For those of you who haven't seen, I have posted the prologue for my Bruce/Natasha fic titles The Other Side of Me! Go have a look and let me know what you think!
Dedicated to Kyla, who looks like a chipmunk today
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
Sharon awoke slowly, her eyes heavy and tired from the tears she'd shed the night before. The sunlight streamed from her window and lit her room up warmly. She became aware of the movement of a chest on her back.
Her eyes looked to see two arms wrapped around her abdomen, holding her to Clint's front. She concentrated a moment longer and judged his breathing to be deep enough to prove sleep.
Proving once again she was as slick as she thought she was, she slid out of his grip without waking him. She stood and looked to see Clint sleeping, his clothes rumpled and damp from sleeping on the wet portion of her bed. Her mind flashed back to her awakening from him splashing cold water on her last night.
Her heart felt heavy as she realized he'd probably witnessed a performance of her having a nightmare, a site only Angel had ever been a witness to. She walked into her bathroom and washed her face of the tearstains on her cheeks and brushed her hair back into a ponytail.
Clint was still asleep on the bed when Sharon walked back out. She grabbed her cell phone from its charger and put it in her pocket as she went to her door. She stopped when she noticed it was still locked without any signs of forced entry. She went over to her windows and looked to see if they had been opened but they were all still locked from the night before.
Her eyes furrowed in confusion as her mind spun to figure out how Clint had gotten into her room when she realized he knew about her tunnel. She'd never locked it after that night a week ago. She looked at the door and could see the carpet that normally covered it had slid out of place as if the door had been opened.
Having figured that mystery out she unlocked her bedroom door and went out to the kitchen. She stopped in the entrance when she saw the place was spotless, not a speck of flour in sight.
Surprised that there weren't any bits of evidence of their battle from the evening before Sharon could practically hear Angel's voice in her head crowing, he's willing to clean the kitchen for you, obviously he's perfect for you.
Sharon shook the voice out of her head and walked over to the stove and putting the kettle on to heat up some tea for her. The kettle had begun to whistle and Sharon was pouring the hot water into her mug when she heard footsteps come down the hall from her bedroom. She looked up as Clint entered the kitchen and stopped in the doorway to watch Sharon put together her tea.
"Morning," He said, his voice deep from sleep. Sharon swallowed back the thoughts of how much that voice made her want to press herself up against him and do things that would put porn stars to shame.
"Morning," She said, her voice hoarse from sobbing and crying.
"How are you?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to scare her off.
"Fine," She answered, taking a sip of her hot teeth and ignoring the burning feeling it made as she swallowed a mouthful.
Clint opened his mouth to say something else when Sharon's phone began to ring in her pocket.
She pulled it out and answered it, "Hello?"
"Miss Carver?"
"Agent Coulson, how can I help you?" Sharon asked, thankful for the distraction.
"We need you and Agent Barton to come in, a situation has come up."
"Has the Tesseract been taken again?" Sharon asked, setting her cup down and making eye contact with Clint, who was now listening intently.
"The Tesseract is safe. We need to assemble the Avengers for a different threat. We've already made contact with Miss Stark and Captain Rogers who are now on their way in. This is a situation that will more likely affect you the most. The briefing is this evening."
"We'll be there," Sharon said, hanging up and turning to Clint who was already turning to go pack up his car.
"How soon can you get us there?" Sharon asked.
"This afternoon, I've got a jet on standby nearby." Clint said, "Go pack what you need and we'll leave in an hour."
Sharon nodded and went to her room, moving to pull out her duffel from her closet when she heard Clint come to her doorway.
She looked up and saw Clint watching her, "You okay?"
Sharon swallowed and nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Clint walked over and pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Sharon awkwardly stood with her arms at her sides for a moment, not used to this sort of affection and not entirely sure how to react to it.
Clint pulled back and smiled kindly, "Don't worry, I'll help you along the way."
Sharon's heart squeezed and she pressed her lips together to keep them from quivering. She wanted to cry again, but she needed to focus on the task at hand and settled for just a nod as she turned away and pulled out her duffel and set it on her bed and began to pack what she needed as Clint went to his room to pack.
It took less then fifteen minutes for them both to pack up Clint's car and only thirty to clean the house and lock it up before leaving. Sharon was sad to leave the place behind again, but she was eager for the distraction that would await them at the SHIELD helicarrier.
*.*.*.*.*.
Angel went straight to her quarters upon landing on the carrier, leaving Steve to go to his own quarters. The two hadn't spoken since they'd gotten the phone call to come in. Angel was still angry at Steve's ridiculous behavior from the night before. Knowing Sharon would be joining her soon gave her a small amount of relief, as she would have her best friend there to vent and bitch to.
She unpacked her belongings and sat on her bed as she decided what she would do next. Sharon wasn't due to arrive for another few hours, so Angel would have to keep herself occupied for the duration of that time to keep herself from going stir crazy.
Not wanting to see Steve at the moment, Angel decided to go visit the Tesseract lab where she hoped she would find Bruce and see if there was work to do. She entered the lab and her eyes widened as took in the sight of Pepper throwing a clipboard at Tony's head.
"Are you crazy!" Tony yelled but Pepper was beyond control.
"You're an idiot!" She yelled at him, whirling to leave the room but pausing when she saw Angel standing there, "Oh Angel, I didn't see you there."
"I just walked in, everything okay here?"
"Everything is fine," Pepper said before walking to make her exit.
"Yes… because throwing clipboards at your fiancée's head is perfectly normal…" Tony muttered, Pepper whirled around and fixed him with a glare.
"It's normal when he's gone and decided that we're getting married and announces it to the public before bothering to ask me!" Pepper snarled.
"Wow Tony," Angel said, "Way to get the girl."
"I was working up to it! It slipped out!" Tony said, "I wasn't thinking!
"You're damn right you weren't thinking!" Pepper growled, "This is why I won't marry you!"
"Pepper, come on!"
"I'm leaving and don't you dare follow me out! Angel, manipulate him if you have to," With that Pepper stormed out of the room, leaving Angel and Tony alone.
"So…" Angel started, "Still as stupid as ever I see."
"I'm sorry, who's the one who built an arc reactor in a cave?"
"You don't get to use that excuse anymore Tony," Angel shot back at him, shaking her head, "What did you think was going to happen?"
"It honestly just slipped out. I thought that she would be overwhelmed with shock and joy!" Tony said, sitting heavily in a desk chair and resting his head in his hands, "I haven't even chosen a ring yet…"
Angel sighed and walked over to Tony, she pulled up another desk chair and sat down beside him. He looked up, "Don't manipulate me Angel, I'm still in control here."
"I know that, I'm attempting at a real moment of sisterly comfort. Don't ruin it!" With that she pulled Tony into a hug, "You may be a doofus, but Pepper loves you. Give her time to cool down and then try again."
Tony nodded and sighed, "Would using the mach 5 be a little much?"
"Just a tad," Angel said, knowing she was going to have to work with Tony on this, "Don't go to buy the ring without me, you're going to need my help on this one whether you like it or not."
*.*.*.*.*.
Clint and Sharon's arrival to the carrier had its similarities to Steve and Angel's. While the two weren't necessarily angry at each other, there was an air of awkward tension as the two didn't talk or mention the night before.
Sharon grabbed her duffel and exited the jet without a word to Clint; he followed closely behind and walked with her until they reached her quarters.
"I'm going to be at my nest, see you at the meeting?" Clint said. Sharon nodded, he leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "I meant what I said before."
With that he left her standing there, feelings welling up in her chest with no means of escape. With that she walked into her quarters, disappointed that Angel wasn't there to talk to. Sharon didn't have the patience to stick around and wait nor did she want to wander around the carrier to look for Angel, so she dumped her duffel and left the room.
She headed in the familiar direction of the weapons room, bypassing that to go into the boxing room. Her mouth quirked into a smirk as she saw Steve going at the punching bag. The scene was all too familiar and filled her with amusement as she guessed what he was frustrated about.
"Long day?" she called out.
Steve recognized her voice but didn't pause, "You have no idea. But seeing as Angel is your best friend, I imagine that you do."
Sharon chuckled, "slow down there slugger and sit and talk with me."
Steve sighed and stopped punching the bag. He straightened up and walked to the bench and sat down, Sharon walked over and did the same.
"We seem to be finding ourselves on this bench a lot," Sharon said, Steve chuckled.
"You're having troubles too?"
"That would be putting it lightly," Sharon said with her own sigh.
"Wanna go first?"
"Nah, your troubles are more entertaining," she said, "Spill."
Once he started, Steve couldn't stop. He started with his beliefs in waiting until the right moment and wanting everything to be perfect. He didn't want to hurt Angel and because he was inexperienced himself he knew that it was a distinct possibility.
He then moved on to their meeting with Logan and the feelings of jealousy that have been consuming him ever since. He felt himself go red with shame and embarrassment as he recounted his actions the night before and admitted his less than noble motives behind them.
When he was done, Sharon sat in silence for a moment to process it all before chuckling, "Well aren't you on thin ice, eh Cap?" She laughed out loud while Steve glared at her, "I'm sorry, I can't resist a good pun."
"You think you're funny…"
"Oh I know I'm funny," Sharon said, "What's funnier is how mistaken you are about Logan, he's practically an uncle to us."
Steve looked at her with a confused expression, "What do you mean?"
"Logan is older than you are, he's been around for god knows how long. For Angel to get into a relationship with him would be something akin to pedophilia," Sharon said, shuddering at the thought, "We've known Logan since we were little girls, the man hardly ages so he looks the same as he did then."
"So, they weren't together at any point?"
"God no!" Sharon said with a laugh, "It would be like incest to Angel, she see's him as family."
"Ugh!" Steve hit his forehead with his hand, "How do I keep doing this to myself?"
"Don't be to hard on yourself cap, you're out of time and aren't used to social customs of the new millennia." Sharon patted him on the back, "You're not the only one who messes up, you know?"
Steve looked up and nodded, "Your turn to spill?"
Sharon sighed, the weight returning to her stomach and the confusion welling up in her head, "I'm sure Angel's told you a lot about me."
"Only the good stuff," Steve said with a smile, "What you told me the last time we were here is the extent of what I know about your troubles."
Sharon nodded and swallowed, "I haven't told Clint about my time with Stryker, I'm pretty sure he has no idea I was ever with Stryker. I've taken measures to make sure no one knows of my past. As of right now only you, Angel, and Fury know of that point in my past. I wish I could keep it that way."
"But keeping that a secret doesn't open you up to a relationship, does it?"
Sharon shook her head, "I went to my cabin because I was determined not to get into a relationship with Clint, to make space so that he could forget and move on. So much for that plot?"
"Yeah… sorry about that…" Steve said sheepishly, "For the record, we did it for your own good."
Sharon chuckled, "I guess, I can see where you guys were coming from, and I appreciate it. I'm just still figuring out how to… deal with it all I guess."
"What is there to deal with?" Steve asked.
"I've never done a relationship before because I actively avoid them. I don't like needing someone, I'm self-sufficient."
Steve nodded, "Well I don't think Barton is the type to tamper down your freedom or anything of the like."
"Yeah I know, I'm still not open to letting him all the way in."
"He accepts you as you are, isn't that what you want."
Sharon thought for a moment about that, he already knew about her mutation and the extent of her powers, "Yeah but he doesn't know about Stryker…"
"What's stopping you from telling him? I don't think he's going to run away because you had a harsh upbringing."
"It's not that I don't want to tell him, it's that I don't want to talk about it because talking about it makes it real. If there is anything that I really wish for, it's for that experience to cease to exist, I wish it wasn't real," Sharon said with a sigh, "Now Clint really knows something is happening, he caught me having a nightmare last night. We haven't talked about it but I know he wants to. I just want it all to cease to exist."
"This may sound odd, but that experience is a huge part of the person you are today," Steve said, "When I look at you I see a strong, independent woman. That's something to be proud of in my book. I don't believe that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger; I believe that what doesn't kill you makes a fighter."
Sharon snorted and laughed, Steve looked at her like she lost it, "What? I'm serious."
"No it's not that, it's an inside joke with Clint, you wouldn't get it unless you know who Kelly Clarkson was." She said with another laugh.
"I wish I had jokes with Angel…" Steve said, sighing, "What am I going to do?"
"You're going to apologize to her and explain your feelings to her. You aren't going to get anywhere if you act like me and make assumptions all the time." Sharon said, "Go shower and figure out what you're going to say, I'll talk with Angel after the meeting and see how she's feeling."
"I will, just as soon as I expect you to find a way to talk to Barton and lay out your thoughts on the table so he can help you work through them. You want to be with him right?"
Sharon paused before nodding, she wanted to deny it but it would have been the biggest lie she'd have ever told.
Steve smiled, "You can do it, now hop to it!"
"Hey! Just because you're a Captain doesn't mean you can order me around bucko!"
"If you can give me orders than I can do the same to you, now go!" Steve said with a smile, standing up and pulling Shar up with him. He gave her a gentle shove towards the door and watched her leave.
He felt better having gotten his feelings off his chest and having gotten clarification about who Logan was and his connection to Angel. Though that relief was soon replaced with guilt that he'd been so quick to make assumptions again. This was the second time he had made a judgment before finding out all the facts of a situation, and he was determined to see to it that this was the last time that would ever happen.
Feedback is always appreciated!
Alasiel