There is a bit of romance and a whole lotta angst in this chapter. Not gonna lie, I LOVED writing this chapter because I love writing angst, it's oh so very satisfying.

Dedicated to Kyla, who eats angst for breakfast.

CHAPTER NINE

Steve walked into the lab, "Is something wrong with Sharon? She looked a little off-kilter."

"She just found out some information that has her worried, she just needs some space." Angel said, sitting down at her desk.

"Nothing about the Tesseract I hope." Steve said, noticing Angel looking slightly deflated.

"No… no, something that's personal to both of us. She should be fine later." Angel said, sighing and setting her head in her hands and closing her eyes for a moment.

Steve walked over and leaned on the desk next to her chair, "Want to talk about it?"

Angel shook her head, "No, I can't."

"Well I'm here if you need a punching back." He laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. Angel looked up and gave him a weak smile.

"Thanks, but I think we'll be fine…" They were silent for a moment. Angel's heart picked up a bit as she noticed their proximity; his hand was still on her shoulder. She stood up and gathered some papers in front of her.

"I should probably get these filed…" She turned to walk over to the file cabinets when she felt a hand grab her forearm. Steve pulled her towards him; he stood up and looked down at Angel, who looked away with a blush.

He gently put his hand on her cheek and turned her face up towards his. He looked into her eyes for a moment, feeling his own heart beat pick up as he noticed how beautiful they are.

Angel's heart stopped as she stared up into Steve's eyes. He then leaned down slowly and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. She closed her eyes and she moved her mouth with his, the kiss remaining light and gentle but setting fire to her every sense.

Angel's arms slid up and circled Steve's neck while his went to her waist and pulled her closer. Steve slowly pulled away to catch his breath, he and Angel were both breathing heavily, "In case you didn't know, I've been wanting to do that ever since we first met."

Angel felt her whole face blush, "So did I…" She said, biting her lip and giggling. She felt ecstatic and high, like she'd grown wings. Everything suddenly felt a lot better as he held her for a moment and kissed her again, this time letting the kiss grow a bit deeper and linger longer.

Sharon stomped into the weapons room, Clint looked up from his shooting range with a raised eyebrow, "Long time no see." He said with a smile, which faded when he saw the look of anger on her face.

Sharon didn't take notice of him, heading straight through the door that lead to the boxing ring and punching bags. She felt strength coursing through her veins; that paired with the rage she felt made her want to punch something HARD.

Clint put his bow down and walked over to the doorway of the room, both his eyebrows lifting in shock as he watched Sharon start to bare-knuckle box a punching bag. She started punching it harder and harder, sweat beginning to glisten on her face as she refused to stop punching the bag. She punched hard; even when her knuckles started to feel raw she kept punching.

Clint wandered over but kept his distance, "Yo Muhammad Ali, wanna stop to put on some gloves first? You're going to tear up your hand."

Sharon continued to ignore him and started punching more vigorously, her emotions where boiling inside her, a nasty concoction of anger, frustration, and worst of all: fear.

She punched harder, trying to focus on the bag and not the fear creeping around the edges of her mind. She didn't notice when splotches of blood started to decorate the punching bag as she kept punching harder and faster.

Clint saw the stains and moved in. He approached Sharon from the back and in a swift motion he slid his arms underneath her armpits and pulled her back from the bag in a half nelson.

Sharon let out a growl, "Let go of me!"

"You're shredding your hands Sharon, you need bandages."

"I need you to let go." She snarled, she then suddenly stomped on his foot and swept a leg around the backs of his knees and kicked his knees forward. Barton let out a grunt and fell backwards, pulling Sharon down on top of him as he refused to let go of his hold,

"Sharon I need you to calm down." He hooked his legs around hers, pressing her back against his front making it impossible for her to throw him off.

She struggled for a moment before going limp. Clint waited a few minutes, then was surprised when he felt her body start to shake. He loosened his grip and slowly slid out underneath her. He saw tears roll down Sharon's cheek just before she rolled over and covered her face.

Clint sat where he was a moment, unsure of how to handle the situation. He'd never handled a crying woman before, but he was concerned about Sharon. His heart squeezed as he watched her back shudder with every breath she took, then shake as she held back a sob.

He slowly gathered her into his arms and situated her on his lap, setting her head on his shoulder and gently smoothed her hair as her body continued to shake with silent sobs.

He didn't say anything, just held her close until the shaking eventually stopped all together. He looked down and saw her face was still covered, he looked at her raw knuckles, "We need to go take care of those." He murmured, pulling a hand away from her face and inspecting the torn skin that was lightly bleeding.

Her face was red and covered in sweat and tears; he wanted to know what or who made Sharon come so undone.

Sharon pulled it away and crawled out of his lap, standing and wiping her face of tears, "It's fine, I'll take care of it," she murmured, her voice deep and hoarse.

Clint stood and pulled her back towards him and looked at her, her face looking down and avoiding his gaze, "What just happened?" He asked.

Sharon shook her head, "I just needed to let off some steam."

Clint looked at her; she was still avoiding his eyes. "Did someone hurt you?" He asked, feeling anger bubble up at the thought.

She shook her head, "I needed to let off some steam and had a weak moment. I'm fine, I need to go."

"Sharon I can't just let you go without knowing why I had to hold you while you sobbed on my shoulder."

"You didn't have to do anything, in fact you shouldn't have touched me at all." She said angrily, pulling away from him only to have him step forward and pull her back.

"Is everything a secret with you? Is there nothing you can tell me?" Clint said, feeling frustrated that she kept distancing herself from him.

"You don't need to know anything, you've barely known me!" Sharon said, trying to pull away again only to have him pull her back.

"I would know you if you let me get closer than a few snide remarks and superficial conversation." He said, trying to capture her eyes, "What is so bad about me that you can't even tell me why you're upset? Am I that annoying and repulsive to you."

Sharon swallowed back a sob, "You're not the one who's repulsive, its me you're going to find abominable." With that she put two hands on his chest and pushed him away.

She turned abruptly and left the room in ground-eating strides, deciding she needed to pack and leave this place as soon as possible, with or without Angel.