Nice to Meet You
By Misha

Disclaimer in Prologue.

A.N- Life has been hectic and will probably continue to do so until the end of July when I *finally* graduate because not only do I have one semester of school left, we're also moving beginning of July. Plus, my kids have this amazing tendency to claim my attention, but I will try to post a chapter of either this story or Awakening Quake at least once a week. Though this week I'll be away from Tuesday to Sunday so there may not be any updates until after that.

Chapter Three

After the excitement of the first night at the Tower, the first few weeks flew by.

The other Avengers arrived within a few days of Steve, Sharon and Sam. Thor brought Jane Foster and her friend Darcy Lewis with him and Sharon liked them both immediately. It also helped her feel like less of an outsider.

So did reuniting with Natasha.

"So you guys are finally admitting that you're together?" Natasha had teased upon greeting Sharon.

"You knew?" Sharon asked, though she wondered why she was surprised. It was impossible to keep anything past Natasha.

"Of course I knew." Natasha said with a grin. "So it's not a secret anymore?"

"No," Sharon admitted, "Though we still haven't found our third. I mean, we have, but…"

"We'll find him." Natasha assured her.

Sharon nodded, though she still didn't know what life would hold for her after they found Bucky. She still wasn't sure there was a place for her with the Avengers, though she wasn't as much an outsider as she'd feared.

Natasha vouched for her skills as a spy and the rest of the team seemed happy to put her to use for any missions they might have that required 'subtly', something that it was pointed out that most of the male Avengers didn't do well.

Sam had also been asked to join the team as an official member. Sharon didn't know the details, but she knew that Tony and Sam had had a long private conversation before Sam had agreed. As awkward as the situation could have been, everyone was handling it with grace. Pepper and Sam took a brief vacation to get to know each other better and once they became back, it was as an established couple.

If the sight of the two of them together bothered Tony, he never let it show, but then Sharon guessed that he was a man who didn't show his emotions easily.

Once Pepper returned from her trip, she returned to the task of organizing life at the Tower, including regular girl's nights. "We all need the support and sisterhood," she'd informed them, which had been greeted with laughter and general agreement.

All things considered, Sharon adjusted fairly well to life at the Avengers Tower.

She was even adjusting to living with Steve. Not that it was difficult, he was incredibly tidy person and very considerate. By far the best roommate she'd ever had.

Of course, he was more than a roommate and their relationship gradually grew closer with their shared space and Sharon wondered if she'd created a lot of the distance between them by insisting on keeping their relationship a secret.

Still, while they were becoming closer, it didn't seem as secure as the other bonds she observed. Natasha and Clint appeared to have their own language and Jane and Thor had a comfortable rhythm that Sharon envied. Even, Sam and Pepper, the newest bonded pair, seemed more at ease with each other than Steve and Sharon were.

Sharon hoped it had to do with their missing third and that it wasn't because there was something wrong with her that she couldn't even properly bond with her soulmate.

So, Sharon threw herself into the search for Bucky. She called up all her contacts and did a lot of the ground work, because she was far less threatening than any of the Avengers and people were more likely to talk to her. It also helped her feel like she was earning her place on the team.

Her investigative work paid off and they found a good lead as to where he might be, however much to Sharon's fury, she was being left out of the extraction mission.

"We're not the only ones looking for him," Steve reminded her, "HYDRA will probably show up."

"So?" Sharon had argued. "I can hold my own, I'm a trained S.H.I.E.L.D operative."

"But a very human one," Bruce had told her, speaking for the whole team, "I think we would all be worried about you. Besides, this has to be fast as possible."

No amount of arguing had changed their minds, so Sharon was left at the Tower with the other women, manning the communication station and once again feeling out of place and wishing she'd taken that job with the CIA.

Steve knew Sharon was angry at him for insisting that she stay home. He could argue that it wasn't his call, but somehow he'd ended up as the leader of the Avengers, so it was his call.

He knew she could handle herself, but he also knew that if she'd come along, he'd spend the whole time worrying about her and he needed to focus on finding Bucky.

It had actually been surprisingly easy. The intel Sharon had gathered was good.

Bucky had been on the defensive, but Steve stepped forward and Bucky had relaxed. "It's you." He said quietly.

"It's me." Steve agreed. "I've been looking for you. I came to bring you home."

Bucky looked at Steve and then at the rest of the team. "And the rest of them?"

"They're friends." Steve assured him.

Bucky seemed wary, but he stepped towards Steve. Just then though, HYDRA decided to crash the party.

The fight was mercifully brief and before long they were all on the jet on their way home.

"I'm Dr. Bruce Banner," Bruce told Bucky, "I'm going to help you. If you'd like."

"Yes please." Bucky told him.

"This is a sedative." Bruce told him. "I'm going to give it to you and then inject you with a memory enhancing drug I've been working on. It should help clear your mind."

Bucky nodded. "I only remember bits and pieces, mostly I remember him," he gestured to Steve.

Steve smiled and gripped Bucky's hand as Bruce administered the sedative. Steve had actually been the guinea pig and had let Bruce sedate him to make sure that they got the dosage right, since it appeared that Bucky's modifications were similar to his.

"We're going to keep him secluded for the first few days," Bruce explained to Steve, "You can visit because you're the one thing he truly remembers, but that's it."

"Sharon's not going to like that." Steve pointed out and he felt bad keeping Sharon from Bucky, after all they were all supposed to belong to each other.

"I'll explain my reasons to her if you want." Bruce told him and from the sympathetic look on his face Steve had the feeling that the problems he and Sharon had been having weren't a secret. "I haven't met my soulmate yet," Bruce added, "Though I've resigned myself to the idea that she may not want anything to do with the Hulk."

"I hope you're wrong." Steve told him. "I never had a soulmate before, not many people I knew did, but I always thought it would be easier than this."

"Mated trios are different than regular soul bonds." Bruce told him. "They aren't very common and they only end up completed around half the time and if they aren't completed, they're unstable. I've only read a couple accounts where two partners could make it work without their third, the fact that you and Sharon have been together over a year without Barnes is a good sign."

Steve hoped so, but he wasn't certain. They were lovers and there was a friendship between them, but they didn't have the same closeness he saw in other mated pairs. Sharon was so reserved and he knew she was unhappy, but she wouldn't confide in him. He'd never been good at talking to women, so he had no idea how to even to try to talk to her and really, he'd been so wrapped up in finding Bucky and bringing him home that he hadn't had time to think about anything else. He just hoped that Bruce was right and that things would get better now that they had found Bucky. As thrilled as he was to have his best friend back, Steve didn't want a life with just Bucky—he wanted a life with Bucky and Sharon.