Rose Sinclair Barnes in Age of Ultron | A Bucky Love Story

Chapter Three: Summer

          When I came home, I gave the grandkids souvenirs from Romania and called Steve on my personal phone.

            "Ro! Are you home?" he asked.

          "I am. I'm sorry, Steve. You won't find him but they have lovely sunflower fields. I bought some wine, too," I said as I unpacked.

          "You did your best. When you can, can you meet at the Avengers tower?" he asked.

          "Only if you pick me up, Steve," I teased in a sweet voice.

          He sighed, "I told you to not use that tone with me, baby."

          "And I told you to not call me baby," I snorted back.

          "I'll pick you up in ten. Doesn't matter what you wear," he said and hung up.

          I dusted off my clothes and changed into something more comfortable. My usual outfit was my jeans, tee, and leather jacket. I heard Steve's motorcycle outside and I put the bottle of wine and schnapps in my bag before going out to meet him. Outside, I ran to him and jumped to give him a hug.

          He laughed and spun me, "Welcome home."

          I gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek, "Thanks, Steve."

          We rode to the former Stark tower which was now our Avengers tower. Steve and I had no choice but to accept that my husband is alive and I still love him. Agent Hill was working with us and I saw more of Clinton and Bruce. Steve briefed me on a mission in the next month against more HYDRA bases. With former Agent Sitwell being in HYDRA within SHIELD, Loki's scepter was taken to a HYDRA base somewhere on the other side of the world. We feared they were making enhanced soldiers and weapons like we faced in World War II. Tony spent time with me to extract information and develop another suit for me.

          "Does it hurt to shift?" he asked while handing me blood samples from some of the Avengers.

          I shook my head and read the samples, "It only hurts if the sample was injured. Fury had a variety of injuries at the time I took his blood. It was transferred to me. For some reason, my injuries heal when the mutation wears off. My uniform stays damaged though. I was shot on the helicarrier but the wound healed. My uniform was still ripped and bloody. I can control when to shift though. It doesn't have to be immediate."

          "Really?" Dr. Banner asked and put on his glasses to review footage of me.

          "Really. I only have samples of Steve, Agent Hill, and Clinton?" I asked and secured the belt holding the vials.

          "It's a precaution. Nothing personal. Nat just doesn't trust you, no one knows where Fury is. My system might take a clone of me as a security breach and I'm sure Sam is somewhere," Tony explained.

          "What about you, Doc?" I asked him playfully.

          "Good luck trying to take blood from the other guy," he said sarcastically.

          I nodded my head to him, "What about Thor?"

          "He shows up whenever. Trying to communicate through other worlds is something even I don't know where to start. I doubt they have WiFi," Tony said sassily and tossed me my new uniform.

          It was a black suit like Nat's with Steve's Captain America design. It was a long sleeve and on the left upper arm was a ruby red rose over where my tattoo would be. I took off my belt and began to strip to try it on. Dr. Banner politely looked away but Tony was enjoying the show.

          "Black lace, matching set," I teased and got into the suit.

          "On the job?" he teased back.

          A young woman in a nurses uniform came in and my scars caught her eye before I zipped up the top. I stopped and left it on display and put my belt on instead. She introduced herself to me as Doctor Helen Cho and she was a genius with human biology and was also a geneticist.

          "Your father's work is what I based my career on. It's such an honor to meet you! Is it true you inherited his genius?" she asked and tenderly examined my scars.

          I nodded, "If you like, I can get you my father's work."

          Tony raised his eyebrow to me, "There's more?"

          I winked at him, "Jarvis only gave you what you needed from my family. I didn't give you everything and you didn't ask if it was everything."

          "Oh, I like her," she said and gave me her card, "and may I take a sample of your blood? I'm already aware of Project Mutant. I assure you I have no interest in accessing that. My work is transparent within the Avengers."

          "Of course," I said and gave her my left arm, "I'll make sure you get my father's work."

          She began to draw blood and Jarvis announced the arrival of Nat and Clinton.

          "Jarvis," I asked, "could you please access my father's work, all of it, and kindly allow Dr. Cho access to it?"

          "It would be a pleasure, Mrs. Barnes," he said.

          "Hey no-" Tony argued but I spoke over him.

          "Thank you, Jarvis," I said sweetly.

          Dr. Banner chuckled with Dr. Cho and Tony groaned in playful frustration. Steve came in and was caught off guard with my top being open.

          "Jesus, Ro," he said, turning red and looking away, "what are you doing?"

          "I'm multitasking," I said and Dr. Cho finished drawing blood.

          She thanked me again and brought her attention back to Dr. Banner who was still unwilling to look at me. Steve was visibly upset that Tony was looking at me and he personally zipped up my top. I winked at Steve and he brought me to the meeting room to wait for our team.