Some Things Never Sleep

Chapter Twenty Four

It had been a rough week. Emma stared at the ceiling in boredom as she laid across her bed with her iPod clutched to her chest. Rough week was putting it into lighter terms. It had been one hell of a week for Emma as she returned to the compound. Everything was almost the same as when she had left. The only thing that was off about the whole place was the fact that it was significantly missing a few individuals. The only people who remained at the compound were Tony, Rhodey, Vision, and Emma. It was weird to Emma how it had only been not even two weeks since she had last been there but it felt if it had been a whole year.

When she had first returned to the compound Emma stupidly imagined Steve appearing in her room, sitting on the edge of her bed as he eagerly awaited her return. He would tell her that it all had been a misunderstanding and that everything was okay. The Avengers weren't really torn apart at the seams. And then she had woken up from that dream and realized that it was nothing but a fantasy. Something that would never happen...something that could never happen. There was no Steve at the compound and there probably wouldn't be for a very long time. Emma was just left with the Avengers she shared the least amount of familiarity with.

Emma hadn't done anything these past few days. She mostly just stayed cooped up in her own room as she avoided the others. The blonde teenager only came out of her room at night when all the others had gone to bed and that was only so that she could eat. Vision tried getting her to come out of her room a couple of times but the look Emma had shot him when he flew through her wall was enough to scare him off. There was no reading because Emma couldn't concentrate enough to read and there was no drawing because Emma didn't having any inspiration left in her. She mostly just laid out on her bed for hours as she listened to Lana Del Rey on her iPod and thought about different ways to escape the compound. Every time she thought of a new way to escape, she also thought of a new way as to how she would get caught. She was hopeless.

Emma was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door. She immediately pulled her earbuds out of her ears as she glanced at the door. The person at the door didn't wait for her to respond as they quickly opened the door. Emma immediately narrowed her eyes at the person standing in the doorway.

Stark.

"What do you want?" She asked in an annoyed tone. He glanced at her nervously, barely meeting her eyes. Stark had what looked to be a small package in his hands. Emma eyed the package briefly before looking back up at him.

"Look, I don't want to fight." Stark said as he finally looked at her directly. "I'm just here because I was told to give you this package." Emma felt oddly confused by this as she stared at him. Package? The package was for her? Who would send her a package? It's not like Emma had a lot of friends.

"Who sent it?" Emma questioned suspiciously. Stark just gave her a pointed look as he handed her the package.

"Who do you think?" That seemed to answer Emma's question as she attempted to find the return address but she didn't find any. She was a little disappointed to see that there didn't seem to be a return address but she wasn't surprised either. Tony sighed as he gazed at her, causing Emma to glance back up at him.

"I never meant to hurt you during all of this." Stark admitted to her and she gave him a curious look...curious to know where he was going with this. "I never meant to put you in the middle like this either. You're just a kid."

"You say that like I didn't know what I was doing when I sided with Steve." Emma told him with a doubtful tone. "I knew what I was doing, Stark."

"I've still managed to take you away from your family and friends." He said quietly. "Steve, Wilson, Romanoff, Barton, and...Barnes. It's safe to say that you're probably pretty pissed at me, right?"