~:~

NEXT MORNING

My eyelids twitched and my nose filled with the smell of leather and cologne. I reached out but found nothing. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was alone. I bolted up and looked around.

"Morning."

I turned my gaze to the kitchen and saw Sam pouring a cup of coffee.

"Milk and two sugar?"

I nodded, combing my fingers through my hair. "Please."

I got up and walked towards the counter. He handed me the mug and I sat down at the bar stool.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How much of last night do you remember?"

I questioningly raised my brow. "Why?"

He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter behind him. "Well, you could start with that nightmare, dream, whatever it was."

Suddenly, all the memories came back from the night.

"My friend, he… in the dream, I…." I gulped. "I was the one who killed him." Tears began to fill my eyes. "There was blood all over my hands, and when I looked down, there was the gun. I had shot him. It was my fault…." I shuddered, sobs threatening to overtake my body. "It was my fault….."

Sam walked around the counter and wrapped his arms around me. "What's going on, Ange?"

"Last night, that friend was shot. Right in front of me." My face hardened. "I watched him die. I felt him die."

Felt someone die, again.

"I can't shake that, Sam."

"I've felt that too. You feel like there's…"

"A hole in your chest?" He nodded in reply. "I've felt it before, Sam. And I hate it."

"Why? It shows you care, that you feel. It makes you human."

I shook my head. "If you understood why, then you would feel the same."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means" My phone buzzed.

Stay low until clear. I'll contact you when it's safe. -Steve.

"What's that?"

"Steve. He's checking on me."

"Why are you here and not with him?"

"It's-" I sighed. "It's complicated."

"It can't be that complicated," He scoffed. "What happened? What's going on?"

"There's a lot I can't tell you right now. Because I don't know. And when I do, you will be the first to know." I pulled myself from his grasp.

"Ange-" I placed my fingers on his mouth.

"Please, Sam. Just trust me."

He slowly nodded in reply. "Alright." He walked back into the kitchen, pulling out a pan.

"Breakfast?"

I shrugged. "As long as it's edible."

He gaped mockingly. "You of little faith."

"Dude, the only time we eat together is at restaurants." I gave him a questioning look. "Think about it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He pulls out a cast iron pan and flips it in the air. "Prepare to be amazed."

~:~

"Okay," I laughed. "I am amazed."

He bowed. "Thank you, thank you, Hold your applause. Thank you very much."

"Modest much?"

He laughed but his smirk quickly fell. "What's the plan?"

"Dunno?" I shrugged. "Hide out here till everything blows over? I don't know what to do."

"Don't you have a place to hide out?"

I shook my head. "And risk their safety? Hell,no."

"What about mine?"

I hadn't thought of that. I wouldn't risk the school,or Laura and the kids. But I risked his.

What was I doing?

"You're a big boy. I know you can take care of yourself."

"What about you? Can you take care of yourself?"

I shrugged. "I was raised by Tony Stark. If I lived through that, I think I can handle anything."

~:~

The rest of the day passed quickly. Sam left to grab more groceries, and I stayed in case SHIELD came looking for me. While he was out, my phone rang.

Francis. I smirked at the caller ID. Best joke ever. "Hello?"

"Ange, where are you?"

"Sorry, Clint. Can't tell you. Captain's orders."

"He there with you?"

"Classified."

"Ange, I swear-" he warned.

"You wouldn't hurt me. You love me too much."

"Angie! They're going to kill you if you don't get away."

"I can't leave him, Clint. I won't."

"If you change your mind, you know where to go. Stay safe."

"You too."

"Bye." Click.

I heard the door.

"It's just me," Sam yelled.

As I started walking towards the living room, a wave of dizziness overtook me.

"-They call him the Winter Soldier-"

"-Bucky?-"

"-Who the hell is Bucky?-"

"-I knew him-"

"-You're my mission-"

"-Then finish it, 'cause I'm with you-"

I broke out of the trance.

Till the end of the line….

I raced towards the guest room and pulled the familiar journal out of my bag. I turned to the last entry I had read.

"Through these instances, I met your father. He was kind but cruel at the same time; he was... their greatest weapon."

Their greatest weapon? With a shake of my head, I flipped through the pages, searching for some sort of answer; but came up empty.

I heard a knock on the door frame.

"What's up?"

"Um, nothing. I just remembered something."

"Okay ...Well, if you're hungry, I brought McGee's."

I grinned. "Monte Cristo?"

He nodded. "With extra sugar and jam."

"This is why you're my best friend."

"I try my hardest." He smiled.

I shut the journal and stuffed it back in my bag. "Come on, old man. Let's dig in."

~:~

Someone knocked on the front door. I pulled out my gun and headed for the door.

"What are you doing?" Sam harshly whispered.

"Never can be too careful."

He slowly opened the door and a familiar voice broke through the silence.

"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," another voice added.

"Not everyone." Sam moves out of the way, letting them in.

Slowly, I move out of my hiding spot. Steve looks at me in shock.

"How did you..."

I held a hand up to stop him, holstering my gun. "Long story. But first, y'all get cleaned up."

They nodded and Sam led them towards the guestroom.

When he returned, I could feel uneasiness flow from him.

"Hey, Ange. I think we need to talk."

"Let's talk while we cook." I said pulling the eggs out of the fridge.

He pulled out a pan and set it on the stove. "It's about the other night."

"If it's about the dream, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. Okay, Sam?"

"It's not about that it's-" He stared at my back. The scars.

"I told you what happened." I replied, cracking them into the pan.

He grabbed my arm and turned me towards him. "How are you okay?"

"I….I'm not okay, Sam." I looked up at him, tears glistening. "I have never been okay. And I don't think I will ever be." I turned away, stirring the pan.

"What if someone could help?" He cupped my cheek, making me look at him. We leaned in towards each other, the tips of our noses barely touching.

"Sam…I" My eyes flashed.

I saw a little girl running in the yard with Marcos.

I looked down and noticed I was heavily pregnant.

Sam came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my midsection.

"Sam, your child is kickboxing with my liver."

"Don't you mean your bladder?"

"No, Riley kicked that thing out five years ago."

He laughed, placing a kiss on my temple. "I love you too…."

A smell came over me. Is something burning?

"Crap!" I turned away and tried to salvage the eggs, watching him walk off. I felt the frustration radiating off of him.

Why do you do this to yourself, Angie? You're just setting yourself up to get hurt again.

The eggs were destroyed, so I threw them out, starting a new batch.

But he's never hurt you.

So did the others, and when you fell, you fell hard.

And that made the hurt that much worse.

Sam returned to my side, placing a kiss on the same spot he had in my vision. I closed my eyes, a tear running down my cheek.

"Sam…."

He shushed me. "I don't know what is going to happen today, tomorrow, a week from now." He cupped my cheeks again. "Can we just have this? Just for once."

"What are we?" I whispered, leaning into his touch.

"Whatever you-"

"What is that smell?"

We broke apart, returning to our tasks. The two Avengers walked into the living room.

Natasha smirked. "You trying to cook, Angie? Cause if you are, you failed terribly."

I leaned back to glare at her, sticking my tongue out at the spy.

"For someone who's running from certain death, you seem peachy," I replied. "Shouldn't you be planning your vengeance or something?"

"I don't think revenge is going to help us this time," Steve said. "It's too late for that."

"What the heck is-"

Ring. Ring. Unknown number.

"Put in on speaker," Natasha mouthed.

I nodded and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Angie! Thank God!"

"Maria? What do you want?"

"How fast can you get to these coordinates?"

I looked down. "I don't know. Why should I trust you?"

"Because Fury would come back from the dead to kill me himself if I don't keep you safe."

"I'm perfectly safe where I am. Thank you for the concern."

"Angie, I'm serious!"

You and Clint both….. "I'm fine, Hill. Keep me up to date with ...whatever this mess is." I pressed the button, ending the call.

We all exchanged glances.

"I think you need to go with her," Steve said, breaking the silence.

I shook my head. "You heard Fury: don't trust anyone."

"Angie, he's right," Natasha replied. "We can trust her."

"How can I trust her if I don't know what's going on?"

Steve took a deep breath and explained what had happened: Pierce, the elevator, the old SHIELD base, Zola.

I sat there in shock. "Whoa…that's a lot to take in. So, who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?"

"Pierce." Steve realized.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," Tasha added.

"He can't be working alone." I shook my head. "One man couldn't do this much damage by himself."

"He isn't; Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star."

Natasha's eyes widened. "So was Jasper Sitwell."

I looked to Sam, jerking my head towards the two and mouthed 'the file' to him.

He nodded and whispered,"Already on it."

"So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?"

"The answer is:" he walked over and threw a file on the table in front of them. "You don't."

I walked over to him and stood next to him.

"What's this?" Steve asked.

"Call it a resume."

Tasha took the picture that was on top. "Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?" She turned to Steve, "You didn't say he was para-rescue."

"This Riley?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

Natasha continued to look at the photo. "I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?

He shook his head. "No. These." He hands the file to Steve.

"I thought you said you were a pilot," he said reading the file.

Sam chuckled. "I never said pilot."

Steve shook his head. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help."

"No better reason to get back in," I agreed. "Trust me, Steve. You need him."

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall."

Steve looked to Natasha, who shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."

~:~