Make You Feel My Love
~Book IV~

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

Chapter 8

Vision and Rhodes both came out to meet them as the jet landed back at the Avengers HQ. Steve and Maria exited first, grim looks on their faces, with Natasha behind them. The three heroes stopped in front of the two others, while Wanda simply walked past them. Maria could not help but notice the way Vision parted his lips to say something to Wanda, though before he could she had already passed him by without even looking up at him. The emotions in Wanda's eyes had been long since drained, though in the beginning of the trip back home, the emotions had been very visible and Maria knew she was feeling just as badly still.

Ever since the incident, she had been quiet. Too quiet in Maria's opinion. Both Natasha and Maria had tried to talk to her but failed horribly as Wanda had simply turned her head and ignored them. It hurt to say the least, to see her like that, though no one knew what to do. Perhaps the best thing to do right then and there, was to let her be until she herself was ready to talk. Pushing people into talking would sometimes only make them angry with you, which was not what either Maria or Natasha wanted. Then again, Maria was afraid that not making her talk would make her feel worse and asthough no one cared. Maria knew all too well the effects loneliness could have, and she also knew that the voices that came with the loneliness, were cruel and heartless.

"What happened?" asked Rhodey as Wanda had disappeared out of hearing range. "We just saw the news…"

"I didn't see the vest… I should've seen the vest," said Steve grimly. "Rumlow had the advantage. But he won't have that ever again."

"Most certainly not," said Sam as he joined the five heroes. "He's nothing but dust now."

"Well, that was our first mission," said Rhodey, a hint of sarcasm and anger in his voice. "I couldn't join, and the mission failed."

"Hey," defended Sam, "this might have been our first mission as a team, sorta, but it's not our last. And yeah, things went badly, but things went badly in the army too, remember? We gotta look at the bigger picture here. Rumlow ain't gonna do no harm to anyone no more. That's what's important."

"But those who didn't make it-" began Vision.

"Will be honored and remembered," cut Sam in. "I know I'll never forget them."

With that said, Sam walked away, taking off his red-glasses and bowing his head. Whether this meant that Sam had taken this mission as difficult as Wanda, Maria was not quite sure, but she was sure that Sam was not completely okay, just like the rest of the team. And she also knew that, as part of the original Avengers, it was part of her duty to care for the others. Which meant that Sam was on her list of people she needed to talk to, right underneath of Wanda.

"Bad things happen," agreed Steve. "But we gotta move on and focus on whoever is next to save."

"Did things go alright with Tony?" asked Maria.

"Sorta," said Rhodey, shaking his head. "He's…complicated."

"What was he working on?" asked Maria.

"Therapy," was the only answer Rhodey gave before he turned and left as well.

Maria and Steve exchanged a look after Rhodey's answer before beginning to walk back inside themselves too, Vision and Natasha following them.

"We gotta get inside!"

Smoke, ashes and screams was all Maria remembered from when the Avengers moved into the tower to help the civilians. Even then, Wanda had stayed outside.

"Oh, God… Steve! I need help in here!"

It had been an office and so there had not been any children in there, but there had been daughters, sons, mothers and fathers – and not everyone had made it out.

When the medics came along with other services, the Avengers had made their leave. They could feel that they were not very welcome there at the moment, and seeing as none of them was really educated in paramedical abilities, they decided to stay out of the way once help had arrived. Though Maria could not help but once again feel bad about her own powers. She herself could heal, yet she could heal no others? It made no sense to her why her powers were so selfish as she would want to have helped others. There were people there with injuries that she herself could have survived from, but that she doubted they would. It hurt to see.

That guilt was part of the reason for why Maria could not sleep that night. She lay next to Steve, their backs turned towards each other, with her eyes wide open. Flashes of images ran through her head of what had happened that day, of those hurt and of the fear she had felt at nearly losing Steve. Not only that, but it also scared her how powerful her powers could get when she was so afraid. What if she somehow could lose control of her powers? What if she somehow could become a weapon others could use against those she loved or the world?

She doubted it though. Lifting a finger, she pointed it at her phone next to her bed. With effort, she managed to lift it up into the air before lowering it back down again. On her bedside-table stood a glass of water as well, and she diverted her finger over to the liquid, though only managed to lift the glass itself and not the liquid as she had wanted. How could her powers have hold back that explosion for as long as it did? It felt impossible to her now that she was once again thinking rationally. Perhaps she was indeed capable of more, but how was she supposed to unlock those abilities? If it took her some significant effort to lift a phone, how was she supposed to lift something bigger? Or something that wasn't so dense?

"One word…"

His gruff voice startled her slightly, though she composed herself quickly as she realized that it was only Steve lying next to her.

"That was all it took to make me lose my focus."

Maria turned around, facing Steve as he too shifted around in the bed. Though he stayed on his back, staring up at the ceiling above them. Due to her time training and working in the shadows – after all, an assassin wasn't supposed to be seen if he or she was a good assassin – she could easily see in the dark just as well as Steve or Bucky could, and it was due to that ability that Maria saw just how emotionally distressed Steve was.

"Hey," she mumbled quietly, bringing her hand up to his chest and gently rubbing circles to try and sooth him, "don't beat yourself up about it. It's not your fault."

"But it is, isn't it?" asked Steve with the same gruff voice, turning his head to look at her before he continued to explain. "Rumlow had been wearing that vest from the very beginning. It was obvious and I knew there was more to the vest than what I could see. And I was keeping an eye on it. But then he started speaking about Bucky."

"I heard," she whispered quietly, looking into his eyes. In the darkness, they almost looked black, though she could still see the hint of blue that were his eyes. "He means a lot to you. It's obvious you would react like that, you're human after all."

"I'm supposed to stay professional. But I can't when it comes to Bucky… or you."

"Ouch," joked Maria, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks.

"I mean it," said Steve as he went to grab her hand, intertwining their fingers together. "It's difficult."

"I know. Truly, I know. I mean, I've got you by my side now but I know that, when push comes to show, there are things out there that I would do to get you either back, or to keep you safe. And those things are not pretty things. I'm just glad no one out there has figured it out yet." Maria's gaze fixed on the wall opposite of the room, staring out over Steve's chest whom she, in her peripheral vision, could see move up and down slowly as he breathed. "That's not very professional either."

Steve gently placed a finger underneath of her chin, moving her face so she was looking up at Steve instead of the wall. He gently smiled down at her to which she smiled back, shifting so she was lying right next to him instead of a little way away from him. She moved her arm so she was slightly hugging him, simply resting her arm over his chest, while Steve moved so his arm was around her.

"I will make sure that you are never to make such a decision," said Steve sweetly.

"That's going to be difficult."

"Mmm, maybe," shrugged Steve before sweetly looking down at her, his blue eyes only barely managing to be visible through his thick eye-lashes, "but if we never move out of this position, we'll never be apart either."

Maria smiled, letting out a soft chuckle, "But what if I have to go to the toilet?"

"I'll join you," joked Steve.

"Steve," chuckled Maria. "You'd blush to death."

"I've been to war. I think I can handle it," chuckled Steve.

"And how am I supposed to interpret that?" joked Maria before leaning up and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "It's very sweet of you, but before we decide to never move out on a mission again, we should find Bucky and make sure he's okay."

A wide smile spread over Steve's lips, "I can't begin to describe how much I adore the fact that you care about Bucky the way I do. You haven't even met him."

"If Steve Rogers is friends with him, he's friends with me. Besides, you have a habit of befriending the kind ones, and it's those people who I want in my life."

"No everyone would see him as kind," mumbled Steve. "Not after what he has done."

"He did those things under brain-control. It wasn't him," defended Maria. "Besides, I'm sure the entire team will be on your side when it comes to saving Bucky. You mean a lot to them."

"The thing is, even if they do stand on my side, there are things that Bucky has done that will make some people turn their heads away from me," mumbled Steve.

"Anything in particular you're referring to?"

Steve stayed silent for a little while before shaking his head, "I just imagine that there are a lot of people he's hurt, that's all."

Lies.

"You can tell me anything, Steve, no matter how ugly it is," reassured Maria quietly, staring up into his blue orbs.

"I know," sighed Steve with a soft smile, "That's what I love about you."

A moment of silence passed, the two simply staring at each other and, from time to time, placing soft kisses to each other's lips before the soft atmosphere around them changed.

"Wanda is going to take the entire blame for what happened," whispered Maria.

"It was my fault."

"No, it was my fault. I should have finished what I started," said Maria.

"What do you mean?" asked Steve, furrowing his brow.

"Somehow, seeing you in peril, made me... control the blast. I could contain it, but just for a couple of seconds and then it became too much. But I should've continued on fighting the pain-"

"Maria, if it hurt, you shouldn't even have done it," pressed Steve worriedly.

"I couldn't help it, it just sort of happened. Besides, you might not have been lying here next to me then," she replied quickly.

"Wanda would have contained it. Everything would have been fine," pressed Steve with a sigh. "Anyway, it's new, right? You've never been able to control something that isn't touchable."

"Exactly... It was weird," she hummed.

"Xavier never said anything about you possibly being able to do that?" asked Steve.

"No. He couldn't sense any... uh... greater powers in me. Just the vague ones I've recently gotten. Then again, Erik said that I could do more as a child... and Logan said that sometimes ones powers are hidden even from the Professor."

"Did you just say Logan?" asked Steve. "Why do I recognize that name?"

"I don't know," she replied with a shrug. "You know... He's got name-tags around his neck and... I think those date back to – oh, maybe you saw him in the War?"

"The War?"

"He's... sort of a healer like me."

"I might've..." hummed Steve, a faraway look on his face before he snapped back to reality and looked down at her. "Just be careful you don't hurt yourself using your powers."

"Yes, captain," joked Maria before leaning up to his lips again, hovering just in front of them before looking Steve deeply in the eyes. "I'm not tired yet."

Steve blushed, gently brushing some hair away from her face, "me neither..."