Chapter 25

Skye headed down the stairs and then down the hall; she knocked on the door to the research labs before letting herself in. As she rather expected, Fitz was playing with some sort of device and Jemma sat beside Bruce, peering into a microscope.

"Hey guys. Am I interrupting something terribly important?"

"Skye!" Fitz looked up with a smile. "Nah, just tinkering. What's up?"

"We're doing some additional DNA checking," Simmons said absently as she finished making note of something or other before turning her attention to Skye. "Did you need something?"

"We're going to put in a movie, and I thought I'd come tear you guys away from your science-y stuff for a while."

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" Jemma asked, curious.

Skye chuckled. "I've already been beaten on by both May and Tasha today. I've got programs running to sort out the data I snagged from Hydra, and it's only a couple of hours until dinnertime. I deserve a break, and I'm sure you do too." Fitz nodded his agreement, but Jemma hesitated.

"She's probably right," Bruce said, his tone encouraging. "Why don't you go spend some time with your friends?"

"Won't you come too?" Jemma asked, turning pleading eyes on her soulmate.

It was Bruce's turn to hesitate, then he sighed. "I don't do so well with the kind of films that are popular these days. But I promise, I'll be up before dinnertime. Okay?"

"Come on, Jems, it'll be fun," Fitz wheedled.

"Alright," she finally agreed. Skye smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Thanks, Bruce," Skye said, nodding to her friend as she ushered the others towards the door. "We'll see you a little later."

"Have fun, Skye," Bruce answered with a smile. It really was good to see her at peace with her old teammates.

Everyone was gathering for dinner by the time the movie was over. When Pepper asked in a concerned tone if Bucky felt up to joining them for dinner, he agreed. Pepper organized seating so that Bucky was on one end, with Skye and Steve on either side of him. Jemma and Bruce were beside Skye, while Fitz and Mack took Steve's other side.

Dinner was a rather festive affair; with an air of celebration, Tony had ordered up an assortment of everyone's favourite foods and a selection of wine. "To welcome you home," Tony said when asked. "And because I'm excited for Bruce and his soulmate! I think I might redo the floor below the labs for Coulson's team, when they're here. I'm guessing that will happen more often now." The addition of Coulson's team to the long table enhanced the party feel, the group being almost twice its usual size. But the end of the table surrounding Bucky was relatively mellow, and he managed to get through the meal without feeling the need to run away.

He tried hard to join in, chatting with Fitz and Skye about the movie. They discussed some of the more modern background and then moved on to comparing the events of the movie to similar real-life events. Bucky had a lot of questions, but between them Skye and Fitz were able to answer most of them. Skye promised to Google whatever they didn't have answers for.

Steve and Bucky headed down to their apartment after the meal was over. Skye promised to follow along shortly; she wanted to finish a discussion with Fitz, Mack and Coulson. Then she'd say good night and head down herself.

Some thirty minutes later, Skye stepped off the elevator into her soulmates' apartment. She was only a little surprised to find them watching television when she got there, but they turned it off when she settled on the couch beside them. Steve switched over to a station that played mellow jazz and turned the volume down so it was just audible in the background.

"Sorry I took so long," she apologized after a moment.

"No need to apologize," Steve said in a surprised tone. "You haven't seen your old team in a while; I'm sure you have plenty to catch up on. Especially now that you've cleared the air."

"Oh, I know, but it's going to take time," she agreed. "Still, Coulson doesn't seem like he's in a hurry to rush off, so we probably have a little time yet."

"We've been discussing future collaborations between the Avengers and the New SHIELD," Steve told her, which clarified why he'd been so busy earlier. "Stark is going to help out with some funding and Coulson is still seeking some other sources as well. But we decided that more joint missions were likely, what with them being so important to you, and now that we know Bruce's soulmate is on their team as well."

"Yeah," Skye said softly. "I know Coulson never wanted to lean on you guys, and not just because he didn't know how – or if he should – tell you that his death was temporary. Really, I don't know that the Avengers should ever have been under one person's, or one organization's, orders. But our groups are linked now in ways that can't really be broken. I can only hope it doesn't cause problems, because being the cause is something I just can't feel sorry for."

"No one's asking you to, kitten," Steve assured her. She nodded and smiled. They sat quietly for a while, all three comfortable with the silence.

"Have you had a chance to think about our idea from last night?" Bucky asked after a while.

"A bit, yeah," Skye answered quietly. "I kinda wound up talking to Tasha and Jemma about it over breakfast."

"Oh? What did they have to say?"

"Tasha agreed that you might be right. But Jemma agreed with me that the idea of two of us just taking off on a trip might be too much all at once. She thought we should start slower. Have one-on-one date nights or afternoons out. Work our way up to an overnight nearby, maybe a weekend trip once we've all had a chance to adjust. She's concerned – and honestly, so am I – that we could do a lot of damage to our bond if any two of us were out of reach and the third wasn't coping well."

"We've been apart before," Bucky began, but Skye cut him off.

"Not knowing that one of you was alone and the other was with me," she countered. "It was just awful knowing that the two of you were in that base and I couldn't get to you, and you weren't even someplace fun! I'm not sure I'd want to willingly put that kind of distance between us again, knowing that whichever of us wasn't there was likely lonely and feeling disconnected."

"I'd be willing to cope with it, if it made you more secure," Steve said quietly.

"You're worth it," Bucky added.

"I don't think I'd be able to enjoy myself under those circumstances anyway." Skye turned sad eyes on them both. "Do you really think I'd benefit in any way from being the cause of your pain? Either of you?"

Both men went silent as they considered her words. "No, I don't suppose you would," Steve finally agreed. "I guess we didn't really think this through."

"We were all worn out and upset last night," Skye said, willing to be reasonable now that they were actually listening. "I'm not saying that I wouldn't enjoy time with you individually. I just don't think planning whirlwind vacations is going to help."

"Then we'll give Jemma's suggestion a try," Bucky said, trading glances with Steve. "Small steps, like when you first joined us. We did okay today, with Stevie busy for several hours. Maybe tomorrow you two can go out for a while. Get some ice cream, walk in the park, something. Might as well enjoy the sunshine before autumn comes."

"Are you sure, Bucky?" Steve asked. "You're still recovering from the whole Hydra thing again."

"Yeah, Punk. I'm not as fragile this time around." Bucky rolled his eyes. "For one thing, I've got all my memories still. For another, I didn't actually hurt anyone but you and the damage isn't near as bad as last time."

"And there are plenty of people here for you to get to know if you get lonely," Skye suggested quietly. "I know if I had really needed to leave you two alone, I probably would've gone with Fitz just to have company and catch up with him a bit..."

"But I really needed you both nearby then, so I'm glad you didn't go," Bucky finished for her. "So tomorrow we can do our usual thing in the morning, and in the afternoon you two can take off and get out of the Tower for a while."

"Okay," Skye agreed. She paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you think in the morning, after your run I mean, that you guys could help me with something?"

"Of course," Steve answered immediately. "We're always happy to help with whatever you need."

"Well, I've kinda been thinking," Skye began slowly. "It seems like my old team could be here more often, now that we're gonna be working together more. So I thought, maybe we could bring the rest of my stuff up here? If you still want? Leave the guest apartments for actual guests, since I don't think I'm likely to be moving out of the tower anytime soon." She paused again, feeling them tense beside her, and then hurried on. "I figure I could take over one of the spare bedrooms and put my makeup and stuff in one of the other bathrooms so if we're going out and I need private space to get ready I don't have to kick you both out of the bedroom. My computer stuff all lives in my lab, now, and I don't own a whole lot of things; I couldn't, living on a plane and then in a base. So except for my tablet and sometimes my laptop, I don't think I'd take up too much space or anything…"

Bucky cut off her nervous rambling by pulling her into his lap for a long, deep, joyful kiss. Startled, Skye's eyes slid slowly closed but not before seeing the joy in his eyes; a sensation echoed in the brightness of his internal sense in the back of her mind. When he released her, it was only to let Steve take a turn; Skye saw and felt much the same thing from Steve. Thanks to the bond, she didn't have to wonder if they were really happy with her idea; she knew without a doubt that they were.

While her mouth was still busy with Steve's, Bucky stayed close. "We're not worried about how much space you take up, doll," he murmured into her ear. "You could take over the apartment entirely, and we'd still be happy. We'd love to have you living here."

"You can put your things wherever you want them," Steve agreed happily when he finally released Skye's lips. "Pick out a room; we can redo it however you want, though you're always welcome with us too."

Skye smiled, glad that they seemed happy about her suggestion. "I've been spending most nights up here with you anyway, so I don't imagine I'll be sleeping anywhere else. At least not most of the time; maybe if I got sick or something."

"Whatever makes you happy, Skye," Steve assured her. "That's all we really want, you know. For you to be happy, to know you're safe and loved."

"I know," she answered with a small smile. "We still have a lot of ground to cover, and a lot to learn about each other. But for the first time in my life, I know that I won't be alone again no matter what happens. And yeah, I'm gonna still have my moments, my fears and nightmares. I think we all will."

"But we'll face them together," Bucky finished, nodding his agreement.

"Together, all three of us," Steve agreed.

TBC...

A/N: I'm sorry it was short. It was rather long if I combined it with the epilogue. So I'll just post the epi tomorrow. Many thanks again to everyone for wonderful feedback, comments, ideas, thoughts and more. I love hearing from you!