Chapter 43

"So, Jen, since I'm guessing they probably aren't going to make you go to court during a holiday, I was wondering what you usually do for Thanksgiving."

Jen looks up from the documents in her hand, taking a moment to respond like she had to process the question first. "Uh, well, I usually spent it with Bruce or the Avengers, atleast as an adult, and as you can probably guess, neither of those are hosting this year."

"And... you don't have any other family you'll be spending it with?"

"Not really, aside from Bruce, I haven't been very close to my family for years." She shuffles the papers and begins putting them back into her briefcase, rising slightly from the couch to reach it. "Look, are you trying to work up to asking me to spend Thanksgiving with you?"

"Is that weird? I really only have pop culture to base this on, so I have no idea what the actual Thanksgiving etiquette is here, I'm guessing sitcoms don't go for accuracy."

She smiles "It's fine, Johan, I'm just surprised you're planning on celebrating it at all."

"I wasn't planning to, but Xavier asked me to join him and the rest of the X-Men for dinner at the mansion, so I thought I'd ask you to be... well..."

"Your +1?"

"Yeah, see, that's the problem, you'd sort of be my +3. Possibly +4." Jen's incredulous look tells me I could have worded that better "Okay, that sounded better in my head, it's easier if I just show you." Before she can ask any further questions, I take her hand, and the world whites out.

.....

"Hey, Jen. It's great to see you again." Steve smiles that all-american smile to a shocked Jen, who's too busy gawking at him to answer him at first.

Then, finally "OH MY GOD!"

The following few minutes mostly consist of an awkwardly tearful reunion as Jen all but throws herself over Steve, pulling him into a hug that would jarr even a super soldier, Jen blubbering apologies against Steve's shoulder while he tries his best to assauge her guilt. It takes a little while, but finally she begins to calm down.

"It's...it's really good to see you again, Steve."

He grins "I could sort of guess by the greeting, Jen. It's good to be back." His face falls "I just wish I hadn't left such a mess for you to clean up."

Jen shakes her head, her eyes still wet "It was... it was our fault. You were right the whole time, the SRA WAS wrong, I should have listened to you, I wished for so long I had." She laughs helplessly "I was going against CAPTAIN AMERICA for crying out loud, what was I thinking?!"

Steve steadies her up, his hands on her shoulders "Jen, don't be ridiculous, that's not how I want others to see me, and I think you know that. I don't claim to know everything, I just thought the SRA was wrong, maybe not in intent, but definetly in it's application. The important thing is that you're trying to fix the mistakes you've made. Instead of just digging your heels in when you were proven wrong." He sighs "Not like I should be one to talk about being stubborn..."

Jen smiles and wipes away the last of her tears before noticing that Steve isn't the only person in the room. MVP waves awkwardly. "Um, hi there!"

Jen blinks "...hello?"

I walk up, putting my hand on MVP's shoulder "Jen, this is Michael Van Patrick, hero cadet and formerly Camp Hammond body count. Michael, meet Jennifer Walters, ace attorney, Avenger, and Sensational She-Hulk."

"Yes, I'm... familiar with her work" MVP says, shaking her hand "Nice to meet you, Miss Walters. Longtime fan of yours. Of the heroics I mean, not the lawyer stuff."

"The superheroics DOES tend to overshadow everything else" Jen says, trying to shake off the embarassment of putting on such an emotional display in front of a random teenager. "I do actually remember you too, Stark really tried to bury what happened to you as deep as he could. I'm so sorry for what happened..."

He looks down, a look of pain flashing over his face "It's... well, it's not OKAY, but I guess it will be. Maybe? I don't want to think about it right now. Atleast I got my life back, not a lot of people can say that." He glances over at me "Well, I guess it's a little more common now."

I shrug "Thanksgiving miracle?"

"Yeah, about that" Jen says, suddenly remembering our previous conversation "Is... Steve one of the other plusses you mentioned? And is Michael the third one?"

"Oh, no, sorry" MVP says, shaking his head "Not that Thanksgiving with Captain America, She-Hulk and The X-Men doesn't sound incredible, but I REALLY want to tell my dad I'm alive, so I'm pretty sure my holiday is about to get booked."

"Hell, bring him too if you're up for it, I'm pretty sure Xavier can add a few more chairs, they never seem to run out of room at that mansion. But Jen, you're right, Cap and Michael are two of the plusses, but there's one other person who's probably going to want to be involved in this dinner." I nod towards Steve "Cap, you ready to have a chat with your baby-mama?"

He grimaces "Yes, but could you PLEASE not call Sharon that?"

"...wait, what was that about Steve-" Jen says, just as the teleport activates, and the cabin is empty once more.

...

Sharon Carter nearly falls out of her chair when four people pop out of nowhere in the middle of her living room. She goes for the gun hidden in the armrest, just as she registers just who appeared.

"Jen?! What the h-" then she spots another familiar face "S-STEVE?!"

"Is this going to happen everywhere I take him?" I say with an exagerated sigh of annoyance, it was almost nice not being attacked on sight whenever I teleported somewhere. I step back, letting Agent Carter have her surprise reunion with Steve.

"To be fair, I watched you bring him back, and I still can't believe I'm looking at him." MVP says, stepping up next to me "So she's really pregnant with Captain America's kid, huh? I'm..." He looks uncertain "I know it's stupid, but I never really pictured him as a..."

"An out-of-wedlock kind of guy?"

MVP looks flushed "I guess..?"

I shrug "Kid, like he told you, that 1950's "aw shucks" thing pop culture fed you was mostly nonsense, but if it makes you feel any better, I'm guessing he proposed marriage more than once already, but SHIELD agents aren't really the type to settle down. Plus, you saw what the Red Skull wanted to do, imagine how much of a target Carter would be if the relationship was public."

Carter finally pulls herself away from Steve "Steve, I can't believe you're really here. How..?"

Steve points over at me "Same as everyone else who's been making an unexpected return lately, from what I understand"

Carter looks over and her eyes widen. I give her a wave.

"Nice to meet you, Agent Carter. I don't know if SHIELD gave you instructions what to do if you met me, but-"

"Funny thing" she interrupts "they didn't think to cover what to do in case the Omega-level security threat shows up IN YOUR HOUSE!"

"-BUT I can assure you I'm not here to cause trouble. I mean, I brought Steve Rogers with me, I think that puts me a bit ahead of the curve."

Carter doesn't look convinced, but Steve takes her hands in his, trying to assuage her worry "Look, Sharon, I know SHIELD isn't happy with him, or the way he's been doing things, and I'm not asking you to trust him. But I hope you atleast still trust me?"

Carter frowns for a moment, before sighing deeply "Damnit Steve, that's a dirty trick..." she chuckles "Well, I guess I shouldn't look the reality-warping nightmare horse in the mouth, should I?" She leans into him, pressing her face against his chest "I can't believe you're back, Steve. There's so much I have to tell you..."

"Great, I'll leave you two to it, we have one more stop to make before dinner. Jen, you coming?"

Jen looks over at the couple, and nods "Yeah, I'd just be the third wheel if I hung around here until you got back. Lets leave the love birds to their catching up."

"Michael, you ready to head home?"

MVP takes a deep breath "Alright, let's do this."

....

"Nice place" It's almost not even a lie, the Van Patrick home looks like it came straight out of Happy Days, it's the kind of house you'd usually see in parodies about 1950's suburbia, except played totally straight. White picket fence, carefully cropped lawn, bland, unoffensive house, there's even a friggin doghouse. No sign of the dog though.

"I think dad was trying to make a point when he bought it" MVP looks at the door in apprehension "Is it cool if you guys wait out here for a minute? I think me turning up alive is going to be shocking enough for him without She-Hulk and the Magic Man showing up with me."

"That's not my-" I sigh. Why do I bother? "That's fine, Michael. We'll wait right here. If he dies from shock, I'll just bring him back again-OW!" Jen gives me a superpowered finger flick against the back of my head for my poor attempt at comedy "Jesus woman, don't do that!"

"Don't be a dick, Johan. It'll be fine Michael, we'll be right outside."

MVP nods and slowly makes his way up the gravel path to the house, before- oh for gods sake, there's even a spare key hidden under a false rock! I rub the sore spot on the back of my head as MVP slips through the door "You know, you set a terrible example for young heroes when you use force to express your opinions."

Jen crosses her arms over her chest "This coming from the man who, to date, has depowered and/or publically humiliated nearly every person who tried to fight him. Xavier would have some opinions on using your powers like that."

"Xavier has good intentions, but he's not happy unless mutants only use their powers to keep anti-mutant bigots from hurting their knuckles when they're beating us to death. I think his students could do taking after me, just a little bit atleast."

"Harsh" she says, an eyebrow raised in surprise "I thought you were on better terms with him, especially if he invited you to Thanksgiving at the school."

"I am. I mean, I think I am, he hasn't said anything particularly disapproving of me, but that doesn't mean I agree with every single thing he does. He's a lot like Peter Parker that way, he's obsessed with personal responsibility to the point of self-destruction. And part of me gets it, he's the worlds strongest telepath, it'd be a disaster if someone with no morals at all had that power, but still, I think he needs to be atleast a little more flexible. I think I've been using my own in a pretty restrained way all things considered."

"Mm-hmm, is that what you call what you did to Natasha and Janet during your fight with the Avengers?"

Uh-oh. "...SO, about Thanksgiving, should I bring a bottle of wine or something?"