"Can't believe she showed up."

"She's got some nerve."

"Murderer come to look down over her victim."

"She never should've been released. She deserves to rot behind bars."

"Bars? She deserves a bullet to the head."

Maria looked over her shoulder to the talking heads as she walked up the aisle, seeing Agents May, Coulson, and Morse all snarling about her loudly amongst themselves.

Stopping at the front of the sanctuary, before the open casket, she looked down to find Jemma Simmons laying inside of it, skin pale as a ghost.

"Whoever thought you'd be the most incompetent agent amongst us all?" Maria turned to see Daisy Johnson standing next to her. "You had to kill your own because you were too stupid to think up a proper plan."

"Daisy, I—"

"Murderer!" the woman growled, shoving her inside the coffin.

Suddenly, it was Hank, not Daisy, who was standing over her. He scowled at her, "You won't be able to kill my daughter like you did the others. Not if you're six feet under." He crashed the lid shut on her.

Maria cranked her head to the side, seeing Jemma's face mummifying in front of her from inside of the dimly lit coffin. Maria then frantically push up at the lid but her strength had dissipated, as she quickly became paralysed. She tried to scream but nothing came out so she just whimpered out in panic, attempting to move but failing as she started to hyperventilate.

"Maria?" she could hear Hope groan out, as a mass knocked up against her chest.

Maria opened her eyes, finding herself in Hope's bed. Her breath fell short as she lightly heaved. Her skin felt tight with goosebumps and raised hairs like she could still feel Jemma's rotting corpse touching her flesh.

Her attention was pulled toward Hope as the woman tried to turn around in her arms and face her. But Maria was quick to tighten her grip around her torso to keep her steady with her back securely up against her chest.

"Shh." Maria soothingly shushed her before she dipped her head to kiss her bare shoulder, which was exposed by her spaghetti-strap pyjama top. "Go back to sleep, my love," she mumbled while she shook in her own skin, trying to lull her back into a slumber, not wanting to bother her. Hope didn't deserve to be treated as her emotional liferaft, always having to watch over her. The last thing Maria wanted to do was have Hope carry the weight of her shame.

Maria dropped her forehead to the shoulder that she'd just kissed, trying to calm herself down without alerting Hope. She closed her eyes, taking calming breaths as she attempted to push the haunting dream out of her head. She focused on Hope's deep breathing as the woman seemed to have fallen back asleep. Whereas, Maria now found herself wide awake and properly disturbed, needing to busy herself from her own horrifying thoughts.

She gently, once again, pushed her lips to the back of Hope's shoulder, almost in tears, as her mind dwelled on the words that Hank had said to her in her dream. She was terrified of them holding any truth. She then broke the kiss as she let go of her and rolled over, noting the time on the alarm clock as being a quarter to four in the morning. She quietly crawling out of bed and looked back to Hope, who was passed out, now scared for her wellbeing. She then exited the room with a heavy heart.

Maria folded her arms over her chest, a little chilled in her tank top, as she wandered about the apartment. She soon found herself washing the pot from their soup that they'd left to soak, thinking back to their day together in that apartment.

They'd barely moved from the sofa. Even after Maria's nap they remained there cuddled up close talking about the books that Hope had read with movie adaptations that Maria had seen. It wasn't that Maria was entirely unread, it was just a lot easier, and required less energy, for her to relax with a tablet and a pair of headphones between studying mission files on a transport craft, rather than read a book. Maria had absolutely loved just talking about fictional worlds which she had absolutely no ties to. It had eased her mind just to escape while simultaneously feeling grounded with Hope wrapped up in her arms.

Once Maria was finished with the washing up, she became restless again, deciding to travel downstairs, needing to preoccupy herself somehow. She still couldn't shake all of the voices from her dream.

She ended up in their lab, which was partially illuminated with a few lights on. She scanned the place looking for any of their oversized insects walking about but saw none. Suddenly, she heard clanging emanating from the far end of the lab, behind the quantum bridge. Curious, she walked towards the sound, hoping that it wasn't an ant.

When she rounded the corner she was surprised to see Scott there, head in a large panel, wires sticking out everywhere.

"Whatcha doing?" Maria asked him.

Scott jumped, spinning around to face her. "Oh, gah!" He grabbed his chest. "You scared me."

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine." He shook his head as he dropped his hand. "Ah" – he looked to what he was previously doing – "I'm trying to fix up the electrical system. Some of the parts they installed here weren't exactly compatible with each other so they had to get creative." He threw his hands on top of his hips as he studied the panel. "But I think I can change some stuff around and make it more efficient."

"And you decided to do this at – like – four in the morning?"

"It's already four?" He whipped his head around to look at her. "Guess I should probably go to bed soon. I just wanted to finish this up first."

Maria studied the panel, quickly understanding what he was doing while having the urge to get in there and help. "Want a hand?"

"I mean, I'll have to give you the rundown of what I'm doing." Maria took his comment as permission and stepped in to disconnect a circuit to plug it into a workaround system that she'd assumed Scott had just made. "Or maybe I don't 'cause you seem to know exactly what you're doing," he said in a tone of surprise. "Is electrical work a normal thing S.H.I.E.L.D. commander's do?"

"Mechanical work has always been prevalent in my life, and there's always an electrical component to that," Maria explained as she kept working on the panel with Scott stepping back to allow her space.

"Mechanical as in vehicles?"

"Mostly, yeah. My neighbour – growing up – was building his own car. He often let me help, taught me a lot." She smirked to herself, remembering her time in his garage fondly. "Then later, when I enlisted, I just built on what I learned from him and was able to save my ass on a few different occasions because of it."

"Did you ever hotwire an enemy tank?"

She laughed at his ridiculous question as she informed him. "Tanks don't use keys."

"They don't?"

"Most armour support vehicles don't. Not even the Jeeps. They're all push start."

"What!" He looked at her like she'd just blown his mind which she couldn't help but chuckle at. She found it very amusing how completely clueless Scott seemed to be at times.

Maria stepped away from the panel, absentmindedly rubbing her chilled arms as she studied the system to see what else needed to be done.

"Cold?"

"Huh?" Maria looked to him, realising that she was hugging herself, trying to stay warm. "Oh, I'm fine," she said, knowing her slight chill was nothing in comparison to the cold she'd felt at various points in her life.

He smirked at her like he knew she was putting on an act before turning to take a grey hoodie with maroon sleeves from off the back of a nearby chair and passed it to her. "Here, I'm not using it."

"Thanks." She accepted it, slipping it on and zipping it up. Scott nodded at her before moving back to the panel, starting to take over where she left off.

Maria watched him, thoughts falling onto how he didn't deserve what she'd indirectly done to him. "So" – she crossed her arms back over her chest, but this time it was done as a defence mechanism and not because she was cold – "I ah, never did apologies to you."

"Huh?" He turned his head to look at her.

"For – you know – Hope," she said timidly through the guilt of, essentially, breaking the two of them up.

"Hope?" He looked at her in complete puzzlement for a few seconds before it seemed to have clicked in his head as to what she was talking about. "Oh, no. Okay look." He shook his head like he was completely shocked by her apology. "Everything is as it's supposed to be. Trust me. Me and Hope, we never would've lasted regardless if she'd met you or not."

"You can't know that."

"No. I can," he insisted before smiling to himself. "She's always had this completely different trajectory than me." He shook his head as he said fondly, "She's this brilliant, motivated, badass that's like, made for greatness. Even when we went out on our first official Avengers mission there, she had this look in her eyes like she found this cosmic calling to fight evil and better the universe."

"To become the Queen Slayer." Maria couldn't help but smirk, remembering that spark in her eyes right after she knocked Steve to the ground during training.

"Yeah." Scott's smile grew in agreement. "I can't keep up with her. And – to be perfectly honest – I've never wanted to." He then quickly clarified, "Not because I don't love her, it's just I've never wanted to devote my entire life to this hero stuff. I actually really like my" – he used his fingers to make air quotes – "normal life" – he then brought his hands back to the electrical panel – "in San Francisco. Running my security company with my best friend, just trying to be the best dad that I can. That's where I belong," he said like he knew it to his core. "I look at being Ant-Man as just this fun hobby that doesn't really define me. Whereas you and Hope…" he gave her a knowing look. "Well, you guys want the same thing – to save the world. And I know you can help her reach her full potential which is something I could never do for her."

His words had unintentionally triggered the memory of her dream, specifically, Hank's words. "Yeah, if I don't get her killed in the process," she softly said. Still frightened that she'd do something stupid again that would end with Hope in a coffin.

"Yeah right!" Scott laughed out. "Says the woman who literally protected mankind from the point of extinction, about the woman who survives everything that's thrown at her like it's nothing." He looked to her as if she were off her rocker as he said, "I'm pretty sure you two will be just fine."

The man's reaction came so unexpectedly that it threw her off. She tilted her head as she studied him. "You have a very unique way of seeing the positive in things. You know that?"

"Well, it helps that I'm looking at a positive situation."

"Of your – according to you – inevitable breakup with Hope?" she asked in confusion.

"Yeah." His smile never dropped as he explained, "You can't build a life with someone who wants different things than you. So she found what she needs in you, and now I've found what I need in my family back home."

"Yeah?" Maria asked, wanting to make sure that he was being completely honest with her.

"Yeah. Like I said, everything is as it's supposed to be."

Maria smiled at him before she stepped back to the panel. The two then began working together as she allowed him to lead them in their task.

Eventually, Scott had redirected the conversation away from circuits as he said, "So… Cassie keeps asking about you ever since she completed her mission."

"She really pulled through for me there. Not that I'm surprised." Maria just loved that little girl so much.

"I mean, this is the same kid who's always losing her soccer cleats."

"Well, keeping track of shoes isn't a top-secret S.H.I.E L.D. order now is it?" Maria cheekily asked.

"Well yeah, no that's true," he conceded. "But what if – for some reason – she couldn't get a hold of us? Did you have a backup plan?"

Maria smiled. "No. I knew I wouldn't need one. You always make sure she can reach you, no matter what. And she knew the importance of the mission. You two were foolproof." He grinned at her before she turned and pointed to the section next to them. "So what's going on with this panel here?"

"Yeah, that's a good question." He looked to it as if he was deep in thought. "I kinda want to leave it for now. See how all these other changes work out before even touching that one."

"Okay, as long as you think it's safe because I find that whenever Tony says stuff like that, it turns into a fire hazard down the line."

"Oh! speaking of Tony – I totally forgot – he gave me a phone to give you." He pointed his finger across the way. "It's over there on the table."

Maria went to the mentioned location and picked up the phone. She put in the passcode that she already knew he had set up for her. Unlocking the mobile, she noticed two missed calls from him as well as four text messages, all insisting that she ring him. Maria sighed as she pressed the call button, putting the phone on speaker as the dial tone emitted throughout the space while she slowly meandering back to where Scott was.

"You're calling him now?" Scott asked in disbelief. "It's the middle of the night."

"He's an insomniac. He'll be up."

Soon Tony's voice was heard from the other end of the line. "Okay, so I'm thinking of making a control tower at the top of the new Avengers Tower," he said without greeting, as was their custom with each other.

"What?"

"The new Avengers Tower," he said as if it were obvious and that she should have known that he was planning to construct a new one. "So we'll have a penthouse similar to before, but instead of controls being below it, they'll be above it. Then you can have a bigger helicopter pad so you don't have to constantly complain about how small it is like you did with the last one."

"I mentioned its size once in passing conversation."

"Well, whatever it was." Maria couldn't help but smirk, touched that he'd listened to her criticism and remembered it. "The point being, I need you to look over the blueprints before I start construction on the new tower."

"Okay," Maria calmly agreed, but deep down she really appreciated that he wanted her blessing on the project.

"Great, I'll drop by now."

She threw her hand on her hip as she sighed, "Yeah, nice try, Tony."

"I mean, Pym is on the other side of the country and I'll be in and out quick. It'll be like I was never even there. Just one little peek."

"And what did your favourite auntie say when you pimped out this speech to her?"

"I don't ah— remember precisely the exact words that she said."

"I didn't ask for the exact words. Paraphrasing will do just fine."

"Something about Hank and the answer being no."

"Uh-huh," Maria said dryly. "So, do you even need me to look at these blueprints?" She now wondered if he cared about her opinion or if he was just wanting to use her to see Pym's lab.

"Yeah, no. I do. They're already saved in your phone there."

"Alright. I'll get back to you on my thoughts once I give them a thorough look through."

"Okay, but could you at least video call me while you happened to be walking through the lab? Or take some pictures—"

"Goodbye, Tony." She rolled her eyes while hanging up on him.

Scott yawned as he said, "He asked me to take pictures too."

Maria shook her head at Tony's audacity just as Hope came walking over to them, her hair was a little messy and she was wrapped in a housecoat. "There you are," she said in an adorably groggy voice as she looked at Maria before gazing over to Scott and his hands full of wires. "What are you guys doing here? And so early in the morning?"

"You know, trying to fix your electrical mess," Maria said in a joking manner.

Scott decided to go with it as he continued. "Yeah, Maria heard my grumbles of frustration and came to assist me like an electrical-angel of the night."

"Our electrical is not a mess, it's just a little unorthodox," Hope said grumpily.

Maria pointed out with her finger. "This whole panel was installed backwards."

"I had to do it that way, those stupid parts didn't work otherwise, and I didn't have time to rewire everything." Maria couldn't help but smile at her as she defended herself so passionately for something that Maria didn't even fault her for. Hope then seemed to realise that they were just trolling her as she huffed, "You guys suck."

"Don't worry, because of your handy work we had something to do while we talked about you." Maria smiled.

"Were you telling Scott about how I've never seen a Lord of The Rings movie?" She glared at her with a smirk, as she referenced back to their conversation from the night before when Maria had made fun of her for missing out on yet another classic movie franchise.

"Wait, you haven't seen those movies either?" Scott looked at her in shock. "I thought your lack of Star Wars viewing was bad enough." He then focused on Maria as she gave him a look of understanding, knowing that his reaction was justified and not far off from her own when she discovered the news too. "What about the Hobbit movies?" he questioned Hope.

"Movies? As in plural. More than one?"

"There's three of them." He nodded.

"Three?" It was now her turn to show shock. "That book is so short! How are there three of them?" She looked back and forth between the duo.

"You know, I've seen them all and I still can't even answer that question." Scott shrugged.

"They're pretty bad too, in all honesty," Maria added as Scott then tilted his head to the side while raising the corner of his top lip, before he apprehensively nodded at her like he was shamefully agreeing with her opinion. "The only good thing about them is Tauriel." Maria gazed off as she recalled the gorgeous elf warrior with a deadly bow and arrow. "God, she's hot in those movies."

"This is true," Scott agreed.

Hope audibly sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose before muttering, "I'm too tired for you two right now."

Maria couldn't help but chuckle as she approached her. "Come on, I'll take you back to bed," she offered softly.

"No, it's okay. I just need a coffee then I can help you guys."

"Pretty sure Scott's about to pass out any minute now, so maybe we should leave it for later," Maria said before looking over to Scott, wanting a status update from him.

"Honestly, that couch in your dad's old apartment there is calling my name," he admitted, eyes now half-lidded.

When Maria turned back to Hope, she saw her studying her before saying, "You look wide awake though." She then focused on their project. "We can take over here while Scott goes to bed." She turned back to her. "If you'd like?"

Maria didn't want to go back to a dark room trapped with her thoughts but she really wasn't going to mention that to Hope, so she played it cool. "Well, now that I've seen this wiring, I feel distressed just thinking about walking away from it."

Hope chuckled under her breath while shaking her head. "You're the worst."

"Okay, this panel seems to be good now." Scott pushed the matrix of circuits into the wall. "I'll leave you guys to the other one." He pointed to the open panel, sticking out, next to the one that he had said that they shouldn't touch yet. "Goodnight." He yawned as he started off.

"Hey, wait, your sweatshirt," Maria called out to him.

"I'll get it from you later."

Maria couldn't help but smirk at him and his overall generosity and kindness that he had towards her. "Thank you."

"Nothing to thank me for." He smiled back and walking away.

Hope took a step closer to her, reaching to take her hands into her own which brought Maria's attention to her. "You were having a nightmare, weren't you?" Hope studied her with concern written all over her face. Maria dropped her head, biting her lip, not wanting to respond. "God, and I just fell back asleep!"

"I told you to." Maria looked at her.

"Well I shouldn't have listened," she said, clearly disappointed in herself.

"I wanted you to get some rest. And besides, I found Scott to bug," she said that last part as an attempt to make her feel better, showing her that she wasn't completely reliant on her.

Hope studied her before she asked, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Maria sighed.

"You want to be constructive and rewire that panel?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"Okay." Hope nodded with a small smile. "I'm going to put a pot of coffee on over there." She gestured to the side of the room. "You want any?"

"Yes please." Maria welcomed the idea of caffeine.

"Alright." Her smile grew on her face as she let go of her hands to turn and walk away.

"Wait!" Maria quickly lunged to grab a hand back, pulling her into her arms to kiss her softly. She instantly tasted the morning on her tongue while realising that Hope must have come straight down to find her the moment she woken up and noticed that she was alone. "Okay, now you can go." Maria pushed her away from her. Hope smiled at her before wandering off to brew some coffee.

They ended up working on the panel up until Maria had to get ready to receive her parole officer.

Before Maria was released from court the day before, one of the officers of the court had put a small tracking anklet on her, telling her that someone would show up at her location the following morning at eight o'clock.

Maria had dressed in the same clothes that she'd worn to court before she went out to greet her parole officer at the building's entrance.

A short, stout, black woman with beautiful curly hair came walking up to Maria.

"Hello, I'm Officer Washington, but please, baby, just call me Za'Niyah." The woman greeted her with a giant smile which threw Maria for a loop; she was not expecting such a friendly officer. "And, I presume by your weathered-looking eyes, you're Commander Hill."

"Um. Yes." She shook her head, still taken aback by her.

"So this is that crazy shrink and pop up building that was all over the news not that long ago, yeah?"

"Ah, yes. It belongs to Doctor Pym."

"Very nice." She stretched her head back to view the building before looking back to her. "Now you gonna show me inside?" she asked in delight like she was excited to see it for her own curiosity alone.

"Yes, of course. This way." Maria led her into the building. "Don't be fooled by this first floor, it looks like this for security measures."

"Is this where you'll be staying for the duration of your parole?" Za'Niyah asked as they loaded into the elevator.

"I… ah, believe so," Maria said, assuming that Hope wasn't going to kick her out.

"Are you planning on relocating this building at any point during the week?"

"I don't know." Maria shook her head before the doors opened to Hope's apartment, where Hope had stayed away in the lab to allow Maria to take care of her business. "But I'll be sure not to cross state lines if we do."

Za'Niyah laughed out. "Oh baby girl, as long as you stay in the country, all is good. I'll just get another officer to check in on you at some point during the week if you end up travelling far."

"Wait" – they both stepped out into the room – "are you serious?"

Za'Niyah turned to face her. "Look, I don't know what you did to end up in the Raft. But my superiors told me you never should've been there in the first place, and your parole is just a formality so the mortal powers that be, have it written on some record in some international file, to make all the organisations involved look accountable." She then pointed to Maria's ankle. "All you gotta do is wear that tracking device for a week, and answer your phone when we call, probably pee in at least one cup, then you're officially free of the system."

"Wow, okay." Maria nodded in shock.

"Which reminds me, I'm gonna need your phone number."

Maria pulled her new mobile out of her pocket, quickly navigating to her phone's details in order to give her the number, not knowing it herself. She then read it off for Za'Niyah as she wrote it down on her clipboard.

"Kay good." Za'Niyah clamped her pen so it don't roll away. "And here's my number." She passed her a business card. "Call if you're planning on relocating."

"Understood." she took the offered item.

The woman then turned to pay more attention to the place, where she began walking around to inspect it. "Sweet Jesus, this really is a nice place," she said to herself as she stopped in front of the fireplace. "Wish I could just pop up an apartment like this in the middle of Brooklyn for myself. Put it on top of some building like an extra floor and then shrink it when I'm not home."

"Yeah, tell me about it. They're definitely cheating the system with this thing." Maria smiled at her, finding the woman quite endearing.

She nodded before looking down to her clipboard, slowly walking back to her. "Alright, I still gotta fill out this form here – a form that makes no sense to fill out for a week's parole – but here we go." She grabbed her pen back, clicking it, before putting it to paper. "Do you currently have employment?"

"Yes."

"Who is your employer?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D."

Za'Niyah looked at her. "Ooo, damn girl, I knew you were gonna say some spy shit like that." She shook her head before looking down at her sheet. "Fulltime?"

"More like double time, all the time."

"I feel you there. We all working too much in this economy," she muttered while writing. "Okay, I was not given any information on you other than your name, so I gotta ask. Any history with substance abuse?"

"No," Maria answered, while strangely relieved that the officer still didn't know who she was. Guess, deputy director didn't have the recognition power that a full Director had. Even amongst law enforcement agencies.

Za'Niyah nodded as she wrote. She then looked up to her. "For the duration of your parole, you will not be permitted to drink alcohol or take any recreational drugs."

"Understood."

"Also, no firearms."

Maria timidly nodded, hating to be without a sidearm. "Okay," she agreed.

"Good." She sighed with delight. "Well this concludes my visit."

"That's it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Maria studied her for a moment before asking, "Are you always this pleasant on your visits?"

The woman laughed. "Hell no. Sometimes I'm so worked up I think I'm gonna snap and whoop some parolee's ass." She shook her head. "But like I said, this here isn't a normal situation."

Maria smiled as she said, "I'll take you down and walk you to your car."

"Thank you." She looked at Maria in shock. "Can't say I've ever had someone say that to me on a visit. They're more likely to slam the door behind me."

"Well, the doors on this building don't slam. They all have those controlled closer things installed on them."

Za'Niyah chuckled at her words as they made their way out of the building together.

When Maria escorted Za'Niyah back to her vehicle she noticed a black Corvette Stingray off aways in the distance, seemingly waiting for her. Maria knew the car instantly as it drove up to her just as Za'Niyah pulled away to leave.

After the engine was cut, the door opened and out walked Natasha, who gave her a once over. "Well, you look a little better than yesterday."

Maria crossed her arms. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Like you didn't spend the night in prison," Natasha smirked before offering. "Want a change of clothes?" But before allowing Maria time to answer, she reached into her car, across to the passenger's seat, and pulled out a black bag. "I found one of your emergency duffles in the back of Steve's Jeep."

Maria smiled, so happy to see her bag. "Technically that's my Jeep. I claimed it well before he was thawed out of the ice. I just let him use it." Maria took the bag from her, throwing it over her shoulder.

"I also managed to grab this." Natasha opened her hand to reveal Maria's S.U.V. that Hope had shrunk down. "Thought there might be another one of your bags in here."

Maria took the mentioned item from her in awe. "How did you get this?"

"Well, just before the tower was hit, I happened to be in Controls, and – I don't know – I knew I didn't have time to grab all that much, and when I saw the car just sitting there on your desk, I took it."

Maria was so touched by her actions, knowing that Natasha was thinking about her and her things as their base was about to explode.

She turned the miniaturised vehicle over in her hand, studying it. "I didn't know you knew this was my actual Escalade just shrunken down." She then looked back up at her. "But I guess I shouldn't be surprised you figured it out."

Natasha held her gaze before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Maria sighed before shaking her head. "Not really."

Natasha nodded. "Okay. But I'm here if you change your mind."

"Yeah, I know." Maria held her gaze.

"Well, I guess I should head out. Lots to do."

"It must be pretty bad." Maria thought on the clusterfuck situation that S.H.I.E.L.D. must have been in.

Natasha shrugged. "We're getting there. I'd say we've somewhat got our feet underneath ourselves now." Maria nodded, still feeling guilty for everything.

Natasha moved to her as the two women simultaneously lifted their arms to hug each other. Maria squeezed her tightly as she thanked her through her embrace, loving her so much in that moment for always looking out for her.

Natasha then pulled away, but not before kissing her on the cheek. "See you soon."

Maria nodded. "Yeah."

Natasha gave her one last smirk before she got into her car and drove off.

Maria then went to go find Hope in the lab, where she couldn't help but grin at the sight in front of her. Hope was atop of an empty work table, feet up, knees bent, laid out on her back.

"What are you doing?" Maria laughed as she approached her, dropped her bag on the floor before she climbed on top of the table too, sitting cross-legged by Hope's feet, facing her.

Hope sat up with a smile. "I was tired and wanted to lie down." She then positioned her feet behind Maria as she scooted her butt closer to her as Maria pulled her onto her lap. "How did it go?" she asked while resting her arms across Maria's shoulders.

"She was surprisingly very nice. She basically told me I can't drink and I can't shoot." She shrugged. "That's about it. I don't even have to stay in the state for the duration of my parole."

"Wait, really?" Hope asked with a glimmer in her eyes. Maria nodded which made Hope smile. "Want to get out of here then? We could go to San Francisco. Have a day at the beach. Pretend we're normal people for a week."

"The beach? God, I can't even remember the last time I was on a beach that wasn't related to an op."

"See, you need this. You lose your sense of personhood if you don't feel the sand between your toes every once in a while."

Maria chuckled at her, lost in her dimpled smile. "My personhood, eh? Well I can't lose that now, can I?"

"Is that a yes to San Francisco then?" Maria happily nodded. "Good." Hope grinned before leaning in to kiss her as Maria smiled into her lips.

Maria then pulled away as she took her S.U.V. out of her pocket, presenting it to Hope. "But first. Do you think you could grow this back to size for me?"

"Oh my god!" Hope laughed as she took the item from her.

"I know you said you wouldn't because you want to teach me a lesson for spying on you. But I have some belongings in there that I wouldn't mind getting at."

"Did you have this as one of your personal effects in prison?" she asked in confused intrigue.

"No, Tasha dropped it off just now, along with that bag of some of my stuff." She gestured to the ground where it lay. "Now I won't have to steal your clothes and use your deodorant anymore."

"Oh, so you have a problem with my stuff now?" she asked in fake anger. "And you think I'm just going to reward you for bad behaviour and give you access to your candies in here." She wiggled the vehicle at her.

"Yes." Maria chuckled before she pulled Hope's mouth to hers. Their kiss grew heated as Maria's hand slipped inside the back of Hope's pants, grabbing her butt cheek. "And I love your stuff," Maria mumbled playfully into Hope's lips as she gave her ass a squeeze.

"Yeah? Well, you're gonna have to prove it to me later." Hope teased before capturing her lips, once again.

Maria felt a lightness come over her. She was happy to be getting away from the city that was home to the Avengers Tower ground zero, and an amputated Lady Liberty. Maybe if she couldn't deal with her guilt, she could at least try and distance herself from it for a little while with Hope in her hometown, under the sun.