secrets // kate bishop

2.1

Amara made her way across town to meet her sister. She sat at the table waiting, scrolling on her phone. She knew Thalia was coming from dance so she'd be a bit late trying to get there through traffic.

The bell rang on the restaurant door, making multiple heads turn towards the noise. Amara turned to the door, a smile instantly growing on her face as their matching dark brown eyes met.

Amara rushed out of the booth. Thalia meeting her in the middle, arms wrapping around her older sister, holding her tight, head pressed to her chest.

"I've missed you," Amara smiled, hands rubbing her sisters back, she felt so small her arms, almost like she was a baby again, she could almost feel her sister's body relax, "So much."

The two separated, sliding into the booth. Amara couldn't help but smile at her little sister, "Tell me everything I've missed! I wanna know it all!"

"Uhm," Thalia hummed, flattening her hair back with her hand, her dark waves pulled into a messy high ponytail, "It's been pretty tense in the house. Mom and Dad are working more then ever, I've been helping out on the weekends, but it's fine."

"Are you sure?" Amara asked, there was a wavering tone in her sister's voice, "Be honest with me please."

"No it's fine, how's the trial?" Thalia forced the topic to change.

"It seemed to be going well, I left half way through, I'll get more information from Kate later," Amara pulled her water to her, playing with the plastic straw, "Oh! You remember that blonde from the party?"

Thalia nodded, taking a sip of her own water.

Amara's voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned forward, "She's Natasha's sister!"

"Like the Black Widow?" Thalia clarified.

Amara nodded.

"Woah"

They went about the rest of dinner, ordering their favorite food from the Chinese restaurant. They quickly slid back into their old ways, teasing each other and sharing stories. Amara being the protective older sister when Thalia brought up a guy she was interested in. Thalia being interested in Amara's college party stories.

The end of the night came too soon, they stood outside, waiting for the car Thalia called to come pick her up.

"I'll be back up in couple weeks for the verdict, can we grab dinner again?" Amara asked.

Thalia nodded, "Can you make it to the show case?"

"I think so, send me a reminder and I'll be there," Amara smiled.

"I love you, Mar," Thalia threw her arms around her older sister, someone she needed by her side more then ever right now.

Amara was taken off guard at first, but quickly wrapped her arms around Thalia, "I love you, too, Thal"

She rubbed her back, "I'm only a call away, literally whenever"

"I know," Thalia's voice was muffled against Amara's shirt. The older girl rested her head on Thalia's, holding her close.

Amara heard a car pull up beside them, tires slowly coming to a stop, "That's probably for you"

Thalia took a step back, "I'll see you later," she half smiled.

"Text me when you get home," Amara smiled back. Thalia nodded, walking to the car.

Amara watched her little sister get in the car, the wheels dragging her away from her again, a piece of her heart being pulled away. She sniffled, crossing her arms over her chest, turning and walking back to the hotel.

The cold night air breezed past her, her hair blowing across her face. All she could think about was getting into bed with Kate and sleeping her feelings away, she just needed to be held. She pulled her phone out of her purse to text Kate:

i'm ten minutes away, i need cuddles please

Before she could even put her phone away her phone buzzed with a notification:

i'm here and ready to be a human pillow

Amara smiled at the text sending back a purple heart and putting her phone into her purse, but the device slipped away from her hand and cloth covered her mouth, she tried to scream but inhaled something bitter, and then everything went black...

Kate paced the small hotel room, her phone to her ear. It had been forty minutes, Amara wasn't back, she wasn't answering her texts or calls.

At first she thought maybe she had stopped for a sweet treat, Amara had a big sweet tooth. But then she checked her location and it was still far away, she watched it for a few minutes and it never moved and thats how she ended up calling for help.

"Hello?" Clint sounded like he had been sleeping.

"Hey uhm okay so Amara went to dinner right? With Thalia. She texted me that she was on her way home, ten minutes away. That's what she said in her text," she worriedly pushed her fingers through her hair, speaking fast,

"Kate, slow down," he interrupted her.

She took a quick deep breath, "Okay, then twelve minutes went by and she wasn't here so I thought maybe she stopped for something. I uhm looked at her location and it was far away still. So that worried me, but maybe she ran into someone she knew after she texted me but then her location thing didn't move for like ten minutes and now here I am"

"Meet me down stairs," Clint instructed, he was only a few floors above her room.

"Okay," Kate nodded, the line went dead and she quickly changed into jeans and a long sleeve shirt, grabbing her bow and quiver full of arrows. Amara had teased her about bringing it but now she was glad she hadn't listened.

Kate rushed out of the room and down to the first floor lobby.

"Pull up the location," Clint instructed, he was keeping on the tough act for Kate, but he was worried about Amara. She had become like a daughter to him. But especially Laura, she had taken her under her wing, he didn't want to have to tell his wife she was gone.

Kate nodded, quickly pulling it up on her phone, "Fourth and Washington, just a few blocks up"

"Let's go then," Clint nodded, leading the way.