The Proposal

What the hell, Nat

Watching Artemis walk away with Tony on their way to talk with Charles and Logan, Steve shared a look with Bucky who hadn’t taken his eyes off of the woman they both desired. For the briefest moments Steve allowed himself to just look at his best friend with a softness he usually reserved for when they were alone and Buck also wasn’t paying attention. If he was being honest with himself Steve could stare at Bucky for hours. It was something he’d done a lot in their youth which allowed him to be able to read the brunette like an open book. In their reunion Buck had become much more quiet than his pre-war self but that didn’t mean he was harder to read, if anything it made it that much easier. When someone stopped using their words to communicate they found other ways to say what needed to be said. Like the intense expression in his pale blue gaze showed exactly how badly Bucky wanted to declare how he felt about Artemis to her but he didn’t want to scare her off. Or how his strong jaw line clenched in time with his fists in a bid to keep from going after her. To hold her in his arms as he offered comfort though he wouldn’t because he knew she wasn’t yet ready to accept it from him. 

James Barnes could say so much without saying a word and as much as he wished Buck would look at him the way he was looking at Artemis, Steve accepted that he never would. So he had to be satisfied that she wanted to share herself with the both of them. If this was the only way he’d ever get with him, even if he wasn’t able to declare his own feelings or touch him the way he wanted, then he’d take it. With one breath to the next Bucky shifted his stance alerting him that he was about to give him his attention signaling to Steve to rein it in. He could see in his friends’ face the determination to do anything to keep Artemis from taking off or at the very least go with her. And for once he was on the same page. It wasn’t Artemis’ fault that her family were a bunch of murdering spies. However, the lengths Calliope went to getting her daughter away from the Crimson Sparrows suggested that she wanted Artemis as far away from their people as possible. Not that that excluded her from the ire of taking away Artemis’ memories. In that he knew Bucky would be able to sympathize with her having had his own wiped away for decades. 

His next words confirmed it. Arms crossed over his muscular chest Bucky hooked his metal hand around the back of his tense neck as he asked, “What can we do to get her memories back? Mine for the most part have come back over time. With the professor's help there should be a way for Artemis. Right?” 

The expression of earnestness on his face had Steve wishing it was that easy. Shaking his head he lets out a long sigh. “From what Xavior said up in Maria’s office he tried to access Artemis’ memories when he first gained custody of her. Unfortunately he was unable to get past the blocks put in place by her mother. Whoever she is, whatever her powers are, they are too strong even for him.”

“Fuck.”

“Pretty much.” 

Having had many chats with their archer, Steve knew that Artemis had been in Charles Xaviors’ care since she was four years old. While she might not remember much about those four years had they not been taken from her, Artemis still would have bits and pieces of her old life that would have made a big impact on who she was. Like her siblings for instance. While Steve was an only child Buck had had a younger sister and had loved Rebecca something fierce. So for Artemis to be forced to forget about her sisters and brother, those memories of playing together, maybe even arguing, she was probably feeling an emptiness in her heart that until an hour ago she hadn’t known was there.

Clasping a hand on the other man’s shoulder Steve nodded towards the building. “We should head in and try to figure out some kind of plan.”

Already in the same mindset Bucky quickly led the way back inside to the elevators that would take them up to their floor. “I’ve sort of got one. First we need to find Romanoff then we can add in whoever we need once we’ve talked to her. Artemis is new to the idea of being on the run so she’s probably gonna go off of what she knows from hearing stories from me, you and Nat. What we need to do is keep her too busy to be able to get anything set in place.” Pressing the button needed he widens his stance as he crosses his arms over his chest.