Thor was gone before I'd had another thought and when I heard a loud noise, I turned to face the part of the balcony that jutted out over the city. Tony had had it set up specifically so that he could gradually get out of his suit with a little help from Jarvis. Clearly, that was what he was doing.

I heard the clank of the Iron Man armor and I saw Jarvis prepare to take it off him. I waved slightly and made my way inside. I threw my bag on the bar and waited for Tony to come in.

"Well, you look… medieval." I had never been gladder to hear that sarcastic tone in my life.

"That was the point," I responded, rummaging through the fridge.

"Any particular reason you've decided to eat me out of house and home?" Tony questioned, walking behind me. I rolled my eyes.

"I would if there was anything in here to eat."

"They didn't feed you on the alien planet? Well, tell me what you want and I'll get Happy to go get it."

"Seriously, Tony Stark, you are a godsend. I'd like a pepperoni, onion, and green pepper pizza. Deep dish, if you can find that. A three-layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a two liter Dr. Pepper." When I turned, Tony was texting my list on his iPhone to Happy. Gosh, had I missed iPhones. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows, daring me to continue.

"Is that all, Your Majesty?" I cracked a smile.

"Yes. And thanks for covering for me, if you did." He gave me a mocking look.

"Well, how was it? Ridiculous by the looks of that dress." I shrugged.

"It could've gone better but it also could've been worse. But there's something I've gotta tell you-" I cut off when my attention turned to the television in our living room. Tony's LA mansion was in ruins. Flames were smoldering on the ground and the camera cut to footage of the house falling into the Pacific. "Oh, my God, Tony, what happened?" I walked past him and down a couple of steps into our sunken living room.

"Uh, don't worry about it. I took care of it. It doesn't matter." I gestured at the TV with my arm.

"You took care of it?" He nodded at me. "How? Who did this?" My mind immediately summoned up Thanos.

"I know what you're thinking and no, a nonexistent alien didn't bomb my house. A stupid megalomaniac by the name of the Mandarin did. Well, he was a terrorist really-"

"Was anybody hurt? You weren't there, were you?" Tony made a face and my eyes grew wide. "You were inside the house when that happened?!" I pointed to the TV again right as it showed the house sliding off it's cliff into the ocean.

"Pepper was too but we're alright. I told you, I took care of it. And I'm not telling you anymore in case the press decide to pester you about it and you say something you shouldn't."

"Well, why? What did the guy want?"

"Look, Charlotte, there are a lot of people in this world who are jealous of what a success and what a suave guy I am. I can't answer that every time."

"You don't wanna tell me, do you?"

"Nope and before you ask, yes, Pepper and I broke up. It's my fault, as usual and that's off the list of conversation topics too."

"Oh, my God, are you serious?" Some serious stuff had gone down while I'd been gone.

"Not talking about it."

"Fine but I'm really sor-"

"Nope, that's talking about it."

"Okay… Well, there's something I need to tell you about what went down in Asgard and you might wanna sit down. You're not gonna like it." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Should Banner know? Bruce!" Tony called before I had the chance to answer.

I had no idea what time of day it actually was but I'd figured that Bruce was busy in the labs doing something. Don't tell me something had happened to him too.

I heard him emerge from the hall with our bedrooms down it and seconds later, I heard his voice. "What do you want?" he groaned. Oh, another late night in the labs was taking it's revenge on him.

"Guess who's back?" Tony asked. Bruce groggily turned his head toward me and I saw his eyes grow bigger.

"And I'm not married," I kidded.

"Wow, Charlotte, you are… You're in a Renaissance dress," said Bruce.

"Exactly my first thought," said Tony.

"How was it?" Again, I shrugged.

"It was okay but now that I've got the two of you together, there's something I have to tell you." I edged into the subject slowly. "It's got to do with Loki… and his punishment."

"You were able to help him?" I waved my hand from side to side; slightly. I'd slightly helped him.

"You finally told him to fuck off?" asked Tony.

"No," I snapped. No more than an hour ago, I'd been kissing Loki. "But seriously, ya'll might want to sit down." Tony raised his eyebrows but slowly sat down on a bar stool and Bruce skeptically did the same. "Look, this was not my idea and I don't want you to blame me even though I did sort of go along with it. But Loki's punishment has ended up basically being what Thor's punishment was." When they didn't automatically connect the dots, I went on. "The punishment that led the Destroyer here… where Thor met Jane."

"Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying?" asked Bruce. Tony's eyes were narrowing and I winced.

"Yeah, I kinda am. He's being banished here until he can prove himself worthy enough to return to Asgard. Thor is coming with him to help us keep him in line and he's going to be working with us. He has to sort of make it up to the realm for trying to kill everyone."

"This is a joke, right? Because even I have to admit, it's a good one," said Tony. I shook my head. "And you want me to believe you didn't want this?"

"No! I didn't want this at all, in any way, shape, or form. I was just trying to make sure he didn't get the death penalty or something. Thor is the one who wanted him here. It was all Thor's idea."

"But you went along with it because you and Thor are bros." I paused at Tony using the word "bros" but eventually moved on.

"I did oppose it for a long time but Thor kinda talked me into it."

"And he can't become 'worthy' again in France or somewhere?" asked Bruce.

"It doesn't work like that. You see, I agreed to an alliance with Asgard. Thor and I played the vessels for an alliance between our two worlds. If they're in trouble or need help with anything, say rehabilitating a fugitive, we, as in me and the Avengers, will come to their aid. And if we're in danger, say from a nonexistent alien, they'd come help us." Bruce and Tony looked between each other for a moment before turning back to me.

"You agreed to an alliance without consulting Fury?" asked Bruce. Tony slow clapped before standing.

"I figured you couldn't do anything worse to Fury than get with Loki and it seems I was wrong. Bravo, Charlotte! You are officially screwed," said Tony, walking into the kitchen.

"Do you really think so?" I muttered. "I thought maybe this would help everyone involved feel better about Loki being on Earth." Bruce looked like he was going to say something to make me feel better but Tony beat him to the punch.

"There is nothing in the entire universe that would make me feel better about this. I can guarantee you that there is nothing to sweeten the deal with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Technically, you might've broken some law by not consulting any higher ups here before you went before a court of people that are basically aliens and decided to swear Earth's allegiance to them," said Bruce.

"I didn't swear Earth's allegiance to them and you know as well as I do that Asgardians aren't really aliens," I responded.

"They are aliens in the strictest sense of the word: they aren't from here."

"Yeah, well, what would either of you have done? A guy who is potentially one of the most powerful beings in the universe has declared that he is banishing his son to our world to make it up to us for past crimes. We can't exactly say no."

"Maybe you couldn't but I sure as hell could," replied Tony.

"And you would've insulted the guy who basically saved Earth from the Frost Giants. You need to learn a little diplomacy if you wanna do well in Asgard."

"I doubt you were so diplomatic at first, Charlotte."

"No and therefore, I made quite a few mistakes and I was sorta bitched out for them. Believe me, I'm not gonna try and step on his toes any more than I have to."

"Will you and Thor have to agree to an alliance here as well?" asked Bruce, bringing me back to the topic at hand.

"Yeah, we thought we would. Well, Jane thought we would. The alliance thing was really her baby in all of this."

"Speaking of, where is Jane? I figured the two of you would return together." I shrugged.

"This is where something weird was going on. Apparently, during the feast after they announced that Loki and Thor would be coming back here, an attempt was made on Jane's life. I didn't see it but it was supposedly like a poison of some kind, in the form of a dark spirit. Some race of elves that's never really liked Thor thought they'd strike before he took the throne."

"You didn't see it? So they didn't touch you?" I shook my head.

"Thor was pretty shocked they didn't but apparently, Loki has had dealings with them before so that essentially made me safe."

"They kept Jane for monitoring?"

"Yeah, Thor just wanted to make sure nothing had slipped by his notice and she'll be back tomorrow. But he's incredibly pissed now and is gonna strike out to make them pay for trying to hurt Jane. After Loki and I talked, he agreed to help Thor get there. The two of them will arrive here when whatever's up with the elves is completely taken care of."

"The elves?" questioned Tony. "Don't tell me you mean 'Santa's helpers' kind of elves."

"I don't think I'm even talking 'Lord of the Rings' type of elves. They're pretty serious."

"Well, you know what else is pretty serious? The flu you had. Man, that you made this recovery in two weeks is a miracle."

"What the heck are you going on about?" Then it clicked. It was my cover story. Bruce and Tony had been selling some sick-with-the-flu story to Coulson and Fury this entire time. "Oh, so did they find it at all believable?"

"Given that you've never taken a sick day in all your years at S.H.I.E.L.D., they were pretty skeptical," said Bruce. "But we kept telling them that you felt too bad to come in and we refused to let them come here."

"Thanks," I said. "I guess I'll put on a fake cough."

"Yeah, you'd better," replied Tony. "That new partner of yours is a piece of work." I almost openly put my head in my hands. I had forgotten that I had to keep dealing with Bucky.

"What did he want?" I moaned.

"Well, he's called your phone at least three times every day which is as much as Coulson has but he's never left a message. Coulson, though, has. He says that Agent Barnes is not particularly fond of you and your extracurricular activities and that he's been saying as much to anyone in HQ that will listen."

"Of course, he has. The guy loathes me. I'm surprised he hasn't managed to get me fired or at least get another partner."

"Don't think he hasn't tried."

"Then why are we still together? Do I really need to keep paying for breaking Loki out?"

"It's not so much punishment as it is that they think there is no other suitable partner for either of you," said Bruce.

"I'm sorry?" I demanded. "Um, I can name more agents than my fingers and toes put together that would be more suitable to me. Not the least of which, is Steve."

"To be fair, Steve would match Bucky well too. They have worked together before and for a long time." I kept forgetting that Bruce had been the one to help me with Bucky's file originally. If there was anyone I could trust to know the basics, it was him.

"And we might as well tell you," said Tony, "they aren't gonna match you with an Avenger."

"Why wouldn't they?!" I exclaimed. "You're the one who said they were contemplating moving me up to that rank because of public knowledge and because of my newly acquired skill set. I was a fool to believe that would ever happen anyway but… What changed their minds?"

"Well, I'm not fully sure of how they do things at S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm sure that's more your area of expertise," said Bruce. "But when I was over at their labs last week, I overheard Agent Coulson and Agent Hill talking about Bucky. He's not exactly integrating into their system very well."

"Good," I said. I didn't ignore the look Bruce gave me.

"But they said he'd requested a new partner ten times over at least and everyone knows it's because of personal reasons; that he personally doesn't like you. As you can figure, Fury doesn't much care about that but Coulson did. He doesn't think either of you will be up to your full potential if you're arguing all the time. Hill was explaining that, in a perfect world, they'd want Thor to be your permanent partner. He's strong where you're weak, you're clever where he's not so much. Ideally, you're the perfect partners because you complete each other like puzzle pieces." I was definitely flattered by that. But even I had to admit, it was the clearest solution. If Thor lived here and was a regular agent, the two of us would work better together than if we were paired off with someone else.

"But obviously, that wouldn't work," I replied. Bruce nodded.

"In special circumstances, they'd allow you two to work together."

"So I can just wait until Thor and Loki hit Earth?" I asked hopefully. They wouldn't be leaving again for a long time, I was certain of that much. In the time they were here, maybe Bucky would gradually grow to get past what he didn't like about me.

"I really don't think so. You see, they went on to say that Bucky is in an incredibly fragile mind-state because of how he recovered from the amnesia. It wasn't slow or all at once. He remembered fragments sporadically but apparently, it only made him feel worse about it."

"I mean, I read his file. I could tell from whatever he went through, brainwashing or whatever, that he'd be prone to lapse."

"That's exactly what they're scared of."

"And why would partnering us help him with that?"

"Because of what you were employed for originally. You find out stuff about people and from there, you could help someone."

"That's not what my job was."

"No, your job was to write stuff down about people without them knowing and then use it to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s advantage," Tony added.

"Exactly."

"Well, basically, what I think they're saying is that your background could allow you to help him have a breakthrough and finally get over what went on all those years," said Bruce. I crossed my arms and looked dumbfounded. There was no proof that I could do that. I wasn't a psychologist. Even if I could, why would I? Bucky was crass with me and clearly had a personal vendetta. He considered himself my enemy. Why would I help someone like that?

"Other than that ridiculous assumption, why were we matched in the first place?"

"When Coulson called before you left, all he mentioned was that your files matched," said Tony. Files matching was a big deal to S.H.I.E.L.D. It was the reason I'd gotten to work with Steve in the first place. It was the reason partners were ever formally put together. But it wasn't the be all end all.

"Yeah, okay, but you said they wouldn't match me to an Avenger anyway. Why not?" Clint and Natasha were already partners, that was fine. Technically, Tony and Bruce could be partners because of how well they worked together not in the field. But what about Steve? He didn't have a partner of any kind.

"Something to do with public image right now, I'd assume," said Bruce.

"It's that bad reputation of yours," said Tony. "Do you know there are photos of you flipping off the paparazzi? They went viral right after you went to Asgard." Of course, they did. But I was pissed they were in my face while I was eating with Jane and Darcy. What did they expect to happen?

"Are you saying they want me off the public scene?" My blood was starting to boil. Why punish me and not the people eager to take pictures of us all the time?

"Yes but it's not because of what Tony said, although that is a problem," said Bruce. "Clint was telling us the other day that they're very interested in putting you in the field a lot of the time. Your face right now is too recognizable for them to logically give you very public missions."

"Well, I don't have a problem with missions behind the scenes. People aren't just gonna wake up tomorrow and forget that there was a battle for New York and that I fought in it."

"I doubt they will either which is why I think it's stupid to take you off the public scene," said Tony. "The press may hate you and some of America may hate you but you actually have quite a few fans. If you ask me, they can use you being recognizable to their advantage."

"The problem there is-" began Bruce.

"Bucky," I said. "God, this guy wants to ruin my life."

"Speaking of him, they're eager to have the two of you do a preliminary meeting," said Tony.

"What do they expect to come of this? One of us will kill the other!" And I was highly betting that the casualty would be me.

"I don't know but it'd probably be to your benefit if you called them and let them know you got better. Tomorrow is Friday after all," said Bruce. I arched one of my eyebrows but when I saw the sleazy look Tony was giving me, it all connected. Tomorrow at 3:30pm, Steve would be home from a mission and it was my responsibility to pick him up at the airport. Typically, S.H.I.E.L.D. would use the private landing strip and planes that they have outside of the city but since he was officially returning and not automatically getting something else to do, they decided to have him come back into New York via LaGuardia. It would give the press a field day, if nothing else.

"We're coming with you tomorrow, FYI," said Tony. "Fury thought it would be a good idea for people to see some semblance of the team together after everything that happened with me while you were gone." Tony didn't sound even remotely sad about everything. He'd lost his billion dollar mansion to the sea and on top of that, he'd lost Pepper for reasons he wasn't disclosing. Maybe he'd told Clint. I'd have to pry.

"Cool. So what time is it now?" I asked. I was actually kind of tired. Travelling via the cube hadn't been that much fun and when we'd left Asgard, it actually was about to be bedtime.

"It's 6 pm." Just then, there was a knock at our door and it was Happy bringing everything I'd told Tony I wanted. I almost hugged his neck.

The three of us sat around stuffing our faces for the next few minutes until Tony broke down into conversation again. "So where will he stay when he's here?" Tony asked after a bite of pizza. "He's sure as hell not renting out a room at Stark Tower."

"No one's asking you to be hospitable… though it would be kinda nice," I replied. He made a face. "I'm just kidding. But more than likely, I'd take a guess and say that Loki will have to stay at headquarters until he's nothing more than a minimum threat. When he first gets here, I expect he'll be resisting the change. But once he realizes it's not a joke and that he's not gonna be beamed up anytime soon, he'll be a bit more agreeable."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. better start fortifying their holding rooms. I'm not playing around with the trickster god bullshit this time around."

"And my guess is, you aren't the only one who feels that way." Clint would not accept Loki being back under any condition. Natasha would be okay with it outwardly but she'd give him a hard time (and Loki really needed a hard time so I was cool with that). Tony and Bruce had made their feelings plain, Tony more so than Bruce. Bruce was a fairly laidback guy for turning into the Hulk every once and a while. But he wouldn't have to do anything. Just being around Bruce would put the fear of God into Loki. He'd never been bested the way he was with the Hulk. Steve would be the wildcard. He'd either be totally okay with it for the sake of the alliance I'd agreed to with Asgard or he'd want to make sure that Loki was completely under supervision the entire time (which might not be a bad idea).

"How do you plan on telling everyone else?" asked Bruce. "We knew where you'd gone and why. Maybe you can tell Clint and Natasha but what about other agents? What about Steve?"

"I don't know," I responded. "I haven't thought that far in advance. Although, I'm clearly gonna have to explain everything to Fury and Phil. I just don't wanna do it right now."

"And from there, you have to tell Steve. You can't tell everyone else and keep it from Steve."

"You'd be surprised." Tony chuckled at me and I slanted my eyes at him.

"Someone will slip up somewhere down the line," he said. "He'll find out what's going on, don't you worry." I knew it was inevitable that Steve would eventually know that I'd been to Asgard. That wasn't my biggest worry about the whole thing, strangely enough. Asgard was one thing, because I had gone there at Thor's insistence, but campaigning for Loki to catch a break? Having a clear change of heart about him? I don't know.

"Well, they're not gonna slip up tomorrow. Nobody is gonna know anything about this tomorrow. First things first, we have to reintroduce Steve and Bucky."

The next morning came faster than I anticipated and I was up before 6. I'd been lax on training in Asgard aside from the few times I'd sparred with Sif and all that had done was result in tons of bruises. Hand-to-hand was not my strong suit and I think she had clearly known that. She'd gone easy on me for the most part and yet, I'd still lost. I wasn't up to par of a normal agent, that much was certain.

I avoided the cameras, Fury, and Coulson, and wound up in the gym. I reset an obstacle type course that shot up silhouettes of people randomly and I was supposed to throw my knives in a kill-shot. Skillfully, I managed to nail every single one in the chest. Only three managed to not find the bullseye. After that, I gruelingly went through some other training; jogging, gun training, and after a while, I reverted back to using the knives.

I got back to Stark Tower in the same lucky way that I'd gotten into HQ. After showering and attempting to do my hair, I got ready. I didn't look too fancy but I also didn't look like a street bum, which typically, there was no in-between for me. That's the problem that came from having too many office clothes and getting sick of wearing heels.

I took to evaluating myself in the mirror. My royal purple maxi dress covered my feet and was cinched at my waist, which gave me some added height. Again, not too fancy, not too street bum. My hair was curly but not styled so I didn't look like I'd tried too hard. My main worry with the whole event was that I would look like I was trying too hard. No jewelry was a good call, I think. All in all, I think I looked appropriate for something like picking up a friend at the airport. I wouldn't be ashamed if the press took pictures of me in this.

"Are you ready for this, Charlotte?" asked Bruce, poking his head in my room.

"Yeah," I replied. "Yes, I think I am." My hands were already shaking but I followed him into the hall anyway.

"Are you feeling nervous? You look nervous," said Tony upon greeting us. I rolled my eyes.

"No, I am not nervous."

"Your hands would say otherwise." I quickly clasped them together and Tony just laughed.

"Do not humiliate me today, I am begging you." The first time in three months that I'd see Steve and Tony was going to be there, breathing down my neck, daring me to do something stupid.

The car ride to LaGuardia was one of the longest in my life and several times I contemplated whether I actually wanted to be there. I figured everything would read clear on my face. Why yes, I'm still involved in some capacity with Loki, even though I'm not totally sure what that capacity is and I doubt he does either. Oh, while we're on the subject, if I touch your skin, I'll see a memory of yours which is completely invasive and almost totally useless, all because I accidentally electrocuted myself. And while we're at it, you might as well know that your best friend that you've thought dead for years is actually still alive and is, kind of, a huge dick.

Yeah, there was no doubt I'd spill.

The press assaulted us on our way in but luckily, Tony had pulled some strings so that they couldn't approach us while waiting for the plane to unload the passengers. I wasn't too sure what kind of plane Steve would've been travelling in. Smaller planes were more regular for LaGuardia and Steve was, no doubt, flying more privately than everyone else here.

I sucked my breath in when Tony told Bruce and I that the plane had landed and we could go outside to greet. A breeze blew by us on that summer afternoon and it was the last thing I remember before seeing Steve on the ground beside that small plane. All my fears subsided and when he looked over at us, he smiled. I took off and in a matter of seconds, I'd engulfed Steve in a hug. I buried my head in his neck while my hands wrapped over his shoulders and I clasped at the back of his neck. Then reality faded away for me.

I was kissing a woman and it was, maybe, the second time this had ever happened. It was also everything I could have potentially wanted before doing what I needed to do. When I pulled back, my eyes locked with the woman's and I knew in real time that I was seeing Peggy Carter.

My hand fell away from the skin of his neck and I felt cold all over, like the air was sucking the life out of me. The memory had been short because I'd known to cut it off but it had been very, very real. As the days went on, feeling the memories had only gotten stronger, not weaker, like I'd been led to believe would gradually happen.

"Whoa, are you okay?" I heard Steve ask. I broke into a smile and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'll explain everything later." He seemed to take me at my word and only smiled down at me. I felt my heart seize up and start pounding.

"Thank God, you're back!" exclaimed Tony. "Charlotte hasn't worn real pants in months." I started laughing because really, I had. That is, if you considered jeans real pants and I did.

Steve laughed along with me and Bruce and it was actually a glorious sound. It was hearty and loud and it made me happier than I'd been in a long time. "How was the trip?" asked Bruce.

"Classified," I said. Steve smiled at me bashfully then and I felt my heart pound again irregularly.

"Yeah, I was certainly under a lot of pressure to not say anything," he said. "In fact, I don't even know whether I can talk about anything now that it's done."

"It's not like we cared anyway," said Tony, back to being the asshole.

"It's good to see you too, Stark."

"I can't let you down by not being the smart-aleck you know me to be."

"There wasn't anything smart about that comment," I retorted. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Nobody asked you, queen of sarcasm."

"As you can tell, no one has changed at all," said Bruce.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it," said Steve. "I was worried I'd come back and the team had fallen apart."

"Well, not fallen apart so much as some stuff has gone down that you ought to know about," I said. "But it's neither here nor there and everyone is still in one piece so…" Steve seemed to ponder that for a moment but after a few seconds of looking each of us over (which you had to be looking for to notice was going on at all), he accepted what we said. "Were you hurt wherever you were?" I asked slowly. Steve shook his head.

"No. I was covered for the majority of the time. S.H.I.E.L.D. sent over some agents for me to work with and we took turns helping each other out."

"Anyone I know?" That was a silly question because the chances were pretty high that I did know whoever had been travelling with him. Unless it was someone who had been recruited in the last few months, I knew exactly who everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. was and everything about their background.

"I think they were agents from the lower end of the scale. Certainly not a Natasha or a Clint with anything specialized but they were highly capable."

"They're not your new favorites or anything, are they?" He cracked a smile at me and it hit me just how long it had been since I'd seen him. I'd walked into a preliminary meeting with Fury and Coulson and he'd walked to go get ready for a mission. That had been over three and a half months ago, the same day we'd sent off Thor and Loki.

"Of course not," he responded. "By the way, has anyone heard anything from Thor?"

Tony and Bruce side-glanced at each other before staring over at me. They weren't going to say anything, which I appreciated but that left it to me to break the weird news. "Well, in a way, yes," I said. Steve perked up at that; he'd gotten to be extremely close with Thor the last time he was here. "But there's something a little more pressing than what's happened with Thor. I think you'll need to sit down to hear it."

Tony, Bruce, and I led Steve out of the airport and drove back to headquarters while I slowly explained everything about Bucky, leaving out, of course, that Bruce and I had known far longer than anyone else that Bucky was still alive. Steve didn't say anything during my entire monologue and I worried that he might not be handling it well.

"I just don't understand," he said. "Why didn't they say anything to me? Why didn't he come forward sooner?" I kind of shrugged sympathetically. I didn't have clear answers to either of those questions but I certainly had my opinion on them.

"Bucky is not in a good state mentally," said Bruce. "Recovering from the brainwashing was particularly hard on him. There could be a multitude of reasons for why he didn't come out sooner. My main guess is that he probably thought he couldn't get past what he'd done and believed that no one else would be able to either." I snorted. Yeah, right. Sure, the guy felt terrible about being a paid mercenary but he hadn't come forward because he'd been wary of S.H.I.E.L.D. and clearly, he'd been right there. But I thought it was pretty obvious that Bucky wasn't worried about anyone else's opinion.

Steve gave me a skeptical look before responding to Bruce. "That doesn't even begin to explain why Director Fury wouldn't have told me sooner."

"Did you ever honestly think you could trust him?" asked Tony. "You're even more naïve than I thought."

"Hey, trusting Fury doesn't have anything to do with this," I said. "The fact of the matter is Bucky is still alive and is trying to deal with the fact that he was a mercenary for the Soviet Union. I mean, S.H.I.E.L.D. keeping it a secret should be the least of everyone's concerns. When we get back to headquarters, he's gonna be there. My guess is that he's relatively nervous about meeting Steve again so getting along with each other should be our primary concern." Steve nodded beside me in the back of Tony's car. He was stressed and I didn't blame him.

Nobody said much of anything else, even we walked inside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s HQ, which was now more hidden than it had ever been before. Tony and Bruce led the way and I gripped Steve's hand before walking in with him. An image of Bucky flashed through my head before I forced it away.

"Have you met him yet?" asked Steve slowly. His hand was warm against mine and I mustered up a smile before responding.

"Yeah, I'm actually the one who brought him in." He seemed to sigh in relief.

"And he seemed… normal?" I sort of nodded.

"For someone who's been brainwashed and kept in stasis for years at a time, I'd say so." Steve laughed a little at that and got a little more comfortable.

"This is just not at all what I expected to come home to."

"I understand," I said.

"Have the two of you become close?" I froze and my grip on his hand hardened but Steve didn't seem to notice. "I would think that you have a lot in common."

"Other than being your best friend at different stages of your life, we don't have much in common at all."

"I'm sure that's not true." I shook my head and looked away from him. "What is it?"

"He doesn't like me… at all and I think he might poison you against me." His blue eyes clouded over and he let go of my hand. Shit, I shouldn't have said anything. I should've known this would piss him off. If there was a choice between me and Bucky, he'd pick Bucky and at this point in my life, I sure as hell wouldn't blame him.

"That's impossible," he replied. I half-laughed when Steve put his hands on my upper arms. "Why doesn't Bucky like you? I can't think of a reason why he wouldn't."

"It's obvious, isn't it? He hasn't fallen for my charm like you and the other Avengers have. He thinks I should be in jail." Steve's smile finally dropped from his face. I didn't know whether he'd thought I was making a big deal out of nothing or whether he just plain didn't believe there was a reason to dislike me. Now, when incontrovertible proof had been placed in front of him, Steve understood why Bucky hated me. I didn't need to spell it out for him, I didn't need to relive what had happened in New Mexico and even after. Steve knew what was going on and he knew Bucky's motives.

"Look, he's not- He doesn't understand what happened. He wasn't there." I shook my head and backed away from him.

"He knows everything he needs to know about me, Steve. He's read my file and more than that. He knows what I did and what I didn't do. And he's not gonna let me forget it."

"He won't turn me against you, Charlotte. I promise you that he won't. He may not even talk to me about you."

"But he will. Bruce told me that Bucky is yapping about me any chance he gets to anyone who will give him the time of day. I can only imagine what he wants to say to you." Steve moved toward me again and this time, he put his hands to my face like Thor had done so many times but he went a step farther than Thor had ever gone. He kissed me. Despite it being summer, despite all I felt regarding Bucky and Loki and everything that was going on, I felt chills go down my spine and my mind clear, empty of doubts and memories. When he pulled back from me, I felt everything about the day flooding back.

"I hope that was okay to do," he said. I shrugged and threw up my hands.

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Do it whenever you want." He laughed and I laughed and I knew that this is what I'd been waiting for for months. I wanted to be with him.

"So, uh, after this, after talking to Bucky and everything, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to help me get my mind off of all this?" I grinned and nodded nervously.

"Sure, absolutely. Want me to treat you to a milkshake? You've been away from New York for too long." He smiled at me kind of sheepishly and glanced at the ground before looking back at me.

"How bout I treat you?" I laughed at him.

"Do you mean like a date?" He smiled again.

"Yeah, like a date." I felt the corners of my mouth turn up and I nodded.

"I'd- I'd love to."

"Well, we've done everything backwards. Hopefully this we'll do right." I nodded. We certainly had done everything backwards. It's like we'd lived together, then kissed, now finally going on a first date. "I mean, as long as there's nothing in your way."

"No, of course not. There's nothing. I've, uh, done my thinking over the past few months." Lies. I was totally lying. I'd promised Steve and Thor to take this time to myself and really contemplate what was going on, what were my options, and I hadn't. But I wanted this and maybe that was selfish, maybe it was bald-faced lying, but I didn't care. Finally there were no obstacles and I could do this without guilt. "This is exactly what I want."

"Me too." I turned to finally enter the building and as Steve opened the door for me, I saw his silhouette inside; Bucky had seen everything and he wasn't happy about it.

Wow, I'm sorry for the incredibly long wait! The triangle is in overdrive right now, huh? I really appreciate the support I've been getting so please review and tell me how you're liking it!