Fated Marks

After Nat decided to head out I got pulled into a movie night which I couldn’t really focus on considering my soulmate was on her way to try and track down my brother’s insane assassin wife.

“Hales Natasha does this for a living, she’ll be fine.” Clint said trying to reassure me.

“Not to mention her plane still hasn’t landed.” Tony added.

“Oh right.” I said putting my phone down. “You know maybe a I should try and get a live feed of the store you know just to keep an eye on things.”

“No, you’re going to take a break.” Steve said.

“Worrying isn’t going to get you anywhere.” Bruce said.

“But…” I started.

“No, you’ve been working on your own for the past four months you’ve earned some time off.” Tony said.

“I’m taking that and that.” Clint said taking my phone and laptop.

“You’re taking this.” Steve said handing me a bowl of popcorn.

“And you’re going to watch… Goodfellas” Bruce said looking at the TV guide. “Maybe we should find another movie.”

“What’s it about?” Steve asked.

“The mob.” Everyone said.

“New movie.” Steve said looking for something else.

Like always I ended up falling asleep halfway through the movie. I woke up in the middle of the night alone in my room to my phone ringing. I answered without checking who it was and regretted it immediately.

“Hello.” I answered sleepily.

“Why is it that you only had one job and you managed to fuck that up?” Hadrian said.

“It was a set up.” I said.

“Then why am I looking at footage from a security camera in Berlin watching you go in to the same building as my wife did hours before and you coming out without her?!” he yelled.

“Javi’s dead.” I said.

“I don’t care if the queen of fucking England’s dead she was in your grasp and she got away. You’re only alive as long as your useful and right now you’re about as useful as Javi is. Don’t make me go to London again, there won’t be enough money in the world to save you next time.” He said before hanging up.

“Fuck” I groaned. It didn’t look like I was going to be getting much sleep. I got out of bed and went to the kitchen. I turned on my laptop and got back to work.

I didn’t realize how much time had passed until Steve walked in.

“Morning.” Steve said.

“Hm?” I said looking up and noticing it was light out. “Oh Morning.”

“How long have you been up?” Steve asked.

“Not long.” I lied.

“Right.” He said noticing the stale coffee in the coffee making and the empty mug in front of me. “You want to tell me what’s wrong?”

I closed my eyes and sighed before slipping off my glasses and rubbing my eyes. “Got a call in the middle of the night. He knows about Berlin and he’s not exactly happy. Couldn’t really sleep after that so I started working.”

“Hayley you’ve been over those tapes over and over again and there wasn’t anything.” Steve said.

“I know so I started back tracking. I decided to go back further. I wanted to see how Javi made it from Romania to Berlin and I think I figured out how he did it and why Delilah turned on him.” I said.

“Why do you look so scared?” Steve said looking concerned.

“I always assumed that when all of Delilah’s family was killed he did it on his own. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done something like that but when I started looking through the crime scene photos they didn’t add up. He uses knives, or a sniper to take out the perimeter before going in then he’ll just stab you. More pain, slower death but there were no dead bodies in the perimeter. The only body outside was from one of Delilah’s cousins who tried to run. He got shot twice in the back. Delilah’s parents were found in the lounge room connected to their room sitting in their seats with their throats slit. No signs of a struggle.” I said.

“It was an inside job.” Steve said realizing what I was getting at.

“Someone they trusted who knew the layout of the mansion and their routine. Someone like say Mikhail Roman’s younger brother and right hand man Javi.” I said. “Delilah figured it out and turned on her uncle, killed him in revenge.”

“That would explain everything but doesn’t explain why she would want you dead.” Steve said.

“If you want to know why a girl’s crazy look at the guy she’s with.” I said.

“Sounds like something Peggy would say.” Steve said.

“Have you gone to visit her yet?” I asked.

“Yeah she’s in the early stages of dementia and is starting to forget things.” Steve started.

“I’m sorry.” I said.

“Don’t be. Peggy lived a great life and she’s still as feisty and smart as when I met her in the forties.” Steve said. “Gave me a stern talking to when I told her about our talk in Italy.”

“Does she think I’m a horrible person?” I asked.

“No she says you’d make a great spy.” Steve said.

“Coming from her I’ll take that as a compliment.” I said.

“Come on it’s still early, we could both use a couple of hours.” Steve said taking my hand and leading me out of the kitchen.

“Don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep.” I said.

“You won’t know unless you try.” He said leading me back to my room.

I got back into bed and Steve looked like he didn’t know whether he should stay or go. I scooted over and lifted the covers so he could slip in. He didn’t hesitate to slip in. I cuddled into his side and closed my eyes. It didn’t take long before I was knocked out again.

It wasn’t until I felt the bed shift and felt someone put their arms around me that I woke up.

“Hey.” Clint said.

“Hey, What time is it?” I asked.

“Quarter till noon.” He said. “Wanted to check up on you.”

“I’m fine.” I said.

“Nat checked in, said she was on her way to Berlin.” He said. “Her contact didn’t have anything so she got an earlier flight.”

“That’s good.” I said.

“Come on, I made waffles.” Clint said.

“I’ll just be a sec.” I said.

“Okay.” He said giving me a quick peck on the lips before walking out.

Why do I feel like there’s more to the night Delilah’s family was killed than I already know?

Uh, I just want this all to be over so I can go home.

Days Later-

I woke up cuddled on top on Tony who was still softly snoring. I slowly moved away and made my way to the kitchen where Clint Steve and Bruce were already having breakfast.

“Morning.” I said.

“Morning.” They all said. Just as I was pouring myself coffee the elevator dinged.

“Nat, You’re back.” I said going to hug her. She didn’t say anything just hugged me back. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just tired.” She said.

“What happened?” Steve asked.

“The grocery store was a drug running front.” Natasha asked.

“You’re kidding.” Clint said.

“No, the hoagie deluxe came with a hidden surprise.” Natasha said. “The post office inside however was actually a real post office. I managed to get into the system and get the names and addresses of every package sent and also the information of every money transfer they made in the past six months. Here you go.” Natasha said handing me a flash drive.

“Thanks.” I said. “How’d you get this?”

“I have my ways.” She said.

“Well thank you.” I said kissing her cheek.

“Anytime.” Natasha said. “But we have to go.” She told Clint.

“You just got back.” I said.

“Hill called they need us in Kuwait.” She said.

“When do we leave?” Clint asked.

“As soon as we get to the airfield.” Natasha answered.

“Just need five minutes to pack.” Clint said kissing the top of my head before going to his room.

“I’m going to get to work.” I said.

“No you’re not.” Steve said taking the flash drive out of my hand. “Breakfast.” He said putting a plate of eggs, hashbrowns and bacon in front of me.

“I can do both.” I said.

“Hayley you haven’t turned off your laptop in over a week and you haven’t left the pent house in over four days.” Bruce said. “You need some time off.”

“I can take a break when I find her.” I said reaching for the flash drive but Steve moved away.

“You’re over doing it Doll. How about you take the day off and we take the day to go out and do something like a date?” Steve said.

“Steve if you want to go on a date you could have just asked.” I said.

“This isn’t about what I want, it’s about what you need. And right now that’s to get out of this penthouse. It doesn’t even have to be with me.” Steve said sadly.

“Steve don’t say it like that. Of course I want to go out on a date with you I just think that right now I should focus on this.” I said.

“Hayley you two have hardly had any alone time. You better take advantage of the free time you have now before he has to leave again.” Natasha said.

“Speaking of I have to head back to New York, classes are starting up again.” Bruce said.

“You can catch a ride with me. Pepper needs me to deal with a crisis.” Tony said as he walked in. “morning.” He said kissing me.

“Morning.” I said smiling. “So what would I be dressing up for?”

“I haven’t really seen London since the blitz so a tour?” Steve asked.

“Okay. Comfortable and warm.” I said getting up.

“Hayley.” Steve said.

“Right Breakfast first.” I said sitting back down.

I finished up breakfast and said goodbye to everyone before getting ready for my date. I chose to keep it casual with some dark jeans a white top and a heather grey knit sweater with brown boots.

“Ready” I said stepping out into the living room. “So I was thinking…”

“Why am I starting to worry?” Steve said.

“You said get out of the penthouse but how about instead we take a few days and take a getaway to Scotland?” I asked. “The weather’s still nice we could go on a hike, maybe try to see the Loch Ness monster?”

“You want to not work for a few days?” Steve asked surprised.

“Well I can take my laptop with us and work in between activities or if I can’t sleep. We just have to find a place with wifi to spend the night at.” I said.

“That sounds great.” Steve said. “I’ll go pack.”

“Way ahead of you.” I said stepping to the side so he could see that I had already packed my things and brought his down. Steve never unpacked when he visited. He knew he could be called away when he least expected it so he lived out of his suitcase.

“You really thought this through.” Steve said.

“It’s the last weekend before classes start up again and with everything going on it may be my last chance to actually have a nice mini vacation. When was the last time you had a vacation? And before you say it you can’t count the seventy years you were frozen.” I said.

“We could both use a vacation.” Steve said.

“Great train leaves in an hour. Taxi’s downstairs.” I said.

“Why are you so anxious to go?’ Steve asked.

“Because Rebekah just texted me that the Bratva and an IRA king are having a meeting in London this weekend and considering I look like the woman who screwed them both over pretty badly I should not risk a run in.” I said.

“Good call.” Steve said picking up the bags and we got out of there.

We got to the train station and sat down in our section. Steve was reading a book and I was typing away trying to look though what Intel Natasha got through. I couldn’t really focus considering I was feeling guilty for being inconsiderate towards Steve so I closed my laptop and pulled out a deck of cards.

“You want to play a game?” I asked making Steve look up from his book.

“Sure.” He said putting the book down. “Though I should warn you the only game I know is go fish.”

“I know a few games. You know if we were anywhere else but here I’d teach you how to play poker.” I said.

“Why can’t we play poker here?” Steve asked.

“Don’t really think it’s a good place to strip.” I said trying to get Steve to lighten up. I swear anytime someone would pass by he would look towards his Shield which he brought in a pretty obvious Frisbee shaped carry on.

“Uh…” Steve said bushing and rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’re so cute. It’s adorable how easy it is to get you to blush.” I said chuckling a bit.

“You and Bucky would have driven me up the walls if you’d met.” Steve said.

Just like that my smile faltered a bit.

“I think Tony, Nat and I do a pretty great job on our own.” I said.

“That you do. Did Natasha tell you she dragged me to a night club a few weeks ago?” Steve said.

“She didn’t. That must’ve been fun.” I said even though by the look on Steve’s face it wasn’t the word he’d use to describe the night.

“The music wasn’t music just loud screeching and beeping. And the people dancing it was like they were… uh.” Steve said shaking his head.

“I think Nat should have eased you a bit more into it before throwing you to the sharks.” I said. “I didn’t really like clubbing the first time Tess dragged me out to one. Of course that was the night she met Liam and why she calls me her Lucky charm.”

“I did always wonder about that.” Steve said.

“Point is you just have to give it a chance and some time. Maybe next time I can come with part of a date night or something.” I said.

“Maybe.” Steve said. “I wish I could take you to a dance hall like back in the day.”

“Swing dancing?” I asked.

“Yeah, I never learned but always wanted to.” Steve said.

“I think we can manage that, find a place that has a forties or fifties night and go check it out.” I said.

“Are you asking me out?” Steve asked in a mock shocked voice.

“Well one of us has to take the initiative here.” I said with a smile.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t really been great at this…” He said.

“Are you kidding? Your heartfelt letters are the only reason I go check the mail. They make my day.” I said.

“Your reply emails and texts make me laugh and are really helping me catch up with all the pop culture references I missed.” Steve said.

“And I think this is mostly on me, I’ve been a bit busy and neglectful. It’s the same reason Will never let me have any pets or plants in the apartment, they’d just die.” I said.

“We’re worried about you.” Steve said. “Hayley you’re obsessing and letting this search take over your life.”

“This search kinda is my life Steve. I have until the end of the year to find her and if you haven’t noticed all of the leads I had are either dead or hidden so deep and if I fail there won’t be a place for me to hide or run to. He’ll finish what he started and I know it’s not an empty threat.” I said.

“It won’t come to that. He’d have to go through all of us.” Steve said.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” I said as I shuffled the deck of cards.

It took a few hours but we finally made it to the small bed and breakfast we were staying at. Even though it still wasn’t quite fall yet, with the altitude it was really cold.

“Hi are you checking in?” the friendly old lady at the front desk asked.

“We don’t have reservations we were wondering if you by chance have any rooms available?” I asked.

“Actually we had a last minute cancellation and we have one room open.” She said.

“We’ll take it.” Steve said.

“Of course and what are your names dearies?” She asked.

“I’m Steve.”

“Hayley.” I said.

“Lovely to meet you, how many nights are you staying?”

“Through the weekend.” I answered.

“Alrighty then. How would you be paying?” I started taking out my credit card but Steve beat me to it.

“Steve.” I said.

“It’s on me. I was raised right and my mom would roll over in her grave if I let you pay. It’s our private getaway this is on me.” Steve said.

“Fine but I’m getting dinner.” I said.

“We’ll see.” He said.

“Aren’t you two adorable? Reminds me of my James when we started dating.” She said and both Steve and I froze at that. “It’s the room at the end of the hallway upstairs. The restaurant serves breakfast from seven to ten, lunch from noon to two and dinner from six thirty until nine. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ring the front desk.”

“Thank you.” Steve said before grabbing the bags and we started walking to our room.

“I think this is the one.” I said taking the key and opening the door. The room had white walls and blue flower print curtains. The fireplace, which didn’t work, was framed with blue tiles and instead of a bed we had two beds. Two twin sized beds.

“It’s cozy.” Steve said walking in and bumping into everything and even making a table fall on it’s said and dropping a chair.

“Yeah and the beds look comfy.” I said sitting on one making the bed springs creak loudly as I sank almost all the way to the floor. My back was going to kill me tomorrow.

“There’s two of them.” Steve said.

“Yeah.” I said. What did he think about it? Did he want to move them closer? Did he want separate beds? I mean we had slept in the same bed before, of course I practically had to force him and reassure him multiple times I was okay with him putting an arm around me. That had been months ago and it was only once. I wasn’t sure what to say which made the silence even more awkward.

Steve walked over to the other bed and pressed down on it with his hand.

“Not much firmer.” Steve said.

“So much for getting it just right goldilocks.” I said. “You know, I’m blonde and the three little bears…”

“I get that reference.” Steve said with an awkward smile.

“You hungry?” I asked.

“Sure you want to eat downstairs?” Steve asked.

“We should that way we know if we should go for breakfast or not.” I said.

“You want to go now?” Steve asked.

“Sure just give me a sec.” I said pointing to the bathroom.

“Oh yeah.” Steve said sitting down on the bed and sinking down with a loud creak.

I closed the door and looked in the mirror. I didn’t look bad, hair was still in the messy braid I put it in so no messier than it already was. I splashed some water on my face before getting out.

“Ready.” I said.

“Let’s go.” Steve said trying to get up but struggling to.

“Oh here.” I said taking his hand and trying to pull him up but as I did my foot slipping on the carpet and as Steve got up I fell down on the floor and Steve on top of me. “Ow.” I said as we started laughing.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked.

“Yeah just a little sore.” I said. Steve stood up and then pulled me up.

“That bed really sank down.” Steve said.

“It did,” I said straightening myself out.

We went down to dinner and snuck away for a bit to ask if there was any chance we could get another room.

“Hi… Aggie.” I said reading the lady’s nametag.

“Hi sweetie any problems with the room so far?” She asked. She was the sweetest old lady ever. I bet anything she spoiled her grandkids with freshly baked cookies anytime they visited.

“My boyfriend has a bit of a bad back and we were wondering if there were any other rooms available.” I asked.

“I’m afraid not. You were lucky for that cancellation. If you want I can check some other inns in town to see if they have any available rooms?” Aggie asked.

“Oh no I don’t want to be any trouble. I’ll just give him my extra pillow and he’ll be okay. Thank you.” I said.

“That’s what I’m here for. Don’t be afraid to ask. Enjoy dinner.” Aggie said.

“Thank you.” I said. Okay how was this going to go. Did I just ask or wait for him to bring it up? Maybe I should just leave it alone wait to see how things go before anything. Take it slow. Yeah that’s a good idea.

So I sat back down and enjoyed an amazing dinner. Everything was homemade and tasted amazing. Steve told me about his visits with Peggy and some of the meme’s Tony had sent him.

I talked about school and what I was going to do after graduation which for all I know could be for nothing considering I still had no idea where Delilah was.

We made our way back to the room and started getting ready for bed.

“It’s getting kind of cold.” I said slipping on some socks.

“You should get under the covers.” Steve called out from the bathroom.

Guess I’m keeping myself warm tonight.

I pulled the covers back and got in making the bed creak loudly. I could feel the bed springs poking into my back and any movement made the bed creak. I wasn’t getting any sleep this weekend. I heard Steve walk out of the bathroom and slip into bed.

“Night.” Steve said.

“Night.” I said.

One thing I didn’t account for when I said we should go to Scotland for the weekend... How freaking cold it can get. I didn’t stop shivering the entire night.

I got up early the next morning not because I had gotten a good night’s rest but because I wanted to make sure I still had all my toes. I lipped out of be and at the first creak Steve sat up in bed.

“Morning Doll.” Steve said with a yawn.

“Morning.” I said. “How’d you sleep?”

“Okay.” He said.

“We should get ready for breakfast. Got a busy day ahead of us.” I said going into the bathroom for a shower. I got dressed in jeans and a long sleeved thermal light grey pull over and some dark grey jeans with boots. I grabbed the dark grey puffer jacket and an olive beanie to stay warm before heading out. Steve wore a tan utility jacket with a red flannel shirt with a grey t shit under.

We went down to break fast and started looking through the travel brochures they had.

“I like the views from this trail. Goes by a beach. We could stop by for lunch?” I suggested.

“I didn’t know you hiked.” Steve said.

“I’ve been a few times with Clint back in New York. It was fun.” I said.

“I’ve never been unless you count the times we traveled by foot during the war.” Steve said.

“Same concept except no one’s shooting at you.” I said.

“Darn guess I brought the shield for nothing.” Steve said.

“I was going to ask do you take that with you everywhere?” I asked.

“It comes in handy.” Steve said.

“I imagine.” I said. “You know when it starts snowing we can find a hill and use it as a sled. That’d be fun.”

“It is.” Steve said. “You can also do it in the rain. It’s messier but still fun.”

“Would that apply to say grass that’s wet from a foggy morning?” I asked looking out the window.

“I’d imagine so.” Steve said smiling.

Which brought us to the top of a really big hill. Steve put his Shield down and after much debate we found the perfect way to go down. Steve would sit down first and I’d sit on his lap. He blushed when I suggested it but agreed to it.

“Hold on a sec.” I said taking my phone out. “Smile.”

Steve kissed my cheek while looking at the camera. I took a few more quick photos before putting my phone in my pocket.

“Hold on tight.” Steve said putting an arm around my waist. “On Three. One Two…” He said before pushing us forward.

“WAH!” I said as the wind blew though my hair and we slid down the hill really fast. Even when we got to the bottom we kept moving for a few yards before we finally stopped. I couldn’t stop laughing and Steve couldn’t either. “I don’t remember the last time I laughed this much. We’ve got to do that again.”

“Race you.” Steve said starting to run up there but the grass was slippery and he fell.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you okay?” I asked laughing.

“Yeah.” Steve said chuckling. “A bit hurt you’re laughing at me.”

“Sweetie I’m not laughing at you I’m laughing with you.” I said going to help him up but instead he pulled me down on top of him. “Steve!” I cried out as I fell on top of him and he started tickling me as we rolled around the ground a bit.

When he finally stopped he was hovering over me. He looked down at me, put a hand on my cheek before leaning down and kissing me. I smiled and put my hand on the back of his head melting into the kiss.

Maybe taking some time off would be okay.