"... all about their plans for Washington. A good number of 'em are trying to shift blame or make a deal."

Astrea Starr lay sprawled across her bed, her chin resting on the pillow that also supported her wristwatch. She gazed languidly at the watch, listening to her FBI liaison, while her fiancee gently massaged her back and shoulders.

"You catch all of them?"

"Mostly," the voice of Norman Roswell replied. "Hard to miss 'em, in their ninja track suits all smellin' of smoke."

"Heh," Astrea smiled.

"All told, we're counting twenty-three dead, including the cyber twins," Roswell said. "And Iron American? We pulled his body from the well an hour ago."

Astrea sighed heavily, her smile vanishing.

"Yeahhh... "

"There was sort of a... ledge, that you must have been on. When he hit the water he must have sank like a rock. All that armor must have weighed a ton. His gear was so wrecked up I'll bet some of it must have shorted out, too."

The girl nodded.

"Americana? You still there?"

"Yeah... I'm here, Roswell."

"Look. I can guess how you're feeling... but you've done your country a great service. That could have been bad - very bad."

He paused.

"Somehow, I don't think the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture would make such a good President."

She laughed softly, knowing that at least one Federal official was kept out of the city at all times, ready to take command should catastrophe happen.

"Calhoun was next in succession?"

"Somebody's gotta be," Roswell chuckled. "Look, I'm briefing the Big Man at 22:00. You want to come?"

"Sorry, Roswell. No."

"All right, then. We'll have to have a full debriefing later. Get some sleep, hear?"

"Thanks, Roswell. Americana out."

She clicked the watch's "off" function several times, just to be sure - then sighed and sank even deeper into the bed.

"You tried, hon," Jason said softly. "That's more than most."

Astrea just lay there.

"I... I want to... "

She clutched the pillow, hard, and buried her face in the bedcovers.

Jason tried to think of something to say, but settled for gently stroking her back.

What had those bastards done to her?

For almost a minute, both of them kept quiet as Jason massaged Astrea's muscles - which, he noted, were still tense.

"What's eating at you, hon?" he asked softly.

Astrea sighed.

"I... I don't how to say it... but... this... doesn't bother you? I mean, to have me vanish for days at a time, then show up looking like, like... by the time I made it home? I must have looked like I'd been through a blender - "

"Of course I worry, hon. Of course I do. Does it bother me that I gotta keep up a brave front, keep smilin' even though I have no idea where you are or even if you're still alive? Hell, yes! Yes it does.

"But if I gotta, I gotta. Just like you put on a brave face when your dad or sister is an hour late for dinner."

"I'm sorry... "

"Sorry? For what, hon?"

He leaned forward over her shoulder and smiled. "I am the one solid block that America's heroine can hold onto, no matter what. I am the morale officer, the butler, the nurse, and not unimportantly the lover for this nation's greatest protector.

"Who happens to be my fiancee. And I love her to the ends of the earth, no matter if she's wearin' tights or not."

Astrea smiled and blinked back tears.

"You're a good man, Jason Freeman."

"And you," he said, "are a very good woman. Don't forget that."

"Am I?"

Jason sat up and let her roll over onto her back.

"Jase... I really wanted to... I didn't want to kill them, no... but I wanted to hurt them.

"They had done such... t-terrible things to m-me... I didn't want to just stop them... I wanted to hurt them like they... h-hurt m-m-me..."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she began to shake. Jason took her in his arms and held her, softly stroking her back.

For long moments all that could be heard was Astrea's muffled sobs.

"Hon?" Jason finally spoke. "You wanted to... but you didn't. That... that's... hell, that took major stones, girl. After all they did to you...

"Think about it - you had 'em out in the woods. Outnumbered. You coulda let loose and no one would know - but you held back."

He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "If that isn't the mark of a good, good woman... "

He gently kissed her.

"Of all the people who could have gotten the powers, I am so damn proud it was you."

For a long time, Astrea held him tight.

"Oh, Jason... "

"Okay now... everything's fine... "

"No, Jase," Astrea shook her head sadly. "I was gone for two days..."

"Two? Friday, Saturday, Sunday - "

"Monday and Tuesday," she finished. "Two work days, without explanation. I'm probably going to get fired when I go in tomorrow."

"Uh, I doubt that. I told them you had the flu."

Astrea jerked away from Jason.

"You... called in for me? Jason, that's - I mean, I wasn't sick."

Her fiancee sighed and tapped her on her shoulder.

"You have got to be kidding. Lessee, you'd been blown up by missiles, punched out cold, abused, hit with more missiles, crunched by the Iron guy, shot at...

"I'd say you deserve a day or two off!"

"Heh."

"There. There's the smile."

Astrea felt her face warm. What she did to deserve Jason she'd never know.

"Jase... I'll quit if you want me to."

"Say what?"

"I'll quit being Americana," she repeated. "If it's too much - "

Jason held up his hand. "Do you want to stop?"

Astrea started. "N-no, I - "

"Then don't," Jason said forcefully. "Hey, you let me in on your little secret. It was my choice to take you as you were or to break it off - not like I could pick and choose what parts of you to take.

And I chose you. All of you."

He smiled slightly and rubbed the hair on the back of his head. "Heh."

"What's... so funny?"

"Well... just that you seem to see her as... someone else, a different person. But Americana is you, you know that? Inside that red, white 'n' blue suit is the same good hearted woman, with the same love of justice and country."

He shrugged. "Hon... you are Americana. With or without your great powers, your fancy suit. I could no more ask you to give that up - "

He never finished his metaphor. Astrea hugged him tightly.

And the tears she cried this time were of joy.