Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel: Agents of SHIELD, Avengers, Fantastic 4, etc. Just Jamie.

Chapter 32
Chit-Chat

A week getting adjusted to how things really worked around the new SHIELD HQ was just enough time for Jamie to feel settled. She really hadn't done all the much work, to be honest, just a whole lot of paperwork and research with her Brit Team. But that just meant she had enough time to really find her way around the base and get introduced to some of her coworkers.

Being busy help keep her mind off of a whole lot of emotions and thought she didn't want to deal with. Or, at least until she got a phonecall from a blond firecracker from New York.

"Would you just slow it down, Johnny? I can't understand you when you talk that fast. Reception isn't that great here…" Jamie mumbled, resting her phone on her shoulder and ear, her hands busy fumbling with some files she was looking through in the common desk area.

"You left the Avengers?!" Johnny gasped out finally having choked on air after a while.

There had been some articles in the tabloids about Solace not being around Avenger's Tower recently, and that, of course was big news. Johnny obviously had seen it, and called Jamie to see what was up.

"Not by choice," Jamie answered, finally huffing and sitting in her chair, the files slipping from her hold onto the surface of the desk.

"...you know I think Fantastic Five has a good ring to it." Johnny muttered.

"I'd rather not get hit on constantly, Mr. Storm. I mean, isn't that a potential sexual harassment lawsuit just waiting to happen?" Jamie laughed.

"Tell that to Reed and Sue!" Johnny said, sounding offended. "They flirt all the time."

"Well, they are married, Johnny. I think they're allowed to flirt," Jamie justified. Papers were slipped possibly back into folders in an unsuccessful attempt at getting her things organized once more.

"Not in front of me! That's my sister!" Johnny complained to her, somehow making the conversation all about him again, despite calling to talk about her.

"I guess I can see where you're coming from. I hated to see my brother flirt with girls. It's cringe worthy," Jamie said. "But, the offer is sweet. Thank you. I've got a place to stay and keep busy and useful for the time being though."

"Are they treating you right? How about feeding you enough. I'll set that asshole Captain America and Iron Man on fire if you need me too." Johnny swore to her.

"Well, Tony didn't have anything to do with it, surprisingly enough, so please leave him out of it," Jamie told him. "And…..please don't say anything to Steve…"

"So it was him! I'll kill the son of a bitch!"

"No, Johnny, please! Just let it go," she begged, her voice smaller than it had been.

"Fine...only because it was your cute voice." He said softly back to her.

Jamie sighed, giving up on the mess on her desk. She sat back, her hand picking up the phone so she could be more comfortable, her free hand running through her hair. "Thanks, Johnny. Really."

"You'd feel better if you saw my face..." Johnny said as if completely serious.

"See, sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen!" Jamie laughed, getting picked back up a little better again.

"You. Fucking. Bitch!" A voice responded that was definitely not Johnny. Her papers were suddenly shoved off her desk and a well manicured hand slammed into her desk, a furious looking Taylor glaring down at her. She yanks the phone from her using her other hand and hangs up for her, Johnny asking who was screaming.

Jamie shouldn't have been shocked, but she hadn't expected Taylor to be back for another couple days. She knew she was still working for SHIELD, even after the fall, but when Jamie arrived, Taylor had been out on assignment doing something at one of SHIELDs other secret buildings. Not wanting to bother and distract her from her work, or cause a scene because hell knew Taylor would make a scene with Steve.

"Hi?" Jamie said, though it came out more like a scared question than a proper greeting.

"How fucking dare you come into my fucking house and not tell me! Do you have no respect?!" Taylor said throwing her hands in the air, her phone still hostage. "And what the fuck is with you leaving Star Spangled Tight Ass and not fucking telling me first eh?!" Taylor looked around at the people staring. Though not many were cause they have grown used to Taylor's...fits. "Get back to fucking work before I shove a heel up some asses!"

"You were working. I didn't want to bother you. I was going to get you dinner from that place you keep telling me about when you got back, but obviously you're early," Jamie explained. She got up, walking up to Taylor and opening her arms to offer a greeting hug.

"Sam and I are going Friday, tag along." Taylor said nonchalantly. She hugged the girl tightly in her tiny arms. "How you feeling?

"...I don't know," Jamie answered after several long moments in the embrace. She pulled back, her arms wrapped around herself tightly.

"That's not a good sign." Taylor muttered. "But what do I know, I fix computers not people." She huffed and got off the desk. "Coffee?"

"God, yes," Jamie groaned, following after the woman. They made their way to the rec room where the kitchenette was, and apparently the crappy coffee more government jobs had. "How have you been? It's been too long."

"Good, sorry been off the grid a lot. And you had the whole Avenger's thing going. I had my own adventures." Taylor sighed. "Yeah...a ...All I'm going to say is I can write a book."

"I'd be scared and intrigued all at one for that," Jamie laughed. Once they both had coffee in hand, the two women made their way over to Jamie's favorite couch to sit and relax.

"Maybe I write it then, your eyes only." Taylor chuckled but looked to her. "As much of an amazing topic I am, I'm more concerned about you. What the hell happened?"

Jamie sighed. She knew she couldn't avoid the subject, but she had hoped to prolong it as long as she could. But there was no hiding from Taylor. It was best to just get it over with. "Bucky," Jamie answered.

"Buckkkkky..." Taylor said as she propped her feet on her seat and rotated her wrist at her in a go on motion. "Come on, spill it all out."

"I ran into Bucky when we were in Chile," Jamie went on. "And I didn't try and stop him from leaving. Steve….didn't take kindly to that."

"Star Spangled Tight Ass," Taylor grumble under her breath. "Okay so why did you not stop him? I mean I'm not questioning you but give me the full story. Your story."

"Well, I don't exactly agree with Steve on how we should deal with this whole thing. Bucky's trying to find himself again, and sometimes you can't do that when you have someone else that knew you before shoving your past self down your throat. Bucky needs to know that no matter what the choices, we're here for him. But that it's his choice. Not ours. Not SHIELD's. Not Hydra. His. Plus, I just had a building fall on me, so I wasn't exactly in any condition to try and stop him even if I wanted to."

"Dude needs some time to himself. He's all over the place. He hasn't caused trouble so what's the problem?" Taylor huffed and rolled her eyes. "With what he's gone through the guy needs his brain to himself, Steve needs to get it."

"Steve didn't like my view on it. I told him I didn't think I could do it anymore, so he kicked me off the team," Jamie answered. "So I left. Figured some distance would help both of us cool off."

"Yeah, I think Steve will go back to his usual reasonable self once he fucking calms his man tits down. Seriously he almost has bigger boobs than me and they need to chill." Taylor scoffed with a wave off motion.

"...But I like the firmness of his man boobs…" Jamie muttered, her eyes staring across the room at the opposite couch, just missing her best friend.

"They're still man boobs!" Taylor rolled her eyes. "Listen, time and distance are important components to a lot equations including mending a broken relationship." Taylor explained. "Let the science do it's work."

"Maybe I should've just kept my mouth shut," Jamie muttered, fiddling with the coffee cup in her hands.

"No, you don't have to feel bad for fucking doing what you felt was right! Fuck that noise. If Steve can't handle a little opposition he needs to go back to the fucking 40's."

"That's not funny, Taylor," Jamie sighed. "I just...He's never yelled like that before. Not at me."

"Good, it's not supposed to be funny." Taylor set her cup down. "If he feels like he needs to yell then let him yell. It's a proper response when outside stimuli threaten internal equilibrium of emotional stability."

"He shouldn't be threatened by me though," Jamie said. "I've always been there for him. I've always pressed that fact to him so he knew it by heart."

"Well...Bucky is all he's got left from who he used to be." Taylor shrugged. "The past has a way of digging it's way into your back and not letting you go unless you completely forget. He can't forget when Bucky is staring him right in the face, out there like him and suffering."

"It's not like I'm not a complete stranger to something like that," Jamie said. "I mean, Aaron's out there. I thought he was dead. He remembers, of course, but….I know something about dead best friends coming back in ways you don't expect."

"So let him work through it himself. It's just like your thoughts on Bucky. Don't back down, just back off." Taylor said.

Jamie sighed once more before putting her cup of coffee down on the table. She turned to Taylor, giving her a small smile and a huff. "I thought you said you weren't good with people," she said with a lame laugh at the end.

"...I've been learning..." Taylor muttered rubbing her arm awkwardly.

That spiked Jamie's interest. "Oh please, go on!"

"Sam works for the fucking VA so he has good people skills okay? He just gives me tips." Taylor rolled her eyes.

"You two have been seeing a lot of each other lately," Jamie teased, bumping her shoulder into the much smarter young woman. "How are things between you two?"

"Well what do you expect us to do while you and Steve were off kicking babies and kissing ass. Or whatever you Avengers do? Besides, I'm his research tech." Taylor said not picking up on the teasing.

"Why do I think you're doing more research on Sam than the work he's been giving you?" Jamie teased right back.

"I research everyone." Taylor shrugged. "We get along good, you said I needed more friends and you're the one who introduced us."

"Yeah, but you seem a little more interested than I thought you'd be?" Jamie fished.

Taylor seemed to think for a bit. "Well...we clicked." Taylor shrugged. "That's part of the book. We've kinda been through alot in the past few months."

"There are worse men," Jamie said. "Sam's one of the rare good ones."

"Huh?" Taylor asked confused. "Well duh he's one of the good guys."

"I mean good for you, Tay," Jamie said. "Give this thing a shot, okay?"

"Woah woah woah! Just cause we eat dinner and drink together doesn't mean shit!" Taylor said standing up her pale face red with embarrassment.

"That blush says otherwise, Nerd," Jamie said.

"Go fuck yourself!" Taylor said giving her the finger as she marched off, leaving her to clean up the coffee.

Jamie sighed watching her go. Well, at least Taylor was a good distraction. As was the work, and her friends inside SHIELD. Jamie couldn't help but miss home though. She wondered what everybody was doing. But really, she just wondered what Steve was up to.

Things at the Tower were….different, that was for sure. After Jamie left, Bruce found his way to Steve, who was frustratedly grabbing a beer out of the fridge in the common area while Tony played video games against JARVIS on the TV. When confronting him like this, of course, drew in Tony's attention.

There was some frustrated comments and whatnot, but nothing that couldn't be forgiven between the three. Neither Tony nor Bruce agreed with Steve's decision on letting Jamie go, nor did they think it was a good thing for Jamie to just run away from everything and leave them like none of it meant anything to them, even though they really knew otherwise.

But eventually, for the most part, things got back to normal. Tony and Bruce were in the lab. Natasha would pop up every once in awhile. Clint wasn't exactly around all the time anyway, so he wasn't a big contributing factor the daily change. Thor was off with Jane, Darcy and Dr. Selvig. Really, the biggest change was for Steve.

Instead of constantly having someone there for him whenever he needed it, he was left on his own. Jamie wasn't there to talk to, or watch movies with. Or to just have as a comforting presence when he didn't want to be alone, but not necessarily up for doing anything. Jamie was always there. In this day, this time, his life, Jamie had been a constant for him.

And now she was gone.

He stood in the doorway to her bedroom, just looking in. The smell of her consuming him. There was the soft scent of her shampoo and body wash, as well as her favorite perfume, which was a warm scent called Pumpkin Cupcake. He thought the name was ridiculous, but the smell was wonderful. He could always smell it when she was next to him, and even more so when they'd hug or sit with his arm around her shoulder, or on the back of the couch where she sat next to him all the time.

But when Steve imagined sitting on that couch with Jamie, all he could picture was her telling him she let Bucky go. And each time that came up, his anger would slowly start to boil up to the surface once more.

There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to prove to Jamie that he knew what he was talking about. That he knew Bucky, even if this wasn't necessarily his Bucky, better than anybody. He had completely pure intentions. He knew that he could help Bucky to find who he was now, no matter who that may be. He knew that the best place for Bucky was to be there with them.

But he also wanted to apologize for his actions. He had...reacted poorly, he could admit that to himself no. Not out loud, but at least to himself. But he wasn't completely convince he could do that yet.

No, everything was still too raw at the moment. Jamie was stubborn. He knew she really meant what she said, and her intentions were good as well, he knew that. But he just couldn't accept the way she saw it. He couldn't do that. And if they got talking about it, and she brought up how she heft to deal with the situation, he'd most likely get worked up again and say something hurtful once more.

Steve never wanted to hurt Jamie. She was….God, it was so hard to describe what Jamie was to him. She was a best friend. A comfort. A….potential romantic interest? Gah, that sounded so stupid and impersonal. But how else would he put it? He really cared about Jamie. He loved how she smiled, and how she was always so helpful to everybody. She was determined, with a strong moral compass and devotion to justice. She was loyal, and strong, one of the strongest women he'd ever met. She was right up there with Peggy, and Natasha.

But she was a bit more relaxed then both of those women. She was nurturing, and tender, with a love for children and a need for companionship, though it didn't come off as desperate. She loved with her whole heart, and that's what made him truly love her.

Right. Steve loved Jamie.

And that's why it killed him to stay away from her. But right now, for the sake of their relationship, this was what needed to be done.

He had to give Jamie up.

At least….for now.

Okay, so there's a lot to discuss in now. Firstly, I had originally not planned on putting Steve's POV in this, but so many people wanted it that I did. I hope it was okay. I'm really not all that great at writing for Steve. Secondly, Please check out my other Marvel story, "Cost of the SHIELD," which is a Bucky Romance story. Lastly, I'm updating this early because StillDoll13, the writer for Taylor, and I, are interested to see if people would like to read a story for her and Sam. There's a poll up on her page, which is obviously StillDoll13, so please go and take that to let us know. I can't hurt your chances to let me know here and I can relay that to her. So PLEASE do that to let us know. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and please leave a review!

Thanks to the following for their reviews on the previous chapter:

Jedi Jelsa777- I know. I love Trip so much. I was so sad when...I can't even say (write?) it! Idk if Jamie will be there that long, seeing as I do want her to go home a while before A2 and get back in the swing of things with Steve to mend their relationship. I had so much fun writing Hunter. He's one of my faves and I can't believe they got rid of him! And the new Fantastic 4 movie wasn't exactly Marvel anyway. They don't have the writes to the fantastic four for movies, I believe. I could be wrong though.

Jo- Well, there's both Johnny AND Taylor in this chapter, so even though she's not technically with them (though she kinda is with Tay) they're still in it!

19irene96- I'm glad you really like their interactions and want to see more of it. There will be some, but not as much as I would like. I'm really anxious to move on after this. That's when they really GOOD stuff comes in.

CJ/OddBall- I hope you like Steve's little bit. It wasn't exactly how you imagined it, but I do feel kinda happy about how it went. And the "Distance" thing, was supposed to be questioningly done.

FelixFelicis02- Aw, thank you so much! I'm so glad you think it's all spot on. I try so hard to make that happen!If you do like this one, I think you'd like the other one I suggested above that I'm working on. It's Costs of the SHIELD. And it's a lot more intertwined with SHIELD than this one is.

Guest- Yeah, I like how it's more realistic to have more people around, seeing as it's not realistic to just only associate with just the Avengers and nobody else. I hope you liked Steve's little bit/reaction.

Kimberley- I'm so glad you like it! It's so cool to hear from new people to the series and what they think!