Note: Spoilers for 'Age of Ultron' and season two finale of 'Agents of SHIELD'. I apologise. I'll try not to write too many spoilery chapters, but I can't really promise anything. (And there's the usual, all-important fix-it.)

"Double Meaning"

Ending the call with a sigh, Phil rubbed his eyes one at a time. Good thing he was right-handed. Maybe he'd subconsciously reached out for the crystal with his left hand? Well, whatever the case, he now had a group of angry superheroes, half of them refusing to speak to him and the other half complete strangers. Not complete, of course; Fury had sent him a full report with all the information he could find on the new Avengers.

He looked up when he heard the 'ping!' of a new email, and clicked to open it. Good luck to any potential hackers; SHIELD had Skye.

'Hi, Director Coulson. My name's Sam Wilson. I'm with the Avengers. Since we've never met, I've got no beef with you. If you want, I can visit your base and report back to them? And report to you on the team. Be the go-between, or whatever you want to call it. What do you say?'

Of course Phil was going to be suspicious about it; so he had Skye trace the email, go through everything connected to it, and make sure that it really was The Falcon contacting him, and not… someone else. Just because HYDRA was gone didn't mean there weren't enemies of SHIELD out there. Hell, Ward had dropped off the radar…

"Looks like it is him," Skye said. "Either that, or whoever created the account – or is using it – is a better hacker than me."

"Not possible," Phil said, and he patted her on the shoulder. "Thanks, Skye."

"Want me to be your secretary?"

"No, thanks. Fitz's voice-recognition program will do just fine."

Once he was alone, Phil dictated a reply, and then edited it manually. He attached his electronic signature, sent the message, and sat back to wait for a reply. It took longer than he expected, and was a quick 'I'll see you tomorrow'. Still, better than nothing, and it gave Phil time to prepare.

Another email – again, sourced and confirmed by Skye – arranged a time and a place, and Phil was unaccountably nervous, going so far as to debate over which tie to wear. When May finally shoved him out of the van, he nearly stumbled, and glared back over his shoulder at her.

"I should be helping with Simmons," he began.

"And how many doctorates do you have?" she asked. He opened and closed his mouth. "I'll come find you after I've parked."

"You mean you're leaving me alone for more than two minutes?" he said, widening his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. A look from May had him closing the door, and he wandered over to the café Sam had specified. While he waited, he fiddled with the packets of sugar, and wondered for the hundredth time whether he'd done the right thing with Cal. The man was unpredictable; there was no telling whether he'd try to make contact with Skye despite his promise, and Phil didn't want to lose her trust. But really, after he'd been subjected to TAHITI himself? Did she honestly think he'd be okay with rewriting her father's memory like that?

No. It was important to have Cal on the outside. No one would ever suspect him of working with SHIELD, and especially not with Phil. The perfect spy, and a strong one at that. And a spy working as a vet? Yeah, pretty good idea. Cal's, actually.

A shadow fell over the table, and when Phil glanced up he remembered why he was there. His breath caught, and he went to stand when the man – Sam Wilson – waved him back down, then held out his hand for a brief shake.

"I'm your brand new liaison, sir," Sam said, and he sat down, eyes trained on Phil's.

No. No, couldn't be. Phil was usually the liaison, he could admit that, but it'd always partially been an exercise in trying to find his soulmate. He'd still never heard those words before, not until now, guarding them jealously from anyone at SHIELD who might exploit them (remarkable hindsight considering HYDRA's infiltration). Still, it couldn't be Sam Wilson… could it?

Though it'd explain his boyish crush on Fury when they'd first met.

Judging by Sam's growing smile, he knew. He… Well, shit. He must've recognised the writing from Phil's signature. 'Liaison' was obviously the keyword, which means that it was in Sam's soulmark. And that grin…

"'Liaison' has a double meaning, you know," he finally said.

"I look forward to exploring both with you," Sam said, his smile widening to implausible proportions.

"Really?" Phil said, disbelieving. "You…"

"Have been waiting to meet you my whole life, Phil Coulson."

"Just…" He smiled slowly. "Call me Phil."

"Then I guess you'd better call me Sam."

He settled back in his seat, relaxing further. "So I guess we'd better get to know each other."

"Do we have time before your agent comes back?"

"Who, May? She'll want to interrogate you, because she's my friend, and… well, we all have trust issues."

"Amen to that."

"And you should probably also know that her ex-husband is a psychology professor."

Sam inhaled through his teeth. "A friend who's an agent, whose ex is…? Yeah, okay, sounds like I should be nervous."

"But she can't ignore the words," Phil said. "She's… never seen mine, but she knows my writing from all the reports over the years, so she'd—"

"I'm not showing her either of my soulmarks. Not where they're positioned…" He cleared his throat, and Phil could swear his cheeks darkened. "Not doing that."

Phil grinned. "Now I'm curious."

"You were gonna be curious anyway, Mr. Director Sir."

"But now I'm even more curious."

"Uh…" Sam glanced to the side. "That her?"

Phil tilted his head, indicating for May to join them. "How'd you guess?"

"The all-black costume stands out a bit," he replied.

"…Fair point." He looked up as May reached the table. "Coffee?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Tea. Agent Thirty-Three is dead, remember?"

"Sorry. Habit. This is Sam Wilson." He grinned. "My soulmate."

"…Did you know that before?" she asked as Sam brought over a chair for her.

"Nope, but he did," Phil said.

"You still send out that electronic signature?" 'You idiot' was implied.

"Okay, I'll stop after this," he said, holding up his hand in surrender. He almost raised the other one, remembering at the last moment that he only had… well. Sam cocked his head, forehead creasing slightly, and Phil decided it was best to be honest from the start. He cleared his throat, and then rested his left arm on the table. Sam almost reached for it, the movement aborted as he withdrew his hand.

"Was it HYDRA?" he asked.

"For once, no, it wasn't," Phil said. "I caught a weapon which turns people… most people to dust. One of my agents already had an axe, and acted quickly. If he hadn't chopped off my hand… it was already turning to dust, so. He saved my life."

"Thank God for that," Sam said. "Does it…?"

"Doesn't hurt. Feels weird as hell, hard to describe…"

"It always is."

"You've worked with amputees," May said.

"And I'll continue when we finally catch up with the Winter Soldier, aka Bucky Barnes," Sam said. Phil and May glanced at each other. "You… did know about that, right?"

May spoke for Phil. "We haven't had any contact with the Avengers. Not until yesterday."

"Your soulmate is one," Sam said, tentatively resting his hand over Phil's stump. He was still getting used to there being nothing but air where there should've been a hand. Fitz was too worried about Simmons to work on a prosthesis, but Phil knew that once they'd solved one problem, his engineer would be on to the next one. With Simmons's and Mack's help, undoubtedly. When everything was alright again. Back to normal. Not that their lives could ever be considered normal. "Hey. Phil?"

"Hmm?"

"Drink?"

They all placed their orders with the blonde waitress, who then bustled off. Sam resumed the conversation.

"You should come by the tower," he said. "See old friends, make new ones. Clint and Natasha have been telling the twins all about you… you know, when they thought you were still dead. Now the kids and Vision wanna meet you, and Rhodey wants to see you, since you never got much of a chance to talk. I'm sure Pepper wants to slug you for staying dead for so long—"

"Hardly my fault that I was brought back after five days," Phil muttered.

"…I meant dead in inverted commas. I choose to be concerned about the fact that you… were dead for nearly a week?"

"Wait, I thought I told Stark the details of my resurrection?"

"He didn't relay the entire conversation, and FRIDAY is still getting her cyber-feet. I didn't get to know JARVIS all that well, and his loss… It hit the team hard after they had time to mourn. Stark hangs out more at his tower than at the Avengers facility with us."

"Probably punishing himself," Phil said. "Don't let him wallow too much. He has a history of self-destructive behaviour, though I'm sure you already know that."

"I'd know more if he talked to me," Sam said. "But I'm on the team for combat, not to act as Avenger therapist."

"If you need any help in finding… the captain's friend," and the fact that Bucky Barnes was still alive was giving him a minor internal freak-out, "please let me know. My hacker is talented at finding information other people want hidden. If anyone can find… him, she's one of the few."

"I'll let Steve know," Sam said.

"Waitress is coming back," May said. Phil brought his arm back to his side, aware that it could be disconcerting for people to see his injury.

"You should swing by our place, too," Phil said. "How'd you get here?"

"I was dropped off."

"We could take you back, return you to your team later?"

Sam grinned. "Sounds great to me."

"Where've you been?" Steve asked, looking up when Sam walked into the common area of the tower.

"With my soulmate."

Steve gaped. "Really? Who is it?"

"Never you mind," Sam said. "I'm not scaring him off by introducing you to him right at the start."

He snorted. "I wouldn't scare anyone off."

"Not risking it. Sorry, Steve."

"So… does he know who your third is?"

The mark had appeared not all that long ago, so the chance had been slim. Sam had told Steve that he had a new mark, but not what it said, and it wasn't exactly good etiquette to show anyone outside of the family, especially if the bond was meant to be non-platonic; and Sam was definitely hoping for non-platonic.

"He hasn't met the new one," he replied. "But we've got each other's numbers and email addresses. He promised to let me know if he met our third first."

"They'd be extremely young, if they were born with your marks."

"We're hoping it's a former Blank," Sam said. "I wasn't born with my mark for him, either, remember?"

"Yeah, that's right." Steve beamed. "I'm very happy for you, Sam. And I'll work on being less scary so you can introduce us sooner."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, Steve."

In the end, Sam was the one to meet their third soulmate first.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted when the Winter Soldier began to back off towards the end of the roof. "Please, come with me. We'll get you help. I know someone who works with people like us."

"Stay back!" Bucky called, shrinking away. "I don't wanna hurt anyone. If you get too close, I might…"

"Might what?"

"Revert. I-I don't know. I don't feel stable."

"Well, you're nearly at the edge of the building, and I still remember too damn well seeing you fall into a ravine!" Steve snapped. "So just stay where you are. I'll stay here, and you can come to me when you're ready."

"You shouldn't've come for me. Should've let me finish hunting down HYDRA. When I've made up for… for everything… all the people I killed…"

"The Asset," Steve said. "That wasn't you. You're Sergeant James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes. My best buddy, the only guy who'll remember the old days. Please, Buck. You're not the Asset anymore. You're you, or you would've tried to kill me by now."

"And what if I do try an' kill you if you get too close?" Bucky said. "I can't risk it, Stevie."

"You… you called me Stevie. Only Bucky Barnes calls me Stevie."

"Please, I'm no good for you," he said weakly. "I'm no good for anyone."

"That's not true. Let me help you. Let Sam help you."

"…Sam?"

"He helps soldiers who are having trouble."

"Sam?"

"Sam Wilson."

Bucky tripped backwards over the building's edge. He… he didn't want to die. He—

Before his life could flash before his eyes – again – something swooped out of nowhere and grabbed hold of him. He saw wings, and threw his arms around the bird's (whatever it was) neck. Those were definitely arms around his back, and he was pretty sure it was a human – a winged human – holding him.

Wait. Winged human. The guy who'd been fighting Bucky when HYDRA…?

"Hey, gorgeous, I'm Sam Wilson," the man said, smiling at Bucky from behind goggles. "Where've you been?"

Bucky was already having trouble catching his breath. This just made it ten times harder, and his chest pressed against Sam's. He felt his feet touch something, and realised they were on the ground. Sam steadied him, but Bucky didn't want to let go. He looked Sam over, and stared as the wings retracted into some kind of backpack.

"Wow," he murmured, and he met Sam's eyes, easier with the goggles removed. "I don't know what to say. Thank you?"

"…You're kidding me."

Bucky quickly let go and backed off. "I'm sorry. I'll… I'll go—"

"No!" Sam grasped Bucky's wrist. "I'm sorry. It's just we've been looking for you, and we've met before, but I guess… I don't know what changed."

"Completely broke my programming? I don't know."

"But the other thing that makes this crazy…" Sam smiled. "I met our other soulmate only a few days ago. Meeting both of you in one week? Never expected that."

"Oh. If you…" Bucky looked down and cleared his throat. "If you're already together—"

"I've spent a total of about four hours with him, on that one day, and half of it was shop talk. We only had about forty-five minutes alone together getting to know each other. Haven't even kissed yet. Believe me, there hasn't been time for anything else to happen. And now we've got you, we don't have to wait so long."

"You would've waited?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "If we found out our third was a baby, probably not. Not in our line of work. It'd be nice to have that long-life guarantee, but I think we both knew it'd be an adult."

Bucky looked down at his pale hands, enclosed in Sam's dark ones. Hands which had spilt so much blood for the enemy.

"Stevie… said you could help?"

"Yeah, I can help," Sam said. "Both of you."

"Can we help you?"

"I'll think of something, sweetheart. Now c'mon. You can stay with me. Got a spare room. Or if you want, you could stay with Phil."

"Phil?"

"Don't… tell any of the others who our soulmate is," Sam said, eyebrows drawing together. "They used to know him, and they'd thought for the last three years that he was dead. They're pissed off at him at the moment, so I haven't told them who my soulmate is. Please… if they find out… I don't know what'll happen."

"I won't say a word," Bucky said. "I promise."

"Good." Sam kissed him gently on the cheek, and Bucky was pretty sure he blushed. "I gotta call him when we get back to the tower."

"Can I… stay in your spare room? Really?"

"Yes, you can."

Bucky laced their fingers together as Sam led him towards the others, who were waiting by the car. There was a noticeable halt in conversation when they got close.

"Can't believe you called me 'gorgeous'," Bucky muttered.

"Wait, that's in your soulmark?"

"Along with your name."

"You'll have to show me later," Sam said, a twinkle in his eye.

Phil was rarely antsy, but he was allowed to be. He was going to meet Bucky Barnes, which would've made his day any time of his life. But the same man was his other soulmate. All three of them would be together. It would be magical.

"Stop it," May said. "You'll ruin my work."

He lowered his hand from his tie. Andrew was terrible at knots, so May had become adept at tying them, and she'd been performing the same task for him ever since Simmons disappeared, and she'd postponed her leave. She was giving Skye lessons, using Phil and sometimes Andrew as test subjects, but he suspected she wouldn't leave until they knew what had happened to Simmons… one way or another.

"You're thinking about her again."

"Maybe they'll distract me for awhile," he said. Just then, Mack arrived at the base, and Skye buzzed him in. When they climbed off the aircraft, it took May's hand on Phil's arm to keep him from running up to them.

"Hey, Phil!" Sam called. He clapped Mack on the back. "Thanks for the ride, man."

"No problem," Mack said. He glanced at Bucky – Sam had told Phil that he was going by the nickname, surprisingly – and then returned to his current project, probably as suspicious as ever. Considering how often things could go wrong with this team… it was a justifiable concern. Hmm.

"Bucky, this is Phil," Sam said, ushering Bucky closer. Phil held out his hand.

"It's wonderful to meet you, it really is," he gushed. "I never thought…" He trailed off, and let go when Bucky continued to stare at him blankly. "Sorry. That was—"

"Don't apologise," Bucky said, and Phil's heart sped up dangerously. "I'm… happy to meet you, too."

Phil smiled widely. "Thank God. Both of you in one week. I can't believe it."

"I had trouble believing it, too," Sam said. "I guess I should be used to crazy shit by now, getting involved with the Avengers…"

"Where would the fun be in life it we didn't have the unexpected to look forward to?"

"Some unexpected things aren't for the best," May muttered. "I'll keep the kids in the lab."

"Thanks," Phil said. "Bucky, this is Agent May."

"Nice to meet you," Bucky said, though he seemed uncertain. Phil wanted to wrap him up in cotton wool and protect him from the evils of the world, after everything he'd suffered.

"I'll see you later," May said, and she headed for Mack.

"Come this way," Phil said, and he led his soulmates to the common area. Bucky looked around.

"Looks like a lot of vessels I've been on," he said. "Something's different, though."

"Not everyone here is ex-military, and… well, we don't have many homes."

"Phil… I can call you Phil?"

He smiled over his shoulder when they reached the office door. "Of course. I can call you Bucky, can't I? Sam said—"

Bucky nodded. "Yeah. Please do. But I was wondering…" His gaze slipped down Phil's left arm to its abrupt ending. Phil had been waiting for that. He unlocked the office door and waved them in, before following, and then locking the door again.

"How much has Sam told you?" he asked.

"He said we had a few things in common," Bucky said. They all sat down, and he rested his metal hand on the top of the desk. Phil tried not to look envious. "But you haven't got one of these."

"Not yet," Phil said. "Fitz is going to work on it."

"I'm sure Tony—" Sam began.

"No," he replied. "Not gonna happen. He wouldn't want to… just, no. Fitz has confidence issues, and he'll need something to distract him while we wait for… It's a project." He shrugged. "He likes projects."

"Can I ask what happened?"

"If that's the case… I think I should start from the beginning. It'll take awhile…?"

Bucky half-smiled. "I've got all day for my soulmates."

Natasha scowled at the screen. "When are you coming back?" she asked Sam.

"When we're ready," he said.

"You know you and Barnes can bond at Stark Tower," she said. "There's no need to go anywhere else. Steve said that he can't hear you from where he is."

Sam looked bashful, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh-huh? Should've taken his super senses into consideration, I guess."

"He would've told you if there was a problem."

"Any sign of Banner yet?"

Her eyes narrowed further. "Don't change the subject."

"That an order, Ms. Romanov?"

"Bring your third if you all need to be together to bond," she continued. "Tony doesn't have a problem with it, and Steve," her lips twitched at the corners, "said that he's trying to be less 'scary'. If you need the rest of us out of the way at first…"

"No," he said. "And no bonding yet. We're still getting to know each other."

"You've been disappearing on and off for three weeks," she said.

Sam shrugged. "Bucky and I have elected ourselves co-liaisons."

"For what?" She couldn't help feeling suspicious.

"…SHIELD?"

Natasha gritted her teeth. "Sam…"

"You owe Phil… you owe Director Coulson better than this," he said, though his slip didn't escape her notice. Seemed he'd been spending a lot of time at SHIELD as well. Maybe this business of having a third soulmate was just a cover?

"He owed us the truth," she said stiffly. "Which he chose to hide from us."

"You'd know all about keeping secrets, wouldn't you?" Sam said. She tilted her chin up, but he didn't apologise for his abruptness. "Look, he provided the Helicarrier which helped you save all those Latverians. Where Pietro got his life-saving medical care?"

She swallowed. "That was SHIELD, not Coulson."

"And he's the director. He funded the Helicarrier, contributed to the new Avengers base. You don't think Stark and Fury were the sole benefactors, did you?"

"Sam—"

"We'll see you when we get back." He hung up, and Natasha blinked in surprise at the suddenly-blank screen. She turned to Steve, who'd just entered the room, frowning.

"You don't know when they'll be back?" he asked.

"Clearly," she said. He sighed.

"They're really talking to SHIELD?"

"Yes."

"I… I don't think I'm comfortable with that."

"Then tell them," she said, walking past him. "They won't listen to me."

"Coulson has his people," Steve said. It sounded like he was trying to reassure himself of something. "And Bucky and Sam have their third soulmate."

"Have you seen their soulmarks?" Natasha asked. He paused, then shook his head.

"Sam said they're in delicate places," he said. "Not ones he's willing to show off."

"You don't think it's an excuse to liaise with SHIELD? It was one hell of a coincidence that he met Bucky only a few days later. And they were talking privately before returning to us after we retrieved Bucky. It's possible that Bucky will do anything to please his soulmate, including going along with a lie."

Steve frowned. "But… Sam wouldn't lie like that, and Bucky definitely wouldn't—"

"Wake up, Steve!" she snapped. "It's happening again. More secrets from SHIELD. Trust me; I saw plenty of them during my time, kept some as well."

"I remember," he said frostily.

"For all we know, Coulson asked them to lie to us. He's big on secrets these days. I don't know what kind of incentive he offered, what excuse he fed them, but now that he's the new Fury he could be playing any kind of end-game, and Sam and Bucky have become caught in it. Do you want that to happen? We're better off without SHIELD complicating things and manipulating us."

"Natasha—"

"I'm done with it, Steve!" She clenched her hands into fists. "I've been burned before by SHIELD. Can you honestly say that you believe, one hundred percent, that Bucky and Sam have a third, that it's not a cover for meeting Coulson? Because they can't be spending much time with another soulmate – who, for some reason, they won't introduce to us – if they're liaising with SHIELD a few times a week."

"Unless their soulmate is SHIELD?" he suggested, but it sounded weak, even from him.

"Ask them outright if their soulmate is an agent. Send them a message right now."

Steve sighed, and Natasha looked over his shoulder as he sent a text: 'Does your third work for Coulson?' Both replies took a little while, but they were both in the negative.

"See?" Natasha said.

"As long as their third isn't HYDRA," Steve said.

"You're the leader; it's your call," she said, but her tone implied plenty.

"It's not fair," Bucky said stubbornly. "We'll stay."

"You're needed elsewhere," Phil said, wishing that he had two hands so he could touch both of them at once. Sam and Bucky cupped his right hand; he felt dizzy sometimes, if someone touched the end of his arm where there should've been flesh and bone.

"We're your soulmates," Sam reminded him.

"I know, and you're also superheroes. Bucky, you deserve the chance to wipe out whatever red in your ledger you think you have. You can both do so much more good as part-time savers of the world than full-time SHIELD agents. Sam, your vets need you. And you'll have each other."

"And who will you have?" Bucky asked, sounding almost jealous. Phil shrugged.

"Work," he said. "My people. I've gotten by on it for a long time. I'm too busy to give you the attention you deserve. Please, don't worry about me. Just keep in touch so I know you're okay. You have my secret number and email address. Hell, do smoke signals if necessary. Start Twitter accounts for me to follow. And stay safe, okay?"

"Don't make us leave," Bucky said. "Please, Phil?"

"It's not like we bonded," he whispered. "You won't miss me. Please… you're making this harder than it needs to be."

"It is hard. It's the hardest thing."

"I… I wish things could be different," Sam said. "It's useless asking you to leave SHIELD, isn't it?"

Phil nodded. "And we can't exactly combine the Avengers and SHIELD, not when they're requesting a split."

"More like my asshole ex-best friend makin' it an order," Bucky muttered.

"You'll be fine without me," Phil said. They'd never even kissed. It's not that he didn't want to; but he'd suspected this would happen, and made sure they wouldn't get attached. Still hurt like hell, but he took solace in that they'd have each other. Even though he'd be back to being alone… he'd never really been with them. He didn't say it, but he hoped they'd bond with each other.

"I'll miss our talks," he said, and he squeezed their hands once, before removing his from their grasp. "Things will go back to normal, though."

"This has been my normal since I got back," Bucky said. There was a tremor in his voice, and Phil felt like a heel. But Steve had indeed pretty much ordered a complete separation from SHIELD, which included an end to all liaisons.

"Bucky—"

He was cut off when Bucky cupped his cheeks and kissed him fiercely. Phil blinked back the tears which wanted desperately to spill over, but he did allow himself to kiss back for a second, before retreating. Bucky's cheeks were soaked, and it nearly killed him to smile as though everything was alright.

"What a send-off," he said lightly. "But you have to go now. For real this time."

Bucky whirled around and left. Sam hesitated, then shook Phil's hand, the pain in his eyes obvious. Phil's heart broke as he watched his soulmates leave.

But it was for the best, the only way. The Avengers hated him, Steve had forbidden contact – Phil bet at Natasha's suggestion – and he couldn't let Sam and Bucky leave the team so soon after joining, when they could make a huge difference as Avengers.

"That was stupid," May said. Phil nodded.

"Biggest mistake of my life," he said. "But a necessary one."

They still had no idea what had happened to Simmons. The Koenig brothers were working on a theory they'd developed ever since first encountering the box (Phil was pissed that they'd kept its existence secret for so long, although they'd thought the ship was at the bottom of the ocean, or in HYDRA's possession). In the meantime, Fitz spent half his time being a nuisance while trying to solve the problem, and the other half beating himself up for being the apparent cause of the box opening like that.

Which meant that it was going on four months since Phil had lost a third of his arm, and he still didn't have a prosthesis. He was aware that finding Simmons – if she was still alive – was a priority. He'd called Heimdall, asked if the man/god/whatever could keep an eye out for her, and to let Sif know if she came across any more Kree who could explain it. Skye kept bugging him to let her open the box, and he kept pointing out that whatever was in there was supposed to be deadly towards Inhumans.

Phil was tempted to ask Stark to make him a prosthetic arm like Bucky's, some kind of replacement, because he needed an engineer of that skill to manufacture something. The research and development department was focussing on Simmons' disappearance. It was hard to be disappointed when one of his agents, one of the people he trusted implicitly and who'd risked life and limb going undercover, was missing due to a foreign object which had apparently swallowed her whole.

And if they got her back… would she ever be the same?

Shit. Sometimes he really hated being the director of SHIELD. He almost missed the good old days. Even though HYDRA was around, at least he wasn't in charge of these messes. Before the TAHITI program was started, he was slated to be liaison to and handler of the Avengers. No more. There was no way Stark would ever help him, either as director or a former… well, not friend, never that. But someone who'd worked with him. And there was no guarantee that Stark wouldn't put in a tracking chip; if Phil was going to have that in his arm, Fitz and Skye were putting it in, not Iron Man.

He tried to cheer himself up reading the latest email from Bucky, who was surprisingly more prolific than Sam when it came to news.

'I think having low expectations is definitely the way to go,' he'd written. 'Steve was surprised when I was surprised that coffee was a hell of a lot cheaper than I thought it'd be. And some people aren't so bad. I still don't like the whole team. Rhodey's a swell guy. He knows how to keep Stark in line. Everyone likes Vision. I'm not sure about the twins. I still haven't met Thor, but his girlfriend says he's due back any day now. That could just be wishful thinking, the Black Widow says. She's still pining for the Hulk, wherever he is. She told us they're soulmates, but I dunno. If they are, I understand how she feels, but I sure don't feel sorry for her. Sam and me are pretty sure she told Steve to split from SHIELD.' As Phil had suspected. She was trained to be extremely suspicious.

'Movie nights are weird. I don't know what happened to films. They're trying to get me and Steve up to speed, but we just wanna see things which interest us. I know we shouldn't 'wallow in nostalgia', as Sam puts it, but what's wrong with watching things from our generation, huh? It'd be nice to see some Ruby Keeler or Clark Gable or… I dunno, classic Disney films? All the line drawings, not this computer-generated junk.'

"Poor Bucky," Phil murmured. There was really nothing like the classics. He'd have to suggest some of his favourite modern films, since chances were they'd share similar tastes. They certainly did in music, judging by their discussions, and what they'd listened to when talking, or playing card games.

'We're still trying to work out some way to get back together. I know you want us to bond without you, but that's not happening. It's with you or not at all.'

He sighed, frustrated by how noble his soulmates were being. If they bonded and then spent too much time away from each other, it would hurt. Didn't they know that? He was trying to spare them pain.

"Fucking HYDRA again," Steve said, running into the kitchen in full uniform. He grabbed a bottle of water and an energy bar. "I swear to God, one of these days I'll…"

"I thought they were gone," Rhodey said, frowning.

"Turns out some guy named Ward is trying to restart the organisation. It's like the Nazis; they disbanded and went into hiding. Just a matter of gathering the remainder together and organising them into another pain in the ass."

"I'll get the suit," Tony said. "`Bout time for another showdown."

Sam and Bucky glanced at each other, and nodded.

"I'll get my wings," Sam said.

"I'm not gonna bother gettin' changed," Bucky said. "Don't need a special outfit unless I wanna make `em piss themselves when they realise who I am."

By the time they got to the shoot-out, more ex-agents had emerged from the woodwork and were making nuisances of themselves against the diminished forces of SHIELD.

"We'll handle it!" Coulson snapped over the comms. "This isn't an Avengers matter."

"Some of us worked for SHIELD once," Steve replied, targeting another group behind wooden boxes.

"And then you turned your back on us, so I'm none the wiser—"

"They're HYDRA, okay?"

"Where were you all these months we've been taking them down without your assistance? Even the military isn't always on our side, though I understand Talbot's reasoning. But it's still—" There were shots, and Coulson swore. "Goddamnit, I just got this cleaned. Where the hell's that gun…?"

"Phil, wait where you are," Sam said. "Bucky's on his way to help you."

"Don't worry about me, Sam. I'll be okay."

"But your arm—"

"Forget about it! Take out whoever you can. I'll be fine. May's nearby, and Skye's…"

Steve was suspicious, and decided the best thing to do was get to Coulson and find out what was being kept from them. Natasha was on her way, though, so he stayed where he was. Where did this Ward guy get all these people from? Shit. Cut off one head, indeed.

As he ran, he noticed an unarmed woman holding out her hands, somehow sending ammunition back towards the agents. But there were too many, and one of them shot her, knocking her to the ground. He heard Coulson shout "Skye!", and saw the agent run out of the van and to her side. He used his body to shove her out of the line of fire, and turned around, shooting at various targets. Steve had heard he was good, and was surprised that he was only using one gun, when he should've been good with both…

Oh.

"You only have one hand, Coulson?" he asked. Some of the others said "What?", and he heard the director's aggravated sigh.

"Piss off, captain," he said. "We're nearly done. The day you give a damn about us…"

Steve flinched back, and a bullet grazed his arm due to his distraction. Hawkeye took out the sniper, and the battle was soon wrapped up, mainly thanks to SHIELD. Sam disconnected his comm. unit and ran to help with first aid. Steve almost joined them, but realised that Coulson wouldn't welcome him. He couldn't exactly blame the director, and met up with the others. Bucky had followed Sam.

"They didn't tell you about Coulson's arm?" Tony asked, retracting the faceplate.

"No," Steve said. "Did any of you know?" They all shook their heads.

"Why doesn't he have a prosthetic replacement?" Tony said, looking towards the group.

"Maybe he does, and just doesn't wear it for…?" No. Stupid question. Of course he'd wear it for battle situations, the one damn time it'd be the most useful.

"I'll have to make one. If we had Bruce with us it'd be much easier, but I guess…"

"They'd have their own engineer and biologist, wouldn't they?" Rhodey said.

"I… I don't know," Steve mumbled. "I hope so?"

"We don't know much about their setup," Tony said. "Dad and Aunt Peggy would be disappointed. But… but they let HYDRA into SHIELD in the first place!"

"Make whatever excuses you want," Steve said. "But I'm gonna make it up to them."

"You really think he will accept your help?" Wanda asked. "It seems as though he would be happier if you stayed away."

"He's just sore `cause we've been ignoring them. If we—"

"You have much making up to do," she said firmly. "All of you. You chose to abandon them, when it seems they desperately need help."

They were all silent for a minute. Then Tony sighed.

"I'd better get Agent's measurements for a robo-arm," he said.

Phil was on edge; he couldn't help it. He'd seen Stark's assessing looks while they were cleaning up, chivvying the Avengers away when necessary, and he ignored the billionaire's text messages after he saw they were requests to meet Phil for measurements. He knew what Stark wanted to measure, and he wasn't taking this opportunity from Fitz. If Phil got Stark to make him a prosthesis, quite aside from any unknown elements (Bucky had told him some of the additions Stark wanted to make to his arm), Fitz would be hurt that Phil hadn't gone to him first.

But it's not like he hadn't asked Fitz about it. The engineer had promised to work on something when Simmons was back, because they needed her input. And if Phil continued to think with his heart when it came to his original team, instead of thinking like a SHIELD director…

He checked Stark's last message, and his thumb hovered over the reply button.

He'd give Fitz one last chance. They were doing all they could to find Simmons, and Fitz was neglecting pretty much everything else in favour of fretting. It had to stop.

"Fitz?" he said, entering the vault. Fitz was sitting there, as usual, running calculations on a StarkPad and staring at the rock.

"Yeah?" Fitz said vaguely, clearly not paying attention. Phil raised his eyebrows.

"Are you ready to start work on a prosthetic arm?" he asked.

"Eh… no. No, I'm not."

"…Fitz, I don't want to rush you, but you're not making any headway here. You need something else to work on, to take your mind off—"

"I don't want to take my mind off it!" Fitz stood up, clenching the computer in his hands.

"This isn't healthy—"

"It's my fault Simmons is stuck in there! I'm not abandoning her, like she… she…"

"She was on assignment at HYDRA," Phil reminded him. "The point is, you're not the only person working on getting her out, if she's even still in there."

Fitz shook his head. "It's my responsibility—"

"You're an agent of SHIELD!" Phil snapped. "Your responsibility is to work on tech for the organisation and the people who are a part of it. I can't function like this. I could barely protect Skye because I could only fire with one gun. Simmons would understand. She didn't mope while you were recovering. She went undercover at HYDRA, because that's what we do. We risk our lives doing what's right. You need to—"

"I don't care!" Fitz raised his hands, running fingers through his hair. "She's gone and it's my fault, and I need to do this."

"It's not your choice to make. If you don't want to work on my arm, fine, but find something else to do, for God's sake—"

"How dare you tell me what to do?" Fitz hissed. Phil's jaw dropped, but he pulled himself together.

"I dare because I'm your boss," he said quietly. The colour drained from Fitz's cheeks. "You want to stay here? Fine. But you're not being paid for it. I'll find someone else to do your work. There are jobless people out there who'd kill for this opportunity."

He turned on his heel and strode out. Fitz wasn't in any state to help, and Phil wasn't keen on the idea of his arm going boom because Fitz wasn't up to his usual standard.

Dr. Banner was gone… but Bobbi was a bio-scientist. Maybe Phil could ask her? It was work she could do sitting down. She could use the distraction, and she needed to be reminded that she was more than just a talented field agent.

They were lounging around the common area after lunch when Steve looked across to where Sam and Bucky were curled up in a large armchair together.

"Why'd you stop meeting your soulmate?" he asked. They looked at each other.

"We… we just did," Sam said.

"I thought so," Natasha said. His eyebrows rose. "It was just an excuse, wasn't it?"

"Excuse me?"

"To visit SHIELD," she explained. "You were using it as a cover, so it would look like you were only visiting once a week."

"…What gave you that idea?" Bucky asked slowly. Natasha nodded.

"So I'm right," she said.

"No, you're not," Sam said.

"You weren't at any SHIELD base when you said you were meeting your soulmate?"

"I didn't say that—"

"So it was an excuse!"

Sam gaped, and Bucky looked angry. Steve cleared his throat.

"Unless you lied to me?" he said.

"`Bout what?" Bucky said.

"I asked whether your third – if you had one – was with SHIELD, and you said no."

"What you asked was whether our soulmate works for Phil," Sam corrected.

"Same thing—"

"It isn't," Bucky said. He glanced at Sam, who nodded. "Phil is our soulmate." He stood, catching Sam's hand. "We were spending time with him, not always at SHIELD. But it was safest there, and we couldn't bring him here. More to the point, he knew he wouldn't be welcomed here, except by us. So we never bonded, because… he must've realised that you'd stop us seeing each other."

"Because you did," Sam continued, also standing. "He was right. We kept it secret from you because you'd never accept SHIELD again, and especially not the director. We would've stayed with him, but he convinced us we could do better work as Avengers. Probably also sentimental, so Bucky could spend more time with Steve. He sent us away because of you. You're the reason we're not with our soulmate."

"That we feel incomplete," Bucky added.

"So excuse us if we don't participate with your SHIELD-bashing," Sam said. "We'll never get to bond with our third because he's putting everyone else ahead of himself."

"Come on," Bucky murmured, tugging on Sam's hand. "I feel like ice cream."

Sam stared at his soulmate, and then nodded. "Ice cream it is."

After they left, Steve curled his knees up to his chest.

"Fuck," he said.

"I made a big mistake," Natasha said softly. "I let my suspicions get the better of me."

"I should've asked," Steve said. "We should've gone back to SHIELD, at least not cut ties with them completely."

"Good news," Tony said, though he sounded subdued. "Finally got a text from Coulson."

"What does he say?"

"He'll get someone to take measurements and then send them, so if I have spare time, I can maybe work on something for him. 'If I have spare time'." He scrubbed his face. "Hate being made to feel like an asshole."

"Bet it happens to you a lot," Steve said. Tony glared at him scathingly.

"Thanks," he said. "Really."

"Why isn't he coming here?" Pietro asked, cocking his head. Tony shrugged.

"Doesn't think he's welcome, I guess," he said. "And if he thinks it's something I'll work on when I'm not doing anything else, there's no point in setting a time to visit."

"So what will you do?"

"What do you think? I'll design something, tweak it when I get his measurements. Might still have something on record from when he visited here just before…" The battle of New York. When Coulson had died. Steve flinched, and stared out the window.

"We need to call a truce," he said. "I can't, in all good conscience, keep soulmates apart. I'm not gonna be that guy."

It was a hell of a shock when the Avengers descended on the ship, especially with Steve Rogers and Tony Stark leading them.

"Take me to your labs," Stark said, latching on to Phil's left elbow.

"What—"

"Like hell," Sam said, pulling Stark off Phil. "It's been weeks, and he's our soulmate."

Stark rolled his eyes and huffed. "Fine. But I want measurements first. Then you can get your bonding on while I get started. You told me you had some bio-science expert around? The one who isn't missing?"

"Uh… yeah." Phil blinked. "Still in medical. Hunter's probably with her."

"Right. Measurements first. I've got a thing…" He held up a fancy wand, waved it over Phil's right arm, then the left one. "I'll talk designs with her first. Go have fun." He waved Phil off on the way past. "You're welcome."

"We'll talk later," the captain said. "I'm sorry… we're all real sorry about turning you away. We didn't know… but it shouldn't've made any difference. We'll make it up to you. But first, go with Bucky and Sam. They've missed you like crazy."

Phil could only nod, and let himself be led back to his office by his soulmates.

They still hadn't bonded by the time Tony and Bobbi finished knocking up an arm. Simmons had been retrieved, partly thanks to Thor when he returned to Midgard, and Fitz was spending a lot of time at her bedside. Bobbi still wanted to leave the spy game, or at least take a sabbatical. Instead of going on leave like May, she went to work for Tony.

The best part of having a prosthesis wasn't the additional strength or gadgets, but being able to hold both his soulmates' hands at the same time.

"All you need is for someone to hold you from behind and you'll be surrounded by love," Bucky said, amused as always when Phil grabbed his hand. The one time they'd touched their metal hands together, there'd been unpleasant static and sparks, so they didn't try again after that.

"You really think I need someone else?" Phil asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Maybe we should adopt something," Sam said. "A service dog, maybe? We got enough love between us."

They discussed it and then slept on the matter, entangled in Sam and Bucky's bed in the tower. Phil's crew were staying while Bobbi settled in, and while Phil's bunk was enlarged for sleepovers, though it was possible they'd set up a new base in New York, close enough for Sam to get to work easily, and to the tower in general, in case of calls to assemble. The Saturday morning they woke, it was to each of them feeling an itch… a new soulmark.

"Four of us?" Bucky said, blinking rapidly. "Isn't that rare?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "I guess we must all really need each other."

Phil frowned. "What does yours say?" His was 'Well, hello there.' Helpful.

"Mine's 'Let me guess why you're here'," Sam said.

"Ha!" Bucky grinned. "I've got the most useful."

"Oh, really?"

"It says 'I'm Doctor Winslow, veterinarian. You are?'"

"…You're kidding," Phil said. Bucky showed him, and Phil realised exactly why he knew that writing. "Remember how we talked about getting a dog?"

"We'd better find every Winslow who's a vet," Bucky said, already reaching for his phone. Phil shook his head.

"I know who it is," he said. "Though how I'm gonna explain to Skye that I lied about altering her father's memory, I have no idea."

I was barracking for Cal long before Jiaying was revealed as the baddie. Guess I must be a soft touch or something. But I was right to see him as a goodie at heart!

Anyway, I know a lot of people weren't happy with Cal's mind apparently being altered, so this is a fix-it. And Simmons coming back due to handwavey Asgardian tech. Erm… yeah. :D

Please review! I hope Natasha wasn't too unreasonable in this; the same with Fitz.