A/N: Merry Christmas my lovlies. ^_^ I don't know if you in fact celebrate Christmas so I will also wish you a Happy Holidays and New Year! I want to take this moment to thank everyone who has followed myself and this story. :D You have no idea how happy getting the notification emails makes me.

I wish I had happier news but alas I will not be updating again until after January 9th at the latest. I hope this nice long chapter will tide you over until my return. School and whatnot are insane right now - I even have to work through the remainder of my winter break to catch up on school. Anyway, I wish you all the best. :) Try not to think of ways to hurt me for being gone so long. I may be coherced into coming back sooner if you guys ask nicely. Lol.

Enjoy!

Chapter 3 –

"Ana," Maria Hill said from somewhere above me. I looked up from my place beneath the floor, laser tool in hand. She stood on the edge of the open grating, hands on her hips with that ever stoic expression on her face.

I wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, "What?"

"Agent Romanoff will be here with Banner within the hour and Agent Coulson not long after. Fury wants you to greet them."

"Oh?" I rolled my eyes, glancing back to the wires I was checking. I hated babysitting duty. That was Hill's job in my opinion.

"I called you on your headset 15 minutes ago to let you know,"

"I know, I heard you,"

I heard her sigh, struggling to contain her irritation no doubt. I did have that effect on people.

"Then why aren't you preparing? Those were direct orders from Director Fury, Agent Grzoghorek." I narrowed my eyes and stood, pointing the wrench I had in my other hand at her.

"You listen to me, prissy pants. I will do what Fury tells me to do ONCE we are in the air. Until then, my duty is to my ship to make sure that she is in top form. Otherwise, we could die a fiery death which is not something I have planned for today. So shut up and leave me alone to finish my inspection!" I growled, "And quit referring to me as something I'm not." I knelt down in the underbelly of the main level, ignoring Hill's stomping footsteps as she left. I was definitely going to pay for that later, but it was sure as hell worth it. I grinned in the dim light.

Slowly, I traveled down the hallway – checking each grid, wire and panel while listening in on the rest of my crew report back as they did the same. This was the work I loved. The feel of tools in my hands and the sense of purpose I always seemed carry with me whenever I worked on a project. I often couldn't stop until I finished – which is how the Helicarrier was built in a little over 2 years…and she was possibly my best invention yet.

A tap on the top of my head brought me out of my trance while in the last grid on my list. I glanced up, surprised to see Agent Coulson above me. It had already been an hour? Jeez.

He grinned slightly, "Captain Rodgers and Dr. Banner are onboard. We're just about to fully take off, so you may want to come with me to the Bridge. You know, just to check up on things."

I raised an eyebrow, "Just to check? Because since we're obviously in the air just fine without an explosion, I need to check on things in the Bridge?"

"Exactly." I caught a glimmer of amusement in Coulson's eyes…which made me worry.

"Fury told you to collect me, didn't he?"

"Actually it was Natasha."

"Damnit."

I followed a few steps behind Phil, straightening my dark jeans and black tee-shirt as best as I could – I had yet to change into my S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. My ship was my main priority but thank the gods that I wasn't super dirty. My hands and knees had taken the brunt of the work but a quick strip of my knee pads and a change of gloves had me looking a little more appropriate. I swiftly re-clipped my hair back as we neared the Bridge doors, and pulled on a glove absently.

"Ah, here's Agent Coulson now. And I see he has found the elusive Dr. Grzoghorek." Director Fury boomed from his place in the center of the large control room. I rolled my eyes but walked with Coulson to the large table in front of Fury's stage. Two men and Agent Natasha Romanoff AKA my second keeper were already there. I saw Hill glare at me from the corner of my eye which made me want to chuckle. Did the woman ever smile? I took a second to study the two newcomers - Captain Steve Rodgers and Dr. Bruce Banner – both heroes in their own right and here to hopefully save the world yet again. I hadn't met either of them before – unless you count helping with Steve's defrosting process as a meeting – but Coulson had provided files on each. Both men turned to look at me.

"Dr. Grish-gork?" Steve struggled to get his tongue to correctly pronounce my last name. It made me smile.

"Je-gorek is the easier way of pronouncing it, but please call me Ana…" I stepped forward to hold out my hand, but caught a glimpse of a computer screen a few feet away instead. My lungs nearly stopped and I froze, recognizing the face the techs were searching. Agent Clint Barton was a notoriously solitary man – definitely not one for talking or interacting with people at all for that matter. As far as I knew, Coulson and Natasha were the only ones aware of his past – Fury and Hill tolerated him for short bursts of time and that was it. Steve and the rest were pushed to the back of my mind as I slowly walked towards the computer, almost in a trance-like state. Last year during the New Mexico incident was the first time I had ever met S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "Hawk". I grimaced, remembering that horrible week. Stupid Asgardian robot Destroyer. I was unfortunately bestowed upon the pleasure of being the person who acted without thinking and nearly died – I doubted Coulson will ever let me live down my "damsel-in-distress" moment anyway. Apparently Barton was helping me walk when I up and fainted so the insane man decided to carry me bride style to the waiting helicopter – classic fairy tale damsel-in-distress according to Phil Coulson. He didn't know the half of it though. I winced as the old burn scars on my hands ached with phantom pain while my wrists tingled. I had had no intentions of pulling anyone into my crazy well of secrets beyond Coulson and Director Fury, but circumstances changed. Instead of becoming an enemy like I thought he would at the time, Barton became my only other friend besides my boss and handler – which was really sad when you thought about it. My feet stopped me about a foot away from the screen. I knelt down, blinking slowly. If Barton was compromised, then we were in bigger shit than I had originally thought – myself especially.

"Ana? Anastasia?" I heard a few voices ask, but I ignored them. Barton was more important to me. I slowly reached out a hand; not really believing yet that the man who had taken my tale and locked it away like it was the fracking Declaration of Independence without a second thought was some super spy puppet of a crazy god with major family issues. Before I could stop myself, I felt my fingers brush the top of the computer monitor. As soon as my flesh touched the warm metal, a medium-sized blue spark jumped from my fingers to the computer. I jumped and quickly pulled my hand away, finally coming to my senses. I prayed no one had been paying too much attention to my little sleep walk moment to see what just happened.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am…I mean Ana." The voice of Captain America saying my name brought out of my thoughts. I glanced toward him, feeling my cheeks heat. I cleared my throat loudly to attempt to cover the awkwardness. I turned away from the computer and quickly strode back, refusing to meet anyone else's eyes save for Steve. I held out my hand with a small smile, "I apologize, Captain. I don't know what came over me – I blame lack of sleep and coffee."

"That's quite alright." He grinned in return, moving to shake my hand. My eyes quickly glanced down and I nearly screamed. The pale flesh of my knuckles was almost grinning wickedly at me in victory. I would finally lapse – without even meaning too. The first time since New Mexico. I gritted my teeth and pulled my hand away just a second before Steve grabbed it. Averting my gaze, I quickly pulled on my other glove and wrapped the straps tightly. Only then did I grasp his waiting hand warmly – probably a bit too warmly and cheery in fact. His eyes stared into mine, "I wanted to ask if you were okay? That was some static electricity you had going on there by the computer." I bit the inside of my cheek, DAMNIT.

I struggled to remain calm, "Oh yeah. I'm great. Just a little shock – must have been excess from the wires I was checking earlier." With that, I cleared my throat uncomfortably and turned to Bruce, offering a smile, "Dr. Banner, it is an honor to meet you." I could still feel Steve's eyes on me and wondered if anyone else had seen what happened.

Bruce shook his head, "I highly doubt it, but thank you. Agent Romanoff was telling Captain Rodgers and I that it was you who designed this ship?"

I struggled to hold back a blush now, clearly amusing Natasha because I heard her laugh quietly behind me. Fury saved me from answering, "Agent Romanoff is correct. Dr. Grzoghorek designed and managed the building of the Helicarrier."

"It is a very impressive machine, ma'am…Ana." Steve put in, sliding his hands into his jacket pockets. He still watched me carefully – I felt Natasha and Hill doing the same. This was going to be bad, really bad. My mind raced 100 miles a minute, how was I going to get out of this? One mistake in over 10 years of being careful and my entire world was going to crash down – literally in some cases.

Before I could reply, Fury moved from his command center to Dr. Banner, "Thanks for coming." He shook the scientist's hand quickly.

"Thank you for asking nicely." Banner said, glancing down at the ground for a second, "So how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

Banner shifted, "Where are you with that?

Coulson crossed his arms where he stood a few feet to the left on main floor, in front of a row of computers. I copied his stance, uncomfortable from my position next to the large circular table. I didn't particularly enjoy being a watcher…or being watched for that matter. Steve was quiet from his place near Coulson.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops…if it's connected to a satellite, its eyes and ears for us."

Natasha captured my attention as she knelt down next to the computer I had touched, tapping the screen. She didn't look too surprised to see Barton's face there.

"It's still not going to find them in time." Natasha murmured, looking to the men. I saw her eyes briefly look my way but I ignored them. I glanced to Fury and Dr. Banner to see their reactions. Banner immediately took charge.

"You have to narrow the field," He started to remove his coat, "How many spectrometers do you have access too?"

Fury crossed his arms, "How many are there?"

Banner quickly shrugged his jacket off, "Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places." He wrapped his jacket in his arms, "Do you have a place for me to work?"

Fury turned to look at Natasha who stood, "Agent Romanoff, show Dr. Banner to his lab please."

She nodded and headed for the Bridge doors, Banner followed, "You're going to love it, Doc. We've got all the toys." They passed me and then were gone. I rubbed my neck, sighing. This was going to be a long day.

"Dr. Grzoghorek, would you mind taking Captain Rodgers to his quarters?" Fury's voice cut through my hazy walls. I looked at him and then to Steve again.

"Of course," I stood, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans, "If you'll follow me, Captain." Two steps of his long legs had him at my side and we left, exiting through the double doors Natasha and Banner had used. Silence hovered between us as he followed me through the twisting halls, further and further into the ship.

"I hope you know that you're going to have to draw me a map so I don't accidentally end up walking off the side of the ship because I'm lost." Steve murmured when we paused to let a group of security pass by. I grinned, feeling some of the tension leave my body. I thought he was going to bring up the incident with the computer. I was really not in a sharing mood…at all.

"I'm completely serious you know, I have absolutely no idea where you're taking me…heck, you could be taking me to kill me off or something for all I know." I laughed at that; it was an absurd idea but funny.

"Believe me Captain, you'll learn the ways of Ellie in no time."

"Ellie?"

I nodded, "The ship, that's what my crew and I call her. Helicarrier is just too long to say all the time, plus Ellie is a feminine name that suits her perfectly."

The silence between us was deafening, despite people and machine working around us. I stopped in front of a series of silver doors off of the main hallway. I pulled a keycard from my pocket and slid it into the scanner. There was a whir then a beep before the door opened – I resisted the urge to glance inside.

"Here you go, Captain," I turned to look at him, offering the keycard, "Make sure you don't lose this – all you have to do is slide the card into the silver box on your door and it will open. Don't worry about someone breaking in – each card and lock are a matched set so no other card will work in your scanner."

Steve took the bright blue keycard from my hand, his fingers brushing the leather. I jumped in surprise, looking up.

"Thank you, Ana." He smiled at me…but the smile didn't reach his eyes. I still saw that look like he was watching and analyzing me every moment he could. I didn't like it.

"No problem." I mumbled, leaving without much of a goodbye. I don't think I stopped until I reached the safety of my lab and quarters, leaning against the door with a sigh.

How the hell was I going to do this?

Damn.

I really wanted to go home