After All We've Been Through (Steve x reader)

Reunited and Divided

   "She's back!" Sam and Buck are the first to greet you.

Your suitcases fall to the floor and you throw your arms around Sam first, then Bucky.

"I've missed you guys!"

Sam's grin stretches a little wider and Bucky pulls you close.

"Where's Steve?" His eyes search the empty elevator before it closes.

There it is. The dreaded question.

"He, uh... I... he's in Wakanda." It feels like a bad thing to admit you left a recovered head trauma patient.

"But he's coming later." Sam looks confused.

"I don't know. I left him."

Bucky processes this and his jaw tightens "Y/N, what's going on?"

A quick step in the hall catches your attention.

"So you were seriously about training?" Natasha greets you with a smile and a quick hug.

"I am" It sounds ominous. Here you are about to throw yourself into the one thing you never wanted to experience.

   Natasha reads your expression and nods "I'll have Tony fill you in on the details and we'll start right away."

"That will be fine."

"But Y/N-" Sam reaches for your arm.

Bucky shakes his head "Let her go"

Natasha becomes your wing woman. She keeps everyone off your back and lets you focus entirely on training.

All the things you hated about Steve's workout routine are the only things that keep your mind off him. So you embrace the new healthy active lifestyle to dull the pain.

Everyone is different. Tony and Natasha pour over data, analyzing it for hours.

Bucky, who looks like a new man without the beard and long hair insists everyone call him James, is slightly unsettling. That wouldn't be the case if Steve had come with you.

You unwrap your hands and toss the rolled up cloth onto the bench.

"Morning, Y/N" Clint's hair is flat on one side and he's dragging his feet a little "Sharon wants to meet with the team a little later."

"Sharon Carter?" You tried not to be the jealous girlfriend, but hearing her name made your heart beat a little faster.

Clint misses the significance of this "Yeah, she's helping us out."

"Oh" You gather your things.

Sharon fills the vacant space Steve left with his injuries. Her calm concise leadership style gives you little reason to actively dislike her. Of course there were some minor things, like the make out sesh with Steve prior to your relationship and how inconvenient her timing was.

  Where was S.H.I.E.L.D. when Natasha was attacked? Why didn't they share the intel on Yelena?

    "Y/N" Sharon makes sort of an introduction after the meeting "The team's told me a lot about you."

   You don't smile, but you're civil "I'm glad we've finally met."

  Her lips purse slightly "I hope you don't mind that I'm leading this mission."

   "Not at all. It'll be good for the guys to experience some female leadership."

   There's almost a smile, but the agent is as tense as you are.

   "Sharon" Bucky bursts in "I was thinking we -  oh, Y/N. I didn't know you were still in here."

   He looks ashamed and a little wary. You'd been here for a week and he still wasn't able to read your mental state.

    The easy cheerful front you were able to maintain, and Natasha's bulldog tenacity made you unreachable.

   "Did you need something, James?" Sharon takes over.

   "Actually" Buck's eyes shift between the two of you "We need to address some things here."

   "Things?" Your voice drops a note or two.

   "If this has to do with Steve, I swear-" Sharon's voice is low.

   "It does" Buck gets a steely tone and his jaw sets in a hard line "Whether you two like it or not, we're working together and whatever your feelings are, Y/N, we have to get him back."

   Sharon eyeballs me "What's going on?"

   The harshness of her voice is an open challenge, and you meet it with equal force.
Your anger flares and that muted animosity blazes to life.

   "I'm not a lesser agent. I have done this before."

    The returning remark is calm but lightning crackles in those dark eyes "I am your superior officer, and I need information."

   "Information isn't free" The power of your voice rumbles low in your throat  "Don't push me, Sharon."