Chapter 29:

The whirring metallic sound drummed into Charley's head, forcing her awake the following morning. She fought against life, rarely feeling so comfy and warm on a mattress. The bed she had at her old apartment was old and probably rotting in places considering it had been her mattress since she was little, having to have it flown in from England. On this one however, when she bent her back, the bed curved to her every need. Humming, she fluttered her eye lids open, taking in the white nicely spaced guest room, discovering the metallic whirring sound had been the blinds electronically rising, offering plenty of natural sunlight to shower the room.

"Good Morning Miss Weller," Something said from the corner of the room, and Charley screamed, fisting as much of her duvet as she could and tackling herself with it so she was fully covered underneath. Taking deep breaths, she prayed that whatever was in her room would leave her be, "My name is F.R.I.D.A.Y."

"Who?" Charley squeaked. Mabel suddenly pounced onto the bed and pawed at her face. Charley swiped it away and pulled her cat underneath the duvet for protection "Who Friday? What?"

"F.R.I.D.A.Y." The Irish voice repeated, "I've been told by Mr Rogers to assist in whatever you need."

If Steve had sent them, they can't be that bad; Charley thought rationally, peering over her covers, careful to have her phone in her hands in case she needed to call Steve or scream for any other avenger to help. She was expecting to see some sort of maid standing at the end of her bed but found no one there. In fact no one was in her room at all and the door was still tightly shut.

Feeling she was going crazy, she relaxed and fell back onto the headboard of the bed. She was sure she had heard someone.

Her head was still catching up with being awake, but finally she caught up, remembering where she was. The Avengers base. Sleeping in a bed at the Avengers base, acting as if it was normal.

She had expected something to explode by now. Having arrived at the base well past twelve last night there was no one still awake to meet (Except Natasha, who apparently was at the gym but according to Steve it was 'too Risky' to bother her when training). She'd gone straight to bed and hadn't had time to process everything yet.

She wasn't sure what she was meant to do. Just get up and try and locate herself to the breakfast room? She was assuming there was some sort of canteen or food room, Where else would the avengers eat? Maybe she'd find Steve first… but she didn't want to bother him.

As she was having this internal debate she struggled to get changed. Her legs were kicking in the air as she tried to get changed hiding behind the bed, having no found the right button to close the shutters which exposed her naked body to the world. Not something she wanted on her first day.

When finally looking decent she ventured out into the hallway. There was two ways she could go, each offering no specific direction.

"Hello?" Charley called out, hoping both someone would come and find her and that they would leave her alone. She had never been more petrified in her life of meeting people, "Is anyone around?"

She decided to open the first door available but it was typically locked and she wondered if this was going to be like an annoying video game where all the doors were locked leading you to one direction. Although she supposed, that would be helpful, at least it would guide her somewhere.

"Hello Miss Weller," the same Irish voice from before sounded from nowhere in particular. Charley jumped back into her room, feeling she had just been caught trying to snoop into an out of bounds room.

"Who the hell are you?" Charley groaned stomping her feet, looking around and peering her head quickly out of the door up and down the hallway seeing it completely empty, "No seriously… ooh," Charley figured it out, "Are you like Artificial intelligence?"

"That is correct Miss Weller," The woman said smoothly, "I am here to assist in any way you need"

"Well apart from you being completely creepy, this is awesome," her head was spinning like crazy. She could just imagine her dad if he was here, going full out fan boy on her, "Can you help me?"

"That is what I'm here for," It spoke and Charley was sure she could hear a little bit of sass in the Irish voice. She didn't think robots could even do that.

"Do you know where there is a food room?"

"Straight down the corridor to your right, two turns left and then you're there."

"Thanks," leaving her no other choice other than to trust the AI blindly. Charley followed the corridor to her right feeling stupid that she was walking so slowly. She still didn't know what to expect and was carefully treading with each footstep she took as if she was about to walk on to a landmine.

"Tony she's just a friend of mine," Charley heard Steve's patriarchal voice could be heard through the open door. Feeling she was intruding in on a moment, she ducked behind a column, pressing her back against it and waiting for the conversation to stop. She should probably just go back to her room and never come out of it again.

"I'm sorry, excuse me, I didn't realize you had a social life outside of the avengers," Tony freaking Stark said. She recognized his infamous voice from all of the youtube videos she'd watched of him. Carefully she peered around the side of the column and saw his arm. Internally freaking out she did a dance on the spot. It was Tony freaking Stark, right in front of her. He really was awesome.

"Tony she just needs a place for a few days. That's all."

Suddenly rigid, she realized they were talking about her. She backed away a step with the intention of leaving them too it but chose against it and decided to remain where she was. It was about her after all, it wasn't exactly being nosy if it was about her.

Tony did a dramatic and wistful sigh, "Tell her if she touches my stuff she's out"

"That's fair," Steve replied.

"Speaking of, where even is she?" Tony said, "it's like twelve o'clock already. F.R.I.D.A.Y?"

"She's outside the door Mr Stark."

Shit.

Double shit.

"Fuck," She whistled under her breath, scrunching her nose up in distaste for that stupid artificial intelligence lady, and for a moment there she thought they were on the same side.

"Charley?"

"Yup, I'm here" Charley groaned, forcing herself away from the wall to face the music. Steve was the first she saw. His arms were crossed sternly as he raised his eyebrows questioningly and Charley wasn't brave enough to meet his gaze. She felt like she was four again when she was about to be told off by her dad, but when she finally did pluck up the courage to look at him he had a distant smirk on his face as if trying to hide his amusement.

"See what did I tell you!" Tony Stark gestured towards her passively, "Superspy. She's already at it"

"I'm not a superspy…"

"That's the exact thing a superspy would say"

"I'm sorry about the whole listening in on thing. Totally accidental," She tried to apologize but Tony was not having it. He was managing to cover it with humour and sarcasm but he was pissed. She held up her hand, "I'm Charlotte by the way," She used her full name feeling they weren't ready in their relationship to go full first name bases, she'd address him by Mr Stark if she had to.

When Tony looked like he had no intention of shaking her hand she looked to Steve who shrugged. Before things got too awkward she dropped her hand, settling it back to her side where it would remain, "Thanks for letting me stay"

"Oh I didn't," Tony held up his hand and backed away and turned his sharp gaze to Steve, glaring, "That was Steve because apparently that's okay to invite friends for sleepovers around other people's houses"

"Tony, she just needs a place to stay. For a few days, that's all."

"All I'm saying is I've never heard of this friend before now." Tony backed away towards the fridge and pulled out an apple.

"I'll admit I've only known her a few weeks"

Tony took a large bite of the apple making the awkwardness in the room only double as the sound of the crunch seemed to double in noise, "An you assume she isn't a superspy"

"I'm not a spy!"

"No, you're right… you're a super-spy"

Charley huffed in annoyance. She hadn't realized her being there would cause so much of a problem. If this was how Tony already viewed her she might as well pack her bags now. She was also irritated that Tony was as much of an arsehole as the magazines had made him out to be. As they said… never meet your heroes.

"She's not a spy, Tony," Steve stepped in, "She's just any regular civilian but she knew Bucky and since finding that out we've become friends. I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat her like this"

Tony considered his words and took another large gulp of his apple as he did.

"Bucky?" Tony narrowed his eyes, thinking, "You're old war pal?"

"Yeah."

"You and Sam are still looking for him then, huh?"

"Not really," Steve admitted, "We decided to leave it. He'll show up eventually"

Tony sucked in a breath and sharply turned towards Charley, glaring at her with harsh stern eyes. Nervously, she diverted her gaze to the room behind him. The kitchen was simpler that she would expect for a superhero base. She expected more flashy and technical objects but it looked like a normal running kitchen.

"I suppose she can stay. Just don't get in my way"

With that he dashed out of the kitchen, throwing his half eaten apple in the bin as he passed. Without a word Steve followed him, sending Charley a small smile but disappeared out of sight along with Stark.

Charley gaped after them, not sure what to do with herself and decided to take a seat on the couch area, pulling out her phone. Her stomach grumbled for food but she felt like she was intruding on someone else's house and it felt rude to simply get up and open the fridge for herself

She sat and played on her phone for most of the day. She'd finally beaten Bucky's old high score on Flappy Bird and was beginning to bore of looking at her phone, but after her confrontation with Tony she felt unwelcome to venture further around the house and stayed put for most of the day, taking up as little space as possible and getting out of people's way. The only person she spoke to was F.R.I.D.A.Y, who was a lot more entertaining than she'd expect. Her sarcastic remarks came in handy when having a conversation.

"Oh," Someone female said from the doorway and Charley halted her conversation with F..R.I.D.A.Y. to look at who had finally come to get some food. It must have been about dinner time now so she was expecting others to come down soon, "You're Steve's friend, right?" Black Widow said unfazed by her presence and continued towards the fridge, pulling a readymade meal out.

"That's me," Charley replied awkwardly doing a small wave.

"The one Tony's been complaining about all day"

"Definitely me," defeated, she sighed. This wasn't the start of the new life she had imagined. Away from Bucky. Away from her work and starting afresh but so far all the day had been was her thinking and when she thinks, her thoughts tend to lead to a certain soldier.

"Don't let him get you down," Natasha said, sitting down opposite her and offered her a bowl of some sort of curry. As it was the only interaction she had had all day she took it gratefully (plus she was starving), "Tony's an arse. He complains about everything. Unless it's about him of course"

"Thanks, I was kind of getting that vibe from him"

"You're Charlotte right?"

"Yeah, I prefer Charley though," Charley replied quickly. There was a moment of silence shared between the girls where Natasha seemed to be observing her non blinkingly and she had a slight suspicious Tony had sent her down to check if she really was a who she said she was

"Done anything today?"

"Not really. Playing flappbird," Charley held up her phone as proof, "beat my high score those so that's good"

"Want to go down to the gym?"

"oh, um… sure," Natasha stood up and left her bowl half eaten on the side. Charley regretfully hadn't even taken a single bite but left her own alongside Natasha's. She was still starving but at least she was up and about to do something, even though she had no idea what Natasha had planned for her. Did Natasha just want an exercise buddy? If so, she'd picked the worst person as she could barely pick up a single weight without having to have a twenty minute break to catch her breath, "Why?" she felt like she should ask as she followed Natasha blindly.

Natasha chuckled, "Tony is a complete lunatic if he thinks you're a spy"

"I feel like that's an insult"

"It was"

They walked for a while, mainly upstairs, which was an exercise in itself. It reminded her of her old apartment being on the top floor of the building.

Eventually they reached a glass door with a silver plated plaque reading 'The Gym'. Natasha held up her hand over a part of the wall and before Charley had time to question her action a blue light filtered out of it and scanned the reading from her palm.

"Oh my god that's so cool," Charley mumbled. Natasha turned around and rolled her eyes at her to which Charley tried to hide her delight and bit her lip from then on out.

"Natasha Romanoff can access the gym now," the voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y. called out.

"Thanks Fri," Natasha said, "can I install Charley's hand print too"

"Just place her hand right over the scanner"

She really had no idea what she was doing and why she was here but she did as she was told and raised her right arm. The blue light filtered out again and moved up and down her hand. It took a little longer than it did Natasha's but once it was finished it disappeared as if it was never there behind the blank white wall.

"Charlotte Anne Weller's hand print has been installed; she can now access the Gym"

"Thanks," Charley replied wearily, still not trusting the machine.

Natasha smirked at Charley's bewilderment at the technology and psuehd the door open as it came unlocked with ease. The room was blinded by darkness before lights flickered on in a line revealing the rows of gym equipment that ran down the sides of the well-lit white gym. The shutters on the windows opened up and Charley was half conscious of the mountain windows that stretched from the ground to the ceiling, fearful that everyone can see her make a complete fool of herself if anyone was to look in.

"It's alright, they're one sided," Natasha observed, "all the windows around the building are"

"Noice," Charley stroked a finger down the running machine seeing that it sped up to extra high speeds, probably for Steve who needed the challenge, "So what are we down here for?"

"Thought you could do with a break from Tony's whining, it's graining I know," Natasha sent her a knowing look. It was only then when Charley felt she had fully looked at the room did she notice Natasha. She was observing her from the other side of the room, her hands crossed over her lap as she stood by a large mat in the centre of the gym, "Steve told me that Barnes taught you a few things"

Shit, Charley echoed inwardly feeling her face go red from sudden nerves; did she honestly expect her to spar with her? "A little. I'm really bad though"

"Not from what I've heard. Steve told me you managed to hold your own the other day in the car crash," she bowed her head at the mat, inviting Charley to come over to her but she already felt she was at a safe distance enough. It wasn't that she didn't trust Natasha, but she was a super spy who could probably still find a way to kill her even though they were a good five feet away from one another. If anything she was more terrified of her.

"Not really, if Bucky hadn't had turned up I'd be dead meat."

"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit," Natasha smirked slyly, "Come on, I don't get many people to spar with. Caps too strong, Tony only fights with his armour on, Wanda's ability is magical not physical, Clint isn't here right now. I'd practise with Sam but I think he's scared of me"

"And you think I'm not!" Charley blurted out but nevertheless took a brave step forward, "Alright but you better go easy"

This seemed to bring a smile to Natasha's face as she loosened up a little, bringing up her arms into a defence position. Charley decided to react on natural instinct and mirrored Natasha's position, prepared to make the first move but Natasha was too quick as she suddenly fell to the floor and span on her knees, knocking Charley's ankle and causing her to crash onto her back. If it wasn't for the mat she was sure she would have broken her mat.

"I thought you were going to go easy on me," Charley heaved, opening her eyes in slits to see if Natasha was done kicking her arse yet.

"That was. I was much slower than I could have been"

"I'm so terrified of you right now."

"You shouldn't be," Natasha grinned, holding out a hand for Charley to take.

"This hand is a trick isn't it? I'm going to take it only for you to let go?"

"I'm not that cruel but now that you've said so…"

"ha-ha," Charley laughed grabbing onto her hand before Natasha had the chance to pull back.

*~It Started with Pizza~*

They wrapped things up after a good hour of sparring. Charley felt like she was going to explode from heat, sweat dripped from her forehead and bruises patterned her body from head to toe. Natasha never had any intention on going easy on her.

"That was fun," Natasha laughed as Charley had to use one of the exercise machines at the side of the room to pull herself back onto her feet, "you're not as bad as I thought you'd be either"

"You kicked my arse!"

"Not as much as I thought I would do," Natasha smirked slyly, "you managed to hold your own pretty well. You're a natural, you just need some coordination. Your style is messy"

"A natural? You think?" Charley highly doubted that but accepted the compliment never the less.

"Yeah, Barnes has been teaching you all wrong"

"What do you mean?"

"He's been teaching you the 'winter soldier' way, when you're much suited for a style that places emphasis on power in lower muscles. Your arms just aren't strong enough for Barnes's style," She informed her, throwing Charley a towel that had been neatly folded on the side for them.

She wiped her brow clean, "But I managed to hold my own better against Bucky than I did you"

"I hate to break it to you but that's cause he's been going easy on you," Natasha grinned, "I could teach you if you like"

"Really?"

"Of course," Natasha nodded. Her eyes drifted to the clock that hung on the wall above the door. It was getting towards eight and Natasha seemed eager to leave, "Sorry got to get up early tomorrow. Meet tomorrow?"

"Sure," Charley smiled, completely weirded out by the casual interaction she was having with the Black Widow. Natasha was about to leave and Charley realized she had no idea where she was going, "Do you know where Steve or Sam are?" She asked realizing she hadn't seen them all day and it would be nice to see a familiar face.

"Steve's probably still training and Sam…" Natasha's lips curled up into a smirk, "Well let's say he's still busy cleaning up his mess from today"

"What happened?"

"I'm not supposed to say," Natasha giggled. Giggled. Charley stared at her confused until Natasha looked up mischievously, "I mean Sam did only say not to tell Steve, so I guess this doesn't count"

Curious now, Charley stepped forward, "What did he do?"

"Someone broke into the base"

"What…" Charley gasped, not understanding why Natasha was being so calm about this. Were they dangerous? Why wasn't the building on high alert?

"Oh no, it wasn't anything serious. They stole some scrap material. No idea why but… Sam got into a run in with them and got his arse kicked," Natasha covered her hands with her mouth she was laughing so hard and had to hold her stomach to recover. Charley was still failing to see what was so funny about this story, "the guy called himself ant-man, because his power is to shrink to the size of an ant. Sam gotten beaten by an ant"

*~It Started with Pizza~*

She found herself, in the late evening, sipping at a mug of hot chocolate on the rooftop watching as the sun went down. She had to give it to Stark, even though she had no idea where she was, the place was beautiful. It had a wonderful view. It was along a riverbank that lead down, out of Charley's view.

After her session with Natasha her spirit had significantly lifted and she had gone to explore the base. Natasha had gone to bed early, requesting the two of them meet in the morning for an early sparring session (something Charley was not looking forward too). She had thought Steve had gone to bed too, she hadn't seen him since the morning and took him for someone who liked to get into bed before nine but there was a creak of the door and when she turned she was surprised to see him standing there holding his own hot chocolate.

"hey, I had to ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. where you were"

"Sorry, my introverted self led me up here"

"I've never been up here to look at the view myself," Steve said, looking onwards at the horizon.

"Take a seat then," Charley requested, patting down the paved ledge next to her where her feet were dangling over the edge, "It's pretty"

"Any reason you're up here?"

"Just thinkin'"

"Oh no," came Steve's witty reply and Charley glared at him. He took a seat next to her and slowly sipped his own hot chocolate. Usually she found silence between her and people awkward, but with Steve it seemed completely natural and she was content to simply watch as the sun went down, "I'm sorry about Tony earlier. He can be a little difficult"

"Oh no that's fine, I was more upset that my childhood hero hates me"

"He doesn't hate you," Steve laughed, "He's just untrusting"

The sun settled on the horizon, the last rays of sunlight reflected on the ocean, evaporating under the water and out of sight. It only became apparent then that the stars were present above her.

"I really miss him," Charley said pitifully, resting her head back so she was looking at the stars. They were still faded and Charley had to squint to get a good look at them. She tried to keep the desperation for him out of her voice but struggled too. With a careful look at Steve she realized she failed.

"I suspect he misses you too."

"It's more than that though," Charley sighed, "now that I'm no longer in Washington…" She paused and stared at Steve suspiciously, "Or am I?"

Steve lightly chuckled, "We're not in Washington, I can tell you that. Go on?"

"Now that I'm not in Washington it feels like I'm never going to see him again. Everything that's happening now is real, he doesn't know where I am. I thought this was a good idea but I don't know… just now, I don't know if he's safe-"

"He's fine. He knows how to hide from Hydra," Steve tried but Charley shook her head stubbornly.

"Until he doesn't and Hydra finds him"

"That won't happen and if it does we'll stop it."

"But we won't even know," Charley argued. She gulped back tears threatening to spill and went back to looking at the calmness of the stars. The longer she looked the closer she could see them actually moving across the night sky, time slowly going past her and she could see it, "Can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"If they do find Bucky. Will they kill him or wipe his memories and turn him into a weapon again?"

This seemed to be a heavy question for Steve as he took a deep sigh and stared outwards. He took a while to answer and Charley was beginning to think the question had been too much to even think about being an option but finally, after a few minutes, Steve quietly mumbled, "Probably wipe him"

"Would he forget everything?" she feared for the answer.

"He forgot me." Steve replied sadly, "But that was after seventy years of memory wiping. It might be different. Maybe he'll fight against it more this time, his body more immune to Hydra's torture and it won't be so strong. He'll have a better chance at remembering. If it were to happen again"

"Are you just telling me what I want to hear?"

Steve cracked a smile, "You caught me"

"Thanks anyway"

"No problem Chizzle"

"Don't you start calling me that too"

A/N probably a very rushed chapter. that's because it was very rushed, i'm sorry, i'm really struggling to find the time to write this but thanks for sticking with me :D

Reviews:

.2016: Thank you so much!

KnightOwl247: It can only go up from here! i promise, i'm done torturing her for a little while. lol

Becca: Sorry for the long update, hope you enjoy this chapter and i'm sorry if it seems rushed. Hope it lives up to expectations!

SergentJamesBarnes: Thanks Bro