You were the first one up the next morning, which didn't surprise you in the least. Dressed in pajama pants and a loose t-shirt, you made your way into the kitchen and pushed the button to start the coffee. You tapped your fingers on the counter as you waited for it to brew. As soon as you had it prepared the way you liked it, you padded into the living room.

"Mr. Stark on the line for you."

That brought a grin to your face as you settled on the sofa. "Put him on, J."

Tony's face immediately filled the screen. His eyes ran over you and the corners of his mouth kicked up. "God, you're a sight for sore eyes."

"You haven't been gone that long, Tony," you said, smirking over the top of your coffee cup.

He shrugged. "What's that got to do with anything?"

You shook your head. "I doubt you called to chat, so what can I do for you?"

"I got a phone call this morning." That was all he said before looking at you expectantly.

"Okay?" There was something you were obviously missing.

He shifted his weight. "Let me rephrase that. I got a phone call from Fury this morning."

"Oh?" You tried to sound surprised but were certain you failed miserably. You'd kind of hoped Tony would never find out about that conversation. For one thing you loved your job. For another you loved your boss. Despite numerous indications to the contrary you really weren't trying to piss him off.

"Oh, she says." He looked to someone off screen and gestured toward you. When he turned back he licked his lips and his smile widened a bit. "Did you really threaten court action against SHIELD if he didn't return your call?"

"No," you corrected. "I told Coulson that he could call me back when he chose but that I would be at the courthouse to file papers this morning. I just happened to decide not to after we came to a mutual understanding."

He looked at you for a moment before laughing, the action making him look years younger. "I've got to hand it to you, sweetheart. You never cease to surprise me."

"You have no idea," you muttered.

He tilted his head. "What was that?"

"Nothing. Why did Fury call you anyway? Our discussion had nothing to do with you." You were curious but you also just wanted to change the subject.

"He let me know in no uncertain terms that he would be displeased if you lost your job with the team. He's rather fond of you. And I don't think he's fond of anyone." Tony sounded slightly shocked as he made the admission.

And if you were honest, you were pretty pleased with yourself. "He likes Maria."

"Hill? Yeah, I guess he does." He glanced off the screen again. "Yeah, I'm getting to it."

Your lips twitched. "Is there a reason everyone is off screen but you?"

"Well, I was trying to have a conversation with my girl but they all want to know what happened and apparently don't trust me to tell them later."

A little thrill went through you when he called you his girl. You couldn't help it.

He leaned forward and turned whatever device he was using so you could see everyone else on the other side of the room. They all said hi and waved to you while you waved back. After a moment he turned the camera to the original position. "So, what exactly happened? Fury didn't go into specifics."

You sat your now empty coffee cup on the table in front of you and pursed your lips. "I found Dr. Bradford harassing Wanda. She didn't defend herself because she didn't want to violate the terms of her probation."

"What?" The voice came from off screen but you were pretty sure it was Clint. He'd kind of taken the twins under his wing, his affection for Wanda obvious. He liked Pietro too though it was shown in more of a 'this guy really pisses me off' way.

"She's fine," you were quick to add. "But that couldn't stand. They have to be able to defend themselves without repercussions. Fury and I went back and forth for a bit but we rewrote the probation agreement. I can send it to you or you can review it when you get back."

Tony watched you for a moment, his dark eyes studying you. "Part of the reason this works is because we trust you." His voice had turned soft. "We'll look at it when we get back. Which should be soon by the way."

You nodded though he didn't see it because he'd looked away again.

His gaze was quick to come back to you. "Got to go, Babe. Talk to you later." He cut the connection before you even had a chance to respond.

***

You were halfway through your second cup of coffee when you heard a thud followed by a quiet shout. "Jarvis?" you said immediately, hoping he'd picked up the cause in his monitoring.

"It appears Sergeant Barnes is having a nightmare, Miss. Shall I wake him?"

"I don't think an AI waking him up is going to help anything," you said as you got to your feet. You hurried to the room you'd set up for Bucky and knocked on the door. "Buck?"

When the only response was another low shout, you opened the door. You sincerely hoped Bucky didn't sleep in the nude. Your gaze fell on the bed and your chest ached a little at the sight before you. The sweat soaked soldier was tangled in the sheets. Hair covered his face as he twisted and turned. The only word you could understand from his muffled shouts was 'no'.

Stepping closer to the bed, you called his name again. "Bucky, wake up, honey. It's okay. Nothing here is going to hurt you." When he didn't respond, you repeated the words only louder.

Anxiety swamped you—far more than the situation warranted, in fact. As you were trying to figure out why, you placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder. Sometimes you were really fucking stupid.

In a flash, the super soldier's hand on was on your chest and he used it to shove you backward across the room. Somehow, you'd managed to angle yourself so it was your shoulder that slammed into the doorframe instead of your spine. You grunted as the pain flared through you. "Ow."

Bucky's face immediately cleared and he held up both hands as he took a large step backward. You watched his expression as he processed what was going on. When his eyes went wide and guilt contorted his features, you immediately closed the distance between the two of you. You placed your hands on his upper arms to keep him from moving away from you. "Hey. It's okay. I'm okay."

He shook his head and jerked away from you, moisture flooding his eyes. "No. I hurt you. I could have—"

You cut him off there. "You could have but you didn't. This is my fault, Barnes, not yours. You were simply trying to get me out of your space. I knew better than to wake you up like that. I'm sorry."

He huffed and raked a hand through his hair. "I hurt you and you're the one apologizing?" He turned from you and paced back and forth on a tiny section of his floor with his hands on his hips. "Damn it!" His fist punching the wall emphasized his statement. You'd worry about him hurting himself, but he'd used the metal hand.

"Bucky, seriously, it's fine. I don't want you—" You cut off with a yell as you bent forward and pressed a hand against the side of your face. A jolt of pain rocked through your entire body, almost as if you had impacted with something and that overwhelming anxiety was back. What the hell?

"Are you okay?" Bucky sounded frantic and for some reason you got the impression it wasn't the first time he'd asked.

"What's going on?" you heard Pietro ask from the doorway.

You breathed out in a long, steady stream before straightening. The pain was gone as quick as it had come, only the ache in your shoulder remaining. Your hand dropped and Bucky's eyes went almost comically wide. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" Wanda piped up and you turned to face her. Her gaze narrowed and pure fury flashed across her face as she brought her hands up. She turned her glare on Bucky. "You hurt her."

"No! Stop Wanda," you yelled as red tendrils began to surround her hands. "It wasn't him."

She frowned and dropped her hands. You glanced between them to find them all looking at you with varying degrees of worry and confusion. With a sigh, you went to the closest mirror and gasped. The right side of your face was covered with a series of darkening bruises. What the hell had Tony done this time?

***

After explaining to the others that you had a soulmate without mentioning who it was, you excused yourself to your room. You looked horrible but at least the bruising on face had taken Bucky's mind from what happened when you woke him. Your shoulder still ached as you slid your shirt off and turned to look at it in the mirror. Shit. That was going to bruise. And badly.

Putting your shirt back on, you sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. Something had changed in your connection with Tony. You'd never been able to feel his emotions or his pain before. That overwhelming anxiety had to come from him, right? You'd really like to ask him if he knew what the hell was going on, but that might be a little awkward since you hadn't told him you were his soulmate yet.

You growled in frustration. What was wrong with you? The one person that could probably help you with this, you couldn't ask. You sighed and dropped your head into your hands. And if anything, that anxious feeling you'd had earlier had only gotten worse. You weren't certain how long you sat like that before Jarvis interrupted you.

"You have a voice only call from Dr. Banner, Miss."

You cleared your throat and laid back on your bed, wincing at the pressure on your shoulder. "Put him through."

"Hey, Bruce. What's up?"

"What's up? What the fuck is wrong with you? What's going on over there? Christ, I'm going crazy over here and you're all 'what's up'." Bruce was obviously more than a little irritated.

You could hear the sounds of the jet in the background as you sat up. "Calm down, Bruce. You know what happens when you get excited."

"Hulk's not going to show up just because I'm pissed at you. Trust me."

"What did I do?"

He grumbled but you couldn't make out the words. When he spoke up, it was little more than a strained whisper and you were certain that wherever he was on the jet, he was trying not to be overheard. "Let me paint a picture for you. The team was in the middle of a fight when all of a sudden, Tony feels this overwhelming wave of fear and a horrible pain in his shoulder. It's so distracting that he loses his focus, takes a hit and crashes."

You gasped.

"He's fine. Just a little beat up. And going out of his fucking mind about what happened to his soulmate and why he can feel her all of a sudden." The last words were as close to a yell as he could get while whispering. "He's freaking out talking about his soulmate in one breath and you in the next and how he needed to find her but didn't want to hurt you and you're the same fucking person and his helmet is messed up so he can't get Jarvis or he'd already be looking for her, you, whatever, and I swear by every scientific law in existence that if you don't tell him I will because I've never seen him like this and I don't like it, this isn't Tony, this is some weird version of Tony and you need to fix it because I don't like him like this—"

"Okay, Bruce," you interrupted when it was obvious he wasn't going to take a breath any time soon. "I'll tell him when you get back."

There was a brief stretch of silence. "You will?"

"I'd already planned on it. Besides, look at him. I get his bruises, too, remember? It's not like I can hide this."

"I guess I didn't consider that." He sounded much calmer and you were no longer worried he was going to Hulk out on the jet.

"There's just one thing I want to know," you said. "The man wears a metal suit. How does he get so beat up all the time?"