"Okay. This is going to call for some mead," Nicky said after a long beat. He headed straight for the kitchen and pulled out an enormous flagon of the stuff and poured two mugs full of the frothy, tasty beverage. He pushed one across the counter towards Vincent and then took a long drink of his own. He sat down at the counter then and said, "Once issue at a time. First of all, Vincent, you can't look at Joe Rogers as your quote-unquote replacement. Roxie's just moving a different direction in her life, and you can't fault her for that - not after what she's been through with being kidnapped by the Kree and everything. Things like that, they change you."

It was true. Nicky had been quite the playboy back when he'd been on Asgard. The same values he had now and everything, sure, but he'd had the power to hook up with any Valkyrie that he'd wanted, and he certainly had. Having his mother killed in front of him, being locked out of Asgard, that had changed Nicky. He'd lost that playboy aspect of himself, gotten more serious. In a way, he understood where Roxie was coming from.

"Nothing made you wrong, Vincent. Believe me, I've known Roxie most of our lives. She's got all kinds of second and third chances in her. Something serious must have happened to her to make her change her outlook on life. This literally has nothing to do with you and everything to do with her."