Serendipity

Chapter 5:

Hello readers! Today we've got Steve! I apologize for the big gaps in between updates- I was deciding if I should make this like "Impressions" (and btw if you haven't read it, go check it out- kudos to that author) and include my other one shots in this story, or put them by themselves. Right now I'm leaning towards closing this up. But don't worry, I have at least two more multi-chapter ideas to work on. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviews! And don't forget to review this chapter! Thanks!

Honestly?

Steve had no idea what to make of this new information.

He didn't like it. That's for sure. But he couldn't really condemn her either.

So now he's scouring the walls of the Warehouse for the equivalent of brain bleach while the girl in question chatters incessantly next to him. She hadn't brought it up, and neither had he.

Coming from the ATF, he had seen a lot of bad news come out from the foster care system. Maybe it wasn't all bad. Or at least he hoped the system wasn't, but it definitely was for Claudia.

She was never one for boundaries. But did he blame her for doing what she had to, to survive? No.

Being gay, he tended to be more open minded than the average person. And he understood the importance of keeping something a secret.

For her part, Claudia has taken the outcome of the news by being even more annoying than ever. It was as if she thought if she could just keep talking, joking, laughing it would all go away.

She was going a little crazy. Not that he would tell her that.

They had had their moment when he told her that he didn't think any differently of her. She had smiled and hugged him, seemingly happy. But sometimes, when she thought no one was looking, he caught her eyes carefully examining each inch of his face, like she was never going to see it again. He pretended not to notice and kept being upbeat with her.

Still, in the privacy of his own mind, he couldn't decide what he really thought about her past. Sometimes you have to take the good and sweep the bad under the rug. So he settled on fiercely protective. He vowed to take out anything threatening to hurt this girl that had wormed her way into his heart.