I was heading back from our Debriefing Meeting when Commander Howlett stopped me. "What the heck was that about?" he asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, is it against the rules to share my feelings in front of S.H.I.E.L.D?" I asked sarcastically.

"It can be if you tell the wrong agent, but that's not why I'm upset about it," Howlett told me.

"If you're talking about this morning, it was nothing," I said.

"Breaking records when you're a mutant isn't the brightest idea out there," he scolded.

"Why? My name has already been written in their record books more than once."

"Are you saying you want to get caught?"

"No, but if I do, then S.H.I.E.L.D. will see all of the good things I've done and maybe then they won't kill me," I explained.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. might not kill you when they see you've been working for them without a complaint, but the second you slip up, they'll be all over you," Commander Howlett warned.

"I know that you'll be there to protect me," I said, but Howlett didn't share the enthusiasm.

"That's besides the point! You should be smarter about your actions," he criticized me.

"Bobby told me that you're very protective of me and typically don't make news friends easily," I told him, not wanting to keep secrets.

"She's right," Howlett said quietly.

"I'm a mutant, why would you ever want to protect me?" I asked innocently.

"It's complicated," he answered as he tried to walk away.

"That's it? It's just complicated?"

"I can't tell you why because it wouldn't make sense to you," Commander Howlett said.

"I'm so confused," I mumbled.

"What's so complicated about it?" he asked me.

"I don't know, you're just so darn complicated," I shoved back at him.

"You're really funny, you know that?"

"I'd love to stay and talk, but I have things to do," I cut it short. Commander Howlett looked like I had punched him hard in the stomach.

"What do you have to do that's more important than me?" he asked. Now it was my turn to feel it.

"I still have to come up with a few ideas for the mission," I said.

"Good luck with that, make them count," he commented as he moodily walked away. I truly did feel bad, but I really had to put some thought into it without any distractions.

"Any objections?" Coulson asked the following morning. We shook our heads as we anxiously awaited to go to our Unit Training. "Alright, we'll wait until tonight before we put everything into play in case someone changes their mind. Good work today and dismissed," Coulson concluded our morning meeting that went way  over.

"I thought I was never getting out of there," Vidia said as she came up behind me.

"You and me both," I agreed.

"What are you going to try today?" she asked.

"I think I'll go for the Simulation Room. Alice said it's amazing how real it can make everything feel."

"Believe me, It's worth it," Vidia encouraged. I didn't think there were that many modes, but there were. I spent a whole 10 minutes trying to figure out what all of them were and had a hard time picking one out! I eventually decided on a challenging shooting Sim that would require my gun skills and agility. It was as if I had been transported to the real life version of Call of Duty! It was amazing! I had so much fun and didn't even realize that I was getting a workout and sharpening my reflexes at the same time. When I was done, everyone was up against the glass applauding me. Apparently, I had broken another record.

"You're going to drive us crazy if you keep this up!" Bobby said as she handed me a fresh water.

"I don't know...how I do it...I just do," I said in between gulps of water.

"You are on such  a role! It's like, totally unreal!" Katie congratulated me.

"You make us guys look like we barely do anything," Max told me. It felt so satisfying and awesome to know what I was capable of! However, Howlett didn't feel the same.

"I guess there's no trying with you," Commander Howlett whispered gruffly as he passed by. I knew it was a bad idea, but I loved the competitiveness of training with the top dogs of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I took a quick break and came back to work on my abs. Every time I came up to my knees, I had a perfect view of Commander Howlett benching who knows how many pounds!

"How can you do so many?" Alice asked me as she collapsed completely out of breath.

"I've always had strong abs," I reminded her.

"I guess they've gotten even stronger since we got here," she said.

"Yep, they help with flips and agility type stuff."

"What do you think of going on our very first S.H.I.E.L.D. mission?" Alice asked unsurely.

"I think if I can stay busy enough, I won't have time to let myself get nervous about it," I explained.

"That's smart..." Alice thought aloud, "How many more are you going to do?"

"As many as I can handle," I breathed. 30 more later, I sat up to catch my breath and Howlett was still benching. It looked like he was doing the pyramid method; start small, keep adding until you reach your limit, and then slowly go back down. I let myself stare as my breathing started to go back to normal. Commander Howlett was done to and when he sat back up, he stared at me. At first, Howlett didn't know I was staring back until he playfully shook his head and smiled. I smiled back and he tried to act like nothing had happened by grabbing a drink. Even when he was done, he kept staring. I didn't know what to do when he unexpectedly walked towards me. I tried to clean the sweat from my body, but there was simply too much of it. He held his hand out to help me up and I gladly took it.

"Why are we doing this Sarah?" Commander Howlett asked me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked confused.

"Pretending like there's nothing going on between us," he pointed out.

"But there isn't," I reassured him.

"I think there is," Howlett said hopefully.

"If there was, don't you think one of us would've done something already?" I asked.

"Maybe we're too afraid to," he said. I looked at him with a sad face, "I stand correct," he said.

"I have some yoga to do before times up," I tried to run.

"Uh-uh, you're not getting off that easily," Howlett said with a smile.

"Can we not talk about this now?" I asked nervously as I felt my face heat up.

"When are we going to talk about it or have you forgotten about your first mission?"

"We can talk after the mission, after we've had some rest," I said.

"Where?"

"Do you think it's really going to take that long?" I asked.

"I don't know, it depends on how much we're willing to let the other person know," he smirked. I rolled my eyes as I couldn't hold back my smile.

"How about we meet in Storage Room C, since it's kind of in the middle?" I suggested.

"Be there after debrief?"

"Sounds good, we can walk together in the back of the group," I said. Commander Howlett grinned as he walked away. I felt the dizzy, happy feeling that comes whenever someone asks you out on a date and it felt wonderful! The flirty feelings were happening all over again!