CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

( THE BIG APPLE )

A COOL GUST of wind racks through the trees in Central Park. The branches swayed violently, then gently loosened up. The leaves had just started to turn their vibrant hues of red, yellow, and orange. The whistling wind took ahold of some of the fallen leaves and began to let them soar, a few dogs chased after them in the large fields. Quinn couldn't help but chuckle at them as she placed her hands in her pockets, trying to keep them from freezing off.

She was thankful that it was finally a sunny day instead of the overcast cloudy days they had been having. Hopefully, it would be a good day to take her mother outside. Perhaps they could even play a game. She hadn't received a call from her on-call nurse Monyce, which was always a good sign.

She hugged her jacket closer to her body. Usually, she'd have no problem with autumn; she actually enjoyed it - who wouldn't? But being surrounded by skyscrapers that reduced the sunlight and created ungodly drafts it was hard to appreciate in New York. Her phone vibrates in her pocket, making her even more alert than what she had been. Walking alone in New York was blissful but it was also a curse. She could get mugged at any time. Though there were hardly any muggings in broad daylight on a main path through Central Park.

She squints as she looks down at the screen on her phone. An event invite? Halloween Bash! Accompanied by a load of emoticons of dancing people and alcohol. She rolls her eyes at the invite. Of course, it was hosted by Jo. Did she really expect to fly all the way across the country for one night? They had only been separated for a month. She also calls consistently. Their communication was flawless compared to the other friendships she had.

Hopefully, she didn't mind her decline. She slips her phone back into her pocket as she reaches the front doors of the hospital. The warmth of the air inside encased her in a sweet embrace. She smiles at the security officer as he sits at his desk beside the elevators, pressing the button to call for one. She doesn't wait in the uncomfortable silence for long as an elevator from behind her rings, begging for her attention.

She gives one last awkward smile to the security officer before pressing the button to her mother's floor. Floor sixteen. The cognition department. The department that took most of her money. Ran by none other than Doctor Meredith Woodruff - the leading scientist and doctor in degenerate brain diseases.

As the doors fly open she's greeted by a familiar face, Monyce. She appeared to be out of breath, a few flyaways swept out of her up-do causing her to look like she had just been in a tornado. Quinn gives her a concerned look before stepping out from the elevator. "What happened?"

"Oh you know," Monyce shrugs as she pants. "The usual. I was just being pulled aside by two different parties,"

Quinn hums at this, pressing her lips into a thin line. "Was she one of them?" She watches with embarrassment as the short nurse nods her head. Her mother must've put up a hell of a fight with her today. It wasn't unusual to have her mother to start a yelling match between herself and a nurse or a doctor or the unnerving patients that decided to wander into her room. "I'll talk to her," Quinn assures the nurse with a small smile while patting her on the shoulder.

"If you need help, call someone. I'm going on break," Monyce calls over her shoulder, just as she steps into the elevator. Quinn tries her best to not make blatant eye contact with most of the patients that milled about. Usually, they were cooperative, but some could be combative with not knowing where they were.

She smiles at an elderly woman in a wheelchair across the hall from her mother's room. Mrs. Landry was how Doctor Woodruff introduced her, however, she preferred to be called Countess. Her memories were mainly gone, and all that resided in her mind was this fantasy land that she had created. Her son who would come to visit was known as her Butler - little did she know that he was a journalist that lived in upper Manhattan. A place that she couldn't afford. Her eyes skim the small sign next to the room. Marianne Cruise.

She enters her mother's room quietly, trying her best not to disrupt her. She was leaning on the windowsill looking out at the tall skyscrapers that surrounded the hospital. Her mother was beautiful, in a sense. Her once golden hair was fading into a soft ashy blonde color, there were wrinkles starting to form beside her eyes from where she used to smile. At a glance it'd be hard to tell if she really had early-onset dementia, she looks normal. Sometimes she can act civil too.

It was moments like this that made Quinn miss her mother the most. She feels an immense amount of guilt from blocking her out of her life, even resenting her. She always believed her mother didn't belong here, but it's not like she had that much of a choice. As the door creaks shut it catches her mother's attention. Her head snaps in Quinn's direction, her clouded blue eyes shrouded in defense as she glares at Quinn. The moment her eyes catch sight of her daughter they soften.

"String-bean is that you?" she questions, her voice croaking in the process. "Yeah, ma," Quinn answers, shrugging off her jacket and placing it o the chair. She notes the cup of water sitting on the nightstand beside her bed tipped over, water spilling out onto the floor. She scoffs at the sight of it before scooping it up and placing it upright.

"What are you doing here?" her mother questions, her arms crossed against her chest as Quinn grabs a roll of paper towel and begins cleaning the water up. With how much she paid, she figured they'd do a better job at cleaning up after an episode. Quinn shrugs at the question. "Just came to visit," she sighs out. She's visited her mother every single day off she could get. Doctor Woodruff explained that this was crucial in her treatment. "You look thin, string-bean, have you had anything to eat?"

Quinn rolls her eyes at the nickname. A name that has stuck with her family since she was a toddler. She loathed it. Yet, she buried her frustration at the use of the name and plastered a grin on her face. "I just had a smoothie, I'm fine. What about you? Have you eaten?" she questions, sitting in the chair across from her. Knowing her mother's state, she sometimes forgot to eat, causing her to become malnourished and slightly moody. She took note of the board outside of her room that they had just served her lunch.

Her mother absentmindedly waves her hand between the two. "I'm fine, I'm not feeling all too hungry," she shrugs off. A gust of wind rattles the window that they were sitting next to, a small draft wafts in forcing a chill to run up Quinn's spine. However, her mother had no reaction to it, even with her in a sweater she'd be able to feel some cold. She'd have to force her mother to put on a jacket somehow. "You know, the Countess has a son around your age,"

If she kept rolling her eyes at the rate she was they were going to get stuck in the back of her head. Why wouldn't her mother try to push someone on to her? She already had enough of a headache with trying to get to know Steve Rogers once again, she didn't need any other guy coming into the mix. She really wanted to try with Steve. He seemed sweet, and he's been patient with her recovery. He was a friend before anything else she felt. And she knew there was something there. She knew that feelings lingered from when she did know him. "Do you want to go outside?" she questions her mother trying to avoid the question at all costs. "We can get out of this stuffy room,"

"Can we go somewhere besides the hospital's courtyard?" her mother questions, as she stands with Quinn. Quinn's eyes widen at the suggestion. "Go somewhere?" she repeats as she hands her mother her jacket, holding it open for her arm to slide through. "Where do you want to go? The cafeteria?"

"How about Central Park?"

The question catches Quinn off guard as she slowly begins putting on her jacket. Central Park was definitely not the hospital. In fact, the hospital stood on the opposite side of the park. Even though it was close by it wasn't like they were just going to permit her mother to the park without supervision from at least a nurse. Monyce was on break. Her heart clenches as she thinks of how cooped up she must be in this hospital. She lived in one of the most renowned cities in the world and yet she was quarantined to a hospital.

"Aw, ma, I don't think that's a good idea. They've got it sectioned off because there's a marathon happening. I don't want you to get trampled. We can go tomorrow when I stop by," Quinn lies. That was something new that she discovered her past self did frequently. Lying never came across easy to her but the last couple of months it sounded like she had been doing it whenever she could. Lying to her mother made her feel guilty, guiltier than what she was feeling already. Her mother crosses her arms across her chest, a defiant pout stuck on her face.

If Quinn didn't know better she'd think she was dealing with a toddler perhaps even Jo. She never expected this from her mom. "If we go to the courtyard we can probably snag that swing you like," she tempts in a singsong voice, a small smirk appearing on her face. Hopefully, this could insight her mother to back down from the Central Park debacle. Even though she's glaring at her, her mother takes the lead after Quinn, instantly becoming memorized by then the temptation of a swing they can both sit on.

As they scour the hallways of the hospital they swing into their normal selves - which was not talking to each other. Even though it had been several years since her mother was diagnosed they didn't really speak to each other. Quinn was actually mad at her mother for most of her life. She fully blamed her mother for the death of her brother and her father, vice versa. Now the universe was playing a sick joke on her by making her take care of her mother while she was like this. Another gust of the autumn air swirls around them as they enter the courtyard. Luckily, no one comes to the courtyard despite her mother's knowledge. She could always trick her into coming out here, and she always preferred the swing.

Spending time with her mother hasn't been too bad. She hasn't lashed out on her in the past couple of visits - thankfully she fully recognized her. Unfortunately, her first visit after months of not seeing her mother wasn't as glorious as this. It took a full four-hour visit just to convince her that she was her daughter. They sit in silence, listening to the sound of cars in the bustling street across from the hospital, the sirens, the horns. It took her some time to get adjusted to. "How long have I been like this," her mother breaks the silence between them. Quinn hums at the question. This was one of the usual ones she asked. Still, she took the time to make it seem like it had been a while as her eyes narrow towards the sky. "About seven years,"

"Seven years?" her mother repeats, sounding lost in her own confusion. "Yeah, you've been with Woodruff for the past four years. You actually started off in Seattle and then they found you better suited here because you're, I don't want to say a rare case, but it's not normal for someone of your age to suffer from this disease,"

"Well, why can't you take care of me?"

"Well, you need to be surveyed at all times by a professional. I don't really have the time or the qual -"

"Max does,"

Hearing her brother's name come out of her mouth without hesitation made her heart skip a beat. The hair on the back of her neck stood up at how uneasy she felt during this, her palms began to sweat. This was a tricky conversation to have with her mother, it always was. Back in Seattle, she was told to break the news to her each time. Under Doctor Woodruff's treatment, she had to do it slowly if not at all. "Yeah, but you know Max," Quinn lies once again - this time it was hard on her. She waves her hand gesturing that the pretend-Max, the fake-Max, didn't have time either. Her mother's eyes narrow at her, making her shift uncomfortably. "He's always had the space brain of his,"

A nervous chuckle resonates from her. She hated this. She needed to get off the topic of Max before she brought up her father. She didn't know if she could keep her composure if he was brought up. It was hard enough to stop the tears from glimmering in her eyes. "Did Doctor Woodruff tell you that you're moving to her facility?" she asks her inquisitive mother, narrowly avoiding the conversation about her brother. Her mother shrugs at the news. She obviously didn't remember it, especially if she was bringing up Max. "It's really nice, you'll get to be out of the city," she grins. "You'll have your own little apartment -"

"Will you be there?" she questions, interrupting Quinn once again. "In the apartment with me. Will you be living with me?"

"Uh," Quinn's mind can't decide whether she should appease her mother by saying yes. But that could possibly lead her to think that she lived with her now and she most certainly didn't. All she'd do is cause Monyce another headache. "No, I will still be living in Greenwich. But I plan on seeing you every day,"

Her mother lets out a wry laugh at the mention of her apartment. She could understand why. Greenwich was definitely more expensive than the place she rented with Jo in Washington DC. Thankfully, S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to cough up some dough "I hope you have a good job then, String-Bean," her mother jokes. With S.H.I.E.L.D. compromised she wasn't able to work for obvious reasons. But that didn't stop her from finding a new job in short notice. It was a definite downgrade from S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinn nervously begins chuckling. "Yeah, I guess I do,"

~BOOK TWO: AGE OF ULTRON~

THE AIR UP top of the subway smelled a lot cleaner than the sewage smelling station. Quinn has made it a golden rule to not smell any of the air between getting off the subway and making it up top. Even if she had to push people out of the way before she ran out of air. She felt strongly about it. A pang of guilt courses through her body as she thinks about her mother. She really didn't get out that much, she couldn't go anywhere when Quinn wasn't in New York. It wasn't right to live life in a cramped hospital, nor was it right to evade her mother even on the bad days. As she stops at a crosswalk her pocket vibrates while also humming out a small eight toned chiming ring - almost sounding like a doorbell of sorts. She reaches her hand into her pocket to see the horrendous photo that Jo had taken of herself pop up with her name across the screen. Her blood ran thick with anxiety. She knew why she was calling. It seemed like with distance Jo's exuberant and obnoxious personality seemed to amplify. She groans to herself out of frustration, stomping her foot on the ground as if she were a child before pressing the green button. "Hey," she greets.

"Hey, what's up? What's new?" Jo questions in a perky tone over the speaker.

"Nothing, just coming back from seeing my mom," she tried not to sound out of breath after quickly crossing the street without the cross signal, craning her neck to check if any cops were watching. Thankfully no one was.

"Oh that's cool, that's cool," Jo replies in a nonchalant voice. This piqued Quinn's interest. Something was up. She was never this calm on the phone. "So why'd you decline the Halloween party?" There it is. Quinn rolls her eyes at the question as she turns to the stoop of her building. "You know, expenses, and the fact that we're almost thirty,"

"Yeah, you're almost thirty, so what?"

"So I don't want to dress like a slit for Halloween. I'm not desperate anymore,"

"Is this because of Steve? Is he being a fun-sucker again?"

Quinn almost drops her keys at the mere mention of his name. Her heart feels like it skips a beat in her chest as she thinks about him. "N-no," she stutters, her face becoming red like a tomato. Jo seems to chuckle over the receiver at her voice. Quinn clears her throat as she enters the apartment building. "No," her voice is steady now. "And he's not a fun-sucker. He's just old fashioned,"

"Old fashioned like my old high school history teacher, he's lame,"

"I thought you liked Steve,"

"I do, he's mildly attractive, he gets you out of your shell,"

"And?"

"And that's about it," Jo let's out a frustrated sigh from the other end of the line just as Quinn opens the door. She's greeted by none other than Rudolph who has been patiently waiting for her arrival all day, more specifically once he heard the front door open to the building. Quinn coos at the dog while petting his back, surely getting his golden fur all over her jacket. That was the curse she brought upon herself by taking him. He shed everywhere. "I just think it's weird," Jo continues her train of thought. "You guys have been around each other for a month now and you're still just friends. Meanwhile, the Quinn I knew in DC had this major crush on him to begin with -"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there and point out all the things that are wrong with what you just said," at the point, Quinn had become irritated with her badgering about her and Steve getting together. Did she have a crush on him? Yes. Did she need help from her best friend who's all the way across the country? No. "Number one," she crosses the living room to the small kitchen, taking a look inside of the fridge. "We're just friends at this point," she takes out some leftover Greek food she had gotten yesterday. Her brows raise at the thought that she hadn't eaten since yesterday. "Number two, this "old Quinn; new Quinn" needs to stop -"

"Sorry -"

"I'm not done," Quinn interjects. "Number three, Steve and I were friends for months before anything even happened between us. And number five, I don't think we're ready to admit anything right now,"

"Really?"

There's a slight whine coming by Quinn's feet as she shoves a pile of food in her mouth. She peers down to see Rudolph sitting at her feet, leash in his mouth. Whoops. "Yeah," she continues as she swoops down and clips the leash on to Rudolph's collar. She's had the dog to herself for a month and she's already forgotten to take him outside. "Well, it's not like I can forgive myself for getting brainwashed and hurting him,"

"That wasn't your fault -"

"I know," she addresses as she places her coat back on, golden fur now all over it due to the proximity of how close Rudolph was. "And he can't get over how he let it happen, like how he made me a target. It's completely understandable,"

There's a long pause in the conversation, Quinn takes this opportunity to hurry out the door of the apartment building and stand in the freezing cold with Rudolph. She tries her best not to make eye contact with people as she holds onto Rudolph as he finds the right tree on the sidewalk to do his duty.

"It still doesn't explain why you declined the party," Jo states, causing Quinn to roll her eyes in frustration. This wasn't going to be a battle, she knew it. Jo would just keep pestering her until she said yes, she wouldn't stop until the day after the party. If she didn't go she wouldn't talk to her for a good time. She recalls Jo not speaking to her for a good few days while they were cooped up in a dorm together in college. Now that they lived at separate ends of the east coast that could extend for months maybe even years.

"I'll see what I can do," Quinn's voice is littered with defeat and annoyance as Jo yips in joy on the other end. She's glad that at least one of them was enthused about her presence at a Halloween party. "I was thinking we could do a group costume but I'll let you know the details later once the theme is decided,"

"Great," she rolls her eyes as Rudolph bounds towards the stoop of the building after his business was done. She couldn't wait to be almost thirty and wearing a skimpy outfit knowing Jo would post it online. She couldn't wait for her future employers to see that. "So how's New York treating you? Still expensive?"

It felt as if a bolt of lightning had hit her as she gasped at the mere mention of the expenses. Jo had reminded her that she needed to check her email. She had finally gotten a response online about the second room in her apartment. She hurries towards the living room after shrugging off her jacket for the fourth or fifth time today. She shoves her notes for EDGE off the silver-topped laptop, while placing her blue-light reflecting glasses on.

"Why would it go down in price? I just talked to you three days ago about this,"

"Alright, crabby,"

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little stressed," Quinn sighs. "This place is five times more expensive than DC. It's a little hard to do on my own and pay for my mother's stay at the hospital while prepping her to leave for the facility. Even with the compensation S.H.I.E.L.D. forked over, that's running out,"

"Are you going to get a second job?"

"I hope I don't have to. I put an ad up on Craigslist -"

"Tell me you didn't,"

"I did, and I've met with several strangers - including a hyper conspiracy theorist and all have been...weird,"

"I thought weird was your thing,"

"Weird is far from my thing," she clarifies in an offended tone. Actually, weird was up her Ally, one of her close friends was Captain America. Maybe weird was her thing. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts and focus. "Anyways, I got another response to the ad. I have to meet her tomorrow at the coffee place down the street at -" her eyes narrow at the email. "Thirteen hundred,"

"Her?" Jo's voice sounds offended by the pronoun, causing Quinn to perk a brow at the sudden icy tone. "Are you trying to replace me, Cruise?"

"What?" she nervously chuckles over the line. In a sense, she was trying to replace her. She needed someone to help her out with the rent, the water bill, and the heat. She couldn't keep having Steve offer to help her out over and over again. It was getting old and she wanted to show him that she could manage without help from him, he didn't need to coddle her. "Jo, no one could replace you. You're my best friend,"

"Aw, that's so sweet. Thank you," Jo hums over the line.

"I'm just replacing you as a roommate," Quinn can practically feel the smirk in her own tone.

"Oh, you know, you ruined the moment,"

Quinn began shuffling through the yellow notepad paper she had shoved off her laptop. Even though she had a lot on her plate this was the most important thing at the moment. She needed to catch up on it after not being able to work on it yesterday. "Hey, can I call you back?" she needs to think of an excuse to get off the phone abruptly or else she'd start to question why she needed to leave or she'd insinuate that Steve was there doing things and making her flustered. Her mind draws a blank but her motor skills still remain fluid. What comes out isn't expected. "Rudolph just puked everywhere," Even she cringes at the excuse. She had said it so nonchalant

"Oh, my precious baby!" Jo screeches over the phone.

"I gotta go!" Quinn screeches back, quickly ending the call before they could say their farewells. As she hangs up the couch cushion moves from the weight of Rudolph's presence right next to her, panting in her face. Her face scrunches up at the smell of the dog's rotten breath - she needed to brush his teeth or at least give him a treat that made his breath smell decent. "Sorry I had to use you for the blow," she apologizes, scratching Rudolph behind the ears. This causes the large dog to relax and lay down across her lap, keeping her warm. She hums at how adorable he was being, and he was soothing her as well.

She lets out a sigh of relief before leaning her head back on the cushion of the couch. Her body felt as if it had just released a huge amount of stress just by hanging up with Jo. Since when did she become so needy? Granted, she did miss the time that they shared together. Their interactions weren't as scheduled as a phone call. They came and they went. Now it just felt almost like a burden to gather things up to talk about. A vibration alerts her to look at her phone. A group text from Jo including a handful of numbers she didn't know, asking for suggestions for their group costume. Group costume? Theme? Since when was she into correlating with a few other people with wardrobes? Who are these people?

Quinn's mind couldn't shake the feeling of Jo actually moving on with her life as she lived in an expensive apartment by herself just waiting for Steve to ask her on a date. Jo was changing while she stayed the same. It irked her. She tosses her phone across the couch, trying to ignore the sudden influx of text messages she was receiving from Jo's new friends. If anyone was being replaced it was her.

Another sigh leaves her body as she tries to focus on the notes in front of her. "An app for the future", was in bold across the top of one page of paper. Granted, she didn't have a genius mind like Tony Stark nor did she have the funding of Stark Industries she still tried to work on the app in her free time. Hopefully, if it was successful she could manipulate a Fitbit into some sort of tracking device that she could place on her mother, disguise it as a gift. It would help keep track of her mother's moods based on the influx of her heart-rate, activities by the GPS, and sleep and diet regimen.

She proposed this idea to Doctor Woodruff after seeing her mother in pain for a couple of weeks. Even though Doctor Woodruff wasn't a total fan of her, she gave her the okay to at least test it out on her own mother. It's not like she could say no. She begins sifting through the pages of notes before opening up the document that held the programming to it. As she looked at the clock she noticed that it had passed well into the night. She simply shrugged it off. EDGE wasn't going to program itself.

A/N: Welcome back! I hope everyone had a good holiday season. It went by too fast in my opinion because I thought I would get at least 15-20 chapters done of this that way I could always be ahead but in actuality I only got 10 done and now I have to try to pump chapters out as fast as I can so I can stay on my consistent schedule of uploading every Friday morning.

Anyways, I'm curious to know on who you guys imagine Quinn and Jo would look like if they actually were in the MCU. I know everyone views characters differently and I'm interested in knowing if you have a certain person in mind.

Until next Friday!

- Moonie