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On the rare occasion that Amelia was needed for a mission, she wasn't there. Natasha and Steve were at the mall, ready to open the flash drive Fury had given to her; while Amelia was away "getting her suit."
At least, that's what Natasha and Steve thought. In reality, Amelia had rushed back to her apartment and was throwing up buckets of fluid into the toilet basin.
SHE WAS PREGNANT. Not even she could believe it. When she found out, she couldn't stop staring at the pregnancy test result. It had read:
PREGNANT 3-5 WEEKS
Of course, she was shocked. So, she acted on impulse and flushed it away, hoping that her little problem would go with it too. It had been 5 days since then and she could already imagine the small bump that would soon be on her stomach. Her heart was already swelling up with love for the baby.
Amelia didn't exactly know how she conceived with Steve's circumstance, but she knew that if the child were to be born, he or she would always be in danger. Which was one of the reasons why she hadn't told Steve yet.
When Amelia had finally finished emptying her lunch in the bathroom, she jumped to her feet and rung Natasha's number. "Natasha? I'm on my way. . ."
* * *
8 hours later... in New Jersey...
Natasha walked around the camp, holding up the beeping device trying to find where the signal came from. "This camp is where I was trained." Steve stated, as he looked around nostalgically.
"Changed much?" Natasha asked.
Steve stopped walking, and nudged Amelia's side. He gestured over to the pole where he had got the flag down from. "A little." He responded to Nat and continued to longingly stare at his surroundings.
"I don't miss it." Amelia cringed, remembering everything she had endured. Steve didn't blame her for despising that time period of her life, she had almost encountered death multiple times, witnessed her best friend die, & watched the love of her life betray her, disappear into an abyss and never come back for another 70 years.
"This is a dead end. Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio." Natasha announced as she shoved the device into her pocket. "Whoever wrote the file, must've used a router to throw people off."
Amelia nodded at Natasha, agreeing with her theory. Before Nat said anything more, she quickly noticed Steve's newly developed expression. "What is it?"
* * *
"Army regulations forbids storing ammunition within 500 yards of the barracks... This building is in the wrong place." Steve explained as Nat and Amelia tailed him. Once they reached the door, Steve rapidly slammed his shield against the lock that was sealing the building.
The three synchronizingly crept down the stairs into a dusty office. Natasha flicked a light switch on, causing the entire room to light up; revealing a SHIELD logo on the far wall. Amelia shivered, recalling the eerie foundations of SHIELD.
"This is SHIELD." Natasha commented.
Amelia looked around, her emotions were beginning to stir. "Maybe where it started... Did you know about this place?" Steve gestured over to Amelia before he and Natasha began scoping the place.
"No." Amelia said curtly, at that time of her life she hadn't been ready to join an organization like SHIELD. It would have taken too much of her time, and with Peggy working there, there was bound to be trouble.
The three entered another room, maybe an old office, and find old portraits of all of Amelia's old comrades. "There's Stark's father." Natasha nodded over to portrait of Howard.
"Howard." Amelia said. Howard had always been a wonderful friend to Amelia.
flashback
Amelia swung open the door to her apartment in New York and stumbled in, dropping her purse and shoes onto the floor. She had been drinking all night.
Unknowing of her guest, she peeled her tight dress off, leaving her only in her underwear. This was normal for Amelia. She didn't live with anyone but herself, so she couldn't care less about wearing clothes in her home.
"Woah, woah, woah!" A recognizable voice shouted. Amelia turned around, and smiled at the image of Howard covering his eyes like a child.
"What? Are you 12?" Amelia hiccuped.
"Are you drunk?" Howard asked, not taking his hand off of his eyes.
"Howard! We're friends, and I'm not completely nude." Amelia rolled her eyes at him.
"Go put something on, Stinson! I came here to ask you something serious." He ordered.
Amelia looked at the clock. "What could be so serious at 3:17 in the morning?" She snickered.
"Clothes, now Amelia!" He yelled.
"Okay, okay, calm down. I'm going." She grumbled, going into her closet and throwing some pajamas on.
When she came back out, he began his brief speech: "Amelia, I need you on the team at SHIELD. You could be one of the best agents there! Not to mention the fact that someone needs to keep an eye on you. The DNA results, remember?"
"No thanks." Amelia smirked, turning around to lay down on her bed.
"What?" Howard's eyes grew wide.
"I don't want to be apart of SHIELD." Amelia shrugged, pulling up her covers over her.
Tense silence overcame the two. "You do not get to say that to me, after all of the worrying I have done for you!" Howard said.
"Go back to your fiancée, Mary? Moira? Maria? Maria! Go back to her, have a baby or two, be happy. I'm not worth anyone's time anymore." Amelia shut her eyes, ready to listen to Howard's rebuttal.
However, no words were spoken. Only a loud slam of a door rung out, and at that moment, Amelia knew that would be the last of Howard she would see of in a long time.
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