AN: Hi There! First of all, I should say that English is not my first language, so please bear with mistakes and let me know if something is not correct.

The Story takes place after civil war but I have changed quite a few Things. For example, Bucky turned himself in and now slowly recovers in a new S.H.I.E.L.D base, where Fury is still the director.

Enjoy and let me know what you think

Chapter 1

Maria Hill looked up from her desk in the new S.H.I.E.L.D base as soon as she heard tentative steps coming in her direction. When she spotted the young woman, she hurried over to her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Shelly, oh god, it's so good to see you, how have you been?" Maria held the woman – Shelly – at arm's length to get a closer look at her and smiled genuinely. "You look better.", she exclaimed when Shelly obviously struggled to answer her question, finally settling on "I'm holding up, thank you". Maria noticed the slight shiver in her tone but ignored it – after all, Shelly did look healthier than the last time she had seen the blonde agent.

The younger woman took a step back and let out a deep breath to stop her voice from breaking. "Why am I here?" She felt the panic inside her rise slowly at the unfamiliar setting. In this moment she regretted having come back and wanted to run. Just run and curl up in her familiar bed where no one could hurt her and nobody could get hurt by her. But no, she had come and now she was going to stay to find out what was important enough for them to call her. Shelly cursed herself silently – her curiosity was what had gotten her into that mess in the first place.

"Fury's waiting in there", Maria pointed to the wide steel door behind them. With a slow nod, Shelly silenced her inner daemons and made her way across the hallway. Suddenly, Maria reached out to grab her elbow and the younger agent felt her breath hitch at the movement. Sensing the uneasiness, Maria held up her hands to signal that she was no threat. "One more thing, Shelly. We wouldn't have called you if we had any other option, you know that."

The blonde woman reached the door but turned around again to smile at her former supervisor. "It's that important, huh?" With a last glance at Maria's apologetic gesture, Shelly opened the door and stepped inside, bracing herself for the order she was about to get.

xXx

Inside the giant office, she was faced with the director's back. As she knew him well enough to pick up on even tiny details others might have missed, she saw his left shoulder tense for a second. He was aware that she was in the room – even more than that, he was scared to face her for the first time since she resigned.

The silence in the spacious room was almost unbearable, even if it lasted only mere seconds. "Welcome back, agent Collins." Fury's deep and dusty voice sounded far too familiar for a moment and she had to force herself not to flinch at the mass of memories that came rushing in. "I am not an agent anymore, Fury." Her dark green eyes met his brown ones and they displayed her fears and anger openly. "I am not going into the field again.", Shelly wrung out as she still stared him down. Fury simply nodded and averted his gaze, looking out of one of the many human-sized windows. "I know", he stated in a somewhat emphatic tone, "We would never do this to you. And yes, I know, that you resigned and asked me to leave you alone, but we need you." Shelly let out a softer sigh and cocked her head slightly to her side, a habit she had inherited by her mother. "What's the situation, director?"

Fury once again turned around to meet her eyes, his mouth slightly twitching and a single drop of sweat appearing on his forehead. To see the director at a loss of words was almost hilarious, if it wouldn't mean bad news, at least.

"We currently have a patient living at the base, a war veteran. He seems unable to cope with his experiences and everything we have tried so far has failed. He won't talk to counsellors, even shows aggressive behaviour towards them. We thought that maybe you could get through to him and help him readjust to the normal world." The intensity in Fury's gaze heightened as he waited for the woman to react. Her expression, on the other hand, went blank. Shelly kept replaying his words in her mind to find a hidden meaning. There had to be some hidden meaning, they would not just bring her back as a recovery buddy for some PTSD patient. They wouldn't.

When the former agent finally spoke, it was only three words: "Who is he?"

Fury brought his right hand up to brush away the drops of sweat that have accumulated on his forehead. "Do you remember the Winter Soldier?"