Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel. Just Anna and her fellow OC's.

Chapter 21

When Heroes Need Protecting

In theory, Anna's job was simple. She was supposed to stay in the jet with Bruce and Rey and keep lines of contact open for the team back to the tower in case anything happened. If it came down to it, she could join the fight if it was necessary. That's why Bruce was waiting there with her. They were Plan B if Plan A went sound..

It did make them both a little antsy being left alone though. After about twenty minutes Bruce was pacing and checking in with the team asking, "Guys, is this a code green?"

Static.

"Bruce, just hold on a few more minutes," Anna said. "They could have things covered. They're in a lot of thick metal. It could just be messing with the comms."

"But what if it's not?" he asked, pressing the button to open the back hatch. He just moved to stand in the open to see if he could get a closer look. From the outside there was no indication that anything was wrong.

"Then they'll find a way to let us know," Anna said. "But until then-"

"Anna!"

Anna was out of the pilot's seat in an instant with her gun drawn and ready to use. The tone Bruce was using as he called out to her left no room for wondering what was going on. Something was wrong and backup was needed. When she got to the end of the ramp, all Anna could see was Bruce falling to his knees clutching his head. The veins in his neck bulged as a growl escaped through his clenched teeth.

Whatever was wrong with Bruce was causing him to struggle with the Hulk. He was fighting to stay contained, but as the skin visible to Anna started to turn green, she knew it was a losing battle. Anna placed her hand on her ear to activate the comm to get the message to the rest of the team, but before she could even press the button, a blur wooshed in front of her, and there stood the two Maximoff siblings. Wanda, pretty with her light brown hair and big eyes put her hand to the side of Anna's head, a red flash blurring her vision.

While Anna froze in her movements, Rey in his largest form, growled and lunged for the woman to make her pay for whatever she'd done to his partner. The male, however, grabbed her and ran off with her before his feet even fully left the ground. He looked around, smiffing to see if he could catch the sent of the two siblings, but with the march it made it difficult for him. Instead of tracking, Rey turned ack to Anna and nudged her back into the jet as Bruce hulked out. At least she'd be safe in there as their companion went off to rage.

"Anna? Can you hear me? Anna!"

It was beautiful. The lush forest, the glimmering reflection of the sun over the lake, the cool breeze allowing the hot temperature to become bearable. It seemed like the perfect moment on a perfect day. At least, that's what it felt like.

A hand was placed on her shoulder, but she didn't jump. Anna just smiled and leaned back, resting her back against the chest of the person behind her. Their head came to rest on her shoulder, while their hands moved to hold her, resting flat on her stomach protectively. Anna felt warm, happy, as she covered his hands with her own. She didn't need to turn around to know who was holding her. There was only one person that left her feeling like this.

"Bucky," she sighed, closing her eyes as he held her tighter.

"Anna," he said.

Anna took in a deep calming breathe, listening to the birds chirp out ever so often in the distance. It caught her attention, making her furrow her brow. "Do you hear that?" she asked, glanging just slightly to the head resting on her shoulder from behind. "It's not birds, is it."

"No," he said.

It was difficult to decipher what the noise was. Anna knew what it was, that was for sure, but for some reason it was blocked out in her mind. It was like a page was missing in a book and she was trying to figure out what she'd missed between the two pages. "What is it?" she asked.

Bucky didn't address it any farther, but it kept going as he said, "I love you, Doll, but I have to go."

There was only one person that could make her feel that bad too. Her gut dropped, her stomach cramping in the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life. She cried out, clutching her stomach as she looked up at him. Bucky was slowly retreating backwards away from her.

"N-No!" she cried. "You can't!"

"You have to do this on your own. I won't be around to do it."

The surge of pain came back, and Anna dropped to her knees. She was desperate for the pain to stop, but wave after wave it just kept coming. "Bucky please," Anna begged. "H-Help. Don't go!"

Bucky just stared at her, and as he did, pieces of him began to flake off, like the white pieces of ember or soot that flew out of fire. Piece after black piece Bucky was blown away, leaving Anna there in that beautiful spot.

Except, it wasn't that beautiful lakefront view anymore. Anna sat back on the heels of her feet, knee's still supporting her upright. The pain was gone now, but so was Bucky, and as was everything around her. Anna was left in pitch darkness. It was like the black abyss of space just without the stars. It made her feel so claustrophobic. Though there was nothing around, Anna could still hear that noise echoing around her. After her own sobs, she finally placed what that sound was: crying.

Before she could disect that further, a bright flash of light strobes, blinding her. Clutching her eyes so not to be pained by it, more flashes came. And even though her eyes were closed, she could tell the flashes were different colors. Red, green, blue, purple, yellow, orange. The flashes repeated themselves until suddenly everything was black again. Cautiously, Anna opened her eyes to see the six light orbs orbiting in a circle around her.

Reaching out, to touch one as it passed, they all shot to her right hand at once. Anna screamed out as she felt the worst pain of her life. The burning started in her hand and crept through her veins up her arm and into her shoulder. At the same time, everything on her backside: the back of her head, her back, the back of her calves all felt like she'd been hit by a semi-truck at 200 miles an hour. Her leg snapped from under her, but all that pain was a pin prick in comparison to what was scorching up her arm, making its way across her chest, and finally to her heart.

It had all been a hallucination. None of it had happened, but that didn't mean she wasn't affected by it. When she finally started to see reality again, the sun was starting to rise in beautiful orange and yellows. Shakily, Anna got up from the seat she'd been placed in after Tony and Clint had gotten the rest of the Avengers in the jet.

"You'd had me concerned," Rey said. Anna looked down at him, her head still throbbing. "I could not see into your head. And you would not answer."

I'm sorry, Anna thought. I don't know what she did. But it wasn't fun.

Everybody seemed to be out of it except for Tony, who was asleep in one of the other seats, soft snores sounding ever so often. Clint was at the helm in the pilots seat. That's where Anna made her way to. She stood beside him, looking out the window at the beautiful view. Normally she'd seem a sense of calm at the image. But right now, all she felt was cold and crimped.

"Hey," Clint greeted softly. "You okay?"

"No," Anna said. "But I will be. Just like the worst dream ever."

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

Anna thought about it for a moment before she shook her head. "Honestly, I wouldn't even know how to explain it. It was," she paused, just trying to think of the best descriptive word, "unsettling."

"Well, at least you're up. We'll be arriving soon," he told her.

She didn't even press where they were going, which was very unlike Anna. She just nodded and stood her ground as they continued to fly through the clouds. Eventually the scenery started to become familiar. She'd been there before. Anna glanced at Clint silently questioning him about where they were.

"We couldn't go to the Tower," he said. "Needed someplace off the grid to hide out."

"And this was the only place you could think of?" Anna asked. "What about everyone there? They'll be okay, right?"

"I'd never let anything happen to them," Clint said. "And neither would any of us. They just…"

"Are in for a surprise," Anna said as they started the descent onto the farmland. The white house stood beautifully in the green field, the brown worn barn just off in the distance. "This has always been what I imagined a home to look like," she muttered. "It makes me happy."

Clint smiled softly. "Me too."

The plane landed and the team exited following Barton close behind as he lead them to the beautiful house. Anna finally started to feel a bit more normal as she approached. The feeling of calm, happiness, and serenity bubbled in her check. They were all the feeling she always felt when she stayed there at the Barton residence.

"What is this place?" Thor asked.

"A safe house?" Tony inquired.

"Let's hope so," Clint muttered, resulting in a snort in amusement from Anna. He opened the door, still holding Nat. "Honey, I'm home!"

Laura, as pregnant as Anna had ever seen her, came waddling out from the kitchen with some of the kids' things she'd clearly been cleaning up. She seemed happy that Clint had arrived home, but when her eyes shifted to the rest of the group she clearly was trying to hide her distress.

"Hi," Clint said, taking her into his arms to give her a kiss. "Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."

"Hey," Laura greeted. She kissed Clint back.

Now that their moment was over, Anna walked over and kissed Laura's cheek. "Hi," she said softly. "Sorry about intruding."

"This is an agent of some kind," Tony said.

"Gentlemen," he said, getting their attention. He did not address the women as they both already knew Laura. "This is Laura."

Awkwardly Laura just smiled and said, "I know all your names."

With the noise that the guests had made on their arrival, it alerted the children that had been getting ready for the day upstairs. They game running down. "Oh, incoming," Clint said as he moved forward in anticipation of his kids coming to join them.

"Dad!" Lila exclaimed, jumping into her dad's arms. Cooper moved to his side for a hug.

"These are," Tony muttered, "smaller agents."

"Oh no they're not," Anna said. "I was the last of that program."

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" Lila asked.

"Why don't you hug her and find out!" Nat said, snapping out of her daze only slightly to embrace the child.

"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve apologized.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony said.

"Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figured it's a good place to lay low," Clint explained.

Anna's attention was brought to the toast that popped up in the toaster. "Here, let me help with breakfast while you two catch up on what's going on," Anna said. "Come on, rugrats. Breakfast time!"

A few hours later after Laura had been caught up on what was going on, and the kids were sent off playing in the yard, Laura joined Anna out on the porch swing cradling her swollen stomach. She took in a deep breath to calm herself, a small smile on her lips as she watched the kids chased after a dog sized Rey, who was surprisingly very good with the children. Perhaps it was because he'd been a father himself. Anna too was smiling.

"How's the search for Bucky going?" Laura asked.

"Fruitless so far," Anna answered, her eyes never leaving the kids.

"Think you two will have one of those once you're back together?" she asked.

Anna laughed. "Well, in a perfect world maybe," she said. "Honestly, we never talked about it. I knew he was going to die, or so we thought. I just wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. Make him as happy as he could be until…"

"What about now? What do you want?"

"This," she answered without skipping a beat. "I've put a lot of thought into it a little while now. I don't think I'd ever be able to give up doing something along these lines, but this is what I want. To settle down someplace quiet with my husband and have a kid or two. If I ever got him back, and if he even wants that."

"You'll find him," Laura said. "I can feel it."

"Are you sure you're not just feeling the baby kick?" Anna teased.

"No," Laura laughed. "If Clint and I can make this work then you can too."

Sorry this is a day late! I just got a new computer this week, and I started a new temporary job last week because I can't very well be a substitute teacher when there's no school...So, here's the chapter!

SomebodyWhoCares - Yeah, I thought he was creepy too! But Jason Spader played him so well. I just love his voice.

Jedi Jesla777 - Son of a bitch. I swore I read it over too several times after I did it the last time. Grrr. Now I gotta go back again lol. This was a little more mellow, but soon the shit starts to hit the fan again, and then CIVIL WAR!