It was understandable that some people had trouble with the shifts, but for him, even though it was only his second time, he had no issues.

After all, when you're used to time travel, alternate universes, and controlling particles of space and science, not much can surprise you.

At least, this is what he keeps telling himself.

Nathaniel Adam came back into Boston, into the body of Adam Trevisan, in the middle of a surprise birthday party for Adam. Nathaniel found it amusing that he was surrounded by those that Adam knew well (and some new friends), because it gave him a glimpse into who everyone was. Booster Gold, Ice, Fire, Blue Beetle, Wonder Woman, Oracle - these were all faces he knew, or people he had heard of. It was comforting to know that those people were connected in some way to him; it made the shift into his true self easier. And while his best friend was also a Captain, he was from a different universe. It was interesting knowing how people connected (and sometimes, disconnected) here.

Sometime around one in the morning, when people started to part ways and head to their respective homes, Nathaniel had decided to head to his home in Fort Point. His decently decorated loft gave the idea that he wasn't as wealthy as he truly was in this world, and Nathaniel appreciated the subtlety. There were far more important things to worry about than exposing personal wealth or try to jump the social ladder, and he was glad that his counterpart seemed to agree. Modesty was something that Adam seemed to value, especially when it came to his own life. The man seemed to keep things private and to himself, for fear of letting anyone in. For fear of letting anyone down.

He hadn't had the chance to explore the loft before, so Nathaniel took it upon himself to explore now. Pieces of art carefully picked out were hung on the wall, but none of them were particularly happy. Old photographs of his air force days were hung up by his bed, with a photograph of him, his brother Jon, and their father in front of the plane their father used to fly sitting on the bedside table. Nathaniel didn't have to search Adam's memories to know what that photograph meant to him. Family was important to him, and after the loss of both of his parents, his older brother Jon was all he had left.

Little trinkets lined the loft, filling in the spaces where needed, though not quite filling in a 'void' so to speak. Brick walls held the loft together, giving it a more home-style feel. It appeared that in a way, Adam was holding on to the past. Nathaniel could relate. He kept his life private, his idenity private, so that he could attempt in some way to live a normal life, even if he was hardly normal.

A walking experiment, a walking and talking literal atomic bomb that could ruin everything in one moment. A time traveler, a man running out of time and a man with too much time. Loyal to his duty in the Air Force, but also loyal to his duty with the Justice League, causing conflicts at times. A divorced man, destined to choose his duty over his life, over his idea of love. A man sacrificing the world at times, just so everything can sit right in it's place.

Adam had not experienced that level of difficulty in his life, but he had similar things. Losing parents, fighting in wars, watching his friends die. He had become as much of a loner as Nathaniel had. After a while, it was obvious both men were wondering if it was always worth it, putting others in front of themselves.

But to them, life was always sacrifice.

Like being here, it was a sacrifice of it's own. Nathaniel had gotten used to his powers, to his life as an atomic being. Being here proved to him that while it was just another alternate universe for him, in this world his powers were gone. That was, until Adam had discovered he had super strength. At least the bedroom had been fixed now.

Nathaniel carefully stood in the middle of the loft now, the time around four in the morning on Monday, careful not to touch any of the objects in the room as he tested a theory. If Adam had received one of his powers, did Nathaniel get any of his back?

He closed his eyes.

He waited.

Slowly, the liquid silver of his dilustel armor started to form around his skin, tearing away at his clothes and disintegrating them. He smiled as the armor covered his face, his hair, covered everything down to his finger tips and toes. He could feel the power that it gave him, he could feel the changes in his molecules. It was all still there.

He looked up, and floated up to the high cathedral ceilings of the loft, noting he had his flight. He didn't have to test the rest of his powers to know that he had them - he was, in a way, a packaged deal. (He could hear Adam in his head laughing at this, because it had been a phrase Adam had used only a few days before.)

Nathaniel lowered himself to the ground, and started to will away the armor, as he walked to the closet, grabbing a pair of sweatpants, pulling them on once the armor had disappeared and left him naked in the middle of the loft. He had never quite gotten used to the idea of his clothes disintegrating, but he had never been bothered by it. When he was in the armor, he was self-sustained. He didn't need to eat, he didn't need to drink, he didn't need to sleep - he had let himself live that way for years, because it was easier. He slept now because he could, he ate because he enjoyed the tastes, he drank because he enjoyed the feeling.

But he lived the life he did not because it was important to him, but it was important to others.

Perhaps, he thought, it was time to change that. He did not have to be forced to live out a life sentence for a crime he did not commit. There were no government officials watching his every move, fearful for when he'd turn on them (though he never would). There was no sadness of watching his ex-wife married to another man when she thought he was dead. There was no anger at the men who conducted the experiment on him, expecting him not to survive it. It was a second chance. A second chance, or a third chance, depending on how Nathaniel looked at it.

It was obvious to him that there were things that needed to be solved. People that needed protecting. Criminals that needed to be brought to justice. But he could do this on his own accord. He could do this now because he wanted to, not because he had to if he wanted his presidential pardon that was never going to happen.

He had once lived a life of fear: people who feared him, feared what he could do, feared his power, and feared him as a man. He had feared losing those he had gained the friendship and respect for. He had feared losing more time, getting thrown forward another 20 years to find everything changed.

He didn't need to fear anymore. It seemed that everyone was in control of their fate here, as much as it was allowed. It was different, but it was welcomed. He wondered if other viewed this universe in the same way.

(For a moment, he also wondered if he could go back to his universe, having done universal travel before. Should he even attempt to try it? Would it be worth it?)

Nathaniel, dressed at least from the waist down, decided to rest on the bed, his legs crossed at his ankles, his head resting on the pillow, his arms behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. There were plenty of things here that no one seemed to know, but at least this time he wouldn't be going through the shift alone. It had been hard on him, on Adam, to deal with the changes with out anyone explaining what was going on, but he knew that if he needed answers, he'd have to hunt them down himself. How else would anyone know that he was dealing with the same thing they were dealing with? People wouldn't come to him asking him if he needed help if they had no idea of what he had been struggling with.

It seemed that even though for all intents and purposes he still looked human, at times he forgot how it was to be human. To deal with emotions and issues, to deal with remembering to eat, to sleep, to socalize, to be part of a larger picture.

But when you were a literal atomic bomb, hailed as an equivalent to 'Watchmen' Dr. Manhattan, how else are you expected to life?

But he could do it, he could pull parts of Adam's life and parts of his and make it one. He could make them whole, he could teach Adam the greater things of math, science, physics, inter-dimensional space travel, but only if the other man was open to it. Only if he could accept the little things as truth.

Adam having superhuman strength was a start of a change in his life. While Nathaniel hoped his counterpart would never know what it was to be a walking human bomb, he hoped he could at least learn a bit more about being human again through him. They could learn from each other, if they allowed it. So, he told himself that he'd leave notes, he'd leave equations and drawings, he'd leave photographic and video evidence if he had to, anything he could do to help convince Adam of what was going on.

He's start small though. And he'd start by making sure he didn't mess up anything that Adam had going on in his life, especially when it came to certain company that he had enjoyed being around as of late. If things were going to work, if he was going to live as two people once a month, he'd need to be respectful of what his counterpart had gotten up to. Even if it might not always be a good decision. Luckily, there wasn't anything that Nathaniel felt he needed to change. Yet. He just hoped it would stay this way.

As it reached closer to 6 in the morning on Monday, he had realized that he hadn't felt tired. He hadn't felt the need to eat or sleep, and that was all due to the armor lingering in his molecules, in his skin, in his muscles. Adam still had a live he was leading, and Nathaniel had to respect that.

So he went about taking care of Adam's normal routine in the morning: shower, breakfast, reading the paper/watching the news, getting dressed in a suit. There were worst things that could be part of a routine, and Nathaniel knew the only way to co-exist is if he respected the boundaries and rules that Adam had inadvertently set up for himself.

He went through the routine. He grabbed his keys and headed out the door, heading towards the offices of Trevisan International, deciding to take on Adam's job to help out. He'd do his part to keep things normal. He'd even throw in making fun of Jon - who he now knew as Booster Gold - for good measure.

But he'd have to start getting to the bottom of things soon. He'd have to figure out how he got here, why those who were dead were now alive, and while he had found himself with a second personality.

But for now, it was one step at a time, one that Captain Atom was glad to take.