Caught in Storms

A Legacy

-Emma-
Holy shit, my head is pounding. I sit up in bed slowly and rub my temples like my life depends on it, almost feeling my heartbeat in them as I sit up. I let my eyes adjust and look around, realizing I'm not in my own room. I look at the nightstand and see a glass of water and two tablets, with a note propped up on the glass.

"Overdid it a little last night Warrior. Take these, have a shower, and I'll be back soon.
-Bucky"

I giggle softly and take the tablets and water before I crawl out of bed. I look and see Bucky took my clothes from last night and folded them and placed them on a chair for me. I grab them and run to my room for a shower and change, seeing that the time is already 8:30am.
When I get out of the shower, I am greeted in my towel in my room by a smiling Bucky, wearing jeans and his boots and a shirt, holding a cup holder with coffees.
"Good morning Warrior, how's your head?"
"Much better, sir, you brought me coffee?"
"Yes, I wasn't sure what you liked so I got a classic roast and cream and sugar."
"That's perfect, Bucky thank you," I smile and get on my toes to kiss his cheek. He flashes a handsome smile and makes his nose crinkle a little and I swoon. He's gonna need to do that every day and my life would be complete.
"Did you sleep in the bed," I ask curious.
"Yes I did," Bucky says and sits on the edge of the bed with me.
"I thought you said you don't like being in a bed?"
"Well I thought I'd give it a try with you," he says carefully.
"And the verdict?"
"Best sleep that I have gotten in a really long time," Bucky smiles and kisses my forehead gently. This makes me happy and I hug him softly then kiss his cheek. I finally get off of the bed and finish my coffee as we walk into my room to get ready to go.
I go around and get ready to go, trying to remember everything that I will need to take with me immediately to the compound. Bucky finds a seat on my desk chair and waits.
"Are you ready to meet everyone?"
"Actually I'm feeling super nervous. I feel like I might make a fool of myself in front of them."
"How would you do that, Emma?"
"Because I am a huge nerd for comics and superheroes and just a normal kid from Brooklyn. I don't have powers or a super soldier serum, I don't have wings or a metal arm."
"Emma, there's a guy and his girlfriend that can only get small and large because of weird particles, two archers from the country, a Russian ex-assassin with a bad attitude, a direct line to a raccoon and a tree and their friends, a guy with power armor, wing boy, and a WWII veteran with a missing arm. Oh and then there's a thousand year old god with some mean tools, and a man that is constantly on the brink of blowing a gasket. Pretty sure that from time to time there's a sorcerer and a kid that thinks he's a spider. An Army brat with an affinity for knives and axes and a mean sniper eye will fit right in."
My whole face heats up at that and I giggle with each description of his friends and colleagues. I come over and sit on the bed in front of him. He looks at me concerned and squats down in front of me, his hands on my knees.
"I just want to be good enough for the team. This is all I've ever wanted to do, all I know how to do. What if they think I'm not good enough for this...?"
"Emma you need to gain some confidence in yourself. After everything I've seen lately, we aren't going to know what to do with you."
I take a deep breath and stand up, "thank you, Bucky."
"Of course," he says and kisses my forehead. I smile and get dressed in jeans and a cute top and boots, sticking my knife in my boot just in case, after drying my hair and doing my makeup.
After awhile, I head down with all the gear I'll need for this mission and stay at the new compound, the guys already loading a quinjet that landed in the back of the house. I come out smiling and see a new face.
"Hi, you must be Emma! I'm Clint, it's nice to meet you," he says as he runs up and shakes my hand. I smile giddily. Hawkeye is standing in front of me with a nice smile and looking like he is genuinely excited to meet me.
"Hi, nice to meet you Mr. Barton, I'm a big fan. And watch that be my catchphrase for the day with everyone."
Clint laughs and rubs my shoulder softly, "don't worry Emma, it's alright. Sam has been singing your praises for a few months. We will be glad to have you."
"Thank you," I smile and we get all the gear loaded up. I fix my shirt and realize I left my dog tags upstairs.
"Hey, I'll be right back guys," I say and run back inside and up the stairs. I look in my room and can't find them, and remember I woke up in Bucky's room. I go in and find them sitting on the nightstand. When I go to put them on, I notice that the tag on the smaller chain was not my own, but had Bucky's information on it instead.
I heat up everywhere as I realize that he switched one of our tags while I was sleeping. My heart pounds against my chest as I come back down and out to the jet. Bucky is helping to get some things loaded, but I realize that he must be wearing my tag on his set if he switched them.
"You good," Bucky asks.
"I'm great, let's go be superheroes!"
Bucky smiles and helps me get strapped into one of the seats.
"Umm..can you tighten it more for me," I ask blushing. He looks at me confused for a moment.
"I hate flying.."
"Understood," he smiles and takes the tightening straps, his hands slowly gliding along me as he takes them, and pulls them, making me gasp softly at the quick friction created. Bucky smirks at me and sits down in the seat next to me and straps himself in.
As Clint flies the jet, all the guys talk and catch up and goof off a little, me just watching quietly and curiously to the conversation. They all seem to get along pretty good, which I would hope so if they work together fairly often.
"Who all is going to be joining us on this one, Legolas," Bucky asks. I chuckle to myself at the nickname.
"Well Kate had to go help Yelena on a mission in Milan. I'll be going with you guys, Scott and Hope will be coming, and Rhodes will be your air support, I believe. We haven't heard from the Guardians in awhile, and Shuri and the Wakandans are still trying to figure out some things after they lost T'Challa."
"Do we know anything more about this mission or are we being briefed at the compound," Sam asks.
"You'll be briefed there. We still have quite a few days before we really move out so Maria is setting up some training drills for the whole team to get Emma acquainted with everyone properly. And there will be fun too, so don't worry, it won't be all work and no play."
I sit there and listen to Clint talk about how everyone has been doing, even talking about his family. Everyone sounds so close, and it makes sense considering what they have all dealt with and done together with the Battle of Earth.
After about 30 minutes we start making the decent towards the new Avengers compound. I look out and see that the new building has been situated on the cliff side above the site of the original. Down below is a huge training area set up with military-like structures and buildings made just for drills and the like. Up on the edge of the water, I notice some sort of wall structure rested on it with some candles that look like they had been melting there for a good long while. I will need to go look to see what that is, I note to myself.
"You guys really outdid yourselves on this one," I say in awe of the entire compound.
"It's not much, but it's a second home," Clint says with a sad smile.
I feel myself getting a little emotional as I look over the massive area that signifies the Battle of Earth. There are still giant holes in the ground where Thanos' Chittauri army ships landed, the dirt and soil is still kicked up and healing from there the original building actually stood, and construction is still being done to make it look better. There are some different things being built and made too, almost looking like sculptures or something that have people around them working.
I think Bucky hears or sees me crying because he takes my hand softly and squeezes it tight. I sneak a peek up at him and he looks somber as we pass over the area. There are a lot of hard memories for a lot of people in this massive plot of land, so there are going to be different emotions from everyone on the subject. Even though I have nothing to do with the battle that took place here, I still feel emotional and I recognize the sacrifices that were made to make sure that everyone who was dusted away could come back and stay.
Clint lands the jet outside the largest building and Bucky helps me get unbuckled. Once Sam and Clint are out of earshot, he takes my hand to hold me back.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just got caught up in the emotions of this. I know I wasn't here for the battle, but it's still a lot."
"I understand, come on, doll. Let's meet the team and we can talk more about that later."
I smile as he takes my hand and leads me off the jet and outside, where a small group of people is waiting for us smiling.
"Emma, meet Scott and Hope, and his daughter Cassie. Here's Rhodes landing in now, and of course here is Maria Hill, acting director of the New Avengers Initiative," Clint says smiling as I'm led forward. "Team, Emma Wallace!"
"Hi Emma it's really nice to meet you," Hope says and shakes my hand happily.
Scott comes up and shakes it too, "I heard you got one hell of an arm with axes, I can't wait to see what you got!"
I giggle as Director Hill comes up and takes my hand, "we look forward to having you with us, Emma. Sam has great confidence in your abilities. Let's get you three settled and then I'll have them take you on a tour of the grounds before we get started. We also have some things we can offer to help on your investigation into the Gunrunners."
"Thank you, ma'am," I smile. The whole team leads us inside as we gather up our gear. There's a sudden announcement over the PA system that is speaking to Director Hill.
"Excuse me Director Hill, but I feel I should warn you that at the moment we only have two spare bedrooms, as Miss Belova is still occupying one of them and has not returned."
"Alright thank you, FRIDAY," she says and looks back at the three of us. "You boys bunking together?"
"Actually Emma and I will take a room together," Bucky says with a soft smile, making my face heat up like crazy. Way to go, Bucky. Barely here five minutes and you've already made it aware to everyone what has been going on between us. I'm not mad, it was actually really sweet, just unexpected as hell. Going with the flow seems to be the tagline of our growing relationship. Everyone kind of looks at Bucky in confusion then down at me. My head swims with what they might possibly be thinking and I clutch Bucky's hand tighter.
"Bucky has finally let a girl into that cold, hard cyborg interior of his? Wow it's a miracle," Scott jokes.
"Watch it piss-ant or I'll squash you," Bucky warns with a smirk.
"I'm just kidding Bucky, it's nice to see that you're finally branching out is all," Scott smiles and pats him on the shoulder.
"It's settled then," Hill smiles and leads us in and shows us to our rooms.
The team helps to get us situated in two rooms and help us bring our work gear into the main workroom with everyone else's. Once we are all settled in, Bucky shuts the room to our door and leans up against it.
"What made you do that, Bucky?"
"What?"
"Having us share a room," I say blushing. My face is beet red and I'm sure everyone is stealing glances as Bucky and I interact.
Bucky smiles and steps towards me with a confidence in his step that is staggering.
"Because I wanted to spend more time with you. Keep getting to know you. And I can't do that if the only time we will see each other is for training and whenever the next mission is."
"That was really bold of you, Sergeant."
"Is that okay?"
"I don't mind, it was just a little surprising to me, and to everyone else apparently," I giggle softly.
"Good because I feel like a whole new person with you, and I think it's worth showing that you mean that much to me," Bucky says with a soft smirk.
He's good, I think to myself. I blush dark red and look up at him as he gets closer.
"And what about our tags..?"
For the first time, I see Bucky really blush like I do, full-cheeked redness and a soft stutter to his answer. I can't quite tell what's on his mind but he looks like he might be regretting his decision to switch the tags.
"I uhh...I wanted to keep you close somehow, and keep me close to you. If you think it's dumb—,"
"No! I..I think it's really sweet, Bucky. Going with the flow, right," I say softly, putting a hand on his chest, my hand grazing his tags.
Bucky stares at me softly, looking over me with a look on his face that I can't discern. He leans over and plants the softest kiss on my lips that I've ever felt before, sending my heart flipping through my chest. I get on my toes to wrap my arms around his neck as we kiss again, feeling both of his hands on the small of my back so I don't fall backwards. I moan softly and feel him grab my waist with both hands and pick me up like it's nothing and sets me on a desk.
"Guess I should have worn those boots from last night so I could reach you better," I giggle softly.
"Nah, I like you like this," he says and kisses me again, holding my face to his with one hand. I feel him grab me by the back of my bent knees to get me closer to him as we start to make out.
We make out like this for a few minutes then are interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Hey, put your clothes on and come out here to socialize," Sam yells through the door. Bucky and I both look at each other with red faces and nervous laughter.
I giggle softly and hop off the desk, opening the door for him.
"The clothes were never removed thank you," I say sarcastically and hug him. "You coming Bucky?"
He doesn't turn around to face us, just tilts his head towards the ceiling.
"Yeah, I'll be out in a few," he says. I look back at him confused but close the door behind me as Sam and I head towards where everyone is gathered.
We all talk a little and get acquainted and after about 10 minutes, Bucky comes out to greet us smiling. He takes my hand and locks our fingers together and the tour starts, lead by Clint and Sam.
"Are you doing okay," I ask him in a whisper.
"I'm great, I just had to take care of something," he says teasingly and he winks. He lets go of my hand briefly and he grabs my ass, feeling his fingers clutch onto me tight from behind, making me gasp in surprise. I look up at Bucky with a beet red face and all he does is kiss my forehead as the rest of the team starts the tour of the facilities.