Romi had gone silent. And Sharon knew that was never a good sign â not when it came to agents. Certainly not when it came to herself, so when Romi fell off the grid after her sisterâs death⊠Sharon knew that someone needed to reach out and pull her out of whatever hole she was in now. It could have been any number of things, but knowing Romi⊠it was alcohol. Much like Sharonâs way of dealing with grief and other bullshit (just like her cousin).Â
And when Romi opened her apartment door and Sharon got a whiff of her breath, she knew that her assumption had been right. âGaumont,â Sharon said easily, leaning into the doorframe as she looked at the other woman, noticing the way that her other arm was positioned. She had to have a weapon in her other hand. There was a long moment where Sharon was silent, looking Romi in the eyes and waiting for the other woman to say something.Â
But maybe there was nothing to say â what could be said â Romi had just lost her sister, the cornerstone in her life. Sharon remembered what it was like when Dannyâs plane went down. She had lost a brother that day â he was only ten and she remembered the funeral, remembered thinking about all the life he had missed out on.
Mostly though, she remembered thinking she should have been on that plane with him. He had asked her to go with him but she had been busy at school â preparing for finals. Her brother had died someplace in the snow while she was studying.
âFigured you could use some company,â she said quietly. âAnd Iâve heard Iâm excellent if you add a little whiskey.â Her joke didnât quite land, but it was clear that Sharonâs heart wasnât in the humor. âCan I come in, Romi?âÂ
Romilda clicked the safety back on her gun and put it on the table near the door. She didnât need to be waving it around while she was in this state if there wasnât some kind of adversary at the door. And Sharon Carter, no matter how it felt when she looked Romi in the eyes silently like that, was not her adversary.Â
She didnât know what to say. It felt like there was a gap here that she ought to fill, but today she just didnât have it in her. What could she say? It was clear how well she was coping, what she was doing to numb it all. She couldnât lie about it.Â
âIâm sure you are,â she said finally, acting as though the joke was fine, as if anything was fine. Nothing was fine. Finally, she took a deep breath and stepped back to let Sharon in. âItâs a mess,â she warned her.