The last time Q had been at the Avengers Compound was when Secretary Ross had come to hand deliver the Accords. The same ones she didn't sign in favor of her deal - the deal she was currently breaking by letting Steve sleep on her couch for the past week. Though no one needed to know about that.

So much had changed since the last time she had been at the Compound. There was a clear renovation happening. An expansion of sorts that made it look less like an old weapons facility and more like a college campus for superheroes and those superhero adjacent. She figured that was all Tony's doing, considering he was back at the Compound. Last she had heard so was Rhodey and Vision, but she wasn't going to be seeing any of them during her visit.

It was her first check-in with whatever SHIELD/CIA agent that had been assigned to her case. Each month, she was supposed to drive an hour to the not-so-secret Avengers base to meet with her assigned agent. There, she would be given a series of tests to make sure she was complying with her deal. Nothing too terrible, and definitely something she could get through without getting caught in her own spider's web of lies.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Steve had asked while she was getting ready to leave. It had been a while since he had seen her in one of her traditional pantsuits. In fact, he was pretty sure it was one of the ones she used to wear during their meetings. The navy blue blazer and pants were paired with a pair of nude kitten heels and a cream colored, flowy, sleeveless top.

"You know you can't." she gave him a side-eye, amused that he would even suggest such a thing. It wasn't like he could just sit in the car and wait for her. Slipping her arms into her blazer, the longer sleeves did a good job at covering up the small scars on her forearms and other marks that littered her skin that refused to go away. "Your methods of disguise won't work there, Steven." she teased with a slight smack on the bill of his baseball cap. He let out a light scoff, then reached up to adjust his baseball cap. It had worked just fine when he needed it to. She continued to move around the apartment to gather her things: phone, purse, keys, jacket.

"I just don't want you to be alone for something like this." the level of his voice dropped a bit so it was quieter, but just as serious. She gave him a small smile, then stepped closer to him,

"I'll be fine. It'll take me longer to actually get there than the meeting itself. Promise." she reassured him with the same smile, "And beside, you have a bar tour to plan, remember?" she quirked an eyebrow up and got a slight laugh out of him. He stepped back so he could placed his hands on his hips and fix her with a look that softened ever so slightly after a moment.

"Text if there are any issues." he reminded her. She gave him a mock salute, watching him roll his eyes at her response, before stepping by him.

"Remember, it needs to be in a smiley face!" she called out as she headed for the door, referring to the bar tour he was tasked with planning. He let out a heavy sigh, but still glanced over to give her a grin before the door closed behind her.

While nothing happened between the two of them - past the heavy make-out session on the apartment floor, things were getting better between the two of them. They could be considered friends again. There was an ease between the two of them that hadn't been there in a long time. Not since D.C. All the other, brief, times they had been back together, there was still something holding them back. A secret, a lie. There wasn't anymore of that. No more lies. No more secrets.

Though the memory lapses were still occurring, it wasn't as severe or worrisome as it once was; Q's head was healing itself. Steve was still trying his best to determine what things she forgot versus what things she didn't. There was no way to predict what she did or didn't remember; it could change in a blink of an eye. And it wasn't just the memories that involved him that he was worried about. Sometimes she forgot other things. The only bright side was that it wasn't as bad as it once was. He could tell her brain was healing. That was all that mattered.

If anything, the memory lapses - and the uncertainty as to what she did or didn't remember, allowed for them to re-do some of their past adventures. Like the pizza rankings. Or the bar tour that Q had mentioned before leaving. But the tables had turned; this time Steve was doing all the planning. Which was both fun and exhausting. Mostly because he wanted to get everything right. He finally understood all the work Q had put into the things they had done together. Weirdly, it made him fall in love with her a little more.

But before another bar tour could happen, Q had to get through her meeting.

"Ms. Proctor," a voice got her attention. It was hard to get used to being addressed as a Ms. rather than Agent. She had never not been an Agent. Still, she turned her head in the direction it came from to see a young man in a standard issue tac uniform of most SHIELD guards, "Agent Fletcher is ready for you." he was leaning against the glass door - half in the waiting room she had been directed to when she arrived at the Compound, half out. Nodding, Q got up from her seat, gathered her things and walked past the younger man. Once she was past him, he let the door close behind him as he followed her, then fell into step beside her.

"What's your name again?" she knew she had never gotten in the first place, but would feel a bit better knowing the man escorting her to the office. Especially considering he had a handgun holstered on his hip and a knife in its sheath.

"Cameron, ma'am." he answered her respectfully, though Q couldn't help the grimace at the use of ma'am. She preferred Ms. to ma'am.

"Cameron, I'm Q." she stuck her hand out a bit so he could shake. Which he did, rather tentatively, "I used to live here, you know." she tried to break the ice as they walked. Mostly for her sake. Cameron couldn't have been more than twenty-one years old, more than ten years younger than Q, but there was still a feeling of uneasiness in her stomach. Maybe it had to do with the situation. Where she was again and why. The last time she had been in the Compound was because she was on the supposed right side. That wasn't the case anymore.

Only responding to her comment with a nod, Cameron refocused on their walk down the hall. She could read into the situation enough to know that she wasn't going to get much further with the kid. He was very focused on his job. Apparently she was that important. She clocked how many doors they went through that required ID scans, understanding that it was just as hard to get out as it was to get in.

They were in a different wing than the living quarters she had inhabited in the past. This wing seemed much more official. More people. Agents, scientists, guards, etc. etc. all roamed around throughout the hallways and across the open, suspended walkways. She tried to see if she could recognize anyone from her old days at SHIELD, but no one looked familiar. Made sense considering how Hydra had infiltrated most of the divisions of SHIELD. Start fresh with a new crop of uncompromised agents.

"Four! Three! Two!" the sound of someone loudly counting down made her turn her head back to face front, "One!" there was a loud buzzer that accompanied the countdown, which grew louder as she and Cameron got closer to the room where it was coming from. "Congratulations, you've failed." The dry, semi-annoyed tone was unmistakable - even if it had been a long time since she last heard it. "God, this is pathetic. All of you, get outta here!" she watched recruits get up from their computer terminals and shuffle out of what appeared to be some sort of classroom.

"What's going on in there?" she gestured to the room that anyone walking past could see into thanks to the four walls of glass. Something that was clearly carried over from SHIELD. The idea that glass made it so there were no secrets. Until there were.

"One of the training classes. All of the new recruits have to go through them." Cameron answered her with a slight grimace. Clearly, he had done his due time in the classes, but she could tell that the grimace wasn't because he had attended that specific class - only heard the horror stories about it though. Q tried not conceal her amused grin at his reaction.

As they stepped up to the room, the recruits filed out either one by one or in pairs. Some whispering about the class, others keeping to themselves. They were as young as her companion, some even younger. Almost as if some of the SHIELD Academies had been folded into whatever the Compound now acted as. The last person out was the man himself, with a look of slight disgust on his face while he watched his students depart.

Passing the doorway, Q let her eyes fall on his face for a moment. Their eyes met briefly before she was forced to look away so she wasn't craning her head to keep the eye contact. She took two more steps, then stopped. Without thinking, she spun around on her toe and reversed her two steps. His back was already toward her, but she reached to grab his shoulder so she could spin him around. Moments before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. She surprised him - that much was true by how his arms hung limply by his sides.

"Hey." she breathed out her relief. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth at the familiar feeling of holding her best friend in her arms again.

"Hey." Dawson responded in a rather bored tone, which only made her really smile. A beat passed before he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her to return the hug, "Your new friend is watching us." he muttered out, reminding her where she was and what she was supposed to be doing.

Quickly, she pulled back and stepped out of the hug. Straightening out her blazer, she gave him a tight nod while he raised his eyebrows at her. Still, her lips twitched in a smile she couldn't seem to stifle. Reaching out, she touched his cheek rather tenderly, not being able to help herself. It felt like a lifetime since she had last seen him. The last she had heard, Dawson was on some sort of adventure with Natasha. While she didn't know what happened to land him not only back in New York, but at the Compound, she was interested in finding out.

"We'll talk later." he filled in before she could fire off her questions. There was a hint of a genuine smile on his face - one she only rarely saw and was glad she had in the moment. Nodding once at her, he reached out to pinch her elbow while he walked by in the opposite direction he had originally been going. Headed straight for Cameron, he clapped the young guard on the shoulder, then paused to vaguely threaten him with, "Don't do anything stupid, kid." then continuing on his way. Q pulled her bottom lip into her mouth to stop herself from smiling too widely, or breaking out into relieved laughter. Her best friend was okay. And maybe even on the short list of people she could talk to again. Thank God.

Seeing Dawson made her feel a bit better about the situation she was in; she still had a friend. Not only that, he was on the inside. Still. Somehow. If she thought hard enough, she could figure it out, but she had other things to worry about first. Like her meeting with Agent Fletcher.

"Ms. Proctor, please, have a seat." the dark haired woman gestured to the chair across from the desk she was standing behind when Q entered the room. She was around Fury's age, which made Q think she was supposed to come off as a stand-in mentor since Fury was supposedly still dead. She tried to figure out if Fletcher was SHIELD or CIA or FBI or all of the above. The name was familiar, but the face wasn't. Taking the slight order with a nod, Q tucked her skirt under her as she sat down in the chair she had been directed to. "Thank you for meeting with me." The formality made Q laugh a bit.

"Not like I had much of a choice, right?" she gave Fletcher a smile with a slight tilt of her head. Part of her couldn't help it; it was almost instinct for her to joke about the required meeting. Just as she had during her SHIELD Academy days with Fury. This was practically the same thing; she had broken the law and now needed to report to meetings to make sure she wasn't going to again. History repeating.

A small flutter of victory made its way up her stomach when she saw the other woman's lips twitch a bit in an ill-concealed smile. Good. Not a total stick in the mud. She could work with this.

For the first half of their meeting, Fletcher gave a summary of what their future meetings would look like. It was pretty much exactly what Q had thought was going to happen: updates on her life and lie detector tests. Simple stuff. All to make sure she was upholding her end of the deal. Which she was, but also wasn't.

"How are you settling in?" Fletcher switched gears, pulling a yellow notepad across her desk so she could take notes. It was strange for Q to be back on the opposite side of the desk. For the longest time, she was the one asking the questions. Taking the notes. Analyzing the answers for any sort of emotion that needed to be further explored. Now, she was the one being examined.

"Okay," she nodded, consciously aware of her non-verbal cues. Words only mattered so much, "A little weird to be back here." she looked around the room so Fletcher would know she meant the Compound.

"Right, I read you lived here for a brief time while you were still...associated with the Avengers." The word choice made it clear that she knew about Q's past relationship with Steve. Instead of taking the bait, Q pivoted a bit,

"I actually left some clothes and stuff here. Is there any way I could get those items back at some point?" she leaned forward a bit and Fletcher gave her an amused smile.

"I'll see what I can do." she responded, then moved on to a different topic. The Steve conversation wasn't going to be able to be put off forever with her, but Q managed for the moment, "Have you found a source of income yet?" her question was innocent enough, but it still sparked a bit of guilt in the pit of Q's stomach.

"No, uh, I'm having a bit of trouble in that area." she admitted, glancing down at her hands for a moment as she gathered her thoughts, "I started the SHIELD Academy delinquent program when I was eighteen years old. That's all I've ever known." she took in a deep breath, then let it out quickly so she could give Fletcher a tight smile. "Then after the collapse, it was the Avengers, then the CIA for a bit and now…" she trailed off, "I know that's not a good enough reason for not getting a job, but...it is difficult to switch from high level government work to...a normal job." she put air quotes around the word normal knowing there was no such thing, "I'm trying to figure out what's next for me." she finished with a slight sigh. Fletcher studied her for a moment before nodding, then scribbled something in the column of the notepad.

"Just keep me updated." she requested, and Q agreed with a nod.

The rest of the meeting went about as well as it could for the first time. It was a bit longer than Q thought it was going to be, but that probably had to do with the fact that it was the introductory meeting. As more time passed, the shorter the meetings would become; there would be less to talk about. Eventually, she would prove that she was upholding her end of the deal and there wouldn't be anymore meetings. She would actually be free.

"Uhm, sorry, but before I go," Q stopped Fletcher from opening her office door. After the testing had been performed, they concluded the rest of the meeting. But Q had one more question to ask, "On the walk over here, I ran into….Agent Starowicz." she used Dawson's formal title, not sure if his SHIELD numbers were still in effect or if he went by his middle name.

"Ah, yes," Fletcher lifted her chin up with a knowing smile, "He's teaching a few rudimentary classes to the recruits on coding and other technical skills. The field isn't just guns and knives anymore." she reminded Q with a look.

"Right," she agreed with a nod of her own, "Just...surprising." she carefully chose her word so as not to give anything away, "I haven't seen him since Germany." she added, shrugging a bit. Natasha had broken the Accords when she helped Steve and Bucky escape. And since Dawson had gone with her after the news broke, it meant he was aiding and abetting. Breaking the same documents he had also signed. Apparently, he was able to come back without dealing with the same issues Q was currently dealing with. Maybe it was because he had started out on the "right" side to begin with.

"Didn't realize he stuck around." Q concluded while meeting Fletcher's eyes. She wasn't sure when she was going to be able to talk to Dawson about what happened. Fletcher might be her best option to gain a little information. That way she could start putting the pieces together on her own.

"Well, as you know, he was an asset to SHIELD, then an asset to the Avengers during the Accords. Agent Starowicz was the best man for the job." she put it plainly and gave nothing as to how he ended up back at the Compound. Just bullshit reasons as to why he was teaching, "He and Mr. Stark are old friends." she added as an afterthought. Q had to stop herself from snorting in disbelief. No one had ever referred to Dawson and Tony as friends. But apparently that was the story.

"Of course," Q amended, letting Fletcher know that she accepted the explanation. As silly as it was, "Nice to see a familiar face. Especially now." she smiled a bit, saying the right thing to plant a small seed in Fletcher's head.

They had talked about how Q didn't know anyone in the town she was living in, nor had any visitors - which was a lie of course. Mentioning that Dawson was a familiar face would hopefully prompt Fletcher to talk to Dawson about getting close to Q again. The two friends had ended up on opposite sides of the civil war, which led most people to believe their decades long friendship had come to an abrupt end. Of course that wasn't the case, but no one needed to know that.

"I'm sure it is." Fletcher gave her an understanding smile before opening the door, "I'll see you next month." Q nodded in agreement, then stepped out of the office to where Cameron was waiting to escort her back to the main waiting area.

One meeting down.

A/N: A little Q/Dawson reunion for ya! I miss these two soooo much omg so I'm glad I was able to figure out a way to get him back in the story! Huge thank you to all those who have read and reviewed this story! It really means a lot to me. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Love you!