Together but Alone

[3] Strawberries

As soon as I was out of Nicky's office, I took a deep breath. Boy was I glad to be out of there. After a second, I stepped away from the door and slipped down the hall. My nerves were going haywire after that conversation. I quickly found myself outside of Phil's office without even realizing it. That happens every so often. I stepped up to the door and knocked.

"It's open." I cracked open the door.

"Hey PC." I knew my voice was a bit rough and a way to quite then normal. But if Phil noticed, he didn't say a thing.

"Hey Adds, come on in. " I nodded and squeezed through the space, shutting the door behind me. "What's up?" He looked up from his computer. I shrugged and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. I was avoiding answering his question and instead fiddled with my hands. I wasn't quite sure what was wrong and I wasn't sure what to tell him. I heard him grab something off his desk and I looked up. He was holding out a stack of papers and a pen. "Okay well do you wanna help me out here? I'm a little swamped." I nodded, grateful for the distraction. A couple of minutes later and I was working on filling out some basic paperwork. My eyelids felt like I was dragging them through peanut butter just to shut them. I slumped down into my chair farther and shut my eyes. Just a few minutes so they stopped feeling like sandpaper.

Groaning I opened my eyes. Phil's office was dark and completely quiet. PC wasn't in there. That probably meant he left and took over Nicky's office so I could sleep. He had also taken the stack of paperwork I had been dealing with. Sighing, I stretched. Even when I didn't know what was wrong or how to fix it, one of my dad's somehow did.

As my day went on, I stopped to talk to quite a few people. I pretty much know everyone here even if they didn't know me. Even the people that were in Nicky's office, The Avengers. I know that the red headed woman is Natasha Romanoff a Russian Assassin, and the short brunette man is Clinton Barton an extremely skilled archer. The man with long black hair and metal arm is James Barnes also known as The Winter Solider. I could keep going but I think you get the point.

Anyways, I can walk through the entire compound and know everyone's name and say hello. Everyone knows me to some extent as well. Either by The Blue Jay or Birdie, Adeline, Addy, Adds, Rowan, or simply Dean. Some people don't even know my name but know that I'm the girl that says hello to them every day. It's kind of nice. That people still know how to be generally nice people yet.

I had just finished up speaking to on of my co-workers and decided on a snack. I made my way to the commons near my bedroom and searched through the fridge for something to eat. My attention was grabbed by a bright red container and I did a little happy dance. Strawberries! I love anything and everything that has them in it. Smoothies, ice cream, juice, pie, ANYTHING. I had started to clean them and cut them up when I heard someone enter the room and stop. I paused for a moment to listen to their breathing before continuing. I decided to ignore them, figuring that it's an Avenger and that they'd speak first.

The Avengers don't really hangout around here. They spend a lot of time at the Avenger's Tower. Even when they did stick around they never really noticed me. They were to caught up in a current mission or case to care. I did make it too easy either. I never had a reason to interact with them, so I kind of ignored them.
I normally merge back into the shadows and get ignored. It's a wonderful trait to have sometimes. Other times it makes me feel.... bad about myself.

"Hello," I looked up from cleaning my strawberries and gently placed my hand on my side arm. I felt a little comfort at knowing it was there. The voice that had spoken was deep and scratchy, that of a mans.

"Hi...." I looked over my shoulder and saw multiple people standing there. The Avengers of course and not just one, but all of them. I was confused and they all looked about as equally perplexed as me. I looked back down and finished what I was doing, trying to keep calm. It was just some superhero's staying in the compound. It was nothing new, just pretend that it was a regular SHIELD agent. I swiped a stray hair from my face and took a calming breath. "There's food in the fridge if you'd like some." I pointed to the fridge with my knife, hoping that they wouldn't want to talk to me. I really wanted them to just leave. But of course they wouldn't just do that. That would be much too easy.