Nadia

The punching bag swayed violently after receiving another harsh punch from me. It has been an hour since that interrogation with Loki ended. After completing my mission, I made a beeline for the only place that I could let everything loose. You could say that the poor punching bag has been suffering the consequences of my wrath since then.

Loki's words affected me in more ways than one. They wouldn't leave me alone but I wanted them gone. Every word that Loki said still rang perfectly in my ears. Because of that, my mind was constantly reliving memories of my past that I desperately tried to forget.

"What made you wanna kill the bag this time?" A very familiar voice broke me out of my concentration. Amusement was practically dripping in his voice.

Without taking my eyes off of the bag, I sent another punch to the bag. "I'm not in the mood, Carter."

"I knew I'd find you here." His footsteps echoed louder in the training room. "Figured Fury made you do it."

I quickly tensed after hearing the next words that came out of his lips.

"I heard everything."

"I don't wanna talk about it." A loud thud reverberated as the punching bag received a harsh kick from me.

Carter ignored me and sat on the bench near my punching bag. "Of course you do."

I stopped beating the hell out of the bag and turned to him, who looked at me directly in the eye with all of that seriousness in them.

"Come on, Nadia. Talk to me." He pleaded, making me heave a sigh.

After hearing and seeing all of that, of course, he knew that something was wrong with me. He was my best friend after all. He knew me like the back of his hand. Carter would never leave me alone until I spilled my guts out.

I slowly sat beside Carter, feeling defeated. "I was compromised."

Carter didn't say anything at all and just listened to the next words that I was about to say. Leaning forward, I rested both of my elbows on my knees and placed my palms on my forehead. "He knows about everything, Carter."

"Bulgaria, my parents, and…" I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at him as my tears threatened to spill. "Ethan."

Carter's eyes softened as he looked at me with a hint of sadness and sympathy in his eyes.

"I was so sure of myself. I was even eager to do this interrogation that Fury passed to me. Because it meant I could get the answer that I wanted and find Clint faster," I said while feeling Carter's hand grip mine for my reassurance.

"It was supposed to be one of those interrogations. Play with my target's mind, turn the tables on him, and get the info. Then, my mission was done. SHIELD trained me to be like that. A stone cold agent who does whatever it takes to finish her mission."

Carter gripped my hand tighter, telling me that he knew what I meant. Of course, he would know. After all, we looked after each other's back all throughout our years here in SHIELD.

"I let my guard down. Let my emotions get the best of me." I closed my eyes, trying to forget the things that happened there. "He got inside of my head. His words won't stop echoing in my ears. For a second, I doubted myself. He was right. My ledger was gushing red."

I sighed and tried my best to fight my tears back. "After what happened, every time I hear those words it just brings up these horrid memories. Everything I tried to forget just won't stop haunting me." This time I couldn't hold them back. Tears ran down my cheeks as a sob escaped my lips.

"It's almost been two years, Carter. This weight on my shoulders won't go away. This hole in my heart won't close. My memories of Ethan, they're still so vivid. They torture me every time even haunting me in my sleep. One second I was dreaming of spending the rest of my life with him and then the next, he was ripped away from my arms," I managed to say between my sobs as Carter's grip on my hand didn't loosen at all.

Turning to him, I exclaimed, "Will it ever stop? It's driving me insane. I can't take this anymore. Carter, it hurts so much. Make it stop. Please make it stop!"

Carter quickly let go of my hand and engulfed me in a comforting embrace. "Shh… It's okay, Nadia. I'm here."

"Everything will be okay," he softly whispered while gently petting my head.

He then slowly pulled away from me and cupped my cheeks with his hands. Tears continued to stain my face as I cried. Carter gently looked at me in the eye and wiped my tears with his thumbs. A gentle smile made its way on his face. "You'll be okay. You wanna know why?"

I tilted my head out of confusion while looking at him with knitted brows.

"Because you're a very strong and independent woman." His lips then quirked up into a goofy smile. "Heck, you're Nadia Hunt! You're like a crazy Amazon when you chase me around to kick my ass for playing Galaga and not doing my work."

A small smile appeared on my face as I let out a small laugh. "No, I'm not."

He raised a brow and smirked before saying, "Yes, you are. There was this one time you chased me around the base and you didn't stop until you punched me on my arm, twice. Then, it bruised the next day."

I laughed harder after hearing this. I remembered that time and it was really funny remembering Carter's face at that time.

"It's not funny, Nadia. It really hurt you know!" He playfully narrowed his eyes at me, giving me a weak shove.

"You deserved it." I ignored it and continued to laugh.

He mockingly rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks, Nadia."

My stomach really hurt right now. Too much laughing. Leave it to Carter to make me laugh too much when I was already bawling my eyes out.

Carter gave me a gentle smile. "You've already made it this far, Nads. No matter how much crap came to our lives, you still managed to get through all of that. That's why I know you'll be fine." He then took my hands again.

"Trust me when I say things will get better. One of these days or probably sometime soon, things will just change for the better and you will finally find the happiness you deserve. Trust me."

I didn't know why but I was holding on to these words right now. My gut was telling me to do so for some weird reasons. It just felt right.

A smile made its way on my face as I said, "Since when did you give such good advice? It's even cheesy."

"I don't know whether I should be offended or not." He gave me a poker-face, making me chuckle.

"Hey! I was complimenting you!"

He snorted and drawled, "Sure…"

"You jerk!" I playfully shoved him.

"You love this jerk though." He wiggled his brows, making me bite my lip to stop myself from laughing.

"Sure." I teasingly smirked at him. "Keep telling yourself that."

"Stop denying it, Nads. You know you love me."

I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. "Well, if that's what you believe, Carter. I'll let it feed your ego."

His jaw quickly dropped. "Hey! I'm not egotistical."

"Whatever you say." I teased him.

"I feel so attacked right now." He looked at me with mock hurt.

"Poor little Carter!" I patted his head. "There, there."

He looked at me horrified and pointed his finger at me. "No! Don't you dare imitate Nana!"

"I'm not even trying!" A hearty laugh escaped my lips. "Stop pointing your finger at me! It's rude!"

"I'm not putting it down until you stop!"

"Okay, okay!" Chuckling, I wrapped my arms around his torso and leaned my head on his shoulders. "Happy?"

"Thank you!" He then wrapped his arms around me.

I giggled as the smile never left my face. "Thank you, Carter."

"You're welcome, bestie." Carter placed a soft kiss on my head. "By the way…"

"Hmm?"

"I always give the best advice." He said with a sense of pride dripping in his voice.

I rolled my eyes and laughed to my heart's content. Thank you so much, Carter. For everything.

Steve

Why did I stay behind to hear all of these? I didn't even know the answer to that. A few minutes ago, I decided to go to the training room to forget about certain things. When I got here, I couldn't bring myself to enter.

Standing near the door, I just heard the woman, who intrigued me the most, spill all of her sorrows out to her friend. My gut was right when I felt that something was wrong with her. Her smiles and laughter just lacked that genuine feeling in it. Those emotions in her eyes always made me wonder what exactly happened to her. Now, I knew why.

This cruel reality left this woman broken. The first time I looked at her, her bright hazel eyes let me have a peek of all the demons she was hiding. She had the eyes of someone who went through hell and back. It was no wonder that she built these walls around her. It was easier to just shut everything out than to go through the same pain all over again.

Then, I remembered that one name that made her break down – Ethan. Who was he? Clearly, he meant the world to her after seeing her pour her sorrows out. All I could gather was that they were together and something happened. What exactly happened to him?

Something snapped me out of my thoughts as a small smile crept on my face. This was the first time that I heard her carefree and genuine laugh. It was different from all of the emotions that she showed me before.

Then, I remember something. I finally found out her name when Stark called her. Nothing could seem to get her out of my head. Her name kept on ringing in my ears – Nadia Hunt. It suited her perfectly. Since I met her in that old gym, she has been the center of my thoughts. No matter how I tried, she was just really intriguing me. Something in her just made me want to know her more.

Wait, this wasn't right. We were in the middle of a war and here I was thinking about a girl I hardly know. Then, it hit me. Wait, was I actually interested in Nadia? Attracted even? I didn't know the answer to that. Why was I even so interested in her?

No, Steve. I quickly shook my head.

Stop thinking about this – about her. This was just confusing me. I needed to think straight and forget about this for now. Walking away from the training room, I decided to walk aimlessly in the helicarrier in hopes of distracting myself. Or rather in hopes of burying this unknown feeling of mine.

Hi guys! I'M SO SORRY, IT TOOK FOR NOT UPDATING IN SUCH A LONG TIME! BUT HERE'S A NEW CHAPTER FOR YOU! I finally have time to write again. :( I finished writing the rest of the chapters for the Avengers movie. So, I promise I'll post another chapter again soon but I want to some feedback first before posting them. Please drop me a review. :) Until next time~~! :D