Trinity sat on the fire escape late that night, looking out at the stars as she sipped iced tea from her favorite mug.

The heat had dissipated and it was practically chilly outside. She’d hoped she’d be able to finally get some decent rest - maybe even a dreamless sleep where she could escape her growing feelings for Hawkeye. But it turned out luck wasn’t with her.

“Hey, Trinity,” Brooke said, stepping out onto the fire escape and interrupting Trinity’s dangerous train of thought.

“Hey,” Trinity replied. “Where’s Conan?”

“Oh, so that’s it, huh? I have a boyfriend for like three seconds and now we’re supposed to be attached at the hip every minute?” But Brooke’s tone was teasing and her cheeks were flushed with pleasure.

“Sorry,” Trinity muttered.

“It’s fine,” Brooke laughed. “He’s sleeping hard. He spent the afternoon sparring with some of the guys from the advanced class.”

“He’s all in with the martial arts, huh?” Trinity asked.

“He’s all in with everything,” Brooke said.

It was so funny to see her tough-as-nails friend looking like a dreamy-eyed Disney princess that Trinity began to laugh.

“Go ahead and laugh,” Brooke said. “It’ll be your turn soon enough.”

“Soon enough for what?” Veronica asked, as she climbed out onto the fire escape to join them, a box of ice cream sandwiches in her hand.

“Veronica,” Trinity said happily.

“Hey, love,” Veronica said. “Please tell me you aren’t out here giggling about boys.”

“Guilty,” Brooke said, waving a hand in the air. “But not for long. I wanted to let you know that I will be the official owner of this building by this time next week.”

“Nice,” Trinity said. They had been in real danger of losing their shared home and Brooke’s downstairs gym. This was good news.

“I suppose you’ll be jacking up our rent,” Veronica teased.

“Not if you play your cards right,” Brooke said, waggling her eyebrows.

“But I can’t pay the rent,” Veronica pleaded in a pretend damsel-in-distress voice.

“You must pay the rent,” Brooke said, twirling an imaginary mustache.

They both looked expectantly at Trinity.

“I’ll pay the rent,” Trinity said grudgingly.

“My hero,” Veronica declared. “Have an ice cream sandwich.”

She passed them out and the conversation went quiet as they unwrapped their snacks.

“I can’t believe I’m not having that nightmare anymore, and we’re all up in the middle of the night anyway,” Brooke said, shaking her head.

“Well these ice cream sandwiches won’t eat themselves,” Veronica said wisely.

“Besides, it’s too hot to sleep,” Brooke added.

“I guess if you’re sleeping with a six foot four alien it is,” Trinity grumbled.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Brooke suggested.

Trinity rolled her eyes.

“Why aren’t you into Hawkeye?” Veronica asked.

“I have six little brothers,” Trinity said lightly. “I don’t need a giant man child.”

“He’s not a child,” Brooke said.

It was true. Hawkeye wasn’t a child. The world was new to him, but not because he was a baby.

“He certainly doesn’t look like a child,” Veronica added.

“God, no he doesn’t,” Brooke said. “Have you seen his arms, like really looked at them?”

“And those eyes,” Veronica said. “George Clooney eyes.”

Given that Hawkeye wasn’t her boyfriend, Trinity felt a little shocked at the pride that bubbled up in her chest, hearing his looks complimented. She had never thought of herself as the kind of shallow person who would get mileage out of a boyfriend’s appearance. But hearing anything about him seemed to give her pleasure lately.

“So you really aren’t attracted to him?” Brooke asked, turning to Trinity.

“How could I not be attracted to him?”

“He’s certainly attracted to you,” Veronica said.

Trinity felt her heart leap, even though of course she already knew he liked her. He wasn’t exactly subtle about it.

“I don’t know,” she said weakly.

“Are you kidding me?” Brooke asked. “You walk into a room and he lights up. I swear he doesn’t just turn to you, his hair starts growing in your direction.”

“Ha,” Trinity laughed.

“She’s not kidding,” Veronica said. “I know marrying an alien was not a life plan for any of us. But he’s nice, Trinity, and he likes you. Why don’t you at least give him a chance?”

Of course Trinity couldn’t answer her fully. Some secrets were too deep to share. Not even her friends knew she was a white-hat hacker.

“I like things peaceful,” she said simply. “He shakes things up. And that’s not going to change.”

It wasn’t a lie.

“Well…” Veronica mused.

“What?” Trinity asked.

“I was just thinking that maybe you could use a little shaking up,” she said.

Trinity gave Veronica a little shove.

Then Veronica began asking Brooke about her upcoming meeting with Jade St. Vincent. They were supposed to get together to figure out if Jade was really going to invest in the gym. Veronica, who often did fundraising to support the K-9 program, seemed very interested in each tiny adjustment in the calculations surrounding the difference between partnering with Jade and just paying her a private mortgage against the building.

Trinity listened as best she could, but she was grateful to her friends for not faulting her wandering mind.

Although maybe wandering wasn’t the right word, since it always went straight back to Hawkeye.

They were right. He did seem to like her a lot. And of course she was attracted to him.

But she had finally gotten out on her own - out from under the responsibility of helping her stretched-thin parents care for all those baby brothers. She could finally follow her own passion and do something meaningful.

Trinity had spent most of her life feeling invisible. The ten-year old changing her brothers’ diapers. The twenty-year old sloughing through IT classes. And the lifeless adult work of digitizing endless yellowed files.

Her computer had always been her outlet.

And the pro bono work she was doing now made her feel important and unique. With her particular skill set, and her desire to help those who didn’t have a voice, Trinity was finally becoming a person in her own right - not just a daughter or a sister or an employee.

If she let her body make her decisions, she would soon find herself babysitting an immature alien.

Although her friends were right about that too. He sure didn’t look like a baby.

His arms were like tree trunks, and those dreamy eyes…

But Trinity was too experienced to think he could be dreamy for long. She knew how guys who looked like Hawkeye acted when they weren’t trying to make a good impression.

Best case they were goofy and hapless, like her brothers.

But too many times they wound up just like the jocks in school, the ones that made fun of her, but still tried to look down her shirt.

Guys with muscles like Hawkeye’s were trouble. As soon as he assimilated to life on Earth, he’d get the message that his fame and good looks meant he didn’t have to be on good behavior. And then he would change.

Plus, most of the online work she did required strict anonymity. That would be pretty much impossible if she married an alien. Veronica’s friend, Georgia, said the government was likely tapping their lines and watching their communications.

And even if the government didn’t take an interest, the media would.

As soon as it came out that the guys at the academy were aliens, which was only a matter of time, she’d be plastered all over the net with the rest of them.

No. She would not get involved with Hawkeye.

No matter how pretty his eyes were. Or how good his triceps looked when he lifted those heavy file boxes.

Or how many times he looked at her like that, like she was his whole world…

“I’m going back to bed,” Brooke said, rousing Trinity from her own thoughts.

“Yeah, there’s still time to catch a few Z’s,” Veronica agreed.

Trinity got up too and followed her friends back inside. But instead of heading to bed, she decided to try getting a little work done.

If she wasn’t going to sleep, she might as well pack up a few file boxes.