Max took a deep breath as she plopped the large box in her arms down with all of the others. The move was really easy, in concept. When she and Stephen discussed it, Max suggested that they could simply open a gateway to the other house and carry her things through it, moving them immediately from one location to the other. It was a good idea. The only problem with the idea was actually getting all of Max's stuff into some sort of organized method of carrying it all over; in this case, that meant throwing everything into boxes at the last minute. Thankfully, she didn't have to suffer through the process alone. When Wanda heard about the move, she was the first to excitedly offer to help. The two had been friends since Wanda joined the Avengers, but Max didn't mention it as much after the Accords. It was better that she maintain her friendships with the other half of the team without upsetting Tony.

"What about this one?" Wanda asked, referring to the medium sized box in her arms, "It looks like it's just some old files or something."

"Here," Max offered, relieving her friend of the box, "I'll handle that one. Can you double check the kitchen for me?"

"Sure."

As Wanda seamlessly moved on to the next task, Max looked around the apartment almost longingly.

"I gotta say," she admitted when Wanda reentered the room, "I'm gonna miss this view."

"It's better from the Tower," Wanda noted, "You can always see it from there. Besides, I hear your new view is quite something. When do I get to meet him?"

She winked as Max laughed and rolled her eyes.

"He had some important work thing come up. He tried to explain it to me, but, honestly, I got a little lost. Says he'll be by as soon as he can be to help with the move."

"And you're sure about this?" Wanda asked, searching for any signs of doubt or hesitation.

"Oh, not you too!" Max groaned, "Don't try and talk me out of this."

"You know I'm behind you, Max. I just want to make sure. Besides, I know my friends. Since you started all of this, I've never seen you happier."

"I don't know," Max sighed, "I was pretty happy when things were good for all of us."

"Hey, that's not your fault," Wanda reminded her, "We all did what we had to. I know you're happy when we're all together, but you were happy for us and our future as a team. You didn't even think about you. Now, you get to be happy for you and your future."

"Remind me to have you come by and help me more often," Max smiled at her friend.

"I am pretty amazing, aren't I?"

The two broke laughter as Max turned back to her pile of boxes.

"Now to get all of this junk figured out."

Meanwhile, Stephen and Wong had their own mess to sort out. As a surprise to Max, Stephen had intended to clean out a few rooms of the Sanctum to turn into a more livable area, much like what he did with what could loosely be called the living room. However, that was proving much harder than he had anticipated as he and Wong worked to try and force a massive scaly creature back into the deceptively peaceful looking broom closet it had broken out of. Not fitting through the door, the creature had taken out a massive section of the wall when it emerged. It was that jagged hole that they tried to force it back through.

"You're sure you're okay with this?" Stephen gritted out, holding an energy band that was holding the creature to the ground.

"There is nothing okay with this, Strange!" Wong called back from his similar position on the other side of the hulking monster.

"No! Not the-...whatever this is! I mean about Margaret," Stephen corrected, seemingly more concerned about the move than about the massive black claws embedded in the floor in front of where he stood.

"Is now the best time?" Wong protested, gritting his teeth as he gave the band wrapped around the creature's hind legs a sharp tug, keeping it from reaching Stephen when it lunged.

"I just want to make sure you're still okay with this," Stephen persisted, "It's a big step and-"
"It's an extra set of hands to look after the Sanctum and an extra pair of eyes to make sure you're not doing something crazy!" Wong explained, still struggling against the creature's movements as he spoke, "She can't move in fast enough!"

Wong was relieved when the conversation temporarily ended, since that meant that they could really focus on the situation at hand. Looking over to Strange, he saw that is was too much to hope for; Stephen had that thoughtful look that Wong knew all too well. He wasn't done talking about it.

"Stephen, focus!" he shouted.

"I know, I know!" Stephen replied, dodging a blow by what was most accurately described as a tail, "It's just…"

"What? What now?" Wong grumbled, getting frustrated by the situation.

"We've only been dating for a little less than a year," Stephen went on, whipping another band to wrangle the monster's tail, "I want to make sure I'm not pushing this too fast. She seemed happy, right?"

"Strange," Wong gasped out after ducking when the monster's loose claw lashed out toward him, "Can we discuss this later?!"

"This is important to me, Wong!" Stephen protested, clearly not feeling the same urgency, "I'd appreciate some support here."

"Okay, fine!"

Wong was able to get the loose claw under control, leaving the animal tied up thoroughly, yet still wriggling and flopping around to try and gain its freedom.

"Stephen," the unamused and tired man answered, "There was a day when one of the books tried to bite her. She told it to behave itself and it listened. If you can make things work with anyone, it's her! She belongs here. You know that. I know that. Now, can we end this so she can get here soon!"

"You're right," Stephen nodded, worry fading from his face, "This...this is good! It might not be seamless or easy, but it's right and we'll make it work."

"Good! Now get down!"

Stephen ducked backwards to avoid another swing of a claw as the creature snapped its arm free. In moments, they tied it down long enough for Stephen to conjure a field around it and push it toward the crumbling, gaping hole in the wall. As the creature was contained within the room once more, the house began to reform around it, closing the gap in the wall and reforming itself back the exact way it had been before. As the newly reformed door's lock clicked shut, Stephen took a deep breath. Wong waved a hand in front of the door as a number of chains strung themselves up across the doorframe.

"So," Stephen noted casually, "We're not opening that one again."

"Agreed," Wong nodded, leaning back against the wall to catch his breath.

Stephen was about to move on to the next task when he heard a distorted buzzing sound. Looking around, he spotted the source. His phone must have been dropped during the surprise visit from whatever it was they had just locked back away. Now, it looked as though the creature had caught the device under one of its massive clawed feet.

"Oh, great," Stephen huffed, picking up the sad, mangled bit of glass and metal.

With a gesture of his hand, the phone reassembled, sealing the cracks and dents quickly. The call had been from Maggie. He didn't hesitate to call back immediately.

"Hi, Sweetheart," he greeted happily when she answered.

"Hey," Max's voice came through, "I hope I'm not bothering you at work. I know you said you were busy, but-"

"Not at all. Just about finished here," he sighed, looking around at the once again whole walls and floor, "What do you need?"

"Wanda and I got everything ready over here," Max explained excitedly.

"Great. Be right over."

"Stephen?" she wondered, "Are you out of breath?"

"No! Everything's fine here. See you soon. Loveyoubye!"

Wong walked up to Stephen, after inspecting the hall himself.

"So," he sighed, "We're not telling her about this room? Ever?"

"Nope."

As soon as Stephen stepped through the gateway into Max's apartment, Max ran up to meet him. She threw her arms around him and offered a bright, happy smile.

"Hi, Baby," she beamed.

"Well, you are officially today's most welcome sight," Stephen smiled, kissing her forehead, "Now, come on. Let's get this stuff moved over."

"It shouldn't be too bad," Max reassured him, "Stark Industries still owns the building, so all of the furniture stays here for whoever uses the place next. Just me and a ton of boxes."

"Oh, duh!" Max laughed, smacking her forehead, "I almost forgot! Hey, Wanda!"

The other brunette woman came out from down the hall and lit up when she saw Stephen.

"Wanda, this is Stephen," Max introduced, "Stephen, Wanda. Wanda's kind of a fan of yours."

"Oh," Stephen replied, a bit surprised and pleasantly so, "Thank you. There's...there's an Avenger that's a fan of me. That's...alright then."

"Now that we're all friends here," Max smiled, clasping her hands together, "Let's get to work."

Stephen set out toward the pyramid of boxes immediately, missing the silent thumbs up and mouthed "wow" that Wanda shot at Max. Max offered a knowing smile in return.

As soon as the last few boxes were moved over, which was amazingly quickly - thank you, magic - Max let out a happy sigh of relief. Stephen allowed the gate to shut behind them as soon as Max had everything out of the apartment. Wanda wandered a bit up and down the halls of the Sanctum, taking in the sight of the old house.

"This place is amazing," she marvelled, "You live here?"

"Technically, since that was the last box, Maggie and I both live here," Stephen replied contently, "Home sweet...magical, haunted home."

"I told you it was great," Max stated proudly, "Oh! You've gotta see the library! I can give a little tour. Not everywhere, but at least a few places. Stephen?"

"It's alright with me," Stephen accepted, "But don't...open anything. Just in case."

Wanda's smile was a mile wide, but faded slightly when she heard her own phone beeping urgently. She pulled the device out and looked at the screen as her face sank a bit.

"What's wrong?" Max asked, concerned.

"The usual," Wanda answered vaguely, "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Avengers stuff."

"You don't sound thrilled. Is it bad? Can I help? I can-"

"No, no. It's fine," Wanda waved her off with a small smile, "Nothing we can handle. I'll get the tour another time."

"Oh...okay," Max accepted, "I'll see you soon."

"Of course," Wanda smiled a little brighter, "It was nice meeting you, Doctor Strange."

"Pleasure's all mine," Stephen added politely, opening a door to the street outside for Wanda, "Thank you for helping Max."

With a small wave, Wanda hurried out, looking back at her phone as she left.

"I'll bet it was important…" Max sighed.

"They've got everything under control," Stephen assured her.

"I know. That's just it. It doesn't make me want to help any less."

Stephen slipped his arm around her waist gently.

"Well, Wong and I aren't really "Avengers", but If it's any consolation, we could sure use your help around here."

"Of course. So, how was work?"

"Um…" Stephen paused, "I wasn't totally honest about that part. I was trying to get the house cleaned up for you as a surprise."

"Aw, that's sweet!" Max smiled.

"It would have been. It's gonna be a little harder than I thought."

"Why's that?"

"The house really doesn't like it."

Max couldn't help but laugh. This had to be the most temperamental building in the universe and she looked forward to years of figuring out how and why and how to survive it.

"Hey," she offered, "We'll take care of it. Together."