The Flames of Amarra - DR STRANGE x OC - COMPLETE

LOYALTY

⌚ YEAR 4

Nora took a sip from her cup of tea and laughed. “My father is gonna think I’m dating you,” she said. 

“You’ve been here quite a lot,” Wong agreed.

“It’s hard to stay at home. Knowing what we know… and not telling anyone.”

Wong looked up from his cup and smiled. “You used to find it easy to keep secrets.”

“You’re joking, right ?” she laughed. “It was driving me insane ! And I never lasted that long either. You know they found ulcers in my stomach ? Apparently I’m too stressed out.” She brought her cup to her lips before changing her mind and putting it back on the table. “Nat put me on Thor duty last month. To make sure he was still alive. I was two seconds away from telling him everything. I’m never going back.”

“But you didn’t tell him,” Wong said with a proud look.

Nora shrugged. “Only because I realized he has no one to wait for. How awful is that ? He lost everyone, and even if we undo what Thanos did, it won’t get any better for him.”

Wong silently agreed with Nora and they stayed there in silence until her phone’s alarm rang. Nora turned it off and put it back on her pocket. 

“She’ll wait.”

“How is it going ?”

Nora winced, which was a pretty clear indication of how things were between her and Kelly. “You know, I thought that since I knew Stephen had a cosmic plan in motion things would be better at home. But it’s even worse now.”

Wong pushed the plate of scones Julie brought from London towards her. “You’ve both been through a lot.”

“Yeah… But you know, I was ready to let her go. Wait until she was better and just ignore her. But now that I know my brother will come back, how do you want me to do that ?” Nora asked, taking a bite from a scone. “I have to keep treating her as family. And I can’t stop thinking of what he’ll say when he sees what his wife became. It’s awful.” She took a deep breath and slowly shook her head. “They’ll hate me for saying nothing. You really don’t know when it’ll happen ? What if I’m older than my own mother ? You know how hard it was for me when I got older than my brother. What if my father isn’t there anymore when she comes back ? How will she survive that ? Wong, I’m not losing my mother again.”

“Breathe,” Wong said with a laugh. “No wonder you’re getting sick. You’re thinking about it too much.” He paused and stopped Nora from taking another scone. 

She grabbed another one anyway and frowned when she bit it. “Julie stopped by and didn’t ask for me ?”

“She has a new theory on the ring and she wanted my opinion.” She arched a brow but Wong briefly shook his head. “Not relevant at the moment.”

“Okay,” Nora sighed. “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing ? Lying to them, I mean. They could take it.”

“Any of our actions could change the way it’s supposed to go,” Wong explained, for the hundredth time since Nora found out. “The least people know, the better.”

“Yeah. But you’re not the one who has to see them every day. I’ve known them longer than I’ve known Stephen, and I’m letting him decide what I should do.”

Wong leaned forward. “You’re still angry.”

“You bet I am,” she laughed. “I’m furious, Wong. He did his little thing, told us nothing, and left us to deal with everything. And get ulcers,” she added. “We should at least tell Julie.”