>> I like the way they're settling in, a new normality. It's been most of a year, <<

Yay! It takes about a year for most people to adjust to a major loss.

>> and Alexa is more 'present', rather than Flip thinking of her in terms of what has been /lost/. <<

Yes. By this time, most of the damage has healed that's going to, and they can work on building a new life based on current circumstances. Alexa has enough focus and energy to take part in more family activities now, not all taken up by sheer survival.

>> Yay, Captain America appears, right at the point where a little boy would want a hero. <<

Sooth. Flip needs somebody to look up to.

>> That they were brighter and more positive than his previous comics plays into so many possibilities... Perfect. <<

Flip does have a tendency to get caught up in darker things. He needs someone to remind him of the lighter side in life. When he was tiny and got bored with cartoonie stuff, Alexa introduced him to the exciting world of spies and detectives. Now that he needs something uplifting, she has brought him a hero instead.

Her logical skills may be impaired, but her emotional ones are perfectly intact.

>> Thanks for posting it. <<

*bow, flourish* Happy to be of assistance!