They walked on eggshells around each other for a while. They silently decided they would take shifts with Morgan. Steve was on morning duty since he woke up early for his run, and Sharon was on bedtime duty. They ate dinner together but only to keep things semi-normal for Morgan, never speaking directly with each other. They lasted longer than Bucky expected, but they were approaching two weeks and she could tell Steve wasn't doing well with the silence any longer. Sharon was hoping they could keep this dynamic going forever, but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

She was heading out to meet Natasha for brunch to discuss the details of working for the CIA for her and Fury. She spotted Steve in the yard playing with Morgan since it was the first nice day in a while.

"Aunt Sharon, come play," Morgan said, running over to her and hugging her legs.

"Next time, sweetie. I have to head out for a bit, but I'll be back in time for movie night," she promised as she ruffled her hair.

"Where are you off to," Steve asked, shoving his hands in his pocket to keep them from folding across his chest.

"Out," she said, narrowing her eyes at him when she saw his demeanor change. He was annoyed.

"Would be nice to know where."

"I'm sure it would be," she said before turning away from him and heading into the car.

"Tequila soda, please," Sharon said immediately to the waiter once she sat down at the table. Natasha quirked an eyebrow up at her and Sharon just shook her head. She kept her head down as she perused the menu, avoiding eye contact with Natasha until her drink arrived.

"It's not even noon," Natasha said with a smirk as she watched Sharon down her drink and order a second one and a burger. "Guess Sam isn't winning the bet?"

"He's itching for a fight and I don't want to give it to him, but it's coming," Sharon said as she rubbed her temples. "I've been trying to ignore him but it's riling him up more."

"Might be better to get it over it. He hates being ignored."

"Had no problem doing it to all of you when things were turning into a shit storm," Sharon pointed out and Natasha nodded in agreement. "I've been trying to get a hold of Tony but the most I got was a 'not now' text."

"More than the rest of us have gotten."

"I need an end date," she sighed. "Anyway, CIA?"

"We've secured a work from home position from you. You'd organize high-level

ops to extract and move weapons," Natasha explained as she handed Sharon a file to look over. "We need to know the type of weapons, and then we'd let you know if the info needed to be shared to see who will try to steal or bid on them."

"What do you do after that? I can't have government agents raiding every buy I try to set up. For this to work, my people need to still think that I'm in the CIA to give them access to basically everything."

"We set up surveillance and figure out who the players are, and then wait to follow the trail to Hydra."

"I suppose if things get dicey, I can come up with some excuse. It's not going to help that I'm here and not in Madripoor. I think someone is eventually going to move into my territory."

"I can help there," Natasha said slyly and waved someone over. A blonde sat down at the table with them and her smile was eerily like Natasha's. "Meet Yelena. She's from the Red Room like me. This lovely pain in the ass is what held me up in Russia."

"Please," she scoffed, her Russian accent still noticeable. "It's nice to meet the infamous Powerbroker. I hear you need a second-in-command."

"Anything before 2019 wasn't me, but nice to meet you as well," Sharon said, shaking her hand. "Call me Sharon, please."

"She's as good as me."

"Better, actually," Yelena smirked as Natasha scowled.

"I'll set up a meeting and let everyone know I need to be based in the States for the CIA and Yelena will be based in Madripoor," Sharon nodded. "When do we leave? I need a vacation."

"You've been back for two weeks," Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Is that all," Sharon sighed. "I need three days. A day to get settled, have a meeting in the morning and a party at night. It'll give Yelena the opportunity to meet the big players and integrate easily. I can leave tonight if needed. Would give us a chance to deal with the jet lag too."

"I can leave tonight," Yelena said and Sharon smiled happily.

"Steve is going to kill you for leaving him alone with Morgan. James and Sam are out on a mission," Natasha said.

"Guess you'll have to take my place," Sharon smirked as Natasha rolled her eyes. "I promised Morgan I'd be home for movie night, so after she's in bed we'll leave."

As anticipated, Steve wasn't happy Sharon was leaving for a few days to head back to Madripoor. She continued to ignore him as she packed her stuff and began to check in with her associates. Morgan picked Moana for their movie night, so while she settled in on the couch with her stuffed animals, Sharon went in to make popcorn.

"I'm not going to be the one to tell Morgan you're going back," Steve said grumpily as he leaned against the counter.

"I already told her. I'll be back in a few days," Sharon said without looking at him as she grabbed a bowl for the popcorn. She heard him scoff and she took a breath to steady her temper. "It's a work thing. I start at the CIA officially soon. Will be working from home, so don't worry about being left alone again."

"Tony asked us to do this together."

"And we are, I don't know what more you expect, Steve," she said sharply as she dumped the popcorn in the bowl. "You're welcome to join us for Moana, unless you're going to be a moody asshole the whole time."

Being back in Madripoor was a whirlwind. Sharon introduced Yelena to her associates in the morning, and then let Yelena run the show at the party Sharon threw in the gallery that night. She smirked as she watched Yelena handle a few of the bigger men who thought they could take advantage of her.

Sharon started to think about life outside of all of this, and the fact that it was actually a possibility now was scary, but in a good way. She kept up this appearance mostly on survival, though she did enjoy the high-end lifestyle she lived all these years. Still, the idea of not having to look over her shoulder every minute and wonder who was going to turn on her was amazing. She didn't truly appreciate how much stress she carried every day until the second night in Stark's cabin when she remembered what feeling safe felt like.

The party ended around 4am and the two women headed back upstairs to Sharon's place. She gave Yelena a tour of everything before they went back to the living room to decompress before going to sleep. Sharon was heading out in a few hours, so she didn't know if it was worth it to sleep at this point.

"You've got an amazing set up here," Yelena said.

"Thanks, I worked hard for it," Sharon said as she handed her a drink. "You met mostly everyone tonight. A few guys weren't here, but their associates were. You should be fine."

"Your empire is in good hands," Yelena said, holding her glass up to toast. Sharon half-heartedly tapped her glass against Yelena's. "I don't know you very well, but I can see you're a very different person here than with Natasha and company."

"I have to be," she said with a shrug. "It made it easier to run things the way they needed to be run."

"You seem sad since we've landed."

"I just have a lot on my mind lately," she said with a shrug. "I'm back in the world I thought I left behind because it left me behind, and the world I built for myself doesn't feel like home anymore. I don't know what that says about me."

"You consider these Avenger people family, no?"

"I do, I suppose."

"Then I think that says you're a good person who will do anything for her family. You're much like Natasha in that way. It's admirable."

"Thank you," Sharon said softly. "I just hope it doesn't bite me in the ass."

"It might, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. Family always is."

hi all! sorry for the delay in updated, had some issues with my laptop & i only have access to word on it. i'll update the next chapter sometime this week. i think this story will have about 10-12 chapters. i have it almost finished, but still working out an ending i'm satisfied with.

let me know you're thoughts on this story, i really love reading any reviews & hearing what you all think. :)