Steve Rogers was done.

On his knees, on the roof of the compound where they'd taken the three people he loved the most, he felt like he was shaking apart on the inside. The lower half of his training shirt hung in ashes from where he'd taken a hit from their weapons, one that was eerily similar to the ones Fury and SHIELD had been developing before SHIELD fell, rotted from the inside by HYDRA.

His flesh was charred, and the pain was sharp as he worked to pull himself up to stand.

"Steve," Natasha's voice was pitched low as she approached, her eyes wide on him. She held out a slender hand to him, helping him to stand. "I'm so sorry."

Steve didn't question Nat's loyalty. There she stood with a group of SHIELD agents to help, Phil Coulson with her.

"Agent Coulson," Steve's voice shook but he fought it. "Take the agents and go help, Tony. Report back."

Nodding, Coulson dashed off to do his bidding, the men following.

Steve pulled himself up, straightened his shoulders. Nat pulled her shoulders back.

"Call it, Cap," Nat told him with a steely look in her eye that he welcomed just now.

"First we find Fury," he told her and began marching towards the door with Nat on his heels.

By the time they'd reached the lower levels of the compound, they caught Pepper scrambling towards medical which reminded them…

"Status on Stark," Nat said into the com as they walked to the offices.

"Mr. Stark's condition is stable," Coulson said into the com. "He's asking to see you."

"Be there shortly," she told him just as they reached Fury's office.

Steve didn't knock and the office wasn't locked. Fury wasn't there.

"FRIDAY, I need a status on Director Fury," Steve commanded, fighting back the pain in his side which was nothing compared to the pain of watching his family being taken away from him while he was powerless to do anything about it.

"Director Fury isn't on the grounds," the AI answered immediately. "He left only a few moments ago with Secretary Ross."

"Willingly?" Steve demanded.

If Fury was in on the taking of his family, Steve would personally see to it that he went down too. His heart denied that possibility.

"I'm bringing up the video now, Captain Rogers."

A huge virtual screen appeared before them, and Steve and Nat watched as Ross marched out the compound front door, the footage from 27 minutes ago, followed by six soldiers, surrounding Fury. The recording didn't give them a clean view of the older man's facial expression, but Nat was reading everything about it, body language and other clues, as only she could.

"He didn't go willingly, Steve," Nat told him what he already knew in his heart.

Steve just wanted to be sure.

"Captain Rogers," Coulson stepped into the office behind him. "I need to show you both something."

Pulling out his phone, Coulson showed him and Nat a text conversation that had taken place between he and Chris.

SKJ08U7342: Are you home?

Chris: Yes.

SKJ08U7342: Can you stay until I get there? I needed to go over plans for tomorrow.

Chris: I'll be here the rest of the day. Did you need Steve and Bucky too?

SKJ08U7342: Be there in 5.

Chris: Remind me to have Steve talk to Nat. And to have Tony check out of my desktop. I picked up some virus called BLU.

Nat's gaze lifted from the phone to Steve. "Let's talk at your place."

They headed for the elevators and Steve was on Coulson the moment the elevator doors slid closed. "You were on to something when you were on your way to her."

Phil nodded. Pointing up which Steve took as he would tell him once they reached Steve's apartment.

Once they were in the living room, Steve took a deep breath. "FRIDAY, I need to make sure there's no one listening to anything said in this apartment until instructed otherwise."

"I'll do a scan, Captain Rogers," the AI told him. After only a couple of moments, the AI reported back. "No outside devices or listening agents have been detected. You have complete privacy with no recording, Captain Rogers."

"You normally record us in our apartments?" Steve wanted to know, on a short fuse as it was.

"Agent Danforth requests that I record interactions from time to time," the AI explained. "Never involving the three of you who live here."

"Can we see a listing of those files please?" Coulson requested politely.

"With Captain Rogers' permission, Agent Coulson."

"Granted," Steve said.

Another virtual screen appeared with a short list of recordings. The last one was from moments ago.

"FRIDAY, please play the file from today." Steve wanted to see it.

The recording had started when Chris had allowed Dr. Meadows, or whoever the woman really was, into the apartment. The woman had coldly explained Chris's baby, their baby, was crucial to her research so he could only pray that kept Chris and the baby safe until he could get them. Still, his blood ran cold as he watched Chris nervously interact with the doctor.

"She was upset about something," Nat said watching, "before that woman arrived."

Steve saw her hands shake as she tried to text someone, now he knew it was Phil, and allow the woman to take her blood pressure. It seemed like an ordinary visit until he watched Dr. Meadows, seeing Chris was distracted and typing into her phone, pull a small can from her purse and spray it in his girl's face. At least she was already on the couch and didn't fall to the floor once she was knocked unconscious.

His blood boiled as he watched the doctor speaking into her own comlink, signaling the men who'd helped her take Chris and their baby away from him along with Bucky. Steve's gaze dropped as the video ended.

"You were trying to reach her," he said to Coulson. "What about?"

"Directory Fury was contacted by Dr. Sue Meadows this afternoon," Coulson explained. "The doctor had just returned from her own maternity leave and apologized about not being able to help with Agent Danforth to this point."

Steve stared at the other man in disbelief.

"I realized that the agent Chris knew as Dr. Meadows was heading up to your apartment. I was trying to reach her. Fury was supposed to come find you."

"Ross got him first," Nat cut in and Coulson nodded.

"Why did Chris want you to remind her to have Nat and I talk?" Steve asked Coulson.

Motioning him towards Chris's girl cave, Nat pushed the button to open the sliding door. Immediately, Nat got on Chris's computer, searching for BLU and finding the files pretty quickly.

"During the meeting we had early with Ross, Chris had me to try and grab intel from his laptop," Nat explained to him and Coulson. "I'm guessing what she found was why she was upset. The way she worded that text indicated that if she herself didn't tell you about this, Steve, she wanted Phil to ensure that you and I talked. It sounds like she realized she was compromised."

Steve had never been more grateful that Nat was proficient on computers and it didn't take long for them to determine what Chris had found.

Steve was furious. Ross had the plans and Zola's algorithm and had for some time. That Ross wanted to rid the world of the Avengers' Initiative was no surprise. That he meant to make it appear that Tony was the one behind the resurrection of Project Insight was almost laughable.

"How the hell does he think anyone is going to buy that?" Steve couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"By taking control of two people he knows the government and the people will believe beyond a shadow of a doubt," Tony's voice was rough from behind them, he and Pepper had just walked into the apartment, her hand nervously resting on the swell of her tummy as she closed the door. Tony looked as if he'd taken a thorough beating. "He has Fury and he means to control you because he has Chris, Bucky, and Tony Jr. The question is, what are we going to do about it?"

"Just because Steve is under duress and not addressing that Tony Jr. reference is in no way acquiescing or in any way agreeing to it," Nat told Tony boldly before anything else could be said.

"We'll see," Tony told her before turning back to Steve who was really just glad to see Tony in one piece.

"I'm going to get my family back," Steve told him with absolute certainty. "That's all I plan to deal with right now."

Tony nodded. "We'll need to figure out where he's taken them. I want a copy of those files. Just maybe the answer is in there. FRIDAY? I need a copy of everything on Agent Danforth's hard drives."

"On it, boss."

"The woman we thought was Dr. Meadows said our child was crucial to her research," Steve offered. "Maybe there's a clue in that too."

Tony nodded. "I called the team back, they'll be here before sundown. Hopefully, by then, we'll have a location."

Steve hoped with everything in him that they find them fast. Chris's pregnancy might buy her a little time. Bucky? What was to stop Ross from disposing of him immediately?

His heart shredded in his chest. Steve just wanted them back safe, and in his arms, where they belonged.

"Tony, you okay?" Steve had to ask, noticing his friend's limp as he headed back out of the apartment. Turning he smirked at him over his shoulder. "I'll live, old man."

Steve nodded as Tony stopped, glancing back over his shoulder at him.

"You will too. We'll get them back, Steve. Danforth is my number 2 employee at Stark Industries. After Pepper Potts."

His heart swelled with hope at the fierce determination in his friend's hazel eyes.

Steve showered and changed clothes, refusing medical treatment. Heading down to see if Tony had been able to find anything, he was also anxious for the team to be back within the hour.

What he hadn't expected was to see King T'Challa walk into the compound with Okoye and several Dora Milaje on his heels. Steve smiled, dashing up to hug the monarch.

"I'm glad to see you," Steve admitted. "Did Tony send for you?"

T'Challa shook his head. "Your Agent Coulson did."

Steve was grateful either way. Knowing how much of a friend Coulson had become to their Chris since he'd helped save her from the first kidnapping attempt, made him grateful.

"Just hoping for some leads on where they might have been taken," Steve told him as they walked in the direction of Tony's office.

"Perhaps we can help with that," T'Challa told him with a knowing smile.

Steve began to feel something like hope.

He and Bucky had been through so much. He prayed with everything in him that Ross didn't hurt Bucky, that his best friend and lover could hang on until he could get there. And he'd be there with the team very soon.

It was Chris's face that haunted him. Her big gray eyes, hollowed and filled with terror in the days when they'd recovered her from the first time Ross had taken her, broke his heart. He couldn't believe he'd failed her, allowed her to fall right back into the bastard's clutches.

If she could just hang on…

Steve loved them. And they were all his. When he got them back, not if when, he'd make it official somehow. He'd make sure they knew they belonged to him.

Chris awoke with her mouth extremely dry and feeling disoriented. Instinctively she stretched her hands out on either side of her on the bed, expecting to find her lovers there. Her hands found nothing even though she was quite warm.

Sitting up, Chris's sluggish gaze shifted over the unfamiliar room. There were nice furnishings and paintings, a nice room. But one she didn't know.

Someone had taken her from the compound.

Dr. Meadows? Last thing she remembered was being sprayed in the face with something by the woman. And then she'd just snuck her off the compound? Chris couldn't see it happening.

Unsteady as she was, Chris was able to throw her legs over the side of the bed and made her way to the room's single window. Pulling back the elegant drapes covering it, Chris released a deep sigh.

Bars on the window. Of course.

Did they think Peter Parker had taught her how to crawl walls and she was going to go for it when best she could tell, she was at least ten stories up? At six months pregnant?

Ross was still ahead of her. Always fucking Ross.

Considering what he'd pulled last time, selling her to an enemy she'd made in her time with the FBI who'd beaten her like an animal and had caused her to lose her first child, she wouldn't put anything past him.

Her hand curled protectively over her son. "Ross isn't going to hurt you," she whispered quietly, assuming she was being watched. "I'm going to take care of you. And your Daddies will make him pay."

With every fiber of her being, she promised the universe that Ross would pay for the loss of her first child. He wouldn't lay a hand on their son.

Her gaze scanned the room. It wasn't a hotel but an elaborate building not unlike Tony's compound. There was a bathroom with a huge tube, a mini fridge with some drinks and snacks.

And sitting inconspicuously atop the dresser was an older laptop.

Was this a joke?

She had just been about to open it and try to boot it when someone knocked at her door. A moment later two armed guards opened the door to her room, allowing "Dr. Meadows" and Ross in.

Chris shook her head, moving to perch on the edge of the bed.

"Ah good," Ross said pleasantly. "You're awake."

There were no words to express how much she fucking hated the man. Chris mutely glared at him as he walked further into the room.

"How are you feeling?" the female doctor asked her, just as she always did.

"Who are you?" Chris wanted to know.

The woman's smiled was friendly. "You know me as Doctor Meadows. I don't see any reason why that has to change."

"Except you're not her," Chris said calmly.

"She's here to take care of you and your baby," Ross was trying to sound perfectly reasonable. "It's in your best interest to allow her to look after you both."

"Or what? You'll have me beaten like an animal like the last time you kidnapped me?" Chris said angrily, not missing the way "Dr. Meadows" looked to him in surprise and alarm. "I was pregnant then too. Did you know that? You cost me my first child."

Ross's eyes narrowed on her and he paid the other woman no attention at all.

"You weren't supposed to have survived at all," Ross said with a chilling smile.

"You think I didn't know that?" Chris shook her head. Before she may have been afraid of the bastard and what he could do. Now? He'd better hope he got out alive. Chris had no doubt in her heart that her boys would come for her. But they'd have to fight her for the privilege of killing Ross. "What's your game now?"

"No game," Ross said calmly.

"Okay, great." Chris smiled. "Then I can go back to the compound. Right?"

"Your place is right here," Ross told her.

"My place is with Steve and Bucky," Chris informed him.

"Yes, your disgusting, lewd relationship," Ross said with a sneer.

Chris laughed at him outright. "Yeah, I pegged you for a hater. People like you are so busy passing judgment on those of us who don't agree with you, that you can't just be grateful that people care about one another, love each other. What does it matter to you who or how I love?"

Ross took a step closer, meaning to intimidate her. And a few months ago, it might have worked. Chris didn't flinch.

"It matters who you love because I need Rogers to help me dissolve the Avengers Initiative," he said coldly.

"And kidnapping me and our child is going to make him change his mind about anything?" Chris huffed out another laugh but there was no humor in it. "You've met him, right?"

"If Rogers ever wants to see his little family again, he'll do precisely what I want when I want," Ross told her.

Chris rose from the bed. "Don't think because you have me and the baby that you can manipulate Steve," she warned.

"I have Fury." Ross took a step closer. "I have Barnes too."

That stopped her cold. He had Bucky? And Fury? How the fuck did that happen?

Chris shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"You want to see him?" Ross smirked at her before turning back to the laptop she'd just been about to boot. Lifting the screen, the laptop was already on and showed four security camera views. Two of them showed her Bucky, in serious restraints that apparently could contain his vibranium arm. His face and arms were littered with cuts, he was bleeding. He sat in the cell where they were keeping him, his expression stony as he stared ahead. The other two views showed Fury, calmly resting in a similar cell.

Smart. Chris fought to keep her expression neutral.

Steve loved her and the baby she carried. Chris knew that. But he'd move heaven and hell for Bucky. And if this bastard even tried to take him away from Steve again after everything they'd been through?

Hell hath no fury like a pregnant, empathic FBI agent out for revenge.

Ross didn't realize that he just threw more fuel on the fire. Before when she'd been taken, she'd underestimated how much her boys loved her. Now she was secure in that love. And she had two of her boys to fight for until Steve came for them.

That he had Bucky changed things.

Game on, Ross.

"Just so there's no confusion," Ross told her, his hands shoved in the pockets of his suit coat like he hadn't a care in the world. "Rogers has enjoyed you apparently and I see where you've been useful seeing that he and his true love can't exactly procreate."

Ross in his narrow-mindedness had decided that Steve and Bucky were strictly gay, and she was their groupie who'd signed on to be a baby momma.

Okay…

"I'm sure he cares about the child," Ross informed her. "But his first priority will always be Barnes. He's demonstrated that so many times, Danforth, for decades."

It should be Bucky. Chris really didn't have an argument for that.

If Chris wanted to protect both her boys, she'd have to be clever. Reaching out, she felt Ross's determination to hurt her, to inflict pain. He needed to think he could make her doubt Steve's love for her. It was cruel but it was the goal. If she played along, maybe he'd keep talking.

Thinking about losing her first baby, that precious little soul that had been gone before she knew, tears stung the backs of her eyes. In her mind's eye, she could see all the blood in that cell where Phil found her… She felt her face warm. Protectively, her hands went to her baby bump and she sank down onto the edge of the bed.

"Steve loves me too," Chris deliberately made her voice sound small.

Ross's emotions shifted to amusement. He laughed. "Sure he does."

A tear slid down her cheek as he pretended to be interested in watching Bucky stare into space. Ross was delighted to see her tears come on, she felt it.

"Your purpose here," Ross informed her, "your only purpose is to motivate Barnes. I'm sure he loves you too, but a man of his generation won't be able to tolerate threats to a woman in "delicate condition". He'll do and say what I tell him because I have you."

Ross's confidence was growing. Chris struggled to channel her emotions into anything but anger. Remember the blood. Remember the pain. Remember…

"Barnes is the key to controlling Rogers."

Chris began to sob. Honestly, she was so pissed off at that point that it was easy. Her shoulders shook. Oh, she was sure she made a pitiful picture.

"What… w-what happens to us when you stop the Initiative?" Chris was proud of slight fear-stutter she managed. "You'll let us go. Right?"

Ross stared at her hard, his eyes narrowing. His emotions shifted to something dark and triumphant, something that really did have her pausing as she absorbed that.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Ross asked her. "Barnes, like Rogers, should have died a long time ago. I could remedy that. But it's to our advantage to find a use for him. And considering who he is, a fucking former assassin for an enemy force, no one is going to create a stir when he disappears. No one is going to care."

So many people would care, you dumb asshole…

Chris rounded her eyes, feigning fear. It wasn't all acting. Part of Chris was very afraid of the man looming over her.

"For years, scientists have been seeking a way to replicate Erskine's serum, to find the key to creating more super soldiers with little success. But our good doctor here assures me between the child in your womb and Barnes, we'll be quite a bit closer to unlocking that secret. The serum used on Barnes was at least a derivative of Erskine's original formula. And if the baby you carry is Rogers'…"

Chris brought on more tears, increased her breathing. She wanted him to think she was having a full-on panic attack.

"What if… the baby is Bucky's?" Chris asked fearfully.

"Almost as good," Ross told her.

Chris didn't ask what the plan for her was, once she delivered the baby. Ross had no use for her, believed her to be an online criminal. She had no doubt that an "unfortunate accident" would be his plans for her future.

"He'll come for us," Chris said tearfully.

"I want him to," Ross told her. "I'm ready."

With that, he opened the door and motioned to someone just beyond it. A woman dressed in black slacks and a white dress shirt rolled in a fancy cart with covered dishes.

"Did you bring the shot?" Ross asked the doctor.

The other woman looked appalled. "It's not in the best interest of either her or the child to sedate them."

Ross looked at her like she had two heads with six eyes between them.

"She's six months pregnant," the doctor pointed out. "I don't think she's that big of an escape risk."

Chris shuddered at the rage Ross was holding back, angry that they were discussing this in front of one of their captives.

With a literal growl, Ross stormed out of the room, leaving the doctor standing there awkwardly.

"We'll return in the morning. It's in your best interest and that of the child for you to eat and sleep. If you need anything, there's a call button by the bathroom door."

Chris nodded, acting afraid of the woman now too. The doctor had more than a little sympathy for her plight. That could prove useful.

Chris nodded, bowing her head. She didn't move again until they'd left the room.

Feigning a panic attack, she just knew they had a camera on her, Chris paced back and forth, looking around the room wildly like she was trying to breathe when she was really trying to find the camera.

And find it she did. Right atop the curtains of the window.

With a deep sigh, she proceeded to pretend she was calming down. Began to look over the meal. After the end of that conversation, she didn't think there was anything in that food to hurt her or knock her out. She would need to keep her strength up.

Once she finished with her dinner, she walked to the laptop, stroking Bucky's face on the screen. She hated that blank look on his face. It reminded her of the days when he…

Bucky Barnes was one of the men she loved. The Winter Soldier was not him.

"I love you," she whispered. "I'm going to get you and our son back to Steve. No matter what it takes. I promise."

Chris has learned and grown so much in her time with her soldiers.

Steve had taught her strategy in a way the bureau never had. An FBI agent only needed to know their small part of the plan. Steve had to orchestrate plans for the entire Avengers' team, and she paid attention to his discussions with Bucky, the meetings she was involved in. She could do this.

From Bucky, Chris had learned that one could survive quite a bit. More and more lately he'd been sharing some of his memories with them. She agreed with Steve that the loving home they'd created had diminished his nightmares, made him more like the young man Steve had fallen in love with decades ago in Brooklyn. If Bucky could survive all that he had, she'd sure as hell make it through this.

The two of them didn't deserve to go through this and Chris was going to do all she could to remedy the situation.

Ross had tried to get rid of her once and the two of them, with Phil's help, had been her strength. They came for her, nurtured her. It no longer mattered to her if they loved each other more than they did her. She loved them with all that she was and just maybe her place was to protect that love and the love they had for each other. Just as she would protect their baby.

Chris would never crumble or cower again. Not with so much to fight for.

Mentally, she began making her list. She needed to gather intel on that camera, needed to find a way to either knock it down or loop it so she could move on to the next part of her operation.

Steve and the team would be there soon. There was no doubt in her mind. And she would be ready.