Mondays are my least favorite day of the week but I am determined to make it a good one! Work was a bit slow but I managed to sell over $600 worth of shoes, which is $200 more than my daily goal so I'm feeling pretty damn good.
Dedicated to Kyla, who had to work over 14 hours today and is keeping up a good attitude
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Steve and Angel had been cuddling on his bed when Sharon barged into the room without knocking. Steve jumped off the bed and stood straight up, "Whoa ever heard of knocking?"
"Oh stuff it lover boy, I'm having a crisis!" Sharon yelled while tears kept falling down her face. Angel sat up and watched her friend with concern.
"Honey what happened?"
"Clint and I had sex," Sharon said, pacing back and forth to keep herself from breaking down completely, "We had amazing sex and now things are even more confusing!"
Angel rubbed her face with a hand, "And here I thought you were finally letting a guy get close to you."
"Please, that'll happen when pigs fly."
"Wait I'm confused." Steve said, trying to understand what was happening, "Sharon slept with Clint so that things wouldn't be confusing? How does that make sense?"
Sharon rolled her eyes, "I sleep with men so that my physical needs are set, I don't get into relationships and I don't do intimacy. I thought that by sleeping with Clint it would relieve the tension and make it all better, but now it's only worse!"
"She has sex with random men for the sake of sex… Angel I kinda hate your friend's morals…" Steve said.
"WELL I HATE YOUR NAME STEVE! IT'S NOT A PERFECT WORLD!" Sharon screamed at him. His eyes widened while Angel stood up and guided Steve to the door.
"Maybe it's a good idea to give us some privacy," Angel said.
"But… It's my room," Steve said, "And I want to help. I didn't mean to sound judgmental Shar, that was really rude of me. Please let me help,"
"The only help I need is help getting me off this damn helli carrier and away from this place." Sharon grumbled, "But I promised that I wouldn't manipulate a pilot again and leave without telling anyone."
Angel nodded, "Hun you should stay and figure things out with Clint. He seems to genuinely like you and wants to be with you. You know I love you, but you have a long record of running away from a man when he gets to close to you and then choosing an asshole of a guy to use you so there isn't a chance of him getting close and then you get hurt. Why not give Clint a chance?"
"Because I don't want anyone getting close! I'm not like you Angel! I don't get the whole white wedding, picket fence, children thing. I've never needed anyone except you, and you've found someone to take care of you." She looked at Steve and Angel, "You two make an amazing couple, and I'm over the moon with happiness for you guys, but that's not the kind of life I'm heading towards. Clint deserves more than that."
Steve looked over at Angel with an utterly helpless expression, "Yeah… Maybe I should leave you two some privacy."
"You think?" Angel said, chuckling as Steve left the room, "The man is hot, but his sense of comfort is in desperate need of improvement."
"Well that's what you're there for Ang," Sharon said as she sat down on the bed, "sorry if I interrupted your moment. Oh my god where you about to have sex!"
"What!" Angel said, "No! You know me better than that!"
Sharon gave Angel a once over before raising an eyebrow at her friend. Angel's clothes were disheveled and topsy turvy, her hair was sticking up in odd places and her make up was a little smudged, "You might want to look in the mirror deary, your appearance says otherwise."
Angel looked in Steve's mirror and blushed while she fixed herself up, "I wanted to… but Steve wants to wait…"
"Aww honey," Sharon said as she stood up and hugged her friend, "I think that's great."
"It is, right?" Angel asked, "I mean he really does want to get to that spot, it's just that we've only been together for such a short time. I'm glad he stopped us before it's too late because I certainly wasn't ready too."
Sharon chuckled and smoothed out Angel's hair, "When the time is right, you two will come together without having to deal with regret and afterthoughts later. Plus I demand that you call me and give me all the details."
Angel sighed, "So you really mean it? You're leaving SHIELD?"
Sharon nodded, "I need the space Ang, it's too much for me. I hate the idea of being apart from you, but knowing you're with Steve will help. He'll be there for you, plus you can always call me. I'm going to my cabin and you know how to get in contact with me."
Angel sighed heavily and put her hands on Sharon's shoulders, "I hate it when you do this, but I'm not going to stop you. Just make sure you talk to Director Fury first and let me know where you're heading. Okay?"
Sharon nodded and hugged Angel close, "I love you Angel, but I just can't do it. He'll find someone better."
Angel pulled back and stared at her best friend, "I sincerely doubt it."
*.*.*.*.*.
Sharon was quick to find Fury and talk to him. He was on the bridge with Agent Coulson; she told them since the Tesseract was stable and being well watched by Banner and Tony she didn't feel a need to stay on the ship.
Fury nodded in understanding, "We'll miss having you around Ms. Carver. I can't very well keep you here and you are cleared from the medical staff. Mind if I ask where you will be heading to?"
"Do I get a choice?" Sharon chuckled, knowing good and well that they would easily keep tabs on her even if she didn't tell them, "I have a cabin in the middle of the Pacific Rainforest. I'll be staying there for a while before perhaps going around the world for a bit a traveling."
"Very well Ms. Carver, I hope you are safe in your travels. We'll come and find you if we ever need you again."
"I doubt you will. The Tesseract is safe and stabilized. Last I checked, Banner and Stark were doing an excellent job of monitoring it and making sure it was secured. I'm also fairly certain that if there are any Chitauri left they now know that to battle us would be to court death."
"With you on the team that is for certain. I hope I can count on you to return should we need your services. What you have is a gift Ms. Carver, one that we could certainly use at any point in time."
"I don't know about it being a 'gift', but it certainly comes in handy on occasion," Sharon said.
"Taking down Loki single-handedly isn't something to be so cavalier about. You were able to manifest pure energy with the amount of power you had absorbed, you should consider taking up Dr. Banner's offer, Ms. Carver."
Sharon stiffened a little, "I wasn't aware that you knew about it."
"Dr. Banner first came to me with the idea, I thought it was something to look into. But since you're not interested in volunteering we won't force you to do so," Fury said as he toyed with his control panel, "Just remember what has happened twice now when you've built up power and held it back. We don't want this happening again to you without assistance coming to your aid when you need the medical attention."
Sharon nodded, "I'm not planning on being around people for a while, I think I will be fine."
Fury nodded, "Have fun in the wilderness, Ms, Carver."
"Director," Sharon said before Fury and Coulson turned to leave, "I would prefer that my location be kept under wraps. Only you two and Angel will know where I am."
"Don't worry Ms. Carver, we'll keep your location a secret. No one will find out." Agent Coulson said with a kind smile before turning and following after Fury out of the room.
Sharon went back to her room and packed the rest of her things swiftly, knowing the risk of running into Clint was getting higher by the minute and she planned to be off the carrier before that could happen.
*.*.*.*.*.
After he dressed, Clint left his nest to go searching for Sharon. He started with the weapons room, figuring she would go there to let out whatever steam was bothering her when she left him.
He was surprised to find the area empty, Sharon was no where. He attempted the new Tesseract lab and scoured the corridors before braving her quarters. When he got there he knocked on the door, but no one answered. He knocked again before trying to open it, he was beyond perplexed when he realized that only Angel's things were in the room and Sharon's were all gone.
He ran down to Steve's quarters and barged in on Steve and Angel making out.
"FOR GODSAKE DOES NO ONE KNOW HOW TO KNOCK!" Angel cried, glaring at Clint intensely.
"Where is Sharon?" Clint asked, ignoring Angel's outburst. Angel's face softened into a look of guilt.
"It's too late Clint," Angel said.
"What do you mean? Just tell me where I can find her, I need to talk to her. It's urgent."
"She left." Steve said.
*.*.*.*.*.
Sharon was getting comfortable in her seat just before the plane took off. She tried to keep her mind away from the events of the past few hours and focus on getting her her cabin and finding some peace of mind. She was sad to be leaving Angel, wishing there was a way for her to come with Sharon. But Sharon could tell that Angel wanted to be with Steve, and she didn't want to get in the way of that budding romance. She was happy for Angel, her chest was heavy at the thought of spending a long amount of time away from her best friend. It hurt a lot, but she desperately needed to get away from Clint. She swallowed back her tears as she tried to forget about him. It's time to move on she thought, time for a new place and a new adventure.
It was then that she glanced out the window just in time to see Clint running across the pad towards her plane. Her heart squeezed painfully as he got closer to the ship. He was yelling out something but she couldn't tell what it was. She started to panic, as he got closer to the plane, knowing that if they didn't leave soon he would catch her and she would never leave.
"CAN WE GO NOW!" She yelled up to the pilot who gave her the thumbs up and took off down the speedway. She looked back out the window and saw Clint standing where the plane had been; he was getting smaller as more distance was created. She let out a heavy sigh and looked away as tears started pouring down her cheeks and she silently shook as more tears fell into her lap.
*.*.*.*.*.
Angel was waiting anxiously in the corridor as Clint walked in from the outside; his face was completely devoid of emotion.
"I'm so sorry Clint," Angel said silently.
"Do you know why she left?" Clint asked in a toneless voice. Angel nodded silently.
"I can't tell you a lot, she made me promise. What you should know about Sharon is that she gets scared. You know how she always pushes you away when you get too close? Well when you get really close, that's when she runs. She's done this before, but never to this scale." She sighed, "She doesn't think she deserves anyone. She also stubbornly believes that no one will ever want her. Nothing has ever changed her mind before."
Clint nodded as he processed the information, "Do you know where she went?"
Angel nodded again, "But she also made me promise not to tell you her location. She doesn't want anyone to know. I would tell you but she would never forgive me," She watched as a look of determination crossed his features, "She didn't, however, make me promise to not encourage you to find her…"
Clint looked up and saw a look of support on Angel's face, she gave him a small smile, "I want her happy Clint, I trust that you can do it for her. While I can't tell you where she is, I'll support you."
Clint nodded, "Thanks Angel, that means a lot."
Angel smiled, then smacked him on the shoulder, "Now go! You have some work to do."
Clint smiled and headed to his office to start figuring out where that plane was going and attempting to pin down a location.
More will come later. While you wait for the next chapter, feel free to write me a review and let me know what you think! Feedback is always appreciated.
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Alasiel