As soon as Ashley locked eyes with the gifts she ended up squealing mid sentence.
"Ashley, not even kidding when I say that you sounded like a miniature pig just now," Clint winced as he cupped his ear.
"Happy birthday!" Steve beamed, approaching Ashley with the box, making the rest of the group's eyes to grow wide in astonishment.
"You got her a gift?" Pepper breathed in awe with one hand placed dreamily on her chest.
"What?!" Bruce and Clint gave a simultaneous yelp, as Natasha and Christie couldn't help but exchange looks. Ashley herself was a giggly girlish mess as she took the box from Steve's hands. It wasn't very heavy at all, and there was a little card stuck to the ribbon.
"Can I open it now?" she asked Steve quietly, feeling a little shy now that all eyes were on her.
"Uh you better! We've never gotten a Cap Am gift and we've been working together for quite some time now?" Tony scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back. Ashley's cheeks flushed as she slowly slipped the card from where it was secured and reluctantly opened it to see the little neat handwritten scrawl inside.
It read,
'Ash,
Happy birthday! I hope this makes you as happy you wanted to be.
Yours, S.R x'
"Awww, Steve! That's so sweet," Ashley blushed an even deeper red and blew a little kiss at Steve who smirked and shrugged in return.
"Well…? What does it say?" Thor raised a curious eyebrow.
"Nothing!" Ashley hummed back cheekily.
"Barton, go and get the damn card," Tony rolled his eyes. Ashley turned to Clint and directly clicked a fireball into her palm, making his eyes grow wide.
"Ummmm yeah - you're on your own there, buddy," he shuddered, keeping seated. Ashley shot him a playful smile before taking a deep breath and lifting the box lid, which came off with ease, and peering inside.
Bundled inside was a thick black blanket, and curled up on the blanket was the sweetest, most innocent looking white and brown Siamese kitten she'd ever seen, curled up asleep. Ashley's jaw dropped and she clamped both hands over her mouth as everyone watched on.
"Steve!" she half screamed, half whispered joyfully. Steve let out one of his hearty chuckles whilst Christie and Pepper leapt up to peer nosily into the box too.
"Oh my god!" Pepper cooed quietly whilst Christie let out an amused, "Awwww!"
"What is it?" Bruce, Natasha and Tony all asked impatiently, too lazy to get up. Ashley shakily reached into the box and lifted out the kitten, blankets included. Natasha and Jane gasped, whilst Bruce, Clint and Thor could only squint their eyes in confusion.
"I'm sorry - is that a cat?!" Tony yelped with his hands dramatically outstretched. "Rogers, you got her a cat?! You've known her for all of what, four months?!"
"Well, now I've seen it all," Bruce chuckled under his breath.
"How teeny and rather adorable!" Thor cooed sweetly. Ashley cupped the kitten in her hands and rubbed her nose against it's sweet little head, hearing the purr emit from its tiny body.
"It's a girl, by the way," Steve told them with a smirk.
"My heart is swollen," Natasha pouted, scratching the kitten's little head.
"I'm sorry - why did the wonder boy get you a cat?" Tony had to ask, assuming that he was missing something. Ashley passed the kitten over to Natasha and noticed Steve smirking over at her as the group awaited her answer.
"The other week, when I was making those sandwiches," she began happily. "I-"
"Those sandwiches were God's gift, by the way!" Tony interjected with a risen hand. "…but do - continue."
"Cheers, Tony. But yeah that day I was a bit down because of the mission the night before. Steve came in and asked if he could help with anything, meaning the cooking, but I joked around said he could get me a kitten because kittens made me happy and…" Ashley trailed off and waved her fingers in the kitten's direction. "Ta daaa!"
"That is soooo cute," Jane and Pepper gushed over at Steve dreamily, making Tony roll his eyes and let out a fed up 'ugh'.
"You know, Captain - this is how one sets unrealistic standards for the rest of us innocent unsuspecting men," Thor laughed forcefully through gritted teeth.
"Tell me about it," Clint drawled as he lazily picked up another slice of pizza.
"So, what's her name?" Bruce asked Ashley whilst staring at the cat in wonder. He found it incredible that some beasts could be so great and humongous - like himself, and then on the flip side could be so gentle and delicate. Ashley thought to herself for a few seconds before turning to an unsuspecting, wine-sipping Christie. Her eyes narrowed once she realised her sister was looking directly at her.
"Uh oh. What's wrong?" she frowned against the wineglass rim.
"You can choose a name for her," Ashley offered up brightly, gingerly lifting the kitten from Natasha's arms and passing her over to Christie instead. Christie took her with a little smile, hearing the teeny 'meow's emitting from her mouth.
"N'aww, she's such a sweetie," she hummed to herself.
"Sweetie!" Ashley gasped, clasping her hands together. Tony and Clint crinkled their noses. "What?! It's perfect!" Christie narrowed her eyebrows at her sister and quickly shook her head.
"Noooo no, I was gonna suggest 'Bucky'," she quickly interrupted before Ashley got too attached. Steve let out a knowing chuckle and shook his head at Christie fondly, and even Natasha had to bite back her smile - whilst everyone else in the room looked mightily confused.
And why wouldn't they? They had no idea who Bucky was.
"I'm sorry - a what now?" Bruce frowned, staring at Christie as if she'd lost her mind.
"Why did that sound like a bad word?" Tony frowned to the group. "Was that a bad word? It was a bad word, right?"
"Sounded like one to me, buddy!" Clint winced as he took another gulp of his beer.
"Yeah, what is a 'Bucky', Chris?" Ashley murmured slowly.
"Bucky is an old friend of Steve's. An old best friend," Christie explained brightly,
"Oh, she was?" Ashley gasped gladly. "Perfect!"
"No, he," Natasha corrected her with a smirk, "he was." This made Ashley, Tony, Bruce and Clint look even more confused than before.
"Doesn't Steve have any…female…old friends?" Jane asked with a wince.
"Ya - Peggy," Pepper murmured under her breath. Ashley dropped her gaze awkwardly and Clint let out a hissing noise.
"Too soon," he tutted.
"I mean, seventy years ago is hardly too soon," Tony reminded him through gritted teeth.
"Was he really your best friend, Steve?" Ashley asked the silent man, who was busy watching the kitten attempt to clamber up Christie's shoulder.
"He was," Steve confirmed with a nod. "Well…is."
"Then Bucky it is. Oh! Lady Bucky, even," Ashley smiled down at the new addition to her one person family. Steve gave a smile back at her, a genuinely pleased one. His eyes were even twinkling.
"Then a toast - to Lady Bucky!" he chuckled lightly as he lifted his whiskey glass high into the air again. The rest of the team followed suit, lifting their glasses in celebration and every single one of them letting out a cheer. Once they had all taken their sips, they swiftly fell into their own separate conversations again. Ashley took the opportunity to skid over to Steve before he could be dragged into a new conversation, creeping up behind him and wrapping her arms around his broad neck. Thor, who was sat beside him, raised an eyebrow and said nothing, whilst Steve held his hands over her arms and glanced up at her with a grin.
"Thank you so much," Ashley bent down to whisper sweetly into his ear, before pressing a kiss onto his cheek and giving him a little squeeze.
"Happy birthday, Ash," Steve smiled back before she released him to go and converse with Pepper. Steve's eyes were trained on her as she left, no longer attempting to hide the look of pure awe plastered in his eyes. Thor glanced over at him before releasing the heaviest of sighs.
"When will you finally court her?" he asked tiredly under his breath. Steve's head snapped over to his and shook himself out of his daze.
"What, like ask her on a date?" he grimaced back. Thor chuckled at the anxiety filling his face and clamped a strong hand on his shoulder blade.
"Yes, Captain. A date! She clearly likes you and dare I say you like her," he hummed, nudging him playfully like a kid.
"I guess," Steve twisted his mouth in various shapes, thinking to himself.
He just didn't know if he was ready.
Meanwhile, Tony had slammed himself into the seat beside Christie with a hefty grunt and yet another slice of pizza in his hands. She glanced up at him and bit back a smile, seeing that something was bothering him.
"Stark," she smiled at him expectedly. "What's going on?"
"Ooooh nothing! Nothing, I just wondered how my little Whitey's doing - you know we haven't spoken much since you left like…a year ago?" Tony sighed ashamedly. Christie let out a light chuckle and rolled her eyes, ruffling his hair.
"Tony, you don't have to force conversations like these," she reminded him teasingly whilst prodding his stubbled cheek. "You're still the annoying brotherly figure you were a year ago. I haven't quite replaced you yet." Tony let out a smug scoff and sat back into his chair, looking a lot more relaxed.
"Damn right. Eat it, Pointbreak"
…
Back at the mansion, Scott sat in the living room with Storm that same evening, the two of them flicking through old pictures. Ashley was in the centre of all the pictures with a slanted party hat on her head and a little lopsided smirk on her face, throwing up the peace sign with one hand and holding a chocolate chip muffin with a candle poking out of it with the other. Scott and Storm chuckled with each other over the memories whilst sipping their drinks. "Damn. I remember that night," came a voice belonging to none other than Logan from above them. Storm glanced over her shoulder to smile at him, lifting the photo higher so that he could see properly. "Wow. She was so happy."
"You mean she was so drunk," Storm laughed back as Rogue walked in with a few more chilled drinks in her gloved hands. "She was singing all night long. You'd never see a happier girl." Scott chewed the inside of his cheek and said nothing back, unable to even string a sentence together as he tore his eyes back from the pictures.
"I wonder how her birthday's going in her new place," Rogue yawned, tucking her hair behind her ear and taking a seat at the coffee table that they were huddled around.
"Well, I hope they're at least doing something for her. I hope they're not ignoring her or anything," Storm murmured anxiously. She stroked the sharp edges of the photo in contemplation. "I wonder if they got her a cake, at least."
"Well that depends if she even has friends there," Logan sighed before cracking open another beer with his teeth. "You know she barred the professor from getting into her head - so we'd never even know."
"The Professor promised he wouldn't do that to her again regardless," Storm reminded them quietly.
Scott couldn't take it anymore - he was dying for it.
"We need to go and see her - just to make sure she's okay," he blurted out, suddenly scraping his chair back as he stood up. The entire group stared up at him in confusion, none of them saying a word. "Guys, I'm serious. Something doesn't sit right with me when it comes to her being there. Never has, and that's twice now someone mentioned her living with assassins-"
"I mean we're kinda assassins too," Logan piped up fairly, looking rather unbothered by that fact. "Freelance, yes, but-"
"Yeaaah Logan has a point, Scott," Rogue winced. "Plus she seemed fine when we called her the other day."
"She looked fine when you got there, Marie. But before that…she was snappy, irritable and saying some stuff that Ashley would never dare say before. That place is changing her, who knows what they're doing to get her powers under control anyway!" Scott pulled out a device from his back pocket and quickly turned it on, peering at the screen. "Anddd…whether you come with me or not, I'm going over there to check that everything's okay."
"How are you gonna find her? Cerebro's down," Storm rushed out, standing up too.
"Simple. Ashley, like Logan over here, decided to take my damn bike when she ran away," Scott filled them in. He spun the device round so that the screen became visible to them all. "My bike has a tracker and it's been in this location since she left. I'm guessing it's still at one of the assassin's houses. So I'm gonna go pay him a little visit."
"Scott, think about what you're doing here," Logan rolled his eyes tiredly. "The girl's not in any harms way-"
"How do you know that, Logan? How does anyone know that? The professor doesn't even know that," Scott argued back abruptly, quickly cutting him off. Logan couldn't answer. "I'm going to check it out. I don't need to tell the Professor. This isn't a rescue mission - it's a home visit, and I'm gonna do it because that's what friends do. You can either join me, or keep telling me that I'm overreacting whilst I ignore the hell out of you and go anyway."
