An Open Doorway | Stephen Strange x Oc (UNDER REVISION)

Seven: I Promise

Author's Note: Hey guys! How goes it? I hope everything's been good with you : ) Just a little note, this chapter is fairly short. I just felt like I had to break apart this chapter and the finale, for pacing reasons. Anyway, just wanted to give you all a heads up!

With lots of love

Mundie

Hayden slowly turns her head, already knowing in her heart what's happened. The Ancient One's astral projection is no longer where it once was. Only a gap between her and Stephen remains. She stares numbly at the empty space, nothing but pregnant silence filling the air. After several moments, Hayden's eyes drift up and meet Stephen's.

His eyebrows have furrowed and Hayden can see the concern in the downward curve of his mouth. He approaches her carefully, filling the space the Sorcerer Supreme occupied mere moments before.

"We- we should get back to our bodies." Stephen hesitantly reaches out and gently grips her shoulder. Was his hand shaking more than usual? "Come on."

She allows him to wrap his arm around her shoulders and guide her off the balcony. They pass back through the way they came and arrive again in the operating room. With her eyes glued to the floor, Hayden moves away from Stephen and returns to her body.

-

Hayden jerks back into the physical plane and stumbles, her back striking the wall behind her with a painful thump. The impact sends a shock straight to her chest and she bends over slightly, hand pressed to the source of the pain. Hayden wobbles into the adjacent room, barely registering the sinks lining one wall on her right or Stephen's cloak floating silently in a corner of the room. She leans against the surface behind her, which is cool against her wings, eyes squeezed shut as she waits for the pain in her chest to fade. It takes several moments for the throbbing to fade and for her to be able to breathe properly again.

Hayden lets her head fall back against the wall, breathing out a slow exhale; the familiar pain of loss begins to well up inside her.

The door leading to the operating room swinging open causes Hayden to immediately straighten and for her wings to clench against her back spasmodically.

Stephen sees her as soon the door opened. "Hayden, are-" His face falls as he approaches her, his jaw tightening.

Christine Palmer pauses in the doorway, before she gives a little knowing smile. With a small shake of her head, she turns back into the operating room and shuts the door silently behind her.

Hayden wonders what about her caused the change in his demeanor. Stephen halting before her and softly brushing something wet from her cheekbone answers her internal question. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying.

"Oh, crap, I'm sorry." Hayden turns her face away swiping at the stupid tears. "I-" The realization that the Ancient One is well and truly gone washes over her, choking her.

Hayden closes the distance between her and Stephen, wrapping her arms around him and allowing the walls to fall away.

He returns her embrace, holding her tightly and supporting her. "Shh, it's alright. Everything's okay."

Everything is far from okay, but she lets herself pretend it is, if only for a little while. They stay like that until Hayden stops shaking and the tears cease to fall.

Finally, she slowly pulls a little way away from him, sniffling and wiping at her face. "I'm sorry. That must have been awkward."

"Hey-" Stephen gently cups her face, his hands warm and touch tender. "-look at me."

She does and almost instantly feels better. There's such a warm, yet simultaneously sad look in his eyes. She feels that instantly recognizable fluttering in her stomach, but she wishes he didn't look so sad. Her hands rise up and cover the backs of his lightly shaking fingers.

"She meant a lot to you," he says one of his thumbs running gently over her cheek. "There's nothing to apologize for."
"She meant a lot to you too," Hayden says as she leans a little into his touch. She squeezes her eyes shut and pauses. "Everyone I've ever cared about has either died, or left me." She opens her eyes again and meets Stephen's gaze with her own. "Everyone except for you."

Stephen exhales slowly through slightly parted lips. "I will never leave you."

The magnetizm Hayden felt between them back in the Sanctum returns, this time much stronger and more demanding.

"Do you promise?" She allows that draw to pull her closer to him, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Stephen gently tilts her head back a little. "I promise."

That soft and warm look is back in his eyes, sending the butterflies in Hayden's stomach into overdrive. He leans down and she shifts forward to meet him. She feels his pleasantly warm breath fan over her face; Hayden's eyes flutter shut.

And in the next moment, he's kissing her.

The world around Hayden falls away and all she can feel, taste, smell is Stephen Strange. His lips are soft against hers and he kisses her like he's waited to his whole life. One of Hayden's hands goes to the back of his neck, her fingers sliding into his dark hair; the other pressing a little over his. The feeling in her chest Hayden has come to recognize as love wells up inside her and she let's it wash over her without resistance.

But all too soon, Stephen breaks the kiss. He leans his forehead against hers and neither one of them move for several long moments, their breaths intermingling between them. Hayden runs her thumb over Stephen's knuckles, allowing herself to bask in his nearness.

After another moment of this, they finally break away from each other.

Hayden's gaze immediately rises to Stephen's face and her own falls thanks to what she sees. "Stephen, why are you crying?" Anxiety immediately replaces the warm feelings in her chest. "I- I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, no," he says as he takes her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze, one tear making its way down his face. "It's nothing like that." His cloak comes out of it's corner and winds itself around his shoulders, settling snugly.

"Okay, good." Hayden, distinctly relieved, reaches up and pops the cloak's collar. "Then what's wrong? Are you alright?" She runs her hands across his shoulders, smoothing any wrinkles from the fabric.

"Yes, I've just-," A soft note enters his voice and his eyes, slightly red and watery from tears, drift over her face, before meeting hers. "-realized something."

The cloak then decides this is exactly the right moment to wipe gingerly at the tears on Stephen's face with the edges of the newly popped collar.

"Stop." Stephen looks sternly at the cloak and the collar settles back down.

Hayden finds herself laughing, probably a lot harder than she should be, at the cloak's behavior. Soon, Stephen begins to chuckle as well.

And in that small ridiculous moment, everything was alright.