Edward here.

We spent most of our time in the hospital with Ivy for the next day or two.

I filled Ivy in on a few things. Like the incident she'd run into the middle of on Coney Island. She was not happy about the whole thing, but there wasn't exactly a lot she could do about it. If you want more details, go check out our last story.

Another detail about Ariel was that, because she didn't have Ivy's power to travel on anymore, she'd ended up in the Marvel universe. She kept saying something about "belonging there", which made no sense to me but seemed to make some to Ivy.

Ivy played with the watch in her lap. Nearby, Phillip was sleeping.

"What will you do now?" I asked.

"Aside from combing time and space for Natalia? I'll be coming back to Earth, actually. Living in London. As you may have noticed if you watch enough science fiction, Earth is apparently an important, central planet in pretty much every universe. Good for basing an investigation off of."

At least we'd be on the same planet again. We might run into each other... or not. "And what about HYDRA?"

"I don't intend on spending too much time living there. I'll be all over time and space. The Doctor already set me up with an apartment in London."

"Why London? Why not in America? Or at least Canada? Somewhere on the same continent?"

"I like England. And it's a good distance from where the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D are. I have to avoid them for a while. It's... complicated."

"Do you watch their show still?"

"Shocking as it may seem, yes. I can get movies from Earth, and I do travel a bit with the watch and all. I marathoned Call the Midwife a week after I got here – which, in retrospect, was a bad idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Call the Midwife is this show about midwives in London during the 50s. It has very... realistic birthing scenes." She shuddered. "But I like to know how everyone's doing and if there's any emergencies, I can show up lend a hand. By now, I could probably spend a few days with them and then leave without causing any trouble, but... explaining everything would probably take a while. So I'm waiting for an emergency. And besides, it isn't safe. I don't want to put them or anyone in danger."

"How are you going to afford to live in London? I mean, an apartment there probably isn't cheap."

"I know. The Doctor offered to pay, but I've decided to go into business and pay for myself."

"Business?"

"Yeah. See, I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books when I'm relaxing. That means more universes to travel to, with more information. Information that I could sell and make money off of, theoretically. Information about the future. Who wouldn't want that?"

"People who won't believe you."

She shrugged. "Eventually they will. After I've proven myself. I've decided to call myself the Fortune Seller. A bit lame, but it gets the point across."

"That's a horribly risky plan with which almost anything could go wrong. You could get killed."

"Yeah."

Her whole plan actually sounded crazy enough to work.

She stood up and walked to the cradle, putting Phillip down.

Carmen appeared. "Hi. Why don't you go on a walk outside, Ivy? You and Edward. I'll take care of Phillip."

Ivy shook her head and picked him up again.

"Fine. I'll come with you and take care of him and stay within sight. But you're going to get some fresh air and sunlight, and I don't care if you don't want to leave. You've been inside for much too long."

Ivy stared at her for a moment, then silently handed Phillip over.

We walked outside on the hospital grounds. They were full of trees and shrubbery and grass. The air smelled like flowers – some kind of flower they don't have on Earth. The paths were lined with them – bell like, bright red and tall.

"How about Miranda and Jack? Carmen said they were dating?"

"Yeah. I don't know if they've run out of energy to travel on yet. We don't talk anymore because you're not there. It's probably all come off by now"

"Speaking of dating... I have something I need to tell you."

Oh, boy.

"I just wanted to say that... if circumstances ever change... if I ever lose my power... I wouldn't be against having another talk about our feelings. I can't think about it right now. I don't know how I feel. It's too dangerous, circumstances being what they are. I have to find Natalia, there's so much I have to do. I'm not planning on involving myself with anyone until I'm ready to get married, and with the way things are, that's probably never, but..." she trailed off. "I respect you – I have for a while, ever since I heard about the secrets you kept when HYDRA had you. And... I like you, Edward."

From what I'd heard about Ivy before, that was probably the first time she'd ever said anything like that to anybody before. "Thanks." I reached across, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

She smiled, then turned back to look at Carmen.

We sat down on a bench a few yards away.

"I'll miss you," I said.

"And I'll miss you."

Ivy seemed to be thinking for a moment. "Do you remember the musical? I think that was the first time I properly met you."

"Yes. I just remember watching you dance around the stage all the time."

She smiled. "I actually don't even like ballet that much. I only took it because my parents made me and because it helped me with my footwork in martial arts. The incident I can't get out of my head is the Raoul and Christine blundering into me during the masquerade scene on the third night."

He laughed. "Oh, right. Ariel didn't even notice that she'd knocked you onto the floor until I told her two days later."

She smiled. "You know, I've never danced with a guy before. Not outside of doing ballet stuff, and I didn't do much of that sort of stuff."

"Let me teach you." I jumped up off the bench. "There's room here. Just once. Something for us to remember."

Before she could protest, I grabbed her hand. I pulled my ipod out of my pocket and put on "Coney Island Waltz". I took her hands. "It's easy once you get the hang of it. See? One two three, one two three." I demonstrated, moving back and forth, pulling her after me.

Ivy stumbled slightly after me, but soon fell into the rhythm.

"See? It's easy once you get the hang of it," I said.

The song changed to another waltz – Strauss's"Tales from Vienna Woods".

"Do you have a waltz music playlist or something?" she asked.

My face burned slightly. "I taught myself to waltz alone in the basement," I admitted. "I had to learn for a play I was in."

We danced for a few more minutes then sat down on the bench again.

"You know..." said Ivy for a minute. "You know what I said about never being with anyone? No romantic relationships?"

"Yeah?"

"If that's the only even remotely romantic moment I get for the rest of my life, that would be okay. Because I don't think there's anything that could top that."

Ivy here.

Several days later, I had gathered some information and was ready to leave.

"You're sure you're not staying on Xandar?" said Peter Quill. We stood out in the hospital grounds. It was a lovely day, but no one was around.

I shook my head. "With the way things are, I can't. I have a little boy to look after, and I have to find his sister. Besides, I miss Earth. I've had enough of aliens for a little while. I owe you one, by the way, for getting me out of trouble with the government here." I gathered up Phillip from his crib.

"They were willing to agree to a lot of things. Keeping you and your friends out of trouble is the least of the things we asked for."

There was a brief pause.

"If there's anything we can do to help you find your daughter, don't hesitate to tell us."

"I don't think I'll need your help, but thanks. I got a message from a friend this morning. He had some information for me. When I touch things with my bare skin, I get an energy on it that can transport people to alternate dimensions. Hence, why I wear gloves all the time. I was... held as a prisoner for several months by a Terran group called HYDRA. Turns out, someone got that energy on them, came here, and decided to take revenge on me. They're back on Earth now." I bit down on my lip. "But I'll find them."

"I don't doubt it. Maybe we'll meet again one day."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm almost certainly we will." I adjusted the blanket and turned to Edward and Carmen. "It's time to go."

We said our goodbyes and walked out into the halls of the hospital. Edward and Carmen both put hands on my shoulders. I adjusted the watch dials.

A moment later, we were standing inside my London apartment. Small. A main room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. My new home.

The bedroom had a bed, and there was a kitchen table with chairs. In the cupboards were some food and dishes. All I had to my name.

It definitely could have been worse.

"I suppose we have to go now," said Edward.

"Not quite yet. There's a voice recorder in this teleporter thing. You know what that means."

And so that's what we've been doing for the last few hours. Retelling this story. It's great therapy.

I guess that's all for now. I'll be sending this off so it can be read by our lovely readers. Hopefully, I'll be sending in some updates about Natalia soon. I'm going to find her. And then I'm going to get rid of these powers so I can give them a safe, proper childhood. Ivy and friends out.