Title: Winter's Lullaby

Summary: S.H.I.E.L.D is now HYDRA free but the rest of the world isn't. Of course, this isn't something Steve Rogers could allow to go on, but he also needs to find Bucky. But to find Bucky, he needs help from more than just Black Widow and Falcon. He needs the Illusionist. - Spoilers if you haven't watch The Winter Soldier, read at your own risk.

Rating: Teen, for now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Black Widow, Captain America, Falcon, The Winter Soldier or any other Marvel characters that may appear in this fan fiction, they obviously belong to Marvel. Maya is my character though.

Author's Note: This fan fiction is loosely based on Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie.

Chapter One: Call of Help

It wasn't often that the Black Widow called in for help, though Maya was honored that she was called, it also unnerved her a bit. Just how bad was the situation is Natasha had to call in for help? The still twenty-three year old sighed softly.

"You're lucky that I really need your help on this, Rae, or that sighed would have made me hung up." That comment only made Maya want to sigh more, but that wasn't a good idea. Knowing the red head, she would get her payback the next time they were face to face.

"Right, sorry Nat. It's just, you're calling for help. That rarely ever happens, so you must be in some deep shit." The dark brunette said as she walked around the bakery to look for a birthday cake. She was going to have a cake this year, even if she had to buy it herself. Red velvet birthday cake. The one she was suppose to have twenty years ago.

This time, it was Natasha who sighed. "I know, but we need you and your know how." There was a pause as she talked with someone else with her hand on the phone. "Steve also said you should have company on your birthday."

That caused the woman to stop in her tracks and looked around slowly. "How do you guys know when my birthday is?" She asked as she went back to looking at cakes with the baker eying her. Maya had been there for close to twenty-five minutes now and still hasn't made any signs that she was actually going to get a cake.

"Please, Rae. You should know us better." Natasha said as there was a sound of a door opening in the background. "Oh, nice TV."

Maya groaned. Clearly they were in her apartment now. How they figured out where she lived was beyond her, especially since she moved five times during the past year. "Don't let Steve break anything. I'll be there soon." She said as she walked out of the bakery cakeless.

Agent Rae currently lived in Norfolk, Virginia in a small two bedroom apartment. The second bedroom served as an office, full of papers about her father and everything leading up to his death. Of course, most of it was useless now. She knew of HYDRA now because of the events last year. She knew that they were the ones that wanted her, and killed her father to get to her.

For the past year, she was building more and more information on the remaining HYDRA location, but there wasn't much. Over seas had plenty of activity, but Maya always took care of her home first before taking on foreign affairs. That, and she was running out of money fast because of her moving around. Becoming an agent herself only made the target on her back larger. Certainly, she wouldn't be able to live like she does if it was known knowledge that she's the Illusionist. Fury knew, but to her knowledge, he has past on. Leaving Natasha the only one to know, and she planned to keep it take way.

"Who doesn't have cable? Like, just basic cable? Does she only just watch DVDs?" Maya could hear a man complain as she unlocked her apartment door. "And look at these DVDs! I Love Lucy, M*A*S*H, the original run of Star Trek?! Someone needs to come to the twenty first century." The man that was criticizing her taste in TV shows was a tall, black man. He looked slightly familiar to Maya, but she didn't know for sure.

"If you don't like my DVDs, you can leave," Maya said, annoyed as she glared at him. She watched him as he returned her DVDs to the shelf then stand up. He offered his hand to her, but didn't move closer.

"I'm Sam Wilson," he said once Maya gave in and walked over to him so they could shake hands. "In the field though, you can call me Falcon."

Maya's eyes widen a bit in surprise. "You're Falcon? Nice to meet you, finally. You've been on the news lately, great work. Though, this doesn't mean I forgive you for hating on my DVDs." Her last commented earned a chuckle out of him. "I'm Maya. In the field either call me Agent Rae or just Rae."

"Maya Rae? Nice name," he shot back at her.

"Rae isn't her last name. It's a code name, no one knows what her last name actually is," Natasha said as she appeared out of the kitchen, wearing one of the aprons that Maya has. The other one was being worn by Steve, which she discovered when he came out of the kitchen as well. The red head looked at the blonde then back to their host. "Don't go in there."

The agent raised an eyebrow then decided to just forget it. "What do you need my help with, Natasha? I doubt it was just to come over to my place to use my kitchen." She didn't mean to be rude, just wanted to get down to business.

It was Steve who answered. "We need your help finding someone. You're the one with the most knowledge of the location, and it goes along with what you've been doing for the past year anyways. Wiping out HYDRA completely." He was definitely getting her interest. "You know the East Coast better than any of us in the room. I only really know New York, though not as much as I used to. Both Natasha and Sam were only station here. But you, Maya, were born and raised here."

"Who do you want help to find? And yeah, I was born in Maryland, but I was on the run since I was four. What could I really know?" She asked, keeping her eyes on Steve's to read him. If he tried to hide anything from her, she would know. Maya had been a part of S.H.E.I.L.D since she was sixteen, training to become an agent before then.

"We're looking for Caps' old buddy. You know, the guy with the metal arm that gave us hell last year." Sam said, drawing the attention to him.

Maya just stared at him for a moment, then to Steve and finally landing her stare on Natasha. It was quiet as she processed everything. Just the way that Sam said "old" made it obvious to who it was they were looking for even before adding the last part about his arm. "You're fucking kidding me," she finally said.

Natasha was quick to explain why they needed Maya's help. "Rae, listen, it has to be you. You're the only one that knows they area. Yes, I know that you were on the run a lot as a kid, but not location wise. I know your mother made you use it so you could be close to home. HYDRA is on the Eastern Shore, we just don't know where. We need you to be our guide, so we can find them and to find the Winter Soldier."

"What makes you think you'll find him near HYDRA? The last I heard, he went rouge from them. The guy probably went someone familiar, like New York." She said with a glace to Steve. He should have known that. He knew what it was like to wake up after being frozen for so many years. It's only natural one will want to go somewhere familiar.

By the looks on their faces, Maya had her answer. They checked New York, no Bucky. They even went to all of the places that Bucky was station during the war. Again, no Bucky. The woman sighed as she looked out her window.

Was she ready to go back home?

Was she ready to face her past?

The only answer she could come up with was; They need me.

The woman sighed and slowly nodded her head. Before she could even verbally confirm that she'll help them out, her body was lifted up into a bear hug from Steve. It was obvious on the man's face just how happy he was. Just how much hope he now had to find his best friend again.

"Thank you, Maya! You just don't understand how much this means to me that you'll help us out!" He was acting as if she said she would buy him a puppy. It made her wonder what it would be like to have a best friend. That if this was a normal reaction to have after hearing you'll be reunited with them after a long time.

"Steve, let her go. Tomorrow is a big day, and we should get some rest." Natasha said while Sam was already setting up a place to sleep on the couch.

The captain set down the agent with a grin. "She's right. I'll take the chair, night girls." He said before hearing over the the Lazy Boy, which Maya was now happy she spent the extra money on. If you have Captain America staying over, they very least he could sleep on his a good Lazy Boy.

"Hope you don't mind sharing a bed with me," Natasha said as they walked back into Maya's room, ignoring whatever comment that Sam made then got scolded for by Steve.

"Not at all. And Nat, you didn't need to bake me a cake." Maya said with a smirk, there was no point in the other to say to not go into the kitchen. "It's not even like it's a special birthday age, I'm just turning twenty-four."

The red head watched the black hair woman as she sat on the bed. "I wanted to. Well, Steve and I wanted to. Maya, you work your ass off and never took off for your birthday, or any day for the matter. Even when your mom died, you still worked. The least we could do is bake you a cake."

Maya didn't say anything, she didn't want to. Yes, she was going to get the cake that she wanted for her birthday, but no one has made her one since her mom died. A store bought cake would have been fine, but they baked her one. It made her both happy and sad. In the end though, happiness won as she drifted to sleep.

'I wonder what the cake will taste like ...'