Author's Note: So I just want to say that there's some Jessica Jones Season 2 SPOILERS in this chapter. Nothing major that would tell you anything important that happened in the season but this is just a scene that I put Emma in from the recent season. I know that this scene takes place in the summer but I really needed it for this story so just pretend that it doesn't take place in the summer. I also realize that this kind of gives away what Defender is coming up but I know I needed to warn you guys because of spoilers.
Krakengirl: Thank you so much! I also hope to see more diversity in OCs so hopefully more people will come up with more diverse OCs. It would be a really nice thing to see. I don't know when the next update on Rose Garden Dreams is coming up since I think I might update this story again before going back to Rose Garden Dreams but hopefully I'll be able to update soon.
Bridget619: I didn't really like how the review was trying to make me feel bad for taking a short break but I get that there's a lot of people who really love this story and wouldn't want me to abandon it. Don't worry. I won't be abandoning this story. I love Emma and Peter way too much for that but sometimes I might want to have a break which I hope people don't get upset over. Thanks for the supportive comment! I really appreciate it!
Inheritance1990: Emma definitely wants to tell Peter what happened but she's still scared. She just needs a push from a certain person to finally take that final step and get everything off her chest. She needs that push from someone who's been in her shoes and I think you'll find that person in this chapter.
jaclynencizo: Emma definitely needs someone who can push her and challenge her but that person's obviously Peter. She also needs someone who doesn't push her and allows her to just be comfortable like MJ. I'm happy you noticed that. Bucky and Steve are still going to be a little while since some more stuff with Rumlow will be happening and Emma finally needs to come clean to Peter. She comes close to telling him everything this chapter but like I said before, she still needs a little push.
nvnightrider9: I'm not completely sure instant kill would work against Thanos. I mean, Thanos seems pretty much invincible and I seriously have no clue how the Avengers are going to beat him in the movie. Probably like Cap said before. Together. I'm so excited for the movie by the way. I wish it would come out sooner. Can't wait to see everyone interacting with each other. It's definitely going to be interesting.
Mcduffie145: Glad you love Rose Garden Dreams! It's too bad about not going to the Bleachers concert. I wanted to go see Amy Shark in concert a few months ago but there was a 21 and over rule. My brother's friend actually went to a Bleachers concert before but he wasn't that impressed. He said the guy showed up really late and was kind of rude the whole time but maybe he was just having a bad night or something. People have those all the time. I'm actually super excited to be going to the HAIM concert on Wednesday. I've been waiting to see them in concert forever and I finally get to go. It's like two hours away since it's in the city and I live in a small town but it's going to be totally worth it. I don't really like their opening act that much but I'm really just going to be there for them. Anyways...super excited for their concert and I'm sure you'll get to see Bleachers someday.
Viper8784: I'm glad you love the story! I thought the idea of a male character, as you said, breathing life into a female character was really interesting since it's usually the other way around. I just thought it would be cute but I'm glad it worked out the way it did.
Unknown: It's only going to get worse for Emma because Rumlow isn't going away anytime soon. As terrible as it is for Emma, I do admit to liking writing a darker element to the story since I'm a huge fan of thriller and horror movies. Part III is definitely darker than the previous parts of the story but on the bright side at least this means that the other Avengers will be coming back soon.
Thanks for all the reviews and please let me know what you think of this chapter. I also can't believe there's 800 followers on this story already. It doesn't feel like it's been that long since I first published it. Seriously though...thank you.
3/30/18 Update: I was re-editing this chapter after a heads up in the reviews but I've also decided to put a WARNING for mentions of suicide and a rather dark suicide related comment. After reading a review, I decided to put a trigger warning which I should've done from the beginning but I wasn't thinking earlier when I first updated the story. Thank you for the feedback.
When Emma decided to actually listen to Tony and attend some lame pathetic therapy session, she never thought she'd be as bored as this. The blonde was sitting in a filthy and probably Asbestos invested room in Hell's Kitchen, seated in a foldable chair in a circle as she listened to a bunch of idiots complain about their problems. She didn't care if that made her sound like a bitch although Emma should've expected this when she signed up for the anger management classes. At least Tony had given her a choice and didn't force her to attend some child therapy group. That would've been even worse. She might've poured some lighter fluid into her ears if it meant having to listen to a bunch of spoiled rich kids complain about their daddy not buying them the car they wanted. Yeah, Emma wasn't really into that so she chose a group therapy session that was far away from anyone she knew and far away from people like that. She already had to go to school with kids like that so having to sit in a therapy session with them would be even worse. Still…Emma wasn't really enjoying herself with these people either.
A loud slapping sound broke Emma out of her thoughts as she glanced over towards where the sound came from. Emma spotted a bored looking woman with raven black hair and pale skin sitting in one of the chairs across the room from her. The woman looked to be in her early to mid thirties and looked like she wanted to be there about as much as Emma did. The dark haired woman swept the now dead fly from her palm and onto the floor as everyone stared at her but the woman didn't look like she cared.
"Don't wanna be a fly around her." A guy, sitting next to Emma, said but the woman didn't looked amused by his remark. The woman then leaned forward in her seat as if she was daring any one of them to say anything to her. As the woman looked around the room, she gave Emma a look of disbelief as if she couldn't believe she was there. Probably because not many fifteen, almost sixteen, year olds went to anger management classes. Emma especially didn't look like she really belonged there with her stylish clothing that she had bought, using Tony's credit card. Emma didn't like the woman staring at her so she sneered at her and the woman looked away, not looking that bothered by Emma's attitude. Great, she couldn't scare people as the Viper Assassin and she still couldn't even scare people as Emma Rogers. At least Betty Brant was scared of her. That was something.
"As I was saying…." The leader of the group started to say. His name was apparently Richard and he had been very confused as to why Emma was there but hadn't said anything as he welcomed her into the group last week. Emma really didn't like him because he was a wife beater. She knew she wasn't supposed to judge her fellow support group members but she did. Emma knew she was going to hell someday but she also knew there was a special place in hell for men who beat their wives to feel superior.
"Anything could set me off." Richard said as he stood up from his seat with the small pink ball in his hands. Emma wanted to roll her eyes. Like bouncing a ball was supposed to make them feel better. This was why she thought therapy was a waste of time. He then began to bounce the ball and Emma wished that she was back to crime fighting with Peter. That's what he was doing right now while she was stuck here with these pathetic losers and Emma wanted so badly to be back with him, beating up losers like these. Losers who probably were in and out of prison.
"Her voice. Her blouse. My blood would boil. Things got blurry but not blurry enough to keep me from punching her over and over again." Richard told them as he continued to bounce the ball and Emma felt like it was hard to sit there and listen to this asshole talk about beating his wife…like they should feel bad for him and not her. Emma knew what it was like to get beaten every day for a large amount of time, simply because you were the weaker one so she found it very difficult to feel any sympathy for this man.
"I beat my wife for fifteen years…until she tried to kill herself." Emma raised an eyebrow at that. Kill herself? Why not kill him? If Emma was married to this asshole who beat her for fifteen years she'd make sure to kill him very slowly and very intimately. To make him feel every bit of pain that he ever caused her and when he begged for her to finally end his life, she'd continue torturing him until he gave up and let her do anything she wanted. Emma wasn't the sort of person you wanted to cross.
"That's when I finally reached out for help. I reached out for help every day of my life." Richard said as if he expected a round of applause for that story. God, Emma couldn't believe she had agreed to hang around people like this. However, before Emma could give anymore thought to the situation, the dark haired woman sighed heavily before speaking. Emma noticed that it was the first time the woman had spoken since arriving there that day. This was only Emma's second time at the therapy session but it must've been the woman's first time.
"Wow. Thanks for sharing." The woman said in a bored tone before pulling out a piece of paper from her back pocket. "Could you sign my court card?" Emma smirked in amusement. So she really didn't want to be there either. At least Emma wasn't the only one.
"At the end of the hour." Richard told her. The woman sighed again.
"It hasn't been an hour yet?" She questioned and Emma knew exactly how she felt. Listening to these people whine and complain was worse than going to high school with a bunch of idiots. The kids at school really annoyed Emma sometimes but at least she never fantasized about killing them like some of these people. Well, sometimes she fantasized about killing Flash and Betty but that was different.
"Try it, Jessica." Richard said as he held up the small little pink ball. "A benign external action to soothe internal strife." Emma wanted to snicker at the way the woman named Jessica rolled her eyes before leaning back in her seat. She seemed to be the only one that was as bored with this as Emma was. Emma kind of thought she might've even been okay with her. She thought a lot of adults were idiots but this one might've even been…cool.
"I'm just listening today." Jessica said sarcastically and the man then glanced at Emma who was another person that didn't say much during sessions. During their last session she had claimed to just be a listener but that wasn't going to pass for her second session too.
"How about you, Emma?" Richard asked her before tossing the ball to her. Emma didn't even try to catch it as she let it hit the wall behind her. She narrowed her eyes at the man who she nicknamed "Wife Beater".
"I don't play with toys. I'm not a child." Emma said coldly as everyone stared at her. Richard smiled at her, thinking that he had to be kinder and more approachable to her because she was a child who needed to be coddled. Emma hated people like that.
"Well, how about you just talk then. Tell me…when was the last time you got so angry that you did something you regretted?" Richard asked her softly and Emma crossed her arms. She just wanted to give this man something so he'd leave her alone and she could go back to sulking. She would've mentioned the incident where she had a Rumlow flashback and attacked her boyfriend who was also Spider-Man but there were some things that she just couldn't reveal about herself for obvious reasons. Emma sighed before responding.
"I threw my record player through the wall once." Emma finally said as some people watched her in surprise. Probably because she didn't look strong enough to throw a record player through a wall. "It went right through. I was really pissed at my…guardian at the time. He's a real pain in the ass."
"Yeah, right." Jessica said bluntly as she gave Emma another look of disbelief. "You don't look like you could pick up your own backpack, kid." Emma just smirked at her.
"I'm stronger than I look." Emma said vaguely and Richard gave Jessica a pointed look.
"Let's just listen, shall we?" Richard said although it was clear he was talking to Jessica who just rolled her eyes again before relaxing in her seat. The tan skinned man then turned back to Emma. "And how did you feel after you did that?" He asked very sympathetically and Emma shrugged.
"Sad, I guess." She admitted and he nodded.
"Sad because you let yourself be so overcome with anger that you could've hurt someone…including yourself?" He suggested and Emma gave him a look of disbelief before scoffing.
"What? No!" She said in an annoyed tone. "I broke my record player and not to mention one of my favorite Alice Cooper records. I had to go out and buy a new one." Everyone just stared at the blonde in surprise except for Jessica who just looked amused by the teenager. Maybe everyone in this session wasn't completely hopeless, Jessica thought to herself.
"You were sad because you broke your record player?" Richard asked slowly and Emma nodded.
"Yeah and don't forget the Alice Cooper record. It was completely my guardian's fault. He was the one who pissed me off." Emma said accusingly and the man just shook his head at her.
"So you're blaming others for your problems?" Richard said, trying to make Emma see that she was in the wrong.
"Pretty much." Emma said, not sounding like she cared either way.
"You can't keep doing that, Emma, because then you'll never be able to fix yourself and all your problems. Blaming others is not the solution." Richard told her and Emma rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, well, this is who I am. My guardian and I have since made amends but we both know that I'm a selfish bitch and he's an annoying asshole so why we should we try to fix each other? He's always going to be an asshole and I've accepted that. I'm always going to be a bitch and he's accepted that too although I can't understand why he's making me go to something as stupid and useless as this support group." Emma ranted at Richard who stared at her in astonishment.
The other people shifted uncomfortably in their seats, not understanding how a teenage girl could be that bitter. Even Jessica was uncomfortable but not for the same reasons as the others. She was uncomfortable because Emma sounded like her when she was that age…or maybe she sounded like how Jessica was even now. Richard awkwardly cleared his throat before looking at the man, sitting next to Jessica, who was wearing a tank top that displayed all his tattoos.
"Gary?" Richard asked as he threw another pink ball, a different one than the one he had thrown at Emma, at Gary who got up from the seat with a sigh. Emma guessed that Richard probably had a few of those stupid bouncy balls in his pocket. Gary started to toss the ball at the wall as he began to tell them his life story.
"Every time my dad ran out of meth, he'd take it out on me." Emma rolled her eyes. Oh great, another story about how someone's dad was a meth head. That was a fairytale compared to her childhood. She was raised in a base by men who were basically Nazis and men who beat and tortured her on a daily basis. Emma would've loved to have a meth head dad if it meant not having to see Rumlow's ugly face every day. Sure, she had her father for all that time too but he was frozen in the Cyro-Chamber for a lot of her childhood. "I'd take it out on my brother."
Emma didn't know how long she had been sitting there but it felt like hours as she listened to everyone talk about their sob stories and how sad their lives were. Why couldn't they just get a grip? Everyone's life was sad and miserable but that didn't make them very special. It was only when the last guy passed the ball to Jessica that Emma became interested. The dark haired woman appeared as bored as Emma had been during all this which fascinated her. The mysteriousness of this Jessica woman was intriguing to Emma. She didn't know if it was because this whole meeting bored her to death or if it was because Jessica was truly interesting.
"Nothing will shock us here. We're all the same." Richard told Jessica as they all stared at her. Emma wanted to snort at that. Somehow she didn't think these people had a super soldier serum running through their veins which also probably heightened any emotions Emma had which, of course, included anger. Yeah, Emma didn't have anything in common with these people.
"I doubt that." Jessica said doubtfully and Emma couldn't help but agree with her.
"Does your anger alienate the people around you?" He said as he started rapidly shooting off questions. "Has it affected your work? Filled you with shame? Afraid you're not in control of her your life?" Emma didn't like how most of the those questions could be applied to her. She didn't like the feeling at all. Jessica looked around the room, not seeming like she really wanted to do this before finally getting up from her seat reluctantly. Emma watched as Jessica faced the wall, pink ball in hand, as she mentally prepared herself to start talking.
"My whole family was killed in a car accident." Jessica finally stated as she began bouncing the ball against the wall. Emma held little sympathy for the other people in the room but losing your family…well, Emma knew what that was like.
"Someone did horrific experiments on me." Jessica said and Emma looked up at her in surprise. Wait…what? Experiments? Suddenly Emma found Jessica even more interesting than before.
"I was abducted, raped, and forced to kill someone." Jessica said as she began to hit the ball harder against the wall. Emma flinched when she heard that word…Rape. She never liked the word because it only made her feel weaker…like she was a helpless victim. She still couldn't help but stare at Jessica in shock because it felt like Jessica was telling them Emma's life story instead of her own. Hydra had killed her parents and taken her from everything she ever knew. They tainted her innocence by forcing her to kill and by letting Rumlow take the little innocence she had left. Emma wanted to know just who this Jessica woman was. Could she be like her? Someone with enhanced abilities perhaps?
"And now some maniac says that I'm here for a reason…like some sick destiny." Jessica said bitterly and Emma recalled the things Volkov told her that night he killed himself. She remembered the things Rumlow and Pierce used to tell her too. How she was going to serve a greater purpose for Hydra…that she was going to be their champion. This was all becoming a little too real for Emma because she never imagined there could've been someone who was treated the same way she was. She then wondered if this woman might've been experimented on by Hydra. It was entirely possible. The twins had been experimented on by Hydra and Emma had never even crossed paths with them. Hydra had been very big and wide spreading back then.
"She's out killing people and I'm in here bouncing a goddamn ball!" Emma watched as Jessica began to bounce the ball even harder against the wall and it started cracking the surface of the wall. The others watched in horror as the ball finally broke into a hundred pieces but Emma only watched in awe, a delighted smirk on her face. Yes, this was very interesting.
Everyone was silent for a moment as Jessica slowly walked over to Richard who shrank back into his seat out of fright. Emma gave him a smug look. He wasn't so brave and angry when he was faced with someone who could beat the shit out of him just like he beat his wife. Served him right in Emma's opinion. Jessica handed the court paper to Richard who fumbled for a pen before quickly signing it. What a coward. Jessica then snatched the piece of paper from him and walked back to her seat to get her leather jacket. She spared them all one last look before putting her jacket back on and heading for the door.
"Sorry about the ball." Jessica said before leaving the room and Emma could only watch in wonder. So apparently Emma wasn't the only person who was stronger than they looked. Emma decided right then and there that she liked Jessica which was strange because Emma didn't like a lot of people. Richard awkwardly cleared his throat.
"Well, um…maybe we should-" Richard started to say but Emma interrupted him.
"Who was she?" Emma asked him with a stoic expression on her face. Richard and everyone else just stared at her.
"What?" He asked in confusion.
"Her name. What is it?" Emma asked him in a dull tone.
"Jessica Jones. I don't get what you're-" He started to say but stopped when Emma got up from her seat, her backpack in hand. She started to head for the door, knowing that she was never going to survive another session of sitting there for an hour and listening to these pathetic morons. Tony would just have to deal with it and besides…Emma just found something much more interesting to occupy her time with.
"Where are you going?" Richard demanded and Emma paused, looking back at all the others with a smirk on her face.
"I'm leaving." She told them, looking very smug as she did so. "I was right. This is a waste of time. None of you people are ever going to change no matter how many times you listen to each other's sob stories. You're all equally terrible." Richard laughed nervously.
"Emma, I don't understand-" Emma interrupted him again but she was no longer smirking at him. The blonde was coldly glaring at him.
"You're a wife beater, Richard, and wife beaters never change." Emma said angrily to him. "You can keep playing team leader to make yourself feel good about yourself. You can even try to be better for your wife too but in a few months time a guy will look at her the wrong way and you'll go right back to beating her. Once a wife beater, always a wife beater." Emma could tell she was really pushing his buttons but she didn't care. She didn't care that he proudly proclaimed himself as a changed man. Emma knew better and she knew that he was just as bad as Rumlow deep down. He preyed on the weak and vulnerable. Emma had very little sympathy for men like that. He might've said he felt bad but it was only because he almost lost his victim to suicide. Men like that couldn't live with themselves if they didn't have someone to control.
"Miss Lewis, calm down." Richard said as he gritted his teeth, looking like he was the one that needed to calm down instead of her. His face was starting to get red and Emma was beginning to think he might snap. She really hoped he did because Emma would love nothing more than to beat the shit out of him.
"You're pathetic. You think I'm going to let some wife beating asshole tell me how to live my life?" Emma said cruelly and the man gave her a scathing look.
"And if you're so smart, young lady, what would you have us do? Huh? How would you make my anger go away?" Richard questioned bitterly and Emma just looked at him coldly.
"Maybe you should kill yourself." She said, her voice void of all emotion and the man stared up at her in surprise. Everyone else stared at the teenage girl too. That wasn't something a normal person said but the girl didn't look like she was sorry either way.
"What?" Richard questioned as if he misheard her.
"You heard me. Do your wife and the world a favor." Emma said before giving the group one last fake smile. "I guess this means I'm officially out of the group. I can't say it was nice knowing you." Everyone watched as the blonde finally left the room. All of them wondering if perhaps Emma Lewis and Jessica Jones were in some way related.
"I didn't know you had a laptop." Peter said as he plopped down on her bed, right next to Emma who was furiously typing away on her keyboard with a determined look on her face. Emma barely spared him a glance as she remained focused on the screen.
"I didn't." Emma answered as she continued to pay avid attention to the screen. "I bought it with Stark's credit card after the meeting." Peter raised an eyebrow, surprised that she was already typing away at a new laptop that she had probably bought less than two hours before.
"And you didn't need any help setting up? You know I'm good with computers, Emma. You could've asked me for help if you needed it." Peter told her, sounding like his ego was very bruised. Emma looked at him somewhat suspiciously because she wondered if this was going to be one of those times that Peter was annoyed with her for a reason that was beyond her understanding. Sometimes Peter really confused her.
"Why would I do that when I could do it myself?" Emma asked him as she returned her gaze back to the computer. Peter frowned.
"I don't know…" Peter trailed off but she could tell by his tone that he was bothered by this for some reason. She sighed before looking at him again. Something was definitely bothering him.
"Are you mad about something, Peter?" Emma asked him. "Because if you are then you're going to have to tell me. I don't know when I do things wrong."
"I know you think I can't do anything right." Peter said without looking her in the eyes and Emma gave him a confused look.
"What?" She questioned and Peter shrugged.
"You always do things yourself and you don't really let me help you sometimes so I-" Peter said nervously and Emma interrupted but she didn't look angry. She might've even been a bit amused.
"So this is about your male ego? You're annoyed because I don't let you act like a man and do things for me." Emma said, sounding a bit disbelieving and Peter blushed.
"It sounds stupid when you say it like that but I can help you. You don't have to do everything yourself all the time." Peter told her seriously and Emma just stared at him before smirking.
"You're real cute, Parker." Emma told him and Peter huffed, pretending to be angry with her.
"I'm not cute. I'm…I'm a man." Peter tried saying but he was still cute to her. He could act all tough and grown up but Peter was still the cute teenage boy that sat next to her in history class. Emma wouldn't have it any other way.
"Peter, if I wanted a man I would've gone after someone like Thor or someone as equally revolting. I'm not interested in men…I'm interested in you." Emma told him but Peter didn't feel that much better. Her telling him that she didn't see him as a man was disconcerting. He knew Emma didn't mean it in a bad way but his ego was still hurt. Emma just laughed as she set the laptop aside and immediately wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, hugging him from behind and nestling her face in his neck. Peter felt his heart race due to her closeness, forgetting about her previous comments about his masculinity.
"I'm sorry for making you feel so grumpy. My poor little Parker." Emma whispered in a flirtatious tone before she softly kissed his neck. Peter swallowed hard, not knowing what to do with himself. Her kisses were soft and gentle taking Peter by surprise since Emma had never done something like that before. She led a trail of kisses down his neck and Peter trembled under her touch.
"That's um…that's okay." Peter said and Emma smiled at the way his voice nearly broke as he spoke. She then pressed up against him more and Peter felt like his heart might pop out of his chest. The kissing became more intense when he felt her start to nip at a spot on his neck. He moaned at the sensation, instantly feeling the blood flowing…down there.
This wasn't the first time Peter had felt this way when he was with Emma but usually she never kissed him on his neck before. This was different. Peter felt incredibly flushed as she continued to nip at his neck and he knew that he had an erection. Between Emma kissing him and her pressing up against him, everything was just too much for him. Peter knew this time thinking about Tony naked or the plane crashing on Coney Island wasn't going to cut it. His mind was stuck on what Emma was doing to him.
"Emma…" Peter trailed off, trying to get her to stop but not really wanting her to stop at the same time. She just hummed as she continued to kiss his neck.
"Emma." He said again a little more strongly but she still didn't leave him be. It wasn't until he felt the tip of her tongue against that spot on his neck that Peter found enough strength within himself to push her away. He moved away from her, his breathing heavy and his heart pounding against his chest but he could still feel himself straining against his jeans. Emma laughed, her laughter sounding more girlish than usual and Peter tried to hide from her.
"Come on, Peter. It couldn't have been that bad. You seemed to like it." Emma said as she tried moving over to him but Peter scooted away, desperately wishing for a pillow or anything to hide it from her.
"Just don't, Emma." Peter told her firmly and the smile faded from her face. She frowned when she noticed that he seemed more tense than usual. Did she do something wrong? She thought Peter would enjoy the neck kissing but maybe she had been wrong. Maybe boys didn't like that kind of thing. It's not like Emma would know either way.
"Did you not like it?" Emma asked him, sounding a bit hurt but Peter shook hid head furiously with his back still turned to her.
"No, Emma. I enjoyed it but…" Peter tried to convince her, not wanting to hurt her feelings because truthfully he did enjoy it. Maybe he even enjoyed it a little too much.
"But what?" Emma asked in confusion but that was when she got close enough to see what was really bothering Peter. She noticed that Peter had seemed rather tense but she hadn't known why. Well, Emma supposed she knew why now. It was painfully obvious to her as she sat next to him.
"Oh…" She trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He blushed in embarrassment and turned away from her again.
"Sorry." He apologized and Emma wasn't sure how she felt. She didn't really have much experience with this kind of thing since everything she knew about sex unfortunately came from Rumlow and Emma really didn't want to compare that to this right now. Emma knew that sometimes things between her and Peter got intense but never so much that he got that…well, that excited. She supposed she should've expected it sooner or later since Peter was a hormonal teenage boy. He wasn't alone with that kind of desire either because Emma knew she felt those kinds of feelings for him as well. A part of her felt sick or guilty for having those thoughts considering everything that happened to her. Sex should be the last thing on her mind but sometimes she couldn't help it.
"It's okay." Emma said quietly after a moment, sitting away from him so he could take some time to cool down.
"No, it's not." Peter told her as he avoided eye contact with her. "It's not…right."
"Peter, it's not exactly something you can control." Emma told him seriously. She wanted him to see that he didn't have anything to be embarrassed about. "I probably went further than I should've and you shouldn't be embarrassed. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I totally get it." Peter gave her a hopeful look.
"You mean you're not grossed out or anything?" Peter asked her and Emma immediately shook her head.
"Of course not. I mean you just got…excited. That's all." Emma said, dismissing the entire thing but he still blushed from the way she worded it. He supposed there was no easy way to talk about what happened. As uncomfortable as he was about the conversation, he still couldn't prepare himself for what Emma said next. "You don't want…you don't want to do that any time soon, do you?" Peter gave her a confused look.
"Want what?" Peter asked her and Emma shrugged, looking uncomfortable which wasn't a normal thing for her. She was never uncomfortable with anything.
"You know…sex." Emma clarified and Peter's eyes immediately widened as he blushed again. Truthfully, this was something Emma had been curious about for a while. She wanted to know when Peter wanted to have sex so she'd at least have some time to prepare herself for it. The idea of having sex and it triggering a flashback scared her but she knew that was just something she'd have to get over eventually. If Peter wanted to have sex then she was just going to have to find a way to be okay with it. Peter had done so much for her already and she wanted to give him everything he wanted because he deserved it.
Sex wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal anyways. The other people she knew never seemed to think it was a big deal. Tony, Thor, Sam, and Darcy talked about sex all the time even though Steve used to scold them for talking about that with her in the room. They made it seem like it was fun and enjoyable. They didn't talk about it like it was anything to be afraid of or like any part of it was disgusting. The way they described sex was completely different from what she remembered happening with Rumlow. Emma knew that she was probably making a bigger deal out of it than she should. She had already lost her virginity years ago and at least this way she'd be consenting for the first time in her life. It wasn't like Emma wasn't attracted to Peter or anything because she was. She knew she wanted him that way but she just needed to ignore the stupid irrational fear she had of sex. Emma was almost sixteen for crying aloud. She wasn't the weak, sniveling thirteen year old girl she used to be.
"W-why are y-you asking me t-that?" Peter stuttered as he looked at her in shock. Emma pretended like it wasn't a big deal but deep down she was curious to know what he wanted.
"I don't know. I figure that most couples usually have a three date rule before they have sex and we've been out on more than three dates so I just thought you might've been expecting something." Emma tried to tell him but he gave her an incredulous look.
"I don't expect anything." Peter told her firmly and Emma looked doubtful.
"Really? You're telling me you never think about sex?" Emma asked and Peter blushed again.
"I mean…I think about it sometimes but I don't think we're ready for it." Peter told her, still embarrassed to be talking about sex and especially with Emma. Sure, he thought about sex with Emma but that didn't mean he wanted to have it right now. They hadn't been dating that long and they were already moving so fast. Peter didn't think having sex right now was a good idea for them. Not to mention Tony would probably kill him.
"Why not?" Emma questioned, not understanding what he meant by that. He didn't want to have sex? Isn't that what all boys wanted?
"We haven't been dating that long, Emma, and that three date rule thing is for adults. We're only sixteen and I think we should wait." Peter told her and Emma just stared at him in astonishment.
"For how long?" Emma asked, her tone almost curious and Peter shrugged.
"I don't know…whenever we're both ready." He told her and Emma nodded slowly. She was starting to get what he was saying. He was saying that whenever he was ready that would be when they had sex. Emma just wondered how long that would be. She didn't know if she could be comfortable enough to have sex in one month. Maybe two months...or three. Emma wasn't sure but she didn't want to make Peter wait forever. He deserved better than that.
"Well, I'm ready whenever you're ready." Emma told him but that didn't seem to bode well for Peter. He looked slightly bewildered by what she just said as he stared at her for a moment. It took a while before he could find it in himself to speak. He had calmed down significantly from earlier, his thoughts on something else entirely. Peter reached over and placed his hands over Emma's hands.
"That's not how it works, Emma. You're not ready just because I am." He told her seriously and she looked at him in surprise. "You're ready when you say you're ready. Not a moment sooner."
"It'll be special too. Our first time, I mean…I promise." Peter said as he blushed, shyly looking away from her as she continued to stare at him. A million thoughts were racing through her mind as she looked at him. She was perplexed by the fact that he didn't want anything from her…that he didn't have any expectations. Emma practically told him that they could have sex whenever he wanted but he refused. She realized that she was right before. Emma would never understand him.
"Thank you." Emma said softly and Peter gave her a confused look.
"What for?" He asked her and Emma just shook her head as she grabbed her laptop and started typing away again.
"Nothing." Emma said quietly and Peter looked at her curiously, wondering why she had thanked him. It wasn't like he had done anything that warranted a thank you. He just told her that they should wait a while before they had sex. Peter cleared his throat as he scooted closer to where Emma was sitting.
"So uh…how did the meeting go today?" Peter asked her as he changed the subject. Emma shrugged as she continued to google something on her computer.
"It went fine, I guess. Boring as usual." Emma told him before mentioning something as nonchalantly as she could. "Oh and I also got kicked out." Peter's eyes widened in surprise.
"You what?!" He exclaimed. Their previous conversation was quickly forgotten as he stared at her in shock. "Emma, you've only been to two meetings. How do you get kicked out of an anger management support group after just two sessions?"
"It was stupid anyways. All that those idiots did for an hour was cry about their sad lives while bouncing a pink ball." Emma said bitterly before continuing. "Besides…the guy in charge was the worst person you'll ever meet. Did you know he beat his wife for fifteen years?"
"What?" Peter questioned as a horrified look came over his face and Emma nodded.
"Yeah. He only stopped when she tried killing herself." Emma elaborated before further defending her own actions. "And I'm supposed to take advice from a guy like that? A guy who belongs in a prison cell rather than sitting around in a circle and preaching about life. I know I'm not a saint but he's something different than me. Assassins are bad in their own right but preying on the defenseless…someone you're supposed to love…that's something else. That's something far more evil."
Peter just stared at Emma after her rant, analyzing the expression on her face to try and determine what was bothering her. He loved her but she had been acting weird lately. Weird even for Emma. He knew, despite his wishes, that she still wasn't getting much sleep and she had been very jumpy since the other night. There were even sometimes that he'd catching her staring off into space with a haunted look on her face. It was like she was seeing something that was there but something that Peter couldn't see. She would always tell him that she was fine but he knew her. Something was bothering her but he just wished that she would tell him…that she would confide in him.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe you shouldn't be going to meetings and especially with a guy like that." Peter finally relented before continuing. "I still think you should talk to someone though. Maybe Vision. Vision seems like a good listener." Emma rolled her eyes.
"Vision is an idiot. He'd probably tell me to go buy a stress ball or something." Emma said cynically.
"Tony said that you used to talk to Dr. Banner sometimes." Peter said but Emma just shook her head.
"That was different. Bruce talked to me about ways of suppressing anger. We didn't braid each other's hair or anything. He just taught me a bunch of breathing exercises he probably got from a book on Buddhism. That guy was a total hippie." Emma said but Peter didn't look like he understood.
"Suppressing anger? Emma, I know you're at times more cynical than other people but you're not an angry person." Peter told her, still sounding confused. Emma sighed.
"It's not just suppressing anger, Peter. It's suppressing a lot of emotions." Emma started to say but she still didn't ease Peter's confusion over the matter. "Bruce discovered, after I let him run a couple tests, that I had much more brain activity in my temporal lobe than the average human. My emotions run incredibly high which is one of the side effects of the serum, I guess. My father and I are more temperamental than most people."
"I don't understand." Peter told her and Emma just shrugged.
"I don't know. Bruce used a bunch of scientific terms but he said that I feel things more than regular people do and he was pretty positive my father's the same way. Steve was lucky, I guess, because his serum was much different than ours. Maybe the reason I didn't end up like the others was because I still had some of his serum left over in me." Emma explained but even she seemed like she didn't completely understand that part of herself.
"The others?" Peter questioned and Emma nodded.
"The other assassins before me. They were part of the Winter Soldier program just like my father and I were although they happened years after my father. I wasn't even born yet when they were around." Emma told him as she relayed everything Steve, Sam, and her father had told her before the airport fight. "My father's serum was different than mine. His serum was created by some whackjob henchmen of the Red Skull during World War II. My serum came from the same place as the other assassins' serum did. Howard Stark."
"Howard Stark?" Peter asked in surprise. "Howard Stark as in Tony's father?"
"Why do you think Tony's parents died?" Emma asked him rhetorically before continuing. "My father had to retrieve it from them." Peter's eyes widened when he realized what that meant. He just couldn't believe that Emma's father had actually…done that but then again everything made so much sense now. Why Tony and Emma had been so mad at each other before. Why they fought all the time and why Tony might've even avoided her. This was what they had been angry over each other about. It had always gone back to Emma's father…The Winter Soldier.
"Your father killed his parents?" Peter asked her and Emma looked down at her laptop sadly but nodded.
"It was way before I was born but yes." Emma said and she did feel bad for Tony. She felt bad that he lost his parents but her father hadn't been himself. If people saw what Hydra had done to him then they'd be more understanding. At least her father had been brainwashed when he killed all those people. Emma hadn't needed to be brainwashed. "It seems like Tony's father was more like him than he's willing to admit. Always messing with things he didn't understand so he could make the world a better place. Someone ratted him out to Hydra and so Hydra took the serum to make their own squad of assassin super soldiers."
"That's why you and Tony were mad at each other." Peter murmured and Emma looked back at him.
"He tried to kill my father, Peter. I understood why but he's still my father. My father couldn't do anything that would make me hate him. We were all each other had in that base. He's killed for me and I've killed for him. There's nothing more sacred than that." Emma told Peter, her eyes filled with tears at the memories of her father and her when they were in Hydra together. "Tony and I didn't see eye to eye for a long time but we've made amends. After what happened with Toomes, he decided to forgive my father and I've decided to forgive him. It's all in the past now. I don't think my father and him are going to watch football games together but he doesn't blame him for what happened and that's enough for me."
"What happened to the other super soldiers?" Peter asked curiously since he knew from the look on her face that it was hard for her to talk about her father. He knew just how much she missed her father. Sometimes when she was asleep she would call out for him and Peter wished that he could somehow be able to give her what she wanted…to give her father and grandfather back to her.
"They were already Hydra's most elite team of assassins. They had killed more than my father and I put together. So Hydra decided to inject them with Howard Stark's serum." Emma explained to Peter as she recollected what her father had told her. "They were a lot stronger than my father but unfortunately they couldn't psychologically accept the serum very well."
"What does that mean?" Peter questioned and Emma sighed.
"It means that they went insane. Hydra couldn't control them and even my father was no match for them. Even just one of them was stronger than my father so how could he control all six of them?" Emma said as she continued to relay some of the events of what happened at Hydra to Peter. Peter listened to her closely because it wasn't often that she talked about what happened at Hydra. "Hydra put them all in the Cyro-Chamber until they could figure out how to control them better…to make them as obedient as my father. The only thing is...they never could figure out a way to control them so when I came around they injected me with the last serum they had."
"I think that's why they injected me with it when I was so young. They knew that my emotions were heightened so if they could start training me to suppress them while I was still young then I wouldn't go insane like the others did." Emma said quietly as she remembered her time in Hydra after the injections. "It was tough at first. I had the normal tantrums of a child but everything was heightened because of the serum including my anger. I stabbed Karpov once with a knife once and I also beat the shit out of Strucker. Not to mention the time I bit a chunk out of my father's arm…his real one. I think he still has the scar from that. I guess maybe there's some things we can't heal from." Emma only paused briefly before continuing.
"So that's why they beat me and tortured me so often. They were trying to get me to suppress the emotions until I didn't have any left…or until I found a way to pretend that I didn't." Emma confessed, looking troubled as she explained this. "Bruce tried pacifist methods because he's all love and no war but if anything it still stresses me out. He tried to help me because he thought we were alike on some level but we're not. He only gets that way when he's angry and truthfully I'm like this all the time. I'm just trying to focus on feeling everything like a regular person instead of like a crazy person."
"I had no idea, Emma. I'm so sorry." Peter told her with a sympathetic expression on his face. "Is it just anger?" Emma shook her head.
"No, it's sadness, fear, love, happiness…jealousy." Emma said, trying to avoid eye contact when she said the last one. Emma hadn't really felt jealousy before she met Peter. She never had anything to feel jealous over but she knew she felt it more intensely than a normal person so it could be dangerous to some extent. Steve and her father were always hers so she never had any reason to be jealous or have a fear of someone stealing them from her. Emma knew that she had grown attached to Peter just like she was attached to her father and Steve. The only difference was that Peter could walk away from her whenever he wanted to because the relationship they shared wasn't familial. If he really wanted, he could just leave and never look back which scared her.
"Well, some of those things can be good…like love and happiness, right?" Peter asked, trying to get her to see the bright side of all of this but Emma didn't seem reassured.
"No, it just makes me more attached to people. It's why it feels like I have this huge hole inside me since Steve and my father left." Emma then slowly looked up at him. "It's why you scare me."
"Why would I scare you, Emma?" Peter asked in confusion. "I love you." Emma just shook her head.
"I'm scared because I'm afraid that I love you more than you love me. It already hurts a lot now that Steve and my father are gone. I don't know how much it'll hurt when you leave too." Emma finally admitted and Peter determinedly set her laptop aside before putting his hands on either side of her, forcing her to look him in the eyes.
"I'm not going to leave you, Emma. I wouldn't do that to you." He told her honestly, his warm brown eyes causing her to feel breathless as usual. "You're stuck with me." They fell into a short moment of silence after that, both of them relaxing somewhat, before Peter finally spoke again.
"It's actually funny that you say that you're afraid of me leaving." Peter confessed, a sad smile on his face. "I've actually always been afraid of you leaving me." Emma stared at him, mystified by what he just told her.
"I was going to leave." Emma said quietly and Peter stared at her in shock before his expression morphed into one of hurt. Emma hurried to explain herself before she hurt him too much. "It was after we had that fight after the thing with the ferry. I realized that I had feelings for you and it scared me because I had never felt that way about anyone before. I was always taught that love was a weakness and I was afraid that if I stayed here with you, you'd make me weak."
"I was going to run away to find Steve and my father because I knew if I stayed here any longer then I'd inevitably fall in love with you." Emma said as she told him something she had never told anyone before. Not even Darcy knew that she had planned to run away all those months ago. "I was afraid that you'd hurt me if I stayed so that's why I wanted to run…so my feelings for you wouldn't consume me. In the end, I was just too selfish to stay away from you anyways. It was too late by then. I was already in love with you."
"I'd never hurt you, Emma." Peter told her and Emma sighed sadly.
"But you could if you wanted and sometimes that scares me." Emma said honestly and Peter leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips. The kiss was lingering but he pulled away after a short moment. She could tell that it wasn't a passionate kiss but one full of promise. He looked her in the eyes, warm brown meeting ocean blue.
"I'll never hurt you. I promise." Peter said again and this time she believed him. The expression on his face then softened as he looked into those beautiful eyes of hers. "Just promise me that you'll never leave me either. I know what I'm asking of you. You could be out there looking for your father and grandfather and you could even be happy with them. I know that but you wouldn't be here with me. It's selfish, I know, but I need you, Emma." Emma just smiled softly at him because she knew that he really did love her the same way she loved him. They weren't unequal when it came to that. Emma immediately embraced Peter, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck. She could feel him pull his arms just as tightly around her as they held each other.
"I love my father and Steve, Peter, but I wouldn't be happier with them either because you wouldn't be there. It's very selfish but I want all three of you with me." Emma told him quietly as she relaxed in his arms. "I won't ever leave you. Steve and my father will come back for me one day but I'll make them stay here somehow so that we can still be together. They'll understand."
"Okay." Peter said softly as he then pulled back, satisfied with the promise Emma had made him just like how Emma was satisfied with the promise he had made her. Today had been a day for them to talk through their feelings which made Peter feel like they had made a lot of progress. He wasn't blind. He knew Emma wasn't the easiest person to talk to about certain things but he was glad that she had revealed a lot to him…that she had even confided in him. "You don't have to go to those meetings anymore if you don't want to." Peter said suddenly and Emma looked at him, a bit surprised with his statement.
"What?" She questioned and Peter shrugged.
"I know it's hard for you to talk about yourself even with people you know so I don't think Tony's right in thinking you should be talking about yourself with strangers. They won't understand you and I don't want you around men like the one you told me about." Peter elaborated and Emma just sat there in silence. "I'll tell Tony that you're still going."
"You'd lie for me?" Emma asked him in bewilderment. The truth was that she really was bewildered because Peter never lied. It just wasn't in him to lie and to lie to Tony no less. She knew how much Peter looked up to Tony. She even thought that Peter looked at Tony like a father.
"He's wrong about you. Going to therapy sessions won't help you. You need to talk to people you can trust." Peter told her sincerely as his gaze softened. "You can talk to me, Emma. You know that, right? I'll never judge or think any differently of you."
Emma looked down at her lap. She had a lot to consider. Right then could've been the opportune time to tell him everything about Rumlow but she just couldn't. She just needed a little more time is all. She just needed to talk to someone who understood what it was like but that person wasn't Peter. Emma had to talk to someone who could maybe give her advice on how to tell Peter the things she needed to tell him. The only thing was that Emma was certain that she might've found that person today. She just needed to determine if that person could help her in the way she thought they could. Emma needed to know more about that person.
"I know." Emma said quietly and Peter smiled.
"Good." He said, grateful that she had agreed to talk to him if she needed to. Peter just wanted Emma to know that she didn't need to hide anything from him if she was scared of scaring him. In Peter's eyes, Emma could do no wrong. It was then that something suddenly occurred to him. Tomorrow was a very important day after all. "Oh, I almost forgot." Emma gave him a confused look as he picked up his backpack from the floor and brought it to the bed with them.
"It's your birthday tomorrow." Peter stated as he started to unzip his bag. Emma groaned in annoyance because she had honestly been hoping he'd forgotten about that.
"Are you still on about that?" Emma questioned bitterly but Peter just gave her a goofy smile. It was clear that their moment before had ended.
"Of course I am. I'm your boyfriend, after all." Peter told her right as he pulled some kind of stuffed animal out of his backpack. Emma stared at the thing in bewilderment until she got a better look at it. That's when she realized what it was. It was Spirit. The same stuffed horse she had when she was little. It looked just like the one her father, her biological one, had gotten her all those years ago. The same mane of black hair and the same tanned fur color.
"I remembered what you said that one time about the stuffed animal you had when you were little…the one from the movie you said you used to watch. It's probably not the same one but I thought you'd like it." Peter nervously explained but stopped when he saw the unreadable expression on her face. He frowned. "Oh no…this was a bad idea, wasn't it?"
Emma stopped staring at the horse as she looked back up at Peter who seemed worry. Truthfully, it wasn't a bad idea because she was reminded of all the good times before her parents died. She remembered taking the horse with her everywhere…to the county fair, to the grocery store, and to the playground. She even remembered her parents tucking her in every night with Spirit safely nestled beside her. For once, Emma wasn't reminded of all the bad things. She smiled at Peter as she shook her head, taking the horse from his hands.
"Not at all. I just wasn't expecting it…I also wasn't expecting you to remember." Emma said because she honestly hadn't expected him to of remembered any of that. She had remembered telling him about the horse and where she lived before Hydra but that was a while ago. Peter just smiled back at her.
"I remember everything you say." Peter told her, relieved that she didn't seem to hate the horse. "Do you like it?"
"I love it." Emma told him honestly and not just because she loved the present either. It was because he cared enough about her to listen. "Thank you."
The blonde then leaned down to kiss her boyfriend's cheek, causing him to blush a vibrant shade of red as he acted like it was nothing. Secretly he was very proud of how much Emma seemed to love his present. He had looked everywhere for the horse, after all, and only because he wanted to make her happy. Peter knew that she wanted her father and grandfather to be there for her birthday but he also knew that just wasn't possible so if he could make her happier then he would. Even though they wouldn't be here for her birthday, Peter was determined to make this birthday a happy one. She deserved that and more.
The young couple spent the rest of the time talking to each other as Emma affectionately ran her fingers through the stuffed horse's fake main of hair. They talked about things that held no important in superhero activities but rather held a lot of important in the teenage realm of things. They had an enthusiastic debate about Harry Potter and Star Wars. Emma claiming Harry Potter was a much better franchise than Star Wars and Peter who strongly disagreed. Still…Emma had more fun arguing with him about Harry Potter than she had fun doing anything else but it wasn't Harry Potter that made her feel that way. It was Peter.
Her laptop was left forgotten on the bed as she bickered with Peter. The information about a certain vigilante turned Defender left on the screen which Emma would resume researching a short time later. Jessica Jones would just have to wait…for now.
Emma's birthday was an interesting affair although she comforted herself by saying it wasn't as bad as she thought. Fortunately Peter had talked to Tony about keeping her birthday small so it was just a small gathering of people even though he was rather disappointed by that. The party was held at the compound and the only people Tony had invited to the compound that weren't occupants were Michelle, Ned, and May. Emma still had hoped that Steve and her father would appear magically but she knew it was impossible.
"Can I leave now?" Emma asked bitterly as she glared at the banner that read 'Sweet Sixteen' which Pepper and Susan had put up. Emma just couldn't believe Susan betrayed her. How dare she side with Tony on this stupid party? If Susan thought this was going to win her points with Steve then Emma was going to be sure to tell Steve how much his little girlfriend sucked when he came back.
"No, you can absolutely not. It's your birthday." Peter told her seriously and Emma rolled her eyes.
"I know. You never seem to let me forget that." Emma retorted as she then glared at the ugly looking birthday cake sitting on the table. It was disgusting because it was decorated with pink roses and pink frosting like everyone thought she was some frilly little five year old girl. At least Tony was playing one of the playlists from her iPod. She guessed that McConaughey was good for something, after all.
"Just try and be happy and I promise that we'll sneak away later when everyone's distracted." Peter promised and Emma smiled at him.
"You know me so well." She told him and he just kissed her on the forehead before pulling away. That's when they were approached by the most annoying person on the face of the planet. Tony Stark.
"I'm about to puke. You two are so sickeningly in love." Tony said jokingly as he smirked at the young couple. "Okay, I know all about the teenage hormones but can you guys just cool it? There's people here. Just keep your hands to yourself." Emma just sneered at him.
"Don't be a child, Tony." Emma told him but her bitter tone didn't seem to offend him. He just kept looking at them with that stupid look on his face.
"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you and Spiderling should have a night of Spider Viper loving." Tony teased, causing Peter to blush and Emma to give him her famous death glare. "You might be less tense than you are now."
"I'm going to kill you, Stark." Emma hissed as she took a threatening step towards him but he just laughed as he backed away.
"Control your woman, kid. She's feisty." Tony told Peter, knowing fully well that he was pissing off Emma even more. He winced at the furious look on her face as he slowly started backing out of there. He knew he wouldn't live that much longer if he stayed. The billionaire then gave Peter a pointed look. "Just so you know, Parker, I was totally kidding about the sex thing. Any below the clothes touching is still off limits. I'll throw your skinny little ass off the roof of this place if I so much as see your hand anywhere near her boobs or ass." Tony then ran off quickly, not waiting around to face Emma's wrath. Emma glowered at the cowardly man who ran off to Vision for protection.
"I'm going to kill him one of these days. I really mean it." Emma grumbled and Peter just chuckled despite his embarrassment from Tony's earlier comment.
"No, you won't. Everyone knows you guys love each other." Peter said and Emma thought he was awfully confident to be saying that. He must've been confident that she loved him that much because if anyone else said that to her, she'd make them pay for it. She gave him a repulsed look.
"Don't be disgusting, Parker. The day I say I love Tony Stark is the day I start volunteering at an animal shelter." Emma told him but Peter didn't believe her.
"Come on, you like Tony. I know you do. If Loki was holding him captive in his evil lair I know you'd go and rescue him." Peter told her and Emma smirked almost evilly at him.
"Or maybe Loki and I would have some fun with him." Emma said in a mischievous tone but Peter just rolled his eyes. He knew her and he knew that she wouldn't let anything happen to Tony. She did love him in her own messed up way. Ned and Michelle then came running over, interrupting the couples' conversation about Tony Stark. Ned had a wide eyed look on his face while Michelle seemed just as bored as usual although she did seem to be vaguely curious about the compound.
"Peter, this place is so cool! I can't believe we just met Iron Man, War Machine, and Vision." Ned said, completely in awe of everything and everyone at the facility. Emma just scoffed.
"So you've just met all the lame and boring Avengers. Big deal. It's like meeting the other band members in Fleetwood Mac when you really just wanted to meet Stevie and Lindsey." Emma said but Ned just ignored her.
"This is so cool! This is the place you and Emma go to every weekend?" Ned said excitedly as he continued to look around everywhere as if he had missed something the first time. "Tony Stark even congratulated me on hacking Stark Industries when I hacked in your guys' suits. What do you think that means? Do you think I might be his guy in the chair too?"
"He was just pretending to be nice to you, dumb ass." Michelle told him bluntly. "That's what rich people do."
"Well said." Emma said, deciding to put an end to that conversation before Michelle and Ned started arguing. Emma knew that her and Peter spent a lot of time together so now Ned and Michelle were spending more time together than usual. It soon became clear that sometimes Ned and Michelle's personalities clashed.
"Hey, Emma. Enjoying the party?" Said an amused sounding voice and Emma turned to look at the person who had approached them. She was surprised when she saw none other than Sharon Carter. Her cousin. The blonde smiled down at Emma.
"Sharon." Emma said in surprise and Sharon immediately embraced the teenage girl. They hadn't seen each other since October, after all. Emma stiffened but awkwardly patted her cousin's back. The other three watched them in confusion, not having any idea why Emma was actually letting this random woman hug her. They parted from each other with Emma still looking at Sharon in shock but Sharon just continued to smile at her.
"Tony flew me out here from London last night. You didn't think I'd miss your birthday, would you?" Sharon said before turning to look at the three other teenagers standing next to her baby cousin. "Who are your friends here?"
"Ned." Ned introduced as he smiled rather goofy at the attractive woman. Emma raised an eyebrow. Yeah right, Emma thought to herself. Keep dreaming, Ned.
"Michelle." The dark haired said begrudgingly and Emma didn't blame her. Her friend was very anti-social and hated meeting new people. Emma wasn't that different than her.
"I'm Emma's cousin…Sharon Carter." Sharon said as she politely introduced herself. Peter's eyes widened in surprise as he looked in between Emma and Sharon. Mostly because he hadn't had any idea that Emma had any family other than her father and grandfather. He supposed it made sense since her grandfather was only one part of the family. Her grandmother, according to Emma, had eventually moved on after her grandfather crashed that plane in World War II and had started a family of her own. It made complete sense that Emma must've had a lot of family but he just wished that she had told him.
"You're Emma's cousin?" Peter asked her incredulously and Sharon smiled at him but looked confused.
"Yes. Who are you?" She asked and Peter smiled at her. He was a bit annoyed that Emma never mentioned a cousin before but he was still excited to meet her family. Peter really wanted to meet her father and grandfather as well but meeting any part of her family would really be nice. He didn't think Emma and her cousin looked a lot alike. They both had blonde hair but Sharon's hair was more of a dirty blonde than Emma's hair which was a more golden shade of blonde. Emma's eyes were ocean blue while Sharon's were a kind brown. He couldn't see a lot of similarities between the two but they must've been distantly related, after all.
"I'm Peter…Emma's boyfriend." Peter told Sharon who smirked at him knowingly. She looked the teenage boy up and down, suddenly finding him interesting. He was really cute, she had to admit, but he wasn't really what Sharon pictured when she imagined Emma's boyfriend. Not that Sharon ever imagined that Emma would have a boyfriend in the first place. Emma had made it in clear in the past how much she thought boys were a waste of time. It was nice to see the teenage girl finally eating her own words.
"Right, I've heard about you. Susan mentioned that Emma had a boyfriend but I didn't believe her." Sharon told him, looking between him and Emma in amusement.
"Well, Emma hasn't mentioned much about you either." Peter said, giving Emma a pointed look but Emma didn't seem guilty. Sharon just didn't really come up in the conversation. Sharon didn't seem offended in the least as she laughed.
"I'm afraid Emma might be a little like Uncle Steven in that way." She admitted and Emma looked up at her with interest as did the others. She knew that Sharon mentioned staying with her and her parents when Emma was just a baby but she never mentioned anything else about Emma's mother or father. The blonde women then turned to her younger cousin, a soft smile on her face. "Whenever I badgered your father about his girlfriends, he'd always tell me to mind my own business. Something about private lives staying private. I don't think I met your mother until she and Uncle Steven were married and pregnant with you."
"Anyways…" Sharon trailed off as Emma processed that information about her parents. Peter also looked quite curious because this was Emma he was talking about. Emma who never liked sharing a ton of information but he could tell that she didn't know a whole lot about her parents. Emma didn't say anything even though she knew her cousin could probably tell her all about her parents. A part of Emma was scared to know…scared to feel their loss. It was better that Emma didn't know a lot about them. "I should probably go talk to Maria. We haven't seen each other in ages."
"See you around, kiddo." Sharon said teasingly as she ruffled Emma's hair and then left. The other stared in shock at Emma who didn't even glare after the tall blonde woman.
"You actually let her do that?" Ned asked in surprise and Emma shrugged.
"She's family. It's not like I can actually threaten her with death." Emma excused and Peter looked slightly annoyed with her.
"You never mentioned a cousin before." Peter accused and Emma sighed.
"Look, it's not that big of a deal. We only met a year ago so I don't even know her that well." Emma told him but Peter still looked disturbed at the thought that Emma had relatives running around the place that he didn't even know about. He wanted to know everything about her life including distant relatives.
"Well, do you have any other family members running around? Do you have a twin brother that I don't know about?" Peter questioned and Michelle rolled her eyes.
"Oh, no. Looks like it's another lover's quarrel. Prepare yourself, Ned." Michelle said sarcastically. Emma gave Michelle a scathing look before returning her gaze to Peter.
"Honestly…I have an aunt and uncle that live in England." Emma finally admitted and Peter looked at her in surprise. "They're my father's younger half siblings and they both have families of their own. I've never even met them and I'm pretty sure they think I'm dead so it's not like I'm ever going to see them." Peter looked immensely confused.
"Wait a minute…if the rest of your family thinks you're dead then why does Sharon know you're alive? Why is she even here at the compound?" Peter asked her and Emma sighed.
"Sharon's works for the CIA. She was around for the whole thing with my father and Zemo in Berlin." Emma told Peter as the rest of them looked at the blonde in surprise. "Before the CIA, she worked for Shield. That's how she knows Maria so well."
"Are you telling me that there's another badass in your family?" Ned asked in amazement. "Not only is there your grandparents, parents, you, and your adoptive father but there's also a badass cousin who works in the CIA?"
"How is she related you anyways? Is she one of your uncle or aunt's kids?" Michelle asked, ignoring Ned's weirdness. Emma shrugged.
"I think she's my great uncle Michael's granddaughter but I'm not sure." Emma said before giving them all an annoyed look. "I don't know. I'm not an expert on the Carter family tree. For all I know I might actually have a brother or sister running around. Tony said my biological father wasn't as saintly as my grandfather."
"Well, just tell me next time if I'm going to meet a family member of yours." Peter told her, not looking annoyed or mad anymore. "I'd like to be prepared if I'm about to meet your family."
"Why?" Emma asked, sounding confused and Peter blushed.
"I just want to make a good impression." Peter told her honestly and Emma just stared at him. "I want your family to like me." Michelle gave them both a disgusted look.
"You guys are so gross. Let's go, Ned…before I puke." Michelle told Ned as she dragged the teenage boy away, leaving Emma and Peter alone.
"I don't care if my family likes you or not. They don't decide who I date." Emma told him sincerely. "Besides…it's impossible to not like you, Peter. Steve will love you and I have to admit that was a little disconcerting to me at the beginning. Dating a guy Steve would like was the last thing I wanted to do." Peter gave her a touched look, knowing that she was joking about the last part.
"You really think your grandfather will like me?" Peter asked almost shyly and Emma smiled at him, nodding.
"I know he will." Peter returned her smile and was about to respond when Tony and the others called them over.
"Mini Cap!" Tony called. "Get over here! It's time to blow out the candles!" Emma sighed heavily because that was the last thing she wanted to do. Peter gave her a look and she knew that meant that there was no backing out of this. Not this time.
"Come on, Emma. It's not a huge deal." He told her and Emma just glowered.
"Why does it feel like it's more of their birthday than it is mine?" She questioned bitterly and Peter only chuckled before he led her over to the cake.
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to-" They all began to sing but Emma silenced them all with a dirty look.
"The next person who sings will regret it." She said in a dark and dangerous tone.
"Just blow out the candles, Em. Stop being so grumpy." Darcy told her, looking very amused by the blonde. Emma was even more annoyed to see that the brunette was filming the whole thing. Why did Steve need to see this too? She was embarrassed enough as it is.
"Then can I leave?" She inquired and everyone looked at her like she was crazy.
"No. You have to open presents too." Rhodey informed her and Emma felt tempted to just bolt out of there regardless of what they said but she knew Peter would probably be mad at her if she did. God, when did she start caring about how people felt? Right…probably when she fell in love with the idiot.
"When will this night just end?" She grumbled to herself before preparing herself to blow out the candles like she was requested to do.
"Don't forget to make a wish." Susan reminded her and Emma sneered at her before closing her eyes and finally blowing out the candles. The smell of smoke and birthday cake filled her nose as she opened her eyes again. Peter smiled at her with that look that told her how much he adored her. His warm brown eyes stood out to her in the dim lighting and his smile made her feel like this whole birthday celebration wasn't completely stupid. They were all clapping like turning sixteen was some huge accomplishment but Emma's mind was still on the wish she made. She knew it was stupid actually making the wish but she also knew there was still one thing she still wanted. There was one thing that could make her happy and piece her whole life together.
The Avengers being a family again.
Author's Note: Another quick author's note...I just want to say that Jessica will be back in the next chapter for sure. I'm also sorry about all the fluff in this chapter but next chapter will probably be a bit darker.