Chapter 17

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye as Steve set me down in a seat, and turned my head in time to see Hawkeye lowering his bow. From the angle he was at relative to where we had entered the jet, I figured he must have been providing cover for Steve.

He noticed me looking at him, and he nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"I'm sorry for stun gunning you," I said feebly.

That got me a full on grin, and he walked over shaking his head. He offered me a hand to shake as he said, "they're never going to let me live that down. The name's Clint Barton. Nice to meet you."

"Steph," I told him. "Thanks for the rescue."

My gaze moved around to encompass everyone as I said it, but it was Barton who waved me off saying, "you did all the heavy lifting, and it was a little our fault you got taken. Well, not mine because I was still trying to unscramble at the time, but the team's."

"Not mine," Sam piped in, arms folded across his chest. "I'm the one who saw her get snatched so we could start looking for her right away."

"Lot of good it did us," someone muttered.

"Enough!" Steve yelled. "It happened because we were too busy fighting amongst ourselves to protect her properly! Let's not start up again now."

Before anyone could respond, Stark yelled from the front where he was apparently flying the jet, "Barton! I need you."

Clint disappeared in a flash, and moments later, Stark was approaching me cautiously.

"Any idea what they did to you, Steph?" He asked.

"No," I answered, startled by the sudden question. I figured they'd at least get me home and let me shower before they asked that question. "I just know it hurt a lot."

"Okay," he said, clearly making an effort to keep his voice slow and calm. "So here's the deal. JARVIS, that's my AI, he monitors all of our vital signs when we're onboard. And he tells me that you're running a little hot. So I'm going to need you to think cool thoughts. And also to let me have him give you a more thorough body scan."

"Can this wait, Stark?" Steve asked. "She's been through a lot, so I would think a chance to rest would do a fever more good than being subject to a battery of tests in the nude in front of a bunch of virtual strangers."

"In the nude?!" I shrieked. "That means naked. Why in the world would I have to be naked in front of all the Avengers?"

"Temperature approaching 200 degrees," a voice that sounded like it came from everywhere said. I supposed it was the AI.

"Nice cool thoughts," Stark restated. Then to Steve he hissed, "nice going! This is not just a fever!"

"Steph, I have a couple spare changes of clothes in here." Natasha was speaking calmly and holding out what looked like a surprisingly modest set of black bikini underwear and a sports bra. "You can wear these while they scan you. Come over here in this corner with me."

I followed her into a corner of the jet, and she held up a blanket to shield me.

"Thank you," I told her softly.

"Normally I would push for you to be able to wait, as you don't appear injured," she explained. "But it will take us longer to get home as we don't have enough fuel to fly back as fast as we did on the way here. And the heat is troubling. You've cooled down again, but we need to make sure you're stable."

"I understand," I replied.

But I really didn't. I didn't feel hot, even though they were telling me I was. And nobody had really said anything to me while I was with my captors.

"How long?" I asked as Natasha wrapped the blanket around me under my arms when I was done changing and started trying to guide me away. I grabbed the bottom enough with the arm holding it down to be able to walk on my own.

Instead of immediately following, I stopped to grab the clothes I had been wearing. "What do I do with…" I trailed off holding up the blood soaked items.

It hadn't escaped my notice that nobody had answered my first question, and I thought they wanted their scans before they did, for some reason.

Steve rushed forward with a biohazardous waste bag and held it open for me so I could shove the clothes inside of it.

"We'll check through them to make sure there's no important information anywhere in there, but then we'll burn them," he informed me.

"Maybe we'll let you burn them," Tony added. When I looked over at him, he just patted a table that looked to have folded out of the wall.

Bruce Banner was already standing at the head of the table studying a computer screen and squinting through his glasses as he did.

Steve put a hand on my the small of my back and guided me over. When we got there, I looked at the table for a second, then looked around. I sighed a little then dropped the blanket.

Tony looked me over head to toe, and said, "don't take this the wrong way, but were you on a diet in there? Because you've lost weight."

"What?" I looked down at myself, and when Steve nudged me a little, I just shook my head and climbed onto the table.

"Not a lot," Tony reassured. "You didn't really have all that much to spare, but I'd say at least 10 or 15 pounds."

"Uh, Tony?" Bruce cut in sounding mildly concerned.

And just like that, Tony's focus completely changed and he went over by my head, presumably to stare at the monitor with Bruce.

I had my hands up protectively trying to shield my body, and Steve sighed then batted them away to my sides, "don't listen to Tony. If anything I think you've gained weight."

"What?" I shrieked. And my hands flew back up again.

Natasha walked up and smacked Steve on the head, and he said in a rush, "NOT IN A BAD WAY. Muscle. You gained muscle."

Bucky came up and delivered a blow of his own, this time with the metal hand. It didn't look all that hard, but it did make an audible sound. So it probably really was painful.

"You look great," Steve told me. "You looked great before, and you look great now. Your greatness just redistributed a little. And I only know because I was helping you work out and watching you."

I blew out a breath because that made me feel a tiny bit better, but it also sounded creepy.

"You actually can be really bad at this sometimes," I muttered.

Steve pinched his brow and a pained expression crossed his face.

"I know," he told me. "I'm sorry."

I took pity on him and reached over to grab the hand away from his face and hold it.

"It's fine," I told him.

"You're beautiful," he told me and he leaned down to give me a kiss.

"Entertaining as that was," Tony cut in. "And believe me it was, until it turned all sappy there at the end. And the kissing. Gross. I don't need to see Captain Virgin here kissing a woman."

I opened my mouth to protest on Steve's behalf, and jump to his defense, but his hand tightened around mine. He gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head that told me it wasn't worth it.

Unfortunately Bucky either wasn't looking or didn't care, as he barked out a laugh. "Virgin? Steve? Ha! Not hardly."

There was a moment of stunned silence at how vehemently the denial had been delivered before Tony said, "oooohhh ho ho. Really? And how exactly do you know this, Buckster?"

"Not a lot of privacy when you share an apartment- or military living quarters," Bucky said, unphased by the implication.

"He got some as Captain America?" Tony asked, sounding fascinated. "I thought it was all wholesome pining away for Peggy Carter, and channeling unresolved sexual tension into fighting to preserve the American way of life."

Bucky smirked and opened his mouth only to have the elbow of Steve's free hand plow into him hard enough to knock the wind right out of him. I thought I might have even heard the crack of rib, but I couldn't swear by it. As I understood it, he healed quickly anyway.

"I don't know why I wanted to find you so badly," Steve muttered sounding quite put upon. "You're such a jerk."

"Punk," Bucky wheezed out with feeling.

"I think we have more important matters to address," Banner interrupted.

"But this was so much fun," Sam whined in the distance.

"And enlightening," Natasha practically purred in agreement. I didn't have to be able to see her to know that the little spy in her was greedily grabbing up new information about one of her teammates. And probably coming up with a list of questions and avenues of future investigation while she mentally took it all in.

"Well, I assume Steph already knew some or all of this," Stark said. "She's cooled down since we started focusing on Cap rather than her. No jealousy there, just relief at not being the center of attention."

I shot Steve an apologetic look, but he murmured, "it's fine. I could do this all day if it made things better for you."

"Awwww," Clint called out from the front of the plane.

"Bite me, Barton" Steve shouted out.

"No thanks- who knows where you've been," Clint yelled back.

Steve just shook his head, but a small smile was tipping up the corners of his mouth.

"We're getting some really interesting readings from JARVIS," Bruce broke in to tell me, clearly not wanting the conversation to devolve once more. "We're going to need a blood sample though."

There was a noise from the wall the bed had come out of, and suddenly a couple metal restraints closed down around the arm closest to it. I flashed back to being restrained to the table while the people who had me were experimenting on me, and I'll admit, I panicked.

The next thing I knew, there was a bunch of shouting that scared me even more. Seconds later, I fell a couple inches, only to be caught by an awkward, uncomfortable combination of Bucky's metal arm and Steve's shield.

Steve was leaning over me saying, "Steph. Can you hear me? Steph. You're okay. Just relax. It's okay. You're safe with us. Nothing is going to happen to you." I focused on him and slowed my breathing down. Once he was certain I knew where I was, his eyes went back over my head to where Bruce and Tony were. A couple seconds later, he nodded. As one, Steve and Bucky lowered me to the ground.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Hold on one second, okay?" Steve responded.

So saying he set his shield on the ground, and then moved me to stand on top of it, arms bracing me to help me balance on it. His eyes were carefully fixed on my face, in a way that seemed a little off, so I looked down at myself.

Yep. Naked. I was naked. Shit.

"What happened to my clothes?" I wailed just as Natasha rushed up behind me and wrapped me in the blanket once more.

"Your clothes?" Tony asked. "Just look at my table!"

"Tony," Steve's voice said warningly.

Bruce Banner walked around so that I could see him, as my back had been to both him and Tony. "I'm sorry, Steph. I should have explained what was going to happen. Your arm was strapped down in multiple places by JARVIS automatically as part of our inflight medical protocol. Wouldn't want to hit a bump of turbulence while the needle was in drawing blood. Do you mind if I take some manually? I'm not a medical doctor, per se, but I've had a lot of training."

"Uh, okay." I agreed.

"Do you mind if Bucky helps hold your arm steady?" He asked me carefully.

"That's fine," I agreed more quickly that time. Bucky wouldn't hurt me.

Banner pulled out one of those rubber tube things first and wrapped it around my arm once Bucky had a hold of it. He asked me to make a fist a couple of times before nodding in satisfaction.

That was when the needle came out, and I felt the panic starting to creep in once more.

"Hey, hey, Steph," Steve practically crooned at me. "Look at me. It's okay."

"This might pinch and burn a little," Banner warned me. "One, two, three."

I didn't really feel anything, but then again, I thought any sensation likely paled considerably in comparison to what I'd gone through when my kidnappers had injected me with whatever they had.

"So, I was thinking about how we still have to have our Valentine's Day to celebrate, even if it's a little late," Steve distracted me. "How would you feel about taking a day off and spending it in Brooklyn with me? I can show you where things used to be and a few still are."

"All the alleyways he used to get beat up in," Bucky commented.

"Would that actually be fun for you?" I asked curiously. "Or would it make you sad?"

"How could I be sad when I have you now?" he asked in return.

I laughed and said, "laying it on a little thick there, aren't you?"

Steve gave me a grin and said, "maybe. But I think it would be fun, if you're interested. I've been many times since I woke up, so most of the sad has worn off."

"Okay," I agreed. "That sounds nice."

I could hear Banner and Tony chattering excitedly to each other, and I started to lose my patience. I needed answers, and, quite frankly, I needed them soon.

Tightening my grip on the top of the blanket that was around me, I looked Steve in the eyes as I asked, "how long did they have me this time?"

"45 hours," he told me. "They likely spent close to half of that transporting you, I would think."

"Oh," I was a little surprised. "I would have guessed longer."

"Did anyone talk to you or tell you anything while you were there," Bucky asked gruffly.

"Not really," I told him on a sigh. "A man told me he knew I was waking up. I threw up when I did, and he told me that was unfortunate and that it didn't matter because we could 'move on to the last step'. That was when he injected me with something. And it hurt so much. Like nothing I've ever felt before."

"It's okay," Steve reassured me again. "You're safe."

"I was screaming. A lot. And I thought I heard him tell me to fight something. Maybe to tame it too? Anyway, I think I passed out not long after that."

"And when you awoke?" Natasha asked from across the way and to my right.

"Nobody was there, and I wanted to get away. I didn't know if you guys even knew if I was missing. With the way things were going before they grabbed me…" I looked at the floor, ashamed to voice it out loud, but I made myself continue, "I thought maybe you would have just decided you needed to leave or had somewhere more important to be. And it was possible you didn't even know I had been grabbed."

"I would never have just left you like that," Steve sounded positively indignant.

I met his gaze and willed him to believe me as I said, "I realized that. So then I decided that if you'd stayed in Trenton and were looking for me, Bucky would probably be with you. And two super soldiers was a pretty good rescue team. But I also thought that if the man came back, he might keep experimenting on me. Honestly, it hurt so much when he did it the first time, that I didn't know if I'd make it if he came back. And I wanted to see you at least one more time, Steve."

My voice kind of cracked at the end, so Steve's hands moved up my arms to the outside of my shoulders, and he looked me square in the eyes as he said, "I'm right here. And I would have come for you."

To my horror, tears that had been threatening to fall, started running down my cheeks. I tried to dash them away as I told him, "it's so stupid. But I thought of that drawing you put on my mirror where you told me to be my own superhero. And I imagined you saying that to me. That was what kinda pushed me to get myself moving."

"How did you get free?" Steve asked gently.

"They had me strapped down to this table, and I was trying to pull myself loose, but it wouldn't budge. Honestly, I was freaking out so much that I don't know how I finally got myself free. I was just kinda flopping over the side of the table like a fish out of water and hitting the ground. Then I looked around for weapons, and I found this tray…"

I felt myself start to hyperventilate at the information, and voices picked up around me. But I couldn't tell what they were saying, just that they were loud. It was almost like I was trying to listen to them through ear plugs or something. I was lost in my fears until Steve finally gave me a good hard shake.

"Jesus," Bucky said on an exhale when everything calmed down. "Swap out with me, Steve."

"I'm fine," Steve told him in the tersest tone I'd ever heard come from him.

Why wouldn't he be fine?

I looked down at where he was holding onto my shoulders and saw that his gloves appeared to be gone, and his hands looked blistered and burned.

"What the fuck just happened?" I asked. Then I patted myself again and wailed out, "damn it to hell!"

Natasha came rushing up with another blanket and tried to joke with me, "I'm not lending you any more clothes until you get this sorted out."

"I'm doing this?" I asked in shock.

"Everybody, strap in," Barton yelled back. "JARVIS and I have been doing our calculations, and we'll make it back now if we shift to max speed. And we need to get her OUT of this jet before she does actual damage to it."

"She already destroyed a perfectly good table," Tony sassed.

"Nobody cares about your goddamn table, Stark," Bucky growled.

I don't know why, but at that mention of the table, I finally turned and looked behind me at where it had been. There wasn't a table there anymore, but rather a pile of metal on the ground. It almost looked as though…

"Did that table melt?" I asked numbly. "Did I melt that table?"

"Yes," Steve told me calmly. "But it is just a table, it's fine. What we can't have is you doing that to the floor of the jet."

"Oh my god, Steve, your hands!" I said in shock.

He sighed and told me, "my hands will be healed up before we land, just you wait and see."

"I am so, so sorry," I was shaken to my core. "I did NOT mean to hurt you. I would never hurt you on purpose."

"I know," he reassured me. "It's OKAY, Steph."

"Get your asses in seats," Clint yelled once more.

"Steph really shouldn't," Bucky started.

"I'll handle it," Steve told him resolutely. "Go strap in."

"You're gonna need one hand to hold on to something," Bucky insisted. "That leaves only one hand to hold onto her. Too many ways she can fall off that thing. You'd be better off with her stabilized in two directions."

So saying he moved perfectly opposite to Steve, who nodded at him resolutely. Each man banded an arm around me firmly and braced one foot forward onto the shield. Their opposite feet took a step back so they were in a steady base. Their free hands came up and hooked onto straps to keep them even more stable.

"Ready?" Steve asked Bucky.

"Yeah," Bucky agreed.

Then Steve looked at me and reassured me, "we've got you, okay?"

"Okay," I told him.

Steve checked around us, making sure everyone else was seated. Then he hollered up, "punch it, Hawkeye."

Our eyes locked, and Steve said, "focus on me. Breathe with me."

There was a firm jolt and the noise from outside the jet got noticeably louder. We hit what I could only assume was turbulence multiple times, but I willed my brain to be filled only with Steve.

Even with Bucky close behind me, and the rest of his team minus Barton presumably watching on, it was an oddly intimate moment. I could feel him pressed up against almost every inch of my front, and I allowed my breathing to synchronize with his chest moving into and away from me.

And his eyes. His eyes were telling me that he had me, and he wasn't going to let me fall. And not just in the physical sense of the word.

A/N: Was dealing with some stressful personal stuff, but hopefully that is all good now and I'll be able to get back to posting/writing. *crosses fingers*