A/N: Wow thank you guys for your patience! This chapter hard to put out because of all the writer's block. Also, unrelated but I keep re-watching every Tony Stark scene ever on Youtube because I just miss him so much. LOL
Chapter Summary: Sam Wilson is not one to schedule social visits and typically spends his days by himself. He supposes that was going to end sooner or later.
"So what you're saying is, trust no one."
"That shouldn't be problem for you, right Natasha? I thought it was your job to trust no one."
Natasha throws an exasperated look at Steve but the captain is busy creating a plan of action to pay them any mind. He looks at the both of them, ignoring their bickering and adds,
"I think I know just the place."
Sam places the kettle back on the counter and grabs the now full mug of tea. He makes his way towards the kitchen table where his laptop is propped open and takes a seat, but no sooner has his butt hit the chair when there's a subtle knock on the door.
The veteran pauses for moment to recall whether he was meant to have any visitors today. He can't remember having scheduled any, which is not out of the ordinary since he tends to keep his days to himself, but it's not uncommon for a salesperson to make their way around occasionally. Sam figures it might just be a sales rep of some sort and begrudgingly prepares himself for a long, uninteresting story about why he should donate to the local pet shelter.
It's not that he doesn't care about puppies, he just doesn't care enough to hear about it for thirty minutes.
Just as Sam is about to tell the poor rep that he's not interested, he opens the door to be met with a familiar pair of eyes. Of anything he expected, seeing the Captain America standing at his door was not on the top of his list.
In fact, it wasn't on any list.
The captain meets the veteran's eyes for a moment before he offers a tentative smile.
"I'm sorry to do this to you, Sam, but we need a safe place to lay low for a while."
While it wasn't exactly a request, Sam doesn't pretend to misunderstand and moves a few paces backwards to let him inside. He hadn't noticed earlier, what with all the shock of seeing Captain America at his doorstep, but there are two other people accompanying Rogers. He recognizes the red haired woman whom he briefly met the last time he saw Steve Rogers, but he has no idea who the other woman is. Experience has taught him to wait as he'll likely be introduced to her later. Besides, he doesn't want to get started on the wrong foot.
Once they're settled in, Sam allows himself to take a good look at the trio. He first focuses on the new girl, a tall woman with black hair, covered head to toe in black attire. Her face is neutral as she observes his living room, which suddenly worries him that she might not be here as an ally but he forces the thought out of his head. He may not have known Captain America for longer than a day but he knows with certainty that he wouldn't do something that reckless.
He then takes a moment to regard Natasha who's already looking at him when their eyes meet. Sam raises a brow at her but she responds with a soft smile and, what he can only assume to be, gratitude in her eyes. Sam returns her smile with a small one of his own before finally settling on the first avenger, Captain America. The captain is standing in the middle of the living room with both hands on his hips. He looks at Sam with gratitude of his own and smiles, to which Sam responds with one of his own as he leans in the doorway.
"First things first, I owe you an apology," the captain starts.
Sam nods his head in acknowledgement and for him to continue.
"I know it's a lot to ask of you but we need some time to lay low, and there aren't very many places where we can do that safely. We'll be out of here before anything can be traced back to you but I'm going to have to ask that you pretend we're not here in case anyone comes looking."
Sam makes an exaggerated show of thinking it over, pursing his lips and crossing his arms to look pensive. Truth is, he's not going to deny Rogers' request but he also doesn't want to risk coming off as too eager. After a moment of pretend thoughtfulness, Sam address the three of them.
"If anyone asks, I live alone. As far as all the other stuff, well, who am I to turn down the Captain America?"
Rogers expressions becomes soft as he counts the loyalty of those he barely knows.
"Even if I might be wrong?" he asks softly.
"Well, are you?"
"So far, I don't think so."
"Then that's good enough for me."
"This is all cute and romantic but we need to focus here," the new girl interrupts. "We're kind of on a time budget."
"Right. Sam this is Nukoni, uh, a friend and you know Natasha. Sort of."
Natasha chooses this moment to move closer and extends a hand towards Sam.
"Natasha Romanoff. Nice to see you again, Wilson, though under the circumstances, it's best we don't get too familiar."
Sam lightly laughs at that and shakes her hand. He's beginning to wonder whether he's going to regret doing this but quickly shuts that line of thinking down. Natasha, seemingly done with the conversation, moves to stand closer to Steve while the new girl, Nukoni, remains still. She hasn't made any kind of introductory gesture, almost like she doesn't intend to acquaint herself even when she locks eyes with Sam. He offers her a gentle, yet tentative smile anyway and receives nothing in return. She continues to regard him with a passive expression but her gaze remains intense and unwavering. The man figures Nukoni must be one with a lot of defensive walls, something he's not unfamiliar with in his line of volunteer work. He's about to move on and continue talking to the captain when Nukoni finally speaks up. Her voice is amiable, completely unlike the aura she was emanating just a few seconds ago.
"My name's Nukoni and that's all I'm going to say."
Her smile remains friendly but Sam knows it's not genuine and he can see the small tension in her posture. He's also not unused to such bizarre conversation starters and easily writes it off as one of her presumably many quirks.
"Nice to meet you too, Nukoni. Your name is all I need to know."
Nukoni's smile shifts from guarded to slightly more sincere as her posture eases minutely. If Sam wasn't experienced with veterans, or even one himself, he wouldn't notice the change. He guesses every person in this room has a fair amount of their own demons.
"Now," Sam continues, "anyone hungry?"
Steve, who is standing closest to Sam, is the one to answer.
"Actually, we can freshen up first?"
After being shown to a guest room, the three fugitives take turns washing up. Natasha goes first while Steve and Nukoni familiarize themselves with the room.
Steve takes this moment to look over his artillery and weapons as Nukoni seats herself at the edge of the bed. She watches the captain lay out his belongings for a few minutes before breaking the silence.
"So, where exactly is this plan of yours taking us and do you plan on sharing?"
She's not looking at the captain, instead choosing to reach out and softly run her hand at the edge of the shield sitting nearby. Her hands linger for a second as she admires the material, while Steve regards her with something akin to amusement.
"You like it?" he asks.
"Oh yeah, much more beautiful in person," she replies softly, eyes faraway in a memory but it isn't long before she's back. "You didn't answer my question."
She removes her hand from the shield and looks up at Steve. The expression on her face is open and soft, almost vulnerable, and Steve realizes that he forgot how new and uncertain all of this is to her.
Steve sighs and says, "this...whole situation is, to put it gently, unique. I'm not exactly sure what we're up against and right now, my first priority is to keep you out of the spotlight and get in touch with the rest of the team." Steve runs a hand through his hair and then crosses his arms. "I need to know how many of us are compromised in the way that I am."
"You mean if HYDRA's targeting other Avengers like they did you?"
"Possibly," he replies.
"I wouldn't bet on it."
That grabs Steve's attention. Up until this moment, Nukoni had given no insight into whether or not she knew more than she had let on. When he thought about, it didn't occur to him to question her about it in the first place.
"And why wouldn't you?"
Nukoni doesn't answer for a moment, glancing not-so-subtly towards the bathroom door, probably hoping to use Natasha's return as an excuse to derail the conversation but when she doesn't appear, Nukoni guiltily looks back.
"I may or may not know why you were attacked in the elevator," she finally settles on saying. "I haven't exactly told you the...details of how I escaped but there was one moment when I almost didn't make it out of there. And...when I was confronted by my 'captors', they tried to persuade me that no one out here would be of help to me and that if I didn't have allies to assist me, then it was only a matter of time until I faced the music, so to speak."
She pauses and looks down at her hands resting her in lap.
"I guess, in that moment when I was just so close to getting out of there, I kind of threw caution to the wind and...may have told them...that I spoke to a certain shield wielding...superhero."
By the time Nukoni is finished talking, her cheeks are flushed with embarrassment and when she raises her eyes to see the captain's reaction, she's met with the sight of him desperately trying not to laugh. He fails at the attempt, however, when loud laughter escapes him and he sits down next to her on bed. Nukoni, feeling extremely self-conscious about being laughed at, moves to stand next to the bedroom window and away from Steve. She resolutely stares out the window the man behind her takes a moment to calm down.
This is the scene Natasha walks into when she return from the bathroom. Her face is carefully neutral but involuntarily smiles at the rare sight of Steve laughing. Then she notices Nukoni by the bedroom window, projecting exactly the opposite kind of vibe from Steve. When Natasha stands beside her, she gets a close up look of the scowl on Nukoni's face.
"What on earth did you say that made the Steve Rogers actually laugh out loud?"
She expected Nukoni to simply roll her eyes or maybe even tell her what the joke was all about but instead, she's met with an unsettled expression.
"Personally, I don't think what I said was that funny."
She doesn't offer much more than that and Natasha doesn't get the chance to pry when Steve's laughter has faded into a quiet chuckle. The bed creaks as the captain stands up and joins the two women at the window. He and Natasha share a look, and Steve subtly shakes his head, signalling to her that she shouldn't ask. Natasha shrugs her shoulders and moves away from the window so that Steve can take her place.
"I'm sorry for laughing, Nukoni. I wasn't laughing at you."
Nukoni gives him a sideways look and scoffs.
"That sounded an awful lot like laughter to me, Cap."
The captain has the decency to look modest at that and sobers up.
"No, no, I wasn't laughing at you. I swear. I was laughing because of all the explanations you could have given me, something as innocent as a white lie to save yourself was not what I expected."
The other woman turns to look at Steve completely, face full of shock and confusion.
"You're not mad at me?" she asks softly.
"Not at all. All things considered, I'm kinda flattered."
"Even when I'm the reason you were ambushed the other day?"
Steve gently grabs Nukoni's arm and guides her to sit next to him on the bed. He angles himself towards her while clasping his hands and regards her with as much sincerity he can muster.
"I'm not sure if you noticed but I became a fugitive based on the things you told me because I believe you. And not just that, but I brought another S.H.I.E.L.D agent with me to a house that belongs to a man I barely know. If I blamed this on you in anyway, you would never have gotten away with it the second you told me your story."
Nukoni's eyes are suspiciously wet and her hand reaches over to brush her hair away from her face, using this movement to subtly wipe her eyes. She runs her hand down the length of her ponytail and passes a grateful smile to Steve.
"Thank you," she whispers. "and by the way, you don't stand a chance against me."
Her eyes are brighter and full of mischief as she makes her way to the bathroom. Steve rolls his eyes in response while she walks away and Natasha promptly takes Nukoni's place on the bed.
"So are you gonna tell what was so funny?"
While Steve tells Natasha what was so funny, Sam shows up in the doorway of the bedroom. He takes a quick look around and then settles his gaze on the two avengers in the room.
"Just thought you should know that lunch is ready, if you guys are into that sort of thing."
Steve just smiles at the man and tells him that they'll be in the kitchen shortly. When Sam leaves the room, Natasha turns to him and says,
"Were you telling her the truth?"
"About what?"
"That you believe her. You said you're doing this because you believe her and so I'm asking, do you?"
It's a difficult question and one that he doesn't answer right away.
"I believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised and I also believe that she's running from someone, or something. I mean, with everything that happened with STRIKE and the timing of her appearance is all too coincidental for it be anything other than related. Why do you ask? You don't believe her?"
Natasha sighs and looks past Steve's shoulder before meeting his gaze.
"I'm not saying I don't believe her, I'm just saying that there's more to this than she's telling us. Something doesn't add up."
It's in this moment Steve is suddenly reminded of the device that Nukoni gave him that day. The Focus. He hasn't told Natasha that part of the story and Nukoni hadn't mentioned it to her either, so he's unsure as to whether or not she purposefully intended for it to stay this way. How is Steve going to convince Natasha that he trusts her when she has no knowledge of the Focus. Deciding to follow Nukoni's lead, Steve holds the thought and says,
"Well, I guess we'll find out exactly what."
Natasha seems to accept this, which makes Steve feel a little bit guilty for lying to her by omission but he can't risk losing Nukoni's trust right now. For the moment, he tells himself that when all the dust settles and the truth inevitably comes out, Natasha will understand why he didn't tell her. Until then, he has to do this.
Their conversation shifts to something more casual and decide to meet Sam in the kitchen for lunch. As the two of them walk out of the bedroom, Nukoni emerges from the bathroom slowly, making sure that they were out of the room completely. When it's clear that Steve and Natasha have left, she allows herself a moment of doubt. She was beginning to trust Steve, at least enough to follow his lead, but having heard their conversation about her, she's not so sure anymore. She did notice that the captain made no mention of the Focus to Natasha, even when Nukoni was seemingly out of their presence where he could have easily caught her up to speed. She's not sure if he didn't tell her on purpose or not but decides that when she gets the opportunity, to confront him about it. The Focus is a special device and she entrusted it to Steve because she believes he'll respect her enough to keep the secret, but even the best of people have moments of weakness, and Nukoni's beginning to wonder if Natasha is one of them.
As she turns to leave the room and join the others in the kitchen for lunch, Nukoni glances at the shield resting on the bed one more time before closing the door behind her.
A/N: As always, your feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated!