Awakening Quake
By Misha

Disclaimer and Notes in Chapter One

Chapter Nine: Dance With Me

Tony Stark never did anything by half-measures, Skye realized.

Even though it was just their small party of eleven, the hall was still done up formally. There were three tables, two of four and one of three, set up and spread out and there was a dance floor. It looked like a very small, but very elegant banquet.

Skye noted that Tony had even hired people to serve them. She wondered what it was like to get that job and she couldn't believe that she was on the other end of things. This was her life now. At least, for the moment, though every day she started to believe a little bit more that this could be permanent and that she might actually get to stay here.

"What's with the little tables?" Clint asked, looking around.

"I figure it's more intimate than our normal seating arrangements." Tony told him. "Seating is assigned."

"Of course it is." Natasha muttered.

Skye stood nervously, wondering who she was eating with.

A moment later, a uniformed waiter appeared to show them to their tables. Ok, this was officially over the top.

Pepper and Tony and Jane and Thor had the first table. Then Darcy, Sam and Bruce. Which left Skye with Steve, Natasha and Clint.

"Oh." She said with a blush. She looked up at Steve. "You can switch with Darcy if you like and sit with Sam and Bruce."

"Do you want me to?" Steve asked, his eyes focused on her.

"No." Skye admitted.

She could see Natasha smirking at her and glared at the redhead, who just grinned.

"Good, neither do I." He told her as they were shown to their table. He held out her chair for her and then sat once she was settled.

"This is cozy," Natasha commented with a knowing grin.

And Skye started wondering exactly how stupid it would be to kick the Black Widow under the table.

"Three tables in a banquet hall meant to hold 300 people isn't exactly my definition of the word 'cozy'." Clint said dryly. "Sometimes, I think Tony has too much money."

"Only sometimes?" Skye asked, causing the three of them to laugh.

"I can't complain too loudly, he does fund the Avengers," Clint pointed out, "without him he wouldn't be able to do what we do."

"Just don't let him hear you, we don't need his ego to get any bigger than it already is." Natasha joked.

"This is an amazing set-up." Skye said, "I mean, not just this. But the whole tower."

There was even a movie theatre. Steve and Thor spent a lot of time there, trying to catch up with pop culture. Skye had been living there three weeks and still hadn't seen all of the Tower yet.

For a girl who had once lived in her van, it was definitely a little overwhelming. She had yet to find a good cozy spot to be by herself yet. Even her apartment was too big to really be comforting. Though she did enjoy the giant bed and bath tub after living on the Bus for so long.

0

Skye found that she really enjoyed dinner. Natasha and Steve were the two members of the team she was most comfortable with and Clint had warmed up considerably since their first meeting.

The conversation was light and the food was fantastic.

"Is there really going to be dancing?" Skye asked as their plates were cleared away.

Clint rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately."

Skye remembered what Darcy said about how Clint refused to dance and laughed. "I love dancing." She admitted. "It makes me feel relaxed."

Just then music started playing from somewhere and Skye saw Tony leading Pepper onto the dance floor.

"I think that's your cue solider," Natasha said with a grin.

Skye blushed as Steve stood up. "May I have this dance?"

"Yes." She told him and he took her hand and led her onto the dance floor. The music playing was a soft romantic ballad.

"I'm not really up on modern dances," he admitted. "And I'm sure you don't know how to swing dance, so…"

"There's nothing wrong with swaying to the music," Skye told him, "but I do know how to swing dance if like?"

"You can swing dance?" Steve asked in surprise.

"One of the foster homes I lived in, the mother was a ballroom dance teacher." Skye explained. "I was there for about 6 months and I guess it stuck."

As she spoke, she and Steve had started doing a simple dance. It had been a long time since she'd done this type of dancing and never with a partner as muscular as Steve, but it came pretty easily. As if on cue, the next song that played a big band style song, perfect for swing dancing and they effortlessly swung into a more complex dance. They learnt each other's cues and soon, they were dancing in time with the music and with each other.

"My turn," Skye hadn't even realized the music had changed, until Tony put a hand on her shoulder.

Steve nodded politely and handed her over to Tony.

"I figure it's the host job to dance with all the beautiful women at least once," Tony said with a grin.

"It's a hardship." Skye teased back. Weirdly enough, Tony was the one that she felt the most comfortable teasing. He had such an over-the-top personality that it was hard not to feel at ease with him.

"You enjoying your 'welcome to the team' celebration?" He asked her.

She blinked in surprise. "Is that what this is?"

"More or less." He told her with a shrug. "We can give it more time if you like, but we're all in agreement that you would make an excellent Avenger, Skye. We just need to work on that code name."

Deep down Skye had to admit that some part of her had secretly hoped that once she got her powers under control, she could go back to S.H.I.E.L.D and her old team, even though, she had technically left S.H.I.E.L.D. Becoming an Avenger would end that hope. At the same time, it was an amazing opportunity.

"I've never thought of myself as a super hero." She admitted.

Tony laughed. "I don't think any of us did. Life happens, it's what you make of it that matters."

That was one way of putting it. The song ended then, before Skye could think up a response. Tony patted her shoulder and then went to claim Jane for a dance.

Skye was about to sit down, but then suddenly Steve was there again.

"Another dance?"

"You don't have to keep dancing with me." She told him, accepting his hand.

"I want to." He assured and then smiled, "plus it's nice dancing with someone who doesn't think my dance moves are archaic."

Skye smiled at the reference to Darcy, who was currently dancing with Sam, and then smiled. "I wouldn't call it archaic. A little old-fashioned maybe, but those dances are classic and will never go out of style."

Like the man holding her hand, he was a throwback from a different era, but Skye didn't think that old fashioned manner and charm would ever be out-dated. In fact the world needed more men like Steve Rogers.