Four months Kyra had now worked at Metro Gen. Things hadn't gotten much warmer between her and Dr. Strange, but at least now they had the familiarity to quip at each other. He messed with her instead of ignoring her existence, and he even let her finish up surgeries as he played on his phone in the corner of the room. Kyra was always amazed at how Strange could tell what she was doing, even when he wasn't watching her. Even more so, she loved how easily Strange could fix his bedside manner for his patients and their families.

Kyra's life couldn't be better.

And then her grandmother died.

Asgard had come under attack and now all access to the country was closed off. At the same time, all her senses and abilities suddenly started growing erratically until surprisingly, Strange helped her through it. Of course, he could only diagnose the physical symptoms, but the techniques he very subliminally taught her helped keep all her abilities in check. 

They were in his office, and Stephen was working on writing the proposal for his new technique, while Kyra kept on talking and talking on tangent every chance she got. Her train of thought was on fire.

"Shut, up!" He frustratedly ordered in banter she was now comfortable with.

"Excuse, me!" Kyra retorted. "I'm talking here. It's not my fault my life is more interesting than yours!" She exclaimed, leaning over his desk to look him in the eye.

Stephen had a petty smirk on his face. "Shut. Up. And go sit in the corner."

Kyra threw her hands up and walked to the couch, but he redirected her to the corner. She gave him an incredulous look, and he returned with a pointed brow raise. When she finally sat down, Stephen pretty quickly got tired of her exhales and sighed himself.

"I am going to write this paper for the next seven minutes. You're going to pay attention and count how many words I've written."

"That-" Kyra attempted to argue.

"Quietly. And... go," he hadn't even looked at the clock, but perfectly lined up with the second hand hitting twelve.

Kyra struggled listening in as her mind was experiencing overwhelming metaphysical surges. Every time she sighed or tried to speak, he started her again, or added another minute. Eventually she gave up resisting and paid attention to his typing till the sound of his keyboard was the only thing playing in her head.

"My grandmother died," she suddenly said as the keyboard clicks turned into match strikes.

Stephen stopped typing.

"It's not fair, you know? For the first 18 years of my life, I'm away from them. And then I only get so much time before she's gone."

"Natural causes?" He asked, sounding closer.

"Home invasion." Kyra replied to him as he came to hand her a bottle of water.

He gave her time to drink before he sent her home. Kyra grabbed her things and headed for the door, before she stopped.

"1,465," She said in lieu of goodnight and left. Strange smiled as he stared at that exact number written on the bottom of his screen.

"Goodnight."

The next morning, Kyra woke up with the same dream of riding horses with her parents. This time around, the conversation with her mom was odd for a different reason. Was Strange the doctor they were talking about? Asgard had their version of doctors, healers, who were a different career than sorcerers. Kyra wondered how her mother had gotten that mixed up.

Besides that, their conversation had suggested a romantic association with him. As she had her evening drink, Kyra sat fixated on Stephen, consciously taking account.

He was egoistical, proud, but he had skill to match. He was sincere when no one was looking. The way he spoke to patients made her question why he presented a pompous personality.

Physically, Stephen was at the top of his field as well. He was tall, slender, and muscular. His hair had stressed out prematurely, but he wore it well. His eyes were enchanting and his smile was... melting.

Kyra couldn't keep this all to herself and decided to gossip with her best friend. She called Lindsay's cell, but her mom picked up.

"Where's Linds?" Kyra asked, and her worry doubled when Katie sniffled.

"Lin-Lindsay was in a motorcycle accident," she told Kyra.

"What?! When?! How is she?" Kyra couldn't stop herself from rambling.

"Almost four days ago. She was on her way to school when someone ran her over. She's been in and out."

"What hospital is she in?"

"HMH. It's not looking good," Katie cried.

"Don't make any big decisions yet. Please. I know a good doctor. I'll bring him over as soon as possible," she begged, swinging off the couch as she ran towards her bedroom.

"Kyra..."

"Please?"

Katie sighed. "Okay. We'll wait for you."

Kyra barely waited for goodbyes before she hung up. She quickly got dressed and shifted herself to Stephen's office. Thankfully, it was empty, not like she had the time for questions right now. She opened the door and ran to find Strange. He was finishing up a surgery and handed the closures to the team as he went out to the sanitation room.

"I need you to come with me!" Kyra panted as she ran into the room.

"Your day off, not mine." He calmly continued to rinse off.

"You don't have any more surgeries here today. But my friend may be dying, and you could be her last hope."

Stephen finally paid attention to her. "I d-"

"I'll cover your fees. If you save her, I'll quit tomorrow. You won't see me again, just bare me for 24 hours. Please, save my sister."

Stephen's eyes grew a bit and he sighed. Her bargain was the last thing on his mind.

"Where?" He asked, immediately heading out.

"New Jersey. I've called a chopper from Tony. It should be up any minute."

Dr. Strange prepped his briefcase and followed Kyra up to the roof where a helicopter was waiting.

"What's the case?"

"Motorcycle accident. Head injury. She's in and out."

"Ninety minutes eta!" The pilot informed them.

"Wake me up when we land," Stephen tasked her, and dozed off.

Kyra wanted to portal them quicker, but she needed Dr. Strange at his best. Ninety minutes later, they arrived at Hackensack Meridian Hospital.

Kyra was off as fast she could, Strange on her heels. She asked the helicopter reception for directions to the Neural wing and used a spell to make her way with no more questions asked. They were right outside the wing when Kyra finally stopped.

Strange stepped forward and swiped his ID card at the door. "I can take lead from here." He left her at the door and went to find the room they were looking for. He found it when he noticed the assigned neurosurgeon arguing with the patient's parents.

"How about I take a look?" He announced aloud, drawing attention to himself.

"Doc- Doctor Strange!" Dr. Freeman's mood shifted to greet the newcomer. "It's an honor to have you here!" He took the liberty to frantically shake Stephen's hand.

"Right," Strange awkwardly pulled his hand away. "I am only here for the girl so let's get on with it then, yes?" The doctor stared open mouthed as Strange walked past him to talk with Mr. and Mrs. Witter. They lead him into their daughter's room and watched as the best neurosurgeon in the west looked at their little girl's charts.

"Sorry I'm late," the couple turned to find Kyra walking in. "Parking was a mess. Did I miss any.." before she could finish, Katie had her wrapped in a tight hug.

"Hate to interrupt, but I'm gonna have you look at these reports. Tell me your conclusions."

Kyra stepped away from Katie and took the reports from Strange. "Patient shows signs of asynergia and nystagmus. Your primary focus should be the cerebellum. Requires a craniotomy and Posterior fossa decompression. Spondylolisthesis is causing stenosis and blocking the sciatic nerve."

"The leg injury is exposed. There's a high risk of infection and a spinal surgery could make her worse," the previous neuro restated his argument.

"Are you implying you're incapable of keeping a leg wound clean?" Strange asked him in a belittling tone.

"N-no, sir."

"Good. I need an OR as soon as possible within the next fifteen minutes. Arrange a team and an orthopedic."

"I'd be happy to assist," Dr. Freeman volunteered.

"Great," Strange smiled. "You can keep her leg clean. Dr. Dawson will assist. Why are you still here?"

Dr. Freeman grunted and ran off to assemble a team. Strange stepped out to prep and Kyra stayed back to talk with her friends. As soon as her parents left the room to sign some papers with Strange right outside the door, Lindsay nudged her friend.

"You left out a really important detail about your boss!" She scolded Kyra.

"And what would that be?"

"That he's insanely hot!"

"Well, I kid you not, I was just about to call you about that this morning."

"This morning?! You've been with him for months, and it only now occurs to you?"

Kyra laughed. "I'm not blind! And, well, he doesn't need more ego pumped."

"You're honestly gonna tell me you haven't tried getting with him?"

Pace scoffed. "What? And be his hospice care? Dude's like so much older than her!"

Kyra tossed a pillow at him. "He's not old. He's mature. I bet he'd be so much better than you were."

"Excuse me?" Katie responded, shocked as they came back in the second half of the conversation. Strange didn't come in.

The gang just joked about their childhood until it was time for the surgery. Struggling through hospital politics, Dr. Freeman had arranged an OR in under 20 minutes for a surgery that took almost seven hours. Dr. Strange worked with Dr. Dawson as his assistant while Freeman helped the orthopedic surgeon.

After the long, arduous surgery was over, the team took a well deserved break in the lounge. Dr. Strange could have rightfully laid back with his feet up, but instead he sat at the table, lost in contemplation. Kyra felt guilty feeling tired when her attending wasn't resting, and decided to give him company.

"So..." she fidgeted, "guess I'll get my things out when we get back?"

Strange only gave her a quick side look and a chuckle in acknowledgement. "7:01 on Monday, and you're fired."

Kyra was taken aback. She'd expected to have had won him over with her promise of resignation, but that didn't seem to be the case. She scoffed at a loss of words. "I-I'll be there before you clock in. Why did you take the case?" she blurted out her question without refrain.

The change in his expression told her he had heard, but they sat in silence for quite some time.

He finally sighed. "Suppose one of us deserves a sister."

Kyra didn't push further as she sat considering what his answer had meant. He'd just saved her sister like friend, when presumptively he'd failed to save his own. Her admiration of him grew tenfold.

"My father was mind controlled," she found herself saying, without consideration of what the consequences could be. But being silent pained her more. "They just, played him like a robot. Made him do unthinkable things. They even made him try to kill me."

"My sister, April, had brain tumors," Strange traded. "Every doctor I took her to turned us down. I became a neurosurgeon myself, but..." he sighed, not realising Kyra had laid a hand on his, "even I couldn't save my sister." He looked up at her, chuckling exhaustingly at his sister's fate.

Kyra leaned up and kissed his cheek, close enough to his mouth for her to later realise what she'd done. "Thank you for saving mine."

Stephen hadn't looked away from her in all this time, both of them abuzz from having felt something in the interaction. One of his thumbs rested on her knuckles, absently stroking over her hand, and Kyra was so intent on thanking him properly.

Before she could adjust on the seat, the door opened and a very appropriately stereotyped nurse stood in the frame. The redhead hadn't even said anything and Strange pulled his hands away from Kyra as he responded to the siren more appropriately aged for him, leaving Kyra silently begging for him to stay.

Strange turned back at the door to say goodbye and Kyra let him go this time; she just hoped this didn't become a habit.

Meanwhile, her brother was repeating a bad habit of his own, doubting his allies and placing his trust on the really wrong people. He'd left Agent Romanoff in the hospital and went to see Alexander Pierce, only to be ambushed on his way out, forced to be a fugitive.