A/N: Hello again! We're back on track with the chapter order/timeline and I'm really excited for this next one. She was introduced in the first chapter, but now you'll be officially introduced to...*drum roll* Kassidy Barton! Ahhh! I'm sure your first impression of her wasn't great considering she blew Antonio off, but in this chapter you'll get a peak into the reason why. I hope you guys like this chapter and Kassidy as much as I do. Please enjoy and tell me how you guys like it so far. I know the beginning is slow going, but trust me, things will pick up soon. Big thanks to the three awesome ladies who have helped me make this chapter great! You know who you are ;)

Disclaimer: We already know I don't own anything of Marvel's so can we just cut to the story?

Chapter 5: A Day In Her Life

Midtown Recreation Center, New York City. Wednesday, September 10th, 2042. 5:56 pm.

"Keep your bows up kids, or else we'll be shooting the floor!" Kassidy calls to the line of kids by her side.

The twenty plus middle-schoolers stand side by side, each armed with junior compound bows in a kaleidoscope of colors, struggling to keep their bows steadily aimed at their targets. Kassidy holds her recurve bow on point with an arrow nocked and ready to fire, but she glances down the line and notices that the kids' arms seem to be getting tired. She blows a strand of hair that has escaped her ponytail out of her face and realizes the kids probably need to quit while they're ahead. They have been at practice since four o'clock.

"Bows down kids. We're done for today." The archery hall heaves a relieved sigh as the kids break from the line at the edge of the shooting range. Kassidy allows the string on her bow to restrict to its tightened state, but, as her aquamarine eyes scan the targets at the back of the range, she notes that there are few bullseyes. Sure, she's teaching kids whose arms haven't developed muscles yet, and yes, she has a whole life of experience behind her, but she feels the need to shoot the arrow already nocked in her bow.

The golden blonde raises her left hand and draws the bowstring with her right. She easily releases the arrow and it punctures a battered target hanging from the steel rafters above. The hit swings the target back and forth, and as Kassidy thinks she could've centered the shot a little more, she feels a tap on her shoulder.

Sixth grader Tommy Marx looks up at her, pure amazement in his green-brown eyes. The boy's dark hair and freckles nominate him as the cutest kid out of Kassidy's many classes. "How the heck did you do that?" His serious tone makes Kassidy chuckle.

"Lots of practice," she winks.

Tommy rolls his eyes and walks back to the resting benches. He finishes putting his bow back in its case along with the rest of his fellow middle-schoolers and Kassidy thinks back to the days when she carried her bow in a case. Now she has no need for a bow case considering how little it would stay in it.

"You guys did great today. Kat and Benjamin, I saw the two of you come pretty close to a bullseye earlier," Kassidy says to the group. Part of her teaching routine is to encourage the kids after class, even if they didn't do as well as she makes out.

Kat, a seventh grader with her ginger hair always in a braid, and Benjamin, an eighth grader with unusually built arms, high-five each other. The other kids laugh and random conversations spring up that quickly spiral out of control, turning into a hyper-active free-for-all. Kassidy calms the wild group long enough to end class. "Everyone did great today, but I know you'll do even better tomorrow. I'll see you punks later and always remember to..." Kassidy pauses, waiting for her students to respond.

"Shoot straight!" the kids yell at her. The proud teacher smiles and tells the kids goodnight, grabbing a high-five from a few before they leave. The kids herd out of the archery hall to meet their parents outside.

Now comes the fun part—cleaning up.

On a scale of one to ten, the middle schoolers are an eleven on leaving a mess behind. Crumpled paper water cups on the floor, empty sports drink bottles left on the resting benches, and the most common—silver gum wrappers. The archer imagined cleaning up after kids one day, she also imagined they'd be her own. But, in a way, she considers all of the kids she instructs hers. It's one of the weird things that happens to you when you're a teacher. Because no matter what happens or how the kids grow, they'll always have a part of you in them, a piece of your passion for something that you planted within them. That's one of the few yet so important reasons Kassidy is a teacher at a Rec center rather than an Olympic archer like her dad always said she would be.

The girl pushes the thought away and makes her way to the back of the range. Kassidy begins pulling arrows from the padded wall behind the targets, and knows that most of the arrows she's recovering are the ones the elementary-schoolers drive into the wall. She smiles and runs her hand through the holes in the foam padding as she thinks back to all the kids, teens and elderly students that have come through her class in the three years she's been teaching here. The young and old, the ones ready to learn and the ones ready to give up. It's been a heck of an experience, but it's one she would never trade. Even if the pay isn't great.

Once all the student arrows are back in their quivers and the hall looks similar to the way it looked before the tornado-crew blew through, Kassidy locks up her teaching bow in its case. She straddles one of the benches for a minute, resting while she gathers her belongings and dries her sweaty forehead with a towel from her purple and black backpack. The girl closes her eyes and slumps, relaxing in the quiet she hasn't been granted since her day began. Unfortunately, her relaxing silence is interrupted by her phone ringing. Kassidy is tempted to let it ring, but in realizing how annoying her ringtone is, she answers.

"Hello?"

"Hey Eagle," answers a familiar voice.

"Mom!" Kassidy says, happy to hear her mother's voice. "How are you? Where are you? I haven't seen you forever! What's going on in your world?" She certainly wasn't expecting to hear from Bobbie tonight, but Kassidy has always enjoyed a pleasant surprise.

"Slow down there, kiddo! One question at a time," Bobbie chuckles. "To answer the first question, I'm fine. Second, I'm somewhere over the Midwest in a helicarrier and third, I'm working on some pretty secrety S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff."

"Well, that sounds exciting. Do you want to give me a little hint as to what it is you're working on? Or is it top-secret?" Kassidy asks sarcastically.

"Sarcasm aside, I wish I could. But Director Johnson has me working on something pretty important," she says. "But, good news is, I'll be back in New York City next week."

Kassidy starts to grin. "Really? That's great! You can come stay with me, and we can talk like we never get to do anymore."

Her mom sighs sadly over the phone. "I know Birdy, but S.H.I.E.L.D. has been keeping me busy, which is a good thing I suppose. Keeps my mind off—"

"I know, mom," Kassidy cuts in. She doesn't need another reminder of why Bobbie went back to S.H.I.E.L.D. a few years ago or why she became an archery teacher.

A weighted silence consumes their conversation, but Bobbie comes to the rescue with sarcasm. "So, now that you've interrogated me, how are you doing?"

Kassidy thinks for a moment. How am I doing? Not good, I know that much. "You know, mom, I'm doing pretty good," she lies.

"That's good. How about Antonio?" she asks.

"I guess he's okay, I haven't seen much of him lately," Kassidy answers dryly.

Bobbie makes a thoughtful "huh," and Kassidy can tell she's considering how to move forward in the conversation. Treading lightly is a must where young Mr. Stark is concerned. "Has he been busy? Or are you two going through something?"

"No, Mom! Everything is fine. We've both been busy, neither of us have had much time for each other." Kassidy knows her answer only adds more questions to her mother's list. But luckily, her mother ought to know that if she hasn't offered up any more info voluntarily yet, she isn't going to at all.

"Okay. Well, I've got to get back to work, but I'll see you next week. I'll text you the exact dates when I can. I love you, birdy," Bobbie says. Her sincere tone brings a small smile to her daughter's face.

"I love you too, Mockingbird," Kassidy answers. And with that, Kassidy gathers her things and heads for the exit, flipping the light switch off as she goes by.

On the other side of the double doors, she locks the archery hall doors and is all set to go home and relax when she notices something in the lobby. With her bow case at her feet, Sydney Cleaves―one of Kassidy's most promising students―sits alone by the front doors. Usually, her mom picks her up after school but she must be running late. But the young girl's downcast expression warrants Kassidy's immediate attention.

The blonde walks across the sleek and clean Rec lobby to sit by Sydney, but hears a "pst," as she passes the front desk.

"Birdy," whispers David, the front desk jockey. He catches Kassidy's attention and motions towards the young girl. "Kiddo's had it rough, tread lightly."

Kassidy acknowledges and continues towards Sydney. The sandy-haired sixth-grader tilts her head up and smiles as her teacher sits down beside her small frame.

"Hi, Miss Barton," Sydney says softly.

"Hi, Sydney," Kassidy replies with a kind smile. "Waiting on mom?"

Sydney nods.

"Mind if I wait with you?"

"I don't mind," she smiles. The two sit in silence for a moment on the brown leather couch by the front doors. Kassidy contemplates what she should ask or avoid mentioning. Simply going by the young girl's sagging posture, hollow expression and wandering brown eyes that focus on anything that moves, it seems as though Sydney has a lot on her mind. Kassidy recalls Sydney waiting by the door for her mom the last few practices, but she also remembers that Sydney missed practice entirely every day last week. And yesterday, when her mother picked her up, Kassidy noticed how tired they both looked and how little they spoke to each other as they left. This, of course, wasn't any of Kassidy's business. After all, she's just a teacher for an after school program, but something about Sydney's mood reminds her of herself not too long ago.

"Sydney, I noticed you were kind of off tonight. Not as many center shots as usual," Kassidy starts, poking Sydney's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm kinda tired. Things have been busy lately," Sydney answers, refusing to meet Kassidy's eyes.

"Oh. Do you wanna talk about it? Sometimes talking about it helps."

At first, Sydney shakes her head, her short, sandy-brown hair shaking with her. But as the young girl becomes silent, Kassidy is unprepared for what Sydney is about to unload on her.

"Well," she starts. "It's just…it's my dad." Kassidy distinctly hears a sniffle come from the girl. "H-he, he's really sick. And the doctors don't think he's gonna make it another week," Sydney says. The twelve-year-old is barely managing to keep her tears from spilling over as she buries her face in her hands. Kassidy―unable to say anything―rests a hand on the rattled young girl's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Sydney," she says. Kassidy knows all too well what the moment feels like when you realize you're losing your father. Sydney's shudders calm a bit, but her tears continue to stream. All Kassidy can do right now is offer her shoulder to cry on and the support of someone who feels her pain.

"Sydney," Kassidy says, gently patting her back.

"Please, don't tell me it's going to be okay, because I am so tired of people telling me that," Sydney says, her muffled tone becoming angry.

"I wasn't going to."

Sydney pulls away from her, sniffling and wiping her face. "You weren't?"

Kassidy simply offers a reassuring smile. "No. I was gonna say that it's okay to not be okay. Believe it or not, I know what you're going through."

"You do?"

"Yeah," Kassidy begins. Recalling her father's death to a sixth-grader was not on her to-do list today, but it seems the situation calls for it. "My dad wasn't sick, but my mom and I lost him when I was fourteen. It's been really hard living without him, and I'm convinced I'll never get over it."

Sydney's almond-colored eyes drop as if that wasn't what she was hoping to hear.

"But you know what? Even though I'll never get over it, trust me when I say it does get better. Sure, it'll take some time, maybe a lot of time. You'll go through several different stages of emotions. Right now you probably feel kinda helpless, then you'll be angry and sad. But then, you know what happens?"

"What?"

"You start to realize that things are getting better," Kassidy pauses. "But you know what's kept me going?" Sydney shakes her head, wiping the last of her tears away. "Even though he's gone, it helps to think about the kind of person he thought you'd be when you grow up, and try to be that person. My dad knew that I was destined for great things, and here I am, teaching great things to great people like you."

The smallest hint of a smile pulls at Sydney's lips.

"So ask your dad while he's still here what he thinks you'll be one day, and then tell him you'll try your best to be that person. Because nothing would make him happier than knowing that every good thing he ever knew about you became reality. Okay?"

Sydney's smile widens a bit and she nods. "Okay." Kassidy pulls her in for a hug. But as she looks up, she notices Sydney's mother standing behind them, tears welling in her eyes.

"Your mom is here," Kassidy says softly. Sydney's skinny frame hops up from the couch and her mother embraces her in a tight hug. Kassidy offers a wave to her mom and watches as the girl's mother mouths "thank you," to the archery teacher—the last person she expected to know how they felt. As much as Kassidy left out of the story, it didn't seem like Sydney needed to know all the violent details about Clint's death. Either that or Kassidy just couldn't bear to bring it up again, not after she's tried so hard to heal.

The young girl grabs her bow case and walks closely with her mother out the door, stopping before she leaves to wave at her favorite teacher. Kassidy waves back, hoping that Sydney won't take as long as she did to let life go.

"Well done, my fine feathered friend," David says as he meets his co-worker by the doors. With dark, wavy hair that hangs in his eyes and a full scruffy beard—the California transplant's accent is strong and his warm attitude matches his suntan.

"You could've mentioned something about her dad," Kassidy chastises. The blonde heads across the lobby to behind the front desk, finding her time card and scanning it on the holographic clock hanging by the side entrance. Kassidy waits until the clock beeps, signaling she's been clocked out for the night.

"Hey, I did warn you. I just didn't have time to tell you the rest." David plops down in the rolling chair behind the brown-streaked marble counter, spinning the chair to follow Kassidy's movements. "But as far as short notice goes, I think you did great."

Kassidy rolls her aqua eyes at her friend and starts towards the exit. When Kassidy first took up her position at Midtown Rec after high school, David had just moved to NYC from Orange County, looking for bigger and better things. And as soon as he found out Kassidy was originally from California, they became fast friends. Of course, David doesn't know why she and her parents moved back to New York. He doesn't know that they left after the West Coast Avengers lost two members then fell apart. No, he only knows she's a Cali-Girl by birth.

"See you tomorrow, David!" Kassidy calls as she pushes one of the glass doors open.

"Don't be late!" he yells back. "And be careful out there, it's dangerous on the streets at night."

Yeah, Kassidy thinks. But not for me.

First Bank of Midtown, East Midtown. 8:34 pm.

Sometimes the Archer's daughter thinks her teaching job is taxing, but the task of teaching the untrained pales in comparison to her night time job.

Now perched atop a steel rafter, Kassidy waits in the darkness of a closed bank. Her face is hidden under the hood of a gray sports jacket, along with purple athletic pants and gray, canvas slip-on shoes for easy movement. The girl is equipped with a pair of orange tinted goggles that belonged to her mother and a thin quiver of arrows strapped to her back. The sleek, silvery-purple bow she holds was passed down to her by her father―the man known to the world as Hawkeye.

With a special tubular ended arrow nocked, she's ready to shoot any one of the four masked thugs who are currently robbing the First Bank of Midtown. A huge building with vaulted ceilings, skylights, and steel rafters, the bank is a modern-industrial looking hangout for the wealthy, where they sit and talk about how rich they are. A perfect target for four thugs looking for a large amount of money all in one place.

One more step, Kassidy thinks, that guy takes one more step and I'm going down there.

The four criminals aren't particularly muscular looking, or organized, but, Kassidy has to admit, they came prepared. Donning black ski masks to discourage security cameras and a dozen or more empty bags to haul their loot in hand, the four have already cleaned out half the vault. The largest of the four guys stands beside the keypad on the wall, supervising the other three. Kassidy notices a small device currently hooked up to the keypad in the leader's hand.

Must be a decryptor, she mentally notes. They seem relatively prepared to her, but if they knew to bring a decryptor and wear masks, then shouldn't they have known about the silent alarm that was triggered when they broke in through the back?

"Hurry up, Snake!" the main thug says. He smacks one of his men on the head―Snake apparently―as he passes out of the vault. The leader must expect him to pick up his pace lugging a bag full of cash across the room.

"I'm working as fast as I can, Spider!" Snake replies, flinching away from him.

Spider? Kassidy thinks. She recognizes that name from the last few bank robberies she's foiled under the cover of night. Spider has led several attempts over the past few weeks to successfully rob a bank, but each time Kassidy was there to stop him. However, in the two years that her alter ego Eagle Eye has existed as a hero, Spider's been the only enemy she's had trouble catching. Somehow, he's managed to escape while his men take the heat. But here he is again, with a new group, about to have unsuccessful bank robbery number five in his police file.

The other two thugs snicker at Snake and sling their weighted down duffle bags over their shoulders. "Someone's in trouble," one says as he leaves the vault they've almost emptied. A deathly glare shoots towards him from their leader. Kassidy rolls her eyes at the men's immaturity and decides to make her presence known. I'm done watching "The Real Thugs of New York," she thinks.

"You four realize you've set off the silent alarm, right?" Kassidy announces. "I expected better from you, Spider." The four thugs immediately forget the money and pull out guns, pointing them in all directions as they search for the source of the mysterious voice.

"Let's hurry it up boys," Spider says. "We got us a party crasher."

"Party crasher? Certainly, you don't consider me a buzz kill when I've had so much fun getting your boys arrested," Kassidy says with a mischievous grin. She moves her hand to the side of her goggles and presses a tiny button that shifts her vision to infrared. They have no idea what's coming.

The girl sits in silence, allowing what she said to sink in as she readies her bow to fire. She aims the trick arrow towards the wall behind the thugs. Kassidy notices an arrogant smile begins to pull at Spider lips under his mask as he starts to recognize her voice. "That you, birdy? I was beginning to think I was finally dispiriting you from coming for me after all those failed attempts."

The four continuously reposition their weapons as they wait for the heroine to make a move. The unnerving silence is broken at last by an arrow zipping past the four and sticking to the wall. The arrow's tip begins releasing a white smoke that envelops the entire room.

"Guess I'm just stubborn," Kassidy says as she jumps down from the rafter. The four lose each other in the fog, but through her goggles' altered vision, she can see them spastically looking for her. Kassidy steps quietly through the haze and comes to stand directly in front of Spider. She lurches her bow forward, hitting his face hard. His head flings back with a busted nose, and while he's disoriented, Kassidy swipes the bow under his feet, causing him to crash to the floor.

She moves to the next enemy, this time nocking an arrow instead of using brute force. She releases the arrow in his direction and on contact the tip spews a dark colored foam that incases him in an instant. The foam hardens and renders him immobile. Kassidy pivots around to find the third member of Spider's gang. She locates his blurred heat signature and snatches another specialty arrow from her quiver, quickly nocking it and letting go. The arrow's tip explodes seconds before it hits the man and releases a net. The cable netting wraps around him, then sends an electric shock through his body and he buckles to the floor.

Kassidy smiles to herself. This is too easy, she thinks. She starts towards the last of the four but soon realizes she's losing her cover and switches her goggles back to night vision. The fog is dissipating and she needs to move fast. But, unfortunately, she doesn't move fast enough.

Strong arms wrap around her from behind, trapping her in their tight grip. The heroine's bow falls to her side as she struggles against her capture―the fourth thug.

"I'm done with your parlor tricks, Eagle Eye," Spider says, appearing in front of her. He snatches off his ski mask to reveal a bloodied upper lip and a darkening bruise across the bridge of his nose. The intense gray-eyed stare of the built criminal only makes Kassidy want to put him in jail more. With a deep scar across his left cheek and his light blonde hair buzzed down, the man looks as if he eats nails for breakfast.

"Nice nose," she spits. The young Barton continues to squirm while the goon holding her struggles to keep his grip tight.

"Hold her still," Spider orders with a snarl. "I'm gonna enjoy this." The man pulls back his fist and readies to knock Kassidy's lights out. Her eyes begin to widen, but moments before Spider's meaty hand meets her face, she shifts her weight out of the path of Spider's fist. Instead, he decks his associate full force and the man falls over behind her, letting go of Kassidy as he hits the floor. The girl rolls past Spider and gets back on her feet, her bow now in hand. Before he can react, she has an arrow aimed at the back of his head.

"How's that for parlor tricks?" she mocks. Spider slowly raises his hands in surrender, and just for a moment, she thinks she might have won this time. But, as she starts to smile in victory, her Bluetooth earpiece she forgot was in her ear begins to ring. The annoying little jingle it plays loudly forces a chuckle from Kassidy's enemy.

"You gonna get that?" Spider asks. Kassidy reluctantly answers, keeping her eyes and arrow trained on Spider's head.

"Kinda busy right now," she says, waiting for her caller to answer.

"Kassy!" Antonio says. "Where are you? I thought you were coming to the unveiling?"

"Unveiling?" Then it hits her. Stark Solutions was unveiling a new piece of medical equipment and showing it tonight at Stark Tower…which is where she was supposed to be after work.

"You know, the one I invited you to two days ago?" Antonio pauses. "You forgot, didn't you?"

"Who's that?" Spider asks, turning to face her. "Your boyfriend?" His snicker is met with a death glare.

"No, I didn't forget, I just got…sidetracked. Look, give me 10 minutes and I can be there," Kassidy tells him quietly. Her best friend is silent and Kassidy contemplates shooting Spider while she waits.

"Party's almost over anyway, so I don't see the point in you coming." And with that, Antonio hangs up. The hooded archer sighs heavily at the state she's allowed their friendship to be in.

"Let me guess, boyfriend doesn't know what you like to do in your spare time?" Spider asks.

Kassidy's expression hardens and she releases the arrow, point blank. The tubular tip hits his forehead, then sprays a cloud of gas in Spider's face. One whiff and the burly man is unconscious before he hits the floor.

Within a few seconds, sirens sound and bright blue and red lights shine through the front doors of the bank, alerting Kassidy it's time to go.

In a rush, she climbs on one of the many desks around the room and launches herself up towards the rafter she jumped from. She grabs hold and hauls herself up to her feet, carefully walking along the steel bar. Eagle Eye takes one last look at the immobilized criminals below her and rolls her eyes. At least Spider won't be a pain in my neck anymore, she thinks.

The hooded heroine climbs onto several adjoining rafters above, and pulls herself through the skylight she came in from, disappearing on the roof just as the police burst through the doors below her. Kassidy finds her way from the bank's roof to the building beside it as the sky above her brightens from the night lights of the city. A cool breeze blows in from the north as she hops from roof to roof, soaring as fast as she can until she reaches the familiar concrete top of her apartment building. She lands hard and slings her bow overhead, allowing it to rest across her chest.

Kassidy sprints to the roof access door and starts down the stairs, hopping several steps at a time. She swings herself around the flight landings, determined not to let Antonio down one more time. All the flights blend together as the rushing heroine speeds up, eventually reaching her floor. Kassidy hits the bottom of the service stairs with a thud. The stairs door opens conveniently beside her apartment—412. She quickly surveys the hall to make sure no one will see her and jams her keys into the door as quickly as possible, entering her home with a relieved sigh.

She locks the door behind her and she drops her bow and quiver in the chair by her desk in the living room. She jets into her bedroom in search of something nice to wear for the Stark gathering. Her Eagle Eye attire gets tossed onto the bed she forgot to straighten this morning because her alarm went off too late. Her room definitely shows how little she's been home as of late. Clothes are piled up in a gray bucket chair that sits in the corner of the room, her purple and white flowered comforter is in a wad at the end of her bed, and everything is covered with a thin layer of dust. Not only have her relationships been suffering, but so has her apartment.

"Gotta find something," she mumbles as she rummages through her closet. Sliding hanger after hanger down the metal pole they rest on, she looks through the few dresses she owns, hoping one will be nice enough to wear.

After passing many loose blouses, a summer dress that she never wears and her standby funeral outfit, she comes to a pale blue, A-Line tank dress with a skinny silver belt just dressy enough to work. With a victorious smile, she throws it on, lets down her wavy hair and runs into the bathroom. Kassidy cleans her face, wiping away the sweat beads on her brow from rushing around and finishes up with lip gloss and shoes.

Within a few minutes, Kassidy's back out the door, looking more like a girl and less like a vigilante. She takes the elevator to the bottom floor of her seven story apartment building. The elevator lands in the front lobby which resembles that of a nice hotel with soft carpet and fancy décor. Kassidy rushes through and outside to hail a taxi. I'll be there, Antonio, she thinks. I promise.

Stark Tower, Midtown. 8:52 pm.

Kassidy offers her thanks as the taxi lets her off at the main entrance, inside the gates of Stark Tower. She steps out of the car and walks in, constantly tugging at her dress. As she walks up the concrete steps of the entrance, she hopes she's not too late to support her best friend and her Uncle Tony. Once Kassidy steps into the main lobby she has to take a moment to look around at how lovely everything appears. Seems she's been away longer than she remembered. There was a time when she wouldn't have given the lobby and all its fanciness a second glance, but because it's been weeks since her last visit, everything feels so much more beautiful. The gray painted walls and white and red accents give off a very modern sense of style, something the Starks have plenty of. Several metal chandeliers hang overhead, each giving off a warm glow that reflects off the shiny black floor. The elevators at the back of the room welcome Kassidy in and she heads for one of the upper floors, hoping to find where the unveiling party is being held, that is, if she hasn't missed it entirely.

Kassidy's tired eyes glance up at the digital number above her head, the indicator changing rapidly from one floor to the next. Even though she finished patrolling early and rushed home to get changed, she has this terrible feeling that she's too late. Not just for the party, but to make things up to Antonio. She's bailed on him too many times lately and she keeps doing it because of the secret after hours job she refuses to quit. Sure, she has a real job that pays her bills but being a vigilante…it's not something she can easily walk away from. Besides, the young Barton knows for a fact that the crime rate in Manhattan has gone down exponentially since Eagle Eye has been around. How is she supposed to quit when she knows she's doing good? Real, visible good?

The ding that signals the elevator stopping forces Kassidy's troubled thoughts aside and she steps into the hallway of the ninetieth floor. Immediately, she can hear faint music float down the hall. She wanders towards it and comes across one of the many huge rooms filled with tables and chairs and a drink bar to the side. There are several people standing around, but it looks like most everyone is gone. The blonde sighs, frustrated with herself and the world.

She stands in the open doorway for a minute when she notices Tony and Pepper Stark talking to a couple of people. The red-head sees Kassidy right away and smiles widely, waving and pointing to her son across the room. Simply dressed in some gray pants, a pale yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a gray necktie, Antonio stands behind the mini bar washing glass punch cups.

Kassidy decides to approach him and leans against the bar. "What's a handsome guy like you doing in a joint like this?" she says with a grin.

But her charm warrants only chilled sarcasm from the Stark, and he keeps his back to her. "Best friend did me wrong."

The girl's shoulders slump a little and she tries again, this time with what she considers an apology. "Antonio, I get it. You have every right to be angry with me," Kassidy starts. "But I came."

"A little too late," Antonio mumbles as he begins to dry the glasses.

Kassidy smirks. "I know, but hey, better late than never, right?"

The black-haired Stark huffs and turns to her, punch cup and towel in hand. Kassidy waits for him to chastise her, or give her a lecture, but he just stares. Stares and dries a glass cup. Antonio's electric blues eyes search Kassidy's for something, some sign of what's going on with his best friend, but since she's refusing to offer up any information, he's left to wonder.

"You want some punch?" he finally says. Kassidy looks over at the large―and quite fancy―glass punch bowl to her left and carefully examines its pink colored contents.

"Depends. Has your dad been anywhere near it?" Kassidy's comment forces a chuckle from her friend.

"Dad doesn't do that anymore," Antonio notes. "At least, not that I know of."

"Still, I think I'll pass," Kassidy says. Antonio finishes drying the cup in his hands and sets it down on the counter with the others.

"Well, there's some leftover pizza in the Terrace fridge if you're hungry?" Antonio suggests, raising his eyebrows. The olive branch has been extended.

Kassidy smiles. "You're in luck because I'm famished."

Antonio bares a grin as he steps from behind the counter and links his arm around Kassidy's. The two head for the elevator in the hall, but not before Kassidy catches a wink and a smile from Pepper on their way out. The short ride up to the Terrace is done in silence, but Antonio doesn't release her arm from his.

As the doors slide open, Kassidy is hit with a wave of nostalgia. It's been weeks since she's set foot in the Terrace and considering how much time she used to spend here, the idea of being a guest hurts her. She slips off her silver flats and digs her toes into the soft, wheat colored carpet that ends by the desk across the room. The soft texture feels foreign to her usually shoed-in feet, but it's a pleasant sensation nonetheless.

Antonio steps over to the small kitchen to their right and starts rummaging through the refrigerator in search of the pizza he assumes is still there. "Supreme or Pepperoni?" he asks.

Kassidy sits down on the blue suede couch and flops her head back. "Both," she says, taking in the metal-work chandelier above her head.

Antonio comes out of the fridge with both cardboard pizza boxes and tosses them in the stainless-steel wall oven beside the sink. He taps a few times on the small screen on the oven and takes some plates out of the white, overhead cabinets. Kassidy simply enjoys sitting in the quiet, on a cushy couch, just relaxing for a change.

With her eyes closed and her head against the back of the couch, she allows her body to sink into the cushions. The ache in her back and feet from jumping off of rafters releases, and the throbbing in her head from dealing with loud kids all day disappears. She wishes it could always be this simple, relaxing on a couch while your worries fade away, but unfortunately, not all her worries have faded. Kassidy knows this visit will be foreign territory for both Antonio and herself because of how little they've talked or spent time together lately. Lately being the past five months. Antonio will ask questions, questions Kassidy can't or won't answer. Which in turn, will only make the tension already clouding up the room even thicker. As the blonde thinks, she can't help but be angry with herself for allowing this to happen to them. It's her own fault and she knows it, but she's not sure if it's pride or something she refuses to come to terms with that's keeping her from simply telling him the truth.

Throughout their whole friendship, Kassidy and Antonio have valued honesty between them, or so she thought. She knows that the young Stark has his secrets, but so does everyone. There are some things in life you don't tell anyone, but that doesn't justify keeping huge secrets that could potentially harm your most cherished relationships.

Like the secrets I'm keeping from you, she thinks. Many times she's justified her lying as "keeping her loved ones safe." Kassidy honestly believes that if she tells Antonio—one of her closest and most trusted friends—she's a hero, he'll get kidnapped, or tortured or some other horrible thing she's too tired to imagine at the moment. She tells herself every day that she's keeping him safe by lying, but now it seems that her lying is hurting him more than helping.

"You're being quiet, should I be worried?" Antonio says, snapping Kassidy out of her thoughts. She sits up to see him watching her from over the island that separates the kitchen from the seating area. The black-haired young man has his arms crossed over his chest and is propped against the sink counter, waiting for the pizza to finish warming.

Kassidy smirks and averts her eyes so he won't see the wheels in her head turning so ferociously. "No worries. I'm just a little exhausted, that's all." Antonio nods and turns his attention back to the oven.

Kassidy darts her aquamarine eyes back towards the kitchen, letting them rest on Antonio's thin frame. She slowly takes him in, looking over every inch of her best friend to see what's changed since they last saw each other. The addition of dark circles under his normally narrow, electric blue eyes doesn't come as a surprise, but the fact that he seems to have lost weight does. His face has never been plump, always sharp in his features, but now he seems to have an almost hollow appearance. Has he been eating? She notices the subtle variation in his upper arms from the last time she saw him. He hasn't been to the gym in a while and she wonders how he fell out of the routine when he was making a point to go. The last thing she notices are the deepening wrinkles on his forehead, frown lines.

"That's new," she mumbles, not meaning to speak.

Antonio looks up, meeting her eyes. "What?"

Kassidy shakes her head. "Nothing. Pizza ready yet?"

"Almost," he says, opening the oven to check. With potholders in each hand, he grabs the hot cardboard and places them on the island behind him. "Come and get it!"

Kassidy stands from the couch and meets him on the other side of the counter. She picks up a paper plate, loading it down with several slices of both Supreme and Pepperoni. Antonio stands back and waits for her to finish with a raised brow.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about being famished were you?"

"Nope!" she says as she crams a hunk of pizza in her mouth.

The two sit on the couch together and eat in silence, neither attempting to make conversation. Kassidy inhales two slices before Antonio even finishes his first and before he knows it, she's up going back for more. Kassidy's not sure why she's so hungry all of the sudden, she always seems to get like this when she's trying to avoid talking. Maybe stuffing food in her mouth is her way of dealing with stress. But from the look Antonio is shooting at her from across the room, she knows she can't avoid it for much longer.

"I'll never understand how your metabolism works," Antonio comments with an eye roll, "you could eat a horse and never gain a pound."

She chuckles and her eyes follow Antonio as he finishes his slice of Pepperoni. He comes to stand in front of her, propping his hands quietly on the kitchen island.

"Sorry, I really was hungry," she admits sheepishly.

"That's okay," he says, sliding one of the boxes towards her. "That's what it's there for."

She picks up her fourth piece of pizza and bites off a chunk when she notices a smirk on Antonio's face. "What?" she asks.

"Pizza's supposed to go in your mouth, not on your dress Kassy," Antonio remarks, pointing to a glob of red sauce that's fallen on her dress. Kassidy looks down and grunts angrily.

"Well, that's just awesome." Kassidy snatches a paper towel and wipes at it, but the stain only seems to get bigger.

"Hang on before you ruin it," Antonio stops her. He steps over to the sink and wets the end of the kitchen towel. "You gotta wipe with the fabric." Antonio gently wipes away the red spot just below her chin, refusing to meet her eyes locked on him.

"Thanks," she whispers. His eyes drift up and immediately he hands the towel to Kassidy once he realizes what an awkward position they're in.

"You get the idea." He turns away and rinses his hands as Kassidy continues to wipe the spot.

The tension between them is painful and she wants to say something, anything that isn't small talk that won't live past right now. "Antonio," she starts, unsure of what to say next. She sets the kitchen towel down on the counter and looks at him.

He turns back to her as if he's been waiting for this conversation all night. "Yeah?"

Her words catch in her throat, but she forces them out. "I'm really sorry...for everything." Antonio stands silent, allowing her to say what's on her mind and heart. "For blowing you off, for not calling or answering your calls," she says, hoping she can keep her emotions together.

"I'm sorry for not being a good friend at all since you got back from college. It's just…things changed when you left. I changed. But now that you're home I'm not sure I know how to change back, let things be how they were before."

"Kassy," he stops her with a raised hand. "It's okay. I know that my time at college was a learning experience for both of us. And I'm not expecting things to be exactly how they were. I mean, we're growing up, right? And things change when you grow up."

Kassidy turns her head away. "Yeah. But growing up is supposed to be good. Learning to do things without your best friend because we won't always be together anymore doesn't sound good to me."

"I know," Antonio continues. "But we both have jobs and lives and goals, and that doesn't mean we're not still best friends, right?"

"Of course we're still best friends, we're just not free teenagers anymore. We just…we can't spend all our time together. But that's okay, isn't it?" Kassidy wonders aloud.

"Yeah. Yeah, It's totally okay," Antonio agrees. "We just…you know, have to figure out how to still do this―how to spend time together I mean."

"Yeah…" Kassidy thinks for a moment. She's been trying to balance spending time with him and work around her schedule at the rec center and as a crime fighter for months now. Unfortunately, she hasn't come up with any successful plan yet. Kassidy's sure Antonio would know what to do and how to help her, but that would mean telling him the truth, and that's not something she's prepared to do at the time.

"Well, we could start by meeting James for dinner Saturday night," Antonio offers with a grin.

Kassidy blinks. "Wait, what? James is in China! How could he have dinner with us?"

Antonio's grin widens. "I called you yesterday to tell you, but you never answered. James and the rest of the International Guard soldiers were released home. Haven't you seen the news?"

I haven't been still long enough to watch the news, she thinks. "Not exactly…"

Antonio rolls his electric eyes. "East and West China were both presented with a peace treaty from the UN, and both agreed to the terms. The dispute is over, so he and everyone else got to go home."

Kassidy stares, mouth agape. "Why didn't you tell me?!" she yells.

"I tried to!" Kassidy wraps her arms around Antonio tightly, slightly jumping up and down.

"I can't believe he's finally home! Now we can all hang out again, and Aunt Nat won't be alone and everything will be right in the world!"

Antonio shakes his head and straightens his gray tie as they part. "I don't know about all that, but it will be good to have the three of us again."

Kassidy can barely contain her excitement just thinking about it. Kassidy and James were friends long before she and Antonio. Since birth, practically. Even though they were coasts apart, the Barton's and the Rogers' spent a lot of summers together. But on the flip side, Antonio and James had also been friends beforehand. Both grew up with James, and both came to know him as their voice of reason, their confidant, and close friend.

"He and I talked last night and we've made plans for Saturday at that Thai restaurant we all love," Antonio tells her. "You will be there, right?"

His departure from the country was a part of Kassidy's distancing from the world around her. James wasn't just the guy she grew up with, he was the friend she went to when she was afraid to talk to Antonio. James kept her secrets from many people, including their parents—against his better judgment, of course. She trusted him with everything, and in turn, he stopped her from acting on impulse about everything when she was younger.

Nothing could cause this happiness to falter, nothing except for her phone buzzing on the coffee table across the room. Antonio raises a brow and their eyes dart towards the table. Kassidy gets a sinking feeling as she knows exactly why her phone went off. The blonde walks over and picks up the holophone. A small alert appears in the middle screen, a readout from the police scanner she has programmed into her phone. A robbery is currently taking place about a block away from Stark Tower.

"Saturday, Kassidy. You're coming, right?" Antonio reiterates. "You're not gonna blow off James?"

Kassidy turns her head back to him. "Of course not! I wouldn't miss dinner for the world." The girl meets him in the kitchen and lays a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I'll be there. But I really need to go. It's getting late and I have back to back classes tomorrow."

Antonio nods. "Okay. I'll see you Saturday then." Kassidy finds her way to the elevator and offers a smile as she waves to her friend. The doors close and he waves back, sighing heavily.

In the elevator, Kassidy blows a loose strand of gold out of her face and slumps against the wall. Here I go again, lying and rushing off. When am I gonna suck it up, and tell him? she thinks. What will James think if I tell him what he's missed since he's been gone? I can't tell him…I have to. I can't shoulder this on my own much longer. I only hope that I don't forget dinner on Saturday. I can't bear another disappointed phone call from Antonio.

As she mulls over the uncertainties of the next few days, at least she knows without a doubt that foiling a bank robbery will be much easier than telling her best friends the truth. Maybe soon, there'll come a day in her life when she doesn't have to lie to protect her family and friends. Maybe there'll come a day when she can be Eagle Eye and Kassidy Barton all at once, without consequence to either identity. She only knows that for now, trying to be both is killing her.

A/N: Feels! Yep. So, like Kassy? No? Eh, she's cool. And later we'll see just how much like her dad she is. But not too much mind you, because two Clints would just be too much! I hope you guys can see how things are coming together. Maybe not, though. The next chapter will probably make things more clear. Anyway, the next chapter maybe be a little longer, but it won't be a problem because TURKEY DAY! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Up Next: The Mysterious Mr. Marvel.

Hey I just posted this...and this is crazy...but since you've read it...review it maybe?