Chapter Two: Reunion Part One
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, New York, 2001…
Eva looked up as her head nurse, Alisha O'Brien, burst through the door. "Captain Rogers has an incoming emergency. Forceful amputation," she informed the doctor.
Eva stood up immediately. "Who's the patient?" she asked.
"Sergeant James Barnes," Alisha replied and Eva froze, her heart jumping into her mouth. "Eva?"
Eva swallowed. "Get him set up in the emergency theatre," she ordered. "I'll be with you momentarily."
Alisha frowned at the Omega but did as she was told.
Eva took a few deep breaths, placing her hand on her stomach. "Please, please, let him be okay," she whispered. "For our pup, please let me save him."
Present Day; Mexico City, Mexico, 2006...
Eva was brought out of her thoughts when she looked up to see her child come in with his nanny. "Hola, Senoira Eva," Anderia greeted as Diego raced over to his mother who easily lifted him into a hug.
"I missed you, Mama," the little boy whispered into the crook of her neck.
"I missed you too, Diego," Eva whispered, pressing her lips to his head.
Eva hugged Diego tightly before sending him off into the playroom with Anderia going back home to her family who owned a bakery. Anderia was a good young woman who dreamed of becoming a nurse so babysitting for Diego helped and she adored the boy who had thick black hair and mysterious grey eyes.
She looked at her son as he played with the family dog, Hector, and smiled softly. But looking at her bond mark, she was overcome with loss and sorrow.
He should be here.
But he was gone. Gone before she could even tell him about being pregnant and the grief of losing the one person who had actually loved her and treated her like a person aside from Clint and Barney... It had broken her.
She'd nearly killed herself because of it. Eva remembered how she had taken an overdose of painkillers when Clint had come to check on her and found her unconscious. Eva had felt so ashamed. She'd thought she had nothing to live for after losing her soulmate and then being told she might lose her baby as well… That had been the worst days of her life. She toyed with her necklace, a gift from James after they mated for the first time.
"I miss you," she whispered sadly to her bond mark, as if he would hear her words.
He would have loved Diego. Before he was captured by HYDRA and lost his arm, as well as his memory of them due to extreme experimentation and following recovery surgeries, they had spoken about having their own litter. And then they took him from her. He wanted a big family, as did she. But after she lost him to the drugs HYDRA had piled into him, she hadn't been the same...
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, New York, 2001…
Eva could've vomited when she entered the theatre. James was lying on the operating table, his left arm missing. His shoulder showed signs of various operations, leaving little time of the skin grafts to heal properly. She looked to the porter standing at the door. "Go to Director Fury. Request for Project Starkiller to be initiated for possible limp replacement for Sergeant Barnes," she requested before making her way over to where her mate lay on the operating table.
"Keep him on blood infusions as I try to stop the bleeding," she ordered as she began the operation to stem the blood loss.
She managed to the stop the blood loss. Her eyes burned with tears as she saw what those HYDRA bastards had done to her mate and stroked his cheek tenderly. The orderly came back and confirmed that Fury had given her the go ahead.
Eva began slowly but carefully giving James a new left arm, a cybernetic arm that was made out of vibranium and invincible against anything aside from vibranium.
Once the operation was done, she had him brought into a room. She sat by his bedside with tears silently swimming down her tanned cheeks as she looked at him.
He was still hers but he wouldn't remember her, only see her name on his right arm and would never know their baby.
"I love you. Please remember me, Jamie," Eva whispered softly and kissed his forehead. She left the necklace that she had made for him on the table with a wolf on it, before leaving.
She sobbed as Clint pulled her into his arms, mourning for her mate who wouldn't remember her.
"He won't remember me, will he?" she whispered hoarsely against Clint's chest as he held her close.
Clint pressed his lips to Eva's head. "No," he answered. "He barely recognised me."
Eva couldn't stop the sob escaping her mouth. "I'm pregnant, Clint," she whispered.
Clint's eyes slid closed. "I got your back, hermanita," he whispered. "I've got you," he promised, slowly rocking her as she cried for the loss of her mate…
Mexico City, Mexico, 2006...
James walked into the hospital, dressed in the all-black uniform used by the hospital's security system. He couldn't help but feel nervous as the security head, Javier Rodriguez, showed him around. "Señor, you will be working mainly with the A&E surgeons," Javier informed him.
James nodded. "How many surgeons?" he asked.
"One," Javier replied, surprising James. "There's a war going on. Not many surgeons left for the public."
James nodded in understanding. "I understand. What's the surgeons name?"
"Señoira Eva Santos. American trained doctor. She's an Omega. But she doesn't act like one."
"What do you mean by that?" James asked curiously as they entered the break room and sat down, both having a coffee from the coffee machine in the corner.
"Señoira Santos is one of the best surgeons that we have. Since last year she's managed to save fifty nine lives out of sixty lives. She's saved people from being blown up, gunshots to the chest, leg, stomach and even some near fatal head wounds. The city is a war zone and it's not helping that we have the Dios Los Muretos Gang fighting the Rising Sun Gang over territory and drugs. Hell even some of the cops are corrupt and God only knows what they'll do to keep other people quiet," Javier said grimly as he drank his coffee and looked at James's left metal arm. "Were you in the army?" he inquired curiously and James nodded as he looked at his metal arm then.
"Yeah, you could say that," James said quietly as he then looked at Eva's name that glowed on the inside of his forearm. She was close.
"I'm sorry," Javier said sympathetically and he nodded at him his thanks before he went to take his shift.
James stood up and began his own shift. He saw that half of the hospital beds were filled up with people who had clearly been injured during the gang war while nurses and doctors checking on the patients.
While he was doing his rounds, he found Eva. She was dressed in black jeans, low heeled boots, with a white doctor's coat, her long black hair pulled up in a loose bun. His mate.
'I found her,' he thought as he felt his Alpha-side growled at the sight of her. He stood out of the way as he watched her work on a young child that had been brought in. The child whimpered and was looking for her parents. Eva was kind and gentle with the girl. She healed whatever broken bones the little girl had before cleaning her cuts.
James swallowed, controlling his urges as the girl's mother arrived, thanking Eva profoundly. Eva smiled and requested a nurse to help them up to the children's words. As they left, Eva turned and stopped when she spotted James watching her. "James," she breathed, not believing her eyes.
James noticed her reaction. He closed the gap between them, not really caring about protocol. Before he could say anything, she led him to her office, shutting the door after him. She closed the blinds and looked at him. "What are you doing here, James?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
James opened his mouth. "We've met before?" he asked, frowning in confusion.
Eva's heart broke; he still didn't remember her. "Yes. Before. Before what happened to your arm," she answered honestly.
James's heart was racing. He remembered soft smiles and slow nights but he couldn't put a face to the person in his dreams. "Eva," he whispered, stepping closer when he smelled the pain coming from his Omega.
She stayed still as he approached her, her primeval instincts already returning to what they had before his injuries. "Jamie," she answered as he cupped her face with his flesh hand. She could see her name glowing on the inside of his arm. Like the way hers was glowing too. "Why are you here?" she asked again.
James frowned. "People want to hurt you. The organisation I work for want to protect you," he answered.
Eva let out a humourless chuckle. "S.H.I.E.L.D. sent you," she stated rather than asked. "I don't need you protection, Jamie" she informed him.
"Doesn't matter, Eva. I'm staying here and you aren't stopping me from protecting you. You are my mate," James said quietly and Eva couldn't argue against that as she looked at him and felt his metal hand cup her face.
She didn't flinch away; she hadn't seen him for so long and he was right here in front of her. It was taking all of her energy not to kiss him but she knew that they needed to discuss things first as she sat down on the grey sofa in her office.
"I remember you," James said quietly as he looked at her, causing her to look up as he sat down beside her.
"What do you remember?" Eva asked quietly as she looked at her Alpha. She so badly wanted to touch his face and see if he was real.
"Being at a beach and... in a house," James said thoughtfully as he remembered his dreams with Eva and she looked at him with shimmering dark brown eyes; he remembered the house that they had lived in before he had been attacked and lost his arm and his memories of them.
"We lived there," Eva whispered finally. "For six months. Before you were captured by HYDRA and lost your arm." She looked at him. "They experimented with your mind. You barely recognised Clint when Captain Rogers rescued you. If you didn't recognise Clint, there was less of a chance you'd recognise me."
James frowned. "Why did you leave?" he asked, frowning. "If we were bonded, why did you leave?"
Eva bit her bottom lip. "I was pregnant," she finally answered. "I couldn't stand the thought of having your pup but having you forget about us."
James frowned and looked down at his metal arm. "So you left because they took my memories. Not because I lost my arm."
Eva reached over and took his metal hand in his. "Jamie… I was the one who operated on you when they brought you in," she informed him. "I was able to heal the damage so that I could attach the metal arm. Project Starkiller. It was an initiation that I developed under Nick's sanction and using Stark designs to have metallic limbs available to give to agents if they lost them in the line of duty." She brushed her thumb over his knuckles. "Your arm would never have been a problem for me, Jamie," she promised.
James frowned. "I've been feral since this," he informed her, making her eyes widen in disbelief. "I wondered why. You know, since being bonded means that you will only go feral after you've lost your mate. And I couldn't remember you. And you weren't there."
Eva brought his hand to her lips, her eyes sliding closed. If she hadn't left, he wouldn't have gone feral. "I'm so sorry, Jamie," she whispered.
James shook his head. "Our… Where is our pup?" he finally asked.
Eva smiled. "Diego Francisco Santos-Barnes," she told him. "He's with his nanny, Andreia, while I'm working."
"What does he look like?" James asked quietly but he couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the thought of having a pup with his mate.
"He looks like you but has my skin tone. I named him Diego as it means James in Spanish," Eva explained softly as she looked at his metal hand and held it tightly. "Francisco is for Clint, because Clint is his Godfather."
James swallowed as he watched her stand up and walk over to her desk. She came back with a photo of a four-year-old boy with short black hair, olive skin and the grey eyes that matched James'. This was his pup, his son.
"Does he know about me?" James asked finally and Eva looked away for a minute but he cupped her face in his metal hand so she couldn't turn away.
"I told him that you were gone. I'm so sorry, Jamie... I never meant to hurt you or our pup," Eva confessed, heartbroken, as tears began to slowly fall down her cheeks. She tried to wipe her eyes before James stopped her and wiped her tears away himself.
"Please don't cry, I hate seeing you cry," James implored as he pulled her into his arms then and inhaled her wild roses scent. He had a family, he had a son. That was why Javier had mentioned that Eva wasn't seeing anyone; everyone assumed her mate had died. "I'm here now. I'm not leaving you or our pup," James promised firmly as he wiped her eyes.
Eva leaned against her Alpha's forehead. "I missed you so much," she whispered, her voice hoarse from tears.
James smiled softly and cupped her face with his metal hand. "Stay?" he asked, the one word meaning so much.
"Yes," she answered, smiling when he kissed her deeply. She automatically let him control the kiss, her Omega side submitting to her Alpha. He cupped the back of her head and deepened the kiss, wanting to feel as close to her as possible without breaking any indecency laws. He pulled her so she was straddling his lap, their mouths working together.
Eventually they broke the kiss to breathe, leaning against each other. James smiled as he opened his eyes, watching Eva carefully. "As much as I want to take you right now," he started, watching her carefully. "I think that would be too forward before we figure out everything," he finished.
Eva smiled and shook her head. "Always the gentleman," she teased, pecking his lips softly. "But I agree. And I want you to meet Diego before we mate again," she added, almost phrasing it like a question.
James grinned. "After work?" he asked, hopeful.
Eva chuckled and nodded; her mate was a pup. "Yes. After work," she promised, trailing her hands through his hair. When he had been taken by HYDRA, his hair had grown out but he had changed it since then, back to his normal short cut hair style. "I've waited for this for such a long time."
James grinned and kissed her again. Eva smiled as she leaned into his embrace. He held her tightly and buried his face into her thick curly hair, just simply wanting to hold her tightly.
"I've waited a long time too, Eva," James whispered quietly and held onto her tightly, loving the feel of her in his arms and kissed her again then before reluctantly letting her go.
She smiled up at him and watched as he left, a smile on her face as she fixed herself up before heading off to check on her patients to while James had gone outside.
During his afternoon break, James joined Eva in her office as they shared a plate of nachos and a pizza each. Eva looked outside the window wearily. "It's too quiet," she stated quietly. Suddenly, they heard a noise outside the office, causing them to head outside. They found a young man searching for the medicine cabinet.
"What are you doing?" Eva asked calmly, causing the man to look up in surprise at seeing her and James.
"Need medicine, bitch!" the younger man, a Beta by the smell of him, snarled at Eva. He pulled out his gun, pointing it at her. Eva froze before James pushed her out of the way. The two men shot at each other, James' bullet hitting the man between the eyes.
James snarled in pain, looking down at his flesh arm, finding the gang member's bullet lodged in his arm.
Eva went over and checked the pulse of the man before other security staff arrived. "You can take him down to the morgue," she told them, leaving no room for argument. She stood up and walked back over to her mate. "Your lack of self-preservation hasn't changed," she hissed at him before Javier arrived.
"Great shot, Señor," Javier said to James as Eva checked his arm. "You'll need to get that looked at," he added with a concerned frown.
"I'll do it," Eva stated, glaring at James when he opened his mouth to protest. Javier bit back a smirk and nodded, leaving the two alone. Eva pulled James into her office, grabbing a tweezers, a bowl, bandages and antiseptic alcohol as they moved.
She sat him down on her desk. She took a scissors and cut the fabric off the short sleeve of his flesh arm. She poured some alcohol on the wound before beginning to fish out the bullet. James remained reasonably quiet as she worked, watching her face as she removed the bullet from his arm. He could smell her fear, knowing that she was afraid that the bullet could've hit him in much worse places.
"Eva," he whispered as she pulled out the bullet from his arm, tossing it into the bowl. She didn't respond, placing the bullet in the bowl with the tweezers. She healed his arm before stopping to leave a scar and looked up at him.
"Want me to leave it like that to remind you of the fights we used to have?" she asked, a bite to her tone.
James opened his mouth to reply before stalling when he smelt his Omega's scent suddenly began to sweeten; more deeper and potent than he remembered in his dreams. "Eva?" he started, pulling back slightly as she braced herself against the desk, her knuckles pure white as she gripped the cheap wood. His Alpha instincts began to take over, his feral side still present despite finding his mate again; it was calling for him to claim her once more.
Eva whimpered as her heat suddenly hit her, a sudden sharp pain starting in her lower stomach, something she hadn't felt in four years due to using suppressants since she had lost James. "Jamie," she gasped, whimpering as he breathed deeply beside her. Her heats had always been hard for her. But with her Alpha so close, she was practically in agony. She desperately needed him to knot inside her; she hadn't had him in almost five years.
"We're going home," James started, fixing his shirt before pulling her into his arms. "Now."
Mexico City, Mexico, 2001…
Clint frowned at her in concern. "Are you sure you want to this?" he asked.
Eva swallowed and looked down at the baby in her arms; he was the image of his father. "I can't stay here, Clint," she finally answered, looking up at her oldest friend. "I can't stay here when Jamie doesn't even remember me. It hurts too much."
Clint nodded in understanding. He leaned down and kissed Eva's head before kissing Diego's. "If you ever need anything, let me know," he informed her. "Anything at all, you call me."
Eva smiled; in all the years she had known him, Clint had never lost his caring side. "I promise," she answered.
Clint sighed and nodded. "Good luck, Eva," Clint told her.
She smiled and nodded, kissing his cheek. "I hope you find your own mate soon, Clint."
"So do I," he answered. "I'll see you again, Eva," he told her.
"Until next time, Clint," she replied. She held her son close as she walked up to the plane waiting to bring her out of America. And away from James….
To answer the reviews from the previous chapters:
ClintBartonsGirl92: Thank you :) Hope this was worth the wait :)
DarylDixon'sLover: Thank you – you did help by writing half :)
