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Chapter Text

The red cat was walking around your legs. The fur tickling your bare skin. You reached down and petted Goose on the head, carefully she didn’t like it too harsh. And because you didn’t want to spill your drink. Especially not on the cat.

A content purr erupted out of the little cat that was a part of your life.

The evening was late, you were in your pyjamas and fuzzy socks and hugged at hot mug of coffee to your chest. You flat was not messy, just the comfortable feeling of being lived in was there. Due to the pillows on the floor and the books (also on the floor…).

It were evenings like this that made you contend, happy.

 Goose jumped onto the couch and you followed her. She was the perfect pet. And even when she (officially) wasn’t yours, you couldn’t love her more. Sometime you weren’t sure if she was a normal cat. She seemed to understand you sometimes and she had a wicked sense of people.

She hissed at a good amount of your dates. But without a fail, she turned out to be right about her disliking the men in your life (One was a cheater, the other one didn’t really understood the word No. You were glad you were fast to get away. Still, you had been shaking even hours later). So when it comes to people you trusted Goose more than yourself and every person on the planet.

That also let to you trusted Gooses owner.

Goose was the pet of your neighbour and friend Nick. He had been your neighbour since you moved into the appartement across from his. At that day he had only regarded you with one look and then he had been away. You would lie would you say that his dark clothing and his eye patch didn’t leave an impression. But thanks to the little troublemaker called Goose you got to know Nick.

The little ball of red fur that was occupying your couch right now had made that first fateful step. Literally.

It had been early in the morning. Or late in the night. It was a question like whether the glass was half empty or half full.

You were awake, because… well it had been a few harsh weeks… you had lost your job, your family and your worldview. All in one day. In a few hours.

Apparently, gods were real, aliens too and when you hadn’t liked Tony Stark that much before you would now gladly give him all you had left. It wasn’t much.

Many people got saved that day, but your family hadn’t been under those lucky ones. But you kept on going. Applying for jobs and forcing yourself to go out and do something at least once a week.

You had been a part of a self-help group for other people that had lost much that fateful day in New York when the sky had opened up. And by now you could say that you had come to terms with what had happened.

It didn’t make the pain any less real, it didn’t make the nightmares go away and it didn’t help that you were not able to hear a phone ring without something that came close to a panic attack. But it kept you going.

Nobody from your family would have liked that you would stopped living. So living you would.

But that included nightmares about phones ringing. And that left you awake in those early hours of the day. And that left you to hear a quite amusing, one-sided dialog on the other side of the wall, as you were pacing the little living room of your flat.

“Goose, put your furry ass back into the appartement.” A stern voice demanded.

Silence.

“Now.”

Meow.

“Fucking Goose! I have so much to do and I don’t want to add-”

You could have continued listening to those two, but… well you hadn’t left the appartement in this week… and you were sure whatever lied on the other side of the door would pull your mind away from your nightmares.

And how right you were.

Before you stood, tall and big, your neighbour. Eyepatch neatly in place, dark colours all over and scowl on his face. All a grim man, that had the vibe, that one shouldn’t mess with him.

In front of him sat an adorable tabby cat. Just looking at him.

Meow

You chuckled and your eyes looked onto the man.                

“Sorry, but I overheard you talking and wanted to know what the fuss was about” you glanced down at the cat.

The cat was gone.

And then you felt the fur around your legs and heard a little purr.

“Aww. Aren’t you the sweetest little thing?”

You wanted to reach down to pet the cat but-

“No!” The man even outstretched a hand. “She…eh she’ll scratch you.”

You shrugged and watched the cat. The cat that left you behind and walked right into your flat. The man looked at his cat like it was doing it on purpose.

You chuckled.

“You can leave the cat with me. I promise I’m not gonna eat it”

He didn’t laugh at your joke.

The silence was tense. Finally, as his phone pinged, he admitted defeat.

“Okay, but please, please don’t touch her and for the love of god don’t pick her up” His voice was 100% serious and it made it that much harder for you to not burst out laughing but well. He was in a hurry and his cat had chosen to be a bitch. At least you could cut the poor guy some slack.

“No worries”

He still looked worried.

“Her name is Goose and-”

“Don’t touch her. I got it. Now hurry.”

Only after you closed your door did you noticed that you now knew the name of the cat, but not of the man.

When your mysterious neighbour came back that evening, the cat you were not supposed to touch was purring like it was paid to do that. Walking around your legs and you would lie would you say that you hadn’t wanted to pet that little thing at least twice…every minute.

The man stood in your door. Looked from Goose to you and back.

“She seemed to like you”

You smiled down at the pet.

“Yeah. I think the feeling is mutual.”

And after that? Well, Nick travelled a lot due to his work, his schedule was … non-existed and didn’t really comply with a pet. And you liked Goose. And Goose liked you. So you were the person to look after Goose.

For weeks and months.

Yeah, you started petting her.

But only when Nick was not around. You just couldn’t resist her eyes. But when she stood up you would leave her alone.

And then some evening when Nick came back, looking even worse than ever you let him into your flat. Sat him on the couch. And cooked him a home-made meal. Because he looked like he could use some.

You didn’t listen to his protest and threatened him with your broom as he tried to stand up. It was the first time he had chuckled. It was a nice sound.

You made it your personal mission to get him to chuckle more.

It took some time.

Nick was like a scared animal. Slow movements, nothing too fast and nothing too big. Little step after little step, but like that you made him comfortable in your little flat.

When he was longer gone than three days, he was only allowed to take Goose after he had eaten with you and after a while you didn’t have to threaten him with the broom anymore.

Now, some time down the road, when months had turned into years, Nick and you were friends. Like real actual friends.

He talked to you and you laughed together. If something was broken in your flat or in his you tried to put it back together, together. You were the weirdest kind of movie buddies.

He was your best friend and even when he didn’t tell you much about his work you got to know him.

Nick on the other hand had been intrigued with you from the very start. Goose didn’t like a lot of people. And for her to reach out like that?

That was something Nick Fury couldn’t look past.

Even when he had had a heart attack when Goose just walked into your flat, and he had to leave the Flerken with you.

And that first time, when he wanted to go before you had cooked? The time you pointed the end of your fucking broom in his face and demanded that he sat his exhausted ass down on the couch again, yes that had been the day Nick had decided that maybe, just maybe you could be friends.

“No no. He is the killer” Nick pointed at the person on the TV. There wasn’t a thriller playing. It was the news.

Nick sat comfortable beside you on the couch. It was a habit that had been picked up over time. He would bring snacks and Goose and you would watch the TV. This particular scene had taken place quite in the beginning, after he was comfortable enough to stay longer than for the compulsory dinner.

“And how do you know?” You didn’t believe Nick.

“Listen closely. His speech pattern changed every time he speaks about it, same as his tone. He shakes his head when he said yes at the beginning. Listen.”

And that you did.

And wow.

Once you put your attention to that, you were shocked to discover that Nick was right. With an open mouth you turned to your friend.

“Any other mind-blowing ticks for lying?” You had been kidding. You had been kidding.

“Most people try to say as less as possible, just be quite and they will start talking again, eventually getting caught in their own lies.”

He urged you on to put your attention towards it.

You learned quite a bit about your colleagues in the next few weeks. The job you had gotten just a few weeks after you meet Nick. And because of Nick you were sure that you knew the most drama of that little company you were working at.

For example, that the janitor had a thing going on with the secretary. That the young adviser was in realty the son of the boss and that Jenny thought that your yellow shirt was ugly.

You didn’t really like you job, had never, but well you had to earn money and with the new knowledge some situations became just increasingly funny to you.

With Nick, sometimes you didn’t ask questions. It had been something that Nick had established quite early on with the figure of that little fox.

He had just brough it one day, spent thirty minutes putting it on the perfect position on the shelve.

He seemed to relax a little more when the little figure stood in place.

You smiled at the little animal.

“Cute”

Nick rolled his eyes.

“Foxes are not cute”

“And what are they then?”

His eye looked onto yours.

“Cleaver, stealthy. Some see them as the symbol of deception”

“I didn’t think you were …that into symbolism”

He chuckled.

“Please don’t move it” his eye had looked onto yours. It had been like the first time when he had told you not to pet Goose. Goose who was just now purring in your arms.

Yeah, Nick hadn’t been happy to find Goose on your stomach, with you sleeping on the couch… but that had been another story.

“Why is that so important to you?” You had tilled your head, curious.

He seemed to search for the right words.

“Let’s just say it’s like a good luck charm and it only works when you don’t touch it”

“Nick. I certainly don’t know you the best, but that was utter bullshit”

“I’ll sleep better, if you don’t move it. You don’t have to understand-”

“Okay” Nick was serious 90% of the time, but right now he was even more so. If it meant that much to him you would do as he wished and you wouldn’t ask questions that made him that uncomfortable. You weren’t stupid. There was more to the little figure, but you trusted Nick.

He was a good man and you had never caught him lying at you.  

Not that you would be able to detect a lie from this man, but you just had the feeling that he never had.

Well and all that lead to now. You sitting on the couch. Waiting if Nick would come by. For your friend to open the door (he had been very against him getting a key. But you threatened him with the broom again. He had now a key), look at you, chuckle and plant his ass beside you.

Goose was lying down in her little bed (yeah, Goose had as much stuff in your flat as she had in Nicks. It was like sharing custody). She seemed to be sleeping tight. That was a little unusual for her. Normally she was an even lighter sleeper than you. But right now, she seemed to be quite fast asleep. It didn’t worry you.

It should have.

The thought that there was being gas put into your flat didn’t even cross your mind. The thought that there could be people right outside your door just waiting for the effect of the gas to hit you, was never something that you imagined. Not even when you grew rather suddenly sleepily.

Only when the mug slipped from your fingers and the door busted open, men in gas masks flooding your flat did you think that maybe something was…not quite right…

…But it was hard the keep the eyes open.

           The world was turning fast

                   Everything was far away…

Chapter Text

You had known that Nick hadn’t have a normal, or even just a safe job. You had known that from the look he would have in his eyes on some days. On that days he would speak less, he would devour the attention Goose would gift him and he seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.

You didn’t ask.

The one thing you knew for sure about your friend was, that he would talk, or he would not. There was not a way to force him to tell you anything.

So you sat by his side on those days and just tried to be a little bit more gentle with him.

Talk just a little slower, a little more silent. He picked up on it (of course) Nick reading people like books. You cooked your best dinner and even made dessert at those days. You made him stay longer and he even slept on your couch on especially bad days. But he never commented on it.

He knew, that he needed it too.

Once in a while.

And after knowing him for months that added up to years, you were even able to cuddle him, to hug him and he hugged you back and, in those moments, you cached yourself asking, what could never be...

You had known that his job was not discussed at career day in high school for sure, after you had met Phil.

He was the only person you knew personally out of Nicks life, but that was all right. After all Phil was really fun to have around.

Even when it hadn’t been that fun, when you and Phil had first meet.

--------------

You sat on the floor of your flat and were playing with Goose. It had been round about two years after the arrangement had started.

You awaited Nick. He was later than usually, and even when that wouldn’t worry you that much, Goose had been acting strange the whole day… and that putted you off.

Then there had been a knock on the door.

Nick had a key, so no matter who was on the other side… you weren’t awaiting them. Nevertheless, you stood up, looked at Goose, but she was still lying down, and went to open the door.

In front of you stood a guy you recognised. Nick had shown you a picture of his colleague Phil before.

“He has a strange kind of humour” Nick had told you. “If you ever see him, tell him that you didn’t expect to see a zombie. He’ll be your friend after that” And even when Nick had told you that with a light voice, you still had heard the seriousness in it.

Like when he had told you about not petting Goose, or not moving the fox. So, you had nodded.

And now Phil stood in front of you.

“Didn’t expect to see a zombie” you greeted him. Instantly he seemed to relax. It was the same kind Nick often did. They relaxed and only then did you see that they had been tense before.

“And I didn’t expect to see a crazy-cat lady but here we are.”

That had been your last chuckle of that day.

Because after that Phil told you that Nick had been injured and if you could look after Goose for the next weeks.

You hadn’t hesitated a minute.

You were not allowed to visit him.

It had been eight weeks and four days.

Hours that felt like days and sunrises that you watched with a heavy heart. Every once in a while, Phil would come by. He never told you much. But he made you eat. Made it all a little more bearable and when Nick finally stood in your apartment again, you basically runed him over in your attempt to hug him. Holding him close. It had been hard weeks for you. You had slept less then ever before and… it was like the first breath after being too long under water when Nick had stood there.

Upright.

You pressed your face into his chest.

Trying (and failing) to hide the tears in your eyes.

You didn’t tell him that you picked up self-defence lessons when he was away. Didn’t tell him that you would continue with them. Didn’t tell him that you felt safer with him around. That you hadn’t eaten enough when he had been gone. That sleep had been your enemy.

You just had a feeling…. A feeling that his job was far more dangerous than either of the two would let on.

And they were your friends.

You didn’t want anything to happen to them.

Nick had hugged you close was well.

“Don’t be scared. I’ll always come home to my girl” he had said as he was finally able to pet Goose.

And after that he had said that every time he had to leave or came back. It would be his first words.

“I’ll always come home to my girl.”

That had been the moment in your life where you had been jealous, of a fucking tabby cat.

And like Nick, Phil was an unusual movie buddy. Always pointing out how the hero could have been better. How the damsel in distress could have saved herself. And to prove it to you, they made you to it.

For example, there had been a movie where the protagonist was duck taped at the arms and legs and was lying around like a fish at land. Phil had paused the movie, put the snacks on the table, went to your drawer and had planted his feet in front of you.

“Are you serious right now?” Why had you no normal friends?

“Hollywood certainly isn’t, so yes.”

You had tried a few times to prevent what happened next, but truth be told most of the time it was quite funny. So Phil, your friend that was over for a movie night, duck taped your hands.

Then he showed you. Tension in the stomach and just crash your hand on it. Fast, strong. And he was right.

Of course.

They always were.

And while Phil was all about escaping, orientation and finding shelter or a place to hide, Nick was all about traps, code-words and in general out-smarting the other people in the room.

“I would let them know with a code word that this is a trap.” He said while you were watching an action movie, Goose on the couch between you two.

“Like?” You tilled your head and looked at your friend. His comment didn’t even surprise you anymore. That was just Nick.

“Shitty movie”

“Ooookay” you didn’t see that working in any kind of situation, but well you were not about to argue.

“Remember. If I say shitty movie, it really means that it is a trap, or that there are traps.”

“Okay but then couch needs to mean that you should bring me more popcorn” you had been kidding.

“Fine, or run it could be both.” Nick hadn’t been.

“And how should I know if you mean run or bring popcorn?” You had been kidding.

“Trust me, you’ll know.” Nick hadn’t been. It should have scared you, but his voice was soft and you knew Nick. At least a little bit. He was borderline paranoid, but he would not harm you.

That you were sure of.

And that was just the first of many codewords Nick and Phil taught you. It was fun. Like another language that just the three of you understood. Sometimes they would be born out of the moment, like shitty movie and couch, other times one of the boys would burst into your apartment and introduce you to a new one.

You didn’t give any of them a hard time about it. It was important to them; you could see it in their eyes.

But that lead to Nick throwing words at you and you having to match the meaning. And when you needed too long or didn’t get it right, he would make a sassy comment and that would usually lead to you throwing pillows at him.

The first one hit him square in the face. His facial expression had been hilarious. You had rolled on the floor laughing.

And that was how you befriended those two dorks. They needed time, a long time till they let their guard down, till they felt comfortable in your presence. But eventually they did.

There were nights were you would play bord games (never poker, you made that mistake one time) and watch movies. It took a long time till you were there, but you got there. And after a rather terrible date when you sat on your couch and were eating ice-cream out of a buckle, because you were a walking cliché when it came to heartbreak, Nick was by your side.

Comforting you.

Making you laugh and letting Goose sit on your lap.

He was your best friend.

And he had a perfect cat.

And a mysterious job.

But that was your Nick. A man to love people, who just had a hard time trusting them.

--------------

But that whatever job he was doing, would leave you in a situation like this you wouldn’t have believed.

You came back into the land of the living. Your head was throbbing and you were pretty sure that you would have a killer headache for the next few days.

Like in any bad action movie you were tied to a chair.

In an empty but dirty room.

You were sooo done with this day.

Your pyjama shorts were far too short to provide you any warmth at all. And you were pissed. Were you scared? Yes. But you were more pissed.

You didn’t know how Goose was and …. And they had just kidnapped you! Out of your own fucking appartement!

Panicking would have been a normal reaction, screaming, crying, nearly anything would have been normal in his situation. But you didn’t do any of it.

One deep breath and then you took account of what you had and what you hadn’t.

Nicks voice was in your ear. One Minute to asses the situation and I’ll promise you, everyone could be a McGuiver. You had argued over that statement. But Nick had just worn his confided smirk.

And because of Nick and Phil, you did what the echoes of their voices told you.

Breath.

Assess the situation.  

You were duck-tapped to a wood chair. Your legs were free. There was no window and the walls seemed to be made out of concert. You didn’t know who had kidnapped you, why or how many they were. But at least they wanted you alive. For now.

Speaking of motivations, you had absolutely no clue what they wanted from you, but you believed it to be connected to your friend.

You most likely had a concussion or something that way, but otherwise you seemed to be fine.

You had a pin in your hair, but no shoes. You wore a pyjama, that was too fucking thin. That was a problem. Phils voice in your ear. The right clothing is sometimes more important than a good weapons. This is why those …. Those costumes are ridiculous! I’m telling you, Hollywood don’t know shit about good clothing.

You had always a hair pin in your hair. Every time. Because Phil and Nick showed you how much you could do with just a pin (picking locks was just the tip of the ice-berg). They told you it was good to impress people.

You started to doubt that that had been the real reason.

Chapter Text

Had your day gone as you had expected it to? Nope. You could certainly say No. Not in the slightest.

But at least right now there was a gentleman entering your little cell to bring a little light into the whole mess.

There was nothing special about this dude but the arrogance with which he was holding himself. It took you a solid second and then you wanted to throw up on his nice and shining shoes.

You knew his face.

And name.

And reputation.

What, for the ever loving good, did Nick and Phil do in their work to bring Justin fucking Hammer down on you?

Was it not enough for you to get kidnapped? Did it have to be by someone like him?

What did you do to deserve that?

And then he opened his mouth.

“Well, Hello my darling”

Did you mentioned that you wanted to throw up? Yes. Well, you still wanted to throw up. In his face.

You just lifted your eyebrow.

Here is the thing, one of the reasons you and Nick got along so well? You had the same amount of sarcasm (a fucking high amount) and the same tolerance for idiots (None).

And you knew you should be scared and terrified, and you were… but you choose to focus on the other prominent emotion. Annoyed. It made it easier to move and breathe so … that was your plan of action. Being annoyed. Not scared.

“I bet you’re wondering why you are her”

No. not really. This happens to me like every Thursday.

“I don’t think I have to introduce myself, have I?”

You just stared at him.

You saw the twitch in his eyes and the forced calm breaths he took.

“Well, you friend Nick wanted you gone”

Lie.

You heart screamed that in an instant. But…

A breath.

Speech pattern. Tone. How much does he tell.

“He wanted you gone, gone, gone. No use for him anymore. And that is just cruel. That is horrible. That is why I took it upon myself. So that you would at least survive.”

There wasn’t one rhetorical question, all while he had used some in the beginning. He was speaking faster and his story didn’t make any sense.

He was lying.

And even when you heart had told you as much from the start, having something other to rely on, was helping a great deal with staying calm. Helping so that you didn’t listen to his words.

Silence.

You didn’t know what he wanted from you, but you knew that you didn’t want to tell him. And even when it would be as mundane as the current day of the week.

“Listen girly-” he took a step towards you. “You can make this really comfortable for you, or really bad.”

You heart nearly gave out, but you didn’t look away.

A breath.

He wanted to hurt your friends? Your family?

Fuck him.

And then you did something fairly stupid.

You spit him in the face (not as good as vomit, but a close second).

It was very satisfying to watch your spit run down his face, his disgusted expression.

“Then the hard way” he gritted out and left the room.

A shuddered breath.

You were captured, had your capture pissed off, he was after Nick and he needed something from you.

It didn’t need a genius to figure out that that was not the best situation you could have been in.

It didn’t take long.

It didn’t take long at all. A huge man entered the room.

And he stared using you as his personal punching-bag.

It looked more fun in movies. It looked less painful on the news.

Your ribs were aching, your lip was bleeding, your stomach hurt when you breathed.

You wanted to vomit (again). Hanging in that dammed chair like you had not a muscle in your body.

Justin Hammer entered the room again and without much he started talking again. He should shut up, his voice was making your headaches even worse.

“I want to know where Fury keeps the weapons, if Tony Starks suit is beneath them. I want to know where they keep it” He paced up and down in front of you.

You tried not to react to it, but for you, this had been new information. And suddenly, … suddenly everything felt into place.

So Nick was working with the avengers…

Like literal gods, geniuses and trained spies…

That…that actually made a lot of sense.

Goose, Nicks paranoia, him never speaking about his job, you getting kidnapped… It made more sense now.

Hmm… so you knew where you could find Nick.

Nice.

Then only thing you had to do, was get away from here.

Easy…

It wasn’t like you hadn’t done anything like that ever before. You certainly had not. But you had Nicks and Phils voices in your ears, discussing action movie after action movie.

You could not be more grateful for all those moments, minutes and hours they had taken out of their day to discuss with you about those things.

So Justi Boy kept on questioning, his pal kept beating you and you just cursed and cussed at both of them, when you had the breath, even out loud.

Sometime down that lovely road the two left. Both looking not really happy with the situation. Your breaths were shallow, everything to move your ribcage as little as possible.

A breath.

A moment.

And then you went to work. 

To show those people that you weren’t a damsel in distress.

You were Nick fucking Furys friend.

Escaping the duct tape was rather easy, opening the door, with the pin out of your hair too. You remembered how those two dorks had made a competition out of, who could open a lock with a pin the fastest…

You had really believed that that had been just for the fun of it…

And then you were in the corridor.

A breath.

Asses.

There was one way you could go. Nobody was able to sneak up behind you, but you had nowhere to escape either.

So you needed to move rather fast and silent. In an emergency rather faster than silent.

And that you did.

You crept along the long and (so far) empty corridors. Silent step after silent step. Suddenly a memory was playing in front of your eyes. Creeping around your living room, with Phil, while Nick was asleep on the couch. Trying not to weak him up, while stocking stuff all around him. Now it didn’t taste like two friends making fun of the third, sleeping one, anymore.

It tasted like two friends training the third. All the code-words, all those discussions about action movies, all the times they had shown you how to escape, how to disappear, how to call for help.

Those dicks.

They had trained you!

Fuck. You loved them.

You would kick their asses as soon as possible.

And like that you went on, they had trained you, so you were sure, if you would mess this up, they would tease you endlessly about this, and that… that you couldn’t let happen.

Then you heard a sound. Your heart stopped. 

A closed door, the low voice of somebody speaking.

The guy was showering. The guy that beat you. 

And talking to himself.

Something about a girl he wanted to impress with some flowers and which flowers would be the best.

You had to force back the snicker that was about to escape you. What you would do to him would be so high-school, but well, you needed other clothes and he had been a bad guy, even when he wanted to gift his girlfriend some sunflowers.

They should call you karma.

And karma was a bitch.

His clothes fitted…somehow. You wouldn’t win a fashion competition, but that wasn’t your goal. So you turned the pants put, the shirt too and let your hair run free.

Time to get away from this shit-hole.

You would not be a damsel in distress.

You hadn’t been when your life had turned upside down, you hadn’t been when you family died, you hadn’t been when Goose had eaten your old couch table, with her tentacles. You hadn’t been a damsel in distress. Sure, you had cried, begged, you had starred at Goose for a solid five minutes. But you got up again.

It was how you had been raised. How you chose to live.

The longer it took you to navigate through that building, the faster your heart pounded, the heavier it became to breath, to think, to walk.

Behind every corner you expected a loaded gun, a smiling Justin fucking Hammer. But nothing happened.

Nothing at all.

Till you heard the first shouts and screams… They had noticed you missing it seemed. Hurried steps became running. Looking careful around every corner, became silently praying that here would be nobody.

If their cover is blown, they should get their asses out there as fast as possible. Forget silent, now you have to be fast.

Nicks voice urged you on, let you run longer than probably ever in your life before.

Till you found this one door.

The one door that led outside.

And then you were free… with fast, but not hurried steps you walked away. A smirk dancing on your lips. Not a fucking damsel in distress.

A city was around you, hug skyscrapers, many cars, a lot of people. It took some time but with Phils voice in your brain you were able to navigate your route. The only question: Where should you go? Your appartement? Was most likely watched. Avengers tower? You wouldn’t even be able to get past the lobby.

And then it hit you. You needed a phone. Because there was one number you could call.

The only number you had memorised.

Because it had been a bet.

Between you and your friends.

You just needed a phone. But in the middle of a big city that shouldn’t be a problem….

And while you were looking around for a phone that lied forgotten or just unattended somewhere, one memory you weren’t able to shake off played on repeat.

“I’ll always come home to my girl” he had petted Goose.

But he had looked at you.

Time and time again.

And by know, you had a slight feeling what Nick and Phil did for a work. And with that… with their secret lessons, with Nicks looks and… you were pretty sure Nick had told you something different time and time again.

And with that knowledge your steps got more secure and you were determined to get back to him. You would not leave this world with the words unsaid.

Exhausted you sat down. On the dirty ground. Stretching your arching feet and looking in the sky. It was blue and only in the far distance you could make out some clouds.

A deep breath.

You had made it.

“Talk to me!” Phils voice was ringing from your stolen borrowed cell phone.

“Still here, still breathing” you smiled.

You would go home.

Back to Goose and Phil and Nick. Your heart stuttered as you thought of him.

You would risk it.

After everything… no matter how it would turn out. You were sure you would survive.

A black car stopped in front of you. Within a heartbeat you were up and ready to run again. But faster than your flight-response could handle Nick had you in his arms. And even when your bruises were arching under his strong hold, there was no place where you would rather be.

A deep breath and Nicks sent engulfed you, let you relaxe.

You were safe again.

But some words were impatiently waiting on your tongue.

It took you some tries to get it out.

And you meant every single one of them.

“I’ll always come home to my man”

I love you.

Now Nick took a deep breath, his muscles tensed, his hands on your shoulders, pushing you just far away enough to let him see in your eyes.

His eye was darting around your face, his mouth slightly open.

Nick fucking Fury was surprised.

Speechless even.

“What? Did you think I wouldn’t crack this code as we-”

His lips on yours were heaven on earth. Warm, a little rough and firm. Your arm snacked around his neck as his pulled you closer till you were pressed against him.

He was there, he was everywhere, he was Nick and your whole world.

After your lips softly separated, ‘cause you know you still needed that annoying thing called oxygen…Your foreheads rested against each other’s and Nick let his first words drop, since he arrived.

“I’ll always come home to my girl”

I love you.

Chapter Text

“Do you remember that 4^th of July party, were everyone was shitfaced drunk?” Steve Rogers is talking shit. You stated your observation.

You lied on Nicks couch, the man himself beside you, one of his arms around your shoulders as you watched the news.

“Sure, I remember. But I still believe someone mixed something into the drinks.” Yes. But the higher-ups wanted that.

The whole deal with Justin Hammer was by now a year down the road. And the year since then? Easily your favourite year so far.

“Do you know who?”

In that year, Nick and you spent so much time together.

“I have a guess” Yes, but I’m not allowed to tell you.

He taught you more and about coding than ever, keeping your trained in lazy afternoons like this. Phil always eager to teach you about escaping, self-defending. After knowing what they did for living, about what the risk were, you were more than eager to learn.

To know.

To make sure that both of them knew, that you could look out for yourself.

They took you into the woods. Showed you how to throw knifes and how to orientate yourself. Phil taught you how to survive in the wild and that was for sure the craziest week you ever spent with Phil and Nick. Tracking through the woods, always on the lookout for plants, animals and humans.

Nick showed you how to use a gun and, well, that was nice. He behind you, shifting your stance and your fingers on that weapon? You barely made it home with him that evening.

Being the girlfriend of Nick Fury and the friend of Phil Coulson also meant that you had to spent days and sometimes even weeks on your own. Not knowing if the two dorks were alive, well or sometimes even wondering if they were on the planet at all.

They were working with aliens. Your concerns all had a reason.

But you made it work.

Even when Nick got overprotective, when you had nightmares.

You made it work. You wanted it to work, both of you. With that you worked, on communication, on living together, on yourself and each other, on trusting, that had been a hard one.

You had had nightmares before you meet Nick, before Justin Hammer came down on you.

It was always a phone ringing. A faceless voice telling you that everyone you knew, everything you knew was gone and dead. It wasn’t a dream as more a memory. But after getting together with Nick, he would be listened as a casualty as well, sometimes even Phil and Goose. You would see the face of Justin and it was downright confusing. Scaring.

After Nick had experienced your fist nightmare a lot of talking had to take place.

In the dead of the night, you had sat up. Breathing heavily and your head in your hands.

In and out.

In and out.

You tried to calm your breathing. It took work, and time.

Slowly Nick opened his eye. As he saw you sitting there, he awoke fully.

“Hey, hey. What’s wrong?” Hands on your shoulders, caring eye on you.

“No-not-”

“Say nothing and I tell your co-workers about what happened last weekend.”

He could be mean.

“Darling, what is wrong?”

“Just a nightmare” you breathed out. Looked at him. He needed no words to express that he didn’t believe a word that had just left your lips.

He just looked at you.

Silence.

“I have nightmares from time to time” you admitted finally. You didn’t see him move, but suddenly he was closer. His breath on your skin, but before he could say a thing, because you just knew he would make this about that Hammer dick you told him.

More than you had ever before.

“In 2012 I went finally on a vacation.” You wore a pained smile. You had waited that long for that trip, had made many extra hours. It had been a big dream of yours.

You told him, how you had slept. Peacefully. In another country. After a full day of sending pictures to your parents, of making your co-workers jalouse.

You had been awoke in the dead of the night.

The sound of a phone ringing. A sound to haunt your nightmares.

You had not been in New York when the sky opened up.

But your life had been.

Everything was gone. A faceless voice told you over the phone, in the dark of that unfamiliar room, that they were all dead and cold.

It kept you up some nights. It was the reason you had been up that night. That first night when Goose had just walked into your apartment and life. In tow with her human.

And you still had those nightmares.

Yes, that Hammer idiot was now part of it too.

Like Phil, and Nick and Goose.

But it only showed that you had something worth loosing again.

Nick and you talked till the sun had risen on that night.

It had been hard, confusing, exhausting.

And it had been maybe the best thing you had ever did. After that night you and Nick both knew far more about each other and how to handle the other.

And like that Nick and you lived… not quite with each other, but more than you lived alone.

It was crazy, but the best kind of.

He would come home at every time of the day. Mornings, middays, evenings or nights. He would always whisper that sentence in your ear and kiss you that soft and gently that you were sure you fell in love with him all over again.

You would eat and do the dishes together, something that took longer than when you would do it alone, but you preferred it this way. Dorking around, bumping into each other. You and him and Goose in the background. Lying around. Demanding pets.

It was your family. Your home. Those two were your world and what made your days at that terrible office bearable.

Phil would come by as often as his schedule would allow.

They would train you, challenge you. And you in return showed them how to be a fucking normal human being.

Starting with game nights (and idea that became increasingly difficult because those two always worked against you, talked in coding, something they wouldn’t stop). Living with spies was not easy.

More than one time you got a distressed phone call from Nick. He knew how much you hated being called, so he only did it in emergencies. Every time he had called, his voice had been strained.

Where are you?

Stay there or get away from there

It wouldn’t have been that freaky and concerning would there have been something in the news that evening about anything. But no. Nothing came up and for all of New York it was an evening like every other. It made you realise how often all that stood between a catastrophe were a few selected people.

Your boyfriend being one of them.

That thought was scary. But something you had to live with. Something you had to accept.

And like that your life continued on.

A life that included spending nights alone, worrying, and nights and evenings in the arms of Nick. Cuddled close to his chest while he told you story upon story how the avengers were just humans, more or less, in any case they were idiots. Loveable idiots, but idiots nevertheless.

A life that consisted of soft kisses to your forehead and sinful kisses on your stomach.

A life with a red tabby cat, that could and would eat anything. And anything included way more than it should. But after all there were tentacles coming out of Gooses mouth… She was a special cat. In your special life.

A life that you wouldn’t change for a thing.

A life that changed quite suddenly on a sunny spring day in your lunch break.

You had left the office as always, because every second you spent in there was a second too much. You were just walking down the sidewalk on the way to the bench as a car stopped at your side.

Instantly you were ready to run away, after all, Nick and Phil had told you again and again how to behave.

The window went down. A woman, dark clothes, she opened her palm.

A little fox figure was sitting in it. It wasn’t exactly the same as in your apartment, but close enough. Your eyes looked onto hers.

“Does this belong to you?”

Now you heart beat faster than before.

“Yeah. Got it from an old friend.”

The door of the car opened and you climbed in.

Nicks voice had been in your ear.

Should I or Phil not be able to get you to safety we’ll send someone with a fox figure…

She had said the right words and you knew that she was sent by Nick and Phi. But that didn’t stop your hands from trembling and your lung from constricting.

Because that meant that there was a threat.

A big one.

The car drove off. The ties turned in tune with your frantic heart. You watched the world passing by and your thoughts were only with Nick and Phil.

What had been as big that they had actually sent somebody for you?

Were they alright?

They had to be.

You concentrated on taking deep breaths. You drove and drove and after a long time you finally reached your destination.

Avengers compound.

Whatever it was.

It was big.

You took a deep breath. Nobody knew you. Nick made sure of that. You didn’t know what awaited you on the inside of the building. Not one clue. You only knew that Nick or Phil wanted you there, and that you trusted them without a doubt.

You held your head high and exited the car.

You would deal with whatever would await you on the inside.

Chapter Text

You walked down the corridors the lady at the front desk had explained to you. She had looked you up and down out of narrowed eyes, but the agents that had picked you up had nodded behind you. You had seen it. It was alright. Nobody knew you here. They had every right to be suspicious.

Head high, steps secure, even when on the inside you were a trembling mess. 

Alone. The agents stayed with the lady. 

Sooner than you would have dared to believe you reached a big room. Expensive chairs stood there and a big table took up most of the space.

Everybody was there, all the avengers, all the people you had heard so many stories about, but your gaze was firmly looked onto Nick. Standing among them. Tall and unharmed.

Breathing was easier.

“Who are you?” Tony Stark asked with raised eyebrows, as soon as you entered the room. 

“Nick, what’s up?” You asked as you looked at Nick, not paying a mind to the others. If Nick didn’t want them to know who you were, you would certainly not proclaim it upon meeting them. And you would play it like that. Nick visually relaxed…he relaxed.  And that told Natasha and Clint and Tony much. That told them that Fury trusted you. Without a second of doubt. Something they rarely saw him doing.

Their eyes looked onto you. They didn’t recognise your face and didn’t even have a name to it.

“Well, there was this limited convention about outer space. Didn’t want you to miss it”

Limited convention, my family

Outer space there had been once a big threat coming from outer space so Nick wanted space to mean big threat.

Didn’t want you to miss it I was worried about you.

So there was a threat to Nicks family, a threat big enough to make him worried about you. Worried enough to take you to the compound. But you weren’t the only member of his family.

You raised your eyebrow.

“Phil?”

And if he had waited for you to call out for him Phil, entered the room. Would he just be 50% like Nick, you wouldn’t put it past him that he did exactly that.

With long strikes he was by you and hugged you. He as well relaxed. You finally too. Your boys were by your side, unharmed.

Natasha and Clint were by now exchanging glazes.

Who were you?

“Glad you could make it” Phil looked you dead in the eyes.  I was worried

“I manage Goose. I think I can be on time” I manage Goose. I think I can look out for myself.

“Yeah… I know” he chuckled.

“So what do we do now?” You clapped your hands together, ready to get the show on the road. At that the avengers looked up.

“You nothing. You’ll stay here” Nick had his eye fixed on you, but he knew you better.

“Excuse me. I’m gonna do what now?”

“You’ll stay here. I can’t risk it.” But his eye told you, that he couldn’t lose you. And damn that eye! That eye and all the fucking emotions he could express through it, when he wanted to.  

“And for how long?”

“As long as it takes”

A breath.

“Two weeks, or I’ll let Goose lose on you.”

Honestly? It was more than Nick had expected. So, he would gladly accept. Everything to keep you close, to keep you safe.

“Goose likes me more.” A little smile on his soft lips.

“Since when?”

“I’ll show you where you can stay” Nick made a move to walk you down a hallway, but you put a hand on his arm. As much as you loved the idea of him showing you around, he had work to do and a cover to uphold.

“You are busy. So go on and be… whatever pirate you want to be today” Do your job. I love you. Dork.

His eye sparkled. The tiniest nod.

“Come on Phil, show me this castle of morons. That was what you called it wasn’t it?”

“You just had to say that out loud? Hadn’t you?”

“Oh, I could say a bunch of things out loud, like…”

And that was how you got dragged out of the room by your elbow, by Phil, while he clasped his other hand over your mouth. He should know better, you were not above liking it, if he wouldn’t remove it soon.

The curious gaze of the avengers followed you.

Who were you?

But as soon as you left the room behind, Phil took his hand away.

Silence.  

After you were down some halls you got serious. Nick had tried to keep you as far away from his work as possible. Him having you living under the same roof as the avengers was sure a change of heart.

“What’s the situation Phil? The real situation?”

Phil signed heavily. Then he stopped walking.

“Your room is just down the hall. Talk when we reach it?” The walls have ears, your room not.

“Sure” a bad feeling was settling into your stomach.

As you entered the room, your room, a bomb hit you. Because that room, it looked like your dream room. All the colours, all the furniture… all you ever whished your apartment to look like. It was here right in front of you. Build up and for you to use.

“He likes to be prepared” As if Phil needed to tell you that.

You turned around. That…this…this was Nicks worst case scenario, the thing he prepared for the most, because it scared him the most. This wasn’t Justin Hammer.

“Phil. What is going on?”

Heavily Phil sat down on the couch. You beside him. Hanging onto every word, that had yet to fall from his lips.

“Nick wants to tell you himself. Everything I’ll tell you is that it is serious.”

His eyes were on yours.

The air left your lungs.

You had never seen them like that.

So that was your room … for the nearer future. It was nice, a dream come true, no denying that. But…

But you couldn’t focus on that right now. You longed for a talk with Nick. How should you act in front of the avengers? What was your cover? You needed to know that. And you needed to hug him. Be close to him and just find comfort in him. But would he be able to provide that? After all he was Fury the director here first.

With a sigh you sat down on the bed and shot up nearly immediately after. There had been something hard under the covers. And sure enough, as soon as you pulled them away there lied a book. 1004 things Hollywood got wrong.

You sat down again, this time with the book in your hands. You turned it around and nearly instantly started to cry. This wasn’t a book Nick had bought for you. This wasn’t something he had seen and thought about you.

He had made it.

For the crazy cat lady, a collection of all the things Hollywood got wrong, and how I expect you to be better. Your pirate

And because Nick was not there, you hugged the book close to your chest.

Your nose was buried in that book, tissues beside you. You cried from laughing, from the gesture and the gentleness Nick displayed and from the currently lack of him.

Then there was a knocking on the door. In a certain pattern. A pattern that told you that it was Nick on the other side of the door.

With a spring in your step and a smile on your lips you rushed to the door.

A grinning Nick with a cat transportation box was staring at you.

“Do I want to know what you had to do to get her in there?” You asked with an amused smile dancing on your face.

“No and please step away. Any second longer in there and I’m sure she’ll eat me in my sleep”

“Now that I can’t let happen” You stepped away and let him into the room, as soon as the door was closed Nick opened the box and let Gosse free.

Goose instantly got out and regarded him with a look.

“Come on. You know I couldn’t just carry you around like a stuff animal” Nick argued with the Flerken.

After that Goose went on to discover the room and Nick turned around to you.

“I’ll always come back” I love you

He opened his arms for you and you didn’t hesitate a second. His warm arms around you let you breath freely for the first time since you got picked up. Your muscles relaxed and your soul found peace as Nick pressed a small kiss on your head.

For a small eternity you stood like that, Nick swaying you softly. Goose tapping in the background. But this small eternity, the little bubble, had to end. There was a reality to face after all. You took him by his hand and sat both of you on the couch.

“What’s the plan?” No need to beat around the bush.

“Find those idiots and let them regret the day they were born” his voice was firm.

“No. What’s the plan here? For you and me?” You traced little patterns on his hands to calm him down, even when he didn’t look like it, you knew he was nervous, maybe even scared.

This would change much. Had already changed a lot. Before today only Phil knew of you. But now, just a few hours later, the avengers had seen your face, knew your name. You knew that Nick liked to keep you in the shadows, it was safer there for you. But he had to bring you in the light. For the world to see.

And if you knew him just a little, you were sure that he hated it.

He squeezed your hands before he looked at you.

“That depends. What would you like?” It was the biggest I love you he could have said. He gave you a choice, in a situation that he hated, he gave you a voice, even when it could make his life a lot harder. Just so that you felt better, so that you had the options and freedom to choose between them.

“I would like a movie night with my friend and boyfriend. But that’s not what I meant. Who should I be? An agent, a-” But you didn’t get far. He shook his head.

“No.” He looked like he was in pain. “No” a soft smile. The one you were sure, you were the only one to be lucky enough to receive it.

“For the avengers, for the people who live on his floor…be who you are, what you are… strong, determinate, funny and childish and my girlfriend”

Who needed oxygen anyway?

“You sure?” It wasn’t more than a breath

“No. But I know that those people’ll do anything for their family. And that includes you.” The softest kiss was placed on your lips.

“You trust them?” You whispered against his lips. Nick loved people. But he didn’t trust them.

“Not enough. Not with you. But I have to” he pressed his forehead against yours and closed his eye.

A second

A breath

“Nick. What aren’t you telling me?”

The photos were disturbing. Unsettling you deep to your bones. Not because of what was displayed. A supermarket. A park. A living room. A school. An office. But because you were in those pictures.

In every single one.

You buying a steak for Goose in the supermarket around the corner. You walking through the park, early one morning. You remembered walking there. Lost in your thoughts about what to get Nick for his birthday. You by your evening courses in the local high school to learn some Spanish. Your living room… You dancing with Goose in your arms, in your living room...

“It was a normal mission. Get some intel and get back. But when they handed me the intel, and I saw those from you” he needed to clear his throat, his hand on yours. You weren’t sure which hand was trembling right now “from the wives, children, friends and relatives from everyone on the team.”

His eye was troubled.

“And we hadn’t had a clue”

And there it was. There was the reason… the reason why he was acting like he was scared. Because he fucking was. They could have kidnapped or killed you plenty of times and there wouldn’t have been a thing he or you could have done to prevent that.

Because you hadn’t known.

“Do the others know?”

“Just the outlines. They don’t know about the pictures”

“You’re afraid they’ll panic?”

“My love I panicked”

And you nearly fainted with that pet name. Speaking was hard.

“Yeah. But you still had yourself in control”

“Just barely” At that whispered confession you hugged him to you. You were privileged to be loved by a man like him.

You truly were.

“My point stands. We are in this together. They too. They have as much to lose as you” With your last words Nick took you by your shoulders and starred into your eyes.

“I will not lose you”

It was a promise.

It was his battle cry.

“I know”

Chapter Text

Phil gathered everyone in the communal living space. The avengers squeezed themselves onto the couches, a big table in the middle.

You planted your ass beside Phil and waited for Nick to make his dramatic entrance. You knew your man. He was a little drama queen.

You saw some of the looks earth mightiest heroes regarded you with, when Phil smiled at you. They were confused, some wary, you understood. You weren’t really a part of their family. Even when Nick had told you that. You hadn’t bled, fought, laughed by their side or even just talked to any of them. You were unknown and with the current situation you wouldn’t trust yourself either.

Everyone was settled, whispering in low voices and just like the drama queen he was, Nick entered the room in a fast stride, the envelope with the photos in his hand.

A short look to you. Then he stood tall and strong in front of everybody. You didn’t miss the amused and slightly shocked smile one Natasha Romanoff had on her face once she had seen Nick look at you. She truly was good.

You winked at her.

And received a gently nod with a soft smile in return.

Well… that had been surprisingly easy…

Nick cleared his throat and in a heartbeat everyone was serious. Attention looked onto Nick.

“We currently don’t know who, when or for how long-” with every word the people around you grew more and more tense “-but important information got into the wrong hands”

For a second his eye was on you.

Let’s see how much the avengers will panic.

“Information about friends-“

Pictures of a darkhaired woman with glasses, in what seemed to be a lab, on the street, with a bright red had a smile nearly as bright on her face. Thor, huge like a mountain, whispered “Darcy?”

“Colleagues-”

Pictures of a young Korean doctor in an operation room, made everyone dead silent. After that the only sound audible was Nick laying down more pictures of her. Doing sport. Kissing a blonde woman.

“Families and loved ones”

Pictures flooded the table.

A farm with three children. Two were currently trying to catch a chicken while the third sat just beside and watched. The same children in a school bus, on the playground. A woman was sometimes in those pictures too. A loving look, whenever she looked at the mess her children were currently creating. The same woman waking with a dog.

Two kids playing on a boat. Throwing fishing nets over each other. Eating at a table with their mother. A little party. Both children smiling and dancing like children do. With wide movements and big smiles on their faces.

A young blonde woman. Always armed, her hair always braided or in a bun. Laying still with a rifle, drinking a coffee, walking down a busy street.

A nurse on her way home. Carrying her shopping bags. Looking up the skyscrapers around her.

Pepper Pots on the way to a small plane. Pepper Pots in a meeting, in a car.

An old woman lying in a hospital bed. Black and white photographs all around her. One some photos a young, blond woman sat by her side, holding her hand.

A picture of you. Dancing in your living room, with Goose in your arms. Swaying to a song and talking to the little animal in your arms.

Hands trembled towards the pictures. Gently picked them up, reached for another. Others didn’t pick up a single on, but their eyes firmly looked onto the table. Raised eyebrows and tin lips. Furrowed foreheads and white faces. Trembling hands and Silence.

Several people tried to speak, but not one word was heard. You felt Phil grew tense. Now doubt that his eyes were looked onto the pictures of you. By your work, in your home. Always alone. Always in a potential line of fire.

And every now and then, when the eyes of somehow would land on a picture of you, they would look up, meeting your eyes and look back again. The questions on their minds clearly readable on their faces, for just a moment.

Who were you? In which category did you fit and whom did you belong to?

Finally, the ability to talk returned, but it didn’t get rid of the heavy air that had settled in the room when Nick had started to place the pictures on the table.

“Fury what is this?” Captain America asked. A picture of the old woman in the hospital bed gently resting in his hands.

“A problem. Our newest mission. Whatever suits you best”

“Those pictures… Fury, Peggy-“a shuddered breath “Peggy died months ago”

Nicks gaze on the captain didn’t waver.

“I know”

“We discovered those pictures on a standard recon mission. The moment we, Phil and I, saw them we asked you to bring your loved ones here, or provided them with security…if they allowed” Nick looked at Natasha.

The pictures of the blond girl in front of her, a little smile on her lips.

“We don’t know who, how long and why, but I think we all can agree that we’ll take care of that. We. Not S.H.I.E.L.D. no government. We.“ I don’t trust anyone beside the people in this room.

Silence.

“And-” Tony Stark spoke up “who are you?” His look was on you, together with the full attention of all the people on the room.

Phil snickered.

“I am” you looked Tony dead in the eyes “-the crazy cat lady” I’m your girl, Nick.

Tony looked at you like you had lost your marbles. That alone was worth it.

Phil then dropped your name. That still didn’t get rid of the confused glazes that were shot your way. But you had decided to have fun. To not hide your relationship, but not to openly proclaim it either. After all you would be here some time, you needed means to entertain yourself. And to have some stories to tell Nick, to distract him just a little bit, to make him smile.

Even when the avengers didn’t seem satisfied with your name, they fast moved on to the real problem at hand.

The unknown person or organisation that stalked their loved ones.

For months.

In the evening you laid down on your bed and just starred at the ceiling for a few minutes. They could have killed you, kidnapped you, those friends, wives, children… why hadn’t they? Why had they waited that long? That was a risk. It was itching you… it didn’t make any sense.

Why…?

Why?

Wh-

A hand softly caressing your cheek brought you back into the present.

“What’s on your mind?” His voice was just a little above a whisper. His eye looked onto yours as he laid beside you.

“It doesn’t make sense…”

“For now.”

You took his hand.

“It’ll make some kind of twisted sense in the end” and then he kissed the back of your hand. For this night it would be enough to just lay by his side. To just be close to him.

After that first night you went out of your way to talk to the avengers and their friends and families. From your perspective they were like any other group of friends, like any other family. Chaotic, friendly and a teasing bunch if they had anything on you. You felt more at home than you would have believed. Felt more accepted than you had dared to hope, even when most of them still hadn’t figured out who you belonged to.

It was fun.

You played cards against Scott. Some of the others were watching as Nick entered. It was the third morning by now. They were quite alright. The avengers as well as the one they brought back to the compound. Quite a few refused, continued their life with shadows that watched over them, to keep them safe.

You talked with them and got to know them little by little. There was not much else to do beside it and you wanted to know if all those stories Nick and Phil told you about them were true.

Nick was rarely seen by the daytime, but you had expected that. After all he had a job and everything.

Nicks eye darted to Scotts cards, mischief dancing in it.

“Crazy girl, remember to look at lovely Goose’s paws. She climbed up plenty trees alone this week.” Crazy girl, a pet name you adored. Lovely heart, Goose’s paws, well she had four of them.

Four of hearts.

Clubs looked like trees, kind of. And seven, because a week had seven days.

Seven Club.

You had to fight of the smug grin that placed itself upon your lips.

“Sure, I can do that” you answered Nick, seemingly offhand. A loving look to your favourite dork. Obliviously with knowing Scotts cards you had an easy game.

“Just wanted to remind you” and you could hear the silent laugh in his voice.

It went on like that. Nick talked to you and a few others. Supplying you with many information regarding Scotts cards. And with each sentence Nicks coding got more and more amusing, Scott got more and more confused.

Everything to do with nature, threes, bushes, flowers and everything alike was clubs. Anything of worth like jewelleries, cars, houses was diamond. Anything you liked was hearts and what you didn’t like meant spades. (You and Nick had had a long argument. He was the firm believer that spades looked like an upside-down heart. You knew he had only one eye, … but even then…)

Nat was catching on, but couldn’t really get behind the code, Clint smiled far too smug to not know anything.

Steve, Tony and Scott got restless, confused and irritated.

It was beautiful.

After you defeated him in yet another round, he looked you dead in the yes and said:

“You are not enhanced”

“Nope”

“Not an alien”

“No”

He starred at you.

“You’re cheating” it was a statement that came with a smile on his face.

Now you could finally let your smug smile show.

“Maybe.”

“How?” His eyes were shining and he grinned like you had gifted him a present and not messed with him for the past hour.

“A magician never tells”

They were half as bad.

They were a strange kind of family.

Chapter Text

“So you are…?” and here he was again, or they, to be more precise. Tony and Steve still didn’t know where to put you. Even after a whole week.

The other avengers didn’t have had so much trouble. By know everyone had put one and one together.

Clint had figured out the fastest (beside Natasha, but she didn’t really count).

It still had been that very first evening at the compound, when the archer had knocked on your door.

“Can I come in?”

You let him. After all he was under the selected few Nick trusted… to a certain amount. All in all you knew about Clint that he was a great agent, didn’t miss a shot, was a child at heart and that he was sometimes utterly lost for a grown up human being.

With that he let himself fall onto your sofa. It didn’t take long rom him to start. And unlike in Nicks stories the archer was quite serious.

“My wife is here, my children too and that scared me. But then I saw you and now I’m downright terrified”

What?!

“Why?” You were missing some crucial detail here. You certainly weren’t intimidating by any means. He chuckled, a little glint in his eyes.

“I hid my wife from nearly my whole team. Only Fury and Nat knew about my family. So don’t think that I don’t recognise a man that has done the same”

“If Barton wants to, he has a pretty food common sense, there is not much that could get past him” Phil had told you one time.

A smile was exchanged.

“Didn’t see you as a father”

At that his eyebrows shoot up “Fury didn’t tell you?”

A smile again.

“No. He told me little stories about you, the avengers. But if you wanted that nobody knew about your family than he honoured that”

“Well, I didn’t see Fury … as a person with a private life so…” but he was stopped when Goose jumped onto his lap and started purring.

Clint was a good guy.

A good guy starring with wide eyes at the cat.

“That’s Goose, be careful and don’t let her close to your face.” After all Goose wasn’t really a cat.

“A cat.” The archer looked at you. “You have a cat… in the compound”

Well, not really….

“It’s not my cat”

“What do you mean it’s not your- does- do you- Nick Fury owns a cat?! I bet she can karate”

Well, not really…but…

Lovingly you petted Goose.

“Can she do karate?” Now you saw the side of Clint, Nick had told you so much about.

“No…but she is Nick Furys pet so… don’t annoy her”

Silence

“You and me. We need to become friends ASAP” The archer seemed serious and that made you laugh even more. For a little while both of you watched Goose groom herself, play with a tiny white ball (normally she would play with her giraffe, but…that was still in your flat), so Nick just had to buy that ball on the way of getting Goose to the compound.

“But seriously” Clint started after Goose who had laid down. “Could you…. I don’t know spent some time with Laura? She knows nobody beside Fury and Nat and I have the feeling that they’ll be quite busy in the next time. Maybe a normal friend would be good in all this chaos.”

Ha. You and normal?

Fucking look at your cat or your boyfriend!

But you understood where Clint was coming from. And he was right. And maybe it would do you some good as well.

“Of course.”

You could basically see the wight dropping from his shoulders.

And that you did. You introduced yourself early the next morning to the other … loved ones and were instantly welcomed with open arms. While Darcy cached you up on all the gossip the compound and the avengers had to offer, the kids draw… with you. Laura smiled in her tea as Lila gifted you her drawing. It was a dog, at least she said so…Either way she had poured her heart into it.

You played with the children and everybody danced to ridicules songs. Everything to forget the reason you were gathered in the first place…. more or less.

As the children went on the (childproof) roof to play on the (from Tony Stark himself) newly constructed playground, the reason came up. It was only natural.

“I hate being the cliché damsel in distress” Laura rolled her eyes as she said that.

“That sounds like this happens to you on a daily basis”

“Darcy, I dated Clint Barton aka. Hawkeye. Trust me the farm was born out of experiences like this”

“What?!”

“Before we had the children, obliviously, after that Clint became borderline paranoid with safety”

With an open mouth Darcy looked around.

“Why is nobody shocked but me?”

“Mandalorian incident” stated Pepper drily.

“John Walker” added Sarah.

“Who is that?”

“Creepy Captain America fan”

And like that everybody stated a name or a place. Obliviously it wasn’t the first time. At the end only Darcy and you remained.

“Please tell me that this is as new to you as it is to meeeee!”

An apologetic smile.

“Justin Hammer”

Peppers eyebrows meet her hairline.

“What? I didn’t get to choose did I?” You defended yourself.

“I’m seriously the only kidnapping-virgin?”

Silence.

And then all of your erupted in laughter. What even were your lives?

Pepper even spilled a little of her drink, Darcy clutched her stomach. The air was light and the mood good.

After that evening you spent a lot of time with the others. Pepper ordered everything for a spa day and the kids got handed over to the superheros. A cool face-mask applied, in a clean towel around you, you felt better, than since all this had started to happen.

“Ahh. Like I got a new life” Sarah whispered.

It was silent and peaceful.

Until the children came running in, laughing, screaming and tackling their defenceless mothers. You looked to the door the children just came from. How could a bunch of superheros be that bad at baby-sitting? You asked yourself as said bunch of superheros appeared hero by hero in the door.

Lastly even Goose entered the room and as elegant as ever stalked over to you and settled on your chest. Your eyes found Nicks. Smiling softly at you.

Darcy bedside you whispered your name.

“Your child is far quieter than those-” finger pointing around you “- so if you ever need a competent baby-sitter, call me up.”

You learnt to love those loud kids and their families. They made it really easy for you. There was always a seat for you, always someone happy that you would sit beside them. Always eager to talk to you, always happy to listen to you. You went to your room with drawings in your hands more often than not and soon the kids would scream your name and throw themselves at you.

Why? You had no idea.

Dinners were always loud and full of live. Thor was catching Darcy up on Asgardian gossip. Pepper would try to tell Tony what his company was doing. Peter would ask Steve a bunch of drawing related questions, even when he himself didn’t draw. Sam would try to calm his nephews and Bucky would edge them on. Phil and Natasha talked often silent and fast.

It was chaos.

The best kind of.

Back in the present and to Steve and Tony, still the only ones not knowing to which person you belonged. Everybody teased them about it.

Clint snickered from his place on the fridge as Tony and Steve questioned you. It was far funnier to tease the two avengers than you would have ever believed.

“I am …originally supposed to be a teacher like my dad, but that never toke place”

Two grown men groaned and you smiled.

Then Phil walked in, regarded the borderline pained expressions with one raised eyebrow before he looked at you.

“What have you done this time?”

“Nothing!”

Innocent till proven otherwise.

Clint laughed and nearly dropped from the fridge.

“Come with me” only now you saw the ridged posture with which Phil held himself. Something was wrong.

“Of course,” you smiled only from muscle memory.

What had happened now?

Nick was heavily leaning on his desk. His shoulders tense, hit mouth a grim line. This was bad…

Phil closed the door and suddenly you were in Nick arms, out of instinct you wrapped yours around him too.

“What’s the matter love?” You whispered. The question only destined for his ears. He hugged you closer.

Silence.

“This morning I sent two agents to get some of your stuff, your hoddie and Gooses little giraffe and-” his hand stroked up and down you back. A heavy weight settled in your stomach. “- they now lie in medical.”

Silence.

“What happened Nick?”

He took a step back, one arm still around your shoulders.

“They got attacked as the found this”

On his desk laid one note and two pictures and you didn’t know which was worse. Which item let your breath hitch the most or your hands tremble like they did.

The photo of you. In your flat. Sleeping in your bed. This photo that was clearly made from someone who had been in your bedroom…right next to you… While you were sleeping. You felt the blood rushing from your face. Nick at one side and Phil at the other.

You can run, but you can’t hide her

The note.

And the last picture. You with Goose in your arms, at the window. Looking out of the window, of the compound.

Nicks strong arm around you was suddenly drily needed.

“I won’t let anything happen to you” his lips at your temple.

“We won’t let anything happen.”

Phil smiled at you. You tried to reappreciate it.

“Are-the others- are there other messages?”

You saw Nathaniel playing with his duck, Lila wreaking havoc with her brother. You saw Laura with loving eyes and Darcy with a smile on her lips and headphone in her ears. You saw Sams nephews and Pepper standing strong and tall.

“We are currently checking. As you can believe there are very few agents we entrust enough with that task”

You nodded. There were probably two or three…

Nick left the softest kiss in your temple… and eve when you felt safe and warm in his arms you longed for a room without windows….

That evening after dinner Nick let the bomb drop. You, Laura, Darcy, Pepper, Sarah, everyone… they were still on you. Probably even Yelena.

Clint attached himself to Laura, Natasha got out her knifes and started playing with them. Sam lost all colour in his face and Bucky starred at the pictures as if he could burn them away with his gaze alone.

A heavy silence settled into the room. The new pictures littered the table. But it had been only one note.

Only one

Phil was glued to your side. Nicky eye constantly darted to you. And you saw fear. In Phil. In Nick. In Laura and Darcy. Clint and Natasha.

It didn’t matter who that was, who was playing with you.

It didn’t.

That fucker would go down.

Nobody scared your family like that.

Nobody.

Chapter Text

“We have a lead!” Tony proclaimed days later; you had been in the compound for three weeks by now.

“Finally,” Clint breathed out and was up and about in a heartbeat.

In an instant all avengers were gathered around the table, the loved ones excused themselves mostly. Without waiting for anybody Tony started his explanation.

How they found them. Suspected man-power. Plan of attack.

It was too fast for you. Your brain still with we have a lead.

How? And why so suddenly? It didn’t sit right with you. You blocked their voices out. It was like the thing that had bugged you from the beginning.

Why had they waited that long?

“Something is wrong” you looked at Nick.

“Something doesn’t add up.”

A small nod from him. He was feeling it as well.

The discussion took a long time. Multiple hours in fact and you sat there and listened. The whole. Fucking. Time. You wanted to know everything.

Needed to.

In the end it was agreed on nearly everybody going. Take them out strong and fast. Don’t let them see it coming. But after you and Nick had a bad feeling it was also agreed on, that someone would stay behind. The compound was the most secure building in the world. But still.

Nobody wanted to risk it.

After a short debate, it was decided that Bucky would stay behind. All the others would go. To put an end on it. Early the next morning they would take off, after all it was a nearly 6 hours flight.

With all their power the avengers would crush them. Nobody messed with their families.

But something…

Something was still nagging you.

Pulling at the edge of your brain, but you couldn’t put a finger on it.

That evening Nick hugged you as soon as you left the bathroom. Still wrapped in only a fluffy towel and damp hair.

Your shoulders dropped and for the first-time since Tony proclaimed that they had a lead, you breathed.

“You’re worried” Nick stated. His breath tickling your skin. Even Goose seemed to sense it, for she was purring at your feet. Pressing her furry head to your legs. Even with everything, a small smile crept ono your face.

“Yeah”

He hugged you closer. His warmth radiating from him, into you. His strong arms secure around your body

Home

With him you were at home. At peace.

“What can I do to reassure you?”

You thought about his question. Then you looked up. His handsome face was just a few breaths away from yours.

“Call me. Every hour, call me”

A soft smile started to dance on his lips, those very lips he then pressed onto your forehead in an unbelievable soft kiss.

“All right my love”

And he started to softly sway with you. Always watching out for Goose, but never letting go of you.

You rested your head on his chest. If this would be how you spent the rest of your life you would be alright.

The next morning came much too fast.

The avengers were existed, anxious and just wanted to go. They wanted to put an end on it. Wanted to know their loved ones safe and sound. It was clear in how Sam messed with his nephew, how Thor tried to make Darcy laugh with the latest gossip from Asgard, it was obvious in the way Clints eyes darted from every member of his family back to Natasha, and in the way, Natasha was glued to her knifes.

In the way Tony checked his tools again and again and the way Steve just starred at everybody.

Even Phil was not better. Only Nick seemed to have a kind of peace. At least it would look like that to the others.

But you knew better.

You had felt it in the way he had hold you tighter the whole night. How he had cradled your head this morning and in the way he had looked at you, before he had left you in your room. He had some preparations to do.

Tension was high, nobody breathed freely and then it was time.

Time to say goodbye.

It felt all kinds of wrong.

Everybody was hugging and wishing the other goodbye. Nick pulled you into him.

“I’ll always come home to my girl” I love you his breath tickled in your ear. Your eyes burned.

“I’ll always come home to my man.” I love you too.

A kiss on your forehead. Soft and longing and then he was gone. PDA was not really Nicks thing.

Then Phil came to you. He hugged you as well.

“Stay out of trouble” Stay safe and don’t worry about us.

“Don’t do anything stupid” Both of your asses should better get back in once piece.

He chuckled.

“Will do”

And then he was gone as well.

You all watched as the quin-jet disappeared into the early morning light.

“So what do we do now?” Darcy asked as she clapped her hands together.

“We wait” Bucky told her.

“That’s boring. I’ll watch cat compilations on YouTube. Anyone else game?”

Most of the children jumped on the offer, taking a horrified Darcy with them.

Laura and Pepper chuckled.

“What do you think Bucky?” Sarah asked.

He turned his face to her.

“Probably better we stay together.”

So Nick and you weren’t the only ones with a strange feeling in your guts.

Reassuring.

And not at all.

You found Darcy with the kids in the cinema room. The kids jumping all around her and Darcy joining in.

You grinned.

Popcorn was made and a movie chosen. Anything to distract as good as possible from the mission currently going on.

Time passed with the kids debating over which video to watch next and Darcy waving between joining in on the debate and trying to calm the kids down.

1 hour and Nick called. Still on the quin-jet. Noting new from either of you.

You phone was by your side every second. In your hand, your pocket. Always close. The ringtone up as high as possible, as not to miss the call.

2 hours and Nick called. Still on the quin-jet and you could hear Tony in the background singing horrible. Tensions were high as well. Everybody was dealing different. You were sure Steve was about to shut Tony up, in one way or the other. It brought a small smile to your face.

3 hours and Nick called. The kids were preparing dinner with some of the others. Natasha had beat Tony in a game of arm-wrestling. Everybody just wanted the team to arrive, to quite the waiting game. It was making everybody anxious and put them on the edge.

Both of you spoke coded. He was Nick Fury and a phone could be messed with. You didn’t mind. It had been always like that. It brought comfort.

4 hours and Nick called. Most of the avengers took a nap. The other cleaned their weapons compulsory. 2 Hours till ETA. The kids demanded another movie. The adults were about ready to do anything to shut them up.

5 hours and Nick called. Your grip on the phone way too strong. With every passing second you grew more and more restless.

Soon they would arrive…soon it would start. And you wanted nothing more than your man and your new friends back here. Back where you were, were it was safe.

5 and a half hours and you couldn’t take it anymore. You jumped up from your seat and looked at the other people in the room. Nobody looked relaxed, everybody was trapped in their thoughts.

“I’m going into communication” you told Bucky. Half an hour till ETA.

It was only a few corridors down. Bucky nodded.

“I’ll come with you”

You nodded. The other nodded.

“Tell us, if you learn something new” Pepper asked. Another nod.

Silent both of you and Bucky walked side by side, down the corridors.  

“So Nick Fury huh?” Bucky finally broke the silence. Even when about everybody beside Tony and Steve knew who you belonged to, nobody had breached the subject till now (with the exception of Clint on the very first evening).

You shrugged with a soft smile.

“Yeah. And you and Sarah Wilson?”

You smile turned wicked as Bucky blushed. You had seen the looks, the ways their hands would brush.

“Yeah” he croaked.

“Does Sam know?”

Bucky stopped dead in his tracks.

“Please. I- I don’t know how-”

You laughed at the stuttering assassin. “Your secret’s safe with me. It’s yours to tell him. But when you do. Please make sure that Friday is able to film it.”

He grimaced.

“Bucky Barens feared-”

And then all the lights went out and the shutters of the windows went down.

“Look down protocol activated” Friday called out.

5 hours and 30 Minutes.

30 Minutes till EAT.

Your eyes looked onto Buckys.

And then the shoe dropped.

The avengers were right now at the place that would take them hours to get back. It had been a trap.

But not for the avengers.

For the ones left in the compound.

Chapter Text

Bucky took you by your shoulder and shoved the two of you through the nearest door. Closing it silently behind him. Trapping you in a little conference room. In the semi-dark.

Your heart was pondering in your ears, your lungs were barley working.

Breath.

You pressed the air through your mouth.

Think.

“What now?” Bucky asked.

“Shouldn’t you know? You are the assassin!”

Standing in a dark room, whispering with Bucky and being barley able to stand still was not how you had expected this day to go, but well…

“We have to protect the others-” Bucky stared, his voice was calm, but you heard a certain urgency behind them. Sarah was among those people… and Pepper, the kids, Darcy, …

“but we don’t know how many people we are working against and what their goal is.”

Information. You needed information.

“Friday?” you asked Bucky as well as the AI.

Both of your waited, but no voice rung from the ceiling.

Bucky shook his head.

“Tony told Steve one time that the Lockdown protocol was still a little bugged. The last time they tested it, it looked Friday partly out.”

“But not entirely?”

“Yeah. But when those attackers made it this far, I believe we can assume, that they pushed her out the whole way as soon as they entered the security area.”

They knew too much about the compound.

Way too much.

“Do you ever have some good news?!”

He levelled you with his gaze.

Breath.

In and out.

You had defeated Justin Hammer on your own.

More or less untrained.

You and Bucky could get this under control as well.

You were trained and he was Bucky fucking Barens.

He was the most feared assassin and you were Nick fucking Furys girlfriend.

Think

It would take hours for the avengers to come back. Hours in which-

“Bucky do you have a watch?” You whispered urgently to that assassin. His eyes assessed you. He came to a conclusion. A nod.

He gave you his watch and you took yours.

Breath.

Bucky looked over your shoulder.

Think.

“What is the plan?” he asked.

Your eyes looked onto his blue ones.

“I’m not gonna like it, am I?” he sounded defeated.

It had been about 10 Minutes since the protocol activated, as you opened the door. Time was running out.

Buckys face was a grimace, like he had tasted something foul. He didn’t like your plan, way too risky, but it was the only one that you could come up with. The plan was risky, … but good.

He saluted to you.

Both of you went on sperate ways. Yours went through the door, Buckys went into the ceiling. Hurried, fast, silent. You didn’t look back.

You had to find the others. Safe them and gather as much information as possible about what the fuck was going on.

Breath.

The air tasted sweet; your blood was electrified.

Let’s get this show on the road.

You sneaked around the corner. You room was just down this hallway. But those people were not that far behind you. The skin on your back crawled every time you heard their steps or hushed voices. At least two were on their way to you.

You only had to get to Goose.

You had to focus on taking deep breaths. Just a few doors were separating you from your room. The right moment, silent steps. You could make it, you-

The ringtone of your phone shattered the silence and stopped your heart.

6 hours were up.

Nick was calling.

Footsteps were running in your direction, you heard voices. You didn’t look back. Didn’t spare those people a glance, you took of running. Surpassing your door, eyes fixed on the end of the corridor, the hammering of those boots behind you even louder than your frantic heart.

Faster.

The end of the corridor was nearly there and-

It was like a train had hit you. A body slamming into your back, throwing you to the ground, without even just the chance for you to catch yourself.

You hit the ground hard, a heavy weight on your back. Your face burning and your lungs empty.

Your phone was still ringing.

“We have her! Tell Gus we have her!” Hands grabbed yours. Fixating them on your back. Another one on your head, pressing it down.

Breath.

They dragged you back into the cinema-room. You phone was still ringing. Your face burning, handcuffs securing your hands behind your back. They weren’t armatures.

As they pushed you into the room your heart all but stopped.

Cowered in the seats, clinging to each other the kids sat there. Sarah hugged as much of them as she could. Her eyes strong, even when you could see the trembling of her hand.

Darcy was nowhere to be seen, same as Laura; Pepper was just thrown into a chair next to them.

Nobody seemed severely harmed.

Pepper spotted a nasty bruise already and she looked pissed.

Those people hadn’t had a clue who they were messed with.

Now you focused on the attackers.

The two who took you were a man and a woman. In this room there were four additional people. Two men and two women. All of them… all of them seemed to be around their late 50’s, give or take.

Not the usual age for an assault like this.

“We have her!” The man that held you by your shoulder shouted over the ringing of your phone.

Instantly a woman was by your side and fished your phone out of your pocket.

“It’s Fury” she sounded alarmed. Maybe even scared. Her hands trembled the tiniest bit and she never looked at the kids. Her hair was getting white and her skin was pale. She showed your phone to a man.

You supposed that this was Gus. He was trained, his beard was more grey than black. His grey eyes were piercing through your phone and then they darted to you.

He was dangerous.

He led this operation.

His steps strong, unwavering, a little smile tugging at the edge of his lips.

“Furys little house wife” he sung towards you. Your phone in his hand.

Already you had the irresistible urge to punch him in the face. With you fist or a brick wall, you weren’t picky.

“Welcome to the party!” He outstretched his arms as if he was a host at a gala, welcoming the guests.

A tile in the ceiling moved. You only noticed, because you had been waiting for it.

Breath.

“I think we all want that this party goes on for a little while longer. But I suppose that wouldn’t happen if you don’t pick up this call.” He waved your phone in front of your face. The ringtone had stopped, only to ring again a heartbeat later.

He took your face in his hands. His voice was strong. He meant every word he told you. He practically poured them down your throat.

“You’ll answer this lovely call. And you’ll tell your sugar daddy that everything is A okay. Any funny business, anything at all and-”

One of his men took a gun and pointed the not-so-friendly-end at your stomach.

Breath.

You nodded fast and way too much. Let them think you were far more scared than you were. You were terrified yes, but, a breath, you could still think. Your mind wasn’t blank.

“Good” he whispered in your ear and you wanted to bath in hot water. Wanted to clean your skin. Wanted to rip that fucking pig apart and feed him to Goose.

Breath.

He accepted the call and put it on speaker.

The hand on your shoulder was intensifying his grip, borderline painful, as Nicks voice filled the room.

Nobody looked at the kids.

Nobody saw the relieved smile flash over Sarahs face. It was only there for a moment. But it was enough. Enough to put your mind at ease the tiniest bit.

Now you had to play your part.

“Hey you there?” Nicks voice was urgently.

“Sorry Nick. I felt asleep on the couch. The kids wanted to watch that shitty movie and you know that they just knock me out.”

The silence was just a heartbeat too long for Nick. It was the only indication you had that he had picked up on the code words. The very first code words he had taught you. In your apartment, all those years ago.

“If I say shitty movie, it really means that it is a trap”

“Okay but then couch needs to mean that you should bring me more popcorn” you had been kidding.

“Fine, or run it could be both.” Nick hadn’t been.

You weren’t kidding right now.

“How long did you sleep? Will you even be able to sleep tonight at all?”

How many? Are you injured?

“Don’t know, to be honest. Maybe an hour?”

6 or more

A gun in your face, impatient eyes on yours. They wanted that you ended the call. It made many of them nervous. You looked Gus straight in the eyes. He wasn’t nervous.

He was a cat playing with his food.

Sarahs eyes darted to the ceiling.

All the kids still sat beside her.

Fearful eyes looked onto you, onto the guns and then up.

Your heart stopped beating.

You continued talking.

“We’ll see how well I’ll sleep tonight. Goose has not bothered me all day so maybe I’ll be able to sleep without a cats asshole in my face”

Currently unharmed. But that may change. I can’t find Goose. Don’t know if those assholes have done anything to her.

“She is an independent cat” she can look out for herself “how about-” Some of the men turned around and started to push the guns in the face of Sarah and Pepper. Both feezed, but you saw the hard look in Peppers eyes and the kid that sat on Sarahs lap. Little Nathanial.

The message was clear. So you talked over Nick.

Something you had never done before.

“When you come back, we have to watch Pirates of the Caribbean again. I’m still in love with Captain Jack Sparrow”

If things go south, I need you to know that I love you.

Tears were burning in your eyes.

One misstep and you knew it would be over.

Silence.

“I’ll always come home to my girl” you heard his fear. Maybe nobody else did, but you.

They pushed the end-call button.

He was your pirate and you were his crazy cat lady.

And you maybe would never hear his voice and see his face and taste his lips again.

But you would make those people pay for it.

Gus turned around. There were six people with him. Two still in your back, holding you in place.

A door opened and another two entered.

8

“We can’t find them” the short man informed Gus.

Gus wasn’t happy to hear that.

“How can that be?” Gus took a deep breath. “Okay. Alright. We can work through that. It’s only a minor inconvenience.” His smile was forced, but his tone calm.

He hadn’t been their leader for long, or… or those people didn’t only work together, but were friends.

8 People.

That had managed to stalk each and every one of you for months, without the avengers catching on. Those people were trained and careful.

But that didn’t add up to them being this relatively calm about not finding Darcy and Laura…

It didn’t sit right with you. It made your stomach turn.

Something was wrong…

No.

This was personal.

Those persons before you, they were on a quest.

And you started to get a very bad feeling about that.

But after all, you needed information. That was the reason…

You took one deep breath, totally aware that what you were about to pull off could end very nasty.

“What is this all about?” You asked the guy that stood beside Gus. He had been silent so far and stood as far away from everybody as possible. He didn’t look very happy, he looked down right pained. His eyes betrayed his age even more than the grey hairs on his head.

Talk with somebody low in the hierarchy and watch how the power crumbles.

The guy just looked at you.

There were tears in his eyes.

You hadn’t expected that. Anything but…

Gus walked up in front of you, he looked you up and down.

“You want to know what this is about?” he asked with a sneer.

“Yes” your eyes were strong and your voice steady, even when you trembled like a young horse on the inside.

“This is about revenge.”

Chapter Text

Well, … that sounded bad.

But you had all their attention on you and you were about to gather some information so, it could have been worse. Somehow…

Out of the corner of your eye you saw how a rope got lowered from the ceiling, down to where the kids were sitting.

All while the people to kidnap and stalk you had their backs to them and their eyes looked onto you.

Your heart was beating like a jackhammer and your lungs didn’t want to work, but you couldn’t mess this up now. No. Failing wasn’t an option.

“Why?”

A breath.

Keep it simple. Hear what they’ll tell you when you leave the question open. What do they tell you? What not?

“Why?!” Gus was up in your face. Anger glinting in his eyes, hate colouring his cheeks red, but… his voice also broke.

It was so much more than just simple revenge.

“Because the avengers and Fury took everything away from us. And now we’ll do the same to them.”

Your heart stopped for a short moment. The hold on you tightened.

The old lady that had a hand on your shoulder continued speaking.

So she was the second in command.

“We have lost everything that was important to those people. It’s only fair that they feel the same pain as we.”

A movement from way behind your capturers, while their eyes were on you.

Nathanial was safe.

Or as safe as it was possible right now.

“I still don’t understand. I’m sorry, but what did they do?” Your voice was sincere. You really wanted to understand, not only distract them. You wanted to understand to make this all a little less dangerous.

Those people, they didn’t look like merciless killers to you.

They looked lost.

Broken.

And you wanted to know why.

Looks got exchanged. They debated if and what to tell you, without any words, only through some looks. They were good.

But you were better.

Nathanial was secure in the ceiling with Bucky. Maybe even with Darcy and Laura. You risked one look to Pepper, Sarah and the other kids. Lila clung to Sarah and her boys hugged her as well. But there were little smiles and careful looks above.

Pepper had a little smirk on her face that was downright…nasty. Suddenly you got the hint of why she and Tony worked that well together. But as fast as you peeked at them you looked back again. There was no room for mistakes.

Not today.

Finally, Gus spoke up again. All the people stood more or less in a circle in front of you by now, safe the two that still held you tight and secure in place.

“We are agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have been for a long time and for a long time we did it with a smile and proud hearts. Our children have been the same-”

Oh shit.

“They went out of their ways and became agents as well. Good ones. Nearly damn perfect ones.”

Eyes got lowered and shoulder sacked to the ground. But some tiny smiles were seen as well.

“But Fury send them on more and more dangerous missions. Sometimes even with those avengers. People that have suits and serum to protect them. Not caring for the safety of the normal agents. The disposable ones. Not caring for their lives. We begged our children to back down. To resist. We saw what was coming for them.”

Silence, as his eyes bored into yours.

“And we were right.”

His eyes burned with hate and lost and you were sure, those people had nothing to lose anymore.

Because they had already lost everything.

And that was fucking dangerous.

“And now we want the avengers, the people that should have protected our kids to feel the same. To see the dead of their loved ones coming and not being able to do anything against it. To feel the same, we felt.”

Fuck.

Laura Barton had been the girlfriend of Hawkeye for quite some time. But more important, right now she was also a mother and her children were in danger.

Laura Barton was the wife of Hawkeye.

And there was a reason those two felt in love.

The worst scenario ever. This was what this was. Fighting against people that had nothing to lose? That was…

But, well… giving up wasn’t an option.

“I understand that-” you began, but it seemed that those had been the worst words you could have chosen.

“No! You don’t understand! You don’t understand what if feels like to bury your own child!” Gus screamed. The other… parents, they looked at you with disgust in their eyes for the very first time.

Okay that had been wrong.

Admit it.

“No, I don’t. But I know what it feels like to bury your whole family. My mother that loved knitting, my father who watched every baseball game in his old red armchair. I know what it feels like to bury an empty casket, because there is nothing left.”

You knew how the hole could consume you. But at the same time, you knew, that every mistake you now made could cost you your life, or the life of some of the others.

You had to keep them talking. Had to try to reach them…

“And that is how your children would feel when they could see you now. Where are the loving mothers and the understanding fathers? Where are the people they looked up to? The people they wanted to be like?”

“They died with them!” Gus’ face was red, his eyes looked onto you, like a predator watching his prey.

You shook your head. No, it wasn’t that easy.

“No. They didn’t. You killed them, because being angry is easier than being sad because-” a hit to your face. Your eyes watered, your lip busted, copper on your tongue. You hadn’t seen that coming. The skin, where he had hit you, burned and air was for a moment hard to come by.

This was getting nasty, pretty damn fast.

“You don’t know what it feels like!” In his eyes were tears, even the other parents looked close to them.

They were right.

You didn’t know what it felt like to lose your child. You hoped that you would never find out.

“I don’t know. But I do know that your children believed in what they did. They-” this time he kicked you in the stomach. You had to take a deep breath to keep your food down. That one you had seen coming.

He had made his decision.

The first punch was the hardest one, but after that? After that the gates were open. Nick had told you time and time again.

The first punch, the first kick, that was often the start of the end.

But you had endured it one time before.

“Don’t talk about them like you have any idea who they were!” His gates were broken.

I’m a damsel

Another slap. Maybe you couldn’t safe everybody. His fist met your stomach.

I’m in distress

But those were Laura and Darcy and the kids and Sarah.

He shouted in your face, anger, fear. Pain. In his.

You would try either way. You would fight them every little step of that fucking way!

“You don’t know ANYTHING about pain!”

A fist in your stomach.

I can handle it

Stalling.

That was your best option. Keep them long enough occupied till Nick and the avengers would be there.

It was only a question of a few hours.

Childs play.

Or stalling long enough for Bucky to hide the kids, Pepper, Sarah and find Darcy and Laura.

Long enough for him to kept those safe.

Gus kept on using you as his personal punching back. Two of his group tried once to get him away from you.

They didn’t succeed.

But you did.

Their attention was on you.

The slowly bloody, weak and hurt you. But on you and not on their other hostages.

Yeah, they may be agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but you had Bucky fucking Barnes on your side. You had a bunch of people for who this wasn’t their first rodeo.

And those parents were emotional beyond anything. It was only natural for them to make mistakes.

To lose focus.

You didn’t know how much time had passed; didn’t know how many people Bucky was able to safe, to slowly draw into the ceiling, into the vents Clint always loved to use. But Gus finally slowed down.

Your breath was shallow. Trying to move your body as less as possible. Your left eye was closed due to the swelling, a taste of copper was on your tongue. Your skin burned, your muscles were tense and there were multiple places where you were bleeding.

You were still standing.

Breathing.

“Gus” a woman softly whispered.

“What?” He breathed out. His eyes looked onto his bloody knuckles.

Those people weren’t merciless killers.

Those were broken parents.

And that scared you more.

“Look.” She tilled her head to where to others were sitting.

Or had been sitting.

His gaze was only meet with the one of one smirking Pepper Pots.

Your shoulders relaxed, but you drew in a pained breath at an instant.

Relaxing hurt.

Everything hurt.

The hands that kept you in place before, were now the only thing that let you stand up.

But you still couldn’t supress the little smile that spread over your face.

Bloody and with a beat-up face you looked up at Gus. His eyes were big and looked onto the empty seats before Pepper, then he turned around and looked at you. Grinning at him.

“Think you are the first one who tries to hurt them through us?” You whispered with blood on your tongue.

“Really thought that they would leave us here all alone?” You smirked.

In a heartbeat Gus was in front of you. Gripping you chin and forcing you to look into his eyes. His hold on you way too tight.

He had no clue who had had chosen to mess with.

“Who helped you?” His whisper was scarier than when he had shouted. But you didn’t answer.

Till they pointed a gun at Pepper.

“Barnes” The name left your mouth at an instant.

You would not let them hurt Pepper.

And you wanted them to know, who they were up against.

Several faces got a shade paler.

You smirked at Gus.

He slapped you across your face.

“Okay, okay-” he turned around and looked at the others.

“We have more than enough time to find those people. Even with Barnes among them.”

You tensed your muscles when Gus said time.

The people holding you noticed that and of course they pulled Gus attention to it.

With piercing eyes he looked at you.

“What is it? Hmm. What?”

You looked away. Down, onto your hand.

Fast and tight his hand shot out and grabbed you at your wrist. Turning it, till he saw your watch.

“Explain” he pressed through his teeth, as soon as he read the watch.

Outside of the door something was heard.

Like the seasoned agents they were, four of them went out to investigate.

Laura Barton knew the vents. Laura Barton knew how to sneak and Darcy had spent enough time with aliens and scientist to know a thing or two about the panel in front of her. And Lila beside them remembered every word Pepper Pots had whispered to her about the codes for Friday.

Sarah Wilson and the boys went to search a certain furry companion.

And Bucky Barens had just knocked over a potted plant outside of the room Pepper Pots and you were just now in.

He was certain you were crazy.

But luckily, he was too.

They dragged him in. His face bloody and a gun to his head.

Your eyes meet.

He looked up and then down, and then at you again. It was small, but you caught on.

The corner of your mouth twitched for the smallest amount.

Gus stalked over to Bucky and grabbed his arm and starred at Buckys watch, the watch that, like yours that was an hour behind theirs.

“Explain” Gus gritted at you again.

You tensed, let your eyes dart around, till they pressed the gun against Buckys skull.

“Okay, okay!”

Gus didn’t know who he had chosen to mess with.

You were Nick Furys girlfriend.

You had multiple plans.

And back-up plans.

“It’s a safety protocol.”

Bucky vigorously shook his head.

“In case of a look-down, all not-registered watches and clocks get turned an hour forward.”

“Why?” the woman behind you asked.

You waited till she repeated her question.

“’Cause that way the intruders think that they have less time, to make them stressed, so that they make mistakes.”

Silence.

Bucky starred at the floor, his lips a grim line.

And Pepper Pots was a fucking hero. You saw how her fingers twitched to her watch as you had explained.

“But Friday is looked out. It’s the buck Stark still had to fix” one of the men tried to argue.

You swallowed. For the first time, because of real nerves.

“No.” Buckys grave voice rolled through the room. His eyes were still looked onto the floor.

“There are only some functions of Friday that are looked out. Not everything.”

You took some deep breaths.

“Which kind of functions are still operating?” The voice trembled the tiniest bit.

“Protocol back into the future, Protocol keep bird brain out of the vents, Protocol where is my heart, pro-”

“What does the last one do?”

Silence.

“What. Does. The. Last. One. Do?”

Bucky looked at you as he answered.

“Keeps track of where the people are.”

Breathing was easier.

Buckys instructions to the control room, where the panel was, that tracked where the people in the compound were, had been clear and easy to follow.

Two had been sent on the way there.

To figure out where the rest of you were hiding. To bring them all back in here.

Darcy, Laura and Lila looked at the panel.

Hearts beating fast and loud.

“It sounded way more chill, when you spoke about those situations” Darcy mumbled. Lila nodded enthusiastically. And Laura had to suppress a smile.

The radio clicked. The two were at the panel.

And they saw the tiny dots all over the compound.

Gus told them to go to the nearest ones to their position and sent two additional parents to another location.

He wanted everybody back with him.

Wanted the control again.

But that left only him with three of his friends with you, Pepper and Bucky.

Not his smartest move.

“We can’t fight more than 5 people. Not without serious injuries on our side as well” Bucky had told you in the semi dark of the conference room. Breathing had been hard.

You had thought about the kids.

Injury wasn’t an option.

“Then we need to split them up, if they are more than 5. Like they do in every horror movie.”

And then you had had a thought.

“I know who can help us”

Time passed.

You had no clue how much.

And slowly, even Gus got anxious.

You sneaked at look at your watch.

Three hours were up already.

But Gus believed that it were only two.

“When they believe that they have more time than they actually do, the others can take them on with the element of surprise.”

“That is if they get here in time and if they capture one of us and look at the watch”

You had looked at the solider with an almost sorry expression.

He had caught on nearly instantly.

“No. No. You’re crazy!”

“I am the crazy cat lady. And we also need my cat.”

“Fury’s gonna kill me” Bucky had whispered to himself.

“What is taking them so long” Gus mumbled to himself. He had restrained himself from using his radio, in case his teammates were sneaking up on the people he wanted to hurt so badly.

But after half an hour without any form of communication with them he took his radio and called for the others.

No one answered.

They looked from the vents as the people entered the room underneath them. Sarah looked at the kids and then at the red tabby cat that sat by her side.

She petted it one last time and then grabbed her and lowered her into the room.

What then happened…

Well, the agents weren’t a treat anymore. Because Goose just ate them.

With her tentacles.

That came out of her mouth.

“Now I understand why Fury keeps her” AJ whispered with awe in his voice; his big eyes looked onto the cat. The little boy had a beautiful smile on his face.

“I want one as well” his brother added.

“No.” Sarah replied. Her hands still secure around the…cat?

“But Mom! Look at her!”

“I will not repeat myself. We are not getting a pet.”

Gus started to shout into his radio.

You smiled at Bucky. He nodded at you.

“Why do you have that?” with awed and confused eyes Laura looked at Darcy and the taser in her hand.

Darcy shrugged. “It worked on Thor. An alien. I thought it would be handy to keep something, that could even knock out Thor, close to myself.”

Laura smiled at her.

In here hands was a rope.

The women exchanged a feral smile as they waited around a corner.

Waiting for the people that were on their way to an empty room, with the firm believe, that someone was in that room. They would not expect to get attacked in the hallways.

Four people on the one side. Pepper, Bucky and you on the other.

Weapons on their side, non on yours. Or at least none for you and Pepper. You were fairly certain that the assassin had gathered some kind of weapon before he had let himself get caught.

One last look onto each other and the three of your jumped up.

Shouts rung out, soon the first bullets flow through the room.

Legs, arms.

Everybody running.

Shouting.

But Bucky was fast and they underestimated Pepper. To be fair, even you hadn’t known that Pepper was armed. She had a little spray that just knocked the people out cold, if she got close enough to spray it in their faces.

And well you? You were a good distraction.

Shouts, and bullets, curses and some blood.

It was chaos like you had never encountered before.

Your injuries didn’t hurt anymore. Your blood was electrified.

It was looking good, till you had your focus too long on the others and only saw too late that Gus was on his way to you.

Without his gun (Bucky had destroyed that one quite fast).

He took all his energy and kicked your leg.

Hard.

An awful sound was heard as you crashed to the ground. Your leg was on fire. And it wasn’t looking healthy.

That bastard had broken your leg!

Straight on kicked in your kneecap.

Tears burned in your eyes as you looked up at him.

He towering above you with a look in his eyes that told you, if Bucky hadn’t broken his gun, you would have taken your last breath right now.

His eyes were looked onto you as you starred him down. He was so focused on you, that he didn’t see Pepper Pots coming at him. Her weapon in her hand.

He didn’t see it coming.

He took a breath and then felt unconscious to the ground.

Hard.

On his face.

A smiling Pepper Pots looked down at you.

“Do you think that this counts as group activity?”

You laughed.

All of you stood (well in your case sat) beside each other and looked at the panel and the sealed door that separated the secure area from the rest of the compound.

Pepper and Bucky were bruised. But aside from that (and a quite bloody you) nobody was harmed.

The boys looked at Goose with heart-eyes and declared to you, that they would be ready to look after her whenever you would or want need it.

You had petted Goose, who had purred.

She was perfect.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t get Friday in and I can’t delete or override the Lockdown-Protocol” Darcy explained.

You were amazed by her abilities. After all she had been able to manipulate a panel to look like Friday still kept track of the people. Under extreme pressure.

She was no damsel in distress. And with today no kidnaping-virgin anymore.

“So we are looked in till the others come back?” Sarah asked. Her boys started playing with the other children on the couches. Loud and happy. Carefree and pumped up with adrenaline.

The agents were handcuffed and looked in, in Dr. Banners emergency chamber. Bucky had always one eye on the video feed to that room.

But most of them were still unconscious.

“Jup, we have to wait”

A soft smile crept onto Buckys face.

You stood up and looked at your watch. Four hours were up, it would take the others another two to come back.

As soon as you stood Pepper reached for your arm, so that you didn’t have to put any pressure on your clearly broken leg.

You were just about to walk away from the sealed door, or well, more or less get carried, as it opened. Startling everybody, but Bucky.

In front of you stood Tony, Sam and Thor, together with Clint and Nick (those two looked like they just walked through a hurricane).

Wide eyes looked onto each other.

A big smile stretched over your face.

“Those idiots are looked into Dr. Banners emergency chamber. Well, all but two. Goose hasn’t thrown them up again yet” you smiled at Nick.

You were bloody, bruised, leaned with a good part of your weight on Pepper, but you were still able to smile. Still able to tell those heroes, that neither of you was a damsel in distress. Still able to look in Nick into his eye, the one person you loved more than anyone else.

“Who is she?” Tony asked again.

“The woman I’m gonna marry” Nick stated, while his eye never left yours.

“If you want to marry me, then you should get down on your knee” you had been joking.

Nick then kneeled before you, a red tabby cat, purring at his feet.

He hadn’t been.

Chapter Text

Healing from broken bones was no fun.

In theory.

Practical Phil and Nick dotted on you every way.

And you weren’t about to complain. Not when Nicks hugs felt like he put your world together again. Not when Phil made sure that your crutches were always in your reach. Not when the avengers made everything, they could to make you smile. Not when the kids drew on your cast. Chaotic, wild and colourful. Not when the girls declared the need for a girls-night. An excuse for all of you to get a little tipsy and eat too many sweets.

And the cherry on top of it was Clint and the story.

The story how Clint, Thor, Tony, Sam and Nick were able to be back that fast. You had laughed till your stomach had hurt and you had tears in your eyes when he had first told you about it. Just the mental image of Nick, sitting on Tonys back like a cowboy on a horse had you laughing on the floor. The picture of Clint, doing the same to Thor was only a little bit better. Clint was even so nice to ask Friday for the security pictures of the tower, the ones that showed said pairs. You took the picture, framed it and put it on your wall. As Nick saw it, he just looked at you, like you had betrayed him.

In exchange Clint (and Nick, … and multiple others) requested again and again a retelling on how you all had handled the situation. First to make sure, that no stranglers were left walking around, then to analyse, to point out what had been (too) risky (safe to say Nick had not been a fan of you getting purposely caught) and what alternatives you had had.

But after that even the avengers found the funny little things about the story.

And suddenly Goose got either treated like a goodness or they walked with big distance around her. It was quite funny.

Even more because Sam was now deadly afraid of the Flerken and Bucky just cuddled with her like he had no other purpose in his life. Goose had really taken a likening to the one-armed-soldier.

But the real gem in your life was this.

Talking and living with people that knew Nick. People you could talk to openly about your love and your fear for the man (after all his job was not really on the safe side). People that knew him and people that you didn’t put at risk with your mere existence beside them.

You discussed it a long time with Nick, but after a few days both of you agreed.

You would live at the compound. Quit your old job.

Nick would still hold onto his old flat, and if it was just for his sanity and the possible escape from the morons, also known as the avengers.

But for you it was a completely new chapter. One you really looked forward to, and you started it after you had healed completely. Packing up your old flat was fast (the avengers had told you time and time again that they would be happy to help you move, but you turned them down. This was something you wanted to do alone with Nick. Packing up the life you had lived so far and all the little things Nick had brought into it. Like the little fox-figure, the toys for Goose, or the various sweatshirts you had…borrowed from Nick. It had earned you a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk as Nick saw many of his clothing getting packed into your boxes).

After you had moved, you started to shadow Phil at his work.

Nick disliked it most of the times. He didn’t like that people knew you face, even when the people at S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t know who you were to Nick. But he accepted it (after he let Tony design a necklace that you could use as an emergency transmitter, letting Nick and Phil know your position).

You had found something you were good at, something that you would like to hold onto. And that was making plans for tricky situations. Outsmarting others and protecting people.

So now even once and again, Phil and you would sit together and come up with multiple back up plans for tricky situations for certain missions.

Phil would explain the mission, the people going and what was at risk, for both sides. And then he and you would spend hours talking though various back-up plans for those agents. It was funny, it was something you liked, something where you wanted to get better at.  

You yourself didn’t go on missions and you were perfectly fine with it. You preferred it more to come home to a warm bed, a purring Goose and a smiling Nick.

A Nick who had put a ring on your finger.

A Nick Fury who wanted to marry you.

You were still not over that. Multiple times Steve caught you admiring the ring. Just starring at it. Thinking about the life that laid ahead of you.

An unconventional that was for sure, but one you looked forward to.

You and Nick had talked about the wedding here and there. It was clear to both of you that you wanted to get married. But well… Nick didn’t want a lot of people to know.

And as soon as a certain Tony Stark discovered that, you had your hands full to stop Tony at planning single handed the perfect, exclusive but still most impressive wedding of the year.

It was something all the avengers were supporting Tony in. Something Nick complained about with a smile on his face when he laid in bed beside you.

All in all, you knew that your wedding would be chaos, but the good kind of. The kind your family and friends brought with them.

And for all the mumbling and eye-rolling he did, even Nick didn’t stop Tony and the others with their plans. And what kind of plans those were: Tony wanted real white pigeons which would be released (and he got the permission to marry couples. It was something he told you one night when you had sat at the bar of the compound. Nick had been working on a high value mission. Tony had sat himself beside you and showed you the certificate. In the silence of the room the billionaire promised you to marry you to the man you loved the most.) and then Bucky said that they could paint Sam’s wings white and he could be released. Sam was not in favour of the idea, but Steve was.

Like that, unserious and serious propositions got made to you and Nick by the others. And it became quite clear after some time that they would come to you to discuss a serious idea and to Nick with the…other ones.

You saw time and time again, how he would look at you, after he got those. And that look would be full of love and promises. He would do all the ridiculous stuff without hesitation, if you would ask him.

Nick didn’t hide those looks from the avengers anymore.

And maybe that was it, the one Lesson Nick had learned from you in all those years.

If you love, then love like you’ve got nothing to lose.