III.

Odile embraced the plain uniform and the strictness of Master Wong. Having started out in classical ballet before her switch to modern dance, Odile was no stranger to harsh, painful drills and stern teachers. Within a week, she became one of the best Kamar-Taj newcomers, despite having to juggle her training with show rehearsals and performances.

Within a month, however, the constant teleporting between time zones took its toll. She had just opened a gateway from her dressing room into the New York Sanctum and collapsed through it at Stephen's feet. She was breathing heavily, struggling with an irregular heartbeat.

He knelt to take her pulse. It was the most erratic pulse he'd ever taken, and he couldn't make much of it, except that both of Odile's hearts had gone haywire.

"Shit." He quickly created a portal to the Metro General and scooped up the barely conscious Odile. He put her down in the janitor closet, checking her pulse before he went to fetch Christine.

She wasn't very happy to see him. "What now, Stephen?"

"I need a cardioversion machine, stat. And an ultrasound."

"What for?"

"Atrial fibrillation. I think."

"You think? Stephen—"

"I don't have time to argue, Christine! Please, just do this. Discreetly. Where do I find you?"

She gave him the number of a room on the second floor and he rushed back to Odile. Her breathing was downright ragged now.

Christine was just bringing the cardioversion machine into the room when Stephen teleported in there with Odile and hooked her up to an IV.

"Salomé?"

"Yes."

"What happened to her?" Christine helped him bare Odile's chest and was surprised to see the scar—which Odile was now too weak to conceal. "Is that…"

"Yes." Dr. Strange was focused on getting a clear echo, eyes glued to the screen of the ultrasound machine.

Dr. Palmer blinked at the ultrasound image, to make sure she wasn't seeing double. "Is that…a second heart?"

"Yes." Stephen had Christine clean up the patient's chest and administer a sedative while he prepared the cardioversion machine. Once ready, he placed each pad just above each heart and waited, monitoring the ECG display. If he didn't get the timing right, he could send her into cardiac arrest.

"Okay." The machine beeped, all charged up. "Clear." He pushed the button and the electric shock hitting her body made Odile jolt up and cry out in pain.

"It's all right," Christine hurried to comfort her. "You're all right, it's all done." She smiled at the blank-faced Odile and gently lowered her on the bed.

Still tense, but stabilized, Odile surveyed her surroundings, wide-eyed in her sedative-induced trance. Dr. Strange breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the…fuck was that?" Odile asked, staring at the ceiling.

"Relax," Dr. Palmer urged her.

Dr. Strange, on the other hand, was chuckling. "That was me, shocking your hearts into shape."

"Hmm…" Odile ceased to fight it and went to sleep. Lack thereof due to teleportation jetlag was what had caused the whole thing in the first place.

"Could you look after her for a while?" Stephen asked Christine. "I have to go."

"Of course you do." Dr. Palmer crossed her arms. "But yes, I'll keep an eye on her and make sure nobody finds out."

"Thank you, Christine. And I'm sorry. I mean that."

She didn't reply. He went over and put a hand on her shoulder. She also didn't move, so he leaned in to plant a kiss on her forehead.

Master Wong was sorry to hear that Odile couldn't continue her training at the Kamar-Taj—even though he didn't show it. Dr. Strange decided to oversee Odile's training himself, at the Sanctum.

"That way, it'll be easier for her to balance her schedule, without exerting herself to the point of…heart failure."

"Or," Master Wong said, "you could just pull her from the show."

"No, not an option." He knew very well what it was like to have the hardest thing you worked for in your life snatched away from you. And he wasn't about to do it to somebody else. "Unfortunately."

"Then why did you send her to Kamar-Taj?"

Stephen avoided Wong's gaze.

"Given her…unique condition, surely you knew something like this could happen?"

Dr. Strange maintained his silence. He found it difficult to admit it to himself that rage may have blinded him. Besides, he'd intended for her to experience the Kamar-Taj that had made him a believer.

He'd been mistaken.

Christine brought Odile to the Sanctum the next morning. She was still dead asleep, Stephen had to come and get her from Christine's car.

"She should be fine," Dr. Palmer said. "I think she just needs to rest up. There was nothing else wrong with her, except…you know, she has two hearts."

Stephen gave a small smile. "We live in a world where a WWII veteran was thawed out of the Arctic and can still kick ass, a billionaire flies around in a metal suit, a radiation-exposed scientist turns into a green giant…and you can't get over a woman with two hearts?"

"Yeah, well, I never had to correct atrial fibrillation in any of the other three."

They laughed together and for a moment, that was everything. Nothing else in the world, no aliens, no mythological deities, no alternate dimensions, just two people in love sharing a laugh.

"Stephen." Christine broke the spell, because she felt it was the right moment for her to ask her questions.

"Yes?"

"Why did Salomé move in with you here?"

The subtle implications of her tone panicked him. "Christine, you've seen the house—it's huge. And I mean, huge. We have separate bedrooms, we don't see much of each other. In fact, I've barely seen her this past month."

Dr. Palmer frowned. "How come?"

"Well, she's…" Stephen didn't know how to explain it. "She's a sorceress."

Christine quirked an eyebrow. "Right. You mean she's weird, like you've become since your trip to Kathmandu?"

"Exactly. She's been training in Kathmandu, but living and working in New York, and that messed up her circadian rhythm."

"Okay. So…what, are you having Weirdos Anonymous meetings in there?" She nodded to the house.

He grinned. "Pretty much, yeah. Me and Salomé and all the other weirdos."

"Glad we sorted that out." Christine took a step back to open her car. "You should probably take her up now."

"Thanks for driving her over." Stephen tilted his head and his cloak detached from his shoulders, floating into the car and enveloping Odile like a cocoon.

Dr. Palmer watched it float into the house and shook her head. "I really wish a two-hearted woman was the biggest weirdo in my life."

Stephen chuckled and pulled her in a hug. "Not a chance."