Remnants

Sleep had not come easy for Carol the night before. Her mind kept replaying her interaction with Sam. Not to mention the run-down motel she was staying at had paper thin walls. She began thinking of things she should have said or asked when talking with Sam. All it did was torture her, but now she had a good idea about what she wanted to ask when she met with the other woman today. And she would work up the nerve to ask her what their relationship was eventually because things felt complicated.

While she waited, though, she decided to do a little digging around town. The suspicious characters from last night bothered her. If the Skrull group infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D, it was very possible they knew of her arrival already. Of course, the men in suits could have been agents themselves, but that too would bother Carol. She didn't want to be watched by S.H.I.E.L.D, she knew they wanted to keep tabs on her to keep the public oblivious to aliens and superhumans but it still felt like being babysat.

Carol drove Maria's car to the bar where she had seen the two men. To her surprise, the bar was actually open. The bartender was behind the counter cleaning since there weren't very many customers at this hour. "What can I get you?" He asked when he noticed Carol walking in.

If there was anything Carol vividly remembered about Earth, it was that the bartenders had loads of information at their disposal. "Information is all I need," she leaned her forearms against the bar countertop. "You remember seeing two guys here last night in suits?"

The bartender considered her for a moment and then threw the cloth he was cleaning with over his shoulder, "I see a lot of guys come in here wearing all kinds of attire."

"These guys would've stood out from your normal crowd, I think."

He examined her closely, "You a Fed or something?"

Carol laughed at that and gestured towards her blue jean and shirt style, "Do I look like one?"

"Can't judge a book by it's cover, as they say." He smiled at her with a charming grin. She raised an eyebrow at him and couldn't help feeling he was just toying with her. He definitely had to know who she was talking about. They stared at each other for a good while. He finally just chuckled and gave up, "Yeah, I saw them. They came in the bar and next thing I knew they were gone. Kind of in a creepy way… they just vanished."

Carol narrowed her eyes, it seemed more likely they shapeshifted rather than vanished. She left that part out, though. "Did you see anyone else acting strangely that night?"

"I run a bar, there's always strange characters in here." He replied. He must have sensed Carol's irritation because he added, "But no, I didn't see anyone else acting as strangely as those guys in suits. They had a weird vibe to them."

Carol nodded her appreciation, "Thanks, have a nice day." She said before walking out of the bar. The bartender shot her a small wave as she exited. She glanced around the area. The bar Sam led her to yesterday was just across the street from this one, odd as that was to Carol, and there was a gas station on the corner of the street. Just down the street ten minutes was the little downtown area where she would be meeting with Sam soon. She glanced at her watch that Maria had given her to keep up with time on Earth. It would be time to meet Sam in twenty minutes so she decided to head on over to the studio.

Once there, she walked inside and spotted the elderly woman behind the counter again. She smiled brightly and eagerly said, "Oh what a surprise! Are you here to see Samantha again?"

Carol nodded, "Yeah…" she laughed awkwardly. "I know I'm a little early, but I'll just wait here for her if that's okay?"

Anna smiled and stood up, a little straighter than she had yesterday Carol realized, and waved her to follow. "Oh no miss Samantha is actually free for the day! She's just back here."

She narrowed her eyes a tad and followed the woman to go down the hall. Before they made it far, Sam emerged from one of the rooms holding a clipboard. Her brow was furrowed like she was confused and she did a double take when she saw Carol and Anna. "Anna did something happen to my lessons today? My students were supposed to be here a while ago…"

Anna shrugged and raised her eyebrows. Carol noticed the skin on her hand move a tiny bit, "Hey Anna, do you have any other stories about Han?"

"Han?"

They stared at each other for a moment before the old woman moved with the grace of a young person, grabbed Sam's arm, stood behind the woman, and held an energy weapon to her back. To say Sam was alarmed would be an understatement. "Anna, what are you doing?!"

"That's not Anna, Sam… just stay calm." Carol warned her. She knew something had felt off about Anna today. The old woman tightened her grip on Sam. Carol's fist lit up with energy but she didn't dare make a move until she had a chance to get Sam away from the Skrull. A snarl came out of the elderly woman that was unfitting.

"Back up!" He yelled. Carol did as much but only by a step. The Skrull disguised as the receptionist waved the gun indicting for her to keep backing up. Since the gun was away from Sam now, Carol took that moment to send a quick and precise blast towards the Skrull's shoulder that was exposed and not shielded by Sam's body. The Skrull stumbled backwards and let go of Sam. Carol didn't let the Skrull regain his footing before she sent another blast at him. This time his gun went off and clipped the receptionist's desk causing the wood to splinter. Confidently, Carol stood in front of Sam to shield her from any other misplaced blasts from the energy gun.

"What the fuck is that?!" Sam yelled as the Skrull stood and half his face was Anna and the other was his own bumpy face. He fully morphed out of the receptionist lady's skin and back into his own. Carol almost wanted to point out that this was further evidence she had been telling the truth about the Skrull and her whole story, but figured this wouldn't be the best time to bring that up.

"Kree! What have you done with General Talos?!" He screamed in his throaty voice.

Carol held a hand up trying to calm him, "Just listen, I-" a blast from the energy gun he carried interrupted her. She had just enough time to shoot her own photon blast from her fist to counter the shot. "Whoa, whoa, whoa hang on!"

Behind her, Sam screamed as another shot was fired and Carol was only able to divert it this time. She turned to make sure Sam was okay and saw her covering her ears and cowering slightly. It had completely destroyed the painting on the wall behind them, though.

"Roan, I have the Kree woman! What are your orders?" The Skrull said into his communicator. He seemed to get a response that they could not hear because he smiled darkly and pointed his gun at Carol again.

She rolled her eyes and shot a photon blast out of her fists knocking him unconscious. He clearly wasn't going to listen to a word she said. With a satisfied smirk, she walked over to his unmoving body and tampered with his communicator. She was trying to pinpoint his leader's position, but someone on the other end fried the device before she could get anything useful. She sighed and glanced at Sam, "Is there a phone in here?"

Sam looked at her in disbelief, "Y-Yeah, over there." Her hand shakily pointed at the reception desk. A phone with a long cord was on what was left of the desk, Carol held it to her ear to make sure it worked and began dialing Fury's number. He had given it to her in case of an emergency and Carol felt this qualified. If anything, they could question the Skrull together. She listened to the line ring for a while before it went to voicemail, "Fury, it's me. I found one of the members of the rogue Skrull group, meet us at Maria's. Oh, and uh, don't call your superiors just yet. This has to be a big misunderstanding. Anyways, I'll explain more in person." She hung up and walked over to Sam.

"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" She asked while she checked her for any injuries. Sam shook her head and stared at the floor wide-eyed. She was still in shock and Carol couldn't blame her. "Sam?"

"Yeah… no, I'm not hurt," she swallowed dryly, and finally locked eyes with Carol. "Is Anna alright? I mean he didn't…"

Carol didn't want Sam's mind going there so she quickly stopped her, "No! They only copy what they see they don't have to do anything to the person. She's probably fine, but we can try to contact her if you want."

Sam nodded firmly and walked over to the phone, Carol watched her shaky hands press the numbers and bring the phone up to her face. She closed her eyes in relief after a few moments of waiting and sighed, "Anna… thank god you're alright!" Carol tuned out the rest and stared down at the Skrull. She frowned and picked up his arms by his wrists and started dragging him. After Sam hung up the phone, Carol asked, "Is there a back door? I doubt we should take him out the front."

Sam nodded and pointed down the hall. "It's down there to the right, it's the big iron door. Carol, what if people heard all the commotion? Should we call the police?"

Suddenly, Carol snapped her head up. She hadn't exactly thought about the noise of energy blasts going off and alerting others. "No, definitely don't call the cops… I have a friend who can handle this."

The other woman was conflicted but she eventually sighed and Carol got the feeling she wasn't going to argue. "Alright…" Sam walked around the studio with a sadness on her face at the damage. Carol felt extremely bad for dragging Sam into this mess. Clearly, the Skrull were looking for her because they thought she did something to Talos and the others. She let out a frustrated grunt while pulling the Skrull out the back door. Sam had now followed closely in front of the body staring at it in horror and awe.

Carol stood up straighter and dropped the Skrull. She grabbed the keys for Maria's car, now more glad than ever that she decided to bring it, and brought it around to the back of the studio. Sam luckily had not made a run for it, so she figured that was a good sign.

After she got the Skrull into the trunk of the car and separated him from the energy weapon, she looked at Sam who was standing by the car awkwardly. "Are you coming?" Carol asked.

Sam seemed startled to hear her voice, "What?"

"This guy knew where I'd be today, they've seen me with you and they're after me so I can't let them hurt you to get to me. But if you come with me, I can protect you. Please, Sam." Carol pleaded with the woman. Part of her knew that this was all too crazy for Sam and most people in their right mind wouldn't trust anything out of her mouth. The way Sam was looking at her, she too was aware of that fact, but surprisingly Carol saw an unspoken trust there.

"Okay, but can we make a pit stop?" Sam asked while she climbed in the passenger side seat and waited for Carol to get in as well.

Carol smiled before she got in, and looked at Sam expectedly, "Where's this pit stop then?"

"My apartment… if I'm going with you, I need to take care of something." Sam spoke shakily, she was still not totally processing everything happening. But Carol was just more surprised she was still thinking rationally even in her shocked state. She started the car and followed Sam's instructions to her house.

They arrived at a three-story brick apartment complex across from a little shopping center and a few gas stations. Carol followed Sam up a set of stairs that led to the third floor, the door Sam stopped at was labeled 310 and they stepped inside. The inside of the apartment was painted a light blue color and the decorations accented the walls very well. What stood out the most was how many canvases and paintings were in the apartment. Carol counted four stands with a painting on it just in the main living room area. She glanced down a little hall and saw two doors both of which were open revealing bedrooms. One seemed to be Sam's and the other was nothing but more paintings and crafts.

"Charlie?" Sam called and snapped her fingers a few times. A white, brown, and gray cat with fluffy fur came running out of Sam's room and meowed up at both of the women. Sam smiled and bent down to pick the cat up. "This is Charlie. I want to make sure he's taken care of."

Charlie the cat looked at his owner and then at Carol. He had a cute little face, but her mind went back to Goose on how cute he was but turned out to actually be a flerken. She held out her hand to let Charlie sniff it, then when he didn't attack her, she started petting his head. Sam smiled at the two interacting. "I'll call a friend to see if they can check up on this guy while I'm away."

Carol agreed and listened as Sam dialed a number on her landline phone. She took the opportunity while waiting to go into the room dedicated to Sam's artwork. The walls were littered with paintings and sketches. Most of them were either landscapes, animals, or abstract style. She smiled fondly, remembering when Sam would stop in the middle of nowhere to draw. The woman had no shame in halting whatever they were doing to be creative. Carol remembered admiring that about her. From the looks of it, she hadn't changed that part of her life.

A closet on the back wall of the room caught Carol's eye because a box was half in, half out of it. She walked over to it and saw the words "old stuff" written in black permanent marker. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened it revealing a few old sketchbooks. She opened the one on top of the pile and found the picture of the squirrel she had drawn in the park. Then she flipped randomly into the middle of the book and saw the sketch Sam had done of her. At the bottom it was titled "Carol." She smiled and her fingers traced the lines. Again, she flipped through randomly and this time discovered a picture she didn't quite recognize. It was titled, "Lazy Morning" and it was Carol laying down on her side with messy bed hair with the sheets loosely around her waist. Her arm was covering where her breast would be, but there was some indication of a side shot of boob. For a moment it appeared as if she had no clothes on, but that couldn't possibly have been it. Maybe it was an unfinished drawing, Carol thought.

"Okay a friend of mine is coming to watch Char-" Sam stopped when she saw what Carol was looking at and her face flushed.

Carol imagined her face was one of surprise at being caught snooping, not to mention finding a slightly provocative drawing of herself. She slammed the sketchbook shut and stood abruptly, "Sorry I shouldn't have been snooping!" She said embarrassed. Sam opened and closed her mouth awkwardly.

"Maybe we should just get a move on?" Carol suggested while walking past Sam and heading straight for the door. Apparently, Sam shared her embarrassment because she followed swiftly and without a word.

They rode in silence the whole way to Maria's. Sam too shaken up to say anything and Carol felt so guilty about everything she had no idea what she could say that would ease the woman at all. That, coupled with her embarrassing moment at Sam's apartment, was killing the whole mood in car.

When the two women pulled up to Maria's house it was the sun was starting to go down. Monica and Maria were actually already outside in the yard playing in leaf piles. Carol smiled at Monica who ran up to her and gave her a giant hug around the waist. "Mom said you came back and I missed it, I'm so glad you're here!" She exclaimed happily.

"Aw c'mon, you know I couldn't stay away for long! I'd miss you too much." She ruffled Monica's hair a bit and held her shoulders.

"How'd things go?" Maria said walking up to the pair. It was at that moment Sam opened and closed her side door and gazed curiously at Maria, Carol, and Monica. "Pretty well it looks like?" Maria asked with her eyebrows raised in amusement at her best friend.

Carol chuckled and grimaced in anticipation for the explanation she was going to have to give to Maria, "Actually things went… unexpectedly. I may or may not have a rogue Skrull in the back of your car."

The expression Maria gave had was priceless, "You better 'may not' have a Skrull in the back of my car."

"Eh, yeah… I do, though."

"Why the hell did you bring it here?" Maria sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Monica go inside and play, please. I'll be right in after I kill your aunt Carol." She said jokingly.

Carol laughed and punched her arm lightly, "See I knew you'd come around! By the way-" she waved Sam over, "-this is Sam, Monica could you take her inside with you?"

Monica saluted like she was taking orders but gladly obliged when Sam walked over to them. The young girl grabbed Sam's hand and began talking about how amazing Carol was and something about letting the other woman see Carol's old jacket. Sam shot her a worried expression before she let Monica lead her into the house. When both were gone, Carol motioned for Maria to follow her to the trunk of the car. She popped it open and the Skrull was still laying there unconscious. "So, he's part of that rogue Skrull group Fury mentioned?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure there were two of them, though. They've been spying on me, I think. I saw two guys in suits watching me the other day. At first, I just figured they were S.H.I.E.L.D agents sent to keep an eye on me, but when I followed them into a bar they vanished and the only explanation I could think of was they shapeshifted into other people. This one followed Sam and used her to get to me." Carol explained.

"You think the other one followed you?" Maria asked with a hint of concern.

She shrugged, "Doubt it, that's why I came here. Thought maybe Sam would be safe here at least. She's not taking everything super well, so I thought being around you and Monica might help her." She hoisted the Skrull over her shoulder and followed Maria back into the house and down the creepy staircase into the basement. Maria grabbed a foldable chair and set it up in the middle of the small space. Carol dropped the Skrull down into it and then slapped her hands together. "Fury should, hopefully, be here soon. I left him a message to meet us here that way he can help us handle this."

Maria sighed while they tied the Skrull's hands and feet to the chair, "So, did you get answers? I take it Sam isn't an alien or anything since you've brought her here," she thought a moment and rolled her eyes, "then again, you brought this alien here."

Carol chuckled at her friend in amusement, she knew Maria actually liked all of this exciting action so she didn't take any of her annoyed comments too seriously. "No, she's not an alien. I've actually remembered a few more fragments of my memory since meeting with her, but I'm still not clear on everything yet."

"That should do it," Maria wiped her hands and stood back admiring their handy work. The Skrull was securely tied to the chair. "I'm glad you're starting to remember things. Okay, maybe we should head back in and make sure Monica isn't getting too carried away with Sam."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Carol laughed at the thought of Monica talking nonstop and showing Sam all of her old things. Thinking of it though, she hoped she didn't have anything embarrassing still in that old box full of her things.