Alexandra's POV

"How much did you hear?" I ask, not daring to turn and face him.

"Enough." Steve steps in front of me. I felt his presence as I was talking to James but ignored it, hoping he'd go away. Sadly I'm not that lucky. "Is that really why you ended things between us?"

"Steve-"

"Tell me the truth, Ally." He says, his eyes watery.

I look down, knowing that he already knows the answer. "I never meant to hurt you, y'know. I did it for you."

"For me?" He asks, clenching his jaw. "It felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest and stomped on." He closes his eyes and a tear rolls down his cheek, making my eyes water now too. "I poured my whole heart out to you. I loved you, Ally. Hell, I still do."

I look away from him. "I shouldn't have let it get that far." I look down, fighting my own tears. "I'm so sorry, Steve."

He shakes his head at me and looks away.

"At least you're happy now. You've got a girl that loves you the way you deserve to be loved." I sniff, looking up at him.

"You really know nothing about love, do you?" He asks, his tears consistently flowing now.

"How could I? All I've known my entire life was cruelty.. that made me independent." I speak barely above a whisper and look down.

I feel Steve's finger under my chin as he lifts my head. My heartbeat quickens as I look into his eyes.

He sighs as he looks at me and pulls me into his chest as he wraps his arms around me. After he pulls away, he walks away without looking back.

I sit at my desk, trying not to cry as I eat the rest of my sandwich.

Tony's POV

I look at the clock to see that it's a few minutes until five and jump up from my seat. I wipe my hands clean of any grease before heading to the foyer.

"Alex!" I call as I walk over to her desk. I see her packing her things and sigh in relief that she hasn't left yet.

"Tony! I was actually going to stop in the lab before I left." She says, swinging her bag onto her arm. "These paper records are so annoying." She sighs, I chuckle. "I've been doing some research and I think I fixed your software, firewalls, and security. No Shadow or anybody else should be able to get through that."

"What? Really?" I ask.

"Yeah! Look I'll show you what I did." She beckons me over to the computer and I look as she pulls up the codes and program changes she made.

"Wow. I mean I'm not surprised because you are my daughter." I smile at her. "But I'm impressed. I thought you didn't know how to do things like this."

"There's a lot you don't know about me." She laughs but I feel a sharp pain in my chest at her words.

"About that.." I clear my throat. "I know you want to keep things professional between us but.. God, Alex, I hate this. I hate the way our relationship is and I blame myself. If I had been better, if I hadn't run away whenever things got hard, I would've been there for you."

I see her expression soften as she listens.

"I'd really love if we could go to dinner tonight. Just you and I." I sigh. "I know you're being relocated, I want to get to know you and make up for all the times I haven't been there before it's too late again."

She looks down and thinks about it for a moment. "Yeah, dinner sounds nice." She finally looks up at me. "But I get to pick the venue."

"Deal." I smile. "Let me know when and where. I'll pick you up."

"No, I'll meet you there." She jumps.

"That works too." I pull her into a hug. "See you later."

She waves as she gets into her car and pulls away.

I walk into the living room where the rest of the team is, not able to wipe the giant grin off of my face.

"What's gotten into you?" Bruce asks.

"Alex and I are going to dinner tonight." I slightly brag. "She's finally opening up to me!"

Everyone smiles and congratulates me except for the two super soldiers.

"Tonight? I thought she was always busy at night." Bucky says.

"I guess she made time for her father." I shrug.

"I'm happy for you, Tony." Steve pats my shoulder. "I hope you two have a good time tonight."

I smile and thank him before he walks off.

"Oh! By the way, I invited Ally to family night tomorrow too. She agreed to come." Natasha says.

The smile on my face somehow gets even bigger. It finally feels like things are falling into place. Pepper and I are really getting serious, Steve and Bucky have kept their distance from Alex, the rest of the team hangs out with Alex as if she's one of us, and Alex is opening up to me.

I guess there really is a God.

Alexandra's POV

Once I get home I plop down on my bed. I send Tony the address for the shawarma place not too far from here and tell him to be there at 7.

Just as I'm about to take a power nap, my phone goes crazy. I look at the screen to see Steve's name and groan as I answer it.

"You're going to dinner with Tony?" He asks, not even greeting me.

"Hello to you too." I hold my head in my hand."But yes I am going to dinner, why?"

"What about the mission?" He asks.

"What about it? You and the rest of the team can't handle a shipment and a few bad guys?" I ask.

"We can, but.." He sighs.

"But what?" I ask.

"Nothing. I'll let you go." He says, defeated.

"Um, okay." I say, confused. "See you tomorrow."

"See you Mon- tomorrow?" He asks.

"Oh yeah, Nat invited me to family night." I say nonchalantly. "Bye Steve, I'm sure you don't need it but good luck tonight."

"Thanks.." He sounds distracted by his thoughts. "Bye."

I look at the time on my phone. Six o'clock. I set my alarm for twenty-five minutes and doze off for a quick power nap.