Authors Note:

Ugh! I have been so bad. I need to update more often. But here is my latest update complete with a budding friendship between the Captain and Elda.

Also I sincerely apologize for the glitch i posted last time. I think I've fixed it. Thank you RoxanneRay and Cleansing Soul for alerting me to the problem.

Don't forget to review at the end.

I own nothing that you recognize.

Much love,

Storybooksage

Elda tapped impatiently on the desk, the pads of her fingers making a soft 'flut flut flut flut' sound, as she stared at the bright screen. She heard Steve shift uncomfortably in his chair and he groaned softly as he adjusted his position. She watched him in the reflection of a dormant screen. They had been sitting in front of their respective electronics for hours and were both growing restless. Elda's eyes were begging to ache from the strain and she was sure The Captain, unused to tablets, needed a break as well. "Alrighty, Snow White, we need a brain break." The clock showed two o'clock and lunchtime was past due, "We need to fill our bellies and empty our minds. The human brain can only stand so much research." She stood and stretched up enjoying the popping of her back and neck.

When she opened her eyes she half expected The Captain to be ogling her, but he already had left the room and she could here him opening the door to the fridge. She rushed in and helped him prepare a simple lunch, sandwiches and chips. She found the alcohol stash and cracked open two bottles of pale ale and handed one to The Captain. She devoured her sandwich with the fervency of a starved woman and inhaled her chips. She, however, was no match for The Captain who had finished his meal by the time she was done with half her sandwich. HE grinned sheepishly at her as she raised her drink in a mock salute. She was surprised at his casualness toward her piggish behaviour, most guys though she was disgusting when she ate like that.

They sat in silence for a moment before she pushed away from the breakfast bar, "Let's take a walk around the grounds, see what other accommodations Fury has set up for the little ankle bitters."

The yard was massive, surrounded by a tall brick wall and guarded by a sturdy iron gate in both the front and back. A paved driveway snaked from the four car garage to the gate and down the hill into the rest of the gated community. A gravel path, wide enough for a golf card lead the way from a large shed to the back gate and to the surrounding fields and land. The Land outside stretched for a dozen acres in every direction and was its self encompassed by an fence, this one being nearly twenty feet high and topped with razor wire. Not to keep the children in, but to keep others out. A half dozen barns dotted the acreage accompanied by coralls, fields, and a peppering of trees. An orchard was shedding its leaves, preparing for the winter hibernation. A massive heated pool filled the yard between the house and fence near the patio.

All this Elda beheld in only a few seconds, but The Captain stared around him looking at everything. "All this is an orphanage?" his eyes were wide in admiration, or horror, "Why so much? What do you need such a big house and so much land for?"

"When Fury and I agreed upon our arrangement for my joining S.H.I.E.L.D. one of the conditions was that I would be allowed to hunt down traffickers and rescue victimized children. A sum of money is budgeted for Orphanages to be built for the children where they can grow up safe and educated." She swept her arm wide as if to reveal her meaning, "The children are often from poor, unforgiving families, they need to feel like they have structure, love, and that all their needs are taken care of. In homes like these protected, not only by the agency, but also by common citizens. When children begin to arrive that will be given rooms based on their ages, chores, homework, and parents who will care and genuinely love them. Animals will be bought and given to the children to take care of, horses, cows, sheep, and chickens. They will be taught basic work ethic so that when they are old enough they can join society as equals to their peers."

"Won't the people living around here become suspicious if a hundred kids live here with a couple of adults?"

"Our facilities are, on paper, not orphanages. In Guatemala, one is built as a convent, the children from the out side look like novices preparing to be initiated into the church." She counted on her fingers, "Taiwan's facility is a hospital for children with terminal diseases. Saudi Arabia, the home of a wealthy sheik with a dozen wives and their many children. And this place, where we will be staying for the duration of our mission, is an elite school for the most influential families or children who are gifted."

"Hidden in plain sight." The Captain seemed to muse to himself. "Clever."

"I suppose so." She smiled at the mansion, "Enough lolligagging. Come along, Snow White, back to the cottage."

"Why do you call me that? Snow White. I am not a princess."

"No but you did take a long nap because of a villain who could change his face and practice magic. The only difference is I didn't have to kiss you to wake you up." She grinned up at him before her face fell, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk about your past." she turned away from him and began making her way back up to the house.

"Elda," The Captain waited for her to turn around, "I don't mind talking about it to you. I doubt you'll take advantage of my past."

"You're right I won't take advantage especially if I don't know about it." Her face was unreadable, except for the slight tightening of her jaw. She hoped that he would get the hint that she didn't want to know about his past. "I also will not give you the opportunity to take advantage of mine, even though I doubt that you would anyway." For several moments the pair just looked at each other. His brows were furrowed and his eyes sad as if he desperately wanted to understand her pain that she was trying so hard to hide.

His head tilted slightly as if he had received an answer and he reached his hand out to her, "You don't have to worry about me betraying you. You read my file, I'm loyal to my friends.

Her lips pursed together probably causing her to look like she had eaten a lemon, "Captain we aren't friends." She turned away from him and marched back to the house, missing completely the look of hurt followed by awe inspiring determination.

CK CK CK CK

Steve chewed on his lower lip as he stared down at his hand held screen. This technology was so very beyond him, he silently wished for the simple days of printed paper and highlighters. Progressing through the on-line activity of the children crawled at a glacial pace because of his inexperience with social media. Some sites, like facebook and tumblr seemed harmless enough from what he saw but others seemed suspiciously like the shady night clubs he had tried to sneak into as a young teenager. How was he supposed to know what conversations to read and what ones to ignore?

He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling the memory of the screen still burned into his retinas. He rubbed his face and allowed his mind to wander to the other mystery that had fallen into his life. The woman typing madly into her computer, highlighting texts and searching for similar conversations on other monitors. How she could emotionally invest herself so strongly into helping children that she had never met but shut herself off completely to the people she was supposed to trust was beyond him. Was it because she had no emotional energy left for her team members? Probably not. She had plenty of energy to invest in the children every time she talked about them. Did she think herself above them? Not likely she hadn't acted snobby about anything other than her TV shows. Had she been wounded so badly that she couldn't let anyone else close enough? That seemed the most likely, in the spy business the odds of someone turning the knife on another agent had to be high.

Elda took another drink of her beer, the third in as many hours and tapped her fingers on her desk. tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Steve looked back down at his tablet but watched her out of the corner of his eye. She distrusted him for some reason and he was going to find out why. She wasn't going to tell him any time soon why but he was fairly certain that if he proved how loyal and honest he was that she would open up to him. They could be really good friends if she just allowed it. He Focused back at the task at hand a plan already forming in his mind.

Author's Note:

There it is. Hope you liked it. Please review.

xoxo