For the third week in a row, she's spending her Saturday evening alone in her room watching some stupid TV show that she promised herself she wouldn't get hooked on. (It's too late for that.)

First, it was Natasha, who insisted that she should go out for a bit with her and Steve. She didn't want to intrude and she just didn't feel like going out; she was just starting to get over the fact that her brother was actually really gone and she didn't think that the alcohol was going to be such a great help with that.

The week after that, it was the Vision who came up to her and asked her if she would like to go get a bite to eat with him (on the HQ's grounds of course, which really means the snack bar.) She kindly refused. It wasn't that she didn't like the Vision, it was just that he was almost sort of made by Ultron, and she was still a bit weary of that. (Plus he wasn't really human, and though she had weird ass properties to her being, Vision was a whole new level of strange.)

Today, it happened to be Clint who asked her to come over to Tony's with him, so she could get to know the team a little better. She seriously considered it; they had been there for her for the funeral and the few weeks after, but she felt like she didn't really belong with them; she was different, the sore thumb, and she felt like she would be in the way.

She knew that wasn't true, but she convinced herself of the lie that they didn't want her there; she didn't show even though she told Clint that she was going to be there.

He hasn't called yet, but she's waiting to hear his disappointed voice on the other side of the telephone. She's trying to come up with a decent excuse to explain why she didn't show up (Really bad cramps? A big fitness exam the next day? Emotional instability?)

Either way, he's never going to believe any of the awful alibis. And she doesn't expect him too; the team doesn't know her nearly as well as Clint seems too, so they'll have no trouble buying her pathetic lies.

An hour passes. There is no phone call from Clint and her television marathon is over. Maybe Clint didn't even notice she didn't show. (She knows that's not true, Clint seems to love her like the daughter he never had.)

That's when the wave of loneliness washes over her. She's never felt so forlorn before, and it's no one's fault but her own. All she's been doing since the death of Pietro has been isolating herself; it's been giving her a false sense of security and freedom when in reality, it's been eating her alive. It's not that she isn't getting any worse, it's just that she's improved to a point where she can't get any better without any social interaction.

The fact is she's lonely and it's only taken a TV marathon and a silent cell phone to realize it.

So, she decides that visiting them can't hurt; she doesn't have to stay the whole time anyway, and she rushes into the bathroom to take a super quick shower to wash off all the sweat and dirt that has found its way onto her body in the last twelve hours.

She picks out her outfit, which is just a pair of jeans and a really soft long sleeved shirt, does her hair and brushes her teeth. She grabs her car keys and begins the twenty minute journey to Tony's Tower

She arrives a little later than she anticipated (What can she say, traffic was hell). She exits her car and walks up to the door of the building. Looking up at the massive structure, she can't help but feel nervous anticipation growing in the back of her mind.

What if they don't want her here? What if they just think that she's just some sad little girl? What if they didn't actually trust her?

(Deep down she was sure that all those thoughts were just stupid little things; they wouldn't have invited her to Tony Stark's prized jewel for drinks if they were apprehensive about her.)

So, before she can talk herself out of it, she enters the glass doors and she enters a very clean looking room. There's a teller desk thing, like there is in a bank, and she walks up to it, but there doesn't seem to be anyone there, so she enters the elevator.

She remembers Clint saying something about the top floor, so she presses that button and it takes the elevator about five minutes to reach the top. The door opens with a ding, and she finds herself looking at a very disorientated bunch of super humans.

They're all staring at her with curious expressions and it's making her feel a tiny bit uncomfortable. With a small voice, she finds the courage to say hello. And that's when all hell breaks loose.

Clint's rushing over to her (he seems a tiny bit sober), and tells Tony and Steve that they each owe him twenty dollars or something because she turned up. He tells her he's really glad that she came and that he knew she would show (eventually).

Before she can even smile back at Clint's hospitality, Tony is shoving a fancy looking glass of some sort of liver damaging concoction that tastes really fucking good into her hands, and telling her that he's really glad she came; apparently he was just really done with Clint and Steve's company. (Clint and Steve looked hurt. She laughed.)

She begins to realize that coming over here wasn't such a bad idea after all.

She hasn't had this much fun in years, and she spends the night drinking, laughing and telling silly stories about Pietro and herself that she hadn't thought about in years. And she understands that this is exactly what her brother would have wanted her to do all along. She can't believe that it took her this long to figure it out. Her brother wouldn't have wanted her to become isolated and detached – he would have wanted her to be out and about, saving people, having fun.

Clint, who is ever the responsible one, won't let her or Steve leave Tony's residence, so she crashes on the couch that probably costs more money that she has ever had and falls into sleep almost immediately.

It's nice having friends. (Plus Tony seems to really enjoy her jokes and according to Steve, that's a pretty hard feat to accomplish)

She found out that this get together thing was a weekly occurrence, and they were pleased to hear that she would try to make it to the next one. So Saturday evening rolls around once again, and she's rushing to get into ton's building (its pouring cats and dogs outside) so she doesn't get her hair wet, which would be a shame because for the first time ever (?) she put more than three minutes into it.

She enters and heads straight towards the elevator and the doors open briskly. Only Tony is there, and she says her hello, which isn't as awkward as she thought it was going to be. He offers her a drink, to which she refuses. (It's too early in the evening for her to start drinking; the sun is still up for god's sake.) They're keeping small talk, which is nice; she's never really gotten to talk to Tony, who despite the arrogant personality, seems like a pretty nice guy.

But it's not what he says, it's what he doesn't say that makes her feel like she doesn't really belong here, with him – or any of them – for that matter. She feels like a little girl in comparison to them. It's not because they look down on her, it's because they don't; they treat her with a respect that she doesn't really deserve to be treated with.

She was bad; she made bad decisions and bad choices for the whole of her life. Just because she made three tiny good ones (that ultimately stopped the annihilation of the human race) doesn't make her some hero.

And no matter how much they like her or she likes them, she doesn't think that she'll ever see herself as the hero they make her out to be. (But that doesn't mean she's turning down their invitations; Tony buys the good expensive stuff and practically forces her to pour it down her throat if she won't take it.)

Long time no see!

this is chapter three and it was supposed to be posted about a week ago but I didn't have my laptop because I was at a soft opening of a waterpark and then I was visiting my grandmother and everything has just been so chaotic im sorry.

I hope you like it (and if you haven't read chapter two, its a hop skip and a jump away on theshippingprinces page. (you should also check out some of our other stuff bc it would mean a helluva lot to us)

So please! review favorite and follow! because if there's anything that we love more than writing about fictional people its FEEDBACK!

bleuboxes