Legend

My options

I was glad to get back  to work, and not just because it was a relief to escape my taskmasters.  While the past few weeks had been some of the best of my life, I was  ready to get back to some discipline, my daily routine, and focused  intellectual effort. I hadn't worked out much, and Bucky didn't reprove  me, but he didn't have to. I worked harder to compensate for the  inactivity. Today was a day I worked with Sif, who was thrilled at my  news and we talked as we sparred. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her  son Magni watching us and mimicking some of our movements. I nodded  toward him and feinted in such a way to put him in her line of sight.  She smiled.  We stopped and she beckoned him over.

"Would you like to do  what Mama is doing?" she asked him, smoothing his hair. He nodded and  looked eager. I grinned at him and showed him the first block Bucky had  taught me. We worked until his concentration ran out, then he went back  to sit down and I resumed work with Sif. At the end of her session, I  offered to add Magni in to her lesson; he was still pretty young and  didn't have a huge attention span so wouldn't take a lot of time out of  Sif's time. "Hogun will be returning to Earth next month," she mentioned  as they were ready to go. "He would like to spar with you if you have  time."

I loved fighting Hogun  with the two swords, and he was the only person I knew who fought like  that. "I'll make time if I have to," I said enthusiastically.  "Oh, wait  a minute." I went tot he desk and found an envelope. "My future  father-in-law is having an engagement party for us next month. I don't  know what your plans are like, but I'd love for you to come if you can."

"Thank you, Alex," she  said as she opened the envelope. "I have not been to many Midgardian  celebrations. I will check the schedule and let you know."

After training was done  for the day, Bucky had me go up and practice in the driving simulator  just to keep sharp, then it was up to the lab. Finally. I felt like I  was home, and acquainted myself with the data that had been collected  while I was gone. Tony came in with cookies. Darn. I'd forgotten to  restock the Cookie Star. He generously shared half of his haul and in  return I gave him the drive that had my edits and additions to our  article. We sat back in our chairs, discussed the work and general lab  business, ate the cookies. Great to be back. I'd also had a couple of  ideas while on vacation, and came up with some exciting new approaches.  After a couple hours, he left to work in his own lab and Madison came  in. She'd been acting like she thought I blamed her for Lewis, which was  ridiculous. After she'd sat down at her desk and checked email, I  brought over a few things I'd found for her on the trip and her face  brightened.She asked about the cities I'd visited and loved my ring.

"I've been thinking of  doing a gap year, working for most of it, then backpacking across Europe  before college," she said. "I wasn't really planning on going to  eastern Europe but now I really want to."

"That sounds like fun," I  said. "We can check with Tony about maybe increasing your hours here,  or if there's not enough work in the lab, finding another place in the  tower that could use the help." I brought up the matter to Tony the next  day, and he agreed. "Nice to be able putting off training somebody new  for awhile. Speaking of that, I think it's time to get another scientist  in here with us, get you more management experience, another  perspective."

I wanted to object; I  enjoyed our collaboration and didn't want anything to intrude on it. He  was right that a fresh perspective could be valuable, though, and  ultimately this was a business that needed to generate a product. "Why  do I need management experience, though, Tony?" I asked with a slight  narrowing of my eyes.

"I wasn't going to bring  this up yet,' he said, playing with a desk toy rather than looking at  me. "But I won't be around forever, and there's the company to consider.  What I want to do is groom you to head the labs. R & D, all of it.  Pete is learning the business side and you'll need to know more of that  in order to provide the most effective guidance, but  basically...  that's it. I want to know that my company is in good hands. I started to  think about that after Natasha."