For the rest of the day both Loki and Steve refused to interact with the Avengers. Steve stayed curled up in the corner, not speaking or looking at any of them, no matter what James did or said to coax him out of his hiding spot. After a few hours of no reactions at all from Steve, Natasha finally managed to drag James from the room to spar.
Bruce attempted to get Steve to agree to an actual exam for his injuries that both the original Captain and Loki refused flat out before he could even finish the sentence. He gave up after a few tries and went down to his lab to work on a few more recipes for Steve and also re-start some of his own research for reversing his Green problem. Thor ended up joining James and Natasha in the gym after a few failed attempts at reaching Jane via telephone, while Tony enclosed himself in his own workshop. One of the Avengers brought food up for the pair every few hours, but the shared meals in Loki and Steve's room didn't happen for the rest of that day.
When Steve and Loki were sure they would be alone for a while the pair took turns getting some sleep. Neither one slept for more than an hour at a time, while the other was always prompt about waking the other when said time was up. Steve spent most of his awake time drawing. He seemed to be halfway through the first sketchbook already, but no one had asked yet to see what he was drawing. He had also not offered it to them to look through of his own accord either.
It was almost midnight when James finally made it to bed. He was just about asleep when he heard a small noise from outside his room. Training had him out of bed and halfway to the door with a gun and knife in hand before Jarvis' quiet voice stopped him, "If I may Captain Barnes, there is no threat outside your room. Just Captain Rogers."
Without prompting Jarvis brought up the hallway feed to show Steve was settled on the floor outside James' room, in his usual position with his sketchbook in hand, seemingly drawing away.
James was thoroughly confused by the scene. Normally it was James sitting outside Steve's room or by his bed when he was sick and the doctor's thought he wouldn't make it. /What is Stevie doing out there?/
James thought about going out there to see if he could get Steve to tell him what was wrong. But then he noticed Steve didn't have the StarkTablet with him this time. /I wonder…/
The ex-assassin turned around and stashed his weapons back where he got them from, then made his way back to the bed. "Jarvis, please let Steve know he can come in if he wants. He doesn't have to sit in the hall like that."
"Your message has been relayed Captain." Said Jarvis a moment later. The A.I also cut off the hallway feed and the room fell back into darkness.
Almost a half hour later, when James was starting to doze while he waited, the door was pushed open just enough for Steve to slip into the room, then it was closed just as quietly. James stayed still on the bed; making no move to show Steve he was awake and knew his friend was there. With steps that were far stealthier than James had ever heard from Steve before, his friend carefully made his way into the room. James actually had to strain a little to hear his steps and briefly wondered if he had used that same stealth the day he had grabbed Loki away from them. /I bet he did. I don't even think Natasha knew he was there. /
With that same stealth Steve sat down on the floor on the side of the end table, his back to the wall. James did hear, however, the moment Steve's breath hitched in the darkness and he scooted around to the front of the nightstand to sit with his side touching the bed. The ex-assassin debated with himself on whether he should bring his arm down so he could link his hand with Steve's but decided against it at the last second. Clearly Steve had a reason to be in James' room and he wouldn't push his friend like he had that afternoon.
James let out one last deep exhale and settled back into the sheets. The next morning two things would be apparent to James before he even opened his eyes. One, Steve was no longer in his room, probably sneaking out in the early dawn hours to go back to his room, and two, that was the deepest sleep James had had in since he was a kid. He felt completely relaxed and refreshed in a way he thought wouldn't be a viable option ever again.
"What time did Steve sneak out Jarvis?" James asked the A.I as he began his morning routine.
"Mr. Rogers left an hour before sunrise Sir." Came Jarvis' quick response. James was about to thank the A.I, but he had reached his dresser and found a folded sheet of paper sitting right in the middle of it. The paper hadn't been there the night before, of that James was sure.
The ex-assassin's heart skipped a beat when he realized who had most likely left the note. With careful hands he picked up the paper and unfolded it. He actually stopped breathing when he saw what the picture was.
The paper had two drawings; on one side of the fold was a bed with Steve lying, probably on the brink of death, (it was a more regular occurrence than James and Mrs. Rogers would've liked) surrounded by James who was holding his hand, head leaned down over his arm, and his mother, who was wiping his brow with a cloth, both looking very determined. On the other side was a picture in the present with a now grown up James lying in this room sleeping deeply while Steve, James' mother and his sisters all sat around him- Steve on the floor in the position he was in last night, his sisters down by his feet looking like they were soothing him with gentle hands, and his mother up by his head carting her fingers through his hair like James remembered from when he was a child. James' mother and sisters looked exactly like James remembered seeing them right before he shipped out in the forties, all of them drawn in painstaking detail and accuracy. James also noticed that they were all wearing the dresses he loved seeing in them from that time period, as the memories started flowing through his mind.
"Captain," Jarvis' British voice broke through the fog the picture created in James' mind, "I'm afraid if you don't inhale in the next ten seconds, I will be forced to alert the others to your need of medical assistance."
James realized he wasn't breathing again and promptly took a deep breath in, repeating the action a few times so as to not worry Jarvis any further.
"Thanks Jarvis," he said distractedly. "Hey did-"
"Yes Sir, Mr. Rogers left that on your bureau before he left this morning. If I may, he was working on it most of the night, using only the light coming in from the windows." Jarvis said unrepentantly. James had noticed the shades had been opened, but he assumed that Jarvis had done that this morning like he normally did.
Before James could ask why Jarvis explained his actions, "Mr. Rogers has shown a serious aversion to total darkness. In his and Loki's room the pair leave the lights partially dimmed at night, even with the window shades kept open. However last night Mr. Rogers declined my offer to keep the lights dimmed but did point towards the shades in silent request."
James nodded, still engrossed in Steve's drawing. He carefully laid it back on the bureau and continued his routine, looking back over at it on occasion. "If Steve decides to come back here tonight, or any other night you can leave the lights on a low setting for him Jarvis. I can sleep through it just fine."
"I'll make a note of it Captain." With that James made his way down to breakfast. He decided to keep the drawing to himself for now. The emotions it brought out were much too close to the surface for him to be sharing with the others. Perhaps in a day or so he would, when he could better control the emotions the picture brought forth.
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Everyone was already at the table when James made it down to breakfast. He hadn't realized he had spent so much time staring at the picture Steve had left him. It suddenly made sense why Jarvis had gotten worried over his lack of breathing.
Natasha glanced at him as he sat down, "That tired from training with Thor and I that you overslept? Or maybe just too bruised."
In truth the three of them hadn't caused any damage to each other, just traded off different moves to see if the others could also do them- although it was typical Natasha behavior to be gloating at him after a sparring session.
James just sent her a glare, which had her lips twitching into an almost non-existent smile. Thor also looked vaguely amused, but declined from adding anything, least the glare be turned on him instead.
"So," began Tony, working on his second pot of coffee and a green smoothie that may or may not have been glowing slightly, "Cyclops is going to be sending another Shield Psych today after lunch. She is supposedly going to be more of a team player and speak with us before going in to speak with Loki and Steve. She has requested that the pair be separated again for their sessions."
The others all shared a look around the table before Bruce spoke up, "Are we sure she is going to actually listen to us prior to the first meeting?"
Tony nodded, although it was clear to see he wasn't as believing as Fury that things would go better this time, "Fury mentioned something about restraints if it came to that-"
"Absolutely not." James cut him off mid-sentence, no trace of backing down in his tone or body language.
Tony put his hands up in surrender, "Hey, don't shoot the messenger. Literally- just relaying what Mom said. I didn't say we would do it, or that I agreed with him."
"Does this doctor have a name?" Asked Natasha, a StarkTablet in hand ready to start a background check on the doctor.
"Garr…Gray…Jarvis, help me out, what was it?" Cleary the coffee had started working Tony's brain into overtime and he was getting distracted with other things.
"Garrison, Sir. Doctor Jean Garrison." Natasha was nodding and imputing the information while Jarvis helped by bringing up everything he could find on the doctor.
After a tense ten minutes, where James waited to see what Natasha would find, the Black Widow brought her head up with a decisive nod. "She should be a better fit than Everetts."
Without prompting Natasha turned the Tablet over to James and Thor, the God reading from the side. It took a little longer, because the two of them read at slightly different speeds, but eventually both James and Thor nodded their assent.
"Well, if you guys are satisfied these breakfast trays are ready to go up." Said Bruce, speaking up from where he was topping off the last of the smoothies.
James was up before Bruce even finished talking, taking one of the trays and making for the elevator. If the others noticed his enthusiasm they didn't comment, just followed behind at a more sedate pace. Well, Thor and Bruce did. Tony mumbled something about equations, while Natasha continued her investigation into the new Doctor being sent by Shield.
Again James was the first one to Loki and Steve's room, knocking on the door and pushing it open a second later. His eyes went straight for Steve after doing a brief check to see Loki's position. Said God was reclining on the floor near Steve, playing with the StarkTablet again while Steve was working on another page in his sketchbook.
The original Captain looked up at James' entrance, before putting away his art things and sitting up straighter at the sight of more food. Loki also put the Tablet down, placing it between them in case Steve wanted to use it to say something to Barnes, without Loki having to translate for them.
"Thanks Stevie." Was all James said quietly as he put the tray down in front of his friend. The look in his eyes was conveying his message without alerting Thor or Bruce to what he was talking about. Steve's lips twitched into a small smile, eyes shining in return.
Bruce waited until after Steve finished his smoothies, all ones that he had liked in the past few days, and Loki had finished his large plate of eggs and breakfast meats before mentioning the new doctor. "Shield is sending over another Doctor. A female doctor named Jean Garrison."
He paused while he waited to see the pair's reaction to the news. When neither of them said or did anything with the news Bruce continued, "She has requested that you be separated for your sessions, and Fury said she was willing to work with the team before meeting with you in order to set some ground rules for what could and couldn't happen during the sessions."
This also didn't seem to phase either Steve or Loki, both of them just shrugging with minimal eye contact towards their hosts. (Looking back, the Avengers would realize this was a sign of more things they had missed in their interactions with Loki and Steve.)
"Shall I go first then?" Asked Loki casually.
"Actually Sir," said Jarvis interrupting before Bruce could say anything, "Doctor Garrison has requested to meet with Mr. Rogers first."
That got a shared look from Steve and Loki, but no verbal communication from the pair. The trio did notice, however, that Steve's hand began twitching again the moment Jarvis finished speaking.
Bruce made a note to bring up the tick with the Doctor before the session. He also debated bringing up the telepathy thing, as well. Steve hadn't tried it with any of them as far as he knew, but there was some kind of communication going on with Loki that it seemed worth mentioning.
"Brother," began Thor, "perhaps we could spend some time together whilst Steven is having his session." Clearly Thor wanted to try talking to Loki again.
Loki and Steve shared another look before Loki nodded at his brother in agreement.
"Doctor Garrison will be here after lunch to meet with us and start the sessions. Steve, do you want James or I to stay in the room during your session this time?" The unspoken incase something happens and we need to run interference, was left unsaid but definitely heard.
Steve looked between the pair a moment before shaking his head in the negative. He paused a moment before reaching over for the StarkTablet and typing something in and playing it for them. "But you can listen in from Bucky's room again if it makes you feel better."
The trio of Avengers startled slightly, not realizing that Steve had known they were across the hall yesterday.
"Wait," said Thor confused, "Who is this Bucky? And why have we not been introduced yet?"
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Doctor Jean Garrison was a no-nonsense type of doctor. She was willing to comply with the meetings with the Avengers before her first sessions with her possible new patients, especially because she was under strict orders from her superiors on the matter. All morning she had been in meetings with said superiors in Shield going over the mess that Everetts had created the day before.
Privately Garrison thought Everetts dug his own grave with how he handled the situation presented. There was no love lost between them with Everetts arrogance oftentimes souring their interactions on certain joint projects when she had worked with him. Indeed, that arrogance was what won Everetts over when their superiors came to them with the fascinating news about the Avengers new guests. /Ah well, all the more prestige for me. Especially if this turns out to be a legit finding. / Thought Garrison as she boarded Stark's private elevator.
When Stark's A.I announced her arrival at the common floor, Garrison only paused long enough for the doors to start to open before she was moving forward.
"Ah, hello Agents, Doctor, and Mr. Odinson," she said as she entered the main room where said Avengers were sitting on various pieces of furniture. She nodded at each Avenger in turn before finding her way to the nearest unoccupied seat. She opened her briefcase, pulling out a pen and pad of paper to take notes, leading the conversation away from the usual pleasantries. She was here to do a job and nothing more. "So, where shall we begin? I've been meeting with my superiors all morning and we have been reviewing the data you sent us on Everetts disaster of a session. Clearly the situation was not handled well at all and I would love to know what I can do to keep myself from receiving the same end result."
If any of them were impressed they didn't show it. Doctor Banner was the first to speak, going over the pair's medical care they had been receiving while staying at the Tower. Agents Barnes and Romanoff went into what details they could about the trauma the Original Captain America and Asgardian had gone through while in space and what things would trigger a violent reaction from what they've seen. Thor had little to add but was paying close attention and giving corrections or extra clarification if it was needed.
Doctor Garrison took copious notes, stopped them on occasion and even asked questions of her own or for more clarifications. When the group felt confident with her understanding of the situation thus far the Avengers, (Barnes and Thor were still pretty hesitant,) thought it best to introduce the Doctor to her new patients.
The four of them walked with the doctor up to the guest floor, Tony was in his workshop but all of them were pretty sure he was still keeping a very close eye on the situation, before coming to a halt outside of Steve and Loki's room. James was the one to knock on the door, before waiting a beat and pushing it open. "Hey guys, the Doctor is here- Doctor Jean Garrison these are Steve and Loki, guys this is Doctor Garrison."
Steve and Loki were in their usual positions on the floor near the windows. The difference between this time and last time is Steve had the StarkTablet in one hand, his other moving a mile a minute against his leg. He was looking directly at the Doctor, not breaking eye contact once gained, but also not acknowledging the introduction either. Loki was folding up a piece of paper that James recognized as being from Steve's sketchbook, and putting it into the pocket of the shirt he was wearing. He briefly wondered what Steve had drawn for the God before putting it to the back of his mind. They needed to make sure the Doctor survived the session and he could ask about the drawing later.
Loki stood with much more fluidity than he had in the last few days, and made his way over to Thor, who was standing by the door, arms crossed and watching Steve's staring contest with the Doctor. The God looked back at his friend one time, nodded towards the doctor and moved into the hall, clearly as a hint for the others to perhaps leave Steve to his session.
The Avengers took the hint and moved as a group out of the room, closing the door and moving across the hall- Bruce, Natasha and James to watch the session, or down the hall- Loki and Thor to try to talk some more.
As the door closed behind the group Doctor Garrison didn't even blink but continued holding Steve's gaze and she moved a chair and placed her briefcase on the table next to her. "I am going to have a seat," she began, not breaking eye contact, "it will be more comfortable for me to take notes that way as we build the trust necessary to help you heal."
While she was speaking she was also pulling out the pad of paper and a pen, ready to begin working with Steve on the vetting/recovery process. Steve's eyes narrowed a hair, before going back to their original position. The Doctor didn't notice, but James did, who brought it to Brue and Natasha's attention.
He had a bad feeling about this but brushed it aside. His paranoia was probably kicking into high gear because he was so stressed at the situation in general.
A half hour later James was kicking himself for not realizing the gut feeling for what it was, the same feeling he got growing up when it seemed like Steve was about to do something stupid.
It started with Steve answering all of her questions using the StarkTablet, but only giving the information "Steve Rogers, Captain, 5556895," over and over again.
Name. Rank. Serial Number. Repeat.
For every. Single. Question.
It ended with him taking the knife he had stolen off of Bucky in the Ruins, and lobbing it at the Doctor with pinpoint accuracy halfway through the session, while also moving to a corner as far away from her chair as he could possibly find without actually getting on any furniture. The knife lodged itself straight through her heart, with enough force that the blade started to slice through the back of the chair as well.
Natasha had noticed the move a split second before it happened, barely having time to shout a warning to Bruce and James as Steve let the weapon fly.
James let out a string of colorful curses in several languages as he also went flying through the room and across the hall in record time. He paused briefly to keep himself from barging into the room like yesterday, and barely held off on throwing open the door again.
Bruce and Natasha were steps behind him as he reigned in his anger and confusion at the situation and did not force the door open with enough pressure that it hit the wall.
Even before the door was fully open Steve, still standing, was pushing back into the wall as far as possible, hands held at the regular surrender position, and eyes resting on James with barely hidden fear behind his normal determination.
Natasha held the back of James' shirt so he didn't storm into the room again, but her other hand had a gun trained on Steve, who was frozen in his corner. James took the warning for what it was and refrained from running at Steve again.
"Steve, what the fuck is going on?! You can't keep doing this to every Shield Agent you meet! Fury is gonna say you're too unstable to stay here and he will storm the Tower trying to take you away! Is THAT what you want?! To be locked up in another prison?" James could not understand what was up with Steve and his behavior. He had only been this ruthless to Hydra Agents or the Nazi's running the Concentration Camp they had liberated. "Shield is not the enemy here Stevie. You have to stop treating them like they are. Like WE are."
The look of absolute betrayal and heartbreak on Steve's face was like a sledgehammer to James' anger and his heart. Steve had never looked at him like that. Ever. They were each other's rocks growing up and especially during the war, no matter how much James was loath to admit it back then.
While James was ranting and Natasha had a gun trained on Steve, Bruce took the initiative and walked over to the doctor. He again confirmed what they all knew, that the Agent was indeed dead. But then he also picked up the notebook she'd been using since she got to the Tower and started reading through her notes from the session.
Patient is engaged in staring contest, but otherwise posture and body language is relaxed but defensive.
Patient is nonverbal- all communication to be done through the StarkTablet*
Patient does not need to look at keyboard while typing (is still maintaining eye contact).
Shows a better grasp of technology than previously suspected.
Validity of prisoner in space story could be questioned later on
Patient is answering all questions with Name, Rank and Serial Number*$*#
Showing lack of trust for Shield, will make sessions more difficult, with much longer recovery period than originally thought^
Shows astounding control over self- facial cues, body language, posture, etc$$
Once rehabilitated properly patient could be valuable asset to -
Blood splatter and an incomplete sentence/bulleted note indicated to Bruce the abrupt ending to the session.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for Bruce except maybe the little doodles at the end of some lines, but then again, he wasn't really that kind of doctor, so he wouldn't know for sure. Wordlessly he handed the pad over to Natasha who was still pointing a gun at Steve.
Said Super Soldier was sinking down the wall into his normal knees drawn up position, but instead of starting the nervous tick of tapping his leg with his fingers, he held his hands out like at the Ruins, indicating he was going to let them handcuff him again. His posture was extremely rigid and tense, and he refused to look at them at all, instead turning his head so the side of it rested on his pulled-out arms, face turned towards the window looking outside.
James made a frustrated noise and left the room. Although he did stop in the hall to slide down the wall holding his head in his hands.
Loki and Thor came out of the elevator at that point, having been updated from Jarvis on what had happened during the session. Thor put a comforting hand on James' shoulder and stayed in the hall, while Loki stepped into his shared room cautiously. Natasha had put the gun down as she read over the notes from the doctor and Bruce was trying to decide between talking to Steve or cleaning up the doctor's body.
Loki helped him make his decision by waving his hand to summon another body bag like he had done yesterday. He then levitated the body into the bag and began magic-ing the blood off the chair. Bruce gave him a small nod and moved closer to Steve, talking to him softly.
It was all for not, as Steve refused to acknowledge Bruce's presence or words. It didn't stop him however from continuing to try, "Steve, look, we are not going to let Fury take you. You're also not a prisoner here either, and we are not going to be putting you in chains. I'm going to move your hands out of that position they're in because that can't be very comfortable for you."
Slowly Bruce grasped gently at Steve's wrists and pushed his arms back towards his body and out of the "cuff me" position they were in before. Steve didn't resist, just let Bruce maneuver him however he wanted. When Bruce let go of his wrists, Steve just moved them to grasp around his legs, hugging them close to his chest.
The sign of trust Steve just displayed wasn't lost on Bruce, but the doctor didn't mention it.
"Steven has been fighting his enemies nonstop for a long time Doctor Banner," said Loki quietly when Bruce stood and moved away from Steve's curled position. The body was in the bag and the chair area was completely clean and looking brand-new. "And yet, I don't think he's ready to stop."
"He might not know how," was all Bruce said in reply. Thor came in, thanked Loki for helping with the mess and solemnly grabbed the bag just like he had yesterday. He would again bring it to the garage as Jarvis had called a car for pick up. Bruce also thanked Loki for cleaning it up and closed the door softly on his way out of the room, leaving the pair in silence. Loki waited a beat before moving over to sit close to where Steve was curled up. Silent support for his friend while he tried to figure out what his next step would be.
James and Natasha were no longer in the hall, but muffled voices could be heard from the ex-assassin's room across the way. It sounded to Bruce like the pair was arguing in Russian over something, and if that was true, the scientist would steer clear of the area so as to not get involved. Instead he made his way to the kitchen to make some more smoothies for Steve for dinner. He was trying to up the number to five or six, so Steve was increasing his calorie intake more. Jarvis had noticed some very slight changes in body temp, heart rate, etc but nothing concrete could be concluded yet.
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Natasha put her gun away as Bruce handed her the notepad to look over. She read over the notes, then again, then a third time extra slowly.
Something wasn't adding up again and it wasn't just Steve's disregard for the lives of Shield Agents. The problem was that Natasha couldn't figure out what was wrong- and that in itself was extremely troubling for multiple reasons.
The Black Widow glanced down at James then back at the notes before coming to a decision. She grabbed James by the arm and started pulling him into his room, "We need to talk. Now."
Her tone was clipped with anger, which stopped James from protesting the sudden move. He was willingly dragged into his room, and then shut the door behind them. "Jarvis initiate all privacy settings for this room."
The windows darkened, and the lights brightened. After a moment Jarvis confirmed all privacy settings were in place.
"James, something is going on." Said Natasha, still holding the notes.
"Yeah. Steve is lashing out at Shield." James was still frustrated and not in the mood for whatever Natasha was worried about.
"No. There's more to this than that. Here, look at the doctor's notes."
James took the pad and glanced through the notes. "There is nothing odd here. Hell, you doodle pictures for every report you turn in! Remember Stark's? That one agent had a porcupine thing on the report… What was his name? Warf? Waldo?"
"Ward." Natasha was getting impatient, "look again. This is different."
"No, it's not. I think you're just upset that we are letting Loki and Steve stay here and your projecting that anger into their actions!" He was gesturing to the notepad and back towards Steve and Loki's room.
"When we brought you out of the Red Room, you didn't try to kill every Shield Doctor we sent to you." Natasha crossed her arms in frustration.
"True. But I also WANTED to kill every doctor you sent into the room. I just restrained myself because a) I didn't want to be restricted more than I already was, and b) I have better impulse control than Steve does!" James' hands were closed into fists, a sign that he was starting to lose control of his emotions.
"Well maybe he should be more restricted with the next agent they send." Natasha's voice was getting calmer the angrier she got. James was too close to the situation and not thinking clearly.
"Absolutely not." James' voice was deadly, and Natasha suddenly knew she had overstepped a line. "If Steve was around when I was found he wouldn't have stood for all the shit Shield put me through in the name of 'vetting' me. He would've been stubborn, bull headed, and completely disregarding his own safety in his quest to make sure I was all right. He would've protected me even though I probably would've lashed out at him, or would've tried to kill him, it wouldn't have stopped him. He wouldn't put me in chains or restrict me to just a room. He would've made me try to feel human again in any way he could. I will not do to him what Shield did to us. He doesn't deserve that and neither did we."
"James, we were too dangerous to be let loose. I believe that is the same for Steve and Loki as well."
"That may have been so, but then Clint should've made a different call with you. And you should've made a different call with me. Yet here we both are. Alive and able to make our own choices, direct our own lives because someone thought we were worth fighting for." James moved to the bed and sat on the edge, staring at Natasha and daring her to argue with him about this.
Natasha decided to try a different tactic. "Maybe you're right. Maybe things would've been different if he was there when you were brought in. I don't know, and I can't answer one way or another if it's the truth or just wishful thinking from you. But what I DO know is that something isn't right about this whole situation. Steve and Loki know something and for whatever reason they are not sharing it with us. I think you are too close to this and not seeing what needs to be seen."
James sighed, the fight leaving him all at once, "That might be true. But I can't leave him like this. I need to be here for him and help him through this. I need to keep Shield from trying to lock him up like he has been for the last seventy years."
Natasha looked at her friend and fellow brainwashed assassin. "I'm going to figure out what we are missing here. We were reacting to everything that had to do with Loki and the invasion, I'm not going to make that same mistake again with whatever Steve is hiding."
James looked torn between going with her, he knew she wasn't going to stay at the Tower to solve this and staying with Steve. Natasha noticed the look and answered for him, "I'm a big girl, I can handle this on my own. You need to stay here and help your friend. Maybe if given the chance, he will tell you what they are hiding, and you can pass on the message to me."
Natasha suddenly found herself with a hand full of James wrapping her up in a huge hug. "Thank you My Moon."
She returned the hug for a moment before pulling away. "I need to talk to Tony about borrowing a car and get ready to go."
James nodded and didn't try to stop her, "be careful."
Natasha raised an eyebrow playfully, "aren't I always?" That got an eye roll from James.
Without a backwards glance Natasha turned towards the door, ready to get the ball rolling on this. She first went to her room to grab a change of clothes and some more weapons and ammunition. With a final sweep of the room she closed the door, not bothering with things like the book she was reading that was sitting on the nightstand, or the afghan that was settled on her bed, satisfied that everything was in place and nothing had been trifled with.
If she HAD picked up the book to bring with her, a small folded sheet of sketch paper would've fallen out, which she would've then gotten curious about and asked Jarvis of its origins. She would've found out that Steve had been in her room that morning while she was doing background checks on the doctor, to place the small paper in its hiding spot. Curious, she would've picked up the paper, unfolded it and found the answers to a LOT of the questions she had about this whole situation.
Perhaps things even would've turned out differently for everyone if she had.
Unfortunately, Clint, Natasha, and James had a pact to never take personal belongings on a mission, no matter how unimportant they seemed. It was just more reason for them to complete the mission and come home to the people and items that held value to them.
Because of this, Natasha didn't pick up the book and try to put it in her bag, making her miss the message Steve was trying to share with her. The warning of all the danger surrounding them and how deeply it was entwined into their lives.