CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

( FRANK SHAW - HYPER CONSPIRACY THEORIST )

IT'S BEEN THREE whole days since Steve had left for his mission. That meant three whole days of Quinn worrying for him and feeling anxious about telling him about the job offer. Everything was going by too fast for her. She moved to New York, she was seeing the Captain America, she had been offered her dream job.

A year ago none of this even seemed possible, she would've been delusional if she thought otherwise. Yet, Quinn being her normal self always found a way to make herself worry without an end in sight. It's what she had been trained to do, ever since she was a kid. She always looked at the downside of anything positive that happened to her. Now she was putting herself through hell, she could easily pull her hair from how stressed she was.

She presses her whole face into the couch, letting out a muffled shout of frustration. This caused Rudolph to approach the couch, tilting his head at the action. Rudolph wasn't the only one in the apartment showing concern for her. Robin stood a few feet away, watching her sulk into the couch cushions.

This had been an interesting transition to go from fighting with her girlfriend non-stop to being roommates with Captain America's girlfriend, who sighed heavily when something good happened to her. She places herself next to Quinn on the couch, moving her feet away and on to her lap in the process.

"Hey Quinn," she calls out to her roommate in a singsong voice. She gently taps her calf as she calls out her name once again, this time more curious than the last. In response, Quinn merely huffs out another large sigh, placing her head up just slightly so she could get a sideways glimpse at Robin. Robin gives her an encouraging smile, only to watch her head plop back down in it's resting position once again.

A groan escapes her lips. Robin bites down on her lower lip, even Rudolph was concerned. She notes that Quinn isn't always apt to talk about her feelings and would rather mope about than talk. A part of her wonders if she's always been like this, even when she lived with Jo in D.C. Another sigh escapes Quinn's lips, forcing Robin to roll her eyes.

"You know if you keep sighing like that we're going to run out of oxygen," Robin attempts at teasing her roommate, only to receive silence in return. "Do you maybe want to talk about what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on," Quinn responds with hostility dripping from her voice. Robin raises her brows at the statement. Of course, something was going on, or else she wouldn't have been so defensive with saying no. She also wouldn't be lounging around like a couch potato.

She purses her lips as she continues to look on to Quinn, she was determined to make her crack. She knew it wasn't good for people to hold in stress. Without notice, Robin stands up, causing Rudolph to ignore his owner and follow. Quinn rolls her eyes. She could finally have some peace and quiet. However, that could be her biggest downfall. Leaving her to think about her thoughts was the last thing she wanted to do. She always had a tendency to overthink the simplest things.

Thankfully, she hears Robin's footsteps approaching from the hallway along with Rudolph's paws clicking against the wood floor. Quinn peeks out of the strands of hairs that had fallen in front of her face to look at the cellist sitting in a chair across from the couch.

Her hand was digging around her large black purse, obviously, she was looking for something specific. She throws her a questioning look as she props herself up on her elbow, flipping her hair out of her face. "I have this thing that my nephew gave me a while ago," Robin states, halfway sticking her head in her purse to get a better view. "It helped somewhat in my relationship with Cynthia," she adds causing Quinn to scoff at her failed relationship.

A few moments later, Robin lets out a triumphant, "Ah-ha!", as she pulls out what appears to be a stick with orange and yellow feathers haphazardly glued to the ends. She places it in Quinn's hands, letting glitter fall into her palms. Quinn's lips purse as she sits up trying to examine it even further. Whatever it was had Robin jazzed up.

"What is this?" she asks, twirling it around in her hands like a drumstick. "It's called the feelings stick. When you hold it you have the right to freely speak your feelings without being judged,"

Quinn drops the stick as if it were a bomb, causing glitter to fly on to the floor. Robin purses her lips as she glares at Quinn, who was rubbing off whatever residue was on her hands. "Here I'll go first," Robin speaks up, grabbing the stick from the ground. She looks directly at Quinn when she admits, "I feel concerned for you because you've holed yourself up and won't stop sighing."

In turn, she sticks out the rod towards Quinn in an offering. Quinn merely looks at it for a moment, studying it, before taking it back in her hands. "I feel like this is a dumb exercise in which it probably ruined your relationship with Cynthia because this isn't a healthy alternative to therapy. This is for children,"

Robin quickly grabs the stick out of her hands with an abrupt gasp. She tries to not be offended but she can't help if she looks the part with her mouth agape and hurt filled eyes. "I feel like you're just saying hurtful things to make yourself feel better," she admits, her tone sounding a bit hostile. Soon it becomes a fight for the stick and who's going to say the last word. Quinn grabs the stick back. "I feel like this stick is stupid,"

"I feel like you need to apologize because my six-year-old nephew made this and Goddamnit I'm going to use it as much as I please," Robin shouts as she clutches on to the stick defensively. Quinn's mouth - which was open to object anything she had to throw her way - instantly shuts. The heat of embarrassment floods her cheeks as she feels instant regret.

Hesitantly she reaches for the stick, enclosing her fingers around it once Robin is willing to give it up. "I feel like I'm sorry," she mumbles out. "I took it too far," her eyes drift towards the floor before she stands up with the stick still in her hand. "It's just I've been through a lot this past week. It feels like I'm in a hold trying to dig myself out of this unrepayable debt I owe to everyone -"

"Who?"

Quinn shrugs her shoulders as she looks out of the window. "Steve, Doctor Woodruff, you, Tony Stark,"

"Why do you feel the need that you're in an unrepayable debt to Tony Stark?"

"Because I went to the tower a couple of days ago, as you know. I met with his assistant and they offered me a chance to get a job with the FBI," she mutters the last part out in hopes that Robin wouldn't be able to make it out. Unfortunately, she does. "Well, that's good, right? You're actually going to be making use of your degree. You'll probably be paid a lot more than Apple,"

"Yeah, that's not the issue I have with it," she states as she rounds the corner of the couch, flopping herself down on the plush cushions. "It's just, I've never had anything handed to me so easily. I've always had to work for it -"

"Well, you don't officially have the job quite yet," Robin interrupts. "And if it's anything like being a police officer, you will have to work for it. My brother was put through hell at the academy but that made him a good cop. I'm pretty sure if you're going to be an FBI agent you'll have to go through the same thing he went through. Probably much worse," she bites down on her thumb once she sees Quinn's eyes widen at the word "worse".

"Like harder. More strict. Not worse." she tries to cover herself. "Anyways, let's talk about the Steve part of this equation. Do you think you got this job because you're -"

"Seeing him?" Quinn finishes, with a small but reluctant smile. "Yeah, I don't know how long that's going to last,"

"What?" Robin shouts as Quinn gets up and heads into the kitchen. She's quick to follow. "I thought you liked him?"

"I do," Quinn confirms as she takes a bottle of beer out of the fridge, popping off the top off on the counter. "But thanks to the NDA I signed I can't continue seeing him on a regular basis. It's kind of hard to have a relationship with someone who lives in the same city as you who you can only see once a month,"

"What does that have to do with your relationship?"

"Safety violation. Although I'm not sure if they're concerned with my safety or his. I'm going to go with the latter of the two."

Robin swipes her phone from her back pocket, causing Quinn to roll her eyes. She wanted to have a deep intellectual conversation about her feelings yet she can't even look at her the entire time. "I'm sorry, that just doesn't sound right," Robin hums out as she continues to look at her phone screen.

Quinn takes this moment to take a swig of the beer in her hand. Usually, she would never drink like this but stressful times calls for quick resolutions to make her forget. "Yeah, that's what I thought," Robin states as her gaze rips away from her phone to her roommate. "The agreement says nothing about that,"

"How do you know?" Quinn asks, her eyes narrowing at the cellist. Robin adjusts her glasses on the brim of her nose as she looks down at the phone once again. "I took pictures of the agreement so I could read over them if I ever came across a problem," she informs her as she passes the phone over to her. "This seems like a problem,"

Her fingers swipe through each picture on her roommate's phone, trying to find keywords that stuck out to her about any relationship with an Avenger. Each swipe made her nerves feel electric as she comes to the conclusion that she had been duped.

For a brief moment, her mind runs and thinks she must've signed a different one but this seemed to be the same amount of pages that she had to sign off on and the one that she signed versus the one that Robin signed had no difference in wording on the cover. It was just standard, generic, legal talk about the Avenger.

Her swipes become more feverish until she realizes she's at the end. Nothing about it said anything about seeing an Avenger romantically, or seeing them multiple times in a row, nothing about disguises. Priya had been stringing her and Steve along for no reason. She growls in frustration as she shoves the phone back in Robin's hands, eagerly taking a sip of her beer.

"It's a good thing she doesn't work with Steve anymore," she exclaims. A hesitant thought pulls forward from the back of her mind. She knew she wasn't working with him when she told her the information about her not seeing Steve and yet she believed her. Perhaps she just needed to stop being naïve when it came to her. At the moment she felt stuck.

She could rag on Priya to Steve but she didn't want to come off as jealous and hot-headed. Absentmindedly seething, she accidentally drops the beer bottle on to the kitchen counter, causing whatever carbonation in it to fizz up and overflow with frothy bubbles. She yelps at the wet sensation that dribbles on her hand as Robin quickly grabs the roll of paper towel and begins sopping up the mess.

"You need a better way to relieve your stress," Robin scoffs, while also throwing an under the breath comment about how sticky the counter is going to be and how it'll attract ants. The clinging of dog-tags rings throughout the apartment, catching Quinn's attention. Her sight soon became fixated on the golden retriever sitting in the doorway of the kitchen, wagging his tail back and forth. He had obviously come to investigate their shenanigans.

"Maybe you could try to learn the cello," Robin suggests, looking over her shoulder to see Quinn bending down to pet her dog. An audible scoff comes from her, as she scratches behind Rudolph's ears. "No, I got a better way,"

~ BOOK TWO: AGE OF ULTRON ~

THE SUNLIGHT BASKED across her exposed face as she trudges down the street, Rudolph in hand, leading the way to their usual park. Granted, she didn't know how long she could take being out in this weather as it was starting to become more cold with each passing day.

She'd have to suffice with just walking up and down the street with Rudolph in the wintertime, as there was no way she was walking several busy blocks in Greenwich just to get to his favorite park. It wasn't like D.C. where she could easily drive to the Washington Monument's park and take him on a long walk there to clear her mind. They had to brave a twenty-minute walk to a much smaller park that was closed on the weekends.

People in New York always seemed more uppity than any other place she's lived in. Her mind can't help but wander to jogging with The Joggernauts back in D.C. How she tortured herself every day by getting up at the crack of dawn just because she felt motivated by competition to beat Maddox every day. By the time she would go into work her legs would be sore. She can't even begin to imagine how sore they'd be if she started running now, although she was aching to get back in the habit of it (despite Steve's protests of her getting mugged jogging early in the morning).

A smile splays across her lips as she thinks of what a match Steve versus Maddox would be. The self-proclaimed fastest man in D.C., versus the literal fastest man in D.C. Just the look of defeat on Maddox's face after the inevitable lose would be glorious. "What're you smiling about?" a voice questions from beside her, startling her out of her daydream.

She turns to her right only to have her day completely ruined by the sight of the mouse-faced Frank Shaw. She gives Rudolph a look of betrayal as he never alerted her of the new guest by their side, while also trying to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "Nothing." she simply states as she moves forward at the crosswalk. Of course, he falls in step beside her. As if she hadn't had a bad day already. "Is that your natural resting face then? We're you trained to do that during your time as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent?"

"I'll tell you again, just like the other million times I've told you, I wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," she states, her voice was hostile.

"You still didn't answer my question," he continues as he crosses the street with her. His undoubted stubbornness was enough to make her nerves stand on end. "No." she simply states, her voice growing more on edge by the moment. "Where you headed?" he asks. A genuine question. Not a conspiracy theory question. This was somewhat of a change in pace.

"Where are you headed?" she turns the question back around on him, eagerly waiting to see if his response is anywhere near the park she was going to. "I asked you first," he tries to tease but ends up getting an eye roll in return as Quinn slows to a stop with Rudolph. She narrows her eyes at him as she inspects him, he offers a sheepish smile. "I'm taking my dog to Washington Square -"

"Washington Square, yeah, that's exactly where I'm headed too," he interrupts. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Her lips purse and her eyes narrow at the mouse-faced man. She gives him an eye roll before continuing her steady pace towards the park. For a moment they walk together in silence. She knew she was giving off an uncomfortable vibe, anyone could see it except for Frank who was oblivious, yet harmless.

Although she had pushed him off to the weird side of the spectrum in her mind she knew he wasn't dangerous. He looked as if she could snap him in half. "What's your dog's name?" he asks, finally breaking the silence between the two. "Rudolph," she begrudgingly answers.

"Like the reindeer or as in Hess?"

"Holy shit, Frank," Quinn hisses as she slows her pace down immensely, throwing daggers with the glare she was giving him. "Why would I name my dog after a Nazi?"

"I don't know, you worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. who was being controlled by Hydra which stems from the Nazi party. I just thought maybe someone there gave you the idea to name him Rudolph -"

"Absolutely not. My roommate named him after the reindeer," she informs him while throwing him an incredulous look. "Sorry," he mumbles out, placing his hands in his pockets. She silently scoffs. Frank was one to not know the boundaries of what people were supposed to talk about. He was what one would call useless. However, he was still human and she could see that he was shy and not usually a people's person.

She had to give him credit for coming out of his shell and actually speaking with her, it must be hard. "What are you doing out here?" she asks, trying to make a decent conversation out of his company instead of just walking beside him in silence. "Oh, I just got my haircut,"

"And your barber is out here in Greenwich?"

"Small world?"

"Big city, Frank," she counters, perking up a suspicious brow. "I had an interview," he changes his story making her groan internally. Her eyes shift across his outfit, a slight frown appearing on her lips. "Wearing that?" she judges.

"It's at a bar,"

"I thought you had a job? You were a writer at the Daily Bugle,"

Frank hisses at the mention of the media outlet. She could tell it was still an open wound. Yet, that's the job that made him question everything in life, that's what made him this pushy. He was great at it.

"Freelance. Not permanent. Jameson said there was supposed to be budget cuts and I got cut," he informs her, his voice dropping low. She hums at the statement. It wasn't like he made that much anyway, she remembered seeing his last paycheck in order to see how well he was going to be for paying rent on time. She's glad she made her decision on Robin.

"I'm hoping to make amends with them though. Prove I'm a strong reporter," he continues after a moment.

"Makes sense," Quinn says under her breath, shielding her face within the corner of her jacket as a gust of wind blows their way. "So what's got you all grumpy?" he asks, causing her to throw him another glare his way. "I'm sorry, grumpier than usual," he specifies.

She lets out a frustrated sigh as she comes to a stop at the crosswalk. Only a block more and she'd be at the park. She could practically see it's big white arch from here. "Personal matters," she answers in a low tone.

"Like what? Job problems? Family problems? Love problems?" he begins to list. It's a little too on the nose for her liking. A chill runs up her spine at how accurate his guesses were. Yet, she still remains silent to his guesses, she certainly didn't want to expose more personal information to him than she already had. "I don't want to talk about it," she huffs out as she begins to cross the street.

"You can't just bottle this stuff up, you gotta talk to someone -" he begins to pet only for Quinn to lash out. "I have. I already discussed everything with my roommate and I don't feel like reliving the experience!"

Frank takes a couple of steps away from her due to the outburst. If she didn't have Rudolph with her she'd just turn the other way and ignore him but of course, she decided to walk him to relieve stress.
However, talking to the hyper conspiracy theorist made her blood pressure rise significantly.

Yes, he was ballsy enough to get out of his comfort zone and talk to her but she didn't know him, she didn't want to know him, all his actions were genuinely starting to irk her. After a moment of walking together in complete silence, she thought she had lost him but a quick side glance assured her that he was still there, just silently walking beside her with his hands in his pockets and a disgruntled look on his face like he had done something wrong.

He had.

He had pushed her boundaries. However, this pathetic display of guilt that was spreading wildly across his face made her feel like she was to blame. "Were you guessing that because you have all of those problems?" she questions, the road of the fountain not diminishing the sound of her voice. There was nothing but silence but his figure still lingered in her peripheral. "Have you finally lost your voice -"

"I don't have!" he spits out, out of the blue, catching her off guard. She jumps at the sudden loudness of his voice. He immediately apologizes for his tone before continuing. "I don't have a lot of friends,"

She refrains herself from saying, "clearly", and instead chooses to stop walking and just listen to him altogether. "And I know you think I'm weird and I'm a stranger but I've been where you are," he declares.

"I'm there with you right now, and I know that when I talk about it I feel better and I feel even better when people comfort me even when they can't help me. Just to explain that I'm going through something that I can't help makes me feel better because it makes me feel like I'm not a terrible person -"

"What do you want me to say? Yes to all three?" she interrupts, furrowing her brows in frustration, her arms spread apart from her body as if she were asking him, "what do you want from me?".

"They're just real-world problems, Frank, everyone has them and they deal with them in their own way. But if it makes you feel better I'll talk to you about some stuff. If that's not too much to ask for,"

Frank takes a moment to look at his surroundings, finally deciding on sitting on the edge of the fountain that was located in the center of the park. "Certainly not,"

To Rudolph's dismay, Quinn perches herself next to him on the side of the fountain. The smooth surface of the concrete was cool under her. A shiver overtakes her for a moment before she tries to even think of what she could talk about.

If she revealed she was having money or family problems she'd have to give away most of her privacy and she definitely didn't want to see him following her to the hospital to see her mother. Seeing Steve was an issue. Steve was much larger than him, and could easily overtake him if he became too clingy but she didn't want to reveal his identity. To reveal Steve's identity meant opening up to a thousand more conspiracy theory questions. "So there's this guy -"

Frank gasps at the revelation. "What's his name?" he chides as if this were regular girl talk between them. It felt weird about how normal this felt. "It's not important," she dismisses with a hiss. "We just started seeing each other,"

"Well that's good," he states. "What's the problem?"

"Well, there's a lot of things in the way of being with him. It's a complicated mess. His job is dangerous, I don't know if he'll come home sometimes. Then there's this girl, who's trying to prevent me from seeing him -"

"Are you dating James Bond? Who is this guy?" he interrupts with an incredulous look on his face. Almost as if he were trying to piece the puzzle together. A light pink hue crosses her cheeks. It seems that describing Steve in this way did make him look like a spy when it was the exact opposite.

Instead of staying out of the spotlight like good spies, everyone knew who Steve was. There was no better way to describe her situation though without sounding like a Bond girl.

"You're problem sounds similar to mine," he tries to justify, bumping his shoulder against hers. "Yeah, I'm seeing this pretty girl - er well, trying to," he clarifies, causing Quinn to gawk at him. He blushes bashfully as he tells her that her name is Yuri.

"Her dad isn't a big fan of me. Doesn't want me around," he continues. Quinn can't blame the poor woman's father, she wouldn't be caught dead with him as an in-law. "So what do you do, to keep your relationship alive?"

Frank merely peers over to her with a sly smirk before looking out and above at all of the skyscrapers that loomed overhead. "I don't listen. So if you truly cared about this man, you wouldn't listen either,"

Quinn gnaws on her bottom lip. She hated going against any set rule of any kind, even the most pretentious ones that Priya came up with. Rules were established for a reason. She just can't help but feel like the rules for her and Steve seemed a little too fictitious than what they really were supposed to be.

She steals a quick glance at the conspiracy theorist. He was kind and genuine when he wasn't being so eccentric and excitable, asking a million questions she couldn't answer. He was just as confused as she was, if not more, but he still pursued what he thought was right. Her hand clamps over his shoulder, catching him off guard as he jumps in his seat. "Thank you,'

~ BOOK TWO: AGE OF ULTRON ~

STEVE'S EYES ADJUST to the brightness of his phone that burned as the screen blinked on. He was nervous as he checked the time for a fourth time during the taxi ride. He had gotten home from the mission early yesterday. Unfortunately, they had struck out on their leads for Hydra and needed to regroup themselves before heading out for another round. That's when he got her message. "Dinner?"

To be fair, she hadn't known when he was flying in. It had been at least five days since he had left. The quick response probably caught her off guard. But he hadn't wanted to go out after everything that happened.

Yesterday, was just a debriefing day for everyone, a time to wind down and get working on where the next lead would take them. Now he was in the back of a taxi with a tie-on that was borrowed from Tony. He had tied it tight enough to choke him.

Perhaps it was the nerves that were getting to him about seeing Quinn once again. After all, they were in the puppy-love state. He used to never feel anxious around her, he had at certain points when she had fallen asleep on him, or when he had attempted to kiss her, but mainly when she reciprocated his feelings like the kiss at the mall, the kiss on the Ferris wheel, that's when he started to feel nervous.

Now that their feelings were out on the table he felt vulnerable. Sure he had been with the occasional girl back when he was touring the country to sell bonds, and Peggy stole his heart all those years ago, but this was new.

This wasn't one-sided. This wasn't a coy game of cat and mouse-like he had played before he went in the ice. This was two people going in blind, and quite frankly he was a tad paranoid.

He feels his heart stop altogether when he feels the cab pull over to the side of the road to let him out at the destination. As he steps out, his gaze drifts towards the top of the building, its brilliant lights casting against the buildings surrounding it. To his left, he can still see the eyesore of a building that he lives in. It was like the tower was always watching over him no matter where he went.

He gathers enough urge to step inside to only find a lobby with a receptionist and four elevators. Over the top of the elevators was a list of what was on each floor. Bistro Three-Two-Two was on the thirty-second floor. How convenient. Once he steps inside a few more people gather in with him, all of which, he notes, are less dressed than him.

His hands are clammy as he realizes that his suit may be a bit overkill now. He was going to make a fool of himself in front of his date. Once at the restaurant, he scans the dining area for any signs of Quinn as he waits at the host stand. Unfortunately, he has no luck, and he's too polite to decline the host's invitation to help him find his date.

She directs him to a curved booth where he can see Quinn sitting at the table, looking off into the distance at the skyline of skyscrapers out of the windows. For the second time tonight, he feels as if his heart stops. Just seeing how casual she looked while waiting for him, how her hair was put up in a delicate updo, her makeup done, and her dress that was dark that had small, shimmery, stones that made her look like the night sky. For once, he was at a loss of words.

That's when her eyes caught sight of him and her crimson lips turned into a smile. A nervous sweat begins to build upon the back of his neck. He could cringe at how awkward he felt because of his nerves. As he approaches the table, she stands up to greet him, brown jacket clutched in her hands.

"It's good to see you," she hums out as he finally meets her at the table. He offers her an awkward smile as he takes the jacket out of her hands. "You don't think I'm overdressed?" he questions in a joking manner. Quinn scrunches up her face while looking around the restaurant and humming. "I think you'll fit in just fine, besides I'm wearing a dress," she tries to assure him, tugging on the material at the hem.

"It's not formal. It's a night-on-the-town dress," he counters causing her brows to raise in surprise at how stubborn he was being. A smirk appeared on her lips as she scanned him from head to toe.

"Is the man who dresses like an American flag feeling insecure about what he's wearing in front of people?"

A small chuckle escapes from his lips. She feels accomplished that she could finally break him in to make him feel a little more comfortable. Besides, it's not like she minded seeing him in a suit coat - it did seem to take her mind off of his biceps that hid beneath the dark material.

"It's nice to actually be here with you and not in some disguise," she sheepishly admits. Having Asami around was a nice change of pace, she was definitely helping them progress in their relationship. Or maybe she wasn't. Maybe she didn't care if she was targeted or not. "It's nice not to have a beard. It got itchy," he absentmindedly scratches the side of his face as he remembers the tingling sensation the piece had.

Quinn chuckles at the action, she was about to bring it to his attention when their server came over to take their drink orders. Steve's brows raise when she orders a glass of expensive champagne for herself. Of course, he'd like to join in but tasting disgusting water didn't benefit him like it did her.

They sit in silence for a moment. It was somewhat awkward. Like they didn't know how to actually talk to each other after their last encounter. Steve clears his throat to try to take the edge off of himself. "So this is... nice," Steve comments, absentmindedly looking around at the dim-lit room, and the twinkling lights of the city outside the window.

"Expect this to become a regular thing. Nothing less," Quinn teases, causing Steve's brows to rise once again. He didn't like dressing up all the time. "I'm kidding," she reassures him, sliding her hand across the table to give him a slight squeeze for comfort.

The little gesture sends his heart rate through the roof though he tries his best to refrain showing any of his excitement towards the touch. "I'd have to sell my kidneys to eat here every time we had a date," she adds, retracting her hand to look at the menu - though she had already looked at it ahead of time. She had to look up a few of the words from the menu as even she didn't know exactly what it was.

"So this is a date?" Steve asks, catching her attention. "Can I just ask why here?"

"It's my birthday," she states without missing a beat, her eyes never leaving the menu. The statement is enough to make Steve choke on his water in embarrassment. "Are you seri-"

"No, I'm not. Bad joke, I guess," she cuts him off with a shrug. She did love seeing his reaction. "We're here to celebrate I guess,"

"For what?" he questions. Something that Quinn had been dreading for the past several days. Not that the news wasn't exciting, it was just bound to strike him as suspicious. Even to her, it was suspicious but beggars can't be choosers. "I may or may not have an opportunity to get a new job," she admits, taking a long sip of her wine after answering. Steve smiles at her accomplishment. She takes in its beauty while it lasts. "That's great! Where at?"

Another dreaded question. "The Federal Bureau of Investigations," she answers quickly. Although his smile remained she notices it diminishes in size as he processes her words and figures out who she was possibly getting a job with. "So when did this happen?" he asks while taking a sip of his water.

Quinn nervously scratches the back of her neck as she tries to recount everything that happened. "Uh, a few days ago." she stammers. Their conversation stops as the server comes and drops off two salads for the couple, they each throw him a fake smile. As the server leaves, they distract themselves with the food, their smiles fading.

Quinn knew that he would be suspicious which made her feel anxious. Steve was just overall confused, she had never wanted to put herself in harm's way in fear that she may lose her life and leave her mother alone, this was a different side to her.

"You never said you were going to get a job with the FBI," Steve breaks the silence once again. His voice was riddled with confusion. She would've absolutely told him that she'd be looking to go into her field, she would've even asked him for help.

"That's because I didn't know I had an opportunity to," she answers, causing him to perk a brow up in confusion as he munched on a bite of lettuce. "While you were gone, I got a call from Asami Swan. Tony Stark has offered to stick a leg out and help me out with pursuing a career in my field,"

Steve rolls his eyes at the mention of Tony's name. Of course, he had to meddle with his personal life even more than what was already happening. This action was enough to send him over the edge with Tony. He didn't want to see Quinn get hurt. Or worse. She was already taking that risk by seeing him, he didn't want her to risk herself every day when he wasn't around.

The fork rattles on the plate as he tosses it down out of frustration that was caused by his Tony-induced headache. "Can't you just be a beat cop? And what does Tony have to do with any of this? Tony -"

"Calm down," Quinn defends herself, once again placing her hand on top of his she could feel his hands tightening as they clenched together to keep calm. His blue eyes were obviously hurt as he looked up at her. She tries to give him a reassuring smile. "It's not like I'm in a position to say no to an opportunity like this. It's a better income, it's in my field, it's -"

"Dangerous." he counters.

Frustrated, Quinn retracts her hand from his as if his were burning. Her eyes filled with disdain as she looked on to him. "And what you do isn't?" her voice is incredulous as she spits out the words. Flustered, Steve looks to his plate and then back to her. "That's different," he tries to justify himself.

Quinn lets out a humorless chuckle before shaking her head. "How? You get to stick your neck out to determine the gate of the world while I just sit by and sell Apple products? I have a right to do just as much good as you do to protect this country,"

The words are like a slap in his face. It was as if he was staring into a mirror to the past. He could remember a time where he had been rejected multiple times just to prove that he was worthy enough to serve his country. He knew what it was like to have people prevent him from doing the right thing or to make him feel foolish for wanting to do the right thing.

As he goes to speak up the sever comes to the table once again to take their orders. He can't help but look at Quinn as she lists off what she wanted, he could see the distress and pain hidden behind her eyes. He could tell that she was truly passionate about the opportunity to actually help people, it's what she's always wanted to do. But he knew Tony.

Although Quinn and Tony had a lot in common personality-wise, Quinn had always been the more sincere and genuine person - the one to make sure everyone was all right before checking to see if she was okay. Tony wasn't that person.

It wasn't the opportunity that Steve was upset about, it was the intentions behind it. A couple more moments of silence pass as the sever went away. Quinn's gaze rested on the city lights outside while Steve was on her. He lets out a sigh before speaking up, "I know Tony,"

The sound of his voice snaps Quinn's attention from the outside to him. "He can be genuine and want to help out the world and better it and save it, but he's a wild card and a businessman before anything,"

Quinn lets out a cold chuckle. "So you're saying this is a con? I mean it could be, he doesn't even know me,"

"He knows of you," Steve corrects as he throws her a concerned look. "I'm saying it's a gamble. You are smart and capable of working with them but I'd keep an eye out,"

Steve lets out another sigh as he anxiously taps the table with his fingers."But you're right, you have no less right to protect this place than I do. Just be careful," he earns her. A small smirk appears on her face before she slides into the middle of the booth to be closer to him. Steve mimics her motions, closing the distance between them.

"I promise,"

Quinn's lips catch his briefly, as he smiles and melts into the kiss. This is what he had been waiting forever since he returned from his mission, it was what he would think about when he had a spare moment on the mission as well. Just being with Quinn and being happy.

Several white flashes catch both of their attention, sending Quinn reeling back unexpectedly while hissing. Her hand covers her eyes as more white flashes flicker between the two. The restaurant appeared to get louder as well, as she could hear various questions being asked but she didn't know what it was in regards to.

As her eyes open, she's surprised to see a flock of people standing at the side of their table, cameras in hand, flashing them with their brilliant light each time a picture was taken. Her mind can only scream one word. Paparazzi?

Puzzled and dazed by the lights she can't even see Steve to copy what he was doing, all she can do is reach out beside her to find his hand. Her grip is tight once she latches on to it, he also squeezes her hand reassuringly. A familiar gasp rings to her ears out of the hysteria of questions being asked. Quinn's eyes open and adjust to the figure right in front of her table. At first, he's blurry but once she actually gets a good look at him her eyes widen. Her hands become clammy at the sight of him

He gasps once again while holding a camera in his hands. "No way!"

~A/N~

Yay! So you guys finally get to meet Frank. He is honestly my favorite character out of this whole series because of how eccentric and paranoid he is.

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

P.S.S. (and a slight edit) Sam Smith's new song 'To Die For' is peak Quinn/Steve