The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 42: Bump In the Night

1 Year Later

"You know," Trish Walker's voice floats from somewhere behind me, though I was too focused on removing the books from the box in front of me to turn around and see where exactly she was. Furrowing my brows at the sight of kitchen utensils in the bottom of the box-which certainly shouldn't be with the living room boxes- I decide to drown her out for the moment, wondering how it was that they found their way into the box. That is, until she adds, "You really could get rid of some of this stuff..."

My head whips around to face her quicker then lightning, my eyes narrowing at the sight of her sitting on the ground not five feet away from me, a box open in front of her. When my eyes land on what it was that was in the box, I send her the harshest of glares and snap exasperatedly, "Excuse me, but no. Star Wars, Indiana Jones and the Terminator films go nowhere, you hear me? Or Titanic for that matter."

"Lame," I hear the unmistakable sound of Grant Ward's teasing voice say from behind me, though once again I don't turn back around to face him. Rather, I opt to lightly roll my eyes and call over my shoulder, "Shut-up, Ward. You love all those movies more than I do. And we all know you have a man crush on Jack," I finish sweetly, snorting at the small and embarrassed 'I do not,' he sends my way. Shaking my head, I direct my attention back to Trish in front of me and declare, "On second thoughts, keep the first two Terminator movies. Those I like. The others can go though. But after that, how's about you move to the kitchen stuff, yeah?"

Trish shoots me a wry smile, the sight lighting up her already beautiful face. She had a sharp jawline with prominent cheekbones, her green eyes starkly contrasting against her pale skin. Her blonde waves which had the smallest of curls to them fell just past her shoulders, bouncing around whenever she shifted where she sat on the floor. Had she been standing, she would have been taller than me if we were standing beside one another. The boots that she was currently wearing would have only contributed to her height as well, though they did complete the casual yet neat outfit that consisted of her dark jeans, white blouse and denim jacket.

"Don't trust me with your stuff?" She teases, pulling herself to her feet as she speaks so that I now had to physically crane my neck up to look at her in front of me to see that she still wore the wry smile on her face. "May I remind you that you're the one that actually asked for our help to move in in the first place?"

"Uh-uh. I asked Jess if she could do the heavy lifting so that I could save money by not having to hire movers to move all my furniture- the two of you volunteered," I remind her as none other than Grant Ward comes and stands beside Trish, shrugging his broad shoulders at my words.

"Wasn't like I had anything better to do," He says lazily, fiddling with the lid of the box that he had wrapped his arms around now. "You needed the help anyway."

"Did not."

"Right, right, so that's why when I asked you if you wanted any help, you immediately just shot me down, instead of giving me a hug and claiming that I was the best person ever...oh. Wait," Ward states dryly with a hint of amusement in his tone. I can't stop the blush that spreads across my face at his words as I recalled that that was exactly how it had happened, watching as my two friends smirked in amusement at the sight. I said nothing in response to this however: Ward had gotten me there.

The past year has been busy, to say the least. After spending a few weeks in New Mexico researching and recovering from the Destroyer incident, I had packed my bags once more and informed a tired, worn and miserable Jane that I couldn't stay and help her with her research for much longer: I had a job to get back too. A job which I hadn't lost, much to my relief, for lying about who Thor really was even though I had been certain that there would be consequences for doing so. There had only been a little scolding on Coulson's behalf, but scolding was something that I could take.