A Heart Break In Time

Everybody Comes Home.

"Talia? Is everything okay?" She answered immediately.

"We're okay. We just have... a situation we need you for. It's not a mission."

"Not a mission?" She questioned.

I sighed. "There's someone here, Kai. He has powers. He's afraid of them."

"Ah. Okay."

"When can you come home?"

It was silent for a while, every second that passed I worried it was going to be her telling me no. She sighed. "Give me a few days? I'll be there, I promise."

"One more thing... I don't want this to shock you." I sighed. "We have two others with powers. There's Angel, her powers are similar to yours. And then there's Eva... she has super speed."

"Oh." She paused. "I see."

I couldn't tell from that if she was upset and it worried me. "I just didn't want to surprise you, you know..."

"Talia, I appreciate it. Thank you. Give me some time. I will be there."

"Thank you. Can't wait to have you home."

There was a small chuckle on the other line. "I can't wait to be home."

I stayed in my room after that, feeling overwhelmed with the emotions of everyone, I didn't want to run into Bucky or Kai. When FRIDAY announced that Rhodey ordered dinner, I ignored it. I watched a crappy sitcom by myself until I fell asleep.

I looked around, I was back in the Red Room. Tied to a hospital bed as I panicked, looking around. "You'll be fine." A nurse to the left of me smiled. "They're just going to remove any possible distractions you may have in the future. You'll recover soon." I looked over to see Natasha asleep on the bed next to me in a hospital gown. Suddenly I felt pain in my abdomen, I looked to see the doctor slicing me open, I screamed.

I woke up to my door being slammed open. "Talia, I'm here." I blinked in the darkness, trying to register where I was. No Red Room. No hospital bed. I was in my room, at the compound.  And Steve was walking in my room. Steve?

I pulled the blanket up to cover my lack of pants. "Steve? Why are you here?"

"You were screaming." He sat next to me on the bed. "Nightmare?" I nodded, pulling my legs up and wrapping my arms around them.

Steve put his hand on my arm. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Shouldn't you be at home? Making sure Peggy doesn't have nightmares?" I snapped. He started to open his mouth but I snapped again. "Just go, Steve. You shouldn't be here." He nodded before walking out, closing the door behind him.

The clock read only 11:12pm, which meant I should still go back to sleep. But my abdomen ached like the dream was real. My hand moved to my scars, faded and healed. I got out of bed and put on sweats, making my way to the kitchen. I made myself a bowl of cereal before I walked to the living room. I sat on the floor, leaning against the couch as I turned the tv and my crappy sitcom on. Just me, my cereal, in the dark.

Until someone interrupted. Bucky sat next to me, he didn't speak, just sat on the floor and stared at the tv. He put his right arm on the couch behind me. We sat in silence until the episode ended. I faced forward as I placed the bowl away from us and whispered. "Nightmare?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

"Tony?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Red Room." Bucky didn't answer, but I leaned against him. The next episode started and we just watched it together, I rested my head on his shoulder and he leaned his head against mine. Anytime I felt broken, Bucky could make me feel whole again. I felt safe, never judged.

Bucky turned his head to the hallway and I looked too. Someone was walking towards us. When he got a little closer, I could tell it was Sam. He had his blanket wrapped around him as he shuffled to the floor with us. He plopped down on my right. I nudged him. "Nightmare?" He nodded. "Well, aren't we a fun bunch." Both Sam and Bucky chuckled, then we continued watching the show.

I'm not sure exactly when I fell asleep. But I woke up in my bed, alone. I got changed into running clothes, grabbed my headphones and left to go to the track. I ran into Kai on the way, I tried pretending I didn't see him but he stepped in front of me. "We should talk."

"I can't." I shrugged. "Going for a run." I didn't know what I was feeling, what the hell I was going to do. The comfort of being around Bucky last night made everything blurry and confusing again. There were so many things flying around in my head I couldn't focus any of it. I needed a run, and a hardcore training day.

"Talia, don't do that. I know you feel this too, if this is because we went too fast, I get it. We can just show down."

I shook my head. "Kai, it's so much more complicated than that."

"Why? Because Bucky? Because Steve?" He asked, voice getting a bit louder. "I don't care what either of them say or do. I care about you, and you can't tell me that you don't feel the same way."

At this point I was getting frustrated. He was pressing into something I wasn't ready to touch. "You're right, I do feel for you. But I also feel for Bucky, that what you wanna hear? I have feelings for the both of you and I'm frustrated and confused and neither of you are helping. So I'm going to ask you nicely to get out of my way before I force you out of it." I stared him down with my arms crossed.

"Well, that was nice to hear, doll." A voice from behind me spoke. I turned and saw Bucky.

"Oh, great! The both of you are here. I'm leaving. Don't follow me." I stormed out past Kai and neither of them said anything or stopped me.

I sat on the ground to stretch before my run. Focusing on the slight pain in my legs instead of the drama that was happening. When it was time to run, I started slow. But my brain kept focusing on my thoughts, about Kai... The indescribable feeling of being with him. And then Bucky. My safe place, my home. Both men equally sweet, caring, stubborn, and good. What the hell am I supposed to do in this situation? I wish I could talk to Nat.

The moment her name played in my head I froze, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with the grief again. The only way I've been handling any of this was to just... not handle it. But the more time goes on, it's becoming impossible. I full force ran as fast as I could, hoping I could run so much I couldn't focus on anything else.

It didn't work.

Eventually my body exhausted before my brain did, I slowed down and began to just walk back to the compound. I dreaded having to see everyone again but I lucked out, no one was out on my way to the showers. After double checking I was alone, I took a long, hot shower. Focusing on the warmth around me. I felt exhausted. The mental and emotional draining of this morning mixed with the lack of sleep from last night. I decided I deserve a nap, I could skip a day of working out. I dried off and got dressed in the shower room and managed to sneak back to my room unseen.

Grateful, I laid in bed and closed my eyes. But just as I was about to drift off, FRIDAY spoke.

"Miss Aimilios, sorry to bother your nap. You're being requested in Dr. Sloan's office immediately."

Dr. Sloan? I groaned as I got out of bed. "Thanks, FRIDAY. Tell her I'll be right there."