Nightingale | An Avengers Tale

Flashback

"How much farther?" Lily let out a groan as she rushed to keep up with Grant. As much as she loved going hiking with him, it was so hard to keep up with him. After all, he was a lot taller than she was.

The past few days had been all hiking. Every morning they would eat breakfast (usually blueberry pancakes), and then they would pack their backpacks and head to the trails at the nearby National Park.

"About ten steps closer then the last time you asked."  He called back as he stopped to wait for her to catch up. While he was somewhat annoyed at how much longer the hike to the falls was taking, he did have to admit it was amusing to watch her.

She had insisted on wearing her dark green dress and cowboy boots on their hike. She had also begun the hike with her hot pink backpack, but that had been discarded five minutes after they had begun. Grant was now carrying it as well as his own backpack that was actually packed with necessities, like water and snacks.

"Are there bears out here?" She tentatively asked as she began to stare up into the pine trees that surrounded them.

"Probably." Grant replied as he glanced at his watch. 10:30 am. Rendezvous was at 11:15 am, and he still hadn't told her what was coming.

"Are they hungry?" She continued to pester.

"Probably." Grant nodded as he gazed up into the trees. He was suddenly thankful that they hadn't come across any bears. Partly because he didn't have time to deal with them, and also because he was pretty sure Lily would try to give them a hug. He really didn't want to be the one to tell her that not all bears are friendly like Baloo and Winnie the Pooh.

"Do they eat people?" She questioned.

"Sometimes." Grant shrugged. Oh well, it was better he tell her then she find out the hard way.

"Oh." She paused. "Well I guess it's a good thing that you're bigger than me, because if I was a bear, I'd rather eat you."

He smirked again. Her reasoning could be absolutely hysterical at times, even though he would never admit that to her.

"Why don't you tell me what you've been learning from Miss Mary?" He questioned as they continued their upward climb.

"I learned all about S.H.I.E.L.D. and Captain America and Agent Carter and Agent Sousa." The little girl began to rush.

"What else have you learned?" Grant glanced back slightly interested on the girl's comprehension of things.

"She taught me some science stuff. We made a volcano, but it didn't have real lava." She bit her lip as if trying to remember what else she had learned. "And then she's been having me read a lot, and she's been teaching me math, but it's kinda boring."

"Boring?" Grant's eyes rose. Lily didn't typically think learning anything was boring.

"Yeah. It's so easy." She shrugged as she stooped down to look at a caterpillar that was inching slowly alongside the trail.

"Ok. What's five times five?" He might as well see if she was as good at math as she seemed to believe.

"Twenty-five." Lily exclaimed without hesitation.