A few days later, Ashley and Steve were relaxing in his apartment. They preferred to hang out there when they could, as Ashley's floor was constantly full of people (given the fact that she still shared with Tony and Pepper and they rarely had a quiet night in). But Steve had been given an entire apartment floor to himself, similarly to Bruce who lived a few floors down, so it would only ever be him and Ashley together.

And of course, whenever Ashley went to chill with him, she always took Lady Bucky too.

This evening in particular though, Steve wasn't even in. He was actually away on a mission, and Ashley had let herself into his apartment so that she could make dinner for when he came home. She'd decided on a delicious creamy chicken coconut curry and, so far, it was going rather well. Lady Bucky was sat comfortably on one of the stools at the kitchen island, watching her waltz around the kitchen with tired but intrigued eyes. "Now, don't judge me, Lady Buck. I'm doing this all by memory - you don't have to look so sceptical all the time," Ashley tutted at her, rolling her olive green eyes in annoyance. Lady Bucky simply let out a small meow of defiance and went back to licking her paw.

As Ashley continued to stir the thick sauce, she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She yanked it out with a sigh and frowned at the screen before projecting it into the air.

Out of the device flew Coulson's blue holographic face.

"Oohhhh Coulson, please, not now?" Ashley muttered through gritted teeth without so much as looking up.

"Ashley, there's a slight situation at hand," Coulson sighed slightly hesitantly, "and I honestly feel like only you could-"

"Coulson, you already accidentally ruined my plans when you sent Steve off yesterday!" Ashley reminded him with a whinge, putting the wooden spoon down and staring at him.

"Huh? You two are literally superheroes. I can't just turn down- wait, what are you doing?"

"Now? I'm making dinner for him."

"Dinner? You're making him dinner?" Coulson frowned directly into the lens. "Oh god, you're practically married! When the hell did all of this happen?! I feel like I missed a few chapters-"

"Oh god, don't be so dramatic - I make dinner for Tony and Bruce sometimes too," Ashley rolled her deep green eyes back. "But, he is my boyfriend and I want my boyfriend to be well looked after. My mum taught me that much-"

"Wowwww," Coulson mused, "at what point did you and Christie divert personalities so drastically?"

"Well we are sisters, not twins," Ashley reminded him cheekily. "But please, just give me this evening to myself and I promise, the next mission is all mine. Please, Coulson?"

Coulson let out a sigh and nodded distractedly, already dialling someone else's number.

"Fine-"

"Thank you!" Ashley squealed, clapping her hands together in glee. "Look, you can even send me the address and-" But Coulson had already hung up, leaving Ashley talking to herself. "I was gonna say I'd even find cover, but fine…" As she grumbled away to herself, the address popped up on her phone screen - so clearly, Coulson had already assumed her last words. She smiled to herself and forwarded the address on to Christie, with the little text message saying 'pleeeaaase can u handle this for me? xxxx' attached.

Now all she could do was sit back and pray that she got it.

Christie had received the message, and was rather grateful for it, too. Her heart had been hurting her even more ever since the funeral. She had been prescribed anti-depressants, her thoughts were all muddled and she needed a distraction - and what better distraction than a random mission? So she drove down to the S.H.I.E.L.D holding base address that Ashley had sent, whilst chewing on the inside of her cheek in pure anticipation.

Was she in the right frame of mind to handle something like this? Would she be able to handle all of this?

There was only one way to find out.

A few minutes later, Ashley heard the front door register an entry and she did a little dance to herself, whilst Lady Bucky jumped off the stool and gave a little stretch before going to meet Steve at the door. "Heyyy Lady B," he sighed, kneeling down to pet her with a tired smile. Lady Bucky rubbed her head straight into his legs and let out a few welcoming meows before speedily making her way over to the sofa to fall back asleep again. Ashley manoeuvred her way over to Steve instead and threw her hands over his shoulders.

"Welcome home, Cap!" she sang gleefully, grinning up at him. Steve chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Thanks Ash. I was about to ask how you got in but-"

"Don't bother - just please go and get the suit off," Ashley tutted, pulling at the infamous blue spandex. "Ew…looks like you got blood on it - then come and eat dinner! I cooked and everything!"

"You did? Aww Ash, you didn't have to do all of that," Steve frowned as she let go of him and skipped back into the kitchen.

"No I didn't - but I wanted to. So clothes off please mister! You're getting dust and rubble all over the carpet," Ashley clapped her hands to hurry him before pulling bowls from the cupboard to dish out the food. Steve smirked to himself and shrugged before trudging into the bedroom to do as she said.

Meanwhile, Christie had parked her car outside the facility and hopped straight out. She scanned her way into the base and walked on through, shooting small smiles at the handful of trustworthy agents that she recognised. She speedily made her way to the interrogation rooms and before long, had bumped into Agent Hill, who was busily typing something onto a tablet.

The sound of someone entering the room caused her to glance up.

"Oh, Christie? They've asked you to come in too?" she frowned with her eyebrows furrowed together.

"Too?" Christie repeated tiredly, dragging her knuckles across her forehead. "Who else is-"

"Start talking!" came the sudden bark from the other side of the two way mirror. Christie skidded across the room to see what was happening, and her eyes grew wide once she saw.

Natasha was violently grabbing the hair of a young girl, trying to squeeze something out of her no doubt. The girl was crying but not speaking, as if she was refusing to do so, even though tears were streaming down her puffy face. Christie mildly recognised her - but she had no idea where from. She was reasonably good with faces but this time…this time she just couldn't put a finger on it.

Maybe it was the medication.

Regardless, Christie burst through the interrogation room doors to stand directly opposite Natasha, causing her to stop what she was doing and glare at her in annoyance. "Christie, you don't have to come and interrupt the fun every time," she muttered, releasing the suspect's hair so that her head flung forward again. Christie rolled her eyes and leaned against the walls with her arms folded. "I got this covered. Who the hell called you down here?"

"Ashley," Christie responded with a murmur, not tearing her eyes from the girl. Suddenly, the girl's head snapped up at the mention of Ashley's name and her eyes widened.

That was when Christie finally recognised her.

"You're Ashley's sister!" she gasped through the blood gurgling in her mouth. The accent was undeniable.

"Rogue?" Christie breathed, getting a little closer to her. Rogue nodded, giving a helpless sniff. Her face looked different - she looked slimmer, her hair didn't have those white streaks anymore which explained the lack of recognition at first, her lip was busted and swollen…it was an easy mistake to make.

But her accent gave her away.

"Who the hell is Rogue?" Natasha blinked.

"Ashley's old friend from the mansion - so no more pummelling her, please," Christie grunted, grabbing Natasha's arm and tugging her out of the room and to the same spot that Maria was in, leaving Rogue alone.

Once they were out of earshot, she let it rip.

"Natasha, what the hell are you doing? You don't think that Ashley is gonna freak the f*ck out once she realises that you've been beating her best friend into a senseless pulp?!" Christie hissed, gaining Agent Hill's attention.

"I didn't know who she was! She never gave me a freakin' name, I just knew she was looking for your sister and with HYDRA being on her ass, I thought it'd be better not to take any chances," Natasha argued back lowly. Christie rolled her eyes and stepped back properly.

Natasha had a point - better to be safe than sorry, but she was never going to tell her that. Instead she turned to Agent Hill to get the full report.

"Alright, what the hell is going on here?" she asked with a sigh.

"We got an external call from the NYPD," Agent Hill began slowly. "They said they found a girl wandering the streets calling for Ashley, saying that she needed Ashley, that she needs to find S.H.I.E.L.D, etc. They called us in immediately, given that a young girl screaming about S.H.I.E.L.D in public couldn't have been a good thing. So when we went to pick her up, she was fighting pretty hard, saying she demanded to see Ashley. She wouldn't say who she was or what for - so we brought her in for questioning and called Romanoff in."

Christie let out a long groan and ran her fingers through her hair, understanding everything now.

"Right, because Ashley said she couldn't come in," she murmured, now understanding why Coulson called her in the first place.

"Hey, since you're all pals maybe you can get the truth outta her," Natasha hummed in boredom whilst clicking her knuckles. "The girl can take a damn hit, that's for sure. Obviously I wouldn't have gone so hard if I knew she was…ya know…a friendly."

"Is she a friendly though?" Agent Hill pointed out lowly, causing Natasha raise her eyebrows in agreement.

"Whether she is or not, she's Ashley's friendly. Would you guys like to explain to her why her best friend's blood is on our shiny interrogation room floors?" Christie blinked at them both before sweeping out of the hallway and back into the interrogation room alone. Rogue lifted her head tiredly at the sound of the door opening, half expecting to see Natasha for round two. But once she saw it was Christie, the sigh of relief she released almost made Christie smile. "Sorry about all of that," she apologised earnestly. "Miss Romanoff doesn't know how to handle her anger a lot of the time."

"Christie, I swear to god-" came Natasha's voice through the speaker system above.

"Just joking!" Christie called back, shooting a fake smile through the two way mirror before turning her attention back to Rogue. "Are you okay, though? You know, like, do you need…medical assistance?" Rogue shook her head and stared down at her dirtied hands.

"No. Thanks. I just need to speak to Ashley," she muttered quietly. "Please could ya call her? It's urgent."

"I will," Christie nodded comfortingly. She could tell that she wasn't getting anything else out of Rogue without Ashley's presence, so she left the room to rejoin Natasha and Agent Hill who were eagerly watching through the glass.

"So should we call Ashley in?" Maria asked, folding her arms.

"We have no choice. I'll do it, maybe she'll understand the severity if it's me doing the talking. Coulson's too much of a softie, he should've never let her sit this one out," Christie grumbled, already whipping her phone out and dialling her number.

"But then shouldn't we also call your dad?" Natasha frowned, already getting the database up on the tablet for his contact details.

"Absolutely not," Christie shot out abruptly. Natasha and Agent Hill stared at her in blunt shock, not at all ready for that response. "She's asking for S.H.I.E.L.D, not the X Men. If she wanted to go back home, she would've said. She's clearly on the run." Christie finished dialling Ashley's number and held her phone to her ear. "It's as if everybody hates that place - none of them stay there for very long."

Ashley turned off the fire underneath the pot with a little smile, super excited for Steve to try the food.

But as soon as her phone went off yet again, she immediately knew this night wouldn't go the way she'd hoped.

She picked up and let out a reluctant, "Hello?"

"Ashley, I need you here at this base right now!" Christie snapped impatiently. Ashley recoiled at the sudden attitude in her voice.

"Christie, I literally sent you to cover me because I'm busy," she hissed back in irritation.

"Yeah yeah, but your sexy night in with the boyfriend can wait. Rogue's here, you idiot. That's why they originally called you," Christie spelt it out for her.

That's when Ashley's blood ran cold and her head felt hot.

"Rogue? Marie's there? With S.H.I.E.L.D? Now?" she breathed, trying to keep her hands from shaking out of sheer panic. "What is she doing there? What happened? I-is she okay?" Christie could literally hear the worry begin to rise in her voice and started to feel a little bad.

"She's being interrogated and she refuses to talk until she sees you. She looks okay - actually no, she looks rough as - apparently she was wandering the streets asking for you for ages-" Ashley skidded into Steve's room as Christie went into detail over the phone, expecting to see him topless or something - but to both her surprise and marginal disappointment, she saw him fast asleep on the bed, completely knocked out. He didn't sleep often because of the serum - but when he did, it was at high levels of exhaustion.

So she rolled her eyes fondly and crept back out of the room again, quietly shutting the door behind her.

"Alright, I'm coming. Just…don't touch her, got it? I mean it, Chris," she told her firmly, before hanging up. There was nothing but the gentle purrs of Lady Bucky vibrating through the air. Ashley grabbed the little notepad that Steve had stuck to the fridge, rummaged through his kitchen drawers until she found a pen, and scrawled on top of it,

Morning sleepy head!

You fell asleep, but it's okay! I was called in to work. Your food is on the stove, heat it up for four minutes in the microwave :)

See you when I get back!

A xxx

And with that, she slammed the note on the fridge, ran to get her coat from the hallway and shoved on her shoes.

An hour or so later, Ashley was in the base as well, heading straight towards the interrogation room with her heart pounding right out of her chest. She was so worried about what she might see, knowing that Rogue was a danger in herself and that one touch could kill someone.

So when she swept into the hallway outside the interrogation room to see Natasha, Christie and Agent Hill standing there so casually - she was confused.

"Guys, I thought you said this was an emergency?" she panted, pushing her hair away from sticking to her sweaty forehead.

"It is, but it's not like she was freaking out on us anymore," Natasha explained dryly with her eyes still trained on the sleepy looking Rogue. Ashley glanced through the glass and gave a gasp.

"Oh my goddd, she looks awful - is that BLOOD?" she groaned, spinning around on her heel to face the women again. "I thought I told you not to touch her?!"

"Ah yes, that'll be your fellow redheaded bestie over here," Christie raised an eyebrow as she chucked her thumb in Natasha's direction. "She beat her to a pulp, true Black Widow style. Ever heard of 'don't mix your friendship groups'?"

"Alright wait," Natasha interrupted her with a glare. "That's not necessarily what happened, Ash. She looked a hot ass mess long before I even laid hands on her. She'd been wandering around the damn city with no shoes on, and I had no idea who she was!"

"Hang on Nat, you put your hands on her and you're fine?" Ashley suddenly spoke over Natasha, causing both Christie and Agent Hill to look at her instead.

"I'm sorry - what, did you expect her to fight back? To me?" Natasha scoffed slightly as she folded her arms in disbelief. "Ashley, she didn't stand a chance regardless."

"Mhmmm, but you beating the poor girl her into a pulp 'wasn't necessarily what happened'?" Christie quipped under her breath. Natasha shot her another death stare.

"Alright ya know what? You two wait there, I'm going in," Ashley muttered, walking off and leaving them standing there in confusion. She opened the door and stepped into the interrogation room, carefully shutting the door behind her. The sound of the door clicking shut caused Rogue to tiredly look up again, expecting yet more disappointment.

But this time it was exactly who she was hoping for.

She leapt to her feet and threw her arms around Ashley with a dry sob, leaving Ashley to slowly enclose her arms over her with a look of anticipation on her face, bracing herself. The women watched on behind the glass, even more confused than they were before.

"Why does Ashley look…." Agent Hill began with a frown.

"Scared?" Natasha and Christie finished her sentence for her, glancing at each other once they did. Agent Hill turned up the speaker so that they could hear what was going on.

"Marie," she was muttering in horror as she let go of her friend, "what have you done? Why…why are you able to touch me? Why can people touch you?"

"What the hell is she talking about?" Christie blinked to herself, watching Rogue's eyes well up with tears as she let go of Ashley as well, her hands dangling by her side as she began to pace the room.

"I…I did something super stupid, Ash," she admitted shakily, her eyes focussed on the ground whilst she paced. "I did something so stu-"

"Marie," Ashley began through gritted teeth. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare tell me that-"

"I'm the one that kept the syringe after you came down from the treehouse. I…I tried to extract my mutation," Rogue burst out the final admission. "And it worked - but now I think I'm dying."