A/N: Hi I'm updating early b/c my life is in shambles (: Long story short things are hecking rough right now. I won't be able to get on to update on Thursday so I figure why not now, eh? Don't feel the need to comfort me in the comments I'm gonna survive begrudgingly, but do feel free to leave me comments on your opinion of the story thus far! Okie dokie imma go drink heavily bye.

Chapter #05:

Serial Killer, Gold Digger, or Influencer?

"Instagram influencers post a pic of them looking at the ground with a bizarre caption like, 'Who says girls with short hair can't have fun'—? absolutely no one? have a day off."

– scarletWLand (Twitter)

It was morning light that woke him up. Aj's apartment was flooded with it from the large windows that made up most of the back wall leading out to the balcony. Steve should've gone back upstairs last night. He should've picked up Aj after she passed out around 2 in the morning, tucked her into bed, and gone upstairs, but he hadn't been able to do it. Aj fell asleep on his shoulder, like old times, and nothing short of the apocalypse would've moved him from that spot.

Steve was lying on his back with Aj half on his chest. It was a very familiar position. He had one hand resting behind his head while the other slowly dragged his fingers up and down her back. Last night had been exactly what he had been missing. They went through a number of episodes and most of them they'd probably have to watch again since they spent most of their time talking and cracking jokes.

Aj stirred on his chest, humming lightly, and he didn't bother biting back his smile. She turned slightly to press her face against him groggily then slowly lifted her head so her chin rested on him. Her pretty eyes squinted against the light.

"Morning." Aj said softly.

"Morning, sleepy head." He replied back, just as quiet.

Aj glanced around a bit before settling back on him. Her fingers drummed against his chest and he used the hand that was tracing patterns on her back to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"You know I'm getting a sense of déjà vu." Aj smirked. "At least this time you didn't throw me to the floor."

Steve chuckled, "We're getting to that part."

"Oh, are we?" Aj challenged. She pushed up a little, forearms pressed against him, "You gonna toss me to the ground, Rogers?"

She had to feel this. It couldn't just be him. Steve always questioned it, but it was moments like this with just the two of them alone that he had no questions. It was just right. Everything felt just right. Steve dragged his arm down so it rested on her waist, then without warning he rolled just enough off the couch to throw her. Aj let out a startled cry, hands grasped at his neck, but he held her around her midsection while leaning off the couch so only her heels rested on the ground. When she realized what he had done, she laughed loudly and slapped at his chest.

"You absolute ass!"

"I warned you." He laughed.

"Drop me, Rogers." Aj tried to glare at him, but she was still smiling too broadly for it to hold any kind of weight.

Steve clicked his tongue with a slight tilt of his head, "That seems like a poor choice of words right now, Aj." She rolled her eyes at him and he pushed up off the couch bringing her with him. With another small yelp, she tightened her arms around his neck. Standing at his full height, her toes just barely brushed the floor. "You squeeze any tighter and I won't be able to breathe."

"You're just showing off now." Aj scoffed. Steve slowly lowered her back down and she let go of his neck so she could reach up and tousle up his already messy hair. "I still can't get over this hair."

"You still haven't told me if you actually like it or not." Steve replied back.

"Aw," Aj pushed away from him to stroll into the kitchen. All she had on were shorts and a large t-shirt he knew used to belong to Thor. It was long enough to cover her shorts entirely and Steve tried not to let his eyes linger on her legs for longer than a second. "Does my opinion really mean so much to you?"

Steve followed after her and took a seat at the island counter, "Your opinion means everything to me."

She smirked, "Then you should grow out a beard."

"A beard?" Steve laughed and rubbed his stubbled jawline. When he got back to his apartment he needed to shave again. "Jesus, we're finally talking again and in less than 24 hours you're asking all this from me?"

Aj shrugged and began to pull things out of the fridge, "Don't worry, I was just joking. I like your clean-shaven look, Captain." She grabbed a pan and set it on top of the stove. "Hey, call Bucky. He can come down and have breakfast with us."

"You're making breakfast?" Steve chuckled. "Since when did you know how to do that?"

"Keep pushing, Rogers. See what happens." She pointed the spatula in her hands at him in a threatening motion then turned to continue making eggs.

Steve watched her work with a small smile. While she cooked, she twisted in place, her fuzzy socks making it easier, and quietly sang under her breath. Was this what domestic life looked like? No wonder people scrambled to achieve this kind of peace.

"Would it be bad of me to say that I don't wanna call Bucky down here just yet?" Steve admitted aloud with a slight grimace. Regardless of what her answer would be, he felt guilt at what he said already. It was selfish of him to want to commandeer her attention like this, but when he was this drunk off her gaze it was hard to do the nice or right thing.

Aj glanced over her shoulder in concern, "Is…Is everything okay between you guys?"

"Yeah. Of course." He replied quickly. "I just… want you to myself for a second longer I guess…" Steve shrugged. "If that's alright with you?"

"When would I ever not be okay with spending time with you, dumbass?" Aj laughed. "It'll be just like our old weekends. Pass out on the couch, wake up and have breakfast… the only difference is that today is Tuesday."

Aj went back to cooking and he settled in his seat content with where he was. The morning was a calm one filled with laughter. After they finished eating, Steve went to the sink to wash the dishes while Aj took a shower and got ready for the day. He was nearly done when he heard her shower cut off. A few more moments passed until he heard her voice.

"Hey Steve! Is my blue sweater out there?"

"You mean my blue sweater?" Steve called back with a chuckle.

"Yeah!"

Steve glanced around the living room, but he didn't see it on the couch or on any of the dining room chairs. He grabbed the kitchen towel to dry his hands, "No, it's not out here! Lemme check your office."

He tossed the towel aside and moved to open the office door. His hand wrapped around the doorknob just as Aj came sprinting out of her room in a bathrobe and dripping wet hair. With every step she took she yelled out the word 'no', but it was too late. Steve had opened the door and his eyes landed on the mess of her office.

Aj stood by his side sheepishly as his eyes dragged over the numerous pictures and news articles taped on the wall with red string connecting various pictures with others. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and slowly turned to look at her. She twisted her wet hair with her hand and gave him a tight-lipped smile, "I, uh, picked up a new hobby."

"Was it being a serial killer?" Steve questioned. He pointed to the creepy wall, "I assume that's what all this has to be. I can't think of a different reason."

Aj took a deep breath and then stepped into the room. She motioned to the wall with her hand, "These are all moments that I should've, sort of, died."

"What?!" Steve nearly snapped his neck turning to look at her. Aj gave him a sheepish look and shrugged. He shook his head, "What do you mean these are moments you should've died?"

Aj took his hand and dragged him over to her desk chair. The desk itself was littered with newspapers and tons of other clutter. He sat down at her push and she turned the chair around so he faced the wall. Aj stepped forward and pointed to a news article in the middle that read 'Factory Fire'.

"When I was on the plane coming back from Romania I sat next to Vincent." She motioned to him, "I assume you've heard that already?"

"Yeah. I just never got the time to tell you how bad of an idea that was."

"In my defense, he cornered me 17,000 feet in the air. I was held captive." Aj argued. She crossed her arms, "Anyways, he told me that we had met years ago, and I just didn't remember him."

"I thought you never forgot a face?"

"It doesn't count if concussed me was the one to see it." She replied then pointed at him, "This story is gonna be a lot longer if you keep interrupting me." Steve bobbed his head and motioned back to the terrifying wall. "Vincent nearly kidnapped me years ago, but a man stopped him. Some stranger saved my life and carried me back to my apartment while I was half passed out."

Steve stiffened in his seat at those words. A stranger took her home without any feedback from her which meant some random stranger had known where she lived. Aj nodded her head at him sheepishly as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"All I remember of him was that he was a big guy." Aj turned back to the wall. "Broad shoulders and he carried me really easily, but also… he had been hurt. I keep trying to remember more, but—but all I've managed to dig up was smoke. He smelled like smoke. Not cigarette smoke, but smoke from a fire." She pointed to the picture in the middle that connected to many others, "On the night all this happened, there was a factory fire not far away from where the ring was. I think he was at that fire for some reason before he saved me."

Steve opened his mouth to speak, but Aj was on a roll now.

"And all these other news articles are terrible things that happened in the area I lived in." Aj began to point to clippings. "Murders, robberies, drug dealings gone wrong, but each one corresponds with one of my black out nights."

Steve flinched, "Do I wanna know what 'black out night' means?"

"It's pretty self-explanatory." Aj mumbled. "They were nights where I had rough fights and can't really remember much."

"You had a lot of these?" Steve cried.

"More than what is probably considered healthy." Aj nodded. "I'd wake up the next morning feeling like shit but I'd be home. Up until now, I always assumed my body got me back home somehow and I just didn't remember it, right?"

Steve held his head with one hand, "There is so much in that sentence we need to talk about."

"Well hold off until you hear about this." Aj chuckled then turned and pointed to a specific article that talked about a group of men who were found dead in an alley. "That alley is right by the ring. I have to walk through it to get home. I don't remember the night entirely, but I remember running into the three guys they mention. I know it was them because I remember the spider tattoo they talk about in the article. Anyways, I got into a fight with them, they grabbed at me and pinned me down—"

"Aj!" Steve stood in a panic. He set a firm hand on her lower back, eyes blown wide with concern.

Aj set a hand on his chest to comfort him despite the fact that she definitely should be the one who needs comfort. She shook her head, "I woke up the next morning in my bed like nothing had happened. Nothing beyond the usual ring fights at least." She shook her head. "I never understood what happened, but I think… I think whoever saved me from Vincent has been saving me for the past five years." She let out a shocked laugh, "I think someone has been stalking me, but in like a good way!"

"There is no good version of stalking." Steve shook his head.

She ignored his comment, "They've just been keeping an eye on me and making sure I never died on my way home from the ring."

"You should be more traumatized and worried about this, Aj. This isn't good or normal!"

Aj nodded, "That's true, and you know I was a little concerned at first." She shrugged and motioned to the room around them. "But then I look around at the office I'm in, and the apartment I have, and the—the people in my life…" She grinned up at him. "And I realize I don't have to lose sleep over this anymore because I'm not in this alone anymore."

"Yeah, okay." Steve nodded because she wasn't wrong. She wasn't in this alone. They were here for her in every sense of the saying. "Why didn't you tell any of us about this earlier though?"

"Well, I didn't want you guys to panic and get all paranoid about it." Aj replied. She pointed up at him and let her finger flick against the tip of his nose, "I mean, I can see the look in your eyes right now, Steve. You have the 'I need to put Aj in an oversized hamster ball to protect her from all danger in the world' look."

Steve raised an eyebrow at her, "You think Tony can make one of those?"

"Don't give him any ideas." She rolled her eyes.

He glanced at the wall one more time, "We'll get to the bottom of this. We'll figure out who it was who was stalking you."

"Good. But I don't like the word stalking." Aj replied. Steve raised an eyebrow at her in question. There was a good outcome to this, he owed whoever this guy was everything, but there was no doubt in the fact that it was at least a little creepy. She just shrugged and grabbed the sun and moon charm around her neck out of habit, "Whoever this guy is I… He saved me, Steve." His gaze softened as he met her eyes. "Back then, I didn't think a single soul in the entire state of New York gave a damn if I lived or died. There were people around me sure. Angela and Alex, but… I always thought that I could drop dead in a moment and not a single person would even really notice."

Steve felt his entire chest ache. The thought that Aj spent even a second feeling that way broke his goddamned heart.

She let out a soft chuckle, "Whoever this guy is… he cared, Steve. He's my hero."

"We'll find him." Steve replied and pulled her into a hug. He'd tear the world apart to find this stranger just to personally thank him because he couldn't imagine a life without Aj anymore and without him he never would've had her.

I hummed to myself while working around the lab. Darren and Emily were set to come back some time later in the afternoon to work out a surgery date. The sooner the better. In fact, if they could get this surgery done before the week was over it'd be ideal. Mentally, I already had a plan for the anesthetic. Wanda said she kept some of Bucky's darkness at bay. She still didn't have a strong handle on her powers, but maybe she could soften the shock of waking up. It was probably our best bet at the very least.

"Someone's in a good mood." Tony chimed from behind me. "Have a nice night?"

I stopped what I was doing to smile at him. Tony was smugly leaning against his workspace with a mug of coffee. I waited until he began to take a large sip from his cup then grinned, "Very good mood actually. I slept with Steve last night." Tony immediately inhaled his coffee and doubled over to try and catch his breath. I chuckled, "That's for not bringing me a coffee."

"You gotta—You gotta…," He coughed again and pointed at me, "Stop that. Jesus."

"You make it too easy, Tony."

He set his mug down and walked over to me, "You and Steve made up then?"

I nodded, still feeling the bubbling happiness of my morning in my chest, "We did. You're next."

Tony scoffed, "Hard pass." A part of me wanted to press further, but the look in his eye told me he wasn't in the mood to hear it from me. This was gonna be something only Steve could fix. "Wanna see Buzz Lightyear's new arm?"

"It's ready?" I cried and he nodded and motioned for me to follow. "Also Buzz Lightyear?"

Tony glanced at me and rolled his own shoulder while pointing to it, "In the movie? His arm snapped off and he's, like, carrying it around?"

"I think if you have to explain your nickname to me then it's not very good."

He gave me a skeptical glare then went back to leading me to where the arm was. It was settled in the corner of the lab away from prying eyes and any space that could be seen if just walking by. Tony's words had been misleading. The arm wasn't complete yet, but the shoulder piece was. The dimensions were of a typical scapula for someone Bucky's size. The head of the humerus sat in an artificial joint space. Surrounding the joint space and humerus end was the bulk of the prosthetic. Once in place, it would be right where his actual shoulder should be, and an arm could be connected to it at any point.

"I put a rotating anchor here." Tony motioned to the inner side of the metal scapula. "It'll be anchored to the back of his ribcage, but the swivel will still allow for almost normal shoulder movements. There will still be some restrictions, but that's expected."

"Once this is in, it's in? Permanent?" I asked, just to be sure, and Tony nodded in affirmation. God, this was amazing. I reached out and let my finger trace the cool borders, "What did you make this of?"

Tony scrunched his nose and crossed his arm, "Er, metal."

I slowly turned to look at him, eyes narrowed, "Why did you answer that question so vaguely?" He twisted his lips, opened his mouth, then closed it again with a shake of his head. My eyes widened and I immediately pointed at him, "What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! Everything is fine!" Tony said quickly then followed it up with a less confident, "Probably."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "You can see why that would not lessen any of my concerns, right?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds."

"You haven't said anything."

"That's why it doesn't sound so bad!"

"Tony." I warned.

Tony gave me a broad smile, the kind he pasted on to avoid trouble, then set his hands on my arms, "Aj, I can honestly say that I used the best materials I had available to me. That's the goal here, right?"

"Yes." I replied slowly and glanced back at the prosthetic. "The best material…" My brain suddenly connected a couple dots and I whirled back around to face him with wide eyes. "You didn't!"

Tony crossed his arms tightly again and began to walk away from me, "I, maybe, sort of did."

"The vibranium?" I asked in shock. Tony had mentioned that they had a little left over after the whole Ultron ordeal. It was only a small amount, one cannister, and Tony had said it was going to get returned to Wakanda. "Tony?"

"It was such a little bit! I only had enough to do a layer over the prosthetic rather than making the entire thing of it." Tony argued. "I just told a little fib. Said we lost it."

I groaned and briefly covered my face, "What Klaue stole was the last of it, Tony. I'm sure they wanted that last 'little bit' back."

"They've been missing it since 1998, Aj. What does this last bit change?"

"Wakanda is a third world country, Tony, and we have officially stolen from them."

Tony paused, "Okay, when you say it like that…it sounds really bad."

"Oh my God."

There was a gap of silence where I tried to figure how badly we were in trouble. Vibranium was the strongest metal on Earth. If we hadn't used it without permission I would be thrilled. Using vibranium meant we wouldn't have to worry about the issues other metals could cause. Again though, I was far from happy at how we got our hands on it.

"Do you think the King of Wakanda has an email address?" Tony suddenly asked. Great, we were definitely gonna get blacklisted by an entire country now. I wanted to shoot him a glare, but I knew he had good intentions. Tony had a bad habit of getting lost into a project and only seeing the end goal. Details and directions tended to be lost on him when he really got absorbed into it. I knew this about him, I had always known, and it was why I should've kept a closer eye on him in that process.

I sighed, "Okay, first things first we gotta let PR know to keep an eye on this situation. Gotta stay ahead of them on that."

"You can take the girl out of PR, but you can't take the PR manager out of the girl." Tony winked at me. I shot him a glare and he nodded once, "Yupp, yeah, continue."

"Have you reported it missing yet?" I asked and he shook his head. "Alright, well I really don't wanna get the government involved in this. I'll text Coulson and see if he can get us in touch with the King personally so we can apologize."

Tony raised an eyebrow at me, "Not give it back?"

Sheepishly, I rubbed the back of my neck, "Well, I mean, it's already been made into a shoulder and in a few days, hopefully, it'll be in somebody's body…"

Was it very, very wrong of me to still wanna put this into Bucky's body? Yes, probably. Okay, yes definitely. I wanted the best for Bucky though and this was the best. We literally couldn't ask for anything better. If I had to add this to my list of sins then so be it. There was plenty on there as is.

The living room was crowded. It was the kind of scene Bucky usually tried to avoid, even around the Compound, but he didn't feel out of place. Sam was in the recliner half on his phone and half conversing with the group. On the longer couch adjacent from him were the kids. Wanda sat criss cross on the seat with Star in her lap. The little girl was turned and playing with the older one's long hair. Besides them was Pietro who would reach over every minute or so to yank Peter into a headlock or playfully jab Harley in the side.

Bucky sat at the end on the two-person couch with Steve at the other end and Aj nestled in between them lazily. She had her back leaning against his shoulder and her legs thrown over Steve's lap. When she first dropped onto them like this Sam had cheered at the fact that he didn't have to be the one she tangled herself to anymore. Bucky was more than happy to take that job off his hands. From where he sat he could not only hear her heart, he could nearly feel it.

"Aw, so you guys gotta leave already?" Aj asked.

Peter was the one to answer, "Yeah. We start school next week."

"Oh, thank God." Sam joked. Harley lifted a hand to flip the man off and Bucky chuckled under his breath. The kid was something. Sam held his hand over his chest like he was truly hurt at the motion.

Natasha walked into the room and covered Harley's hand with her own, "No bullying the bird." Sam complained from behind her. "Also, Tony is looking for you kids."

Peter and Harley climbed up off the couch. Wanda turned and gave them a soft smile, "Make sure you say good-bye before you leave. Okay?"

"O—Okay. Yeah. Of course." Harley nodded quickly and very nervously.

Peter grinned impishly, "Harley thinks you're prett—oof."

The words never came out because Harley immediately slammed his fist into Peter's side. After quickly recovering, Peter began to laugh, and Harley dragged him out as the two argued. Everyone in the room laughed at the interaction while Natasha took the seat they left empty.

"That was cute." Sam cooed. "Little Harley's got a crush."

"Ah, young love." Aj chimed in. "You know, I still remember my first crush."

Natasha laughed, "Yeah? And who was that?"

"Zach Waterson." Aj answered with a mock dreamy sigh. "Third grade."

Bucky chuckled to himself and lightly nudged her back with the arm she was lying on, "Isn't that the name of the kid whose arm you broke?"

"Irrelevant to the story!" Aj said loudly. Sam demanded for the broken arm story and she argued that they'd never, ever hear it in a million years. Bucky kind of liked the idea of him being the only one to know a detail about her life. "Anyways… Zach Waterson. My very first love. I wanted his crayons. He had the, you know, the fancy 64 pack with the built in sharpener."

Sam sat up in his seat suddenly, "Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me your first love was a gold digger situation?"

Aj gasped from her spot while Pietro and Wanda howled in laughter. Steve was the one to speak up though, "Gold digger?"

"Oh, sorry, we left the elderly out of our joke." Natasha said, and Steve rolled his eyes. She continued, "A gold digger is someone who romances a person for money instead of love. In this case it was crayons."

"I was not a third-grade gold digger!" Aj cried.

Steve turned to look at her with a smirk. One of his arms was wrapped around her calves and he squeezed one. Bucky forced his gaze away as his friend spoke, "So you loved him for a different reason? Or was it the actual crayons?"

There was a beat of silence then Aj mumbled a curse that made everyone laugh again. Bucky glanced down at her to see her nose scrunched up in defeat. She pointed at Steve, "Okay, wise guy, who was your first crush then?"

"Amelia Gordon." Steve replied not missing a beat. Bucky recognized the name, but he couldn't pull a face into focus. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She was a brunette. Wasn't she? "It was the fifth grade. A boy at our school, some class bully, wouldn't leave her alone. He kept pulling her hair on the playground. So, I stepped in."

Wanda cooed, "Aw. You defended her honor?"

"Sort of?" Steve chuckled. He looked over to meet Bucky's gaze, "The guy beat the shit out of me then Bucky stepped in and kicked his ass." That wasn't a specific enough situation to trigger his memory. If he collected every memory of someone picking on Steve and him stepping in then played it back-to-back it'd probably take three years to watch it all. "Then, Amelia thanked us, and she kissed Bucky on the cheek."

Bucky stiffened slightly. He still couldn't remember the girl, but this did remind him of a new situation. Aj gasped and sat up so she was no longer pressed against his arm, "What a total bitch!"

"She was a fifth grader, Aj." Sam called out.

"A bitchy fifth grader, eh?" Pietro gave Aj a thumbs up and wink.

"You still owe me an essay." She replied, and the white-haired boy wilted in despair. Aj turned back to Steve, "You helped her first, took up arms for her—"

"Wouldn't really call it taking up arms." Natasha mumbled.

"—and she didn't even give you a participation hug!?" Aj cried. Everyone was laughing at her choice of words, but Bucky was still stuck in his head. His memories were disjointed and scrambled, but he remembered enough to know this: Bucky always got the girl. He used to be a charming bastard and he knew how to use that to get what he wanted. Bucky never purposely swept a girl away from Steve. He'd never. In fact, he had always been trying to find a dame for his friend. Bucky wanted Steve to be happy. That was always what he had wanted.

"Believe it or not, but I've recovered, Aj." Steve laughed.

"Y'all got me all riled up. Now I'm in the mood to throw hands with a fifth grader." Aj scoffed then leaned forward to hold a hand out to the quiet little girl in Wanda's lap. "No offense, Star."

Natasha narrowed her eyes, "How old do you think fifth graders are?"

"I don't know." Aj shrugged. "Young-ish."

"I love that you'd fist fight a ten-year-old for me, Aj." Steve took the hand she had been holding out and pressed a quick kiss to the back of it. Bucky stood up without thinking and Aj fell back with a small yelp. Eyes shot to him. Steve gave him a concerned look, "Buck, you okay?"

Bucky took in a sharp breath, not liking all the eyes on him, then quickly forced a nod a small smile, "Yeah. I wanna get some rest before Dr. Bass and Emily get here later."

"Old man needs a nap?" Sam joked.

"Exactly. I had two off the cob knuckleheads bugging me all night."

Pietro laughed loudly, "None of those words make sense."

Bucky rolled his eyes while Sam pointed at Pietro in mock agreement. Aj called out to him and he turned to see that she had sat up and twisted in place so her legs were no longer in Steve's lap. There was concern painted on her features, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Course, doll." He winked at her and the concern melted into a warm smile.

"Alright. I'll come get you when Darren and Emily get here." She chirped.

Bucky nodded once and called back a good-bye when everyone else gave him one. He walked over to the elevator, but he couldn't lift his hand to hit the button. Instead, he just stared at the doors for a minute. What was wrong with him? It had been his idea in Romania for the two of them to end up together and he knew he'd feel off about it, but… he wanted them to be happy. Steve and Aj were happy and he felt like he was spinning in circles. Nothing was even happening yet. Yet.

"It helps if you press the button."

He stiffened in surprise and took in a slow breath before turning to look at Natasha who smirked at him. Bucky really wasn't used to people being able to sneak up on him. He shook his head and pushed his thumb into the button. When the doors opened, he stepped in and the red head did the same.

"Didn't we say good-bye to one another?" Bucky asked.

"Just making sure you're actually okay." Natasha shrugged. She lifted her wrist with the matching bracelet, "As the original member of the 'Aj Fan Club', I have to take care of the other official members. Which is literally just you."

Bucky chuckled and stepped out onto his floor. The woman didn't follow and instead leaned against the elevator's open doorframe. She nodded once, "Are you actually okay right now?"

"I'm in a safe place with people who actually want to help me even though I don't deserve it, Steve and Aj are safe and happy, and… and I'm getting a new arm." Bucky chuckled and gave her a small shrug, "I'm more than okay."

Natasha nodded, "I see why you were a silent assassin." She stepped back into the elevator. "You're shit at lying, Barnes."

The elevator doors closed, and he rubbed his jawline awkwardly. Everything he said had been true though. Even though his tone may not have matched, it didn't change the facts. Bucky shook his head and moved to go to his apartment. Bucky was living an ideal life. He had no right to wish or want for anything more than he had.

Darren and Emily were in the lab with Tony and Bucky already. In fact, I should've been there too, but I wanted to stop by and grab some coffee for everybody at Sal's stand in the lobby. As I walked back into the Avengers' private area, I twisted my lips in annoyance with my eyes glued to my phone. Clint hadn't replied back to anything I sent him today. No texts, no snaps, and he hadn't answered any of my calls either. He didn't even react to my memes. Natasha said I shouldn't worry, but it was wasn't like Clint not to reply back to anything.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket and jumped in surprise at the sight of Star sitting on the floor petting Lucky. She looked up and stared right at me with those big, golden eyes. My feet froze and I nearly lost the carrier of drinks I held.

"Uh, hi, Star." I chuckled and lifted my other hand awkwardly, "How's it hanging?" She didn't reply back and just continued to stare unblinkingly. I nodded once, "Sorry about the 'fifth grader' thing. You look big for a 7-year-old." Still nothing. "Cool talk."

I gave her a thumbs up and kept walking. Her golden eyes followed me. Star was a cute kid, real sweet too, but there was something other worldly about her. I guess that was the whole 'Asgardian' thing. Still, anytime I tried to talk to her she just stared blankly at me. Her and Wanda got along real well though so at least Star had someone here while Clint was gone.

When I got to the lab, I smiled at the sound of Bucky talking to Darren and Emily. Tony stood beside them with the prosthetic. It seemed like they were asking the genius questions about the item. They all glanced at me when I entered.

"Hey y'all." I greeted and walked over. "Here. Black for Emily, Latte for Darren."

They took their drinks with smiles and thanks then went back to asking Tony something about the prosthetic. I set my drink off onto the counter and then turned to hand Bucky his coffee order. His eyes widened in surprise, "For me?"

"Course." I grinned. "I know you said you were okay earlier, but you seemed kind of down. Nothing fixes a bad mood like Sal's coffee."

Bucky's gaze softened and he nodded, "Thanks, doll. You're too good for me."

"Hardly." I rolled my eyes. A loud whistle made me look over to where Tony was now staring at me. He held his arms open, but I just shook my head, "What?"

"Where's my coffee?"

"Hmm, do you remember this morning when you pissed off a third world country and never brought me a mug of coffee?"

Tony narrowed his eyes a bit, "Vaguely, yes."

I gave him a smug smile and Tony pointed at the prosthetic he held and went back to what he was doing. Darren asked another question which distracted the genius from his caffeine dilemma. I glanced over at Bucky who stared at the coffee in his hands with a distant look in his eyes. His face was drawn in sad concentration. It was the look I hated the most. When he didn't think anyone was looking at him and his face grew solemn.

"Bucky?" I whispered and reached out to set my hand on his back. He stiffened briefly but when his eyes met mine, he relaxed. "Talk to me."

Bucky gave me a small smile. His eyes traced my features for a moment before he spoke, "Just thinking."

"About the surgery?"

He paused then nodded once, "Yeah. Just a little nervous, I guess."

"Hey," I rubbed his back and tried to put on my most reassuring smile, "It's totally normal to be nervous, but I want you to know it's gonna be okay. I know it. Call it a gut feeling." With a chuckle, I leaned in and shrugged. "Plus, I don't know how much this helps, but I'll be there every step of the way."

Bucky's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, a flash of what looked like pain that was gone as soon as I noticed it, and he chuckled, "You have no idea how much that helps."

I wanted to question him further because there was obviously still something weighing heavy on his mind. However, Tony once again cut in and drew our attention back to him. He snapped his fingers loudly, "Lovebirds, are you gonna focus on our meeting here or do you guys need a room?"

"Aw," Emily smiled at us in amusement, "I didn't realize the two of you were a couple!"

"We're not." Bucky blurted firmly.

It was the right answer, but the emphasis on it was kind of sharp. I cleared my throat and echoed the same reply. I grabbed my coffee and tried to focus on the meeting in front of us. That was the whole reason we were here in the first place. After Tony explained his side of things a little further it was Darren and Emily's turn to share.

"Based on the scans, I think we need to take it apart piece by piece." Darren explained. He stepped toward Bucky and asked permission to touch him. Bucky nodded. "We'll begin by cutting the arm here," He motioned to just under the shoulder, "And then we will take out the inner workings first while working our way outward. The tough part will be getting the outermost layer of metal out while preserving as much tissue as possible."

Emily nodded, "There really is no tactic or procedure for this kind of thing so we're just going to take it very slow. Once we get past that though, it should be smooth sailing. We implant the new scapula, anchor it to the posterior side of ribs 4 and 5."

"What's recovery look like?" I asked. "And post-op physical therapy?"

"Well, I'm not sure at what speed he'll heal." Darren chuckled. "We'll just have to see how he progresses."

Tony nodded, "Physical therapy is gonna be tough because he won't have sensation or movement until his back surgery with Strange." He turned to looks at me. "Which, by the way, are we sure we don't want the second best surgeon? Strange has been on the case for less than 24 hours, and I already think he's kind of a dick."

"Well, you're also kind of dick so it works out well, huh?" I replied. Tony scrunched his nose at me, and I gave him a quick wink. The meeting continued onward with them going through more details of the surgery. After they finished, I asked the million dollar question, "When do we think we can get going on this?"

Darren looked to Emily who nodded once then he turned back to me and Bucky with a grin, "As soon as you guys are ready we are. We know the arm causes you pain and we'd like to get rid of that as soon as we can."

Bucky's eyes widened, but Tony was the one to speak, "Great. How about this Friday? That's what? The 13th?" Tony laughed to himself and clapped his hands. "Oh my God, Friday the 13th? That's hilarious. We gotta do it then."

Bucky leaned toward me and whispered, "What's the significance of Friday the 13th?"

"I'll show you later." I whispered back.

"I already picked out the OR we're gonna use. It's an ortho designed one from the hospital Strange is at. Also hired a team for this shindig." Tony pointed to Darren. "I got your scrub team. Three nurses. Then of course I also hired an anesthesiologist. I just gotta tell them a time. 2 AM should be good, right? We'll avoid the crowd at the very least."

Darren suddenly turned to me with a smile, "Speaking of the team… Aj, I'd really like it if you scrubbed in with us." My eyes widened and it was a miracle the cup of coffee in my hand didn't slip and hit the floor. I opened my mouth in shock, but words didn't come out. Darren chuckled. "You had a huge part in this. Mr. Stark will be in the room if we have questions on the hardware and to watch and make sure the prosthetic is properly installed, but I think you should actually scrub in with us."

"A—Are you sure? I don't want to get in the way. This is so important and—"

"You won't be." Emily smiled. "Back home we usually have a medical student that scrubs in with us so we're using to having three sets of hands anyway. You'll actually be doing us a favor."

I seriously doubted that, but I couldn't deny that this was a tempting offer. Tony was nodding encouragingly, and I knew if I said no I'd never hear the end of it from him, but his opinion didn't matter on this. I turned to look at Bucky, but I was met with a smile. I didn't even have to ask the question. Bucky just nodded his head at me.

"Oh, uh, okay then."

Darren and Emily agreed that they were excited to have me on board and then they focused back on Tony and asked to see information on the team he had hired. Tony stepped away with them to show them the file and to rent the OR.

For the first time since I entered, Bucky looked like he was back with me. The smile on his lips actually reached his eyes and it brought me comfort. I gave him a tight lipped smile of my own, "Wow. I didn't actually expect that."

"I'm really glad you'll be in there, Aj. I think…I think it's gonna be hard lying on that table but knowing you're there…" Bucky paused then nodded once, "This helps." His eyes briefly went blank, and he sighed, "I just can't believe this is actually happening at all."

"I know, but this is good." I nodded encouragingly. Maybe that's what had been on his mind today. This was a lot to mentally handle. He had been stuck with this arm for so long, the idea of being without it so suddenly must be jarring. Despite wanting so badly to comfort him, I wasn't sure what to say to help him. Maybe this wasn't a reassurances kind of situation. Maybe this was just a 'hold his hand and be here' one. I begun to reach out for him when the glass doors slid open behind us.

We spun and my eyes widened at the sight of Clint. He looked disheveled with concern in his eyes and a locked jaw with matching tense shoulders. There was blood on his shirt, a small spray of spattering, and his knuckles were bruised and busted. Had he been in a fight? Had whatever mission he was on gone wrong? I stepped toward him in worry, "Clint?"

Clint took large strides over to me and pulled me into a tight hug. My eyes widened in surprise, but I put my own arms around him without hesitation. He rested his face on my shoulder while I just rubbed his back. Tony and the others drifted toward us, just as curious, and I whispered the archer's name again in hopes for an answer to my unspoken question.

The man finally lifted his head. He glanced over my shoulder at Tony then back to me, "Avengers' meeting. 15 minutes."

Natasha glanced over at Clint in worry. Rumlow had said something that upset him, and it took a lot to rattle him. Clint was known for being able to keep his cool even under the most dire of situations. She could count on one hand the number of times he had been shaken or lost control of his emotions on something work related.

Her lover sat beside her at the new Avengers' conference table that branched off the public space. The glass walls around them were soundproof and access in was limited to only a handful of people. Others had joined them at the table. Tony sat across from her with Aj on his right and Vision on his left. Sam sat one chair down from Aj while Bucky sat to Natasha's left. His choice of seating had surprised her to some degree, but she didn't speak on it. Now they were just waiting for Steve, and, in the meantime, she stared at Clint.

He had taken out his hearing aids and sat in his seat staring blankly at a spot on the table while in thought. His shoulders were still tense. Natasha reached out to set her hand on top of his. Without looking at her, he flipped his hand over so hers fell into his palm and he tangled his fingers with hers and squeezed.

"Are you sure I should be in here?" Bucky asked and shifted in his seat awkwardly. "This is an Avengers meeting. Wanda and Pietro have more right to be here than I do."

Tony leaned back in his seat casually, "Wanda, Pietro, and Peter aren't in here because they're too young. You have the literal opposite of that problem, father time, so don't sweat it." Aj reached over and slapped him against the chest. "Oof—sorry. I meant to say, 'No, Bucky, we would miss you too much if you left the room!'"

"Do you want me to kick your ass because you're really asking for it today." Aj glared at him. Tony gave her a shit-eating grin and she rolled her eyes at him.

"May I ask what this debrief pertains to?" Vision leaned his elbow onto the table. "It was called rather suddenly. Should I be concerned?"

"Clint called it." Natasha replied and eyes drifted toward him silently. Clint didn't look up at any of them and he remained lost in his own thoughts.

They sat in a weird silence for a few more minutes before Steve entered their line of sight. He jogged to the door and hurried in. Steve's eyes traced over the room in concentration. Natasha knew what he was doing. He was assessing every single one of them and looking for injuries or danger. Steve's eyes lingered on Clint before snapping to hers with a question in the bright blue. She shook her head, and he cleared his throat, "Sorry, I'm late. What's going on?"

Natasha squeezed Clint's hand. He finally looked up and let go of her hand to slide his hearing aids back into place. Clint pushed up from his seat while Steve sat in the empty chair beside Bucky. He took in a slow breath then nodded, "I think we need to play catch up. There's a few issues that I don't think all of us are on the same page for since we've all been busy with different things."

"Like?" Tony asked skeptically.

"Brock Rumlow is in SHIELD custody." Clint blurted and she watched Bucky, Sam, and Tony all stiffen at the news. Vision looked curious while Aj remained nervously skeptical.

Aj shook her head, "That name sounds familiar but…"

"He was an Agent of HYDRA working for SHIELD." Sam answered. "He tried to kill us back in DC when we were dealing with that whole thing. I thought he was dead though considering a fucking building fell on him."

"Is that where you were?" Vision asked next. "With this man?"

"Yeah, I was interrogating him. We know he's in with Strucker and I was working with Coulson to try and get answers."

There was a beat of silence before Tony spoke, "Well, did you?"

Clint shook his head, "All we know is that he's working with Strucker and a third party beat the shit out of him before we got the chance to. He won't talk on that either though." His jaw locked. "Coulson is still working on it, but chances are we won't get much more out of him."

"You had to have gotten something." Sam argued. "You're pissed as hell and not in a 'my interrogation tactics didn't work' kind of way."

"Nothing useful." Clint said in a steady voice, but Natasha could see the tick in his jaw when he said it. She recognized the flash of hatred in his eyes and the flames of his anger broiling under his skin. Clint was hard to piss off, but he had a few triggers and if someone hit them just right the man was explosive. "Just empty threats."

"What's the plan then?" Tony questioned firmly. "I assume nobody is gonna let me fly out to the Playground just to beat the shit out of him personally?"

Natasha chose to chime in then, "No. We keep pressing for information and if we don't get it then he gets taken into permanent custody. We'll put him in the Fridge."

Aj raised her hand and Natasha chuckled once before nodding at her. She set her hand down, "Right. Am I allowed to know what the fuck that means? Because I assume—" She glanced at Tony while using his phrasing, "—that you guys aren't actually sticking him in a refrigerator."

"It's a 100-story prison off a coast where the most dangerous items and people are imprisoned and collected." Bucky answered suddenly.

Every person in the room looked to him in a mix of surprise and shock. Even Bucky had a look of disbelief painted on his features. Steve sat up slowly in his seat, "Buck… how do you know that?"

"I—I don't know." Bucky shook his head. "But when you said it… I can picture it in my head. I know the layout and where the halls go."

Sam cleared his throat, "I know I'm still relatively new to Avenging and SHIELD secrets, but he's definitely not supposed to know that last bit, right?"

Clint crossed his arms and Natasha could see the wheels turning in his head. Finally, the blond spoke, "1984. There was a break-in."

"And you would know that because you were a 2-year-old agent at the time?" Tony scoffed.

"No, he knows it because every agent of SHIELD knows that date." Natasha said slowly. It hadn't occurred to her until he said the date, but now she couldn't get the idea out of her head. She nodded once, glancing around to meet everyone's eyes at least once, "In 1984 someone broke into the Fridge and destroyed 3 floors of items. SHIELD never caught the person who did it. They were a…a ghost."

There was another tense beat of silence where everyone took this information in. It was only broken when Sam cleared his throat, "Well this has taken an awkward turn."

"I don't remember it." Bucky closed his eyes. His hand clenched into a fist on the table. "I remember the layout, I remember walking down a hall, but… everything else is blank."

Natasha hummed, "Coulson will be excited to hear we solved a 33-year-old SHIELD mystery at the very least." She shook her head. "You don't remember anything else so you don't know if you took anything for HYDRA?"

Bucky's eyes snapped open, and he slowly shook his head. That was the next mystery. Everyone had a theory on the goal of the mission. Had it just been to destroy those floors or had something been taken? It would make sense that something had been stolen, but people argued that if something had been stolen wouldn't it have been used by now?

"Can we focus back on Rumlow?" Steve asked.

Clint nodded, "Daisy, Kate, and Simmons just got back from a mission. They landed when I left. Coulson has a few more tricks up his sleeve. Daisy maybe knows an inhuman who can pull the truth out of people and Simmons could maybe drum up some truth serum."

Aj's eyes widened, and Natasha glanced at her while Clint explained more on what Coulson was gonna try. Aj discreetly lifted her hands and signed at her, 'Truth serum is a real thing?' Natasha chuckled and nodded her head once. She had nearly forgotten the woman knew how to sign.

"While we're going over things we all need to know, there is something I should mention." Steve laced his fingers together on the table, and Clint sat back down in his seat. Natasha slid her hand back over to take his. "Aj?"

Aj's eyes widened comically again. Steve nodded to her and she looked nervous which in turn made Natasha nervous. Now what? The woman shifted in her seat once before pointing at Tony, "He stole from a third world country."

"You snitch!" Tony gasped. "You were my accomplice."

"Unwillingly!" Aj argued back.

Sam held a finger up, "Hold up, can we go back to the 'third world country' part?"

Tony grumbled and Natasha knew it was because the genius was aware that he was about to get lectured by an entire room of people, "I lied about having the Vibranium and then I sort of… you know, used it."

"You stole from Wakanda?" Steve cried.

"Yeah, but I did it to fix your freezer burned boyfriend so maybe drop the tone?" Tony snapped back at him. Steve was probably the last person who should've addressed that issue. Tony still didn't even stay in the same room as Steve, unless absolutely necessary, for longer than five minutes.

Aj swooped in to regain control of the situation, "I texted Coulson—which, now I know what he meant when he said he was busy, but—I wanted to see if he could get us in touch with the King to apologize."

"And return the stolen object?" Vision added.

"Technically, you're made of their stolen object so if we return this last bit aren't we setting a precedent?" Aj replied.

Sam chuckled, "That's a nice try at a piss poor argument, and I think even you know that." Aj shot him a glare and the man chuckled to himself. He held his hands up in mock surrender, "I still think Rumlow is more concerning than this on account of the fact that the worst thing the King of Wakanda can do is send Tony to prison. Rumlow and Strucker are looking to kill."

"Plus, it's not like we're using the Vibranium to create a weapon." Aj shrugged.

"Debatable." Clint mumbled under his breath, still in a mood, and Aj heard it.

Aj's eyes hardened, "We aren't. The Vibranium was used to coat the shoulder prosthetic that's gonna replace the base of Bucky's arm. It's being used to heal not destroy. I think the King of Wakanda will see that and understand—"

Clint chuckled harshly, "Right. Because you know King T'Chaka so well." Aj's hardened gaze turned into a flat our glare and Natasha sighed. This had taken a tense turn when it really didn't need to. How was this more tense than the Rumlow situation? Clint, in too much of a bad mood to see that he was digging himself a hole, continued, "You're actually on Tony's side here? Aj, the billionaire stole from a third world country."

"Yeah, I am." Aj snapped back. The look on her face told Natasha there was no changing her opinion on this. Even if Aj didn't agree with Tony, the woman was too stubborn to not fight back when directly challenged like this. Tony could've said 'The Office' is the worst show on television and Aj would've agreed just because of the tone Clint chose. Clint hadn't meant to go on the offensive, she knew that, but Aj would never not switch to the defensive for any of them in return. Especially if the person needing protection was Tony.

Bucky had been quiet for the entire length of this argument and Natasha peeked over at him out of the corner of her eye. He was leaning back in his seat, stiff, and his eyes were glued to a spot on the wall behind where Aj sat. He kind of looked like Clint did at the beginning of this meeting. She wondered if he'd refuse the surgery now knowing the truth about the prosthetic going into his arm.

"All of that wasn't even the point I was trying to make." Steve sighed and forced the table to the next topic. He gave Aj a firm look, "Aj, seriously. You said you'd talk about this. Either you share or I do."

Aj sighed, "I'm looking for someone."

"Like, romantically or…?" Sam asked.

"Like, he saved my life when my life wasn't worth shit." Aj replied sharply, still irritated from the previous argument. Nearly the entire room glared at her for the phrasing, and she rolled her eyes and corrected herself, "He saved my life when I was in a bad place mentally. He saved me from Vincent years ago—oh!" She turned to Sam. "I told you he was on the plane with me, but I forgot to mention that me and him met years ago apparently and that he was going to kill me but then decided to kidnap me instead."

One beat of silence followed by the room startling her by all crying out to her in surprise at her words. Aj jumped in her seat and Natasha bit back an annoyed groan at the fact that she was just trying to breeze through this news, "From the top, slowly."

Aj sighed again and began again. She caught them up to speed on what Vincent said to her on the plane, last Natasha checked the bastard was still in Vegas like he said he'd be, and about how she could only remember a few details on her mystery guy, but that the mystery guy had saved her a number of times.

"This is an estimate because my memory some nights are shot, but I think he's saved me from bodily harm at least 14 times."

Tony balked at her words, "14 times? And you're just gonna casually mention this?"

"Well, back then I didn't think I had been that close to being in actual trouble so often. I always woke up fine— well, in the condition I should be in after a night at the ring, at least."

Vision chimed in, "And you never saw him once?" She shook her head. He followed it up with another question. "Do you think perhaps this was someone you did know, someone in your life, but you just didn't know they were the one saving you?"

Aj rolled this thought around her head then just shrugged. At least this news wasn't terribly bad. It was painful to think about the condition someone she cared so much for had been living in, but Aj was safe now. They'd find this stranger and pass along their gratitude. Tension in the room simmered and it was probably a good thing they ended on this note rather than the other two.

Sam chuckled, "Any other topics we need to catch up on?"

There was the topic of the cartoon picture in her pocket of Bucky shooting Thor in the chest. She glanced at Clint who shook his head knowingly. Revealing the picture would do nothing but stir the already restless pot. Thor wasn't even back on Earth yet. They had time to come up with a plan. In the meantime, the couple would keep the picture to themselves.

I dropped Bucky off at his therapist's office before walking toward the PR offices. We usually had someone walk with Bucky anytime he came out into the public areas of the Compound just because we were paranoid, and since the PR people wanted to see me anyways it worked out perfectly.

With arms outstretched, I stepped into the main PR office. It belonged to Inara Reynolds who was a 39-year-old woman who knew the PR scene like the back of her hand. She replaced Beth and she was a Godsend. Inara still looked like she could be in her twenties with her clear and pretty skin. She had dark curly hair, large brown eyes, and her features were pinched in a cute doll like way.

"Hey, Inara, you miss me?"

Rather than reply, Inara picked up a magazine from her desk to show me the cover. On the front was a picture of me and Steve in the parking garage of the hospital. It must have been when we were going in because he wasn't wearing a sling and we didn't look friendly either. My face was drawn in what looked like annoyance while Steve hurried after me in defeat. The title under us read, 'Trouble in Paradise: Hot headed Aj Bradshaw seen arguing with a non-injured Captain America!'.

"Kind of a shitty title. Not very catchy." I mumbled.

"Aj…"

I dropped down into the seat in front of her desk with a groan, "And how do they get their hands on this so fast? It just happened last night."

"We need to get control over this quickly." Inara sighed. "Every news channel is speculating that we used the fake shoulder injury as a way to invoke sympathy. It doesn't paint us in a very good light."

"Sorry, Inara." I sighed. "We weren't thinking. What can I do to fix this?"

She hummed in thought, turning to her computer to type something, "I'm holding a press conference to handle the shoulder issue. I think we're going to lean on the fact that the media was the one to chase that injury and that we never officially confirmed it." Inara shook her head. "We'll get some blowback on the 'Well why didn't you deny it?' front, but that will be better than this."

I nodded, "Okay, good."

"On your end," Inara gave me a tight-lipped smile, "I think we should stoke this drama."

"Huh?"

Inara shifted in her seat, a tell that means she knew I wasn't going to like whatever it is she has to say, "People love speculating on the Avenger's love life. Right now, they think you and Steve are in a lover's quarrel—"

"I'm not actually dating him, you remember that, right?" I said with narrowed eyes.

She chuckled, "I know, I know. But we need to feed the fire. Question is, we can either have you and Steve publicly make-up or have you go out on a fake date with someone else. Stage a break-up."

"I do not like either of those options." I replied, then added, "Also, can we do this after the surgery? It's scheduled for this Friday."

Inara thought it over then nodded, "I suppose that should be fine. I also wanted to talk to you about a few other things." I motioned for her to continue. "I think we should set Pietro and Wanda up with their own social media. They're young and fun and it'll appeal to their age group."

"Good idea. I like it." I agreed with ease.

"I also think you should become an Influencer."

I blinked in surprise, "PR manager say what?"

"An influencer. It's my nice way of saying you need to be more active on Instagram. Reach out to the fans, both yours and the others." Inara said and I scoffed. My fans? Inara shook her head. "You have more fans than you'd think. I think you'd be a very good influencer."

I rubbed my jaw, "Thanks, but I think I'd rather die."

"You've made my job incredibly difficult the past three weeks." Inara replied with a grin, "You're gonna do this."

She made a very good point. I had created this mess so it only made sense that I took part in trying to fix it. It wouldn't be so bad. Basically, she just wanted me to goof off with the Avengers and post more pictures of it. I could do that. I stood up from the chair and pointed at her, "I'll do it. Because you're my favorite PR manager, but I will not be referred to as a influencer."