Arriving back at the embassy, I allowed the driver to open the car door for me, and went in, leaving most of my bags in the car for someone else to deal with. The driver himself had tactfully suggested it. I still had a lot to learn about having servants.

I asked at the desk as to where Victor was. The receptionist told me he was in his office—the same office where we had first met, three years before. I thanked him and went down the now-familiar hallways, with a great deal more confidence than I had the very first time I walked those halls.

I had a head full of thoughts. I had drunk a lot of tea with lunch, and by the time we reached the Baxter once more, I was…quite uncomfortable already, and if I waited until I got back to the embassy, I would be in distress. So I asked Sue if I could come upstairs and use her bathroom. Kind soul that she is, she said yes, and I rode up to the Fantastic Four's living quarters for the second time that day.

When we got off the elevator, we heard Reed and Ben debating over the safety, or lack thereof, of the fruit basket. Reed was still testing the fruit—evidently Victor had sent the largest basket possible—and the resulting conversation was something I had to share with him as soon as I could. He would appreciate it.

Reed had cried out, frantically, "No—don't touch that! I haven't tested it yet!"

"Reed, I know they may call a grenade a pineapple, but I got a hunch this pineapple is just a pineapple." Ben's voice rumbled. I heard a loud chomp, and the sound of chewing.

"Is he going to turn into a big pile of gravel if he explodes?" wondered Johnny.

A loud swallowing noise followed. "See, there wasn't nothing wrong with that! It was perfect. Sweet and juicy. You really think Victor's gonna put his card on a bomb and send it up here?"

"Down the hall, second door on the right," said Sue, apologetically, pointing to the bathroom.

I used the lavatory, and, not wanting to sneak out without saying goodbye, which would have been very rude of me, I went in search of Sue. Hearing her voice coming from a room down the hall, I walked toward it—only to hear, or rather, to overhear her say, "I wish you'd just tell me why you're still saying she shouldn't marry him."

I stopped dead in my tracks. I had to hear this.

"I can't tell you that." said Reed, stuffily. "Why are you so insistent that she should marry him, anyway? Is this some sort of female wedding-obsession thing?"

"Oh, Reed, if you could only hear yourself." his wife groaned. "If you had any clue at all about how people think and feel, you'd see this was the best thing to happen in years."

"I'm afraid I don't follow you."

"You never do. She adores him. She loves him as he is, megalomania, armor, mask, massive ego and all—but not blindly. She has a sense of perspective about him. She even made a joke about his armor! She's smart and funny and nice and she wants to marry him anyway."

"I still don't—." Reed started.

"If they get married and maybe even have a family, and he's happy, then you won't have ruined his life, don't you see? That's what he blames you for…He has more power than he did before, the money's coming in hand over fist for him, so all that's left is his personal life—and now there's Joviana. How can such an intelligent man be so dumb? You should be trying to encourage this match, not get her to break up with him. Or else he'll start thinking you're trying to ruin his life again, by driving off the one woman who loves him for himself!"

This was not a good moment to intrude. I silently tip-toed back down the hall, noisily opened and closed the bathroom door, and called out, "Sue? I don't want to leave without saying goodbye!"

She came from the room where they had been arguing. Johnny popped out of a room in the opposite direction. "Hi." he said, and gave me the look, his eyes half-closed, of a very young man who imagines he is irresistibly attractive, and brilliant in bed to boot. Never mind that I wasn't that experienced—I knew what that look meant.

"I had a very good time," I said to Sue. "Thank you for introducing me to your friends. I'd love to do this again some time."

"Give me a call any time you're in New York." she promised. "You have that spa certificate from Janet. Next time, perhaps we should go there and make a day of it."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." I agreed. "Bye."

"Bye." She surprised me by stepping forward and giving me a brief hug, which I returned.

"I'll ride down with you." offered Johnny. "I was just going out."

When the doors were closed, he scratched his chin and asked me, "So, is this going to be one of those marriages in name only, or what?"

I laughed. Was my ass that nice? "Why? Are you offering to be my 'backdoor' man?"

"Your—? Oh! No, I was just curious, with the armor and all—Does he ever, uh, take it off?"

"Yes."

"Good—that's very good. From a personal hygiene standpoint."

Now I remembered why I didn't like most men my age. They were sadly lacking in intelligent conversation.

"I have to agree with you." I said.

"See, I think what you're doing is almost like doing public service. That is, in getting him laid. I figure that's why he's been in such a bad mood. I know if I couldn't get any for several years, I'd want to kill people too—."

"Mr. Storm, I don't know whether I want to laugh at you or hit you. Drop this now, or I'll tell Victor and your sister on you."

"Okay! Okay, no offense meant, no harm done. I think it's great, and I'm really happy for you both."

"Thank you."

The doors opened, and I made my escape. "Good bye."

"See you at the wedding!" he said, cheerfully.

Once I was in the car, I had laughed. Then I considered the interchange between Reed and Sue. Victor underestimated Sue. Shallow she was not. I admired her all the more for the depth of her understanding. Reed, on the other hand, was acting—as if he were somehow implicated in whatever Victor had done that made him unfit to marry, and he didn't want anyone to find out…

Now I was really intrigued.

I pushed those thoughts aside and knocked on the office door.

"You may enter." came Victor's voice from within. I opened it, and went in.

The very sight of him made me ridiculously happy—. Which, considering the sheer absurdity of the mask, the armor and the cloak, was asking a lot of my heart. He was leaning over the polished burl wood table, perusing documents, the massive office globe at his elbow. He turned his head when I closed the door.

"Ah. Joviana." There was a distinct note of pleasure in his tone when he said my name. "How was your outing?"

"Great fun. The fruit basket was an outstanding success…" I told him how Reed had reacted. I was correct. Victor appreciated the joke thoroughly. I continued once he stopped chuckling.

"It wasn't just Sue and me—she invited the She-Hulk and the Wasp along as well. I wasn't sure if I would like them, but it turned out to be all right. Let's see, I got felt up by two older women, bought a lot of naughties and nighties—including something specifically for you, and several surprises—went to lunch, which turned into an impromptu bridal shower…Let me show you what they gave me." I had brought their gifts with me. I first showed him Jen's gift of the sleep set, and Janet's spa certificate.

"Very thoughtful of them. However, I should like to return to a statement you made previously."

"Oh?" I could guess which one he meant. I put on my best innocent expression, and blinked at him ingenuously.

"I believe I would appreciate further elaboration upon, 'I got felt up by two older women'. I think that in this case, context is all."

"They were professional bra fitters. That seems to be their way of ascertaining cup size. Disappointed?"

"I shall not comment. You may proceed."

"All right—This was from Sue." I put the bikini in front of him, and flipped over the bottoms. He looked at them. Then he looked at me, my lips twisted and we both started laughing. "She says, and I quote, 'In a weird way, Victor's like one of the family.'"

Which was entirely true. If Victor needed Reed Richards, as an opponent and a challenge, the Fantastic Four needed Doctor Doom for the same reason. Superheroes need supervillains to fight, and the greater the hero, the greater the villain. The one defined the other.

What would happen if the villain changed? Would the hero inexorably change as well?

"That's not all. There's this, my favorite of all their gifts." I passed him the magnet. "I told them I'd use it to stick notes on you of things I want you to remember."

"I require no such…" he began, and then the joke caught up with him. "More of your shrewish behavior. I have heard a woman never shows that aspect of herself until after she is safely married, and now I see that it is all true."

When we stopped laughing, I took one of the sleep masks from my purse and showed him. "I also got what seems like several dozen of these." I said significantly. "For all occasions."

"Very good." he commented. "I take it I will get to see the rest of your purchases later?"

"Some of them, yes. Are the arrangements made for the television interview?" I asked.

"Yes. It will be Sixty Minutes again—they were very pleased to be chosen. They will be setting up in the morning room even as we speak."

"That's good. They gave us such good coverage last time, and they can use file footage. Oh, and I just remembered something—two things—important."

I told him the story I had invented, of how the eleven-year-old leukemia patient met the twenty-something Victor.

"Affectingly poignant, without toppling over into sticky sentimentality. Very good. They found it moving?"

"Yes. I will tell the story to Sixty Minutes. You can 'remember', or not, as you choose."

"And tell the world the reason I waited until now to marry is that I was waiting for my bride to grow up, like Grover Cleveland did of his Frances? Tempting, but no. I will say I do not recall meeting you, for there were so many sick children. And the other important thing you remembered?"

I was going to be very selective in what I was about to say. "Janet Van Dyne and I knew each other as children. I recognized her, but she did not recognize me."

"Ah. It would have been better if I had known of this before."

"I'm sorry. She was just a girl I spent a few summers with, over ten years ago. I'm sure I was no more than that to her."

"We shall see what may come of this," he said. "I have something important of my own to tell you. I have invited a guest to join us for dinner tonight. Doctor Stephen Strange."

Stephen Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme of our world, the most skilled, adept and powerful magic-user.

"It should turn out to be an interesting evening to say the least." I observed. I looked around the room. "This is where we met. You were standing over there—by that window. You didn't even look at me at first."

"I could see your reflection in the glass."

"I didn't know that. I was actually glad you weren't looking at me because I was frightened enough already. I could hardly speak as it was."

"Yet you did not let your fear stop you from delivering to me the most valuable and astonishing facts I had learned in years, and in return, all you asked—was to come home. I have often thought of that hour, of late. Given the early deaths of my parents, the stories they might have shared of their lives are lost—written on water, recorded on the wind—there is a pleasing sense of continuity in the hope of one day perhaps being able to say to our child, or one day, perhaps even grandchildren, 'This is where I met your mother. This is where our family began.'"

"I'm sorely tempted to say something flippant and risqué," I said, "but this cuts too near to the bone. I have been wondering if you wanted children or not—afraid of the answer, whether it would be yes—or no." Saying that released a great knot of tension in my chest that I had not been fully aware of. My breath hitched—and I surprised myself with a sob.

"Joviana—."

"No!" I sprang up from my seat and raged through gritted teeth. "I will not cry! Not now, not when I'm going on Sixty Minutes within an hour. I will not go in front of the cameras with swollen red eyes. I know this is something we have to talk about. I know you don't understand right now—but please be patient." I wrenched the office door opened, and fled up to my rooms.

A/N: Shout-Outs! Thanks, Madripoor Rose! I admit that I am inspired by a list you will find over on sff dot net, 'The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot' Read all the lists, for both good and bad characters. It's hilarious.

Hello, Chantrea! By this time, you should have a second email waiting for you from me.

Hi, GothikStrawberry! Well, Joviana has observed that the hero always comes first--and then the villains rise up to oppose him/her. If there were no hero, there would be no villain. Seen the Incredibles? In the beginning, Mr. Incredible talks about saving the world, and how he wishes it would stay saved for a while? Well, there were fifteen years there when there were no active heroes,so apparantly the world didn't need saving in all that time...For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.