How do you heal?

Chapter 28: As The World Shifts

Everyone sat in the tower's lab discussing what just happened. Alex was helping Maria remove glass from her feet as Annie sat at a table jotting down a list of phone calls she needed to make, Bucky leaning next to her. She was only half listening to them argue when she felt Bucky move behind her. She looked up to see Thor stride across the room and grab Tony around the neck. She shot up out of her chair to stop him, clearly not thinking about the fact that Thor is a literal god and just reacting to her fear for Tony, but Bucky grabbed her around the waist. Pulling her in he whispered, "Let Steve handle it." Annie relaxed, as much as she could, as Steve stepped in. Thor placed Tony back down and she listened as he explained that the Legionnaire got away with the scepter. Her heart sank.

The next day Bucky, Annie, Sam and Alex returned to the compound. Colonel Rhodes went to D.C., Dr. Cho got on a plane back to Seoul and Agent Hill stayed at the tower to coordinate as the core Avengers went after Ultron. They were all in the living area, Sam and Alex on the couch, Bucky sitting at the island and Annie nervously cleaning the kitchen. They all heard Sam's phone ring, he looked down to read the message and panic flooded his face. He stood and grabbed the remote, turning on the news. Annie and Bucky walked over to see feed after feed of the Hulk tearing through Johannesburg before being encapsulated in a metal dome.

"What is happening?" Annie asked Sam.

"I don't know, that was Hill, she just said turn on the news. Barnes, I think they might need back up." He replied, moving toward Bucky.

"Well Hulk is in that thing now, right? That should be the end of it." Alex gestured at the screen.

They all turned to watch for a moment and then the dome began to sink into the ground. The feed showed police surrounding the area before Hulk burst from the ground a few feet over.

"Fuck." Bucky and Sam said in unison.

The next few minutes were a mass of calls for Bucky and Sam as they tried to coordinate with Maria and Colonel Rhodes to see how they could get to the Avengers and help. Annie and Alex sat quietly watching the horror on the news unfold as Tony arrived on the scene.

A few hours later Maria had called them to let them know that when the others left Africa they had to go dark until Ultron was located.

Annie and Bucky were in her room.

"You need to go home with Alex." Bucky said from the bed.

Annie, still on edge, was pacing around tidying up her already clean room. "I disagree." She replied curtly as she neatly refolded a throw blanket and placed it on the back of the couch.

"I understand you disagree, that doesn't change the fact that you are going. I'm sure Alex, and your family, would agree it's safer for you there until all this gets figured out." Bucky argued back as he stood and walked towards her.

She shifted around him as he reached for her and headed to her closet where she started rearranging clothes. "Sarge, I don't think anywhere is safe right now and you clearly don't know Alex because I am pretty sure she would agree with me and if I'm staying, she is staying. It's not like I am a target so it shouldn't matter where I am and if I somehow was a target I am not going to go home and put my family at risk!"

He walked up to her again taking the clothes she was holding and throwing them on her reading chair before grabbing her hands. "Don't 'Sarge' me right now, Annie, this isn't a joke. Sam and I might need to leave at any minute to get to the others and that would leave you here, at an Avengers facility which is most definitely an Ultron target, with no protection."

"And if I go home I won't have protection! I don't understand why it matters where I am." She said trying to pull from his grip and return to her compulsive organizing, her rising anxiety forming a knot in her chest.

Bucky moved to take her face in his hands, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Because I won't be able to focus! If you stay here and I have to leave, I will not be fully present in whatever fight is happening. In the back of my head I will be worrying about you and if I do leave and something does happen here I will never forgive myself for not doing everything in my power to keep you safe. Yes, you are right, nowhere is completely safe right now but your house IS at least safer than here. So making you go is the one thing in my power I can do and I need you to let me do it."

Annie didn't want to leave but she saw the look in his eyes. If she didn't go he would be furious and that could put him at risk. She did not want either of those things. A tear rolled down her cheek as she whispered, "Fine."

Late that night Happy loaded Alex and Annie's luggage onto Tony's plane as they were saying their goodbyes. Alex looked at Annie as she walked toward the stairs. "I'll keep security detail distracted for a minute so you can have a little privacy but keep it PG. We don't need a bathroom repeat." Annie just rolled her eyes and turned to Bucky.

"Thank you for going." He said softly into her hair as he kissed the top of her head.

"You're not welcome." She replied grumpily as she wrapped her arms around him, her face pressing into his chest.

He chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, I know but I still appreciate it."

Without looking up she said, "Please just let me know if you do end up going, and be careful."

They stood there for a moment in silence before he pulled back. Placing his fingers under her chin to make her look at him Bucky started. "Annie I.."

"All set Annie. We gotta get going." Happy's voice came from the top of the stairs.

She looked over to the man. "I'll be up in a sec, Happy." She called then shifted her gaze back to him.

Bucky started again. "I..." but the moment was gone and if he did end up going to help the others and something happened to him, he couldn't do that to her. "I'll miss you." Is all he said before he kissed her and walked her to the stairs.