Lieutenant - Daughter of the Captain

Chapter 57.0 - Alone

It was dark by the time Carter returned to her apartment building.

She'd worked up a solid sweat, and she could feel the endorphins taking the edge off her shaky mood that had been far-too present in the recent weeks.

She missed training.

She decided to pace around the side streets before going inside, giving herself a few minutes of cool-down to let her heart rate level out.

But that wasn't going to happen.

A shadow passed overhead, and Carter's muscles snapped to attention.

She found herself in a defensive stance, peering up at-

"Peter?" She whispered, but the boy didn't hear her.

He was clinging to the wall, upside-down, at the top floor of the building.

And then it got worse.

She watched him slide open a window with ease, slipping inside by somehow sticking to the ceiling.

He closed the window from the inside, and Carter just stood there...dumbfounded...

And seething.

Either Peter was entering someone else's apartment without permission...

Or Tony was screwed.

Rushing into the building and up the stairwell, Carter took them two at a time.

Getting into her apartment her hands had a mind of their own as she dialed Tony's number on her phone, resuming her pacing in her living room.

"What's up, kid?" Tony joked as he switched it to a video call so she could read his lips, though there was a hint of suspicion in his tone. Apprehension lined his face as he took in her scowl.

"You son of a bitch, Tony Stark-"

"Won't, hey, listen-"

"No, you listen." She snapped, "It's not bad enough that you chose to put me at midtown because a certain friendly neighborhood web-head goes there, no, that I could let go. That level of manipulation I could respect," She began, noting how his lips tightened and guilt shone in his eyes, "But the icing on the cake, the court-de-gra, is that you had to go and put me in the same damn building as him!" She ranted.

"Carter, I know how this looks..." He trailed off, noting the rise of one singular eyebrow on her face.

She started dagger at her phone, "No, go on, how does this look to you, Warden?"

He rolled his eyes at her quip, "I had to take precautions. With you so far away-"

"And who's fault is that? Who decided to put me all the way out in Queens just so I could be babysat by a mediocre, teenage superhero?"

Tony just sighed, rubbing his temples.

A minute of silence passes, before Carter speaks again.

"You don't trust me,"

Tony's eyes snap back up to her.

"Kid-"

"No, you just...don't trust me," She cuts him off, "It's obvious. The accords, the school, Happy driving me to-and-from every day, the security at my place..."

"You're a teenager, that security is as much for your protection as it is for me-"

"So you admit it, then." She sets her phone down on it's stand again, "You admit that this whole time you have been adding safeguards just in case I can't be trusted? In case I decided to go rogue and, what? Go searching for Steve?"

And there it was.

The skepticism that's been there since Germany.

The vice around her throat that brought tears to her eyes.

The crack in the already-thin-ice they'd been on.

"Carter, you need to breathe-"

She didn't realize she'd hit the end call button until the dial tone filled her ears.

But she couldn't hear it.

She couldn't hear him- his attempts to calm her down.

It would just make it worse.

It would just remind her of-

"Take it easy, just breathe with me. Eyes up..."

"M-A-K-E-M-E-P-R-O-U-D-P-H-O-E-N-I-X"

"Don't fear it...embrace it..."

She tried to force the voices away, falling to her knees on her living room floor, tears painting tracks down her cheeks.

Everyone who had every been there for her...who had ever comforted her...

"It's okay, just...just stay calm, Carter, we got this..."

A new voice called out to her.

"...Pretend like the end is a flame, and blow it out..."

She'd lost so much that day in Germany...

"That's okay, you don't need to say anything. You've got time,"

A frantic tapping sound startled her out of her thoughts, and her head snapped over to the side.

As if her thoughts had summoned him...

"Friday, unlock the window,"

The light on her lock clicked to green, and as soon as it did, the window was sliding open.

"Carter, are you okay? What are you doing here? I felt...something, and then I could swear it was coming from here..." He trailed off, taking the mask off his head and kneeling in front of her, glancing around the apartment, "Are you..." He looks back to her, "Alone?"

Alone...?

Carter looked up at him, meeting his brown eyes that furrowed in concern.

Her heart sputtered in her chest, the sensation forcing a new surge of tears behind her eyes.

No...no she wasn't...

A MINI UPDATE BECAUSE I MISSED CARTER AND PETER AND I WANTED TO START WRITING AGAIN AND AGHHHHH

I'm sorry I've been MIA, but your guys' comments and votes really keep me going while I'm dealing with my health conditions. I just wanted to say, as far as I know I'm okay, just some long-term issues that I need to learn how to treat.
Thank you all for your continued support.

Love,
C.B.K.