A/N: So It's been awhile, on request, I've edited the original chapter, made it a bit more smoother and easier to read. Also, I've stuck to my Geordie roots, I'm from Newcastle in the U.K. So a lot of the slang I've incorporated into this, is the norm for me however I have written it for you to understand it enough to be enjoyable to read. Mind you I did have a little giggle to myself when automatically writing words which are second nature to me and thinking to myself, will my readers understand the placement of this word? In this sentence? The meaning? No we'll just take that out. Aha.
Anyways, I'm also hoping and somewhat praying, to keep the story as parallel to the timeline of each movie as much as I can. Meaning, if I get a good enough response and support from everyone I'll update as much as I can.
Originally I wanted to start this a couple of months after Loki's attack on New York, where we witness the Avengers for the first time, however, there is a lot to incorporate, I'm talking more towards the mentioning/acknowledging the movies/new characters that have followed since.
So I've ran from Age of Ultron, although I will be making little references here and there for some of the previous movies, I'm hoping you'll catch them. I will also welcome any eagle eyed reviewers to kindly leave comments as to whether I've made any mistakes, whether that be general grammar and spelling but also if I happen to make any errors when connecting events of my story in with that of the movies. Knowing me, its probable.
We'll see how that goes of course. As always I don't own anyrights of the characters other than my jolly own.
Toodles!
It Start With The Touch Of His Hands
Set three months after the events in Sokovia.
Newcastle, United Kingdom.
August 23rd.
Third person P.O.V
A dull light emits into the darkness of the room, the rectangle of light brightens for a moment from the mobile phone sitting half hazardly against an open book, the screen flashes before a melody plays softly, breaking the silence of night and slightly rousing the sole occupant of the flat from her place on the sofa but not enough to wake her fully. The alarm she'd set was one of three so if this one didn't wake her, there was defiantly more to come, the song she'd set with the alarm begins to rise in volume as the song kicks in and plays the first verse.
"I have been crazy. But that's just alright, alright. I have been lonely. But that's just alright, alright.
My feelings I don't hide them, hide them, hide them. Inside they keep on burning, burning, burning.
Your feelings you shouldn't hide them, hide them, hide them.
From me.
Nah, nah , nah no oh!"
As promised, the alarm has proven its purpose and the snoozing figure finally begins to awakens from her sleep, she stares confusedly into the darkness for a moment, her phone brightens again as the volume of the song increases too, the light finally catches her attention and her tired eyes shift to the phone before she's realising what has woken her and why. Reaching over, she tiredly and a little blindly because of the brightness, begins patting her hand against the cold surface of the glass coffee table in hopes she finds her phone and silences the damn alarm.
"That can not be the time already?!"
Her tiredness makes her clumsy as she knocks her phone against the glass and the vibrations from the movement echoes around the small flat and the noise startles her awake completely. She squints against the brightness of the phone's light to find that it honestly is 11:45 at night. A few unhappy groans tumble from her lips as she rolls back into the comfort of her sofa, she lays there for a few more minutes, giving her mind and body time wake itself enough to stand without falling. Given her clumsy nature, that is wishful thinking.
"This isn't going to get jobs done." She mumbles to herself as she sighs and gives her weary limbs a stretch before sitting up and taking in the her empty sitting room.
It's late, that is much and she felt more tired now than what she did before she went to sleep. She would loved nothing more than to curl back up on the sofa, pick right back up off where her dream had broken off from and enjoy the peace but alas as she has spoken there is work to be done. Stifling a yawn the young woman; clothed in a very old pair of pyjama boxer shorts and a thin spaghetti strapped styled vest top, she mentally pep talks herself into moving away from the very comfortable, soft and only just recently warmed to the right temperature sofa, to softly pad her way to the kitchen.
The light of the half moon is filtering through the windows in between the passing clouds and gives her enough light to work with as she finds her laptop sitting on the kitchen counter/table, lifting the lid the device makes a few stirring noise before it starts up. She had put it into sleep mode before she also went into sleep mode and all the apps and documents she had been working on beforehand is still sitting at the ready on her desktop. Which included Skype, a couple of Google tabs on travelling paths and times, a word document and a photo album.
"Oh, sweet baby Jesus that's bright." Squinting against the light of the laptop screen, she blinks back tears as her eyes adjust the brightness.
Happy that everything is how she left it, she walks still blinking repeatedly as she tries to get rid of the funny shaped blobs that have been caught up in her sight. Chuckling to herself as she stumbles up to the counter with the kettle and tea, coffee and sugar pots, she flicks the switch on the kettle before lifting her cup off of the draining board and adding half a tea spoon full of coffee and two tea spoons full of sugar whilst the kettle boils. A little too loudly for her opinion but given she was never a morning person, she lets the noise wash over her as the smell of coffee entices her mind to wake up properly.
As the kettle boils, she thanks God for the 'whistling' mechanism on the kettle for breaking on her earlier this week because she was in no mood to have it screaming at her.
PING!
She smiles slightly into the darkness as the all too familiar sound originating from the speakers of her laptop floats to her ears, she lazily flicks her gaze from the cup of coffee that she had poured the now boiled water into and begins stirring milk into, to the clock on the kitchen wall. She has to squint slightly again to try and decipher the time using the light coming from the laptop. Still too tired and in denial that it is dark enough that she needs to turn a light on.
"Twelve bells, as usual." She murmurs to herself once she finally reads the time 12:00, the tone behind the murmur was more of a 'right on time' kind of tone. As she knew exactly why, what and who the reason behind the noise was. Screwing the lid back onto the milk carton, she moves silently across the stonework tiled flooring of her kitchen, slips the spoon into the sink before placing the milk back into its place in the fridge.
PING!
"Oh hold your horses." She mutters as she half jogs on her tip toes back to the counter to grab her cup.
"Shit, shit, shit that's hot." Not realising she has filled the cup up a bit more the usual, she suffers a few minutes of discomfort from the splattering of hot coffee.
She has to concentrate though and take her time with the overfilled cup as she walks cautiously to the kitchen table before seating herself at it. She swipes a finger against the mouse pad and her screensaver of pictures disappear, bringing her Skype page back to her eyes. She searches around her laptop on the table but comes up short for the thing that she was looking for, before patting her head and rolling her eyes at herself as she begins untangling her glasses from off of her sleep mussed hair.
"How the hell these things stayed on top of my head whilst I was asleep, I will never know." She mutters to herself as she uses the bottom of her top to quickly clean them before putting them on.
She double checks that the person trying to contact her is the very one she's been waiting for, testing the temperature of the liquid with tentative sip, she sets the cup aside satisfied and clicks 'Connect'. For a moment the screen stays between limbo as it opens the connection and she waits patiently, leaning back into her chair as she watches the little buffering symbol as it continues its rotating sequence for a few more seconds before the image of a familiar face greets her.
"Oh finally! I've been waiting ages for you to answer little miss!" The woman on the otherside of the connection sasses and half-heartedly glares at her through the screen. The similarities between both women are shocking; both are gifted with long golden hair, green eyes and lightly rose coloured lips. There was no doubt that they were related, however the woman on the screen was evidently older, if the slight appearance of crow's feet peaking out at the corner of her eyes was any indication.
"Oh please Liz, it was a couple of minutes you little drama queen." The younger woman retorts with a grin before she reaches for her cup to take another sip; she holds it against her stomach as she rolls her eyes playfully before replying. "And besides, need I remind you of what time it is at this particular part of the world?" She says sweetly to this 'Liz' before leaning forward to rest her elbows against the table and taking another sip, giving 'Liz' and better look at the 'not impressed' expression on her face.
"Yeah, yeah I know its late Mads but you're my sister and that means I can call at any given time and you have to answer, it's in the handbook. Page twenty-one, chapter seven, paragraph four. Right before the chapter on the meanings behind 'I love you!'" Madison or Mads for short laughed as her sister Liz battered her eyelashes in mock innocence.
"Don't act all innocent with me madam." Madison laughs before adding in her next sentence as a somewhat after thought. "And are you sure that you're not getting your 'how to be a sister' handbook mixed up with the other handbook you have?" She questions and Liz's face drops slightly as she catches the hidden meaning and tone behind it before bouncing back to her quirky-self.
"Oh come on Mads, this again? Look I know you don't like it when you're the last to know about the Missions that I go on but please don't give me one of your speeches tonight, Sis. You know the protocols and what to expect from them." Madison sighs as Liz finally shows how tired and stressed she is because of her job. And a flicker of guilt washes over her. She sets the half empty cup back onto the table and drags a hand across her face before pinching her fingers against the bridge of her nose.
"I know, I know. But surely there's a line somewhere, where you or someone can at least let me know. After what happened the last time you went on a mission and all, I would've thought that they could at least be a little bit more caring to your next of kin." She says tiredly as she looks back at Liz, assessing Liz's sluggish posture and the bags under her eyes now that she's finally talking to someone besides her colleagues. "It's one thing to know your sister is a agent of a secret organisation. It's another thing to know that the organisation was S.H.E.I.L.D, of which no longer exists."
Liz opens her mouth to make a comment on the last part of her sisters sentence but thinks better of it.
"But that thing with Sokovia? The Avengers? Against a insane robot of one of Stark's creations, like seriously does no-one monitor him? He's constantly coming up with new things, does anyone actually give him the green light at all on these things?" Madison asks Liz frustratedly as she picks her coffee back up, needing more stimulation.
"This is Stark Sis, Tony Stark. He's impulsive. He does what he wants and guilt trips himself for the consequences he's caused after." Liz says but almost as if its something she says on a daily basis, with no emotion.
"Still, put that kid in a timeout. Look, as I said, I don't like being the last to know about things concerning your job especially when its dangerous and defiantly not being informed about this whilst said dangerous work is in a remote part of Russia, via the News. Everyone thinks the worst in these time of events but no-one tends to think, especially on this side of the world, is my sister there?" Madison pauses for a moment, staring blindly into her cup as her mind, already back tracking to months previously, to the when she was in the middle of eating her lunch when the lunchtime news suddenly brought up a live feed of Sokovia. She blinks away a few tears and swallow the lump in her throat.
"Mads I-" Liz starts.
"You didn't call." She pauses, still staring into her cup as she remembers. "You didn't answer any of my texts, didn't pick up my voicemails or even acknowledge to hefty amount of missed calls I left." She sniffles as a stray tear escapes. "I waited for three days, whilst everyone else went back to their own business, I waited by the house phone; mobile and even had my laptop constantly plugged in so it didn't lose power encase you Skyped me. Three days of my heart growing emptier and when you do call, you brush it off so easily, so casually as if it were just a walk in the park. In those three days, I thought the worst of the worst. I had half a mind to get on a plane and kick whose ever arse that was in charge that day for putting me through that hell." She looks up and points to the screen as if the emphasize her point and to furthermore show Liz that she would've gone through with it.
"I know you would have hun and you know that I have no control over that, I get given these orders and then I'm expected to jump straight into action no questions asked. Act first and think later. It's what I signed up for and you know this. Ultron was something none of us could have imagined to have happened let alone to have controlled the outcome of it all; we've been over this Madison that was months ago. It's over with now, he's gone and the World is safe again. I'm safe and you're safe. That's all that matters. This is what I do." Liz's expression turns stern with her last sentence, a tone that Madison was familiar with but still rebelled against.
"But why becoming an Agent? And especially for them, S.H.I.E.L.D! The C.I.A maybe, F.B.I go right ahead, hell come back to England and join M.I.5 but S.H.I.E.L.D? And why did you stay with them after what happened with Hydra? Why couldn't you have followed after Sharon and joined the C.I.A?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't exist anymore, you know that, Nick still has a team, those that are still loyal, as a back up. However, Tony has employed the more active agents, ones that can do field missions, into his force. But we'll talk about that later." Liz looked up expectantly for another heated discussion regarding her new place of work but Madison, seemed still worked up over Sokovia.
"Wait, what? You know what I haven't had enough coffee to get me through this. Look alls I'm trying to say is that I understand and accept the job you work in but that doesn't mean I like it, or like being the last to know about your health and safety. Is it too much to ask you to find a job that doesn't have you shipped off to every God damn given country at the odd hours of the day? You'd be home in the evenings, you'd be out with your friends at the weekends and you could talk to me daily, you could've had a decent life." Madison could feel her anxiety creeping up on her and had to quell the lump of fear working its way up her throat.
"Director Fury approached me Madison, me, out of the whole police department in New York. Me. The skills I have are best suited to this occupation, you've even said it yourself that being just a regular police officer was getting me nowhere, that there was something bigger and better for me out there in this world. I left home because of those words. And you were right, there is and I was given it. I know it's hard on you to go days, weeks and at the most recent a month without hearing from me, it's hard on me too Mads, you're all that I have left now and I worry. I worry that I'm not going to make it back to you one day and you're going to be on your own. But what I do makes a difference, the things I do, the things I know and the things I see, people like you and the guys back at NYPD wouldn't even dream about. And it's because of those things that I HAVE to continue doing this, the world isn't as safe as it once was, or how people idly think it is." Liz pauses to take a breath.
"In all honesty I don't think I could ever stop doing my job, not after all that's happened. So don't ask me to." A tickling sensation against her cheek had Madison lift a hand to wipe against her face and staring confusedly at the wetness left against the pads of her fingers. Not realising that she had been crying, she lifts her glasses to brush away the rest of the tears. "Oh honey don't cry, if you cry, then I'll cry and we both know what will happen if I start to cry." Liz croaks and holds a finger up to Madison as she too stows away the tears, Madison lets out a breathy chuckled and nods before speaking.
"I'm sorry." She sniffles and leans against her right hand. "Sometimes I just think that it would all be better if I just moved to New York to stay with you. Childish I know. I'd at least I have the comfort and knowledge that you're not too far from me. Because this long distance and time difference thing is total bullocks." She laughs and earns a chuckle from Liz.
"Well now that my baby sister has G-R-A-D-U-A-T-E-D!" Liz sings before squealing and clapping her hands. "To which I couldn't be prouder of or happier about, it might not be such a bad idea." She grins excitedly through the camera and Madison sits there somewhat confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh come on smarty pants, the only reason that you're still living in dear old England is that you wanted to finish your studies back home. And look, you have! And the top of your class too! And, I know that you haven't applied to any local or private Practices yet. You have no decent and loving boyfriend or friends because you have been so set on your studies so it's not as if you have anything important left there, not with Mum and Dad's passing." They both stare off slightly thinking about their parents passing six years ago. "There are plenty of opportunities over here. Think about it, you graduated at the top of your class, got your masters degree and now you're a qualified Doctor. And you've got what most newly qualified Doctor's don't." Madison couldn't quite help but smile proudly as she listened to her sister praise her, she however resumed her confused face at her sister's comment.
"And what's that?"
"Actual experience for one but also the natural hand and gift for healing others, besides did anyone else in your class volunteer or take a year as a student paramedic before deciding to pursue a career in medicine? No, they all had there parents' money to back them."
"True." Madison perks up and begins bouncing in her seat with excitement. "You know how I'm an over achiever? I have something to tell you, well more so clear up a few things. First of all, I've been a qualified Doctor for the past year; I told you I was taking my Masters degree when really I had been taking my Doctorate, in the meantime a friend of mine invited me to join her Private Surgery on a temporary basis so I could get a roof over my head and a name to put out there if I got a better offer somewhere else." Liz's eyes widened in disbelief at hearing this.
"No! You mean?"
"Yes! I am and officially have been a Doctor Lizzy for the past year! A DOCTOR!" Both women screamed to each other in excited disbelief.
"But how?! Don't you have to be a little older? You're only 23!" Liz gasped out as reality hit her.
"Usually but because I excelled in both my Bachelor and Master years with the highest marks, I got through my Doctorate a lot faster too. There were no cutting corners or favouritism involved, I genuinely did my work, I worked my arse off for it all and it's paid off. I've had to change my name and all of my details over and everything! It's all surreal!" She watches as Liz continues to stare at her in disbelief, her mouth agape and both hands held up against her cheeks, she let out a laugh and Liz let out a chuckle.
"Oh my God." Liz pauses. "Oh my God. OhmyGod!" Liz loses her gaze as a moment of disbelief washes over her before she blinks and finally sees her sister as if it's the first time over again. "Mads, you did it!"
"I know."
"You have to come to New York now, I'll speak with Tony and get some time off so we can celebrate, in fact, I'll do it now." Liz disappeared from view for a moment.
"Liz? Lizzy? Elisabeth, you there?" Madison coos before Liz came back to the computer with her phone in her hand.
"Mads, start packing! Just the essentials, literally nothing but the essentials, I'm taking you shopping and everything. Just pack and sit tight, I'll sort this all out, I'll ring you at oh-seven-hundred with the details and your ass better be packed! Love you. Gotta go. Bye!" Liz quickly blew a kiss after she'd babbled out orders before the screen went blank and Skype informed Madison that the connection had ended.
She stared at the screen in bewilderment before moving into action.
"Alrighty then." Closing the lid she picks up her laptop and practically skips to her room in hopes to start packing and to get a couple of hours sleep, setting her laptop down on her bedroom desk, she reaches over and turns the lamp on beside her bed before putting her laptop and charger cable into its travel bag. She glances at the digital clock on her bedside table to find that its reads 2:17am.
"Were we really talking for that long? Good God!" Sighing to herself for not realising just how much time can fly by, she rubs a hand over her face as she stares at the corner of her bed in thought.
"Well, I best get a move on." She says to herself before bending to rest her knees on floor to try and wrestle her suitcase from out underneath the bed. She manages to grasp the strap firmly between her hands and gives it an almighty tug, however it doesn't budge but an uncomforting sound emits from under her bed and she only has a few seconds to react before the left hand side of her beds collapses to the floor.
"Ah bollucks!"
Yes, this is all remastered and shit, for those that are more literate and are in the know how of how one would look into getting a degree as a Practising Doctor then I apologies for my errors! Anyways, the next chapter will be up in the next 24 hours, I just wanted make sure this chapter was all neat and tidy before continuing, I'm not to sure whether the next chapter will be a throwback of Madison arriving at New York, to finding a job and so on before meeting the Avengers or - No, still debating. Either way 24 hours and it shall be up!
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