Assistant

Part 33

**Nat's POV**

Nat lands the jet and spins her chair around. She watches Bucky scoop you up and cradle you in his arms as he walks out with you. She watches Steve tuck Erin into his side, letting her lean on him. It was the kind of thing he'd done for her many times after a mission. She sighed at the niggle of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. Even though Bruce was so sweet, there were no emotions during their time other than friendship. Both of them knew that they would only ever be friends with benefits to release stress. Seeing the love between Y/N and Bucky, Nat realized that she wanted more than friends - she wanted love.

Feeling tired from all of it, Nat gets up moving toward the rear of the jet. Slowly following everyone. Nat misses the side-eye look and small smirk that Wanda shoots in her direction.

Nat smiles at the joy she sees on Maggie's face as Maggie runs out to meet everyone. Bruce is walking behind Maggie at a slower pace, watching everything in front of him like he usually does. Fury is out in front of the group, Nat chuckles as she watches Maggie throw herself into Fury's arms. The normally stoic man has a soft expression on his face as he wraps his arms around her, giving her a sweet kiss before starting to speak with her softly, likely about the mission.. The scene pulls harder at the feeling of need that's surfaced, if Fury, the spy of spies, could have this, why couldn't she. She glanced at Steve who was walking with Erin, her heart slightly constricting and realizing she might have lost her chance with the one man she'd always loved and felt safe with but that wasn't going to stop her from finding love.

Decision made she catches up to Bucky as he and Bruce turn to walk to the medical wing. Bruce looks down at her, he gives her a small smile as if reading her mind about them. He pulls her into his side. He gives her a chaste kiss on the top of her head.

**Maggie's POV**

Bruce and I are in the kitchen having a cup of tea waiting for the jet to land. The medical wing is all set up and there's nothing else to keep us busy. The waiting has been brutal. Bruce tilts his head and smiles, it's seconds later that I hear the roar of the jet engines approaching. I get up running toward the landing pad.

As I reach the door, Bruce catches my arm. "We need to wait until they've turned off the engines. I know it's hard but going out onto the landing deck isn't safe until then."

I nod and bounce on my toes waiting. "Gah! Hurry up!"

Bruce chuckles next to me. We finally hear the engines shut off and Bruce pushes the door opening for. "Go get em'"

I'm too emotional to even reply, I just smile up at him. I see Nick first, walking in front of everyone. Behind him I see Bucky carrying Y/N. My heart drops, I can see the bruising on her face from here. I start searching through everyone else until I see her. Steve's arm is around her, helping her out of the jet. My mouth goes dry and I feel the tears start to silently fall down my cheeks.

As soon as I reach Nick, I wrap my arms around him. He holds me tight, kissing me hello. He knows what I want to ask even before I do.

"She's been through a lot, Maggie but she's excited to see you."

I look around him and see that Erin and Steve have stopped just behind Nick. Erin is standing next to Steve wringing her hands. Bucky is almost to us and I can see Y/N watching with interest. It's obvious she wants to be here for the reunion but Bucky isn't stopping. I reach out toward Y/N. She takes my hand and I give hers a squeeze. "Get checked out and I'll be down later." I look at Bucky "Take care of her for me."

Bucky smiles at me "Yes ma'am." I let go of Y/N's hand and turn back toward Nick, Steve and Erin standing in front of me. I squeeze Nick's hand and then walk around him to stand in front of Erin. I open my arms toward her. She tried to smile before her face fell and she started to cry. She walked into my arms and I wrapped her in a hug. I held her while we both cried.