Bandaged Moments

For a fraction of a second, Amelia considered ignoring the ringing phone.

She had been in a fitful sort of sleep, drifting in and out of uneasy dreams, and the thought to bury her head under the pillow and pretend she hadn't heard her cell phone was such a welcoming thought. But it was too late at night (or too early in the morning) to really consider ignoring whatever was waiting on the other end of the line. She reached out a hand and slanted the phone towards her, squinting against the brightness of the screen.

Unknown Caller.

That definitely didn't sound like good news, she thought, and the jolt of unease helped shed some of the grogginess that clung to her.

"Hello?" Her voice was still thick with sleep, the hoarseness almost making her unintelligible. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Hello?"

All she heard was silence. After listening for a few seconds she realized she could make out low whispers in the background. The icy cold realization that this wasn't a typical social phone call was rapidly erasing any and all remaining tendrils of sleepiness. As she contemplated the odds of this being a prank call, a wrong number, or even a butt dial, her mind raced to the alternatives.

Car crash? Burglary? Maybe her father's heart had finally had enough, all the cheeseburgers and smoking he did in his early years catching up to him. Maybe her moth-

"Mia?" The voice on the other side was hesitant, but steady. "Is that you?"

Amelia didn't recognize her at first. She certainly hadn't heard that voice in a long time. The moment her mind matched a face to go with the voice, she let out a tiny gasp. Memories rushed to her all at once, everything falling in place as the good and the bad struggled to come to the forefront. Her hand began to shake as it clutched the phone tighter and from a small part of her brain came the gratitude that she was still in bed. She knew she most certainly would have struggled to stand otherwise.

The silence stretched out, either side unwilling to break it. Or not knowing how.

"We need help," Amelia finally heard, her heart thumping in her chest.

Amelia didn't need to ask who the "we" included. For as long as she had known her, the young woman on the phone, she had known him. But that was a long time ago.

"Please, Mia. I know…" There was a long pause as the woman from her past struggled to find the words to say. "He needs you, he made me promise I wouldn't try to find you. I wouldn't have called if I had another option." Another pause, this time longer. "He's in trouble."

Again, Amelia fought back the urge to say. He's in trouble again. She pulled the phone away from her ear and took in a couple of shaky breaths. Her thumb floated about the red hang up icon, the desire to make everything disappear almost over taking her. She had enough strength to walk away once, barely, but could she do it again? The woman reaching out to her now, Natasha, had been a huge part in her life at some point, even considered her family. It had killed her to walk away, but keeping her in her life while cutting him out was impossible. In the end, loosing all contact had been the only thing that made sense. It had almost broken her.

And now? Now she was convinced she could handle things differently. Handle herself differently. Potentially.

"Where?"

….

She spotted Natasha almost immediately, her red hair and furtive demeanor dead giveaways.

The diner was completely empty, except the elderly waitress trudging along with a tepid pot of coffee in hand. The walls were a garish burnt orange, long ago faded and deemed too expensive to repaint. Amelia had never been here, and she suspected that Natasha had picked this place for a particular reason.

As soon as she saw Amelia making her way to the back of the diner, she stood up and awkwardly stood by the table. "I almost convinced myself you wouldn't show up."

"I almost didn't."

Both women faced each other and contemplated their situation, neither knowing how to proceed. At last, Amelia sighed and sat down, pulling the laminated and sticky menu towards her. "What's good in this joint?"

Natasha smiled blandly. "Definitely not the food."

Amelia pushed the menu away and glanced at the redhead in front of her. It had been so long since she had seen her, so long since they had simply sat down and had a friendly conversation. The last time they had spoken… well, they hadn't really had a last conversation, had they?

"How did you find my number?" She questioned idly. In truth, the answer wasn't nearly as important as to the why. But she wasn't quite ready to hear the reason, to talk about the elephant in the room. She hoped Natasha knew she felt that way. The woman always had a knack to read people like a book. It was something she had learned to appreciate, if not accept. Whether she used her skill to benefit another was a different story.

"Did you really think you could disappear without a trail? That we wouldn't have a way to find you?" Nat simply raised an eyebrow, seemingly more at ease now that they had sat down and exchanged words. "There was one reason why no one tried to get a hold of you." She paused for a moment, unsure if she should continue. "Well, actually two, if you count his own demands that you be left alone."

Amelia grimaced at the mention, determined not to let herself be rattled. Determined not to let Natasha see her be rattled. She wrapped her jacket tighter around her, suddenly regretting her decision not to get dressed in proper clothes. Her wool pajama pants and plain t-shirt were doing a poor job in instilling confidence and commanding respect. Especially in comparison to Natasha's skin tight jeans, black boots, and stone cold stare. The woman certainly knew how to unnerve an individual.

"I tried so hard to leave this life behind, Nat." Amelia leaned forward, elbows on the table and face resting on her cupped hands. "You can't call me in the middle of the night and expect me to come back with open arms. It's not that easy, it was never that easy."

"I know."

"Then why are we here, Nat? Why did you call me?" Amelia was unaware that she had raised her voice, but a quick frown from the waitress gave her an idea. She lowered her tone, but not the borderline desperation coating it. "I have a life now. I have a job… I can't drop everything again for this. For him."

"I wouldn't ask if it weren't important, if I thought I could help him myself." Natasha looked at her pointedly, her gaze steady and unflinching. "You once promised to have his back until the end. I'm just trying to cash in on that promise."

Amelia felt the words land a punch to her gut, felt the heavy weight settle in her heart. She had said those words, many times in fact. And she had meant them.

"But things change," she half whispered. "The man I made those promises to..."She let her voice trail off, knowing Natasha would understand what she was trying to say.

"He needs you." Natasha leaned back on her chair, never taking her eyes off of her. "You brought him back once from the edge, and you can do that again."

"And if I can't? If he's too far gone?" Amelia played with a loose thread coming undone from her pants, quietly voicing the fear that both women shared. She had spent the last few years of her life trying desperately to move on from the life that had nearly killed her. It hadn't been easy, but she had done it. She had cut herself off from the people she loved dearly, had spent months regretting her choice. Finally, she had been able to come to terms with it. Now it all seemed...irrelevant.

"That's why I called you. The bond you shared was enough to save him once. Maybe it will be enough again." Natasha glanced at her watch, frowned, and shook her head. "We don't have a lot of time. I need to know now if you're willing to help."

Amelia had long ago forgiven Natasha for the cold, and quite frankly, rude way she dealt with people. But that was years ago and this time was different. This time she had been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and taken to a place she was unfamiliar with. She was no longer the naive child who spent a good chunk of time feeding a silly infatuation (definitely not love) that only seemed to lead to bad decisions. This time she had an actual backbone.

"No, don't do that. Don't put pressure on me." The waitress had been hovering in the back, going from wiping the wobbly tables to sweeping the back corner of the diner. Amelia felt the hairs on the back of her head stand up but she couldn't tell why. She focused on the impatient face of the woman in front of her. "Besides, you haven't exactly been forthcoming with me."

Natasha looked startled at the accusation but not surprised. "What exactly do you want to know? I can't tell you much until I know you're in, but you already knew that."

Yes, Amelia knew the rules of the game, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try and bend them. "Why now, Nat? What could have possibly happened to force your hand this way? I left, I deserted the team. I betrayed everything that you stood for. You should be trying to kill me, not trying to convince me to come back."

And that's when Amelia truly realized the gravity of the situation. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Natasha's face changed. The facade fell and she could see the crack in the armor. In a fit of desperation she wished she hadn't asked because whatever the reason was, it was enough to bring tears to Natasha's eyes. She, who had buried too many family members without shedding a single tear, was now wiping a traitorous one from her cheek.

"Steve Rogers is dead."

And just like that, the decision was made.

ooooo

A/N: I have spent a long time away from writing so forgive any mistakes along the way. All characters are human (so no green hulk) but I will try to retain character personalities as much as possible.