Love in the Shadows (Book 2)

Chapter 15

"The Scientist" - Coldplay

Bucky and I stay cuddled close together until he has to get up and land the quinjet. He brings us down and back into the hangar, and suddenly I feel like I could sink into this seat and stay here forever.

"Do we have to get off?" I say as Bucky stands in front of me.

"No." he replies, sitting back down next to me. He leans back against the wall, pressing his shoulder against me. "We can stay here all day if you want. We can fly or drive somewhere else." He grabs my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We can do whatever you want Mia."

I don't even know what I want. I definitely don't want to go out there. I know word must have gotten back about what happened in D.C. And I really don't want to walk out to all the looks and whispers I know I'm going to get. But staying in here isn't going to fix anything. Even with Bucky's comfort, I'm still going to sit here and overthink everything. I won't have any peace. And I can't exactly leave and just run away from all these problems. Especially because everyone on the team is going to want some answers about what's going on. Although that's another reason I don't want to leave here. I don't want to repeat what happened.

Suddenly we hear the sounds of another quinjet coming into the hangar and Bucky and I look at each other, both of us knowing who it is.

Steve.

I can't stay here. And I definitely can't leave somewhere else. I have to face this sooner or later, and there's definitely a few people I need to talk to before they try and get their hands on Steve.

Reluctantly I stand up, giving Bucky a longing look as he sits there. "Let's go." I say, and it's taking all the control in me to do this.

"Are you sure?" he asks, looking a little hesitant.

"Nope." I reply, then nod my head towards the back of the jet, knowing I have to do this anyways. Bucky smiles as he gets up and we bring down the ramp.

They're already watching us, eyes moving back and forth between our quinjet and the one Steve just landed. I look over and see that the ramp isn't down, meaning, like us, he's sitting in there, probably contemplating coming down. I can see almost every agent watching and analyzing every single reaction I have, and it's starting to make me really nervous.

"Just keep walking." Bucky says, putting his hand on my back to help guide me forward.

I look up and see Ana coming towards us, but her gaze is looking around the area, glaring at everyone who's clearly judging us.

"If you guys have nothing better to do may I suggest minding your own business." she says to everyone with her usual sharp tone. She then turns towards me, and I can see the sympathy and concern in her eyes.

Are Ana and I friends now?

"You alright?" she asks as she takes my hand and walks me through the hangar. I can see eyes still glancing in our direction, but with Ana by my side they don't stay on us, and instead nervously look away.

"Yeah." I lie, but only because I don't know what else to say to that question anymore.

"I heard you gave it to her good." Ana says, looking over at me with a sly smile and I can't help but laugh. "God I wish I could have seen it."

"You could always ask Maria to get you the security footage." I say, and immediately regret it, because I really shouldn't be trying to make my situation worse by risking even more people seeing how I treated Sharon. "Please forget I said that."

"Too late, already texting her." Ana says, and I turn to actually find her on her phone.

We get to the doors that head into the main building and Ana stops, opening the door for us but staying on the side of the hangar.