ELEANOR WAS LISTENING TO THE BEATLES. Named and nicknamed after two of their songs and one of their band members, she had grown up with an ironic blend of hatred for every aspect of the band and love for the music they had created, screaming in frustration and tapping her foot along with their music. It was due to this unhealthy relationship that she only ever listened to The Beatles when she was in a crisis, and running twenty minutes late to work while stuck in New York traffic seemed like a valid crisis.

"I swear to God, if this is because three idiots decided to take a selfie on the bridge, I'm killing everyone and then myself," she grumbled, fending off yet another angry text from her boss and other co-workers, sending pictures of the worse-than-usual traffic for proof.

She sighed as she settled back against her seat, mumbling to herself. All she needed to do was make it through the rest of the week, then she and her brother could go camping together, which would make her entire month. Despite the both of them living in New York, their busy schedules made it almost impossible for them to meet up, but it was fine, really, she was fine.

Speaking of, her phone buzzed, signaling a call from her brother himself and she picked it up immediately, pressing it to her ear and groaning loudly, screaming her frustrations and menstrual troubles into her poor twin's ear.

"Good morning to you too, Pepper," he greeted, and she only groaned louder, pulling the phone away from her ear and turning it towards the radio where it was blasting Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through the speakers.

"I'm running late and the traffic is atrocious, please kill me," she begged, sobbing into the phone as she inched forward ever so slightly, barely moving the car along at all.

"I'll just text my pal Captain America and he'll be there in a sec," Rigby drawled, his words dripping with sarcasm, and Eleanor huffed, not in the mood for their usual banter.

While she had been stuck with an assistant/secretary job at Eastaughffe Co.—a branch in a large collective of tech designers and manufacturers, similar to Pym Tech from the west, but nowhere near the level of prestige that Stark Industries held all over the world—her twin brother, Rigby, had gotten a position at S.H.I.E.L.D. as someone who made phone calls to other branches of base operations and filed papers.

Of course, there was that scandal with S.H.I.E.L.D. involving Captain America and two of his teammates, but according to Rigby, he still had a job and that was what was important, considering that he had good insurance and fairly decent pay. How he hadn't been kicked out initially due to his non-Nazi leanings, she wasn't quite sure, but she was glad he was safe.

In all honesty, while she would never tell him, she wished her job was as exciting, finding no thrill in the humdrum of her boring desk job where she did nothing but type and greet people and take coffee up to her attractive boss who wasn't interested in any relationship at the moment, according to the woman when Eleanor drunkenly asked her out during an office party the year prior; how she hadn't lost her job was a mystery that would go unsolved.

"Are you excited for our camping trip?" she asked, squealing with excitement at the thought, "I miss hanging out with you."

Rigby laughed into the phone. "You mean our poorly concealed alien hunting trip? How could I forget. Are your lame friends from that news company coming with, because I do not need my face going on camera. But I miss you too." His last words were warm, sweet and genuine, an antithesis to the sharp mocking of his previous words.

"They are single-handedly keeping that media outlet running, don't disrespect!" she cried, cheering when the traffic seemed to subside, all the cars racing as fast as they possibly could, though most chose to slow down to see what exactly had cost them their jobs and/or marriages.

"I like their actual case files, they're more interesting," Rigby commented, the sound of keys clicking the background letting her know that he was going back to his work, "And I thought you were into those too, but I guess the adult life ruined what intelligence you had left."

"Shut up," she scoffed, though she hated to admit that his words struck the one part of her that was still vulnerable, an insecurity she never wanted to show her brother.

She was thirty-three years old, and while that wasn't exactly old, she felt as though she had missed the part of her twenties where she found someone and settled down. Most people her age were at least on their first kid, and she didn't like to think about how her friends—at age twenty-eight—seemed to be more on track towards marriage and stable living than she was, and said friends worked at a pop culture media outlet.

"Hey," Rigby said, in the soft voice he always used when he knew Eleanor was upset—it was the same voice he used when Jimmy Gardner dumped her at senior prom—"You know I didn't mean it, right?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, in the voice she used to let him know that she was still upset, "I'll talk to you later. 'Kay?"

"Love you," he said, because that was what they always said now.

"Love you too," she sighed, trying to sound chipper, hanging up and letting her smile fall, her bad mood worsening as she continued along her way to work.

She just had to make it to the weekend. That was all. The weekend, then everything would get better.

º º º

It was Friday and it took everything in her power to try and make it to the weekend.

Her car had broken down on the way home the night before, so she had to send it to the shop and get it fixed, just barely getting it back in time to head to work that morning. She had stopped to get the usual coffee for herself, her co-workers, and her boss, as it seemed she was the only one there who actually knew how to get coffee the way Reese Eastaughffe like it, but had bumped into a large man who had spilled the scalding hot coffee all over her and hadn't even given her so much as an apology.

Stumbling into work with severe burns and a ruined outfit, she had been given some grace from her boss who instructed her to pick something out of her spare clothes closet and check in with the company medic to make sure she was alright.

While she appreciated the care, she found herself severely behind on all her paperwork, struggling to play catch up and return calls and schedule meetings, as well as fend off the dozens of death threats and manic marriage proposals her boss received daily.

By the time she paused for her twenty minute lunch break, she was ready to keel over and die. She groaned as she pulled out her salad—she was quitting her diet as soon as she got home, she'd just go to the gym on the weekends and eat a grape every once in a while—tearing off the plastic and dumping the dressing over the sad looking leaves, chomping on them, upset.

She took the time to check her phone, rolling her eyes as her brother who detailed another one of his office pranks to her. She didn't understand how he was able to get away with them, as she was sure they were already working on a tighter budget at S.H.I.E.L.D., what with most of the bases being destroyed and all.

After letting him know exactly how unimpressed she was, she turned her attention to the texts she received from her friend about the alien excursion they were going on.

A co-star on a popular YouTube series where they go hunt monsters and detail unsolved mysteries, Bryan and his co-star Michael had met Eleanor before they had started their series, when they were still simply journalists, guest starring in other videos made by the media outlet.

She had been the one to bring up the suggestion for them to do a reading on the unsolved case of Peter Quill, which had been a point of fascination for her ever since she was seven.

Sat in front of the TV, she had watched an entire news story about the eight year old boy who had disappeared from Missouri just after his mother died. It had baffled the nation and, to this day, the case still remained open, as it was the dying wish of Quill's grandfather who had never stopped looking for his grandson.

It had been the first time Eleanor had felt true empathy, finding herself close to tears as she watched the elderly man on the TV cry, begging the nation to find his grandson, as he had promised his daughter he would take care of him, that Peter was all he had left of her. She had wanted to become a detective and help solve the case, but that had fallen through quickly.

Rigby always joked that she loved mysteries so much, he wouldn't be surprised if she became one herself. She'd always tell him that, if she did ever go missing, all they'd have to do was look to him, because he was the only one in the world who'd be able to take her down.

Refocusing, she texted back Bryan, who had asked her if she and Rigby were still open to going alien hunting the next day. After texting her affirmation, she set her phone aside, leaning back in her chair and sighing, rubbing her eyes.

"Rough week?"

Eleanor sat up quickly, looking up to find her boss smiling down at her, holding a cup of coffee in her hands. "One of the temps got it for me. I appreciated the gesture, but I'm not really into this kind of coffee. Want?"

"Yes, please," Eleanor sighed, gratefully taking cup, taking a long sip, sighing happily, "God, I can't wait for the weekend."

"You're telling me," Reese said, smiling as she took a seat across from her desk, "Any plans?"

"I'm going out with my friends and my brother. Camping," she said, figuring it best to omit the part about the alien hunting; she didn't need her boss to think her weirder than she already was, if that was even possible at this point.

"Fun," Reese said, glancing over towards the picture frame Eleanor always kept on her desk, "That's him, right? The one standing next to you?"

She looked over at the family photo and smiled, nodding. That had been taken on the last family reunion she had gone to, as it was also her grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary, which meant everyone in the family showed up. How they had managed to fit into the frame was beyond her, but she was glad to have it. Family had always been a constant for her at the end of the day, and she'd hold onto whatever piece of it she had left.

"I haven't seen him in a while, we've both been really busy, so it should be fun," she said, smiling towards her boss who smiled down at the photo.

"That's wonderful," Reese whispered, clearing her throat as she rose from her seat, "You have fun. But stay strong, I think you're about to get hit with some death threats for me in about three minutes, so good luck and don't show fear."

Eleanor groaned as she dropped her head onto her desk, the phone ringing immediately after, signaling the end of her lunch break.

She just had to make it through the weekend. The weekend would change everything.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 07.18.18 )

Meet Eleanor! I'm actually rather proud of this chapter, because it introduced her life, her brother, and alluded to the catalyst of the story to spur it on, so I'm pretty proud overall! And you got to see her personality, so really, I'm down!

Also! Her boss, Reese Eastaughffe is the main OC in my Scott Lang fic, I thought it'd be fun to just do a little homage to her here, though it's a little sad that Eleanor won't be seeing her again. Her brother, Rigby, is the main OC in my Maria Hill fic, so you'll be seeing more of him, though he's still a major player in this story.

Also, yes, she does know the MCU equivalent of Shane and Ryan from Buzzfeed Unsolved don't attack me, I just think that, considering she knows about the unsolved case of Peter Quill, she might as well know the boys, I regret nothing.