AVENGERS: Project Angel.

PART 23.

CLINT POV:
As the day draws to a close Sam, Rhodey, Wanda and Fury get up from the living room couch to leave. Angel stands with them and grabs Sam's arm "Don't forget, next time you visit, bring your wings." "Sure thing, darlin." She releases her grip and lets him walk to the elevator with the others, Angel then collects our empty dinner plates and walks to the kitchen, I grab some glasses and follow her "There's no point me stopping you from washing up, is there?" "No." "At least let me dry up and put away." "Sure." I grab a tea towel and lean up against a unit waiting to dry.

I might as well take this opportunity to see how she's getting on.

"So Angel, how you settling in?" "I'm getting there, it's just a lot different." "Yeah, Bucky helping you adjust?" She hesitates for a moment "We don't really talk about HYDRA, what's in the past is in the past." "He never really talks to us about it either, just Steve." She stops filling up the sink and turns to me "Why Steve?" "They were best friends before HYDRA." "Really? When we would talk, in his cell he never remembered his past, his memories." "Steve's been helping him recover some of those memories, it’s hard but he’s getting there, still doesn't remember everything just yet."

She looks rather sad for him.

"They used to wipe his memory a lot, whenever I'd go see him it always took a little while for him to recognise me. But there are little things I say and do that he recognises rather quickly." "What like?" She smiles slightly "His hair would always fall in front of his face, so I would reach out to tuck it behind his ear, he'd grab my wrist. It's kind of our greeting now." "Oh yeah I remember, you did that when you first saw each other in the living room." "I knew it would spark a memory of me doing that at some point, but I wasn't sure which one, I guess it was a fighting one." We both laugh "You and Bucky are close." "As close as two people can be when one doesn't have a clue who he really is, is terrified of hurting you and you're both being watched by guards. Yeah, I guess we were close."

Blimey.

"But, I thought you were allowed to visit them?" A frown forms on her face as she fiddles with her fingers "I was, but the only physical contact allowed was minimal, whenever he was suffering I would sit on the floor, he would lay his head in my lap and I would stroke his hair while we talked. That was acceptable." "What would happen if you did something else?" She quickly turns back to the sink to begin washing up, she doesn't say anything more.

She doesn't want to talk about it, that's fine, I won't push her to.

We wash up, dry up and put everything away in complete silence. We then leave the kitchen and she heads straight for the elevator but Bucky walks towards her "Hey, I need to talk to you." He grabs her arm before she steps through the doors, his face turns into a frown "What's wrong?" "Nothing." She then pulls out of his grip and gets into the elevator, he looks at me and his expression hardens slightly. He strides over to me "That's twice now that I find her in a bad mood, saying nothing is wrong after being in the kitchen with you. What did you do to her?" He stops right in front of me, staring down at me.

Why is it always me?

Steve stands from the couch and comes over "Everything alright?" Bucky doesn't answer so I do "We're fine, just sorting out a misunderstanding." He doesn't leave, Bucky and I don't take our eyes off each other "We were just talking, I accidently brought up a touchy subject." "You were interrogating her?" "No, just talking." He storms off to the stairwell and disappears from sight, I turn to see everyone watching.

I'm keeping that conversation with her private, there's nothing out of that they need to know.

Tony breaks the silence "Well? What did you find out?" "I said I wasn't interrogating her!" I walk to the elevator and head to my room before they can question me any further, when I step out of the elevator and start walking down the corridor to my room I find Bucky knocking on her door quietly talking "Come on, let me help you for a change." He turns to see me as I pass him, he grabs my arm in his metal hand "What did you talk about?" He still sounds frustrated but not as badly "About the pair of you back in HYDRA." His grip loosens on my arm as his face softens, he turns back to the door and rests his forehead on it "Please, doll."