Sorry for the long wait between updates! This chapter didn't like me. It kept going in directions that I didn't want it to go, and normally, I go with it, but in this case, it was compromising the storyline. I had to keep yanking it back on track, and that took about five rewrites. Grrr….
Not a lot of relationship building in this one, but just wait till next chapter! It's almost halfway written already.
He was doing it again.
Darcy hid her smile. When he thought they weren't paying attention, Bucky studied her and Steve. He'd been alternately sullen and withdrawn or furiously angry following his ill-fated try at getting some action the other night, so she had been careful of how she treated him. It sucked that his arm was so recognizable, but Darcy couldn't say she wasn't relieved that it had turned out as it had.
Her first reaction, when Steve had whispered an explanation the next morning, was to go to Bucky and comfort him. He was still so fragile, and that had to have been a blow. But she also recognized that he wouldn't appreciate it. Her second reaction, relief, had her questioning her own feelings. She felt relief because she didn't want to lose Bucky. And if he found someone to spend more time with, it was almost inevitable that they would lose him, and that felt wrong.
Steve felt the same way. He didn't express it out loud, but sometimes his inner Neanderthal came roaring out. One memorable moment, after another dead end that didn't lead to the mastermind of the 'snatch Bucky' plan, Steve grew very eloquent about his feelings. Bucky was his, and anyone who thought they could take him away from Steve was in for a re-education.
Not the typical reaction of a male best friend. Darcy examined it in her head ten different ways, along with her own feelings. It wasn't fair to Bucky to be stuck in this sort of limbo, but she and Steve didn't want to let him go, either. She couldn't imagine going back to life pre-Bucky. He belonged with them.
She made sure to include him in everything she normally did with Steve, except the obvious. When they came home from missions, Bucky knew that there would be cuddle time. He'd tried to get out of it the first time, but apparently couldn't bear to disappoint Darcy, so just did what was expected of him. And she knew that he enjoyed the cuddle time as much as she did, even though he'd never admit it.
Others were a little confused about it, apparently.
"Is it weird, having him for a roommate?" Jane asked her one day, out of the blue. Jane hadn't said much about the situation before, other than some awkward questions about Darcy's safety.
"Nope," Darcy replied, snapping her gum as she did data entry.
"He's killed a lot of people," Jane tried again.
"Yep. So has Thor. So has Steve. And don't even get me started on Clint and Natasha. S'funny. Hulk has probably killed less people than everyone else, but Bruce is the one everyone worries about."
Jane blinked, momentarily derailed by Darcy's out loud musing. Across the lab, Bruce Banner raised his shaggy head and offered a tremulous smile. "Thanks for putting it into perspective, Darcy," he called softly.
She winked. Bruce was as broken as Bucky, in his own way, and from the moment she had first met him, her goal was to get him to relax a little, and accept himself. This had endeared her to Tony immediately. Of course, Tony being Tony, he had immediately tried to push the two of them together, because 'Brucie needs some action', as he put it. Thankfully, Bruce had put an end to that right away. Bruce still had a soft spot in his heart for Betty Ross, and he couldn't even consider other women. Especially not one that was almost half his age.
"Has he killed a lot of people? Yes. In terrible ways? Yes. But of everyone I know, he's the one with the least amount of responsibility in those acts. He was reprogrammed into a killing machine. They took away everything that he was, and put in what they wanted. I don't hold Bucky responsible for any of that." Darcy smiled at Jane's dumbstruck look. "Do I worry that he'll have a bad nightmare and wake up as that thing again? It's already happened. He snaps out of it pretty quick, and since then, we had Jarvis installed to help us out if it happens again."
Thor was visiting the lab, trying to pry Jane away from her science, but it was always a struggle. At least big, blond, and Godly was on her side. "I trust the captain's judgment," he told Jane. "Steven speaks only good things of his friend. And I do not believe he would endanger Darcy's life."
Darcy beamed at the Thunder God. "Thanks Thor. Bucky's a good guy. He has a lot he needs to get over, cuz life handed him a big 'ole bucket of shit, but he's working with it. And besides, he saved my life. He broke Steve out of S.H.I.E.L.D's custody so they could rescue me. Plus, he totally adores me, and I love surrounding myself with people who adore me."
Tony Stark, in an unguarded moment when he was tinkering on a machine of Jane's that needed fixed, expressed caution, but overall confidence.
"My dad talked about Barnes too. Not as often as Capsicle, of course, but usually Barnes' name came up at some point. Barnes was a lot like my dad – a flirt, a womanizer. But he was way off his game after his time with Zola. Steve couldn't beat the women off with a stick, but they avoided Barnes, or walked away from him. It was the eyes, my dad used to say. Barnes' eyes had all of hell in them. He'd been taken to the edge and gone into the abyss. People usually don't survive that, but Capsicle wouldn't let him go, and pulled him back. Steve was the glue holding Barnes' sanity together, and really the only reason Barnes could go on. When he fell…it was the thing that almost broke Capsicle." Tony shrugged thoughtfully. "Barnes seems to be okay now, but just be smart around him, Lewis. If something triggers that assassin personality, get out of his way as fast as you can."
Darcy could understand their concerns. She really could. But usually, she got to see the unshielded Bucky Barnes. The minute he was around anyone other than just her and Steve, his walls started coming up. He was tense and wary with everyone else, exactly what they expected him to be. With her and Steve, he was probably as close to Bucky Barnes as he would ever get.
Jane and Thor were beginning to get a little too cozy when Darcy's cell phone went off, playing Bucky's ringtone of American Bad Ass. There was an incredulous bark of laughter from Stark over that, but Darcy ignored him and answered her phone.
"What up, Buck?"
"Meet me for lunch?" he asked plaintively. "Steve abandoned me."
Since she had gotten a text from Steve a few minutes before, indicating he had a meeting with Fury and might be late getting home, Darcy wasn't surprised.
"Lunch sounds good, Bucky. Meet me in the tower cafeteria?"
"Can I wear short sleeves and frighten off the weak hearted?"
It was good to hear him joking around. "Absolutely. Put on your sociopath face."
He laughed, something he did more often now. "You got it, pumpkin. See ya in about 20, okay?"
"Sounds good."
Darcy didn't hide her smirk when a wide area cleared around them in the cafeteria. Bucky was looking particularly menacing when they first sat down, but he lightened as Darcy chatted, even laughing over her crazy scientist stories several times. It made the people in the cafeteria look at Darcy differently. At first glance she seemed dismissible, but here she was having lunch with a sociopathic killer and making him laugh.
"You're doing wonders for my cafeteria rep, Barnes," she told him with a grin.
Bucky rolled his eyes. "That was my plan, Darce. Anything to raise your cafeteria status." He tossed a carrot stick at her. It was funny that he ate healthier than Steve. It never failed to amuse her, or Steve. Steve had speculated that it was because the Winter Soldier had been conditioned to be at his physical peak, and junk food had no place in that mindset.
"So what do you do if Steve is in a meeting all day long?" Darcy was genuinely curious. S.H.I.E.L.D still wasn't very big on the idea of Bucky being in their ranks, and he mainly stuck with Steve.
Bucky shrugged. "Barton and I are heading out on something after lunch. Won't take long. Couple of hours."
Darcy was glad that Clint had sort of adopted Bucky. The archer had issues a mile long and then some, especially after Loki's possession of his mind, but he could see when someone else had similar issues. He'd made a point of hanging out with Bucky when Steve couldn't be around. She was very grateful for that, because Bucky still obviously felt somewhat adrift.
"The two of you together must give Fury nightmares," she mused.
Bucky flashed a grin. "Anything I can do to help."
He left her after lunch with a promise to be home before Steve. Darcy headed back to Jane's lab area in bemusement. People were still watching her with wide eyes, and that was just funny. It was only when she was in the elevator with a couple of scientists that worked on their floor that another reason for people to be staring was brought to her attention.
She overheard very quiet speculation that she was a superhero groupie, and Darcy could understand that. After all, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner occasionally worked in Jane's lab, and she did like to flirt with them. And of course, whenever Thor stopped by, she was always chummy with him too. But apparently, the crowning moment had come during Avengers business, when the team had trudged, dirty and weary, into Jane's lab with some type of unknown tech for Jane, Stark and Banner to look at, and Darcy had thrown herself into Captain America's arms and shamelessly smooched him. Now she had been having lunch with the man who'd been battling with Captain America on the news, so she was apparently trying to sell out the good Captain.
Darcy was having a hard time not laughing in their faces, especially since they were whispering things just loudly enough for her to hear. She could work with it. It would be fun to play with them.
Two hours later, Jarvis announced a S.H.I.E.L.D visitor to the lab. Darcy wasn't sure who she was expecting, but it wasn't anyone she recognized. An older man, classically handsome, with an impeccably tailored suit. Sort of like an older Phil Coulson. Except that this guy smiled openly, even if it didn't reach his eyes.
"Miss Lewis, I'm Alexander Pierce," he greeted, offering a hand. Darcy shook it warily, which only seemed to amuse the man. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here," he said, withdrawing his hand. Darcy didn't miss that he absently wiped it on his pant leg.
"I don't usually get S.H.I.E.L.D visitors that I don't know," she confirmed.
Pierce paced in a short line back and forth, hands clasped behind his back. "You are dating Captain Rogers," he finally said.
Darcy folded her arms across her chest. "That's not a secret," she told him. "S.H.I.E.L.D has known about that for quite some time. After all, the possibility of the captain tarnishing his good image during my kidnapping led to S.H.I.E.L.D trying to detain him again his will." She bit back the ten other things she wanted to say and just stared up at the man.
Pierce acknowledged that with a nod. "We are…concerned. Obviously, Captain America is a symbol to the country, and should be above reproach."
Darcy clenched her jaw, struggling against her mouth's desperate need to say something, but she lost that fight. "I'm not dating Captain America," she snapped. "I'm dating Steve Rogers."
Pierce stared at her intimidatingly. "You were seen kissing Captain Rogers in this very facility."
"And how do you know that?" she asked.
The angry stomping of feet drew their attention. Tony Stark had just entered the lab. He didn't look pleased. "I'd like to know the same thing," he snapped. "This is a privately owned research lab that has no ties to S.H.I.E.L.D."
Pierce was icy all of a sudden. "You're not that naïve, Stark. You have one Avenger working here, and the girlfriends of two other Avengers. Do you really think S.H.I.E.L.D isn't going to keep tabs on that?" His sharp smile sent chills through Darcy's very core. There was something off about this man, but she couldn't put her finger on it. He seemed…stiff. Most S.H.I.E.L.D agents strove for the emotionless shell exterior, but they still looked normal. Everything about Pierce seemed…unyielding.
"But I'm not here for you, Stark." Pierce's attention came back to Darcy. "Today, you were observed having lunch with the Winter Soldier."
Warning bells went off in Darcy's head. "There is no such person anymore," she retorted. "I had lunch with my good friend Bucky."
Piece didn't even blink. "Given the rather volatile nature of the first meeting between Captain America and the Winter Soldier, kissing one of them and having lunch with the other raises questions about your intentions. It also casts a dubious light on Captain America, and S.H.I.E.L.D wishes to prevent that."
Darcy was getting ready to give the man a piece of her mind, but Stark was way ahead of her. Coldly furious, he pointed toward the lab door. "Get out. S.H.I.E.L.D has no place here, and no say in the private lives of the Avengers."
She was surprised when Pierce didn't attempt to stay and fight. He looked at them both measuringly, then turned and departed.
Tony Stark was very angry. "Jarvis – notify me if he deviates from exiting the building."
"Of course, sir."
"Sweep the building for bugs."
"Already working on that, sir. I've also begun to review the histories of every employee in this building for ties to S.H.I.E.L.D."
Stark's smile was a bit manic. "Make a building-wide announcement. Anyone who is secretly in S.H.I.E.L.D's pocket can resign now, and it will only be noted as 'resigned without notice'. If I have to fire anyone, they'll be labeled as a corporate spy." He tapped his chin. "Notify Capsicle and tell him to get his ass here as soon as possible."
Darcy's head was spinning. She didn't often see this side of Tony Stark. Usually it was just the manic billionaire or genius engineer that she saw. "He's meeting with Fury all day," she ventured.
Stark grinned hard. "Good. Fury should know about this. I am not pleased. Jarvis! Send an official notice to S.H.I.E.L.D. that I am not pleased."
"Very good, sir. Captain Rogers is on his way. Shall I notify Sergeant Barnes as well?"
"Yes," Darcy answered quickly. She was a little shaken that even Stark's tower had been compromised. If S.H.I.E.L.D observers were in the tower, both her and Jane were in possible danger. She didn't want to think that Fury had anything to do with spies in the tower, but it was likely he did. She wasn't worried about that so much as she was worried about any of those spies working for the person who had had her kidnapped. The person who wanted to take Bucky and remake him into the Winter Soldier. "Bucky's out with Barton this afternoon," she ventured.
Stark seemed to think of it at the same time she did. "Jarvis, notify Barnes and Barton. Tell them to watch their backs, more than usual, and to get back here, if they can."
"Director Fury has already ordered them recalled, sir."
Stark flashed a brittle smile. "And it might be prudent to get Thor down to the lab area."
"He is already on his way, sir."
Darcy uttered a slightly hysterical laugh. "S.H.I.E.L.D has no idea what can of worms they just opened."
Bruce Banner and Jane Foster approached slowly. Banner was breathing a little faster than normal, and Darcy hoped that Hulk would not make an unexpected appearance. Banner had gotten pretty good at controlling the rage beast side of himself, but if Hulk broke out instead of being let out, she wasn't sure what would happen.
Seeing Thor barge into the lab in a tee shirt and boxer shorts, hammer in hand, sort of broke the tension of the moment, and they all had a good laugh. Thor just stood there, looking slightly confused but ready for action.
Stark wiped at his eyes. "Geez Point Break. Put some clothes on next time."
Thor scanned the lab, and allowed the hammer to droop toward the floor as he relaxed. "I did, Man of Iron. It would not be prudent to run through the building wearing no clothing."
Darcy felt better already. Stark was pacing angrily, barking orders out to Jarvis as he thought of them, mostly related to keeping S.H.I.E.L.D out of his research labs. How Pierce had gotten there seemed to be a mystery. Jarvis had no records of the man entering the building, until he was walking into the lab area – which required a Stark Industries identification badge to access. This made Stark nearly crazy.
Then, there were Jarvis's observations. "There was something…wrong…with Mr. Pierce, sir."
"Wrong how?" the billionaire snapped.
"I am unable to formulate an answer, sir. The scans I was able to make on the man are inconclusive."
Tony Stark cocked his head in inquiry. "Inconclusive how, Jarvis? What was different about him?"
"I do not have a theory, sir."
Stark was not happy. "Don't get buggy on me, Jarvis. Not now."
"I am functioning normally, sir."
"If you're functioning normally, why was a S.H.I.E.L.D suited asshole able to walk into my building and then my research lab without a badge, and no record of his trip through the building? Why can't you tell me what is wrong with him?"
"I have no answers for those questions, sir."
The inability of his AI to provide answers seemed to rattle Stark like nothing else. He ordered everyone out of the building except Erik Selvig, Avengers, and their girlfriends. Darcy could practically hear the scream of outrage from Pepper Potts now. She had met Tony's significant other only once, but had been impressed with Pepper's no-nonsense take-charge attitude. Pepper had two focuses in her life – Tony and Stark Industries. When Tony started messing around with the company, it always agitated her.
Darcy paced, as agitated as Stark but in her own way. She felt off balance and scared, and wanted Steve and Bucky there so she could feel safe. S.H.I.E.L.D wasn't supposed to be the cause of fear in the good guys, but this was twice now that they had done so. Of course, bad seeds could crop up anywhere. S.H.I.E.L.D was no exception, but given the resources they could command, it was very frightening to think that someone could put those resources to use for their own purpose.
When Jarvis announced that Steve had arrived with Fury, she felt a burgeoning sense of relief. The woosh of the lab doors opening lifted her mood considerably, and she darted across the lab to throw herself into Steve's arms.
He squeezed her tightly. Pressed against his warm heat, feeling his heart beating against her cheek, Darcy felt relief. After a moment, she drew back and smiled up at her hero.
"I'm a devious slut," she confessed, eyes dancing.
Steve blinked at her, with the hint of a frown. "Uh…"
"I'm beguiling you with my ample feminine charms, while conspiring with the Winter Soldier to bring about your downfall," she told him.
Stark provided a quick summary, in short choppy sentences. He was still angry, arms and hands waving in agitation. Darcy could feel Steve tensing as Stark described Pierce's visit, and their subsequent discoveries about him and S.H.I.E.L.D.
They turned to Fury. He looked almost as angry as Stark. "Of course I had people here," he admitted. "It was a necessity. But those people report to me. The kissing incident was reported and filed. I haven't even seen the lunch report yet." He clenched both fists. "Pierce has been…flexing his muscles for several months now."
"Can you explain to me how he avoided Jarvis's monitoring until he got to this floor?" Stark snapped. "There is no record of him until he stepped out of the elevator on this floor."
Fury looked surprised. Either he was the best actor ever, or Pierce had access to tech that Fury didn't know about. Darcy watched him carefully, trying to see any point where he started manipulating them. But she didn't see anything as Fury and Stark got involved in a heated discussion about Pierce, including Jarvis's observations that something about Pierce was wrong.
After quite some time, Fury glanced around, seeming to realize the amount of time that had passed. "Where the hell are Barton and Barnes? They should have been here by now."
The sick feeling in Darcy's stomach was echoed on Steve's face when she looked up at him. He already had his cell phone out, calling, sharing a worried look with Darcy. "C'mon Buck. Answer the phone."
Behind them, Tony Stark muttered something that sounded like 'amateurs'. "Jarvis? Can you locate Barnes and Barton?"
Darcy heard the beep as Bucky's phone went to voicemail. She clenched her fingers tight on Steve's left arm. This was getting a little too tense. Steve apparently felt the same way, because his hand tightened around the cell phone until it cracked and then shattered. They were thinking the same thing, she could tell. Pierce had been a distraction so Bucky could be grabbed.
She pulled her cell phone out and texted Bucky. And waited.
Jarvis located them, announcing their location in his clinical voice, and calmly asking Stark if he should attempt to contact Agent Barton. Tony gave the okay, and Jarvis went silent for a few minutes, before he reported that there was no answer.
Tony was heading toward the lab door when Jarvis spoke again. "Sir, Agent Romanoff is calling on the Ultra Super-Secret Avengers line."
Fury's bark of incredulous laughter echoed Darcy's own as they all stared at Stark. He flushed a little at their perusal. "Put her through, Jarvis."
"Stark." Natasha's voice was whispered, taut and aggravated. "They're fine. Tell your group to stop trying to call, because every time you do, it gives away our position."
"Natasha. Report." Fury was grim, scowling furiously.
"They were already compromised when I reached them," she hissed. "There are a lot of misguided S.H.I.E.L.D agents here. We're trying not to kill people."
Fury swore, loud and creatively. "Can you hold your position for an extended length of time?"
"Of course."
"Do so. I'm sending non-lethal backup." Fury pulled out his own phone. "Coulson. Since you happen to be in the area, take your team and go to Barton's current position. There are agents there who are getting orders from someone else. Bogus orders. Take charge of the situation, and take those agents into custody, pending an eval."
Stark looked torn. "I should go…to make sure…"
Fury shook his head. "Stark, you need to keep your ass right here. Coulson is more than capable of stepping in and defusing the situation. If you go, there will be shooting, and people will get hurt."
Thor apparently decided that he was a better option than Stark because he started heading for the lab door. Jane Foster had latched onto his arm, but Thor was an unstoppable force, and Jane's feet were actually dangling in the air.
Steve saw it. "Thor! Stand down! S.H.I.E.L.D's going to handle their own mess. It's not the fault of those agents that they're getting bad orders."
Thor growled, actually growled, but came to a fault. It gave Jane the opportunity to soundly berate him, and Darcy heaved a sigh of relief. Thor could be as bad as Stark, and from the sounds of it, that was the last thing that was needed. She just wanted Bucky back safely. Undamaged, unaltered.
Steve slid his hand into hers, squeezing for comfort. He looked as worried as she felt. Or more. Darcy was a little surprised that he wasn't going all caveman and rushing out to save Bucky. Based on the twitching muscles she could feel at her side, he really wanted to and was showing remarkable self-restraint in staying where he was.
"Whoever this person is, they don't have very well thought out plans." Bruce Banner was tapping his chin thoughtfully. Darcy gave him her full attention, because Bruce didn't speak without purpose. "It starts out with a lot of misdirection, but then devolves into a straight head on assault. And this person never seems to calculate for teamwork."
Steve nodded. "It's almost as if he or she doesn't expect others to come to Bucky's assistance. It's a failing, but I'm grateful for it." His hands clenched and unclenched nervously. "Darcy said whoever is giving the orders is someone from my past. Deep past. That's fairly limited. Someone calling themselves 'Zola' sent the Winter Soldier after me. Unless the Zola that I knew was frozen, he'd be long dead. So, I'm guessing a descendent maybe, probably the same person."
Fury sighed. "Coulson's team has been looking into it, more from the 'Zola' angle than the more recent one. They haven't found anything yet."
Stark snapped his fingers. "Jarvis! Go after anything you can find on this 'Zola'. Exclude anything that S.H.I.E.L.D already knows."
Darcy bit back a laugh when Fury folded his arms across his chest and glared at the billionaire. "Stark, I know you don't still have completely illegal access to S.H.I.E.L.D files."
"Of course I don't." Tony flashed a cocky smile. "Just like you don't have S.H.I.E.L.D agents employed in this building."
Fury fell silent. There wasn't really much he could say to that.
Then it was just waiting. Darcy hated waiting. It really sucked. She was imagining all kinds of terrible things, but Bucky was with Barton and Natasha, so he would be fine. They wouldn't let anything happen to him.
Jarvis actually sounded relieved several hours later when he announced that Barton, Romanoff and Barnes had arrived. Everyone had adjourned to the penthouse to get comfortable. Darcy had been shocked to see broken holes in the floor, until Bruce had explained that they were from Hulk bashing Thor's brother Loki into the floor, and Tony refused to have them repaired. He was adorably red-faced when explaining it.
Darcy was sprawled on a leather sofa with Steve, trying to keep from sliding off of it. When Jarvis made his announcement, Steve jumped to his feet and Darcy slithered gracelessly to the floor. She jumped up and glared at her boyfriend, but then turned toward the elevator to wait. Steve was twitching again. It was driving him crazy to just wait.
When the elevator opened, Darcy rose up on her toes, bouncing a little in her need to see Bucky safe. He followed Natasha out of the elevator, with Clint bringing up the rear. Bucky was dirty and a little banged up, she could see, and he was very angry. The arm had scrape marks and scorch marks on it, and Darcy couldn't even imagine what could have happened to have caused those marks.
Bucky came to a dead halt when he saw Fury. Several emotions fluttered across his face – regret, anger, and finally a boiling frustration that threatened to spill over onto everyone around him. "Some of your agents need retraining," he finally snapped at Fury. "Or at least need to review intel before they attempt to bring someone in."
Fury watched him warily, probably remembering the last time he had faced Bucky. It hadn't ended well for him. "Why is that?" he finally asked.
Bucky waved the metal arm at him. "Using a magnetic retractable grappling hook on the arm – brilliant idea. Having one agent holding onto it – stupid and careless."
Darcy could picture it in her head. The hook grabbed his arm and began to drag him out into the open. All Bucky had to do was regain his feet, grab onto the line, and pull with the metal arm, which was much stronger than one man. That's probably where he'd picked up the dirt and scrapes and bruises she could see.
She finally could contain herself no longer, and crossed the room to throw her arms around Bucky. He made a surprised noise at first, then gently encircled her with his arms. The crushing, almost suffocating press of another body against her back told her that Steve had followed her, and had them both wrapped in his arms.
"Ya gotta stop scaring me, Buck," he said, voice rough.
"Me too," Darcy chimed in. "I fart when I worry." Oops. That was…not supposed to come out of her mouth.
Bucky laughed, which broke the tension a little, and then everyone was talking at once. Stark was getting information from Clint and Natasha, Fury was jumping in occasionally with his own observations, and Steve and Darcy just kept quietly berating Bucky for scaring them.
Stark finally noticed that they hadn't separated yet. Darcy still had her arms around Bucky, and Steve had his around both of them. "Geez you guys…get a room. On second thought, let me watch. I'm always up for watching a threesome."
Darcy and Bucky flipped him off, while Steve drew back with a red face. Darcy bit her lip at the implications of what Stark had said. Was this what they'd been dancing around since Bucky had come back? It was like a light bulb went off inside her mind. They couldn't do without him, nor him without them, but…
Absently, she stretched up to place a kiss on Bucky's dirty cheek. "You're filthy," she told him, squeezing him tight once more. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."
Bucky nodded, and she finally stepped back and released him. Fury made a token argument because he wanted to debrief Bucky, but Clint and Natasha didn't feel that was necessary. Stark protested, because he wanted to continue watching the three of them be all touchy with each other, or so he said.
Darcy stuck her tongue out at the billionaire, said a hasty goodbye to Thor, Jane and Bruce, said a quick hello/goodbye to Clint and Natasha, and then herded Steve and Bucky to the elevator. She and Steve had toyed with the idea of staying at the tower, but it didn't seem to be secure right now, and Pierce obviously had ways around Jarvis. So they just decided to go home, and followed the usual routine, splitting up and doing everything they could to lose any tails. As far as they knew, S.H.I.E.L.D still didn't know where they lived.
Once all three were safely home, and hadn't that caused some worry until Bucky walked in the door, Bucky headed for the bathroom to shower. He really was very filthy. Darcy snuggled into bed and Steve joined her. He was calm and mostly relaxed again.
"Steve?" she ventured.
"Yes?" He bent his head to kiss the top of hers.
"I have this crazy, wild idea."