Once Upon an Avenger

Chapter 18: Whatever it takes...

"Has anyone seen Hope this morning?" Wanda asked, sitting next to Nat at the island. "We had training, but she never showed up."

Natasha smirked, knowing her friend would be relieved by what she was about to say. "She's fast asleep in her room. Tony was going to wake her up for breakfast, but I managed to convince him to let her rest."

"It worked," Wanda's smile spread across her face at the good news.

Sam and Loki had been training in the gym together. It was new; they claimed that they were only spending so much time together for Hope, but even when she wasn't there, the two of them could most likely be found together. They had become good friends, great friends even. In fact, since Loki had let himself be locked up when he was in fact innocent, the whole team had gained a whole new level of respect for the God of Mischief. Before, they were still wary of him, but not anymore; Hope was right, people really did change.

"What worked? And where's Swan?" Sam threw an apple at Loki which he caught just before it hit him in the face. He gave him an apologetic smile before continuing, "it's almost half eleven and she hasn't pestered us yet, it's slightly worrying."

"We went out yesterday and got some ingredients for a potion to help her control the fire when she's asleep. Stop her from waking up."

Loki got himself a bottle of water from the fridge. "And it worked?" He asked, sliding another across the counter to Sam.

"Well, I didn't get burned, so I'd say it worked." Hope rubbed her eyes as she stood at the top of the stairs, dressed in her gym clothes.

"Nice of you to join us," Wanda joked.

"Whatever," Hope waved off her remark, "let's go train."

"I wouldn't if I were you, Steve's in there now."

"Don't tell me that he's still pissed about yesterday." Hope made her way over to the counter; Natasha's raised eyebrow gave her the answer she needed. "Ugh, fine, I'll train later." Helping herself to some fruit, she continued, "I'm not sure how this is my fault anyway, if he'd followed orders like a good soldier then I wouldn't have had to do it in the first place. I forgot, it happens, so did you two. Besides, I apologised as soon as I remembered. I figured letting him chase me around the place would have cooled him off a little bit, evidently not. I could have beaten him much quicker, but I was nice and didn't, because, unlike him, I am nice. Come to think of it, I probably made it worse by pinning him, poor baby's ego got hurt."

"That it did." Wanda laughed. "How many times is it that you've done that now?"

"Only the second, unless you count when I knocked him on his ass yesterday in the alley too. I did also slap him that one time... Oh, and I've shouted at him many a time." Hope frowned at how bad it sounded saying all that out loud. "I'm not normally an angry person, but that man's face might as well just say 'punch me' on it."

"He's normally such a sweetheart," Wanda pointed out. "He only ever gets like that with you, or when you're brought up."

"Probably the light and dark in me, bringing out the dark in America's golden boy. Or something like that..." Hope shrugged. She'd given up on reasoning with Steve.

"Or something..." Natasha muttered. The others only heard the sound of her voice but were unable to understand what she said.

A chorus of 'What?'s came from the four other Avengers in the room.

"Nothing, just mumbling about this mission report." Natasha looked up from her paperwork, glad that they hadn't understood. "Could you show me how you straddled Rogers yesterday?"