It was just before lunch time and Pepper was sitting at her desk. The phones had finally stopped ringing and her office was peaceful except for the low roar of music playing from her computer. She was checking her schedule on her touch screen when it began buzzing in her palm and Tony's face appeared. Pepper smiled at the screen before answering it and holding the phone to her ear.

"Hello Tony."

"Well hello beautiful. I was wondering what you are doing for lunch today?" He was always such a smartass on the phone. Pepper bit her lip and drummed her fingers on her desk.

"Hmm…We could go to that little place down the street and get pitas. How does that sound?" She heard Tony mulling it over.

"I guess that's doable. I'll come by and get ya." he said. "Love you."

"I love you too." Pepper smiled even bigger. As she set her phone down on her desk there was a knock on her door. Pepper put on her most stoic, professional face and cleared her throat.

"Come in." The door opened and Holly took a half step in, standing in the middle of the doorway. Pepper smiled at the girl until she spoke.

"Ms. Potts. May I come in?" Pepper was baffled by the professionalism and tone that Holly used. They had been on a first name basis for the past couple of weeks. Had something happened?

'If Tony said something to her, I swear to God….' Pepper thought as she beckoned Holly into her office. Holly closed the door securely behind her and as she moved to take her seat it was then that Pepper noticed an envelope in her hands. She felt her eyebrow raise a little in an unspoken question but she dragged it back down to it's proper spot and replaced the smile.

"Is everything okay?" Pepper asked folding her hands on her lap. Holly was the essence of blank as she looked up at her boss. She took a deep breath and her composure cracked just enough to allow herself to scratch the back of her hand which was raw from being scratched excessively.

"Ms. Potts, this may sound like a dumb question but, how safe is Stark Tower?"

"Stark Tower is the safest placed you could be. Tony wrote all the programming and JARVIS is online constantly running updates and monitoring everything. Nothing gets past us." Pepper spoke, her eyebrows raising at her question. Holly looked around the room and ended up staring at a picture of the Avengers on Pepper's desk. There were all smiling, embracing and laughing at the camera. They appeared more of a family there than she had ever seen in the public eye. They had even started to embrace her in the short time she had been there- well, most of them. Steve, Bruce, and Pepper had been her biggest allies against Tony and the assassins. Thor had still not returned so the jury was out on him.

"Holly?" Pepper called, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Yes."

"Did something happen?"

"Well…" Holly murmured, bending the edges of the envelope.

- Earlier That Day -

"Anyone home?" Holly called as the elevator opened onto their floor.

"Kitchen!" was the answer she received though she couldn't be sure who had replied to her. She was surprised to see everyone sitting at the kitchen table with Clint standing at the stove with a spatula.

"What are we making?" Holly asked setting the two grocery bags on her arm down on the counter. She stuffed her key ring into her messenger bag and started sorting through the armful of mail that she had stolen from the courier.

"Pancakes." Clint said as he flipped the one he was cooking in the pan.

"For lunch?"

"Is that a problem?" Clint said raising an eyebrow and pointing his spatula at her. Holly shook her head and gave him a thumbs up.

"Pancakes are awesome." she said as she began to walk around the table and hand people their mail.

"Classified envelope from SHIELD to Natasha, a matching envelope and Amazon package for our lovely chef which I will give to Natasha, an unholy stack of science magazines for Banner, and another Amazon package- this one for Steve." Holly smiled handing the package over to Steve. Holly moved through the kitchen grabbing all of the pancake condiments and brought them to the table. A full plate of pancakes followed the condiments and Holly leaned against the counter beside Clint as she waited for him to fill up another plate. She glanced at Clint and saw that he was looking at her as he lifted the edges of the pancake with his spatula. She cracked a small smile at him and he leaned against her arm momentarily in recognition. Holly chuckled and noticed Natasha watching them. Holly turned around and bumped hips with Clint, grabbing the spatula from his hand.

"Go kiss your lady. I've got this." Clint looked around and saw what Holly had picked up on. He chuckled and crossed to where Natasha was. He kissed her on the forehead and began rifling through his mail. Holly just smiled and flipped the pancake in the pan.

"Holly." She turned towards the table. Bruce was looking at her and holding an envelope up. "You missed one. This is addressed to you."

"I got mail." Holly said raising an eyebrow. She wasn't supposed to get mail unless it was from SHIELD. "Who is it from?"

"It doesn't say." Bruce said. She ambled over to him and grabbed the envelope from him. It was addressed to Stark Tower but it only had her first name scribbled on it in messy handwriting. Her brows furrowed as she skillfully ripped open the envelope without putting down the spatula.

"What is in it?" Steve asked.

"It looks like just a piece of paper." Holly murmured. As soon as she slid the piece of paper out her heart stopped. Her whole chest clenched and she couldn't breathe. What was written on the white sheet sent fear through her whole body in magnitudes that she could only recall feeling once before- the day she escaped. The day that she started running and would never be able to quit. The day that she became the expert of disguises, where she put all her training to her advantage, and when she turned her back on everything. She had spent her entire existence since the truth had come out trying to forget and repent. The past few weeks had made her feel that she belonged, that she didn't have to fear anything anymore.

CLINICUS

And then the spatula crashed to the floor.

- End Flashback -

She had batted away everyone's concern and questions about her mail and convinced them that dropping the spatula had been an accident. It was only after lunch had been cleaned up that she grabbed the envelope and headed upstairs to see Pepper.

"I just want to make sure that no one would be able to hack into the system and spy on us." Holly said.

"Not to pull the boss card on you but, why is our security any of your concern?" Pepper said her eyes narrowing at the girl. Holly stood up from her seat and stared at Pepper.

"Because I work for SHIELD. I'm here to be an assistant to the Avengers so their security is my concern. Your security is my concern. This building is my concern." her voice had taken on that stern tone that Pepper had heard the day the eye incident had happened.

"But, if you have complete faith in Mr. Stark than who am I to question?" Holly smiled then as there was a knock on the door before Tony walked into the office.

"Honey I'm-" Tony practically glared at Holly. "-home. Am I interrupting something?"

"No I was just leaving. Thank you for your time Pepper." Holly said nodding at her boss. She smiled at Tony as she passed and was thankful when the elevator doors shut and she was alone. She scratched her raw hand and wasn't surprised to see her fingertips covered in red smears. Great, now her hand was bleeding. Just another problem as if making Pepper suspicious of her wasn't bad enough. Pepper didn't think they needed help, she would do it herself. Holly pulled out her cell and dialed a number from memory. It rang a few times before going to voicemail but she knew it would.

"Hi Zach…Mod…it's me. I don't know if you'll get this and I don't expect you to respond if you do per our agreement but, I need your help. It's a security thing- right up your alley. I just need to know that I'm safe…that my charges are safe…Thanks." Holly said as she hung up and stuffed her phone back in her pocket. She pressed the button for the lobby- she didn't feel like going to her room now. 'I'll just go to the bookstore or something to ease my mind. Get myself some distractions then go bury herself in her bed with some iced tea and her findings.' Holly thought as she folded the envelope and stuffed it into her back pocket before crossing her arms over her chest. Why did this happen when she was alone. Had this been years ago and someone had pulled something she would go to her sisters and normally the boys would be there to. They would talk and laugh and sometimes even drink. She had never felt so alone.

As she reached the lobby Holly sighed and put a smile on. May as well keep up appearances so she didn't get bombarded with questions later. As the elevator door opened Holly's breath froze in her chest.

"Helena?"