Ivy here.

I found Edward outside, sitting in the trees.

He obviously heard me, but didn't turn around.

"Edward, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that I thought you were with HYDRA."

"You didn't. You just said that the possibility was there. And you're right. You have a lovely accent now, by the way."

"I shouldn't have said it in front of you. It hurt your feelings, and I'm sorry."

"It makes perfect sense."

Translation: it hurt a lot.

"I should have kept my mouth shut. I'm sorry."

He still hadn't turned around from his crouched position among the vegetation.

"I keep messing up today. I don't want to go to bed with this on my conscience."

"You're forgiven."

He didn't mean it.

"Edward, please turn around and look at me."

He did so.

"I didn't mean to hurt you or anyone."

"HYDRA beat up Sharon when they were trying to get information from her. She couldn't be with them. She told me not to say anything." He frowned.

"They wanted me to believe she was my friend. It was a brilliant move. Sharon made me happy, and was everything I needed whenever I needed her. They probably had some more complicated plan, which Jack Frost ruined." I sat down, facing him.

"Probably."

"How did my life turn out this way, Edward? I feel like it could have been different. I don't even know the details about how I got this power. The Doctor won't tell me. I've sunk lower than the people I think badly of. I'm a useless failure."

"Don't you ever say that!" Edward scrambled forward. "You're not a failure."

I burst out laughing. "Edward, there are a lot of things about me you don't know."

His face was so close he could have kissed me. I pulled mine away.

"Edward, listen." I took off my scarf, revealing the scars on my neck.

It was dim, but the light from the house cast enough that he could see them – and I could see his horrified expression.

"I did that. I'm not proud." My gaze locked with his. "That's one of many things on the list of my life's mistakes. Don't lie to yourself. If I had done things differently, I wouldn't be here. You're sweet. You care. I like that about you. But don't think I'm better than I am."

He pushed himself away slightly.

"You should go find someone else to have a crush on. There's lots of girls who would be more receptive to you. Who could date you."

"The more I know you, the more I see I like." He kept a respectful distance now.

"Edward. I can't even think about it. I don't know. I can't know. It's too dangerous for us both. Honestly, boys were something I didn't really think about until I met you. They were just my arrogant sparring partners." I stood. "I'm sorry. It shouldn't have been brought back up. I just wanted to go to sleep with one less thing on my conscience."

"If you want, I think Ariel has sleeping meds."

That didn't sound like too bad an idea.

"Do you honestly believe I'm with them?"

The words were like a knife to the chest.

"No. No. I could never believe that, not unless I saw very good proof. But I don't quite know who to trust right now."

"I'd tell you that you can trust me, but..." A small, forced laugh. "I suppose you shouldn't right now."

I shook my head. "Don't worry. It's nothing a talk with the Doctor shouldn't be able to clear up."

Ariel here.

I hate waking up the morning after something bad happens. You have a few wonderful moments of awareness that you've just woken up. Then the memory filters in, and you feel hurt and sick all over again. Or is that just me? Whatever.

Anyhow, I lay in bed for a while, listening to Miranda's peaceful breathing. Edward snored in the room next to me. Yes, I could hear him through the wall.

Everything I'd thought the day before played over and over again in my head. I curled into a ball and pushed against them. Why?

The door creaked open. I opened my eyes.

Ivy entered. "Ariel, you're awake."

What must her waking up have been up like?

"Where did you sleep?"

She blinked. "Sleep? Yeah, I guess I must have done that at some point." Her eyes were red and bags had formed under them.

"Where were you last night?" She had asked for some sleeping pills, but clearly hadn't taken them.

"So you're talking to me now?"

"Oh, I'm still mad. I'm just mad at so many people I need to take one off my list of people I'm not speaking to." I was tired of feeling anything anymore. Everything hurt.

"I thought you and Hawkeye apologized to each other."

"I did. I'm still angry." It physcially hurt my stomach to think, to feel anything.

"I'm sorry, Ariel. This is all my fault. If it wasn't for my condition, you wouldn't be going through any of this."

"It's not your fault." But it wasn't true. I did blame her.

"Whose fault is it, then?"

I said nothing, instead sitting up. "No one's, really." Another lie.

She sank to the floor and curled into a ball.

Miranda sat up from the mattress. "Ivy, come on. Let's go for a walk outside."

Ivy rose to her feet. "Yes. A walk."

Miranda hooked her arm and the two left.

Miranda narrating now.

The sky outside was pale, not quite proper morning yet. Damp grass soaked through my socks – I hadn't wanted to let go of Ivy's arm to put my shoes on.

"I dreamed about what happened last night. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night." Her tone was flat and expressionless.

She probably hadn't had a decent night's sleep for a while.

"You should have taken the pills."

"I'd talked with Edward and felt better. I thought I was strong enough to sleep without them."

"You are. But you don't have to do it on your own. Accepting help isn't cheating."

She snorted. "I know that. But taking them would have made me useless if something happened when I was sleeping. When S.H.I.E.L.D. insisted I talk to a therapist, he told me to take them. My parents couldn't wake me up the next morning and freaked out. Sleeping pills just make me nervous now. And I thought you were mad at me."

"Ivy, I can't stay angry. It's hard for me to do it for a while. Ariel and Jack, on the other hand... you've got work ahead of you. Edward seems pretty chill about the whole thing."

"Edward is chill about everything." A little smile crossed her face.

"You like him, don't you?"

"I've told him that it's no good talking about it right now." Her face shut down.

"Okay." There would be nothing from her on that subject. The opposite gender had always fancied her. And she had never spared them a second glance. For her to not outright deny attraction meant that something serious was going on.

I had so many questions about what was going on and what had happened, but now wasn't the time to ask.

"We can't be the way we were before." Her voice was soft. "You're going to study nursing?"

"Who told you?"

"The Doctor keeps an eye on you. He told me."

"He's... spying on us?" I had to force myself not to be annoyed – and to not fangirl. That awkward moment when... "Honestly, nothing will surprise me ever again. I'm going to regret that statement, aren't I?"

"Probably."

We both burst out laughing.

It felt wonderful to laugh, even over something like that.

Ivy bent over, her whole body shaking.

I sank to the ground, giggling.

We must have looked stupid, losing our minds over such a silly remark.

Still, it felt great, so I don't really care.