Author's Note: This chapter is a little longer. Hopefully you all enjoy. Please leave a review and let me know how I'm doing.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Marvel Universe. Nothing at all.


Katrina was relieved when she saw her apartment building as she turned the corner on her street. It had been a rough day in class for her graduate course and she was looking forward to getting two hours of sleep in before scarfing down dinner and heading to her nine to three shift at Planet Fitness before repeating the whole ordeal tomorrow. If she was lucky she would have enough time before her shift to start an assignment due a week from now. As she opened the door to her building she quickly dug around in her bag for her license to show their building attendant, Hilda. She was a brute of a woman who took the security measures of the building a little too seriously. Katrina wasn't in the mood to deal with her today but as she flashed her license the woman's way she saw her frantically waving her towards the front desk.

"Some strange men dropped off mail for you girls today," Hilda stated when she reached the desk.

"Strange men?" Katrina questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Suits," Hilda replied placing an envelope down on the desk top in front of her. "Looked like the government type." Katrina picked up the envelope and saw S.H.I.E. emblem on the left hand corner of the letter. "I don't know what kind of trouble you girls have gotten into but I won't have it in my…"

"Have a good afternoon, Hilda," Katrina said cutting the tiresome woman off. Like she had any power to remove the girls from the apartment building. Katrina continued up the stairs feeling a mix of excitement and frustration. Hope wasn't going to be happy about this, whatever the envelope said. She quickly ascended the stairs to the fourth floor and opened their apartment door. She walked down the hallway into their living room and turned right to drop the envelope off on their kitchen table but froze when she saw Deadpool sitting at the table eating tacos and a murderous looking Hope glaring daggers at the mercenary.

"What's going on here?" Katrina asked.

Hope's eyes flashed over to her. "I got home twenty minutes ago to find him here making tacos with our taco kit," she explained.

"The taco kit we were supposed to use to make tacos for tomorrow?" Katrina questioned.

"The very one," Hope replied testily. "He broke into the apartment too."

"I'm sure Rory let him in," Katrina said.

Hope shook her head. "Rory isn't home," she told her. "I found a note saying she'd gone to the library to do research for a new story idea." Hope finally caught sight of the envelope. "What's that?"

Katrina handed her friend the envelope. "S.H.I.E.L.D finally got back to us," she answered. She watched as Hope ripped open the envelope and read its contents. A scowl crossed her friend's face. "What does it say?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D agents will drop by once a week to make sure we haven't told the general populace about superheroes being real," Hope said sarcastically.

"Hey, it was your suggestion," Katrina pointed out.

"I was hoping they'd just forget about us," Hope replied. "And now it looks like we have him to contend with too."

"Deadpool?" Katrina questioned. "What's wrong with him?"

"Well, one, he's a ruthless mercenary who could kill us without blinking an eye," Hope stated.

"I wouldn't kill you unless I was paid to," Deadpool cut in.

Hope gave him a look. "Gee. I feel so reassured," she mocked before turning back to Katrina. "Two, he just ate our food and we're on a strict budget. Now we're going to have to figure out how we're getting dinner for the rest of the week."

"There's only two days left," Katrina said. "We'll figure it out."

"Three," Hope said loudly, ignoring her friend's reassurances, "he's an unwanted guest."

"To you," Katrina replied. Hope groaned and stormed out of the kitchen and down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Katrina winced when she heard a door slam.

"Well, isn't she a ray of sunshine," Deadpool commented.

"You get used to her," Katrina said.

"Get used to who? And hello…" Rory said staring confusedly at Deadpool.

"Hope," Katrina answered. "And apparently Deadpool decided to stop by for a visit."

"You can call me Wade," the mercenary stated.

"Okay," Rory replied. "Where's Hope?"

"She just stormed off to her room," Katrina replied sitting down across from Wade and helping herself to a taco.

"I guess she's not too happy he's here," Rory said.

"Nope, and the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D agreed to her deal didn't do much to calm her down," Katrina told her.

"So I guess we can expect agents to be dropping by on occasion?" Rory questioned.

"Weekly," Katrina responded. "But we'll get to meet all the superheroes and…"

"Kate," Rory interrupted her. "They aren't going to send superheroes here. They'll send agents."

"What?!" Kate cried deflating. "But that's not cool!"

Rory shrugged. "That's the way it is," she said. "Anyway, I'm going to get a start on our dinner. Chicken Alfredo sound good to you?"

"Yeah, whatever," Katrina replied unenthusiastically. "I can't believe…" She broke off when the doorbell rang.

"I bet that's S.H.I.E.L.D," Rory said.

"You can get it," Katrina said. "I don't want to deal with any agents." Rory rolled her eyes and went to get the door. She pulled it open only to reveal Captain America.

"Oh!" Rory exclaimed. "I thought they'd just send agents."

"That was their plan but I convinced them that since we're intruding in your lives you should get some perks," Captain America replied politely.

"Well, Kate will be excited," Rory commented and shook her head. "Come in." Captain America followed her into their apartment and to their kitchen.

"Did you tell them we haven't…Captain America!" Katrina squealed when she looked up and saw him.

Captain America smiled and held his hand out to shake. "Hello Katrina," he greeted her politely. "Have you had a good week?"

"The best now," Katrina stated.

Rory shook her head, an amused smile on face before she realized someone was missing. "Where's Wade?" she asked.

Katrina looked over at her. "He went out the window and down the fire escape when you went to answer the door," she replied.

"Wade who?" Captain America asked.

"Wilson," Rory replied.

"Deadpool was in your apartment?" the leader of the Avengers asked.

"He's been stopping by," Katrina told him. "Much to Hope's dismay."

"Hope? She's the one who fainted right?" Captain America asked.

"Yeah, that's her," Katrina replied cheerfully.

"Kate," Rory scolded. "She had too much to drink and was overwhelmed. She's not typically the type of person who faints like that."

"I understand," Captain America said. "I would like to speak with her actually."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Rory replied. "She's not too happy about all this."

"That's why I would like to speak with her," Captain America responded. "It's important to me that everyone is comfortable with this situation."

"She's in her room. Furthest door on the left," Katrina told him.

"Thank you," Captain America responded before heading towards the hallway that led to the apartment's two bedrooms.

Hope was about halfway through her first period's tests when she heard a knock on her door. Taking a deep breath she got up to answer it, expecting it to be Rory coming to smooth things over. Instead she was surprised to see Captain America standing outside her door.

"Wow," she said. "Wasn't expecting you."

Captain America smiled. "Neither were your friends," he replied. "You can call me Steve, by the way. I expect we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"Right," Hope said dryly. "Because S.H.I.E.L.D feels the need to interfere with our lives."

"S.H.I.E.L.D is just trying to secure the safety of its members," Captain America…Steve told her. "I understand why you're upset and have spoken against the organizations intrusion in your lives but all I could manage with the help of Agent Coulson was to get them to agree to the deal you made."

Hope nodded her head. "Thank you for that," she replied. "But it's going to be awhile before I can accept this and be okay with it. Especially when Deadpool has decided it's okay for him to just show up whenever he wants and eat our food."

Captain America frowned. "I heard Deadpool has been here," he said slowly.

"Twice since the incident," Hope told him. "He seems to have taken an interest in us."

"Well, that's not acceptable," Steve said. "I'll talk to him. He's dangerous to have around. I think he means well but he can be unpredictable."

"No, don't bother," Hope sighed. "Rory and Kate are okay with all of this, including the merc. Besides, even if you spoke with him I doubt he'd stay away for long."

"I'll talk with him anyway," Steve announced. "Your friends may be okay with him, but you live here too. You get a say in who comes in your apartment."

Hope finally smiled. "Just for that you've earned an invite to dinner," she said. "You're lucky it's Rory's turn to cook tonight."

"I'd be honored," Captain America replied. By the time he left two hours later, Hope was feeling better about this new arrangement in her life. At least marginally better anyway.