I'm back! Had a lovely weekend at the wedding and have now come back with TONS of ideas for the story. I hope you're all enjoying it and will keep reading as things move along! I'm enjoying all of your reactions and comments, I always get a little jittery when I see I have a new review or emails telling me that I have been alerted as favorite story, author, etc. It really means so much and I love it that you're all still reading it.

Dedicated to Kyla, who I've been apart from for far too long and is long overdue to go on a Starbucks date with me.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

The grin on Angel's face could have split her head in half, Steve's own smile widened as he watched the look of pure joy and excitement grow on her face. They were driving through the main gates to Xavier's school. Director Fury gave them both phones so that SHIELD would be in contact with them if/when they would need them.

They parked in front of the school and got out of the car. Steve stood where he was as he looked over the large mansion in front of him while Angel skipped around the car and stood beside him, a proud smile plastered on her face.

"Welcome to my alma mater," She said proudly.

"Wow, I'm officially impressed," Steve said as they started for the school.

They went in through the main entrance, the school was currently on it's summer break so classes were not in session. Most of the children had gone home to their families or were staying at the school instead. They slowly walked around for a while; Angel was enjoying the feeling of sharing a part of herself with Steve. Xavier's was a huge part of her life and it was important to her that Steve knew about it, as she was planning on keeping him as a part of her life for the better part of her future.

They were in the garden when the familiar sound of wheels on gravel drew up behind Angel. She smiled and turned around to see Charles rolling towards them in his wheel chair, a proud smile on his face.

"Angel, it's been a while," He said as he came to a stop before them.

"I'm happy to be back Professor," She said as she leaned forward to hug Charles, "Allow me to introduce someone."

"Ah yes your guest, I've heard a lot about you Captain Rogers," Charles said with a knowing glint in his eyes. Steve looked confused for a moment before remembering that Charles was a telepath.

"The pleasure is all mine sir, I'm so glad Angel brought me here to tour the school. It's truly remarkable what you've done here."

"I take great pride in this institution and what it stands for. It is a home for many of us and for the rest a place where they will always find acceptance and kindness. Angel was one of my favorite students and teachers," Charles said with a smile, "How is Sharon faring at her cabin?"

"As well as can be given her unwelcome visitor," Angel said with a smirk. Steve thought it was odd how Charles knew things without them being said, but he figured that came with the territory of being a telepath.

"Well I think it's high time she opened up a bit, I only hope you're being kind to her rather than using force," Charles said, giving Angel a rather pointed look while Angel looked away and blushed.

"I only gave her the push she needed…"

"More like shove…" Steve muttered, Angel threw a glare at him while Charles chuckled in his chair.

"You and I will get along very well Captain," Charles said, turning his chair back towards the mansion, "Would you care to join me for some tea? I would like to carry on the conversation with both of you, it's been far too long since I've had such an interesting person here at the mansion."

"Oh please," Angel scoffed, "You live in a mansion of mutants, it hardly gets more interesting than that."

"Yes Angela, but rarely do I meet a super soldier from World War II who was encased in ice for the better part of the century." Charles said as they approached the mansion, "I may be old Angela, but I've hardly seen everything. Though my college years were quite the adventure."

"Now there's a story I want to hear," Angel said with a smile. Steve chuckled and followed Angel and the Professor through the mansion, feeling more relaxed than ever already.

*.*.*.*.*.*.

Sharon waited till well after dark before putting her plan into motion. She ran a hot bath in her bathroom so as to steam up the windows a bit so Clint would think she was busy in there. While the water was running, she made sure her doors and windows were locked tight and the shades were drawn before going to her room and locking her bedroom door. She pulled back the rug on the left side of the bed to reveal the door leading down to the cellar.

Once down there, she dressed in cutoff pants with sneakers and a black sweater on top. She grabbed her emergency backpack and strapped it to her back before turning on her flashlight and making her way through the tunnel. She had constructed it for emergency cases of having to escape intruders, so now she thought was a perfect time to put it into use as Clint was camped out on her front yard.

As she neared the end of the tunnel, she stopped periodically to listen for any sounds of someone following or breaking into the cellar. By the time she reached the end, she was positive that her plan had worked and she was home free.

The end of the tunnel had a small ladder that led to a hatch in the ground that was camouflaged on top so no one could find or detect it. She climbed up easily and slowly opened the hatch, making ginger movements so that no sounds would be made that Clint could hear and potentially come investigate.

Once it was open, Sharon climbed out and closed it again. She straightened up and sighed silently, so far so good…

She began walking a few feet before a stick snapped a few yards away from her. Sharon turned and felt her heart arrest when she saw an enormous wolf watching her from the shadows. Sharon froze, debating on her conflicting instincts to fight or flight.

The wolf began to growl, Sharon was about to take off when an arrow shot out and landed mere in chest from the wolf and let off a tiny explosion of sparks. It didn't harm the animal, but it sure scared the shit out of it as it yelped and ran away.

Sharon turned and saw Clint sitting in a foldout chair, only yards away from the opening of her tunnel. Her mouth gaped open as she saw Clint casually put his bow down and take a bite out of a sandwich he had in his lap.

"You know," He said as he swallowed his bite, "Next time you try to make an escape plan, take into consideration that I've been here for over a day and have had plenty of time to inspect the area. Also, use moss on the lid of your hatch, it'll muffle the clinking sound when it gets stepped on."

Sharon's mouth snapped shut as she straightened herself out. She felt incredibly stupid for not having seen Clint when she had first gotten out of the hatch. She felt even more stupid for not bothering to survey her surroundings as she had gotten out and started to leave. But most of all: Sharon was just all around pissed that her plan was thwarted and she had no escape.

Seeing the indignant expression on Sharon's face was almost enough to make Clint fall off his chair laughing, but he kept up his relaxed façade as he took another bite of his sandwich and took a drink out of his thermos, "Hungry?"

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Sharon yelled, turning around and stomping off. When Clint saw that she wasn't going towards the cabin he stood to follow her, throwing his sandwich in the bushes for the wolf to come back and eat.

"Okay, if you didn't want a sandwich you just had to say so!" He said, knowing he was being a real smartass now but was enjoying Sharon's annoyance far more than he should.

"You're unbelievable!" Sharon yelled, making more ground eating strides to get further away, but Clint was gaining on her.

"Sharon come on!"

"No, you come on! And get the hell out of here! I don't want you here!" Sharon yelled, unsnapping her bag and throwing it on the ground so the weight wouldn't slow her down.

"Sharon we need to talk and I'm not leaving till it happens."

"Well tough shit because I don't want to talk!" She yelled back at him.

"Aren't women supposed to want to talk? That's all you girls ever seem to want to do! What the heck is wrong with you?"

Sharon whirled around and glared at him, "What's WRONG with me!" She shrieked. Clint swallowed as he realized that was the wrong thing to say.

"I didn't mean it like that-"

"You're the one who won't leave me alone!" Sharon yelled, "Ever since we met you've been on my ass asking questions! Who am I? What do I do? Why am I head of the mission? Where did I learn to shoot? Well you know what Clint? Sometimes people don't get to know! You think that you know me? Well you don't and it's going to stay that way. You don't have a right to tell me when and where to go, no right to tell me anything or acting like you own me!"

Clint stared at her a moment, Sharon thought she made her point as she stared right back.

"Did you just quote a Kelly Clarkson song?"

"OH MY GOD!" Sharon yelled to the heavens as she turned and continued walking. Clint jogged to catch up and grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her, whirling her around so she was facing him and grabbing her other shoulder to keep her steady.

"Sharon stop,"

"No YOU stop!" She put two hands on his chest and pushed hard, but he didn't budge, "I came here to get away from all this, to be by myself and have some peace! And you just show up uninvited and practically cage me in."

"Share you and I both know that you're keeping stuff bottled up."

"You don't-"

Clint covered her mouth with his own to shut her up. Her voice died in her throat as he kissed her hard for a solid minute before releasing her.

"Now it's my turn to say something. In case it hasn't been perfectly obvious, I'm crazy about you," Clint said, Sharon's eyes widening as she stared at him, "I have been probably since the beginning. I have never been more fascinated, engaged, enamored, or even frustrated by anyone else. It's not that I won't leave you alone, it's that I can't leave you alone."

Sharon's throat seemed to close, making it impossible to say anything as Clint continued talking, "I want to be there for you, to help and support you. But you're going out of your way to make sure that doesn't happen. You don't think I know why, you thought I would just give up and move on. I'm not going to do that," Clint slid a hand up and played with Sharon's hair, "You're not scared, you're terrified out of your mind. And I'm going to promise you here and now that there is nothing you can say or do that will drive me away. I know way more than you're giving me credit for, and I'm still here."

Tears gathered in Sharon's eyes but she refused to blink out of fear of making them fall and Clint seeing. She swallowed again and looked away, "We're not going to do this."

"Not right now we won't, but we will eventually," Clint said, "And I'm going to be right here waiting for when that time comes."

Sharon let out a breath she had been holding in, "I have a guest room, you can stay in there."

Clint's eyebrows rose, "You're actually letting me inside?"

"My cabin, yes," Sharon said, giving Clint a pointed look, "Seeing as you won't let me leave, I might as well just let you stay inside rather than ruin my front lawn."

"Hey, You're lawn was already disheveled when I got here, do you not own a mower?" Clint said, "As for leaving, you can leave at any time you want."

Sharon's eyebrows furrowed, "But I thought you were staying?"

"Oh I'm staying all right," Clint said, "I'm staying wherever you are. Like I said, you can leave at any point in time. Just know that I'm going to go wherever you go and I'll be wherever you are."

"Wow," Sharon said with a nod, "You really are a stalker."

"I prefer the term Hawk," He said with a wink. They then turned and went back to the cabin, Sharon going to her room and locking her door with and sigh as Clint moved about the house moving some of his belongings into Angel's room.

Sharon walked over to her bed and flopped onto it with a heavy sigh; a lot of what Clint had said had been on right on the mark. She was terrified, terrified of so many things that she had lost track of them all. She was still iffy on the idea of talking things out with him, but the idea of getting more comfortable with his presence didn't seem all too bad. She'd done it with Angel, how different could Clint be?

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