I'm french so any mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer : Nothing belongs to me. Except Sam.

"Care to explain me what's going on here?" James Rhodes impatiently asked Tony who was gazing in at a sleeping Sam, safely lying on his own bed. "You've been gone for nearly a month and you came back with a bleeding girl in your arms. So I think I have every right to say what the hell, Tony?"

"Shhhh!" Tony said, pushing him away as he closed the door. Sam just fell asleep after a rough time to patch her up and hearing screams from James weren't going to make her any good. "She needs to rest. So shut up and follow me."

Tony walked down to the kitchen; he could definitely say that I had missed this place. Opening one of his famous cupboards, he pulled out a bottle of whisky and poured the amber liquid into two glasses.

"Thanks!" Rhodey said when Tony handed him the glass as he lazily sat down on the couch. He didn't say anything for a while, waiting for Tony to start the conversation but he was absently staring at the wall in front of him. He put the glass on the small table and spoke. "Who's this girl, Tony? She's quite young to be your kind of girl… so who is she?"

For a moment, he seemed uncomfortable.

"I don't know," Tony shook his head and emptied his drink straight when he realized that he had no real response for this question. "All I know is that her name is Sam. I've never asked for her last name and she never told me either. She is… she's just Sam."

Rhodey wasn't sure to understand but he went on. "What happened to her? What does she look like someone has beaten the shit out of her?"

"Oh believe me… someone did," Tony's hand squeezed harder the glass. "When I came in to save her, I found a very dead man and her hands were full of blood and …" He stopped, trying to pull his thoughts together.

But Rhodey concluded. "And you think she killed him."

"I do," Tony nodded, despite him. "I think she just tried to protect herself and she ended up killing him. She was pretty panicked when I got there," He poured himself another glass and drunk it as fast as the previous one. James threw him a gaze full of reproach but he brushed his concern away as always. "Sam seems to carry with her a heavy past– or maybe she's carrying someone else's."

A silence came along.

"I guess you'll have to wait till she's ready to answer your questions," James finally added and Tony glanced at him.

He was now lost in his thoughts and James knew exactly what that glance meant. "No, Tony. Ask her. Talk to her. Don't find the answer on your own. Don't nose around in her life. She's a girl, Tony- a teenage girl. Girls get scary and crazy when you pry into their life."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Don't worry; I know what I'm doing."

"Tony!"

"I know what I'm doing, Rhodey!" Tony repeated louder. His eyes were hard, his face was unreadable. James wasn't used to seeing him so determined, so worried.

James sighed but said nothing more. He knew that Tony cared for the girl.

"How's Sam doing, Jarvis?"

Tony hadn't moved from the couch since James had left. He had ended up some more glass but after listening to a very long lecture – and some reprimands – from Jarvis, he had stopped. It was already 5:00 am and he didn't feel tired – at least, not enough to sleep properly.

"She's still sleeping and she still will be for several hours, Sir."

The minutes went by and James's words echoed in his mind. He knew that he should wait, that prying into Sam's private life wasn't the right thing to do but he had this bad feeling in his stomach. He thought that he didn't figure out by himself, he won't ever know the truth. Because Sam was very secretive – maybe even more than he was.

And for the past days, he got himself attached to the girl. He cared for her– more than he wished to admit but he really did and he had to do something.

He stood up and walked out of the living room.

Sam's bag was there where he left it; on the piece of furniture in the corridor. Hesitation ran over his fingers for a few seconds but he took it and went down his lab.

He was going to find out her secrets.

Sam slowly woke up as she felt the sunshine on her face. She opened her eyes up but quickly closed them. The sun was too bright which gave her a burning sensation in the eyes.

"Hum, what time is it?" She whispered through her teeth. Now she was awake, she could feel the pain in her body and it was coming from everywhere. "And where the hell am I?" She was quite lost right now. Last night, that man had hit her pretty hard in the head.

"Miss Sam, you are actually in Malibu, California and it is now 1:37 pm."

Her eyes snapped open again. She sat up with difficulty, looked around and her eyebrows frowned. She swore that she had heard somebody.

"I'm going crazy. I heard voice now. I'm turning just like Joan of Arc," Sam said to herself as she tried to get up. And it was harder than she thought. Her ribs were hurting her like hell.

"I'm afraid to inform you that you are not crazy. I am the voice you are hearing. I am Jarvis; Mr. Stark's Artificial Intelligence. I am connected to the whole house. If you need anything just ask me. I will be delighted to help you."

She blinked a few times, surprised to hear the voice again but not surprised to know that Tony had this kind of technology in his house. She always knew that he was very clever despite his eternal I-don't-give-a-damn behavior but what she didn't know was how clever he was.

"Hum… thanks Jarvis," Sam replied, not used to talk to someone who wasn't actually here. "May I know where Tony is right now?"

"Mr. Stark is currently in his lab. Downstairs on your left. "

Bare foot, and dressed only with a shirt and her underwear, she moved towards the door "And what is he doing?"

"I think you should find out by yourself, Miss Sam."

She waited a few seconds, trying to understand why Jarvis was telling her that but she couldn't put words on it. Besides, she was too tired to think about anything. "It's Sam, Jarvis. Just Sam."

And she led her way to Tony's lab.

He didn't understand. He hadn't found anything about her. Jarvis hadn't found anything. Not a single piece of information that could have helped him to understand Sam's real story and why the hell some people wanted her dead.

"Jarvis, are you certain that there is nothing about a Samantha Russell?" Tony asked, Sam's identity card between his fingers. All he got was that; her identity card.

"Positive, Sir. I cannot find anything about her. Either she is an illegal immigrant or Samantha Russell does not excite which means she is using a fake identity."

"As if she was hiding… "Tony said absently. "Hiding from someone."

And this could explain a lot of things. And if Sam was really faking his identity, he needed to know why.

"Sir, Sam is on her way down the lab."

He snapped his fingers and all the screens switched off. He turned around to lock his gaze on the glass door. It was time for him to know the truth.

The floor was cold under her feet. She slowly walked through the corridor, amazed by the house. The whole place was filled by glass door which allowed the sun to come from everywhere, making the walls shine.

When she reached his lab and let herself in, she could guess he was actually waiting for her. She could see he had black eyes under his eyes like he hadn't slept for years. His features were tensed and he was looking at her as if he was looking for something. His eyes travelled over her body and she folded her arms and the gesture made her grimace.

He sighed.

"Come on, have a seat," Tony gently took her hands and led her to the chair right next to his. He grabbed his unused bottle water. "Drink this."

With her trembling fingers, she accepted it. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. It's just some water."

She looked at him. She really looked at him.

"No… I mean …Thank you. For saving me," She reformulated. She felt like she owed him a debt. She owed him her life. She now understood how her sister felt about his partner. "I could have died if you hadn't been there. So thank you."

There was gratitude in her eyes and some more things that Tony couldn't figure out what they were. It froze him and he was for a moment loss at words. He watched her; her bright green eyes, her bruises and her cuts. She was Sam; a girl that he had saved. A girl full of secrets. Secrets, he had never loved that. But yet, for her, he could do an exception.

"Sam… "He sighed, almost apologetically. "I know you lied to me. I know you're not Samantha Russell."

Her eyes widened and he swore that he had something that looked like fear running over her face but it went off as quickly as it came and it was replaced by anger. "You went through my stuff!" She screamed indignant, getting of fthe chair.

"Sam, I'm honestly sorry but –"

"You're so not sorry. You had no right to do that!" She snapped.

He stood up as well. "I had no choice. You weren't telling me anything, Sam!" His voice was getting louder at each word. "Oh wait, I forgot… Sam isn't your real name, is it?" His sarcasm was cutting her deep but her proud kept her face straight "Right? You lied to me. You lied from the beginning."

"I didn't!"She could feel her throat getting heavier.

He didn't believe her. "You did!"

She bent her head down and swallowed her tears. Where she was from, people didn't cry because of some harsh words. Because over there, she had been taught to stay strong although how much it was hurting and right now, the way Tony was reacting was hurting even more than her wounds. "No. I did not lie to you."

"Bullshit!" He shouted, his fists thumping violently the table. "Samantha Russell doesn't fucking exist. I hacked every fucking system. You don't appear in any of them. So who the hell are you?!"

Her tears were threatening to fall and she felt herself ridiculous. She was worth better than that.

"Sasha Romanova, that's what my name used to be. Well, now it's Samara Romanoff. " She looked up, bright tears shining in her eyes, and her lips trembling with fury. "Sam is a short for Samara. Happy now?"She wept away some nasty tears. "I never told you that my name was Samantha Russel. You went through my things and you made your own presumptions. I never lied to you. Never. My whole life is a lie but you don't get to blame me for something I didn't do."

She was definitely worth more. She didn't want to cry for this kind of things. She was strong and independent and she wasn't going to let Tony take this away from her but at this moment, she was so exhausted that she was emotionally vulnerable.

A pang of regret squeezed his heart when she watched in which state she was.

"What is your story?" He asked this time more gently but he was still agitated. "I need to know. I need to know why you got beaten. I need to know why that man tried to kill you."

She shook her head and put her arms around her as she took some steps back. "I can't tell you. I can't. Don't ask me… please Tony, don't ask me."

"Why?" he was getting exasperated. A lazy hand ran through his hair as he let his body fall down the chair. He didn't take his eyes off her.

She wasn't trying to keep her composture but Tony was getting under her skin. "Because if people know about me – if they know who I really am, they will go after me to get to my sister and when they'll finally have her… they will kill her. They will hurt her and will break her in every way a person can be broken," Her hands became fists. "I can't– I won't let this happen because... even though I hadn't seen her for one year and we don't have the best relationship she's the only family I have."

She was fighting hard against her tears and Tony felt himself obliged to hug her. He held her tight and she squeezed hard her eyelids. "I can help you, Sam." He stroked her hair. Her small body was shaking against his. "I want to help you. Just let me in, please."

She pulled away from him. "I can't. I promise her I won't say anything. I'm not going to break my promise even if I don't support her decisions."

"I could help her, Sam…"

"She doesn't want to be helped. She's apparently doing fine on her own," She didn't believe it. Because it didn't make any sense.

He could feel sarcasm through her words. "What's up between you and her?"

"She doesn't care about me." Her statement appeared painful. It hurt her. More than she was letting it show. "But I won't say anything though. We don't let family behind. Even if this family did let you behind."

He sighed but he understood her. Loyalty was something that he cherished and he was sort of proud of her. Sam loved her sister so much that she was ready to put her life in danger to protect her sister's. With his fingers, he chased away her last tears. "Could you at least tell me where you are from?"

She looked at him with her red eyes. "You swear you won't try to find anything else about me?"

"I swear," Tony placed a hand on his heart and Sam smiled at the gesture while some tears kept falling down her cheeks. "And I promise I won't try to find anything else about you as long as you stay here. At least I have an eye on you."

She nodded and bit her lips before saying. "I'm from Russia."

Next chapter : I'll bring Natasha.

Review, please !