A/N: Well, here it is, lucky chapter number 13. As I thought, I'm going to have plenty of time to write on both Mondays and Wednesdays when I have breaks in my classes, particularly on Wednesdays. And I've also started working more on my new idea, Bridges, which I will begin posting shortly after I end Silver. I'm not crazy about working on two fanfics at once, especially when they're for the same movie, but I'm already getting some of the chapters for Bridges out of the way so when I do post it, there shouldn't be so much lag on it. Anyway, thank you to all of my faithful readers. Breaking news: the Avengers gag reel is on tumblr now, and it's hilarious. If you haven't seen it, you live in a cave. Go find it and have your day made. Thank you for all of the lovely reviews. You guys are the best. Honestly. Disclaimer: I'm told that owning an Avengers lunch box does not mean you have exclusive rights to Marvel or the Avengers, so I'm still out of luck.
"Hey, is everything okay," Steve asked with a frown on his face. Sam had been rather quiet since she had come back to the tower with Amber. It was unlike her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why," Sam said with a smile. She knew why. Her mind was racing, images of blue envelopes and photos of her circling through her head. She couldn't decide what to do about it. Could she face this by herself? The endless cycle of thoughts kept her preoccupied, and she had let her façade slip.
"I don't know, you seem distracted," Steve answered her.
Oh sure, leave it for today for Steve to be observant. "It's nothing, I'm just thinking about my parents. I haven't talked to either of them in a while."
Steve's face immediately clouded over. He knew she didn't like talking about her parents much, so he knew it was best to leave the conversation there. He would happily listen to her if she wanted to talk, but the subject was sensitive to her.
"If you want to talk, I'm here for you," Steve reminded her as he pulled her a little closer.
"I know," Sam said as she gave him a real smile, the first she had given since she got back.
She felt so bad about lying to Steve. Immediately she wanted to take the words back, to tell him what she had found...but she couldn't. Normally she wouldn't have thought twice about it; she had told plenty of lies before to keep her identity safe, or else to help smooth things over. Lying was second nature to her, but Steve was one of the few people who knew more than the lies she told. It felt wrong to not give him the truth.
Normally she wouldn't have thought twice about it; she had told plenty of lies before to keep her identity safe, or else to help smooth things over. Lying was second nature to her, but Steve was one of the few people who knew more than the lies she told. It felt wrong to not give him the truth.
"I'm just going to go bake some brownies for a bit," Sam said as she pulled away. She tried to make her words sound cheerful and to keep a smile plastered on her face. Perhaps she was a little too convincing, because Steve just nodded and smiled back as he let her go. It was then that she realized a part of her wanted to get caught. She wanted someone else to help her with this nightmare, like when her mom used to check for monsters in her closet every night. Then she remembered she had been four at the time, she needed the protection. She would have to find her own closure this time.
Sam was working on a huge batch of fudge brownies (Thor could manage to eat an entire batch himself) when she heard a thud and then a shatter from the living room. She knew Amber, Thor, and Loki had been up to something in there. Amber had wandered into the kitchen, took one look at Sam baking, and then quickly went into the living room and claimed that the Asgardians needed to know how to use the Wii.
Sam stopped mixing in chocolate chips and entered the living room cautiously, like it was a war zone. Inside she found Amber with a hand clamped to her mouth, Loki standing in a corner with his own remote, and Thor inspecting the flat screen, which had taken a tumble down to the floor and rested in a bed of shattered glass. A Wii remote was lying not too far away.
Tony entered the living room after he heard the crash for himself and walked over to the TV. "Guys," he said as he drew out the word in a sigh, "this is why we can't have nice things."
A collective release of breath followed the statement. At least he wasn't mad. "I'll have a new one replace it by tonight. And Thor, next time don't forget to put on the wrist strap when you bowl," Tony called over his shoulder as he entered the elevator.
Sam's mood had not improved during dinner, and some of the group had noticed. Natasha gave Steve a questioning look, but he just shook his head. Sam had every right to be moody in his opinion, and he would give her all the time she deserved.
Amber was not of the same opinion however. Sam had given her the same story about her parents, but this had backfired on her. Amber knew better than to let Sam mope around, so she set about to make herself as annoyingly persistent as possible while trying to get Sam to smile. If she didn't want to talk, that was fine, but Amber was determined to make her at least forget about it for a while.
"Let's go to Candy Mountain, Charlie," Amber quoted to her as she tugged on Sam's hand.
"Ugh, what is wrong with you," Sam said as she let herself get dragged along.
"Well, I kill people and I eat hands, that's two things," Amber quoted again as she giggled. Steve stared at her as if questioning her sanity and Amber gasped. "Steve! Have you never heard of the wondrous invention called YouTube?!"
"Um…no," Steve said like it was a question.
"Tony," Amber yelled. "How dare you commit this gross injustice? You were supposed to be teaching Steve about technology!"
"Priorities," Tony replied. "I can't even get him to text yet." Amber rolled her eyes.
"That's it," she said. "I know what we're doing tonight."
For the next three hours they were subjected to watching the YouTube classics. Steve did not appreciate the humor in most of the videos, but he watched Sam laugh along with Amber, and it made him smile. Other members of the team flitted in and out of the room at different videos. Thor insisted that he and Loki watch as well, "to learn more Midgardian customs", which led to more explaining. Loki seemed to enjoy Llamas with Hats. Karl's psychotic tendencies were hard to not laugh at, unless you actually had a soul.
Steve walked Sam to her room and entered her sitting area with her. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Of course," Sam said. She really wished he would stop being so observant for once, it was really making her feel guilty. "It's all fine, I'm thinking of maybe calling my mom tonight."
"In that case, I'll let you get to it, just…don't let it get to you, okay? I like seeing your smile," Steve said as he kissed her forehead. It was a heartwarming gesture, something he did when kissing her good night. He wasn't big on make out sessions, but this was far sweeter. She gave him a hug in response and held on a little longer than usual. She almost lost it right then, but held together.
"Good night," she whispered as he left. Sam changed into her pajamas and climbed into her bed, but she knew it would be a long time before sleep came to her.
The next morning she felt terrible. Nightmares ruled her dreams, ones with never ending twists and turns and the constant feeling that she needed to be somewhere, that there was someone in trouble, but she could never find them. The same nightmare always came back to her, no matter how many times she woke up. She had a miserable headache that no amount of aspirin could take away.
Still, Sam carried on and faked her way through the morning. She met Steve in the gym and was careful to act normal. He seemed satisfied that she was feeling better. He didn't dare ask about her parents though, in case it made her upset again.
Breakfast was the usual crowd of people packed around the table with the morning people being pointedly obnoxious towards those that were barely functioning with the help of coffee. It was a wonder Bruce hadn't hulked out yet. Despite being hard to wake up, Amber made it her personal goal to be as obnoxious as possible. Sam normally joined in this madness, with Steve sitting next to her and staying out of the line of fire.
"Have a good day at school, kiddies," Tony called out as Amber and Sam left the table.
"Wait, aren't you coming back after you drop Amber off," Steve asked Sam.
"Oh, I have a paper due for my English class so I need to work on it at the house where I can have some peace and quiet," she replied with a meaningful glance at Tony.
"I have no clue what you are talking about," Tony said as Amber and Sam headed off to the elevator.
After Sam dropped Amber off there was still loads of time before the meeting. She took to pacing around the house as she thought about what she was doing. Could she really go through with this? Then she looked at the kitchen walls, which used to be covered in pictures of her like wallpaper. They had made this personal, and she would see it through.
She left the house around 11:30. Sam was going to play this smart. She showed up on a parking garage roof adjacent to the building she was supposed to show up at. It was a nice spot to scout everything out. She could set up the perfect trap and ambush them from here.
Sam walked over to the edge of the roof. There was a thick cement wall running around it to the height of her waist. It was just the size for her to crouch behind.
Then Sam heard a cell phone ringing. She looked down at her phone in her pocket, but it definitely wasn't it. Over in the corner a black cell phone sat on the edge of the wall, playing 'Where'd You Go' as its ring tone. A cold feeling settled into Sam's entire being. It was a trap.
She immediately looked around her at the other buildings; someone must be hidden spying on her to know she was there. How did they even know where she would show up? There were too many things wrong here. She needed to run for it, while she could; alert the other Avengers and get them involved.
There was a cracking sound in the distance, which Sam vaguely recognized as the sound of a gunshot. It came to her blurrily, like a ripple across a pond. Her vision started to tunnel. She looked down; her entire body was numb with shock as she watched crimson blossom across her chest and the world faded to black.