So...uh...a thing happened.

See, I've been stressing lately about exams and life and everything else in between. Well, my wonderful mother decided to surprise me with a long weekend away in the country with no internet and didn't let me bring any revision, only the homework due when I got back to school.

Point is...I may have written chapters 10, 11 and 12 while I was away.

And this story may have taken quite a different turn than I was first aiming for.

And I might just love it. I'm kind of concerned that some of you may not like the turns this story takes in the next few chapters though but I will persevere because I'm not about to apologise for how I decide my storyline should develop.

Also, updates will still probably be pretty spaced out (aka about 2 weeks apart) because I won't get any time to write again until the end of June (noooooo!) since I do need to actually revise. At least a little.

Anyway, your reviews still mean the world to me and I am so glad this has reached so many people! I hope you continue to enjoy this ourney with me

End rant.

Happy reading!

. . .

Mariana wasn't quite sure anymore why she had ever thought this press conference was a good idea. The lobby of Avengers Tower was about to be flooded with reporters and cameras and other people and this was not a good idea.

The Avengers had made sure she knew she could back out at any moment if she really wanted to, if she changed her mind. She had thought about it too. She had really considered it. But then she remembered the small, proud smile on Clint's face when she had told them all why she was going to do this.

So she was going to go through with it. She was going to tell the entire world that she was back, she was alive and she was here to stay this time. She was going to reveal her real identity in front of millions on live TV and it would likely be talked about for days – if not weeks – to come. She was going to call out a super evil organisation and paint an even larger target on her own and her family's backs. She was going to do this.

That didn't mean she wasn't nervous.

. . .

Maria Hill, as the acting Avengers' liaison – at least in the eyes of the public - introduced the team at the beginning of the conference. The full team was stood in a straight line behind her, dressed in their full gear except for Tony who stood in a pair of jeans, a simple t-shirt and a blazer, and Bruce who wore his usual shirt and dress pants. The masks were off except for Mariana's and at that point she felt like it was choking her.

She wasn't used to it anymore. With HYDRA she would have killed for the flimsy piece of fabric; for a completely impractical barrier between her and, well, all of them. But at that moment she felt restricted. She felt fake. This wasn't who she was anymore, too much had changed and she couldn't go back to who she had been before. The mask was just a reminder of that. She wanted it off.

Steve stepped forward to the podium from his place in the centre of the line-up as Maria walked off to the side of the raised platform. Mariana's hands were shaking. He gave what she supposed would have been an inspiring speech had she actually heard any of it over the blood rushing in her ears. Then she was up.

"Now for the reason we are all here," Steve began. "Several months ago we came forward and announced one of our most valued team members, Quantum, was missing in action. We never stopped searching for her. But as I'm sure you can see-" he gestured towards the end of the line where she stood and paused. She nodded in response and he gave an encouraging smile as he turned back to the sea of reporters. "-she found her way home."

There was a barrage of questions as the reporters shouted over each other, thrusting their microphones toward the platform like swords ready for battle. The camera flashes were almost blinding.

Mariana struggled not to flinch away.

Then Steve was gesturing her towards the podium and she was walking on shaking legs as if to the gallows. Why had she suggested this?

As she reached the podium Steve placed his hand over the microphone and leant close to whisper to her. "You know you don't have to do this, right?"

Mariana glanced from her brother to the crowd. She was weighing the pros and cons of backing out now, of walking away and pretending none of this had ever happened. She could simply give a quick acknowledgement of her own return and leave.

But then she caught sight of a blonde man bouncing on the balls of his feet behind all of the reporters as he grinned widely up at the Avengers in awe while a strawberry blonde woman beside him tried to calm him down with a soft hand on his arm that went unnoticed. She too was sporting a grin of her own. Then there was the man with the cane and the sunglasses.

They're here. She thought to herself and almost broke out into a grin right then. Matt - obviously having heard what Steve said – smiled softly and mouthed, as if he could read her unconscious thought, "But you will, won't you?"

And then she did smile. She smiled, glanced back at her team – her family – then back at Steve with the smile still in place.

"I know." He smiled and returned to the line of Avengers with one last pat on the shoulder. Mariana turned back to the reporters, who were still shouting questions, and smiled politely while raising a hand slowly. "If you want answers I can give them. But only if you all shut up for a second."

Surprisingly, they did. The microphones retreated and the reporters composed themselves.

"Thank you. Now, I'd like to address the fact that the public appears to have pronounced me six feet under without evidence. Now granted the lack of evidence could be considered evidence in itself, but really people. They said missing in action, not killed. So yes, I'm alive. Hurray!"

"How do we know you're the real Quantum?" One reporter was brave enough to shout. She heard someone take a heavy step forward behind her and held up her hand to keep Thor in place. Then she took a breath, teleported right into the poor guy's face and took his microphone.

She hadn't realised how much she had missed it. The rush of energy, the butterflies. She wanted to do it again.

Back on stage, microphone nowhere in sight, she leant forward against the podium with her arms crossed and sighed. "You'll get it back when we are done here. Clear?" He nodded, wide-eyed. "Good. Any other stupid questions? No? Good." With that she grabbed the microphone at the podium from its stand and started pacing the platform slowly.

"So, yes, missing. Well, kidnapped really. I guess I need to start from the beginning." Suddenly she was sitting at the edge of the platform, eye-level with the reporters. "I developed my abilities when I was a little girl; I was eight. Guys any of you want to join me?" She gestured from the line-up of Avengers to the edge where she was sitting. Without question both Clint and Tony sat on either side of her, legs dangling over the side.

Sam and Thor followed almost immediately, then Natasha who pulled Bruce down beside her too.

"C'mon Cap. Let loose." Steve smiled slightly but looked like he wasn't going to budge until Bucky smirked and dragged him over with little protest or difficulty. "Alright." Then Mariana frowned slightly at their audience. "Taking inspiration from Tony here but do you guys want to sit too? We might be here a little while."

Tony chuckled from her right as everyone slowly and hesitantly slid to the floor. Matt, Foggy and Karen were the last ones standing at the back and she knew Tony was going call them out but then Matt and Karen were promptly pulled to the floor by the blonde five-year-old between them. She waited until attention was back on her before speaking again.

"So, as I was saying, eight-year-old me was quite a handful for my parents. But they weren't good people and they died not long after. I went into the foster care system having to hide what I could do from everyone and, as most children there consider doing, I ran away. But with my powers there was no way I was ever going back. So I was sixteen when I managed to reveal my well-kept secret to a pirate. Well, a spy. But he was dressed in black leather and had an eye-patch.

"He tried to recruit me for three months before I caved and became a consultant for SHIELD. They gave me a place to stay and paid me to get their agents out of dangerous situations safely. I was good at my job, damn good at it. So then I met this cool guy with a bow," she nudged Clint, "and he kind of became my big brother at SHIELD. I learned how to defend myself. I was good at what I did."

She took a breath. "Then I was seventeen and aliens had attacked New York. I was never supposed to be an Avenger. The pirate made sure my name was nowhere near that initiative and I knew nothing about it until my big brother was in trouble and I decided it was time to help. I still didn't want to be an Avenger though. A part of me still thought I didn't deserve it. I wasn't a hero. I didn't really do anything.

"But I found a place here with this dysfunctional group of people – even if there is way too much testosterone in one tower." Mariana let every one of the men on the team react in their various ways: indignation, humour, eye-rolling. She let the reporters laugh a little too. Because it was time to get serious. What came next was the important part. She took a moment to compose herself when all was quiet once more.

Clint's hand on her shoulder and Tony's arm pressed up against hers grounded her. Kept her focus.

"I guess I let my guard slip," she said. "I was 18 on the day that the hellicarriers fell from the sky and SHIELD was made redundant. I was sent on an extraction for five agents in Bolivia. I didn't know that anything was up at that point. The shit hadn't hit the fan yet. But the agents weren't SHIELD. They were HYDRA, and this was their moment to shine. I walked into a trap and spent the last eleven months getting myself out of it."

She jumped up from her seated position and began pacing again for a few moments until she stopped, glanced at Bucky's rigid posture and his bowed head, Steve's hand on his flesh arm. Then she locked her jaw and stared resolutely out at the assembled reporters and her three friends at the back.

"Screw this," she said and even though the microphone was held at her side, the room was so quiet it was picked up anyway.

She angrily tore the mask from her head and scrunched it up in her fist at her side before bringing up the microphone once more.

"HYDRA made a mistake. First 11 years ago, then again 11 months ago. They picked the wrong person to mess with because I am not one to let things go. They threatened my family and I am not going to let that slide. I'm not afraid of HYDRA and I think I speak for this entire team when I say that we will do everything in our power to bring them to justice. They are not going to be allowed to ruin any more lives."

There was a tense silence for a few minutes and she caught a glimpse of Foggy's grinning face before Matt smacked him lightly with his cane. Then everyone was on their feet. The Avengers were all back on the platform, no longer in a line, but crowded near their youngest sister. The reporters were shouting and waving microphones and cameras were flashing again.

"Okay," Mariana drawled. "Hill, we got time for questions?"

"A few," the agent responded with a nod.

"Okay then, raise your hands children or I'm ignoring you all." None of them even questioned her or bristled at the comment, they just went silent and raised their hands. Mariana glanced at the team and mouthed 'I can't believe that worked.' "Uh, you with the cute sweater vest."

The young man, a few years older than her, smiled indulgently and cleared his throat. "Can we get a name to go with that face?" Mariana raised an eyebrow. "Please?" he added with a grin. Hers was identical.

"Mariana Rose Hadley. I'm nineteen years old and a Leo. Pink sundress."

"You mentioned that your parents weren't good people, how so?"

"Now wait just a se-"

"They worked for HYDRA," Mariana cut Steve and his good intentions off with a clipped reply and a small smile in his direction. "Superman shirt."

"Can we expect to see you re-joining the rest of the Avengers in the field any time soon?"

"If the good Captain approves it there is no where I would rather be. Three-piece suit."

"Do you get along with your new teammates The Falcon and The Winter Soldier?"

"I only got back yesterday but already I'm sure we will get along great. Family of family is still family." She glanced back at the two in question before moving on. "Fedora."

"On the subject of The Winter Soldier, given your experience, how do you feel to be working with HYDRA's deadliest asset?"

The whole room kind of stopped then. Even a few reporters turned to face the guy with incredulous looks and Mariana could feel the tension building up behind her. Bucky was pulling away from everyone, trying to shrink away unseen somehow while the others were ready to pounce. Mariana cleared her throat.

"Hold this." She passed the microphone off to Bruce who stood closest to her and looked a little too green. With that she disappeared from the platform and re-appeared a second later in front of the fedora wearing reporter only to grab his tie and disappear again, taking him with her. They didn't return.

"Uh…" Bruce stood holding the microphone awkwardly as everyone in the room looked around as though they would re-appear.

And re-appear they did. After three minutes.

In those three minutes however, a few things happened.

Mariana teleported herself and the reporter into an adjacent but empty rom. As soon as they were there Mariana released the man's tie and took a step back. She watched, with her hands still by her sides in a non-threatening gesture but with her jaw locked and her eyes ablaze with barely restrained fury, as he recovered from the disorientation associated with an experience of her abilities. Even at such a short distance people often felt nauseous afterwards. So she waited as he caught his breath and straightened up.

Then she took his microphone from his hand, flicked the switch at the bottom to turn it off and stop it recording, leant real close, and spoke in a dangerous tone. "Now you listen here because I will say it once and you won't interrupt."

He gave a jerky nod, reeling back at her close proximity but she merely backed him up to the wall and spoke in the same low voice.

"Now I may not be as close to Barnes as the others, I may only have met him yesterday but I do know one thing: my experience was nothing compared to the hell HYDRA put the man through. You think HYDRA didn't talk about their 'Asset' while I was there? They did. Almost every day they were threatening to wipe me like they did him, to introduce more programming like they did to him.

"No, I don't know exactly what it was that happened to him but I know that he went through hell. I know that because as you so eloquently put it, given my experience I know that HYDRA don't give a fuck about anyone and are willing to inflict more pain that you could possibly imagine to get what they want. And for over seventy years they had Barnes. You think they treated him well?

"I don't. I think they put him through hell ten times over. So you should maybe show a little more maturity and at least a little bit more respect unless you want 'HYDRA's deadliest asset' to get even a little bit offended and you should most definitely think before you speak."

Mariana stepped back and approached the refreshments table set up for the press after the conference and lifted a jug of water. "Now because I'm nineteen, immature and struggling to cope emotionally with my recent ordeal I am going to childishly act out against you and dump this on your head. Okay?" He began to protest but then his fedora was gone and he was soaking wet. Then she grinned and teleported him back to his original place in the crowd.

Mariana flicked the switch at the bottom of the microphone again and spoke only one sentence: "No more questions." She ignored the screech of interference as she dropped the mic at the gaping reporter's feet.

The microphone she had commandeered at the beginning was returned in a flash and then Mariana was beside Bucky who had frozen in place the moment Mariana had disappeared with Mr Fedora-Man. She waved politely at the crowd, being sure to catch the attention of her three lawyer friends at the back - noticing Matt's small, proud smile - before she offered Bucky her hand and he took it numbly with his right before being dragged to the elevator by the nineteen-year-old.

He didn't know what she had said, but the thoroughly chastised expression on the offending reporter's face and his current state of soaked told him all he needed to know: she had defended him. Mariana barely knew him but she had apparently been more than offended on his behalf.

He hadn't even given her a reason to, she just had.

"Family is family is family."

Yeah, he wanted to be able to call this girl family. He wanted to be worthy of that.

She already thought he was.

. . .

Bucky was silent after the press conference. Well, more so than usual.

Everyone knew he was completely aware of what was going on around him, but he was also in his own world. He was trying to figure out exactly what Mariana had said to that reporter. He was trying to figure out what an appropriate thank-you would be. So nobody said anything when he opted for silence while the rest spoke loudly over pizza and music later that night.

No one said anything when he took a box of pizza over to the single arm chair and didn't move to interact with anyone as he ate his pizza in quiet thought and sipped his beer. They said nothing when he refused to spar with Steve in the evening.

Soon enough Mariana and Sam were getting along like wildfire, the former laughing as the latter and Clint threw down as many bird puns as they possibly could. Bucky just watched.

Sam had earned that.

He had earned a spot in Mariana's ever expanding family, even just a preliminary position. Sam had offered a listening ear to her like he had done with Bucky. He'd made an effort to get along with her, joking around with the others and Mariana herself until she felt completely comfortable. He had earned her acceptance.

Only when Mariana decided to retire to her room did Bucky move from his chair. It seemed to go unnoticed by most of the others – maybe not Natasha if the raised eyebrow was anything to go by – but Bucky noted how Mariana didn't just teleport to her room. Instead, she made her way to the elevator. It was part of the reason he was able to get her alone.

As soon as she had stood and announced her intention to go to bed at half eleven, Bucky had stood and silently joined her on her walk to the elevator. The Avengers said nothing. Neither did she; until the doors closed.

"Y'know, it was never my intention to make you uncomfortable."

Bucky started at her words and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She remained facing forwards as he did but he could see the tension in her muscles and the way she was rubbing her fingers together on her right hand in some kind of nervous gesture. He wondered what an adequate reply was.

"You don't," he finally settled on.

She chuckled humourlessly. "Certainly didn't seem that way."

Bucky almost flinched. He knew his mood was often hard to judge. The Avengers were used to it and had become accustomed to his mood swings by now. He could have all of the confidence of the Bucky from the 1940s one moment and the next he would revert to the quiet man he had been when Steve and Sam first found him.

He should have realised Mariana may interpret his silence as something it wasn't. He was kicking himself. She thinks you don't like her. But he did. He liked her fire, her courage, her attitude. Here he was trying to figure out how to earn a position in her family circle and all the while he had been inadvertently pushing her away before he even got close.

"Look," she continued, "I'm sorry if I over-stepped at the press conference but- "

"You didn't." Mariana blinked. Bucky was surprised at his own voice but was quick to clear his throat and continue. "I'm not mad at you, I was just…thinking. You caught me off guard. I never expected you to do anything to defend me because you don't know me. But…you did. And that surprised me. I wanted to thank you because I don't deserve it."

"Deserve what?"

"To be a part of your…family."

Mariana's mouth popped open and she stared with wide eyes. The elevator doors opened. He was about to tell her to stop staring when she shook herself and smiled at him softly.

"I'm going to hug you now, okay?" He wouldn't have had a chance to object anyway as a second after she said it her arms had somehow wound their way around his mid-section and were holding onto him tightly while her cheek rested against his chest due to the height difference.

He had a moment or two to recover from his shock at her actions, register that he was indeed not throwing her off of him in a violently instinctive reaction and worry about hurting her if he reciprocated the gesture before she pulled back. He didn't like the way she was frowning.

"You do know what a hug is, right?" He stared at her blankly and couldn't help feeling like he was being mocked. She just grinned. "Then hug me back dummy."

When she wrapped her arms around him that time he compromised by wrapping only his right arm around her shoulders, the metal left one still hung at his side. The next time she pulled back she was grinning and shrugged.

"We'll work on it." She then finally realised they had reached her floor and JARVIS was keeping the door open for her. She smiled sheepishly and gave a small wave before exiting and the doors closed.

Bucky smiled to himself.

We'll work on it.

Maybe he had just earned exactly what he had wanted to.