Chapter Twenty-Six: Regret
Darcy was on cloud nine. "I hope this day never, ever ends. It just keeps getting better. I'm starting to believe there is a God."
"I'm gonna have to agree with you there. Maybe not the last part," Tony finished speaking but his lips remained parted in shock and awe. "Was that a lucky shot, or…?"
"She seemed trained," Steve added.
"She is trained," Sam clarified.
"Kinda seems like something you should have told SHIELD," Bruce noted.
"I didn't have to tell them, they knew."
"Then it kinda seems like something you should have told us," Bruce craned his neck trying to get a better look at the defeated Barton.
"I actually thought you knew."
"Oh come on, unless there's aliens or some shit, no one ever tells us anything. Why would you think that?" Tony stared at Sam in disbelief.
"Well, they knew," Sam nodded to the pair of SHIELD agents. Natasha was standing by her newly injured comrade but keeping a fair distance, knowing that he was the type not to accept help even when he needed it. And none of his bones were broken, so he didn't even need it. The time they'd just spent together made her feel protective and close to him. She wanted to dote on him, pamper him, and make sure he was okay, but none of that would be appropriate.
"You two knew?" Tony pointed to one of them and then the other.
"I don't answer to you, Stark. You don't have to know what I know," Barton moved his hands at last and his lip was bleeding.
Tony let out a small laugh. "Oh, this has nothing to do with the fact that you knew and we didn't. It's really just about the fact that you knew at all-and you still got absolutely wrecked by her."
"I never in a million years thought she'd be stupid enough to hit me. I was in shock," Barton defended himself as he wiped the dripping blood from his chin and winced.
"That's probably how Loki felt, too," Thor chuckled at the thought of his brother getting hit the way he'd just witnessed.
"So you got in her face and expected her not to hit you?" Bruce waved his hand incredulously. "As Thor just mentioned... she punched the God of Mischief, why wouldn't she punch you?"
Natasha noticed the anger brewing in his stomach again and decided to speak up at last. "Even so, would any of you expect a girl like that to be quick enough to best you? Even if you had known, we'd never seen her in action. Let's just-"
"Stop," Barton interjected, "there's no reason why I shouldn't have been able to defend myself. I don't want to stand here bleeding and make excuses. Those were two solid punches she hit me with, and I hate to admit I'm impressed. But she should probably learn a bit of self control. In all aspects of her life."
Elsewhere
Fury had led Eve to his office and sat her down across from him. He'd stared at her for minutes on end, saying nothing, just looking stern. Eve was too intimidated and ashamed to say a word, so she waited patiently with her palms sweating until he finally broke the silence.
"You wanna tell me what happened back there?" He sounded calm but she didn't believe it.
"I punched Agent Barton. I'm s-"
"You better not be about to apologize." She bit her lip. "I saw that you punched him. Why? Just kinda felt like hitting someone?"
"He made a comment about my mother. I mean, not like a yo mama joke or something like that." Fury rolled his eyes. "He just implied that she wouldn't be happy with the way my life is going as of late, which is probably true, but-"
"Okay, stop. Now I'm gonna ask you something. And don't even think about slugging me. Do you think your mother would be happy with the way you handled this situation?"
Eve felt like crying. It was like being scolded by a principal. "Maybe not," she answered.
"Alright, and we're gonna come back to that. In the meantime, let me just say that from what I saw-you really know what you're doing. Agent Barton is one of the quickest men I've ever worked with. There's no reason why you should have gotten one hit on him, let alone two. You could argue that he wouldn't fight you back, but he could have defended himself. You're fast. Maybe it's not a coincidence that you landed in our nest, Eve. If you trained with SHIELD, you would learn how to channel that training and not be so hotheaded. I'm surprised you didn't learn that form of discipline, if you're as skilled as your records imply."
"That's the one thing I've never been good at. I act first, ask questions later."
"And let me tell you something, sometimes that's okay. But definitely not always. So how about it?"
Eve didn't understand what he was asking her to do. "How about what?"
"Train with SHIELD, become an Agent."
"Oh, well, I mean," she was at a loss. "What?"
"I don't know another way to say it. If I find someone who's able to best someone on my team, even for a moment, I want them on my team."
She thought about it. Or, at least she tried to. She wasn't sure how exactly to think about it. "Can I sleep on it?"
"I'll call Agent Barrows to bring you back to your room," Fury agreed, sounding a bit dejected.
In a few minutes, Sam pushed the door open and beckoned her to come with him. "They're not hanging around anymore, they went their separate ways," he informed her and she nodded thankfully. "I tried to stop you, but you've always been faster than me. Even after they trained me here."
"How much does he hate me now?" She sighed.
"Actually, I think you may have gained a tiny bit of respect from him."
Eve laughed. "Don't you lie to me."
"I'm not!" He laughed along. "I mean, he still despises you. And for good reason, might I add."
Eve's laughter halted. "Can we just...let's not talk about it. I'm not going to pretend I did nothing wrong, I've just talked about it all so much today. So as a favor to me, let's forget it, just for tonight, okay?"
"Fine," he agreed, sounding cold.
She pinched his upper arm. "You're not trying hard enough," she teased.
"Fine! Fine!" He added with a wide smile. He slid his keycard over the sensor and opened her door after the tones sounded. He walked in before her and eyed up the pile of chew toys and other miscellaneous items. "So I should pretend none of this is here, too?"
"Come on, how can you hate Sasha?"
"I don't hate Sasha, I hate that-" before he could finish, she had scooped Sasha up out of the bathroom where she'd wandered and was holding the pup up to his face.
"Look at that nose! Look at those little paws!" Sasha yipped and licked Sam's cheek. "Aww, see? She likes you!" It was nice to watch Sam unwind a bit and act like friends again. But as far as she tried to sweep the elephant in the room under the rug...it was a big elephant. And a small rug. Still they went on pretending for each other's benefit.
Sasha was ecstatic with all the attention she was getting. Sam and Eve ended up sitting next to each other on the floor up against the wall. The puppy walked across their laps and snuggling them as they talked until eventually she fell asleep on Sam's legs. "Poor baby, too much excitement," Eve cooed as she pet the dog's head and ears.
Sam was smiling warmly at her. "I don't want to get mushy or anything, I just want to say that I've missed this. A lot. I know it hasn't even been that long-"
"I've missed it too." Eve meant what she said, and it was a great relief to just hang out with him again, with no one holding her by the throat and forcing her to lie. "This has just been the most fucked up week."
"I thought we weren't talking about it?"
"You're right. you're right. My bad," Eve smiled at him.
Sam was just so glad to have her back. Almost delusionally so, especially considering she could have been killed in the process. So when he looked into her eyes and they weren't distant or jaded, when he heard her voice and it wasn't cold or harsh, he was overwhelmed. Despite having a strong feeling regarding how it would end, he leaned into her and kissed her.
Eve saw him coming toward her and had ample time to stop it. But she let it happen, she even closed her eyes for a moment. He pulled away after that long second, honestly shocked he'd gotten even that far. She didn't look offended or troubled, not even slightly upset. He was tempted to kiss her again, as her welcoming lips were one of the best things he'd ever experienced. Different from how she'd reacted last time. Different in the best way. He was anxious, but he waited for her reaction.
She opened her eyes again and tried to understand the haze she was in. He was in her sight but she wasn't seeing him, she was looking right through him, lost in thought. She felt warm, in a way that was almost indescribable. She was grateful that after everything, it was clear he still loved her. And if he still did after everything with Loki-
Her heart skipped a beat.
"Loki?" She looked forward and saw his shoes. She trailed her eyes up to his face, and upon it was a look she'd never seen before.
He knelt down between the two of them and ignored Eve completely. He gripped Sam's chin and snarled. "You are going to regret that."
A/N:
I wanted to put in the last one that I'd be uploading another chapter soon, but I felt like if I did that I'd end up not finishing it or something :P I feel like I write faster when Loki isn't around because I'm just dying for him to get back haha. There will be a lot of him next chapterrr :D
(Once again, a late night edit, let me know of any typos!)
