Unexpected

Making Friends

Grams and Grumps stayed with me until Saturday, helping me unpack boxes, reassemble and arrange furniture, and basically get settled in. Continuing my stretches we went on ambling strolls to get a layout of the city within walking distance and often we spent a couple hours one afternoon at the park, enjoying the sunshine. These two days were also consumed by shopping. Grumps and I checked out a few car lots to look at cars. I hadn't needed one in New York, but I'd definitely need a permanent ride here in D.C. We found a Hyundai Sonata in a grey-blue color that suited my needs nicely and wasn't too pricey. Grams, who was one to go shopping with her girl-friends, spent hours with me on the computer and walking around furniture and home décor shops. With her help I found a nice cream colored couch and a neat dark blue chair to go with my turquoise one, some fun plates and bowls with designs on their rims, a good set of silverware and some lamp shades as my old ones had gotten crushed in the moving truck, amongst some other needed appliances. By the time the two of them left me, I was sure of two things. One, that I was incredibly grateful for this wonderful couple, and two, that I had spent more than enough money on this move! Thank goodness S.H.I.E.L.D. was paying some of my moving costs!

After having almost constant chatter and things moving everywhere, my new apartment felt incredibly quiet now as I stood there alone, admiring how the place had come together. Standing there in the center of my new living room I realized I'd never been truly on my own before. I'd had my parents, then my grandparents, then I'd been on college campus with a friend in the dorms, then I moved to the apartment with Renee. Now, here I was, in my own apartment, on my own. I didn't feel the freedom of independence inflate me, but instead I felt a twinge of fear, a heavy weight in my stomach. Who did I have here?

The doorbell interrupted my gloomy thoughts and I moved to the door. Cracking it open I heard a few giggles before I caught sight of my visitors, a pair of young girls, both no older than five with a woman I suspected to be their mother behind them. "Hello."

The two girls giggled and looked away, the oldest one had a saran wrapped paper plate of what looked like chocolate chip cookies clutched tightly in her hands. It was the mother that spoke up first, "Hello, my name is Zita and these are my girls, Ana and the little one's Lilian. We live with my husband on the floor below you."

She was a pretty woman, short and thin with long dark hair tied up, but her pale hazel eyes seemed tired. Her words were accented with a thickness of speech that I always attributed to German or Slavic languages. The little girls looked like tiny replicas of their mother, except the younger one's hair was lighter. I smiled at the group at my door, "Nice to meet you. I'm Penny."

"We noticed you moving in the other day and the girls wanted to bake you some welcome cookies, isn't that right girls?"

The oldest girl, Ana, nodded vigorously and thrust the cookie plate at me while little Lilian ducked behind her mom's leg bashfully, "For you."

"Why thank you!" I took the plate and smiled down at her, "That's so thoughtful!"

"So, where're you from?" Zita asked, picking up her littlest girl.

"New York." I answered simply.

Zita's eyes widened, "New York? Were you near the attack?"

The corner of my mouth twitched in a secret smile, "Pretty close, you could say."

"That must've been terrifying! Is that why you moved?"

"Kinda. I got a job offer here and... New York isn't a place I want to be right now. Too much happened there." I sounded sort of awkward to myself as I tried to go around the details.