It wasn't every day that Adelaide Laurence opened up to anybody about her past, in fact, there were only three people who knew the extent of what she went through.
Clint, May, and Fury.
The blonde would have also preferred to keep it that way, she didn't want anyone to look at her any differently.
Especially Maria.
Adelaide of course knew she would have to tell Maria eventually, at some point, Maria would be around when something triggered her. Especially since they were in a relationship.
She just wished it hadn't been so soon.
Adelaide smelled the alcohol on Maria's breath the second she walked into the apartment, a nervous feeling washed over her that she hadn't really felt in a long time.
"Did you have fun?" she asked softly, noticing how Maria could barely stand balanced enough to take her shoes off, "It was good yeah."
Adelaide nodded but still remained standing sort of stiffly several feet away from Maria. In her experience, nothing good ever came from alcohol.
Whether it had been when she was just a kid, coming home from elementary school to her angry, jobless, drunk father.
Or when she dated quite possibly the biggest asshole she or anyone else had ever met.
"You ok, Addy?" Maria slurred, gently touching Addy's shoulder as she walked across the room, trying to make her way back to the bedroom. The blonde flinched away from her touch, and nodded, "Yeah- yeah. I'm just gonna stay out here for a bit."
Maria seemed confused but nodded, "M-kay. Night Addy,"
"Good night," Adelaide forced a smile.
Once Maria was safely in the bedroom, Adelaide sunk down onto the couch, she didn't know why she was acting like this.
Maria wasn't going to do anything.
Maria wasn't him.
Adelaide's girlfriend wasn't anything like Chad or her father.
Yet the blonde couldn't bring herself to lay in her bed with her girlfriend.
She ended up falling asleep on the couch, not for too long though, morning came quicker than Adelaide ever would have wanted. She knew that even hungover, Maria would want to talk about the prior night.
Adelaide sat on the couch reading or at least trying to read a book, she knew that Maria had already wandered through the kitchen and had a mug of coffee in hand as she approached the couch.
She set the mug on the table and crouched next to Addy, not wanting to sit on the couch right away, "Can we talk about last night?"
Adelaide pressed her lips together and finally met Maria's eyes, "I--God I didn't wanna have to tell you about all of this so soon-" she murmured.
Maria offered her a comforting smile, "If you're not ready we don't have to. I don't want to pressure you-"
"No." Adelaide cut her off, shaking her head, "Our relationship will never last if I don't open up to you."
The blonde motioned for Maria to sit with her, "I don't know how much of my file you've seen--"
Maria frowned, she hadn't seen much of the blonde's file, but enough to know what they were about to be talking about. Enough to know just how similar she and Adelaide were.
"You probably have gathered by now based on everything with my little sister--that my homelife wasn't...ideal growing up. Um- but that didn't even prepare me for what my last relationship was like."
Maria offered up her hand to the blonde, and Adelaide took it, "He uh- he controlled every aspect of my life--I had no power in that relationship, I had no friends--I was trapped."
"The worst of it though when he was drunk-- and I know, believe me, Ria, I know that you are nothing like him. And I'm trying to be better I am. But there are just stupid little things that set me off-- and I'm afraid it's going to be like that forever-- He took everything from me, Ria."
The blonde was terrified to say these things to Maria, she probably didn't want anything to do with someone who would probably never be able to have a normal relationship.
Adelaide paused, "Hey- it's okay. I understand you, Adelaide." Maria whispered, "I understand."
Tears burned Adelaide's eyes, just Maria saying that she understands her, made her feel like falling apart.
A couple of minutes passed in silence, "Do you know why I joined the military?"
Adelaide shook her head, then leaning her head back on Maria's shoulder, "My mom died very shortly after she had me--I uh guess that my father in a way always sort of blamed me for it."
"He--he hurt you didn't he?" Adelaide asked softly, "Yeah...he did." Maria whispered.
"The military was my way out, the fastest way out...I guess it all worked out in the end, now I have you."
Adelaide and Maria would come to understand each other better than anyone in the entire world.
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