SHADOW [Avengers: AOU]

XIX. Saving The Light

Jacqueline stared at herself in the mirror of her vanity. One hand twirling a lock of her hair while the other messed with the soft material of her pj's.

A week has passed and she's been under Natasha and Clint's wing. They've been training her--not that she need it, but there were a lot of new things that she learned from them. Vision still took her whenever she wanted to see Ultron and actually came in and spend time with the them now. Pietro was around her whenever he could be. She saw all the other Avengers around HQ as well.

Rhodey would tell her War Machine stories, one she remembered had to do with a tank he dropped in front of someone important. Sam would show off his new moves with his wings whenever she was around, promising her that one day he'd teach her how to fly. Even included her into help him finding a guy, who knew a guy who could shrink. Wanda kept her distance from Jacqueline, but they did greet each other when in the halls. So at least things weren't really sour between them.

And then there was Steve.

Who seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Well, to her at least.

"What do you think about a change?" Jacqueline asked as the redhead assassin opened the door and stepped into het room.

"A change of what exactly?" Natasha asked. The teen turned and took notice to the small blue box in her hand.

"What's that?"

"A birthday present," Natasha transfers the gift into her awaiting hands. "From Rogers." She adds giving a small smile when the Jacqueline perks up in her seat.

"Steve? He came looking for me and I missed him?"

"Actually, he stopped me in the hall. Asked me to make sure I gave it to you right before he headed out."

A disappointed look crosses her faces before it's gone. But a frown remains. She turns back around to look into the mirror again.

"What's been going on with him? I get the whole Bucky thing--but everyone's seen him around except me. Is he hiding from me? Did I do something that I'm clearly not aware of?" Jacqueline asked.

"Well I have a thought--and I'm positive it's right. But, how about you go find him and ask. You've got you're shifting powers back, hunt him down and get your answers."

Then that's what I'll do. I'll fix whatever is going wrong between us and save the light in our friendship.

"Okay." Jacqueline nods.

Natasha places her hands on the girls shoulders. She reaches for the comb beside her on the vanity and starts working on her hair with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"So what are we going for?"

=•=•=•=

Steve sat outside of the restaurant. Sketch book in hand. He had been working on something new, but look the five new sketches in his book had the same them. The same person. He scratched his eyebrow before adding in more detail to his masterpiece. It was almost finished.