"LET US NEVER LOSE THE
LESSONS WE HAVE LEARNED."
— teo torriatte, queen

☆

THERE WERE MANY RULES FREDDIE HAD TO ABIDE BY. Whether or not she disagreed with said rules, they were followed. For example, Rule number three in Dominic Walker's list of rules to follow was that Freddie was to never get involved with 'work stuff' under any circumstances. Naturally, the rule that followed was 'no further questions about said work stuff', so although Freddie's curiosity overwhelmed her, she stuck to what her dad had asked of her. The girl knew who her dad worked for and she vaguely knew what he did for a living, so she wasn't all surprised that he'd instated that rule into place.

Freddie locked eyes with the man in the hallway in front of her before she stood aside, letting him enter the apartment. Shooting a quick warning glance towards Oliver, she turned to the man with a sheepish smile.

"Not to be rude, Phil," The girl began, placing the knife back onto the counter. "-but why are you here? It's..." Freddie glanced towards the kitchen clock. "Three a.m.?!"

"Your dad sent for you," Coulson stated.

"-but this is work stuff...I'm not allowed to get involved in work stuff."

"Change of heart."

Freddie sent a sceptical look towards the man who seemed to be scanning the apartment. She could see Oliver out of the corner of her eye, inching towards a vase, reaching to knock it over in what she presumed to be an attempt to scare Coulson.

"Don't you dare..." she suddenly hissed, her eyebrows furrowed as the boy put his two hands in the air innocently.

"Excuse me?"

Freddie turned to Phil with an apologetic frown, "Sorry, I, uh...I wasn't talking to you." She stumbled, the girl's cheeks tinted pink as she wracked her brain to think of something to change the topic to. "So...where are we going?"

"Classified information, sorry."

"Cool, cool, cool...when are we going?"

"As soon as you go pack a bag." The man stated before he glanced towards his watch. "You have five minutes tops."

Too tired to even question it, the girl nodded and left the man in the living room as she closed her bedroom door behind her. Freddie flopped down on her bed, her hands running through her hair.

"I still don't know how you can—"

"It's too early to listen to you, shush."

The girl motioned for the boy to go away, her fingers running their way through her hair while he nudged a pile of clothes with his foot. Freddie stood to her feet with an unnecessarily loud groan. She grabbed a bag from the corner of her room, she travelled around her room gathering clothes and other necessities before shoving them into the bag.

Coulson looked to Freddie with a smile, his arms folded as she re-emerged from her room. The girl clutched her bag strap tightly, as she rocked on her heels awkwardly.

"Well...ready to go?"

And that's exactly how Freddie found herself sitting in the metal seat of a quinjet, her legs crossed underneath her whilst a pair of eyes lingered on her figure.

The girl was hunched over, her hands pressing against her headphones trying to drown out the jet noises from around her. It was odd sitting there with no obvious spectres looming over her shoulder, but there was a tug in her stomach which she recognised as a notification that she wasn't alone.

To her left, Steve Rogers' eyes drifted away from the girl, his eyes now focusing on the tablet in front of him. Coulson seemed to have stood up from his seat and had made his way towards the other man. Freddie could hear the faint chatter from the two men as she slowly hummed to the music. Oliver sat on the floor in a huff on her right, his arms folded as he glared up at the girl. Looking around cautiously, the girl slowly removed one of her headphones.

"What are you mad about now?" She questioned under her breath to ensure that nobody else was listening.

"How come I've to sit on the floor?" He grumbled as his translucent figure shifted uncomfortably.

"Because the only person who can see you is me, and I'm not giving my seat up."

Unbeknownst to her, the man to her left had noticed her quiet talking, his eyebrows scrunching as she muttered into the emptiness.

"Ah," Coulson followed the man's confused eyes. "Miss Walker?" Freddie's head snapped up, her eyes wide as she looked to the two men. "This is Steve Rogers, Captain America."

"Uh...hey," the girl feebly offered up, moving her hand in a wave.

"She seems young to be a part of the team," Steve remarked in concern, earning a light chuckle from Phil.

"She's not on the team, her dad is an agent on the ship and Freddie is well...unique, he likes to keep her in his sight as much as possible," Coulson explained, his voice lowering as he spoke the last part.

"You make it sound like I'm some sort of animal," Freddie piped up, raising a brow at the man before she turned to Steve. "I'm not that unique, my dad is just strict."

"Freddie, you talk to dead people," Phil retorted, earning a sharp glare and a scowl from the girl. "Wouldn't exactly call that ordinary." Steve tilted his head towards the girl with a pointed look.

"Sounds pretty unique to me."

☆

AS THE QUINJET BEGAN ITS DESCENT ONTO THE RUNWAY OF THE HELICARRIER, Freddie peered out the window, her eyes wide as she scanned her surroundings. People were rushing to and fro in preparation, while the door to the quinjet lowered to form a ramp. Freddie grabbed her bag from the floor and sent Oliver an uneasy grimace as she put in both her headphones. The boy lingered trepidatiously behind her as she walked into the streams of sunlight, her hand instinctively going to shade her eyes as she stood beside Coulson.

Once he saw the girl was safely off the jet, Coulson began walking with Steve flanking his left. Freddie hugged her arms to her chest as she followed, her backpack hanging limply off of her shoulder. The music seemed to be doing its job, the beat drowning out all the unnecessary noise. The girl felt a soft nudge to her arm, causing her head to lift and lock eyes with the redheaded woman.

"Freddie." She greeted, a small smile gracing her face earning a grin from the younger girl. Although Dominic tried to hide his work life from Freddie, she'd met a few of his colleagues. He claimed it was so she knew who to trust if something were to ever happen to him.

"Hey, Natasha."

The woman winked at her before diverting her attention to Steve, who now stood alone as Coulson strode towards the bridge of the Helicarrier. Behind her, Oliver was wandering around the runway, his eyes scanning the area. Freddie watched curiously as the boy stopped and stared out over the sea. Tentatively, the girl slipped away from Natasha and Steve, her feet guiding her towards Oliver.

"Your staring problem is concerning," Freddie observed, stopping beside the boy.

Oliver didn't say anything, his eyes locked in on the far distance. The girl stood beside him silently, her music slowly coming to a fade as the music died out. Her hands scrambled for her device, its screen blinking black as she tried to turn it on.

"Shit." She swore in a hushed tone, her arms folding in discontentment.

Her iPod had died, and even though the area wasn't completely silent, Freddie found herself encased in a shroud of tension. Oliver could instantaneously feel the girl's change in mood as he pulled his eyes away from the view, turning to her with a grim expression.

"Can we go inside now?" Freddie questioned, her voice sounding a bit smaller than usual.

Of course, she could've left and the boy would've inevitably had to follow but the two had an unspoken pact of respect. Oliver nodded and it took the girl no time to rejoin Natasha, Steve and another awkward man with glasses, as they entered the inside of the carrier.

"Nice of you to join us again," Natasha remarked, glancing towards the teenager as she clutched her dead device to her chest. "Freddie, this is Doctor Banner, Doctor Banner, this is Freddie." The woman gestured to the awkward man who offered her a rather fitting awkward wave.

A set of mechanical doors parted revealing a flurry of activity as dozens of agents sat in front of advanced computers. To her right, Freddie could hear a woman calling out instructions while Nick Fury stood in all his glory, in the centre of the room between two screens. The girl could only awkwardly stand off to the side as she watched the Helicarrier rise.

"Gentlemen," Fury greeted Steve and Banner once he turned around. The man's eye flickered to Freddie, opting to greet her with a welcoming nod, the girl returned the gesture but had to resist the urge to laugh at Oliver, who was creeping towards the man, pointing to his eyepatch in child-like wonder.

"Don't even think about it," She murmured, knowing that he would hear it. "You'll get us kicked off and I really don't fancy a swim."

Oliver held his hands up in surrender glancing around. His eyebrows scrunched up while a sudden and unrecognisable look swept over his face. He began to wander down the centre, his eyes scanning everyone as he went. Freddie watched with calculated eyes at his sudden change of behaviour.

"Doctor Banner, we just got word that your laboratory is ready for use."

Freddie's ears pricked up at the sound of the familiar voice. Her eyes snapped to her right, where Dominic Walker was passing a file to Natasha. His eyes examined the room until they finally stopped and landed on his daughter. She could see a flicker of a smile grace his face as he excused himself from the group to greet her.

"Fred," Dominic encased Freddie in a tight squeeze, earning a sheepish smile from the girl. "You shouldn't be here."

"Well, that's welcoming," The girl muttered as her father stepped back, his hands lingering on her shoulders.

"What I mean to say is that I'm sorry you had to come here."

"I'm not," Freddie smirked, "I finally get an insight into what you do for a living, and I have to say... this isn't all bad."

"Well, don't get used to it." Dominic chuckled, gesturing for her to follow him as he walked forward. Freddie ignored the questioning looks she was receiving from agents as she stuck to her dad's side.

"Ms Davis called and said you had dinner with her last night." He informed her as they walked through the carrier. "She also mentioned you were late coming home."

"I got another detention," Freddie answered honestly, her fingers itching to turn on her music. "Principal said if I get another one I'm suspended for a month."

"I'll have a word with him," Dominic sighed, adding it to his mental list of things to do, his hand on her shoulder as he guided her down a set of stairs. "As long as you're okay, I have no problem...so, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Okay?"

"I think so," Freddie shrugged, briefly glancing behind her shoulder at Oliver who was looking around in awe. "My iPod died...I need to charge it."

Dominic nodded in understanding, knowing the importance of it. He stopped in front of a secure door, using his ID to gain access. The light above the door flashed green, and the doors opened revealing another long hallway.

"How many did you bring?"

"Three, but I didn't have a chance to charge the other two before I left."

"How has it been lately?..your powers, I mean"

Freddie could feel Oliver looking towards the two, so with a wry smile, the girl chuckled.

"It's weird being here...I'm not getting the feeling that people have died in here, but there are still whispers, y'know?" She began, a hand running through her hair. "It's almost as if the souls aren't tethered to a place, but they're tethered to people. It's hard to explain."

"Well, can you hear it around me?" Dominic asked curiously.

Freddie was silent.

In all honesty, she did hear them.

The faint whispers of the dead seemed to be constantly drifting around the man's body, she'd noticed it years ago yet had never mentioned it.

Shaking her head at the question, she could see her dad let out an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief.

What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"You're lying!" Oliver sang glumly, his arms folding as he watched the interaction. Freddie rolled her eyes at his remark but she couldn't help but feel the guilt creep up her spine.

"Here we go," Dominic started, stopping in front of another locked door. He pressed his ID against the scanner and the door clicked. The man pushed the door open, stepping back to allow the girl to enter before him.

Freddie stepped inside, her eyes scanning the small living space, obviously meant to only house one person. The room consisted of a single bed, a small couch, a countertop with a kettle, a toaster and a few cupboards along with another door, which she presumed led to the bathroom.

"It's small, I know, but it's going to have to do." Dominic stated, "At least it's not the bunk beds they have for the majority of agents here."

"How come you don't have a bunk bed then?"

"Because the people in bunk beds range from level one to six, people from levels seven to ten are given a few more advantages."

"Well, what level are you?" Freddie asked, tilting her head as she placed her bag down by the couch before flopping down onto it.

"That's for me to know and you to keep guessing." Dominic chuckled, tapping her nose as he passed. "-and get your feet off the couch. That's where I have to sleep now that you've taken my bed." He lightly hit the girl's legs as she laughed and shifted them off of the couch.

"I can take the couch if you want." The girl offered.

"Not a chance," The man dismissed, "What kind of father would I be if I left you to sleep on the couch and used the bed for myself."

Freddie didn't answer, but a grateful smile spread across her features. She was often told that she was lucky to have him as a dad, and she couldn't argue with that fact. She was lucky to have him. She was lucky that he was understanding and loved her relentlessly. She was lucky that he adapted to her powers and strange tendencies, and cared for her the way he did.

And even though the independent side of her hated to admit it, Freddie didn't know what she'd do without him.

☆

HELLO U SEXY MFS!!

I've said it once and I'll say it again, I adore Freddie and Dominic...that's it.

ANYWAYS, feel free to drop a few comments and vote!

I love you (say it back 😡),