Reality in Motion

initial assessment

Her heels clicked against the marble floors with every step she took. He noticed that for each one of his steps, she had to take two to keep an even pace with him. With the small kitten heels, she came up to right above his shoulder, but even without the heels, he knew that they were about the same height - a two inch difference or so.

They had left Fury's office without the Director, Agent Proctor leading him to a different room. Along the way, she had been passing him over file folder after file folder, explaining what each one was: a basic form he needed to fill out to update his health information, an agreement he needed to sign that stated he was part of SHIELD officially now - one that he would be held accountable to, a hefty packet of information about what was going on in DC and another one that she was in the process of explaining.

It wasn't that he was tuning her out - he just was focused on the overwhelming amount of information she was giving him in a short amount of time. She was coming off as one that was eager to get started while all Steve wanted was to visit Peggy and make sure she was okay. He never wanted to get involved with SHIELD, but he knew a compromise always left both parties feeling unsatisfied.

"After you." He looked up from the last file folder, noticing they had stopped walking and were now standing in front of a smaller office. He glanced over to see that Agent Proctor was holding open the door for him with that warm smile still on her face. He gave her a short nod and stepped into the office but wasn't sure if he was supposed to sit in one of the two chairs that were sitting across from each other.

"Please, take a seat." She gestured to the chairs, letting him make the decision. He nodded at her before choosing the one that faced the door - only because that way he could see if someone was coming in.

He sat on the edge of the chair, setting the stack of files on the small coffee table that separated the two of them. Then he planted his elbows against his thighs and clasped his hands together, waiting for her to take a seat in the other chair. She perched herself on the chair opposite of him, ankles crossing as she placed the yellow notepad and blue pen against her thighs.

"Usually we'll be doing these sort of things in your apartment," Agent Proctor started, keeping her posture straight, "But since this is our first one, I wanted it to be a little more official." She gave him a quick grin before uncapping her pen. He felt his brow furrow, not understanding what she was getting at,

"What are these sort of things?" He questioned, getting her to look up at him. Her face broke out into a semi embarrassed smile as she let out what seemed to be a light, matching laugh.

"Sorry, uh, guess I should've explained that better." She talked with her hands, moving them up to tuck her hair behind her ear - even though it was still in the half up, half down 'do. "Our talks. One in the morning and one at night, then one every week back here with Fury." She explained, "It's all outlined in your packet." His eyes followed to where her hand was gesturing to the pile of file folders, "This is just your initial assessment. Something to use as a base and to refer back to as we continue to make sure progress is being made."

"What sort of progress?"

"Good progress, is the goal." She flashed him a smile, not giving him any more of an explanation, "Shall we?" Her eyebrows rose expectantly.

"I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be telling you." He sat back in his chair, letting his hands slide over his thighs as he let out a breath, "But sure."

"Just whatever's on your mind." She motioned with the pen, "I have some specific questions that you'll need to answer, but other than that, it's all you." Steve nodded, which she took as his answer, "Now, let's start with the simple stuff. What's your full name?"