FROSTBITE | S. Rogers/B. Barnes (FINISHED)

Snow Storm

Even in the blazing heat, Janie found it in herself to keep walking. To the nearest town on most days, where she'd stop for a bottle of sparkling water and a sandwich. Sometimes she'd buy a Granny Smith apple, enjoying the tart flavor as she walked back to the cabin. She did her shopping on Thursdays, groceries she'd carry in two neatly packed white totes, cartons of milk, a bag of potatoes, fresh vegetables, fruit, and other essentials. Small bits at a time, purchased with a fifty euro bill, which sat perfectly folded inside her back pocket each time. 

On Fridays, she'd call him, just to check in, making sure they were alright. The calls were short, lasting less than two minutes each, carried out through the payphone that hung on the side of the town's gas station. It only took two euros to complete, after which she'd head inside the cool station for a bar of ice cream and a bag of Twizzlers. For two weeks straight, she'd only put in one euro, because there hadn't been much news and she had nothing to say. Still, she was grateful for his help, because, without him, she'd still be on the run or worse, in government custody, like Bucky when she first met him. No, she'd be forever in his debt.

Today was one of those days. Friday. She could already see the gas station looming in the distance and as to be expected, she carried a set of one euro coins in the pocket of her dress just in case, even though she only anticipated using one of them. A truck was parked off to the side, its driver seated in the back, sipping on a can of coke. He nodded, so Janie smiled to be polite. 

"Bonjour," she greeted the clerk after seeing him, offering him the same smile she offered him every week.

"Belle journée, non?" He replied, waving back while filling up a car. 

"absolument!" She replied, before heading for the phone. It really was a nice day, but in her opinion, the South of France was always nice. 

If only he knew she was there illegally. 

"Hey," she said, accustomed to the sound of the beeping phone being interrupted only after the third ring.

He knew she was the one who called him. She called him every week at noon on the dot, right before he went to sleep. 

"Morning," he replied, voice stoic and sounding tired. 

"It's noon, Tony," she replied, just as she did every week. Whether he'd forgotten or just didn't care, she didn't know, but she opted for the latter. 

"Money's in the box, probably. I don't know, I don't work for FedEx. Listen, you need to come back to New York.."

Janie's blood ran cold at the sound of his voice. The words rang through her left ear and her teeth clenched involuntarily, her hand gripping the phone suddenly as if it were a life jacket and she were on the verge of drowning. He'd joked about her return before, telling her Steve wasn't the same, Steve did things he'd never do, that he was running through Europe, but they always ended in a curt apology and a goodbye, see you next week. This wasn't that, she could tell. No hidden laughter in his voice, no choked-back giggles, not even a smile. Tony Stark was genuinely upset. 

"I can't, Tony. You know I-"

He cut her off before she could come up with an excuse to keep running from her problems because he didn't give a shit about a two-year-old lover's quarrel and he sure as shit wasn't about to sugarcoat things now. 

"It's not a request. Shit is going down and we need all the manpower, I mean, womanpower, we can get." He blurted out. 

"What's happening? Are you guys okay? Is he...?" She asked, voice quivering and hands shaking as the words faded from her lips.

She quickly looked around as if afraid someone was watching her. A truck blazed by, causing her to jump up when the sound reached her ears. After nearly two years of peace and silence, suddenly, the bubble she'd been living in popped, and just like that, she was forced back into the real world, where people were in danger, where threats lurked constantly, and where the Avengers were very much still needed. They were broken up, half of them hiding from the government and the other half hiding from themselves. She belonged to both categories. 

"You're not listening to me, are you?" Tony asked suddenly, jolting out of her erratic thought process and bringing her back down to earth. 

"What?" 

"Thanos is coming," he spat, "Listen, Nat's already on her way. I don't have any more time to explain, these fuckers are tearing down the city. You have the serum, put it to good use."

Janie swallowed hard, allowing his words to sink in while she breathed heavily through the receiver. Up ahead in the sky, she could see an airplane heading straight toward her.

Her thoughts wandered to the practice dummies Tony had installed in her backyard, basking in the sun, their leather bleached by its rays yet mostly untouched. She flinched.

Just as she was about to reply, the machine beeped twice, signaling she needed to insert more coins in order to continue the call. Frantically searching her pockets, she found nothing, cursing herself when she realized she'd only brought a single euro instead of two. Janie hardly heard Tony calling her name before the line cut out, the beeping replaced by a continuous ring that resonated deep within her. The sound of the jet engine quickly overpowered it and she dropped the phone onto the hook, turning on her heel as it landed in the pane of grass and flowers, subsequently squishing them into a pulp. 

The clerk began to shout, hands in his hair and a scowl on his face when the jet landed in the grass that belonged to the gas station, squishing it to a pulp and blowing dead leaves all over the concrete. 

"It's time, isn't it?" Janie asked, mouth dry and stomach-turning when the now blonde Natasha took a stand in front of her. 

"It's been two years, Adams. I'm expecting Tony to have built practice dummies when he built you that cabin. At least I hope so, 'cause you're going to need every bit of training you got when we get back to New York."

On the flight back to New York, Natasha explained what was going on, relaying everything she knew to Janie, who sat stunned in her seat for most of the ride. According to her, the mad titan Thanos had come to earth in search of the infinity stones. If he got his hands on all six of them, he would be able to destroy half of the universe with one snap of his fingers. The thought alone frightened Janie terribly, even though she had trouble following everything Natasha told her. She'd never heard of someone named Thanos before and had sure as hell never heard of the infinity stones, but she knew Tony wouldn't demand her to come back without good reason, so she decided to put her pride aside for the time being, even though the idea of seeing Steve again nearly sent her running back into the fields.

"So how was France?" Natasha asked finally, watching the young woman squirming in her seat.

"It was nice. Quiet, peaceful," she replied, looking down at her hands, "Does he hate me?"

"I've had to stop him thirty-two times. Thirty-two times he wanted to leave everything and come find you, and thirty-two times I stopped him before he got the chance. Steve might be angry, or upset, but he does not hate you. He couldn't even if he wanted to. I think he feels guilty, mostly."

Janie turned towards the window that offered a view of the bright blue water of the pacific ocean below. 

"None of this was his fault though, was it? I was stupid enough to follow after him, to try to convince him to sign the accords, even though I knew very well he would never sign them." She sighed, placing her head in her hands.

"Neither of you could've known what was about to happen," Nat assured her, "let's just focus on saving the universe for now."

"This guy, Thanos? What do you know about him?" She asked, trying to forget about the man she was about to see again for the first time in two years. 

"Not much, but we're about to find out. They almost got to Vision, but we managed to keep him safe."

Janie sat back in her seat. Her stomach bubbled and her heart accelerated to an unhealthy rhythm. Its fast beating didn't slow for the entire flight.