Awakening Quake
By Misha

Disclaimer in Chapter One

A.N- I had major writer's block on this chapter, which is why it took so long. I don't love it, but I need to move the story forward and thankfully I seem to have gotten past the stump. This is a super busy week for me though, I have a bunch of assignments due plus my MIL and one of my best friends are visiting (separately) this week, so updates will be slow.

Chapter Twenty: A Place to Belong

Bucky was leaning back in the bed, feeling incredibly bored. He wanted out of here. Dr. Banner said he wanted to run more set of tests and then he could be sprung free.

Just then a beautiful woman appeared in his line of sight.

"The Black Widow." Bucky said softly, remembering the beautiful Russian woman from the time they had worked together. Steve had assured him that she was on their side now and had left that part of her past behind her.

"You can call me Natasha," she said with a smile, "I still use the code name, but now I'm allowed to be me."

"Must be nice." Bucky said quietly. "I'm not sure who I am anymore." He knew they all thought of him as "Bucky" but he wasn't sure that that was who he was now. He was no longer the Winter Solider, but that didn't mean could just go right back to who he had once been.

"It's a lot to take in." Natasha said softly. "But you have a lot of people willing to help you."

That he did. In the past two days, Bucky had met several of the Towers inhabitants, some of them, like Miss Potts, just stopping into check on him. They all seemed very nice, though it also seemed like a very odd assortment of people.

"How did you get past it?" Bucky asked quietly, thinking of the bits and pieces of memories that were coming back. Dr. Banner said he could probably help him remember more, but that lead to the question did he want to remember more? What he remembered was pretty awful.

"With a lot of help." Natasha said softly. "Clint, my partner… He gave me a chance to be something else other than a killer and then I found S.H.I.E.L.D and for a while that was my purpose and now the Avengers. I have a lot of red in my ledger, but I'm slowly wiping it all out."

"I need to do the same." Bucky told her. "I have a lot to make amends for."

"Well, you're in the right place." Natasha assured him. "A lot of us have things we want to atone for."

Bucky nodded. He was starting to discover that. Steve had assured him that there was a place for him on the team and Stark had echoed that. He still wasn't sure. It was all still new to him and his memories were weird flashes. He remembered more about the 1940s than any of the intervening years and perhaps that was a good thing. He wasn't sure he wanted to remember the rest.

However, maybe Natasha had a point about him being in the right place. The memories of his life as James Barnes were comforting. Even the war years, because while the war had been awful, he'd been a part of something and he'd been doing some good. It seemed that Steve had found that again with these people and maybe, just maybe, there was a place for him as well.

Dinner was nice. Very low-key.

Skye had worried about intruding, but both Bucky and Steve seemed happy to have her there. It was interesting to see that 60 years apart hadn't really changed their dynamic, she could see just by watching them, how close they were.

And they were both a little out of depth in the modern world.

"People think this is entertaining?" Bucky asked in disbelief as Skye finished explaining the idea of reality TV.

Skye shrugged. "It's a glimpse into other people's lives. I bet the whole world would go crazy for an Avenger's reality series."

Steve shuddered. "No thanks. I think we all feel like we get enough press as it is."

"True." Skye agreed. "And in all seriousness, I don't want to leave the Tower because I'm afraid of the wrong people finding out I'm here, I definitely don't want to broadcast into the world."

Steve and Bucky exchanged looks.

"Who are you afraid of doll?" Bucky asked gently.

"My father." Skye said quietly. She'd told Bucky a bit about her backstory the day before and all the Avengers knew the basics of her history and where her powers came from, even if she didn't really like to talk about it.

She was about to add that she was also afraid of Ward finding her, but she didn't want to get into it front of Bucky. She owed Steve the whole story and she would tell him, but she'd prefer to do it in private.

"You have a lot of people who will make sure he doesn't hurt you." Steve reminded her and Bucky echoed the sentiment.

"I don't want anyone to have to protect me." Skye told them. "I don't want to be the reason anyone else gets hurt." Tripp's face flashed through her mind. She doubted that she'd ever stop feeling guilty for his death.

She sighed. "I know that I can't hide forever. I just want to be strong enough that I can face him all on my own, without needing anyone else."

She wasn't sure that either Steve or Bucky really understood what she was trying to say, but they seemed to accept her stance.

"You've been training with Natasha," Steve reminded her, "If anyone can teach you how to take care of yourself, it's her."

"And if you need more, I could use a work-out partner." Bucky told her with a smile.

"I'm not sure I could keep up." Skye pointed out, thinking about what Steve had said about needing to burn off lots of energy as a result of the serum.

"Well, the offer's open," Bucky told her lightly, but Skye could see he looked a little disappointed and she remembered that she wasn't the only new kid on the block.

"However, I know it's a good idea to have a variety of sparring opponents," Skye commented, repeating Steve's words, "So if you're up for it, I wouldn't mind sparring some time."

"Anytime doll," Bucky told her with a smile.

Skye looked over at Steve and saw that he too was smiling and there was a tenderness and admiration in that smile that gave her a warm, tingly feeling. When he smiled at her like that, like she was someone special, she actually started to believe that everything might work out.