A/N: Heh….surprise! Back from my unannounced hiatus! * is shot * I can't be sure, but hopefully updates will be more frequent in the future. Things are going to start heating up again pretty soon, so hold on to your Blu-ray edition of Winter Soldier and grab the tissue box.

"It is a very mixed blessing to be brought back from the dead."

~Kurt Vonnegut

The jet was the nicest Avery had ever seen- and she had seen a lot of planes.

The lone stewardess, a pretty blonde woman in a deep blue uniform, greeted them with a rehearsed welcome as they stepped aboard. Avery hadn't been expecting the typical seat arrangements that most commercial aircrafts had (this was Tony Stark they were talking about), but the net value of this plane's furnishings alone was clearly more than everything her family owned. Instead of rows of generic fabric chairs, crème-colored love seats were arranged back-to-back along one side of the plane. A huge plasma screen TV hung on the furthest wall. Opposite the seats there was a fully stocked bar, rows of glittering steins and decanters in every color imaginable sitting before a mirror.

Someone was obviously fond of his spirits.

Avery brushed a leather chair with her hand as she made her way into the plane, Sam behind her. Steve stopped at the door to speak with the stewardess about something.

She eased into the first love seat in the row. A small glass table sat between her and the chair facing her.

"Thanks, Avery," Sam said, looking around the cabin and sliding into the chair.

"What?"

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this is slightly better than first class."

Steve, hands in his pockets, strolled up and leaned against the countertop of the bar. "Should be taking off in a few minutes," he said, skeptically surveying the track lighting on the ceiling that would have looked right at home in a five-star restaurant.

Avery hugged her knees to her chest, feigning a long gaze out the window. The men were too busy pondering their surroundings to notice her glancing at them.

This was so...weird. Last week, she had been working a part-time shift at McDonald's, just trying to save up some money to cushion the blow of the student loans she would be facing with college in the Fall.

And now, here she was.

On Tony Stark's private plane with Captain America and an expert soldier (who she was pretty sure had those metal wings from the news stashed somewhere), on her way to rescue her semi-bionic assassin boyfriend from some Nazis.

...Wait. What?

Avery jerked.

Boyfriend? Where did that come from?!

A few seconds of radio silence ticked by in her brain. Gradually, a brick-like weight pulled her stomach down to the floor of the jet.

Ooooh no. No. Nope. Bad. Oh my God, Avery. No. Really bad.

He was- he was too damaged. He could never- that wasn't-

She and the Soldier were friends! Sure, they had made promises to each other. Friendship. Protection. But that was it. Her immature brain was just mistaking those promises for something...else. And she was traumatized. The sickening distress she felt at losing him was something any other person would feel if their friend got kidnapped right in front of them.

And as for his actions, saving her life and caring for her so gently was just his way of returning a favor.

Right?

The plane had moved to the runway while she had been in her own world. It started to shake and rattle violently as it picked up speed for takeoff. She must have been making a ridiculously odd face at the suggestions of her subconscious, because Sam said, "Uh...I don't need to move, do I? 'Cause if you get airsick, don't take it personally, but I'm gonna move."

Avery looked up at him dumbly, her mouth a little open. "What?" She noted how he was angling himself away from her. "Oh- no. I don't get airsick."

He looked relieved, and Avery's lips twitched humorlessly. She felt a desperate urge to say something, to talk about anything to distract her from the epiphany she'd just had, and from the dire situation of the Soldier. She knew full well that her success in finding help wouldn't slow the clock ticking his life and sanity away.

Steve had moved away from her and Sam, taking his place by a window toward the back. He remained standing, watching listlessly as clouds flew by, deep in thought. His body language told them he wasn't going to be joining their conversation.

"So..." Avery blurted. Sam interestedly looked up at her. She forced a somewhat lopsided grin. "Were you the guy in the news with the...?"

He caught her meaning and grinned. "The badass metal wings? Yup. Good thing, too. Captain Kamikaze over there likes jumping off bridges without a parachute."

Avery's eyes flicked over to Steve, who didn't appear to hear what they were saying. She looked at Sam again. "That's amazing. How did you ever- did you make them yourself?"

"Nah, nah. Army special issue. They needed a paratrooper to carry out some of the high-risk missions in Afghanistan." He reached under the neckline of his shirt and pulled out a chain with two silver dog tags. "So they picked me."

She shook her head. "Being a regular pilot was too boring, huh?"

"Would you turn down metal wings?" he demanded good-naturedly. "They are, in fact, as cool as they seem."

She laughed. "How long were you there?"

"'Bout two years," he said. "Long enough for people to start making bird noises every time I stepped out of the barracks." Sobering, he added, "Long enough to see lots of good guys come and go."

Avery stilled. "Yeah. My cousin was in Iraq for 18 months. He seemed...a lot older when he got back."

"War ain't pretty," he agreed.

She shifted her attention to Steve again. Now that he thought he wasn't being observed, a drawn, distracted expression shadowed his face. He almost looked like a totally different person from the man she'd served in McDonald's- and that had only been two weeks ago. Lowering her voice, she asked Sam, "Is he okay? He looks...troubled."

Sam discreetly looked over his shoulder, then turned back to her. His eyes were a little sad. "Yeah, well. Seeing Barnes- you know, the way he is now- and having to fight him...it wasn't exactly a fun experience."

Her heart hurt as she realized the full brunt of what Steve had to shoulder. To wake up 70 years in the future was bad enough, but to realize that your best friend had been tortured all that time you'd been asleep...

Sam watched her face and added, "He doesn't say, but I know he feels guilty. Like it's his fault Barnes got captured and changed in the first place." Sam looked back at him again. "But if what you said was true about Barnes becoming more human- well. I think that's the first real grain of hope he's had in a long time."

Sam met her eyes again. She nodded at him gratefully.

They both quieted for a while. At some point, the flight attendant came back and told them the air traffic was particularly heavy that day; the plane was going to have to circle around a few times before landing. She thought it might add at least another half hour to travel time.

After she left, Avery noted that the steady thrum of the plane engine was surprisingly quiet. She found herself begin to nod off, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw that familiar flash of shining red-starred steel.

It was probably better to stay awake.

Eventually, she struck up a conversation with Sam again. Avery wasn't one for small talk, but it wasn't so bad with him. He was the type of person who never seemed artificial or unauthentic, and she liked that a lot about him.

"Where'd you come from before Afghanistan?"

"D.C., born 'n raised," he smiled faintly.

"Oh, you too?"

"Another city kid," Sam said, his smile widening, "Where you from?"

"The apartment complex near DuPont Circle."

"Oh yeah? I lived right off U Street."

"No way. We go to the restaurants there all the time. My dad loves the Italian pl-" She froze. "Oh, crap."

Unsettled by the turn in conversation, Sam asked curiously, "What?"

"My parents," she said, eyes wide.

"What about...Avery?"

Steve, having heard her distressed exclamation, looked over. She bit her lip as the two men beheld her. Sheepishly, she answered, "Um...I sort of had to escape a hospital to come find you...and they may or may not have any idea where I am."

"Hold up," Sam interrupted, "Are you saying we kidnapped you!?"

Steve was frowning.

She scoffed. "No, you didn't kidnap me. I just really need to call them and tell them I'm okay."

The sun was yawning out over the peaks of the clouds. By now, her parents had probably arrived at the hospital to find her gone. Depending on how early they got there, they may have already gotten the police involved.

Sam threw a glare back at his friend, obviously saying I told you bringing her was a bad idea.

"Oh, calm down," Avery dismissed. "It's not a big deal. I'll just-" She blanked, realizing she had no idea what she would say on the phone. "I'll, uh, figure something out."

Grimacing, she stood to get the fight attendant. She heard Sam muttering something and opted to ignore it. When Avery passed through the corridor that extended from the lounge, she found the attendant sitting in a kitchenette, her nose buried in a gossip magazine.

"Excuse me, is there a phone onboard I could use?"

The flight attendant looked up and quickly stashed the magazine. "Absolutely, ma'am. Right this way." She took Avery back through the small corridor and stood at the entrance to the lounge. Avery felt Sam and Steve staring at them. The woman opened a small port in the wall that Avery hadn't seen before, reached in, and pulled out a chrome smartphone. Avery thanked her quietly. She took one deep breath before dialing her mom's phone number.

The phone hardly even rang once before she picked up.

"Hello?"

Avery knew her mom well enough to hear the twinge of hysteria in her voice.

"Hi, Mom. It's me."

"...OH MY GOD!"

Avery winced and held the phone away from her ear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve smirk a little. He had definitely heard that.

Avery held it back up to her ear.

"-Where are you? Are you okay? Why did you leave the hospital?! Are you hurt?! We saw the security footage and you just left! In the middle of the night! Did someone force you to go?"

"Mom."

"Do you know where you are? Tell us where you are, sweetheart, we're coming to get you right now-"

"MOM!" she yelled into the receiver. "Listen to me for a second, okay? I'm not hurt. I'm completely safe. Did you hear me, Mom?"

Avery heard relieved crying on the other end. A fresh wave of guilt washed over her. "Mom. I- Mom. Can you put Dad on the line?"

Her dad's voice immediately floated out of the phone. He sounded hoarse. "Avery, what's going on? Where are you?"

"I tried telling Mom- I'm fine. I'm safe. Dad, I really need you to listen for a minute. This is important."

"Okay, okay." He sounded like he was trying to calm himself down.

"I haven't been completely honest with you and Mom for the past few weeks." She looked over at the two men in the plane lounge. Steve cautioned her with a silent shake of the head. "I- I don't think it's safe to tell you much, but- well, I didn't end up in the hospital by accident. Someone did that to me on purpose."

"What?! What are you-"

She plowed on through. "I can't tell you who or why. It's for your own safety, okay? I just called to tell you that I have to go away for a while. I'm in the hands of some experts now. They, ah…protect people for a living. I'm the safest I could possibly be right where I am."

"Experts? Like, the FBI?"

Avery turned toward the cockpit, conscious that the two heroes were eavesdropping behind her. "Actually, I'd say these guys are slightly better than the FBI."

He paused for a minute.

"Avery, were you doing something illegal?"

"No!" She winced. "Well- not really. I don't think."

Horrified silence from the other end.

She rubbed her forehead. "Never mind. We'll talk about it when I come home."

"You bet we will." He tried to sound angry, but she could tell he was too overwhelmed to really put much effort into it.

"One more thing," Avery continued. "Do not. tell. anyone. Call off the search. Tell the police you found me. Do not tell them that there are people after me. Some of those police might be in on it." She could tell by his silence that there were probably policemen nearby. "And only tell Mom when there's no one else around."

"Avery-" he began, clearly wanting to ask a thousand questions. He cleared his throat, settling on one. His voice quieted to keep people around him from hearing. "When will you be back?"

"I...I really don't know, Dad."

He blew out a long puff of air. "You're sure you're safe with those...experts?"

She looked Sam in the eyes, then Steve, before saying, "Absolutely."

There was a bit of static, and then her dad's voice to someone else, a little distant: "Hold on a minute." More static. "Avery?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you. Be safe. And call us whenever you get the chance."

"I will. I love you, too." She detested the shakiness in her voice as she joked, "Good luck telling Mom."

"Yeah. Thanks," he replied wearily, with the faintest twinge of humor.

"Bye, Dad."

"Bye, Avery."

Her thumb hovered over the 'End Call' button a little longer than normal before pressing it. Who knew when she would see her parents again?

She turned back to the two men waiting for her in the lounge.

The only thing she knew for sure was that she wasn't giving up on finding the Soldier. Even if it took months, years, she would find him.

She had to.