"How do you keep your secret identity when you all exit an elevator together?" Celia whispered to Steve as they got to the floor where the party was being held.
"That's a good question," Steve chuckled, leading them over to a more open area of the room. It was pretty busy already, so they must've taken the fashionably late approach. "I think everyone naturally focuses on Tony. The rest of us are just accessories." Said man was already working the room, moving from cluster to cluster and shaking hands and making jokes. It looked so natural and Celia couldn't even begin to relate. If she ever found herself at a party, she kept to the edges and always knew where the exits were. Tony threw himself into the middle of it like it was where he belonged.
"Do you think we've been here long enough?" Celia asked, snagging a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.
"I think it would be a bit noticeable if you left after only one minute," Steve laughed, waving off a glass for himself.
"Maybe tonight is a good opportunity to see if I can still get drunk?" Celia suggested, bringing the glass to her lips without taking a drink.
"Probably not the best night for that little experiment."
"Such a spoilsport! Don't worry, the glass is just for show. It keeps people from offering to get you something," Celia explained, leaving out the part about how it was less likely you'd get a spiked drink that way as well. She didn't think anything like that would happen here, but old habits were hard to break.
"You're full of tricks, aren't you?" Steve murmured with a grin.
"You have no idea."
"Attention everyone! Thank you for coming tonight," Tony said from a small stage at the front of the room. "Accessible and affordable healthcare is a passion of mine, so I'm honored to be able to take the first step toward that in Stark Tower. Every employee will be able to visit our clinic free of charge, where they will be seen by top practitioners in their fields. Health and wellness is a top priority around here and this clinic will give everyone the opportunity to make sure all of their needs are met."
"He's good," Celia chuckled under her breath.
"And this is where you all come in. Your generous donations will help ensure this vision becomes a reality. You will help inspire other companies to do the same. We are on the precipice of real change here and you will help push us through to the other side," Tony stated, pausing for applause. "Now, if my wonderful clinic staff could join me, I'd like you all to meet who will be the biggest part in making this dream come true."
"Shit!" Celia hissed, handing her glass to Steve. "Guard my booze and wish me luck?"
"You got it," Steve agreed, giving her a little shove in the direction of the stage. She kept to the edge so she could make a quick getaway if needed. Celia hadn't met most of her new colleagues yet, but they all looked nice enough. She'd never really had to work with doctors or nurses besides discussing referrals, and she'd never had a problem getting along with them, as long as the patients were the top priority. It was the potential investors sizing them up that was what she needed to worry about.
"Now, I have office staff waiting on the clinic floor for anyone who is interested in a tour and my clinic manager, Craig, will be happy to answer any questions. Also, my practitioners will be milling around the party all night, so feel free to get to know them. I think you'll be impressed by the group of people I've brought together," Tony said, raising a glass to end his speech. The crowd gave a polite clap, then started moving around and chatting again. Celia took that as her cue to go back over to Steve, before anyone else got the impression that she wanted to talk.
"Trying to make a quick getaway, I see," Natasha purred as she slid up next to her.
"Is it that obvious?" Celia laughed, glaring at a group of women who were surrounding Steve.
"Like a first time shoplifter," Natasha scoffed, leading her over to one of the bars.
"Oh, I can assure you, I never got caught," Celia grinned, ordering a 7 and 7 without one of the 7s. A shot of cola instead gave just the right hint of color.
"Okay, spill. What was the most interesting thing you ever stole?" Natasha asked, leaning in with a devious look on her face.
"You first," Celia challenged.
"I stole a prosthetic eye from a man while he was still wearing it. He didn't even notice," Natasha bragged.
"How? Why?" Celia spluttered, trying to figure out how to go about doing something like that.
"He had a microchip stashed inside of it. And I can't let you in on all the trade secrets," Natasha laughed, lifting one eyebrow. "Now tell me yours."
"Mine is definitely not that impressive," Celia muttered, making a note to guard her personal items a little more closely. She didn't have much to hide anymore, but that didn't mean she should get sloppy. "I stole a dog once."
"Oh, I'd love to hear this story," Natasha grinned.
"One of the women I was helping had a husband who took her dog to the pound to spite her. She couldn't go get it back since that would be too dangerous, so I went," Celia shrugged.
"Should I be impressed by that?"
"It was a 200 pound Mastiff. Not the easiest thing to sneak out," Celia defended. It might not have been as outlandish as Natasha's story, but it was still a win. No one needed to know about the other things she'd had to procure from time to time.
"Okay, I'll give you that one. Maybe some other time I'll tell you the story of how I stole a nuke?" Natasha suggested, taking a sip of her drink. "Speaking of my unique abilities, would you like me to take out a few people for you?"
"Who? What do you mean?" Celia asked, ignoring the whole nuke thing for now. This for sure wasn't the place for that kind of story.
"The women talking to Steve who you keep glaring at. Worried they will make a move on him?" Natasha questioned, smiling slyly up at her.
"Steve can talk to anyone he wants," Celia brushed off, not taking the bait. "I was just checking to see if he still had my drink."
"So we're still playing this game? I told Tony not to order that extra bed. It's just gonna draw this all out even longer," Natasha sighed, shaking her head in annoyance.
"Excuse me? I have no idea what you're talking about," Celia denied, discreetly looking around to see if there was an easy escape from this conversation.
"Yeah, sure. I bet Tony and Pepper will figure their thing out before you and Steve do, as crazy as that sounds. Tony has a way of messing up everything," Natasha laughed.
"Steve and I have nothing to figure out, but thanks for your concern. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go beg an old guy for some money," Celia grumbled, feeling like throwing herself into the lion's den would be preferable to continuing her little chat with Natasha. She definitely wasn't questioning her about the thing she had going with Clint, so Celia figured she deserved the same consideration. Especially considering there was nothing going on between her and Steve. Nothing besides friendship.
Celia wandered around the room, forcing herself to keep a friendly look on her face. Her mother had always scolded her if her lips had even the hint of being downturned. If you weren't smiling, you were frowning. And frowning gave people the wrong idea. Her childhood had been training for situations like these.
"Thank goodness, finally someone sane!" Craig hissed, sweeping up next to her and swiping the glass from her hand. Before Celia could protest he downed the whole drink in one go. "What the hell was that?"
"Not alcohol, if that's what you were hoping for," Celia snorted, mourning the lack of something in her hands. She never knew where to hold them. "I thought you were down in the clinic?"
"I'm taking a mental health break," Craig groaned, shaking his head in frustration. "I couldn't handle any more of those questions."
"What did they ask?"
"You'd think they'd want to know about procedure or doctors or what have you, but nope. It was about the furniture in the waiting area. And the wattage of the lightbulbs. Even the fonts that were used in the pamphlets and signage!" Craig grumbled, becoming more agitated. Normally Craig was talkative and personable, but even he'd been broken down, and relatively quickly.
"Stop!" Celia gasped, letting her jaw hang a little in shock. She'd been worried that her credentials would be called into question, but people were more worried about the unimportant little details? "At least we only have to deal with this for tonight. On Monday, this will all be a distant memory when we finally start working."
"Yeah, except you will be seeing patients and I will be making sure everything runs smoothly and dealing with it when it doesn't," Craig sighed, slumping exaggeratedly against her shoulder.
"Oh come on, don't pretend like you don't love being in charge," Celia laughed, slapping him lightly on the arm. "If you want, I can make a few calls to my old school, in case you want to switch sides."
"Starting a whole new career at my age? No thanks," Craig scoffed, standing up straighter and fixing his tie. "I'll just have to suffer through it and find fulfillment in my personal life. We still on for celebratory drinks Friday night?"
"Okay, first of all, you're only like thirty years old. You have a ton of time to change things up if you wanted to. And second, of course I'm still game for Friday. Who all have you invited?" Celia asked. Craig had suggested everyone meet at a bar down the road for drinks to celebrate the first week of the clinic being open. She'd agreed, since she didn't want to become alienated from her coworkers. Eventually someone would notice that she lived in the tower and seemed to pal around with the big boss and she didn't want it to get weird.
"Everyone I've met so far, but not everyone has given me an answer. You know how those older doctor types are. Not as much fun once you have a family waiting at home," Craig shrugged, sneaking a peek at his watch. "I've got to get back. Wouldn't want someone to go home without knowing the brand of pen we use at the reception desk."
"Good luck," Celia laughed, raising her empty hand in a mock toast. Craig rolled his eyes and strode away, leaving her alone once again. Maybe Steve would finally be free?
"Did I see you up on the stage?" a man's voice asked from behind her. Celia spun around, finding an older man standing behind her with a drink in his hand and a friendly smile. This definitely was one of the people Tony was hoping to get money from. She didn't know designer brands, but this guy oozed money.
"You did," Celia confirmed, clasping her hands in front of her to keep them from fidgeting. Why did Craig have to leave?
"Are you a nurse?"
"Actually, I'm the head of the physical therapy department."
"Really?"
"Well, I think I'm the only physical therapist on staff at this point, so who knows how long I'll keep that title," Celia laughed, trying her hardest to be pleasant. It was easy in her normal life, but it felt so unnaturally forced in this situation.
"And how did you land that sort of job?" the man asked.
"I've got good references, I guess. You'd have to ask Mr. Stark," Celia replied. Using a formal name like that felt weird, but she didn't want to seem overly chummy with the boss to this guy either. She needed to steer this conversation away from herself and toward the clinic. "It's really great what Mr. Stark is doing for his employees. I think this clinic will make a big impact."
"Are you sure that's all it is?" the man questioned with a sly grin.
"What do you mean by that?" Celia asked, feeling her heart slam against her chest. She knew what he was saying, but she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. If he backed off and said something innocuous, she'd laugh it off and move along. But if he confirmed her fears, she didn't know what she'd do.
"Young girl like you and the reputation Tony has," the man leered, "it's pretty clear what I'm talking about." If the man kept talking after that, Celia didn't hear it.
Steve grinned as he watched Celia up on stage with everyone, trying to keep herself hidden. Tony was hamming it up as usual, grabbing all the attention for himself. He wasn't sure why Celia was so nervous, since she had a perfectly normal, pleasant personality. It wasn't like Tony was having them perform tricks in front of everyone. A little smalltalk here and there rarely killed anyone.
He was ready to tease her a bit when she finally made her way back to him, but a group of women had pounced on him with questions. He kept telling them that he wasn't part of the clinic, but they didn't seem to want to listen. Steve was about to attempt to excuse himself when he saw Natasha intercept Celia and take her over to the bar. He relaxed a little knowing she'd be fine and tried to pay more attention to the conversation floating around him.
When the women finally left him alone, once they realized he wasn't really interested in anything they had to say, he started to look for Celia again. Steve found her quickly, but this time she was talking to a man. He was pretty sure he'd seen him around the clinic the few times Steve had been down there, but he never caught a name. Celia sure seemed comfortable with him, judging by the laughing and the touching. Steve downed the drink he was holding, forgetting that it wasn't really his.
He definitely wasn't feeling jealous. Celia could talk to whoever she wanted. And it was good for her to have friends outside of the team. He should probably try to do the same, but he was just so busy. There would be more time now, since Celia would be spending her days in the clinic and he'd be free to do whatever he wanted. Maybe he'd try a gym that wasn't in the tower.
When the friendly guy finally left, Steve started walking in Celia's direction. But again, before he could get there, someone else was talking to her. Steve groaned, hovering behind the guy's back and wondering if he should try to find one of the other Avengers. Clint was sure to be more interesting to hang out with than no one.
Steve was about to begin his search when he looked over at Celia one last time. He froze, staring at the strange look on her face. Usually, there was a natural twinkle in Celia's eyes and a slight smile on her face, but right now, it was kind of hard to describe it. Her face had gone blank and her eyes were dead. She looked like she had right after she'd been shot in that elevator.
Steve hurried over, not worrying about interrupting any longer. It looked like it was completely necessary.
"Pardon me, but I need to borrow her real quick," Steve said, barely glancing in the man's direction as he grabbed Celia's arm and steered her away. He pulled her closer to the wall, trying to find a little privacy so he could see what was going on. When he finally turned to face her, she had the same look in her eyes. Like she hadn't even registered his presence. "Celia?"
Celia blinked and suddenly she was back. Steve was unsettled and suppressed a shiver. He'd never seen anything like that.
"Hey, what's up?" Celia asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"Are you okay? You looked, I don't know," Steve mumbled, checking her forehead for fever. Could she even get sick anymore?
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"I can't really explain it. You were talking to that man and then all of a sudden, it was like you weren't there anymore. Did something happen?"
"Yeah, no. I mean, I'm good. Maybe a little thirsty, but that's it. What happened to my drink?" Celia brushed off. Steve could still see she wasn't back to her normal self though. But was this the place to discuss it?
"Sorry, I drank it," Steve replied.
"Would you mind getting me a new one?"
"No problem. I'll be right back, okay?" Steve agreed, giving her one last look before wading back through the crowd to the closest bar. Once he got the drink, he'd take her someplace more private and really figure out what was going on. He ordered her a sparkling water with lime and turned to make his way back. Steve frowned when he didn't see her in the spot he'd left her. He pushed his way over, scanning the crowd to see where she'd ended up.
Steve sighed when he made it back to the wall and Celia was nowhere to be found. He'd only left for a minute, but apparently that was enough time for her to make her escape. Celia was gone.
