Chapter 19
The doors to the elevators opened, and she was greeted by bright smiles that instantly turned into concerned and angry looks. “What’d that little punk do?” Bucky demanded, standing up and coming over to her. “I’ll kill him.”
“What happened, Addie?” Tony asked, looking at her in concern.
“Did he forget to pay for the meal?” Sam asked.
“No!” Adelaide exclaimed, stepping away from her dad. “The date was wonderful! Vincent was a perfect gentleman and did all the right things. He even freakin’ helped me with my coat! How old school is that move? No! The date itself was wonderful! But I just happened to look out the window at the restaurant and I was shocked to see a familiar looking car parked across the street. I thought ‘Surely, they wouldn’t,’ but then I realized, yes! You would! So, I hoped that I was mistaken and continued my meal, but I look at the patio of the deli next door, and who do I see sitting there? Why, no! That couldn’t be Uncle Sam and Uncle Tony! They wouldn’t! But yes, it was. And I keep looking around, and I see Uncle Scott and Uncle Clint on a balcony across the street. I realized that I was being watched. On my first date! Did you really think that I wouldn’t notice?” she yelled. “I was trained by freakin’ Hydra from the age of six! I notice things! I’m not completely oblivious. The fact that you four watched my date infuriated me, but no. I was determined to have a good date, so I ignored you and kept talking to Vincent, who was being a wonderful date and keeping the conversation going, and I was having a marvelous time, except for the fact that I was being spied on!” She was so red in the face that many of them thought she was going to actually explode. Several objects around the room had begun floating about halfway through her tirade, and they were swirling about her head. “I was having a great time! Vincent was the perfect gentleman, and he might actually ask me out again, but this time, I’m going to leave my phone here!” She actually threw her phone down on the ground and spun on her heel, going back to the elevator and angrily staring at the ceiling. “FRIDAY, take me to my floor, and don’t let anyone come into my room unless I tell you to.”
“Yes, Addie. I am sorry for your uncles’ behaviors. They were quite immature.”
“Thank you, FRIDAY, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“Of course.” She stormed through her apartment and into her room, slamming the door and locking it before flinging herself down on her bed and breaking down into tears. Tonight had been one of the best moments of her life, but her family was too over-protective to let her actually go out on her own without an escort. She’d had a wonderful time, but it’d been dampened by knowing that she wasn’t trusted by herself. She’d proven herself time and time again in the training room against all kinds of scenarios and against all of them (except Tony in the suit, that would never happen), but she couldn’t be trusted with a boy! She knew her make-up was smearing, and she felt terrible for ruining all of Wanda’s hard work, but she was just so angry and hurt and upset that she couldn’t express herself. She stood up with determination in her eyes and began changing her clothes, all the while having FRIDAY send a message to a number she knew by heart just for occasions like this (and not telling the others, obviously). FRIDAY read the reply to her, and Adelaide broke into a small smile, putting some clothes into a bag along with other essentials. She looked at herself in the mirror, and she looked like a wreck with make-up pouring down her cheeks and her eyes all red and puffy from crying. She made a useless attempt to fix her hair, but she knew it was a lost cause. She slung her bag over her shoulders and looked around her room.
“FRIDAY, where is everyone?” she asked.
“Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes are in their respective rooms. Dr. Banner is in his room, as well as Mr. and Ms. Maximoff. The Vision is in the library, and everyone else is in the common room.”
“Thank you.” Slipping quietly out of her room and the apartment, she took the stairs down to the main floor and out the side door of the lobby. Looking around, she spotted a familiar vehicle down the street, and she hurriedly walked over to it, hugging the person leaning against it. Neither exchanged words as she and the newcomer got into the Jeep and drove off into the streets of Manhattan, leaving the Tower behind.
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If she had had her phone with her, Adelaide was sure that it would have been blowing up at this point. She’d been gone for three hours, and surely her absence had been noticed by now. She honestly hadn’t expected to be gone this long. She just needed some time to cool her head and collect herself. Now, she was so caught up with catching up with her savior of the day, she didn’t want to go back yet. She had called a friend of a friend of a friend. The connection was rather obscure as to how she’d met this person, but she’d gotten several good friends out of this maze of relationships. Colonel Simon Savage had worked with the Howling Commandos during and long after World War II, and Adelaide had met him when she, Steve, and Bucky had gotten together with the remaining members of their old team four or five years back. Col. Savage had worked with a group called the Samurai Squad in an attack on Hydra way back during one of the wars much later (she honestly couldn’t remember which one it was). Through that alliance, someone knew someone else who knew a guy who worked with someone once, and they knew Professor Charles Xavier, and she knew him through that connection. He’d actually come down once or twice to help her with her telekinesis. He’d grown rather fond of her (honestly, who didn’t at this point?), and she’d gone to visit him at his mansion one summer and made several friends. One of them had been the one she’d called, and honestly she was lucky he’d even been in the neighborhood.
Logan Howlett was not one who was ever in one place for too long, and she was surprised he’d been in the area at all. He usually liked to head west on his excursions away from the mansion. Anyway, he’d come and gotten her and taken her several miles out of town to a shady spot in the woods near the side of the road. It overlooked a cliff, and Manhattan could be seen off in the distance. She was sitting on the hood of his Jeep, sipping Mountain Dew out of a glass bottle (seriously, on a side note, those things are the absolute best thing ever since the beginning of the world). Logan leaned against the hood next to her, sipping a beer in between puffs of his cigar. Honestly, her dad would kill her later for both the heart attack as well as hanging out with Logan (even though Steve swore that they’d worked together in World War II and that he was a good man, though rough around the edges. Her father didn’t remember everything, and that was one of them). It wasn’t that he didn’t like the man; they got along great. Bucky just didn’t want her around him, even though Addie got along great with him, and jumped at any chance to hang out with him. Roadside attractions when he was in the neighborhood were common. She’d been to just about every mini-attraction you could go to without leaving the area. Plus, he was a listening ear, and—contrary to popular belief—gave good advice. “—so I threw my phone down and ran upstairs to my room, had a good cry, then called you,” she finished saying. Logan was silent for a minute, casually sipping his beer, before sighing.
“Sounds to me like you know what you have to do, kid,” he answered. Adelaide sighed.
“But do I want to? Not even slightly.”
“Tough luck, kid. We all got things we don’t wanna do that we gotta do anyway.”
“Even you, Logan? I thought you go where you wanna go?”
“I do, but even I’ve done things I don’t wanna do before. Life ain’t fair, kid, and sometimes you just gotta get up and face the music.”
“Yeah, this music has a death march sound to it,” Adelaide sighed, draining the last of her Mountain Dew. She licked her lips and looked out over the view. “Thanks for coming and getting me. I needed to rant a bit.”
“Sure thing, kid.”
“You know, I’m almost forty-five. I’m not a kid.”
“Yeah? Join the club.” She laughed a bit and shook her head.
“What is it with all these people being way older than they look? You, me, Dad, Uncle Steve—what even is aging anymore?”
“A thing of the past, kid. C’mon, I’ll take you back home.” She hopped down off of the hood and stretched before climbing into the passenger seat of the Jeep.
“Hey, Logan?” she asked as he started up the engine.
“Yeah?”
“You think you could come with me to back me up?”
“Kid, you ain’t always gonna have back-up.”
“I know, but just this once? Please?” Logan sighed and shook his head as he threw the car into gear and headed back towards the road.
“Your old man’s not gonna be happy to see me.”
“At least he’ll know I wasn’t out with a stranger. You can’t get much safer with the Wolverine driving you around.” Logan huffed a laugh around his cigar and got back onto the road, heading towards Manhattan.
“You tell him that, and I’ll come with you.” Adelaide beamed and sang along to the music on the radio as they drove back into the city and towards the Tower. Logan parked across the street, and the two walked into the lobby, heading straight towards the elevator.
“Glad to see that you’ve returned, Addie,” FRIDAY said.
“Thanks, FRIDAY. How bad is it?”
“They are quite frantic about your disappearance, Miss Barnes.”
“Ooh, ‘Miss Barnes,’” Logan said with a smirk. “Must be serious.”
“Oh, it was serious the moment I left the building. I knew I was getting into serious trouble, but they deserve the heart attack after what they did to me.” Logan huffed another laugh and crossed his arms while the elevator went up. “FRIDAY, please let them know I’m back. Might as well get everyone in the same room when I get there. Get it all over with at once.”
“Yes, ma’am.” When the elevator finally opened, Adelaide stepped out and was instantly crushed in a tight hug.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again!” her father said in a tight voice. “I was so scared. I didn’t know where you went, and I couldn’t find you, and what if something happened to you? Don’t you ever leave like that again!” He stepped back and looked her over. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where were you?” She stepped away from his hold and motioned towards the outside of the elevator, where Logan was standing quietly.
“I’m fine, Daddy. I was with Logan a few miles outside of town. I could see the Tower from there. I was perfectly safe, and nothing bad happened.” Bucky looked up to see Logan, and his eyes narrowed a bit. “Before you say or do anything that makes me mad at you too, think about how stupid someone would have to be to try anything with the Wolverine around. I couldn’t have been safer, Daddy.” Bucky sighed a bit and conceded.
“Thank you for watching her,” Bucky said reluctantly. Logan nodded.
“Why did you leave, Addie?” Natasha asked. “We were very worried about you.”
“Honestly, I needed to cool my head and rant a bit. I’m still extremely upset with some of my uncles at this moment. But now, I’m willing to sit down and converse like normal human beings, if any of you are willing to apologize.” The guilty parties sheepishly nodded, and Adelaide turned to Logan, nodding at him that he could leave. He nodded back and stepped into the elevator again, leaving everyone to talk out their problems. Apologies were exchanged, and it was made very clear that nothing like this was ever to happen again. They wouldn’t spy on her, and she wouldn’t up and leave without telling anyone. The problem dealt with and resolved, Adelaide went up to her room for a much needed nap.