As the Sky May Fall EirlysLavellan
The Avengers Marvel Comics
~0~
Summary: Alice was always so sure of the way her life was going to go, however, her entire perspective is changed upon being forcibly added to the Avengers. After the Invasion of New York things quickly change and she realizes that everything she thought she was, is nothing close to what she ever imagined especially when she realizes that the man she had thought was dead turns out to be forcibly working for HYDRA as their Winter Soldier. She swears she will do anything to keep him safe even if that means going against the new family she has built.
Disclaimer: I am a poor college grad and am receiving no payment whatsoever to write this fiction. If I was, in fact, getting paid for this, I would not be a poor college graduate that I can assure you. All rights are reserved to Marvel, D.C. Comics, and Walt Disney Pictures and Columbia Studios as well as the amazing screenwriters, directors and producers, and actors who created this film. I only own the subplot as well as Alice Alexander and any other unrecognizable character throughout the plot.
Story Type: OC-Insert – Slight AU/Fix-it come Endgame
Main Pairing: Eventual Bucky/OC
Other Pairings: Slight Nat/Cap, Maria/OC and OC/OC
Rating: T/M
Warning: Spoilers, character death, violence, suggestive themes (such as sexual assault/self-harm/depression) and vulgarity.
Author's Note: Why hello there! Thank you all for bearing with me while I took some time off to take a mental health break! Updates will be a bit more spread out from here on in as I'm currently looking at other apartments/potential properties and I'm going to be doing quite a bit of traveling in the coming weeks as I look for better places to live considering my apartment is legitimately falling apart and my landlord doesn't seem to give a shit, but I digress.
Also, I wanna touch on and say that as a fandom I think we were all really rocked by the passing of Chadwick Boseman. I legitimately sobbed when I read the news (I found out by way of Chris Evans' instagram and it took me a few minutes to really understand what I was reading), I hadn't cried that hard for an actor's passing since Robin Williams. So, as I move forward in this story, and because I want to make sure I truly honor his legacy with his performance in Black Panther/Infinity War/Endgame, I will be asking that anyone with intimate knowledge of African culture or the Black Panther comics please PM me any information you would like to see me add into the story or things you picked up while watching the movie. I ask this because there will be a point in this story where we get to see Bucky living in Wakanda and I want to make sure I remain respectful to the legacy and culture that's been established for us. Thank you all in advance!
But, with all of that said, let's get to my thank yous and review replies from those who might not have an account here on FF to get a private response!
As always a special thank you to: simmerandcry, everybodyhurts and Brie for their lovely reviews!
*If you don't have an account no worries just leave me a name in your review and I'll answer you in the beginning of the chapter! For anyone who has an account I always shoot you a PM as soon as FF allows me to see the post ;)*
Also a HUGE thank you to everyone else that has favorited and followed this here story of mine. I hope you all enjoy and please don't forget to R&R!
Brie - Thank you so much! Deadpool was definitely a gamble to make, but I feel like I can have a lot of fun with him considering his moral compass is...chaotic at best that and his interests align with Alice's at this time. There aren't many heroes in the Marvel universe that can stomach Wade's personality and I truly wanted to experiment with him as a character since I rarely (if at all) see him in any Marvel based story. And Sam definitely has a lot to deal with between her and Steve, but while he's such a strong character I definitely want him to have his bad days too. Anyway, thank you so, so much for your review and I hope you enjoy this next chapter too!
WHEW now that we're here, on to the story beauties~!
As the Sky May Fall
Deadpool /|\ Age of Ultron
21
Steve was woken up in the middle of the night from his door opening; the slight disturbance pulling him from the very beginnings of what he was sure would have become a bad dream. Not quite a nightmare, but a dream that would scatter to the back of the mind upon waking; a dream that wouldn't frighten, but would certainly rake icy tendrils of dread down the back. It took his groggy mind a few moments to determine whether he was in any danger or not, but suddenly realized that there couldn't be a danger considering Jarvis would have sounded an alarm if there were an actual intruder and he listened as the door closed with a soft click.
Barely traceable footsteps stopped next to his bedside before he felt the comforter lift and a small body slide into the empty spot beside him. Immediately he knew that his guest was Alice, as the two of them had done this before and it appeared as if she had just woken from a nightmare otherwise she would have gone into the living room or office instead.
"I'm sorry I woke you," Her voice cracked as she sniffed and shuffled closer to him. Steve felt a frown pull at his lips before he flipped himself over, careful to not crush her, and raised his arm in invitation. She wasted no time in curling into the new space, her head resting against his chest, her body seeming to tremble. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't apologize," He returned groggily, his arm curling back around her and cradling her to him. "You've got nothing to apologize for."
She scoffed slightly even as she fisted his t-shirt and pressed herself closer to him. He could feel she was wearing a hoodie – more than likely one of Sam's since he didn't wear pullovers (preferring zip ups that seemed to go missing more often than not and would suspiciously turn up in Natasha's possession) – that was much too large and a pair of thick, fleece-lined joggers – an assumption on his part since she tended to wear the same things nightly – as well as a pair of wool socks. Alice disliked being cold, something she admitted was because it had been something they would use to control subjects in the lab she had been held captive in.
The irony wasn't lost on him since learning that Bucky had been forced into cryo-freeze when he wasn't actively being used by HYDRA; it seemed that she shared the same experience to a certain degree. She had admitted on more than one occasion that she'd much rather be cold than too hot, despite her general dislike of the cold, her reasoning being: you can always throw layers on to warm up, but there were only so many layers that could be taken off to cool down and still remain too hot. He had vaguely followed the logic when she had initially explained it, but otherwise he didn't fully understand it. Despite being frozen for so long, Steve didn't hate the cold – he actually preferred it in most cases as winter had always been his favorite season, even as a sickly child. He preferred it to the humid summers at any rate.
"I'm sorry about earlier…it's just…we both just get protective of him and it's not fair to think that my way would yield an outcome better than yours…you've known him much longer than I have." She whispered into the still silence of the room, "but…I'm just so afraid that he's not going to be the same man I loved and that you loved…that people will judge him for things that were out of his control. It scares me…more than it should."
Steve sighed. Natasha had warned him that this would happen and that Alice would inevitably apologize before he managed to get the courage to do so himself. The Russian understood where he was coming from, but after explaining how the mutant perhaps saw the situation he had begun to understand that ultimately they wanted the same thing. How could he begrudge her for handling the situation in the only way she had been handling it for so many years? With his and Natasha's talk, he had realized that he and Alice were always going to handle things differently. She didn't react emotionally in most cases, preferring to take a step back and look at the larger picture before acting or stating an opinion and that was if she deemed it necessary to say anything at all. Steve reacted more emotionally before he would rein the emotion back into his control and proceed in a more calculating manner.
It was as she had said years before: they were merely two sides of the same coin.
"No," He shook his head, his hand tracing her arm in comfort, "no, you shouldn't have to apologize for that. And you're right…as much as I want to find him, it's not because I want to force him into anything, but to give him a safe space where he can take whatever time he needs. He didn't choose to enlist like I had thought and he certainly didn't ask to be experimented on…His life really didn't pan out the way he and I ever talked about and all I want is for him to have everything he could ever need. I forget sometimes that we have the same goal. The only difference is the approach, but I shouldn't assume you care less, that isn't fair of me and I'm sorry for that more than you could know." He sighed softly before continuing, "I forget sometimes that it's been so long for you…"
"I never moved on from him," She admitted, her voice shaking in the silence of his room, "I couldn't…I didn't even really think of needing anyone else – of wanting anyone else even if that meant I would go through the rest of time alone. It reminds me that I tend to be a hypocrite. How can I preach to others, that sometimes it's best to move on, when I can't move on myself?" Her words were weighted, the admission striking like a hammer on an anvil, "Sometimes, I loose myself and forget how much time has actually passed. I wonder how far apart events are in my life and I have to constantly remind myself of the date otherwise I fall into the cycle of fixating on singular moments. Does that make sense?"
"More than you realize it does. I know I'm not great at expressing everything that's on my mind and for that I'm sorry…" He drew off, his eyes staring at the ceiling above him and ignoring when she shifted and sat up slightly to look at him, "We promised we would stop repeating the past and that we wouldn't fall into the same pattern like we did in '45. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Al, you've become the only person here I know I can trust. Don't get me wrong, everyone is great, but…"
"They expect you to be Captain America before they expect you to be Steve."
"Right."
They were quiet for a while; the only sound in the room was Alice's periodic sniffles as she settled back into him and practically wedged herself beneath him in an effort to warm herself up. This tended to be a frequent occurrence of late, given the colder months, but he was concerned for his friend suddenly – more so than usual. Alice had been having more and more nightmares of late and he knew she thought she was being careful to not let anyone realize it, but he had caught her more than once sneaking into the living room or the office in the apartment to distract herself or tire herself out enough so she could fall asleep. There were times when he would wake in the middle of the night to find her still awake and dressed in the same clothes from earlier that day that signified that she hadn't even bothered trying to sleep. The team had also become concerned when she had shown up to their last briefing with dark circles beneath her eyes and hollowed cheeks that betrayed her health. Tony had even begun to try and keep her occupied by giving her challenging engineering tasks that would work her overused mind enough to finally allow her to sleep to no avail. He then wondered if he could convince her to drink the same tea she made him drink in an effort to ease his mind. He was pulled from his thoughts when she shifted once more, her feet tucking beneath his leg when she curled her leg around his.
"I was in The Box again…" Her voice was broken as she whispered, almost as if she was afraid someone besides him could hear her. When he hummed questioningly she cleared her throat, shifting again, "it's where they kept me when they wanted to see how far they could push my mutation…to see what extent my mutation could heal."
"What happened?"
"I don't remember the particulars…just that I was in The Box and staring down at me was Pierce." He didn't need to look at her to know that her eyes were screwed shut and clenched tightly as her fist tightened around his t-shirt. "It was almost like my mind conjured The Box in the bank…Pierce was never there during the experiments when I was with Department K…he wasn't in S.H.I.E.L.D just yet nor do I think he was with HYDRA…but I could be wrong."
Steve shuffled her closer to him and she allowed him to move her into a more comfortable position, moving the blankets so they were tucked into her more tightly. As a super-soldier and because of the vita radiation used to activate the serum, Steve's body temperature ran higher than normal. When the two of them lived in Boston together in the few months following the Battle of New York, Alice had constantly joked that he was her personal heater and that he wasn't allowed to move before the weather warmed up because she refused to pay for the heating bill in the old apartment. He knew from her past nightmares that The Box played a large part into her trauma – the tiny room acting as a cooler of sorts and dropped to extreme temperatures. Alice had not needed to tell him that she had been stripped of any clothing during these tests as they were specifically monitoring her body's functions and that included the damage done to her skin. Because of The Box, the mutant despised the cold and even in the apartment at the tower, despite his OCD, he allowed her to leave her countless heavy cardigans and sweaters around, the garments finding home in random places in the event that she got a chill.
"But it was like…The Box was in the bank and there was laughter…and then Bucky was there..."
"Breathe, Al…" He coached her quietly as she began to hyperventilate. "Breathe…"
"He was watching from the other side of the room…" She gasped, a whine leaving her lips as she tried to pull oxygen into her lungs. "There was nothing…nothing there and…then I was hearing the last argument we had and…fuck."
Steve sat up and pulled her with him, settling her between his legs and hugging her tightly to his chest. He had only ever had to do this once before and he knew that this would either help ground her or it would trigger other memories and so he knew this was a gamble. Thankfully, it appeared as if it was helping as her breathing – though still erratic and choppy – began to slow. "There you go…deep breath in and out, take your time…"
Alice had had many panic attacks before in her life, many of them appearing after her twenty years as an experiment as a twisted side effect from her undiagnosed PTSD. They always differed depending on what memory she was reliving and always started out as panic attacks before evolving into full panic, but for the most part when they appeared they made her body feel as if it had been submerged in ice – hence why she always sought out the warmest thing or person in the area (namely Steve). She knew she would eventually have to tell him how to properly manage her panic attacks this way they could avoid undue harm to either of them if she were to lash out suddenly in a fit of anxiety on top of the panic, but they hadn't had much time of recent to really discuss it. His arms, encircling her trembling and quaking form, helped her more in this case since they had already been speaking to one another and despite the pounding of her heart in her chest she couldn't force words around the tightness in her throat. Despite being freezing she could feel the sweat beading on her brow and she couldn't stop the whine that tumbled passed her lips as she buried her face in her hands, the action awkward as Steve was still holding her to him.
"Talk," She managed to choke out between gasps and shuddering that made her teeth chatter.
"What do you want me to talk about?"
"Anything."
"Alright," Steve found himself at a loss suddenly before he thought back to his youth, a memory playing before his eyes. "Did I ever tell you about how Bucky and I spent Christmas in my apartment one year with no heat?" He glanced down at the top of her head and seeing her shake it told him she hadn't heard the story. "Well, it was after my Ma passed away so it had to have been November or December of '36 when Bucky decided he was going to force his way into the apartment and became a part-time roommate of sorts. At the time I was still…well, small and I still got sick really easily and he was worried since Ma died of TB that I may or may not get it just out of dumb luck."
Alice closed her eyes as she focused on the cadence of his voice. The vibration of his speech rumbled around his chest and she could feel the echo of his voice against her back.
"Anyway, Buck's Ma at the time was constantly comin' over to check on me when he wasn't around and it was her idea to bring his sisters over one day while I was in class and decorate the apartment. They even managed to find a way to make a small tree so that we had a Christmas tree. It was easily the sweetest gift I ever got from them, besides the obvious anyway, and Bucky was so excited he spent part of his week's pay just to get us a decent meal – insisting that Christmas was as good a time as any to splurge." He chuckled, "Anyway, I think it was that night or the day of when we came back to the apartment and there was no heat at all. Bucky tried to get in touch with the lessor because no heat obviously meant frozen pipes and that was something I couldn't afford even with Bucky's help. I remember we sat in the kitchen with the stove on trying to keep warm. That idiot grabbed any available clothing or bedding in the place to try and keep me warm since he knew I'd get sick long before him."
Alice shivered, "Sounds like him."
"Yeah," The patriot sighed through his laugh, "Anyway we spent that night half in front of the stove and playing knucklebones. Bucky's Ma found us the next morning and nearly chewed our ears off for not just goin' to their apartment a few blocks away. Rebecca had a good laugh at our expense and found it even funnier when Bucky got sick and I didn't. A surprising first between the two of us since it seemed he could never get sick, and he'd had colds before, but he spent a week complaining that he was dying and that the women of New York would forget him if he was gone too long. Despite it being the first Christmas without my Ma there, it was probably my favorite."
"Is that why you like Christmas so much?"
"One of the reasons," she felt Steve shrug from where she had fully leaned back into him, "but nah – I like Christmas because nowadays there's a lot more going on. Yeah, I miss when it was more about family, but it's not all bad." He paused for a moment, glancing down at her. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a bus a few times," She moaned slightly and resting her head back into his chest, her voice wavering. "I want cocoa so bad…" She choked out, a hand leaving the sanctuary of her layers and running down her damp skin. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess…"
"Stop apologizing for something that's not in your control, Allie," His words, while stern were accompanied by a smile that eased her slightly as she sunk bonelessly back into him. Steve nodded and shifted her once again so he could stand. "Can you walk or do you want a lift?" He watched her consider the options before she murmured a small piggy back ride and he sat back on the edge of the bed to allow her to get into a comfortable position on his back. "Alright, hop on."
"Don't make this weird," She snorted despite the shakiness of her voice.
Steve smiled before hooking his hands underneath her knees and lifting her. The duo made quick work of exiting the bedroom only to stop in the entryway of the living room to see Sam lounging on the couch with a movie playing quietly in the background, his eyes staring blankly at the television screen. It appeared as if the entire apartment was dealing with some form of past-trauma that night and Alice patted Steve's back to signify she wanted to be dropped and he lowered himself at the quiet command and releasing her legs, allowing her feet to hit the ground. As Steve stood and had been about to ask if she wanted him to make the cocoa he found she was already meandering into the kitchen – her gait juddering from the nerves he was sure still wracked through her smaller frame – and pulling out the required items, the third cup did not miss his notice and while he nor Sam had said they wanted any they would never turn down her hot cocoa.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Sam looked up at him; his eyes refocusing as if he hadn't noticed the super-soldier or mutant enter the room. He took in Steve's relaxed pose before his eyes flashed to the mutant and seeing her layers understood that it was the smaller woman who had woken with nightmares. He didn't even blink when she snatched another cardigan from one of the stools, tugging it over the large hoodie she wore and he knew this one to be the largest she owned before holding her quaking hands over the burner on the stove. She soon exchanged her hands for the pot as well as a smaller one for herself for her preferred milk.
"Nah…woke up thinking I was under RPG fire again."
Steve's gaze was sympathetic as he sat on the couch, leaving enough space for Alice between them as he was certain she would wedge herself there regardless if there was room or not. It didn't take Steve much to place that the former Pararescuer had been dreaming of his time in Afghanistan and perhaps the death of his wingman and best friend Riley. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Sam shook his head after a moment, the man running a hand down his face before sitting up and exchanging the DVD he had been watching to a different one – Steve recognizing it as a comedy that the former Pararescuer and Alice enjoyed – before sitting back in his original spot. "Nah…not yet. Maybe in the morning if I manage to get any sleep tonight…thanks man."
Steve smiled, "Of course."
Sam returned the smile as he readjusted himself into a comfortable position knowing that when the mutant woke from a nightmare she tended to either want copious amounts of space or she became obscenely clingy and given how she fluttered about the kitchen with an uneven and quaking gait he was certain she was going to be the latter that evening. Steve reached under the couch where a system of drawers had been installed by the handy mutant – Clint bringing them in randomly one afternoon and ignoring the questions of where they had come from as it seemed Alice had known all about it, thanking the archer enthusiastically and praising the craftsmanship and both men had assumed it had been Clint who had made them. Reaching inside he grabbed a few blankets and passing one to Sam as he rested the other three in his lap. Sam took the offered blanket with a small smile of gratitude.
After a few moments Alice returned with three mugs, passing them out silently and sandwiching herself in between Sam and Steve, tugging the super-soldier closer to herself so that she could steal his heat. She barely recognized when Steve adjusted the three blankets around her, taking a large sip of her coca and sighing softly. She had mastered hot cocoa on a stove and knew exactly how the boys liked theirs: Steve preferred whipped cream and candy cane crumbles (which she kept in a mason jar in the cabinet for him) and Sam preferred whipped cream and light sprinkling of cinnamon. With no words exchanged between them, Sam started the comedy that Alice briefly noticed to be The Sandlot.
The three hunkered in, finding comfort in each other as they began to follow the story of a group of kids finding friendships in the strangest of places all the while playing baseball. Steve had found himself tucked into the corner of the couch with Alice tucked next to him and half curled into his side and finally Sam sat on her other side with his head in her lap where he had rested his pillow no less than 20 minutes in – the mutant and former Pararescuer having fallen asleep half way through the movie. The patriot looked down at the two of them, the movie still playing in the background and he knew he didn't have the heart to wake them.
He sighed softly as he allowed his mind to wander.
Steve had never felt as if he belonged anywhere in his early life – constantly an outsider looking in, even within the Army he hadn't felt the same companionship and brotherhood that he had once craved so desperately and just finding it in the Commandos before his supposed death. Before he had known it, his life had changed and especially so when he decided that his only option was to put the Red Skull's plane into the Arctic ocean in an effort to prevent the world from ending. He could recall the feeling of hopelessness that had surrounded him and his final correspondence with Peggy. He had cried, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold his promise to her, but he had felt peace in knowing that his death wouldn't be in vain.
As soon as the plane had hit the ice waters it had taken a considerable amount of time before the cockpit had filled with water. He had laid himself down on the ground, not far from the pilot seat, and stared up at the roof of the ship recounting the actions that had led him to his suicide mission. Steve didn't regret much in his life, however, he had regretted many things towards its seeming end: Bucky's death, his falling out with Alice, leaving the Commandos and finally leaving Peggy – easily his soul's mate – with a false promise after finally realizing that he should of asked her dancing sooner as she had loved him as much as he had loved her the entire time. He recalled his last thoughts as being ones of promise for the next life – hopes that he could be someone great, someone who was accepted better – who had true friends and someone who, no matter the odds, stood up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. Glancing down at the woman who had curled into his chest, her breaths even and slow and then to the Pararescuer who had laid on his side, curled into the mutant's lap and holding her available hand, Steve promised himself that he would do whatever was within his power to keep his promises to them.
It was in that moment with his two friends curled on the couch and using him and each other as pillows that Steve Rogers promised himself, that while he would always love Bucky Barnes – the only person other than his immediate family to genuinely care about him – he could make room in his heart for a few more friends. And with that thought in mind, he allowed himself to close his eyes and relax, soft snores of his current roommates lulling him into sleep just as the end credits of the movie began to roll.
-0-
"I think you're being overdramatic," Alice pointed her spoon in the direction of Jodi Moore, who currently sat across from her in the small diner, the woman rolling her eyes in reply.
The mutant had just finished her exams and classes for the day and had agreed to meet Jodi for lunch before heading back to Avengers Tower. She had timed it so well that the former S.H.I.E.L.D agent hadn't had a choice but to agree as Alice was privy to the knowledge that Maria had a meeting with Pepper planned during the blonde agent's normal lunch hour. Jodi was dressed casually in well fitted jeans that clung to her shapely legs and a thick white turtleneck and matching boots. She had styled her hair in a loose top-knot with a few strands pulled from the array to frame her ovular face and she wore light traces of make up on her face, the brown eyeshadow highlighting the sharp grey of her eyes and the sharp crimson red of her lipstick bringing attention to the pout she currently sported. A black trench coat and cashmere scarf had been tossed in the corner of her side of the booth. Her style was very Parisian and Alice found herself admiring the woman's beauty and style – the women sharing fashion tips with one another over the last few months.
"I dunno what you want me to say here." The woman snorted her admission as she politely sipped at the water she had asked for, a mug full of tea that she ordered was set aside. Alice had found more humor in this considering Jodi had been appalled at the Lipton tea bag, glaring at it intensely as if it had offended her, before the British woman had moaned that she needed to find a way to get her hands on Ahmad Teas without waiting a long period for them as they were centered in London. She rested her fist against her cheek, her eyes tracking as the mutant played with her soup. "Since S.H.I.E.L.D fell I've got nothing better to do but hang around the tower and even then she's got her attention in other places."
Alice shrugged, "I don't know why you don't just ask her to hang out."
"Because she's still playing double agent with that gaggle out in Manhattan."
"You never thought to just…subtly ask to join in? You're a spy for god's sake woman!"
"Oh yeah," Jodi snorted, "I'll just walk right on up and be like: Oh hey wanna go to the pub or go for a cuppa? And I wasn't a spy," she stuck her nose up primly, "I was a language interpreter."
Alice stared at her for a moment, wondering if the agent was being serious or not before drawling a dry: "Yes. That's exactly what you should do." When the British woman groaned softly and bit into her pastry, the mutant sighed, "I don't know how to say this any plainer, Jo. Maria is a busy woman, but I guarantee if you ask her to hang out with you she'll find a way to make the time."
"You're a prat."
"A prat that you decided to come to for relationship advice and who happens to, also, be right."
Jodi rolled her eyes, sending another displeased glare at the tea she had been presented.
She had spent the early moments of the conversation loudly complaining about how every place she had been to recently served Lipton tea bags which wasn't the same as their iced tea and how it was blasphemous before launching into a long diatribe about how Tony had thought it was funny to leave British paraphernalia around the common room of the tower and especially when he knew Jodi was around. He had actually programmed Jarvis into playing God Save the Queen whenever she entered his lab and the blonde had shot out at least half a dozen targets in the gun range in retaliation – not that it had actually done anything to Tony, but it had certainly made her feel better.
"You Americans are annoying."
"Keep in mind sweetheart, I was there when your country ruled over the colonies so..." She shrugged and offered a mocked wince that bore her teeth before a smirk began twitching at her lips earning a snorted laugh from Jodi for the effort. "Inappropriate jokes aside, you can always set it up where you get a group together to go with you…ones that you trust. It doesn't have to be the Avengers, but maybe some coworkers considering you work for Stark now."
"Please don't remind me," Jodi moaned into her hands, "I never hear the end of it. And Maria is kept so busy I dunno when I'll get to actually speaking to her."
"Well," Alice paused as she took another spoonful of soup, "I'm basically the Avenger's tech support for their missions since I'm in school and to be honest, I'd rather not be in the field if I can avoid it…y'know the whole immortality thing is definitely harder to hide from with modern tech, but I can always use some help and I'm sure if you wanted I could arrange something with Tony to have Maria's job description focused to the Avengers." She smirked, "I mean, I don't know if it's possible, but I'd happily do it since I'm a sucker for a hopeless romantic."
Jodi glared at her, but her blush betrayed her annoyance and earning a wider smirk from the mutant, "You're an asshole."
"Just something to think about Jodi…but I'll spare you the embarrassment and talk about my classes, how about that?"
"I would love nothing more than to hear about anything other than my love life."
Alice laughed before nodding her consent, "Noted."
"I thought I'd find you two here."
Jodi and Alice glanced to the end of their booth to notice Natasha and Alice immediately moved closer towards the window to make room for the former spy, the redhead gracefully sliding in after a small greeting from the blonde. Natasha was always fashionable, but she was a clothing thief by habit and the outfit she had deemed fitting for the cold January afternoon was a few different pieces that normally wouldn't match nor were they particularly fancy or stylish by any means – the woman clearly had been going for comfort as opposed to anything else. Currently she wore one of Steve's zip ups beneath a leather jacket and a pair of leggings that she had tucked into a pair of Alice's boots and what looked like one of Clint's henleys beneath the sweatshirt. She easily tugged off the beanie and scarf she had worn and releasing the curls that had been hidden beneath and tucking her gloves into her jacket pockets. As always, Natasha wore light make up specifically mascara and eyeliner and making her eyes pop. She turned her green eyes to Alice and nodding to the backpack that contained her laptop and textbooks.
"How was your test today?"
Alice shrugged slightly, spooning more soup onto her mouth before turning her body towards Natasha and briefly noticing Jodi flag down their waiter, "The neuroscience course is a joke. I've been studying the brain since World War II, but I've been considering doubling up at NYU to work prosthetics into my engineering from MIT. Software development is easy enough and computer engineering I've been technically doing on and off since the late 80s. The test was easy enough, but I'm more worried for my software pitch at the end of the month."
"I dunno why you'd be worried," Jodi sighed as she rested her cheek in her hand. "You're smart as a whip and you've got interesting ideas regarding how you could insert a chip into prosthetics that mimics neuropathways to send direct messages to the brain. A chip like that could do a lot of good for men and women who struggle with their injuries or even kids who have a hard time with birth defects."
"Yes, but I'm more worried about people weaponizing something like that."
"I don't see why. It's meant for prosthetics."
Natasha watched the back and forth between the two women before stealing Alice's untouched water and sipping at it. The mutant sighed softly, "It goes back to the idea that every piece of tech that comes out is normally always made with the best intentions. The chip that I'd want to manufacture for prosthetics deal specifically with the neuropathways in the brain that communicate with the rest of the body…now imagine someone like Pierce getting his hands on that or anyone with ill intentions. I'm not worried about getting the approval…I'm worried I won't be able to flush out those pieces within its programming to prevent people using the chip as a way to control people."
"Couldn't you choose something else?"
"I don't know…maybe? But I wouldn't know what to pitch for the thesis project and I've got maybe two more weeks until that deadline."
"What about the facial recognition software you've been working on?" Natasha questioned after giving her order to the waiter who had left almost as soon as he had shown up. "I know you're using it to find Barnes, but couldn't you base your project off of it?"
"No," Alice sighed and running a hand through her hair, glaring at the tips as she studied the awkward length. She made a mental note to text Clint later to see if he had time to help her fix and shape her hair. "Facial recognition software already exists and even then I don't want to make a more refined system when there are agencies in this world that already abuse that power. I'm sure I'll find something, but I want to make certain that it's not going to come back to bite me in the ass…maybe I can do something like a software that prevents most hackers from accessing most household systems. If I can make it similar in construct to Jarvis's firewall and anti-hack system maybe I can use that to make accessible to the average person – create a secure backup that would allow for people to safely store their information so that hackers on the deep web can't access it and steal their identities or something."
Jodi and Natasha shared a glance before the blonde snickered, "That's the most boring statement I've ever come out of your mouth."
"I think it's a great idea, Al," the redhead chirped almost sarcastically before taking a sip of the coffee she had ordered. Alice rolled her eyes at the both of them as they dissolved into giggles at her expense once again and forcing another spoonful of soup into her mouth. Was the idea a little more elementary compared to what the mutant knew she was capable of? Perhaps, but she also knew she had to be incredibly mindful of developing something that would tie to her name and she still wanted to maintain her autonomy and anonymity. After their laughter ceased, Natasha smiled over at the mutant, "Anyway, I actually came down here because Pepper is setting up a girl's night and she's recruited me to corral you two specifically into joining us."
"Corral us?"
Jodi snorted, "Yes, because somehow we've managed to dodge the last two."
The mutant shrugged noncommittally as she took a sip of her soda. Jodi rolled her eyes before returning her gaze to the redhead who had been served her own soup, "So what's the plan exactly? Movies, hair and painting each other's nails?"
"I'm not necessarily against that," Alice chirped as she scrolled through her phone, pausing suddenly and making a face before typing out what was surely a text message. The blonde rolled her eyes.
"No offense, but I'm not much for sleepovers."
"Well," Natasha hummed, "we were going to maybe do some of that stuff, but we're a bunch of grown women. Pepper knows that we've got training but she's planning on using Tony's credit card for food, booze and whatever else we need."
"I'm in."
Alice and Natasha shared a look before a smirk twitched at the mutant's lips, "I'm not much for sleepovers my ass."
"I didn't realize all it would take is mentioning Tony's money."
"Are you actually surprised?" Alice snickered and sharing a humored glance with the Russian, "This is the only way Jo can actually get back at him."
"I am so, so tired," Jodi moaned, "of hearing God Save the fucking Queen every single time I walk into his lab or a conference room. Tell Pepper I'm in and I have suggestions."
Natasha smirked before turning her gaze to the mutant, her brow arched in silent question and earning a small sigh, "Count me in too…I have a shit load of work to do, but I guess taking a break isn't such an awful idea at this point."
The Russian's smirk stretched into a smile, "Good. I didn't want to have to explain to both Pepper and Maria that you two were bailing…you both know how those two are especially when they decide to team up with one another."
"No different than how you and Pepper are," Alice deadpanned, "you were her assistant for a time, fake or not."
The former spy merely shrugged her shoulders as she continued eating her soup, "Did you and Steve talk at all?"
Alice didn't offer her a glance as she played with her soup, "Yeah we spoke."
"And?"
"And what?" The mutant frowned, "Believe it or not, Steve and I don't go long without speaking to one another – we share the same apartment for god's sake."
The redhead shook her head, "That's not what I mean and you know it."
"We…came to an understanding of sorts," she sighed, defeated. "Bucky is our main priority, but we need to find a way to balance that priority without losing support within each other. It's not ideal, but trust me when I say that we were much worse in the 40s. Back then we weren't even remotely close to being friends and Bucky was the only thing that really held us together at all so looking back it wasn't a surprise that our friendship dissolved so quickly. Now, we've had time to understand one another…form a friendship without Bucky there. I don't think our friendship would end so quickly this time around."
"What happened in the 40s?" Jodi asked and taking a brief look at her face, Alice could tell her curiosity was genuine.
"After the mission to capture Arnim Zola, the Commandos returned to Paris, as London was too far out of the way for them at the time and the Allies were so very close to winning the war. I was still with the 107th and so I was stationed in Strasbourg as our company had been pressing the German line back and holding the French border. I had been granted leave and had decided to spend my leave in Paris where I was hoping to…reconcile with Bucky."
"Reconcile?"
"We had gotten into an argument…fight really, just before he had left for the mission in Switzerland and we hadn't had time to talk about it. There were a great many things said and most said in the heat of the argument that I certainly didn't mean." She sighed softly, her soup pushed away and forgotten, "Anyway, much of Paris still laid in rubble as their liberation was in late August and it was still early January at the time. I got to Paris where I was met by Gabe Jones and Dum Dum Dugan…they told me what had happened."
"You didn't even hear it from Steve?" Jodi frowned deeply, "That's horrible."
"It wasn't his fault," Alice sighed and running a hand through her loose hair, "he was grieving privately and I don't blame him for it. The way things were back then was different to how it is now. Emotions from commanding officers to lower ranks wasn't prohibited, but it was certainly frowned upon…despite the rest of their small group knowing what was happening, out of respect they said nothing and left Steve to his own devices."
Natasha sighed, "Sometimes I think it's a blessing and a curse that Steve is living in this era…" Jodi's gaze snapped to the former spy in confusion, but Alice merely nodded in understanding to the woman's sentiment. "Steve's incredibly sensitive and it's not necessarily frowned upon for men to express what they feel anymore despite the stigma still out there."
"That's definitely true," Alice smiled, "he had always been sensitive despite the mask he tried to wear. I genuinely believe that that was the very reason why he and Bucky were such good friends, to be perfectly honest. Bucky always encouraged Steve to say how he was feeling and Steve always encouraged Bucky to be fearless." She shook her head, "Anyway, I sought him out and we got into an argument…a heated one where we accused each other of awful things and we said truly disgusting things to one another. I left – barely spoke to Dugan or Jones on my way out, merely wishing them and the Commandos the best and exchanging brief information with Morita and how he could reach me should he need more information on emergency medicine before requesting a transfer. Phillips, I think, understood and felt guilty to some degree and transferred me to 80th Field Hospital that was accompanying the U.S. 106th in the heart of Germany."
"And then you met Erik…"
"I did," She sighed softly earning a confused look from Jodi.
"Erik? Who's Erik?"
Alice offered her a humored smile, "You'd probably know him better as Magneto."
"As in the crazy mutant that doesn't give two shits if he kills people?"
"Crazy mutant or not," The mutant deadpanned and earning a wince from the former agent, "he wasn't always like that. He was a survivor at Auschwitz and a survivor of experimentation."
Natasha's brow suddenly creased, "It sounds to me like he was the first one to know about you being a mutant…"
"He was – though we didn't know what to call one another back then. Erik had suffered untold atrocity and letting him know he wasn't alone was the only way to gain any semblance of trust with him. His mother was murdered in front of him to trigger his powers and his reward was to be turned into an unwilling experiment. He was sick and wounded and needed help – as a nurse I couldn't in good consciousness let him suffer and especially since he was merely a child at the time." She sighed softly, hands playing with the straw in her cup, "he tried recruiting me to the Brotherhood back in the 80s when he learned what had happened to me, but I wanted nothing to do with anyone and I turned him down pretty fast…every once and a while I hear from him or someone in the Brotherhood asking me to join up with them, but I can't justify it…not truly."
"So when you were forced to join S.H.I.E.L.D…"
"It certainly didn't help my opinions in human organizations, that's for sure." She shrugged suddenly, a smirk curling at her lips, "though, I have to admit, that I like the arrangement we've all got going on now."
"Well, that's a relief," the former spy smirked, "I'd hate to be holding you against your will."
The two women shared a humored look before the conversation changed; the three women spoke of mundane things before Alice flagged down their waiter for the check and slapping a few bills into the check presenter and leaving a tip, the three making their way back to Avengers tower. The walk wasn't long, Alice squeezing herself between the taller women in an effort to use them as shields to the cold breeze and sighing in relief as soon as they hit the lobby and the warm air beat against her. The three stepped into the elevator and as soon as they did Natasha turned to the mutant.
"Meet in the training room in thirty minutes?"
"Sounds like a plan," Jodi smirked as she eyed the mutant who had been about to open her mouth, no doubt to rebuke the time, her smirk widening when Alice's mouth snapped shut and she merely nodded. As they came to the training floor Jodi and Natasha shared an amused smirk before waving cheerfully to the mutant as they disembarked, leaving her in the elevator which she was meant to take to her apartment to change.
As Alice stepped off the elevator and began the trek down the hallway she heard the music long before she entered and she hadn't been expecting the scene that greeted her. An obscure movie score blared from the living room speakers and inside she found Sam, Clint, Steve and Thor spread out and standing on different pieces of furniture with a very overly excited Rumsfeld leaping between them, all dog smiles and tail wagging so hard the mutant thought he may gain enough traction to take off.
"Alice!" Sam cried his greeting with arms thrown wide and a grin stretching across his face, "Don't just stare at me! The floor is lava!"
Clint sent her a wave with his fingers, cheeks flushed and his other hand twirling a drumstick, Thor merely sent her a wide smile of his own in greeting and Steve looked torn between amusement and confusion, cheeks flush and Alice's eyes darted to the center table to see an arrangement of various bottles of alcohol and her brows furrowed.
"Are you all drunk?"
"Of course not!" Sam crowed before grinning stupidly at her again, "maybe just a little."
"Oh my god…"
"It was completely Thor's fault."
The Asgardian looked both affronted and deeply amused as he raised his glass to her, "Come and join us! Son of Will is teaching Cap, Hawk and myself a new game with drinks!"
"Sweet Jesus have mercy," Alice groaned to herself despite her amusement. "I can only assume you brought some special Asgardian stuff for just this occasion?"
Thor sent her a sweet smile, "Of course!"
She shook her head with a smirk tugging at her lips, "As much as I would love to join you – and believe me I'd much rather be playing…whatever it is you're all playing and drinking – but Nat and Jodi are expecting me on the training deck in…" she flicked her arm, exposing her watch and frowning at it, "20 minutes. I promise to join you next time!" She quickly made her exit, ducking into her room and closing the door so she could change. She had workout clothes in her locker on the training level, however, she was going to use the next few minutes to put her things away and maybe sneak back into the kitchen to watch more of the boys' game.
Changing quickly she tugged on a pair of leggings and a fitted long sleeved crop top before snatching her foot and hand wraps from their drawer in her dresser and leaving her room for the kitchen. She briefly ignored as the boys continued to play whatever version of the floor is lava they were currently playing, instead she reached into the refrigerator and pulled out one of her premade smoothies, leaning casually against the breakfast bar and watching their game. It took her quite some time to figure out what they were actually playing and when she did she nearly doubled over in laughter. She had coerced Sam into watching New Girl with her in exchange for watching Voltron and for as much as he grumbled about it, to see him attempting to teach the three blondes how to play True American made her entire afternoon. It was clearly a different version of the game that would allow the patriot, archer and Asgardian the opportunity to actually be able to understand the game, but she suddenly wondered how mad Natasha and Jodi would be if she skipped training that afternoon.
"Why do I have to go all the way out here if I can just take a cup here?
"Steve," Sam heaved an exasperated sigh, "you act like I've never taught you how to play Candyland!"
Alice's brow arched in amusement at the disgruntled look that crept onto Steve's face, "You showed me how to play once, that's definitely not enough times to understand why I have to go so far out of the way when I got the answer right to begin with!"
"Thor's got it and he's not even American," Clint sung with a smirk and earning a glare from Steve.
"He's from another planet!"
"Realm, actually." the God of Thunder supplied helpfully and taking another sip of his drink; still clearly not understanding the rules of the game, but enjoying it all the same. "I'm from another realm."
"That's not the point," Steve grumbled.
Alice snickered quietly to herself as she reached for the pad of paper that always seemed to find its way back onto the breakfast bar and quickly drawing the diagram for the game and writing out a list of rules. She fluttered around the kitchen looking for highlighters and crying in triumph when she found them and drawing the attention of the four men in her living room.
"What're you doin' over there, Pidge?"
She ignored the nickname, outlining the diagram in alternating colors to show the different areas and scribbling the rules of the game down before practically skipping to the four men. "This should help." She handed her diagram and written rules to Steve who glanced at it briefly before handing it off to Thor and Clint. Alice knew with the serum coursing through his veins, Steve that he could retain information with a mere glance and knew that her diagram would stick much easier. Thor and Clint studied the diagram before dropping it onto the table where it wouldn't get ruined and Sam sent her a dazzling smile.
"You sure you can't stick around?"
"I show up to training half-drunk you know Nat will have my ass," She snickered, waving the smoothie for him to see. "Besides, I've got to finish this on the way down."
"Your loss!"
"Also I probably won't be back tonight," She informed them after taking another large sip from her cup and earning quirked brows at her declaration. "Apparently, Pepper and Maria are putting together a girls night of sorts and I've been roped into going."
"Oh, okay. We're probably gonna try and convince Tony and Bruce to join," Steve informed her with a small smile and a shrug. "If you're all having a bonding experience maybe we could do the same."
"Sure," Alice smirked, "remind me to lock my door then."
"See ya later Kit!"
Alice waved to the boys and stepped out of the apartment, jogging to the elevator and checking her watch; if she was lucky she would make it just in time for her training session. While in the elevator, Alice began rolling out her shoulders and stretching her arms at the very least as she knew the Russian and British woman would not spare her any injury as their goal was specifically to push her to a point where she could control her mutation to either hold off healing or heal immediately with a mere thought. The former spy and mutant had been training as such for the last few months and Alice had developed her mutation enough (with the sensors she, Bruce and Tony had developed to collect the data that they would go over when she was available) that she didn't have to draw energy from different parts of her body just to heal. It certainly made her a more formidable opponent and she knew that it would scare her enemies senseless and she planned to test that with Wade soon enough. Shaking the thought from her head she stepped into the gymnasium and immediately made for the case that held the sensors she would need to track her mutation and fixing them to the appropriate vital areas.
"You ready?"
She turned immediately to see Natasha standing there, dressed in a tank and leggings, her hands already wrapped and ready to go before she offered the former spy a smile, "Just about. Just gotta secure these and then we're good. What's the first order today?"
Natasha smirked, "You're gonna try and fend off two opponents today. I'd ask Clint, but he didn't answer his phone."
"He's in my apartment with Steve, Sam and Thor playing True American." She shrugged, sliding her newly improved impact gloves onto her hands and doing the same with her feet. "Thor snuck more Asgardian juice into the tower."
"Thor's here?"
Both Avengers turned to look at Jodi who had just appeared in her own workout clothes consisting of capri leggings and a t-shirt before Alice nodded and smirked, "I doubt we're gonna be bothered by the boys tonight unless their game gets too rowdy."
"Lord, help us if it does."
Natasha shook her head before gesturing to the boxing ring, "Well we're on a time schedule today, ladies. Let's get to it."
-0-
Alice limped her way into the elevator just behind Natasha with Jodi following behind her, her eyes narrowing at the smug redhead as she cheerfully hit the button that would lead them to the penthouse. The three women had already showered and changed into their respective clothes and dressed whatever wounds needed to be seen to – Alice holding an ice pack to her swollen cheek after walking into a spinning hook kick from the Russian and fracturing her cheekbone. Jodi glanced between the two friends with her hand covering her smile as she attempted to remain polite, but the Russian was preening delightfully, but it wasn't because of her successful connect during sparring – no, it had been what happened afterwards.
"You don't have to look so smug about it all."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't."
"I really don't."
"Is that why my only change of pants were missing?"
Jodi snorted as she listened to the banter between the two women, her eyes scanning the outfit that Alice now wore and coughing to cover another laugh. It was no secret that those who were Avengers or close to the Avengers knew the mutant despised wearing athletic ware outside of the gym, unless they were sweatpants or track pants, and the only clothes that had been waiting for the smaller woman when they returned to the locker room was a pair of leggings that had the word Wonderland running down the solid side of the leg in galaxy print with a Cheshire cat logo at the top and the other leg a tie-dye menagerie of blues, purples and bleach splotches that were meant to mimic stars. Alice had not been amused at the split leggings especially when they clashed with the rest of her outfit. Natasha had then prevented her from returning to her apartment which had done nothing to improve the mutant's mood.
"I think they suit you, besides this is supposed to be fun…why not dress for it?"
"If you didn't already fracture my cheek I'd drop kick you on principle alone."
Natasha's eyebrow arched teasingly, "Big words for someone who got her ass kicked."
"That's the whole point of our training, Nat!"
"Someone's a sore loser," Jodi snickered, high fiving Natasha behind the mutant's back and earning a glare from the brunette as well as a middle-finger solute.
The three women stepped out of the elevator and into the penthouse to see that Maria and Pepper had already begun setting up the bar and without prompting; the brunette made for the bar and grabbed the nearest bottle before taking a swig and glaring at Natasha and Jodi who sauntered behind her with wide smirks on their faces. Maria and Pepper shared a look before the strawberry blonde's brows furrowed, "What're you wearing?"
"Why don't you ask Nat and Jo…they seem to be perfectly okay with me looking like an angsty teenager shopping at the Hot Topic or wherever kids shop nowadays."
"You're certainly fitting the description," Jodi laughed as she took the offered drink from Maria as she took in the mutant's attire. "Besides if you want to be a part of the growing times you've gotta at least learn some of the fashions."
"Not my fault the fashion of this day and age is shoddy at best," The mutant grumbled. "Don't get me wrong, when women were allowed to wear trousers I was never happier, but these pants are impractical…and they show too much."
"You wear a leotard, Kevlar and spandex super suit!"
"At least it's thicker and won't show off what I don't wanna show off!"
"You've got great shape, Alice," Maria intoned wisely with a smirk hidden by her own glass of alcohol. "That and leggings are much more comfortable and allow for more flexibility."
The mutant grumbled incoherently before making her way to one of the couches and stripping it of the throw and tucking it around her lap. The other women grabbed various drinks and snacks and made their way over as well, Natasha tossing herself onto the couch next to Alice and resting her head in her lap and smiling up at the brunette when she shot her a raised eyebrow in question. Maria, Jodi and Pepper took up positions around the other sectional and began loudly discussing their day while the mutant and former spy merely listened. It wasn't long before the alcohol was beginning to hit some of their systems when Maria suddenly shot up from her couch, holding her drink aloft and looking at the four women now staring at her.
"I've got an amazing idea," She began before racing towards the elevator.
"Would you like to share with the class or are you gonna leave us in suspense?"
Maria shot her middle-finger up at the mutant who snickered in reply before tapping Natasha to sit up before following after her before the other women could figure out what she was doing. She stuck her tongue out when Natasha and Jodi cried out as they realized Alice had every intention of returning to her apartment to change and laughed as the elevator shut behind her. Maria quirked a brow before smirking at her pants.
"Changing?"
"Absolutely."
"Aren't the guys in your apartment?"
"Most definitely," Alice answered with a smirk before looking up at the woman slightly, "and are you gonna tell me what you're grabbing from your office?"
"Maybe."
"Just maybe?"
"Just maybe," Maria smirked before gesturing the woman to her floor where they both distinctly heard the men shouting back and forth at each other over what sounded like techno? Maria and Alice shared a look with one another before they shrugged at one another and the blue eyed woman offered the mutant a smile, "Good luck!"
Alice waved her away as the elevator doors shut behind the woman and started towards her apartment, sliding in the front door and ignoring the men as she quickly tried to dart down the hallway before any of them saw her.
"Hold it right there, Wonderland."
Alice turned briefly, glancing back at Tony and quirking her brow in question, "Um…yes?"
"The hell are you doing down here?"
"I'm pretty sure this is my apartment," she snorted in reply, crossing her arms over her chest. "If you must know I'm changing into my pajamas."
"I need you to settle an argument."
"Can it wait 5 minutes for me to change?"
"It's urgent."
"Fine," Alice moaned exaggeratedly, "I'll be out in two!" Without waiting for the response she darted into her bedroom and immediately stripping of her leggings. She stared at them distastefully before tossing them across the room and near where her laundry basket was hidden in her open closet (she had removed the doors just out of preference and style as she had recently become rather obsessed with Pinterest in recent years) before tugging on a pair of light grey track pants and exchanging her long sleeved shirt for an oversized red mock-turtleneck sweatshirt. She wasted no time in tugging her hair into a low bun as she exited her room and unsurprisingly Tony was waiting for her. "Now what's going on?"
"You lived during the Revolution right?"
Alice blinked owlishly at him for a few moments before her eyes narrowed, "Obviously…why?"
"Which Founding Fathers did you know?"
At this point the two of them had made it back into the living room where the music had been turned down slightly as to hear the conversation between the two. Alice's brow arched, though her suspicion did not settle – in fact, it only became worse when she took in the faces of her male teammates. They ranged from intrigued to smug and she wasn't certain which was worse.
"I'm still not understanding what this disagreement is about."
"Well, I'm so glad you asked," Tony chirped and tossing an arm around her shoulders that had the woman's brow arching higher and disappearing beneath her recently trimmed fringe, "because Clint here wagered that you probably know more dirt about our Founding Fathers than most people and while I agree, he seems to think that mac'n'cheese is not American AND that these men were actual idiots."
"It isn't." Alice drawled slowly. "It's actually an Italian dish that was made popular in the colonies because of Thomas Jefferson." Tony's jaw seemed to unhinge in shock as if he had personally been wronged by the statement, everyone ignoring Clint's cheer of triumph. "And yes, our Founding Fathers were idiots…I knew many of them during the war."
"It's Italian?" Sam paused.
Steve looked affronted, the alcohol Thor had smuggled into the tower clearly lowering his inhibitions, "They were idiots?"
"I told you guys!"
"Do you know what's happening?"
"Not a clue," Bruce staged whispered back to Thor who had asked the question.
Tony stared at the mutant for another moment before frowning, "I don't know whether to be upset that I lost the wager or concerned about the birth of our nation."
"Short story, he was our diplomat to France and lived there for almost the entirety of the Revolution. Mac'n'cheese, while popular in Europe – France especially – it traces back to 13th century and was originally called de lasanis. It was basically lasagna without the tomato sauce. Anyway after visiting Italy he brought a pasta maker back to the colonies and served it at every function he had whenever he could." She shrugged, "Washington actually had to ban snacks during cabinet sessions because Jefferson would constantly eat it and the other members found it disgusting. Don't get me wrong…our Founding Fathers were some of the greatest thinkers of that time…but these are also the same men and a people who thought tomatoes were poisonous."
"Oh wow…"
"Does that answer your questions?"
"Sure."
Alice smiled and wiggled her fingers in a wave as she practically skipped out of the door and ignoring the loud voices that seemed to be carrying on the argument before making her way back to the Penthouse. Once there she grabbed another drink from the bar and sat herself back on the couch, not protesting when Natasha substituted the pillow she had been using for the mutant's lap. The women continued talking to one another aimlessly before Maria returned with a deck of cards clutched in her hand. All of them had been dressed down in various pajamas – everyone seemingly have taken the opportunity to change while Alice and Maria had disappeared.
Maria wore a lavender henley tee with her hair down and waving wildly from the braid she had had it in previously and donning a pair of slippers and matching pants. Jodi had changed into a pair of plaid pajama pants and what appeared to be a University sports sweatshirt with her hair tugged into a top-knot and her face still baring her full makeup. Natasha had changed into a pair of what looked like Clint's sweatpants and one of Steve's zip-ups, socks pulled over her feet and finally Pepper had changed into what looked like one of Tony's band tees and pajama shorts. Pepper was pouring another round of drinks, Jodi reclined in her spot on the wrap around couch and Maria seating herself at the coffee table and shuffling the cards in her hand and as they did this the women had begun speaking about men in their lives – or women in Jodi's case as she had easily told the gathered women at one point or another that she preferred women over men over the last few months or years of knowing each one of them – as well as missions they had gone on in the past. The conversation had circled around to Alice who had divulged a story about when she had first met Logan, though these women knew him better as Wolverine.
"Didn't you say something about beating the shit out of him?" Jodi questioned around the lip of the beer she had chosen after declining the third cocktail Pepper had offered her as Alice shrugged noncommittally. The strawberry-blonde's brow arched as a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"I'm surprised you didn't kill him."
"Not possible," Alice shrugged again as she took another sip of her drink, her cheeks flush with alcohol and her body feeling pleasantly warm. "Logan and I share similarities in that our bodies heal near instantaneously. His bones are also fused with adamantium and I'd rather get hit by a bus than be on the receiving end of that man's punch…claws aside. Besides, too easy and he's actually not as surly as you'd think when you get to know him."
"Didn't you sleep with him?"
Alice stared down at Natasha with a deadpanned look, "I tell you something in confidence and you go and ruin it."
"WAIT!" Pepper choked as Maria and Jodi merely stared openly at the mutant, "You slept with him!?"
"I'm two hundred and sixty two, Pepper, I'm not dead," Alice drawled, her tone dry though amusement tugged at her features. "I've slept with plenty of men throughout the years, but yes, I've slept with Logan before he was part of the X-men…I want to say it was sometime during 1862 – maybe 1863 – and we had an on-again-off-again relationship. We learned early on that we had a lot in common and went through some wars together before eventually calling it quits in 1902, though we stayed friends with one another."
Maria dealt the cards, shaking her head, "I can't believe you slept with him."
"I can't believe you think going to the mall is fun, Sparkles."
"OH MY GOD!" Maria cried as she stared at the mutant in horror, the woman merely taking another sip of her drink and not looking at all apologetic, "That was classified!"
"Not according to Natasha it isn't," Pepper snickered before clinking glasses with Jodi who continued to watch in amusement and Natasha merely smirked from where she was lounging in the mutant's lap. "But did he always have that weird muttonchops look?"
It took a moment for Alice to place the question that the strawberry-blonde asked before laughing, the sound nervous to her own ears, her hand seeking Natasha's in an effort to stem the emotion slightly as she felt the beginnings of an anxiety attack. The Russian wasted no time in lacing their fingers and squeezing to help ground the mutant and she glanced down at the redhead, her expression while pinched showed her gratitude.
"Yeah, though back then his hair was longer and didn't have that weird spiked halo he seems to prefer now," She shrugged before taking a quick sip of her alcohol before passing it down to Natasha as she was closer to the table, the woman placing it on the table and allowing Alice to play with the ends of her hair in an effort to stem the shaking of the appendage. If the other women noticed Alice's sudden anxiety they didn't comment and instead began to play a round of rummy.
"So," Jodi began, changing the subject, "Sparkles?"
Maria groaned, "It was a mission I had when I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D and I haven't been able to fully shake it." When Jodi and Pepper shot her expectant looks she sighed deeply. "Robin Scherbatsky…the real Robin Scherbatsky is part of a witness protection program. Fury was concerned she would become a security risk and after realizing she and I had an uncanny likeness he sent me in to act as her in hopes to find out if she was still a security risk. A year ago she was cleared and they sent her back to Canada, but I was in deep and the friends that I made through being her was nice to not have tied to S.H.I.E.L.D and Fury never told me to cut ties so, I still play as Robin when I'm around them."
"It's always nice to have friends outside of work," Pepper agreed with a knowing smile. "Unfortunately, mine all happen to be connected to the Avengers in some way shape or form."
"As soon as you agreed to work for Stark you signed your life away," Jodi snorted with a smirk and earning a mocked look of annoyance from Pepper.
As Alice looked around at the group of gathered women she couldn't help the small smile that twitched at her lips, Natasha's fingers wrapped in her own and grounding her and her hair sliding through the mutant's fingers. She had never had many friends even as a child and though she still had flashes of insecurity where she wondered if she clung too tightly or if her newly formed family actually liked her, she resolved to never take their friendship and love for granted. It was difficult for her to form connections because the lives of those around her seemed to expire in a blink, but as she allowed herself to follow the guidance of people like Clint, Natasha, Laura, Steve and Sam she found that it was okay to be weak to allow others to pick up the slack and be her strength. And as she sat back and watched the women she knew she could count among her friends, Alice allowed herself to relax for the first time in months and put her worries aside to deal with on another day.
End Note: Well, there we have it folks! I thought after the last chapter we needed a break from anything main plot or anything to do with the search for Bucky, but I can assure you we'll be back and at it in the next chapter and then we're onto Age of Ultron! We're getting close here everyone and I'm so excited for you all to see how everything unfolds...
Also, yes, Alice has had relations with a few different people throughout her life and Logan is one of them, haha!
For the sake of brevity, since I rambled in my author's note above, thank you all for your continued support of this story and I will see you all in the next chapter~!
If you haven't read simmerandcry's Bucky/OC/Steve story: Show Me, Don't Tell Me, why? You should go read it, you won't regret it ;)
All the love friends~
xoxo EirlysLavellan
Chadwick Boesman
A hero and a legend, may you rest in peace King