Hearts Collide

"So what's this building you're working on anyway?" Alex asked curiously as Tony continued to go through 3-D schematics in the lab.

"I already told you: building designs for a company," Tony answered. Not paying much attention to Alex.

"I know that," Alex scoffed. "But what company? What for?" Alex asked as her curiosity grew more and more.

"Why do you want to know?" Tony inquired. "Interested in the family business?" he mocked.

"No; I just want to know what's keeping my dad from helping me build something super awesome!" Alex explained.

"You can build awesome stuff anytime you want. You've got the lab here and the lab in NYU next week—"

"Dad, the labs in NYU are not going to let me build arrows that explode. Now tell me!"

"Okay, well if you really want to know," Tony began, "the C.E.O of a science institution I can't remember is making a new building. And since he wants it to be as eco- friendly as possible, he wants Stark Industries' help since my building is the most self sufficient and sustainable building on the East Coast."

"Wow," Alex uttered impressed. "I didn't know your name was Captain Planet. Good job, dad," she grinned.

"Thank you, but don't give me a nickname with the name 'Captain' in it."

"Why not?" Alex whined.

"Ummm, hello," interrupted a voice from the door.

"That's why," Tony uttered. "What are you doing here, Captain?" Tony asked semi annoyed.

"I-umm. Came to get Alex. Umm—for training," Steve fumbled.

"Right," Tony scoffed. "Drop the act, Captain Obvious, I know about you and Alex."

"You do?"

"Yeah; I'm a genius. I can figure things out," Tony stated self-righteously.

"Yeah, right," Alex scoffed. "You practicably had a spaz attack when I told you."

"Hey!" Tony whined which caused Steve to chuckle softly.

"So…training?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Steve said as he gestured to leave. Alex followed him and waved a small 'good bye' to Tony.

"Why couldn't she have just crashed my car," he sighed as the elevator closed.

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"So when did you tell him?" Steve asked as Alex punched his forearms.

"Last night," she huffed as she continued to punch and block an attacks from Steve. "I would have told you, but then we played video games."

"That's okay," he replied as he dodged a right hook from Alex. "Nice one," he complimented. "All you have to do is Clint's training for the day and then you're done."

"Yay," Alex cheered which earned her a grin from Steve. "Do you want to watch a movie after ward? Or do you want to walk around the city? Because I've been meaning to check out the shops around 9th Street, but I can always do that later."

"Let's go for a walk," he answered as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to his body. "We can watch movies later," he stated as he pressed his forehead against Alex's.

"Steve, you're all sweaty," Alex whined playfully as turned her head to the right and scrunched her face a little. Steve laughed at her reaction and moved to place a kiss on her left cheek. "Don't kiss me, Steve. I'm sweaty too. It feels icky."

"It looks icky too," interrupted a voice apathetically.

"Sorry, Clint, we didn't know you were— Natasha?" Alex asked confusedly since she paid no attention to the person's voice. "What are you doing here? Where's Clint?"

"Clint got sent on a mission, so I've been told to train you until her gets back," she stated monotonously.

"I thought you were on a mission," Alex stated bluntly.

"I got back last night. Now, I don't know what Clint makes you do, but drop and give me 100 push-ups," she commanded.

"What?" Alex said flabbergasted. "Do you want my arms to fall off? I am not doing 100 push-ups. I can barely do 40!"

"Wow, Clint went easy on you," she muttered which caused Alex to scoff.

"Look, I don't have time for your hard core training that will probably kill me. I already did my hour of training. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go hang out with Steve," Alex huffed as she began to leave the training room. Steve slowly followed her out, but the Russian Spy stopped the two.

"Fury would like to have a word with you," Natasha addressed Alex.

"What for?" Alex inquired raising an eyebrow. "I didn't violate our contract."

"This is not about your contract," she affirmed

"Then what is it about?"

"Why don't you ask me yourself," a voice boomed as it entered the training room. Alex turned her head to the direction of the voice and saw that it belonged to none other than Nick Fury.

"That's not creepy at all," Alex thought before she said, "Fine. I'll ask him. Steve, I'll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes, okay?"

"Got it," he nodded as he exited the training room.

"Ok, what do you want, Fury?" she asked plainly.

"Y' know, you really have a knack for making things."

"If you're talking about the arrows I made Clint then, thanks, I guess, but it's not a big deal."

"Where did you get the idea from? I've never seen anyone create something like that—, not even Tony."

"Umm, I got it from one of the shows my old roommate used to watch— I don't remember the name of it, but they used it to kill some weird robot thing," Alex responded bluntly. "Is that all you wanted to ask me? Because you could have just asked my dad; he did help me make the arrows, so you should give him some credit for it— –"

"I didn't come here just to ask you where you got your ideas. I came here to ask you if you are interested in making other devices, such as the ones you made Clint, for my other agents."

"Are you asking me if I want to make weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D agents?" Alex inquired. "Because if you are, the answer is no. I made those arrows for Clint because he's my friend, I was bored, and I wanted to try something new. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some where to be." Alex began leaving the training room, but was once again stopped by Natasha.

"Alex, what is it that you're studying?" Fury asked authoritatively.

"Engineering, duh."

"And why are you studying it?" he continued.

"To get a degree in it and get a job. Do you not know how college works?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"But why would you want to waste your time with years of schooling just to get some mediocre job when you can start working now. You've proven yourself to be more than qualified for being a top engineer for—"

"For S.H.I.E.L.D. I know," Alex interrupted. "But why would I want for work for an organization that I don't even completely know about and only expects one thing from me and probably won't even let me build the things that I want to."

"Well to deal with regardless. You can't always do whatever you want," Fury pointed out as he gave Alex a stern look.

"Not if I work for Stark Industries," Alex blurted out.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Alex began, "I could go work in Stark Industries. At least there I know what I'm getting myself into and I could build whatever I want whenever I want."

"Oh really? And do you think that's what your mother would have wanted for you? To be handed a job from your father?" Natasha asked.

"I'm not falling for your tricks Natasha. My mother would have wanted me to have a normal life and there's nothing normal about working for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"There's also nothing normal about dating a man who was frozen for 70 years, but that doesn't stop you," Natasha pointed out snidely.

"Okay, I'm done," Alex spat out as she began to hastily leave the training room. "Stick to our contract, Fury," Alex called out from the elevators. "I'll keep out of your agents' business and you keep out of mine!"

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"Alex, there you are!" Steve called out as Alex entered the lobby. "What took you so long?"

"I had to deal with stuff," she sighed. "Can we just go?"

"Sure. To 9th street. Right?,"

"Yes," Alex smiled softly.

The two spent the afternoon browsing small shops and talking. Alex bought a few figurines from a store that sold anime and video games novelties.

"Oh my gosh," Alex giggled.

"What is it?" Steve asked as he looked up from the Archie's comics he was perusing.

"Look," Alex said as she pointed to a stuffed Captain America Plushie.

"You're kidding right?" Steve scoffed softly as he took a closer look at the plushie .

"Look, they have everyone else too!" Alex cheered as she checked out the plush Iron Man. "Wow, they managed to make Hulk look cute and cuddly." "Ugh," Alex groaned quietly. "Why did they make a Nicky Fury plushie?"

"What's wrong with it?" Steve asked. "They got his eye patch, right?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. I can always use it as a voodoo doll if I wanted to. It's just him," Alex huffed as she recalled her talk with Fury earlier that day.

"What about him?"

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about it."

"Alex," Steve stated with a stern voice. "What happened with Fury? What did he want to talk to you for?"

"It's nothing, really. It's just—, he wanted me to make weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D and I said no. That's it."

"Alex."

"Okay," she sighed knowing that he wanted more of an explanation. "Because of that, Natasha also tried to use her skills to trick me into accepting the offer. After I, said that I could just work for Stark Industries. She brought up my mom and my relationship with you which is kind of a low blow," she stated slightly annoyed as she looked away from him.

"Hey," Steve said as he gently grabbed Alex's chin and made her face him. "Don't let it get to you. You already know that Natasha will say anything to get what she needs."

"I guess you're right," she sighed. "Come on, let's go."

"Okay," Steve responded after he gave Alex a quick kiss.

"What was that for?" she asked as she smiled a bit.

"That was for being Alex: the girl too smart to fall for Natasha's tricks."

Alex grinned at his remark and gave him a quick kiss like he had given her.

"What was that for?" he asked feeling caught off-guard.

"That," she began, "was for being cuter than a Captain America plushie."