Chapter 25 - Genetics

Natasha's POV

"Do you want some shorts so you can see your leg?" I asked Steph.

"That's alright," she said with a smile in my direction. "I can just roll the leg up."

"Well, I need to change," I said. "If you don't mind the quick stop, so you'll have the time if you'd like."

"Sure I'll probably do that then," Steph responded. "I just didn't want to slow you down."

"You should prioritize your own comfort sometimes," I told her. "Especially for the task at hand, I would think. Come down to my room when you're done changing, I could use some help with something quickly if you're willing to lend a hand."

We broke apart in the common area, as I was down a different hallway from Steve, but it was only a few minutes later that Steph was knocking on my door. When she walked in, I studied the yoga capris she'd put on and was grateful to see that she had affixed her gun to her right leg again. Nodding toward it, I said, "I know you aren't comfortable with that holster location yet, but it's a very short draw distance. And remember, we did design your uniform to have it there anyway. It would be best to wear it there all the time until it feels like part of you. Now tell me what your hesitation is with guns."

"Well, I've been shot, and that's no fun," she deflected. Then she sighed as she looked around my room and said, "They're lethal, and I really don't like killing people."

I studied her for a moment and pressed, "you expect me to judge you for that. To think you're weak because you'd rather not kill." Her silence was answer enough, so I told her, "I don't; in fact, I admire it. I've done a lot of bad over the course of my life, Steph. Now I'm trying to do good, but sometimes it requires that you take a life of someone in order to save the innocent. When we train, we can focus on things that are intended only to incapacitate in addition to more lethal tactics because I think you understand that and doing so won't cause you to hesitate."

"Thank you. I promise not to be stupid about it. If I need to go lethal, I will."

"That's all any of us ask."

Steph looked around the room and said, "you don't have much stuff."

Barking out a laugh I replied, "really, you of all people are saying that to me, Steph?"

Her lips twitched and she said, "the clothes for me that are in Steve's room… he said you provided them. Are they yours? Do you need them back?"

"I ordered them for you," I told her. "And I actually do have a little more stuff than this, that's actually why I asked for a few minutes of help. Do you mind helping me pack up the last of my stuff? I'm moving into Bucky's room."

Steph made a surprised sound before she said, "not at all, I'm happy to help. Do you have any boxes? Where do you want me?"

We spent the next twenty minutes boxing up the last of my stuff, then we switched into carting it through the space. I waited until we were almost done and there was a box filled with a few valuables before I made my move. Pretending to stumble while carrying another box, I knocked over the fragile one from a spot at the top of a tall stack. My gasp had Steph whirling around and catching the box with her energy before floating it back into position.

She studied me, and I was pleased to realize I'd been made. "You've never stumbled once since I've known you, and I doubt you'd do it around prized possessions. I don't think you've started now."

I shrugged and said, "doesn't what you just did make you think you're more than likely to be able to move yourself in a similar manner?"

"Not really, actually. When Wanda mentioned working with Daniel on it, that actually instinctively felt like it might work. Anything else just doesn't feel right, if that makes any sense."

"Well, then," I replied. "Let's go work on that scar of yours."

Together we walked toward my studio, and I waited until we were inside, where FRIDAY had some of her strictest security protocols in place to speak again.

"What do you know of the Red Room?" I asked.

"Not a lot," Steph replied. "From what I've been able to put together through context, it is where you were trained from a very young age… possibly brainwashed in some way?"

I nodded and said, "that's pretty much enough. They took young, pretty girls and forced them to train. We were made into weapons and had no choice in the matter. If you weren't good enough, they killed you. If you were good, they trained you more and more before graduating you with a sterilization ceremony and sending you out on missions like the weapon you were. And I was the best. They used pretty girls because they hoped they'd become beautiful women and one of their preferred methods was luring their targets with a tempting face."

Steph made a strangled noise, but didn't look at me with pity, which was a relief. Instead, she gave me a look that told me she thought she understood me a little better. As she did, I moved into the center of the room and drew myself en pointe. I called out a song to FRIDAY and settled back onto the flats of my feet to warm up as I explained to Steph, "Most of the training, I shook. Or at least the parts that involved them messing with my head and turning me inside out until I didn't know who I was anymore. I can still pull off most assassinations with my eyes closed if I need to for some reason, and I still find the ballet that was part of my training for a particular mission to be soothing. This is what I do to meditate. Will the music distract you?"

It was playing faintly, and Steph's eyes met mine as she shook her head. Then, she walked over to the cut out corner where there was a picture window with a comfortable cushion. She settled onto it and watched for a few minutes longer. Once I moved into my more intricate moves, I noticed her rolling up her pants leg. She settled into a cross legged position, and closed her eyes.

For an hour and a half, we worked like that, independently but still taking comfort in the other's presence. When I stopped, FRIDAY cut the music, and Steph immediately opened her eyes. I observed as Steph inspected her knee and then gave a satisfied nod. "It isn't gone, but I think it is a little fainter."

"FRIDAY?" I asked.

"The scar on Joule's right knee is approximately 18% lighter than it was when she started the session."

That made Steph's grin widen and I cocked my head to the side as I asked, "are you excited because it worked? Or was that the first time someone called you that?"

"Both," was her instant reply. Then she gestured to where I'd been dancing and asked, "if it won't ruin it, is there anything that you can teach me that would help my fighting?"

I could tell she was nervous when I didn't say anything immediately, but she stammered on, "when Steve was testing me the other day, he pinned me when I tried to slide under him. I feel like if I knew that sort of thing, I would have been better off trying to cartwheel or flip over him?"

"You would have," I agreed with a wide smile. Then I gestured her over and said, "let's get started."

An hour later, I looked over to see Steph covered in a slight sheen of sweat but smiling as FRIDAY interrupted us, "Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes are inquiring about your whereabouts."

Grinning at Steph, I said, "what do you say we call it a day?"

She nodded her head before whispering, "thanks for sharing this with me."

"It is nice to have someone who wants me to share it," I replied honestly. As we walked back I said, "you know you're entitled to your own room, right? If you don't want to be sharing with Steve, you can ask for your own space. It would be perfectly reasonable."

"It would be."

"But?"

She shrugged, but couldn't hide her smile, "I like where I am now, and Steve doesn't seem to mind."

Laughing I said, "I'm sure he doesn't mind; you're good for him, you know?"

"He's good for me."

Bucky's POV

Steve was apprehensive as we walked toward the gym, and Thor was not as jovial as he usually would be in the lead up to a sparring session. As much as I enjoyed having Steph around and was glad to have her on the team, I was worried that these sparring sessions that involved talking about our feelings were going to be a regular thing now. Because there was no doubt in my mind that was where we were about to go.

When we had these sparring sessions, there were no teams. It wasn't Steve and I against Thor or anything of the like. No, during these sessions, it was every man for himself and no holding back. We moved about, warming up a little before the fighting started. Frustratingly, neither man addressed the elephant in the room for the first hour of fighting.

I moved into an offensive series against Thor, and waited until Steve moved in to take advantage of the situation before I said, "the first time we met Steph, she helped Steve because she believes in what Captain America stands for and what the Avengers do."

Then, I took advantage of Steve's concentration being on Thor to move over to assault him as I said, "Thor wants Jane to be safe, and although she's brilliant and can do frightening things with science, she's not all that physically capable of looking after herself in a fight. He wants her with people he knows will help her, and he doesn't know Steph yet."

Both men turned on me, but at least started communicating with each other as they did.

"I have read Lady Stephanie's file, and I have no quarrel with her. In addition, I have begun to get to know her, and I believe she will use her powers with the respect and restraint they are due. She will not seek to use them to her own advantage, but rather to help the people of this realm."

"Steph and I will both protect Jane and Darcy," Steve grunted out as he dodged a kick I aimed at his chest. "And I apologize for standing between the two of you, but you are stronger than she is and I wanted to make sure you listened first."

We resumed fighting for several more minutes before Thor yelled, "you drew your weapon on me!"

At that, Steve dropped his guard and allowed Thor to land a punch that looked like it hurt. But eventually he shook it off and offered his hand, "for that, I sincerely apologize, and I assure you I meant only to use it in defense."

Thor stared at the proffered hand for a moment then broke out in a grin before taking it. "It is forgiven, my brother."

Steve looked relieved, then offered the hint, "really, I'd suggest you call her 'Steph' over 'Lady Stephanie.' Or 'Joule', if you'd rather as we'll all need to adjust to calling her that."

Thor nodded in understanding. Of course, Thor being Thor, that didn't mean the sparring was over. Rather, he let out a ferocious "FOR ASGARD!" and then began fighting with renewed fervor.

Steve stifled a laugh before resuming the match. After several more minutes, I said, "there's something else."

Steve and Thor merely grunted to show they were listening, and I directed my words more at Steve as I said, "Steph expressed confusion on multiple occasions about how her Inhuman powers could be genetic as she didn't feel either of her parents had anything like that in them. Now as we understand it, Inhumans are indistinguishable for the most part before transformation, so it could have been that. It turns out, however, that she's right." Luckily for Steve, Thor immediately noticed his distraction and pulled up a punch that had a lot of power behind it. In explanation, I told Thor in a teasing tone, "they're in love, so he's always worried about her. It isn't just sex."

Thor somehow managed to smile even more broadly as he clapped Steve on the shoulder, "this is joyous news, Captain!"

Steve just nodded his head absently and asked impatiently, "what do you mean, Buck?"

I cleared my throat as I said, "her instincts have been so spot on about everything, so I looked into it. It was a difficult task because things weren't on the computer then and the hospital hasn't digitized all their records for even the past decade yet, let alone thirty something years ago." Steve made an impatient hand gesture and I stepped fully out of the sparring area to demonstrate that I was done as I explained further. "Helen and Frank Plum have a daughter who was born naturally to them, though less than nine months after they were married, I might add, named Valerie. She's Steph's sister. However, their second child was stillborn at full term."

Thor looked confused, though I knew he had what was basically a system of internal, magical translation called All-Speak. "I do not understand; I thought that term referred to a child who was born already deceased?"

I nodded my head and replied, "no, you understand correctly. Steph's parents are not her biological parents."

"Then where did she come from?" Steve asked, clearly alarmed.

"That's what's been taking so long," I told him. "From what I've been able to tell, there was another couple who arrived at the hospital on the same day and gave false names for themselves. Those identities had only been used once before to buy tickets to fly from China to New York. Then they checked into the hospital five weeks later, where the woman gave birth to a healthy, live daughter with brown hair and blue eyes. There was one more hit on their names as they bought tickets on a cross-country bus tour for two adults- no mention of an infant. That's it, nothing more, and no reports of any deadly bus accidents or anything like that in the target company's route that year."

Thor shifted uncomfortably before he said, "From my experience with my brother, Loki, I would caution you, Steven, that this is not the kind of news you would do well to keep to yourself now that you know it."

"She's nothing like Loki," Steve replied. But then he acquiesced, "but you're right. I need to figure out how to tell her… tonight. And then we're going to have to figure out how to get her and I to her parents' house for dinner tomorrow night otherwise she's going to go alone."

"We'll tell her together," I reassured him. "I'll explain, since I'm the one who did the looking all on my own. And we'll have Natasha disguise you again like she did that first night. Then we'll send you both in bugged and find somewhere nearby to be backup, just in case. I'll work out the logistics with Natasha and Ranger while you help Steph deal with it."

"Her file contained transcripts of messages left on her telephone from her mother, supplied by Natasha," Thor said. The look on his face clearly showed what he thought of the way Steph's mother spoke to her. "Do you think Steph will take this news badly?"

"I don't know," Steve replied honestly. "I think the part with her mother will be a relief, though I'm sure the woman will be a pill when confronted. Otherwise, Steph's reaction will depend on how her father and her grandmother react."

Looking between the two men, I asked, "are we good here?"

Both nodded enthusiastically so I turned for the door, calling out, "who was our winner, FRIDAY?"

"You were, Sergeant," she said and I raised my metal fist in victory as I walked out the door.

Once we made it back to the rooms, and didn't see Natasha or Steph in sight, we went our separate ways to clean up. When I pushed open the door to my rooms, I was brought up short by the sight of the sheer volume of stuff inside. It wasn't that Natasha had a lot of belongings, rather I had barely any. The room had been so empty for so long, and I'd figured that I'd be moving my belongings to Natasha's space. Just because I had fewer things to move.

I would readily admit, however, that I was glad this wasn't the case. Simply put, I felt most comfortable having Steve across the hall from me. A part of me wondered if I'd ever not trust Steve just a little bit more than I did anyone else in the world. Natasha was a close second, but the rest of our teammates were a distinct step below that level. This is what I pondered while I showered and shaved for the night.

Perhaps it was normal. Everyone probably had a person that they were closest to and trusted the most if you asked them. For Steph, it was undoubtedly Steve, and after that, it was probably Wanda, actually. Wanda, who would be at the bottom of everyone else's list other than Pietro's and maybe Vision's. Obviously, Wanda and Pietro each trusted each other the most, and I thought Steph might have actually found her way into second place on the list, ahead of Vision, already. I didn't have any clue how to consider Vision in this. Perhaps his was Thor, as I was pretty sure Thor trusted Vision the most because he was worthy of wielding Mjolnir. Sam's would be Steve, and, in Tony's absence, I thought Rhodey's probably was too.

Within the team, Clint would choose Natasha- that was obvious from the fact that only she knew of Clint's sister, niece, and nephew until he's had no other choice than to accept the rest. Natasha was tricky. She and I slept together, and we were in love, so it might be me that she trusted most. On the other hand, Clint had brought her out of her old life and provided her an opportunity she had only dreamed of until she found it in front of her. As partners, they'd saved each others' lives enough times that each would walk through fire for the other. But she and Steve had uncovered the HYDRA infiltration within SHIELD together, and they'd brought it down together (with Sam's help). That wasn't something you made it through without coming out the other side completely as a team as well.

No matter how you sliced it, Steve had the most of the team's trust, as well as, I was certain, their undying loyalty. Which fit the fact that I was certain he trusted everyone on the team fully. The Winter Soldier side of me cringed at the thought, but the Bucky side of me just accepted it. That was the same Steve I'd always known, and probably that was what made it good that he was the leader.

When I finally made it out to the living room, Steve and Thor were once again talking of Steph. This time, however, it seemed Thor was questioning what she'd been able to do, with the idea of offering assistance if he could.

Steve finished an explanation of Daniel Rand, Steph trying to learn to heal herself, and how Daniel had told Steph he'd work with her again when she made her scar completely disappear by saying, "I'm surprised Natasha has let her drill on that for this long though. It's probably too long for her to focus on that, she says it is extremely difficult, and she'll no doubt get frustrated by it, even if she does make progress."

"They moved Natasha's things into my room first; it probably took them twenty to thirty minutes," I informed him. Then with a nudge as I sat next to him, I said, "are you going to ask Steph if she wants to keep living with you or just not say anything?"

"Not say anything," he retorted shamelessly. "I'm fairly certain she'd tell me if she didn't want to, especially now that she knows Natasha's room is empty. But if I ask, she'll think it's because I want her to leave but am too nice to say anything."

Slowly the rest of the team filtered in, except for Steph and Natasha. Finally, Steve told them we had news to break to Steph, and it would be best not to do so in the cafeteria, so Sam went about asking the kitchen staff to make us heroic amounts of pizza while Steve sent a message along to FRIDAY.

Twenty minutes later, Steph and Natasha wandered in behind carts of pizza and both dashed off for a quick shower and change before dinner. Steve kept staring at Steph and wincing or frowning while we all ate, until Steph finally asked, "what? Are you sending me to Asgardian prison with Thor after all?"

Thor looked surprised that Steph would still think that was on the table, but I shook my head to keep him from leading the conversation in that direction. Instead, I caught Steph's eye and said, "no, I have something to tell you, and the punk is nervous about how you're going to take it. You should know I acted alone in finding out this information, and I didn't tell Steve about it until the end of our sparring session. He insisted that we tell you tonight, and he thought it best that everyone find out at the same time, even though it is personal."

Steph frowned but nodded her understanding and grabbed onto Steve's hand as she braced herself asking, "is someone else HYDRA?"

"Probably," I said bluntly. "This is something different though. When you found out that being Inhuman was genetic, you mentioned being surprised about that aspect because you didn't think either of your parents were. I knew that could have been just because they never transitioned, but it seemed to be worth a follow up, so I took it upon myself to do so."

I could just barely hear Sam take a deep breath, and I glanced over at him. His eyes told me just to break it to her fast so I said, "what I found is that your parents aren't your biological parents."

There was absolute silence, and I couldn't tell what Steph was thinking. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Your sister, Valerie, is a product of both your parents, but their second daughter was stillborn. Another couple had a daughter born that same day in the same hospital, one with brown hair and blue eyes. That child was born in perfect health, and when the couple left Trenton, they didn't have the baby with them."

"And you think I was that other couple's baby. That my parents' daughter was dead when she was born so they- took me as a replacement?"

"I'm not sure of the motives of anyone involved, but, yes, I think that's it generally."

Steph sat there in silence once more before blurting out, "I'm sorry, what?!"

Steve leaned over and murmured quietly in her ear, and not wanting to accidentally eavesdrop, I took that time to let Natasha know that we needed to arrange a disguise for Steve again the next day. Steve and Steph exchanged a few more whispers on the couch before standing in unison with Steve quickly making their excuses.

Wanting to end on a potentially more positive note, I queried as they left, "Steph, how's the scar?"

"Eighteen percent lighter!" she announced triumphantly.

"That is well done, Joule," Thor boomed, "congratulations!"

Everyone else offered similar reactions, and we waited until I could hear the click of Steve's door to speak again.

Sam let out a low whistle, "making jokes about thinking you're not actually part of the family, and finding out it is true are two very different things."

"Did you find her parents?" Rhodey asked before clarifying, "I mean biological parents."

I shook my head and said, "Steve's expecting her to want to go to Trenton to confront them tomorrow evening at dinner."

"Then we'll make sure we're ready for whatever happens," Wanda said resolutely, more command in her voice than I'd ever heard before.