The room was silent as she walked around, eyeing each person carefully. One of them was bound to slip up. One always did, especially during this important time.

Slight movement caught her attention. Turning her head, she didn't see anything unusual...yet. There was nothing she could do if she didn't catch them in the act.

She glanced at the clock. Two more minutes. Maybe this will actually go smoothly. Even though it appeared that way she still kept her guard up. Anything could happen at any second.

It was getting down to the final seconds and she scanned the room for any last minute attempts. Keep both eyes opened and on the targets. She was kind of hoping one of them would slip up. It had been so long since she got to punish someone.

She took another quick glance at the clock; she sighed. "Time's up." It looks like she didn't get to punish anyone...this time at least. "Please put your tests on my desk and you're free to go."

All at once, the students stood up, dropping their tests off on their way out the door. Some were discussing how they did on the test.

Kayla sat at her desk as the last of her students filed out. Her gaze then went to the stack of tests. Kayla loved teaching and she wouldn't give it up, but sometimes she despised grading papers. It was her last class of the day so she grabbed the tests, put them in her bag, and left the classroom. She would grade the tests in the comfort of her own room.

Before she made her way up to her room, Kayla took a detour to the kitchen. Can't grade papers on an empty stomach.

As soon as she walked in the kitchen, the delicious aromas filled her nose. She smiled as she made her way straight for the desserts. She scanned the different desserts on the table.

"Shouldn't you have dinner first?"

Kayla glanced over at the person who spoke. "Dinner won't give me the energy I need, Trent."

"Ah yes, it's finals week. So, you will be grading finals?"

"Yep. I will need sweets to get me through."

Trent smiled. "Then I have just the thing for you." Trent went over to one of the counters, grabbed a paper bag, and handed it to Kayla. "I saved some for you."

Kayla opened the bag and smiled. "Peanut butter cookies. My favorite."

"I took some before some of the others could eat them all."

Kayla looked at Trent. "Thanks."

"Just don't eat them all in one sitting."

"I'm not promising anything." Kayla then left the kitchen.

It didn't take long for Kayla to get to her room, even when she had to climb six flights of stairs. Once in her room she changed into more comfortable clothes. She then sat at her desk where a pile of test finals were waiting for her. She grabbed her red pen, a cookie from the bag, and started grading.

Time escaped Kayla as she sat there, grading papers. Whenever she graded papers she would get into a zone and forget the world around her. She broke out of her zone when she went to grab a cookie and there were none left.

Kayla looked in the bag to see if maybe one was hiding. When she saw there were none in there she frowned. "Aw, man." She looked at her pile of papers. "Only about half more to go."

Kayla put down her pen, stood up, and stretched. She was about to sit back down when there was a knock at her door. She was surprised to see Trent on the other side.

"Trent, what are you doing here?"

"I just came to check on you."

"Why?"

"It's 6:30 and I know how you get when you're grading papers. Did you eat dinner?"

"Um...do the cookies count?"

Trent shook his head. "No. Come on."

"But I still have finals to grade."

"You can grade them after you eat."

Kayla sighed, knowing Trent wouldn't go away unless she went with him to eat. "Fine, if I must eat."

"Yes, you must. I know it's annoying but eating is kind of essential."

Kayla slipped on her shoes, shut her door, then she and Trent headed to the cafeteria. Trent made his way towards the elevators. Kayla grabbed his arm and led him over to the stairs.

"I don't do elevators." Kayla said.

"Oh, I forgot you're afraid of elevators. Seen too many horror movies or something." Trent smiled.

"Or something."

By the time the two of them reached the first floor, Trent was out of breath.

"How can you do that every day? And you aren't even out of breath."

"It's because I do it every day. You are just out of shape. You should exercise more."

"I exercise plenty."

"Playing Call of Duty is not exercise."

Trent shrugged. "Maybe, but it definitely builds up your thumb muscles."

Kayla just shook her head.

The two of them made their way to the cafeteria. As soon as they walked in, Kayla stopped in her tracks. One of the cafeteria tables was set up with dinner, which Kayla was expecting. What she was not expecting was a pair of candles and a single rose in a vase.

Kayla raised an eyebrow at Trent. "Is this supposed to be a date? Trent, I've told you before-"

"I know, I know. Can't blame a guy for trying, right?"

"This is just going to be a dinner between friends."

"Understood."

As they sat down, Kayla tried not to make things awkward. Trent had been trying to get her to go out on a date for a while now and each time she had turned him down. She made it clear that she only like him as a friend, but Trent kept trying.

Dinner wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be. Trent had removed the candles and the flower so it felt more like a dinner between friends than a date. Things had been going fine as they talked about their classes, what they planned to do during the break.

Trent, being the one to never give up, decided to make a move. Kayla had her hand resting on the table, Trent reached for it. Kayla saw and quickly pulled her hand back.

"Sorry." Trent said. "I just…I think we would be really good together."

"Trent, I've told you I only think of you as a friend. If you can't accept that then maybe we shouldn't hang out."

"Kayla-"

"I have papers I need to finish grading. Thanks for dinner." Kayla stood and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

Trent was a good friend and Kayla tried to stay friends with him even though he had more feelings for her. Maybe being friends with someone who wanted more wasn't possible. It would make working in the same building a bit tense if she had to avoid him.

When Kayla arrived back at her room she was ready to get back to grading papers. That would take her mind off what had just happened. She was about to sit down at her desk when a knock came.

Kayla sighed. "Trent, I really don't want to talk right-" Kayla opened the door, but the person on the other side was not who she was expecting. "Phil Couslon, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

"Good to see you too, Kayla. May I come in?"

"Of course." Kayla stepped aside, letting Phil in. "Why do I get a feeling this isn't a social visit?"

"I wish it were. There's a situation."

"I'm not a field agent any more. I'm happy here with teaching."

"Are you really happy here? I've never known you to be able to stay in one place for more than three months."

Kayla shrugged. "I've learned to sit still."

"Hard to believe. Your parents always had a hard time making you stay in one place. At one point they tried using one of those child leashes."

Kayla smiled. "Yeah, I don't remember that working to well."

"It didn't. Anyway, I'm not here to go down memory lane with you. We could really use your help with this."

Kayla turned away. "I told you I'm not a field agent any more. I'm probably rusty."

"Those type of skills never go away. The tesseract has been stolen."

Kayla turned back to him. "By who?"

"Loki."

"That's big."

"We could use you on this. You're a good agent."

"Was."

"I can't believe that you are actually happy here."

"Well, I am.

"Just think about it. I have another stop to make." Phil turned and opened the door.

"I'm not going to change my mind."

Phil looked at her with a smile. "Of course you aren't." He then shut the door.

Kayla sighed as she sat on her bed. Things were bad, but there would be enough agents to help stop Loki and get the tesseract back. They didn't need her. She wouldn't be of help to anyone.

Glancing at the stack of ungraded finals, Kayla felt conflicted. She did like teaching, but…

Kayla stood up and began pacing. How could she even think about going? She had papers to grade. She couldn't leave her students like that. Kayla stopped pacing and sat at her desk. Picking up her pen, she grabbed a test and tried to put Phil's visit out of her mind.

After a minute of her pen hovering above the test, she slammed her pen down. "Damn it, Phil."

Kayla stood, walked to her closet, grabbed her backpack, and started packing. "I'm probably going to regret this."