Things had been an absolute nightmare since the Unity Day Festival. With the board members dead, control of the company had basically fallen into Norman's hands and he had no idea how.

Keira was the only one who did.

After she had gotten home from getting Harry back to his and Peter's apartment, the house was empty save for the cleaning ladies finishing up for the night and the butler. She had no idea where Norman was and frankly she was glad for that. It was a conversation she didn't want to have.

She threw her heels into the corner of the room and changed into pyjamas, not bothering to shower. The rest was fitful because of the guilt knawing at her stomach. When she woke up the next morning, it was barely sunrise. Norman was asleep next to her as well he should have been. It was Sunday and they didn't have to go into work.

Keira still did. She carefully got dressed and ready, leaving the house before the air had warmed up, her breath puffing out in front of her. The driver wasn't even there yet, so Keira chose to walk.

Whatever wasted more time.

It was cowardly, she knew, but the papers would be in a buzz. She wasn't ready to have the talk yet. Did Norman even know that she knew? Even if she hadn't up till that point, she would certainly have put two and two together by now.

She had barely walked into her office before Siobhan burst in with a few other higher ups asking her a million questions. Are you alright, do you know what happened, you have a call on line two, where is Mr. Osborn?

No, yes, not now, at home

"Yes, no, I'll take it, he's not feeling well."

"You weren't even supposed to come in today." Siobhan questioned.

"The entire company is in chaos, someone needed to come in and at least try to get something figured out." She replied. At least it was a valid response rather than 'I'm avoiding my husband because I don't want to talk about what happened.'

"Without the board, what will we do?"

At this, Keira rested her head in her hands and took a breath. She looked back up and waved the other people away, leaving just her secretary.

"I don't know. Siobhan, you can't tell anyone this. The board voted to sell Oscorp to Quest without Norman or I knowing. We would have been forced to resign." Siobhan's eyes widened. "Most of us probably would have lost our jobs."

"Do you think that Mr. Osborn had something to do with what happened to the board?" She asked.

Yes.

"No, of course not. He hated most of them with a burning passion, but he would never hurt anyone. He wasn't even at the Festival. They were going to announce the sale afterwards, so it does seem like a bit of a coincidence. It was that creep who stole our tech that night, though. You saw the glider."

"But why take out the board members? If it was just a thief, what vendetta would they have against them?"

"Picking off the hierarchy, maybe."

Siobhan opened her mouth to try and ask another question, but Keira's phone ringing cut her off, a red light blinking next to the 'line 2' button. She reluctantly picked up the receiver and pressed it.

"Mrs. Osborn, the Daily Bugle's here." The receptionist said. Keira rolled her eyes.

"Tell them to scram, no comment." She said, putting the phone back down. "I swear to God, I'm going to kill Jameson one day."

"He is a bit of a nasty one. We should probably get a press conference set up." Siobhan suggested. Keira groaned and sat back in her chair, letting it roll backwards towards the windows. Her feet pushed it from side to side as she spoke.

"I'm not speaking on anything today. I'm not making any decisions or statements until Norman gets back. I have a knack for public speaking, but even I know better than to say anything this soon with no plan. Especially with the influence the Bugle has. I talk, Jameson construes. No matter what, he always finds something to exploit. One of these days..."

"Well, what are you going to do today?"

"Answer the phone, send emails, have a breakdown in the corner, we'll see." Keira gave a short laugh and pushed her chair back to her desk. "Siobhan, your job today is to filter all my calls. No scams, no Bugle, and check with me if my mother calls. If Quest tries to call, send them through. I'm not going to call them first, but inevitably someone's going to ask about the offer. That's something I don't need to consult with Norman about."

"And what if Mr. Osborn tries to call you?"

Keira pursed her lips as the phone rang. She picked up the receiver and waited to press the flashing red button.

"Same deal as my mom." Siobhan nodded and exited the office. Keira moved the receiver to her other hand and pressed the button. "Oscorp Industries, Keira speaking."

***

She didn't get home until ten that night. If Siobhan gave any indication that she knew Keira was avoiding going home, she didn't show it. Answering call after call and only needing to swear twice, Keira kept herself well and thoroughly distracted all day.

After the call with Quest's CEO went from Keira kindly then not so kindly telling him to fuck off, she redirected her calls for about an hour, choosing to go down to the lab to just make something explode. After three batches of Elephant's Toothpaste, four multicolored smoke bombs, and eventually throwing some pure sodium into water, Keira went back to her office smelling like peroxide and only slightly less stressed.

Siobhan left at 8 PM like she always did, and Keira had to be kicked out by security by the time 9:45 came. Knowing better than to walk home, she got a cab and spent the ride doing breathing exercises. It would just be one conversation and then it would be okay.

Once she got inside, the elevator doors silently shut behind her and she hung up her jacket. She yawned and thought about going upstairs. The sound of the crackling fireplace dissuaded her, knowing putting it off was just going to make it worse. She had been upfront about telling her dad that she was failing Trigonometry in high school, this wouldn't be any harder.

The problem was, there wasn't any blood on anyone's hands when one was flunking a class about a useless branch of mathematics.

As she had anticipated, Norman was on the sofa in front of the fire. It looked like he hadn't gotten dressed that day, still in his paisley patterned night robe. A copy of that morning's Daily Bugle was on the coffee table, the bold words making Keira's heart sink.

"I'm home." She said, choosing to initiate. She was a big girl. The paper was a midterm report card sporting an F. Norman looked up at her, putting on a soft smile as he stood up to greet her, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I didn't realize you were going in today." He replied. Good, good, easy.

"I didn't want the office to turn into a warzone." She shrugged. "I got the Bugle off my back for the day, I told Quest to shove it, and tinkered in the lab. I figured I didn't want to initiate a press conference with you not there."

"Very smart. Thank you for getting that taken care of." Norman replied. The pressure in Keira's chest was dissipating little by little.

"Sure thing."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

Norman's calm disposition seemed to shift slightly. He took Keira's hand and took her to the couch, sitting down next to her while maintaining eye contact.

"Did you know?"

"Know what?" She asked. Norman picked up the paper and simply stared at it for a moment. The pressure returned, Keira realizing what this was about.

"About that other side of me? The one that did this?"

Keira's breath hitched as she contemplated how best to respond. She sighed and gently took Norman's hand.

"Yes. I did."

"Why didn't you tell me?" There was an edge in Norman's voice. Like he was trying to be angry but couldn't commit to it. Keira did a double take, blinking.

"I thought you knew. I never brought it up because I didn't know if you knew I knew. That's something that you would try to hide from me. You wouldn't want me to know about Stromm or Slocum or the board members because you didn't want me to think less of you."

"I don't remember anything when that other side takes over. All I know is that suddenly I wake up and it's not where I was last. I'm lucky if I just wind up being at home."

"And suddenly another one of your problems is solved. You wake up and find that Quest is crippled or the board members who fired you are all dead. I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out. Even Siobhan thought it was strange."

"I didn't even figure it out on my own. He had to be the one to tell me." Norman pointed over to the mirror on the other wall. Keira pursed her lips and stared at their reflections. "If you knew, why didn't you try to do something?"

"It's easier to go along with a madman than try to fight against him."

"He didn't try to hurt you, did he?"

"Of course not. I've never even had a whole conversation with him. But at the end of the day, sad as it is, he's still you. And you would rather kill yourself than kill me."

Keira paused to scoot closer to Norman.

"His methods may be destructive, but it's keeping the company afloat. So many people would've been out of jobs if the company would have been sold... including us. Besides, we developed most of that technology ourselves. It scares me to wonder what someone else would try to do with it. The most reliable hands are still our own."

"And you're not... afraid of me?" Norman's voice cracked as he was on the verge of tears. Keira rested a gentle hand against his cheek.

"I have no reason to. I promised to always be there for you when we got married, and that means being there for all sides of you, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I also know that you wouldn't hurt our children, no matter if one is out of the house or not even here yet. You're a good man who cares deeply about a lot of things. If that means having a darker side of you come out every now and again, well... I can learn to live with that."

"How'd I get so lucky to find you?" Norman asked.

"Coffee cup." Keira said. Norman just laughed and gently kissed her.

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you." He said. The position of his eyes shifted ever so slightly, barely enough for Keira to register it. But what she did comprehend was the slight change in his tone of voice.

"And I won't be hurting you either, sweetheart. Norman can speak for himself, but only I can make you a promise from me." He said. The slight shock died down after only a second, actually speaking with her husband's other personality for the first time. Well, she said she would get used to it, so here it was.

"Good to hear." She replied. As if a switch was flipped, Norman seemed like he was back to normal just as quickly as he wasn't. Keira gave a warm smile, resting her head against Norman's shoulder. He ran his fingers through her hair as she drifted in and out of sleep's grip.