Author's Note: Chapter Twenty-One already? This is fabulous! In other news, I became a legal adult yesterday. How bizarre is that?!

"I don't trust this place," Steve stated. "Dark house, dead end street. I don't like it."

"Well I do. And you trust me right?"

"Of course."

"Then you can trust this place." Violet-Sky dug a key ring out of her pocket and strode confidently towards the door.

"Who lives here? Your best friend?" It was the only reason Steve could think of for her to have a key.

"No," she replied shortly. Shoving the key into the lock and twisting it, she let herself in. Steve didn't hear her whisper, "Mom, Dad, I'm home," to herself as she crossed the threshold. He followed her cautiously.

The interior was much brighter and happier than the exterior. Off to the right of the entrance hallway was a dining room, behind that a kitchen. On the left was a large living room. In the main hall a flight of stairs led up to the top floor. Behind the stairs were a small bathroom and a coat closet. Steve looked around. Everything had a homey feel to it. Something almost familiar about it too. It smelled like… like…

It smelled like Violet-Sky. The laundry detergent she used for her clothes, the shampoo she washed her hair with, and the fresh, unique scent of her skin. But before he could say anything, she was climbing up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Directly across the upstairs hall from the stairs was a room painted a vibrant shade of purple. It looked abandoned. Dusty. Old pictures hung on the walls, some hand-drawn and some photos. The entire room smelled good. "This is your house isn't it?" Steve asked. "From before you lived with Clint. Before your parents died."

"Yeah. Guest room is at the end of the hall. Go that way," she pointed to the right. "'Cause if you go that way—" her other hand pointed left, "—you'll be in my parents' bedroom. And I'd rather leave that one untouched for now. 'Kay?"

"Okay." Steve left her room, throwing his gaze over his shoulder to see her open her closet before he left.

"So… how is the electricity working? Wasn't it shut off when your parents died?"

"No. But no one's used it, so there haven't been any bills. Water and heating too. It's essentially like we went to live somewhere else for a year. Except we cancelled the mail. Bills for here go to Clint's apartment whenever they're needed."

"After we've been paying for all the hotels, how are you still able to afford this?"

"SHIELD pays well. My dad was a doctor and my mom was a nurse. Their work gas main broke. They worked in the same little pediatric office in the suburbs. We lived pretty frugally, but they had this house, and both the cars paid off years before they died. So, no bills there. Wanna take a car into the city?" she explained, kneeling next to a bookcase full of DVDs.

"Why? Are you getting tired of the bike?" A playful grin lifted Steve's lips. Violet-Sky shrugged and pulled out a movie. In fancy lettering near the top of the case, Pride and Prejudice had a picture of an actress looking over her shoulder at something. Steve shook his head. Violet-Sky put it back in the case and yanked another case from its spot on the shelf. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. "I've actually seen that one already."

"Okay. Well, if you must know, I do get a little tired of the bike every now and then. My legs get sore and my arms do too. If we take Mom's car, we can go to the city. I can drive."

"A New Yorker that knows how to drive? Shocker!" Steve exclaimed sarcastically.

"I lived for a year in Utah. Everyone drives there. I learned there. Almost got a Utah license too. But I have a New York one. You should see Utah drivers. They're very aggressive and a little bit scary. Driving almost everywhere else in the country—save big cities—is like a driving video game on Easy. Utah is on Medium or Hard," Violet-Sky retorted. She paused, looking around. "You know, as many poignant memories are here, I kind of like being home. That lamp is chipped from when we played Ultimate Frisbee in the house when Mom wasn't home. There's a mug with a missing handle in the cabinet from when it was so hot I dropped it, but Dad didn't want to give it up because he brought it back for me from Scotland. That old couch is so worn out from me and Angelina jumping on it, pretending the floor was lava when we were kids. It's weird how much you remember, happy and sad. But… I guess you already knew that."

Steve stood up from the couch and joined her next to the bookcase. He pulled her head over and planted a kiss in her hair. She grinned. "I do know that, unfortunately. It's hard to find girls with shared life experiences since I'm so out of my element in this century. But you're pretty much one of the closest. How about this one?" He pointed at a movie. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Violet-Sky laughed.

"No!" she protested. "That's a Halloween movie only."

"It's autumn. Close enough."

"I'm not watching that tonight, sorry Cappy." She leaned over him and pointed to the spine of yet another case. "This?" Steve tilted his head to read the title.

"The Amazing Spider-Man," he read slowly. "I saw that one. It had Andrew Garfield in it."

"Okay then. How about this one?"

"Avatar." Curiously, trying to remember if he saw that one, he pulled it out, and recognized the cover image. "Saw that. Tall blue people. Aliens. It was a good movie. Great effects." Violet-Sky took the case from his hands and shoved it back in.

"How about the new Star Trek reboots?"

"Saw the first one. Didn't get a chance to see Into Darkness though."

"Good. We have it. Let's watch it."

Violet-Sky wasn't usually one to fall asleep in movies—with the exception of Phantom of the Opera the other night because she was exhausted—but she drifted off sometime around when John Harrison was attacking everything. Though she didn't remember which time he was attacking everything. As much as she loved Benedict Cumberbatch's deep voice and attractive face, she just couldn't keep her eyes open. She fought it for a long time because she didn't want to dream, but eventually the heavy pulling of her eyelids took over, and she was out.

End Note: I'm gonna put up one more chapter today in just a few minutes.

Thanks for reading!

~Cass