I KNOW YOU ALL WANTED TO SEE STOEY MAKE UP, BUT SOMETIMES YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT, AND SOMETIME YOU DO.
READ ON TO FIND OUT IF YOUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED.
~ ~ ~
Steve's POV
Zoey. Zoey Redbird.
I can't move.
"Zoey." I breathe, but she ignores me, dumping her bag and walking past me, towards Fury.
"You're an asshole." He points at him accusingly, "Faking your own death? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I was protecting people." Fury shoots back, "You included."
"Yeah right." She rolls her eyes, turning away from him.
"It's good to have you back, Agent Redbird." Fury says. We watch as Zoey turns immediately back around, seething.
"I am not an Agent." She says angrily, "I'll never associate with SHIELD again, or rather, should I say HYDRA?"
Fury scowls, but Zoey shakes her head, stepping back into the shadows.
"Ahem." Sam clears his throat, holding his hand out towards her. "I'm Sam Wilson, and I- uh- I'm fighting with your boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend." Zoey corrects him, and even months on those words still hurt. "And you're saying that you got into this willingly?"
"That's right." Sam nodded.
"Then, you're an idiot." Zoey takes his hand and shakes it, "But it's good to meet you, Sam Wilson."
"You, too, Zoey Redbird." He says.
I watch as they let go of each other's hands, biting back the jealousy that involuntarily rises to the back of my throat.
"Zoey." Natasha speaks up.
"Hello, Nat." Zoey says politely, "Lovely to see you on this horrible occasion."
"You're the rage that Fury was talking about?" She asks.
"I guess so." Zoey nods, "I want revenge on the ones who hurt me."
"You'll get it." Fury nods, "HYDRA's going down."
"No, you don't understand." Zoey shakes her head at him, "I'm happy to take down HYDRA, but there's one thing that I want more than anything."
"And that is?" Fury asks.
"Pierce." She says simply.
"We need him alive for our plan to work, Redbird." Fury points out, "We'll make him pay for his crimes."
"No need." Zoey turns and walks away, calling over her shoulder. "I'll make him suffer for them instead."
She leaves the room, her footsteps growing quieter as she disappears.
"What the hell just happened?" Sam asks to the silent, stunned room.
"That's Zoey Redbird." Nat says, grinning slightly.
"What's she so interested in Pierce for?" Hill asks.
"I'm not sure." Fury tells her, "But she wasn't always that rude."
"She has every right to be." Hill points out to her boss in a scolding manner.
"Why?" I finally find my voice again, "What happened to her?"
Nobody speaks, Fury and Maria averting their gazes.
"I think she should be the one to tell you."
~ ~ ~
Zoey's POV
I walk out into the grey cloudy day, standing on the bank of the wide stream.
It's not deep, barely an inch or so of water, and pebbles and rocks covering it.
My thoughts wander to the group of people still inside, the 'team', if you could call it that.
Can we work together? What is a team without trust?
Sure, Sam trusts Steve, Natasha trusts Steve, and Steve trusts both of them.
He doesn't trust me. I don't blame him, he shouldn't trust me.
He's struggling to trust Fury, but he still does, and in turn he trusts Maria as well.
They all trust each other, they don't trust me. They're a team, I'm not a apart of it.
I don't even think I want to be.
I walk into the stream, only the bottoms of my shoes getting wet, making my way to the middle.
As I reach it I close my eyes, facing away from the facility and towards the forest.
I listen to the sounds of running water, to the birds and the wind and all the natural things in the world.
Slowly I rise off the ground, hovering ten feet out of the water.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my thoughts and nerves and rage.
"Okay." I say inaudiably to myself.
~ ~ ~
Steve's POV
I stand on the bridge, watching Zoey in the stream.
She hovers for about a minute, before the hundreds of little rocks in the stream begin to rise out of the water.
I watch in awe as Zoey begins to spin them around her body, creating what looks like a hurricane of rocks.
I lose sight of her in the middle of it, the only noise being the clicking sounds of rocks hitting each other.
The storm of rocks goes faster and faster, until it is just a blur, and I can no longer distinguish the shapes of each pebble.
And just as quickly as it started, the rocks all fall back into the stream, crashing and splashing water everywhere.
Zoey crouches in the stream, her shoulders heaving slowly as she catches her breath.
"Wow." Sam comes to stand beside me, "She's strong."
"She is." I agree, watching as she straightens up.
"You know, she's with us." He tells me, "She's on our side."
"Yeah." I swallow, "She with us, but she's not with me."
"You still love her, don't you?"
"Course I do." I watch as Zoey walks off into the forest, "I've loved her ever since I first saw her. She's the one who left me, never even told me why."
"Maybe you should ask her now." Sam grins slightly, "Play the 'I may die tomorrow' card, see if she takes pity on a lonely soldier."
"She would've laughed at that once." A shadow of a smile grows on my face, "Now I'm not so sure. She's changed."
"Can you blame her?" He asks, "She went through hell."
"No, I don't blame her." I shake my head, "I just want to know why, and I want her back."
"You should talk to her." Sam nods, "But Steve, remember who it is that hurt her."
I swallow, my throat drying up.
"He was my best friend, my brother." I sigh.
"Look, whoever he used to be, the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save." Sam tells me, "He's the kind you stop."
"I don't know if I could do that." I said quietly.
"Well, he might not give you a choice." He says, "He doesn't know you."
"He will." I insist, "And Zoey will understand."
"She might not." Sam points out, "He hurt her for three months. She may not want to understand."
"What are you saying?" I ask, looking at him.
"Steve." He says slowly, "You may not be able to have both of them. You may have to choose."
Choose?
Bucky was the only one really there for me after my mother died. He was my brother, I loved him.
Zoey was the only one really there for me after I came out of the ice. She was my friend, I was in love with her. I am in love with her.
How can I choose between them?
~ ~ ~
SHORTY BUT IMPORT(ANT)Y
OKAY SO MAYBE YOUR PRAYERS WEREN'T EXACTLY ANSWERED.
MAYBE THEY WILL BE SOMEDAY.
MAYBE.
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