X marks the spot

The Good Samaritan

Being back here was not something Rebecca Sitwell expected. They thought they would be done with this place, to be honest. They thought this was done with. As much as things with Aaron were left at a nod, it was enough for the pair. At least, in there eyes, it was. They had somewhat remedied things. Then they moved on. Aaron wasn't coming back, but doing his part here, and Rebecca would in SHIELD.

Still, here Rebecca was, driving into New Orleans. Passing down the road with the river on the side, the one that had brought the two partners together.

To Rebecca, they were thankful for the river. It gave the pair a sort of closure. They had hurt each other, then sort of healed that rift and moved on.

But, knowing SHIELD. Knowing their line of work, nothing was ever fully done until the fat lady sung. It wasn't over, until they knew for certain it was.

That was something Rebecca never fully liked. That constant anxiety with SHIELD. That constant, "next threat." As much as Rebecca always proclaimed that they were ready for it, they were never fully sure until they were neck deep in it.

HYDRA, Aaron, ATCU, everything else big or small the group they had come to know had gone up against. There was never rest. There was never a break.

Maybe then, in Rebecca's eyes, it was why they hoped that - in this instance - that it would be the end. That it would be some sort of closure.

And yet still, on they drove. Driving to the apartment building that housed the two people they knew and cared for that were in this scenario with them.

The two people they hadn't spoken to in a few months. Almost four to five months in their mind. Time shot by. Between their sessions and the whole Robbie/Daisy debacle, part of them was almost happy to be back here - dealing with something they semi understood.

Sure, a deal with the devil made sense to them, given what the team had seen at SHIELD and during their time together. But to Rebecca, it made more sense; if gods (maybe not in their full sense as they were in the stories told about them) were real, why not the devil. Light and dark. One without the other. A balance. An unfair one, but a balance.

It made sense to the pair now, why they were so tired. That balance, that scale the world seemed to be on. They were constantly putting it towards goodness, towards light. But there was always the dark there. It never left. It always came back and –

No. No, they were sounding like Aaron. They weren't doing that. They weren't going down that path. They weren't Aaron. They were Rebecca Sitwell, agent of SHIELD - who, right now, wasn't acting fully in SHIELD's interest, but still - and they were here to finish off a job.

They saw the stares from some people, though. SHIELD was officially back; that and just the way Rebecca looked seemed to draw some eyes. They tried to ignore the looks - both of lust from some, and irritation from others.

They kept their head down. Trying not to see it as much now. Try to just ignore it. They didn't exactly succeed or fail. But, they made it to the apartment complex.

Going up the stairs again, and finding that familiar hallway hit Rebecca in a way they couldn't explain. There as a heightened sense of feelings, but they couldn't put their finger on what the emotions were.

They gulped. Then they continued, heartrate increasing more and more as they walked closer to the room that Aaron was staying at. The room just across from where they were staying at with Maria. Before –

They knocked on the door three times. They waited. They never thought they'd be back here, doing this. They just thought someone else would find Aaron. That someone else would bring him in. That this story they were telling together was done. Sure, maybe they'd find a way to patch things up once he was back. But, Rebecca thought they would be –