Andromeda and I danced until her father got up to dance. I sat down as she danced and watched her, enjoying what was the beautiful sight I had ever seen. My wife, enjoying herself. "Congratulations," Pierce said, sitting down next to me. He had officiated our wedding. It made Andromeda happy.

"Thank you, Alexander." I looked over my crowd of Avengers, the Defense Team, Andromeda's family, and the PRIDE. Cap wasn't here, which was disappointing to me as a fanboy but I understood. I might have been hurt if it had been just a joke but it wasn't. We'd lucked out to get Natasha as well as Bruce, who were both doing their best to look comfortable in a setting that clearly didn't suit them. I got the impression they were looking into me as well.

"I thought you'd want to know that the World Security Council has licensed the creation of twelve Super-Soldiers per nation, with twenty four for council nations, and an additional twenty four for the United States on the basis of its origin". It was an innocuous topic for us to be discussing in a formal setting - I was an inventor of the Serum.

"That's not nearly enough." It was also prohibitively low. There were so many people who would benefit from the serum's effects who weren't in the military and now it was off the table for potentially forever.

"I knew you were going to say that. Michael, this is hundreds of Super-Soldiers, spread throughout the globe. Take the win."

"The only victory I'm interested is a united earth, secure against all foes," I said. At the angle we were at, I could see Black Widow without turning. Almost certainly not an accident. She was watching me, reading my lips probably, though she thought she was hiding it well. To be fair, she was hiding it well. "I only want to ensure everyone is safe, Alexander."

Pierce didn't miss a beat. "That's what we all want," he agreed. "Michael… what happened with Loki… That wasn't your fault. You have to stop blaming yourself."

I managed to fake what I thought would be a convincing flinch and looked away. "If I stop blaming myself, will it give those mothers back their children? No. I will rest when I know that no one will ever be able to do that again. Not a minute sooner."

Pierce managed a grandfatherly wrinkle of his forehead in concern and put his hand on my shoulder. "Michael…" he took a breath in, "You should be proud. Or at least, take today to be happy. Please."

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I gave him a half-hearted smile and he shook his head and stood up. "Congratulations, again, Michael."

I turned my head back to the dance floor and went back to enjoying Andromeda dance, while keeping my face much more carefully neutral than it deserved to be. Stupid suspicion from stupid people making me look less happy than I was. I hadn't even done anything to merit it except get mind controlled. I mean, nothing they knew of. Okay, when I put it like that it was fair enough.

People started to mill through and Andromeda drifted back to me and under my arm. We were nearly the same height now, I having gained four inches to 6'2" on my trip to this universe and her having gained 6 inches from 5'6".

"Thanks for the speech Victor," I said when he came by. "I'm almost embarrassed it was about me."

Victor looked me in the eye deadly serious, "I could've said so much more and you know it."

It was so weird to have people so close to me who saw me as the savior of the world. I'm not trying to downplay my accomplishments - I'd ensured free energy within a decade, we were on our way to a variety of forms of human immortality, I was building the forces to defeat alien invasions of a huge number of varieties. But nonetheless, it was weird.

"Thank you, Victor," Andromeda said. "Mike is too modest."

Tony and Pepper came by to congratulate us. "So, didn't know what to get you, decided to send over the analysis you asked for. Just some spitballs. Hope it helps brings about that whole perfect health thing. Don't forget to cut me in on the profits."

"I won't. Thanks Tony," I said sincerely. That was excellent news, his notes were our best hope to achieve stabilization in the short term. I didn't care at all about the money. Honestly, I didn't think Tony did either except as a pride thing.

Bruce and Natasha came by, Bruce's hands were a little sweaty from nerves or guilt? It didn't make any sense. We had invited him to this wedding and even if he and Natasha were trying to find something out it wasn't like I had brought anything crucial with me to my own wedding. I grinned and said, "So good to see you both. Natasha, again, I'm so sorry about the poison gas thing."

"Not your fault," she said a little uncomfortably. I wonder if she bought the earlier display or if it was a general principle thing that she didn't want to blame me for anything she didn't blame Barton for.

Gert came by with Dale, who was carrying Molly on his shoulders. "I told you you should've said yes."

I nodded my head sagely, "You were right, I was wrong."

Achilles came by and shook my hand, "Be good to her or else."

Ah, the South. You could almost forget what it was like in the liberal West, but it came back to you in this weird machismo thing we always did. "She could bench press me with one arm, Achilles. Feel like you should be threatening her to protect me."

Achilles waved a hand dismissively, "Yeah, but she can hurt me."

'I can hurt you too, you dumb buffoon.' I didn't say that. These rituals were important in the South. "Of course I won't hurt Andromeda, Achilles. Stay calm about it."

And eventually the reception wound down and it was time for Andromeda and I to leave. We ran down a line of sparklers and rice throwers into a limo and went to the very swanky hotel where we would be spending the night.

It was a very good night.