An Act of... Love? [An Avengers Polyamorous Fanfic]

Chapter 14

"What was that about?" Natasha turned back to the rest of the Avengers after Ollie had gotten onto the elevator. Natasha's eyes landed on Tony, "Did you know anything about this?"

"I did a background check on her, and figured she'd had an abusive childhood, but it wasn't well documented. And I knew her sister had died, but I don't know what the hell that was," Tony responded.

"People with super hearing, what exactly did they do to this 'Aella'?" Scott questioned.

Bucky stepped forward, looking back over to where she had been standing briefly. "They threw Aella's urn into the river, months ago. As that 'James' put it, it was a form of punishment for Ollie not talking to him," he said with barely contained rage.

"And... uhm," Wanda started, all glances going to her. "I won't let you guys know everything she thought, since that's an invasion of privacy. But one important thing I should probably share is that Ollie believes that her family caused Aella's death. How, exactly, I don't know. But it seemed relevant."

"And James said that Aella was weak and hadn't deserved to stay in the house," Steve chimed in, Bucky nodding in agreement.

"And for reference, I have a feeling the nicknames 'Sunshine' and 'Bunny' are completely off-limits," Bucky added.

"Who called her which?" Clint asked, mostly just curious.

"James called her sunshine, and Beckett called her bunny, bun, and bun-bun."

"And they know she's in New York. Which terrified her. But she's certainly more scared of James than she is Beckett," Wanda added before continuing, "Apparently Beckett doesn't possess empathy, he's a sociopath. But he does possess... a sense of fascination regarding Ollie. It seems like their family dynamics are all weird and fucked up."

"His tone and word choice when he apologized about what they did with Aella were fucked, too," Bucky pointed out.

"Like it was a super causal occurrence," Steve added.

"She's definitely traumatized... I just... I didn't know how bad it was," Loki said, more to himself, but everyone looked at him.

"She has a problem taking care of herself. She continuously forgets to eat. That's why I started staring her down or commanding her to eat at dinner, because she's, on more than one occasion, gone more than twenty-four hours without food." Bruce was chastising himself then, wondering how he hadn't noticed she hadn't been eating. He must've been too busy, but he knew that wasn't a good excuse.

"And... uhm... Tony you know the first night you showed her to your apartment and then left?" Bucky spoke up again. "She... never actually made it to the bed. I heard her cry herself to sleep in the living room. Figured I wouldn't share that, though, if it wasn't important. It seems like now it might be important." Tony felt sadness draw over him. She'd cried after he left? After she'd kissed him and then Tony distanced them before it could go further?

"We're all traumatized, guys. All of us," Natasha said, looking around and making contact with each individual. "We all have something in our lives that messed us up. Let's remember how we felt about those situations, and then make sure we don't push Ollie. Make sure we don't make her feel weird or ostracized. Let's just work, for now, on making sure she is in a safe place and that she feels safe. She'll open up to us when she needs to or feels like she can. But in the meantime, let's make sure this 'James' has absolutely nothing on her. No leverage, no location, no communication, nothing. James does not gain access to our Ollie. Point, blank, period." Everyone nodded in agreement and the Avengers spent the rest of the night discussing what their plans were to handle this situation as efficiently as possible without making Ollie uncomfortable.