Two Years Earlier
One year after my recruitment, I had gotten to know more of the team, but for some reason kept being drawn to Loki. He was easy to talk to and we both enjoyed the quiet nights curled up with a book. He made me laugh with the pranks he pulled on the others. We grew close as the days went on, our friendship creating an inseparable bond between the two of us. Soon, there came a night when he knocked on my door…at 1 a.m.
"Is everything alright?" I greeted a disheveled Loki outside my door. He appeared tired; his hair mussed as if he had been constantly combing his hands through it. His usual pristine clothes were rumpled, either from tossing and turning on the bed or perhaps he had been pacing and rubbing his hands against his garments. He cocked his head to one side assessing my question.
"Yes. Why would you think something is amiss?"
"It's one in the morning. In my experience, most people don't come knocking on doors wanting to talk or have company. In fact, most people would be asleep at this hour. Plus, and I don't mean any offense by this, you look like you've already been having a rough night. Unless…" I answered him, pausing for a moment.
"Unless?"
"You're not coming here for a booty call, are you? That's the only other reason I could think of to why you're here at this hour," I told him. His lips curled into a mischievous smile, which faded as quickly as it appeared.
"I couldn't sleep, and I figured you were still up. I remembered you could be a night owl sometimes. May I come in? Don't worry, this isn't going to be anything intimate. I only wish to have a conversation," he said. I opened the door wider, inviting him into my room, shutting it behind him.
"What's on your mind, my prince?" I asked him, perching beside him. Once more those peridot green eyes of his assessed me.
"Why aren't you more cautious around me?" he asked. I blinked, the question catching me off guard.
"You're my best friend. I'm not sure why you would even ask me that. You should know me better than most and I think I've gotten to know you more," Loki still looked at me needing more than I provided him. I sighed. "You're very sweet. I trust you. Better than those I've known my whole life. You have an ability to make me laugh, which is something that I appreciate in any relationship. You're more than a prince, more than a god, more than mischief. I see you for your true self and I love you," I answered. His eyes widened at the confession, though I think he knew it wasn't as if I was in true love with him. It was more of a friendship love. It wouldn't be until later we would act on our desires for each other.
"You trust me? You don't think I'll betray you? The others…I think they still have their doubts about my intentions," he said. I nodded.
"There's good in you. I know that for certain. I always have," Tears filled his eyes and he laid back on the bed, spilling everything that was on his mind. His past mistakes, what occurred before trying to take over New York. He left nothing out. We switched into deeper conversation, what we wanted for our future, outlooks on finding true love. We talked until he fell asleep tucked against me, his hand clutching mine tight. I wasn't too far behind him. Hours after we had drifted off, I awoke to another knock at the door. I shifted off Loki careful not to disturb him and opened it to find Steve waiting outside.
"Training is in half an hour," he looked past me as he said it. His brows furrowed into concern at the prince curled up under my sheets. "Why is Loki in your bed?"
"Not that it's any of your concern, but we got carried away reading and fell asleep a few hours ago," I lied. No need for him to know the truth. I would protect Loki's secrets with my life.
"Oh. Okay…by the way, Tony wants to talk to you later," he told me.
"Alright. Uh…rain check on training? I'm not positive we're in the position to be sparring right now," Steve nodded, and I returned to bed for a few more hours.
When I got up, Loki had left, and I changed into a white t-shirt and jeans before locating Tony. I found him in one of the empty conference rooms and he acknowledged my presence.
"Steve said you wanted to talk to me," I greeted him.
"I did. I hate to be the deliverer of bad news, but you're dangerous. We can't keep you as part of this team," he said. My good mood changed immediately.
"What? What do you mean?" I asked.
"You're going to hurt us all. Better to hurt you before you unleash those powers on us," he continued. He advanced on me and wrapped his hand around my wrist, hard.
"Take my pain. Take it. Take it all," he whispered. He squeezed harder and I screamed as the pain flowed into me.
"Natasha, join me," Tony commanded. All my friends appeared beside him.
"Take our pain. Feel it all," they said. All of them placed their hands on me and I screamed louder as multiple threads of excruciating pain hit me. The torture wrapped its claws around my system, bringing me to my knees. Still, none of them let go, all smiling as I crumpled still screaming.
Rick's POV
I jolted out of bed at the sound of her. Stella was screaming. I ran down the hallway to the living room and froze at the sight of her thrashing around. The sound of her scream frightened me, and I jumped into action. I gripped her arms and tried waking her, trying to get away from the dream…nightmare she was having.
"Stella! Wake up. It's just a dream. Darlin' wake up. Stella. Stella, listen to my voice. Wake up," I called out to her.
"Please, stop! Don't hurt me anymore. Please…" she said. She whimpered the last please, my blood running cold. Now I was desperate to get her awake.
"Stella, come on. Wake up. Open your eyes. No one is going to hurt you. Wake up, please. It's me. It's Rick. Please, open your eyes," I said, shaking her. She gasped and then sat straight up, her eyes wide with fear.
"Stella, it's okay. I here. I'm right here," I told her. I stood up and shifted her so I could sit on the couch beside her, stroking her arms to calm her down.
"Rick…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you,"
"It's alright. I thought you were in danger. Do you…do you want to talk about it? What happened in your dream?" She shook her head and I nodded, not wanting to push her.
"You can go back to bed. I'm okay now," she told me. Despite her body still shaking, her skin cold to the touch, the fear still lingering in her eyes.
"No can do, darlin'. I need to see that you're truly okay,"
"Sure," was she said. An idea hit me.
"How about I lay back and you can rest your head on my chest to try and relax. Or I can lay on this end, and you lay on that end to try to get back to sleep?" I patiently waited on her decision, lying against the other side of the couch. She chose the former suggestion and angled her body in a way to have both of my arms around her, laying her head on my chest. I moved one hand up to stroke her hair, a form of comfort to put her mind at ease. There was no talking and soon her breath evened out, meaning she had drifted off against me. With her body heat and her steady breathing, I soon felt myself drift off as well.
Loki's POV
I heard arguing coming from the living room and went to investigate.
"What do you mean we have a mission? We're supposed to be looking for Stella! Not working," Bucky shouted. His anger was directed at Tony. He wasn't the only one upset. Wanda and Natasha both had their arms crossed over their chest.
"I'm sorry, but we're needed elsewhere. It's an urgent mission," Stark explained.
"We can say no. We can't leave her out there alone. Stella is our friend, and she needs to be brought back home. Steve, tell him we can't do this," Wanda said. When Rogers said nothing, anger turned to shock.
"Are you serious? Stella is an important member of our team. You both want to leave her in our enemies' hands?" Nat argued.
"We don't really know that she is in danger. She could be recovering somewhere while we speak. She could be trying to locate us at any moment. This mission is a priority. We're going to need all of the skill sets we have," Steve commented. Not a chance in Hel was I going to stop my investigation into finding her and proving that Tony was behind this, I thought.
"I'll sit this one out. There are things I need to take care of. If you don't mind," I said. All of them jumped at my voice, but Steve nodded. No one needed to know what I had planned while they were gone. If they weren't going to search for Stella, then I would. I knew Wanda, Bucky, and Nat were worried about her, but I couldn't involve them in this. Not yet. Not until I had everything in my favor. Tony being gone would benefit me in a big way and I needed all the evidence I could find to turn the tides my way.
He had lied again. He had lied to them all; I sensed it. I needed to know why he was hiding this from the team, from me. They left the room to pick up their go bags, leaving me all alone in the compound. So, I began the investigation. I pulled up certain items on the computer in the conference room, searched for anything that would lead to Stella. As I was looking, I found out it had been Tony who locked Stella out of our system. In fact, she had been deleted out of it completely. Strike one.
I also located articles on other people like her, on how some of those people had harmed innocents. I found files under her name, on how the powers worked, questions of if she could do what they could. If she was dangerous. There were numerous articles on the transference of pain with notes attached to them.
'Still can't find signs of transference of ability to others. Not on Stella anyway. She could be hiding it. Waiting for us to trust her, so that she can use them on us. There are people like her, that can cause pain simply by thinking it,'
'Subjects can go insane if pushed too far. Transference of pain could result in wounds being opened deeper, bones breaking, death. I can't risk her being part of this team,'
'I'm frightened by how strong she's getting. Strange says she's under some control. What if it expands? What if she loses control? Could she kill?'
'I don't like her joining us on missions. She takes on too much. Soon she'll explode. I know what I must do now,'
"Classic, Tony. You can't trust anyone, can you?" I stated. Strange, I thought. It's time to pay that second-rate sorcerer a visit. If Tony had reason to fear her, Stephen would know. He had been working with Stella over the years, long before we had acted on our desires for each other. Long after we had ended them when we wanted different things. He wanted to have her perfect her ability. Maybe there was something in Stella's history Strange had learned. I found some evidence, but not enough to prove anything malevolent. Fine, next step.
"Stephen, here I come. Stella don't worry. I'm going to find you and bring you home. Whatever it takes,"
Stella's POV
I woke to someone shifting under me. Flag. Rick Flag. That's right, I remember. He pulled me out of a nightmare. I opened my eyes further to find his arms encasing me, his breathing steady…and he was shirtless.
Had he always been? Did I omit that fact from my mind last night? I tried to remove myself from his body, but he gripped me tighter, one hand draping the blanket higher around my shoulders. He sighed, a few strands of dark blonde hair falling across his forehead. I took a moment to look over him. The muscles in his arms, the tattoos, some scars lining his hands, his biceps, his chest…which was very tone, yet he was still lean. My fingers itched to comb through his hair, but I cupped his jaw instead.
"Rick. Hey, wake up. Rick," I called out. He stirred but didn't open his eyes. I passed my thumb over his lips, the movement making them part under my touch.
"Time to get up," I tried again. He groaned. A warmth spread through me; a tightness grew at my core. Rick opened his eyes, a sleepy smile on his lips.
"Morning, Stella. Were you able to sleep a little better?" he rasped. The tightness turned to throbbing, wetness pooling at my center. Fuck. What was he doing to me? I shouldn't be feeling this way after a few hours of meeting him.
"I did. Thanks to you," His smile grew, and he released me so I could scoot off him.
"Want some breakfast? Coffee?" I nodded and he climbed off the couch to go to the kitchen. The gray sweatpants he was wearing hung low on his hips, the fabric doing nothing for his ass. Oh, for fuck's sake. Stop staring at his ass, I thought.
"I assume bacon and eggs are okay with you? Stella?"
"Huh?" Uh, yeah. That sounds fine," I answered, dragging my attention from his ass to his face.
"How do you feel about getting out toady? We'll need to get you some clothes. Unless you think we can send for them from your home,"
"I…um…don't think I'll be able to get anything from the compound. Knowing Tony, he probably already threw everything out,"
"Got it. Shopping it is then. Would you mind if Harley came along? I think she might like to see you again. She was worried about you when she left last night,"
"Sure. I don't mind. Do you mind if we stop by a bank? I'll need to get a new card to pay for everything. I don't usually carry stuff like that on me when on missions, so…"
"I'll take care of it. You can pay me back later. Sound good?" he told me.
"I…yes. If you don't mind me asking, but do you not have work today?" I answered. He froze but shook his head. Strange. I wonder if he suffered some consequence of bringing me back with him, I thought.
"The dream you were having. What was it?" he asked, changing the subject. At my silence, he nodded, plating the food.
"That's okay. You don't have to talk about it. That being said, my door is always open if you ever want to come and grab me. Even…climb into my bed if you choose to. I can hold you again. Or not. It's up to you," he offered. I looked up to see him looking at me. There was concern laced in his hazel eyes.
"Thank you. I might take you up on that," We ate and changed to go out around town. Harley arrived 15 minutes later and the three of us left his apartment to find me things to wear. While Harley was browsing the racks, trying to help me with my style, I focused my attention on Rick.
"Is she your girlfriend? She's gorgeous. Fun to hang out with as well," I stated.
"Harley? No. I don't have a girlfriend and I'm not seeing anyone right now. We're good friends. Best friends, even. Do you have anyone like that where you're from?" So, he's single. No, stop it. You can't crush on him. You only have feelings for him because he saved your life. It'll pass, I thought. Although, I felt connected with him somehow. Almost as if we were meant to find each other.
"I do. I have four people in fact. Bucky, Wanda, Natasha, and Loki. The four best friends you could ask for. I think Loki is probably the closest friend I have out of the four of them. I can be myself around him and know he wouldn't judge me. I can always count on him,"
"Do you think they'll look for you?" he asked.
"Oh, I…I'm not sure. They're all kind of busy. I'm sure you can understand. Being an Avenger is all about missions and saving the world. Loki might. Though, if they haven't located me yet, then they might not come looking at all. Right now, I'm on my own. I'll start looking for somewhere else. I wouldn't want to be in your way. I'm sure you have your own life to live," I told him. I had gone back to looking at tops and didn't see him approach me. I jumped when his chest brushed against my back, had to suppress a shiver as he leaned down, his breath blowing over the shell of my ear.
"Stay as long as you need. I don't mind," he whispered. Then he stepped back, allowing me to continue browsing.
Rick's POV
On the way back to my apartment after Stella, Harley, and I had gone out, Harley pulled me to the side.
"Have you told her yet?" she asked. I knew what she was asking. Had I told Stella about what it cost me to bring her back with us.
"No, but I will," She glanced up at me. "What?"
"Nothing," she hesitated. "You have feelings for her. I can see how you look at her when you think she's not looking. Don't try to deny it, Flag. It's very clear what you feel. I think it's a lot stronger than what you felt for June. I only wonder what will happen when she leaves. What will you do then?"
"I don't have-," She arched an eyebrow and I stopped myself. I could deny it all I wanted to, but she knew. Hell, I knew. I couldn't tell Stella. I wouldn't until I was sure my feelings were real. Until I knew for certain it wasn't the result of saving her life.
"I don't know what I would do. We'll have to see should she decide to leave. If she decides to leave," I admitted. What if I didn't want to see Stella go? Would she agree to stay with me if I asked? Would she even return the feelings already brewing inside me? Stella turned to face us, a smile on her lips as she motioned for us to catch up. Damn. I knew I was in trouble with falling for her.