Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 20~
Guess Who's Back

Maria walked down the staircase, her head hurting badly and her legs feeling heavy. There was an empty feeling in her heart, gently seeping out into her chest and out into the rest of her body; making her feel cold and far off at the same time. Her feelings were out of control; one second she wanted to fall down to the floor and cry, and the other she wanted to hit something so bad it'd break in two. From time to time, she felt nothing at all and the cold emptiness in her chest would physically hurt her.

Though there was something oddly comforting about this sadness. She had been in this state of euphoria, it seemed, while she was with Steve, forgetting about the hard choices she had had to make in her life and the pain they had caused her; forgetting about previous heartbreaks and her struggles as a child. Now, they were all coming back to her, the familiar feelings soothing her heartbreak, oddly enough.

Though she hated it. Hated being in such a state of self-pity, anger and sadness. Hated being numb and seeing that dark vale hanging above her, nearly weighing her down as she walked with an as normal walk as she could.

She had brought this upon herself, the heartbreak. Had she reacted differently, not pushed Steve away, after Wanda's attack on the team, she might've been able to keep him by her side. Though she failed, having decided to push him away and invite the familiar feelings of hopelessness back in again; the euphoric feelings of love lost to her now probably to never return.

Natasha and Laura were the ones down in the kitchen. Maria had no idea of what the time was, seeing as she had just awoken at some point during the day, still in the bathroom. It had taken her a while to gather the strength to get out of the bathroom, feeling as though that very room shielded her from reality. Though she knew she had to get out, back to reality to face Steve and the pain he had put on her; the pain she had inflicted on herself.

"I shouldn't be saying it, but I will; Good morning," said Natasha, leaning back in the kitchen chair she was seated in. "How'd it go with Steve?"

There it was, that bit of reality Maria had been hiding from in the bathroom. How could she tell anyone? How could she even begin to tell such awful things?

Deciding against using words, seeing as she didn't know what she was going to say in the state she was in now, Maria simply placed the engagement ring on the table in front of Natasha, earning a horrified look from Laura who put her cup of coffee back down on the counter she was leaning against in shock. Natasha seemed calm, however, compared to Laura. The smile she had worn when Maria entered the kitchen was gone, replaced by a gloomy look of realization.

"You can't let this get to you," said Natasha, her eyes staring at Maria who sunk down onto a chair opposite of Natasha, leaning her face into her hands, still trying to get away from the reality she was facing.

"He didn't tell you?" was all Maria could ask.

"No. In fact, Steve seemed as normal as ever," said Natasha, a look on her face telling Maria she wasn't very happy about that. "What did he say?"

"He said; 'Don't love me'," replied Maria, shifting her hands so she could stare down at the engagement ring resting calmly in the middle of the table.

"He let the hallucinations get to him," concluded Natasha. "He'll get around again."

Maria rolled her eyes at the optimism of the assassin. It was the last thing she needed and Laura seemed to understand that better than Nat did.

"I'm about to make some dinner," interrupted Laura, walking over to the table, her pregnant belly seeming to make even that movement a little difficult. "Do you wanna help? Get your mind off of things?"

As Maria was about to answer, Clint walked in, pressing a kiss to Laura's cheek; the gesture making Maria look away as physical pain curled a knot in her chest. The archer whispered something into Laura's ear before she hurried off outside to do whatever Clint had told her to do. Maria, still thinking she was avoiding to look at the couple's sweet gestures to each other and keeping her eyes on the clock, pretending to be interested in the fact that she had awoken past lunch-time, missed when Clint grabbed the engagement ring from the table, inspecting it before realizing who it belonged to. Natasha gave him a pointed look which turned into a sad one quite quickly, making Clint understand exactly what had happened.

"I still have some work to do out on the porch," said Clint, placing the ring back on the table before Maria turned her head back around, never even noticing Clint had picked it up in the first place. "I think Laura will have dinner ready in an hour."

"See ya then," replied Natasha as Clint headed outside through the same door as his wife. "What are you going to do with it?"

Maria stared at the engagement ring for a little while before replying; "Steve told me I could have it; God knows why… It only remembers me of the pain he's caused me… And I want to say that I'm gonna sell it, or, melt it down and make a new jewelry out of it. But I don't think I can. Nat, I still love him. I love him so much. If I get rid of this ring, I might forget the best time of my life. The only good thing that I've ever had. And I can't lose that, not completely."

"So, you're keeping it?" asked Natasha softly.

"I think so," she replied, fighting back the tears that wanted to push forth so badly. "I just don't know where to keep it… I mean, we obviously – or luckily – don't have an apartment together and the Avengers Tower… I don't know, I just don't see myself staying there after all that's happened…"

"Of course not. After this mission, you're going to need some time off to find yourself again," agreed Natasha. "So, you'll keep it where you know no man or woman will ever get to it."

"Where?" asked Maria, looking at Natasha with pleading eyes.

"Close to your heart," replied Natasha, beginning to take off the necklace she was wearing, removing the locket and replacing it with the engagement ring. "There. You wear that at all times, and the happy times you've had with Steve will never go away."

Maria slowly grabbed the necklace from Natasha, holding it in her hands for a while before, with shaking hands, putting it on, hiding the engagement ring under her shirt, close to her heart.

"Alright," said Laura as she came back inside. "Dinner. Maria, you cut the vegetables and Nat, you fix the pasta. I'll make the Bolognese."

Dinner was ready and Laura had walked outside to gather everyone. Nat and Maria were busy preparing the table and seeing as there were quite a lot of Avengers staying at the house, they needed to put two tables next to each other, as close together as possible, to make enough space for both the Barton family and the Avengers.

Everyone sat down around the two tables, Maria and Steve sitting on opposite sides, while they waited for Tony to arrive. Apparently, a while ago, he had left to take a look on the Barton's tractor which didn't want to start anymore. He hadn't returned since then.

Although the Avengers were all talking while they waited for Tony to arrive, Maria couldn't help but sit quietly in-between Clint and Bruce, her hand constantly going up to the ring around her neck. She knew things were going to be difficult for quite some time, though she didn't want them to be. Each time Steve said something, her ears toned out everything but his voice and her heart writhed around inside of her in agony.

It wasn't until Tony walked inside of the house with a surprise guest that Maria finally managed to put the pain aside for a while.

"Guess who's back?" said Tony, raising his hands ever so slightly as he strode over to the table with none other than Nick Fury following him.

"Nick?" asked Bruce from beside her.

"This is where he's been hiding out," explained Tony.

He looked the same. The eye-patch was back and the leathery coat too. And as usual, there was an air of seriousness and pride around him. Although SHIELD was gone, Fury still seemed to be who he always was.

It was later that night that Fury actually began to talk about why he had shown his face to them; a couple hours after dinner. The sun was gone and only the lights inside of the house were keeping them from being completely blinded seeing as the moon wasn't out that night either.

Some beers had been opened and some games had been played, though Maria hadn't joined for any of it. At first, she had stayed on the couch in the living room which was connected to the dining room and kitchen – meaning she could hear the Avengers having fun and talking from where she was seated, sulking. Though Clint Barton's little daughter had gathered up some strength to go and talk to her and the girl became Maria's entertainment that evening. She asked Maria questions, funny and innocent ones about life as a superhero, before Maria made her steal one of the games the Avengers had been playing so that the two of them could play it together. The girl enjoyed drawing and painting, so Maria encouraged her to grab some of her equipment so they could do some of that. Towards the end of the evening, Maria had drawn five quite horrible pictures of houses and animals.

"That's a beautiful butterfly," said Maria, hearing Fury begin to talk about their current mission which she didn't really want to miss out on. "How about you go and show it to aunt Nat?"

The girl nodded her head and stood up, running over to the dining table where Bruce and Nat were sitting. Maria stood up, unfortunately finding herself standing next to Steve as she listened to what Fury had to say. Neither of them acknowledged the other, though she could see Steve glancing at her from time to time.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," began Fury. "My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" asked Steve.

"He's easy to track," said Fury, casually leaning against a counter with his arms crossed over his chest. "He's everywhere. The guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

"Is he still going after launch codes?" asked Tony, making Maria turn her head towards where he was, throwing darts on his own.

"Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway," said Fury.

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," said Tony.

"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that," began Fury.

"The nexus?" asked Steve.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo," said Bruce. "Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"So, what did they say?" asked Clint, holding a dart of his own in his hands.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" asked Tony just as the dart Clint had been holding in his hands flew past his face and hit the very center of the dart-board Tony had been playing with.

Maria ignored their shenanigans, only focused on the mission at hand seeing as it was the only thing that was keeping her mind off of her current situation.

"Parties unknown," replied Fury.

"Do we have an ally?" asked Natasha.

"Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing," said Fury. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo," said Tony. "Find our 'unknown'."

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," said Natasha.

"I do. I have you," said Fury, making Maria look away from him as his eyes travelled over all the Avengers. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here, we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," said Natasha jokingly.

"You know what, Romanoff," joked Steve back, pointing a finger at her.

"So, what does he want?" asked Fury, ignoring the two Avengers.

"To become better," said Steve. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," added Tony. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," said Natasha, looking between Tony and Bruce.

"They don't need to be protected," said Bruce, grabbing the drawing Clint's daughter had made for Natasha earlier, an idea seeming to have popped up into his head. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" asked Maria quietly, though still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"