A Poisonous Viper

One thing was certain if Gambit was going to stay he was going to need clothes. Serena was more than happy to have Happy drive them to the mall. He wanted a couple more suits as well as polo style shorts and slacks. He also need undergarments, socks, shoes and a couple of belts.

Ofcourse everything had to meet with Serena’s approval and as he changed he called her into the firing room and they had sex there as silently as they could manage. The shopping took most of the afternoon and they perused the lingerie at A high end lingerie store and Serena made several purchases there though with Gambit’s approval that time.

They ate a late lunch at an upscale place near the mall then returned to the tower. He decided to put on some of the new clothes, a violet polo shirt with gray pin striped pants. They drank mohijtos and enjoyed one another’s company. They looked like they belonged together. And they sat close and whispered secrets to one another.

When they eventually came back to the tower Kate was there and hey were all at the kitchen book talking. All Eyes shifted toward them and Isabella gave Serena that gesture that meant she needed to come and sit with them.

Serena loved being in Gambit’s company. He always opened doors for her and treated her like a princess. They spent the afternoon shopping for clothes for him and lingerie for her. They got things that met each of their approval. Having sex in a public place was both thrilling and terrifying for Serena. However the thought of getting caught only turned her on more.

After their shopping was done they ate lunch together and Serena enjoyed laughing and talking with Gambit. He was easy to talk to and made her laugh. After lunch they headed back to the Tower and Serena was surprised to see Kate there with the others. Steve was there too but he and Kate were sitting apart and clearly they had not made up. Serena saw her mother’s gesture and she walked with Gambit into the room where everyone else was gathered. She sat next to Gambit.

“What’s going on?”

As Gambit and Serena came up Logan looked up at Gambit but it was Tony who spoke. “Well I’ve confirmed the authenticity of the ledger. Somehow it is Professor Erskine’s lab notes. There is not a complete formula here but if Hydra has had this for a while they could be dangerously close to completing a super soldier serum of their own. Gambit, this is Kate Blackwood of SHIELD, Kate this is…” He began but Kate spoke over him rudely. “I know who he is,” she said coldly and did not look at Gambit. Gambit lowered his gaze to the table but he had heard such dislike for him before. Tony continued.

“What are our options?” Tony asked around the room but it was Steve that spoke first. “We can’t rely on the fact that they ‘might’ not have the formula or be far from resolving it. If they do rediscover the serum it will mean World War three. We have to take Ophelia and find out what they know and what they are doing and where,” He said. “You could help us with that Pharaoh yes?” He said as he looked at Pharaoh. Gambit spoke up then.

“I’m sorry, Pharaoh? I’ve never met..”Gambit began but Steve cut him off. “We can do introductions another time,” Steve said briskly. Gambit went to looking at the table once more but it was clear that he wanted to step away right then. He didn’t though because Serena had asked him to stay and he said that he would. ‘This is the thanks I get for risking my neck?’ Gambit thought silently.

Serena looked over at her father and listened to him as he talked about the ledger. Gambit had told her about the ledger earlier that morning and he had told her about his relationship with Ophelia. She now realized that Kate must have been asked to come as a representative of SHIELD to figure out how to resolve this situation. She could only assume that it had been her parents who had invited her and not Steve.

Gambit remained a gentleman and began to introduce himself to Pharaoh, but Steve quickly and rudely cut him off. She glanced over at Gambit and watched as he looked down at the table. She reached under the table and took his hand in her own and gave it a squeeze before looking at everyone.

"I would like to remind everyone here that Gambit didn't have to bring us this ledger. He did it because it was the right thing to do and has risked his neck to do so. No one in this room can claim to be a saint who hasn't made any mistakes that he or she regrets. The human species is not perfect and what happened in his past was not intentional. He was used and is haunted by what happened and I know that there are several people in this room right now that know what that feels like," she said mostly referring to Natalya. "And yet we've given those people a second chance and a chance at redemption. Gambit does not deserve to be treated the way he has been and I for one am appalled and deeply embarrassed by it. I won't stand for it any longer."

To her surprise Gambit looked embarrassed and mortified at what she said. Logan just winced and didn’t meet anyone’s eye. “Excuse me,” Gambit said and promptly left the table. He headed for the stairs and moved down to the gym area.

Isabella cringed and shook her head slightly at Serena as if she had just made a mistake by saying what she did. “So, Pharaoh, if we can get Viper, and ask her specific questions can you dig for the answers?” Kate asked. “I can’t say that I like doing this to anyone but if it can work I think it will cause the least loss of life,” Steve said. “Then where do we find her?” Logan asked. “You two just shit all over the only person that might know,” Logan said in a quick burst of irritation.

Below in the gym Gambit only looked around. There were all sorts of training equipment and weights. But as he stepped further he saw weapons of all shapes and sizes. Melee and ranged weapons and just beyond was a shooting gallery. He turned back toward the melee weapons and smiled when he saw what he wanted. He removed his shirt and picked up the Bo Staff. It felt light in his hands, it was a little thicker than his thumb and made a whistling noise when he tested it in the air. His smile faded and then he began to move.

Gambit was an expert with the Bo Staff. When he held one it became apart of him and he flipped it about his body. He flourished it, spun it faster than a human eye could pick up and attacked the training dummy with it. It whistled as he swung it and he spun it and his body as he worked out with the weapon. It had been a while since he had held one but it all had come back to him and he reveled in his skill as he struck at the dummy over and over and over. He was beginning to breathe hard and he flipped his body as he attacked like some martial arts master.

Serena had only been trying to help and hadn't intended to embarrass or upset Gambit. She sighed as she watched him get up and leave. She got up and left as well, but she didn't follow Gambit initially. She wanted to give him some space, but she had seen where he had gone. After a while she walked down into the gym. She stood near the door and just watched him with the Bo Staff. His moves were elegant and agile, yet deadly and accurate. It was entrancing to watch him and she did so silently for a while before he noticed her. She slowly approached him, but continued to give him some space.

"I'm sorry Gambit," she told him gently. When he looked into her eyes he would actually see some fear that perhaps she had just ruined their blossoming relationship. "I just don't like how they are treating you, but I suppose I shouldn't have said anything."

Kate sighed and knew that Logan was right. To be honest her general attitude had soured since her breakup with Steve and like him she hadn't dated anyone else. She had just thrown herself into her work, but was starting to become disillusioned with SHIELD. She was starting to question Nick a lot more about the things SHIELD was doing and it was causing tension and arguments between them. She knew that a majority of her anger towards Gambit was really just redirected tension between Steve and herself. However, they were going to have to find a way to work together on this.

As the others left Steve and Kate were left alone. Kate hadn't spoken to Steve since she had moved out of the Tower almost three years ago. Her hair was a little longer than the last time he had seen her, but other than that nothing much seemed to have changed...apart from her smile, which was nonexistent now. She glanced over at Steve and decided that they needed to break the ice.

"How have you been?"

Gambit was sweating now and taking in more oxygen. He stopped mid swing when he noticed Serena. ‘How long had she been there?’ He wondered. As she came toward him he listened to what she said. He looked at the Bo Staff then moved to where he got it and put it back up on the rack. “I don’t need you to defend me Serena,” Gambit said then turned around to face her.

“By doing that you made me look less in their eyes. I know you were just trying to help but I can fight my own battles ok?’” he said and then moved up to her and took her face in his hands. He smiled and looked deeply into her eyes. Without saying anything more he kissed her.

Seeing Kate again was not easy. Feelings he had thought long since done with had resurfaced when she walked back into the tower. A sign that his heart still wanted to belong to her but he knew he couldn’t if she worked for SHIELD.

“Surviving but not much more than that,” He said numbly. “You...look well,” he said diplomatically as his gazed eventually settled upon her. “You let your hair grow out...it looks...nice,” he said trying not to put too much emotion into his words. Kate was a beautiful woman and with her hair longer like that he wondered what it might feel like if he tangled his fingers in it. ‘Stop that’! He scolded himself.

Hearing what Gambit said made Serena even more concerned that she had screwed things up between them. She was still young and was still figuring out when to be outspoken and when to hold her tongue. She looked down and was about to just walk away when suddenly he moved up to her and took her face in his hands and tilted it back up to look into his eyes. When he kissed her she felt so relieved that things between them had not ended that at first she didn't kiss him back. However, that quickly changed and she did begin to kiss him back.

After a few moments their lips separated and she looked at him. "So, clearly you know how to use a Bo Staff. Where did you learn to use it?"

Kate and Steve were sitting on opposite sides of the table which gave them the space they wanted, but also allowed them to look at each other. It pained Kate to hear what Steve said, but she knew how he felt because it was the same for her. He would be able to see from her eyes just how unhappy she really was. The wound that Steve had left in her heart refused to heal no matter how much time passed and being in this room with him had just pulled that wound open even further.

When he mentioned her hair she subconsciously reached up and touched it. "Thank you. It actually hasn't been intentional. I just have been so busy I haven't had time to get it cut. You look good too."

“A man named Jean Luc Lebeau taught me bojutsu but he wasn’t my father. From what they told me I was stolen as a child as some ‘prophesied’ savior that was supposed to unite the warring thieves and assassins guild. So you could say I had an unconventional childhood cherie,” he said. “I saw a weapons range back there...wanna play a little?” he asked with that sultry draw that made his words sound as if he were talking about sex. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” he said.

It was ofcourse ridiculous to not be able to carry on a conversation with this woman,” Steve thought. And so he thought that he would extend the first olive branch. “I want to apologize for some of the things I said. They were said in haste and frustration. I know I hurt you Kate and I want you to know that losing you as,” he began then his eyes glanced around them. They were alone for now. “As a lover was difficult,” He said softly. “Losing your friendship though...was devastating. I’ve...missed you Kate,” Steve said plainly.

The more Serena learned about Gambit the more mysterious he seemed to become. However, she rather liked that. She grinned at him when he asked to see her powers. She lifted up her right hand and turned it over so her palm was facing up. As she did an orb of energy the size of a baseball appeared. It hovered over her palm and pulsed with a red light. "I can create energy orbs as well as energy blasts and energy shields. My parents believe my powers were caused by unintentional radiation exposure my mother received when she was pregnant with me."

Kate had been looking down at the table but as Steve began to speak she slowly looked up at him and her eyes met his. A few tears came to hers that she knew would be impossible to hide. "I'm sorry too Steve. These past few years being apart from you have been...difficult for me. I've felt so alone and unhappy. So many times I have wanted to pick up the phone and call you but I was always afraid that you wouldn't talk to me."

Gambit watched the display of her powers with great interest. For how young Serena was, she was a powerful mutant and a force to be reckoned with. “So you can make a short blast, an explosive ball, a shield or a sustained beam? For how long?” he asked.

Steve winced. ‘And that was my fault to’ He thought. “I didn’t mean...I didn’t want us not to be friends, Kate. That’s not what I wanted to happen. It was not right for me to use SHIELD as a stop gap like I did. I know if you asked of me what I asked of you I wouldn’t stop what I do. I guess I just...you know, wanted my cake and to eat it to,” he said and then looked down at the table for a moment before he looked back up to her face.

“If we can’t be...you know, together, we could at least be friends I think,” He said. He didn’t want her to think that she couldn’t call him or talk to him because they weren’t sleeping together. In truth he did miss the sex. The sex, her voice, her smile and just the smell of her on the sheets. They used to work out together, eat together, just about everything...together. Then nothing for years and it was no mystery that they both were unhappy.

Serena couldn't fire an energy blast in here because she would damage the room so the energy ball was about all she could show him. She looked at Gambit and nodded. "I can sustain it as long as my own energy holds out," she told him as she closed her fingers around the ball and it disappeared. "My mutation draws energy from my own body. Obviously a sustained beam would draw more energy more quickly than one of the orbs, which once formed no longer draw energy. The energy shield is what wears me out the most quickly. My father actually designed a suit for me that helps with this problem and will actually replenish my energy reserves."

Kate looked at Steve for a moment and then looked down at the table. She was quiet for a while before finally speaking softly. "I can't just be friends with you Steve. I...I love you so much that being in this room with you and not having your arms around me physically hurts. You are the only man I have ever truly loved and will ever love. To just be your friend and nothing more would...it would be too much for me."

“Well the main advantage is range for you I think. Line of sight I presume?” He asked. When she nodded he nodded back. “Besides some ‘minor’ physical enhancements my main deal is that I can charge objects with Kinetic Energy,” he said. “You saw what I did with the playing cards. I choose cards because I like them and always seem to have them on me,” he said and proved as much as he held his hands toward her, his palms to his chest then flourished his hands and 2 cards, one in each hand appeared. The queen of hearts and the jack of spades. The cards he had chosen to represent the two of them.

“You are my queen of hearts cherie mwen,” he said softly. Cherie Mwen, or ‘My darling’ is what he always called her. He moved and gave her the cards then shifted so he could whisper in her ear. “This thing, this...romance that we have begun. It calls to me Serena. Your face, your body...your scent fills me with desire for you. Like a free fall that I desperately wish never to end. I am falling for you Serena Stark,” he said then began to softly kiss her neck.

Steve sighed and shook his head. Oddly her words mimicked what he was thinking but he didn’t know what else to do. He would not ask her to leave SHIELD again. If that was what she wanted then he would not begrudge her that. The problem was that he needed her but couldn't have her. For him SHIELD was the problem not Kate.

“Then I’m...I’m sorry Kate, I...don’t know what else to say,” he said not wishing to argue with her anymore. He would not mention SHIELD. He had said his peace long ago on the subject and it hadn’t changed. It only meant that her career in SHIELD was more important than her love for him.

Serena had already seen Gambit's powers in action, however she was still fascinated by them. It was interesting for her to learnt hat he could charge any object with Kinetic Energy, but he chose to use the playing cards. When he suddenly produced two cards in his hand, seemingly out of nowhere she smiled at him. Her smile grew even bigger when she saw the two cards he had chosen. She took them but then Gambit moved closer to her and began to whisper into her ear. His words caused her to shiver with growing desire. She closed her eyes as she felt his lips upon her neck.

"I'm falling for you too Gambit," she whispered back.

Kate had put herself out there with Steve by telling him what she had told him and in the end it felt like the wound in her heart only got bigger. She was being honest with him though. She couldn't just be his friend when she knew that neither of them wanted only that. That would only cause problems between them.

"I...I should go..." she said as she stood up. She was embarrassed about his rejection and wanted to just leave.

Tony needed to talk to Kate. There was alot of coordination that had to happen with SHIELD. This ‘thing’ between her and Steve was downright inconvenient. He had tried to go up to them but Isabella kept telling him to leave them be. Tony could be single-minded sometimes and he didn’t always see what others saw. However as Kate rose he moved toward them a few steps from his office. “Kate, I need to talk to you before you go,” Tony said and he didn’t notice Isabella’s half wince, half scowl at him.

Gambit made love to Serena right there on the mats. They could have easily been caught or seen and indeed it was a quick, passionate coupling that only lasted a few minutes. He came up behind he as she fixed up her hair in the large mirrored wall that the gym had. Gambit came up behind her and put his hands onto her breasts. Even with a bra and shirt on he seemed to know right where her nipples were and he chuckled when she slapped his hands away playfully.

“God you’re beautiful cherie,” he said in his thick, sexy drall. He took her hair into his hands and adjusted it himself as he looked at her through the mirror. “Wanna go to a casino with me tonight?” he asked. The dancing last night was still fresh in their minds. Gambit thought Serena was amazing and he wanted her to experience everything he loved.

Kate had been hoping for a clean exit, but she knew that she and Tony really did need to talk. She sighed a little and gave Tony a nod before walking with him into the office that he and Isabella shared. It was a large room and they each had their own space. There was also a seating area with a couch and a few chairs and a small bar. Tony and Isabella often went into their office to have a drink when they wanted to be alone. She glanced around and saw that not much had changed in the office, or in the Tower in general, since she had left. Although her conversation with Steve was still very fresh in her mind, she pushed that aside and switched into agent mode because she knew this talk was going to be about the journal.

Serena loved the way Gambit made her feel as a woman. He made her feel beautiful, inside and out, and made her feel incredibly special. She felt like a queen around him and she hoped that he knew that she cared about him, just as much as he cared about her. She was fixing herself back up after their rather quick and passionate love making session when Gambit came up behind her. She let him fix her hair himself and then grinned when he suggested they go to a casino that night.

"I would love that, but I don't know how to play any of those games."

“I’ll give you a crash course and you can watch me. Most of what Poker is about is minding your tells,” he began and then they talked for some time about Poker and blackjack. He pulled out his cards and showed her different situations, the most common ones and how to deal with them. But also the importance of managing your exterior features. Players are always watching you at all times. The less you let them know about what your holding makes it more dangerous for your opponents to chance a push when they know your not falling for their bluffs. Bluffing was an artform and Gambit spent over an hour on that alone.

Blackjack was considerably easier but with less of a payout. He explained the situation with that game and most importantly what the houses rules were for the dealer. Knowing what the dealer had to do in certain situations made betting against them easier. Their conversation continued over lunch where he made them cubano sandwiches, his favorite.

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“Ophelia is not going to be an easy target. I think we both know that but Gambit is the only person who knows where she’s at,” Tony said. “There has been no love lost between Gambit and Steve but since you just arrived I think it best if you spoke to Gambit yourself and asked him to lead us to her,” he said. “I or Isabella could ask him and he likely would tell us but my wife and I both agreed that it might be construed as manipulation,” Tony said. “He’s...dating Serena,”He said with more than a little exasperation in his voice. “Better if it came from you,” He said.

Kate listened to Tony and knew he was right about Gambit. She did feel bad about how she had treated him. She knew that part of her anger towards him had been redirected feelings about Steve. She owed Gambit an apology and nodded when Tony asked her to talk to him.

“Yes, I will talk to him,” she reassured Tony. She raised an eyebrow when Tony told her that Gambit was dating Serena. “Really? Wow...so how are you and Isabella handling that?”

Tony felt as much as heard Isabella stir at Kate’s question but he decided to answer. “The jury is still out on that. We all know about his past but there is context there that we likely do not know. I believe Serena knows more than we do now and has yet to cast him aside. But, if you were looking for a more specific answer...not well. He appears kind, well mannered and considerate...a gentleman but I can’t help but see a scoundrel as well in him,” Tony said then hit her abruptly with a question of his own.

“Are you making up with Steve? Please say that you are. The man’s been barely fit to live with since you left,” Tony said as he looked at her.

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Logan came into Natalya’s room with 2 ice cold beers. One of them was her favorite and the other his. He set it down on her bedside table then moved and fell into her large, leather recliner. Natalya was stretching in the middle of the floor on the large blue yoga mat that she almost always had on her floor. She never looked in his direction or altered what she was doing as he came in though she almost never did.

“So it always comes back to that serum of yours,” Logan said to hopefully get a rise out of her. For some reason he was in an arguing mood. He didn’t know how he felt about Gambit and Serena together. He really liked the girl and it just didn’t seem right somehow. Gambit was a player and could get any woman he wanted. But he knew Gambit’s history, the whole sorted tale and liked the man besides. Natalya was bent over double, her head pressed up against her shins. Logan was looking at her ass as he took a sip of his beer.

“If there wasn’t a serum and you were ‘just’ a woman, would you even be into me though, that’s the question,” Logan said. He was trying to decide what shape her butt really was. Heart-shaped? Maybe. She had a little hip. As he tried to figure it out he hadn;t noticed her eyes shift to him briefly to see what he was looking at.

Kate sighed when Tony asked her if she and Steve were making up. She shook her head a little and tried to keep back the tears that threatened to fall. “It doesn’t appear that we are. I put my heart out there to him and he rejected me. I will still help you all though.”


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Natalya had decided to spend the afternoon in her room. She had felt the tension between Kate and Steve and wanted to give them some space. She had put on some leggings and a tank top and was doing some stretching when she heard her bedroom door open. She knew it was Logan without even looking. He was the only one who walked into her room without knocking. She also knew that he had brought some beers. She bent forward at the waist and had her upper body laying flat against her legs. Her back was to Logan. She ignored his comment about the serum and looked back at him.

“Checking out my ass?” She asked playfully with a grin.

“Not you I think, but we all know what that really is about. I will be honest with you Kate,” he said as he turned and picked up the Professor’s ledger. “Bring you in, bringing ‘SHIELD’ in makes me nervous. If history has taught us all nothing its that once someone has the biggest guns they ultimately will use them and one man’s good is another man’s evil,” Tony said. “I need your word Kate that after we do what we need to do to keep Hydra from finishing the formula, you will destroy this ledger and any copies we may find,” Tony said. “If its in your power to do so and im not talking about loyalties here. I’m talking about has to happen. What will happen or you can go back to Nick and we’ll just have to...muddle through,” he said plainly. He heard Isabella stir again and he held a finger up toward Isabella but his face focused on Kate’s face.

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“I was, is that a crime? Its a very nice ass as asses go though I’ve only seen it in those...stretchy things. I'm pretty certain pants like those give more than a little compression and most asses probably pop out and their not so great to look at when that happens,“ he said not realizing his minor insult. “I suppose i do miss ‘jeans’ on a woman. Hardly any women who wear those anymore. Guys don’t wear those yoga thingies probably because we don't want other guys checking our asses out either,” Logan chuckled. He had no idea where he was going with this or even really why. He was just bored, worried about Serena, worried about the Serum and, as always, worried about Natalya. Even with that worry looking at her sexy body often had the result of making him hard. He was right then. Most anything made him that way these days. He didn’t date and didn’t much care for porn. Logan would never tell Natalya that he just wasn’t interested in other women. Not with them being so close as they were. He wanted her in every way a man could want a woman and ONLY her. He wanted her and also needed her in his life. The sexual tension meter between them was far beyond anything quantifiable but Logan would never be the one to cross that line between them. Not in a million years. Not when he relied on her being near and not when he heard her continual struggle with her nightmares. Natalya was probably one of the most independent and self reliant women he knew and yet he felt as if she needed him. And in turn, he needed her to need him. It was a vicious circle which unfortunately kept them at a distance.

Kate listened to Tony and saw Isabella stir a little as if she wanted to say something. Kate wasn't going to say anything, but the truth was was that she wasn't sure she agreed with what SHIELD was doing anymore. Some things had recently come to light which caused arguments between Nick and herself. She was considering leaving, but it was difficult to cut ties with SHIELD, particularly in her case when SHIELD had been her home for so long.

She looked at Tony and into his eyes so he could see that she was telling the truth. "I will destroy the ledger and any copies we might find...I swear. I don't want that formula ending up in the wrong hands. It's far too dangerous and there is no reason that SHIELD should hang on to it."

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Natalya stood back up and walked over and picked up her beer. Logan had already opened it for her and she took a sip. "I wear jeans. I wore jeans the other night when we went out. I just prefer these pants when I'm here and especially when I'm working out." She took another sip and then sat down next to him. "When I left things were still pretty tense between Steve and Kate. Has that changed? I was hoping that if they got together in the same room that they would find a way to work things out. I think I was hoping for too much even though it's obvious that they still love each other."

“Then we have a plan in the works,” Tony said as he looked back at Isabella. “And we need SHIELD to pull it off,” he said then set the ledger down on the desk. Kate had specific instruction from Nick to get a copy of that formula and she had a micro camera inside the back of a ring she wore to get photos of it if she could. The question there was ‘could’, a simple matter to say that she couldn’t. Tony left them alone and Isabella didn;t glare at his back but holding his finger up like that. If she were closer she might have bit it!

Isabella came and sat on the edge of the desk. She took up Kate’s hands in hers. They were very much good friends and it was wonderful to see Kate again, though she wished it was on a more ‘permanent’ basis. “I take it things with Steve...didn’t go so well? He is miserable Kate. Miserable, irritable, argumentative, he is not himself. I know he loves you,” Isabella said. “I saw you talking and could see your disappointment. Do you want to talk about it?” She asked softly.

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Logan blinked. The last thing he wanted to do is talk about ‘Steve Rogers’. “I’d much rather talk about your ass,” Logan murmured as he took another sip of his beer. Before she could call him out for his words though he relented. “The man is stubborn stupid. The woman is beyond crazy about him and he is allowing ‘her job’ to stop them from being together. He then turned, almost angry about that and turned toward her. “If I wanted y…” he began then decided NOT to go with that line of thought and he half spoke into his beer. “He should just tell her how its going to be, wrestle her into his bed then have crazy good sex, that’ll shut er up,” Logan said crudely.

Kate knew what Nick’s orders were but she wasn’t planning on following them. She meant what she said to Tony. She was going to destroy the ledger and any copies. She also wasn’t going to take any pictures. Nick was going to be fur, but she couldn’t in good conscience do what he was asking her to do.

She watched as Tony left and then looked at Isabella. She and Isabella had been good friends and she missed being able to talk to her. She sighed and looked down when she asked her about her talk with Steve. “No, it didn’t go well. I mean we apologized to each other for the things we said, but when I told him I couldn’t just be his friend, that it would be too difficult and told him I still loved him he turned me down.”

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Natalya raised an eyebrow at Logan and his attitude. There was clearly something going on with him. “What is going on with you today?”

It appeared outwardly that Logan was about to say something and then stopped. He did this twice and then grumbled something under his breath that she could not catch. ‘Impossible relationships’ He thought and took another sip of his beer.

“I need a mission I guess. I don’t like being idle,” he said but she’d know that wasn’t it at all. How could he broach such a subject to Natalya? He didn’t have a way with words and he wasn’t one to ‘pour out’ his feelings. It was kind of hypocritical of him though. So much though that he quite nearly laughed. Coming down on Steve for not doing and saying what he wanted to say and he himself wouldn’t talk to Natalya.

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“Not you,” Isabella said. “And you know what he really wants. If you can’t give that to him then let him go. Neither of you will be free of the other if you don’t. You keep holding on as if one or the other will relent. It’s not good to live that way Kate. It will poison you both in the end,” Isabella said then let go of her hands and leaned back on the desk. She saw the ledger there but it was Kate, her best friend, not a SHIELD agent. “Would you like something to drink? I could make us some tea? Have some tea with me,” Isabella said and stood to go make it.