Don't You Worry Child

Twist of Barbwire

Chapter Summary: Samantha tries to rescue Steve but Audrey is determined to make things difficult for her daughter.

Soundtrack: Twist of Barbwire by Clare Bowen

7th February 2015

She had to brief Coulson. That was the first thing she knew she had to do. It was a necessity, she needed help and Coulson – as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. – would be able to do exactly that. Also, given that Steve was an Avenger, it was a necessity that Coulson know.

Other than that, she could only identify two things: 1) she needed to change out of her bloodied clothes and 2) she couldn't trust anyone outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. Her best bet would be to get back to Stark Tower, change her clothes, pack a bag, write out a note to her father explaining and head out to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. In that moment, that became her plan. She rushed out of the hospital without even giving a second thought to the Secret Service agent she'd been speaking to mere moments ago. She proceeded to hail a cab and told the driver to take her to Washington Dulles Airport. Once there, she got herself onto the first flight to New York.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxStark tower seemed different now, with Steve missing it seemed somewhat empty – soulless. To Samantha anyway, she knew that her father and Pepper had put their entire life forces into that tower, before Loki decided to come along and destroy it, and they had put a fair amount of their lives into rebuilding. Still, to the teenager, without her boyfriend there it was without the life they had put so much into.

She stepped through into the elevator and waited as it lifted her up through the building "Are you okay Samantha?" she heard JARVIS ask and she felt tears leak from her eyes once again.

"Do you ever feel as though your whole world is crashing in on itself JARVIS?" she asked out of sheer desperation. Somehow, despite the fact that the AI was practically her father's right-hand man, she trusted him with every secret she had. To an extent, they had a deal: he wouldn't tell her father what they discussed and she wouldn't hack him and give him an accent straight out of Alabama.

"Not since my last virus," he replied and she chuckled slightly.

"Would you mind if I asked you not to tell my dad about this?" she asked and was answered in the affirmative. The elevator pinged its light twinkle, the doors slid open and she slipped out headed for her bedroom. Once inside, she climbed to the top shelf of her wardrobe and grabbed her steel grey suitcase down. She then proceeded to dance across the room, picking up things she might need for the potential mission. A few dresses and pairs of high heels to match. Those were just in case. The rest of the suitcase was filled with pairs of leggings and tank tops. Quickly, she unzipped her dress and shrugged it off. Then she jumped up and down in a desperate attempt to put on her grey skinny jeans. Lifting her arms up, she threw on a black tank top, then shrugged on her favourite black leather jacket. Shoving her feet into her black knee high boots, she still wasn't used to New York's biting cold. She also through a pair of high top sneakers into her suitcase, knowing she'd need them. She looked around the room, was there anything else she would need? Then something caught her eye, it was the picture of Steve kissing her cheek on her father's cheek, the very one he'd spotted on her bedside table the night they'd gotten back together. She smiled a small smile and gently picked it up and placed it in the suitcase.

Zipping up the suitcase, she walked out of the room and spotted something down the hallway. Steve's room, the light was on. He never forgot to turn off a light, never forgot to shut a door. She crept along the hallway, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She slipped through the doorway and walked around, checking for oddities. Nothing was out of order, absolutely nothing. The bed was made, his sweatshirt and pyjama bottoms folded on the pillow. She picked them up and sniffed it, breathing in his scent and the tears started to flow as she curled up in a ball on the bed and cried, clutching onto them as though they were her only hope for survival.