Author's Notes: These next two chapters contains a couple of short scenes where the group interacts and get to know each other a bit better. I've done similar in my other stories. The events do not happen on the same day unless stated. I like to think that this time encompasses roughly just over four months. Other days not stated would have been normal with them just hanging out...Sam and Teagan getting just a little bit closer each passing day.
Please take into account that they are spending a lot of time together. Their closeness is not just suddenly happening, or spontaneous. I think that it would be better for the story to just show a couple of snippets of their lives over a long period of time.
BTW: Game of Thrones spoiler for season six (2016 is the year this takes place, don't forget).

Song: Under Your Scars by Godsmack

PART ONE OF TWO

South Dakota Safe House
Over The Next Four Months

"Best four out of seven!" Steve heard Sam demanded of Teagan after he lost another round of 'thumb-war'.

Glancing around till he found the prize they were playing for, Steve spotted the final homemade blueberry muffin sitting on the kitchen close to the back door. The next batch had not come out of the oven yet and wouldn't be cooled off for a short while.

Casually, he strolled through the kitchen as the two of them began another round, gripping hands and fingers together. He was glad that the two of them were comfortable enough with each other for such a simple action that he and Nat would take for granted. It seemed that Teagan was getting a lot more comfortable around them.

Opening up the screen door onto the back porch, he walked outside without either of them noticing his sleight of hand.

Rounding the corner of the house, Steve finally heard Sam's voice call out, "Where's the muffin!? Steve!", as he took a bite of the treat before he began to run away from the sound of footsteps chasing him.

Walking into the den after showering and finishing putting away his laundry, Sam noticed that Teagan was still sitting on the same side chair that she had been in since heading upstairs almost an hour ago. And the television was not even on for her to watch. She was just sitting there quietly, not moving in any way. Her eyes were the same glazed over that he had seen that first day back in Wakanda on the porch. Teagan made no sign to indicate that she had even realized he had entered the room.

Glancing into the empty kitchen, he figured that Steve and Nat had not yet returned from their grocery run into town yet.

Sam walked around the perimeter of the room so that he could approach Teagan from the direction her vision was unfocused on. He knew that she would jump out of her skin if he suddenly appeared at her side.

When he was about five feet in front of her, Teagan's face changed from the emotionless slate as her eyes shifted to focus on his approach.

"Hey there," he calmly told her, taking a seat on the rug close to her feet. He didn't want to loom over her, an action that her mind could take as a threat.

"Sam?" Teagan said his name sounding like she was testing her memory, as opposed to really knowing it.

How he wished that he could take her to talk with some of the doctors that had volunteered back at the VA. She needed a lot of help. The only thing they could offer her here was constant friendship and companionship. Maybe over time that would be enough.

"Would you tell me what you were doing just now? You did the same thing back on the patio in Wakanda," he requested.

Teagan pursed her lips in embarrassment. Sam was starting to think she might not even realize what had happened until she answered.

"Freeze," she simply said.

Shaking his head, Sam responded, "Freeze? I don't understand."

"I freeze. I don't think, I don't move. That way everything stays and nothing bad can happen."

Sam couldn't help but be shocked by her strange admission. That was what he had witness on the video. Polly had been awake but found a way to shut her mind and body down in hopes that nothing else bad would happen to her. It sent a cold hurt through him at the idea.

"I know that you may not believe it yet, but you don't have to worry about something bad happening with us around," he softly told her. "You don't have to just sit here and do nothing if we are all doing something else. This house is not a cell. You can move around inside and out. You can watch television any time that you want."

Teagan began to slowly nod her head, as if beginning to see that he was right.

"I just...sometimes it..." he could see that she was trying to find the right words. Sitting he patiently waited. "There are times when it just doesn't feel real."

Sam had not heard that in a long time, and the last time he had, it was from a veteran who had been held prisoner for over a year. He admitted that every so often, he felt like he was just dreaming, that he was still locked away.

"Teagan," he knew that wording this was going to be hard since he wanted to keep it simple. "Earlier, did you start to feel like this was a dream, and that if you moved or did something, that it would all go away and you'd be back in a cell?"

He actually saw her face light up, as if hearing someone else say what she had felt meant so much to her.

"That's it," she nodded in agreement. "When I first got to the Raft, I was so glad to be away from Keeling that I wanted to make sure that I didn't do anything to make him appear."

"Do you think that Keeling or Ross is going to show up here?"

Now she seemed less ardent with talking about this. Sam knew that he had just brought up something that was a serious fear to her. Even with their precautions, and even having helped her pack the bug-out bag in her room, Teagan was afraid of being taken again. There was no way to alleviate that fear except for the safe passage of time, which she had not had a lot of yet.

"I trust all of ya," she lowly admitted, "but sometimes it's hard to trust myself."

He needed to get her out of the mood that had made her freeze.

"Would you like to go for a walk? It's a nice day outside. We could walk straight down the drive and road until Steve and Nat get back, then hop a ride home with them."

"Outside?" there was a lightness in her voice. Being outside always made her happy.

"Yeah," he said standing up before offering his hand to help her up. Teagan gave it a glare for a few moments too long, as if she were hesitant to touch his skin. But then, she finally reached out and accepted it.

Sam knew that he would have to make sure to check on Teagan a bit more often when it was just the two of them. Since arriving at the safe house, this was the first time he had seen her become like this, even though the others had mentioned finding her like this a few times. It only took calling out to her or gently touching her shoulder to bring her mind back from wherever it had gone.

With three others being here, there was almost always someone around her, which probably helped to keep her occupied. Even when cooking alone, Teagan would have an activity to keep her mind from freezing. He would talk with Nat when they got back about getting Teagan her own tablet so that she could have easy access to books and games...anything to help keep her stimulated.

They walked out of the front door and he hoped that it took Steve and Nat a bit longer than normal to get back, giving them plenty of time to walk and talk.

Nat yawned while running her hand through the shoulder length blond hair as she came down the steps in the morning only to find the television still on with the screen paused showing someone being chased by a horde of zombies while two very tied people crashed on the couch. Yesterday morning, she and Sam had been discussing television shows that were very popular that Teagan had missed during her confinement. Sam had learned that she liked the movie The Boondock Saints since it dealt with Irish characters, and when she had heard that Norman Reedus was in The Walking Dead, that was all it had taken for the two of them to start a binge-watching marathon.

And it looked like they had managed to make it through a couple of seasons before their bodies gave out.

Sam and Teagan had finally fallen asleep at some point together on the couch. They had gotten pillows from their beds and propped them up against the arms. Both were spread out partially covered in a single blanket with their heads at opposite ends while their feet and legs meet and mingled at the center. Nat couldn't help but smile at seeing the four limbs wound together.

That was when she realized that Teagan had slept through the entire night without waking.

As she walked into the kitchen to start the coffee, Nat wondered if the two of them even noticed how close they were getting.

She sure had.

Maybe it was time to make a bet with Steve...

It was just her and Sam heading up the stairs to finally head to bed. Natasha had gone up long ago, and Steve had fallen asleep on the couch.

But the two of them were still sitting on the front porch in rocking chairs. After painting them yesterday, they initially were just testing if the paint was dry. That had been hours ago.

She had asked Sam to tell her about some of the other missions that the Avengers had gone on, either together or separately. It seemed like Thor had the most outrageous stories of their group, especially since his would deal with other worlds and aliens. When she'd asked if they had ever been able to confirm if Thor was telling the truth, Sam instantly suggested putting her powers to the test on him. He said that there were a few tales that he felt just had to be exaggerated.

Reaching the upstairs hall, Teagan paused outside of her door as she turned around to tell Sam good night.

But seeing him standing so close, looking her in the eyes, her voice never came out.

Seconds passed as they stood there and her mind filled with a foolish spark of hope that he was going to give her a good night kiss.

Teagan thought she saw his body slightly sway towards her for a moment, her heart starting to pound in anticipation...

But then Sam straightened up, cleared his throat, and told her in an overly calm voice, "Good night, Teagan."

Putting on a fake smile that she hoped looked sincere, she responded, "Good night, Sam," before taking a step inside of her room and closing the door behind her.

Never in her life had she been so disappointed.

The pond was not very big, but at least it was a landmark where he could take Teagan when she wanted to get out of the house.

At least over the past few weeks when she had started to feel her body begin to 'freeze', she had taken his advice and come to him. Sam would stop whatever he had been doing and the two of them would go outside for a long walk. The incidents of her being found alone and not moving were slowly diminishing. He had also made Steve and Nat aware of why it was happening and to help they would draw her into some project they were working on.

"Do you think there are any fish in there?" Teagan asked him from where she lay on the grass next to him.

"Since we're nowhere near the ocean, I don't think so. And it doesn't look big enough to have been stocked with fish," he answered, leaning up to rest on his elbows as he stared at the water. "If there are, we've never seen them jump."

"True. Do you think that we should mention that to Steve then?" she asked with a devious smile.

Steve had been down here a couple of times with a cane fishing pole, just sitting and waiting for something to bite his bait for hours. He had yet to catch anything.

"Nope," Sam told her lying back down to stare at the clouds with her. "Why ruin one of his only enjoyments around here."

"Good point," Teagan stated. "So how did you meet Riley for the first time?"

Sam couldn't help but smile...

She managed to stop the next scream that wanted to pass her lips, but only thanks to the firm arms holding her against a chest as the smooth, rich voice spoke calming words.

"You're safe, Teagan. Nobody is here to hurt you. You don't have to be scared."

Sam...it was his voice and arms holding her as she violently cried yet again.

Her mind began to replay the nightmare she had finally managed to wake up from after being tortured with it for too long. Keeling...her hands...the snapping of her fingers...her screams of fear and pain. She pulled her hand out from the covers to stare at them, to make sure that the bones were still not bent in strange directions.

"They're fine, they're fine..." she whispered, seeing that they were still healed, straight, and not riddled with stabbing pains.

Sam released her body from his chest just enough to see what she was looking at. He must have understood as he took one of her hands into his. They were rough in a nice way, reminding her that he was real, and that Keeling was now the dream.

"They're not injured," he whispered to her. "You're safe."

From where the doorway was, she heard the shuffling of feet...probably from where Steve and Natasha had been watching her breakdown yet again in the night.

"I'm sorry. I woke ya all up again," she tried to say without her voice cracking.

Natasha came into view as she sat on the edge of the bed next to Sam.

"There's no need to apologize, Teagan," she told her, seeing a sincere expression on Natasha's face. "This is one of the few groups out there that can understand the affects that bad experiences can have on someone. We all have our own demons to deal with."

"But none of you wake the house up with screaming in the night," she pointed out.

"Give yourself some time," Steve told her from the doorway. "Once you feel safer, your mind will start to calm down at night. Don't worry about us. If you need support, just ask, anytime."

Teagan nodded after a few moments, glad for the offer she hoped that would not be necessary for much longer.

"How about tomorrow the two of us go into town and see about having our nails done?" Natasha asked. "Maybe a new memory about something nice with your hands will help. We'll find you the craziest color they have."

Now she really did have a smile going.

"That sounds like fun."

Sam lingered a few extra moments after the other left, making sure she was calm enough to go back to sleep.

"Are you good?" he asked, still holding onto her hand.

Teagan nodded that she was so Sam went ahead and stood up.

"Thanks for waking me up. I couldn't get out of there on my own. And for not..." she drifted the end of that thought off.

"And?" he asked her, looking curious.

Teagan took a deep breath before deciding to just tell him, "For not chaining me to the bed like the guards on the Raft did when a nightmare got to me."

She could see Sam become visible disturbed by the comment, but he shook it off then told her with a shake of his head, "That's not my kind of kink."

A gasp of amused surprise escaped from her as she looked over at him for the comment, a look telling her he knew exactly what she would think.

"What is your type of kink?" she decided to be bold and ask.

Sam slowly began to grin, exposing that cute gap between his teeth, raising his eyebrows a couple of times, before walking away telling her, "Good night, Teagan."

Falling back down on the bed, Teagan's mind began to conjure up a couple of sexy, dirty thoughts to fall asleep by. All of them making her have a constant smile.

"Alright, so explain to me why the fecken hell there is avocado flavored ice cream?"

Sam almost had his milkshake coming out of his nose as Teagan asked him that as they crossed the street towards the town's small center park so they could eat their cold treats.

"Avocados have become very popular over the past few years," he simply told her.

"To the point that they made it into ice cream?" she was started to sound like she didn't believe him.

"Yes," he nodded in agreement. "You can now also get them in salads, sandwiches, and I saw one restaurant that had avocado hamburger buns."

"Aww, nawh...don't try to pull that malarkey with me, I'll get the truth out of ya," she told him, lifting up a single finger to indicate her powers.

"I wouldn't lie to you...there's no point," he calmly remarked.

Teagan looked over at him, probably judging his serious face.

"Fine, you're telling the truth...but that all still sounds disgusting," she told him taking a lick from her raspberry sorbet in a sugar cone.

Suddenly, his mind went to a very naughty place seeing her tongue swipe up the side to catch a melted drip running down the side.

He had been trying to do better with his emotions after he found himself leaning over to give her a kiss late one night a few weeks back.

Clearing his throat, he sucked on the straw and forced his eyes to not stray from the park bench they were headed for. He needed to stop having all of these partially sexual thoughts pop into his head.

Sure they always had fun together when they hung out, either watching television or just talking on the porch. She made him laugh more than any other female had in a long time. And with all that she was rediscovering in the world around her, it made him feel better inside knowing that she was happy and that he was a part of that.

She probably only saw him as a friend, nothing more.

There was no way that Teagan would ever consider him as someone to get closer to like a boyfriend...right?

"What are you doing out here?" Teagan heard Sam ask as she sat on the porch at the back of the house.

The entire sky was dark gray, almost appearing as if it was late evening, even though it was not even noontime yet. The heavy pelts of rain hitting the house were what had brought her outside to sit on the open back porch. The rumble of thunder was still at a distance, but the wind was whipping her hair as it hastily moved the clouds over them.

"Clagarnach," she told him with a grin, knowing he'd not understand the meaning.

Opening the screen back door, Sam came to sit in the rocking chair next to her, asking, "Which is?"

"Close your eyes and listen," she told him, doing the same.

The safe-house had a metal roof and the thick droplets of rain pounded all around them, almost to the point where Teagan was sure she could feel it throughout her body.

"That sound you hear…that is clagarnach," she told him.

"There's an actual word for the sound of rain on metal?" he asked turning to her.

"Roofs in general, but it works great with this one," she told him. "It's a traditional pastime back home to complain about the rain."

Small puddles had been forming in the low spots of the grass. The clouds went all the way to the horizon. It would hopefully be raining all day.

Standing up, Teagan walked over to where the rain was pouring off the roof in a deluge, sticking her hands underneath to interrupt the massive flow. The warm air surrounded her and the cold splashes hitting her felt…foreign. It had been so long since she'd seen or touched rain. Making a decision, she walked down the few steps to the ground.

"Teagan, what are you doing?" Sam's worried voice asked her as he stood and moved to the steps. "You're getting wet."

Turning around, she lifted her arms high into the air as she laughed at the comment.

"Of course I am, amaidich," she shook her head. "Take a guess as to the last time I was able to do this."

She saw Sam's expression slightly fall as he considered her words. But as quickly as that happened, he got a smile on his face.

"Did you just insult me?"

"If I did, what are you going to do about it?" she asked taking a few more steps away from the house, holding her arms wide and egging him on for fun. "Falcons are afraid of water, aren't they?"

Knowing he wouldn't stand for the tease, Sam gave a single heavy sigh just before he stepped off of the porch into the rain to prove her wrong. In seconds, his dark green t-shirt was drenched and began to reveal a muscular chest hidden beneath. Her breath hitched as a strange feeling ran through her at the sight of her friend...her well-built male friend. Lifting her eyes to his, she found Sam with a curious look of his own, then realized that her own shirt had probably done the same.

But just as he took a few steps over the grass towards her, a loud crack of lightning and thunder cut through the sky. Lightning lit up the entire area in a blinding white flash, deafening them while striking a nearby area past the trees behind her. Screaming out at being frightened, she lurched forward towards Sam away from the bolt. He, on the other hand, fell backwards away from her, landing on the ground.

Since he was no longer standing where she needed support to stop, Teagan fell to the ground next to him her arm lying over his wet chest.

Taking in their appearance, Teagan began a fit of giggles, managing to get out, "Fierce fecking weather," while laying in the mud puddle.

"Yep, that's mud in my shorts," Sam commented after a moment of them both lying on the ground, evaluating themselves to make sure they were fine. The air had a hint of burnt ozone in it for a few seconds before it dissipated.

"Well, it matches what's on your head," she told him trying to hold in a grin.

Reaching up, Sam ran his hand over his wet scalp, not feeling anything at all.

"There's nothing…" was as far as he got before she slapped the handful of mud right on top of it.

There was no stopping the cackle of laughter that burst from her at seeing the brooding, angry look that Sam was now giving her.

"Oh, so that's how it is?" his eyes narrowed at her, but she saw the corner of his mouth curl up, and she knew that retribution was coming.

By the time the two of them walked inside of the house much later, they were both covered in mud from head to toe. Steve and Natasha were sitting in the den watching television, their eyes shockingly wide as they took in the sight of them.

Gritting his teeth and holding up a single finger at them, "Don't say a damn word," Sam firmly instructed...but she heard the amusement in his tone as they headed upstairs to get cleaned up.

It had been one of her best days ever.

Nat watched from across the small basement workout area at Teagan going after the punching bag. She had been working late on her computer at the kitchen table when Teagan had snuck back downstairs after having gone to bed just a couple of hours earlier. She had easily picked up on her nervousness and anxiety. So she had suggested that the two of them head down here so Teagan could try working out some of her demons.

Steve had instructed Teagan on her stance and punching months ago, so tonight Nat had just talked, giving a ear to the topics that were upsetting her. Most of it was set around Keeling, as she had suspected. Every time Nat had mentioned a specific topic that upset her, Teagan was to hit the bag as hard as she could. So far, almost every hit was hard.

Seeing Teagan's sweaty body finally starting to slump, Nat figured that she had finally managed to wear her out a bit.

"Feeling better?"

Between hard panting, "Fecking yeah," Teagan grinned at her.

"Then let's head upstairs. You need a shower before crawling back into bed," she told her as she began to help remove the padded gloves they both wore.

"There's no way I'll be up in time to run with Steve and Sam in the morning," Teagan pointed out as they headed upstairs.

"Don't worry, I'll let them know."

"Thanks for just being there, Natasha."

"Not a problem. If you need to do it again, just come and wake me up," she told her before deciding to probe a bit more. "You didn't want to wake Sam up tonight?"

Teagan gave a weak smile before answering, "No, I've been waking him up a lot. I don't want to make him mad at me."

"I wouldn't worry about that," she told her. "I'm pretty sure that he would never mind."

Heading up the stairs, Nat could almost hear Teagan's thoughts scrambling to decipher her comment.