An Assassin Never Tells

N I N E

December 13th, 2006

(There's still more, bitch)

The pod opened, and I stumbled out, almost falling flat on my face, 'so much for feeling stronger,' I thought.

Doctor Eliza giggled, "Just because you nearly fell, doesn't mean that you're not strong, Peggy."

"What? Did I say that out loud?"

"Well, I didn't see your mouth move."

"Huh...we may need to add telepathy to the list. Object manipulation, heightened senses, and telepathy. What's next, shapeshifting?"

"No," Uncle Nick chuckled, "but you should heal faster with the serum."

"Cool, okay, nice nice."

The doctors and nurses proceed to run test, after test, after test. They checked my vitals, my reaction times, and each of my powers. They also examined my growth. I had grown a grand total of three inches and gained sixteen pounds, I was (post-serum) five foot four and one hundred and twenty-six pounds. It had been nearly two hours before the tests were over. I joined 'the fam' in the hallway and we made our way up to the surface to hop in a car and drive home. It was only Dad and Aunt Mel in the car with me, so I assume the others rode ahead of us. The drive was short, maybe twenty minutes or so, but we made good use of it by jamming out to songs such as 'I Wish' by Skee-Lo, 'Lovefool' by New Found Glory (Y'all really should listen to that version of the song, if you haven't, it slaps), and 'Scotty Doesn't Know' by Lustra. We would take turns yelling the lyrics as loud as we could without distracting Dad, the driver.

When we arrived at the door, a blindfold was placed over my eyes by Aunt Mel.

"Are we really doing this again? God, I'm having flashbacks to when I was ten!"

"Of course we're doing this again, Peg," exclaimed my dad, "We did it at your first injection, so we're gonna do it at your last."

Dad and Aunt Mel took an arm each and guided me into the house before ripping off my blindfold.

"Surprise," Yelled four voices.

"Happy birthday, Boots," said Clint as he came over and ruffled my hair.

"Clint," I whined, "don't mess up the hair."

"Sure, kid, sure."

I rolled my eyes before addressing the group, "Thank you all for being here!"

They all smiled before ushering me over to the kitchen table. It had six wrapped boxes on it, one manila folder, and one old-ish wooden box.

"Happy birthday, Pegatha," laughed Nat grabbing a box wrapped in gold paper and handing it to me. I unwrapped it to reveal a little black dress, a pair of pumps, a knife holster, and a knife for said holster, "You never know what might go down at a party."

"No, no you don't, Nat, thank you! Alright, who's next?"

"I'll go," said Clint, already reaching for his box wrapped in brown paper, "I hope you like it, I didn't have much to go on."

"I'm sure I will Clint," I responded before ripping open the present. Inside was a pair of white Doc Martens, "Thank you, Clint, I've been looking at these in the magazines for months!"

"I try, I try."

"I'll go next," declared Peggy, "Phil, be a dear, and grab it for me."

Dad nodded and grabbed the semi-large package a passed it over to me. I lifted off the lid to show a couple of old S.S.R. pins and some of Peggy's old wardrobe, "I had a feeling all those years ago that I'd have someone to give them to eventually. I happy you get to be that person, Sugar 'n' Spice."

"I'm happy I get to be that person as well. Thank you, Peggy! Okay, Uncle Nick, Dad, and Aunt Mel, which one of you losers wants to go next?"

"I'll go," laughed Aunt Mel, grabbing a small, silver present, "I bought these a few months after I met you, Pegleg." Inside the small, shiny box were a couple of pairs of earrings, a necklace, a bracelet, and a silver braided ring, "My mom got me the same ring when I turned 18. I keep it on a chain and wear it for special occasions."

"That's really thoughtful Aunt Mel, thank you," I grinned as I put on the ring, "Now which one o' ya's wants to go next?"

The two men looked at each other before Uncle Nick answered, "I'll go," Uncle Nick grabbed the manila folder and a box, "Now, the decisions I made were not made lightly, there was a lot of debate and careful thinking, but I think it was worth it. Start with the box." I opened the box from the side and pulled out a stretchy thing and a suit.

"What's the stretchy thing for?"

"You'll see, open the folder."

"Okay..." Inside the folders was a load of papers, a badge, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. pin. I sifted through the papers and notes from multiple different meetings on the same topic, me. I also saw sketches of a uniform similar to Natasha's but with a bit of the flare from Captain America's from the forties. The title read 'The Armed Assassin,' I giggled, "Who's the 'Armed Assassin?'"

"Look at page forty of the notes."

So I did, 'And now we have Rosemary Margaret Coulson, the Armed Assassin.'

"Oh, so I'm the Armed Assassin," I exclaimed, "Wait so is that stretchy thing my uniform?"

"Just the first one, we didn't know how the serum would affect your body, so it's general sizing and the suit needs to be tailored. Now, have a look at the badge."

...So I did. "Rosemary M. Coulson. Level Eight? Did I just skip the other levels?"

"Rosie, you've been with S.H.I.E.L.D. since you were an infant the past seventeen years of your life were the other levels. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D. officially, Armed Assassin."

"Thanks," I chortled, "and now last, but certainly not least, dad!"

"Okay, so it's sort of a combination present with Fury's but not...I don't know, just open it," chuckled my dad as he grabbed a large, purple box with a red bow (my favorite colors) and passed it to me. I carefully untied the bow, much to Clint's dismay, and ripped off the lid. Sat dead center of the box was a large, silver, circular shield. Around the shield were some small boxes containing various items from my favorite pens to a locket with a picture of the two of us building a lego set when I was twelve. "The shield is part of your 'gear.' The world loved Captain America, and the shield was a big thing. If you resemble something from the past that they liked, they're more likely to like you. And this is just a prototype, we need to find a better material for the real thing."

"No, no I get it," I giggled, "And I love the necklace! I remember Clint sat on the set, luckily, we had glued it together, otherwise, we would've had to remake it."

"Hey! I thought we agreed to never bring that up!"

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p,' "Now, what's in the little wooden box?"

Dad, Uncle Nick, and Peggy all shared a look before Dad spilled the beans, "It was your mother's, kiddo. She wrote you letters and left you some trinkets. It was her wish to give it to you on your 18th birthday."

"Open it when you're ready, of course," butted Peggy, "I imagine it can be stressful to do such a thing."

"I'll open it tonight before bed. Thank you all for such wonderful presents and for such a wonderful time! I really appreciate you all being here throughout my life and for dad not having the heart to send me to an orphanage. I'll truly never be able to thank you enough."

We shared some smiles, laughs, and 'I love yous' that afternoon, and I have to say, it was the best birthday I've ever had.

A/N: Hello, hello, hello! Today is day two of my quarantine, and so y'all get another chapter! I'm so sorry about how long this is, but I didn't feel like splitting it up, even more, the same thing goes for the last chapter. Thank y'all so much for the reads and shares! I love y'all!