Hearts Collide

"Alex?," Tony addressed as she stared absent-mindedly out the window of the restaurant they were in. "Hello?-Earth to Alex," Tony stated as he waved his hand in front of her face causing her to snap out of her daze.

"What?" she asked confusedly.

"I said do you want the rest of my food?" He asked as he pointed to the leftover meat on his plate.

"No. You can have it," she replied plainly.

"Is everything alright, Alex?" Pepper asked concerned. "You always eat Tony's leftovers."

"No. I'm not alright. Something's been bothering me," she sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"What is it?" Steve asked.

"Why didn't any of you tell me about what happened on New Year's Eve?" she questioned slightly irritated. The three said nothing as they each shared a glance with one another as if they were trying to communicate without words. "Well, is one of you going to answer me?"

"We didn't think that you needed to know," Tony answered authoritatively. "Who told you about it anyway?" he inquired.

"Fury briefed me on it when I talked with him," she answered, Tony muttereding swears under his breath.

"I told him not to tell you," Tony sighed.

"Well, why not?" she demanded. "I'm not a child."

"Because this has nothing to do with you," Tony asserted.

"Well, it does now!" Alex exclaimed as she got up from her seat.

"Alex?" Pepper questioned with concern in her voice, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go make Fury a new security system," she uttered before leaving the table.

"Alex, wait!" Steve called which caused to Alex to stop in her tracks. "Don't leave," he pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Steve, but I have to go," she sighed before she exited the small restaurant.

"We should have told her, Tony. Now she's upset," Pepper stated after a few moments of an awkward silence.

"No. I don't want her to have anything to do with something that might put her in danger."

"Tony, you're worrying too much. She's not any danger. Nothing is going to happen to her."

"It doesn't matter," Tony stated. "It's better for her not to know."

"But you know she hates it when people keep things from her," Pepper pointed out.

"Well, it's for her own good."

As the two continued to argue, Steve sat their quietly wishing that he had apologized to her before she left. "Maybe she wouldn't have left if I did," he thought.
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"Wake up, sunshine," someone greeted as they poked Alex on the side.

"Leave me alone, dad," Alex grunted as she swatted the hand away. "I'm still mad at you."

"I'm pretty sure your dad is a lot older than me," the voice scoffed.

"Clint?" Alex asked half asleep. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I'm not in your room. I'm in the living room. You fell asleep on the couch. Now come on, Fury said I have to escort you to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"I don't need an escort. I'm not a child. Now let me sleep," she grunted before throwing her head back on her pillow.

"You sure aren't acting like one," he pointed out. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm mad," she sighed. "Can't you tell?"

"No. You know you suck at being mad," he teased. "Why are you mad anyway?"

"What are you? Dr. Phil?" Alex remarked sarcastically.

"There's the Alex I know," he grinned. "Now come on and, get dressed. We gotta go."

"Fine," Alex replied as she got off the couch and made her way to her room. When she returned she was dressed and had a bag with her.

"Okay, shove my computer in there. I'm going to go grab a muffin or something," she stated bluntly as she handed Clint the bag and then made her way to the kitchen.

"Alex," she heard someone say from behind her. She turned around and saw Steve walking toward the kitchen.

"Damn it," she muttered as he approached her. "Hi, Steve. Listen, I'm going to go to S.H.I.E.L.D head quarters today to do that security upgrade, so I probably won't be here most of the day."

"It's fine. I just need to talk to you for a minute," he insisted.

"Okay, what is it?" she asked as she let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about what happened," he apologized. "It's just that Tony said not to tell you and—"

"I'm not mad at you for that," Alex interrupted. "I'm mad at Pepper and my dad for hiding that from me."

"Then, why are you mad at me?" he asked, giving her a confused look.

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with that thing on your jaw," she hinted.

Steve immediately moved his hand to his jaw where he felt a scratch and immediately knew what she was talking about. "Oh—I'm sorry for lying to you. I didn't mean to. It's just—"

"It's fine," Alex interrupted. "I forgive you. Just — don't do it again."

"I won't," he promised as he leaned in to give her a chaste kiss on the lips.

Alex responded by gently pressing her lips against his before pulling back and whispering,

"I have to go. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Alright," he responded as he watched her walk away.
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"You're kidding me, right?" rambled Agent Mitch Carson as he examined the circuit board that Alex had handed him. "I thought you were supposed to create some super security system. This looks like a child's toy," he scoffed. "I can't believe Director Fury asked a kid to design his security system."

"Well, maybe if you let me install the program , you'll see why Fury assigned a 'kid' to do this instead of someone like you," she sassed as she connected her laptop to the circuit board and the circuit board to S.H.I.E.L.D's main computer. After a few minutes, the new security installment was complete and she put her laptop and circuit board back into her bag.

"That was it?" Mitch questioned. "There's no way you installed it that fast. And why do you need all that stuff anyway?"

"It's too much for your brain to comprehend," she answered plainly. "Now go to hack it," she insisted as she gestured at the computer. Mitch immediately inserted a flash drive into the computer's hard drive and began to examine what Alex had done.

"You call this a security system," Mitch scoffed. "Pssh, 10 year olds in Afghanistan could crack—wait, what just happened?" he questioned as the screen flashed the words 'You got served'.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Alex asked as she raised an eyebrow and began to walk away. "Also, you might want to burn that flash drive."

Clint laughed as he left the security room with Alex and asked, "Okay, I know you're into all that science stuff, but where did you learn to hack computers?"

"To be honest," she began, "I only learned how to hack because I wanted a cookie."

"What? That's weird. How does that happen?"

"Well, when I was seven, my dad would never let me have cookies after six' o clock because my mom would always find out and give him hell for it."

"How would she even—"

"This woman has a sixth sense about these things," she chuckled. "Anyway, so I would always try to ask Jarvis to give me one, but he couldn't. So every time my dad updated Jarvis' system, I would watch so I could figure out a way to break into it. It took a while, but I finally figured it out."

"Wow. That explains a lot…like why you eat so much junk food: You're mom never let you have any," he joked.

"You jerk," she muttered before punching him in the arm.

He laughed, not feeling a thing, and asked,

"Is there anything you can't do?"

"I can't shoot a basketball," she answered frankly. "I've tried, but I fail every time. I also can't do more than 40 push-ups, but you already know that."

Clint laughed at her statement before saying,

"Speaking of shooting things. I know you'll probably say no, but do you think maybe you can—"

"Okay," she stated nonchalantly.

"Seriously?" he questioned.

"Yeah, why not?" she replied. "I have nothing else to do."
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"Alex," Steve's voice called out as he stuck his head in the lab. "Are you still in here?"

"Just a sec," she replied as she tightened a screw on the long metal bar.

"What are you working on?" he asked as he made his way over to where she was sitting.

"Well," she began, "I'm trying to incorporate an electromagnetic wave that can sustain the trajectory of—" However she stopped mid-sentence when she realized Steve has no idea what she was talking about. "I'm making lasers shoot out of Clint's arrows," she stated.

"Ohh. That sounds interesting," he replied awkwardly.

"Sorry about all the scientific stuff. I kind of get carried away."

"It's fine," he smiled. "You look cute when you get excited about whatever it is you're creating," he stated, causing her to blush.

"Thanks," she uttered. "So what brings you here?"

"I wanted to see if you wanted to walk around the city. You've been cooped up in this lab for a week."

"Hey, these arrows are really hard to make," she defended which earned herself a chuckle from Steve. "But, yes, I would like to go walk around with you," she stated as she took off her goggles and got up.

"Alex, come on. We should head back now," Steve suggested as he gestured at the door. The two had spent the afternoon browsing shops and it was about time they got something to eat.

"Alright," she replied as she exited the store. The second she stepped out and the cold air hit her face, she immediately shivered and cursed herself for not dressing warmly.

"Here," Steve offered as he took off his scarf and wrapped it around Alex.

"Well, aren't you the perfect gentleman?," she teased as she stepped off of the side walk and onto the street.

"Alex, watch out!" he cried out as he saw a speeding taxi turn and pulled her towards him before it could hit her.

"Oh my god," Alex gasped, her eyes wide from shock as she clung onto his jacket. "Steve, you saved me."

"Of course I did, Alex," he said warmly as he stroked her back to help her calm down. "I—", but he was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. Steve turned his attention to where the sound had come from and saw a black cloud of smoke coming from S.H.I.E.L.D's head quarters.