knowthyexits | (no subject)

(no subject)

She's not entirely sure she ought to be here.

Except that she is. This isn't like with her date with a chess machine prodigy and it's not like Charley. It's not even a date, she keeps reminding herself to keep that part of her brain quiet so it doesn't go into a kind of overload that sets her at unrest. It's two friends going to see some music together. And she might have made sure she doesn't look half bad -- there's no blood anywhere on her clothes and she's combed her hair through past the usual 'laissez-disaster' that it likes to mimic.

And now she's outside the hall with a wool coat drawn tight around her shoulders. The desert and sea have been in her blood for too long, now, and she's not used to the cold. She's fought so many enemies, but it seems as if the weather and her nerves are combining to do her in, this time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's been trying to do that for me, but I keep resisting," Sarah confesses, given that she still doesn't know that her old life isn't going to come crashing down into her life. "I guess I'm averse to change."

"Maybe not averse to change, just averse to chaos. This place isn't change so much as a complete overturn in places." He spun her out into another turn, sympathetic even if he didn't entirely feel the same. He was designed to change as he needed to, be what the job required.

"It's peaceful compared to what I'm used to," she says, and when she spins out, she comes back in with one of her hands pressed against his chest where she can feel his heart beating. It's steady and warm and it's enough to make her slide her hand away, ducking her head down to avoid any inappropriate looks. "I keep waiting for the fight," she says, her words spoken to their feet.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Sarah, except, maybe for the part where you forget to live in-between them." It's easy for any SHIELD agent to forget that there's life outside the Helicarrier. He might not be the best at keeping up relationships outside of work, but it usually didn't stop him from trying.

It mostly didn't stop him from trying. His own workaholic tendencies notwithstanding.

"There was no in-between for me," she admits, shrugging when she thinks about her life. "Though," she says, not entirely sure she's telling the truth. "I suppose there were a few years when I did nothing but live in the in-between and I miss it. I miss it so much, sometimes."

"Then maybe that's what we should aim for? Find a way to get you back to that." He wasn't sure, but he thought she was fighting it just to have something to fight. He'd seen agents burn out from not being able to rest.

She's not entirely sure she can get back to that so easily, but she does want to try. "We should aim for?" she echoes, keying in on that particular part of his sentence. "I didn't realize I gained myself a sponsor."

"I don't think there's a twelve-point program for having fun, but I guess we could try it." He was more than happy to help with that, he was enjoying himself, enjoying adult conversation with a beautiful woman without wondering if someone was going to shoot at him tomorrow.

"If there is, step one is admitting I have a problem, isn't it?" Sarah jokes wryly. "Although, I think I've already acknowledged that. I don't think someone who doesn't have fun goes out dancing in New York City, do they?" she asks, squeezing his hand tighter as a way to say 'thank you' to him for the invitation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only