Arianna had remained a bit pensive, but more hopeful and cheerful over the next day and a half. But as the work winded down and they began packing and cleaning up, she grew distant again.
Her time at Kamar-Taj was coming to an end. She'd be going back to New York, and eventually back to her corner office at Stark Industries. Inevitably, she feared, no matter what he'd promised her, the word would be done and she would become a distant memory in Stephen Strange's mind.
That afternoon, she found herself stepping through a portal back to the New York Sanctum. A portal that Wong had created. Apparently Stephen had to stay back for a meeting with some of the other Masters and Wong was to see to both her return, and the return of any remaining supplies, back to the Sanctum.
Arianna feared he was already distancing himself. She was quiet as she helped Wong guide the pile of remaining items back through the portal, him using a magical spell to levitate and move them easily.
Once through the portal himself, Wong gave Arianna a concerned look. "You should try to get some rest. Stephen will be back within the hour and we could have take-out delivered."
Tears stung at the edge of Arianna's eyes. "I should—I should get back to my apartment, do laundry, that sort of thing. I'll put in an order to have the supplies picked up by a Stark Industries employee tomorrow."
Wong frowned. "Won't you be able to use some of these supplies for the upgrades here at the New York Sanctum?"
"Oh—um—yeah, I guess—that hasn't really been made official yet, though. Stephen—I mean, the Doctor—he hasn't really confirmed if he wants to move forward with that." Wong silently observed her a moment, till she grew nervous under his gaze and turned, picking up her bags. "I'll—I'll, um—I'll see you later, Wong."
She was out the door before the man could figure out how to respond to the woman who seemed to have had such a mood shift in the past forty-eight hours. Now, he had to figure out how he was going to break it to Stephen that she'd left.
Two hours later, Arianna's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and hesitated. She didn't answer. Eventually it stopped ringing and she buried her head in her hands. Why was she being like this? He was reaching out to her. He'd done nothing wrong. He'd continued to be as attentive and sweet to her as he could be in public, after their conversation in the bell tower.
The phone rang through one more time, and once more she ignored it. The third time it began ringing, she just about threw the phone across the room, but instead of Stephen—it was Tony.
"He-hello? Tony?"
"IT minion, why are you ignoring the phone calls of your current contracted employer?"
"I'm—I'm sorry? Excuse me?"
"Mr. Wizard says you're ignoring his phone calls."
"Stephen—I mean, Doctor Strange—He called you?"
"We were on the phone earlier this afternoon. This, however, was a text that just came through." Tony sighed. "Princess—you can't ignore him."
"I'm sorry, sir. I'll call him back."
"No, no—this isn't a 'sir' situation. This isn't Tony Stark the boss—this is Tony Stark the brother. Princess Plum, you can't ignore him. I'd take you off this job in a heartbeat if you asked me to. But I really don't think you want that."
"I'm done with the job, Tony."
"No, you're not."
"I'm not?"
"No. You need to call him."
"Tony—"
"I know you're scared, Princess." Tony paused a moment. "Do you know what courage is, Arianna?"
She gulped. Tony rarely ever used her real name anymore. Her voice came out a whisper. "What?"
"It means being scared, but doing it anyway. You're the most courageous person I know, because with everything that's happened to you, you have every reason to be scared. But you go out and you live every day to it's fullest. Don't stop being courageous now, sweetie. You can be scared. But do it anyway. You'll never forgive yourself if you walk away now."
"Arianna?" Stephen answered the phone without a hello.
He heard her clear her throat on the other end of the line. "Doctor. I understand you needed to speak with me?"
"Arianna, are you okay?"
She swallowed slowly and took a deep breath. "I'm fine."
"You don't sound fine."
"I just—what did you need to talk to me about, Stephen?"
There was a long pause as he considered how to proceed. "I need to speak to you about your work for the Masters of Mystic Arts. I've already spoken to Mr. Stark and I have a proposal for you—a business proposal. Could you come by the Sanctum?"
"Now?"
"As soon as possible is preferred."
She could tell he was trying to make this about business. And perhaps it was about business—but she could hear his underlying concern. "I'm—I'm exhausted. Could I come by in the morning?"
Another long pause. "Yes—yes, that's fine. 10am?"
"10am."
"Arianna, I—"
"Good night, Stephen."
She heard his sigh through the phone. "Good night, Arianna."
"Good morning, Arianna," Wong said as he opened the door for her to enter the Sanctum.
"Good morning, Wong." Rest had helped Arianna feel a little less weary, but she was still nervous.
"You can head on into the library. Stephen's waiting there, and there's a pot of freshly brewed tea waiting.
"Thanks, Wong. You're a life saver," she said, leaning in and giving him a quick hug. No matter what, she'd gained friends in this endeavor.
She swallowed nervously as she stood at the door to the library, then knocked gently and opened the door.
Stephen had been staring down at a stack of papers on his desk and looked up upon her entry, smiling at her sweetly. "Good morning, Arianna. Did you get some rest?"
"I did, thank you."
He stood and motioned towards the chair opposite him at the desk. "Please, have a seat. I'll pour you some tea." He then made himself busy with pouring a cup of black tea and setting it in front of her. She took a sip and he noted that she always closed her eyes when she sipped her tea, especially the first sip, which she seemed to relish. When she looked back to him, he was waiting patiently. She remained quiet, so he decided to proceed.
"Arianna, I believe I know why you're so…concerned. But I made a promise to you, and I don't take my promises lightly, and I still mean every word I spoke to you."
Her eyes pleaded with him, though her face remained stoic. "And why…why do you think I'm so concerned?"
He ran his hands along the stack of papers he'd been reviewing moments before. "Arianna, I believe it's time we move on…"
Her eyes grew wide, darting back and forth, unsure what to make of this.
"Arianna," he called out softly, interrupting the panic that was settling into her chest. "Arianna—let me finish. I think it's time we move on—to your next project."
She took a breath and he could see her relax slightly, though still nervous. "I'm listening…"
Stephen smiled and picked up the stack of papers. "The Masters at Kamar Taj were very impressed by your work, Arianna. So much so, in fact, that they asked me to speak with your employer about a more extensive plan of work. I spoke with Mr. Stark last night and we came to an agreement." He looked at her hopefully. "The Masters were very specific that this partnership would only be valid if it was you doing the work. Therefore, it is based on your acceptance of the following proposal."
"And that is?"
Stephan laid the papers down in front of her. "We'd like you to perform a similar task for the New York Sanctum." He glanced from the paper to her before sliding the top paper over revealing the next. "And the London Sanctum." Then again, revealing the next page. "And the Hong Kong Sanctum."
Her eyes grew wide as she stared down at the papers, then back up to him. He hoped what he saw there was a spark of hope. "You want me to upgrade the wi-fi in all three Sanctums?"
"Yes, ma'am." He flipped to the next page. "At which point, we'd like to discuss also adding and upgrading the technology available to the Masters at each location, including Kamar Taj. Computers, tablets, whatever you feel would be valuable for our research purposes."
"Computers…tablets…" She whispered as she looked at the papers. She looked back up at him. "That's a lot of tech for a group of people that've tried their hardest to stick to ancient books and scrolls."
A smirk played at the corner of Stephen's mouth as he rested his fingertips on the desk and leaned forward a bit. "Which is precisely why we'll need ongoing technical support for the foreseeable future."
"What are you saying, Stephen?"
He moved one more page, revealing a final page with two signature lines. "I'm saying that, if you accept this proposal, you'll be working on projects with the Masters of Mystic Arts…with me…for quite some time."
"Tony—Mr. Stark—he approved this?"
"As I said—it's a partnership of sorts between the Masters of Mystics Arts and Stark Industries. I made it worth his while."
"You keep saying that. What kind of agreement did you two come to? Why do I feel like I'm being bargained for?"
"It's nothing like that, Arianna. I simply agreed to provide assistance to the Avengers if the need arose." He stepped around to her side and leaned against the desk in front of her. "What's important is—you are good at what you do, and you are highly qualified to do this work. We are desperately in need of this work. It's good for your career. It's good for the Masters. And on a very personal level—" He reached down and took her hand, pulling her up to stand in front of him and looking her in the eye. "It's good for us. This is our chance to spend more time together. Please—Arianna—I just—"
She stopped him, in a way that he wasn't at all expecting. She was up on her tip toes and kissing him before he could say another word. When she finally pulled back, she started to step away, but he kept her close, his hands gently holding onto her forearms.
"Does this mean you'll sign the papers?"
"You sure you want to be stuck with me for as long as it takes to complete these projects?"
"Don't forget—tech support."
She smirked. "And tech support."
"Oh yes, I'm absolutely certain. More certain than I've been of anything in my life—and that's saying something, Arianna. I spent my former career only doing things I was very certain of."
Her eyebrow raised. "So, what you're saying is—you're not used to losing, not getting your way—not getting what you want."
She started to pull away, and Stephen held her in place. Not tight enough to hurt, not so tight that she couldn't have gotten out of his grasp if she had really wanted to. But tight enough to let her know he wasn't giving up that easily. For several moments, he said nothing—only trying to convey his message with his eyes as he searched hers. "You know that's not what this is about—right?"
She took a deep breath and finally gave him a small smile. "Yeah, yeah I do. I'm sorry, Stephen. Everything's just gotten all mixed up—in my head, in my heart.