It was about six hours later when Hank woke up. It was moonlight on a beautiful clear night. Hank gazed up at his ex-wife. She was still dozing peacefully.

Trying not to disturb her, Hank shrank and crawled out of Jan's arms. He could see her massive chest moving evenly as she breathed. Her beauty in the moonlight overwhelmed him, and his eyes teared up.

"Hey, boss man," came a familiar voice.

"Hi, Clint," Hank said.

"Glad you got some sleep," Hawkeye said. "You needed it - especially that particular sleep."

Hank laughed and nodded. "So, what's the status of things?" he asked.

"Well, Reed picked up Bobbi, Sue and Doc and went pack to the academy to get things ready," Clint said. "Apparently, the kids are all worked up about this. They've figured out that something's up with you, and they've got a betting pool as to what it is."

Hank raised an eyebrow.

Clint smiled. "Greer tells me Hazmat's gonna win it. Her bet is we've got Jan back."

Hank shook his head. "I don't approve of gambling at the academy," he said, "but I guess this is a special case."

"So," Clint said, "How're we gonna get her in a Quinjet?"

Giant-Man patted Clint's shoulder. "I used to have to make occasional repairs to her wings after combat. We found it was easier to do when she was asleep - and this is how we did it."

Giant-Man grew back to his maximum size and walked around to Jan's face. "Jan, Honey," he said gently, "I need to work on your wings."

"Mmm," Jan mumbled. "Past due. Been a while."

"Honey, I need you to shrink so I can work on your wings."

"'Kay," Jan said, still sleeping. "How small?"

"Down to wasp size," Hank said.

"Kay," the sleeping colossus said. "Going down." Jan's size plummeted down to a couple of feet bigger than Hawkeye, and her wings sprouted from her back. "Howzat?" she asked, still dozing.

"Perfect, Honey," Hank said. "Get some good sleep."

Jan smiled and nodded. She had never awakened.

Hank dropped to about 12 feet tall and scooped Jan into his arms, being careful of her wings. He looked at Clint as he carried her toward the Quinjet. "She's a heavy sleeper," he said.

Clint was looking at the still-gigantic Wasp. "THIS is wasp-size?" he said.

"It is to her," Hank said. "Clint, can you pilot the Quinjet back? I'll need to make sure we don't hurt her wings until we can make the adjustments."

"Sure, I'll play sky pilot," Hawkeye said.

"And call ahead to make sure there's a Goliath bed set up in one of the guest rooms."

"Already done," Clint said. "Except I set it up in one of the bungalows instead - the one Jan used as hers in the West Coast Avengers days."

Giant-Man grinned. "Thanks, Clint," he said.

The first thing Jan realized was that she was in a bed. With sheets. Cotton sheets. Not as good as silk or satin, but it felt marvelous right now. And she was wearing one of her Greek-inspired Wasp outfits, which was easy to get in and out of and could double as comfy sleepwear.

She took a deep breath through her nose. The air smelled like California, like the old West Coast Avengers complex, not New York.

Jan opened her eyes. She quickly realized that things weren't adding up. She felt tiny - really tiny. The bed was big to her, but nowhere near big enough to fit how small she felt. And the room - it was her old room, but her things were mostly gone. She did see a few of her knickknacks on the dresser, looking like they'd been hastily arranged. And the room was not only not big, it looked small to her.

Jan looked around and saw Hank. He was sitting in an easy chair beside her bed - sound asleep. Happy tears welled up at the sight of him - but he, too, looked small.

Realizing she had no wings, Jan tried to shrink down to Hank's scale and found she couldn't. Well, Hank had said there might be issues with her size - but she was home.

She looked into Hank's face, and felt a touch of sadness as she realized that he looked older - at least five years older, she thought. Had she been gone that long?

Jan caressed Hank's cheek. "Hey, Handsome," she said.

Hank's eyes snapped open. "Jan," he said. "Welcome home."

Knowing the scale difference, Jan scooped Hank up and hugged him tightly. "Thanks, Lover," she said. She kissed his cheek.

The embrace lasted a while. Hank didn't object. "How are your legs?" he asked.

Jan exposed a four-foot-long gam, pointing her toes at Hank. "How do you think they are?"

Hank chuckled. This was his Jan, all right. "I mean, can you walk on them? It's been a while since they've borne any weight."

"Not to me," Jan said. "To me, the explosion - when I blew up - is like, yesterday." She put her feet under her and stood up. "They feel fine," she said. "Would you like to feel them yourself to double-check?"

Hank chuckled again. "Maybe later," he said. "Jan, you've been back on Earth for two days, and you haven't had anything to eat. We need to get you breakfast - a real breakfast - of food."

"Killjoy," Jan said. "Still, I am hungry."

"Let's head to the kitchen," Hank said. "I still remember how to make Eggs Florentine - one of your favorites, as I recall."

Jan had to think for a moment when she had to duck through the bedroom doorway. "Hank, how tall am I?" she asked as they walked.

"Eight feet tall," he said. "That's within a couple of millimeters."

Jan nodded as they made their way to the kitchen. "That would explain the Goliath bed," she said. Jan had designed the Goliath bed for Hank when he was trapped at 10 feet tall just after he first took the code name Goliath.

She had to duck through two more doorways to get the kitchen. Once there, Jan sat at the table while Hank started work on the meal.

"Let's see," he said. "At your present mass, I'm going to need six eggs and three English muffins."

"My present mass? How much do I weigh?" Jan asked.

Hank glanced over his shoulder, smiling at Jan. "A very lean, trim and fit 370 pounds," he said, "which is what 110 pounds scaled up to your current height works out to be."

Jan couldn't help but smile. The way Hank had answered had appealed to her vanity. He didn't need to; she was a qualified lab assistant and understood the physics of what had happened, but she still appreciated his thoughtfulness.

"So, I can't shrink, and I don't have wings. Am I just locked in at eight feet tall now?"

"No," said Hank. "How we got to this point is complicated, but this is your minimum height now. Your max is, um, 512 feet."

Jan did a double-take. "Say again?"

"Five-hundred-twelve feet," Hank said. "It's got to do with using the dimensional link we created to purge your body of all the Skrull particles and any nasty stuff Ultron tried to put in there, along with the Norse magic used both to send you from Earth and bring you back.

"Basically, the magic has made 512 feet your normal height, and the Pym particles you can use are the ones that predated the Skrull; that means you can shrink to 1/64th of your base height. Before, that was one inch; now it's eight feet."

Hank placed a cup of coffee in front of Jan. "Wow," she said.

"I'm sorry, Honey," Hank said. "I know what it's like to be trapped as a giant. Over time, with enough exposure to good, healthy Pym Particles, we should be able to shrink you down to normal, or even beyond, if you want." He started serving up Jan's meal onto a platter.

"No rush," said Jan. "I'm actually kind of OK with this."

Hank placed her plate in front of her, along with a fork. "Really?" he said.

Jan nodded. "Look, you know I've always liked being the center of attention," Jan said. "I'll be the tallest person in the room almost everywhere I go, and I'm really hot. Besides, I always wanted to be taller."

She started digging into her meal. She had devoured it in a matter of minutes. Once done, she leaned back in the chair. "So, no wings?" she said. "I guess they're not practical any more."

"You'd guess wrong," Hank said. "But I did have to modify them. They're cyborg wings now - retractable, and able to carry your weight up to 12 feet tall. At eight feet, you can carry two people while flying."

Jan stood up to make sure her back was clear of her chair. She gave the wings a thought and felt muscles in her back tighten momentarily. Suddenly, the wings were there.

Jan popped the wings back in, ducked under the doorways into the living room, and popped them back out in front of a large mirror there. It had been hers, and it was still there. The wings were iridescent, and they shimmered. "Oh, Hank, they're beautiful," she said.

"Thanks," he said, having followed her into the room.

Jan turned to him. "Can you fly?"

"Um, about that," Hank said. "I won't do Yellowjacket again. I only used the suit I used to rescue you because it was the only option. But I do have wings. I, um, … Well, when you died I became the new Wasp."

Jan shook her head, smiling. "What is it with you?" she said. "Your wife dies, you turn into a bug. Your first wife, Maria, dies and you become Ant-Man. I die, and you're the Wasp."

Hank shrugged, not sure what to say.

"You'll have to shrink to use those wings, right?" Jan said.

Hank nodded.

"Want a lift?" she said. "I bet I can give you a better ride than those wings of yours."

"OK, but there's a couple of things you should know before we go out," Hank said.

"All right," said Jan. "Lay them on me."

""Well, first, the world doesn't know you're back yet, so we may want to stay in the compound," Hank said. "and the other part is what we're doing with this place these days."

"What's that?" said Jan. Then she heard the noise of young people at play outside the bungalow. "Hey, what IS that?" she said.

Hank opened the door. "Jan, welcome to Avengers Academy."

Jan popped the wings in and out to get out the door. There she saw dozens of teens, some engaged in horseplay, some training exercises, and all of them super-powered.

"Hank, this is incredible!" Jan said.

Suddenly Reptil swooped down at Hank and Jan. "Hey, look! The headmaster's got a really big lady friend!"

"OMG!" shouted White Tiger. "That's the Wasp! He did it! Giant-Man got her back!"

"I told you!" yelled Hazmat. "I win the bet!"

As the students gathered around them Jan turned to Hank. "Headmaster?"

Hank shrugged. "Someone had to do it," he said. "The first students were at-risk kids - at-risk super kids."

Jan beamed. "You always were a professor at heart."

Then the sea of students surrounded them - greeting Jan, congratulating Hank and asking questions of them both. Most of the attention centered on Hank.

After a couple of minutes, Hank said, "All right, all right, folks. Jan and I would like to have a private flight together - just us. We've had almost no time together, and we could use it. So, if you'll excuse us - Jan, would you do the honors?"

Jan smiled. Surrounding Hank with her right arm, she lifted easily into the air, swiftly climbing and zipping away toward the academy's beach.

They landed gently. "Well, how do they work? " Hank asked.

"They work fine," Jan said. "But I'm so big I just can't get up to the flying speed I used to."

"Sorry, Hon," Hank said. "Best I could do."

Jan smiled, although Hank caught a hint of sadness in it. "They're fine," she said. "You've got nothing to apologize for, Hank."

Hank gestured to Jan's hands. "Stingers still work," he said.

"That's cool," Jan said. "Let's walk and talk."

They started a slow stroll along the sand. After a minute, Jan said, "So, how long have I been … gone?"

"Months," Hank said. "We had a memorial service. I'm afraid I made a mess of it. I accused Tony of wrecking the world and getting you and Cap killed."

"How did you get back?'

"Actually, Tony found the prison ship we were all held on," Hank said. "There were dozens of us - Bobbi, Spider-Woman, Sue Richards -"

"Jessica? And Sue?" Jan said.

"Actually, Jessica was never an Avenger - at least, while you were … alive before," Hank said. "That was always the Skrull impostor. And, yes, they had Sue, too. Actually, she and Bobbi are here at the academy. They figured you might need someone to talk to who's been through their own trauma from the Skrulls - and with a little more estrogen than most of the adults here."

"That sounds good," Jan said. "Um, Hank, you look like you've had a rough time if it's only been months since I … died. What happened."

Hank stopped walking and looked up at his ex-wife. "I missed you by minutes, jan," he said. "We got back just after you died. I couldn't believe it. And then, after I saw the video … my grief was pretty deep."

Hank's voice choked before he continued. "But I knew you wouldn't want me to lapse out of my mind again," Hank said. "I held onto it for you. Jocasta helped. I tried to use her as a substitute for you for a little while. She had your voice, and could project a hologram to make her look like you. But she wasn't you, and those efforts died off.

"Had? Could?" Jan said.

"'Casta was murdered," Hank said. "Recently. It may have been Ultron's doing, part of his plan to revive you, or he may have just killed her avatar he had with him in Underspace, where we left him.

"Underspace?" Jan said.

"It was a dimension I found looking for you," Hank said. "I thought I'd found you there, but it was Carina Walters, and she revived Korvac. It was a disaster.

"It was after that when I realized the search for you was too big. I was afraid of living without you, but I didn't have a choice, and I couldn't be afraid any more. I kept looking, but did what I needed to do to go on living."

Jan kicked the sand. "So, … is there someone new in your life - a lady?"

Hank sighed. "No," he said.

"Hank, are you OK?" Jan asked.

"I don't know," he said. "Can we go back now?"

Jan nodded. She was taken aback by how much Hank had shared - and how little she had. But she also knew her man well enough to know that now was not the time to push herself forward.

Jan didn't see much of Hank the rest of that day. Early in the afternoon, Bobbi and Sue stopped by. The three of them shared what started out as getting reacquainted - both the shorter women marveling at Jan's new height - and girl talk, but soon turned serious.

Bobbi sat next to Jan on the divan, which seemed so short to the Wasp. "Jan, how are you … really?"

Jan shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I haven't seen much of Hank, and most of what he talked about with me was technical. I think I kind of pushed him into talking a little about himself, but something was clearly wrong."

"Forget about Hank for a minute," said Bobbi. "Let's talk about you."

Jan looked puzzled.

"Jan, you're going to need to rebuild your life," Sue said. "You've been dead for a while. A lot of your fortune was distributed out in your will, and Hank spent some of it on trying to get you back and on the academy. There's still a lot left, but it's technically Hank's money for the moment."

"I don't care," Jan said.

"You need to care," said Bobbi. "You'll need to live on something."

"I'll find a way," she said.

"Actually, I was in touch with Jen Walters. Hank called her while you were in your 36-hour sleep, after they got you back to Earth. He wants to transfer what's left of the money back to you."

"'Kay," Jan said, looking at the floor.

"The real question here isn't money," said Bobbi. "It's what do you want to do? You've got a new life, a new start. Because of how long you've been gone and your physical condition, there'll have to be at least some changes. You need to think about goals."

"When I was floating in that other dimension, I had nothing I could do but think," Jan said. "I know my goals. I just don't know what Hank will think of them."

"Forget Hank for a few minutes," Bobbi said. "What are your goals without him?"

Jan smiled at Bobbi. "They almost all involve him in some way."

"What's one that doesn't?" Sue asked.

Jan sat up straighter on the divan. "I want to do more with my fashion career," Jan said. "That's a relatively easy thing to pick back up, and my added height will help me on either side of the runway."

"Either side?" said Sue.

Jan lowered her hands in front of and her body in a "look at this" gesture. "With this height and this body, I could definitely do the modeling as well as the design," Jan said. "It just depends what opens up first. Either way, I'll love it."

Bobbi patted Jan's knee. "Good," she said. "What's another one?"

Jan shrugged. "All the others involve Hank," she said.

Sue sighed.

Bobbi glanced at Sue before turning back to Jan. "OK. What's the goal you have now that's furthest from your old self?"

Jan's expression went grim. "Revenge," she said.

"They defeated the Skrulls," Sue said.

"Not on all the Skrulls," Jan said. "With this kind of plot, there's always a mastermind - someone behind it who put it together. That wasn't the queen, and it wasn't that damned fake Hank or anyone else on the ground - at least I'm pretty sure it wasn't. That kind stays behind the scenes, to plot and attack another day if things go the way they did on Earth."

"Jan, even if he or she exists, and even if we could find him or her, the Skrulls would come after Earth if we took him out," Sue said.

Jan looked at Sue with an intensity that sent a chill down the back of the Invisible Woman. "Not with the plan I've put together," the Wasp said. "No one will know what - or who - hit him, except him."

Sue looked over at Mockingbird. Bobbi's eyes were darting back and forth, like she was trying to process new information.

"Bobbi?" Sue said. "You OK?"

"I've got an idea," Mockingbird said. "Let me call Ms. Marvel about it." She turned to Jan. "Then, once I get done with that, would you like to talk about your goals involving Hank?"

Jan nodded. "That would be great," she said. "But, before I do, there's another goal I have that's far from my old self - and this one, I think, will surprise you. It kind of does me."

Jan didn't see Hank the rest of that day, or all of the next. She didn't know a lot of places to look for him. The compound was so different from in the West Coast Avengers days. She looked in those places she knew later on her second day of consciousness, but had no success.

The next morning, after a breakfast of a half-dozen scrambled eggs, Jan decided she would wait for Hank awhile. Besides, she figured she could cause a stir amongst some of the male academy students if she lounged outside in a bikini. Maybe that was a way to get Hank's attention.

Jan's first problem was that the lounge chairs were too short at a little over seven feet long. She resolved it by grabbing an ottoman from inside the bungalow and using it at the end of the lounge for her feet. Then she stretched out, wearing only a teeny yellow bikini and some shades.

The boys definitely gave Jan a lot of lingering looks, even outright leers, but kept a distance. When Reptil started toward her, looking like he might make a pass, Lyra stopped him. "That's Giant-Man's woman," she said.

Jan sighed. I wish I knew if I still am Giant-man's woman, she thought.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am," said a feminine, filtered, young voice. "Are you really the Wasp? The founding Avenger Wasp?

Jan pulled down her sunglasses as she stood up. Standing in front of her was a teen girl in a yellow and black containment suit.

Jan smiled. "Yep, that's me," she said.

"Oh, wow," the girl said. "I'm just … I'm so glad you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here too ," Jan said. This was the first student who'd come to talk to her since that first day, and most of them had been more interested in Hank, or just gawked. "What's your name?"

"Hazmat," the girl said.

Jan sat up slightly. "No, I mean your name, not your code name. Your identity's not secret, is it?"

Hazmat giggled. "No," she said. "My name's Jennifer Takeda."

"What do they call you? Jennifer? Jenny? Jen?"

"Jenny," Hazmat said.

Jan stood up and shook Hazmat's gloved hand. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Jenny," she said.

"For me, too," Jenny said. Abruptly, she hugged Jan around the waist, then turned and ran off. "Thanks!" she said.

"Thank you," said Jan.

She turned to find Tigra occupying the lounge chair. "You're a typical cat, you know that?" Jan said.

Tigra looked up, grinning, her fangs showing. "What can I say? I like to lounge in the sun, too."

Jan leaned by the doorframe, her head and shoulders above it. "What brings you here, Greer? Just a social visit?"

"Actually, I was just checking on the kids, and had been watching Hazmat," Greer said.

"You mean Jenny," Jan said.

"You have no idea how good it is for her to have you here, Jan," Tigra said.

"She's always in that suit," Jan said. "It looks like a containment suit."

"Jenny's powers are always on, and she emits every type of toxin imaginable - radiation, posions, pollution, carcinogens, germs, viruses," Greer said. "She's potentially toxic to anyone she so much as stands near without that suit."

"Oh, that poor kid," Jan said. Then what Greer said hit her. "Wait. I was toxic the same way when the Skrull bomb went off in me, and right after Ultron revived me."

"You were a human weapon of mass destruction," Greer said. "That's how Hazmat describes herself."

Greer stood up. "And now, you're better, something Jenny had despaired of ever being," she said. "You have given her hope, simply by being here."

"Well, I'm glad I'm doing someone some good," Jan said. "Um, Greer, about you and Hank ... I know what went on since the real Hank got back."

"Jan, before you go any further, you should know three things," Greer said. "First, I can smell emotions, including yours and Hank's. Second, my emotions on bonding with a ... well, mate, are more like a cat than a human - and I do remember human bonding; I was married before, remember? And, third, I know how special what you and Hank had - and, I think, have - is. He's shared things with me I think he's only shared with you and his first wife, Maria ... but, Jan, you're the great love of his life. I've got no interest in getting in the way of that."

"What about William?"

Greer shrugged. "William may be genetically Hank's, but his father was Criti Noll, the Skrull impostor. If anything happens to me, I want Hank to take care of him - Hank and whoever's in his life then."

Greer got into position to pounce away. "And, to be honest, I think that'll be you. You are, as the kids said, the Headmaster's woman."

Jan turned to duck into her bungalow as Greer bounded off. "Yeah, right," the giantess said.

It was late afternoon when Hank finally came to the bungalow. He was wearing his Giant-Man uniform, but standing only his normal, human height.

"About time you came by," Jan said. "Just how busy is this school keeping you, anyway?"

"I thought we should talk," Hank said.

"Finally!" Jan said. "Where do we start?"

"Well, we can't keep your return a secret much longer," Hank said. "I think we ought to schedule a press conference."

Jan leaned forward in disbelief. "Press conference?" she said. "Press conference? Hank, we're a couple, or at least I thought we were. You've been avoiding me for more than two days. We've been apart for years - literally years - and are finally getting the chance to reconnect, and you avoid me, then, when we finally are together, you want to talk about a press conference? Hank, we need to talk about us!"

Hank turned his back to Jan. "Jan, I ... don't know if there is an us any more," he said.

"What?" Jan said in a voice surprisingly small for one so big.

"I had to close my heart to you - to my love of you - to keep on living," Hank said, his back still to Jan. "As to reopening it - " he shook his head.

Hank clenched a fist, not looking to see the absolute shock on Jan's face. "I should go," he said and left, without saying another word or looking back.