For the next several days, Stephen worked along side Arianna to perform the upgrades. He used several spells to assist in the process. They'd found it easy to work together, having already formed a comfortable connection before hand.

One evening, once the upgrades were almost complete, Stephen found that Arianna seemed to be missing from all her normal spots. She wasn't in the library, nor her room. He wandered around a bit, checking all the locations of the new access points to see if she might be tinkering around with one. No luck. He was standing in the middle of one of the communal training rooms when a voice behind him called out.

"Doctor Strange, if you're in search of Mrs. Miller, I believe you'll find her in the bell tower."

Stephen's frown grew even deeper. "The bell tower? I'd forgotten this place even had a bell tower."

"Yes well, she was inquiring as to the best viewpoint of the city from the compound."

"I don't believe I've ever visited the bell tower, myself."

"You'll find the entry to the stairwell out in the courtyard, South East corner."

Stephen bowed in thanks to the Master and found his way out to the courtyard. He glanced upwards and thought he saw a figure at one of the open windows of the tower. He entered and made his way up the stairs quickly. For some reason he felt a sense of dread about him as he approached the entry to the upper bell tower.

Arianna sat perched on the bottom sill of one of the large stone openings, looking out over the city of Kathmandu. Even from where he stood across the tower, he could see tears on her cheeks.

"Arianna, what's wrong?" he said as quietly and gently as he could. She didn't say anything, didn't even turn to acknowledge him. So he continued. "Did someone say something to you, Arianna? Did someone upset you?"

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that," she said quietly.

He approached slowly, finally making it to her side. The bottom ledge of the window that she sat on was high enough that from her sideways seated position, she was just at eye level with him. "Then, please, tell me what's upset you, Arianna. I can't bear to see you like this."

The smallest of smiles seemed to quirk at the edge of her mouth and she leaned her head back against the stone wall behind her and rolled her head towards him. She remained quiet several long moments, just looking him in the eye. He tried to communicate so much to her in that moment about how he felt, about his concern, his care, his feelings. "You remember what I talked to you about at Tony's party last week?"

"You said several things. Which?"

"About...about feeling like I'd suddenly been taken off autopilot." He nodded but waited for her to continue. "I—I've got that feeling again. I'm scared, Stephen."

"Of what?"

"Of how I feel. That I'm steering myself into another heartbreak."

He rested his hand atop the one closest to him that rested against the stone beneath her. "I'd never purposefully break your heart, Arianna."

"I should have just kept it professional with you, you know? But you opened up the door to the Sanctum and there was just something about you..."

"Something that made you pause. Something that made you want to know what made me tick. You wanted to know everything there was to know about me..."

She blinked slowly as she stared at him. "Yeah, something like that."

"Yeah, me too."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you've captured me, Arianna. My attention, my thoughts, my...heart."

"This is crazy."

"I think I already told you. Maybe we both deserve a little crazy."

"Yeah, but this is a lot crazy."

"Then maybe we deserve a lot." He stepped closer, right up beside her, and slowly moved a hand to run his finger along her jawbone. She closed her eyes at his touch until he surprised her with the feel of his lips suddenly on hers. It was a quick kiss, but it was a kiss. He pulled back away quickly and her eyes flew open.

"What was that?"

"A promise."

"Promise—promise of what?" she gasped out.

"I know you're scared, Arianna. You're terrified to admit what you're feeling. So I'm just going to go ahead and dive in heard first. Something I never thought I'd do—putting myself out there like this. But you're worth it. I'll speak for myself and if that seems like something you're interested in, you can let me know." He paused and took a deep breath, as she continued to watch him in anticipation. "I do believe I've fallen for you, Arianna. No matter how crazy it is, no matter how short a time it's been, I can't imagine not getting to see you or at least talk to you every day for...for the rest of my life. I want to know how and why you tick. I want to know everything there is to know about you. That's my promise—that I'm going to stick around to find out all that. You're stuck with me Arianna Miller, until you tell me otherwise."

"That's a pretty big promise," she whispered out, quite in awe of his words. "To someone you've known for 7 days."

"I'm pretty confident in this feeling."

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely."