Devotion Book 4 ~ ON HOLD

1. FIXING IT

I will fight
I will fight for you
I always do, until my heart
Is black and blue

-Don't give Up on Me by Andy Grammer

Paris

A man walks along the Seine River in Paris at dawn. Sipping on a coffee, he stops at the Pont des Arts, reminiscing about the old love locks that used to be there. He takes a small lock out of his pocket. He sees the initials and date inscribed on the lock. He smiles and places the small lock in the corner, out of view. He feels a pair of arms wrap around his waist. He closes his eyes and thinks back on the past few years. He opens his eyes and looks down at the dark brown angel eyes. How did he get so lucky?

*~* Four years earlier *~*

The Raft.

The floating hell of a prison that Sam Wilson now found himself on. The pacing back and forth, thinking. Passing the time. Time. Time to think. Think of how he ended up in this place, thinking of his family, of Natasha Romanoff. He had loved that woman from the moment he saw her in her Corvette in DC. Now she was gone and he was here, alone. He wondered of his family, if Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were able to accomplish the mission. That Sophia Stark-Taylor and Peter Parker-Rogers were ok.

Sam's mind turned to the rest of the team. Sam knew that Clint Barton and Scott Lang were ok but he hadn't heard from Wanda Maximoff. He knew that they had collared her and she couldn't use her powers. But since they arrived, they hadn't heard a peep from her. Sam just wanted to know that she was ok, that she was eating, living, breathing.

Two weeks. Two weeks in this god forsaken place. Sam just paces back and forth. Suddenly, there is a loud bang from up above. The guys race to the bars to see what's going on. After a few minutes, there is nothing but silence. Scott and Clint go back to their spots and Sam just continues to pace.

"You know," a familiar voice states, "you keep walking back and forth like that, you'll wear out the floor and you could escape that way."

Sam stops and smiles. He turns to the bars and says "Steve."

Steve works on opening all of the doors and getting the guys out. He gets over to Wanda's cell. He breaks her collar and gets her hands free from the jacket they had put on her. "Wanda, sweetie, I'm going to pick you up, ok? I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner."

"Sophia?" Wanda mumbles.

"She's not with me right now but I'm gonna get you outta here. I'm sorry, sweetheart. Hang on."

The rag tag team makes their way to the Quinjet and head out. "I've got a safe house set up for us. We'll be there in a couple of hours. We can talk then."

"Can I call my family?" Clint asks.

"Yeah, we got a secured line set up just for that," Steve responses.

"Who's we?" Asks Sam.

Steve dodges the question. "You'll see soon and I'll explain everything."

A couple of hours later, the jet touches down and the team goes into the house. Clint stops in his tracks when he sees Tony sitting on the couch in the living room. Tony Stark stands up and greets them, "hey guys."

The team is stunned and while they are silent Tony speaks. "Guys look I'm sorry for what happened. I was wrong. I just want to make this right. I know you hate me but please let me try and make this up to you."