Two Sides of The Same Coin: Grumpy x Sunshine

Last Kiss

It was only moments ago that FRIDAY announced that you were needed in the conference room.

You pad over to the conference room, fairly ecstatic because you're absolutely positive that this means that you're being cleared for field work again. Only seven weeks had passed since your were shot, but even with the two month suspension before that, it felt like a lifetime ago since your last normal assignment.

You walk into the conference room with an extra skip in your stop, only to immediately feel the heavy atmosphere of the room.

A familiar feeling of dread starts to form in your stomach, you look to Sam and Nick for reassurance, but neither will meet your eyes. All around the table sit Nick Fury, Sam, Steve and Buck, though Steve and Bucky look just as confused as you are.

"What's wrong?" you gently ask, taking a seat at the other end of the table, right next to Bucky.

Nick breathes deeply, "Something's come up."

"Okay," you hesitantly smile. "What's come up?"

Through a tightly clenched jaw, Nick says, "The council has recently re-evaluated relationship with your handler, and they believe that it's time for you two to part ways."

"So I won't have a handler anymore?" Neither him nor Sam reply, and you take the room's silence as your answer. "They want me to have a new handler?"

"Unfortunately, it's more than that," Nick solemnly states.

"Well, what is it?" Bucky urges, feeling particularly uneasy at Sam's silence and clenched jaw.

"They're recalling you," Nick states.

Your eyebrows furrow in confusion, and you can see the way Steve's shoulders stiffen at Nick's statement. "Recall me? What does that mean?"

"They want to relocate you," Nick explains. "Move you as far away from New York as possible. Start over somewhere new."

"What?" Bucky angrily scoffs.

Nick continues speaking as though Bucky hadn't said anything and like he isn't glaring holes into the side of his head. "They want you on the next flight to D.C. and from there to an undisclosed location."

"I don't want to go to D.C.," you tremble, your pleading eyes flickering to Sam. "Sam?"

"It's not up to Sam," Nick interjects, answering for an uncharacteristically silent Sam. "It's not even up to you. They're not exactly going to take no for an answer."

"She's a grown woman," Bucky spits, his fists clenching tightly. "They can't just take her away. Doesn't she get some say in this?"

Nick sighs remorsefully. "They don't see it like that. She's still a SHIELD asset, an asset that is continuously put in danger by her entanglement to Wilson and the Avengers."

"A person," Bucky counters, his voice dripping in contempt. "A person who's entire life is here in New York."

"Her life is in New York because they wanted it to be. And now they don't," Nick continues.

"Isn't there something that can be done?" Steve diplomatically asks. "She's an American citizen. She has rights, Nick."

"No, she's not," Nick corrects. "She's not an American citizen. There's no record of her, remember? No birth certificate, no Social Security number. If she wasn't here in this room, you'd never know she existed. In SHIELD's eyes she's not even really a person."

"And how is that her fault?" Bucky demands. "SHIELD was supposed to take care of that. Seems like a little too much to be a coincidence that they dragged their feet on that one, doesn't it?"