Unexpected

Back to Work

"I'll be on the first plane to D.C."

"Good. There'll be a car for you there." There was a pause on Agent Jenkins' side, before she uttered a quick, "Bye." And hung up.

Not very sociable, Jenkins, but she knew how to get an urgent point across. Once the threatening message had cut off, some documentary that had been previously playing had come back on. Turning off the television, I removed back to my room and got on the computer, flicking through airlines. The earliest flight from the nearest airport would be at nine in the morning. I sighed, blinking at the corner of my screen where the clock said that it was five in the morning now. Should I wake Grams and Grumps up? No. Let them sleep; they'd wake up within the next two hours anyways.

They wouldn't be happy that I was leaving early. Heck, I wasn't happy about it either. I hadn't seen my grandparents in months, and I wouldn't see them again for another month, and even though my Christmas holiday was only a few weeks away really, it felt like too long of a time. My grandparents... they were all I really had. With Loki locked away on Asgard and Nat, Clint, and Steve off on missions to who knows where, where they'd be facing down possible death at every turn I had truly started to realize my own loneliness at the Triskelion and in my apartment. I had missed my family, the two people who had raised me, loved me, and cared for me throughout all the tragedies I had faced in my life, and I wanted... I just wanted to elongate whatever time I had with them, to suck up and absorb each second and the aura of unconditional love so I could carry it back with me to D.C. I wanted them to know that they are the world to me too.

I wanted to stay, but of course I can't. Whoever this Mandarin guy is, he's threatening America, my home, and anyone who might be in his path. He needed to be stopped and I'll do whatever I need to, to bring him down, to protect what I care about.

I booked my ticket, a cramped middle seat in the back of some small plane, and worked on cancelling my much comfier flight that I'd set up for my previous, later departure date. I then worked on packing up my things, including the gifts I had purchased before starting to put myself together for the day. I slipped on some sweatpants and a purple t-shirt with pale pink and white rose decals growing over the fabric, before pulling on a grey band sweatshirt with the band's logo scrawled across the back.

When Grams poked her head into my room just after I accidentally smashed my toes into the foot of the guest room's bed, confused as to why I was awake already and wondering what I was doing that would make me yelp like I did, her eyes traveled quickly from me to my suitcase zipped up and bulging on the made-up bedspread.

"You're leaving?"

"I got called into work... it's an emergency..." I winced at my own weak explanation, "There's... a threat and they need me to go back..." My tone was so lack-luster, my grandmother's sadness as she nodded tearing at my heart.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." Grams muttered, worry seeping into her voice as she looked me dead in the eye, "Does this have anything to do with... what you tried to explain to us?"

I had tried at the hospital so long ago to explain to my grandparents my abilities, but they didn't quite seem to get it. Maybe they didn't want to understand it, but now I could see the tension in her eyes and shoulder. Shaking my head I assured her that no, they just wanted my translation skills. I wasn't sure if that was entirely true, though there was nothing much else I could say.

"When?"

"My flight is at nine."

"I'll wake up your grandfather. He'll insist on picking up sweet rolls on the way to the airport."