-Unbetaed, non native speaker so please kindly point out any mistakes
-Warning: language, incorrect psychology, angst, & math.

Lunch in the Avengers Compound was interesting because apparently Tony had two personal chefs on call in case he needed anything. Most of the time the Avengers ordered some take-outs because the poor chefs couldn't handle so many hungry superheroes with a large range of food preferences.

She ordered some salads and soups for her and Stephen via Stark's AI called Friday. At first she was wondering whether Stephen had gone mad speaking to the wall. Then she jumped a few feet in the air when the wall replied. That earned a chuckle from Stephen. At least it entertained him. It was rare to see him smile even after he joined the cult. Smiling seemed to be easier for him in his current state. Stephen then explained about Stark's AI.

She was proud that even the current Stephen still liked to eat healthily, except for the ice cream. Back in the his surgeon days, she knew ice cream was his guilty pleasure. When he became the Master of the New York Sanctum, tasting different ice cream had become Stephen and Wong's hobby and a way for them to bond. Now, Stephen seemed to like ice cream after every meal. He told her himself about that. She needed to tell Tony to give Stephen healthier options. At least he was underweight so he could afford to eat more dairy products but less sugar wouldn't harm anyone.

After lunch, Stephen proudly showed her more origami. She was a bit jealous that Stephen seemed to be good in nearly everything he put his mind into, except for driving.

When he yawned, she asked him to take a nap. He insisted that he was not tired . He openly admitted that he liked her company. Even the cult-leader-Stephen would never admit that he liked her company so this was a big clue there was something really wrong with him.

He yawned again. This time it was hard for him to keep his eyes open.

She knew that he had a lot of sleep debts thanks to Mordo so he needed to sleep as much as possible.

She said she would accompany him until he fell asleep and she promised she would return here as soon as her schedule permitted. As he lied down, she combed through his hair using her finger. She knew it always relaxed him and within five minutes she could hear his soft snore.

She kissed his forehead.

"Get well soon, Stephen. We all miss you, yes, I do mean the sarcastic, suffering no-fool, cult-leader Stephen."

She shook her head. She could only speak her mind when he was asleep and Stephen also only spoke his mind in this condition. What was wrong with human relationship nowadays? No wonder there was so much misunderstanding and resentment in the world. If only people communicated more.

Speaking of communication, she remembered she needed to talk to Stark.

"Friday, do you happen to know where Mr Stark is? I need to talk to him briefly."

"Mr Stark also said he wanted to talk to you, after lunch is fine for him. He's in his workshop two floors down. I could guide you there."

"Thank you, Friday."

"No worries, Doctor Palmer."

She bit her lip and wondered why Stark wanted to talk to her.

A few minutes later, she arrived in front of Stark's workshop. She knocked.

"Come in." Upon hearing Stark's voice, the door opened automatically revealing Stark tinkering with some holograms.

Stark looked at her and whistled. "I didn't know that the wizard has such a hot girlfriend."

She rolled her eyes. "This hot girlfriend has a name. I'm Doctor Christine Palmer. Stephen and I are only friends, nothing more, well not anymore."

Stark raised both palms in placating manner. "What's with doctors and their obsession with titles? I was just joking. I just thought Strange used to have a stick up his ass so I didn't expect him to have a friend like you. I think I just dig a deeper hole for myself."

"That's correct, Sir." Friday chimed in.

"Shut up." He then pointed at the wall. "Not you, Doctor Palmer. I was talking to Friday. I think we started off on the wrong foot." He extended his right hand. "I'm Tony Stark but please call me Tony."

She shook his hand. "It's fine, Mr.. Tony. I'm just a bit edgy because Stephen thinks that you hate him. In that case, you can call me Christine."

Tony took his hand back and started to tinker with the holograms again. She noticed they were 3D designs of gloves. "Please excuse me, I could work and talk at the same time. So by no means I'm ignoring you. Why'd he think I hate him?"

"Well, you could barely stay in the same room with him. He said you left as soon as you dropped some stuff for him. By the way, you need to give him healthier options for ice cream. I can give you a list if you want to."

"You can give it to Friday."

"Doctor Palmer, I'll be happy to assist you. Sir, perhaps you should also follow Doctor Palmer's idea for your diet. That much caffeine and sugar can't be good for you."

"Pssht, Friday, we aren't talking about me here but Doctor Strange. So I'll appreciate if you don't embarrass me in front of the hot doctor."

"I think that ship has sailed the moment she walked in, Sir."

"If it weren't for your sass and my complete dependency on you, I'd have sold you for scrap."

"I know, Sir. If you need anything else, please just let me know."

Tony shook his head. "Kids these days. No respect for the elder. Where were we? Oh yes, I don't hate Strange. In fact, I admire and respect him."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Even him at current state."

Tony finally stopped his tinkering and turned to look at her. "Yes. Even at this state. Initially, he was firm in his principles and his stance against Thanos. He had some strong opinions but he listened to my reasons, weighed the options, and decided to listen to me as he valued logic more than emotion. You'd be surprised that not many people had done that. He had principles but he was not stubborn. He is..was also very skillful and a master at what he did. I still have some questions about his final decision before..before…"

"Before everything went to hell, literally." She helped.

"Yeah, that. But I haven't got the chance to ask him. When half of the universe returned, I wanted to ask him but of course he went to his personal hell. I'm sorry about that. I couldn't stop it from happening. But even in his current state, he is still a kind and loving person. He likes to help and cure people. He doesn't hate and resent people after the treatments he got for months. So yes, I still admire and respect him. I just couldn't.. couldn't stand to be in the same room with him for too long because it's my fault that he ended up like this."

There was a lot to take in. Christine was not new to self-loathing because she knew Stephen often did that. She thought she might understand what Tony meant but she needed to clarify. "Why'd it be your fault? Was it because you couldn't stop him being kidnapped by Mordo?"

"Yes. If we could find him earlier, none of this would happen."

"It's bullshit and you should know that. Even Wong couldn't find and help Stephen and they have been friends for a while and no offence but Wong is better versed in magic than you. If you want someone to blame then blame Mordo. You don't happen to know where he is, do you? I want to kick his ass."

"Join the queue. If I knew where Mordo was, Wong and I plus the rest of Kamar-Taj would have apprehended him. So you don't blame me for Strange's condition."

"Of course not, I must thank you for helping and accommodating him. Why would you feel responsible for him in the first place?"

"I feel responsible for all the lives lost after that purple grape's snap. Stephen put his trust on me to save half of the universe and I failed him. I failed one person who trusted me in the first place."

She sucked a deep breath. She didn't really understand what happened when Tony was with Stephen off planet. But she always cared so much, like Stephen accused her of, so she tried her best to assuage his guilt. "I know you did your best. You and the Avengers did save and return half of the universe. What happened to Stephen was not your responsibility. You managed to reverse the snap and that was all Stephen asked for. That's where Stephen's assigned responsibility for you stopped. I have no idea why Mordo found him first but that certainly was not your fault. It was more of Stephen's bad luck. I don't blame you. Wong doesn't blame you. I'm sure the original Stephen or even the current Stephen don't blame you either. If he blamed you, he wouldn't miss your presence. Once we get Stephen back to normal, you can ask him yourself. If he blamed you, I'd personally kick his ass."

Tony smiled. "Thank you for defending me instead of your boyfriend."

"As I said before, we are only friends. You're welcome. Seriously, why would you blame yourself for that? I'm Stephen's friend and even I don't blame you."

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. I just felt I'm responsible for a lot of things happening. Ultron, Sokovia accords."

"I'm not an expert in any of that. In fact, I have no idea. However, I know that you and the Avengers have saved the world a few times. We should be grateful instead of assigning blames. We should focus on getting Stephen better and apprehending Mordo."

"And stopping the tremors in his hands?"

"Are those holograms about his gloves?"

"Yes."

"You're a good friend."

"Thank you. It's nice of you to think that. Stephen and I are barely friends. We only know each other for a few hours. However, the universe should actually thank him to actually go through 14,000,605 possibilities to find a winning solution. Anyone else would've gone mad to traverse through so many options to see so many people including himself and his loved ones died. If he were to spend only half an hour in each option, he would've spent 420,018,150 minutes which is equal to 291679.27 days or 799.12 years. We could round it up to 800 years. That was if he spent only half an hour in each future, he could spend more time in each. It's hard to tell with time travel."

"He could time travel?!" She knew there was a lot of facts to take in. She barely knew what Stephen could do so she grasped at the simplest question.

"He used to when he had the Time Stone. Not anymore I guess. Your boyfriend, sorry, your friend is one serious badass wizard. Besides my guilt…" He looked at her sour expression. "My misplaced guilt, it hurts me to see that someone so brilliant is reduced to playing second fiddle to a doctor and doing origami. The world doesn't even know his sacrifice because apparently wizards like to work in the shadow. The least I could do to repay him is to make the gloves that help steadying his shaking hands."

Her tears stung her eyes. "Tony, you might not think you're not friends with Stephen but you behave like one. You have a heart of gold. He should be grateful to have a friend like you. I'm not sure whether the old Stephen thought of you as a friend but he believed in you to save the universe even if he himself were to die to do so. That was a big trust and you didn't fail him. The current Stephen certainly thinks of you as a friend. He feels hurt whenever you leave abruptly. Perhaps you could include him in your project, especially this glove project because you certainly needs him to test them. I think you two can help each other out to sort whatever underlying psychological issues you two have." She wiped her tears and smiled.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt if he helped. Besides, he has been reading some engineering books. It's time to test his intellect." He looked at her expression. "Just kidding. I won't pressure him. I've heard about his eidetic memory. Thank you for not blaming me. But doesn't it hurt you to see him in this condition when he could actually do much more?"

"This condition certainly is not ideal. He could barely defend himself and he is way too trusting. However, the Stephen I knew is always a perfectionist and an overachiever. He barely gave himself a break before trying to conquer the next mountain. I just would like to think Stephen is currently taking a break so he can rest and appreciate simpler things in life. I'm sure when he is back to normal, he would be aghast that he had missed out a lot and we, yes, including you, Tony, need to drag him back to rest before he tries to leap two or three mountains in one go."

"It's funny that you think I'd be the one to slow someone down. I guess we 'd cross the bridge or rather climb the mountain when we get there. One thing at a time, huh?"

"Yup, one thing at a time. Just don't ignore him. The normal Stephen usually thrives in sarcasm and banter but currently he is not himself. He takes everything at face value. If you need any help with Stephen, just call me. I'll leave my number with Friday although I'm sure you have it already." Tony's sheepish look was all the confirmation she needed. She rolled her eyes. "If I'm busy, I'll call you back when I can. Deal?"

"Deal."

Notes:

-I wasn't kidding about the math :) I read the 800 years somewhere but I forgot the source. It's easier for me to just do the math myself.
-I summarized what happened during lunch for Christine and Stephen because yeah, too many work in progress for me and this story still has quite a few chapters.
-For those who wonder why Stephen could die so many times in the Dark Dimension and also test so many futures but didn't lose his memory but why it happened with Mordo, it'll be explained later in the story (if I still update it, my mind and muse is fickle).
-Next: Tony and Stephen spends time together.

-I just saw this post about Thanos used all four stones against Stephen so he indeed was the most powerful (well, besides Thor). i-sudoku dot tumblr dot com/post/177410554308/duskybatfishgirl-mcucentral-thanos-uses
-Please tell me what you think as I'm often not sure about this story.