Come Back To Me

12

"Mommy, who was the man that killed Nick?" Jamie asked as we made our way back upstairs toward the hall we had left Steve in just a few hours before.

My breathing hitched for a moment and I gave her hand a small squeeze. "I dont know, kiddo. But your uncle Steve and I are going to do everything we can to keep you safe from harm, and make sure that bad man never comes back to hurt us." I promised her. I just prayed that I could keep that promise. From the corner of my eye I could see Steve approaching with his hood up. Jamie and I quickenned our pace to meet him. "What's wrong?" I asked when I saw the look of distress on his face.

"We can't trust anyone at SHIELD. We are on our own figuring out whats on that flash-drive." Steve muttered, turning to the vending machine beside us. He peered into it, searching for something but looked unsettled when whatever it was wasnt there. "What the hell? I put the drive behind the gum. Its gone." he whispered to me with a look of fear in his eyes.

"Steve, why didnt you give it to me?" I spat under my breath. He didnt get a chance to answer before we heard a pop of bubble gum behind us, followed my obnoxiously loud chewing. We whipped around to come face to face with Nat, who held a prideful smirk on her lips. Steve let out a quiet snarl and grabbed her arm violently, dragging her into a supply closet where I quickly followed with Jamie. I was full of rage. How could Nat betray us like that?

Steve slammed her against the wall and held her there by her shoulders and Jamie cowered into my side. "Dont hurt Auntie Nat." she whimpered.

"Shh. Dont pay attention Jamie." I quieted her, holding her against me.

"Where is it?" Steve snapped. Fire was blazing white hot in his blue eyes.

"Safe." Nat smirked, seeming unfazed by his sudden aggression.

"We need you to do better than 'safe'." I growled at the woman I had considered a friend.

"Where did you get it?" Nat asked, avoiding the answer to my remark.

"Why would we tell you?" Steve narrowed his eyes at the redhead.

Nat's eyes widenned momentarily with realization before her brows knit together. "Fury gave it to you. Why?" she pressed, still avoiding our questions.

I didnt trust her, and hardly believed a word that came out of her mouth. "Whats on it?" I asked, ignoring her question like she was ignoring ours.

Her eyes flicked over to me. "I dont know." she said lowly.

"Stop lying!" Steve spat in her face, drawing her attention back to him.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers." Nat glared up at him, her green eyes dilating. My suspicions continued to raise the longer this conversation went on.

"I bet you helped Fury hire the pirates, didnt you?" Steve growled at her. My brows knitted together in confusion from that comment, not sure of what he was talking about. It must have been from a mission I wasnt involved in.

Nat smirked and halfway shrugged under Steve's grip on her shoulders. "Makes sense. Ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you." she replied with ease.

"Im not going to ask again." Steve said between his teeth, his jaw clenching in frustration.

"I know who killed Fury." Nat said, changing the topic. I perked my ears up in interest and Steve's eyes hesitated, but he let her speak. "Most of the intelligence community doesnt believe he even exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He is credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years." she said, a small flake of fear shimmering in her eyes. Finally, something that might have actually scared her. But how could he have killed for 50 years? When I chased after him, he seemed young and full of life, unlike someone who has been around for so long.