Yeah, I'm still basically brain-dead. I don't know what's wrong with me but I don't think I'm getting enough oxygen to my brain. Can someone help with that?


Thursday, February 9th, 2012

"What were you trying to ask me last night?" That question had preempted any sort of morning greeting as he woke up and caused Tony to furrow his brow.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Last night?" The words came out of Steve's mouth as a question as his expression turned to one of disbelief. "You kept trying to ask me if I was afraid of something, but it wasn't quite making any sense." Tony shook his head in confusion.

"I don't remember that," he said. "Maybe it was just a dream."

"No, it wasn't," Steve said. "I know it wasn't."

"How so?" Since Tony had nuzzled his head into the juncture between Steve's shoulder and neck, it was impossible to miss the sound of Steve swallowing hard.

"I just know it wasn't a dream." Tony had to pull back from the admittedly comfortable position he had worked himself into to look up at Steve, gazing directly into his eyes. The imploring look he gave him spoke volumes.

"Steve," he said. "Do you really think you're going to fool me like that?" Steve sighed.

"I've been awake all night." Unsurprised by the admission, Tony leaned in to wrap his arms around Steve and pressed his forehead to chest.

"Babe," he practically groaned. "I realize the massive hypocrisy in me saying this, but you need to get some sleep."

"I know, I know," Steve said. "I tried to sleep but I just couldn't stop…"

"What?" Tony prompted when Steve's hesitance to finish that sentence became clear.

"Thinking about you." Although his heart did soften a bit at the thought, Tony could not overlook the fact that that Steve's thoughts that night were more troubled than romantic or kinky. Slowly, he pealed himself away from Steve and stood up, collecting blankets from the ground, and throwing them over his lover's nude form.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked as he tried to prop himself up on his elbows.

"Tucking you in," Tony explained. "Now lie back down. You'll be more comfortable that way."

Steve reluctantly complied and allowed Tony to throw a sheet, the comforter, and that fuzzy blue blanket over him. Tony did not bother to try to tuck the blankets into the mattress, figuring that just having the warm blankets on top of him would be comfortable enough for Steve. Once they were all spread out, Tony climbed back on top Steve, again resting his head on his chest.

"There," he said. "Now you have to sleep."

"Are you going to lay on top of me until I do?" Amusement colored Steve's voice, causing the corners of Tony's lips to rise upwards.

"Yup," he said. "I'm not going anywhere until your eyes are shut and I hear you snoring."

"I don't snore." Tony snorted at the denial.

"You know what I mean," he said. "Get some sleep. I'm not going to move until you do."

Steve chuckled as he freed his arms to wrap around Tony's shoulders. He smiled and leaned into the touch. He could feel Steve relax underneath him and Tony shut his eyes, thinking maybe he could sneak in another hour or so of sleep.

Wow, I have not thought that in a long time. Tony took a moment to relish in it. Although it did not mean his fear of falling asleep was cured, but it did feel nice to want to fall asleep for once. After a while, he could feel himself starting to drift off…

Then JARVIS' voice came through the speakers.

"Sir, it is now six-thirty in the morning," the AI said. "If you want to arrive to work on time, I suggest getting out of bed now." Tony groaned.

"Why do you have to ruin my fun, J?"

"I don't believe I am ruining anything," JARVIS said. "I was merely advising you as to what might be in your best interest."

"Sleep is in my best interest," Tony tried to argue.

"You got seven and a half hours of sleep last night," JARVIS reported. "Although that is thirty minutes shorter than the standard doctor's recommendation, it is still an adequate amount for you to function off of."

"So, you're saying that if I was the one who stayed up all night, you'd actually let me sleep in?" Tony asked.

"Given that it is in the new health and safety protocols that yourself and Miss Potts put in place that I am to ensure that you have slept a minimum of six-hours for every twenty-four you've been awake, I would have to say so." Tony groaned again.

"Why didn't I foresee this?" he wondered aloud. "I'm supposed to be the futurist for God's sake." Steve chuckled as he rubbed Tony's shoulders.

"That doesn't make you clairvoyant, dear." Tony gave a begrudging hum.

"I know I know," he muttered in response. Slowly, he dragged his head up to look Steve in the eyes. "I just wish we had more time together." Steve gave him a warm smile.

"We'll have plenty of time together once you're done with work," Steve assured. "But right now, you need to get ready, so get on up." Steve lightly patted Tony's side, receiving another annoyed groan in response.

"I hate my job," he said.

"No, you don't," Steve said.

"When it takes me away from you?" Tony questioned. "Yeah, I do." Steve gave him a sympathetic look.

"Do you want me to do something to make this easier on you?" Steve asked. "Make you breakfast, perhaps?" Out of everything he could have said, that got Tony sitting up faster than anything else could.

"No, no," he rushed to assure. "That's fine. I can do it myself. You need to get some rest."

"It's okay," Steve tried to argue. "I can make you breakfast, then go back to bed." Tony shook his head, adjusting his position to better straddle Steve over the covers.

"Or you can just skip the extraneous effort and just fall asleep right now." Steve let out a deep sigh.

"Tony," he started to say, but Tony gently placed three fingers on his lips, effectively cutting him off.

"No," he said. "Don't do that. You do not get to worry about me and take care of me without me doing the same for you. That's not fair."

"It's not like I'm going to run myself into the ground," he argued. Tony smiled softly.

"You're right," he said. "And you won't be if you just relax and go to sleep." Steve still appeared to be a bit unwilling, so Tony leaned in a little more. "What can I do to make this easier for you?" Steve gave Tony's question a moment of genuine contemplation. The corners of his lips began to rise.

"How about a goodnight kiss?" The cheekiness of his smile betrayed the thoughtfulness of his voice. Tony laughed.

"I don't know," he said. "You drive a hard bargain there, sweetheart."

"It's a kiss or I'm getting out of bed," Steve threatened.

"Alright, alright," Tony joyfully agreed.

He scooched forward so he could reach Steve's mouth better. As he leaned in, Tony watched as Steve shut his eyes and started to relax. As much as it delighted him to see Steve so ready and willing to give himself over to him, he could not go in for the kill just yet. Instead, his lips hovered tantalizingly close to Steve's allowing his hot breath to fan over both of their faces as he asked, "you promise to go right to sleep after this?"

One of Steve's eyes opened to look at Tony, but quickly snapped back shut.

"I promise," he said.

"And you promise not to worry about me excessively during the day?" Steve frowned and this time properly opened his eyes.

"I'm always going to worry about you, Tony," he said.

"I know," he said. "But don't do it to the point where you're not considering yourself, okay?" Steve gave a seemingly reluctant nod.

"Okay," he agreed. "I promise." Tony grinned, but the expression did not stay on his face for long as he crashed his mouth into Steve's.

The first kiss was chaste, but then they went for a second, and a third, and after that Tony lost count. The kisses were so heated and passionate that they seemingly melded into one another. Steve's hands roamed all over Tony's body, squeezing and grabbing onto whatever they could. Tony let out a distinct moan of pleasure. All thoughts of anything other than Steve left his mind. A layer of sweat began to form on his increasingly heated body. The friction was intense. He could already feel himself getting…

He pushed back from Steve, hard, more to stop himself than out of any fear or insecurity. As much as he wanted to screw Steve senseless right then and there, he was aware of that invisible boundary they had set in place. They were not going to have full-on sex until they were both ready, and right now Tony was anything but ready. Besides, having sex right now would only further delay his arrival to work. Panting fiercely, Tony felt Steve place a hand on his arm. He met his eyes immediately.

"You okay?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Tony assured between breaths. "Yeah."

"Did I do something wrong?" Tony shook his head.

"No," he said. "You were awesome, I just…" He swallowed hard and took a few more deep breaths. "I need to get to work." Steve nodded understandingly.

"Okay," he said before his eyes drifted southward. "Are you going to need any help with that, though?" He gestured to Tony's exposed privates, clearly erect. Tony waved it off.

"I'll take a cold shower," he said. "I'll be fine." Steve raised an eyebrow.

"You sure?" he asked. "Because I can give you a blowie or a hand job faster than the time it would take for you to shower." Tony snorted.

"While I appreciate the confidence in your abilities," he said. "You promised me you'd go right to sleep after that kiss."

"That wasn't one kiss," Steve pointed out.

"Uh-uh, you're not getting anymore, mister," Tony said. "Shut your eyes, go to sleep."

"Why do I feel like this is less fun the other way around?" Steve asked.

"Because you know better than to try to bribe me with sex." Steve shrugged, conceding that he had a point. Tony moved off Steve but stopped himself as he was perched on the edge of the bed, taking Steve's hand in his. "Maybe I'll be able to get out early so we can go right back to having fun," he said. "But in the meantime, please try to get some sleep, dear, okay?"

Steve agreed, and Tony pressed his lips to the back of his hand before standing up and heading for the bathroom. As he moved, he started to realize that it would take more than a cold shower to get this erection to go down.

Yeah, I should've taken Steve up on that offer for a hand job.


When Tony got out of the shower, Steve was fast asleep – a sight he was relieved to see. As touching as it was that Steve had stayed up the whole night because he was worried about him, Tony honestly didn't want him to sacrifice his wellbeing for him. Yes, he realized how hypocritical this was, but love by it's very nature was hypocritical. He was aloud to want things for Steve that contradicted how he treated himself. At least, in his mind. A little thing called "reality" might disagree with that.

Speaking of reality that was something that Tony needed to snap back to quick. Pushing his justifications for self-neglect aside, Tony got himself dressed and ready for his work day. After he got himself relatively put together, Tony walked back over to the side of the bed and bent over to plant a kiss on Steve's forehead. He did not stir – which Tony was thankful for – and he silently padded out of the room, careful to shut the door softly on his way out.


Despite the rather frisky start to his morning, Tony found the quality of his day severely deteriorating from there. It seemed that the world had decided that he had not suffered enough lately and decided to dump piles of paperwork onto his desk. He and Lara were struggling to sort through it all on their own. At one point, Lara questioned if it was in the budget for her to hire her own personal assistant – most of her reasoning being "two people can't do this themselves. Maybe three can" – but Tony shot down that idea fairly quickly. The last thing they needed to do was start to create a chain of people to try to manage each other. All that would end up doing is creating another company, and the one he already had took too much work. The two of them did not even notice when Pepper poked her head into the office.

"Hey, I was going to order… Good lord!"

Tony looked up just in time to see the shock etched on Pepper's face as she slid through the door and into the room. She could not open it all the way because there were a couple of boxes placed in front of it. Both were marked as "S.H.I.E.L.D." and "Deliver to the care of Anthony Stark." They were only placed in front of the door because it was the only few square inches of the floor not covered by paper. Pepper looked around, mouth agape, before looking right at Tony.

"What the hell is all of this?" she questioned. "What happened?"

"Uh, we got a little disorganized," was the best explanation Tony was able to give.

"A little…?" Pepper moved her arms to gesture to the room at large. "It looks like a tornado rolled on through! How did this happen?"

"Well," Lara said from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Exasperation clouded her voice and at some point, a bright-yellow sticky note got tangled in her loose hair. "One document turned into another, and then another, and then there was a packet with a bunch of things that needed to be signed, then I think a whole file cabinet, then the stack fell over, but we still had things we needed to sign…"

"Okay…" Pepper's voice held the unspoken question of "then why didn't you just pick it up?" However, the exhaustion and frustration that were very clearly weighing down both Tony and Lara's souls told made it clear for her not ask. "How did all of this happen? This can't all be SI stuff."

"Because it's not," Tony said. "Some of its S.H.I.E.L.D., some of its Avengers-related, some of it's from Damage Control, I'm pretty sure the bill for the guy I paid to clean out the bathroom on the jet is in there somewhere…"

"Basically, every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there wants Tony Stark's signature, and they want it now." Tony shrugged at Lara's brief, yet apt summarization. Pepper did not seem as impressed, though.

"I still don't see how that can devolve into this sort of catastrophic mess," she said. "I mean, I get it. I have days when I am loaded down with paperwork, too, but this? Come on." Tony sighed.

"The only thing I have to say for myself is that I feel like I'm about to have a stress-induced heart attack."

"Same here," Lara said, sounding completely nonchalant. Pepper was anything but, though.

"Are you serious?" She rushed over and leaned over the desk a bit, trying to get a better look at Tony and determine if he was showing any signs of weakness or distress. "Is something wrong? Is the Arc Reactor still working? What…" Tony quickly held up a hand to silence her questions.

"I'm fine," he assured. "Everything's working fine. I'm just being melodramatic." Pepper put a hand on her chest and let out a breath of relief.

"Don't scare me like that," she said.

"Well, it's how I feel," Tony said. "And I'm not supposed to be lying about that anymore."

"Yeah, but you don't have to phrase it like that," Pepper said. "Especially when you have a heart condition."

"Trust me," Tony said. "If I was actually having a heart attack, I would let you know."

"Actually, if you were having a heart attack, you'd be more likely to go completely unresponsive." Tony wished Lara were not sitting on the floor so he could shoot her a proper glare. He could settle for sarcasm, though.

"Thank you, Conroy."

"You're welcome." Tony could only shake his head at her obliviousness. Pepper, meanwhile, gave him a concerned look.

"Do you need any help with this?" she asked. "I'm taking a break for lunch right now and I can still forge your signature. I can knock a few of these out for you." Tony shook his head.

"I can't ask you to do that." Pepper frowned.

"Why not?"

"It's illegal." Pepper gave him a disbelieving look.

"That's never stopped you before," she said. "In fact, isn't that what you have Lara doing right now?"

"Yup," Lara said, popping the "p." Pepper gave him a hard look.

"Try again." Tony let out a breath of exasperation.

"I don't want to waste your time." Pepper's face fell.

"I just said that I'm breaking for lunch," she said. "If anything, I'd be wasting my time by not helping you out. Try again." At last, Tony could finally see that using half-excuses was not going to get him anywhere. As much as he hated it, he had to tell the truth.

"Some of the stuff in here is kind of heavy…" Pepper narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Tony gestured over to the boxes by the door.

"I'm pretty sure those are all from the D.C. trip," he said. "There may be some stuff about the bio-terror attack, but I can't be sure. It seems to fast for them to have already made their report." Pepper shrugged.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to be efficient with that kind of stuff," she said. "Didn't you say they had you giving testimony as to what happened immediately after the incident?" Tony internally cringed at the colloquial dubbing of the Battle of New York. Although it had been months that wound still felt fresh. Regardless, it was still easy enough to hide his real reaction.

"Yeah, but honestly I hope that they got slowed down for the same reason I am."

"No," Lara said, looking away from the document she was reading with wide eyes of alarm. "If that's the case, then we'd have to deal with this again! I'm not doing this again! At least, not for another three months!"

Tony just gave Pepper a look that said "you see what I have to deal with?" Pepper shook her head dismissively.

"Regardless," she said. "I don't see why I can't just do all the other paperwork and leave that to you."

"You don't understand," he said. "I don't want to do it." Finally, the gears started to click inside of Pepper's head.

"Is this for the same reason you were upset about the video footage?"

Tony could only nod and give a drawn out "yep," in response. Pepper's look turned sympathetic.

"You're avoiding it." Lara's nostrils flared and she looked from Pepper to Tony in complete indignation.

"Seriously?" she said. "Does this mean that all of this…" She stopped once she caught sight of Pepper's warning look; a look you don't want to be on the wrong side of. She had the sense to at least try to look apologetic as she looked back at Tony. "That's awful, Tony. Is there any way to make this easier on you?" Tony shook his head.

"It's fine," he said. "I'm just saving it for last. Obviously."

"Obviously," Pepper repeated. "But you know you don't have to do that at all. I could handle those boxes for you, if you want."

"No."

"No?" Pepper questioned. "Why not?"

"Didn't I just get done saying that shit's heavy?" Tony flinched at how abrasive his own tone was. "Sorry, I…"

"No, no," Pepper said. "It's okay. You don't want me seeing this?"

"No," Tony confirmed.

"But you don't want to do it yourself?"

"Yes." The letter "s" was slightly hissed.

"Is there anyone else you can hand this off to?" Pepper asked.

"Well, the box is addressed to me specifically," Tony said. "So, no, probably not."

"If it's from S.H.I.E.L.D., then it's technically Avengers stuff, right?" Tony shrugged.

"I guess," he said. "Again, I haven't looked to see exactly what's inside of there. I am just assuming given the timing. It might not be Avengers-related at all."

"It might not," Pepper agreed. "But are you going to open it to find out?" Tony looked down, refusing to meet Pepper's gaze. "That's what I thought."

"What do you want me to say, Pepper?" Tony asked. "I don't want to do it, but no one else can do it, so I have to do it. Story of my life. It's sad, but true."

"You don't have to do it," Pepper said. "Why don't you hand it off to one of the other Avengers, at least just so they can check for you what's actually inside before you just dismiss it as something you can't handle."

Tony looked down again. Honestly, it was a good idea, but there was some underlying level of resistance that he just could not ignore. It kept eating away at him, creating a deep dark feeling of apprehension deep inside his soul; like he knew he should not do it, it was wrong. It took everything in him to override that thought; to take a deep breath and finally say, "Conroy, can you take those boxes upstairs?"

Lara raised an eyebrow, her gaze holding a slight amount of skepticism.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure." Getting the confirmation, she needed, Lara pulled herself to her feet, using the desk as leverage. Once she was on stable footing, Tony gently grabbed her wrist, forcing her to look him in the eye. "Don't give it to Steve." Lara hesitated a moment – seemingly shocked – before it clicked how seriously those words were being impressed upon her. Slowly, she nodded in understanding.

"Alright," she said. "So, either find Bruce or Romanoff. Got it. Is there anything else?" Tony shook his head as he let go of her wrist.

"No. Thank you." Lara nodded again before turning to Pepper.

"Do you need me to do anything?"

"Food order?"

"Chef salad, no cheese, no dressing," Lara responded without even needing to think about it. She then walked past Pepper and began to pick up the boxes.

"Tony?"

"I'll have whatever the exact opposite of that is." Honestly, he did not want to eat. He just wanted to power through all the paperwork and get it done so that way he could head down to R&D and get some actual work done. However, he knew Pepper would not leave him alone until he agreed to eat something. So, he gave in. Though, Pepper still did not look quite pleased.

"One, I'm going to need you to be more specific than that," she said. "Two – and I can't believe I have to point this out twice in the same conversation – you have a heart condition."

"So?" Tony said. "I'm not eating rabbit food."

"They have healthier, more filling options," Pepper pointed out.

"Who's they?" Tony asked. "Where are you going?"

"Emilio's," Pepper responded.

"Get me a cheeseburger and fries then," Tony said.

"That is not in any way at all healthy," Pepper pointed out.

"I was going to get the double bacon cheeseburger," Tony said. "I think out of those two, the regular cheeseburger is the healthier option." Pepper hardly tried to hide her eyeroll.

"Fine," she said. "I'll get you a cheeseburger, but in exchange for that, you have to let me do this."

"Do what?"

Pepper responded by leaning over the desk and picking up as many unsigned documents as she could.

"Hey!" Tony protested, but Pepper met his eyes with stubborn intensity.

"I can do this for you," she said. "Let me do this for you."

Tony held her gaze for another moment or so before relenting. Pepper finished collecting the papers before promising to be back with food. She then turned and headed out the door. By that point, Lara had left too, leaving Tony completely alone.

He leaned back in his chair and scrubbed his face with his hands. Now that he had been pulled out of the zone, he really did not want to get back into it. Sure, Pepper had just roughly halved his workload for him, but that did not really serve as any sort of motivation. It more just served to make him feel guilty that he was taking time out of her day to do his work when that was not her job.

Realizing that he should probably steer his attention away from work for a minute, Tony pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his contacts, stopping when he reached Rhodey's contact ID. (Rhodey Bear.) As far as Tony knew, Rhodey was still state-side and as a result was likely working on base in California. It was still early in the workday over there and Tony knew better than to try and call. So instead, he shot him a quick text saying, "do you have time to talk?" Again, he was not expecting an immediate call or text back, but he knew Rhodey would as soon as he could. He was always good like that.

Regardless, it was only a momentary distraction. Once he finished typing the message, Tony took a deep breath, resigning himself to the long drag of filling out paperwork. The sooner he got it done, the better.


Lara struggled to keep a solid grip on the boxes while she pushed the glass door leading into the penthouse open. The boxes were not exactly heavy, but the weight was distributed rather awkwardly in both, making them a pain to carry. She managed to make it through the door, but she had to put the boxes down and catch her breath afterward. Her bullet-wound scar was not happy with her.

"JARVIS," she said once she was able to form coherent words. "Where is everyone?"

"Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff are in the communal kitchen," the AI reported. "Dr. Banner is working in his office upstairs, and Agent Barton is in his quarters with Lucky the Dog."

"Thanks," Lara said as she hauled herself to her feet.

Stepping straight down the hall, she walked into the kitchen to find Steve and Natasha exactly where JARVIS said they were. Steve appeared to be making sandwiches while Natasha sat at the counter with a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Hey," Lara said from the archway, catching their attention. "What's going on?" Somehow, Natasha's smirk got brighter.

"We sparred and he lost," Natasha said. "Now he has to make lunch."

"Which I was going to do anyway," Steve said. "So, it doesn't really matter."

"I still get to savor my victory, though," Natasha said. "And that does."

"Isn't that pride?" Steve asked.

"You don't get to question the winner." Steve shook his head before glancing back at Lara.

"Do you want one?" he asked.

"Nah," Lara said. "Pepper already ordered us food, so we're good." Steve looked relieved, clearly glad to hear that Tony was eating as he should be. Knowing that he appreciated that, Lara moved on to different matters. "Hey, Natasha. There is something Tony wants you to do. Would you mind doing it?"

"Depends," Natasha said. "What is it?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. sent over a bunch of files," Lara explained. "We think they're from what happened in D.C. and the bio-terror attack. Could you just give it a look-through just to see what it is and whether or not Tony needs to sign anything?" Natasha nodded.

"Sure," she said. "Where are they?"

"There's two boxes," Lara said. "I left them in the hallway. I couldn't carry them all the way here."

"No worries," Natasha assured as she stood from her seat. "I've got it."

"Do you need help?" Steve asked.

"Um…"

"No," Lara answered for Natasha before she was even able to get a proper word out. "It's just her Tony wants doing thing; or Bruce, but not you or Clint." Steve furrowed his brow.

"Why not?" Lara gave a half-hearted shrug.

"It's just what he wants," Steve narrowed his eyes skeptically at that, but eventually Natasha's questioning gaze met his eyes. She was silently asking whether she should continue what she was doing. Steve nodded and gestured for her to do so. Natasha then left, leaving the two of them alone in the kitchen.

"Can you tell me the real answer this time?" Lara sighed.

"He's still ashamed about what he did in D.C.," she said. "I don't know what else I can tell you." Steve turned his head down, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration.

"Why?" he questioned. "I've told him more times than I can count that I forgive him for what happened."

"I have no idea," Lara said. "I can't tell you why he feels the way he does. I just do what he says."

"Yeah, but his inability to accept my forgiveness – hell, to even forgive himself – is concerning," Steve said. "He acts like I wasn't even there, that I'll still think less of him somehow."

"I understand," Lara assured. "I do."

"Then there's got to be something than can be done about it, right?"

"There is," Lara said with a slight frown. "It's called 'going to therapy' and he's going to be doing that in less than forty-eight hours. Outside of that, there's nothing that has a guarantee of making things better."

"Therapy's not guaranteed to work," Steve pointed out.

"No, it's not," Lara agreed. "But it's the safest option for him, so we just have to hope that he can make it work." Slowly, Steve nodded, trying to accept what he was being told. Lara did not know how much of it he really did, but she had other things to be concerned about.

Natasha walked back into the room carrying both boxes easily (to Lara's annoyance.) She set them both down on the kitchen table, opened one, took a paper out, and examined it.

"I think your guess was right, Lara," she said. "It looks like this stuff is related to the bio-terror attack."

Lara walked over to get a look for herself, taking out a random file and flipping through it. Indeed, it appeared to be a series of documents relating to the prior incident.

"Alright," she said. "As I said, just see if there's anything Tony needs to sign. We'll figure out what to do with the rest of this stuff…"

Lara stopped when she reached a page containing a photocopied image of a handwritten note. Just reading the first few lines, she knew it was the damning letter that had been sent to the Avengers, but that was not why she stopped. No, she stopped because she recognized a symbol drawn on the page near Sharpton's signature. It was that of a triangle, trisected by a ring. Nothing elaborates, but it still caught Lara's attention. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out "I know this symbol."

Natasha turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised.

"What symbol?" she asked.

"This one," Lara said, holding out the paper and pointing to the small sketch in question. "I know I've seen it before.

Natasha took the paper and started to scrutinize it. Steve even walked up behind her to try to catch a glance over her shoulder.

"Where have you seen it?" she asked. "Because I don't recognize it."

Lara frowned and tried to think back. She tried to remember where she saw the symbol, but she just drew a complete blank. She ran through every symbol she could think of in her mind – from company logos to the various symbols and insignias related to terrorist groups that the Secret Service had her memorize – but she got the feeling that this wasn't anything like that. Shoulders sagging, she let out a defeated sigh.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But it has to be something, right?" Slowly, Natasha nodded in agreement.

"Alright," she said. "I'll look into it, see what I can find."

Lara nodded, but the sinking feeling in her gut did nothing to ease her mind. All she could think about was how this had to be important and how she hoped she was wrong.

Oh, I've got a bad feeling about this.


Yeah, I am not feeling good right now, so if you have any questions about this chapter, just leave it in a comment or review and I'll reply when my brain isn't running at a speed of 0.001 miles per hour. I'm going to go back to bed now.

Remember kids, Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day to those in the US, and Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian friends!


Originally posted to FFN on 10/12/2020