A/N: Soo, I was going to take a break from writing, but I couldn't resist. Here's the first chapter of the sequel to Complicated! If you haven't read the first book, I suggest you do that before reading this. If you are coming over from Complicated, I thank you all for sticking with this series, it means a lot to me! So, here's the first chapter!
!#$%^
"Samantha." A voice spoke, trying to drag me out of my sleep. I turned away from the sound, pulling the covers up and over my head. Couldn't people just leave me to my sleep? Seriously...
"Sammie Darling, I think you've slept enough," They spoke again, and I groaned, shifting my body so that I was curled into a ball.
"Alright then..." They said, and I heard footsteps fading away. Thank God... I snuggled into my covers, falling back asleep in minutes. I was having a very odd dream about rainbows and frogs, when something very cold and very wet hit my face, and I bolted upright.
I let out a frustrated scream, opening my eyes to find the person responsible. I fumed at the sight of the man who had done this, and shook my head.
Tony Stark.
Of course that's who it was. Who else would actually pour water on my head while I was trying to sleep? I wiped the water out of my blue eyes, and wrung my hair in my hands. I was soaking wet, all because of freaking Tony.
"What the hell, Tony?" I yelled, getting up out of the wet bed. I brushed past him and headed for the kitchen, with Stark right on my heels.
Yes, I lived in Tony Stark's Tower, as well as the rest of the Avengers. Director Fury thought that it would be best if all of the Avengers were together, just in case of any emergencies. At first I didn't mind, but in times like these, I wished that I had a house all to myself.
"It's three o'clock, Samantha. I mean, I know you need your beauty rest and all, but that's just a little late, sunshine," He said.
I muttered several curses under my breath, before searching through his cabinets for something to eat.
"Are there any poptarts in this establishment?" I mumbled, and startled when someone other than Tony answered.
"In the second cabinet to the left, Miss Barton," A male voice said, leading me to a gorgeous pack of strawberry poptarts.
"Thank you JARVIS," I spoke to the automated voice of Tony's AI, before digging in. Tony sat down next to me, and tried to pry away the case of sweets in my hand. My hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, twisting it just enough for him to wince. I let go, and then continued to eat the treat.
I guess my training could come in handy; who knew that all those training sessions with my brother and Natasha could protect my lovely sweet strawberry poptarts?
Tony sighed, and shook his head. Just then, Steve walked into the room, heading to where we sat. He raised his eyebrows at my wet hair, but I shot a pointed glare in Tony's direction, and Steve understood. Tony looked over at Steve, and then back to me.
"Hey Cap'? Mind helping a man out?" He asked, pointing a finger at me. I raised my eyes from my poptarts, and watched as Steve walked over to me. I shot out of my chair, holding the box of poptarts behind me.
"No. They're mine, and you can't take them!" I said, backing away from him. I was about to sprint away, when I felt a pair of hands rip the poptarts out from my hands.
I whipped around, only to come face to face with my brother, Clint. He held up the box and gave me a questioning stare.
"What? It's strawberry!" I said, before walking over to a nearby couch, sinking into the cushions. Tony, Steve, and my brother all followed me, Tony sitting beside me, and Clint and Steve standing across from me.
"Sammie," Clint started, using his old nickname for me. I sighed, and held my head in my hands. Why does my life suck so much?
"You can't keep going on like this," He said, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Like what? I'm not doing anything wrong, am I?" I asked. Steve shook his head.
"Samantha, you're not doing anything." He said, and crossed his arms. I sighed, and shook my head.
"I spar with Clint and Natasha every day, and I watch marathons of Law and Order. I do plenty of stuff..." I tried to defend myself, but realized that my argument was very weak. I don't really do anything, do I?
Tony scoffed.
"Sunshine, you sit around all day. Maybe you do spar with Legolas and Natasha, but you do nothing else," He said, and I bristled at his tone. I stood up, and seized the box of poptarts from Clint's hands, heading for my room.
"I'm a grown adult, I can do what I want to!" I said, childishly. Part of me knew that they were right, and that I was being a child acting the way that I was, but the other part of me said that I could do what I wanted to, and nobody could stop me.
I started walking to my room, and slammed the door as hard as I could once I was inside. I turned around and stuffed a poptart into my mouth, but screamed at the top of my lungs when I noticed that there was someone else in my room.
"Damn it, Natasha! Don't sneak up on me like that!" I gasped, holding my chest and shaking my head at the red head, who was sitting on the edge of my bed. She stood, and gently removed the poptarts from my hands. I didn't resist, knowing that any effort to get it back would be in vain.
"Sam..." She started, and I held up a hand, cutting her off.
"I sleep all day and hog the poptarts, yes I know," I said, sighing. Natasha's face was emotionless, like usual, but I swear she looked like she wanted to roll her eyes. She shook her head, and frowned.
"I'm taking you out today. Shopping, then hitting the bar for a few drinks," She said, and my eyes widened. "Here," She said, handing me something that resembled a nice top.
"You need to shower and change."
I looked down at what I was wearing; a black zip up hoodie and grey sweatpants.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I whined, and Natasha didn't grace that with an answer, simply raising a single eyebrow.
"Fine..." I grumbled, and snatched the shirt from her outstretched hand, heading into the bathroom that was attached to my room.
I showered quickly, and then threw on the grey tank top and black skinny jeans, putting my long hair up into a sloppy bun. I emerged from my room, heading out into the large living room that everyone shared.
Natasha looked up from her spot on the couch, and I saw that she was actually in regular clothes, instead of her usual uniform. Natasha and Clint had already gone back to work for Fury, but not as often as they did before, leaving plenty of time for them to hang around with the rest of us, who still lived in the Tower.
She stood, and made her way to my side. I wondered where everyone else was, wondering if I could make an excuse to be able to stay at home. I didn't want to go out. There were people outside, and I didn't do too well in crowds ever since... well, since the battle of New York.
Nat grabbed my arm and started to drag me to the elevator, and we rode down in complete silence. When we hit the bottom floor, I trudged into the lobby with a grimace.
"Why are you doing this? You hate shopping!" I groaned.
"Yeah, but you need to get out of the house. Do something other than sleep and eat your poptarts." She said, and I rolled my eyes.
"But they're strawberry!" I tried to explain why I loved them so much. There was just something about those poptarts that made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Not really, but they tasted pretty good.
Nat led me to as store that was only a few blocks away from the Tower, and I scrutinized it with a frown. She sighed, and pulled on my arm, taking me inside. The store was huge, but what else could you expect from New York? I stood awkwardly by a rack, not really looking at anything.
I used to like shopping.
I would sneak out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base that I used to live on, and go to a million stores, trying on nearly everything in the shop, and buying everything that I could with my allowance.
But now, I couldn't get into it. I mean, the clothes were cute, and some of it was my style, but I just didn't want to. I couldn't explain it, but I didn't get the same feeling that I used to whenever I shopped.
"Sam..." I heard Nat sigh, and turned around to find her staring at me with a disapproving stare. I held up my hands in a sign of surrender.
"Alright!" I turned back to the rack, flipping through the shirts and looking for something to grab. At this point I didn't care what it was, I was just looking for something to make sure that Nat didn't murder me for not picking something out.
I whipped around with my pick, holding it up with a forced smile.
Natasha glanced down at the shirt I was holding, and grimaced.
"I'm not really into fashion, but that's pretty bad." She said, and took the shirt from my grasp. I sighed, and pulled at a strand of brown hair. Natasha looked through a couple of racks, before taking something off and nodding approvingly. She came back to my side, thrust the shirt into my hands, and forced me into a dressing room.
"Nat-" I began, but she cut me off.
"Try it on." She ordered, and I groaned, before closing the curtain and taking off my grey tank top. I pulled on the shirt, and turned to the mirror to see my reflection.
Wow.
Natasha may claim to not like it, but she sure had an eye for fashion.
The shirt was a deep blood red, and fit in a way that made me seem like a beauty queen. I smiled, and twirled around a bit, testing it out. I laughed, and shook my head. Oh, Natasha. My mood seemed to brighten, and I walked out of the dressing room.
Nat took one look at me, and nodded.
"You're getting that," She said, and for once I didn't feel like arguing.
For the next couple of hours we went around to different shops, both of us trying on different tops and bottoms, altogether having a good time.
I didn't know how she did it, but she had turned my mood upside down in a matter of hours. She made me want to go out in public, to do stuff, and not sit around all day. After a while, our feet started to hurt from all of the walking, so we decided to hit the bar closest to us.
We walked in and sat down on the stools, putting our bags down beside us. I sighed, and put my head down on the cool bar.
"Thank you, Natasha," I said.
She smiled, and shrugged.
"It was nothing."
I waved the burly bartender over, and was about to order something when Natasha cut in and ordered for me.
"Two shots of Tequila." She said. I looked over at her with a strange grin on my face.
"Are you trying to get me drunk, Nat?" I asked, and she laughed. Laughed.
"You look like you need it." She said, and I couldn't help but agree, as it had been far too long since I had been drunk. With me living at S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long, I hadn't really had a chance to get hammered very often.
And an hour later, I had my wish.
"Natasshhaa!" I shouted, trying to get her attention. I had to make sure that she heard me, because the lady two seats to my right was talking really loudly. Or was it three seats? I leaned back, trying to count. One, Two, Three. Three seats to my right. Oh well.
Nat looked over at me, lowering the beer glass from her lips with a small smirk.
"What?"
"I hate love," I said, and she just raised an eyebrow at me. I swallowed, and held up my hands, trying to explain it.
"I mean, like, it sucks. Like, you go through life all alone, with like, nobody. Then you find somebody who you love, like a lot, and who loves you, like, a lot. Then they go and try to take over the whole entire world, and destroy half of New York while they're at it. Then they have to go and leave, off to Assgarden, and leave me here. Love sucks." I said, nodding feverishly.
"So this whole depression thing is about Loki?" She asked.
"No!" I said as loud as I could, because if I said it loud, maybe she would believe me. But she just stared at me with that face, and I pouted slightly. How did she see through that? I was a good liar! Wasn't I?
"Yes..." I admitted, glaring down at my glass.
"It's hard to be without him. I mean, I start to think that I'll be alright, but then something happens and I realize that maybe Loki would have said this, or made that face, and I can't deal with it. So I go to sleep, and eat strawberry poptarts, thinking that maybe that feeling will go away," I said.
I looked over at Nat, who was staring at me with an expression that I couldn't read.
"You know what I mean?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I do," She said, and I was shocked by her answer.
Natasha knew how I felt. This was awesome! But wait! That meant that she was in love... and that meant that she was in love with a person... and that meant that she was in love with Clint! Oh my God! This was like, so awesome! But like, why was she in my position? Why didn't she do anything about it?
"But like, you have Clint here with you! Why don't-cha make a move?" I hiccupped. Natasha looked down at her glass for a few moments, before looking back up at me.
"It's complicated, Samantha. We're both Agents, and we could compromise missions if we were romantically involved. I do love him, even though I tried to fight it for such a long time, but we just can't be together. We can't." She said, but I knew that she was trying to convince herself.
"Bullshit, Nattie. If you have love right in front of you, you'd be stupid not to take it. I know that Clint loves you, and would treat you like a queen. If you have something like that, nothing else matters. Believe me, if I was in your position, I'd like, kiss Clint senseless the second I saw him. But like, ewww. He's my brother! I take that back... But you like, know what I mean, right?" I asked.
Natasha nodded, before smiling.
"You know what? I think you're right. You're drunk and rambling and hardly making any sense, but you're right." She said, and I let out a loud whoop.
I think the lady four seats away from me wants to shoot me, but I don't care.
"This is a cause for celebration!" I screamed, and waved my hand frantically.
"Oh, bartender!" I shouted, and cringed under his glare. Well, he was mean! I mean, like I only wanted another drink! Jeez... people these days.
"Oh no you don't," Nat said, prying my hands off of the shot glass in front of me, taking it in her own hands and downing it.
"Come on, you're done for the night." She said, and slid off of the stool. Ha! I could do that too! I slid off of the stool, but right when my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled, and I flew towards the ground.
I would have hit the floor, but Nat used her ninja super speed to catch me. I giggled, and tried to stand up. It took a bit of work, but I finally managed to stand upright. The world seemed to spin around me, and I giggled again at the funny feeling.
Natasha slung one of my arms over her shoulder, holding me up. With the other hand she grabbed all five of our bags, and started walking out the door and towards the Tower.
I tripped six times on the way there, but by the time we got to the elevator, I could stand up by myself.
The elevator door opened up, and I took a step forward, falling flat on my face. I couldn't feel any pain, but giggled like a madwoman. I was clumsy today!
"Nat? Sammie?" A man's voice asked, and I looked up from the ground to see my brother and Tony standing a few feet away, staring at me with strange looks on their faces. I burst out laughing again at their funny faces, and then rested my forehead on the floor.
"Nat?" I looked up to see Clint staring at Natasha, who had a strange look on her face. She seemed to be contemplating something, and after a few seconds, she marched forward.
She grabbed Clint's shirt collar, and pulled him down to her, kissing him.
She actually listened to me!
"Go Nat!" I shouted, and weakly held up a hand, before my head fell back to the floor, and my vision went dark.
! #$%^
When I opened my blue eyes, Tony was carrying me in his arms, my head resting against his chest. He kicked open my door, and set me down gently on my bed, which had thankfully dried since this morning. He took off my shoes, and pulled the covers up to my neck. I snuggled into the covers, hugging my pillow tightly.
Tony started to walk out of the room, and I smiled softly into the sheets.
"Love you, Tony..." I whispered, before closing my eyes.
"Love you too, kiddo."
Sighing in content, I drifted off to sleep.
! #$%^
A/N: So, that was the first chapter of Don't Let Me Fall, and I hope you guys liked it! I tried to get it out as quickly as I could.