The phone vibrating on the nightstand pulled Holly out of her doze. After the additional scanning and testing, all of which indicated no swelling in her brain and no bleeding, she was cleared for sleep by about 2 AM. However, it wasn't at least another hour until she could even calm her mind down enough to do so. Steve himself did not return to the quarters until around four, and when she stirred enough to note his arrival, he was having fitful dreams, twitching and turning indicative of distress. Needless to say, rest was only had in snatches for both of them, alternating between nightmares and heavy-lidded wakefulness, one always reaching out for the other for comfort.

Groaning, she noted the time on the display screen as well as the identity of the caller. It was early morning, the sun's rays casting brightly through the window. If only it could be as beautiful inside as it was out. Dully, she also realized she was alone again, knowing full well that none of the team, least of all Steve, would want to be away from the search for the unscrupulous automaton for too long.

Sliding her finger to unlock the screen, Holly blinked sleepily and answered the call. "Sam?"

"Hey," the fellow greeted her. His voice sounded slightly confused as he continued, "I'm trying to get into the building, but nothing's responding. Can't get past the security point, and Steve's not answering his phone."

Oh, no...in all the turmoil over the last several hours, neither she nor Steve thought to alert Sam, telling about everything that transpired after his departure. Since he was here, it would at least make sense to get him inside and off the streets for an explanation. He was owed that much for crossing midtown, she figured. Glancing to her right, she caught a glimpse of the mentioned phone still sitting on the nightstand, plugged into the charger but off. She doubted Steve really cared about whether or not he had it on his person; he never did, anyway, except for the fact that it was the only way for them to be in contact when he was on the move. Today, it definitely wouldn't be any sort of priority to have it.

"Oh," she replied lamely, furrowing her brow. The Tower had been on lockdown since Ultron's exit; one had to be manually let in or out for the time being. Scrubbing her eyes, she sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Yeah, um, hold on, I'll be down in a few."

Standing up, she paused, her head a little fuzzy. However, that could be mostly chalked up to her sparse sleep as opposed to her head wound. Probing it gently, she winced a bit as her fingers slid over the stitches. Nothing for it, she reasoned silently, shaking her head once and moving off to find some clothes to change into. One pair of jeans and a button-up shirt later, she made her way down the building, pulling her tousled hair into a short braid as she went from elevator to elevator. She also sent a message to Maria, telling her to pass along the message that Sam had come back to Steve. Several stomach-dropping minutes went by before she finally arrived on the ground level, weaving her way through the defunct security check points and shivering at the cold silence surrounding her. Since it was the weekend, those who worked in the lower levels of the Tower had the day off, but she didn't doubt that Tony would insist on the employees staying away for the interim while Ultron was tracked down. The emptiness was off-putting, and she was very relieved when she finally made it to the locked back door. Tapping in the temporary code that Stark had sent to her (and which he was changing every hour on the hour), she swung open the portal, the brightness of the day causing her to squint her eyes as Sam turned to face her.

Taking off his sunglasses, he squinted at her, too. His expression became befuddled as he zeroed in on her forehead.

"Holy shit, what happened?" he asked, stepping closer. Automatically, her shoulders shrugged, a weak smile on her lips. It was a fair question, and she responded with the only explanation that she could say in the open air.

"Murphy's Law reared its ugly head and smacked us all in the face. In my case, literally," Holly remarked, sighing slightly after that. She just knew that question was going to be posed a lot in the coming days. Gesturing behind her, she scooted out of the door frame and ushered him in. "You better come inside. It's not safe to talk about out here."

"Okay...yeah," Sam acquiesced, following her as she led the way back to the elevator bank. Curious eyes slid from the echoing halls (he'd never seen it so dead in there before; it gave him chills) back to Holly. Pale, bags under her eyes, bloodshot gaze, and the line of stitches...when he'd left the night before, she was all in one piece, looking alright. If she was looking like hell now, what happened in between? Clearing his throat, he decided to inquire further. "So what was it that actually hit you in the face?"

The snicker she gave was more of a reaction than an expression of humor. "Coffee table."

His eyebrows inclined, head tipping to the left. "Did you trip?"

"Not exactly." Hitting the call button for the elevator, she grimaced. It hadn't been her doing, intentional or otherwise.

The elevator arrived shortly after she spoke, the pair getting in without further comment. Migrating from one to the other at the changeover floors, the silence persisted, the coldness somewhat abated by the fact that they weren't enduring it alone. Off the series of sidelong glances shot her way, she breathed sharply out her nose, waving a hand in the air. If it weren't for the heaviness pervading her entire person, it would've come off as dismissive.

"I know you have questions," she murmured softly. Sam directed his gaze towards the ceiling, face placid but eyes glinting knowledgeably.

"I do, but I feel like this is going to be a long story. Long stories and elevators don't mix," he said, smirking at her. "Personal experience proves it."

"And I'm sure there's a tale behind that."

He nodded just as the doors swept open again, depositing them on the correct floor for the captain's quarters. "But yours has to be more interesting than mine, so it's gonna have to wait."

Stepping off the elevator, she merely grinned again, a touch more warmth in it than before, leading the way into the space. Steve was standing by the bank of windows, staring out them without seeing. He was half suited up, his uniform's pants and boots paired off with a gray undershirt. Ready to run at a moment's notice, Holly mused, coughing to get his attention. Pivoting, he dipped his chin at both her and the new arrival, a hand passing over his face (scratching at his five o'clock shadow discreetly) as he stepped away from the glass. Seating herself on the arm of the couch while Sam made his way to the armchair, her arms curled around herself, waiting. For days, she'd been waiting for this meeting, this day, and now that it was here, on top of everything else that had happened, she felt her nerves gather and rumble in her belly as Steve greeted his friend, shaking his hand.

"Sorry, I meant to call you earlier," he said, choosing to move behind the couch rather than sit down. Inquisitive brown eyes followed his movements, Sam tipping his chin in acknowledgment of the captain's words.

"From what I understand, it's been pretty busy on this end," he intoned, the leading inflection and raised eyebrow impossible to miss. Steve glanced to Holly, conferring with her silently. Meeting his eyeline, she shook her head minutely before tipping an open palm in Sam's direction. The news was his to impart, apparently; Wilson watched the exchange with heightened interest. Prompted thusly, the captain proceeded to give him a rundown of the previous evening's exploits.

After hearing about the deadly automaton bent on the Avengers' destruction, the major attack and damage done upstairs, and the loss of important equipment that rendered the Tower inert and essentially dysfunctional, he blew out a deep breath.

"I get why you didn't call," he said, passing a hand over his close-cropped hair. Steve canted his head in agreement.

"In any case, what I asked you over to discuss is going to have to be put on the back burner. Top priority has to go towards this mission first."

"What?" Holly whispered, though she was not heard by either man. Jarred out of her personal reverie while Steve spoke, she could feel the sickening drop of her stomach return. Her chance to confess the truth was slipping away, before she had time to get it back. Perhaps, her brain tried to reason, it would be for the best. What with the team being threatened, with the world facing a potential crisis, it may not be the right time any longer. Let them work on the immediate problem first, and then speak up about Bucky.

But if she didn't do it now, when she had the nerve, when could she? When her back was up against the wall, with no other choice? When it was no longer on her terms, when it could be too late? How could she be sure there would ever be another time, another chance?

"It's fine, it's not like it's dire that we form a new strategy," Sam was saying, shrugging his shoulders and rising from his seat. "It's not like there's been any new developments regarding Barnes, anyway."

"Exactly," the captain concurred, squaring his stance. Inhaling softly, Holly knew what she had to do. She couldn't let it be too late.

"And if there were?" Her voice cutting in caught them both off-guard. Darting looks at one another, Sam took the opportunity to answer first.

"What do you mean?"

She cleared her throat, tried to put more strength in her voice and clarified, "If there were any blips on the radar from James, would it affect anything?"

Steve's eyebrow rose, turning the question over in his mind.

"Not with Ultron on the scene. Why..." Wariness bloomed in his irises, unwavering as Sam directed his attention to the floor, considering the point.

"But he hasn't shown up for awhile. It's unlikely that's the case."

The captain moved closer to Holly's end of the couch while Sam spoke, the suspicion in his gaze growing as he approached. Bracing both hands on the sofa's back, he bent a little at the waist, forcing her to maintain eye contact. Her throat constricted in a tight swallow, but she made herself stay put. Her fingers curled into fists; if her sleeves had been longer, she would've tucked them into the cloth by then.

"I think that's exactly the case," Steve said, his voice low and deadly serious. "Holly?"

'Another deep breath,' she told herself, following her own instructions. 'Now do it. Say it.'

"...I saw him. James," she elaborated, just a couple of notches above whispering. "He found me while I was at work, wanted me to know he was around."

Total silence engulfed them after her statement. Sam had disbelief lacing every inch of his face. For his part, Steve sported an expression of confused astonishment, his body turning to rest his backside against the couch, a palm coming over his mouth as he stared at the opposite wall.

"Really?" Wilson eventually wondered. "Why you?"

Flicking her fingers out, she shifted in her seat. It was something she had pondered herself after the event. The conclusion was simple, by design most likely.

"My reasoning is because that...even with the sort-of truce you guys have set up, I'm the one he has the least amount of history with. Approaching me is easier, in a lot of ways, I guess."

It made sense to her to think of that being the case. Holly couldn't otherwise understand why Bucky would choose to reveal himself to her alone. It had to be his guilt, his inability to look past the pain and hurt, to see that despite all that, his friend was still waiting for him. Perhaps that made him more fearful than anything. In effect, she was the neutral party. The Switzerland to their warring countries, if she thought about it those terms.

"He broke cover, though. Had to be for some reason," Sam point out, hand waving superfluously. "Did he tell you anything, Holl?"

Blue eyes whipped back to her, Steve listening intently then for her answer.

"That he's...he's watching out for trouble around us, when it comes," she explained, going for the gist of it rather than the full story. Though the fellow had indicated that he was watching out for her specifically, that was then. She had no idea if that had changed. "Trouble that we might not be aware of. Assuming he didn't decide to just bolt after that, which we all know he likes to do."

Noting the tenseness that sprang up in the captain's form then, Sam flicked his gaze from her to him, the gesture not lost on her. In admonishment, he merely said, "Holly."

Taking both Sam's tone and her fiancé's set jaw into account, she softened a little.

"That was all. I haven't heard from him since, and I definitely haven't seen him." Though nominally she was speaking to Sam, Holly kept her eye on her partner, viewing his physical response. His chin dropped towards his chest, his shoulders losing some of their stiffness. "Realistically, does this information change anything?"

When the captain still did not speak, Sam gave her his honest opinion. "Gives us an insight to his motivations, but ultimately, no, it doesn't. If he didn't tell you anything concrete about his plans or where he was going next…"

Pausing, he waited for her to confirm or deny this. The shake of her head in the negative did not take long.

"We're no worse off than we were before."

Considering this, Holly went on watching her fiancé guardedly, his silence more upsetting than anything else. Taking his weight off the couch's back, he faced her again.

"When?" Steve asked her pointblank. "When did this happen?"

She bit her lip. He wasn't going to like what she would say, but she'd already gone this far. "Two weeks ago."

His eyebrows nearly hit his hairline, the shake of his head not so much a denial as a reaction.

"Now I get it. The way you've been acting, it makes sense now..." he crowed, a hand carding through his hair. His stance tightened, his gaze doing the same. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Carefully, she rose from the arm rest, palms turned up in apology.

"It was never the right time." Reaching out, her fingers settled on his bicep. "With you away on missions and Sam having his own stuff going, I wanted—"

"Unbelievable," he snapped abruptly, her hand slipping away at his brusqueness. "Are you kidding me, Holly?"

"Oh, boy," Same breathed, taking a literal step back from the conversation. In his gut, he could tell this was going to take a sour turn, particularly as Holly's eyes narrowed slightly.

"How could you keep something like this under wraps?" Steve's indignation surfaced quickly, now that he was no longer keeping such a tight rein on it. He jabbed a finger into the air, accentuating his point as he continued, "You know, you know, how much work we've put into finding him, into keeping an eye out for him, how important it is. Did you not think that this was something we might need to hear about?"

Her jaw took on a mulish set, her shoulders hunched in irritation as she crossed her arms. "Yes, I did think that, and I told him as much when he asked me not to say anything to you."

Steve's brow furrowed again, taken aback by her words. She tilted her head to the right swiftly, as if to punctuate how she'd be against keeping the information from the start. He knew her better than that, he had to. The undeclared 'come on' hung in the air between them. Darting her dark gaze away, she snorted.

"Now I'm beginning to think I should've listened to him." Before she could let that really sink in, she flapped a palm up, spoke again. "Could've avoided this."

Steve scoffed audibly. "Why, were you expecting a 'thank you, sweetheart'?"

"No, but I would've at least thought that—"

"You can't just drop a bomb like that and expect people to walk away," he broke in, hands going to his hips. "Especially not after what happened last night."

Holly physically jerked back, incredulity spreading over her features.

"Woah, guys..." Sam tried to interrupt, deflect the fight, but Holly curtly chopped her hand through the air, not even bothering to look at him. Reading the message loud and clear, he faltered.

To Steve, she growled, "You can't use last night as a measure to now! The situations are totally different!"

The iciness in his eyes hit her full force then. "Not by much, honestly."

A harsh breath, followed by an exasperated chuckle, flew out of her mouth. Her arms flung out and her chin tilted towards the ceiling. "My God, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't."

"That's not the issue here." Off his eye roll, she drew herself up to her full height.

"Yeah, because you would know," she shot back, more anger bleeding through.

The retort was ready on his tongue. "Actually—"

Two arms pushed in between them, making them both back away a few inches. Sam's expression was frustrated, his tone reflecting the feeling fully when he barked at both of them.

"Okay, stop it! I didn't come here to be couples' counselor, and yelling at each other isn't helping at all." Both man and woman looked ready to respond, to tell him it wasn't any of his business, but he wasn't about to let either of them do so. Instead, he pivoted to face the captain, the press of his palm to his friend's shoulder keeping him in place. "Look, we know now, that's the important thing. The timing certainly could've been better." A glance risked back at Holly made her bite her lip, choosing that moment to stare at her feet. Shrugging, he murmured, "But…well, it is what it is. And maybe, when this whole weird robot mess is over, we can use it to our advantage. No matter what, it has to wait."

In quiet concession to his point, neither part resumed the squabbling. Rather, they shifted in their stances, their breathing accented in the silence. The wall display beeped then, the screen flickering to life. Maria Hill's face was centered in the rectangle, poised as she greeted each of them in turn. The coolness of their replies made her blink, but thankfully she didn't comment. Focusing on Steve, she held up her tablet, a news report opened on it.

"Captain, we need to conference upstairs."

"Be up in a minute, Maria," he told her, the screen switching off on her end. Nodding once to Sam, he stepped out of his range. Staring at Holly, he waited until her dark eyes swept up, took stock of him. Inhaling deeply, he promised, "This conversation isn't over."

"Great," Holly muttered sarcastically, crossing her arms and purposefully looking away as Steve's jaw clenched again. Going to the door, he barely contained an annoyed grunt when she deliberately shied away as he brushed by her. As the door swept shut, Sam strode backward. Fingers pressed to his temples as he dropped onto the coffee table, a soft snort flying out his nose.

"Damn," he mumbled, a bittersweet relief spreading through his chest. He could've done without being privy to what happened, but there wasn't anything to be done about that now.

Sinking down onto the sofa entirely, Holly buried her face in her hands. "Told you. Murphy's Law, all over."

xXxXxXx

Well, this was shaping up to be a fine day, Steve mused scathingly, the frown on his mouth more pronounced as he looked down at Maria's tablet. The connecting piece to the complex puzzle of Ultron and the Maximoff twins was gone, Strucker's bleeding corpse frozen on the screen. A silver shoulder took up one corner of the camera, reaffirming Hill's report about "metal men" attacking in several places along the globe over the last several hours. It hadn't surprised him in the least that the twins would get involved with the deranged automaton; discounting the link of the baron, they also shared despise of the Avengers. A natural alliance had formed, their venom stinging the world around them. They were moving quickly, very quickly, and to what end, he didn't know. The news was received about as well as he expected when he brought it to the team—dark looks all around, with Thor slapping the tablet hard against Tony's chest when he inquired about the information. A taunt hung in the air, one that eluded them their desperation to end the organization and round up the leader. Ultron was slapping them in the face with it, but no one knew what it could be. The grim looks deepened once the computer beeped and Natasha's calm announcement about everything related from Strucker having been removed from the database came.

However, it was the captain's quiet reminder that brought them back from the brink. There was a reason why he insisted on the team making paper copies of any and all data mined from HYDRA after their recent raids; technology wasn't perfected, and a person with the right amount of determination could destroy any digital file with ease. Still, going through all the compiled files on Strucker (and they included everything from proposed expenditures to reported tactical plans he intended to use for his troops) would take time. To accomplish the task swiftly, they would need all hands on deck.

Including a certain someone who wasn't even on the team.

The irritation he'd been suppressing was rising, the argument of earlier surfacing on and off as he tried to occupy himself with the task at hand. Granted, he'd not been terribly successful in hiding it; the sideways glances one or another of the team were shooting him when they thought he wouldn't notice spoke volumes. A part of him was still stunned that Bucky had chosen to return…well, more that he'd chosen to go to Holly. Again. Their last meeting hadn't been pleasant in the least (he'd broken into her apartment, after all, after essentially stalking her for a couple of days) but perhaps he could understand the idea of her being the least volatile one to go to. No matter if she'd smacked him up with a baseball bat. No matter if, deep down, it hurt that he hadn't wanted him to know. What truly bothered him was the secretive nature of it all, that Holly withheld something that important from him. A flash of memory, the conflicted haze of her eyes, came to mind. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't, she'd said. That thought echoed in his mind as he made his way down to his quarters, his mind otherwise a jumble.

Finding her in the bedroom upon his return, he wasn't awfully surprised to find her stretched out along the mattress, her foot tapping to the aggressive tempo blaring in her ears. Sam was gone, having left roughly fifteen minutes after everything went down if the security tracker at the doors was anything to go by. He could make out some of the tune playing, wincing in sympathy for the intentional attack on her eardrums. Leaning against the doorjamb, he waved a hand in the air, trying to get her attention. When Holly spotted him, she barely even flinched. Rather, she just shrugged her shoulders and bobbed her head in time with her foot, pointedly ignoring him. Only when prompted by his signaling to pull out the earphones, did she acknowledge his presence. Doing as she was requested, she ripped the cords out of her ears, her face inexpressive as she flicked her fingers at him. It was an invitation to speak first, since she clearly wasn't going to. Suppressing a groan, Steve took a step forward, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hey. We're pulling files from the storage boxes downstairs, looking for leads." When she said nothing, just stared at him blankly—still deliberate, as he well knew and could tell from the clench of her jaw—he exhaled sharply, preparing himself to bite the bullet. "We could use the help."

It was a tense minute that passed in which the proffered olive branch was hanging midair. Maybe that wasn't quite the right term for it, since Steve didn't honestly believe he was the one at fault, but it was step towards making some sort of peace. The whole situation was untenable, counterproductive, compiling with the Ultron developments and compounding it in a beautiful mess. To quote Holly herself from the night before when she went in for her scans, it was a "massive whirlwind of suck", her words being proven truer with each passing second. But they needed all the aid they could get. She dealt with files and reading swiftly on a regular basis; she had a good eye for finding the devil in the details when it came to words on paper.

Their altercation could be put on hold, for the moment. It had to be. Slowly, her jaw relaxed, her body following suit as she must have arrived at a similar conclusion. Sighing, she nodded once, gathering up her phone and winding the earbuds around it before tucking all into her pocket.

"Okay."

Letting her take the lead, his hand still found its way to the small of her back, the touch anchoring both of them somewhat as they went to the elevator. Initially she was rigid as a block of wood, but as time passed and they waited on the conveyance to arrive, she began to lean back into it. Part of him wanted to slide his fingers around her waist, bring her close and hold her tightly. He was on the verge of caving when the elevator finally arrived, with her stepping away swiftly as though she'd been scorched. He frowned to himself, but otherwise kept himself in check as he followed her in. Pressing the button to take them down to the archives storage, terse quiet enveloped them.

"Thank you," he tacked on belatedly, grateful that she had consented to help despite all that was going on. Her chin dipped, the furrow of her brow softening slightly, but still she kept her mouth shut. As the elevator descended, Steve glanced at her out the corner of his eye, dissatisfied with her refusal to even look at him. And because the disagreement was merely shelved, and not forgotten, he couldn't help the snark that emerged from deep within. "Just as a reminder, if you find any important documents, we need to know before the next century. If possible."

The hostility in her dark brown gaze was not lost on him when he finally goaded her into snapping her head and glaring at him. Narrowing her eyes, she pursed her lips for a moment or two before her hand came up to her forehead. Intentionally, she tilted her hand at an angle, above her stitches. The mocking salute she gave him was tight and crisp.

"Yes sir, Captain Sass," she retorted, a scornful smirk on her lips. His eyebrows sprang together, and right as his mouth opened to reply, the elevator doors slid open. Lifting a shoulder, she breezed by, locating Natasha off to the side and asking her what she should be looking for. Muttering some select words to himself, Steve meandered towards the back, focusing on helping Bruce withdraw some of the higher boxes from the stacks and putting them on the dolly.

Several trips up and down later, Holly found herself seated cross-legged in one of the offices near the upper deck. Each person worked from the tall stacks of boxes they'd unearthed, separating the files within into usable and non-usable information about Baron Von Strucker. On the floor, she had her two piles in front of her, the unusable one higher by far. Every few minutes she'd stack more and more atop it, making it balance as well as she could. Tugging on the end of her braid, she felt boredom crawl in while sifting through the monotony. Not only that, but her pace was much slower than usual, given the head injury she sustained the night before; she was less than pleased with the situation. Though, she supposed, it was a little exciting, looking through SHIELD classified documents; there was more information about the notorious leader of HYDRA in front of her than she ever thought she'd get to see. Even if she was merely looking over his expenditures (the one about the jets he chartered and to which countries belonged in the usable pile, she decided after deliberating for a few seconds). It was an opportunity that she could no waste…even if it was just like going over paperwork at her job.

"Your filing system is atrocious," Holly observed lightly, flipping open another folder and preparing to divvy its contents. The woman seated beside her did not take offense, instead nodding in commiseration.

"Given that we have very little administrative staff around here, it's hardly a surprise," Maria groused, pulling a box towards her. It had fallen on her to take care of such documents after they had been cross-referenced and translated, but short of tossing them into the boxes, she had very little spare time for them. Duties to the Avengers were consuming, let alone her own personal side projects. Shifting to a more comfortable sitting position, she continued, "I've been trying to entice someone from Stark Industries to help out, but shockingly enough, nobody wants to go through mountains of data or paperwork on top of the crap they already take care of."

Holly laughed, little humor in her tone.

"There's always the outside hire option."

Maria let out a bitter chuckle of her own. "And that in itself is a pain in the ass."

Glancing up, her companion's eyes flicked over to the stack still on the dolly, and the man in front of it. Steve was occupying himself with the next batch, about to hoist it and bring it to the group gathered at the head of the table. Still frustrated about the tongue-lashing he'd given her before, she felt the corners of her mouth turn down. That was temporary, as a sudden thought occurred to her. Seeing a golden opportunity, she seized it.

"Better watch your mouth, you might get into trouble saying stuff like that," she reproved Maria mildly, inclining her head towards the captain as he stepped away with his find. Steve paused in his journey, catching every syllable. Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, he glared and shook his head at his fiancée.

"Regular laugh riot, you are," he grumbled, the box in his hands shifting slightly. Her dark gaze met his, the steel beneath the playfulness emerging. She snorted, directing her attention back to the stacks in front of her after a second or two.

"Lighten up, buttercup."

Hill, as witness to the entire exchange, caught the flash of something hard in Steve's expression, the deep breath expelled out his nose before he moved back to the table. He set it down with a little more force than was necessary, all but daring the others with his body language to ask about it. Wisely, nobody rose to that challenge.

"Well, in any case," Maria interjected carefully, "I'll have to look into it more when...when this all ends. It's kind of sad that as an assistant, I need an assistant."

Holly got to her knees, collecting the unnecessary file folders and stuffing them back into their box. Her small stack of papers would be laid on the main table for the team to examine in depth, but otherwise, she would have more to sift through. Shoving the box towards the assistant, she offered her a small grin.

"Hope that works out for you," she said, standing up and walking away, papers in hand.

Maria smirked, but the expression melted slowly when she peered into the box of files. All the rejected papers had made their way into the appropriately labeled folder, alphabetized and arranged from earliest to latest date. The younger woman had moved off, heading towards the table with her documents.

"Yeah," she replied absentmindedly, another cursory glance passed to the box before she shoved it aside to join the ever-growing stack at her side.

Walking around the table's edge, Holly dipped her chin at Stark, who was looking just about as well as she did that morning. If anything, he looked more exhausted, but he said nothing about it. And she didn't feel it was her place to refer to it. Rather, she just dropped her pile of papers beside him, leaving it up to him and his companions about when they would go through it all. Across the glass, Thor nodded his thanks, while Steve mutely paged through a box labeled "associates" and didn't look at her. Sighing under her breath, she managed to get about a foot away before she heard his quiet murmur.

"Thanks, Holl."

Looking over her shoulder at him, she found the eyes of a god and a billionaire volleying back and forth between them like the were watching a tennis match. Not wanting to give fodder to the inner gossip mill, she attempted to look less surly than before.

"You're welcome." Ignoring the sideways look Clint shot her across the room, she went about her work again, kneeling on the floor just in time for a discovery to be made.

xXxXxXx

Holly stared at the shield as it rested against the wall across from her. The painted bands stood out, the star centered so that bottom points were aligned with the floor. However, it was the silver glinting through that drew her gaze.

Vibranium. The strongest, rarest metal on the planet. The largest sample in the Western Hemisphere was in front of her, but in truth, it was merely the tip of an incredibly important iceberg. The largest deposits were to be found in the African nation of Wakanda. Part of her thought she recalled that much from her school days, but it was the real-life occurrences of it that stuck out.

Ultron had been assaulted and destroyed robotics labs and metal foundries across the globe, stealing all that he could from them. However, a direct contact of Baron Von Strucker (Klaue, she was fairly certain he was called...sounded like a mispronounced 'claw' to her ears) had made off with large amounts of it, enough to earn a brand and the resentment of the Wakandan nation. Bruce expounded on the facts, while Steve and Tony together came to the unsettling conclusion of where Ultron was going to make his next move. They found a solid lead, and now they would follow it.

The release of a handle caused her to jerk her head up, looking at Steve directly as he snapped the fasteners of his uniform's neck piece in place. His helmet was tucked under one arm, assuaging her nerves a bit (he was falling more and more out of the habit of wearing it lately). Tapping a finger to his ear, he reassured himself of the security of his com-link. Glancing around, he noted that apart from them, the locker area was empty. Which was how she wanted it, for the moment.

No matter how pissed they were at each other, she did not want him to disappear into danger without at least seeing him once more.

"So what's the plan?" Holly asked tentatively, curious as to exactly what he thought they would accomplish. Ultron had already proven to be uncompromising, and the twins she'd been hearing so much about...well, they didn't exactly equate to gentle lambs, either. Grabbing his shield with his free hand, Steve swung it over his shoulder, the magnetized strips on the back locking it into place.

"Stop him. Stop them, if the twins are there, too," he explained simply. To him, it was going to be a straightforward mission. Sighing, he muttered, "See if there's anything we can do to get them away from him. And you?"

Holly's lips thinned, going over the arrangement in her mind once more.

"I need to go home, to D.C." Her weight shifted on her back leg, her shoes becoming a fascinating sight for her in that second. "Gotta talk to Carl about using my vacation days until this is over."

"Don't stay too long," he said, voicing it as a request rather than a command. The concern at the back of his voice colored his words, warmed her in the place that had been chilled earlier. "I'm not sure it's safe."

"Just overnight, then back here," she said, stepping away from the wall. Unlike Helen, who had caught the first flight out of New York with the intention of laying low in her fortified laboratory in Seoul, Holly had no real safe place to go. With JARVIS down, her apartment was much more susceptible, and she couldn't risk her friends' lives by staying over for too long. Snickering humorlessly, she told him, "At least having the building be off-grid for the moment will be good for something."

"Yeah," he concurred, reflecting the expression. Scanning over her bowed head, he reached out, tilting her chin up until she was looking at him again. The anger and hurt simmered deep down in him, but he would not allow it to consume him. His thumb slid over her cheek, but otherwise neither of them moved. Neither were willing to do so.

"Cap!" Someone, possibly Barton (more likely Stark) called in the distance, bringing the urgency of the team's departure to the fore. Bending down, Steve brushed his lips on Holly's temple, feather-light breath ghosting over her stitches when he pulled away.

"I love you," he whispered, taking his hand away from her face to strap his helmet on. The disappointment and fear flashed through her irises, but she attempted to ignore the clenches in her gut as he started to walk away.

"Do you know how tempted I was to pull a Han Solo just then?" Holly called after him. Stopping in his tracks, Steve looked back at her, half grin involuntarily gracing his face.

"Neither of us is being frozen in carbonite, though," he pointed out.

"Or disappearing for three years," she countered, the humorous front slipping as he did not answer that. "Right?"

Opening his mouth, not knowing what would come out, (a promise, a reassurance, something) he began, "I..."

The distant voice hollered again, a little closer now. The moment could not be prolonged anymore; Captain America had to leave. With an issue majorly unresolved, but that was the way it had to be. As Sam had said: first one, then the other. After all, in all honesty, the one did affect the other in some capacity. What that capacity would be, would be seen.

Clearing his throat, Steve faced forward again, away from her. Striding away, he called back, "Be safe."

Bracing her palm on the wall, Holly watched him go, the sinking in her stomach returning the further he went.

"You, too," she responded, her pitch lowering to the point where she even doubted he could hear her anymore. "Love you."

Head aching, body tiring, she turned away, making slow steps to the elevator, finally allowing herself to admit that perhaps it wasn't Steve who had the worst timing in the world. It was her, without a doubt.

A/N: Welcome to the longest chapter of the story thus far. Holy crap, the story just ran and I had to hang on. That being said...oh man, do I dislike writing verbal fights. I really do. But there was no way Steve would accept that news gracefully after a delay in timing from Holly. And they totally have not made up yet, by the way. Things must transpire first...

I don't own anything from the MCU. Nor do I own any other pop culture references, such as the one from Star Wars.

Also...I want to let you all know I have a LiveJournal account now! I would love to be able to connect with you guys a little better and all that. The username is the same as here: .com. Look me up, friend me, whatever. :)

Anyway, thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you all for the next one!

EDIT: To my guest reviewers, I will be doing my best to answer your reviews/questions at my LiveJournal from now on. So keep leaving reviews here, and I will just answer you there! Sound good? Good.