Stainless steel seats and large table dominated the conference room, folders and files scattered across surfaces with several figures littered around at individual desks. Hill stood by, speaking in hushed tones to another Agent; I sat awkwardly next to the stranger from the elevator. Maybe it was just my imagination but he seemed as uncomfortable as me. That was somewhat of a relief.

Somewhat.

The only sounds were the little tap tap taps of keys being pressed, the room was so bleak there wasn't even a clock to give the cliche ticking sounds that fill awkward silences. It's the kind of silence that means to be undisturbed. I'm pretty sure if I made one little noise I'd receive several irritated looks.

Sniff.

Sniff sniff.

Oh no, please no. My nose tickled. Really tickled. Like a warm summers breeze had wafted through my sinuses and severely irked my nostrils. I'm going to sneeze, and not prettily.

With a quick sweep of my eyes over the room to see if anyone had noticed my suddenly rigid spine as I desperately tried to calm my now twitching face.

Don't look directly at the lights.

Hold your breath.

Think un-sneezing thoughts.

It was useless, I was going to sneeze and sweet jesus was it going to be embarrassing.

Pineapple! A friend from university once told me, one of those beyond ridiculous factoids, if you say pineapple before you sneeze then you don't sneeze.

...it's too quiet for me to say pineapple out loud.

Maybe if I say it in my head it would work? My eyes began to water. I've got to at least try.

Pineapple,

Pineapple,

Pineapple.

Oh god it wasn't working.

"Pineapple" with the softest whisper I could muster.

It worked, holy heck it worked! Congratulating myself with a mental pat on the back I glanced around just to check no one had heard me.

Blue eyes stared straight at me.

The word dumbfounded is most accurate to describe the way the stranger and I stared at each other. 'It felt like hours' does not do this awkwardness justice, it felt like decades.

I threw around the idea of explaining myself but dismissed it easily. To do so would only serve to further decrease my rapidly falling credibility.

Shield agents were supposed to be calm, collected, well put people. Stoic basically. And here I was: whispering pineapple to myself in a dead silent conference room. Just how loud had I actually said it? I didn't think it was anything above a whisper.

My mouth bobbed slightly with words forming and dying on my lips.

I was completely and utterly dumbfounded.

Well I guess it can't get any worse.

"It stops you from sneezing." came my meek voice.

He raised an eyebrow.

Oh wow.

That's worse, definitely worse.

"Saying pineapple before you sneeze it... It's supposed to stop it"

"Oh...right."

Still staring at each other.

Look away, look away, look away.

I wasn't sure who I was willing, him or me. Didn't matter really. Either would have been a relief.

Nope.

Still maintaining that eye contact.

"I'm Steve by the way. Steve Rogers, we uh...we haven't been properly introduced"

The uncertainty was evident in his tone. Was he nervous of me? He was easily a foot- heck maybe even two feet- taller than me.

Wait a minute. Rogers. Why does that sound familiar? University came to mind. I didn't know anyone at uni with that name. Did I? What was my history professors name again? Was it Rogers? No it was Baylis- something.

Oh damn, I hadn't replied.

"Juno Prayden"

"Well its uh good to meet you ma'am"

Ma'am?

What? Did people still say that? Gosh I hadn't heard anyone say ma'am since I last saw my grandparents and that's just because of the era they grew up in.

The door to the conference room slid open with the compulsory little swoosh noise.

And there he stood.

Ooh looks like he's dressed up for the occasion in his finest... black gear.

Nick Fury.