When Love Goes Wrong

Chapter 8: Later

Adeen was in the driver's seat with her arm wrapped up, staring out the windshield into the dark, busy highway. She had to drive Bruce, Clint, and Steve back to Avengers Mansion. A three hour trip she was not exactly mentally stable to do, but she needed to keep things off her mind. She took a glimpse in her rear view mirror to see what Steve and Clint were up to. Steve was leaning comfortably back in his seat sound asleep. She looked over to Clint and saw he was staring out the window with a stolid expression. Adeen quickly looked forward again so she could control her anger. Her arm throbbed with pain, but she didn't care. She was too numb of feeling that she didn't notice. Bruce noticed the look on Adeen's face and began to worry. He saw her hands clench around the wheel tightly; the speedometer slowly increasing.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" he asked with concern in his voice.

Adeen began to calm down a little by the sound of his voice. Bruce sighed quietly in relief. She shifted her eyes to look at him and smiled weakly. Her eyes were filled with many emotions: melancholy, heart break, love, and pain. She also seemed very tired from everything that had happened. Bruce wanted so badly to hold her and to remove most of those dour emotions in her eyes. Adeen knew what Bruce was feeling and let go of the wheel, with her left hand still on it, and took his hand into hers. Bruce gave her warm hand a tight squeeze of reassurance. Her eyes told him thank you, not wanting to disturb Steve or Clint. She loved how they both could communicate with each other without mumbling a single word. No one would ever understand a thing they told each other with glances and body language. It was like their own secret language.

Clint looked away from the window and saw the two holding hands. His heart almost stopped beating. He couldn't believe his eyes. The one girl he was still madly in love with was with another man. Clint took a deep breath and clenched his hands into fists trying to keep his cool. He then noticed the song that came on a minute ago. It was "Someone Else Calling You Baby." by Luke Bryan.

"Baby is there someone else calling you baby.

It's driving me crazy

This bein' in the dark

Goodbye ain't never easy

So break it to me hard

If you're over my love girl

Lay it on my heart

Don't try to save me

Is someone else calling you baby?"

Great, Clint thought to himself, my life is a freakin' country song...

Clint just stared at their hands locked together. It started to bother him. He though of an excuse that would break up the love fest but knew he would probably piss Adeen off. That was probably a bad idea due to her emotional state, but it was a chance he had to take. He quickly took his seatbelt off and acted as if he were going to change the station and faked he tripped, bumping into Adeen's bad arm. He sat down quickly and put his seatbelt back on.

Adeen swerved a bit and quickly grabbed the steering wheel with both hands, flinching in agonizing pain. Cars honked at her aggressively as she avoided hitting vehicles nearby. Bruce was grabbing onto the seat for dear life while Steve jolted awake grabbing onto the back of Bruce's seat. Adeen gained control of the truck, attempting to relieve the pain only to become angry rapidly.

"Lord Almighty, that hurts like a bitch...WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM CLINT?!...YOU TRYIN' TO GET US ALL KILLED!?" She yelled in her very deep southern accent she only used when infuriated or upset.

"I was trying to change the station..." Clint sheepishly explained.

"IF YOU TOUCH MY RADIO I WILL STRAP YOU TO THE HOOD OF THIS PICK UP LIKE YOU WAS A BUCK I JUST SHOT! SO SIT YOUR ASS DOWN BACK THERE AND DON'T SAY ONE MORE THING! WINCHESTER RULE NUMBER ONE! DRIVER PICKS THE MUSIC, SHOTGUN OR PASSENGER SHUTS HIS OR HER CAKEHOLE!"

"Yes, ma'am..." Clint weakly answered, scared to death of her anger.

"I'm so glad I'm not in that truck..." Tony joked through all their earpieces.

"CAN IT TONY OR YOUR ASS WILL JOIN HIM!" Adeen growled, threatening him.

This made Tony shut up entirely. Bruce turned in his seat to look back at Steve. They were both equally scared to speak, in fear of being yelled at by the already furious Adeen. It was silent for a long time except for the hum of the radio playing "Come Wake Me Up" by Rascal Flatts.

"Yeah the whole thing begins

And I let you sink into my veins

And I feel the pain like it's new

Everything that we were

Everything that you said

Everything that I did and that I couldn't do

Plays through tonight."

Clint began to feel extremely horrible for what he'd done. He sighed sadly and tiredly, looking out the window. Adeen looked through her rear-view mirror and saw the quiet, forlorn Clint. Her eyes narrowed sadly. She kind of felt bad for yelling at him, but she was angry, hurt, and in pain. She began to quietly sing along to the song. Her voice was melodious and surprisingly calm, or smooth. 

A very sleepy Steve Rogers leaned back on his seat slowly closed his eyes, listening to his friend sing. He smiled lightly. 

"Why are you working with the likes of us when you can sing that well?" Steve asked in his sleepy voice. 

Adeen blushed from the compliment and from embarrassment. She didn't think anyone could hear her. She fidgeted in her seat, trying not to explode with happiness that her hero had just complimented her on something not to do with work. Bruce noticed this and couldn't help but smile. He loved it when she was happy or when she acted nervous about little things or just acted like her usual nerdy self. That was the Adeen he knew and loved for over twenty years. 

"Thank you for the compliment, Steve...I love doing what I do, and it's way too difficult to please people with the type of music I adore so I stuck with helping protect people since I was in the Marines."

"You were in the Marines?" Steve inquired curiously.

"Yes, yes I was..." she answered, wishing she didn't mention it. 

Bruce saw she was becoming uneasy about the topic and only he knew why.

"She doesn't like talking about it much..." Bruce explained to them for her. 

The ride back to Avengers Mansion was a silent one. Only the sound of passing cars and the sweet hum of country music filled the silent truck.