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ocappreciation · 7 months ago

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ch.24: When it's Broken...

Steve Rogers x OFC fic • squeeze your eyes for a Bucky Barnes x (2nd) OFC

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @gloryekaterina @lenonizi @averyhotchner @foxesandmagic @kmc1989 @caplanbuckybarnes

Story Masterlist • Seren’s Masterlist• Chloe’s Masterlist

Also available on Fanfic ○ Ao3 ○ Wattpad

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When Steve found Seren in the morning, she was working on her new suit. It had become a little custom since they moved into the Tower. Seren either worked on the suit herself or sometimes had Tony around for consultation. Steve began to wonder if she was really working on it for the sake of working or if it was just to distract herself. He supposed it was the same as when he visited the training room.

"Did you even bother to sleep?" Steve asked despite already knowing the answer. They had laid together the previous night for some sleep but a couple hours later he woke up to find Seren gone.

"Course I did," Seren said much too quickly and she knew it. "I mean, for a bit…" She swiped left and right on the holographic plans of her suit. "No, actually, I didn't," she admitted a second later. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't. I was hoping Chloe would call or at least text me." But she hadn't done any of that.

"You just have to give her time," Steve said. He sounded like a broken record. Seren was just too kind to tell him that.

"At least if I get this suit finished, then I'll be able to start scouting areas for the scepter with Stark."

"Seren…"

"I'm good Steve," Seren assured him. "All I need right now is a hug...or two...or three…"

A fair request. Steve took the necessary strides to get to Seren quickly and hugged her. Seren was tired but every problem they had prevented her from realizing it until now.

"You want to take a nap?" Steve offered.

"Maybe," Seren nodded. "I did get something through with my suit this morning. I've added a touch of color. I always hated the sheer black suits of S.H.I.E.L.D. I felt like they never suited me like it did for Maria and Natasha."

Steve let out a low laugh. He swayed Seren a bit. "I thought you looked amazing in them."

"I didn't take you to be that kind of man." Seren smirked as soon as she felt Steve's body stiffening. She had to laugh.

"That wasn't what I meant and you know it," he huffed.

"I know, lovey, I just like messing with you," Seren raised her head to meet his gaze. At least she was smiling now.

"How's about that nap?" Steve asked again, feeling like this time she would really end up falling asleep.

Seren nodded her head. Steve let her go and took her hand. He started leading her for the door when someone walked in, or rather sprinted in.

"Chloe…" Seren breathed at the sight of her best friend but not entirely over her mere presence but her appearance.

Steve did the same thing. "Chloe, what's wrong?"

Chloe's face was stained with tears, her eyes red and puffy from the tears still glistening around. "I did something bad…" She said and only barely for her voice was strained.

Seren pulled her hand from Steve and hurried up to Chloe. Chloe didn't give Seren an opportunity to ask anything else — she dove for a hug instead. Seren rocked back a couple steps but was able to claim some balance in the end. Chloe's body shook from her sobs. Seren had never seen Chloe like this, much less Steve.

"Chloe, what is it?" Seren insisted on an answer.

Chloe's eyes met Steve behind Seren. Steve felt a little out of place with such an intense gaze. It appeared like Chloe was frightened but it couldn't be of him, could it? That didn't make sense.

"Chloe—" Steve started when Chloe cut him off.

"I was with Bucky."

Silence fell over the room. The only noise was the constant beeps of the computers around them.

Seren froze. Steve's eyes widened.

Chloe's breathing became jagged. She wanted to explain everything — how she met Bucky, how it all got started and how it ended — but the words that came out of her mouth were a far cry from that detailed explanation. It was a garbled mess.

"I didn't plan on him sticking around and I definitely didn't think he would just get up and l-leave me!" Chloe's eyes fell shut as new tears rolled down her face. It was perhaps what hurt the most. Up until now, the arrangements, every deal she and Bucky had made were kept — whether it was something as small as 'I'll try to sleep' or something really important like him agreeing to stay with her until they figured something out. It didn't make sense why he would leave without her, but he did.

Seren's lack of sleeping made it a bit difficult to follow everything Chloe was saying. It sounded like she was saying that...she and…

"Are you actually saying that this whole time, Bucky's been with you?" Steve's question was sharp and demanding, nothing that Seren had ever heard from him. He had heard Chloe perfectly and followed as such.

The same went for Chloe which was why she retreated a step from the couple. "Y-yes," she swallowed hard.

Seren looked between the two, suddenly feeling a lot smaller than what she typically felt when she was around them.

"Chloe, I — why didn't you tell me that!?" Steve openly demanded for the answer, expecting it to be a damn good one which was quite impossible. There was nothing that would justify Chloe keeping Bucky a secret.

And Chloe saw it. It was all in his face. His eyes were narrowing on her. His lips had thinned and were soon to be forming a scowl. "Steve, I couldn't say anything. Bucky didn't want that."

Wrong answer.

Seren's eyes flickered at Steve. That answer was brutal. Bucky didn't want to be found.

"He needs help, Chloe," Steve snapped harshly, ignoring Chloe's flinch, "You were supposed to tell me!"

"It wasn't up to me!" Chloe reiterated. "I couldn't make decisions for Bucky! We could only make decisions for ourselves."

"But it sounded like you two came to the same decision…" Seren cut in quietly and quite cautious. She studied Chloe's expressions. "That's what you were saying, wasn't it?"

Chloe nodded slowly. "Yes, but Bucky left me. He betrayed me. I thought...I thought we were allies but…" Her eyes brought fresh tears to her face. Something hurt inside like it never had before and she didn't know how to handle it so it came out as tears.

Seren's face softened.

Steve's did not.

"We were going to run today in the morning," Chloe said. It didn't matter anymore if their plan came out. "I-I reached out to someone to get us to Europe without being spotted."

"You were going to take Bucky to Europe?" Steve's eyes widened again, although they quickly settled into a glare. He was outraged! "Chloe, what the hell!? You were seriously going to leave without telling any of us and with Bucky!?"

"Steve…" Seren motioned him to calm down or at least for him to try and calm down.

"Bucky was going to Europe regardless of whether or not I would!" Chloe exclaimed. "I just couldn't take all this Animinds stuff and—"

"You were going to run away," Steve spat.

Seren helplessly looked between Steve and Chloe. She tried getting a word in but they were both talking over her.

"I was scared, Steve!"

"We are all here for you, Chloe! And I wanted to be there for Bucky but you didn't let me!"

"He didn't want anyone to find him! Hydra's still out there and they're looking for him...and me!"

"Chloe, nobody's touching you again," Seren managed to cut in for a second. "Running away is nowhere near the answer. That's what you did the first time!"

Chloe nodded. "I know, but I did what I did and somehow I got burned by the person I never suspected."

"Walk me through it," Seren pleaded before Steve started snapping again, "What physically happened last night?"

Chloe swallowed hard, took a deep breath and began explaining the plan she and Bucky meticulously came up with. They were to meet Chloe's contact at the docks and travel under secret then take refuge somewhere in Europe. "But then I woke up, saw my old stuff from Malibu and a letter from my mom and Bucky. He left me."

Seren's eyebrows raised. "I brought that stuff over, Chloe."

Chloe did a double-take at Seren. "What? You met Bucky?"

"No," Seren shook her head, "I visited your mother, Chloe. I brought back a box full of your stuff so you could go through it. I...I guess I must have been talking to Bucky on the other side of the door. He must have grabbed the box and left it for you." It also sounded like Bucky realized she was right. Chloe did have hope to reclaim her old life and he wanted to make sure that she did. So, he left.

"Do you have any idea where Bucky can be right now?" Steve's question was no question at all but a demand instead. Chloe shook her head for half a second before Steve demanded to know the contact that was supposed to help them.

"Chloe, you need to tell us," Seren said gently. The secret was out anyways.

"It's Citlalli," Chloe answered quietly.

Steve's eyes fell on Seren who didn't appear to be surprised nor confused with the name. She knew who that woman was. "Seren, who is it?"

Seren let out a long sigh. "A CIA agent and our friend, more so Chloe's than mine."

"No one is more connected than her," Chloe said. "But I've been trying to call her and she's not answering."

"We need to talk to that agent," Steve muttered, taking a headset for the doors.

"No, wait!" Chloe panicked and rushed to catch up to him and blocked his way. "You can't out Citlalli — she'll be in huge trouble!"

"That's not my problem!" Steve said.

"Steve!" called Seren sharply, making him look back at her. "You don't understand. Citlalli's deep into this network stuff and not all of it is legal, persay. I don't even know how deep it is and personally, I don't feel like making an enemy out of her because we didn't think things through."

"We need to get in contact with her," Steve reiterated, and Seren nodded.

"And we will. But let me do it, please. You can trust me."

"Yes, I can," Steve nodded at her, giving Chloe a brief glance before storming out of the room.

Chloe sank down on the nearest stool. "He's so mad at me…"

"Well, Chloe, what did you expect, honestly?" Seren crossed her arms at Chloe. "That was his best friend you hid from him."

"Bucky really didn't want to be found," Chloe insisted. "You think I wouldn't have loved to bring him here? To call Sam or Steve—"

"Yeah, but would you have?" Seren cut her off. "You haven't taken any of our calls in ages."

Chloe's shoulders slumped down. "Okay, so I haven't been the best of friends…but you didn't talk to him, Seren. You didn't live with him. Steve has told me so much about Bucky Barnes, the charming sergeant, the confident, sweet man…but the man I met was not him. He's a shell, Seren. Forcing him — if I could miraculously match his strength — wasn't something I would've been able to do. And I understood him."

"Because you didn't want to be found either," Seren nodded. She lived through something similar in Hudson. Getting away from everything was essential to her healing. It just made things harder with Chloe, though. She wanted to be as mad as Steve but that was out of the question. In the end, Chloe was her best friend and she empathized with everything that had happened so far.

"You just need to give Steve some space," she told Chloe. "This is his best friend we're talking about. He's been devising plans with Sam about where to look. It's hurtful to know that all this time Bucky was right here and...that he didn't want to be found." Seren grabbed another stool and brought it over to sit in front of Chloe. "How did this get started? Tony's been working with you nonstop."

"Bucky surprised me," Chloe said, feeling like that was an understatement now. "He was in my apartment one night and I thought he was going to go all Winter Soldier on me but it turned out he was returning that second piece of the tech that, um, Tony's working on now."

"He brought it back to you?" Seren blinked. Of course now it made sense how Chloe managed to deliver Tony the second piece.

"Yeah, sort of," Chloe half smiled. "Scared the shit out of me that first night. He wanted to barter with it."

"What did he want?".

Chloe's smile widened a bit. "He wanted to know who he was. He wanted to know anything that I knew about him. Of course I told him everything without bartering. And I swear I told him that Steve was looking for him, that he had nothing to be guilty over. He was a victim like me, only far worse. He didn't want to be found and he still doesn't."

Seren could understand where Bucky was coming from. He had gone decades masking as someone Hydra created and now that it was all out there along with his real identity — someone reigned as a hero — it was hard to come back. For a lack of a better word, he needed space.

That was contradicting the story Chloe was telling Seren.

"And, so, he stayed with you? This whole time you guys were, what, roommates?" The redhead asked, tilting her head at Chloe. "Why?"

"We were passing each other information that we both wanted to hear. He wanted to know who he was and I wanted to know more about Hydra. There's a couple of things that I knew for a fact and I needed locations."

"Again, walk me through it," Seren motioned with wiggling fingers to gear the story.

"My time with Hydra taught me that they try not to make any mistakes and just in case that they do make mistakes, they always have a fail safe. It's like with Bucky, he was a Winter Soldier and their failsafe was a mind wipe and cryogenic stasis. If he ever fell out of line, they would just stick him back in there and start a mind wipe or something. Me being another pawn meant that Hydra had to have a failsafe for me. And I figured it out, or rather Bucky did."

Seren's eyebrows knitted together. "And what would that be?"

Chloe leaned forwards, holding her breath as if the secret she was about to reveal was her most guarded one yet. "Hydra has enhanced people all over the world. According to Bucky, some of them are active and others aren't. My guess is that those enhanced people, one of them, could be a fail safe for me."

"Oh God, and they have the scepter," Seren said, her expression all horrified.

Chloe nodded. "Yes. Bucky said they were particularly interested in unlocking the powers from that thing. They went through countless 'subjects' to help tap into those powers."

"Who would want to tap into those powers?" Just remembering what that scepter did to her head made Seren shudder with genuine fright. It was all dark and cold, hopeless.

Chloe shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well then we need to stop them," Seren declared. "This is what Tony brought Steve and I in for. I'm already trying to figure out how to get Thor to come back to Earth. I'm calling Jane Foster a lot these days. And then there's Natasha...and my suit. Did I tell you Tony made plans for my suit?"

Chloe nodded her head. Tony did talk about it a lot. "Yeah…"

"I'm working on it," Seren said proudly. "This is going to be my suit. It's going to be designed just by me."

"You deserve that, Seren," Chloe said. Her gaze began to lower again. "You deserve a lot more than what I've been giving you."

"Nu-uh," Seren snapped her fingers to get Chloe's full attention. "None of that. You're my best friend and I'm going to be here for you. It's why I went to Malibu and got you your stuff. Your family's waiting for you, Chloe. I'm waiting too. There's no reason for you to feel like you have to run away from us."

"I'm scared," Chloe confessed in a light whisper. "I'm scared of the Animinds taking full control of me after the surgery. I'm scared that I won't be anymore. I'll be a version of what Hydra wanted."

"That's not happening," Seren said in a matter of fact tone. "Because if you've been paying attention, these aliens are benign, first of all, and they've been trying to help. They're the ones who told Tony that we needed to help you connect with your family again. It's overwhelming, of course it is, but I think the key to really owning these powers of yours is to actually want to work with them. You can't go in there with, well, twinkle toes," Seren rolled her eyes. If Tony was listening through the comms, he was having a good laugh for sure. "You need to be assertive. It's something you've always done in the past."

"But it's different, Seren," Chloe sniffed. "I've been starting to see the future sometimes and I don't want that. There's so many things that I don't want and the Animinds don't precisely listen to me."

"With the surgery, that could become easier," Seren said, "But you'll never know if you don't try it. If you don't do the surgery then nothing will get easier. That's a fact. You won't have control at all."

"I understand that," Chloe said, sighing, "But the alternative is becoming one with the Animinds and that's scary enough. They're aliens."

"Well, I'm an alien too and we get along," Seren shrugged lightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

Seren raised a hand to stop Chloe. "I know what you meant. It's fair to be scared but these Animinds have been trying to work with you. If they had wanted to be against you, they would've done it by now."

"They've been quiet all day," Chloe remarked quietly.

"Well, have you wanted to talk to them?" Seren posed the question like a mother challenging her child.

Chloe shook her head. "Not really, no."

"Mm, the problem. You need to want it too. It's a Hivemind. You're connected, yes, but when it comes to accessing it...that has to be on you." Seren stood up from her stool, thinking it was best to give Chloe some time to think about things. "Don't you dare leave the Tower — Jarvis will tell us."

Chloe had no desire to go anywhere anymore. Her pain was enough to keep her sitting for hours. The only reason she made it to the tower was to find a way to reach Bucky. "I won't go anywhere," she promised.

She had nowhere to go, no more desire anyways. She felt like she was back where she started, only this time things just hurt too much. She had yet to figure out why that was.

"And listen, about the last time we saw each other…" Seren swallowed hard, her eyes falling over the scar on Chloe's palm. "I am so sorry…I would have never done that if—"

"I wasn't trying to kill you?" Chloe finished for her. Seren lowered her head guiltily. "I have nothing to forgive you for. You defended yourself and you made sure that I couldn't hurt anyone. I can always trust that Stardust will protect the innocent."

"But I don't want it to be at the cost of hurting someone who's like my sister. I never want that to happen."

Chloe nodded. "I feel the same. You have no idea how bad I felt knowing that I hurt you — that I continuously tried hurting you."

"But that wasn't you," Seren said. "You were brainwashed. I know a thing or two about that. And look at Steve and I right now."

Chloe smiled lightly. "I'm glad you two are going strong. I don't want to ruin it with my problems so…I'll go back to my apartment—"

"Nope!" Seren cut her off immediately. "I'm not letting you out of my sight! We have a lot of work to do and we need to start working like a team. SHIELD may be gone but the Avengers are on the brink of formal creation. I want you to be part of this new team, Chloe."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Steve hates my guts right now. I didn't even think he could hate someone like that besides HYDRA."

"He's angry, there's a difference. Please, Chloe. Don't leave again," Seren stepped forwards, "I really missed you. SHIELD is gone, Natasha's off somewhere and who knows where the hell Clint is…you and I are all that's left of the only place I've known my whole life. Please don't leave."

Chloe's lips pulled into another smile. "I think we're pretty much glued to each other…ever since you pulled me out of that god awful building when I was a teenager. You had no idea what you were getting into."

"Pretty sure it's the other way around…" Seren said, sharing a small chuckle with her.

Chloe then hugged her tightly. How she had missed her best friend — her sister. Seren felt the same exact way because in the end, however different they were, life had given them similar challenges that led them down a more lonesome road.

~ 0 ~

It was like mayhem in the Tower after Chloe's revelation. Knowing what they knew about Bucky Barnes had Steve and Sam going through their plans and files to fit with what Chloe said. The enhanced subjects and the usage of the scepter had Tony and Seren working together. Tony, however, would split his time between the search for the scepter and the surgery Chloe was now opting for, if only to give herself one more chance. Dr. Helen Cho was arriving in New York shortly to finalize the surgery.

Meanwhile, Seren also worked fervently on her suit, intending on finishing it quicker than planned to be able to head out in the field in search of the remaining Hydra locations. Bearing that mission, Natasha was scheduled to return to New York sometime next week after she finished with her own side missions. They were in the middle of getting in contact with Banner as well, and Seren had finally gotten through to Jane Foster.

"According to Jane, Thor's gone off world but he's coming back in a couple of days," Seren walked alongside Maria Hill who, at the request of Tony, was taking charge of the details of the soon-to-be team's soon-to-be missions. They had various possible locations they would check out soon.

"That'll be interesting," Maria said after jotting it down on her tablet, "Seeing as the last time he was around, he wasn't too keen with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Jane says he doesn't know what happened with S.H.I.E.L.D. yet," Seren shrugged. "She'll explain it and then he'll be right over."

"And he'll be staying here?" Maria asked.

"Well, it's not like the Tower isn't big enough," Seren gestured to the long hallway. It was one of many. "Even Natasha's contemplating on staying here as well. At least for the time being."

"Mm, and Steve?"

Seren came to a slow stop beside an open door. Her awkward smile told Maria enough. Seren thanked Maria for understanding and led the woman through the door.

Chloe and Tony were in the lab, the former bearing several sticky nods against her forehead.

"Ah, Twinkle Toes, great that you're here," Tony made a gesture for Seren to come to his side by the computers. Seren's glare as she walked over to him meant nothing to him. "Can you please tell Chloe that I'm not lying when I say that her signals are just fine? Better than they have been in recent times."

Seren wasn't one for dramatics, especially Tony Stark's, but when she saw the screens for herself and realized Tony was right, she did as he wanted. "They do look good, Chloe. Everything's pretty much in normal range."

"I've been meditating more," Chloe said quietly, not showing very much excitement at the news. One would say that she was also talking more, per say. She was saying more than she had been before. She didn't want to admit it but letting out everything that she'd been holding in was helping her far more than the meditations.

"Good, keep that going," Seren said with her encouraging smile quite present.

"Helen's going to be here in two days," Tony shared, "It'll be a couple more days before we do the surgery but no later than next week."

Chloe visibly gulped.

Seren left the computers and rushed to Chloe's side. "Everything will be fine," she promised. "You're in the best hands. And I'll be here. We all will be."

"Is Steve going to be around?" Chloe dared to ask. It wasn't very fair to put Seren in that place, Chloe knew that, but Seren was also the only person that Steve would be truly honest with.

Seren bit on her bottom lip. "Um, he's...he and Sam are building up their search so...he's not really here. Either of them, actually."

"Oh." Chloe's gaze fell. Seren was too nice to tell her that Steve was still beyond angry with her for keeping Bucky's presence a secret.

Seren didn't like seeing Chloe like that and she wished she could do something to help. It seemed like this time, even she couldn't convince Steve to come around.

"Hey Megamind," called Tony, if only to pull Chloe out of her trance and earn an emotion besides pity from her, "Why don't we go test those psionic blasts? Things might be getting stronger with these new advances."

Chloe nodded and with Seren's help, she got the nodules off her face. She followed Tony, and Maria, out the room but not before glancing back at Seren. She could've passed off as a frightened child the way she looked.

Seren kept her encouraging smile and nodded Chloe to go on. She always showed up a little into the training sessions.

As soon as Chloe was gone, Seren left the room and headed in the opposite direction. She headed for her — their — floor, more specifically to the small living room where Steve and Sam currently worked together. The two were huddled over papers sprawled over the table.

"How's it going?" she asked, not really startling either of them.

"Well enough." Sam looked up to greet Seren with a typical warm smile that she would return. He had not taken Chloe's secret as Steve had. He had talked privately to Seren previously and admitted that he saw Chloe as a young girl who'd made a mistake. He couldn't hold that against Chloe, so he didn't.

"That's good…" Seren stopped by Steve's side, hand coming to rest over his shoulder.

Steve stiffened very briefly and then went back to looking over the papers. "Did you get a hold of the CIA agent?" he asked without making any eye contact.

"Umm…" Seren felt like she should be more apt at answering the question that Steve had taken custom of asking every time he saw her. Apparently, she just wouldn't get it. "Not quite."

Steve's 'subtle' movement forced Seren's hand off his shoulder. She curled her hand and drew it back to her side. For sympathy, Sam acted like he hadn't seen that at all.

"If she's Chloe's friend, she should be answering, right?" Steve kept going as he switched papers. "What was her name again?"

"Citlalli," Seren said with a sigh. "She's a very busy woman."

"Oh, there's no denying that," Steve retorted.

Seren wasn't used to being on the receiving end of his snips. It was actually hurtful, more than a punch to be exact.

"Is there any idea where this woman would lead Bucky to?" Steve kept going as if he couldn't feel Seren's dejected gaze on him.

Seren tucked some of her short strands of hair behind her ear. "It's not that easy, Steve," she said, regretting her words as soon they left her mouth. It wasn't what Steve wanted to hear.

"Why not?" He demanded.

Once again, Seren had to give herself a moment to get over the sharpness of his voice. It genuinely felt like someone was stabbing her. "Citlalli's been in the CIA for a long time. Like Chloe, she's built networks for her personal reasons and she's not going to give it up just because we asked."

"Like a code amongst her and her network," Sam concluded. Half of his intentions to speak was to cut the palpable tension in the air.

Seren nodded at him. "Yes, exactly."

"She's technically hiding a fugitive," Steve spoke as if nothing had been said between Seren and Sam. "That would terminate her job and most likely put her under arrest."

"Well, that's exactly what would happen to you if you actually found Bucky," Seren pointed out and for that, she earned Steve's apprehensive gaze.

"What are you trying to say?" His accusation startled Seren.

Did he honestly think that she would—

Seren swallowed hard. "I think I'll just leave you two to work," she whispered and quickly turned to leave.

Steve went back to the papers, though he listened to Seren's footsteps getting farther. She wasn't coming back for a while, if she even decided to.

"You cannot keep doing that," came Sam's comment a few minutes later.

"Do what?" Steve was aware that he had read the same line on the paper three times now.

"You're being cold towards Seren and she hasn't done anything wrong." Sam pretended to over a mental checklist of the recent happenings then reiterated his stance. "Yeah, she's done nothing wrong."

"I'm not mad at her," Steve clarified, although it didn't really do much and they both knew it.

"Then why the hell are you acting like it? If you have a problem with Chloe, figure it out with her. Last time I checked, wasn't Seren your, I don't know what you used to call it—sweetheart?" Sam smirked at Steve's deadpanning response. "Well?"

Steve swallowed down his snap at the comment in favor of talking about the real point of the conversation. He put the papers down on the table, finishing the facade of reading them. "It's hard to ignore the fact Seren's coddling Chloe when she...she lied to us for a long time. Bucky was right here, Sam. He was here the whole time and Chloe didn't say anything. She made plans to run away with him and Seren's just acting like it's nothing."

"I'm pretty sure that's not the case but even then, go talk it out with Seren," Sam insisted. "The way you're acting is going to push her away for good. No woman likes the cold shoulder."

That was a truth that even Steve knew. With a sigh, he relented and agreed that he would have a word with Seren. But first, they really needed to sort through these papers.

~ 0 ~

Seren had taken to working on her suit through the nights. It was when Chloe slept — at least Seren hoped that Chloe slept — and it was also the only way she could technically avoid Steve without it being blatantly obvious. Their shared bedroom wasn't such an advantage during these days.

"Jarvis, is it possible to run a simulation testing whether or not the suit would withstand my strongest attack yet?" She managed to smirk for a few seconds just at how confident she was that her strongest attack would one day be second best.

"Of course, Miss Soul," answered the computerized voice.

"Thank you." Seren pulled herself out of her stool and decided it was best to take a stroll out of the lab. Truth be told, the all-nighters she pulled on stools were making her back hurt.

Not wanting to make small talk with anyone, she took the elevator up to the rooftop. She crossed the entire top until she was resting her arms on the rails overlooking the city. It would be raining soon. Seren felt the chill of the air and could hear the warning cracks of thunder in the sky — either that or Thor was making his grand entrance.

The sound of the elevator dinging wasn't enough to pull Seren's gaze off the city. It wouldn't be the first time Tony interrupted her quiet time, or Chloe came in search of her for support. Even Maria sometimes found her accidentally and took the opportunity to go over some details about their potential missions.

All three options were dismissed once Seren felt a jacket come rest over her shoulders. Her body instinctively froze but after a moment, she was able to turn her head slightly.

"I don't want you to get sick." Steve's voice was quiet and plainly filled with caution as he stepped up beside Seren.

"You know I don't really get sick," Seren mumbled, and yet she held the jacket a little closer to her body.

Silence stretched between them in the following seconds. Steve didn't really know what to say and he'd been thinking about things long before he got the courage to come find Seren. From her side, Seren wasn't sure where the conversation was going to go. The jacket on her shoulders gave her some hope that this wouldn't end with displeasure.

"I called Citlalli again," she said, and Steve once again looked at her albeit trying to put up a front that he wasn't urgent for the information. "I finally got through to her. She admits that Bucky met her where Chloe and she had agreed and that she helped him."

"She helped him?" A dozen questions swarmed Steve's head at that moment. "But she barely knows him. Why wouldn't she—?"

"Turn him in?" Seren half smiled. "Trust me, there's a reason Chloe called her out of everyone else she knew."

"Look, I guess I'm grateful that she didn't turn Bucky over but why would she help him escape? He needs help, not isolation."

"Neither of us know what conditions Bucky was in during these days," Seren said and felt awful for the look on Steve's face. As much as he loved his best friend, he had no idea what Bucky was thinking/going through at the moment. "I'm grateful Citlalli helped him."

"Well, where'd she send him to?"

"I don't' know," Seren said.

"What? Did she not tell you?"

"It's more complicated than that, Steve. Citlalli helped him escape, but by that she really only helped him get to the first stop of his journey. She doesn't know where he is after she dropped him off."

"I'm not understanding…"

"It's complicated and confusing, trust me I'm very much feeling that last one too. Citlalli doesn't know where he is."

Steve's knuckles turned white from how hard he was gripping the rail again. Seren watched him go through the many stages of fury all over again.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" he muttered with gritted teeth.

"I don't know…" Seren's faint voice is what broke Steve out of his ire-filled trance. He looked at her and found she had taken a step back from him.

Suddenly, Sam's words were running through his head again. The way you're acting is going to push her away for good.

Seren took his silence as her cue to leave. She would much rather the silence than the arguing but it didn't do anything good for her heart. She started to leave but halfway, she turned back around. "I know you're angry with Chloe and you have every right to be, but this wasn't just on her and you know it. Bucky was thinking lucid enough to know who to go to and honestly, with the way Chloe's talked about him, he sounded like a guarded man. He was never going to stick around."

"How long was he here?" Steve asked. Whether or not the answer would give him peace was left unclear but Steve still wanted to know.

"About two weeks."

"They got close," Seren said quietly. "They were both pawns for Hydra, each twisted and broken in their own ways for what Hydra required. They had things to be close about. I think by the end of it, Chloe didn't choose to run from us but more so to stick with the only other person who could understand some of the things she went through."

Steve thought well and hard about this. It was true that he had already considered how he would talk to Bucky if he had found him earlier, and the truth that Steve wasn't sure of how he would do it was disappointing. The Bucky he knew wasn't around. Steve didn't know what he would've done and the act of not knowing and the fact that Chloe had found a way to talk to Bucky was…

"He shouldn't have left," Steve said. Seren presumed it was still the same feelings of indignation and hurt that anyone else in Steve's place would feel...until Steve spoke again. "Chloe did something to make him think clearly after decades of thinking like the Winter Soldier he was programmed to be. He listened to you that night, he went through Chloe's old things and thought she had a better chance to fix things. That's not even what the Bucky I knew, before the war, would typically think about."

Seren's eyebrows raised, almost indignant on Chloe's behalf.

Steve pulled away from the balcony and faced Seren. "The Bucky I knew before the war was a gentleman, no one could argue against that, but to say that he actually took his time to talk and be around a woman the way he did with Chloe. It was different back then but even then…"

Seren afforded him a little smile once she understood the point he was trying to make. "I thought something along the same lines in regards to Chloe. But still, I'm sorry about everything and Chloe is too. You should know that we've managed to convince her to do the surgery she needs to finally stabilize her connection with the Animinds."

"So in the end you going to Malibu was the right decision," Steve said, and she smiled lightly. "Still saving lives outside of SHIELD."

Seren's faltered for a moment. "But it seems like I'm unable to save what's most important to me…"

Confusion settled on Steve's face until Seren gestured at him. "Me?"

"Miss Soul," Jarvis' suddenly cut in, "your simulation has finished. Would you like to hear the results?"

"Thank you, Jarvis, I'll go down to the lab myself," Seren said, dismissing the computer. She looked over at Steve. Awkwardness fell now that the conversation was pretty much done. It was the only thing they had talked about in days and about the only direct conversation they had that lasted for more than a few seconds.

"Seren, what did you mean by that?" Steve asked, seeing she had all the intentions of leaving the room.

"Seriously?" she raised a brow at him. "You hardly speak to me and when you do, you're angry at me. And it's not fair. We had such lovely moments together and it crashed down so easily."

"We haven't...crashed…" Steve said slowly. This was all his fault. Seren thought they were practically over because of one disagreement and it was all his fault.

"This is the first real conversation we've had in days," Seren said shortly. It was hard to act like she wasn't upset at all. She was…and rightfully so. "And it wasn't even about us."

"I know, I know…" Steve sighed, bringing a hand to the back of his neck, "And it's all my fault. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you." Sam was right. Out of everyone, Seren was the least at fault. "I'm really sorry, Seren."

"I get why you're upset…you have a right to be mad at Chloe, not talk to her, I guess. I can't do the same. I've known Chloe for so long, we've seen each other at our worst, that cutting her out of my life isn't even a question for me. You want to save Bucky — well, I want to save Chloe."

"I get that, I do, but I also think you shouldn't be coddling her. She's not a child, Seren. She's 25 years old. She needs to take some responsibility for what she did, almost did."

Seren nodded. "Yeah, I should work on that. Truth is, sometimes I'm just so used to thinking about Chloe as the teenager I found all those years ago. Scared, alone...but she's not anymore. I'm sorry about that."

Steve walked over to her and reached out to brush a ginger strand of hair from Seren's forehead. "I'm really sorry, sweetheart. I hate that I made you feel bad but I promise you that we have not crashed down."

"Well, it certainly feels like we have. Then again, I've never really been in a relationship where I am fully head over heels in love with someone. Maybe I'm being a tad dramatic."

Steve smiled at her softly. "You can feel however you want when I'm being the world's biggest jerk." His fingers dropped under Seren's chin, raising her head. "And you can expect that I will be putting all my efforts into making this up to you in every way possible."

"Every way possible?" Seren repeated, raising one skeptical brow at him.

Steve nodded fervently. "Every way possible." He gave her a preview of what he meant with a kiss.

Seren wrapped her arms around his neck, dropping his jacket around her shoulders in the process. She would gladly exchange the piece of clothing for the real thing any day.

~0~

It was bright and early when Chloe got started on her exams again. Tony wanted everything to go by smoothly for the upcoming surgery. Dr. Helen Cho was finally coming in today as well, hence the early start of today's exams. The last thing Chloe expected was for Steve to appear in the lab.

"It's only me in here," she said quietly, assuming he was searching for someone else. She turned for another table.

"I was looking for you, actually," Steve surprised her.

Chloe's head flipped back towards the entrance. "Me?" Steve nodded. "Me-me?"

"Yes, I think we need to talk."

"Right, but, if there's anyone you need to talk with it's Seren." And for her best friend whom she hadn't been the kindest to lately, Chloe hurried towards Steve. "All of this is my fault, not Seren's. She had no idea what I was doing. Please go talk to her."

Steve smiled down at Chloe. At least that was the same. Chloe would do as much for Seren as Seren would do for her. "We've, uh, already reconciled our differences…well, my differences. We're okay."

"Really?"

"Yes, so now I think we need to talk."

"Yeah, guess we do…" She knew that sooner or later Steve would move past his initial anger and could shoulder bit to get to the questionnaire, the more in depth one. She owed him that too.

"How did you and Bucky…? I mean, did he just...did he just drop in on you?" To this day, that first meeting still didn't make sense for Steve. The whole reason he started planning for Europe is because he assumed Bucky would leave the country as soon as he could.

Chloe shrugged meekly. "He sort of did, honestly. He was inside the apartment one night and I thought he was there to finish the job but it turned out he just wanted to know what I knew about him."

"About the Winter Soldier?"

"No, about Bucky Barnes."

That made less sense. And it hurt more. It showed on Steve's face. "I'm his best friend," he said, "Does he not remember me at all?"

"He does," Chloe said, "It's all in pieces but he knows who you are and what you were to him in the 40s. Steve, you can't take all of this so black and white. Bucky's head is as messed up as mine save for the aliens in my mind. He wanted to know who he was but he obviously can't go out in public that much and I don't think he's ready to see a familiar face. Don't take it personally."

"Believe me, I'm trying," Steve said with a long sigh to follow. "If you had known us back in the 40s — well, you probably wouldn't have talked to me so much as Bucky"— Chloe laughed softly, "—but you would see why I'm so upset. We were brothers."

"I get it, I do," Chloe assured Steve. "Because I just did the same thing to Seren. Not talking to her really messed me up. And I know Seren took it personally even when it wasn't her fault. It's exactly what's going on with you and Bucky now."

Steve smiled wryly. "Well, you certainly became like a little expert on us, huh?"

Chloe flushed slightly at the comment. Her head ducked on instinct. "Bucky and I talked, that's all."

Steve hummed. He was sure that definitely happened.

"Steve, I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I know it really hurt you. It wasn't my intention but it happened and I'm sorry."

Chloe's sincerity is what had Steve making the effort to let it go. It would take time, but he could do it.

"Steve, when I get my stuff together," Chloe tapped the side of her head, "I would really like to join you and Sam to search for Bucky."

That was the most startling thing she had said to him so far. Steve did a double-take at her, this time the effort to be cool wasn't quite successful. "Um, are you...you want to?"

Chloe nodded. She knew what he was thinking. 'Why would you want to go looking for him when he left you?' It was a fair question that deserved to be answered, at least to make things clear. "Bucky promised me that we would look out for one another. We made plans and I had every intention of following through, but he left. He picked up his things and just...left."

Steve winced at the sharpness in that one word. For a second, he genuinely feared for Bucky's fate if Chloe found him. That almost made him reject her request to join them...almost. At the same time, Bucky owed Chloe that explanation. Plus, Steve got the feeling that whether or not he agreed to let her in, Chloe would still conduct her own search for Bucky. It was better to unify all efforts.

They were a team, after all. They were broken, perhaps heartbroken in their own ways, but at the end of the day their goals were the same. They were aligned.

A/N:

Next is the epilogue which means this fic is technically all done! *sniffs, I think this is probably my favorite fic so far in the storylines but I'm also excited for the future ones like Civil War when I finally get to include all 3 OCs and just start the crossovers!

I'll probably post the epilogue of this story and the new fic this weekend!

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