A/N: Hey guys, so this chapter explores some pasts of Maria and Emily , courtesy of Steve.

Gamora's brown eyes snapped open in the early hours of the next morning, somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00 AM. She didn't know what awoke her, but she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her to go check it out.

She threw the covers off of her, careful not to wake Peter, and got out of the bed, quietly leaving the room. She took a left and went to Maria and Steve's room first, opening the door a bit to find that the two were both sound asleep. She quietly closed the door, careful not to wake them either since the slightest noise would wake them up and went down to where Emily was sleeping.

She opened the door to see that the teen was tossing and turning, sweating and visibly shaking. She recognized the fact that she must have been having a nightmare, prompting her to approach and gently shake Emily's shoulder.

"Emily!" She whispered, urgent but still calm as she continued to shake her.

The teenager continued to toss and turn.

"No. Stop." She mumbled, burying her face into her pillow, still sweating and shaking uncontrollably. Something caught Gamora's eyes, causing her to grab one of Emily's arms and roll up the sleeve of her dark blue sweatshirt to reveal long horizontal scars on her arm. Without letting go of Emily's left arm, she did the same with her right arm, revealing the same scars.

Gamora may have been from outer space, but she recognized self-inflicted wounds when she saw them. Never in a million years would she imagine Emily going through this. Although she didn't know much about Emily in the few years she knew her, but Emily was more of a sister to her than Nebula was. She seemed so happy when the two of them had met when Emily was just a small thirteen-year-old.

"Don't touch me. I'm eight. I'm a little girl."

Gamora looked back at Emily to see that her eyes were still tightly shut and was struggling to pull her arms out of the former assassin's grip.

"Emily, it's alright. You're safe." She said, saying the same thing that Peter had told her to calm her down not too long ago after she had been saved from Titan.

Emily let out a partial scream, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth as her green eyes snapped open and she let a few stray tears slip out of the corner of her eyes. Emily's eyes landed on Gamora's hands that were still holding her arms in a vice like grip, the sleeves rolled up to reveal the scars. She forcefully pulled her arms out of the woman's grip in fear.

"Don't tell Maria." She choked, pulling down her sleeves as Steve, Maria, and Peter rushed in, but Emily was already asleep once again as Gamora smoothed back Emily's dark hair, whispering something into her ear so only she would be able to hear.

"Everything will be alright. I promise."

"Was she having a nightmare?" Maria asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed on Emily's other side.

Gamora only nodded.

"I'll stay with her. Go back to sleep." Maria assured them, forcing Steve, Gamora, and Peter to leave the room.

Instead of going back to the bedroom with Peter, Steve gently took her by her elbow and lead her down to the floors kitchen, gesturing to the small, circular table in the center by a couple of windows.

"So, what happened?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked, raising an eye brow. At first she thought he meant what happened to her leg, but when he gestured back towards the bedrooms, she finally understood.

"How did you know Emily was having a nightmare?"

Gamora shrugged, "I felt that I should check on her. I checked on you and Maria first, then I went to her room. She was talking in her sleep. It was quite...alarming," She started, and they sat in silence for several minutes before she added, "Was Emily raped, Steve?"

Steve's head snapped up to look at her, "What makes you think that?"

"The words she was saying. I only want to know so I can help Emily. So I can be of use while I am here until Nebula and Thanos are stopped. If she was, I will not tell her or Maria that you told me, or let them know unless they ask or want to tell me themselves."

"I don't mean to be rude, but what makes you think I know?"

"Well, Maria is your fiancée and you seem to be close with Emily."

Steve sighed, knowing that Gamora wasn't going to drop the subject until he gave some answers.

"Yes. She was waiting for her brother to pick her up from school and three men took her and raped her when she was eight-years-old back in Chicago, where she lived at the time. The men that did it...Maria knew them. They were their dads friends."

"And they sexually abused Maria when she was a child." Gamora stated, putting two and two together so Steve didn't have to force himself to explain. She could tell his tone of voice went from that of calm to starting to get angry from trying to explain it.

Steve only nodded, "Last year, their dad's friend they_they tried to_"

"You don't have to go into any more detail, Steve." She said, cutting him off.

"Well, they're trying to forgive their dad. Their brother had an easier time doing it, but there's still trust issues between Danny and their dad, especially since he has a family of his own now. I actually feel bad for John because all he wants to do is make things right and be apart of their lives, but Maria and Emily won't let him touch them. Hugging wise and all of that, won't be alone with him for long periods of time. That's why Emily stays here some nights. John never hit her, but he was emotionally abusive towards her and she witnessed him beating Maria. She's afraid of him. They both are."

"Well at least they're trying to forgive they completely forgive him? Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. Eventually however, they'll be able to have that father daughter relationship with him that they didn't have as kids." Gamora explained, sighing.

"I know. It just needs time. He only got out of rehab last March so we can all expect it will take awhile."

"May I ask another question?"

Steve nodded.

"What is HYDRA? I heard you whisper something into Maria's ear and a 'he' was mentioned."

Steve sighed, "I fought them during World War Two. They resurfaced again and i'm helping rebuild SHIELD with Phil, Nick, and Maria. They practically destroyed it. An old friend is apart of HYDRA now after I thought he was dead for the last seventy years. Well, since I got out of the ice. His mission was to kill me back in DC."

"He does not sound like a good friend."

"He was brain washed basically. Didn't know what he was doing...he actually saved me, but I haven't seen him since."

Gamora nodded, "I asked you because Maria would not have told me...the pictures of the woman on your night stand...was that your girlfriend from World War Two."

"It's complicated. Wasn't much of a relationship, but we did like each other. After her, I didn't think i'd find anyone that I loved just the same as her. Then I met Maria."

Gamora nodded and yawned, "I should get back to bed. I will see you in the morning if you are still here." Gamora said and got up, refusing Steve's help as she made her way to her and Peter's room, checking in on Emily to see that she was fast asleep with Maria sleeping on the other side of the bed.

She sighed sadly.

I wish I had that with Nebula. She thought sadly as she closed the door again and went back to bed, dreading the debriefing they would have to sit through with Fury.

A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)

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