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Chapter 19. I Didn't Think Things Could Get Any Better, But Here We Are

April 7, 2024. 12:28 PM.

Sunshine: Hey Mama. I'm working on getting ready to start MIT this fall. I know you'd be proud of me. I know it. I wish you were here. The Romanoff Foundation is doing well. We just got a large donation from some giant company that I can't remember the name of. We just hit one million meals fed and it's just overall doing well. We're working on expanding our range and with how we've been doing lately, we're gonna build a second building over in LA. You'd be proud of this, all of it. I have no idea how I balance all of this, but I think that having Eliza with me helps. Alright, I gotta go. I love you, Mama.

"Alina, Bruce is here." Eliza says, popping her head into my room.

"Got it." I say. I get off my bed and walk into the living room.

"Nice place." Bruce smiles.

"Thanks. Mama knew me well. So, what's up?"

"Well, first, how're you doing? Second, congrats on MIT. Tony's told anyone and everyone how his kids are going to MIT."

"Sounds like Tony." I chuckle. "I'm doing ok, kinda tired, but that's what I get for running a charity and working on college stuff at the same time."

"I keep talking her that I can run the foundation until she graduates, but she won't have it." Eliza chuckles.

"Yeah, because it keeps me super busy and it makes people scared of me because if a eighteen year old can run a charity and get her degrees in computer science and inter-dimensional/astrophysics, she's a force to be reckoned with."

"Those are what you're going to study? You've never worked with any of that before." Bruce says.

"Actually, I have." I smile. "After the Red Room, I couldn't sleep. I ended up reading your papers on gamma radiation, the team's notes on quantum physics, as well as a lot of Tony's books on astrophysics and inter-dimensional physics, so I might as well already be an expert, I'm just taking my research to the next level."

"Wow. You gonna make a time turner?"

"That will mess with reality a bit too much for my liking. It'd be awesome, but I'll stick to living on coffee and Chipotle for ten years."

"I think you'll graduate sooner, you're a genius." Bruce says.

"Thanks for the compliment, greenie."

"Anyways, I came here to ask if you've ever thought about the possibility of getting Nat back?"

"She doesn't need that." Eliza says. "It will break her if she has hope and it doesn't work."

"Eliza, let's hear him out. Thank you for protecting me." I say, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What do you mean?" I ask, facing Bruce.

"Well, when you were dead, Natasha tried everything. She ended up going to the Underworld to try and get you back. What if, and this is a super big if, what if you went to the Underworld and got Nat back?"

I blink for a few seconds before saying, "Wow. That is a really big if."

"But it's worth a try, right?"

"I'm gonna need a few days to think about it. Do you wanna stay for lunch? We're making tacos."

"Why not?" Bruce asks.

We make tacos and after a while, Bruce had to go lecture his students on gamma radiation and stuff like that.

"Do you think it's real?" Eliza asks.

"I want to, but I don't want to do through losing hope again if it doesn't."

"So don't. Don't try."