So, if I thought you actually cared about why I haven't updated in over a month I'd tell ya. Although I did make this my longest chapter to date as a sort of a sorry.

Thanks to everyone who followed, faved, reviewed, read, and pretty much just stuck with me.

-GiraffePanda2 and Cassie-D1: Thank you two so much for reviewing. It means a lot that you took the time to do so.

Disclaimer:
I do not own The Amazing Spider-Man, nor any other Marvel movies or Marvel owned stuff in this story. I am making no money from this.


Chapter 7:
O' Carousel of Wisdom

Reagan let out a wide yawn as she walks down the hallway to Harry's office. She's drowsy and it's ridiculously early. So ridiculously early that Mr. Sun has hardly said good morning. This was the second morning in a row that Reagan had gotten up before the sun, and Reagan couldn't live this life. She was not made for this life; she was made for waking in the late morning and late nights watching Game of Thrones and Firefly. Reagan yawned again as she walked around a corner, however, she miss judged where the corner was and hit the wall with her shoulder. The force of hitting the wall made Reagan stumble back; wide eyed she caught herself and huffed before matching forward. He hated her, that's all there was to it. Nobody makes people get up this early unless they hate them.

Reagan continued to march her way into her boss's office, when she got through the doorway her vision was hit with a bright light. For the second time that day Reagan stumbled backwards, and as her did she let out a strange mix between a yell and an odd arrangement of letters that sounded something like "Glaah."

When Harry heard the bizarre sound from the startled girl, he looked up from the tablet in his hands and turned around in his chair to face her. Reagan was slowly walking into the room, shielding her eyes from the blinding sunlight with her hand.

Harry smirked a bit then turned his eyes back down to the tablet.

"This whole office is controlled remotely through this tablet and I can't seem to figure out how to dim these big ass windows," Harry seethed through his teeth. He was tapping the tablet over and over with no result and each tap only made him more frustrated.

By now Reagan had made her way behind the desk to stand beside her boss. The short girl picked over Harry's shoulder to get a look at the tablet's screen. Reagan studied the tablet for a moment before putting her hand out to Harry. Harry looked up at her then down at her hand, after a moment Harry placed the tablet into her outstretched hand. Reagan fiddled with that tablet; all the while she could feel icy blue eyes on her. Reagan was tempted to glance down and catch that stare with her own; however, the fear of looking straight into those eyes was too great. Though, Reagan could see from the corner of her own grey eyes that those pricing ones never left her. She couldn't decipher the meaning in those eyes.

Reagan was getting a little warm, she was sure it was the blaring sun and not her boss's intense gaze. The stubborn woman refused to believe that the redness spreading from her neck upwards had anything to do with her boss.

The hacker found the right settings to dim the windows and she cleared her throat as she held the tablet back to Harry. Harry took the tablet from her hand, but his gaze didn't leave her. Reagan still couldn't meet his eyes or interpret his look. She ran her hand through her hair and turned to watch the windows dim, a moment latter Harry moved his stare off her and followed her turn to the windows.

The two were silent as they watched the windows dimmed. They could now see, without squinting, the sun rising over the vast sea of buildings. It was a calming moment for Reagan, and that worried her. She had never felt this calm in Harry Osborn's presence. She turned her gaze down to look at her boss. He was leaning back in his chair, arms crossing and one leg propped up on the other with his ankle resting on his knee. Reagan continued to stare at her boss, wondering why she didn't feel uneasy.

Harry slowly turned his head away from the windows and towards the girl who was now staring at him. He raised his eyebrow at her as he caught her gaze with his own.

Reagan's expression turned into a panicked one. 'Goodbye to that feeling of ease,' she sarcastically remarked to herself. Reagan was fishing in her head for something to say that would make this less awkward.

"It's on a timer!" She blurted out her first thought. She internally winced at her stupidity.

Harry tilts his head and his eyebrows furrow together. He looks at her confused and begins silently mouthing the word 'what'.

Reagan rolled her eyes at herself and shut them tightly. She opened her eyes and took a long breath in. "The windows," she gestured her hand at the large wall of glass. "I put them on a timer, they'll slowly…lighten?...undim?...themselv – what would the opposite of dim be in this situation?" She cut herself off to ask Harry.

Harry shrugged, "you got me."

"Anyway they'll," Reagan gestured wildly with her hands. "Themselves throughout the next hour," she finished.

A large open-mouth smile grew on Harry's face; he shook his head at the ground before standing up. Harry slid his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. Harry teetered forward into Reagan's personal space, he was sanding at her side by she shoulder. He stood around a head above her and if he leaned forward a couple inches his head would be resting on hers. Harry stared down at Reagan; he still had that shit-eating grin on his face.

Reagan was held captive by his stern gaze and wide smile. Her breath was hitching and she was almost shaking. Reagan had though she would never be this close to Harry, and she surly never thought he would willingly get this close to her.

"Fascinating, Miss Knox," Harry quipped, barely above a whisper.

Reagan gritted her teeth and adjusted her body so her arms were crossed, she was leaning on the desk, and her gaze was no longer on Harry. At this Harry begins to chuckle thought a closed-mouth smile. Reagan refused to look at the bastard; she just stood there with her teeth clenched and a small smirk playing at the corners of her lips.

Harry shifted his position to match his companions.

They stood close together, just a little further and their shoulders would be touching. They both watched the sun with grins on their faces, His slightly bigger than hers.

Reagan leaned her head a little over to Harry, when Harry noticed he turned his own head toward her.

"Not that the view isn't beautiful, but why are there so many windows?" Reagan asks frustrated.

"Probable so my father could look down on the lower class," Harry deadpanned.

Reagan looked at him curiously.

"My father liked to be above people, I think it made him feel powerful," He told her.

"My father liked to sit in a swivel chair and turn around to glare at my dates and tell them 'sit down son,'" Reagan lowered her voice to try and imitate her dad. "That's how he felt powerful."

Harry just looked at her, blank faced.

"I should get to work," Reagan squeaked and walked away.

Harry followed her.

"Are you..." Harry tried to find the right words. "Are you doing alright?"

Reagan turns around to look at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, I was under the impression that you'd rather eat your own liver then spend your time here – working for me. It's just that you're not so tense."

Reagan looked to her feet. "Well, I don't know about my liver, I mean some body part yeah, but not my liver." She chuckles. Then in a more serious tone adds, "I had a call from my parents last night we talked about you –"

"What!" Harry yelled.

"Oh shit!" Reagan yelled as she fell on to the couch back first. "Why do I keep doing that? I didn't mean to mention to my parents that I met you; it just slipped out." She moaned. She then quickly shot up; looking at Harry she began speaking rapidly. "I didn't tell them anything, they think I work in Tech Support and I just told them that you had computer trouble and I was the one who got sent up. That's all I told them! That and I told them I think you're an asshole – fuck!" She fell back onto the couch.

Harry hadn't said anything since the beginning of her rant, but Reagan could hear his footsteps getting further away. There were some soft sounds coming from the direction he had just gone. Reagan had not looked away from the ceiling and she didn't really want to, seeing the expression on Harry's face was not something she was over the moon for.

Reagan could hear Harry's footsteps coming closer, and from the corner of her eye she saw him sit down on the table with something in both hands.

She still didn't look at him when he began speaking.

"Are you sure they don't know anything? Because I don't want anyone to know about our arrangement any more then you do. If my board found out that I hired an independent party to investigate Oscorp they would flambé me."

Without turning her stare away from the ceiling Reagan answered him nonchalantly, "I'm sure you wouldn't mind the first part – being drenched in liquor. You know, with you being a borderline alcoholic."

"Were you dropped on your head as a child, and now when you start saying things you shouldn't you're unable to stop?" Harry asked with a twinge of anger in his voice.

Reagan sat up straight and finally looks at Harry. Her eyes went wide at the two take-away coffee cups in his hands; nonetheless she painstakingly rips her eyes away from the heavenly nectar and up to his face.

"They know nothing of my illegal pursuits. I have made sure of that, Mr. Osborn," Reagan explained in totally seriousness.

Harry just nodded.

"My assistant has a meeting at Stark Industries for most of the morning and afternoon, so she brought my coffee in early. I asked for two." He gestured toward the coffee cups in his hands. "I don't know what you take in your coffee so it's just-"

"-Pure?" she cut him off with wide pleading eyes.

"Black," he finished hesitantly.

Harry handed the coffee to Reagan and she eagerly took it from him. As she took her first sip she moaned and let her head roll back.

She felt a dip in the couch beside her as Harry switched places from the table.

It was awkward to say the least. How the two of them just sat there, sipping their coffees in silence. They refused to look at each other.

Every so often Reagan could feel Harry shift in his seat, she could also see, from her peripherals; Harry would reach his hand up to his neck, but then change his mind and draw his hand back.

Harry clears his throat; which draws Reagan's attention away from her thoughts to the person they were about.

They meet each other's gaze and Reagan looks at him expectedly.

"I have something I need you to do," Harry tells her.

Reagan's demeanour jumps up a bit. "Is that why you're being so nice and chatty?" She asks with fight.

Harry doesn't respond.

Reagan gives the young CEO a knowing look.

Ignoring her, Harry continues speaking, "I found something interesting in one of the reports you gave me."

Reagan nods.

"The report was by a lab technician. He helped my father and a Dr. Parker with some cross-species genetic experiments."

"I remember that one, but the guy was very vague about everything." There was an unspoken question in Reagan's statement.

"I suspect that was on request of my father. Do you remember the other report mentioned, the one done by Dr. Parker?" Harry questioned.

Reagan nods again.

"Good. Find it." Harry firmly demanded before getting up and walking away from the stunned hacker. "And no questions, Miss Knox."

Reagan puffed up her checks and let out all the air with a push, the escaping air made a sound. She also enlarged her eyes and clenched her jaw. With frustrated motions Reagan complied with her master.


It had been a while since Reagan begun her search for the report, and with the little she had so go on it was proving to be difficult. It also didn't help that her boss was being antsy, but then again when is he not? Every now and then Reagan could hear his fingers tapping or the scrape of his chair turning.

Because of how little Reagan knows about the report she's searching for she has to shuffle through file after file. It doesn't help that Oscorp uses such a complicated index for labelling and sorting their crap. She just can't seem to decipher the method used, and it's giving her a headache. There was also the constant clicking of a pen by her boss; no doubt intended to annoy her.

"Have you found the report yet?" His annoyed voice interrupted his pen thrashing.

Without looking up from her laptop Reagan answered him. "This isn't The Google. I can't just push some keys and find 'How to Get a Real Job.'" The last part was said with intense sarcasm.

"Well, if you could hurry up over there you could hurry up and get yourself one," Harry said with fake civility.

"Dick," Reagan mumbled under her breath.

Harry cleared his throat. Loud, and obviously trying to catch the hacker's attention.

"Is there something you'd care to share with the rest of the class, Miss Knox?" Her name was almost a threat on his lips.

Reagan looked at him and grinned wickedly, "I'm pretty sure there isn't enough to go around, Mr. Osborn." Harry's own name was said with force and detest from the purple haired female.

The two of them glared at each other from across the office, they were challenging the other. However, nothing was said; with words at least.

Reagan, in a sick spite, stops searching for the requested file and begins her own report for her other more silent and unseen employer.


Reagan packed her laptop and threw her bag over her shoulder, she begun stomping to the door of the CEO office, when she was just at the doorway, without turning around she yelled to her boss, "I'm going to lunch; I'll be back in an hour."

He indicated no response.


At the fast food place around the corner from Oscorp Reagan violently ripped her burger apart and murderously stabbed her salad for nearly an hour. For once Tracey didn't feel the overwhelming need to know.


Reagan alerted Harry to her arrival by aggressively throwing herself onto the couch. With his eyes only he looked up to her, but then quickly lowered them.

As much as she didn't want to Reagan continued with her earlier orders from her boss.


It was more than a couple hours later when the barrier of silence the two had crated was broken. The sun was still up, although it would begin setting within the next hour or two, and it was clear that the two occupants of the office were exhausted and wanted nothing more than to leave. That is why when Harry spoke the words that broke the unspoken barrier Reagan didn't protest to them.

"You may go home for tonight, Miss Knox."

As quickly as she could Reagan leaped up and pushed her belongings in her bag. She wasn't planning on saying anything to Harry, but the thought just popped up in her head and then it popped out of her mouth.

"Would you like me to curtsy before I leave?" She asked, almost not believing what came from her lips.

Harry huffed and pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "Leave," he forced through his teeth.

And she did.


Reagan was so furious that all she could do was blindly walk about the city; kicking things and letting out profanities. She wasn't sure how long she had been storming about Manhattan, nor did she care, all she really cared about was how much she wished she hadn't taking the stupid job. She should have run for the hills when she realized the job would involve braking into Oscorp. She just had to be foolish.

Reagan was brought out of her blind rage by the familiar sound of her phone.

"Hello?" She snapped.

"Uhh…hi, Reagan," Jane: Reagan's upstairs neighbour answered a bit taken back.

'Shit,' Reagan cursed at herself. "Jane, hi," Reagan spoke aloud. "Sorry about that; ruff day and all. Is there something you need?"

Reagan menial slapped herself for yelling at her friend.

"Actually, there is. I have no bread to make the kid's lunch with and it's too late for me to run to the store now, so I was wondering if, maybe, you could go?" Jane sounded hopeful and very tired.

"Sure. I'm not near the building so I'll be a bit."

Reagan could hear the sound of Jane's two youngest having argument.

"Thank you so much, Reagan. I own you," Jane was distracted as she thanked Reagan.

No doubt by her kids Reagan thinks.

"Go tend to your kids, Jane."

Jane let out a tired laugh. "I will," she sighed.


"Did someone order bread?" Reagan said as Jane opened the door.

Reagan was leaning in the door way with the bag of bread held high in one hand. Jane greeted Reagan with a friendly hug before informing Reagan that her two youngest were in the bath and she needed to get back to them.

Once she had left Josh lead Reagan into the house and took the bread from her. Reagan had suggested they make the lunches for tomorrow, to help Jane out, and Josh keenly agreed.

Josh was laying out the bread and Reagan was slathering then pieces with mayonnaise when Josh asked her what was wrong?

"What do you mean, kiddo?" Reagan asked, trying to sound unaware.

"Mom said you sounded tense on the phone."

Reagan raised her eyebrow at her little companion.

"She said I had to be extra nice," he told her.

Reagan giggled. "So instead you decided to play phycologist?"

Josh had his face in the fridge getting sliced tomatoes when he answered her with a quiet "maybe".

Reagan asked him to toss her the ham, which she didn't catch.

She kept silent for a minute, fighting inside herself to keep from telling the kid about her day. She lost, though. With a sigh she slapped some ham down on to the bread.

"It's just…" She started. "I thought I'd at least try and be nice, you know? I thought I would give him the benefit of the doubt and try not thinking of him as an ass – jer – mean person. I said 'mean person' and if you tell your mother otherwise so help me. Anyway, I thought he was being nice to me too, warming up to me or something. And it turns out he was only being nice to get something!" Reagan slapped ham down on the last piece of bread and growled.

Josh opened his mouth to say something, but Reagan cut him off.

"Why do people do that, huh? Why do they expect something or use you? What kind of person feels the need to do that?" Reagan could feel her tears welling up at the corner of her eyes.

The events of the whole day came out of Reagan then, but not in tears, no. In rage and in fire, and in all the pain she felt. Every time she had been lied to or betrayed came bubbling to the surface of her memories, and at the top was Harry Osborn. He was festering in her mind, and rotting every feeling she had. He was a disease to her body, infecting her and filling her with loathing.

"A person with a lot of pain in their past."

Those words from the little boy broke her. Diseases aren't supposed to feel pain; they're supposed to give pain. You're not supposed to feel sympathy for a diseases, yet here she is wondering what happened to Harry that made him act the way he does. Crap, now she can't stop feeling sympathy for him.

"Never ask a kid for advice," Reagan muttered to herself. "Come on, let's finish these sandwiches."


"Let me get this straight," Tracey voice sounded exhausted through the phone.

A very upset Reagan was walking down a street in Brooklyn; she had previously told Tracey her reason for going to Brooklyn.

"You're in Brooklyn because you're mad at your boss, the guy you hate, because he gave you the day off. Am I right?" Tracey clearly done with Reagan's shit.

"Yes! I was pretty much at Oscorp when he called and told me "don't come in today." He's is so frustrating, and rude, and inconsiderate!" Reagan yelled.

Tracey groaned

"Reagan, I think you need to stop looking for things to hate about this guy and actually admit that you're starting to warm up to him. No fighting Reagan," Tracey cut off what she knew would be protests from her best friend. "Not this time. Just figure out how you actually feel Reagan." Tracey sighed. "Now why are you in Brooklyn?"

"Jane's carousel," Reagan grumbled.

"Are you there now?"

Reagan could see the carousel ahead of her and told Tracey so.

"So you'll be okay? You'll figure it out?" Tracey asked."

"Yeah, I'll try," Reagan said quietly.

With that Reagan hung up.

By this time Reagan had arrived at her intended location. She looked up in awe at the carousel, the colours vibrant in the sun and the slow spin of the horses was hypnotizing. The tall clear glass box the carousel stood in loomed over Reagan.

Over her short time period of living in New York Jane's carousel had become a place where Reagan could think clearly. It was her safe haven in a way. The gentle rotation of the ride coupled with the noises of the children laughing and the water flowing calmed Reagan to where she could think without distraction.

Reagan sat down on one of the many benches, she smile to the blonde girl on the left side of the bench. The blonde seemed to be around Reagan's age, and she had a drawing pad in her hands.

Reagan settled into her seat on the bench.

'Okay, carousel of wisdom,' Reagan begin her thoughts. 'Harry Osborn, yay or nay?'

Somewhere under the denial Reagan knew what Tracey said was true; she was looking for reasons to hate him, but he had never given her a reason not to hate him. To Reagan looking for something to hate seems easier then looking for something good in him. She's hated him this far, why change now?

Reason: She can't go on working with him like this.

They don't fit together. He's distant and rude and she's…distant and rude. They can't see each other as any more than a job, and really that's all they should see each other as, they just meet, they're not friends, and they're not supposed to be friends. So they does Reagan feel like they should be? Or at the very least she should try.

Reagan turned her head to look at the water, but something else caught her attention. There were two men by the railing; one of them was actually standing on the other side of the railing. This one had dark brown hair that stuck up, a black over coat, and there was something red sticking up of his coat pocket. He very handsome and he had a smile that continued all the way into his eyes.

The other man had his back turned to her; but she could still see his light brown hair, almost a dirty blonde, he also wore a navy blue blazer and black jeans with the cuffs rolled up. Even though all Reagan could see of the second man was his back she could still tell that it was her boss and current occupant of her thoughts.

Something was different about him, his posture was the most relaxed she'd ever seen it. Reagan could tell by the smile on the handsome man's face that Harry obviously wasn't offending him.

Reagan begun to wonder who the guy with Harry was, she'd always figured Harry would spend time with his friends at a poker game, not a popular children's ride in Brooklyn.

Reagan had been staring for a while and she'd managed to catch glimpses of Harry's face. To her surprise he was smiling back at the other brunette, he looked like he was enjoying himself. He looked happy. Reagan had never seen Harry look even remotely this happy; she assumed the only emotions he was capable of was displeasure and smugness.

'Oh shit,' Reagan thought.

Harry had seen her, and he was currently still looking at her.

Reagan shot her head around so she was facing away from her unusually happy boss. There was complete panic on Reagan's face and her breathing was rapid.

'He didn't see me; he couldn't have, and even if he did how would he know it was me?' Reagan asked herself with alarm.

"Are you okay?" The blonde girl cautiously asked Reagan.

"Can I ask you something?" Reagan's voice was low.

The blonde let out a hesitant "sure" that sounded more like a question than anything else.

"My hair is still purple isn't it?"

The girl just shook her head up and down.

"Damn," Reagan muttered.

She turned back around to Harry's direction. Much to Reagan's relief he had gone back to talking with his friend.

Reagan heard the blonde shuffling behind her, Reagan assumed she was trying to get away from her, but she didn't care enough to turn and look. She had much more pressing matters, like Harry Osborn's eyes for instance.

Those eyes that she could barely face head on, although had seen many times. They were always guarded, like they knew if someone looked too close they'd be undone. Reagan had speculated the shield was for the world, for his enemies, for her, but when he turned around she had seen the same protected glaze over his eyes.

'Why though?' She thought.

Harry was with a friend; that much was apparent by his relaxed posture and sincere smile. So why is he disengaged? Why does he feel like he has to wall himself off? Even to those who care about him. And this railing hopper most certainly does care for Harry.

Yet it seemed to Reagan that all the love another had to offer couldn't keep Harry from imprisoning himself.

And Reagan knew why. Not the details of the why, mind you, but she did know the why.

"So what are you hiding from the world, Harry Osborn?"

Reagan's really happy the blonde girl left or this whole talking aloud to herself would be entirely embarrassing.


Questions!

Did that get your attention? Okay, so, two questions for you guys.

1. Do you think I should rewrite my summary for ALLH? I just feel like it doesn't match the theme of the story, ya know. But maybe I'm wrong. Tell me what you think, also tell me if there were parts of summary you liked or even if you have ideas for a new one.

2. My chapters are based around Reagan, do you think I should do some chapters based around Harry?

You guys can either review or send me a PM to answer.

Alright, thank you so much guys, don't forget to tell me what you think about the chapter!