April 30th, 2012
Undisclosed Location—The Retreat

"When was the last time you spoke to Peggy?"

Quinn looked up at Steve where he was sitting at the kitchen table, drawing, her tablet nearby; he hadn't let it get far away since she'd given it to him. She was sitting on the floor, stretching out her leg so the muscles didn't tighten too much. Steve had been reading through some of the files again and he asked random questions as he went, though they were never quite what Quinn expected. He was sketching Peggy now: as he remembered her and as she appeared in the files.

"It's been several months," she said after a moment's thought. "The last time we spoke, she wasn't doing so well so we could only chat for a minute."

Pain flashed across Steve's face; Quinn figured reading about Peggy's condition was what had driven him to silence for several days. She couldn't even imagine what it felt like to learn the person you loved and been torn from was slipping away, and that there was nothing that could be done. Nothing you could do. She reached forward, grabbing for her toes and putting her nose to her knees to give Steve a minute.

"I think… I think I'd like to go and see her after we get back to New York, if it's possible."

"I'll arrange it." Quinn stood up a little awkwardly and brushed off the backs of her legs. Her leg twinged. "The quinjet will be landing in about thirty minutes," she said, catching sight of the clock on the wall. Steve nodded, his attention back on his sketchbook. "I'm going to check in with Coulson before we leave—make sure nothing's changed." Steve only nodded again. Quinn sighed.

She crossed the room to the computer, logged into the secure SHIELD server, and used the videoconferencing program to call Coulson's phone. After two rings, her boss's face appeared, fluorescent lights hanging high above—he wasn't in the office in New York, which meant he was in the Mojave Desert, in the underground portion of the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, the main location of Nick Fury's Project PEGASUS. Quinn knew the SHIELD and NASA scientists were studying the Tesseract, the same cube Steve had had to deal with during the war, but she wasn't privy to the details of the research. Or what Fury was hoping would come from it. She wasn't even sure if she was supposed to know where the facility was, since she hadn't been able to join the mission.

"Enjoying being back in the desert?" she asked.

"What do you think?" Coulson asked, his sarcastic tone suggesting just how well he was taking to the heat. "Sorry you can't be here to join me."

"Thanks, Boss, but I'll stick to hanging out with Captain America. Everything good for our return to New York?"

"Yes. All the files Steve requested have been uploaded to a tablet that's waiting for him in his apartment, and I even managed to get him cleared for some of Agent Carter's other missions."

"Awesome."

"The gym is ready for his use, too, if he wants it."

"I'll let him know. How's PEGASUS going?"

"I… don't honestly know. Dr. Selvig seems confident that he's starting to understand the thing, and Clint's enjoying the assignment, but after Delta's last mission, I can't say I blame him." Coulson paused to reply to a question someone off screen asked him, and then issue some instructions to someone else. "I've got to go—the director is coming by tonight and he wants an update. I'll call you tomorrow, kid. Have a safe flight back."

"Will do, Boss." Quinn touched two fingers to her forehead in a salute before disconnecting the call.

For a moment, she sat in front of the computer, thinking about Project PEGASUS, and about the Tesseract. At Level 7, Quinn wasn't cleared to read all the files about the mysterious cube, but she knew enough that it made her nervous. If she hadn't been nearly crushed in New Mexico, she would be there now, working with Coulson and Clint, helping to manage and oversee, but there was a small part of her was glad she wasn't. No one knew what the cube might do at any one moment, or what it was truly capable of.

For the first time since being assigned to light duty, she didn't actually miss the rest of her job so much.

"Are you all right?" Steve asked from across the room.

Quinn gave a little start, and then smiled at Steve. "Yeah, just lost in thought." She got out of the chair and headed towards the bedrooms to grab her bag. "Coulson says everything's good in New York, and he got a tablet set up for you. It's at your apartment. There's also a retro gym for you to use, if you want it. I think it's a boxing gym, but it hadn't been really updated in years." She hefted the bag onto her shoulder and returned to the main room, where she dropped it onto the floor beside Steve's. "I can show you around some more when we get back, if you want, or you can go about your business on your own, if you're sick of my company," Quinn said, intending it to come out as a joke and not quite succeeding.

Steve frowned a little, but said nothing.

May 1st, 2012
New York, New York—Quinn's Apartment

Not wanting to face the cold metal and glass of the office after the serenity of the Retreat, Quinn chose to work from her apartment after they returned, and the day after as well. Director Fury had left her another pile of paperwork to digitize and sort, as well as a few more files to assess for the Avengers Initiative, since, despite the World Security Council's reluctance about the project, Fury seemed intent on continuing and was barrelling ahead. In secret. Officially, the initiative was dead, but Fury didn't let go of anything easily. He had also asked Quinn her opinion on Captain America's state of mind, and if she thought he'd be up for joining the Avengers if Fury had to flip that switch.

Her answers had been… well, vague. She didn't like speaking for Steve, not after spending so much time with him, but she did think he was mentally—and physically—fit enough for the job, if he chose it.

Privately, she was pretty sure he would join the Avengers. He was a soldier, had always been a soldier, and, from what he'd told her and what she'd read, always would be a soldier. She didn't think he'd abandon a fight, especially not when the stakes would be as high as what the Avengers would probably face. If the project ever got off the ground. But she kept those thoughts to herself.

Late on the first of May, Quinn pulled herself away from her computer and padded around her apartment, working out some tension in her hips and trying to shake off some nervous energy. She hadn't seen Steve since they'd returned—as she'd expected, he'd gone into his apartment and hadn't come out. Quinn wished there was something she could do to help his transition, but she knew he'd have to come to her, that prying and pushing wouldn't help the situation at all. As she circuited her apartment, Quinn fell into her thoughts, moving mindlessly.

When there was a knock at her door, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Fuck," she breathed, gathering herself together. Her leg twinged again, a muscle above her knee spasming continuously as she cross her apartment to the door and put her eye to the peep hole. It was Steve, dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, a duffle bag in one hand. "Hey," she said, opening the door. "Headed to the gym? It's late."

"I don't sleep much. Do you… want to come?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow, but she was also smiling. "I won't be much of a sparring partner."

His mouth turned up in a smirk. "Maybe not physically, but you're more than my match conversationally. I just… want someone to talk to."

Warmth spread through Quinn's chest and she knew her smile was radiant, her tawny eyes shining. "Yeah, just let me change." She stepped back from the door, allowing Steve to step into the hall, and then shut the door behind him, turning on her heel and heading into her bedroom. "The gym's not too far from here," she called as she exchanged her pyjamas for a pair of leggings and a baggy long-sleeved shirt, and pulled on socks and a pair of bright purple Converse Clint had bought her for her last birthday. "Do you want to walk?"

"Sure."

Quinn replaced her brace over the leggings and grabbed her gym bag as she headed back out to the front hall; how much she'd be able to do at the gym was uncertain, but hey, a workout wasn't why she was going to the gym.

She locked her door and then led the way through a dark New York to the old boxing gym SHIELD had bought at some point and seemingly done nothing with. It still functioned regularly for about half the week, but only during the day. When Steve unlocked and opened the door, a musty scent washed over them—years of sweat and dust and leather and blood—but the place was silent, their footsteps echoing around the cavernous ceiling. The paint was faded and the few windows were nearly opaque with grime and dirt, only the wire reinforcing visible through them, but the lights were bright, and the gym appeared well-stocked with all the material a boxer-in-training might need.

As Steve got settled, Quinn wandered the perimeter of the room, studying the yellowed posters advertising fights and workshops and classes, and reminding the students to drink water, wrap their hands, and get any injury checked out. When she made it back to where a line of punching bags had been arrayed, Steve was sitting on a bench, wrapping his hands with an ease that spoke to maybe years of practice.

"Did you do much boxing?" Quinn asked, perching on the edge of the boxing ring. She wiggled under the ropes and then leaned forward, draping her arms over the middle one.

"Nothing competitive. Just to train… get used to my new body after Rebirth."

"That was quite the drastic change. I can't imagine it was easy to suddenly be nearly a foot taller and like, two hundred pounds heavier."

Steve looked up, amusement in his blue eyes. "Two hundred pounds? I weight a bit more than twenty pounds before Rebirth."

"Not much more from the looks of things." She grinned, debating her next words. They could bring up bad memories, but Steve wanted to talk, so… "What was it like? When you stepped out of the pod or whatever it was they used for Rebirth?"

Steve sighed and finished wrapping his hands. He rose from the bench, bouncing on the balls of his feet and flexing his fingers, presumably checking that the bindings weren't too tight or uncomfortable. "It was… a lot," he eventually said, moving to stand in front of one of the punching bags, the one closest to Quinn. "As you know, I wasn't exactly healthy before, but after…" He took a stance in front of the bag, squared up his hands, and punched, the dull thud loud. "After, everything was easy." Punches punctuated his words: "Moving. Breathing. Seeing." He took a breath, executed a combination. "Nothing had ever been so easy before. I felt powerful. I could see… colour." Steve was quiet as he punched the bag more, harder than before, the chains holding the bag up rattling and dust filling the air. When he stopped, he exhaled, long and slow, and then moved to stand in front of Quinn, look her in the eye. "Can you imagine what it was like to finally see the colours the way everyone else does?"

That warmth was back in Quinn's chest as she met Steve's intense gaze, and her eyes were burning at the emotion in his voice. "I…" Her voice failed her and she shook her head.

He held her gaze for a few heartbeats longer; Quinn had the strangest urge to reach out and touch him. "It was… I'll never forget that moment. That's the first thing I remember after stepping out of the pod. That and…" Steve shook his head and then returned to the bag, his stance. "Peggy was there. Hers was the first face I saw clearly."

The site of the warmth inside tightened. Quinn put a hand to her breastbone. "Was she wearing that bright red lipstick of hers?" Her voice came out breathy, unsteady.

Steve smiled; Quinn knew the expression was meant for only himself. "Yeah."

Silence reigned for a little while then, Steve building up a sweat as he continued to punish the bag, and Quinn watching. The t-shirt did little to conceal the movement of his muscles, and Quinn found it impossible to pull her eyes away, her thoughts drifting from the present, to when he'd come to her rescue in the bathroom, when he carried her back to the cabin, to what it must have been like for him to be reborn, to what he was like before changing…

She wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

No. Quinn, stop. She shook her head and wiggled out from under the ropes. Mimicking Steve's earlier preparations, she wrapped her hands with the blue hand wraps she kept in her bag, and took up a stance in front of the bag next to Steve.

"You sure?" he asked her, one eyebrow rising.

She shrugged with one shoulder. "It's been a long time since I've used a full-sized bag, but with Captain America beside me, I feel safe enough to at least give it a shot." Quinn threw a few hits at half-strength, getting a feel for it again; the chain creaked a bit.

Steve gave her a close-lipped smile and moved to stand behind her bag, holding it. "All right, Quinn. Let's see what you've got."

Quinn grinned at him a little wildly, and then ran through the drills she remembered, putting all the strength she could in the hits. She was rewarded with solid thuds and an approving nod from Steve. "I tore my knuckles and put friction burns on the tops of both my feet the day I graduated from the SHIELD academy," she said between combinations. "I wish I could still add the kicks—I can feel the urge, but I know it would be bad to try."

"Probably a good call." He tightened his grip on the bag when Quinn landed a few more hard hits. "Why on the day you graduated?"

"I was nervous. Scared. I went from the adopted girl with no plan for the future to a SHIELD agent in a very short amount of time and… well, it's not exactly a warm environment. Except for Coulson, I didn't really have any friends until after I graduated and got to work with Clint and Nat and I met Trip. I spent a lot of time in the gym." Quinn's leg twinged as she unleashed another salvo, her aim beginning to slip.

Steve took note of her flagging energy. "Who's Trip?"

"My ex, a friend. The grandson of Gabe Jones," she added with a smirk.

Steve narrowed his eyes a little, but then laughed. "Of course."

Quinn's smirk turned into a full-on grin as she prepared to throw another punch. "My life seems to always lead in that direction." She threw another punch, her knuckles sliding to one side as her leg buckled.

Steve stepped forward and steadied her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah… Just don't think my leg's fully recovered from falling in the shower." She reached down to rub her scars around the brace. "I'll sit back down now. You continue." Quinn dropped onto the bench, pushed her sweaty hair back from her face, and started unwrapping her hands. "Can you—"

Quinn's phone rang, the sound louder than it should have been. For some reason, Quinn went cold when she saw that it was Coulson calling.

"Boss?"

"Quinn! Quinn, something—with the Tesseract—"

The connection was bad, and there was a lot of noise in the background. Coulson's voice was on the edge of panic. "What's happening? Coulson?" She got up and moved towards the door, hoping that would clear the signal up some. "Coulson!"

"The base—breaking—Quinn, get—safe—"

"What's happening?" Quinn asked, her voice growing frantic. She could feel Steve's eyes on her; there were no hits from the bag. "Coulson?" Worry broke her voice and she sobbed. For a moment, there was nothing.

"Quinn, kid, something's going down with the Tesseract."

And then the line went dead.

Quinn called for Coulson anyway, and didn't bother to try and hide the panic in her voice.

"Quinn, what is it?"

Steve was close behind her, close enough for her to feel the warmth coming off him. She had the bizarre urge to lean into that heat for comfort or stability or something, but instead she just turned, rising her wide eyes to his face. "I've got to go. Something… Coulson might be in trouble. I'll see you tomorrow, Steve."

She grabbed her bag and then headed for the door again, her phone still clutched in her hand, her eyes still wide.

"Quinn."

She stopped with the door open and looked back at Captain America, who was watching her with a worried crease to his brow. Quinn wanted to tell him what was up, but that would involve revealing the Tesseract and the fact that SHIELD was studying it. She wanted him to come with her. She wanted… It didn't matter what she wanted. Coulson might be in trouble and there might be something she could do about it from HQ. But she wasn't going to lie to Steve. She didn't want to hide anything from him.

Quinn took a deep breath, trying to banish some of the panic. "Agent Coulson is in the desert studying the Tesseract and something's happened at the base. The connection was bad, so I don't know what's happening, but I'm going to go to the office and see if I can't find out. Call me if you need anything."

And then she turned and left, the night air a little cold, though she barely felt it.