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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄

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It took a while for Charlie to truly settle into her New York apartment and convince everyone that she'd be fine on her own. She didn't necessarily blame them for the way they acted, especially after everything that happened in Sokovia. Most of the Avengers had a hard time believing that she recovered from what she'd gone through, especially Clint and Steve.

Even though he didn't want to leave his daughter completely on her own, the Barton man knew that what she needed was some space and time alone to process everything that had happened. He would come to visit Charlie every now and then and talk to her on the phone daily but he would never push the Barton girl to talk to him about anything. This was how it was when he lost his first wife and his eldest son and he knew she hadn't changed much since then. His daughter would open up to him when she was ready to like she always did when something was bothering her.

That wasn't the same story with the Man Out of Time.

The Rogers man would go to Charlie's apartment on a daily basis to talk to her about what happened in Sokovia. He even had Sam go to see her a few times, thinking the blonde girl would be more comfortable with him due to his experience with victims of PTSD. Even though that helped her get closer to the Falcon, what Charlie really wanted was to be left alone. She wanted to try to move on and have a civilian life. It took a lot of pleading...and a little lie from the Barton girl to finally get Steve and Sam to leave her be.

About a month had passed since Peter Parker convinced her to help him with his superhero training. At first, Charlie only wanted to give him tips on how to survive being a hero, but that didn't last long. For some reason she still couldn't explain even if she tried, the kid grew on her. Ever since then she would help the Parker boy train downstairs in the gym S.H.I.E.L.D. provided when they first gave her the apartment and Charlie never regretted her decision. From the moment she ran into him in front of his high school, the archer knew he had so much potential that he wasn't even close to reaching.

Like every other day since she agreed to get him into hero shape, Charlie and Peter were running around the streets of New York to help him build his endurance. Despite him having certain enhanced senses and abilities, he still somehow managed to struggle with this skill from time to time.

"Slow down, Lottie," the Barton girl heard the boy say from somewhere behind her, "how are you still running this fast after three miles?"

"I've had to do this and a lot more on a daily basis when I trained to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," Charlie responded as she glanced back at the boy to find him struggling to catch up with her, "and I've told you so many times to stop calling me Lottie. I'm not a Disney Princess. I'm very far from that."

"Come on. I wanna call you something different. Something no one else in the world calls you."

"You know what, fine. But if anyone other than you starts calling me that, I will end you."

The only response she received from the Parker boy was his laughter cutting through the air. A small smile appeared on the blonde girl's face as she stopped in her tracks and turned to face the teenager to continue their bickering. However, the grin on her face slowly faded when her eyes landed on a figure in the distance. Behind Peter stood the hallucination that she'd seen every day for over a year now. Chills ran up her spine as she stared at Pietro while he stood on the corner they just ran past.

"You okay?" the brunette boy asked before Charlie's attention turned away from the speedster's spirit and landed on him, causing the phantom to vanish into thin air.

Her green eyes just scanned over Peter's concerned face for a long moment then she quickly shook off all her negative emotions and forced a smile back onto her face. "Yeah but you just added another mile to our run."

Before he had a chance to respond, the Barton girl turned her back to him and continued running as if they didn't just finish running three miles around the city. The boy's complaints met her ears as she reached the next corner, making a loud laugh escape her before she heard the sound of his footsteps following after her.

About another half-hour of running passed before reaching the street that led to Charlie's apartment. The blonde girl stopped in her tracks and gave Peter a chance to catch up then the two of them stood next to each other on the sidewalk. The pair exchanged a playful look before they weaved through the citizens of New York and raced back to the building. The two of them shared a laugh after Charlie beat Peter once again before they took the elevator up to the Barton girl's floor. The Parker boy went to the fridge as soon as they entered the apartment and pulled out two water bottles before passing one to the older girl.

"Nice work, Parker. Maybe tomorrow we can do fifteen miles," Charlie told him before taking a long sip from her bottle.

"How can you do this every day?" he sighed as he slumped onto the couch and placed the water bottle on his head.

"Like I said earlier, I had to do this every day to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

The blonde girl let out a small laugh as she watched the boy begin to fall asleep on the couch before turning and making her way into the spare bedroom. After his aunt almost walked him on upgrading his web shooters a few weeks ago, Charlie let Peter turn the extra room in her apartment into his "lab" so that he can work on his equipment without a care in the world. She always found it interesting what the boy could do with a few spare parts he found in a dumpster.

Once she got into the room, the Barton girl went over to the desk to see how the modifications he'd been making to his suit were coming along. When Peter first showed her the suit he was using to be Spider-Man, she laughed so hard that her stomach started hurting. He looked like he was fighting criminals in his pajamas. Since neither of them had the money or the equipment to use to modify the look of his suit, Charlie had him use some of the extra paddings she had lying around to add more protection to it as well. They also used some of the S.H.I.E.L.D. tech that Fury left here for some reason to upgrade his web shooters as much as they could.

After she examined all of the things he brought here over the last month from dumpster diving and swap meets, Charlie heard the door open a bit more behind her before she turned around to find Peter staring at his inventions with pride on his face.

"How's everything coming?" the archer asked as he sat down at the desk chair while she leaned against the nearest wall to watch him work.

"Good," he said before he started fiddling with one of his web-shooters and letting out a long sigh, "but could be better."

"You always say that."

"It's true though, Lottie. I'm having trouble making it so that the web fluid is easier to stop on command. The buttons always get stuck and I waste some of it. It's not easy to make, you know."

"And I thought I was good with technology."

As soon as she picked up one of his web-shooters to see if there was anything she could do to help him, Charlie's phone began to ring. Her whole body froze at the sound of the familiar ringtone before she let out a sigh when she knew she couldn't keep avoiding his calls. After placing Peter's invention back on the table, she announced to the brunette boy she'd be back then left the room.

Her phone continued to ring as she walked through her apartment and into her bedroom to avoid having Peter listen in on the conversation. Knowing the Parker boy, he'd agree with whatever Steve had to say like he did before, which didn't help Charlie's case at all. As soon as she closed the door behind her, the Barton girl's eyes scanned her phone's screen for a minute longer before her finger hit the green button then she brought the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Charlie. We have a mission and I was wondering if-"

"I'm gonna stop you there," the archer interrupted the Man Out of Time before she heard him sigh. A wave of irritation washed over her for a moment then she continued speaking. "I'm not trying to be rude, Steve, but nothing has changed within the last week. I wasn't interested in the last mission and I'm not interested now."

Before he could continue the familiar argument that they had on almost a weekly basis, Charlie ended the call. Her attention didn't leave her phone until it returned to its home screen then she slid down the closed door. The girl's hand clutched the device as if she wanted it to break as she sat on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as the scene from a year ago came flooding back to her no matter how hard she tried to push it away.

She could never push it away.

It felt like an eternity to the girl before the memory slowly faded, unlike the river that flowed out of her eyes. Charlie stayed in her spot on the cold floor for another long moment before a shaky sigh escaped me. She held herself together the best she could as she got to her feet and left her room then she made her way towards the front door.

"I'm going for a walk, I'll be back later," the Barton girl called out to the teen in the other room, knowing that Peter wouldn't leave tonight if he knew she was about to have another meltdown.

After hearing a quick reply from the Parker boy, Charlie closed the door behind her before walking downstairs and out onto the streets of New York. She weaved through the other people walking around the city as best as she could while turning the corner and continuing on with her journey. However, as soon as she made it to the next street, she saw something fast move out of the corner of her eye. The Barton girl was about to ignore it when she saw the familiar platinum-haired boy standing in front of her, causing her to stop in her tracks.

Seeing the speedster didn't faze her like it used to. Before she had trouble figuring out if he was real, which was why Steve and Sam were so keen on checking in on her every day. Now she knew it was just her guilty conscience playing cruel tricks on her.

Out of habit, Charlie began to walk closer to Pietro then he disappeared before she could get close like he always did. The difference now than most other times was that the Maximoff boy appeared a few blocks away, just close enough for her to see him. Confusion began to flow through the Barton girl's veins as she started walking towards where he now stood, only for him to disappear and reappear once again. She continued to follow him through the streets of New York while ignoring the odd looks she was receiving from those she passed until she found herself at Midtown School of Science and Technology.

Charlie ignored all the thoughts in her head screaming at her to just turn around as she proceeded to follow the hallucination around a building and to the track. The Barton girl stood near a couple of trees as she stared at a girl standing at the starting line after the speedster vanished. She wondered why Pietro would lead her here while she did her best to stay out of sight as she watched the girl stand as still as a stone.

Nothing happened for a long moment, which only made Charlie feel crazier than she already did. As she turned to leave, a swift movement caught her attention before she looked back to the track to find the girl running at the speed of light.

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