❝Just know that from this point on, whatever happens, I'll be with you. I'm not gonna leave your side until you tell me to.❞
. . .in which she helps him find his way back to himself.
[BOOK ONE]
[Highest ranking: #1 in MCU/fanfiction as of 5/26/18]
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★ ★ ★
The Washington air was frigid as Steve and Marlena stepped off of the plane and onto the tarmac of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The airport was a bit more crowded than Marlena had originally believed it would be, but she couldn't bring herself to pay too much attention to the fact at the moment.
She was back home, and although she wasn't physically inside her house, Washington D.C. itself was home. She had grown up in the district, only ever leaving to visit family or go on vacation. Being away for such a long period of time had dumped an extensive amount of stress onto Marlena, but now that she was back and breathing in the familiar air of the city she loved, she felt all of her stress slowly beginning to dissipate. She only wished she didn't have to give it up again so soon.
"It feels so good to be back here," Marlena chirped as she skipped to her place beside Steve, dragging her suitcase behind her.
He laughed as she nearly tripped over it and was quick to remove it from her grasp to prevent her from further harming herself. "It's definitely not gonna feel good when you're in the hospital with a broken ankle, nor is it gonna feel good for me when Bucky murders me for letting you get hurt."
Marlena let out a scoff and pulled her jacket over her chest to protect her skin from the cool wind. "I can handle Bucky; you don't need to worry about him," she chuckled, "Now, give me back my suitcase."
She made a move to grab it, but Steve quickly moved away. "Ah-ah," he scolded her as he stepped into the building. "I told Buck I would take care of you, and taking care of you does not involve allowing you to conjure up whatever clumsiness is left inside that assassin-trained body of yours."
"Whatever you say, Steve," she replied as the two made their way through the large airport.
She was busy gazing at all the people scurrying throughout the building when an instant wave of fear struck her, stopping her immediately in her tracks. Her thoughts—as well as everyone else's—began to torture her as she registered just how many people there were. She was nowhere close to being in control of her abilities—she still had yet to even begin working on trying to control them—and knowing that she was confined to a space filled with hundreds of innocent and breakable people made her feel sick to her stomach; she could hurt anyone with a simple thought or a simple shift in her emotions. As she realized this, she attempted to calm herself down, but it only made her feel worse. This particular reaction was proof that Marlena had been cooped up for too long.
"Marlena?"
Steve stopped and turned around when he realized she hadn't been following him. The expression of pure horror on her face as she looked around at all the people gave Steve more than enough insight as to what was going on inside her mind. She was scared—scared of what she could do. This had been Tony's number one mistake while keeping her in the tower. He had only allowed her to be around those she was most comfortable with (the Avengers and Bucky) when he should have allowed her to go out and get used to the company of other people. Had he done so, the probability of her freaking out would have been substantially lower.
