Unexpected

Apartments, Moving Out and Seeing Things

I didn't go straight to the apartment building Natasha had suggested since I had already had others lined up to see today, two of which I thought were pretty nice and two I decided against one because I decided was too far from the Triskelion and the other because the bathroom was minuscule. Checking the clock as my rental car's engine roared to life, I decided it was late enough. I had spent most of my day hobbling around on my crutches getting asked so many questions that I was sure S.H.I.E.L.D. knew every single thing about me, and then I'd been hobbling up and down apartment buildings. Tired, I grabbed a quick bite out and then retired to my hotel room again. That night my nightmare was of me being hopelessly late to my first day of work and I was lost in the Triskelion, going up and down the floors and around the halls but every door I opened was wrong. Then, as if it wasn't stressful enough, the agents I saw in the halls transformed to my old enemies, the shadow men who chased me into the elevator and swarmed over me until I woke up in a cold sweat to the sound of my alarm.

Dressed in an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a pair of dark wash jean shorts, I checked out of the hotel after I ate my continental breakfast and started checking out the final apartments on my list. My flight took off at two in the afternoon, so I wanted to arrive at the airport by noon, which meant I had only a few hours. The first apartment I visited that morning, as soon as I saw the building I knew that it was a no go, the building was old and unkempt and I was sure that the apartments weren't going to look any nicer, so I drove away without even going in. The second had a nice size master bedroom, but only one bathroom, which I figured would be fine since I was living alone, but it wasn't at the top of my list. I called ahead to the third one I had been planning on looking at, but I was told by the building owner that they had just rented out their last apartment. This left me with just one more to check out. The one Natasha had given me the address for located at 1614 Connecticut Avenue NW.

When I parked up in front of the building, I liked what I saw. The building was in good shape and I could see that some of the balconies had flower boxes or chairs sitting out. The building owner seemed kind enough and led me to one of the open apartments in the size and style I was looking for. Pulling up my grandparents on Skype, I walked through the rooms as the owner showed me around. It was a lovely apartment with a nice sized sitting room that one walked into from the front door. Across the room was the opening to the balcony that had a nice view of a park over the way. To the left, attached to the sitting room by shelves was an open kitchen with a microwave, oven, dishwasher, sink, and refrigerator that were all in good shape. Grumps made me check under the sink and in each of the appliances so that he could take a look himself.

To the right, down a short hall were four doors. The first on the left was a small bathroom with a toilet and sink. The next on the left was a small bedroom that I could easily see myself turning into an office with a desk and maybe a futon. The door at the very end of the hall was to a nice sized linen closet. The door on the right side of the hall lead to a spacious master bedroom with a personal bathroom attached and a deep closet that was almost a walk-in.

"What're you thinking?" Grump's voice came from the computer as I checked out the state of the master bedroom's bathtub's caulk. He'd insisted I check to make sure it was in good shape.

"I like it." I replied getting up and moving into the bedroom again, "I really like it." It made me a bit worried how much I liked it. This was the apartment Natasha had suggested and then when I said I'd check on it she had given me that look that had made me suspicious, but at the same time, it was the most perfect apartment I had visited yet. Everything about it, location, size, even the price was what I had set out wanting.

"I think it's lovely." Grams nudged Grumps out of the video screen a bit so that I could see her, "Is there a grocery store nearby?"

I turned to the building owner for the answer. He responded, "Yeah, one's within five miles." He spouted a few other perks about the building, including that there was an outside pool for the use of the renters, a conference room for gatherings and parties, and a Laundromat in the building's basement.