From across the hallway

Part 35

It was early morning, and Missy lay in bed listening to the lightest sound of snowfall against the darkened window pane.

She had her eyes open, her head resting on the palm of her hand, just staring...

December had flitted by so quickly and today it was the 22nd, just a few days before Christmas and more importantly, the last day of Missy's job.

She still had not heard anything about the SHIELD position and since it had been weeks, she presumed she had definitely not got the job.

She had applied for a few more things in the interim, but hadn't even received a call back from any of them.

But this wasn't what was keeping Missy up, stopping her from sleeping soundly...

Scott's presence in her life, after all this time, had definitely taken its toll on her.

He had come here to taunt her...to mess with her. That was still easy for him.

Missy hadn't mentioned his visit to Wade, but she knew that the merc, who currently sleeping soundly beside her, could tell that there was something wrong.

Missy, due to worry, had been skipping meals, barley having any appetite at the moment. She had been snappy and had several restless nights of sleep.

The worry that Scott would come back, was getting to her...grinding her down....in a way she thought she was finally free from.

The caramel-blonde woman blinked a couple of times, before pulling the sheets from her warm body and sitting up.

Her eyes, in the hazy early morning light, flickered to Wade. The man who had been there for her, protected her, loved her.

But for some reason, she just couldn't find the right words to tell him how she felt at the moment.

Missy slipped out of bed, grasping up her robe from a chair and shucking it over her bare shoulders.

Padding quietly from the room, she pulled the door shut behind her, before heading next door into Emily's bedroom.

Even in the near-darkness, Missy could make out the tiny figure of Emily curled up beneath brightly-coloured unicorn bedsheets (that Wade had chosen for her, of course!).

Words couldn't even express how much Missy loved her daughter, she was perfect in every way, and how Scott couldn't see that was a mystery to her.

How perfect was his other daughter, in that case? Did she talk better? Walk better? Listen better? What was it that made her so much better than Emily? So much more perfect?

Missy was angry and frustrated, but did she have a right to be? What kind of person was bitter at a one year old child she'd never even met? Maybe that was what the problem was? Maybe it wasn't Emily at all? Maybe it was Missy herself? Maybe everything she touched was poison? Maybe that was why Scott had grown tired of her? Would Wade eventually go the same way?

Perhaps he would end up the same as Scott. Hoping for more.

And why wouldn't he?

Emily wasn't his.

And neither was Missy really. They weren't married or engaged.

It might only be a matter of time. Perhaps that was the reason Wade hadn't proposed. Maybe he never would.

Maybe she nor Emily were perfect enough for him... for anyone.

Missy pursed her lips, wiping at her eyes, as silent tears slipped down her cheeks.