CHAPTER NINE
( T.K.O. )
THE WOODEN FLOORBOARDS creaked underneath the weight of Quinn's feet as she walked through the hallway, leather jacket still slung around her shoulders. She let out a deep yawn as shuffled her way to her room.
Before she entered she looked at Jo's door, shut tightly as it had been since yesterday. She wondered if Jo was even home still. She hadn't gotten a word out of her since their argument on Saturday. She let out a sigh before dropping her dignity and making her way towards the door.
She stood outside, ready to knock, but hesitated as she thought of the correct words to say to her. She had royally messed up with trying to convince her to work when she didn't want to; although they did need the money. Jo wasn't a child, she was an adult who could make her own decisions and Quinn shouldn't rely on her all the time.
Before she could even knock on the door, it swung open to reveal an unfamiliar face. The man jumped in surprise at her presence, as did Quinn. Instinctively, and relying on pure impulse, she rears her fist back and it connects with the strange man's face before he can even process what is happening.
As he lands on his face she notices the peculiar lack of clothes on his body, causing her brows to raise in surprise as she gawks at his backside. She hears a shout from within the room, then a half-nude Jo approaches the man's unconscious body, crouching beside him. Quinn quickly makes the connection, taking an involuntarily step backward as Jo looks up at her with confused yet frightened eyes.
"What is wrong with you?" she shouts as she begins feeling the man's neck for a pulse. Quinn swoops down, lifting one shoulder of the man and flipping him over to his back, before propping him up against the wall. She averts her eyes as Jo covers up his nude. "Well, now what am I supposed to do to?" Jo asks in exasperation, caressing the man's face endearingly.
"For starters, I think we should address the fact that he's not dead," Quinn suggests, biting down on her thumb as she looks at the bright red mark resting on the man's chin. Jo, in turn, glares up at her roommate. Quinn was sure she hated her now.
"What the hell is your problem?" Jo spits out angrily, causing Quinn to take another step back. "You can't just go around throwing blows like that? He's in such terrible shape, you're basically a cop. You could've killed him!" she shouts.
Quinn raises her hands up in surrender, jacket squeaking along with her. "That's an exaggeration. Also, it's one thirty; I was coming to apologize for how I've been acting, and a strange man comes out of nowhere. A reasonable person who's scared would have done the same," she tries to defend herself.
Jo sighs in frustration as she looks down at the man again. "Can you at least help me get him in my bed?" she asks Quinn. Quinn's face becomes bright red with embarrassment as she looks at the mostly nude man, then back to Jo.
To her dismay, Quinn agrees to help out. She takes one side of the man, slinging his arm around her shoulders; she tries her best to not think about the lack of clothes that separate them. They struggle to lay down on to Jo's bed, as Jo is significantly smaller than Quinn and lacks the right strength to carry anything heavier than fifty pounds.
They flop his unconscious form on to the plush, silk sheets of Jo's bed, her roommate quickly turning him over so he can breathe properly. She lets out another sigh of frustration as she stares at how he's positioned in her bed. He lays horizontally right smack dab in the middle.
"How am I supposed to sleep?" Jo wonders out loud, as she attempts to crawl up on her pillows to figure out a sleeping position. "You could always sleep in my bed," Quinn offers, tossing her a shirt off her floor so she can cover her upper body.
"Why would I sleep in your bed?" Jo scoffs as she puts the shirt on. "We're in this mess because of you," she glares at her, watching Quinn squirm uneasily under the glare. Her roommate crosses her arms as she shifts uncomfortably on her heels.
"I know, I just wanted to offer. I think it'd be a good idea, you could actually get some sleep," Quinn suggests in an effort to persuade her irritated roommate. "It could be like a sleepover," she mumbles, eyes darting to the floor.
Jo attempts to find a comfortable spot to lay in her bed next to the man but finds nothing to her avail. She narrows her eyes at Quinn as she props herself up on her elbows. "You got us into this mess so I guess I'll sleep in your bed," she gives in.
"Like a sleepover," Quinn lets out an excited gasp only to have Jo burst her bubble, "Not like a sleepover. I'm only doing this because I have work in the morning."
"Look at you. Being responsible," Quinn teases as she shuts the bedroom door as they enter the narrow hallway. Jo shoots her another glare, Quinn apologizes immediately after poking fun.
Jo tended to be more sensitive during arguments, always getting offended over everything. Most of the time Quinn had to tiptoe around everything to not upset her even more. However, sometimes she couldn't help but poke fun at her while arguing. It was never worth it.
Quinn strips the jacket from her shoulders and hangs it up on the back of her bedroom door along with others. Her hand runs along the leather, feeling the comforting cool texture. She smiles as she thinks of who it belongs to.
She's still confused as to why he tossed it over her shoulders while leaving, she knows he said it was an incentive to come back, but she couldn't help but instigate that it was meant for something else. It did keep her warm as she went outside into the parking garage at midnight, she was thankful for it since the spring breeze always seemed to be chilled by that time.
Rudolph perks his head up from the bed as he sees her looking his way, Jo has already taken the right side of her bed with the blanket curled up around her chest. Her thumbs fiddle with the phone in her hands, ignoring Quinn's presence.
Quinn shuts the light off as soon as she dresses for bed and crawls under the covers with Jo. She turns her back away from Jo, trying to hide from the blue light that was coming from her phone. She pulls the covers close to her head, snuggling down to get warm as she thinks of a good apology.
She flips over to face Jo, who is scrolling through social media. Rudolph has found his way to sneak up in between them, creating a wall that pushes both of them away.
"Hey," Quinn says, finally finding her voice. Jo let's out a small sigh before turning her attention from her phone to look at her roommate, a slight frown forming.
"I'm sorry about what's been going on," she starts. "I shouldn't have talked to you like that. You're responsible enough to take care of yourself, and you take care of me as well. We've been doing this for years now and I haven't told you how much I appreciate it. Even if you do bring home random guys,"
"You did piss me off," Jo admits, turning on her side to face Quinn. "But I can't sit back and let you just apologize for trying to get me to go to work. That shouldn't be your responsibility, that's mine. I also shouldn't drink when I have work the next day,"
"Don't you have work in the morning?"
"I do. It's a work in progress but that's beside the point. I'm sorry too," Jo holds out her pinky finger from underneath the covers and places it over Rudolph. "Friends?"
Quinn lazily looks at the pinky finger for a moment before twining hers around it. "Friends," she affirms the small smile. Quinn can feel the sweet tug of sleep as she turns away from Jo. Her eyes are too heavy to stay open any longer.
She faintly hears Jo perk up in question. "Who's jacket is that?" She questions. Quinn let's out a humming noise as her answer, carefully avoiding the question as she falls asleep.
~ BOOK ONE: WINTER SOLDIER ~
SHE BITES HER bottom lip as she recalls the events of last night, trying her best to not erupt into a giggle fit while sitting quietly in the office. Her breath hitches as she remembers the sheer look of confusion on the man's face as he opened the door. She kicks herself for finding the situation funny, but she needed to find the humor in something or else she was going to spiral into a pit of boredom.
She runs her thumb along the knuckles of her right hand, looking at how bright pink they were. She's happy that the man didn't take it too seriously and was able to understand where she was coming from.
Quinn had a chance to talk to him after she returned from her jog with the group this morning. He had made himself at home on the couch watching Netflix with a bag of peas resting against his jaw. As soon as she saw him, she immediately apologized and asked how it was doing.
Thankfully, Jo was still there in the morning to patch him up. The best part was that he agreed to go on another date with Jo, causing Quinn to wonder if he hit his head too hard on the floor when she knocked him out. Either way, it was a win-win scenario, Jo got her date and she didn't have charges pressed on her.
Her phone begins ringing, startling her from her daydream. She jumps at the shrill sound. She picks it up questioningly after reading the caller I.D. for Kara's desk. "Agent Barton is here to pick up his commlink," she informs her with a rush in her voice. Quinn's mind draws a blank for a moment before recognizes that she had given the comm link to Dustin to try to fix.
He must've informed him that his comm link was ready to be picked up, yet why would he ask for her if Dustin was the one who contacted him? "I'll be there in a second," she replies, hanging up the phone.
Pushing back in her chair, she taps on Dustin's shoulder. He turns looking towards her with a confused look, he lifts his left hand that he was leaning on to reveal on headphone out of the pair he owned. She had disrupted him. "Can I see that comm link?" she questions, pointing to the bigger communicator that rested in the blue bin on his desk.
He shrugs his shoulders and tosses the bag to her. She catches it, her breath stops as she snatches it out of mid-air. She looks down to see that the communicator is completely intact and lets out a sigh of relief. She would've cried if she had broken it. She gives Dustin a glare as he chuckles to himself before going back to work.
"Idiot," she whispers as she makes her way up to the front desk where the agent waits for her. She casually strolls up to the front of the office, fiddling with the communicator in her hand.
She has become much more accustom to walking up to hand over the fixed tech, she didn't care if some eyes tended to linger on her.
The first thing Quinn notices is the short stature of the agent she spent days working on his comm link for. He looked gruff, with dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights. His expression seemed bored like he didn't want to be there. A dry feeling lodged itself with her throat as she approached him with the plastic bag in hand.
"Agent Barton," she addresses the man. To her surprise, the agent gives her a tight smile, not forced but he smiles out of generosity. "Quinn Cruise," he says kindly, causing her to raise her brows in surprise. She's never met him before, it was odd that he'd know her name.
She assumed it was because Kara had called her up but then again he must've asked for her specifically because Dustin was the one who had emailed him to notify the piece was done. This was all very peculiar. It didn't settle right with her.
Her hand automatically clenches the bag even tighter but she pushes away her unsettled feeling and passes the communicator on. "I apologize for the delay, it took some time and effort to get it back in working order," Quinn states with an apologetic smile.
"Hey, I did give it to you in half. I expected it to take longer," he muses. He narrows his eyes as he continues to look at her, it feels as if he's scanning her for any signs of trouble. The same feeling on unsettling begins to wind back up in her stomach.
He sticks out his hand for her to shake, as she does so she notices her hands are a little clammy and she finds herself hoping he didn't mind. She locks eyes with him as she shakes. "Thank you," he says.
There's something odd in the palm of his hand as she continues grasping on to it. It feels light and flimsy but sharp at the same time. She keeps her calm as she shakes his hand. Her eyes are now narrowed at him in question. He knows he's put something in her hand, it was secretive or else he wouldn't have done it like this.
He places his other hand on the opposite side of her hand and gives her a small wink. "Take care now," he bids, removing his hands from hers. She grasps tightly on to the object, she hears it crinkle a little - it's paper. He's delivered her information about something - something she's immediately dying to know about.
"You do the same," she plays along with him before turning to walk back to her desk, note clenched tight to her palm as she balls up her fist. She peers around the sea of heads in the office carefully, not a single one dares to look up at her as she returns leaving her to feel a little relieved. If someone were to look at her now she knows her face would've given it away that she's hiding something.
The chair squeaks as she sits down in a rush, placing the note on the desk next to her keyboard. Her eyes scan around her, searching for anyone who had wandering eyes.
The ivory paper is folded neatly, her name across the center of it in neat blue ink. The handwriting seems familiar. Her fingers slide under the lip of the folded note flipping it open. Her eyes widen in surprise as she reads the small note:
"Quinn,
I apologize in advance if you've already planned the next lesson. Unfortunately, I've been assigned to a mission and won't be able to make it to see you tonight. I'm unsure when I'll be back but I'll see you once I return.
- Steve
P.S. Keep my jacket safe until I'm back."
Her heart clenches within her chest as she reads the note carefully once, twice, three times. That's how Agent Barton knew her name. Steve must've told him to drop it off to her when he picked up the comm link.
A feeling of disappointment wells up inside of her. She didn't realize she had been hoping to see Steve, perhaps it was because she needed to return his jacket. She did always get an uneasy feeling about holding on to someone's possessions for a while. Something could happen to them in her care and she'd be held responsible for it. She shook her head, she was being unreasonable. She pushed away the feeling and unlocked her computer to distract herself by recoding the update.
She didn't talk to anyone until lunch, not that she could anyways with Edith stalking around. But even at lunch, she found it difficult to keep her mind focused on a simple conversation with Dustin. Her eyes kept lingering out into the hangar in hopes of catching a glimpse of Steve before he went on his mission.
She wished she knew about his mission sooner or else she would've given him his jacket back this morning, now it's just sitting in the backseat of her car, roasting in the intense heat wave that spring was rolling in.
Dustin snapped his fingers in front of her face twice, bringing her attention back to him. "Are you even listening?" he questions his voice incredulous as he glares at her.
"Yeah, yeah..." she hums out, scooping up a square of lime Jello into her spoon. "What was I saying?"
"Something about traffic," she answers in a distracted voice. Dustin's lips press into a thin line as he gives her an unamused look, watching the cube of Jello fall from her spoon back onto the plate. "You've been trying to eat the same piece of Jello for five minutes," he points out as she places an empty spoon in her mouth.
She drags her eyes away from the hangar to give him an apologetic look. "Sorry, just tired," she lamely excuses herself. "I had trouble sleeping last night and then I had to get up and run,"
"You're still running?"
"Does it look like I stopped?" she questions, pressing down on her stomach. Dustin shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders as a response. "So you had trouble sleeping?" he repeats trying to get clarification. After she swallows the cube of Jello in her mouth she speaks up, "I accidentally punched my roommate's bedroom guest and knocked him out."
"What?" Dustin says with a smile, he obviously found the situation as funny as she did. "Yeah," she nodded her head. "I got home, went to go talk to my roommate and he opened the door without me knocking. J thought he was an intruder so I knocked him out,"
"Jesus," he hisses under his breath while poking at his salad. "Would hate to be on your bad side,"
"So I had to help the guy, who is naked by the way, so I dragged him over to my roommate's bed and accidentally tossed him into the middle of her bed. So she ended up bunking with me and the dog," she explains nonchalantly.
"All three of you were in the same bed?"
Quinn nods as Dustin laughs at the situation. "It's why I'm tired. I couldn't really sleep with Rudolph digging his paws into my back. Thank God the guy was okay with everything," she piles more Jello into her mouth before looking out into the hangar again. "Well that's good," she hears Dustin hum out.
As she peers out into the hangar she catches sight of a couple of agents heading towards a jet, shortly followed by Agent Barton and none other than Steve himself. Her eyes are glued on his figure as he hauls his shield over his shoulder and on to his back with ease while speaking to Agent Barton.
The jets engines turn on making a loud yet muffled sound throughout the canteen, alerting some people that someone is leaving. Her eyes lock with Agent Barton who surprisingly gives her a smile and a wave as he points to the comm link hidden behind his ear. She smiles and nods at him.
She watches as he taps Steve's arm and points up at her as he says something. Steve's eyes lock with hers, she gives a slight smile at him. He returns it and then gives her a wave. Quinn looks towards Dustin who is too involved with his phone to even acknowledge the agents leaving. She's thankful for that. It gives her the opportunity to give Steve a small wave back before she watches him head up the ramp of the jet.
Her heart clenches as she watches the ramp close up, encasing him from view. She has a feeling that it would be the last time she saw him for a while.