Without You I'm Nothing

chapter 7

I'm taken back by the people gathered in the room in front of me. But the one person I can't seem to get over being there is Elijah. Jess is stood next to him. Both looking rough and tired, harbouring new scars over their body. They smile a weak but meaningful smile as I quickly head over to them both, wrapping my arms tightly round Elijahs waist. "I didn't think you would be here." I whisper, not wanting to let him go. "I couldn't miss your 18th for the world Cal." I look up at him, his chin covered in rough stubble and bags under his eyes. "You've cut your hair?" I reach up but he flinches away. I watch Jess rest a hand on his arm with a concerning look but he only shakes it off and returns with one of his smiles. "I got you something. Well it's also from Director Fury himself. " He passes me a present that's wrapped in a brown bag of some sort. "Director Fury?" I ask, taking the present and slowly opening it.

"He thinks you're ready." He adds as I open the present. Looking at the Shield uniform within it. A gasp escapes my lips. My father walks over and looks at the uniform with a from. "Elijah can I talk to you?" He asks, Elijah nods and follows him out. The room is quiet, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Jess watches Elijah leave with worry in her eyes. "What happened?" I ask. Knowing something must have gone wrong on the mission. Jess shakes her head and soon follows both Tony and Elijah out.

I hear footsteps and a loud deep voice soon fills the room. "Well where is the joy in here?! We're celebrating a birthday not a funeral!" I turn and see Thor, he had came when I expected him to stay in Asgard. He walks over and embraces me in a tight bear hug. "how is my favourite child?" He asks, ruffling my hair to which i swat away his hands. "I'm not a child anymore thank you. But I am fine. This party seems a bit gloomy though." I look round at the chattering people. I can softly hear my father with Elijah in the back ground. Thor makes an attempt to brighten up the party with his loud booming voice that over powers everyone else. His attempt at jokes to lighten the mood does make me chuckle. But I slide away to the side out of everyone's view to listen in on what the other three are talking about.

"what happened to you?" Tony whispers, looking between both Elijah and Jess. Jess shakes her head before answering for him. "it's nothing you would want to hear, Tony. You need to drop it befo-" Elijah interrupts her "He needs to know. Everyone needs to know. I just can't bare the thought of telling Caliie." I frown, tell me what exactly? I lean closer so I am able to hear more of what they are saying. "You won't have to. Fury told me parts of your mission and said you got hurt. But didn't tell me the whole thing." Jess reaches out to Elijah's hand and gently gives it a squeeze. Elijah returns a reassuring smile but with slight pain behind his eyes. "They got me. Jess was struggling and I intervened with who she was fighting to protect her. She got away but I didn't. They hurt me... in ways I'm really not up for describing. It was another two weeks before they got me out. They..." his voice trails off as his stare becomes blank. Jess tugs his arm and frowns. "That's enough for now. You need your rest Elijah. You won't heal if you carry on like this. " Elijah slowly turns his head to face her. "But it's Callies 18th, I cant just show my face for two minutes after so long and leave." Tony sighs and rests a hand on his shoulder. "I'll tell her you weren't feeling so good, she will understand." I swallow back a lump in my throat. I just wanted to know if he was okay. What parts of him need healing if he can instantly heal himself. Surly he doesn't need time to heal. I had so many questions to ask. I could hear oncoming footsteps as I quickly backed away, tripping backwards with a squeal, falling into someones arms. "I always knew you would fall for me." I look up and find that Loki had caught me. I quickly stand myself and brush down my dress. "Never in a million years." He tilts his head with a lopsided smirk. It sends shivers down my spine. "They all fall for me in the end." I look at him "why are you even here, worm." he breaths in sharply through his teeth. "Such harsh words for a small girl. I was dragged here by my now drunk brother. I was bored and found solace in annoying you. Like always you retaliate just like I planned. You're so predictable." he gently grabs my cheek and gives it a quick squeeze. I swat his hand away but it just edges him on even more. "leave her alone." a familiar voice threatens from behind. I peak behind Loki to see Bucky. I gently bite my lip and he looks at me with a worried look. I nod slightly to reassure him I'm okay. "James!" he says with slight too much enthusiasm, clapping his hands together in almost triumph. "I said leave her alone. I'm not going to repeat myself again." You could hear him gritting his teeth through his words. Loki knew he wasn't joking around and turned on his heels. "You were boring me anyway." He heads off in the direction of another person, most likely to annoy and get the same reaction as what he got from me. I look at Bucky and smile softly. "Thank you." he gives a slight nod and turns as if to walk away. I tilt my head in confusion as he turns back round. "come with me." It wasn't a question. But I wouldn't refuse anyway. I follow close behind him as he takes me out to the balcony, away from prying eyes and attention.

I stand there, hands resting on arms, It's chilly out here so my arms are now covered in goosebumps. "what's wrong?" I ask. slightly worrying as you never knew what he was going to say or do next. He pulls out a small box from his pocket and looks at me. You don't see Bucky smile very often but I could see a small one on his face as he held the box in his hand. "This is for you." I look at the box, then at him. Wondering why he's acting so strange. "Are you okay?" I ask. "Just stay still. I want to give you another thing with it." He passes me the box. "open it." There's a strange feeling of anxiety inside me as I open the box. "It was a long shot." he adds. I take out the necklace, a small pendant in the shape of a B hangs from it. My cheeks blush "I love it..." I whisper, holding it out to him. "Put it on me please?" I ask, he gently takes it from me and walks behind. I move my hair as he attaches the clasp. I let my hair fall back down as I look down at the necklace then turn to face him. "Thank you Bucky-" He presses a finger to my lips to shush me and gently tilts my head up. My heart is beating a mile a minute at this point. His lips slowly touch mine. I close my eyes and gently wrap my arms round his neck. He is a lot taller than me so it's a stretch. But I can feel a smile within the kiss. He's actually smiling properly. The butterflies I'm feeling turn into a warm fuzzy feeling. This feels right. The kiss lasted what seemed like forever. We part slightly and rest our foreheads on each others. "You're smiling..." I whisper, my own smile widening. "I've waited until your birthday to do that. You just make me happy like no other. you're the only one here that keeps me sane." The lump in my throat has returned, swallowing back the tears I can feel. "lets just keep this quiet a while." I ask, looking at him. He nods in agreement and gives me a quick peck, before heading back into the party.

The rest of the night went quite quickly. I spent a lot of my time with Bucky but also mingling with the guests. But the only thing i could think of the whole night is Elijah. I need to know how he is and what happened. I need to know how bad he is hurt. As the night continued, more and more guests started to leave. But not before I got to blow out my five layer birthday cake candles. Both Elijah and Jess came back for that but they both looked tired and beaten. As the room cleared, I sit on the floor with my new uniform in my hands., running my thumb over the logo. "we're proud of you." I look behind me and see the team standing behind me. Standing from my place I face them. "You've worked so hard for this. You're dad wont tell you this but we will. Were proud of you." Natasha says, stroking my cheek. "You've got a good chance at kicking any of our asses now." Clint adds, pushing me playfully. I let out a small chuckle and hold my uniform to my chest. "no thanks to you guys." Bruce folds his arms across his chest "just be careful and think logically Cal. We don't want to lose you." I walk over and give him a tight hug. "You won't get rid of me that easily." He kisses my head softly and hugs me tight. "go on. go get some rest. Director Fury will want words with you tomorrow." I nod and stand back. "Thank you guys. " I say again before heading to bed. It's been a long eventful day and I have another long day tomorrow.