Sometimes Ana felt extraordinarily lucky. She had a loving family that supported her, she had a stable job with co-workers that she counted as friends, and her apartment, though small, was in one of the better parts of the city. So yes, most days had Ana thanking whichever deities looked over her for her good fortune.

Today was not one of those days.

She had woken up late after her alarm failed to go off (damn power outage!), her umbrella broke in the cab which had just run through a giant puddle, thus dousing her with dirty rainwater, and Starbucks had been packed like a can of sardines. It was just as well, really, she didn't have time for breakfast right now, anyway. To make matters worse, the line for security was wrapped throughout the lobby like an ugly, inconvenient snake.

Still, it could be worse, she thought to herself when she finally got to the elevator in Stark Tower. You know what Sarah would say, "first world problems." Her sister was the epitome of positive thinking, everything had a silver lining. It's one of the reasons Ana loved her so much, and why she looked up to her even though Sarah was five years younger. I should call her tonight.

The elevator doors opened to her floor and she quickly hopped off, partly to pry herself away from the crowd as soon as possible and partly because she was so,so late. She ran down the empty hallway, thankful that Jane's office was on the quietest floor in the building.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!", she yelled as she burst through the doors, only to realize that she was speaking to an empty room.

"Jane? Darcy?" She questioned, searching for some human presence. I'm on the right floor, right? Oh God, please tell me I'm on the right floor. I'm not getting on that hellscape of an elevator again. But her worries were unfounded when Jane came through the door with a stack full of folders immediately after the thought.

"Good morning, Ana," she greeted sweetly.

"Jane, I'm so, so sorry I'm late. My alarm didn't go off, and then the douche in the cab ran me over so I didn't have time to-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jane said, holding up her hand to stop the flow of excuses running from Ana's mouth. "You were run over by a cab? Are you alright?" Ana looked at her in confusion for a moment before realizing what she had said.

"No, no, not run over by one. Sorry. I was splashed by one. Hence the drowned rat look," she panted as she swept her right hand in the air, gesturing towards her dripping clothes. "Anyway, I'm so sorry I'm late. If you wanna fire me, I totally understand," she conceded. She never wanted Jane to think that she didn't take this job as seriously as she did any other just because of their close friendship.

Jane pondered for a moment. "Yeah. You know what, this is unacceptable. You're fired."

Ana's heart stopped for a second, the color draining from her face.

"Oh my god, Ana, I'm joking. Honestly, what kind of a person do you think I am? Besides, Darcy hasn't been on time once since she's worked for me."

"Hey, I resent that!" Darcy said with her mouth full as she strolled in holding a coffee in one hand and bagel in the other.

"See," Jane said, raising her eyebrows at Ana as if to say told ya.

Ana chuckled, "Thanks, Jane. Sometimes I forget how great you are. My last boss would've murdered me. I'm still traumatized by her." She would never forget the wicked witch of the West Village, Miss Sinclair. After five months of her almost abusive treatment, Ana had said good-fuckin-bye to her. Life was too short and she swore she found a gray hair. No job was worth that.

"Don't worry about it. And get out of those clothes, you'll catch pneumonia. I think I have some in the closet for when I work here overnights. They're sweatpants and a t-shirt, if you don't mind that. It's just us on this floor anyway." Jane smiled reassuringly.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" Ana said in a chipmunk voice before making her way to the closet in the back of the office.

"You're welcome!"Jane yelled towards her.

The office was dark, lit by nothing other than the soft glow of computer screens and glittering constellations on the wall. Jane had told Tony about how difficult it was to read the constellations on the printout maps in passing one day, and having the hero complex he did, he immediately set up a sophisticated type of projection system so the entire side wall was a map of constellations. It looked so real that sometimes it felt like they were working in the night sky itself. Darcy told her she swore she saw Jane tear up a little when Tony presented it to her. Jane denied it, of course.

Ana quickly found the clothes in the supply closet, stashed on top of a stack of printing paper. The pants were soft on the inside like your typical sweatpants but had more of a yoga-style cut and look on the outside, which Ana was grateful for if not a bit confounded by. What type of sorcery is this? She greatly appreciated getting out of her wet clothes but didn't want to feel like too much of a slob at work.

At home was a different story.

Paired with the slate blue fabric was a white t-shirt. It was also super soft, and Ana wasn't surprised to find that both items were made by Stark Industries. She brought them to the bathroom with her, grateful for the spacious dressing area that was part of it. She had asked Jane one day why there was such an area in an office bathroom, but all she could tell her was that Pepper said something to Tony about not knowing the feminine struggles of women and bim-bam-boom every office had a dressing room.

Peeling her wet clothes off of her still damp skin was simultaneously wonderful and repulsive. Taking them off was a relief, but the feeling of the wet cloth sliding against her skin made it crawl.

She dried herself off the best she could with one of the towels stacked on the vanity (thank you, Darcy, for your foresight) and almost moaned at the soft comfort of the sweatpants as she pulled them on. They were a perfect fit for her, which meant Jane must like her sweats one size too big. The shirt, on the other hand, was a tad snug. She had a larger bust than Jane as well as a longer torso. The resulting difference was about one inch of exposed skin between the bottom of the t-shirt and the top of the pants. Eh, I'll take it. At least it was dry and soft.

She tried to manage her hair the best she could, her pin straight mane that she had worked so hard to get that morning rebelling against the rain with her natural curly texture. Although her hair was so long now that it was more of a strong wave. Ponytail it is. She took one of her emergency elastics from her bag and tossed her hair into a thick ponytail. At least I look less like Albert Einstein now, she thought. She had thought about dyeing it blonde once in high school but was quickly talked out of it when she read how you would never get your natural color back, especially if you were a brunette. Her sister, on the other hand, had dyed hers every color of the rainbow. As a result, Sarah's hair lightened a few shades whenever she went back to her natural color, taking the signature family deep chocolate strands down to a medium chestnut. She still looked beautiful, as always. Sarah was that type of person, she had even had a modeling agency chase her once. But Sarah wanted none of the attention, being content with the simple joys of her life instead.

Ana, on the other hand, was not as physically gifted. She was pretty, sure. Some may even say beautiful, if she went full glam with her makeup (which she rarely did, always opting for some light mascara and maybe a lip stain if she was feeling particularly playful). She had no ill will towards the mirror whenever she looked into it. But she was the shortest in her family at a height of 5' 5", which may not seem like such a big difference from her sister's 5' 7" stature, though Sarah held herself with such grace and charm that she moved like a gazelle, often making her seem taller than the measurement said she was. Ana had also never been recruited by any modeling agency. Let alone the one that discovered Victoria's Secret Angels.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Darcy called for her, asking if she could also grab a few file folders from the supply closet.

"Sure thing, Darce!" She yelled back, laying her wet clothes over the chair in front of the vanity, attempting to let them dry out as much as possible. She grabbed the file folders and made her way to the front of the office with Jane and Darcy.

It was finally time to get some work done.

A few hours later, Ana realized it was almost noon and she hadn't had her morning tea yet. She wasn't much of a coffee drinker, the beverage being too bitter for her liking, no matter how much sugar she put in it. Tea was sweet and soothing, and provided enough of a caffeine boost that it energized her for the day.

"Hey Jane, mind if I go grab some tea in the break room?" She looked up over her computer monitor, seeing the brown eyed beauty diligently working on her current calculations for some project she was working on for Tony. As an astronomy minor, Ana could comprehend the space aspects of Jane's work and actually found it to be quite enjoyable. When it came to physics, however, she was a lost cause.

"Jane? Jaaaaaaneee?," Ana sing-songed, trying to get Jane's attention.

"It's a lost cause, Anastasia," Darcy informed from her desk. "You know how she gets when she's down the rabbit hole. Watch." Darcy spun around in her desk chair, stopping when she was facing Jane. "Hey Jane, I had a sex dream about Thor last night. He went down on me and everything. Except, fun twist, instead of a dick he had a teeny tiny hammer. And let me tell you, he took me to poun-"

"Darcy!" Jane yelled in disgrace, throwing her hands over her ears. "My god! I'm not deaf, you know. I was just concentrating. But thank you for that mental image." She looked to Ana, who was trying her damndest not to laugh and failing miserably.

"Sorry, Ana. Of course you can go take a break. Take as much time as you want. And if you didn't come back, I wouldn't blame you." She playfully glared at Darcy, who shrugged her shoulders and smirked as she went back to work on her computer.

"Thanks Jane. You guys want anything?" she asked as she stood from her chair, placing her hands on the back of it.

"Some nice dick would be nice," Darcy muttered under her breath, but her two colleagues heard her, as evidenced by the scandalized scream of her name. She tossed her hands up in the air, shouting, "What?! It would be!" before placing them back on her desk in a huff.

Ana traipsed out of the office, a smile on her face. Her day had started out terribly, but she could always count on her friends to turn it around.

Strolling down the hall, she took notice that it was exceptionally quiet on their floor today. Granted, it usually was, but there was a meeting room down the other end of the hall that was often in use. Today it appeared to be a ghost town, her footsteps and the pounding of rain on the windows the only sounds keeping her company.

She reached the break room, pressing her hand to the scanner to allow herself access. Sometimes the technology of this place still amazed her, even something as seemingly simple as a hand scanner.

Walking through the door, she recalled how mesmerized she was by this space on her first day. Calling it a "break room" really did not do it justice. It resembled more of a lounge with its full kitchen (including a gorgeous marble island), dining space and cozy, plush chairs forming a half circle in front of the large expanse of windows overlooking the city. It was a good thing she had gotten over her fear of heights when she was a teenager. Otherwise, she would have never been able to take a job where most rooms had entire walls of glass, reminding her of just how high up she was.

She made her way towards the cabinet where she knew her tea bags resided. She groaned as she opened it to reveal they were on the very top shelf.

Thor must have made it for Jane yesterday.

Curses on you, God of Thunder.

Ana had met Thor a few months into her new job. She was intimidated at first, as it wasn't every day that you met a Norse God, but she instantly warmed up to him when he greeted her with an enthusiastic smile and boisterous "Lady Ana!" Apparently Jane had spoken about her new assistant frequently and with warm regard.

Thor and Tony were her only acquaintances within the Avengers team, as they were the only ones with reason to visit Jane. She had seen the Black Widow at the elevator bank once but immediately averted her eyes after muttering a quick "good morning", finding the Widow's attention too much to bear. Ana admired the hell out of her, but she was much too intimidated by the redhead to look her in the eye for more than a second, let alone build a friendship with her.

Hell, when she first started, she was intimidated by everyone in this building.

Ana started the kettle before making her way over to grab a chair from the casual dining table, hauling it back towards the cabinet to use as a step stool. Placing it underneath the cabinet, she climbed up, finally able to reach her tea bags. Climbing back down with her prize, she took a mug from one of the hooks underneath the cabinet and made her way to the kettle, waiting patiently for the telltale whistle to start blowing.

About ten minutes later she was done preparing her morning beverage, although a glance at her watch told her it was now her afternoon beverage. Taking a sip of the hot liquid, she immediately recoiled from the scalding temperature. She placed her tea bags back in the cabinet, making sure to put them on the bottom shelf (not that she could reach farther than that, even if she stood on her tiptoes). Who made these things so damn high anyway? Not everyone that works here is a Sequoia.

Ana took her mug and made her way to the door. Looking down into the mug, she carefully blew on it as she walked…

And crashed into a wall.

Ana yelped as hot tea spilled everywhere, its number one target being herself. The other casualties appeared to be the floor and the wall.

The wall that breathed. And was firmly sculpted underneath a soaking wet t-shirt. And was grasping her upper arms, saving her from joining the tea on the floor.

She looked up into bright blue eyes, eyes that were widened and looking like they had seen a ghost.

Speaking of Sequoias…

Holy fucking hell. I just spilled tea on Captain America.