Christian made Avery less stressed overall. The whole secret identity juggling thing was plenty stressful but she wasn't about to admit to that. Not when it would be putting a nail in her own coffin.

"Jorge's cover is more secure than yours and his role is less important," Angelo reminded her. "If Christian ever prevents you from doing your job you have to break up with him."

"I will! I told you not to worry about it. I know where my priorities lie."

She had been taking things one day at a time trying to make everything work out. Endless justifications had gotten her to where she was but she did ultimately know what her priorities were. She was the daughter of a villain and had taken up his mantle. She was going to see his mission through to the end.

It was going to break her heart if she had to leave Christian. She was going to have to do everything in her power to make sure that didn't happen.

Who said she couldn't have it all? Didn't she deserve to be happy too when she was trying to make the world a better place? Why weren't antiheroes allowed to have their own happy endings?

Avery's revenge had been rooted in the past and for years she had been living in the present trying to get through the day but she had to think about the future too. Christian was her future. The one she had thought she could never have because of the way things were. She was determined to have it no matter how long it took to get there.

He didn't have to know who she was. If he hadn't figured it out after she saved his life he never would.

The problem from here on out would be preventing him from getting suspicious of her absences when she was on Nox missions. As long as they were only doing insulin runs it would be once a month but what about when they found another lead?

Angelo was getting closer to cracking what had been on that flash drive all the time. Once he and the brains of the operation figured out what to do about it she would become a lot busier.

"Whatever you say. Anyway, hang tight. You'll get your next non-insulin assignment soon enough. There's some seriously messed up research on that flash drive and it's going to take someone better with chemistry than me to figure it all out. I need to get in contact with one of our chem guys in another state to help me crack it.

"In the meantime keep doing what you're doing, I guess. And let me know when you're planning on hanging out with Vanessa next. We should double. If anyone can help me relax enough to crack this she can."

Angelo hung up and Avery shook her head in disbelief. He really liked Vanessa, didn't he? She wondered if her friend had any idea.

He would never act on it though. Not while their plan was still at stake. He wasn't like Avery, as he kept reminding her. He was the rational one between the two of them. He would never find himself in a situation like the one she currently found herself trapped in.

With a sigh she put down her phone and resumed packing. She was supposed to have everything ready this weekend to go to Christian's apartment. He had given Liam his notice and he was reluctantly moving back in with his parents until he found somewhere else to go. Supposedly, he was simultaneously grumbling about being banished and glad that his brother was finally "getting a move on."

Avery tried telling herself everything would be fine. She and Christian had basically been living together already. The only difference would be on the weekends and she wasn't even busy every weekend. She wouldn't have to go on an insulin run for another few weeks at least.

"I'm fine," she said aloud as if it would help her believe it more. It didn't but she had to try.

===

Things didn't change much at first. Avery went to work with Christian most days as she had been doing once he was sufficiently recovered from being stabbed enough to go back to Vanessa too, on the off chance she said something.

It was nice going home to him every day and not having to worry about Liam potentially interrupting them. Though he did show up one day after work when he found out she was testing a new cake decorating technique because he wanted some. She couldn't begrudge him that.

The first insulin heist without Mercury tailing her went off without a hitch too. She used the excuse that she had an out-of-town thing and Christian accepted it easily. She was able to crash in her apartment like usual before heading back to his place.

No, their place. She needed to start thinking of it that way, especially since he had allowed her to have some decoration input. His style was minimalist to say the least and he wanted her to spice things up for him.

Avery decided to take on the rather ambitious project of painting the living room by herself since Christian was still recovering but ultimately she caved and enlisted help. Vanessa may not be much of painter but she was easy to bribe. As was Liam. Between the three of them things were done in less than a day.

They had painted the walls a soothing greenish gray that went well with a lot of the new decorations they had picked up. She had always wanted to do something like this but felt like she couldn't mess with the sacred walls of her childhood home since it was all she had left of her dad other than the suit. Painting Christian's apartment was a nice compromise.

She wanted to work her way through painting the entire apartment but they had time. Once Christian was feeling better it would be a lot easier to do those smaller rooms with just the two of them.

He seemed a lot more relaxed after a few weeks had passed. If she had to guess it was a combination of beginning to properly recover and not having to deal with hero work anymore. She was willing to bet he had gotten power suppressors or something that would prevent his sixth sense from giving him a hard time. He wasn't nearly as distractable these days as he used to be.

Christian was SO happy. Avery wanted to bask in that same sort of happiness but it was difficult with her duties hanging over her head.

Was this really going to be okay? Was she going to be able to pull this off long-term? What was she supposed to do when Angelo found out the next part of Hunsacher's plans and she had to jump back into the fray?

Pulling off another California-type trip was going to be a lot more difficult living with someone else. Especially if Christian happened to see the news and connected her trip to Nox's MO.

Avery desperately hoped that wouldn't happen. She knew she was treading on thin ice here.

All she wanted was to carry on the way things were going. Was that so much to ask? She had averted one disaster; averting another shouldn't be too difficult. She was being paranoid. That was all this was.

He hadn't figured out who she was when she saved his life and hadn't done anything to stop her from going after Hunsacher despite knowing her target either. That had been done very reluctantly though. He hadn't wanted to let that go but had to since she knew his secret identity.

Christian would never forgive her if he found out the truth and not only because of the blackmail. Avery was so mired in lies when it came to him that she didn't know where to begin unraveling them.

She had approached him with less-than-stellar intentions. She never would have agreed to go out with him again if she hadn't suspected he was Mercury.

Back then she hadn't realized the extent of his sense of humor and thought he was boring. It was finding out he was the guy she had been helplessly crushing on that piqued her interest. Now she couldn't imagine life without him but that was her destined end if he found out the truth.

Avery couldn't think like that! Everything was going to work out. Christian loved her. As long as he loved her and believed in her he would never connect her to Nox. Who he rather ironically hated.

It seemed she had played her part as his nemesis too well. He hadn't been the slightest bit suspicious when she saved his life.

Wasn't it less of a stretch for Nox to be omniscient than it was for it to be someone he knew well? She would never understand how that man's mind worked.