Fall For You

Vindicated

One month. One long month since that night. Loki wouldn't speak to her, blaming her for not trying harder to save Reilly. She couldn't blame him, because she could only blame herself. But she knew that Reilly wouldn't want that, so she tried to carry on: even if it was just doing paperwork at the station.

She didn't want to play secretary, but Phil decided it was best, especially before the trial started. She would be the biggest witness in the prosecutor's case; and she dreaded the day she had to testify.

"Where are you right now beautiful?" Sam. Reilly wasn't kidding when he mentioned that he was a massive flirt. His mission every day was to make her blush, and that was something he could easily get her to do. "There it is. Come on. Talk to me, partner."

There was no better replacement for Reilly than Sam. Him and Reilly were very similar. And he never blamed Dublin for what happened. "It was a freak thing. Reilly did what he always did best: protect people."

"Just, everything. Reilly..." Sam gave a huff and rolled his eyes. "Wasn't your fault. How many times do I have to tell you? Look, things happen. What matters is how we overcome it." She narrowed her eyes and gave him a playful smirk. "Reilly never mentioned you were so philosophical."

"That's because his dumbass just did whatever the hell he pleased and never thought of what would happen next." Dublin couldn't help but laugh; that was probably the best way to describe Reilly. He always jumped feet first into the deep end.

"Whatever happens, Reilly wouldn't want you in your own head. He would want you to be strong, badass chick he always described you as. She-Hulk, I think he said.

"She-Hulk?" She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Someone who doesn't take shit from anyone, and sure as hell can handle her own in any situation. A force of fucking nature." She blushed again, earning a wide smile from Sam. "Too easy. Now come on. We have baseball duty tonight!"

Baseball duty. She loved that Coulson was putting her back in the field, but hated how slow it was taking. Not that she didn't love baseball duty. It was at Peter's school, so she loved basically standing by and cheering on her little brother. There were usually small incidents between over-competitive parents, but generally it was a very tame crowd.

That also meant slow.

"Think they'll play Peter?" She loved her brother. Of course she did. But when it came to sports, he was horrible. He was awkward and didn't have much confidence on the field. And that was absolutely fine. She loved that he was a nerd; she was too. And they embraced it. Her with comics, sports and pop knowledge and Peter with the mechanics, science, and engineering. They always killed it at trivia.

"Dubs, we've become close the last few weeks since I became your partner. You know I love you. But, have you seen you brother on the field?" Sam and Peter got on well. And May all but invited Sam into the family the first night she met him. "Point taken." Dublin chuckled as she headed for the rig. "So, let's get going. I feel like tonight is going to be an interesting night."

*****
Steve and Clint leaned against the cruiser as the crowd came walking by, all in team gear. Midtown High Atoms; a little on the nose but it worked. Red and blue were the school colors.

"Officer Rogers!" Peter all but sprinted over and gave a smile, shaking Steve's hand. "Didn't know you'd be here tonight." Clint raised an eyebrow and glanced at Steve. "I mean-it's great, but...Hey, Officer Barton."

"Hey kid. Didn't know you were on the team." Peter almost blushed as he looked at his feet. "Yeah, but I don't really play. I'm not that great. Dubs has been showing me a proper throw, but-"