Hey! What's up? So, I'm currently searching for a new beta for this story. If anyone is interested, PM me! Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the chapter, let me know what you think because I love hearing all about it!

James blinked wearily at the scene before him, a snarl bursting past his lips before he could try to stop it and keep the element of surprise. Steve was standing behind Nova where she was curled up in front of one of her tables. Her head had been tilted down to see whatever it was she was writing, but the noise he made had her head snapping up. His tired mind took a moment to catch up, but when it did, he didn't like what he saw. He knew Steve had some sort of problem with Nova. The fact that he was behind her in her lab in the early hours of the morning made the thought stick out as James stalked forward, intent on separating them.

Whatever Steve had been planning, he wasn't going to get away with it now. He'd come for a specific reason, especially so early in the morning. He'd come when James wouldn't appear in the lab and no one else was awake, the thought chilling James to the bone. Steve wouldn't hurt Nova, he wasn't that stupid. Right? Either way, James was determined to get him the hell out of Nova's lab and possibly out of the building. Whatever distance was safe, even if it meant halfway around the globe.

"Okay, so, before you get into a rage about whatever you think is going on, me and Steve are cool," Nova's voice broke through his haze of burning rage, forcing his eyes to hers. It was dark in the lab, the Christmas lights bright stars along the ceiling. Nova's face was lit up from her table which looked like a version of Tony Stark's hologram tables. It made her eyes darker than usual, but they never strayed from him, as if she wasn't worried in the least about Steve's reaction.

Steve had been reacting badly to Nova ever since finding out that James was seeking her company actively. It could have been seen as dangerous if James had been in the wrong state of mind when it happened, but he kept the Asset away from her as much as he could. He didn't want Nova near the most dangerous parts of himself. She was the one who kept insisting it didn't bother her. Something about that seemed to bother Steve, who obviously didn't understand that someone could seek out James's company without trying to murder him in his sleep. As if he would let himself sleep around someone he didn't completely trust.

"I don't like it," James scowled at her fiercely, shooting a warning glare at his best friend, who backed up a step with his hands up in surrender. If he was going to harass Nova, they were going to have a problem. And problems with James usually ended in the other party dead.

"Bucky, Nova's completely safe. I wouldn't hurt her," Steve tried to interrupt but James ignored him adeptly. Steve might think Nova was safe with him, but that didn't mean she really was. If he dared to touch her in any way James would make sure Steve regretted the day he was born. No one hurt Nova. Not HYDRA, not Steve, not even James.

"Steve, I think it would be pretty appropriate for you to shut the fuck up right about now," Nova ordered, holding up a hand to stop the words that were obviously going to fall from his mouth. Steve froze, mouth halfway open. It only took a sharp glare from James for his mouth to close so fast his teeth clinked together. James tensed, fingers curling into fists as his lips curled in annoyance. "Hey, I know you're not happy to see Steve here, but no need to treat him like shit. We have an understanding that what you want comes first in our relationship. So don't start beating him up without a better reason."

James really wanted to hit something. Preferably something Steve related. It would definitely make him feel better. The urge to do something, anything to make this better overcame him and James took the few steps remaining so that he was hovering over Nova in her chair protectively. No one would be near her without his say so and that was more comforting than her words.

"Everything is fine. No need to become a human shield or anything. Don't freak out. Steve was just going to leave and go for a run. Weren't you Steve?" Nova pressed, turning to his best friend as she stood up from her chair. James reached out and anchored his human fingers around her wrist, holding her still and making sure she couldn't take a step toward Steve. He still wasn't sure what to believe. Waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat had prompted him to come check to see if Nova was sleeping like she should be. He hadn't been expecting Steve to be there. And the undiluted rage that came with the thought of Steve sneaking up when Nova's back was turned surprised him in its intensity.

"Yeah, I was going to go run. You could come with me, if you wanted," Steve offered, his eyes flickering between James himself and Nova. James could practically see him doing the math. If he tried to attack Nova, James would step in and deflect the attack. If he tried to attack James, Nova would do the same. It wasn't something she needed to do or even something that James wanted her to do. But Nova wasn't one to take an attack lying down and James knew she would be between him and Steve in a second if she thought it was going to get dangerous. Not because she thought she would win or even because she wanted to make a show of it. She was just someone who would step between those she loved and the enemy, no matter how dangerous.

"No," James shook his head in response to Steve's request, stepping up to crowd Nova's back.

"I'll see you in a while," Steve offered as calmly as he could, taking a few steps back to grab a dark jacket that was thrown over one of Nova's counters. James grit his teeth at the sight, wondering if Steve threw his coat on a lab table on purpose. Everyone knew Nova didn't like when people touched her things. She wasn't quiet about the issue and James knew that it had to rankle her to have someone disrespect her space so much. Over the time he spent in her presence, James knew more about Nova than what she just told him and her most prevalent pet peeve was people disrespecting her space. Considering the amount of time she spent in the lab, it wasn't a surprise.

"Go, get buff and romance my Evie. We'll talk to you after we calm down a bit," Nova informed Steve, throwing her free arm around James's neck in a half hug he hadn't been expecting. Slowly, his free arm came up to touch her waist gently, his surprise not dampening his reaction times in the least.

The significant look in Steve's eye didn't miss James's notice. Steve's gaze flickered between Nova and James, who met his eyes seriously. Yes, Nova had suggested that both of them needed to calm down. No, that wasn't true. James was fairly certain Nova wasn't having a problem with Steve's presence. She didn't look like she was in distress and her heart rate was steady and soothing. Her arm around his neck was a warm, comforting weight. She was steady and would probably remain that way. It was just another nice thing about Nova. She didn't call him out on scaring easily. Instead, she let him deal with it and helped if she could. As Nova caught on to the fact that Steve wasn't moving, she sent him an exaggerated wink that would have made James laugh if he wasn't already on guard.

Steve rolled his eyes and disappeared into the elevator as Nova kept hugging James, nuzzling her face into his chest and sighing like a great weight had been taken off her shoulders. James let her wrist go and wrapped both arms around her waist, being sure to keep his hands at an appropriate level as he held her. She wrapped her other arm up around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair as she relaxed fully against him, the tension running out of her body.

"When was the last time you slept?" James demanded, already knowing that the answer wasn't going to make him happy.

"Last night on the cot with you. Remember? We fell asleep after I repeatedly told you to stop touching LEW and you finally dragged me to bed," Nova reminded him, her voice slightly muffled by his chest. James pressed his eyes tightly closed for a moment, letting his brain fully wake up. He needed all four cylinders to argue with Nova.

"That was over twenty-four hours ago and you barely slept four hours," James countered, wondering if the universe thought it was funny to pair him with the most stubborn people on the planet. At least Steve had given him practice on how to deal with someone who was super stubborn and didn't bother to take care of themselves. Nova's complete disregard for her own mental and physical health seemed to dominate her life.

"It's fine. I slept some the night before. I think. Anyway, I have to work on this hologram so I can figure out what's in the tube so that I can figure out how to fix your arm before Christmas so that you have full use for opening presents. I'm telling you, I'm this close to a breakthrough and I just need to finish that and then look into some of the rumors about the Dugan compound location being leaked and then I think I can sleep," Nova rambled, pulling back to motion to the hologram table.

Rolling his eyes, James reached down and grabbed her waist, picking her up in one smooth movement to throw her bodily over his shoulder. Her weight rested against the connection of metal and flesh, the surprised flailing only adding to his determination to get her to go to bed at some point in the near future.

"Hey! We talked about manhandling me! I only like it in the bedroom! Or, I guess, the changing room. But the point of that is that I don't like it that you just carry me because you're annoyed and don't know what else to do. I thought we were friends. Do you do this to all your friends? Did you do this to Steve?" Nova complained, though she relaxed in his hold, her sharp hip bone digging awkwardly into the soft flesh near his neck.

"FRIDAY, please save Nova's work and shut down whatever she has going. And lock her out of her lab for at least eight hours," James started toward the elevator with the intent of dragging Nova out of her lab whether she liked it or not.

He could see how easy it would be in her lab to lose track of time. There were no windows and she kept certain sections dark when she wasn't using them. The white walls were spruced up for Christmas but gave no indication of what day or time it was supposed to be. There was no clock on the wall, nothing to remind her to eat or sleep. Instead, it was like a wormhole into a world without concrete time. James had lived that way for a long time and he hated it. Nova seemed to thrive there, theoretically. But he wondered how often she crashed, how many nights she'd fallen asleep on the hologram table. How many times had she gone all day without eating and no one was there to notice it?

"Hey! You can't do that! FRIDAY, no!" Nova started struggling again as James took the step that took them into the elevator. Monitors were turning off, swamping the area in darkness and James turned to watch the lights turn off one by one, enjoying the view and also enjoying Nova's devastated reaction.

"Make it nine hours," James added as the doors started to close. It was worth the knee to his kidney. Nova's aim impeccable.

"Of course, Sergeant Barnes. I apologize, Dr. Maddox. I have been programmed to help. I believe this will help you," FRIDAY informed them, the verbal equivalent of a sympathetic pat on the back with no real action taken in Nova's favor. James straightened a little, surprised that the AI agreed with him. Then again, this wasn't the first time he and FRIDAY had cooperated to get Nova to sleep more. FRIDAY had warned James before when Nova was awake for too long. Both of them had a vested interest in her health.

"But… my lab…" Nova slumped as she gave up fighting and James patted her thigh consolingly. The elevator doors opened and James stepped out into the hall that led to Nova's apartment. She wiggled, obviously trying to see where he was taking her. Instead of setting her down, James walked straight down to her place. FRIDAY unlocked the door for him and he walked in, taking Nova off of his shoulder and setting her on her feet as soon as the door closed behind her. "My apartment?"

The note of surprise and slight disgust caught James off guard. He knew she didn't like her apartment much. She was never in it and she seemed to live mostly in her lab. Even when they were in the rooms that were supposed to be hers, she was slightly awkward, like the space was completely new to her. All of the shelves were half full and most of the cupboards were empty. If James thought about it for a few moments, he could place all of the things that were missing. All of Evangeline's things that Nova hadn't bothered to replace.

"FRIDAY brought us here," James shrugged, watching her carefully. Nova turned to look at the place, brown eyes narrowed slightly and a wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows as she thought deeply. There was a noticeable lack of anything in the kitchen area. The last time James had been there, there was almost no food and what was there was mostly expired. The living room had a few movies and a few mechanic books, but not much else. James had taken a look in Evangeline's bedroom, just to see what was in there, and found nothing.

The room was completely cleaned out, some of the drawers slightly open but completely empty. There wasn't a crumb on the carpet. It was left probably the same way that Steve had left it when he'd moved Evangeline into his apartment.

James could understand why Nova would hate her apartment so much. It reminded her of the things she'd lost. Even if Evangeline wasn't dead, she was still someone Nova felt she was losing. Being in the apartment brought her pain, so she didn't go in. James wished life was that easy in general. Just not addressing the issues.

"Well, come on then. You want to sleep, yeah? Want to take over the tub? Or are we okay to sleep in my bed?" Nova chattered, rushing past the empty living room and into her room. James noted that the blankets he'd folded after he'd woken up the last time were still piled at the end of her couch, the pillow resting gently on top. Nova really hadn't been home since he'd seen her last. For some reason, that thought burned him, the air in his lungs solidifying for one terrible moment.

She needed help. He'd helped someone else in a similar situation before. He could do it again.

"Together?" James questioned, forcing himself to breathe past the lump and keep Nova engaged. She appreciated when he talked back to her. Asking questions made her happy because it meant he was listening. It was sad, but it seemed like someone had told her to be quiet more than once in her life. As if her completely unabashed version of the world wasn't something to protect.

"I'm pretty sure we're both adults here, James. Unless you have something you want to tell me," Nova teased, sticking her head out the door to her own bedroom. James rolled his eyes automatically in response, taking the last few steps to bring him into the doorway of her room.

He hadn't bothered to sneak into Nova's room the night he'd stayed over. Now he kind of wished that he had.

Her room was the only room in the house that was fully decorated and just as original as it should have been. One entire wall was plastered with posters of various bands. Some had names splashed across the front and others had simple symbols, all of them overlapping into a collage of chaos. A desk was shoved into the corner opposite the door on the left side, the top full of metal parts carefully set out in a specific order that probably belonged to one of her robots. Above her desk, a cork board was hung with various pictures pinned to the surface. It was a long, large board and it was completely filled with pictures of family and friends and ticket stubs and other memorabilia in paper format.

A few various clothing items were scattered along the floor, a shoe thrown haphazardly into the mix. Above her bed was a canopy of a light, filmy purple that hung from the ceiling. Taking up the wall opposite her bed were three large monitors. They were spread equally and anchored to the wall, obviously done professionally. Nova moved around the room easily, like someone who had lived there a dozen years and could walk the path asleep.

It was a special kind of beautiful.