Steel Hearts

- 13 -

I'm not sure when, or even how, we had gotten back to the quinjet. But when we did, I curled myself into a ball as small as possible on the floor next to Steve's seat. Some of what I had seen, I didn't want to remember. The Maximoff girl had ripped some of my worst nightmares to the forefront of my mind, finding a trigger and ripping that wire out to be exposed. I was numb at that point.

Some of us were worse than others. Nat sat staring blankly in front of her while Thor stood with a clenched jaw, clearly upset. My trembling hand sought out Steve's, who hadn't lifted his eyes from the floor since he had sat down beside me. Bruce was the worst of us. Wanda had messed with his mind worse than the rest, bringing out Hulk and forcing him to destroy a nearby city. He sat on the floor, wrapped in a purple blanket similar to my own with his eyes closed as tightly as possible. There were talks of his possible arrest.

If I shut my own eyes, I could vividly see everything once more. So, I stared blankly at the floor desperately attempting to get my mind to shut off the bad memories I had just relived. I squeezed Steve's hand every so often as tears started to form in my eyes and I pulled myself in tighter if that was even possible.

The world hated us. Maria Hill had advised us to stay out of the public eye for a while, all of us silently agreeing. Barton had been flying the quinjet for hours, finally landing in a field. A farm in the middle of nowhere. None of us were familiar.

I didn't allow my hand to leave Steve's as we all followed Barton up a path to his home. Silently appreciated the support it offered me. The two-story home brought a sense of peace to the team as we passed through the threshold.

"Honey?" Barton called, pushing open the front door, "I'm home!"

He led us into the living room and I found myself standing between Thor and Steve. Just as Banner shuffled into the room, a pregnant woman rounded the corner. A grin spread across her face when her eyes settled on Barton.

"Sorry I didn't call ahead," he jokes, sharing a kiss with the woman as they met in the middle of the room.

"This is an agent of some kind," Tony's voice was skeptical.

"This is Laura," Barton turns to us, slipping an arm around her waist.

She gives a small, slightly awkward wave, "I know all of your names."

I offer a small smile when her's faltered at me, "Ella Cohen. Nice to meet you." My hand slips from Steve's just long enough to shake hers before it finds his once more, our fingers laced together tightly.

The sound of footsteps rumbling the stairs caught everyone's attention as two children came running into the room, expression's full of excitement when they saw their father.

Steve tilted his head, brow scrunched with his mouth open as if he were going to speak. I quickly pat his upper arm with my free hand, nudging him slightly with an amused expression at the face he had made.

"These are smaller agents," Tony mused suspiciously.

Barton's daughter asks hopefully when he sets her back on the floor, "Did you bring Auntie Nat?"

Hearing her name, Natasha peaks out from behind Steve's frame; creeping past the team with a genuine smile on her face.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Nat scoops the girl up from the ground and hugs her. The sight brings a smile to my face, warmth spreading through me at the pure joy.

"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve says to Laura.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony chimed in sarcastically.