Leo's voice came through the phone.
Jenny couldn't help covering her mouth, tears of excitement welling up in her weary eyes.
Back then, George, who knew the truth, had told Jenny an excuse: "S.H.I.E.L.D. asked Leo to help investigate the alien invasion."
But almost a year had passed.
Even Jenny had realized something was wrong.
The two of them had long since stopped wondering whether Leo was the Golden Legend.
Their only hope was that Leo would come home safely.
Like the parents of the thousands who had died during the Chitauri invasion, they worried constantly about their child.
But everyone else had learned what had happened to their loved ones long ago. Time slowly dulled their endless grief, and eventually, they still had to face their own lives.
The uncertainty in Jenny and George's hearts, however, only grew heavier.
For the two of them, that faint hope born of not knowing what had happened haunted them day and night.
Tears of excitement spilled from the corners of Jenny's eyes. Her hands trembled, and for a long time, she couldn't speak.
George, trembling a little himself, took the phone from her.
"Leo?"
"It's me, Uncle George. I'm back. Sorry I took so long. Something unexpected happened along the way. This time..."
"As long as you're back. As long as you're back. Where are you? We'll come find you right away."
Tears glimmered in George's eyes too.
Leo had arrived here at five years old, and the couple had raised him for ten years. Jenny and George had long since come to see him as their own child.
Jenny and George had few relatives to begin with. When they married, they had taken a trip instead of holding a wedding.
Afterward, they had poured all their love into this well-behaved child.