A/N: Hi friends! Thank you for being patient for this update! Like I said before the story is finished but I like being able to take extra time and revise and edit chapters before I post them. I was going to wait to post this until I was more ahead of editing chapters but after watching the Civil War trailer I just had to post this (it killed me, my poor lil Steve and Bucky). Anyway, please do enjoy!

Claire felt out of place. She was tucked into the corner while Natasha, Steve, and Maria Hill watched Fury's operation. It felt like such a private moment and she was merely a pest. She turned her hearing aides off before they got into the room, she knew everyone's thoughts would be too reflective and personal for them to want her to hear. But having the voices off was just as uncomfortable as having them on. Sure, the migraine slowly started to seep away and her body felt a little stronger, but it was uncomfortable not being able to hear people's thoughts. Mind-reading had become like a 6th sense for her, relying on it even more than her actual hearing. Without it she felt useless.

"I'll find him Natasha," Steve vowed, the USB in his pocket was burning. He needed answers. Why was Claire involved? Why had Fury insisted that Claire was the only person he could trust? And who was that man on the roof? Steve wanted to ask Claire, but he was still frightened by how quickly she had shown up in his apartment and how she managed to calm him down on the roof. So he would settle for going to SHIELD for a few answers.

"I'll be back," Steve said and stalked out the door, Claire on his heels.

"Why did Fury say I could trust you? How much do you know?" Steve asked her, his voice not the warm kind one she was used to. This wasn't Steve anymore. It was Captain America.

"I don't know! I've been helping Fury watch a few people recently with plans to compromise SHIELD but nothing ever came up, everyone was either out of my range or blocking my powers, we're not really sure how," Claire explained, her pulse quickening.

"You're coming with me to SHIELD then," Steve said, placing a hand on her arm and leading him to the parking garage with his bike. He handed her the only helmet he had and waited for her to get on the back of the bike. She didn't understand why he was so upset, it's not like he was Nick's biggest fan. She wanted to turn her ears back on but she was too busy holding on for dear life as Steve weaved through the streets towards SHIELD.

…

Claire waited patiently outside Pierce's office while Steve spoke with him. Of course she could hear the whole conversation, but only from Steve's side. For some reason, she couldn't hear any of Pierce's thoughts, whenever she tried it was just silence. This wasn't the first time this had happened to her. The first time being her encounter with Magneto, one of Professor X's old friend-turned-enemy, who wore a dark helmet that blocked her from hearing any of his thoughts. She was young when it happened, only 10, had barely even been with the professor that long.

Years ago…

Charles had many friends that Claire had come to know. Besides the typical cast of friends who lived in the mansion with them, he had other friends who would come from all over the world to have a cup of tea with him. Charles introduced each one of them to Claire, fondly referring to her as his daughter when they would glance at her. So when Charles came to Claire one late summer evening with the news of a guest, she wasn't surprised.

"My dearest Claire, I have a special guest coming over later this evening. He is one of my oldest friends, but he isn't like us," the professor said.

"Isn't like us? He is not a mutant?" A young Claire asked.

"No dear, he is a mutant, but he doesn't have quite the same beliefs as we do," the professor explained and flashes of their tumultuous friendship flashed across his mind and effectively across Claire's.

"How can you still call him your friend after everything he has done?" Claire asked, appalled.

"Claire, I know you can see what he has done to me, but you will never be able to feel how I feel about him," the professor sighed.

"No, I won't. How could you forgive him? For taking your legs from you? From taking Raven?" Claire asked, feeling a bit naive.

"Because I knew what he had gone through, I knew him. It is very hard to explain, maybe you can understand better when you meet him."

"I will try to be open-minded professor," Claire promised.

"I know you will," the professor smiled brightly at her.

Magneto came through a separate door into the professor's wing of the mansion because Charles didn't want to alarm anyone with Erik's presence. They greeted each other with warm smiles and a handshake.

"It's been too long old friend," Magneto said warmly.

"It has," the professor agreed.

"What has prompted such a reunion?" Magneto asked calmly while taking a seat in front of Charles.

"I wanted to speak with you about a few things. But first, I wanted you to meet someone very special to me," the professor said, gesturing to a fragile Claire who had hidden herself behind the professor. Magneto was shocked to see the little dark-haired girl behind Charles.

"A new mutant? This isn't exactly exciting news, Charles," Magneto laughed cruelly.

"You have misunderstood Erik, this is Claire, my adopted daughter. She is a mutant like us, a mind-reader actually."

"Where did you find her?" Magneto asked calmly.

"That's why I have asked you here, I was hoping that maybe you would have some insight on that. But we can talk about it later. Claire, please introduce yourself," Charles said and Claire timidly stepped forward.

"Hello dear," Erik said, a hand extended for her to shake. Claire stared at his hand and then narrowed her eyes at his helmet. She couldn't hear his thoughts and it felt foreign to her.

"Ah, you're trying to read my mind. Well, I'm afraid that while I wear this, you will be unable to hear my thoughts," Erik smiled which only made Claire stare harder.

"My dear Claire, his helmet was one of the main pieces of inspiration for your aides," Charles said to her.

"Really?" She asked delicately.

"Yes, you see, his helmet keeps my mind out, and your aides keep other minds out. His helmet is special, it's protection, just like your aides."

"Aides?" Erik asked puzzled.

"Yes, Erik, my dear Claire is very special. She is a very powerful mind-reader, more powerful than myself, perhaps a little too powerful. When we first found her she could hear every mind for miles away. It caused her a tremendous amount of pain, but we created a device that helped filter out all but one mind at a time, using the technology of your helmet," Charles explained.

"Fascinating. We truly do have a lot to talk about," Erik said pensively. The evening went on much like that, questions asked and various people answering. Mostly Charles and Erik spoke, but occasionally Claire chimed in. Overall, it was an evening Claire had never forgotten, it was her first experience with a quiet mind.

As she thought back to her first encounter with a quiet mind, Steve came out quickly and tugged her arm to leave. She followed him down the hallway and into the elevator without saying a word.

"What's going on?" She finally asked.

"What did you hear?" Steve countered.

"Nothing, Pierce's mind is dead-silent."

"That's what I feared. I know he's hiding something from me and I was hoping that you could get the information, but I should've known he would've figured out some way to block you. Has this happened to you before?" Steve asked.

"Only once and he was wearing a helmet especially designed to block mind-readers. And from your thoughts I saw that he definitely wasn't wearing a helmet," Claire sighed.

"Exactly."

"Which means he does have some sort of technology capable of keeping me out. Meaning he knows I'm involved in this…" Claire said gravely.

"Don't worry, Claire. I will keep you safe," Steve said fiercely, his hands squeezing her shoulders comfortingly.

Their moment was interrupted by the elevator doors opening and none other than Brock Rumlow entering. Claire jumped away from Steve, to look uninvolved, innocent. Rumlows eyes roamed over Steve in his uniform and then quickly glanced over to Claire.

"Cap," Rumlow remarked.

"Rumlow," Steve said lowly.

"Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the Tac team ready?" Rumlow asked arrogantly. Steve only narrowed his eyes.

"Great, he's got the mind-reader with him...two birds, one stone…" Rumlow thought to himself, his mind floating to thoughts of cuffing her and watching him kill the Captain in front of her.

"No, let's wait and see what it is first," Steve responded, analyzing Brock's posture, he was too rigid, too coiled, like a lion preparing to attack.

They had only went down one floor when the doors opened again and more, larger men poured into the elevator, effectively pressing Claire tighter against Steve, her body remained rigid in fear. She had to warn Steve, had to tell him what they had in store for him. But he already knew, nimbly tucking Claire behind him and looking at her intensely for a brief moment.

"Before we get started, would anyone like to get out?" Steve asked calmly. Then hell broke loose. Bodies were rioting and crashing into each other with force loud enough that it sounded like thunder. Claire tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, forcing herself to become smaller and smaller and tuck herself into the corner. Rumlow wasn't a fan of that. While the other men attempted to wrestle Steve against the wall and cuff him with magnetic wristbands, Rumlow danced with Claire.

"Claire: the mind-reader, right?" Rumlow smirked. Claire was rigged, frightened, Brock's thoughts were sinister and sadistic, picturing exactly how he was going to take her down. He then attempted to make his first swipe at her but underestimated just how much she heard, she ducked out of the way just into time that his body slammed into the glass of the elevator and missed her.

"Come here you bitch!" Brock shouted and brought his fist to nail her in the cheek. Taking what she learned from Clint, she moved her face a fraction so that Brock missed her and staggered, she took that opportunity to clip him in the ribs with her fist. Brock let out an angry huff and looked at her with menacing eyes.

"You're gonna pay for that!" He said and started charging towards her, but was caught by Steve instead. During their scuffle, Claire hadn't even noticed that Steve had single-handedly manage to neutralize all of the attackers in the elevator minus Brock. Although, he wasn't even a match for Steve, falling to the ground after a very brief skirmish with Steve.

"Did he hurt you?" Steve asked worriedly, looking over Claire's body for any damage.

"I'm completely fine," she said but saw the few cuts on Steve's cheek, "but you aren't."

"It's nothing. We have to figure a way out of here," Steve said and then moved to open the elevator doors. Claire hadn't even noticed that the elevator was brought to a stop at the beginning of the fight. He quickly shut the doors back after only opening it a few inches, Claire heard the thoughts of the swat team that was heading their way.

"Steve, we're completely surrounded, there's no way out of here," Claire said gravely, picking through the minds of those in the building that had only one mission: take down that Captain at whatever means necessary, bonus points if you get the mind-reader as well.

Steve rejected her assessment and instead used his shield to clip the thick wires that were holding the elevator on that level and sent them crashing down a few floors. Steve then went to look out the glass of the elevator, analyzing the height of the fall and the damage he would take getting to the ground.

"We're going to have to jump," Steve thought, his eyes still sizing up the fall.

"No! No way!" Claire responded to Steve's thoughts.

"We have to, it's the only way out of here. I promised you I would keep you safe, didn't I?" Claire didn't respond, she just gulped at the sight of how high up they were.

"It'll be a breeze. I'm going to break the glass with my shield, we will jump, you hold on tight to my side and we'll go through the roof and I'll break our fall with the shield."

"Steve, that's crazy you're going to get hurt," Claire said, nibbling nervously on her bottom lip.

"Nonsense, I will be fine. Come on, we have to go now," Steve said urgently and broke the thick glass with his shield. He then hoisted himself on the bar and held his hand for Claire to grab. She secured himself on his side, digging her fingers into his uniform, finding any purchase to hold on. Steve looked at her comfortingly one last time and then jumped out.

They fell for only a few seconds before colliding with the glass and then hitting the ground with a hard crack. The force of impact sent Claire tumbling far away from Steve, her body rolling over the broken glass, coating her skin with tiny, painful cuts. Steve stayed in the fetal position on his shield for a few brief moments, trying to catch his breath after it was knocked out of him.

Claire was still stunned, her ribs hurt a little from colliding with Steve on impact and her skin on her back and arm felt like it was on fire. Steve recovered quickly and then went to help Claire up, mindful of the shocked faces of the SHIELD agents in the lobby. Steve asked her briefly in his head if she was alright and she merely nodded. They were then off running towards the parking garage where Steve had left his bike. Claire waited patiently for Steve to put the helmet on her and climb on.

"No way I'm taking you with me. They're looking for me now. I'll help you hotwire a car and I will meet you at the hospital. Go straight there and see if you can get a nurse to help you get the glass out of your skin," Steve instructed.

"But Steve-"

"No. I'll be fine, I will meet you there." And with that he helped her hotwire a large pickup truck that Claire thought was ridiculous for her to drive. But right before he left he briefly looked into her eyes and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. He tasted like blood and sweat.