A/N: Hello my loves! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and possibly this chapter might begin to give you a little insight on what's happened to our beloved characters over the past year. Love you all and enjoy!

~O~

"Where are you going?"

Maddy rolled her eyes as she stuffed her papers into her trusty, old backpack, before turning to face her boss of over 8 months now.

Tony Stark stood at the entrance to her work space, leaning against the door frame and snacking relentlessly on some kind of sugary treat.

"Don't give me that bullshit. You know full well where I'm going," she shot back, narrowing her eyes at him. "I told you I was leaving work early today, like a week ago."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry I don't remember your exact schedule," he drawled on as he sauntered toward her. "I guess I'll just show you the new synthetic polymer adhesive web that Peter and I designed later," he shrugged innocently.

She shot him a glare. "Ok, firstly; we both know that I'm your favourite employee by far and thus you totally keep track of my schedule. And secondly; don't try to bribe me with cool inventions. I'm leaving. And we both know Peter did 90% of the work on that webbing - you just provided the resources. Don't you go taking any of his credit."

He chucked a piece of candy in his mouth. "Alright, all of what you just said was false but anyway. I feel like I'm sort of obliged to choose Pepper as my favourite employee, although possibly that's a conflict of interest…"

Chuckling, she reached over to kiss him on the cheek before slinging her backpack onto one shoulder. "Goodbye Tony!" She called as she walked away.

She was nearly at the elevator when the door to the camera footage room flung open and Allan, who was one of the security guards that oversaw a lot of the surveillance of the building, walked out. A slightly overweight, 30 year old man who was beginning to bald far too young and had joined Stark Industries about a month after Maddy had. He seemed a nice enough guy, if not a little weird. He smiled when he saw her and waved awkwardly. She tried to picture him running after someone and tackling them - as was his job as a security guard. She had a hard time imagining it.

"Hey there Maddy, how's it going?" He asked, going to lean back against the wall but stumbling slightly when it was further away than he anticipated. She internalised her laughter, not wanting to be mean.

"Good thanks Allan. Sorry, I can't chat - I'm late for something. I'll talk you later!" She grinned as she hurried toward the elevator.

"Oh, right. Yeah, sure.." He waved again, staring after her as she hopped into the lift and gave him a smile before the doors shut.

Not long after, Maddy found herself at one of her favourite small, quiet coffee shops. She was sitting in a high-backed, victorian style chair in a corner, with a coffee table between her and another identical, empty chair.

"Miss Madelyn," a warm voice said and Maddy turned. A smile immediately lit her face and she stood.

"Adeline," Maddy embraced the older woman tightly.

"Your hair," Adeline grinned, looking at the short cut. "It's very nice." Maddy thanked her before they both sat down.

When Adeline had told her that she was coming to America to give a speech at a conference for psychiatrists, Maddy had insisted that they catch up. Although she had not had a therapy session with Adeline in a long, long time, she had grown very fond of the old woman and had missed her dearly.

"Ce faci, draga mea? Cum trăiești în această țară străină?" Adeline spoke in quick, fluent Romanian and after not speaking the language for so long, it took Maddy a second to decipher what she had said. How are you my darling? How is living in this foreign country?

"Este diferit, desigur. Dar treaba mea este uimitoare - îmi place foarte mult," Maddy replied, a little put off when she stumbled over a few of her words. It is different, certainly. But my job is amazing - I enjoy it very much.

Adeline smiled a secret sort of smile and tapped her plump fingers along the arm of the chair. "Ahh, but you did not move to another country for a job, now did you? The boy, James, you are living here with him?"

"No," Maddy smiled, but it was a sad sort of smile. "I don't-...We aren't…" She took a sip of her coffee to steady herself. "We don't speak anymore."

Adeline frowned, but if she was surprised, she hid it well. "And why is that?"

Maddy looked down. "It's a long story. Besides, you aren't here as my councillor - you're here as my friend."

Adeline chuckled and leaned back. "That is true, but I've always had a hard time turning the therapist side of myself off. I see they've converted you from tea to coffee."

"Converted?" Maddy chuckled, glad to change the topic. "Never. Just broadened my horizons."

They continued to talk for some time, until the sky was a mirage of orange hues as the sun descended below. Somehow, the conversation circled back around to the entire reason Maddy had moved to America in the first place.

"I suppose it's just...surprising. When I first spoke to you, it truly seemed like you and this James were in it for the long run," Adeline said. "I mean, you went through a lot for him and I know that he helped you through a lot as well."

Maddy felt the great, big sadness that she now associated with Bucky's name, well up in her chest. It was draining, really, how depressing just the thought of him was.

"I was happy," she admitted. "For a little while. But then...something happened. I got hurt because of one of his missions. Everything changed after that."

Adeline was frowning and leaning forward slightly and she had her psychiatrist look on. "Hurt how?"

Maddy's grip on her cup tightened until her knuckles were white. She didn't want to think about that night, about the incident that had ruined everything. "I was attacked and got shot. I lost a lot of blood." She took in a shaky breath. "I don't know why but...James didn't want me after that. Maybe he thought I was weak or...Maybe he thought I made him weak. But...he left me. Like it was easy." She couldn't look at Adeline, because she was embarrassed about the tears that stung her eyes. She had been in plenty of relationships before and none of them had still haunted her 8 months later. Then again, she had never been as in love with anyone as she had been with Bucky, so she supposed it made sense.

"Do you really think that's the reason he left? That he thought you were weak because you couldn't protect yourself? Of course I never met him, but from what you've told me it seems unlikely," Adeline was kind, but insistent.

"I don't know," Maddy leaned back and her tone of voice indicated that she was just about done with the conversation. "Maybe he thought that it was simply too complicated for him to have a relationship and be in that job. Maybe he thought that too much had happened between us and it was all too hard. Maybe he just grew bored of me." Maddy felt angry now and it seeped into her voice unbidden. "Maybe, maybe, maybe. The reason doesn't matter. What's done is done. And I'm better off for it."

Adeline frowned and studied Maddy with curious, medical eyes. The rest of the conversation felt tainted somehow and by the time she was saying goodbye to her old friend, Maddy was in a sour mood.

She got home to her empty, dark apartment. It was nice and spacious and modern, as Stark Industries paid very well. But it also felt cold and unforgiving. A place to sleep, but not a home. Her phone rang and she looked down, a small sense of comfort immediately flooding her chest.

She answered the mobile.

"Did you know," the voice on the other end greeted. "That Stark Industries has the second highest revenue per year of American businesses? Isn't that crazy? You work for the second richest company in the US. Although I guess that's not really all that impressive. I'm pretty sure the highest earning is like Walmart and nobody goes around saying 'yay I work for Walmart' do they?"

Maddy laughed. Her best friend, Ellie, always had an uncanny ability to make her laugh, even when the blonde bombshell was in another country, on another continent.

"How'd you know?" Maddy asked quietly as she slipped out of her shoes and sunk down onto her leather couch.

"How'd I know what?" Ellie said.

"How'd you know I'd had a bad day?"

There was a pause. "I didn't." Another pause. "Well...I guess I did. I can just sense it...And I knew you were seeing Adeline today. She means well, and she really is helpful, but she can be prying too. And despite your ridiculously outgoing nature, you're really a very private person."

Maddy smiled. Ellie wasn't usually a particularly talkative person, but clearly she was making an exception to try and cheer her friend up.

"Also, I have news," Ellie announced. Maddy sat up straight, her stomach twisting a little apprehensively.

"What?"

There was a dramatic silence. "I got the job!"

Maddy's eyebrows pulled down. "What job?" she questioned.

"The job!" Ellie insisted. "The job of my dreams, the job I never thought I was going to get!"

Maddy wracked her brain. "What, are you going to be a cashier at Walmart?"

Ellie barked out a laugh. "No you idiot! The job!"

Realisation washed over Maddy and she leaped to her feet. "Are you talking about the job at Comcast News? The biggest American media conglomerate? The job that I 100% thought you were only jokingly applying for?!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the one."

"Ellie!" Maddy squealed, excited disbelief storming through her body. "I didn't think-...I mean you don't even have that much experience, I didn't think…"

"Didn't think they would hire a journalist who's only had her degree for like, 2 years? Well they did," Ellie beamed. "And I'm coming to America baby."

Maddy's eyes slid closed. She couldn't believe it. It had been so, so long since she had seen her best friend. Is this really happening?

"I've missed you so much," Maddy said, quietly. She knew Ellie was smiling softly on the other end of the line.

"I know," her best friend said. "I've missed you too. But I'll be there soon, with you."

"When do you start the job? Moving countries is big, Ellie."

"Yeah but so is this opportunity. My mum thinks it'll be amazing," Ellie insisted. "There's not that many good jobs in Romania anyway."

Maddy chuckled.

"I've already started packing," Ellie said. "I'm going to book flights for a few weeks time, give or take. The job starts in a month and a half."

Maddy picked at a seam in her couch, smiling to herself. "I can't wait to see you." And she couldn't - she'd missed her best friend more than anything. But she was also a little afraid. Nobody in the world knew her like Ellie did - she was afraid that her long-time best friend might see beyond the facade that Maddy had put up the past few months and straight to the core of Maddy's being. She was afraid that Ellie would see just how much losing Bucky had affected her.

~O~

A/N: This was a little bit short but nonetheless I hope you enjoyed! I shall be uploading the next chapter ASAP!

Pleaseeeeeee pretty please leave a review and tell me what's going through your pretty little heads!

Love you all very much, until next time xx