A/N: What can I say? Baby's health is not terrible but also not great. Shit is hard. Here is a chapter. Sammy is from one of the Stephanie Plum books.
Chapter 26
"Hey Bucky?" I lazily queried from where I was snuggled up with Steve on his couch once more the morning after our failed dinner out.
Bucky was sitting over at the breakfast bar, so I craned my neck to turn and look over the couch at him.
"Yeah, Steph?" He rose and walked toward me to find out what I wanted.
"What did you do with the cat?" I asked.
"What cat?" Sam asked, slouched in a chair and looking perhaps even lazier than I felt.
"You know," I reminded him. "The one from the mall."
"There was a cat in a mall?" Darcy asked. "And somehow it has to do with Bucky?"
I heard Sam begin to murmur a quiet explanation and blocked it out, instead focusing on Bucky once more and raising a brow in question.
"Irina?" He asked.
"You… named the cat?" I couldn't help but keep the surprise out of my voice.
"I wasn't not going to name my cat," he told me.
"You KEPT the cat?" I blurted out, feeling a little shocked. "I assumed you just took it to the pound, or threw it outside or something."
"I would never—" Bucky sounded offended at the very thought.
"I just meant," I attempted to backpedal a bit, "that cat was mean. Clearly didn't like people. And its teeth were all sharp! Not many people would have…"
"Irina was just scared," Bucky huffed out. "She was in a new place with lots of people, some of them screaming."
The last was said very pointedly, and I bristled saying, "she clawed the shit out of me!"
"That was nobody's fault," Steve interceded, "other than Anton Rudder. And maybe the woman he tricked into throwing a cat at you."
"So dumb," I muttered. "Honestly, why would she even thin-."
I stopped short, not allowing myself to get too sidetracked when Steve squeezed my knee.
"Bucky, if you want to bring the cat as your pet, you're more than welcome," Steve said calmly.
"JARVIS?" Bucky called out.
I heard the sound of a door opening in the distance as Bucky smirked and told him, "I'm glad you feel that way, Steve."
An inquisitive mewling sound came from down the hallway, and I looked at Steve to find an amused look on his face.
Natasha came breezing into the apartment at the same time the cat stepped into the living room. She froze and sized up the cat, which was doing the same to her. They were locked in a staring contest for a few beats, and then I could have sworn both blinked at the same time. Then the cat padded over to the woman, and she bent down and gently picked it up.
Walking over to Bucky, she asked, "what's her name?"
"Irina," he muttered, looking a little embarrassed this time even though he hadn't the first time he said the name.
Natasha barked out a laugh, and before anyone said anything more, she explained to the group, "it means 'peace'."
"It wasn't Irina's fault!" Bucky jumped to the cat's defense once more. "All she wants is a warm, dry place to nap and some food from time to time."
"You relate to the cat don't you, Bucky Bear?" Darcy asked not flinching when he leveled her with a steely look at the nickname.
"Do you not like cats?" Steve asked me nervously, clearly trying to move the conversation along.
"Cats are fine," I capitulated. "As long as they don't try to eat my hamster. Not that Rex is here or anything. I'm just saying, in general."
"You can bring Rex if you'd like," Steve told me instantly, ignoring Darcy's bark of laughter.
"Maybe," I hedged. "We'll see how things go when I get back to Trenton. No sense in moving him all this way if he'll just have to move back."
Steve studied me very carefully, and realizing his concern I reassured him, "I really am talking about Rex. Not myself! I'm not keeping one foot out the door or anything like that. Rex is just old, and he's generally unflappable, but I don't know how he would do on a long car trip."
"It's just a-" Sam cut himself off from what I was pretty sure was going to be some sort of insult to hamsters and finished lamely with, "few more days until you can go back to Trenton, I think."
"You really think so?" I asked, allowing myself to get distracted by the idea. On the one hand, going home would provide a sense of… not normalcy because my life was never normal. But maybe usual was the right term.
There was a lot going on, and I knew Steve wanted me to stay with him, perhaps just indefinitely, but I felt the urge to at least go back to Trenton and finish some things out.
We'd caught one of my stalkers, but he was the one who had seemed the least dangerous. That still left whoever had tried to gun me (and my skip) down and blown up my car. And possibly lit the other car on fire- I mean, odds were those two would be the same person, right?
Then there were my kidnappers. The Avengers seemed to think Jason Simms had been taken purely because of me. They said that my kidnappers would have profiled me, and those around me, and decided that Jason was someone who was relatively easy to grab and whose disappearance would cause me to be brought in to search for him.
I new nothing more about profiling than the fact that I was pretty sure it was a thing, and that it all seemed a little tenuous to me. I mean, it all hinged on Jason's dad talking to my father, and my father, who had never once before asked me for help, asking me for help. But, they were the experts, and if that's what they said happened, that was very possibly what happened.
I certainly wasn't going to claim to have any better ideas why I had been grabbed and turned into what had Bruce called me? A mutate?
At any rate, I worried that if I didn't go back to Trenton or stayed off the radar too long, either of those people might go after someone I was close to in order to try to flush me out. After all, the kidnappers had already shown their willingness to take someone to get to me.
"None of this has been your fault," Natasha said after watching me and apparently reading my thoughts as I had them. "I understand the need to take care of things, however. And your control seems quite improved. No accidents since the nightmare, correct?"
At my nod, she nodded as well but didn't expand any further.
Suddenly I had a flashback to the night before, and her reaction to me kissing Steve at the scene of the incident.
"Did anyone figure out who I am?" I asked softly.
Steve let out a whisper of a sigh and pulled me further into him, and he gave a nod to the rest of the room.
Darcy surprised me by starting with, "nobody on mainstream media has your name yet, but from what JARVIS and I have seen on social media, it's just a matter of time."
Clint dropped out of an air vent to be perfectly perched on the couch behind her, and I got the feeling from the complete lack of reaction from anyone else in the room that they'd either known he was there or grown used to him doing these things.
Maybe both.
"I'm still waiting on my sources with AIM and Hammer, but HYDRA has your name," he told me sounding way calmer than I could even begin to understand being. I started to jump up, but Steve held me a little tighter as Clint made a placating gesture and continued, "we have a security detail in place with your family and Rangeman is running extra surveillance of the Bonds Office."
"My best friend Mary Lou Stankovic—" I started.
"I'll put someone on her for now too," Clint reassured, already looking at his phone and holding up a picture of her for me to nod in confirmation that he had the right Mary Lou.
"Thanks," I replied looking around to make sure everyone was included.
"It's part of what we do," Steve reminded me. "Help keep people safe from organizations like the one that kidnapped you until we can completely eliminate the threat."
"And while it hasn't exactly been the most relevant up until now," Darcy cut in, giving Steve a disappointed look. "We'd obviously take the safety of an Avenger's significant other and their family extremely seriously."
Steve flushed at that, and I squeezed his arm to let him know that I knew he cared and hadn't taken his explanation the wrong way at all.
With the conversation over, Steve and I settled back into our couch snuggle, and he picked up the remote to slowly start channel surfing and find something to play quietly in the background.
Bucky sat next to me and we went through a couple more pages of Steve's memory book, and Bucky entertained me with some more stories. It was interesting to watch Steve groan and try to correct the record while also just being over the top excited (but trying to hide it) at the fact that Bucky was there and remembered these things— only stumbling a few times over the details.
When my stomach started making noise, the conversation turned to ideas for where to order in some lunch from with most of the team visiting anyway, only to be cut off when Tony breezed in.
He didn't offer so much as a hello before he started with, "Steph, any idea why there's a mob boss in my lobby asking for you?"
Crap.
"Which one?" I asked.
"I can't believe I have to say this, and it isn't even some weird joke or nickname I made up, but JARVIS tells me his name is 'Sammy the Pig'," Tony told me, though his intonation made it sound almost more like a question.
"Huh," I said. "I mean, we've met, but I have no idea why on Earth…"
I trailed off, knowing exactly who to go to for the information, and pulled out my phone. When it connected, I cut right to the chase, "Connie, any idea why Sammy the Pig is here?!"
Connie paused briefly but obviously sensed urgency in my voice just replying, "I haven't heard anything. Let me check."
She hung up, and I got up and started pacing a little before I turned to the room at large and said, "Connie's family is one of The Families in Trenton. She isn't a part of the mob herself, and she clearly wasn't aware of anything that would involve me, but she knows where to start looking."
I answered a few questions about that, but honestly I didn't really want to be involved with the mob. And I'd always asked Connie as few questions about it as possible— usually only getting as much information as necessary from her to complete whatever capture I needed if someone in that business had gone FTA.
When my phone rang again, I paused before answering. Everyone had taken my brief explanation pretty well, but I was worried after the whole Valentine's Day debacle that some of them might not trust me. And I didn't want to give them any more reason to worry… like thinking that I might be tied to the mob myself. So with that in mind, I chewed my lip a moment longer before punching the call accept button and immediately turning on speakerphone.
"Steph?" Connie prompted.
"Yeah, I'm here," I told her.
"Alright, from what I can tell, Sammy has been trying to set up a meeting with my dad or one of my brothers or someone else high up in the Family. He saId it was a 'good faith' meeting, which would usually mean something like he knows of a rat and is looking for a trade for the information. Now at the moment, they don't think they have a rat, and they aren't looking to be in anyone's debt, so they were dragging their feet on setting up a meeting while doing a little… investigating of their own."
"Huh," I said again.
"They didn't want to owe another Family anything," Connie reiterated. "They didn't know that it was, presumably, about you otherwise they would have taken the meeting or gotten in touch with you or Ranger about it. They asked that I make that clear to you for some reason. What's going on, Steph?"
I opened my mouth to answer that I wasn't sure myself, but Tony cut me off with, "Connie— Rosolli was it? Am I going to be causing any problems for you or Steph if I let him in here and take this meeting?"
"Who is this?" Connie immediately asked. She sounded confused but also had a good amount of bravado in her voice as she queried further, "You're not Ranger, and his men don't talk that much. And where is 'this'? Steph if you're in trouble…. scream."
"There are just so many things wrong with that plan," Bucky muttered.
"Who is THAT?" Connie sounded even more upset at hearing another unidentified male voice.
"This is Captain Rogers here, ma'am." Steve said. He seemed to realize that he was probably worrying her even more by being yet another new person, so he tried to clarify with, "Steph's boyfriend."
"Captain who?" Connie started before switching to, "Steph's WHAT?! I'm calling Ranger!"
"Don't—" I started, stopping when I realize she'd hung up. "Well. He's off the grid in Russia! FUCK, Steve!"
"Well how was I supposed to know she didn't know?" Steve rubbed back of neck looking somewhat ashamed. "I didn't know you were keeping it a secret."
"It's not a secret!" I said, knowing I sounded a curious mix of exasperated and desperate. "It's— I mean— when could I have told? It's not something that you just say over the phone. At least not if you're me, and you want people to actually believe you…"
"Why wouldn't she believe—" Steve looked so confused that it actually made me feel a little better about myself while also sad for the little guy he used to be before the war who had felt so unwanted.
World War II that was.
My life was weird.
Steve's life was weird.
Our conversation was cut off by the sound of two phones ringing. I looked at mine and said, "Rangeman control room," at the same time I realized the other was Steve's.
He looked at his display and said, "Tank."
"You've GOT to be kidding me! Tank knew?!" I yelled, internally wincing at how close my reaction was to sounding like a shriek.
Then I unceremoniously grabbed the phone out of Steve's hands as he was about to answer it. My phone stopped ringing and started up again even as I answered Steve's and bit out an accusatory, 'Tank?!"
There was a pause then the man in question simply said, "Little Girl?" I could hear the cacophony of noise that was in the background on his end cut off as soon as he said those two words. Then he simply added, "interesting" and hung up.
I stared at the phone in disbelief saying, "he hung up on me. I HATE when they hang up on me!"
I looked up seeing an expression of both horror and wonder on Darcy's face as she accused, "you just stole Captain America's phone!"
My face flushed red in embarrassment as I tried to justify myself with, "it said, 'Tank,' and… I mean... How many Tanks do you know?"
"I don't know any," Darcy answered with a nod as though she completely agreed with the logic.
"That's not—" Clint started but he cut off when my cell phone rang again showing Connie's name on the display.
I answered it again on speaker, "oh hey, Connie."
I could hear Lula in the background yelling about me having some explaining to do as Connie calmly said, "so Tank says you're fine."
"What am I supposed to do with this mobster?!" Tony finally yelled impatiently.
"Who is this?" Connie asked again.
"Tony," he told her simply.
"Which Family are you?" Connie asked, completely oblivious.
"He's not—" I started only to have Darcy cut me off.
"He is Tony of House Stark, first of his name. Man of Iron," Darcy loudly proclaimed.
Tony groaned audibly, pointing at her with a sharp, "not funny, Tits" though his grin belied his words.
Steve just sighed, rubbing his forehead and looking pained at Darcy and Tony's combined antics.
Meanwhile, I could hear Connie talking to herself and thinking things through then there was a brief pause before, "Holy shit! Tony Fucking Stark?"
"That's not my middle name, why do people always say that?" Tony pouted. Then he continued, "but yes. I am Iron Man."
Pepper, who had silently entered the floor right as Connie made the connection, face palmed at that.
"But then Captain Rogers would be…" Connie trailed off.
"Yes," I sighed. Trying to move the conversation along, I added, "That Captain Rogers. And yes, boyfriend."
"Why is that so hard to believe?" Steve asked when the silence that followed became long enough to get awkward.
"It's not, it's not," Connie rushed to say. "Steph is great."
She hasn't sounded so sure at the beginning, but by the time she got to the part about me being great, she seemed like she believed it so I murmured my thanks.
Pepper cleared her throat and looked pointedly at Tony before he said, "right. Boop! I've seen your picture, is it alright if I call you, Boop?" He didn't give her a chance to answer before saying, "Can I take the meeting without causing any kind of mob war?"
There was a pause then Connie muttered an enthusiastic, "shit" and hung up.
"I see what you mean, Fireball," Tony told me. "It is aggravating when people do that. I much prefer being the one to hang up. Or, you know, not to take the call at all. Truthfully, I don't like talking to people. At least not over the phone. Oh, I do love putting them on hold though."
"Why would it start a mob war?" Pepper started just talking over Tony's ramblings before trailing off and asking, "Steph, are you connected?"
"No," I answered.
"Yes," Natasha said at the same time.
"No," I argued. "Connie is connected. At best I'm second degree connected. Third really, if you think about it, since Connie isn't actually in the Family business herself."
"If Connie's immediate family is Family," Clint argued, "then she is Family whether she admits it or not. And if you two are close, then you're in all likelihood considered to be as good as Family. Now, we don't want them to worry that Sammy is ratting about something involving you to the Avengers. OR if they know that you're here, which certainly is possible, they may worry that he has a more nefarious purpose involving your safety. Or maybe they think Stark Industries is still in the weapons dealing side business…"
He kept talking about ways in which he envisioned me being able to start a mob war, but I stopped listening because I really thought he was reaching . I definitely wasn't that important. But just in case, it was a relief to me when Connie called back and said that it was fine, but to let her know if they needed to know anything.
"And you better get your butt over here and start talking soon," she told me. "Otherwise Lula is going to come looking for you."
It was my turn to face palm at that.