Hello!

BowTies23: Thank you for the review! :-) Cliffhangers- my specialty (an admittedly evil one, at that).

Hamster1000: Thank you sis! (Could you please stop bugging me when I'm trying to work from now on, though, if you're so eager to read more?!) =)

DISCLAIMER: I only own the idea, and my OC Emmaline, plus any poetry. I do not own the quotes, nor Ultimate Spider-Man (has anybody seen the one that they aired yesterday other than me?).

Chapter 13: Starting Over Again

"Now we're back to the beginning

It's just a feeling and no one knows yet

But just because they can't feel it too

Doesn't mean that you have to forget

Let your memories grow stronger and stronger

Until they're before your eyes

You'll come back

When they call you

No need to say goodbye."

-Regina Spektor, 'The Call'

Where am I? All I remember is being really, really angry at Deadpool, and then the aircraft exploded. Danny's here, though. That's why I woke up again.

I stand up, dusting the dirt off of my uniform. "Danny?" I say.

"What-" he gasps. Here inside of my energy bubble, it's warm and bright, kind of like we're on the inside of an enormous sphere. The bubble emits light, immersing us in shades of blue. Danny looks… terrible. His blonde hair is tangled, and his clothes look as if he's been sleeping in them- for a week. Those beautiful green eyes look so tired, and he has dark circles underneath his eyes. "You're… you're dead," Danny says in complete disbelief.

I look at him. Wait, S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks that I'm dead? They think I killed myself when I made the aircraft explode? "Not really. At least, I didn't think that I was dead…"

"What- what happened? How are you alive? You are alive…" he stammers.

I shrug. "I guess I created an energy bubble when I made the aircraft explode…"

"You made it explode?"

"Well, yeah, I was kind of angry at the time- stupid Deadpool, trying to kidnap me, like I'd let them take me that easily, like I haven't been running from them for years, I've had plenty of experience with mercenaries before, why would Deadpool be any different? Wait… you guys thought I'd died? In the aircraft? Oh, gosh… Deadpool was supposed to think I'd died, not you. I'm sorry…" I feel stupid as I attempt to apologize and explain at the same time.

"You are sorry?" Danny answers faintly, suddenly sitting down on the ground.

"Are- are you okay?" I ask him, taking a seat next to him.

"No, not really," he says, making me smile at him.

"Really, I am sorry that you thought that. I just was asleep, I guess- that took a lot of energy… you woke me up when you knocked."

Danny stares at me. "Knocked? I hit your 'bubble' with my iron fist!"

"Oh… sorry about that too…" I trail off uncomfortably. "Hey… would you mind not telling Nick about this whole thing? 'Cause if he finds out, he's going to make me start using my powers way more than I do now, and that's something I'd seriously like to avoid- I'm not so great with controlling it, I can pretty much manage to make a bubble or have stuff explode, that's all I've tried doing when I practice alone-"

"Good luck trying," Danny shakes his head. "You are marked as dead according to the government-"

"-I have been for years, if you look in public records I 'died' when I was six-"

"-and everyone is still under that impression. There was a memorial service scheduled for Sunday, but the officers had not cleared it safe to search for your body, and we wanted to be certain that we could not hold a funeral-"

"Funeral?" I interrupt. "Oh no…" I sigh to myself. "I really am sorry, I just didn't wake up until you tried breaking my bubble, and I've been asleep this whole time…" On a sudden whim, I wrap my arms around Danny, who for a moment is stiff, then hugs me back, so tightly that I can't breathe.

"Perhaps we should get back to our teammates…" he whispers in my ear, and we let go.

"I'm not very good at getting rid of these things," I warn, as I attempt to bring the energy back into me, struggling with the amount and intensity- there's enough energy here for dozens of people; explosions make more energy, and I harnessed that power into this.

I can't get rid of it, though. It's too much to hold in. I'm buzzing already, and the bubble's only just starting to thin. Danny walks up to me and puts a hand on my bare shoulder, though, and I feel it all wash away in a wave of calm, dissipating into the world around me. Slowly, the dome of energy fades away, until I'm kneeling in the middle of an enormous pit, beside Danny, in the rain.

Our teammates are standing there, open-mouthed. I feel dizzy, though, and my vision is starting to fuzz over. I fall to my side, into what should have been mud, but strong arms lift me up and carry me instead, and I curl up into Danny's warm, safe arms, burying my face into his chest.

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1 week later…

Ava, Luke, Sam, and Peter didn't believe that it was me, alive. I felt that I owed them an explanation, and told them about the energy bubble that I made- except that I told them that I did it instinctively, not on purpose, which was a lie. When I told Nick that story, though, he didn't believe me, and ordered me to tell him the whole truth, so I did. (I was right; Nick says he expects me to use my mutation whenever I go on missions from now on.)

I stayed in my bedroom for a day, but then things went back to normal. I've gone on two missions so far, and they went really well. They were just basic 'petty' criminals like the Leaper, but I actually enjoyed helping out. It felt good and right to be doing something for other people.

Today's another training session. We've been having them twice a day lately, simply because Nick thinks we have 'too much free time'. I've been sleeping better at night, now, because I'm so exhausted after the second training session, though I've had Memory Dreams every night.

When we get there, Nick tells us to divide into two teams. He assigns Ava and Peter as the team captains. I end up with Ava and Sam, while Peter chooses Luke and Danny. We end up racing throughout a course, except that neither team ends up winning; there are 'traps' throughout it, and nobody makes it far enough to even get close to the finish line.

Sam, typically, gets caught right away by a giant magnet that his helmet gets stuck to. Peter's next; he steps on some sort of button, which traps him in a box. I end up getting tied to the ceiling by Peter's web shooters, which start malfunctioning just before he gets trapped. Ava gets stuck in an enormous pit of water filled with robots that are trying to murder her, and Danny gets trapped by this goo-monster thing that looks like grape jelly. Luke is knocked to a wall by a giant robot and doesn't get back up in time.

I stay afterwards with Danny to ask him with help on my Taekwondo training, because I need help with my spinning hook kick. Carefully, Danny grasps my leg and shows me how to hold my foot, readjusting me. The whole time, we talk, and Danny makes me laugh. We walk out giggling together, and Danny suddenly kisses me in the corridor outside.

Oh- those lips! I kiss him back, and the butterflies are going crazy, the moment lasting for a blissful eternity yet only a mere second; when we finally break free, Danny looks away, embarrassed.

"I- I am sorry. I should not have done that."

"No! Thank you, Danny," I whisper.

"You are okay with it?"

I'm blushing now, but I've never felt so happy. "I- I- Danny, thank you for the kiss, it was wonderful..."

Danny's eyes light up, and we lean in to kiss again, our lips just brushing when Sam lets out a yelp from the corner. We back away, with both of us blushing furiously.

"What- what are you doing?!"

I stammer, "Nothing Sam! Just- just- I have to go, bye, sorry Danny!" I dash down the hallway, not looking back. Typically, I run right into Ava, who sees my reddened face and is instantly suspicious.

"Hey, Em! Watch where you're- what's wrong with you?" she demands.

"No- nothing, Ava! Got to go!" I say, trying to run around her, but Ava catches my arm.

"Hey, what's wrong?! Seriously, you can tell me, I won't breathe a word to anybody," Ava says.

I blush again, then whisper, "I'll tell you later, Ava, I'm trying to avoid Sam right now!" I break free, and dash away to my bedroom.

The next morning, Danny and I avoid meeting each other's eyes during breakfast. We both arrive early, and gulp our food down, so that we're gone long before Sam is even awake. During training, though, he's impossible to stay away from.

I stay far enough way that I can't hear what he's muttering to Luke, but I know what he's saying anyways, from the way Luke glances from me to Danny and back again. Ava looks at me, but I can't tell what she's thinking because of her mask.

Peter joins in on Sam's conversation with Luke, and the surprise is apparent on his face. For the first time, I hate that my mask only covers the top half of my face; I know that I'm blushing. Danny is attempting to converse with Ava, but she's not paying much attention, and even she can tell that he's uncomfortable. By now, I'm certain that Ava has guessed what happened yesterday.

The training session is extraordinarily awkward, especially when Coulson (oblivious to Sam's whispering) makes Danny and I partners. As we avoid the robots and smash whatever comes at us, Danny mutters to me, "Would you like to get out of the Tricarrier for a little while this weekend?"

My heart leaps up, and I nod as I touch a robot, absentmindedly absorbing the energy. Danny grins back at me.

"How about we leave for some dinner on Friday night?"

I can't stop the smile from spreading across my face, and the butterflies go crazy. "What time?" I ask shyly as I touch another robot.

Danny, punching one of the machines, says, "Well… I was thinking we could leave at six?"

"Sure!" I say, trying to contain my excitement, absorbing the energy from some sort of trap. The lights go out, and I hear Ava groan. "Oops…"

"CARLSON!" I hear Coulson roar from inside of the control room as he bangs his fist on the computer. "NOT AGAIN!"

"You should probably go," Danny warns. I nod, dashing out of the room, still thrilled for Friday to come, even though it's only Tuesday.

Ava catches up to me as I hurry through the hallways. "Em! Wait up!" I slow down and let her match my pace, still unbelievably excited. "Did you really kiss Danny?" she hisses at me.

"He kissed me, actually," I say, grinning happily to myself as I skip toward my bedroom. Ava gapes at me.

"Seriously?! Wow…" Ava shakes her head. "Just- wow… I mean, Danny's not, you know- oh, wow."

I grin at my friend. "Ava… I need your help… please?"

Ava frowns at me. "With what?"

"Once we're in my room, I'll tell you," I say, and we hurry over to my bedroom. When the door is safely shut, I tell her in a hushed voice about Friday, and Ava's eyebrows shoot up.

"Wow. You said yes? To a date?"

I feel my face go red. "It's not- oh, fine, I guess it is," I shuffle my feet, grinning stupidly at the floor. "And, I know this sounds stupid, but…" my voice drops to a whisper, "…but I don't know what to wear. And you're the only other girl… I've never been on a date before…"

Ava shakes her head at me, but she's smiling. "Jeez, do I look like I know much about dating?"

"Um… yeah," I admit.

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, whatever, but… what do you have to wear?"

I show her my nicest clothing; that is, a few shirts that aren't stained, pilly, or too small. Ava shakes her head at me.

"You really need to go shopping," she tells me. "Come on, we're leaving." Ava drags me out of my room, towards the exit.

I sputter, "Wait? Now? As in, now now?"

"Yes," Ava says. As we pass Sam and Peter arguing, they turn and stare at us as we walk away. "Jeez! Don't let us bother your bickering!" she throws over her shoulder as we leave.

A half hour later, we're in the middle of New York City, surrounded by clothing stores. All of them are full to the brim with what looks like fashionable stuff. Ava drags me into the nearest store, and brings me to the dressing room, throwing clothes in for me to try on. The majority of the clothes are tightly fit, and very short. Ava critically examines them, then chucks them either into the 'buy' pile or the 'no way' pile. I watch, amazed, as the 'buy' pile slowly grows higher and higher, until Ava tells me it's time to check out.

We go through a few more stores like this, until Ava says that I have enough clothes to get me by, for now. It was fun doing something with her, and I didn't think Ava would be this good at shopping and, well, those sorts of things. Truthfully, though, she picked out some nice stuff, even if most of it wasn't anything I would have ever bought otherwise (after all, I would never have entered those stores, if it wasn't for Ava).

Back at the Tricarrier, Ava helps me put everything away (and throw out some ragged old junk). Out with the old and in with the new, as the saying goes. Then we go through everything until Ava pronounces the outfit for Friday as 'perfect'. I grin at her, thanking her over and over, but Ava just waves me off and makes me promise not to tell the boys.

The rest of the week drags by. I'm really excited for Friday. My teammates are starting to drive me a little crazy- everybody sees so much of each other, we can't help but get on each other's nerves. Sam hasn't said anything about what he saw, and I think Ava's made him promise not to; he cringes whenever she enters the room.

On Friday morning, I wake up at four in the morning. I can't get back to sleep because I'm too excited, so I take a long shower. When I say long shower, I mean a good half hour shower, maybe even longer.

There isn't any training today (Coulson's at a school board meeting), so I try to pass the time with a book, but the minutes snail by. I could swear that somebody is purposefully slowing the hours into seconds, so that every time I glance at the clock, only a few seconds have passed. At nine, I eat breakfast. (I don't dare to eat earlier and risk running into any of my teammates.)

I attempt to practice my Taekwondo form, but my heart isn't in it, and my movements are stiff, because I can't seem to concentrate. Next I try doing yoga, but that doesn't work either. I can't seem to concentrate on even the simplest things.

At last, it's five o'clock. I start trying to get dressed. First I try on my clothes, which fit quite well. It's a dress, which is completely the opposite of what I'd usually wear, but Ava says that I look beautiful in it. The neck scoops down, leaving my shoulders bare, but doesn't show any cleavage (thank goodness). It is light and flowing, and goes down to my knees. The dress is short-sleeved so you can't see my tattoo, and I like the creamy shade of blue.

I squash my feet into black flats. I don't put on any jewelry, but I do attempt to apply some makeup that I bought when I was with Ava. The blush won't cooperate, but the lip-gloss looks nice. I manage to get some black eyeliner on, too. The eye-shadow looks too daunting, so I let that be. I slip off my glasses and put my contacts in, instead.

Finally, I try to figure out what to do with my hair. I feel stupid for thinking about all these things, but I can't help it. At last, I unbraid it, letting it fall past my waist in its typical waves. Knowing that I'll be late if I don't hurry, I hastily brush it, and then rush to the kitchen.

However, Luke's already sitting at the table, eating a hamburger. He turns around, and his eyes widen in surprise. "Emmaline?" he says in disbelief. I stare at the floor, embarrassed, and decide that Danny will probably still be able to find me if I wait in the living room (which is connected to the kitchen).

After another few minutes, Danny walks in. The butterflies are going completely insane, and I'm nervous, for some reason. He's wearing a nice white polo and khakis, and when he sees me, Danny's eyes practically pop out of their sockets. "Hello, Emma," he greets me warmly, quickly regaining his calm aura.

I smile back at him. "Hi, Danny."

The whole way to the city, we're quiet. Danny is his normal quiet, the way he usually is, but I really don't know what to say. I'm just happy.

We walk down the busy sidewalk, and I feel my hand slip into his. "Where would you like to eat?" Danny softly asks me, my hair blowing gently in the wind.

"Wherever you want to," I smile back.

"I know a vegetarian place on 12th street?" he offers, and I nod, happily enjoying his company. Once we've arrived at the restaurant, Angelica Kitchen, and our orders have been taken, we start talking. It feels so good to have a friend to talk to, to spend time with.

We talk about life in general back home. Because that's what the Tricarrier has become to us; home. Together, we laugh over Peter's and Sam's pranks on each other, and all the various things that have happened over the past few months.

Soon we reach heavier topics, though. It doesn't matter; I can tell Danny anything. When I trust somebody, I give them my heart to hold. We talk about our powers, arousing more laughter. The topic of our pasts is carefully avoided; some things are too dark to discuss over dinner.

The food is delicious, but I hardly notice, I'm so enthralled with Danny. His eyes sparkle whenever he smiles or laughs, which he does often. He's so free right now, just talking about everything that's happening, instead of trying to always keep his composure and be the mature Iron Fist.

Danny insists on paying for the food. After dinner, we walk aimlessly for a while, laughing together. He offers to bring me to the new nature documentary at the theatre, and together we watch it. My hand slips back into his again halfway through the movie, and when the elephant dies at the end, I can't help but crying even though it's just a movie, because I know it really happened (this is a documentary, after all).

By the time the movie ends, it's nine. We walk through Central Park together, discussing the film. Eventually Danny and I sit down beside each other on a bench, just watching the world around us, silently. It's the most beautiful night I've ever seen, and this is the happiest I've ever felt before. I turn to say something to Danny, to find he's already looking at me. We get closer and closer until our lips meet, and we're kissing again, lost in the glory of the moment, until we break apart, laughing.

We agree that it's probably time to get back home, and as we stroll to the Tricarrier, I can't believe how happy I feel inside. The butterflies have disappeared, and are replaced by a warm, burning flame inside my heart.

Outside the door to my bedroom, Danny whispers me goodnight, and I kiss him goodbye. Except it's not really goodbye; it's "Hello until next time". Before he leaves me, though, he quietly asks if I'd like to do this again Wednesday, obviously embarrassed. Grinning, I tell him that of course I'd love to, and he walks away, grinning happily to himself.

As I collapse onto my bed, already nearly asleep, my heart is soaring and I sleepily wonder if Danny knows that I'm grinning to myself too.

How was it? Sorry if it was too sappy after all the intense chapters, but I felt like I needed to write something lighthearted and happy. J I spent like 5 or 6 hours on this chapter, so I really hope that it's decent.

-FFS