Audrey watched the SHIELD SUV pull away, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. It was so hard to think of SHIELD anymore. Phil was dead. Giving his life while in the service of that agency.

But that wasn't the only reason SHIELD was hard to think about.

Back in her apartment, Audrey flipped through the collection of vinyl she'd obtained over the years. While she mostly drowned herself in classical music, tonight she needed blues. Her eyes twinkled as she found the record she wanted, coaxing the dark circular vinyl from its case. The needle made just the faintest scratching sound as she feathered it onto the record.

The deep voice of Nina Simone seemed to sooth that nerve that had been left raw. "Birds flying high, you know how I feel…"

Audrey swayed over to her wine rack, plucking out a sweet red. It always went to her head too quickly but tonight she didn't care. Tonight she had been reminded of two men that SHIELD had taken from her. Her lover…

And her brother.

She made the solid choice to attempt reaching into the top of the closet before actually drinking the wine. The small footstool was clumsily awkward when she was sober, let alone if she had been tipsy. There, in the far back of the closet, she pushed a little hidden hatch away, revealing a dusty scrapbook. Tonight would be about memories.

Wine poured, shoes off, music playing and sitting cross-legged on her living room floor, Audrey was ready. She opened the scrapbook to look at her family. They had always seemed so picture perfect. They were some sort of greeting card family. The book had been put together by her mother, chronologically arranged starting with her parents' wedding photos and moving on to the birth of the children. Her two older brothers, then her, then her youngest brother. Her fingers traced over the image of her second eldest brother. He was in SHIELD. Hell, he'd been the one to help her disappear. He'd probably be spitting tacks if he knew she dated a SHIELD agent. He'd wanted to give her a normal life.

And now Audrey, formally Elizabeth Ward, found herself in SHIELD's eyesight again.

There was a picture of she and Grant at a campout. He'd pulled her into a tight hug. Even at the age of 13, he'd known he had to protect her. Of course, that protection was just from Christian. And it had worked. She was free, living as a cellist in Portland with not a care…

But somehow, threats still found her. Threats always found the Ward's. Because they were a threat.

Audrey slammed the scrapbook closed as she finished her bottle of wine. She'd meant to only have a glass but the numbing sensation had finally let her access her memories without spilling over in tears. She stood, pausing as the room stopped spinning, and went to her cell, dialing her voicemail. There was a message still on there.

"Hey, it's Phil. Just to let you know, you'll actually need two weeks and a bikini." There was a chuckle. "We'll have the suite…"

Audrey hung up, the tears finally coming. She could never be happy. She could never be free.

She was a Ward.