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Chapter Text

She woke early, before her alarm, rubbing the heel of her hand into her right eye as a yawn stretched at her mouth. Her sleep had been fitful, flashes of memories plaguing her dreams as she’d tossed and turned beneath her quilt. 

Harper stretched her arms above her head as she perched on the edge of her bed, a groan leaving her throat at the twinge in her neck as she did. 

Her hair was a mess, she caught sight of it in the mirror on her vanity table across the room as she pushed up onto her feet, but she couldn’t bring herself to sort it just yet. Coffee first, battling her knots second. 

She leaned against the counter top as her morning pot brewed, rubbing her heavy and stinging eyes with her fingertips. She hated when the memories, the dreams, were just flashes. It made them harder for her to attempt to make sense of the next morning. 

A frown furrowed at her brow as a knock at the door echoed through her apartment. It was early. Way too early for Shuri to be on her doorstep and she knew T’Challa was off meeting with world leaders about Wakanda opening up…

“I’m coming, Okoye!” she called as another knock rang out. If it wasn’t either of the royal siblings she could count on it being the General of the Dora Milaje, Okoye, calling in to drag her out on her morning run with Ayo and a few of the other members of the Dora “You’ll have to come in for a bit anyway,” Harper continued, loud enough for whoever was on the other side to hear as she grabbed her hoodie from the back of the sofa and tugged it over the crop top she wore to bed “I’ll need to get changed but you can wait-”

She paused, disbelief and confusion crossing her features, once she had swung the door open. Butterflies burst into her stomach and her fingers shook slightly as she leaned against the door to properly take him in, her heart pounding against her rib cage. 

Since Shuri had brought them back together in one of the shaman’s huts she’d only been able to see him a handful more times. His recovery was much more important to everyone and their meetings were carefully planned so as not to ruin the work they had all put in. They kept to a schedule with Shuri or one of the shamans near at all times, no one wanting either of them to take a step backwards.

And yet…

“Bucky.”

His face crumpled as his name left her lips in a whisper of disbelief “I’m here,” he confirmed with a nod, stepping closer to her as she reached her hands out toward him “I’m here,” he repeated as she gathered him up into her arms, his face, wet with tears, pressing into her neck as his shoulders shook. 

They held one another like that for, what seemed like, an age. Their fingers gripping as they squeezed each other closer. 

“Are you okay?” Harper asked, breathlessly, as they finally pulled apart. Her brow furrowed as she reached up to cradle his face and his eyes shone with tears. Her thumbs ran gently beneath his eyes as she hopped up onto her toes to kiss away the tear which had escaped down his cheekbone. 

“They did it,” he said in a whisper, reaching up and holding onto her wrists as though keeping himself steady “My trigger words. They’re gone,” he explained, his voice wobbling “I’m free.”  

*

“I’m not sure what I can tell you,” Harper said into the phone pinned between her right ear and shoulder, her hands shuffling papers in front of her as she tried to find the form she needed T’Challa to sign “There have been no sightings of either, I’m pretty sure they’re still off earth,” she continued, stapling two pieces of paper together and rolling her chair over to place them on Shuri’s desk “But I have alerts set up just in case.” 

“Thanks Harper,” Steve answered, sounding exhausted “And Tony?” 

“Yeah I’d stay away from New York if I were you, he’s still large and in charge over there,” Harper replied, raising her eyes to the ceiling and letting out a huff “Still following the Accords of course. I’m pretty sure the Government is also keeping an eye out for Thor and Dr Banner.” 

“Which is why I’m hoping we find them first,” Steve sighed, a noise following like he had collapsed onto an uncomfortable sounding couch. 

“You are looking out for yourself as well, right Steve?” Harper asked, placing the papers for the outreach programme to one side so she could focus on his answer “Because this isn’t going to last forever.” 

“You don’t know that,” he answered quietly “But I’m ticking over, doing the best we can,” he continued, attempting to put the old Steve Rogers pep back into his tone “How is he?” 

Harper rubbed her hand down her face as she sat back in her chair, unable to stop the smile from coming to her face “He’s good y’know,” she answered, thinking back to the day Bucky had turned up on her doorstep, emotions running high after a positive test with his trigger words “You’d be able to see for yourself if you popped over here.” 

There was a beat of silence before Steve spoke again “We’ve been trying it’s just, it’s difficult y’know?” 

“Not so easy to leave the country when your face has been on billboards hey?” Harper answered with a chuckle, attempting to lighten the situation “We’d rather you, all of you, were safe Steve. Bucky would kill you if you put yourself in danger to come and see him.” 

“I do feel guilty, I just-” there was a noise in the background, sounding like someone arriving back to wherever it was they were laying low. A voice called something over to Steve and he let out a low chuckle of his own “Natasha says hi.” 

“Tell her hi back,” Harper said with a smile, she hadn’t had the chance to see Natasha Romanoff since they had broken Sam, Scott, Clint and Wanda out of The Raft prison but they had spoken over the phone more than a few times. 

Footsteps arriving in the lab caught her attention and she turned to see Shuri arriving back, a large rucksack slung over her shoulder “I best get going,” she said to Steve, eager to hear her friend’s tales of travel “I’ll talk to you later?”

“Of course,” Steve said, his tone a lot lighter than earlier in their conversation “Thank you again Harper,” he added before they said their goodbyes. 

“Not quite the welcome home party I was expecting,” Shuri said with a huff, folding her arms over her stomach and leaning with her hip pressing into the corner of her desk. 

“You were gone two days,” Harper answered with a roll of her eyes as she pushed herself up onto her feet and greeted Shuri with a hug “How was it?” 

“Cold,” Shuri said with an unimpressed wince, she had been in Seattle visiting a potential site for the programme “But good, we’re definitely thinking of opening up there,” she said with a smile “I wanted to make the journey to visit your exhibit before we came home but apparently there was no time,” she continued with an eye roll as she turned to pull out her chair. 

Harper let out a sharp laugh. It had been a while since she had thought about her tiny little office in the Smithsonian but, as she closed her eyes, she could picture it like she had only just shut the door and left it behind. The mail spilling out of the bags behind her chair, the posters - her favourites - she had kept to herself on the walls, the post it note she’d left for Angela saying she was sorry…

“I bet it isn’t even there anymore,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. 

“You think I haven’t seen you checking up on it online when you think I’m not looking don’t you?” Shuri asked, tilting her head to one side and jutting out her bottom lip “You’re so cute.” 

“Were there no other places you could have gone and checked out so you were out of my hair for longer?”

Shuri pulled her tongue out before picking her rucksack up from where she had dumped it on the floor, resting it on the top of her desk and opening up the zip “Don’t make me regret getting you this,” she said, pulling out a small model of the Seattle Space Needle and leaning over to place it on Harper’s desk. 

A grin lit up Harper’s face as she plucked the model up to inspect it closely, “Now this is a tradition I am on board with,” she said, sitting back down and placing it between the models of the Las Vegas sign and San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge beside her keyboard “Thank you.” 

Before Shuri could answer with whatever clever quip was sitting on her tongue a bleep coming from their computers caught their attention. Someone without one of the passes Shuri had handed out after Erik Killmonger’s reign had entered the lab. 

The two turned together, frowns of confusion on their faces, just in time to see Bucky making his way over to where they were sitting. 

Harper’s heart jumped in her chest as she took him in. His hair, still long, was neatly pulled back into a bun and he was dressed smartly, a bunch of flowers clutched in his right hand and a shy smile coming to his lips. 

“Okoye told me where to find you,” he said as he approached “She didn’t have time to buzz me in, sorry,” he continued with a wince as the computers continued to bleep. 

Harper’s cheekbones burned slightly as she hurriedly got to her feet “You’re here,” she said breathlessly, each and every time she saw him seemed to be a welcome surprise. He hadn’t been into the lab as of yet, preferring to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the inner city in the countryside with the shamans. 

“Sergeant Barnes,” Shuri said with a welcoming smile, interrupting the two of them grinning like idiots toward one another “Are those for Harper?” 

“Wh-I...oh, yeah,” Bucky answered, smiling bashfully as he handed over the bunch of multicoloured flowers, all native to Wakanda “I, uhm, I was wondering if you’d accompany me out this afternoon,” he said, the smile still on his face as he glanced across to her from beneath his eyelashes. 

“She would love to,” Shuri answered quickly, jumping in with a wide grin on her face and ignoring the glare Harper was sending her “She has nothing left to do in here so she’s all yours,” she continued, ushering Harper toward him “I’ll take these and put them in some water for you,” she added, plucking the flowers from Harper’s grasp “They’ll look great on your desk.” 

Harper’s eyebrows arched as she watched the Wakandan Princess hurry away to put the flowers into a vase of water “She...isn’t usually like this I promise,” she said with a laugh as she turned back to Bucky “But she is right, I would love to escape this place and spend some time with you.” 

“Great,” Bucky beamed as she fell into step beside him “I, uhm, I was hoping you’d say yes,” he said as they made their way back out of the lab, a basket sitting just inside of the door “It’s all ready to go.”

“You were hoping ?” Harper asked with a laugh of disbelief as she watched him bend down to pick up the picnic basket “You’re saying that like I didn’t wait outside of a door the entire time you were under talking to myself,” she said, reaching out for his hand before catching herself. She still wasn’t used to the metal left arm not being there “In fact, it was that door right there,” she said, coming to a stop at the end of the corridor alongside the lab, nodding toward the large door at the end of it “I still don’t know what’s actually in there.” 

Bucky grinned as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye “The thought was there,” he reassured her before wincing slightly “I was hoping we’d go to the cliffside, the one you wrote about in the book?” he said, referring to his book - the one he had kept a list of things he needed to catch up on before they were caught - that she had filled with descriptions of her day to day life while he was gone.

“It’s this way,” she confirmed for him, nodding her head in the direction they were heading “You’re reading it.” 

“Of course,” he answered, keeping a pace behind her so she was leading the way “Your handwriting is terrible.” 

Harper’s eyes narrowed and she turned just in time to see a teasing grin come to his face “I tell you what,” she tutted, shaking her head.

He kept close to her as they made their way through the town centre, his head bowed and his hand gripping onto the handle of the picnic basket. 

“Come on, this way,” Harper said, gesturing for him to follow her down a quieter side street. She knew people would be emerging from the buildings around them soon, leaving work and heading for their homes “Quieter and shorter,” she explained, rewarded with a smile from him in return. 

The cliffside, as they climbed right up to the top, looked just as spectacular as she remembered. She hadn’t been there since T’Challa’s crowning not long after she’d arrived in Wakanda and it didn’t disappoint how she had bigged it up in her mind. 

“Whew,” Bucky said once they had finally come to a stop, placing the picnic basket down at their feet and taking the time to glance around the scenery. His eyes closed for a second and his nose turned up to the sky, taking in a deep breath of the fresh air. 

Harper simply stood back and watched him. Watched as his shoulders let go of some of the tension they were carrying and the fingers of his right hand unfurled from the tight fist it was usually kept in. Though he was turned away from her she could see the clench of his jaw loosening as he filled his lungs for the first time in a long time. 

As a man free from his own mind. 

“Not bad huh?” she said after a couple of moments, smiling as he turned to face her “It was down there,” she continued as she stepped closer to him and pointed down to where she had watched T’Challa compete for the crown “I’m sure you’ll be able to meet M’Baku soon, he was the one who challenged.” 

His eyebrows arched slightly as he took her in, wild blonde hair blowing in the slight breeze and a tint of pink to her cheekbones “Thank you,” he said in a tone so quiet she almost didn’t catch that he had spoken “For keeping me in the loop,” he continued when he noticed the confused look on her face as she stepped closer to his side.

“All I wanted to do was speak to you, that book was the next best thing,” she said, linking her arm through his and leaning her head against his shoulder “Now, are we eating or am I going to starve to death up here?” 

Bucky laughed as he unravelled their arms and reached for her hand, bringing it up to his lips and pressing a kiss to her knuckles “We’re eating,” he confirmed, pulling her around to where the picnic basket was waiting for them “Ayo helped me get everything,” he said as they made their way over. Letting go of her he bent down, flipping open the lid of the basket and pulling out a blanket, spreading it across the grass. 

“If it’s all healthy I swear I’ll be having words with her,” Harper grumbled, Ayo was almost as brutal as Okoye on the morning runs they managed to get her on. 

Bucky chuckled as he reached into the basket, pulling out a punnet of strawberries with a wince “There’s more in here, I promise,” he defended as Harper’s eyes narrowed, a smile coming to her face when next up was a share packet of salt and vinegar crisps “She said they were what you were craving, Shuri may have picked some up on her travels.” 

“I take back everything I’ve ever said, you’re all angels,” Harper grinned as she took the packet from him and hugged it gently to her chest. 

They were silent as they ate - a few Wakandan delicacies thrown in alongside sandwiches and scones - but it was a comfortable one. Between bites Harper found herself stealing glances over to him, both in disbelief that he was sitting right there beside her and terror that he was going to be taken away again. 

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” she admitted, once they had eaten all they could and were laying on their backs watching the sun set. Their shoulders were pressed together, right down their arms to the backs of their hands. 

Bucky turned his head slightly to take her in “I’m sorry,” he said, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly into an apologetic smile “Ayo caught me up with everything that happened while I was out.”

Harper bit down on the inside of her cheek for a second as her shoulders shrugged “I was fine,” she said, turning her head so she was facing him. 

“It’s okay if you weren’t, if you still aren’t,” he reassured her as he placed his hand in hers, the tips of his fingers gently tracing down her palm before he interlaced them with hers “He made you become someone you haven’t wanted to be for a long time.” 

Harper pursed her lips together, her eyes stinging slightly and a lump growing in her throat as she nodded her head “Yeah,” she admitted, clearing her throat and turning her head so she was facing the sky once more. Her hand gripped onto his, their palms pressing tightly together, as she took in a deep breath “But he’s gone now and I have you back. I get to be whoever I want to be.” 

“And who is it you want to be?” Bucky asked, untangling their hands and shuffling his arm beneath her. 

She leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her “I don’t know,” she hummed, turning onto her side so she was pressed up against him. Laying her arm over his stomach she glanced up to him “I guess I have time to figure it out though.” 

“All the time in the world,” Bucky agreed, bending his neck so he could press a kiss against her forehead “We have the freedom to figure it out together.” 

“I can’t wait to show you the training room,” Harper mused, feeling his chest shake slightly beneath her with his laughter “Okay, so maybe I’ve figured a part of who I want to be out,” she said with a smirk. 

“I can deal with that,” Bucky replied, leaning his chin on the top of her head and hugging her close “As long as there’s a competition section to the training.”

“Oh I’m sure Shuri can work her magic so I can kick your ass,” Harper answered, pinching his side and laughing as he winced “See.” 

“We’ll soon see about that,” he replied “Even with just one arm I stand a chance.” 

“In your dreams.” 

They lay there for a few minutes longer, Bucky running his fingertips up and down her arm while they both watched the stars twinkle in the dark night sky. A yawn stretched at Harper’s mouth as she closed her eyes and listened to his steady heart beat beneath her, taking in the feeling of his chest rising and falling as he breathed. 

“Come on then,” Bucky said, cutting through the silence and jolting Harper back to full attention “It’s getting late, I best get you back.” 

“Ever the gentleman,” Harper answered once he had pushed himself to his feet and was holding his hand out for her to grab. She smiled as he tugged her up to her feet, his hand landing on her hip as hers rested against his chest.

His eyes flickered over her face before his hand came up to cradle her cheek “I missed you,” he said, his thumb tracing along her cheekbone “So much.” 

“Me too,” she answered, sliding her hands up his chest and over his shoulders. Hopping up onto her toes she smiled as their noses bumped together and his arm curled around her waist once more to steady her. 

Bucky’s eyes closed as he leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, his grip around her waist tightening “We are never splitting up again,” he said “Promise?” 

Harper nodded before she confirmed “Promise,” her heart jumping in her chest as he bent slightly to seal it with a kiss.

Chapter Text

Sweat prickled at her skin as she crept forward, her gun stretched out in front of her. She kept low, placing one foot gently in front of the other as she leaned slightly around the corner to see what was coming. 

Her stomach twisted with anticipation as she checked behind her, left and right before she pushed forward…

Bang!

“So-rryyyy,” Bucky whined from deep in the darkness behind her. 

A smile of amusement came to Harper’s lips as she straightened up, the lights coming on as she did “All good?” she asked as she took her virtual reality goggles off and pushed them to the top of her head. 

“I tripped,” he replied in a low grumble, copying her actions and pushing his own goggles from his eyes to the top of his head. His brows were furrowed with frustration and his eyes lowered as he shoved his gun into the holsters at his hip. 

“Hey, come on,” Harper said, stepping up closer to him and placing her hand on the top of his arm “You’re still getting used to being without,” she said, her eyes flickering to his left side “We’re taking our time, remember?” 

He rolled his eyes “I hate taking my time,” he said with a huff. He didn’t want to be off balance, he wasn’t used to it, he wanted to be fighting side by side with her in the simulation. He didn’t want to be holding her back. 

Harper raised her eyebrows, placing her hands on her hips “You’re not holding me back,” she said, chuckling as he looked taken aback “You didn’t say it outloud, I can just read you,” she added with a smirk “The whole point of the simulation at the minute is to get you back on track and build you up again.” 

He pursed his lips and kept his frown for a second before he spoke again “You gotta tell me if I’m starting to annoy you though.” 

“Never,” Harper answered, sticking her tongue out toward him before she unclipped her holster belt and hung it up on one of the hooks on the wall, her goggles following soon after “You’re doing fine!” 

He scowled over to her as he followed her lead and hung his virtual reality equipment up too. “ Fine ,” he repeated beneath his breath, only letting a smile come to his face when she stepped closer to his side and grinned up to him “So, what’s the plan now?” he asked, draping his arm around her shoulders. 

“Aha! There you guys are!” Shuri’s voice answered for her as they left the simulation and entered the lab “C’mere,” she said, waving Bucky over as she pulled a tape measure out from the pocket of her jacket. 

Bucky looked slightly concerned as Harper wriggled out from beneath his grasp “Uhm, okay,” he said, sounding concerned as he stepped closer to the princess, throwing a glance over his shoulder to the encouraging Harper “What...what is it we’re doing?” 

Shuri raised an eyebrow and looked up to him from where she was wrapping the tape around his chest “I’m measuring you,” she said shortly, as though it were the most normal thing in the world. 

Harper let out a laugh as she crossed the room and grabbed a bottle of water from her desk “I’ve learned to just not question it,” she said, handing him a bottle of his own as Shuri began measuring his back. 

“Always the tone of suspicion with the two of you,” Shuri said with a tut, pausing her measuring to scribble numbers into a notebook pulled from another pocket “How are you feeling anyway?” she asked, sounding like a doctor on her hundredth appointment that day “Any pain?” 

Bucky glanced between the two of them for a couple of seconds before he shrugged his shoulders “I’m fine,” he said, not really answering the question. 

“Hmm,” Shuri answered, going back to her measuring and scribbling. 

Harper watched on in amusement as Shuri wandered around Bucky, wondering if the confused and slightly panicked look on Bucky’s face was how she looked during her first couple of days in the lab “Okoye said you’re working on new spears for the Dora,” Harper said, reaching over and glancing through a few of the new pieces of paper which had landed on her desk. 

“Okoye has asked me to look at working on new spears for the Dora,” Shuri corrected her, her tone distracted as she continued her work “They need updated uniform before they get new weapons.” 

“I’ll let you tell her that,” Harper said, widening her eyes and pulling a face. 

“And Sergeant Barnes needs a new arm before anything else.”

Bucky’s eyebrows shot up “You-you don’t need to worry about that,” he insisted, watching her rolling her tape measure back up before popping it back into her pocket “And how many times? It’s Bucky .” 

Shuri waved him off “Let me have this project,” she said, flipping through her book before placing it down on her desk. 

“Don’t rush on it though, don’t put other things aside for me,” Bucky insisted “I’m doing okay an arm down.” 

“I’m sure you are, this is just in case,” Shuri answered absent mindedly. She missed the slight wince flashing across Bucky’s features but Harper didn’t. 

“Shuri likes to live her life on ‘just in case’,” she said, pushing away from where she had been leaning against her desk. Crossing over toward him she placed her hand on his shoulder, watching him relax at her touch “It gives her an excuse to keep making things.” 

“Making things,” Shuri scoffed beneath her breath. “She talks like I’m a kindergarten kid making finger paintings.” 

There was an amused expression on Bucky’s face as he glanced between them; Shuri glaring across to Harper out of the corner of her eye while Harper pulled out her tongue. 

“Anyway, you aren’t getting out of anything,” Shuri said, turning to him with an eyebrow arched “Have you done your homework?” 

Bucky rolled his eyes as he dug into the pocket of his jeans to retrieve his phone “I downloaded that app, snaptalk-”

“Chat,” Shuri interrupted “Snap chat .” 

“Snap chat ,” he repeated with yet another eyeroll “But I still can’t use it. How do I get the little hotdog on the screen again?”

Harper watched on as Shuri let out an over dramatic sigh, taking the phone from him and waving for him to follow her over to her desk. She pulled up a chair for him, the two of them bending their heads over the phone screen so she could show him, yet again, how to use the filters on Snapchat. 

Pulling out her own chair Harper sank into it, switching her computer back on to answer a few emails. She kept one ear on what they were up to, the entertainment endless as Bucky coughed on his water while Shuri explained what horny on main meant and expressed his confusion over the imagery of the different memes. 

It continued for the following couple of hours, until Harper’s eyes began to sting beneath her glasses and she realised the time. 

“I, uhm, I’m gunna head off,” she said, unable to hold back her smile as she got to her feet to see Bucky and Shuri examining a picture of British chef Gordon Ramsey calling someone an idiot sandwich closely “Are we still on for tonight?” she asked, slightly concerned, when she received quizzical expressions in reply. 

“Oh! Yeah, of course,” Bucky answered, glancing over to the clock in the bottom corner of Shuri’s computer.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have him there on time,” Shuri promised, the two of them almost staring Harper down before she nodded. 

“I’ll see you later then,” she said with a smile as she turned to leave the lab, throwing one last glance over her shoulder to see their heads bent together once again. 

After their picnic Bucky had promised her the dates would become a regular occurrence. He didn’t want them to just be about training, Hydra and muddled memories, he wanted them to be, as he said, normal in some kind of way. 

“I want us to build something for ourselves, something that isn’t based on what happened to us,” he’d said just before they’d parted ways after the picnic. 

It almost felt weird to be as happy as she felt as she opened up the front door of her apartment. Everything felt lighter and less monotonous as she crossed the living room to get to her bedroom, on her way to try and put together some kind of outfit from what little clothes she owned. 

She frowned when she spotted a garment bag laying on her bed. Glancing around, as though someone was going to jump out at her, she approached it slowly. 

There was a tag, a card, on the top so she leaned over to turn it to where there was a message written in looping handwriting. 

Have fun tonight! Okoye 

“I should have guessed you’d be the one to break into my place,” she said with a chuckle as she picked the bag up and zipped it open, another card falling out. 

Bending down she let out a laugh as she recognised Shuri’s handwriting ‘ I helped!!!!’ . 

She shook her head, tutting at her friend as she whispered “Of course.” 

Hanging the bag up on the back of her door she continued to unzip, gently unfolding a dress from inside. It was beautiful, embroidered black with an a-line skirt and capped sleeves. “Wow,” she breathed as she lifted it down, unravelling the coat hanger from the bag and holding the dress against herself, turning to the mirrored wardrobe to the right of her bed. It came to her mid-thigh, the neckline high enough so she could still tuck Bucky’s dog tags beneath it. 

It was possibly the most beautiful piece of clothing she would ever get to wear. 

...not that she would tell Shuri that. The suit custom made for her would always top that list whenever Shuri was around. 

Hanging the dress back up Harper turned to grab her towel and dressing gown, brushing through the knots in her hair as she made her way into the bathroom and switched the shower on. 

She took her time in there; humming along to whatever tune was stuck in her head as she lathered up her hair. She allowed the warm water to run over her back, getting out the knots in her shoulders this time, as she ran a razor over her legs. 

Turning the water off she reached out from behind the shower curtain for her towel, quickly rubbing it through her hair before drying herself off and wrapping it around her head. Tugging her dressing gown on she made her way back into her bedroom, brushing through her hair once more as she sat on the edge of the bed. 

She didn’t usually spend time on her hair, preferring to let it air dry or to twist it into braids overnight, but this time she reached for the hair dryer. She curled it with her round brush, framing the waves around her face while still trying to maintain the slightly messy style she usually went for. 

“This is why I don’t usually do it this way,” she grumbled, in her native French, beneath her breath as the clock ticked on and she finally was able to put the hair dryer down “And now make-up,” she said with a sigh as she opened up one of the drawers of her bedside cabinet. 

She kept the natural look with the make-up Shuri had gifted her. A touch of foundation and concealer balanced off with some powder, blush and bronzer, she dusted on a beige shade of eyeshadow across her lid before shaping her eyebrows and applying a layer of mascara. There was a nude lipstick at the bottom of the bag that she swiped across her lips before spritzing some of the perfume Nakia had gotten for her on her neck and wrists. 

Standing before her mirror she scrunched her nose up; the hair and the make-up looking so out of place on her. 

“Thank goodness for you, hey?” she said, plucking the dress off the hanger and carefully changing into it. Knowing just how terrible she was on any kind of heel, Shuri and Okoye had left her with a pair of plain black flats which she slid her feet into once she was zipped up and ready. 

Her eyes were closed as she turned back to the mirror and she found herself standing there for a couple of seconds. The last time she had dressed up had been for a new years party she went to with Ryan a few years back and even then it was just a denim skirt and a strappy top. 

She opened them slowly and one at a time, the reflection staring back at her someone she almost didn’t recognise. 

The knocking on the door cut through her shock, replacing it with nerves surging through her stomach until it burst into butterflies. 

“Right,” she said, leaning over and plucking the silver clutch bag containing her phone and purse that had been hiding in the bottom of the garment bag “Let’s go,” she said to herself, brushing her hands down the dress and looking at it from all kinds of angles for one last time before she left the bedroom and made her way toward the front door. 

Her breath caught in her throat when she swung the door open. Standing on the other side was Bucky, hair pinned back in his usual bun, wearing a crisp, new looking suit. 

“Wow,” he breathed as he turned and took her in, a smile coming to his face as he held his hand out for her. 

“Wow yourself,” she said back, nudging his arm with her shoulder once she had locked the door behind her and fell into step beside him. 

“Hmm,” he answered, shifting beneath the jacket uncomfortably “T’Challa and Shuri have cleared the restaurant for us,” he explained as they made their way across the quiet streets toward one of Wakanda’s nicest restaurants “They are oddly pushy.” 

“I know,” Harper chuckled with a shake of her head “I think they all got sick of me moping around while you were gone.” 

There was a smile on his face as he came to a stop just outside of the restaurant’s door, turning around to face her “I haven’t been on a date like this for a very long time,” he admitted. 

Harper’s eyebrows raised “Well, I’ve got you beat,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders “I’ve never been on a date like this,” she continued “Ryan wasn’t a special date kinda girl and the ones before her were more wanna go to the cinema? types of guys.”

Bucky scoffed “That’s one thing I’ll say about this time,” he said, shaking his head “No chivalry,” he continued, letting go of her arm and opening up the door for her. 

“Okay grandpa,” Harper laughed, wandering through to be met by one of the servers. 

They were taken through to the empty restaurant and treated just like how the guests of the royal family should. They were brought whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and left alone to chat in between, the staff were polite and attentive...

“They’re freaking me out a little bit to be honest,” Harper whispered as she leaned over the table toward Bucky “Do you think they’re back there bitching about us because the rest of the place is empty?”

He laughed, “They’re far too polite for that.” 

Her eyebrow arched as she straightened up slightly, keeping her arms rested on the table “Do you have any of that residual pain? That Shuri was talking about before?” 

He chewed on the inside of his cheek before he shook his head “I told you, I’m okay.” 

“And yet I don’t believe you,” she answered, resting her chin in the palms of her hands and tapping it with her finger “I know you’re lying.” 

“It’s just a bit,” he sighed, sitting back in his chair and averting his eyes. They’d had pleasant conversation all evening, he’d made her blush more than once, and he didn’t want it to deviate from that “Adjusting my stance, my walk, to accommodate the missing limb. I’ve never had to before.” 

“I know,” Harper said, “That’s why I’m asking, I’m concerned about you.” 

“Well you don’t need to be,” he said, trying to be reassuring as he reached out and grasped onto her arm. Lowering it down he laced their fingers together “I’m here. We’re not running from anyone...technically and we’re together. Does anything else matter?”

Harper bit down on her bottom lip before she nodded “I guess,” she said in a quiet tone, glancing over to her from beneath her lashes “But if you are in pain, ever-? 

“I’ll tell you.” 

“You promise?” 

“I promise,” he said, unravelling their hands to hook his pinky through hers to seal it “Now come on, it’s getting late,” he said as he let her go and pushed himself to his feet. 

“Got to have me home before midnight or I’ll turn into a pumpkin,” Harper teased, also getting to her feet and reaching out to grab hold of his hand. 

They stopped at the counter to thank the staff who had been so helpful for the entire night. T’Challa had insisted the night was on him so there was no reason to exchange money but Harper still reached into her purse, leaving them a hefty tip from the wage she earned for the work she did for the outreach programme. 

“I had a really good time tonight,” she said with a smile as they made their way to her apartment, their hands joined between them. 

“Me too,” Bucky answered as they came to a stop outside of her door. Tilting his head to one side he gently reached below the neckline of her dress, pulling the necklace out until the dog tags were laying in the palm of his hand. 

“They kept me company while you were gone,” she explained in a whisper as he turned them over to read what was on them “Shuri gave them to me with your book and t-shirt after you went under.” 

He nodded his head, his thumb ghosting over the raised letters and numbers “They look good on you.” 

“You can have them back if you want,” she offered as he let them go, his fingers brushing against the skin of her neck as he adjusted them so they were laying properly. 

“I like you wearing them,” he said, his eyes meeting hers as his hand cupped the back of her neck. Stepping closer to her he pressed his lips to hers, her arms circling around his waist beneath his jacket as his fingers pushed into her hair. 

They pulled apart reluctantly, Bucky placing a soft kiss on the tip of her nose before pressing his forehead against hers “I’ll see you tomorrow? For training?” he asked in a whisper. 

Her grip on him tightened, she didn’t want to let him go. Not yet. “Or you could come in,” she offered “For a night cap?” 

There was a grin on Bucky’s lips as he stepped away from her, reaching up he tucked her hair behind her ear “I’m old school remember,” he said, placing another kiss on her cheekbone “I’ll see you tomorrow. For training.” 

She watched as he walked away, leaning back against her door allowing her gaze to follow him until he was out of sight. Opening up the door she stepped inside and closed it behind her, after the continual days of going back there feeling lonely and isolated she couldn’t stop the smile from growing on her lips. 

“Good night,” she said out loud before she headed into her bedroom, her heart full.

The dress Harper wears

Thanks for reading!

Tumblr: sgtbuckyybarnes   

Chapter Text

He was late. 

Digging into the pocket of his jeans he pulled out the pass Shuri had made for him, scanning himself into the lab and breaking into a quick walk. He was supposed to have met Harper for their usual training session in the simulator half an hour previous but had been unable to catch a ride.

“Is she mad?” he asked Shuri as soon as he spotted her, his eyebrows furrowing when he checked the monitor on her desk to see the simulation was empty “Where-?” he began, his eyes rolling when he spotted Shuri making her way over to him with her measuring tape in hand. 

“I just want to make sure it fits you correctly!” she argued, ready for his comment “You don’t want odd length arms do you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she reached for his right arm. 

“I don’t care either way,” he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“Stop playing it cool,” Shuri said with a roll of her eyes “Any of that pain I asked you about?” 

“No.” 

“Are you lying?” 

Bucky’s eyebrows raised as he glanced down to her “No.” 

“Hmmm,” Shuri said, scribbling away in her notebook “So are you going to help me then?” she asked, gesturing to the folded up bit of fabric on her desk “You’re tall and can pass me things while I’m on the step ladder.” 

“Sure,” Bucky answered with a shrug of her shoulders, he had no idea what she was talking about but had reached the stage with her where he didn’t like to ask too many questions. 

“It’s for Harper,” she explained, seemingly done with him as she began dragging the step ladder over to the wall behind Harper’s desk “To welcome her in when she gets here?” she added, almost pushing him for a reaction “I told her to come in late today, have a lie in...in fact I was pretty sure you’d be helping her celebrate with breakfast in bed!” 

His heart dropped as he unravelled the banner sitting on Shuri’s desk, a happy birthday message to Harper printed across it “Oh God,” he groaned, rubbing his hand down his face. 

Shuri’s jaw dropped open and she placed her hands on her hips “You forgot ?!” 

“No!” he exclaimed quickly “We never...she never told me when it was, we didn’t celebrate birthdays while we were on the run,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose “I feel awful.” 

“You never thought to ask ?” Shuri tutted, a smile coming to her lips “Don’t worry about it, you can help me decorate the lab and we’ll pretend it was your idea as well. I want her to have a good day though so you better be on your best behaviour,” she warned, pointing her finger toward him. 

Bucky raised his hand innocently “Just put me to work.” 

So she did. Along with the banner Shuri had organised for everyone Harper had befriended in Wakanda to come to celebrate her special - Bucky had groaned even louder when he realised it was her thirtieth - day. She had a table to put up in the middle of the lab to hold nibbles she’d organised from one of Harper’s favourite cafes, party hats and multicoloured bunting. 

By the time they were done they were both exhausted, Shuri collapsing onto her chair whilst Bucky took Harper’s. 

“The two of you, you get on really well,” he observed, leaning over and plucking the models of different city monuments sitting beside Harper’s keyboard one by one. 

Shuri smiled and shrugged her shoulders “She came here not long after my father died,” she began, Bucky lowering his eyes as he remembered how he was blamed for the death of the previous Wakandan monarch “I was grieving, lonely and not a lot of my people agreed with how we ran the lab...but Harper was interested. She asked me questions and let me talk about Baba without pushing the subject. She told me stories about you and what you both got up to on your travels and, well, she helped save Wakanda. Anyone who puts their life on the line for our country is treated the way they should.” 

Bucky smiled, bowing his head slightly and allowing his hair to fall over his face. He had been worried about her when he had made the decision to go back under, he knew it was the right one of course but knowing she would be out there alone since finding out about her past had almost made him put a stop to the entire thing. 

“Thank you,” he said softly “For not letting her be alone,” he added, glancing up in time for Shuri to send him a smile and a shrug “But, those stories she told…?” 

A smirk came to Shuri’s face as she mimed zipping her lips closed “What happens in the lab stays in the lab,” she said with a wink.

They were interrupted by everyone beginning to arrive, Shuri jumping up to greet them with a wide and excitable smile on her face. 

Bucky found himself dragged up onto his feet not long after, greeting T’Challa, Okoye and Ayo before being introduced to those he hadn’t yet met; Ramonda, Nakia, M’Baku and W’Kabi. He smiled, he nodded and he shook hands, listening to the small talk going on around him as everyone settled into the lab and took in what he and Shuri had done with the decorations. 

It, thankfully for him, wasn’t long before he spotted Harper making her way into the lab. She was wearing her ripped jeans and an oversized and partly tucked in plaid shirt, her usual messenger bag was crossed over her chest and her boots squeaked on the lab floor as she made her way into it. Her head was bowed as she looked through her bag for something, her eyes widening in surprise as she raised her head, cell phone in hand, to see everyone waiting for her. 

“Oh!” she exclaimed, her eyes searching the faces before her and only stopping when they connected with Bucky’s “Everyone’s here!” she continued, clearly not sure on how to react. 

“Happy Birthday!” Shuri exclaimed, she’d made sure to let everyone know she was to be the first to say it, as she made her way over to pull Harper into a hug “Come, come,” she insisted, grasping onto her hand and tugging her along with her. 

Bucky waited, standing beside her desk away from the crowd of people, as Harper was passed from one person to the next. He smiled to himself as he watched her, how she’d laugh with Okoye and tease M’Baku, the grateful hug she gave T’Challa and how she let Ramonda cradle her face in a loving, motherly manner. 

She had two plates, one in each hand, full of food by the time she reached him. A huff left her as she pulled a face “Thank god you’re here,” she said jokingly as she passed him over a plate “Eat. They make the nicest pastries,” she encouraged, gesturing toward the food she’d piled up for him “If you’d both let me know I would have dressed a little nicer!” 

“I think you look beautiful,” Bucky replied, his mouth full, with a shrug of his shoulders and a half smile. 

She rolled her eyes, plucking at the collar of her shirt “In a shabby chic kind of way?” she asked, letting out a laugh when he pursed his lips shut “Good choice,” she said, picking at the pastries she had on her own plate. 

“They love you here,” he said, glancing out to where all of the people who had showed up for her were milling around and chatting away. Shuri was explaining something to an unimpressed Okoye while T’Challa hung onto every single word Nakia was saying to him “Not that I can blame them,” he added, a soft smile on his lips as he returned his gaze to her. 

“I love them too,” she answered, smiling fondly, as she ate. Her attention was caught by Nakia waving her over “Are you coming?” she asked, placing a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. 

“I’ll be there in a minute, let me finish this,” he answered, gesturing to his plate of food and watching as she made her way over to her friend. 

Her face lit up as she listened to whatever Nakia was telling her, nodding along before adding her own input. She looked happy, at home, with the people around her as T’Challa joined the two and their conversation. 

Sitting on the outside Bucky found that he felt as happy watching her mingle as he would if it were him himself, surrounded by people he felt at home with. It had been a long while since he’d felt it in a crowd, possibly back in the forties when he was a part of the Howling Commandos. 

Running his hand through his hair he got to his feet, he felt hot and overwhelmed as he crossed the room to get some air. The memories of the war, of marching with the Howling Commandos, of being caught and experimented on rushing through his mind. 

He sat, just outside of the front door, with his back leaning against the palace walls for a few minutes as he took in deep breath after deep breath. He hadn’t realised just how much he had missed the feeling of camaraderie he’d gotten when he was a part of something until he had seen how the family inside had interacted with one another. 

“Hey,” her voice was soft as it cut through his thoughts, a smile on her face as she settled down beside him “You alright?” 

“I didn’t know,” he admitted, glancing across to her “It’s your birthday and I didn’t know.” 

Harper smiled as she reached across and laced her fingers through his “How were you supposed to?” she asked, squeezing her palm against his “There wasn’t really time for tea and cake while we were skipping from country to country was there? It didn’t seem important at the time, I didn’t tell Elena and Sorina either,” she said, her voice quietening down when she mentioned her friends from Romania. 

“And then...everyone in there…” 

Harper nodded in an understanding manner “I’ve had more time than you to get used to them,” she said reassuringly “The one thing the Wakandan Royal Family like to do is make a fuss, no matter whether you want one or not,” she continued “It’s overwhelming for me too.” 

“I wanted to be able to do it for you,” he said, staring straight ahead. His brow was furrowed slightly “But it just got all a bit too much.” 

“If I had to explain that group of people in there to anyone they would be the words I’d use,” Harper said with a chuckle “They take some time to get used to because all they do is smother you with love,” she continued before letting out a sigh and leaning with her head on his shoulder “I sometimes miss our little flat in Bucharest,” she said in a whisper.

“Me too,” he whispered back, leaning his cheek on the top of her head. 

They sat there, sides pressing together and hands joined, for a few more silent moments, both lapping up the peace and quiet. 

“There you are!” Shuri’s voice was what brought them out of it, the two of them glancing up quickly at the sound of her exclaim “Come on, we’re ready to do the cake,” she said, reaching her hand down to Harper. Tilting her head to one side she allowed a reassuring smile to come to her lips “I’ve warned everyone that there is no official cutting of the cake and there is definitely no speeches.” 

Harper smiled “Fine,” she said with an over dramatic sigh, pushing herself up into a standing position “I wouldn’t want to deprive the people of their cake,” she said with a roll of her eyes as Bucky stood beside her and reached for her hand once more. 

He stayed there, right beside her, as they made their way back toward the lab. He ate cake and moved from conversation to conversation with her, listening to Nakia’s stories about working on the outreach programme and fending off Shuri’s questions about his new prosthetic arm. He smiled when he was supposed to and answered questions about how he was doing with the shamans. 

“You ready to go?” 

Harper’s question, despite how much he had ended up enjoying himself, made his shoulders relax with relief as he nodded his head “I am,” he confirmed, placing his hand into the one she was holding out for him. 

Shuri hadn’t been impressed they were leaving, a pout coming to her lips as they said their goodbyes “You better take some of this with you,” she’d said before they escaped out of the door, handing them some of what was left of the cake “Or M’Baku will end up scoffing the lot!” 

There was a smile on Harper’s lips as they made their way across to her building. Her fingers squeezed his as their hands swung together between them, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip as they came to a stop outside of her door. 

“Thank you,” she said, a blush scattering along her cheekbones as her eyes flickered up to meet his “I had a great day.” 

“Good,” Bucky answered with faux relief “Shuri had threatened me with a painful death if you didn’t get the perfect day,” he continued with a chuckle “Happy birthday H,” he said, his tone a lot softer as he stepped closer, cradling her face in his hand and pressing his lips to hers. 

They had barely parted before she spoke again, her fingers gripping onto his shirt as she asked “Do you wanna come in? For a nightcap?” breathlessly. 

She’d been expecting a ‘no’ and a reminder on how old school his views on dating were but, to her surprise, Bucky nodded “Okay.” 

“Okay,” she repeated, her smile wide as she turned her back on him to open up the door. Her brain felt slightly frazzled from all of the delicious food they had eaten and the expensive champagne Shuri had insisted she sip as she stepped inside with Bucky close behind her “Tea okay?” she asked, her tone noticeably high pitched by the look on his face. 

“Tea’s fine,” he answered, watching her disappear into the kitchen before he settled on her sofa. 

“ Is tea okay,” Harper repeated beneath her breath as she waited for the kettle to boil, raising her eyes to the ceiling at her own lameness. 

She felt nervous. Stomach swirling and finger trembling nervous when she thought of what the night could lead on to. 

It had been a while since she’d been with a guy and she felt like a whole new person when she compared herself to the Harper who’d dated Patrick. More aware of herself, of where the scars that littered her body had come from… 

But this was Bucky. She trusted him with her life, she loved him. 

“Here you go,” she said, placing both of their mugs onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. Folding her leg beneath her she sat down beside him, eyes studying his face as he turned to glance at her. 

As soon as their eyes met she felt a shift in her body, the nerves turning to excitement as an electricity passed between them. 

Her stomach dipped as a smile tugged on the corners of his mouth. Lifting her other leg onto the couch she tucked her feet beneath his thigh and shuffled closer as he wrapped his arm around her knees. His fingertips gently rubbed the fabric of her jeans and she found herself speaking before she had even thought of the words which left her mouth. 

“Remember when you didn’t really understand what Netflix and chill was? And you asked me in front of Shuri?” 

He let out a mixture of a groan and a laugh as he allowed his head to drop back against the couch cushion “You two will never let me live that down huh?” he asked, thinking back to his faux pas in the lab not so long ago. 

“Probably not, no,” Harper said, unable to stop her smirk despite not being able to believe this was how she was bringing the subject up “I was just wondering, yknow, if inviting someone over for a nightcap meant the same thing in the forties as it implies today.” 

She kept her face set into her best innocent expression as he lifted his head, his eyebrows raised, to look over to her. 

A silence passed between them for a couple of seconds before he reached for her hand “Come here,” he said, his tone gruff, as he gently tugged her over so she was sitting across his lap. 

Her hands immediately went to his hair, her fingertips burying into the softness, as his hand landed at her hip. Their kiss was slow, careful, as they tried to pull the other as close as possible. 

“Hold on,” Harper whispered against his lips as she wriggled from his grasp, manoeuvring herself around so she was straddling his thighs “Is this o-“ she began, unable to finish her question as Bucky pulled her in once more. 

They were breathless the next time they parted, Harper’s plaid shirt discarded to the floor and Bucky’s hand resting on her back beneath the tee she was wearing underneath “Is this your first time since the forties?” Harper asked, her voice a whisper as she ran her hands down his broad chest. 

“Well I wasn’t out picking people up while we were on the run together,” he answered, tensing slightly as her fingertips played with the hem of his shirt “Also my first time with just the one arm,” he added, his cheekbones colouring slightly. 

Harper placed a kiss on the left side of his blush “Do you trust me?” she asked, feeling his muscles jump beneath her touch as her fingertips danced along his abs “I’m scarred too,” she said, deciding on a different route to help him feel more comfortable. 

Sitting up straight she pulled her own t-shirt up over her head, dropping it down onto the floor and leaving herself in just her bra. Picking up his hand she traced his fingertips along the scarring decorating her torso, her eyes closing as he took over and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to one running alongside her collarbone. 

“You’re beautiful,” he said against her skin as he dragged his lips across her chest, dodging the dog tags resting against her skin and placing kisses as he went “So beautiful.” 

She hummed as he made his way up her neck, along her cheek and back to her lips “Do you trust me?” she asked again, before he kissed her “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” she added as she felt him tense beneath her. 

“No, no it’s okay,” he assured her, his hand sliding along the skin of her side “I trust you,” he said, pushing himself away from the back of the couch, their chests pressing together, as he allowed her to inch his t-shirt up over his head. 

“Pretty beautiful yourself, Sergeant Barnes,” Harper said, taking note of the jump in his eyebrows at the use of his title, as she ghosted her fingertips down his bare chest. Leaning forward she left kisses where she had just touched, trailing them from his chest across to his scarred left shoulder. 

Straightening up slightly she pressed her lips against his before pushing herself up off his lap “Come on,” she said, holding her hand out to him “You’re not having your first time in seventy years on my sofa .” 

*

There was a smile on her face as she slowly awoke, curled up against Bucky’s side with his arm wrapped around her. 

She didn’t want to move. Especially as she looked up to his sleeping face and the memories from the night before came flooding back. 

He hadn’t lasted long, as she expected after seventy years, but insisted - despite her genuine argument at how being as close to him as physically possible had been enough for her - on guiding her to her finish with his fingers. His lips at her ear, whispering things that could never be described as sweet nothings to help push her over the edge. 

Her eyes closed, rolling back at the mere memory of it, as her heart swelled with happiness. She could lay there, by his side, all day, listening to his gentle snores and tracing her fingertips down the curves of his muscles. 

But her bladder, very rudely, had other ideas. 

Gently shuffling out from beneath his arm she paused for a second to make sure he was still asleep before she left the room. Plucking her dressing gown from where it was hanging on the back of the bathroom door she pulled it on before using the toilet. 

As much as she wanted to crawl back into bed, once her teeth and hair were brushed of course, her rumbling stomach pushed her out of the room and toward the kitchen. 

The radio flipped on, as Shuri had programmed it to, as soon as she turned the light on in the kitchen. Dancing across the floor she flipped the coffee machine on before moving over to the refrigerator to see what she had in. 

“Bacon it is,” she said to herself as she retrieved the packet off the shelf. She most definitely wasn’t a chef but she hoped the bacon butties she could rustle up would be enough. 

She hopped up on the counter as she waited for the bacon to cook, her legs swinging as she sang along to the song echoing out of the radio. 

A smile came to her face as she let her mind wander, from her first meeting with Bucky back at her museum to going on the run with him. From finding out about her past to sitting there, in her own kitchen, making the two of them breakfast. 

Her attention was caught by a movement at the doorway, her eyebrows raising and her smile widening when she noticed Bucky making his way through the door. 

His boxers hung low on his hip as his hand rubbed at his eyes, his long hair was messy and a yawn stretched at his lips as he crossed the room over to her “Good morning,” he said with a lazy smile, standing in between her legs and leaning forward to press a kiss to her lips “I woke up and you were gone.” 

There was a teasing comment on the tip of her tongue but she pushed it to one side as she rested her arms over his shoulders “I’m sorry,” she pouted as his arm curled around her waist, pulling her closer to him “But was it me missing or the smell of bacon which woke you up?” she asked, arching one of her eyebrows. 

“I guess you’ll never know,” he mumbled, resting his chin on her shoulder and smirking against the skin of her neck “I am hungry though.” 

“Hint taken,” Harper laughed, shaking her head and pushing him away slightly “Turn around first,” she said, placing her hands on his shoulders and turning him so his back was facing her. Running her fingers through his hair she smiled as he groaned and leaned back toward her “Keep still,” she chuckled, gathering his hair up away from his face and securing it with the hairband decorating her wrist “Ta-da,” she said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pressing a kiss to his cheekbone.

“Trying to tell me something?” he asked, reaching up to feel out what she had done to his hair “You ready for me to have the big chop?” he continued as he turned back to face her, her legs wrapping around his hips as he leaned into her. 

“I’ll be ready whenever you are ready,” she answered, reaching up and brushing the stray strands she had missed from his face “But I do like the long hair,” she added with a smirk, looping her arms around his shoulders as he pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes closed as his arm tightened its grip around her waist, a surprised giggle left her as he lifted her off the kitchen counter. 

“I thought you were hungry,” she laughed as he carried her back toward her bedroom, leaving the bacon to burn. 

Chapter Text

“My love, He makes me feel like nobody else, nobody else,” Harper sang along to the radio “ But, my love, He doesn't love me, so I tell myself, I tell myself...One,” she held up her pointer finger, catching the look on Bucky’s face “ Don’t pick up the phone, you know he’s only callin’ cause he’s drunk and alone. Two,” her tone was marred with a laugh as she switched to holding up two fingers “Are you not enjoying the performance, James?” 

His eyebrows raised as he shook his head “Are you telling me this is what people dance to nowadays?” he asked from where he was making their coffees, Dua Lipa still playing in the background. 

“Yes,” she answered, reaching out and grasping onto his hand. Holding it above her head she spun on the spot before leaning into him “Come on, it’s fun!” 

“Maybe to you,” he answered, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her cheek before spinning her away, groaning as the music switched to Shape of You by Ed Sheeran “I think even I know the words to this song by now, it’s on so much.” 

“How about, if you give some modern music a go I’ll listen to some forties tunes with you?” Harper offered, smiling as he handed her her drink. Wrapping her hands around the mug she hummed in appreciation as she smelled the coffee fumes. 

A fond smile came to Bucky’s face as he watched her “You’ll regret saying that,” he warned, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear. 

“Probably, but I'm sure I’ll struggle through it,” Harper answered, over dramatically and teasingly as they made their way through to the living room. 

He had been spending most of his time at her place since her birthday, neither of them making any ‘move in’ official but him only going back to his own place - one of the huts among the shamans - to get some more of his clothes. They went to the lab together in the mornings - ignoring the smirks Shuri sent them as Bucky pulled up a chair next to hers - and spent the evenings playing board games, catching Bucky up on movies or curled up together beneath the covers.

“So,” Bucky began once they were sitting on the sofa, Harper’s feet tucked beneath his thigh and her back resting against the opposite arm. 

Her eyebrows raised as she looked up from the mug she was cradling in her hands, encouraging him to continue. 

He chuckled, his cheekbones colouring slightly, as he mirrored her expression “The other night...you mentioned the other ones ? But I’ve only heard you talk about Ryan?” 

Harper let out a laugh “Are you asking me the numbers question James Barnes?” she asked, wriggling her toes beneath his leg.

“No...I...I just…” 

“It’s okay,” she said, leaning over and patting his shoulder. “Ryan was the first girl - and person - I dated properly but I went out on a few dates with some others. There was Patrick, who I lost my virginity to and who turned out to be a big let down, Lola, the first girl I was with , and Frank...who played guitar in a band which should have been my first red flag,” she said with a chuckle “But, despite the let downs, I remind myself that they were all important to me at one point in my life.” 

He nodded, thinking her words over as the corners of his mouth turned down slightly. He was silent for a couple of minutes as he leaned with his arm draped over her knees, playing with a stray piece of thread emerging from the pyjama bottoms she was wearing. 

She watched him, her eyes flickering over his unreadable expression, her stomach swirling slightly with nerves “Is...is everything okay?” 

His eyebrows raised as his lips stretched into a smile, turning in his seat he tilted his head to one side to take her in. “Yeah, sorry!” he exclaimed with a slight chuckle, shaking his head and bringing himself back into the room “I was just taking it all in. It’s...I just think it’s really cool.” 

Harper’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion “You think what’s really cool?” she asked, a hint of amusement in her tone. 

His shoulders shrugged so slightly she almost didn’t catch the movement, his attention switched to the mug he was clutching in his hand “That people get to be whoever they want to be in this time,” he said before he took a sip “Y’know, love who they want, dress how they want, be whoever they want.” 

“How very progressive of you James,” Harper answered with a smile as she allowed her eyes to flicker over his side profile “We still have a long way to go but you’re right, it is pretty cool,” she added, a frown furrowing her brow slightly as her attention was drawn to a slight wince crossing his face “What is it?” 

“Nothing,” he answered, shuffling in his seat slightly and wincing once more. 

“It’s that residual pain Shuri was talking about isn’t it,” Harper said, regarding him through narrowed eyes before she leaned down to place her drink on the floor “Come on,” she said as she shuffled up so she was kneeling next to him. 

He regarded her almost suspiciously “What?” 

She rolled her eyes “I’m giving you a shoulder massage!” she exclaimed, placing her hands between the couch and his back in an attempt to push him around “You’re all tense.” 

“No, no it’s fine,” he tried to brush her off but she stopped him, slightly digging her fingertips into the muscles of his back to turn him around herself “You’re not going to let this go are you?” 

“Nope,” Harper answered, her voice light and airy as she popped the ‘p’, as he gave up and turned so his back was facing her “Though I do have no idea what I’m doing so if I’m making it worse please tell me,” she added, earning a chuckle from him in reply. 

Knowing he’d like to keep his t-shirt on she ran her fingers over the muscles of his back beneath the material. Despite her lack of experience in massage she felt him relax beneath her touch, his shoulders slumping from where they had been held up so tense and his head leaning back slightly. 

“You’re better at this than you think,” he hummed, his eyes closed as her fingertips needled their way through his tense muscles. 

She smiled to herself before she leaned down, feeling him jump slightly as she pressed a feather light kiss to the skin of his neck showing beneath the collar of his t-shirt “You need to tell me when you’re in pain,” she said, continuing to mix kisses in with her massage.

“Mhm,” Bucky answered, almost leaning back against her as he relaxed into her touch. 

Leaning in close to him, feeling him shiver at her breath on his skin, she said “Maybe we’ll ask Shuri if she has any methods to help you.” 

Bucky’s eyes rolled as he reached up and gently grasped onto her wrist, pulling her around until she sat across his knee “You’re bringing Shuri up now ?” he asked with a tut and a shake of his head, Harper letting out a giggle “Way to ruin the moment hey?”

“I’m sorry,” she answered, reaching up and gently cradling the side of his face. Her thumb rubbed along his jawline, pushing through the beard he had grown while in Wakanda “I worry about you.” 

“No need,” he said, leaning forward to press his lips against hers “I’m fine.” 

*

But he hadn’t been fine. 

Ever since noticing the first sign of pain and tension on his face and in his shoulders Harper had kept a keen eye on him. Every movement was scrutinised under her gaze and she found herself pointing out whenever he winced, giving him a massage before they went to sleep every night. 

“I’m telling you, it’s going to help!” she insisted as they walked toward the lab one Monday morning, raising her eyebrows at the scowl on his face. 

The final straw had been that Friday night, Bucky getting to a stage where the pain affected his sleep. Harper had found herself thrown back to the previous year when he’d shouted out in his sleep, tossing and turning as he tried to get comfortable. 

Ignoring his scowl she’d picked up her phone to shoot Shuri a text, asking for advice. 

Advice which had resulted in an appointment with one of the shamans who specialised in acupuncture first thing that Monday morning. 

“And I’m telling you I’m fine,” he grumbled back, the two of them clicking their passes against the door to get into the lab. 

“Oh stop your moaning Sergeant Barnes,” Shuri injected as she met them by the door, a smirk on her lips as Bucky sent her a glare “Here, these are for you,” she said, handing Harper a bunch of papers and one of the tablets “I’ve also got a few prototypes for the Dora and I was wondering if you’d test them out in the simulation?” 

Harper rolled her eyes as she juggled all of the things she had been handed “I guess,” she said with a tut, the three of them crossing the room over to their desks in a line. 

“Knew you’d be on board,” Shuri answered, Harper attempting to duck out of the way without dropping anything as she reached over to pinch her cheek “There are also a few changes to your suit I want you to test,” she continued with a wink before hooking her arm through Bucky’s “Now come on you, let’s get you sorted!” 

Harper let out a laugh as Bucky sent her a helpless look over Shuri’s shoulder “Good luck!” she mouthed, raising her hand in a wave once she had dumped everything in her arms down on her desk. 

She threw herself into the work she had been handed, signing papers and organising meetings for the outreach centre, organising emails Shuri needed to look into and trying - once again - to get in touch with Nakia...obviously failing miserably as usual. She kept herself busy as she tried to not worry about what was going on in Bucky’s appointment; wondering if the scowl was off his face, if he was playing nicely and hoping it was working for him. 

Her hair was tied up on the top of her head, her face red and her lungs breathless, when Shuri’s voice finally came over the tannoy to let her know Bucky was finished and was back in the lab. 

Forgetting all about whatever weapon she had left to check out, Harper had pulled the virtual reality goggles off her head and hung them up, making her way out of the simulation quickly to see how it had gone. 

“I’m not sure I remember saying we were finished,” Shuri said, a teasing tone to her voice as Harper handed her the spear she was gripping on to. 

“I’ll try out as much as you want tomorrow,” Harper promised as she made her way over to where Bucky was clicking about on Shuri’s laptop. There was a smile on her face as she gently placed her hand on his back to announce her arrival. 

“Hey,” he smiled back, turning in his seat to look up at her. 

She felt relief flood through her when she noticed the relaxed way his shoulders sat and how the smile on his face seemed genuine “How did it go?” she asked as she sat herself down in her chair next to him. Despite knowing his pain was mainly physical this time she still couldn’t stop the worry from invading her mind. 

The last time she had left him in the hands of the Wakandan medics he had chosen to go back under and leave her alone. 

“You can’t gloat,” he warned, his blue eyes narrowed as they stared deep into hers, and didn’t speak again until Harper had traced a cross over her heart “It helped. They’ve offered me a few more sessions and given me some other things to do if the pain ever gets too much again,” he explained, rolling his eyes when he noticed the grin stretching across Harper’s face “That doesn’t mean your massages need to stop though,” he added, lowering his tone and revelling in how her cheekbones turned a beautiful blush colour. 

“We’ll see,” she teased back, arching her eyebrows before she turned back to switch her computer off “I’m heading back home if you’re ready, I really need a shower,” she said, wrinkling her nose as she picked at the training tracksuit she was wearing - her new suit not quite up to Shuri’s standards apparently. 

“Sounds good,” Bucky answered as they both got to their feet, his arm reaching out and wrapping around her shoulders. He let out a shout of a laugh as she buried her elbow into his side. 

“A shower to get clean, James ,” she said with a shake of her head. 

They called their goodbyes over to Shuri, who was almost too busy with something else she was working on to reply, before they left the lab behind for the evening. 

“I should have made sure she left as well,” Harper said, linking her arm through Bucky’s, as they made their way across to their apartment building. She didn’t like thinking of Shuri working late into the night as she used to. 

“We’ll give her a call later, make sure she’s not staying too late,” Bucky promised as they climbed the stairs “And she’s coming over tomorrow for your regular take out dessert night isn’t she.” 

Harper’s eyes sparkled as she pushed the front door to their place open. They had started their weekly desert take out not so long ago, assigning a night each week to ordering different cakes, ice creams and other sweet treats from the local takeaways and eating them while watching movie after movie “I think it’s that donut place this week,” she said as they made their way through the front door and into the apartment. 

Flipping the light on Harper unravelled her bag from where it had been resting across her body, dumping it on the couch as a yawn stretched at her lips “I’ll go in the shower before we eat,” she said, Shuri had really put her through her paces in the simulation while Bucky was at his appointment. The different weapons she’d developed for the Dora needed to be tested in all kinds of scenarios and under all sorts of conditions. 

It got to a point where Harper was pretty sure she was taking it too far as a prank but she’d soldiered on. There was no way she was admitting to Shuri she wanted to stop. 

“Sounds good to me,” Bucky answered with a wriggle of his eyebrows, his arm making it’s way around her waist as he pulled her toward him despite her protests. 

“Stop!” she chuckled, pretending to bat him away with one hand while her other covered her face “I’m all sweaty and gross,” she groaned, her bottom lip pushing out into a pout. 

Bucky’s shoulders shrugged “That’s not what I see.” 

Harper felt her cheekbones heat slightly as she glanced up, her eyes meeting his intense gaze. She felt as though the clock had ticked backwards and she was getting a glimpse into the charming ways of the Bucky Barnes she had read about in books “You can’t look at me like that,” she said, reaching up and pressing her palm against his face to gently push him away “At least not when I smell !” she exclaimed, wriggling from his grasp and sending him a pointed look. 

“Fine,” he answered with a sigh “I’ll get dinner started...but you owe me!” he called after her as she made her way through the bedroom and into the en suite. 

“I don’t owe you shit, Barnes!” she called back, a laugh in her tone as she hurried out in just her towel to kiss his cheek “Off you go into the kitchen,” she teased as he let out a groan, patting his arm and sending him a wink as they went their separate ways. 

Her muscles, aching from the workout Shuri had put her through, relaxed as she stood beneath the warm cascading water. She got washing her hair out of the way as soon as she had stepped in, instead taking her time to wash away the day with a body wash which smelled of fruit and promised to soothe. 

The sound of the door creaking open caused her eyebrows to furrow slightly “Don’t you come any closer James!” she called over the running water, a laugh to her tone. 

She could practically hear the eye roll in his tone as he promised her he wasn’t interrupting her relaxing shower for nothing “Your phone was ringing,” he said, her head peering out from behind the shower curtain “I got to it when it rang off,” he continued, holding her iPhone up “There wasn’t a name on the call but there’s a text after it...someone doesn’t trust me with their passcode though,” he said, a tease to his tone as she pulled her tongue out at him. 

“I’ll finish in here then have a look,” she said, not really wanting to leave the warm and soothing shower “If it’s important they’ll-” she was cut off by her ringtone filling the air, the phone Bucky was still holding lighting up “-call back,” she finished with a sigh, switching the shower off she reached over and swiped to answer the phone, clicking it onto speaker. 

“Hey Harper,” Steve’s voice echoed out.

“Hey Steve,” she answered, noticing the surprised look on Bucky’s face “Listen, if this isn’t urgent can I leave you with my assistant for a little while? Caught me at a bad time.” 

Steve sounded confused as he answered “Sure?” 

“Off you go,” Harper mouthed to Bucky, clicking it off speaker phone “Talk to your best friend,” she insisted, waving him away. 

Bucky’s brow furrowed slightly as he glanced down to the phone resting in the palm of his hand. Chewing on his bottom lip he raised it to his ear “Hello?...yeah, yeah it’s Bucky…” he said, his sentence trailing off as he made his way back out of the bathroom. 

Harper smiled to herself as she quickly dried her body and wrapped her hair up in her towel. With Steve calling from different numbers each time he had gotten in touch she hadn’t been able to get them on the line together, never in the room with Bucky when Steve, Sam or Nat needed her help. 

By the time she was fully dressed, tugging a jumper over her head, and had twisted her hair into a bun she could hear laughter coming from the living room. She smiled once more as she made her way out of the bedroom, it had been a while since she had heard Steve in such a good mood nevermind Bucky. 

“Was there a reason for his call or is he just gunna steal you away for the rest of the night?” she asked as she sat herself down beside Bucky, leaning in close she could hear Steve laugh. 

“He wants something technical doing but I told him, that’s way above my paygrade pal,” Bucky answered, his eyes shining with amusement after his conversation with his best friend “I’ll, I’ll talk to you again Steve,” he continued, the two of them saying their goodbyes before he handed the phone over to her. 

Her conversation with Steve didn’t go on for too long, she was quickly able to fix the problem he was having with the app she’d installed on his phone to help him stay incognito, and ending with a quick hello and goodbye from Natasha. 

Shutting her laptop down she pushed her seat away from her desk, smiling as she noticed Bucky heading in with her plate full of pasta “Thanks,” she said as she took it off him, raising it closer to her face she closed her eyes as she smelled the bolognese sauce with her stomach rumbling “This smells amazing,” she said as she sat down on the couch beside him, watching as he lifted his own plate from where it had been waiting for him on the coffee table. 

Across from them the television started playing the film Bucky had set up for them, the second in the Conjuring movies that had been released the previous year, and they began to eat. 

“Steve, uhm, Steve said he’d asked you to go along with them,” Bucky said, glancing across to her out of the corner of his eye. 

“Huh?” Harper asked, her mouth full, before she nodded her head “Yeah, yeah he did,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, once she had swallowed her pasta and leaned her fork on her plate “After I helped him and Natasha break everyone out of The Raft.” 

“And you didn’t wanna go?” 

Harper frowned, leaning forward she placed her plate on the coffee table before turning to face him. Crossing her legs beneath her she studied the side of his frown with her head tilted to one side “No I didn’t,” she confirmed “Why?” 

He arched his eyebrows as he turned his head to face her, amusement flashing across his face for a second when he saw her arms folded across her chest and the way she was looking over at him “I was just wondering...being asked to go off on the run with your favourite person in the world…”

Harper’s eyes narrowed and she leaned over to punch him in the shoulder “We all know my favourite person in the world isn’t Steve Rogers,” she said with a roll of her eyes “It’s Shuri,” she added, poking her tongue out at him as he laughed, before continuing “I didn’t want to go,” she insisted, reaching for her food again and loading her fork up “I didn’t feel ready to go.” 

Bucky nodded his head, though he didn’t look overly convinced “So you didn’t stick around just for me?” 

“In a I’m holding you back kinda way ? No. In a because you were worried about me and I’m secretly also one of your favourite people and you missed me a lot kinda way? Yes,” she said the last part with a smile “I don’t regret saying no if that’s what you’re asking,” she reassured him, shuffling closer to him and leaning her head on his shoulder for a couple of seconds “There is no where I would rather be than right here with you, okay?” 

He glanced to her, a smile threatening to tug on the corners of his lips “ Uch ,” he teased, leaning over and pressing a featherlight kiss to the tip of her nose “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be either,” he added quietly before frowning up to the screen “Except maybe twenty minutes ago? I have no idea what is going on in this movie.” 

Chapter Text

A yawn stretched at her lips as the sound of her ringtone cut through her sleep. Her left hand rubbed at her eyes as her right tugged the quilt she was nestled under from over her head. 

“Go back to sleep,” she said in a whisper, feeling Bucky stir as she untangled herself from beneath his arm. Reaching over to her bedside cabinet her fingers scrambled around slightly before they closed around her iPhone. 

“‘Lo?” 

“Do you always sound like this when Steve calls?” Natasha’s voice echoed from the other end. She sounded like she was outside, her feet crunching on leaves and the wind whistling around her “Bored?” 

“Try half asleep,” Harper answered, suppressing a yawn as she tugged her dressing gown on and made her way through to the living room “You remember timezones exist right, Nat?” 

There was a pause before Nat mumbled a “Shit,” as she very obviously came to a stop “Sorry Harper, but someone’s gotta keep you on your toes,” she said, the usual teasing in her tone as she continued her walk. 

Harper rolled her eyes, reaching up and rubbing at her left one “Was there a point to this call or did you just wanna say hi?” 

“Are you this surly when the boys call?” 

“Natasha,” Harper whined. “The boys usually call me at a normal time, it is currently three in the morning and my head feels all fuzzy. Are you alright?” 

Natasha sighed once again, coming to a stop once more and taking her time to catch her breath. “I need your help with something,” she finally admitted “But you can’t mention anything about it to Steve, Sam, Bucky...anyone.”

Harper’s brow furrowed as she sat down at her desk “Okay,” she answered slowly “Where are you?” 

“Oh I’m just checking the perimeter of our new place,” Natasha shrugged off. “It’s the only time I get to myself,” she added in a grumble.”You promise you won’t mention this to anyone else?” 

“Is that really necessary-” 

“Please Harper. Just say it.” 

“Okay I promise,” Harper caved before adding “It’s nothing really bad is it?” 

On the other end of the line she could practically hear Natasha’s eyeroll “I just need you to check on something for me,” she said “Or rather some one .” 

“Right,” Harper answered, the phone balancing between her ear and her shoulder as she crawled beneath her desk to switch the computer on at the wall. She’d have to remind Bucky, again , that it wasn’t necessary “And who is this person?” 

“I can only give you a name,” Natasha said, unhelpfully “And when I do I just want you to make sure they’re alive and okay. No digging deeper.”

“You’re making this all too confusing,” Harper said, smiling to herself at the sound of her computer loading up “Is this something you need immediately?” 

“You may not be able to get the information immediately,” Natasha said with a sigh “Just take your time, do as much as you can.” 

Harper frowned as she relaxed against the back of her office chair “Everything is alright isn't it Nat? You’re okay?” 

There was a smile to Natasha’s tone as she replied “I’m okay, I just want to make sure someone else is as well,” she said “No reaching out, no extra information, just let me know if she’s okay.” 

“Sure,” Harper nodded, opening up the notebook she kept on her desk. Reaching over she plucked one of the pens out of her stationary holder, hovering it over the paper ready “And the name?” 

Natasha took in another deep breath “Yelena Belova.” 

*

Harper had stayed at her desk, staring into the bright light of her computer screen, until Bucky emerged from the bedroom an hour later. He’d been insistent she was to come back to bed, to rest and leave whatever it was she was looking into until the morning. 

But she’d found that she couldn’t sleep. The person Natasha had been interested in finding out about didn’t seem to exist, definitely no social media and nothing on the basic websites she usually used to start her research. 

But she’d been so worried about her, Harper had been able to hear it in her voice, that she was determined to find something out about her. To give Natasha a little bit of good news while she was out on the run. 

“Here,” Bucky said, a smile on his face as he handed her her morning coffee “You were restless after you came back to bed,” he said with a frown of concern as he sat back down in the bed beside her “What was it Steve had you on last night?” 

“Oh it was nothing,” Harper answered before raising the mug to her lips and taking a sip “Once I get on something I find it hard to stop and I’m not used to having someone around to pull me out of it,” she continued, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek “Thank you for making me sleep,” she said, though unsure how much sleep she actually managed to get. 

He looked across to her with slightly narrowed eyes, not really sure if he believed her or not, before he reached up to push her hair out of her face “Are you sure you want to go out today?” 

“Yes!” Harper answered, a little too enthusiastically “I mean...yes, of course,” she continued, smiling up to him shyly “I’m fine, honestly.” 

“As long as you’re sure,” he said, his tone a little wary, before he placed a kiss on the top of her head “I’ll go and get in the shower while you finish your coffee then,” he said, sending her a smile before hopping off the bed and heading into the bathroom. 

As he did her phone, sitting on the bedside cabinet, beeped and she reached over for it. A text from Natasha lit up the screen, asking her if she’d managed to find anything out. 

Not yet she answered But I’ll keep looking. I promise.  

She settled back against her pillows once she had locked her phone and placed it back where it had been. With her fingers wrapped around her warm mug she thought about the day ahead, wondering if she’d find the time to sneak away and do a little research for Natasha away from Bucky. 

They were heading to the big library in Wakanda to spend their morning off from the lab looking into Bucky’s past. He wanted to make sure nothing would trigger him now the words were permanently out of his head, he wanted to look into the past before he had become The Winter Soldier, he wanted to relive some of the things he had done while he was the Winter Soldier...he wanted to cover all bases and knew the best person to help him was the one who had made a career about it. 

It just meant, being in such a public place, that she wouldn’t be able to focus too much on what Natasha had asked her. 

The bathroom was free by the time she had finished her coffee so she took her chance to quickly shower and brush her teeth before she got dressed for the day ahead. 

“Are you ready?” Bucky asked once she had changed out of her pyjamas and into a pair of leggings and the comfiest top she owned. Her hair was piled up on the top of her head and her glasses, ready and raring to go, were perched on her nose. 

“I’m going full research geek on you,” she warned, making a point of pushing her glasses further over her eyes with a smirk on her face. 

“I won’t lie, this look? Definitely working for me,” he answered with a smirk, reaching out for her arm he tugged her into him. 

She almost gave in, hypnotised by the striking blue eyes staring down at her, but ended up shaking her head “We have an appointment,” she said, her tone a lot weaker than what she would have liked. 

“Believe it or not, I’m looking forward to it,” he said with a chuckle, not hiding his disappointment as she moved away from him. He watched as she reached for her messenger bag and slung it onto her shoulder “Are you feeling better now?” he asked, continuing when she sent him a confused glance “You seemed a bit off this morning after your middle of the night call.” 

“I was just tired,” she said, hoping her smile was convincing enough. “The coffee you brought me sorted me right out,” she continued, nudging his hip with hers as she passed him “Now come on, let’s get this show on the road.” 

There was a nervousness to his smile as he nodded in agreement. Taking in a deep breath he paused for a second before he followed her out of the bedroom. With the shock of the trigger words being out of his mind slowing down he knew he had to make sure there was nothing else which could take him back to being the person he didn’t want to be. 

He needed to look into his past to sort through the bundle of memories in his mind. 

And he was a little nervous about it. 

“Come on,” Harper smiled as he followed her out of the door, shutting and locking it behind him. Reaching out she joined their hands, lacing their fingers and squeezing a couple of times to reassure him “All good?” 

“All good,” he promised “And hopefully still will be by the end of the day,” he continued with a wiggle of his eyebrows, letting out a laugh as she sent him a glare “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” 

“I just don’t want to put you through something that’s going to hurt you,” Harper said as they made their way down the main street toward the magnificent looking building toward the other end of town. 

“I know,” he answered, resting his shoulder against hers and pressing a kiss to the side of her head “But it’s something I have to do.” 

“I know,” Harper echoed, unable to stop the worry from squirming in her stomach. He had finally admitted to the physical pain he was feeling after losing his arm again and she didn’t want to be the one to help bring any of the mental pain back. 

He’d had the idea shortly after speaking with Steve on the phone. It had brought his memories of the past forward, filling his dreams with muddled up flashes of what they would get up to back in the forties. 

It made him want to look into what had happened back then. When he was drafted and Steve had been altered, all the good they had done when they were in the Howling Commandos...and anything else after that. 

He couldn’t handle the confusion when he woke any longer. Wondering what had been real and what had been messed with when his memories were wiped over and over. 

And he needed to know if anything that could be brought up from his past had the ability to trigger his mind. 

The last thing he wanted was to be in the middle of a conversation and to be taken back to someone he wasn’t any longer.  

His attention was caught by Harper’s fingers squeezing his. There was a wide smile on her face as she led him into the grand building holding all and any kind of information Wakanda had to offer. 

The library was one of Harper’s favourite places in town. Not only was there anything she needed to know at the tip of her fingertips but also fictional world after fictional world for her to get lost in whenever she needed it. 

It was also large enough to hide from Okoye and Ayo when they wanted her to join the third training session that day. 

“C’mon,” she said, gripping onto Bucky’s hand and leading him over to the large elevators across from the doors they had walked through “I called ahead, they said they’d have most things ready for us on the top floor,” she explained once they were inside and the doors had shut behind them. Leaning over she pressed the button, pausing to make sure he was still happy as she did so. 

The table was, as promised, set up and waiting for them when the doors opened once more. The librarian, Medea, had been more than happy to help when Harper had called ahead earlier on in the week. 

She’d gone through the archives and dug out old newspapers the Wakandan’s had saved for research and to keep track of where the vibranium taken from their country was in the world. They were covering the table, neatly organised in date order and waiting to be read. 

“You’re sure about this?” Harper asked as they approached, a few headlines from his Winter Soldier days jumping out at her as she cast an eye over the material. 

“I’m fine,” he insisted with a smile, one she couldn’t quite read, before pressing a kiss to her temple. “Honestly H, you go and look at what you need to.” 

She paused for a moment, as he let go of her hand and made his way over to look at the different articles and reports. Her eyes stayed on him as he bent over the table, his hand reaching out every now and then to move a piece of paper to the side. 

He had been insistent on doing this on his own. She would still be in the room of course but working on something of her own. 

“I wanna get some stories straight in my head so I can bore you with tales of the old days,” he’d said the previous with a chuckle “And I can’t tell you the stories if you’re reading them over my shoulder,” he’d added, poking her scrunched up nose before he’d pulled her in for a kiss. 

The Bucky in her memory was a lot more relaxed than the one she was looking at in that moment. His jaw wasn’t clenched and his shoulders not tense, his brow hadn’t been furrowed and his eyes narrowed. 

It had been a long time since she had seen the Bucky who was standing in front of her, oblivious to her still watching on. 

Letting out a sigh she turned away from him, sticking to her promise and leaving him alone with his thoughts and memories to head over to the computers in the corner. 

She picked one with the screen facing the wall, pulling the seat out and making sure she could still glance up and see how he was easily. Switching it on she logged in with her usual username and password before leaning down and plucking her messenger bag from where she had dropped it onto the floor. 

Digging through it she swore beneath her breath before her fingers finally brushed against the USB drive she had been looking for. She knew she needed to focus on the project she had given herself not so long ago but, as the data loaded, she couldn’t help but open up the programme Shuri had given her and input a different name:

Yelena Belova 

Natasha had sounded so worried about her over the phone a few nights previous and Harper couldn’t help but feel slightly intrigued. 

She would keep her promise of course, she wouldn’t look into Yelena more than she had to, but she still found herself wondering who she was to the usually secretive Natasha. 

It took her a while, digging through record after record and unlocking report after report, before she found her. Alive, well, and in hiding. 

Stretching up in her chair, pushing her glasses from the bridge of her nose to the top of her head, she glanced over to check on Bucky once again. His head was bent over the table, his shoulders still tense, as he read over something clutched in his hand. He looked deep in thought but still comfortable so Harper sat back, tugging her phone out of her pocket. 

Natasha answered before the phone had finished its first dial, a curt hello followed by the closing of a door behind her. 

“You can talk?” Harper asked her. 

“Yeah I can talk,” Natasha confirmed “You’ve found her?” 

“I can send you her location right now.” 

There was a half sigh of relief before Natasha spoke again, quickly “Wait, she is-” 

“She’s fine,” Harper reassured her “Alive and well,” she continued as she balanced the phone between her ear and her shoulder, reaching forward to swipe across a few keys and click her mouse a couple of times “I’ve sent you her location. You can see for yourself.” 

“You’ve told me all I need to know for now,” Natasha answered, a smile and a lightness in her tone “Thank you Harper, you’ve put my mind at ease,” she said before continuing with suspicion in her words “But you didn’t-” 

“I didn’t look further than that,” Harper promised “I know it isn’t my place.” 

“I owe you,” Natasha said “If there’s anything I can ever do to help you.” 

Harper found her mind wandering to her own project, the one milling in the back of her mind begging her to focus on “Be careful Natasha, I may just keep you to that,” she warned, keeping a teasing tone so as not to invite further questions. 

“I’ll be there,” Natasha said earnestly “I mean it Rhodes,” she continued before finally letting out that sigh of relief “I better get back to the boys, we’ll call you if we need anything.” 

“Anytime,” Harper answered, frowning to herself when she realised Natasha had already hung up. 

Pushing herself to her feet she stretched her arms above her head, leaning her neck from one side to the other as she tried to untie the knots she’d acquired since sitting down. A yawn crossed her lips as she placed her glasses back in their case and dropped them into her bag, rubbing at her eyes as she followed them with her USB stick. 

“How’s it going?” she asked as she slowly approached the table Bucky was working at “You know Medea said you can take whatever you need right?” she continued as she stood behind him, her hand gently resting on his back as she leaned over his shoulder. He was reading an old newspaper article about the Howling Commandos, a light smile on his face. 

“She did?” he asked, sounding as though he had been pulled out of a deep dream. He blinked his eyes a couple of times before he turned to look up to her. 

“All of these are copies,” Harper said as she took the seat beside him. “I just thought the quiet of the library would be best for you when looking over them,” she explained as his eyes followed her “All good?”

He nodded once before he answered “All good,” with a smile. His gaze left her to look back over the piles of paper he had been sorting through “Lot of information to get through.” 

“But you did it,” Harper smiled, reaching over once again to squeeze his knee “And with no triggering,” she continued, her eyes searching his face. 

“No triggering,” he confirmed with a chuckle “So you can stop trying to look into my brain,” he said, reaching up and playfully pushing her face away “I think it’s helped me though, get a few things sorted in my mind.” 

“Well I can’t wait to hear all about it,” Harper said, pressing a kiss to his cheekbone before getting to her feet “We’re due in the lab soon though, are we gathering some of this stuff up to take with us?” 

They ended up leaving ten minutes later, piles of paper shoved into two folders supplied to them by Medea clutched in their arms. There were articles Bucky wanted to reread, reports he hadn’t got around to and pictures he wanted to make sure he had to show Harper later on. 

“Well you two have been busy,” Shuri greeted them with an arch to her eyebrows as the two of them wandered in through the lab main door. 

“Research,” Harper answered, throwing her nose in the air and smirking across to her friend. 

“Research? Without me?” Shuri said in an offended manner, placing her hand over her heart “And I thought we were friends,” she continued with a tut.

“ My fault,” Bucky said, holding his hand up innocently once he had dumped the folders he had been holding down on Harper’s desk “She had to keep her eye on me while I delved into the past.” 

Shuri’s eyebrows were back in their arch as the corners of her lips turned down slightly “And how was that?” she asked, her eyes flicking between the two of them. 

A smile came to Bucky’s face as he tapped his fingertip on the top of the folder “Great,” he answered “I have so many more stories to tell you now,” he continued, letting out a laugh at Shuri’s over the top groan. 

“Come on,” she said, gesturing to the spare chair sitting beside hers “Show me what you got,” she continued, turning to Harper as Bucky sat down “And you? Did you get a chance to look at-”

“No,” Harper answered with a shake of her head, cutting through Shuri’s sentence “I had something to do for Steve, Sam and Nat,” she explained quickly as Shuri sent her a look “I promise I’ll look at it when I next get a chance,” she said, rolling her eyes as Shuri let out a disbelieving noise. 

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Shuri said beneath her breath as she turned to join where Bucky was sitting. “There are a few reports on your desk about the outreach programme I wrote today,” she said as she sat in her chair “Could you look over them please?” 

“Of course,” Harper smiled, watching for a few seconds as Bucky began shuffling through the papers in front of him. There was an excited look on his face at the thought of being able to tell Shuri more about his past before the winter soldier. 

He had been so worried that looking into his past would trigger something in his mind that seeing him relaxed and wanting to talk about it made her heart flip. 

She spent the next few hours running her eye over the reports on the different possible locations the programme could spread to. With her red pen in hand she edited and added where necessary, glancing at the computer every now and then to double check what she was scribbling in the margins was right. 

As she worked Bucky and Shuri moved into the training room, getting him used to moving with his new stature. In between working Harper also kept an eye on the monitor Shuri used to watch her when she was in there. 

He looked at home in the battle situation, despite only having one arm, ducking and diving, shooting and shielding. He was much more comfortable in the simulation room as well, eager to get her back in there with him to restart their competition now they were on a more even keel. 

Her attention was pulled away from watching him and Shuri on the monitor by the arrival of someone in the lab. Turning her chair around, a smile came to her face when she spotted T’Challa making his way over “My king,” she greeted him, bowing her head slightly, as he reached her. 

His eyes narrowed as he reached out to swipe the top of her head teasingly “How many times must I insist-”

“You know I’m only teasing,” she said as she got to her feet, greeting him this time with a hug “How are you?” she asked, stepping back to take him in. 

“Good,” he answered “And you?” 

“Can’t complain,” Harper answered with a shrug, the sound of the simulation’s doors opening distracting them from their conversation. 

“Ahh, the almighty King finally decides to grace us with his presence!” Shuri exclaimed when she caught sight of her brother “I was beginning to think you were too good to hang out in the lab any more,” she said as she approached, reaching out and bumping fists with him. 

T’Challa raised his eyes to the ceiling “She talks like we don’t eat dinner together most nights,” he said, jabbing his thumb over to his sister as a cackle left her mouth “I’ve actually come to speak to the two of you,” he continued, turning to Harper and Bucky and ignoring Shuri’s tut of disapproval at being left out. 

“Oh?” Harper asked, stepping closer to where Bucky was standing. She knew, deep down, that they had a home for life in Wakanda but still couldn’t stop the swirl of concern in her stomach at the serious look on T’Challa’s face “Is everything okay?” 

To her relief he smiled “I have a proposition for you.”

Chapter Text

Harper let out a huff, running her fingers through the hair that had escaped her ponytail. Straightening up she stretched her back out and placed her hands on her hips. 

“I haven’t even been here long, how have I accumulated so much stuff ,” she whined as she glanced around the boxes littering the floor of the apartment. 

T’Challa’s proposition, as Shuri joked, was to throw them out of their apartment. 

It had only ever been a temporary option. The apartments were for visitors, people only staying a couple of days, and theirs was needed for someone coming into the country looking for a place to stay. 

Of course there had been a plan, a sweetener to the deal. 

The corners of T’Challa’s mouth had twitched into a smile as he described the home they would be moving into. A farmhouse, equipt with some land for them to grow fruit and vegetables on and to keep animals. 

They’d be on the outskirts of town. Close enough to come into the lab without issue but far enough away from everyone that they would have peace and quiet. 

They had visited it the next day. A large, three bedroomed, farmhouse with stunning views and a homely vibe about it. Harper had smiled as soon as she had stepped inside, her heart filling as she glanced around the welcome area. She glanced across to Bucky, who was standing with a look of disbelief on his face, and she knew. 

This was their home. 

“Of course, there will be a few tweaks here and there,” Shuri had promised, nudging Harper’s arm with her elbow. “I’m not going to leave you tech-less.” 

“Can you at least leave me with instructions ?” Harper had replied, remembering when she first moved into her apartment and had been unable to figure out how to turn on her shower. 

“Eh,” Shuri shrugged. “I’ll think about it.” 

She was there at that moment. Dodging helping out with any heavy lifting she’d decided on spending the morning of ‘Moving Day’ finishing off whatever tech she had decided Harper and Bucky needed. 

“I just hope we have a normal toaster,” she whined as Bucky made his way into the living room from the kitchen, an amused smile coming to his face. 

“Are you worried about what Shuri’s getting up to again?” he asked, winding his arm around her waist and tugging her into his side to press a kiss to her temple. 

“Maybe,” Harper grumbled, her voice muffled slightly as she pressed her face into his chest “I just want normal toast.” 

Bucky let out a laugh, rubbing his hand up and down her back a couple of times before they pulled apart. “Come on, we need to get all of this stuff together,” he said, glancing round the room “You know my things only fit into one box right?” he continued, laughing once more and dodging out of the way of her fist. 

By the time one of the trucks T’Challa had hired for them was waiting outside Harper was ready to get into bed. 

Only her bed had been stripped and the room seemed very cold and empty as she stood in the middle of it. 

She bit down on her bottom lip as she glanced around. Her bedsheets were packed away, her vanity and her clothes. The pictures she had on the walls had been taken down and her laptop had been packed away instead of sitting on the bedside cabinet. 

The sadness crept up on her, as she ran her eyes over the blank walls and shuffled her feet in the comfortable carpet beneath them. 

The apartment was the first place she had felt at home in a long time. It was comfortable, it was warm, it was safe . 

It was where she had bonded with Shuri over movies, where she and M’Baku had fought over who was going to eat the dregs of the popcorn. It was where Ramonda had made her her first home cooked meal for a long time, where T’Challa had told her stories about his father and where she, Okoye and Ayo had held their morning yoga sessions. 

It was where she and Bucky had first slept together, where they’d laughed and played board games. Where they’d surprised one another with breakfast in bed and argued over whose turn it was to pick the movie…

She was going to miss being there. 

“All good?” Bucky’s voice echoed in the empty room as he stepped up beside her, looping his arm around her waist he leaned his chin on the top of her head. 

“All good,” she confirmed, slipping her arm around him and leaning against him “It just feels weird to be leaving this place behind,” she confessed. 

“I know,” Bucky answered, “Our little safe haven. Our Bucharest apartment in a Wakandan setting.” 

“I never thought of it like that but you’re right,” Harper said, slightly amused, as they parted “It is like we brought a bit of Bucharest here with us,” she said, giving the bedroom one last glance before the two of them turned to leave “Though this place was bigger.” 

“And warmer.” 

“And didn’t have that weird smell.” 

Bucky chuckled as he bent to swoop one of the boxes into his arm, pressing it against his side before turning to carry it down the stairs “Why do we miss that Bucharest apartment again?” 

“Huh,” Harper said, thinking for a second before picking up a box herself “I have no idea,” she said, sending him a smirk as they made their way down to the waiting truck. 

With the helping tribesmen they were soon packed up and on their way, locking the door behind them one final time and saying goodbye to their apartment in the city for good. 

Bucky’s hand found hers as they sat in the back of the hovercar following the truck filled with their things. His fingers gently slid down her palm before they laced with hers “Can you believe this is our life right now?” he asked as they sped through the town, their surroundings becoming less built up and more beautiful countryside.

“I honestly don’t know what we did to be lucky enough to have the Wakandans on our side,” Harper answered, gazing out of the window toward the passing greenery “Though I can’t say I feel lucky when Okoye makes me do that extra lap when we’re out on a run,” she continued in a grumble. 

It wasn’t long before they were approaching the farmhouse, Harper’s eyebrows dipping slightly when they heard the music pumping from inside “Shuri,” she sighed, catching sight of the princess standing on the doorstep ready to welcome them “Silence isn’t in your vocabulary is it?” she asked as the hovercar came to a stop and she hopped down, her boots crunching on the dirt beneath them. 

Shuri extended her arms into a shrug “Who wants silence ?” she asked, her nose wrinkled in disgust as the tribesmen in the truck opened up the back “You aren’t expecting me to carry boxes are you?” she asked, watching as Bucky and Harper made their way over to grab a box each. 

“Oh no, as if we would ever ask you to do such a thing,” Harper answered, pulling her tongue out as she passed Shuri and made her way into the house “It’s not like Bucky only has one arm and is still managing or anything.” 

“ Bucky is a supersoldier who has been offered a new arm at least once a week,” Shuri argued. 

“One of those times it played music every time I moved,” Bucky interjected with an arch to his eyebrows “Another-”

“Okay, okay,” Shuri answered, waving him off “So I like to get a little bit creative!”

Bucky’s eyes widened slightly as he dropped the box down in the centre of the living room “ Little ?” 

The truck was unpacked quickly but the boxes were not. Not only did Shuri have an opinion on where everything and anything was to go but they were graced with the continual distractions of people popping around to ‘see the new place’. 

M’Baku came for the snacks and only stayed a few moments. Okoye and Ayo stayed a little longer, Harper unable to ignore the fact that not only were they dressed in their full Dora attire but they seemed to be sneakily checking the boundaries and security options when they thought neither Harper nor Bucky were paying attention. 

“Hey,” Harper said, grabbing hold of Shuri’s attention and reaching out to touch her arm, as Bucky was deep in conversation with Okoye and Ayo “This house...it has,” she paused as she glanced around, knowing the pit in her stomach was probably everything to do with her past anxieties and nothing to do with the actual reasoning behind why they had been moved “It has nothing to do with anything does it?” she asked, chewing on her bottom lip “Nothing to do with what you’ve been looking into?” 

Shuri’s eyebrows furrowed “Of course not!” she exclaimed, her tone not quite believable, as she shook her head “The apartment was needed and this place was just sitting here empty. It made sense.” 

“It made sense,” Harper repeated beneath her breath and with a nod of her head. 

“Please don’t worry,” Shuri said, her tone laced with an unusual seriousness as she placed her hand gently on Harper’s forearm “You know you’re safe here in Wakanda.” 

“I do, I know,” Harper said with another nod, smiling over to Shuri to show her she was convinced. 

And she was convinced. There was just a little niggling feeling in the back of her mind and the pit of her stomach, the same one which had been there when they were on the run in Romania that was difficult to be rid of. 

She didn’t know where her father was and how much of her past he had been involved in. Margot was definitely still out there, her aunt no doubt looking for revenge after the fall of shield and hydra and there was no way of finding out where she was and what she was up to. 

Harper had tried, she was completely in hiding with no way to find her. 

She placed a smile on her face as both she and Shuri turned to join the conversation between Bucky, Okoye and Ayo. It wasn’t her she was worried about, if Margot came for her she could handle it, she was her Aunt and her problem. 

It was if she managed to find them in Wakanda, where Ramonda and Shuri were. T’Challa, M’Baku, the Dora and the tribesmen would no doubt protect them all but she didn’t want them to have to. After all they had done for her and for Bucky she didn’t want to bring trouble to their doorstep. 

“Okay, now they’ve finally left us in peace,” Shuri began once they had waved Okoye and Ayo off “I have a surprise for you!” 

Harper and Bucky exchanged concerned glances before they turned to follow wherever Shuri was leading them to. All kinds of things were running through their mind as they did so, the two of them wondering what kind of tech she had installed that they would completely forget how to use after two weeks.

“Don’t look so worried!” Shuri exclaimed as they reached the backdoor, leading out into the vast backyard. “This is a good surprise!” she continued as she leaned on the handle and opened it up. 

When they had visited the house a few days earlier the yard was open, reaching out into the Wakandan countryside with no barriers. This time there was a fence, a shelter and-

“Okay, okay this one!” Shuri began, heading over to the small black and white goat looking over at them with a bunch of hay sticking out of his mouth “Is Katniss and this one-” she continued, hopping over to the reddish brown one “Is Peeta!” she exclaimed, the two goats looking like they couldn’t be less interested in the whole exchange if they tried. 

“She got you to read that book series too huh?” Bucky said, an amused look on his face as he watched Harper excitedly hurry out into the yard. 

Shuri pulled a face “I’d already read it,” she said “Come on James, what do you take me for?” 

“I love them!” Harper exclaimed, watching as the two goats hopped and skipped around with a wide grin on her face “And they’re ours? To keep?” 

“They’re yours to keep,” Shuri confirmed with a nod “Consider them a gift for your new home.” 

Bucky watched on, his shoulder leaning against the door frame and his hand tucked into his pocket, as the two of them ran around the back yard laughing loudly at the goats chasing them jumping and kicking, with a smile on his face. It took a while for him to convince them, as the sun went down and the sky darkened, that it was time to come in and leave the goats to eat and sleep. 

“Spoilsport,” Harper teased as she passed him, hopping up onto her toes to press a kiss against his cheekbone. 

They walked Shuri to the front door, saying their goodbyes as she climbed into the hovercar waiting on her. Once they had waved her off they shut the door, the two of them letting out tired sighs as the silence overtook them. 

“Peace and quiet,” Bucky said with a smile as he wrapped his arm around Harper’s shoulders and pulled her into him, kissing the top of her head. “Welcome home.” 

“Welcome home,” Harper answered as she hugged him around his middle, pressing her face into his chest.

“You seemed worried earlier,” Bucky said as they parted, the two of them heading into the kitchen to begin making their food “You and Shuri, with your heads bent and whispering,” he continued with she looked over to him with faux confusion “Everything’s okay isn’t it?” 

“Of course,” she said as she turned away from him to get one of the pans that had been tidied away into the cupboard. She knew she could tell him what was on her mind, what she was worried about and what she and Shuri had been looking into but at the same time she saw his smile. She saw the relaxation in the muscles of his shoulders and was there when he slept through the night without issue. 

Placing the pan, now filled with water, down on the top she rested her hand on his back. Smiling up to him she reassured him “Everything is fine.”

Chapter Text

The snow crunched beneath her feet as she made her way up the path toward the front door. The strings from the gift bags she was carrying dug into her fingers and the bags themselves banged against her calves as they jostled together. 

Music emerged from the open kitchen window along with excitable shouts coming from the two kids. There was a smell, a delicious mixture of all things Christmas, as she got closer and her face emerged from where she’d been hiding beneath her scarf. 

“Harper’s here! Harper’s here!” 

The exclamation made her smile as she reached up and pressed the doorbell. Placing the gift bags down she prepared herself for the incoming hug as she spotted the door was opening. 

“Harper! Harper! You wanna see what Santa brought me!” Riley was shouting as he collided with her, his arms wrapping around her waist as he nearly knocked her off her feet “You’ll never guess! Not even if I gave you one hundred guesses!” he continued as she laughed, his eyes becoming wide when he noticed the festively wrapped boxes sitting in the bags on the floor “Are those for me?” 

Behind him Ange was laughing and shaking her head, reaching out she placed her hand onto her son’s shoulder and guided him away from Harper “Why don’t you let her come in before you word vomit all over her?” she asked, reaching out and pinching Riley’s cheek when he pulled a face at her wording “It’s been a very excitable morning,” she said, puffing out her cheeks as Riley ran inside and she stepped aside to let Harper in. 

“I can tell,” Harper laughed, slipping her coat off and hanging it up “What time did they get you up?” 

“Five,” Ange replied, reaching up and rubbing at tired eyes as Harper followed her coat with her scarf “It would have been earlier if Jack hadn’t told them Santa doesn’t deliver to kids who wake up any earlier.” 

“Nice move,” Harper laughed, brushing her hands down the Christmas jumper Georgie had been insistent that she wear when she came around for dinner. 

“And you? Go on, make me jealous of what time you got to roll out of bed to be here!” Ange said as the two of them made their way into the living room, a frown dipped at her eyebrows when she noticed the look on Harper’s face “You didn’t!” 

“I have a lot of post to get through,” Harper answered, her cheeks flushing a bright pink. “I figured it’d be quiet in the museum today, perfect chance to get things done with no distraction.” 

“But she’s here now,” Jack said, sweeping into the room and pressing a welcome kiss to the side of Harper’s head “So no shouting at her for spending her Christmas however she wants.” 

“Thank you Jack,” Harper answered, pulling her tongue at Ange as Riley decided now was the time to grab onto Harper’s hand to drag her over to his pile of presents. 

“Come on! Come on, look! Let me show you my new Captain America shield!” 

She woke slowly and to the smell of eggs, bacon and freshly brewed coffee. Her dream, a flashback to a Christmas in her past which seemed a little tainted now, stayed in the forefront of her mind as she emerged from beneath the quilt rubbing at her eyes. 

She smiled as she spotted the steaming mug sitting, waiting for her, on the bedside cabinet. 

“I knew I’d never regret showing you how to make the coffee machine,” she said, cradling the mug in both of her hands and breathing in the delicious smell. 

Sitting back against her pillows she took a tentative sip of her coffee and thought back to the Christmas she had been dreaming about. She’d had dinner with Ange, Jack and the kids, sat between Riley and Georgie listening to them tell her all about the gifts they had received. 

At the time she’d felt at home and surrounded by family for the first time in her life. She had never wanted the day to end. 

Thinking back on it she couldn’t help but look at the memory with narrowed eyes. While she was sitting there, basking in the warmth of family, Ange and Jack were being paid to be there. They were there as her handlers, not her friends. 

“How’s the coffee?” 

She smiled as she was pulled out of the tinged memory, glancing up to see Bucky leaning against the door frame leading into the bedroom “Amazing,” she said, placing the mug back on the bedside cabinet as he made his way over and climbed into the bed beside her.

“Good,” he answered, lifting her chin with his finger and pressing his lips to hers “Merry Christmas H.”

“ Merry Christmas Buck,” she smiled against his lips, her hands pushing up over his shoulders to pull him closer. 

Before she could get lost in his kiss and the way his weight pressed her into the mattress a sudden realisation sparked into her mind “Christmas!” she exclaimed, pushing him away as a gasp filled her lungs “What time is it?” 

Bucky glanced over to the digital clock sitting beside her steaming mug “Ten to ten.” 

Harper’s eyes widened and she pushed him away “Get up! Get up, get up!” she said, her tone in an exclamation once more, as she jumped out of bed “People will be here soon and they’re expecting a meal!” she continued as she hurried into the bathroom to shower, calling “Get dressed properly!!” over her shoulder at him. 

The idea had come to her not long after they had moved into the house. With all her memories either being from foster homes or hydra training rooms Harper was pretty sure she had never had a proper family Christmas. She’d never had a day where she was surrounded by people who actually wanted to be there and who weren’t being paid to look after her, she’d never understood the feelings in the Christmas films she watched every year to try and get into the festive season. 

And she wanted to. 

So she had invited everyone over to have Christmas dinner at her and Bucky’s. It wasn’t something any of them were planning on celebrating, and they’d all decided no presents would be exchanged, so Harper had insisted. 

After everything they had all been through she’d decided they needed it. A family Christmas, sharing laughs and eating yummy food. 

Only she had totally forgotten she had to provide the yummy food. 

“You’re not dressed!” she complained as she reentered the bedroom, her hair towel dried and laying across her bare shoulders. A squeak of surprise left her as Bucky grasped hold of her wrist and pulled her over to where he was still laying on the bed “James!” she exclaimed, trying her best to keep the towel she was wearing still wrapped around her. 

“Remind me again why we volunteered to host Christmas?” Bucky said, letting out a groan as she managed to wriggle free. 

“Well you didn’t, I did,” she answered with a grin, pulling her tongue out toward him as she dug her skinny jeans and a Christmas jumper she’d managed to order online “So you’re going to enjoy this,” she continued, leaning over to tap him on the nose before disappearing back into the bathroom to change. 

By the time she re-emerged he was dressed and ready to go, a grumpy look on his face as she sent him a grin. 

“You look amazing,” she said as she bounded over to him, reaching up and running her hands along the Christmas jumper which had arrived with hers. 

“I look stupid ,” he grumbled, his expression softening slightly as their eyes met. 

“Come on,” she said, nudging his arm with her elbow “Let’s go and start dinner!” 

She had the Christmas songs blaring as the two of them worked their way around the kitchen. Luckily she had remembered the turkey the previous night so it was one thing off the list as they chopped carrots and roasted potatoes. 

Though she didn’t manage to get a singalong she definitely got a few smiles out of Bucky as he watched her dance around to I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. 

Her face lit up at the first sound of the doorbell and Bucky couldn’t help but bite down on his bottom lip to hold in his laugh as he met their first guest. 

It seemed as though Harper had insisted everyone wear a cheesy Christmas jumper, as proved by the unimpressed look on Okoye’s face as she held up a finger to stop him from speaking. 

“Don’t.” 

Bucky shrugged his shoulders and mimed zipping his mouth shut as he followed her inside. 

The house was soon full as Shuri, T’Challa, Nakia, Ayo, Ramonda, W’Kabi and even M’Baku arrived. With a perpetually unimpressed look on his face he sat at the head of the table from the off, making sure he reminded Harper he was in fact a vegetarian and wouldn’t be having any turkey. 

“I remember,” Harper repeated over and over, rolling her eyes and laughing as she managed to reach over and ruffle his hair despite him dodging out of his way “Why aren’t you mingling with everyone?” she asked, glancing through the kitchen door to where Bucky was listening intently to something Ayo was telling him while Shuri and T’Challa were laughing over something W’Kabi was telling them. 

M’Baku shrugged his shoulders as he reached over to the bowl of carrots sitting in front of him, grabbing one and throwing it into his mouth “They’re not my friends,” he said in a grumble “You are.” 

Harper paused for a second, glancing over to where he was reaching for another carrot “They’re all your friends M’Baku,” she said with a tut, wandering over to place her hand on his broad shoulder before she slapped his fingers away from where they were reaching for more carrots. 

He glared up to her, folding his arms over his chest and letting out a huff. A small smile tugged on the corner of his lips as she narrowed her eyes in his direction and gestured to her own smile to get him to mirror her. 

“Okay guys!” she called through to the living room, once the bowls of different foods were all lined up on the table - thanks to M’Baku’s help “Foods ready!” 

They joined her in all of their colourful and festive glory. There were laughs on their faces and stories on their lips as they all took their seats. 

“This looks amazing Harper,” Ramonda said, her smile motherly and proud as she sat in the middle seat at the side. 

“Thanks Ramonda,” Harper answered, sitting at the opposite head of the table to M’Baku with Bucky on her left and Shuri on her right “But it obviously couldn’t have been done without my glamorous assistants - James ‘Bucky’ Barnes who helped with the cooking and life and soul of the party M’Baku for setting the table,” she said, the two men she was gesturing towards replying with their own glare. 

As they ate and the conversations continued, as they pulled crackers and placed the silly paper crowns on their heads, Harper sat back in her chair and took the whole scene in. The people who were there were her family, the warmth she felt from them and the happiness they gave her whenever she spent time in their company proved that. 

“All good?” Bucky asked, leaning over toward her. 

“All good,” she answered, reaching across to straighten the green crown sitting on top of his head “I’m happy.” 

“Good,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to her cheekbone before reaching across to get his third helping of turkey. 

“That meal was lovely, but I think I am about to explode,” Shuri said, patting her very flat stomach as she hung around in the kitchen after everyone else - even M’Baku - had moved into the living room “Can I help?” 

Harper’s eyebrows dipped suspiciously as she turned to face the princess. She had been insistent she didn’t want any help clearing the table once they were done eating. They were to go and relax in the living room while she piled the plates and bowls next to the sink to be worried about later on. 

“Sure,” she answered with a shrug, gesturing toward the mess filled table “Pick a plate any plate.” 

Shuri chuckled as she did as she was told, plucking a couple of the plates up into her hands before crossing the kitchen to where Harper was standing. As she did so her smile dropped slightly and she glanced over her shoulder to make sure they were alone “That thing you had me working on,” she began and Harper repeated her earlier action, throwing a glance out of the door to make sure no one was listening in “I found something.” 

Harper was glad she had already placed what she had been holding down on the counter top as she was sure she would have dropped it “You have?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Shuri nodded “If you can get away tomorrow I’ll be in the lab from ten, I can show you.” 

“Yeah,” Harper answered, still speaking quietly as she struggled to get her voice to work properly “Yeah okay. I’ll meet you there.” 

*

She woke early the next day. With Bucky still sleeping soundly beside her she slipped out of the bed as quietly as she could, washing and dressing in the bathroom before leaving a note on the kitchen table and heading out. 

She’d tried to push what Shuri had said to the back of her mind the previous day. Losing herself in conversation with the people around her. 

It wasn’t until she had buried herself beneath the quilt covers that she found her brain beginning to work overtime. Worrying about what she’d be told the next day. 

As she sat in the back of the hovercar Shuri had sent to give her a lift into town she found herself thinking back to the guy she’d left in bed. Bucky hadn’t been looking forward to spending time surrounded by people, entertaining and hosting Christmas for people he didn’t really know properly. 

But he’d done it. For her. 

She found herself wishing she had told him about what she had Shuri had been working on. If she had he would have been there with her now, holding her hand and reassuring her it was all going to be alright. 

Shuri was, of course, already in the lab by the time Harper arrived. Her head was bent over something she was working on, her concentration so focussed she hadn’t realised Harper had arrived until she was practically standing looking over her shoulder. 

“Don’t scare me like that,” she tutted when she finally realised she had company, pressing her hand against her chest and letting out a sigh. 

“You’re the one wearing earphones!” Harper answered, reaching over and tugging one of Shuri’s AirPods out of her ear. 

With a roll of her eyes Shuri waved her off “Do you wanna know what I found out or not?” 

Harper let out a sigh of her own as she dropped down into her own seat, leaning her head back with a groan “I don’t know, do I?” 

Not long after she had arrived in Wakanda, Shuri had sat her down to go through the file she’d put together on her. They discussed her trigger words, her training and how she had been pulled from one of her foster homes by her uncle to join Hydra. They’d touched on some of her missions and ended up talking about her parents. 

“I could try and find them if you want,” Shuri had offered one night, as they sat in Harper’s apartment watching movies. 

So Harper had taken her up on it. 

It had taken her some time. She knew her mother was dead and her father in hiding so she hadn’t been expecting much and wasn’t even sure she wanted to know any of the information Shuri would be able to dig up. 

What if her father had been integral in her kidnapping and training? What if it had all been on his orders and he’d sat back and happily watched her suffer? 

Throughout her childhood, lucky to always land with lovely foster homes, she had never really thought about what her biological parents were like. She was worried that if she did she’d fall into a dream, making the parents who had given her up some kind of saints who’d had no other choice like the other kids had. 

And she didn’t want to end up disappointed. 

But looking over her past with Shuri had given her the push to find out more. Not only was she intrigued by where she had come from but, with Margot still out there and the location of her father unknown, she also thought it was best to know if there was anything or anyone out there waiting for her to emerge. 

“Go on then, tell me,” she said, sitting up properly “What have you managed to find?”  

Shuri sent her a smile, reaching out and squeezing Harper’s arm reassuringly before heading over to her computer and nodding for her to follow “Okay, so your dad and Aunt are still MIA,” she said, clicking her mouse to activate her screen. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she entered her password and opened up the relevant programmes. 

As Harper sat down in her own chair, once she had pulled it around next to Shuri’s, she wasn’t sure if the feeling squirming in her stomach was relief or disappointment. While she didn’t know if she was ready to know where her father and Margot were, she also felt like, for her own safety, she should. 

“But,” Shuri began once more, clicking on the maps icon and loading up a saved address. Harper watched as the screen sped to the location, the red pin dropping to a cemetery with a French name. 

Harper’s heart dropped slightly and her eyes stung as she swallowed the lump in her throat “You found her .” 

Shuri nodded her head, glancing across to Harper out of the corner of her eye before she zoomed in on where the pin had landed “This is where your mother is buried.”

Harper found herself leaning closer to the screen as she read the name - Cimetière des Gonards - and took in the location. It was on the outskirts of Paris, not too far away from a train station, and it was green. Filled with trees and surrounded by a mixture of greenery and city life. 

“It...it looks nice,” was all she could say, her voice a whisper “It looks nice right?” 

“It does look nice,” Shuri reassured her, zooming in slightly so Harper could get a better look “Easily found as well, if you were planning on heading into France.” 

Harper straightened up, wiping beneath her eyes and taking in a deep breath “Yeah, yeah I guess,” she said with a nod of her head “I know I haven’t been here long but, uhm, do you mind if I head home?” she asked, getting to her feet and slinging her bag onto her shoulder. 

“Of course not,” Shuri said, also getting to her feet and turning to reach out to her. 

But she didn’t get a chance as Harper was already gone. 

Her footsteps echoed as she made her way down the hall, her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her jeans. 

Her mother had been the only one she had allowed herself to wonder about. What had she looked like? What kind of mother had she been? What would she have thought about how Harper had been brought up? 

The drive back to the farmhouse sped by her in a blur. She barely even registered the scenery they were passing as she stared out, wondering if she’d inherited her mother’s eyes or smile, hair or nose. 

Of course she knew she was gone. That there was no way Shuri would be able to find anything other than a gravesite. 

But there was a part of her drowning in the grief of her mothers death being confirmed. 

“H? Harper, are you okay?” 

Bucky’s voice cut through her foggy mind, pulling her back to reality and the realisation that she was standing on the doorstep “Oh,” she said, her brows furrowing and her head shaking “Sorry I just…it’s just…” 

“Come on,” he said gently, stepping outside and wrapping his arm around her shoulders to lead her inside. 

He sat her down in the living room before making his way into the kitchen, appearing back with a mug of hot chocolate “Here,” he said, handing it to her and sitting down beside her. 

“Thanks,” she answered, cradling it in her hands for a few seconds before placing it down on the table beside where she was sitting. Leaning over she rested her head on Bucky’s shoulder. 

“All good?” he asked, leaning his chin on the top of her head. 

“Kinda,” she answered, the two of them just sitting there for a couple of moments before she sat up once more. Sending him a smile she reached for his hand “I asked Shuri to look into my parents and Margot not so long ago,” she explained “She didn’t manage to find anything on the two I’m worried about but she did find where my mother is buried.”

Bucky’s eyebrows arched as he processed what she was telling him. He hadn’t realised she was even worried about her father and Margot, he felt so safe in Wakanda he couldn’t imagine either of them finding them there. 

“You could have told me you had Shuri looking into them,” he said, reaching over and tucking her hair behind her ear. 

“I know,” she answered with a smile “I wanted to have all the information before I told you anything about it. It’s been playing on my mind that my father and Margot could find us any day,” she explained “I just needed some closure on all of it.” 

“And Shuri called you into the lab today to-”

“To show me where my mom is buried,” Harper confirmed with a nod “And it’s weird y’know? I remember you telling me what happened to her, I remember seeing it written down in black and white in my file…I just, it was stupid but I hoped it was somehow wrong.” 

“It’s not stupid,” he said, squeezing her hand “She’s your mom, you were bound to hope. I’m sorry you were given bad news, I would have come with you if you’d told me.” 

“Looking back now I wish I had,” she confessed “I kinda ran out on Shuri, I think I owe her an apology.” 

“I’m sure she understands,” Bucky answered, his arm wrapping around her shoulders once more so he could pull her into his side “I’ll go with you if you want. To visit your mom’s grave.” 

“I don’t think I’m ready yet but thank you,” she answered, looking up to him with a smile. Leaning up she pressed her lips to his, her arms wrapping around his waist as she cuddled close to him. 

“I mean it, anytime,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before saying “Love you,” into her hair. 

She hugged him tighter “Love you too.”

Chapter Text

“Are you ready?” 

Harper checked the bags for the tenth time, counting and making sure that everything was in there, before replying “I think so!” 

Grabbing her jacket from the back of one of the dining chairs she tugged it on, pulled her hair out from beneath it before gathering up one of the bags. A smile came to her face as Bucky entered the kitchen “Are you ready?” she asked, arching an eyebrow. 

“I guess,” he grumbled in reply, a smile tugging on his lips telling her he was only joking. 

They were heading into town and not going straight to the lab for the first time in a while. With their new found land and animals they had approached one of the local grocery stores to offer their help with stock. It wasn’t like they were stocking them for the entirety of Wakanda but the little store always seemed grateful for any bits and pieces of fruit, veg and goats milk they could provide. 

“ I guess ,” she mocked, stepping up closer to him and smoothing out the collar of his polo shirt “You know, you don’t have to be grumpy about everything .” 

He thought for a second before he shrugged his shoulders “I’m not grumpy about everything,” he said, reaching up and gently cradling the side of her face “I’m not grumpy about you.” 

“Uch,” she said with a chuckle and an eye roll as their noses bumped together “You’re so cute,” she said with a grin, bopping his nose with her finger before she moved away. 

“Cute,” he repeated in a grumble beneath his breath as he pulled a face “Not sure I like that being my descriptive word,” he continued as he followed her toward the front door, the two of them each carrying one of the bags. 

“Tough,” Harper called over her shoulder, heading over to the hovercar they had called earlier and jumping into the back “Hey Mjota!” She greeted the driver as Bucky locked the house up. 

“Miss Harper,” the driver nodded his return greeting “How are you today?” 

“I’m good thank you, you?” 

He turned in his seat slightly to send her a smile “I’m fine as usual thank you,” he said as Bucky got into the back seat “Sergeant Barnes,” he greeted with a nod. 

“Mjota,” Bucky answered “And how many times, please call me Bucky.” 

“Of course Mr Bucky,” Mjota nodded, starting up the hovercar to head into town “With the bags I am assuming we’re heading to the store?” 

“Yup,” Harper confirmed before she settled back in her chair. 

They spent the short journey with Harper and Mjota chatting away about his family. He, his wife and their two children lived not too far away from the farmhouse, his son and daughter popping over every now and then to see the goats and talk Bucky’s ears off about the time he lived in the hut next door to them. 

“Thanks Mjota!” Harper exclaimed once they were parked up outside of the store, both her and Bucky hopping down onto the pavement. 

“Anytime,” he answered, raising his hand in a salute before he zoomed away. 

“Hi Mrs. Khasoni,” Harper called as they made their way into the store and the older woman behind the counter glanced up at the sound of her name. 

A smile came to her face when she spotted them “Ahh Harper and Bucky,” she greeted, walking out from behind the till “How are you both?” she asked, reaching up and cradling both of their faces in turn “Not married yet?” she continued with a huff and a roll of her eyes. 

Harper let out a laugh as Bucky’s eyebrows twitched into his usual frown at Mrs. Khasoni’s comments “You know we’re not there yet,” Harper said with a shake of her head, placing the bag she was carrying on the counter. 

“Pft,” Mrs. Khasoni answered, waving them off “You take your time I guess, just make sure it’s before I die.” 

“Oh we’re a long way off from that,” Harper answered, as both she and Bucky began unpacking their bags “Plenty of time.” 

“Hmm,” Mrs. Khasoni said, not sounding overly convinced as she glanced toward Bucky out of the corner of her eye “This is all great thank you,” she said, her smile back on her face as she inspected the fruit and veg they had brought with them “And the milk?” she asked, her glance flickering over to Bucky once more. 

“Here,” he said, pushing his bag toward her. 

“If I accept, will you think about getting this beautiful woman a ring?” 

Even he had to let out a laugh as she arched her eyebrow in his direction “How about I think about it?” he asked, leaning toward her and speaking in a quieter tone. 

Mrs. Khasoni took a second to think about it before she nodded her head “Okay, you pass,” she said before she waved the two of them away “I can handle this, my nephew is working with me today so he can put them away,” she said, gesturing toward the door “Go out and have fun.” 

Harper raised her eyes to the ceiling “We’re leaving before this turns into full on peer pressure,” she said, pausing to hug Mrs. Khasoni “You make sure you get your nephew to pack the shelves, we can’t have you hurting your back again.”

“Yes, yes I promise,” she said as she ushered them out of the door. 

As they walked away Bucky leaned across to her, bumping his shoulder against hers “She’s watching us walk away,” he said beneath his breath. 

Harper nudged him back “Let’s give her something to look at,” she said, reaching out and lacing her fingers through his “This’ll keep her happy for at least a week.” 

“Just in time for her to interrogate us next time we’re dropping stuff off,” he answered as the two of them made their way toward the lab “One of these days I’m sure she’s just gunna give us one of her old rings and force me down on one knee.” 

“It’s okay, I hear she gives T’Challa and Nakia just as much grief,” Harper said, squeezing his fingers “But she doesn’t try it with Okoye and W’Kabi so I think I need to pull out Black Mamba Harper more often,” she said, attempting to put on her serious face. 

Bucky let out a laugh, stopping her just before they entered the building and untangling their fingers “Maybe one day though, huh?” 

Harper smiled up to him as he reached up to cradle the side of her face. Leaning into the palm of his hand she nodded her head “Maybe one day,” she agreed before he leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. 

“Oh, get a room you two!” Shuri’s voice forced the two of them apart “You’re not bringing this into the lab,” she continued as she crossed over toward them, pushing herself between them and poking Bucky in the stomach. 

“Such a brat,” Bucky grumbled beneath his breath as she let out a cackle of laughter. 

“Ignore her,” Harper said, hopping up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheekbone before she followed Shuri into the building “She’s just jealous.” 

“HA!” Shuri exclaimed from ahead of them. 

“She just wants me all to herself,” Harper continued “Gets jealous when I’m with other people.” 

“Please,” Shuri tutted as they came to a stop at the lab doorway, each of them getting their passes out of their pockets “The best day of my life was when you unfroze so you could take her off my hands,” she continued once they were scanned in. 

“You couldn’t have sorted out how loud she chews while I was under?” Bucky asked, letting out a laugh as Harper punched him in the arm “Just kidding,” he continued with a smile as he bent to kiss her once more. 

“Okay, okay,” Shuri, still acting like she was somehow their very irritated teenage daughter, huffed “Okoye and Ayo are in the training room, testing out the new Dora uniforms,” she said before turning to Bucky “You wanna get in there?” 

He scrunched his nose up “I’m not sure one of those uniforms would fit me.” 

Shuri let out a sigh as she reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You know, you think you’re funny but you’re really not.” 

“I respectfully disagree,” Bucky answered with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“Okay, the two of you can go off to the training room,” Harper said with a roll of her eyes “I have work to do and you’re being very distracting.” 

“By work she means watching Netflix on her phone when she thinks I’m not looking,” Shuri said to Bucky as the two of them turned to head over to the training room. 

“I’ll make sure to enjoy it while you two are being pushed to your limits by Okoye and Ayo!” Harper called after them, smiling and waving, before she turned to sit at her desk. 

Loading up her computer she clicked on her emails, a smile came to her face when she spotted a familiar email address in her inbox.

H,

Listen, I am now the king of guitar hero. I’ve finished three books (as in actually 3. Not comic books. Not magazines. Books with pages. A lot of them). I learned how to braid, which Cassie is very happy with, and you wanna see my magic tricks! 

…

I’m so BORED. Tell me what you’ve been doing, anything...well anything you can say in an email. Because I am going out of my mind! Literally counting down the days until my house arrest is over and I can get out of here. Cassie is literally my only saving grace...and emailing you of course. 

How’s Bucky now he’s awake? How’s Shuri, has she invented anything cool? T’Challa still the king? Ayo still waking you up at the crack of dawn to make you run laps?

Anything. Tell me anything! 

Scott. 

She let out a laugh as she finished reading, her eyes scanning over his words once more before she clicked on the reply button. 

She had reached out to Scott Lang after a few months in Wakanda, when she heard he had been placed onto house arrest. She knew he’d be bored and had definitely felt as though he could be someone she could get along with. It was nice to have contact with someone out there who wasn’t on the run and getting in touch to ask her to get them out of some kind of dodgy situation. 

Plus, she kinda felt partly responsible for the fact that he was stuck in his house with an ankle monitor, missing out on part of his daughter’s childhood. 

Smiling to herself she began to type out what they had been up to since the last time she had emailed him. She told him about the farmhouse and the goats, how they’d all spent Christmas together and that she was currently in the lab watching Okoye, Ayo and Bucky test out new weapons Shuri had been working on. She asked about Cassie, how she was doing in school and what boyband she was into now. 

And how about Hope? She added on at the end, although she hadn’t met Hope - the woman Scott was very clearly in love with - she had heard a lot about her in his previous email. He was very coy whenever he mentioned her, never going into detail and usually avoiding the question. 

But Harper always made sure to mention her. 

She clicked send just in time for Okoye and Ayo to appear out from the training room, the two of them deep in discussion as they brushed down their improved uniforms. 

“Hey guys,” she said, spinning her chair around to face them as they came closer “Shuri put you through your paces?”

“Something like that,” Ayo answered with a roll of her eyes “I’ll head back,” she continued to Okoye before grinning down to Harper “See you for our run in the morning?” 

“I guess,” Harper said with a sigh as she left, waving over her shoulder. 

“Just because you’ve moved doesn’t mean you get out of it,” Okoye reminded her, the same thing they said to her every time they knocked on the door to get her to come out running with them “Are you still keeping your eye out for Thor and Banner?” 

“Yeah,” Harper nodded, turning back to her computer. Clicking a couple of times to double check she shrugged her shoulders “How about you, have you heard anything?” 

“There hasn’t been anything on my radar as yet, no,” Okoye said with a shake of her head “But your friend, Natasha, was spotted the other day. I didn’t know whether you wanted to try and erase the picture from the internet.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Harper said with a sigh. Loading up the different social media sites she searched for all and any words relating to Natasha Romanoff, hoping the picture hadn’t spread so far she was unable to do anything “Thanks Okoye.” 

“No problem,” Okoye answered, “I’ll let you know if I hear anything as well,” she said, turning to leave before stopping mid sentence “Wait. We did catch someone trying to find and enter Wakanda not so long ago, I don’t know if she has anything to do with you.” 

Harper frowned “Do you know who she was?” 

“Not one hundred percent no, but I was wondering if you’d look into her for us,” she said, grabbing hold of Shuri’s chair and pulling it over to sit beside Harper’s “Load up the CCTV,” she said, gesturing to the icon in the corner of the desktop screen. 

“Okay,” Harper said, double clicking and waiting for the screen to load. She followed Okoye’s instructions, clicking on the correct icon and then the correct video clip. 

The Wakandan’s had CCTV around anywhere possible for people to enter the country, especially since Erik. It picked up on any movement, making for some interesting viewing from a wildlife point of view, to make sure they were keeping an eye on anyone seeming to approach where the protective dome started. 

Harper leaned closer to the screen as the video began. The figure walking toward the camera was dressed in all black, her blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail. 

“This is the only footage we have of her,” Okoye said, her voice fading into the background as Harper’s heart pounded in her ears. 

Because she recognised her immediately. 

“Margot.”

“Who?” Okoye asked with a frown. 

“Margot. Revoir,” Harper answered “She’s my aunt. 

Okoye’s head tilted to one side and her eyebrow rose slightly “Your aunt?” 

“Yes,” Harper said, her fingers tapping nervously on the mouse as she stared at the video still on her screen “She came after Bucky and me while we were in Bucharest, she was big in Hydra and looking for something to keep her in with the people in charge,” she explained, she could feel the general’s gaze boring into the side of her head but she kept her eyes forward “And that something was us. She has it in her mind that we have all this information stored inside of us and if she takes us back to the Hydra and Shield higher ups it will give her revenge or accolade or something.” 

“And do you?” Okoye asked and Harper frowned, spinning her chair around to face her. 

“Do I have any secret information on the people who tortured me and took control of my mind?” she asked with a frown “No Okoye. Nothing that hasn’t already been released when Natasha released it to the world. I’m not keeping anything from you.” 

Okoye raised her hands “Okay, okay I know,” she said, nodding her head “I just had to be sure. So I understand what we’re dealing with,” she said and Harper turned back to her computer screen. 

“Right, of course,” she said, her eyes searching the video that was still gracing her screen. She still looked the same, though Harper wasn’t sure why she thought anything about her would have changed, with a slight limp in her gait and her hands tucked deep in the pockets of her jacket “ God , I’ve been so worried something like this was going to happen.” 

“Don’t,” Okoye said, leaning over and placing her hand on Harper’s shoulder “Really Harper. Don’t worry about it. I know about her now, we’ll keep our eye out for any other attempts and she won’t get past the boundaries. That I can promise.” 

Harper forced a smile onto her lips as she turned to face Okoye once more “Thanks,” she said with a nod of her head “Really, thank you. I didn’t want to bring any trouble to your door.”

“You haven’t,” Okoye said as she stood “Because she’ll be no trouble at all for us,” she continued with a wink and a smirk “I’ll see you for our run in the morning.” 

“Can’t wait,” Harper answered, unable to keep the smile off her face as she heard Okoye’s cackle as she left. 

She sat there for a moment, watching the twelve second clip over and over again before she clicked out of it. She had faith in the Dora and knew they would never let Margot pass any kind of line. 

But she couldn’t help but worry. 

Letting out a sigh she pushed Margot to the back of her mind. If she could get into Wakanda undetected she would have by now. 

With Bucky and Shuri still busy in the training room, on the monitor it looked like she was giving him tips on balancing in certain fight poses with just one arm, she exited out of the CCTV. Loading up the programme she and Shuri had designed to research into different social media accounts she went about her usual routine. 

First she checked up on Ryan. Her facebook page told her she was still living in the same place with her brother, her twitter told her she wasn’t enjoying the new season of the show she loved so much and her pinterest told her not only was she looking for new tattoo inspiration but she had gained an obsession with Keira Knightly again. 

She smiled to herself. Not only was it good to know that Ryan was safe but it was just as good knowing that not much had changed. Her fingers itched over the keyboard as she wished she could send her a message, asking to catch up and needing to tell her all of the crazy things that had happened to her since they’d last met. 

But she couldn’t. It was one thing emailing newly recruited Avenger Scott Lang about what she was going through but bringing Ryan into it wouldn’t be a good idea. 

Switching over to her other saved searches she watched Elena and Sorina’s lives unfold before her eyes. They had moved into a new place and the fruit business was thriving, they’d adopted a puppy and celebrated their anniversary with their friends and family. 

There was a pang in her chest as she caught sight of a picture of them. Wide smiles on both of their faces as they posed for the camera. 

She wondered what they thought had happened and if they still thought about her. In a perfect world she would have been there at their party, her arm hooked through Bucky’s as they met members of their friends’ families and ate from the buffet as they made small talk. They’d go out on regular double dates and there wouldn’t be anything in the background to worry about. 

But it wasn’t a perfect world and they’d had to leave Bucharest, Elena and Sorina behind. 

Clicking out of one saved search she moved onto the next, the one she was glad to see was still wiped blank. 

Ange, Jack and the kids had definitely disappeared off the face of the earth. Harper made sure to check up on the names she knew, from her file, that they went by and it was obvious they’d gone underground. Their identities had been changed and, as promised, they had started anew. 

She was glad to see it. Not only for herself but for Georgie and Riley. They didn’t deserve to be in the middle of what they had grown up in, they deserved their parents to be around and to feel safe. 

The sound of the training room door opening caught her attention and she closed the programme down. Turning in her chair she smiled as both Bucky and Shuri appeared from inside, their heads bent together and laughter alive on their faces.

“All good?” Bucky asked when they got close enough, reaching his hand out toward Harper and tugging her up onto her feet. 

“All good,” she confirmed with a nod of her head, she would tell him everything that had happened when they got home “How about you?” she asked, amusement lining her tone when she saw how tired he looked. 

“She’s a taskmaster, this one,” he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder to where Shuri was shaking her head “Are you ready to go?” 

“Yeah,” she answered, turning around to shut down her computer. She had thought about mapping where her mother’s grave was, possibly planning out how she’d get there if she was ever thinking of visiting…

But it could wait for another day. With Margot back on the scene there was even more reason to not leave Wakanda, to stay and make sure they were safe. 

Bucky came to a stop outside of the door, once they had said their goodbyes to Shuri “You sure you’re okay?” he asked, turning to face her and reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. 

“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said with a smile, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his waist “I was just doing my usual checks on everyone.” 

“And you miss them,” he said, resting his chin on the top of her head “One day, when all of this blows over, we’ll be able to go back,” he promised, as he always would when she felt this way “They can come here. It won’t be forever.” 

Harper glanced up to him, hopping up on her toes to press a kiss to his lips “I love you.” 

“I know, I don’t blame you,” he answered, letting out a laugh as she elbowed him in the stomach “I love you too.”

Chapter Text

“Happy birthday to you!”

Bucky groaned, shuffling down the bed and tugging the bed covers over his head. 

“Happy Birthday to you! Haaaaaapy birthday dear Bucky!” Harper continued to sing, climbing onto the bed juggling a tray full of breakfast “Happy birthday to you!” 

“You can’t do this to me,” he complained, his voice muffled beneath the quilt. 

She let out a laugh, placing the breakfast tray on the bedside cabinet before battling to uncover him “Bucky come on!” 

He let out a huff as he allowed her to move the quilt “You can’t let me not know your birthday then do all of this for mine!” 

“I’d like you to try and stop me,” she answered with a smile “Come on Bucky, it’s not every year a guy turns one hundred and one!” she exclaimed as he pushed himself up into a sitting position “And you were still going through your rehab last year so we couldn’t celebrate the big one-oh-oh!” 

He glared at her out of the corner of his eye “And yet here I am not even knowing about your three-oh until the very last minute.” 

Harper rolled her eyes “Oh god please, this isn’t about you,” she said with a sigh “It’s about me clearly and I want to celebrate your birthday,” she said with a smile, laughing as he curled his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. 

“Apologies for thinking my birthday was anything to do with me,” he said as he nuzzled his face into her neck. 

“Apology accepted,” Harper answered, their noses bumping together before their lips were captured in a kiss “Are you going to eat your breakfast?” she asked as he trailed kisses along her jawbone and down her neck. 

“Only because I know you’ve put a lot of work into making it,” he said, reluctantly pulling away from her. He had felt her getting out of bed an hour earlier and heard the banging and crashing that came with her working in the kitchen “How much mess have you made down there?” He asked with an arch of his eyebrow. 

“I’ve cleaned it all up,” she said unconvincingly and with a shrug of her shoulders “But here,” she said, grabbing the tray and placing it on his lap “We have pancakes, fruit, bacon, syrup and, of course, coffee,” she said with a proud smile. 

“This looks amazing,” Bucky said “But what are you gunna eat?” he asked, laughing as she reached over to grab one of the blueberries sitting in the bowl on the plate.

“We’re sharing!” she said, nudging his shoulder with hers before settling down beside him and reaching for her own cup of coffee. 

He glanced across to her once more before he began to eat his pancakes. Sometimes he found he couldn’t quite believe she was in his life. 

He watched her go out there and smash it. She was working hard to overcome her past, she went out every morning to run with Okoye and Ayo, she was the one who grew the fruit and veg, she looked after Harry and Ron the goats, she helped Steve, Sam and Natasha while they were out on the run while, at the same time, helping Shuri with her outreach programme…

And yet every night it was him she came back to. With the smile on her face that lifted his heart and made his stomach dip. 

“I love you, y’know,” he said, reaching over to turn her chin to face him. Leaning across he pressed a kiss to her lips. 

They had just slipped into saying it, neither of them making a big deal out of the big step the both of them had taken. When he had arrived in Wakanda he’d known he was in for an uphill battle and he’d been right, he hadn’t gone through anything as tough as the rehab Shuri, Okoye and Ayo had helped him through after he’d been woken. 

But he’d done it all. For her. 

She made him want to be better. Made him want to fight and to live . 

As long as he had Harper by his side he knew he could take on the world. 

Harper smiled back at him, her mouth full of pancakes and syrup, before she reached over and bopped his nose with her fingertip “I love you too,” she said once she’d swallowed and chased it down with a gulp of coffee. 

They ate the remainder of the breakfast in a comfortable silence, Harper scrolling through different social medias on her phone while Bucky waited to be shown whatever funny video she came across. 

“Come on then,” she said once she was sure he was finished with both the food and the coffee and the tray had been moved to his bedside table. Shuffling to the edge of the bed she reached over and slapped her hand against his legs beneath the covers “Shower and dressed, we have a busy day!” 

“We…what?” he asked, a frown on his face as his gaze followed her walk around the room “No, no,” he said as she came to his side of the bed, reaching out and grasping hold of her wrist “No busy day,” he said as he tugged her down on top of him. 

She laughed as she landed, trying to do so as softly as possible “I have lots of plans for you today!” 

“Uh-huh,” he answered in a distracted tone, reaching up and tucking her hair behind her ear. 

“I’m serious!” 

“Uh-huh,” he said, his hand moving down to the hem of her pyjama top. 

“You’re going to make us late for our very important plans,” she said against his lips, giggling as he rolled them over so he was hovering above her. 

“It’s my birthday and I say we can be late,” he said, connecting their lips once again. 

They were definitely off schedule by the time they had finally showered and dressed, though Harper had to admit she wasn’t overly bothered. The smile on her face was hard to wipe off as she slipped her feet into her boots and tugged her light denim jacket over her shoulders. 

“Are you sure you want to go out,” Bucky said as he wandered down the stairs. His hair was tied up once more and, though Harper had done it for him herself, she still felt the dip in her stomach at seeing it. 

“I’m definitely on the fence more now,” Harper answered as he reached up to cradle the side of her face, his thumb brushing alone her cheekbone as he leaned down to kiss her once more “But I didn’t do all this prep for nothing,” she continued with a smile as she stepped away from him, grabbing her backpack from where it was sitting on the floor beside her feet. 

“ Prep ?” 

“ Yes prep!” she exclaimed, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder to where her backpack was sitting. “Just because you had a lie in this morning doesn’t mean I did,” she said, nudging him with her elbow “Now come on, we’re going on a walk.” 

They made their way through the Wakandan countryside, stopping and talking to a few of the tribespeople as they passed. They laughed and played with the kids who ran over as soon as they spotted them, stood and listened as they all sang Happy Birthday to Bucky. 

“This is nice,” he said, once they had continued to walk, reaching out for her hand and lacing their fingers “It feels like it’s been ages since it was just the two of us.” 

She raised her eyebrow “I seem to remember it being just the two of us this morning.” 

He let out a laugh “You know what I mean,” he said, glancing around them “We’re currently in the middle of nowhere, without any possibility of us bumping into someone we know,” he continued “It’s like we’re back out there...but without the fear of being caught.” 

Harper smiled, her stomach swirling slightly as she glanced up to him. She hadn’t been planning on telling him when she was so determined for him to have a good day but, with what he was saying, she knew she had to “Actually,” she began, stopping and turning to face him “Not so long ago Okoye caught Margot trying to enter Wakanda, she spotted her on the CCTV,” she said, watching as Bucky’s relaxed expression tensed into a frown “We’ve been keeping our eye on her, trying to track where she is, but it’s been harder than we anticipated.” 

His shoulders straightened as he tensed “Has she tried again since?”

“Not that we’ve seen,” Harper said with a shake of her head “But I just have it in the back of my head that she could. Any day now.” 

He shook his head as he reached out to grab onto her hand once more, squeezing her fingers with his “You need to tell me if something like this happens.” 

“I know, I just-” 

“You just nothing,” he cut in, “I don’t want you to go through these things alone.” 

“I know,” she repeated with a sigh “I just don’t want to worry you. You’re happy here, you sleep through the night here and...well you sometimes even smile ,” she said, adding the last bit in a teasing tone. 

“But none of that is important if you’re not happy about something here,” he answered, shrugging his shoulders “I wanna know these things okay?” 

“Okay,” she agreed, though her tone was reluctant “But can we forget it for now?” she asked as she glanced around “Because we’re here.” 

Bucky followed her lead and glanced around as well. Without him even realising, they had reached the top of the cliff where they’d had their first picnic. “If you don’t have a load of amazing food in that backpack I am going to be very disappointed.” 

“Well I wouldn’t want to disappoint you on your birthday,” she answered, gesturing over to where Okoye had set out a picnic blanket and a few bottles of the best Wakandan beers for them earlier on in the day.

They made their way over, the two of them sitting on opposite sides of the blanket. Harper slipped the backpack off her shoulders and placed it in the middle “It’s not as fancy as the basket you used for yours but it does the job,” she said with a laugh as she opened it up, retrieving the boxes of amazingly tasting food inside. 

And she was allowed to say that because she hadn’t made a single thing in it. It was all made up of his favourite dishes and desserts from his favourite take out spots. 

“By the way, when I said prep earlier I meant moving them from the takeout bags to these boxes,” she said innocently as he watched her unpack with a smile on his face.

“You’re the best,” he said, diving in and beginning to eat some of the spicy noodles he always ordered for their movie nights. 

“Well I felt bad because I wasn’t sure what to get you as a gift,” Harper answered, tucking into her own slice of pizza “You’re kinda hard to buy for, you know that?” 

“Are you kidding? This is gift enough,” he said, through his mouthful of noodles “Sitting together on our clifftop, eating all of my favourite food.” 

She grinned as she glanced up from her pizza “I’m pretty sure that’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said to me,” she said with a laugh “But if it’s true then it’s very sweet.” 

“Of course it’s true,” he answered with a frown. “What more do I need in the world right now?” 

Harper shrugged “I dunno, that’s why I wasn’t sure what to buy you,” she said “I’ve never had grandparents, I’m not sure what to buy for the elderly,” she continued, letting out another laugh and dodging away from the piece of chicken he threw her way. 

They ended up sitting and chatting for a while as they made their way through all of the food Harper had brought along with her. They shared each other's favourites and clinked glasses full of the mini champagne from the bottom of the bag to celebrate his birthday. 

“What do you think’s going to happen,” Harper said once the food was finished and they were laying side by side on the blanket, looking up and watching the clouds pass them by. 

“What do you mean?” Bucky asked, his arm wrapped around her shoulders as he pulled her closer to his side “What’s going to happen with what?” 

“Everything,” Harper replied with a shrug of her shoulders “Us. Being here. Do you think they’ll ever let us off the hook?” 

“I dunno,” Bucky said with a sigh, leaning his chin on the top of her head. “It’s hard for me to even think about the possibility of a pardon for all of the things I’ve done,” he continued “But I am happy here, with you.”

“Me too,” she smiled, resting her head on his chest. It was easy for them to get caught up in their lives in Wakanda, to forget why they were there hiding out in the first place, but they were happy. 

They lay there for a little while, pointing out differently shaped clouds and talking about anything other than what may or may not happen in their future. Until the sky began to darken and a chill snuck into the air. 

“Come on,” Harper said, patting his shoulder as she sat up, “Let’s get back,” she continued, packing all of their empties back into the bag. 

“I’m carrying that back down,” he said, arching his eyebrows and slinging the bag onto his shoulder. 

“Now all the heavy stuff has been eaten? Wow you’re such a gentleman,” she teased, dodging away from him as he bumped his hip against hers. 

“Thank you for today,” he said, lacing their fingers as they began their walk back home “I really couldn’t have thought of any better way to spend my birthday,” he continued, coming to a stop and dipping his head to press a kiss to her lips. 

“Well it’s not over yet,” she answered, smiling as innocently as possible before a wince crossed her features “We’re heading over to the palace, they were all insistent that they wanted to celebrate with you,” she said, patting her hand on his chest when his smile fell from his face “You know I can’t say no to Shuri.” 

“Fine,” he answered with a roll of his eyes “Seeing as it’s you.” 

She grinned as she hopped up onto her toes and draped her arms over his shoulder “I’ll make it worth your while,” she promised, a cheeky arch to her eyebrow. 

“Well we best not be late then,” he said, reaching for her hand and earning a laugh of amusement from her as he hurried the two of them back toward the palace. 

He supposed he could suffer through a party in his honour just this once…

Chapter Text

A groan passed through Harper’s lips at the sound of her ringtone cut through her deep and, for the first time in a while, dreamless sleep. Not wanting Bucky to wake up she shuffled out from where she was wrapped up in his arm, reaching over to her bedside cabinet. 

“Steve?” she asked, her voice a whisper as she pressed her phone against her ear. Getting to her feet she reached for the dressing gown hanging up behind the door and pulled it on “Is everything okay?” 

“I’m sorry, I know it’s the middle of the night in Wakanda,” Steve answered, his tone sounding a little panicked “We just need your help with something.” 

“Sure, no problem,” Harper answered, going through the motion of switching on her computer and sitting in her chair “What’s going on?” 

“I need you to have a look and see if you can locate Wanda and Vision,” he said, he sounded out of breath “Bruce called me, there’s something going on.” 

“Something?” Harper asked as she logged onto her computer “And Bruce is back?” she added as she watched the screen load up, she hadn’t had any notification that he had returned to earth. 

“I’ll catch you up when I can,” he said “For now, we just really need to find Vision. I have his last known location but he seems to have gone off the grid since he checked in.” 

“I’ll do my best,” she said, balancing her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she typed away on her keyboard. “What’s happening...it isn’t good is it?” 

“Not great,” Steve admitted “We need to find them for their own safety though.” 

“I’ll call you as soon as I find something,” she said before they said goodbye, clicking on the text Steve sent she loaded up the maps to see where Vision’s last known location was. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” 

She turned in her chair to see Bucky making his way into the living room from the bedroom. He’d pulled a hoodie and a pair of joggers on, his hair laying messily around his face as he rubbed at his tired eyes “Steve called,” she said, glancing down to the phone sitting on her desk. 

“Is everything okay?” Bucky asked as he made his way over, listening as she gave him the run down of her phone call with Steve. His eyes flickered to the lit up computer screen as she finished, his shoulders tensing “I’ll go and get the coffee.” 

He ended up pulling one of the dining chairs up beside hers, leaning with his elbow on the desktop as they searched for sightings of Wanda and Vision. He took notes for her while she narrowed grainy pictures and flashes of them on CCTV down to what was legit and when they happened. Neither Wanda nor Vision had used any cell phone they owned so the sightings were the only thing they could rely on. 

Morgan from Newcastle, England had been sure she’d spotted them on the train going to Scotland. Darrell from Newcastelton, a small village in Scotland, had tweeted a blurry picture asking his followers if who he was standing near was Wanda Maximoff and Vision. 

They had gone quiet for a few weeks after that, resurfacing in the streets of Edinburgh and showing up on the CCTV of one of the stores in the highstreet. 

“That’s gotta be the last time they were spotted somewhere right?” Harper asked, gesturing to the timestamp in the corner. It was only a couple of days previous. 

“I’m not sure they could have gotten anywhere else without being noticed,” Bucky agreed, looking over the notes he had made and shrugging his shoulders “Did Steve tell you what all this is about?” 

“Not really,” Harper answered, “Just that it’s important they’re found and he’ll tell me why when I let him know,” she continued, biting down on her bottom lip nervously. Glancing to him out of the corner of her eye she sent him a not so reassuring smile.  

“You’re worried,” he said, leaning against her and pressing a kiss to her temple “Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.” 

“Right,” she nodded, picking her phone up from the desk and sending Steve a quick text reply to let him know when the last place they were pictured was. Once that was delivered she pressed on Shuri’s name and filled her in “You can get a more narrowed down location on them right?” 

“Of course,” Shuri answered, sounding as though she had been woken from a deep sleep as well “I’ll send it straight to Captain Rogers.” 

“Thanks Shuri, I’m not sure what all of this is about but it sounded important,” she said before hanging up to the sound of Shuri buzzing herself into the lab. She took one last look at the grainy still of the two figures which looked vaguely like Wanda and Vision before she exited out of the screen and shut the computer down. 

“It’ll be okay,” Bucky said in an attempt to be reassuring, reaching across for her hand “Vision will have just missed a meeting and turned his tracking off,” he said, squeezing her fingers. 

She nodded her head, trying to ignore the feeling deep in her gut as she smiled across to him “Yeah, yeah of course,” she said, squeezing his hand back “We’re safe here,” she said, more to herself than to him. 

“T’Challa wouldn’t let anything happen,” Bucky said, getting to his feet and pulling her up along with him “Come on, let’s go back to bed.” 

She followed him up the stairs, hung her dressing gown back up and slid in beneath the covers beside him. Her mind was on high alert as she cuddled up to his side, his arm going around her and her head resting on his chest. She listened as his breathing became deeper and deeper as he fell back asleep, wishing she could put her worries to one side and fall back into the deep and comfortable unconsciousness she had been in before Steve had called. 

He’d sounded desperate. More than if it was just a missed meeting. 

She ended up not sleeping for the rest of the night, staring blankly into the darkness of their room as she thought of all the terrible reasons why Steve could be looking for Wanda and Vision. As she wondered how Bruce Banner had arrived back on earth without anyone noticing and why he came back with news that Vision had to be found immediately. 

Her mind went back to the Chitauri on the fateful day Loki attacked New York. The terror she felt as she ran and hid while the extraterrestrial beings took over the city. 

It was the same terror she could feel churning up in the bottom of her stomach after Steve’s phone call. Like something big was coming, something they wouldn’t be able to hide from. 

As soon as the sun rose up and flooded in through the window she took the opportunity to get up. Padding along the landing and down the stairs she spotted the remnants of the night before as she passed the living room. Her coffee cup still sitting on the desk next to Bucky’s notepad filled with scribbles and their chairs still sitting side by side. 

Flipping the coffee machine on, she waited for her cup to be filled, leaning with her back against the kitchen counters as she stared wistfully out of the opposite window. Her eyes stung with the tiredness from the previous night as she watched the peacefulness of the Wakandan countryside pass her by. 

A noise at the kitchen door caught her off guard and she spun to see what it was. 

“Whoa, whoa,” Bucky said, holding his hand up innocently “It’s okay, it’s only me.” 

Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed she had plucked one of the kitchen knives out of the stand, gripping it in her fingers and holding it out threateningly “Oh my god,” she said, quickly placing it back where it belonged “God, I’m so sorry,” she continued, pushing her slightly shaky fingers through her hair as Bucky crossed the kitchen toward her. 

“It’s okay,” he said as he pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back with his hand as she buried her face into his chest. “Steve’s call really freaked you out huh?” he said as he rested his chin on the top of her head. 

“Yeah,” she confessed, “I couldn’t really sleep after it,” she continued, tightening her arms around his waist. “All I kept thinking about was the day I was stuck in the Chitauri battle of New York, how scared and unprepared for it all I was.” 

“But you’re not unprepared any more,” Bucky said, taking a step back and reaching up to cradle the side of her face. “We’ve been training in the simulator the entire time we’ve been here, you even longer than me, using the exact scenario you’re worrying about. I’ve seen you kick countless Chitauri ass. If anything were to happen along those lines right now you would be the opposite of the person you were back then.” 

“You have a lot more faith in me than I do,” Harper answered with a laugh and a shake of her head as she smoothed her hands down the front of Bucky’s tshirt. 

“I do,” Bucky said with a shrug of his shoulders and a smile as he pulled her back in and pressed a kiss to her temple “Because I’ve seen how you fight in the simulation Shuri made for us. I’ve seen your skill and how you use your initiative...and not only in there,” he said, the corner of his mouth curling upward as her brows furrowed “Way back when we were still in Hydra. You were one of the best H.” 

“Not sure that’s something to brag about but I’ll take it,” she answered with a sigh. It was true, she did feel more and more confident every single time she stepped into the simulation, she felt like her instincts began kicking in more and more with every time she stepped in there…

But it was still just a simulation. It could be stopped at any time, nothing in there could actually hurt her… 

“Come on,” Bucky said as he let her go, tucking her hair behind her ear “You need some fresh air,” he continued, nodding over to the back door “And Katniss and Peeta need feeding.” 

A smile came to Harper’s face as she nodded her head “I’ll go and get dressed,” she said, hurrying back up the stairs to change out of her pyjamas. There was still a dread weighing heavy in the back of her mind but the thought of spending the day out in the fresh air with Bucky and the two excitable goats definitely helped push it to one side. 

Her phone lighting up on her bedside cabinet caught her attention as she walked into the bedroom, rushing over she noticed Shuri’s face on the screen “Hey, how did the search go?” she asked, lifting the phone to her ear. 

“Managed to narrow it down to a hotel in Edinburgh,” Shuri answered, sounding as though she had gotten even less sleep than Harper “Well, a train station nearby anyway.”

“Thanks S,” Harper said, digging through her drawers to grab a tshirt “Did Steve tell you anything more?” 

“No,” Shuri said, a little too quickly for it to be believable “No, he was rushing off to head to Scotland with Natasha and Sam,” she continued after she’d taken a breath. “So, are you and Bucky hanging around today? At the farm?” 

Balancing her phone between her ear and her shoulders she held up one of the tshirts she’d pulled out of her drawer “Yeah I think so,” she said, chucking the tshirt on the bed and moving onto getting herself some jeans from the top shelf of her wardrobe. She paused once she opened up the door, a frown dipping her eyebrows “Why?” she asked, suspicion in her tone. 

“No reason!” Shuri exclaimed “I was just wondering if you were coming into the lab today, that’s all.”

“Well we can, I mean-” 

“No, no,” Shuri cut in, “No, honestly. We’ve got everything covered here.” 

Harper narrowed her eyes “Oh-kay,” she said slowly “I’ll let you get back to it then, you’ll call me if you need anything?” 

“Definitely, yes! I’ll make sure to do that,” Shuri said in a fake sounding enthusiastic voice “See you later!” 

There was still a frown on Harper’s face as the other end of the line clicked to a close “Weird,” she said to herself as she gathered up the clothes she’d gotten together and headed into the bathroom. 

Standing beneath the shower she closed her eyes, allowing the warm water to envelop her as she tried to not think about the worries threatening to emerge from the back of her mind. 

Despite how the shower stream had massaged out the knots in her shoulders there was still an ache in her chest she couldn’t quite get rid of as she stepped out onto the bathroom floor. There was something behind the words Shuri was saying to her, she thought as she quickly dried herself and tugged her hair out of the band holding it in a bun.

She stared into the bathroom mirror for a couple of seconds before she got dressed. Her hair fell around her tired looking features as she reached up to rub at her stinging eyes, her brows furrowed slightly as she leaned forward to wipe away a bit of fluff from the towel which had managed to make its way to her cheekbone. 

As she did she felt the tears well up in her eyes, the worry pushing against the brickwall she had built around it. 

“We’re safe in Wakanda,” she said in a whisper, repeating it to herself a couple of times as she took in deep breath after deep breath. 

If there was something going on they would have warned them. They wouldn’t leave them out in the open, oblivious and unprepared…

Right? 

“H?!” Bucky called from the bottom of the stairs “The goats are picking on me again!” 

“Coming!” she called back, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she dressed quickly. No matter how much she told him they were only playing, Bucky never believed the goats meant no harm. 

She paused in the living room to tug on her boots, arching her eyebrows when she spotted a fluffy tail poking out from one of the cupboards “You let them in the house ?!” she exclaimed, tugging Katniss out from where she was munching on one of her packets of salt and vinegar crisps and shooing her back out through the backdoor. Folding her arms over her chest she leaned against the door frame and watched, in amusement, as Peeta made his way over to where Bucky was moving bags of topsoil. 

Harper bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing as the small goat leaned up to bite the hem of Bucky’s tshirt. 

“ Harper !” he whined, gesturing down to where the goat was now chewing on a piece of grey fabric. 

“The more you react the more they’ll do it!” she laughed as she stepped down into the garden “I’ll take them into their pen while I muck them out,” she said, gesturing for Peeta to follow her. He glanced over to her for a couple of seconds, his head tilting to one side as he tried to decide whether following her was more beneficial to him than staying put and annoying Bucky “Come on ,” she insisted, tapping her hand against her thigh before pulling a bag of goat treats out of her jeans pocket. 

Watching her feed one to Katniss, Peeta let out a disgruntled noise and trotted over to where she was, his tail wagging as he did so. 

“There, you happy now?” she asked, closing the gate to the goats pen behind her and looking over to where Bucky had moved onto carrying the bags of goat feed from the wheelbarrow to the shed. 

“Very,” he called back with a grin, rolling his eyes as she stood and watching him sling one of the bags onto his shoulder. 

They continued their work throughout the morning. Bucky moving bags of feed, soil and fertiliser while Harper mucked out the goat pen...which mainly consisted of trying (and failing) to teach Katniss and Peeta tricks with the treats in her pocket. 

Music played from the radio sitting on the sill of the open kitchen window, Bucky stopping every now and then to watch as Harper sang and bopped along with a smile on his face. 

The sound of a car pulling up outside the front of the house caught their attention and they shared a glance across the garden. 

“Are you expecting anyone?” Bucky asked as Harper emerged from inside the pen, making sure to close the gate securely behind her.

“Nope,” she answered, making her way over to him “You?” 

But before Bucky could answer T’Challa came into view. His facial expression was somber and serious as he approached, a tribesman behind him carrying a large case. 

Harper closed up to Bucky’s side protectively, folding her arms over her chest and raising her chin as T’Challa came closer “Hi,” she said slowly, watching him approach through narrowed eyes. 

He looked between them for a second as the tribesman unfolded legs from beneath the case and set it down on the ground. “I’m sorry,” was all T’Challa said as he reached forward and opened up the lid. 

Harper’s heart dropped into her stomach when what was inside was revealed. A metal arm, one she had no doubt fit Bucky perfectly, lay in the cushioned bottom and glinted when the sunlight hit it. 

Reaching out for him she gripped onto his forearm and stepped even closer to his side. The arm was a just in case , only needed if absolutely necessary…

She felt him tense beside her as he took in a deep and shaky break, raising his head from where he’d been staring at the arm to looking T’Challa in the eye as he asked “Where’s the fight?”

Chapter Text

They both sat in the back of the car T’Challa had arrived in, hands joined between them as Harper scrolled through the news on the tablet that had been passed to her and Bucky attempted to get used to his new arm. 

“And they’re coming...here?” Harper asked, holding the tablet up with a frown. 

“Yes,” T’Challa confirmed “Well, we have invited The Avengers to come and find safety here. We can only assume the Black Order will follow.” 

“The Black Order,” Harper repeated beneath her breath, laying the tablet back on her lap and casting her eyes over the grainy footage of the figures and the spaceship in New York. 

“Cool name,” Bucky said, flexing the fingers of his metal arm a few times before glancing to her out of the corner of his eye “Come on, you gotta admit it.”

Harper rolled her eyes and let out a chuckle as she continued scrolling through the news articles “This says Tony Stark was the one who met them in the street,” she said, trying to sound cool “Will he be coming?” she asked, ignoring Bucky nudging her shoulder with his. 

“No,” T’Challa answered, keeping his eyes forward as they entered the town. “Him, Dr Strange and Spider-Man have disappeared, we’re assuming off Earth.” 

Harper’s eyebrows furrowed as she thought back to the young kid dressed in red at the airport in Germany. He’d sounded like a teenager whose only troubles should be making sure his homework was in on time. 

“Off Earth,” Bucky was whispering to himself, shaking his head. “I remember when the wildest thing I saw was the hovercar Stark’s father showed us before I went off to war,” he said, his gaze falling down to the metal arm sitting at his side. 

“And now you’re sitting in a hovercar heading into another one,” Harper said with a sigh, sending T’Challa a smile when he turned in his seat to look at them. 

As soon as the car came to a stop outside of the lab they were hurried in to meet with Shuri. There was an air of panic about the place, people rushing here, there and everywhere as they buzzed themselves in. 

Fear stabbed at Harper’s stomach as she turned around to see Bucky being guided away. A hand reached out and stopped her before she could follow. 

“He’s just going into the simulation with Okoye and Ayo,” Shuri explained once she had turned her around to face her “He’ll be fine, they just need to help him get used to the arm,” she added to reassure her. “You. You need to come with me.” 

Harper threw a glance over her shoulder toward where Bucky had disappeared to. Her heart was racing as she followed Shuri into one of the side rooms, her feet coming to a stop when she spotted her new and improved suit hanging up on the wall “Oh god,” she said, pressing her hand against her forehead “This is really happening.” 

“It’s just in case,” Shuri waved off, standing up on her toes to grab the suit. 

“ People keep saying that to me,” Harper grumbled as she took the suit off her and went around the screen Shuri had set up to change. She switched from her comfy jeans and slouchy tshirt to her perfectly fitting suit quickly, sliding her feet into the boots moulded to her feet. She paused for a second to insert her comms into her ear before she took the chance to appreciate what she was wearing. 

Shuri had made a few improvements since Harper had last worn it. The gauntlets weren’t as heavy and the fabric even softer. The suit moved with her like a second skin, the purple stitching seeming to glow slightly when it caught the light. The holsters sitting at her hips had been filled with lightweight guns and the strap around her right thigh held three vibranium knives. 

As she emerged, tugging her hair up into a bun so it was out of her face, Shuri was looking at her with a smug expression on her face “Right? Right ?” she asked with her eyebrows raised. 

“Okay, okay,” Harper said, holding her hands up “It feels good to be back in the suit,” she said, flexing her arms in and out “All these work how I would expect them to work right?” she asked, gesturing to the gauntlets and other weapons. 

“Yes,” Shuri answered with a roll of her eyes “You’ll need to switch the gauntlets on - yes I still don’t trust you - but the guns will work like normal guns,” she explained, going to reach for the gun sitting on Harper’s right him, hissing and pulling her hand back quickly “I knew that was going to happen yet it still shocks me,” she said to herself with a shake of her head “I’ve modified them so they’ll only allow you to touch them, they’ll only work for you.” 

Harper regarded her through narrowed eyes, tentatively reaching for one of the guns and waiting to be shocked. The corners of her mouth turned down, impressed when she plucked the gun out of the holster. 

“Didn’t trust me for a second there did you,” Shuri said, shaking her head once more “Just...don’t wear gloves,” she added before she led the way out of the side room and back into the lab “Or burn your fingerprints off.” 

“I’ll try not to,” Harper answered, distracted by the way the knives twirled through her fingers with ease. 

A hand resting on the small of her back caught her attention and she turned to see Bucky smiling down to her. He had also changed, dressed in the blue jacket and greeny brown uniform Harper had helped Shuri design “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again,” he said, his eyes wandering over her outfit “The superhero look looks amazing on you.” 

“Speak for yourself,” she answered, resting her hand on his chest. Her eyes flickered over the uniform, his broad shoulders and shining new metal arm “You don’t look too shabby either, Sergeant Barnes.” 

He smiled down at her before brushing his right hand down the jacket “This your idea?” he asked, thinking back to the pictures he had recently looked at in the library. How he’d told her he’d loved his army uniform from when he was in the Howling Commandos. 

“Maybe,” she smiled back with a shrug of her shoulders “What can I say, blue looks good on you.” 

“Can’t say I disagree,” Bucky answered, glancing around the room before reaching for her hand and tugging her over to one side “Listen, I don’t know how this is going to end-” 

Harper raised her eyebrows and folded her arms over her chest “You’re not doing a goodbye speech right now?” 

“No! No!” he exclaimed, holding his hand up innocently “No of course not,” he said, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. 

“How’s it feeling?” she asked, glancing down to the left metal hand. 

“Weird,” he shrugged in reply, following her glance and flexing his fingers slightly “It works though,” he continued, a slightly impressed smile on his face “Okoye and Ayo put me through my paces in the simulation while you were getting changed. It wasn’t the longest training session but I guess it’ll have to do huh?” 

She bit down on her bottom lip as she glanced up at him “You’ll be careful out there right?” 

“I will if you will,” he said, arching one of his eyebrows as she stepped closer to him. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss against her lips “Just in case the world ends.”  

Before she could answer their names were called and they turned to see T’Challa waiting for them “Captain Rogers is here,” he said, gesturing for them to follow him. 

Harper and Bucky exchanged glances before they followed after him. He led them out of the palace and toward where a Quinjet had come into land, Steve, Nat, Rhodey and Bruce emerging out down the ramp. 

“They keep telling us it’s not a big deal, all of this is just in case but they seem to be bringing out the big guns,” Bucky said as Harper linked her arm through his. 

“How we looking?” Steve asked as they approached where he, T’Challa and Okoye were standing. 

“You will have the King’s Guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje and-” 

As T’Challa stepped aside Bucky and Harper walked up “A semi stable one hundred year old man,” he said, unravelling his arm from Harper’s and stepping up to give Steve a hug. 

“How you been, Buck?” Steve asked, patting his best friend’s back. 

“Not bad,” Bucky shrugged before glancing around “Y’know, for the end of the world.” 

“And Harper,” Steve continued as he spotted her, leaning down and wrapping her up in a tight hug “Thank you, for all you’ve done for us.” 

“You owe me, Rogers,” Harper joked as they parted. She hung back, allowing Steve and Bucky to catch up on their way up to the lab, and falling into step beside Natasha “Hi,” she smiled, catching Nat’s eye. 

“Rhodes!” Natasha exclaimed, raising her hand over to Rhodey “Not you. The cool Rhodes,” she explained, jabbing her thumb toward Harper. 

“Have you heard from your friend?” Harper asked in a low tone, putting on an innocent expression as Nat nudged her in the ribs. 

“I’ll tell you all about it when this is over,” she promised as they made their way into the lab. 

Harper and Nat parted as Vision was brought over for Shuri to inspect. Harper hadn’t noticed him and Wanda were with them, Steve and Natasha taking up all of her attention. Her brow furrowed as she stood beside Bucky, her concerned gaze falling on the worried looking Wanda.

“We could do with some help in front of the palace,” Ayo said, after buzzing herself into the lab and catching Harper and Bucky’s attention. 

“Sure,” Harper answered with a nod, Bucky agreeing. She sent one last look over to where Shuri was helping Vision onto the waiting table before turning to leave. 

“What is it we’re dealing with here Ayo?” Bucky asked, the three of them hurrying down the corridors to make their way back outside. 

“All I know is it’s going to be quite a big assault,” Ayo answered with a shake of her head as they pushed through the doors and stepped out into the fresh air “You two already know Sam, right?” she asked, not taking the time to hear their answers before hurrying off to find the rest of the Dora Milaje. 

“Yes we do,” Harper said quietly and almost just to herself as they turned to face where Sam Wilson was waiting for them “Hi,” she said, raising her hand. 

He nodded once before turning his back on them again. In all the time they had been on the run after the incident in the German airport they hadn’t had the chance to speak with Sam, it was always Steve or Natasha calling for their help. 

“Before this all goes down, I just wanna say thank you for the help,” Sam said, his tone sounding a bit grudgingly as he threw a glance over his shoulder toward them “I’m still not saying we’re cool though.” 

“I know, neither am I,” Harper answered, glaring at Bucky as he nudged her with his elbow. Before she could say any more a bleep from the kimoyo beads beneath her gauntlets caught her attention. There was a screen on the top of them, one that was linked to the beads and could show her whatever they were transmitting. After tapping the screen a couple of times she frowned “Something just entered the atmosphere.” 

“Yeah,” Sam said and Harper looked over to them to see they were both staring up to the sky “You don’t say,” he said, reaching up he pressed his comms into his ear “Hey, Cap, we got a situation here,” he said as one of the vessels hurtling toward Wakanda smashed into the protective dome surrounding them. 

“God, I love this place,” Bucky said, glancing round as the dome shimmered after taking the collision. 

“Yeah, don’t start celebrating yet guys,” Sam said and Bucky raised the gun he’d picked up on their way out, Harper’s hands hovering over the ones sitting in her holsters “We got more incoming outside the dome.” 

“We’re on our way down,” Steve’s voice came back in reply, soon followed by T’Challa’s. 

“Evacuate the city. Engage all defence procedures...and get this man a shield.” 

“Captain America getting a shield back…you okay there?” Bucky teased, dodging away from Harper’s fist as a hovercarrier appeared in front of them “Let’s do this,” he said, grabbing Harper’s hand as they followed Sam up and into their seats. 

Steve and Natasha joined them not too long after, arrow like shields sitting on Steve’s forearms. Okoye joined them not long afterwards, sharing a nod with Harper as she sat down opposite her and another vessel slammed into the dome. 

They all remained silent as they made their way to the battlefield. The warm air whipped around them as Harper’s hand gripped onto Bucky’s. She wasn’t sure what they were about to step into, couldn’t prepare herself for it or even imagine how it would go but, as she looked around to the people sitting with her, she couldn’t help but feel a spark of confidence. 

“How we looking, Bruce?” Natasha asked, pressing her comms into her ear. 

“Yeah, I think I’m getting the hang of it,” Bruce answered, echoing footsteps following as he emerged into their view in the Hulkbuster “Wow, it’s like being the Hulk without actually-” his sentence was cut off as his foot caught on one of the rocks and he stumbled to the ground. Glancing over the side, Okoye arched one of her eyebrows as Bruce insisted “I’m okay, I’m okay!” 

Harper let out a laugh, a slightly nervous sounding noise, as the hovercarrier came to a stop and they all climbed out of it “Nothing like being prepared huh?” she asked as Sam kicked off from the ground to circle the perimeter. 

“We got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line,” he said, over the comms not long after.

As they all joined the lines of tribespeople and members of the Dora Milaje the sound of Jubari war cry caught their attention and Harper turned around just in time to catch M’Baku’s eye before he nudged her with his elbow. 

“Thank you for standing with us,” T’Challa said from M’Baku’s other side. 

“Of course, brother,” M’Baku answered before T’Challa, Steve and Nat all made their way down toward the edge of the dome where two members of the Black Order were waiting for them. 

“Can’t see this going well,” Bucky said beneath his breath. 

“Not sure they look like the type to negotiate,” Harper agreed just as one of them raised her arm with a cry. 

Behind her, multiple ships began appearing from the trees and T’Challa, Steve and Natasha all turned to make their way back up to the top of the hill. 

“Did they surrender?” Bucky asked, glancing at them out of the corner of his eye as Steve stood next to him. 

“Not exactly,” he answered as an alien species began emerging from the ships, ramming themselves into the dome. 

“What the hell?” Bucky said as limbs were cut off by the force field, the grey beings continued to try and push their way through despite how the others were dying. They looked like mindless versions of the chitauri, running on muscular all fours, or sometimes all sixes, with leathery black and yellow skin and mouths that held two rows of razor sharp looking teeth. 

“Looks like we pissed her off,” Natasha pointed out with a sigh, as the creatures continued to pile out of the ships. 

“They look like they don’t have eyes,” Harper said, squinting hers to try and get a better look only to wince as more of their blue coloured blood splattered across the dome. 

“They’re killing themselves,” Okoye observed, her eyebrows pushed into a frown and her tone shocked beyond measure. 

“ You seen the teeth on those things?” Sam asked over the comms, flying close to the border of the dome with Rhodey close behind. 

“Alright, back up, Sam. You’re gonna get your wings singed,” Rhodey warned and Harper watched as he dropped explosives over a breached section of the dome. 

Despite the retaliation the chitauri like creatures kept on coming. 

“Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us there’s nothing between them and Vision,” Sam’s voice echoed through the comms. 

“Then we better keep ‘em in front of us,” Steve answered, all of their gazes turned to T’Challa. 

“How do we do that?” Harper asked, flicking the switch on her suit to ensure her gauntlets were on and ready to go. 

“We open the barrier,” T’Challa answered before putting his hand to his ear “On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen.”

A Wakandan Officer replied quickly “Requesting confirmation, My King. You said open the barrier?” 

As T’Challa confirmed it was to be open upon his signal, Harper felt Bucky gently nudge her with his elbow. Glancing up to him she sent him a small smile. 

“All good?” he asked, lifting his gun ready. 

She sighed “I guess so,” she answered, earning a chuckle in reply. 

Behind her she heard M’Baku speak as he turned to Okoye “This will be the end of Wakanda.” 

Harper turned just in time to see the General raise her chin “Then it will be the noblest ending in history.” 

Closing her eyes Harper turned back to face the enemy. Taking in a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh Wakandan air, she flexed her fingers next to the holsters at her hips. Glancing to her right she saw Natasha square her shoulders and then, on her left, Bucky raised his gun ready for the incoming. 

“Wakanda Forever!” T’Challa shouted, crossing his hands over his chest as the Black Panther helmet closed over his face. Breaking the cross he and Steve led them as they all ran toward the barrier “Now!” he called and the invisible wall between them and the Black Order disappeared. 

“How much longer Shuri?” T’Challa asked, just before the fight began. 

“We’ve barely begun, brother,” Shuri’s voice answered and T’Challa let out a sigh. 

“You might want to pick up the pace.” 

Gunshots echoed around the field as the creatures, Harper was sure she had heard someone call them Outriders, began their attack. She had been expecting to freeze, fighting creatures so similar to the New York Chitauri who’d haunted her dreams for so long, but the adrenaline which had spurred her on when Erik had attempted to take the crown had made a comeback. 

She made her way across the field, shooting the Outriders with sonic blasts from her gauntlets. She ducked to avoid their clawed arms and snapping jaws, her suit seeming to protect her when one of their talons managed to slip through. She had lost sight of Bucky a while back but couldn’t allow it to distract her as her face was splattered with the blue extra terrestrial blood. 

“Uch,” she said beneath her breath, wiping her cheek with her hand and trying to take a couple of seconds to catch her breath. 

Just ahead of her she spotted one of the Outriders jump up and push Bucky to the ground, with her boots crunching in the soil beneath her she raced over, swapping her gauntlets for one of her handguns and shooting the creature.

“Thanks,” Bucky said breathlessly, once he’d pushed the lifeless form off him and wiped away the blood “Our first battle together,” he continued, a goofy grin on his face as she helped him up to his feet. 

She rolled her eyes and let out a laugh as she stretched out her arm and shot another oncoming Outrider “How romantic,” she said in a teasing tone as she plucked one of her knives from her thigh strap and threw it in the direction of another “Am I doing all the work here or what?” she asked, laughing loudly at the look on his face as she bent to retrieve her knife. 

“Okay, you’re winning by two,” he said before firing shots into the still oncoming crowd “But I think I’ll catch up.” 

“By three ,” she corrected him. “Maybe more with the fact I saved your life,” she said, switching back to her gauntlets and hurrying off to help Nat out. 

“No fair! You have more weapons!” Bucky called after her, receiving an overexaggerated shrug in reply. 

“Couples who fight together, stay together, am I right?” Natasha asked as Harper shot one of the creatures just before it leapt onto her “Thanks for the save.” 

“Just out here saving lives left and right,” Harper answered with a shrug of her shoulders, wincing and squeezing her eyes closed as Natasha stabbed an oncoming Outrider with a spear she’d picked up “Okay, maybe I need help sometimes .” 

“It’s so big of you to admit that,” Natasha said, placing her hand on her heart before she turned to rejoin the fight. 

The adrenaline was pumping through Harper’s veins as she followed Nat’s actions, turning the other way and shooting the sonic blasters from her gauntlets into a group of the Outriders “Shit,” she said beneath her breath as the blasters went straight through them all and they turned to face her “Nice doggys,” she said, holding her hands up before reaching for her gun as they approached and beginning to shoot. 

Pain ripped through her shoulder as she was knocked onto her back, one of the Outriders pressing it’s taloned limb against it to hold her down. She gasped in her breath as she kicked her legs and plucked her knife back into her hand, stabbing wildly as she thrashed around. 

She was beginning to tire, her chest aching and her movements slowing down, but they kept on coming. Their jaws snapping near her head as she moved it from side to side and their long claws digging into her skin. 

She was just about ready to give up, to close her eyes and wish the pain away as she allowed the darkness to envelop her...when the sky lit up with a bright light. The pressure on her chest was gone as, what looked like, bolts of electricity knocked the heavy creatures off her. 

Pushing up onto her elbows she glanced around the field, catching sight of Steve emerging from a pile of bodies and Bucky scrambling back up onto his feet. She turned to see Natasha brushing her hands down her trousers, a slight smile on her face as she looked over to what had been the cause of the interruption. 

Harper turned her head just in time to hear Bruce laughing with joy as he exclaimed “Ha! Ha! Ha! You guys are so screwed now!” 

Standing there, with lightning bolts all around him and an axe clutched in his hand, was Thor. 

Quickly making her way over to where Bucky was standing she took the opportunity the distraction was giving her to make sure he was alright. 

Just up from them Thor was swinging his axe and shouting “Bring me Thanos!” 

“Is he with-?” 

“A tree and a raccoon it looks like,” Harper confirmed for him, still trying to catch her breath “At least our numbers are up I guess,” she said with a shrug before pressing her hand to her ear “S, how’s it going?” 

“It’d be going better if you’d stop bothering me!” Shuri answered, “You keep doing your job and I’ll keep doing mine.” 

Harper let out a chuckle “Yes ma’am,” she said as she turned to rejoin the fight “Oh! Uhm, sorry,” she said when she almost fell over the racoon she had seen arriving with Thor. 

He scowled up at her before shooting his gun into the approaching Outriders “Yeah!!” he shouted “Come and get it space dogs!” 

“Duck,” Bucky said to her, bending down he picked the racoon up off the floor, spinning in a circle as they both shot at the Outriders beginning to pen them in. 

Harper stayed crouched, trying to pick out anyone she recognised in the blur of battle in front of her until Bucky dropped the racoon back to the floor. Plucking one of her knives out of it’s holder she flung it into one of the oncoming creatures. 

“How much for the gun?'' She left the raccoon asking Bucky as she bolted off into the battle, sliding into beside Ayo and shooting one of the Outriders just about to attack her. 

“Watch out!” she exclaimed as Harper kept on running, glancing behind her she noticed the wheel like ships had entered the battle.

Up ahead Harper caught sight of Okoye and Natasha fighting directly in the path of the oncoming ship, pushing her legs to move faster and faster she called “Watch out! Natasha! Okoye!” at the top of her voice, skidding to a stop as a figure landed just in front of them. Her hands raised, red energy filling the air and flinging the ships up in the air and onto the oncoming Outriders.

Okoye spun her spear, glancing between Nat and the shocked looking Harper as Wanda Maximoff turned to face them “Why was she up there this whole time?” 

Harper smiled and shook her head as she ducked out of the way of a pair of claws just in time, “Well she’s here now,” she said, nodding gratefully toward Wanda when she noticed it was her who had given her the little extra push to get out of the way. 

“Guys,” Sam’s voice came over the comms “We got a Vision situation here.” 

“Somebody get to Vision!” Steve called as Sam’s voice was cut off by an attack. 

Wanda glanced between the three women who had gone back to fighting around her, raising her hand to her ear “On my wa-”

Harper spun just in time to see her being knocked into one of the holes the ships had made earlier by Proxima, one of the Black Order “Natasha! Okoye!” she called before running over to where Wanda was laying. 

“He’ll die alone,” Proxima said, leaning down and turning Wanda over onto her back “As will you.” 

“She’s not alone,” Natasha said, catching Proxima’s attention just in time for Okoye and Harper to attack from behind. Harper went for her feet while Okoye sprang from above with her spear at the ready. 

But Proxima was ready for them, lashing out with her sword and throwing Okoye to the ground as Natasha defended herself with her spear. Harper scrambled to her feet, Proxima managing to dodge past the sonic blasts she was sending her way before grasping hold of her wrists. 

She was strong but Harper held her own. For the first time in her life she felt the super soldier serum race through her veins as she steadied her feet and pushed back. 

Proxima’s eyes widened slightly as a smirk came to Harper’s face. Behind her Okoye was getting to her feet, racing toward them with her spear at the ready she forced Proxima to act, Harper letting out a shout of surprise as she was thrown against one of the dirt sides in the rivet they were standing in. 

Pain flashed through her ribs as she attempted to get back up, watching on as Natasha forced herself back into action while Okoye was thrown to the ground once more. 

They all ducked as one of the ships rolled over them, spraying dirt and stones over them. Proxima began to get the upper hand on Nat as Harper tried to push herself back onto her feet. 

“Wanda come on,” she called to the redhead, still laying on the floor not too far away from her. 

She stirred at the sound of her name, pushing herself up. She raised her hands and sent Proxima up into the air just as she was trying to land a strike on Nat, throwing her directly into the path of another oncoming ship. 

Both Harper and Wanda relaxed against the floor as blue blood fell down onto them, Nat pulling a face as she pushed up from where she’d fallen, “That was really gross,” she said as she lifted her arm to wipe her forehead. 

Their moment of peace was over as soon as it had started with more and more Outriders flooding the scene. 

“I have to go,” Wanda said, glancing around the three of them before flying off into the sky, on the lookout for Vision. 

Harper took in a deep breath before she pushed herself up onto her feet. Ships were exploding in the sky as Thor went through each and everyone of them, exhaustion ached throughout her body and she couldn’t quite believe what was going on around her but she carried on. 

Her hands went to her head when she heard the sound of something being beaten behind her, turning on the spot she noticed M’Baku had killed one of the Outriders just as it was about to pounce on her. Grinning, she nodded her head toward him as he called out the Jabari war cry. 

With Natasha on one side, Okoye on the other and Bucky up ahead she raced up to where Wanda had been heading. It was where Vision was, the person they needed to protect, so it made sense to make their way up there. 

Just as they stepped into the clearing in the trees there was a change in the wind and the four of them slowed when they spotted Steve, Bruce and T’Challa. Down on the floor, with Wanda kneeling beside him, Vision was calling out in pain. 

“What’s going on?” Harper asked, closing up to Bucky’s side.

“Everyone, on my position,” Steve said into the comms “We have incoming.” 

Just as he finished speaking a blue and grey circle of mist appeared in the middle of some of the trees. It got bigger and bigger until a figure walked out, tall and wide he was purple in colour wearing a golden gauntlet on one of his hands. 

“Cap, that’s him,” Bruce said as they all readied their weapons. 

“Eye’s up,” Steve said, engaging his shield “Stay sharp.” 

Thanos walked toward them slowly, with a simple raise of his hand Bruce’s attack was flung to one side. Steve took his turn as he trapped Bruce in the rock, him soon flying through the air as well with one raise of the golden gauntlet. 

All of them were stopped in their tracks. T’Challa, Sam, Natasha, Okoye and Bucky, Harper racing toward him with her own gauntlets shooting only to be shoved to one side, the pain back in her ribs as she smashed against one of the fallen trees. 

They continued their fight, Thanos able to second guess and control everything they threw at him. 

Trying to catch her breath and gripping onto her ribs with her arm, Harper watched as Wanda tried to destroy the stone embedded in Vision's head. Her power was a steady stream of red, only broken to split into two as Thanos made his way over to keep him at bay. 

Then suddenly it was over, Harper covering her head as the stone exploded out of Vision and Wanda fell to the floor. 

“I understand my child,” Thanos said as he approached her “Better than anyone.” 

“You could never,” Wanda bit back and Harper wished she could rush over there as Thanos reached down to stroke the top of her head with his large hand. 

“Today I lost more than you could know,” he said before he straightened up “But now is no time to mourn. Now is no time at all.” 

Harper watched as he made his way over to where the pieces of Vision’s body had fallen, raising his hand he triggered one of the stones sitting in his gauntlet. Green light emerged from his palm as fractions of vibranium flew out of the ground. 

“No!” Wanda exclaimed as the explosion was reversed and Vision appeared back before her eyes. Getting to her feet she tried to rush Thanos but was thrown backwards. 

Reaching down, as both Harper and Wanda watched on feeling useless, Thanos grabbed Vision by the throat. Lifting him up into the air he grabbed the stone with his free hand, ripping it from Vision’s forehead before throwing his lifeless form to the ground. 

“Oh God,” Harper whispered from her hiding place as she watched him drop the stone into the free space on his gauntlet. Power surged through him in multicoloured strings as he threw his head back and screamed into the sky. 

Just before he could celebrate his win he was hit by a bolt of lightning, Thor appearing over the trees with his axe in his hand. Harper ducked down, covering her eyes from the brightness and listening to the fight going on around her. 

She looked up just in time to see Thor’s axe cutting into Thanos’ chest. 

“I told you, you’d die for that,” Thor said before he pushed it in further, Thanos screaming in agony. 

Hope raised through her as the titan struggled to breathe, her eyes narrowing as she saw him say something to Thor she couldn’t quite hear as he raised his left hand. Snapping his fingers. 

A silence fell around them for a couple of seconds as they tried to figure out what had just happened. Pushing herself up to her feet Harper kept her arm wrapped around herself as Thanos’ gauntlet began to smoke as though on fire. 

“What did you do?” Thor asked, his voice turning into more of a roar as he repeated “What did you do?!” 

Thanos glanced around before he raised his hand for the final time. The grey and blue mist was back, sucking him in as he disappeared before their very eyes. 

“Where’d he go?” Harper asked as she stumbled forwards, the pain in her ribs complemented by a shooting one going up her leg. The wind had picked up, she had been in Wakanda for two years and had never felt a chill like it. 

“Thor?” Steve asked, emerging from where he’d landed “Where’d he go?” 

But none of them were any of the wiser as they glanced around the trees. There was no sight of him, nothing to indicate what had happened when he’d clicked his fingers. 

“Uhm, Steve?” Bucky’s voice caught her attention and she glanced around just in time to see him stumble slightly.

Her heart jumped into her throat as she went to hurry over to him, to check on whatever wound he had picked up during the fight...but instead he fell forward. His legs dissolving into dust beneath him as his eyes met hers, his arm reaching out toward her before it disappeared and his mouth opening to speak only for him to crumble before her very eyes. 

Panic tingled throughout her entire body as she reached up to rub at her eyes. Surely she was seeing things, surely none of this could be true…

But as she glanced over to where Steve was slowly making his way across to the pile of dust that was once his best friend it hit her. Her boots caught on the ground beneath her as she stumbled backwards, her hands began patting down her body and her head wildly looked around as she waited for the dust to come and take her. 

If he was gone there was no way she was sticking around. 

As she turned she spotted Wanda, her head resting backwards as she too slowly began to turn to dust. “No,” she said with a shake of her head, turning one more to see T’Challa had disappeared while trying to help Okoye to her feet “No, St-steve?!” 

As she spun on the spot Nat appeared from around the corner, almost barrelling right into her “No, no, no,” Harper said, reaching out and gripping onto Nat’s arm to make sure she wasn’t leaving too. 

This was all wrong. 

Her fingers shook as Natasha pried them off her, so she was able to wrap her arm around Harper’s shoulders. Her breath came out in short, sharp bursts as she glanced around her wildly. She jumped as Steve finally made it to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Raising her eyes to look at him the first thing she saw was the brown dust coating his uniform, the second was the haunted look in his eyes as he stared right back down to her. 

“Well?” she asked in a breathless tone as a tear finally escaped her eye and trailed down her face “What do we do now?” 

Chapter Text

The farmhouse was quiet as she walked in through the door. 

Hanging up her keys Harper made her way down the hallway, her footsteps echoing around her. Bucky’s jacket was still hung on the stair bannister and she paused as she reached it, running her fingers down the sleeve. 

Her throat ached and her chest felt heavy as she slowly climbed the stairs. Her feet came to a stop and she bit down on her bottom lip as she found herself in the doorway of their bedroom. 

Pain flashed through her wrapped up ribs as she finally allowed a sob to erupt from her lips. Reaching up she pressed her hand against her mouth as she leaned against the door frame, slowly sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. Her fingers shook as she pushed her hair from her face, drawing her knees up to her chest and ignoring the pain she was in as she did so. 

She sat there until her tears ran dry. Sniffing she stretched her legs out in front of her, resting her head backwards as she took in a breath as deep as her broken ribs would allow. 

Reaching beneath the collar of her suit she pulled out the chain which held Bucky’s dogtags. Holding them in the palm of her hand she ran her thumb over the raised letters and numbers, unable to believe she was back in the same situation. 

Only worse, if that were even possible. 

As soon as the battle was over and they’d gathered everyone together to see who was still around she’d headed straight to the lab. Calling Shuri’s name she’d come up short when, instead of her friend appearing from one of the side rooms to tell her to keep her voice down, she’d turned the corner to see piles of dust. 

Okoye and M’Baku had come in soon after her, their eyes wide in disbelief with what had just happened and filled with emotion when they realised they’d lost the princess as well. 

M’Baku had pulled her into a tight hug as soon as she had turned to face them, Okoye insisting on strapping up her ribs when she noticed the wince on her face. They’d patched each other up barely saying a word to one another, each of them feeling lost and none of them knowing what to do next. 

A knock at the front door caught her attention but she ignored it. She couldn’t move even if she wanted to, stuck in a loop of staring into space while rubbing at the metal tags clutched in her hand. 

“Harper?” 

Steve’s voice called through the house but she still couldn’t bring herself to move. Not even the sound of his footsteps coming up the stairs could rouse her from the daze she found herself in. 

“Harper,” he repeated, his tone lighter and full of sympathy as he reached the top of the stairs and saw her sitting on the floor. 

“Please,” she said, the word hurting her throat as she spoke it “Please leave me alone.” 

“You know I can’t,” he said, crouching down beside her. He looked as though he thought about reaching out for her before deciding against it, rocking backwards he sat opposite her “We’re all heading back to-” 

Harper shook her head “I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Harper-” 

“I can’t go anywhere,” she interrupted, finally looking over to him. Her eyes were red and watery, her skin paler than he’d ever seen it “He left me again.” 

Steve shuffled closer to her, wrapping his arms around her he pulled her in as another sob burst from her chest. She gripped onto the t-shirt he had changed into as her shoulders shook, her pain was loud and heartbreaking and all he wanted to do was fix it for her. 

“We’re going to get them back,” he promised as he leaned his chin on the top of her head “But we need your help.” 

She shook her head “I can’t,” she said in a mumble “I can’t do it anymore Steve, it hurts.” 

“I know,” he answered, gently rubbing her back “I know but we need all the help we can get.” 

There was a frown on her face as she pulled out of his hug, her head shaking once more “This isn’t me Steve. I’m not a hero, I don’t win ,” she said, wiping at her eyes “If you have me on the team you’ll lose again and I can’t cope with that.” 

“Anyone can be a hero Harper and you’ve proved yourself over and over ever since I met you,” Steve answered “Heroes don’t always get to win, it’s not a given, sometimes we have to lose. What makes people heroes is when they choose to carry on despite the losses.” 

She bit down on her bottom lip before letting out a laugh “You really are all about the inspiring speeches aren’t you,” she said through her giggles, she winced as she pulled herself up onto her feet “I can’t,” she said, glancing into the bedroom they were outside of. The bed was still unmade, looking exactly as it had when they had gotten out of it that morning. 

Turning her back on it she disappeared into one of the spare rooms, closing the door behind her. 

*

The news was full of it. Scrolling through her phone throughout the night she watched the panic roll in across all of the social medias Shuri had forced her to download. 

Confusion was etched in every tweet, article and youtube video. Children were begging for help after losing their parents, parents were heartbroken after watching their children disappear, wives had lost husbands, brothers had lost sisters…

Harper waited until the sun had come up, spilling into the room from beneath the curtains, before she forced herself up onto her feet. Her head pounded and her eyes stung but she, dressed in a tshirt and pyjama bottoms she’d found in the wardrobe of the spare room, opened up the door and stepped out into the hallway. 

Closing the door behind her she leaned against it for a second, closing her eyes and quickly reopening them when the scene of Bucky’s disappearance replayed in her mind. 

She hadn’t slept all night for the same reason. Every single time she settled down and closed her eyes the events from the previous day rushed to the forefront of her memory, how she’d split up from Bucky, how she’d left Shuri alone up in the lab, how she’d watched the confusion and heartbreak roll in from the general public...

She hurried across the landing and stepped into their bedroom before she could think twice about it. The air still smelled of Bucky, like he had only just stepped out and would be back any minute, and she wished she hadn’t made the rash decision to not sleep in there. 

Opening up their wardrobe she grabbed the holdall out from the bottom of it, dumping it on the bed and opening it up. 

She moved around the room quickly, gathering whatever she’d need and throwing it inside. She grabbed the notebook she had written in when Bucky had gone back into cryo from his bedside table and made sure to pack a couple of his tshirts. 

Once the bag was zipped up, the suit and weapons Shuri had made for her sitting on the top, she quickly changed. Gathering her hair up into a bun she secured it with a hair tie before pushing her feet into her boots, she paused before she swung the bag onto her shoulder to take a look around the room one last time. 

There was a smell of pancakes floating through the air as she made her way down the stairs, arching her eyebrows she found a smile came to her face when she turned into the kitchen to see Steve standing at the cooker. 

Crossing the room she caught his attention by dumping her bag loudly on the table.

He turned to face her quickly, his eyes going immediately to her packed bag “Good morning.” 

“Morning,” she answered, “The pancakes smell amazing,” she continued as she pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. 

“They’re pretty much the only thing I can make,” Steve admitted as he made his way over with a plate full of pancakes in one hand and a bottle of syrup in the other. He placed them down in front of her, where a cup of coffee was also waiting, before he took a seat himself. 

“I packed a bag,” she said, as though the bag wasn’t very much in the way sitting on the table top. 

“I noticed,” Steve answered, glancing across to it out of the corner of his eye. 

“People are suffering all over the world,” she said, drizzling some syrup across her pile of pancakes “All over the world,” she repeated with a shake of her head “I can’t keep being selfish.” 

“Does this mean you’re coming back to the compound with me?” Steve asked, a hopeful look on his face. 

She took in a deep breath before nodding her head “Yes,” she said as confirmation “I can’t sit here and watch, knowing I’m doing nothing to help,” she shrugged “But I have to do something before I leave.” 

“Of course,” Steve answered “I’ll get on the phone to Nat, I doubt she’ll be able to pick us up in the quinjet until tonight anyway.” 

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence, Harper gathering up the dishes once they were finished and quickly washing them. 

“Are you okay to stay here while I nip out?” she asked, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder “You can help yourself to whatever you want, I’m not actually sure what we’ve-” she paused and let out a sigh “What I’ve got in but feel free to root around in the cupboards.” 

“Harper, it’s fine,” Steve said “I’m sure I’ll be fine on my own until you get back.” 

Harper nodded her head as she backed out of the room “See you later,” she said as she stepped out into the hallway, plucking Bucky’s jacket off where it was hanging on the bannister she tugged it on before leaving out of the back door. 

Down the garden Katniss and Peeta greeted her with their friendly bleats as soon as they spotted her, hitting her directly in the chest. 

“Hey guys,” she smiled through her sadness as she topped up their feed, not thinking about how the last time she was with them so was Bucky. She made sure their water was full before she rubbed each of their heads between their ears, turning and leaving the garden through the back gate. 

“Harper! Harper! You’re okay!” She was greeted as soon as she approached the huts. A smile of relief came to her face as most of the kids they regularly came to see all collided with her in a hug. 

“Anze!” she said with a sigh of relief as one of the women emerged from the hut. Untangling herself from the children she made her way over to give the woman a hug. Anze Dzaza and her family were Bucky’s neighbours during his rehabilitation, she’d looked out for him, cooked for him and made sure he looked after himself. 

“He dusted didn’t he,” she said as she hugged Harper back “I’m so sorry Harper,” she said as they parted, keeping her hands on her shoulders. 

“I’m going to bring them back,” she promised, seeing the pain in Anze’s eyes and noticing her husband, Ori, hadn’t joined them “But it means I have to leave.” 

Anze nodded her head “I will look after the house and the goats,” she promised with a nod of her head “If anyone can do this Harper, it’s you.” 

Pursing her lips Harper nodded back to her, blinking back the tears threatening to escape her eyes “I’m going to try,” she said as Anze let her go, reaching out she squeezed her hands before noticing the hovercar she’d ordered via her kimoyo beads arrive to pick her up “I have to go but I promise. Not only will I be back but everyone else will too.” 

As she climbed into the back of the hovercar, pleased to see it was Mjota driving, she sent one last glance out to the huts, raising her hand in a wave to Anze and the kids before she zoomed off. 

It felt weird to walk in through the doors of the lab without hearing Shuri’s shout of greeting. She stood in the middle for a couple of moments, her eyes closed as she remembered everything she had been through standing in that very spot. 

Seeing Ross again for the first time, learning about Erik, working on the outreach programme and helping Steve, Sam and Natasha out on the run. How she had laughed with Shuri over ridiculous things and how they’d order takeout when they were staying late…

“I should have known I’d find you here.” 

Reaching up she wiped away the tear that had escaped her eye before she turned to see M’Baku making his way over to her. 

“I didn’t hear the alarms going off,” she said, arching an eyebrow and folding her arms over her chest. 

He let out a sigh “The little princess may have won me round,” he admitted, holding up his own pass “But you tell no one.” 

Harper mimed zipping her mouth shut before she stepped closer to him and wrapped him up in a hug “You called it. You said it would go wrong.” 

“That’s because I’m a pessimist,” he answered as he awkwardly hugged her back, patting her between the shoulder blades before stepping away from her “You’re leaving aren’t you.” 

“Leaving?!” Okoye’s voice echoed through as she made her way from one of the side rooms, her head shaking “You’re leaving?” 

Harper rolled her eyes as the General came to stand beside them “Not in the way you’re implying,” she said, looking between the two “I’m going back, to the Avengers compound, with Stev-what?” 

Okoye let out a laugh as she shook her head “You becoming an Avenger was not what I was expecting. Thanos winning the war yes, Harper Rhodes leaving to don an Avenger outfit? No.” 

“Ha ha ,” Harper tutted “I’m not becoming an Avenger,” she said with a sigh “I’m leaving to make sure they put their heads together and sort this shit out. I’m not having them go back to America to sit on their asses and not fix what they’ve broken.” 

Okoye raised her eyebrows as she shared a glance with M’Baku “And you’re going with Steve are you?” she asked in a teasing tone. 

“I can’t call him Captain America forever, it’d be weird,” Harper grumbled before she sent them both a smile “I’ll miss you both.” 

“No, no I don’t do things like this,” M’Baku said with a shake of his head, reaching forward he ruffled Harper’s hair before he turned to leave “See you soon,” he called over his shoulder as he raised his hand in farewell and left the lab. 

“At least I know nothing changes him,” Harper said, letting out a laugh. 

“I’m sure a meteor could hit Wakanda and M’Baku would stay the same,” Okoye tutted before reaching out and placing her hand on Harper’s shoulder “I will miss you too,” she said with a sad smile “But you know, you remember, that Wakanda will always be your home.” 

“Thanks Okoye,” Harper answered with a nod, finding herself wrapped up in the General’s arms a second later “I can’t believe you’ve all turned me into a hugger,” she said, emotion lining her words as she hugged Okoye back “I’ll keep you in the loop,” she promised as they parted. 

“You’d better,” Okoye warned “We’ll be working on what we can here as well.” 

“I know,” Harper smiled, she knew she had to leave but she found she couldn’t move. Wakanda, the lab, it all felt like home to her and it had been a long time since she had felt such a connection with a place. Bucharest had the potential but it was still a lot easier to leave than this was. 

“Go,” Okoye said, turning her around and gently pushing her toward the door. “The faster we start working on this the sooner they will be back.” 

She took her time making her way back to the farmhouse, deciding to walk instead of calling Mjota for a lift. She stopped by her first apartment, then the library and the restaurant she and Bucky had gone to on their first date. She called in on Mrs. Khasoni in the store only to be disappointed when she realised it was empty. 

Ignoring the messages on her phone she made her way up to the cliffside, standing on the top with the warm air caressing her face. Closing her eyes she could picture both herself and Bucky laying on the blanket not so long ago, smiles on their faces as they talked about their futures. 

Taking in a lungful of fresh air she opened her eyes up once more. Getting her phone out of her pocket she snapped a quick picture of the view before turning her back on it. 

“We’ll get you back,” she promised. 

*

“Damn I owe you twenty bucks,” Natasha said as Harper walked in through the front door of the farmhouse. With the Quinjet sitting out the front she’d been expecting to see her but still found the view of her sitting at the kitchen table odd. 

“Did you bet I wouldn’t come back?” Harper asked as she got herself a bottle of water from the fridge, arching her eyebrow over to where Steve was leaning against one of the counters. 

“No,” he answered at the same time Natasha nodded “Yes.” 

Rolling her eyes she plucked her bag up from where she had left it on the table, slinging it over her shoulder “Well, are we going before I do actually change my mind?” 

Natasha let out a laugh as she pushed herself up onto her feet, waving her hand for them to follow her as she led them outside. Opening up the ramp of the jet she disappeared inside without a glance backwards.

“Are you going to lock up?” Steve asked, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder before Harper made her way up the path. 

“No point,” she said with a shrug in reply “I’ve asked some of the locals to look in on the goats while I’m gone and they don’t have keys...and we never really had to lock the door anyways.” 

Steve paused for a second before he smiled sadly, walking to catch her up “You really felt safe here huh?” he asked just before they made their way up the ramp. 

“We both did,” she replied, hitching her bag further up her shoulder. She smiled and nodded her head as Steve placed his hand on her shoulder before making his way up the ramp. 

Hesitating for a second she sent one last look out to the house, where they were supposed to spend more time together, before following Steve and Natasha into the jet. 

The flight was silent but, thankfully, quick. 

Harper sat in the back on one of the benches, bag beside her, while Steve and Natasha flew the jet. Her stomach twisted and turned in knots of anxiety as she wondered if leaving the safety of Wakanda was really the best idea. 

“Come on then Rhodes,” Natasha said once they had landed and she’d emerged from the pilot’s seat. 

Her fingers gripped onto the strap of her bag as she followed Natasha and Steve down the ramp and toward the Avengers compound. It was an impressive building, stopping her in her tracks for a second before she continued to follow them inside. 

She and Steve were two days behind everyone else but the place still seemed deserted as they made their way through the hallways. Harper walked a couple of paces behind Steve and Natasha, who were deep in discussion about something, trying to take everything in. 

“Here,” Steve said as they came to a stop outside one of the doors “Make yourself at home,” he continued, gesturing toward it “I’m just down the hall, Nat is next to you, opposite is empty but you never know,” he said with a shrug. 

Despite the aching pain still in her chest she couldn’t help but revel in the pinch me moment she was finding herself in. Never in her wildest dreams - not when she was working at the museum, on the run with Bucky or even in Wakanda - did she ever think she would be told to ‘make herself at home’ by Steve Rogers. 

“Thanks,” she said with a smile as Steve opened up the door for her and stepped aside. The room was homely, painted white and grey with a sofa on one wall and a double bed on the other. There was a television bigger than she had ever owned sitting on a beautiful looking stand and a large wardrobe waiting for her to unpack into. 

“I’d say dinner is at eight but we don’t tend to do that kind of thing,” Natasha said with a chuckle as Harper stepped inside “So we’ll see you when you’re hungry!” she continued, closing the door and leaving Harper glancing around the room alone. 

Slipping her feet out of her boots she pressed her sock clad feet into the fluffy carpet beneath them, dropping her bag at the bottom of her bed she took one more look around the room. Frowning to herself she opened up the door just inside of the room and her eyebrows arched in surprise at the impressive en suite on the other side. 

She sighed as she crossed the room and unzipped her bag, rooting through it she smiled when her fingers grasped onto some familiar red fabric. Holding it up to her nose she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, it still smelled like him. 

“I miss you,” she said out loud, gripping his tshirt in her hands, before she climbed onto the bed. Resting her head on the pillow barely a moment passed by before her exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep.

Chapter Text

“Right...left...duck...right....left...jump!” Steve barked out orders, his voice echoing throughout the training room. His eyebrows arched when he spotted her wince slightly and he stopped, straightening up he took a step away from her. They had been taking it slow as her ribs were healing but he’d made sure to keep an eye on her movements, trying to stop her from pushing herself too soon “Do you give yet?” 

Harper frowned, raising her fists once more as determination crossed her features “Definitely not,” she said with a shake of her head, landing another punch on the pad on Steve’s right hand “Unless you do?” she asked, tilting her head to one side and placing her boxing glove covered hands on her hips. 

Steve let out a laugh “Well, I could go for a sandwich,” he said, noticing her tense slightly. 

The training rooms had been the only places he had managed to get her to go, other than her room and the kitchen for a quick bite, since she had arrived. 

And that was still a task in itself every time he knocked on her door. 

She had insisted it was because she was resting and in pain but he knew different. She was hiding herself away from the situation and the people she had found herself in it with. She thought he didn’t hear her pacing around the corridors at night when she couldn’t sleep, stealing food from the kitchen that she could eat in the safety of her own room. 

“Are you gunna come this time?” he asked, arching his eyebrows as he removed the pads from his hands and began unravelling the bandages he was wearing underneath. 

“I might order in.” 

“No one delivers here,” he said “It’s kind of a safe house?” 

“Alright don’t be clever,” she tutted, beginning the removal of her own boxing gloves and bandages “I’ll sort something.” 

“You’ll come to the kitchen with me,” Steve corrected her. “Nat makes a mean peanut butter sandwich,” he continued, trying to tempt her in any way he could. 

“I just-” she paused as she dropped the last of her boxing bandages into the wash box “I don’t fit in here Steve. You guys, you’re all amazing, you’ve saved the world and I’m just...well I’m just me,” she said, stretching her arms out in a shrug, speaking the words she had been holding to herself since she’d arrived “If my life had stayed on the track it was supposed to I should have been one of the villains you were fighting.” 

“But it didn’t,” Steve answered, folding his arms over his chest “You were given a different path.” 

She rolled her eyes “And they all know that do they?” she asked, thinking of how she was sharing the building with not only Tony Stark’s best friend but his worried wife as well. “I don’t want to put anything else on them, they’ve already got enough on with him being missing,” she continued, it had been just over two weeks since the snap had happened and they hadn’t heard a single thing from Tony, not knowing whether he had been dusted or was stranded somewhere in space. 

“Everyone knows that wasn’t you Harper,” Steve said as he lifted his gym up and slung it over his shoulder “Everyone.” 

Though she nodded she didn’t feel all that convinced as she grabbed her own bag “I’ll need a shower.” 

“You’re right about that,” Steve said, pulling a face then laughing as he dodged away from her punch “I’ll pick you up in half an hour.” 

“ Or I’ll meet you in the kitchen in half an hour,” she corrected him as they made their way up the stairs toward the bedrooms. 

“We’ll see how it goes,” Steve shrugged “You don’t need to hide away Harper, you’re as welcome here as anyone.” 

Though she plastered on a smile and nodded her head, her stomach was still twisting as they separated and made their way into their own rooms. Chucking her bag into the bottom of her wardrobe she wandered into the bathroom to switch the shower on. 

She’d snack on what she’d managed to gather in her room, she decided as she undressed and climbed beneath the water. Running her fingers through her hair she washed the tough training session out of her muscles as she daydreamed about spending her evening curled beneath the covers watching whatever was on the television. 

But, of course, it wasn’t long until those plans were foiled. 

“I’m asleep!” she called out after hearing the knock at her door. 

Her door slowly opened and Steve’s head popped around it “I told you I was picking you up in half an hour,” he said when he spotted her sitting on her bed, wet hair piled up in a bun and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. 

“I thought I said I’d meet you in the kitchen.” 

He glanced down to the watch on his wrist “Ten minutes ago.” 

She let out a groan as she pushed herself up onto her feet “You’re not gunna let this go are you?” she asked as she grabbed Bucky’s jacket from the arm of the sofa and pulled it on. 

“Definitely not,” Steve answered, putting a smile on his face as he stepped inside the room. He looked comfortable in grey joggers and a white tshirt, his hair freshly washed and fluffy. 

“At least I know I don’t have to dress up,” she said, an actual smile coming to her lips when he nudged her with his elbow. 

Closing the door behind her she fell into step next to him, her hands pushed deep into the pockets of Bucky’s jacket. Her fingers were curled into tight fists, her nails digging into her palms, as she tried to think of anything but bumping into Tony Stark’s potential widow. 

If she over thought it she’d definitely mess it up. 

Natasha was the first one she saw when they walked around the corner toward the kitchen. She was sitting at the breakfast bar, mug of coffee and a plate of sandwiches sitting in front of her as she scrolled through something on her laptop. 

Her familiar face, and the way she sent her a quick smile before turning back to what she was working on, calmed Harper’s nerves slightly. 

“You want some toast?” 

She jumped slightly at the sound of a new voice, turning around to see Bruce Banner smiling over to her with a loaf of bread in his hand “Ye-yeah go on,” she answered, unable to stop herself from smiling back. 

“Sit,” he said, gesturing to the spare chair beside Natasha “I make the best toast, she’ll tell you.” 

Natasha’s eyebrows were raised as she glanced across to Harper “He makes okay toast,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. 

The four of them ended up taking their toast and sandwiches into one of the living areas, lounging around on the comfy seats as the television played something none of them were watching quietly in the background. Natasha was still scrolling on her laptop, a frown crossing her face every now and then, while Steve and Bruce discussed the list of the missing they were putting together. 

Harper sat in the chair opposite the sofa they were on, her legs curled beneath her as she sipped on the hot chocolate Bruce had been insistent on making for her and listened to what was being said. 

“Pretty sure Scott Lang was dusted as well,” Natasha said, glancing up from the laptop screen for a couple of seconds “There’s been no sight of him since it happened.” 

The door opened and Harper’s heart skipped slightly as James Rhodes stepped into the room, his eyebrows raised slightly when he spotted her “Hi,” he said, crossing the room and offering his hand out to her “I’m pretty sure we kind of met during that ridiculous scene at the German airport,” he began, throwing a look over his shoulder to an innocent looking Steve “But I’m James,” he continued as she shook his hand “You can call me Rhodey.” 

“Harper,” she answered, wanting to tell him all about how seeing his name in the paper had given her hope when she lived on the streets. She may have been a struggling Rhodes but he was out there saving the world. 

But, instead of word vomiting all over him, she decided to keep it safe saying “It’s nice to meet you properly,” instead. 

“It’s nice to see you out of your room finally,” he answered as he turned away from her and made his way over to the opposite chair “What’s it been, two weeks?” 

“I have ventured out, I promise!” Harper tried to defend herself but Rhodey waved her off, letting her know hiding in the training rooms with Natasha or Steve didn’t count before making her promise she’d join them for dinner more often. 

By the time she was being walked back to her room by Steve everything felt that little bit lighter. The loneliness plaguing her didn’t feel as prevalent any more as she thought back to the interest Bruce had shown in the research she had done while Natasha pulled apart her fighting technique. 

“I told you it’d be alright,” Steve said, nudging her in the side with his elbow. 

“No one likes a bragger Steve,” she answered with a roll of her eyes “Thanks for forcing me out tonight,” she said “I suppose it wasn’t the most terrible idea.” 

“Will we be seeing more of you in the living room then?”

“I guess,” she sighed “And if there’s anything you need me to do, with the whole getting people back thing? Let me know,” she continued, her mind wandering back to how she had promised the Wakandans she wouldn’t let the Avengers let this slip. 

It was time she pulled herself together and got stuck in. 

“Of course,” Steve nodded “Meet me in the office at ten in the morning and I’ll catch you up with everything we have so far.” 

“Okay,” Harper replied, the confidence she had gained from that night pushing her answer “See you then,” she continued before bidding him good night and heading into her room. 

Closing the door behind her she leaned against it for a second, taking in a deep breath she closed her eyes and wrapped Bucky’s jacket around her. 

As much as she had enjoyed spending time in Steve, Natasha, Bruce and Rhodey’s company she still felt the hole he left in her life. With everything she found funny she turned to see if he was laughing too, with every question she had she looked to him for the confidence to ask it…

Quickly changing into her pyjamas she slid into bed beneath the covers, reaching into the drawer of the bedside cabinet she pulled out the new looking red notebook. 

She’d got Natasha to order it in for her after the first couple of days, remembering how much better the Wakandan experience was when she was telling Bucky all about it despite him being gone. 

Opening it up she caught the pen she kept wedged inside before it fell. Bringing her legs up she leaned it against her thighs as she began to write. 

So, you never warned me just how stubborn Steve could be…

*

“Anything new on the satellites?” Natasha asked as Harper made her way into the office, glancing up from the notebook she was scribbling in. 

“Nope, nothing,” Harper answered with a sigh as she sat down on one of the chairs opposite, placing the reports she had printed off down on the desk and sliding them over to Natasha. 

She had become a lot more involved since she met Steve the morning after eating toast with the Avengers. He’d told her about how they were trying to gather numbers together as governments all over the world were desperately taking a census and how they were tracking any potential Thanos sightings throughout the galaxy. 

So far they were coming up short. Every burst of energy or alert on one of the satellites came up with nothing. 

“We are going to do this,” Natasha said, placing the pen she was holding down and rubbing her hands over her face “We are going to do this.” 

“I know,” Harper answered with a shrug of her shoulders and a nod of her head, continuing on when she noticed Natasha had dropped her hands and was sending her a questioning look “Gotta have faith, right?” 

“Right,” Natasha said, mirroring Harper with her own nod “Yeah, you’re right.” 

“I know,” Harper repeated, smiling across to Natasha before opening up her own laptop. Her fingers tapped against the keys as she logged in, her heart lifting slightly when she spotted a new email from Okoye “Wakanda have sent in their census,” she said, gesturing to the screen “Okoye has been doing deep space scans but come up with nothing.” 

Natasha rubbed at her temples for a second before she nodded her head “Tell her thanks and can you forward me the census?” 

“Already on its way,” Harper answered, clicking on her next unread email. 

She rolled her eyes at the single sentence on her screen. She had sent M’Baku an email detailing everything she had been up to since she’d left Wakanda, how she’d met Thor ( quiet and brooding since he failed to kill Thanos) and sometimes hung around with a talking raccoon ( at least, that’s what I think he is. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to ask) , how they were trying to track Thanos and think of a way to bring everyone back. She told him about how she was having training sessions with Steve Rogers and had even had a normal conversation with Pepper Potts. 

His reply had been short and sweet. 

Things all good here. 

“Man of few words huh?” Rocket, said raccoon from her email, laughed as he hopped up onto the chair beside her.

“Private screen Rocket,” Harper answered with a sigh and a roll of her eyes as she dipped her laptop slightly and turned to face him “But in his defence, he did tell me not to write him rambling emails,” she continued, thinking back to the first email she had received from M’Baku. He had, in fact, warned her he would not be the new Shuri and she needed to get out there and make other friends. 

“Yeah, I don’t really care,” Rocket said with a wave of his paw “You got any more information for me or what?” he asked, glancing between the two of them. 

Not only had he watched Groot, a tree who apparently was a part of his crew - the Guardians of the Galaxy, dust away before his very eyes but the remainder of his friends had split from them before they came to earth. With no confirmation of their whereabouts they, along with Tony Stark, Stephen Strange and Peter Parker, were considered missing. 

“Sorry,” Natasha answered with a shake of her head “Nothing on the satellites again,” she continued, without looking up from the notebook she was scribbling in. 

Rocket sighed as he flopped back against the chair he was on, rubbing his paw down his face “I’m gunna go and have another look,” he said after a few seconds of silence, jumping back down and heading out of the door. 

Opposite Natasha let out another sigh, dropping her pen to the desk she leaned forward with her elbows on the desktop and put her head in her hands “Tell me again about how much you believe we’re going to sort this out please?” 

“We’re going to sort this out,” Harper said, leaning over the desk to rest her hand on Natasha’s arm “Have...have you heard anything more from him?” she asked in a quieter tone. 

Whereas Rocket had no idea if his friends had survived the snap Natasha had heard from Clint a couple of days after it had happened. A very emotional phone call had revealed he had lost his entire family before his very eyes and, much to Natasha’s despair, had been awol ever since. 

“Nope,” she said, dropping her hands and forcing a smile to her lips “But he’ll show up sooner or later.” 

“And if he doesn’t, we’ll find him,” Harper promised, squeezing her hand before going back to her laptop. She had done the hopeless thing, when Bucky had gone back into cryogenic sleep, and Okoye and Ayo had been there for her to pick her back up. It was something she’d always be grateful for so if the opportunity came up for her to do it for someone else she had decided she was going to grab it with both hands. 

They both went back to what they were doing, falling into a comfortable silence, for a few minutes before a rumbling noise came to their attention. Frowns of confusion came to both of their faces as they exchanged glances. 

“You’re hearing that too right?” Natasha asked, “And seeing that ?” she added, gesturing to how her glass of water shook beside her. 

Instead of answering, Harper jumped to her feet and the two of them hurried out of the office and toward the front door. 

On their way they bumped into Steve, coming out of his room with a frown of concern on his face as well. He threw the small towel he was using to wipe the bottom half of his face and, noticing what he had been up to, Harper scrunched her nose up in disapproval. 

“You got rid of the beard?!” she exclaimed, shaking her head and tutting as they made their way to the door. 

“You can scold me for it later,” Steve answered, “We have bigger fish to fry,” he continued, pointing toward the door, where Rhodey and Bruce had been waiting for them. 

“That’s a difference of opinion,” Harper said beneath her breath as the group all made their way out onto the front lawn. 

Her mind was soon changed when they spotted a spacecraft approaching, held up by a glowing figure “Okay, you win,” she said as they watched the large craft cross over them and gently land just in front of where they were standing. 

They all watched on as the entry hatch slowly began to open and two people started walking down toward them. 

“Go and get Pepper,” Harper heard Rhodey say to Bruce behind her.

Steve ran ahead of them, catching Tony before he fell, and helping him make the last few steps onto the grass.

“Couldn’t stop him,” Tony said, sounding weak. 

“Neither could I,” Steve said with a sigh. 

Tony shook his head, his skin pale with dark circles beneath his eyes. He’d lost weight, the clothes he was wearing appearing baggy on him “I lost the kid.” 

“Tony, we lost.” 

Harper hung back as everyone waited around to see if Tony was okay, not sure she was one of the first faces he’d want to see after coming home. 

Her eyes were caught by the glowing figure who had arrived with the craft. Her brows dipped slightly as she spotted it was just a human, a blonde woman who looked around Harper’s own age, and not the alien she was expecting. 

“Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” an exclamation came and her focus was dragged from the new arrival as Pepper pushed through them all to gather Tony up in a hug. Behind her Rocket appeared, sitting down on the ramp with the second person who had come out of the craft, someone Harper recognised from his explanations as Nebula. 

Natasha fell into step beside her as they followed Steve and Pepper leading Tony inside “I’m not saying it won’t be rough at the start but he’ll be alright,” she said, nodding her head toward Tony’s back. 

Harper shrugged her shoulders and sent her a grateful smile as they reached the door “I’m just not sure my face is going to be one he’ll be wanting to see during his big homecoming,” she said, following her inside. “But thanks.” 

“How about the new girl,” Natasha said beneath her breath, the two of them glancing over to where the blonde was following them all inside “Do we trust her?”

“She didn’t have to bring them back,” Harper answered with a shrug of her shoulders “And she didn’t have to stick around either.” 

“Hmm,” Natasha said, not sounding convinced as they made their way inside. 

They all congregated in one of the seating areas, waiting while Tony received the medical attention he needed before they could catch him up on what had been going on while he was away. He’d insisted upon it, calling it over his shoulder as he was led into the hospital bay. 

“Thank you,” Steve said, the first one to speak to the new arrival. Reaching his hand out toward her he watched as she regarded him suspiciously before shaking it “Steve Rogers.” 

“Carol Danvers,” she introduced herself “I hear you’ve been looking into what has been going on across the universe,” she continued, straight to business “How about you catch me up.” 

“They’ll be bringing Tony out soon,” Natasha said, throwing a glance across to Harper, as she stepped up to the table in the middle “You can join as we catch him up too,” she said before pressing a few things on a screen before her. 

It didn’t take long before holographic faces of their missing friends emerged from the tablet Natasha had been tapping away on and she began to explain to Carol that these were the people they were missing. 

Harper stood in the back of the room, hugging her jumper around herself as T’Challa, Scott, Wanda, Sam, Shuri and, finally with a pain gripping at her heart, Bucky stared out at her. She felt hot, wishing she could slip out of the room unnoticed to go and get some fresh air. 

But she could also see Steve watching her from the opposite side of the room, a concerned look on his face. 

Taking in a deep breath she nodded her head and raised her hand to him, letting him know he had nothing to worry about and she was alright. 

Before anything more could be said Tony was being wheeled into the room, hooked up to an IV and demanding an update on what had been going on. 

“It’s been twenty three days since Thanos came to Earth,” Rhodey began, everyone turning to listen. 

“World governments are in pieces,” Natasha continued “The parts that are still working are trying to take a census, we’ve had a couple in but it’s tough...but it looks like he did...he did exactly what he said he was gunna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures.” 

“Where is he now?” Tony asked, turning in his chair as well as he could to look around them all. There was a second his eyes landed on her, narrowing slightly as she stepped backwards “Where?” he asked again, turning back to face the holograms. 

“We don’t know,” Steve answered “He just opened up a portal and walked through.” 

Glancing around once more, not looking in the same direction Harper was standing again, Tony spotted Thor sitting off to the side. It was where he stayed whenever he was in the compound, wrapped up in a warm looking jacket with a permanent sullen expression on his face. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Tony asked before jabbing his thumb over his shoulder “And her? What’s she doing here?” 

As Harper shrank back even further Steve got to his feet and held his hand up “She’s helping Tony.”

“And he’s pissed,” Rocket said before Tony could answer, getting to his feet and gesturing over to Thor “He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there’s a lot of that going on around here, ain’t there.” 

A frown creased Tony’s forehead as he lowered his gaze “Honestly, until this exact second, I literally thought you were a Build-A-Bear.” 

Rocket stretched his arms out in a shrug “Maybe I am.” 

Steve sighed as he cut through the potential argument “We’ve been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing,” he said with a shake of his head “Tony, you fought him-”

“Who told you that?” Tony asked before Steve could elaborate “I didn’t fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street Magician gave away the stone. That’s what happened. There was no fight.” 

“Okay,” Steve agreed with a nod of his head as Tony insisted “He’s unbeatable.” 

“Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?” Steve asked, trying to keep the desperation out of his tone. 

“Pfft,” Tony waved off. “I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn’t wanna believe it. I thought I was dreaming,” he said, almost mumbling to himself beneath his breath. 

“Tony, I’m gunna need you to focus,” Steve said, trying to keep his tone calm as he glanced around the room for help. 

But Tony was starting to seethe, raising his head to glare at Steve across the room “And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need,” he said, pointing his finger “It’s too late buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?” he asked, attempting to stand and pushing things off the table instead when he stumbled “I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all you-” 

“Tony, Tony, Tony!” Rhodey exclaimed, darting forward in an attempt to try and stop Tony before he went to make his way over to Steve. 

“-Alive and otherwise what we needed was a suit of armour around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not - that’s what we needed!” 

“Well, that didn’t work out, did it?” Steve snapped back. 

“I said we’d lose. You said we’ll do that together too . And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren’t there. But that’s what we do, right? Our best to work after the fact? We’re the Avengers, we’re the A vengers. Not the Pre vengers,” he said, poking his finger toward Steve’s chest. 

Harper found herself moving forward, ready to push her way through and stand in between them when Rhodey reached out for Tony and she came to a stop. 

“Okay,” Rhodey said, not only to Tony but to everyone around him in the room “You made your point. Just sit down.” 

“Okay,” Tony repeated before shaking his head “Nah, nah. Here’s my point. You know what?” 

“Tony, you’re sick,” Rhodey said, trying to calm him down “Sit down.” 

“She’s great by the way,” Tony said, pointing over to where Carol was standing looking unimpressed by everything going on around her “We need her, that kind of new blood,” he continued, shooting a glare over to where Harper was standing before he walked right up to Steve and she took another automatic step closer, her fingers curling into fists “I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar .”

Harper’s jaw tensed as she stopped herself from taking another step closer to what was going on. She knew it wasn’t her fight, that if she stepped in at that moment she’d go even further down in people’s estimations, but she couldn’t help herself when she saw just how much it affected Steve. When she heard the lies leaking out from Tony’s lips. 

After a moment of silence, of the two old acquaintances staring one another down, Tony reached up and ripped his Arc Reactor from his chest, shoving it into Steve’s hand “Here, take this,” he said in a harsh hiss “You find him and you put that on. You hide.” 

Before anything more could be said, and as Tony insisted once more that he was fine, he collapsed to the ground.

Chapter Text

Harper turned away from the medical bay, reaching up and pinching the bridge of her nose “I told you he wouldn’t want me here,” she said as she faced where Steve was standing. 

“He’s worked up,” he answered with a shake of his head “The adrenaline-” 

“The adrenaline has nothing to do with it,” she said, tugging her sleeves over her hands nervously “And this is his place, basically, so if he kicks me out-” 

“He’s not gunna kick you out.” 

“If he kicks me out-” 

Before Harper could continue Rhodey emerged from the hospital bay “Bruce gave him a sedative,” he explained as Natasha made her way over “He’s gunna probably be out for the rest of the day.” 

“You guys take care of him,” Carol, who hadn’t said many more words since introducing herself, said pushing her way forward “And I’ll bring him an Xorrian Elixir when I come back.”

They all exchanged glances as she continued to walk away before Harper blurted out “Where are you going?” and stopping her in her tracks. 

“To kill Thanos,” she answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Hey, you know we usually work as a team here,” Natasha said, before she could disappear and as she, Harper and Steve all followed after her. “And between you and I, morale is a little fragile.” 

“We realise up there is more your territory,” Steve added, holding his hand up toward Carol “But this is our fight too.” 

“You even know where he is?” Rhodey asked, folding his arms over his chest as he arched an eyebrow suspiciously. 

“We’ve been searching for three weeks and have come up with nothing,” Harper continued “And you just know where to find him?” 

Carol shrugged her shoulders “I know people who might.” 

Behind them, stepping out from the shadows where she had stayed quiet since entering the compound, Nebula caught all of their attentions by speaking up “Don’t bother. I can tell you where Thanos is,” she said, continuing when they all urged her to “Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan,” she explained “Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I’d ask about where we would go once his plan was complete and his answer was always the same. ‘To the garden’.” 

“That’s cute,” Rhodey said. “Thanos has a retirement plan.” 

“So where is he?” Steve asked and Rocket stepped up. 

“When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one’s ever seen anything like it...until two days ago,” he said, showing what he and Nebula had been working on while Tony and Steve had been arguing as a hologram of a planet popped up, a visible shockwave across it “On this planet.” 

“Thanos is there,” Nebula said, as Harper, Steve, Natasha, Rhodey and Carol all approached the hologram to get a better look. 

“He used the stones again,” Natasha said with a shake of her head.

“We’d be going in short-handed, you know,” Bruce said from where he had joined them from the hospital bay. 

“But he still has the stones, obviously,” Harper said, gesturing to the very obvious shockwave on the hologram in front of them. 

“So let’s get him,” Carol said with a shrug “Use them to bring everyone back.” 

“Just like that?” Rhodey asked, concern in his tone. 

The corners of Steve’s lips turned down slightly as he exchanged a glance with Carol, his eyebrows raising in an impressed manner “Yeah, just like that,” he confirmed with a nod of his head. 

There was a swirl of hope and excitement in Harper’s stomach as Natasha spoke up “Even if there’s a small chance that we can undo this...I mean, we owe it to everyone who’s not in this room to try.” 

“If we do this, how do we know it’s gunna end any differently than it did before?” Bruce asked, folding his arms over his chest. 

“Because before, you didn’t have me,” Carol answered, a smirk crossing her face. 

Harper bit down on her bottom lip as she glanced between Carol and Bruce, her eyes flickering from side to side until she turned to Natasha “I’ve decided I trust her and would like to know how I become her?” she asked as Rhodey spoke up from her other side. 

“Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life,” he said “And if you don’t mind me asking, where the hell have you been all this time?” 

“There are a lot of other planets in the universe,” Carol said with a simple shrug of her shoulders “And unfortunately, they didn’t have you guys.”

Before any of them could answer, movement none of them expected caught their attention as Thor stood up from where he had been wallowing. 

Harper hadn’t seen him move from where he’d been sitting since she had been there. Sometimes she came down to the kitchen to see he wasn’t there but she had never actually seen him move a muscle, except to eat endless snacks and scowl to himself. 

They watched as he walked over to Carol, holding his hand out as she turned to face him he caught Stormbreaker as it flew across the room toward it. Despite it only missing Carol’s head by inches she didn’t even flinch, smiling up to Thor instead. 

“I like this one,” he said, a smile of his own slowly coming to his lips as he spoke for the first time in a long time. 

Steve nodded his head as he unravelled his arms from where they had been folded tightly over his chest “Let’s go and get this son of a bitch.” 

Harper watched as they all agreed, movement exploding around her “Wait,” she said, reaching out and grabbing Natasha’s arm “You’re all going? To space?” 

“No,” Natasha answered, a smirk slowly coming to her face “Suit up Rhodes, we’re all going.” 

“Oh, no,” Harper said with a nervous laugh, hurrying to follow where Natasha was going “No. No? I can’t go to space?” 

“Why not?” Natasha asked, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye as she made her way to the bedrooms. 

“Because I’ve never been to space!” 

“Neither have I.” 

“But...you...and…”

Harper came to a stop as Natasha turned to face her, her eyebrows arches and her eyes wide with fear. 

“You need to get over yourself,” Natasha said, crossing her arms and tilting her head to one side “We wouldn’t ask you if we didn’t think you were capable, we wouldn’t have you here if we didn’t trust you...you need to sort this out-” she said, flicking Harper’s forehead with her fingers “-and get it together. You’re a super soldier Rhodes! Act. Like. It.” 

“Ouch,” Harper frowned, covering her head with her hand “You clearly didn’t go to pep talk school with Steve,” she grumbled beneath her breath, letting out a laugh as she dodged out of the way of Natasha’s fist “Okay! Okay, I’ll try and pull myself together.” 

“There’s no try ,” Natasha said as she turned her back on her to head to her room “The next time I see you, I wanna see the Black Mamba. Show me why you were known as the Black Widow of Hydra.” 

She watched as Natasha’s door slammed shut, standing and staring at it for a few moments as she rolled the words she’d said around her mind. 

She was the Black Mamba. She was considered one of the most feared assassins of her time and maybe it was time she started acting like it. 

Making her way into her own room she quickly changed into her suit, slotting the various guns and knives into their holsters. As she did she felt the familiar calm which always took over during battle wash over her and she took in a deep breath. 

“Harper, are you coming?” Steve asked, lightly knocking on her door. 

“Yes,” she called back, gathering her hair up into a ponytail and securing it with a hair tie. Slipping her feet into her boots she opened up the door and joined him out in the hall. 

He frowned slightly as she passed him, her chin raised and her shoulders squared as she made her way down the hallway to where Natasha was waiting for them. 

“Much better,” she smirked as Harper reached her.

They all, once Rhodey and Bruce had joined them, headed out to where Nebula, Carol and Rocket had been preparing the Benetar ship for another trip into space. They climbed the ramp and each chose a seat, Harper taking the middle one between Natasha and Steve while Carol, Bruce and Rhodey sat in front of them and Nebula and Rocket took the pilot seats. 

Just before they moved the ramp opened once again and Thor made his way up it. A sullen look still on his face as he sat in the only free seat. 

Harper kept her eyes forward as they took off, the familiar feeling of anxiety at being in a vessel she wasn’t piloting churning in her stomach. 

“Okay, so who here hasn’t been to space?” Rocket asked once they had been airborne for a little while, turning in his seat as Harper, Nat, Steve and Rhodey all raised their hands. 

“Why?” Rhodey asked the question on all of their lips. 

“You better not throw up on my ship,” he warned, not elaborating any further as he turned back to continue their journey. 

Nebula leaned forward, flipping a few switches before speaking “Approaching jump in three...two...one!” 

The ship surged forward as it jumped through a wormhole, Harper bit down on her bottom lip as she tightly closed her eyes. Her heart jumped into her throat and she gripped onto the arms of her chair, only relaxing slightly when the ship slowed back down. 

“Wow,” she breathed as she opened up her eyes again, glancing between Natasha and Steve on either side of her. Both of them looked as shocked and as exhilarated as she felt. 

“I’m gunna go out,” Carol said, unbuckling her seatbelt and getting to her feet. Up ahead, out of the main windshield of the ship, was the planet they had been looking at as a hologram before they’d left. It was barely a moment before Carol was hovering in front of them, her glow back “I’ll head down for recon,” she said before zooming away. 

While she was gone they all followed her in unbuckling to get prepared. Both Natasha and Harper noticed Steve had gone quiet, staring down to something he was holding in his hand. 

“Everything okay?” Harper asked as they approached him. Jumping slightly he turned to face them with a slight smile. 

“This is gunna work Steve,” Natasha said, hope lining her words. 

“I know it will,” Steve replied, looking down toward the compass he was holding in his hand once more before closing it “Cause I don’t know what I’m going to do if it doesn’t.” 

As Natasha reached out to squeeze Steve’s arm Carol appeared at the windshield once more “No satellites, no armies, no ground defences of any kind,” she said “It’s just him.” 

Nebula nodded “And that’s enough.” 

“So what’s the plan?” Harper asked as they made their descent down to the planet. Rocket guiding the ship as gently as possible. 

“Surprise attack,” Nebula answered, still looking out of the window “We have to take him off guard, make sure he can’t have anything ready to retaliate.” 

“He’s in the shed not too far from here,” Carol said as they all made their way down the ramp, Bruce in his hulkbuster armour and Thor twirling stormbreaker around in a circle before resting it over his shoulder “I think it’s where he’s living.” 

“Then let’s go,” Thor said, starting his walk toward the shed. 

“I’ll go ahead,” Carol said, pushing herself up into the air “Restrain him before you get there.”

As they approached, Harper plucked one of her knives out from its holster, twirling it around her fingers as they came closer and closer to the shed. She watched as Carol burst in through the roof and Bruce knocked the door in. 

Harper, Natasha and Steve all walked up the steps and through the doorway just in time to see Thor slice off Thanos’ arm, the one wearing the infinity gauntlet, and Rocket and Rhodey landed in through the hole Carol had made in the roof. 

“Oh no,” Rocket said as he kicked the gauntlet over to see it was empty. 

“Where are they?” Steve, with Natasha on his left and Harper on his right, asked. 

After a couple of seconds of silence Carol tightened her grip around Thanos’ neck “Answer the question!”

Thanos attempted to stretch his neck away from her, a scowl on his face “The universe required correction,” he said and Harper finally got a proper look at his face. He looked like a shadow of his former self, the one they had seen invade Wakanda, the left side blackened and burnt. “After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation.” 

“You murdered trillions !” Bruce exclaimed, pushing Thanos to the ground. 

“You should be grateful,” Thanos answered, wincing as Bruce punched him in the face. 

“Where are the stones?” Natasha asked, folding her arms over her chest. 

“Gone,” Thanos said simply, shrugging as well as he could while Carol was holding him down. Behind Steve Natasha and Harper exchanged glances, worry lining both of their expressions “Reduced to atoms.” 

Harper shook her head “You used them two days ago.” 

Thanos’ head tilted slightly as he glanced around all of them “I used the stones to destroy the stones,” he explained before aiming his eyes down to his burnt arm “It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be,” he continued, shifting slightly so he was sitting straighter “I am...inevitable.” 

Behind him Rhodey was shaking his head in disbelief “We have to tear this place apart,” he said, looking around the small living quarters “He...he has to be lying.” 

“My father is many things,” Nebula’s husky tone came from the shadows of the shed “A liar is not one of them.”

“Ah, thank you daughter,” Thanos said, moving his head slightly to look at her as she lowered her head, looking uncomfortable beneath his gaze “Perhaps I treated you too harshly.” 

Before anyone could stop him, and with rage filling his features, Thor lurched forward. Raising stormbreaker in the air he sliced it down, Thanos’ head bouncing across the floor. 

“What...what did you do?” Rocket asked as a shocked silence passed through them all and Nebula reached up to wipe blood from her face. 

Thor, his shoulders slumped and a pained expression on his face, shrugged “I went for the head,” he explained before he turned his back and left the shed.

*

The journey back to the compound was a quiet one. Tension and disappointment filled the space inside the Benatar as Rocket and Nebula flew them back. 

No one spoke a word, even as they surged through the wormhole. Everyone stood up once they had landed and walked back into the compound.

“We can’t give up-” Steve began but Natasha cut through his sentence. 

“Can’t give up?” she asked, a frown creasing her forehead “What else do we have Steve? The stones are gone , Thanos is gone ...we have nothing left to go on. Thor has disappeared, Carol has stayed up in space so we’re two more people down and we lost. Again.” 

“Nat, come on,” Steve said as she stormed past him and headed toward her room. Turning around to Harper he looked at her with a desperate expression on his face “You think the same right? We can still sort this?” 

“I don’t know Steve,” she said with a shake of her head and a shrug of her shoulders. She could feel the disappointment weighing heavy on her heart, all of the hope she had had when they’d found Thanos’ location drained from her “We’re back to square one.” 

“I know,” he answered, rubbing his hand down his face as Bruce and Rhodey said goodnight “I know, I know we all really needed a win today but we regroup and start again,” he said, watching after Bruce and Rhodey’s disappearing backs “We should start right away.” 

Harper shook her head, reaching out and tentatively placing her hand on his arm “Sometimes you just gotta accept the loss and let people get over it before you restart,” she said “Let them have the night, rest up and start again tomorrow.” 

Steve nodded, taking in a deep breath “You’re right,” he answered “You’re right, I’ll let everyone sleep on the loss and we’ll start again tomorrow,” he said, a slight smile coming to his face “Where did you learn to pep talk like that?”

“Not from Natasha that’s for sure,” Harper said with a tut. 

“And you’ll be there? To help me restart?”

“Yes,” she said with a nod of her head. She paused for a second to take him in before she let out a sigh “Goodnight Steve.” 

“‘Night Harper,” he said, raising his hand in a salute and laughing as she shook her head. 

Turning her back on him she made her way down to her room, throwing a glance over her shoulder toward him as she pushed her way inside. 

Closing the door behind her she leaned against it for a second. The pain of watching Bucky disappear in front of her eyes then walking into the very empty lab rising up from her heart and forming a lump in her throat. She wanted to scream, to shout about how angry she was that the plan had failed and how disappointed she was in the fact that they had been too late and the stones were gone. 

But instead she crossed the room and opened up the wardrobe. Grabbing her bag she threw it onto the bed before slipping her feet out of her boots and unzipping her suit. 

Changing into a pair of leggings and one of Bucky’s jumpers, his dog tags resting around her neck, she went around the room and gathered up all of her things. Shoving them into the bag she closed it up and grabbed a piece of paper she had ripped out of her notebook. 

Sitting at the desk in the corner of the room she grabbed a pen from the stationary holder and scribbled a quick note. 

I’m sorry. I can’t do this. H. 

Getting to her feet she tugged on Bucky’s jacket before slinging her full bag onto her shoulder. Opening up her door she glanced up and down the hallway to make sure she was definitely alone before stepping out and closing the door behind her. 

Making her way out of the front door she paused for a second, taking one last look at the Avengers compound where Steve and Natasha were oblivious to her plan. Where they were expecting to wake up and see her in the kitchen making them all a coffee. 

With a sigh she turned her back on it once again, walking away without a second glance.

Chapter Text

The market place was empty, stopping her in her tracks as she turned the corner. No stalls open, no one shouting pleasantries to one another and no nice smell of food cooking floating through the air. 

Hitching her bag further up onto her shoulder she let out a sigh as she pushed herself to move on. Walking through the empty shells of the market stalls she felt her heart sink lower and lower, her hand gripping tightly onto the strap over her shoulder. 

Her boots scuffed on the ground as she walked toward the old apartment building. Her hood was pulled up over her hair to protect her from the bitter chill in the air as she climbed the steps. 

The door was closed, a sign stuck to it to say it had been repossessed. 

But Harper ignored it. Pulling her lock picking kit from the pocket of her bag she barely even had to push it into the lock before the door swung open. She was exhausted, her travel seeming to be never ending after she’d left the avengers compound, and she wasn’t about to let a piece of paper stop her from going inside. 

Mail littered the lobby as she stepped inside, letters addressed to old tenants and takeaway menus. 

“Home sweet home,” she said to herself as she made the all too familiar trek up the stairs and through the hallways until she reached their door. 

It was still ajar, exactly as it had been the last time she had made the walk to find Steve Rogers stood inside. The mattress was upturned, bullet holes littering it, and the floorboards Bucky had hidden his bag beneath were still caved in. 

It hadn’t been touched since they’d left. 

With a lump in her throat she crossed the room and placed her bag down on the floor in front of the sofa. 

Doing as best she could she tidied around. Putting away anything which had been knocked during the fight Bucky and Steve had endured and eventually finding her old blanket tucked away in the cupboard. 

She had thought coming back to Bucharest would make her feel close to him again. Back where they had been alone, where their relationship had started. But, as she gripped onto the dog tags still lying around her neck, she still felt the raw pain of being without him like a dagger to the heart. 

Dropping down on the sofa, letting out a cough as dust flew up, she dug into her bag to grab the food she had managed to gather during her travels. Resting it on the top of the bag she glanced down to her watch to see the time had clicked over and it was finally the next day. 

Letting out a sigh she sat back against the cushions behind her. 

It was official. She was thirty one. 

“Happy birthday to me.” 

*

She spent the next few days holed up in the apartment, memories of the last time she was there flooding her mind as she tried her best to rest up after her long trip. 

The mattress was pretty much a write off but it didn’t stop her from trying to sleep on it the first night. Curled up beneath her blanket she had closed her eyes and thought back to the first kiss she and Bucky had shared while lying side by side in that very spot. 

So she had moved onto the sofa for the nights following, remembering how she’d complained about how uncomfortable it was as she stared up to the ceiling trying to ignore the lumps and bumps sticking in her back. 

It was why she found herself rubbing at a knot in her neck as she made her way through the hallways and down the stairs. She felt all out of line as she stretched her back out before pushing her way through the front door. 

The day was a lot warmer as she stepped out into the fresh air. The sun beamed down onto her skin as she raised her face to the sky, revelling in it before she jogged down the steps. 

Wandering through the market she heard echoes of the past floating through the air. Marta shouting her greetings from her stall while Toma called Harper over to tell her all about how his dodgy hip was playing up, Elizabeth always having another book for Harper to read while she asked her opinion on the last one she had given her. There was always an amazing smell of local Romanian food to tempt her and stalls full of sweet treats to draw her in. 

But not any more. The market was a skeleton, ripped bare of everything that had once been there by desperate remaining stall owners and looters. 

Only small things remained, ripped pieces of the waterproof coverings, empty boxes and wrappers, to show there had once been life there. 

Approaching one of the stalls which used to house the chocolate bars Harper would call for on her way home from work, she stretched her leg out to kick one of the boxes. Her stomach rumbled and hope filled her heart when a couple of the bars she used to love tumbled out. Bending down she picked them up, examining them before tucking them into the pocket of Bucky’s coat. 

They’d be a treat for later, a sugar boost when she needed one most. 

She slowly came to a stop when she realised she had brought herself down an all too familiar path. Up ahead, sign lit up brightly, was the cafe. 

Standing on the sidewalk, across the road from it, she found herself rooted to the spot. It felt like an age since she had last been there and she felt like an entirely new person staring at it. 

The Harper who had worked there was young and naïve, she skated by in life not knowing the full extent of the horrors of her past. She was plagued with dreams, sure, but she was on the edge of the truth. The guilt hadn’t poisoned her yet and she didn’t see the faces of the people she had killed whenever she closed her eyes. She hadn’t known the pain of losing Bucky yet, the loneliness hadn’t forced its way into every part of her to try and drag her down. 

A frown came to her face when she noticed movement inside. Crossing the road without thinking ahead she burst in through the door. 

“Hey!” she shouted, switching over to speaking Romanian as she hurried over and grabbed the wrist of the kid with his hand inside the till “What are you doing?” she asked with a frown, snatching the handful of cash he was holding away from him. 

Deep down she found herself impressed that this hadn’t happened earlier and there was still cash in there to be stolen. 

He gulped, his eyes wide as he shrank beneath her gaze. 

Now she was getting a better look at him she could see he was only young, barely into his teenage years, and looked like he had recently lost weight “Are you okay?” she asked in a more approachable tone. 

He shook his head, tears forming in his eyes as he looked down at his feet “My parents...they’re gone,” he admitted, his voice shaking slightly “I’m the oldest so I’m in charge of my brothers and sisters,” he continued, glancing back up at her. A slight frown of recognition crossed his face as he searched her features “You’re an Avenger! I saw you on the news!” he exclaimed “You can help us!” 

She let out a sigh, closing her eyes for a couple of seconds, before smiling down to him “Where are you staying?” 

He led her to an apartment building down the street, bypassing a clearly broken down elevator and waving for her to follow him up the stairs. 

He didn’t stop until they had reached the fifth floor, standing outside of a door with the number 501 written on it in gold “In here,” he said, fishing a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door. 

As soon as they had stepped inside and shut the door behind them four more children, two boys and two girls, came racing through to the living room exclaiming “Andrei!” 

He looked downtrodden as he shook his head to let them know he had arrived back empty handed, holding his hands out to show them “No food,” he said “But I did bring an Avenger!” he said, plastering a grin on his face as he gestured to where Harper was standing closer to the door “She is going to help us,” he said before he turned to face her “These are my brothers, Stefan and Lucian, and my sisters, Clara and Larisa,” he introduced them. 

“Hi guys,” Harper said with a small smile, raising her hand in a wave “I hear you’re hungry?” she asked, all of them nodding their heads in reply. 

“We have been eating whatever was left in the cupboards,” Andrei explained with a shrug of his shoulders “My mother turned to dust while she was making our dinner and our father never came home from work,” he continued, his tone sad and slow “But we are running out and I am too scared to head out and steal things.” 

Harper smiled sympathetically, her hand going into the pocket of Bucky’s jacket and grabbing the cash Andrei had taken from the cafe “Here,” she said, pressing it back into his hand “It was me who took it, not you,” she said, arching her eyebrows until he nodded his head in agreement “Keep that though, okay? I’m going back out to get you some supplies,” she continued before going into the other pocket “There are only three but share these until I get back,” she said, handing him the chocolate bars she had found earlier. 

It took her a few moments to leave the kids behind but once she did she found herself coming to a stop once she had jogged down the first flight of stairs. 

She had been so mixed up in how she had felt about losing Bucky and Shuri that she hadn’t even thought of how it was affecting other people in the world. Kids having to come to terms with being without parents and parents losing their kids. Caretakers dusting away before the vulnerable’s very eyes…

It was very different reading about it on social media to seeing it in person. 

Placing her hands over her face she took a moment to dwell on what she had just left behind. A family of kids all below the age of fifteen having to learn how to fend for themselves. 

Leaving the apartment building behind she made her way back down to the cafe. If they still had cash in the till then there was a possibility there was still food in the cupboards she could bring back with her. Chips, burgers, sausages...she could teach Andrei how to cook them all to give them all some kind of warm meal at night. 

The bell above the door dinged as she pushed it open. Making her way through the tables she flipped up the end of the counter to go back to the kitchen. 

“You can’t avoid me forever,” Elena’s voice sing-songed into the kitchen as she slipped her apron up over her head .

“I’m not avoiding you,” Harper answered with a roll of her eyes as she plucked the plate of leftover food she had been saving for them both off the top in the kitchen, offering it to Elena as the two of them hopped up onto the counter “Have you closed up?”

“Of course,” Elena said, swinging her legs and munching on the food Harper had handed over.

She took in a deep breath as the sight of the kitchen brought back the memories of hanging out with Elena back there, munching on leftover chips and sometimes managing to bag a bowl of ice cream. 

Then, as she spotted the back door, the last time she had been standing in there flashed into her mind. She had just seen Ange and Jack enter the cafe, rushing through to the kitchen in an attempt to escape. 

“You can’t ask me any questions,” she whispered to Mitch, who was looking over to her in confusion, as she ducked around the door frame. His brow furrowed as his eyes fell down to where her shoes were clutched in her hand at her side, then to her sock clad feet “I need to leave.”

Without question he nodded, stepping away from the burger he was currently standing over he reached out and leaned on the handle of the door nearby.

“Thank you,” she mouthed as she hurried past him, sending one last look into the cafe before he closed the door behind her. 

Letting out a sigh she reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes and screwing them shut until the wash of memories was over. 

She had something much more important to do. Grabbing a plastic bag from where it was hooked on the back of the door she opened it up as she moved over to the cupboards lining the walls. 

“Jackpot,” she said beneath her breath as lines of tinned food came into her line of vision; soups, vegetables and even some sweet treats that she reached up and grabbed to fill her bag. 

She was just about to open up the freezer when a shout coming from the main door caught her attention. 

“What are you doing here?!” 

Her heart leapt in her chest as she recognised the tone immediately. Spinning on the spot she almost dropped the bag clutched in her hand when she saw the figure with wild curly hair standing in front of her “Elena,” she whispered.

Her skin was pale with dark circles beneath her eyes, her hair looked unwashed and her clothes like she had been wearing them for a couple of days. She was glaring over to Harper, her fingers curled into tight fists at her sides. 

“I can compensate you for all of this,” Harper said, nodding down to the bag in her hand and hoping she had enough money in the bottom of her bag back at the apartment. “It’s not for me, there are these kids-” 

“How dare you come back here,” Elena cut through her explanation with a growl of anger to her tone “Don’t you know what you have done?!” 

Harper’s eyebrows dipped into a frown as Elena stepped closer to her, her finger pointing threateningly in her direction “What’s happened?” she asked, stepping backwards as Elena came closer. The bag slipped down to rest in the crook of her arm as she raised her hands innocently. 

“What happened ? What. Happened?!” Elena asked, shaking her head in disbelief “Sorina turned to dust while we were eating our dinner, mid sentence. I didn’t know what was happening or what to do to stop it she just...she just dissolved while I was looking at her!” she exclaimed, a tear escaping her eye and trailing down her cheek “Then I came to the only person I knew could help me, I came to the cafe to speak to my brother only there was no one here. The kitchen was empty apart from a pile of the same dust in front of the oven.” 

“Lena-” 

“I am alone, Harper. They’ve both gone and it’s all your fault,” she snapped, jabbing her finger in Harper’s direction “I’ve seen you. On the news with your Avenger friends, moving into their compound and hanging out with Black Widow and now what? I walk in on you stealing from my family?!” 

“It’s not what you think Elena, honestly,” Harper tried to defend herself, a lump in her throat as her voice wobbled. “I tried, we all tried, and we lost people too,” she said, Elena folding her arms over her chest and shaking her head “I’ve left them. I’m out here on my own as well but this-” she held the bag up “-this is for a kid who is currently in charge of his young brothers and sisters because they lost their parents in the snap.” 

“Get out,” Elena said with another shake of her head “I can’t cope with your excuses, I don’t want to hear them, get out .” 

“Elena please-” 

Elena held her hand up to stop Harper from continuing “Please Harper. Take what you’ve got, I don’t care about it, just take it and leave.” 

“Okay,” Harper answered, blinking back the tears burning at her eyes “Okay I’ll leave,” she said, gripping onto the handles of the bag as she dodged around Elena “I really am sorry,” she said before she disappeared out of the room. 

She paused at the front door as she heard a loud sob erupt from the kitchen. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before reaching for the handle and opening up the door. It would help neither of them if she turned around to attempt to comfort her, no matter how much she wanted to. 

Elena needed someone to blame and Harper didn’t mind being that person for her if it helped her through it. 

It didn’t take her long to find Andrei’s apartment once more. Holding herself together as well as she could she helped him unload the bag she was holding in her hand. Quickly showing him how to use the oven, writing the instructions down as she went, she smiled down to him sadly as she placed her hand on his shoulder “It’ll be okay Andrei,” she promised “I’ve written my number down at the bottom of the paper here,” she said, gesturing to the number she’d scribbled beneath the instructions. She had gotten rid of the phone she’d had when she was in Wakanda, Steve and Natasha blowing it up every time she switched it on, but made sure she had a replacement just in case “If you need anything you call me okay?” she said, tapping her fingers against the written down number “I may not be here quickly but I’ll always be on the end of the other line for you.” 

She let out a squeak of surprise as the boy, almost as tall as her, flung his arms around her and hugged her tightly “Thank you Harper,” he whispered as she patted his back “We will eat well tonight thanks to you.” 

“And you keep that money, go out and find somewhere to buy stuff from when you run out,” she said as he finally let her go “Things will get better Andrei, I promise,” she continued, reaching out and ruffling his hair. 

“Course it will, with you and the rest of the Avengers on it,” he replied with a beaming grin. 

She had nodded, her lips pursed tightly together, before she had said her goodbyes to him and his younger siblings. Arching her eyebrows she held her phone up, tapping the screen with her fingernails, to remind him she was always on the other end if he needed anything. 

Exhaustion ached deep in her bones as she entered the apartment once more. Shutting the door behind her she leaned back against it and shut her eyes tightly, her breathing becoming quicker and quicker as the emotion she felt rose from her stomach to her chest. 

She felt dizzy, her hands going up to grip her head as she slid down the door until she was sat on the floor. Bringing her knees up to her chest she buried her face into her jeans and sobbed until her throat was sore. 

A numbness fell over her when her eyes were finally dry, the skin around them sore as she wiped it with the backs of her hands. 

Pushing herself up to her feet she crossed the room. Gathering up everything she had unpacked she threw it into her bag and zipped it up. 

Coming back to Bucharest had been her attempt to go back in time. She wanted to feel like she had when she was there with Bucky, and wanted the relationship with Elena and Sorina back to keep her afloat. 

Everything about what she wanted from the trip had been selfish and she knew it at that moment. 

Homesickness for the Bucharest she remembered twisted at her stomach and she found the numbness began to spread as her heart began to harden. She couldn’t feel the pain of heartbreak any longer, she couldn’t cry and couldn’t cope with the ache. 

What she needed was a fresh start. Away from the memories and from anything familiar. 

Grabbing her bag she slung it over her shoulder. She wasn’t sure where she was headed or what she was going to do while she was there but she took one last look around the apartment. Seeing Bucky asleep soundly on the mattress, standing in the kitchen cooking her dinner for when she came home and sitting at the table with a smile of greeting on his face. 

“Goodbye,” she said to the empty room in front of her before walking out of the apartment and closing the door behind her. 

It was time to move on. 

Chapter Text

“H, It’s starting!” 

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Harper exclaimed as she grabbed the bag of popcorn out of the microwave, emptying it into a sharing bowl. There was a grin on her face as she made her way through to the living room from the kitchen, two bottles of beer tucked beneath her arm “So, go on then,” she said once she had sat down beside him and handed him his drink, settling the bowl of popcorn between the two of them “Who do you think’s gunna win?” 

Bucky glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he took a swig of his drink “London always does well,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“Those brits do know how to party,” Harper answered, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth “Don’t discount Paris though,” she continued with a warning wag of her finger. 

“I would never,” Bucky said, placing his bottle down so he could put his hand over his heart. 

They sat there throughout the night watching as all of the different capitals around the world brought in the new year with elaborate fireworks displays. Bucky laughed as Harper sang along to the music montages they played over them and they ate handful after handful of popcorn. 

“So, any new year resolutions James?” Harper asked, once the beer bottles were crowded at their feet and the popcorn bowl was emptied and abandoned. She had her head resting on his shoulder while his arm wrapped around her and pulled her closer. 

He thought over the question for a couple of seconds before he answered “More of the same,” he said with a shrug “All of this. It’s been so amazing, I only want it to continue,” he said, smiling as she snuggled closer to him and reached up to squeeze his hand “How about you?” 

“Hmm,” she thought, tapping her chin with her finger “I dunno, maybe stop biting my nails?” she replied, a laugh leaving her as he lowered his arm to dig his fingers into her side “Bucky!” she exclaimed as he continued to tickle her until they were lying horizontal on the couch, him hovering over her. 

“Okay, okay I give,” she said, tilting her chin to accept his lips in a kiss “I want the same,” she said in a whisper “More of this. More of you.” 

“Well,” he began, leaning down to kiss her once more as more fireworks boomed from the television. “It’s a good job I’m not planning on going anywhere isn’t it.” 

Her head pounded as she slowly woke. The room was spinning around her as she prized her eyes open and tried to ignore the sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach. Her back, between her shoulder blades, ached when she realised she had fallen asleep leaning over a table, pins and needles prickled at her right arm from where she had leaned her head on it all night. 

“She lives!” a gruff tone exclaimed, speaking Hungarian, from across the room. 

Harper let out a groan as she held her head in her hands “Are you sure this isn’t hell?” she asked, also speaking the native language. Her voice came out thick and croaky “What did we do last night?” she asked, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temples. 

“Me? I did nothing but my job,” Jozsef laughed as he emerged from behind the bar “You were the one who drank us dry.” 

“And you let me,” Harper answered, squinting over to where he was wiping down the other tables “Then, what? Left me here to sleep?” 

“I locked the doors, you were safe,” Jozsef said with a shrug of his shoulders. 

She had arrived in Hungary a couple of weeks previous, stumbling into Jozsef’s bar and not leaving. She was lucky he was so hospitable and found her hilarious enough to keep her around, letting her crash wherever she fell at the end of the night without question nor demand. 

Though she knew Elena’s blame was misguided she couldn’t stop the guilt from taking over her entire body. She felt it as she left the food with Andrei and his siblings, despite their gratefulness, knowing they were going to be alone for the foreseeable future. She felt it as she travelled, seeing looters getting what they could and people hanging up missing persons posters.

So she did her best to forget it every single night in Jozsef’s bar. 

“Heir of the dog?” 

“Hair,” Harper corrected as she glanced over to where Jozsef was holding up a bottle of vodka.

“What?” 

“It’s hair of the dog.” 

He crinkled up his nose as he poured her a glass “Why would you want to drink dog hair?” he asked as she perched herself on one of the bar stools and he slid the glass down to her. 

“Yeah, because the way you said it made so much more sense,” she frowned as she picked the glass up, her stomach churning at the sight of the clear liquid sloshing against the side. “I don’t think I can face this,” she said, placing it back down on the bar “And I don’t even get drunk.” 

Jozsef let out a laugh “You can sure put them away,” he said with a shake of his head “You did fall and hit your head though,” he continued “Refused to let me take you to a hospital.” 

“Explains the headache,” she answered, fingers back to rubbing her temples. She hadn’t explained to him why it was practically impossible for her to get drunk, no matter how hard she tried each night. How the super soldier serum coursing through her veins kept her sober no matter how many shots she did. 

“What’s going on with you Jozsef?” she asked, lifting the drink to her lips and downing it in one “I’m not sure if I’ve asked yet.” 

He raised his eyebrows as he made his way back behind the bar. He was in his early fifties, handsome with salt and pepper hair and laugh lines in his features, and seemed to be friends with everyone who walked through his door. She had seen him supply desperate people with food and water and had been one of those people he had offered up a roof for over their head.

Yet he seemed to be the only person who ran the bar. Whenever she was in there, which admittedly was a lot, he was always the one behind the bar. He opened up and closed down, he cleaned the tables and refilled the alcohol all by himself. 

“Not much is going on with me, Harper,” he answered with a shrug “I see all these people, struggling after losing their loved ones, and I understand them,” he continued “I lost my wife and son in a car accident ten years ago.” 

Harper’s eyebrows furrowed as she straightened up from being slumped over the bar “Oh, Jozsef I’m so-” 

He cut her off with a raise of his hand and a shake of his head. “I didn’t tell you for sympathy, I told you because you’ve been basically living in my bar for the past couple of weeks so I thought you should know something more about me than just my name.” 

“So you just hit me with the emotions,” she said, arching her eyebrows over to him “That’s why you help anyone who comes in?” 

“Yes,” he said with a nod “I remember the loneliness and the pain after losing them, that is what all of these people are going through at the moment. They’re lost and they’re not sure what to do with themselves so I make sure I’m there to help whenever they need it.” 

“You’re a good man Jozsef,” Harper said with a smile as she reached over and patted his hand. “That’s what I wanted to do with my life, help people, but I seem to be failing at every attempt.” 

“Well, as long as you are drinking my bar dry you’re not out there trying,” he said, pointing his finger at her “I love having you here, Harper, I really do. But if you want to be helping people, here is not the place to be.” 

A sad smile came to her face as she nodded her head “I guess you’re right,” she said with a sigh “But you’re not kicking me out right now are you?” 

He let out a chuckle and shook his head “Not yet.” 

She ended up staying there for the rest of the day, putting herself to work helping Jozsef clean the place before it was due to open later on in the evening. She washed glasses and got snacks out of the storeroom, she hoovered the floor and set the chairs down from where they had been stacked on the tables, wiping down the ones Jozsef hadn’t gotten to yet. 

“Are you making up for all the free board I’ve been giving you?” he asked once she was done, rubbing the back of her hand across her forehead. 

“Trying to,” she said in reply as she stretched out her back “I’m gunna head out to get some dinner, do you want anything?” 

“No, I’m okay,” he said as she made her way over to the front door. 

“And you remember our one rule for when I’m not in the bar?” 

He nodded his head “If anyone comes in asking for you, I’ve never seen you before in my life.” 

“You’re a legend, Jozsef,” Harper said before she slipped out onto the streets of Debrecen. She knew Steve and Natasha would never let her go without a fight, it was one of the main reasons she hadn’t decided to head to Budapest, so she made sure to check no one around had been asking about her. 

And by that she meant bugging Jozsef to not say anything about her always being in his bar if someone came in asking after her. 

She made her way down the street with her hands tucked in the pockets of Bucky’s jacket. The sun was shining but, as they were finishing September and entering October, there was a slight chill in the air which made her hug the jacket closer to her. 

Somehow it still smelled of him, the breeze making it so she caught a whiff of him every now and then. As though he was walking right beside her. 

They had planned to travel together, once their wildest dreams had come true and they had been exonerated for anything that had happened with Hydra, and it almost felt wrong to be crossing Europe without him. 

All she had was his jacket to hug around her and his dog tags tucked beneath her tshirt. 

A frown came to her face as she heard the sounds of a scuffle up ahead. Walking quickly she turned the corner in time to see a group of three men surrounding two women with shopping bags in their hands and terrified looks on their faces. 

“Hey!” she shouted, pushing herself into a run toward them as they turned to face her. She caught the first fist in her hand, kicking one of the men in the crotch as she spun the one she was holding onto and pushed him down to the floor. “Go! Get out of here!” she exclaimed to the women, nodding her head to the other end of the alley where they could escape out onto the street quickly and easily. 

Keeping her foot on the chest of the man on the floor she threw a punch toward another racing up to her, hitting him square in the nose and watching as he wheeled away holding his face. A shout of surprise left her as the third grabbed hold of her ponytail and yanked her off his friend, stamping on his foot she spun out of his grasp and raised her fists up to ready herself for a fight. 

A smirk came to her face as they all got to their feet and turned around to face her, cracking their knuckles and flexing their necks “Oh, you think you’re hard men,” she said with a laugh, squaring her shoulders as they slowly approached her “I’ve fought worse than you,” she said, stopping a punch from one as she kicked out toward another. 

She took a fist to her stomach that barely knocked her. The adrenaline she remembered from the fight with the Black Order shot through her veins as she kicked, punched and dodged. Ducking another fist heading in her direction she tugged the hem of her jeans up and pulled out the knife she kept hidden in her boot. Twirling it around her fingers as she slowly straightened up she glanced around the three of them as they slowly began to back away. 

“No confidence now boys?” she asked, throwing the knife up in the air and watching it rotate a couple of times before catching it again. Rolling her eyes she let out a dramatic sigh as she watched them raise their hands innocently “You can go,” she said in a bored sounding tone, gesturing to where the women had disappeared only a few moments earlier with the knife.

“Boring,” she said with a huff once she had tucked her knife away in her boot and turned to make her way back to the bar. No longer hungry she just wanted to go back to somewhere familiar. 

People passing her looked at her with frowns on their faces but she didn’t think anything of it. Tucking her hands back into the pockets of Bucky’s jacket she kept her head down and ignored it all until she stepped over the threshold of Jozsef’s bar. 

“Harper!” he exclaimed when he saw her, pulling out one of the chairs and gesturing for her to sit down. “What happened to you?!” he asked before he hurried off to get the first aid kit he kept behind the bar. 

Tugging her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans she clicked on the camera icon, switching it into selfie mode and holding it up in front of her face. 

Her eyebrows, painfully, arched when she got a look at her reflection. She already had a bruise forming beneath her right eye, a cut stretched across her left eyebrow and the middle of her bottom lip was split open. 

“No wonder people were looking at me oddly,” she said with a laugh, wincing as she stretched her lip slightly, when Jozsef came back. 

“I’m assuming this means you’ll be staying a bit longer,” he answered as he unwrapped the antiseptic wipes, gently holding the back of her head as he dabbed at the cut above her eye “Oh grow up,” he said with a roll of his eyes as she let out a hiss of pain. 

“You could have at least given me something to dull the pain before you made it worse,” she answered in a grumble, Jozsef staring at her with an unimpressed look on his face. 

“I’ve seen you drink Harper, nothing numbs anything for you,” he tutted, throwing one wipe away and getting another to move onto the split in her lip. “Are you going to tell me what happened then?” 

“Promise you won’t be mad?” she asked, arching an eyebrow and continuing even though he didn’t give her an answer “They were attacking two women. I can’t stand by and let that happen.” 

“Of course not,” Jozsef said, his tone distracted as he opened up a plaster and pressed it over the cut on her head “You know, for someone who doesn’t want to be found you put yourself out there a lot,” he said with a shake of his head. 

“I said I wanted to help people.” 

“There are different ways to help people,” Jozsef said, “Ways which don’t end up with you bruised and bloody,” he continued, handing her an ice pack to hold against her lip. 

She pulled a face “That’s boring,” she said with a wave of her hand, wincing slightly at her aching knuckles. 

Jozsef let out yet another sigh as he grabbed her another ice pack “For your hand,” he said as he chucked it in her direction “At least I know you fought back properly,” he continued, raising his eyes to the ceiling before he went back to restocking the spirits. 

“Please can I have something else to dull the pain,” she said, attempting to pout but wincing instead. 

“This is literally only to shut you up,” Jozsef said, emerging back out from behind the bar with a glass and a bottle of scotch “You owe me for it.” 

She put on as best of a smile as she could without hurting her lip “You’re the best.” 

“Actual money Harper.”

“Sure!” 

“Adding to your tab right now.” 

“You do that!” She called after him, raising the bottle up to ‘cheers’ him before taking a mouthful, screwing her eyes shut as the alcohol hit the back of her throat. 

`*

“Will you keep still!” 

Harper let out a huff as she squirmed beneath Shuri’s fussing “Is this all really necessary though,” she complained, her arms aching from holding them out “I didn’t damage it that much when I wore it.” 

“It wasn’t ready when you put it on,” Shuri answered, her voice muffled slightly from where she was holding some pins between her teeth. 

“All this technology but you still use pins to make the suits,” Harper said, her attention slowly being lost as she leaned her head back to look up at the ceiling “Ouch!” she exclaimed when Shuri ‘slipped’ and stabbed her in the side. 

“Do you want your suit fixing or not?” 

“Can I go with the ‘or not’ option? No one told me that!” Harper said, letting out another “Ouch!” when Shuri stabbed her again. 

“You’ll be thanking me for this,” she said as she pinned a bit over Harper’s right shoulder, digging into her pocket she grabbed her marker pen to scribble something on the material “I can make that better,” she said to herself. 

“Thank you for what?” Harper asked, fidgeting beneath Shuri’s grip once more. 

“When you’re out there! Helping people!” Shuri grinned, coming around to stand in front of her. Reaching up she began to fiddle with the collar. 

“I’m not sure that’s going to be happening any time soon,” Harper said, rolling her eyes “I’m here hiding out from the government S, not on holiday,” she continued, wincing as Shuri tugged at her suit “The simulation is all well and good but it’s not like I’m going to actually be able to be out there, helping real life people.” 

Shuri tutted, reaching up and flicking her nose “We remain positive in this lab,” she said as Harper frowned down to her “One of these days I’ll release you out into the world, fully trained and suited up to save cats from up trees or whatever it is you do,” she continued, letting out a laugh as Harper sighed loudly. “Awww,” she said, jutting her bottom lip out in a fake pout “Can the poor little trained assassin not take a joke?” 

Her boots splashed in a puddle as she hitched her bag further up onto her shoulder. Hiding her face in the scarf around her neck from the crisp chill in the air she glanced up and down the road in front of her before she crossed it, heading over to the hotel in front of her. 

Wandering through the front doors she frowned as she noticed the empty front desk. 

“You just go back there and hope there’s a key to one of the rooms.” 

Spinning on the spot Harper was taken aback when she spotted the teenage girl sitting in the seats opposite the desk “Do you work here?” 

“No one works here,” she said with a scoff, speaking in accented English “Have you been hiding under a stone? You realise what happened to the world not so long ago right?” 

Harper tilted her head to one side as she dumped her bag on the top of the desk, glaring suspiciously over to the shrugging teenager she stomped around and began digging through the drawers “Ah ha,” she said to herself as she fished a key out of the third one she dug through, a large key ring with the number one hundred and six written on it in black. 

“Congratulations,” the girl said as Harper held the key up “Welcome to hell.” 

Harper frowned as she watched the girl push up onto her feet, throwing her hand up in a wave as she disappeared up the stairs. 

Letting out a sigh she grabbed her bag once more, slinging it back onto her shoulder before turning to follow where the girl had gone. 

She was exhausted. 

It felt like she had been travelling for months instead of just a week. Like walking into Jozsef’s bar to him telling her about the woman who had come in asking after her had happened to her in an entirely different time.

Opening up the hotel door she kicked it closed behind her, allowing her bag to drop down onto the floor before stretching out her aching back. A yawn stretched at her lips as she crossed the room to the uncomfortable looking double (thankfully) bed. Flopping down onto it she buried her face into the pillow, not thinking about Natasha coming to find her or the odd exchange between her and the teenage girl in the lobby. She didn’t let herself dwell on what Elena was up to alone in Bucharest or whether Jozsef had gotten her note. 

Instead she let the darkness she’d been waiting for take over as she fell into a deep and dreamless slumber. 

The sun was streaming in through the curtains she hadn’t taken the time to shut by the time she was stirring awake. Pushing her hair from her face she groaned as she glanced down to her watch. 

She had been asleep for well over twelve hours. Her head pounded and her eyes felt as though they were stuck together as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. 

The travel from Debrecen in Hungary to Nitra in Slovakia had really taken it out of her. The sleeping rough while she waited for her next lift, the travelling in the back of vans and jumping onto trains which were still somehow running… 

In the end it was her rumbling stomach which forced her to her feet. She felt dizzy as she stood upright, reaching up to rub at her eyes before stretching her arms out in all directions. 

She still had her boots on, she realised as she glanced down to her feet. Kicking them off she dug out a clean tshirt, pair of jeans and some underwear before she headed into the very basic looking bathroom. 

She stood under the lukewarm water for an age, allowing it to run over her as she closed her eyes and tried to motivate herself to move. Part of her wished she had let Natasha find her so she could be comfortable back in her room at the Avengers compound, in a shower which was so warm it felt like a sauna and undid all of the knots in her back. 

But a larger part of her knew she couldn’t go back there, not yet. The disappointment with what had happened when they had finally found Thanos still weighed heavy in her heart and the guilt Elena had planted in her mind still spun around her brain. 

Quickly drying herself she tied her hair up in a bun at the back of her head, dressing into the clothes she had brought into the bathroom with her before wandering back out into the main bedroom. Grabbing Bucky’s jacket from where she had laid it at the bottom of the bed she tugged it on before slipping her feet back into her boots. 

Bending down she got her purse from the inner pocket of her bag and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. She wasn’t even aware of how much she had in there, after emptying her bank account when she first left the compound, but she knew she’d have to bring it with her just in case. 

She wasn’t entirely sure the hotel would have any kind of food service on when they didn’t even have a receptionist behind the desk so it would definitely be a going out and finding somewhere which sold food kind of deal. 

Opening up the door she jumped when she stepped out in the hallway to see a figure waiting for her, leaning against the wall opposite. 

“What are you doing ?!” she exclaimed, placing her hand over her pounding heart when she realised it was the teenage girl from the lobby. 

“Thank god, I thought you’d died,” she answered in a deadpan tone, pushing off where she was leaning and following her down the hallway “I knew I recognised you by the way,” she continued, hurrying to keep up with Harper’s pace “You’re the Hydra girl.” 

Harper stopped midstep, raising her eyes to the ceiling and letting out a sigh as she turned around to face her “No, I’m really not,” she said, irritation lining her tone before she continued to walk. 

“Harper Rhodes, also known as the Black Mamba or Leonie Revoir-Hey!” she exclaimed when Harper grabbed the phone out of her hand. 

“What is this?” she asked as she scrolled through what could only be described as her profile. Detailing everything she had been through from losing her mom to fighting in Wakanda against Thanos. 

“It’s your wiki,” the girl said with a shrug of her shoulders. “They’ve not used the best picture of you but that can be edited if you’ll pose right now.” 

Harper narrowed her eyes as she scrolled back to the top, a blurry picture of her very clearly from the airport CCTV in Germany. “And this is just out there for everyone and anyone to read?” 

“It’s your wiki,” the girl repeated as though Harper were the dumbest person she had ever met. Leaning over she swiped her phone back “I’m Zorana by the way,” she said, falling into step beside Harper “But my friends call me Zo.” 

“I’d introduce myself but I feel like you’ve already read everything that you need to know,” Harper answered as she jogged down the stairs, Zo following close behind her. 

“Oh don’t be like that!” Zo said “I’ve never met an Avenger before.” 

“I am not an Avenger.” 

“Ooh touchy!” Zo exclaimed as they made their way into the lobby “What happened? Is this about the snap? Or when you killed-” she cut her own sentence off as Harper turned on the spot to face her, Zo’s eyes widening as an innocent smile came to her face. 

“No one can know I’m here, okay?” she said, with an arch to her eyebrows “No one.” 

“Why, are you-” 

“Zo.” 

“Okay, okay,” Zo said, teenage angst in her tone as she folded her arms over her chest “But if you’re up for a quirky teen sidekick to go on your solo adventure with then, y’know, I’m available,” she continued, a smirk coming to her face. 

Unable to help herself Harper let out a laugh and shook her head “You’re really pushing it kid,” she said “I’m not the best person to be around right now though. I lost someone in the snap.” 

“I’ll one up you,” Zo said, rushing to keep up with Harper as she made her way out of the hotel “I didn’t lose my mother,” she continued, tugging the hood of her jacket up over her head as the two of them made their way down the street “But I did lose my brother and sister so I am the main focus of her attention. Honestly. I would rather be dust.” 

“And you live in the hotel with her?” Harper asked, finding herself drawn in despite her best instincts. 

“No we have our own place,” Zo said with a shrug of her shoulders “Moved here from Poland just before the snap. I just like hanging out at the hotel instead of being there. Greeting people who come in looking like walking zombies.” 

“I did not-” 

“You definitely looked like a walking zombie,” Zo said before continuing quickly “But you look great now! Amazing even!” she exclaimed, grinning as Harper let out a laugh. 

“Listen,” Harper said, coming to a stop and turning to face her “I am starving and I have no idea where I’m going. If you can point me to a place which sells pizza then I guess you can hang around. Sometimes.” 

Zo’s face broke into a wide smile as she nodded her head “Pizza, yeah sure!” she exclaimed before gesturing to the right “It’s this way.”

“You know, you really remind me of someone,” Harper said, glancing at Zo from out of the corner of her eye as she led the way down the street. 

“Is it the Wakandan princess? God, please tell me it’s the Wakandan princess!” 

“It was but now I’m thinking of changing my mind.” 

A small smile came to Zo’s face as they continued to walk “You know, I tried to get on their outreach programme,” she said, grabbing hold of Harper’s attention “Not here, they haven’t reached Slovakia yet, but I applied to the one in London. Not only could I join a cool programme but it got me away from my mom.” 

“And what happened?” 

“She found the application before I sent it,” Zo said with a shrug of her shoulders “She heard me practising my English so searched my room one day when I was out. She found the application I had part way filled out and ripped it up. She left it on my bed to find when I got in.” 

“Wow, I’m sorry about that Zo,” Harper frowned, thinking back to all the different application forms she had sorted through back in Wakanda and wondering what would have happened for her new found friend if hers had made it to one of the piles. “You would have been a credit to the programme. And I know that because I helped sort through the applications. A few were terrible .” 

“You know nothing about me and yet I’m a credit to the programme? You’re a lot softer than I was expecting for a trained assassin,” she mused, laughing as Harper sent her a glare. “Huh,” she said suddenly as they came to a stop outside of a building, the shutters were closed and decorated with offensive graffiti “Well, maybe I forgot the owner of this place was in the snap but it’s not over! There’s a sandwich place down the street and I’m pretty sure I saw Mr Polák the other day. It was from behind though.” 

“I am going to regret letting you hang around aren’t I,” Harper said with a sigh “Go on then, lead the way.” 

Chapter Text

“So, when can I see the suit?” Zo asked as she twisted the knife she was holding around her fingers. Glancing across the room to where Harper was going through her bag she flicked her dark hair off her face “How come you never wear it?” 

Harper let out a sigh, a frown came to her face as she glanced over to where the teenager was sitting in the chair in the corner of her room “ This is what I was looking for, you’re lucky you picked that one and not the one designed only for my hands to touch,” she said, snatching the knife from Zo’s hands “These are dangerous, you can’t just… play with them.”

“I wasn’t playing!” Zo exclaimed, sounding offended “I was looking.” 

“You look with your eyes,” Harper huffed, shoving the knife back into her bag. 

“How about I look with my eyes at that suit you insist on hiding from me,” she said, pushing herself up onto her feet and frowning when Harper zipped the bag up “Come on!” she whined “I just want one little look,” she continued, holding her hand up with her fingers close together. 

“No,” Harper answered, ignoring the pout coming to the teenager’s face. 

“How come you don’t wear it under your clothes, other superheroes seem to wear their suits under their clothes.” 

“Well I’m not a superhero,” Harper said, reaching behind the bedside cabinet to grab her phone charger from where it was plugged in “And because it would be uncomfortable.” 

“Is that because it has some secret compartments? Things that wouldn’t fit under other clothes?” she asked, sitting herself down on the bed before frowning when she watched Harper shove her phone charger into the side pocket of her bag “Wait. Why are you packing?” 

“I told you yesterday,” Harper said, opening up the wardrobe in her room to grab what little clothes she had kept in there. “I’m moving on. The longer I stay in one place the more likely it is that people I don’t want tracking me down will track me down.” 

Zo’s eyes widened slightly and she crossed her legs beneath her, leaning forward with her elbow on her thigh and her chin in her palm “Ohhh and who are they?” 

“Zorana.” 

“Eeesh the full first name,” Zo said, pulling a face and holding her hands up innocently. Climbing down off the bed she grabbed her jacket from where it was laying across the back of the chair “I guess I’ll go and get my bag then. Where is it you want to meet?” 

Harper’s eyebrows arched as she paused folding up the clothes she’d retrieved from the wardrobe “Where do I want to meet?” she asked, glancing at Zo out of the corner of her eye “What do you mean?” 

“I’m coming,” Zo said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“You are not coming Zorana,” Harper said with a shake of her head as she zipped her bag back up and turned to face Zo “You’re not!” she insisted as she watched her eyebrows knit into a frown “It’s too dangerous. You’re seventeen years old. Your mother-”

“My mother won’t notice I’ve gone,” Zo said petulantly, crossing her arms over her chest. “You know what she said when I went home for the first time in a while the other day? Oh. I thought you were dusted, out of my hair for good, ” she said, slipping into speaking Polish as she did an impression of her mother. 

“I’m sorry Zo, I can’t-”

“I’m eighteen next week!” Zo argued, folding her arms tightly over her chest making her look more like the petulant teen she was than ever. “I’ve been helpful! You can’t say I haven’t been helpful.” 

Harper had to admit she had her there. Ever since Harper had arrived in Slovakia the teenage girl, who had not long moved there from Poland herself, had been more than helpful with whatever she needed. 

She knew all the shortcuts in the area, where to get the best food and where and who to avoid. She kept an eye on the police scanner they’d managed to get their hands on, learning quickly how to differentiate between the chaos of, what people were calling, The Blip and the people who needed help that the authorities were too busy to deal with. 

She even knew the best hiding places to jump into when Harper was sure she recognised someone up ahead. They’d crawl out from the smallest space between two buildings to see that it wasn’t who she thought it was but they’d still be safe. 

And, at the same time, she wasn’t terrible company.

Not that Harper would admit that out loud to her. 

Zo kept her mind on things which weren’t the awful things going on in her life. She kept her in the present instead of living in the past, stopped her from dwelling on losing Bucky and the disappointment which had led her to leave the Avengers Compound behind. 

Even if it was because she was insistent on not giving her any detail about what she had done and who she had known. 

“I’m coming with you,” Zo said, the words were grumbled beneath her breath as she rolled her eyes. 

“This whole thing-” Harper answered, gesturing to Zo’s stance “-tells me exactly why you are not.”

Zo let out a sigh as she dropped back down into the chair she had previously been sitting in “I know you think you’re looking out for me by leaving me behind but you really aren’t,” she said, pushing her hair from her face “That conversation I told you about with my mother? Happened three weeks ago. She hasn’t been home for three weeks because losing her kids was the best thing that ever happened to her,” she continued, her voice breaking slightly “If she doesn’t have kids, she can drink and party whenever she wants…which she didn’t worry about doing when my siblings were here it just means we’re not there to gang up on her when she wakes up hungover. It’s just me.”

There was a moment of silence before Zo pushed herself up onto her feet, shrugging her shoulders “There’s a reason I come here instead of being at home,” she said, gesturing around her to the hotel “But if you’ve made your mind up, you’ve made your mind up.” 

Harper let out a sigh as she reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose “Fine,” she said, just before Zo could head over to the door “We’re leaving tonight, you don’t play with knives and you can’t steal my suit.” 

A wide smile came across Zo’s face as she bounded over and threw her arms around Harper “Thank you!” she exclaimed, a look of relief crossing her features as she let Harper go and took in a deep breath “I’m gunna go and get my stuff together, outside of here at eight?” 

“Make it seven and make sure you’re on time,” Harper answered, watching as Zo made her way toward the door “I mean it Zo. Dead on seven, okay?” 

“Okay!” Zo said, waving her hand in the air as she disappeared into the hallway. 

Harper let out another sigh as she turned to continue her packing. A small smile came to her face.

*

Biting down on her bottom lip Zorana frowned as she glanced up and down the street in front of the hotel. Checking her watch she let out a sigh as the time clicked over to six fifty eight. 

Harper had told her to be on time, no matter what, so she had made sure she was early…and there was no sign of her anywhere. She’d even gone up to her room, which had been packed up and cleared out, in an attempt to find her. 

With the evening drawing in she found the air around her dropping in temperature. Wrapping her jacket closer around herself she took another look up and down the street, her stomach churning with anxiety and disappointment as she allowed the thought that Harper had gone without her to enter her mind. 

This had been her escape. Away from the spiteful comments thrown at her from her mother, away from the loneliness and the constant reminder that she’d watched Marek, her brother, and Estera, her sister, turn to dust before her very eyes. 

She was just about to adjust her bag on her shoulder and head in to find an empty hotel room to hide out in when a car came speeding around the corner. Arching her eyebrows in surprise she watched as it slammed to a halt in front of her. 

The passenger door swung open and a grin stretched across her face when she spotted Harper in the driver’s seat. 

“Get in!” she exclaimed, taking her right hand off the steering wheel to gesture for her to sit down “Come on! I think this was someone who didn’t blip’s car!” 

Zo let out a laugh as she chucked her bag into the back seat before sitting down beside Harper and slamming the door shut “You didn’t think to ask me who had and hadn’t blipped and owned a car?” 

“I didn’t realise you had an itinerary on who owned what vehicle in the area,” Harper answered with a laugh, shoving the car into gear and speeding off down the road. Her eyes flickered up to the mirror to check they weren’t being followed before she reached down and turned the radio on. 

“I thought you weren’t turning up,” Zo said, kind of hoping the music was so loud she wouldn’t be heard, as she tugged the sleeves of her jacket over her hands. 

Harper raised an eyebrow as she glanced across to her from the corner of her eye “You thought I was gunna leave you behind?” 

Zo shrugged her shoulders “People usually do.” 

Reaching over Harper dug her knuckles into Zo’s upper arm “No depressing comments on the road trip,” she said, earning a smile from the teenager.

“So,” Zo began, getting herself comfortable and propping her legs up on the dashboard “Where is it we’re going?” 

Harper rolled her eyes, leaning over and swatting at her shins until she dropped her feet back down “I don’t know yet,” she said with a shrug, placing her hand back on the steering wheel “We’ll drive for as long as I can be in the car alone with you without getting annoyed,” she said, twitching her eyebrows to show Zo she was joking. 

They stayed on the road until their stomachs started rumbling an hour and a half later. Neither of them had taken the time to grab something to eat, spending the time before they had left packing instead of getting dinner. 

“I think there’s a hotel just up here,” Zo said, pointing her finger in the general direction in front of them as she glanced up from her phone “Reckon we could grab a room for the night?” 

“Not sure every hotel is going to be like the one we’ve just left in Nitra,” Harper answered, leaning forward and trying to spot the hotel up ahead “Then again, the entire world seems different now,” she added beneath her breath, thinking back to how they had sailed through the border between Slovakia and Austria before they had reached Bruck an der Leithain with barely a question. 

The car park they rolled to a stop in seemed pretty empty, the two of them sharing glances before they climbed out and retrieved their bags from the back seat. 

“I think we’re in luck,” Zo said with a shrug of her shoulders as she slung her back onto her back, smiling across to Harper as they made their way in through the main doors. 

Harper raised an eyebrow when she spotted a woman standing behind the front desk, dressed in a blue blazer with her hair perfectly styled “We’ll see,” she said quietly as they approached. 

“Hi,” the woman greeted in accented English, a smile on her face as though she were seeing eager holiday goers approaching “Welcome to the Lifestyle Hotel Leithana, how can I help you today?” 

“Oh, uhm,” Harper began as Zo disappeared off to check out the decoration in the reception area “We’ve been travelling and we’re just looking for somewhere to sleep for the night,” she said, nodding over to Zo “How…how much are your rooms?” she asked, glancing down to the bag slung over her shoulder as she zipped open one of the pockets to grab her purse. 

The woman behind the desk held her hand up “This hotel is owned by my family,” she began her explanation “We agreed we would help any one who needed it after…well after what has happened,” she continued, turning around and plucking a key off the board at the back “Room one-ten is free for you and your daughter-”

“Sister,” Harper said quickly, explaining when the woman glanced over to her quizzically “She’s my sister.” 

“Right, yes of course,” she said with a nod “You and your sister,” she said, correcting herself as she handed the room key over “Can I take a name? Just so I can put it into our system that the room is taken.” 

“Jones,” Harper said, hoping the lie didn’t shine through with how quickly she had answered “Natasha and Wanda Jones,” she continued, smiling and taking the key “Thank you very much,” she said before gesturing for Zo to follow her up the stairs to where the woman had told her their room would be. 

“So,” Zo began, once they were a good distance away “Which am I? Black Widow or the Scarlet Witch?” she asked, letting out a laugh as Harper dug her elbow into her side. 

“They were the first names that came to mind!” she defended herself as they made their way down the corridor to room one-ten. 

“Good job it wasn’t Thor and Loki hey,” Zo said as they came to a stop outside of their room, Harper pushing the key into the lock and turning it. 

The room was decorated neutrally, white walls with brown furniture and two beds sitting in the middle. Opposite them there was a television on the wall, a desk beneath it with two orange chairs sitting on either side. 

“This place is awesome by the way,” Zo said, throwing her bag down on the bed closest to the window before moving around it to glance out of the window “It’s a sports hotel. Sauna, gym, ice rink !” 

“Well don’t get too attached,” Harper said, dropping her own bag onto the free bed “We’re only staying the night,” she continued, rolling her eyes at Zo’s pout “We can’t exploit the good nature of these people.” 

“But an ice rink !” Zo exclaimed, dropping down onto the bed and sighing dreamily “I’ve always wanted to try ice skating. And the gym! You could teach me how to-” she paused, pursing her lips together as she sat up and glanced over to where Harper was looking at her with raised eyebrows. 

“I could teach you how to-?” 

Zo let out a sigh, sitting back she crossed her legs beneath her and rested with her elbows on her thighs “To fight,” she said, hurrying on when she saw the expression on Harper’s face “It’ll give us something to do! You told me about the men you fought back in Hungary, what if there are more like that in this new post blip world? I should be able to protect myself, it’s good sense if you really think about it,” she said, an innocent smile coming to her face “Okay, now it’s your turn to speak.” 

Harper glanced down to her bag as she shrugged her shoulders “Okay.” 

“Come on, please! We don’t know what we’re walking into when we go-” Zo paused, her brows furrowing as an amused smile came to Harper’s face “Did you just say okay?” 

“You’re right, it does make sense for you to be able to defend yourself,” she said, digging through her bag to retrieve her purse “But it doesn’t mean you play with my knives and you have to work hard I’m not-” she was cut off by Zo rushing over and flinging her arms around her “You won’t be this thankful when I’m training you,” she said with a laugh, unzipping her purse and retrieving a few euro notes “Go and get us some food from downstairs, make sure they take the money,” she said, pressing the cash into Zo’s hand “Go,” she said, nodding her head over to the door and watching the teenager skip across the floor. 

Pushing her bag over she slowly sat down, wondering what she had gotten herself into. 

A smile came to her face as she tugged Bucky’s jumper out of her bag and raised it to her nose. It no longer smelled of him, of course, but she still couldn’t help herself “Is this how you felt when I asked you to train me?” she asked into the air, her fingers curling around the dog tags she’d pulled from beneath her top, thinking back to the unimpressed look on his face when she had brought it up. 

She still wasn’t really sure what she was doing herself and was thankful to look back on the training sessions in the simulation in Wakanda and the ones she spent sparring with Steve Rogers in the Avengers compound. Zorana was right, it was important to be able to defend herself in this new world they were making their way through and Harper just hoped she would be able to pass on the knowledge well enough. 

Her concerns were soon pushed to the back of her mind as Zo arrived back with their food. They sat on their beds, eating what they had been given from the hotel kitchens as Zo filled the silence with her plans of learning to fight. 

“Have you seen anything more on the news?” Harper asked, emerging from the bathroom once she had brushed her teeth and changed into the joggers and Bucky’s tshirt that she slept in “How’s it looking out there?” she continued, tugging her hair up into a ponytail out of her face.

“Still a shit show,” Zo, who had already claimed the bathroom for an ungodly amount of time, answered, scrolling through the social media on her phone “People are confused, angry, scared. The usual,” she continued, glancing over to Harper as she climbed into the bed next to hers “What do you think’s going to happen?” 

Harper thought for a second before shrugging her shoulders “I wish I could tell you,” she said with a sigh as she slid down and tugged the comfortable bed covers up and over her. All she could do was hope that Natasha and Steve were still in the compound, working on bringing everyone back with Tony, Bruce and Rhodey, while she squashed her guilt for leaving as far down as it would go “Now, set the alarm early on that thing,” she said, gesturing over to the phone in Zorana’s hand “You wanna train? We start with a six am run.” 

Despite very clearly wanting to complain, Zo didn’t. Instead she typed away on her phone for a couple of seconds before she plugged it in and placed it on the bedside cabinet “Goodnight,” she said into the darkness before she turned over to sleep. 

As silence fell over the room Harper found herself just staring up to the ceiling above her. Sleep had been just out of her grasp for most nights since she’d watched Bucky dissolve in front of her very eyes, each and every time she tried to succumb to the unconscious it was all she saw and the panic all she felt. 

She stayed beneath the covers for as long as she could, lying on each of her sides and in different positions, before she sat up. Rubbing at her eyes she flung the covers off herself and turned so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. A yawn, basically teasing her sleeplessness, stretched at her lips as she pushed herself up onto her feet, stretching her arms above her head before she tugged on Bucky’s jacket. 

If she couldn’t sleep she would venture out into the hotel, take a walk in some kind of attempt to clear her mind. 

Her brow furrowed as she stepped out into the hallway and an uneasy feeling washed over her. Reaching into the holster at her hip she steadied her gun in her hands, gently placing one foot in front of the other she made her way down the long corridor. 

Her attention was caught by a commotion up ahead and she quickened her pace slightly, keeping her gun up and ready.

“ Mamba, Mamba we need your help .”

The voice in her ear made her jump and she took one of her hands off her gun to gently prod at the comms device sitting in there. Despite her confusion she felt the adrenaline course through her veins as she got closer and closer to the noise. 

“Harper, don’t listen to them!” her arm was grabbed from behind and she turned quickly, ready to defend herself. 

The breath was pushed out of her lungs when her eyes met the familiar blue “Bucky?” she asked in a whisper, holstering her gun once more and reaching out to touch him, to make sure he was real “What’s going on?” 

His hands gripped onto hers as gunshots echoed from a distant room “Harper,” was all he said, desperation written all over his face “ Harper .” 

“What?” she asked but all he did was repeat her name louder “What can I do? Please tell me what I need to do!” 

“Harper!” he said once more, his hands gripping onto her shoulders to shake her “ Wake up. ”

A gasp passed her lips as her eyes flew open, scrambling around the bed she tried to get her panicked breathing under control as realisation that she had fallen asleep and had been dreaming slowly hit her. 

Zo was sitting at the bottom of the bed, her eyes wide and worried as she watched Harper slowly come round “Are you okay?” she asked and Harper noticed she had been leaning forward, gripping onto her hands “You were shouting out in your sleep.” 

“I’m sorry,” Harper answered, still feeling a little wobbly as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Untangling her hands from Zo’s she reached up and ran her shaking fingers through her hair, pushing it from her sweaty forehead. It had been a while since she had been lost in one of her dreams, especially one she hadn’t realised she was in in the first place, and she found herself throwing her gaze around the room to make sure she was definitely awake. 

“Here,” Zo said, climbing off the bed and making her way into the bathroom, appearing back with a glass of water “To calm you down,” she said, handing it over to Harper. 

“I’m sorry,” she repeated between sips “For waking you, I just…” she paused, wondering how much she had actually spoken out loud in her slumber “I get these dreams.” 

“It’s fine,” Zo waved off “As long as you’re okay,” she added, concern lining her tone as she climbed back into her own bed. “Y’know, if you think you’ll be too tired for that early morning run I don’t mind skipping it this time…” she said, leaving the sentence hanging between the two of them as she lay her head down on her pillow. 

Harper let out a laugh as she, too, settled back down “Go back to sleep, Zo,” she said with a roll of her eyes as she turned onto her side so her back was facing the teenager. Pulling her knees up to her chest she let out a sigh as she tugged her necklace out from beneath her tshirt, twisting and turning Bucky’s dog tags through her fingers.

She couldn’t go back to sleep, she knew, if she closed her eyes once again all she would see was him disappearing before her very eyes.

Chapter Text

“I think I’m dying…no seriously, there is a pain in my chest and my legs feel weak .” 

Harper let out a laugh as she slowed down to a jog, turning slightly to see Zo trailing after her “You wanted me to train you,” she answered, stretching her arms. 

“ Train me, not kill me,” Zo complained, clutching at the stitch in her side as she followed Harper back toward the hotel. 

“It’s important to be able to run from your enemies,” Harper said as Zo caught her up “You need to work on your stamina.” 

“Can I not be your guy in the chair ,” Zo said, glancing toward her out of the corner of her eye. Her breathing was still laboured and her cheekbones a bright red colour as she placed her hands on her hips in an attempt to look as though she was coping better than she was. 

“I did warn you that you’d regret asking me,” Harper teased, reaching over and digging her knuckles into Zo’s upper arm. 

They made their way back into the hotel, Zo dragging her feet and still complaining loudly as Harper led the way. 

“Did you think you were just going to pick it up straight away?” 

“Well, yeah,” Zo grumbled, scuffing her feet against the floor “They do in the movies.”

Harper arched an eyebrow as she turned to face the teenager, stopping to wait for her as she folded her arms over her chest “We aren’t in the movies.” 

“I’m walking toward an avenger I’m on the run with after billions of beings were snapped out of existence,” Zo answered, shrugging her shoulders “Sounds like a movie to me.” 

“I’m not an avenger,” Harper said with a roll of her eyes “How many times do I need to tell you.” 

“Did you fight in the battle of Wakanda?”

“Yes, but-”

“Did you stay at the avengers headquarters?” 

“For a short while, but-”

“Then to me, you’re an avenger.” 

Harper rolled her eyes as they wandered back into the hotel’s lobby, Zo’s feet dragging against the floor “It’s not how I’d look at it but you think what you like.” 

“Oh don’t worry, I will,” Zo answered, a grin on her face that quickly fell when she reached the bottom of the stairs “I don’t suppose you’d help a girl out and give her a piggyback up the stairs?” 

The complaining didn’t stop as they made their way back up to their room, as they both took showers and as they packed up their stuff.

“Are you sure we can’t stay a little longer?” Zo whined as they made their way back downstairs, bags slung over their shoulders “I don’t know if you remember but this is a sports hotel , I’m sure they do sports massages and fix broken muscles.” 

Harper’s eyes raised to the ceiling as they reached the reception, handing their key over to a blonde with an almost unnerving smile “You’re not getting a sports massage.” 

“Our masseuse actually didn’t get snapped,” the receptionist said, pursing her lips together when she spotted the look on Harper’s face. 

“You’re not getting a sports massage,” she repeated, placing some money on the counter and ignoring the receptionist’s argument “We need to get on the road,” she continued, calling her thanks over her shoulder as she headed to the door. 

“Are you trying to ruin my life,” Zo sighed as she slid into the passenger seat, throwing her bag into the back seat of the car. 

“Yes,” Harper answered, starting up the car “I let you come with me solely to ruin your life.” 

“You better be joking,” Zo mumbled, tucking her legs beneath herself “Actually, I don’t care either way,” she continued through a yawn, folding up her jacket and leaning it up against the window to use as a pillow. 

She stayed asleep as Harper drove through to St Polten, batted her away as she tried to wake her up for a leg stretch and a loo break and snored softly right up until Harper crossed the border into Austria. 

“Wh-re we?” she yawned, stretching her right arm as her left hand rubbed at her eyes.

“Linz, Austria,” Harper answered “You are really hard to wake up.” 

“I know, it’s been a problem most of my life,” Zo said, shifting in her seat and running her fingers through her hair a couple of times “It’s because you had me doing so much so early in the morning, my body just can’t take it and my brain - whoa!” 

The tires screeched as Harper hit the brakes, spinning the steering wheel to the left in an attempt to avoid the falling debris “Grab the bags!” she shouted over the sound of another explosion, reaching down to unclip Zo’s seatbelt as she jerked the car to the right “Now Zo!” 

“Okay, okay!” Zo answered, twisting around and trying to reach where Harper’s bag had jammed down the side of the back seats “What is going on?!” 

“We need to get out and get to safety,” Harper said, accelerating past a man with a gun “So I need you to get. the. bags.”

“I’m trying,” Zo snapped back, her teeth gritted and the seat digging into her hip as she tried to wiggle the bag’s strap from where it was wrapped around the seatbelt “Your bag is causing me iss-” 

Just as Harper’s bag came unstuck the road in front of them exploded, Zo let out a scream as she was launched back into the passenger seat, her back hitting against the dashboard as her arms hugged the bags tightly to her chest.

“Are you okay?” Harper asked breathlessly, her fingers were still gripping onto the steering wheel and a cut stretched across her forehead. 

“I’m fine, a little winded,” Zo answered, her eyebrows shooting up when she opened her eyes properly “Oh god, your head!” 

“I’m fine,”’ Harper echoed, wiping the blood dripping into her eyes with the back of her hand “We need to go,” she said, spotting a gang of silhouettes emerging through the smoke coming from beneath the hood of the car “Now,” she insisted, her hand rattling at the door handle as her shoulder barged against the window. 

“Through the back!” Zo exclaimed, throwing the bags back to where they were and squeezing herself between the two seats “Come on Harper!” she shouted over her shoulder, wincing as a bullet bounced off the frame of the car. 

“Go, go, go! I’m coming!” Harper reassured her as Zo opened up the back door “Stay down,” she said, reaching out and placing a hand on Zo’s back “Go left, we need to get undercover,” she continued, throwing her bag onto her shoulder and nodding over to where a man was waving them toward the building he was standing outside of. 

“You’re going to trust him?” Zo shouted back, her tone full of disbelief. 

“Yes,” Harper insisted, pushing Zo further toward safety “Well, you are,” she added once she knew she was over the doorstep, throwing her bag toward her “I’ll be right back.” 

“Harper no! Wait!” 

But she wasn’t listening, her boots slapped against the pavement as she dodged around fallen debris, her hand reached into the pocket of her jacket for the handgun she’d swiped from her bag before throwing it to Zo. Returning a few shots she ducked beneath a fallen shop sign, bursting through the door she held it closed for a few seconds as she tried to catch her breath. 

“Are we all okay?” she asked, turning to face the group of kids she’d spotted from the car. Screwing up her eyes for a second she tried to sort through her jumbled thoughts, attempting to translate so they’d understand her “Uhm…Geht es dir gut?” 

Despite their wide eyes and sheen of sweat on their foreheads the four preteens nodded. 

“Come on,” she said, waving her hand for them to follow her “I’ll keep you safe…ich werde dich beschützen,” she insisted, waving her hand once more and with more vigour. 

They exchanged glances before one of them stepped forward, nodding her head and gesturing for the three boys to follow.

With her brain properly in German mode now she was able to think, Harper explained to them where they were going to go and what they were going to do. She would be the distraction, she was going to go out of there shooting and shouting and they were going to run, they were going to run as fast as they possibly could toward the pub she’d sent Zo into. 

“Oh I’m going to kill you,” she breathed, her plan flying out of the window as soon as she swung the door open to see Zo arriving on the other side. 

“I can help!” she exclaimed as Harper grabbed her by her jacket and pulled her inside.

“Have you… Zorana !” Harper exclaimed, the disbelief pouring from her as Zo raised her hands to show she was holding Harper’s other gun and her knives “This… this isn’t going to help?!” 

“I can shoot a gun.”

“I don’t care.”

“I’ve done it before!” 

“ I. don’t. care!” 

“Well, I’m here now,” Zo shrugged, reluctantly handing the knives over “And I can help.” 

Harper swore beneath her breath, taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes for a second before nodding “Okay, okay,” she said, pushing her hair from her face and heading back to the door “Keep the gun but do not shoot the gun unless it is absolutely necessary,” she warned, trying to ignore the look of excitement coming to the young girl’s face “I’m going to open this door and you’re going to head back to where you came from, you’re going to stay down and get them to safety as soon as you physically can.” 

“Yes boss,” Zo answered, raising her hand into a salute before allowing a cheeky grin to tug at the corners of her lips “Go! We’ll be fine!” 

Wrinkling her nose Harper hesitated for a second, allowing her eyes to flick over the worried set of teenagers standing behind an over confident Zo “Okay, okay,” she said, holding her hands up before turning back to the door “Straight to the pub Zo!” she called over her shoulder before kicking the door open. 

As soon as they were out of sight Harper pushed them out of her mind, focussing on the task ahead as she ducked and dodged bullets, shooting when she had to and diving behind walls and cars. The adrenaline coursing through her veins felt so familiar it was almost comforting. 

Before she knew it she had done a loop around the town centre, her brows furrowing when she spotted the familiar sign of the pub. Straightening up, squaring her shoulders, she took in a deep breath. Glancing around the street she emerged from her hiding place as silence fell around her, keeping her gun in her hand she crossed the road from between two cars, only allowing herself to relax even slightly as her curled fingers knocked on the heavy door. 

It slowly opened just a sliver, a pair of familiar dark eyes looking out to her “Oh thank god,” Zo breathed a sigh of relief, reaching out and grabbing Harper’s arm to pull her inside “What happened? Are you hurt?” she asked, kicking the door closed and holding Harper at arms length to check her over. 

“I’m fine, Zo, I’m really fine,” Harper insisted, forcing a smile just before the world went black. 

*

Her head was pounding, the room felt like it was spinning, as she slowly opened her eyes. A groan left her lips as she pushed up from where her head was laying. 

“They say you’re an Avenger.” 

“They’re lying,” Harper answered, slowly sitting up and swinging her legs down off the long sofa-like seat she’d clearly been lifted onto. Leaning with her elbows on the table in front of her she cradled her head in her hands “I’m supposed to be a super soldier too but the way my head is pounding you’d question the dose I was given.” 

“Half a building fell on you.” 

“A couple of bricks,” Harper waved off, rubbing her eyes and blinking a few times so the man who had placed a drink in front of her came into view “What’s going on here?” she asked, raising the water to her lips. 

“Apparently our town has become a meeting point for gangs, fighting over territory,” he huffed, moving the curtain on the window just to the side of where Harper was sitting slightly “Half of them aren’t even Austrian.” 

“And you stick around why? To help people?” 

He shrugged his shoulders “I’ve owned this pub for years, and my father before me,” he said, glancing around the room “I watched people I knew, cared about, disappear before my very eyes. I know their kids, parents, friends are still hanging around in case they come back…and my pub. It has a basement. One which will protect people from bombs being thrown.” 

Harper’s eyes flicked up to the window “And we aren’t in there, why?” 

“Be thankful for what you’re getting,” he grumbled, disappearing behind the bar and coming back with a bottle of whiskey “You scared them off,” he continued as an explanation as he made his way over to her table, pulling a seat up to sit opposite her “They don’t want to be messing with an Avenger.” 

“I’m not-” she paused, letting out a sigh and rubbing her hand down her face “You sharing?” she asked, nodding to her, now empty, glass. 

He shrugged, opening up the bottle and dropping some of the whiskey where there was once water. 

“Where are the kids?” Harper asked, pulling a face as the alcohol burned her throat. 

“Asleep,” he replied, nodding toward the stairs leading down to the basement “They’ll be safe down there.” 

“I’m Harper by the way,” she said, sitting up a little straighter as she reached over the table to shake his hand. 

“Ivo,” he said, his hand engulfing hers for a second “And I know who you are. I watch the news.” 

Harper frowned “The news? What do you mean, the news?” 

He looked confused for a second before pulling his phone from his pocket “They’re looking for you,” he said, turning the screen to face her “Your friends.” 

Her jaw dropped slightly and her brow furrowed as she reached over and took the phone from him. Hundreds of news articles stared back at her as she scrolled, different pictures of her - both posed and caught on CCTV - and all kinds of information about her in each of them. 

“You left?”

“I had to,” she said, she had wanted it to come out determined but it was more of a whisper.

“They’re missing you,” he pointed out before taking a swig of whiskey straight from the bottle “In this day and age? It is nice to have people around who miss you.” 

“I know,” she nodded, her shoulders rising and falling in a sigh “I know how lucky I am…it’s how unlucky they are. Believe me, it’s in their best interest that I am here and not there.” 

Ivo raised his eyebrows “After seeing what I have today? I doubt that,” he said with an arch to his eyebrows and a shrug of his shoulders. Letting out a sigh of his own he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and produced a polaroid picture, placing it down on the table between them “This is Nico,” he said, pointing to the handsome man laughing up to them, his blonde hair ruffled and dimples on each cheek popping “He hasn’t come home since the mass disappearance,” Ivo explained, his voice shaking slightly “And, like many others in this town, I am waiting around for him to walk back through the door.” 

Harper’s eyes stayed on the photo as she took another sip from her drink “I’m sorry Ivo,” she said “And I know I have the ability to walk through the door of the people looking for me,” she continued, looking up and allowing her eyes to meet his teary ones “But I can’t. Not yet.” 

“Then let them know you’re okay at least,” Ivo said, pushing himself up onto his feet and sending her a pointed look “I’m taking this with me,” he added, plucking the bottle of whiskey off the table “I sleep over there,” he said, nodding across the room to where a bed was set up near the door “Just in case. You, you can either stay here or go downstairs.” 

“I’ll stay here,” Harper smiled “Not tired so I’ll keep lookout,” she continued, hoping that meant he would get a full night's sleep “Thank you, Ivo.” 

He raised his hand in a wave “My tablet is on the bar. You thank me by getting in touch with your friends.” 

Sitting back in her seat Harper closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, raking her fingers through her hair, as she thought back to the articles she had seen on Ivo’s phone. Natasha and Steve were looking for her, they were worried about her and all she could think about was how soon she and Zorana could get back on the road. 

Chewing on her bottom lip she got up and crossed the room to grab Ivo’s iPad from where it was charging on the bar. Opening up the Safari app she found herself scrolling and scrolling through all kinds of news going on in the world. Just like the day it happened, in Wakanda, she took in stories of parents missing children, children missing parents, violence and uncertainty. 

And, despite herself, she found there was an ache in her heart. 

“Hey, Harper?” 

She smiled as she raised her head to see Zo, her hair a mess and a yawn tugging at her lips “Morning,” she said, closing down the news she was reading and pushing the iPad to one side “You sleep okay?”

“Surprisingly well,” Zo replied, ignoring the seat Ivo had placed opposite Harper the previous night and squishing on the seat beside her “You?” 

“I was lookout,” Harper said, shrugging her shoulders “Sacrificing my sleep to make sure you were safe, y’know.” 

“Oh you’re such a martyr,” Zo yawned, elbowing Harper in the side “And I know that means you’re hinting for me to get you breakfast but Ivo is already in the kitchen making us some Tiroler omelettes which I think involves bacon.” 

Almost as though it were timed, Harper's stomach let out a growl “Clearly sounds good to me,” she laughed, before narrowing her eyes in Zo’s direction “You stole my gun yesterday.” 

“I kinda did,” Zo answered, biting down on her lip to try and suppress a smile “And I don’t even wanna apologise for it, I was such a badass!” she exclaimed, letting out a nervous laugh at the glare she was receiving. “I wanted to just take the suit but I thought you might actually murder me.” 

“You thought correctly,” Harper said, pointing a warning finger toward Zo “But, I’ll show it to you if you want,” she continued, letting out a laugh as Zo’s jaw dropped open. 

“Oh my god, oh my god !” she exclaimed, reaching out and gripping onto Harper’s arm “Are you serious? Because I was going to ask you about it, regarding Halloween, not that I think it’s a costume, or that I wanted to wear it but I thought it was a good way to bring it up. Because American Halloween looks so amazing! On all the movies and the tv shows, we never had halloween like that back at home and-”

“Zorana.” 

“Sorry, sorry, I’m rambling,” she said, finally letting go of Harper’s arm “I’m just…very excited.” 

Harper let out a laugh “I can tell,” she said with a roll of her eyes, reaching down and grabbing her bag “Shuri made this for me a long time ago,” she began, explaining how she was forced to wear it too soon when Erik Killmonger invaded Wakanda, how she had to figure out what each of the secret buttons did by herself “Until the battle of Wakanda of course,” she said, smoothing her hand over the suit as she stretched it across the table “Shuri had confiscated it off me and made all kinds of updates, touch here.” 

Zo frowned, hesitating for a second before reaching out toward the holsters “Ow?!” she exclaimed, pulling her hand back “I should have known not to trust you,” she said with a scowl, shaking her hand a couple of times “What was that?!” 

“Shuri programmed the gun and knife holsters to only accept my fingerprints,” Harper explained “It’s why I haven’t burned them off yet,” she added with a wriggle of her eyebrows to show Zo she was kidding. 

They sat together for, what felt like, an age. Accepting the omelettes from Ivo with thanks, Harper answering whatever questions Zo had, until the itch to move on kicked in. 

“Hey Ivo?” Harper asked, plastering a smile on her face, continuing when he turned away from the cleaning he was doing with a suspicious look on his face “Do you know where we could get a car?”

Chapter Text

“My stomach is hurting.” 

Harper rolled her eyes “We’ve only been on the road for an hour,” she said, glancing to where Zo was pouting in her direction “You’re seriously that hungry?” 

“And I need the bathroom,” Zo replied, with an over dramatic sigh and a shift in her seat as though to prove her point “And, I see the golden arches just down there.” 

Harper let out a laugh as she shook her head “Half of the world has been dusted into oblivion and you think McDonalds is going to be open?” 

“People need to earn money still Harper,” Zo answered, wriggling her eyebrows, “I’m just so so hungry.” 

“Ugh, fine,” Harper tutted, flicking the indicator on just in time for the junction “But you can’t be disappointed if it’s not open,” she warned as Zo let out a cheer. 

“The lights are on!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands, as Harper pulled into one of the car parking spaces and switched the car off “Come on!”

“Maybe we should-” Harper sighed as she glanced up to see Zo running across the parking lot toward the front door “-check it out before we rush in, but nevermind!” she continued on in a mumble as she followed where Zo had disappeared. 

“What do you want?!” Zo called across the empty McDonald’s floor, waving her hand as though Harper wouldn’t be able to see her. 

“I honestly can’t predict what we’re going to walk into when we arrive at places,” Harper said, mainly just to herself, as she shook her head. Digging into her pocket she pulled out a few Euros “Big mac, chips and a diet coke for me,” she said, pressing the money into Zo’s hand and sending a smile to the bored looking teenager behind the counter. 

She turned her back as Zo began to order, wandering over to the nearest table and taking a seat. She didn’t think she had ever seen a McDonalds so empty before, no over excited kids arguing over the Happy Meal toys, no cars coming around the drive through… 

“He said they’re just doing anything to stay normal,” Zo said, as though she could read Harper’s mind, as she placed the tray of food between them “Half the staff disappeared and the other half don’t know what to do with themselves,” she continued, opening up her burger box and pouring her chips into the lid. 

“Right,” Harper answered, her eyebrows furrowing as she watched Zo open up four different sauce pots, dipping a chip into each of them before eating it “Gross,” she said before turning to her own food. 

They stayed in the McDonalds a little while, grabbing something sweet for after their meals before using the bathroom to freshen up. As they headed to the car they were even passed by a few more customers, the haunted look they were used to seeing in their eyes but smiles on their faces when they spotted them. 

“Do you mind if I get in the back?” Zo asked, her mouth stretching into a yawn “Eating makes me sleepy.” 

“If it gives me some peace and quiet you are more than welcome to,” Harper answered, unlocking the car and getting into the driver's seat. Flexing her fingers on the steering wheel she allowed herself to take in a deep breath before she started up, reaching down to turn the volume on the radio to a more acceptable volume for Zo to sleep. 

Entering Germany meant getting closer and closer to France and the information Shuri had given her about where her mother was buried had managed to push its way to the forefront of her mind. 

She knew she should go. She knew seeing her mother’s name written on a headstone wouldn’t answer all of the questions swimming around in her mind but it would give her a sense of peace, a moment to say goodbye to all of the fantasies she used to have when she was younger. 

Monica wasn’t the mum who was going to show up at one of many foster homes, so happy to have found her little girl that she was going to whisk her away on her private jet to a bedroom of her own. She wasn’t going to show up and take Harper away from all the nightmarish homes she had found her in to give her a better life. 

She was dead and had been pretty much from the off. 

So visiting her mother wouldn’t be all that her younger self had dreamed about. 

But it would give her some kind of closure. 

“Hey, hey,” Harper said, opening up the back door to poke Zo in the side “Come on, I’ve found us a place to stay,” she continued as the younger girl slowly woke, yawning and rubbing at her eyes “It’s not quite the last place I’m afraid.” 

“If it has a bed and somewhere to eat then I’m happy,” Zo answered, picking her bag up from the footwell of the car as she clambered out of the back seat “Looks good to me,” she continued, squinting up to the large, white building belonging to the Holiday Inn “Where are we?” 

“Rosenheim,” Harper said, reaching in for her own bag and slinging it onto her shoulder “I’ve already been in and got our key,” she explained as the two of them crossed the parking lot to the reception doors “You’re really hard to wake up!” she defended herself when Zo threw a glare in her direction “Come on, this way.”

The hotel was empty as the two of them made their way up the stairs to their room. It was small and simple, two twin beds pushed up against a grey wall opposite a small desk with a television above it. The window was large, with two grey curtains for privacy, and the bathroom compact but comfortable, tiled black. 

“Do we have room service?” Zo asked as she threw herself down on the bed closest to the window. 

“You can’t seriously be hungry right now?” Harper said with a shake of her head “And no, I’m pretty sure no one is working here.” 

“Wonderful,” Zo grumbled, reaching for the tv remote and clicking the button…once, twice, three times “Are you kidding me!” 

“Oh yeah, we don’t seem to have electricity,” Harper said, trying to hide her smirk as she opened up her bag to find her pyjamas. “Try to keep out of trouble while I’m freshening up,” she added, grabbing her wash bag and heading into the bathroom. 

With the quick discovery that there was also no hot water, Harper washed as much as she could without freezing. Pulling her hair up into a ponytail she twisted it into a bun at the top of her head to keep it out of her face while she brushed her teeth. 

After using the toilet and folding the outfit she had just taken off into a neat pile she turned back to the bedroom, opening the door and almost dropping the clothes she was holding in surprise. 

“I’m sorry!” Zo exclaimed when she noticed her back in the room. She was kneeling down on the floor beside Harper’s bag, the contents of which were strewn all around her. “I just got up to see if I could go and find a broken vending machine and I knocked it, I didn’t realise you hadn’t zipped it back up,” she said, speaking quickly, eyes widening when she grabbed hold of Harper’s knives “Sorry,” she repeated, throwing them into the bag as though they’d burned her fingers. 

“It’s okay,” Harper said, trying to keep her voice calm as her eyes stayed trained on the brown folder next to Zo’s left foot “Here, let me,” she said, placing the clothes she was holding on the bed before kneeling down beside the teenager “Honestly Zo, don’t worry.” 

“No, no, it was me who made the mess,” she said, trying to bat Harper’s hand away “You go and chill, I’ve got this,” she continued, her hand landing on the file. 

“Not that!” 

Zo frowned, leaning back away from Harper’s grabby hands with the file clutched against her chest “Why?” she asked with a slight smirk. 

“No, I mean it,” Harper said, trying not to sound too desperate. Not only was the file the one Natasha had left for her, with the detail of her entire past, but the information on Margot and her parents Shuri had put together for her “It’s nothing.” 

“If it’s nothing, why are you so bothered?” Zo asked with a wriggle of her eyebrows “Have you been writing short stories? Poetry?” she teased, getting to her feet and not reading the situation at all “Is it about me?!” she said with a laugh, turning on her heel and rushing into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind her. 

“No!” Harper shouted, also jumping to her feet and rushing after Zo “Zorana I mean it!” she said, banging her fists on the door “Please come out. Don’t read anything in that file!” she insisted, continually knocking. 

She didn’t want Zo finding out about her past from some file like she herself did. The basics she had gained from reading her Wikipedia page was too much for her to know, she didn’t need the gaps filled in as well. 

She cursed herself for not talking to the teenager before, for not sitting her down and explaining who she really was and where she had come from. Why she wasn’t keen on being called an avenger, why she probably wasn’t even allowed to step foot back in the avengers compound now Tony Stark was back. 

It felt like a lifetime, when it was really only about half an hour, before the lock slowly clicked and the door began to open. 

Zo stepped out, the file clutched to her chest once more, with her eyes wide and her skin pale. She was chewing on the bottom of her lip as her watery eyes met Harper’s across the room. 

“Zo, I’m sorry,” Harper said, taking a step toward her with her hands held up “I was going to tell you, I wanted you to know everything I just, I didn’t know how to bring it up. And I know what isn’t an excuse I-” Harper’s sentence was cut off by Zo throwing the file onto the bed and flinging her arms around her “What are you doing?”

They stood like that for a few long seconds before Harper slowly lifted her arms to return the hug, leaning her chin on the top of Zo’s head and biting the inside of her cheek to stop the tears. 

“This is why you don’t think you’re an avenger?” Zo asked, her voice muffled slightly.

Harper smiled, giving her one last squeeze before pulling away from her “It’s why I know I’m not an avenger,” she said, reaching up and wiping the tears from Zo’s cheeks “I thought you’d be scared of me.” 

The teenager scoffed, shaking her head as she jumped onto her bed “If you wanted to hurt me you’ve had plenty of opportunity,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders “I trust you,” she added as Harper sat down on her own bed “Plus, with all my training I’m sure I could kick your ass now.” 

Harper let out a laugh “Yeah, I guess you could,” she said, taking in a deep breath “Do you have any questions about what you read?” 

“So many. Are you okay? Do those words still work? Are these people in jail for what they did to you? Was your nickname really the Black Mamba? Is Bucky as hot as he looks?” 

“Whoa, whoa,” Harper laughed, holding up her hands in an attempt to slow Zo down “I’m fine, Shuri deprogrammed me, no they’re not, yes it was and of course he is,” she said, answering each question in turn. 

“You’ve just generated a whole new set of questions,” Zo said with a shake of her head “What do you mean deprogrammed you?” 

“They can do things beyond your imagination in Wakanda,” Harper said, her stomach twisting slightly when she thought of Okoye and M’Baku. She wasn’t sure if it was the vulnerability of the situation she had found herself in or the fact that she missed them in that moment more than she ever had but she found herself digging through her bag “Here, I’ll show you,” she continued, holding up a black box Zo had previously discarded. 

Zo watched on, eyes wide, as Harper pressed her finger against the front of the box and it slowly began to open. Inside lay a bracelet made of silver balls, Harper lifted it gently and slid it on over her hand. 

“Whoa,” Zo breathed as a light travelled around the bracelet, as though turning it on “What-?”

Harper smiled as she tapped the top bead. Almost immediately Okoye’s holographic image appeared and regret filled her chest at the stern look on her face. 

“Harper, do you know what I have been going through? Where are you? Do you need me to send a hovercraft?” 

“Uhm, yes?!” Zo called from where she was still sitting on her bed, looking over in awe. 

“Who is that? Are you being held against your will Rhodes?” 

“No!” both Harper and Zo exclaimed together, Zo throwing her hands up innocently as Harper continued “General, I’m fine I promise,” she reassured Okoye, turning the beads to show Zo “This is Zorana, my travel buddy,” she introduced them, Okoye raising an eyebrow and looking unimpressed. 

Letting out a sigh Harper turned the beads back to herself “Listen, I’m sorry I worried you okay? But I’m alright, I really am, I just missed you a lot and I wanted to say hi,” she said, watching Okoye’s tense shoulders soften slightly “And I need you to promise you won’t tell Natasha where I am.” 

“Harper!” 

“I know, I know,” she said, reaching up and pinching her nose “I just need more time, okay? I can’t do what they were asking of me, not yet,” she continued, arching her eyebrows “Not before I’ve done what Shuri found for me.” 

“Fine,” Okoye huffed, crossing her arms over her chest “You test both my patience and loyalty,” she added with a roll of her eyes “Now, did you just call to say hello?” 

“And, y’know, I’m alive!” Harper said, plastering on a wide grin and receiving a shake of Okoye’s head in reply before she disappeared. 

“Okay, that was awesome!” Zo exclaimed, jumping off her bed and onto Harper’s, flinging her arms around her “Okoye, Wakandan general?! And I spoke to her?!”

“What is happening right now,’ Harper laughed, untangling herself from Zo’s hug.

“Wait, do you think she’s mad?”

“Oh she’s mad,” Harper said, pulling a face “But not at you, at me. I disappeared off the face of the earth after she, T’Challa and Shuri did so much to keep me safe in Wakanda,” she explained “It’s gunna take her a while to cool down.” 

“Hmm,” Zo replied, not sounding overly convinced as she hopped back up onto her own bed and sat with her back against the headboard and her knees tucked up to her chest “So, the stuff Shuri found for you. Is that the stuff about your parents?” 

“So you read all of it huh?” Harper said, mirroring Zo’s actions and sitting with her back against her own headboard “It is, yes,” she confirmed, glancing across to where the teen was hanging onto her every word “And I’m putting it all off because I don’t want to face it just yet.” 

“I get it,” Zo shrugged, leaning her chin on the top of her knees and letting out a sigh “You’re talking to the girl who ran off with a former winter soldier, no questions asked, just to get rid of her mother,” she said, looking at Harper out of the corner of her eye to gauge her reaction. 

“Guess we’re two peas in a pod,” she said with a slight smile, shuffling where she was sitting slightly until she was beneath her bed covers “Now, I don’t know about you but all this excitement has me tired. Good night Zo.” 

“‘Night Harper,” Zo answered with a yawn “Thank you for telling me about your past,” she spoke into the darkness.