SHIELD (A Captain America Story, Book 1 of the SHIELD Series) COMPLETE

Chapter 13: Leave of Absence

Ever since the beginning, time off from work had never been something Ava looked forward to.

When Ava first joined SHIELD, her fellow trainees at the academy would stay up late at night to sneak off campus to clubs or try to find a way to break into the guys' dorms―while Ava was sent back to night classes with teachers who would have her exercise her powers and test her physical limits as an advanced human.

After she became a full-fledged agent, Ava found herself in another dilemma when it came to time off. Unlike most agents, who would use their precious time off to see family or friends, Ava was unable to see Tony and Pepper. With all the paparazzi having been fooled into thinking she was in another country, Ava couldn't afford to have her cover blown, and it would be nigh-impossible to arrange any kind of secret meeting with Tony being so busy.

When Tony was taken by the Ten Rings, Ava was terrified that she might never see him again―and that her job with SHIELD might have prevented her from ever even saying goodbye.

Those two months were some of the worst in Ava's life. With the new influx of reporters at every Stark Industries outpost clamoring for news about their missing CEO, Ava was still unable to see Pepper or gain even a little comfort.

She begged and pleaded for SHIELD to intervene. By the time the red tape she had torn and mangled in her rush to get help (which had probably earned her quite a few enemies) had been put to right, Tony was back. Alive.

Coulson was the one who gave her the news. He had been assigned to the case of investigating Tony's escape under "mysterious" circumstances involving explosions and a huge metal suit of armor―presumably, the case had been dumped on him because he was her S.O., but he didn't seem to mind.

Ava had been so relieved. She promised herself that she would work harder to see Tony more often when she had time off instead of just haunting the SHIELD training facilities in her area day in and day out. But after the fight over Malibu and the "I am Iron Man" debacle, visiting became impossible. Tony's popularity seemed to double overnight.

Ava didn't see him again for nearly a year.

And even then, she had to sit out during the Hammer Industries incident (when she saw him she berated him for hours about not telling her that he had known he only had 72 hours to live and hadn't told her or Pepper) and during the investigation of the anomaly in New Mexico (Coulson had been diverted from Stark's case in favor of Agent Romanoff, and he had been sent along with Agent Barton to Puente Antiguo.)

With SHIELD doing its best to keep her from interacting with Stark, she had nothing to do but mope about and wait until her next assignment. Time off from injuries were the worst―most would have killed for her advanced healing factor, which gave her free time for most of the recovery period, but she would rather simply be back in the field.

This time, however, everything was different.

After a late night beating Tony at Scrabble (896 games to 574, but who's counting?) Ava had woken up the next morning with only a slight ache in her arm and a text glowing on her phone.

Café's on 42nd Street, across from Grand Central. Breakfast in ten?

Ava lifted the phone from her bedside table and held it over her head, examining the words. She wondered vaguely if this was what normal people did when they had spare time―go on dates, be with friends. Once upon a time, before the SSR, is this what Steve did with his spare time?

When she got there, Steve was already waiting for her, having grabbed an outdoor table. The café was already bustling, even though it had only been open for a few minutes. The smell of coffee and freshly baked pastries floated out onto the street and enticed passers-by into the air-conditioned, cinnamon-scented shop.