Loyalties Lie [s. r.]

.16

After dinner, Julia had insisted Steve should stay in their home, rather than staying in some uncomfortable hotel. Despite Steve's efforts to insist that the hotel was perfectly fine, there was no winning with the older woman, and he eventually agreed.

"Thanks for helping me back there," he said to Camryn as she helped him get the guest bed set up.

She laughed softly, smiling over at him as she put the sheets on the bed. The guest bed was rarely used, and despite it having clean sheets on it already, her mother had insisted Camryn change them.

"Oh you're welcome." She replied with a smirk.

Despite his begging glances for Camryn to offer him some assistance, she had sat back and watched the scene unfold. Truthfully, she wanted Steve to stay as well.

"You realize all my stuff is at the hotel, right?" He pointed out, helping her get the sheet on the queen sized bed.

"You can borrow some of the clothes I stole from you a while ago." Camryn shrugged, earning herself a look from Steve. "What? Oversized clothes are comfortable, okay? Don't judge me."

"I'm not judging you. I just think it's cute you kept all my clothes you stole." He said, a soft smile on his face. "I would have thought Wyatt would have made you get rid of them."

Camryn scowled, shaking her head as she threw the pillows on the bed. "I kept them hidden. He would have made me if he had known I had them." She admitted.

"He was an asshole." Steve scoffed, shaking his head as he put the remaining pillows on the bed.

"Yeah, he was. But it doesn't matter anymore. I was planning to break up with him anyways. So I guess it all worked out in the end." Camryn pointed out, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I know you didn't want it to work out like that though." He sighed, sitting beside her. "It's okay to not be okay, doll. You know that, right?"

"I know, Stevie. But I am okay. I've moved on. I'm past it." She said, resting her head on his shoulder. "Life happens. And I know it wasn't my fault. That's what matters."

"Yeah, I guess." He said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Camryn stayed there for a moment before sitting up. "I'll go get you those clothes now." She told him, giving him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

She headed to her room, searching around her drawers for Steve's clothes. It took her a moment to realize he had followed her and was looking around her room in amusement.

"So this is what little Camryn was like, huh?" He asked, looking at the pictures on the wall. "Is that Chris?"

He was pointing to a picture of two little brunettes. They were about six, both of them missing various teeth.

"Yeah." She replied, a soft smile on her face. "He was the one who really wanted to be an agent. I just decided to carry on what he wanted after he died."

"What would you have done otherwise?" Steve asked curiously.

"Probably played Violin professionally, if I'm being honest. It was about all I was good at. Jemma was the brainiac, Sammy the athletic star. Chris was the one with the good heart. He was always helping people." She shrugged.

"Doll, you're better at more than just playing the Violin."

"Well I know that now." She said, tossing the clothes at him. "Eleven year old me didn't though."

"Well, maybe now that you aren't working for Shield anymore you could go back to playing?" He suggested. Maybe if she moved in with him she would like doing that.