'Nice job, Cap,' Bucky nodded at Sam, trying to hide the immense pride he was feeling in the moment. 

'Thanks,' Sam said gently, smiling his way. 'You doing okay, Clara?'

'No,' she grumbled, looking down at the reddening patch of white bandages that had at some point been wrapped around the wound. She couldn't remember letting go of her hold on it, nor could she remember the bandages ever being placed, but she thanked the medic nonetheless. 

'Okay, come on,' Bucky held out a hand to pull her to her feet. 'You said you wanted to go to S.H.I.E.L.D., so let's go.'

Clara took his hand, unsure if she had the energy to lift herself to her feet. 'S.H.I.E.L.D.? Why aren't you taking her to the hospital?' 

'They ask too many questions,' Clara shrugged, instantly regretting it and wincing at the pain in her shoulder. 'Plus, free healthcare, you know?' 

'Right,' Sam nodded slowly, not sounding too convinced. As they turned to move further from the scene, Sam spotted another familiar face in the distance. Upon reaching her, he said her name to get her attention. 'Sharon?'

'You're blocking my light,' she told him, looking down at the puckered wound above her hip as she leant back against a black SUV. 

'We gotta get you to a hospital,' Sam told her.

'She's not gonna listen,' Bucky said as he looked at the crowds behind them uneasily.

'Oh well,' Clara forced a sarcastic smile through the pain she was feeling. 'Can we go now, please?'

'It's not the worst thing that's happened to me all week,' Sharon said, ignoring both Clara and Bucky. 

'Told you,' Bucky shrugged. 

'Uh, Cap?' A man called to Sam, making his way towards them and interrupting the short-lived conversation. 

'I think he's talking to you,' Sharon pointed out as she turned to face away from the unfamiliar.

'Really? Do you think so?' Clara gibed snidely.  

'Clara,' Bucky warned. Her jaw tightened, and she fought against biting back at him. 

'Look, I'm sorry for how things ended down there,' Sharon went on, and now Clara really had to hold herself back. 'For what it's worth, the suit looks good on you.'

'Thanks,' Sam nodded, moving to meet the approaching man half way down the road. 

Bucky looked between Sharon and Clara, Clara glaring daggers towards the other woman, and the woman pretending she couldn't see her doing so. 'All right, can we get out of here, please?' Bucky took Clara by the top of her arm, pulling her gently from the argument she was moments away from throwing herself into. 

'I didn't forget my promise,' Sam called out to Sharon before they walked too far away. Clara turned to let Sam know that she thought he should forget about that promise, but Bucky tugged on her arm to pull her back around. 

'Stop it,' he scolded her, keeping his voice hushed so Sharon wasn't made to feel uncomfortable by Clara's 

'She shot me,' she whispered harshly, scowling up at him. 

'Oh, grow up,' he grumbled. 

Clara gaped, not sure how to even begin replying to that. 'I...' She shook her head, glancing at her shoulder to see the red patch continuing to spread slowly over the white padding. She ignored the shaking in her muscles as much as she could, knowing that it wasn't from blood loss, just the tiredness and the fact she was still coming down from an adrenaline high. 

'You okay, Sharon?' Bucky asked, looking back at the woman with concern. 

'I'll be fine,' she chuckled lightly. 'After everything that's happened in the last eight years? This is nothing.' 

Clara kept her sights fixed on the path ahead of her. She knew she was feeling too irritable to have any kind of constructive conversation - and too drained to fight, if that turned out to be the way it went, so she kept her thoughts, and any choice words she might have, to herself. 

'This is where I'm leaving you,' she said, stopping as a black car with blacked-out windows pulled up alongside them. 'At least until that pardon goes through.'

'Sam's already speaking to people about it,' Bucky told her. Sharon carefully lowered herself into the backseat, closing the door behind and disappearing behind the tinted glass. 

'That wasn't sketchy at all,' Clara muttered, watching the car pull away and speed down the road.  

It wasn't exactly a long walk to S.H.I.E.L.D., but it felt as though it was. Upon arrival, Clara turned to Bucky. 'I know you don't believe me,' she said, her cheeks paler than they had been and her hands shaking still. 'But just be careful with her.'

'We don't need to be-'

'I know, I know. Just... Don't tell her the nuclear launch codes or whatever the Avenger's equivalent of that is,' she repeated with a frown. 'And think about what I said, please? I promise you I'm not paranoid, or overreacting, or-'

'Clara,' Bucky tried to stop her. 

'Please, Bucky,' she tipped her head back, not wanting to argue. 'I get it, I'm just a kid and don't know enough about the world and the people in it to pass judgement on strangers, blah, blah, blah, but I'm not completely clueless.'

Bucky narrowed his eyes at her, blaming her blood loss on the fact she had kind of implied he and Sam were clueless. 'I'll keep it in mind,' he said, though Clara imagined he only said that to shut her up. He stepped to the nearest door, holding it open for her. 'Come on, let's get you stitched up.' 

He followed her through the entrance, nodding a polite acknowledgement to the security as he did. Clara walked straight to the elevator, dipping a hand into an inner pocket to find her I.D. to scan. 

'Clara! Back already?' A familiar voice asked the second the doors to the elevator opened after the short ride up. 

Clara frowned, her head tilting to the side. 'Simmons? You're still here?'

'Well, you know how it is,' she smiled, rolling her eyes playfully. 'You pop in to say hello and all of a sudden everyone's asking for a helping hand.'

'Actually, I could use one, too,' Clara chuckled nervously. 

'Oh my,' Simmons said, as if only now noticing the bandage. 'Come with me, we'll get that sorted out for you.'

'Err...' Bucky said almost awkwardly, watching as Clara was dragged away by the woman. 'I guess I'll see you later!'

Clara stopped, turning back to Bucky. She didn't think she would be seeing him again, no time soon, at least. 'Sure,' she nodded. 'Maybe we'll run into each other next time the world's ending.'

Simmons urged her along, the woman wanting to get her shoulder looked at as soon as possible. When they reached the medical room, Simmons stopped Clara in the hallway. 'Clara, I need you to promise me something.'

Clara frowned, her mind a little too foggy to try to guess what she was going to ask. 'What is it?' 

'We've tried to keep your,' she paused, trying to find the right words. 'Origin... as confidential as possible, but there are a few people who think it would be best to keep you in a, how should I put it, a controlled environment, while we run more tests.'

'What, like a lab rat?'

'Well, no, not quite. More like... Actually, yes,' she sighed. 'Just like that.' 

'And what do you think of that?' Clara swallowed nervously. 

'I think you haven't caused the world any problems in the seventeen years you've been here, I don't see any reason you would,' she started. 'But, I do think we should find out what we can about the Aether.'

'Right,' Clara nodded timidly. 'But not because you think it's dangerous.'

'Oh, no. It absolutely is dangerous,' Simmons told her. 'Just apparently not to you. We feel as though we should at least try to find out why that is, and just... double check it isn't going to affect you in the same way it did...'

'My mum?'

'Precisely,' she smiled grimly, easing Clara into one of the medical rooms. 'But we won't keep you here, or make you stay unless you decide that's okay with you. Now, let's get that shoulder looked at, shall we?' 

Before long, Clara was knocked out on anaesthesia - not like they need to use any however, with her passing out from exhaustion as soon as she laid down on the bed - and the remaining doctors in the Head Quarters worked to close the wound in her shoulder. 

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