Bad For You

16

Steve watched with lingering ire as Wanda walked Lane out of the holding cell. There had been more back and forth, input from Natasha about what the next step should be, but with no proof and Lane's unwillingness to reveal anything the consensus had been for everyone to get some sleep and revisit the situation when Tony returned. Until then Wanda agreed that she and Vision would keep an eye on Lane as a precaution.

Even with that Steve still didn't like it. It didn't feel right. The lies, the secrets, the feeling of betrayal in the pit of his stomach when she'd nearly deafened him back at the warehouse. And more than anything the hollowness in his ribcage as she disappeared from view. Just a few hours before he'd been ready lay it all on the line and go after the first woman he'd truly been interested in since coming out of the ice.

With a dry, humorless laugh he rubbed at his forehead as he turned his back on the door before picking up the medical kit, tapping it against his palm trying to dispel some of the irate energy in his body.

"Sorry to disappoint but dead or alive I can't give you what you want."

The medical kit hit the far wall with a loud thwack. When he turned to storm out, needing to get away from this room and the conflicting feelings rattling around in his head, Bucky was at the door watching him with concern.

"You good, pal?"

Steve opened his mouth to go off and let everything he was struggling with spill out but the words caught in his throat. He couldn't verbalize the hurricane inside him. None of it made sense.

"Yeah," he said as he started for the door. "Just need to blow off a little steam."

-

Lane stared at her reflection in the mirror after putting down the pink stained rag. Wanda had helped her up to her room and left to make something for Lane to eat and give her time to change and clean up the trails of dried blood running down her side. Before heading into the bathroom Lane had taken a minute to send Matt an email. Her phone was destroyed at the warehouse and getting a new one was just another task on the growing list of things she needed to get done in her shrinking window. Tears began to pool in her eyes and she straightened as she wiped them away with force, walking out of the bathroom and back to her desk, grabbing the clean clothes she'd tossed on the bed and pulling them on as she moved.

She thought she had more time to get things in order, to be ready to disappear again. The threat of being discovered had just been looming, a storm on the horizon that she could prepare for but running into Maya changed everything. Even locked up she wasn't stupid enough to think her father wasn't pulling the strings of his lackeys. And Maya and her crew were among them. She wanted to believe her friend wouldn't say anything, that she would understand what Lane had been trying to convey in that all too brief exchange, but she couldn't be sure and that meant she had to move fast.

She lowered herself into the chair at her desk gingerly, sore and tired and wishing she could sleep. She was grateful that she'd already started transferring funds and creating a paperwork trail on a new name. Delaney Kennedy wasn't high in the rankings of names she'd pick for herself but it meant that Paloma's family could keep calling her Lane and it wouldn't raise too much suspicion. That is if they came with her... Her eyes stopped on the photo of her younger self, Wilson Fisk's heavy hand on her shoulder. The tears came faster then and she didn't bother to wipe them away as she tugged the photo down and stuffed it into the notebook she'd left open earlier.

Nearly eight years ago Lane, Marlene, had lost everything she had ever known. A sheltered life in an ivory tower built in sand it may have been but it was all she could remember. Fisk and Maya, and Wesley to an extent, had been her family. But it had all been fickle and conditional. The moment she messed up, didn't fit into the carefully crafted image Fisk had made for her she was left to the wolves. Even if she'd gotten into packs den by trying to impress her father, to make him see she was capable of more. After all that, after Matt and Frank and the two years she'd bounced around the world, changing names and faces like other's changed clothes, she'd ended up back in New York, in a shitty little apartment desperately searching for a feeling of home, of family again.

Lane had found that feeling and more in Paloma and Blanca. They'd been kind to the quiet recluse across the hall who seemed to only live on the take-out and pizza constantly dropped at her door at odd hours of the day. Even though she'd returned in search of home she'd still been terrified to venture into the city. Until a beautiful dark-haired girl with smiling eyes and glowing skin had knocked on her door, one hand on her slightly protruding stomach the other holding a dish that smelled like heaven.

"My mother thinks you need to eat something that isn't from a cardboard box before you give yourself a heart attack. She doesn't want the hallway smelling like decay." Paloma had said to her as Blanca glared from the doorway over her daughter's shoulder.

That had been all it took. From that moment on Lane had been folded into their lives and then eventually Dio's as well. Christmas's, Thanksgivings, Birthdays and more all spent by their side. It had been when she was manipulating the bank's system to make sure the loan for the house, so Dio could grow up in a home, would be approved she realized that she'd not only found what she'd been searching for but far surpassed it. Her life in the tower had been one of obligation and duty, playing the role in the story laid out for her. Her life with Paloma and Blanca had been one of love.

Even though it broke her heart she knew she had to leave without them to keep them safe.

Her computer let out a ping and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision as she opened up the response from Matt with a small thanks to the universe for technology and accessibility aids that meant she didn't have to borrow a phone to call him.

'Always.' Was the only word he'd sent to her request to crash with him for a few days without explanation. She was grateful too for that, for Matt and his lack of questions.

A soft knock came at her door and before she could say anything the door opened a crack to reveal Wanda with a plate in hand.

"I know you're exhausted but you should eat." The witch crossed the room and set the offering down in front of Lane who nodded and picked up the perfectly toasted sandwich with care.

Another wave of sadness washed over her as she took a bite. She'd be losing this life too. Wanda, Pietro, Harley and Peter. She'd only been here a short while but it had been enough to get attached. She'd survive of course, she always did, but it would hurt. And the worst part would be that she couldn't say goodbye.

Wanda leaned her hip into the edge of the desk and crossed her arms as she watched Lane eat. "I'm not trying to pry, I wasn't lying when I told Steve I wouldn't pull any information that you didn't want to give, but I wasn't you to know that if you want to talk I will listen. And it will stay between us."

Lane nodded as she chewed slowly, giving herself time to harden her heart much the same way she did when she had to lie to Paloma. The feeling was never good but it was a necessary evil. "I appreciate that and will likely take you up on it tomorrow but right now I just really want to crash."

Wanda had only been out of the room a minute after saying goodnight before Lane set the program on her computer to wipe it clean in a few hours' time then grabbed her notebook and the small duffle from her closet, stuffing clothes and shoes in swiftly.

Several hours later just as the sun began to rise over the city Matt opened the door to his apartment.

Lane held up a grocery bag as she walked past him. "If I dye my hair in your sink will the smell irritate you?"

"I leave for the office shortly so you can do it while I'm gone." Matt closed the door and followed Lane into the living room, watching patiently as she dropped her bags down and kicked off her shoes before flopping down onto the couch and running her hands over her face. He could feel the stress rolling off her and could smell the slightest hint of blood. "Want to tell me what's going on?"

She let out a heavy sigh before shifting to lay down on the couch, pulling a throw pillow between her head and arm and wincing slightly as she did.

"Short version: Mission went bad, I got shot and Maya was there. Captain America thinks I'm a double agent and would have burned holes through my skull if he just glared a little longer. I'd planned on leaving in a few weeks anyways so it doesn't really matter but to be safe I'm shortening my timeline." She stopped to yawn and he could tell she was fighting to finish her sentences. "Long version when you get home. Bring Thai and I will pay."

Matt moved quietly into his bedroom and grabbed a blanket, tossing it over her as she snored lightly before leaving and triple checking that the door was locked behind him.