two of them were watching their mark from a rooftop waiting for his buyer to show up
when Natasha’s phone dinged.

“New orders?” Clint asked.

“Not exactly. I found Hanna’s parents well the ones that exist here.” Natasha asked.

“I thought she said she didn’t want to see them?” Clint asked.

“She didn’t really say that.” She said.

“Nat.” Clint said.

“If there was another version of them maybe there’s another one of her and we can figure out
how she ended up here.” Natasha said.
“She was in SHIELD custody for a week. I’m sure Fury ran her prints. If there was another
her it would have come up.” Clint said.

“But it didn’t.” Natasha said. “I checked.”

“Her parents exist but she doesn’t?” Clint asked. “So they don’t have any kids.”

“Her brother and nephew exist.” She said passing him her phone so he could see the family
photo.

“Their sole heir.” Clint said reading. “She does look like them. Her brother has the same
eyes. Kid too. Do you think she’s lying?”

“No, she hasn’t lied to us about anything.” Natasha said. “But she’s also from a world where
soulmates don’t exist and she has six. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

“Are you going to tell her?” Clint asked.

“She deserves to know.” Natasha said.

Later that night…

Tony was downstairs pulling another all nighter while everyone else had called it a night after
dinner.

I was still having trouble sleeping so I headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Of
course as soon as I closed the fridge door Natasha was standing right behind it.
“Oh shit!” I said jumping in surprise. “I swear I need to put a bell on you.”

“Sorry.” She said smiling and not meaning it in the slightest.

“Busy day?” I asked. “There’s leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

“Clint and I grabbed takeout.” She said before just staring at me.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I found them.” She said.

“You found them?” I asked a bit confused about what she was talking about.

“Who found who?” Tony asked walking in.

Natasha didn’t say anything just held out her phone for me to see. On the screen was a photo
of my parents, brother and nephew.

“That’s them.” I said surprised. “How did you find them?”

“I know people and once you gave me their names it was easy.” She said.

“I’m still lost who did she find?” Tony asked.

“My parents.” I said. “Or at least the ones that exist in this universe.”
“You parents?” Tony said looking at the photo. “Greyson, Lillian, Greg and little Jamie
Marin. These are them?”

“Yeah.” I said.

“You were right they are here but they don’t live in LA, they live in Newport Beach.”
Natasha said.

“Newport?” I said. “Isn’t that…”

“A big step up from your old neighborhood.” Natasha said.

“Guess that makes sense. I went to school not too far from there. Dad always said if he hit
won the lotto the first thing he’d do after he divorced mom was buy a house there.” I said.

“That’s nice.” Tony said.

“Yeah he was a hopeless romantic.” I said sarcastically. “Jokes on him even in another
universe he’s still stuck with her.”

“From what I could find he didn’t win the lotto but he inherited a small fortune which he
invested in a real estate development company, he also owns multiple car dealerships which
his son manages for him. Oh and your mom is a trophy wife.” Natasha said.

“You have no idea how ironic that all is.” I said.

“So are we driving down to see them tomorrow?” Tony asked.

“Ew no.” I said.

“Didn’t you spend a whole week staring at your old apartment building?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah because I wanted to know if they existed and now I know.” I said giving her phone
back to her.

“You don’t want to meet them?” Tony said.

“Nope.” I said. “I’m good.”

“Not even say at the charity dinner they’re hosting at their home this weekend?” Tony asked
bringing up the article on his phone.

“Especially no to that.” I said. “They exist the multiverse theory has been proven now let’s
forget about it for another ten or so years.”

“If there’s another you we can figure out how you got here.” Natasha said making me stop.

“The caption on the photo says they only have him.” I said referring to my alternate universe
brother.

“Just because you’re not with them doesn’t mean you don’t exist here.” Tony said.

“Don’t you think that would have come up when Fury ran my prints and facial recognition?”
I said.

“The system isn’t perfect.” Natasha said. “I didn’t come up when they first looked me up.”
“You guys can go but I am staying out of it.” I said. “Night.”

“Night.” Tony said not entirely convinced.

A Few Minutes Later…

“We’re going.” Natasha said.

“Yeah I already bought us three seats.” Tony said typing into his phone. “How are we going
to convince her to go?”

“I’ll handle it. We’ll go shopping.” Natasha said.

“Take my card and start with black and the dark colors, she’s still not used to colors.” Tony
said.

“That explains why she only wears black.” Natasha said.

The Next Morning…

After tossing and turning most of the night I finally managed to get some sleep. Not great
peaceful restful sleep but sleep.

Unfortunately the universe paired me with soulmates who were morning people.

I felt my bed move and something land next to me before the blinds opened letting all the
morning sunshine in.
“Uh…” I groaned.

“Morning.” Natasha said making me jump out and fall into the floor.

“Wha! Natasha?!” I said.

“You’re out of bed. Get dressed we have a lot to do.” She said.

“We do?” I asked.

“Were going shopping.” Natasha said.

“I don’t need anything.” I said.

“You don’t have to need anything to go shopping.” She said. “All you need is a credit card
with a high enough credit limit… Which we do courtesy of Tony who said to go nuts. Get
dressed.”

“But I already went shopping in New York.” I said.

“Different weather means you need different outfits.” Natasha said opening my closet and
throwing a dress onto the bed. “It’s warm out. There’s a nice brunch place on the way we can
grab breakfast at. Meet you downstairs.”

I just lifted my head to see her give me a smirk before she walked out of my room.

“Uh…” I groaned.
I knew better than to argue with her. One way or another I was going shopping with her and
she was not afraid of tasing me and dragging me there if she had to.

I got up and looked at the outfit Natasha had picked out. It wasn’t a dress it was actually a
black off the shoulder cropped top and a long black skirt with a high slit and a scattered
flower print.

I put my hair up in a messy bun with a few loose strands framing my face. I also grabbed a
pair of shades because no doubt the sun would be annoyingly bright today.
Once I was presentable I headed downstairs where almost everyone was up.

“I’m not a violent person but I swear morning people deserve to be shot.” I said.

“Coffee?” Steve asked as he smiled.

“You’re a god.” I said giving him a thankful look.

“I think that’s Thor.” Tony said.

“Uh why is everyone up so early.” Clint groaned as he walked in.

“Finally a normal person.” I said.

“Take a sip and let’s go.” Natasha said.

“Can’t we just shop online?” I asked.

“No.” Natasha said forcing me to go with her. “Be back later.”

“Have fun.” Tony said.

“Save me.” I told Clint who just waved.

Well at least Natasha took pity on me and made sure to stop by a brunch place with mimosas
and strong coffee.

“I’m not going.” I said knowing what she was going to ask before she even said.

“I never said you were.” She said.

“There’s no point. I got my closure and I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I continued.

“Okay.” She said. “But I still need a dress and I don’t think the boys are going to be much
help.”

“I don’t think I will either.” I said. “I tend to keep my clothing options pretty basic.”

“Looks great to me.” Natasha said with a smirk. “And either way Stark’s paying so why not
treat ourselves. Maybe get mani/pedis while we’re at it.”

“Well if he’s dragging you to this dinner thing you may as well get something out of it.” I
said. “And I doubt the two of us could even put a dent in his credit limit.”

“This card has no limit.” Natasha said. “But we can try.”

Natasha gave a different meaning to the phrase shop until you drop. I had tried on so many
dresses and shoes. She had made me get so many of everything I wasn’t sure they were all
going to fit in my room.

Though I did have to admit I had fun. It was good to see a different side of Natasha than what
I saw in the movies. There had been moments where she was funny and let her guard down
but this was more relaxed. She wasn’t putting up a front or letting me see just enough to put
my guard down.
We stopped by for some froyo on our way back when she finally said something.

“You said something about Ohio when we first met.” Natasha asked.

“You want to ask about Yelena.” I said.

“No.” She said surprising me.

“No?” I asked.

“I.. I’ve thought about her everyday since I got sent to the red room and the only thing that
got me through it was knowing she was safe.” Natasha started.

“Natasha…” I started.

“You don’t want to talk about them and I don’t want to talk about her. Let’s just leave it at
that.” She said.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that. But I’ll make you a deal. After we’re done dealing
with Hydra I’ll tell you what you need to know.” I said.

“What’s there to know?” Natasha said.

“A few things.” I said.

“Is she okay?” Natasha asked cautiously.

As okay as someone who’s brainwashed by the red room can be…

“She’s… Yelena.” I said for lack of a better word. “She still likes hot sauce on her Mac and
cheese.”

“Eww.” Natasha groaned wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Younger siblings…”

“Wouldn’t know. I’m the youngest.” I said.

“How much older than you is he?” She asked.

“Seven years. Though he never acted like it.” I said. “I know what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing?” She asked with a smirk.

“You’re trying to get me to talk about them so I’ll get all nostalgic and miss them and decide
for myself to go to that stupid dinner.” I said.

“Is it working?” She asked.

“No.” I said as the waitress came by with the check.

“What’s the worst that can happen if you show up to this dinner?” Natasha said.

“I was raised by them, I did my time.” I said.

“You’re really going to make me go to this alone with Tony?” she asked.

“That’s not a bad thing. Tony is excellent company. And if you don’t want to be alone with
him make one of the other guys go too.” I said.

“You’re kidding right?” She said. “Bruce will spend the whole time hiding in a corner. Steve
has no poker face and Clint will spend the dinner whining, flicking peas at other people when
they’re not looking or fidgeting the whole time.”

“I can’t blame him, these dinners are super boring.” I said.

“Been to many?” Natasha asked.

“I was a cater waiter in college.” I said. “It was boring to work and just boring to be a guest at
one of those things.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re really grumpy?” She asked.

“And you’re stubborn.” I retorted.

“You spent days outside your old building trying to get a glimpse of them, you have a chance
to see them again even if it’s not the them you know.” Natasha said. “Isn’t there at least one
of them you miss, even the slightest bit?”

“Do you miss Alexei? Melina? Yelena?” I asked. She didn’t say anything but her eyes said it
all.

“It’s a shame you’re not going. A dress like that deserves to be worn somewhere it can be
seen.” Natasha said.
“It’s not working.” I said before we headed back to the car.

Of course later that night when I was staring at the ceiling after trying and failing to get some
sleep I heard her voice again and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Ah shit it worked.” I groaned.

 Chapter 13

‘This is a horrible idea.’ I thought to myself. I had locked myself in my room all day going
back and forth trying to talk myself out of going to this stupid dinner. I took a shower and
said I was just doing it as part of my routine. Then I started on my hair and said I was trying
something new.

But now standing in front of the mirror in the black strapless floor length gown Natasha made
me get, with my hair curled and parted to the side, my make up done and the faux white fur
scarf I was wearing as a shall I had to admit it to myself.

“I’m really doing this shit.” I said taking a breath before heading down.
“You clean up nice.” I heard Tony said.

“Are you really surprised?” Natasha retorted.

“So it’s just you two?” Clint asked.

“Hanna hasn’t come out of her room all day.” Steve said.

“She made it pretty clear she wasn’t going.” Bruce said.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Natasha said as I walked down the stairs.

“This is a horrible idea. I mean on a scale of one to ten this is like a hundred.” I said. “That
being said we obviously need answers and we don’t have any leads so this is our best shot to
figure out what the hell happened to me. So We’re going to go, look around, you’ll do your
super spy thing, you’ll do the billionaire thing and then we get out and after we do we are
never mentioning this again. Ever. Agreed?”

“Sure.” Natasha said.

“Absolutely.” Tony said with a smirk.

“This is a one time thing, and we’re stopping by to get a burger or something because I don’t
care what universe we’re in my mother can’t cook.” I said.

“Whatever you want.” Tony said. “And can I just say you look great. Not that you don’t
always...”

I interrupted Tony by reaching up and straightening his bowtie.

“That was going to bug me.” I said. “Let’s go. “

“Don’t wait up.” Tony said.

The drive to Newport from Malibu was long but the limo was comfy.

“Alright, pre-game time.” Tony said popping open a bottle of champagne and passing out
glasses.

“Anything we should know?” Natasha asked.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Things to look out for?” Natasha insisted.

“Well my dad has a thing for red-heads.” I said.

“Old man has a type.” Tony chuckled.

“Oh and whatever you do don’t ask about the plants.” I said.

“What plants?” Tony said.

“Any of them.” I said. “Once you get mom started she won’t shut up.”
“And your brother?” Natasha asked.

“I doubt he’ll be there.” I said sipping my champagne. “In my world he tried to spend as little
time as possible with them. It’s probably the only thing he ever really tried at. So what
exactly are we looking for.”

“Anything that sticks out to you. That could have caused you to end up here.” Tony said.

“That’s a bit vague.” I said.

“That’s the point.” Natasha said enjoying her drink.

When we pulled up the house on top of the hill I just had to stop and look.

“This is a big step up from the old place.” I said looking at the mansion with an oceanside
view. The grand entryway with roman columns and huge double doors.

“It’s a nice place.” Natasha said.

“Too much marble for my taste.” Tony said offering me his arm. “Shall we.”

“I’m going to regret this.” I said putting my hand on his arm and following him in. Inside was
a marble floor with two grand staircases leading upstairs, a giant crystal chandelier hanging
from the ceiling and more roman columns acting as a partition between the entry way and the
reception room.
“I’m getting Dynasty vibes from this place.” I said.

“It looks like something out of Dynasty.” Tony said.

“I’m going to go look around, keep a low profile.” Natasha whispered before going to do her
thing.

“Champagne?” Tony said taking two glasses off one of the servers trays.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I asked him.

“No I’m trying to get you to relax.” Tony said. “You look like you’d rather be anywhere but
here.”

“That’s because I do.” I said.

“How bad could they possibly be?” he said.

“I cut off all contact five years ago for a reason.” I said.

“Well that five year streak is about to end.” Tony said smiling as he looked behind me.

“What?” I asked turning to see the last two people I ever wanted to see again.

“Smile and go with it.” Tony said.

“Tony.” I said.

“Smile…” He said.

“Mister Stark.” A chillingly familiar voice said.

“Ah, our gracious hosts.” Tony said.

“Lillian Marin.” She said offering him her gloved hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh the pleasure is all mine.” Tony said bowing and kissing her hand. I had to figure the urge
to gag.

“Greyson Marin.” Fake dad greeted. “Welcome to our humble abode.”

“Very humble indeed.” Tony said sarcastically. “Allow me to introduce my friend this is…”
“Rebecca Blake.” I said before Tony could say anything. “Thank you for having us. You have
a beautiful home.”

“You are most very welcome.” Greyson said giving me a strange look. “I’m sorry have we
met before?”

“Uh not that I know of.” I said. “I probably just have one of those faces.”

“Oh, I doubt it. A beautiful face like is not easy it forget.” He said with a wink. I just laughed
awkwardly trying not to be visibly grossed out my own dad just hit on me.

“Oh Greyson, you’re going to make the poor girl blush.” Lillian said playfully slapping his
arm.

“Oh he’s just being honest.” Tony said.

“Well if you excuse us we have to go make the rounds.” Lillian said. “If you need anything
don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you.” Tony said before turning to me. “you okay?”

“I think I just puked a little in my mouth.” I said.

“Looks like good old dad also has a thing for blondes, Huh?” Tony teased and I just gave him
a look. “How about I get us some real drinks?”

“Yes please.” I said.

I took a walk around the house looking for the guest bathroom. I went in and turned on the
faucet.

Focus Hanna. They’re not your parents, they did not contribute any DNA to make you so
what just happened was a complete stranger admiring what you can do with makeup and the
right bra.

Okay I got this. Pep talk over. I washed my hands and headed out only to bump into the last
person I expected to see in this world. My sister in law. Grace.

“Oh sorry.” She said as she almost hit me with a stroller.

“It’s okay.” I said picking up my dress to move out of the way. Grace looked around shifting
from foot to foot obviously very uncomfortable.

“Shit.. Watch him for a minute.” Grace said moving the stroller so I could hold the handle
and locking herself in the restroom before I could say no.

“Uh…” I looked confused before looking down at the baby who stared up at me with big
green eyes. He was sucking on a pacifier but as soon as he realized he had my attention he
spat it out and started fussing.

“Wah!” He cried.

“Hey hey no..” I said. “Come on Jamie. You don’t do that.”

“Ah!” He whined.

I looked at the stroller and saw his toy giraffe and a ring toy.
“Oh I can work with this.” I said waving around the giraffe and making a squeeky voice.
“Hey little man do you know what time it is?”

“Hm..” Jamie stopped crying.

“It’s ring time!” the ‘giraffe’ cheered before I threw the ring toy up and the giraffe caught it
with its neck.

Jamie giggled.

“And again!” I said doing the same thing again. At one point I let him hold the ring and one
things his baby and my nephew had in common... they both had a great throwing arm.

"Oh!" I said.

"What are you doing?" The baby’s father said walking over.

“Hi, I’m just watching this little cutie while his mom is in the lady’s room.” I said.

“There’s my big guy.” Greg said. The baby cheered as he picked him up. That never
happened in my world. Greg wasn’t a doting parent. He was the guy that never wanted to be
a father but ended up being one. That resented his kid for ending the party and no matter how
hard he tried he couldn’t get over it. Just like mom.

“Ah!” Jamie giggled.

“I’m sorry about that my wife is probably powdering her nose.” He said annoyed. “I’m Greg
by the way. Greg Marin.”
“I know.” I said. “There’s a giant family painting of you over the mantle.”

“Right. I thought the cat was over kill.” He said.

“It does give off the bond villain vibe.” I said. “I’m Rebecca Blake.”

“Nice to meet you.” he said just as Jaime started fussing and putting his arms out towards me.

“Oh.” I said catching him before he fell.

“That’s weird. Jamie doesn’t normally like strangers.” Greg said.

“We kind of became buddies with the help of mister giraffe.” I said handing the baby his toy.

“You’re good with him.” He said.

“He’s a great kid.” I said.

“That he is.” Greg said. “He’s my world. You look good with my baby in your arms.”

“Your wife is in the restroom.” I deadpanned.

“Well I doubt she’d notice.” He said getting closer instead I forced the baby into his arms.

“I think someone needs a diaper change.” I said walking away. Well he’s rich and a better
father in this world but he’s still a dick and a moron.
“Drink.” Tony said handing me a martini which I drank in one go. “You okay?”

“My brother just made a pass at me.” I said.

“Ew.” He said.

“Yeah.” I said.

“Well quite a family you’ve got here Bex.” Tony said. “How’d you come up with that?”

“Middle name and old friend’s last name.” I said.

“Huh.” He said just as Natasha came by.

“You were right about your mom, she really can’t stop talking about her roses.” Natasha said.
“How are things with you?”

“I got hit on by my dad and brother.” I said.

“Ew.” Natasha said.

Just then Lillian took a glass and tapped on it with a spoon to get everyone’s attention.

If you will all please join us in the dining room. Dinner is about to be served.” Lillian said
before taking Greyson’s arm and heading to said dining room.
“This ought to be fun.” I said heading there with Natasha and Tony.

And boy was it. Tony having been the biggest donor of the night, ended up having us sit
closest to the head of the table. I was right in front of my sister in law, my fake brother and to
my surprise my best friend.

“Amelia so good of you to join us dear.” Lillian said.

“Thank you for having me Lily.” Amelia said. “Sorry for being late.”

“Work as always?” Grayson said.

“Oh you know this one, always working.” Greg said.

“Someone has to pick up your slack.” Grayson said condescendingly. “How’s my dealership
doing? Sales were a bit low last month.”

“Were they?” Greg said. “I could have sworn my paycheck looked the same.”

“Who do you think signs your paycheck?” Greyson said.

“Boys, no business at the dinner table.” Lillian said smiling tensely.

“Sales will pick up in a few months. Amy came up with this great idea to sell cars through an
app.” Grace said. “She and Greg have been working crazy hours setting it all up.”

“Well one of us has to work to pay for you pilates instructor.” Greg said.
“I’d say we both benefit from that.” Grace said.

“Yes we do.” Greg said kissing his wife.

“You two been married long?” Natasha asked.

“Just over two years.” Grace said. “We’ve known each other our whole lives.”

“Dated for three months before we eloped. When you know you know.” Greg said.

“Vegas was fun.” Lillian said.

“Made a killing at the roulette table.” Greyson said.

“It was a fun wedding.” Amy said. “How do you three know each other?”

“Work.” The three of us said.

“Well thank you for everything you two did in New York.” Grace said. Tony tensed and I
could tell he was about to have a panic attack.

“I thought there was a no work talk at the table rule?” I said taking his hand under the table in
a show of silent support.

“Yes there is. Gentlemen you can talk about work after dessert.” Lillian said. “For now lets
all remember why we’re here.”
“I forgot to say thanks for looking after Jamie earlier. Greg said you were really good with
him.” Grace said.

“Really? I can’t hold the kid without him crying.” Greyson said.

“He’s not good with strangers.” Lillian said.

“It’s all about confidence. Kids learn by seeing so if they sense you’re nervous they get
nervous.” I said.

“That is very true.” Lillian said. “You were the same way.”

“Oh please he never cried.” Greyson said. “We never gave him a chance to.”

“Perks of being an only child.” Greg said.

“I don’t know, I always wanted another kid. A daughter.” Greyson said.

“Of course you’d say that. You’re not the one that’d have to give birth to them and I doubt
you would have liked her very much as a teenager.” Lillian said. “One is more than enough.
We got it right on the first one, no need for more.”

“True, it’s one thing when a son starts dating but a daughter… yikes.” Greyson said before
looking at Lillian. “We’re the perfect family as we are.”

“If there’s such a thing as perfect were pretty damn close.” Greg said.

“No complaints here.” Grace said.

“You do have a beautiful family.” I said struggling to keep a straight face.

“They’re okay.” Greyson said making everyone laugh.

The dinner didn’t provide any answers as to how I got here but I did find one new huge
difference.

After it was over we headed back to the manor. I didn’t say anything the entire way back.
Mostly because what was there to say.

“Hanna, you okay?” Tony asked once we were back.

“Never better.” I said sarcastically.

“We didn’t find anything about how you got here but we’ll figure something else out.”
Natasha said. “Don’t feel bad.”

“I feel fine Nat. It’s not everyday you find out everyone you’ve ever known is actually better
off without you.” I said. “They can actually be in the same room without tearing each other’s
heads off and they actually like each other so… yeah I’m great.”

With that I headed up to my room.

“Hanna.” Tony started but I ignored him. I slammed my room door shut and kicked off my
heels before falling into my bed.

“Great fucking day.” I said to myself.

 Chapter 14
Chapter Notes

Sorry had to repost, saw a few typos that were annoying me.

I spent most of my life trying to keep a family that didn’t want to stay together, together,
putting my life, my career and my mental health last until finally I just couldn’t do it
anymore. I thought cutting them off would be the solution to my problems and it wasn’t. I
tried to kill myself and I ended up in another universe where as it turns out that family stayed
together. They weren’t the Brady Bunch but they were better than what I left behind and it
turned out it was all because they didn’t have me. They were happier and had amazing lives
because I wasn’t in their lives.

Isn’t that a kick in the ass?

The universe had just proven to me that life in general is better without me in it.

It’s kind of hard to find a reason to get out of bed when you were already having a hard time
doing so and then to get hit with that realization…

I was not doing great.

The day after the dinner I woke up remembered what happened and fell back into bed.

Day two my back was killing me from being in bed so I switched to the floor.

Day three was when my housemates came knocking on my door. I refused to open but Clint
and Steve brought me breakfast and lunch. Tony brought me dinner. I didn’t eat but they still
came. I think at one point in the middle of the night Natasha sat Infront of my door and tried
making small talk.

By the end of the week I’m pretty sure they were planning on knocking down my door.

A week of laying in bed staring at the most boring ceiling in the world I felt like getting out.
That didn’t mean I felt like talking about what was bothering me so I resorted to some of my
old coping habits. The ones I went to when therapy wasn’t cutting it, my friends weren’t
available, or my meds weren’t giving me the tolerance for life anymore.

I pulled out a black lace trimmed camisole with distressed black skinny jeans and strappy
heeled sandals. I left my hair down and since it was still pretty warm out I decided to ditch
the jacket.
I went to a bar but not just any bar, I went to the bar that started it all. The rooftop bar I
jumped off of.

It was packed but I snuck out of the mansion early enough to make it there in tine to get a
seat with a good view. Tony’s black card got me the VIP table and bottom less drinks. I’m
sure they weren’t exactly bottomless but there was a drink in my hands at all times.

It didn’t exactly make me forget how shitty things went but it did numb the sting a bit.
“Miss we’re closing up.” The waitress said.

“Right.” I said feeling rather sluggish. I was going to crash hard when I got back to the
house. “Close out my check please and give yourself a nice tip.”

“Of course.” The waitress asked. “Can I call you a cab?”

“I’d appreciate it.” I said. One of the downsides of being completely colorblind was that I
couldn’t drive since I couldn’t tell the difference between red and green the state of California
refused to give me a learner’s permit let alone a driver’s license. As a result I was never the
designated driver. Either way I wouldn’t risk anyone else’s life.

I signed the check and headed home in a cab. It was almost two in the morning when I got
dropped off and I was expecting for everyone to either be asleep or in Tony’s case locked in
the lab building more suits.

Unfortunately Steve, Tony, Natasha and Clint were up waiting.

I let myself in and slipped off my heels ready to tiptoe my way upstairs.

“Hanna?” Steve said.

“Oh shit you’re up.” I said groaning at how I was not nearly drunk enough for this talk.

“Where have you been?” Natasha said.

“Out.” I said.
“Out?” Clint asked.

“Wait are you…” Tony said stepping up closer to me. “You’re drunk.”

“Just…” I said measuring an amount with my fingers. “That much.”

“Are you kidding me?! Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been? You do remember
Hydra…” Steve started lecturing.

“Steve, Steve buddy right now you’re all the way up here.” I said raising my hand. “And I
need you to be down here, kay?”

“Hanna…” Steve started fuming.

“I’m going to go enjoy what’s left of this buzz before I crash. Night.” I said going upstairs.

“Bu…” he started.

“Just leave it.” Clint said. “She’s obviously not going to listen right now.”

The Next Morning or well… Afternoon

I forgot my favorite part of drinking, the incredible deep sleep I got after a night out. For the
first time in weeks I actually got a few solid hours.

Sleep is amazing but unfortunately the hangover I got the morning after… not so much.
“Good afternoon Miss Marin…” Jarvis greeted.

“No…” I whined.

“Pardon me miss, Mister Stark asked the blinds be opened when you start showing signs of,
in his word 'returning to the land of the living.'” Jarvis said.

“Anyway to override that so he never does this again?” I asked from under the blanket.

“I’ll see something is done about it for now sir wished for me to tell you there are hangover
donuts waiting for you downstairs.” Jarvis said.

I groaned.

“Is there coffee?” I asked.

“I believe Mister Barton has just made a fresh pot.” Jarvis said.

“My current favorite human.” I said throwing off the blanket. “Okay.”

I got out of bed. Somehow, I had made it into my room and cared enough to actually change
into my pjs. I was in a black lace trimmed cami and a pair of shorts with matching trim.
Damn even when I’m drunk I don’t like color.
I didn’t even bother to change. The need for coffee and carbs was bigger and more important.

“Look who’s finally up.” Tony cheered.

“Indoor voice.” I said walking to the coffee maker.

“Donut?” Tony offered. “I got you a bacon maple bar.”

“Hm.” I said taking the donut from the offered box.

“How’d you sleep?” Natasha asked.

“Great.” I said.

“And the hangover?” Steve asked and I gave him a glare.

“I’m fine dad.” I said sarcastically.

“Did you drive?” Natasha asked.

“I don’t have a license and I never learned how to drive so no.” I said.

“You’re 26.” Clint said in disbelief because somehow me not knowing how to drive was
somehow more disturbing than me being from another universe.

“Yes and up until a month ago I was completely colorblind and couldn’t see red or green. A
huge requirement for driving.” I said. “At least in my world or I should say my old world
seeing as I’m now here with no way back.”

“Look the dinner and seeing them…” Steve started.

“No. We’re not doing that.” I said.

“Hanna it’s obviously bothering you…” Bruce started.

“And we agreed never to bring it up again so we’re not talking about it. At least I’m not.” I
said. “I needed to go out for a bit and I did so that’s all there is to it.”

“You didn’t leave your room for a week.” Natasha deadpanned.

“I needed me time. In fact I feel the need for me time right now.” I said. “Laters.”

“Hanna.” Steve called out but I ignored him.

So I was in my room lazing the day away. After a shower I was feeling a bit better. I took
another nap and by the time dinner rolled around I was dreading another lecture so I went
back to the bar. Not to drink just to think and be alone.

I stared at the corner, at the edge I had jumped off of and wondered if I did it again would I
go back to my world, or another world or would I just go splat.

“Pardon me milady, may I join you?” Someone said standing behind me.

“I’m afraid I’m not particularly good company right now.” I said taking a sip of my drink.

“I do not wish to be a bother, I just thought that perhaps you could use a friend.” He said and
when that didn't seem to change my mind he changed tactics. "Or perhaps a guard to keep
other unpleasant company away.”

“Sure but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I said.

“I’ll take my chances.” He said sitting down across from me. “Excuse me might I have a pint
of your best ale?”

“A beer?” the waitress asked.

“That would be great.” He said. I looked at the man sitting in front of me. Long blonde hair,
blue eyes, if I didn’t know better I would say he was… then I saw the hammer at his feet.

“Oh fuck you’re Thor.” I said. I almost didn’t recognize him. He was wearing jeans and a t-
shirt with a hoodie over it.

“Thor son of Odin, it’s good to finally meet you milady.” He said smiling.
“Did Steve send you? He seems the type to ask someone to nanny me. Tony would be here
himself Clint and Natasha would just watch from a distance unless I did something they
didn’t like.” I said.

“No one asked me to be here.” Thor said. “I choose to be here in spite of my father’s
insistence that Midgard is no place for me but my lady mother persuaded him to give me
leave for one night as a name day gift.”

“It’s your birthday?” I said surprised.

“Aye.” He said smiling.

“Happy birthday. So how old are you now?” I asked.

“One thousand four hundred and ninety four.” Thor said.

“That’s a lot of candles to blow out.” I said.

“Candles?” he asked.

“Earth tradition. On your birthday you get a cake and the number of candles they put on it
add up to our age.” I said.

“Oh, then it might be a good thing that is not done on Asgard. There probably wouldn’t be
enough candles.” Thor said.

“Or you’d start a fire.” I said.

“That too.” He said smiling before he looked at me concerned. “You seemed troubled
milady.”

“Hanna.” I said. “My name is Hanna.”

“Hanna.” He said smiling. “Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing just… Having a day or I guess it’d be a month in my case.” I said. Maybe even a
life.

“Loki is not someone you need to be worried about. He is to remain in the dungeons of
Asgard until his last of his days.” He said.

“Loki isn’t the problem.” I said. “It’s not anyone but me. I’m the problem.”

“You could never be a problem.” Thor said.

“You haven’t been around much lately.” I said.

“Does that trouble you?” He asked.

“No, the nine realms are a mess and it’s your responsibility as Prince of Asgard to make
things right.” I said. “You just miss a lot when you’re gone.”

“That I do.” He said. “But I’m here now.”

“You are and it’s your birthday.” I said. “You really want to spend it hearing me feel sorry for
myself?”
“I would spend it anyway so long as it is by your side.” Thor said.

“You’re incorrigible.” I said smiling. “It’s your birthday and we are going to have fun. How
do you feel about celebrating your birthday the way we do on Earth?”

“How does one go about celebrating name days on Midgard?” Thor asked curiously.

“First.” I said signaling to the bartender to make it two beers. “We start with a toast and
drink, then we drink some more and go from there.”

The waitress came back putting two pints of beer in front of us.

“To the past 1,494 years and to the thousands more to come.” I said raising a glass.

“Cheers.” Thor said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer wine or…”

While Thor was talking I started chugging my beer without stopping.

“Oh well…” Thor said following my lead about to put the glass down but when I still hadn’t
he continued to match my pace until we both finished.

“Ah.” I said putting my glass down. “Another?”

“If that is the way on Midgard who am I to argue.” Thor said.

“Let’s try tequila this time.” I said.

“What is this tequila you speak of?” Thor asked.

Many many shots later…

“Alright it’s not a birthday without a cake but this is all they’ve got.” I said presenting him
with a cupcake.

“This is a small cake.” Thor said.

“It’s called a cupcake.” I said.

“Was it made by the same baker that made the tarts of pop?” Thor asked.

“No but I promise it’s just as good.” I said lighting the candle.

“And the candle?” He asked.

“You’re supposed to blow it out and make a wish.” I said.

“The cake will grant my wish?” Thor asked.

“No it’s just a tradition.” I said.

“Oh then I shall wish for whatever troubles you to no longer be of bother to you.” Thor said.
“You’re not supposed to say what your wish is or it won’t come true.” I said.

“This wish has a lot of rules.” Thor said.

“It’s a wish, beggars can’t be choosers.” I said. “Blow out your candle.”

Thor did as he said. “Do I just bite into it?”

“Go for it.” I said and in one bite he ate it all.

“Mh this is so good.” He cheered with a full mouth.

“Miss we’re about to close.” The waitress said.

“Right.” I said. “Alright Thor last shot.”

“Shot!” he said as we threw back our last one.

“Do you have to go back now?” I asked.

“Mother gave me until sunrise.” Thor said. “Have you ever gone flying?”

“On a plane?” I asked.

“What is this plane you speak of?” Thor said and I thought about it.
“Iron bird.” I said.

“Oh… well I believe it is sort of like that.” He said.

“You better not drop me.” I said.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Thor said. “May I?”

“All right.” I said as Thor held me close before we flew off.

We ended up at the beach and just talked about Asgard and Thor told me stories of his epic
battles and adventures with the warriors three. That man was an amazing story teller and
funny. Before I knew it the sun was starting to rise and Thor got up.

“Hanna I fear it is time for me to return.” Thor said.

“Time flies.” I said.

“I wish we could have more time.” Thor said.

“I know but it’s not forever. You’ll be back and you know exactly where to find me.” I said.

“Know that no matter where I am, I will always be thinking of you.” Thor said taking my
hand and kissing the back of it.

“Be careful.” I said.

“There is no need to worry.” Thor said taking a few steps back when I remembered
something, something that would happen probably before I saw him again.

“Thor.” I said stopping him. “I’m not entirely sure you’ll believe me but in November of next
year around the time of the convergence the dark elves are going to attack Asgard in an
attempt to get the Aether back. Your mother Frigga will be killed by Malekith during the
attack.”

“Hanna how could you know such a thing?” Thor asked.

“It’s a really long story and I don’t have time to explain it just know that is what is supposed
to happen but you can stop it. Save your mother and more importantly don’t let him take the
Aether back.” I said.

“What is the Aether?” he asked.

“It’s an infi…” I started but before I could say anything more a light beamed down from the
sky and Thor was gone. “Shit. Heimdall you have the worst timing.”
 Chapter 15

I didn’t know if Thor had believed me or if it would do any good but I had to at least try. He
lost a lot in the movies and maybe if Frigga lives she’ll be able to see right through Loki’s
farce and maybe prevent Ragnarök.

I wasn’t too far from the mansion so I walked back.

Of course no one was happy I had gone out drinking again.

“Hanna.” Steve started.

“Okay for the record I wasn’t going to drink but then Thor showed up…” I started.

“Thor?” Natasha said not exactly believing me.

“Yeah he popped in.” I said.

“Thor, the guy we fought aliens with that’s on another planet came to Earth just to have
drinks with you?” Tony asked.

“Mhmm.” I said swiping Clint’s coffee and taking a sip. “It was his birthday so his mom got
him the night off.”

“How much did you drink?” Tony asked.

“Guys I’m being serious. Thor was here, we drank, we celebrated his birthday, had a nice
long talk about something called a bilgesnipe and dragons and other mythical alien creatures
on the beach before he went home because he’s cleaning up the nine realms.” I said.

“You’re drunk.” Natasha said.

“Yes but not drunk enough to hallucinate that.” I said. “He’s a great story teller and drinking
buddy.”

“You can’t keep doing this.” Steve said.

“You’re not the boss of me.” I said dropping the mug in the sink. “I’m calling it a night or
technically day. Laters.”

A Few Hours Later…

“Sleeping beauty still out?” Tony asked as he came out of his lab for a coffee break.

“Like a light.” Clint said.

“We need to do something about her.” Steve said.

“It’s one thing for her to party like she normally does but now she’s hallucinating Thor?”
Steve said.

“That part could be true.” Bruce said.

“You really think so?” Steve asked.

“She hasn’t been wrong so far.” Clint said.

“Is it really so bad that she’s letting off some steam?” Tony asked.

“It wouldn’t be a problem if she was letting off steam, the problem is she’s not. She’s
spiraling.” Natasha said.

“Can’t really blame her? She got dealt a pretty shitty hand.” Clint said.

Days Later…

I had stopped lying to myself saying that I was only going to the bar to be alone and think. I
was definitely going to drink. Not because I had to but more like because the alternative was
stay at the manor and be constantly reminded about how things were a mess.

To avoid anymore lectures I had taken to using Jarvis to sneak in and out of the house. I
would leave without anyone noticing. I’d set up my pillows in bed and I recorded a few
phrases for Jarvis to play out in case anyone knocked on the door to get them to leave. I
would sneak back in before anyone woke up or before Tony came out from the garage for his
morning espresso sleep in late and repeat.

Almost a week with this new routine and I thought I had was off the hook.

That is until one morning when I was sneaking back in everyone plus Fury were sitting
around the living room.

“Uh… morning?” I said.

“Good of you to join us Miss Marin. Take a seat.” Fury said.

“Sure.” I said sitting in the armchair and kicking off my heels.

“Thought you were in your room?” Clint asked.

“I took a walk.” I said.

“Sure you did.” Tony said.

“I did some digging see if there was anyone to see how deep Hydra is in SHIELD.” Fury
said.

“And they’re everywhere.” I finished for him.

“It’s not just SHIELD, World security councilman Malick…” He started. “Senators…”

At this point the conversation just felt sort of repetitive. There was a lot of yelling and back
and forth. My head was pounding and I just stared at the wall not bothering to say anything
because nothing was going to be done until they did they got their fighting out of the way.

“It all has to go.” Steve said.

“I’m with the old man, it needs to go now.” Tony said.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Fury said staring at me.

“Does it really matter?” I asked.

“If there’s anything you haven’t told us now might be a really good time to do it.” Clint
suggested.

“Won’t make a difference.” I said. “Has anything really made a difference so far?”

“What are you talking about?” Natasha asked.

“Is she drunk?” Fury asked.

“Why yes, yes I am.” I said.

“Okay Blondie.” Tony said getting up and pulling me to my feet. “I was going to let you get
whatever is going on with you out of your system but we need you sober right now.”

“What for? Life sucks either way.” I said.

“It’ll suck less when you’re sober.” Tony said.

“I don’t wanna.” I whined dragging my feet.

“Nope let’s go.” He said not letting me turn around and leading me out of the house.

“But I don’t even have shoes on.” I whined.

“We’ll go through the drive thru.” Tony said putting an arm around me to steady me before
leading me downstairs into one of his cars before speeding off.
We passed through to pick up some donuts before pulling over to the side of the road
somewhere where he got as much coffee into me as he could.

“Open up.” He said trying to feed me a donut hole.

“Really?” I said.

“You need carbs.” He said. I just glared at him.

“I’m 26, I can feed myself.” I answered.

“Then eat.” He said.

I ignored him and just drank more coffee.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Tony asked.

“I’m really not in the mood to talk.” I said.

“But you’re in the mood to drink.” He said.

“Pot meet kettle.” I sarcastically.

“Fair enough.” Tony said. “So if you don’t want to talk to me, definitely don’t feeling like
talking to Rogers… Do you want to maybe talk to someone?”

“Someone?” I asked confused.

“An expert… maybe a therapist?” He suggested though by the way he said it I could tell even
he didn’t like the idea.

“I’ll talk to a therapist when you do.” I said.

“I don’t need a therapist.” Tony said.

“So you’ve actually been sleeping in the lab this whole time?” I said.

“I sleep.” He said.

“Six to eight hours a night.” I retorted.

“Something like that.” Tony said.

“Hm.” I said not buying it.

“Hanna I get that seeing your…” he started again.

“No.” I said. “We had a deal. I don’t want to talk about them and we’re not.”

“I get that but we need you and right now you’re not you.” he said.

“You’ve known me for slightly over a month, do you really know the real me Tony?” I said.
“I know that you cared enough about doing the right thing that you warned us about Hydra.”
He said.

“Not really sure that was the right thing to do.” I said. “It would have worked out if I hadn’t
said anything.”

“How many people would have died?” Tony said.

“People are still going to die.” I said. “My life sucked before in my other world and this
one… it’s kind of a mess, want to know what they both had in common? They’re both better
without me in it.”

“That’s not true.” He said.

“You don’t know what I know.” I said. “Can we go back already? I want a nap.”

“A nap before you go out again?” Tony asked.

“I don’t judge your coping mechanisms you don’t get to judge mine.” I said.

Tony sighed but drove me back.

Everyone was still sitting around trying and failing to come up with a good plan. I just
walked in grabbed a marker that was lying around for some reason and started writing on the
window.

“Hanna what…” Bruce started.

“You need to take out all of SHIELD but you need to be smart about it. SHIELD is the
country’s main covert intelligence agency, You do this wrong you screw up all foreign
relations and you won’t see the next threat coming until it’s too late.” I said. “You need to
minimize the fallout of this or else you’ll be cleaning up this mess for years.”

Once I was done with the list I turned to them.

“First thing you need to do find Loki’s scepter.” I said. “If they figure out how to use the gem
that powers it, they won’t just have an army, they’ll have a super powered army. Next Bucky,
find him he’ll lead you to point three, identify and isolate all the senators, diplomats and
potential next heads of Hydra, and then point four take it all down.”

“That’s your plan?” Fury asked.

“It’s not really a plan so much as a suggestion. Do with it whatever you want.” I said capping
the marker and throwing it on the table. With that I headed upstairs.

Once I was out of the room…

“What the hell is wrong with her?” Fury asked.

“She’s spiraling.” Natasha said.

“She’s not spiraling.” Tony said. “She made a list. Would she have made a list if she was
spiraling?”

“You spiraled and created a new element.” Natasha reminded him.

“It’s a good list.” Tony said gesturing to the list on the window.

“Does give us somewhere to start.” Clint said.

“It’s better than anything we had before.” Bruce said.

“So do we know where SHIELD took the scepter?” Tony asked.

“It was supposed to go to the Sandbox.” Fury said. “But someone from above ordered it to be
rerouted to an undisclosed containment facility.”

“Hydra?” Steve said.

“Pierce signed off on it.” Fury confirmed.

“Where do we start looking for it?” Natasha asked.

“I was hoping Hanna would know where to start looking.” Fury said.

“You can ask her when she wakes up.” Clint said.

“Unless she sneaks out again.” Bruce said.

“How has she been sneaking out?” Tony asked. “Jarvis?”

“Pardon me sir but privacy protocols prevent me from disclosing that information.” Jarvis
answered.

“She found a loophole.” Tony said. “Smart.”

That Night…

I woke up and went through the usual routine. I set up a pillow dummy, made sure had the
recording set to go, made sure my way out was clear and that there would be a taxi waiting
for me at the usual spot.

The summer heat wave was hitting California pretty hard so I decided to ditch pants in favor
of a two piece black lace dress with black heels. My hair was up in a braided messy bun and I
kept my phone and wallet in a black leather wristlet.

I was pretty much on a first name basis with the doorman and most of the staff at the bar.
They even had my usual app and drink order for me ready when I got there.
I went to my usual spot to contemplate the exact same thing I had been doing for week.
Staring at the ledge wondering if maybe I should do it again. Maybe it would stick this time.
Did I actually want that. What if I ended up in another universe again?

I think I got to my third drink before someone interrupted my thoughts.

“Hey good looking wanna…” they started.

“No.” I said not letting him finish.

“Hey I just wanted to know if…” he started again.

“No.” I repeated.

“Uptight bitch.” He mumbled before storming off.

“Dick.” I mumbled finishing my drink before signaling the bar for another.

My drink was brought over and I was enjoying it as I went back to my silent contemplation
when someone came over again. This guy could not take a hint.

“In case I didn’t make it clear, Fuck off.” I said.

“That’s not really nice.” Natasha said taking a seat across from me.

“Really not what you say to someone that buys the next round.” Clint said sitting next to
Natasha.
“Seriously?” I said. “You two followed me. Again.”

“You really should keep a better eye on your surroundings.” Natasha said.

“Is this supposed to be an intervention?” I said. “Or are you just going to drug me throw me
in the trunk of your car and keep me there until I promise not to drink anymore?”

“Depends do you need one?” Natasha retorted we stared at each other neither of us backing
down until finally Clint called it.

“Relax if this was an intervention I wouldn’t have bought us all overpriced drinks. Who pays
15 dollars for a cocktail?” Clint said.

“It’s LA.” Natasha and I said.

“This is where you come every night.” Natasha said. “Nice place.”

“Good view.” Clint said.

“You’ve been here before? In the other place?” She asked.

“Yup.” I said. “This is the bar.”

“The bar?” Clint asked confused. “You mean…”

“This is the bar you fell from?” Natasha said in disbelief.

“Yup. The very same.” I said stirring my drink with straw. I was really feeling the buzz. They
over charged for the drinks but they did not hold back on the booze. “And that corner over
there… That’s where I jumped.”

Natasha and Clint choked on their drinks.

“Y-you jumped?” Clint sputtered.

“Did I forget to mention that part?” I said. Yeah I was really feeling the booze this time.

“Yes.” They both said.

“Whoops.” I said before I went back to chugging my drink. Natasha and Clint exchanged
looks before turning to stare at me.

“Why did you come back here?” Natasha said.

“It’s a nice place.” I said. “Good view. And the drinks are strong. Good spot to think.”

“To jump again?” Clint said.

“Maybe. It didn’t really work out the first time.” I said. “If I do it again I might end up in the
universe where Steve is Hydra and he’s on my case enough as it is.”

“Yeah okay time to go.” Clint said.

“Laters.” I said waving them off.

“Oh no you’re coming with us.” Natasha said grabbing my hand and pulling me up.

“Uh no I’m not.” I said.

“Yeah you are.” Clint said throwing me over his shoulder.

“Wah!” I shrieked. “What are you doing?!”

“We’re going home.” Natasha said.

“No. Clint put me down.” I said squirming around trying to get free but he had a really tight
grip on me.

“Not happening.” He said.

“You can’t do this to me. I have rights!” I said.

“Not anymore.” Natasha said as we walked out of the bar and into the elevator.

“You’re such a jerk.” I said.

“And you’re drunk.” Clint said.

“Not fair.” I said. “But you do have a nice butt.”

“Back at ya.” Clint said. “Still not letting you go though.”

“Ah!!” I groaned in annoyance.

I wasn’t put in the trunk of the car but Natasha did put the seatbelt on me rather tightly. No
one said anything the entire drive back. This was worse than having breakfast with my
parents after a fight.

I was not looking forward to what was waiting for me at the mansion.

So I have to say what came next was not one of my proudest moments.

I waited until the car slowed down as we approached a stop light and I tried opening the door.
Key word was try because apparently Clint and Natasha had expected that and had the child
lock on.

“Really?” Natasha said looking back at me though the mirror.

“Had to try.” I mumbled.

Since jumping out of the car didn’t work out I resorted to stalling for as long as possible. I
started by refusing to get out of the car. Of course Clint called my bluff threw me over his
shoulder and carried me in.

At first I thought they were just going to go straight into the intervention but to my surprise
they dropped me off in my room and told me to sleep it off.

Like that was going to work.

I tried sneaking back out but Jarvis had me on lockdown. I couldn’t open the door and if I
needed something he would tell someone to bring it up for me.
Yeah I was not going anywhere anytime soon.
 Chapter 16

“What’s going on?” Tony asked as Clint carried Hanna who was not happy about being
carried back against her will.

“Can you set up Jarvis to monitor Hanna and keep her in her room?” Natasha said.

“Why would you…” Steve started.

“Can you do it?” Natasha asked Tony again.

“I can but why would you want to do that?” Tony asked.

“I’ll explain when Clint gets back just do it.” She said.

“Alright.” Tony said grabbing his tablet and activating the protocols Natasha asked for. “All
set. Now you want to tell us what’s going on?”

“We followed Hanna to a bar downtown, the same bar she was at the night she ended up
falling through that wormhole.” Natasha said.

“She’s been going there this whole time?” Steve asked.

“Everything here is almost identical to the way it was in her world. Maybe it comforting to be
somewhere familiar.” Bruce said.

“The same roof she fell off of?” Tony said.

“She didn’t fall she jumped.” Clint deadpanned.

“What?” Steve, Bruce and Tony said.

“She jumped? Like on purpose?” Tony said.

“She let that slip out after about five mango martinis.” Natasha said.

“Okay so she tried it once she doesn’t mean she’ll do it again.” Bruce said.

“She spent the whole night staring at the spot she jumped from.” Natasha said.

“And she had put some thought into it. Apparently she wasn’t sure she wanted to risk falling
into another universe by accident again because there’s apparently a world where Cap is
hydra and if he’s already on her case here he’d probably be worse there.” Clint said.

“I think you can understand why we didn’t think leaving her alone there was a good idea.”
Natasha said.

“Jarvis monitor Hanna closely and don’t let her out of the room until further notice.” Tony
said.

“Yes sir.” Jarvis answered. “Miss Marin asks if she could come down to the kitchen for some
water.”

“Tell her one of us can bring it up.” Tony said.

“She has changed her mind.” Jarvis answered.

“Well she’s still being stubborn.” Steve said.

“What do we do?” Bruce asked. “Should we try talking to her?”

“She’s drunk.” Natasha said.

“And it’s not like she listens to us anyway.” Steve said.

“She doesn’t listen to you but maybe she’ll listen to someone that understands.” Tony said
looking to Bruce.

“I don’t know. Wouldn’t a professional be better idea?” Bruce said.

“You have seven Ph.D’s.” Tony said.

“None of them in psychology or psychiatry.” Bruce said.

“Bruce if we take her to a therapist and she tells him she’s from another universe would they
take anything she said after that seriously?” Natasha said.

“And you think she’ll listen to me?” He said.

“It’s worth a try.” Steve said.

The Next Morning…

I woke up groaning remembering what had happened last night. I got carried out of the bar
and into my room. I was essentially grounded.

“This is why I drink alone.” I mumbled.

Of course Jarvis took that as the okay to open up the blinds and let the sunlight in.

“Good morning Miss Marin, It is currently 11:03 am and bright and sunny outside. There is
breakfast waiting for you downstairs in the kitchen.” Jarvis said.

“I’m allowed to leave the room?” I said suddenly feeling more awake.

“Yes Miss Marin.” Jarvis said.

“This is a trap.” I said.

“Pardon me?” Jarvis answered.

“What’s waiting for me downstairs? An intervention?” I asked.

“Your breakfast Miss Marin. Scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and fruit. If you prefer
something else I can have that arranged.” Jarvis said.

“No that’s fine.” I said not expecting that. There was no way Clint and especially Natasha
were going to drop this. Pretty sure the whole house knows by now.

“Mhmm.” I groaned falling back and pulling the covers over my head.
“Shall I have your breakfast brought up for you Miss?” Jarvis said.

“Tony was right you do nag.” I said pulling the blankets off my face. “Though he
programmed you so technically he nags himself.”

“Your breakfast Miss.” He said.

“I’m going.” I said getting out of bed and not bothering to even change out of my Pjs. The
first time Steve saw me in a cami and shirt shorts he couldn’t look me in the eye for the
whole day. Maybe my tank top and shorts would distract him enough to forget to lecture me
today.

I quietly headed down the stairs trying to see if I could hear anyone to try and prepare for the
worst but I couldn’t hear anything.

I went to the kitchen and found a plate already waiting for me. Judging by the portions and
how fluffy the pancakes were I could tell Steve had cooked this morning. Natasha always
burned the pancakes a bit. And Clint always put cheese in the eggs when he made them so he
didn’t make them but he did make the coffee. Only he and Tony made it this strong.

I was sitting taking a few bites when Bruce came in.

“Uh morning.” He said.

“Morning.” I said watching as he walked around pulling stuff out to make his chai tea.

“Would you like some tea?” He asked.

“Thanks but I’m more of a coffee person.” I said.

“Right.” He said looking around awkwardly.

I looked down at my plate and started moving food around. Bruce stirred his tea for probably
a lot longer than he needed to.

“Clint and Natasha brought you home last night.” He said.

“They did.” I said. “Got back a lot earlier than I was planning on. Didn’t really get a say
about it.”

“They were worried.” Bruce said.

“They sent you.” I said. “because you can relate. Who’s idea was it? I doubt you volunteered.
So who was it? Natasha or Tony?”
“I…” he started before I gave him a look. “Tony.”

“You’re not that type of doctor.” I said.

“I tried telling them that.” Bruce said.

“The other type of doctor doesn’t work either.” I said sipping my coffee.

“You were in therapy?” he asked.

“I gave it a try, it wasn’t for me.” I said. “I had better and more important things to do.”

“Taking care of yourself is important.” Bruce said.

“You’ve been to therapy?” I retorted.

“I don’t think there’s a therapist alive that’s qualified to help with my problem.” Bruce said.

“That makes two of us then.” I said. “And talking didn’t really help so there’s not really any
point in talking about it.”

“You’ve been going to the same bar every night and staring at the exact same spot where
jumped off the roof.” Bruce said.

“And now I’m here.” I said. “There’s not a lot to talk about.”

“Hanna it’s not normal…” he started and I laughed.

“Normal? What part of this is normal? I fell into another universe, you have a giant green
alter ego, Steve was frozen in ice for 70 years, Tony flies around in a suit of armor, Natasha
was raised and trained since birth to be a spy, Clint fought aliens with a bow and arrow, And
let’s not forget about Thor the god of Thunder.” I said. “I appreciate you coming out of your
comfort zone and tying to talk some sense into me but can we just not? I’m pretty sure you
guys haven’t even checked one thing off the checklist and that’s way more important.”

“There’s a lot of places in the world to hide a scepter.” He said.

“I’d start in Sokovia.” I said.

“Sokovia?” Bruce asked confused.

“The country. A castle outside of Novi Grad if you want to be exact.” I said. “Fun fact ,
Sokovia doesn’t exist in my old world.”

“Really?” Bruce said.

“Based on a few countries in the area but completely fictional.” I said standing up. “It’s a nice
day out, I’m going to finish this outside.”

With that I headed out to the balcony and settled at the table Tony had set up out there. I
doubted anyone had ever used it but it was nice.

I thought I was off the hook and that Bruce would go back to his corner of the lab but to my
surprise he came out to join me.

“Taking another shot at it?” I asked.

“No.” He said. “Can you tell me about you world?”

“You want to know about the other world?” I asked.

“One of my Ph.D’s is in Physics. A parallel universe is a theory no one’s ever proven and
you’re living proof.” Bruce said.

“It’s pretty much the same.” I said.

“You have different countries.” Bruce said.

“We do. Though foreign policy is roughly the same. We have the same problems thought in
ten years they’re further along.” I answered.

“What about you? What was your life like?” He asked.

“I had a job, It was nothing to brag about but it paid the bills. I lived alone. Nice studio loft. I
had friends, not a lot but good ones.” I said. “It was an average life.”

“What about your family?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah we’re not going there.” I said.

“You said you didn’t want to talk about the ones here. I’m asking about the ones in your
world.” Bruce said. “You had a mom dad, a brother named Greg and your nephew…”

“Jamie.” I said.
“Were you close?” He asked.

“No.” I said.

“Your nephew too?” Bruce asked knowing when he struck a nerve.

“You could say that. I practically raised the kid.” I said.

“Really? What about his parents?” He asked.

“My brother didn’t want to be a dad but he could never keep it in his pants and one accidental
pregnancy later came Jamie.” I said. “Arguably the one good thing he ever managed to do.
He couldn’t get over the fact that his bachelor days were over so he’d pawn off the kid on
anyone he could. Say he’d go out on an errand and come back a week later sometimes longer.
His wife had her own issues. Let’s just say this isn’t the only universe she had a problem with
powdering her nose.”

“Oh…” Bruce said.

“It wasn’t entirely her fault. She was in a car accident a month after she gave birth and got
prescribed some pretty strong narcotics. The opioid epidemic is not just a problem here.” I
said. “She tried her best to be a mom but sometimes that wasn’t enough. It took her years to
get it together.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility for a kid.” Bruce said.

“He was a handful but a good kid.” I answered.

“What happened to him?” he asked.

“His parents finally called it off for real after years of being on again off again. My brother
got his wish and didn’t have to be a dad anymore and once my sister in law managed to quit
for good she took him and moved away.” I said.

“How long was he with you?” He asked.

“Five years.” I said. “He was five and a half the last time I saw him.”

“That’s a long time to raise a kid. Those are formative years.” Bruce said.

“I tried not to screw him up.” I said. “And he’s not why I jumped off that building if that’s
what you were trying to get at.”

“I didn’t but since you brought it up…” Bruce said.

“Look there’s no one reason why I wanted to end it all. I just didn’t see the point of anything
anymore.” I said. “I woke up, struggled to get out of bed every morning but I still did it, I
went to work, did my job, went home did it all over again the next day. Except one day I
wake up and realized there was no point to any of it. I thought I was in a rut so I did what
most people do when they realized they’re in a rut and tried to change it up a bit. I tried
hobbies, I tried shrooms, I even went bungee jumping and it did nothing for me. I was
numb.”

“And that’s when you tried therapy.” Bruce said.

“No that’s when I went out and got really drunk.” I said. “Didn’t fix anything but it did turn
my filter off so I was out with my friends and we were blowing off steam when I just
unloaded it all and we took a buzzfeed quiz to determine if I needed therapy. Then I went to
therapy. It didn’t really do anything for me. Like at all.”

“Maybe it was the wrong therapist?” Bruce asked.

“I went to five.” I said. “In a month.”

“Oh.” He said.

“Yeah all I got were a bunch of platitudes and hang in there cat posters.” I said. “I quit that
and decided to go the pharmaceutical route which didn’t do much for me. Just made me
numb, practically a zombie at that point with a huge insomnia problem. So I quit that and
stayed busy to distract myself but it never really worked. There was always that thought in
the back of my head and one day I just had enough went to the bar, I had half the drink menu
and said fuck it, it's not like things could get any worse. I didn’t think I’d fall though a
wormhole into another universe things like alien invasions happen.”

“I could see how that might complicate things.” Bruce said.

“I don’t think complicated fully covers it.” I said.

“You know there are options you could try for…” Bruce said.

“I did that all and I’m not doing it again.” I said.

“Things are different here.” He said.

“Different world same me.” I said getting up. “Thanks for breakfast but I’m going to head up.
Nap a bit more.”

“Sure.” Bruce said not really knowing what to say to that.

 Chapter 17

I had a nap. Not particularly restful one but I did sleep a bit. It didn’t make me feel better. Not
even my talk with Bruce made me feel even the slightest bit better.

The fact was I was a mess not matter what universe I was in.

I never fit in, in the other world. I was the one trying to keep a family that didn’t want to be
together, together. I was the third wheel in a friendship. I was the one that fixed everyone
else’s problems because I could never fix what really mattered. I was always on the outside
looking in even when I was smack dab in the middle of it all. I never fit.

My old world was better without me in it and this universe proved it.

Feeling like everyone was better off with you dead felt horrible but seeing actual living proof
that that feeling is actually a fact felt worse. Way worse.

I thought I was alone staring at the ceiling but I wasn’t.

“You’re awake.” Natasha said standing at the foot of my bed.

“Can you not?” I said pulling the blanket over my head.

“We should talk.” She said.

“I’m all talked out.” I said.

“Hanna.” Natasha started but I ignored her.

“Hanna.” She said more firmly before sighing. “Dinner should be ready in 20 minutes you
should come down.”

With that she walked out closing the door behind her.

“Jarvis don’t let anyone in.” I said.

“I’m sorry Miss but new protocols prevent me from doing so.” Jarvis said.

“Well shit.” I said. “I’m guessing my usual secret exit route is not so secret anymore.”

“All ways in and out of the manor are completely monitored.” Jarvis answered.

“So I’m essentially a prisoner.” I said. “Great.”

“Perhaps a conversation over dinner could help improve your… situation.” Jarvis said.

“My situation.” I said before I started laughing and then laughter turned into crying. “I’m a
situation. That’s… That’s fucking great.”

“Miss dinner is ready.” Jarvis said.

“Oh fuck off.” I said pulling the covers over my head.

Twenty Minutes Later…

Everyone was in the kitchen ready to start eating but were waiting on the one person they all
needed to talk to.

“Tony did you call Hanna?” Steve asked.

“Jarvis?” Tony asked.

“Sir I have notified Miss Marin.” Jarvis said.

“And?” Tony asked.

“After I conveyed your wishes to discuss the situation she asked for me to… bugger off.”
Jarvis said.

“Bugger off?” Clint asked confused.

“He’s editing.” Tony said groaning. “You called her a situation?”

“My protocols are not clear on how to address the… situation.” Jarvis said.

“Great.” Natasha said.

“What are we going to do?” Steve said. “How do people with this sort of thing?”

“This sort of thing?” Natasha said. “She’s depressed.”

“We didn’t have this sort of thing in the 40’s.” Steve said.
“Yes you did they just didn’t call it depression.” Bruce said.

“And normally any mental health issues were handled with electroshock therapy or
lobotomies.” Tony said. “And before you ask they don’t work.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Steve asked.

“She doesn’t want to talk, She doesn’t want to leave her room unless its to go to a bar…”
Clint said.

“She doesn’t want to go to therapy again.” Bruce added.

Natasha had enough and went upstairs. Only to her surprise Hanna wasn’t there.

“Hanna?” She called out. Before going to look in the bathroom. “Jarvis where’s Hanna?”

“I am not sure Miss Romanoff.” Jarvis said.

“Guys…” She called out running downstairs. “Hanna’s gone.”

“Jarvis?” Tony called out.

“I am afraid I do not know where Miss Marin has gone off to.” Jarvis said.

“I thought you said she was being monitored?” Steve said.

“Jarvis was supposed to…” Tony said

Hours Later…

The one upside to my problems is that I have a tendency to overthink everything. Normally
it’s a pain in the ass but when your mind starts to wander you start to ask questions and when
you have an AI that listens and happily answers any and all questions you may have you tend
to go down a lot of rabbit holes.

My friends in another world used to say that my head was filled with random, weird and
pointless facts. I was that one person at a part that could comment on anything because I
knew at least one thing about everything. I had perfect recall of many conversations they
forgot about years ago.

Today one of these little tangents came in handy. A few days after we got to the manor I was
up late one night and decided to ask Jarvis about how he worked and his settings and if he
followed Asimov’s laws.

From there he basically let me read all of his base protocols and everything Tony had added
later on.

Most of it was pretty basic like not spying on people when they’re on the toilet. Not letting
anyone use him to spy on others…

It’s because of these protocols that I figured out how to sneak out of the mansion to go to the
bar without anyone noticing.

Anyway there was no way I was going to sit through an intervention dinner. I wasn’t in the
mood for it and if Bruce had relayed to them everything I had told him we would just spend
the night going in circles.
I couldn’t leave the house but then I remembered a protocol I read. On that Tony had
probably added at some point when he was hiding from Pepper to avoid work or to avoid a
one night stand the morning after. Basically Jarvis isn’t allowed to tell anyone who is in the
garage/lab. Even if they specifically ask he won’t say anything. From there the only thing I
had to figure out was the code to get in. All locked areas in the house had personalized codes
and all locks had a default code.

In less than three tries I got in. I snooped around trying to figure out where Tony kept his
snacks. I found a few granola bars and his stash of top shelf liquor. This place really was
Candyland.

I poured myself a glass of expensive looking Japanese Whiskey to sip on while I laid back in
the roadster. Jarvis dimmed the lights and played some music while everyone was upstairs
freaking out about where I was.

It was a few hours later that Tony wandered in frustrated and annoyed. DUMME and U
started beeping and booping to get his attention.

“Not now you useless scrap of metal.” Tony fussed throwing something loudly onto the lab
table. U started beeping wildly. “Do you do anything besides yap?”

“Hey be nice to them.” I said sitting up in the roadster.

“Hanna? What… how did you…” He started.

“Jarvis isn’t allowed to tell anyone who’s in your lab.” I said taking a sip of whiskey.

“You don’t have a passcode.” Tony said.

“I used the default code.” I said.

“The default isn’t 0-0-0-0.” He said.

“It’s your birthday.” I said surprising him. “Also tried Pepper’s birthday, December 16th too
but I should have known it wasn’t that one.”

“You’ve been here the whole time? You do know we’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Tony said.

“I figured. I wasn’t really in the mood for a lecture.” I said taking another sip. “By the way
you have an amazing whiskey collection. I never tried Japanese Whiskey before but it does
live up to the hype.”

“You’re drinking again.” He said.

“Oh don’t give me that. I’ve seen you do way worse and this is my first glass.” I said.

“First of many.” He said.

“First one. I don’t like getting drunk on whiskey. Worst hangover of all. Not to mention
Whiskey and Scotch are meant to be sipped and savored.” I said offering him the bottle
before I saw the tag. “Oh and Happy Late Birthday.”

“Thanks.” He said taking it before opening the door to the roadster. “Scoot.”

I didn’t say anything but moved over. Tony poured himself a glass and took a sip.

“Damn that is good.” He said.

“This place is a lot bigger than they make to look in the movies.” I said as DUMME and U
beeped at each other. “And they’re louder.”

“Didn’t think that part through.” He said. “But I’m not the only one that didn’t think things
through.”

“I could actually argue the opposite. There was a lot of thought before the big jump.” I said.

“This isn’t funny.” He said.

“I never said it was.” I said. “You know it’s really easy to judge when you really don’t know
anything about me or what my life was like before coming here.”

“Okay so tell me about it. What was so bad you wanted to jump off a building?” Tony said.

“I never fit.” I said. “I could honestly genuinely say there was no place in the word for me.
Not in my family, not with my friends, work… and as it turns out they were actually better
off without me. This whole universe proved it.”

“They are not better off without you.” He said.

“Trust me they are.” I said. “As messy and douchy as they are here it is still better than the
way they were before. They could actually stand to be in the same room as each other. They
could laugh at each other’s back handed compliments and while my sister in law does
probably have a drug problem here at least she’s a high functioning drug addict.”

“How bad did it get?” Tony asked.

“Bad.” I said remembering the times I had to walk through homeless encampments and
heroin dens with my months old nephew in my arms. The time I was almost too late with the
Naloxone. “My friend used to have this mantra. It’s just a bad day not a bad life. For me it
was a bad life without a doubt.”

“That was in a different universe you’re here now.” Tony said. “Maybe what didn’t work
before will here.”

“I’m not doing that again.” I said.

“You have to do something.” Tony said. “Because maybe right now you don’t want to jump
off that roof again but what about a few months from now, years?”

“That’s a problem for later.” I said.

“And what about us?” He asked.

“It doesn’t involve you guys. This situation is my problem not yours.” I said.

“We’re your soulmates.” Tony said.

“I’m sorry you got a defective soulmate.” I said. “Odds are this is a fluke. Look a
mathematical algorithm in my world calculated that the odds of meeting your perfect match
is 1 in 10,000, adding to that geographic location it bumps it down 9,890 so out in the world
in your entire life you are going to meet 110 people that are practically perfect for you.”

“That makes sense.” Tony said with a far off look on his face. “110 huh?”

“Just about.” I answered.

“huh…” he said before suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my left thumb.

“Ow!” I said looking at my thumb seeing a mark but no idea how I got it. Then I turned to
Tony who had pricked his thumb with a pin. “What was that for?”

“What are the odds that one of those 110 people would feel that?” he said. “And if you feel
that what do you think the rest of us will feel if you decide to jump off another roof or any
other thing you decide to do?”

“That’s a low blow.” I said.

“Doesn’t make it any less true.” He said. “You need help. I get it didn’t work before but
things are different now. Hanna you crashed into me at the exact moment I was falling out of
a wormhole in the middle of an alien invasion. You saw color for the first time in your life
after you met us all, I know it’s hard to believe but this is real. We’re your soulmates so if
you’re not going to get help for yourself can’t you at least consider doing it for us?”

“It didn’t work before it’s not going to work.” I said.

“Then we keep trying until we find something that does.” He said. “We took a leap of faith
believing you about Hydra so take one on us and let us try to help you.”

“I’m not going back to therapy.” I said.

“Why are you so stubborn?!” he groaned.

“I’ll go to therapy when you go.” I said.

“Done.” He said.

“Seriously?” I said.
“If it gets you there, I’ll lay down on a therapist’s couch and complain.” Tony said.

“And you’ll really try?” I said. “Even when they started saying really stupid condescending
things like ‘How does that make you feel?’”

“I’ll go every time you go.” Tony said. “In fact, Jarvis book us both appointments with the
best shrinks in the area.”

“Of course sir.” Jarvis said.

“Well if we’re really doing this...” I said pouring myself another glass of whiskey. “One last
hurrah.”

“You’re being dramatic but pour me another one too.” Tony said.

Many Drinks Later…

“Okay Never have I ever gone sky diving.” Tony said.

“Does jumping off a building an free falling count?” I asked.

“No.” He said.

“Then no.” I said while Tony drank. “Okay you need to do better because I haven’t had any
sips in so long I’m practically sober.”
“Then stop talking yourself out of all of them.” He said. “Okay I got one. Never have I ever
had sex.”

Tony took a sip but I didn’t.

“No.” he said in disbelief.

“I did tell you I was chronically single.” I said.

“What does that have to do with…” Tony started.

“I’m not just going to jump into bed with the first random dude that comes along.” I said.

“He didn’t have to be random. You dated.” He said.

“They never got more than one date.” Is aid.

“I don’t buy that.” he said.

“I’m serious.” I said.

“So am I. Blondie you’re…well.” He started.

“Well what?” I asked.

“Have you looked in a mirror? You are really hot.” He said and I laughed. “Don’t laugh I’m
serious.”
“Thanks.” I said still laughing.

“Okay this you had to have done. Never have I ever been kissed.” He said and that I did drink
to. “I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend?”

“Best friend, actually how we met. I was at a bar… yes I know.” I said. “Anyway my sister in
law was on her first sobriety kick and I had the night off for the first time in a year. So I’m at
a bar and this guy just comes up to me and plants one on me.”

“What?!” He said.

“Totally caught me by surprise.” I said. “When he finally pulled away he’s apologizing to me
and begging for my forgiveness. I’m still in shock so I sit him down make him chug a beer
and explain what the hell he was doing kissing strangers. Turns out he was going through a
bit of an existential crisis. He had feelings for his roommate, a guy and had never felt
anything for his longtime girlfriend so he was trying to figure out if it was just her or if he
really was… turns out he was really into guys and not girls. And that’s how I met Theo.”

“That’s how you met your best friend?” Tony said.

“Yeah. That story didn’t really age well. If he wasn’t on the verge of tears when he started
talking I totally would have kicked in the gonads.” I said.

“You would have had to get in line.” Tony said tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.

“What are you doing?” I asked amused.

“Oh nothing just…” he started looking down at my lips weirdly and I just started laughing.
“Trying a thing. It’s not happening is it?”
“No.” I said. “Not really the time for it and you’re a light weight so…”

“I’m the light weight?” Tony said amused.

“I’m not the one trying to pull a move straight out of the 80’s.” I said.

“I’m not…. But I mean if we weren’t drinking and we were out say maybe…” He started.

“Okay I think that’s a sign we need to call it a night.” I said.

“But we were getting somewhere.” He whined.

“Save it for your therapist old man.” I teased.

“Age doesn’t really matter with soulmates.” Tony retorted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Oh there’s a lot more to the soulmate thing than just colors.” Tony said and I just looked at
him confused.
 Chapter 18

The Next Morning…

I woke up to Jarvis reminding me I had therapy today. I’m guessing he booked the earliest
appointment possible before I changed my mind.

I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this again. I couldn’t believe Tony was actually
willing to go to therapy if I did. I wonder how this would change things.

“Miss Marin…” Jarvis said for the third time.

“I’m going… Jeez.” I said getting out of bed. I looked into my closet and pulled out a black
crochet lace mini sheath dress. It was going to be a hot day so it was a good option. I grabbed
a pair of black strappy sandals before going downstairs.
I interrupted a very chaotic breakfast conversation.

“We have no idea where she is…” Steve ranted.

“Your perfect system failed epically.” Natasha said.

“Uh yeah about that…” Tony said just as I walked in.

“Morning.” I said going straight for the coffeepot.

“Hanna where have you been?” Steve said.

“Where else? I’m not allowed to leave remember.” I said.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Clint said.

“Guess you guys didn’t look carefully enough.” I said before turning to Tony. “Are we
going?”

“You don’t want to eat first?” Tony asked.

“I have coffee, that’s all the breakfast I need.” I said.

“Alright then. Be back later.” Tony said.

“Where are you two going?” Natasha said.

“Therapy.” Tony and I answered as we walked out of the house.

“What just happened?” Bruce asked.

Thirty Minutes Later…

Tony and I were sitting in the waiting room of our Shrink’s practice. It was the same clinic
but different doctors. I was looking through a travel magazine learning about the wonders
Morocco had to offer. Tony was sitting next to me his knee bouncing non stop.

“Nervous?” I asked not looking up from my magazine.

“No. Are you because…” he started before I put a hand on his knee to force him to stop
bouncing it.

“I can’t tell if there’s an earthquake or if you’re moving the chair.” I said taking my hand off.
“And its you.”

“Sorry just not really a fan of this.” He said.

“You’ve been to a therapist before?” I asked.

“They brought someone in when they brought me to the airbase after I got out of that cave.”
Tony said. “Didn’t really want to talk about it.”

“Might have been a bit too soon for that.” I said.

“Yeah…” Tony admitted.

“Don’t freak out. It’s the first session so they just want to get to know you to get a read on
you.” I said. “Just talk about yourself. You like doing that.”

“Sure.” Tony said and as soon as the door opened he grabbed my hand.

“Breathe.” I whispered.

“Mister Stark and Miss Marin. Which one of you would like to go in first?” The nurse said.

“Ladies first.” Tony said.

“Age before beauty.” I retorted. Of course then the other office door opened and the patient
walked out.

“Looks like you can both go in.” the nurse said with a smirk.

“Great.” Tony and I said.

“See you in 45.” I said getting up and walking into the recently opened door while Tony went
down the hall.

I walked in and greeted my new therapist. Her office decorated with crystals and Tibetan
singing bowls. There was a macrame wall hanging decorations and succulent glass planters.
My therapist Elaine was middle aged with greying hair and a kind smile in a sort of warm
motherly or even grandmotherly way.

“Welcome. Please make yourself comfortable.” She said.

“Thanks.” I said sitting on the couch.

“I see you came in here with a friend. It’s good to have a support system.” Elaine said.

“Yeah…” I said not knowing if forcing each other to get help really counted as support.

“For the first session I normally start by getting to know my patients and also letting them get
to know me. We are partners in this and it’s important for this to feel like a good fit for you. If
any point whether it’s now or later on you feel like you would prefer to speak to someone
else I can set you up with my colleague or recommend you someone else at another practice.”
She said. “Is that okay?”
“Sounds good.” I said.

“Now the one last thing before we get to the ice breakers are my credentials. I am a
psychiatrist but I specialize in both homeopathic and osteopathic medicine. Everyone is
different and no one approach works for everyone. Some patients do well with one, some can
manage with just therapy or others need a bit of everything.” Elaine said. “It may take some
time to find right fit but we will find it, the only thing I ask is for you to have some patience
and kindness for yourself. As annoying as this may sound, this is a marathon not a sprint.”

That was a first time I met a therapist who said that and I didn’t feel like punching them for
how condescending they sounded.

“So, tell me about you.” She said.

“I’m pretty sure it says in my file why I’m here.” I said.

“I’d rather hear it from you.” Elaine said. “You’re more than just words on a paper.”

“Okay. So do I tell you about the incident that got me on your couch or my life’s story?” I
asked.

“How about you tell me whatever you think I need to know?” She said. “It can be anything. I
once had a patient rant for the entire 45 minutes about her husband dropping his socks
everywhere in their apartment. There is no wrong answer.”

“45 minutes about socks?” I said.

“Yup.” She said.

I decided I was going to give Elaine a chance to try and fix me. That being said I had to edit a
few things out. A lot of things.
I kept the facts the same. The dysfunctional family. Drug addicted sister-in-law. Raising my
nephew. My friends. Then came New York.

“So I was standing on that roof after years of putting up with that feeling of well nothing. I
was ready to end it, there was nothing holding me back and just as I’m about jump… a hole
opened up in the sky and aliens started flying out.” I said.

“You were in New York during the invasion.” Elaine said surprised.

“Yeah…” I said. Well it wasn’t entirely a lie.

“So you didn’t jump because of the aliens?” She said.

“More like I stepped off at the same time and I fell but I was saved before I hit the
pavement.” I said.

“Saved like someone caught you?” Elaine said.

“One of the heroes.” I said. “That’s also how I found my soulmates.”

“Soulmates?” She said.

“Six apparently. I didn’t think it was possible.” I said.

“Were your parents part of the anti-soulmate movement or part of a religious minority like a
cult?” Elaine said.
“Before that day I had never seen a single color.” I said. “I was color blind.”

“While having multiple soulmates is rare its not impossible.” She said.

“Practically impossible. One in a billion or so. The odds of more than one soulmates let alone
six. I thought there was something wrong with me. That I was broken.” I said.

“And how have you all been adjusting to seeing the world in all its color?” Elaine asked.

“Picking clothes is a lot harder.” I said.

“Is that why you…” She said looking at the all black outfit.

“It’s familiar and I’m still not used to it.” I said. “And as for the soulmate thing I’m still not
entirely sure this isn’t a fluke. It’s been a month and after the invasion I had a bit I decided to
try reaching out to my family. See if there wasn’t anyway of fixing things and it didn’t really
work out the way I expected.”

“How so?” She asked.

“I spent most of my life trying to keep my family together, being the one that fixed
everything, took care of everyone, putting everyone before everything and as it turned out
they didn’t need me and they don’t want me around. They are better off without me.” I said.
“The second I walked away all of their problems ceased to be problems. My sister-in-law got
the help she needed, my brother grew up and became the father my nephew deserved. My
parents mended their relationship and their business is thriving and essentially, they told me
that they didn’t want me in their lives and to stay away.”

“That couldn’t have been easy to hear.” She said.

“I was on my own for years and I was fine without them. I accepted the fact that they were
never going to be who I wanted them to be and I moved on but seeing them made me want to
go back on that roof. It made me wish I had hit the pavement.” I said. “I wanted to die and
the world would probably be better without me in it. They certainly are.”

“That is not true.” Elaine said.

“Before they couldn’t even stand to be in the same room together now they actually like
spending time together. They vacation in Aspen together once a year.” I said. “I have always
felt like I was on the outside looking in even when I was right in the middle of everything
and maybe that was for a reason.”

“Have you tried to hurt yourself since New York?” She asked.

“No. Have I been drinking more and contemplating if it would have been better if I hadn’t
been caught that day? Yeah.” I said.

“How have you been sleeping?” Elaine asked.

“Depends on the day.” I said.

“Do you sleep six to eight hours a night?” She elaborated.

“Three maybe four hours some nights but it’s not restful sleep. I’m tossing and turning the
whole time. Sometimes I can’t sleep at all, sometimes I can’t stop sleeping.” I said.

“How are you doing socially?” Elaine asked.

“I don’t have friends anymore. The ‘soulmates’ are around but I’m not really in the mood for
nagging so I try to avoid them.” I said.
“Maybe they’re just trying to help.” She said.

“There are other people who need their help more. I’m a lost cause.” I said.

“No one is beyond saving.” Elaine said. “Remember the rules. Patience and kindness for
yourself.”

“I contemplated jumping off that roof for years. I still ended up there.” I said.

“Why did you come here today if you’re so ready to give up on yourself?” She said.

“One of the very annoying nagging soulmates agreed to go to therapy if I did and I wanted to
see if he was being serious.” I said.

“And why does that matter to you?” Elaine said.

“Because I may be beyond saving and the world is better off without me but the same doesn’t
apply to him.” I said. “And it was recently brought to my attention that with the whole
soulmate thing I can feel their pain so if I do die they’ll feel something.”

“You’re really keeping them at arms length aren’t you.” She said.

“Statistically speaking they’re going to meet at least 110 people who are just as compatible
with them as I am. Chances are they’ll be less emotionally damaged.” I said.

“But they wouldn’t be you.” Elaine said.

“And?” I said.

“No one knows for sure how soulmates are decided but it’s never a mistake or a fluke. You
can ask anyone who’s ever met theirs they would never ask for a replacement.” She said.

“Maybe I’m the exception. There’s a first time for everything.” I answered.

“Well I’m not giving up on you.” Elaine said. “I like a challenge and the first thing we’re
going to tackle is your emotional bluntness. It’s common in depression patients.”

“I’m a realist.” I said.

“Some would call your realism, nihilism.” She retorted. “You held off trying to jump off that
roof for years. There must have been something you held onto that kept you going all those
years. You have something now that got you here.”

“Oh please don’t tell me you’re about to tell me about the magic of true love and how
everything is going to fall into place because I met my soulmates.” I said.

“No, there’s no magical fix it but you’re not alone. They may nag but they nag because they
care and obviously you do too even if you don’t want to admit it.” Elaine said.

“I think you’re grasping at straws here.” I said.

“Am I?” She said amused. “Our time’s almost up so I am going to see you here next week
and in the meantime I’m going to give you some homework.”

“You’re going to dose me with pills.” I said.

“I’m not dosing you with anything. I’m strongly recommending you start taking these low
dose anti-depressants but the choice is ultimately up to you. We have a lot of work to do and
we can’t do any of the heavy lifting until you’re more stable and can actually feel something.
I also want you to write down three things you like about yourself.” Elaine said.

“What?” I said.

“I meant it when I said I want you to be patient and kind to yourself. You are not broken or
damaged. You’re a work in progress just like everyone else in the world.” She said handing
me the prescription. “So three things you like about yourself. It can be anything. Personality,
looks, abilities… anything at all.”

“Sure.” I said taking the paper before walking out where Tony was already waiting for me.

“How’d it go?” He asked.

“It went.” I answered walking out to the parking lot.

“Was your guy good?” Tony said.

“She…” I corrected. “She’s kind of a hippie grandma but she’s not the worst therapist I’ve
ever been too. What about your guy?”

“He okay. I mean it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be but it’s not like I’m going to see him
again.” Tony said.

“Whoa whoa…. What do you mean you’re not coming back?” I said.

“I came so you would go to therapy and since you found someone you can talk to, I’m done.”
Tony said.
“Oh no you’re not. I go if you go. That was our deal. So if you stop I stop.” I said.

“But…” he started.

“No buts. We had a deal.” I said. “Now we need to make a pit stop at a pharmacy. I need to
get my prescription filled and sadly it’s not for any of the fun stuff. I forgot if these were the
ones that made me super nauseous or super tired. Guess we’ll find out.”

“You’re really doing it.” He said.

“If you keep going to therapy.” I said. “I’ll be a bit stoned for a few days while I adjust,
haven’t done that in a while.”

“Same time next week then. It’s a date.” Tony said.

 Chapter 19

It only gets worse before it gets better.

Sounds cliché right? When it comes to taking depression meds its true. So… so true.

Like most medicine it’s a guessing game but when you’re trying to figure out the right drug
cocktail to balance out brain chemistry it an even more guessing.

It wasn’t my first time doing this thought it was the first time I have six round the clock
nannies and an AI making sure I was taking my pills at the right time every day. With any
medication I couldn’t just start taking any random dose and stick to that. It starts small and
gradually the dose was increased until it was determined that I was experiencing some
positive results. If after some time there was no improvement, we would start all over.

Week One…

The first three days I didn’t really notice anything. There was no big change. My mood
was… well I wasn’t jumping off any roofs but I also wasn’t a ray of sunshine.

Everyone was treating me like I was going to snap at any second so to avoid the concerned
looks I stayed in my room. Of course that only worked for about the first day. After that
Steve and Natasha nagged me to show up to meals and sit down while they tried to make
small talk.

Mostly it was them telling me about what they learned about depression from google.

Bruce got a kick out of explaining brain chemistry to everyone.

Clint was a bit more subtle though. He would show up in my room in between meals and
play random games on his phone or through Jarvis’ holograms while I sat in my corner or
desk and read whatever I happened to be reading. He’d talk. He’d talk a lot. Mostly
commentating on whatever game he was playing and whether he was doing well or not.

I mostly just answered with a ‘Hm’

He was patient, I had to give him that. He just sat and watched me do nothing. Guess he had
a ton of practice because of his job.

Then there was Tony.

You know those tasty green juice smoothies he loved making himself in the movies? They
weren’t that tasty in real life. I mean they were edible they just weren’t something anyone
alive would ever crave.

It was because of those smoothies that I figured out what those not fun pills I was prescribed
did to me.

Let’s just say the exorcist had nothing on me on Day 3.

It takes weeks to see any improvement but symptoms tend to show up during the first week.
On day three I woke up to Tony walking in with a green smoothie.

“Morning sunshine.” Tony greeted placing the smoothie on my nightstand.

“Morning people should be shot.” I said.

“Someone’s cranky.” He commented.

I reached over to my nightstand and popped open the pill bottle slipping one tiny 50 mg pill
into the palm of my hand before closing the bottle. I washed it down with a few quick sips of
that really bitter and sour smoothie.

“Lemonade?” I asked what he had added to try and make it better this morning.

“Apples.” He said. “Too much.”

“Really sour.” I said feeling my stomach grumble. The only reason I was even drinking these
smoothies was because I wasn’t supposed to take the pills on an empty stomach but I wasn’t
a breakfast person and Tony and I had been lectured by Steve and Bruce on more than one
occasion coffee is not breakfast.

“Should have used the red apples.” Tony said.

“Yeah.” I said knowing that probably wouldn’t have helped much. I felt a bit nauseous but I
thought maybe it was gas or the pills.

“Breakfast will be ready in ten.” Tony said. “French toast.”

“Yum.” I said getting out of bed. My stomach was in knots but I ignored it and went through
with my routine. I put on some leggings and a cropped wrap knotted sleeveless top.
I headed downstairs before one of them decided to come up and carry me down. It had
happened before.

“Morning.” Bruce said.

“Hey.” I said going straight to the coffee but Clint beat me to it. He just smirked before
passing me a mug with my coffee already made the way I liked it. I took a sip but it didn’t
taste the way it normally did.

In fact for the first time since I was a kid coffee tasted gross.

“Did I make it okay?” Clint asked just looking at me strangely.

“Yeah. It’s just hot.” I said thanking him before sitting down.
Soon we were all sitting down eating. They were all talking about some plans to try and track
down the scepter. Natasha wanted to head to Sokovia to do some recon in the area. I was kind
of in and out of it not really paying attention. I took a bite of a strawberry and felt pretty
gross so I stopped eating.

“Hanna why don’t we…” Steve started when suddenly the nausea wasn’t just nausea
anymore and I remembered why this medication didn’t work for me.

“Shit.” I cursed jumping out of chair and running to the closest bathroom except with how
big this mansion was I didn’t make it so I settled for the next best thing. A very tasteful and
probably really expensive vase.

“Whoa!” Tony said.

“Buah!” I puked out the few bites of breakfast and the smoothie I had forced down.

“Let it out.” Natasha said appearing behind me holding my hair back and gently rubbing my
back.

It took a few minutes before I finally ran out of stuff to cough up when I did I sat on the floor
trying to catch my breath.

“Now I remember. These are the ones that make me puke.” I said. “Sorry about the vase.”

“It’s fine. It’s not the first time that happens.” Tony said.

“You sure it wasn’t that green sludge?” Clint said and just the thought of it made me puke
again.

“Not helping.” Natasha said giving him a pointed look silently threatening everyone to shut
up or else.
I spent the next few days trying and failing to keep anything down. By day five I was
constantly nauseous and I had called Elaine to see if there was anything I could do. She
suggested taking the pill before bed.

So now I was puking all night.

I was sleeping in the bathroom so the morning of my second therapy session that’s where
Tony found me.

“Whoa…” Tony said.

“I feel like shit.” I groaned.

“You’re not looking too hot either.” Tony said kneeling down as I laid on my side.

“I’m not hungry.” I said before he even suggested it.

“I figured but uh… that’s not why I’m here. We have an appointment.” He said.

“Right.” I said sitting up.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Tony said.

“I’m fine. It’ll pass.” I said.

“Well I brought you another smoothie…” He said and barely managed not to gag.
“I think water is a better idea.” I said.

“You haven’t eaten in days.” He said sounding worried.

“I’m sorry it’s a bit hard to eat while I’m fighting the urge to throw up constantly.” I snarked
before I saw the worried look in his eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I get hangry too.” He said. “Maybe it’s time to try something else?”

“I asked but I was told to wait it out. Maybe if I puke on her feet she’ll change her mind.” I
said.

“Maybe.” Tony said helping me up. “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

So I got dressed in the first thing I found in my closet which happened to be a black wrap
romper with a plunging neckline. I put on a sunhat and some shades and a pair of gladiator
sandals. My hair was in a messy side fishtail braid just in case I needed to puke again. Better
safe than sorry. Once I had a few bracelets and a necklace on I went downstairs.
“A little snack for the road.” Natasha said tossing me a banana that I didn’t catch but Tony
did.

“Thanks.” Tony said as they exchanged looks.

The drive was silent and the waiting room was even quieter. Tony was fidgeting. I flipped
through the same travel magazine as the week before.

“Does Venice smell?” I asked. “You know with the canals? I feel like it would probably have
a smell.”

“Not really. I don’t know its been a while.” Tony said. “We should go sometime.”

“Doubt that’s going to happen.” I said. “I don’t even have a passport.”

“We should really get someone on that.” He said.

“There are more important things to do.” I said.

“Mister Stark.” The receptionist called Tony.

“See you in 45.” I said.

“I can wait until…” he started.

“Go.” I said not looking up from my magazine. I heard Tony sigh before he walked down the
hall. It was only a few minutes later that I was called in.
I let myself fall on the couch and laid back.

“Glad to see you’re comfortable.” Elaine said amused.

“I have a headache, probably from not being able to eat because I’m super nauseous and
anything I do eat or drink I throw up.” I said.

“Side effects huh?” She said. “Have you tried…”

“Taking them before bed?” I said. “Fun little known side effect of those pills you gave me.
Insomnia. I was already an insomniac beforehand so that just made it worse with the added
effect of being up all night throwing up.”

“So it’s been a rough week?” Elaine asked and I just gave her a look.

“Before therapy I didn’t really enjoy a lot of things. I enjoyed drinking. Eating and sleeping.
They took away my drinks which helped me sleep, These pills make it so I can’t even have a
bite of food without feeling sick and now I can’t even be in bed because I’m up all night
puking.” I said.

“Most of the side effects go away after a few weeks…” She said.

“No.” I said. “And I just really not feeling this today so I’m just going to nap on your couch.”

“We should talk about your homework.” Elaine said.

“I like the fact that no matter how drunk I’ve gotten I’ve never puked, My amazing memory
and my great sense of humor.” I said.
“Okay.” She said. “Should we elaborate on those?”

“No. Let me know when my 45 minutes are up.” I said taking a cushion and putting it over
my face.

Elaine didn’t say anything just hummed and jotted down some notes.

I didn’t really nap but it was nice to just let my mind go blank. Once the 45 minutes were up
she let me go but not before giving me another prescription for anti nausea medication.

Week 2…

“Well The anti-nausea medication made it possible for me to get some sleep. The nausea
wasn’t completely gone but I could at least take three bites before it got bad enough to throw
up. It did however mess with my appetite so I didn’t get hungry… like at all.

So half way through the week I was coming down the stairs when everything went black.

“Hanna” Steve said shaking me.

“Ow.” I groaned.

“Are you okay?” He said.

“Yeah.” I said. “Head hurts. What happened?”

“You fell down the stairs.” Steve said as I sat up.

“I guess I did.” I said standing up and feeling a bit lightheaded. “I think I need to go lay
down.”

“Maybe you should go see a doctor.” He said.

“Yeah cause what I really need are more pills.” I said. “I’ll sleep it off. I’ll be fine after a
nap.”

“Hanna..” he said with his lecture voice.

“Stop worrying.” I said heading up the stairs carefully.

That night…

I came down for dinner not feeling any better. As soon as I sat down they were all on me.

“You fell down the stairs?” Natasha said.

“Hey nice to see you too, how was your day, it was great thanks for asking.” I said.

“Cut the shit.” Clint said.

“Language.” Steve said.

“Really?” Tony said.

“Can I go back to my room yet?” I said.

“No.” They all answered before Bruce put a plate of food in front of me.

“Thanks.” I said and for some reason it tasted amazing. Bruce and Steve did most of the
cooking. Clint helped too but they did more of the heavy lifting. They had made spaghetti
before but it just tasted so freaking good. “Mhmm. This is amazing. New recipe?”

“Same one.” Steve said.

“Are you sure?” I said just shoveling the food down.

“Hanna did you eat at all today?” Bruce said.

“Uh…” I said thinking back. I drank some tea and water but I couldn’t remember eating
anything. “Don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember?” Clint said.

“I don’t really get hungry.” I said.

“You fainted because you didn’t eat.” Tony said. “Jarvis how long has this been going on
for?”

“It appears that since Miss Marin started her new medication.” Jarvis said.

“Guess it makes sense. I can’t puke if there isn’t anything to cough up.” I said.
“That isn’t healthy.” Steve said.

“Obviously.” I said shoveling more food into my mouth. “I don’t remember spaghetti being
this good.”

Of course by the next bite I felt sick again so the happy moment was short lived.

Week 5…

“Alright It’s been more than enough and It’s time to call it. The pills aren’t working.” Elaine
said.

“You don’t say.” I answered sitting across from her on the couch with my legs crossed
wearing black tee and a dark grey hoodie while my hair was in a messy bun. To say I had let
myself go would be an understatement.

I was too tired to care about looking nice.

“Your mood has obviously not improved.” She said.

“I think the booze made me easier to be around than these pills.” I said.

“That’s okay there are other things we can try.” Elaine said. “Now I’m going to write you a
prescription for Prozac. Now the side effect…”

Week 7…

Two weeks later and I didn’t feel nauseous anymore. I didn’t feel hungry, or angry or sad. I
didn’t feel anything. At all.
I forgot how strong the zombie pills are.

It was nice though. Not worrying about anything. Not feeling anything about anything. After
months of my emotions being all over the place this felt nice.

Of course not everyone felt the same about my… zombie-ness.

“Blondie.” Tony said trying to get my attention. I was at the table staring at the strawberry on
my fork admiring all the seeds and paying attention to the change of red to slightly white on
top.

“Hanna?” Natasha said.

Maybe the leaves didn’t let the fruit get enough sunlight.

“Hey.” Clint said gently tapping two fingers on my arm.

“Hm?” I said finally looking away from counting the seeds on the berry.

“Did you hear what we were saying?” Tony asked. “About Fury?”

“Uh…” I said not remembering anything.

“He’ll be here for lunch. To make plans?” Natasha said.

“Sure.” I said looking down at my plate.

“Are you feeling okay?” Steve asked.

“Mhm.” I said. Everyone just exchanged looks. “The strawberry is good.”

“Good to know.” Tony just said going along with it. “You want more.”

I thought about it, was I still hungry.

“No thank you.” I said.

“Do you want to go out today? Maybe go to the spa?” Natasha suggested I slowly chewed
my last bite of food as I thought about it.

“Maybe tomorrow. I could use a nap.” I said.

“O-kay…” She said giving Clint a look.

“I’ll take that.” Clint said taking my plate.

“Thanks.” I said before getting out of my chair and heading back to my room.

Once I was out of earshot…

“What the hell was that?” Steve said.

“Language.” Tony teased. “She’s doing better. She’s eating.”

“You call that better?” Natasha said.

“It’s a side effect of her new medication. It’ll take some time for her body to get sued to it
and level out.” Bruce said.

“And in the mean time she’ll just be a zombie?” Clint asked.

“It takes time.” Steve said sounding unsure.

“Well she’s not cranky though I am starting to miss drunk Hanna.” Tony said.

“Really?” Steve said.

“Oh we were all thinking it.” Tony said and Natasha shrugged and nodded in agreement.

“You mean the days where she would stare at the edge of the roof and wonder whether
risking falling into another universe was worth it?” Clint retorted.

“Guys this is just temporary.” Bruce said.

“We don’t even know if this will work long term. Hanna mentioned trying a bunch of things
that never worked this included but at least she’s still trying.” Tony said.

“We need to wait it out.” Natasha said.

Around Lunch Time…

It was around one that I woke up from my nap thanks to Jarvis reminding me it was time to
eat again and also that Fury was here.

Why the hell was he here again?

“Mhmm.” I groaned getting out of bed. I didn’t know what day of the week it was let alone
where in the timeline we were. Hell if it was even the same time line.

I knew I there should be something coming up soon. I had this annoying nagging feeling that
there was something important I needed to do but I couldn’t remember what. Everything was
sort of foggy.

“Good of you to join us Miss Marin.” Fury said.

“Mhmm.” I hummed taking my seat between Natasha and Steve.

“As I was saying we’ve been trying to discretely track down the scepter. The castle in
Sokovia you mention was empty. There was no one there besides a band of mercenaries
working for local rebel groups.” Fury said.

“Makes sense you said the scepter wouldn’t be in Sokovia until 2014 0r 2015 right?” Tony
asked.

“That’s what I said.” I said trying to remember when I said that.

“So where was it before that?” Fury asked.

“I don’t know.” I said.

“You don’t know?” Fury said getting more and more frustrated.

“After New York the next time it shows up is Sokovia after the whole… SHIELD… Hydra…
Bucky thing.” I said.

“That’s more than two years unaccounted for.” Natasha said. “Do you remember any names
or people that were there? Maybe we find the scepter by finding them.”

“Uh…” I said trying to remember. “I remember a guy that dies after you get it back.”

“A guy?” Clint asked.

“Can you narrow that down a bit?” Tony said.

“The guy…” I said trying to remember. He had a very distinctive name. “Uh… He has a
face… had a bit of an accent… and I think he wore glasses.”

“You think?” Fury said not at all happy with that answer. “We’ve been chasing our tails for
months.”

“It’s kind of fuzzy.” I admitted.

“You know everything about these five, every conversation word for word but the actual
things that actually matter. Things that might actually help take these bastards down….” Fury
started shouted.

“Hey ease up.” Tony said.

“Do you not remember how much…” He started and I kind of zoned out at that point. I
remember some yelling, some witty banter… and the pattern on the granite countertops in the
kitchen, I traced the grooves with my finger until…

“Hanna.” Natasha said making me snap out of it.

“Hm?” I said looking up.

“You want to take another nap. You look tired.” She said giving me a small reassuring smile.

That was a total load of crap. They were totally going to talk about me one I was gone but a
nap… that sounded nice.

“Yeah. That sounds nice.” I said getting out of my chair and heading upstairs.

Once I was gone…

“Is she seriously stoned right now?” Fury said frustrated.

“She’s not stoned.” Bruce said.

“Not on purpose.” Clint corrected.

“Her new meds are… strong.” Tony said.

“Meds? For what?” Fury said.

“Let’s just say its been a rough adjustment for her.” Steve said.

“What’s that supposed to mean? We’re in this mess because of her.” Fury said.

“Hey easy.” Tony said. “Hanna fell into another universe that’s almost identical to hers, and
this universe version of her parents are not exactly what she expected and it threw her off.”

“You let her meet her parents?!” Fury said. “I left her with you five for a month and you
broke the kid?! Do you ever think that maybe there was a reason I kept her confined?” Fury
said.

“You were keeping her locked up.” Natasha said.

“I was keeping her focused. Easing her into this new world she knows both too much and too
little of.” Fury said. “She was an asset to us but as she is now she can’t help us.”

“She just needs time…” Steve said.

“That’s time we don’t have.” Fury said.

“We know more than we would have known without Hanna.” Tony said. “We’ll figure
something out.”

“And how many people are going to get hurt in the meantime?” Fury said.

Late that Night…

The bad thing about being sleepy all the time is that eventually your bed starts to feel
uncomfortable. I tossed and turned for a few hours before realizing I wasn’t even tired.
Giving up on sleep I decided to go downstairs and watch some Tv.

I wasn’t really paying attention but the late night informercials were good background noise.
I briefly considered going downstairs to see what Tony was doing but according to Jarvis he
was actually sleeping.

That was a surprise but just because I wasn’t making any progress didn’t mean he wasn’t.

It was a while later that I was distracted by a spider crawling on the wall near the TV. I was
trying to figure out where it had come from when Clint walked in.

“Hey.” He said.

“Hm.” I said not looking away from the spider I had decided to name Charlotte.

“You’re up late.” He said.

“Too many naps.” I mumbled still looking at the wall.

“You okay?” Clint asked looking to the wall to see what was so interesting about it.

“Uhuh.” I said.

“Mind if I sit?” He said but at that point I was zoned out and focusing on trying to find
Charlotte’s web.

I was laying on the couch pretty much hogging all the space so cling gently nudged me to sit
up so he could sit before grabbing a cushion to put on his lap so I could lay back again.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked after a while.

“Are you asking me that because I’m a zombie?” I said not bothering to look at him.
Charlotte had crawled away and I wanted to know where.

“Uh you know…” he said sounding unsure of how to say it.

“It’s not my first time taking…” I said trying to remember the name. “This.”

“Right.” He said. “They’re strong.”

“They are.” I said. “It’s kind of nice.”

“You like being this… stoned?” He asked.

“You wouldn’t understand.” I said.

“Try me.” Clint said.

“Hm…” I said staring at the wall trying to find the words to explain in in a way that wouldn’t
make me seem like a neurotic headcase. Well more than I already was. “It’s like… being
stuck in the middle of everything and everyone. There’s always a fire to put out. You put one
out and then there two new ones and that happens over and over again and it gets louder
you’re drowning in it. You can barely hear yourself think and then suddenly everything goes
quiet. The world becomes white noise and you’re floating.”

“Floating?” Clint said.

“It’s like sensory overload. I’ve always been either drowning and depressed and the few good
times there have ever been I was on top of the world. Rarely happened. There was no in
between I felt too much or not enough and then the anxiety that came with that and trying to
fix everything because I couldn’t fix me. I couldn’t breathe so with the pills it’s like turning it
all off.” I answered. “No feelings, no worries just… floating along.”

“Sounds kind of nice.” Clint admitted as he gently started running his fingers through my
hair.

“It is.” I mumbled. Though it wasn’t without its drawbacks. My normally amazing memory
did not work when I was like this. And I wasn’t great to be around when I was like this. It
used to annoy the crap out of my friends. They tried but you can’t really talk to someone who
doesn’t care about anything and can’t even care enough to fake it.

“I get it. Wanting to turn it off.” He said. “It felt that way when Loki… I was there and I
knew what I was doing… what he was making me do and I knew it was wrong but I didn’t
feel like it was. I was just there watching and going with the motions but when Nat snapped
me out of it, it hit me all at once.”

“Hm…” I hummed. “That happens. Always does. And you feel worse than before.”

“Is that what happened to you?” He asked.

I didn’t answer. Things were bad before but when I finally quit the pills and snapped out of it
I was all alone. Like I said it wasn’t easy to be around a zombie.

He didn’t push me to talk he just sat there still playing with my hair. I zoned out for a while
before I said something.

“What are you doing?” I asked making Clint stop moving his fingers.

“Sorry,” He said moving his hand away.

“It okay. Feels nice.” I said going back to staring at the tv.

With the muffled noise from the infomercial and Clint playing with my hair I kind of dozed
off. It wasn’t until I felt my pillow move that I grabbed onto the sweats Clint was wearing
stopping him from moving.

“Whoa sorry.” He said. “Leg fell asleep.”

“Mhmm.” I hummed sitting up hugging the pillow waiting for Clint to get up but to my
surprise he didn’t. Instead he put an arm around me and let me curl up into his side.

The Next Morning…

Steve being the only real morning person in the house was the first person to come
downstairs. He heard the TV on but to his surprised no one was watching it. Instead Clint and
Hanna were asleep on the couch. Hanna curled up into Clint’s side and Clint with his arm
around her and resting his head on Hanna’s.

He smiled before turning of the TV before going to get started on breakfast. Bruce was next
who just looked at the two off them asleep before going to get his morning tea.

Next came Natasha and Tony. Tony was dead to the world before his coffee and at first didn’t
notice them but once he was in the kitchen and he noticed everyone kept glancing at the
living room.

“What’s everyone looking at?” Tony said.

“SH!” they all shushed him before gesturing at him to take a look.
“Is that…” He started.

“Yeah.” Steve said.

“How’d that happen?” Tony said.

“They were like that when we came down.” Natasha said.

“Should we wake them up?” Bruce asked as they watched them sleep while sitting up. “That
cannot be comfortable.”

“I don’t hear them complaining.” Steve said.

“But Clint won’t shut up if his back starts acting up.” Natasha said pouring a cup of coffee
before going to set it down on the coffee table in front of Clint. Then she nudged his foot
waking him up.

“Wha…” He started before Hanna groaned clinging to him.

“Morning.” Natasha said.

“Hey…” he said finally realizing Hanna was still next to him. “It’s not what it looks like?”

“Pillow no.” Hanna mumbled.

“SH…” He hushed carefully slipping out of Hanna’s grasp while gently laying her down
comfortably on the couch.
“How’d you sleep?” Natasha asked with a smirk.

“Couldn’t So I came down and found Hanna watching infomercials.” Clint said sipping his
coffee.

“Is she having trouble sleeping?” Bruce asked concerned.

“She slept all day.” Natasha reminded him.

“Did she say anything about remembering who the guy with the face is?” Tony asked.

“She didn’t really say much.” Clint said choosing not to mention her feelings about being
stoned. She had trusted him with that and he respected that.

“What are we going to do about Hydra?” Steve said.

“We’ll figure something out.” Tony said.

“We’re losing time and…” he started.

“We’re not losing time. We have time we wouldn’t have had if Hanna hadn’t warned us.”
Natasha said.

“And in the meantime who knows what Hydra is doing.” Steve said.

“Are you worried about Hydra or Bucky?” Natasha said.

“Wha…” Steve said blindsided and feeling flustered.

“Your buddy waited 70 years he can wait until we figure this all out.” Tony said.

“Tony it isn’t his fault…” Steve started.

“I don’t care.” Tony said looking to the living room to make sure Hanna was still asleep. “I
care about her and right now she’s the priority.”

“Of course but we can’t forget about…” Steve started.

Hanna’s POV…

I was having the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. The couch was a lot more comfortable
than it looked. Unfortunately that didn’t last.

Someone was being loud. Too loud. I woke up to Tony and Steve fighting in the kitchen. I
really hope that didn’t mean I screwed up the timeline so bad I cause civil war four years too
early.

“She can’t help us! Hydra is out there doing god knows what and Hanna can’t even
remember anything besides a guy with a face!” Steve shouted.

“You don’t care about Hydra you have a one track mind when it comes to getting your bestie
back.” Tony said.

“He’s been their prisoner for…” He started.

“Steve.” Natasha interrupted as she noticed me.

“Uh.” Bruce said looking at me like a deer in the headlights.

“We can’t help Hanna. She might be too far gone but Bucky needs our help.” Steve said.

“Cap!” Clint said a bit more firmly getting his attention and finally noticing I had heard him.

“Hanna…” Steve started.

I ignored him and went for the coffee pot dumping a generous amount of creamer and sugar
in it before going back to the living room to watch some Tv.

I wasn’t mad. He hadn’t said anything that wasn’t true. I was a lost cause but Bucky needed
help.
 Chapter 20

Week 10…

Since Steve’s confession about me being a lost cause he had been doing everything he
possibly could to get back in my good graces. He would make all of my favorite foods, he’d
go across town for donuts and ice cream.

It was really nice of him too bad I was still emotionally numb to everything and couldn’t care
even the slightest bit. Though I did know I wasn’t actually mad at him. He was being honest
and it wasn’t a lie I was not getting better and chances are I was a lost cause.

The same could not be said for Tony who had decided to be mad on my behalf. He and Steve
could not be in the same room without arguing. It had gotten so bad that Bruce was actively
avoiding them both for fear of Hulking out.

The Morning of our weekly therapy appointment Tony had decided to wake me up early and
took me out for breakfast. I had to give it to the guy, he never stopped trying.

“Crunchy French toast.” He said reading the menu. “What makes it crunchy?”

“Corn flakes.” I said reading thru the menu and Tony just gave me a look. “I was a foodie in
another universe.”

“She speaks.” Tony said.

“Huh?” I asked confused.

“This is the first time in weeks I’ve heard you say a complete sentence.” He said.
“Is it too early for a mimosa?” I said.

“And you’re making jokes.” He said and I just stared at him like he was an alien. I was being
completely serious. Maybe therapy would be more fun if I was drunk. “Or not kidding…
Let’s stick to coffee.”

“Mhm.” I hummed just going along with it.

Third Person’s POV…

Tony and Hanna were in the waiting room like they were every week. He had never thought
he’d end up in therapy. The army doctors that looked after him after he had gotten out of the
cave had strongly pushed him talking to someone but he brushed them off. Pepper had
nagged him constantly about going but he ignored her or deflected. That was one of the main
reasons things between them hadn’t worked out.

But Hanna… The girl that had literally crashed into him had gotten him there. He cared about
her. She understood him in a way no one else really did. Probably because she knew
everything about him, things he had never told anyone else but even then she never pushed
him to talk about it.

When he had met her she seemed happy albeit scared considering she was in another
universe. She was witty and gave as good as she got but behind that façade was a someone
who had given up on life. She was sad but she was still trying until he pushed her into
meeting the new version of her family and pushed her over the ledge. He had broken her and
no she was just a shell of the girl he had met.

So that was how he ended up in therapy. If there was a chance he could somehow get that
Hanna back he’d waste an hour a week for the rest of his life to do it. That girl was still there.
He could see glimpses of it sometimes even if it was drowned out by the highly medicated
depressed zombie he had been living with.
“Mister Stark, you can go in now.” The nurse said.

Every time he got called in he was worried Hanna would make a break for it and do
something she couldn’t take back but she hadn’t. She had kept up her end of the deal if he
went to therapy so did she so every time he said the same thing they said to each other every
week.

“See you in 45.” Tony said smiling.

Hanna didn’t look away from the magazine or even acknowledge she had heard him. Tony
walked into his therapists office. His guy, John was older, Around the same age Howard had
been when he died. The though made chills run down Tony’s back.

He was not in the mood to try and delve into those issues again.

“Good morning Tony.” John said.

“Doc.” Tony said sitting down.

“How was your week?” John asked.

“Oh the usual.” He answered exactly the same as he always did.

“So you’re still arguing with your housemates?” he asked.

“Just the one.” Tony said.

“And are you both arguing about how he compares you to your father or is it about your
mutual friend?” John asked.
“Does it really matter?” He said.

“It’s been weighing on you a lot.” John said. “Almost as much you worrying about Hanna.”

“Well if Hanna wasn’t so stoned I’m pretty sure she’d feel the same way I do.” Tony said.

“Would she?” John said.

“Of course she would.” Tony said.

“You’ve known Hanna for a few months and most of that she hasn’t really been herself.
You’ve said so yourself.” John said.

“That doesn’t matter.” Tony said.

“You two immediately bonded because she could see the real you. The one only those nearest
and dearest who have known you for years know.” He said.

“Are you trying to tell me she played me?” he said.

“No I’m saying if she understood you so well after knowing you for only a few weeks maybe
she also knows the others. Maybe she understands why Steve is the way he is. If there is
anyone that can understand what waking up in another world is like it’d be her.” John said.

Tony thought about it for a minute.

“He’s still wrong.” Tony said.

“How are things with Hanna?” John said.

“She’s… I don’t know. She’s still pretty out of it but she isn’t zoning out as much.” Tony
said. “Most of the time it’s like talking to a wall though she has her moments. Like this
morning we went out for breakfast and she joked about getting a mimosa. I’m not entirely
sure if she was kidding or not but that’s progress. She said actual words instead of grunting.”

“That’s progress.” He said. “It takes time.”

“It’s been more than two months.” Tony said.

“Some people need years.” John said. “How have you been sleeping?”

“Good.” Tony said.

“How many hours are you getting a night?” He asked not completely buying it.

“Not the full eight but a solid five… most nights.” Tony said.

“And the nights you don’t?” John asked.

“I get some work done and eventually crash.” Tony said.

“Because you’re still having nightmares about New York.” John said making Tony clench his
fists.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle.” He said.

“We’ve talked about everything and everyone but the real problem.” John said.

“New York happened. It was bad but I’m alive and I even found my soulmate. Can’t
complain.” Tony said.

“You flew a bomb through a wormhole fully expecting not to make it back.” John said.

“But I did and I even got to bring Hanna back.” Tony said.

“Admitting it was a horrible experience won’t take away the fact that you found her Tony.”
He said.

“If I hadn’t been there she would have died and she wanted to die.” Tony finally admitted out
loud the one thought that had he had been bouncing around in his head for months. The one
that kept him up at night. The reason he worked day and night to build a suit for every
possible scenario.

“But she didn’t.” John said. “I understand how terrifying it is to lose someone you care about
like that much less a soulmate but she is still alive and maybe she isn’t at her best she’s still
here and she’s trying. That says a lot don’t you think.”

“It’s my fault she’s here in the first place. If I hadn’t pushed her to meet with them she
wouldn’t have…” Tony started.

“Has anyone ever told you, you have a hyper inflated sense of self-importance?” John said.

“I’ve been called a lot of things.” He said. “That one may have been thrown out there.”
“The world doesn’t revolve around you Tony. It’s not your job to fix everything and while
maybe seeing them pushed Hanna over the edge that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have happened
for some other reason down the line.” John said. “You can’t think about the what ifs, it’ll
drive you crazy. Focus on the here and now. You’re both still here and she’s trying, she even
got you here.”

“Don’t remind me. She probably thinks she has me wrapped around her finger.” Tony
grumbled though the thought of it didn’t actually bother him.

“She’s making you get help and take care of yourself so I wouldn’t think of it as a bad thing.”
John said.

That’s when it clicked.

She was completely against going to therapy until he said he’d go to. She continued going so
long as he did too.

“Son of a bitch.” Tony said.

Meanwhile…

I was back on my least favorite couch yet again.

“You seem better.” Elaine said.

“You say that every week.” I mumbled.

“You’re not grunting as much.” She said.

“Hm.” I said not convinced.

“I can’t help but notice you’re not wearing as much black.” Elaine said. I looked down and
noticed I was wearing faded black jeans which looked more grey than black and a heather
grey scoop neck tee.

“I haven’t done laundry.” I said. Truth was I hadn’t even noticed what I picked to wear.

“Since you’re finally saying actual words now how about we actually talk this time.” Elaine
said.

“I don’t know that word association game was pretty fun.” I said.

“You spent the hour looking up synonyms for poop on your phone.” She said.

“I was in a really poopy mood.” I said.

“Hanna.” Elaine said. “You’ve got to try.”

“Fine what do you want to talk about.” I said.

“Jamie.” She said.

“We’re not talking about Jamie.” I said.

“You’ve talking about all of them but you don’t talk about him.” Elaine said.
“Because there’s nothing to talk about. I babysat the kid for the better part of five years and
once his mom got her act together and stopped doing drugs he went back to her.” I answered.

“Five years is a long time especially for a baby. He was with you for most of his formative
years and he was with you through some of yours.” Elaine said. “You were 17 when you
became his guardian. That’s a huge responsibility for anyone but especially for a kid to take
on.”

“Do you think I may have screwed up the kid?” I said starting to seriously worry about that.

“Why do you do that?” She asked.

“Do what?” I said.

“Belittle yourself.” She said. “You took care of yourself and a child for years. You stepped up
when your brother and parents refused to. You protected him from his mother’s self-
destructive behavior. You were more than just an aunt to that child. You were a parent and
then when his mom came back you let him go and I know that could not have been easy.”

“That has nothing to do with this.” I said.

“I don’t believe that and I know you don’t either.” Elaine said.

“I was relieved when Grace came back and took him.” I said bursting Elaine’s bubble. “I
adored that kid and I don’t regret a single second of it but the second he was gone I could
breathe again. And I know how horrible it sounds but it’s the truth. I didn’t ask for the
responsibility but it was the right thing to do so I did it.”

“But the guilt…” She started.

“There was no guilt.” I said. “I was drowning in the responsibility of taking care of him,
keeping a roof over both of our heads, keeping my grades up in college. I took on a
responsibility that never should have been mine but it all ended up working out. Jamie got his
mom back. Grace got her act together and the two of them rode off into the sunset together.”

“Just like that.” She said.

“You’re making it sound like it was more that it really was and that I was actually good at
taking care of the kid.” I said.

“There you go again.” Elaine said. “Remember the rules.”

“Remember that the kid’s mom was a drug addict. The bar was pretty fucking low.” I said
before looking at the clock. “Time’s up.”

“Hold it.” Elaine said.

“More pills?” I said. Because that worked out so great the last time.

“No. In fact I’m cutting you off. They’re obviously not working.” She said.

No shit.

“Instead we’re going to try some alternative treatments.” Elaine said. “I want you to get some
exercise. It’s a good way to naturally give yourself an endorphin rush. I want you to get in an
hour a day and half of that has to be outside. Maybe go on walk on the beach. I also want you
to find a hobby. Find something you like to do. Arts and crafts are a good way to vent.”

“Great.” I said taking the prescription with the instructions for my new treatment.
Tony waited for me and we headed back to the car.

“How’d it go?” He said.

“She’s replacing Prozac with finger painting.” I said.

“What?” Tony said and I passed him the ‘prescription’. “Well that’s a new one. So no pills.”

“I’m being cut off.” I said.

“That’s great.” Tony blurted out before trying to cover it up. “That is good right?”

“Apparently they don’t work so we’re going with alternative treatments.” I said.

“Fingerpainting could be fun. Rogers draws.” Tony said and I gave him a look. “Probably not
a good selling point. We’ll find you something and I’m sure Barton and Romanoff can help
you work out. Teach you some self defense.”

I thought about it for a minute, imagining Natasha and Clint who were as super human as you
could get without being injected with a super soldier serum being my trainers. They were
going to be the death of me.

We were at a stop light that had just turned green but Tony wasn’t moving.

“The light’s green.” I said before I thought about it and though maybe I was confusing colors
again. “It is green right?”

“Yeah.” He said. “I don’t feel like going back to the house.”

“We could hit a bar.” I suggested and he just gave me a look. “Too soon?”

“Just a bit.” He said.

“Go left and get on the five.” I said and Tony gave me a questioning spot. “I know a place.
And I promise its not a bar. Though there is one within walking distance.”

“Okay.” Tony said getting on the freeway.

An hour later we were at my old college stomping grounds.

“Newport Beach.” Tony said. “I have to say I was not expecting this. I didn’t take you as an
OC fan.”

“Never saw the show.” I said looking around. “I went to school near here. There’s a 24 hour
donut shop around the corner that does most of their baking in the middle of the night. Used
to go there at 3 am when I was pulling an all nighter.”

“You would get donuts at 3am?” Tony said.

“You once hid in a giant donut.” I retorted.

“Touché.” He said. “It’s nice. Not far from…”

He was about to bring them up.

“This really good steak place I went to one time.” He said quickly trying to cover it up.
“Nice save. “ I said. “Used to bring the kid here all the time. It was free entertainment and the
bus ride always knocked him out. Plus it was a nice view.”

I glanced over to the very ripped beach volleyball players not too far from us.

“Ehem.” Tony said clearing his throat.

“Oh like you weren’t checking out the bikini clad coeds over there.” I said.

“The only girl I’ve checked out lately is the one sitting next to me.” Tony said

“Cute.” I said rolling my eyes.

“Is it really that hard to believe? I mean we are soul…” Tony said.

“Still not entirely on that ship.” I said looking out at the beach.

“If you’re not on that ship why are you practically blackmailing me into going to therapy.”
He said.

“I didn’t blackmail you.” I said.

“I think your exact words were ‘I go if you go and if you stop I stop’” Tony said.

“That’s not really blackmail I think that’s more like a transactional agreement.” I said.
“Cute.” Tony said sarcastically.

“Its been more than two months. I know I’m still a mess but I know you’ve been doing
better.” I said.

“What makes you say that?” He said.

“You’re actually sleeping.” I said.

“I am but you needed to go and i…” Tony started.

“Also needed to go.” I said. “You can’t BS me. I’ve seen it all. Your meltdown and self
destructive tendencies when you thought the palladium was going to kill you. And I’ve also
seen what happens after New York. Specifically the nightmares…”

“Nightmares come with the job.” Tony said.

“Have you started having panic attacks yet?” I said and Tony gave me a look.

“How did you…” He started and I gave him a look. “You saw it in the movie.”

“A little kid’s drawing triggered you.” I said.

“You couldn’t have just told me that?” he said.

“Would you have listened to me if I had?” I retorted.

“Okay. But so you care enough to get me into therapy but you still don’t believe we’re
soulmates?” Tony said.

“I’m from a world where soulmates are as real and unicorns are.” I said.

“Thor’s the god of thunder and he’s real.” Tony said.

“My point exactly. You’re all gods, super soldiers, world class assassins and geniuses and
I’m…” I started.

“Smart funny gorgeous…” he started.

“A mess.” I said. “And that’s a nice way of putting it.”

“And we’re not? You had to trick me into going to therapy.” Tony said. “Barton got
brainwashed by Thor’s brother and still refuses to talk about it with anyone. Romanoff… I’m
not entirely sure if she’s actually staying at the house or just making us all think she is. Bruce
turns into a giant green ogre and Rogers… Do I even have to say it?”

“Please don’t.” I said. “Can we just put a pin in this for now? It’s been a day.”

“Did your guy call you out on you crap too?” Tony said.

“She thinks all of my issues stem from giving up my nephew.” I said.

“Do they?” He asked.

“Of course not. I had issues way before the kid was even born.” I said.
“What exactly happened with the kid?” Tony said. “Your bro…”

Tony froze.

“You can say it I’m not going to break down.” I said. “He’s a dick.”

“He is but the guy does love his kid at least from what I saw.” He said.

“Oh he’s a huge improvement. Back in my world he never even held the kid.” I said.

“So how’d you end up being the one taking care of him?” Tony said.

“He kind of fell on my doorstep.” I said. “Quite literally. Grace and Greg had broken up.
They were on again off again and even when they were off they were on. We didn’t hear from
her for a while and then months later she shows up nine months pregnant and her water
breaks. Lost my favorite boots that day.”

“She just… on your front door?” Tony said.

“And my boots.” I said. “I was alone and she didn’t have anyone and one I let her hold my
hand when a contraction hit she refused to let go so I ended up going to the hospital with her
and being there when the kid was born. So about a day or two later Greg shows up claiming
the kid isn’t his which was a total load of crap. My parents showed up. There was more
arguing they basically said it wasn’t their problem and that was the last I heard from them in
a few months.”

“But you said you took the kid…” Tony said.

“That was the case until two months later when Grace got into an accident. Apparently, the
hospital still had my information from when she gave birth and called me. I was living on my
own by then in a dorm so I ended up taking the kid for a few days while she got out of the
hospital. That was how she her drug problem started. From there she would call me every
once in a while, to babysit. As a starving college student, I was eager to get paid and get free
food. She was off for a while but she was doing it alone as a single mom, working two jobs…
I didn’t think much of it.” I said.

“Until…” Tony started.

“Until I got a call from my high school weed dealer.” I said. “Asking if I could pick her up
because she had passed out on his couch and the baby had a fever and wouldn’t stop crying.”

“Oh.” He said.

“Believe it or not that was not the worst of it.” I said. “Once she woke up and sobered up she
said she was going to quit and it would never happen again.”

“But it did.” Tony said.

“It did she just got better at covering it up.” I said. “There was a lot more back and forth.
She’d call me to babysit, disappear for days and come back like it never happened. That went
on for months until the kid was about a year old and I get yet another call from our mutual
drug dealer friend. Grace had spiraled and wasn’t just doing pills anymore but cocaine,
heroin and whatever else she could get her hands on and she hadn’t been paying so she left
Jamie as collateral.”

“She sold the kid?” Tony said.

“Yeah.” I said. “I pawned off my laptop and emptied out my savings account and went to go
pay off her dealer. I even paid a bit extra to get him to cut her off but as it turns out that
wasn’t the first time she had done it. It was just lucky she had picked Luca to do that with. He
was such a good guy. He did not deserve to go out the way he did.”
“He was a drug dealer.” Tony said.

“He was a drug dealer with ethics. Any other guy would have left the kid at the closest
firehouse or worse. Luca called me instead to sort things out.” I said.

“So you sorted things out.” Tony said.

“In a way.” I said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He said.

“I paid off Grace’s debt but Luca wasn’t her only drug dealer and I couldn’t risk her leaving
Jamie with those creeps.” I said. “I tried getting her help, I tried locking her up and forcing
her to detox, so I called in a favor with Luca, had him get some friends and had them beat
Grace up to teach her a lesson.”

“Whoa.” Tony said.

“Yeah not my finest moment.” I said. “But after she ended up in the hospital thinking she had
lost her son and having a bit of a breakdown when she saw I had him she willingly went to
rehab. And was sober for six months before relapsing and starting over again. That went on
for years and shortly after Jamie turned five she showed up again. This time one year sober
with a stable job and an apartment in a good school district. She was in a program, went to
meetings the while thing so She took her son back and that was the last I heard of them.”

“That’s it?” he said.

“What did you expect?” I said.

“You raised the kid for five years and then you just never heard from him again?” Tony said.

“I had a life to get back to and my own problems to deal with which if you haven’t noticed
make it really hard to keep up socially.” I said.

“Okay but a phone call? Email? Nothing?” he said.

“Grace wanted a clean break and if that meant she didn’t fall off the wagon again I was okay
with it.” I said.

“You don’t miss him at all?” Tony said.

“The kid got his mom back and he got out before things with me got bad.” I said. “My
problems started way before Jamie, he was just a good distraction.”
 Chapter 21

Week Eleven…

It had been a week since I was off the zombie pills and honestly I kind of missed them.
Mostly because I was now hyperaware of everyone in the house and the underlying tension.

Though I had to give it to Elaine her alternative treatment was helping. I had a lot more
energy now so I woke up around seven o clock every morning to do my 30 minutes of
outdoor exercise. I kept it simple just took a walk on the beach maybe a jog if I was feeling
like torturing myself. I stopped by a small coffee shop to my morning caffeine boost before
heading back to the house to make it back in time for breakfast.

“Morning.” Steve said.

“Morning.” I greeted back.

“How was your walk?” He said.

“Fine.” I said.

Yeah things with Steve were still awkward. There were things that once you put out there you
really couldn’t take back. Calling someone a lost cause that was beyond saving to try to
convince people to help you save your brainwashed best friend from the 1940’s was not the
best way to win anyone over.

“There’s coffee.” Steve said.

“I stopped by a coffee shop.” I said.

“Oh.” He said disappointed. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Okay.” I said before heading back to my room. I took a quick shower before heading
downstairs. Luckily by then Bruce and Natasha were already there to act as buffers.

“Hey, nice dress.” Natasha said eying me up and down. I looked down at the grey and black
contrasted maxi dress I was wearing. It was going to be a scorcher so I had opted for
something light.
“Thanks.” I said.

“Do you mind getting Tony? He locked himself in the lab again.” Natasha said.

“Of course he did.” I said before going downstairs and letting myself into the lab. Tony was
blasting music to the point the glass partitions were vibrating. I turned the music down to
non-ear popping levels.
“That was my favorite song.” He said.

“You said that every time I turn the volume down.” I retorted. “Breakfast is ready.”

“Any chance you’d want to ditch the awkward breakfast and instead go with me to that diner
we found or anywhere else?” Tony retorted.

“Tony, you can’t run away from your problems.” I said.

“It’s not running but since you brought it up… Venice is really nice this time of year.” He
said. “Say the word and we can be wheels up in the air in less than an hour.”

“Tempting.” I said. “but not today.”

“Are you really not angry at Spangles? Like not even the tiniest bit?” Tony asked.

“No I get where he’s coming from.” I said. “He feels helpless. Steve’s like you.”

“Like me?” Tony scoffed. “Please I’m obviously smarter and better looking…”

“You’re both men of action. You see a problem or someone that needs help and you make it
your sole focus to help and when your hands are ties and there is nothing you can do it
bothers you. I’m a lost cause that can’t be helped.” I said.

“You are not a lost cause.” Tony said.

“Debatable.” I said. “Look he’s from another time where mental health wasn’t considered a
real thing. He’s woke up seventy years in the future in a completely different world where
aliens could come out of a whole in the sky and people fall out of said holes into another
universe. He also found out his best friend spent the past 70 years as a POW and working
against his will for the very people Steve almost died trying to save the world from. He’s a
fish out of water and its taking him some time to get his footing. You don’t have to forgive
him just be gracious while he catches up. Now get upstairs. You need to eat something other
than coffee.”

“Yes ma’am.” Tony said surprised and putting his things down and following me upstairs.

“About time.” Clint said before Natasha elbowed him and I swiped a piece of bacon off his
plate. Clint gave me a look and smirked when I just munched on the bacon.

“Fury called while you guys were downstairs.” Natasha said.

“Any news on Bu…” Steve started. “Hydra?”

“He’s found a few bases…” Natasha started before the TV that had been playing the news on
the background suddenly froze and a strange logo with Chinese characters and ten rings…

“Oh shit.” I said before on the screen a golden throne with a two armed guards standing on
either side appeared.

“For centuries history has neglected the oppressed. It is written by the victors…” The
mandarin started.

“What the hell is that?” Tony said.

“It’s on all the channels.” Clint said flipping through them.

“He’s livestreaming on twitter too.” Natasha added.

“Is this normal?” Steve asked.

“No.” Bruce added.

“But no more. There are three sides to every story and the truth will be told.” The mandarin
said before the transmission cut off.

“Hanna do you know anything about this?” Tony said.

“Boy do I.” I said. “What’s today’s date?”

“September 10th.” Jarvis said.

“September…Okay. Next big thing that comes up in the movies won’t happen until
Christmas. You.” I said turning to Tony. “Don’t publicly advertise your home address.”

“Why would I do that?” Tony said.

“Because you have a tendency to jump into things without thinking them through.” I said.
“But that was then and now you’re in way better headspace so maybe the house won’t get
blown up.”

“What?!” They all shouted.

“Oh relax that doesn’t happen until a few days before Christmas.” I said. “There’s time.”
“Hanna honey… we’re going to need a little more than that.” Tony said.

“Do you want the cliff notes version or the overly detailed plot summary?” I asked.

“The second one.” Bruce said.

“Okay so six months after New York, you’ve all gone your separate ways Tony you came
back here and Pepper moved in with you…” I said.

“Because in the movies we’re dating.” Tony said remembering that.

“Yes but also because you’re a hot mess.” I said.

“I’m a what?” He said with a smirk.

“I was trying to be nice. You’re a trainwreck. You basically live in the lab. Don’t sleep. Live
life through one of your suits that you can control remotely. It really strained your
relationship with Pepper. By the way you should really call and her and Rhodey. They’re
involved.” I said. “So you’re having nightmares.”

“Hanna. The mandarin?” Steve said trying to get me back on task.

“I’m getting there.” I said. “Okay so Happy got promoted and you call him to keep an eye on
Pepper at work when her old boss shows up. He works for a company… AIM.”

“AIM… that sounds familiar.” Tony said. “What’s the guys name?”

“Aldridge something. I remember he was blonde and had a really bad tan. You actually met
the guy during your party years in Switzerland.” I said.
“I partied in Switzerland?” Tony said drawing a blank.

“Ask Happy.” I said. “So he wanted to get the CEO of Stark Industries to partner up for a
project that would essentially help rewrite the human genome but Pepper said no because she
saw how easily it could be weaponized and you both agreed to a no weapons policy for SI.
Happy thought the guy’s bodyguard was sketchy so he followed him and there was an attack.
Happy ends up in the hospital. You ended up ambushed by the press on your way out from
visiting and one of them goads you into giving a response and you give out your home
address daring the mandarin to come after you because you weren’t afraid of him.”.

“Sounds just like you…” Steve said.

“It was another universe you don’t know…” Tony started.

“Guys!” Natasha said sharply stopping the argument before it started.

“You were saying?” Clint asked.

“You come home, surprise Pepper with a huge stuffed bunny. By the way don’t ever do that.
There is no universe where anyone over the age of five would want that as a present.” I said.

“I thought girls liked…” Tony started.

“No.” Natasha and I said at the same time.

“Also your one night stand from the same night you met bad tan dude in Switzerland shows
up. She’s a botanist that made a plant that explodes.” I said.

“They seriously showed that in the movies too?” Tony said.

“You created your own demons.” I said quoting him to him. “Apparently they used that exact
serum on people which makes them explode or turn into fire breathing dragons. It wasn’t
really stable but since you figured it out with plants she thought you could help them. She
also helps them kidnap Pepper to use as leverage against you. So the house blows up and you
end up in Tennessee because it was a bombing that wasn’t reported with the rest. You find out
the mandarin is in Miami. You go there. Rhodey happens to be there locked in his suit until
they get him out and they use the suit as a trojan horse to kidnap the president. Fake
mandarin gives you the boat to go save pepper and the president. You use the iron legion to
take them all out and in the end you blow up all the suits because you realize the suits don’t
make the man. You fix Pepper because they injected her with the serum… and then you
decide to get the shrapnel out of your chest getting rid of the reactor thus ending a huge
chapter of your live and letting you start over with a clean slate.”

“So what you’re saying is we’re working this Christmas?” Clint said.

“Pretty much.” I said.

“I blow up my suits?” Tony said. “I don’t even keep one?”

“They weren’t really clear on if you got rid of all of them but you called it a clean slate so I’d
assume so.” I said.

“So my one night stand from a million years ago…” Tony started.

“Twelve years ago.” I said.

“A botanist.” He said.

“She’s also a DNA coder.” I said.

“She’s going to make people blow up.” Tony said.

“Her boss.” I said. “Though she’s not exactly innocent herself.”

“And my house gets blown up.” Tony said.

“You gave a terrorist your home address what did you expect?” I said.

“Is anyone in the house when it happens?” Bruce asked.

“Tony, Pepper, and Tony’s one night stand.” I said.

“You’re really not going to let that go. It was twelve years ago.” Tony said.

“And she’s getting people blown up his year.” I said.

“I didn’t even know you then.” He said.

“Dude I don’t care who you sleep with.” I said.

“Then why are you making such a big deal about my one night stand coming back?” Tony
said panicking.

“I’m not you are.” I said and we all just stared at him.

“I have work to do.” Tony said. “Apparently I have a bunch of suits to build that I’m going to
blow up on Christmas.”
“You don’t really have to.” Bruce said.

“Yeah it was mostly a grand gesture for Pep….” I said making Tony groan.

“Nope it happened in the movies so it has to happen.” Tony said.

“That’s not…” Natasha started.

“Nope it’s happening. It’s all getting blown up even the house.” Tony said walking out.

“Tony.” Steve called out but Tony ignored him and headed downstairs.

“Too much?” I asked Bruce.

“Just a bit.” He answered.

“There’s not really a right way to say it.” Natasha said.

“He really gave a terrorist his home address?” Clint said making Natasha and I give him a
look. “What?”

After that breakfast was pretty much over.

“We’re going shopping and to the spa.” Natasha said.

“We are?” I asked confused because I didn’t remember when I agreed to these plans.

“Yes.” She said looping her arm through mine and pulling me out of the house with her.

“But…” I started arguing.

“You need it.” She said not letting me get another word in.
 Chapter 22

I never realized how much the fighting between Tony and Steve affected everyone else. Then
again I was pretty out of it the last few weeks so even if I had seen it I either wouldn’t have
remembered or cared.

Natasha though even through the emotionless façade had brief moments where she let her
guard down and this was one of them.

“Those two never stop.” She mumbled as she sped down the street in one of Tony’s sports
cars that she had been using while she was here.

“Wish I could tell you that they’ll stop but they don’t. It does simmer down though.” I said.

“Great.” She said. “How are you doing with it all?

“You mean since I stopped being a zombie and returned to the land of the living?” I retorted.
“It’s good. It’s only been a few days but I haven’t been tempted to go on any roofs so I think
that’s good.”

“I’d say so.” She said. “How much damage do you think we can do on Tony’s card?”

“I don’t really need anything. I mean I don’t think I’ve repeated any outfits since I got here.”
I said.

“You can never have too many options and you’re welcome.” Natasha said.

“That was you? That explains all the stuff I don’t remember buying.” I said.
“I had some free time.” She said.

“That’s been going around.” I said.

“No luck finding a hobby?” Natasha said.

“Nothing that doesn’t end up making me frustrated.” I said.

“And here I was looking forward to getting a new scarf for Christmas.” She said.

“It probably would have ended up getting blown up.” I said and Natasha slammed the brakes.
“Too soon?”

“Red light.” She said. “He really gave a terrorist his home address?”

“He was going through a lot.” I said.

“Did therapy help?” Natasha asked.

“Too soon to tell.” I said. “Things are different. You guys were supposed to go your separate
ways not become roomies. Though I think he secretly likes having a full house.”

“More like he likes having you around.” Natasha said.

“You make it sound like he has a thing for me.” I said chuckling at the insanity of that.

Natasha didn’t say anything just gave me a look.

“What?” I said.

“You don’t know.” She said.

“Know what?” I said and she just stared at me in disbelief before she realized I was being
serious.

“You’re adorable.” She said.

“Thanks?” I said confused.

“And oblivious.” Natasha said. “but those pills really threw you off so you can just blame
them.”

“Probably. So what am I oblivious to?” I asked.

“Tony.” Natasha said trying to see if I reacted to it.

“Is he blowing up his life again?” I again.

“No. He likes you.” She said.

“Okay.” I said.

“As in he really likes you.” Natasha said emphasizing the word like but I still wasn’t getting
it. “He like likes you.”
“Oh.” I said. “Oh! What?! He does not.”

“He does.” Natasha said.

“No he doesn’t.” I said.

“Yes he does.” She said.

“You’re messing with me. We’re just friends.” I said.

“I’m not and you’re not just friends you’re soulmates. Just like the rest of us.” Natasha said.

“Still not onboard with the S-thing.” I started. “It’s probably a fluke.”

“You can see color and I’m sure one of us had done the finger test.” She said.

“Tony does not have a thing for me.” I said interrupting her so we wouldn’t have to have the
soulmate conversation. Natasha was hard to get a read on and I didn’t want to hurt her
feelings and I had just gotten mine back and still lacked tact if Tony’s reaction to his house
getting blown up was anything to go by.

“Why do you think we always send you to go get Tony?” Natasha said.

“Because besides Bruce I’m the only one with a passcode to get into the lab?” I retorted.

“And why do you think that is?” She said.

“Because I’m the only one that bothered to read Jarvis’ protocols and found the loophole to
get in and Tony thought it’d be easier to give me a password instead of having to redo most
of Jarvis’ coding?” I said.

“You’re the only one he listens to.” Natasha said.

“That’s not…” I started.

“You got him to go to therapy.” Natasha said effectively shutting down any arguments I could
have made. “Why do you think he was so bothered by you bringing up his one night stand?”

“That makes no sense why would he like me like that?” I said. “I mean you’ve met me. I’m a
trainwreck and that’s putting it mildly.”

“You’re also smart, sweet, caring, funny…” Natasha started.

“We’re not… he’s not…” I started getting all tongue tied because how the fuck did Tony like
me?

“He is.” Natasha said. “It’s pretty obvious and you had to have seen this coming.”

“Do I come off as charming and the type of person people fall for?” I retorted Natasha didn’t
say anything just gave me an amused look. “Oh not you too. You never struck me as the type
to buy into the whole soulmate thing.”

“Why? Because of what I’ve done?” She retorted watching me for any slight micro reaction
or body language that could give anything away.
“You helped save the world. It’s because you give off this really tough cold front that’s really
hard to read and you can go from fun ‘Woohoo girls trip’ to scary ‘say the wrong thing and
no one will ever find your body’ in less than a second.” I said. She watched me probably
trying to see if I was lying and when she realized I was being honest she let her guard down
again.

“It’s a habit.” She said. Neither of us said anything for a bit as she kept driving. “The red
room had a rule about soulmates.”

“They wanted you to kill me?” I said sarcastically but one look at Natasha and I knew I got it
right on the first try. “Makes sense.”

“I didn’t think it would happen for me.” She said. “Most people meet theirs in their teens and
if it doesn’t happen by then, chances are it won’t happen. Then you fell out of a wormhole
and the sky was blue for the first time.”

“That takes some getting used to.” I said remembering the shock of seeing color for the first
time. I was still getting used to it.

“The world is brighter with you in it.” She said.

“It doesn’t make sense.” I said.

“It doesn’t have to but you are going to have to accept the fact that it is real. There’s no
denying it.” Natasha said as we pulled up to the spa.

“When did life get so complicated?” I asked.

“I stopped asking myself that when Thor showed up.” Natasha admitted.
“I wonder how he’s doing. I kind of warned him about a few things but I’m not sure if he
took me seriously.” I said. “We were pretty drunk.”

“Whatever it is he can handle it. He’s been around for over a thousand years.” Natasha said.

“True.” I said getting out of the car and following her into the spa.

After we both got mani, pedi, facials and even a deep tissue massage were on cloud nine so
shopping was not as overwhelming as it was before. Or maybe this time I was just more used
to all the color. Natasha and I were going through the clothes and she kept adding to my pile
things to try on.

“Before this universe I had never been to a spa.” I said.

“Really?” Natasha said. “How do you like it?”

“I was really missing out.” I said.

“We’re just getting started.” She said. “We still need to talk about Tony.”

“Do we really?” I asked.

“Yes.” Natasha said.

“You’re probably making this out to be way bigger than it really is.” I said.

“You know everything about me and what I do? You remember I was Tony’s shadow? You
know how I read people?” Natasha said. “If I’m telling you something it’s because I know
it’s true.”
“And what am I supposed to do about it?” I said.

“Do you feel anything for him?” She asked.

“Up until about four months ago you were all movie characters.” I said. “Add to that I’m
practically an emotional vegetable...”

“You’re an emotional vegetable when you’re on the pills but now you seem fine to me.”
Natasha said.

“Because this is the high before the crash.” I said.

“Crash?” Natasha said.

“They didn’t take me off the pills because I was suddenly fixed. They made me really low so
when I stopped taking them my body recompensated overshooting me higher than normal
hence me right now. It’s a negative feedback loop.” I explained. “As soon as the last bits of
the pills are out of my system we will be right back where we started.”

“It also means you can come back to this again.” Natasha said.

“That’s not really how it works…” I started.

“That was before, this is a different universe.” She said.

“Is this really the right time for this?” I started.

“You could always wait for the next alien invasion.” Natasha said.

“More like killer robots.” I said and she gave me a look.

“Killer robots?” She asked.

“We’ll talk about that as soon as we find Loki’s scepter.” I answered.

“Okay. Tony.” She said.

“I don’t know what to say about that.” I said.

“You called him a hot mess.” Natasha said.

“Technically you’re all hot messes in different ways.” I said.

“You go on dates.” She said.

“We have therapy at the same time and place and we get hungry.” I said.

“You talk.” She says.

“I talk to Clint too.” I said.

“So you like Clint?” Natasha asked with a smirk.

“What no… well yes… not the way you’re asking about… It’s complicated.” I said.

“It’s not that complicated.” She said.

“You know what no one’s admitted to anything so right now you’re just making assumptions
based on observations. Maybe it’s all platonic. I mean the first time I saw you and Clint
together on screen I thought you were a thing.” I said.

“Everyone thinks that. He’s my best friend.” Natasha said. “Did anyone explain what being
someone’s soulmate actually is?”

“Your perfect match. You know it’s them when you can see the opposite spectrum of colors
that you can already see which in my case means I could suddenly see all of them…” I said.
“Then there’s the finger thing…”

“So no one told you the most important thing?” Natasha said.

“There’s more?” I asked.

“Well just the main thing. Soulmates are meant to be. They’re linked and once they meet
they’re like magnets.” Natasha said. “They will always end up together.”

“End up together as in…” I said.

“Together.” Natasha said.

“But I mean it’s not like we don’t have a choice.” I said.

“There’s always a choice but no one ever chooses not to be.” Natasha said.
“Why?” I asked.

“Before did you feel like something was missing?” Natasha asked.

“Besides color?” I asked even though I know what she was talking about. The strange feeling
of not fitting in anywhere because it all felt wrong. Because something was missing.
Something that would pull it all together the way it was meant to be.

“It’s more than that. It’s that nagging feeling in the back of your head.” She said.

“Maybe you’re just paranoid.” I said.

“Like when you’re in bed trying to fall asleep and you feel like you forgot to do
something….” Natasha said.

“But more than that.” I finished for her. “It doesn’t go away.”

“It does.” She said. “Isn’t it.”

“I’m going to go try these on.” I said going to the fitting rooms mostly to avoid the
conversation which was getting way too deep for casual shopping talk.

I think she got the idea because she dropped it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t.

After we had gotten home late enough that we missed both lunch and dinner I headed straight
to my room without another word.
So free will existed but no one ever chose to not be with their soulmate and apparently mine
were going to want me or in Tony’s and maybe Clint’s (by the way Natasha mentioned him)
already felt some pull.

And I was so freaking blocked I couldn’t even figure out what I felt.

Why the hell would Tony be interested in me? It was impossible. Even if we are soulmates
and that is a big if chances are we bonded because of a shared traumatic experience.

Yeah that had to be it.

Of course now that I think about it… there were moments in the past couple of months. Like
when he broke me out of SHIELD and helped me when I started having a panic attack. Or
when he found me in the lab when I was avoiding my intervention which ended in me going
to therapy. Or a week ago when we went to the beach.

I guess in a way he’s also the only one I listen to.

Oh fuck he really has a thing for me.

“Shit.” I said.
 Chapter 23

Week 12…

I spent the week avoiding well… everyone.

Steve because he was still trying way too hard to get back on my good side and after the one
morning walk he invited himself and talked the entire 30 minutes was a bit too much for me.

Natasha because she gave me way too much to think about and did not want her using her
super spy skills to get in my head more than she already had.

Tony because now I couldn’t be around him without overthinking everything he said and did
to determine if it was one of the things I hadn’t seen before the showed he has a thing for me.

Clint because he might already be in the same boat as Tony and I could barely handle the idea
of one of them having a thing for me let alone two.

Thor was on Asgard so it was more like he was ignoring me. Well not ignoring more like
busy bringing order to the nine realms.

Bruce… well I didn’t really have a reason to avoid him but since I had mentioned Doctor
Cho and regeneration cradle he had reached out to learn more and was now on a lab binge.

On the plus side if avoiding people was considered a hobby Elaine would be very happy with
me.

Which brings me to the day of weekly therapy…

I was so lost in my head the past week it had slipped my mind. I went through my usual
routine of showering before getting dressed. I had opted for a pair of grey skinny jeans, a
light heather grey scooped neck tee and a charcoal grey textured moto jacket with light grey
suede heels.

I had put my hair in a braided half up half down hairstyle. Once I was ready and I thought the
coast was clear I was going to sneak out but apparently someone had anticipated what I was
going to do and was waiting for me right outside my door.

“Morning.” Tony said making me jump.

“Tony! W-what are you… I started.

“It’s Wednesday. We’ve got therapy.” He said.

“Right…” I said.

“Want to grab breakfast?” Tony asked.

“Uh I’m not really hungry.” I said.

“You didn’t eat dinner.” He said.

“Late night snack.” I said.

“Then we’ll make a Starbucks run.” Tony said. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in days.”

“I doubt it, we live in the same house.” I said following him down to the garage. We actually
hadn’t seen each other in days. I was a pro at avoiding people.

The car ride was pretty quiet. Tony tried making small talk but I heard was Natasha’s voice in
my head saying ‘he likes you. He like likes you.’ Then we get to Starbucks and he ordered
for me getting exactly what I wanted exactly how I liked it and the voice got louder.

Which led us to the waiting room at our therapist’s office. For the first time I was the anxious
one and Tony was casually reading something on his phone while I bounced my knee.

“You feeling okay?” He asked.

“Great, Why?” I said.

“No reason you just seem a little… jumpy.” Tony said putting a hand on my knee to stop my
leg from moving. “And you’re been weird lately.”

“I am from another universe.” I said taking a sip from my coffee.

“Yeah but… okay I’m just going to ask. Have you been hitting the bars again?” He asked.

“What? No. Why would you…” I said.

“I don’t know it feels like you’re avoiding us for some reason and last time you were was
when you were…” Tony said.

“Okay first of you make it sound like I’m an alcoholic which I’m not thanks for the vote of
confidence. Second of all wouldn’t you know if I was at a bar considering I only use your
credit card?” I said.

“I do trust you and I know you’re not an alcoholic and I don’t track your spending I just pay
the bill. I’m not a stalker.” He said.

“You don’t check your bank statements?” I said.

“Billionaire remember?” he said.

“Yeah but you should still…” I said.

“Stop trying to change the subject.” Tony said.

“I’m not…” I started.

“Miss Marin you can go in.” The receptionist said.

“Oh well can’t keep Elaine waiting.” I said. “See you in 45.”

“Uhuh.” Tony said giving me a skeptical look.

Maybe Elaine would let me escape through her window…. Nah she wouldn’t be cool with
that.

“Good morning Hanna.” Elaine greeted.

“Morning.” I said looking out her window.

“Is there something going on outside?” She said.

“Oh nothing just keeping an eye out for emergency exits.” I said sitting on the couch.

“Are you expecting an emergency?” Elaine said.

“No just, something I heard on the news.” I said. “Alright lets get this over with.”

“Someone’s eager.” Elaine teased.

“I’m off the pills and I haven’t crashed yet so if there’s any Hail Mary’s you’ve been waiting
to use I suggest you use them now.” I said.

“You seem oddly anxious. Is there something worrying you?” Elaine said.

“I just have a lot on my mind.” I said.

“Well why don’t we talk about it? That’s what I’m here for.” She said.

“It’s not really therapy talk.” I said.

“This is your time Hanna. You can talk about whatever you want. And nothing you say leaves
this room.” Elaine said.

And for the first time in three months I was complete open and just unloaded everything. The
soulmates the talk with Natasha. The signs I had missed and was now overthinking about…

Once I was done she was quiet before she started laughing.

“Really?” I said. “What happened to no judgement?”

“Hanna you got the man to willingly go to therapy. That says it all. If my ex-husband had
agreed to go to couples therapy then he wouldn’t be my ex-husband.” She said.

“That’s great. I mean I’m glad he’s here but I didn’t mean for this to happen.” I said.

“Do you not feel the same way about him?” Elaine asked.
“I didn’t even notice anything. If you haven’t noticed I’ve been pretty out of it lately.” I
answered.

“I don’t know you seem pretty into it now.” She said smiling.

“Is that supposed to be funny?” I said.

“No. the pills have definitely emotionally blunted you but I don’t think they made you blind.
You had to have noticed something.” She answered. “or at the very least feel something. You
are soulmates.”

“Look I’m just getting used to the fact that soulmates are real and also with the way I’ve been
lately who in their right mind would fall for me?” I said.

“Apparently Tony and maybe Clint.” Elaine said. “Tell me something did you really not see it
or did you not let yourself see it? Making me groan.

“If I had actually seen it do you think I’d be this confused about it?” I retorted. “And now I
have Natasha in my head making me overthink every little thing. Like Tony ordered my drink
from Starbucks exactly the way I like it without me asking for it. He just fucking did it.”

“Did you not want that?” Elaine said.

“I did but he just knew.” I said.

“Maybe because it’s your favorite drink and it’s what you always get?” She asked.

“It’s… I’m overthinking it aren’t I?” I said.

“Or you’re in denial.” She said. “Add to that how stubborn you are.”

“It doesn’t make any sense.” I said.

“Nothing about love makes sense.” Elaine said making me groan.

“You just had to say the L word.” I said. “We’re not… It’s like a I told Nat. We have shared
trauma and that bonds people.”

“That doesn’t make his feelings any less real.” Elaine said.

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do?” I said.

“Have you tried talking to him?” She asked and I gave her a look. “I’ll take that as a no. You
need to talk to him.”

“And say what?” I said.

“Nothing just talk to him and try to figure out where you stand then go from there.” Elaine
said. “Don’t over complicate it.”

“I have six soulmates what part of that isn’t complicated?” I asked.

“Start with the one that already has feelings for you.” Elaine said. “I think we’re going to cut
today’s session a bit ear…”

“No!” I said quickly. “I mean we have ten minutes and I didn’t even get to talk about my
hobby search.”
“Wow you must really be dreading talking to him. You normally can’t get out of here fast
enough.” Elaine said.

“You did say this was my time.” I retorted.

But my time did eventually run out and guess who was already out waiting for me.

“So what were we talking about?” Tony asked as we walked back to the car.

“How you don’t really have a grasp on the value of money.” I said.

“Oh I do I just have a lot of it and that’s not what I meant.” He said. “You’re being weird. Did
Spangles do something?”

“No.” I said.

“You’ve been acting weird since your girl’s day with Romanoff. Or is it about the house
getting blown up because I already have a few ideas like putting in blast door shielding. That
could work.” He said.

“The house is on a cliff.” I reminded him.

“And it survived me and Rhodey going at it in the suits.” Tony said.

“You had to gut the place and rebuilt.” I reminded him. “And you two didn’t use missiles.”

“They use missiles?” Tony said surprised.

“They destroy the house, it sinks into the ocean and the only thing that’s left is part of the
garage floor.” I said.

“How do you feel about a panic room? He asked.

“Claustrophobic.” I said. “And wouldn’t really help if the house it’s in gets blown up.”

“Maybe I could make you a…” he started.

“No.” I said already knowing what he was going to say.

“But you haven’t…” he started.

“No.” I repeated not backing down.

“Have you been talking to Pepper?” Tony asked.

“Never met her.” I said.

“We should fix that.” he said.

“Or maybe you know wait on that.” I said.

“Why?” Tony said.

“Well you’re going to bust into her office and just unload the whole hey this Hanna my
soulmates that fell through that wormhole I flew a nuke into in New York and she’s from a
universe where we’re all movie characters.” I said.

“You said it.” Tony said staring at me with a smile.

“Well it did happen.” I said.

“No, you said it. You said the s-word.” Tony said with a smug smile.

“No I didn’t.” I said.

“Yeah you did.” He said still smiling. “You finally believe.”

“I’m…” I started about to completely deny everything but then I thought about it and had a
strange moment of clarity. “You know what if Norse gods are real, a guy can wake up after
70 years in ice, the nicest person you ever meet can turn into a giant green rage monster, and
you can accidentally fall into another universe then sure I guess soulmates can be real.”

“This is great. We’re celebrating starting with brunch.” Tony said.

“As long as the mimosas are bottomless.” I said.

“What happened to ‘I’m not an alcoholic.’?” Tony said.

“You’re going to be insufferable about this and not let it go. Drinks are required.” I said.

“You know what, go for it.” Tony said. “Because we’re soulmates.”
“Can you at least wait until there’s a glass in my hand before you start?” I asked.

“Nope because after four months. Four whole months you finally accepted its real.” He said.

“Stupid Freudian slip.” I mumbled.

So I had lunch with a super smug Tony who was parading like peacock and squeezing in the
word soulmate at every chance he could.

“So soulmate…” he started.

“Five rounds of mimosas were not enough.” I said.

“Stop.” He said taking my hand. “Since you brought it up how would you feel about meeting
Pepper and Rhodey. They have been asking to get together. Apparently I haven’t seen them
since before New York…”

“You haven’t seen your closest friends in almost five months?” I said.

“We’ve been kind of busy.” He said.

“Okay how about you go see them and show them you’re still alive and you make the
introductions sometime later when all this smugness has worn off.” I said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Tony said smirking. “Jarvis set up dinner with
Pepper and Rhodey “
“How many people should I make the reservation for sir?” Jarvis asked.

Tony gave me a look and I crossed my arms staring him down. After about a minute he
caved.

“Make it for three.” Tony said begrudgingly.

“Have fun.” I said going back to my room. Months without drinking had done away with my
tolerance for alcohol and I was most definitely feeling the booze. I shrugged off my jacket
and faceplanted onto the bed. I took a short nap and woke up around mid afternoon.

I considered going to the gym for my one hour of exercise but considering the progress I
made I think I earned a cheat day. That didn’t stop me from putting on some charcoal grey
joggers and a light heather grey scoop neck tee. My hair was up in a messy bun and with that
I was ready for a binge watching marathon.

I looked through the library and I had to adjust my expectations. Being ten years in the past
meant I would have to wait a few years to see some of the movies on my Netflix queue in my
universe.

But then I found it.

“Game of Thrones. Score.” I said. Sure the final season was a bit of a letdown but it was an
epic journey. And I was glad Sansa got her happy-ish ending. All hail the Queen of the North.

So I started from the very first episode.

The sound system Jarvis used was also connected to the TV so I couldn’t hear anything
outside of the room. I was on episode 2 or 3. Not entirely sure but I had forgotten how much
nudity and how many sex scenes there were…
So when Steve came to check on me and I didn’t hear him knock but he heard a noise so he
let himself in and well… got an eyeful of a brothel scene.

“Ah!” He screamed in shock before covering his eyes with his hands. “I-I’m sorry! Sorry! I
didn’t…”

Steve backed away crashing into a wall before stumbling out of the room and slamming the
door shut behind him.

“Wha…” I said not being able to finish what I was saying before Steve was out. I considered
going after him but maybe he got lost and confused my room for one of the bathrooms.

Either way I went back to my show.

A While Later…

After what Steve had walked in on he was jumpy and uncomfortable. He was walking on
eggshells and would walk out of the room if anyone mentioned Hanna.

He decided to stay busy by cooking dinner and cleaning the kitchen.

By the time dinner was ready almost everyone was at the table except Hanna. Tony had just
come down dressed and ready for his dinner with Pepper and Rhodey.

“Hey has anyone seen Hanna?” Tony asked.

“No!” Steve said immediately. “Haven’t seen her at all. Why would I have seen her? is she
even in the house?”
“She’s up in her room watching TV.” Natasha said giving Steve a weird look.

“Yeah sure TV.” Steve said avoiding looking at anyone.

“Steve are you okay?” Bruce asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Steve said.

“I don’t know. You’re looking a bit jumpy there Cap.” Tony said.

“I’m fine…” Steve said. “I don’t think Hanna wants to be bothered.”

“Why not?” Clint asked confused.

“She’s… busy.” Steve said.

“Busy?” Tony asked. “Doing what? I know she still hasn’t found a hobby.”

“Just busy!” Steve snapped and everyone stared at him making him sigh. “Look I didn’t
mean to but… I went by to check on Hanna after lunch because she didn’t come down and…
and I walked in…”

“Walked in on what?” Natasha asked.

“She… Hanna was… She was looking at…” Steve said looking around before checking to
make sure Hanna wasn’t withing earshot of them. “Erotic media.” Steve whispered.
“Huh?” Everyone said.

“You need to speak up Cap I can’t hear you.” Clint said.

“Erotic Media.” Steve said slightly louder.

“What?” Clint said.

“He means porn.” Natasha said bluntly.

“Sh!” Steve shushed blushing bright red.

“I’m sorry did you just say you walked in on our soulmate watching porn?” Tony asked
trying to make sure he heard right.

“Yes. It was on the TV.” Steve said bashfully. It was dead silent for a minute before almost
everyone started laughing uncontrollably. Clint fell out of his chair. Natasha threw her head
back in laughter while Tony was bent over laughing the loudest. Bruce was chuckling softly
mostly at Steve’s reaction. “It’s not funny!”

“You walked in on her…” Clint started trying to get up only to start laughing again.

“Oh Cap. I don’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. My cheeks hurt.” Tony said
smiling. “Erotic Media…”

“It’s not funny Tony. This is serious. Is it really appropriate for her to be looking at things
like that?” Steve said.

“Calm down Grandpa. It’s perfectly natural and healthy…” Natasha started.
“But she’s a…” Steve started before Natasha gave him a look and if looks could kill, his next
words might sign his death sentence.

“She’s a what Steve?” Natasha said daring him to continue.

“Uh… She… UH…” he started.

“Oh man I can’t believe I have to miss the rest of this but if I’m late for dinner Pepper is not
going to be happy.” Tony said. “Just… So what exactly…”

“Tony.” Bruce said shaking his head warning him not to keep talking before nodding to
where Natasha was still glaring at Steve.

“Never mind. See you later.” Tony said taking his phone out and making sure Jarvis would
record dinner for him.

“Uh… Can I be excused?” Steve said trying to get away as well. Mostly to avoid the
embarrassment.

After Dinner…

I was too into what was going on in Westeros to even notice the awkward sex education catch
up session happening downstairs over dinner. I was getting near the end of the first season
when Jarvis paused the TV.

“Miss Marin, Agent Barton is at your door and is asking your permission to come in.” Jarvis
said.

That was weirdly formal of him.

“Uh sure.” I said. Clint came in cautiously walking in holding a plate and a glass of juice.

“Hey, you didn’t come down for dinner so I brought you a plate.” He said.

“Oh. Thanks.” I said taking the plate and glass.

“Uh…” Clint glanced at the TV before his eyes widened. “Is that Game of Thrones?”

“Yeah I started watching it from the beginning and lost track of time.” I said. “You a fan?”

“Uh yeah. Scoot.” He said gesturing for me to move over a bit so he could sit on the bed too.
I did as he asked and started the Tv again. “I got to the second to last episode of the first
season before I got called away on a mission and fell behind so no spoilers.”

“I promise I won’t tell you how it all ends.” I said.

“You know how it ends?” Clint asked.

“I’m from ten years in the future in another universe.” I said.

“No spoilers.” He said again. “Wait… you’ve been watching this all day?”

“Yeah. I was in the mood to binge watch something.” I said and Clint started laughing. “Am I
missing something?”

“Oh nothing.” Clint said with a grin.

Twenty Minutes Later…

Natasha had finished drilling Steve about how much sexual norms had changed since his time
when she decided to go find her best friend only to find him in the last place she expected
him to be.

“I never thought I could hate someone that isn’t real as much as I hate Joffrey.” Clint
commented.

“That’s why incest is illegal in 47 states.” I said.

“47?” Clint asked in disbelief.

“At least in my world.” I said.

“Ew.” Clint said.

“What’s going on here?” Natasha asked.

“Game of Thrones Marathon.” I said just as another sex seen came on.

“Hanna started rewatching in and I’m trying to catch up.” Clint said.

“This is what you’ve been doing all day?” Natasha asked before laughing.

“I really don’t get what’s so funny about that.” I said. Clint and Natasha looked at each other.
“Steve walked in and thought you were watching porn.” Natasha said.

I looked at her wondering if she was serious but she really was. Then I started laughing.

“Okay that’s pretty funny. Did he freak out?” I asked.

“Not as bad as when Nat started giving him the sex talk.” Clint said.

“Aw I missed that?” I said laughing.

“That’s what happens when you don’t come down for dinner.” Natasha said sitting down on
the other side of the bed.

“Did he really think I was…” I started.

“He didn’t call it porn. He called it… what was the word he used?” Clint asked.

“Erotic media.” Natasha said.

“Wow, he’s that old school.” I said.

“Did they have porn in the 40’s?” Clint asked.

“Pretty sure there’s always been some kind of porn around.” I said.
“Maybe not as graphic.” Natasha said as a scene came up.
 Chapter 24

We stayed up all night and I think it was around mid way through season 2 that I fell asleep.
Natasha and Clint must have too because I the next morning in a tangle of arms and legs.
Clint was wrapped around me like an octopus and Natasha was spooning me. I didn’t take her
for a cuddler.

As weird as it was, I wasn’t uncomfortable though I was starting to be when I got the urge to
pee. I carefully tried to slip out of their grasps without waking them up but one I tried to
move Natasha’s arms she ended up hugging me tighter.

“Oh… Natasha.” I said shaking her arm and she immediately opened her eyes. As soon as
she saw me and that she was spooning me she just smiled.

“Morning beautiful.” She said sounding weirdly flirty.

“Yeah I need help.” I said. “I gotta pee kind of bad here.”

“Oh.” She said letting me go and then helping me slip out of Clint’s grasp replacing me with
a pillow he immediately hugged tightly as he faceplanted into the bed and let out a snore.

“Thanks.” I said rushing to the bathroom. When I walked out Natasha was standing next to
the bed while Clint was still snoring.

“Want me to wake him up?” Natasha asked.

“No let him sleep.” I said looking at Clint. “I get the feeling he hasn’t been sleeping too
well.”
“Probably.” She said giving Clint one last look before we walked out. Natasha went to her
room while I ventured downstairs for some coffee.

Unsurprisingly Steve was already down there with Bruce.

“Hanna!” Steve jumped in surprise.

“Morning.” I said smiling remembering the dinner I missed.

“Morning.” Bruce said quietly trying not to laugh.

“I uh… I’m going for a run.” Steve said running out.

As soon as he did Tony let out a laugh.

“Man he can’t even look you in the eye.” Tony said.

“It wasn’t even that bad.” I said.

“I don’t know Blondie. I mean what kind of stuff are you into?” Tony asked.

“I was watching HBO.” I deadpanned.

“Wait it wasn’t even real porn?” Tony said laughing again. “Oh man this keeps getting better
and better.”

“In Steve’s defense HBO can be pretty graphic.” Bruce said.

“I’ll talk to him later.” I said. “Let him process everything Nat told him.”

Tony just laughed.

“I know I know I shouldn’t be laughing but…” he started. “You didn’t see the look on his
face.”

“We’ve talked about this.” I said.

“Would you just give me this one?” Tony said.

“You’ve been bringing it up non stop since last night. At least you didn’t bring it up during
dinner.” I said and suddenly Tony stopped laughing. “Tony. You didn’t bring it up did you?”

“Uh… well Rhodey may have asked how the roommate situation was going and it reminded
me of this and it made me laugh…” Tony said. “I had to tell them what was so funny.”

“You told your friends I was watching porn?!” I said. “I am never meeting them.”

“What?” Tony said.

“Yup. Never happening. I can’t show my face. Too embarrassing.” I said.

“It’s not that bad.” Tony said.

“Still bad.” I said grabbing my coffee and heading to the gym since Clint was still asleep in
my room. Steve who was already there lifting weights dropped them on his foot and quickly
hopped out of the gym when he saw me.

Yeah I was definitely going to have to deal with that at some point.

Week 13…

Being mad at Tony for telling his friends Steve walked in on me watching what he thought
was porn had made me completely forget about him having a thing for me.. Unfortunately the
same did not apply to Elaine.

“So how did the talk go?” She asked.

“I haven’t talked to Steve yet. He’s surprisingly really good at avoiding people.” I said.

“I was actually talking about Tony but why would Steve be avoiding you?” Elaine asked.

“because of the whole porn incident.” I said.

“There was a porn incident?” Elaine asked.

So I filled her in and we argued about how we were supposed to move forward. When I
walked out Tony was already waiting.

“How’d it go?” I didn’t say anything just walked to the car.

“Still not talking to me huh? Come on Blondie it’s not that big a deal.” Tony said.
“It’s a big deal and the fact that you can’t tell it’s a big deal is concerning.” I said.

“I said I was sorry.” Tony said.

“And I said I’m not mad but that’s also not true.” I said.

“Fine I screwed up. I’m sorry I just got caught up on the all-mighty perfect America screwing
up.” Tony said.

“You have got to get over your issues with Steve.” I said.

“I don’t have issues with him.” Tony said.

“Yes you do.” I said. “He is not perfect and he never said he was but I do know who believed
that and would constantly remind you of it.”

“You think I have daddy issues?” Tony asked.

“Who doesn’t? Remember who you’re talking to. I saw the look on your face when you saw
the video of your dad saying you were his greatest creation.” I said. “He held you to
impossible standards because he was ashamed of his own shortcomings. No one’s perfect
that’s the whole point of life. To make mistakes, learn from them and grow as a person.”

“So you’re telling me Steve isn’t as great as everyone think he is?” Tony asked smugly.

“No. He does live up to his reputation but there’s more to him than just being Captain
America. Maybe you just need to get to know that side of him.” I said.

“Hm…” Tony answered not entirely convinced.

When we got back we were greeted by Fury pacing the living room.

“About time. Did you two enjoy your brunch while we’re here trying to save the world?”
Fury said.

“Would you tone it down. Last time you were here you had nothing.” Tony said.

“And who’s fault is that?” Fury said glaring at me.

“So did you find Strucker and List?” I asked.

“Who?” Fury said.

“Strucker and List?” I repeated.

“You didn’t give us those names. You just said the guy with the face.” Steve said.

“Oh right. In my defense I was heavily medicated.” I said pouring myself some coffee before
going to sit next to Natasha and look through the files. “Start with List there’s no way he’d let
go of the scepter once he got his hands on it. Also keep an ear out for anyone recruiting
people for medical experiments in Sokovia and some of the neighboring countries.”

“What do you think we’ve been doing? There’s also something else. People are starting to
ask questions about where you two are…” Fury asked looking at Clint and Natasha before
turning to Steve.. “And why you aren’t working for us.”

“Tell them we’re on a mission.” Clint said.

“Need to know only.” Natasha said.

“I’m catching up on everything I missed.” Steve said.

“It’s been months. Right now they’re asking questions but it’s only a matter of time before
they start looking.” Fury said.

“You think we should go back.” Natasha asked. “It’s not a bad idea. We can work from inside
SHIELD get a better idea of what exactly is going on.”

“It’s risky.” Steve said.

“You wouldn’t know who to trust.” Clint said.

“No one in STRIKE. Especially not Rumlow, he answers directly to Pierce and you wouldn’t
know if the missions you get assigned are actually in the interest of national security or if
you’re doing Hydra’s dirty work.” I said.

“Same with all the other missions we’ve done before.” Natasha said. “We’d be going in
blind.”

“Better than running around in circles.” Fury said.

“I’m not going back. I’m not a spy and I don’t want to take a shot and find out it was the
wrong person.” Clint said. “I can do more good working from the outside.”

“Captain?” Fury asked.

“I… I’m tired of sitting around and waiting for something to happen. We need to make a
move.” Steve said. “How do we do this?”

So that’s how it was decided that Steve and Natasha would go back to DC and Clint would
stay for a few more weeks before following to be on standby in case any happened.

The day before she left I waited until Steve went on his morning run before knocking on
Natasha’s door early one morning.

“Hanna?” She said surprised to see me.

“Can we talk?” I asked.

“I thought we already were?” Natasha retorted and I just gave her a look before she let me
into her room. “What’s up?”

“There’s something you need to know before you go to DC and you can’t tell Steve.” I said.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Rumlow knows where Bucky is.” I said and Natasha’s eyes widened.

“Are you sure?” Natasha asked.

“In the movies he reported to Pierce, drove Bucky around and was there whenever they gave
him orders. I’m pretty sure he’s his handler.” I said.

“Shit.” She said.

“Yeah.” I said.

“Why are you telling me and not Steve?” Natasha asked.

“You know how he gets whenever anyone brings up Bucky.” I said. “You both need to be
careful and if he knew…”

“He’d get reckless.” She said understanding.

“Exactly.” I said. “Which brings me to my next thing. You need to keep an eye on Steve.”

“He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.” She said.

“He’s not a spy Nat. He trusts way too easily and I’m pretty sure I know where Steve is going
to be staying. His neighbor the nurse, isn’t really a nurse. She’s a shield shadow and also
happens to be Peggy’s niece.” I said.

“I think I know who you’re talking about.” Natasha said. “Can she be trusted?”

“She’s not Hydra but down the line she might be a problem.” I said.

“That’s a no.” She said.

“It’s a she’s not going to try to kill you anytime soon but she’s sneaky and manipulative and
Steve is an easy target.” I said.

“I’ll look out for him. It’s good that you’re here.” Natasha said. “I have some things for you.”
“You do?” I asked.

“I called in some favors from Fury and…” Natasha said handing me an envelope. I opened it
and saw a passport, birth certificate, social security card, ID, and driver’s license even though
I don’t drive. “Your new official identity.”

“These are all real?” I asked.

“It’s not the first time we set someone up with an identity.” Natasha said putting a black
duffle on the bed before unzipping it. “or in your case more than one.”

She pulled it open to reveal wads of money in different currencies, burner phones, multiple
new IDs and passports and a sealed envelope.

“What is all this?” I asked.

“It’s cash from different stores Clint and I had lying around. I’m going to drop it off in a
locker at Union Station.” Natasha said before handing me a key. “This is the key and this
envelope are instructions for how to get to a safehouse we have set up for you. If you get
separated from us or if we ever tell you to run or if things with HYDRA or the Mandarin go
south don’t wait for any of us. Just go and we’ll come get you when its safe.”

“Does everyone…” I asked.

“Just me, Clint and now you. Don’t tell anyone.” She said.

“Okay. But chances are I’ll never have to use it right?” I said.
“I can’t promise you that but it’s better to have and not need than need and not have.”
Natasha said. “Don’t worry. We’re really good at what we do. Even if you end up using it
we’ll catch up with you.”

“You better.” I said as it suddenly hit me that this was really my life now. I had soulmates
who were superheroes that put their lives in danger to save the world and could die doing it
and because of that I now had a target on my back.

Shit.
 Chapter 25

Week 20…

After Natasha, Steve and Clint had gone back to DC the house was a lot quieter.
Uncomfortably quiet. I swear there was an echo.

How the hell did Tony deal with living alone in the mansion for so long?

Anyway now with no one around I kind of started to realize I didn’t really have a lot to do.
Add to that the fact that my birthday was a few days away and I was moping around.

“So things are pretty quiet now that there’s not a full house.” Elaine said.

“Yeah.” I said looking out the window.

“It’s okay to miss them.” She said.

“Hm..” I hummed.

“Got something on your mind?” Elaine asked.

“Tomorrow’s my birthday.” I said.

“Oh my gosh. Happy early birthday.” She said smiling but faltered when she saw the look on
my face. “Or not.”

“I’m not exactly sure how to feel about it.” I said. “It’s my first birthday since… you know.”
“It’s normal to have mixed feelings about it. You tried to kill yourself and weren’t planning
on having another birthday but here you are months later, not just surviving but thriving.”
Elaine said.

“You call this thriving?” I asked.

“Do you remember what you were feeling when we first started? You were here just to see if
Tony would actually keep his word. You were drinking yourself to sleep every night. You
refused to even admit that soulmates were a real thing. You wouldn’t even talk to me or well
anyone honestly about how you were feeling.” Elaine said. “And now you actually bonded
with them, you miss them, and may or may not be considering finally having that
conversation you keep postponing with that one soulmate that obviously has feelings for
you?”

“Not happening.” I said.

“We’ll get there but for now how about we focus on tomorrow.” Elaine said. “How are you
celebrating.”

“I wasn’t planning on doing anything.” I said.

“But you have to. It’s your first birthday after a failed attempt on your life. When was the last
time you thought about jumping off a roof or hurting yourself?” Elaine asked.

I looked at her skeptically before I started thinking. I had been so busy dealing with…
everything it had been months.

“It’s been a while.” I said.

“I know because your mood has been better. It’s been weeks since you stopped taking the
pills so you’re pretty much leveled out. This is all you.” Elaine said. “You put in the work
and you’re seeing the results. Which is why I think you’re ready to cut back on our sessions.”

“No more therapy?” I said perking up at the news.

“No. We’re cutting down. I don’t think you need to be here every weeks but once every two
weeks. It’ll give you more time to do some work your own but we’d still meet to check in
and maybe work through things as they come up.” Elaine said.

“That actually doesn’t sound horrible.” I said.

“Good to actually know you trust what I’m doing.” Elaine said.

“If I didn’t think that I wouldn’t have come back after my first session.” I told her.

“You would have come back. If not for yourself then for Tony.” Elaine said. “Which by the
way how is that going?”

“You mean after he told his friends Steve walked in on me watching porn that wasn’t really
porn?” I said.

“It’s HBO sometimes it’s the same thing.” Elaine said.

“Everything is the same. Or maybe not I don’t have Natasha pointing things out and getting
into my head.” I said.

“But there is something?” She said.

“We’re fine.” I said.

“Sure.” Elaine said. “Okay our time’s almost up so time for homework. You’re actually going
to like this one. Tomorrow I want you to go out and celebrate your birthday. Have fun, eat
cake, celebrate however you want.”

“So hypothetically if I wanted to go to a bar…” I said.

“Do you want to go to a bar?” She said.

“Hypothetically.” I said again.

“Then hypothetically you could, just drink responsibly.” Elaine said.

“Okay.” I said. “So I’ll see you in… two weeks?”

“Two weeks.” Elaine confirmed. “Have a good birthday.”

“Thanks.” I said walking out.

“Brunch?” Tony asked.

“Brunch.” I confirmed. Wednesday brunch had become a weekly thing. Mostly because
without everyone at the house there was no point in pulling out a full spread breakfast.

“You’re in a good mood.” Tony said.

“It’s a nice day.” I said. “And I don’t have therapy next week.”

“You don’t?” he asked.

“Apparently I’m doing awesome so Elaine thinks now’s a good time to taper down to a
session every other week.” I said.

“That’s great.” Tony said. ‘Does that mean I don’t…”

“Depends are you still having trouble sleeping?” I said.

“I’ve always been an insomniac.” Tony said.

“Tony.” I said.

“Oh don’t do that. You sound just like Capsicle.” He whined.

“No skipping therapy then.” I said.

“But you get to cut down.” Tony said.

“It was a medical recommendation.” I said. “Besides less therapy means more homework.”

“Oh yeah, what’s your homework?” Tony said.

“Go to a bar.” I said.

“What? Did she seriously say go to a bar?” Tony said.

“She said hypothetically it would be okay for me to go to a bar.” I said.

“Damn, you and I need to trade therapists.” He said.

“I don’t think it works that way.” I said.

“It should.” Tony said.

We were at brunch and I was debating whether to get the eggs or the cereal French toast.

“Oh shit.” Tony said.

“Let me guess one of your one nights stands just walked in?” I asked.

“It wasn’t just one night. More like two plus years.” He said.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Pepper just walked in and I swear I didn’t know.” Tony said.

“Is it too late to make a run for it?” I said.

“She walking right towards us.” He said. “Pep hey!”

“Tony.” Pepper said. “What a surprise?”

“It’s kind of our spot.” Tony said.

So much for crawling under the tables and making my getaway unnoticed.

“Oh hi.” Pepper said.

“Pepper this is Hanna… my… Hanna.” Tony said wanting to say more but trying not to cross
any boundaries. “Hanna this is Pepper my… you know.”

“I do know.” I said. “It’s nice to meet you and I must say you deserve a medal for all the
things this one has put you through.”

“If I get a medal you get a trophy for getting him to go to therapy.” Pepper said.

“I’m right here.” Tony said.

“We know.” We both said at the same time.

“I’ll get you a chair Pepper.” Tony said.

Pepper was awesome, watching her and Tony bantering was hilarious and the stories… well
the movies were PG13, the stories not so much.

“I would love to stay here and tell you everything he probably won’t but I have a company to
run.” Pepper said. “It was so nice to finally meet you Hanna. We should do this again soon.”
“Of course. Maybe you can come by the house for dinner sometime.” I said.

“That would be lovely.” Pepper said. “Tony, keep her.”

“I’m trying.” He said. Once Pepper was out of earshot he turned to me. “That wasn’t so bad
and since when do you cook?”

“Who do you think’s been doing all the cooking since Steve and Clint left?” I retorted.

“You made the stuffed salmon?” Tony asked. “I thought that was take out?”

“No that was me with the guidance of the food network.” I said as I grabbed my jacket
following him out.

“So you think we should tell her…” Tony asked.

“I’m leaving that up to you.” I said. “In the movies you two were together and here you’ve
been broken up a while. She does play a big part in the Mandarin but I don’t know if that’s
still going to happen. Though maybe you should give her a heads up about her ex-boss
showing up and maybe about him kidnapping her.”

“That’s going to be a fun dinner conversation.” He said.

“Something that should definitely be brought up by a long time friend.” I said.

“You invited Pepper to dinner, can’t leave Rhodey out.” Tony said.
“He’s probably going to be busy for a while being Iron patriot.” I said.

“Uh he goes by war machine.” Tony said.

“Not after the rebrand.” I said.

“What?” he said.

“Comes with a paintjob and everything.” I said.

“Iron patriot? Like with stars and stripes.” Tony said.

“Yup.” I said.

“Ugh…” Tony groaned. “Iron Patriot? They couldn’t even be original about it.”

“It’s the US government they like putting the flag on everything.” I said getting in the car.

“Are they the same way in your universe?” He asked.

“Pretty much.” I said.

The Next Morning…

I woke up on the morning of my 27th or maybe… well maybe technically my 17th birthday
early in the morning. I was in bed for like an hour just debating which one it was before
deciding to get up and face the day. I did have homework.
So I got dressed it was a pretty windy day so I decided to go with some layers today. I started
off with some dark skinny jeans. I wore a red long sleeved Henley and topped it with a blue
chambray top I wore over it and an olive quilted jacket with a brown suede elbow patches. To
finish off the look I put on some brown heeled ankle boots, a flannel multicolored scarf and a
brown felt with leather accented floppy hat

I looked in the mirror and realized this was the first time I had ever worn his much or well
any color. It didn’t feel strange in fact it felt almost… normal. Okay maybe the hat was
overkill but I didn’t feel like doing my hair.

Tony and Bruce either still weren’t awake or we’re already in the lab so I left them a note on
the fridge telling them to fend for themselves and that I’d be back later.
It was early in the day so I started off with breakfast. I went to the coffee shop for a light
breakfast when a customer walked in and got a free coffee since it was their birthday and
that’s when inspiration struck. I was going to spend the day going around LA redeeming as
many birthday perks as I could.

I think it was around noon that I finally got a call from Tony.

I was in the middle of devouring a sharable individual sized oreo cheesecake when my phone
rang.

“Hello?” I said with my mouth full.

“Hey where are you?” He asked.

“In the middle of eating my way through the dessert menu at some café in the arts district.” I
said.

“Oh-kay. Why?” he asked confused.

“Why not?” I retorted.

“You feeling okay?” Tony asked confused.

“Actually I have to go, my choco lava cake is getting cold and losing the lavainess.” I said.

“Sure.” He said not entirely convinced before hanging up.

Once I had my fill of dessert I headed to a karaoke bar and rented a room for myself for an
hour. I sang my lungs out and worked up an appetite. Again. But this time I did hit a pub.
A very familiar one I had been to countless times. Mostly because it was one of the few
decent bars that was open on Christmas day.

“Can I get you anything to eat?” The bartender, Will said. In another universe Will and I had
dated. Well we went on one date. He was cute but there was no spark. He was a good guy
though and a hell of a bartender.

“Is it still too early for bangers and mash?” I said.

“Normally but for you I think we can make an exception.” Will said with a wink.

“Thanks Will.” I said.

“You know my name?” he asked.

“You’re wearing a name tag.” I said.

“Oh right.” He said.

I smiled picking my free birthday beer and taking a sip. It had been a while since I chose to
drink beer and I have to say, I forgot how horrible it tasted.

“It’s good huh?” Will asked.

“Can I be honest?” I asked.

“It tastes like ass.” He said.

“I think something in my mouth died.” I said.

“Yeah, our manager was flirting with the supplier who was trying to unload it so now we’re
unloading it as a birthday special but uh…” Will said taking my beer before fake sneezing.
“Oh I’m so sorry miss let me get you another drink upgraded on the house.”

“Why thank you.” I said smiling.

A While Later…

“You can’t honestly tell me someone really orders that?” I said.

“Trust me they do.” Will said.

“But it’s pickle juice.” I said.

“That’s why it’s called a pickle back.” Will said.

“People actually pay to drink what’s leftover in a pickle jar? You were going to throw that out
anyway.” I said.

“Hey we paid for it and the customer gets what they want.” Will said. “And normally the
only people who order that are drunk frat dudes so…”

“They don’t care about the taste they’re just trying to get drunk.” I said.

“Exactly.” He said.
“Who hasn’t been guilty of that at some point in their drunk lives?” I said.

“Don’t remind me. This one time a friend made me drink Guinness with a shot of mixed
Jameson and Bailey’s…” He started.

“Ugh… when it curdles..” I said laughing as I remembered when Amy and Theo made me
drink that at my first college party.

“This is where you’ve been?” Tony said looking around.

“Best bangers and mash in town.” I said.

“I’m going to make the rounds.” Will said.

“Yeah.” Tony said giving him a look with a very fake smile before sitting down next to me.
“He seems nice.”

“Will’s great.” I said.

“Will? You’re on a first name basis?” He asked. I gave him a curious look. Tony looked
annoyed and maybe a little upset. Then I noticed the daggers he was glaring at Will’s back. I
know I should have said something to calm him down but… I couldn’t help it and decided to
mess with him a bit.

“Yeah. He’s cute.” I said.

Tony snorted. “Him? Really?”

“Yeah. We actually dated.” I said.

“What?!” Tony said looking at me horrified.

“Oh yeah.” I said. “It was a magical night.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend.” Tony said.

“I didn’t. It was just the one magical night.” I said. “For him and the chicken he ordered.”

“Huh?” Tony said.

“Will’s a big foodie. He went to culinary school. Or he will before buying this place.” I said.
“He spent the entire dinner narrating the bursts of flavor hitting my palate in every bite.”

“So he’s a food snob?” he asked.

“Just a tad bit.” I said.

“That’s… that’s good. great even.” Tony said relieved.

“Were you jealous?” I asked.

“Pssh no…” Tony said. “Why would I be jealous of the tall surfer Bobby Flay over there?”

“Cause he’s tall good, looking and cooks a perfect medium rare steak every time?” I offered.
“That’s was him in another universe.” He said. “Who knows about this one?”

“He’ll probably have a Michelin star restaurant then? Everyone tends to have a better life in
this universe without me.” I said.

“That’s not true. I mean other me was probably broke, short not that good looking…” He
said.

“You don’t exist in the other universe.” I said.

“See I’m already way better off… wait shit I was about to say I’m way better off because I
exist but I existed before you showed up…” Tony said.

“Yeah I got that.” I said sipping my beer.

“So you’re at a bar…” He started.

“Am I? I just thought I was at a room with a wall of bottle full of alcohol…” I started.

“What’s going on?” Tony said.

“Nothing’s going on. I think I’m entitled to my free drink on my birthday.” I said

“Yeah nothing wrong with… Wait its your birthday?” Tony said.

“Yeah. The big 27 or 17 depending on how you look at it.” I said.

“Stick with 27, 17 makes me look like a like a perv.” He said and I just gave him a look.

“Why would anyone think that?” I said.

“No reason.” He answered a little too quickly.

“Everything alright here?” Will asked.

“Oh the food’s great but he’d like one of those specials you were talking about.” I said.

“He would?” Will said.

“I would?” Tony said at the same time.

“Yeah.” I said. “You didn’t drive here did you?”

“No Happy’s outside. I mentioned going to a bar and Jarvis called him.” Tony said just as
Will put the shots down.

“What’s that?” Tony asked pointing to the pickle juice.

“Take the shot and guess.” I said.

He picked it up and took it.

“Ugh..” He said trying not to gag. “What was that?”

“Pickle juice.” I said handing him the second shot and he took it groaning again.

“Why did I do that?” He asked cringing.

“Because as a man no one ever told you not to take drinks at a bar that you didn’t order or see
the bartender make.” I said.

“Right. It’s your birthday.” He said. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You never asked.” I said.

“Don’t do that.” Tony said.

“Don’t do what?” I asked. “You literally never asked.”

“How was I supposed to know if you didn’t tell me.?” He said.

“How was I supposed to know you wanted to know if you didn’t tell me?” I asked.

“Okay we can do this all night or we can just skip to the end where you tell me what’s going
on in that pretty blonde head of yours.” He said.

“There’s nothing going on. At least nothing I can make sense of.” I said making Tony groan.
“But according to Elaine I might be having some feelings about my birthday because it’s the
first once since I tried to off myself.”
“Oh.” Tony said.

“Yeah.” I said. “And before you say anything I’m not feeling low or depressed or in the mood
to jump off any buildings.”

“Wasn’t going to ask that but always good to hear.” He said. “So why here because I know
it’s not because of iron chef over there.”

“I had a craving for bangers and mash.” I said. “Also I didn’t really know what to do.”

“You could have just told me. We could have had a party.” He said.

“I’ve seen the type of party you throw.” I said. “Not sure it’s my thing.”

“I’m seriously starting to worry about how those movies make me look.” Tony said.

“Meh…” I said trying to ease his worries but the first two Iron Man movies did give a
glimpse to his not so best side. “There’s a lot of growth. No one’s perfect.”

“If you say so.” He said. “Want to do something? Party? Trip? We can go visit Barton and
Romanoff in DC.”

“And Steve.” I added.

“Do we have to?” He asked. “Or we could go to Venice? Paris? Tokyo? Pick anywhere.”

“That’s very sweet of you but I don’t really think now’s the time for a vacation.” I said.
“Though it is a very good time to ask why you were jealous of Will of all people.”
“I wasn’t jealous… Do I really have to say it?” he said.

“He’s a really nice guy and you were kind of mean to him.” I said.

“I’ll leave a big tip.” Tony said.

“Tony.” I said.

“Have I told you how nice you look today?” he said playing with the sleeve of my shirt. “Red
is your color.”

“Don’t change the subject.” I said.

“I’m not just saying… stuff.” He said smiling as his thumb traced my knuckles where we
were holding hands. I didn’t even notice we were holding hands.

“Stuff? What stuff?” I asked eying him skeptically.

“You know… stuff.” Tony said leaning in closer his hand moving to brush a bit of hair out of
my face.

We just stayed like that for a few seconds and right when I thought he might actually kiss me
a certain bartender had to pop up.

“How’d you like the pickleback?” Will said breaking up the fawning pre maybe kiss situation
we were in.

“It’s… It was just what I didn’t know I needed.” Tony said.

“See some people have taste.” Will said.

“Or are tricked into drinking it.” Tony said.

“Yeah any chance I can get the rest of this boxed up to go?” I asked.

“Sure I’ll get it boxed up and close your tab?” he said.

“Appreciate it.” I said before Will took my plate back to the kitchen.
“Gotta love the service here.” Tony said sarcastically.

“Having good timing is important for a chef.” I said.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it good timing.” Tony said.

“I never said he had good timing.” I said.

“I…” he started before his phone started ringing. “I should get that.”

“You should.” I said.

“I’ll wait for you outside.” Tony said picking up the phone and walking out.

Will came back with my food packed up to go and the receipt for me to sign.

“So would it be too forward of me to ask you out?” Will asked.

“Oh.” I said trying not to laugh. “Wow that’s flattering and in another universe I probably
said yes already but I’m in a …well I might currently be in a situation-ship. Not really sure
there’s any other word for it.”

“If it’s with him, he’s totally into you.” Will said.

“So I’ve heard.” I said. “I’m really looking forward to having dinner at your restaurant one
day.”
“Oh I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen.” Will said.

“Stranger things have happened.” I said. “Night Will.”

“Night.” He said giving me a confused but amused look.

I walked out to see Tony talking on his phone not really happy about the conversation he was
having but quickly ended it when he saw me.

“Yeah I’ve got to go. Text me.” He said hanging up.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Tower remodel. Nothing you need to worry about.” Tony said holding my hand. “So where
to?”

“Not sure, weren’t we in a middle of a talk?” I asked.

“Were we?” he said.

I stared at him trying to see if I could get him to crack but when I realized the moment had
passed I decided to change tactics.

“Do you like arcades?” I asked.

“Arcades like vintage old school video games and pinball?” He asked.
“Yeah.” I said.

“Sure, it’s been a while though.” Tony said.

“Perfect. I know just the place.” I said taking his hand and walking down the street. “And
they have beer pong.”

“Do they have strip poker? Cause I know a place in Vegas that does.” he started.

“Why does that not surprise me?” I said.

 Chapter 26

We didn’t really talk about what I thought almost happened the night of my birthday. We
went to the arcade then got drunk and ended the night at a karaoke bar. At one point Happy
had joined in and then the night was a blur.

We all woke up passed out in the living room to Rhodey putting down three cups of coffee.
That was how I met Rhodey. Suffice to say he was not surprised that was how he met his best
friend’s soulmate.

Week 23…

I didn’t have therapy the week of Thanksgiving which was great because seeing as I was the
only person currently in the house that knew how to cook, Thanksgiving prep fell to me. That
didn’t mean I didn’t make Bruce and Tony come with me to the grocery store and farmers
market to buy everything.

“Do we have to?” Tony whined after I dragged both him and Bruce out of the lab.

“I don’t think we’d be much help.” Bruce said.

“You’ll be plenty of help. Even if it’s just helping me carry everything or saving my place in
line.” I said. “Besides you two need to get out more.”

“We go out all the time.” Tony said.

“You go out once a week for therapy.” I said. “And Bruce, when was the last time you went
out?”

“Uh…” Bruce said having to think about it.

“Exactly.” I said. “Let’s go. We have a lot of stops to make.”

“You could just give Jarvis the grocery list and get it all delivered.” Tony said.

“No if you want it done right you have to do it yourself.” I said.

“But why spend the day waiting in lines and rushing around when we could be doing
something fun.” Tony said. “Why don’t I just hire a caterer and we can go do something
else?”

“Like what?” I suggested.

“I don’t know I could think of a few things.” Tony said with a flirty smile as his fingers
gently linked in between mine. Then Bruce cleared his throat as if to remind Tony he was still
there.

“We’re going.” I said taking Tony’s hand and leading him out before he tried to get away and
looping my arm with Bruce’s. “You two need the lab break.”

“Yeah but a crowded grocery store?” Bruce said.

“I mean the press…” Tony started

“I can see it now…Superheroes they’re just like us.” I said. “People will love it. Now let’s go
we need to find a turkey big enough to feed everyone.“

“Let’s just get catering.” Tony said again.

“Sure, I can get Will to do it. He’d be more than happy to..” I started.

“Let’s Go!” Tony said suddenly very eager to go get groceries.

“Who’s Will?” Bruce asked confused.

Surprisingly Tony had never been grocery shopping. I mean not surprising considering he
was a billionaire and had people that did this sort of stuff for him. The one downside was that
it was like shopping with a four year old. He was pacing all of the aisles grabbing random
things. Then we hit the cereal aisle and he apparently didn’t know how many different types
of cereal there were.

“People actually eat this stuff?” he said picking up boxes of sugar cereal. “I can’t even
pronounce half of these ingredients. Is this English?”

“They do because its tastes good even if it’s basically poison.” I said putting one of said
boxes in the cart. What can I say? It’s my comfort food. “Okay we got the butterball turkey,
just need a few things for the stuffing.”

“Like stuffing?” Bruce asked offering me a box.

“No I make my own stuffing. That stuff is way too dry.” I said before looking at my list.
“Also gravy for the mashed potatoes, and butter to make the pies. Macaroni for the mac and
cheese…”

“So how’d you learn to cook?” Tony asked.

“Did your mom teach you.” Bruce asked and Tony cleared his throat trying to warn him not
to say the M-word.
“Ew no… It doesn’t matter what universe you’re in Lillian Marin cannot cook. She once
started a fire trying to make toast.” I said.

“That’s one way to do it.” Tony said.

“Coming from a guy that once made an omelet that was both raw and burnt.” I retorted.

“I didn’t…” he started and I gave him a look. “Seriously? That too?”

“There was lots of character development.” I said. “For both of you.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Bruce said.

“Okay, dessert. I’m thinking pie unless either of you had any requests?” I asked.

“Pie’s nice.” Bruce said.

“You sure you don’t want me to just hire a caterer?” Tony asked.

“You want Will’s number?” I retorted as we stared at each other trying to get the other to
crack.

“I still don’t know who Will is.” Bruce added still confused.

It was around mid afternoon before we finally made it back to the house carrying back
everything we had gotten.
“Well that was a learning experience.” Tony said.

“Yeah, who would have thought that sunglasses, a baseball cap and a hoodie really did work
as a disguise.” I said.

“Quick and easy way to hide in plain sight.” Bruce said making me laugh.

“So meme worthy,” I said. “Since we did groceries I’m thinking takeout for dinner?”

“Chinese?” Tony asked.

“Chow mein sounds good.” Bruce said.

I was half expecting Bruce and Tony to run back downstairs until dinner arrived but they
surprisingly decided to stay and make it a movie night. Though then came the half hour
debate over who got to pick the movie. Most of the movies I wanted to watch wouldn’t be
released for at least another five years.

“Okay I know how to settle this. An all around favorite.” I said.

“You’re going to say rom com aren’t you?” Tony said.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Bruce said trying to be neutral.

“No but When Harry Met Sally is a classic and we will watch it at some point.” I said. “How
about Star Wars?”

“Sure but which one…” Bruce started.

Without thinking Tony and I said it at the same time.

“Empire.” We said before turning to each other.

“Unless you want to see Return of the jedi. Leia in a bikini…” He said zoning out before
noticing the look I was giving him. “It’d a good idea for Halloween. No? We’ll come back to
that.”

“Doubt it.” I said.

Early the Next Morning…

I had never really been into the holidays. When I was a kid every holiday ended with an
argument at the dinner table and someone throwing their plate at the wall before storming off.
As an adult I was either working the holiday to keep a roof over my head, hunting down my
sister in law to make sure she didn’t over dose and maybe if I was lucky I’d make it in time to
a bar for whatever holiday dinner special they were offering.

It never really mattered to me. It was just the one time a year I ate very dry meat and was
grateful for it as I scarfed it down with loads of water but for some reason this one mattered.
It mattered a lot.

So much so that I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to start cooking. Natasha, Steve and Clint
weren’t going to be in until around noon which by then I would probably only be about half
way done with everything.

I slipped on some earphones and got to work. Seasoning and greasing the turkey, prepping
the stuffing and prepping the extra broth to baste said turkey on top of all the sides and the
pies.
By the time Bruce and Tony were up I was in full on dancing around the kitchen kicking
things closed and chopping things into pans and bowls.

I may have been singing to some one hit wonders when I turned around I just saw tony and
Bruce standing there sipping their coffee smiling as they watched me.

“Oh hey!” I said slipping off my earphones.

“Hey.” Tony said with a grin.

“Morning.” Bruce said.

“How much of that did you see?” I asked.

“Oh nothing really.” Bruce said.

“Nothing at all psycho killer.” Tony said. Oh fuck that was like three songs ago.

“This is a lot of food.” Bruce said.

“You’ve seen Steve and Clint eat.” I said.

“Do you need help?” Bruce asked.

“Nope I got it all…” I started before slapping Tony’s hand away from the chocolate filling.

“Ow!” Tony said.

“Don’t stick your finger in the chocolate.” I said before handing him a spoon. “Use a spoon.”

“Yes mom.” Tony said before trying the chocolate. “Oh wow.”

“Okay I need to baste the turkey every hour so it doesn’t dry out even though it will still be
dry because it’s turkey. The pies can go in while we’re eating but I need to work on the crusts
so it will rest a bit, so sides go in first…” I said.

“Should we…” Tony asked.

“No! I’ve seen you try to cook. Hydra, Aim, and the mandarin are already going to try to kill
us don’t beat them to it.” I said and Tony raised his hands backing away.

“Okay we’ll just be in the lab if you need us.” Tony said.

“Or we can stay here and keep you company?” Bruce offered.

“No, you two go, this turkey is going to need my full attention.” I said.

“You don’t want us to see you dance do you?” Tony said amused.

“No.” I said immediately. “Maybe. Don’t piss off the person doing all the cooking.”

“Okay, Pretend we were never here.” Tony said backing away.

“See you at dinner.” I said before popping my earphones in and getting back to it.
I have to say I was in the zone. Chopping, basting, stirring and just getting it all done.

As I was dancing around and twirling around carrying dishes and pies I was so distracted I
didn’t even notice Steve, Natasha and Clint come in and just sit at the counter watching me.

I had just tossed a pecan up in the air and was going to try to catch it in my mouth when it
instead landed in between my boobs and went down my shirt.

That’s when Clint started laughing and I realized the three of them were there.

“Ah!” I jumped back. “You’re here.”

“Been here.” Natasha said.

“It smells great.” Steve said.

“Uhuh…” I said awkwardly.

“Did you miss us?” Clint asked.

“You guys were gone?” I teased.

Clint looked almost offended when I said that before I scoffed before I hugged him taking
him by surprise.

“Oh.” Clint said surprised as his arms hovered over me. “She’s hugging me.” Clint whispered
a bit too loud making me realized I was probably invading his personal space and started
backing off when he hugged me back and pulled me back. “First hug, not letting go yet.”

“Okay.” I said leaning against him enjoying the hug. I don’t remember hugs being this nice.
Then again I don’t get a lot of those.

We only broke apart once the alarm went off.

“Turkey!” I said slipping away from Clint and going to the oven. I opened it up and basted
the turkey.

“That’s a big turkey.” Natasha said.

“Biggest one we could find.” I said closing the oven, resetting the timer, and picking up a
dish rag. “You can take a guess at who picked it out.”

“Do you need some help?” Steve asked.

“Nope, I’ve got this handled. Why don’t you guys go relax, it was a long flight.” I said.

“Not that long.” Clint said.

“Clint broke the air traffic speed limit.” Natasha said.

“The jet can handle it.” Clint defended.

“I don’t think that’s the point of it.” I said as the second egg timer rang. “That’s the pie dough
timer… I recorded all the new episodes of Dog Cops for you, Added a few things to your
queue Steve also I stopped by the farmer’s market and got you that pumpkin loaf bread you
like Nat.”
“You sure you don’t…” Steve started.

“You can check to make sure Tony and Bruce haven’t blown each other up accidentally?” I
suggested.

“Uh… I’ll just look at that queue.” Steve said.

I quickly got back to work by the time the last baste alarm went off almost everything was
ready. I took that as my cue to go upstairs and get washed up for dinner. I think Natasha had a
feeling I still hadn’t decided what I was going to wear because a short red and black knit mini
dress was laid out on my bed with black textured tights and black suede Manolo Blahnik
heels.

I made it back downstairs just as the last alarm went off. I took the turkey out of the oven and
put it down to rest before I started setting the table.

“Jarvis can you let everyone know dinner is about to be served?” I asked.
“Right away Miss.” Jarvis said.

“Thank you.” I said.

“Whoa.” Tony said walking in.

“What did I forget something?” I asked.

“Uh no you made everything…” Tony said.

“Yeah, did you ever use the oven? There was still plastic wrap in one of them.” I asked.

“I don’t know the only people that come in here are you or whatever caterers I hire for
parties.” He said. “You look nice.”

“Not bad yourself.” I teased.

“Is that pie?” Steve said with wide eyes as his eyes landed on the apple pies on the counter.

“Yeah they’re still hot.” I said.

“The food looks great.” Natasha said.

“Let’s hope it tastes as good as it looks.” I said before bringing out a dish placing it close to
where Bruce was going to sit. “Bruce, I know you don’t eat meat so I made some tofurky. I’m
not entirely sure if it’s supposed to look like this or what it tastes like it but its here if you
want to try it.”
“It looks… good.” He said not entirely sure himself.

“There are a lot of sides too.” I said.

“Thank you.” Bruce said with a smile.

“Okay let’s eat.” I said sitting down but then Steve cleared his throat loudly getting anyone’s
attention.

“Uh shouldn’t we say grace?” Steve said and everyone turned to look at him as if he had
grown another head.

“Tony thanks for buying dinner.” I said.

“Thanks for making it.” He said putting a glass of wine in front of me. Everyone mumbled a
thanks before they started serving themselves.

“Cheers.” I said clinking my glass with his.

“Oh ma gah…” Clint moaned when he took a bite. “Thish is ama…”

Which I took to mean ‘OMG this is amazing.’

“Wow. I’ve never had a turkey this juicy.” Tony said.

“The trick is basting regularly.” I said.

“Where’d you learn to cook?” Steve asked.

“I read a lot of cook books and I hung out with a chef a few times.” I said making Tony
choke on his wine.

“You said it was one date.” Tony said.

“Yeah one date date but we did see each other in non-date like settings and the guy really
likes to talk about food.” I said.

“But one date right?” Tony said.

“We’ve talked about this.” I said.

“What’s going on?” Natasha asked.

“Is this about that Will guy?” Bruce asked.

“What Will guy?” Steve asked.

“He’s a guy I went on a date with in my old universe.” I said.

“That she ran into on her birthday and he asked her out again.” Tony said.

“He what?!” Steve and Natasha said at the same time.

“We missed your birthday?!” Clint said more upset about that than anything.

“It was a few weeks ago.” I said shrugging it off. “I don’t really see what the big deal is. It
didn’t work out before and honestly the guy was more interested in the chicken we had for
dinner than me.”

“Yet we’re still talking about him…” Tony said.

“He taught me his secret to the perfect turkey which we’re all enjoying.” I pointed out. “Why
are you being so weird?”

“I’m not being weird.” Tony said.

“Yeah you are.” I said.

“I’m not the one who brought up my ex.” Tony said.

“It was one date with the alternate universe version of the guy which didn’t go anywhere so
technically he’s not an ex. In fact I don’t have any exes.” I said.

“He asked you out again.” Tony said.

“He did?” Everyone said.

“Yeah but I said no. You’re making a big deal over nothing.” I said.

“Am I?” Tony asked.

“Yeah.” I said.

“Do you really not get why this might bother us?” Tony asked.

“Think of it like this Tony. Do I make a big deal about you still being friends with Pepper?” I
retorted.

Tony was about to say something but then he thought about it.

“Uh… But it’s not the same thing!” he said not sounding completely sure.

“But it is.” I said.

“No its not.” He said.

“Yes it is.” Everyone said.

“You guys are no help.” Tony said.

Once we were done eating and I was starting to feel tired since I was up so early, I went to sit
on the couch while everyone else cleaned up.

I was starting to drift off when Natasha came over and nudged me to sit up so she could sit on
the couch of course then she put a pillow on her lap and nudged me to rest my head on the
pillow while she ran her fingers through my hair.

I started drifting off again when Clint came over moving my feet off the couch so he could
sit. I groaned but then he slipped off my heels and started rubbing my feet.
“Mhmm.” I moaned at how good it felt.

“Want me to stop?” Clint teased.

“I will kick you.” I mumbled making him chuckle.

Tony put on a movie and I knocked out before in the first ten minutes.

The Following Morning…

I woke up in my room still wearing my dress from the night before but tucked in under my
favorite blanket.

I don’t know which one of them carried me up to my room last night but somehow that detail
was what I found most touching.

Either way I got up and jumped in the shower opting to change into something a bit more
casual. Some cut off jean shorts and a vintage ACDC band tee. It was a bit big and I don’t
remember where the hell it had come from but it looked comfy so I put it on.

My hair was up in a messy bun as I really didn’t feel like trying today.

When I headed downstairs I was surprised to see everyone already up.

“Morning.” I said.

“Actually its afternoon.” Bruce said.

“Really?” I said looking at the clock in the kitchen. “Whoa talk about a food coma.”

“Those are the best.” Clint said putting a cup of coffee in front of me in my seat next to Tony.

“Nice tee shirt.” Tony said with a smug grin.

“Thanks. I found it in my closet. I don’t remember picking it out but its comfy.” I said.

“Yeah… I’m pretty sure that’s mine.” Tony said.

“What?” I said.

“Hold on.” Natasha said before checking the tag. “It’s a men’s shirt.”

“Oh must’ve gotten mixed up when I did a load of laundry.” I said. “I’ll wash it and give it
back later.”

“Keep it.” Tony said smile. “Looks better on you.”

“Thanks.” I said taking a plate of leftovers from Steve. “So what are you all doing today?”

Of course at that moment the TV suddenly let out a very long high pitch ring before the ten
rings logo appeared and footage of an exploding building too over the screen.

“America you should be afraid. You should be very afraid.” The Mandarin said. “Your reign
of terror is coming to its end.”
With that the transmission cut off.

“Well shit.” I said.

“Does that happen in the movies?” Bruce asked.

“I don’t know the specific targets he takes out but yeah.” I said and then Steve, Natasha and
Clint’s phones went off.

“It’s work.” Natasha said.

“They’re going to make us go back.” Clint whined.

“He wants to take down America. He needs to be stopped.” Steve said and I know he was
serious because it was a very serious situation but I couldn’t help but start laughing at that.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry but you just sounded just like the Captain America Action figure my
nephew used to play with.” I said laughing but everyone just looked at me like I had grown
another head. “Terrorists bad… got it.”

“Anyway…” Natasha said. “We’re going to be sent out. Kabul, Baghdad…”

“My money’s on Pakistan.” Clint said. “Might get some good shawarma out of it.”

“Or if you know something…” Steve said.

“Bad Tan guy… Tony’s one night stand…” I started making Tony groan. “The Mandarin is
actually an actor that works for the guy and he’s in Miami.”

“Miami?” They all said.

“Oh and the bombs aren’t really bombs.. they’re people that have been injected with a knock
off super soldier serum that turns them into fire breathing dragons that’s super unstable and
makes them explode created by Tony’s botanist one night stand.” I said and Tony groaned
louder.

“Can you stop with the one night stands?” Tony said.

“What else can I call them?” I asked.

“Women I may have spent a fun night with.” He said.

“It’s a bit of a mouthful.” I said.

“Guys.” Natasha said snapping us out of our side conversation. “Dragon super soldiers?”

“The company bad tan guy works for… well not really a company more of a think tank.
AIM.” I said.

“That sounds familiar.” Tony said.

“Well digging into them might be a good start. You know before they give war machine a
makeover.” I said.

“Give Rhodey a what?” Tony said.

“You should call him.” I said.

So Natasha, Clint and Steve left for wherever SHIELD was going to send them. They didn’t
say where due to it being classified but I made sure to pack them plenty of leftovers.

Week 24…

Here I was back on Elaine’s couch. It felt like it had been a while since I was last in her office
when really it had only been two weeks.

Thought for some reason things were different. Something about this place was off.

“Hanna?” Elaine said.

“Did you repaint?” I asked.

“What?” She asked.

“Something in here is different.” I said.

“What do you mean?” Elaine asked.

“I don’t know the room just seems different. Brighter maybe?” I asked.

“It’s the same as it’s always been.” Elaine said amused.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Are you trying to distract me?” She asked.

“Distract you from what?” I asked.

“Thanksgiving. Clint, Natasha and Steve leaving early. Did it bother you?” Elaine asked.

“Why would it bother me?” I said.

“Because you missed them?” Elaine said.

“I got used to having them around.” I said.

“And you missed them.” Elaine said. “You woke up at the crack of dawn and spent hours
slaving away in the kitchen to prepare a thanksgiving feast.”

“Yeah and now I don’t have to worry about cooking until Christmas.” I said.

“They left a day later.” Elaine said.

“They had work. You make it sound like I’m supposed to be really needy.” I said.

“Hanna they’re your soulmates.” Elaine said.

“And? That doesn’t mean we’re… you know going there.” I said.
“So you have thought about it?” She said.

“Not as much as you apparently.” I said. “There’s nothing going on with us.”

Meanwhile Down the Hall…

“And she just keeps bringing it up!” Tony said. “I mean I get it I’ve made some mistakes and
did I have one or two wild night out when I was a bit younger! Yeah who hasn’t had one of
those weekends in Vegas, Cabo… that one spring break in college when I went to Amsterdam
but that doesn’t count because it was before her and I’ve grown as a person. I mean I’m in
therapy.”

“This really bothers you.” Tony’s therapist said finally able to get a word in.

“You think?” Tony said sarcastically.

“Tony when Hanna brought up your…” he started catching himself before he said today’s
trigger word, one night stand, “old daliances… was she being malicious about it?”

“What? No. At least I don’t think she was. Hanna’s hard to read sometimes.” Tony said.

“Okay was she lecturing you or rubbing your face in it?” He continued.

“No she was just… stating facts.” Tony said.

“And before this had she ever mentioned that it bothered her that you were so…
experienced?” He asked.
“No she said it showed character growth.” Tony said.

“Then it doesn’t bother Hanna as much as it bothers you.” he said.

“But she keeps bringing it up.” Tony asked.

“Why does it keep coming up?” He asked.

“Because of… work and Pepper.” Tony said not at all feeling like explaining that his
soulmate was from another universe where he was a comic book character in a movie.

“Now tell me something, how often do you bring up that friend of hers. The one she went on
one date with?” He asked.

“There was something there right?” Tony said.

“By the sound of it Hanna could really not careless about the guy.” He said. “In fact she
really doesn’t date much and maybe that’s what bothers you?”

“No just… It should bother her right?” Tony said.

“Everyone has a past Tony and you are obviously going to have more than her. There is a
rather significant age gap between the two of you.” He said.

“Are you calling me old?” Tony said.

“And you’re deflecting again.” He said taking notes. “Alright tell me this have you talked to
Hanna why it bothers you that she saw that guy…”
“Will.” Tony snarled. “What kind of name is that? Like your parents lost the will to write the
whole name down?”

“Tony. I think its time you talk to Hanna.” He said.

“I talk to her all the time.” Tony said.

“No it’s time you really talk to Hanna. About your feelings for her.” he said.

“Is now really a good time for that?” Tony said.

“She’s not a mind reader Tony. She’s not going to know what’s going on with you until you
tell her though I’m pretty sure she should suspect something it going on with you.” he said.

“We’re talking about the same Hanna that took months to accept the fact that we really were
her soulmates.” Tony said.

“Even more reason to tell her.” He said.

“That’s the worst idea ever.” Tony said.

“What’s the worst that can happen?” He retorted.

“She’ll say no and leave.” Tony said. “Or she’ll laugh in my face.”

“Judging from what you’re told me about her that would actually be a really good sign of
progress…” he started making Tony groan. “She’s not going anywhere. Just put it out there
and no matter what happens at least she’ll know and you can go from there.”

“So how do I do it?” Tony said.

“You tell her.” he deadpanned.

“Just like that?” Tony said.

“Your life is complicated enough, you don’t need to add to it.” He said.

A While Later…

I had gotten out of my session early. Well at the usual time but Tony’s was running long.
Which was weird but it was none of my business.

So I was on my phone smiling at the top vines of the day. The one plus side of being stuck
ten years in the past is reliving and getting to enjoy all the stuff that no longer exists in the
future.

I knew it was dumb but it was the little things that made all the difference.

“What’s so funny?” Tony said appearing next to me.

“Uh.. just a video.” I said locking my phone. “All good?”

“Just the usual.” Tony said giving me a weird look.

“Okay then.” I said waiting for him to move but he just watched me. “You wanna…”

“Oh yeah.” He said smiling.

We had brunch at the usual café but Tony hadn’t said anything. Like at all. They must’ve had
some kind of breakthrough or his therapist had hit a nerve. I was the one doing all the talking
while he stared at his espresso.

“You know Will really loved this spot. The espresso was his favorite.” I said trying to get a
reaction out of him.

“Uhuh…” he said.

That was it. I kicked his foot.

“Ow!” Tony said.

“Oh good you’re not having a stroke.” I said.

“Why would you…” He started.

“It’s been an hour and you haven’t said a word since we left therapy. Is there something
wrong?” I asked.

“No.” Tony said a little too fast.

“Want to try that again?” I asked.

“How’s the waffle?” Tony asked.

“Delicious. Same as last week.” I said.

“Want to grab dinner?” He asked.

“We’re having breakfast and you’re already thinking about dinner?” I retorted.

“I don’t know, thought it’d be nice to go out.” Tony said.

“Want to do something right now?” I offered.

“Right now, now?” he said.

“Unless you have somewhere to be?” I asked.

“Nope. All yours.” He said. “Where we going?”

“How do you feel about rollercoasters?” I said.

“I fly around in a suit of armor that can go faster than a fighter jet.” Tony retorted.

“Okay then, let’s go find the tallest, fastest scariest rollercoaster closest to us.” I said.

“I know just the place.” He said throwing down way more cash than was needed to settle the
bill before leading me back to the car.
That’s how we ended up spending the day at Six Flags. Sure we had to wait in line but
everyone was too busy getting on rides and being to scared that they didn’t even notice Iron
Man was waiting in line with them.

“You sure you want to do this?” Tony said.

“Why are you scared?” I retorted.

“I flew a nuke through a wormhole.” He said.

“I fell through space and through that wormhole.” I said.

“I fought aliens.” He said.

“I jumped off a building without a parachute.” I said and the smile fell off Tony’s face. “Too
soon?”

“It’ll never not be too soon.” Tony said.

“The point is… there are scarier things than rollercoasters out there.” I said as the line moved
and it was out turn. We got into the very front seat and slowly the ride started going and we
started going higher. “You know why I asked to come here?”

“Because you’re an adrenaline junkie?” he said anxiously hanging onto his seat for dear life.

“Because it’s impossible to think about your problems when… AH!” I started before
screaming my lungs out as the ride let us fall before speeding and twisting and turning
making us go upside down, sideways before finally slowing down and leaving us to get off.
“That happens.” I finished as I laughed.

“You do this a lot?” He asked.

“Not often enough.” I said laughing. “Oh look the line for the big one is short.”

“That’s what she…” He started before I pulled him along.

It was late in the afternoon when I started getting hungry but not hungry enough for a full
dinner that we grabbed a funnel cake with ice cream.

“You sure you don’t want to grab some real food?” Tony asked as we split a funnel cake.

“We’re kind of at the wrong place for real food don’t you think. Besides its part of the
experience. Did you have actual food when you went to came to places like this as a kid?” I
asked.

“I never really came to places like this as a kid.” Tony said. “I kind of skipped a few grades.”

“So not a lot of friends?” I asked.

“I had friends.” He said pausing before giving me a weird look. “A lot of girlfriends too.”

“That’s good.” I said.

“Really?” He said. “That’s it?”

“Did I tell you about an almost 13 year old me seeing you up on a big screen hooking up
with…” I started.

“Would you stop with that?!” He exclaimed.

“Stop eating my funnel cake? The ice cream is going to melt.” I said.

“Hanna.” He said. “Can you just be serious for one minute?”

“I am being serious.” I said.

“It really doesn’t bug you that I’ve hooked up with many many women…” he started.

“Including all of Maxim’s 2008 cover models except for Miss March but it’s okay because
you made up for it with December’s twins?” I said.

“Ah!” he groaned.

“Tony it’s okay…” I said. “So you used to be a total man whore, that was a long time ago and
you’ve grown up a lot since then or is this buyer’s remorse?”

“I never paid for that.” Tony said. “I like to keep it classy.”

“That’s debatable.” I said before he gave me a look. “So you’re experienced. That’s a good
thing. Honestly I’d be more worried if you were this close to hitting 40 and couldn’t get any.”

Tony spat out his water.

“The 40 year old virgin is a hilarious movie but in reality if that’s the case them you’re either
a monk or something isn’t working right down there.” I said making Tony laugh.

“So what do you think is wrong with Rogers. He’s pushing a hundred.” Tony said.

“Steve isn’t a virgin.” I said making Tony spit out his drink again making the table next to us
glar at us in annoyance.

“What?” Tony said.

“Yeah, Steve lost his virginity to a girl on the 1943 USO Tour.” I said making Tony stare at
me.

“How do you know that?” Tony said.

“A clip of a fan asking that at a convention went viral and the main producer of the movie
series answered her. They were going to make it cannon later on.” I said.

“I’m sorry people actually asked about that?” Tony said laughing. “Oh please please tell him
that next time he comes to visit.”

“No, I practically traumatized him when he walked in on my game of thrones marathon.” I

said finishing the funnel cake. “Okay I think its time for the big one.”

“Now? Right after eating?” Tony said.

“Yeah, why are you afraid?” I teased.

“Afraid you’re going to throw up on me.” He said.

“Relax the only thing that can make me throw up are ten straight shots of tequila and peas.” I
said.

“Peas?” Tony said.

“Yeah they’re all wrinkled and mushy…” I said starting to gag at the thought of it.

“No no don’t make that face…” He said .

“I’m good.. I’m good. Let’s get on that rollercoaster.” I said.

We stayed at the amusement park for a while before heading out to grab some dinner. Tony
insisted on getting the best burgers in town. I thought he was talking about In N Out but when
he pulled up behind what I was pretty sure was a michellin star steakhouse and the chef
personally brought out two takeout containers to Tony I knew it was something else.

From there we drove up to the hills and parked in a nice spot that overlooked the city.

“Wow.” I said.

“Nice right?” Tony said.

“I feel like a guy holding a chainsaw is going to pop out of the bushes and murder us both.” I
said.

“I’ll keep you safe.” Tony said getting up and taking a seat on the hood of his car. I sat next to
him and took the container from him. “Get ready to try the best burger in LA.”
“I don’t know, I’ve had a lot of burgers.” I said.

“But you’ve never had this burger.” Tony said. “Come on.”

I gave him a skeptical look before taking a bite of my burger.

“Oh my gosh.” I said covering my mouth with my hand.

“Good huh?” Tony said with a smirk.

“So good.” I said.

“Told you.” He said.

“Yeah yeah.” I said looking out at the city. “Good to know this view doesn’t change no matter
what universe you’re in.”

“A lot of your dates end like this?” Tony asked.

I just snorted.

“No, they were all duds.” I said. “One guy took me dancing at a bowling alley. Nothing’s a
bigger turn off than the smell of sweaty feet.”

“Unless you have a foot fetish.” Tony said.

“Uh… I hadn’t thought of that.” I said wrinkling my nose. “But this is nice.”

“Yeah…” Tony said. “It was fun.”

We finished up out food and just sat back to look at the stars or well plane and helicopter
lights.

“I think I might be going into a food coma.” I said falling back and sitting against the
windshield.

“I blame the funnel cake.” Tony said leaning back next to me.

“It’s never the funnel cake’s fault.” I said making him chuckle. “You okay?”

“Me? Never better.” Tony said smiling. “We should do this more often.”

“Spend a day riding roller coasters?” I said.

“That or maybe just this?” He said.

“Wouldn’t be the worst idea.” I said.

“Yeah?” He said.

“Yeah.” I said.
Then it happened again one of those weird moments where we’re just staring at each other
kind of like something out of a cheesy rom coms. I honestly thought he was going to lean in
for a kiss but it wasn’t like that between us.

I mean it couldn’t be right?

Unfortunately the moment had to end when Tony’s phone started ringing.

“Uh…” He groaned before answering. “Capsicle you have the best timing.” He said
sarcastically.

“I’m not at the house so you’re going to have to wait on it. How urgent…” He started. “I’ll
call you back.”

With that he hung up and sighed.

“That sounded important” I asked.

“Yeah, there’s some code things Shield can’t crack and it might be Hydra related.” Tony said.

“We better get going.” I said getting off the car.

“Did I at least make it into your top five dates?” Tony said and I thought about it.

“Almost.” I said.

“Almost?” Tony said almost offended. “Is this because I didn’t get you any flowers? I knew I
should have gotten some from that guy that was selling them off the freeway.”
“No, it’s because this wasn’t a date.” I said and Tony frowned. “It wasn’t a date right?”

“Right.” Tony said. “Why wasn’t it a date?”

“Well you didn’t really ask me out.” I said.

“Yes I did.” Tony said.

“You asked me if I wanted to get dinner at breakfast.” I said.

“I was making plans for us.” He said.

“You ask me that every night before we order dinner.” I said. “And I know this wasn’t a date
because if it was a date I wouldn’t be wearing this.”

“Really?” Tony said with a smirk raising his eyebrows as he eyed me up and down.

“I’d be wearing a dress or maybe a cute top and skirt with some boots.” I said. “Were you…”

“You look nice right now.” Tony said opening the car door for me.

“Nice save.” I said not buying it.

“So not a date. Not a date.” Tony kept mumbling before he got in the car and drove us back
to the house.
 Chapter 27

December 2012- Session 27

“What do you mean that wasn’t a date?!” Elaine said.

I had been to therapy before I fell into another universe and most of them sucked which was
why I was so surprised when I met Elaine. She was a great therapist and definitely cared but I
had to say she was very invested in my love life or lack thereof. Almost a little too
invested…

“It wasn’t a date.” I said.

“He asked you to have dinner with him.” Elaine said.

“He asks me that every night.” I said.

“He was trying to make plans with you.” Elaine said.

“That’s what we normally do at Brunch.” I said.

“Hanna.” Elaine said.

“We had a great day and a day of rollercoasters is just what the doctor ordered.” I said.

“Okay I think you’ve made enough progress getting you to a point where you can handle
your feelings to talk about the gigantic elephant in the room that somehow you can’t see.”
Elaine said.
“Huh?” I said confused.

“You have six soulmates.” Elaine said.

“Yes hence why I’m no longer colorblind.” I said.

“And what are soulmates? Hint its in the name.” Elaine said.

“I’ve been told but we’re not like that.” I said.

“Why?” Elaine said.

“Okay we’re not doing this. I went through the same thing when Natasha got into my head
making me think Tony had a thing for me when obviously we’re just really good friends. I
might even go as far as to say he’s my best friend.” I said.

“Hanna you know there’s more going on there.” Elaine said.

“We’re every good friends.” I said.

“The man went to therapy for you. He got on Goliath for you.” Elaine said.

“He’s a thrill seeker and once you spend hours flying in a suit of armor that goes faster than a
rocket nothing seems as scary.” I said.

“Okay but tell me this, if two weeks ago when you two were at that very romantic ridge
overlooking the city when you had that ‘weird’ moment on the car if he had leaned in to kiss
you…” She started.

“He wouldn’t have. I had burger breath.” I said.

“Okay if he had said Hanna I love you.” Elaine said.

“He would not…” I started.

“But what if…” Elaine started.

“Its not…” I started again.

“What if?” Elaine said sternly.

“In another parallel universe where that could have happened we would have had a very
awkward conversation about how we don’t want to ruin the friendship not do a thing. It’d be
awkward for a while because we live together and he pays for everything…. I’d probably
have to move out. The rest of the team would have to pick sides and they work with him so
obviously they would side with him and that would be okay. In a few months or more, I’d run
into one of them and we’d be friends again but not as close as we were before because there
are some things you can’t take back.” I said.

“UH… that was a lot more specific than I was expecting.” Elaine said.

“Thinking things through has never been my problem.” I said.

“Is that your anxiety and depression talking or is that really what you want to happen?”
Elaine said.
“Huh?” I said confused.

“People with anxiety and depression tend to prepare for the worst case scenario. That’s your
first instinct and you rarely let yourself think of what you really want. So what do you really
want Hanna?” Elaine said.

And boy was that a loaded question…

We ended our session there, the last one for the rest of the year because it was Christmas.
AKA Tony getting his life blown up. Literally.

Was this really a good time to be wondering about the improbability of one of my soulmates
having more than platonic feelings for me?

I was putting a pin in this issue until at least after new years.

“Hey.” Tony said.

“Hey.” I said smiling.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Could we skip the whole brunch and just go get a funnel cake and ride a bunch of
rollercoasters again?” I teased.

“I kind of have a heart condition…” He retorted making me laugh.

“I don’t know it’s pretty solid.” I said tapping on the reactor.

“Very funny.” He said putting an arm around me and pulling me into a side hug as we walked
out.

“I thought so.” I said. “So did you figure out what you were going to get Happy for
Christmas?”

“I gave him a promotion, isn’t that enough?” He said.

“Tony he’s one of your most loyal friends. Yes he works for you but he has gone above and
beyond that.” I said.

“So one week vacation in Hawaii?” Tony said.

“Make it two.” I said. “He needs to cut loose.”

“Two it is. And I think someone is going to really happy with their present.” Tony said.

“It better not be a giant stuffed rabbit.” I said getting to a car.

“Why do you and Natasha hate bunnies? I thought girls were supposed to like cute fluffy
animals.” Tony said.

“Yeah I hate to tell you this but if a grown woman wants a giant plush toy of a bunny she’s
either lying about her age or she’s looking for a daddy.” I said.

“Kinky.” Tony said with a smirk.

We were at the table when the topic of Christmas dinner came up.

“I know you can cook and it was the best turkey I ever had but maybe for Christmas we can
hire a catering company?” Tony said.

“Sure.” I said.

“Really? I was expecting some push back.” Tony said.

“No I told you at Thanksgiving. Glad you enjoyed it because it’s not happening again
anytime soon.” I said. “Is it just going to be us?”

“It can be.” Tony said smiling. “We can try out that new passport, fire up the jet. Have a
white Christmas in the Swiss Alps…”

“I meant us… as in us, Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Clint… we can try screaming at the sky to see
if Thor gets the message…” I said.

“Yeah I was just… How about I see if Pepper and Happy want to join.” Tony said picking up
his phone and calling one of them.

By the second ring happy had picking up btu the only things we could see was his forehead.

“Hello?” Happy answered.

“Is this forehead of security?” Tony teased smiling at me when I suddenly got a really weird
sense of déjà vu.
“What?” Happy said before fixing the camera so we could actually see his whole face. “You
know, look, I got a real job. What do you want? I’m working. I got something going on here.”

“What harassing interns?” Tony snarked. Yeah that comment would not age well…

“Let me tell you something. You know what happened when I told people I was Iron man’s
bodyguard? They would laugh in my face.” Happy said and Tony laughed and I kicked his
foot.

“Be nice.” I whispered to him.

“I had to leave while I still has a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job. I’m watching Pepper.”
Happy said.

“Watch implies stalking, say guarding.” I said.

“What’s going on? Fill me in.” Tony said. While he and Pepper were no longer together they
were still really good friends and he would always love her. That and he would take any dirt
he could get.

“For real?” Happy asked.

“Yeah.” Tony said.

“Alright so she’s meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome.” Happy said.

“Right, well she does have a type.” Tony said proudly and I just gave him a look.

“I couldn’t make his face at first, right? You know I’m good with faces.” Happy said.
“Oh yeah, yeah. You’re the best.” Tony said sarcastically.

“Yeah well, so I run his credentials. I make him. Aldrich Killian.” Happy said making me spit
out my coffee splashing Tony and the table as I start coughing. “We actually met the guy
back in… where were we in ’99? The science conference?”

“UH Hap I’m gonna have to call you back. Hanna’s choking.” Tony said.

“No!” I said grabbing the phone out of Tony’s hand. ”Happy listen to me. Whatever you do
stay with Pepper.”

“Well I am her…” He started.

“No. You say with her at SI. Do not tail the shifty guy that came in with Killian. We know
he’s creepy and walking talking bomb just waiting to go off but you do not go after him. Are
we clear?” I said.

“But he’s showing Pepper his big brain.” Happy said.

“Mine’s bigger.” Tony said.

“Tony!” I said.

“Kidding.” He said. “Not kidding , just uh… I’ll call you back.”

With that he hung up.

“What was tha…” he started.

“We have to go. Like right now.” I said.

“But…” He started.

“Now.” I said putting down my napkin on the table.

“Okay.” He said throwing a few bills down on the table before leaving after me. “Hanna,
slow down.”

“Nope now is not the time to slow down.” I said. “You have no idea how bad this is.”

“Hey.” Tony said gently grabbing my arm to stop me. “What’s going on?”

“Killian, is the Killian that’s going to blow up for your house in a few days.” I said.

“And?” Tony said.

“And?! Your house we all currently live in is going to get blown up. Happy who I seriously
doubt is going to listen to us is going to end up in the hospital and Rhodey…” I started just as
the radio in the car was turned on and a talk show host talked about the makeover the
Government had given War Machine. “Uh we’re really screwed.”

“Don’t you think you’re being dramatic? It can’t be that bad.” Tony said.

“Google Iron patriot.” I said.

Tony took out his phone and looked it up.

“Oh that’s bad.” He said.

“Yeah and who do you think was behind that rebranding?” I said.

“You’re kidding.” Tony said getting into the car.

The only good thing about this whole mess was the fact that Bruce had conveniently decided
to temporarily relocate to New York to make sure his new lab in the new Avengers tower was
up to his standards.

I think sharing a lab with Tony had finally gotten to him.

On the plus side he wouldn’t be around if/when the house got blown up. The last thing we
needed in the middle of that mess was the hulk smashing an already collapsing house.

I was already on crisis management making a list of anything that was irreplaceable that I
needed to move to storage ASAP. I also made sure I had the key to Natasha and Clint’s
emergency train station storage locker.

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” Tony said as I marched into the house and got started
labeling everything with sticky notes that either said save or boom.

“What part of your house getting blown up wasn’t clear to you?” I said putting a storage
sticky on one of Tony’s priceless works of art.

“That happened in the movie that’s not going to happen here.” Tony said.
“You don’t know that.” I said.

“Yes I do. You want to know how I know?” Tony said.

“Just put a sticky on what you want to keep from getting blown up.” I said.

“Easy.” Tony said taking a save sticky and sticking it onto my collarbone. I just arched an
eyebrow at him. “Done.”

“Cute.” I said sarcastically getting the sticky note off of me.

“Nothing’s going to happen.” He said. “and I’ll show you why.”

Tony took my hand and led me down to the lab.

“So I’m guessing you want to keep the cars?” I said walking to put a sticky note on them but
Tony stopped me and led me onto a pedestal. “Wow you’re putting me on a pedestal. Not
really sure how I’m supposed to feel about this…”

“Just… wait for it.” Tony said as the pedestal started spinning slowly before moving us down
to reveal a hidden Hall of armor.

“Oh boy…” I said.

“Yeah, After New York I had a few ideas I wanted to try out and it just kept coming.” He
said.

“This is what you’ve been doing the whole time you’ve been down here?” I said.
“Some times. Most of the time… 90% of the time?” He said.

“What did you do with the other 10%?” I asked.

“Therapy.” Tony retorted. “See, nothing to worry about.”

“No actually this just makes it worse.” I said turning around to get back on the pedestal.
“Jarvis.”

“Hanna.” Tony said. “You don’t have to worry about anything. You’re going to be safe.”

“Tony guess what how many suits you had in the movie that you built because you had ideas
after New York?” I said.

“That’s just a coincidence.” He said.

“No, no its not.” I said storming out of the lab.

“Hanna…” he started.

“This is how it starts… actually it starts with a one night stand on new years eve Y2K…” I
started making Tony groan.

“It was years ago.” Tony said annoyed.

“And it’s coming back around.” I said handing a pack of the save and book stickies to Tony.
“I’m going to go save my favorite coffee mug.”
“I can just buy you another one.” Tony said.

“Not the point Tony.” I said.

“Hanna.” Tony called after me as I went to go start moving what I could outside.

It was the middle of the night and after trying and failing to carefully get my favorite
armchair downstairs I decided to accept the loss.

“I’m really digging the Fung shui vibe you’ve got going on. Though I don’t know why you
think putting the Jackson Pollock in the driveway is supposed to improve the flow of the
place…” Tony said and I glared at him.

“Well excuse me for trying to save…” I started.

“Nothing is going to happen…” He said.

“All signs say otherwise.” I said.

“You worry too much.” Tony said.

“Because you don’t worry at all.” I said.

“That’s not going to happen.” He said. “Because this isn’t a movie and the proof is that
you’re here.”

“That’s not proof because you’re doing everything almost exactly the same.” I said.
“Okay then according to the movie what’s supposed to happen next?” Tony said. “What is the
next thing I do?”

“You go see Happy in the hospital and tell the nurse to keep PBS on because he hates missing
Downton Abbey.” I said.

Tony snorted. “Still can’t believe he likes that show.” He said.

“He’s a big softie on the inside.” I said going to keep packing.

“Hey.” He said taking the stickies out of my hand. “You need to stop. The house is not
getting blown up and Happy is not going to end upin the hospital because you warned him.”

“Yeah because you both always do exactly as you’re told.” I said sarcastically.

“I can’t control what Happy does but I know what I am going to do next. I am going to spend
the whole night staying up with you while we watch… What are we watching.” Tony said.

“This isn’t…” I started.

“Just give me a chance.” Tony said. “Come on. Maybe this is what saves the house?”

“No suits.” I said.

“Really I had the perfect suit. Grey Tom Ford three piece…” Tony said and I gave him a
look. “No suits. Promise.”
“I’ll go make the popcorn.” I said.

So once we got into our PJs and bickered for an hour over what movie we were going to
watch we finally settled for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

“You know if Indy didn’t do anything this movie would still end exactly the same way.” I
said.

“What?” Tony said. “That’s not… No…”

“Think about it.” I said.

“No. He’s the hero.” Tony said.

“He got involved and the Nazis got their eyeballs melted. If he hadn’t done anything they still
would have gotten their eyeballs melted.” I said. “It ends exactly the same way. Sounds
familiar.”

“That’s a movie, that is not the same as…” He started. “This isn’t a movie.”

“I know its not. Even if in the movie…” I started.

“SH… here comes the snake pit.” He said shushing me probably to avoid me ruining another
classic movie for him.

It was around halfway through the second movie that I knocked out. I don’t know what it was
about that couch but I couldn’t watch TV on it without falling asleep. I remember leaning on
Tony’s shoulder and then slowly my eyelids got heavier and heavier and I was out.
Third Person’s POV-

Tony was watching Indiana Jones complain about snakes.

“That never gets old… I haven’t seen the new one yet but it must be good right?” Tony said
waiting for an answer but only getting a soft snore. He looked down and saw Hanna asleep as
she rested her head on his shoulder.

He smiled before gently trying to move his arm so he could slip out but before he could
Hanna curled up to his chest putting an arm around him before letting out a sigh as she
continued slipping.

Tony chuckled and decided not to go anywhere. Instead he pulled up the throw Hanna had
left on the couch around her and sat back to watch the rest of the Indiana Jones trilogy
because who was he kidding the fourth one was totally going to suck.

He didn’t last much longer though.. he didn’t even realize when he had fallen asleep. Even at
the weird angle he and Hanna were curled up in Tony had to admit that was the best nap he
had taken in ages.

Unfortunately his wake up call ruined it all for him.

His phone started ringing waking him up. Hanna on the other hand was completely knocked
out and didn’t stir.

“Hello?” Tony groaned.

“Is this Tony Stark?” A woman on the other end of the line said.

“The one and only.” He said.

“Mr. Stark I’m Alice Smith a nurse here Los Angeles Mercy Hospital. There’s been an
accident and I’m afraid your friend Harold Hogan was brought here. He’s in critical condition
and…” She continued but Tony zoned out.

“Shit.” He said before looking down at Hanna. “UH.. I’m on my way.”

Tony thought about waking up Hanna but he didn’t want to worry her and he really didn’t
want to hear her say the dreaded phrase ‘I told you so.’

So carefully he got a pillow and slipped it between Hanna and himself to gently slip out
leaving her asleep on the couch before he sped off to go see Happy.

Hours Later…

I woke up still on the couch with the TV off and no Tony anywhere. Well I got him out of the
lab for a few hours, I was going to take what I could get.

“Jarvis can you ask Tony if he’s in the mood for waffles for breakfast?” I asked.

“Sir is actually not currently home miss.” Jarvis said.

“Come again?” I said hoping I had misheard.

“Sir actually went out early this morning.” Jarvis said.

“Where’d he go?” I asked but Jarvis was uncharacteristically quiet.

“Jarvis?” I said but still no answer. Then my phone started ringing. It was way to early for
anyone to be calling. “Hello?”

“Where are you?” Natasha said.

“Good morning to you too sunshine.” I said sarcastically.

“Hanna.” She said sternly.

“Considering it’s not even 8am and I just woke up I’m at the house.” I said. “Wait aren’t you
supposed to be in Singapore or in that general time zone right now?”

“Is that Hanna?” Clint asked. “Where is she?”

“At the house she just woke up.” Natasha told him.

“So she doesn’t know.” Clint said.

“Don’t know what?” I said.

“Turn on the news.” Natasha said.

“Okay…” I said reaching for the remote and turning on the TV to the news where the
Hollywood’s Chinese was on fire and firefighters were cleaning up the mess. “Oh no…”

“I’m standing here in front of the remains of the Hollywood’s Chinese theater where last
night a terrorist attack took place killing five people and leaving dozens in critical condition
including close personal friend and former body guard of Tony Stark.” The reporter said.
“Shit.” I said.

“That’s one word for it.” Clint said.

“When asked about what was being done about the Mandarin, Tony Stark had this to say…”
She started before the footage rolled.

There was a crowd of reporters outside of the hospital when tony came out.

“Oh don’t do it…” I mumbled.

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack.
Anything else you can tell us?” The reporters started but Tony ignored them before walking
to his car.

“Hey, Mr. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy? Just sayin'.” A pushy reporter said
finally making Tony snap and turn to him.

“Don’t do it…” I said again.

“Is that what you want? Here's a little Holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the
Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not
afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided” he said taking off his sunglasses. “that
you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good old-
fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a
man, here's my home address: 10-8-80, Malibu Point, 9-0-2-6-5. I'll leave the door
unlocked.” Tony said before turning to the reporter. “That's what you wanted, right?” He then
too the phone and threw it into a wall shattering it to pieces. “Bill me.” With that he drover
off.
And to make matters worse guess who walked into that house at that exact moment.

I had to give it to him he had great timing.

“Hey you’re up. I brought do…” He said before looking at the TV. “Uh-oh.”

“Nat I’m going to have to call you back.” I said hanging up the phone.

“Before you say anything… it’s not as bad as it looks.” Tony said.

“Seriously Tony.” I started.

“Someone had to do something.” He said.

“I’m not arguing that but you couldn’t have put a little more thought into what you said.
Namely the part where you dared a terrorist to come on by?” I said.

“Nothing’s going to happen.” Tony said.

“Would you stop saying that! Everything I’ve been trying to warn you about for months is
happening exactly how it happened in the movie. Everything including your televised
tantrum.” I said.

“They went after Happy.” Tony said.

“And that fucking sucks, and when he gets better I’ll help him get his nurse’s number but
until then we’ve got to go.” I said.
“Go? We can’t go.” Tony said.

“Tony you gave a terrorist your home address. Your home that that is on the edge of a cliff.
You want to fight a terrorist fine but be smart about it. Now go downstairs and go pack your
toys hell pack a suit or two but we have to go.” I said.

“No we should stay.” Tony said.

“We’re going.” I said ending the discussion as I went to go pack both of our things.

As I packed my things I had to stop for a second. We were going to leave and chances were I
would never come back here. Mostly because the house would be destroyed but I’d never
come back to LA. All the movies happened in New York, the East Coast… London even on
another planet but not LA.

This was it.

I’ve been in another universe for months and it just hit me that I was not in ‘Kansas’ anymore
so to speak.

I took a breath and got back to stuffing everything I wanted to keep into my suitcase before
going into Tony’s room and trying to do the same but it was harder. Mostly because Tony had
way more stuff and a way bigger closet.

“Jarvis can you ask Tony if there’s anything specifically he wants me to pack for him?” I
asked.

“Of course miss.” Jarvis said before pausing for a few moments. “Sir wishes for me to assure
you that there is no need for you to pack a bag for him as he has no plans to travel.”
“Tell him he’s being a real pain in the ass and is not helping.” I said as my phone started
ringing. “Nat now is not a good time.”

“You need to get out of there now.” Clint said.

“Clint?” I said surprised.

“We have a plan for this exact reason.” Natasha said.

“So we’re doing the conference call thing now. Guys I’m packing Tony’s bag as we speak,
we’ll be out in ten minutes, it would be faster if Tony would stop dragging his feet!” I
shouted hoping Jarvis would pass the message along.

“Leave without him.” Clint said.

“What?” I said surprised.

“Tony can handle himself. He’ll be fine but you won’t. Go.” Natasha said.

“It’s ten minute maybe an hour tops. Nothing’s going to happen. I’ll text you when I’m out.”
I said.

“Han-“ They started but I cut them off when I hung up.

As it turns out a lot of things can happen in an hour. A lot.

While I was packing our bags Tony was downstairs doing research on the Madarin. It was
going well until the doorbell rang.
“Are we still at "ding-dong"? We're supposed to be on total security lock down. Come on, I
threatened a terrorist. Who is that?” Tony asked Jarvis.

“There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address.”
Jarvis sassed before bringing up a live feed of the front door.

Tony sent his remote controlled suit up to answer the door and he kept working.

“Tony you better be done down there.” Hanna said through the house com system before he
saw her start to pick up the bags.

“Shit Need to run interception.” He said running out of the lab.

“Right there's fine.” Tony told Maya. “You're not the Mandarin, are you? Are you?”

“You don't remember. Why am I not surprised?” Maya said.

“Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast.” Tony said before I
called out from upstairs.

“Donuts!” I called out.

“That's right.” Tony said bracing himself for what was coming.

“Okay” maya said looking at the suit and them at Tony not knowing who she should be
talking to. “Look, I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent.”
“Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing, but now I'm in a committed situationship… sort of
thing...” he said before I threw down two heavy Louis Vuitton leather suitcases before
walking down. “It's...with her.”

“Ah, the one night stand. Right on time.” I said sarcastically. “We’re going.”

“No we’re not and this is Maya Hansen. Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely.”

“Genetic Coder that works for a Think tank and the real mandarin. You sure know how to
pick them.”

“Wait I don’t… It’s not…” Maya defended. “I need your help.”

“What...what for? Why now?” Tony said.

“It’s a hard no. Bye.” I said walking her to the door.

“Frankly, I don't think you'll last the week.” Maya retorted trying to shrug out of my grasp.

“I'll be fine.” Tony said waving her off but when I opened the front door to my surprise Steve
was standing right there just about to knock on the door.

“Hanna!” Steve said

“Steve?” I said surprised.

“Capsicle.” Tony said.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Steve.

“I uh… it’s almost Christmas and I wanted to surprise you but then I saw the news and
thought maybe I should get here earlier and… yeah.” He said. “Who’s she.”

“An old friend.” Tony said.

“She works for a terrorist.” I said. “Also one of Tony’s one night stands.”

“It was Y2K.” Tony said as if that explained anything.

“She was leaving. Just like we are.” I said pushing Maya towards the door before going to get
the bags.

“Great idea. Let's go.” Steve said helping me.

“I'm sorry. That's a terrible idea. Please don't touch her bags.” Tony said.

“Tony, this is how normal people behave.” I said.

“I can't protect you out there. I challenged...” he started.

“I know, I saw the news. Everyone saw the news.” I said. “And I warned you. I’ve been
warning you for months. We tried it your way and here we are so my turn. Get a bag and your
favorite suit and lets go.”

“We don’t have to…” He started.

“Tony, we are leaving the house; that's not even up for discussion.” I said.

“I said no.” he said.

“Fine. Then I’m leaving. Alone!” I said

“Guys, can we um...” Maya started.

“What?” Tony shouted.

“Do we need to worry about that?” maya said looking out the window and pointing at the
shopper that shot a missile at us. The house was hit and as it exploded we were sent flying
across the room. I hit my head on the marble counter.

There wasn’t any time to react I felt everything go dark and just as I wasn’t starting to come
to… and I saw Steve shaking my shoulder to wake me up. Then another explosion crashed
through the house demolishing it and making it fall off the cliff and into the ocean.

From there everything came in pieces. I heard crashing. Steve shouting my name. Then the
water poured into the wreckage but I was pinned under a beam. I held my breath for as long
as I could.

There was a light flickering letting me see the wreckage around me. The beam kept pressing
down on me harder and harder. I felt something pull at me and when I turned, I saw Steve.

He reached for me and put a hand on my cheek trying to get me to focus on him. He pointed
up telling me to swim but I shook my head.

I was pinned down and not going anywhere.

Steve moved to try and lift it up but the wracked kept falling and adding more weight.
I couldn’t hold my breath anymore.

I grabbed Steve’s arm to get his attention and shook my head telling him to stop.

‘Go’ I mouthed as I started choking on water.

He shook his head looking for a way and when that didn’t work he held me but everything
was getting fuzzy and my lungs were on fire as I slowly drowned. The last thing I saw were
Steve’s pleading blue eyes begging me not to close mine.

Everything went cold and dark and unlike the last time this happened I didn’t want to go. I
didn’t want to die.

Unfortunately that’s what happened.

Everything was dark for a while and then it wasn’t.

 Chapter 28

It happened out of nowhere…

Natasha and Clint were in Indonesia about to board the quinjet they had spent days waiting
for at their extraction site.

It happened in a blink of an eye. Natasha bent down to pick up her bag and when she stood
up the bright blue sky was grey.

Clint who was carefully packing his bow and quiver away didn’t realize it at first.

“Clint.” Natasha said.

“Yeah I’ll fly the jet.” He said.

“Something’s happening.” Natasha said still looking at the grey sky.

“What do you…” Clint said turning to see her only expecting to see her fiery red hair but
instead seeing dull grey hair. “You didn’t dye your hair did you?”

Natasha just gave him a look.

“Hanna.” They both said before quickly grabbing their things and boarding the quinjet.

Back in New York….

Bruce was in the lab working on with an enzyme that could breakdown plastic and help clean
the polluted ocean. The enzyme solution he had been working with was bright yellow when
suddenly the solution turned a cloudy light grey.

At first he thought that maybe the enzymes had destabilized so he recreated the solution again
but it would not turn yellow.

He did it a third time to no avail. He took a sample and looked at it under the microscope
only for him to see perfectly stable enzymes.

“Uh oh…” Bruce said.

Vanaheim…

After his most recent battle The fiercest warriors in the nine realms had decided to take a day
to help rebuild the local village. Thor was helping hunt their dinner when the lush and lively
forest surrounding them went from a lively green to black and dull. The moss growing on the
rocks near the river were no longer green.

“Something is very wrong.” Thor said.

“Thor?” Fandral asked.

“Heimdall open the Bifrost!” Thor commanded raising Mjolnir up to the sky before the light
of the Bifrost beamed down on him and he flew up into the sky.

It was dark, that was all there was, darkness. I felt like I was falling down a never-ending
bottomless pit and them out of nowhere instead of falling something was pulling me up
towards a light until suddenly I felt like I hit something hard.
I sat up coughing struggling to catch my breath. The water poured out of my mouth as the
tightness in my chest started easing even if my lungs still felt like they were on fire.

“Hanna?” Steve said.

“Uh.” I coughed still not able to get a word out.

“Hey.” Steve said kneeling down to help me onto my side and patting my back as I coughed
up all the water.

“Uh that was gross.” I said laying on my stomach panting.

Steve just stayed where he was watching me in shock.

“Are you okay?” He said.

“You mean after being inside a house that got blown up, being pinned down under a house
under water and drowning… All things considered not too bad.” I said turning to looks at
him but he kept giving me this weird look. “What?”

“Uh nothing. We should go.” Steve said. “It’s dark and you’re going to catch a cold.”

“Well I’m kind of homeless now.” I said looking around and realizing that it was night. But
something felt… off. “And Tony’s probably in Tennessee by now.”

“Tennessee?” Steve said.

“Everything happened the way it did in the movie so he’s in Tennessee.” I said.
“His house got blown up and you drowned.” Steve said.

“He didn’t have a choice. He got knocked out when he crashed into the ocean and the suit’s
auto pilot took over.” I said. “Besides this is probably for the best. He’s too stubborn to listen
to anyone. Maybe getting knocked around a bit might do him some good.”

“That’s a bit harsh.” Steve said.

“I drowned. I think I’ve earned the right to be a bit cranky.” I said getting up. “Does
something feel off to you?”

“Maybe you should sit down for a minute.” He said.

“I’m fine.” I said.

“Hanna, slow down.” He said. “Maybe just take a minute.”

“You’re being weird. Why are you being weird?” I said.

“What’s the last thing you remember after the water?” Steve asked.

“Being pinned under a beam as the wreckage of the house kept falling on us.” I said. “but you
got me out. Right?”

“I tried.” Steve said.

“Tried?” I said.
“I couldn’t move it.” Steve said.

“Then how did I…” I started.

“You didn’t. You didn’t just drown. You died.” He said.

“But I’m right here. You did CPR and it worked…” I said but the look on Steve’s face said it
all. “It didn’t work.”

“I couldn’t get you out and you were gone but there was this light and then the wreckage was
gone and I got us to shore but you were still…” Steve said.

“Okay that’s… Well I’d say impossible but I’m also the girl that fell into another universe
and started seeing color so I don’t think I’m allowed to say that word anymore.” I said. “You
know what lets just put a pin in this and get somewhere warm and with dry clothes while we
figure out what to do next.”

“Yeah… and where would that be?” Steve said.

“The house is gone so…” Steve said as he looked up to the cliff. “You mean that house?”

“Huh?” I said turning to where he was pointing. “That’s not the house.”

“But its exactly where the house was.” Steve said.

“But that’s not the house. The windows are all wrong, the balcony didn’t have a railing like
that and there weren’t vines growing on the side.” I said. “Okay Natasha and Clint set up an
emergency go bag at Union Station for me in case things ever went wrong and I needed to
disappear fast.”
“And you didn’t think to use it before the house got blown up?” Steve said.

“I didn’t think Tony was going to be so damn stubborn.” I said. “We can take the metro and a
few buses and be there in under two hours.”

“Or…” Steve said.

Apparently his or was stealing a car.

“Wow who knew Steve Rogers could be a bad boy?” I said and just smirked.

“We’re just borrowing the car.” Steve said.

“So were cars this easy to hotwire in the 40’s?” I said.

“How’d you…” He asked and I just gave him a look. “Movies.”

“You and Nat bonded over it.” I said. “She and Clint are going to give me the biggest ‘I told
you so’ ever.”

“I think the one you’re going to give Tony might beat theirs.” Steve said. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah. It’s not the first time I almost die.” I said. “Of course it’s the first time I didn’t
purposely try to off myself. My therapist might consider this growth.”

“I don’t think any near-death experience is growth.” He said.

“Says the guy that crashed a plane and spent 70 years on ice.” I said. “We should ditch a car
about a block from the station. Police check all the plates coming in and out of here because
everyone thinks it’s a good idea to ditch a stolen car at a train or bus station.”

“Did Natasha and Clint teach you that?” Steve said.

“No, My old neighbor did.” I said.

“The drug dealer?” Steve asked.

“He had a very diverse business portfolio.” I said.

“And a very long wrap sheet.” Steve said.

“Tomay-to, tomah-to.” I said with a shrug.

“I know I’ve been gone a while but I don’t remember the city being this… crowded.” Steve
said as we passed by a makeshift homeless encampment on the sidewalks.

“You never really made it out of Malibu.” I said. Though now that he mentioned it, there did
seem to be more people living in the streets and more lofts for rent in the area than the last
time I made it downtown which was only a few weeks ago.

“Let me know of you see anywhere I can park.” Steve said.

“I don’t think it really matters.” I said. “It’s not our car.”

“Right.” Steve said pulling over next to an abandoned lot. We took a walk and made it to
Union station in less than fifteen minutes.

It was practically empty considering how late at night it was which was probably best. Two
people sneaking into a train station to grab a mysterious duffle bag out of a locker was
suspicious enough.

“What’s the locker number?” Steve asked.

“616.” I said looking at it until I found it. “Here we go. I quickly entered the locker
combination, the date of the battle of New York and then pulled the handle up but it wouldn’t
budge.

“Did you put it in right?” Steve said.

“Yes.” I said doing it again. “It must be jammed.”

“If it was jammed it wouldn’t move at all. Are you sure you remembered the right
combination?”

“Steve I can remember almost word for word witty conversation you and the rest of the guys
had throughout ten plus years. I’m sure I can remember three numbers.” I said.

“Here.” Steve said looking around making sure no one could see before using brute force to
force the locker open. But unfortunately the locker was empty. “It’s empty.”

“I can see that.” I said.

“Are you sure…” he said.

“For fucks sake, I told Tony his house was going to get blown up and it did, I told you Hydra
was in SHIELD and that Bucky was alive and that both happened. When I say I’m sure I am
fucking sure!” I shouted finally snapping.

“I’m just trying to figure out what…” he said. “You’re the one with all the answers.”

“Yeah I have all the answers and I still don’t know how I came back from the dead.” I said
slamming the locker door shut before walking away.

“Hanna…” Steve called out.

“I need some air.” I said walking away.

“I’ll go look for a pay phone. Maybe I can call…” Steve started.

“Knock yourself out.” I said not bothering to look back.

I went outside crossing my arms trying to stay warm. The outside of the building was pretty
much empty except for the one security guard staring at his phone wearing a black face mask
as he leaned against a hand sanitizer stand….

Wait a second.

What train station had free hand sanitizer stands for the public? And who wore a facial
surgical mask in 2012… hell no one outside a hospital wore a face mask until…

Then as a gust of wind blew a scrap of newspaper at my feet the front headline caught my
attention.

“Ukraine Holdouts in Mariupol Surrender to Uncertain Fate.”

What the hell… Russia didn’t invade Crimea until 2014… and it wasn’t until the beginning
of 2022 that…

And then I finally saw the date on the paper.

May 18, 2022

That was the day I jumped off the edge of that rooftop bar. The day I fell into…

“Oh Shit!” I said before running inside.

Steve had taken this time to find a pay phone and was currently trying every phone number
he had memorized. He was going to have a tough time getting and long distance inter
dimensional calls through.

I quickly ran over and hung up the phone.

“Hey I finally got a call to go through.” Steve said.

“Trust me you didn’t and whoever you just dialed isn’t someone you know.” I said giving
him the newspaper.

Steve gave me a skeptical look before reading the newspaper.

“Russia invaded Ukraine? That didn’t happen.” He said.

“It didn’t or hasn’t happened in your world yet.” I corrected.

“I don’t understand.” Steve said.

“Look at the date.” I said.

“May 18, 2022.” He read before it hit him. “We’re in the future.”

“Not only that, we’re in my universe.” I said. “And this is the night I fell into your universe.
In fact I’m pretty sure I’m already there.”

“That’s impossible,” Steve said.

“That’s what I said the first time it happened but here we are.” I said.

“How did this happen?” Steve said.

“I don’t know. I don’t know how it happened then and I don’t know how it happened now it
just did.” I said. “All I know is that right now we’re on our own.”

“We’re in another universe.” Steve said still processing that.

“We are.” I said taking a breath. “Okay there’s no go bag but we’re as far away from the
Mandarin, Hydra or anyone else that could possibly looking for us. So silver lining. For right
now we need to get cleaned up, maybe sleep for a few hours…”

“Where do we do that?” Steve said.

I thought about it… really there was only one place.

“I know a place but we’re going to have to borrow another car.” I said taking Steve’s hand
and leading him out. It wasn’t hard to find a car and the drive went by pretty fast.

He got off the freeway and ditched the car before walking the last three blocks.

“This is a bit of a rough neighborhood.” Steve said.

“Don’t make eye contact and don’t step on the rats and you should be fine.” I said before
stopping at a door next to a shabby hole in the wall ramen shop.

I looked at the buzzer and started buzzing each one over and over again until about thirty
seconds later someone buzzed me in. “Works every time.”

“Great security.” Steve said as we walked in before going to the freight elevator. “Is this
safe?”
“The building used to be a firehouse until the 80’s when they converted it into an apartment
building.” I said as he slid the vertical makeshift wooden doors down shut. “Not like that.”

I took it and yanked them down hard until I heard a click before I pressed the button and we
went up to the fourth floor.

I walked down the hall and turned to the left where a there was a wooden door painted dark
blue. Or at least it used to be dark blue now it was faded and chipped in places. I reached for
the doorknob but the door was locked.

“Hold on I’ll break it down.” Steve said.

“No.” I said turning to the dead Ficus in the corner and reached behind it to pull out a set of
keys.

I slid the key in but the lock was finicky. There was a specific way to do it. You slid the key
in. jimmied it a bit before turning it half way and lifted a bit before turning it the rest of the
way while giving the door a hard shove with my hip.

“Like riding a bike.” I said letting Steve in. there was only enough room to open the door
before a set of stairs led up to the rest of the loft. I locked the door behind me before leaving
the keys in the key ring next to the door. Before running upstairs.
 “This place is exactly how I remember it. Though technically I was here five or six hours
ago.” I said.

“This is nice.” Steve said looking around.

“You can be honest. It’s a death trap.” I said.

“You said it used to be a firehouse?” Steve said. “Where’s the flagpole?”

“It was surprisingly not kid friendly.” I said. “I had the building manager take it out.”

“Oh…He looks like you.” Steve said picking up a frame with a picture of me and Jamie
before he saw the other photo that was face down next to that one. “Who’s the guy?”

“No one important… Uh I might have some clothes in your size in his stuff….” I said.

“His?” Steve mumbled to himself.

“Here we go.” I said pulling out a pair of grey sweats and a white tee shirt. “Might be a bit
snug but it’ll do until we figure something else out.”

“This is fine…” Steve said looking around awkwardly.

“Oh the bathroom’s through that door and let the shower run for a minute before jumping in.”
I said.

“Okay.” Steve said confused before going into the bathroom.

I looked around almost as if seeing the apartment for the first time. Which in a way I sort of
was. If was the first time I was seeing color and damn… This place was weirdly mismatched
but somehow it all fit together.

The walls were a reddish dark brown because of the exposed brick but the walls were painted
matte grey. The dark hardwood floors contrasted the grey and white pattered rug. The coffee
table was round and made out of rustic reclaimed wood with dark metal accents. There were
randomly colored and patterned cushions and a jade macrame knit pouf next to the table.

It was all mismatched yet somehow it somehow fit together. Instead of clashing it
complimented each other. Not bad considering everything came from garage sales, thrift
stores, flea markets and the Facebook for sale/free section.

I walked over to the closet to look for some clothes. All of my clothes were black or really
dark shades they may as well be black. I settled on a pair of black leggings and an old college
tee shirt. It had a couple of holes in it but I never threw it out because of how soft and
comfortable it was.

Steve came out of the shower in the very snug clothes I handed him. The original owner of
those clothes would have been drooling all over him and maybe fainted.

“UH you know the water that comes out of the shower turns brown right?” Steve said.
“Yeah, that’s why you’re supposed to let it run for a minute before you get in, not turn the hot
water faucet handle more than half way and keep your shower under 10 minutes…. 8 if
you’re showering during the day.” I said.

“Oh…” Steve said not knowing how else to answer that. “I’ll take the couch.”

“Okay.” I said going to the closet to take out extra blankets and pillows and handed them to
Steve. “The couch is a pull out so… pull out.”

“Oh good… It was going to be a tight squeeze.” Steve said relieved.

“Night.” I said before going to the bathroom and taking my five minute shower. I had to
enjoy what was left of the hot water for the night.

By the time I got out of the shower Steve was asleep or at least pretending to be asleep.
Maybe Natasha and Clint should have given him some spy pointers. I’m not always the most
observant person but even I could tell he was not sleep and had maybe taken the five minutes
I was out of the room to snoop. It also didn’t help that the pull-out bed springs squeaked
really loudly when you moved on them.

Either way that was a problem for tomorrow.

I slipped into my bed which was not as comfortable as the bed I slept on in Tony’s house. Of
course that bed and that room were now underwater…

Shit I was underwater and died.

“Fuck…” I said out loud.

And I was back in my universe… back in my life…. A life that I had sort of blown up and
ended with me ending it all….

“Fuck!” I cursed.

“I’ll have what she’s having!” Someone out in the street called out.

“UH” I said grabbing a pillow and tried to smother myself to death or at least passed out.

Unfortunately things don’t work that way.

Back in Earth-616…

Natasha and Clint arrived in Malibu and arrived at what used to be Tony’s house. Shield was
already handling the situation trying to clear out the rubble probably to take one or all of
Tony’s suits if they had the chance.

The first thing Clint noticed was the furniture and priceless works of art randomly placed
around the driveway surprisingly not the least but damaged despite their home being blown
up.

Natasha turned to Clint wondering if he could see red again and that’s why he was staring at a
random painting.

“Hanna?” Natasha said realizing someone had probably moved everything out in preparation
for some sort of disaster.

“Probably.” Clint said clenching his fists trying to keep it together.

“Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff…” One of the agents said. “There’s something we think you
should see.”

Natasha and Clint followed him to where the mansion door used to bee and they pulled out a
very familiar red, white, and blue frisbee like SHIELD.

“Steve was here when…” Natasha started before Clint walked over to the ledge and looked
over.

“What are the odds he can survive crashing into an ocean a second time?” Clint said.

“He can take a hit… I don’t know about a house.” Natasha said.

“This day just keeps getting better and better.” Clint said.

“It’s not over yet.” Natasha said spotting one of Tony’s helmets with a blinking light and
quickly going to pick it up. She slipped the helmet on and immediately the helmet scanned
her retina to identify her.

“Agent Romanoff there is a message from Sir.” Jarvis said.

“Play it.” Natasha said.

There was no video but Tony’s voice played.

“Han… uh hey… whoever’s listening to this. I uh… I kind of… well not kind of… I
completely screwed up. Han…” Tony hesitated as his voice cracked a bit. “Hanna tried to
warn me and I was too stubborn to listen and now she’s… she’s gone and so is Cap.
Natashalie and Birdbrain are going to kill me when they find out which I deserve. But that’s
going to have to wait. I can’t change what happened but I can make this guy pay for what he
did to Hanna… I have a lead and I don’t know where it’s going to take me but I have to do
this. I owe it to her…”

With that the message cut off.

Natasha slipped off the helmet and looked to Clint.

“He’s going after the Mandarin.” Natasha said.

“Where?” He asked.

“He didn’t say.” Natasha said. “Sounds like he called from a payphone or burner. The call cut
off.”

“So we’re right back where we started.” Clint said. “Great.”

Earth 1218- The Next Morning

The night flew by and after I stopped tossing and turning and actually got some sleep reality
just had to pop its ugly head in, in the form of a very loud ambulance that sped down the
street.

“UH…” I groaned as the sun hit my face. I hated to admit this but living with Tony, I had
gotten a little too used to the good life. Mainly the orthopedic memory foam mattress and the
sound of the ocean in the distance being my morning wake up call.

Steve was surprisingly still asleep.

I guess the adrenaline rush of getting blown up yesterday really took it out of him. I got out
of bed and went to the kitchen to start the coffee maker and maybe start on breakfast. Of
course since I was not planning on coming back I hadn’t done groceries. And I was also out
of coffee.

Maybe I should do groceries… but I was going to need money for that. I did have money in
the bank… I just didn’t have my bank card. I had left it… at the rooftop bar I jumped off of
the night before. I could pay with my phone but I also let that at the bar.

Okay this is why I always kept a some petty cash in the loft.

In the form of random bills in old purses, the jeans in the dirty laundry hamper and that that
one random decorative vase I thought would look cute but really I just put all my spare
change in when I don’t want to jingle.

It only took me five minutes to find a 20 and some singles before I headed down the block to
a small donut shop that also did breakfast sandwiches.

“Morning Hanna…” Mrs. Kim the shop owner said. “The usual.”

“Two actually.” I said.

“Two? Does that mean you and Theo back together?” She said asking me the same thing
every time I came here.

“No Mrs. Kim. We are not back together because we were never together.” I said.

“Why not? He so handsome and you getting old.” She said pouring me some coffee.

“Why do I always come here?” I mumbled to myself.

“Two coffee, two sandwich and a donut. You’re too skinny.” She said ringing me up and not
adding the donut.

Oh right, that’s why.

“So who number two?” She asked.

“Just a friend.” I said.

“Boyfriend?” She asked.

“A Friend.” I said again giving her the money. “Thank you.”

“Thank you.” She said. “And say hi to Theo.”

“We don’t talk anymore.” I reminded her before I left the shop.

When I got back to the apartment Steve was up and looked like he was on the verge of a
freak out.

“Hanna? Where were you?” He said.

“Went to get us some breakfast. I figured you might be hungry and I haven’t really done any
groceries recently.” I said handing him a breakfast sandwich and coffee.

“Oh…” He said
“We should probably come up with a plan while we’re at it.” I said.

“A plan for getting back?” Steve asked sipping his coffee.

“More like what we’re going to do in the meantime.” I said.

“What’s there to talk about? We’re going back.” Steve said “We are going back right?”

“We are but we also have to look at all the facts.” I said. “We’re in another universe. I don’t
know how we ended up here or how I ended up in yours. We’re going to try everything we
can to get back but, in the meantime, while we’re here we need to think about how we’re
going to get by.”

“How long do you think it’s going to take figure out how to get back?” Steve said.

“I didn’t fall into another universe until I was 26 and it was six months after that that we
ended up here. It’s safe to assume we’re going to be here a while.” I said.

“Okay.” Steve said. “This is your universe so what do you think we should do?”

“Well… I currently have five dollars and twenty seven cents on me. I don’t have my phone or
wallet so maybe getting those back would be a good start.” I said.

“Where did you leave them?” Steve said.

“The rooftop bar I jumped off of last night.” I said. “If no one stole them.”
“Alright then lets go.” He said.

“Steve.” I said. “Maybe I should go by myself.”

“We should stick together.” He said.

“Yeah but… those sweats are really tight on you and don’t leave a lot to the imagination.” I
said.

Steve choked on his coffee before blushing red.

“Sorry...” he said. “I can change.”

“Your clothes are muddy… Uh wait here.” I said running down to the laundry room. There
was a lost and found and if I remember hearing the neighbor screaming right six months ago
she threw out her deadbeat boyfriend and all his stuff. Sure enough I found a pair of grey
ripped jeans, a red and black flannel and a random unknown cover band promo tee.

Not the best but it would fit Steve better or at let him go outside with some dignity.

I went back upstairs and handed them to Steve.

“This might be better.” I said.

“These pants are falling apart.” Steve said.

“They’re trendy.” I said.

“Are they meant to be this tight?” He asked.

“I can go by myself.” I said.

“No Just give me a minute.” He said going to change in the bathroom. I heard him grunt and
bump into a few things before he finally came out. “People actually dress like this?”

“A lot of people say the same thing about how people in the 40’s dressed. We should work on
our hair.” I said wondering when the hell Natasha was going to give him that makeover she
kept hinting was coming.

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Steve said defensively.

“It’s a bit old fashioned but it works for you.” I said quickly covering my tracks. I did not
want to get into it with him. “Alright a few rules before we go out. Keep your head down.
Keep a low profile. Don’t make eye contact with anyone on the bus or train and…”

“Hanna I’m from New York. I’ve taken a bus and train before.” Steve said.

“In the New York of another universe. Things are different here. Superheroes only exist in
comic books and aliens are still the stuff of conspiracy theories.” I said. “Just… try not to be
so… you.”

“Sure.” Steve said not entirely happy about what I was asking him to do.

Of course what was the first thing he did when we left the apartment… He went out and was
himself. To start he saw a man sitting on a curb holding a cup. Steve decided to give him the
spare change he found in his jeans pocket. Except the guy wasn’t asking for change. He was
on a break from working on remodeling one of the empty shops that was being turned into a
boba shop.

Steve dropped his change in the guys over priced coffee and he was not happy about it.
“Hey! What the fuck asshole?!” he shouted.

“I’m sorry I thought…” Steve said. “You were…”

“This is what hard work looks like jackass.” The guy said before throwing his coffee
splashing Steve’s shoes and pants.

“I’m…” he started but the guy was already gone. “He looked…”

I didn’t say anything just kept walking to the bus stop and it only got worse from there.

Steve gave an elderly lady his seat on the bus only to be groped inappropriately more than
once by both the elderly lady he gave up his seat for and then a very handsy guy.

“That’s why you sit down and don’t get up it’s time to get off.” I said to him when we got off
and transferred to a train.

“It was the right thing to do.” Steve said.

“You were warned.” I said.

“Why are you being so negative?” Steve said.

“I’m not being negative. It’s called being realistic.” I said. “You’re not from this universe.
There’s a reason I tell you not to do something because I actually know how things are done
here.”
“This world is not as bad as you are making it out to be.” Steve said.

“Yeah because this world is all sunshine, lollipops and unicorns shitting out rainbows.” I said
sarcastically.

“So there are problems here. Our world isn’t perfect either.” Steve said.

“You’ve been here five minutes. You know nothing Steve Rogers, including the reference in
this sentence.” I said. “Just keep your eyes on the floor and stop pissing people off.”

We stood in silence as Steve did the exact opposite. The first rule of public transportation: do
not make eye contact with other people on the bus.

And especially do not make eye contact and smile.

Steve just had to do both. To a woman with a girlfriend.

Suffice to say we had to get off the train and walk the rest of the way. Almost a freaking hour
and I picked the worst shoes to wear that day.

“I’m sorry…” he started.

“No… Just no.” I said. “I’m going to this part on my own. Just stand there, face the corner
and don’t move until I get back.”

With that I headed inside and went to look through the bar. The place was in the process of
being cleaned and the staff were moving around to get ready for that night.
As I looked around and finally stopped at the place that was supposed to be the end of it all
but ended up being the start of something else.

“Hello darkness my old friend.” I said looking down at the street.

“Careful you don’t want to fall.” One of the waitress’ teased.

“Yeah that would be one hell of a fall.” I said.

“Were you looking for this?” She said holding out my phone and purse.

“Yes!” I said.

“Hope you made it home okay. We didn’t even see you leave.” She said.

“It was pretty packed.” I said. “I did pay my bill right?”

“Oh yeah and left a nice tip.” She said with a wink.

“Course I did.” I said. “Thanks.”

I looked back at the ledge and started wondering whether I actually had died when I jumped
off the ledge and that everything that had happened during the last couple of months was my
brain trying to soften the blow of my bloody and extremely painful death as it started to shut
down.

Nah… what kind of afterlife would involve breaking the fourth wall?
I shook it off and went to get Steve. He was right where I left him. Not staring at the wall but
close enough.

“Alright. I have my wallet back, now let’s get you some clothes of your own and a haircut.” I
said.

“Did you see anything?” Steve asked.

“Besides a closed bar? Nothing worth mentioning.” I said.

“This is where it happened right? The first time.” He said.

“Steve the answer to interdimensional travel is not in a bar.” I said.

“Did you feel anything?” Steve said.

“Besides my feet killing me because I had to walk more than ten blocks in shoes with no arch
support? Nothing.” I said.

“Hanna I’m trying here.” Steve said.

“There is such a thing as trying too hard.” I said as we got into an elevator.

“At least I’m trying.” He said.

“This wasn’t about trying. This was running an errand to keep us afloat before we start to
brainstorm ideas to get us the hell out of here.” I said. “This isn’t your world Steve. Things
here are different if that wasn’t obvious already. It’s a very hard world to be in. An unfair
world and most of the time pretty fucking hopeless so trust me I want to get back home as
much as you do and if you don’t believe that, believe I want to get back and give Tony the
biggest I told you so in history.”

Steve was quiet for a minute as the elevator took us down to the ground floor.

“You’re right.” Steve said surprising me. “This isn’t my world and I should listen to you so
what do we do now?”

“Now…” I said eying him up and down. “We get you a new look starting with your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Steve asked.

“In this universe not even 90-year old’s wear their hair like that. Mostly because they don’t
have hair. You need to blend in better.” I said. “Come on. Oh Natasha is going to be so mad I
beat her to it.”

“Beat her to what?” Steve said following after me.

 Chapter 29

Earth 616…

Well Tony finally understood what Hanna meant when she said the next bad guy he faced
would be a fire breathing dragon.

What she hadn’t mentioned was that the fire breathing dragons were a knock off attempt at
creating a super soldier serum and while it did help people heal and even regrow limbs it also
caused them to spontaneously explode.

As he left the kid behind and drove off to Miami he tried to remember everything Hanna had
told him. Of course that also meant remembering that she was now gone and it was his fault.

He was going to have to get creative and to start he had to find out more about AIM which
meant calling his best friend.

Earth 1218…

“Come on Steve… Let me see.” I said as I sat outside of the fitting room.

“This doesn’t feel right.” He said.

“It’s just different, Give it a chance.” I said looking through my phone as I recapped
everything happening in this world. All I could say was… it’s still a mess.

“Is this really necessary?” Steve said coming out in a really tight tee shirt, jeans and boots.
“You were the one that didn’t want to size up.” I said. “Can you even breath in that shirt?”

“It’s fine.” Steve said pulling at the collar a bit.

“Okay how about you try these pants they’re a straight fit so they won’t cut off the circulation
to your feet.” I said. “And you like button ups so… let’s try a flannel maybe a henley.”

“I don’t need so all these clothes. We’re not going to be here that long.” Steve said.

“We don’t know that.” I said. “And in the meantime it’s good to have options.”

“Okay.” Steve said taking the clothes and going to change. He came out a few minutes later
visibly more comfortable.

“Better?” I asked amused about the visible difference.

“Yeah.” He said.

“Great. Let’s get those in every color they come in and a few pairs of pants.” I said picking
them out. Once I paid with my credit card we grabbed some lunch at a diner not too far from
the store.

“So how are we going to get back?” Steve said.

Well he humored me for a few hours, I had to give him that.

“The first time I jumped off a rooftop bar, the second time I got blown off a house on a
cliff…” I said.
“And you drowned.” Steve said.

“So maybe falling is the answer?” I said.

“A fall like that could kill you if it doesn’t work.” Steve said.

“You’d also have to jump with me.” I said. “What do you prefer bungee jumping or
skydiving? I know you’ve jumped out of a plane without a parachute before.”

“But you haven’t and I think you’re forgetting the part were you actually died.” Steve said.

“I drowned and I was out for like a minute.” I said.

“It wasn’t a minute. It was hours.” Steve said.

“The water was cold it slowed my heart rate down and preserved brain function. I’m fine.” I
said. “You know the reason we don’t get hurricane on the west coast is because the Pacific
Ocean is warmer than the Atlantic.”

“Either way you are not dying again. There’s got to be another way.” Steve said.

“Well I’m a lost cause but I think I’ve made enough progress to not want to willingly off
myself.” I said.

“I never said…” he said.

“You did but I’m just putting that out there.” I said. “Alright if we want to get back into the
MCU I think its time we read up on the comic book multiverse and I know just the spot.”
So with that we headed to a comic book store. It had been years since I had set foot in this
place and it also happened to be years since the last woman had walked in. That woman also
being me.

“Hanna!” The shop owner said.

“Dan… it’s been a while.” I said.

“Yeah, how’s the little guy?” Dan asked.

“Uh.. He’s good.” I said not knowing how else to answer that considering I hadn’t seen the
‘little guy’ in years.

“No Theo?” He asked.

“Nope he’s… busy.” I said also not really knowing the answer to that. “But I could use some
help. I’ve got a comic themed trivia night coming up with an emphasis on multiverses.”

“Because of Multiverse of Madness being added on Disney Plus. Sounds fun, where is this
place?” He asked.

“Some place down in San Diego A friend of a friend invited me.” I said.

“Ah, well follow me while guide you on your journey through the multiverse.” Dan said
coming out from behind the multiverse while he came out led us through the store while he
pulled out books and comics from different shelves around the store.

“All of this?” Steve said surprised.

“Well there have been a lot of iterations of the multiverse theory since it first came up in
Strange Tales #103 in 1962.” Dan said quickly. “And this isn’t counting the Marvel and DC
crossovers.”

“And there’s that.” Steve said still in shock.

“So take a minute and skim through some of those and if you have any questions just let me
know.” Dan said. “Oh and there are a few new Spiderman’s I’m sure the little guy would love
or is Batman making a comeback?”

“No he’s a loyal member of the Marvel Fandom.” I said.

“Smart kid.” Dan said.

“Alright. I think we should just stick with the comic book universes that involve, any of the
Avengers, Doctor Strange, and The Scarlet Witch.” I said.

“Sure. Who’s Theo?” Steve asked.

“No one.” I said.

“You have a photo of him in your apartment.” Steve said.

“Leave it alone Steve.” I said.

“And your nephew was also in the photo.” Steve said.

“Oh look kid Bucky is in this one.” I said. “I never understood why they put him in a sailor’s
suit. He was in the army not the Navy.”

“Probably because of the colors. Was I wearing Theo’s clothes?” He asked.

“Okay I’m just going to say this once and then we’re never going to mention him again. He
was my best friend and for a few years my roommate we had a falling out and we don’t talk
anymore.” I said.

“Why did…” Steve started.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s in the past and we’re not sticking around long enough for you to even
need to know.” I said.

“If you say so… but you still have that photo of the three of you…” Steve started. “Why
would you keep a photo of him if…”

“Because it’s the only photo Jamie doesn’t make a serial killer face in.” I said. “Now can we
get to it?”

“Alright.” He said not buying it but finally looking through the comic books.

We were there until closing and we were still no closer to figuring out how to get back…

Two Weeks Later…

Visiting the comic book store everyday was not a viable option considering the long
commute. That and at the end of our first week back this universe’s reality decided to give me
a reminder that While I was not planning on sticking around in the meantime I had to do
things like pay my bills and rent.
So after a week I went back to work at the call center. Trying to get people to sign up for
credit cards with ridiculously high interest rates.

All I could say was that as horrible as the soul crushing company that paid me to do this was,
the jerks I had to talk to everyday where even worse.

I took the bus to and from work only to come back home to Steve waiting with dinner and a
bunch of ideas that were not going to get anywhere because space travel in this universe had
not caught up to the MCU.

The only upside to the past two weeks was that Steve had finally started adapting to the new
normal. He could finally go outside by himself without ending up in a fight or offending
anyone. I did more in two weeks than Bucky did the entire time he knew Steve.

This worked for a while… until it didn’t.

One Month Later…

It had been one hell of a day.

A horrible day.

It was one of those days where if I had gotten hit by a bus I still wouldn’t feel as bad as I did
right now.

I walked up the stairs into the apartment.

“Hey I just found…” Steve started but I ignored him walked to my bed and face planted into
a pillow before screaming. “Uh are you…”
I screamed again cutting him off.

“Okay?” Steve said.

“I hate this universe.” I said.

“It’s okay.” Steve said.

“No it’s not. Can we go to the rooftop bar and try jumping now?” I said.

“No but do you want to talk about it?” Steve asked.

“What’s there to talk about? We go in there toast goodbye to this shitty place and take a swan
dive back to 616.” I said.

“I meant your day.” Steve said firmly.

“It sucked.” I said. “Please tell you found something.”

“Nothing we didn’t already know.” He said. “But we can’t give up…”

“Uh!!!” I groaned louder.

“There is one thing we haven’t tried.” Steve said. “I know you said it was a bad idea but…”
“We are not watching the movies. They were fun to watch until the characters turned out to
be real. I don’t think I can watch Tony be a douche again. He’s really worked on himself
since then.” I said.

“Then I don’t know what to do anymore.” Steve said. “We’re not going to find anything in a
comicbook.”

“Science here still sucks.” I said.

“Too bad magic isn’t real.” Steve said.

“Bleeker street isn’t a real street in this universe or Hogwarts and also magic isn’t real.” I
said. “Unless you count CGI.”

“Then let’s take a break. Go out and try to have some fun.” He suggested.

“Too far. Too tired… and people suck.” I said finally feeling the weight of the day.

‘I can’t believe I’m saying this but if Tony were here, what would he do?” Steve said I took
the pillow off my face to see if he was being serious.

“Did you really just say that?” I asked.

“He’s good in a crisis.” Steve said. “Also the smartest person I know alongside Bruce.”

“Stubborn as hell though.” I said.

“Not when it comes to you.” Steve said.

“Did you hit your head when the house got blown up or when it fell on us?” I retorted.

“You got him to go to therapy.” Steve said.

“Not that it made a difference.” I said.

“He’s all of that but he’s also the guy that flew a nuke through a wormhole, always thinks on
his feet and always finds a way to make a comeback. So if he were here instead of me what
would he do?” Steve asked.

“Besides snoop and try to find out everything he could about me which you have pretty much
done already. He would have watched the movies by now.” I said.

“There’s an app for that.” Steve said. “Did I use that right?”

“Yeah… okay I don’t think knowing too much about the future is a good thing so
compromise we watch all the movies up to Iron Man 3.” I said.

“In the order they came out or order they happened?” Steve said and I gave him a look. “I
may have found a rather long conversation online about it.”

“You’ve gotten really tech savy in the last month.” I said. “Let’s go with the order they came
out. Some stuff isn’t really relevant yet and there is such a thing as knowing too much. Trust
me.”

So I turned on the TV set the movie, logged onto Disney plus and started the movie.

“uh…” Steve groaned and looked away when Tony was hooking up with a reporter. “I
thought these were kids movies.”
“PG-13 for a reason” I said.

“He died?!” Steve said with a heart broken expression when Yinsen died helping Tony
escape.

“Keep watching…” I said.

We spent the entire weekend catching up on everything that had happened to everyone until
the end of Iron Man 3. It didn’t give us any clues as to how to get back but at least we didn’t
feel as alone.

Another Month Later…

At the three month mark I was starting to come to terms with the fact that I might be stranded
here. Permanently.

My life here sucked but I was starting to get used to being back. I had even gotten a
promotion at work. I was now the team manager so when all my coworkers got the insane
neurotic customers that demanded to speak to their manager they transferred them to me.

I really hated my life.

Steve had decided to take a slight step back. He did still spent all of his free time learning
about the comic book multiverse but he was a man of action not someone that could sit so he
had gotten a job managing the building.

It started off with a leaky faucet in the bathroom. Steve liked it quiet while he read his comic
books and it was really bugging him. So he tried to fix it and somehow made it worse before
finally really fixing it. Of course he had to shut off the water on the whole floor and when
someone found him and mentioned they were having trouble even getting water to come out
of their shower he fixed that to.

Somehow the building owner found out and offered him the job. He’d get a small stipend and
free rent. It also helped that that technically the loft wasn’t supposed to be a loft.

Either way it kept him busy while I was at work and helped him work out some of his pent up
energy. He had also decided we needed a car so Steve had saved up some cash and bought us
a Junker and had taken to teaching me how to drive.

That’s how we ended up at Target. Once I got over my fear of going over twenty an hour the
gas pedal had become my best friend.

“Okay… why don’t we go in and get you some of that stuff you call coffee?” Steve said as I
parked.

“It’s a caramel Macchiatto with an extra shot of espresso made with oatmilk.” I said.

“It’s overpriced and there’s hardly any coffee in it.” He said.

“Careful Steve your age is starting to show.” I teased before we headed into Starbucks. Steve
got his usual while I went with my order except I was interrupted by the last person I ever
wanted to see.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” A very familiar voice said.

“Oh shit.” I said not needing to turn around to know who it was.

“Uh Is that…” Steve said.

“Yeah cancel our order.” I said.

“No cancel our order.” He said.

“Uh okay…” The two teenagers taking out orders said looking awkwardly.

“But we just…” Steve said.

“We’re going.” I said ushering him out.

“Oh typical just run away from your problems.” He said.

“I think we said all that needed to be said.” I said.

“And you’re just shutting down. Typical Hanna.” He said.

“Says the guy making a scene at Starbucks. Again.” I said to Theo.

“Oh screw you.” Theo said.

“Up yours.” I said flipping him off as I stormed out.

“UH…” Steve said “Hanna?”

Got in a car and refused to say anything the entire way home.
“Are we really not going to talk about it?” Steve said.

“It’s not your problem.” I said. “Stop asking.”

“I don’t know what happened but you two used to be very close and…” he started. “Maybe
you weren’t meant to date…”

“What are you talking about?” I asked suddenly realizing we were both talking about two
very different things.

“Theo is your ex that’s why you don’t like talking about him.” Steve said.

I couldn’t help the laugh I let out after he said that.

“You… you think Theo and I…” I said laughing again. “No… no no no… not even in
another universe. I told before I don’t date and I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“I thought you were kidding or just saying that so we didn’t feel bad.” Steve said.

“Some of us aren’t ashamed of being a virgin in our 20s and you’ve been here long enough to
know that there aren’t a lot of great options.” I said making Steve blush. “Also Theo’s gay.”

“Oh.” Steve said finally putting everything together. “Then what happened to make you go
from this…”

He said handing me the photo that for some reason I still had lying around.

“To refusing to being in the same room as each other.” He asked.

“Things happened, we grew apart.” I said. “That’s all you need to know.”

“Hanna.” Steve said giving me the disappointed Captain America Voice.

“Steve.” I said crossing my arms and countering his attempt at staring me down.

We stared at each other for like a minute before he sighed.

“You should talk to him.” Steve said.

“We said what needed to be said.” I said before there was a knock at the door.

Of course the week that followed it was like I just couldn’t help but run into Theo. On the
train, at Starbucks, Target when I decided to try going back.

The last time Steve and I were going to have dinner at a diner when he walked in.

“I’m going to use the restroom.” I said excusing myself.

I wasn’t entirely sure why but when I came back Steve was gone and Theo was sitting in his
place.

“Great.” I said.

“Your boyfriend said you wanted to apologize.” Theo said.

“Of course he did.” I said annoyed. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“He is out of your league.” Theo said.

“And you’re not his type.” I said.

“Are we done? Can you stop stalking me?” he said.

“I’m not stalking you psycho.” I said.

“You’re everywhere I look.” He said.

“You don’t own the fucking train.” I said.

“Then take the bus.” He said.

“You’re not the boss of me.” I said.

“That never stops you from deciding everything for everyone because you know everything
and you’re always right.” Theo said.

“I did the right thing Theo and you know it.” I said.

“No you didn’t and it wasn’t just your choice Hanna!” He shouted.

“Yes it was because at the end of the day I was the one who had to sign the damn papers.” I
said.
“Theo…” Steve said coming over.

“No it wasn’t just your choice. I was right there with you every day. He was not just your kid
Hanna. I helped raise him just as much as you did and you gave him up to that fucking
junkie!” Theo shouted.

“She’s his mom, Theo. It was always supposed to be a temporary thing.” I said.

“It was five years.” He said. “That’s not temporary. That’s abandonment and you gave him
back to her like those five years meant nothing to you. He was our kid.”

“We took care of him but he was not our kid.” I said.

“Typical. I get that you’re emotionally stunted but this you being a cold hearted bitch!” Theo
said before storming off.

“Hanna…” Steve said approaching.

“I told you to leave it alone.” I said.

“You needed to talk and…” He started.

“It was none of your fucking business. Butt out!” With that I grabbed my bag and stormed
off.

Old habits die hard.

Or they don’t die at all.

Which is how I ended up at my favorite Korean Irish fusion gastropub.

Yes I know how bad that sounded. Yes it was an unorthodox combinations and would I have
much rather gone to just a plain old regular Irish pub?

I would have but this place had its hidden charms. Mainly that drinks were half off because it
was the middle of the week and my first drink was always whatever concoction the bartender
tried to invent that could possibly match the fusion theme of the bar and I never threw up.

I also always came here because Stan the owner made sure to keep the seats around me
empty when I was having a day like today and already knew where to tell the cab to take me
when it was time to close.

It had been a while but one look and he could already tell what I needed. He didn’t beat
around the bush and started me off with a Korean/Irish whiskey flight.

Then came the pickle-kimchi-backs. It was not as bad as it sounded. Though by the third one
I think my tastebuds were too drunk to actually taste anything.

“Stan the man… I fucking hate this universe.” I said to the bartender who didn’t say anything
just poured me another drink. “This world is crap and it’s just getting worst. Every horrible
thing that has ever happened to me happened here. I gave up and learned to make due but life
just likes kicking my ass. And then when I finally get it together, And I’m talking going to
therapy and actually trying and I start to see the good in the world a freaking house falls on
me and I’m thrown right back into this shit.”

I gulped my drink down again and gestured for him to keep it coming.

“I’m just going to leave the bottle.” Stan the bartender said. “You need it more.”
Well that’s what he told me.

The night gets really blurry from there.

Third Person’s POV…

Steve was up worried sick and kicking himself for trying to push Hanna into talking to Theo
when obviously that was her trigger. It was not the first time in the past couple of months he
actually wished Tony was there to help.

He was too busy feeling sorry for himself to even notice someone unlocking the door
downstairs and stumbling through.

“Can’t believe you still keep the keys in the planter.” Theo muttered.

Theo came in with a passed-out Hanna dangling over his shoulder.

“Are you going to just stand there looking pretty or are you going to help me with your
girlfriend?” Theo sassed.

“Theo?” Steve said surprised.

“Ehem?” He said gesturing to Hanna.

“Oh right.” Steve said immediately going to pull the covers aside and helping Theo gently
put her down. Theo went into the bathroom while Steve slipped her shoes off.
He came back and put a trashcan that was double bagged on her side of the bed with a bottle
of aspirin and a glass of water.

“Next time you try to ambush her do a better job of keeping an eye on her. Seriously you can
only coast by on your good looks with her for so long.” Theo said before trying to leave.

“Wait I thought you and her…” Steve started.

“She’s my best friend idiot. Even if I’m pissed at her I’m always going to make sure her
drunk ass gets home safe.” Theo said. “Seriously, do better and those pants do nothing for
your ass.”

With that Theo stormed out.

He looked at the door then back at Hanna before catching his reflection in the mirror and
looking at his pants confused about what Theo was talking about.

Then Steve finally admitted it.

“I know nothing.” Steve said to himself just as Hanna let out a loud snore.
 Chapter 30

The Following Morning…

I woke up to the sound of a police siren loudly passing through the street and activating all
the car alarms.

This is why I prefer to sleep with earphones on but I forgot last night. In fact I don’t even
remember how I got home last night.

“Mhmmm…” I groaned as I tried to sit up but my head was pounding and I knew it was
going to get worse once Steve realized I was awake and started lecturing me.

Then I heard the door downstairs open and footsteps come up the stairs.

Here goes…

“Morning…” Steve said at a very reasonable volume.

“Can this day be over already?” I said staring at the ceiling.

“That’s probably the hangover. I got us breakfast…” Steve said walking over and putting a
cup of coffee on my bedside table. “Dirty matcha, extra matcha, Extra shot of espresso made
with oatmilk. Still don’t know why it has milk in the name if it doesn’t have any.”

“Thanks…” I said squinting suspiciously. Him getting my favorite drink when I woke up
hungover from drinking lots of whiskey after ditching him at a diner was not what I was
expecting.
“Can we talk about…” He started.

“No.” I said. “I’m talked out.”

“Hanna.” Steve started.

“I told you to mind your own business.” I said.

“You are my business.” He said. “I know we don’t really talk about the fact that we’re
soulmates and that it might not mean anything to you but it does to me. I’ve made mistakes
and I know I’m not your favorite person…”

“I don’t have a favorite person.” I said.

“Tony.” Steve said as if that explained everything.

“He’s a good friend.” I said.

“I’m trying to do better.” Steve said.

“Yeah so do better in staying out of things I tell you not to get involved in.” I said reaching
for my coffee but instead Steve took it and kept it away from me. “Really?”

“We need to talk about this.” Steve said.

“I don’t have a favorite person but if I did, this is why it wouldn’t be you.” I said getting up
and going to the bathroom slamming the door behind me.
I didn’t get my dirty matcha latte but I did get a nice long hot shower with amazing water
pressure. Unfortunately Steve was like a dog with a bone and he was not going to let this one
go.

He was sitting on the bed right outside the bathroom door waiting for me.

“Theo said you had a kid together.” Steve said. “But you said you two weren’t like that.”

“Leave it alone Steve.” I said.

“No. You know everything about me and everyone else but anytime I try to ask about you or
anything here you shut down. How is that fair?” He said.

“You’ve been in this universe long enough for me to tell you the overall theme of this place.
Life isn’t fair.” I said. “I asked you to mind your own business because my life is complicated
and when I ended up falling through a wormhole suddenly being able to see color and finding
out that I actually had 6 soulmates after trying to kill myself I thought this was a sign I
needed to start over and to do that I had to leave this all behind and never look back. I didn’t
think I was ever going to be back here and I didn’t want to come back.”

“But you’re here now.” He said.

“For now. We are going back. This is temporary and again none of your business.” I said.

“Fine let’s not talk about Theo. Let’s talk about Tony.” Steve said.

“Sure and you can talk about Bucky and Peggy.” I said. The flash of pain on Steve’s face said
it all. “Sucks huh?”

“I didn’t have a kid with Bucky or Peggy.” Steve said. “I have pictures of my best friend
because even if he isn’t the same as I remember him he’s still my friend.”
“I jumped off a building and thought packing up the loft wouldn’t be my problem anymore.”
I said.

“He hasn’t lived here in years.” Steve said.

“If you already know everything then why are you nagging so much?” I said.

“Because this is what you do for people you care about!” He said.

“I don’t need you to butt in. I don’t need a superhero. I’m not one of your fix it projects or a
damsel in distress.” I said. “Theo and I don’t talk because it’s complicated and unless you
were there and directly involved you wouldn’t understand so stay the fuck out of it.”

“If you would just…” he started.

“No.” I said shutting him up. “I’m going to get my own dirty matcha.”

Meanwhile back in Earth 616…

After saving the president from Killian aka the real Mandarin on live TV and also saving
Pepper that had somehow ended up kidnapped, Pepper said the dreaded words that Tony
didn’t want to hear.

“What happens now?” Pepper said.

And the truth was he didn’t know. He didn’t want to think about it. He spent his entire life
wondering about what his soulmate would be like and then he met her when he least expected
it in the last place he would have ever thought it would happen.
It hadn’t been easy and there were a lot of ups and downs along the way but he wouldn’t
change any of it except the ending.

“How do we get home?” Pepper asked.

Oh that was what she meant.

At that moment a quinjet flew over them and Tony felt a pit in his stomach. He had a feeling
that whoever was on that jet was going to tear him a new one.

“Do you know who that is?” Pepper asked.

“No but I can take a guess.” Tony said as the quinjet landed on the edge of the oil refinery.
The ramp slowly lowered itself and sure enough Clint and Natasha walked out.

“Stark.” Natasha said.

“Natashalie, Legolas.” Tony said.

“Is it over?” Clint asked.

“Yeah. They’ve all been taken out. Rhodey’s taking care of the president.” Tony said.

“Why didn’t you leave?” Natasha said. “She warned you.”

“I thought I could…” Tony started.

“She’s dead.” Clint said grabbing Tony by the collar of his shirt. “Hanna is dead and so is
Cap because you were too stubborn to listen to her. She warned you for months!”

“I know…” Tony said feeling a knot in his throat. “I’m sorry.”

“She’s dead and all you can say is you’re sorry!” Clint shouted.

“Clint.” Natasha said prying his hand off of Tony.

“I screwed up and I should have listened to her and…” Tony started but that was all he could
say before Natasha punched him so hard she knocked him out.

“Tony!” Pepper shrieked. “You didn’t have to do that!”

“He got our soulmate killed, he’s lucky that’s all we’re doing.” Natasha said.

“Let’s go.” Clint said.

Months Later…

After the Christmas and the Avengers disbanding… at least that’s what he thought it meant
when Clint tried to throttle him, Natasha knocked him out and Bruce hulked out in the lab
wrecking the place before shrinking down and deciding he needed some space to work
through his feelings.

Thor hadn’t shown up but there were a record number of thunder storms in Norway over the
past few months.
Which brought Tony to the hospital as they were going to operate on him to remove the
shrapnel surrounding his heart. He had worked on a magnet to try and keep it in place after
the reactor was removed so it could be removed.

It was a risky procedure that even with the magnet he had created might actually kill him.
Not that he cared. Since losing Hanna he had become a lot more reckless.

Though in his eyes he wasn’t being reckless he was finally listening to his therapist. He could
have removed the reactor years ago but it was a crutch. He didn’t want to separate himself
from the suit. He thought the reactor was what made him Iron Man but it was always him.
With or without the reactor. With or without the suit. He was Iron Man.

So as they put the mask on him before he was put under, the last thing he thought to himself
was how much he wished Hanna would be there when he woke up.

Earth 1218-

Two blocks from the loft was this very trendy café. By trendy I meant it was overpriced
coffee. Not that I would ever admit that to Steve. Some things are worth paying extra for and
my dirty match lattes with oatmilk were one of those things especially when I was as
hungover as I was right now.

The headache I had woken up with was starting to come back and I needed my dose of
caffeine ASAP. While the café was packed the line was short and moved fast. The only
downside was that there was nowhere to sit until…

“You look like shit.” Theo said from behind me.

“Can we not do this here? I really don’t want to get banned, its almost pumpkin spice latte
season.” I said.

“Fine.” Theo said. “Your boyfriend’s an idiot. Hot but still an idiot.”
“He has his moments.” I said. “And he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Really?” Theo said not convinced before looking at the empty seat in front of him. “You
want to…”

“It’s fine.” I said. “Shouldn’t be too long.”

“Just sit already.” Theo said.

“Thanks.” I said taking the seat across from him.

“Whiskey hangover?” He asked.

“Kimchi picklebacks.” I answered.

“Ugh…” Theo cringed.

“By the third one you can’t taste anything.” I said.

“Because your tastebuds are dead.” He said.

“Still get the discount though.” I said.

“You sure do.” Theo said. “Well this was great lets not do this again anytime soon.”
“Actually… can we take a walk? I promise I’ll let you scream all you want at me before you
go.” I said.

“You sure, I’ve been holding a lot in.” Theo said.

“My therapist says its bad to keep things bottled up.” I said.

“You’re in therapy?” He said genuinely surprised. “Like with a real certified therapist?”

“Psychiatrist technically but she only gives meds as a last resort.” I said.

“Wow. The girl who once said psychology isn’t even a real science willingly went to
therapy.” Theo said.

“It’s a long story.” I said.

“Must be some story. The one time I suggested it you graphically suggested where I could
shove it.” Theo said.

“Kind of like when I suggested you should cut down on the shoes at stick to your budget?” I
retorted.

“Those shoes were amazing and worth maxing out my credit card.” He said.

“You had three pairs just like them.” I said.

“One was grey and the other was charcoal.” Theo insisted as I got my drink and followed me
out.
We walked down a few blocks until we got to a very familiar park.

“Haven’t been here in years.” He said.

“Yeah. Glad they finally fixed the slide.” I said.

“That thing was a death trap.” Theo said.

“So you’re going to yell at me after I say it but I need you to hear me before you do.” I said
and Theo glared at me but didn’t say anything. “I don’t regret what I did. I took Jamie in
because I knew what it was like to be alone in the world and the kid did not deserve that.
Grace didn’t leave because she didn’t want him. She was sick and she needed help. It took
her a while but she pulled it together.”

“After five years of almost no contact other than a few postcards.” Theo said.

“But she did. She loved that kid just like we did but we’re not his parents.” I said.

“We were a family.” Theo said. “You didn’t even talk to me before just giving him to her.”

“Because there was nothing to talk about.” I said. “We were drowning and barely getting by. I
was a trainwreck who wasn’t eating or sleeping and one bad day away from jumping in front
of a bus. You dropped out of school to bartend full time to keep a roof over our heads and
you were still in denial about being gay, used me as a beard and told your parents I ‘fixed’
you.”

“I had everything I needed. We would have figured it out.” Theo said.

“We were living in denial.” I said.

“She’s a fucking junkie Hanna! You let her take the kid who knows where and she could have
fallen off the wag on and Jamie…” he started.

“Jamie’s fine.” I said taking out my phone.

“How can you be so sure?” He said before I handed him my phone so he could see Grace’s
Instagram profile and all the photos of Jamie she had posted.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on them.” I said.

“You mean you’ve been cyberstalking her?” Theo said as he kept scrolling down the photos
stopping at the one of Jamie’s Soccer game.

“Same thing. I didn’t just let him go. It was something I thought over and over again and
everytime it always made sense that he would go back to his mom.” I said. “We put our lives
on hold for that kid and we did our job better than anyone every expected us to but he is not
our kid.”

“It was five years Hanna. For five years we raised that kid, and we had a good life.” He said.

“It was a good life but it wasn’t our happily ever after.” I said.

“I had a family…. I had my family.” He said tearing up. “When I was a kid I hated myself for
being the way I was… for being different. My mom always said that god had a reason for
everything but I never understood why he made me the way I was in a family that hated that
part of me. I hated myself and I guess maybe deep down I still do.”

“I don’t.” I said. “You’re the guy who put his life on hold to help his best friend raise her
nephew. You’re also the guy that dropped out of school to bartend fulltime to keep a roof
over our heads so I wouldn’t. People like that are rare. You’re going to have a family one day
with a man who loves all of you. There’s no one who deserves it more than you.”

“You deserve to be happy too.” Theo said.

“Maybe one day but for now I have someone waiting for me at the loft.” I said.

“He’s a good one. A bit too apple pie for my taste but you could use some of that. Someone
to help you believe there’s still good in the world.” Theo said.

“We’ll see.” I said getting up.

“Speaking of, where’d you find that one? He looks really familiar from somewhere.” Theo
said.

“Steve just has one of those faces.” I said. “I’ll see you around.”

“Was it a dating app? Are you on tinder?” Theo said.

“Bye Theo.” I said walking away.

“Bye Hanna.” Theo said sadly.

That wasn’t a reconciliation. The sad fact of life was that sometimes friends grow apart. I
guess it made sense we grew up really fast together and we leaned on each other a bit too
much. My first therapist said it was bordering on toxic co-dependency.

At the very least we got some closure.

By the time I got back Steve was sitting by the window like a puppy waiting for its owner to
come home.

I really needed to get him back home. This world was going to chew him up and spit him out
before stomping out every last shred of optimism he had in him.

Not to mention without anyone in the other world to balance out Tony… well Ultron.

Enough said.

“Hey.” He greeted.

“Hey.” I said shrugging off my jacket and sitting on the couch.

“Can we talk?” He asked.

“Honestly I’m talked out. Had a pretty long talk with Theo.” I said. “Mistakes were made on
both parts and we agreed that we could have handled things differently. That being said
things are never going to be the same again and it’s time we went our separate ways.”

“That’s… I’m sorry.” Steve said.

“That’s life.” I said. “Which brings me to my next point we need to get home. No more
distractions or getting side tracked. We get home whatever it takes.”

“Wanting to leave isn’t the problem. We just don’t know how to get back.” Steve said.
“Then it’s time to bring out the big guns.” I said pulling out the boxes of comic books
followed by a map. “The only movie and comic books that truly go in depth about the
mysteries of the multiverse are the ones with Doctor Strange.”

“More like dimensions than alternate universes.” Steve said.

“Pocket dimensions are like universes within universes. I guess in a way it’s like an Einstein-
Rosen bridge from Thor.” I said.

“I don’t think any wormholes are going to open up in the middle of New Mexico.” Steve
said.

“They’re not. So when Magic and fiction fail there’s one thing we haven’t tried. Science. Or
well the scientific method.” I said.

“You said science hadn’t figured out how to travel the multiverse or even that far into space.”
Steve said.

“The scientific method is a methodology. We’re going to think through this problem the way
Tony and Bruce would.” I said going into my closet and pulling out a white board.

“Why do you have a whiteboard?” Steve asked confused when I pulled it out of the back of
the closet.

“It came in handy when Theo and I were in college. Chemical reactions and calculus
problems didn’t always fit on a piece of paper.” I said as I started doodling on the board.
“There’s a saying. Once is chance, twice is a coincidence the third time is a pattern. So how
do we get our pattern?”

“Let’s start with the first time. Step by step what happened that day?” Steve said.
“Pretty much the same thing I do now except you’re not here, and after work I came home
decided I was done picked out my one-day dress. You know the sort of dress that makes my
boobs and ass look amazing without making me look slutty. And no matter how bloated I am
because Aunt Flo’s in town…” I started.

“I get it.” Steve said.

“Took the metro went to the bar and drank a lot of mango martinis. The night died down and
I was in my corner. They started clearing the place out walked to the edge, gave a toast
goodbye, finished my overpriced drink and jumped.” I said.

“And?” Steve said.

“I crashed into Tony after he let go of the nuke, fell through the wormhole and here we are.” I
said.

“Not that. What do you remember? What did you feel?” Steve said.

“Nothing.” I said.

“Hanna really think about it.” Steve said.

“I didn’t feel anything. I fell, everything went dark and then it wasn’t. That’s all I remember.”
I said.

“Okay the second time.” He asked.

“I don’t really remember it. I think I hit my head after the first blast and I was in and out.
What do you remember?” I asked.
“Everything.” Steve said. “You and Tony were arguing about him not wanting to leave. The
woman kept agreeing with you but you kicked her out, not that she left. The missile hit the
house and we were thrown back. You were knocked out. I was closest to you but Tony got to
you first but then the second blast hit and the house started falling apart. Tony got pushed
back and I grabbed you when you started falling but then the rest of the house started falling
and us with it. We got separated when we hit the water. I found you pinned under a beam and
I couldn’t get you out…”

“I remember that.” I said cutting him off as I realized how hard that it was for him to say it
out loud. “I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t making it out and I told you to go. You didn’t then it all
went dark. It was all dark and I was falling. There was a light far away over me and it was
getting farther and farther away then all of a sudden I wasn’t. I felt like something grabbed
me and sling shot me back up until… I woke up.”

“It was all different. One was on purpose the other was cause by someone. You drowned and
died but the first time you didn’t.” Steve said.

“Or did I?” I said.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked.

“Well the first time I jumped off a rooftop bar on the 20 stories high.” I said. “Jumping off a
roof seven floors up or less, chances are, you’re going to do some damage but you’ll live. If
you want to be sure it’s anything above ten.”

“How do you…” he started.

“Believe it or not a lot of thought goes into planning how to end it all. I did my homework.” I
said. “That and I didn’t want to end up a vegetable waiting for someone to pull the plug on
me.”

“As bad as things are here they could get better.” Steve said.
“Keep telling yourself that.” I said. “The point I was trying to make is that we’re not entirely
sure what happened the first time. I jumped and then what? I crashed into Tony?”

“Yes?” Steve said sounding usure.

“We showed up here the same night I jumped. So maybe the first step to getting back is
figuring out what exactly happened the that night.” I said.

“That was months ago.” Steve said.

“There had to have been people around. I mean there are people living on the streets, plus
security feeds… social media.” I said.

“What are you expecting to find?” Steve asked.

“Blood spatter on the pavement?” I said and the look on his face when I said it let me know I
was in for a lecture about being so callous and reckless with my life. I swear Lecturing me
was one of Steve’s favorite past times. “Anything that can give us a clue as to what
happened, anything that is remotely similar to what happened when I drowned and we got
back here.”

“Alright then. Let’s go to the bar.” Steve said immediately regretting agreeing to this.

“Not dressed like that.” I said going to my closet to pick out an outfit. I threw a pair of black
jeans and a navy button up at Steve before pulling off my tee shirt and pulling down my
jeans.

After months of living together with only one very small bathroom I kind of stopped caring.
That and Steve was super awkward and always covered his own eyes or looked away when I
did this.
I pulled out an asymmetrical one strap dress with a thigh high slit midi maroon dress.

I put my long hair up into a messy bun while Steve finished getting ready. I was seriously
starting to consider getting a haircut. My hair was getting way too long and it was a hassle to
keep it out of the way and to keep it untangled.

I was just slipping on a pair of studs when Steve cleared his throat to get my attention.

“Is this okay?” He said gesturing to his outfit.

“Blue is your color.” I said grabbing my cell phone and ordering us an Uber.
When we got to the bar we took a lap around the building to try and find the spot I would
have landed in if I had hit the ground.

Of course it had been months so even if there was a blood splatter it would have been cleaned
up by then. I looked up at the roof from the spot I guessed I would have landed at.

“Okay this should be it.” I said.

“Looks clean… well no blood. At least I don’t think that’s blood.” Steve said looking at the
ground and the questionable puddle stains on it.

“Well…” I started looking around before I spotted a street camera from the parking lot across
the street. “Jackpot. The one things that is the same in any universe is that parking sucks in
every major city and all parking attendants have access to the security feed. If we’re lucky
they upload it ot the cloud and we can look at the footage from that night.”

“And he’s just going to let us see it?” Steve said.

“Ehem.” I said gesturing to myself. “This is why we dress up Steve.”

After a bit of flirting… some embarrassment on my part because turns out once the parking
attendant saw Steve and thought he was Chris Evans I was essentially invisible.

“Oh I have so many questions…” He rambled.

I had to give it to Steve he took it in stride and was surprisingly good at thinking on his feet.
Probably practice from his USO tour days.

While he was dealing with his biggest fan I got into the computer and found the camera feed
from that night. I downloaded the file onto the UBS keychain I had before saving Steve and
preventing him from any big spoilers.
“We got what we came for.” Steve said.

“No, we got a lead but we should still head up. Also I need a drink to forget about how much
these heels suck.” I said.

“You’re just making up an excuse to drink.” He said.

“I don’t need an excuse to drink but if I did needing you to cut loose for a bit would be a
good one. Seriously being so tightly wound is not healthy.” I said leading him back to the bar.

“You said we needed to focus.” Steve said.

“Who said we can’t do both. Think of this as recon.” I said.

I got him to have a beer but 21st century dancing and music was not his forte.

Once we got home I grabbed my laptop and loaded the video. It was pretty boring just cars
coming in and out of the lot or moving across the street. I even spotted myself getting
dropped off by the Uber the day of.

“There’s hours of video to go through.” Steve said.

“We don’t need all of it.” I said fast forwarding to later in the night. “Okay I jumped as they
were closing the bar around 2:30…”

I moved it about 2:10am.

“Fast forward…” I started at first I didn’t see anything until a giant me sized blur moved
down the screen. “Oh!”

“Was that…” Steve started.

“Okay let’s slow it down…” I said backing it up and moving it slowly frame by frame. And
yeah I had most definitely hit the pavement that night. I didn’t know what I was expecting
but I felt my heartbeat in my ears and a knot in my throat seeing it happen. It wasn’t gory or
graphic it was just a blur and a loud snap when I hit the pavement. It was dark and I didn’t
see my face but I could see a lump mangled shape on the ground. “Time of death 2:28 am.”

“Turn it off.” Steve said.

“Not yet.” I said.

“Hanna.” He said.

“Wait.” I said firmly… about a minute later there was a bright flash of light that made all the
car alarms in the lot and on the street go off and I was gone. “Is that what it looked like in the
water?”

“Something like that…” Steve said staring at the screen.

“I actually died that night and, in the water, and both times I went to another universe.” I said.

“It looks that way.” Steve said closing the computer.

“So if we go for a third…” I started.

“No.” he said.

“Steve it happened twice, chances are if it happens again we can go home.” I said.

“Or it’ll kill you permanently this time.” Steve said.

“I don’t think it will.” I said. “It worked twice there isn’t a reason it wouldn’t happen again.”

“That’s not a chance I’m willing to take.” He said.

“It’s not your choice to make.” I said.

“It is when you obviously have a death wish.” Steve said.

“I don’t have a death wish, I want to go home. You don’t think I miss Clint, Natasha, Thor
and Bruce or that I want to yell at Tony for being a reckless idiot?” I said. “We know how to
get back.”

“You think you know how to get back. This could just as easily kill you and then what? I’ll
be the one that has to bury you.” Steve said. “We’ll find another way.”

“What other way? We looked at every possibility and this is the only one real lead we have.”
I said.

“We’ll find something else.” He said.

“And if we don’t?” I said.

“We’ll find something.” Steve said

“It’s been months if we were going to find something else don’t you think we would have
found something already?” I said.

“You are not dying again.” Steve said. “and if the others were here they’d agree with me.”

“They’d also realize this might be our only chance and to get back and would come to terms
with the risk.” I said.

“I said no.” He said.

“You’re not in charge here.” I said.

“I am when you’re not thinking straight.” Steve said.

“Just because it’s not the way you’d do it doesn’t mean it isn’t right.” I said with that I headed
to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

The next few days were tense and we hardly spoke to each other.

But just because he wasn’t talking to me doesn’t mean he wasn’t talking to someone else.

Since he couldn’t get me to see things his way he talked to the one person he thought could
give him any sense of insight to me.

That person being Theo.

“So you screwed up already huh?” he said when he showed up at the diner Steve asked to
meet him at.

“I didn’t screw up.” Steve said. “We just disagreed on something and she refuses to even
consider another option other than…”

“Hers because Hanna knows everything and she knows better than everyone.” Theo finished
for him.

“She didn’t put it like that.” Steve said.

“Oh she never does.” Theo said. “I have to say she’s a mess of a person but her instincts are
always on point.”

“They are but not about this.” Steve said.

“What are you guys fighting about?” Theo said.

“I’d rather not say.” Steve said.

“Her future?” Theo guessed.

“You could say that…” Steve said since he was half right.

“Yeah that’s the problem with geniuses.” Theo said.

“Geniuses?” Steve said confused.

“Well not technically a genius. Wait you haven’t noticed it?” Theo said.

“Noticed what?” Steve said.

“Hanna’s insanely good and specific memory? Completely perfect recall of well almost all
events. Makes her almost unbeatable at trivia.” Theo said.

Steve thought about it… how Hanna was able to perfectly recall events from conversations,
facts and more importantly the movies about his and the rest of the team’s lives. The tiny
details he would have missed unless Hanna pointed them out. How highly aware she was of
her surroundings even though most of the time she seemed aloof or as if she wasn’t paying
attention.

“Huh…” Steve said.

“Yeah, she’s good. Skipped a grade, could always ace a test without ever studying. The thing
about gifted people especially those that get classified as gifted early on is that they can go
one of two ways. They either grow up to be total neurotic control freak workaholics that only
live to work and nothing else matters outside of it or… They grow up to settle for the bare
minimum because they don’t see the point.” He said.

“Hanna’s not either of those.” Steve said.

“Nope Hanna’s a bit of both but her problem isn’t that. Hanna’s problem comes down to one
thing. She needs to be needed.” Theo said. “Why else would a seventeen year old kid take on
the responsibility of raising a kid that isn’t hers and does whatever it takes to get the kid’s
junkie mom into rehab over and over again no matter how many times she disappoints her.
It’s the worst thing about her but its also the best thing.”

“How is that supposed to help?” Steve said. “How do I talk her out of what she wants to do?”
“You don’t.” Theo said. “Hanna’s a pragmatist and as annoying as it is she’s mostly always
right. The only time I managed to talk her into doing something my way was because I
managed to come up with an idea that she hadn’t thought of yet.”

“So I just need to come up with a better plan than hers?” Steve said. “I can do that. It can’t be
that hard her plan is jumping off a building.”

“Bungee jumping? What the hell when I suggested it she said I better update my life
insurance policy and will and even then it was a no.” Theo said.

“We’re planning a vacation.” Steve said as a cover.

“Nowhere sunny. She hates the sun.” Theo added.

 Chapter 31

After the week of silence the last thing I ever expected to some home to was Steve pulling
out a homemade lasagna from the oven and apologizing for being so stubborn.

He was up to something. Steve Rogers would never fold this easily.

“Hanna, I’m sorry for being so stubborn.” Steve said.

“But?” I asked.

“No buts, you were right.” Steve said.

“Right about what exactly?” I asked needing to be sure we were getting on the right page or
if he was just trying to say what I wanted to hear.

“We need to get home and we have to do whatever it takes to do that. So I’m not saying not
to you…jumping again. I’m just asking for a little more time.” Steve said.

“We’ve been here for months already.” I said.

“I know, but it’s risky and we need to try every possible option before that one to be sure.”
Steve said.

“What other options do we even have?” I said.

“I’ve been doing some reading and I think I have an idea.” Steve said. “Almost all comic
books and their stories happen in one place.”
“New York. You want to go to New York?” I asked.

“In the Doctor Strange comics it explains that New York is the center of everything…” He
started.

“It’s one of three nexus points on the planet. The other two being London and Hong Kong.
That’s why the three Sanctums of the mystic arts were built there as a way of guarding them.
But that doesn’t matter here because its another universe where magic isn’t real and Bleeker
Street where the Sanctum is supposed to be doesn’t exist here.” I said.

“Or maybe it’s hiding in plane sight.” Steve said.

“Steve it’s a dead end.” I said.

“We don’t know that.” He said. “Maybe its not called the same thing here but its still there.”

“It’s not. Stark Tower in this universe is the MetLife building. Sokovia and Wakanda aren’t
real countries here and the movies themselves aren’t filmed in New York. They’re filmed in,
Cleveland, Atlanta and Canada.” I said.

“But New York is what it’s all based on.” Steve said. “What do we have to lose?”

“Besides more time?” I said.

“Hanna.” Steve said.

“I get what you are trying to do here Steve but the New York of this universe isn’t the same
as the one you grew up in or the one you saved from an alien invasion. If you think it’s tough
getting by here it’s even harder in New York.” I said.
“I’m not saying we move there but maybe its worth a visit.” He said.

“You want to go to New York?” I said.

“It could be fun?” He retorted.

“What universe have you been living in the past few months?” I said.

“A few days away from everything couldn’t hurt.” He said. “I’ll look for plane tickets…”

“No.” I said. “Plane tickets aren’t an option for you.”

“It’s the fastest way there.” Steve said.

“I know but I also know that to get on a plane you need an ID. A real one not one we got
behind the restrooms at Macarthur Park.” I said. “If you haven’t noticed this world isn’t
exactly nice to people that don’t have the right type of ID.”

“Then how are we supposed to get to New York.” Steve said.

And that is how I somehow ended up agreeing to a cross country train ride to New York City.
Four days on a train.

I decided to pay a bit extra for comfort so we had a sleeper car with bunk beds. Though it
wasn’t much extra room with me sharing the room with a super soldier.

“I call top bunk.” I said.

“Sure.” Steve said feeling a bit uneasy as the train started moving.

Unlike Steve who could barely sit still I came prepared for the four days we were going to be
sitting around. I brought books, my laptop with my downloaded movies music and in case
Steve got too antsy a sketch pad and some drawing pencils.

I was prepared.

We were barely three hours in when Steve started pacing.

“This cubicle barely counts as a room and you trying to pace isn’t helping.” I said turning the
page to my book.

“What are you reading?” He asked.

“A book.” I said.

“I can see that, I meant what’s your book about?” he said.

“An astronaut that gets stranded on Mars.” I said as I continued to read The Martian. “He’s
using his poop to grow potatoes.”

“That’s… interesting.” He said. It was quiet for another minute before he started tapping his
foot.

I sighed before opening my bag and handing him the drawing pencils and sketch pad.
“You like to draw right?” I said.

“Thanks.” He said smiling.

That calmed him down for a while.

So the first day went by quietly.

Day two the sketchpad had lost its appeal.

I was playing Mariokart on my Nintendo Switch when Steve started clearing his throat trying
to get my attention.

“Steve I swear if you’re about to ask if you can draw me like ‘one of your French girls’…” I
said trying to tease him.

“One of my what?” he asked confused.

“It’s from a movie… nevermind.” I said. “Do you need the snack stash?”

“No I just… you and Tony…” he started.

“UH” I groaned. “You’re going to start this again.”

“It’s never really started since you never really answer the question.” Steve said.
“You spent way too much time with Natasha.” I said looking down from my bunk as he sat
on the floor tapping his pencil on the sketchpad.

“It’s just a question.” Steve said.

“It’s a pretty loaded question.” I said.

“I know you’re angry with him because of…” He started.

“I’m not angry. I’m annoyed and I was a bit angry but if I’m being honest I always knew
Tony wasn’t going to listen to me. He tends to do things his own way, always with the best
intentions but it all worked out in the end. He saved the day.” I said.

“But you died.” He said.

“And it didn’t stick.” I said.

“And because there’s something else there?” Steve said.

“We’re friends.” I said.

“Come on Hanna, I’ve seen you two together. The way you two look at each other that’s not
just friendship at least not on Tony’s side.” He said.

“It’s not complicated.” I said.

“Yes he’s your soulmate.” Steve said.

“No I mean in general. Being around Tony it’s easy. There’s no judgement, no expectation,
I’m a mess, but he just accepts everything… faults, and all. He doesn’t look at me like I’m
broken and it’s his job to fix me. I’m not a lost cause I’m just me.” I said.

“I didn’t mean…” he said for the hundredth time.

“You did.” I said. “You were being honest. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I still shouldn’t have said it.” Steve said.

“Hm.” I said picking up my book again.

“That still doesn’t answer the question.” Steve said.

“Some questions don’t have answers. I really don’t know how to answer that question. He’s a
friend. One of my favorite people. Definitely higher on the list than you…” I said and Steve
shot me a hurt look. “He doesn’t take my coffee away from me.”

“Very Funny.” Steve said with a smirk.

I was quiet for a while before I realized there would probably never be a better time to say it.

“He needs you.” I said.

“Who?” Steve said confused.

“Tony. I know it doesn’t seem like it but you two balance each other out. That’s why the team
itself works. Don’t let your differences and pride drive each other away. United you’re
Earth’s mightiest heroes, divided the world falls apart.” I said.
“Is that supposed to be a warning?” He said.

“I give up on trying to warn people.” I said. “Hasn’t really helped anyone.”

“What do you think they’re doing back home?” Steve asked.

“I doubt they’re staying out of trouble.” I said falling back onto my cot.

Two and a half days later our train arrived in New York

Nothing I said could have prepared Steve for the insanity and… smell of New York.

“It’s… different than I remember it being.” Steve said looking around seeing people on the
streets as the smell of sewage, garbage and BO hit us.

“Same city different universe.” I said. “You okay taking the subway?”

“I used to take the subway all the time.” Steve said.

“Sure…” I said opening my phone to get the directions to the hotel we were going to be
staying at. In the two stops we were on the train, we saw five rats on of which crawled over
Steve’s shoe, a man peeing on the corner of a building and we got splashed by a puddle of
greenish brown sludge when a taxi sped by us.

“Manhattan isn’t Brooklyn.” Steve said in his city’s defense.

“Prepare to be very disappointed.” I said as we walked into the hotel… well Hostel we were
staying at.

That didn’t deter Steve in fact he seemed even more motivated.

The following morning he had a got up early to wake me up with coffee this time because he
had the whole day planned. Starting with the Marvel walking tour of New York. The tour
included movies still so everyone could follow along and see for themselves which scenes
took place there…. Or well a green screen reproduction.

“And finally here we are the home of the sanctum of the mystic arts and one Dr. Steve
Strange.” The tour guide said.

“This is our stop.” Steve said as we stepped away from the group.

“Have you seen the building? The only thing magical about it is how they manage to keep the
bricks that red.” I said.

“Loki had his tricks and I’m sure the Dr. Strange of this universe does too.” Steve said. “How
do we get in?”

“You’re the man with a plan.” I said. Steve gave me an annoyed look until he got an idea.

“The fire escape.” He said.

“What?” I asked before he took my hand and led me to the back side of the building.

“Alright I’ll give you a boost up and…” Steve started.

“Maybe you should go on your own. Do some recon? I’ll be your look out.” I said.

“No we can go, it’s not that far up.” He said lookup up at the at least six floor apartment
building.

“Yeah but, I don’t have that great of a history with roofs.” I said and Steve gave me an
annoyed look.

“Really Hanna?” He said.

“Still too soon?” I retorted.

“Wait here.” Steve said going to parkour his way up the building. I really hoped no one called
the cops on him. I was feeling a bit decaffeinated so I decided to go grab a coffee at the
bodega across the street but as I was making my way out of the alley I noticed the back door
to the building was propped open.

As pointless as I thought this whole trip was It couldn’t hurt to take a look around. Also I
needed to make sure Steve didn’t piss off the wrong person and get himself arrested. That
would be the last thing we needed right now. So I went in and used the elevator to get up to
the roof.

As far as I could tell there was nothing special about this building. It was a crappy apartment
building with a roof that someone had decided to put a kiddy pool, some lawn chairs and a
couch that they probably picked up off the street to give it some sort of ambiance.

Steve was there looking out at any neighboring roofs to see if maybe he was missing
something.

“Well this is cozy.” I said.

“It’s probably hiding in plain sight. Maybe there’s a hidden door or…” he started.

“Steve.” I said. “This isn’t a hidden SSR Lab that you get in by showing your umbrella.
There’s nothing magical or special about it other than how much it sucks.”

“Then we’ll try something else.” Steve said.

“There is nothing else except…” I started.

“That is not an option.” He said.

“It’s our only option.” I said.

“Hanna you are not dying again.” Steve said.

“I died twice and came back. Chances are I’ll do it again.” I said.

“And there’s a very real chance you wont.” He said.

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take. Look we can run around this city trying to find a
magical portal to another universe that doesn’t exist or stop wasting time and take a leap of
faith.” I said.

“That’s what you’re going to call it?” Steve said.

“I thought a Jackson Pollock on the pavement would sound too harsh.” I said.
“You keep making jokes.” He said.

“If I’m honest you think I’m too blunt. If I try to soften the blow by being sarcastic I’m not
taking things seriously enough for you. I can’t win with you so I’m done. You want to keep
looking? Keep looking by yourself, I’m going to enjoy the rest of my vacation.” I said before
turning around and leaving.

And that’s exactly what I did. Well as much as I could considering this wasn’t the world I
wanted to be in.

I took in the sights and visited the museums. One day while Steve was… well I don’t know
where he was. He was either trying to get into what was Stark Tower in the other universe I
was walking down fifth Avenue when I did something on a whim. Well a whim caused by me
sitting down while I was on a train, leaning against the wrong spot and getting gum stuck in
my hair.

This universe did not like me.

I went to the closest salon on Fifth Avenue that took walk ins and had them cut the gum out
of my hair and since they were already going to charge me forty bucks I decided to dive in
for a new look. My stylist worked their magic and I ended up with a cute chopped wavy chin
length bob.
It was going to take some getting used to but at least it would save me some time in the
morning.

I was at the Museum of Modern Art standing and admiring Van Gogh’s Starry Night when
Steve found me.

“I’ve been looking for you.” Steve said.

“Well you found me.” I said as I kept my eyes on the painting. “I’m don’t really have an eye
for this sort of thing. Not the way Tony or you do but this one has always been my favorite.
Thought I should see it in person before we go home.”

“They have one in our universe.” Steve said.

“But maybe there’s a difference. Subtle, maybe some of the brush strokes… Maybe it’s
bigger like I thought this one would be.” I said admiring for ten more seconds. “And I’m
done.”
“You got a haircut.” Steve said.

“Thought it was time for a change.” I said.

“It’s shorter.” He said.

“That’s how a haircut works.” I said with a smirk. “How was your week? Did you find that
portal?”

“No.” Steve said clenching his fists and taking a breath before continuing. “There’s nothing
here and I think… I think it might be time to consider your idea.”

“What made you change your mind?” I said.

“Someone painted a mural of Tony in Brooklyn.” Steve said. “And it made me remember
what you said. If he were here what would he do? And he would trust you. He’s reckless and
stubborn but he always does the right thing including stepping aside and letting others take
the lead when it’s the right time. You’ve known what you were doing the entire time you
we’ve been here and I’m the one that has been giving you a hard time since. If you really
think this is the right call then… we should try.”

“Do you really think that?” I said.

“I know I don’t belong here and that’s the only way we know might get us home.” Steve said.
“If you want to do it then… Do it.” He said.

I was quiet for a minute before reaching for Steve’s hand giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Let’s go home.” I said.

“Let’s go.” He seconded.

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was about to set. We found 12 story building
downtown with low security. We had agreed that there was no point in both of us jumping. It
would just meet me on the street and reach me before I jumped to another universe. If we
were lucky I wouldn’t appear in outer space.

“Okay so I’ll just be here.” Steve said sounding unsure.

“You’re not the one that has to climb up these stairs.” I said trying to jog up twelve flights of
stairs. “We couldn’t have found a building with an elevator for me to jump off of? I might die
of a heart attack before I get up there.”

“Take your time.” Steve said.

“We’ve taken enough time.” I said. “So I’m like 99% sure this is going to work…”

“Only 99%?” Steve asked.

“Nothing in life is a guarantee… and If this doesn’t work and I actually do die this time just
know that you are one of my favorite people in the multiverse and I’m glad it was you that
was with me through all of this. It wasn’t exactly easy but you’re not the worst person to have
around.” I said.

“I didn’t exactly make it easy for you.” Steve said.

“And I returned the favor.” I said.

“I know I’ve said it before but I’m sorry about what I said. You are not a lost cause. This
world is… It’s not an easy one or fair and I understand why you felt like there wasn’t a better
option. There were times it made me feel hopeless and alone even when I wasn’t. You’re
stronger than you think.” Steve said.

“There’s one more thing.” I said panting as I got to the last set of stairs. “If for some reason
you make it back without me… Tell everyone how much I missed them and how much I
wanted to get back and keep living. And tell Tony… Tell him I think about that night we ate
the best burgers ever with the best view of the city, a lot. He’ll know what that means.”

“Okay.” Steve said. “It’s okay if you changed your mind.”

“I haven’t. Just covering all of our bases.” I said as I finally opened the door to the roof and
walked out. “Okay I’m in.”

“Need me to wave at you?” He asked.

“No I think I can see the top of your head from up here.” I said.

“And I think I can see you.” Steve said waving at me.

“Did you really just wave?” I asked.

“Just needed to be sure.” He said.

“Alright then…. I’ll see you in a minute.” I said ending the call before realizing that was the
last thing Natasha said to him in endgame. Fuck I should have chosen better last words.

I took a breathe before climbing onto the ledge. I looked out at the city. Busy, loud and
smelly. I was not going to miss this place.
“Well universe goodbye and this time I really mean it.” I said. I was about to lean forward to
take the plunge when my phone started ringing.

“Seriously Steve.” I said to myself before picking up without checking the Caller ID.
“What?”

“Uh Is this Hanna Marin?” The woman on the other end of the line said.

“Yes who am I speaking to?” I asked.

“My name is Maggie Pearson I’m a nurse here at Dallas Presbyterian…” She said.
Everything she said to that just sort blanked out. That one phone call cemented everything I
already knew about this place.

This universe really fucking hated me.

I got off the ledge and ran back down to get Steve. he was still on the street looking up
waiting for me to jump when I walked to him grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.

“Hanna?” He asked.

“Change of plans.” I said.

“You changed your mind?” Steve asked sounding slightly relieved.

“No, something came up. There’s some… unfinished business. I can’t leave yet. I need to
catch a flight to Dallas and you’re going back to LA.” I said.
“What? No we can go together.” He said.

“No you can’t. This is time sensitive. I don’t have time for a train or bus ride to Dallas.” I
said. “I’m grabbing my things from the hostel and then heading to the airport.”

“Hanna what’s in Dallas?” Steve asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” I said hailing down a cab. Once we got to the hostel I
shoved all of my things into my bag and quickly bought my plane ticket. It was going to be a
close call but I was going to make it. “This is your ticket and your cabin reservation. They
shouldn’t give you any trouble for wanting to leave a day early especially since it’s the
middle of the week. I know I don’t need to tell you this but don’t draw attention to yourself
and stay out of trouble.”

“I can go with you.” Steve said.

“We’ve been over this. There isn’t enough time.” I said. “You said you trusted me and I really
need you to trust me with this.”

“I do but you should trust me too.” He said.

“I do, I just don’t have enough time and I don’t know all the specifics right now. I’ll tell you
when I see you in LA.” I said. “Just get there.”

“I will.” He said just as a cab stopped. “Let me know where you are.”

“Yeah.” I said about to get into the cab before I turned around and hugged Steve. He was
surprised but returned the hug. “I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Be safe.” He said. I nodded before getting in the cab.

Five and a half hours later I was getting out of a cab outside of a hospital in Dallas. The last
place I ever thought I would be.

I walked into to the reception where a nurse took me up to the right floor walked me to the
right room where the doctor was waiting.

“How is he?” I asked.

“He’s a brave kid but he’s scared. We haven’t told him anything but he knows something is
wrong.” She said.

“Was he hurt at all?” I asked.

“A sprained arm, a few bruises and a mild concussion but he should be okay to be discharged
by tomorrow morning.” She said.

“And Grace?” I asked.

“Your sister…” She started.

“Sister in law.” I corrected.

“She is in critical condition not just from the injuries she sustained in the accident but from
the drugs she had taken before hand. She coded more than once on the table. She’s not out of
the woods yet but she is stable for the moment. The same cannot be said about her partner or
the passengers of the car she crashed into.” She said. “The police are waiting for her to wake
up to take her statement but you should know she is going to be charged.”

“Of course.” I said.

“Is there anyone else that should be notified? Your brother?” The doctor asked.

“There’s no one else but me.” I said.

“A social worker will be here in the morning to discuss next steps.” She said.

“Thank you.” I said before looking into the room where my nephew was asleep in bed.

I had tried to do the right thing and in the end I had made things much much worse.

I walked into the room looking at how much Jamie had grown in five years. His hair was
longer sill in wavy loose curls. Long eyelashes. His arm was in a red cast since red was
apparently still his favorite color.

The kid probably hated me for putting him in a place that led to him getting hurt.

He looked a bit cold so I pulled up his blankets and that’s when I noticed the finger shaped
bruises on his other arm.

If Grace makes it out of the ICU I’m going to put her back in it… permanently.

In the meantime I sent Steve a text letting him know I had made it to Dallas before I started
googling how long a jail sentence Grace was looking at for driving under the influence of
narcotics, vehicular manslaughter and child neglect and abuse. She was going away for a
very long time.

“Shit.” I said to myself before falling back in my seat.

I was in and out the whole night. Eventually I gave up on sleep and went to go grab some
coffee. When I came back there was a nurse from the ICU letting me know that Grace had
woken up and was asking for me.

She hurt my nephew, broke her freaking promise and was now taking me away from my
coffee. That bitch was definitely on my shit list now.

So I tossed my coffee and followed the nurse down to the ICU where she left me at the glass
sliding doors. I looked at the beaten, battered and handcuffed woman lying back defeated as
she started coming down from her drug induced haze.

I took a breath before walking in to prepare myself for the barrage of excuses she was going
to give me to justify her most recent screw up.

“Hanna.” She said smiling as I walked in. I didn’t say anything just stared at her. “You’re
mad.”

“Mad doesn’t even begin to cover it.” I said.

“I fucked up again.” She said.

“That’s what you’re calling falling off the wagon, getting high as hell, driving a car with your
son in the back seat, the dick of a drug dealer you were dating who probably put the finger
shaped bruises on Jamie’s arm in the passenger seat and crashing said car killing three
people?” I asked.

“You don’t understand…” Grace cried.

“What’s there to understand Grace? Five years ago you swore to me that you were clean for
over a year. You had a job… a future that you had worked your ass for so that you could be
the mom Jamie deserved. You swore to me that you were going to do this right. That I did my
part and that I could let him go because this was the right thing to do and that he was going to
be okay.” I said as I started crying without realizing it.

“I couldn’t do it. I can’t do it with him.” She cried.

“You did it for him.” I said. “You’re supposed to do everything for him, no matter how hard it
is because that’s your job as his mom. He comes before everything.”

“I can’t be a mom and stay sober.” Grace admitted. “I tried and I couldn’t do it. I can’t do
both. If I have to choose between my sobriety and him. I choose me.”

“Well that’s not your choice anymore.” I said. “You are not going anywhere near Jamie ever
again because you’re looking at least 20 years in jail.”

Grace started sobbing and begging.

“There’s nothing I can do for you but there is something you can do for your son. It’s the
least you can do all things considered. A social worker is going to be here in a few hours to
talk about what’s going to happen to Jamie when you go to jail.” I said.

“You can take him.” Grace said.

“You’re going to sign away your rights.” I said.

“I’ll sign whatever you want.” Grace said. “You can take him. I never should have taken him
from you in the first place.”

“You’re going to sign your rights away but not to me.” I said.
Hours Later…

I stood in front of the hospital waiting for a cab to pull up. I had called him in the middle of
the night and even though he had said he was on his way I couldn’t be sure.

“Shit.” Theo said when he got out of the cab.

“Yeah I know Texas heat is even worse than LA in the summer.” I said.

“I was talking about your hair.” Theo said. “Quarter life crisis?”

“I leaned against some gun on the New York subway.” I said.

“You were in New York?” He said surprised.

“Steve’s from Brooklyn.” I said.

“You went to New York with Steve? You must really like this guy.” He said.

“He grows on you.” I said.

“So if you’re out here then what’s the actual emergency I had to fly out here for?” Theo
asked.

“Well I’m just going to say it. You were right and I was wrong.” I said.

“I’m sorry can you say that again?” he asked.

“Grace fucked up.” I said.

“She’s fucked up a lot. What did she do this time?” Theo asked.

“Fell off the wagon, dated her drug dealer, drove while she was high as a kite and crashed her
car killing three people.” I said.

“What the fuck?!” He said. “Where the fuck is Jamie?”

“He’s okay. Still asleep in his room. He has a sprained arm and a mild concussion.” I said.

“Shit.” He said freaking out. “I’m going to fucking kill the bitch.”

“No you’re not.” I said.

“Yes I am.” Theo said. “I don’t know why you have a soft spot for her but…”

“She’s going to jail for at least 20 years.” I said interrupting his rant. “She’ll get what’s
coming to her then.”

“Then why the fuck am I here Hanna?” He asked.

“When I let him go. I thought I was doing the right thing. I made that choice without talking
to you about it and I shouldn’t have. So this time I thought we should decide this together.” I
said.

“What’s there to decide?” Theo asked.

“Grace is signing away her rights. She isn’t cut out to be a mom and she can’t be a mom in
jail and I… I can’t take Jamie because I’m going away for a while.” I said.

“What do you mean you’re going away?” Theo asked.

“It’s complicated. Just leave it at that. I’m going and I can’t take Jamie with me so it falls to
you.” I said.

“Are you asking me to take him?” Theo said.

“He loves you and you’re the only dad he’s ever known.” I said.

“Han, I adore that kid but it almost killed me to lose him. I can’t do that again.” Theo said.

“You won’t.” I said. “If you go in there and sign the papers with the Social Worker he’s
yours. No take backs.”

“I… I live in a shoebox. I don’t think it’s even legal for me to live in it.” Theo said.

“Well I know a pretty roomy loft in Little Tokyo in a converted firehouse. The rents free if
you take over managing the building. I think I can put in a good word with the owner for
you.” I said.

“What about you?” He asked.

“Like I said, I’m going away for a while.” I said. “It’s up to you. You can say no and I’ll
figure something else out but even if you say no I think he’d really like to see you.”
“This is a lot.” Theo said.

“I know and I know the delivery really sucked but I’ve never really been the best at this.” I
said.

“You’re as a subtle as a heart attack.” Theo said. “I’d be his only parent?”

“You and whoever gets to be the lucky guy you end up with.” I said.

“I can’t imagine doing it without you.” Theo said.

“You’ll be amazing. You always were.” I said.

“No takebacks?” He asked.

“No takeback.” I confirmed.

“Let’s go get my kid.” Theo said smiling.

 Chapter 32

After everything I thought Jamie would hate me. He should have hated me or resented me but
as we stood up waiting to be let off the plane he tugged on my hand.

“Auntie Hanna, can we make hot chocolate when we get home?” Jamie asked looking up at
me with his big green eyes.

“Hot chocolate its 90 degrees out?” Theo said.

“But I haven’t had real hot chocolate in forever. And mom…” Jamie said freezing at the
mention. It was the first time since the hospital that he had even mentioned her.

Theo just gave me a look not knowing what to say.

“You know your uncle has to go home and pick up a few things so how about you spend the
day with me. There’s actually someone I want you to meet.” I said.

“Can I?” Jamie asked Theo.

“Of course you can buddy.” Theo said ruffling his hair. “And we can all have dinner together
before your Aunt leaves for her trip.”

“Where are you going Auntie?” Jamie asked.

“A place that’s really far away.” I said. “Come on kiddo. We still have to go get our things.”
We dropped Theo off at his studio on the way to the loft. Once we got there Jamie ran into
the building and up the stairs excited to be home. He didn’t even wait for me to get out of the
elevator before he ran down the hall, grabbed the keys out of the planter and ran up the stairs
of the loft.

“Jamie wait for me.” I called out after him hoping Steve wouldn’t panic and try to attack the
short intruder.

“Hanna!” Steve said but instead came face to face with Jamie. “Uh hi?”

“Hi.” Jamie said scrunching his eyebrows eying Steve up and down. “Auntie Hanna why is
Captain America in our house?”

“Uh…” I said looking at Steve. “What do you mean sweetie?”

“Captain America.” Jamie said running to where we kept the movies and coming back with
one of the DVD boxes.

“Uh well, Jamie remember when I said I had a friend I wanted you to meet?” I said. “This is
Steve. He’s a really good friend of mine. Steve this is my nephew Jamie, he’s going to spend
the day with us.”

“It’s nice to meet you Jamie?” Steve said bending down to eye level and gently shaking his
hand.

“Hi.” Jamie said before turning to me. “Can we make hot chocolate?”

“That’s why we stopped at the store.” I said. “Put your backpack away and wash your hands.
Meet you in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” He said running before turning around to look at Steve. “That’s America’s ass.”
“Jamie!” I said.

“He said it in the movie!” Jamie retorted before running off to the bathroom.

“Why would I say that?” Steve asked.

“It’s… Don’t worry about it.” I said.

“You keep saying that.” Steve said following me as I went to the kitchen and took out a pot
poured some milk into the pot to melt the chocolate. “So he’s who you went to see in Texas?”

“Yeah. There was an accident and his mom is not going to be around anymore.” I said.

“Is she…” he started.

“In jail facing 20 to life.” I said. “She’s gone.”

“So he’s back.” Steve said.

“He’s back and he’ll be moving in.” I said. “With Theo.”

“Here?” Steve asked. “Hanna what…”

“I’m here!” Jamie cheered before jumping onto the counter at the same spot Theo and I used
to let him sit to watch us cook or when we made him hot chocolate.
“Alright we got milk, chocolate now what?” I asked.

“Stir it so it doesn’t get stuck and burn.” Jamie said.

“Okay and are we adding cinnamon?” I asked.

“Just one stick.” Jamie said gently tossing it in.

Once they were done I poured out the hot chocolate in three mugs, put whipped cream on
top, sprinkled some cinnamon and stuck a chocolate pirouette in the drink.

As soon as they were in. Jamie picked up his mug and I picked up mine.

“Cheers.” He said before we clinked our mugs together.

“Did I do it right?” I asked. Jamie pretended to take a sip and hummed before signaling with
the hand that was in a cast that it was perfect. “Finish up your hot chocolate I have a whole
day planned out for us.”

“A whole day?” Jamie asked.

“Yeah just the three of us.” I said ignoring the look Steve gave us. “That okay?”

“Depends?” Jamie said.

“On what?” I asked.

“Can I try throwing the shield?” he asked and Steve chuckled.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I said.

Jamie crossed his arms and stared at me arching an eyebrow. Steve chuckled at the irony of
me getting a taste of my own medicine.

“Finish your hot chocolate.” I said ruffling his hair and kissing the top of his head.

Jamie did as he was told and once he was done we all grabbed our jackets and headed out.
We stopped by our favorite taco truck and after a quick bite we were back on the bus to the
pier. We got on a few rides and played a few games before we spit a funnel cake between the
three of us.

“Can we walk on the beach? Can we? Can we? Can we?” He asked all hopped up on sugar.

“Still think that extra scoop of ice cream was a good idea?” Steve smirked.

“Ice cream is always a good idea.” I said. “We sure can but no going in the water. You can’t
get your cast wet and trust me you don’t want to get sand in there either.”

“Okay!” Jamie said running ahead of us.

“Jamie are you forgetting something?” I called out. He stopped before running back and
grabbing both mine and Steve’s hand and pulling us with him to the beach.

Steve and I walked a few steps behind him as he ran avoiding the waves as he picked up
seashells.
“So Jamie?” Steve said.

“His mom fell off the wagon, drove while high and killed three people so she’s going to jail.”
I said.

“Oh.” Steve said.

“She signed away her right.” I said.

“So He’s coming with us? We can find another way that’s safer…” Steve started.

“Jamie’s not coming with us.” I said.

“But you just said…” Steve said.

“Grace signed her parental rights away to Theo.” I said.

“I didn’t know they knew each other.” Steve said.

“They didn’t but couldn’t handle being a parent. She couldn’t be a mom but that didn’t mean
she couldn’t do the right thing with the right nudge.” I said.

“Why didn’t you do it? We could have figured something out.” Steve said.

“There’s nothing to figure out.” I said. “Jamie can’t come with us Steve. To start I’ve caused
enough trauma to the kid to make him watch me die for us to get home and the world we’re
going to it’s a better place but it’s a lot more dangerous. There’s the Mandarin, Hydra,
Ultron…”
‘Thanos’ I thought to myself.

“Nothing a hulk, demigod, two master assassins, a billionaire in high tech suits and well me
can’t handle.” Steve said.

“You mean like Tony getting his house and blown up?” I retorted. “We can take a hit. Jamie
can’t. Then there’s the fact that there is already a Jamie in your world.”

“He’s a baby.” Steve said.

“Still the same person. There’s this thing they mentioned in Dr. Strange. An incursion event.
Essentially it’s when two separate universes crash into each other destroying each other in the
process. It’s mainly caused by two identical singular entities trying to exist in the same plane.
It’s like time traveling to see a past or future version of yourself or in this case going to
another universe to find that universe’s version of you. If we take him with us we could be
risking destroying the world which would also put him in danger.” I said. “This world isn’t
the best but it's safer for him to be here. And he’ll be with Theo. There’s no one I would trust
more with him.”

“Are you really okay with this?” He asked.

“Five years ago I thought I was doing the right thing giving him back to his mom. This time I
know I’m doing the right thing.” I said. “He belongs with Theo.”

“Auntie!” Jamie said running back to hand me a seashell.

“Wow, you found a conch.” I said.

“Not just that I found this pretty one. I think it’s a sapphire.” Jamie said pulling out an
almost.
“A sapphire?” I asked as he showed me a very light aqua blue piece of Sea Glass. “That’s so
pretty but this isn’t a sapphire this is sea glass.”

“Sea Glass?” Jamie asked confused.

“Yeah some of the trash that gets dumped in the ocean are glass bottles that break the waves
make those pieces crash against the rocks and sand smoothing out the edges until you get
smooth pieces like this.” I said.

“It’s pretty.” He said. “You keep it auntie.”

“Don’t you want it?” I asked.

“You can take it with you on your trip to remember to bring me back a pretty one from far
away.” Jamie said.

“Thank you sweetie.” I said hugging him. “Want to go find another one for Theo?”

“I think I saw a green one.” Jamie said running off.

“He’s a good kid. Reminds me of his Aunt.” Steve said.

“Funny.” I said before I saw the time. “Jamie pick a piece we have to start heading home.”

“I got it!” Jamie said running back. He shoved his treasures in his jacket pockets before
taking our hands happy to be going home.
Oh course he insisted we needed to get ice cream for dessert because dinner would not be
complete without it.

Theo was already making dinner when we got back to the loft.

“Took you three long enough.” He said stirring the sauce.

“Sorry someone couldn’t decide what ice cream he wanted.” Steve said.

“Chocolate or oreo cookies and cream are always the go to.” Theo said.

“I wasn’t talking about Jamie.” Steve said.

“There were a lot of options.” I said putting the ice cream in the freezer.

“Look what I found at the beach.” Jamie said tugging on Theo’s flannel. “Wow, green sea
glass. Awesome find big guy. Can you do me a favor? Can you leave this on the night stand
and go wash your hands. Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Okay.” He said running to go do as he was told.

“I love that kid.” Theo said with a smile.

“I’ll start setting the table.” I said taking the plates.

“Hope you all like enchiladas.” Theo said.

“Not too spicy right?” I asked.

“Relax it’s more tomato sauce than actual chili.” He mocked. “Can’t believe that after all
these years you can’t handle even a little heat.”

“I don’t know how you can eat the way you do and still not have a stomach ulcer.” I said.

“You get used to it.” Theo said.

“No you don’t.” I said.

“Jamie’s never complained.” He said.

“He was five, he wouldn’t eat anything that wasn’t mac and cheese or in dino form.” I
deadpanned.

“We’ll work on it.” Theo said with a smirk.

Once we were done we sat down and enjoyed dinner. Jamie took up most of the conversation
talking about all the things he wanted to do now that he was back in LA. To no surprise the
first thing he wanted to do was go to the comic book store.

“Uncle Theo?” Jamie said as we were eating.

“Yeah bud?” he asked.

“Doesn’t Steve look like Captain America?” Jamie said making Steve choke on his beer.
“Uh…” Theo said looking at Steve suspiciously. It was a good thing Steve had agreed to
grow a beard. That was probably the only thing that kept him from being identified as a Chris
Evans lookalike instead of Captain America.

“Went down the wrong pipe, right Steve?” I said patting his back.

“I don’t see it.” Theo said. “Though he does have Cap’s Ass.”

Jamie started laughing.

“Theo!” I said sternly.

“Butt, I meant butt.” He said as if that made it better.

“I don’t like this universe.” Steve whispered to himself only loud enough for me to hear. I
gently squeezed his hand reassuringly letting him know it was just a joke and that I wasn’t
picking on him.

“What about you two? You excited about your trip Steve? Where are you going anyways?
You keep saying trip but you don’t way where?” Theo said.

“Thailand.” I said quickly.

But at the same time Steve said. “Egypt.”

I turned to him to ask why he would say Egypt.

“We’re going to a lot of places.” I said.

“And you’re just going to hang out in Egypt and Thailand?” Theo said.

“There will be missions.” Steve said.

“Digging wells, building houses.” I seconded. “Health clinics. A bit of everything.”

“You’re going to be a missionary?” Theo said. “The one weekend the power went out you
said it was like living in a third world country.”

“It was dark.” I said.

“We had to camp indoors because the ground was too hard.” He said.

“I was being eaten alive by mosquitos.” I said.

“West Nile Virus and malaria.” Jamie seconded.

“Exactly.” I said high fiving Jamie.

“It was a picnic at a wilderness park in Arcadia.” Theo said.

“Lyme disease.” I said.

“She’s going to be loads of fun to be around when her phone stops getting any signal.” Theo
told Steve.
“We’ll be okay.” Steve said. “We’ve handled worse.”

“I think it’s time for dessert.” I said and Jamie jumped out of his chair.

“Can we make sundaes?” Jamie asked.

“It’s almost time for bed and I think you’ve had enough sugar for one day.” Theo said. “Just
one scoop.”

“Okay.” He said running to get his ice cream out of the freezer.

“Missionary work?” Theo said.

“What can I say, I found my true calling.” I said.

“Missionary work?” Theo said again not buying it.

“I get to travel, help people and I don’t have to deal with the guilt of scamming the elderly.” I
said.

“And you’re going to live in a mud hut, squat into a whole to poop and deal with possible
malaria in the future?” Theo said.

“It’ll be fine. There are pills for that.” I said.

“Who the hell are you and what have you done with Hanna Marin?” Theo said.
“Language.” Steve said and I kicked his knee telling him to be less him around Jamie. That
kid did not miss a beat.

“Okay Cap… and you’re just okay dropping everything to follow this one to… Thailand and
Egypt and wherever else you’re going?” Theo said.

“There is no one I would rather go on this adventure with.” Steve said taking my hand.

“Huh…” Theo said just watching us before Jamie ran back.

We talked a bit more before we got the kid ready to go to bed. We were going to ‘catch our
flight’ that night and were going to head to the ‘airport’ soon so it was time to say goodbye.

“Alright buddy.” I said tucking him in.

“Do you have to go?” Jamie asked.

“I do.” I said.

“But I just got back.” He whined.

“I missed you more than you’ll ever know but there’s something I need to do… people who
need me.” I said not finding any other way to put it. “They waited a really long time for me.”

“So did I.” Jamie said.

“I know you did.” I said. “This is where you were always supposed to be and I’m sorry it
took me so long to figure that out. You’re were always meant to be with your Uncle Theo. He
loves you so much and he’s going to take really good care of you.”
“Okay.” He said. “You’re not going to forget me right?”

“Nothing could ever make me forget you.” I said.

“Promise?” Jamie said sticking out his pinky.

“Super pinky promise and we don’t break pinkies right?” I said.

“Never ever.” He said before letting go and hugging me.

“I love you Auntie.” Jamie whispered.

“Love you too buddy.” I said giving him one last squeeze before kissing his temple as I
tucked him back into bed.

I stood up straightening my top. I was wearing a long sleeved square neck nude colored
ribbed knit bodysuit with light washed blue denim jeans and tan Chelsea boots. I grabbed my
grey and brown plaid print shacket before picking up the bag I had packed.
“You’re really going.” Theo said.

“It’s time.” I said.

“Are you sure about this?” Theo asked as Steve was finishing putting a few things away.
“Are you sure about him?”

I turned to Steve and smiled.

“Surprisingly yes.” I said. “We’ve had our ups and downs but his heart’s always in the right
place and he’s one of the good ones.”

“Never thought I’d see the day.” Theo said. “You’re going to be careful right?”

“When am I not?” I retorted. “Take care of him for me.”

“You don’t even have to ask.” He said before hugging me. “Thank you.”

“I owed you both.” I said letting go.

“Ready?” Steve asked.

“Ready.” I confirmed putting on my jacket.

“Steve it’s been nice knowing you Cap.” He said sarcastically before hugging Steve.

“Thank you for all your help.” Steve said hugging him back.

“Take care of her.” Theo said.

“I will.” Steve said.

“Oh I know you will because if you don’t I’ll hunt you down and castrate you with a rusty
butter knife.” Theo said making Steve pale. “Enjoy your trip.”

With that we headed downstairs where our Uber was waiting for us.

“Hanna don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t like your universe.” He admitted it.

“I did tell you multiple times that its sucked.” I said.

“You did but if you changed your mind…” He started again.

“Nope.” I said. “Someone once told me that there are no such things as coincidences. I ended
in your universe for a reason and that’s because that’s where I’m meant to be. We’re going
home… after a drink.”

“A drink?” Steve said.

“Just because I want to go home doesn’t mean I’m not going to need some liquid courage to
take the plunge.” I said. “Think of it as a last goodbye to this world.”

“Whatever you say.” Steve said having learned that sometimes it was wiser to pick his
battles.

It was a surprisingly fast ride to the bar and once we were there we left out bags of things, we
probably weren’t going to need and weren’t exactly sure would make survive the trip back,
with a homeless woman asking for change on the streets.

“Should I go up there with you?” He asked.

“It’s probably better if you wait for me down here.” I said looking at the roof of the building I
would be jumping off of. “Both of us don’t have to die for this to work.”

“Okay…. Uh I’ll just be here.” He said looking unsure. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” I said. “See you in a minute and make sure they don’t bury me
alive. That would really suck.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you.” Steve said giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. I
nodded before heading upstairs.
It was the middle of the week so the bar wasn’t packed and it was a skeleton crew staffing the
place.

I figured for old times sake I’d have one last mango martini and take in the view. I took it all
in remembering the bad and the few good times I had here. It was a hard world to live in but
Theo and Jamie had each other and they would be okay.

I finished my drink and threw the glass over my shoulder not caring where it landed. I got on
the ledge and smiled.

“Goodbye universe, I’m going home.” I said before jumping and closing my eyes.

Back on the street…

Steve was pacing, debating whether he should go up there and stop Hanna from jumping
when he looked up he saw someone jump off the roof.

“Too late.” He said to himself and within seconds she the ground making a sound he hoped
he would never have to hear again.

There on the ground was the bloody mangled body of his friend and soulmate.

“Hanna…” He said rushed to check on her. He took her hand and checked for a pulse but
there was none. “Come on… Come on…”

Nothing was happening until something was happening.

Something within Hanna was glowing and it became brighter and brighter until he couldn’t
see anything and all he could feel was something strongly pulling him and then he was falling
and hitting the ground hard landing not to far away from Hanna.

Steve coughed as he tried to catch his breath.

“Ow.” He groaned.

Hours Later…

It was dark again, just like the last time and I was falling waiting for the inevitable snap back.
I think it took a little longer than last time but it did happen again.

And when I went into the light I sat up gasping for air. Coughing as I tried to suppress the
nausea I was feeling.

“uh… I feel gross.” I said.

“Hey.” Steve said rubbing my back before offering me a bottle of water.

“Did it work.” I asked.

“Yes and no.” he answered.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“I think you need to see for yourself.” Steve said helping me up. We walked out of the alley
we were in and came face to face with… a world that was not the one we were in or the one
we were trying to get to.
“We’re not in LA anymore.” I said.

“Nope.” Steve said handing me a newspaper. “And apparently I’m running for president.”

“Huh… well anyone can run for president and you wouldn’t be the worst candidate.” I said.
“And Tony’s going to be your secretary of defense. Huge conflict of interest considering he’s
still in the weapons business.”

“This isn’t our world.” He said.

“No it is not… so do over?” I asked.

“Yes please.” Steve said.

“Let’s go find a tall building.” I said.

One Jump Later…

I woke up again… this time in a sewer.

“Ew.” I said. “I already don’t like this universe.”

“It gets worse.” Steve said leading be to where we could look at what was going on in the
streets above us and it was indeed much much worse.

This was a world where Hydra ruled the world. Drones patrolled the streets and everyone
greeted each other by saying Hail Hydra.
“Do over?” I offered.

“Do over.” Steve confirmed.

Another Jump…

They say third time was the charm and for us it was. Unfortunately we didn’t land on Earth.

Third Person’s POV- Earth 616

No one knew exactly how it happened but they knew something had changed. The dull greys
of the world were suddenly colors they hadn’t seen in months.

Bruce was giving a guest lecture at Columbia University when he noticed a bright yellow
daisies, the last bloom of the season out in the courtyard.

Natasha was on a mission in Marrakesh when she could suddenly see the blue paint on the
walls and on the intricate patterned tiles decorating the restaurant she was in. Then she
looked up and saw a blue sky.

Clint was in DC. He had been taken off active duty and had become a bit of a hermit. The
only person he would talk to was Natasha and even then she wasn’t always so lucky. There
was a knock on his door which was his daily pizza being delivered. He got up scratching the
beard he was starting to grow when he opened the door the pizza box the delivery driver
looked different. Their logo was red.

Tony was… well after his surgery and everything that had happened he had gone back to his
old ways. He was currently killing time at a poker table on Vegas when his chips he was
about to put in turned green.
And then there was Thor… Who with no other reason to ever have to return to Earth had
turned his focus into being the king his father had always wanted him to grow up to be. He
was in Vanaheim fighting an ogre uprising when the lush forests surrounding the village he
was protecting suddenly turned green.

He had thrown Mjolnir to hit a ogre covering for Sif when something in the air shifted. He
looked up at the sky and there was a flash before he heard shouting and he saw something or
more accurately someone falling.

Thor quickly reached his hand out calling Mjolnir and once he had it he swung his hammer
and flew up into the air to catch Steve and Hanna.

“Captain?” Thor said once he caught him.

“Thor?” Steve said surprised but still not letting go of Hanna.

“What… How are you here?” He said. “And what is wrong with Lady Hanna?”

Thor quickly put them down but immediately went to check on Hanna.

“She isn’t breathing. Is she…” Thor said already fearing the worse.

“No just… she just needs time.” Steve said.

“She’s not breathing.” Thor said quickly picking her up before shouting to the sky.
“Heimdall!”

“Thor wait!” Steve said before a flash of light poured down from the sky and pulled them up
to Asgard.
A While Later…

I was falling down that bottomless pit again. Except it was louder. I could make out voices
and people shouting. The voices sounded familiar… almost Shakespearian.

“Thor….” I thought to myself.

“Father we must do something.” Thor pleaded.

“There is nothing to be done. She is dead as all mortals end up.” Someone said.

‘What a jerk?” I thought as I started feeling the very familiar pull.

“She isn’t dead. Not permanently. She just needs time.” Steve said.

“The healers already said…” Odin started.

“uh… sire…” Someone else said.

“She will be sent to Earth so her mates can put her to rest as they see fit…” Odin continued.

“Father please…” Thor pleaded.

“Uh Thor…” Someone else said.

“Odin….” Another voice said.

“Ah!” I gasped as I started coughing, struggling to catch my breath.

“Hanna!” Steve said immediately helping me sit up but I was still coughing.

“That’s not possible…” Odin said.

And as if things couldn’t get any worse Odin chose that every moment to step closer just as I
puked my guts out.

“Oh…” One of the healers said.

“I forgot to warn you.” Steve said.

“Is this normal?” Thor said.

“It happens.” Steve said.

“Uh… I feel gross…” I groaned.

“How is this possible?” Odin said to Frigga.

“I have never seen such a thing in all my years.” Frigga said.

“Please tell me this isn’t a do over?” I asked Steve.

“We’re in the right universe just… wrong planet.” Steve said.

“I’ll take the win.” I said.

“Are you alright?” Thor asked placing a hand on my cheek almost as if needing to be sure I
was really alive.

“Yeah… I think so.” I said. “Also Hi. It’s been a while.”

“So you two really do know each other?” Steve said.

“We celebrated my name day together.” Thor said.

“We should go grab a beer together again… like now. I could really use one.” I said.

“You just woke up.” Steve said amused.

“Hence why I could use one.” I said.

“I do not understand. You said she was human?” Odin said.

“She is.” Steve said defensively.

“This is a recent thing. I die wake up in another universe like it never happened. Die again
and it happens all over again.” I said. “This is what… the third time today?”

“Or night… I lost track of time.” Steve said.

“Sire I have never seen anything like this.” One of the healer said as they looked at
something on the display.

“Okay.” I said jumping off the table. Both Thor and Steve were hovering making sure I
wouldn’t fall. “Thank you for your hospitality but I think I’ve overstayed my welcome and
I’m ready to go home.”

“Nonsense.” Frigga said. “You have obviously been through quite an ordeal. You should stay
until morning to recover your strength and you shall join us for dinner.”

“It’s really not necessary.” Steve said.

“I insist. I want to get to know my good daughter.” Frigga said. “Come now, let’s get you
cleaned up and into a more appropriate dress.”

“It’s best not to put up a fight.” Thor said low enough for just me and Steve to hear. “Mother
always gets her way.”

“Okay then… I’ll see you later.” I said following Frigga and her handmaidens as they led me
to where I would be staying.
 Chapter 33

It was very nice of Frigga to set up a room for me and for getting me a change of clothes I
hadn’t bled on… though I do think having three of her hand maidens help me bathe and get
dressed was a bit too much.

I was a grown woman I could bathe myself but they would not take no for an answer.

When they were finally done I was in a intricate embroidered dress with a cream colored
bodice, cap sleeves and a sweetheart neckline and a very light grey silk floor-length skirt.
There was a bejeweled metallic thin belt at the waist that I was afraid to ask if the jewels
were real.

My hair was combed and put into loose curls with another thin bejeweled headband. Though
all the maids couldn’t stop asking why I would ever dare do such a horrible thing such as
cutting my hair so short.

Asgardians and their hair…

Eventually they let me go telling me that Thor and Steve were probably waiting for me in the
training yard. If only they had told me where the freaking training yard was.

At one point I had walked into a broom closet. Broom closets on Asgard were nicer and
bigger than the loft I lived in in my universe.

“Okay this is not working…” I said just when I spotted a woman in armor. “uh excuse me?”

“Yes.” She said.

“I’m a bit lost, do you by chance know how to get to the training yard?” I asked.

“You are going to the training yard?” She said arching an eyebrow before looking me up and
down.

“I’m not doing any training I’m just going to meet my friends.” I said.

“Of course. If you would follow me Lady…” She started.

“Hanna, just Hanna.” I said.

“Thor’s Hanna?” She said.

“I’m not really a possession or something to be owned but… yeah.” I said. “You know
Thor?”

“I’ve known him for centuries and fought alongside him many times.” She said.
“Oh Shit! You’re Sif!” I said.

“You know of me?” Sif said surprised.

“Uh yeah! You’re awesome! I mean I dressed up as you for Halloween two years in a row
and one time to go to a comic book convention.” I said. “The world is seriously lacking in
female superhero role models. I considered going as Natasha but it’s a hassle to get out of a
catsuit to pee.”

“You are not what I expected,” Sif said amused. “Yet exactly what I thought someone
destined to be with Thor would be.”

“Thank you?” I said not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult.

“Thor speaks very highly of you.” Sif said. “He said your wit and beauty are only outmatched
by your ability to handle your cups.”

“My cups?” I asked confused.

“Ale?” She corrected.

“Oh! Yeah we may have over indulged just a tad bit last time he visited.” I said as we walked
out of the palace to arrive at the training yard where Steve and Thor were sparring. Thor was
using Mjolnir though obviously not at full strength while Steve used an Asgardian shield. It
wasn’t his shield but he made do. “We’re not even back five minutes and you’re already
looking for a fight?”

“I was just… making sure I didn’t get rusty.” Steve said panting.

“Is that even possible?” I said. “You were frozen for 70 years and that did nothing to slow
you down.”
“The last 3 universes took more out of me than the ice.” Steve said.

“Fair enough.” I said.

“Ehem.” Thor said clearing his throat. “My lady Hanna might I say Asgard suits you.”

“Oh this… you have you mom’s handmaidens to thank for it. They are… very thorough.” I
said making him chuckle.

“I do apologize mother can come on rather strong.” He said.

“The apple did not fall far from the tree.” I said with a smirk.

“Wow…” Steve whispered as he chuckled.

“Since you are here now, I will show you all that Asgard has to offer.” Thor said offering me
his hand.

“Sounds like a plan.” I said taking his hand and let him lead us out of the palace through the
back exit to see Asgard. I was given a cloak to cover up before we walked down the streets of
the city.

For the most part Asgard was a lot like Earth. There were people going about their day just
trying to make an honest living with magic and dramatized performances of the Thor and
Loki’s falling out. Kids playing with magical balls that when thrown up in the air they
wouldn’t come right back down but instead pulled apart revealing a glowing orb the pieces of
a shell spun around before pulling together and falling when it touched anything.
There were merchants on the streets selling jewelry, food, and clothes. After we had seen all
of that Thor led us down an alley.

“You are really going to enjoy this next stop.” Thor said.

“Pretty sure there’s a horror movie that started with a phrase like that.” I said.

“They all start like that.” Steve deadpanned. “At least the ones in your universe.”

“I would really like to visit your home world one day.” Thor said.

“No you don’t.” Steve and I said at the same time.

“Here we are.” Thor said opening the door to… a tavern.

“Thor!” Everyone cheered.

“Come here often?” I asked.

“I have been known to enjoy some post battle revelry. Occasionally.” Thor said.

“Only occasionally?” I asked not buying it for a second.

“There have been many battles and just as many revelries to enjoy.” He said with a smile.
“Come now, Would you prefer some wine or…”

“Beer me.” I said.

“Is that really a good idea? How do we know if Asgardian Beer is good for you?” Steve said.

“Is there a beer on Earth that’s technically good for us?” I retorted.

“Beer it is!” Thor said going to get us drink slapping Steve’s affectionately though by the tiny
grunt he let out I could tell it was a lot stronger than it looked.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Steve asked.

“Why? Because I died three times in the last day?” I said. “That’s more of a reason to do
this.”

“Just take it slow.” Steve said.

“Stop worrying. We’re finally home. Maybe not on the right planet but tomorrow morning
we will be. Come Steve live a little.” I said.

“You’re right. One drink won’t hurt anyone.” Steve said giving in and just in time as Thor
was back with three very large mugs of Asgardian ale.

“A toast to being reunited at last.” Thor said.

“To hopefully staying in the right universe from now on.” I said.

“Second that.” Steve said as we clinked our mugs and took a long sip. Steve took a normal
sip but Thor and I kept going him just staring at me amused and not letting up until I did. We
ended up finishing ours in one go.
“Ah!” I sighed. “That was good.”

“It was. Would you like another?” Thor asked.

“Sure.” I said.

Many Drinks Later…

Well normal alcohol couldn’t get Steve drunk. Asgardian alcohol on the other hand… well
after one mug of beer he was KO’ed.

But surprisingly I wasn’t. I was feeling pretty buzzed but not belligerently drunk.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Thor asked. “While I do not doubt your… resilience
Asgardian mead is stronger than Midgardian ale. A lot stronger.”

He said as we turned to Steve who was passed out on the table sleep talking.

“Okay… Now that Captain Buzzkill is out its just the two of us.” I said. “We can finally get
down to business.”

“Yes and it is very serious business.” Thor said.

“It’s a very serious sport.” I said. “It’s about precision and endurance.”

“And strategy.” Thor added.

“Can’t forget strategy.” I said arranging the mugs of beer into a triangle as Thor did the same
on his side.

“Ready?” Thor started holding up a tiny glowing orb one of the other patrons had conjured
for him.

“No Thunder.” I reminded him.

“That’s not an indoor trick.” He said shooting the ball and missing.

I caught the ball and aimed before tossing it and landing at the mug at the dead center of the
triangle.

“I rather like this game. What did you say it was called?” Thor asked.

“Beer Pong.” I said while Thor chugged his drink. “So what are we going to do about him?”

“The Captain?” Thor asked.

“We’re supposed to be having dinner with your parents in a bit and he’s… I think he’s down
for the count.” I said. “It’s not like we can Weekend at Bernie’s our way through the dinner.”

“Who is Bernie and what does he do on weekends?” Thor asked.

“It’s an old movie. This guy dies but there are kids that puppet him around to spend the
weekend at his beach house…” I said. “It funny… I don’t think your dad would think it’s
funny if we tried it with Steve.”

“You do not need to worry about my father.” Thor said.

“I know, it’s not like we’ll even be on the same planet after tomorrow.” I said making another
shot and landing it on another mug. Thor smiled picking up his mug and drinking it in one
go.

“Hanna you are my soulmate. There is no denying it and there is nothing my father or anyone
can do about it.” He said.

“I keep forgetting how serious people in this universe are about the ‘s’ word.” I said.

“’S’ word?” Thor asked.

“Soulmates.” I said picking up the mug the orb Thor threw landed in.

“It is just a dinner. My father will probably not join us. Mother would like to get to know
you.” he said.

“There’s not really a lot to know.” I answered landing the ball in another mug. “Other than
the fact that I apparently have better aim than her son.”

“Not surprising considering who one of your soulmates is. Eye of hawk would be proud.”
Thor said.

“You weren’t there when he carried me out of my favorite bar.” I said.

By the time the game was over we were still on our feet but Steve was still out so Thor had to
throw him over his shoulder and carry him out.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked.

“It is the fastest way to the palace.” He said.

“But are you sure you can fly and carry both of us? I’ve done enough falling for one day.” I
said.

“You will not fall. I swear.” He said offering me his hand.

“Okay…” I said hesitantly taking his hand. I stepped closer only for him to pull me close.

“Hold on tight.” Thor said before swinging Mjolnir and we were off.

“Ah!!!” I screamed at the rush of air and how fast we were thrown across the air.

In mere minutes we were back the palace have flown straight into Steve’s room. Thor put
him down in bed where he was passed out completely oblivious to everything around him.

“He’s not going anywhere.” I said.

“He shall be fine. I shall send someone with an elixir for the… hangover.” Thor said. “Will
you be needing one as well?”

“Nah…. Some water and I’ll be fine.” I said.

“Then perhaps we should go get ready for dinner.” Thor said.

“I think I’m as ready as I will ever be.” I said.

“Don’t you think you should change into something more appropriate for dinner?” Thor
asked.

“So is changing multiple times in one day for royalty a thing here as well?” I asked.

“Unfortunately yes.” Thor said with an amused smile.

“I guess I’ll go change then… Just uh… What way am I going?” I asked.

“Allow me to escort you.” Thor said kindly leading me out of Steve’s room.

Frigga’s handmaids were already waiting for me at the door to my room and they were not
happy about my fun day out on the town.

After a lot more primping and prodding and having the laces of my dress tied on a bit tighter
than really needed I was good to go.

They had put me in a silvery grey sage silk dress with short flutter sleeves and a elaborately
embroidered and beaded bodice. They had also put my hair in a half up and down hairstyle
with braids and matching heavy combs to keep my hair out of my face.
“Dress truly fit for a queen.” One of the handmaidens said.

“I’m not royalty but Queen Frigga does have really good taste.” I said.

“Of course she does, this is her dress.” Another retorted.

“It is?” I asked.

“It was an old dress from when she was a young maiden and the All-father was courting her.”
the third one said. “The combs are her as well.”

“Oh…” I said not knowing what to think of that. “I’ll be sure to thank her.”

Once they deemed me presentable I was escorted to the dining room where one of the guards
announced my arrival before I was even let into the room.
“Lady Hanna Marin of Midgard.” The guard announced.

“Thanks.” I said before walking in. Thor immediately got out of his seat to escort me to the
one next to his. “Your… highnesses?

“You look lovely Lady Hanna.” Frigga said.

“I have you and your amazing handmaidens to thank for that.” I said.

“Let us eat.” Odin said gruffly, not looking at all happy about being forced to be a part of this
dinner. “Since your acquaintance is not joining us.”

“He’s feeling a bit under the weather.” I said in Steve’s defence.

“Lost in his cups as I understand it.” Odin said.

“Just one cup to be exact.” Thor said chuckling awkwardly.

“Asgardian ale is a lot stronger than what we have on Earth.” I said.

“You seem to have taken it well.” Frigga said.

“She is small but mightly.” Thor said before his mother and I gave him a look. “I mean… Oh
look pie.”

“Nice save.” I whispered only low enough for him to hear.

“How do you like Asgard, Lady Hanna?” Frigga asked.

“Asgard is beautiful. Your artwork and not just that but your people. You all live up to the
legends and myths they tell back home.” I said.

“And which home is it that you speak of? The one in this world or another?” Odin asked.

“Both.” I said. “In this world magic is real and science is at a stage that people in my world
are still dreaming about.”

“And what is it you wish to do with the knowledge you acquire in this world.” Odin asked.

“Nothing. There are some things man was not meant to meddle in. I’ll be the first to admit
when I’m out of my depth.” I said. “which is definitely most of the time.”

“You do seem to find yourself in trouble most often.” Frigga said amused.

“The trouble is a recent thing.” I said. “Though hopefully my luck is starting to turn around.”

The rest of dinner was pretty uneventful. It was mostly Frigga asking me questions to get to
know me better. Odin excused himself as soon as he was done leaving the three of us to just
chat and hear about all of Thor’s childhood antics.

Eventually she excused herself and left us by ourselves.

“So what have missed since our last meeting?” Thor said finally asking the question I had
been avoiding since I woke up on Asgard.

“Uh well… Where do I start?” I asked.

“I’ve been told the beginning is always a good place to start.” Thor said amused.

“Well after we celebrated your birthday…” I started before I gave him. Rundown of
everything that had happened to me since the last time. Everything that happened in both our
worlds and the worlds we had seen before making it back to this one.

“Is that everything?” Thor said after not saying a word the entire time I was catching him up.

“Uh just about.” I said.

“Stark…” Thor growled.

“Don’t do that.” I said.

“He refused to listen to you and you got hurt. I thought I had lost you. You have no idea what
it felt like to suddenly not be able to see color again.” Thor said.

“It wasn’t his fault… well the house getting blown up was partially his fault for giving out his
home address one live TV but he didn’t actually blow up the house. That guy is dead.” I said.
“At least I think he is…”

“Hanna…” He started before he hugged me. “The thought of you dying is not a pleasant
one.”

“It doesn’t feel great either.” I said leaning against him. “But I don’t exactly plan on dying
again anytime soon.”

“Good, I fear the other world you fall into may not always be as peaceful.” Thor said.
“Weren’t you just fighting an ogre rebellion on Vanaheim?” I retorted.

“That is a small minor uprising.” He said.

“If you say so.” I said not buying it for a second letting go of him before we headed off to the
gardens. One moonlight stroll later we were back at the door to my room for the night. “This
is it.”

“So it is.” He said.

“Today was fun. It was good to finally see Asgard the way you do.” I said.

“the way I do?” Thor asked.

“Well you could have show me the palace and the gardens but instead you took me outside of
the palace to your favorite places in the city. That says a lot about you.” I said.

“I thought you would appreciate a piece of home while being away from home and you
brought a piece of Midgard here with your beer pong.” Thor said.

“Maybe next time I visit we can have a rematch.” I said.

“I’d appreciate a chance to regain my honor.” He said.

“Your honor remains untarnished… your pride on the other hand may have taken a few hits.”
I said as Thor looked down at our joined hands smiling.
“I consider it an honor and a privileged to be, how does that Midgardian saying go? ‘Taken
down a peg?’” he said.

“You are a quick learner.” I said.

“I had a good teacher.” He said lifting my hand up and gently kissing the back of my hand.
“My Lady I bid thee a good night.”

“Good night.” I said about to let go but instead I hugged him taking Thor by surprise. “Sorry
I just needed one more.”

Thor chuckled but returned the hug holding me for a minute before kissing the top of my
head and letting me go.

“I shall see you tomorrow morning.” He said.

“Good night.” I said before going into my room. I smiled feeling oddly happy for once. I
carefully started pulling the combs and pins out of my hair before getting ready for bed.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day and I was finally going home… I carefully brushed
my hair smiling at the thought of seeing everyone again.

But there was something… a nagging feeling at the back of my head almost as if someone
was watching me. I guess that was the problem with the open balcony for my room. Though I
couldn’t feel the wind unless I walked past the columns.

I shook my head, shaking off the paranoia. Tomorrow was another day. A big day.

Once I was in the flowy night gown I got into bed and closed my eyes ready to get some rest.

The Following Morning…

I was up and ready before the handmaidens even knocked on my room door. They came in
and immediately got to work before they put me in a light sage green dress with a beaded and
sheer paneled dress.

“Oh I don’t think I’ll need that.” I said. “It’s a bit too much for Earth.”

“But you shall be breaking your fast with the queen.” One of the hand maidens said.

“Yes but it’s a bit of a waste to wear this amazing dress only to take it off and put on jeans.” I
said.

“Forgive us lady Hanna but we seem to have misplaced your… clothing.” The other
handmaiden said.
“That’s oddly convenient.” I said making them smile and giggle. “You know what, I’ll wear
it. When else am I ever going to get a chance to wear a dress like that again?”

“As you wish milady.” The servant said helping me put it on.

When they were done or more like when I had an opening and snuck out I headed to the
dining room to meet everyone for breakfast. Steve was already there leaning on the table not
looking so great.

“Good Morning Sunshine!” I greeted loudly making him groan.

“Hanna…” He whined.

“What? You can’t handle a tiny hangover?” I teased.

“I’ve never felt this horrible before.” Steve whined. “How are you so… awake?”

“Years of drowning my sorrows in my cups and drinking plenty of water.” I said. “Besides
today’s the day. We’re going home!”

“We are.” He said smiling as he say up quickly only to groan in pain once he was up.

“Good Morning my dearest lady Hanna!” Thor cheered and he marched in making Steve lay
his head on the table again to try and ease his pain. “And good morning to you Captain. I was
thinking we should visit the tavern one last time before you got..."

“NO!” Steve whined making Thor chuckle.

“Perhaps this shall ease your pain.” He said putting a vial down in front of Steve.
“What is it?” Steve asked.

“And elixir to easy your troubles.” Thor said. Steve turned to me asking for a translation.

“It’s a hangover cure.” I said.

Steve immediately took the vial and drink it in one go. Withing a few seconds he was
immediately better.

“I’m never drinking again.” He said.

“That’s what everyone says.” I said taking a seat.

“I must admit I do wish you could have stayed in Asgard longer.” Thor said. “But I
understand why you wish to return home.”

“I have a feeling you’ll be back on Earth sooner than you think.” I said. “Just uh… A tiny
favor?”

“For you anything.” He said with a smile.

“When the convergence happens in about a year and the Aether is on Asgard, don’t leave
your mom with Jane.” I said.

“Hanna?” Thor asked confused.

“Just trust me. It won’t make sense right now but it will later on. Also your brother, things
aren’t always what they seem with him.” I said.

“He is a trickster.” He said trying to make light of it.

“He’s a trickster that doesn’t always look like himself.” I said.

“You mustn’t worry so much.” Thor said.

“Easier said than done.” I said lifting a glass to take a sip only to drink wine. “Wine for
breakfast, I love Asgard.”

“And it loves you dearly.” Thor said with a dopey eyed look before Steve cleared his throat
loudly to get Thor’s attention. That snapped him right out of his daze. “Asgard that is.”

“Of course.” I said smiling.

We were just finishing breakfast and about to head to the bifrost to head back to earth when a
fire broke out in one of the towers.

“Fire!” The guards shouted.

“Hanna…” Steve started.

“Go. I’ll be here.” I said before they both went off.

“This way my Lady…” One of the handmaidens said taking my hand to lead me away to
safety. I went with her but as we kept walking farther and farther away from the crowd there
was something about her that seemed… off. She shimmered in the sunlight in an unnatural
sort of way. “Hurry.” She urged pulled me with her put I pulled away from her.

“You’re not one of Frigga’s handmaidens.” I said. “You’re not a handmaiden at all.”

“I don’t understand milady…” She started and I eyed her up and down.

“And there’s the shimmer… I’ve only seen that when the street performers were using
magic.” I said. “Who are you?”

She frowned before smiling.

“It seems I have underestimated you mortal.” She smirked lifting the enchantment to show
herself. She had long wavy red hair and wore a green dress and a golden necklace. “There
may be more to you that what meets the eye. It would explain why Thor seemed to be so
captivated by you. Though not for much longer.”

“You must be the insane ex-girlfriend.” I said.

“I am not mad.” She said angrily.

“Well you did start a fire to get attention. Sounds pretty insane to me.” I said before she
conjured up a dagger. “Definitely crazy.”

I backed away only for two guards to appear obviously under her control and they grabbed
me bringing me closer to her.

“You really don’t want to do this.” I said hoping someone would barge in and stop her before
she killed me. I didn’t want to die again. Especially not stabbed. That was going to be slow
and painful.
“Do not worry Thor will not miss you. I’ll make sure he forgets all about you.” Lorelai said
grabbing my hair and yanking my head back.

“That’s not what I meant.” I said hearing the sound of something or someone crashing
through the palace doors.

“Lorelai!” Thor growled.

“Do not worry my love, I will be with you shortly.” She smiled before plunging the dagger in
my chest.

“Ah…” I gasped as the pain erupted and knocked the breath right out of me.

“No!” Thor shouted as thunder crashed down through the ceiling and lighting burst around
Thor blasting the guards as were pushed away and Lorelai fled with Thor flying after her.

“Hanna!” Steve ran in rushing to my side as I fell onto the ground.

The pain in my chest was sharp and I could feel my lungs struggling to expand to let air in.
The tightness spread to my throat as I started coughing up blood.

I would choose jumping off a building over this any day.

“Hey it’s okay. There’s magic here they can help you.” Steve said pressing down as he tried
to slow the bleeding.

“No…” I gasped. “No… It’s too… late…”

“No its not. You are not dying. Not again. We’re going to go home and…” He started.

“Steve!’ I grasped his hand squeezing as hard as I can. “Let go.”

“Hanna…” He started. “If it doesn’t work we can come back and…”

“No…” I said. “You…. they need you… You need…ah… to be here… I’ll come back… but
you…. They need Cap…. Bucky needs you…”

“You know what’s going to happen…” he said and I nodded groaning in pain.

“Re…me..member what I told you… Take care of…. Them…” I said as dark spots clouded
my vision and I couldn’t breath anymore.

“Hanna…. Hanna!” Steve shouted.

With that I was gone. I was falling down that dark pit again.

Third Person’s POV-

Steve felt Hanna’s hand go limp in his hand as the light in her eyes faded and as it did so did
red color of the drapes and the red painting on the ceiling of Thor faded to grey and black.

Thor stormed in rushing to Hanna’s side.

“Thor no!” Steve said tackling him away.

“She needs a healer!” Thor growled.

“It’s too late.” Steve said as Thor looked to Hanna and the light green color of her dress was
no longer green.

“NO!” Thor growled pushing Steve away but he held onto him holding him back as Hanna
started glowing and disappeared into thin air. “What have you done?!”

“Thor…” Steve said.

“She is…” Thor started before thunder rained down on Asgard.

“She is gone but she’s going to come back.” He said. “Hanna will come back.”

“Where is she now?” Thor said heartbroken.

“I don’t know.” Steve said fearing the worst.

“Lorelai must pay for what she has done.” Thor growled before storming out.

“Thor…” Steve said going after his friend to stop him from doing anything he might regret.

While Steve did not have any luck stopping Thor, Odin on the other hand did. He forbade his
sone from following after Lorelai to Earth but did allow him to choose someone else to go in
his place.

Sif volunteered due to her personal history with Lorelai and thus returned to Earth to hunt her
down.
Thor was needed elsewhere but he was allowed to see him off.

“I should have sent you both home sooner… then perhaps Hanna would still be…” Thor said
clenching his fists.

“She’ll be back Thor. Hanna’s stronger than you think. She found her way back once, she’ll
do it again.” Steve said. “In the meantime we have a job to do.”

“Aye.” Thor said. “Until the next time Captain.”

“Until next time.” Steve said before Heimdall opened the Bifrost and sent Steve home.

Well more like Earth and the roof of the Triskelion.

It is not everyday a wormhole opens up over the sky of the headquarters of the largest
intelligence agency in the world. When the alarms went off Natasha, Hill and fury as well as
half of STRIKE ran up to the roof fully preparing for the worst only to be met with the last
person they ever expected to see again.

“Steve?” Natasha said.

“Natasha.” He said smiling.

“Captain.” Fury said. “We thought you were dead.”

“It’s been… A lot’s happened.” He said. “Since Christmas.”

“I’m sure it has.” He said. “You can tell us all about it while we debrief you.”

“Can I have some coffee… I think I’m still hungover.” Steve said.

“I like the new haircut.” Natasha said.

“Hanna thought you might.” Steve said and Natasha froze not sure if she heard him right.

“If you’ll follow us.” Maria Hill said.

Once Steve gave his official debrief to Shield he gave the full debrief to Natasha who decided
it was time to get the team back together.

“Couldn’t we have just called Barton?” Steve said following Natasha down the hall of an
apartment building.

“He wouldn’t have answered. You might have to break down the door.” Natasha said
knocking on the door only to get no answer. Natasha knocked again louder.

“Go Away Nat!” Clint called out from the other side of the door.

“Open the damn door Barton!” Natasha called out.

“Just leave.” He called out again.

“You’re going to regret being an idiot in a minute.” Natasha said telling Steve to kick down
the door.
“Are you sure we should?” Steve asked.

“Fine.” Natasha said pulling out a small explosive and throwing it the door and blowing it
open.

“What the hell Nat?!” Clint shouted only to come face to face with Steve.

“Barton?” Steve said barely recognizing Clint.

“Cap?” he said surprised.

“Surprise.” Natasha said dryly. “Are you ready to stop being an idiot now?”

Hours Later…

After picking up Bruce at his beach front getaway in Mexico courtesy of Tony they all few to
New York to see the billionaire who after getting his life literally blown up, losing Hanna and
getting the shrapnel taken out of his chest had returned to some of his old habits.

That is how they found him, at a party he was having at his penthouse in New York
surrounded by drunk idiots. The biggest one ogling a leggy blonde bimbo.

“Tony.” Bruce said.

“Well well look who it is. The Jolly green giant.” Tony said. “And you brought Natashalie.”

“Stark.” Natasha said crossing her arms. “We need to talk.”

“What’s there to talk about? You made it very clear when you flew off with Barton, you
know after he punched me in the face that you never wanted to see me again.” Tony said.

“Things change.” Natasha said.

“You’re right they do. You’re no longer welcome here.” Tony said. “Get out.”

“Tony.” Steve said making Tony drop his glass.

“You’re dead.” Tony said.

“I’m not and neither is Hanna.” Steve said.

“Jarvis get everyone out of here.” Tony said.

Once the room was cleared and it was just the five of them Steve told them everything that
had happened.

“We were on Asgard when Lorelai…She was involved with Thor got to Hanna and she killed
her.” Steve said.

“So she’s gone? Again?” Tony said.

“Yes.” Steve said.

“And you just let her go. Alone?” Tony said.

“She didn’t want me to go with her.” Steve said. “We talked about it before when we were
still in her world. If I made it back without her she didn’t want me to go after her.”

“And you listened to her?” Tony said.

“Tony.” Natasha said. “Listen to him.”

“Hanna warned me before we came back that something was coming. Something bigger than
Loki and the Chitauri. She said that we needed to stay together because if we didn’t then it
would all be over before the real fight even started.” Steve said.

“Did she say what was coming?” Clint said.

“No but its big.” Steve said.

“And Hanna?” Bruce asked. “Is she… Is she coming back?”

“She’ll be back.” Steve said. “She didn’t give up even when she had every reason to and I
would have understood if she had wanted to. Hanna wanted to come home and she will.”

“Sorry if I have a really hard time believing that Cap.” Tony said before storming off.

A While Later…

Tony was in his lab drinking while blasting music when Steve walked in.

“Don’t shut off my music.” Tony said.

“There’s something else. Something I didn’t think I should say infront of everyone else.”
Steve said. “Hanna made me promise that if I made it back without her I’d tell you.”

“Out with it then.” He said.

Steve took a breath trying to keep his frustration in check.

“Hanna asked me to tell you that she thinks about that night you two ate the best burgers ever
with the best view of the city, a lot.” Steve said making Tony put his drink down. “She said
you’d know what that meant.”

“Is that it?” Tony said.

“She really missed you.” Steve said before leaving Tony alone.

Tony picked up his glass but suddenly wasn’t in the mood to drink anymore.

Meanwhile in Another Universe…

It was a cold desolate world. The ruins of an old one where most of humanity was extinct.
Two the only survivors were scouring the city when they found me.

“No pulse.” The woman said.

“She’s still warm.” The other one said. “A drone wouldn’t have done this.”

“It doesn’t matter. She’s dead.” The woman said only for her hand to start twitching and for
the girl to suddenly sit up gasping for air.
“Ah… Stabbing is not the way to go.” I coughed out… “Why is it so cold?”

“What the hell?” The man said.

“Hey guys… “ I said before Clint notched an arrow on his bow and pointed it at me. “So its
one of those universes… great.”
 Chapter 34

I was still on the ground looking up at this universe’s Clint who was still ready to shoot an
arrow at me.

“What do you mean one of those universes?” Natasha said before I puked on Clint’s boots.

“Ah!” Clint groaned.

“Sorry.. dying really messes with my stomach.” I said before spitting the last of the bile out
of my mouth.

“Here.” Natasha said handing me her water canteen.

I took it and rinsed my mouth out.

“Thanks.” I said.

“Who are you?” Natasha asked.

“My name’s Hanna.” I said hugging myself trying to stay warm. “Where are we?”

“New York… or what used to be New York.” Clint said. “You’re not from here.”

“You look… almost Asgardian?” Natasha said.

“Well I was just there.” I said.

“You’re Asgardian?” She said surprised.

“No just passed through it until Thor’s psycho ex girlfriend stabbed me.” I said rubbing my
chest groaning when I saw the blood stains on. “Ah shit, Looks like I owe Frigga a new
dress.”

“What’s a Frigga?” Clint thought out loud.

“Wow…” I said seeing the metal arm Clint had. “That’s new.”

“Do I know you?” Clint said using the cloak he was using to keep himself warm over the
arm.

“I know another you.” I said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Natasha said.

“Ooof…” I said exhaling into my hands to try and keep them warm. “That’s a bit
complicated and it won’t really matter for much longer. You two should go meet the rest of
the team. I’m going to go find nice tall roof.”

“Yeah that’s a real smart way to avoid the drones.” Clint said.

“What’s the worst they can do? Kill me?” I retorted.

“Yes.” Natasha said. “You’re the first survivor we’ve run into since this all happened.”
“Since what happened?” I asked. Natasha and Clint exchanged looks in disbelief.

“Since Ultron decided to destroy all life in the universe.” Natasha said.

“Oh shit. This is the universe where Ultron won.” I said.

“What other universe is there?” Clint said.

“A lot more than you think and they’re all a lot warmer than this place.” I said before Natasha
pulled a blanket out of her pack and handed it to me. “Thanks but I should really get going.”

“What are you going to do?” She asked.

“I’m going home and there’s only one way to do that.” I said as I started walking.

“She’s crazy.” Clint told Natasha.

“We fought aliens with a guy that turned into a hulk and a literal god.” Natasha said. “I’ve
heard crazier.”

“I thought you had a plan.” He reminded her.

“It was a long shot.” Natasha said.

“And this isn’t?” Clint asked.

“What do we have left to lose?” Natasha said before running after me.
“You really don’t have to come with me.” I said. “I’m fine on my own.”

“I seriously doubt that. Your lips are starting to turn blue.” Clint said.

“The Clint in my universe is a lot nicer.” I said.

“I’m pretty sure he also has both his arms and his world didn’t get blown up by a killer
robot.” Clint retorted.

“Touche.” I said. “I need to stop Tony from doing that when I get back.”

“Here.” Natasha said pulling me into what used to be a store. She quickly pulled out a black
knit v neck sweater with a choker keyhole neckline from a shelf before grabbing a pair of
faded grey jeans.
“Put those on.” She said before going to look somewhere else. I quickly slipped on the pants
under the dress before pulling the dress off letting me see the dried blood on my chest. I was
wearing a nude colored lace bralette that was not stained but no bruise or cut.

“Ehem.” Clint cleared his throat.

I quickly pulled over the sweater covering myself up.

“Found these.” He said handing me a pair of dark brown lace up boots. “They’re not snow
boots but at least you’ll keep your toes.”

“That’s all I need.” I said slipping them on.

“In your world… your me… Is he… does he have a family?” Clint asked.

“No.” I said. “No family… not in the traditional sense anyway. He has a Nat, he has the team
but he doesn’t have a Laura.”

“How did you…” Clint said immediately on guard.

“I’ve been to more than one universe Clint.” I said as I finished lacing up the boots. “They’re
not the same but some things are.”

“It’s not a winter jacket but it’s something.” Natasha said tossing me a brown leather jacket.
“Now what’s your plan?”

“It’s not really a plan more like I jump off a roof and hope that the next time I wake up I’m in
the right universe.” I said slipping it on.
“Your plan is to kill yourself?” Clint said. “Told you she was crazy.”

“You just jump and when you land you’re in a new universe?” Natasha asked.

“No I jump, die and my body moves to a new universe and I wake up there.” I said.

“Oh that makes it so much better.” Clint said sarcastically.

“I didn’t ask for your help. You followed me.” I said.

“Your universe isn’t like this.” Natasha said.

“No Ultron hasn’t been created and if get back there in time he never will be.” I said. “If I’m
lucky Steve made it back and has already talked some sense into Tony.”

“You said you were on Asgard?” Clint asked.

“It’s complicated and you don’t need to know. Nice meeting you but I’m leaving.” I said.

“What if we went with you?” Natasha asked.

“My world has a Clint and Natasha.” I said.

“What about another world?” She said.

“You want to leave your world?” I said.

“Look around, it’s not much of a world anymore.” Clint said.

“I’m not entirely sure you understand what you’re asking me to help you do. I don’t know
where I’m going next.” I said. “The universe I end up next might just be as bad or even worse
than this one.”

“Nothing can be worse than this.” Natasha said.

“I ended up in a universe where Hydra ruled the world.” I said.

“There were still people in the world.” Clint said.

“There was another world where Steve was going to be president and Tony who was still in
the weapons business was going to be his secretary of defense.” I said.

“That’s bad but still not as bad as this.” Natasha said. “We’ll take our chances.”

“You trying to get out of this world might be the end of another world.” I said. “There is a lot
at play here and not just for you.”

“There’s nothing left for us here.” Clint started.

“That’s a bit harsh don’t you think?” A robotic voice said before a squadron of Ultron’s
crashed in through the window and ceiling.

“Well I guess now’s a good time to go.” I said.

“Great do it.” Natasha said.

“That’s not how it works.” I said.

“Then how does it work?” Clint said.

“I have to die.” I said.

“What?!” They said.

“I can help with that.” Ultron said before everything went dark.

I was falling down that pit again. At least now I knew, the order of best ways to go are as
follows Ultron zapping me, jumping off the roof of a 10+ floor building and getting stabbed
was all the way at the bottle.

It didn’t take long for me to start feeling the very familiar pull of being brought back into
whatever world I landed in next.

And this new world was… noisy.

It probably didn’t help that they were in the middle of an alien invasion led by… Loki?

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I said sitting up from where I was laying on the…Helicarrier?

“Oh look sleeping Beauty’s up.” Clint snarked before shooting another arrow.
“What the hell is this place?” I asked.

“We were about to ask you that.” Natasha said. “It’s another world. You couldn’t have picked
a nicer one that wasn’t in the middle of getting invaded?”

“I don’t get to pick and choose where I go.” I said.

“This one isn’t too bad.” Clint said. “We’re fighting aliens. Just another day on the job for
us.”

“In a world where their Natasha and Clint died.” Natasha said. “It’s a second chance to get it
right.”

“So I take it you’re staying?” I asked.

“Where else would we go?” Clint said. “My family’s gone but the Clint in this world might
have one. I’m not him but I can look out for them. Do better than I did in my world.”

“Alright then. I’m just going to head out.” I said jumping to the side to avoid a flying chariot
that had crash landed.

“Drop by for a visit sometime.” Natasha joked as she pulled me out of the way of one of the
Chitauri’s lasers.

“If I ever figure out how to control it and your Loki doesn’t enslave humanity, then sure.” I
said before running to the edge of the hellicarrier and jumping off.

I went down the pit again and I waited for the very pull to slingshot me back to whatever
universe came next.
Universe 616-

Since Steve’s return the team had more or less gotten back together. That being said they
were not the same as they used to be. From the beginning they were brought together by
circumstances and for a mission. Outside of that they stayed together because they had
someone in common but without Hanna it was getting harder and harder to ignore their many
huge differences.

And this morning no one could really say why but they were fighting. Again.

“Say it again. I dare you!” Tony shouted.

“Oh I’ll say it again….” Clint said.

“Guys…” Natasha started.

“That’s enough!” Steve shouted. “It’s the same thing with you two every time.”

“Really so what’s your big idea?” Tony asked.

“The same as before.” Steve said.

“Which means you’ve got nothing. Funny the star spangled man without a plan.” Tony said.

“Still better than your idea to blow all of SHIELD up.” Natasha said.

“SHIELD is HYDRA.” Tony said.

“Not all of SHIELD.” Steve said.

“Most of it.” Tony said. “The only reason you’re too afraid to go after them is you’re too
afraid of what they’ll do to your pal Bucky.”

“We have a plan for a reason.” Steve said. “Because SHIELD is everywhere and who know
who or what they’ll take down with them.”

“So you want to just wait and see?” Tony asked.

“Or you could stop complaining and let us do our job.” Natasha said pulling out a flash drive.
“While you guys were kicking back in Mexico, stuck in another universe, being a hermit and
a man whore, I stuck to the plan.”

“What is it?” Clint asked.

“Shield or Hydra intel. I got it off a remote server at an old SHIELD base in London. The
problem is, its encrypted and it’s not SHIELD’s standard encryption either.” Natasha said.

“Let me take a look. I’m sure a few hours in the lab with Jarvis running decryption codes we
can have answers by the end of the day.” Tony said.

“Sooner if you lay off the scotch.” Clint snarked.

“And what happened to my whiskey Barton?” Tony retorted.

And the argument started all over again.

Universe- ???
When I started feeling the very familiar pull slingshot me back to reality something felt
different. This universe felt different almost as if I was in two very different places at the
same time.

I looked around and everything looked normal. Well as normal as a new universe could be
but it wasn’t.

Then there was that feeling I couldn’t shake, the feeling of me being watched.

I hurried down the street to look for a hint as to where exactly I was but the more I looked
around the more I realized something was not right. The streets were empty and there was no
one around. It was quiet, they type of quiet you never get to experience in a city.

“You are not supposed to be here.” Someone said from behind me.

I spun around to come face to face with a bald woman with yellow robes.

“What’s wrong with this place?” I said.

“We are on another plane parallel to that of Earth but that is not the Earth you are from is it?”
The Ancient One said.

“That’s not it.” I said. “This isn’t the mirror dimension. It feels like I’m standing in two
places at the exact same time.”

“It’s small pocket dimension.” She said.

“What for?” I asked.

“Allow me to show you.” She said before using her sling ring to open a potal to show me the
two Dr. Strange one in serious need of some tweezers to pluck his eyebrows though I
seriously doubt it would so anything to his tentacle situation. And then there was the other
Strange that didn’t look so deranged but seemed to be fighting a losing battle.

“There’s two of them.” I said. “The testosterone and arrogance in this universe is
suffocating.”

“Stephen Strange lost the love of his life, Christine in an accident. He took it upon himself to
use the Eye of Agamoto to try and bring her back.” The Ancient one said.

“Emphasis on the try, I’m guessing it didn’t work?” I asked.

“Christine’s death is an absolute point in time.” She said. “It was always meant to happen and
it will always happen.”

“And he didn’t take it well.” I said.

“He refused to stop so instead I decided to show him both outcomes and to let him work it
out.” She said.

“It’s not looking good for the non-tentacle Strange.” I said. “Shouldn’t you do something?”

“It is out of my hands now.” She said.

“Right. Do you mind giving me a lift to the closest roof. Preferably ten floors and up.” I said.
“You are not of this world are you?” She said.

“No. So I’m going to go back to mine. Or at least try to.” I said.

“Hm…” She said looking at me strangely. “Your aura and soul… it’s an old one. Very old.”

“I don’t really believe in that sort of stuff but thanks for the free reading.” I said.

“You wish to return from where you came from.” She said.

“Not where I originally came from but home with the people I miss and are probably making
a mess right about now.” I said as she opened a portal to a rooftop.

“You must really love them if you’re willing to go beyond the impossible to be reunited with
them.” She said.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say the L word just yet but they would do the same for me.” I said.

“Just yet?” She asked.

“I think you have a sorcerer to go lecture now.” I said taking a step up to the ledge. “Third
time is normally the charm.”

So I jumped.

I jumped a lot more in the next universe. Mostly because that Thor kept flying around and
catching me in mid air.
Universe 616-

“Thor as nice as it is to have you back… did you have to bring the shire with you?!” Tony
shouted as he blasted one of the dark elves.

“Actually there weren’t any elves in the shire, those were hobbits.” Steve said.

“Thank you captain obvious!” Tony shouted.

“Stop shouting on the comms and shoot the evil elves!” Natasha shouted.

“Jane has an idea. She can recalibrate her device…” Thor started.

“Do It!” They all shouted.

And just as the mist of the Aether started spreading all of the avengers could suddenly see
color again.

“Guys… are you seeing this?” Clint said.

“You mean the giant red cloud of mist or the fact that I can see color again?” Natasha said.

“Guys we’ve got incoming.” Steve said spotting something or well someone falling from the
sky quickly.

“More elves?” Natasha said.

“That’s not an elf.” Steve said running to where he though Hanna was going to hit the
ground.

“Shit!” Tony said only to be blasted by an elf. Thor was in the middle of the cloud of mist.

Steve wasn’t going to make it but at the very last second Hulk managed to catch Hanna.

Hulk landed on the ground and as gently as he could put her down. Steve, Clint, and Natasha
were immediately there looking her over.

Natasha brushed the blonde hair out of her face before checking her pulse.

“She’s not breathing and there’s no pulse.” Natasha said.

“That’s normal.” Steve said.

“Her being dead is normal?” Clint said.

“It’s not permanent. She’ll wake up.” He said. “Though we should probably get her out of
here.”

“We’ll get her to the jet.” Clint said. “Things should be wrapping up here anyway.”

“Don’t let her out of your sight.” Steve said remembering what happened the last time he let
his guard down.

“We got her.” Natasha said helping Clint pick her up. Once they were on the jet Natasha
bought out the gurney and Clint set Hanna down on it. She immediately put the heart monitor
on her only for her and Clint to be met with a flatline and a long never-ending beep.
“Shut that thing off.” Clint said.

“Steve said she would wake up.” Natasha said.

“Did he say when?” He retorted looking over Hanna seeing the dried blook on her skin and
hair. Her torn clothes, what looked like a stab wound on her chest. It was probably not the
only one.

“She got a haircut.” Natasha said running her fingers through Hanna’s hair, ignoring Clint’s
comment and focusing on the fact that Hanna was back.

Clint didn’t say anything as he watched Natasha take a bowl of water and a washcloth to try
and wipe the blood off of Hanna’s face and hands. That’s what Steve, Tony and Bruce came
back to.

“Is she…” Tony asked.

“She hasn’t woken up yet.” Natasha said. Tony turned to the heart monitor that was still
flatlining.

“She will. Sometimes it takes longer.” Steve said. “We should go home. It’s been a long day.”

“So that’s it? We just wait? Again?” Tony said.

“Hanna will wake up.” Steve said.

“When? You keep saying she will because she’s this real-life Kenny but… you don’t even
know what that is do you?” Tony said.
“He’s the orange hoodie kid from South Park that you can barely understand that’s always
dying.” Steve said.

“How do you…” Tony started.

“Kenny always comes back, and so will Hanna.” Steve said.

Hours Later…

They had made it back to New York and Hanna was still unconscious. They were all starting
to seriously doubt Steve when he said she would be back and after another argument that
almost made Bruce hulk out he kicked everyone out of the medbay.

Hanna was being monitored by Jarvis and Bruce would come by every hour or so to check up
on her.

It was almost dark out when he came to check up on her again before calling it a night.

The heart monitor was still flat lining and her body temperature was nowhere near where it
was supposed to be.

Bruce was about to walk out when he heard a loud gasp and coughing.

Hanna’s POV-

After ending up in a universe where the zombie apocalypse happened and having to climb up
a building while avoiding said zombies and finally jumping off a tall enough roof I was
seriously hoping I jumped universes before a zombie ate what was left of me off the
pavement.
I was falling down that very familiar dark pit for a while. Longer than ever before. Maybe I
needed to start thinking about taking a break between jumps and recharging so to speak.

Finally the very familiar pull started happening and I was dragged up to the light. Lucky for
me I hadn’t really had a chance to eat anything between jumps this time so there was no I
way I was going to projectile vomit on someone.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a grey ceiling. As I sat up gasping for air I
noticed I was actually in a lab.

“Hanna?” Bruce said rushing over to me.

“B-Bruce?” I said.

“Y-you… you’re…” he started before I hugged him. I didn’t really think it through I was just
really happy to finally be back in the right universe. “Oh uh…”

“Sorry I know you don’t do hugs it’s just really good to see you and to be back in the right
universe.” I said still not letting go of him.

“It’s good to see you too.” He said gently hugging me back. “You feeling okay? You were a
bit…”

“Dead?” I finished for him. “Yeah that happens a lot more than I’d like. Also for future
reference if I end up in a coma or vegetative state or anything that leads to me being hooked
up to a machine to stay alive… you keep those machines on no matter what. I’m not kidding
Bruce I am done jumping universes. Dying really fucking sucks.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” He said. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, though I could really use a shower and coffee… maybe some pizza.” I said.

“Jarvis can you ask Natasha to set up a room for Hanna and… order a pizza and a coffee.”
Bruce said.

“Miss Marin’s room has already been set up.” Jarvis said. “If you would follow the lights.”

“It’s so good to see… hear you Jarvis.” I said getting out of the gurney I was on. I ran
through my hair trying to get it out of my face only to notice it was matted win blood and
something else. “I really hope that isn’t zombie guts.”

“Zombie guts?” Bruce asked concerned as I followed Jarvis to my room.

One floor up and I was in a room decorated almost identically to my old room in Malibu.
There were already clothes laid out for me on the bed. Definitely Natasha’s doing.

I headed into the bathroom and stripped peeling off the clothes stained with my blood and
other things I ran into. I took a look in the mirror looking at the dried blood on my skin but
no bruises or cuts as far as I could tell. Boy was I a mess.

I hopped in the shower and enjoy the first hot shower I’d had in what felt like forever.

Meanwhile…

Downstairs Bruce had to have Jarvis lock everyone in the common room to stop them from
ambushing Hanna. Even if she didn’t mention anything he could tell that she needed a
minute.

“Did she say anything? About where she’s been?” Tony said.
“Is she okay?” Clint said.

“Did she say anything about Hydra or what’s supposed to happen next?” Natasha said.

“Are you sure she’s okay being on her own? Maybe I should check on…” Steve started.

“Guys!” Bruce shouted. “She’s okay. She’s… Hanna. Just give her a minute and get her a
coffee and a pizza.”

“Coffee I can do.” Clint said.

“Wait. She likes dirty matcha lattes.” Steve said.

“Okay…” Clint said.

“With extra matcha, extra shot of espresso.” Steve said.

“On it.” He said.

“And with oatmilk. Don’t forget the oatmilk.” Steve said.

“What the hell is oatmilk?” Clint said.

“It’s like milk for people who don’t like milk.” Steve said and everyone looked at him like he
had grown an extra head. “Hanna’s universe is weird.”
“There’s a vegan place down the street I think they do coffee.” Clint said. “Maybe we can
pick up a pizza on the way back.”

“With extra bacon.” Tony said. “Hanna really likes bacon and I‘m going to get a huge I told
you so and need to start making it to her.”

“I don’t think there’s enough bacon in the world to make up for getting your house blown up
and letting it fall on her.” Natasha said.

“I said it was a start.” Tony said.

Back Upstairs…

After the best shower I had ever had in my entire life… never thought that would be
something I would say. I got out and looked at myself In the mirror barely recognizing
myself.

I shook off the thought. There was no use looking back. I was back and that’s all that
mattered.

I combed my hair drying it off as best as I could with my towel. One of the perks of short hair
was how fast it dried.

Once I was dressed and more or less put together or as close to that as I would ever be, I had
Jarvis lead me to wherever the kitchen was in this place. Someone was going to have to give
me a map of the tower at some point.

I followed Jarvis’ light to the elevator and then up a few levels to be brough to the common
room. The movies did not do it justice and the view… Nothing like it.

“Hey stranger.” Steve said.

“Hey you.” I said smiling before hugging him. “You made it back.”

“I made a promise didn’t I?” He said.

“Good to know you can listen.” I said.

“Missed you too jerk.” Steve said.

“Punk.” I said letting him go.

“Hate to interrupt but your dirty matcha latte is getting cold.” Clint said.

“You’re my favorite person.” I said to Clint letting go of Steve.

“Hey I was the one who told him what a dirty matcha latte was.” Steve said.

“You’re top five.” I said hugging Clint.

“At least I’m on the list now.” Steve mumbled.

“Don’t I get a hug?” Natasha asked.

“Depends… Steve’s makeover, how did I do?” I asked.

“How’d you get him out of his khakis?” Natasha said.

“The dryer in our building overheated and burned them.” I said I said giving her a look so
that she would understand it was actually me.

“Smart.” She said smirking before hugging me.

“Ehem… pizza’s here.” Tony said. “Extra bacon. Might be more bacon than pizza.”

Natasha gave me one last squeeze before letting go.

I looked at Tony and crossed my arms giving him an emotionless look.

“Tony.” I said.

“Before you say it. I know I screwed up and I am so sorry….” He started.

“Tony.” I started again.

“I should have listened to you and we should have left when told me to but…” He continued.

“Tony.” I said again.

“Happy was in the hospital and no one was doing anything and…” He continued before I
stepped up and put my hand over his mouth to make him shut up.

“Stop talking.” I said. “I’m not mad. I was… and I imagined me giving you the biggest I told
you so in history but I’m not. Let’s just leave this as you giving me a giant I Owe You I’m
going to cash in in the near distant future. And next time I warn you not to do something you
should actually consider listening to me.”

“Promise.” He said before I hugged him.

“I missed you.” I said.

“Missed you too.” He said hugging me tight.

“Now give me pizza, I haven’t eaten anything in like five universes.” I said going straight for
the box.

“Five universes?” Steve said. “How many have you been to since Asgard?”

“UH…” I said taking a bite and trying to count them all in my head. “Well there was the
universe where the world was destroyed by killer robots, The universe where you all died
before Steve got out of the ice and Loki invaded Earth, uh…. There was the zombie
apocalypse universe… So like nine this time.”

“There’s a zombie apocalypse universe?” Clint asked.

“Yeah it was gross and smelled really bad.” I said.

“It was probably the dead bodies.” Bruce said.

“Probably. They don’t mention that in The Walking Dead.” I said.

“Were there any good ones?” Natasha asked.

“Well there was this one universe where Thor was like a real life Hercules. You know sent to
Earth raised by human parents but still had his powers. He’d fly around saving people even
when they didn’t need to be helped. He kept catching me every time I jumped off a building.
Then he started following me around like a lost little duckling.” I said.

“You mean like he does here?” Steve asked amused.

“Our Thor is nothing like that.” I said.

“Do you remember Asgard?” Steve asked.

“Asgard was amazing.” I said.

“I meant you and Thor on Asgard.” Steve said and I still didn’t get it.

“So he didn’t sound like he was reading Shakespeare every time he spoke?” Tony asked.

“No he was more like your typical 80’s surfer.” I said, “His favorite words were dude, brah,
and epic.”

“He does have the hair for it.” Natasha commented, making everyone nod in agreement.

“That was pretty much the only high point… well that and making it back here.” I said. “And
I learned that if I ever need to jump universes again to not do it by getting stabbed. That shit
hurts a lot.”

“We could have told you that.” Clint said.

“I didn’t really plan on finding out.” I said. “Little tip we should avoid Thor’s ex-girlfriends.
Chances are they can use magic and they’re crazy. So that’s enough about my messy
misadventures. How are things here?”

“Uh…” They all stayed quiet.

“It was pretty boring. The usual stuff” Tony said.

“Did a bit of traveling.” Bruce said.

“And we fought elves in London.” Steve said.

“Just work.” Natasha said.

“Yup. Same old same old.” Clint said.

“Wait you fought elves in London? As in the dark elves?” I said. “That’s not supposed to
happen until November the year after New York.”

“Uh Hanna, it is November.” Bruce said and as Tony brought up his phone calendar to show
me.

“It’s November?” I said. “I’ve been gone almost a year?”

“Just about.” Clint said.

“I didn’t think I was gone that long.” I said before I spotted something on Tony’s calendar.
“Dinner and dessert with Miss March? Really Tony?”
“What no that was…. I was going to cancel.” He said.

“Uhuh.” I said not buying it and clicking on the calendar reminder only for her cover photos
to pop out. “That’s a cute bikini. Have fun on your date.”

“I… it’s not… they wanted to do a spread on Iron man and…. I’m not making this any better
am I?” he said.

“No.” Everyone said.

“Well this has been great but I’m beat. See you all tomorrow at Breakfast or probably brunch.
I’m still not a morning person.” I said.

“Night.” They all said as I left.

Once I was gone…

“So how bad did I screw that up?” Tony said.

“If you have to ask you know how bad it was.” Natasha said.

“Miss March? Really Tony?” Steve said.

“I forgot that was in there.” He said immediately deleting it. “Jarvis cancel on Miss March
and while you’re at it maybe order some flowers for Hanna. She likes flowers right?”

“I don’t think you’re going to be able to buy your way out of this one buddy.” Bruce said.
Hours Later…

I was in bed trying and failing to get some sleep but I just couldn’t. The bed was too lumpy
and soft so I moved to the floor and which for some reason was a lot more comfortable to me.

While I did get some sleep it wasn’t a lot. I was in and out most of the night and by morning I
had given up on actually falling asleep. So I got out off the floor, made the bed and went to
get myself some coffee.

Boy did I miss coffee.

It was still super early and I didn’t expect anyone to be up just yet but Clint was already
standing by the coffee pot waiting for the machine to finish.

“Coffee.” I said mimicking a zombie.

“You’re up early.” He said.

“I think I might be jetlagged… or universe lagged not entirely sure what the right term is.” I
said. “And I was craving coffee.”

“Can’t help with the sleep but coffee I can do.” He said pouring me a cup.

“This is why you’re my favorite.” I said.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve said that to all of us at some point.” Clint said.
“Not Steve though.” I said. “One time in my universe he brought me coffee and then took it
away from me when I really needed it.”

“He’s a monster.” Clint teased.

“The worst.” I said making him chuckle. “So what’s new with you? What have I missed?”

“Nothing.” He said giving me a weird look.

“You did nothing all year?” I asked.

“I didn’t really work. I was put on leave… indefinitely.” He admitted.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“You were dead.” He said bluntly. “I didn’t really see the point of doing anything anymore.”

“Clint,” I said.

“After New York and Loki getting into my head, finding out SHIELD was really Hydra and
the losing you… I took too many hits and just couldn’t do it.” Clint said.

“Do I even have to tell you how bad at being retired you are?” I said.

“Don’t worry Nat’s told me. More than once. She blew up my door.” He said.

“Pretty sure you had it coming.” I said.

“Maybe.” He said.

“I’m sorry.” I said.

“Hey it wasn’t your fault Hanna.” Clint said.

“I took way too long to get back.” I said.

“That wasn’t on you. You died… more than once trying to get back and you made it.” He
said. I didn’t know what to say to that so I didn’t say anything. I just hugged him. Clint didn’t
hesitate to hug me back.

“You want to watch the new season of Game of Thrones to see if you can break Steve
again?” Clint suggested.

“I don’t think that will happen again. My universe really did a number on him.” I said. “But
just to be sure…”

We grabbed our coffees and jumped on the couch for an all day HBO marathon and yeah we
broke Steve again.
 Chapter 35
Chapter Notes

Sorry for the delay but work and life got busy. I've been working on this for the past two
weeks but I kept getting interrupted. Rest assured I'm still working on every story even
if I'm not updating.

Enjoy :)

My first day back was pretty uneventful. I spent it on the couch catching up on TV with
Clint. We had both already seen it but our commentary and side conversations were
completely new to both of us.

Natasha joined in at one point but mostly she just watched us and listened with a small smile.
Not that she would ever admit that she was smiling. Then when we started watched a movie
neither of us had seen she grabbed a pillow, placed it on my lap and rested her head on it as
she napped.

I didn’t really mind and I don’t think she minded when I started playing with her hair which
she was starting to grow out and keep straight.

Steve was off somewhere still traumatized at what he had seen on the TV. You’d think after
all the time in my universe and exposing him to modern day TV programming he would have
gotten used to it.

Bruce was off in his lab a few floors down and Tony… he was being weird.

He walked in saw me, Clint and Natasha on the couch and left without a word then he came
back with a huge flower arrangement left it on a table and said he was just going to leave that
there.
“I didn’t know they sold arrangements that big.” Clint said.

“Probably for his date with Miss March.” I said with a shrug before turning back to the TV.
Clint and Natasha exchanged looks but didn’t say anything.

All in all it was a nice day in. We watched TV, had cold pizza and ice cream and just chilled.
It had been a really long time since I had a day like that.

It still didn’t help me sleep. I made it two hours on the mattress before I had to switch to the
floor. That’s where I was when Natasha came in to get me for breakfast.

“Why are you on the floor?” Natasha asked looking down at me.

“Tony was bragging about his heated floors I thought I should test them out.” I said.

“The heated floors are for the bathrooms.” She said.

“Are they? The floor is pretty comfy.” I said.

“Not as comfy as the bed.” She said as I stood up. “We should go shopping. You’re going to
need more than my spare workout clothes and Clint’s old sweatshirt.”

“I don’t know. These are pretty comfy.” I said.

“And when you have to wash those?” Natasha asked.

“I’ll figure it out.” I said before going with her to the kitchen where everyone was waiting for
us.
“There you are.” Clint said. “Chocolate chip waffles, strawberries on the side.”

“Thank you.” I said taking the offered plate.

“Coffee. It’s not a dirty matcha latte but…” Steve said.

“Coffee.” I said taking it and taking a sip. “I needed that.”

“I was telling Hanna we need to go shopping.” Natasha said.

“Take my card.” Tony immediately offered.

“I’m okay. Thanks. Besides why go out when we could just have Jarvis order replacements
for all my clothes? He knows what I like.” I said. “Jarvis?”

“A new wardrobe based on your previous selections will be delivered before noon Miss.”
Jarvis said.

“Thank you Jarvis.” I said.

“Well if you’re not going shopping maybe I can show you around broo…” Steve started.

“No.” I said not letting him finish that thought. “The last time you had the amazing idea to go
look around New York I ended up needing a haircut, a rat crawled over my foot and if we’re
honest the whole city stinks.”

“How did being in New York end up with you getting a haircut?” Natasha asked.
“I went on the subway and I leaned against the wall of the train because it was packed. I got
gum stuck in my hair and had to get it cut out.” I said.

“Ew.” Natasha said before she ran her fingers through my short hair. “I do like the new look
though.”

“I do pull it off pretty well.” I said before I noticed the giant flower arrangement was still in
the common room. “Hey Tony?”

“Yeah?” He asked.

“Weren’t you supposed to have that flower arrangement delivered to Miss March?” I said.

“Uh don’t you like it?” He asked.

“It’s a lot… like way too much. Might want to tone it down or else she’ll think you’re over
compensating for something else.” I said making Tony choke on his coffee.

“That’s not… I’m not… I canceled our dinner. We made plans a while ago. Like months
ago… in March…” Tony said.

“Cool.” I said before the elevator dinged and the sound of heels clacking on the floor.

“Tony Where are you?!” Pepper said not sounding the least bit happy.

“Pepper!” Tony said looking like a deer in the headlights.

“You completely forgot didn’t you?!” She said.

“Of course, I didn’t forget the brunch for…” Tony said.

“Forbes Women in business? You’re introducing me like you promised when you convinced
me to do this?” Pepper said glancing around before she saw me. “Hanna!? But she… you…”

“Maybe you should sit down.” Natasha said.

“I thought you were dead?” Pepper said bluntly before she realized she said that out loud.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean… Uh…”

“It’s okay. And for the record I was… about thirteen times since we last saw each other. It
doesn’t really seem to stick.” I said.

“Huh?” Pepper said.

“I’ll explain on the way to brunch just let me change.” Tony said running as if his life
depended on it which as soon as Pepper snapped out of her shock he might be.

Pepper spend the next 10 minutes just staring at me.

“It’s the short hair isn’t it?” I said finally breaking the silence.

“No… well yes. I like it though.” Pepper said. “You’re really here.”

“Was the shock this bad when you saw Steve again?” I asked.

“No.” Steve said.

“In her defense you did spend almost 70 years as a Capsicle.” Tony said walking in wearing a
suit and damn he looked really good in a suit. “Should we go before we’re late…” he said
adjusting his watch before he saw the time “Later than we already are?”

“Yes.” Pepper said getting up before hugging me taking me by surprise. “I’m so glad you’re
back sweetie.”

“Good to be back.” I said hugging her back before she left to drag Tony away.

“So what are we doing today?” Clint asked.

“Video game marathon?” I proposed.

“All right!” Clint said before Natasha elbowed him. “Or how about we show you around the
city? We know some of the best spots.”

“Ehhh… I think I’ll pass on that. New York and I didn’t really get along last time we met.” I
said.

“That was your universe.” Steve said. “New York is great….”

“Especially Brooklyn.” I finished for him. “We’ve had this conversation before.”

“We can go to the museum and see that painting you really like?” Steve offered.

“Maybe some other day.” I said. “I’ll go set up the TV.”

“I think we have Mariokart.” Clint said.

“I kill at MarioKart.” I said ignoring the looks Natasha and Steve kept shooting at me.

Meanwhile…

Pepper had dragged Tony out of the building and into the Limo. Happy was driving them as
the two of them bickered like they always did.

“She’s… she was dead and… and she came back?” Pepper said.

“Fell from the sky. Again.” Tony said.

“Again. Okay just when I think I’m starting to understand your insane life someone new falls
out of the sky.” Pepper said before looking at Tony who while trying to look happy could not
fool her. “What’s wrong?”

“What?” Tony said.

“You’re making a face.” Pepper said.

“I’m not making a face this is my face. You used to like my face.” Tony said.

“Tony.” Pepper said.

“Everything great. Hanna’s back and she’s great. We’re all back together and its going great.”
Tony said.
“Say everything is great one more time and I might believe you.” Pepper said.

“Everything is great.” Tony said.

“Great.” Pepper said and they were quiet for a minute.

“There’s just this one tiny thing I may have done while I thought she was gone.” Tony said.

“You mean when you were being a jerk and all around…” Pepper started.

“Yeah…. I uh… I set up a date with Miss March…. And saved some photos from her cover
shoot on my phone to remind me and Hanna saw them when she didn’t believe me when I
said it was November.” Tony said.

“You did… How… what…” Pepper said speechless at his stupidity.

“I know…” He started.

“What is wrong with you?!” Pepper said. “Why would you do something as stupid as…”

“I wasn;t thinking…” He said.

“Of course you were thinking you just weren’t thinking with your brain. How could you….”
She said.

“A lot of things were happening…” Tony said.

“She’s your person… and you said that you loved her and you go and do this?” pepper
shouted.

“I thought she was dead!” Tony said.

“So you’re supposed to be sad not sleeping with every blonde bimbo that smiled at you…”
Pepper said.

“Well technically Miss March is a brunette…” Tony said.

“What! Were! You! Thinking!” Pepper said slapping his arm after each word.

“I screwed up! Okay! I really screwed up. I thought she was gone and it was all my fault that
she… you know and I just. I didn’t deserve her. I still don’t deserve her and I missed her but I
screwed it up and now Rogers is her favorite. Even in another universe I didn’t see that
happening.” Tony said.

“You need to fix this.” Pepper said.

“I’m trying. I got her flowers and she just asked me when I was going to send them to Miss
March.” Tony said.

“You mean that monstrosity in the common room?” Pepper said.

“They’re roses you liked it when I got you flowers that one time.” He said.

“You mean when you triggered my seasonal allergies outside of the season and I got stung by
a bee?” She said.
“You were really happy before all of that. You teared up.” Tony said.

“My allergies were acting up.” Pepper said. “You need to work things out with Hanna. She is
good for you. She got you to go to therapy and to actually start taking care of yourself. You
need to fix this and I mean really fix this not just throw money at the problem or try to
distract her with grand gestures. She’s isn’t one of your blonde bimbos. Talk to her. If she
wants to yell at you, they you let her and really listen to what she’s saying.”

“I always listen to what she says.” Tony said.

“Didn’t she warn you not to poke the terrorist that blew up your house?” Happy said from the
front seat.

“No comment.” Tony said slipping on his shades. “Let’s do this.”

Back at the Tower…

Clint and I were in the middle of an epic round of Call of Duty. Unfortunately for me his
Hawkeye skills also translated really well to video games.

“Barton you do this all the time why would you want to play a video game like this.” Steve
said.

“Because this way….” Clint said taking me out again.

“Oh come on!” I said.

“I can’t make her do that when I’m on missions.” He said.

“Hanna your clothes are here.” Natasha said bringing in racks of clothes, boxes and bags.

“Cool.” I said.

“Don’t you want to change?” She said.

“Nah I’m good.” I said.

“Don’t you want to make sure they all fit right? Maybe we can go on a walk. Break in some
of these shoes.” Natasha said.

“Maybe tomorrow. It looks cold outside.” I said.

“You can wear a jacket.” She said. “Right Steve?”

“Some fresh air might be nice after… that.” Steve said still not liking call of duty.

“Guys I’m good.” I said. As the sky outside just got darker. “Besides it is not looking good
outside.”

“You’re making excuses.” Natasha said.

“Why are you being so pushy?” I said.

“You refuse to go out, you’re sleeping on the floor…” She said.

“I literally just got back yesterday.” I said.

“And you still haven’t said anything about it.” She said.

“I told you it sucked and there were zombies what more do you want to know?” I said.

“What happened?” Natasha said before suddenly the sky let out a loud rumble of thunder
before a beam of light crashed onto the balcony.

“What the hell?” Clint said immediately on guard keeping me behind him as we all stood up.

“It’s okay.” I said putting a hand on his arm. “I’m pretty sure I know who that is.”

“Who?” Steve asked just as the light cleared and Thor appeared walking into the common
room.

“Friends a miracle has happened the world has color again!” Thor cheered before his eyes
landed on me. “Hanna!”

“Hey Tho-Ah!” I started before shouting as Thor literally picked me up in a bear hug taking
me by surprise.

“You’re alive.” He said hugging me.

“Yeah, Good to see you too buddy.” I said hugging him back once the shock wore off.

“Hanna I must beg you for forgiveness.” Thor said letting me go before kneeling and taking
my hand.
“Wow… Thor no!” I said.

“I failed to protect you. You were in my home under my protection and Amara…” He said
growling her name and I swear the sky started rumbling when he did.

“Okay that was not on you. Your questionable taste in women yes because she’s insane which
is probably why you broke up with her in the first place.” I said. “The stabbing totally not
your fault. She’s a sneaky bitch, it happens and I seriously hope Sif got a few good hits in.”

“She did. Amara was quite as you once said very hammered when Sif locked her in her cell
in the deepest dungeons of Asgard.” Thor said making Clint snort.

“Actually that’s not what… “ I started before changing my mind. “Well the pun works.
Seriously Thor it’s fine. I’m back, I don’t even have a scar where she stabbed me.”

That just made Thor hug me again.

“I swear as long I live I shall never let anything or anyone hurt you again.” Thor said.

“Let’s not make promises we can’t keep.” I said as I weirdly enjoyed the hug. Thor gives
great hugs. Tight enough to make you feel safe but not the least bit smothered. I could easily
slip out of his grasp if I wanted to. Not that I wanted to.

But no matter what universe there is always one constant. The universe never cared about my
plans or what I wanted.

The elevator dinged and Bruce came out.

“Is everyone okay? I think there was an earthquake and…” He started.

“Not an earthquake.” Clint said.

“Thor’s back.” Steve said.

“That is one long hug.” Natasha said watching us hug. I was enjoying it and Thor well he
wasn’t going complain about me holding onto him.

“So how long do we have you for?” I asked Thor when I finally let him go.

“For as long as you’ll have me…“ Thor said.

“Or until the hobbits revolt.” Clint said.

“They were elves.” Steve corrected.

“They weren’t your best villain.” I said patting Thor gently on the arm. “And since you’re
here I think it’s time we introduce you to the world of video games.”

“Games of video?” Thor asked.

“Oh you’re going to love it.” I said before I remembered something. “Just don’t yell at the
kids.”

“Why would I yell at children?” Thor asked.

“Uh… Happened in another universe.” I said.

And just like I thought Thor took to video games like a fish to water. So much so that we
spent the rest of the day in the common room playing video games. I have no idea how but at
some point we switched from playing video games to having a staring contest for some
reason.

We were both on the couch sitting with our legs crossed facing each other and staring into
each other’s eyes. Thor was holding my hand, probably trying to reassure himself that I was
actually there in front of him.

He was subtle about it but he somehow had an arm around the back of my seat or letting me
rest my feet on his lap, or just hugging.

I’m not really a touchy person but I didn’t actually mind it with Thor.

So anyway we were in the middle of staring into each other’s eyes when Tony got back.

Unbeknownst to us everyone else was sitting in the kitchen watching us completely confused
as to what the hell we were doing.

“Hey Jarvis said we had a security breach but that can’t be right since you’re all…” Tony said
looking at them confused. “Uh What are we staring at?”

“Sh.” Natasha said before he turned to see me and Thor staring into each other’s eyes.

“Is that… Pointbreak? When did he get back?” Tony said. “And what are they… are they
really staring into each other’s eyes?”

“They’ve been doing it for almost an hour.” Bruce said.

“What?” Tony said. “I didn’t know they were so… close?”

“He visited her last year for his birthday and they spent some time together in Asgard.” Steve
said.

“Doing what?” Clint asked.

“We went to a bar and… that’s all I remember.” Steve said mildly embarrassed.

“Okay.. this is like watching paint dry.” Tony said walking over. “Hey Lebowski, nice of you
to drop in… un announced. Guessing there aren’t any phones on Asgard?”

“Stark!” Thor got up and gave him a really hard bro hug. “It is good to see you my friend!”

“Good to see you too.” Tony said before Thor let him go.

“The tower looks much better than the last time I was here.” Thor said.

“Yeah we did a full remodel. Got the Loki sized hole in the floor out.” He said. “So how long
do we get you for? Must be pretty busy back in Asgard.”

“Actually I shall remain here on Earth for as long as Lady Hanna shall have me.” Thor said
smiling at me.

“And I said the more the merrier. We do have the room right?” I said.

“We do… even more rooms since the remodel.” Tony said.
“Your hospitality is much appreciated friend.” Thor said giving Tony a pat on the shoulder.
“Is it still too early for the beer of pong?”

“It’s always five somewhere.” I said. “To the bar.”

“Uh oh…” Steve said getting flashback to the last time this happened.

“How about we eat dinner first?” Natasha said. “We could go out.”

“Or order pizza?” I said.

“We had pizza last night.” Steve said.

“Chinese?” I countered.

“I know a good dumpling place.” Clint said before Natasha elbowed him again. “But they
don’t deliver. Ow…”

“Actually Agent Barton there is a service that could bring the dumplings straight to you with
half an hour.” Jarvis said.

“And Jarvis for the save.” I said. “Dumplings it is.”

Sure enough within 30 minute we were sitting around the common room eating noodles and
dumplings while Thor gave us his version of events from the Dark Elves attacking Asgard.

“Though we suffered great loses Asgard and the nine realms are at peace once again. Mother
and Father are overseeing the repairs…” Thor started.
“Your mother as in….” I started. “Frigga’s okay?”

“She is doing very well. Her injuries were not life threatening. Someone warned me I should
keep safe and I asked Sif to accompany her that day.” Thor said.

“That is so good to hear… Mostly because I totally have to apologize for ruining her dress.
My blood got all over it and I left it in another universe.” I said.

“I think saving her life gets you off the hook for that.” Clint said.

“That’s probably a fair trade.” Steve said.

“Mother will be over joyed to know you are alive and safe at home.” Thor said.

“I’m just glad she’s okay.” I said. “And its good to know it is possible to change things here.
Speaking of you two…”

I pointed to Tony and Bruce.

“Ultron… trying to stop the bad guys before they even think about making a move, an AI
that’s a shield around the world…” I said and they just looked surprise. “Not happening.
Ever. No.”

“How did you…” Bruce asked.

“Who do you think caused the robot apocalypse in that other universe?” I said. “Ultron.”
“You two destroyed the world?” Natasha said.

“Ultron is just an idea. A really good one.” Tony said.

“No. Just… No.” I said.

“Okay I think I’m going to call it a night.” Bruce said. “And I’ll remember not to create an
evil robot. That isn’t even my field.”

“Things happen.” I said. “So Beer pong?”

“Beer of pong!” Thor seconded standing up before pulling out a small sack he had brought
with him. “I almost forgot I brought something to help celebrate our joyous reunion.”

Thor reached into the sack which was apparently bigger on the inside than it looked and he
pulled out a cask of Asgardian ale.

“Asgardian Ale!” I cheered.

“Oh no.” Steve said with a look of horror.

“Should we be worried?” Clint asked.

“About Hanna or Steve?” Natasha said as we started setting up.

The Next Morning…

I woke up actually on the bed after many many round of beer pong and many many pints of
Asgardian Ale which didn’t even give me a buzz for some reason even though Steve,
Natasha, Clint and even Tony were knocked out after a just one pint.

Thor walked me to my room before bidding me good night.

I got dressed in a pair of dark grey joggers, a while scoop neck tee and a tan knit cardigan
over it.

I headed to the kitchen in search of some coffee to start the day right only to walk in to
everyone collapsed around the counter hungover and barely alive.

“Morning…” I sang as I walked in only for everyone to groan in pain.

“Stahp” Steve whined.

“Hanna shhh.” Tony said

“hmmm…” Clint hummed. I was not entirely sure if he was actually awake or still passed out
at this point.

“How are you alive?” Natasha groaned.

“What are you guys talking about? I didn’t even get buzzed last night.” I said.

“What?” Bruce asked surprised. “I thought you drank more than all of them?”

“Guess I have a higher tolerance.” I said as thor walked in.

“Good morrow my friends!” Thor cheered.

“No!” Steve cried.

“Make him stop!” Tony seconded.

“I hate you.” Natasha said as Clint let out another groan.

“Looks like somebody can’t handle their ale.” I said.

“They are not as might as my lady and I.” Thor teased.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Bruce asked me.

“Yeah. I’m telling you I didn’t even get buzzed last night and we almost finished that cask.” I
said surprised.

“Everyone drank the same thing? Even Steve who can’t get drunk?” Bruce seconded.

“He can’t get drunk with any made on earth. Asgard on the other hand… He gets lost in his
cup.” I said. “Total light weight.”

“Not so loud.” Steve whined.

“His metabolism is four times faster than a normal mans.” Bruce said. “And he got drunk but
you didn’t… that doesn’t seem at all strange to you?”

“No, he’s never been much of a drinker and while not something I’m proud of I have built up
a pretty big tolerance.”

“She is very mighty.” Thor seconded.

“Since everyone else is down for a while I’ll get started on breakfast.” I said. “I’m thinking
toast, bacon and coffee. And lots of it.”

“I can make toast.” Thor said before we got to work.

We got the four of them to take a few bites and maybe wake up a bit. The bacon did not sit
well with Natasha and I spent almost half an hour with her in the bathroom holding her hair
back and rubbing her back while she puked.

“How are you not sick right now?” She groaned as I handed her a glass of water.
“It’s one of my many talents.” I said. “Come on rinse your mouth then you can go nap on the
couch with everyone else.”

I don’t know what the hell was in that beer but for the next three days the four of them were
so hungover they barely made it off the couch.

A Week Later…

I had been back for a week and Natasha had started coming on a bit stronger about wanting
me to go out. That was never going to happen.

It wasn’t that I was afraid but it was more about the fact that every time I went out or even
just tried to cross the street I ended up dying and in another universe. Not to mention that
dying really fucking sucks.

To be fair it wasn’t like I was just sitting around playing video games all day. I had slowly
started going back to my pre-second death routine. I woke up and worked out to keep my
endorphins up and to prevent me from going back down a depression spiral. Though after
making sure Jamie and Theo were okay before leaving I felt like I got the closure I never
knew I needed.

So post workout I made sure everyone was caffeinated, avoided Tony over the top grand
gestures, cooked, cleaned (Even though we apparently had a cleaning crew), worked out
some more and started all over again.

Yeah… that got old pretty fast which left me where I was now awake in the common room
going down a DIY Christmas decoration Pinterest rabbit hole.

“Hey.” Tony said walking in obviously taking a caffeine break from whatever he was
working on in the lab.
“Hey.” I said working on a Natasha/Black Widow themed and personalized Christmas tree
decoration.

“What are you working on?” Tony said swiping some glitter off the counter.

“Making Christmas decorations.” I said adjusting the red paper quilling to look like a red
hour glass. “Does this look like a red hourglass?”

“Yeah…” Tony said looking around. “The place looks great. You did all of this?”

“With the help of Pinterest and YouTube.” I said. “And Jarvis. I have to give credit where its
due.”

“That’s very Martha Stuart of you.” Tony said. “It’s a bit late for arts and crafts.”

“Couldn’t sleep figured I’d work on the tree.” I said.

“We don’t have a tree.” Tony said.

“It’ll be here in the morning.” I said.

“Right. I’ve been meaning to get one.” Tony said. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk
lately.”

“We’ve been busy… or hungover.” I said. “Hope you didn’t go on your date like that.”

“I didn’t have a date.” He said.

“You stood up Miss March?” I said.

“I was never going to go out with Miss March.” Tony said and I gave him a look. “I mean I
was when I made the date but I was really drunk…”

“That is the whole point of making a date.” I said.

“That’s not… okay I need to start over.” He said.

“It’s fine.” I said. “I mean she is your type.”

“And what’s my type?” Tony said.

“Blonde swimsuit models.” I said. “At least I think she’s blonde. I’m imagining a Kate Upton
look alike or maybe it was Kate Upton. I’ve been off world for a while. I’m not up to date on
who was on the cover this year.”

“She’s actually a brunette… Dyed her hair for a movie…“ Tony said making me arch an
eyebrow before he realized he was not helping his case. “I didn’t want to go out with her.”

“You saved her cover photos on your phone and had an alarm set for that day.” I said. “You
don’t have to deny it. You don’t owe me an explanation.”

“It was my fault you died. You warned me and I didn’t listen. I thought you were gone… I
lost you and I didn’t see the point of anything anymore. You weren’t there, there was no team
and I fell back into some bad habits.” He said.

“You mean pre-Afghanistan douchebag Tony?” I retorted.

“I wasn’t that bad.” He said.

“There’s a whole 30 minutes of your origin story that says otherwise.” I said.

“I screwed up but that’s over now and we can go back to normal or our version of it.” Tony
said.

“No.” I said.

“Hanna I’m really sorry…” he started.

“That’s not it.” I said. “All it took was me going away for you to start spiraling. What
happens next time I die?”

“That’s not going to happen.” He said.

“I hope not but realistically it’s going to happen again at some point.” I said. “I can’t be the
only reason you keep it together. It’s not healthy and its not safe for anyone.”

“Do you have any idea what it was like for us think you were dead?” Tony said.

“That’s not an excuse Tony. I got stranded in my crappy universe and I still had to get up
every day to fight the good fight even on the days when I really didn’t want to.” I said. “You
can’t build a relationship on needing someone because that isn’t love, that’s co-dependency
and not the good kind.”

With that I got up and headed back to my room.

 Chapter 36

My talk with Tony had made me do some self-inventory. The past year had been… I don’t
think there was a word to properly describe what the past year had been.

So after a week of avoiding more over the top gestures from Tony, Natasha nagging me to go
out which Clint, Steve and Thor had started joining in on and Bruce not doing anything just
giving me that concerned worried look which he thought I didn’t notice but I did…

After all of that I decided to do the one thing I never thought I would ever do willingly. I
went to therapy but since therapy over zoom would not become a common thing for a while,
I actually had to leave the tower for that.

As much as I didn’t want to I did it. I walked out in the middle of the night, took a cab to the
airport and flew to California.

I know flying all the way to California was a bit overkill and I could have found a therapist a
bit more local but then I’d have to start all over, recapping everything that had led me to
where I was now, the shock and Aww of Tony being my s-word, the trial and error of finding
what worked for me and then there was the hassle of trying to find a therapist that didn’t
make me want to punch them for being more interested in psychoanalyzing me instead of just
trying to talk to me.

That is how I ended up back on Elaine’s couch.

She spent the first three minutes just staring at me in shock that I was actually sitting in her
office after a year of thinking I was dead.

“Okay we have 42 minutes left in our session so you can just go ahead and say it so we can
get to work.” I said breaking the silence.

“I’m sorry it’s just… they told me you were…” She said.
“Dead?” I finished for her. “I was. It didn’t stick.”

“And you’re really okay?” Elaine asked.

“Physically yeah… mentally I’m still same functional mess I always was.” I said

“But you’re here… that’s big.” Elaine said.

“This year kind of brought up a lot of stuff and I thought I was overdue for a mental health
check up.” I said.

“That is my specialty.” Elaine said with a smile. “So catch me up. What did I miss?”

Forty minutes later…

“Shit.” Elaine said. “I’m sorry but… shit there’s a lot to unpack there. Uh are you okay if we
stretch this session a bit.”

“Oh yeah. That’s fine I’m taking a late flight back to New York so I have some time to kill.” I
said.

“Great.” She said. “It’s great to hear you and Steve are getting along.”

“It really helped that he had to walk six months in my shoes.” I said.

“And Jamie.” She said.

“He’s huge.” I said. “Smart kid… almost too smart but he’s back with Theo and we buried
the hatchet.”

“How was it leaving him again?” Elaine said.

“I miss him obviously but last time I let him go I thought he was going to be okay but this
time I know he is. Theo’s his dad, I never should have spit them up.” I said. “I’m honestly
surprised the kid doesn’t hate me but he’s a lot more well-adjusted than I am.”

“Kids are resilient.” She said. “And how’s it been being back?”

“It’s been… an adjustment. I don’t know how to explain it. I had this idea that I would come
back and I could just pick up where I left off but life went on without me. Tony started going
out with swim suit models and other leggy blondes.” I said.

“Are you jealous?” Elaine said.

“Of course not. He doesn’t owe me anything and its not like we were a thing or anything was
happening. Just a moment that almost happened but didn’t happen.” I said and Elaine just
gave me a look telling me she was not buying it for a second. “That’s not going anywhere
anytime soon and Tony has some stuff he needs to work on.”

“Alright I’ll give you that. Now tell me how you’re really doing.” She said.

“I just…” I started.

“You told me about your relationship status. You died and came back. How are you doing?”
She said.
“I haven’t gone outside in two weeks.” I said.

“You’ve been back for 2 weeks.” Elaine said.

“Exactly.” I said. “And I came here… across the country the first time I went out.”

“Are you afraid of being outside?” She said.

“No, being outside isn’t the problem.” I said.

“Okay… I’m going to ask you something I’m pretty sure no one has asked you once since
you’ve come back. What is dying like for you?” Elaine asked.

Elaine was a straight shooter. The main reason I actually liked having her as my therapist.

“It’s uh…. well it hurts. Drowning is slow. I was pinned down. I was holding my breath but
the rubble kept falling on us. My chest was tight as I was fighting the urge to try and breathe
but eventually I just couldn’t. I remember trying to get out from under that rubble. Steve tried
to help there was nothing I could have done. I started breathing in water and it felt like my
lungs and throat were on fire. A different pressure keeping my lungs from expanding. It hurt
to try to move but I kept trying and then my vision started getting blurry and I knew that was
going to be it. Steve was still trying to get me out but I took his hand and squeezed as hard as
I could trying to get him to leave and that was it. Everything was dark and I was falling. At
least that’s what it felt like.”

“And?” She asked.

“And nothing. I wish I could tell you there are angels and white pearly gates but there was
nothing but darkness. Pain and darkness. That’s all there is to death.” I said.

“Pain when you die or pain when you come back.” Elaine said.
“Both.” I admitted. That snap back… that pull it brought me back every time but it hurt. Not
physically or in any way I could describe with words but it did. “But its fine… I’m here and I
don’t plan on dying again for a very long time. At a very old age, in my sleep.”

“That’s the dream.” Elaine said. “And I have to say after everything that’s happened this past
year you seem miraculously well adjusted.”

“Then why do I feel like such a mess?” I asked.

“Life is messy and honestly everyone’s a bit of a mess but the main milestone here is that you
recognize that there is a problem and you’re using the coping skills we worked on here to
address those issues. You faced Theo and Jamie again… You’re actually talking to Steve…
You’re more open to affection from your s-words…”

“You can just say soulmates.” I said. If I was going to stick around in this universe then I
should probably start adapting the local customs.

“And there’s that. You’ve come a really long way Hanna so as proud as I am of you I’m
really sad to say that you’re ready to graduate from therapy.” Elaine said.

“Graduate? You mean I’m fixed?” I said.

“No. You’re not fixed because you were never broken to begin with. You have hopes for the
future. You’re self-assured, confident, you have the skills to handle anything life throws at
you. You’re not the same depressed young woman you were when we first met that wanted to
give up on life.” Elaine said.

“Did you miss the part where I said I didn’t leave the tower because I was afraid of dying
again?” I said.
“Yet you got on a plane to fly across the country to sit on my couch and admitted you were
afraid.” She said.

“But… I thought there was more work to do on myself?” I said.

“There’s always more work to do on yourself but it’s work you can do on your own.” Elaine
said.

“Are you sure?” I said.

“Absolutely… that’s not to say that if you ever feel the need for a mental health check up you
can’t come back. My door is always open for you.” Elaine said.

I just sat there processing what she was telling me.

“So what am I supposed to do now?” I asked.

“That’s up to you Hanna. What do you want to do?” She said.

That’s the question I kept asking myself as I walked out of the office, officially cleared and
certified as not crazy.

“Shit.” I said as I realized I truly had no idea what it was I wanted to do now. I spent so long
trying to be what everyone else wanted me to be or constantly in crisis mode trying to solve
everyone else’s problems I never actually thought about what it was I wanted. You know
other than trying to kill myself the first time and every other time after that to get back to my
favorite universe.

So what now… well I could use a drink to start.

Back in New York…

While I was making major breakthroughs in therapy… Back at the tower my better sevenths
or those also known as my multiverse assigned soulmates were freaking the hell out.

It started with Thor running into the kitchen shouting for help as he couldn’t find me
anywhere.

“Friends something is terribly wrong!” Thor shouted.

“What did you run out of hair conditioner?” Tony said not bothering to look away from his
tablet.

“What’s wrong Thor?” Bruce said ignoring Tony’s quip.

“Lady Hanna is missing!” Thor said panicing.

“What do you mean missing?” Natasha said as everyone was immediately on alert.

“She is not in her room or in the tower.” Thor said.

“Did you check the Starbucks in the lobby?” Clint asked.

“Yes.” Thor said.

“The gym?” Natasha asked.

“Yes.” He answered.

“The pool?” Bruce asked.

“She doesn’t swim.” Steve and Tony answered at the same time.

“What about her room?” Bruce said.

“I was just there.” Thor said mildly annoyed. “Someone must’ve taken her.”

“Calm down pointbreak. Hanna’s probably in the library or somewhere…Jarvis?” Tony asked

“Miss Marin is not in the tower.” Jarvis answered.

“Where is she?” Tony said as Steve went to the refrigerator and spotted a note on the fridge.
One he had seen multiple times while he was living with Hanna in her world.

“She went out, she’ll be back later.” Steve said reading the note.

“Did she say something to you?” Natasha asked.

“She left a note.” Steve said sliding it to her.

“What’s it say?” Tony asked.

“Went out, be back later.” Natasha said holding it up for them to see.
“Well you wanted her to go outside…” Clint said.

“Is now really a good time for her to be going off on her own, with Hydra and everything
else?” Steve asked.

“Guys you can’t keep her locked up in the tower.” Bruce said.

“But if she is hurt and…” Thor started.

“We can still see color which means she’s still in this universe.” Clint said.

“Besides Hanna can handle herself.” Steve said.

A While Later…

There was only one place I could see myself having a drink at in the middle of the day. It was
a ways off from Elaine’s office and I was going to have to set an alarm to make sure I didn’t
miss my flight but there was no other place I could have a drink with my best friend.

The SideDoor, it was meant to look like a fifties diner but also doubled as a bar. During the
day though the bar side was empty. It was the dream shift for the college students on the wait
staff. The morning shift was the shift everyone fought for because it was essentially an eight
hour study period. A little known secret… which is why Theo and I were always willing to
get stuck working mornings.

And sure enough that was where I found him, working as a bartender while cramming for his
calculus final.

“Good morning.” I said.

“Uh Hi… Just one sec…” He said scribbling something down before running to take my
order. “Sorry what can I get you?”

“Uh Jameson and Gingerale please.” I said.

“Coming right up.” He said quickly pouring me a drink.

“Calculus huh?” I said looking at his textbook.

“Yeah I have a final in like three days I’m so not ready for.” He said.

“Becker or Gerard?” I said asking which of the two professors that flunked him in my world
he was currently dealing with.

“You’re a UC alumni?” He said.

“Graduated five years ago. Glad to know they both got tenured and they’re around torturing
freshmen and sophomores.” I said.

“Becker is kicking my ass.” Theo said.

“Well just a tip, you’re studying the wrong thing.” I said.

“What do you mean? We covered this chapter.” Theo said.

“Yeah but it’s a common final so both professors put the test together but Gerard is a bit nicer
and didn’t really focus on word problems so you’ll only have one or two tops. You can pass
the exam even if you get both wrong or even with just partial credit.” I said.

“Are you serious?” Theo said.

“Yeah, I know for sure because not only did I take the class but I was tutor for it.” I said.
“You should be more focused on limits and derivatives.”

“Derivatives are easy but limits I just don’t get.” Theo said.

“Pass me a pen and paper, time for a crash course.” I said explaining it to him the same way I
knew he understood it in my world. Within the hour he was getting the hang of it.

“Thank you, you just saved my ass big time.” Theo said.

“It’s the least I can do for my favorite bartender.” I said.

“You know a Jameson and gingerale is just Jameson and gingerale?” He said.

“Yeah but drinks always taste better at a bar.” I said.

“So what do you do now that you’re out of school?” He asked.

“I’m in between jobs right now. I’m actually considering a career change.” I said.

“To what?” Theo asked.

“No idea.” I said. “I was in… finance but my job made me miserable.”
“Paid well though.” He said looking down at the black Chloe Marcie bag that has appeared
with all the clothing replacements Jarvis had ordered for me.
“It was a gift.” I said. “Money isn’t everything. Family… friends… happiness and peace of
mind. It’s the things you can’t buy that really matter.

“If you say so.” He said not entirely convinced. “So what’s the plan? You worked in finance
and you weren’t happy so what does make you happy?”

“I don’t know.” I said. “That’s kind of the problem. I don’t think I’ve ever been happy. Up
until a year ago I could have sworn I was dead inside.”

“That’s a bit dramatic don’t you think.” He said.

“You don’t know the half of it.” I said.

“Then maybe that’s where you start, find what makes you happy. Try something new and if
that doesn’t work try something else. Travel the world and find your place. That’s what I’m
going to do after college. I’m going to join the peace core. Get a little lost… get a little found
and see where I end up.” He said.

“The peace core huh?” I said.

“I mean they might send me somewhere sunny with white sandy beaches…” Theo said.

“We’re less than ten minutes away from the beach.” I retorted.

“I don’t want to get home sick.” Theo said making me chuckle. “Besides I’ve always wanted
to go to Bali.”

“Setting the bar pretty high there.” I said.

“A guy can dream.” He said giving me a refill. “Now mind giving me another crash course.
The peace core doesn’t like college dropouts.”

“Alright then.” I said as I continued tutoring him until it was time to go. Maybe in this
universe Theo wouldn’t have to repeat calculus twice.

When it was time to go I paid my tab leaving my BFIAU (Best Friend In Another Universe) a
very generous tip as I remembered the following semester was when Theo considered selling
his kidney down in Mexico because he couldn’t afford his criminology textbook.

I made it back to New York late at night. I was pretty sure everyone was asleep when I
walked into the common room. I put my purse on the counter before looking through the
fridge for a late night snack.

“You’re up late.” Steve said making my jump up a bit in surprise making me bump my head.
“Ow!” I said. “What the hell Steve?”

“Sorry, I didn’t think you’d hit your head.” He said helping me up.

“Why are you sitting alone in the dark you weirdo? You’re not Natasha or Clint.” I said.

“I couldn’t sleep… Did you just get back?” He said.

“Yeah, I took a late flight.” I said.

“You took a flight? Where have you been all day?” Steve asked.

“I went to therapy which I apparently don’t need now. Then I went to see Theo.” I said.

“Theo?” Steve said surprised.

“This universe’s Theo…” I said.

“He’d be about 18 or 19?” Steve said.

“Yeah. He was a very different person before he became a dad.” I said. “Hell we both were
back then.”

“Glad you left a note. You could have mentioned where you were going.” Steve gently
commented.
“I said I was coming back.” I said with a shrug. He should know better by now and I did say I
was coming back though given everything we’ve been through he should know I always
come back.

“You did…” Steve said with a tired smile. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, its just been a long day.” I said taking an apple. “See you tomorrow?”

“You are going to be here tomorrow right?” Steve said.

“Where else would I go?” I retorted as I walked out.

The Following Morning…

I woke up to the sun pouring in from the floor to ceiling window. I was still on the bed. That
was progress.

Guess Elaine was right. Maybe I was ready to graduate. I decided to skip my morning
workout and just jumped straight in the shower to wash off the smell of airplane off of me. I
towel dried my hair before getting dressed in comfy black tights and a dark maroon cropped
cami which I topped with an oversized flannel that appeared with my stuff last time I did
laundry.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0b/11/6b/0b116b1057d0c00b981baeb11394efa9.jpg

From there I wandered over to the closest coffeemaker I could find. The Starbucks in the
lobby was too far and the line would be way too long at this hour so I settled for regular high
end imported coffee beans from whatever country we got this month.

“Hanna!” Thor cheered picking me up in a bear hug. “You have returned!”

“Whoa!” I said taking the hug before putting my hand out towards Clint who was about to
drink straight out of the coffee pot. “Save me… coffee.”

“Huh I didn’t get that?” Clint teased before gently sliding me over my new favorite mug with
my coffee already prepared the way I liked it.

“So any reason why I’m getting billed for a roundtrip plane ticket to California?” Tony asked.

“I went to California yesterday.” I said. “Had an appointment with my therapist.”

“You went to therapy?” He asked genuinely surprised.

“Yeah, thought I was overdue for a check up.” I said. “You’ll be getting the bill for that too.”

“Okay…” Tony said not knowing what to say to that.

Everyone was quiet for a minute not knowing the right way to proceed from there…

“Are you feeling jumpy?” Tony said not being one to wallow in awkward silences for long.

“Tony…” Bruce said giving him a panicked look.

“No Tony I don’t feel like offing myself. I think I’ve done enough of that for a year.” I said.
“In fact according to Elaine I’m cleared to quit therapy.”

“Congrats?” Clint said not knowing if that was a good thing or not.
“I was surprised too.” I said sipping my coffee.

“But it’s good news right?” Steve said.

“I’d say so and we’re overdue for some good news.” I said.

“Merry Christmas.” Natasha said.

“Speaking of what are we doing for Christmas?” Clint asked.

“We could have a party?” Tony suggested.

“What is this Christmas you speak of and does it have something to do with the red fat man
and the colorful gnomes that are everywhere?” Thor asked.

“You don’t know what Christmas is?” Clint said and Natasha gave him a pointed look.

“They probably don’t have Christmas on Asgard.” Bruce gently reminded everyone.

“Right…” Tony said.

“Well Christmas is a holiday here on Earth… there are different versions of it but the general
idea is that you have a feast and spend time with friends and family.” I said.

“And don’t forget the presents.” Tony said.

“Oh and you generally give out presents.” I said.

“Gifts? What are the gifts meant to be?” Thor asked.

“Well you give kids toys but it can be anything you think the other person would like.” Steve
said.

“Or the way I used to do it in my world with my friend Theo is we would give out gag gifts.”
I said.

“Like a white elephant.” Natasha said. “or if you want to be really cheesy you can do 12 days
of Christmas.”

“Don’t forget the Christmas movies, the ugly sweaters, Christmas cookies, gingerbread
houses, caroling… “ Clint said.

“Oh and Santa coming down the chimney to bring you present to open up on Christmas
morning.” Steve said.

“A man comes into your home while you are sleeping?” Thor said looking concerned.

“He’s not…” I started before Natasha quickly put a hand over my mouth to stop me from
ruining Santa for Thor.

“Yes but he’s a good guy. You leave milk and cookies out for him and he leaves presents if
you’ve been good all year.” Natasha said.

“Oh then he is a friendly intruder!” Thor cheered.

“You bet big guy.” Tony said. “There’s a lot of movies about him.”

“Tons, like the Santa Klaus one, two and three, miracle on 34th street, The Polar Express…”
Clint said.

“There’s also the Grinch, Grandma got runover by a reindeer, the nightmare before
Christmas…” I continued.

“That’s not a Christmas movies.” Tony said.

“Christmas is in the name.” I said.

“But it’s not about Christmas.” Tony said.

“Jack has Lock, Shock and Barrel kidnap Santa who then take him to Oogie Boogie and after
he tries and fails to steal Christmas, then he saves Santa and Christmas, making the
Nightmare before Christmas a Christmas movie.” I said.

“Santa was kidnapped?” Thor said.

“Oh Shit, Thor’s never celebrated Christmas. Do you know what this means?” Tony said.
“Christmas Party!”

“No.” Everyone said.

“Actually…” I said making everyone turn to me. “A small toned down dinner party wouldn’t
be too horrible but I’m not cooking.”

“I’ll hire caterers.” Tony said.

“Okay we have… Twelve days until Christmas, it’s a bit short notice.” Steve said.

“That just means we have to start shopping now.” Natasha said grabbing my arm and taking
the credit card Tony offered as we passed by him.

“Wait can’t we just shop online and have it delivered?” I said.

“To short notice. Can’t risk all the gifts getting here late.” Natasha said.

“Thor, you’re coming with us.” I said grabbing his arm and dragging him with me. If we
were giving him a Christmas experience then he was going to get the whole experience.
Including the insanity of last minute shopping.

Hours Later…

I knew that Tony was a billionaire but I felt bad about how much we spent. Well how much
Nat spent buying everyone gifts and sweaters and outfits and basically anything Christmas
themes we didn’t already have at the tower.

“I do not understand why are we in another line?” Thor asked.

“That was the line to get into the store, the line we just got out of was to pay for all of this
and this one is… a surprise.” Natasha said with a smirk.

I chuckled trying to not giveaway the surprised as one of Santa’s little helpers walked past us
to keep the line in order.

“At least this one is moving fast.” I said.

“It’s Santa!” Thor cheered when he finally saw him.

“Surprise.” Natasha said dryly.

“Santa likes to pop in every once in a while, to ask what everyone would like him to bring
them.” I said.

“He also likes taking photos.” Natasha said.

“Uh next… do you need to wait for you son or daughter?” The elf asked.

“We already have our kid.” Natasha said. “Go ahead Thor.”

“I’m supposed to sit on his lap?” Thor asked.

“Ye…” Natasha started.

“Only if you want to but maybe we should give him break and take quick photo with him.” I
said.

“Squeeze in.” The Camera man said.

We got in a few one with Thor giving Santa a big pat on the back, another with a disheveled
Santa who’s hat and beard fell off revealing that it wasn’t Santa. Then one more of Thor
angrily turning his umbrella back into Mjolnir and about to interrogate the fake Santa for real
Santa’s location.
Suffice to say we decided to call it a day after that.

“If Santa was harmed or being held captive by dark elves…” Thor started.

“Thor sweetie the very nice mall Santa told you he was just filling in for Santa because he’s
busy up in the North Pole getting ready for the big day.” I said.

“Then why do the children still sit on the lap of an imposter?” He asked.

“For the cute photo.” Natasha said putting up the photo of the three of us with fake Santa on
the fridge. The frame read in big candy cane letters: Thor’s First Christmas.

“I don’t know I think I like this one better.” Clint said holding the photo of Thor about to
swing Mjolnir at fake Santa.

“I’m adding this to the slide show.” Tony said.

“What slide show?” Bruce said.

“For the Christmas party.” He said.

“Christmas dinner party.” I corrected.

“There is going to be food.” Tony said with a shrug.

“Okay I think we need to go over this again. Small intimate lowkey Christmas dinner.” I said.
“Yeah yeah…” Tony said completely ignoring me. “Relax I know what I’m doing.”

“Enough of that.” Natasha said tossing everyone their ‘Ugly’ Sweaters.

“No thanks I don’t do… polyester.” Tony said.

“They’re all cashmere or merino wool.” Natasha deadpanned. “Thor waited in line to see
Santa, you can wear a sweater.”

“Fine.” Tony said taking the sweater before slipping it on.

“Is this another Midgardian Custom?” Thor asked putting on his Santa Suit sweater. It was an
ugly sweater but he was weirdly making it work. One look at Natasha and I could tell she
was thinking the same thing.

“Yeah it’s a fun one.” Clint said before holding out two movies. “So what are a we watching
tonight, Home Alone or the Santa Clause?”

“Santa Clause, it gives some good back story.” I said

“I would like to learn more of this Santa and his Claws.” Thor said.

“He doesn’t actually have claws.” Bruce said.

“Come on Jarvis is already ordering takeout.” I said going to my spot on the couch.
Unbeknownst to me every night since I had come back and we had a movie night there was a
silent ‘Fight’ over who got to sit next to me. I had this really bad habit of falling asleep
halfway through the second movie and I was a sleep cuddler.
In my defense Thor and Clint’s biceps made very good pillows.

So I was sitting down looking at all the movie options while they all debated and then not so
subtly shoved each other to try to get to the seat. They were too busy to notice me get up and
sit next to Bruce to try and get a closer look at the book he was reading.

“The classics huh?” I said.

“It’s Christmas.” Bruce said with a smile.

“Are you dealing with your own personal Scrooge?” I asked.

“No, its just… this is the first Christmas I’m celebrating in…years even before the other guy
happened.” He said.

“Well if we’re lucky the tower won’t get blown up and we can have a nice peaceful and quiet
one.” I said just as the group started getting rowdy. “Or as close to that as we can get with
this group.”

“Did you celebrate Christmas in your world?” Bruce asked.

“I did… It wasn’t as festive as it is here.” I said thinking back to my childhood Christmases

where we would try to have dinner and before we even got the main course the arguing
would start, then mom and dad would start throwing things. The night always ended with me
hiding in a closet and on Christmas morning someone would remember where I was and let
me out.

“Okay movie time!” Tony said appearing in the seat next to me.

“Great, I need an arm rest.” I said walking back to my seat.

“Allow me.” Thor said standing up to give me his seat.

“Thor I can just take the arm chair.” I said.

“It was your seat first.” He insisted.

“Thank you.” I said sitting down and pulling down the throw draping it over my lap and legs.
I noticed Natasha who was sitting next to me watching me out of the corner of her eye. The
throw was pretty big so I unfolded it completely and draped it over her too.

“Thanks.” She said with a smile.

So we watched the movie. It was the usual cheesy Christmas flick I got drunk to every year
before I fell into this world except this year it hit different. Scott Calvin had his whole life
figured out, a very successful business career, and adorable kid… then he woke up in the
middle of night on Christmas Eve, made Santa fall off his roof and his whole world turned
upside down. Everything he thought he knew flew out the window.

And that’s when a thought hit me. Was I the Scott Calvin of the MCU?

“Fuck.” I said.

“You okay?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah, I’m just… I think I’m going to call it an early night.” I said getting up.

“But the movie is not over yet, and Santa has already perished. What shall happen to
Christmas!?” Thor exclaimed.
“Keep watching.” I said. “You haven’t even gotten to the good part yet.”

What the hell was wrong with me? Having a minor existential crisis in the middle of a
Disney movie.

I went down to my room and fell back into my bed. I came back after dying more than five
times, spending six months with Steve in my world, making amends and putting things right
and I was here. I’m moving forward… not entirely sure what I was moving to…

Fuck what was I going to do?

“Ugh…” I groaned grabbing a pillow and putting it over my face trying to smother myself to
sleep.

Three Days Later…

While I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life…

Everyone else was going on with their day to day. Which at the moment was trying to decide
what to get everyone else for Christmas?

“Romanoff, you’re a girl… woman…” Tony said as Natasha glared at him. “Which of these
do you think Hanna would like?”

Tony said swiping through his phone to show Natasha different sets of extremely expensive
jewelry.

“That’s a lot of diamonds.” Bruce said.

“Why don’t you go buy her the whole mine while you’re at it?” Clint said.

“So?” Tony asked.

“They’re beautiful.” Natasha said. “She’ll hate them all.”

“What?! But it’s…” Tony said.

“Hanna.” Natasha said. “You’re trying to buy her forgiveness; it’s not going to work.”

“Will one of these at least make her slightly less angry?” He asked.

“I was not aware Hanna was angry? She seems distracted but not angry.” Thor said.

“Of course you didn’t notice all you two do is gaze into each others eyes.” Tony said not
sounding the least bit jealous.

“Yes the eyes are the windows to the soul.” Thor said.

“And you saw that she’s distracted?” Clint asked.

“Now that you mention it she has been a bit… unfocused lately.” Bruce said.

“You don’t think she’s…” Tony asked but not wanting to finish that sentence.
“She’s not… I don’t think so.” Steve said just as the elevator dinged.

“Morning.” Hanna said walking in carrying boxes of wrapped presents before dropping them
off under the tree.

“Morning…” Everyone else said exchanging looks.

“That’s a lot of presents.” Steve said.

“I woke up early to go on a run and figured since I was already out I should do some
Christmas shopping.” She said going for the coffee maker. “I got through my whole list.
What’s new here?”

“We were actually thinking about going ice skating tonight.” Clint said.

“Sounds fun.” She said.

“You ever been before?” Steve asked.

“I grew up in LA. We don’t really get snow.” She said.

“It’ll be fun, I rented out all of Rockefeller Center.” Tony said. “I know how much you hate
crowds.”

“I do.” Hanna confirmed. “Thanks. I’m going to go clean up and no shaking the gifts to try
and figure out what you’re getting.”

Once she was out of the room…

“Yeah something is definitely wrong.” Tony said.
 Chapter 37

I’ve had to answer a lot of hard questions in my life. I’ve been at some insane crossroads that
somehow ended with me falling into a parallel universe where I now had to make an
impossible choice.

I wasn’t a stranger to impossible choices. At 17 when I could have slammed the door in
Grace’s face after her water broke and she got placenta all over my favorite boots, I made the
choice to hold her hand and stay with her during the entire 10 hour delivery. That’s how I
became an aunt, well other than the fact that my brother knocked Grace up nine months
before.

At 18 when a complete stranger came up to me at a bar and kissed me (Without my consent I

might add) I could have thrown my overpriced drink in his face and maybe even pressed
assault charges. Instead I chose to accept his apology and talked him down from edge of a
breakdown before helping him come to terms with the fact that he was gay. That’s how I met
my best friend who is more of a brother to me than my actual brother.

Then six months after that when Grace called begging for help, I could have ignored the call,
send it to my voicemail and that would have been the end of it. Instead I picked up the phone
and took in my nephew.

All of those decisions led me to where I was now.

Locked in my room at Stark tower going through a career aptitude test, looking at job
prospects online and making a pro and con list of each of those choices.

It was not going well.

How was it this freaking hard to figure out what I wanted to do with my life? It wasn’t this
hard in my world the first time I had to do it at 17.
Then again I didn’t have many options back in my world.

I just wanted to get away from my parents. I needed to go to the school that was farthest
away but gave me the best financial aid. I wanted to be a doctor because they made a lot of
money and you could never have too many of those. That went out the window when Jamie
came into the picture and couldn’t waste time or money on med school.

I had to be practical. I needed a good stable career that only needed a 4 year degree.

So I got a Bachelors in Biology and went to work at a pharmaceutical company in their sales
department.

Fuck did I hate that job but it paid the bills and the benefits were good.

I definitely did not want to go back to that. That was one thing off my list. That and anything
relating to customer service. People are the worst.

“Miss Marin, Sir would like permission to enter your quarters.” Jarvis said.

“Uh… Just a second.” I said quickly putting away and hiding all signs of my quarter life
crisis. Once I was sure it was all out of sight I sat on the couch and picked up a book. “He can
come in.”

A few seconds later the door and Tony walked in.

“Hey sunshine, you busy?” He asked.

“I’m in the middle of a really good book.” I said.

“Eat Pray Love?” Tony asked struggling to contain his grin.

“Yeah, it’s a real page turner.” I said. Where did this book even come from? I thought I had
grabbed Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

“I can imagine. Julia Roberts was great in the movie and Naples does have the best pizza. I
should get some delivered for dinner. Jarvis?” Tony said.

“That’s a waste of a good pizza and jet fuel.” I said

“Why you want to go to Naples? We can go to Naples.” He said.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah why?” He asked.

“You’re being really extra today. More than usual.” I said.

“I’m great… Are you okay?” Tony asked.

“Never better.” I answered smiling.

“Great…” Tony said smiling obviously forcing it. “So we were thinking of maybe having a
movie night? Order pizza from Naples… or down the block, or both…”

“That sounds great.” I said.

“Great.” Tony said.

“Great.” I said. We stared at each other for a minute, neither of us knowing what to say.

“Kay see you later.” Tony said leaving the room.

“Okay.” I said. That was not awkward at all. I closed eat pray love and stared at Julia Roberts
on the cover. It took the woman over a year and three continents post-divorce only to
probably end up right back where she started. Why go around the world when you live in one
of the most diverse melting pots of art and culture in the world?

What a joke… I put the book away and went back to trying to work things out.

As it turns out no matter what universe you were in choosing what you were going to do with
the rest of your life was hard.

How did anyone wake up one day and just know what they were going to do with the rest of
their lives?

“Miss Marin, Captain Rogers wished to inform you that dinner has arrived.” Jarvis said.

“Dinner time already…” I said. “Crap my college counselor was right, I really am going
nowhere in life.”

I got up and headed upstairs only to walk into Clint and Tony arguing over which movie we
should watch for movie night that Steve could not spend another day without watching.

“it’s De Niro, Pesci… Goodfellas is a classic.” Clint said.

“The Godfather is the Godfather of all mob movies.” Tony said.

“The movie argument again?” I asked Natasha.

“Yeah.” She said. “On the bright side there’s pizza from Naples.”

“He actually flew in pizza from Naples?” I asked.

“He said he got the idea from the book you were reading.” Natasha said taking a bite.

“Okay then…” I said grabbing a slice.

“I didn’t take you for a Julia Roberts fan.” Natasha said.

“I thought there’d be more pizza.” I said.

“Don’t worry about the pizza there’s way more where that came from.” Clint said putting a
pizza down in front of me.

“Yay leftovers.” I said. “The best weekend breakfast… cold pizza and coffee.”

“Like I said before, cold pizza and coffee is not breakfast.” Steve chided.

“Not all of us enjoy plain toast and a boiled egg for breakfast every day.” I said.

“Eggs and toast are breakfast foods.” Steve said.

“You could at least scramble the eggs.” Natasha said.

“Or eggs in a nest?” I suggested.

“You eat bird’s nests?” Thor asked. “Is that like the pigs in blanket?”

“It’s bread you cut a hole in and fill with egg before baking it.” I said as everyone looked at
me confused. “You guys haven’t tried that before?”

“Can’t say I have.” Bruce said.

“No.” Tony said.

“It was all over… oh right. It’s an Instagram food trend or it will be in a few years. You guys
are going to love it.” I said.

“Can’t wait to try it.” Tony said.

“You’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Any recommendations?” Bruce asked.

“Oh I’m just going through the classics.” I said.

“I didn’t know Eat Pray Love was a classic?” Tony said.

“It is in my world.” I said. Not technically a complete lie. It was over 10 years old in my
time. “How’s work? Any news on the SHIELD/HYDRA situation?”
“Still no news from Fury.” Natasha said. “Still no new intel or any Winter… I mean Bucky
sightings.”

“Doubt there would be any, they only take him out of cryo if there’s a job for him.” I said.
“He’ll come up in a few months, you’ll dismantle SHIELD and we’ll right back where we
started.”

“Maybe if you…” Steve started.

“Oh ELF! We should watch it. This one’s a classic no matter what universe you’re in.” I said.

“There is a movie about Dark Elves?” Thor asked.

“No, he’s not an elf. He was just raised by elves. The good kind that build toys for kids that
Santa delivers on Christmas Eve.” I said.

“Just watch Pointbreak you’re going to love it.” Tony said.

And he did. Even Steve laughed along at Buddy’s antics but for some reason even the
happiest and goofiest Christmas movie that could put a smile on anyone’s face could not
distract me from my ongoing existential crisis.

How could freaking Buddy the Elf just find a way to fit in both the North Pole and the real
world?

What the hell am I doing with my life?

“Hanna?” Clint said shaking my shoulder.

“Huh?” I said not knowing what the hell was going on.

“You okay?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah why?” I asked.

“The movie’s been over for 15 minutes.” Bruce said. “And you were staring off into space.”

“Oh was I? Guess I’m tired.” I said with a shrug as I got up. “It’s a good a time as any to call
it a night.”

“It’s not even nine yet?” Tony said.

“Early bird catches the worm. Night.” I said waving at them not even bothering to look back.

Once I was out of earshot…

“That was weird right?” Tony said.

“There’s something bothering her.” Steve said. “She’s done that before.”

“Stare off into space? Everyone does that.” Bruce said.

“She has been a bit closed off the last couple of days.” Clint said. “Well more that usual.”
“Perhaps we should speak to Hanna and ask her what troubles her?” Thor suggest.

Everyone turned to look at him like he had grown another head.

“Has that ever worked?” Clint deadpanned.

“One time I asked her why she was mad and she threw a shoe at me.” Steve said and Natasha
rolled her eyes muttering ‘Men under her breath.

“Hanna has always been very open and honest.” Thor said making Tony snort. Thor was
starting to lose his patience with Tony’s comments.

“What Tony means is, Hanna’s gotten better but we’re not there yet.” Bruce said.

“Let’s just give her some space. She’ll talk when she’s ready.” Steve said.

“Can we give her space while getting her out of her room?” Natasha hinted.

“I think we should wait her out. As long as she isn’t sneaking out to get drunk every night,
we should be okay.” Clint said.

“He’s not wrong. How long could she really hole up in there for?” Bruce said.

“You have a robot butler that can have everything brought up to her, Every movie and TV
show available with the click of a button, and she doesn’t want to talk to anyone.” Natasha
said.

“We’re screwed.” Tony said.

The Following Morning…

I was officially starting to lose hope.

After spending a week taking every possible career aptitude and personality assessment and
just because I wanted to cover all my bases… a couple of BuzzFeed quizzes. I had nothing.

Well nothing but a bunch of quizzes that said that the most I would ever amount to is middle
management sales because apparently I was a people person, or as one personality quiz said I
was a nurturer not a planter. Ironically another quiz said I should consider working in a plant
nursery because the plants wouldn’t be offended by my prickly personality.

I was doomed to live a mediocre life. What’s worse… I was doomed to live said mediocre
life bonded to people who were the best of the best in their respective fields.

I groaned as I fell back onto my bed only to land on the spine of an open book.

“Ow… Screw you Julia Roberts.” I said pulling out “Eat Pray Love” from under me. I was
about to throw it when I realized… Julia Roberts may be onto something.

A long long… very long time ago, I’d like to believe I wasn't this miserable, hopeless shell of
a person. I had hopes, dreams, aspirations… I was hungry to live my life. Then life decided
to crap all over said hopes, dreams and aspirations, threw multiple curveballs at me before
ping ponging me across the multiverse until I met ended up with six soulmates. (To this day
I’m not entirely sure what the logistics of a relationship like that looked like nor was I ready
to even open that can of worms yet.)

Maybe I was in the right universe but I wasn't going to find the answers I was looking for in
this room. So I got out of bed and got dressed.
Julia Roberts took a year to travel across the world to find herself. I wasted almost a year in
my world and really didn’t feel like traveling with the Winter Soldier right around the corner.
Lucky for me I was currently living in one of the most diverse global hubs in the world. So I
could skip all of the air travel and get straight to the work.

I slipped on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a heather grey crew neck knit sweater, a pair of
black leather heeled ankle booties and a black wool coat with a wool grey scarf to help stay
warm. Having spent my entire life in California, I was having some trouble adjusting the
weather in New York, specifically the fact that it was an actual winter with snow or close to
it.
It was still very early but due to it being so close to Christmas the corporate office were
closed until January. That meant the main Entrance/exit lobby was closed and sadly so was
the Starbucks on the ground floor. That left the private garage as the best options to slip out.

“Garage.” I said when I stepped into the elevator.

“You’re up early miss.” Jarvis greeted me.

“The early bird catches the worm.” I answered as the elevator started moving down.

“Would you like me to let anyone know you will be out running errands?” Jarvis asked.

“Smooth…. Only if they ask.” I answered looking up options as to where to start my

‘Travels’. “Just no tracking me. I don’t care what universe we’re in or what the relationship
status is, stalking is not cool.”

“Duly noted Miss.” Jarvis answered as the elevator doors opened to the garage. I walked out
to rows of Tony’s sports cars in a variety of colors with his signature vanity plates lined up
along the way.

“These never stop being cool. Don’t ever tell him I said that.” I warned Jarvis. If he heard
that he’d want to buy me one.

I was looking up which train would be the best one to take to get when I remembered the last
time I took a train in New York. My hair was just starting to brush my shoulders, I could not
pull off a pixie cut.

I was almost at the door when one car caught my eye. Tony had just gotten the white Audi R8
e-tron delivered before the Mandarin blew up the house. Obviously since then Tony had
upgraded and replaced the car for another in the same model but in hot rod red.
That car was gorgeous… but it was New York. How practical was it to drive around?

But all things considered it may be the safest option for me. I did not want to die again.
Dying sucks and it does not get any better the more you do it.

“Hey Jarvis what’s Tony’s policy on borrowing cars?” I asked.

“Sir allows all his guests and friends to freely borrow his vehicles at their leisure.” Jarvis said
as the ceiling lights turned on lighting the way to the cabinet where all the keys were kept.

“Yes…” I cheered running to the cabinet. I tested out the alarms on a handful of cars until I
finally found the one key to the R8 e-tron.

I opened the door and slipped in. I buckled up and started the engine. I was not an engineer or
a car person but it was such a great sound.
“Jarvis are you in this car?” I asked.

“Yes Miss, Sir has my system integrated into all of his vehicles.” Jarvis said.

“Which means he can track all of his cars whenever he wants?” I said putting two and two
together.”

“That is a default function that cannot be overridden.” Jarvis said.

“Figures… Okay but can you alert me if anyone tries to track this car or if anyone say…
Tony brings up the location or asks for it?” I said.

“That would be within the capabilities of my programming.” Jarvis said.

“Great… now let’s see where the day takes us.” I said speeding out of the garage.

Hours Later…

It was a typical early morning in Avengers Tower. Steve was up bright and early to go on his
morning run. He was on his way back when he saw Tony’s red Audi drive out of the garage.
He didn’t think anything of it. The billionaire was a busy man… when he wasn't locked in his
lab.

Steve ran up to the gym to do a few sets on the upgraded punching bags Tony had made for
him. From there he would shower clean up and then go help make breakfast.

By then Clint and Natasha would be done with their morning workouts if they weren’t out on
a mission.
Bruce would eventually come up from his lab if not to eat to make himself another cup of tea.

“Flapjacks are ready, Jarvis can you let Hanna know breakfast is ready.” Steve said.

“Miss Marin is currently unavailable Captain Rogers.” Jarvis said.

“I’ll go check on Hanna.” Thor said getting out of his seat to go knock on her door.

Just as the elevator doors opened for Thor, Tony sauntered out.

“Good Morning Pointbreak.” Tony said patting his shoulder as he passed by him.

“Good morrow.” Thor said continuing on his way.

“What’s for breakfast?” Tony said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and refilling Clint’s
cup. Clint nodded his thanks before taking another sip.

“You’re back already?” Steve said.

“Back? I didn’t know I went anywhere.” Tony said.

“I saw your car drive when I came back from my run.” Steve said.

“I haven’t left the tower in three…” Tony said looking unsure.

“Four days.” Bruce and Jarvis corrected.

“Four days? Wow that was a good lab bender.” Tony said.

“Wait, you saw his car drive off but you’re here and so are we…” Natasha said and Clint
immediately picked up what she was getting at.

“Have we been breached?” Clint asked and immediately everyone was on guard.

“Jarvis show me the security feed of the garage.” Tony said pulling out his phone. Sure
enough he could see his red Audi speeding off. “Who stole my car?”

“Sir…” Jarvis started but was interrupted by Thor running in.

“Hanna’s gone!” Thor said.

“Sir…” Jarvis started.

“What do you mean she’s gone?” Natasha said. “Did she leave or was it a break in? Was
anything missing? Were there signs of a struggle?”

“No she was just not in her room.” Thor said.

“She probably just went out for a coffee or for a walk.” Steve said.

“We had a break in and now she’s missing.” Clint said.

“Not missing, she's just not in her room.” Bruce corrected.

“Hanna doesn’t leave her room. Except for dinner.” Tony said.

“Sir if I may?” Jarvis said bringing up a live feed but this time from inside the garage of
Hanna getting into the car and driving away.

“Hanna was in the car?” Tony said. “Does she even have a license? Wait since when does she
drive?”

“Ehem…” Steve cleared his throat. “I taught her how… while we were in her world. It was
safer than taking the metro.”

“Really?” Bruce asked.

“Mhm…” Steve said with a nod. “She probably just went out for some air.”

“Yeah… but just in case. Jarvis can you tell us where she is?” Tony said.

“Certainly sir.” Jarvis said as a map appeared pinpointing the car’s location. It was outside
the city moving along a highway.

“Where is she going?” Clint asked.

“Let’s ask.” Tony said dialing Hanna.

Hanna who had started driving and suddenly got the bright idea to go to the beach was about
halfway to the Hamptons when she got his call.
“Ye-llo?” Hanna answered. She was driving with the top of the car down and a pair of Tony’s
aviators that she had found in one of the car’s compartments.

“Hey you.” Tony said.

“Huh?” Hanna said.

“Hanna?” Tony said.

“Yeah, what’s up?” She answered.

“Oh nothing much just having breakfast.” Tony said. “Where are you?”

“Uh somewhere on the 27.” Hanna answered.

“What’s the 27?” Thor asked.

“The highway to… Staten Island?” Clint asked Steve.

“That’s one of the exits.” Steve said.

“Why would she go to Staten Island?” Natasha asked.

“Okay… are you lost?” Tony said.

“Yeah Tony can’t really…. To loud… the tops down…” Hanna said.
“Her top is down?” Bruce asked.

“I think she’s driving with the top down.” Tony said. “Okay are you lost because we can
come get you or…”

“Really can’t hear you… I’ll just see you later.” Hanna said before hanging up.

“Okay… she’s fine.” Tony said. “And in Staten Island apparently.”

“It’s good. She’s not locked in her room anymore.” Steve said.

“That’s great.” Bruce said.

“Unless she’s going to a bar.” Natasha said.

“She wouldn’t have taken a car if she was going to drink.” Tony said before second guessing
himself. “She wouldn’t right?”

“No. She calls drunk drivers inconsiderate idiots.” Steve said. “She just needs space and fresh
air. It’ll be good for her.”

“Good… I was about to drag her out of that room.” Natasha said.

“So we just wait until she gets back.” Tony said. “When do you think that will be?”

“Tony.” Bruce said.

Fine… she’s just out the city not the universe.” Tony said.

Hamptons, New York – About an hour later

I parked the car and stepped out of it. It was windy and not at all beach weather but that was
the best reason to come to the beach. The beach was empty and I was alone. Just me myself
and I with my thoughts and the enormity of the ocean.

It was cloudy, the sun was not shining but it was perfect.

I walked for a while until I found the perfect sport to sit down and do some journaling.

I had my doubts when Elaine suggested it but having an internal conversation with myself on
paper helped me put my thoughts in order. Currently I was debating where I go from here. I
didn’t think I was going to end up in the Hamptons but since I was here I may as well treat
this as my Italy with just a bit more Christmas than I was expecting.

There just so happened to be a pop up Christmas winter market not so far from where I was.

I never expected to find a flea market in such an upscale place as the Hamptons but once I got
there it all made sense. Essentially they had move everything from the eclectic shops to tables
onto the side walk and the shop owners were essentially bored house wives with hobby
shops.

Great for me though. I made my way through each shop picking up a chic black tweed tote
bag that could totally double as a laptop bag.
It also worked great to carry everything else I bought. There was a shop that was selling bags
of candied pecans and churro flavored pretzels. To say I stocked up on those would be an
understatement. With the way Thor and Steve ate they wouldn’t last until tomorrow.

Speaking of Steve I found a little surprise from him at an antique shop. I was sure that would
at the very least get a chuckle out of him and the more I looked around I found some great
things. I bought myself a few thrifted dresses that still had the tags on them. I even got
Natasha a pair of cute earrings and an emerald green cashmere scarf.
I still hadn’t found my calling but it was a good first day and I’m not a total grinch.

Unfortunately I got stuck in traffic on the way back and didn’t make it back until way later in
the day.

“Miss Marin, Sir is tracking your location once again.” Jarvis said.

“Again?” I said. “Stalking is considered a bad thing in this universe right?”

“Yes Miss. In some states it is even considered a crime.” Jarvis said.

“You know if I didn’t have the car, I would be hitting a bar so freaking hard right now and as
bad as I was before, I was way worse when I was in college.” I said.

“I would not encourage you to get behind the wheel after drinking Miss. I believe the local
authorities still consider it driving under the influence if the auto pilot is engaged.” Jarvis
said.
“Wait this thing has auto pilot? As in it drives itself?” I said. “Why didn’t you say anything
sooner? My foot’s been cramping up since Long Island.”

“You never asked.” Jarvis retorted.

“Touche Jarvis, Touche. I swear if I didn’t already know Tony was your father your snark
would be a dead giveaway.” I said.

“I believe you are speaking metaphorically miss.” Jarvis said.

“And now you’re playing coy.” I said as the garage door opened and drove in. While I knew I
was tracked I did not actually expect Tony to be in the garage waiting for me when I got it.

“Here we go…” I mumbled as I parked the car and turned off the engine. He was pretending
that he had just finished working on one of his cars but I doubt he would work on one of the
cars in a designer suit.

“Hey.” Tony said.

“Hey…” I said as I closed the car door.

“Fun day?” He asked.

“Sure.” I said. “Meeting?”

“Pepper wanted to talk about some stuff… I cut it short.” He said.

“You cut a meeting with the CEO of your company to lurk in a dark garage?” I asked.
“The car needed a tune up.” Tony said.

“Uhuh…” I said totally not buying that excuse. “I’m just going to give these back to you and
I’m going to grab some dinner.”

“You actually missed dinner.” Tony said. “You know how Cap likes to eat dinner at like six.
Such an old man.”

“Leftovers for me then. Cold Pizza is always good.” I said

“Or we could go grab a late dinner somewhere?” He suggested. “We’re probably out of
pizza.”

“I sincerely doubt that. Clint lives here.” I said as the elevator door opened.

“You sure? I know a good burger spot that also makes great shakes.” He said trying to tempt
me.

“No thanks.” I said reaching up for the sunglasses I was using as a makeshift headband.
“Night.”

“Are those my glasses?” Tony asked as the elevator doors shut.

“Common room please.” I said to Jarvis.

“Sir asked me to inform you that his dinner invitation is open for whenever you’d like.”
Jarvis asked.
“Still a polite no.” I said as the doors opened to the common room. I really hadn’t realized
how late it was. No one was here probably all in their own rooms about to call it a night.

That was fine for me. I put my bags down and started scavenging for food. I found the cold
pizza as well as a prepped salad that was probably part of dinner. I stuck a piece of pizza in
my mouth as I put the salad on the counter and started looking for something to drink.

“I left you a plate in the microwave.” Steve said from behind me making me jump and bump
my head.

“Ow…” I said standing up. “You guys have really got to stop sneaking up on me.”

“I could say the same about you sneaking out.” Steve said.

“I didn’t sneak out. All you had to do was ask Jarvis.” I said.

“It’s still nice to hear it from you.” Steve said going to heat up my dinner. “Natasha thought
there was a security breach.”

“You guys are way too paranoid.” I said.

“Considering everything that’s happened, I’d say we’re being cautious.” Steve said.

“Tomay-to Tomah-to.” I said with a shrug before I remembered what I had found for him.
“Well it’s good that you’re here. I found something really interesting in an antique shop in
East Hampton that I think you’re going to like.”

“You got me a present?” Steve said surprised.

“I wouldn’t really call it a present more like returning something you misplaced about… 70-
ish years ago.” I said taking out the leatherbound journal from the bag and handing it over to
him.

Steve took it and slowly opened the journal chuckling as he started flipping the pages until he
stopped at one drawing of a monkey dancing while riding a unicycle.

“You found my sketch journal?” Steve said.

“I was surprised when I saw it too. I thought it was a dupe until I saw the photo hidden in the
back cover.” I said and Steve went to go see what photo I was referring to.
He slowly pulled out the old black and white photo of a younger and scrawnier Steve with a
woman with the same blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Ma.” Steve said.

“I recognized her from the photo in your file.” I said.

“This is… it’s the last photo of her from Mother’s day before she got sick.” Steve said tearing
up a bit. “I saved up for months to take her out for a nice dinner. She worked long shifts to be
able to pay rent and my asthma medicine and all the other medicines.”

“She was a good mom.” I said.

“The best.” Steve said wiping away a tear. “Thank you.”

“She belongs with you instead of a dusty old shop or a museum.” I said taking a bite of the
roast. “Oh wow that’s tender. Braised?”

“It’s all in the basting.” He said with a smirk making me laugh. That was Theo’s favorite
comeback whenever someone gave him a complement.

“That will never not be funny.” I said.

“I still don’t get it.” Steve said.

“I don’t think you’re there yet.” I said knowing Steve would not approve of the dirty joke
behind that phrase.
“Did you finally tell him what ‘That’s what she said’ means?” Natasha said almost making
me choke.

“I need to put a bell on all of you. Is Clint watching us from the vent?” I asked as both Steve
and Natasha went quiet.

“Maybe.” Clint said from somewhere we couldn’t see which was an obvious yes.

“Open up.” I said reaching into the tote bag and pulling out a bag of Churro flavored pretzels.

“Why?” He called out as I heard the vent creak open.

“Catch.” I said before throwing the bag into the vent.

“Thanks.” Clint said closing the vent

Natasha kept looking at the bag curiously and thought not was as good a time as any. I pulled
out the scarf and the box with the earrings.

“For you.” I said and offered them to her.

“You got me a present?” Natasha said with a completely blank face. If I didn’t know better I
would think I surprised her.

She slowly reached over to take the scarf from my hand.

“I saw it and I remembered you lost your favorite scarf when the mansion got blown up.” I
said.
“It’s great. Thank you.” She said immediately putting it on.

Steve and Natasha just stared at me.

“And now you’re being weird.” I said. “Did I make it weird?”

“No!” they both said.

“No we’re just…” Steve started but before he could stick his foot in his mouth Natasha took
over.

“It was a really nice gift.” She said.

“Glad you liked it. I’m gonna call it a night.” I said getting up. Steve looked like he was
about to cry and Natasha looked like she wanted to try to hug me and if either of them tried to
do that we would be one step closer to having that conversation I was nowhere near ready to
have.

“Night.” They said hesitating to say anything.

Once I was in the safety of the elevation.

“Uh…” I groaned. “I totally made things weird didn’t I?”

“Miss?” Jarvis asked confused.

“And now everyone’s going to expect presents.” I said. “It was an impulse buy and
technically Tony paid for it since I used the card he gave me. Fuck I really need to figure out
what I’m doing here.”

“Miss Marin we’re at your floor.” Jarvis said.

“Oh…” I said. “Good talk.”

I walked to my room slipping off my shoes and hanging up my coat.

Day one didn’t get me any closer to where I wanted to be but it was a good start. I got out of
the tower and I was still alive to tell the tale.

Three Days Later…

It was breakfast and for the fourth day in a row Hanna was nowhere to be seen.

“No Hanna again?” Bruce asked.

“The Lady Hanna is evading us yet again.” Thor sounding a bit melancholy.

“Joy riding again.” Clint said. “Does anyone know where she’s going?”

“Let’s see.” Tony said typing away on his phone. “right now she’s in… Queens.”

“Queens?” Steve said in disbelief.

“That’s where the car is.” Tony said. “She’s on the corner of…”

“Nope.” Natasha said taking away his phone.

“Hey!” Tony said.

“You need to stop tracking her every second of every day.” Natasha said.

“It’s not like I’m the only one.” Tony said.

“We don’t stare at a map with a blinking red dot all day.” Natasha said. “Hanna’s getting out
of the tower and she seems… better.”

“And the snacks she brings back are great.” Clint said.

“The pretzels of churro were quite good.” Thor said.

“You’ve got to trust her Tony. Hanna’s a lot tougher than you think.” Steve said.

“Because you’re the expert now.” Tony said rolling his eyes.

“You’re just mad because she didn’t bring you a souvenir yet.” Natasha teased.

“That’s… You all got souvenirs?” Tony said.

No one said anything but Natasha was wearing a scarf indoors with a pair of earrings she had
been wearing for the last few days. Clint was shooting darts and a vintage wooden dart board
that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Steve was sketching in a very old looking journal.
Thor seemed to have expanded his palate of snacks and had been playing a lot of Jenga.

“I haven’t gotten anything.” Bruce said before Tony could ask.

“That’s it.” Tony said storming off. “Jarvis time to suit up.”

“Tony.” Steve said going after him.

“We tried it your way.” Tony said walking onto the balcony as the suit flew up from the floor
below where the Iron Legion was housed. He jumped in and flew off.

“Think that’ll actually work?” Steve asked.

“Nope.” Clint said. “Twenty they’ll end up fighting again.”

“Twenty she’ll shut herself in her room again.” Natasha said when an idea hit her. Clint
immediately knew that look.

“Nat.” Clint said.

“How else are we going to know what to get her for Christmas.” Natasha said going to the
elevator. Clint followed after her to make sure she didn’t overdo it.

“Should I follow him?” Thor asked Steve and Bruce.

“Only if you want Hanna to get mad at you too.” Bruce said.
“I’ve been there buddy. It’s not somewhere you want to be.” Steve said patting his arm and he
passed by him.

Queens, New York

I spent the morning in silent meditation at a Hindu temple in Queens. That was how I
remembered that it didn’t matter what universe I was in, religion was not for me. The four
hours of complete silence did nothing for me. In fact I started doing some introspection and it
was getting dark.

So I cut the day long vow of silence short and decided to look around. I found a small tea
shop that sold beautiful hand-crafted teapots and teas flown in from India. Bruce would
probably enjoy some authentic chai. He was the only one in the tower that didn’t drink
coffee.

I got him a bag of spiced tea leaves, and a hand painted tea pot with a pair of matching cups.
As I walked out of the shop an alert came up on my phone from Jarvis. I slipped on an earbud
to speak to him without making anyone think I was losing it.

“Jarvis?” I said.

“Ma’am, you should know sir has yet again activated the tracker in the car.” Jarvis said.

“Ten times before noon. That’s a new record.” I said.

“You should also know that sir has equipped a suit and is on his way to you now.” Jarvis said
making me freeze.

“Seriously? Uh… That’s it.” I said. “Jarvis it’s time to make a break for it.”

“Are you suggesting I activate the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ protocol?” Jarvis said.

“More like asking you pretty pretty pretty please with a cherry on top.” I said sarcastically.
“Set the autopilot to drive the car to Buffalo or as far as you can get it.”

“Sir’s suit can go as fast as Mach 2.” Jarvis said. “He should discover your ruse rather
quickly.”

“Want to bet on it?” I teased Jarvis as the car started and drove off without me.

“Shall I call a car service for you Miss?” Jarvis asked.

“No… I think it might be time I give public transportation another chance.” I said making my
way towards the subway. I made it five steps before Jarvis interrupted me.

“Miss I believe you’ll find the subway entrance in the opposite direction.” Jarvis said.

“I knew that.” I said turning around and making my way to the subway.

While not as comfortable or as luxurious as a top of the line sports car, the New York subway
was a lot better than it was in my world. I survived the ride without needing a haircut
afterwards or any rats walking over my feet.

I had to walk a few blocks as the closest subway stop was a bit far off but also not so bad. I
saw the same elderly homeless woman I had seen every morning sitting on the street
shivering. The weather was taking a turn and her clothes didn’t seem like they were doing
much to keep her warm.

I had done some shopping along the way back and had purchased a blanket to try and work
on making my room a bit less minimalistic. The only thing I could decide on was a thick
wool blue blanket. I slipped it out of the bag and carefully slipped it around the woman who
jumped up surprised.

“It feels like it’s going to snow any minute now.” I said before slipping her a few bills into
her hand. “Grab something warm to eat.”

“T-thank you.” The woman said looking like she was about to cry.

“Take care.” I said giving her a reassuring smile and patting her shoulder before I went the
rest of the way. Tony had apparently taken the bait and was still flying after the car, following
it at a distance.

I wasn't expecting to be back so early in the day. I also wasn't expecting it to take this long to
figure out a plan for the foreseeable future. All I had done was waste time.
“To the lab please. I do have access right?” I asked Jarvis said.

“Sir has granted you access to all areas of the tower.” Jarvis said.

“Great. I’ll drop this off for Bruce before I go back to brainstorming.” I answered stepping
into the elevator. “Perhaps the answer to what troubles you does not lie in a place but rather
closer to home.”

“You think going home is going to give me solve my quarter life crisis?” I said. “I don’t
know if I've said this before but my universe sucks. Like a lot.”

“That was not the home I was referring to Miss.” Jarvis said.

“I’m not ready to unpack that.” I said as the elevator doors opened. Tony had done some
remodeling since the last time I was down here. There wasn’t as much glass possibly as a
fail-safe in case we had a surprise code green.

I made my way around the lab avoiding some of the cables and even a couple of random suit
parts that were scattered around to get to Bruce’s desk. I cleared off his desk and set the box
down.

"Hey." Bruce greeted making me jump.

"Ah! you guys have really got to start making more noise when you walk into a room." I said.

“Sorry, Professional Hazard.” Bruce said.

“Right.” I said. “Well, I got you a souvenir. It's on your desk. Let me know if you like the
chai. The shop can set up deliveries.”
“Thanks.” He said.

We both stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“I’ll see you at dinner.” I said feeling like I had possibly overstepped. I only took five steps
before Bruce stopped me.

“H-Hanna?” Bruce said making me turn around to look at him. “I know you’ve been dealing
with a lot since you got back but uh… are you okay?”

“Uh… I’m not entirely sure.” I said finally admitting it out loud.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Bruce offered.

“It’s kind of long, complicated and… just a lot.” I said. “You’re probably really busy.”

“I can make time.” He said giving me a small reassuring smile. “It’ll give me a chance to try
out the tea pot.”

“Can’t say no to that.” I said going to take a seat.

“So?” Bruce asked.

“Guess I should probably start at the beginning…” I said.

Meanwhile – a couple of floor above

Natasha and Clint walked onto Hanna’s floor not expecting anything which was exactly what
they found. They found nothing. The layout of all the floors and apartments in the tower were
exactly the same with the exception of Tony’s penthouse.

Overtime everyone had let Jarvis know if they required anything else to make them more
comfortable and even to personalize them as needed.

Hanna’s floor was completely devoid of any personality. There was no décor. No wall art…

“Well this is…” Clint said not being able to find the word for what he was seeing or not
seeing.

“Pretty bare.” Natasha said. “Her room in Malibu was like this.”

“She didn’t have a lot of things.” Clint said running his fingers along the table to see if there
was any dust anywhere but the room was immaculately clean.

“Hanna spends most of her time in here and it doesn’t even look like she’s even been here.”
Natasha said.

“Maybe she’s a neat freak.” Clint said.

“You’re not helping.” She said.

“I don’t know what you were expecting to find.” He said.

“No clothes thrown anywhere, no shoes kicked off anywhere…” Natasha said. “Bed perfectly
made… she even tucked in the corners.”
As Natasha moved about the room Clint noticed something tucked into the edge of the bed.
While his partner looked through Hanna’s closet Clint picked up the journal and skimmed
through the notes not understanding them at all as most of them were crossed out.

-Chef

-Biologist

Marine Biologist – Free Willy – Blackfish

-Pharmacology – Opioids - Big Pharma bad!

Clint closed the journal and put it back in its place.

“This isn’t good.” Natasha said.

“She’s not a decorator Nat. It’s not a crime.” Clint said.

“Does this look like the room of someone that wants to stick around?” Natasha said.

“Nat it’s just a room.” Clint said. “She’s not messy, hasn’t decorated yet, it doesn’t mean
anything. Don’t over think it.”

Hours Later - Downstairs

Bruce was a great listener and once I started unloading, it all just came pouring out.
“There are people that are not meant to be parents. But he… he was not one of them and in
his eyes I could never do anything right. I once got yelled at because I didn’t put butter on my
toast the right way. That was the last time I put butter on my toast. What the hell is even the
right way to butter toast?” I unloaded.

“I can never do anything right. I can’t even die right and that’s not to say I’m going there
because I meant it when I said that it is your job to use all seven of your Ph.D’s and all of
your genius brain cells to keep my heart beating till the end of time because I refuse to die. I
chose to come back and I decided to start over here because for some reason this is where I’m
meant to be but now I’m here and what am I supposed to do? I am surrounded and bound to
people who do amazing things all the damn time, who are the best of the best at what they
do… and I’m just me. There’s no place in the world for me and there is no reason for me to
be here and to even get out of bed in the morning. I’m just here and everything just seems
hopeless. If this is all there is for me and this is what it’s going to be for the rest of my life
then what is the point of…”

“Zzzz.” Bruce snored rather loudly making me realize he wasn't even listening to me.

“Bruce?” I said and he snored yet again. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I gently put my tea cup down and slipped Bruce’s cup out of his hand before gently kicking
his foot.

“Oh!” Bruce said jumping awake.

“Have a nice nap?” I said.

“I was…. I was listening I just… There’s a reason I’m not that kind of doctor.” He said
apologetically.

“Yeah, I know. It’s fine. I should probably… What the hell is that?” I said spotting a desk
with piles or I should say mountains of paperwork and binders and who knows what else
piled on.

“Oh Yeah… Tony doesn’t want to hire an assistant and he’s a bit behind on things.” Bruce
said.

“A bit? This is from 2010.” I said picking up a folder only for that to make the mountain it
was on top of fall to the floor. “Woah!”

“Pepper’s been asking Tony to hire someone but he…” Bruce said.

“He’s Tony.” I said opening. “Who approved the research budget if he didn’t sign these?”

“Sir charged it to his personal accounts.” Jarvis said.

“He charged the Stark Industries Research Budget to his AMEX?” I asked. “How did this not
come up in an audit?”

“I believe that is explained in the binder miss.” Jarvis said.

“Which one?” I asked counting at least twenty of them. “Wait, don’t answer that. It’s none of
my business, I probably don’t even have clearance for it and I always take on other people’s
responsibility and make it my own and I am not going back to that unhealthy cycle. I’ll see
you at dinner.”

“Okay.” Bruce said slightly confused and feeling as I he had missed something important.

I was in the elevator and the doors closed. The elevator moved up a few floors and just as the
doors were about to open on my floor I stopped the elevator.
“Jarvis take me back down.” I said.

“Right away Ma’am.” Jarvis said.

“Oh and uh make the car zig zag a bit where ever it is. That would totally freak out Tony.” I
said.

“I will ensure the car zigs and zags once the opportunity presents itself miss.” Jarvis said as
the doors opened again.

“Hanna?” Bruce said surprised.

“Who am I kidding? This is going to keep me up at night.” I said going straight to the
mountain of paperwork and jumping right in to start sorting it.

“You really don’t…” He started.

“I really do. This is going to trigger my insomnia and once that starts everything gets messy.
Well more than it already is.” I said. “And you’re not going to say a word about this to Tony.”

“I don’t think he’d be mad.” Bruce said.

“No but he would make a huge deal about nothing so you are saying absolutely nothing or
else I’m going to bring up your undiagnosed narcolepsy.” I said picking up a binder.

“I think I have bigger problems than me falling asleep everywhere.” Bruce said.

“Turning into the big guy is better than dying and falling into alternate universes.” I said as I
started flipping through some pages. “Besides the ringer that helps save the day on a regular
basis can’t be all bad.”

Dinner that Night…

By the time Jarvis all but kicked me out of the lab by turning off all the lights so I wouldn’t
be able to keep reading. I made good headway on the mountain. I got through a quarter and a
half of 2010.

When I walked into the common room dinner was all set up.

“Smells great in here.” I said.

“Hanna! You’re here…” Steve said looking confused.

“Am I not supposed to be here?” I asked.

“Of course not!” Thor said picking me up in a bear hug and spinning me around. “You have
been missed.”

“I keep forgetting you’re a hugger.” I said awkwardly patting Thor’s arm as he finally set me
down.

“When did you get in?” Clint asked.

“Around noonish I think.” I said.

“Noonish?” Natasha said as everyone exchanged looks.

“Jarvis didn’t say anything.” Steve said.

“You missed us trying to teach Steve how to play MarioKart.” Clint said. “He’s actually
really good.”

“Yeah… No need to thank me.” I said to Steve who smirked.

“Wait… you already knew how to play?” Clint said.

“We had time to kill in Hanna’s universe.” Steve said.

“So you… you lied.” Clint said.

“Aww you did learn something in my universe.” I said patting Steve’s shoulder.

“Anyone know where Tony is?” Natasha asked getting back to the subject at hand.

“I have not seen man of Iron since he flew off to follow…” Thor said before someone,
probably Natasha kicked his foot under the table.

“To follow me because he got tired of tracking me?” I retorted.

“You knew?” Steve said.

“It was pretty obvious. Tony installed Jarvis in all of his cars.” I said.

“Then where is he?” Bruce asked.

“Well after the 27th time he checked on my location just this morning and he decided to start
following me I decided to activate the autopilot in his car and sent it to Buffalo.” I said.

“You sent him to Buffalo?” Clint said laughing.

“You guys shouldn’t have been tracking me.” I said.

“You left without saying anything.” Steve said.

“You guys leave without saying anything all the time.” I retorted.

At that moment we all heard the very familiar sound of repulsor jets whirl past as Tony
landed on the balcony and disassembled his suit.

“Hey you.” Tony said

“Hi. You finally got out of the lab. What brought this on?” I asked.

“Oh no reason… It was a nice day out.” He said.

“I thought it was snowing in Buffalo?” I retorted.

“Buff… Oh…Oh very funny Hanna.” Tony said offended.

“There’s nothing funny about stalking Tony.” I said.

“I wasn't stalking you.” Tony said.

“You activated the tracker in your car and have been watching me all week.” I said. “You
activated it 27 times before noon today then you followed the car around all day.”

“I didn’t follow you.” Tony said.

“That’s right, I wasn't in the car you followed all the way to Buffalo.” I said.

“What did you expect? You sneak in and out of here everyday without saying where you’re
going, what you’re doing…” he started.

“Since when am I your prisoner? I don’t have to tell you what I’m doing or where I am every
second of every day…” I started.

“You don’t tell us anything!” Tony retorted.

“Because you never listen!” I shouted back.

“I’ve been waiting for you to talk for weeks!” Tony shouted.

“We’ve talked but you’re just not listening!” I shouted back.

“I said I was sorry about Miss March! Nothing even happened!” he said.

“I wasn't talking about Miss March!” I shouted.

“You’ve been mad at me since you saw it on my calendar…” Tony continued ranting.

“Oh typical… every word I say just goes in one ear and right out the other!” I said.

“I’m trying to fix things but no matter what I do you’re still…” he continued.

“I’m sorry I don’t think the world is all sunshine and unicorns crapping out rainbows!” I said.
“But I’m still trying so give me a fucking break already!”

“You call this trying?!” Tony said and for some reason that was the straw that broke the
camel’s back.

“I….” I started realizing that at that moment it was really tempting to jump off the balcony
just to get some space to think and maybe go see if my best friend and nephew would take
the pathetic sorry self back but dying is not something I really wanted to do ever again. Plus I
sincerely doubt I’d make it that far with everyone here.

“I have to go.” I said getting up and getting in the elevator. “Get me out of here.”

“Your room Miss?” Jarvis said.

“Lobby.” I said. “I need to take a walk. A very… very long walk.”

Meanwhile Back Upstairs…

“Nice going.” Natasha said.

“You may have just driven Hanna further away.” Thor growled as the sky outside rumbled.
“What was I supposed to do? We’ve been waiting for weeks and months and… I just wanted
things to get back to how they were.” Tony said.

“And you thought yelling would fix things?” Steve said.

“Just because you spent a year in her world does not mean you know her better than all of
us!” Tony said.

“It kind of does…” Clint said. “But you two fight like an old married couple.”

Natasha nodded in agreement.

“She is trying Tony. IN her own way.” Bruce said. “I was going to bring it up when we had a
chance but I talked to her today…”

“About?” Natasha asked.

“A lot of things.” Bruce said. “Tea… Tea vs coffee.”

“Not seeing how this helps at all.” Tony said.

“Did she say anything about… anything else?” Natasha asked.

“She did… but I… drifted off a bit.” Bruce admitted sheepishly.

“You fell asleep again?” Tony deadpanned.

“You fell asleep while Hanna was opening her heart to you?” Thor said as the thunder outside
got louder.

“I don’t think she was going there…” Clint said.

“Do you remember anything?” Natasha asked.

“She was kind of all over the place.” Bruce said. “She started talking about toast at one
point.”

“Hanna was making a toast?” Thor said.

“No she was talking about making toast. The bread kind.” Bruce asked.

“Okay Jarvis bring up the video of the lab.” Tony said typing on his phone.

“I am unable to do so sir.” Jarvis said.

“Why not?” Tony asked.

“The video has been deleted.” Jarvis said.

“By who?” Steve said.

“Miss Marin Captain.” Jarvis said. “She did not wish for anyone to eavesdrop on a private
conversation.”
“You sure she wasn't a spy in her universe?” Clint asked Steve.

A Couple of Blocks Away…

One thing I didn’t account for when I stormed off on a walk to clear my head what how
freaking cold it got at night. New York in December… I should have worn a freaking parka.

Still risking hypothermia and frostbite seemed better than heading back right away.

So I started walking and just kept going with nowhere really in mind or paying any attention
to where I was going.

Eventually I ended up on the waterfront by the East River. It wasn't the white noise machine
the beaches in California were like, the city was too noisy but at least I felt a little closer to
home.

I could almost imagine Theo sitting down on a beach somewhere back in our world, probably
venting about Jamie or the PTA moms.

“You know you got the easy side of this deal.” I said imagining Theo was next to me. “Jamie
is a cake walk to deal with compared to those six… and me.”

“I know what you’re going to say I don’t know why you’re complaining… You have six
gorgeous superheroes waiting for you in that fancy tower what do you have to complain
about? Oh buddy it’s me, It’s always me… I’m the fucking problem and I’m always the
problem. I can own that. But I’m trying… I really am and it’s not good enough.”

“I considered going home but I can’t do that to you and Jamie. He is a clean slate and you’re
his second chance. My baggage and well me… I’d just make a mess again.”
“This could have been my second chance. I never fit in back home and I thought I fell here
because this is where I was always meant to be. Maybe the fact is that I fell here and I keep
falling into other universes because I don’t belong anywhere. There is no place for me here or
anywhere in any world.”

“You’d call me an idiot if I told you how tempted I was to jump off that balcony to see where
I ended up. Actually you’d call me an idiot for doing it the first time and every time after
that. It wouldn’t have solved anything but I miss you guys. I guess I’m lonely. It’s impossible
for me to ever be alone here but I still feel alone.” I said as it started snowing.

“And now it’s fucking snowing. You know the movies make a white Christmas seem all fun
and pretty but what they don’t tell you is that no matter how many layers you but on you’ll
always be cold.”

“Why couldn’t it rain? I love rain with some thunder. You’re probably having a way better
time than I am. Christmas in LA. Late night hot chocolate with Jamie and arguing about
whether or not the Nightmare before Christmas is really a Christmas movie and dive bar
Christmas morning. One day Jamie is going to tell his therapist all about that.” I said rubbing
my hands together.

“I’m going to give it a few more hours before heading back, sneak in while everyone’s
asleep.” I said. “Maybe avoid Tony for a while and by a while I mean until the end of time or
until he forgets… I think there may be some ADD going on there.”

“It’s the city that never sleeps, let’s see what’s open this late.” I said getting up.

Turns out there was a lot open late in New York. Once I got some coffee, I found a bar that
was also an arcade. Once I broke the one-hundred-dollar bill in my jacket pocket, I had more
than enough quarters to keep me busy.

A few hours of Street Fighter, Space Invader and Tetris helped keep me distracted for a
while.
It was another hours walking in the snow when I finally made it to the tower. It was dark and
everyone was asleep so I had no chance of running into anyone.

All I wanted was to get under the covers and forget about everything for a few hours. What I
was not expecting was for me to throw myself into what I thought was going to be an empty
bed only to land on someone who then flipped me over to the floor and pressed a knife to my
throat.

“AHH!” I shouted.

“Hanna?” Natasha said before the light turned off.

“Natasha what the fuck?!” I said trying to push her off of me.

“I’m…” she started.

“Get out!” I shouted.

“It was a reflex…” She said.

“Out!” I shouted again. She all but ran out.

I gasped trying to catch my breath rubbing my neck.

“Miss Marin do you require assistance?” Jarvis asked.

“No!” I shouted. “Stop letting people into my room and mute yourself until further notice.”
There was no answer only a soft ding signaling he was doing as he was told. I fell back onto
the floor with a groan as I felt the spot where Natasha had kicked me. There was going to be
a bruise tomorrow… It hurt to move so instead I just pulled off the covers onto the floor over
me and called it a night.

The Following Morning…

Things in the tower were tense after the argument the night before. Natasha hadn’t left saying
she had things to do but no one knew if that was a mission or something personal.

“Does anyone know if Hanna made it back last night?” Steve asked.

“Even if she did she’s probably out again.” Tony said.

“Jarvis?” Bruce asked.

“Miss Marin is currently in her room.” Jarvis said.

“At what time did she get back?” Clint asked.

“Miss Marin entered her quarters at approximately 2:37AM.” Jarvis answered.

“Barhopping again?” Tony said.

“She did not appear to be under duress or under the influence of alcohol or any other
substances.” Jarvis answered.

“Well that’s something.” Clint said. “Should one of us check on her?”

“I think she was very clear when she said she wanted to be alone.” Bruce said.

“She must still break her fast.” Thor suggested.

“Knock yourself out Point Break.” Tony said.

“Miss Marin has forbidden anyone from entering her quarters.” Jarvis said.

“Of course she did.” Tony said getting up. “I have a meeting.”

“Tony.” Steve started but he was ignored. Bruce meanwhile drank he tea and stared at the
piece of buttered toast on his plate still trying to figure out how it would have come up in

Back downstairs…

I woke feeling sore and annoyed at how bright everything was. Sleeping on the floor did
nothing to help with the soreness so I dragged myself off the floor and into the shower for a
very long hot steam shower. It wasn't until my fingers started to get wrinkled like prunes that
I got out of the shower.

There was no way I was going out in the snow again, but I was not willing to go up to the
common room. I had a whole day to kill.

“Jarvis.” I called out.

“Are we speaking again miss?” Jarvis asked.

“Don’t start. We’re like a year and a half too early for you to start taking about your
feelings.” I said. “Is that mountain of paperwork still in the lab?”

“The pile has not moved but may have in fact grown since you have last seen it.” Jarvis said.

“Of course it did.” I said. “Is there any way you could have some of that pile brought up here
without anyone noticing.”

“Arrangements can be made.” Jarvis said. “When would you like them?”

“I’d say now. And if you could have coffee and breakfast delivered with it that’d be nice.” I
said.

“Yes Miss.” He said.

True to his word within the hour I had half a dozen interns at my door waiting to bring in all
the files and breakfast for me. It took over half my living room.

“Any suggestions on where to start?” I asked Jarvis.

“The beginning is always a good place to start.” He suggested.

“Is this payback for last night?” I retorted. “I was expecting to get mugged at some point on
the streets of New York what I wasn't expecting was to get kicked out of my own bed and
have a knife pressed to my throat. I think I’ve earned the right to be a bit mad don’t you
think?”

“The more recent files in the green boxes are not past their deadlines just yet.” Jarvis said.
“Working our way back then. That makes sense. If they haven’t gotten them back already
then they probably found a work around or it’s not that urgent.” I said picking up a green box
and placing it on the table so I could start working on it.

Meanwhile Across the Country…

When Tony had told everyone that he had a meeting, he meant it. He just hadn’t mentioned
that his meeting was with his old therapist across the country.

“Tony, this is a surprise.” John said.

“Yeah…” Tony said.

“It’s been a rough year for you.” He said.

“That’s one word for it.” Tony said.

“So what brings you in today?” John asked.

“You’re probably not going to be surprised by this but I got in a fight with Hanna.” Tony
admitted. “And it was not my fault.”

“Then why are you here?” John asked.

“Because maybe it was my fault.” He said. “I don’t know. Before everything we were making
progress. We were getting… close I think and since she came back and since she saw Miss
March on my calendar…”

“Miss March?” John asked.

“Nothing happened!” Tony said defensively.

“Alright maybe you should start at the beginning.” John said.

Tony took a deep breath and filled him in on everything.

“And then yesterday I decided enough was enough and I went to confront her.” Tony said.

“After tracking her for a week.” John said.

“I was just making sure she was okay. New York is a lot for someone that’s never been
there.” Tony said.

“Tony, Hanna doesn’t seem like she’s a helpless child. I think she can take public
transportation on her own.” John said. “After what happened last year it would make sense if
your had some… separation anxiety or exacerbated your pre-existing PTSD?”

“She died.” Tony said.

“And came back which is a miracle in itself. It doesn’t change the fact that you and the others
constantly hovering and almost obsessively monitoring her the way you were is not the
healthiest coping mechanism.” John said.

“What else are we supposed to do she’s avoiding us.” Tony said.

“Actually she may not be. From what you said she has been trying. She has dinner with you
all every night. When she comes back from her outings there is always a gift for some of you.
She came back and always comes back. That doesn’t sound like someone that isn’t trying,
she’s just trying to figure things out which is all any of us are trying to do with our lives.”
John said.

“So she trying by tricking me into flying all the way to Buffalo?” Tony said.

“Honestly Tony, her adventures out in the city alone and the random road trips… it sounds
like she’s looking for something.” John asked.

“For what?” Tony asked.

“Maybe instead of tracking her you could just ask Hanna?” John suggested.

“Does it look like she’s actually tell me?” Tony said.

“She talked to Bruce.” John said.

“About toast…” Tony scoffed.

“What do you have to lose?” John retorted.

One Week later….

I spent the first day after I got all the files into my apartment and red them all. One of the few
perks of a photographic memory. From there I got organized with spreadsheets, filled out
reports and learned to fake Tony’s signature.

Once I did that it all came down to hunting down whatever Stark Industries employee it
needed to go to for it to get filed and squared away.
I could not remember the last time I had to talk to so many people. My people skills, because
apparently I had people skills came in handy. I got to know some people on different floors
from IT, to research, legal, accounting, and also Tony’s foundation board.

There were a lot of things to smooth over and there were a lot of strings to pull once I got
acquainted with the key players.

Throughout all of this I hadn’t seen a single one of them. I kind of missed them but I had to
say being busy… actually doing something, it felt great. I wonder what that meant?

Meanwhile…

Elsewhere in New York Tony was having his biweekly meeting with his ex-girlfriend/ CEO
Pepper. Mostly the lunch consisted of Tony ignoring Pepper while Pepper tried to nag him
into taking responsibility.

He was expecting the exact same lecture btu was surprised when he purposely showed up late
and instead of getting the death glare she always gave him when he was late she was…
happy.

“Sorry I’m late, someone moved my seat in the care and couldn’t get it just right where it
was.” He said greeting her with a hug and kiss on the cheek.

“It’s fine, it gave me time to answer a few emails.” Pepper said cheerfully.

“You’re in a really good mood.” Tony accusingly. “Why?”

“No reason.” Pepper said still smiling.

“The smiling is starting to get creepy.” Tony said. “Are you okay? Are you seeing things?
Smelling toast, you know it’s the first sign of the stroke.”

“I’m not having a stroke.” Pepper said.

“You sure?” Tony asked.

“Very sure.” Pepper said. “I just want to say thank you for everything.”

“You opened your Christmas Present early didn’t you?” Tony said.

“No, but thank you for that too.” She said. “I’m just so happy you finally started doing your
work.” Pepper said.

“I’m always working.” Tony said.

“I know you hate paperwork and the meetings and just answering emails but that is the best
Christmas present you’ve ever gotten me.” Pepper said.

“Uh… Pep I didn’t answer any emails.” Tony said.

“Fine Jarvis did it for you but you signing the contracts and the R&D budgets…” She
continued.

“That was not exactly me.” Tony was about to admit it when he realized something.

“You didn’t… Did you finally hire an assistant?” Pepper said. “That’s long overdue.”
“I…” Tony started but then he looked at her and Pepper was not yelling at him. While he
probably had a huge security issue, if the person that took those classified files took them to
do his paperwork for him then… was that really a problem that needed to be solved? “I sure
did.”

“That’s… that’s a relief. The board has been on my case and if you haven’t noticed you were
extremely behind. Finance was not happy about you using your Amex and reimbursement
form for the entire budget last year.’ Pepper said.

“I thought they’d be happy I didn’t break the budget.” He said.

After lunch he drove back to the tower and marched into the lab.

“Hey how was lunch?” Bruce said from his workstation.

“Something’s different in here.” Tony said.

“What?” Bruce asked confused as Tony started walking around the lab trying to find what
was different.

“Did you move the tables?” He asked looking at the floor.

“They’re exactly where they’ve always been.” Bruce said.

“There’s more room.” Tony said.

“That’s probably because you had the mountain of paperwork moved.” Bruce said.

“You saw who took it?” Tony asked.

“I saw some interns boxing them up.” He said. “I thought you told them to move it all into
storage.”

“I didn’t even know it was gone until Pepper started thanking me for doing my work.” He
said.

“Someone took your paperwork to do your work for you?” Bruce asked in disbelief.

“Apparently.” Tony said. “Jarvis where’s my paperwork?”

“Your long overdue paperwork has been completed and filed away sir.” Jarvis answered.

“That’s a non-answer if I've ever heard one.” Bruce said.

“Jarvis who asked you to have the files moved?” Tony asked.

“I am unable to answer that question.” Jarvis said.

“Why?” Tony asked.

“Due to privacy protocols I am unable to answer that question.” Jarvis said.

“That narrows it down to anyone with user access.” Tony said. “Alright bring up the video
feeds. Show me when the files were moved and follow them.”

Jarvis brought up the feed showing the interns boxing the files up and loading them onto
multiple carts. Then one left and came back later holding coffee and a to go bag from a bistro
down the street. Once they were done they got on the elevator and then got out.

“What floor did they got off on?” Bruce asked.

“88th floor.” Tony said already walking to the elevator. “Hanna’s floor.”

“Tony.” Bruce said knowing exactly where he was going.

“I’m just going to ask. Nicely.” Tony said.

A Couple of Floors Up…

It was late enough in the day that almost everyone should be either training, working out or
just not on the common floor.

Thor did happen to be up here but I didn’t mind Thor. He was great, like a ray of sunshine. I
was making myself a cup of coffee to warm me up after having to run across town to grab
donuts from a very specific place the guys down in legal on behalf of ‘the boss’, wait an hour
in line in the snow run back, use said donuts to bribe the guys in legal into working a full day
instead of the half day they were planning on working to make the changes in the contracts
‘Tony’ was going to sign for the new R&D projects starting in the new year.

Thor was telling me about something funny Clint did while they were training when the
elevator dinged and Tony walked into the kitchen.

“There you are.” Tony said.

“Where else would I be?” I retorted sipping my coffee.

“I had lunch with Pepper today.” He said.

“That’s nice.” I said.

“How is Lady Pepper?” Thor asked.

“She’s great. Loves being the boss.” Tony said. “Funny thing though she was really happy
that I finally got through the mountain of paperwork on my desk downstairs.”

“Nice job.” I said.

“Funny thing is I haven’t done my paperwork. I haven’t even looked at it and the paperwork
was moved by someone to the 88th floor.” Tony said.

“Really. That’s weird.” I said.

“Very weird because who would steal classified files to do my work for me?” Tony said.

“The elf on the shelf is pretty sneaky.” I said.

“That’s the excuse you’re going with?” He said.

“No idea what you’re talking about.” I said.

“Hanna, why did you take the work and do it for me?” Tony asked.

“Because someone had to.” I said. “Merry Christmas.”

“You did 3 years worth of paperwork.” Tony said.

“It was there, it wasn't going anywhere and it was a safety hazard.” I said. “Also I was bored.
I had to kill time somehow.”

“And that’s what you’ve been going out to do this whole time?” he said.

“Not really.” I said and he just started at me waiting for me to elaborate.

“I’m just going to say it. What is going on with you?” He said. “No one word answers or
brush offs just tell me so I can fix it already.”

“It’s not really something you fix.” I said.

“Then we’ll figure it out or you can yell at me again just tell me. Please tell me.” Tony said
looking kind of desperate.

“I’m having a quarter life crisis.” I blurted out.

“What?” Tony asked confused.

“Right… you guys won’t get that term for at least another 5 years.” I said. “I’m trying to
figure out what it is I’m supposed to be doing with my life. I died and came back more times
than should be possible, I gave up my best friend and my kid and even if it wasn't something
I could brag about I gave up my world because this is where I’m meant to be and I was okay
with that but I don’t know exactly where my place is supposed to be in all of this. And the
more I keep looking and keep trying to find something or anything to hang onto it’s become
pretty obvious that as much as I never fit in my world, I don’t really fit here either. That’s
what I've been looking for this whole time and all I found were a bunch of dead ends. I feel
hopeless and like a lost cause at this point because if this is all there is and this is what I have
to look forward to for the rest of my life then what was the point of coming back?”

“Uh…” Tony said trying to watch his words very carefully. “That’s…”

“Don’t…” I started.

“I’m just…” He started.

“You’re going to say something trying to be nice but it’s going to come out the wrong way or
it’s going to be a bunch of platitudes and I just spent the week trying to recreate my own Eat,
Prey, Love only to not figure out anything and…” I started but then Tony started laughing.
“You’re laughing… that’s great. Glad my existential crisis is funny for someone.”

“I’m sorry its just.. Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic?” Tony said.

“I’m surrounded by people who constantly save the world, who have more than 7 Ph.D’s in
some field that sound kind of made up but aren’t, A guy from the 40’s that generations of
kids grew up wanting to be, a billionaire who is just good at everything without even trying, a
guy that could knock someone out by flicking a coin, the superspy that could probably
murder someone with just her pinky… Oh and a literal god.” I said. “The universe really
botched this one because I don’t belong here and you guys don’t need me.”

“That is not true.” Thor said.

“You’re over 1500 years old, you were kicking frost giant butt long before I even showed up
and you’ll be kicking butt way after I’m gone.” I said.

“Hanna, Honey.” Tony said putting his hands on my shoulders to make me look at him. “If
there is anything we’ve learned in the last year it’s that we don’t do well when you’re not
around.”
“That’s not…” I said.

“Barton turned into a hermit, Thor almost flooded New Mexico, Bruce moved to Mexico,
you don’t even want to know about Romanoff and I reverted back to being a douche because
according to my therapist it’s an unhealthy coping mechanism I use to numb the pain.” Tony
said. Wait did he just say…

“You’re a mess, so are we. Together we make it work but we only make it work when we
have you because you’re the glue that holds this team together.” Tony said. “We need you, we
fall apart if we don’t have you.”

“I don’t do anything.” I said.

“You did 3 years worth of paperwork in a week, Thor plays Mario Kart, Bruce comes out of
the lab, Barton isn’t a hermit and Romanoff… I haven’t seen her in a while but that might
because she’s at work.” Tony said. “And more importantly you make Cap just the slightest bit
less insufferable to be around.”

“That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said about him.” I said. “You went back to
therapy?”

“Flew to California for the appointment.” He said.

“You went to therapy willingly.” I said putting my hands on his arms.

“I may have some things to work on.” Tony said.

“You do listen.” I said surprising Tony and my myself by hugging him.

“You’re hugging me. You’re hugging me! Someone take a picture.” Tony said before I
slapped his back signaling at him to stop being a jerk.

“You know I might have an idea to solve your… Quarter life crisis.” He said as I started
pulling away. “It’s not really a solution but more of a job offer. Pepper’s been nagging me to
hire a PA to help me stay on top of things and sort out all the admin stuff for the team.”

“Am I even qualified for that?” I asked.

“You’ve been doing it all week. Pepper called you the best assistant I've ever had.” He said.
“Coming from her that says a lot.”

“I don’t want to be a nepotism hire.” I said.

“It’s not nepotism if you’re actually qualified and good at the job.” Tony retorted before
passing me his phone. “Here’s the contract.”

“It shouldn’t just be up to… Oh wow… That’s how much you pay your assistants?” I said
looking at all the zeros. No wonder Pepper had stuck around for so long.

“This wouldn’t include your bonuses or expense account…” He started.

“There’s more than this?” I asked.

“Just look through the contract…” Tony started.

“Done.” I said skimming through it all. “Don’t I have to interview and… I don’t know get a
background checks?”
“There is no one more qualified than you. Take the job.” He said. “And if spending more
time with your favorite person is not enough…”

“I don’t have a favorite person.” I said.

“Then do it for Pepper. You have no idea how happy you’ve made her this week.” He said.

“I have conditions.” I said. “And there has to be a clear separation of work and the s-word
thing.”

“Whatever you want, I’ll make it work.” Tony said.

“And no more tracking.” I said.

“If you’re going to be my assistant I need to know where you are.” He said.

“Or you could just send a text.” I suggested.

“Eeeeh… That’s a tough one.” Tony said. “How about a work around?”

“You cannot keep staring at a red dot on a map because I’m not in the same room as you.” I
said.

“I’ll work on ideas but are you taking the job?” He asked.

“Boundaries.” I reminded him.

“No lines will be crossed without permission from both parties.” Tony said practically
jumping where he was standing.
“No more stalking.” I said.

“Hanna…” Tony whined holding up his phone for me to sign the e-contract. I tapped on the
screen to scribble my name on the contract.

“I look forward to working with you Mister Stark.” I said holding out a hand to shake.

“I’ll see you first thing Monday.” Tony said pulling me into another hug. “It’s 5:01.”

I laughed but returned the hug.

“Hey what’s for…” Clint started and they all stopped when they saw us hugging in the
kitchen.

“What’d we miss?” Steve asked as he Clint, Natasha and Bruce walked in.

“What is a personal assistant?” Thor asked confused.

 Chapter 38

Though Tony may have streamlined the hiring process, I had still a lot of paperwork to do.
Even if HR still hadn’t sent it to me, I figured I could save myself some time by getting a
head start and have it waiting on their desk for them.

It had also been a few days since I had seen Natasha… you know since she had kicked me off
my bed and almost slit my throat. Our resident snitch, also known as Jarvis, had let me know
that she had gotten back from a mission days ago and was just being sneaky.

There was only one way to put the matter to rest.

Once Jarvis alerted me that she was in the gym I knew that was my chance. I put my barista
experience to make Natasha a matcha latte with black widow foam drawing. I even used a
tiny bit of strawberry powder to add some red.

“You know how to do latte art?” Clint said popping out of nowhere.

“Jeez!” I said as I almost dropped the latte. “You guys have got to start making more noise
when you walk into rooms.”

“I didn’t actually walk in.” He said.

“I need to make sure those vents are reinforced.” I said adding it to my to-do list.

“That’s for Nat?” Clint asked.

“Does it not look like an hourglass?” I asked.

“No it looks good.” He said. “What other things can you do?”

“Clint would you like a latte?” I offered.

“Can I get it with an extra shot?” He asked.

“Of course.” I said starting up the machine again as the coffee brewed I got started on
frothing the milk. “How many sugars?”

“Black is fine.” Clint said. “You’re up early.”

“I went to bed early, woke up early.” I said. “What about you? No missions with Nat?”

“I’m still on standby.” He said.

“So you’re starting to go a bit stir crazy.” I said reading between the lines.

“No I’m just conditioning, building back muscle.” He said.

“Avoiding the mental health evaluation with the SHIELD assigned shrink?” I said guessing
where this was going.

“I really don’t see the point.” Clint said.

“Considering SHIELD is Hydra, I agree with you.” I said. “That being said talking to another
therapist or someone you trust wouldn’t be the worst idea.”
“I’m fine.” Clint said.

“I know you are but a second opinion so you can say I told you so, might not be the worst
idea.” I said as I started pouring the frothed milk into the coffee “And if that person just so
happens to have a couple of Ph.D.’s, medical training and is authorized to sign off any
paperwork…”

“Are you talking about Bruce?” Clint asked.

“Of course not, Bruce isn’t that kind of doctor. He falls asleep 20 minutes into your vent
session and completely misses the point but he’s a great listener.” I answered sarcastically
before putting his latte down in front of him. I considered making a bird or a swan but
figured if the theme of the day was call signs a simple arrow would do.

“Nice.” He said with a grin before he sipped his coffee. “Mhmm.”

“Talk to him.” I said. “And you get extra brownie points if you get him out of the lab for a
bit.”

“I’ll think about it.” Clint said.

“I’m taking that as a yes.” I said before walking out and made my way to the gym.“ Clint was
upstairs, Tony worked out in his own private gym no one knew about, or so he thought,
Bruce was in the lab and Steve was out on his cool down run.

Which meant this was my opening.

Natasha was doing some cardio on a treadmill. She saw me through the gym mirrors and
immediately shut off the machine to make a break for it.

“Hey.” I said.
“Hey.” She said.

“I brought you a matcha latte.” I said setting it down on the treadmill. “That’s your usual
after workout pre breakfast drink.”

“Thanks.” She said picking it up and seeing the latte art. “Cute.”

We both stood there awkwardly…

“I…” We both finally said.

“I shouldn’t have attacked you. It’s a reflex.” She said.

“You actually shouldn’t have been in my room but… let’s just agree to not do it again and
move on.” I said.

“Okay.” She said. “Is Steve making breakfast?”

“Probably but… I actually kind of need your help.” I said.

“Help?” Natasha asked.

“I kind of got a job and I start Monday.” I said. “And I started looking through my closet to
pick an outfit for the first day. Turns out I don’t have anything to wear and I apparently only
wear black. I could use a complete wardrobe makeover. Think you can help?”

“I’ll clear my schedule.” Natasha said. “Meet you in the garage in 20 minutes.”
“Okay.” I said heading to the elevator.

Exactly twenty minutes later we were off in Natasha’s stingray. I wished I had asked to drive
one of Tony’s cars because Natasha didn’t really believe in speed limits, or most traffic laws.

“What’s our budget?” She said as she drove.

“Uh… whatever the limit is on Tony’s credit card?” I said flashing the black card he had
given me and told me to go nuts with.

“And what’s the job?” She asked.

“I’m his new PA.” I said.

“You’re the new Pepper.” Natasha said. “Good luck.”

“Don’t say it like that.” I said.

“I don’t know if you know this but I…” She started.

“Were his PA for a bit while you were under cover.” I finished for her.

“You saw that too.” Natasha said.

“The leopard print dress really got his attention.” I said.

“So should we get you a leopard print skirt or dress?” She teased.

“It’s a job Nat. There are boundaries and you know it’s not like that.” I said.

“It’s not like that because you won’t let it be like that. If it were up to Tony or any of…” She
started.

“Nat, don’t ruin a beautiful day by getting in my head again.” I said. “We are just friends. It is
a strictly platonic.”

“For now.” She said.

“Don’t do that.” I said.

“Do you think if you hadn’t seen those movie or read those comic books it would be easier to
believe that soulmates are real and we’re your soulmates?” Natasha asked.

“You mean if I had fallen into this world in the middle of an alien invasion, not knowing who
any of you were other than the fact that you all looked like hot movie stars from my world?”
I asked.

“You think we’re hot?” She asked arching an eyebrow.

“I’m depressed not blind.” I said. “It wouldn’t have made a difference because this entire
world defies logic. How can meeting a random stranger suddenly make you see color?”

“Things like that don’t happen in your world?” Natasha asked.

“Imagine the worst day you’ve ever had. Now imagine living that day every day until you
become so used to it that it becomes just another day.” I said. “That’s the best way I can
describe it."

"There had to be some good there.” Natasha continued.

“Few and far between.” I said playing with the bracelet with the round piece of sea glass.

“But you’re not there anymore.” She said optimistically and all I could think of was how in
ten years she would jump off that ledge on Vormir and unlike me she would actually stay
dead.

“Yeah and I have no intention of ever going back.” I said. “Aren’t you at all freaked out that
you have to share a soulmate with five other guys?”

“It’s not the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me.” Natasha answered. “I had a feeling
I’d end up sharing a soulmate with Clint. He’s the only person I've ever met who honestly
never judged me for the things I’ve done.”

“He has a past too.” I said. “No one’s perfect.”

“Not everyone has as much red on their ledger as we do.” She said. “If I was going to end up
with someone it would have to be someone who could overlook all of that just like my best
friend. A person like that is kind of hard to find.”

“You are the last person I ever expected to buy into the soulmate thing.” I said.

“I couldn’t see the blue before you fell out of the sky.” Natasha said.

“Not what you were expecting the same day aliens invaded New York?” I said.
“Something good had to come out of all of that.” She said as we parked.

“I’m not sure I fall into the good category.” I retorted stepping out of the car.

If Natasha ever decided to retire early from being a spy she would be an incredibly successful
yet scary personal shopper.

I didn’t even have time to start skimming through the racks before Natasha was throwing
clothes at me so I could try them on. I quickly realized she already knew all of my sizes, had
great taste and this would be a lot less painful if I handed over Tony’s credit card and just
followed behind her catching whatever she threw.

Once we were in the fitting room, she waited for me outside calling out what pieces to try on
together.

It was like a fashion show, at one point there were a few store attendants at Natasha’s beck
and call brining in more suggestions and adding input.

By the end of it we had to have some of the things we purchased delivered to the tower
because they would not fit into the Stingray.

“Should I have gotten something a bit more practical?” I said looking at the shoes I had
somehow gotten talked into getting. “I feel like these are an accident waiting to happen.”

“Those heels tie the entire outfit together.” Natasha said. “You’ll be fine.”

“But my feet won’t.” I said as we made a turn into alley to get back to the car.
“You’ll get used to it. It’s still early we can grab lunch and then…” Natasha started before I
felt something pull at my arm.

“Give me your purse!” He said pressing something cold and hard against my stomach.

“Wha!” I started but before I could get a word out Natasha went at him. She grabbed his arm
and pushed it away from me before she kicked him against the wall. Of course the gun I saw
in his hand went off twice.

“New York.” Natasha said turning to look at me. “Are you okay?”

“Ye---” I started but I couldn’t say anything without feeling a sharp pain in my stomach and I
just realized I couldn’t even breath. I felt my stomach there was something sticky on my
hand.

“Hanna!” Natasha said before I realized that the sticky red thing on my hand was my blood.

“Shit…” I choked out. Everything from there was fast. I don’t remember if I fell onto the
ground or how Nat suddenly over me trying to make sure I kept my eyes on her. I couldn’t
hear what she was saying but I could tell by the tears she was trying to hold back she was
scared.

I could feel the pain starting to go away and I knew what was about to happen.

I hate this part and I didn’t have a lot of time left. She needed to let go or I would drag her
along with me.

Let go… Let go…

Why couldn’t I say it?!

Everything was starting to go dark. She was holding onto my hand I could still feel that.

I tried to push her, to make her let go but It all went dark before I knew if it worked or not.

I was falling again… that same dark pit, but I went further down than before. There was a
bottom to that pit and I caught a glimpse of it before I was pulled up again.

Third Person’s POV-

Natasha couldn’t move but she knew just like the rest of them knew the moment Hanna was
gone. The sky was grey again. She sat in that alley for who knows how long until she felt a
hand on her arm and she acted on instinct going for a hit but Clint quickly caught her wrist.

“Hey, it’s just me.” Clint said. “It’s just me.”

“She’s gone.” Natasha said.

“We know. What happened.” Steve said taking a look around.

“We got mugged.” Natasha said. “The gun went off and… She’s gone.”

“This the guy?” Clint said looking at the guy still knocked out on the ground.

“Barton.” Steve said stepping in front of him to stop him from doing anything.

“He killed Hanna!” Clint said.

“That’s not what we do.” Steve said.

“I don’t care!” Clint said pushing Steve back.

“That’s not what she would want.” Steve said. “Hanna’s going to come back and she’s going
to ask about him. What would she want to hear?”

Clint didn’t look at all happy, and with clenched fists he turned away.

“Get him out of here.” Clint said going to help Natasha.

Universe ???

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a forest. Unfortunately all forests looked exactly the
same. Though I was sure most planets didn’t have four moons… or giant trees that moved.

Groots!

I figured that one out when a giant tree stepped on me and killed me… Again.

About Five Universes Later…

“Ah!” I jumped up gasping for air.

“Ah!!!” The guy holding a hacksaw.

“AHH!” I shrieked kicking the guy away.

“What is all the… Whoa!” the other guy that walked in said.

“What the fuck?!” I said.

“Why do you have a hacksaw? I told you we needed to ID the body… person…” the other
guy said.

“What the fuck!?” I said.

“Miss please calm down…” The guy, I’m guessing a coroner said. “You’re in the LA County
morgue…”

“No shit.” I said. “I need… I’m just…”

“Miss are you…” Hacksaw guy started before I projectile vomited all over him.

“Oh!” The coroner said.

“Oh my god… oh my god!” Hacksaw guy cried.

“That is so gross…” I groaned realized I got some puke on myself. “I just wanted to go
shopping!”

Turns out sixth time was the charm… to get back to my world.
“Miss Marin we have called your mother…” The police officer said.

“Why would you do that?!” I said.

“We just thought you shouldn’t be..” He started.

“No. Just… no.” I said. “Oh officer… James. Your name is James James? Forget it. I’m just
going to go. Sorry for the trouble, and for traumatizing your interns. But lesson learned,
always go over the basics, like checking a pulse.”

“Miss Marin you shouldn’t be alone right now. We’d feel much better if you’d allow us to
take you to the hospital…” Officer James said.

“Just give me whatever you need me to sign certifying that I’m not going to sue the
department so I can go already.” I said.

“It’s not…” he started before I gave him a look and he handed me a clipboard.

“Oh and can I get a ride?” I said.

An hour later I was dropped off in my old neighborhood. If I was already here, I guess I
could poke around to check in on Theo and Jamie. I couldn’t even tell how long it had been
since I was gone.

Theo thought I was in Thailand or somewhere in Africa digging wells.

“Auntie?” I heard someone say behind me. So much for peeking in without anyone seeing
me.
“Surprise!” I said before Jamie tackled me into a hug. “Oh that’s a tight… can’t breathe…” I
said exaggeratedly making Jamie laugh.

“Hey stranger.” Theo said. “They don’t have phones in Thailand?”

“They do but the reception sucks.” I said hugging him.

“I would have settled for at least a postcard, but I guess a surprise visit works too after 3
months without a word.” Theo said.

“Three months… boy does time fly.” I said trying to do the math.

“Auntie it’s so good you’re here. You can help me with my school project.” Jamie said.

“Uh sure but… This is actually just a short visit kiddo. I got reassigned to Haiti.” I said
saying the first country I could think of.

“Haiti?” Theo said.

“Haiti.” I confirmed.

“Is Steve going with you?” Theo asked as we walked into the apartment building.

“No actually he’s staying in Thailand for a bit longer. He had a work thing.” I said.

“You guys broke up already? He seemed like a good one… maybe too good? Boy Scout?”
Theo said.
“We’re not like that.” I answered. “It’s strictly platonic.”

“Yeah right.” Theo said not buying it. “His loss, I still want to hear all about Thailand.”

“There’s not a lot to tell. Actually would you mind if I took a quick shower?” I asked.

“They don’t have showers at your hotel?” Theo said.

“I didn’t see the point of paying for a room I won’t be spending a night in.” I said.

“Alright.” Theo said. “Where’s your stuff?”

“The airline lost my bags.” I said.

“Today has not been your day.” Theo said.

“You have no idea.” I said.

“Go shower. You look like you got mauled by a bear.” Theo said.

More like crushed by a giant talking tree but close enough.

“You left some clothes in the bottom drawer.” Theo continued. “And you know where
everything else is.”

“When can we work on our family tree?” Jamie said.

“Family tree?” Theo and I said at the same time.

“That’s my school project. We’re studying DNA in science.” Jamie said.

“Oh.” I said.

“That’s… Cool.” Theo said giving me a concerned look. “How about we clean up first and
then when your aunt is out of the shower we can talk about it.”

“Okay.” Jamie said. “I’m going to get one scoop of ice cream for a snack.”

“Not the coffee ice cream.” Theo said before whispering to me. “I accidentally poured
Kahlua on it.”

“How do you accidentally pour Kahlua on ice cream?” I said.

“I don’t know Hanna, how do you lose a boyfriend in bikini country?” Theo said.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” I said.

“Not anymore. We’ve got bigger problems.” Theo said. “What are we going to do about…”

“Besides send a very angry email to his teacher?” I said. “Theo… it might be time for the
talk.”

“The sex talk? He knows the birds and bees… well the G-rated version of it.” Theo said.
“No I meant the talk… the where he came from and how he ended up with us.” I said.

“It’s not a secret his mom is a drug addict.” Theo said in a low tone.

“A family is more than just your sperm and egg donor.” I said. “Hence the family tree.”

“Shit. How much do you want to bet he already has a list of questions waiting for us?” Theo
said.

“Play it cool.” I said. “We just have to be honest.”

“Well take the shower time to think of an honest way to explain to him where Greg is.” Theo
said. “Aren’t you glad you stopped by for a visit?”

“The universe has the worst timing.” I said going to shower. I swear I took my time in there
hoping that Jamie would lose his patience and just make Theo answer all the hard questions.
Unfortunately they were waiting for me with ice cream.

“There she is.” Theo said. “Jamie wants to start with your side of the family.”

“My side… That’s going to be a short tree.” I said taking a set on the couch next to Theo.
“Alright bud. Uh how do you want to start.”

“This is me and this is supposed to be your dad’s side and then… the other one would go
here.” Jamie said pointing at where Grace would go.

“That would be Grace… but we don’t really have photos of her so we’ll just put her name
and maybe draw a stick figure or something as a place holder.” I said.
“Why was she never a real mom?” Jamie said. “She never went to my soccer games or
helped me make candy bags for all my friends on Valentine’s day or made cookies for school
parties. She used to forget me at school until the principal called her.”

“Grace, tried.” I said.

“Obviously not well enough.” Theo said.

“She tried as much as she could given the cards she was dealt. People sometimes have this
fairy tale idea of what their life is going to turn out to be. Being a mom wasn't the fairytale
she thought it was going to be. She was practically a kid and immature and she was sick.” I
said trying to put it in terms he would understand.

“Why didn’t she go to a doctor?” Jamie said.

“There are different kinds of being sick and some things doctors can’t heal and there are
some people that don’t want to be helped.” I said and Jamie looked down at his feet. “There
are some people that were not meant to be parents and sadly she was one of them. That is not
on you or anyone other than her.”

“What about him?” Jamie asked pointing at the spot where his dad was supposed to be.
“That’s your side right?”

“That’s right.” I said looking at the diagram. “I would go here.”

“Mhm.” Jamie said. “So Uncle Theo would go next to you?”

“Uh… Not exactly.” I said.

“But he’s my uncle.” Jamie said.

“Yeah…” Theo said before leaning closer to me to whisper something. “This is hard.”

“Okay… Buddy I am your aunt because he,” I said pointing to where Greg should be on the
tree. “Is biologically my brother. Your Uncle Theo is your uncle because he chose to be.”

“Because he chose you?” Jamie said.

“Because he chose us and we are very lucky to have him in our lives.” I said giving Theo’s
shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “You’ve always known that your uncle and I are not together
like your friend’s parents.”

“No shit.” Jamie said.

“And you know I’m gay.” Theo said.

“Sexuality is a spectrum and I can choose whatever pronoun I like best.” Jamie said.

“Exactly.” Theo said. How was that easier to explain than this?”

“I met your uncle after you were born. Grace was starting to get sick and I was taking care of
you.” I said.

“Why didn’t he take care of me? It’s supposed to be a mom and dad’s job.” Jamie said.

“Sometimes yes but other times, when moms and dads can’t, it’s grandma’s and grandpas,
and aunts and uncles.” Theo said.
“The way your uncle Theo chose to be here and be your uncle, he chose not to be a dad.” I
said pointing to his dad. “He was selfish and he just didn’t want to be one. Between us he
didn’t want to be a brother either and he wasn't a good one. In his own words ‘the only thing
that matters in life is me myself and I’. Your grandparents they were not much better and
believe me you are not missing out on anything there.”

“When he found out about you he ran away and no one’s heard from him since. Your
grandparents made it clear to Grace that you were not their problem. I had just graduated high
school and was about to leave for college when Grace showed up in labor. I was actually the
one who cut the cord.” I said. “She was falling apart and she didn’t have anyone so she gave
you to me while she tried to get better. That was when she disappeared for a few months then
came back before going away again, over, and over until the last time.”

“It was a few months after you were born that I met your Aunt.” Theo said. “My family was
not, the nicest to me because I didn’t like girls the way they wanted me to. I was alone and
living in my car for a few weeks. Your aunt found out and asked me to be her roommate and
that’s how I became your uncle.”

“So they didn’t want me.” Jamie cried.

“Honey, they didn’t deserve you.” I said wiping the tears off his face. “You are so smart,
kind, funny, and so so many other good things it’s almost impossible to list them all.”

“Our family is different than other trees.” Theo said. “But the one thing we do have in
common is that we love each other. Even when we fight and we drive each other crazy, its
always with love. You are our kid. One way or another you were always meant to be our kid
and how it happened wasn't pretty or easy but it brought us together and that’s all that
matters.”

“I’m your kid.” Jamie said.

“Always have, always will be.” I said.

“You chose to be my Uncle, Does that mean I can chose you guys to be my mom and dad?”
Jamie asked.

“Y-yeah.” Theo said crying.

“I wouldn’t get mad at that.” I said tearing up a bit as he got up to hug us.

“What am I going to do about my homework?” Jamie asked looking down at the blank paper.

“Don’t worry about it.” Theo said pushing the paper aside. “We can lie a little.”

“And I’ll write your teacher a letter to go with it.” I said and Theo gave me a look warning
me to not overdo it.

Once Jamie was out for the night Theo and I headed up to the roof of the building for a drink.

“How’s it feel to be someone’s daddy?” I teased.

“About the same as it feels to forever be the mom of the group.” Theo said.

“Touche.” I said.

“How that kid ended up being so…. good, I will never understand.” I said.

“You are way too hard on yourself.” Theo said. “You’re not perfect but you are good too.”

“Not true but thanks for trying.” I said sipping my beer.

“Are you going to tell me what happened with you and Steve in Thailand?” He asked.

“Nothing happened with me and Steve.” I said. “We showed up and got to work. Things were
set up there and then they needed volunteers for Haiti so I volunteered.”

“Even though he was staying?” Theo said.

“We were never together. We’re friends. That’s it.” I reiterated for like the hundredth time.

“You went all the way across the world with a hot boy scout and that’s it?” Theo said.

“There’s nothing more to say.’ I answered.

“Are you sure because the way he looked at you…” Theo said.

“You think everyone’s flirting with everyone.” I retorted. Honestly the only person that I had
actively flirted with me was Tony and the man practically flirted with anything that moved.

“But there is someone.” Theo said reading me like a book.

“You know I’m chronically single.” I said.

“By choice.” Theo said. “Okay… Tough or fluff?”

Tough or fluff was this thing we did when we first started living together. I was very
emotionally blocked and was very rough around the edges. I still am but I was not as aware
of it back then. After a few misunderstandings we agreed that when we needed to say
something without trying to start an argument or hurting the other person’s feeling we would
ask the question ‘Tough or Fluff?’ so we knew how honest to be.

“When have I ever picked fluff?” I retorted.

“I love you.” Theo said.

“Okay…” I said not getting where this was going.

“But you don’t always make it easy to love you.” He finished. “Not once in ten years that
I’ve known you have you ever said I love you back to me. You are extremely guarded and
growing up the way you did, I get why. You’re not them. You are good and you deserve to
have good things happen to you.”

“That was supposed to be tough?” I said.

“I could have called you a bitch.” Theo said.

“Takes one to know one.” I teased.

“Steve was a good one. A little too… apple pie for my tastes and maybe yours but maybe
that’s what you need.” Theo said.

“I’m not there yet. Chances are I’m not going to be there any time soon... or ever.” I said.

“It’ll happen. You need people around you. You shouldn’t be alone.” Theo said. “Maybe Mr.
Apple Pie or Someone fun, who doesn’t take themselves too seriously, smart who can keep
up with you, someone who can get you out of your own head, someone who loves all of you
the good and the bad, that just lets you be whatever you want to be. No judgement just love.”
“It’s not possible for one person to be all of that.” I said.

“Stranger things have happened.” Theo said.

“Do you believe in soulmates?” I asked.

“Is this the part where you declare your eternal love for me?” Theo teased.

“Moron.” I said.

“I like to think that everything happens for a reason. I walked into that bar and if I hadn’t, I
wouldn’t be a dad.” Theo said.

“The… place I was at in Thailand. The people there believed that everyone had a soulmate or
maybe even more than one. A person that was who you were meant to be with. That having
them in your like would change the way you saw the world.” I said.

“Rose colored glasses?” Theo said.

“Something like that. Well this woman had 6 soulmates.” I said.

“Six? Seriously?” Theo said.

“Yeah. All different guys and they all knew about each other, and they were all cool with it.”
I said.

“Wow… I have so many questions.” Theo said. “Like… how does it even work? And do they
all like sleep with each other? Does she sleep with all of them? Can she even walk straight?”
“I didn’t really get into the logistics of it but… People are complicated.” I said.

“I don’t know. People are complicated but maybe that’s why it makes sense. People change
and don’t always need the same thing. Why do 50% of all marriages end in divorce? It’s a
numbers game. Maybe it’s not that one person can be everything you need them to be, it’s
that you need to divide and conquer and have a person for that one thing they can handle.”
Theo said.

“Still though, in the long term there’s no that would work.” I said.

“It’s definitely messy but, it could work. Stranger things have happened.” Theo said.

“Eh… “ I shrugged it off. I was not ready for that can of worms. That just made me realize
how late it was and how I should really try to get back.

“Tough or Fluff?” I asked Theo.

“Oh… you’re going to hit me with something. Let’s go with tough.” He said.

“Do you hate me for leaving?” I said. “It can’t be easy handling things on your own.”

“Not holding back today.” Theo said taking a sip of his beer. “I’ll admit I’m a bit surprised
you decided to become a missionary. Mostly because you hate the idea of traveling and think
the entire world is screwed. Which you’re not wrong… I was mad in the beginning then I
realized that not once since I have met you have you ever done anything for yourself. You
started raising Jamie at 17, put Grace through rehab more than once… honestly you were
overdue for a nervous breakdown or a quarter life crisis.”

“That’s a pretty good description of the last five years.” I said.

“For both of us but I realized that you need to do some work and that you owe it to not just
yourself but to Jamie to take some time to work it out.” Theo said. “And you always come
back.”

“Nothing can keep me down.” I said. You have no idea buddy.

“Just don’t take forever. This parenting thing is better when there’s someone to lean on.”
Theo said.

“I know. That kid is going to be a great lawyer one day.” I said.

“He does not pull his punches.” Theo said finishing his beer. “Another one?”

“Actually, I should head out.” I said.

“To Haiti.” He said.

“Haiti.” I confirmed.

“Most people go somewhere fun to find themselves. Julia Roberts went to Italy, India and
Bali.” Theo said making me snort at the mention of Eat Pray love.

“Julia Roberts is full of crap.” I said making Theo laugh.

“There is no problem pizza can’t fix.” Theo said.

“If only.” I said getting up. “Take care of our kid.”

“I always do.” Theo said hugging me. “Be careful.”

“I’ll try.” I said before climbing down the stairs. It was later than I thought it was and I just
made it to the bar on time for last call.

I ordered the traditional Mangotini before going to my favorite corner.

“Will that be cash or card?” the bartender asked.

“UH…” I said looking into my pockets and only finding a dollar and Tony’s black card.
There was no way… “Do you take Amex?”

“Sure.” He said taking the card and swiping the card. I was expecting the machine to
instantly decline the card. I mean there was no way it would… but there it was in bright
green and all Capital letters.

APPROVED

“Here you go miss.” The bartender said handing me back the card.

“Uh thanks…” I said. As if this entire situation couldn’t get any weirder. I made sure he got a
good tip before grabbing my drink to take with me to my favorite corner.

I finished it in three big gulps before stepping up to the ledge. It may have been the beer
mixed with the mangotini but, i couldn’t help but think of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

So like Dorothy tapped the heels of my worn-out Nikes and said “I want to go home,
preferably while I still have a job waiting for me.”
With that I jumped off.

Unfortunately the next time was not it either. It was actually eleven tries after that I finally
made it back. Dying does not get any better the more you do it.

Universe 616 – Christmas Eve

It had been two days since Hanna had died… again. While the team had not completely fallen
apart like the last time they were not doing great.

Tony had locked himself in the lab. Clint had not come out of the vents. Natasha who was
blaming herself was locked in her room and she had been receiving regular deliveries of
Vodka. Bruce had buried himself in work and Steve kept busy by Distracting Thor so he
wouldn’t accidentally cause another hurricane or flood.

The best way of doing that would be to continue where Hanna left off with teaching Thor
about Christmas. Though even he had to admit they may have gone a bit overboard with
decorating the common room. The 10 foot monstrosity of tree they had brought in was
covered in tinsel and ornaments and was leaning a little too much to one side. Any slight
breeze would knock it over.

“I still do not understand the purpose of the elves in these festivities.” Thor said holding a elf
plushie.

“They’re the ones that build the toys for Santa to deliver.” Steve said threading a string
through popcorn to make a garland.

“Elves are evil and have no interest in building toys with children. Children should not be
allowed anywhere near elves. Dwarves on the other hand are mighty and noble builders.”
Thor started before Steve saw something move outside the window from the corner of his
eye.
They both heard a loud thud and immediately stood up to see what it was. Thor held out his
hand calling Mjolnir to him not knowing what to expect.

“Hanna!” Steve said running the person lying on the balcony floor.

“It’s really her.” Thor said dropping Mjolnir to go check on her.

“It’s her.” Steve said checking for a pulse but not feeling anything. He looked her over and
saw her clothes dirty with blood and torn in other places. “We need to get her inside.”

“I’ll take her to a medic.” Thor said gently picking up Hanna.

“I’ll go get everyone.” Steve said as they ran inside.

The second Thor walked into the medical floor he set Hanna down on a cot. Bruce was right
behind him and started hooking her up to the heart monitor to see if they could get a pulse.

“That’s not good.” Thor said as he saw the flatline displayed on the heart monitor.

“The same thing happened last time.” Bruce said. “There’s not really much we can do.”

“It’s really her?” Tony said running in with Natasha.

“She landed on the balcony.” Thor said.

Natasha mumbled something in Russian as she took Hanna’s hand in hers and ran her fingers
through her dirty matted dark blonde hair combing it out of her face.
“She looks like she had it rough.” Tony said.

“Not every world is a good one.” Steve said. “But she’s back.”

“Merry Christmas.” Clint said sarcastically. Natasha walked to the sink to grab a bowl of
water and a wash cloth. Slowly she started wiping off the dirt and blood from Hanna’s hands.

‘Still nothing?” Tony asked tapping on the screen of the heartrate monitor. “Is this thing even
on right?”

“It’s not the monitor.” Bruce said.

“It takes a while for her to come back.” Steve said.

“How long’s a while?” Clint asked.

“I’m not sure. I never timed it.” Steve said.

“All that’s left to do is wait.” Thor said.

“Does anyone have a deck of cards?” Tony asked.

Meanwhile…

I was in the pit again. I was falling down harder and faster than before.

It was nothing new.

After dying for the 25th time, I finally hit rock bottom. By rock bottom I meant the bottom of
the seemingly bottomless pit I fell down every time I died.

“What the hell?” I groaned as I faceplanted onto the wet floor of the pit. There was water at
the bottom of it, almost up to my ankles. My voice echoed around me. The only light in the
pit came from above me.

The only sound I could hear after was the sound of droplets falling down to the wet floor.

There really was no afterlife. There really was nothing after death. Guess that means you
really do have to make every second count.

“Hanna….” Something whispered in the dark.

“Hello?” I asked and my voice echoed again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something
move. “Hello?”

My voice echoed again and before the echoing faded I pulled back up.

After the 25th time I wasn't sure what hurt more, dying, or getting slingshot back to the land
of the living.

The first breath of air felt like it also punched me hard enough to knock that air right out of
me.

“Ah! Ah!” I gasped. Everything in me hurt and it was hard to move as if everything was
tighter than it should be. It was probably the rigor mortis. Who knows how long I had been
dead for this time.
“Hanna breathe.” Someone said trying to put an oxygen mask on my face but it was all too
much. The lights were too bright. Everything was too loud…

“Give her some room.” A familiar voice said.

“Hanna love…” One of them said.

“Thor move!” another said before I lunged for what looked like a trashcan.

“Buah!” I puked hard coughing up bile and whatever else I had in me while also choking as I
couldn’t breathe. Someone held back my hair as I continued to throw up.

“It’s okay…” She said. That’s when I realized it was Natasha when she started rubbing my
back. That went on for more than five minutes before I finally stopped gagging.

“Uh… gross.” I groaned.

“You okay?” She asked.

“Been better.” I said. “Is this the right universe?”

“Depends which one you were trying to get to.” She said.

“At least I didn’t wake up in a morgue this time.” I said trying to stand up but I fell back
down just as fast.

“Whoa…” Clint said catching me and helping me sit up.

“That would be the rigor mortis.” I said starting to get feeling back in my toes. That’s when I
saw Thor. “Pop Tarts.”

“Pop Tarts?” Thor asked confused.

“Pop Tarts? Thoughts?” I said.

“UH… they are delicious. I do rather enjoy the strawberry flavored ones.” Thor said.

“Okay not evil.” I said falling back. “Finally.”

“You got that from pop tarts?” Tony asked.

“It’s the little things.” I said. “What have I missed?”

“Not a lot.” Steve said.

“Merry Christmas.” Clint said.

“Christmas?” I said.

“it’s a quarter past midnight, it’s technically Christmas morning.” Bruce said.

“Christmas? As in December 25, 2013? I was only gone 2 days?” I said confused trying to
trace my steps to do the math.

“That’s one day too many.” Tony said. “It’s a good thing you have an in with the boss.”
“Wait… Hanna how long were you gone?” Bruce asked.

“Two weeks give or take a day.” I said.

“2 weeks?” They all said.

“There were a lot of universes.” I said. “Theo says hi.”

“You went back there?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I woke up in the morgue. Almost got a craniotomy.” I said flexing my fingers as I
started regaining movement. “I am in desperate need of a shower.”

“Careful.” Clint said.

“Hanna wait maybe we should wait for the doctor to…” Bruce started.

“Bruce I’ve died 25 times and I keep coming back, I think it’s safe to say that I’m okay.” I
said getting up. “So who made the turkey?”

“Turkey?” Steve said.

“Christmas Dinner? That normally includes a turkey or did we opt for ham this year?” I
asked.

“Actually…” Bruce started.

“We did both.” Tony said. “I hired a caterer and told them to go nuts.”

“Good idea, we can have leftover sandwiches for the rest of the year.” I said getting up and
noticing how torn, burned and cropped the shirt under the flannel I was wearing was now.
“Hope he didn’t want these clothes back. I’ll grab a sandwich after my shower.”

“Sure…” Natasha said.

“Take your time, make sure to scrub behind your ears.” Tony said.

“Okay….” I said confused about why he was suddenly being so weird. I must really look bad
right now.

“Okay.” Tony said again smiling. That was creepy and weird but mostly creepy.

I was still a bit sore but once I was in the shower and the scalding hot water hit my body all
the tension just seeped away.

Two weeks… two very long weeks and more deaths than I ever want to go through again. I
found a small twig in my hair and the water was brown and red from the dirt and dried blood
on me.

It felt really good to be back.

I stayed in that shower until the water started coming out cold and my fingers got all pruney.
Then I brushed my teeth for ten minutes straight to get the taste of my puke and… strangely
death out of my mouth.
Once I was more or less back to looking like my normal self, I started cleaning up the
bathroom. The cleaning crew would be here at some point… I don’t know how they did it to
get in and clean without anyone seeing them but I didn’t want to scare them into thinking
someone had been murdered in my bathroom.

One quick rinse of the shower with the detachable shower head and everything was in
presentable shape. The only thing left were the clothes I had been wearing. If I could even
call them that anymore.

The vintage weathered band tee I had repurposed as a cropped tee under the red buffalo plaid
flannel was in tatters. With blood stairs, tears from all the times I had been stabbed and, on
my chest, where a bolt of lightning was shot straight to my heart. I really did not want to go
back to that universe.

There was no salvaging them so I picked them up intending to throw them down the trash
chut.

I was so tired I wasn't sure I was going to make it that far or upstairs for that leftover
sandwich.

To my surprise when I stepped out of the bathroom Natasha was sitting at the edge of my bed
waiting for me.

“Hey.” She said.

“Hey?” I said surprised. “Who sent a babysitter?”

“I sent myself.” Natasha said noticing the bloody clothes in my hands.

“There’s no saving these so I was going to throw them out.” I said.

“They should be burned. It’s protocol for biohazards.” She said.

“Right, you guys are probably experts at this sort of thing.” I said before realizing how that
came out. “You know because of work, on the job injuries… the serum in Steve’s blood and
Bruce…”

“Yeah.” She said shifting awkwardly. We stood there not saying anything until Natasha said
something. “I’m sorry. That it happened again on my watch. I thought I had him and…”

“His finger slipped and hit the trigger. It wasn't your fault.” I said. “Things happen.”

“It shouldn’t have happened.” She said. “It was a rookie mistake and…”

“Stop.” I said. “Don’t compartmentalize this. This wasn't a mission. You were off duty and
we were out having fun. We didn’t see it coming, no one could have seen it coming. It
happened and if it wasn't me it would have been someone else or you. At least I can come
back from the dead.”

“How can you be so okay with this?” She said getting angry.

“Because I’ve died over a dozen times in the last two weeks and I am just dead tired. No pun
intended.” I said. “I’m back, safe and sound and that’s a really long overdue win in my
book.”

“How bad was it?” Natasha asked.

“Not as bad as it was here for you guys.” I said lying as best as I could. “Clint doesn’t have a
beard and Tony didn’t go on a bender so I’d say that’s an improvement on the first time.”

Natasha didn’t say anything just stared at me with watery eyed. What I did next surprised her
as much as it did me.
I walked up to her and hugged her.

“You’re hugging me?” She said putting her hands on my arms almost trying to gauge if it
would be okay for her to return it.

“Yeah, you looked like you needed it.” I said still hugging her. “Did I make it weird? I knew I
should have asked first.”

“Tony didn’t hire a caterer.” She said.

“I figured. Is he going crazy trying to find a cooked turkey and ham in the middle of the night
on Christmas?” I asked.

“Pretty much.” Natasha said.

“Jarvis, tell Tony I’m skipping the midnight leftover sandwich and going to sleep.” I said.

“I shall alert sir right away.” Jarvis answered.

“Great.” I said letting go of Natasha and getting into bed. “Good night.”

“Night.” She said doing a not-so-subtle scan of the room and staring at the bloody clothes I
left on the table.

“You want to just sleep in here?” I offered. I would probably sleep better having someone
close by to remind me I was back in the right universe.
“Are you sure?” Natasha asked.

“It’s a big bed.” I said scooting over to give her the side closest to the door as I knew that
would probably the spot she felt most comfortable in.

“Thanks.” Natasha said getting in next to me.

I pulled up the blankets and closed my eyes.

“Nat?” I said.

“Hm?” She hummed.

“Merry Christmas.” I said.

“Merry Christmas.” Natasha said back before we drifted off to sleep.

The Next Morning…

I woke up early the following morning alone in bed. My snoring or tossing and turning may
have pushed Natasha out of bed. I slowly got up, not feeling at all sore which was a huge
improvement from last night. I looked out the window and to my surprise it was snowing.

Guess I finally got to experience a white Christmas.

To add to the Christmas spirit I was so out of it last night I didn’t realize I ended up putting
on reindeer Christmas pjs.
It was probably the bright clothing I owned and I actually didn’t hate it.

What a freaking year.

I needed coffee and maybe Tony had finally figured out the turkey situation.

After slipping on my slippers I made my way up to the common room.

The second the elevator doors open the smell of cinnamon and pine hit me and everywhere I
looked I saw… Christmas.

“Whoa..” I said.

“Morning.” Steve said.

“My lady Hanna!” Thor said running towards me wearing a Santa hat and a very ugly
Christmas Sweater. He picked me up and spun me around.

I almost panicked for a second before I remembered I wasn't in that universe anymore and
this Thor was practically a giant golden retriever as he was in most universes. I didn’t think
anyone noticed but Steve gave me a confused look.

“Merry Christmas.” Thor said when he put me down.

“Merry Christmas.” I said once I was back on my feet. “Should that tree be leaning like that
so close to the fireplace?”

“It’s holding.” Clint said offering me a cup of coffee.

“Coffee.” I said taking a sip before only choking on it because that coffee was not just coffee.
“Oh! That’s…”

“Nat Spiked the coffee with the spiked eggnog.” He explained.

“It’s one of those mornings.” I said looking at the kitchen. “With a full spread.”

“I told you, those caterers really went nuts.” Tony said.

“Yeah…” I said noticing Natasha shaking her head signaling for me to go with it. “Is that
Cinnamon Roll French toast?”

“Christmas Brunch before presents.” Tony said.

“Score.” I said. “Who made it look like Santa puked all over the common room?”
“That would be Capsicle.” Tony said.

“And Thor.” Bruce added.

“Apparently Steve has a Pinterest account.” Natasha said and Steve turned beet red.

“You have a Pinterest account?” I asked. “Oh Show me! Show me! Show me!”

“I don’t have an account I was just looking at Christmas decorations and…” Steve started.

“Here you go.” Natasha said passing me her phone.

“You have more than one board.” I said scrolling through it. “This explains the elves.”

“Dwarfs are better.” Thor with a shrug.

“Don’t.” Bruce said warning me before I added input.

“It looks great guys and nice sweaters.” I said realizing everyone was wearing some form of
an ugly Christmas sweater.

“Nice Pjs.” Tony said.

“Yeah, I don’t know where they come from but they’re warm.” I said taking a bite of my
French toast. “Mhm, this is delicious.”
Once we were done eating we moved to the couch for presents.

“I feel bad I didn’t do any shopping.” I said.

“Hanna, you died and came back in time for Christmas. That’s all we wanted.” Bruce said.

“Also you got us all presents last week.” Clint said. “Those count.”

“Most of those are Tony’s anyway.” Natasha added.

“Which means I go last you know to save the best for last.” Tony said clapping his hands
together. “Capsicle, you’re up.”

“Alright.” Steve said handing out presents. He hesitated before handing mine over. “If you
don’t like it, I can get you something else.”

“I’m sure it’s great.” I said opening the box to see a framed sketch. But it wasn't just any
sketch it was a recreated sketch of the photo of Me, Jamie and Theo I had in my old
apartment. “You sketched this from memory?”

“I got as close to it as I could.” Steve said.

“It’s a black and white copy of it.” I said smiling. “Thank you.”

“That’s Jamie?” Clint asked.

“Yup, that’s my kiddo.” I said showing him the framed drawing. “Theo asked about you.”
“He did?” Steve said surprised.

“Yeah, I told him I left you in Thailand.” I said.

“Thailand?” Bruce asked.

“We were doing missionary work.” I said.

“That’s a good cover.” Natasha said. “He looks like you.”

“You think?” I said looking at the sketch.

“Alright next.” Tony said trying to keep things moving.

“I’ll go.” Clint said offering me a small box.

“Okay.” I said taking the small box and opening it. Inside were two thin dainty gold chain
layered necklaces one with an arrow pendant. It was almost identical to the one Natasha
wore. The second chain had a small gold dime sized disc with two black stones shaped like
an hourglass.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you.” I said taking it out of the box. “You mind?”

“Sure.” Clint said helping me put it on.

I got a few other cool things namely Bruce following Steve’s lead and giving me an enlarged
framed photo of my DNA. Considering I left a literal bloody mess everywhere it’s good that
something pretty could come out of it. It was so going up in my living room. Natasha gave
me a taser and some gorgeous suede knee high boots to match. (Those were her exact words.)

Thor came back with an old looking book from Asgard’s library that did those cool
projections of the story being told. It told the history of Asgard and the nine realms. You
know just some light nighttime reading.

“Finally it’s my turn.” Tony said.

“Before you do anything… If it’s anything over the top return it.” I said.
“You are the hardest person to shop for.” Tony said. “I was going to give you a vacation…”

“I think I’m good on the traveling front.” I said.

“I bet you did…. How’s my car?” Tony asked.

“Your car is fine. Not a scratch on her.” I said.

‘That’s good.” he said staying quiet. “How’d you like it?”

“It was okay…” I said playing coy. If I even hinted that I liked it he’d want to buy me one. I
couldn’t tell him how amazing I felt driving that car. The wind blowing through my hair as I
sped down the highway.

“Just okay?” Tony teased.

“Yeah… I mean it’s just a car.” I said sipping my eggnog.

“Uhuh… so what about…” he said before bring up a video of me driving the Audi down the
high way singing walking on sunshine at the top of my lungs before ignoring the song and
shouting.

“THIS IS THE BEST CAR EVER!!!!!” I shouted in the video.

Everyone just turned to look at me with smiling.

“Well?” Tony said with the smuggest look on his face.

“It’s a really good car.” I admitted.

“Handles like a dream.” Tony said.

“Once you get it warmed up and push it over 80 on the open highway…” I said.

“Isn’t the speed limit 55?” Steve said.

“Speed Limits are just suggestions.” Clint reassured him.

“It’s magical.” I said.

“Magical?” Tony said laughing. “That… that’s great. You singing walking on sunshine…
that’s my new ringtone.”

“What… no.” I said.

“Yes.” He said.

“No. I forbid it. I’ll quit.” I said.

“You haven’t even started yet.” Tony said.

“HR” I said.
“Okay I won’t use it as a ringtone... if you don’t make me return this.” He said holding out a
very expensive looking jewelry box. Then I caught a glimpse of the letters on the box and I
knew it was going to be expensive.

“Tony.” I warned.

“This isn’t just a present.” He said. “It also solves our tracking issue.”

“You mean your stalking problem?” I retorted.

“Don’t call it that. It makes me seem creepy.” He said.

“Well if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck…” I said.

“Hanna!” he groaned. “Can you just… at least look at it.”

“I’m afraid to even touch that box.” I said.

“It’s just a box.” He said.

“The box implies something incredibly expensive.” I said.

“Not really expensive for me...” He said. “Would it help if I tell you that I didn’t get you the
most expensive version of what normally comes in this box?”

“Not really.” I said.

“Just open it.” He said.

“I reserve the right to ask for you to return it.” I said.

“And I reserve the right to say no.” Tony said before opening the box for me.

“Cartier.” Natasha said impressed.

Inside the box was a customized version of the Cartier Love Bracelet.

Instead of the traditional circles there were small engravings with each of their call signs and
the Avengers emblem.
“It’s custom so… no take backs.” Tony said. “And I made a tiny alteration to it. The bracelet
is connected to Jarvis so he can track your bio signs at all time.”

“It’s another tracker?” I said looking at the bracelet if I could see how it was done.

“No, I can just see your stats.” He said. “The signal can be tracked but only in case of
emergencies or if you… come back again. It’s in the programming.”

“So you can’t see my location, only my heart rate?” I asked.

“Jarvis will only let me see your location if your heartrate stops or if you come back again.”
He said.

If this had been 2 weeks ago/2 Days ago I would have said no but I don’t always appear in
the best location and I’d rather not wake up in a morgue again as they’re about to crack my
skull open. Plus what were the odds I was going to land on the balcony again.

“I can live with that.” I said putting on the bracelet.

“And the car that goes with it…” he started.

“No.” I said.

“But it could come in handy…” Tony continued.

“No.” I said ending the discussion.

 Chapter 39
Chapter Notes

Hi, Everyone this is just a bit of a filler. some fluff and banter. Nothing much. I just
wanted to give an update.

It was a good week between Christmas and New Years. Nothing happened which in this
universe was a really good thing because when things happen people die and with my track
record it would probably be me.

New Years was a quiet night in. We had a game night and quickly learned that Monopoly
with a billionaire was not a good idea.

“This doesn’t even make sense. Has no one heard of rent control?” Tony said.

“There’s a housing shortage.” I retorted as I collected my rent. “Speaking of real estate, we

should start buying that up.”

With the offices and most of Tony’s appointments not being scheduled until the week after
New Years I had some time to kill.

Which means I decided to get some work done on the Hydra/Bucky front. Of course, Steve
and Natasha were already on it.

“Hanna!” Thor greeted me when walked into the common room.

There was one tiny thing that had become rather apparent in the last week. It was taking me a
bit of an adjustment to get used to being Thor again. When we were in a group and all joking
around it was fine. He was his usual happy, go lucky cheerful self but when he snuck up on
me or caught me by surprise it was a bit harder from me to tell my Thors apart.

“Hey you…” I said. “I was looking for Steve and Natasha.”

“They were called away on a mission.” He said.

“Really? That explains the lack of breakfast.” I said. “Oh well.”

“Were you in need of assistance?” Thor asked.

“No I just wanted to ask a question.” I said.

“If you’re not busy it is a lovely day outside perhaps we can go on a walk?” Thor asked.

“Uh… Thanks but I actually still have some paperwork to do for Tony. He really let it pile up
while I was away.” I said.

“Another time then.” Thor said smiling even though I could tell he was disappointed. That
was a gut punch. There’s nothing like having the happiest sweetest giant of a guy give you
the kicked puppy look.

“Ugh.” I groaned once I was in the elevator.

The doors closed and I heard the elevator make a loud thug. Oh come on? If this elevator
plummeted and killed me I was suing Tony.

I closed my eyes waiting for the inevitable end when the elevator roof opened and Clint
jumped in.
“That was painful to watch.” He said. “What did Thor do?”

“Are you freaking kidding me?!” I said taking a deep breath. “You couldn’t have just walking
in the elevator like a normal person?”

“It was faster...” He said with a smirk but when he noticed the panicked look on my face he
immediately stopped. “Sorry. I was in the vents.”

“Uh huh.” I said.

“You okay?” Clint asked.

“Yeah, just really glad the elevator isn’t going to crash down and kill me.” I said.

“I should have warned you I was coming in.” He said. “Nat and Steve should be back later.
It’s a short mission.”

“Hydra?” I asked.

“Not sure but it came straight from Fury so could be.” Clint said. “Since we’re here now’s a
good time to go over a few things.”

“What things?” I asked.

“You should grab a jacket it’s cold outside.” Clint said pressing the button for my floor.
I didn’t have anything better to do so I went along with it. I went into my room and grabbed a
burgundy wool wrap coat.

“This is yours.” Clint said handing me a flip phone.

“Burner phone?” I asked.

“Yeah. Don’t make any calls. Only answer and get rid of it after the call’s over.” He said.

“Alright.” I said putting it in my night stand.

From there Clint insisted we walk and take the subway to Grand Central Station.

“It would have been faster to drive here.” I said.

“Where’s the fun in that? Besides it’s hard to keep a low profile in a sports car with vanity
plates.” Clint said. “Don’t draw attention to yourself and don’t run, walk.”

“Steve and Natasha are going to have a very similar conversation in a few months.” I
answered as we walked into grand central station.

“That ceiling is the same in my universe.” I said looking up at the ceiling. “And a few
others.”

“Is every world that similar?” Clint asked.

“Some. Others it’s pretty obviously different. Different color. Cracks.” I said. “Best way to
tell them apart is to grab a newspaper. Are we going anywhere?”

“No.” He said. “Just need to show you something. I was going to wait for Nat but it’s
probably better to show you this sooner than later. Especially if things go sideways.”

I followed him to a set of lockers and the ones furthest away out of sight he quickly opened a
locker.

“It’s the same as before. IDs, cash, and instructions. You grab everything and you don’t wait
for anyone.” Clint said. “One of us will come get you when it’s safe.”

“And if no one comes?” I asked.

“There’s a plan for that too.” He said.

“Which is?” I said.

“You’ll find out if it happens.” Clint said. “It’s better if you don’t know everything.”

“Okay.” I said. “I still don’t see what was so urgent about doing this today.”

“You looked like you needed to get out for a bit mostly to get away from Thor.” He said.
“What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing.” I said.

“You avoiding Thor is not nothing. What did he do?” Clint said.
“He didn’t do anything. It’s all me.” I said.

“It didn’t look like that.” he said. “It’s been a week.”

“Thor… This Thor didn’t do anything.” I said and Clint looked at me confused. “Not every
universe I land is… good. There was the zombie universe, the robot that took over the world
and killed all life on earth…”

“So which one did Thor screw up in?” Clint asked.

“The last universe I was in, Loki was the good brother.” I said.

“Oh.” Clint said trying to imagine what I was saying.

“Whatever you’re imagining, it’s worse.” I said. “Imagine our Thor and now imagine him
being the complete opposite. He invaded Earth with the armies of Asgard and won. He
enslaved humanity and it just gets worse from there. He killed me by shooting a bolt of
lightning straight to my heart.”

“And that’s why you’re so weird when you’re alone with him.” Clint said.

“Yeah. I know Thor would never… but there is a version of him that did.” I said. “It’s taking
me a minute to get over that last death.”

“I can see how that might be a bit weird. Have you thought about telling him about it?” Clint
asked and I gave him a look.

“How would that conversation go? Thor I’m avoiding you because in another universe you
killed me.” I said. “Then knowing Thor he would get very loud, swear over and over again
that he wouldn’t hurt me, treat me like I’m made of glass and… I’d rather just not.”

“And avoiding him is better?” Clint said.

“I died eleven times in a row right before someone I could say I’m close to killed me. How
would you feel if Natasha tried to kill you?” I said.

“She actually did.” He said. “More than once.”

“Clint if she really wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be here right now.” I said. He looked like
he wanted to argue the contrary but knew I was right.

“So what are you going to do? It’s kind of hard to avoid someone you live with and loves
you.” Clint said.

“We’re not like that.” I said making Clint snort.

“You’re not. Thor on the other hand…” Clint said.

“We’re not having that conversation.” I said.

“Nat said you were in denial but I didn’t think it was this bad.” He said.

“I’m not in denial. This situationship is there, it’s just not going anywhere.” I said.

“It’s not going anywhere because you don’t want it to.” Clint said.
“Please tell me this isn’t an l-word confession because we both know we’re not...” I said.

“Of course not. We’re just following your lead. No pressure.” Clint said and I could tell he
totally meant it.

“Do you really buy into the whole soulmate thing?” I asked.

“You went from seeing everything in black and white to seeing every possible color in a
second.” Clint said. “I’ve been Natasha’s partner for years and I had never seen red before I
met you.”

“Interesting problem to have considering your job.” I said.

“I didn’t think I was going to ever see red or meet you. I don’t deserve… you.” Clint said.

“Me and my bottomless pit of emotional baggage?” I said. No one would ever understand the
irony of that statement “No one deserves to be stuck with that.”

“I’m an assassin.” Clint said. “And I’ve fought aliens. You’ve never killed anyone.”

“Unless you count the 25 times I’ve killed myself. Well 20 ish… there was the mandarin, the
mugger with the butter finger trigger finger, Thor’s ex-girlfriend and evil Thor…” I said and
Clint just shifted uncomfortably. “Too soon?”

“A bit.” He said. “When you’re not with us… I mean when you’re not here anymore do you
stop seeing colors?”

“No. I can still see all of them. Even in my world. Though it’s just as grey as it was before I
could see color.” I said.
“Everything gets a bit darker. For most of my life I never knew what red looked like and
when I did things were, brighter. I didn’t think one color could make that much of a
difference so when you died the first time, everything didn’t just look darker, it felt that way
too.” He explained. “I grew up knowing soulmates were real, I knew that one day I’d see a
color I never saw before but I never knew it would make that much of a difference.”

“Not what you expected?” I said.

“Things happen the way they’re supposed to happen. You just have to learn to roll with it.”
Clint said. “It’s worked out for me so far.”

“Is this what you would have picked if you had the choice?” I asked.

“Yes.” Clint said without hesitating. “You think too much, some the best things I've ever done
were just gut feelings. You hungry? I’m in the mood for Noodles or Dumplings?”

“Dim Sum?” I offered making Clint smile.

“I know a good place not too far from here.” He said taking my hand and leading me out of
the train station.

It was a pretty fun and relaxing afternoon. After Dim Sum we ended up at a bar playing darts
and pool. I was pretty sure Clint was going easy one me even when he said I was really good
at both. I guess I was having a lucky day.

We got back home, just in time for dinner and Steve was back which meant the best cook in
the tower was making dinner.

“Mashed potatoes.” I cheered as I saw the bowl of them on the counter.

“Wash up, dinner’s almost ready.” He said.

“How was the mission?” I asked.

“No work talk at the dinner table.” Steve said.

“That bad huh?” I asked.

“It’s just a mission.” He said.

“No Bucky?” I continued as he moved around the kitchen to set the table.

Steve stopped and put down the salad bowls.

“No Bucky.” He confirmed.

“Sorry.” I said.

“We’ll find him.” Steve said.

“I give it another 3 to 4 months. That’s when Hydra made their big move. You should tell
Fury to start wearing Kevlar everyday.” I said.

“What makes you think he doesn’t?” Natasha said popping up behind me.

“Fuck!” I said jumping in surprise. “You have got to stop doing that.”
“Pay more attention to your surroundings.” She said.

“You know how in period movies about royalty there was that guy that called out the name of
whom ever walked into a room. We should get one of those.” I said.

“What should I buy?” Tony asked.

“Hanna thinks you should hire a Herald.” Natasha said.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve hired more than one Herald. They’re either in Accounting or Legal.
Maybe both.” Tony said sarcastically.

“Not Helping.” I said.

“Has the feast begun?” Thor declared as he walked in.

“The one guy who will never sneak up on you.” Clint whispered low enough for only me to
hear.

“Almost.” Steve answered.

“Hey sunshine how’d the date go?” Tony asked with a smirk.

“Not a date.” Clint and I answered at the same time.

“You were both out?” Thor said.

“It was an errand.” Clint clarified.

“Housekeeping nothing big.” I said.

“And Hanna apparently has great aim.” Clint said.

“I just have practice and you were going easy on me.” I said.

“I told you I wasn't.” He insisted.

“If you say so.” I said rolling my eyes. “Homemade meatballs, Score!”

You know, as a kid I always preferred to eat alone because if I ate with the family it would
always turn into a screaming match with someone grabbing my plate and smashing it against
the wall as they tried to hit the other person.

As a teenager I avoided eating with other people, mostly due to either my parents fighting,
my mother criticizing my food choices and being the unlucky one in the family that had to
wear orthodontic gear and my dad cheaping out of normal braces by going to the discount
orthodontist that used more traditional (Outdated) techniques which also made it very hard to
eat normally.

By the time I got to college and was raising Jamie, I was too busy juggling school, work and
childcare to have an actual sit-down dinner. When I actually remembered to eat it was either
on the go or whatever Jamie left on his plate.

This however was nice. It was loud, and yeah we didn’t always get along but everyone
genuinely respected each other enough to make it through dinner without belittling each other
or breaking plates over each other’s heads.
My universe hated me and loved to remind me of it constantly. This universe… seemed to
sort of like me, or at the very least not crap all over me and kick me while I’m down.

So what if an evil version of Thor tortured and killed me in another universe? The Thor in
this universe always makes sure that I get my favorite seat at the table, I get to serve myself
first and he always leaves the biggest brownie or slice of pie for me. I could definitely get
over someone that looked just like him killing me. It wasn't like I actually stayed dead.

I could make this second or… 26th chance work.

Yeah tomorrow was another day.

The Following Morning…

Tomorrow was another day, which also happened to be my first official day at work. After
Tony moved it because I missed my real first official day of work due to me dying, again.

I woke up extra early to get a light workout in, came back to my room and showered before
going through my closet to figure out which pre-sorted outfit would be the right one for
today.

Thank you Natasha.

Finally I found a hanger with a note taped on that said ‘Wear me First!” On the hanger was a
dark purple pencil skirt that was almost back and a silky black lace camisole that went under
a black 3 buttoned v neck tailored blazer.
I slipped on my heart monitor gold custom bracelet I got from Tony and finished the look
with a simple pair for stud earrings and a thin chain necklace.

I kept my hair in a simple half up half down hairstyle.

With one last look in the mirror I grabbed my tablet and pulled up Tony’s calendar to see
what was on the books for today.

A few meetings nothing too urgent. A lunch with Pepper and he was free all afternoon.

Me on the other hand. It wasn't even 8am and I had 150 emails that had been bounced to me
from Tony’s email.

As was expected. That did not change my plans for my first day on the job.
I headed up to the common floor to make Bruce and Tony their morning doses of caffeine.

Steve, Clint, Natasha and Thor were already awake having obviously done their morning
workout/training together.

The second I walked into the kitchen everyone went quiet.

“Morning.” I said going straight for the coffee maker.

“M-morning.” Steve stuttered.

“Hanna look radiant.” Thor said.

“Thank buddy.” I said giving him a smile before I continued preparing the coffee. “Early
morning?”

“Uhuh.” Clint nodded as they all kept staring at me.

“You saw the post it?” Natasha asked with a smirk.

“Yeah and what you did to the rest of the closet. Thank you, If it had been up to me I’d be
wearing a tee shirt and slacks everyday.” I answered.

“I know.” She answered. “Today’s your first day.”

“Yup. I’ve got to make a good impression on the boss.” I said.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” Clint said.

“Obviously. I’m adorable.” I said steeping the tea leaved in the hot water while I waited for
the espresso to finish brewing.

“That’s one word for it.” Natasha said.

“Okay. I’m going to run these down. See you later.” I said

“Yeah…” They all said still staring at me.

“Thanks for that Nat.” I heard Clint said to Natasha.

“Lab please Jarvis.” I said.

“Of course Miss.” Jarvis said. “The dry cleaning should be arriving within the hour.”

“Perfect.” I said. “Lunch reservations have been made at the usual place.”

“They are confirmed.” Jarvis said as the elevator doors opened. The glass doors of the lab
were vibrating with the sound of Tony’s loud music. It was very obvious he had pulled an all
nighter.

Bruce on the other hand was in his corner wearing sound proof headphones while he quietly
looked at slides under his microscope. I walked over to him and quietly placed his chai tea
latte out of his way where me could see it and would not spill it.

He smiled and said a quiet thank you before getting back to work.
Tony on the other hand had not looked up from where he was working on… some circuit or
something very tiny and delicate. He looked… not put together and like I should really not
give him a double espresso.

“Tony.” I said and he did not look up. He probably couldn’t hear me over the loud guitar solo
playing from the lab speakers. I’m really glad the walls are sound proof.

I took out my tablet and turned down the speakers to almost zero.

“Jarvis don’t turn off my music.” He said.

“Not Jarvis.” I said.

“Oh Hi… Wow!” He said.

“Good morning to you too.” I said as Tony looked me over up and down. “I have a couple
hundred emails to go through but before I get on those I need to get our priorities for the day
sorted.”

“Sort away.” Tony said smiling.

“Number one you have a late lunch with Pepper at 1PM usual spot. Reservation is confirmed
for 2.” I said.

“You should make that for 3.” He said.

“No, Your CEO has some things she wants to go over with you before the board meeting. I
already have my to do list for that.” I said. “You don’t need any distractions.”
“What makes you think you’d distract me?” Tony said.

“The fact that you haven’t stopped staring at the neckline of this top since I walked in.” I said
bluntly making him finally look me in the eyes.

“Hi.” He said.

“Hi.” I said finally spotting the coffee in my hand.

“Is that for me?” Tony said.

“It was.” I said before I took a sip making it my coffee.

“You look nice.” Tony said.

“You look tired.” I said with a smile. “All nighter?”

“I was working on…” He said. “You look really nice today. Not that you don’t always
look…”

“One more comment about how I look and I’m going to HR.” I said.

“Sorry. Priorities for today?” Tony continued.

“Lunch with Pepper at one. You have an 11:30 with marketing about the conference in Tokyo
next month. Your afternoon is clear to continue… uninterrupted tinkering.” I said.
“So I’m free until 11:29.” Tony said.

“No, right now you’re going to go upstairs and take a power nap for the next 3 hours.” I said.

“I don’t need a nap.” He said.

“You pulled an all nightery.” I said. “You haven’t slept in…”

“51 hours and three and a half minutes.’ Jarvis answered for me.

“Over 2 days.” I said. “You need sleep.”

“I just need some coffee…” he said trying to swipt the cup from my hand but I moved it out
of his reach.

“No, you need sleep.” I said.

“I feel fine.” He said.

“And you’ll feel even better after you get some sleep.” I said.

“Hanna.” He said.

“Mister Stark.” I said staring him down. It was quiet for a minute.

“One hour.” He said.

“Three.” I countered.

“Two.” He said.

“Three.” I said staying firm.

“Two and a half.” He said seeming as if it was the best offer I was going to get.

“Deal.” I said. “Have a nice nap.”

“Okay…” He said “See you in two hours.”

“Two and a half.” I corrected.

“Right.” Tony said before leaving the lab.

“That was good.” Bruce said.

“Almost.” I said. “Jarvis please don’t let Tony into the lab in the next two and a half hours.”

“Yes Miss.” Jarvis said.

“Now I’m good.” I said. “You didn’t pull an all nightery too did you?”

“No. I was in the lab but I did sleep.” Bruce said pointing at the lump futon.
“That does not look comfortable.” I said.

“It does the job and I’ve had worse.” He said.

“Haven’t we all.” I said going to the desk to log in to the computer. “Before you put the
headphone back on, are there any special supply orders you want me to request?”

“I’ve got everything.” Bruce said. “Thank you.”

“Okay,” I said answering emails. It was all boring stuff mostly emails directed to Tony that
Jarvis had defaults to redirect to Tony’s assistant’s email, herego me.

A few emails I answered with a polite we will get back to you at a later date. Others Seemed
more like spam and then finally I came to one from Pepper directed to me specifically.

To Hanna,

You have done an amazing job getting things in order. To help you fill in the gaps I left you
something on the bottom right drawer of your desk that will tell you everything you need to
know.

My assistant will reach out to you to set up a time for us to get drinks and catch up next time
I’m in town.

Thank you for doing this. I know Tony is a lot but he is lucky to have you.

Looking forward to working with you,

Pepper.

Everything I need to know about how to do the job?

That was definitely worth taking a look at before I do anything else.

I pulled open the drawer. I thought it was stuck but really the binder was just that big and
heavy.

That shouldn’t be surprising. Tony was a very busy, important, and rich guy. Obviously there
would be a lot to manage.

So I started going through the binder that Pepper had meticulously put together for me.

Tony really did not pay that woman enough for all that she did for him.

In this binder I had a summary of Tony’s personal information such as his social security,
medical information, bank accounts, properties, jets and who to call to set up a flight for each
one.

From there came profiles of every person on the board as well as the major players within
Stark industries and personal notes such as their likes, dislikes, dirty laundry, and mistresses
and how to handle any interactions.

It took about an hour to get through the entire thing mostly due to how big the entire thing
was, but I went through it once and now it was all in my head.

I really needed to take some of those emails out of the ignore folder.
The rest of the morning flew by.

I grabbed the dry cleaning and another espresso for Tony to greet him once he was awake. I
went up to his floor which made me realize I had never been Tony’s penthouse before.

He was just coming out of his room. Freshly showered and dressed when I was about to
knock on the door.

“Good Morning Mister Stark, how was your power nap?” I greeted as I went to the side door
of his walk in closet to hand his dry cleaning.

“It was good.” he said surprised to see me.

“Good to hear. Coffee.” I said placing it down on the table closest to him so he could pick it
up.

“Uh Thanks?” He said. “You didn’t hand it to me?”

“You don’t like to be handed things.” I said. “I have the agenda for your meeting with
Marketing. You really only need to be there for the first two things, after that you can excuse
yourself and I’ll take notes.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Tony said picking up his coffee.

“Alright then.” I said heading to the elevator.

“You know after this I’m going to have lunch with Pep, you can take off early…” He started.

“No I can’t. I have back to back meetings.” I said.

“You do?” He said surprised.

“I do.” I said. “But you are still free for free lab time. Speaking of need me to special order
any supplies for anything? If we get them in by the end of the day they can be squeezed into
last quarter’s expenses.”

“You can just charge it to…” He started and I gave him a look. “Right. Jarvis has my list. Put
a rush on it.”

“Of course.” I said taking notes.

The rest of the day flew by. I was running up and down the building introducing myself to
people to follow up with emails in person. Bombarded with their requests for me to forward
to Tony who had been blowing them all of for months and as I was starting to realize was the
case for some people, for very good reason.

All I wanted to do after the day was over was kick off my heels and fall into bed… but the
emails did not stop coming.

“Miss Marin dinner is ready.” Jarvis said.

“Oh shit, it’s 7 already?” I said. “Where has the day gone?”

“Alright then.” I said slipping my heels back on before heading upstairs. Of course the
second I walked out of the elevator everyone was running out of the room.

“Whoa!” I said.
“Hanna!” Steve said picking me up and moving out of the way of Thor, Clint, Natasha and
Bruce.

“Where’s the fire?” I asked.

“Ship in the Atlantic.” Natasha said.

“Lemurian Star?” I asked.

“Not sure, we’ll know more after the briefing.” Clint said.

“Sorry, dinner’s ready. Rolls are warming in the oven.” Steve said letting me go to get in the
elevator.

“Don’t wait up.” Natasha said with a wink.

“Okay…” I said. Dinner for one then. I walked into the common room about to kick off my
heels when Someone cleared their throat behind me.

“Ehem.” Tony said.

“Oh hey thought you were…” I said pointing to the elevator.

“And fly commercial? Ew.” Tony said hiding one hand behind his back. “I’ll just suit up. It’s
faster but before I do…”

He took his hand out from behind his back and offered me a cupcake.
“Happy first day.” He said smiling.

“Thank you.” I said taking the cupcake.

“It’s after 5. You look beautiful.” He said giving me a quick hug. “And now I really have to
go.”

“Tony wait!” I said grabbing his arm. “If the pirates are Algerian or French or if one of them
is named Batroc, Fury hired them because the ship is dirty.”

“How do you… Right.” He said. “French or Batroc Got it.”

“And be careful.” I called out.

All I got was a thumb up before he jumped into a suit and flew off.

Dinner alone… I should feel horrible for feeling so relieved they were out because now…

I kicked off heels and unhooked my bra.

“Ah… that’s the best feeling in the world.” I said before going to the kitchen to see what was
on the menu for dinner. I saw some sort of mushroom chicken, grilled veggies, and a salad.
There were also rolls in the oven.

Plus my cupcake.

A quiet night in alone. It had been a while since I’ve had one of those. Though I still
desperately needed to get out of this outfit into something more comfortable.
Thirty minutes later I was flicking through channels trying to find something to watch while I
had dinner. I considered raiding the bar but if my day was at least half as busy as today I
could not afford to be the least bit sluggish.

Was this what my life was going to be like when the world was in danger or the next bad guy
showed up because there was no shortage of those.

Maybe the more important question is, am I truly okay sitting around wondering if they were
all going to make it back?

Would it ever come to a day that I would have to open that locker at Grand Central Station?

Maybe having dinner alone was not such a good thing.

The tower was cold. Looking around I spotted a red blanket thrown over the back of the
couch.

It was a thin material but once I draped it over me it was really warm, but not to the point I
was sweating. I think I found my new favorite blanket. It also helped that the couch was very
comfy so comfy I ended up falling asleep on it.

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean…

The team was listening to Maria Hill give them their mission briefing. Thor was looking all
over the jet and fighting the entire time.

Once the call logged off he started going through all of the compartments of the jet.

“Looking for something Pointbreak?” Tony asked.

“It’s nothing.” Thor said.

“Doesn’t look like nothing.” Steve said.

“If you tell us we can help you look.” Bruce offered.

Thor continued going through the compartments until he realized he wasn't going to find it.

“I seem to have… misplace my cape.” Thor said.

“You lost your cape?” Tony said.

“Isn’t it like attached to your armor?” Natasha asked.

“Yes but after the last party I had to have it cleaned.” Thor said.

“You had your cape dry cleaned?” Clint asked.

“No of course not. I sent it to Asgard and it was sent back to me but I don’t remember where
I placed it.” Thor asked.

“Is it important? Do you lose your powers?” Bruce asked.

“No, I just.” Thor said turning a bit. “I feel rather naked without it.”
“We’ll look for it when we get back.” Steve reassured Thor.

“Now that Hill’s offline. We should talk. Hanna told me to look out for a couple of things.”
Tony said.

“What things?” Natasha asked.

“Pirates, if they’re French or if there’s a guy named Batroc?” Tony asked.

“Batroc?” Natasha asked.

“Do you know him?” Steve asked.

“He’s a mercenary.” Clint asked. “Works for the highest bidder. If it’s him someone else is
calling the shots.”

“Funny you should mention that.” Tony said. “If he is there, Hanna said Fury’s the guy that
hired him.”

“Why would he do that?” Bruce asked.

“I don’t know but I don’t like it.” Steve said.

The Following Morning…

The world continued to spin on as it revolved around the sun and I got to see another sunrise
in the same universe I fell asleep in.
Everyone was still out on their mission so it was quiet.

That didn’t mean I didn’t have work to do. Once I made coffee and made sure the kitchen
was clean I took my new favorite blanket with me downstairs to get ready for the day.

There were more emails and more meetings to take on behalf of Tony. I had to improvise a
lot more than I was comfortable with but sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness instead
of permission and if I had really screwed up Pepper probably would have come down to tell
me.

By the time dinner came around I still hadn’t heard anything from anyone and this probably
sounded really needy, but I felt lonely. This tower was not meant to be for just one person and
I was not cut out to be a stay at home gir…

Whoa!

Okay I most definitely needed to get out, like now!

As soon as the clock struck five I went upstairs to my room dug through my closet and pulled
out the most appropriate going out outfit.

I wasn't going to go crazy or anything just try to see something other than the same 4 walls
I’ve been in for the past week or so. I picked out a pair of black lace up high heel sandals, a
pair of dark wash jeans and a dark grey silk with black lace trim camisole. It was still a bit
chilly out so I grabbed a camel colored wool coat and a scarf.
The plan was find a nice place to have dinner, maybe a bar with some good food options. I’d
have a beer. People watch while I enjoyed dinner, then walk back home.

It shouldn’t have been more than an hour.

I had Jarvis pull up a list of recommendation and I went to the closest one. It was an Irish
Gastropub called O’Malley’s and since it was the middle of the week they had Happy Hour
specials.

I sat in the corner and sipped my drink slowly. Within the hour the bar started filling up.
People grabbing after work drinks with co-workers, a couple of freshly turned 21-year old’s
trying to get drunk… the usual turnout at a bar in the middle of the week.
It almost felt like being home. We practically raised Jamie in a bar while we were in school.
Who could possibly forget dive bar Christmas. Good times.

I was almost done with my beer when the last person I ever thought I’d ever see again walked
into the bar.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I said to myself as my son’s birth mother walked
into the bar looking really fucking trashed.

“Can I get you anything else? Or would you like the check?” The waitress asked.

“Uh…” I said ready to go but at the same time I couldn’t look away from that trainwreck.
“Can I get another beer?”

“Happy hour’s over.” She said.

“I’ll pay full price.” I said before the waitress scurried away.

I stayed in the corner of that bar watching Grace get sloppy drunk on tequila and any drinks
she flirted out of the bartender or drunk undergrads.

There were so many mixed emotions watching this.

Of course that was when the people this universe thought I belonged with decided to call for
the first time in two days and it wasn't just a call, it was a video call.

“Yeah.” I said putting the phone down against the napkin dispenser.
“Hello…” Steve said pressing his ear to the phone.

“Cap, it’s a video call.” Tony said as they started bickering over the phone. “Oh hello didn’t
know we were having one of those calls…”

I quickly tilted the phone up so they would see my face.

“How are the pirates of the Caribbean… or should I say Atlantic?” I retorted.

“Not as fun as the Disney ride.” Tony said before he noticed I wasn't at the tower. “What are
you up to?”

“I went out.” I said. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah, your little tip about the ship?” Tony asked. “Are you at a bar?”

“Yeah, ship’s dirty. It’s a substation that connects to Satellites that manage the targeting
system of the Heliarriers Hydra’s going to use to wipe out all its enemies. Or try to.” I said as
Grace sauntered over to the jukebox to start picking music.

This was not going to end well.

“Okay how sure are you?” Steve said.

“We can’t just call Fury out on…” Natasha started.

“The ship is the Lemurian Star, you’re going to find the bald beady eyed skuzball…” I said.
“Sitwell?” Clint said surprised.

“Yeah he’s Hydra, really buddy buddy with your favorite senator.” I said.

“Shit.” Tony said.

“Yeah… anything else?” I said as I continued to watch this dumpster fire of a human being at
the beginning of her downward spiral that suddenly made me realize something.

If the only difference between my world and this one was that Superheroes are real and on a
smaller scale closer to Grace, I was never born then all choices outside of that would still be
the same. Meaning that back in 2014 in my world while I was struggling to put food on the
table, take care of Jamie and make it through my freshman year of college while I thought
Grace was going through rehab for the first time, that jerk was living it up in New York City.

“That fucking bitch!” I said forgetting for a second that I was on a call with my…
housemates.

“Uh Hanna?” Bruce said.

“Love…Ow!” Thor said before yelping.

“I have to go.” I said hanging up and following Grace out of the bar with some drunk co-ed.

I was starting to walk the very thin line between concerned citizen and just straight up
stalking. I realized the irony of what I was doing considering I basically tore Tony’s head off
for doing the same thing. Frankly I shouldn’t even care. The Jamie of this world was going to
be raised by a guy that actually stuck around. Sure he was a man-whore no matter what
universe he was in but in this universe he stuck around and Jamie was going to have rich
grandparents that were obviously going to pick up the slack.
There was no reason for me to get involved. I didn’t owe Grace anything… other than the
fact that she brought my son into the world. But, this wasn't the same Grace and Jamie was
safe and loved with his real dad in another universe. Plus considering my track record with
New York alleys I should really not follow them.

Well there was always a third option…

I grabbed my phone.

“Jarvis place an anonymous tip to the police that there’s a drug dealer working out of an alley
across the street from McGee’s on West 55th Street about to attack a woman.” I said.

“Are you in trouble Miss?” Jarvis asked.

“Not me.” I said walking away.

“Police are on their way.” He replied.

“Now where is the closest froyo or gelato place near me.” I said. “Hopefully one where I
won’t run into anyone I knew in another universe.”

“There should be a shop about two blocks down with rave reviews.” Jarvis said.

“Great and can we make sure this little outing stays just between us? I do not need your dad
or the others to start getting any ideas.” I said.

“Of course Miss.” Jarvis said.

It was around 9PM by the time I got back. The tower was sill empty so I resorted to watching
re-runs on my living room couch while I was wrapped up in my new favorite blanket. I had
no idea where Tony bought it from or what brand it was considering there was no tag on it
but it was the strangest thing. The blanket itself was a lot warmer than it looked and the
material was not that thick. Maybe it looked like linen but felt like fleece.

I hope Tony didn’t miss it because I was not giving it back.

I wonder where I could get one in another color. The red was fine but maybe it’d look better
in grey or maybe darker red… like a maroon color?

Night Three…

Day three was when I realized why Tony paid his Personal Assistant so well. It was a day
when everything that could go wrong did go wrong and I had to scramble to put out fires.

By the time 10PM came around I was still in my corner of the lab working. I didn’t know if I
was making things worse or not. I think I may have accidentally started the process to buy
one of Stark Industries’ competitors.

I really hope I didn’t accidentally put Tony back in the weapons business.

I was so busy I didn’t even realize I hadn’t had anything to eat all day. Obviously, I wasn't in
the mood to cook so I out together the faster dinner in existence, a bowl of cereal.

That was the last thing I remember before I fell asleep watching some sitcom on TV.

That Same Night…

“That was not what I was expecting when Hanna said the ship was dirty.” Tony said.
“Stolen weapons not dirty enough for you?” Natasha said.

“After three days flying around in circles I thought we’d be making some headway on
HYDRA.” Steve said.

“These things take time Cap.” Clint said as he started landing the quinjet at the tower’s
landing pad.

“And we got try out the new jet.” Tony said tapping the wall of the plane as the landing got a
bit bump. “Easy. We’re a hundred floors up.”

“It’s just the landing gear.” Clint said as he flipped a switch to open the back doors.

“I crave tarts of pop.” Thor said.

“I just want to sleep on a real bed.” Bruce said following them out.

“Jarvis let Hanna know we’re back.” Tony said.

“Sir Miss Marin is currently unavailable.” Jarvis said.

“It’s not even… oh yeah it’s late. Get us some pizza and make it snappy.” Tony said walking
into the common room. “Romanoff is in desperate need of carbs.”

Tony suddenly walked into a wall but realized it was actually just Thor who was standing in
the middle of the common room staring at the couch.
“Kind of in the way…” Tony started.

“SHH!!” Everyone shushed him before he turned to look at what they were all looking at.

There on the couch was their soulmate asleep using a very familiar red cloth as a blanket.

“Found your cape.” Tony said.

“Shhh!” Everyone shushed him.

“She looks tired.” Steve said.

“Cereal for dinner.” Natasha said looking at the coffee table. “Long day at the office.”

“Her back is going to kill her tomorrow if we leave her here.” Clint said.

“Who’s going to wake her up?” Bruce asked.

“In a minute.” Thor said smiling.

“Keep it down.” Hanna mumbled as she pulled the blanket over her face. “It’s too early.”

“It’s actually late.” Tony said.

“Ugh…” She said pulling the blanket off her face. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Tony said smiling.

“How were the pirates?” She asked.

“Amateurs.” Natasha said. “And they weren’t French.”

“Or hired by Fury.” Steve said.

“Bummer.” Hanna said sitting up as Thor just kept staring at her like a love struck puppy.

“Did we miss anything?” Tony asked.

“The usual. I should probably tell you, you’re going to get a lot of angry phone calls from
one of your board members.” Hanna said.

“Which one?” Tony asked.

“The annoying one.” She said noticing Thor’s staring.

“That… narrows it down?” Tony said checking his phone.

“Do I have something on my face?” Hanna asked Natasha.

“No you’re just using hi…” Clint started before Thor nudged him out of the way and took
Hanna’s hands in his.
“Three days of not being graced by the sight of your beauty felt as if I was drowning.” Thor
said taking one of her hands.

“Uh… there are pop tarts in the kitchen.” Hanna said not knowing how you were supposed to
answer something like that. “I’m calling it a night. Welcome back.”

With that she rushed out of the room.

“Is she alright?” Thor asked.

“Yeah… you’re just laying it on a bit too thick there buddy.” Bruce answered.

“I do not understand.” Thor said.

“Maybe try being a bit more… subtle.” Steve suggested.

“Hanna is our soulmate. On Asgard one must make their intentions clear if one wishes to
court a lady and if it is one’s soulmate they must devote their entire being…” Thor started.

“No.” Natasha said shutting him down before he started quoting Shakespeare. “This isn’t
Asgard and Hanna’s… not from here.”

“Or a universe where soulmates exist.” Clint added.

“Then how shall we proceed?” Thor asked.

“We follow her lead.” Steve said.

“Though maybe a little nudge here and there…” Tony said.

“Tony.” Steve warned him.

“Like Thor said. She’s our soulmate and we have to put everything we’ve got into this.” Tony
said.

“Yeah but there’s 6 of us and one Hanna.” Bruce reminded him. “Going all in might be a lot.”

The Following Morning…

My morning started off… late.

Well not late late. More like my first three alarms didn’t ring and my internal clock had to
wake me up barely in time to make it into the office at the right time. I had to have Jarvis
order coffee from the Starbucks in the lobby instead of making it myself.

I didn’t even have time to properly pick out an outfit this morning. I grabbed the first two
things within reach which ended up being a simple black business skirt and with light blue
button up blouse. I had no idea where I kicked off my heels last night so I slipped on the only
heels I had left by the elevator.

Jarvis had whomever was working the cashier in the lobby leave the drinks in a carrier in the
elevator.

I made it to the lab with five minutes to spare. I was so late.

“Good morning.” I said running in.

“Hann…” Bruce started but I continued.

“I’m so sorry I’m late but my alarm didn’t go off and the back alarm and the back up to the
back up…” I said handing out coffees.

“Hanna.” Tony said.

“I didn’t know Jarvis could fall asleep on the job, I think he may be glitching you should
really…” I continued until Tony put a hand over my mouth.

“Morning.” Tony said with a smile. I took his hand and moved it off my mouth.

“Morning.” I said.

“I was trying to give you the morning off.” Tony said.

“I don’t need the morning off.” I said.

“You had a big day yesterday.” He said taking the tablet and his coffee from my hands.

“You just got back from a mission.” I said taking back the tablet to bring up today’s schedule
of meetings.

“That was a milk run.” Tony said.

“There are bullet holes in your suit.” I deadpanned. “We have back to back meetings all day
today. We’re going to have to split up so think you can handle actually paying attention today
since I’m not going to be there to take notes?”
“I cancelled them. If anyone asks I’m still out on a mission.” He said swiping across the
screen to clear his schedule.

“That only works if no one see’s the giant jet land on the roof.” I said swiping across the
screen in the opposite direction to put all the meetings back on the calendar. “Your first
meeting is actually a call with Scrooge McDuck. Sorry I’m not sorry.”

“Who’s Scrooge McDuck?” Tony asked as I got into the elevator.

“Donald Duck’s rich uncle? Big Mansion, gets visited by the ghosts of Christmas past present
and future in the Disney version of a Christmas carol? I thought you guys have him here.” I
said.

“I meant the board member.” Tony said.

“The annoying one.” I said as the elevator doors closed.

“Still doesn’t narrow it down.” Tony said before his phone buzzed.

“Miss Marin has sent you some notes for you to review before the call.” Jarvis said bringing
them up.

“Oh… the really annoying one.” Tony said. “Shit.”

Hours later…

I thought I was going to have a break at lunch but unfortunately, I had a lunch meeting with
marketing again and by lunch meeting I meant everyone ate but I couldn’t eat because I was
leading the meeting, answering questions, or asking questions.
I hadn’t even had coffee and it was 2 in the afternoon.

How do non-coffee drinkers function?

I had about 3 minutes in between meetings so I snuck back to the lab to snag some cold
coffee and a protein bar from Tony’s stash but unfortunately the instant I walked into the lab
the fire alarms were set off by a small fire Tony and Bruce started.

I thought it was just a jet boot fire but Bruce was also working on something and the fumes
set off a second alarm. Tony and Bruce pulled me ack into the elevator as Jarvis shut down
the lab.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Tony answered a little to quickly.

“Bruce?” I said turning to him.

“There was a small fire… and it affected the reaction…” Bruce said.

“Decontamination protocol 281. We’re locked out of the lab for at least another 6 hours. You
need to get out of those clothes and shower, you need to change for your meeting.” I said
wishing Jarvis would hurry the hell up.

“I cancelled the meeting.” Tony said.

“And I uncancelled it.” I said. “You have 5 minutes.”

“I thought I was the boss?” Tony said.

“You can be the boss again when you stop setting things on fire.” I said as the elevator doors
opened. “Shower! Suit… Not the one made out of a Gold titanium Alloy!”

“You’re no fun!” Tony called out as the elevator doors closed.

“Coffee Coffee Coffee…” I said going straight to the coffee maker only to find no coffee.
“Ugh!”

“There seems to be no coffee made Miss. Shall I make another pot?” Jarvis said as my
meeting reminder rang from my phone.

“Why bother?” I asked going back to the elevator.

The Following Morning…

None of my alarms rang yet again. I was so late I didn’t even bother getting dressed, I just
grabbed my favorite red throw, wrapped it around me and ran upstairs where everyone was
already having breakfast.

“Okay you really need to check Jarvis.” I said Tony.

“Good mor…” Steve started.

“And you have got to stop clearing your schedule…” I continued.

“Hanna.” Clint started.

“Just because you don’t feel like going to a meeting…” I continued.

“Hanna.” Natasha said.

“Does not mean you can just cancel things left and right. These are important meetings and
there only so much I can do with the board. I’m already on thin ice as it is.” I continued.

“Okay.” Tony said. “Just one thing.”

“No excuses.” I said.

“Honey It’s Saturday.” Tony deadpanned.

“It doesn’t… Saturday?” I said as it all clicked.

“Yeah.” He said taking the tablet. “You need to sit down now.”

“It’s Saturday?” I said just trying to make sure I understood right.

“All day.” Clint said putting a cup of coffee in front of me.

“Oh…” I said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have sent those emails in the elevator.”

“It’s okay, no one’s going to read them until Monday anyway.” Tony said as he noticed how
Thor was staring at me with a dopey look of utter adoration.
“I think I’m going back downstairs for a nap…” I said before I whispered to Natasha. “Is
Thor okay?”

“He really likes Pop Tarts.” Natasha said.

“Have someone check to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion.” I said getting up.

“You sure you don’t want breakfast?” Steve asked.

“Just leave me a plate in the microwave.” I said.

Once she was gone…

“It’s really nice of you to give Hanna the day off.” Steve said.

“She had a big week.” Tony said.

“You know she's going to be mad when she realizes It’s actually Friday.” Clint said.

“Not if she sleeps until tomorrow. Which she probably will. She’s dead on her feet.” Tony
said. “Still no luck getting your cape back?”

“No.” Thor said smiling. “I fear I may have to consider it lost.”

“You’re such a guy.” Natasha said rolling her eyes.

“Lady Hanna seems to really like her new blanket.” Thor said.
“Well if you are giving up the cape I have few ideas for an upgrade.” Tony said.

“There is no need for an upgrade. I shall have the royal seamere send a replacement.” He
said.

“Sir you should be aware that Miss Marin has not had anything to eat since the day before
yesterday.” Jarvis stated.

“What?” Tony said.

“She has been rather busy sir.” Jarvis said.

“Alright. Let us know if she wakes up. One of us will get her something to eat or have
something delivered.” Tony said.

Later that day…

I slept in, like a lot. When I finally woke up it was almost sunset and my phone showed that it
was 5:13PM.

To my surprised there was a knock on the door and Steve was there holding a milkshake and
a take out bag from ShakeShack.

“Thought you’d be hungry.” Steve said.

“Shake.” I said reaching out for it.

“Knew you were going to go for that first.” He said offering it to me.

“So good no matter what universe you’re in.” I answered.

“I’m pretty sure anything will taste good if you haven’t eaten in 2 days.” Steve said.

“Not for lack of trying. I just didn’t have time.” I said.

“Big week?” He asked.

“Not as big as fighting pirates.” I said.

“What you do matters.” Steve said.

“Says the guy that lied how many times to get into the army?” I retorted.

“Hanna.” Steve said.

“That voice doesn’t work on me.” I said opening the bag. “Half fried half onion rings. You
remembered.”

“Hard to forget.” Steve said. “We’re ordering in for dinner.”

“I thought this was dinner?” I said.

“It’s Pizza night.” Steve said.

“Pizza Night’s on Friday.” I said. “You didn’t.”

“It was Tony’s idea.” Steve said.

“Of course it was.” I said taking a bite of the burger. “Mhmmm that’s so good. Don’t tell him
I said that.”

“I won’t.” Steve said with a smile.

“So no leads on Bucky?” I asked.

“Not yet.” Steve said. “We’ll find him.”

“Eventually.” I confirmed. “It’s a good practice run for the real pirates though.”

“At least I don’t get sea sick anymore.” Steve said.

“There are pills for that now.” I reassured him.

 Chapter 40

“Seriously Tony?” I said when I walked into the common room.

“You told her?” Tony accused Steve.

“Pizza night is on Friday.” Steve reminded him.

“You were so tired you didn’t even notice.” Tony said in his defense.

“We talked about work boundaries.” I said.

“I was being a good boss.” Tony said.

“No, a good boss makes sure the job gets done.” I said.

“You’re ahead on everything.” Tony said.

“I’m not ahead just because you say I’m ahead.” I said.

“I’m your boss so yes that is how it works.” Tony said.

“That doesn’t mean you change what day of the week it is and also playing favorites doesn’t
work considering I’ve been on the job for like 5 minutes.” I said.

“You were tired, you didn’t eat yesterday, and you had a big week so I gave you the day off.
You’re welcome.” Tony said.
“You don’t do that. I’m your PA, you’re the boss. Unless I ask for the day off you don’t give
me the day off.” I said.

“But you’re not just my PA you’re my…” Tony said about to say the S-word but the angry
look I gave him made him think otherwise. “Person…”

“That works for you.” I reminded him. “No favoritism or special treatment.”

“Fine then you screwed up this week and really pissed off Scrouge McDuck. You’re
suspended for one day starting today!” Tony shouted

“Thank you Mr. Stark! It won’t happen again!” I shouted. “Was that so hard?”

“What’s happening?” Bruce asked confused.

“Hanna’s mad Tony gave her the day off.” Natasha filled in.

“She figured out it wasn't Saturday because of pizza night.” Clint said.

“She is small but mighty.” Thor said smiling as Hanna was still wrapped around his cape.

“Still hasn’t told her?” Bruce asked.

“Nope.” Clint said.

“I still don’t see what the big deal is. You were tired and you needed the day off but were too
stubborn to ask for it…” Tony started.
“I didn’t need the day off. If I needed it I would have asked for it.” I said.

“You didn’t eat yesterday.” Tony said. “As your… person, it’s my job to take care of you.”

“No, it’s not.” I said. “I’m a grown up. I can look after myself.”

“I know but sometimes some extra help wouldn’t hurt.” Tony said.

“No.” I said.

“Just like that?” Tony said.

“No is a complete answer.” I said.

“Normally yes but… are we ever going to talk about… it?” Tony said.

“Tony.” Steve warned him.

“You’re my all my s-word and now I’m not color blind what else is there to say?” I said.

“It’s actually a bit more complicated…” Tony started.

“Which we can talk about later.” Natasha interrupted. “How about a movie?”

“Something with a lot of explosions.” Clint added.

“Okay you guys are being weird.” I said. “But a movie with a ton of explosions does sound
nice.”

It was a good movie, thought it felt like everyone was watching me more than the screen for
some reason. I was not the least bit tired after so I stayed up to play video games with Clint
while Thor watched me. He had been doing that a lot lately. I was starting to get a bit
worried.

Once everyone called it a night I went back to my room and looked for something to watch. I
ended up watching some cheesy Hallmark meet cute. It was seemed to be a mashup up of the
Princess Bride, Sleepless in Seattle with the whole soulmate trope and everything was pink.

As if the soulmate thing made the Earth flip on it’s axis and suddenly made everything better.
And it wasn't as if not meeting one’s soulmate just meant they were doomed to become a
reckless suicidal… miserable… uh…

Huh…

Some of these were starting to sound a bit familiar…

Too familiar…

But there was no way it meant anything.

So I can suddenly see all colors even though I spent my entire life not seeing any. Then there
was that weird finger thing Tony did when we first met. That could have been a fluke… okay
not a fluke but I hadn’t really felt anything since. Then again I hadn’t really been trying to
feel anything. I’ve been too busy dying.
Though the first time, correction second time I died and was away for almost a year from
what I could tell things got a bit dark for everyone.

Clint was a grumpy hermit, no tattoos yet as far as I could tell so that was probably a good
sign he hadn’t fully gone Ronin.

Bruce… worked? Secluded himself from the world. He really needs to get out more. a
Vitamin D deficiency is not fun.

Thor made it rain to the point of causing multiple floods.

Natasha, I’m still not entirely sure what she did last year. Anytime I ask Jarvis or her I get
very vague non-answers.

Tony though had a full-on spiral. Somewhere between douchebag 2008 Tony and I’m dying
from palladium poisoning Tony. I had seen the magazine articles and they painted a not so
pretty picture of last year.

Then there was me. I mean I've always been a mess. It had been a longtime coming. I didn’t
jump off that rooftop in LA because I hadn’t met my soulmates. That was a longtime coming
for many many other reasons.

None of this was caused by the s-word thing. Yet for some reason everyone took it very
seriously, like it meant something.

And that was the moment it hit me. I didn’t really know much about how the soulmate thing
worked or what it really entailed.

So I did what every person in the age of the internet did when they needed answers.

I asked Google and that sent me way down the rabbit hole.
Soulmates were an unexplained phenomenon. There were many theories as to why people
had a soulmate.

The most popular and well supported of them was that soulmates had the best set of
compatible genes to have offspring mostly likely to survive. Not sure how accurate that was
considering Steve used to be a 90-pound asthmatic, Bruce’s blood was toxic and Natasha and
I could not procreate not just because the Red Room gave her a hysterectomy but we were
both women.

I found a list of soulmates throughout history. In this world Shakespeare based Romeo and
Juliet off a couple he met at court that were soulmates but whose parents were rivals and
despised each other. Romeo’s father sent him away to the join the Queen’s army. Juliet caught
the plague and died young. Romeo in his grief went crazy, came home from the war, and set
fire to his family’s home with his parents in it. They found him days later hugging Juliet’s
gravestone, dead from a poison he drank. Obviously, Shakespeare took some creative
liberties with that story.

The world was a mess but if there was one thing everyone here agreed with was the
importance of one’s soulmates. People had gone to war for them. Helen of Troy anyone?

Then I found the case studies and statistics.

Soulmates had a 0.1% divorce rate. That 0.1% was the margin of error.

The finger touch thing Tony did the first time we met… I couldn’t even get through the first 2
paragraphs of the medical journal article published in 1940’s Germany explaining that.

All research came to the exact same conclusion. Soulmates while unexplainable,
unpredictable, and as improbably as they were, they were inevitable.

If they found each other one way or another they always ended up together.
I slammed the laptop shut.

Why did I have to go down that rabbit hole?

I’m not ready for that. For any of that… Oh crap were they expecting that?

What the hell did I walk into?

Crawling under a rock sounded really good right now. For obvious reasons I couldn’t do that
so I did the next best thing. I rolled off the bed onto the floor and then under the bed.

It was a very childish coping mechanism but it worked just as well at 27 as it did when I was
7.

The first thing I had to do was calm down. Panicking was not going to solve anything.

Google gave me a great overview of what was out there on the soulmate front. That didn’t
mean anything was set in stone. Anyone could put anything up on the internet, that didn’t
mean it was true.

It was a starting point nothing else.

I could figure this out. Maybe I’d have more luck searching for answers on this than my
attempt to recreate Eat Prey Love in New York.

By the time I called down and crawled out from under the bed it was morning. I was in no
mood to face them after what I spent the night reading so I ran… not away but for a nice long
run.
The one issue with that was that a certain super soldier was an early riser and never missed
his morning run.

I used to think it was funny when he did it to Sam in the movie but when I needed a morning
alone and he just kept running laps around me

“On your left.” Steve said with a smug grin as he kept running.

“Nope, not today.” I said to myself once he was out of earshot.

I cut my run short and went to go rent a row boat but we were in the middle of winter and the
lake was still thawing so I went to the next best thing.

The most gentrified hipster, most overpriced bistro that did a great brunch.

It was the type of place where the waitress greeted you with a namaste and once you got to
the table she tried to not just feed your body but your soul and mind by giving you the
question of the day.

Today’s Question:

“How does your soulmate complete you?” She said.

“What?” I said not expecting that.

“Sorry I probably read your aura wrong. I’d thought you’d already… We’re having soulmate
related questions of the day leading up to Valentine’s day. Would you like another question?”
She asked.
“No.” I said not bothering to hide my annoyance.

“I’ll give you a minute.” She said scurrying away.

I took a look at the menu trying to see if they had any alcohol friendly drinks on the menu.

“This is a nice place.” Steve said taking a seat across from me.

“You’re supposed to be annoying the joggers of New York.” I said.

“I was but I didn’t pass by you on the next lap and got worried.” Steve said. “Got tired?”

“Hungry but I think this place is a miss so I’m just grabbing a coffee to go.” I said.

“It can’t be that bad. Wild berry goat cheese pancakes. What was wrong with regular
pancakes?” Steve said.

“Here is your water I’m so sorry about before I just… Whoa…” She said looking back and
forth between us.

“Yeah on second thought I’ll just have an orange cardamom latte with an extra shot to go.” I
said.

“Uh miss?” Steve said a bit weirded out at the way she kept staring at him.

“I’m sorry but it’s just… I’ve never seen aura come together and make colors like the ones
you two are making right now.” She said.
“Nix the coffee, I’m leaving.” I said all but running out of there.

“But we just…” Steve said. “I’m sorry.”

With that he followed after me.

“Hanna wait up.” Steve said.

I didn’t wait and I didn’t even acknowledge Steve the entire walk back to the tower.

“That place was a bit off but there’s a diner just a block that way…” Steve suggested.

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy that.” I said.

“Great” Steve said trying to go left but I just kept going straight. “It’s actually this way.”

“I’m not going.” I said walking the rest of the way back to the tower with Steve walking five
steps behind me. I usually took the garage elevator up but to avoid Steve I went in through
the lobby which he and everyone else avoided like the plague.

I didn’t get my workout in, I didn’t get my coffee… Maybe I should have stayed under the
bed.

It was still early and Steve was probably in the shower or working on breakfast. The gym was
probably open so I redirected the elevator to the right floor.

There was no Steve but Natasha and Clint were sparring.

One day without a workout won’t kill me. One morning without coffee though... that can’t
happen. If I was quick I could get in there without running into anyone. Bruce was probably
in the lab and Tony either about to crash or still in the lab.

That only left Thor as a wild card.

I still couldn’t pinpoint his morning routine. He was never the first one up but if everyone
else was up he was up. He would workout with Steve or Natasha if they asked him to spar
with them. If they didn’t he would sneak in a pop tart before hitting the gym to lift weights
and try boxing. He didn’t really like punching sandbags.

The elevator doors open and the coast was clear. I quickly started the coffee maker but we
were out of coffee grounds. Luckily we just had gotten our weekly delivery from whatever
high end service Tony ordered them from. I poured in enough beans for a nice big cup and
started the grinder.

It reminded me of my barista days… except there wasn't a line out of impatient and annoyed
customers glaring at me as if that would make me go faster.

The grounds were ready and the machine started brewing.

Did this thing always take this long?

Finally the glorious dark brew started dripping into my mug and filling up.

“Coffee…” I whispered.

Once the dripping stopped and my mug was full I slowly picked it up and took a whiff of that
glorious delicious cup of daily motivation. All my trouble didn’t matter in that moment. It
was just me and my coffee.
Of course it was only a moment and moments end… abruptly.

I was about to take a sip…

“Good morning my Lady Hanna!” Thor shouted from behind me making me jump and spill
my coffee all over myself.

“Ah!” I shrieked.

“Oh no!” Thor said quickly going for some paper napkins.

“That was my coffee.” I said.

“I am so sorry!!” Thor said running to try and clean the floor and to help me dry off only for
him to slip on the coffee and knock me down in the process.

“Aw.. coffee no!” I whined.

“Hanna are you alright?” Thor said quickly picking me up and putting me back on my feet.

“I… I’m calling it.” Dumping my mug in the sink before walking to the elevator.

“Love are you…” Thor started.

“Ah!” I said raising a hand to signal for him to please shut up. “No… we’re not… Nuh-Uh.”
“Hanna?” Thor said.

“Stay.” I said sternly.

“But you’re…” He started.

“Stay!” I said getting in the elevator and pressing the elevator to close the doors.

Once I was back in my room I slipped off my clothes, got back into my pjs and got back
under the bed. Why did I ever come out of here this morning? I should just stay here.

I was there for a while still mourning the perfect cup of coffee I never got to drink.

It was a while later that I heard the ding of the elevator doors open and footsteps walking up
to the bedroom door.

Someone knocked twice.

“Hanna?” Clint called out.

“Why?” I groaned pulling a pillow over my head.

“Don’t throw anything at me, I’m coming in.” He said. The door cracked open and he didn’t
move for a minute probably trying to make sure I didn’t throw a shoe at him or something.
Once Clint made sure he would be safe he opened the door the rest of the way and came into
the room. “Hanna?”

“Go away.” I said still not coming out from under the bed.
“Can’t do that. Thor said you were hurt.” Clint said.

“I’m fine.” I said.

“Sure you are.” Clint said walking to the ensuite bathroom to see if I was in there. “I’m not
going to make you go down to see Bruce but If I don’t come back with proof of life Nat is
going to come in here and drag you out.”

“Seriously?” I said.

Clint was quiet before I saw the bed skirt get lifted up and he looked under the bed to see me
there.

“What are you doing under there?” Clint asked.

“It’s comfy.” I said.

“I’m pretty sure the mattress if just as comfortable. Maybe even more.” Clint said as if that
would convince me to come out. He waited a minute before sighing. “Move over.”

“You don’t have to do that.” I said.

“Are you coming out?” Clint said.

“No.” I said.

“Then I have to.” He said getting on the ground and crawling under the bed next to me. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I said.

“You okay?” Clint asked.

“I spilled my perfect cup of coffee.” I said.

“I heard.” He said gently dragging over a to go cup from a shop down the street. “Dirty
Matcha latte with oatmilk and an extra shot.”

“Is this a bribe?” I said tempted to take the cup but not sure this gift didn’t come with
conditions.

“Would it get you to come out and maybe upstairs for breakfast?” Clint said.

“No but nice try.” I said taking a sip.

“It was worth a try.” Clint said shifting uncomfortably. “Want to talk about it?”

“What makes you think there’s something to talk about?” I asked.

“You’re hiding under your bed.” Clint deadpanned.

“I wanted to crawl under a rock, this was a happy medium.” I answered.

“You’re having a day?” Clint asked cautiously.

“I don’t want to jump off the roof, if that’s what you’re asking.” I said making Clint give me
a concerned look. “But yeah I’m having a day.”

“Anything I can do to help?” He asked.

“I just want to be alone.” I said.

“Yeah… I don’t think that’s going to work.” Clint said.

“There’s 93 floors in this building I just want one corner to be alone in. Is that really too
much to ask for?” I said.

“Kinda.” Clint said.

“Ugh!” I groaned.

“What did you expect you’re our…” He started.

“No.” I said.

“What?” Clint said.

“No, that cannot be the excuse for everything.” I said.

“You’re our soulmate and you’re… having a day. It’s our job to fix whatever is making you
have a day. That’s how it works.” Clint said.
“And you’re just okay with that?” I said.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Clint said sounding confused and looking at me as if I had gone crazy.
Of course me hiding under the $15,000 orthopedic memory foam mattress was probably not
helping.

“You don’t think that it’s totally insane that just because for some unexplained reason I made
it possible for you to see one color that I’m suddenly your end all be all and that there’s no
other option, I’m it? That doesn’t bother you at all?” I said.

“No. Maybe Tony came on a bit strong…” He said rubbing the back of his neck.

“So he and the internet were totally making things up and soulmates don’t always end up
together?” I said.

“No… that parts pretty spot on.” Clint said.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said.

“Is it really such a bad thing?” Clint asked.

“No Clint. It’s me, I’m the problem not the backwards idea that probably the biggest choice a
person has in life has already been decided and I’m just expected to be okay with that?” I said
sarcastically.

“Did you read the part where the universe is never wrong?” Clint said.

“I was in another universe. Obviously it screws up sometimes.” I said.

“It’s not that big a deal…” he said.

It doesn’t matter what universe you happened to be in, there are certain things that transcend
the limits and boundaries of universes, borders of countries and understanding of languages.
A man telling a woman that what they’re feeling is not a big deal will piss them off every
time no matter what. I was no exception to that.

“Get out.” I said glaring at him.

“Hanna I’m just trying to understand...” Clint said.

“You don’t and you won’t understand and neither will they because you all keep giving me
that look. That dopey unconditional lovestruck look and you keep expecting me to just return
that some day when you probably can’t even tell if what you’re feeling is actually what you
feel or some genetically predisposed instinct making you feel that way.” I said.

“Does it really matter?” He asked.

“Get out.” I repeated.

“Are you coming out?” Clint asked.

“What do you think?” I said rolling over so my back was turned to him.

“Fine, but I’m confiscating your coffee.” Clint said reaching for it.

“Fine. Just let me get one last sip.” I said chugging the rest in one go.
“Nice.” He said taking the empty cup as he crawled out from under the bed. Clint sighed
before walking out and closing the bedroom door behind him.

Third Person’s POV

Clint walked back to the elevator where everyone was still waiting for him.

“Well?” Natasha asked.

“What’s the verdict?” Bruce asked.

“Tony screwed up.” Clint handing the billionaire the empty to go cup.

“It’s always Stark.” Thor groaned.

“I was just being honest.” Tony said.

“I told you it was too soon to bring it up.” Steve said.

“You’ve been saying that since we met her. Honesty is important so I was honest. What’s so
wrong with that?” Tony said.

“The fact that she’s now avoiding us.” Natasha deadpanned.

“And won’t come out from under her bed.” Clint said.
“She’s under her bed? Like under it?” Tony asked looking at the greenish brown drippings on
the to go cup that did not look the least bit appetizing to him.

“Yeah.” Clint said.

“Should one of us try talking to her?” Steve asked.

“Maybe she needs some space.” Bruce said.

“Or some time to cool off?” Natasha suggested.

“Under the bed?” Tony asked again. “Like she’s under there right now.”

“Let’s give her some space.” Steve said. “She’ll have to come out eventually.”

About an Hour Later…

I had to come out of the bed to use the bathroom and by then I was bored and my back
couldn’t take more time on the floor.

I was in a really hard place both literally and figuratively.

There was no doubt in my mind that the second I opened that door and stepped out one of
them would be right there waiting for me.

So as if I hadn’t tortured myself enough the night before I decided to pick up where I left off
on the soulmate research.
The second time did not go any better than the first.

There was a reason I didn’t date in my world. Mostly because I didn’t have time and also the
instant I brought up raising my nephew most guys ran the second the check was paid. There
may also be the fact that I never met anyone that check all the boxes so to speak… and now I
have 6 soulmates so maybe the universe had some sort of sick twisted sense of humor.

“Ugh…” I groaned pushing the laptop aside.

I tried turning on the TV to find something but it was like the only thing the world wanted to
talk about were about freaking soulmates or my six housemates.

I never thought I’d start to miss my crappy world…

I couldn’t wrap my head and figure this mess out. Maybe because I was too close to it all.

And maybe that was the answer. I needed space.

So I grabbed a leather duffle bag someone had left in my closet and started packing a bag. I
didn’t know how long I was going to need so I packed as much as I could carry and even a
couple of extra things like my tablet, earpods, and even the Asgardian book of legends and
fables Thor had gifted me for Christmas. It was a surprisingly good read.

The next order of business was finding where I was going to stay while I figured things out.
A hotel would be a nice treat but without reservations and With New York prices it was going
to be pricey. Tony paid well but I was not willing to pay out $400 to $500 a night for an
undetermined amount of time.

Luckily for me AirBNB was just starting to take off in the early 2010’s and would not be
banned in New York for another 10 or so years. There was a nice apartment on Park Avenue
that was open for the next month starting tomorrow.
“Jarvis?” I called out.

“Do you need assistance Miss?” Jarvis said.

“I need to get out of here without anyone knowing.” I said.

“Sir has asked to be alerted as soon as you are out of hiding.” Jarvis said.

“Jarvis I know where you’re servers are and as amazing as you are I can live without you and
I can and will ‘accidentally’ spill on them.” I said.

“I am sure you are aware that sir has many backups saved in various servers around the
world.” Jarvis said.

“I’ve read all of your protocols. I’m not a danger to myself or others, I just need some space.”
I said.

“Will being in the presence of sir or any other residents of this tower make you feel unsafe
miss?” Jarvis said.

“No, they’re just… a lot and they expect… a lot. I have never been good at dealing with
people expecting things of me.” I said.

“Miss would either your physical and mental well-being be affected.” Jarvis elaborated.

“OH.” I said realizing what he was getting at. There was a bylaw written into Jarvis’
programming that whatever was needed to ensure the well-being of any of the residents of the
tower and their safety if was Jarvis’s job to assist in whatever capacity he could to deescalate
the situation before alerting someone. It would easily give me a 30 to 45 minute head start.
“Jarvis when you finally get your own body I’m going to give you the biggest hug ever. Yes
my mental and emotional health is being affected.”

“Understood miss if you would like to go out for some fresh air I could guide you out of the
tower so you may go undetected.” Jarvis said.

“That would be much appreciated buddy.” I said grabbing my things before remembering I
still had the bracelet on. “Tony’s going to want to tack this.”

“He will only be able to access the status of your biometric readings miss.” Jarvis said.

“Alright then.” I said walking out of the room.

Jarvis’s way out ended up being to take the service stairway down 2 levels, then the service
elevator the rest of the way and taking an exit out via the shipping department.

From there I took a cab to the Palace hotel. The AirBNB wouldn’t be ready for me until
tomorrow and I figured I could treat myself for one night.

I walked into the Palace Hotel and went straight to the registration desk.

“Hi, checking in.” I said. “Reservation under Rebecca Rushman.”

“One moment.” The concierge said typing in the computer. “Looks like you’ve been
upgraded to a cathedral view room.”

“That’s nice.” I said. “Thank you.”

“Alright I have you on the 10th floor, room 1013. The elevators will be up those stairs to the
left.” She said handing me a receipt and my credit card to sign. “We have Sunday brunch
tomorrow from 9am to 1pm. Would you like me to reserve a table for you and your party?”

“It’s just me, and yes please. A 9 or 9:30 would be great.” I said.

“Alright then.” She said before handing me a key card. “Enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you.” I said taking the keycard before heading up.

Meanwhile…

It was an hour after Hanna had made her escape that Jarvis’ protocols finally allowed him to
let everyone know she had left.

“Sir, Miss Marin has come out of her room.” Jarvis said.

“Great, where is she?” Tony asked. “Did Romanoff beat me to it?”

“No sir, Miss Marin is no longer on the premises.” Jarvis asked.

“What?” Bruce said.

“She’s gone? Why didn’t you say anything?” Toy said running out of the lab.

It was 20 minutes later that they finally regrouped.

“Clint what did she say when you talked to her?” Steve asked.

“She was freaking out about being soulmates again.” Clint said.

“Does she not like us?” Thor asked confused.

“We told you it was too soon.” Natasha said.

“It’s been more than a year.” Tony said. “How did she even get out without us being
notified?”

“She’s always been able to sneak out.” Natasha said.

“I shall go look for her. She couldn’t have gotten far.” Thor said reaching out for Mjolnir.

“I’ve got a better idea.” Tony said. “Jarvis let’s start tracking the signal of Hanna’s bracelet.

“Tony you promised Hanna you wouldn’t do that.” Bruce said.

“That was before she ran away.” Tony said.

“She just wanted some space.” Clint said. “She’ll come back.”

“Damnit Jarvis why isn’t the location coming up?” Tony barked out before throwing his
tablet aside.
“Protocol dictates that I not present Miss Marin’s present location to you at the moment for
her safety.” Jarvis said.

“Her safety?” Steve said. “Is she endanger?”

“Jarvis where is she?” Tony asked again.

Thirty Minutes Later….

I was settled into my room in a fluffy bathrobe, with a face mask on as I ate Cheetos and
watched the Real Housewives of New Jersey duke it out yet again.

Why didn’t I do this before?

Then my phone started ringing.

Right, that’s why. I was going to let it go to voicemail but it was Bruce and he rarely calls
unless it’s something important. Maybe it was a Hydra update from Fury.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey, how are you?” Bruce asked.

“Ok? How are you?” I said. This was painfully awkward.

“I’m okay.” Bruce asked.

‘Ask her where she is?’ I heard Tony asked him.

“Hanna are you out running errands?” Bruce said trying to be subtle.

“Is the tower on fire?” I asked.

“Uh no why would it be…” Bruce started.

“Has there been an update on Hydra?” I asked.

“Not that I’m aware of?” Bruce said more as a question than an answer. I could picture him
probably looking at Natasha and Clint to confirm.

“Then I’m not going to answer that. I’ll see you Monday.” I said.

“Hanna wait!” I heard Tony before I hung up.

The space was working. I was calm and not at all freaking out about the supposed
inevitability of… no not going there. This was me time. I needed to focus on me and putting
myself in order before I faced the situation I was in.

For now some trashy reality TV would do because there was no way these women were with
their soulmates. These were not functional relationship.

Then again had I ever actually seen a healthy functional relationship.

Had they seen one?

Natasha was an orphaned and her ‘adopted’ family besides Yelena had some questionable
parenting techniques.

Clint’s parents in the comics were not the best, hence why he ran away and joined the circus.

Bruce’s dad was abusive and his mother wasn't really around.

Steve was orphaned really young and his dad either died young or was a wife beater.

Tony obviously has some unresolved issues with his dad.

And Thor… he was the golden child. Frigga was a freaking Angel, and the glue that held that
family together as long as she did. Odin though was not the best father. Hela was a
warmonger that he banished to… hell. Loki was the neglected adopted son. And Thor….
Actually no Thor came out all right. There were a few bumps along the way but he was
actually great.

That actually reminded me I need to apologize to him. I’m pretty sure I freaked him out
earlier and may have been a bit harsh.

Once the real housewives had thrown their third drink onto someone’s face, I turned away
from the TV and did some light reading.

I couldn’t read any of the classics considering that I now knew they were all those stories
were influenced by the hysteria this universe had with soulmates.

Speaking of, they were probably freaking out right now.

No, nope, not today. Not right now. I could not do damage control until I was more or less put
together.
I’m doing some self care. I’m pampering myself on the outside and now I’m going to work
on insides.

I started by going through my journals to read everything I had been through over the past
year and a half. Elaine had recommended the exercise when I first started therapy. At the time
I thought it was a load of crap but as things started happening and I kept falling into new
universes it helped me keep track of where I had been and the differences between this world
and the movies I had seen.

I added annotations as I used to when I was in therapy. It was like having a conversation with
myself.

The first couple of pages were pretty pointless.

This sucks.

This is stupid.

How much is Tony paying this quack?

Could I sneak out the restroom window?

This is pointless.

This is a waste of time.

Why didn’t I just stay dead?

Shit that was dark. I really did need therapy.

By the third page I was finally getting some good notes.

I’m a lost cause. Captain America said so, so I guess that makes it true. Not that its much of
a surprise. It’s not anything that I hadn’t heard my whole life. It was my dad’s favorite excuse
to ignore me.

Ugh… now that’s someone I hadn’t thought about in a while and it was better off that way. If
I was going to open that can of worms I was going to need tequila. I popped open the mini
fridge and grabbed a few tiny bottles of tequila before I continued reading.

Brunch is kind of an ironic concept when you think about it.

I was getting philosophical about really mundane things. This might be around the time I
stopped taking the pills.

It’s ironic in the sense that it is this incredibly simple idea of having breakfast all day or in
the afternoon got turned into this huge overpriced trend. In college and post college I used to
live off cereal because it was the cheapest thing that would fill me up and get me through the
day.

Why is brunch so overpriced? Did I really want that morning reservation now?

I still don’t see the point of therapy. Elaine and Tony still think they can fix me but they’ll give
up eventually.

Yeah, Tony Stark is probably the only person in the multiverse that is as stubborn as I am.

Therapy sucks but Brunch is nice… even if I don’t get to have any bottomless mimosas. It’s
the highlight of my week and for a second I could have sworn Tony almost got me to laugh.
He can never know.

He can never know, but damn that was a really good brunch spot. That cornflake French toast
was amazing.

A couple of entries later..

Tony may or may not be into me. And so is Clint… and possibly Natasha.

“Oh boy.” I said taking another shot.

So obviously this has been going on for a while but life and death kept me busy. Okay Tony I
get that there may possibly be something on his side. We spend a lot of time together
everything after that was probably the soulmate thing…

Uh… that felt weird read out loud.

So a thing happened…

That’s what we’re calling it.

It was kind of weird. In the sense that if it had happened to me with anyone else the ending
would have been different. I mean there’s no way Tony was actually trying to kiss me. We
were friends that went to brunch and therapy together.

And yeah it was a good day. A really good day. The best day I’d had in a really long time. We
were just goofing off, riding rollercoasters, driving down the Pacific Coast Highway singing
along really off key to the radio, before grabbing burgers and having a picnic with a great
view. Who would want to kiss me when I have burger breath?
It’s not like any of it was real. It was just…It’s was just the stupid soulmate thing.

Fuck when did I crying? There’s no reason for me to cry. Soulmates aren’t a real thing in my
world. They’re not real and everything that’s happened since was just them thinking they had
to be with me. Some biological fluke. None of it was real.

And now I was crying, and half the songs on my sad songs playlist wouldn’t be released for
another 5 to 8 years.

“Fuck!” I said crying on the floor of my hotel room.

I was no stranger to rejection but this one hurt.

The Following Morning…

I paid an obscene amount of money for a room in a 5-Star hotel only to spend the night on the
floor and to get woken up in time for Sunday brunch. Why did I have to ask for the earliest
reservation available.

I dragged my sorry ass off the floor, took a quick shower to wake up and got dressed. I had
packed some basic wardrobe staples before I left and lucky for me there was something that
made me look put together enough for brunch. I started with a mock neck black knit top
paired with a flower print midi skirt and knee high leather heeled boots. Over that I had a tan
coat I draped over my shoulders. My hair was a mess but I managed to make it look like I
had purposely meant for it to look this shaggy. It helped that my hair was starting to grow
out.
Even though it was early the lobby was very busy with people checking in or just coming in
for brunch after mass across the street.

My waiter hid me away in a booth at the back of the dining room. I had forgotten that brunch
was more of a family couple thing not, a lonely woman having yet another existential crisis
kind of thing.

I did have to admit it was a good place to people watch and the hats people wore to church.
Some were so big I couldn’t tell if it was a hat or an umbrella. I’m sure the food was really
good, I just didn’t have much of an appetite.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t drink some hair of the dog to make me feel slightly less hungover
and a mimosa did just that.

My nausea was gone and I got in a few bites of bacon until I saw something that made my
stomach flip.

“Lillian can’t you hold him.” A very familiar and annoyed voice said.

“Not in this dress.” A sneer that may as well have been nails being dragged on a chalkboard
rang in my ears from the table next to mine.

What are the odds that out of any hotel in New York I’d run into this universe’s version of my
crappy parents that are supposed to be across the country living their perfect lives?

The universe really hated me.

“Fuck me.” I cursed.

“James no!” Greyson said slapping something out of Jamie’s hand so he wouldn’t eat it.

“Wahhh!!!” The kid started crying.

“What did you do?” Lillian said.

“It’s not my fault the kids doesn’t know any better.” Greyson said putting him down in a
chair. “Stay!”

“He’s a baby not a dog Greyson.” Lillian retorted.

“That’s a shame a dog would actually listen.” Greyson hissed starting another bickering
match.

I felt chills run down my spine as I listened to them. The worst case of déjà vu ever. I didn’t
even realize when I started picking at my nails anxiously.

“Ma!” A little voice said someone put a strawberry on my hand.

“Oh…” I said looking down at the smiling toddler. “Thank you.”

“Hehe.” Jamie giggled before reaching up asking to be picked up. I looked over and Lillian
and Greyson were too busy bickering to notice that the baby had slipped away from them.

“Sneaky little guy aren’t you?” I said picking him up and placing him on my lap. I grabbed a
napkin and wiped his face as he started digging into my waffle.

The kid did always like his waffles.

Lillian and Greyson were still arguing so I let him eat his breakfast in peace. He practically
inhaled the waffle and once he was done. I gently wiped his sticky hands and his face.

“Isn’t that better?” I cooed. “Want another strawberry?”

“Da one?” He asked pointing at a chocolate covered strawberry.

With all that sugar he was going to be so hyper later. Good thing that wasn't my problem.
“Okay.” I said handing it to him and kissing the top of his head before picking him up and
walking him back to his bickering negligent grandparents.

“If that good for nothing son of yours actually did something for once in his life…” Greyson
started.

“Excuse me?” I said interrupting.

“We’re fine.” Lillian said trying to shoo me away.

“Actually I think you lost someone.” I said finally getting them to look at me holding Jamie
who was happily leaning against me as he ate his strawberry.

“Oh my god!” Lillian said getting up and taking Jamie from me.

“James!” Greyson said about to yell at the kid.

“He’s such a sweet kid and so well behaved.” I said.

“Thank you.” Greyson said calming down but internally raging before pulling out his wallet
and handing me a one hundred dollar bill.

“Oh that’s not..” he didn’t let me finish before putting it in my hand and waving me off both
continuing on with their brunch.

Ironically in another universe he was a stingy jerk that took me to the discount dentist
because he didn’t see a point in spending money for anesthetic. This idiot handed me a
hundred bucks for giving him back the grandson he didn’t want to take care of.
“Bye.” Jamie waved.

“Bye.” I whispered as I waved back.

A part of me wanted to take that kid and take him as far away from those idiots as I could but
that’s not my kid. My kid did get away from them and is safe with his dad. That’s what I told
myself as I walked away tipping my waiter that crisp one-hundred-dollar bill because I just
needed to get rid of it.

I was walking back to my hotel room to grab my things when my phone started ringing.
There were over 30 missed calls from all of them and now there were 31.

Right now there were things to be done. Starting with checking out and picking up the keys
to my AirBNB and maybe doing a grocery run.

Check out was smooth since I didn’t dispute the charges for the overpriced minibar though
the minibar I ingested almost reappeared when I saw how much they were charging for it.

I hailed a cab and made my way down a few blocks down town to Park Avenue. I thought
this listing was too good to be true when I saw it, especially for the price. I forgot what
reasonable rent prices were before lofts became trendy and people discovered how they could
rent their extra homes on AirBNB for an arm and a leg.

The loft was actually owned by a rich couple who had bought the place for their son to live in
while he was at school. He had just graduated and moved away and they deciding what to do
with the loft so they had opted to rent it out on a trial basis.

I got the top floor loft for a steal. The exposed brick and the arched windows gave the place a
bit of a rustic charm. To me it reminded me of home.
My apartment at the tower was great but it was a bit too perfect. It didn’t have any character
or personality. Not that I would ever tell Tony that. The last thing we needed was another
remodel.

Once I retrieved the key I went up to the loft and saw that it did indeed match the photos I
had seen. It was the perfect place to hide out. Of course five minutes later I locked up and
headed out to run errands. I needed groceries and some linens to hold me over until I figured
out where to go from here.

While my hangover started to wear off and I had some space to think I now realized that I
may have been a bit harsh with Thor. The guy was essentially an Asgardian golden retriever
puppy. An overgrown golden retriever puppy that adored me for some reason and I ‘kicked’
with my words.

And now I felt guilty.

I needed to make amends and there was no better way to do that than with some baked
goodies. I finally had a kitchen to myself and it had been a while since I baked. I shopped
around to get everything I needed. I was going to make cookies or a pie but this was for Thor.

So I spent the rest of the day making poptarts from scratch. They actually turned out pretty
good.

It was a quiet day in and probably the closest thing to a normal day I’ve had since I fell into
this universe. I had almost forgotten what normal was.

The Following Morning…

This apartment got tons of natural light. It was perfect even if it was a gloomy day.

I looked through my bag and pulled out a black long sleeved knit ribbed top and a gray and
black polka dotted pencil skirt.
I was going to have to grab more clothes after work. Unless I wanted to do laundry every few
days.

I was still not a fan of the subway but I did have to admit public transportation in New York
was a lot better than in LA. It was only 20 minutes from the loft to the Tower.

I walked in and swiped my badge before heading up to the common room.

“Morning…” I said going straight for the coffee. “Whoa!”

The common room was a mess. There were bottles and glasses thrown about.
“Jarvis what the hell happened here?” I asked.

“I believe sir and the rest of the residents had a small get together last night.” Jarvis
answered.

“Small? This place looks like a frat house after Freshman rush.” I said hearing a very loud
snore. I looked around to find Steve passed out on the couch. I took my coffee and placed it
on the coffee table in front of him.

“Jarvis I want roll call were is everyone right now?” I asked.

“Sir and Dr. Banner are in the lab. Dr. Banner did not partake and he is currently
administrating B-12 cocktails to Agents Romanoff and Barton in medical.” Jarvis answered.

“Steve is obviously passed out on the couch. Where’s Thor?” I asked.

“Good Morrow my friends!” Thor flew in from the balcony not looking at all hungover or
thrown off by the mess in the common room. “My Lady!”

“Thor wha…” I started before he picked me up in a bear hug.

“You have returned!” He said rocking me from side to side.

“Thor down!” I urged.

“We were worried and…” Thor said.

“I need space.” I said cutting him off. “Obviously you guys took it well. So, while I have you,
I made you these.”
I passed him the Tupperware containing the poptarts.

“I was a bit harsh with you before I left. I was frustrated and working through something and
I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry.” I said.

“There is no need Hanna, I am not well versed in Midgardian courting and I apologize if I
have overstepped and taken liberties I shouldn’t have.” Thor said taking my hand as he gave
me a heartfelt apology.

“I’m not used to courting either. In any universe and we’re not really like that.” I said.

“Like what?” Thor looked confused.

“I have some things to do… somewhere. Enjoy the poptarts.” I said making a run for the
elevator. “They’re homemade!”

“You can make tarts of pop?” Thor called out after me as the doors closed.

“Lab.” I said to Jarvis.

The lab was eerily quiet. No music or drills or machinery.

“I swear you better not be creating skynet in here.” I called out before grabbing my tablet.

“Hanna?” Tony said popping up.

“Rough night?” I asked.

“You’re back.” He said.

“I work here.” I reminded him. “You have an 11 o’clock with finance to discuss Q4
projections. The foundation gala committee is meeting at 12:30 for lunch and you promised
Pepper to be there to lock in a few commitments…”

“Are we not going to talk about it?” Tony asked.

“This is work.” I said.

“You disappeared.” He said.

“I didn’t disappear, I moved out.” I said.

“You moved out?” Clint said dragging an IV line with him.

“You can’t move out.” Tony said.

“Last I checked it was a free country.” I said.

“Where would you even go?” Tony said.

“New York is pretty big.” I said. “Lots of options. You might want to clean up. Not a good
look if people think you’re going through another midlife crisis.”

“Hanna you can’t move out. It’s not safe.” Natasha popped in.
“Tony got his house blown up, you guys get shot at pretty often and… for some reason Steve
is passed out in the common room. Not sure what happened to the super part of super
soldier.” I said. “I’ll be as safe wherever I am as I am here. Besides if I die it’s not like I’ll
stay dead.”

“That’s not… No you are not moving out.” Tony said.

“Too late.” I said. “11 o’clock don’t be late. Bruce your new spectrometer is being delivered
at 2. You want it right where the old one was?”

“Yeah…” Bruce said sheepishly.

“Are we not going to talk about this?” Tony asked.

“Nope.” I said going back to my desk.

“Where are you even moving to?” Natasha asked. “Is the building safe? Who are your
neighbors?”

“Why would you even want to move out? We have everything here. We have Starbucks? Do
you like coffee bean better? I can kick Starbucks out.” Tony said.

“You are not kicking Starbucks out, I’m moving out, it’s done, back to work and can one of
you wake up Steve or at least move him to his room so the cleaning crew and fix the common
room?” I said.

“I got him.” Bruce said taking the spare IV line.

“Is this about what Tony did?” Natasha said.

“I just brought up what we were all thinking…” Tony said.

“And we all thought it was too soon to bring it up.” Natasha started before they started
bickering.

“I’m going to go pick up your dry cleaning and breakfast. Try to sober up.” I said getting up.
The dry cleaners was just down the street but because it was a Monday the pick up line was
extra long and to make matters worse they were backed up.

While I waited I decided to go to the coffee shop close by for an extra dose of caffeine. A
coffee shop was the perfect place to people watch. But I wasn't in a people watching mood.
Instead I started reading. I had scanned a few pages of the Asgardian story book onto my
phone so I could read without carrying the book around.

I was reading up on Thor’s family History, well more like his father’s history. Apparently
Odin’s parents Bor and Bestla originated from two very separate clans. Bestla came from the
realm of witches and sages while Bor was your typical meathead Viking. That’s actually how
he was described in the book. It was pretty obvious which of the two side wrote the book.

The two clans brought nothing but death and destruction whenever they encountered each
other. To end the fighting Bor and Bestla were betrothed to one another but the betrothal
would not solve anything unless their union was not just a political one but that could show
the nine realms that if they put their differences aside peace would actually be a true
possibility. So the faes and the witches conspired to make certain that it would work, they
combined their magic to create a perfect convergence of souls, aka soulmates. What they
didn’t realize was that by combining the magic of citizens from all nine realms the spell
would not be isolated to just Bestla and Bor but to all inhabitants of the nine realms. That is
how the two brought peace to the nine realms for the first time. Until Odin took over and war
broke out again.

If only I could talk to those witches or someone that knew them but they’re all on Asgard.
Except for Thor…
The rest of Asgard won’t come to early until after the blip which isn’t for another four years.
Frigga could help but she’s dead… wait. She’s not dead. I warned Thor and he saved her.

It’s 2014.

The Dark elves crashed their ship in Greenwich in November of 2013.

Loki died… but not really and he was posing as Odin until….

“Odin’s on Earth!” I shouted in realization.

 Chapter 41

“Odin’s on Earth!” I shouted making everyone in the coffee shop look at me like I’d gone
crazy. Maybe I had. How the hell could I forget that one of the most powerful beings that
currently existed in the nine realms was on Earth.

Stuck in a retirement home somewhere in New York.

I had really dropped the ball on this one. I pulled my phone out and started looking up
retirement homes in New York.

“Jarvis, nag Tony to get to all of his meetings and make sure no tries to follow me.” I said.

“Are you in need of assistance Miss?” Jarvis asked.

“Not at the moment I just need to handle something. And let’s keep it between us. Well
between us, you need to erase everything I said after asking you to nag Tony for me.” I said.
“I think I need to handle this one solo.”

“Of course Miss.” Jarvis said.

“Tony isn’t trying to override you for my location yet is he?” I asked.

“I believe Dr. Banner talked him out of it Miss.” Jarvis said. “For now.”

“Obviously.” I said closing my eyes and concentrating.

Thor Ragnarok… The nursing home Loki put Odin in was torn down. It was a brick building
and the name on the plaque thrown in the rubble was… Shady Acres Care Home.

How many Shady Acres could there be in New York?

One google search later and… a lot apparently. Ten in just the four boroughs.

Alright let’s start with the ones in a brick building.

That got me down to 9. You’ve got to love New York.

Alright, when Thor and Loki discover the nursing home was torn down, Loki was taken to
the New York Sanctum by Dr. Strange. Meaning that the nursing home had to be within
walking distance or at the very least a few subway stops away from the Sanctum.

177A Bleeker Street was in Greenwich Village… Lower West Side Manhattan.

“That’s three.” I said narrowing it down. “I can work with three.”

I entered all three addresses into my phone and started mapping out my route.

It was half past eleven. It’d take me 30 minutes to get to the first stop on the list, not to
mention figuring out a way to get in and look for Odin. I don’t think Loki checked his dad in
under the name Odin the All Father, King of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms.

Or maybe he did and just put a spell on the entire staff, in which case I had bigger things to
worry about.

One step at a time.

Shady Acres #1

I was standing outside of the nursing Home when my phone rang.

“Ye-llo” I answered.

“Jarvis said you’re taking the rest of the day off.” Tony said.

“That would be correct.” I said.

“Are you sick?” Tony asked.

“No, something came up.” I said. That wasn't a complete lie.

“We still need to talk about…” Tony started.

“Going through a tunnel… can’t keeeeee.” I said before hanging up the call. Serves him
right. He does that to everyone else all the time when he wants to end a conversation.

There’s only one person that would know what to do in a situation like this.

What would Natasha Romanoff do?

Natasha would, keep her head up high, confident, assured. If you act like you belong no one
will ask if you belong.
I was fully prepared to give some fake story of stopping by to visit my great Aunt Esther or
something. But the receptionist cut me off before I could even say anything.

“12:30 tour?” She said.

“uh… yeah. I’m…” I started.

“Sarah Grant. I’m Judy.” She said still typing something on her computer. “Go ahead and
take a look around. All the residents are in the common room for shuffleboard and lunch.”

“And that would be?” I asked and she pointed down the hall. “Right…”

That was easier than expected. A bit concerning that there was no security. I looked around
and besides a lot of elderly people hooking up when everyone thought they were playing
shuffleboard, there was nothing interesting here.

I was on my way to Shady Acres #2 when I got an alert from Jarvis that there was a code
green at the tower.

“Code green? Are we sure?” I asked Jarvis and the only response I got from Jarvis was very
loud growl from the Hulk. “Shit, how bad?”

“The hulk is currently contained for the moment.” Jarvis answered.

“So it’s handled. Great.” I said about to walk to the subway except… we had a code green.
The hulk was contained. The team had it handled and there really wasn't anything I could do.
I had never met the hulk but I knew he wasn't bad. Misunderstood maybe?

Bruce would want me as far away from him as possible right now.
But for some very stupid illogical reason I couldn’t explain I turned around and went back up
town to the tower.

I didn’t know what to expect after a code green. From the movies I know that Bruce would
wake up a bit disoriented and not feeling great about himself. Maybe some chai tea and
Indian food from his favorite place would cheer him up.

I ran into the tower and up to the common floor.

“I’m here! I’m here, Code green, I have Indian food and Chai tea someone get him some
clothes for when he shrinks down and…” I said realizing that the tower was not at all in
shambles and that everyone including Bruce was sitting down not looking at all affected by
turning green.

“Code Green?” Bruce asked confused.

“Uh…” Tony said.

“You didn’t…” Natasha said realizing what had happened.

“She wouldn’t have come for any other reason.” Tony said.

“You faked a code green?” I said.

“You told her it was a code green?” Bruce said to Tony.

“You came here when there may have been a code green?” Steve said.
“Why would you do that?”!” Bruce said annoyed at Tony. “That’s like pulling a fire alarm
when there isn’t a fire.”

“Or saying there’s a bomb on a plane.” I said before handing the tea and food to Bruce. “I got
you samosas.”

“Thank you.” Bruce said gratefully taking the bag and tea.

“You wouldn’t have come if I hadn’t.” Tony said.

“What is so important you couldn’t have waited until tomorrow?” I asked.

“Oh I don’t know, the fact that you moved out?” Tony said.

“There’s nothing we need to discuss. I moved out. End of story.” I said.

“Hanna you can’t move out.” Steve said.

“See, you got Capsicle and I to agree on something. We must be right about this.” Tony said.

“No, it just means you’re both wrong.” I said getting up. “See you tomorrow.

“Hanna.” Steve said gently grabbing my arm to stop me which I shrugged out of. “It’s not
safe for you out there by yourself.”

“I don’t really care.” I said. “I get shot, blown up, drown… I’ll come back. I don’t want to be
here. I need space to breathe, to think to just…. fucking be!”
“You have your own floor… Do you want another one?” Tony asked.

“It doesn’t matter how big my room is, I’m under a microscope. Someone is always right
behind me, I’m always being tracked, and I can’t live like that.” I said.

“We just want what’s best for you.” Clint said.

“And that is exactly my problem.” I said. “You all have this need to hover and coddle me.”

“That is our job.” Thor said.

“No it’s not.” I said shutting that down quickly. “Look I get that you guys had this idea of
what your person was supposed to be like and what your relationship with them is going to
be but that’s not what this is and the expectation you have for what this is going to be well,
frankly its insane.”

“None of that made any sense.” Natasha said.

“I must admit I am confused.” Thor added.

“And I feel like I’m talking to a wall.” I said.

“We’re never going to figure out what… this whole thing is if you’re not here.” Tony said.

“No, If I stay here, I’m going to jump off that fucking balcony.” I said pointing outside.

“Hanna.” Natasha warned.

“And that’s why you shouldn’t be alone.” Tony said.

“You don’t get a say in this. You faked a code green because you couldn’t track me.” I said.

“Do you want a raise? Give me a number, it’s yours.” Tony said.

“You would pay me to move back in?” I said.

“I’ll give you whatever you want. This is where you belong.” Tony said.

“I’m not going to even going try to explain how many professional boundaries you just
crossed let alone how many red flags you just raised with that statement.” I said.

“I can’t win with you!” Tony said frustrated.

“You don’t need to win. I’m telling you what I need and I’m going to ask you as a friend to
please respect that.” I said.

“But you’re not our friend you’re our soulmate.” Steve said.

“That can’t be the excuse for everything.” I said.

“Can you at least tell us where you’re staying?” Natasha asked.

“That would defeat the whole point of moving out.” I said as my phone beeped. “I’m calling
it a day. Don’t forget your 2 o’clock.”
I got in the elevator and considered just leaving but realized I wasn't sure if I was coming in
tomorrow and I could not run around New York in these heels. My blisters had blisters after
today.

I walked into my old apartment and kicked off my heels. I wish someone would go back in
time and shoot whatever patriarchal dick spread the belief that wearing heels was a good
idea.

I quickly grabbed the 2 duffle bags in my closet and started throwing everything I could fit
into them. When the heck did I even buy all of these clothes? I don’t remember ever trying on
over half of it all.

“You’re really leaving?” Natasha said breaking the silence and making me jump.

“Ah Fuck, you have got to stop doing that!” I shouted.

“Habit.” She said glancing at the bags in the bed. “You pack fast.”

“I have errands.” I said zipping up a bag.

“We could have them delivered for you.” Natasha tried.

“Nice try.” I said going to the bathroom to grab the last of my toiletries. “Well this has been
fun. I’ll see you around.

I reached for my bag bug Natasha grabbed my hand to stop.

“Don’t go.” She said linking her fingers with mine.

“Natasha.” I said.

“This is where you’re supposed to be.” Natasha said.

“You and I both know that’s not true.” I said pulling my hand back before grabbing my bags
and leaving.

Moving is expensive. Between my hotel stay and all the taxis I was taking moving back and
forth, it was really starting to add up. Add to that how much time it took me to lug everything
up to the loft, I had lost the rest of the day.

Shady Acres 2 and 3 were going to have to wait until tomorrow.

It took longer than expected to put everything away and I chose to soak in that gorgeous
clawfoot bathtub over making dinner. My feet definitely needed it.

Once the water started getting cold and skin was starting to get pruned I got out and into a
very comfy set of loungewear. I opted for the softest pair of knit joggers, a white Henley tank
top and the softest cashmere warp cardigan that. desperately needed to get in every color
available.
I don’t even remember buying this. The TV was on mostly for the background noise as I read
through the big book of Asgardian bedtime stories. I didn’t feel like cooking so I was eating
some chips.

It was nice and quiet. Exactly what I needed after a day like today.

But they still didn’t get it.

I was reading about how Odin met Frigga when there was a knock at my door. That was
weird because no one knew I was here.

Unless it was the neighbors coming to complain about the TV.

“Crap.” I said getting up and going to the door. I was going to open it when my common
sense started tingling. I didn’t know my neighbors. In fact even in LA I would never open the
door if I didn’t get a text from Theo saying it was him knocking on the door.

Whoever it was started knocking again.

“Just a sec.” I called out looking for something I could use to hit them on the head with. I
ended up grabbing a decorative bookend. Once I made sure the chain was on the door I
opened it just a bit to reveal the last person I expected to find me here.

“Hi.” Bruce said standing there awkwardly.

“Bruce?” I said still surprised.

“You brought me lunch. Thought I’d return the favor with dinner.” He said holding up a
brown paper bag to a very fancy restaurant I knew for a fact did not offer takeout unless
you’re Tony Stark. “I know you like Italian.”

“I’m going to say this in the nicest way I can right now. How the hell did you find me?” I
asked.

“Uh… I didn’t.” Bruce said. I looked at him confused as I started thinking about today and
retraced my steps. The only way Tony could track me would be tracking my phone or
bracelet but Jarvis was still blocking him for me. The only other person who would track me
would be either Clint or Natasha. Clint liked to give people space and watch from a distance
but he’d probably give me a few days to cool off. That only left Natasha but when would
she… I left her alone with my bags.

“Natasha.” I said knowing the answer. “Where are they?”

“Not here.” Bruce said.

“You know, things like this are why I moved out.” I said before closing the door.
“Hanna.” Bruce called out.

I was very tempted to tell Bruce to go away but I hadn’t had dinner and it smelled really
good. Damn Tony.

I opened the door again.

“Did you get garlic knots?” I asked.

“Two orders.” Bruce answered. I closed the door and undid the chain opening the door for
Bruce to walk in.

“Since you’re already here.” I said gesturing for him to walk in.

“Uh thanks.” Bruce said hesitating before walking in. Sometimes it was really hard to believe
that this sweet soft spoken shy man turned into a giant green behemoth that liked to smash
things. “This is really nice. Big… with a view.”

I looked at him curiously wondering why he seemed to be describing everything he saw

when I noticed something in his ear.

“Ehem.” I said putting my hand out gesturing for him to hand it over. Bruce thought I was
talking about the bag of food and offered it to me. I shook my head refusing to say another
word for them to overhear. I pointed to his ear.

Bruce took out the earpiece and handed it over. I then walked it over the kitchen sink threw it
down the drain and turned on the food disposal. I left it on for about a minute waiting for it to
be completely destroyed.
“So, how’d you get stuck with the short end of this deal?” I asked him.

“It was between me and Thor.” Bruce admitted. “But Thor tends to come on a bit too strong.”

“So they picked you.” I said.

“Yeah. They think you’re a bit easier when it comes to me because of the other guy.” Bruce
said.

“You think I’m scared of the Hulk?” I asked.

“You’re not scared of the other guy?” Bruce asked.

“Not really. I mean considering the emotional rollercoaster I've put you on since we’ve met
he hasn’t showed up once. Safe to say I’m on his do not smash list.” I said. “Plus even if he
did smash me it’s not like I’d stay dead.”

“That’s… good to know.” He said.

“I’ll grab some plates.” I said going to the kitchen.

“This is a really great loft. Roomy.” Bruce said. “How’d you find it?”

“Internet.” I answered still not happy that he was here. “We’re going to have a quiet dinner in
front of the TV. I’ll put on a nature documentary and we’re not going to say anything for the
next hour or so. Does that work for you?”

“Okay.” Bruce said probably just glad I didn’t kick him out.
We got settled and sat on the couch in complete silence for about 20 minutes.

“I know you’re mad about today…” Bruce started.

“I’m trying to learn about the deep blue sea Bruce. 90% of the ocean hasn’t been explored so
mermaids might be real.” I said.

“Stranger things have happened.” He said. “I know you asked for space but we’re just
worried about you.”

“I’m fine.” I said.

“I know this is all new and we’re probably not what you expected…” Bruce said.

“That would be an understatement. I can’t keep having this conversation. I didn’t grow up
with the idea of soulmates Bruce.” I said. “I’m not like the rest of you. I don’t buy into all of
this the way you do and you just don’t get it because you can’t.”

“We understand that this is a lot to take in.” He said.

“No you don’t and it’s not you. It’s me, I’m the problem here. This is all on me.” I said.

“We’re trying to understand but… you’re not making any sense.” Bruce said trying to say
that as gently as he could.

“Seven Ph.D’s and not of them can help here?” I said.

“Sorry.” He said.

“I give up.” I said stuffing my mouth with a garlic knot. “If it wasn't me and it was Betty
trying to explain this to you?”

“No.” Bruce said shutting down that idea immediately. “That was never going to work out. I
can call Tony?”

“Don’t you dare.” I said.

“Do you want to try to explain it to me?” Bruce said.

“I've tried. You just don’t get it and maybe it’s because I don’t get it either.” I said.

“Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way.” Bruce said. “You know what Tony and Steve
and Everyone else wants.”

“Is that what you want?” I asked Bruce.

“I want whatever you want.” Bruce said.

“That’s not an answer.” I said.

“There’s six of us and one of you. I know better than anyone what it’s like to not always be in
control and have someone else make decisions for me…” Bruce said. “I wouldn’t wish that
on anyone, especially you. I want whatever you want.”

“And if that means staying away for a while?” I asked.

“I ran away to India.” Bruce said. “Sometimes space is a good thing. So what do you want?”

“I want something but I want it to be my choice and it would be nice if it was reciprocal but
also the other person or persons choice but it really can’t be their choice because there’s this
thing that overrules all logic and there’s no way to know if its reciprocated because its their
choice or because of that thing and if it’s because of that thing then that would make none of
it real and What then?” I said. “Right?”

“Uh…” Bruce said rubbing his chin. “Hanna… That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Seven Ph.Ds Bruce.” I said. “Seven. And not one?”

“I really regret dropping psychology.” Bruce said apologetically making me laugh.

“You know I’m not going back?” I asked.

“I know.” He said not the least bit surprised. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you moved.”

“Universes? Considered it but it’s not as fun as it looks.” I said thinking back to the voices
and shadows at the bottom of that very dark pit.

“That’s not the word I’d use to describe it.” Bruce said. “You’re not going to jump off that
balcony if I go?”

“My jumping days are over.” I said. “I meant it when I said you are putting me on every form
of life support known to man if I end up in a coma. I’m giving Hulk permission to smash
anyone who tries to pull that plug.”

“I’ll do my best.” Bruce said getting up.

“Can you do me a favor?” I asked Bruce as I walked him out.

“Of course.” He said.

“Tell Tony I’m taking the rest of the week off.” I said. “I’m actually surprised he didn’t storm
in here.”

“He was outvoted.” Bruce said. “Good night.”

“Night.” I said closing the door behind him.

The Following Day…

Shady Acres #2 was another bust and made me wish I didn’t make it to retirement.

That left me where I was today. Shady Acres #3. Third time was the charm. At least I hope it
was because I don’t know what I was going to do if Odin wasn't here.

Maybe I should look up flights to Norway?

I walked in and checked in at the reception desk. I didn’t even get to finish my cover story
before I was given a stick-on name badge and waved in to do my community service hours.

The security in these places was severely lacking. If they knew who could be staying here
they would flip.
One of the nurses gave me a cart loaded with pudding cups to hand out and an old, stained
apron.

I did the rounds and handed out the cups. I looked around until I saw a very loopy only man
talking to a crow in the courtyard and the crow seemed to be cawing back.

“And then Sophia said, No matter how bad things get, remember these sage words: You’re
old, you sag, get over it.” Odin said before laughing hysterically. “It’s funny because its
true!”

Who would have thought Odin was a Golden Girls fan.

“Oh get over yourself Blanche, there is no shame in getting old.” Odin said to the crow.

He named the crow Blanche.

“Loki did a number on you.” I said to myself cautiously getting closer before the crow
spotted me and flew away.

“Pudding!” Odin said raising his hands in the air and helping himself.

“Uh, Hi. I’m not sure you remember me.” I started.

“Of course I remember you. You’re the pudding girl!” Odin said.

“No… well right now yes. Odin.” I said.

“Odin who?” Odin said savoring his pudding.

“Odin, Protector of the nine realms, son of Borr, Husband of Frigga?” I said hoping
something would resonate with him. “Father, and I’m using this term very lightly, of Thor
God of Thunder, Loki god of Mischief?”

“I don’t know if I like butterscotch or chocolate more. But not tapioca, never tapioca.” Odin
said.

“Okay, I’m going to say the third one, and this better not be a Beetlejuice situation where I
say it outload and you go bezerk. You’re also the father or Hela, the goddess of death. She
was your pride and joy until you grew a conscious. Any of this ringing a bell?” I asked.

“Thank you for being a friend

Traveled down a road and back again
Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant

I'm not ashamed to say

I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow” Odin sang.

“This is going to be harder than I thought.” I said looking around. “How do you feel about
maybe going for a walk? Maybe we’ll run into Blanche and the other Golden Girls.”

“Dorothy and Rose?” Odin said. “Rose is my favorite.”

“I bet she is. I’ll be sure to mention that to your wife next time I see her.” I said moving
Odin’s wheelchair closer to him and gently nudging him back into it.

“Oh wait pudding! I want pudding!” Odin said snatching an arm full of pudding cups as I
rushed him out of his this dump. No wonder this place ends up condemned.
 Chapter 42

In the movies they never really explained what broke the spell Loki put on Odin. Just that at
some point he snapped out of it, ended up contacting Stephen Strange. He asked for him not
to tell anyone where he was and ended up in Tonsberg, Norway or as it will be known 2023,
New Asgard.

Stephen Strange does not become a master of the mystic arts until 2016 which means I am 2
years early and I am opening up 2 years of wiggle room to screw up the timeline.

All to possibly get some clarity on my situation and for a guy that very obviously did not like
me.

I better be knighted or the Asgardian equivalent of Dukedom.

“Alright sir…” I said as stopped by a coffee shop near Happy Acres.

“Where are Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose?” Odin said.

“They went to go look for Sophia.” I said offering him a scone. “Blueberry scone? It’s better
than that pudding.”

Odin picked it up and sniffed it eying me suspiciously before stuffing the entire pastry in his
mouth.

“It’s kind of dry…” I said as he started choking. “Oh shit… shit.”

I got up and smacked his back trying to dislodge the pastry.

“B-b-blue-blueberry…” Odin coughed before spitting out a blueberry.

“Ok, no more choking hazards. At least until we get you back to normal.” I said sitting back
down. “Let’s try coffee.”

“Are you a Carrie?” He said.

“No. Though you are right, we got off on the wrong foot and obviously your ancient ass has
some absurd speciesism and classist-based biases against me and people from my planet and
I think you’re a murdering, pillaging self-obsessed Viking with some very questionable
parenting methods.” I said clasping my hands together reminding myself to get back on track.
“But today is a new day and we currently need each other. So lets start over. Hi, I’m Hanna.”

“You sound like a Miranda.” Odin said.

“They didn’t have name brand drugs but they had HBO. Odin. You are the king of Asgard.” I
said taking out my phone and showing him a photo of Thor I had snapped of him when I was
trying to teach him how to use a phone. “This is your son, Thor. The God of Thunder. Big
guy, long flowing blonde hair, gorgeous blue eyes, red cape, swings a hammer that he is
really attached to and… just a giant ray of sunshine. He was meant to be your successor but
he wasn't ready for it, he was immature, power hungry and though you never said it out loud,
there was a moment there that he reminded you of Hela. You learned from your mistakes and
stopped him from going too far. You banished him to Earth, without his powers, Mjolnir and
he learned his lesson. He went from wanting to be a conqueror and king to a protector, an
Avenger. He’s one of Earth’s mightiest heroes.”

“He’s glowing!” Odin said taking the phone and playing with the brightness settings. “And
now he’s not. Glowing… not glowing…”

“Stop.” I said snatching the phone away from him and taking his hands into mine. “Odin, I
need you to focus. The quicker you snap out of this, the sooner I can get you back to Asgard
and your wife. Loki probably still hasn’t made a complete mess of things.”

“Thor didn’t work, let’s talk about Loki.” I said.

“Loki, Loki Loki!” Odin sang out loud making people in the café look at us like we were
insane.

“No.” I snapped before he broke out into song. “Loki, your son that you adopted. Lauffey left
him out in the cold to die, which is ironic considering they’re frost giants. Not entirely sure
how accurate that story is but he is your kid. For better or for worse he is. You raised him,
your wife adored him and taught him magic. He invaded Earth and you imprisoned him in
Asgard’s dungeons.”

Odin was quiet as he looked at me.

“Green eyes.” Odin said staring into my eyes.

“Yes?” I said hoping that sparked something in him.

“You have green eyes.” He said.

“This isn’t working.” I said as my phone started ringing. I picked it up to see it was Steve.

That was the last person I needed to talk to right now. I sent him to voicemail before turning
back to my current problem.

“Blanche!” Odin said standing up and running out of the shop to chase a bird.

“Odin!” I shouted grabbing my purse and phone before running after him. If he could run
why did I have to push him all the way here. That man was heavy!

After chasing him down the block and moving him out of the way of an oncoming bud I
decided that it was probably not a good idea for the King of Asgard to be wandering around
New York while he was defenseless and out of his damn mind.

The tower was not an option because the second Thor caught a whiff od what was going on
he would have Heimdall beam them back to Asgard and I would lose my chance to get some
answers about my situation.

That only left one place. My apartment.

“Come on big guy, don’t you want to see Rose?” I said trying to motivate him after he gave
up on the second flight of stairs.

“I was not born to touch the heavens.” Odin said.

“I believe the Asgardian term for that is Valhalla and I hate to break it to you but neither of us
if going to end up there.” I said bluntly. “Up up, I think I saw some pudding cups
somewhere.”

“Pudding?” Odin said perking up.

“All the pudding you could want.” I said helping him back to his feet. Another ten minutes
and we were in my apartment. I planted Odin on the couch where he started flipping through
channels.

Maybe photos of Thor and Loki from the Battle of New York would help him remember
something. I grabbed my tablet and started going through Jarvis’ saved files to show Odin.

Hours later repeating the same thing over and over again with no results.

“Oh come on, you’ve got to be feeling something. An Inkling? A little nagging feeling?” I
asked.
“Rose!” Odin cheered as he found The Proposal being showed on TV. Hilariously it was the
scene with Sandra Bullock shaking her butt in front of Betty White.

“Actually this is a good one.” I said. “I’ll make some popcorn.”

Never thought I’d say that I had a movie night the boss of all Norse Gods. Odin was a
surprisingly good movie buddy. We laughed at all the same parts, he didn’t hog the popcorn
bucket, and we could both agree that Betty White was the true star of that movie.

“Are you up for another one?” I asked before reaching under the coffee table to bring up the
big book of Norse legends. “Or should we hit the book?”

“Another!” Odin said throwing down his glass shattering it on the ground. “Oops.”

“I see where Thor gets it from.” I said going to grab the broom to clean it up. It was when I
had just finished sweeping up the glass that there was a knock at the door. “You’ve got to be
kidding me…”

“Sham WOW!” Odin said following word for work the infomercial.

“Just a minute.” I called out before pouring Odin another glass of water and walking it over
to him. I took advantage of the distraction and turned the Tv down. “Do not try to copy that
commercial.”

They knocked again annoying me.

“I’m going.” I called out running to the door. I put the chain on the door and opened it a crack
before opening it. “Steve!”
“Hey…” Steve said standing in the hallway awkwardly holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Hi.” I said peering through the crack in the doorway. “Oh just… one sec.”

I closed the door before turning to Odin.

“Shhh.” I shushed him before unlocking the door and slipping out into the hallway quickly so
Steve wouldn’t look inside, something he very obviously noticed. “What’s up?”

“Uh… I just wanted to come see how you were doing.” Steve said before remembering the
flowers in his hand. “And these are for you. A housewarming gift… it’s a nice door.”

“Yeah very sturdy.” I said patting it. “Multiple locks, everything a girl looks for in a door.”

“I can see that.” Steve said staying quiet for a minute. “How’s the rest of the apartment?”

“It’s good.” I said. “Hardwood floors, natural light… dishwasher.”

“We have a dishwasher at the tower.” Steve said.

“I know.” I said. “Who do you think loaded it every night?”

“I loaded it a couple of times.” Steve said before Odin let out a booming laugh from inside
the apartment. “You have company?”

“Yeah… My neighbor got locked out. He’s waiting for the building manager.” I said.
“That’s nice of you.” Steve said still on guard. “Do I get to see the new place?”

“No.” I said. “It’s really not much.”

“This building’s nicer than the one I grew up in.” Steve said.

“It was sweet of you to stop by but I meant it when I said I needed space.” I said.

“Hanna.” Steve started.

“Steve.” I said not giving in. “You made it very clear you didn’t like this. You’re not going to
change my mind by popping in unexpectedly looking for danger around every corner.”

“You let a stranger into your apartment.” Steve said. “It was one of the first things you told
me not to do when we were in your world.”

“Because I didn’t exactly live in the safest area and as you’ve noticed this is a nice building.”
I said.

“Do you even know this guy?” Steve said.

“I know him well enough.” I said.

“What’s his name?” Steve asked.

“Fred.” I said blurting out the first name I could think of. “Would you relax? The guy’s
harmless. He’s like a thousand years old.”
Add a couple of thousands and I’d still be a bit off.

“Can I meet him?” Steve asked.

“No, Steve. I’m trying to keep a low profile and the Avengers knocking at my door every five
minutes is not making it easy.” I said.

“That’s not fair.” Steve said.

“Six of you and one of me. What part of that is fair?” I retorted. “Whatever this is, doesn’t
change the fact that I still have a mind of my own.”

“You had a whole floor.” Steve said. “It’s a big tower.”

“With all of you hovering around constantly. Kind of like you’re doing now.” I said. “Give
me some breathing room.”

“For how long?” Steve said.

“Until I’m ready to deal with this thing.” I said.

“You can’t even say it?” Steve said.

“Stop pressuring me.” I snapped. “Go home, I’ll see you next week at work.”

“Hanna,” Steve tried but I had already walked back into my apartment and locked the door
behind me.
The Following Morning…

“Okay, let’s talk about your better half.” I said flipping through the giant book that just
seemed to get heavier and heavier each time I picked it up. “This is Frigga. Your wife. Queen
of Asgard. Mother of your sons… not sure about Hela, the What ifs made a passing comment
but that was another alternate universe so who knows how accurate that was.”

“She’s pretty like Rose.” Odin said eating some potato chips.

“She’s a witch and I don’t mean that as an insult, I meant the magical kind. She’s actually
very lovely. In your marriage you reached and she settled.” I said. “From what I've seen
Frigga is the glue that held your family together, the secrets you kept from everyone is what
tore your family apart.”

“Hmm.” Odin said.

“Yes?” I waiting to see if this rung any bells.

“Pudding.” He said.

“Odin, the nine realms need you to pull yourself together.” I said. “I need you to try, think
really hard.”

“I miss Blanche. She had a lovely voice.” Odin said.

“Odin!” I shouted. “Frigga! Thor! Loki! Hela! Anything?!”

“That was not very nice. You forgot the magic word.” Odin said.
“Please.” I said.

“May I have some pudding?” He asked staring at me as if I hadn’t said anything.

“UGH!!!!” I groaned falling back onto the couch. “God of mischief, more like god of being a
pain in the ass.”

I thought the hard part of getting help from Odin was going to be breaking him out of the
nursing home not breaking the stupid spell Loki put on him. It was starting to become
obvious to me and probably Odin himself that I was way out of my depth here.

What did I know about magic? Magic, real magic didn’t even exist in my world.

I was wasting time sitting around here waiting for Odin to snap out of it. Hydra was going to
be making their move in little over a month, maybe sooner. Thanos was still a looming threat.

Time was not on my side here…

Magic was not my forte but I knew where to find a sorcerer or two who may be able to help.

“Alright big guy, how about we go out and get you some pudding?” I said to Odin.

“Not Tapioca.” He said.

“Never tapioca.” I seconded. “There’s a great pudding shop in Greenwich. You’re going to
love it. Its magical.”

It took longer to get to the village than the first time. Mostly because Odin kept trying to get
off the subway.
“It should be around here.” I said looking at the GPS on my phone.

“Where is my pudding?” Odin insisted as he started dragging his feet.

“We’re almost there.” I said linking my arm with his pulling him along.

“No you promised me pudding. Not tapioca, not butterscotch, chocolate or swirl and I
haven’t gotten any pudding!” He shouted and for a second I thought I heard the sky rumbling.

“Odin, buddy, I will get you enough pudding you’ll drown in it if you come with me right
now.” I said.

“Not until I get my pudding!” Odin growled.

“I don’t have any freaking pudding! I don’t even know you like it gives you the runs!” I
shouted back.

“It’s delicious and Rose would give me pudding!” Odin shouted.

“I’m not Rose! Rose isn’t even Rose! She’s an actress!” I shouted. “And she’s not even the
best Golden Girl!”

“You take that back!” Odin growled.

“Dorothy carried that show.” I said.

“Rose did.” Odin said.

“All she did was giggle.” I retorted.

“She was the heart and soul of that show.” Odin said as the rumbling of the sky got louder.

“She wasn’t even the comic relief.” I said as I saw something start to sparkle out of the corner
of my eyes. “Even Sophia was funnier.”

“You… You.. AH!” Odin said suddenly falling through the concrete sidewalk.

“Odin!” I shouted trying to catch him before the portal closed. “No no no no, this is not
happening. You are not taking him!”

“WONG!” I shouted running down the street until I made it to 177 Bleeker Street. I banged
my fists on the door. “Open the freaking door! We were in the middle of a very important
conversat-uhAH!”

The door didn’t open but another portal opened and I fell into the sanctum face first.

“Ow!” I said looking up to see a bald woman in yellow robes and a Asian man biting into a
Hoagie. “Do you guys know how to use a door?”

“We thought you wanted to come in.” Wong said.

“Yeah.” I said sitting up. “You kidnapped… my… sort of… kind of… father in law.”

“Father in law?” Wong said. “You mean him?”

I turned to the chair he was pointing at in the library and Odin was happily sitting down
eating his pudding cup that just kept refilling itself.

“He is your father by law?” The woman said.

“No… kind of… it’s complicated.” I said. “I’m in this situationship with his son. He wants
things, I don’t know if he actually wants those things or just thinks he wants those things. His
dad was supposed to help me figure out where him wanting those things came from.”

The ancient one and Wong just looked at me confused.

“That makes no sense.” Wong said.

“Yes it does.” I snapped while the ancient one just stared at me confused. I looked at her and
she was still staring at me with an undiscernible look on her face. “If there’s something on
my face it’s his fault for not giving me a heads up about the portal. You’ve got a little.”

Wong touched his chin wiping off the dribble of mayo off his chin.

“Thank you.” He said.

“Who are you?” She said.

“I’m Hanna Marin.” I said. “And he’s Wong and are the Ancient One, the current sorceress
Supreme.”

“How do you know that?” Wong said.

“Because we’ve met before.” The Ancient One said.

“I’ve met you in another world in passing. You’ve never met me before.” I said.

“That explains much.” She said looking straight into my eyes.

“What are you doing?” I said staking a step back but firmly yet gently grasped onto my
forearms holding me in place.

“The eyes are the window to the soul.” She said in way of explaining. “And you are a very
old soul. Far older than any I've ever seen.”

“I’m 27. So not that old.” I clarified.

“So lonely and sad and so much pain.” She said letting me go. “More than anyone one person
should have to bear. Life has not been kind to you.”

“Life sucks, you just learn to deal with it.” I said rubbing my hands awkwardly. “I’m not here
for me. He’s under a spell. I need you to break whatever spell Loki put on him.”

“Loki? Of Asgard?” Wong said. “Which means he’s Odin?”

“The one and only All Father who currently thinks he’s a retiree obsessed with the Golden
Girls and pudding.” I deadpanned. “He doesn’t remember who he is or anything before Loki
put him in that retirement home.”

“An enchantment strong enough to subdue the All father himself? Loki is one powerful
being.” Wong said.

“Can you fix him?” I asked them.

“There are only a handful of spells that could possibly do this to an al powerful being such as
Odin.” The Ancient One said. “It can be done. Do you intend to return him to Asgard once he
has recovered his memories?”

“After he helps me, yes.” I said. “It’s surprising his wife hasn’t noticed he’s missing or maybe
she's just happy for the vacation.”

“Do you really think he has the answers you are so desperately looking for?” She said.

“He’s my best shot.” I said. “And either way he shouldn’t be hiding on Earth while his son
makes a mess of things.”

“There are a few things we could try.” The Ancient One said. “But I have a feeling it’s not the
spell that is keeping Odin here.”

“Great,” I said.

That is how we ended up on the top floor of the Sanctum while the Ancient One and Wong lit
some torches and started preparing the room.

“Alright big guy.” I said leading Odin to sit in a chair in the middle room. “Our new friends
here are going to try to fix your head and then we’re going to talk some things out.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” Odin said still upset that I said Rose was not the best Golden
Girl.

“In a few minutes you’re not even going to care about Golden Girls.” I said. “But I did mean
it when I said Betty White was the real star of The Proposal.”
“Of course she was.” Odin said sitting down. “Can we watch it again?”

“Sure.” I said patting his shoulder before taking a few steps back. “This isn’t going to hurt
him right?”

Odin may be a very flawed man but he was still Thor’s dad.

“If we do this correctly the All Father will not feel a thing.” Wong said.

“You’re making it sound like brain surgery and neither of you are Stephen Strange.” I said.

“Stephen who?” Wong said turning to the Ancient One confused.

“No one you need concern yourself with.” She reassured him. “The mind is a delicate thing.
There is no telling how recovering all of his memories all at once will affect him.”

“What are the odds he’ll end up a vegetable?” I asked.

“This isn’t a transfiguration spell.” Wong said brushing off my concerns.

“Maybe I should have waited for the other guy.” I mumbled.

“Please take a step back.” The Ancient One said as she and Wong got into position and
started moving their arms in sync as glowing symbols and rings appeared on the floor around
Odin.

More and more symbols appeared as they lifted off the ground and spun closer and closer to
Odin.
“What is happening!?” Odin shouted in fear.

“It’s okay, just close your eyes. It’ll be over in a minute!” I called out.

The rings started spinning faster and faster making strong gusts of wind blow around the
room as the ring started getting smaller and smaller crushing together into Odin.

Just as fast as the wind started it disappeared. Odin was hunched over in his seat.

“Odin?” I said slowly approaching him. I heard him groan as I helped him sit up. “Are you
alright?”

He groaned opening his eye before glaring at me sharply.

“You.” He growled.

“Odin.” I said not sure he had his memories back.

Before I knew what was happening he grabbed me by the neck and had stood up choking me.

“Odin!” I choked out digging my nails into his arm and trying to hit his arm as hard as I
could. I felt my head and back hit something hard and everything went black.

For a second there I thought I had died again but when I opened my eyes I wasn't falling or at
the bottom of the pit. I was still in the Sanctum. The room was wrecked and some of the
furniture was destroyed but I was still in the same universe.
I was lying on the floor and Wong was standing over me, looking down at me.

“You’re awake.” He said.

“Yeah.” I said touching my very sore and probably very bruised neck.

“Hold still.” Wong said moving his hands as he started another spell the floated around my
head. The pain slowly disappeared and I could swallow easier.

“Thanks.” I said sitting up. “I’m guessing it worked?”

“I’d say so.” The Ancient one said offering me a cup of tea.

“Where is he?” I said taking a small sip of the tea.

The Ancient One and Wong exchanged looks.

“Please tell me you didn’t kill him?” I said.

“He is unharmed.” Wong said. “But… he’s gone.”

“What?” I said hoping I was hearing wrong. “What do you mean he’s gone?”

“Odin has recovered his memories and chose to leave.” The Ancient One explained.

“And you let him go? He tried to kill me, he’s obviously not in his right mind.” I said.
“He was taken by surprise but once the All Father got his bearings he realized where he was
and what had happened.” The Ancient One said.

“So he’s back on Asgard?” I asked.

“Not exactly.” Wong said.

“The All father chose to leave and did not wish to return to Asgard. He remains on Earth.”
She said. “He had a specific place in mind where he wished to reside.”

“Strap on your sling ring and take to him.” I said.

“He does not wish to be followed.” She said.

“I don’t care what he wants. He’s the boss of Asgard not of me.” I said. “Take me to him.”

“His orders were very clear.” Wong said. “His mind was made up.”

“An hour ago he decided he was going to eat nothing but pudding for the rest of his life and
was going to convince Betty White to marry him.” I said. “For all we know his brain is swiss
cheese. Take me to him.”

“I cannot.” The Ancient one said.

“Wong.” I said.

“His orders were absolute.” Wong said.

“Fuck his orders. I did not spend the last 2 days trying to jog his memory for him to almost
kill me and then ditch me. Put the ring on and get me a portal to him now!” I ordered.

“As you wish.” The ancient one said opening up a portal at my feet making me fall through
the floor.

I expected to land in Norway but instead I was on the street in front of the Sanctum.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I shouted running up the steps to bang on the door but
another portal opened up and I fell back onto the street. “I like the other version of you
better!”

There was no way in hell Odin was going to get away with this.

I needed answers and I was going to get them.

 Chapter 43

The only thing I had going for me at this very moment was the fact that the Ancient One and
Wong and for that matter Odin didn’t know that I knew exactly where he was hiding.

Norway.

My only problem at the moment was how I was going to get there.

Natasha and Clint had gotten me a new birth certificate, IDs and anything else I needed to get
by but I hadn’t gotten a passport. I couldn’t get a flight without one and I couldn’t ask them
to get me one without them digging into why I needed one.

I was walking down the street back to my apartment while I deliberated my options.

Getting a fake passport was not like getting a fake ID. You couldn’t go to any random you
found off the internet or public park bathroom. It had to be from someone that knew what
they were doing.

Someone only someone with the right contacts could find.

Kind of like the guy that forged my new identity… and the identity Clint and Natasha
probably had hidden away in my emergency escape stash at Grand Central Station.

Yes!

I turned around and switched lines. Within 10 minutes I was walking into Grand Central
Station. I kept the key to the locker with me at all times especially with the threat of Hydra
looming over us.
I popped open the locker and pulled out the duffle bag which was lot heavier than I was
expecting. If I was going to be on the run shouldn’t I travel light? I looked around making
sure there was no one around before I unzipped the bag. Inside there was a gun, ammo, wads
of cash… Just guessing there were probably a couple hundred thousand in here in different
currencies from Euro’s, dollars, pesos, Canadian dollars… finally I dug out the zip lock
baggie with a couple of different identities in it. Some for Clint and Natasha and few for me
including…

“Jackpot.” I said taking out the perfectly forged passport. “Thank you, Clint and Natasha.”

I quickly tucked the passport as well as a wad of dollars and euros since the first thing anyone
would do once they realized I was missing would be to track my bank and credit cards. Cash
couldn’t be tracked.

Everything else I placed back in the locker and locked it before going on my way. I hope this
was the first and last time I ever had to open that locker. As much as I enjoyed hearing Clint
and Natasha’s work stories, I didn’t want to live them.

“Jarvis what’s the earliest flight to Norway?” I asked as I got onto the empty subway car.

“The earliest direct flight leaves tomorrow night from JFK at a quarter to midnight.” Jarvis
informed me.

“Not soon enough. Find me the fastest way to Norway.” I said before I remembered the
magic word. “Please.”

“Might I suggest a private direct flight.” Jarvis asked.

“Nice try buddy, but this is on a need to know basis and they do not need to know.” I said.
“Flights?”
“If you do not mind a layover in London, you could be in Oslo tomorrow night in time for
dinner.” Jarvis informed me.

“Good enough.” I said. “Don’t put it on the company card or on Tony’s, I’ll pay cash once
we’re at the airport just put a hold on it.”

“Your flight leaves at half past midnight.” Jarvis said.

“Just enough time to get to the loft, pack and get to the airport.” I said walking faster.

The clock was ticking and I didn’t waste a second of it. I quickly pulled out the duffle bag
and started piling in the warmest clothes I had. Then I remembered something. This was the
exact same bag Natasha had put a tracker on.

“Shit.” I said taking everything out. That was the only bag I had that could work as a carry
on. I didn’t want to waste time by having to wait in line to check a bag. I just had to find the
tracker and take it out. It should be easy enough. It was either in the bag or… ah! Tucked into
a small tear along the seam.

I had no way to know if it was still active. I could flush it down the toilet but if Natasha was
still monitoring it’s location which was a possibility if I flushed it down the toilet and it
started moving quickly through the New York Sewage system, that might raise some flags.
For the time being keeping the tracker at the loft was the best option. So I stuck it in an
empty vase in the living room.

Packing went fairly quickly after that. It didn’t even take too long to pick a good outfit for a
long flight. I opted for a pair of fleece lined joggers, a heather grey knit sweater, some
sneakers, and a black wool wrap trench coat.
Once I triple checked I had everything and that I had the details of my passport memorized I
opened the door to walk out but there was some standing there about to knock.

“Tony!” I said practically caught in the act.

“Hey you. Going somewhere?” He said eying the duffle bag in my hand.
“Nope, just putting this away.” I said quickly shoving the bag in the coat closet. “What are
you doing here?”

“I was in the neighborhood thought I’d stop by… Check in…” He said trying and failing to
sound nonchalant. It was obvious he wanted to look inside. “I brought burgers.”

“Shake Shack. You actually waited in line.” I said.

“Of course not. Happy did.” Tony said still waiting for me to let him in.

“Why not.” I said opening the door to let him in. I had some wiggle room. And whatever was
in the bag smelled amazing.

Tony smiled as he sauntered in, taking it all in.

“This is a nice place. Big and with a view.” He said sounding slightly disappointed. “Not as
great as the tower…”

“30 seconds, I thought you’d make it to at least a minute before bringing it up.” I said
grabbing some plates.

“It’s been almost a week. You can come back now.” Tony said.

“No.” I said.

“Hanna…” Tony groaned. “I’m trying here…”

“I know you are.” I said. “But you’re not going to get it. That’s not your fault. It’s just the
way things are here.”
“We can go back to therapy?” Tony offered. “I have a few leads on some couples therapists?”

God I kind of wish I had recorded that. Tony Stark volunteering to go to therapy. Never
thought I’d see the day where I didn’t have to trick him into getting help.

“Therapy isn’t going to help this.” I said. “It’s not your fault.”

“Then tell me what it is so I can fix it.” He said. I looked at Tony closely for the first time in
days and it was obvious he hadn’t been sleeping, probably hadn’t been eating either. It
wouldn’t surprise me if the next time I walked into the lab there were a couple of new suits
standing around.

“Hey.” I said putting my hand on his. “This isn’t on you. There isn’t anything for you to fix.”

“Then come back to the tower.” Tony said. “I’ll make a new protocol, I’ll put in better super
soldier proof locks, just name it and it’s yours.”

“It’s not about that.” I said. “I need to figure some things out. By myself.”

“And you could do that at the tower.” Tony said.

“No I can’t and you know it.” I said.

“How are we going to figure out things out?” He said putting his burger down.

“As cliché as this sounds, it’s not you, its me.” I said finishing my burger.
“You’re breaking up with us?” Tony said. “I knew it.”

“Breaking up implies there was a formal thing going on here and we can both agree there
wasn't.” I said.

“Uh… Are you sure about that because I vaguely remember there was a thing that almost
happened… you know burgers, picnic on the hood of my car with a nice view? Any of this
ringing a bell?” He said.

“Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I don’t know.” I said. “That’s the sort of thing I’m working
on figuring out.”

“It’s not that complicated.” Tony said.

“It actually is. Like a lot.” I reiterated. “It doesn’t make sense to you, because again it’s not
on you.”

“Maybe it should be.” Tony said.

“It’s not your job to fix the world or me.” I said. “Just go home, keep doing what you were
doing and I’ll keep working on things here.”

“For how long?” Tony said.

“I don’t know. Something should click eventually.” I said. “It only took 27 years last time.”

“That’s not helping.” Tony said.

“I was trying to lighten the mood.” I said. “It’s been a really long day.”
“What did you do today?” Tony asked.

“Caught a magic show.” I said.

“Magic show?” Tony said confused.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. You can’t trust wizards.” I answered.

“If you say so.” Tony said still looking confused. “Guess you probably wouldn’t want to
come back for movie night?”

“I’m beat. Maybe another time.” I said.

“Tomorrow?” He asked.

“Too soon.” I said.

“You’ve got to give me something blondie.” Tony said.

“I let you in.” I reminded him.

“It is a nice place. How’d you find it?” He asked.

“Internet.” I said with a shrug.

“Want to narrow it down?” Tony asked.

“No.” I said bluntly. “I’ll be back in the office next week but I’ll be working off site if you
need me. As you can see I’m still getting settled.”

“You look pretty settled.” Tony said looking around.

“You haven’t seen my bedroom.” I said.

“Is that an invitation?” Tony asked with a smirk.

“It’s getting late, you don’t want Happy waiting out there all night.” I said.

“Right.” He said getting up. “You know I can come by and install Jarvis, maybe a few more
locks… just to make this place safer.”

“No need.” I said opening the door for him.

“How’s the cell reception? I don’t think you’re getting my messages.” Tony insisted.

“Oh I got them.” I said. “Night.”

With that I closed the door and sent him on his way.

“Jarvis call me a cab.” I said.

“Your driver will arrive in five minutes.” Jarvis said.

“Perfect.” I said opening the closet door and grabbing my bag before shutting off all the
lights and locking up behind me. Due to me taking a red eye flight the line to board was not
as long as other flights. Even my surprise dinner guest couldn’t make me late.

Once we landed in London, I had a couple of hours to kill until my second flight to Norway. I
grabbed a coffee and found a nice little corner to hide out in. Until I got bored and decided to
check what the weather was like in Norway. Low 30’s and high 20’s all week long.

My knit cardigans and jeans were not going to hold me over very well. Especially if Odin
was not going to make it easy for me.

Lucky for me duty free shopping was also a thing in this universe.

I picked up some merino wool layers and other essentials, even some comfortable hiking
boots. It pays off to travel light. Just as I was wrapping up my phone started ringing.

Who could possibly be calling me right now?

Oh right, as Tony’s assistant I was on the clock 24/7.

“Go for Hanna.” I answered as I finished checking out.

“Hey.” Steve said.

“Aliens, Nazis, or Evil robots?” I asked making the cashier look at me strangely.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Someone once said the big three villains were Aliens Androids or Wizards but for you it’s
more like Aliens, Nazis, or evil Robots. So in which category does your crisis fall under?” I
asked signing the receipt before taking my bags.

“Ask her.” Someone said to him.

“Uh are you home right now?” Steve asked.

“No, I’m doing some shopping.” I said. Well that wasn't a complete lie.

“In New York?” Steve asked.

“Of course, where else would I go shopping?” I said. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason, Tony’s just doing some updates and for some reason Jarvis said you were in
Europe.” Steve said.

“It’s probably a glitch.” I said. “That’s what happens when you’re overworked and don’t
sleep.”

“I heard that.” Tony said because it was already obvious the phone was on speaker.

“That was the point.” I said. “As annoying as it is that you two are trying to stalk me, it is
really nice that you’re getting along.”

“We weren’t stalking…” Tony said.

“Yes you were.” Natasha said before the overhead speaker in the airport went off.
“Attention Passengers of Air France flight 1181 London to Bordeaux this your final boarding
call. Please make your way to gate 21, the doors will be closing shortly.” The announcer said
before repeating the announcement in French.

“What was that?” Steve said.

“Oh, TV display. Comes with a great theater system.” I said. “Well, I still have a couple of
stops to make, stay out of trouble and Tony go to sleep before you blow something up. Bye.”

With that I quickly hung up. That was a close call.

Back in New York…

“We all heard that right?” Tony asked.

“It could have been a TV.” Steve said trying to give Hanna the benefit of the doubt.

“Air France Flight 1181 from London to Bordeaux is about to takeoff from Heathrow
Airport.” Natasha said flipping her phone around to show Steve and Tony the flight tracker
app.

“She lied to us.” Steve said.

“No shit.” Tony said. “Why would she go to London? How did she even get there?”

“How’d who get where?” Clint said walking in with Thor and Bruce.
“Please tell me you didn’t?” Bruce asked already knowing the answer to his question.

“Do what?” Thor asked.

“I didn’t track Hanna, I just asked Jarvis if she was at her place because I wanted to pop over
and install a security system and he said she was in London.” Tony said.

“So Jarvis was wrong.” Clint said.

“He wasn't.” Natasha said. “She’s in London. At an airport.”

“London? Jane lives in London. I’m sure Hanna would love to meet Jane.” Thor said.

“No, for so many reasons.” Natasha said shutting down that idea before Thor made things
worse.

“How would Hanna even get to London?” Bruce asked.

“A plane?” Steve said.

“How would she get on a plane? She doesn’t have a passport? She reminds me every time I
suggest we go on vacation.” Tony said.

Clint and Natasha exchanged looks.

“She doesn’t have a passport right?” Steve asked them.

“You don’t think she’d…” Clint asked.

“How else would she get there?” Natasha asked.

“Anyone want to share with the class?” Tony asked.

“We didn’t give Hanna a passport. It would have taken longer than her ID and birth
certificate.” Natasha said.

“But the emergency go bag we stashed for her does.” Clint said. “And enough money to go
anywhere she wants to disappear and start over.”

“Hanna would not disappear.” Thor said.

“She moved out.” Natasha said.

“Would she have answered the phone if she was trying to disappear?” Steve said.

“If she was trying to buy herself some time.” Clint said.

“Guys I don’t think Hanna is running away. When we talked she just wanted space. I didn’t
get the impression she wanted to disappear.” Bruce said.

“It wouldn’t be the first time. She left entire life behind, moved to a new universe and started
over.” Natasha said.

“Jarvis stop trying to lock me out!” Tony said trying away on his phone.
Hours Later - Oslo, Norway

The second I stepped out of the plane my face went numb. Apparently the weather in Oslo
did not get the memo that it was almost spring and that the sun was supposed to be out.

Oslo was hours away from Tonsberg and the best way to get there would be by train. At the
moment though I just wanted to regain feeling in my face again.

I found a hotel and check in for the night. I even splurged and ordered room service.

That reminded me I was going to have to replace the cash I took from Natasha and Clint’s go
bag.

I could add it to my list of things to figure out later. Compared to this, paying them back
would be easy.

Odin himself would not actually be in Tonsberg. Maybe one of the smaller towns or villages
nearby.

All I had to go by was the scene of him sitting on that log looking over the cliff to take in the
view of the future site of Asgard which could be multiple places in the fjord surrounding the
city.

It had to be isolated, somewhere he wouldn’t be bothered or noticed. Definitely not on one of

the advertised hiking trails in the area.

That’s not taking into the account he could be using a spell to make himself invisible.

I really hope that wasn't the case.

I want this over and done with.

I want to go home.

I want to stop feeling like anytime I take one step forward I’m going to end up taking two
steps backwards as soon as I set my foot down.

I want answers.

I need answers.

So I spent most of the night looking up photos of the fjord and maps trying to pinpoint the
most likely places I could find him.

By the time the sun was out again I had about 5 potential spots marked on my phone’s GPS.

I had another 5 marked by the time the train arrived at the station in Tonsberg.

If it were up to me I would have hit the trails the second my feel were off the train.
Unfortunately my day job needed some of my attention.

Someone, *cough Tony *cough, thought the foundation it was a good time for the foundation
to do some fundraising. The anniversary of the Battle of New York was coming up and his
PA helping plan that excuse for him to have a party feel to me.

So there I was in a random café in Norway trying to get the head of marketing, our publicist
and event planner to agree on what the event should be.
“A gala would raise more money, especially if the heroes of the battle…” Shauna, the
publicist with a bob to rival that of Anna Wintour said.

“No.” I said shutting down that idea. “Due to timing constraints and job responsibilities
there’s no way to make sure they would all actually make it. Also you want to have a gala the
same week of the Met Gala?”

That reminded me, I should make sure Tom Ford could still dress Tony for the event.

“June would work better, it would give us more time.” Brianna, our publicist said. “We could
have smaller events, a luncheon, conference, have Tony promote the foundations work.”

“Would Mr. Stark be okay with that?” Lindsay asked.

“When has Tony ever said no to a party?” I retorted. “Alright. We need to start small. I’m
going to reach out to SI, see what Pepper’s availability is to pinpoint dates so she can actually
make it to at least one of these events. I want a list of venues, themes, and what branch of the
foundation we’re going to be promoting.”

“We’ll put something together for you.” Lindsay answered before logging off.

With that I went back to planning my next move.

Days Later…

Theo had always wanted to take Jamie camping. He said there was something peaceful about
communing with nature and getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

And for the first three days it was peaceful.

The fresh air, the sun and trees. It was beautiful. No wonder Odin chose to hide here.

But by day three the bone chilling air, the annoying birds chirping the constant
disappointment of not finding said king of jerks.

My blisters had blisters at this point.

I was half way through the trail I had decided to pick for the day when my phone started
ringing.

Say what you want about Tonsberg but the cell reception is amazing.

“Hello?” I said

“Hey you.” Tony said.

“Please tell me you didn’t destroy the lab.” I said.

“As I've every time you ask that, there are no fires at the tower.” Tony said. “We have a
meeting with PR today? Does that mean you’re back?”

“I’m going to video conference in.” I said.

“Are you ever going to come back?” Tony said. “Because people are starting to wonder if I
even have an assistant anymore.”

“If they were actually asking that I wouldn’t have to answer so many emails every day.” I
retorted. “And don’t even think about ditching the meeting with Brianna. This gala was your
idea.”
“I thought it’d get you back here sooner. Where are you anyway?” Tony asked. “You sound
out of breath.”

“I’m on a hike.” I said.

“You’re on a hike? Since when do you hike?” Tony asked.

“I’m communing with nature. I heard its good for you.” I said.

“And where exactly are you hiking?” He asked.

“Stop trying to track me. It’s still very creepy. Huge red flag.” I reminded him.

“People get murdered in the woods.” Tony said.

“Not as often as they do in the city.” I retorted.

“Even more of a reason for you to move back in. We can have you moved back in before
dinner.” Tony said.

“No. I’ll see you in a few hours.” I said hanging up.

I took a breath before continuing on my way to, yet another bust.

I was running out of leads. I forced myself to walk down the streets of Tonsberg back to my
hotel for my meeting. It was quiet as people went on their way.
There weren’t a lot of tourists around but that didn’t stop some of the shops from trying to
sell souvenirs.

It was at the coffee shop I stopped at to try and warm myself up a bit that I spotted a postcard
by the counter. A post card with a photo of a cliff overlooking the ocean and with some irony
thrown in, a rainbow arching over the fjord.

“Oh shit.” I said.

“Pardon me?” The shop owner said.

“Sorry… uh… where is this?” I asked.

“Those are the cliffs out past the Gullkronen.” He said. “Those trails are closed this time of
year. It’s too cold and easy to lose your way. They won’t open to tourists until the summer.”

“I’ll take the postcard too.” I said paying him before making my way out of the shop. I pulled
out my phone to look up this Gullkronen.

Quiet, isolated, a rainbow that was possibly the famed rainbow bridge of the Bifrost.

And the literal translation of Gullkronen was The Golden Crown.

That had to be it.

It was only noon. If I moved quickly I could get to the cliff and bring Odin back in time for
dinner and I could go back to civilization or at the very least somewhere with habitable
weather.
It didn’t take me long to realize why the Gullkronen was closed until summer. The trail was
very steep and while it wasn't snowing the marine layer was coming in and the grass was
frozen making it extra slippery.

“Uh…” I groaned falling on a patch of grass and my phone started ringing. I tapped my
earbud twice to answer the call. “Speak.”

“Someone’s not in a good mood today.” Clint snarked.

“I have been better.” I said getting back on my feet.

“What’s going on?” Clint asked.

“Stupid gala, PR, emails, not to mention it’s freezing.” I said.

“Really? It’s actually really nice out.” He said. “Was thinking of maybe going out, catching a
movie? Interested.”

“It’s not a good time.” I said looking up the hill and realizing that I may have to do some
climbing.

“We haven’t really seen you lately.” Clint said. “We’re actually kind of worried you’re
avoiding us. Nat thinks you’re running away.”

“Would I be answering the phone if I was running away?” I retorted.

“You would if you were buying yourself some time to disappear.” He said not beating around
the bush.
“Where would I even go? I don’t know anyone outside of New York.” I reminded him
grunting as I climbed up a rock and stated pulling myself up the side of the hill.

“I don’t know? Europe?” Clint asked.

“If you already know where I am why are you asking Clint?” I said.

“I know you’re going through some stuff and I don’t get. I don’t think any of us get it and
I’m sorry, we’re really trying here just… don’t give up on us.” Clint said. “We’re trying.”

“Clint, I appreciate it really and we can definitely talk about it when I get back. I’m not
entirely sure when that will be but… I am coming back.” I said. “And now I need to hang up
because this hike just turned into a climb. The universe hates me.”

“Since when do your rock-climb?” Clint asked confused.

“Since now.” I said hanging up.

Thor is so damn lucky he will never have to put up with my sperm donor.

So I climbed and walked and climbed some more. then I slipped and rolled down the hill
before climbing back up again.

The sun was starting to set when I finally made it to the top.

Low and Behold, there he was.

The current bane of my existence and hopefully the answer to my current existential crisis.

The old coot didn’t even turn around to look at me. He sat on that log and took in the view.

“You…” I said panting as approached him and sat down on the log overlooking the cliff, not
waiting for Odin to offer me a seat. “are not… an easy guy to track down.”

“That was meant to be the point.” Odin said finally glancing over at me. “The sorceress
swore to me she would not reveal my location to anyone. Including you.”

“And here I thought we were bonding.” I retorted. “She didn’t say anything. I already knew
where you were going. It’s pretty, the weather sucks but it’s a great view.”

“I don’t want you here.” Odin said bluntly.

“That’s great because I also don’t want to be here.” I said getting on the same page. “But I
need your help so you’re stuck with me.”

“Why would I help you?” Odin scoffed.

“Because for some insane reason the universe decided to make me your son’s soulmate.” I
said as Odin stared at me in disbelief. “Yeah I know, I don’t get it either. He’s great. Thor is
great, it’s just… it doesn’t make any sense.”

“And you expect me to help me make sense of your insanity?” Odin said.

“No… yes… partially.” I said before pulling my phone out and to show Odin the scanned
copied of the Asgardian fable. “I spent 26 years believing that I was born defective. I
couldn’t see color. I knew what it was but no idea what it was supposed to look like and then
I fall into this world and everything just lit up. It was overwhelming, and amazing and
honestly I thought I was dead because there was no other possible explanation for it.”
“I remember that feeling.” Odin said. “The world came to life.”

“I guess you could say that, except Loki had just tried to invade New York so, the world
wasn't so much alive as it was a wreck.” I explained. “I woke up in a movie, a made-up story
my son used to love watching and then as if things weren’t weird enough Tony Stark breaks
me out of SHIELD, buys me a burger and tells me he’s one of my six soulmates. Where I’m
from soulmates don’t exist. The one person or in my six people in the entire world that it for
you but that’s not the way life works. It doesn’t make sense.”

It was quiet for a moment before Odin started laughing.

“It must be humbling for my son to be fated to a mortal that does not return his affections.”
Odin said.

“I wouldn’t go that far…” I defended.

“I do not understand. If you care for my son and wish to be with him as he wishes to be with
you, why are you here?” Odin said.

“Your son cares for me but I don’t know if he actually cares for me or if he cares for me
because we’re soulmates and he’s supposed to.” I said. “In another world he’s supposed to
end up with Jane Foster.”

“Thor is rather fickle.” Odin said.

“Which bring me to you and this.” I said showing him scanned photo of the story of his
parents. “Are soulmates really soulmates? Where does free will factor into all of this? Is any
of it real?”

“Mother and Father.” Odin said staring at the photo on the phone.
“The Original Soulmates.” I said.

“The first soul bonded by magic.” Odin corrected. “Soulmates have existed since the
beginning of time. Mother and father were not born soulmates, they were made to be.”

“Made to be meant to be.” I said. “You can see why I might have some trouble with the
whole concept.”

“Soulmates are a very real powerful thing.” Odin said. “I was a very different man before I
met Frigga.”

“The conqueror, with his executioner daughter right by his side.” I said.

“A consequence of that union.” Odin said.

“Consequence?” I asked confused.

“The basis of all magic is altering the balance of life and nature.” Odin said. “When the faes
and witches bonded my mother and father’s souls they took that bond that love from
somewhere… someone else resulting in an all-powerful being that only craved death and
destruction.”

“Hela.” I said. “The goddess of death.”

“By the time I realized the monster I had created it was almost too late.” Odin said.

“What changed? You were on top of the world. The nine realms were yours to do with as you
please.” I said. “And you just changed your mind one day?”
“I met my queen.” Odin said. “The first time I laid eye on her, it was as if I was seeing a new
world and it was not one I liked.”

“Death, destructions, people suffering. Wouldn’t be the first world.” I retorted.

“It wasn't a world worthy of Frigga.” Odin said. “I wasn't worthy of Frigga.”

“Normally I’s say it’s horrible to choose your new girlfriend over your own daughter but…
given the circumstance, I think you get a pass.” I said. “Frigga’s great. Definitely balances
you out but that’s a lot to put on a person. She's the reason you went from warmongering to
maintaining peace in the nine realms.”

“Is that what bother you? Being a burden on my son?” Odin said.

“If Frigga had never come along, would you have stopped Hela?” I asked.

“Perhaps, Perhaps not.” He said.

“That’s not an answer.” I said.

“It is, just not the one you are looking for.” Odin said.

“It isn’t healthy for one person to be your everything the way everyone here thinks their
soulmate is.” I said. “It’s just supposed to magically work out and everything is supposed to
be okay just because you found your person? It’s their job to fix me and even if it was some
things can’t be fixed.”

“Thor isn’t the problem. You are.” Odin said bluntly.

“No shit.” I said bluntly. “I’m not even supposed to be in this universe. I was supposed to die
when I hit the pavement and stay dead.”

“Yet here you are.” Odin said.

“And I keep dying.” I said. “The universe changes but it’s the same thing again and again.
They keep looking at me, waiting for me to wake up one day and just fall into line because
the fact that they are who they are is supposed to just fix everything but it won’t. I am beyond
saving and they don’t see it or I guess I should say they can’t.”

“Love is not easy.” Odin said.

“Is it really love though?” I said. “You either stay with your person or you self-destruct.
That’s not love. It sounds more like toxic co-dependency.”

“Have you never loved before?” Odin asked. “Family?”

“I have a son but it’s not the same.” I said.

“Is there anything he could say or do that would make you stop loving your child?” He asked.

“No.” I said without hesitation.

“Is it impossible to believe that someone else could love you enough to do the same for
you?” Odin asked.

“Life has proven that wrong time and time again.” I answered. “I know they care, but it’s not
real. They care because I’m their soulmate and they feel like they’re supposed to. It didn’t
happen naturally; it wasn't some meet cute on the subway. I fell from the sky and it happened.
I happened.”

“Such is life.” Odin retorted with a shrug.

“No one in this universe gets it. If soulmates were not real, would they still feel the same way
about me as they do now?” I asked.

“The only one that can answer that question would be you.” Odin said. “This is the only
world we know, it’s the only way we know to live.”

“I spent 3 days trying to talk sense to you, got punked by a personified fortune cookie,
followed you half way across the world, hiked across Norway in the middle of winter, lost
feeling in my toes and finger, almost died falling down climbing up this frozen fjord only for
you to tell me that only I have the answer to all of my problems?” I said annoyed.

“You were warned I did not want to be found.” Odin said. “It’s your own fault.”

“Odin!” I shouted. “While you’re here hiding away from your kids, Loki is making a mess of
the nine realms and slowly bringing about Ragnarok.”

“Ragnarok was always meant to happen.” He said. “All things must end at some point.”

“You’re talking about the destruction of your world.” I said.

“Asgard is not a place, it’s the people.” Odin said.

“A lot of people die too!” I said. “Volstagg, Fandral, Hogan, your guards, anyone who
happens to run into your daughter. Thor is going to lose an eye.”
“And perhaps that will help him see more clearly.” Odin said.

“No, no no! This is not happening.” I said. “Obviously the hours of mindless television did
some brain damage or you’re having a mid-life crisis either way you are getting off your old
wrinkly ass, going back to Asgard, and you’re going to put your palace back in order.”

“I have made many mistakes in very long life, but this is not one.” Odin said.

“Trust me it is, and if you’re not going to listen to me, you’re going to listen to your wife.” I
said looking up to the sky. “HEIMDALL! OPEN THE BIFROST OR GET ME THOR!!!”

“He will not hear you.” Odin said standing up. “Not here.”

“Then I’ll call Thor.” I said taking out my phone but Odin placed both of his hands on mine
firmly but gently.

“I never expected you off all people to be the one to stand against me on this.” Odin said. “I
understand why the fates bonded you to my son. Perhaps one day you will as well but Thor
cannot know I am here, Ragnorok must happen, and no one can know.”

“Too bad, you may be okay with people dying but I’m not.” I said.

“Which is why you will never be able to find me or remember.” Odin said putting a hand on
my head and it was like my head was being split open.

“Ah!!!” I groaned as I experienced the past couple of weeks in reverse but the details got
fuzzier and fuzzier until there was nothing.

“May the gods watch over you and forgive me for doing what must be done.” Odin said.
“What?” I asked confused before Odin put a hand on my chest and pushed me over the edge
of the cliff.

“Ah!!!” I shouted before I hit the rocky bottom of the cliff and the pulled me under. The
world went dark as I started falling down that very familiar pit.

And once again I hit the very dark wet bottom.

 Chapter 44
Chapter Notes

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay, things got a big hectic at work with the end of the year and at home.
I was literally working non stop and only came home to shower and sleep. Things are
finally winding down and i finally found some time to do some writing.

I promise we will see some progress... maybe kind of soonish.

Hanna's a bit of a mess. She's working on it.

Anyway here is a new chapter.

Sometimes I think that me constantly dying even when I don’t want to is karma for trying to
off myself the first time. I had no intention of dying until I was old, grey, and senile. Now it’s
like I can’t even cross a street without getting run over by a bus, or getting mugged, or having
a house fall on me, and now a demigod threw me over a freaking cliff.

I should have left him….

I should have left him…

Where the hell should I have left him?

That was going to be a problem.

When I first started coming back, I could have sworn I was going to wake up in a hospital.
They all smell the same. Sterile and clean but in an artificial overly strong smell.

“Ah!” I sat up coughing up water.

“Turn her on her side!” Someone shouted and I felt someone’s grab me and force me to face
the side of the bed. Someone else pulled my hair out of my face as I coughed up the water I
had drowned in.

“Ugh…” I groaned. “I hate drowning.”

“Here drink.” Someone said.

When I finally looked up I saw that it was Clint and Natasha.

“I have never been happier to see you two.” I said hugging them tight.

“UH…” Clint said tensing trying to get out of the hug

“You’ve known us for like five minutes.” Natasha deadpanned patting my back awkwardly.

“Huh?” I said pulling away only to realize that this Clint was missing an arm and this
Natasha was not as social.

“I think you’re confusing us with someone else.” Clint said.

“Murderbots took over your world?” I asked.

“And then you brought us here in the middle of an alien invasion.” Natasha said.

“Oh…” I said. “Did you guys win?”

“Barely.” Clint said as I sat up and took a closer look at his eyes.

“Well no creepy blue eyes, so safe to say you’re not brainwashed.” I said.

“That happened in your world too?” Clint groaned.

“Yeah.” I said.

“What happened to you?” Natasha said.

“Uh… that’s actually a really good question.” I said rubbing my eyes. “I remember going to
the airport and then everything gets kind of fuzzy. Sort of like a light flickering. There was a
lot of walking, some climbing, I was talking to… Odin and… then the asshole pushed me
over a cliff. Crap, I was doing so good at staying alive.”

“There’s always next time.” Clint said.

“It took me over 20 times to get back last time.” I said getting back on my feet.

“You’ve died 20 times?” Natasha said.

“No, it’s actually way more than that. I lost track.” I said. “Alright, one of you want to point
me in the direction of a roof, or I guess I can try a gun. Whichever’s faster.”

“You sure you don’t want to take a break, maybe eat something first?” Natasha asked.

“Oh no, that’s not a good idea.” I said. “It won’t travel well. Roof?”
“Down the hall to the right, take the stairwell all the way up.” Natasha said.

“Thank you.” I said walking out of the room.

About 10 Deaths Later…

My landing at the bottom of the dark pit did not get any softer the more I did it. In fact it was
starting to feel like each time I was here it took me longer to get pulled up again.

“Hanna…” the distorted voice sang.

“Who said that?” I asked.

There was no answer other than a clicking sound and the water dripping down on the wet
floor.

I could barely see anything but there was something moving in the dark. A shadow.

The clicking sound got closer.

“Hanna…” The voice sang almost taunting me.

I turned as I felt something brush past me.

I heard a splash of water before I got yanked up again.

When I woke up again I was alone in a park. It was early in the morning and it was cold and
foggy.

I saw a couple running along the path.

“Excuse me?” I called out.

“Another drunk passed out in the park.” The woman scoffed ignoring me as her boyfriend
moved her behind her.

“I told you we should have taken our chances at the rose garden.” He said.

“Dick.” I cursed still feeling a bit stiff, probably from the rigor mortis.

Then I realized something, there was only one universe I had been in where that type of jerk
was the norm and if I was in that universe there one place I needed to be.

So I ran without letting anything stop me. I ran through the streets, through alleys and finally
down my block, just in time to see a very family messy dark blonde-haired boy walk out of
his building.

“Dad hurry up…” He called out.

“One minute.” Theo called down.

“We’re going to be late.” Jamie whined.

“At least he’s not hogging the bathroom.” I said getting his attention.
Jamie turned around dropping his backpack.

“Mom!” Jamie shouted before tackling me in a hug.

“OH!” I groaned as he hugged me tight.

“You know you’re rushing me but you forgot your…” Theo said coming out before spotting
us.

“Honey, I’m home.” I said still hugging Jamie.

“Mom’s back!” Jamie said.

“She sure is.” Theo said hugging me. “You look like a hobo.”

“Rough trip.” I said. “Are we walking to school?”

“We’re actually late. Shit.” Theo said checking the time on his phone. “I have a thing…”

“I can walk Jamie to school.” I offered.

“Really?” Theo said almost surprised I offered.

“It’s not like I haven’t done it before.” I said taking Jamie’s backpack and putting in his lunch
pack.
“You sure?” Theo said as I took the backpack out of his hand.

“Of course. I got him. Go before you miss the train.” I said.

“Thank you.” Theo said giving Jamie a hug and kissing the top of his head. “I’ll see you after
school, be good, learn something!”

“Alright buddy, catch me up. What have I missed?” I asked as we made our way to his
school.

“They opened up a new boba place.” Jamie said.

“Another one?” I asked.

“Uhuh.” Jamie said. “They also sell chicken fingers.”

“Weird combo.” I said.

“They taste like fish.” Jamie said.

“We’re never going there.” I said. “You in the mood for a donut?”

“It’s too early, maybe after school?” Jamie asked looking at me strangely almost as if trying
to gauge my reaction.

“Good call.” I said. “Have I missed anything big?”

“Not really. Just the same old same old.” Jamie answered.

“Same old, same old huh? I could use some of that. I could really, really use some of that.” I
said.

“Mom?” Jamie said snapping me out of my daze.

“You have no idea how much I missed you.” I said ruffling his hair.

“Missed you too.” Jamie said hugging me as we got to the school. “Are you picking me up?”

“If you want. Your dad looks like he’s busy.” I added. “Picking up those extra shifts?”

“Second job.” Jamie corrected.

“That’s your dad for you.” I said. “I’ll be here. 2:30?”

“2:30.” Jamie confirmed before running into the school as the bell rang.

I waited until Jamie was inside and out of sight before heading back to the apartment. It’s not
like I had anywhere else to go.

This universe had not changed at all, even now that I could see it in color. I knew how to get
into the building by wiggling the doorknob on the front door counterclockwise one and one
quarter of the way before pulling it to get in without a key. The third step on the stairs was
slightly higher than the others and the fifth step was wobbly. Lastly I knew that we always
kept a spare set of keys in the planter in the hallway in case we got locked out.

“Home sweet home.” I said as I walked in. The place was… “Ugh…”
There was a stench that could only be described as sweaty feet and… whatever the heck died
in the kitchen sink.

“Boys.” I said almost slipping on a dirty sock.

I did not feel so bad about how bad I looked and probably smelled right now. The question
now was, do I clean myself up before or after cleaning up. That questioned answered itself
once I saw what a mess the bathroom was.

There had to be something going on with Theo because there was no way he would just let
things go like this. I washed dished, cleaned out the fridge, deep cleaned the bathroom, did a
couple of loads of laundry including the linens and bedsheets.

I was putting away the clean clothes in the closet when I found a letter hidden in Theo’s
underwear drawer.

“UCLA?” I said opening it up. “Huh.”

Meanwhile – Universe 616

“Anything?” Steve asked looking over Tony’s shoulder as he worked on his tablet trying to
get a ping on Hanna’s last location.

“Same answer as when you asked me two minutes ago. Natashalie and Legolas just had to
teach her how to stay under the radar.” Tony cursed. “Or that Jarvis is still running
interference.”

“Is there another way to track her?” Steve asked.

“Got her!” Clint said running in.

“You did?” Tony and Steve said surprised.

“How?” Tony said. “I can’t get a ping on her bracelet.”

“I wasn't tracking her bracelet. I looked at the security feed at Heathrow, found her and
followed from there.” Clint said. “After she hung up on you and she did some shopping.”

“Duty Free.” Tony said.

“Hanna didn’t stay in London. She got on a flight to Oslo.” Clint said.

“Norway?” Steve said suddenly more alert. “Where in Norway did she go?”

“What’s in Norway?” Bruce asked looking between Steve and Tony.

“Nothing.” Tony said. “Why would she want to go to Norway? Sure the fish is great but the
land of Vikings doesn’t really seem like something Hanna would be interested in.”

“Nat’s working on pinging her exact location from her cell phone.” Clint said.

“Got her!” Natasha said running in with Bruce and Thor. “She’s in a town called Tonsberg.”

“Out of all of the places she could have run away to, she chose Norway?” Tony said still in
disbelief.
“Maybe that’s why she chose Norway.” Bruce said as everyone turned to him. “It’s the last
place anyone would ever think to look for her.”

“That’s not it.” Steve said finally putting two and two together. “We need to go there. Now.”

“What happened to we need to wait it out? We need to be patient and let her come to us?”
Tony mocked.

“Tony there’s a reason she’s in Norway.” Steve said.

“Guys…” Clint said looking at Natasha’s hair. “Nat’s hair isn’t red anymore.”

“Shit.” Natasha said starting at Steve and noticing that his blue shirt and eyes were now gray.

“Jarvis get the quinjet ready.” Tony said throwing aside his tablet. “And pack my suit.”

Back in Universe 1218 -

I spent most of the morning trying to make the apartment habitable again. Three hours in I
gave up on that and settled for making sure the health department wouldn’t condemn the
apartment. I could try again tomorrow.

Once I was out of the shower I dug through the closet to put together an outfit for myself. I
found a few of my old things. A black button up dress and a pair of sneakers that still fit. I
cleaned the sneakers so that you could tell they were white. By the time I was done it was
almost time to pick up Jamie. It was a bit chilly out so I grabbed Theo’s denim jacket and
rolled up the sleeves.
I got to the school a few minutes before the final bell rang. Theo was already there and was
surprised to see me.

“You’re here.” He said.

“I did promise Jamie.” I said. “I would have called but I lost my phone.”

“You tend to lose a lot of stuff.” Theo said looking me up and down. “Is that my jacket?”

“I got cold.” I said stuffing my hands in the jacket pocket. “I didn’t have time to cook
anything so I was thinking we stop by for burgers or something and maybe a quick grocery
run on the way back?”
“Sure.” Theo said as Jamie ran out of the gate and gave me a hug.

“Hey bud.” I said returning the hug.

“Good day at school?” Theo asked.

“We’re having a field trip!” Jamie said.

“Fun, where to?” I asked glancing at Theo and knowing we were both hoping for the same
thing; a free museum day trip. Here’s hoping the school was cheaping out on us.

“The Observatory!” Jamie said. “We’re going to see a laser light show!”

Shit. That was easily going to be $30-50. Enough to throw off the budget. I wonder if the
school accepted credit cards.

“Sounds fun buddy.” Theo said forcing a smile to hide how much he was freaking out as he
mentally crunched the numbers.

“You up for some burgers?” I said.

“In-N-Out!” Jamie said running.

“Fuck me.” Theo said.

“Breathe.” I said looping my arm through his and pulling him along. “We’ll figure it out. We
always do.”
“Things are a little tight right now.” Theo said.

“Things are always tight.” I reminded him.

“They are but inflation is not helping.” Theo said.

“Oh what a bitch.” I said making him laugh.

“Yeah, what a bitch.” Theo said before he started laughing making me laugh.

“We’ll come up with a plan, but for now let’s go stuff our faces while we still can.” I said.

“I think Jamie has a free burger certificate he got last month for perfect attendance.” Theo
said.

“I can cover this one. Let’s save that one for when we’re back to living on instant ramen.” I
said.

“So next week?” Theo retorted.

“We’ll figure it out.” I reassured him as I thanked myself for taking Tony’s credit card with
me when I went to find Odin and the fact that it seems to work in other universes for some
weird unexplained reason.

I know that I was very fortunate that Tony despite putting up a very self-centered egotistical
was very generous and since I had crashed into him, he had… for lack of a better word
spoiled me. He was very generous with the people he cared about even if he didn’t make it
obvious, he was doing it. I had a pretty good life in New York. I never worried if I was going
to be able to afford rent or my next meal there. Though I have to say even the best restaurants
couldn’t come close to the run-down diner down the street from the apartment.
I don’t know if it was the sticky floors, the lead-based paint chipping off the walls or the fact
that the health department shut this place down every six months before it reopened under a
different name but no gourmet Michelin award winning fries could compare to the Chili
cheese fries at Sweeney’s diner.

“Um…” I moaned as the melted cheese caressed my tastebuds.

“They don’t have chili cheese fries in… Where did you go again?” Theo asked.

“Haiti, and no they did not.” I said. “It’s the little things you take for granted. Eat the tomato
and lettuce.”

“But it’s squishy.” Jamie complained as he picked it off of his lettuce.

“Mine isn’t, trade you for your pickles?” Theo said.

“But that’s the best part.” Jamie whined.

“Pickles are not the best part of a burger.” I said. “It’s the bun and the cheese.”

“That’s a grilled cheese.“ Jamie deadpanned.

“Exactly.” I said biting my meatless hamburger.

“You’re such a weirdo.” Theo said teasing me.

“So what’s new with you?” I asked.

“Oh nothing much.” Theo said.

“Really? Nothing at all? Not even a fishy chicken boba shop?” I retorted.

“As if we really needed another boba shop around here.” Theo said.

“Over saturated market.” I said shaking my head.

“You know what we really need around here?” Theo said.

“Affordable grocery store? Laundromat? Rent Control?” I retorted.

“Yes, yes and god yes. But what I was really going to say is an all day breakfast place.” Theo
said.

“You really think we need another overpriced brunch place?” I said. “We can barely afford
rent as is.”

“Not a brunch place, an all-day breakfast place.” Theo said. “Nothing fancy. Just eggs, bacon,
sausages, omelets or burritos hell maybe even cereal, coffee and juice but all day, all night.
Breakfast whenever you want.”

“Like Denny’s” Jamie said.

“And those IHOP’s that are open 24 hours.” I added.

“Norms?” Jamie said.

“No not like those.” Theo said.

“And this place.” I said.

“Not like this place, I meant a place where the food is actually good.” Theo said making the
waitress and the cook at the table next to us clear their throats. “Like you’d be eating here if it
wasn't free.”

“Yeah this place is a real shit hole.” The waitress wiping the counter said.

“My point.” Theo said gestured around him.

“I think the only point you made was that we desperately need some groceries so we don’t
have to eat here again.” I pointed out.

“Can we have a sushi night?” Jamie asked.

“I don’t know…” Theo said.

“We have to check if they have good tuna at the store first.” I said.

“And avocados, and carrots so it’ll be healthy.” Jamie listed and Theo tried his best to hide
how much each new item on the grocery list twisted the knife stabbing his wallet.

I dragged them both to the closest grocery store and get everything we could possibly need
and then some. Theo and Jamie were hesitant to grab anything. Jamie only grabbing one
apple putting it in the cart and asking if he should get more. Theo picked up a can of soup put
it back then picked it up again and put it back.
Then when we were at the register, he tried to put things back but I stuck the card in the chip
reader before he could argue.

“You didn’t have to do this.” Theo said.

“I’ve seen your fridge. I really, really had to.” I said as we lugged everything from the metro
station back to the apartment. “Besides, I’m like months behind on my child support
payments.”

“True.” Theo said opening the door to the apartment.

“Dad, I think we’ve been robbed!” Jamie shouted once we got inside.

“What?” Theo said.

“No buddy, this is just what the apartment looks like when it’s clean.” I corrected.

“You cleaned?” Theo said looking around surprised while also checking where I put all of his
things.

“Someone had to.” I said as I started unbagging the groceries and putting them away.

“The bathroom’s white again!” Jamie cheered making Theo laugh.

“I also did a couple of loads of laundry.” I said. “Including the sheets.”

“Did I mention how happy I am to have you visit?” Theo said. “Because I’m so happy you’re
here.”

“I know.” I said with a smirk. “Alright where’s my sous chef, no way I’m going to roll all the
sushi by myself.”

“I’m washing my hands.” Jamie called out.

“With soap.” Theo and I reminded him.

I kept Jamie busy in the kitchen while Theo paid his bills and took some time for himself on
Youtube and TikTok.

“Alright bud, I’ll finish cleaning up, you get ready for a shower.” I said.

“Do I still need to use my shower sandals if it’s clean now?” Jamie asked.

“I would just to make sure you don’t slip. We need to get a new bathroom matt.” Theo said.

“I’ll stop by the 99 cents store tomorrow after we drop your off at school.” I said.

“The 99 cents store closed.” Jamie said walking into the closet to get his Pjs and towels.

“What?” I said.

“Yeah, the company went bankrupt. They all closed a few weeks ago. It was all over the
news.” Theo said.
“Seriously? Damn inflation’s a bitch.” I said. “Is the off brand one still open?”

“It’s a family dollar now.” Theo said. “and it’s open for now. Just don’t buy any snacks or…
clothes… stick to the bathmat and nothing else.”

“Do I want to know?” I asked.

“Look it up on TikTok.” Theo said watching and waiting for Jamie to close the door to the
restroom and start the shower.

“So, you’re going to drop off Jamie at school tomorrow?” Theo asked in Spanish.

“Is that a problem?” I asked continuing in Spanish.

Years ago when Jamie was learning to talk and become more aware of some of our more
adult conversations and we still thought we were only going to be temporary guardians, we
realized that the best way to have private conversations while living in close quarters was to
switch to a language we never taught our son.

In hindsight, it was not the best long-term decision for Jamie. Being bilingual would have
looked great on his college applications.

“No, it’s great I just… didn’t know how long this layover was going to be.” Theo said. “Don’t
they need you in… Haiti?”

“I wrapped up in Haiti.” I said. “And I haven’t received an assignment yet. I was thinking of
sticking around for a bit, you know if you’ll have me?”

“Of course we can squeeze you in.” Theo said looking like he wanted to say something but
deciding against it.
“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, just the usual things that pop up.” He said.

I wanted to bring up the admissions letter I had found earlier but decided against it. He was
tired and now was not the time. Besides I think I needed to get a better idea of what was
going on around here.

“There’s an easy fix to that.” I informed him.

“Margaritas?” Theo asked.

“No it’s a school night and you have work tomorrow. Doesn’t mean we can’t get chocolate
wasted.” I said pulling out a pint of ice cream from the fridge.

“There really is nothing chocolate ice cream can’t fix.” Theo said pulling out the spoons.
“Just make it quick, if Jamie eats any ice cream he’s not going to fall asleep.”

Back in Universe 616 -

Tony and Natasha spent the hours during their flights hacking through Jarvis’ safety firewalls
to finally get a more accurate ping on Hanna’s cell phone. The signal led them outside of
Tonsberg.

“This is the place?” Steve asked.

“Are we sure?” Clint said sticking his hands in his pockets as he tried to stay warm.
“This is where the signal is coming from.” Tony said from his suit.

“Hanna came all this way?” Thor asked. “There’s nothing here.”

“Not to mention it’s freezing. She puts on an extra sweater if the thermostat is under 75 and
won’t go outside of it rains but this is where chose for her vacation?” Clint pointed out.

“Not sure we can call it a vacation.” Natasha said.

“Signal’s coming from over there.” Tony said pointing toward a large cliff.

“That’s more of a climb than a hike.” Steve said.

“Or we could just fly?” Tony suggested.

“You and Thor go ahead. We’ll go on foot and see if we can find anything down here.” Steve
said.

“Hurry up Pointbreak.” Tony said flying away. Thor quickly spun Mjolnir and followed after
him.

“What should we be looking for?” Natasha said.

“Any hint as to why Hanna would be here.” Steve said looking around trying to see anything
that looked like what he had seen in the movie.

“I think it’s pretty obvious. She wanted to get as far away from as possible.” Clint said.
“Probably but, why Norway?” Natasha said looking at the ground and kicking a few leaves
aside. “There are better places to be that are farther away.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple. Nothing with Hanna ever is.” Steve said deep in thought.
“When I was in Hanna’s world she let me see one of the movies. The one about me in the
40s. The movie started with Hydra and the Red Skull invading Tonsberg and finding the
Tesseract.”

“That was over 70 years ago. Hanna said we won’t find it again until next year.” Clint said.

“Maybe, or maybe there’s a reason the Tessaract was here to begin with.” Steve said. “They
should have left that thing in the ocean.”

“We found something.” Tony said via their comms.

“Hanna?” Bruce asked.

“Her phone.” Tony said.

“She must have fallen as she tried to climb up.” Thor said swinging his hammer and flying up
to the top off the cliff.

“Thor wait!” Tony said flying after him.

Thor was ready for a fight but when he got to the top and he looked around he saw there was
nothing there. At least that’s what it looked like to him.

Odin watched his son look straight through him. If it had been Loki he would have easily
seen through the illusion he had casted. Magic had never been Thor’s best subject.
“There’s nothing here.” Tony said. “It’s a nice view.”

“You think Hanna would try to climb up here to watch the sunset?” Thor asked.

“I don’t know Thor. I don’t know what goes on in her head. I don’t think even Hanna knows
what goes on in her head.” Tony answered with a sigh. “My old man used to say that the
moment you think you know what's going on in a woman's head is the moment your goose is
well and truly cooked.”

“Your father was a wise man.” Thor said in agreement.

“That’s debatable.” Tony said.

“Anything up there?” Steve said over the comms.

“Nothing. All clear.” Tony said with a sigh.

“We still haven’t checked her hotel room.” Natasha answered. “Maybe she left something
there to tell us why she came here.”

“It’s worth a shot.” Clint said.

Universe 1218 – One Week Later

When Theo said that things were bad, he was not kidding. He only had $30.00 in the bank to
make it to his next paycheck in 2 weeks.

I immediately went into damage control and started seeing where we could cut corners. That
was hard to do when you were cutting every corner you could to begin with.
“How the hell did things get this bad?” I asked late one night after Jamie had gone to bed.

“They cut my hours, rent went up, bills went up, everything went up.” Theo said. “I’m
looking for another job…”

“You’re already working two jobs. Another one isn’t going to help.” I said going through the
spreadsheet. “Okay here’s something. If you cut down on your student loan payment, it
should give you a bit of wiggle room…”

“I thought about that but the interest rates would kill me later.” Theo said.

“I’m not saying quit paying just send in the minimum until things settle down.” I said.

“That is the minimum.” Theo deadpanned.

“What the fuck?” I said picking up the statement. “Whoa!”

“Yeah, Uncle Sam is taking his sweet ass time forgiving my student loans.” He said.

“We’re not even middle class, we shouldn’t be getting screwed over this badly.” I said. “And
they raised the rent on this place? Legally this place doesn’t even exist.”

“Gentrification.” Theo said as if that explained it.

“Alright, it’s going to be tight but we’ve been through this before. I have some cash saved up
and that should hold us over for a month or two.” I said. “Jamie loves PB & J Sandwiches,
he’ll love it.”
“I’m sure our ten year old that can tell the difference between sushi grade tuna and the frozen
stuff we get at ALDI will love that.” Theo groaned. “I’ll call Lana and see if she can hook me
up with a few catering gigs. They’re mostly a few hours at night on the weekends so I can
swing them. Plus cash tips.”

“And what about Jamie?” I said. “You can’t leave him alone.”

“I don’t want to but… it’s a few hours at night.” Theo said with a shrug.

“It’s a few hours at night in our neighborhood.” I reminded him.

“Bad idea.” Theo said. “I’ll figure it out.”

“We’ll figure it out.” I corrected him.

“Will we?” Theo said.

“Yes. In the meantime I’m going to Zelle you some cash so you don’t get hit with an
overdraft fee in case autopay kicks in early.” I said grabbing the laptop and logging into my
bank account.

“I’m failing as a dad aren’t I?” Theo said.

“Your dad was a homophobic asshole who kicked you out at 17 when his attempt to ‘fix you’
failed and mine was a negligent abusive asshole who’s solution to every problem was to
either scream at it, drown himself in alcohol or hit me with his belt or whatever he could
throw at me. Being poor isn’t a crime or you failing as a parent, it’s just a rough patch. We
will figure it out.” I said.

“You’re being weirdly calm about all of this.” He said.

“You know the golden rule.” I said.

“Always say please and thank you?” Theo teased.

“We can freak out, we just can’t freak out at the same time.” I reminded him.

“You never freak out.” Theo said.

“I time my freak outs for when I’m alone in the shower where no one can hear me.” I said
with a smile.

“That’s really fucked up.” He said.

“It’s either that or hiding under the bed.” I answered.

“I remember the first time I saw you do that. I had to get a tetanus shot.” Theo retorted before
yawning. “I think I’m ready for bed.”

“I’ll take the couch. I’m going to stay up a bit longer, see if I can find a few work arounds.” I
said.

“Don’t stay up too late, you promised Jamie pancakes.” Theo said patting me on the shoulder.
“Good Night.”

“Night.” I said waiting for Theo to slip into the bedroom and close the barn style doors that
separated the bedroom from the apartment. They were a pain to get into the apartment and
install but they did come in handy.
It was good to get some rare modicum of privacy in this apartment. It also gave me a chance
to do some light snooping.

Theo was still logged into his email account and it was easy to guess his password. He had
used some variation of the same one he had always used, a mash up of Jamie’s name and all
of our birthdays.

I thought I’d have to scroll all the way down going through each individual email but Theo
was just as meticulous as I was about keeping things sorted. He had saved all the emails in a
separate folder labeled UCLA-TRANSFER.

It was months ago during the first time I landed back here with Steve that Theo had reached
out to the admissions office about applying. He had gotten his transcripts, taken a few general
education courses at a community college before applying as a transfer and he had gotten in.

By the looks of it he had received the admissions email a few weeks ago with his financial
aid offer.

Tuition had definitely gone up and while financial aid could cover a part of it would still
leave him with a big chuck to pay out of pocket. Not to mention the overpriced textbooks.

I kept looking through the folder and found an email asking about the possibility to defer
admissions for a year but that was not an option for a transfer student. It was literally now or
never.

This news could not have come at the worst time for him.

I took a breath before I opened up my bank information to see if I could move some things
around. I did have some savings, I even had a bit saved up in my retirement account thanks to
my old job in Big Pharma.
I went onto UCLA’s website and started looking at their options to see how I could make this
happen.

Days Later…

It took a few days, a very long commute via public transit which has not gotten any better,
some heavy networking and some light snooping but I was going to make it happen.

Theo had ignored what I had said and had taken an extra job working for a catering service.
He had been getting home late.

“Hanna!” Theo called storming in and running up the stairs.

“Hi honey, how was your day?” I said popping open a pair of beers for us.

“What did you do?” He said.

“Besides make your favorite dinner because I am sure today was a great day for you.” I said
grinning.

“Don’t you… wait you made lasagna soup?” Theo said.

“There’s enough for leftovers too.” I said.

“You… Ugh!” Theo said turning around only to notice Jamie was asleep. “You. Me. Roof.
Now!”

“Don’t forget your beer.” I said taking mine and following him upstairs.
Theo was fuming all the way up to the roof and once we were there I took a seat in a pool
chair we had left up there for when we grilled in the summer while he continued to pace
around.

“You… I can’t believe you!” Theo exclaimed

“Did something happen today?” I said playing coy.

“Oh don’t play dumb and blonde with me, you know what you did!” He said.

“I’ve done a lot of things lately but no idea what I could have done to make you this angry.” I
said.

“You paid my tuition!” Theo shouted. Technically Tony’s credit card paid for Theo’s tuition.

“Oh that!” I said “Happy Early Late Birthday!”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” He said.

“You don’t look happy, why aren’t you happy?” I said.

“Where do you want me to begin? The fact that you hacked my email, snooped through my
things and went behind my back to do this?” He said.

“I wouldn’t have had to snoop if you had told me you got into UCLA. Which by the way…”
I said reaching out and pulling out a vintage college t-shirt with the school name and logo.
“Congratulations Bruin Class of 2024, I promise not to hold it against you that you betrayed
our old team.”
“This is nice really but, you need to get your money back. I can’t do it.” He said. “It’s not a
good time.”

“Yeah you can. It’s done. Tuition from now until your graduation is fully paid for.” I said.

“How… Where did you get the money?” Theo said.

“Big Pharma pays really well. I had a really healthy savings account.” I said.

“You had a year’s worth of tuition in your bank account?” He said in disbelief.

“And in a few other rainy-day funds.” I said.

“Well that’s really sweet of you but I still can't do it. I can’t stop working. There are still bills
to pay and…” Theo started hyperventilating.

“And I will take care of it.” I reassured him.

“I know Big Pharma pays well buy there’s no way you have that much money saved up.”
Theo said.

“I don’t but my job comes with full benefits and a very nice salary, and I’ll be doing some
freelance project managing work which will hold us over until you graduate and get the job
you deserve.” I said.

“You got your job back?” He said.

“Apparently I’m almost impossible to replace. Even after I quit on short notice.” I said.

“What about Steve and helping the needy in Haiti, Thailand, or wherever you were?” Theo
said.

“The world will still be a mess in a year and it’s not going anywhere. Steve should have it
handled until I get back.” I said. “For the most part. You need me more.”

“I can’t let you do this.” Theo said. “I mean you’re finally traveling the world like you
always wanted to and you’re the happiest I've ever seen you.”

“I’m happy here too. I missed you guys, it felt like something was missing. Besides we had a
deal remember?” I said. “You dropped out of school to work full time and supported me
while I finished, and I was supposed to do the same for you. It’s my turn now. I owe you this
and I want to.”

“It made sense, you had an internship and headhunters fighting over you…” Theo said.

“And so will you.” I said. “Your dreams matter just as much as mine. So, stop arguing, put on
the damn t-shirt and scream to world that you’re not a college dropout anymore.”

“I’m really going to back to school.” Theo said tearing up.

“Not just any school, you’re going to UCLA.” I said offering him the T-Shirt again and this
time he took it and started crying.

“I got into fucking UCLA!” Theo shouted as finally accepted it was happening.

“You got into fucking UCLA!” I said crying with him.

“I’m going to UCLA!” He shouted.

“You’re going to UCLA!” I shouted.

“Are you sure?” Theo said.

“Yeah. It’s a year, the world can wait a year.” I confirmed.

It was one year. I owed Theo and Jamie and everyone that. Besides it’s not like I was making
any progress in New York or even…. Where the fuck was I?

Yeah, that is going to annoy the heck out of me. The girl with perfect recall can’t remember
where the king of Asgard pushed her over a cliff or why he even did it.

I guess that was going on the list of things I needed to work on this year.
 Chapter 45
Chapter Notes

HI Everyone,

Please enjoy this extra long chapter. It's the longest one so far.

Before reading please read the following trigger warning:

-Implied referenced Child Abuse

-Implied referenced Child SA
-crappy parents
-implied reference suicide attempt

Hope you're all well. Can't wait to see what you think.
Enjoy :)

And that is where my yearlong montage started… (Insert nostalgic 80’s upbeat song here).

June

My alarm would wake me up every morning to the tune of Mr. Blue Sky where I would jump
in the shower first before getting dressed and waking up Theo and Jamie.

Theo was working part time and getting a head start in school by taking a few summer
courses. Jamie was on summer break so he got to go to the free day camp the local
community center was hosting for a few hours.

They were desperate to keep me so I managed to negotiate a hybrid schedule. I worked half
the day in the office and the other half I was home with Jamie. This freed up my schedule so I
could also do my freelance work.
In no time it was just like the good old days. We were a perfectly synchronized well-oiled
machine.

There were a few hiccups along the way. Mostly us having to commute to and from work
using LA’s public transit which had somehow gotten worse. It really made me miss New
York even with its massive rat problem.

July

One month and I caved. I gave into the temptation and bought a car. Not a new one, but a
certified pre-owned one I saw on sale online. I had enough left over from my new hire bonus
to pay it off in full.

Jamie and I decided to surprise Theo by picking him up at school.

He tried flipping him off when we honked at him but once he saw us his jaw dropped.

“What the hell Hanna?” Theo said.

“Do you like our new car?” I asked.

“You bought a car?” He asked. “You can’t even drive. Wait, when did you learn to drive?
And how did you get the DMV to give you a license when you’re color blind?”

“Steve taught me a few work arounds besides this isn’t for me.” I said tossing him the keys.

“You bought me a car?” Theo said. “You bought me this car.”

“I call it Pikachu.” Jamie said smiling. We had never had a car before and the last time he
was in one

“The name fits. Why yellow?” Theo asked.

“Why do you think it was so cheap?” I retorted.

“They really wanted it off the lot.” He said.

“I got them to bring down the price and give us 2 years of free oil changes.” I said.

“Can we even afford it?” Theo asked.

“We’d spend the same on gas as you do on Metro passes now.” I said.

“Pikachu I choose you.” Theo said taking the keys. “You know what this means right? You’re
officially an old mom because this is an old mom car.”
“You’re the one driving it.” I reminded him.

“Does this mean we can go on a road trip now?” Jamie asked.

“Why do you want to go on a road trip?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Jamie said. “We’ve never been on a real vacation.”

“We’ll see buddy.” Theo said deep in though. Man that kid was getting good at guilt tripping
us. “Though a road trip would be the best way to break in Pikachu.”

“I’ll think you’ll be sitting in enough traffic as it is.” I teased.

August-

“So where to first?” I said putting down a map of the US. “Here to Cabo, Vegas and Back, or
should we go old school go to the Grand Canyon?”

“Uh… I have a better idea.” Theo said with a smile.

Five and a half hours later blasting the AC in the car to the hightest setting we drove into a
tunnel.

“Dad are we there yet?” Jamie complained. “I feel ants in my foot and butt.”

“Almost.” Theo said.

“Are we?” I asked also in desperate need to stretch a bit.

“Yes.” Theo said it’s just on the other side of this tunnel. “Just get ready for thing you’ve ever
seen.

“Dramatic much?” I said as we came out and damn, that was a great view.

“Whoa!” Jamie said.

“Now that is a view.” I said.

“Can’t get that in the city.” Theo said.

“I’ve never seen so much green before.” Jamie said. “And it smells so clean.”
“That’s called fresh air.” Theo said. “And our first stop. The next stop is going to be even
better.”

“Let’s see if we even make it through the night.” I said.

“Don’t be such a sourpuss.” Theo said. “You’re going to love it.

Five hours later…

“I don’t like it.” Jamie said swatting a mosquito off his arm.

“I really don’t like it.” I said getting eaten alive by mosquitos.

“You’ve lived in third world countries.” Theo said.

“They have mosquito nets there.” I retorted.

“It’s just one night. Just listen to the sounds of the forest.” Theo said and it was quiet until we
heard a howl in the distance. “Did that sound like a wolf?”

“There aren’t any wolves in California.” Jamie informed him.

There was another howl and it sounded like more than one animal.

“Probably a coyote.” Theo said.

“Do coyotes eat people?” Jamie asked. Theo and I exchanged looks.
“Uh… not sure but just to be safe how about we sleep in the car instead of the tent?” I said
getting up as Jamie did the same.

“Oh relax chances are it’s more afraid of us than we are of it.” Theo said.

“Well let us know how that goes.” I said ushering Jamie into the car.

“Come on Hanna, don’t be a chicken.” Theo said as we unlocked the car and moved the seats
down to make some extra room.

The coyotes howled again, a bit closer now.

“Scoot over.” Theo said jumping into the car.

“Come on dad, don’t be a chicken.” Jamie teased.

“Safety in numbers.” Theo said.

The following morning we headed out but this time we took plenty of breaks. We stopped by
a variety of roadside attractions such as Toad Hollow, the eternal tree house, and a bunch of
other random tourist traps that Jamie loved. We got him a novelty T-shirt from every place
(On sale of course).

We could never afford to take our kid to Disney world, or Europe or any other cool vacation
spot but now he could never say that he has never been on a vacation.

It took us longer than we were expecting but we finally made it to Redwood National Park.
Between the 2 national parks I had been two they were both amazing but Redwood National
park was my favorite.

“They’re so big.” Jamie said looking up at the giant redwood trees. “There’s no way anyone
could climb them.”

“They are the tallest trees in the world. Thousands of years old.” I said.

“Yeah, but you two are missing the point.” Theo said. “Do you guys have any idea where we
are right now?”

“Redwood National Park.” Jamie and I said at the same time.

“No… well yeah but… just let me tell you a story of a long time ago in a galaxy far far
away.” Theo said waiting for us to suddenly be amazing at nothing.
“These are really nice trees.” I said.

“Really red. How come other trees aren’t red like this?” Jamie asked.

“It’s a mix of the composition of the soil the salt in the air and genetic makeup of the tree.” I
said.

“Guys, stop being nerds. We’re in Endor!” Theo said.

“Endor?” Jamie asked confused as I started looking around.

“This is Endor.” I said finally making sense as to why my dork of a best friend dragged us all
the up here. “We’re in Endor!”

“Endor!” Theo cheered.

“What’s Endor?” Jamie asked confused.

“A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewy and an adorable
bunch of Ewoks helped take out the Galactic Empire and saved the universe. Right here.”
Theo said.

“This is where they made Star Wars?!” Jamie said getting excited.

“No.” I corrected. “This is where George Lucas got the idea for Endor.”

“They should make this place a national landmark.” Theo said.

“It’s a national park.” I reminded him.

“They should rename it Endor National Park.” Theo suggested.

“A little late for that.” I said.

“This is awesome!” Jamie cheered.

We marked the occasion by buying Jamie t shirt with the tagline, I went to Endor and all I
got was this shirt.

There was no denying it, he was definitely our kid.

It was a memorable trip and the beginning of a new tradition for the three of us. Taking
random little weekend road trips when we all had time. Which ended up being once a month
or every other month depending on how much time we had.

The end of our vacation marked the end of summer and also marked 3 months since I had
returned to my old job, which meant that my health benefits finally kicked in.

September

The first thing I did when my calendar reminder popped up on my phone that morning was
start looking for a good therapist. Traveling and looking for the son of the first soulmates or
should I say the first soulmates bonded by magic was a dead end. Literally.

So maybe the answer wasn't out in the multiverse or in history or some loose end. Maybe I
had to do some work on myself and dig deep. Really deep. I did some research and looked
for a good therapist. One that wouldn’t jump straight to loading me up with drugs.
Lucky for me the Elaine of this universe was in my health insurance’s network and she had
an opening the next day.

Early the Next Morning…

It was a little freaky to be back on the same couch almost 2 years later. It was also freaky that
the Elaine of this universe was not at all like the coastal hippie grandma therapist I was used
to working with.

This Elaine was more polished, keeping her hair up in a tight bun. Instead of layers of knit
cardigans and boho chic dresses she wore pant suits, tailored dresses, blazers and heels or
loafers.

The office was not eclectic and cozy with throw pillows and poofs and scattered little trinkets
or small geodes and crystals. It was aesthetically pleasing composed of different shades of
neutrals with a backdrop of a dark blue wall and dark wood furniture.

“Alright Hanna. What brings you in today?” Elaine said sitting down in her chair.

“Uh… It’s not my first time in therapy.” I said.

“Obviously not if you already went ahead and booked another session at the same time and at
the same day for the foreseeable future.” Elaine said. “You must be going through something
pretty big if you’re already assuming we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.”

“You could say that.” I said.

“Alright, tell me your story.” She said picking up her pen.

“Guess I should start by warning you I’m a bit of a mess.” I said.

“I used to work with convicted murderers and drug addicts so I doubt anything you throw at
me will surprise me.” Elaine said. “Hit me with it.”

So I did with some obvious embellishments and creative liberties so I wouldn’t get sent to the
looney bin.

“It went on for a while and life just kept piling it on. It became more and more obvious that I
was alone, no one depended on me and frankly everyday would be the same with or without
me so what was I sticking around for. So I tried to kill myself.” I said.

“And do you still feel that way?” She asked.

“No. Life sucks, but there are some bright spots, you just have to hang on long enough to get
to them.” I said. “Weirdly trying to kill myself and hitting rock bottom was kind of what
helped me get back on track, or at least in that direction. I took a break from work and
everything. Traveled, met some people and then life happened again. My sister in law is away
forever. I made amends with my best friend, we’re raising our kid together and things are
okay again.”

“Just okay?” Elaine asked.

“I mean, better than before. I’m not going to lie and say that my life is exactly what I always
thought it’d be and that I’m happy. I don’t think true happiness actually exists. It’s just a few
moments sprinkled around that come and go.” I said.

“That’s a very nihilistic view of the world.” She said. “Have you always felt like this?”

“It’s not a feeling, more like a fact.” I stated.

“What was your childhood like?” Elaine asked.

“Already going after the parents. At least buy a girl dinner first.” I retorted. Elaine looked at
me before clicking her pen and jotting down some notes. “My childhood was not a Disney
movie. My dad was not a Mufasa, my mom was not a fairy god mother.”

“You must be close to your brother if you’re raising his kid for him.” Elaine said.

“I wouldn’t be raising MY son if my brother was the type of person that actually showed up
and took responsibility for his actions.” I clarified.

“I feel some resentment there.” She said.

“There’s no resentment. Good riddance. Theo’s a better father than Greg would have ever
been.” I said.

“And are you a better mother than your son’s birth mother?” Elaine asked.

“Grace set the bar really low.” I stated. “I’m not perfect but I’m here and I try. That’s half the
battle.”

“Alright Hanna, our hour’s almost up and I haven’t figured it out so I’m just going to ask.
Why are you here? What are you trying to get out of this?” Elaine asked.

“I need answers.” I said.

“To what question?” Elaine asked confused.

“Still working on the question. Maybe it’s not a question, it’s more of a situation.” I said.
“Could you… elaborate?” Elaine asked gesturing for me to get on with it.

“While I was traveling I met some people that I got close to. Kind of like a group thing and I
got pretty close to some of them. There may have been the beginning of a situationship, I
mean I’m not sure. According to him it was but it wasn't… and I mean, there was something
there but I’m not sure if it was real. Does that make sense?” I asked.

“No but continue.” Elaine said.

“I’m not sure if the things he was feeling were truly his or him just acting on what everyone
was expecting of him.” I said.

“And what did you feel?” Elaine asked.

“I don’t know.” I said.

“You said it was a situationship. Meaning there had to have been something going on from
both sides.” Elaine said.

“I don’t know what I felt. All of this started right after I tried to end things permanently and
it’s been an ongoing thing since and I don’t know. I felt like they were all waiting for me to
just snap out of it and go along with it all and I just… ran away.” I said.

“When you say ran away…” Elaine asked.

“To another country. This country.” I said.

“Ah.” She said finally realizing the depth of how unsure I was about the entire thing. “Just
going off a couple of observation I think I can see a few things we should work on. For now
I’d recommend journaling. Maybe just try to think back to the beginning. Hindsight is 20/20.
Try to remember what you were feeling. See if there was anything you would have wanted to
do differently.”

“Great.” I said.

“I’ll see you next week.” Elaine said.

The Following Week…

“Tell me about your dating history.” Elaine asked.

“That’s going to be a short conversation. I’ve never been in a relationship.” I asked.

“You’ve never been on a date?” Elaine asked.

“I’ve been on dates but it’s never gone past the first or second date.” I clarified.

“What about Theo? You’re raising your son together.” Elaine said.

“I probably forgot to mention this last session but Theo’s gay. We have never been like that.
Like ever.” I said.

“Then how did you become your son’s dad?” Elaine said.

“Life. He was my best friend. We became roommates around the time I took on a more full
time role in Jamie’s life and we became a coparenting team.” I said.
“How old were you when this happened?” She asked.

“17 or 18-ish. It was freshman year of college.” I said.

“You willingly took on parenting responsibilities over your nephew at 17?” Elaine asked in
disbelief.

“It wasn't like that in the beginning.” I said. “At first it was me babysitting on weekends
while Grace worked. Then Grace started spiraling, she’d drop him off and disappear for a few
days… or weeks one time it was a few months. Then she just disappeared to work on herself
and we didn’t see her for years.”

“And Theo stuck with you through all of that?” Elaine said.

“Theo is a unicorn among men.” I said. I have never doubted how lucky I was to have him in
mine and Jamie’s lives.

“How’s Theo’s dating life?” She asked.

“It’s… sporadic?” I said. Theo didn’t really date so much as had flings.

“Has he ever had any long-term relationships?” Elaine asked.

“Uh… not that I’m aware of.” I answered.

“You’re both 27 or close to 28 and neither of you have ever been in a long term
relationship?” Elaine said.
“It’s hard to find someone that wants to stick around when you’re raising a kid at 17 and your
early 20’s.” I said.

“You found Theo.” Elaine retorted.

“That’s why he’s my best friend.” I said.

“I think you’re missing something very obvious here.” Elaine said. “You and Theo live
together. You share finances. You’re raising a kid together. Does that like something to you?”

“We’re a good team.” I answered.

“Hanna with the exception of the usual benefits, it sounds like you’re in a relationship and it
sounds like you’re been in a relationship for over 10 years. With Theo.” Elaine said.

I stared at Elaine wondering if she was being serious or trying to get me to loosen up but this
Elaine did not joke around which just made me laugh.

“Hahahahaha… Me and Theo? Oh wow… Hahaha.” I breathed out in between laughs.

”That’s… That’s good one.”

“I wasn't joking.” Elaine said.

“Elaine.” I said.

“Dr. Wilson.” She corrected pointing to the diploma.

“Elaine, I’m calling you Elaine because I feel like I know you and I’m working up to baring
my soul to you and I can’t bare my soul to Dr. Wilson, but I can to Elaine.” I said.
“Hanna.” Elaine said tapping her watch and urging me to hurry up.

“Elaine. Theo is a great guy but we’re just friends and more importantly, He’s gay.” I said.

“You’ve mentioned that more than once. What I was trying to say is that while you obviously
have no romantic feelings towards Theo, maybe you’ve never been interested in exploring
more because you have him.” Elaine said.

“No.” I said. “You’re married and haven’t been out there lately but, it is slim pickings. Dating
apps are horrible. Most guy’s idea of asking you out is sending a dick pic and it very obvious
when they photoshop to make themselves look bigger.”

“You may not have intentionally seen it that way but subconsciously…” Elaine said.

“No.” I said.

“Alright then, so how did you and Theo go from two strangers in a bar to raising a son
together?” Elaine said.

“He was having an identity crisis, I was feeling lonely so when he came up to me at the bar
and kissed me…” I started.

“What?” Elaine said.

“He wanted to figure out if he was gay or not. There was no romance there. In fact he broke
down crying after he did it.” I said.

“And instead of filing assault charges you became parents together?” Elaine asked. “You are
the most closed off person I’ve ever met, I’m having a hard time seeing how you go from
getting assaulted at a bar to living together and raising a son who I really hope does not take
after his father.”

“Okay assault charges… that’s fair and he did apologize profusely. Though part of that may
have been for how gross that kiss was. He did not have a lot of practice beforehand and the
tongue…” I said. “But he is a great guy and Jamie’s future partner would be damn lucky if he
took after Theo.”

“Why Hanna?” Elaine said a bit more forcefully.

“Because…” I said thinking back to that night and what I saw in Theo’s scared eyes back
then. “Because when I looked at Theo that day it felt like I was looking in a mirror and I was
seeing myself.”

“In what way?” Elaine said before her phone alarm went off.

“Guess we can pick up right there next week.” I said getting up.

“I’ll give you another 5 minutes on the house. Sit.” She said pointing at the chair.

“Is five minutes really going to make a difference?” I retorted.

“Does Theo know that you tried to kill yourself?” Elaine asked.

“Uh… No. It never really came up.” I said. “We have this rule to keep things together/stable
for Jamie. We can freak out, we just can’t freak out at the same time. When I went away he
held down the fort for Jamie. When I lost my scholarship because I was trying to work 2 jobs
while going to school full time and raise a kid he was the one who dropped out to put me
through school. He needs this time to just focus on the future he wants. If I unload on him
he’s going to want to switch and…”
“You’re a people pleaser. You want to fix everyone else’s problems but you won’t let them
return the favor. Something you and Theo obviously have in common.” Elaine said.

“I let Theo…” I started.

“I’m not done yet.” Elaine said. “You also have a habit of running away or avoiding your
problems.”

“I’m not avoiding so much as putting them on pause.” I retorted.

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Elaine said. I really missed hippie Elaine. “If there is
anyone in this world that should know that you tried to kill yourself before, it should be your
best friend whom you live with, in case you ever start to head in that direction.”

“I’m not doing that again.” I said. For at least another year anyway.

“You say that now but life happens. It’s going to be a tough conversation, a painful one and
uncomfortable and there are going to be feelings on both sides but it’s a conversation that
needs to happen.” Elaine said. “It’s obvious that there is no one that knows you better than
Theo. I’m still playing catch up and this may help you clear things up.”

“We weren’t talking back then.” I said.

“Even more of a reason for you to tell him.” Elaine said. “That’s your homework for the
week.”

“How do I even bring it up in a conversation? I was drunk when I told them and I didn’t want
to tell them, it just slipped out.” I said.

“Don’t do it drunk.” Elaine said. “See you next week.”

“Great.” I said heading on my way to pick up Jamie from school.

It took me two weeks of missed opportunities and Elaine nagging me before I managed to
find a time to talk to Theo. He had been swamped with schoolwork but finally one night that
Jamie fell asleep early and we were upstairs having a beer to cool off I got my chance.

“You know we should make the executive decision as the parents in the apartment that an
8:30 bedtime should be the norm.” Theo said.

“It should be until he starts waking up at 5am every morning.” I said.

“Uh… morning people.” He said sipping his beer. “He gets that from you.”

“Not the worst thing he could have gotten from me.” I said.

“I don’t know your super memory could come in handy when it’s time to take the SAT’s.”
Theo said.

“Uhuh…” I said. What I would give for that to not happen.

“So how’s work?” Theo asked.

“Oh you know just another day of big pharma ripping off the little guy.” I said. “But keeping
the fridge full is nice.”

“That is nice. Also, thanks for the suit. You really didn’t have to.” Theo said.
“That suit will pay for itself once you get your dream job.” I said. “Those heels you splurged
on senior year did.”

“Can I just say, I don’t know how you do it.” Theo said. “I mean a full time job, I don’t know
how many freelance projects you’re handling right now and then Jamie and holding things
down. I only lasted a few months before I imploded.”

“You didn’t implode. Times are tough.” I said.

“That hasn’t stopped you. I know your memory thing is your super power but, how you don’t
just survive under pressure but thrive…” Theo said sipping his beer.

“I wouldn’t really call it that.” I said.

“Seriously Han, I know I joke about you being the Robin to my Batman but really you’re
Wonder Woman.” Theo said sipping his beer.

“I tried to kill myself two years ago.” I deadpanned making Theo spit out his beer.

“What?” He said. “That isn’t funny.”

“I wasn't trying to be.” I said Theo looked me right in the eyes trying to see if I was joking.

“What the fuck?” Theo said. “How… why would you do something so god damn stupid?!”

“As it turns out, I don’t really thrive under pressure so much as internalize it until I can’t take
it anymore and uh two years ago, before we got Jamie back and before we started talking
again I got low and I mean really low. I didn’t have anything or anyone. There was no reason
to stick around and I just wanted everything to just stop.” I explained. “Obviously it didn’t go
the way I wanted it to… which I am very grateful for because once you hit rock bottom
there’s really only one way for you to go.”
“What the actually fuck Hanna?!” Theo said. “You’re supposed to be the smart one.”

“Yeah but I’m also the really screwed up one.” I said.

“The last time you started the whose more screwed up contest we blacked out and lost a
whole weekend so lets not go there.” Theo said. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t feel like jumping off any roofs at the moment.” I said and Theo gave me an annoyed
look. “I’m okay. The whole almost jumping made me realize that, I have a lot of baggage that
I’ve been avoiding dealing with most of my life and in the process I've developed some bad
habits, some self-depreciating, self-destructive, self-sabotaging.”

“You got all the big selfs.” Theo said.

“I've always been an overachiever.” I said making him laugh before he started crying which
in turn made me start crying. “I can’t help myself, it’s a real problem.” I said either laughing
or crying. I may have been doing both.

“You do not get to do that ever again.” He said. “I am fucking serious Hanna. I can’t do this
without you. You don’t get to die until we’re old and senile and Jamie’s changing our diapers
and even then I get to go first.”

“I don’t think we get to pick.” I said.

“I get to go first!” Theo said firmly.

“Old, senile, multiple hip replacements, and you get go first promise.” I said as we linked our
pinkies in a pinky promise.
“Was Steve around for… it?” Theo asked. It was the first time in months he had even
mentioned Steve.

“Steve came after.” I said. “And we’re not like that.”

“Only because you won’t let it be more.” Theo said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said.

“From what I saw…” Theo said.

“You saw him for like 5 seconds.” I deadpanned.

“And in those five seconds I saw that he follows your lead, takes what you’re willing to give
and he’s okay with that because he adores you. It was obvious by the way he looked at you.
Puppy love at its best.” Theo said.

“Uhuh.” I said before I remembered what Elaine said and started laughing. “You know, my
therapist pointed out something really interesting to me the other day.”

“Oh yeah?” Theo asked.

“She said that the reason neither of us has ever been in a long term relationship is because
subconsciously we feel like this…” I said gesturing to the two if us. “Is a relationship.”

“Like… us together together?” Theo said crossing his fingers.

“Yeah.” I said.
“She does know I pitch for the other team right?” He said.

“I've told her multiple times.” I answered finishing my beer and grabbing another one.

“Hmmm, I can see that.” Theo said. “It’s been over 11 years. Probably the longest
relationship I've ever been in.”

“Same. Eleven years.” I said. “We’re old.”

“You’ve been old since I met you.” Theo retorted.

“Remember you’re one year closer to 30 than I am.” I said.

“Call it a draw Hanna.” Theo said. “Eleven years. You know after 10 years I don’t think best
friends is the best way to describe this trainwreck.”

“I prefer hot mess to trainwreck.” I retorted.

“Over eleven years knowing each other, living together, arguing with each other and raising a
kid together. That’s more than besties. We’re soulmates.” Theo said making me spit out the
beer in my mouth as I started choking.

“No.” I said firmly. “Fuck no.”

“You’re right, that’s too cheesy and overused.” Theo said. Sure that’s why I was objecting.
“And this is strictly platonic but above BFFs.”
“You’re stuck with me for life. I mean we have a kid.” I said.

“I got it. Platonic Life Partners.” He said clapping his hands together.

“That’s essentially just BFFs just more… formal.” I said.

“That’s right. You’re my PLP.” Theo said. “PLPs for life.”

“Okay PLP, Lets clean up. Our kid’s going to be up at 5am.” I reminded him.

“Morning people.” Theo scoffed. “Is Steve a morning person?”

“We’re not like that.” I said reading between the lines, knowing what he was really asking.
“And even worse than I am. He’s up and out the door for his morning run before 5AM.

“How many times did he wake you up?” Theo teased.

“We’re not like that.” I said following him back inside.

Life went on and things got better. We kept to our routine and staying busy helped but in
those quiet moments that were few and far between the chaos, when it was quiet and I was
alone and just sat with it all, I couldn’t help but think about them.

October

It was almost Halloween, by this point Hydra would have tried to make their move. Steve
would have found Bucky. Maybe this time he would have gotten beaten half to death trying
to stop him from destroying the world, snapped him out of it and taken him back to New
York… or maybe not New York. December 16th was still a sore spot for Tony.

Uh, Tony and his freaking gala! I’m pretty sure people were begging for me to be fired at this
point.

Thor! Uh… crap I feel like I was supposed to tell him something. Odin is the freaking worst!

“Mom?” Jamie said looking up at me.

“Hey monkey.” I said ruffling his hair. “Good day at school?”

“It was fine.” He said.

“Just fine?” I asked.

“It’s school.” Jamie said with a shrug.

“Sounds about right.” I said.

“Miss Marin!” Mrs. Petersen, Jamie’s teacher said running towards us.

“Did you forget something?” I asked Jamie.

“She probably wants to tell you about that stupid test I took.” Jamie said. “It didn’t make any
sense.”
“What test?” I asked Jamie.

“Miss Marin.” She said. “I don’t know if you’ve been getting my messages. I left a few
voicemails.”

Who leaves voicemails anymore?

“Uh, I haven’t really had a chance to check. I’m still buried in emails.” I said.

“Well if you have a minute, I think its really important that we talk.” She said.

“Uh sure?” I said looking to Jamie giving him a look and giving him a chance to fess up if
there was anything he hadn’t mentioned before. Though I doubt it, the kid was an open book.
“Bud, you want to go play on the swings for a bit?”

“Can I borrow your phone?” Jamie asked.

“Sure.” I said handing it to him. “If your dad calls answer and come get me please.”

“Okay.” Jamie said taking a seat on one of the benches outside the classroom as I went inside.

“Did Jamie do something or are the other kids picking on him… Because if he fought back
he has every right to.” I said.

“No not at all.” Mrs. Petersen said arching an eyebrow at that last comment. “Your son, he…
they are a very bright.”

“He is the right pronoun.” I reassured her.

“Jamie is, my best student, kind and sweet and he gets along great with everyone.” She
started. “So polite and respectful for a boy his age but… he’s been falling asleep in class and
not really paying attention.”

“He hasn’t been doing his work?” I asked. “We work on his homework together. He even
does twice the amount of reading. Voluntarily I might add.”

“No, his work is always done on time and it’s perfect and his reading level is well above the
entire class.” She said.

“I’m sorry, I don’t see what the problem is.” I said confused.

“Jamie’s work is always done early and he starts to distract the other kids because he’s bored
so we decided to have him evaluated…” Mrs. Petersen said.

“He does not have ADHD or ADD.” I said “We’ve had him tested before.”

We hadn’t but better to shoot that idea down before they tried shoving pills down my 11-year
old’s mouth.

“Oh no far from it, we had our school psychologist sit down with Jamie and evaluate him.
Just a few cognitive games just to get a baseline and Jamie scored really well. Your son is
gifted.” She said.

I didn’t hear a single word she said after that. It was almost as if I was underwater and the
room started spinning. Suddenly I was six years old looking at random photos and then
recalling every single thing in that photo to a guy holding a stop watch while Greyson and
Lillian stood in a corner staring at me like I had grown another head.

“Normally kids like Jamie get evaluated earlier but…” She started.
“Jamie is just a very observant kid. There’s nothing else.” I said.

“Miss Marin, there are resources for parents. We can move Jamie to another school, maybe a
magnet school could provide a more rigorous curriculum…” She continued.

“Jamie is fine right where he is. I’ll talk to him about disrupting your class. It won’t happen
again.” I said.

“I don’t think you understand, this is not a good fit…” Mrs. Petersen started.

“Don’t sell yourself short, you’re doing great.” I said. “Jamie likes it here, his friends are here
and if you think he could use some extra work to keep him distracted, have at it. Thanks for
the chat. I’ll see you at the next parent teacher conference.”

“Uh… Maybe you should discuss this with Jamie’s dad?” She insisted.

“No need.” I said. “Theo and I are on the same page on this one. Have a nice night.”

With that I headed out to find Jamie who was probably playing Angry Birds on my phone.

“Am I in trouble?” Jamie asked.

“No, did you do something?” I said taking my phone back.

“No.” Jamie said. “Mrs. Petersen only asks parents to stay if the kids did something.”
“She just wanted to tell me what an awesome kid you’ve been. I think you’re her favorite
student, just don’t tell the other kids.” I said. “I’m in the mood for a Vietnamese iced coffee,
what do you say?”

“I could go for boba.” Jamie cheered.

“Boba it is.” I said getting him back on his feet. We ordered our drinks and settled into a
booth in the corner. “So your teacher told me you played some fun games with a teacher that
stopped by.”

“I don’t think they were games. They were kind of boring.” Jamie said with a shrug.

“What were the games?” I asked Jamie.

“He showed me this paper with a picture of a messy room with random things that didn’t
look like they should go in there.” Jamie said taking a sip of his boba milk tea.

“Like what?” I asked trying to make myself sound as natural as I possibly could.

“There was a tiger head that had horns, a fish tank with butterflies instead of fish, a dog with
a cat’s tail, a guy playing a trumpet like a guitar, the sun and the moon were out at the same
time, a guy with extra fingers on one hand, and lady with mis matched socks.” Jamie said by
my count, in under 10 seconds.

Oh boy...

“Sounds like a crazy photo.” I said. “Did you notice the man with a puppy we passed by on
the corner? Do you remember what color the bandana he was wearing was?”

“Red and white checkers.” Jamie said.

“And what band t-shirts is the store across the street selling?” I said putting my hand on the
side of his face to not let him turn and look.

“Queen, Ramones, Jane’s addiction, Black Sabbath and ACDC, There’s also a Rick and
Morty one inside.” Jamie said looking right at me.

“Monkey, how many rings is the lady sitting at the table closest to the door wearing on both
hands?” I asked as he kept his eyes on me.

“Three on the left and two on the right.” Jamie said not taking his eyes on me.

“Your dad left a book open on the kitchen counter this morning. What was the second red
subtitle on the page?” I asked.

“Game Theory in Macroeconomics.” Jamie said without hesitation.

There was no denying it, my kid inherited my dumb super brain. WHY?!

“Mom, you’re being weird.” Jamie said snapping me out of it.

“You know how your dad likes to say that I have a super brain?” I asked.

“Because you remember everything.” Jamie said.

“Yeah, it makes it really easy for me to learn things. I can do it faster than most people. Has
that ever happened to you?” I asked.
“Sometimes. School is just really easy.” Jamie said.

“Does that bother you?” I asked.

“It gets boring sometimes.” He said. “I like recess.”

“The candy or the time of day?” I asked.

“Both.” Jamie said with a smirk.

“Well, the thing about our super brain is that it makes us really good at school and then
teachers start to give us special attention and more homework.” I said.

“It’s probably going to be easy.” Jamie said.

“Probably but, it also makes other people expect more work from you. They will never leave
you alone and if you make a mistake they’ll overreact.” I said.

“That doesn’t sound fun.” He said.

“It’s not, if I’m honest it really sucks.” I said. “You have your entire life to work, right now I
just want you to be a kid. You don’t just go to school to learn from books. We learn how to be
around people, how to deal with them and those random curveballs life likes to throw at us.
Those are things you can’t learn in a book.”

“I understand.” Jamie said.

“That doesn’t mean you should be bored at school or distracting the other kids that are trying
to get their work done.” I said.
“I know, I wasn't trying to distract them.” He said.

“How about we make a deal?” I said.

“What deal?” Jamie asked.

“How about instead of distracting the kids or helping them out when you finish early by
giving them the answers, you study something fun?” I said.

“Like what?” Jamie asked.

“Whatever you want? You want to borrow your dad’s macroeconomics books?” I offered.

“Ew.” Jamie said.

“Yeah, it wasn't my favorite subject either.” I said. “What do you want to learn about?”

“Mhmm, Robots and space.” He said.

“Robots and space? Alright how about I get you some books and worksheets about robots
and outer space for you to work on when you finish early at school but you have to promise
me no more distracting the other kids and this deal stays between you and me.” I said.

“What about Dad?” Jamie asked.

“If your dad needs to know I’ll tell him but until then this is our secret. Deal?” I said offering
him my hand.
“Deal.” Jamie said shaking my hand.

November

Two Weeks Later…

Jamie’s teacher asked the principal to ask me to come in for another meeting. For some
reason they thought that maybe I didn’t understand what they were telling me so they brought
in a specialist from the district to explain it all to me.

“Is a photographic memory inherited?” I asked Elaine during our session.

“Uh, I’m not sure.” She asked. “Why do you ask?”

“Jamie’s teacher had him evaluated by the school psychologist because he kept falling asleep
in class. His scores were off the charts and now she is calling me nonstop about maybe
moving Jamie up a grade or moving him to a magnet school. They do not pay her enough for
her to be trying this hard.” I said.

“And you don’t agree with her?” Elaine asked.

“Oh no, Jamie is exactly as smart as everyone says he is. What I don’t agree with is formally
labeling him as gifted.” I said.

“Why not? This could open up so many opportunities for him. Scholarships for college…”
Elaine started.

“And what you are doing right now is exactly my problem.” I said interrupting him. “You and
his teacher, the principal and even the school psychologist you’re so busy imagining what he
could be instead of seeing who he is right now.”

“Gifted children that aren’t challenged can grow up feeling detached, feeling misunderstood,
anxious, depressed.” Elaine said.

“And most gifted children end up very closed off, unable to relate to their peers, they don’t
really develop social skills and grow up to be anxious, depressed and emotionally stunted.” I
said.

“Don’t you think you’re being dramatic?” Elaine said.

“Remind me again, how much do you get paid an hour to help me sort out my thoughts and
feelings about the world around me?” I retorted.

Elaine stared at me before clicking her pen and making notes.

“I can smell the not so silent judgement from here.” I said.

“What was it like when your teacher first had you evaluated? How old were you?” She asked.

“Younger than Jamie, I was four.” I said. “My kindergarten teacher caught me reading The
Wizard of Oz. She thought I was just looking at the pictures instead of practicing writing my
letters. I told her I was reading and she didn’t believe me so she made me read a paragraph in
front of the whole class. I did and kept reading even after she took the book away.”

“That must’ve been a surprise.” She said.

“Probably not what she was expecting from the first class she taught out of college. In
hindsight I should have kept my mouth shut.” I said.
“How did your parents take the news?” Elaine asked.

“At first they didn’t really believe my teacher, or the principal, or the school counselor.
Eventually my teacher decided to take matters into her own hands and came to the house and
did the same tests in front of them. For some people, seeing is believing.” I said. “They
bought into everything they told them. That I was destined for great things. That I could do
so much more. That I was the answer to all of their problems.”

“That’s a lot to put on a kid.” Elaine said.

“Nothing compared to the time my dad took me to a casino so I could count cards for him
because he lost his job.” I said.

“Dirtbag Dad?” Elaine asked.

“Dirtbag Dad.” I confirmed.

“What does Theo think about keeping Jamie out of the gifted class?” Elaine asked.

“This is my call.” I said.

“Does he agree with you?” Elaine said and I stayed quiet. “Does he know about any of this?”

“This is nothing he needs to worry about. This is my call.” I said.

“Jamie is his son too.” Elaine said.

“He doesn’t need to know and I’m handling Jamie.” I said.

“Do you get the feeling at all that you’re falling into a very familiar pattern?” Elaine said.

“I can see how it may seem this way, but having personally lived through the alternative
myself i’m okay with that.” I said.

“I’m sure Theo will see it that way.” Elaine replied.

“This is a hill I am willing to die on Elaine.” I said. “The people who need to know, know.”

“I’m sure your 11-year-old son knows how to keep a secret.” She snarked.

“Haven’t you heard? He’s very smart for his age.” I retorted.

“You’ve very snarky today.” Elaine asked. “Do you want to tell me what’s really on your
mind?”

“I’m fine.” I said.

“Uhuh.” She said not buying it in the slightest. “You’ve mentioned you dad but what about
you mom…”

“So I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately.” I said.

“Them as in…” Elaine started.

“Steve, Tony, Bruce… all of them.” I said.

“Have you thought about calling them or just sending an email?” She asked.

“They’re don’t really have cell reception, or Wifi.” I said.

“Hanna, it’s okay to miss them.” Elaine said. “It just means you care which is progress.”

“Don’t say it like that.” I said.

“Like what?” She said.

“Like there’s a second meaning to what I said.” I said. “There’s no ulterior motive.”

“I didn’t mean it like that but why do you think there would be an ulterior motive?” Elaine
said clicking her pen again. I hate that freaking pen.

“No reason.” I said.

“Were your parents affectionate?” Elaine said.

“That is the last word I would ever use to describe them.” I answered picking my nails and
bouncing my knee. Why couldn’t that timer ring already?

“How often do you tell Jamie you love him?” Elaine asked.

“The normal amount of times.” I snarked back. “I really don’t see what this has to do with
anything.”
“I’m trying to see if you being in denial over your feelings for Steve, Tony, and… also
applies to those around you.” Elaine said.

“Actions are louder than words.” I said.

“And what do their actions say to you?” Elaine asked.

Thankfully the damn timer finally rang saving me from having to give an answer.

“Food for thought.” Elaine said. “I’ll see you next week.”

“See you next week.” I said.

December

“Let’s talk about your mom and dad.” Elaine said.

“Let’s not.” I said.

“We’ve been tip toeing around the subject for months. You can’t avoid it forever Hanna.”
Elaine said.

“You know we’re like a week away from Christmas. Can’t we talk about that instead?” I said.

“Fine, how did you celebrate the holidays as a kid?” Elaine said with a smirk.
“As a kid I would spend the holiday’s scrapping my dinner off the kitchen wall after my
parents had a fight and my dad somehow always ended up throw just my plate at her but
missing her completely. Eighteen years and not once did he land a hit.” I said. “After that I
would hide under my bed and wait for them to pass out or leave before they found some way
to blame me for it. Good times.”

“And how do you celebrate the holidays with Jamie?” Elaine said.

“Theo and I keep it small, mostly because we’re always broke. I did splurge my Christmas
Bonus on a Nintendo Switch and Mario Kart this year. It’s a gift for all of us. The GameCube
finally crapped out so it’s been really hard to find a good replacement tie breaker.” I said.

“We have dinner, not a turkey. Theo didn’t grow up eating turkey and he doesn’t like how dry
it is and now that I think of it, my turkey always ended up on the floor so I didn’t grow up
eating turkey either. Normally we grab a rotisserie chicken from Costco, and desserts from
Porto’s. We make our favorite sides ourselves. Mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, glazed
string beans, braised carrots, and one new recipe we find either on Instagram or TikTok. We
get in our ugly sweaters, eat, play board games, eat some more.” I finished. “Watch the
Nightmare before Christmas because we don’t care what anyone says, it’s also a Christmas
movie.”

“It sounds really nice. You broke the cycle.” Elaine said.

“Theo and I may argue but we never throw things at each other.” I said.

“Did your parents fight a lot?” She asked.

“If fighting was an Olympic Sport they’d have more medals than Simone Biles.” I retorted.

“I can see how that would leave a really bad taste in your mouth. No one wants a relationship
like that.” Elaine said.
“I’m all for blaming my parents but is this really helping?” I asked.

“Parents and the relationship they have with one another is the subconsciously the template
that for better or worse we tend to base our future romantic relationships on.” Elaine said.

I started thinking back to how I saw my parents interact with one another and separately what
they were like and trying to think if any of them matched them. Thor smashing mugs on the
floor when he really liked food, Dad throwing plates at the wall. Bruce was very quiet and
polite. Hulk Smashed, a lot. And then I imagined Tony who loved cars but in the mash up I
was imagining I almost kissed…

“Ugh…” I said gagging. “Take it back… Take it back!”

“Not like that.” Elaine said.

“I’d hope not. Ugh…” I said. “Can my Christmas present from you be that we never speak of
this again?”

“That’s not how this works Hanna.” She said. “You can’t break the cycle of avoidance by
avoiding things.”

Then I was saved by the timer.

“Oh look at that. Time’s up, Happy Holidays, see you next year.” I said.

“Hold it.” Elaine said. “You have homework.”

I can’t believe I paid this woman an hourly rate to torture me.

“I want you to write them a letter.” Elaine said.

“I don’t speak to my parents.” I reminded her.

“Not them.” Elaine said. “Steve, Tony, Clint, Natasha, Bruce and Thor. I want you to write
them a letter telling them how you’re feeling. You don’t have to send it, I don’t expect you to
but if you send it, it’ll get you extra credit.”

“Do you want to see the letter?” I said.

“No, but I’ll know if you did send it.” She said with a grin.

“Alright then.” I said getting up and to pick up Jamie for a ditch day. It felt like a good day
for a ditch day. Plus it was the last day of school before winter break. He wasn't going to miss
anything big.

Christmas Eve…

Our time-honored tradition of eating ourselves into a food coma was a success. Jamie
knocked out early leaving Theo and I with hours of prime time HBO, courtesy of our free 7-
day trial.

“I’ve got the snacks, the drinks, the special gummies, show me the dragons.” Theo said.

“Wait before you begin,“ I said asleep the bedroom door open just a bit to make sure Jamie
was actually asleep. “Jamie, do you want to play with your new switch?”

There was no answer with the exception of a soft snore.

“And we’re clear.” I said jumping onto the couch.

“Margarita.” Theo said handing me one.

“Thank you.” I said. “Cheers to another Happy Christmas.”

“Cheers to a Holiday dinner where we didn’t burn anything.” Theo said clinking his glass.
“Mhmm, that Costco membership pays for itself.”

“Cheers to a holiday dinner where I actually got to eat something.” I said turning on the TV.

We got about four episodes in before we got into one of our talks.

“How much incest can one guy come up with?” Theo said.

“Cersei and Jaime Lannister have nothing on these guys.” I said. “They’re really going to
screw up their kids.”

“If they didn’t screw up their kids they wouldn’t have gotten a second season.” He reminded
me.

“True. Do you think… you know what, forget it.” I said.

“What?” Theo said.

“No it’s really stupid and I can’t believe House of the Dragon made me think of it.” I said.
“It’s another therapy revelation isn’t it. What did Elaine say that freaked you out this time?”
Theo said.

“It’s crap.” I said.

“Spill the tea.” Theo said.

“You think the reason all of our relationships end up being so dysfunctional are because of
our parents?” I asked.

“Yeah, it is most definitely all their faults.” Theo said without any hesitation. “You don’t need
a Ph.D in Psychology to know that.”

“Okay here’s part 2, our parents are the template for the romantic relationships we try to have
as adults.” I said.

“As in, we all end up dating or marrying our parents?” Theo said wrinkling his nose. “I
understand why this show made you think of that. Ugh, I really don’t want to think about my
mom or dad when I’m trying to get lucky.”

“You think I screw up any relationship I try to be in because I grew up not seeing a functional
relationship?” I asked.

“That could be part of it. I narrowed it down to the big 3 ways our parents screwed us up.”
Theo said.

“What are the big three ways they screwed us up?” I asked.

“One, the way we could never be exactly what they wanted us to be. You not living up to
their version of what your potential could be, my parents being raging religious homophobes
who couldn’t fix me no matter how hard they tried and boy did they try.” Theo said. “Two the
verbal and physical abuse which was their shitty coping mechanisms for dealing with their
shitty lives when booze wasn't enough.”

“At least your dad was a high functioning alcoholic, mine was just an alcoholic.” I said. “And
I think you just took the fun out of this margarita.”

“And then there’s the big one.” Theo said.

“Which is?” I said.

“You know which one.” Theo said. “The one we don’t talk about.”

“I’ll talk about mine when you talk about yours.” I retorted and chugging down my
margarita.

“I’m nowhere near drunk enough to talk about that.” Theo said reaching behind the couch to
grab the open tequila bottle. “Good thing we stocked up on the essentials.”

“I think I’m going to need something stronger than that if we’re going there.” I said reaching
into Theo’s book bag to pull out the special gummies.

Many, Many Gummies and Margaritas Later…

“They chose that asshole over their own kid.” Theo said.

“My mom made me hug and apologize to that creep for telling the truth.” I said. “Then she
said if he had done it, then I probably deserved it.”

“At least your guy…” Theo started.

“Don’t call him my guy.” I spat out.

“That monster got what was coming to him. You know he will never hurt anyone ever again.
My parents still have that jackass over for dinner every Sunday.” Theo said.

“How do you know they have him over ever weekend?” I asked confused.

“I found his Facebook profile.” Theo said. “They went on a group trip to Cabo.”

“Oh honey, you can’t do that to yourself.” I said.

“What if he’s doing to someone else what he did to me?” Theo said.

“He doesn’t deserve to have you waste a second of you thinking about him.” I said. “They
don’t get to have any hold over us.”

“Yet here we are, drunk and high on Christmas Eve.” Theo slurred. “I’m not in favor of the
death penalty but if I was, people like them should be at the top of the list.”

“No, they’d be getting off way too easy. They deserve to suffer.” I said.

January

It was the first week of the New Year and Elaine was not saying anything. Not even hello,
happy new year or, her all time favorite phrase ‘Let’s pick up where we left off.’
No not a peep out of her as she sat in her chair with her legs crossed, note pad on her lap and
pen in her hand. She just watched me.

“Fine I didn’t write the letter. Not for lack of trying, just lack of time.” I said.

“Hanna.” Elaine started.

“I am going to write it. I just got busy over break. We took Jamie to Big Bear so he could see
snow and learn to hate it and with both of them in the apartment it was hard to get alone time
to do my homework but I have a scheduled window to write the damn letter.” I said.

“Okay.” Elaine said. “Or you could do it now?”

“I’ll wait until later.” I said.

“Suit yourself.” She said. “Let’s pick up where we left off.”

One more hour trying to see if I have daddy issues and I was on my way home. It was the
beginning of the year so work was slow. I had wrapped up a few side projects and had a
couple of freelance jobs that were coming together but for now I just needed to enjoy the
calm.

“Alright.” I said sitting down on the floor with my legs crossed, a pen in my hand waiting for
the words to come out. First thing first, who was I going to write this letter out to.

Thor, I feel like telling him his dad killed me for some reason I can’t remember would not
make a good letter or bring me any closure.

Natasha, still a bit annoyed she put a tracker in my suitcase when I moved out.
Bruce, uh, he’s a freaking sweetheart. If I explained to him why I didn’t come back right
away he’d understand. I’d still feel guilty though. He’s too good to me.

Clint, I have a feeling he’d be mad at me for some reason. I’m getting this feeling that we
have some unfinished business but for the life of me I can’t remember.

Tony… Tony was… I don’t even have the words to begin to try to explain to myself what’s
going on there or how we left things.

Steve, has walked a mile in my shoes for a year. I hate to admit it but out of all of them he
probably knows me better than the rest of them. He’d probably appreciate a letter more than
the rest of them. Though the last time I saw him I slammed a door in his face. I can’t
remember why I did that. This memory this is really starting to become a problem.

Steve it is.

Dear Steve,

It’s been six months since I landed back in my world. You’ll be happy to hear that we finally
got a repair man to come in to look at the washing machine that was making that really loud
screeching sound that kept you up. By trying to fix it they somehow made it worse.

Theo and I are back on co-parenting duty and it’s almost as if no time has passed. I finally
got the chance to return the favor and am happy to report that Theo is one semester away
from getting his finance degree. I went back to my old job and am doing some freelance work
on the side. I still hate it but, Theo and Jamie are worth it. I know my timing could have been
better but I really wasn't trying to leave. I would have happily stayed in New York, even if the
pizza is overrated.

By now Hydra should have made their move and you would have run into Bucky. If you got
him to stay don’t worry Tony will come around if he hasn’t already. If he ran away, I know
where he’ll be but maybe it’s better you gave him some space. He’s had over 70 years of
people making decisions for him I think he needs some time and space to sort himself out.
Speaking from firsthand experience it does help.
I’ve had some time over the past six months to do some work on myself and to think about
everything. It’s been slow going but it’s going. As easy as it is for me to look after everyone
else I really don’t have a handle on my own issues. I think I've been in denial about a lot of
things for a long time. I wish I could say that I have it all figured out now but I’m not even
close. I’m going to keep trying because things have to get better eventually. I think the odds
are in my favor this time around. The Elaine of this universe is just as good as her more
relaxed counterpart, very tenacious and at times a bit of a bitch (yes I know language!) but in
a good way.

You’re not going to like this but I’m still on the rocks about the s-word thing. It’s a bit hard to
bring up to your therapist in a universe where it’s not a real thing. After all this time I wish I
had a better answer for you but nothing at the moment. All I can say right now is that I miss
you all.

I almost started rewatching the movies because I missed you, but then I realized I'd have to
see you all get hurt or almost die and that would not sit well with me. Also I know he’s your
best friend and that he’s brainwashed but you better have landed at least a hit or two. Maybe
a bit of Cognitive Recalibration was what he needed? You can fill me in later.

I will be back, no pun intended. After Theo’s done with school and is settled into a good job,
I’ll find a nice roof to jump off of. Hopefully I can get back in few tries and not wake up in a
morgue again. It takes forever to get rid of the smell of formaldehyde. I don’t know if I've
mentioned this before but dying really sucks, let’s hope I don’t have to do it again anytime
soon.

I know I don’t have to ask, but look out for the others and for yourself. Being a super soldier
doesn’t make you indestructible.

Say hi to Sam for me, Bucky is going to love having him around!

See you soon,

Hanna
I really hope he didn’t get beaten to pulp, or shot. I know Bucky was brainwashed but damn,
Steve took a beating in that movie.

February

Writing letters turned into something I did one a more regular basis. It was easier to be honest
with all of them when I didn’t have to actually talk to them.

So there I was on Valentine’s day at home sipping wine out of a red solo cup that I got on sale
at the grocery store as Theo got ready for his date and Jamie got ready for his date.

That’s right, my 11 year old son had a date for Valentine’s day while I didn’t.

It was okay though. It was good to finally have some me time.

Just me and a letter.

“You sure you don’t want to come with?” Theo said for the third time.

“I’m not crashing your date. You might get lucky.” I said.

“Lucky how?” Jamie asked.

“Lucky that I don’t get cooties.” Theo said. “It’s Valentine’s days, cooties are everywhere.”

“Cooties aren’t real.” Jamie said.

“But germs are.” I said.

“Covid is very real.” Theo added. “It’s on the rise again.”

“I forgot my mask.” Jamie said running to grab it.

“Oh, yeah. All that kid will be doing is watching a movie and eating popcorn.” Theo said.

“Nice job dad.” I said eying him up and down. “Those are the shoes you’re going with?”

“What’s wrong with the shoes?” he asked starting to second guess his outfit.

“They clash with jacket.” I said. “Wear the dressy sneakers. It’s casual but still put together.”

“Dressy sneakers.” Theo said. “Where did I leave them?”

“Bathroom.” I said.

“Bathroom.” Theo said rushing around. “So, you going to call Steve?”

“No, I’m just going to have a quiet night in, get a head start on some of my work.” I said.

“I feel like a quiet night in is all you do now.” He said.

“Quiet is the last word I’d use to describe us.” I said.

Once I was alone I got my pen and paper and started writing.

Hey you,

I’m not entirely sure what you’re up to right now. Probably working on launching one of your
suits into space. Love the name you picked out. I never thought Bruce would be an Archie
fan.

I hope you haven’t been too lonely or locked in your lab this whole time. I hear Steve lost his
shield in Potomac. Maybe you could pick up fishing and help him get it back. I don’t know if
you know this but he’s very attached to that shield. He didn’t let it go for 70 years.

Life here is.. it’s going. Nothing as interesting as to what I’m sure you’ve all been dealing
with.

It’s Valentine’s day and Theo and Jamie have dates. Yes, my 11 year old son has a date and I
don’t. Not sure how to take that news, he is concerned about cooties so he’s going to mask up
because protection is important. I don’t think there’s going to be a second date but we’ll see.

You know I've never seen the appeal of Valentine’s day. I’m fairly sure I’ve mentioned it
before. I mean red roses, cliché. A flying baby in diapers, the only thing I can think of when I
see it are all the diaper changing mishaps that could happen. I will say though chocolate
candy being on sale the day after valentine’s day is like Halloween in February. Not all candy
is equal though, coconut and cherry liquor do not belong on chocolate. It should be illegal
for candy companies to sneak in so many of those in heart shaped boxes.

I’m ranting I know, guess I’m trying to find a good segway to bring up the not date we had
way back when. I keep going over it in my head. It’s embarrassing to admit that it may have
kept me up a couple of nights. It meant something. Not entirely sure what but… it’s
something.

I think Elaine would classify this as a breakthrough. Oh yeah I've been seeing Elaine again.
My world’s Elaine is not the warm and fuzzy grandma she is in your world.
Your world, my world… I’m not sure if I could even keep saying that. With the exception of
Jamie and Theo, I've never really fit in here. I crash landed in your world and made a mess of
things and then I kept falling into other worlds. I do never seem to be able to stay put. Maybe
it’s the universe’s way of saying I’m not meant to be there. It would make sense if it were true.

I’ve been running in circles trying to figure it out and I've got nothing to show for it. Yeah
therapy and my trip to find the answer to all answers got me nothing except thrown over a
cliff.

I’m still a mess, but I’m a mess that misses you. I guess that’s all I really wanted to say.

The Reason you’re going to go grey early,

Hanna

March

It was my last session before Theo’s spring break. We had decided to take a road trip to the
Grand Canyon and go through Las Vegas on the way back. Here’s hoping Pikachu didn’t
leave us stranded in the middle of nowhere.

“Why do you hate them so much?” Elaine said.

“They weren’t good parents.” I said.

“Lots of people have bad parents and still love them.” Elaine said. “It is biologically
ingrained into every person to love the people that raised us protected us and turned us into
the person we grow up to be.”

“You mean the people that brought me into the world and constantly reminded me that I
wasn't planned wanted or hadn’t done enough to earn anything out of them.” I retorted.
“You seem to hold more anger towards your mother than your father even though he seemed
to be the source of the majority of the abuse.” Elaine said.

“Who was it that said that there was a special place in hell for women who don’t help other
women?” I asked.

“Madeline Albright.” Elaine said.

“Lillian Marin probably inspired that quote.” I said.

“The relationship between mother and daughters is complicated in all women.” Elaine said.

“What was your relationship with your mom like?” I said.

“She was my best friend.” Elaine said.

“Lucky you.” I retorted.

“No matter how complicated the relationship is between a mother and a daughter the
universal rule of being a parent is that your kid comes before everything. It is your job and
life’s mission until they are least old enough to look after themselves to keep them safe.
Right?” I said.

“Of course.” Elaine said.

“Alright then so say your 10 year old daughter comes to you one day and tells you that
someone hurt her in the worst possible way you could hurt a girl. The person who hurt her is
your favorite little brother who is staying in your home while he gets back on his feet and
when she tells you what happened would you believe her?” Elaine asked.
“Hanna…” Elaine said.

“And it’s not like there isn’t proof. She has proof. You just refuse to see it and you tell her to
stop making things up so your daughter tells everyone she possibly could that would listen
until finally someone actually does something. They come knocking on your door and you
make her tell everyone that I were lying, begging for attention because I’m supposedly
jealous that Greg is getting so much more attention than me because his stupid baseball team
is going to the state championships, and he’s probably going to get scouted by a better school
than I will ever get into even though he’s a bench warmer! You slap me, pull my hair, and
threaten to ship me off to Montana where the child molester got a job if I don’t fess up to my
lies and then at my absolute lowest you make me, Infront of everyone, apologize and hug that
monster.” I said wiping my face.

“And then months later, after you think I’ve forgotten all about it you causally say how stupid
I was to misunderstand what really happened and even if it had happened the way I said it
did, I probably deserved it. A ten year old girl deserved it. So yeah, Elaine. There is a very
special place in hell for that bitch and my dad is an ass, but he’s her hell on Earth. That’s the
only reason I don’t resent him as much.” I finished.

“You’ve…” Elaine stopped for a minute and cleared to her throat. “You’ve been holding back
a lot.”

“I told you I really didn’t want to talk about them.” I said.

“Understandable.” She said. “I think, maybe we both may need to call this an early day.”

“That sounds nice. I’ll uh… see you next week.” Is aid.

“Safe trip.” Elaine said turning to look out the window.

April
“Theo.” Elaine said.

“Platonic Life Partner.” I said. Elaine wanted to play a word association game to see if I’d let
my guard down without making it seem like I’m letting my guard down. We’d actually have
some very productive sessions after spring break.

“That’s not one word.” She said.

“There isn’t just one word to describe what Theo is to me.” I said.

“When you first met him…” Elaine said.

“You mean when you think I should have files an assault charge on him?” I teased.

“You said looking at Theo was like looking in a mirror.” She said. “If anyone else had come
up to you that night, would you have heard them out?”

“No I would have gotten them kicked out of the bar.” I said.

“But you didn’t. Why?” Elaine asked.

“Because he was scared and alone, desperate.” I answered. “I was a bit lonely.”

“What did you feel when you were talking to him for the first time?” She said.

“It was nice, safe.” I said.

“Safe?” Elaine asked with a grin.

“This complete stranger was pouring out his heart and just needed a safe space to work
through becoming who he truly was.” I said.

“And you felt safe with him?” Elaine asked.

“Yes, I always feel safe with Theo. Even when we’re arguing and biting each other’s heads
off it’s always because we care about each other.” I said.

“And how did you feel the first time you met Tony?” Elaine said. “Did you feel safe with
him?”

“Yes.” I said without even thinking about him.

“Steve?” Elaine said.

“Yes.” I said.

“The rest of them?” Elaine asked.

“Yes I have always felt safe with them.” I said.

“You have never really trusted anyone except Theo before them but you immediately felt safe
with them, what does that tell you?” Elaine said.
“That I trust them and that no matter how hard I make it for them, or how bitchy I can be I
know they will always be there for me because they care about me.” I said.

“Does that answer your question?” Elaine said.

“It doesn’t make any sense though.” I said.

“Does it make any sense that an eighteen year old kid that just came of the closet to a
complete stranger decided to stick around to raise a kid with her?” Elaine said.

“When you put it like that you make Theo sound insane.” I said.

“Love makes people do crazy things.” Elaine said as the timer went off. “And that in of itself
explains it all.”

“Huh…” I said realizing that while that statement logically made absolutely no sense, it
actually did answer most of the big question I had been trying to answer all year. “Did we
just have a breakthrough?”

“You tell me?” Elaine said with a smirk.

May

“Wow, you are banging.”

Those were the words my best friend greeted me after getting home from the salon. My hair
needed a trim and while I was there I thought I could use a change. My hair stylist and I
started talking about which of Taylor Swift’s eras were our favorite and he ended up talking
me into getting bangs.
“Yeah, I asked for a trim or something new that could keep my length and uh… yeah.” I said.
“Is it bad?”

“No,” Theo said. “You look really good. It really goes with the mom aesthetic.”

“Mom Aesthetic?” I said.

“Cropped jeans, tank top and cardigan, you drive our kid to soccer practice in a Subaru…” he
said.

Oh crap, I went full on soccer mom and I didn’t even realize it.

“What’s all this?” I asked looking at all the things Theo had pulled out.

“Packing. We’re in the ome stretch.” Theo said packing his backpack with everything he
could possibly need to survive finals week. He and his study group had teamed up to reserve
a private room the university library. They were all planning on camping out there for their
last finals week. “This is our dry run people. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

“You’re going to the library not a war zone.” I said.

“The curve is not always in my favor Hanna.” Theo retorted.

“Sweetie, breathe.” I said gently rubbing his back.

“No, this isn’t the time to breathe. This is crunch time.” Theo said grabbing the box of
protein bars he snagged from Costco. “Now how am I going to carry all the red bulls?”

“You’re not.” I said grabbing my purse and handing him a Starbucks gift card. “This is
loaded with enough cash for you to buy yourself and everyone coffee for the week and yes I
know you’re against Big Coffee but there is a Starbucks right across the library so it’s more
efficient for you to go there. Don’t forget deodorant and your toothbrush, a whore’s bath in
the library restroom can only get you so far.” I teased.

“I was actually going to use the gym showers. Are you and Jamie going to be okay for a
week?” Theo asked.

“Of course, he is a bit bummed you’re going to miss out on the first week of soccer practice
considering it was your idea but we’ll pull through.” I said.

“I just…” Theo sighed. “Can you believe it’s almost been a year and that I’m almost done?”

“It’s only been a year?” I retorted. “Really I hadn’t noticed.”

“You’re my freaking hero.” Theo said hugging me.

“This is what family does for each other.” I said. “You’ve done the same for me.”

“Yeah but, I never did it as well as you do.” He said. “Have you thought about what comes
next?”

“What comes next is you graduate, land the job of your dreams and we keep going like we
always do.” I said.

“That’s not what I meant.” Theo said. “Steve.”

“That’s a little more complicated.” I said.

“It’s only complicated if you make it complicated.” Theo said.

“Uh, no it’s actually really complicated.” I said. “There are some things I haven’t told you.”

“Like?” Theo said.

“You remember my friend from Bali, you know the one that was kind of a thing with like six
different people and they all knew about it and were like totally cool with it?”

“Friend in the poly relationship?” Theo said.

“That’s the one.” I confirmed.

“Your friend that is actually you? Yeah I remember.” Theo said not at all bothered.
“Wait you knew?” I said surprised.

“Of course I knew. I’m your platonic life partner. Your person. I know you better than anyone
in the world.” Theo scoffed. “Also, it’s a universal fact that if you start a story with I have a
friend, dot, dot, dot, the story is really about you.”

“You asshole, I’ve been carrying this thing around thinking you were going to freak out and
you knew this entire time?” I said.

“Why would you finally meeting a guy or I guess I should say 6 guys freak me out? Honestly
I was a little worried about you ending up a crazy cat lady but this, I’m so fucking proud of
you.” Theo said. “From the bottom of my heart. So happy.”

“Actually it’s five guys and a… Natalia.” I said.

“What?” Theo said. “You mean… Like…”

“You heard right.” I said saying it out loud for the first time.

“Oh, my, AHHH!” Theo shouted jumping up and down. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my
gosh!”

“Calm down.” I said.

“I… I… Ah! I think I might cry.” Theo said tearing up.

“Theo don’t cry.” I said.

“Han,” Theo said sitting down, putting a hand on my shoulder and his other on his hands.
“Honey, you are exactly who you were always meant to be and don’t ever be ashamed to be
who you truly are.”

“That was… so freaking corny.” I said laughing.

“I know.” Theo said laughing. “I couldn’t help myself. Don’t get me wrong it is completely
true and I really needed to hear that when you said it to me that night but in hind sight…”

“Hard to believe I was ever that corny.” I said.

“You have your moments.” Theo said. “You came out to me, and right in time for pride. I
need to get you a flag.”

“How about we get you through graduation first?” I retorted.

“So, what happened with them? Did you… you know.” He asked.

“It didn’t move any further than a situationship.” I said.

“In baseball terms?” Theo asked.

“Didn’t even step up to bat.” I answered.

“Oh… Why?” he asked.

“So many reasons starting with have you met me? I’m a mess, I wasn't really in the right
place to start anything. I think they just had this idea of how they expected things to be and I
am never going to be that and… I mean how would it even work?” I said.
“All I’m hearing are excuses.” Theo said.

“It wouldn’t work.” I said.

“How do you know if you don’t give them a chance?” He asked.

“It’s not that simple.” I answered.

“Nothing worth doing is ever easy.” Theo said. “I don’t know all of them, I don’t really know
Steve other than him crashing my coffee date with myself to ask for help handling you and
that one awkward dinner before you guys left to… somewhere. What I do know is that life is
hard and unfair and that is more true for both of us than it is for most people but if
somewhere in all this crap you can find someone or multiple someones that help make this
shit bearable then you hold onto them with everything you’ve got and everything else you
can figure out later.”

“I wish I could do that.” I said.

“You can, you just have to give yourself permission to be happy.” Theo said.

June

“Theo Adrian Castillo.” The commencement speaker said as Theo walked across the stage at
graduation.

“WHOOOO!!!!” Jamie and I cheered louder than anyone else in the audience.

“That’s my dad!” Jamie said when the people sitting next to us gave him a dirty look.
“Theo’s officially a graduate now.” Elaine said as I showed her all of the graduation photos I
took. I took so many I had to pay for extra iCloud Storage.

“Yeah, oh here’s another. He couldn’t figure out how to pop open the champagne bottle.” I
said.

“Congratulate him for me.” She said handing me back my phone. “So what happens now?”

“He still has another 2 weeks left on his internship. He’s really hoping he gets one of the
open spots but either way he’s got a couple of other interviews lines up...” I started.

“That’s not what I meant.” Elaine said. “You said you were sticking around for a year. It’s
been a year. What is next for you Hanna?”

“Uh… well. I miss them and I didn’t really leave things off in the best way.” I said. “What if
they finally listened to me and realized I’m not worth it? They could do so much better than
me.”
“From what you’ve told me they are equally if not more stubborn than you are. I think that if
they really cared about you the way they said they did, that after all this time, they’ll just be
really happy to see you.” Elaine said. “Take it slow and be open to giving yourself a chance
to be happy. You deserve to be happy Hanna.”

“Cross your fingers for me.” I said as the timer rang. I got up and as I was walking out I
turned around. “Uh I don’t usually do this but…”

I walked around the coffee table and hugged Elaine.

“Oh…” She said returning the hug. “I wasn't expecting this.”

“Yeah, this is weird.” I answered still hugging her.

“A bit dear, but it’s a good weird.” Elaine said as I let her go. “My door is always open if you
need me.”

“What you’re not sick of me?” I said.

“I just put a down payment on a beach house.” Elaine said making me laugh.

“At least I’m not your worst patient.” I teased.

“Don’t forget to pick up Jamie from soccer practice.” She called out.

“It was one time.” I called out over my shoulder.

It was the end of the fiscal year and things were crazy busy at work. My boss had been
calling me nonstop and today was not an exception. We were going over numbers for next
year’s budget as I drove to pick up Jamie. I parked and continued the call as I got out of the
car.

I always hated people that were so glued to their phone, they never watched where they were
going. Especially when they crossed the street.

“Mom!” Jamie cheered as I waved at him while I continued talking to my boss on the phone
while I crossed the street.

“Look out!” Someone shouted but it was too late.

I only saw the bus out of the cover of my eye before it rammed into me. I felt my head crack
as it hit the pavement.

“MOM!!!!” Jamie cried out. People ran over as everything went dark.

What a way to end the year.

I started falling down that very familiar deep pit. I had not missed this place and I’m pretty
sure I hit the bottom harder than I ever had before.

“Ow…” I groaned getting up. It was just as dark and wet as it always was. The water
dripping onto the floor echoing loudy throughout the room.

Click click click…

I heard something move in the darkness. It’s footsteps splashing water as they moved.
“Hanna…” the voice said.

“Who said that?” I said looking around.

“Hanna.” It said again taunting me.

“How do you know my name?” I asked as I heard something move again.

“Because that’s always your name.” It said.

Click Click click…

“Okay, I’m just gonna…” I said taking a step back and looking up waiting for whatever it
was that pulled me back to the land of the living.

“Don’t go Hanna…” The voice said from behind me. I turned around but whatever it was
scurried away before I could see it. “Who am I going to play with if you leave?”

Suddenly I felt something wrap around my ankle and before it yanked me hard enough to fall
flat on my face before ragging me into the darkness as I screamed.
 Chapter 46

The next time I opened my eyes I wasn't in the pit anymore. I wasn't home, I wasn't in New
York… well not any part of New York I knew. I was in a hospital bed with a sheet over my
face.

I yanked it off my face when I sat up trying not to choke on my puke.

I jumped off my bad and grabbed the first thing I could use as a bucket. When I finally got it
all out I looked around and saw that the room has floor to ceiling windows on a wall and as I
looked out I was greeted with a very familiar sight.

It was the training field of the Avengers compound in upstate New York.

“What the hell?” I said. I wasn't gone long enough for this place to be set up already.

The room door opened and in walked Rhodey.

“Uh… Hi.” He said sounding both surprised and confused.

“Rhodey,” I greeted.

“Uh Miss…. You know who I am?” Rhodey said

“Yeah you’re…” I said before I noticed the high tech braces on his legs and the way he was
walking. “Oh…”

“Rhodey, what happened with the dead girl Friday said she’s …” Tony said running in and
stopping when he caught sight of me. “Not dead anymore.”

“Doesn’t look that way.” Rhodey said.

“Hi.” Tony said.

“Hi Tony.” I said awkwardly. Obviously I wasn't in one of the two universes where I know
people.

“Hi….” He said again. “Sorry we didn’t catch your name while you were… out.”

“Hanna.” I said.

“Hanna, right. Uh, you want to get back in bed while we wait for the doc to look you over.”
Tony said.

“Uh… I can’t move. It takes a minute for the rigor mortis to wear off.” I said.
“So you know about the…” Rhodey said.

“Being dead. Yeah that happens lot.” I said feeling a bit nauseous.

“Okay, let’s get you up.” Tony said carefully putting an arm around my waist and helping me
back onto the bed.

The doctor came in and looked me over which only left him more confused. There wasn't a
reason to keep me in medical any longer so I was discharged and taken to a room, given some
clothes and left alone to clean up.

I looked at the clothes they picked out it was an indigo blue embroidered tunic with a pair of
blue cropped distressed jeans and slip on black toms.

I slipped put them on then followed the lights to the common room where Tony and Rhodey
were still discussing something, which was obviously me because as soon as they saw me
walk in they stopped talking.
“The clothes fit.” Tony said.

“We had to guess you’d be around Wanda’s size.” Rhodey said.

“We can grab you some clothes later.” Tony said.

“You don’t have to do that. I’m not going to be here long.” I said.

“You have somewhere to go?” Rhodey asked.

“Yeah, home. I just need to find the closest 10 story roof to jump off of or if one of you could
blast me that works too.” I said.

“What?” Tony and Rhodey said.

“My heart needs to stop so I can jump over to where I’m supposed to be, so…” I said waiting
for either directions or them to suit up.

“I think we need to get you back to medical because it sounds like you just asked to kill you.”
Tony said.

“Did I forget to say please?” I asked.

“Alright Hanna maybe you should, explain everything from the beginning.” Rhodey said.

So I did, obviously not the part where I’m Tony’s soulmate from another universe because
that would just make things weird.
“Let me see if I’m getting this right, You die, but you don’t stay dead, you just wake up in
another parallel universe.” Tony said.

“Is that even possible?” Rhodey asked.

“Thor’s a Demi-god, Bruce turns into a giant green rage monster, and the there’s Vision.”
Tony said. “So maybe?”

“I can prove it.” I said. “Just kill me.”

“No.” Tony and Rhodey said.

“Guys, it’s really nice of you to want me to not die but I’m not supposed to be here. I’ve got a
kid I need to get back to so I need you to just trust me and go with it.” I said.

“Do you know how crazy you sound?” Tony said.

“Can’t be crazier than the guys that fly around in suits of armor, fight aliens and judging by
the look of you two Ultron and Sokovia already happened?” I asked.

“How do you know about that?” Rhodey said.

“I've been to a lot of universes, Ultron happens in most of them, I actually went to the one
where Ultron did end all life on Earth.” I said. “Wouldn’t recommend it.”

“How many universes have you been to?” Tony asked.

“I’m not sure. I lost track around the 50th universe.” I said.

“You’ve died 50 times?” Rhodey asked.

“More than that, and not always on purpose. Frankly it’s embarrassing how often it happens.
With me it’s like everything that can go wrong will go wrong. I can’t even cross the street
without getting hit by a bus which is why I really need to get back.” I reiterated.

“What if you don’t come back? What if you die and this time it sticks?” Tony said.

“I doubt it. It didn’t stick even when I wanted it to.” I said.

“You know what, you had a big day, you’re probably tired. How about you take it easy for a
few days and we’ll circle back.” Tony said.

“Guys it’s really not that big of a deal. If you don’t want to do it I can do it myself.” I
answered.

“You’re not helping your case.” Rhodey said.

“Okay then, I’m leaving.” I said walking out of the room. “Also what is up with this place?
It’s huge and there’s like no one here.”

“Old tenants recently broke their lease and moved out.” Tony said. “Look just take the night,
we’ll talk in the morning.”

“This is a waste of time.” I said.

“Think of it as a vacation.” Tony said. “There’s a theater, pool, gym, 24-hour concierge, go
nuts.”

“I went through this with Hercu-Thor and even he came around.” I said. “Can we just fast
forward this to the good part?”

“No.” Tony and Rhodey said.

“Uh…” I groaned.

Three Days Later…

Tony and Rhodey had not come around to the idea of letting me go. They had even enlisted
Vision as my babysitter to make sure I wouldn’t take matter into my own hand.

I was starting to get desperate so I started making moves, learning the layout of the
compound. Where all of the security camera were and this place was air tight. I was not a
super spy like Clint or Natasha.

That’s when it hit me…

“Clint!” I said. Clint and his really bad habit of moving around through the airducts. There
wouldn’t be any security cameras in them. They go through the entire compound. I could
sneak out through them.

There was a broom closet right down the hall with a vent opening I could go through I just
had to watch out for my babysitter. Vision had a bad habit of phasing through walls when you
least expected him to. I needed to move quickly.

I grabbed slipped on a brown suede moto jacket I had snagged from what I’m guessing was
this Universe’s Natasha’s closet to go over the striped cropped tee shirt and dark distressed
jeans from Wanda’s closet I was wearing.

I cracked my door room door open and made sure no one was in sight before making a run
for it. I ran into the closet and quickly stacked the step stool and buckets to give me a boost
up to the vent.

It was a struggle but I got in and started crawling in. I will admit in hindsight that I did jump
ahead and should have planned my escape a bit better. Like maybe not popping out of the
vent in the garage at the same time Tony was walking into the garage.

“I think you and Barton would get along.” Tony said making me aware of his presence.

“Oh Hi, heading out?” I said.

“Yeah, I was going to go… check on things.” He said. “Having fun with, whatever it is
you’re doing?”
“Yeah, you did a great job designing the place, from top to bottom.” I said.

“It’s what I do.” Tony said as we sat there just staring at each other. “Do you want to come
with me, get out for a bit?”

“I don’t want to crash your plans.” I said.

“It’s not crashing if you’re invited.” Tony said opening the car door. “Come on.”

“Sure.” I said getting in the car.

One of many constants in every universe was Tony’s lead foot when he drove. I watched him
and they were nearly identical. This Tony was a bit older, his hair was starting to get lighter.

“I don’t know what the rule is in other universes but in this one it’s not polite to stare. Unless
I have something on my face.” He said as we started hitting traffic on our way to Manhattan.

“You’re fine. You just remind me a lot of someone I know.” I said.

“Boyfriend?” He retorted.

“I’m not sure that’s the right word for it.” I said. “It’s more of a situationship.”

“Sounds messy.” Tony said.

“When isn’t it?” I retorted.

“I just got out of a really long situationship.” Tony said.

“Aww you and Pepper broke up?” I asked.

“You know Pepper?” Tony asked.

“You and her are a thing in most universes. I ship you guys.” I said.

“Well, in this universe she left me.” He said. “Can’t really blame her. I always promised her
I’d either stop being Iron Man or figure out a good work life balance and I never did.”

“That’s because a work life balance doesn’t exist.” I said.

“You really think so?” Tony said.

“You can’t have a life unless you have a stable work life to provide for your life. Life is going
to move on with or without you. You think I’ve always made it to my kid’s school for his
plays or concerts or was at every soccer practice? Of course not. I work my ass off to provide
for him so that he’ll have everything he needs to have a good life. It’s an oxymoron because
while everything I do I do for him, I rarely see him.” I said. “That’s life.”

“I think it’s a little different when you’re, and I’m not saying it to brag but… I’m rich.” He
said.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed with the top of the line sports car that isn’t on the market yet, the
compound and security agency you fully fund and the watch?” I asked.

“Good eye.” Tony said.

“Super power.” I answered. “You’re a superhero, if everyone could do what you do you
would have retired a long time ago.”

“Exactly.” He said. “This is going to sound strange but when I see you I get this feeling that I
know you or I’ve seen you somewhere.”

“I’m fairly sure been I’ve in never been in this universe before.” I said. “In fact I’m from
2024 and we’re in 2016. One of the universes that I've spent a lot of time in is in 2014. I think
I may be time traveling when I jump universes.”

“And I thought seeing Thor get beamed up to Asgard was the best way to travel.” Tony said.

“At least he doesn’t have to worry about traffic.” I said.

“Lucky him.” Tony said.

It was another hour before we pulled into the tower’s garage.

“Oh I have missed this place.” I said.

“You’ve been here before?” He asked.

“In another universe.” I said smiling following him into the elevator.

“Someone’s been using my elevator.” Tony said.

“So?” I asked.
“The floors are scuffed.” He said.

“They are moving your things out. Besides the new owners are probably going to remodel the
entire place.” I said.

“Guess you’re right.” He said.

“Are you going to miss this place?” I said. “You had a lot of good times here.”

“You know it’s really freaky that you seem to know everything about me and I know nothing
about you.” Tony said.

“I’ve met a Tony or two in my travels.” I said as the elevator doors opened and revealing a
team of movers packing everything up while Happy followed behind them with a clip board.

“Just, hang tight. I’ll be quick.” Tony said going to check in with Happy.

I took a seat at the bar and enjoyed the view of the city.

Different universe, same view.

I liked the compound. There was more room. The air quality was better but the tower was..
home.

“Excuse me miss, you can’t be here.” Happy said.

“I’m just waiting for someone.” I said.

“I don’t think so…” Happy said.

“She’s with me.” Tony said holding a box and a phone which he handed to me. “And this is
yours.”

“I don’t really need a phone.” I said.

“I managed to salvage the memory card from the shattered phone you had when we found
you. This one won’t break as easily as that.. iPhone.” He said in disgust.

“Thanks.” I said turning it on.

“Who’s she?” Happy asked.

“Stowaway.” Tony said. “Don’t wait up.”

“Call the kid.” Happy called out.

“The kid is fine.” Tony said.

“What kid?” I asked.

“Just, a mentor program trial run.” Tony said as the elevator doors closed.

“Oh you mean Peter?” I said.

“You know about the kid?” Tony said.

“I know about the kid. Great kid.” I said. “Taking him to Germany for his first big job
though, not the best decision.”

“He did great.” Tony said.

“He came home with a black eye. How is his Aunt not mad at you?” I said.

“Because the kid is fine.’ Tony said.

“So you’ve talked to him?” I asked.

“No but I've heard his voicemails.” Tony said.

“You really have no experience with kids do you?” I retorted.

“Parker doesn’t need hand holding. He’s laying low. Taking care of the little guy.” Tony said.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked.

“I’ll prove it.” Tony said taking his phone out. “Friday, find the kid for me.”

“I've entered his location to the car’s GPS?” Friday asked.

“I miss Jarvis.” I said.

“We still have Vision,” Tony said as we got into the car.

“Jarvis didn’t phase through walls.” I reminded him.

“Vision’s working on it.” Tony said. “He just misses Wanda.”

That is how we ended up in Queens. Of course Tony being Tony couldn’t help himself and
instead of doing the normal mentor thing of calling his mentee and setting up a meeting, we
were watching him from a rooftop across the street from his friend’s home.

“This is not what I had in mind.” I said flipping through my phone.

“Parker’s like an overactive puppy when he gets attention. This is better.” Tony said looking
at what I was looking at on my phone. “That’s your kid?”

“Yeah, this is Jamie.” I said turning the phone so he could see the photo of us from our last
roadtrip.

“He looks just like you.” Tony said. “He’s big.”

“I was a young mom. Not in the way you’re thinking.” I said. “He’s adopted.”

“How does a teenager end up adopting a kid?” He asked.

“Life.” I said as if that explained it all before locking my phone.

“You’ve seen the kid. Is this enough for you?” He asked.

“Is it really enough for you?” I retorted. “You signed the Sokovia Accords because you think
superheroes need something to be accountable to.”

“Yeah but he’s a kid?” Tony said.

“Exactly my point. I love my kid. I trust him, but I’m also extremely aware that he is a kid
still figuring out how life works. My kid doesn’t have powers, but yours does and he’s
figuring them out as he figures life out.” I said.

“I get it, but up until now he’s been doing great.” Tony said.

“Tony,” I said giving him a look.

“I’ll check in on him in a few days.” He agreed.

“That’s a good idea.” I said.

“You hungry? I know a good Italian place that delivers. Last dinner at the tower?” Tony said.

“I could go for Italian.” I said as he got back into the suit. “You know we could take the
stairs.”

“I’m already in the suit.” He said waiting for me to hold onto him before he flew us back
down to the car.

It felt weird to be in the tower with most of the furniture already packed away or moved out
of the common room. It also felt weird that everyone was so scattered and Tony was, with the
exception of Rhodey and Vision alone. It didn’t matter what universe you were in Tony Stark
did not do well alone.
Now where have I heard that before?

“Alright, what are we drinking?” Tony said.

“You’re driving later.” I reminded him.

“The car can drive itself.” He said.

“I’ll have whatever you’re having.” I said.

“Scotch?” Tony asked.

“Okay.” I said as he poured us a drink. “It’s the end of an era. You’re really not sad about
letting this place go?”

“I’m a lot of things. Nostalgic isn’t one of them.” He said. “Besides this place comes with a
lot of baggage.”

“I get that. Well then a toast to new beginnings. The Compound is a great place to do that and
the air is really clean.” I said making Tony laugh.

“Did you really think you were going to sneak out through the vents?” Tony said.

“I was almost outside.” I said.

“Friday let us know you were in the vents two seconds after you wiggled your way into it.”
Tony said.
“Yet another reason why I miss Jarvis.” I said. “You actually let me think I was going to
make it out?”

“It’s good to test out the system.” Tony said making me laugh.

“I’m not AntMan.” I said.

“You’re really not.” Tony said chuckling. “Since I’m pretty sure this is the best universe
you’ve been in so far…”

“Eh… I wouldn’t say best universe.” I answered.

“Really?” He asked.

“You’ve never met Hercu-Thor.” I said.

“You keep saying that like I know what it means…” he said.

“You know the story of Hercules? Son of Zeus, but he was raised on Earth…” I started.

“Oh, A Thor that was raised on Earth and didn’t know he was the god of thunder.” Tony said.
“Does he have a Hammer?”

“He has a surfboard.” I corrected.

“No,” Tony said.

“Yeah, and he starts all of his sentences with a ‘Brah’ and ends them with a ‘gnarly’” I said
chuckling. “Great guy though.”

“What’s the worst universe?” He said.

“It’s a three-way tie between the world where Ultron destroyed the world, Hydra rules the
world and then there’s the zombie universe.” I said.

“There’s a zombie universe?” Tony said.

“That universe stinks. Literally.” I said.

“Dead bodies?” He asked.

“Dead bodies. What they don’t tell you on the walking dead or any zombie movie.” I
answered.

“For good reason.” Tony said.

“So what’s next for you?” I asked. “You know besides mentoring the next generation of
superheroes.”

“Not sure yet.” Tony said. “The Avengers aren’t really the Avengers anymore. Rogers and
Barnes are in the wind which is fine. I think the world is a safer place with Cap out there
fighting the good fight.”

“I’d have to agree with that.” I said.

“And.. uh I don’t know. Work some more with the foundation. We did a lot of damage in
Sokovia and there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done there.” Tony said.

“Not all heroes wear capes.” I reminded him. “Or suits.”

“You’ve got a little something,” Tony said pointing to the corner of his mouth.

“Cheesy Gnocchi.” I said wiping my mouth. “Did I get it?”

“No, just missed it.” He said. “Here, I…”

Okay I obviously suck as reading people and most of my dates never really went anywhere so
I couldn’t tell that what was going to happen next.

Tony did wipe the invisible cheese sauce off my face before leaning in to kiss me. We kissed
and it took me completely by surprise.

“Uh…” I stayed still awkwardly before laughing once he realized i was not doing much.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He said moving away.

“No it’s nice really…” I countered putting my hand on his.

“I read this wrong. I thought we were having a moment and…” Tony started.

“I can see how it may have come off that way but…” I said and then I thought of something.
This Tony barely knows me. He has absolutely no reason to be so... nice. So I leaned in and
kissed him briefly but there was nothing. In fact i think i felt more when i almost kissed other
Tony than actually kissing this Tony. “Huh…”
“Huh?” Tony said.

“You wanted to kiss me?” I said.

“I thought you’d be open to me making a move. I’m sorry.” Tony said. “It’s been a while…”

“No No that’s not… In this universe people don’t have soulmates right, like the real deal.
Scientifically proven soulmates?” I asked. “Like you can see all the colors of the spectrum
before meeting the person you’re supposed to be with?”

“There’s a universe where soulmates are real?” Tony asked confused.

“Tony answer the question.” I said trying to now lose the momentum of this moment... this
idea.

“No, soulmates aren’t real. Dating is a numbers game.” He said.

“So you barely know me, but you liked me enough to make a move?” I said.

“I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have.” Tony said.

This universe’s Tony didn’t know me, wasn't obligated to feel anything towards me and he
naturally felt a spark and I felt nothing when he kissed me because all I could think about was
my other universe’s Tony and how I wish we had kissed that night in LA which meant…

“Oh my gosh, It’s real! It’s all real!!!” I shouted. “He’s my person. They’re all my persons!”
“He?” Tony said reminding me that I was not alone and that I really, really had to get back
home. I put my hand on Tony's shoulder and made him look at me.

“Tony, you’re going to get Pepper back. Stop being an idiot, she is your endgame, make sure
Happy still has that ring he’s been carrying around for ten years and make sure he has it
everyday until you get your chance. There is no one for you but her so stop trying to make
moves on people that aren’t her.” I said. “Do you understand?”

“No, what’s happening here?” Tony asked very very confused as i got up and slipped on my
jacket.

“What’s happening is that I’m going home.” I said kissing his cheek. “Thank you for
everything. You’re my favorite Avenger. Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“Hanna…” Tony said getting up and following me out.

I ran out to the balcony to the edge and jumped plummeting to the ground and then
plummeting doen that endless dark pit. For the first time ever I wasn't afraid when I hit the
bottom.

“Hello again…” The voice whispered.

“Fuck off.” I said looking up. “Come on, come on already…”

The clicking sound was louder.

“That wasn't very nice.” It taunted as I heard the splashing get closer.

“Pull me up!” I shouted.

“There’s no one up there.” It taunted. “It’s just you and me Hanna.”

“No it’s just you.” I said. “Pull me up!!!!”

“Alright then.” It said before everything went quiet and even the water stopped dripping from
the ceiling. I didn’t see the hit coming as I felt something hit me on the side hard enough to
throw me aside. My head hit a wall and knocked the wind out of me. I tried to push myself
back up to my feet but as started getting up something grabbed both of my feet and dragged
me into the dark.

Universe 616-

It had been exactly one month since Hanna had disappeared, again. They had not learned
anything from their trip to Norway and were even more confused as to why Hanna would
even attempt to climb a cliff. No matter where they searched they found absolutely nothing.

As much as they would have liked to keep looking they were wasting time they could not
lose. Fury called back Steve, Natasha, and Clint to DC while Thor, Bruce and Tony went
back to New York.
There was no sign of Hanna which was only putting everyone more on edge.

Tony was essentially living in his lab, working non-stop on his suit when he felt it. It was as
if his heart had skipped a beat and when he looked up the bonsai tree on Bruce’s desk was
green again.

“Jarvis, Check to see if we have a signal.” Tony said moving towards his desk.

“Miss Marin’s bracelet has started transmitting a signal.” Jarvis said.

“Where?” Tony asked.

“Washington DC.” Jarvis said bringing up the exact location on a map.

“Call whoever’s closest and tell them where. I’m on my way.” Tony said.

“Sir you have an incoming call from Agent Hill.” Jarvis said.

“Take a message.” Tony said.

“Sir my protocols are being overridden.” Jarvis said.

“Stark.” Maria greeted.

“I’m kind of busy.” He said. “and on my way out.”

“Director Fury is down.” Maria said. “He’s gone.”

“Was it…” Tony started.

“We suspect it was.” She said. “We need you to be on standby. They’re making their move.”

“Jarvis, call Romanoff.” Tony said. “Put the tower on lock down, No one comes in or out.”

Washington DC -

Natasha snuck out of the hospital. Fury was gone and Steve was being taken to SHIELD by
the Strike team. Something was going down and it whatever it was, it was going to happen
quickly.

She was almost at her car when her phone started ringing.

“Romanoff.” She greeted.

“I just dropped a ping to your phone. Get there now.” Tony said.

“Stark, I don’t have time…” Natasha started.

“It’s Hanna.” Tony said.

“I’ll get her somewhere safe. Don’t call this number, I’m losing the phone.” Natasha said
ending the call. She quickly memorized the coordinates Tony had sent before dropping her
phone in a storm drain.
The location was less than mile from the hospital which was good timing on Hanna’s part.
Natasha was pressed for time. She didn’t trust Steve to keep it together especially if Bucky
was involved. She turned into an alley following the GPS’s direction. She was almost at dead
end when she saw Hanna lying on the ground.

“Shit.” Natasha said slamming the breaks and getting out of the car. “Hanna.”

Natasha looked her over and after checking her pulse confirmed that she was still dead. It
took a lot of heavy lifting but Natasha managed to get her in the car. She quickly drove off to
find somewhere safe while she figured out their next move.

Early Morning…

There was only one place Natasha could think of to stash Hanna while she figured out what
the next move would be. She had prepared for this since the day SHIELD recruited her.
While her personnel file did have an address on record that was not the apartment she stayed
in. She had another apartment held under a different name that only the people she truly
trusted knew about. It was a safehouse of sorts.

Fury was dead, Steve was taken to SHIELD for who knows what reason and every STRIKE
agent was being very twitchy. To make things worse Clint was out on a mission due back that
very morning and he had no idea what he was walking into.

And then there was Hanna. The unconscious blonde on her bed… well Natasha was choosing
just to pretend that she was just sleeping because in reality she was still… not breathing. It
was nothing new except this time, it was taking longer for her to wake up.

A lot longer.

Natasha stared at the alarm clock on the nightstand. They were almost at the 12-hour mark
and still nothing.
The most it had ever taken before was 4 hours.

Natasha needed to move but she couldn’t move Hanna. She looked at the pack of gum and
the flash drive Steve thought he had stashed in that vending machine. She needed to go.

Natasha got up and quickly moved a trashcan right next to the bed, a water bottle and protein
bar on the nightstand and wrote a note. She looked at Hanna and looked at how long her hair
had gotten…

“Bangs.” She said with a smile and shaking her head before kissing her forehead and giving
her hand one last squeeze before leaving. She knew what she had to do.

Natasha grabbed her phone and called Clint’s phone from a pay phone a few blocks away
from the apartment.

“Hey, just wanted to let you know they dropped off that package you’ve been waiting on this
morning. It’s at my apartment and you should pick it up first chance you get. We don’t want it
to expire.” Natasha said before hanging up.

Here’s hoping Clint got the hint.

Meanwhile…

Steve had just been ambushed by his Strike team in an elevator. He had fought off his former
STRIKE Team, jumped out of an elevator and was now running through the forest on the
outskirts of DC on the run.

There were Quinjets flying over him searching for him.

“Drop the SHIELD.” Clint said notching an arrow into his bow.
“Barton.” Steve said.

“Drop it. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Clint said as he could hear over his
coms as reinforcements notified him, they were on their way.

“I can’t do that.” Steve said.

“Hard way it is then.” Clint said hearing the footsteps of the approaching. He had trained
with Steve and knew which side he tended to favor with his shield so that’s the side he aimed
for to bounce the explosive arrow off the shield and towards the strike agents coming their
way.

He and Steve went at it and when he got close.

“There’s a tracker in your suit.” Clint said low enough for only Steve to hear.

“What?” Steve said.

“Ditch the suit or they’ll keep finding you. Make it look good.” Clint said with a wink before
pushing him back. He shot a few arrows before Steve landed a punch and Clint pretended to
be knocked out.

They took him to medical where they told him he probably had a concussion.

Clint was having a morning. His mission ran long, the second the jet hit the ground he found
out Fury was dead, His best friend wasn’t answering her phone, he was finally debriefed and
about to get ready to go home when he was called out to hunt down Captain America and
now he had a black eye and a concussion.
He snuck out of medical and went to change out of his uniform. He slipped off his boots and
had his shirt off before noticing he had a new message on his phone from a number he didn’t
recognize.

He picked up the phone and listened to the message.

“Hey, just wanted to let you know they dropped off that package you’ve been waiting on this
morning. It’s at my apartment and you should pick it up first chance you get. We don’t want it
to expire” Natasha said before hanging up.

“Package?” Clint said before listening to the message again. He knew Natasha never asked to
meet at her apartment. They only met at the real apartment was in case they needed to have
an off the books conversation.

Things are happening.

He quickly got dressed in clothes that helped him blend in before sneaking out of the
Triskelion.

Across Town…

When I opened my eyes I was on a bed. It wasn't the worst place I had ever woken up in.
That was all I noticed before I had to puke. Fortunately someone had left a double bagged
trashcan right next to the bed so I was covered.

“Buah!” I coughed up the smoothie and cheesy gnocchi I had for dinner.

I heard a door opened somewhere outside of the room but I couldn’t move and it wouldn’t
stop coming out.

“Nat?” Someone called out.

“Buah!” I barfed out.

There were footsteps as the door slowly creaked open.

“Hanna?” Clint said surprised dropping his gun and kneeling behind me to hold my hair out
of my face.

“Uh… I forgot how gross that is.” I groaned.

“Here.” Clint said opening the water bottle someone had left on the nightstand. “Rinse out
your mouth.”

“What universe am I in?” I asked.

“Uh… You’re back.” He said helping me sit up.

“2015?” I asked.

“April 2014.” Clint said. “You were gone a month.”

“A month?” I said. How did that happen? I've been gone over a year.

“Yeah…” Clint said looking me over. “You’ve missed a couple of things but right now we
need to go.”

“Go where? And where are we?” I asked.

“We’re in DC, Nat’s safehouse and I need to get you out of the city. Back to New York or
another safehouse.” Clint said.

“You said April… It’s happening isn’t it?” I asked.

“Fury’s dead.” Clint said.

“He’s not dead.” I said.

“Hill said he’s dead.” Clint said.

“She said that in the movie too.” I said. “He faked his death. Steve and Natasha are on the
run.”

“I don’t know where they are.” He said.

“We don’t need to know where they are. I know where they’re going to be and I know where
Fury is now.” I said trying to get up but feeling sore and I couldn’t full move my legs.

“Whoa…” Clint said helping me back onto the bed.

“I’m fine… I’m fine… rigor mortis… Give me a minute.” I groaned.

“We need to go to New York.” Clint said.

“No.” I said.
“Hanna.” Clint said.

“They’re going to be watching every way in or out of the city. It’ll take too long to get out
and the tower is the first place they’re going to go looking for you, Natasha and Steve.” I
said.

“Then another safehouse. I have a place that’s off the grid…” He said.

“Or we could regroup. Wait for Natasha and Steve where we know they’re going to be.” I
said. “They’re going to need you.”

“Was I in this movie?” Clint asked.

“No, your actor had a timing conflict.” I said bending my knee and trying not to wince at how
sore I was. “Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have used your help.”

“Do you have a plan?” He asked.

“Part of one.” I said finally getting to my feet. “First I need to clean up and you should pack a
bag for Natasha and if there’s anything for Steve I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”

“You got it?” Clint asked.

“I got it, I’ll get Sam Wilson’s address.” I said grabbing my phone out of my pocket.

“Who’s Sam Wilson?” Clint asked as I closed the bathroom door.

I took a breath and leaned over the sink. My legs were sore and it wasn't rigor mortis. This
was different. I took a breath and unbuttoned my jeans slowly pulling them down. Around
both of my legs, up to my thighs, there were bruises wrapped around them. It looked as if
something had grabbed me by my legs... which it had.

“Shit.” I said.

I have died and come back probably more than a hundred times at this point and not once, no
matter which way I died have I ever come back with so much as a hair out of place but
now… I don’t know what this means but I knew it wasn't good.

Now was not the time for this.

I took a breath, pulled my pants back on washed my hands.

Clint knocked on the door.

“Hanna, we need to go.” He said.

“Just a sec.” I said taking a minute, probably the last minute I was going to have in a while
before walking out the bathroom. “Okay I found Sam on Facebook and there’s a photo of him
next to his mailbox when he moved in.”

“Great.” Clint said taking away the phone.

“Hey.” I said reaching for it but Clint stopped me.

“First rule of being on the run, ditch your phone.” He said.

“That phone’s from another universe and doesn’t have service.” I said asking for it back.
Clint thought about it for a second before looking at the lock screen. It was a photo of me,
Jamie and Theo at the Grand Canyon.

“Nice photo.” Clint said sounding very clipped as he handed me the phone back.

“He’s not very far from here.” I said getting back to business. “Finding Fury is going to be a
bit trickier.”

“You don’t know where he is?” Clint asked.

“The movie didn’t give specific addresses. Especially since this one was filmed in
Cleveland.” I said. “He’s hiding out in an abandoned dam. Does that sound familiar to you?”

“I think I know where but’s it’s not in DC.” Clint said. “And we’re at least.. 3 hours away by
car. They’re going to be watching all the highways.”

“Bus stations?” I asked.

“Just as bad, we can take a train out of the city and once we’re close enough we can drive
there.” Clint said.

“There’s our plan.” I said. “Where’d you park?”

“I ditched the car, I’ll get us a ride. Wait here.” Clint said.

“Don’t you need a lookout?” I asked.

“Nope.” Clint said walking out and slamming the door shut with more force than needed. Oh
yeah, he’s mad.
I sighed stuffing my phone in my pocket. I deserved it. I’ve been a pretty shitty soulmate and
I have a lot to make up for. Guess I should start by packing snacks, and getting Clint some
coffee. He can’t be mad at the person that gets him coffee.

The kitchen was pretty sparce, obviously Natasha Romanoff lived here. I found a thermos for
the coffee and a couple of protein bars, candy bars, pistachios and chocolate covered
almonds. That should hold us over for a while.

I stuffed them into a tote bag I found lying around.

“Let’s go.” Clint said popping up behind me without making any noise.

“You didn’t steal a bug right?” I teased but Clint wasn't buying into it. “You’ll understand
next time you’re in Germany.”

“Sure.” Clint said putting a hand behind me and leading me out. “Keep your head down and
stay quiet.”

We took the stairs down to the first floor and exited the building through the laundry room
into the back alley. Clint had ‘borrowed’ a grey Chevy Cruz with tinted windows.
I got in the passenger seat and buckled up as Clint sped out of the alley onto the street.

“Which way?” He asked.

“Straight, turn left in 3 blocks and straight down for 2.1 miles.” I said reciting the directions I
had memorized. “The house will be on your left.”

“Who is this Sam guy?” Clint asked not taking his eyes off the road.

“He’s Steve’s running buddy.” I said.

“What?” Clint asked. “Do you even know this guy?”

“Not in person but Steve trusts him.” I said but Clint was still looking unsure. “He works at
the VA and runs a support group for Veterans. He was in the Air Force and did 2 tours in
Afghanistan. He’s from Delacroix, Louisiana. His parents ran a fishing business that his
sister, Sarah took over. She has two kids or will have 2 kids not sure on the timing. I don’t
know what else to say other than someone needs to teach Steve about stranger danger
because it wasn't a thing in 40’s.”

“This Sam guy sticks around?” He asks. Clint did not trust easily.

“He does. Next to Bucky, I’d say he’s Steve’s closest friend.” I answered. “You’ll like him.”

“Great.” Clint said not saying much else. He didn’t say a word for the rest of the car ride.

Once we got to Sam’s house he parked across the street and started getting out of the car.
“Wait.” I said.

“What?” Clint said.

“I should go alone.” I said.

“No, we need to stick together.” Clint said.

“It’s like 20 feet away, you’ll have eyes on me the entire time. Besides my face isn’t as
recognizable as yours or murdery.” I said making Clint scowl at me. “Plus you’re a better
getaway driver.”

“Two minutes.” Clint said leaving no room for argument.

“In and out.” I promised getting out of the car and grabbing the duffle bag from the back seat.
It was heavy. How much ammo did Clint pack?

I carried it to Sam’s front door before ringing the doorbell. I was just about to ring the
doorbell again when he opened the door.

“Sam Wilson.” I greeted.

“Can I help you?” Sam asked confused.

“I’m a friend of Steve Rogers.” I said making Sam look me up and down. “You know,
Captain America, The star spangled man with a plan or you might know him better as the
world’s most annoying running partner?”

“I know Steve.” Sam said eying me suspiciously.

“Well Steve is in a bit of a pickle at the moment and is dealing with some… stuff.” I said
trying to keep it short and simple. “There’s a very strong chance he and another friend of ours
are going to pop up here at some point, probably at your back door. Would you mind holding
onto this for them?”

“What kind of trouble is he in?” Sam said crossing his arms.

“I think it’s better if he explains it.” I said offering him the bag.

“Should I be worried about what’s in this bag?” He asked taking the duffle bag and realizing
it was heavier than he thought it’d be. “Am I even allowed to look inside of it?”

“Only if you want to see Steve’s tighty whities.” I said with a smirk turning to the car in the
driveway. That’s the very same car Bucky will yank out the steering wheel of tomorrow. “Uh,
a little advice. You should increase your car insurance coverage, max it out and maybe get
GAP if you’re not done paying it off.”

“Okay?” Sam said looking confused.

“And you should do that today.” I said. “See you around Sam.”

“Hey!” Sam called out. “You never said what your name was.”

I didn’t answer that, there would be time for introductions later.

“We’re done.” I said to Clint.

“He’s not a spy.” Clint said.

“No, he’s a soldier.” I said noticing how he was tapping his fingers impatiently on the
steering wheel. “Are we okay?”

“Our train leaves in 30 minutes and we need to ditch the car.” Clint said putting the car in
drive and speeding away.
 Chapter 47

“Wait here.” Clint said leaving me a corner and facing towards a payphone.

“Where are you going?” I asked turning but he quickly turned me back.

“Stay.” Clint said before walking away.

I’d only been back a few hours and somehow I’d already screwed up and made Clint mad.
Sure I’d gotten killed and left the universe for a while and I have been a bit of a pain but it
wasn't the first time.

Maybe he was just in work mode…

No it was definitely me.

I stood here for a while, choosing to just do as Clint asked waited. Though I’m not sure why I
was hiding considering I don’t exist here, no one knows who I am, and… Why the heck was I
was I hiding in a corner?

“Oh screw this.” I said walking to the payphone but Clint came back at that very moment and
quickly put an arm around me and led me away.

“I told you to stay put.” He said.

“I was then I realized, why would I be hiding? They don’t even know who I am?” I said
putting an arm around his waist and accidentally feeling where he had tucked his gun in his
jacket pocket.
“You’re hiding because you’re leverage.” Clint said.

“They don’t know I’m leverage.” I said.

“That’s because Nat and I have made it a point to make sure no one knows you exist but the
second they start digging, they’ll find your fake identity, your job as Tony’s assistant and the
video of you falling through a wormhole with him.” Clint said. “And that’ll be enough.”

“Are we stowing away?” I asked when we got to the platform.

“That’d be the first place they’d look for us.” Clint said smiling as he handed out tickets to
the train attendant. “Thank you.”

To my surprise Clint had taken a page out of my book and gotten us a private room in a
sleeper car. It felt like a lifetime ago that Steve and I bunked in one of them on a cross
country train trip to find our way back.

Fun times.

“Isn’t this a bit much for a 3 hour trip?” I asked.

“Five and a half hours.” Clint corrected. “There are stops and the dam is a bit farther off.”

“As long as we don't have to hitch hike.” I said putting down my bag on the small table and
shrugging out of my jacket. “A bit flashy though.”

Clint ignored me and started searching the room. Opening up every cabinet, checking the
restroom, making sure the door didn’t lock from the outside and them making a makeshift
lock to lock the door from the inside. When he was satisfied that the room was set he closed
the blinds on the door and the window.
“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Fine.” He said taking his gun out and checking and double checking it over and over again

“Do you want to talk?” I asked.

“What’s there to talk about?” Clint said.

“The fact that you won’t look at me because you’re mad.” I said.

“I’m not mad.” Clint said finally looking at me.

“You’re mad.” I said before I reached into the tote bag and pulled out the coffee thermos.
“Coffee for your thoughts?”

“Where’d you get that?” He asked.

“Natasha’s apartment.” I said taking out the chocolate covered almonds and pistachios. We
stared at each other before Clint finally reached for the thermos. I let him crack open the
thermos and take a couple of sips.

“So…” I said waiting for him to say something. “Just say it.”

Clint looked at me and really looked at me.

“How long were you gone?” He asked.

“You said I was gone a month.” I said.

“That’s not what I meant.” Clint said.

“I was gone over a year.” I said. “Fourteen and a half months, to be exact.”

“You were gone over a year?” Clint said. “A whole year? While we were here running
around trying to find you, thinking someone had gotten to you and killed you, you were on
vacation at Grand Canyon?!”

“I did go to the Grand Canyon but it’s a little more complicated than that.” I said.

“You promised me you were going to come back as soon as you figured out whatever it was
that was bothering you and instead you fell off a cliff and decided not to come back?!” Clint
said. “We went to Norway looking for you?!”

“Norway?” I asked confused. “Why the hell would you go to Norway? It’s cold there.”

“You were in Norway!” Clint said.

“Okay, I think we need to back up a little.” I said. “Why would you think I was in Norway?”

“Because you were in Norway!” Clint urged. “Tonsberg?”

“There’s nothing in Tonsberg, at least not for another 6 years.” I said. “That doesn’t make any
sense.”
“You moved out of the tower, you got an apartment, then one day you left to Norway.” Clint
said.

“Uh… okay I think now might be a good time to mention that my memory of those couple of
weeks is a bit fuzzy.” I said.

“Seriously?” Clint scoffed. “That’s your excuse?”

“I remember the fight, me moving out to get some space. You all figuring out where I moved
to and coming by unannounced. Then I remember getting on a plane at JFK, talking on the
phone with all of you while I was shopping, going on a walk in a park, I think. There were a
lot of trees and it was cold.” I said.

“And then you fell.” Clint said.

“No.” I said. “I was talking, arguing actually, with Odin.”

“Odin? Thor’s dad, who lives on Asgard?” Clint said.

“I think I’d remember if I went to Asgard. That rainbow bridge is hard to miss.” I reminded
him. “We were fighting, I don’t know what it was about but I was mad. He did something, it
made everything fuzzy, and then he pushed me off a cliff.”

“Thor’s dad killed you?” Clint asked.

“Yeah, he’s a jerk. No wonder Loki turned out the way he did.” I said.

“I’m pretty sure there’s more to it than that.” Clint said sternly. “And what happened after
that? Why didn’t you come back?”
“I was always going to come back, things just got complicated.” I answered.

“We’re on the run from Nazis.” Clint deadpanned.

“Not sure they’re all Nazis but still horrible people. I’ve seen the world where they win and
it’s not fun.” I said.

“Hanna.” Clint said trying to get me back on track.

“I did what I always do when die. Keep dying until I get back home except that on my way
back I ended up back in my world and since I was already there I thought I’d check in on
Theo and Jamie.” I said. “Things were not going well for them. Theo lost his job, landlord
raised the rent on our dump of an apartment. He was falling apart and I couldn’t leave them
like that. Theo didn’t leave me when I was at my worst and it was my turn to return the favor.
So we came up with a plan. He’d go back to school and I got my job back to keep us afloat
while he finished.”

“And now you’re back.” Clint said.

“Not exactly back, back.” I said and Clint did not look happy with that answer. “Uh… I got
run over by a bus on my way to pick up my kid from soccer practice and I died in front of
Jamie.”

“You got run over by a bus?” Clint said in disbelief.

“I know.” I said cringing. “I swear it didn’t used to be this hard to stay alive.”

“Not as dramatic as being thrown over a cliff by a god.” He said. “You’re going to leave
again.”
“After this is all over, for a bit.” I said. “I need to make sure I didn’t traumatize Jamie by
dying and disappearing in front of him. That kid’s going to need a ton of therapy when he’s
older.”

“What’s it going to take? Another year?” Clint retorted.

“I know you don’t want to hear this but it was actually a really good thing that I took this
time away.” I said trying to find the best way to say it so I got up and started pacing. That
normally helped me get my thoughts in order.

“You took care of your best friend and your kid. I get you had to do that, but what about us?”
Clint asked. “You left us behind and you died. Again.”

“I had a lot to figure out about everything, where I fit into it all, how it was supposed to work
and if it was all even real.” I said and Clint was about to argue back but I interrupted him.
“You are very real and what you feel for me and what I feel for you and everyone else is very
real, I just had to work though 28 years of trauma to see that you’re my soulmates and I want
to be here and if I haven’t scared you all off by showing you what a total mess I am I’d like a
chance to see what this is and… oh!”

I didn’t get a chance to finish because Clint pulled me into a tight hug.

“We’re always going to want you, mess and all.” Clint said leaning his forehead against
mine.

“It’s a pretty big mess.” I reminded him.

“Good thing there’s six of us.” Clint said kissing my forehead. “What else did you do with
your year?”

“I have photos.” I offered taking out my phone. We sat on the bed as we swiped through, and
I filled him in on all of our misadventures from the past year.
“Mom, the donkey farted!” Jamie complained.

“That’s how you know he’s alive.” Theo teased. “Oh wow… what do they feed them?”

“Ugh…” I groaned. “Who’s idea was this again?”

“Jamie thought it would be like a pony ride.” Theo said.

“This is worse than the spitting llama at the petting zoo.” I said.

“We could have gone to Utah. Zion looks great.” Theo said low enough for only me to hear.

“Mom, can we camp down there?” Jamie asked pointing to the bottom of the canyon.

“Not unless they have AC.” I said.

“Moral of the story.” I said to Clint who could not stop laughing as the video ended. “Riding
a donkey is not the same as riding a horse.”

“Jamie is just as snarky as you are.” Clint said swiping through the photos.

“Yeah he’s the best.” I said proudly. I really hope I didn’t screw him up by dying in front of
him.

“Attention passengers we are approaching Woodsburg station.” The announcer said. “Please
stay seated until the train comes to a complete stop.”
“This is where we’re getting off.” Clint said handing me back my phone and grabbing his
jacket before grabbing a baseball cap and putting it on my head for me. “Do what you did
before? Don’t look up but don’t make it obvious you’re hiding your face. Stay close.”

“Okay.” I said. “Do the baseball cap and hoodie really work?”

“Most of the time.” Clint said putting his hat on and tucking his gun back into his jacket
pocket. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” I said nodding and following Clint out.

When I saw spy movies where people were on the run, hiding from people looking for them,
I imagined they probably felt nervous or on edge, constantly looking over their shoulder to
make sure they weren’t followed but this trip had been very… anti climactic which was a
good thing.

I was not looking forward to dying again and I guess this is what happens when they’re too
distracted trying to find Steve and Natasha. By the time they realized Clint was gone we were
already on our way out of DC.

It was a smaller station and not as busy as DC.

“Head down.” Clint reminded me a in low voice. It was easier to hide in a crowd. “We’re
going to need a car.”

“Are we borrowing one?” I asked.

“Looks that way.” Clint said taking my hand and leading me out. In no time, Clint had broken
into a car and hotwired a car. Nothing flashy just an old truck that had probably seen better
days. There was no way we’d make it if we ended up in a car chase.
“You don’t have to keep looking at the mirrors. No one’s following us.” Clint said finally
breaking the silence.

“Should we be worried about all of this being so… easy?” I asked.

“You’re not the one that got punched by Steve.” He retorted.

“He did punch out Hitler over 50 times.” I reminded him making Clint snort.

“Would you rather have someone shooting at us?” He retorted.

“I have been shot before, it’s not great. Better than being stabbed and drowning.” I said.

“And being run over by a bus?” Clint teased.

“Too soon Clint, too soon.” I said.

“Well enjoy the easy part, it’s only another hour in the car before we have to hike the rest of
the way.” He said.

“At least there won’t be farting donkeys.” I said laughing.

“How long was that hike?” Clint asked.

“It was supposed to be four but then Coco didn’t want to move.” I said.
“Coco?” Clint asked.

“The donkey I was riding.” I said. “It took us two hours to bribe her with treats so she’d keep
going.”

“I thought mules were supposed to be the stubborn ones.” Clint added.

“So did I.” I answered. “A hike will be nice, It’s good weather for it.”

I was wrong, it was not good weather for it. We were hit with a surprise spring shower. A
very cold spring shower.

“You said you really wanted a shower.” Clint teased.

“Not what I meant.” I answered.

“It shouldn’t be much further.” He said. “The dam should be around here.”

“Should we have gotten a map?” I asked.

“We don’t need a map.” Clint said.

“Not another step!” Someone said from behind us but Clint put his arm around me and
stopped me from looking.

“Hill, it’s just us.” Clint said slowly raising his hands.
“What are you doing here Barton?” Maria said keeping her gun pointed at us.

“Hanna?” Clint asked.

“Fury’s alive, SHIELD’s compromised and they’re currently hunting Natasha and Steve.” I
said.

“We’re on the same side.” Clint said. “She's the reason he even knew to set this place up.”

“Tetrodotoxin B, Bruce developed it to deal with Hulk. That’s what he used.” I said. Hill
hesitated but put her gun down.

“Walk.” She said nodding for us to walk straight forward.

We got to the dam and went inside to see Fury groaning in his hospital bed as his doctor
adjusted his IV.

“What the hell are you two doing here?” Fury sounding not as menacing as he tried to be. He
seemed very loopy from all the medications he was probably on.

“You’re not looking too bad for a guy with a lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum,
shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and collapsed lung.” I said before turning to the doctor.
“Did I get everything?”

“Just about.” He said not looking the least bit surprised or doing a great job of not showing it.

“Last I heard you were dead.” Fury said.

“So were you.” I retorted.

“Is this the part where you say I told you so?” He asked.

“Tempting, but maybe we should just focus on a plan?” I suggested.

“Maybe later…” Fury said drifting off.

“I just gave him a sedative. He needs rest.” The doctor said. “And he’s not the only one.”

I turned to Clint and he was dead on his feet.

“I need to keep my cover at SHIELD.” Hill said. “Don’t go anywhere, don’t do anything…”

“Actually, I have a suggestion.” I said.

I followed Maria out to where her car was parked while I filled her in on what was going to
happen today. Steve and the Winter fighting it out on the streets and Natasha being shot. She
obviously didn’t trust me and I’m pretty sure she didn’t believe me but said she would keep
an eye out for them and I asked her to grab Clint’s bow while she was at it.

I walked back inside to the doctor checking Fury’s pulse and no sign of Clint.

“He’s down the hall.” The doctor said not looking up. “Second door on the left.”

“Thanks.” I answered making my way over.

The door was open a crack but I knocked anyway. There had been enough surprises today.
“Hey.” Clint said drying his face with a rag he had found. It was a small room with a sink in
the corner and a cot set up on the opposite was. “Hill gone?”

“Yeah, she’ll be back later.” I said leaning against the door. “You okay?”

“I’m fine, just tired.” Clint said rubbing his eyes.

“You should sleep for a few hours. I have a feeling you’re about to get busy.” I said.

“I should have asked Hill to grab my bow.” He said.

“I let her know.” I said.

“Are you okay?” Clint asked.

“Long day.” I answered.

“Come here.” Clint said reaching for me. I smiled taking his hand and joining him on the
cot. It was not the most comfortable bed but after the day we had it worked. We laid on our
sides facing each other. “I need a vacation.”

“I hear the Grand Canyon’s nice.” I said making him laugh.

“Except for the farting donkey.” He teased.

“Yeah, maybe skip that part.” I suggested.

“It’s going to be okay.” Clint said.

“I know.” I said getting closer and hugging him. “You’re a good pillow.”

Clint chuckled putting his arms around me as we drifted off to sleep. I never saw the appeal
in cuddling. Sure there were lot of studies showing how cuddling would make your brain
release oxytocin or some other chemical that would make you happy or at least sleep better
but in that moment despite the fact that Hydra was trying to take over the world I felt safe.

Yeah… I could get used to this.

Early the following Morning – Washington D.C.

Despite the weird encounter Sam had with the strange girl the day before he had decided to
stick to his usual routine. Chance are nothing would come of it.

He went on his run and ran five miles as he always did. He had hoped to run into Steve again
to ask him if he knew anything about the girl but he had no such luck.

As he walked into his home after his run he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being
watched. Sam decided he was just being paranoid and went on with his routine. He went to
his kitchen and grabbed a glass of water and just as he was about to take a sip he heard a
knock at his back door.

“It’s just a coincidence.” He said to himself until he moved the curtains and saw Steve
standing there was a woman with fiery red hair which could only be the Black Widow.
“uh…”

Steve pointed to the door handle.

“Hey man.” Sam greeted Steve eying Natasha who looked shaken.

“I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low.” Steve said.

“Everyone we know is trying to kill us.” Natasha added.

“Not everyone.” Sam said opening the door all the way and letting them in. “I've kind of been
waiting for you.”

“You have?” Natasha said immediately on guard.

“Yesterday this girl… showed up and gave me this bag.” Sam said pulling it out of his coat
closet and handing it to Steve. “She said you guys were probably going to be stopping by
early today.”

Steve took the bag and set it down on the table.

“What did the girl look like?” Natasha asked.

“Uh, young, mid to late 20’s, long blonde hair with bangs, green eyes. Talked to me like she
already knew me even though I've never met her.” Sam said as Natasha looked inside the bag
and saw a change of her clothes and a couple of things Steve could use as well as more
weapons and ammo.

Steve gave her a questioning look wondering if Sam was describing who he thought he was
talking about.

“Hanna.” Natasha said with a small smile.

“She’s back?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I left her at a safe house and left a message to Clint to get her out.” She said before
turning to Sam. “Did she say anything else?”

“She told me to get better car insurance.” Sam said confused.

“Did you?” Natasha asked.

“Should I?” Sam asked.

“I would.” Natasha said. “Bathroom?”

“Guestroom, down the hall on the left.” Sam said. Natasha picked up the bag and went to go
clean up.

Later that Day - Virginia

I woke up hours later alone feeling more well rested than I had in a really long time. I didn’t
remember falling asleep with a blanket though.

“You’re awake.” Clint said standing by the door.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Morning.” He said handing me a coffee. “It’s not a dirty matcha but it’s warm.
“Coffee is coffee.” I said sitting up and realizing my blanket was actually Clint’s jacket. “I
think this is yours.”

“You’re not cold?” He asked

“I’m okay.” I said sipping my coffee as he took back his jacket.

“Fury’s awake.” Clint asked.

“Is he still hopped up on painkillers?” I asked.

“Yeah but not the fun kind.” He said.

“Can’t win them all.” I said getting up. “Shall we?”

Clint stepped aside and let me go first. Fury was still in bed but he was sitting up. I’m not
sure I’d be able to do the same if I got shot.

“Good Morning.” I said as Fury greeted me with a grunt.

“What’s so good about it?” he retorted.

“We’re all still alive at the moment.” I pointed out.

“What do we need to do?” Fury said. “You know everything. What do we do?”

“I’m not sure I should say everything.” I said. “At least not until everyone’s here.”
“Who else is missing?” Fury asked.

“Steve, Natasha?” Clint suggested.

“Sam.” I added. “We’re going to need everyone we can get.”

“And how do you suggest we get them here?” Fury said.

“They’re still in DC.” Hill said walking in holding Clint’s bow and quiver.

“Score.” Clint said taking them from Hill.

“They’re going to make a move, they’re going to go after Sitwell.” I said.

“Sitwell?” Hill said.

“He’s Hydra and he was on the Lemurian Star. They’re going to catch him and try to use him
to get to Pierce in the Triskelion. It’s not going to work but that’s how you can find them.” I
said.

“We’ll tail Sitwell. Barton, are you in?” Hill asked.

“I’ve got my bow, I’m good to go.” He said before turning to me. “You’re staying here?”

“I’ll wait here.” I confirmed. “Try not to get another black eye.”
“I’ll tell Steve not to punch me again.” Clint said giving me a hug and kissing my forehead
before leaving with Hill.

“That’s new.” Fury said. “Do you have a plan for how we’re going to root out all the rats?”

“I don’t, but Steve does.” I said. There was no way I was breaking the bad news to Fury that
the only way to stop Hydra was to destroy his life’s work. At least when Steve did it, he had a
whole speech planned out that got everyone on board. “We have some time to kill, do you
have any board games? I’d even settle for some cards.”

“I’m sorry, the board games didn’t make the packing list for when I was preparing this safe
house for an attempt on my life.” Fury deadpanned.

“You had two years to prepare.” I retorted.

“Look around you. This didn’t all happen overnight.” He said.

“Anything I can get you while we wait? Maybe some more pain killers? You’re a lot nicer
when you’re on them.” I said to which Fury only answered by glaring at me. “Alright then.
We’ll just sit here in silence.”

I thought he would break but other than a few groans when he moved around to get
comfortable.

About two hours in I just started talking to see if I could get a reaction out of him.

“I know this is probably a sore spot but I have to ask. You’re like the best spy ever. You’re
THE spy. Probably the most bad ass person I’ve ever met and you don’t trust anyone. Was
there really nothing about Pierce seemed off to you? Like nothing at all?” I asked.
“Did you really have a hard time believing Stark was your soulmate? You two are made for
each other.” He grumbled.

“Not the really intense stare or the way he tries to worm his way in finding any little thing he
could bring back to himself?” I continued.

“Have you ever met a politician. They’re all like that.” Fury said glaring at me.

“It’s common sense in every universe. Never trust a politician. Not even in the universe
where Steve Rogers is the president.” I said.

“Hindsight is 20/20.” Fury said.

“You’re missing an eye.” I reminded him. Fury didn’t say anything just glared at me. If looks
could kill I’d be at the bottom of that pit again.

“Alright Nick, it’s time to change your bandages. Would you mind giving us a few minutes?”
The doctor said probably trying to prevent me from giving Fury an aneurysm.

“Sure, I’m just going to go look around. Maybe I can find a tennis ball to bounce on the wall
or something…” I said going to look around.

I had never been inside a dam and after today I can officially confirm that I was not missing
out on anything. There was a lot of concrete, pipes and a pump. That was pretty much all
there was to the inside of a dam.

This damn dam.

Still I had time to kill so I walked slowly, peeking into every room eventually I got lost and
then wandered back right on time to meet everyone as they arrived.
“GSW. She's lost at least a pint.” I heard Clint call out.

“Maybe two.” Sam added.

“Let me take her.” The doctor said immediately jumping into action.

“She'll want to see them first.” Hill said.

“That looks like it hurts.” I said getting Natasha and Steve’s attention.

“I’ve had worse.” Natasha trying to smirk but it came out as more of a grimace as Clint
pressed down on her wound to slow down the bleeding.

“I’m sure you have. I should warn you he’s off his pain killers and a bit cranky.” I said
turning to Sam. “Bet you’re glad you increased your insurance coverage.”

“Funny.” Sam said with a grin.

“About damn time.” Fury greeted everyone as Steve and Natasha looked at him in shock.

“You’re alive.” Steve said both relieved and bit hurt at being deceived.

“You should know by now, no really stays dead anymore.” Fury said giving me an annoyed
look.

“Like I said, cranky.” I reminded them going to grab some water and towels to help clean up
Natasha.
The doctor quickly got to work only giving Natasha a light anesthetic before pulling out the
bullet from her shoulder. Fury started filling them in on everything that had happened.

“Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of
a headache.” He listed off.

“Don't forget your collapsed lung.” The doctor reminded him.

“Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good.” Fury said.

“They cut you open, your heart stopped.” Natasha deadpanned.

“You can thank Bruce for that.” I said

“Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't
work so great for him, but we found a use for it.” Fury informed them.

“Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?” Steve said.

“Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful.” Hill added.

“Can't kill you if you're already dead.” Fury said.

“You didn’t know?” Steve asked Clint.

“I didn’t know until after you knocked me out and I got to Hanna.” Clint said.
“And you didn’t mention any of this before?” Steve said.

“I told you what was coming.” I said. “I thought things would be handled before we got to
this point. Clearly I can’t change anything.”

“I’m still confused about how you knew all of this was going to happen.” Sam said. “Super
powers?”

“I wouldn’t really call it that.” I said.

“Are you okay though?” Steve asked.

“I should be asking you that.” I retorted. “It was him?”

Steve didn’t say anything just nodded.

“Sorry.” I said getting up and gently putting a hand on Natasha’s good shoulder. “I’m going
to get you a clean shirt.”

“Thanks…” Natasha said giving me a curious look before shooting Clint a look.

I walked down the hall and into the storage room where I saw a storage crate filled with
clothes. There had to be something in there around Natasha’s size.

“Any luck?” Steve said popping up from behind me.

“Still looking. Whoever put this together was not concerned about sorting by size, or
folding.” I said. “You okay?”

“I…” Steve took a breath as he took a seat on one of the boxes. “I’ve been better. I know you
said he was alive but seeing him like that. I don’t know. I thought maybe he’d recognize me
or something.”

“Life isn’t a movie. At least not in this universe.” I said. “He’s still Bucky. Deep down, he’s
still in there. It’s just going to take some time for him to be in control of himself.”

“He’ll be Bucky again?” Steve said.

“He won’t be the same guy you knew in the 40’s, no one who went through what he went
through would be the same person. People change, just be there for him. I know this is going
to be hard for you but next time you see him, don’t pull your punches just because he’s your
friend.”

“You just said…” Steve said.

“He is a super soldier now. He’s is going to come at you ready to kill you and he won’t hold
back. If you do he will kill you. So fight back, he can take a hit.” I informed him finally
finding a black t-shirt that was Natasha’s size and a hoodie.

“Would you be able to do it if it was Theo?” He asked.

“If it was Theo, he’d be a wreck if he snapped out of it and realized he hurt his best friend.” I
answered. “It also helps that we have agreements for this sort of thing.”

“What sort of things?” Steve asked.

“Oh the usual stuff. If one of us ends up in a coma, the other person pulls the plug. If one of
us gets falsely accused of a crime we didn’t commit and if looks like we’re going to serve
time we’d go on the run. Somewhere sunny, with a good cost of living rate. Probably
Thailand or Bali. If the US government gets taken over by a conservative fascist regime we’d
move to Canada or Denmark. If one of us ends up with a horrible terminal disease the other
person helps them go out on their own terms.” I said. “If one of us has a dissociative fugue
state and tries to hurt the other, we have the right to do whatever has to be done, no hard
feelings.”

“You and Theo have actually had this conversation?” Steve said realizing I was not kidding.

“We have a kid together, we need to have plans for things that could happen.” I said. “It’s
better to have and not need than need and not have.”

“Kind of like this place.” Steve said.

“There are worse places to hide.” I said getting up. “Now we should go back out there, you
have to give Fury some really bad news.”

“I do?” He asked following me back out there.

Once everyone was a bit more settled and Fury was finally out of bed we just put everything
out there.

Fury rehashed everything that had happened and everything Hydra was planning.

Fury frowned as he looked at a photo of Pierce.

“This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, "Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a
responsibility." See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues.” Fury said.
“You could not have really been that surprised.” I added.

“For the last time, I didn’t see anything.” Fury defended. “And I’m not the one who came up
with all those impressive upgrades for the Hellicarrier.”

“He wasn't the one that put the proposal together, got the funding approved and started the
project.” I retorted.

“We have to stop the launch.” Natasha said interrupting our bickering.

“I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore.” He said opening up a briefcase with
three chips.

“What's that?” Sam asked.

“Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites
becoming fully weaponized.” Hill informed us.

“We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own. Courtesy
of one Tony Stark.” Fury said flipping the briefcase so we could all see.

“One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even
one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die.” Hill finished.

“We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them,
insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left...” Fury started.

“We're not salvaging anything.” Steve said shooting down that idea without any hesitation.
“We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD.”
“SHIELD had nothing to do with it.” Fury defended.

“You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so
yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed.” Steve said.

“Why do you think we're meeting in this cave?” Fury said.

“Because I gave you a heads up almost 2 years ago?” I reminded him.

“And how many paid the price before that?” Steve said.

“There was no way we could have known about Barnes.” Fury said.

“Even if you have, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too?
SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes.” Steve said firmly.

“He's right.” Hill said and Natasha just nodded in agreement. Clint just gave him a look that
said it all.

“Don’t look at me. I do what he does, just slower.” Sam said.

“Well... Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain.” Fury said.

“What’s the plan?” Natasha asked and they all turned to me.

“We’re going to need a few things, including a World Security Councilwoman.” I informed
them.
 Chapter 48

Once everyone had their part of the plan they scattered. I seriously doubt any of us would be
getting much sleep.

“You knew what he was going to say.” Fury said looking well defeated.

“Anyone could have seen that coming.” I said. “After everything that’s happened over the
last two days did you really think there was a way for things to go back to the way things
were?”

“I guess not.” Fury said opening another crate and pulling out a bottle of scotch along with 2
tumblers. How did I not find those earlier? He poured us each a glass. “Over 30 years and
this is how it all ends.”

“Would you really be able to pick up where you left off not knowing who in that building
would be the next person to try to kill you?” I said. “Or if they hadn’t already tried.”

“All part of the job.” He said sipping his drink.

“It’s the end of a chapter not the story.” I said. “The job is still the same, there just won’t be
as much paperwork.”

“I won’t miss that.” Fury said.

“Besides I don’t think retirement would suit you, you’d drive the Mrs. crazy.” I said and Fury
gave me a hard look. “Guess she doesn’t exist in this world. My mistake.”

“I still find that hard to believe. Another world.” He said.

“Worlds.” I corrected. “It’s hard for me to believe sometimes.”

“Are we starting the victory party early?” Natasha asked.

“I wouldn’t call it a party.” I said offering her my glass. “More like a living wake.”

“I’m going to go see about getting us a chopper.” Fury said getting up.

“Should you even be out of bed?” Natasha asked.

“What’s the worst that can happen? I’m already dead.” Fury retorted as he walked away.

“I think he took the news pretty well.” I said. “I was expecting more yelling.”

“The pain killers probably helped.” Natasha deadpanned looking at me and smirking. She
reached over and gently ran her fingers through my bangs. “Bangs.”

“Yeah, I went in for a trim and came out with these.” I said. “They just scream quarter life
crisis don’t they?”

“No they’re good.” She said smiling.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, It’s not the first time I get shot.” Natasha answered looking exhausted. “Clint said you
guys had a fun road trip.”
“It was a good one. Not as exciting as yours.” I said.

“That just means you did everything right.” Natasha said. “A whole year?”

“A really long year.” I answered. “I told Theo about you guys.”

“You told him about us?” She said in disbelief.

“Not the dying and falling into another universe part. I had to take some creative liberties
with the story because if I told him I was dating superheroes he’d have me committed.” I
said.

“So what did you tell him?” Natasha asked.

“I told him that I when was in Bali digging wells and building houses I met these amazing 6
people that for some insane reason kind of liked having me around. These 5 very different
guys and this incredible woman that made me feel a very certain way that I have never ever
felt before and that it totally freaked me out and I ran away.” I said.

“You did.” Natasha said.

“It was pretty bad.” I said.

“You went to Norway.” She deadpanned.

“No idea why I would think to go there. It’s cold, pickled fish shouldn’t be considered a
delicacy and you have to walk everywhere. Even when its negative degrees outside.” I
answered. “Never again.”
“How’d he take the news?” Natasha asked.

“Theo? Pretty well, he wanted to throw me a parade.” I said. “And then I told him how much
I missed you and that I hoped you hadn’t given up on me yet because I’d really like a chance
to be soulmates.”

Natasha didn’t say anything. She took a sip from the glass while staring at me, intensely.
Probably trying to geta. Read on me to see if I was kidding or if I meant it all.

Finally she put the glass down and took a seat next to me.

“You have really bad timing.” Natasha said.

“I wish I could say I’ll work on it but I can’t even cross a street without getting hit by a bus.”
I said.

“Did you look both ways?” She teased.

“I was on the phone but the light was red and I have really good peripheral vision so I…” I
started but she just smirked. “And you’re just messing with me. Cute.”

“After.” She said with a smile taking my hand. “If there’s an after.”

“There’s an after.” I confirmed.

“After then.” Natasha confirmed. I leaned over tried resting my head on her shoulder. I don’t
think we’re at the PDA phase yet and also we’re in the middle of planning the downfall of a
major spy organization. A side hug would do for now. Though I probably should have
checked which shoulder I was trying to put my head on. “Ah!!!”
“Shit! Shit! Wrong shoulder.” I said immediately putting some space between us.

Natasha groaned but did not let go of my hand.

“It’s fine.” She said.

“I think you might be bleeding.” I said trying to check her bandage but she swatted my hand
away.

“That was already there.” Natasha said.

“You need sleep.” I said standing up and helping her get up and leading her to the room
where Clint and I had slept in the night before. Fortunately for Natasha I had found some
blankets earlier when I was snooping around so she wouldn’t be cold.

Clint walked into the room as I was draping the blanket around Natasha who knocked out the
second her head hit the pillow I improvised out of my jacket.

“She’s out.” Clint observed.

“Two days on the run, taking a bullet and major blood loss will do that to you.” I said.

“It was a close one.” Clint said.

“How are you doing with all of this? SHIELD’s been your life for most of your life.” I asked.

“Are you calling me old?” Clint teased.

“Steve’s pushing 90 and Thor over 1500 years old. I think it’s a bit too soon to be worrying
about getting old.” I said.

“I was 16 when I first got recruited and I’m not sure you can really call it that. They told me I
either joined or spent the rest of my life in a cell.” He said.

“But you stayed. You could have left.” I said.

“I could have but if I had things would be different and not in a good way.” Clint said looking
at Natasha and I knew what he meant. If he had left, they would have sent someone else after
her and they wouldn’t have made the same call he did.

“Things have a funny way of working themselves out.” I answered.

“Tomorrow’s going to be a long day. You should sleep.” Clint said.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I’ll take the floor.” He said.

“Clint it’s freezing.” I said. “And I don’t know if you noticed this place has a not so minor
rodent problem.”

“I’ve had worse.” Clint said shrugging it off.

I was not convinced. We had one cot left.

“Come on.” I said patting the cot.

“You are not sleeping on the floor. I’ll be fine.” He said.

“No one is sleeping on the floor. We’ll make it work.” I said.

“You sure?” He asked.

“You’re a really good pillow.” I deadpanned. Clint chuckled as we shuffled around to lay
down. We ended up spooning facing Natasha who was also laying on her side facing us.

“This okay?” Clint whispered.

“Almost.” I said sitting up to grab the other blanket and spread it out over us. “That’s better.”

“Where’d you find the blankets?” He whispered.

“I got bored and did some snooping.” I answered.

“Did you find any coffee?” Clint asked.

“Unfortunately that didn’t make Fury’s essentials list.” I said.

“Damn.” He said with a sigh. “You should stay here tomorrow. If we lose…”

“You won’t.” I said.

“But if we do. You’ll be safer here.” Clint said.

“If that were to happen, which it won’t, there won’t be anywhere that’s safe. I could be here,
New York, sipping Mai Tais in Hawaii, there wouldn’t be a safe distance. Besides if I die
tomorrow it just means I’ll get back sooner.” I answered. By the way he tensed and the way
his hand gripped the blanket tighter I knew he didn’t like that answer.

“I don’t like when you go like that.” He said.

“Neither do I.” I said closing my eyes.

It was a good night’s rest until it wasn't. I was asleep but then I wasn't on the cot next to
Clint.

I was on a hard stone floor but it was wet. It was dark and the only light was coming in from
above.

The only sounds I could hear was the water dripping onto the wet ground.

“Hanna…” The voice taunted.

“Go away.” I said staring up at the light waiting for the familiar pull. Waiting to go back
because no matter what universe I ended up in, it was better than this pit.

“That’s not very nice.” It taunted.

“Go eat someone else.” I retorted.

“Don’t you ever wonder why you always come back here?” It asked.

“Not really.” I said tapping my fingers against my thigh as I looked up.

“The answer’s pretty obvious.” It said as the clicking sound it made as it moved got closer.

“Come on.” I whispered.

“It’s the same reason it’s taking longer and longer for you to get pulled out of here.” It said
as it made that clicking sound yet again..

“Come on…” I said getting more and more impatient.

“Or hadn’t you noticed?” It taunted. “Don’t you want to know why?”

“Please…” I said not taking my eyes at the light above as I felt it start to breath down the
back of my neck.

“It’s because you’re a mistake.” It said as something wet and slimy wrapped around my neck.
“And pretty soon they’re going to realize that this is where you are meant to be.”

It’s grip on my neck tightened before it dragged me away.

“Ah!” I gasped opening my eyes remembering that I wasn't dead. I was on a cot with Clint
snoring behind me and Natasha laying on the cot next to us just staring at me.

“Bad dream?” She asked.

I didn’t say anything, well I couldn’t say anything. I was still trying to breathe again.

Natasha didn’t say anything except reach out to hold my hand and give it a gentle reassuring
squeeze.

“I need to pee.” I said wiggling out of Clint’s grasp. “Go back to sleep. It’s still early.”

With that I ran off to the restroom. I splashed some water on my face and pressed my
forehead to the sink as I tried to ground myself.

There is no pit, I’m alive.

There is no pit, I’m alive.

There is no pit, I’m alive.

All better. Except for Hydra trying to kill everyone they considered a threat today.

Somehow that was not as bad as the pit.

I needed to shake it off. I’m not in the pit. That was a dream and it can’t hurt me. Except for
the bruises I still had on my legs.

Nope, Hydra. That was today’s problems.

Bruises I could deal with. It wouldn’t be the first time.

I got this.

I washed my hands and opened the door to reveal Steve who looked as if he was about to
knock on the door.

“I uh… you’re up early.” Steve said.

“Thought I’d get an early start.” I said stepping out of his way.

“Natasha and Clint?” He asked.

“Still asleep. It’s still early. They can squeeze in another hour.” I said. “Sam?”

“Also asleep.” Steve said. “You… you left us the bag with him.”

“I thought you’d appreciate a clean set of clothes.” I said.

“We did.” He said rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m not good at this.”

“You never have been.” I deadpanned making Steve deflate. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s kind of
endearing. I missed it.”

“You’re the one that left.” Steve said.

“So I've heard.” I said. “Theo and Jamie say hi.”

“How are they?” Steve asked.

“They’re good. Actually,” I said taking out my phone and showing him a photo of the three
of us at Theo’s graduation.

“That’s Jamie? He’s tall.” Steve said.

“Huge.” I answered. “All legs. Guess it’s a good thing we put him in soccer.”

“He must be good.” Steve said with a smile.

“He’s getting there.” I said.

“Is that where you went after Norway?” He asked.

“One of many places. I don’t really remember Norway, it’s all a blur.” I said Steve gave me a
pensive look. Like he wanted to say something but didn’t think I’d take it well. “Before I left,
I’m getting the feeling something happened. Not just me moving out which I don’t regret just
to make that clear.”

“No you were pretty clear about that before.” Steve said. “The part where you slammed your
door in my face because you had your neighbor over…”

“Why would I have my neighbor over? Stranger danger is a very real thing Steve. I would
never.” I said.

“But you did. He was locked out of his apartment and you let him wait in your apartment.”
He said.

“That doesn’t sound like me.” I said

“I was surprised too.” Steve said.

“This is starting to become a problem.” I muttered to myself.

“Well you’re back now. I guess that’s all that matters.” He said but one look and he knew I
wasn't back. “But you’re not back.”

“Not yet.” I said. “I have a few loose ends to tie up at home. You’re mad.”

“No, not mad just…”

“I swear if you say you’re disappointed I’m going to make you ride the cyclone until you
puke.” I said.

“Of course you know about that.” Steve said with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry I’m a crappy soulmate.” I said.

“You’re not.” He said.

“I am.” I said not letting him shrug this one off.

“I… I don’t understand you. I’m trying and I’ve been to your world and I know things are
different but I don’t and I know that is probably going to make things worse…” Steve said.

“It’s not. Before I jumped off that building 2 years ago the only person I had ever felt safe
with was Theo.” I answered. “We bicker constantly and argue and sometimes yell at each
other but at the end of the day I know that he will always be on my side. I've never doubted
that and I was lucky that I found someone I could trust like that in my world. I have never
met anyone else that made me feel safe like that until I met all of you. Even now on the run,
fighting Hydra I still feel safe because you’re my soulmates.”

Steve didn’t say anything he just looked at me, looking shocked and dazed as if he couldn’t
tell if he had heard right.

“I…” Steve started.

“Steve.” Sam greeted interrupting him. “Hill’s heading out for a supply run if you want to
grab your suit… Oh hi…”

“Uh yeah…” Steve said not taking his eyes off of me. “I’ll uh… I…”

“You should…” I said giving him a small smile tilting my head to let him know he should go.

“I need a uniform.” He said trying to explain.

“It’s okay.” I said giving him a small smile. I’d blown off conversations before for less
important and even petty reasons, Steve actually had something important to do. “And don’t
feel bad for breaking and entering, the suit was yours first.”

Steve nodded before walking away with Sam.

“How does she do that?” Sam whispered to Steve as they left.

“Who would’ve thought a goodie two shoes like Steve Rogers would steal a car, kidnap
someone and break into a museum to steal something.” Natasha said popping out of the room
as soon as Steve was out of earshot.
“People can surprise you.” I answered.

“You okay?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I answered pretending she hadn’t seen the look of pure terror on
my face when I woke up from that nightmare.

Natasha stared me down trying to see if I’d crack but I didn’t. She reached behind her back
and took out a gun.

“Have you ever used one of these?” She asked offering me her gun.

“Can’t say that I have.” I said. “I’m actually in favor if tighter gun controls.”

“If you’re not going to stay here, then you need to know how to use a gun.” She said.

“Can’t I just use a taser or something?” I asked.

“The people that will come after you won’t be using tasers.” Natasha said taking my hand
and pulling me up to my feet.

So for an hour she taught me the basics of gun safety. The gist of it was point, shoot. Don’t
pull the trigger, squeeze it. Don’t close your eyes when you shoot. Don’t wave the gun
around if the safety isn’t on.

“Don’t hesitate.” Natasha said.

“What if I’m not sure the person coming at me is Hydra?” I asked.

“If they’re shooting at you, they’re Hydra or they’re just as bad.” She deadpanned.

“I don’t think I should have a gun.” I said trying to hand it back.

“You need it. Even if you miss it’ll give you time to run away or for one of us to make the
shot.” She said firmly not taking her gun back.

“This makes me really uncomfortable.” I said.

“And we’re all uncomfortable with you being out there. This is a compromise.” Natasha said.
“Show me your stance again.”

I took a breath and held the gun with both hands aiming for the tree a few years away from
us.

“Your arm needs to be higher. Legs shoulder width apart.” She said correcting my posture.

“Don’t forget to exhale as you squeeze the trigger.” Clint said. Natasha and I turned around to
see him leaning against a tree holding a cup of what looked like coffee.

“Is that coffee?” I said lowering the gun.

“Safety.” Natasha said firmly. I quickly flicked the safety of the gun back on before putting it
back in its holster.

“Whoops.” I said. Natasha and Clint exchanged looks. “Guy’s I haven’t cracked your
language of looks. Can one of you tell me what’s going on?”
“It’s time to go.” Clint said.

“We’re splitting up.” Natasha added. “We need head to the airport. You’re going to be with
Hill.”

“Or you can stay here?” Clint said in a last attempt to get me to stay away from the fight.
“You’ve already told us what we need to do. You’ve done enough.”

“Nice try. I’m still going.” I answered as I started walking back inside.

“It was worth a try.” Clint said reaching out and gently grasping my arm and pulling me into
a hug. “Don’t leave without saying goodbye.” He whispered.

I nodded letting him know I was going to try not to die before I got a chance to say bye.

“Be careful.” Clint said kissing my forehead. I looked around but Natasha was nowhere to be
seen. “She’s not good with goodbyes. We’ll see you after.”

“Yeah.” I said watching Clint walk away.

There would be an after. There had to be, unless I’ve screwed things up enough to change the
way things happened. Clint wasn't here originally so anything he did would be unaccounted
for. I also shouldn’t be here but the worst thing I could do would be get killed, so not a big
issue there.

It would be fine.

Things moved pretty fast from there. Everyone had their tasks and now we just had to get to
the Triskelion. We met up with Steve and Sam and made our way into the building. Hill
quickly deactivated the communications dish to set the security at the entrance on a loop. We
went up the stairwell before coming into the control room where some of the techs were
chatting away.

“I've been parking there for two months.” One said.

“But it's his spot.” The other answered. Different universe, same office complaints.

“So where's he been?” The first one asked.

“I think Afghanistan.” The other answered.

“Negative, DT-6. The pattern is full. Well, he could have said something. Ow!” One said
yanking out his earpiece.

“Must be the dish.” He said.

“I'll check it out.” The parking thief said opening the door only to come face to face with all
of us pointing our guns at him.

“Excuse us.” Steve said barging in as both tech immediately put their hands up.

“Move.” Hill said gesturing towards a broom closet on the far side of the room. Once Sam
and Hill had tied them up and locked them in the closet we got to work.

“Hanna, see if you can find Pierce.” She said quickly pointing out the monitor next to the one
she was working on.
“Easy.” I said bringing up the feed. “Right about now he should be on the top floor with the
World Security Council getting ready to toast to a successful launch.”

I quickly swiped through the cameras as I found the feed for right outside of his office.

“Yahtzee.” I said and spotting Natasha who was in position as planned.

“Time to crash the party.” Hill said turning to Steve and handing him the microphone.
“You’re up Cap.”

“Attention.” Steve started.

“You have to press the button.” Sam said.

“Right.” Steve said clearing his throat before starting again. “Attention, all SHIELD agents.
This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were
even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what
we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The
STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know
they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they
want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those
Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we
stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and
it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm
not.”

“Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?” Sam teased.

“Too much?” Steve asked.

“No, it was all you.” I reassured him.

“You two need to get moving.” Hill reminded him.

“Are we clear?” Sam asked.

“All clear.” I said.

“Hanna.” Steve said. “About earlier…”

“It’s not a big deal.” I said. “You were busy, we’re still busy…”

“Did you mean it? When you said we’re your…” He asked.

“You’re my soulmates.” I said. “I meant all of it. My delivery kind of sucks and I still have to
have this talk 3 more times so hopefully it gets better. I haven’t blown my chance have I?”

“No more than I have.” He said taking my hand. “Can we try this again, after?”

“There might be a line.” I said.

“I’ve waited 70 years, I can wait my turn. You’re worth the wait.” Steve said.

“Guys.” Sam said. “Bad guys, outside.”

“I got to…” Steve said smiling down at me.

“I know.” I said smiling back but he still wasn't moving.

“If you’re going to kiss, just do it already!” Hill snapped.

Steve took a step closer but I put my hand on his chest stopping him.

“Whoa, I’m not Peggy Carter, I’m not going to kiss you right before you go crash a plane let
alone three.” I said making Steve blush as Sam cleared his throat trying to cover up his laugh.
“Go and remember not to pull your punches.”

“I uh…” he said.

“Go!” I said letting him go. Steve nodded before running off.

“They're initiating launch.” Hill said.

“Steve, Sam run faster.” I said.

“Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?” Sam said over the comms.

“ If they're shooting at you, they're bad.” Steve deadpanned right before they split up.

“And now we wait.” I said to Maria.

That was all I did for the majority of the fight. I sat behind a screen and watched the blinking
dot signifying Steve and Sam’s location as they moved from plane to plane.
“Hellicarriers are at 3000 feet.” I said.

“Falcon, status?” Hill asked.

“ Engaging.” Sam called back. “Alright, Cap, I'm in…Shit!”

I looked at the cameras outside and saw that a jet was firing at Sam.

“Try to stay in the jet’s blindspot.” I suggested.

“Eight minutes, Cap.” Hill announced.

“ Working on it.” Steve said.

“Maybe work faster, you’re about to get some company.” I said watching as a jet that was
attempting to takeoff from the hanger exploded.

“Bucky?” Steve asked.

“Yeah and he looks pissed.” I said.

“ Alpha locked.” Steve said a minute later.

“Falcon, where are you now?” Hill asked.

“I had to take a detour!” Sam shouted.

“Bogies.” Hill said.

“Find a tight corner.” I said to Sam. “I’ll talk to Tony about that for the next upgrade.”

“Is Stark hiring?” Maria asked.

“I’m sure we can find something for you.” I said.

“I'm in. Bravo locked.” Sam called out.

“Two down, one to go.” Hill said.

“The hardest one.” I said.

“Charlie Carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow.” Hill said guiding Sam. “Duck.”

“What?” I asked as she pulled out her gun. Oh Duck!

I quickly dropped down as Maria quickly took out two agents.

“Thanks.” I said.

“Six minutes.” Hill said continuing as if nothing had just happened.

“Hey, Sam, I'm gonna need a ride.” Steve said.

“ Roger! Let me know when you're ready.” Sam said as Steve jumped off the hellicarrier.

“I just did!” Steve shouted. Sam quickly intercepted his drop and caught him before flying
him off to the last

“You know, you're a lot heavier than you look.” Sam retorted.

“Muscle is more dense and heavier than fat.” I said.

“You’ve put a lot of thought into that.” Hill said.

“Just stating a fact.” I said.

“ I had a big breakfast.” Steve defended just as they were about to make their way into the
hellicarrier Bucky appeared and threw Sam off the hellicarrier. I really needed to talk to Tony
about an upgrade.

“Steve!” Sam shouted.

“Cap? Cap, come in. Are you okay?” Sam called out as he slowly parachuted down to the
ground.

“Yeah, I'm here! I'm still on the Helicarrier.” Steve said. “Where are you?

“ I'm grounded, the suit's down. Sorry, Cap.” Sam said.

“ Don't worry, I got it.” Steve said.

“Don’t pull your punches.” I reminded him again.

“All SHIELD agents regroup at Rally Point Delta.” The speaker sounded throughout the
building.

“It’s crunch time.” I said spotting Rumlow on one of the cameras making his way upstairs.
“Sam where are you?”

“Making my way inside.” Sam answered.

“Rumlow's headed for the Council.” Maria said quickly.

“ I'm on it.” Sam said.

“He’s here.” Steve whispered.

“People are gonna die, Buck. I can't let that happen.” Steve said but still got no answer from
him. “Please, don't make me do this.”

“Drop it! Drop it!” We heard Steve order Bucky.

“Steve you have one minute.” I said watching as the targeting system on all three hellicarriers
started targeting Fury, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Maria here in DC before increasing it’s range
and taking AIM at Avengers Tower, specifically Tony, Bruce, Thor, Pepper, and another
handful of employees.

“Thirty seconds, Cap!” Hill said.

“ Stand by.” Steve groaned. “Charlie... Uh!”

“Steve?” I called out.

“Ah, Charlie locked.” Steve responded as the targeting system was deactivated.

“Reprogramming, they’re going to shoot at each other.” Hill said.

“Steve, get out of there.” I said.

“Fire now.” Steve said.

“Steve.” I warned him.

“ Do it! Do it now!” He shouted back.

Maria turned to me and I nodded. She entered the commend and the hellicarriers shot at each
other.

“Steve, he’s not going to stop.” I said.

“I can’t leave him. Not again.” Steve groaned.

“I know, but the second you lift that beam off of him he is going to come at you again.” I
said.
“That’s a chance I have to take.” Steve said groaning as they started going at it again.

“We need to go.” Maria said as the crash trajectory of the hellicarriers showed on the
computers to be right on us.

“Steve, Fight back.” I said.

“ You know me.” Steve said ignoring me.

“He can take the hit. Knock him out. It might reset him. It worked for Nat when Clint was
brainwashed by Loki.” I said getting up and following Hill out of there.

Reset him…

Reset him…

Oh…

That’s it.

“Sputnik!” I shouted.

“Potato?” Hill asked confused.

“Steve, listen.” I started. “In some of the comics there’s a kill code for Bucky’s programming.
It won’t hurt him, it’ll just put him to sleep for a bit. Say “Sputnik””
“Bucky…” I heard before the comm cut out.

“Steve?” I called out but all I got was static. He didn’t hear a word I just said.

“Comms are down. We need to go.” Hill said grabbing my arm and leading me out.

“Are we going up?” I asked.

“No time,” She said leading me to the car garage and quickly breaking into one.

“I’ve got to learn how to do that.” I said getting in the car before Maria sped out of the
garage. “Stay near the river.”

“We don’t want to be near the river when those Hellicarriers hit the ground.” Hill said.

“Steve got shot, not to mention all the other hits he took to the head.” I said. “He’s going to
need medical attention.”

“Where?” Hill asked.

I looked out the car window to get a better look.

“That side, somewhere along that tree line.” I answered.

“Hold on.” Hill said slamming her foot on the gas as we sped across the bridge, while there
was still a bridge to cross.
Hours later…

I was in the hospital watching the doctors operate on Steve. Even with his healing factor he
was in rough shape.

Natasha, Clint and Fury were still wrapping things up.

“You let him go.” Hill said.

“He’s a super soldier with over 70 years of training and 50 or more kills. Even if we tried, we
wouldn’t have been able to stop him.” I said finally noticing the blood on my hands from
trying to stop Steve from bleeding out while we waited for the ambulance. “He wasn't the
priority.”

“Not sure Steve is going to see it that way.” Maria said.

“He’ll understand.” I said as the door opened and Natasha and Clint ran in.

Natasha didn’t say anything just pulled me into a tight bone crushing hug. Once I regained
feeling in my arms I retuned the hug just as tight.

Once she pulled back she looked me over.

“There’s blood on your hands.” She said immediately checking me for any injuries.

“It’s not mine.” I said. “You okay?”

“EMP arrowhead did the trick.” Natasha said with a smirk.

“That must’ve been a fun surprise.” I said as Clint took his turn looking me over.

“They never saw it coming.” Clint said looking over the operating room where they were
working on Steve. “How’s he?”

“He took a few hits, but he’ll live.” I said.

“At least it’s over.” Clint said

“For today.” I said and they all turned to me. “You know what they say, cut off one head and
another will take its place. I doubt all of them went down with those ships.”

“Great.” Hill groaned.

“Am I the only one that’s weirdly really hungry?” I asked them watching as they took the
bullet out of Steve. “Some shawarma would be really good right about now.”

“Not sure about Shawarma but I’ll see what can find.” Clint said exchanging a look with
Natasha.

“You need to clean up.” Natasha said.

“I will after they’re done with Steve.” I said.

“It’s going to be an hour or two.” She said.

“Then I’ll clean up in an hour or two.” I said. I could feel the stern look Natasha was giving
me but I was not moving, not until I knew Steve was going to be okay. Like, 100% sure, not
just because I saw it in a movie.

Natasha eventually relented and started cleaning the blood off my hands with a hand towel,
bottle of water and some wet wipes. That got rid of most of it.

Finally when the surgery and the surgeon popped into the room to let us know everything had
gone well did I let Natasha drag me to an empty hospital room to get cleaned up.

After the past three days, feeling the warm water just pour over me it was like a giant weight
had been lifted from my shoulders. Like I could breathe again. Then I opened my eyes and
looked down at my legs to see the bruises wrapped around them.

I needed to go home and to do that, I was going to have to go there again.

A part of me, the very selfish and cowardly part of me, thought that maybe I should just stay
here for good. Jamie saw me die and he could go on thinking that.

No, it wasn't right. He’s been through so much already. I couldn’t do that to him. I couldn’t
do that to Theo. I had to take this chance for them.

And then I had to figure out how to explain that I was back from the dead.

Fuck, how was I going to do that?

What I would give to stay in this shower and never come out… but I had to get out, not only
because I was starting to prune but because there was no more hot water.

I groaned as I dried off and got dressed in the straight cut blue jeans Natasha had picked out
that were just the right amount of baggy, a cream colored Henley and because she already
knew how easily I got cold, a very cozy looking grey knit cardigan. I slipped on the black
converse she had left by the door for me.

“Better?” She asked.

“Much.” I said as there was a knock on the door.

Natasha opened the door a bit to see who it was before letting Clint in holding bags of
Chinese food.

“Foods here.” Natasha said.

“I didn’t know what you were in the mood for, so I got a bit of everything.” Clint said.

“Potstickers?” I asked.

“Doubled up just for you.” He said offering me a box.

“You’re the best.” I said popping open the box and taking a bite of the perfectly doughy
dumpling. We sat down to eat not saying anything. Though I could tell they were both having
one of their silent conversations again.

“Everything okay?” I asked once I was done eating.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Natasha said.

“Then why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind?” I retorted.

“SHIELD’s gone and when Nat dumped all those files onto the internet, it wasn't just
SHIELD files.” Clint said.

“We’re both compromised.” Natasha said. “Everything we did during our time with SHIELD
and before that…”

“It wasn't all… good.” Clint said. “And they’re going to want someone to blame for all of
this.”

“We have proof HYDRA was SHIELD. You’re not going to get arrested.” I said.

“It’s not the government we’re worried about.” Clint said.

“I’m handling them.” Natasha said.

“We pissed off a lot of people.” Clint said.

“That’s nothing new. So maybe undercover work isn’t really an option but didn’t stop you
both after New York.” I retorted.

“And just like after New York, we’re thinking the best thing to do while all of this blows over
is to lay low for a while.” Natasha said.

“I’m sure Tony won’t mind having you guys back at the tower. It’s not like there isn’t enough
room.” I said but by the looks on their faces I understood what they were trying to say.
“You’re not going back to New York.”

“We will just, not right away.” Natasha said. “And we’ll keep busy. Like you said, not
everyone went down with those ships.”

“When are you guys leaving?” I asked.

“I’m sticking around for a few days while I wrap up a few loose ends.” Natasha asked.

“I need to go tonight.” Clint said.

“They’re still putting out the fires at the Triskelion. Can’t it wait?” I asked.

“He needs to go before they start looking for him.” Natasha said.
“Hanna,” Clint said reaching out for my hands. “It’s not forever. Just a few weeks until the
worst of it blows over. I’m probably going to be back by the time you get back from seeing
Jamie and Theo.”

“Are you sure the tower wouldn’t be a safer place to hide out?” I asked.

“Not if it leads them right to you.” Clint said.

“This sucks.” I said.

“Yeah, but for just a little while.” Clint said pulling me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around
him trying to make the most of the last hug I was going to get from Clint for who knows how
long.

“We need to get moving.” Natasha said.

“Yeah.” Clint said hesitantly letting me go as Natasha handed me a very familiar looking
small handbag with a wallet.

“We picked these up in Norway for you.” She said.

“I don’t think the vending machine down the hall accepts Krone.” I teased.

“I swapped those out for you.” Natasha said. “No matter what happens tomorrow, what you
see or hear, you need to stay in the hospital. It’s the safest place for you right now. Don’t
leave until someone comes to get you.”

“I’m not leaving until Steve wakes up.” I said. “He should see a friendly face when he wakes
up.”
“You’re going to have to fight Sam for the armchair.” Natasha teased.

“If he’s picking the music, I get to pick my seat.” I said getting up to follow Natasha to
Steve’s room.

Sure enough Sam was already in the chair next to Steve’s bed when we walked in.

“Should I be concerned about this turning into a love triangle or is this going to be a throuple
situation?” I said watching Sam panic.

“What? No, no I… I’m not… not that you’re not…” Sam started only for Natasha to glare at
him.

“I’m messing with you.” I said before Natasha strangled him. “You’re lucky there’s an extra
chair.”

I walked over to the opposite side of Steve’s bed and got comfortable in the chair.

“You two sticking around?” Sam asked.

“There nowhere else I should be right now.” I said. “Have you called your sister?”

“Yeah, I…” Sam started before looking up from his phone to look at me. “How did you know
I have a sister?”

“That’s what I do, I drink and I know things.” I answered with a shrug.

“That’s your superpower?” He asked making Natasha chuckle.

“No superpowers, just caller ID.” I said pointing to his phone as I gently took Steve’s hand
and looked at the scabs on his knuckles. Maybe he got a few good hits in.

“So what else do you know, other than I now have to go car shopping?” Sam teased.

“Aren’t you glad you got that extra coverage?” Natasha teased.

“I don’t think there’s enough coverage for all the damage you three can do.” Sam asked.

“Why am I included in this? My driving record is perfect.” I said.

“Trouble by association.” Sam said with a smirk.

Eventually the day caught up to us and we were too tired to keep bantering. Sam knocked out
first followed my Natasha. I, on the other hand decided to stay up for as long as possible. As
if that would save me from the nightmares but it was worth a try.

I was starting to doze off when Natasha got up early to try to sneak out.

“Good morning.” I said making her jump a bit.

“You’re supposed to be asleep.” Natasha said.

“Is this going to be a thing when you stay the night?” I asked.

“I’m going to sleepover?” Natasha grinned.

“Not sure about this universe but in mine if you’re with someone and it’s going somewhere,
there are quite a few sleepovers.” I said.

“That’s good to know.” Natasha said. “I have to go get ready. I have a senate hearing.”

“Black pantsuit, black scoop neck top, not sure about shoes but there’s no wrong answer.” I
said recalling the outfit I saw her wear in the movie.

“We’re picking each other’s outfits now?” She asked combing her fingers through my hair.

“You picked mine.” I said.

“I guess I should start thinking about the next outfit, something for us to go somewhere. A
coffee shop?” She suggested.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked. “You know I’m very picky about my coffee.”

“I’ll make sure they have matcha lattes.” She said.

“Dirty matcha lattes.” I corrected.

“Extra shot, extra matcha.” She said remembering my coffee order. “With oat milk.”

“You remembered.” I said smiling.

“Hard to forget.” She said taking my hand. “Remember what we told you.”
“I know. Be careful.” I said hugging her.

“Get some sleep. You need it.” Natasha urged. “I will drug you.”

“Kinky but I should tell you noncon is a hard no and a dealbreaker for me.” I said making her
arch an eyebrow.

“Sleep.” She insisted. “I’ll check in on your later.”

“Don’t piss off too many senators.” I said.

I wrapped the cardigan around me as I curled up as best as I could in that chair facing Steve. I
could stay up if I wanted to. I wasn't that tired. Besides I could sleep the next time I’m dead.

It wouldn’t be the first all nighter I've ever pulled.

Oh no, I didn’t need sleep. I was perfectly happy to curl up in this chair and watch Steve
breathe all night. Yup. All good. I’m just going to rest my eyes for a minute and… mmmmh

Hours Later…

To say that Steve took a beating would be an understatement. He hadn’t felt this sore the first
time he woke after almost 70 years in ice.

The first thing he noticed was the sterile smell that could only come from a hospital. Seventy
years later and that smell had not changed. The next thing he heard was music.
He slowly opened his eyes to the glaring fluorescent lights of his hospital room. He said the
phone that was playing the music he was hearing. Upon closer attention he saw the cover of
Marvin Gaye’s Troubleman Album.

Steve turned to his right and saw Sam sitting at his bedside reading a magazine.

“On your left.” Steve said making Sam look up at him and smile.

“Welcome back Cap.” Sam greeted. “You feeling okay?”

“Sore.” Steve said.

“That’s what happens when you get shot, crash an aircraft into a river, break a few ribs, take a
couple hits to the face, I heard something about a concussion…” Sam said.

“Is that all?” Steve said. “How’d I get out?”

“You should ask her.” Sam said nodding to the opposite side of Steve’s bed where Hanna was
curled up in her chair asleep. “She’s the one who found you.”
“How long has she been here?” Steve asked.

“She hasn’t left your side.” Sam answered. “Natasha practically had to drag her out to make
her shower and eat something. I think it’s safe to say that she's into you.”

“I think you might be right.” Steve said smiling as he watched Hanna sleep. “Where’s
Bucky?”

A little while later…

Hospitals got a bad reputation for being a hard place to sleep in. Sure the chair I was on
wasn't very cushioned. The plastic cover on it should not be recommended for summer use
but if you curled up in just the right position you wouldn’t feel how uncomfortable it was
until you tried to get up.
I didn’t want to get up but I smelled something. Not the intense smell of disinfectant but
something wonderful. The only thing that could make having to open my eyes right now
bearable.

“Coffee…” I groaned.

“Look who’s up.” Sam said.

“Coffee.” I groaned trying to sit up but not liking how sore I was feeling I opened my eyes to
Sam sipping his piping hot cup of joe. “Ow… Coffee is the only thing worth waking up for.”

“You sure about that?” Sam asked looking to Steve who was awake and smiling.

“Definitely, but you’re a close second.” I said taking Steve’s hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore, but I’ll live.” Steve said.

“Guessing you didn’t hear my tip about the potato?” I asked.

“Potato?” Steve asked.

“Doesn’t matter.” I said gently rubbing his knuckles.

“What happened to Bucky?” Steve asked.

“He left.” I said.

“I thought I was getting through to him.” Steve said disappointed.

“You did.” I said. “He was the one who pulled you out of the water.”

“You saw him?” Steve said.

“Briefly.” I said. “I saw him pull you out and he just walked away.”

“You didn’t try to stop him?” Sam asked.

“The guy has been tortured and brainwashed into following Hydra’s orders. It felt wrong to
take away the first real decision he’s made for himself in 70 years.” I answered. Steve and
Sam couldn’t argue with that.

“Will he hurt anyone?” Steve asked.

“No one that didn’t try to hurt him first. He’ll be okay, he just needs some time.” I answered
looking at the time on the clock hanging over the door. “And speaking of time, now would be
a good time to turn on the news.”

Sam grabbed the remote from Steve’s bedside table and switched on the TV, flipping through
a few channels until he finally got the right one and right on time for Natasha to be sworn in
before her committee hearing.

“Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” The
balif said holding a bible that Natasha had her hand on.

“ I do.” Natasha said before taking her seat. It was a few minutes of introducing the
committee, briefing statement and posturing before they started digging in.
“Why haven't we yet heard from Captain Rogers?” The committee general said.

“I don't know what there is left for him to say.” Natasha said. “I think the wreck in the
middle of the Potomac made his point fairly eloquently.”

“ Well, he could explain how this country's expected to maintain its national security now
that he and you have laid waste to our intelligence apparatus.” He retorted.

“ HYDRA was selling you lies, not intelligence.” Natasha deadpanned.

“ Many of which you seem to have had a personal hand in telling.” One of the senators
added.

“ Agent, you should know that there are some on this committee who feel, given your service
record, both for this country and against it, that you belong in a penitentiary, not mouthing
off on Capitol Hill.” Scudder said. Boy I would love to see them try.

“ You're not gonna put me in a prison.” Natasha said without a single doubt. “ You're not
gonna put any of us in a prison. You know why?”

“ Do enlighten us.” Scudder said trying to make it seem like he wasn't intimidated by her
which he obviously was.

“ Because you need us. Yes, the world is a vulnerable place, and yes, we helped make it that
way. But we're also the ones best qualified to defend it. So if you want to arrest me, arrest me.
You'll know where to find me.” Natasha said getting up and walking away after the ultimate
mic drop moment. The media went crazy trying to get a comment from her as she left.

“Should I start looking for a lawyer?” Sam asked.

“Normally I’d call SHIELD. Do we call Tony?” Steve asked.

“Nope, the senate just needs to make it look like they actually have a handle on the situation
even though everyone knows that they don’t and are completely out of their depth. It was all
for show.” I said. It was the same in any universe. “You should still lay low. At least until
media attention dies down.”

Hours later…

Sam and I got kicked out of Steve’s room while his nurse changed his bandages and probably
tried to give him a sponge bath. I was going to tease him about that later. We were sitting
outside of Steve’s room as started thinking about how I was going to explain my dying,
disappearance and sudden reappearance to Jamie and Theo. Nothing I could come up with
would keep me out of the looney bin.

“You’re going to wear out the floor.” Sam said. “They’re just changing his bandages.”

“I know.” I said.

“You okay?” Sam asked.

“I need coffee.” I said.

“You’ve already had two cups.” Sam said.

“Just two? No wonder I’m so antsy, I’m behind schedule.” I said. “Want anything?”

“I’m okay.” Sam said.

Little did I know that as I was going to hunt down a decent cup of coffee, outside a very
flashy Audi with familiar vanity plates had just pulled up and parked at the curb.

Third Person’s POV-

Steve was still in bed but they had finally removed the IV and the heart monitor. Sam was
back in his seat by his bedside as they discussed where they were going to start looking for
Bucky.

Someone knocked at the room door and Steve groaned.

“Is it time for your sponge bath?” Sam teased.

“Ew no…” Tony said sauntering into the room.

“Tony?” Steve said surprised.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” Tony teased. “I would have been here sooner for the fun part
but apparently you forgot how to a phone.”

“I was going to call.” Steve said.

“Were you? Lucky for you a certain former deputy director was nice enough to let us know
what was going on.” Tony said reaching down to uncover something he had pulled out of the
wreckage of the hellicarriers in the Potomac. “Including to let me know you misplaced your
favorite frisbee.”

“They pulled it out of the river?” Sam asked.

“I pulled it out of the river. Gave me a chance to try out my new scuba suit and sonar.” Tony
said looking around the room almost as if looking for something or someone. “I’m pretty sure
I have tinnitus but the shield completes the whole apple pie look you’ve working.”

“Thank you.” Steve said.

“It’s what I do, even when I don’t get called.” Tony said trying to check the bathroom.

“She’s not here.” Steve said knowing exactly who he was looking for.

“Your nurse? Guess you’re not getting your sponge bath today.” Tony said.

“Hanna.” Steve said.

“Oh she’s here? Really?” Tony said.

“She went to go get coffee.” Sam said.

“Oh, it is almost time for her third cup of the day.” Tony said tapping on his watch. “Well I
just wanted to drop this off. Try not to lose it this time.”

“Promise and thank you.” Steve said.

“Don’t thank me, call me next time.” Tony said before turning to Sam. “And you, next time
you’re in New York stop by the tower and we’ll talk about your upgrade.”

“I don’t think I’ll need one.” Sam said.

“Sure you will, especially if you stick around this guy.” Tony said with a smirk before
walking out.

“Talk about a quick visit.” Sam said.

“He’s not here for me.” Steve said with a grin.

Hanna’s POV-

Just my luck, just when I finally decide to venture down to the cafeteria, they decide to close
early. Guess I was going to have to make do with the watered down stuff from the vending
machine.

I headed back upstairs and went straight to the machine. I put in my quarters and the cup
dropped down. The hot water poured into the cup before the machine just stopped.

“Come on.” I said pressing the button again but no luck. “Uh… stupid machine.”

I could actually kill for a cup of coffee right now.

Defeated I turned around and decided to go back. Maybe I could convince one of the nurses
to take pity on me and grab me a cup from their lounge. No way all of these nurses got
through their shift without one. Or maybe Natasha could get me one on her way here when
she visited.

I was about halfway down the hallway when I saw a very familiar face turn the corner and
stop when he saw me.

“Tony. Hi.” I said not expecting him at all.

“Hi.” He said with a smirk as we both just stood there staring at each other. “I know that
look. No coffee?”

“The cafeteria’s closed and the machine isn’t working.” I said.

“What kind of hospital is this?” He said outraged on my behalf.

“No wonder nurses keep going on strike. Who can work under these conditions?” I said.

“You’re having a rough couple of days.” Tony said.

“Rough year.” I corrected.

“Year?” He said looking me over and noticing how long my hair. I could tell he caught what I
was really trying to say.

“Year.” I confirmed.

“I heard Norway can do that to a person.” Tony said not looking at all happy about my
impromptu vacation.

“So I've heard.” I answered. “I missed you.”

“Not enough to call?” He asked.

“I was out of my phone carrier’s service area.” I retorted. “Have I mentioned I missed you?”
Tony looked like he wanted to be mad and I deserved it but instead he pulled me into a hug. I
didn’t hesitate to put my arms around him and hug him tight. He started to pull away to say
something but I pulled him back

“What…” he started.

“Not ready.” I mumbled into his shoulder refusing to let go.

“Okay.” He said putting his arms around me again and not moving until I was ready.

Eventually, I let go of him when I realized I had no idea why he would be in DC. It’s too
early for Sokovia.

“Why are you here? Please tell me Hydra didn’t already grow another head.” I said.

“No, uh…” Tony said. “I uh, came to get Cap his shield back. Took me a couple of hours to
drag it out of the Potomac, also thought Natashalie might need dome PR help.”

“Damage control.” I said.

“Among other things.” He said gently taking my hand to check on the bracelet. “Still does the
job but I think it might be time for an upgrade, especially if you’re going to be in the field.”

“Oh no, that was a last minute, best option available sort of thing.” I said. “Besides I like my
bracelet. I rarely take it off.”

“Works even better when I can track it.” Tony said. “If you let me.”

“It’s not my fault Jarvis likes me.” I answered. “It’s probably a design flaw.”
“That’s not a bad flaw to have.” He said with a smile.

“I…” I started to say what I had been waiting a year to say only for Tony’s phone to start
ringing.

“Sorry.” Tony said sending the phone to voicemail. “You were saying.”

“I really…” I started again but his phone started ringing. “You should take that.”

“No it can… oh actually it can’t wait. Just one…” Tony asked.

“Go for it.” I said.

“This is really not a good time.” Tony answered not taking his eyes off of me. “Uhuh… yeah
that does tend to happen when you tell the US government where to stick it.”

“Nat?” I asked and Tony nodded.

“I can get you a hotel or I’m heading back to New York tonight. There’s plenty of room on
the jet…” Tony said. “Yeah… okay… then why…. She’s here. Wasn't planning on it. She
wants to talk to you.”

I took his phone already knowing where this conversation was going.

“How many senators did you piss off?” I asked.

“Just a few.” She said. “They’re watching my apartment.”

“Which one?” I asked.

“The one on record but it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re already watching the hospital.”
Natasha said.

“You have to go don’t you?” I asked.

“This isn’t how I wanted to go.” Natasha said.

“And here I was hoping we’d be able to squeeze in that coffee date before I left.” I said.
“Mostly because I’d kill for a good cup right about now.”

“I’m going to have to take a rain check.” She said.

“I’m holding you to it, I’m still waiting on my dirty matcha latte.” I teased.

“You should go with Tony.” Natasha said. “Steve’s going to go after Bucky. All eyes will be
on him.”

“Think he’ll be okay alone?” I said.

“I don’t think his new sidekick is going to leave him alone anytime soon.” She said.

“And he’s still in denial about the superhero life now being his life.” I said.

“He’ll come around once he gets new wings.” Natasha said probably already having a plan
to make him come around.
“Yeah, I’ll put Tony right on it. You sure about this?” I asked.

“It’s not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last.” She said.

“I guess I’ll see you when I get back.” I said. “Be careful.”

“You too.” Natasha said before hanging up.

“You’re going somewhere?” Tony asked.

“Yeah… I have a couple of things I need to catch you up on.” I said handing him back his
phone.

“Like?” Tony asked.

“Do you have a coffee maker on your plane?” I asked.

“Espresso maker.” He answered.

“Let me go say bye to Steve.” I said marching over to Steve’s room.

It was a quick goodbye with me telling him not to look too hard for Bucky. He wouldn’t be
found until he was ready to be found.

Tony didn’t let me wait until we got to the airfield for me to get my cup of coffee. We hit a
Starbucks drive through on our way and once we were in the air the stewardess brought me
an espresso without me even asking for it.
“So?” Tony said.

“So….” I started. “Norway. I don’t know what I was thinking but it happened and I guess I
thought it was going to figure… this out. I needed answers and instead I got pushed off a
cliff.”

“Someone pushed you off a cliff?” Tony said. “You were murdered?”

“Thor’s dad does not like me, it’s mutual. I could have gotten over getting killed, the memory
thing is becoming a problem.” I said.

“Memory thing?” He asked.

“He used magic and everything that happened in Norway and the lead up to Norway is a blur.
I remember bits and pieces. I remember our talk but how I found Odin, I have no idea.” I
answered. “I fell, died, woke up in another universe… rinse, repeat.

“And you came back.” Tony said.

“Not right away.” I said.

“A whole year.” Tony said.

“I was going to come back but I had to be a mom and a friend for a while.” I answered. “And
while I was there I decided to go see Elaine.”

“Elaine? Therapist Elaine?” he asked.

“Therapist Elaine of my world.” I answered before I corrected myself. “My other world.”

“How was she?” Tony asked.

“Just as good but not as nice.” I said. “Tougher, did not let anything go. She made me dig
deep. Really deep which just confirmed what I said to you before I left. You are not the
problem, it was all me.”

“It wasn't all you.” Tony said.

“Don’t do that.” I said.

“Do what?” He said.

“Sweep it under the rug. I’m trying to take some responsibility for the mess I've made.” I
explained.

“It’s not a mess. The Hydra Fiasco is a mess. Romanoff telling the US Security and Defense
committee to kiss her ass is a mess. You’re…” he started and I gave him a look. “Working on
it. We all are. Must’ve been a really busy year for you.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” I answered. “I actually got to meet another Tony Stark.”

“Another me? What was he like?” Tony asked.

“Exact same guy from the movies, does not live up to the original though.” I reassured Tony.

“Not as good looking?” Tony teased.

“No, there was just… something missing.” I said thinking back to our kiss. Tony probably
didn’t need to hear about that part. “Great guy though.”

“I can imagine.” He said. “One whole year huh?”

“It wasn’t the plan but they needed me.” I said. “And I needed the space and mean Elaine.”

“I’ve met Elaine, I can’t imagine her being mean.” Tony said.

“Wish I could say the same thing.” I answered. “Her methods were… a bit more direct but
effective.”

“And now you’re back.” Tony said.

“Well…” I started.

“You’re not back?” He asked. “You were there for a year.”

“I was and I am coming back, I was actually wrapping up there.” I said.

“So you are staying.” Tony said.

“No I actually need to get back. I got run over by a bus, in front of Jamie.” I said.

“Ouch.” He cringed.
“Not sure how I’m going to explain that one.” I said. “A coma maybe, or maybe one of those
times your heart rate was just really slow and I woke up in the morgue?”

“That would explain how you’re alive not the disappearing part.” Tony said.

“Bad CGI?” I teased. “I’ll think of something. My boss is not going to be happy, when he
gave me my job back I promised I wouldn’t drop everything without some notice… wait do I
still have a job here?”

“You’re a bit behind planning the gala but your boss did approve your leave.” He said.

“Thanks,” I said sipping my espresso. “After I’m back though, we should do something.”

“Like?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know, it’s been a while since we’ve been on a roller coaster.” I said.

“What? Taking down bad guys wasn't enough of a thrill for you?” He asked.

“I wouldn’t really call that a thrilling as much as terrifying. If you’re not in the mood for
rollercoasters we could just stick to grabbing burgers and shakes. Is a Ramen burger a thing
yet because that could be a good date.” I said.

“I’m not sure what a ramen burger is or if soup should go with a burger… wait did you just
say date?” Tony asked.

“No soup involved, or at least I don’t think so…” I started.

“You said date?” He said again.

“Instead of the buns you just have ramen noodles squished together to act as a bun.” I
explained. “I never got to try one but it looked good.”

“I heard date.” Tony said.

“Yeah, if not a ramen burger a normal burger would be good too.” I said but Tony just stared
at me in shock. “I totally did this wrong didn’t I? Three tries and still haven’t figured out how
to this right.”

“Are you trying to ask me out on a date?” Tony said in shock.

“No… well yes… kind of…” I admitted. “I jumped the gun didn’t I?”

“No I’m just confused because this is really out of the blue…” Tony said.

“And I blew my chance didn’t I?” I said.

“No, I’m just… I think we need to slow down… and wow I can’t believe what just came out
of my mouth.” Tony said.

“A complete 180 from a year ago… or should I say a month ago?” I retorted. “Maybe I
should start at the beginning?”

“That’s a good idea.” Tony said.

So I did… by the time we were landing in New York he was all caught up and he said
nothing. It was quiet for about five minutes before he just said…
“I… I don’t know what to say.” Tony said.

“Anything is good. Witty comeback? Snark?” I said.

“I… No. I’m drawing blanks.” He said.

“If I totally blew my chance at being soulmates I wouldn’t hold it against you.” I said.

“No! No, you’re it.” Tony said. “Completely without a doubt, you are what I've been waiting
for my whole life, and the past two years. You’re it.”

“I’m it?” I asked.

“It’s you. It’s always been you.” Tony said.

“Sorry for the wait.” I said.

“No need. It’s the right place, right time like always.” Tony said. “You were asking me out on
a real date right? Not like saying it’s a date like the date is set?”

“No it’s a date date.” I said.

“As in this is not a strictly platonic thing anymore? We’re a serious thing?” Tony clarified.

“I’ll put it to you like this, as soon as I get back, we should consider going down to HR to
formally turn this situationship into a relationship on paper.” I said.
“I can’t wait to go to HR with you.” Tony said.

“Wait until I after I have this talk with Bruce and Thor.” I said.

“You may have to wait a bit. Pointbreak’s in London and Bruce went with him to pick
Selvig’s brain about something.” Tony said.

“That gives me some time to work on what I’m going to say.” I said. “Might be easier
without an impending global threat.”

Hours Later…

Tony had a few calls to make to finish wrapping things up in DC, I took advantage of that to
answer a couple of work emails. Jarvis did an amazing job pulling out the most urgent
emails.

It was almost dinner when Tony finally called it a day.

“Are we ordering in or should we go out?” Tony asked.

“Actually, it’s time for me to go.” I said.

“Oh.” He said. “You don’t want to eat first?”

“It’s actually better if I don’t.” I said. “My rendition of the exorcist has not gotten better.”

“Right.” He said looking like wanted to go for a hug but second guessing himself, so I
initiated the hug.
“Stay out of trouble, no evil robots, rocks from outer space, trying to make Bruce go
green…” I said.

“Promise.” Tony said.

“No lab binges.” I said.

“Oh… that might be hard.” He started.

“Sleep at least 6 hours a night.” I continued.

“I’ll try.” He said.

“No impulse remodeling.” I said.

“You sure? Your room…” He started.

“Keeping my apartment.” I said.

“I thought we were…” Tony started.

“haven’t even been on our first date yet.” I said.

“Can we talk about this when you’re back?” He said.

“Yes but the answer will be the same.” I said letting go of him.

“It’s an easier commute.” Tony argued.

“Talk later.” I said shrugging off my cardigan leaving me in a short sleeved white Henley. “I
really like that cardigan and it’s a pain to get blood out of cashmere. No wild parties.”

“I’ll save it for the gala.” Tony said amused. “Maybe we should switch the theme and make it
a toga party.”

“No one needs to see that much of your board.” I said and he cringed.

“We can always take them off the list.” He suggested.

“I’m sure Pepper will love that.” I said walking out to the balcony. “Easy on the terminator
jokes, Steve is sensitive.”

“Are you stalling?” Tony said.

“No, there’s just a lot to go over.” I said as I kept walking while Tony stopped.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Tony offered.

“I have to go save my kid from a lifetime of mommy issues.” I said. “Which reminds me, I
don’t think you should be the one to tell Thor his dad killed me…”

“I’ll wait for you to tell him.” Tony said. “Is that all?”
“That covers it.” I said. “I’m gonna jump.”

“I’ll see you soon.” Tony said not following me out and staying by the door. He probably
didn’t want to watch this next part. I couldn’t blame him.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I said going to the edge of the balcony. Tony had gone back
inside. I looked down at the street some ninety-something floors down and dreaded what was
waiting for me at the bottom.

Then I realized I forgot something really important and ran back inside.

“I almost forgot…” I said as Tony quickly his the glass of scotch he was about to drink.

“Honey whatever it is…” He started before I gently grabbed his suit vest and pulled him
closer and I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

Tony instantly shut up and put his hands on my waist holding me close as he eagerly returned
the kiss. Unlike the last time I kissed a Tony Stark this time it was electric. Fireworks were
going off and it felt right, confirming what I already knew to be true. He was it for me, they
all were.
“Wow.” Tony said once we both came up for air.

“Yeah… that’s better.” I said smiling.

“Yeah?” Tony said with a grin.

“Yeah.” I said giving him one last kiss.

“We’re definitely doing more of that later.” I said before running out to the balcony and
jumping off the edge.

Totally worth dying for.

 Chapter 49

And here I was yet again…

At the bottom of the deep dark pit with that thing slithering around getting closer. I knew it
could hurt me and whatever he did stayed with me when I went back, which meant if he
killed me here, I may not get back.

Which meant I just had to stay as far away from it until I got pulled up again.

So I ran, as fast as I could. As far as I could. When I fell I crawled and when I couldn’t do
that because the water was too heavy, I hid.

“Hanna…” It taunted. “Come out, come out, wherever you are…”

Click click click…

What I would give to have Natasha’s gun in my hand right now.

“You’re making this harder than it has to be…” It continued.

“Hurry the hell up…” I whispered looking up and noticing that the light on the ground was
starting to fade. The light on the ground where I had fallen was getting smaller. Not by a lot
but I don’t remember that happening before.

Screw it, I wouldn’t be able to hold it off forever. I got back onto my feet and ran towards the
light.
“Take me back!!!” I shouted making a break for the light. “Get me out of here!!!”

“We haven’t even had a chance to play yet!!!” It groaned as I could hear the water splashing
as it ran after me.

“Take me back!!!” I shouted as my hand reached for the light.

I saw a shadow swing towards me but I ducked just in time for it miss me. I took a step into
the light it grabbed me by the ankle and tried to pull me back.

“You’re not going to go home Hanna, this is where you belong…” It whispered.

“Fuck you.” I kicked as I dug my fingers into the ground refusing to let that thing drag me
back. “I. Am Going. Home!!!”

With that I got yanked up but not before it took a swing at me and cut my arm.

When I sat up gasping for air I was alive again, but not in my world or home.

“Hanna!” Hercu-Thor greeted.

“Oh come on!” I groaned falling back on the hammock I now realize I was sleeping on.

“Hanna?” He asked cautiously. “Are you alright? That was a rather gnarly fall.”

“I want to go home.” I whined.

“There there…” Hercu-Thor said hugging me as he patted my back. “Do not fret. Mi casa es
su casa.”

“Can you just use Mjolnir and zap my heart please?” I mumbled into his very hard and braod
shoulders. My Thor was a better hugger.

“No can do brah…” he continued. “It’s against the code.”

“The bro code?” I asked internally groaning as I knew what he was about to say.

“It’s only code that matters.” Hercu-Thor said putting his hand over his heart.

“Roof?” I asked pointing down the hall.

“How about a coconut water before you go?” Hercu-Thor offered.

“I hate coconut.” I said running to find a roof to jump off of or a bus to jump in front of.

Multiple Jumps and Multiple Hits from the Shadow Monster Later – Earth 1218

Home sweet home…

There was a special something about this place that I didn’t even need to open my eyes to
know I was home. The smog, the gum on every inch of pavement, or the fact that everyone
here just was a special brand of jerk that could only be found here.

I woke up on a bus bench, and lucky for me, it was the bus that left me a block away from the
loft. It’s the little things that make the biggest difference.
I snuck onto the bus and jumped off at my stop. I was sore and looked like a complete wreck
but I guess it’d be weirder if didn’t considering I got hit by a bus.

I let myself in expecting no one to be home since it was the middle of the day.

“Mom!” Jamie shouted running to hug me tight.

“Ah!” I groaned returning the hug.

“You’re okay.” Jamie cried.

“Better now.” I said pressing a hand to my side. My ribs were still a bit tender from my last
round in the pit.

“You… you were and then…” Jamie cried.

“It’s okay.” I said hugging him tight and rubbing his back. “I’m okay.”

“What the actual fuck?!” Theo said.

“You know how we always say the LA bus system sucks?” I said to Theo. “It’s got nothing
on our hospitals.”

“You…How…” Theo cried before hugging me.

“Ow…” I whined as he hugged me.

“Shit, shit, what the fuck happened?” Theo said crying before hugging me again. “Jamie and
well everyone said you were… and that the ambulance took you but I called and… And you
weren’t in the morgues and…and… you smell so bad…”

“Hospital lost and found clothes.” I said. “I think these were some dead guy’s clothes.”

“I thought you were dead.” Theo cried into my shoulder.

“Okay… I… there’s a lot… But… I need a shower. I feel gross and I got hit by a bus.” I said
crying and laughing. “What the fuck?!”

“What the fuck?!” Theo sobbed not letting go of me.

“Mommy you’re bleeding.” Jamie said looking at the cut on my arm.

“Oh shit.” Theo said. “Did you sneak out of the hospital?”

“Maybe?” I said.

“Hanna!” Theo said.

“I’m fine, I made it all the way here didn’t I?” I said.

“You got hit by a bus.” Theo said.

“You disappeared.” Jamie said looking up at me with teary eyes.

“I know, and I’m sorry about that. I tried calling you guys but the hallway they had me
waiting in didn’t have a phone and the nurses wouldn’t tell me anything. They kept saying
someone would call you.” I said trying to wipe my face with my sleeve only to get a whiff of
what I smelled like.. “I just… wow I stink.”

“Looks like they also forgot to give you a sponge bath.” Theo said. “You… really need a
shower.”

“Actually, I’ll think I’ll risk a bath. I’ll still a bit sore.” I said.

“Come on…” Theo said refusing to let me out of his sight. He helped me get in the bath and
then stayed behind the shower curtain to preserve my dignity.

Eh, not like it wasn't anything he hadn’t seen before.

Once I had finished scrubbing myself clean and was back in my cozy matching grey waffle
knit lounge set.
Jamie had gone ahead and made me a cup of hot chocolate as we sat around the couch and I
gave them a breakdown of everything that had happened over the past couple of days that I
came up with while I was taking a bath.

The condensed version was that I was unconscious for about two days and when I woke up
the hospital I was at was overcrowded and I was in a gurney in one of their hallways.

And finally I embellished a bit.

“And… that’s about it… almost.” I said.

“We’re so going to sue.” Theo said.

“Steve was there.” I said.

“Steve?” Theo asked.

“Captain America?” Jamie added.

“Yeah, he’s here waiting for his next assignment, pulling a few EMT shifts.” I said.

“He’s an EMT? I thought he worked construction?” Theo asked.

“He does a little of everything.” I said.

“And he couldn’t have called?” Theo said.

“He’s not family.” I said. “He barely got to sneak in to see me. I actually thought I was
hallucinating until I saw the note he left pinned to my hospital gown.”

“Wow, so?” He asked.

“He said we should grab coffee.” I said.

“You’re the only person I know that gets hit by a bus and finds their long lost boyfriend in the
process.” Theo said.

“He’s not… uh…” I said.

“Huh?” Theo said.

“But you disappeared.” Jamie said. “There was a light and you were gone.”

“Jamie, that was the ambulance lights.” Theo said.

“But dad…” Jamie started.

“It doesn’t matter but your mom is back, and… that’s all that matters.” Theo said trying not
to cry again.

“But there really was…” Jamie started before I subtly signaled for him to drop it with a wink.

“Steve. Small world.” I said distracting Theo.

“Does he still look like a hot lumber jack you want to jump?” Theo said.

“He shaved the beard off.” I said.

“Oh…” Theo said disappointed. “I can’t picture him without a beard.”

“He still looks great.” I said.

“Enough to think you were hallucinating him?” Theo teased.

Later once Jamie was asleep and I promised him that I was still going to be there when he
woke up,
“As cliché as it sounds when that bus hit me, my whole life flashed before my eyes.” I said.

“And you saw Steve?” Theo said wiggling his eyebrows.

“I saw him. Nat, the rest of them.” I said. “I saw you and Jamie and I saw everything I wish I
could have done. Every single regret… and there’s a lot of them. Also, I’m kind of a bitch.”

Theo just stared at me dumbfounded before he started laughing.

“Oh sweetie…” Theo said giving me a side hug. “Of course you are, that’s the only way you
can survive in this world but we love you anyway.”

“But is surviving, living?” I asked taking the icepack and a hot cocoa.

“We’re still here?” Theo retorted wincing as he saw the giant bruise on my ribs.

“Don’t you feel like there’s something missing? Like there should be something else besides
waking up every morning and living the exact same day on repeat?” I said.

“The last time you started talking like this you almost got a lord of the rings quote tattooed on
your ass.” Theo said.

“First of all, it was my thigh not my ass.” I said.

“I saw the stencil Han, it was going to end up on your ass.” Theo said.

“I’m not talking about tattoos or getting my nose re-pierced or going bungee jumping at the
county fair because YOLO. I want to have a good life, a full life, with adventure, meaning,
love. I want both of us to have that so that one day when it finally is our time and I am
talking old, grey, senile, surrounded by our grandkids and our life flashes before our eyes we
can go out with our smile on our faces not regretting everything we didn’t get a chance to
do.” I said.

“That is your dream and if there is anyone that deserves that and more, it’s you.” He said and
he hesitated before finally speaking again. “You’re going back with him aren’t you?”

He knew me so well.

“How much do you hate me right now?” I asked.

“I don’t hate you.” Theo said with a smile. “I’m jealous you get to live on a white sandy
beach and wake up every morning to that gorgeous specimen of a man but I don’t hate you.
As long as I've known you, you’ve never really lived your life. You made your dreams
smaller so you could be everything and anything for Jamie, for me. My dream, is in that
room, it’s the job that I’m going to start next week with that very generous signing bonus,
and it’s getting to live every day breaking the cycle.”

“You deserve the entire fucking world.” I said.

“That kid is my world.” Theo said. “We’re going to be okay Hanna.”

“I know, I still feel like a selfish jerk.” I said.

“Don’t be, it’s your turn to be happy.” Theo said. “And you’re going to pop in when you
can.”

“Promise.” I said.

“I can’t wait to meet them, after you get them to take you back.” Theo said. “And then you’re
going to have to explain to me how that all works?”
“I’ll let you know once I figure it out because I still don’t know.” I said making him laugh.

“You’re also going to have to break the news to Jamie.” He said.

“Did I scar him for life with…” I said.

“Getting hit by a bus, making him think you were dead?” Theo said.

“Yeah that.” I said.

“Not as traumatized as he would have been if you had actually died.” Theo answered.

Oh Boy…

“When I picked him up he kept saying you disappeared into thin air. That the bus hit you and
that there was this light and you were gone. I was reading up on it and apparently it’s really
common for kids brains to try to make up fairy tales to explain trauma in a way that isn’t so
scary to them.” He explained.

“So I totally traumatized him.” I said.

“No you came back.” Theo said. “I think you two having a one-on-one talk, sorting it out and
gently breaking the news that you’re leaving but coming back is really important.”

The Following Morning…

Theo had errands to run and I took this chance to take Jamie out for the day. Since this was
the last day out we were going to have for a while, I decided to make an exception and used
Tony’s AMEX to fund our day out.

We started in Malibu. I took Jamie to the same brunch place Tony and I would go to after
therapy. It felt like a lifetime ago.

“You can put cereal in your French toast?” Jamie said reading the menu.

“Yeah, they also put it in their fried chicken to make it extra crunchy.” I said.

“That’s so cool.” Jamie said before dropping the menu. “Mom, the French toast is thirty
dollars.”

“Don’t worry about that.” I said.

“That’s like a week of boba.” Jamie said in disbelief.

“It’s really good French toast.” I answered but that didn’t convince him. “Hey, don’t look at
the prices. Get whatever you want.”

“But…” He started.

“No buts, this is our special day.” I said. “So what else are we getting?”

“Can I try coffee?” Jamie asked.

“Why not.” I said with a shrug. There was no way he was going to take more than one sip
before he realizes he doesn’t like it.
“It’s really nice here. I can see the pier from here.” Jamie said.

“Yeah, it’s a great view. I came here once with a friend.” I answered.

“Dad?” Jamie asked.

“No. You know I have other friends besides your dad?” I said.

“You do?” He said with a smirk.

“I do. My friend Tony, was the one that brought me here. The food’s good. It’s a good place
to talk and I brought you here because we need to talk.” I said.

“Uh oh.” Jamie said.

“You are too young to start thinking that it’s a bad thing when someone says that.” I said.
“You’re not in trouble, I just thought we should talk about what happened and what you saw.”

“I saw the light.” Jamie said. “It wasn't an ambulance.”

“I know that’s what think you saw because what you saw scared you.” I said.

“I saw the light mom.” Jamie insisted. “You were there and then there was a light and you
were gone and everyone just kept going like it didn’t happen.”

“You’re the only one that saw it?” I asked.

“Everyone saw but they acted like they didn’t.” Jamie said. “You weren’t moving and then
you were gone.”

“Bud, it’s okay.” I said.

“How?” Jamie asked. “You weren’t breathing. There was blood and you were gone.”

“But I’m not gone. I’m right here.” I said gently squeezing my hand.

“I’ve seen people die before. I know that there isn’t a light, I know people don’t come back
from that.” Jamie said.

“They don’t.” I said to him. “Once you are dead you are gone. I got lucky and for now that’s
all there is to it.”

“Mom.” Jamie sternly.

“Buddy, I know you’re smart, smarter than any kid your age and that you have been through
so many things no kid your age should have to deal. If I could go back and do it all over
again I would do everything to protect you from that but I can’t do that. What I can do is
protect you now.” I said making Jamie frown.

“One day when you are much older and ready we’re going to have a very long and hard
conversation about what happened. For now, all that you need to know is that you have a
mom and dad that love you so much, that we are lucky because if it had been anyone other
than me that day we’d be telling a very different story and that no matter what happens I will
always come back.”

“Promise?” Jamie asked holding out his pinky.

“Pinky promise.” I said linking pinkies with him.

“Are you leaving with Captain America again?” Jamie asked.

“How did you…” I asked.

“I heard you and dad talking last night.” He said and I was about to say something but he
quickly added. “I wasn't eavesdropping, the walls are thin.”

“I know, your room isn’t actually a room.” I said with a sigh. “and Steve isn’t Captain
America.”

“He looks just like him.” Jamie said. “Talks like him, there’s a tiny bit of green in the blue of
his eyes, he keeps a black notebook in his pocket to make notes of things people give him
tips about and he has the same butt.”

“Steve looks similar to Chris Evans and it’s just a coincidence that he had the same name, as
the character. Why are you looking at people’s butts?” I asked.

“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then guess what mom, Steve is Captain
America.” Jamie said not asking but telling me he was.

“Steve is Steve.” I said.

Jamie glared at me trying to start a staring contest to see if I would break. Two could play at
that game and I was still the undefeated champion at this game.

I stared right back. This kid was good, we were nearing two full minutes before we were
interrupted by our server.
“Are you guys ready to order or should I give you another minute?” She chirped.

“We’ll have the eggs benedict, an order of the cereal French toast double strawberries, no
blueberries…” I said not taking my eyes off of Jamie.

“I like blueberries now.” Jamie corrected.

“Scratch that, normal fruit and regular coffee for me and de-caf for the munchkin.” I said as
we both handed her our menus not looking away from each other.

“Al-righty…” She said walking to quickly place our orders.

“You know, the fact that I can do this for hours is the reason your dad and I started using
MarioKart to break ties.” I said.

“I don’t have my switch.” He said blinking.

“I win.” I said. “I’m sure Steve will be very flattered that you think he looks like a
superhero.”

“Mom.” Jamie said sternly.

“Yes I am going back to…” I started. Crap where did I tell him I went to last time?

“Do you have to?” Jamie asked. “You just got back.”

“I know.” I said. “But there are people waiting for me over there. People that have been
waiting a really long time for me and there are people that need our help.”
“What about me and dad?” He asked.

“You and your dad have each other and you’re going to be okay.“ I said. “You’ve done it
before and you’ll do it again.”

“But it’s better when the three of us are together.” Jamie said. “We’re a team.”

“We’re still a team. This past year your dad went back to school to find the place that he
belongs in the world, now it’s my turn. We are still your mom and dad, and when you need us
we will be there.” I said.

“Promise you’re coming back?” Jamie said holding out his pinky.

“Promise, I will always come back.” I said linking pinkies. “But I’m not leaving today. Today
is our day and we are going to make the most of it. So you tell me what are we going to do?”

“What can we do?” Jamie asked.

“Anything you want.” I said.

“Anything?” Jamie said.

That was how we ended up spending the rest of the day riding roller coasters and eating
funnel cakes.

There was no denying it, Jamie was definitely my kid.

I stayed for a few more days making sure to meal prep enough frozen lasagnas and other
quick meals for a month, I wrapped up a few of my freelance jobs letting my clients know
that I would be traveling for a while with no set return date.

Then I had to go into the office to submit my formal resignation. My boss threw a pen and
notepad at me and said to write down whatever number would get me to shut and leave him
alone for another year.

When I said I was serious he started begging me to stay. I think at one point he started crying.

I didn’t think I was that good at my job. Most days I phoned it in.

I transferred everything in my savings account to Theo’s and set up auto pay to make sure he
wouldn’t forget to pay any bills.

Lastly there was only one thing left to do, pack up my things and go.

I used to pride myself on my minimalistic aesthetic, particularly in my consumerism but over

the past year I had to expand my wardrobe sue to work events. Most of my work clothes I
ended up donating to the needy and the local shelter. I packed up a bag I was going to stash in
a storage locker to keep up appearances and made a big fuss of our last meal together.

Jamie was tucked in for the night and Theo and I had our last beer on the roof.

“I’m going to miss these talks of ours.” Theo said.

“Oh shut up. Knowing me I’m going to screw up things and come running back before you
even get a chance to miss me.” I said.

“Don’t do that.” Theo said.

“It’s true.” I said.

“It’s not. They are lucky to have you and they are not letting you go.” Theo said. “You’re
going to ride off into the sunset and you’re going to be happy. We all are.”

“Always the optimist.” I said.

“Once of us has to be.” Theo said. “What time is your flight?”

“Soon. Almost time to head out, which reminds me that this is for you.” I said handing him
Tony’s AMEX.

“You already gave me your savings account.” Theo said refusing the card.

“I told you that was child support.” I reminded him. “This is for everything else.”

“Since when do you have an AMEX?” Theo said taking the card.

“A while.” I said.

“Is this a black card?” Theo said. “How did you…”

“Theo, it’s not important.” I said.

“Do you have any idea how much money you have to spend for AMEX to even offer you one
of these?” Theo said in disbelief.
“Theo…” I started.

“I know you make a lot working for big Pharma but not this much.” He said.

“Theo!” I said snapping him out of it. “I've had this card a while. Think of it as a financial get
out of jail card. Anything you or Jamie need if you can’t use your account or something
comes up, don’t hesitate, just put it on this.”

“Don’t you need it?” Theo said still afraid to touch it.

“Things over there are covered.” I answered.

“I’m sure rent split 7 ways is cheap but still…” He said.

“Trust me, whatever you put on that card is covered. If that isn’t enough take it for my peace
of mind.” I said.

“Okay, I promise just for emergencies.” Theo said.

“And special occasions. Christmas and birthdays.” I said.

“Okay.” Theo said tucking the card into his pocket. “You excited?”

“Excited, nervous, anxious, a bit scared.” I said.

“What’s there to be scared of?” Theo said.

If only he knew…

“I’m just over thinking it. My uber is around the corner.” I said looking at my phone.

“This is it then. Do I get a phone number this time?” He asked.

“A storm took out the phone lines but I’ll call when I can and email.” I said. It was a good
thing I had learned to set up emails to automatically get sent out for this very reason.

“That’s something.” Theo said putting his beer down. “Just so you know, while you’re gone,
you’re going to be the bad cop.”

I looked at him wondering if he was serious before I started laughing.

“I’m serious, it’s your idea that we’re having string beans as part of dinner tomorrow, and
Brussel sprouts. It’s your fault he can’t have that second that second scoop of ice cream. Theo
said.

“I think I can be the bad cop for once.” I said. “Take care of our kid.”

“Always.” Theo said hugging me “I love you Han.”

“I know.” I said hugging him back. “I’ll see you later.”

After a quickly dropping off my suitcase at the locker I went to my favorite rooftop bar. Hard
to believe that two years ago I was here for one last hurrah because I wanted to end it all.
That I had given up on life and had nothing to look forward to.
What was supposed to be my ending, ended up being a new beginning. A second chance.

Now here I was enjoying another mango-tini as I took it all in before I went home to new
start and looking forward to seeing my soulmates.

I took my drink and went over to the ledge. I raised a glass to this very messy and cruel world
before finishing my drink, throwing the glass behind me and for the first time jumping
looking forward to what was waiting for me on the other side.

But before I could see them again I had to face It again.

I faceplanted at the bottom of the pit and I immediately heard it chuckle.

“Hahaha… Here again.” It taunted. “What a surprise…”

“Leave me alone, I’m just passing through.” I said not leaving the small ring of light but it
was starting to fade and get smaller and smaller.

Shit, there was no safe spot here which left me with only one thing I could do. Run.

I had been here enough times to know how far I had to run before there was a pillar I could
hide behind if it didn’t catch me first.

“I’m getting tired of playing this game Hanna…” It said as it moved around trying to find
me.

That made two of us.

“Oh come on light.” I said looking up waiting for it to reach the ground.
“Don’t ever wonder why you keep coming back here? I’m sure this is not where humans
expect to end up when they die.” It taunted.

Click click click…

‘Just because I’m dead now does not mean I’m staying dead’ I reminded myself.

“You’re making this a lot harder than it has to be.” It taunted. “Hanna… Come out, Come
out wherever you are. You can’t hide forever.”

His voice sounded a bit closer than I was expected. I moved back but I bumped into
something. I tried to move away but it grabbed me around the waist and pinned me against a
wall.

‘Ah!” I wrapping it’s hand around my neck.

“Oh Hanna, what am I going to do with you?” It taunted before I felt a sharp pain in my
stomach.

I glanced down and saw that it stuck its hand through me, impaling me on the wall.

“Now where was I?” It said before the light beamed down on me and I was painfully yanked
up again.

“Ah!!!” I chocked spitting up water I didn’t realize I had aspirated.

I heard a very loud horn and looking around I saw it was a ferry, but not just any ferry, the
Staten Island ferry.
Oh shit, I was in the East River. That explained the smell… and why I was missing a shoe.

I had no way to tell if I was in the right universe but right now that didn’t matter. I just
needed to get out of here, get clean up, and then make an appointment for a tetanus shot.
After waking up in this river I could see why every mayor of New York made campaign
promises to clean it up.

By the sky and where the sun was rising I could tell it was early morning. Maybe around five
or six in the morning. The trains should be running by now, I just had to get to one of the
stations.

Two Hours Later…

After getting a lot of dirty looks on the New York subway, and carefully walking on the
streets missing a shoe during trash pick-up day, I made it to my apartment building.

The doorman almost shooed me away not recognizing me but one very harsh glare from me
shut him up. It surprisingly helped when I started throwing up. That subway car was never
going to be the same again.

I made my way into my apartment, confirming that I was back in the right universe or that I
had somehow become really good at breaking and entering.

Either way I was in desperate need of a shower and I only had one hour to get ready for work.

It took 45 minutes in the shower to feel clean again, another 10 minutes after that to find
some clean clothes in my closet. It ended up being the only things I had never worn. A white
lace pencil skirt and a light blue button up.
It actually looked really cute together. I slipped on a pair of nude heels and put my bracelet
back on. There was no time to do my hair so I quickly put it up in a messy bun with my
bangs framing my face and accepted that it was going to be a bad hair day. It is what it is.
So there I went back on the subway. I picked up breakfast and coffee for everyone on the way
in. I had been MIA for months and I knew I had a lot to make up for at work.

“Morning, morning…” I said passing out cappuccinos and bagels to the receptionists and
security guards in the lobby.

“Hanna?” Happy said.

“Happy, Breakfast sandwich, vanilla latte.” I said.

“Shhhh.” He said shushing me.

“Did I get it wrong?” I asked.

“No just… thanks for the black coffee Hanna.” Happy said loudly trying to protect his macho
image.
“You mind?” I said as we got to the turnstiles.

“You know this is a huge security violation.” He said.

“You want to tell that to our boss and the big guy before they’ve had their morning espresso
and chai latte?” I said staring down Happy.

“Don’t make it a habit.” Happy said swiping me in.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I said jumping into the elevator right before it closed.

‘Welcome back miss.” Jarvis greeted me once the doors closed.

“Oh Jarvis, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you.” I said.

“If sir had programmed me with feelings I would say the feeling is mutual.” Jarvis said.

“Can you fill me in?” I asked. “What have I missed?”

“It has been approximately.. fifteen days, thirteen hours, and twenty three minutes since you
were last in the tower.” Jarvis said.

“Any word from, Natasha, Clint and Steve?” I asked.

“Agents Romanoff and Barton have not been seen or heard from since the Battle of the
Triskelion.” Jarvis said. “Captain Rogers is currently in DC trying to find the Winter Soldier.”
“Bucky Barnes.” I corrected.

“Sir prefers if I refer to him as the Winter Soldier.” Jarvis said as the elevator doors opened.

“I’m overriding that.” I said.

“Of course miss.” Jarvis said. That was surprisingly easy. Normally I had to talk him into a
loop hole.

“Alright, what’s on the agenda for today?” I asked.

“Sir has cleared his schedule.” He asked.

“And if he hadn’t cleared his schedule?” I asked.

“The Stark Industries PR department has advised sir to keep his appearance to a minimum
until the gala.” Jarvis said.

“They want to create buzz by creating a shortage of Tony Stark. That’s smart and I’m
guessing he’s loving the uninterrupted lab time.” I said thinking out loud putting the drinks
and bagels down on the counter. “Alright, Buddy tell me. Where is our boss?”

“Sir is in his room asleep.” Jarvis said.

“He’s asleep? Is he alone?” I asked dreading the answer to that question.

“Sir has not had any company or visitors since he last saw you.” He said. “He has been
working in his lab.”
“That’s…” I started clearing my throat. “Not surprising. How long was he at it before he
crashed?”

“Over 72 hours.” Jarvis informed me.

“Let him sleep.” I said. “It’ll give me a chance to catch up on some emails. Speaking of
would you do me a favor and start sorting them in order of most to least important.”

“Yes Miss.” Jarvis said as I took Tony’s coffee and prepped it the way I liked it.

“Is the gala team meeting today?” I asked.

“With the gala less than a month away they are meeting three times a week.” Jarvis said.

“Alright, bring me up to speed.” I said grabbing the tablet Tony had left on the counter and
heading down to the lab.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the lab was that it was messier than I left it. Then
upon closer look I realized that it wasn't Tony’s or Steve’s projects causing the mess but in
fact the mess was my desk.

Oh Boy…

“Alright Jarvis, we’re going to have to rethink how we’re going to catch up.” I said. On
average if I looked at a page for about 5 seconds, everything on that page would be stuck in
brain forever. “Any chance you can just flick through all of my emails on the screen on a loop
until I have them all?”

“Is this the appropriate speed?” Jarvis said flicking through the emails on the monitor.
“A bit faster.” I said moving some of the files off my chair to sit down and get through it all.
“Digital version of all of these too please.”

“They may not all be updated.” He informed me.

“Then let’s get an intern or someone with the right security clearance to scan these. Also
make sure that Maria Hill’s job application process gets expedited. We need to get her back to
work.” I said.

“Agent Hill is already scheduled to come in for a polygraph.” Jarvis said.

“Always thinking ahead, that’s why you’re the best.” I said staring into the screen. “Get me a
two minute reminder before the meeting and see if you can get something delivered.
Croissants, fruits… something that says sorry I disappeared and am now back at the last
minute to probably get credit for something I didn’t even do.”

“I don’t believe that would all fit on a cake.” Jarvis retorted.

“Who would want to eat that cake anyway?” I said. “Stick with bagels and coffee then.”

An hour later I was mostly caught up with everything. I walked into the meeting with the
team and made changes to a couple of things, tweaked the budget for the entertainment and
then addressed how PR was handling things post DC.

The Stark Foundation was helping with clean up but those three helicarriers sticking out of
the Potomac were not going anywhere anytime soon.

“Tony can’t do press, not right now.” I said.

“Agreed.” They said.

“But Pepper can.” I said. “How about we divert the attention from the Avengers and DC?
Leading up to the gala we have smaller events or maybe we just co-sponsor other events. I
know Pepper has that luncheon in a few weeks at the New York botanical garden?”

“The same botanical garden Mr. Stark destroyed with a laser and a bunch of other robots?”
Someone else said.

“He didn’t destroy the botanical garden, Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer’s hammeroids did.
Tony and Colonel Rhodes stopped them.” I reminded everyone.

“Smaller events. Lower profile highlighting the work of the Stark Foundation and other
organizations helps us control the narrative.” Our publicist said. “We’re not trying to sweep
everything under the rug, we’re helping out the little guy.”

“Exactly.” I said.

“Would Tony go for it?” our head of marketing said.

“He’ll go for it.” I said without a doubt.

“We’ll start pulling ideas, see what we can come up with on such short notice.” One of them
said shooting me a dirty look.

“I’m sure it’ll be great, like always.” I said ignoring her snark.

I stood up heading back to my desk to continue catching up.

“Miss Marin.” Jarvis informed me when I stepped into the elevator.

“To the lab Jarvis.” I said.

“Sir is awake.” He said.

“How many hours is that?” I asked.

“Nine and a half.” Jarvis said.

“Nine and a half hours of sleep, that’s probably a record.” I answered. “Is he eating?”

“Sir is freshening up.” Jarvis said.

“Alright, I’ll handle breakfast.” I said going to the kitchen to whip up something. Looking
around it was obvious no one had bothered putting in a grocery order in a while. The cleaning
crew had made sure anything that was spoiled was cleaned but breakfast options were pretty
limited.

It was a good thing I was great at improvising in the kitchen and that my son was a foodie. I
took the last of the eggs with some of the cheese and chives we had lying around to prep an
omelett garnished with chives and potato chips.
Once the coffee was brewed I put my waitressing experience to use, carrying the coffee,
omelet, my tablet and napkins downstairs to the lab.

“Jarvis put in a grocery order.” I said walking into the elevator.

“Would you like to start a list miss?” Jarvis said.

“Yeah, put everything on it. What do people eat around here?” I asked.

“Sir’s diet consists of coffee, green juice and takeout.” Jarvis quipped.

“At least he cut down on the scotch.” I said walking into the lab where Tony was being Tony
as he went over the new security department which was going to be comprised of fully vetted
former Shield agents.
“Are you going to have Fury head it?” Bruce asked.

“Not sure…” Tony said. “He’s not really taking my calls.”

“I’d hope not, he’s supposed to be dead.” I said letting them know I was in the room.

“Hanna!” Bruce and Tony said.

“Morning. My vote’s for Maria Hill. She’s got the experience, and she saw first hand
everything that went wrong under Fury’s command and learned a few things from it.” I said
putting down Tony’s omelet and coffee down in front of him before I took the cutlery
wrapped in a linen napkin and sternly handed it to him. “Eat.”

“You’re back.” Tony said with a grin.

“I’m back.” I confirmed. “Eat.”

“And you made breakfast?” He said.

“Which is getting cold.” I said turning to Bruce. “How was London?”

“London?” Bruce asked confused before realizing I was speaking to him. “London! Oh yeah
it was great. Dr. Foster is working on a new book on the Einstein Rosen bridge and its really
fascinating stuff.”

“I can imagine.” I said. “Portals to another world, can’t get enough of it.”

“Right…” Bruce said cringing.

“Oh, while I have you. Do you happen to have a tetanus shot on hand?” I asked.

“Why do you need a tetanus shot?” Tony asked putting down the bit of the omelet he was
about to bite into and started to look me over.

“You, Eat.” I said pointing at his plate.

“I think we have some downstairs after the last time Tony accidentally shot a rocket in the
lab.” Bruce said.

“It was a boot from the mark...” Tony said.

“That doesn’t make it any better.” We said.

“Come on.” Bruce said.

“Oh we’re going to play doctor…” I teased making Bruce blush and Tony almost choke on
his omelet.

“Uh… uh…” Bruce stuttered not knowing what to say.

“Kidding. I don’t think you can play doctor when you have seven Ph.D’s.” I said walking to
the elevator.

“Uh.. what…” Bruce started.

“Mhmm wow, that is a good omelet.” Tony said finally taking a bite of the omelet.
“Come on Bruce.” I called out holding the elevator door open for him.

Bruce sighed and followed after me not saying a word in the elevator until we got to the
medical level. Correction the medical research level. Bruce and Tony were still working on
getting Helen Cho to come by for a tour in the hopes that she would relocate some of her
research to New York.

It looked promising but still no answer.

“They should be right over here.” Bruce said going to the refrigerator and looking through it.
In the meantime I started unbuttoning my blouse to free up my arm.

“I should warn you now, I hate needles.” I said.

“I’m not sure I should ask but, why do you need a tetanus shot?” Bruce said washing his
hands and slipping on a pair of gloves.

“Well, when I woke up this morning, at the crack of dawn I was in the East river, washed up
on the shores of long Island, missing a shoe. I then had to walk to closest train station, hop
over a turnstile, and walk five blocks to my apartment on trash pick up day.” I said. “Did I
mention I was missing a shoe?”

“Sounds like quite the morning.” He said using a wet wipe to wipe a spot on my arm.

“New York is not the cleanest city in the world. I thought it’d be good to take some preca-
ahhhhh…” I groaned feeling the needle go in. “tions…”

“Done.” Bruce said.

“I hate that feeling.” I said moving my arm in a circular motion and feeling how sore my ribs
were.

“A tiny pinch is better than an infection.” He said.

“Agreed, that would be a really dumb way to die.” I said.

“That’s not the word I’d use.” Bruce said. “Are you okay?”

“Never better.” I said. “Why?”

“You’re back.” He said.

“I’m back.” I said.

“The last time I saw you, you were trying to stay as far away from here as you could.” Bruce
reminded me.

“I do remember that part.” I said thinking back. “It’s been a really long year.”

“It was month ago.” Bruce said confused.

“Over year for me. Long story.” I said.

“Norway?” Bruce asked.

“Total blur, we can blame Odin for that one.” I said. “Cliff notes version, I don’t know why I
decided to go to Norway, I apparently bumped into Thor’s dad there and he doesn’t like me
very much so he pushed me off a cliff but not before messing with my memories.”

“Thor’s dad killed you in Norway?” Bruce said in disbelief.

“Yup, and I have to break the news to Thor somehow. That’s going to be a fun conversation. I
went home for a year, worked on myself and came back in time to be in DC when Hydra tried
to make their move.” I said.

“That’s a really long year.” Bruce said.

“But I’m back, and getting back to work.” I said putting my arm through my sleeve again and
buttoning up my shirt.

“I’m glad you’re back.” Bruce said. “We missed you.”

“Missed you too.” I said smiling. “I've been thinking a lot, about our last conversation and
what it means to be soulmates. I’m really lucky to have you as one of my soulmates. You are
patient, kind and understanding, everything I am not and you don’t hold that against me.”

“You’re all of that too.” Bruce said. “Our situation is complicated.”

“I probably made it even more complicated than it needed to be.” I said. “I could have
handled things better.”

“You did what you needed to do.” He said giving me a reassuring smile. I didn’t say anything
instead I got up and hugged him. Bruce put his arms around me gently.

“I missed you.” I admitted.

“I missed you too.” He said.

“I’m glad you’re getting out more.” I said.

“Yeah, it’s… still a lot sometimes but it’s good.” Bruce said.

“Pardon me miss,” Jarvis said interrupting us. “It’s almost time for your next meeting.”

“Right, thank you Jarvis.” I said letting go of Bruce. “Duty calls.”

Three back to back meetings later and I was briefly considering if I could go back to Big
Pharma.

I groaned finally back at my desk. The paperwork was still there but now it was in three piled
I had dubbed, crap I don’t need to know, crap people want me to know, and lastly crap that I
actually need to know to do my job.

“You look like you need this.” Tony said putting a cup of coffee in front of me.

“Thank you.” I said taking a sip.

“Long day?” He asked.

“A lot to catch up on.” I said.

“Speaking of things to catch up on…” Tony started.

“The next words out of your mouth better not be, ‘I want to put a shield around the world’.” I
said.

“I was going to ask how things went with the kid.” Tony said.

“The kid? Oh my kid.” I said sipping my coffee. “Uh, well he knows I’m alive. He’s
definitely going to need therapy at some point. I had to do some light gaslighting because he
saw me die and disappear in bright light.”

“Did you tell him?” Tony asked.

“I told him we’d talk when he’s older.” I said.

“That’s a classic.” Tony said.

“What else was I supposed to say? Mommy dies a lot, goes to different universes, and came
back from the dead only to leave again?” I said.

“Maybe not that.” Tony said.

“We had a good talk. I took him to our favorite brunch place.” I said.

“I miss that place.” Tony said.

“It’s hard to find a good brunch spot like that.” I said.

“We could try to find one. I know a couple of places.” Tony said trying to play it cool,
probably trying to get a read on how we were doing at the moment. “I don’t know if they
make potato chip omelets.”

“They probably won’t for a while.” I said. “And uh… I may have had a tiny ulterior motive
for making you breakfast.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m in trouble?” He said.

“You’re not in trouble.” I said.

“It’s only been two weeks, I can’t have screwed this up already.” Tony said.

“Tony, you’re not in trouble. Surprisingly. Everyone in PR is really happy with you right
now.” I said.

“And you?” Tony asked.

“I made you an omelet that was actually edible.” I said. “We’re working on the gala and we
think you should be doing some selective appearances.”

“Selective appearances? I don’t think being on the cover of a magazine without any clothes
on…” He started.

“Oh no, you’re definitely going to be dressed for these appearances. In fact it’s mandatory for
you to be in a tailored suit, not a suit of armor. You may be able to get away with a t-shirt and
blazer for some of the more casual events…” I said making a note to loop in Tony’s stylist
and tailor once we had these events lined up.

“Am I going to be making these appearances alone?” Tony inquired.

“No Pepper will be there for some of them. You’re presenting her with an award and maybe
giving a short speech.” I said making him frown. I guess that wasn't the answer he wanted to
hear. “Not one hundred percent sure yet. Alyssa still thinks you don’t know how to stick to
approved talking points.”

“And are you going to be at these events?” Tony said. “With me?”

“I am your personal assistant. It’s my job to be there, on standby in case you need anything.”
I answered.

“My assistant. Right…” He said looking at me confused and unsure if he should say
something. “because you’re my assistant…”

“That’s the official job title.” I reminded him.

“You assist.” Tony said.

“It’s in the name.” I said.

“Yeah, right at the beginning.” He said. “If you think this is a good idea and if Pep’s on board
I’ll be there. With you. My assistant.”

“Exactly.” I said.

“Just my assistant. While I have my assistant… didn’t we have a meeting with HR today?”
Tony asked.

“HR?” I said picking up my tablet to look at the calendar to see if there was anything
scheduled.
“I think we were talking last time you were here about us, and us going to HR together, to fill
out some paperwork. Together?” Tony said cautiously.

“Right….” I said. “We don’t have an appointment and I didn’t mean it literally.”

“You didn’t mean it?” Tony said hurt.

“No! No I meant it!” I said standing up taking his hand in mine. “Every word. I just didn’t
think you actually literally wanted to go down to HR to fill out paperwork for us..”

“I want to go to HR.” Tony said stepping closer to me. “I've been looking forward to going to
HR. Together.”

“We can go to HR.” I said as he let go of my hand to put his hands on my waist and I put
mine on his shoulders slowly getting closer.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“Yeah. It sounds really nice.” I answered as Tony gently pressed his forehead against mine
slowly moving to press his lips on mine.

And just like the last time there were fireworks and a sparked that I could only describe as
feeling right. This was exactly the way things were supposed to be.

“Can we go now?” Tony asked still holding me close.

“Actually sir, the Human Resources Department has closed early for their yearly Employee
Appreciation retreat offsite.” Jarvis said.
“You’re got to program him with some better timing.” I whispered.

“I’ll work on that for the next update.” Tony answered slightly annoyed. “Jarvis, read the
room.”

“I have taken the liberty of downloading the required forms from the HR server for you and
Miss Marin to complete and shall file them discretely one they are completed.” Jarvis said.

“Buddy I don’t know if you were paying attention but we’re making a whole thing out of this
huge relationship milestone.” Tony said.

“I am very well aware of that fact sir.” Jarvis said. I could practically hear him rolling his
eyes at his creator. “You are welcome to wait until tomorrow during office business hours.”

“Am I the only one hearing the attitude…” I said.

“I think Jarvis is rebelling.” Tony said.

“Don’t even joke about that.” I said.

“We can wait.” Tony said a bit disappointed. “It’s just one more day.”

“Or we can print out the forms, fill them out, and break into HR and file them ourselves?” I
offered.

“I don’t think it’s considered breaking in if I own the building.” Tony retorted
“We’re going to HR.” I said.

“We’re going to HR.” Tony said kissing me before taking my hand and leading me to HR.

No one would ever believe me when I said that Tony willingly went to go fill out paperwork
himself.

“You know this is the first time I’ve been here.” Tony said as I was initialing and signing on
all the parts that belonged to me.

“Somehow I find that hard to believe.” I answered. “Does it live up to your expectations?”

“It’s uh… really beige.” Tony said. “It wouldn’t kill the to put up a poster or something.”

“Like a hang in there kitten poster?” I teased. “That’s exactly what people want to see when
they’re getting fired or sitting through an hours long sexual harassment seminar.”

“Maybe we should do a remodel down here? Or hire a decorator? Get some flowers?” Tony
said pensively.

“That’s a nice idea. I’m sure they’ll really appreciate it and the flowers will go really nicely
with the new polygraph machine.” I teased signing my name on the last form. “Done.”

“That’s it?” Tony said.

“Yup.” I said opening the electronically locked filing cabinet and putting it into Tony’s HR
file which had its own drawer. “It’s official.”

“We’re official.” He said. “We should go out to celebrate.”

“Right now?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Tony said. “Jarvis get us reservations somewhere nice.”

“That’s kind of short notice.” I said. “I’m not dressed for a date.”

“Of course you are. You look great.” He said. “Come on, for the first time in what feels like
forever we’re here without worrying about the next bad guy around the corner.”

I thought about turning him down and focusing on work but… it was after five.

“Okay.” I said getting up.

“If you need me to ask or get you flowers…” He started not hearing what I was saying.

“Let’s go.” I said.

“Wait, you mean…” he said.

“You’re driving.” I said.

“I’m driving!” Tony said running after me.

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