September 10-WinterShieldQuake with something smutty, and along the lines of "You're alive! I lost you, but now you're back.", for @foxfyre999
Written by @thestarfishdancer
The steady “beep, beep, beep” was terribly annoying, Daisy thought as she eased toward consciousness. She was fairly certain she’d changed her alarm to a custom ringtone. Steve. It had to be Steve’s. He’d got the hang of the smartphone, as had Bucky, but it was just like him not to bother changing to a song or at least something less aggravating.
“’M up, ‘m up,” she groaned, wondering why it was so hard to pry her eyes open and why her mouth felt like it was full of cotton. “Buck, make him turn i’ off.”
She did finally manage to crack her eyes open and was greeted by the worried faces of her two super soldier boyfriends. Worry faded to relief as she blinked at the light, taking in the medical equipment currently attached to her person, including the heart rate monitor that, as it turns out was the source of the beeping.
“Get Dr. Cho,” Steve ordered to someone outside her line of vision, and she heard rapid footsteps that meant, she assumed, someone was doing just that. “Just stay still, doll. Doctor’s on her way.”
“Wha’ happened?” she asked groggily when her memory failed her, then grimaced when the cotton-mouth feeling didn’t fade. “Ugh, thirstly.”
“I’ll get you some water if the doc clears you for it,” Bucky said, exchanging glances with Steve.
“Ser’ously, just tell me.” Daisy struggled to try to sit up. The last thing she remembered was quaking some supervillain. Nothing that would lead her to being in the med bay.
“You’re alive!” Dr. Cho’s voice came from the doorway, then the woman in question is in Daisy’s line of vision. “I lost you, but now you’re back.”
“You died,” Steve said shortly.
“I did what now?”
“I’m afraid so,” Dr. Cho replied, nodding to Bucky, who then handed Daisy a glass of water. He and Steve helped her sit up, adjusting pillows behind her and generally fussing. “Slowly now.”
Daisy sipped gratefully at the water, turning her mind back on the day’s events. There’s been a supervillain and a bunch of hench-villains terrorizing the city for some stupid reason. The call to assemble had gone out, and Coulson’s team was closest. They were keeping the baddies contained while waiting for the Avengers to arrive, and…
And nothing.
“You fell off the roof,” Bucky supplied, causing Daisy to jump. Clearly she’d been thinking aloud.
“Far as we can tell, and from what the rest of your team saw, they had some frequency-repelling armor,” Steve said, frowning. “Stark and Fitz are taking a look at it, but it seems the backlash from your quaking him knocked you back, and you lost your footing.”
“You might have hit your head on the way down,” Bucky said. “Knocked you out so you couldn’t break your fall.”
“Then why don’t I feel terrible?” Daisy asked. “Not that I’m complaining. But I just feel regular bad, not fell off a several story building bad.”
“You can thank your friend Simmons for that,” Dr. Cho said. “She kept you stable until we could get you to the cradle. You crashed twice, but we were able to give you a compound we’ve been working on. It would seem it was successful, since you no longer show signs of broken bones.”
“Yeah, I would say,” Daisy breathed. “Does that mean I can go home sooner than the usual?”
Now it was Dr. Cho’s turn to exchange glances with Daisy’s boyfriends.
“You are still concussed,” she cautioned, then looks back to Steve and Bucky. “Can you two promise you’ll bring her back if she shows any sign of needing medical attention?”
“Absolutely.”
“Yes.”
“And can promise to come back tomorrow morning for a follow up, no matter how good you think you’re feeling?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Daisy said, giving a mock salute.
“Alright, then, yes. I will discharge you into their care,” Dr. Cho smiled. “But no strenuous activity. No activity at all. Not until I clear you. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Steve and Bucky squabbled teasingly over who gets to carry her home, though she ended up in a wheelchair like a proper patient at Dr. Cho’s insistence. They filled her in on the rest of the battle – baddies thoroughly defeated, jail for everyone – while they wheeled her through the tower and back to their apartment. Bucky did win the coin toss, however, and got to carry her through to the bedroom and into their California King bed.
Steve dug into the drawer where she keeps her rarely-worn pajamas, while Bucky helped her out of her uniform. She waggled her brows at them both comically, and Steve smiled but rolled his eyes.
“No strenuous activity until your cleared, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, but then genius dawned on her. “But she didn’t say anything about a show.”
“You want me to put on Netflix?” Steve asked absently, and Bucky began looking for the remote.
“No, you adorable oblivious rubes, a show. Just because I can’t participate doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view.”
Bucky smirked, immediately catching her drift, pulling off his shirt and then moving to unbuckle his belt.
“C’mon, punk,” he said as pushed his pants past his hips and took himself in hand. “The lady wants a show.”
“Does she now,” Steve answered, amused. “You up to performing, jerk?”
“Come see for yourself,” Bucky shot back.
Steve stalked slowly toward Bucky before dropping to his knees, angled perfectly so as not to obscure Daisy’s view. She settled back into the pillows against the headboard and grinned to herself.
Round two, she was totally going to request popcorn.
January 13 - Steve/Quake/Bucky. I would love fluffy sexy, maybe a start of a fic that involves soul mates if possible? for @kittyinaz
Written by @ladywinterlight
Note: I’m sorry that I didn’t get to smut with this. The soulmate idea got into my head, but I really did have to set it all up. This story is nearly 5k, and is the most I’ve written in months. It may eventually end up a longer story, but we will wait and see.
For now, happy birthday to kittyinaz!
Marks Of Healing
When Daisy found out that The Winter Soldier was actually Bucky Barnes, she couldn’t help but be both happy and sad at the same time. Sad for Bucky, who’d been tortured for so long, but happy that he was still alive and got a second chance at life. She was too busy dealing with the aftermath of Insight to give it any further thought, so she sent Bucky good thoughts, that maybe he could get some well-deserved peace. The idea that her patron saint and her childhood hero, the original duo of the Howlies, were still fighting gave her hope to get through the rough months ahead.
It wasn’t until Coulson had her in isolation again after her encounter with HIVE that she really got a chance to think about the fact that both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were alive. Even when she was locked up after San Juan, she’d been too busy grieving for Trip and thinking about the implications that particular event meant for herself to think about her soulmates. But now, isolated because Jemma was worried about the others infecting her due to her lowered immune system, she had nothing but time to think about her soulmates.
Ever since she had been old enough to understand what a soulmark was, she wondered who her two mates might be. After she’d learned to hack, she checked written records from all over the US and had been both shocked and dismayed when the only matches that came back were for two dead heroes from World War II.
It didn’t make any sense. She researched handwriting manipulation and knew that the handwriting was an exact match - it was impossible to replicate handwriting to that degree if it was another person. Her soulmates were dead men. Eventually, she had resigned herself to the idea that even Fate believed she didn’t deserve a family and moved on.
Even when Steve Rogers had been uncovered from the Arctic and was determined to be alive, she doubted she’d ever get a chance to meet him. She’d already been on her way out of New York when the Chitauri Invasion happened, and driven by sheer terror she had kept going until she was more than halfway across the country.
But while stuck in isolation after HIVE, Coulson was nice enough to let her have a tablet so she could catch up on the news. The first thing she read about, of course, were the Sokovia Accords. Which, in turn, led her to reading about the split among the Avengers over signing the Accords. A little judicious hacking got her more info about the major issues between Rogers, Barnes and Stark. And some information about Black Panther and Zemo, the guy behind framing Barnes for the UN explosion.
A little more research on Black Panther led her to information on Wakanda, and she began to wonder. The Avengers accused of violating the Accords had basically fallen off the map, but Wakanda had some of the best security of any nation in the world as well as very strict immigration and emigration policies.
So she did a little more hacking and sent an email to Steve Rogers’ official Avengers account and his lesser known personal one. She considered copying the Wakandan government or royal family, but she decided that it could cause problems if the Captain wasn’t where she thought he was.
Captain Rogers,
I know you don’t know me, but my name is Daisy. I did a search on the writing of my soulmarks a long time ago, and your writing came up as the match for one of them. I’m writing you now in the hopes that you may be interested in meeting me. I suspect that wherever you are, security is quite tight. Otherwise I might have just tried to come find you.
I have attached photos of my soulmarks. If, as I suspect, the writing is familiar to you, please do let me know. I will find a way to get to you if need be.
Respectfully,
Daisy Johnson
It took less than a day for Daisy to get a response, and from the tags on the message she knew even she would take quite a while to trace the route back to its origin. The message itself was short but made her smile.
Daisy,
Going to be out and about tomorrow. If you can make it somewhere on the US Atlantic coast, we can pick you up.
Steve
She quickly sent back a response.
Can do. Have a phone, number 612-555-5173. Text me when you’re around and I’ll tell you where I end up.
Daisy
The phone was an old burner from her trip to Milwaukee with Cal, but that was fine. She’d be ditching it after she met up with Steve anyway and no one else knew the number.
Getting out of the SHIELD containment unit wasn’t any more difficult than it had been the first time. She wrote the security on the things, after all. Her first stop was a bank, the second it opened, where she withdrew all her savings into cash. After that, she went to a salon and had her hair cut and dyed, knowing that Coulson would come after her. Since the Accords had recently been signed, she knew that he’d have to, especially with how Talbot looked at her.
She was able to make her way to Virginia Beach, which had a large enough tourist population that she was able to hide more or less. The changed appearance helped some, and half the people on the street were wearing sunglasses so hers definitely didn’t stand out. She settled herself in at a busy cafe and ordered herself some food; not that she was really all that hungry, but it gave her a reason to hang in one spot for a bit and fiddle with her phone while she waited for a message.
She was halfway through her salad when the phone beeped.
Heading to the coast. Where are you? -SR
Virginia Beach. Little cafe. -DJ
I’m told we can land on the beach very briefly. Can you get there?
Daisy glanced at the street signs on a nearby intersection and consulted the map on her phone quickly for a landmark.
Yes. I’ll wait on the beach side of the Navy Seal Monument. Wearing cutoff jean shorts, a dark blue tank top, and I have straight black hair.
She didn’t wait for an answer before shoveling her things into her backpack and leaving a tip on the table with her unfinished salad. She’d paid for the meal at the counter, so she didn’t have to worry about waiting for a check. She let herself out of the patio seating area and headed briskly towards the beach.
Though no one could really see a quinjet in stealth mode, Daisy felt it coming as the jet zipped down the coast. The vibrations shifted as it oriented on the monument and slowly dropped to just above the sand. She stepped tentatively forward just as she saw a slash of black appear when the ramp started to open.
Steve stuck his head out when he had enough room to do so, and Daisy didn’t wait for the ramp to finish opening. She ran forward and jumped, using just enough of her power to give her a boost so she could land on the half open ramp. She slid down it and ended up at Steve’s feet. He gave her an appraising glance, then called over his shoulder, “I think we’re set, close the ramp!”
“But it’s not even fully open yet!” she heard a voice yell from the cockpit.
“Just close it!” Steve called back. Then he returned his attention to Daisy. “You would be my soulmate, I presume?” She nodded and let him help her up off the floor. As she regained her feet, she turned her arm so he could see his words written on the inside of her wrist.
“Sorry if I startled you,” Daisy apologized. “I just didn’t want any of us seen out here.”
Steve smiled as she spoke and turned slightly to show her the words she’d just spoken on the small of his back.
With their bond confirmed and knowing she might finally be safe, Daisy put her back to the wall of the quinjet and just… slumped. Eyes closing almost of their own accord. She felt a pair of strong, warm arms catch her before she could slide down the wall, and for the first time since Mack had held her and listened to her babbled apologies, she felt safe.
“What’s wrong, Daisy?” Steve asked in a low voice as he held her mostly upright.
“I’m sorry,” she answered softly. “I… wasn’t… I know you’re my soulmate, and I think Bucky Barnes is too. And I didn’t know who else to reach out to. I’m… I’m not okay. And I’m sorry to put my problems on you too.”
Gentle fingers lifted her chin and when he didn’t say anything at first she slowly opened her eyes. Dark brown met blue, and she saw only tenderness and concern in his gaze. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll get through it all together.” He studied her a moment longer. “You look tired. We should sit so you can rest.”
Daisy found herself nodding agreeably. She hadn’t felt really sleepy like this in days, despite her general fatigue and inability to sleep. So she let Steve guide her into a jump seat and help her strap in. He took the seat right beside her, and she leaned her head against his shoulder after he settled.
Sleep took her quickly.
Steve took advantage of the opportunity to look her over. His soulmate was thin; too thin, really. Like she hadn’t eaten well in a while. She had dark shadows beneath deeply sunken eyes, masked somewhat by makeup but he was close enough to see past it. She did have a lovely golden cast to her skin and the slant of her eyes hinted at some sort of Asian ancestry, but even so she was paler than she ought to be.
Steve wondered just what had happened to her, but knew he would have to wait until they could talk privately to ask. He had so many questions, but he didn’t want to pressure her.
Daisy woke, hours later, to the sound of laughter and the sudden absence of vibration from the engines. She blinked her eyes open and saw a collection of figures that she recognized but never really thought she’d meet. Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff supported each other down the ramp, their voices low enough that only the occasional murmur reached Daisy. Behind them, Sam Wilson and Scott Lang were apparently trying to one-up each other with prison stories, but the strain around their eyes belied their lighthearted tones.
Daisy was well familiar with that state of being, after all.
She felt hands at her waist and jerked around, then went still as she recognized Steve. He was undoing her safety harness for her. He looked up at met her eyes with a reassuring smile. “C’mon, doll. Let’s get you inside, yeah?”
She tried to smile for him, but she knew it was strained. So she just nodded and reached down for her backpack. A moment later, Natasha Romanov emerged from the cockpit and joined them. She gave Daisy an appraising look.
“So you’re Cap’s soulmate, hmm?” she asked smoothly.
“Yeah,” Daisy replied. “I’m Daisy.”
Natasha nodded. “Welcome to the insanity that is the Avengers. Or what’s left of us, anyway.”
“Um, thanks, I think.” Daisy looked around as they emerged from the jet. Lush, verdant jungle growth contrasted against the cityscape ahead of surprisingly modern buildings. “Where are we?”
“Birnin Zana, capital of Wakanda,” an accented voice responded in a polite tone.
Daisy spun around abruptly to face the voice. It came from a regal looking man with dark skin. His escort, women with equally dark skin and smoothly shaved heads, stood on either side and just behind him. She immediately recognized Prince - no, now King - T’Challa from footage of the UN bombing and afterwards. “Your Majesty,” she said, bowing awkwardly.
He accepted her attempt with a small smile and a brief nod. “I’m afraid your guest is unknown to me, Captain.”
Steve stepped forward, guiding Daisy with a gentle hand on her lower back. “King T’Challa, may I introduce my other soulmate, Daisy Johnson.”
A true smile spread across the king’s face. “Ah, yes, the one who will complete your triad. You are most welcome to Wakanda, Miss Johnson. Soulmates are held in high regard among my people.”
Daisy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It took all her concentration to display the manners the nuns had drilled into her at St. Agnes, but she managed. “Thank you for your welcome, Majesty. I feel I should inform you, though, that my circumstances are not dissimilar from my soulmates. I have also refused to sign the Sokovia Accords.”
T’Challa shrugged. “One more such person changes nothing. You are welcome here regardless.” He noted the strain around her eyes and waved off any need for a response. “I will not detain you further. Your friends and teammates all need rest and medical care. Please, feel free to see to them. I will check in with you all in a few days.”
“Thanks, T’Challa,” Steve said warmly. “If you need us, you know where we’ll be.”
“Of course.”
Daisy really only wanted to go back to sleep, but she followed Steve’s guidance with slightly stumbling steps. After the third time she almost tripped on a crack in the pavement, Steve swept her up into his arms and carried her. She murmured a protest, but the fact that she snuggled against his chest convinced Steve that she didn’t really mean it. They followed after the group, whom Natasha was leading towards the nearby medical center. Everyone held at the Raft needed to be checked out; Steve didn’t put it past Ross to have hurt his friends while they were in custody.
Daisy roused slightly when the sounds and smells of a hospital caught her attention. “No, Steve, we don’t need this. I’m fine. I just need some rest,” she protested.
Steve looked down at her with big, worried eyes. “If that’s true, I’ll be happy to let you sleep as much as you like when we’re done here. But really, doll, you look like you’ve been through the ringer. Please, just let them check you out? To ease my mind?”
The wounded puppy look, combined with his plea for the sake of his peace of mind made Daisy cave. She sighed. “Fine. But just… don’t leave me alone?” she asked in a near whisper. “I really don’t like hospitals.”
“I promise. I’ll be with you the whole time.”
Daisy’s next protest came when the doctors wanted to do a full set of scans on her - blood work, MRI, EEG, CT… the whole works. “No, I can’t. I mean, sure, draw blood, whatever,” Daisy said to the doctor. “But MRIs and CTs… they hurt my head. Like, badly.”
The doctor looked puzzled. “Can you tell me why?”
Daisy blinked as it took a moment to realize that no one knew her here. She had no medical history with these people, and they had no idea she was Inhuman. So she supposed she’d better tell them. “My powers are to sense and manipulate vibrations. I’m Inhuman.”
The doctor actually looked sympathetic. “I can see why that would cause some problems with our scanners. Would it help for us to sedate you? So you’re not aware of the sensations?”
“I…” Daisy hesitated. She knew the answer was yes; she had experienced it after all. But she didn’t know these people, wasn’t sure she trusted them.
Steve spoke up. “I’m her soulmate. Could I be allowed to stay with her through as much of the testing as possible?”
After considering the question for a moment, the doctor nodded. “During the scans you would have to remain in the shielded area with the technician. But she would be visible to you at all times. Would that be acceptable?”
Daisy let out the breath she’d been holding and nodded. “Yeah. That would be okay.”
Steve sat by Daisy’s bedside in a private room, holding her hand lightly, after all the tests were run. The doctor told him that they’d given her a slightly larger dose of sedative than usual, both to make sure she was completely under and because her initial exam showed signs of severe exhaustion. They didn’t know for sure how long she’d sleep.
Half an hour later, Natasha joined them. “How is she?”
“Still waiting for the test results,” Steve answered with a shrug. “How are the others?”
“Relatively unharmed, all things considered. I suspect Ross was too busy chasing you and Barnes to focus on them right away.” She sat herself down in a chair at the foot of Daisy’s bed, between the younger woman and the door. “You know your soulmate has a BOLO on her by Ross and Talbot?”
“She does? Why?”
“She’s Inhuman, and apparently extremely dangerous according to the military. She’d been working with SHIELD until recently.” Natasha shrugged slightly. “What do you really know about her, Steve?”
“Not much. Just that she’s clearly been through a lot, and that she has soulmarks for both me and Bucky. What more do I need to know?”
“Why she’d be classified as extremely dangerous by the US Military, perhaps?” Natasha arched an eyebrow pointedly.
“She told the doctor that her power allows her to sense and manipulate vibration,” Steve admitted. “They had to sedate her to run the tests they wanted.” Natasha hissed a breath between her teeth. “What?”
“That would explain it. Elementary physics, Steve. Everything vibrates, at the atomic level if nothing else.” Steve opened his mouth but Natasha waved him quiet. “Ask Bruce about it sometime, if you want to know more. Or your soulmate, when she wakes up. I know the basics, but not well enough to explain it.”
Steve nodded. “So, you’re suspicious of her?”
With a shrug, Natasha sighed. “Well, soulbonds can’t be faked so she has that on her side. I won’t really be comfortable until we know more about her.”
“If she was SHIELD, could you call Maria?”
“I will, but that needs to happen quietly. We don’t need her compromised with Stark.”
Steve nodded his agreement. Before he could respond further, a doctor came into the room. “Mr. Rogers?”
“That’s me,” Steve answered immediately.
The doctor glanced at Natasha, but when Steve shook his head he nodded and spoke again. “We have you on record as Miss Johnson’s soulmate. That means that while she’s asleep, we can fill you in on her condition. Is this acceptable?”
“Please,” Steve agreed. The doctor proceeded to recite a long list of puzzling data, both about her test results and her blood work. Steve held up his hand at one point and said, “Can you simplify it for me, please, doctor?”
“Basically, she has all the brain chemical evidence of Acute and Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome but no evidence that she has ever used any kinds of drugs that would cause addiction,” the doctor replied. “Essentially, her brain chemistry is all over the place. She’s too thin for her height and build. She’s clearly not sleeping. She’s likely to have mood swings, nightmares, and otherwise be generally unstable.”
“Is there any way to help her? Or at least ease the symptoms?”
The doctor studied Steve for a long moment, then hesitantly nodded. “There are one or two drugs we might try, but they could complicate her body’s natural healing process. Or… you could try completing the soulbond.”
Steve blushed but continued to meet the doctor’s eyes. “What difference would the soulbond make?”
“In layman’s terms, the creation and continued presence of the bond will stimulate her body’s production of the chemicals she’s deficient in.”
“Evidence suggests that the soul bonded are more emotionally stable and physically healthier,” Natasha added. “A soul bond makes you feel good. If she’s feeling horrible, the influx of the opposite could help her balance.”
“That would require waking Bucky, wouldn’t it?” Steve asked slowly. “We’d need all three of us for the full bonding effect.”
“It would,” the doctor agreed. “But I think it’s her best chance. The drugs are iffy at best, since we don’t know what caused her condition.”
“If it’s what she needs… then I think Bucky would agree,” Steve said decisively. “We should wake him. So we can all talk about the situation together, and we’ll all be on the same page if she agrees to a quick bonding.”
“I’ll see to waking Mr. Barnes, then,” the doctor agreed.
Natasha eyed Steve and Daisy speculatively. “I’ll go with. Barnes should have a friendly face, if not an overly familiar one, when he comes to.”
“Thanks, Nat,” Steve replied with a genuine smile. “I promised Daisy I’d stay with her until she woke up.”
Daisy was still fast asleep when Natasha brought Bucky to her room. She hadn’t even woken when the nurses came to move her to a bigger bed; Steve sat beside her, holding onto both of her hands and her cheek resting against his side. The doctor had said that until they bonded, contact with him still might help her. Steve hesitated, conscience conflicted between wanting to help her and feeling like he was taking advantage in her sleep. So he compromised, positioning them more or less they way they’d been on the quinjet.
Bucky paused in the doorway to appraise the situation. “Stevie?” he asked, his voice low and rough from extended sleep.
“Come on over, Buck,” Steve replied in a low voice, trying not to disturb Daisy. He watched as Bucky stepped up to the side of the bed, looking down at the girl in his arms. “This is Daisy, our third. I’ll introduce you properly when she wakes up.”
“Natalia says she’s why you woke me?” Bucky reached out but halted himself before he touched her hair. It looked so soft.
“Yeah. She should hopefully wake soon; we have a lot to discuss, but she needs to hear it too. But… she’s sick. The kind of sick that needs the soulbond to help her get better.”
Bucky nodded and sat down in a chair on the other side of the bed. “Not sure I can really help. But, if that’s what she needs…” he trailed off.
Steve released one of Daisy’s hands, the one on Bucky’s side of the bed, and indicated that Bucky should take it instead. A faint line of unease faded from Daisy’s forehead, and Bucky watched in surprise as she unconsciously tightened her fingers on his.
“She ain’t at all like Peggy,” Bucky observed after a moment. “That dame had presence.”
Steve chuckled softly. “So does Daisy, just not while she’s asleep. She approached me, you know. Sent pictures of her soulmarks and asked if we’d meet her.”
Bucky grinned. “Good to know she’s got some spine. She’ll need it, the way you get into trouble.”
Steve scoffed. “I’m not the only one, Jerk. Besides, I think she’ll hold her own. Nat says the military thinks she’s dangerous.”
“Ain’t we all?” Bucky asked, lifting one eyebrow.
Daisy began to stir, and the two men fell quiet. Steve stroked her cheek gently, hoping to soothe her back to sleep. But apparently something had caught her attention and her eyes fluttered open. “Wha..?” she asked sleepily.
“Still in the hospital, doll,” Steve told her. “But I’m here, and so’s Bucky.”
“Super soldier buzzing feels weird,” she murmured as she turned her attention to the third presence in the room. “Hi. You were always my favorite, you know.” Her tone indicated that she was still not fully awake, but she blinked when she realized what she’d said.
Bucky chuckled as she said his soulmate words. “Happy to be the favorite of a beautiful gal like you.”
“You mean you didn’t like Captain America best?” Steve asked in a teasing tone.
Daisy shook her head slightly. “The Cap portrayals all had him as this perfect guy. Nobody can really be that perfect. I liked Bucky on TV because he made mistakes but owned up to them.”
Bucky laughed outright as Steve blinked in surprise. “Guess that tells you, Punk.”
“Jerk,” Steve responded automatically. Then he shook his head slightly. “How are you doing, doll? Need something to drink?”
“Water would be great,” she agreed. Bucky reached for the cup on the side table and held it where she could reach the straw without moving. When she released the straw, Bucky set the cup aside again. “I did actually always wish history would teach us more about the real guys, you know. Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, not Captain America and the Howling Commandos.”
“We’ll tell you anything you wanna know, doll,” Bucky promised. “We wanna hear about you, too.”
Daisy nodded. “Now that I’m awake, can we get outta here?”
Bucky looked at Steve, who sighed. “We have to talk first, I’m afraid. The doctor came in with your results while you were asleep. I hope you don’t mind that he gave them to me; soulmates count as immediate family here.”
Daisy shrugged. “It’s fine. I’d have probably told you anyway, or let you be here when they told me. So what’s going on?”
As clearly as possible, Steve explained what the doctor had told him. He emphasized that they were extremely hesitant to try more drugs when they didn’t know what had caused her problems in the first place. But that if her best chance was the soulbond, he and Bucky were happy to provide for her if that was what she wanted.
Daisy was quiet for several minutes. Then slowly, in a halting voice, she began to tell them about her experiences with HIVE. She didn’t spare herself at all, freely admitting that under its control she had done things she regretted and gotten several people killed. And that even when her friend had given his life to free her, she had tried to go back only to discover that it was impossible.
“I think,” Bucky began after Daisy fell silent, “that you an’ I have a lot in common. Both made to do things against people we loved by others controlling our minds.” He squeezed her hand gently with his remaining one.”
“And if these parasites messed with your mind, that’s probably the reason for the strange results in your brain scan,” Steve added thoughtfully.
Daisy sighed. “I don’t want you to bond with me because I need help getting over him. I want us to bond because it’s what we all want.”
“Trust me, darlin’, there’s nothing we’d rather do than make you part of our Bond,” Bucky said honestly, a light in his eyes as he held her gaze.
“What God has joined together, let no man break apart,” Steve said. Daisy recognized the phrase as one commonly used in Catholic marriages. “The bond exists, and we have to believe it’s for a reason. Maybe this will help all of us heal. Fully and completely.”
“Steve, too,” Bucky agreed. “Punk was never good at dealing with loss, gettin’ over the past. But I think we can help him with that, yeah?”
Daisy’s expression turned thoughtful and she slowly nodded.
Steve made a derisive sound. “I’m not holding onto the past. I’m enjoying familiar things. Not that noise Tony listens to all the time.”
Daisy chuckled. “Oh, Steve. I think I can change your mind on that front.” Steve looked skeptical. “Think about it. Music trends build upon prior styles. Of course you can’t jump from big band and swing to hip hop and heavy metal. But if we get you there incrementally, I think you might be surprised.”
Steve blinked. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“I think I do. Trust me?”
“Absolutely, doll. Always,” Steve agreed without hesitating.
“Me too,” Bucky agreed. “You can bring us both up to date.”
Daisy smiled. “I will. I promise. So, now, about getting out of here...”
It wasn’t easy to convince the doctors to release Daisy from their care, but she finally put her foot down and insisted that she was not bonding in a hospital room. So she was finally allowed to leave, provided her soulmates stayed with her for the next 48 hours. She was not to be left alone and they should come back immediately if problems arose.
The Avengers were all being provided with guest housing in King T’Challa’s royal compound until a more permanent solution was found. Steve led the way to his temporary home, where they firmly closed and locked the door.
“You gonna make it through this, doll?” Bucky asked solicitously as he steadied Daisy. She leaned against him, but it actually made her feel more stable and not less.
“Yeah. Just being able to touch you helps some,” she admitted.
“Then why don’t we move this to the bedroom?” Steve suggested in a husky tone. “Get you some full skin-to-skin contact.”
