After that day, they started spending more and more time apart. They weren't avoiding each other on purpose and they still slept in the same bed at night, but things were just naturally getting more busy for Celia. She was starting to work out more regularly with Clint and Natasha, only this time they weren't putting her through the ringer like before. It was mostly cardio, strength training, with hand to hand combat sprinkled in. The other parts of the day were spent in the clinic, helping Tony put in the finishing touches and getting more acquainted with the computer systems she'd be using. She was really excited to be going back to her normal career again and helping people. And knowing that she would be earning her place in the tower a bit more was nice too.

Eating dinner with everyone was becoming almost a nightly thing, which wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be. They all seemed to have accepted her presence by this point, so it was more like she was a new kid at school people were getting used to, instead of someone being forced into their clique. And she appreciated that they didn't handle her with kid gloves, even though Steve always looked so disapproving of some of their jokes. Celia would rather be treated like everyone else, than have them worry about offending her. As long as they kept her past out of it, she was good. Tony hadn't called her Holly since right after that meeting with Fury.

She was currently in the gym, finishing up her cooldown exercises with Natasha. Clint had already gone ahead to the showers, so it was just them stretching. Natasha was the one Celia was most wary about, since it seemed like the other woman was always observing and calculating. She never did anything outright hostile, but Celia knew nothing went unnoticed by her. She tried not to let it affect how she lived her life, but it was always something Celia kept in the back of her mind.

"You did good today. Need to work on your hips a bit more when it comes to your kicks though. Maybe something you can practice with Steve?" Natasha suggested, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I'll keep that in mind," Celia replied carefully, knowing she'd do no such thing. She was not about to ask Steve to help her with her hips. That was a level of awkward they did not need to fall into again.

"We should probably get him to start joining us. If you're going to be a super soldier, you should probably train with one," Natasha said, stretching forward to grab her toes with ease.

"I don't see myself ever being considered a super soldier," Celia scoffed. They still weren't sure about all of her changes yet, but they could tell she wasn't completely normal anymore. Obviously not, with the healing thing and the nail, but other things were coming to the surface as well. Celia wasn't a stranger to working out, but she could pass her previous limits now without even realizing it. That was still a far cry from being anywhere near Steve's league.

"He'd go easy on you," Natasha chuckled.

"Oh, I know that. He'd go too easy on me," Celia snorted, shaking her head. "I need someone who's not afraid to go hard on me."

"Interesting word choice," Natasha noted with a sly smile.

"Don't start with that," Celia groaned, rolling to her feet. She was dodging relationship jokes from Tony left and right, she didn't need it from Natasha too. "I gotta go meet with Craig."

"Sure you do," Natasha snickered, waving her off. Celia rolled her eyes, getting on the elevator to take her to the clinic. Craig was hired on to manage the clinic, to let the doctors and nurses focus on patients instead of everything else. His office was going to be right next to hers and she'd been chatting with him whenever they bumped into each other.

"Celia!" Craig called out as soon as she stepped off the elevator. "Guess what finally came in today?"

"Your first paycheck?" Celia guessed, letting Craig lead her excitedly through the halls.

"Even better. The new desk chairs!" Craig squealed. An honest to God squeal.

"That's better?" Celia asked, bewildered.

"You'll understand once you've tried it," Craig assured her, steering her into his office. The chair looked nice, but it was still just a desk chair. "Go on, try it out."

"I'm kind of gross," Celia pointed out, gesturing to her sweaty gym clothes.

"Angus won't mind, he can handle it," Craig said, gently herding her toward the chair.

"You named it?" Celia snorted, looking over at him like he'd lost his mind. She was going to get along with this guy just fine.

"Just sit already," Craig grumbled, pointing to the seat. Celia complied, sinking down into the buttery leather. Okay, this was nice. "It can heat and cool, as well as massage. I think I'm going to lease out my apartment and live in this."

"You're ridiculous," Celia laughed, reluctantly pulling herself back up. That was a chair she could see herself falling asleep in, but that would be a disaster with a witness.

"Once you form a bond with your own chair, you'll understand," Craig said, sitting down now that the seat was free. "Now get out of here. I have some very important research to do." He picked up the little remote attached to the arm and started pressing buttons, making the chair come alive. Celia left him alone in his office, moaning dramatically. She shook her head and smiled, hoping all of her colleagues were as great as Craig. Celia usually got along with her coworkers, but it helped before that they usually didn't get a lot of facetime with each other.

She decided to stop off at her office before going back up to shower, to see if there was anything else new waiting for her. Unfortunately there was something waiting for her. More like someone.

"Pretty nice setup you got here," Fury said, staring at her from her brand new chair. She didn't like it as much anymore for some reason.

"The chair is new," Celia said, not knowing what else to say in the moment.

"A lot of new things," Fury observed, running his fingers along the keyboard on the desk in front of him. She could've just walked right back out the door. Nothing was stopping her, except her pride and maybe a bit of curiosity. And a stubborn streak a mile long that never let her back down from a fight anymore.

"The whole floor has been under construction. I can show you around if you'd like?" Celia offered, knowing that wasn't what the man had been talking about, but feeling an overwhelming need to be as unhelpful and contrary as possible.

"The floor is not what I'm interested in."

"Oh well, if that's your way of asking me out on a date, I'll have to respectfully decline."

"I think you've been hanging around Stark too much."

"I'll pass along the compliment."

"I don't remember you acting like this during our last meeting. Has something changed?"

"Getting abducted can do funny things to a girl. It can make her less willing to deal with bullshit."

"You know, I didn't actually come here to fight."

"Really? Then why didn't you call? Is sneaking into a person's office the normal way of doing things?"

"Did you need some time to prepare your story?"

"Oh, you'll have to excuse me. I forgot Shield is all about the art of the ambush. The broken jaw I received from one of your agents must've messed with my memory." By this point Celia was screaming at herself to stop making things worse, but she couldn't. Maybe Tony really was a bad influence?

"You seem fine to me."

"And how is Agent Miller?" Celia asked, hoping he was still feeling the effects of whatever Steve had done to him. She'd asked him about it, but all he'd said was it wasn't enough.

"That situation is being handled internally," Fury brushed off, meaning probably a slap on the wrist and a transfer. Celia tried not to feel bitter about it, since she was used to people skating by without consequence, but the thought of it still sucked. She was pretty sure Shield wouldn't have been pleased if she had tried to defend herself more aggressively, since after her change she may have been able to do some damage.

"That's comforting. So I should expect to see him at the next Shield company BBQ?" Celia asked.

"What makes you think you'll be invited?"

"I'm sure I can scam my way into being a plus one for at least one of the team," Celia said with a cocky grin. "That's what this is really about, right? Me trying to infiltrate my way onto the team for nefarious reasons? Gosh, you really don't have faith in your people if you think I would be able to trick all of them so easily."

"I like to know who I'm dealing with. I'm sure you can appreciate that," Fury snapped, evidently tired of this back and forth. Celia couldn't let down the act though. Being on offense was much better than being on defense.

"Well, we can't always get what we want. At least according to the song."

"You're making this harder than it needs to be!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Exactly how am I supposed to be responding to you?"

"You could start by showing me some respect." Celia didn't mean to, but she started laughing at that. Actually it was more of a cackle, and it was pretty ugly.

"It's so funny how everyone demands respect, but don't do anything to earn it. What makes you think I owe you anything?"

"If you expect-"

"I spent the first 22 years of my life being controlled, having other people do whatever they wanted and being forced to grin and bear it. Forgive me if I'm less accepting of authoritative bullshit these days. So how about you just ask me what you want to ask me and I'll decide if you get the answers you're looking for," Celia hissed. She didn't know Fury very well, but she thought she caught the barest hint of surprise cross over his features.

"Actually, I think I just got them," Fury smirked, pushing back and standing up from her chair.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Celia demanded. Was the fighting over? When had that happened?

"I figure someone trying to infiltrate their way in would probably try to make a better impression than that," Fury said, walking over to stand in front of her.

"Was that your way of calling me a bitch?" Celia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd probably lean more toward asshole," Fury said casually. Damn, was she actually starting to like the guy? Why was Celia considering that a term of endearment from him?

"I'm really not planning anything devious here. I think we're all just doing the best we can with the circumstances we've found ourselves in," Celia sighed, stepping aside so she wasn't blocking the door.

"We'll see," Fury said simply, tipping his head at her slightly.

"You'll know where to find me," Celia replied, aching to get the last word, as petty as it was. "Come back if you need some work done. I've heard I have good hands." Fury didn't say anything to that, striding off with his long coat swaying behind him. How he snuck around anywhere looking like that was a mystery.

"Who was that?" Craig asked, coming into her office after giving Fury a wide berth.

"Just my textiles guy. Thinking about putting in a soothing wall hanging in here," Celia brushed off, moving over to finally try out her new chair. She'd need to have Tony come down soon and do a sweep of the area, just to make sure Fury didn't stick some sort of spyware in here. She didn't get this far being naive.

"So, what's the verdict?" Craig asked, leaning against her desk.

"No complaints."

"Gonna name it?" Celia chuckled, tilting her head to relax against the headrest.

"I think I'll name it, Furioso."