CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
( WELCOME )
A GROAN ESCAPES her lips as she feels several vibrations run through the thin lining of her mattress. Quinn's eyes try to adjust to the brightness of her screen, as she squints to see what exactly is happening with her phone. To her surprise, it's an alarm, something she hasn't had to set for a while especially this early.
Her thumb pressed snooze, as she has the full intent to return to her slumber but once she sees her idle home screen a shock of panic runs thick through her blood. Eleven missed calls from Stark Industries with five voicemails, six missed calls from Jo with six voicemails, and what looks to be a hundred text messages from miscellaneous people ranging from Dustin at S.H.I.E.L.D. to Monyce her mother's nurse.
Her eyes widen as she scrolls through her texts. Had the end of the world happened? Just as she goes to tap on a text message to see what was wrong her phone vibrates in her hand, startling her. Jo's smiling face pops up with her name scrolling across the top of the screen in bright letters.
Quinn hastily answers the phone. "Six missed calls from you in less than an hour. Did something happen? Is there an attack on New York again?" Quinn questions hysterically just as she picks up the phone.
"I don't know, why don't you tell me what's going on?"
Quinn pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs in frustration. She was always so dramatic after she hadn't spoken to her for a bit. It wasn't her fault she hadn't spoken to her she had been...busy. "I don't have time to play guessing games, Jo -"
"When were you going to tell me you and Steve were an actual item?" Jo accuses, cutting her off mid-sentence and leaving her mouth ajar. An item? How did she even know?
"What?" Quinn questions, her voice littered with confusion yet she became irritated thinking about what was happening. "What are you talking about?"
"Quinn, there are pictures of you kissing Steve all over the place,"
Her breath hitches in her throat as she hears this newfound information. There are pictures of her and Steve everywhere? That did make sense, they had only asked Frank to delete the photos but it had completely escaped her mind that the other paparazzi wouldn't leak their photos. This was bound to be a juicy story for a least a minute.
Hopefully, this wouldn't cause a rift between her and Steve. However, she didn't think it'd affect him too much, he basically already told Stark to shove it when it came to PR stuff. "Honestly I'm more upset that I wasn't the first to know about this. I thought we were friends," Jo whines into the receiver, bringing Quinn back into the moment. Her brows furrow in confusion. "We are friends," she affirms, her voice littered with confusion.
"Then why didn't you tell me about this?" Jo huffs out causing Quinn to roll her eyes. She lived over a thousand miles away, it's not like she could tell her everything when it happened like she used to. "I don't know, because it literally just happened like a week ago. He went on a mission afterward, I didn't want to tell you just in case something happened to him," Quinn excuses herself, hoping this would deflect her guilty conscience for not telling her best friend.
"Oh my god Quinn, he's Captain America," she groans out over the phone.
"I know I shouldn't worry too much -"
"No, I meant it as in you're dating Captain America. That's nuts," Jo states, her voice sounding more bubbly than before.
"I wouldn't quite call it that," Quinn corrects her, slightly hissing at the word "dating".
"What would you call it then?"
She shrugs, crossing her room to pull out an outfit for the orientation for today. She couldn't be too preoccupied with the dating rumors flooding her phone at the moment. "Two friends who like each other who just happened to kiss each other a couple of times -"
"Oh my god, Quinn! You are so clueless when it comes to these things!"
Quinn removes the phone from her ear as Jo shouts at her. She places her outfit on the bed, making sure to stay away from Rudolph's fur - he'd sabotage anything black if he was around it. She audibly scoffs over the receiver before walking to Rudolph and scratching the top of his head, sitting down in her bed. "Well, I'm sorry I don't have a lot of experience in dating, alright? I tend to not want to get my feelings trampled over all the time,"
This was bound to strike Jo to her core, especially since she had just found one person who she wanted to be with less than a year ago. Here she was preaching to her about love and her absence of it. Rudolph's large head nuzzled his way into her lap, enjoying the absent-minded stress pets he was getting from his owner. "How long has it been since you've dated someone?" Jo questions hotly.
"I just said it's not dating -"
"You went on a date with him!"
"And I went on a date with Maddox, does that make him my ex?"
"Not technically but you did date him -"
"That's not how it works!"
"Hey, don't tell me how dating works -"
"Okay, Jo, how many boyfriend's have you had then?"
Jo is silent for a moment, sitting in awe that Quinn had finally said it straight forward that she doesn't know a thing about love as well. In Quinn's eyes, she was just as inexperienced as she was. "Well...you see...those weren't...real...okay but you and Steve have been building this up for a good few months now it's not like you met on an app," Jo attempts to convince her best friend, earning a groan in return.
Quinn wants to scream into her pillow as she tosses the phone on to the bed with the speaker on. She pushes Rudolph off of her lap as she inspects her outfit once again, this time hanging it on a pin jutting out from her door so I could stay far away from the golden retriever's fur.
She hopes that the rumors hadn't spread too far but, by the way, she had gotten so many calls and texts she knew it was being blown of out proportions. Her stomach gurgles, alerting her that she would probably feel a lot better about the situation if she ate something. It may calm her nerves for her orientation.
"So does this mean when you come down for Halloween he'll come too? Are you guys going to do your own thing or do I have to include him in the group?" Jo begins listing coupley things off, making Quinn regret everything she'd done with Steve up until now. "Jo I don't have time for this, I have an orientation today,"
Once she opens the door she's greeted by the wafting smell of freshly brewed coffee engulfing the apartments air. She ignores Jo's assaulting questions as she turns to see Robin leaning on the door frame of the kitchen, a mug in her hand as she surveyed her. "Why are you up?" she questions, making her way past her into the kitchen.
It was awfully early to see her up at this time. In fact, it was early to see Jo up at this time and have her call at least ten times. This must be the end of the world. "Oh I got a notification from Amazon that I have a big package being delivered," she explains, watching Quinn's every movement as she places her phone down on the counter to fix up food for Rudolph.
"You know how the drivers are, if you don't answer the first ring they'll take it back to the fulfillment center and I'll have to pick it up," she continues, her voice sounding hoarse from being up this early.
"What's the package?" Quinn asks as she begins making her food.
"Oh, I'm starting a podcast. Figured it'd help get me over Cynthia and it's a good way to blow off some steam," her voice trails off as she looks to the floor awkwardly. Quinn notes that it was uncharacteristic of her to not be speaking at the moment - even if she was tired. Something must be up.
Robin clears her throat before speaking again, "Hey since you're here, do you want to be my first guest on the podcast? Having you might boost my views since you're trending,"
Quinn drops the peanut butter covered knife from her hand as she lets the words sink in. "What?" she questions darkly. Robin shifts in her position uncomfortably. "You're trending?" she repeats herself. The color from Quinn's face drains at the words, for a moment she can't hear anything but an unsatisfying ringing sound. "I'm what?" she asks again shakily this time.
A nervous sweat starting to build up on the back of her neck. "Trending. On social media?" Robin attempts to clarify, perking one brow up as she looked at her roommate. "Yeah, I get that," Quinn whispers out. Her stomach makes a churn for the worst. She instantly feels like vomiting. She didn't like gossip and she definitely didn't like gossip involving her.
Robin disappears for a moment but comes back into the kitchen with her laptop, placing in beside Quinn on the counter. Her heart drops as she reads the eye-catching headlines on Google. "'The Girl Who Stole Cap's Shield of a Heart', 'Cap's Girl', 'The Real Miss America'?"
"Oh, are you reading the articles?" Jo's voice startles her. She had completely forgotten that she was still on the phone with her. She must've gone and done something to be that quiet for that long. It didn't concern Quinn at the moment, she was more focused on seeing her name typed in the search bar and finding hundreds of articles about her and Steve.
"Just the headlines," she whimpers out, scrolling through the pages upon pages of articles. She hoped no sensitive information got out, like where she lived or what her mother's name was, or what was even happening to her mother. She cringes at her carelessness of being with Steve, this was the last time she'd be following any advice from Frank.
"I got an email from BuzzFeed wanting to talk to me about you," Jo pipes up, once again drawing Quinn out of her stressed-out state. "What?"
"Me too," Robin states, making Quinn whip her head over to her. "But hey that's now my competition so I can't talk to anyone,"
"Oh, you're actually starting that podcast?" Jo's voice becomes bubbly as she begins speaking to Robin. "Yes," Robin confirms in an equally annoying voice. "Dang, good for you girl!" Jo compliments, forcing Quinn to run her hand over her face in irritation. "Hey! Hey! Focus!" she shouts to the both of them, squashing whatever celebration they were talking about. She had a bigger issue at hand. "Don't talk to anyone about this until I figure this out," she instructs the two in a strict tone that could easily rival Steve's authoritative tone.
The counter vibrates underneath Quinn's phone, disrupting her further instructions to the two women. She rolls her eyes as she sees the caller I.D. as Asami Swan - Stark Industries. Great. She was calling to yell at her, no doubt. They probably violated ten things in the NDA she had previously signed.
Her stomach drops as she grabs on to her phone, although she knows she could easily just send her to voicemail. However, she's already missed more than enough calls from them, she was in enough trouble, she didn't want to prolong it. "I've got to take this. I'll talk to you later Jo," she sighs as she hangs up on her friend.
Her thumb hesitates over the green answer button, she absentmindedly bites on her opposite thumbnail as she stares down at the phone. "Stark Industries?" Robin curiously questions, earning a numb head nod from her roommate. Quinn huffs out yet another sigh of regret as she answers the phone. "Quinn it's good to hear from you. I was starting to get worried that you'd oversleep," Asami greets as soon as she answers the phone.
"Ah, yeah, I was asleep until about a half-hour ago," Quinn admits, a sheepish blush creeping on her face. She doesn't know why she admitted that
"Well, I was just giving you a courtesy call, informing you that your orientation is at eleven and that it's over off of federal avenue,"
"Oh, that's close to you. Yeah, I was just getting ready for that," she hums out amused as she crosses the kitchen to go back into her room to look at her outfit. She nervously paces towards her window to look out at the street. "Um, is that all you wanted to talk about?" she questions anxiously waiting for her to snap.
"Yes, that's it," Asami assures her with an ominous tone as if she were confused by her question. Quinn retreats from her window to shut her bedroom door, where she notices that Robin had been eavesdropping. Robin throws her an apologetic look as she glares at her before shutting the door. "It just seemed like there was something more important. I had nineteen missed calls by you -"
"I assure you, Quinn. That was not myself," Asami interrupts, humorlessly chuckling into the receiver.
"It just says Stark Industries, eleven missed calls?" Quinn tries to bait her into figuring out who actually called her so many times.
"Well, I called from my personal line. Did my name not show up?"
Quinn quickly looks back down at her phone. She curses to herself. It did say her name. She had been careless about accusing her. "Ah, no it did. My mistake, I'm sorry," she quickly folds under the pressure of her wrongdoing.
"Quinn, if you have any missed calls from Stark Industries it wasn't from myself and it definitely wasn't from Mr. Stark. If they left any voicemails, can you please alert me on who they might be from? We handle things very seriously here and if you're getting calls from someone who's not from Stark Industries but it's showing up as such, we'd like to know to get it taken care of," Asami's voice is low and serious, causing Quinn's blood to run cold from how severe she was treating the anonymous calls.
She once again swallows a lump building in the back of her throat. "Of course, I'll see if there's a voicemail and get back to you," she tries to calmly state, however, there's a slight tremble in her voice. Her thumb shakily ends the call, her eyes glazed over with the immediate shock that was taking hold of her.
Not only did she have to stress about the orientation but now her relationship with Steve was out of the box. Confliction overtakes her. Of course, she's somewhat happy to know she doesn't have to keep sneaking around with Steve, but he's also one to keep to himself. All this attention they're receiving is going to send him through the roof. Things could possibly take a turn for the worst.
But that wasn't the Steve she knew, he'd never take such drastic turns so suddenly. She lets her mind clear as she shuffles around trying to get ready for the orientation. If she was going to be the talk of the town she might as well look the part. Hopefully, no one recognized her from the newly published tabloids and news articles. Not everyone had time to read gossip, especially members of any government agency...she hoped.
She unlatched her door with a shaky breath, bending down to pet Rudolph in a last-ditch attempt to relieve stress. At this point, she didn't care if there was some dog hair on her outfit, just not clumps. A buzzing noise came from the living room, as she entered she saw Robin, flipping through the channels of the TV.
She purses her lips as their eyes finally connect, Robin, making a lame attempt to cheer her up by imitating a seductive trumpet, forcing Quinn to roll her eyes. The sooner she left, the better. "Hold down the fort until I get back," she calls over her shoulder as she makes a beeline to the door. "Oh God," she hears Robin hiss under her breath. "You're starting to sound like my grandpa,"
Quinn's cheeks flame up with embarrassment as she tries to leave the apartment as fast as she can. Maybe she had been spending too much time with Steve.
~ BOOK TWO: AGE OF ULTRON ~
THE BUILDING HUMS with activity as swarms of officers, agents, and desk workers mill about in the lobby and the halls. In many ways, this place reminded her of S.H.I.E.L.D. as every busybody that passed her on the bench looked like they had an important purpose and if they were to break concentration they'd lose whatever high horse they were on. None of them even spared a look in her direction as she waited for her name to be called.
A small smile appears on her face as she thinks about this. Maybe the articles haven't gone too viral, maybe no one really did recognize her. However, in a way she doubted it. One of the world's most paranoid government branches were bound to have facial recognition somewhere. She shrugs off the sinking feeling. If they knew about her, then they knew about her. It's not like Stark didn't already provide that information to them.
Anxiously, she peers down at her phone to look at the time. Eleven hundred. There were still many texts and missed calls from people she knew, along with numbers and faces that she didn't know. None from Steve. A part of her was worried that he caught wind of what was happening and wanted to bolt away from anything that had to do with them. Leave it to his popularity and the paparazzi to ruin something great.
The sinking feeling in her stomach grows deeper when she hears two sets of heels approaching her at the bench. Her gaze drifts up towards the two women who humbly smiled at her as they make their way towards her. "Miss Cruise?" The older woman of the two calls to her from an arms length away.
Quinn's mouth suddenly feels dry as she realizes the moment she's been waiting for is finally here. She quickly nods her head once, her mouth slightly agape from the nerves that were starting to rise. The older woman outstretches her hand towards her. "My name is Yvette, I'm the assistant director of this precinct," she greets, as Quinn numbly takes her hand. Her legs feel a little wobbly as reality hits her hard.
"This is Kat, she's a special agent but some times works as my protogé," she nods her head back to the woman standing behind her, who's arms was crossed against her chest. Quinn couldn't help but stare at her, she seemed almost too beautiful to be a special agent. She looked as if she belonged on a runway.
Kat simply nods her head as a greeting before scanning her appearance and writing something down on the iPad in her hands. She immediately made Quinn feel small, insignificant as if being here was just a waste of time. "Why don't we step into my office? Get to know each other a little more, go over some things?" Yvette suggests, flashing her another half-hearted smile.
"Su-sure," Quinn stammers out, adjusting her skirt as she begins to follow the two women. She has to force herself to take a deep breath as she walks behind them, trying to convince herself that this was no big deal. It's not an interview - it's an orientation. So Stark somewhat helped her past that barrier for her.
As she steps into the office she notices that it's smaller than she expected. Plain wooden walls where there weren't windows overlooking the inside of the building, even though the walls appeared to be decked out in degrees and awards won from Yvette. Her desk was large, however, there was an absence of human touch to the area. No photos of friends or loved ones, nothing but stacks of papers and miscellaneous files that were laid open until she had arrived. Even the chair she sat in was uncomfortable, just a small black office chair on wheels.
It was definitely a change of scenery from Asami's office, and even from S.H.I.E.L.D. "Let's start from the beginning," Yvette speaks up, as she wheels herself closer to her desk, Kat following closely behind. "Just tell me if everything on here is correct," she informs her while shuffling through some papers on her desk and placing a pair of glasses on her nose. Quinn merely nods her head.
Yvette begins to rattle off the list that she had gone over with Asami. It irked her in a way. First, she had to go over everything with Priya, then Asami, and then Yvette? It was getting a little ridiculous. She didn't want everyone and their mother knowing about her personal information.
No one should know what her middle name is, or where she was born, and definitely not where her mother was treating at. Feeling the exposed made her anxious. Especially after her Hydra incident.
"You graduated in two thousand eight at the top of your class, yet, you went straight to I.T. instead of being a field agent," Yvette's curious tone snaps her out of her fit. "Why?" Her eyes scan over Quinn from the top of her glasses. It was if she was analyzing her movements, her reactions on certain questions, seeing what made her squirm uncomfortably or if she answered with a level head.
"A lot happened during my college years, I couldn't risk putting myself out there like that," she admits, hesitantly at first as she stared into the dark eyes of the director. "Not willing to lay down your life or couldn't?"
"Couldn't," she easily answers. "For my mother's sake,"
"How about now?" Yvette clarifies, hitting something down on the edge of the paper in front of her. "Are you willing to lay down your life if needed?"
Quinn's breath hitches in the back of her throat. This suddenly got way too real, way too fast for her. She had always assumed they'd stick her behind a computer like S.H.I.E.L.D. had but this was starting to make her think otherwise. Was she actually willing to put down her life? Was she actually willing to risk not being able to see her mother, talk to Robin and Jo, or be with Steve?
She had finally gotten to a place where she wanted to be. But the real question would be if she was truly happy selling overpriced computers every day for the rest of her life. This could make or break this. "Yes," she shakily breathes out. Her eyes dart to the ground for a moment as she notices Yvette writing things down on the sheet of paper in front of her. "How much field training do you have?"
"Field training?" Quinn tries to get clarification.
"Combat training. I know it's been a while since you probably had a sparring partner, exam, all of that -"
"Over the past year actually," Quinn chimes in, catching Yvette and Kat off guard. Kat's brows raise at the statement. "I trained with Blair Norris -"
"But do you actually remember any of this?" Kat pipes up for the first time. She scoffs as she leans back in her seat, waiting for Quinn to respond. "You're mind was taken over by Hydra. Our records show that you've forgotten a lot of the past year -"
"I've gained some memories back," Quinn tries to defend herself but Kat turns her down. "No. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have even scheduled this, even if you have some sort of deal with Tony Stark. You're too weak if you can't overcome that challenge," she turns to face the director. "Yvette, if she can succumb to mind control, who's to say she won't in the future? You can't do this. You'll put this whole precinct in jeopardy,"
"She won't succumb to it in the future because it won't happen, we won't allow it," Yvette hisses at her apprentice. "If you had a say in it, sure she'd be out but you don't, stand down Lazar,"
"I'm sorry if being under Hydra's influence makes you uncomfortable," Quinn perks up, surprising the two. "It frightening to not know what you're capable of when you're not in control of your actions. I understand your concerns. Perhaps it would be best if I do go back to being a retail employee,"
"No," Yvette's tone is hastier than what Quinn expected. It was as if she was panicked to let her walk out on the orientation. Either they really needed more special agents or this had something to do with Stark. She was willing to bet on the latter.
"We've looked over people's discrepancies in the past. What happened to you was out of your control, we have no reason to believe you're a threat," Yvette states as she plops a lozenge in her mouth. "Besides, you look fairly harmless," she adds, trying to lighten the heavy mood that was circling her office at the moment.
"Let's get down to business, Cruise," she exclaims. She slides a manila folder across the desk towards her with the large emblem of the program on top of it. "You're here to be a special agent. We hold a very high standard of what it takes to be an agent. Multiple background checks, reference checks, drug tests,"
Quinn begins to flip through the folder as Yvette continues to list off all the mandatory background screenings she'd have to attend and submit afterward. Of course, she's being evaluated like she was under a microscope. She was no one, doing nothing, then all of a sudden she was a someone doing the right thing. She couldn't help but smile as she thought of this.
"Agent Lazar will be helping you get acclimated with all your classes and training regimen in Quantico," Yvette states, drawing her attention back to the director. Quinn's brows furrow in confusion at the statement as Kat rolls her eyes from behind the director. It was clear she was as unenthused by the news as Quinn was confused.
"Quantico?" Quinn speaks up, her voice sounding on edge. "But that's all the way down in Virginia. I can't just leave my mom -"
"Your mother will be taken care of, Cruise," Yvette assures her by speaking over her. "Besides it'll be like when you lived in D.C. and your mother was here,"
Quinn winces at the statement. It was a low blow. Even for her. She didn't want to be separated from her mother again because of what had happened previously. "What's in Quantico? A base?" Quinn questions, the news knocking the pep out of her voice. "No, Hun, the academy that'll make sure you hold up to our very high standards," Yvette clarifies. Kat chuckles in her seat at Quinn's naïvity.
"Is it mandatory?" Quinn counters, frantically shuffling through the pages of the manilla envelope. It felt as if everything was slipping through her fingers just like the pieces of paper that drifted from her hands. "Everyone is required to graduate from Quantico," Kat answers lethargically.
"How long will it take?" she continues to rattle off. Her mind was going a mile a minute. She didn't sign up for this. "For you?" Yvette scans her features over before looking back down at her sheet. "About three months,"
"Three months?" It comes out in an exasperated whisper. Three months was too long for her to just be away to do some training. It was unbelievable. "Is there an echo in here?" Kat whispers under her breath only to have Yvette throw her a dirty look. "I-I can't be away for three months," Quinn stammers out a plea. "I have an apartment and a dog -"
"Which will also be covered in your absence," Yvette interrupts to reassure her. "Miss Cruise, you don't have to accept the offer. You can go back and be in retail, but I can guarantee you that they won't fund the move for your mother,"
This confuses Quinn even further, her brows knit together in an unconvinced motion. "Fund the move?" she questions.
"Your mother is required to go to a certain facility to rehabilitate and monitor, correct?"
"How'd you know?" Her tone is defensive as she's quick to become protective of her mother and her privacy. "We have our ways," Yvette drones out, sucking on the lozenge. "We're more than willing to fund the move, but that's only if you accept the offer," she offers.
Quinn looks at her dazed for a moment. Was this a deal? A way to keep her end of the bargain instead of flaking out? Although it makes a chill run up her spine, she was in no situation to refuse the help. Besides, she couldn't move her mother without them. "Three months?" Quinn reiterates, narrowing her eyes at the director.
"Three months," Yvette confirms while leaning back in her chair.
"And that's it?"
"That's all we ask of you,"
Quinn's eyes squeeze shut as she debates as to why she wants to refuse but she can't. There was no way she could. But she'd miss out on so much with everyone. A sigh racks through her chest as she leans forward to readjust. "When do I ship off?" she begrudgingly asks. "The first week of October," Yvette answers.
"So next week?" Her voice sounds defeated as she asks. She doesn't want to look at Yvette and Kat anymore, but she watches as Yvette nods her head in confirmation. That's a short time to inform everyone of her absence and to get ready but this clearly wasn't a bargaining situation. Her jaw clenches as she nods her head in agreement.
She hated the gleam in Yvette's eyes as she scans her once again, a wide grin appearing on her face. "All the information regarding your stay at the Quantico facility will be in your packet," she informs her with a chipper tone in her voice.
Quinn flips through the packet once again. She was getting tired of reading packets all the time. This time she'd be more vigilant while reading it. She couldn't have another Priya situation on her hands.
Yvette juts her hand out across the desk, making Quinn jump a little in her seat at the sudden movement. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Kat roll her eyes for the millionth time. Her gaze then falls upon the director and her extended hand as she takes it. "Welcome to the FBI,"
A/N: A little side note, Knarl (on here) has made a trailer for this fic!
It's up on her youtube page - Kelsey P, it's titled Steve and Quinn. It's amazing. She did a terrific job editing all those clips together to basically summarize Quinn and Steve's relationship (and even predicted a few moments that'll happen later on in the series without me telling her, she's a mind reader). Anyways, it's wonderful, she's truly talented so go watch it and while you're at it, if you want to read a Bucky fic that's original go to her page, she has an amazing story out called It Started With Pizza. Stay tuned for next week, where we'll see the last of Steve for a bit.