Bound to You - Steve Rogers

Chapter 30

Back to Black : Amy Winehouse

We only said goodbye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her
And I go back to
I go back to us

Things between you and Steve have seemed to change. The air around you has shifted. In your month away you've reflected on what has transpired. You would say you have grown around the pain that was left behind. A part of you has also accepted the fact that Peggy and Steve were together.

It surprised you to find that she went back to her own time with no memory of what happened. Stark explained it was some sort of time travelling residue, truthfully you're not sure since you zoned out during his mini explanation.

You were ready to face them again, as a couple. Convincing yourself that there wouldn't be tears in your eyes or an ache in your heart. But there was none of that. Instead, you saw Steve in a different light than before. You assumed that he would be heartbroken or even an old man if he had followed her back. But that wasn't it. He had stayed and looked almost relieved that he did.

Steve was acting strangely for someone who had to say goodbye to their love. However, it was only around you he'd act the strangest. He was uncharacteristically happy.  Acting like a big giant puppy with unlimited energy. He was always smiling and laughing whenever he was around you which in turn made you happy as well. It felt as if your heart was glowing. Especially everytime he grabbed his left boob and gave you that gigantic laugh. But you still question his change in behaviour.

Still thinking about him, something you find yourself doing quite often, you sit down at the dining table giving Clint and Nat their respective drinks. The Avengers dining room has become a sort of base of operations. Out of the dozens of conference rooms, the dining room was chosen in favour. Closer to both the living room and kitchen for needed snacks and rest.

In addition to the papers scattered there were takeout containers and the occasional pillow. Nat has as well as taken up the table as her own personal bed. Wearing a stolen hoodie from one of the guys she looks at the ceiling, biting the end of her pencil. Clint on the other hand was perched up on the back of a chair where he claims he can get the best view to see all the files. He had his chin resting on his hand. You could tell he was thinking about something with the way his eyes zoned in on one particular part.

"Bucky said something about Hydra feeding us information." You nodded in agreement to Clint's question which was more of a statement. "What if that's why we haven't found any bases in a month?" You weren't sure where your father was leading with this but you're playing along. You are alike that way. Thinking in the most obscure ways and finding the best answers.

But he was right about one thing. For a whole month, coincidently the same month you were gone for they haven't found a single trace of the serum. "What if the answer is right here in the other bases?" Nat sat up looking at the different locations. "Like an acronym." That got the three of you thinking. Rearranging the letters in every single possible way, using every spy secret known between you.

Letters fly around your head in effort to understand what they could mean but it all ended up gibberish. You weren't sure if they spelt out a country, city or phrase. Even with FRIDAY, it would take hours to go through the millions of possibilities. Others have even come in to help.

Reading past mission reports you to stumble upon one of your notes that gets the gears moving in your head. Back in Cairo, you felt a chill run through your spine, one you haven't felt since your early childhood. You brushed it off thinking none of it. Then the whole mess with Steve happened. You forgot to check your intuitions when you came back.