Author's Note: HA! I didn't forget and post this really late in the day like I seem to be doing recently (but give me a break, it's SUMMER!). Now that I feel better about myself, WOW! Nine chapters already! Are you guys excited? I know I am. And I really hope y'all are liking the story so far!


"Bucky, please, don't make me do this!" Steve pleaded, near tears. The Winter Soldier didn't seem to understand.

The fight wasn't as brutal as Steve remembered it, and he was pretty sure he knew that somewhere in the back of his memory banks, but it was terrible to fight his best friend—who didn't even remember his name—who he'd had when he'd had… nothing else. Every blow seemed to hurt worse than it should have because of it.

Steve woke up with a deep breath that could have been counted as a gasp. Within seconds, Violet-Sky's head poked around his door with a soft knock. Her amethyst gaze was worried. "You okay?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I'm… fine. Just a bad dream," he insisted. Violet-Sky came in—still in her pajamas—and sat down on the edge of his bed. Gently she gathered him into a hug, bringing his head comfortingly to her shoulder. He smiled into the soft fabric of her pajama top bitterly. "I'm supposed to be comforting you when you have bad dreams. It's not supposed to be the other way around." One of her hands rested on the back of his head. Like she was his mother and he was a small child scared of a thunderstorm.

"Sometimes… it's okay for me to help you, Captain," she soothed. He put his hand on her knuckles. They were still scabbed from the last time she punched someone—or something—hard enough to split the skin.

"Didn't mean to wake you," he mumbled.

"It's okay. I was up a half hour ago," she replied quietly.


"So, how was ice cream?" Stark asked. Violet-Sky shot the genius a death glare so deep she looked like lasers would shoot from her pupils at any second.

"And whose idea do you think it was, Steve, to play that music loudly and obnoxiously the moment we got out of the car?" she inquired of Captain Rogers sarcastically. The super soldier smirked as he made himself some cereal. The archer sat down on one of Stark's kitchen chairs and reclined luxuriously against the wooden back, looking extremely sardonic.

"Well, you can hardly blame me, as you two both just came from upstairs at the exact same time. It's not like I don't have my suspicions," Tony retorted. It was Steve's turn to give him a deadly glower while Violet-Sky did her utmost to ignore him.

"If he's not dead by the end of the week with an arrow in his throat, I'll consider this week a success," Violet-Sky whispered to Steve as he sat next to her with his cereal bowl. The captain snorted.


"Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods? Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds? Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need!" Violet-Sky was singing in the shower again while Steve was changing out of his pajamas. "I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night! He's gotta be strong—and he's gotta be fast—and he's gotta be fresh from the fight!"

She had a decent voice, Captain Rogers had to give her that. He'd heard her sing the day before, but that was a different song. Holding Out for a Hero seemed to fit her more. He'd noticed since the day they'd met that she wasn't the type to let a man rescue her, but sometimes maybe, she needed one to.

"Agent Barton," JARVIS started when she was out of the shower and dressed. The singing abruptly halted. "Mr. Stark would like to see you in his workshop downstairs."

"Fine. I'll be right down," Violet-Sky moaned. Bracing for some more teasing, she flicked her braid off her shoulder and went running down the stairs. "What do you want, O hilarious and brilliant Iron Man?" she demanded with so much sarcasm in her voice it was very nearly palpable, striding down the stairs. Tony looked up from the hot rod he was engrossed in. His face was covered with grease and there was a weird, almost frightening gleam in his eye.

"If it isn't the Sultana of Sass herself in the flesh. Pepper wants to go shopping. So I thought it would be a great bonding time if you wanted to go with her," he replied.

"I don't go shopping."

"Then where do your clothes come from?"

"A lot of SHIELD standard-issue. A lot of hand-me-down from neighbors who were older than me. And my mom used to shop for me all the time because she knew I hated going or she saw something that reminded her of me. I take such good care of my clothes that they last for years," Violet-Sky retorted.

"Well, Pepper wants you to go. So you're gonna go."

"I'll go for her. Not for you," Violet-Sky snapped.

Stark tsked. "Touchy, touchy," he teased. Violet-Sky raised one of her eyebrows. Steve had said that a few days ago hadn't he? "Go on then, she wants to leave within the hour." Violet-Sky stuck her tongue out at him like she was five years old and went marching out of the workshop.

"What did the old geezer want?" Steve asked curiously, emerging from the top floor.

"You're one to talk about 'old geezer' Rogers," Stark retorted, coming up behind Violet-Sky, searching for something under the sofa cushions. "Mr. Ninety-Five-Years-Old."

"Not by choice, Stark," Steve replied calmly as Violet-Sky edged around the captain and began to get her "shopping" clothes on up in her bedroom—meaning a T-shirt and some yoga pants. It wasn't until too late and she was already rushing out the door did she realize what was on her T-shirt—Cap's shield. It was one of the shirts she'd left behind months ago. On her lips was a fresh coat of lipstick. She was pretty sure Tony made some wisecrack, but she had her shoes on and she and Pepper were in the car that would attract the least amount of attention.


End Note: One of my best friends calls me the "Sultana of Sass" so I felt the need to add it in. :-D

To "Whitelion69": It's never too late to learn how to dance. I barely know myself, but I'd still go dancing anyway. To "Rue Dawn": You read the whole thing in one night? Wow. All I can think to say is THANK YOU SO MUCH! To "Demigod-GallagherGirl": No kidding. To "callieandjack": I'm glad I'm doing so well that I get a rant from you! And trust me, they're... just pacing themselves. :-D

Thanks for reading!

~Cass

PS, It has been made known to me by someone I trust that another Barton ought to be added - one who's even sassier than Violet-Sky. Would anyone find that an interesting twist? If said cousin is added it probably won't be until the very end of this one or the beginning of the third one.

PPS, my Supernatural fic is up if there are any hunters/Wayward Sons (what are fans of SPN called?) reading this and interested in a story with no slash or pairings.