Worlds Apart

Chapter 7

Christmas Day.

She'd always loved the holiday. Obviously the day was a little more magical for her when she was younger, but even as an adult, she still managed to find an immense amount of joy in the holiday.

Her and Logan would always spend the night before over at their parents house sleeping in their childhood bedrooms. When they woke up in the morning, they would go downstairs and look through the stockings that their parents would still stuff with various candies and snack on those until their parents came down to join them.

They would sit in the living room cozied up by the fireplace while they listened to whatever Christmas music was on the radio, and then around 9:00 am, they would make a hearty breakfast of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, sausage links, eggs, and toast. After they finished their meal, they would then gather by the Christmas tree and exchange presents, and then usually by the time they were done that, it would be almost lunch time. Then came Max's favorite part; the cinnamon rolls.

This year, however, she wasn't going to get to do all that. This year, she was alone and afraid in a universe where her family didn't exist. When she woke up on Christmas morning, where normally she'd be thrilled, it just made her sad.

So, to distract herself from her loneliness, she decided to head into work. Yesterday had been her last day of training, so technically she was allowed to be there and do her work without supervision. As expected, no one was in the building besides her. Well, besides her and security.

Most of the departments had Christmas off, and those who didn't were allowed to work from home that day. Max also had the day off, but she didn't want to waste any time. She had engineering to learn, and being able to come in on her day off without anyone there was an opportunity she couldn't pass up on.

She could enjoy her new apartment - which she'd put a payment towards with the money from her first two checks - later. Right now, she had work to do.

She did her work in the main room of her department so that she could cover her ass if someone like Ashley or William happened to stop in, but she wasn't actually doing any work. Pulled up on her screen were files upon files of information on electrical engineering. She'd picked that topic first over mechanical engineering because it seemed like electrical engineering might be a little easier for her, considering it dealt with software - which she was familiar with from programming - but it was turning out to be a lot harder to learn than she thought. Another reason why coming in on her day off was a must - it gave her hours upon hours of uninterrupted studying.

Max had to admit, she'd been wrong when she said that the inside of Stark Industries was just like her brother's lab. Well, the design of it was, but the technology...it was insane. The screens weren't just super high tech, they could holographically project in front of you and it would work just like a tablet would. She supposed she wasn't all that surprised, given that she'd seen Tony use that sort of technology in the movies, but she hadn't realized that the regular workers inside the lab were able to use it too.

Some hours went by, and around midday, someone else walked into the room, but Max had been so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed the other person's arrival until the person noticed her. That person gasped out in surprise, obviously startled, which, in turn, startled Max, who quickly tabbed out of the files she was in over to her actual work files. They both took a moment to collect themselves and then started laughing nervously.

"Sorry," the woman said to Max. "I didn't think anyone else was here."

Max smiled and looked up at the woman to respond, but her smile faltered a bit when she saw the woman's face.

With her ginger hair pulled back into a low bun and wearing one of her iconic suits, there was no mistaking who was standing not ten feet away from her. She'd know that face anywhere.