Chapter 6
Y/N walks up and down in her room. She does this for the last three hours since Bucky, Steve and Ton had left to investigate on the fact that HYDRA obviously knew about her being with the Avengers. She doesn’t really know why this was so important, then on the other side no one really talks to her about that. “FRIDAY? Is someone in the tower?”
“Agent Romanov is in her room.”
“Okay.”
“Would you like for me to call her?”
“No, thank you. I just might go to her myself.” She turns away from her bed and walks out of her room. She rounds corners and walks up empty halls until she stands in front of Nat’s room. She hesitates for a moment before knocking timidly. She chews on her bottom lip for a moment until the door opens. Nat takes one look at her before motioning her to come in. She steps in and stays in the room, not knowing what to do now that she’s here. “You’re nervous.”
“Well, yeah. It’s not every day that creepy people start stalking you and nobody talks to you about them.” Nat nods and sits down on an armchair. “What do you want to know?”
“Why is it important for them to know where I am? What do they want from me?” Nat takes in a deep breath before standing up again. She walks to a cabinet, getting out two glasses and a bottle of whiskey. She sets everything in front of them on a table, fills the glasses and gives one to Y/N before taking one herself. Y/N sits down on another armchair opposite Nat. “What do you know about HYDRA?”
“The same thing everybody knows, I guess. They’re the reason why Bucky is… still alive. Why Steve got to be a super soldier. They’re evil.” Nat nods and takes a sip of her whiskey. Y/N does the same but regrets it immediately. She coughs and puts the glass back on the table. “This is nasty.” Nat smiles before speaking up again. “HYDRA is an organization who likes to experiment on people. It's not only for science but to win power. They don’t care for people, costs or what pain they cause. The main goal for them is to achieve what aim they set themselves.”
“But what does that have to do with me?”
“Bucky was one of their experiments. There were more than him, but he’s the only one still alive, besides Wanda of course.” Y/N nods and leans back a little, fiddling with her fingers. She still nervous somehow. “After Steve got him back HYDRA had a bad setback. It’s obvious that Steve and Bucky like you. How far that goes, I don’t know, but for other people it leaves room to speculate. You saw this yourself today. For HYDRA, it’s good enough that they like you. Steve fears that HYDRA tries to capture you. And If they do there are a few options for which reason they do it.” Y/N nods slowly. She has a few reasons in her head. “They torture me to get their attention, or they get me to exchange me against Bucky.”
“Possible. But Steve has more in mind, I think.” Y/N looks up confused. “What do you mean?”
“He didn’t say it out loud but I’m not a spy for nothing. I think what he has in mind is that HYDRA won’t let go of you so easily. He thinks that they will capture you to make you their new project. They want us to know that, otherwise they hadn’t made it so obvious that they know of you.” Y/N looks down again. Her eyes wander to the glass on the table. In a second, she reaches for it and drowns all of it before making a weird face and placing it back down. Its silent before she looks at Nat again. “What can I do now?” Nat just shrugs. “Wait for them to get back.” Slowly she nods again before looking down at her hands once more.
It’s an hour later that FRIDAY announces that the three men have returned. Nat stands up motioning for Y/N to follow her. Y/N takes in a deep breath before she stands up and follows Nat to the common room. No one says a word and Y/N feels herself getting nervous again. She grips the hem of her shirt and looks down the whole way. Just as a heavy hand lands on her shoulder she looks up. Tony stands beside her, a little smile on his face. She knows that he's only smiling to calm her nerves, but she’s still thankful even if it doesn't work. She looks around and sees the faces of Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, Wanda and Nat. They all sit on the couches or stand around them. She walks to an empty space on a sofa right beside Bucky and sits down, again fiddling with the hem. She feels some eyes on her and Bucky shuffles nervous beside her, but she ignores it and just stares ta her hands. “So? What did you find out?” Nat’s voice breaks the silence. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We didn’t find an informant and nobody saw someone taking photos of Y/N.” Steve sighs. “I didn’t really expect to find anything. Still, this means we have to be extremely careful from now on. Whoever took these…”, he throws the pictures on the table in front of everyone. Y/N glances down at them before looking at Steve, only to find his eyes on her. “He will try again. And maybe he does more than just taking pictures.” Her eyes wander back to the pictures. She picks one up. The one where she's in the grocery store, reaching for a glass of jam. She puts it back down again before asking the question she asked Nat already, the one that won't let go of her. “What happen now?” Everybody is silent. She looks up once more studying the faces of the three men and the rest of the team. No one says something, so she stands up, walking up and down behind the couch. “What should I do now?”
“I don't know.” She stops in her tracks looking back at Steve. Her eyes switch to Tony who shrugs his shoulder to Bucky. The brunette just sits there, not saying anything. Not moving. “Then… I want to go home.” She turns around to leave as a hand grabs her wrist. “Don’t.” She looks back to find Bucky leaning over the backrest, arm stretched out to old onto her. His eyes look a bit cold, worried, angered. She can't really put a feeling to them. “Why?” her voice is silent, but she turns around fully to look at him. He lets go of her slowly, sitting back like he was a moment before he reached for her. “Because”; Tony speaks up. Her eyes wander from the super soldier to the shorter man. “Someone broke into your flat. Everything's kind of messy. Drawers ripped out clothes lying around.” He stops as Steve lays a hand on his shoulder. Y/N’s eyes stare at him before she walks numbly back to her spot on the couch, sinking down until she's sitting next to Bucky again. Her eyes wander unfocused between the pictures, the table the carpet and back. “Where... where do I go now?” She asks without directing it to someone. She feels the others look at each other. “You could stay here. You already have a room here.” Tony speaks up. Her attention directs at him but she shakes her head. “I know that I'm safe here, but it’s not the same. This is my workplace, I won't get it out of my head for a second. And I don’t have my stuff here. It’s just not the same as an actual home for me. Sorry Tony.” The man opens his mouth to say something but closes it again and nods. He exchanges a look with Steve, motioning with his eyes to her. Steve nods short, taking in a deep breath before walking up to her. He takes her hand in his, which were fiddling with her hem again without her noticing. “We have just two options. Neither Bucky nor I will let you go back into your flat where at any second someone can come in and do god knows what.”
“What’s your plan then?”
“There is a facility, a little out of New York. We used to be there often, but since you're cleaning here, we like to be here more often. I mean all of you.” Y/N sees collective nodding behind Steve. “There is a place where we’re safer than in the tower. Bucky and I have an apartment there with tree free rooms. You could come with us and live there. It's not bothering us, we were rather happy about that.” He makes a small pause before taking again. “The second option were a new flat for you. But that would mean you have to move out of New York entirely. You can’t get in touch with your family of your friend.”
“You mean like… like witness protection program.”
“Yes.” He looks her deep in the eyes. “The choice is yours.” Y/N takes in a deep breath she looks around, the others mirroring Steve’s stern face, even if they don’t look as worried or sorry as he does. “And you're sure there is no other choice?” Her eyes meet Tony’s, but he shakes his head. “Not until we found out who’s exactly after you and why.” She nods before looking back at Steve. “I can still call my friends if I join you in that facility?”
“Yes.” Steve nods. “The compound is the safest place I know.” She nods at his words. “When do I need to leave?” Steve leans back a bit, a little shocked and confused. “I... I didn’t think you would agree that easily.”
“You said it would be these two options. I’m not ready to let go of my friend or my remaining family that easily. So, it’s what I do. I live with you. I’m mean I almost o it by now anyway. So, when do I leave?” Bucky turns around as smile on his face. “As soon as you’re ready to.”
* * *
Y/N places the last box in her new room. The apartment Steve and Bucky live in was bigger than everything she ever had seen someone live in. She looks around and walks to the window. It’s not like the one she had in the tower, instead it’s like a normal window which makes her feel more like a normal person in a normal home. She has an attached bathroom to her room, which is even better. A knock on the door lets her turn around. Steve stands there a smile on his lips. “DO you have everything you need?”
“Yeah… I guess. Might take a while to store everything, but yeah. Thanks for helping.” Steve waves her off, still smiling. “If you want your drawers or your bed on another place just say so.”
“No. It's fine. I like it like this.”
“Okay.” Steve turns around to leave but Y/N calls after him. “Steve!”
“Yes?”
“Thank you. I mean it. I’m not really part of your big family here. I’m more of a stranger than a friend and you help me. It means a lot.”
“You’re wrong, Y/N. You’re a part of this family. That’s why we’re helping.”
“And because its more or less our fault you get dragged into this.” Bucky appears behind Steve, laying a hand on the blondes’ shoulder. “So, get comfortable and pack out what you can. We want to eat dinner with you.” He smiles for a second before leaving. Y/N's mouth gapes for a second before she looks at Steve and lays her head to the side. “Was that a smile? I mean an 'I-actually-mean-it-because-I-like-you' smile? It even reached his eyes.”
“Yep, scary don’t you think?”
“No. Not at all. I like it. He should do it more often. It suits him.” She stops and before glaring at Steve. “If I ever hear you told him that I said something like that I’m going to deny it and rip your head off.” Steve lifts his hand in surrender. “Nothing will get over my lips.”
“Good.” She smiles at him. Their eyes meet for a moment before Steve clears his throat. “I eh... I just leave you to...” He motions to her and then at his back to where Bucky just left. “Bucky needs me probably so...” He leaves his sentence unfinished and turns around. Y/N stares at the point where he stood before she starts laughing.