Song: "My Blood" by Ellie Goulding

******

James turned and moved away from me, and I began to furiously rub at my face. The hell was that for? I cleared my throat and managed to mutter a small, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. You saved me back there, so I might as well return the favor," he says over his shoulder as I follow after him.

"So where are we going?" I asked as I caught up to him, shrugging my jacket back on.

"This way," he says blandly and stops at the edge of a roof, then backs up, and takes a running start and jumps, landing across the way on another rooftop. I flicked my wings back out through the slits in my tops and flew across.

He looks at me. "You know you're gonna get spotted easier that way." He then turns and begins to jog. "Just jump. You'll make it fine."

I ground my teeth, then looked at the distance and how he jumped it with ease. I couldn't hear any more gun shots behind us, but that didn't mean they weren't still following us. He looked back at me on the other side, and I clenched my fists, then took a running jump and leapt for the other roof.

I landed on the ledge, suddenly feeling my balance go off and I yelped, but he grabbed my arm, pulling me onto the roof and into his chest.

I gasped and shoved away from him. "You sure like getting up close and personal," I shot over my shoulder as I turned to continue along my brisk walk. "I have a man already- your childhood bestie, I should remind you."

He joined my side, a smirk on his face. I looked at him sideways and said, "Oh, so you can smile."

This prompted him to scowl at me as he asked, "Do you ever stop talking?"

I shrugged. "No."

He sighed heavily.

"Hey. You wanted me to come along. And-" I broke off as I sensed something wrong and tackled him off to the side and behind a transformer as a bullet bounced off the metal casing.

I looked down to realize I was on top of him and went to get off, but he yanked me back down and then moved over me, pulling a hand gun from his belt. He ducked behind the transformer again as more bullets rang against the metal.

He went to get up, but I grabbed his sweatshirt and pulled him back down as a bullet nearly missed his head. He looked at me.

"Thanks."

"It's fine. Shoot at your eleven o'clock."

"How do you-"

"Just do it!"

He rolled his eyes and then rose up on one knee, aimed, and fired. The bullet struck home and more bullets sprayed against the back of the transformer, missing him as he ducked back to safety. I directed him where to fire until there was no one left. I closed my eyes and felt out with my powers, searching for more brain waves that would tell me where the next enemy was.

Satisfied there was no one else nearby, I met his eyes. "They're gone."

He cautiously peered around the corner, then stood. I stood with him. He looked at me curiously. "How'd you know where they were?"

"I can read minds," I said and got up, dusting my hands on my jeans. "I trained to use it to find people I can't see."

He slowly got to his feet, still holding onto the gun in his right hand as he offered me his left. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. "Those must be the powers you mentioned, then. That must come in handy."

"It does."

"You're not reading my mind, are you?" He asks and gives me a look, his grip on my hand suddenly tightening to be almost painful.

"And what if I was?" I asked and tilted my head to the side. "Afraid I'd tell everyone about your secret fetishes? No, James. I'm not reading your mind. I don't like the power despite it coming in handy for moments like this. I-"

Shit. I missed one. I managed to shove James to the side as the bullet hit my left shoulder and I fell back with a scream. He reacted immediately and shot at where the bullet had come from, then turned and merely picked me up and began to run.

My left hand was going numb, my other hand holding the wound to try and stem the gushing blood, and I ground my teeth to keep from crying as tears burned my eyes.

"Keep your eyes open, Anya. Don't fall asleep, got that?" He ground out in my ear, ducking his head. We made it off the roof and he began to work his way down a fire escape until he reached an abandoned part of the building. He set me down on the steps and I winced and leaned into the wall. I felt lightheaded. He got the window open and then turned and helped me the rest of the way through it.

The room we practically fell into was empty, save for an armchair which he helped me stumble and then collapse into. My forehead was slick with sweat and I ground my teeth as I looked at my blood soaked shoulder.

He threw his bag to the floor and began to dig through it. He then directed his attention to my shoulder and helped me ease my arm out of the jacket.

I cried out in pain as he slowly and carefully moved my arm. He met my eyes, then said, "Alright. Take a deep breath, Anya, ok? I need to get your sweatshirt off."

I offered a half-assed smirk. "You want another peek, Mr. Barnes?"

He rolled his eyes, but his cheeks tinged pink as he grumbled, "No I'm not that kind of guy. Now just hold still."

I didn't have the ability to stop him as he began to gently move my arm again to get it out of the sleeve and I ground my teeth against the pain. He finally got the sweatshirt off and over my head and tossed it to the side.

He went back into his backpack and began to dig through it to procure a first aid kit. He stood and examined my shoulder. He flinched.

"It clipped your wing," he says softly. His hand moved to rest over my wing, right under the cut and my body went rigid. He didn't move away from me, but retracted his hand as he went about pressing two bandages to the front and back of my shoulder.

"Agh, ow!" I exclaimed as he began to put pressure on the wound.

"I need to stop the bleeding, Anya," he grits out. "Be thankful it went straight through."

"I don't feel so good..." I groaned, my head falling to the side as I lifted my other hand to my forehead.

"Stay awake, Anya," he says severely. "Look at me," he says, his hand moving to my cheek. "Look at me. Don't fall asleep. You may not wake up. Fight it."

I blinked rapidly and then ground out, "Yeah. Apparently my new job is to annoy you for Steve. I can't do that if I'm dead."

He rolled his eyes. "You're an irritant now."

"I can be more irritating," I challenged, squinting at him as I felt nausea climb up my throat. I swallowed hard as he pulled out a needle and thread.

"Let's see how annoying you can be, then," he says and met my eyes. "So let me fix your shoulder and you can annoy me all you want."

"Sure," I mumbled.

"Bite this, this'll hurt," he says and sticks the sleeve of my sweatshirt into my mouth. I bit down on the fabric and gripped the chair with my other hand.

I braced myself, and somberly accepted the needle and thread. I fought to keep my eyes open, focused on Bucky and biting on the fabric. My arm hung limply in my lap.

By the time it was over, he wrapped my shoulder, bringing the bandage across my chest and then securing it. He then lifted my arm into a makeshift sling.

His hands went to my face again as my eyes closed, thumbs rubbing away the tears on my cheeks. "Anya. Anya wake up. Can you stand?"

I rubbed at my eyes and mumbled, "M-Maybe."

He stood and held a hand out and I grasped his forearm as he slowly pulled me to my feet. I leaned heavily against him and he cursed. "No, you can't. Lost too much blood."

He helped me sit back down and then began to pace back and forth in front of me. I held my arm to my stomach, watching him, then said with a grimace, "I'm sorry."

He stopped and looked at me, eyebrows drawing together. "What? Why?"

"I don't know... feels like I just trapped you here," I said hoarsely.

He shook his head. "Look, if anyone's trapped anyone here, it's me trapping you."

"You can leave," I said softly. "I can just turn my GPS tracking back on and have Steve pick me up. Then you can be long gone."

He hesitated, and I could see there was a war going through him. He looked at me, then the floor, then my heavily bandaged arm. He sighed, then said, "You seriously think I'll be safe there? Wherever you wanted me to go before?"

I nodded. "Mhm."

He pinched the bridge of his nose then looked at me. "Alright. On one condition."

"Yeah? Go for it," I said, adjusting myself painfully in the chair.

"I feel the smallest bit out of place, any sense I might be in danger, I leave. End of discussion."

I paused for a moment, then said, "Alright. I mean, truthfully, I didn't expect you to say yes at all in the first place."

"Then why come at all? Because look at you now, Anya. You could have died. I'm not worth that."

I laughed slightly and rolled my eyes. "And yet my question that confused you still remains. Do you want to be saved? I think you do, even if you won't ever admit it out loud. But I think there's something on your mind you need to go do. So go do it. I'll be here when you get back."

He hesitated. "Will you? You just got me, as you wanted, so you're just gonna let me go?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I am. Because now I can find you telepathically. It'll be easy to find you again and again no matter where you go. I just want you to choose it. I didn't choose it, but I don't regret it. They saved my life. Nat, Clint, Steve, and Tony. My friends, that quickly became my family. They'd accept you, too."

He stared at me in silence for several moments, then said, "I do need to do something."

I nodded. "Ok."

He hesitated, then picked up his backpack and zipped it, tossing it onto his shoulder. He went to the window and opened it, then turned to me and said, "Nice meeting you, Anya. I hope you don't get in the way of the Winter Soldier. You seem like a good person."

He then disappeared and I clenched my fist. I dug into my pocket and turned on my GPS tracking and tilted my head back to look at the ceiling, releasing a heavy sigh. The SOS signal beeped on my phone.

******

"So... you just let him go?" Steve asks as I sat awkwardly on a hospital bed and favoring my shoulder. He had his arms crossed and looked worried, but equally as confused.

I nodded, grimacing slightly. "Yes. But now I know how to track him, so it doesn't matter, does it? And he saved my life."

"And maybe take into consideration a bullet just went through her shoulder, Cap. And part of her wing," Tony said condescendingly. "Whoever this guy is you wanted her to find is gonna have to wait."

"He can't wait, Tony," Steve said adamantly.

"Guys. Maybe it's best we just listen to Anya, yeah?" Pietro asks, stepping away from me and towards Steve, hands raised. Wanda and I shared a look. She crossed her arms and sighed at them.

"Yeah. Listen to the kid," Tony says, turning on Steve angrily.

Steve locks eyes with Tony and said, "Oh yeah, because you'd listen to a kid, but not someone who knows what we're up against. How serious this is."

I stiffened slightly, knowing very well my thirty-year-old self was not a kid. And neither were my siblings.

Tony rolled his eyes, "Look, Rogers. Just because you were born a hundred years ago doesn't mean you know anything more than we do. In fact, if anyone knows more, it would be us."

"You're just jealous, Tony." Steve says.

Tony scoffed. "Sure I am."

"No. You are," Steve said. "Because you've only gotten bad things for what you've done to help people, and we haven't."

"Guys," I snapped. "Stop it."

Tony's fists clenched and I lifted my hand, those white tendrils flashing around my hand as I flung Steve into a chair. Tony was pushed across the floor as his back hit the wall, and Wanda gasped.

Tony looked at me in shock.

"Steve, Tony! Would you both just cut the shit already?!" I said angrily and slowly got off the bed, holding my arm still in the sling with my other hand as Wanda and Pietro stared on in shock.

"Thank you, Anya. I was done with the childish banter." A voice said from the doorway, and it was revealed that Nat and Rhody were watching the whole interaction. Nat tilted her head to the side to look at Tony. "Hey. Don't we have somewhere to be? You know- at the summit in Vienna."

"Yeah," Tony says and looks at me, then brushes past and leaves the room. Nat and Rhody follow, and my siblings find some excuse to leave.

I looked at Steve and once the room was empty, he sagged forward and dropped his head into his hands. He only let me see when he got like this and I frowned and kneeled in front of him, lifting my hand to his wrist as I immediately felt a pang of guilt.

"Hey... I'm sorry, darling. I'm sorry I couldn't get him. I tried..." I felt my eyes beginning to water and his hands moved to my cheeks and I moved a hand to grip his wrist tightly as he kissed my forehead. 

"I should be the one apologizing," he says softly and releases a heavy sigh as he looks up to meet my eyes. "I've been an ass lately, and I'm sorry, Angel. You of all people do not deserve that sort of behavior, especially not from me."

I smirked slightly, brushing my fingers through his hair. "Wow. Using the not nice language and everything."

He rolled his eyes and rested his forehead against mine, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Hey," I say softly and gently rubbed my hand up and down his arm. "Look at me."

He does and I reached up to gently wipe away a tear from his cheek. "You're doing the best you can. Just remember to think of others' opinions alongside yours before you do something to get yourself hurt. Give yourself a break, my darling Steve. You don't have to always sacrifice everything. You need to give yourself a break. Breathe."

He smiled somewhat brokenly. "Anya... I do have to do this. I just... I don't think you understand." He says and releases a heavy sigh, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Then help me understand. Because I don't, not yet, anyways."

He clenched his fists. "Because I have to fight to protect the people I care about. I can't just abandon them, and that's what this feels like." He looks up to meet my eyes. "I can't lose you or anyone else, Anya. You and Sam and Nat... you're my family. I can't... I won't stop fighting for this family. The Accords will break us up and separate us. I won't allow it."

I stood up, using his knee to steady myself and he moved his hands under my elbows to support me as I got up with one arm. I then moved to sit sideways on his lap and his arms moved around my waist.

I wrapped my good arm around his neck and pulled him into a hug, dropping my head onto his shoulder. One of his hands rested on my thigh as his other moved up my back to hold me close.

"No one is taking me from you," I whispered adamantly. "I'm staying right here, Steve Rogers. The Accords won't separate us. Not ever."

He moved a hand to my chin and tilted my face up as he gazed into my eyes. I moved a hand to his cheek, and something seemed to pass between us, then.

It was a thick tension and my heart began to beat a little faster.

"Anya..." he whispered, his eyes searching mine. "I love you."

I smiled. "I love you, too." I got up off his lap reluctantly and took ahold of his hand. "C'mon. Let's go."

He followed me out of the medical wing and I went up to our room.

I closed the door and he turned to face me, his hands moving to my face as he tilted my head back and gazed into my eyes before he kissed me deeply.

I moved my arm around his neck as my back pressed against the wall and his mouth claimed mine.

His hands suddenly scooped under me as he lifted me up and into his arms. I locked my ankles around his hips and smiled against his lips as I kissed him.

He kissed my cheek and my jaw and then stopped on my neck as I gasped.

He met my eyes, our chests rising and falling as we breathed deeply.

"Anya... Anya, will you allow me to show you just how much I love you?" He asked breathlessly.

I gazed into his eyes. Would we really go all the way this time? I wanted to with him, I realized. I knew there was no danger of a baby. I knew I loved him. And he loved me.

I moved a hand to his face, gently stroking my thumb over his cheekbone. Finally, I nodded. "Yes. I trust you, Steve Rogers. I trust you."

His eyes searched mine before he nodded, then leaned in a kissed me again. My eyes fluttered closed as his lips traced a line from my lips and down my jaw.

His lips caught that sensitive spot on my neck and I bit my lip, my hands sliding into his hair.

He turned and carried me over to the bed, gently laying me down on top of the pillows, careful of my wings and shoulder as he settled over me.

And as his lips claimed mine again, I fell into pure bliss. Layer by layer, we removed each other's clothes. His hands searched my body, and mine did his.

He pressed kisses to every scar on my body, taking extra care with the one below my bellybutton- the hysterectomy scar. His hands held me gently and lovingly.

I never thought I'd find pleasure in sex again. I never thought I'd find good things within it. I never thought I'd feel safe, secure, and whole during it. I never thought I'd ever be as cherished and savored as I was in the arms of Steve Rogers.

With every kiss, every touch, he healed a deep part of me that had been broken. A part of me I never thought would heal. And he healed me.

******

I woke up slowly to sunlight streaming into the room from the window.

I shivered slightly and pulled on the blanket over my shoulder a bit more snugly. I stretched my hand out, trying to feel for Steve, but he wasn't there. My eyes opened, and the bed was truly empty.

I frowned and sat up, holding my injured arm with my other one. I adjusted Steve's shirt over my shoulders and shivered a little. I rubbed at my shoulder and began to feel anxious. Had he not liked it? He saw the scars all over me... maybe I disgusted him now.

I looked up as the door suddenly opened and I gathered the sheets up around me as Steve entered the room with a tray in his hands with what smelled like breakfast. He paused in the doorway, staring at me.

He stepped into the room and closed the door with his foot and carried the tray over to the desk. He set it down, then walked over to me when a small smile on his face.

He sat on the side of the bed and lifted a hand to my cheek. "Good morning, Angel."

I smiled back and lifted a hand to cover his. "Good morning, darling."

"How did you sleep?" He asks as he leans forward and kisses my forehead.

I smiled, my eyes fluttering closed. "Good. Very good. And you?"

"Very good," he replies. He rested a hand over mine and asked, "Was it... ok last night? It was good?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Steve... it was amazing..." I said and lifted a hand to his cheek.

"Ah, really? I was worried it wasn't any good and you might be upset..." he says, drifting off.

I leaned forward and kissed him and he kissed me back. I pulled away and lifted my hands to his cheeks and he pressed his face into my hands. "Steve it was amazing. I am serious. It... I can't describe it. You made me feel beautiful and loved and safe. It was perfect, Steve."

He smiled at that and moved his arms around me in a hug. He kissed my shoulder and said, "You deserve all of those things and more, Angel..."

I slid my hands up his back and pulled him closer and he did, wrapping me up tighter in his arms. He trailed kisses up my neck and I tilted my head to the side, my eyelids fluttering closed.

His hand ran down my thigh as his hand gripped my hip, pulling us closer. I sighed softly as he began to suck slightly on that sweet spot.

"D-Darling..." I said breathlessly. "If you... mmm... if you keep going, our breakfast might get cold....mmm."

I didn't want him to stop, even as his other hand began to move up my stomach to cup my breast. I whimpered slightly.

"It's fruit and toast, Angel..." he said against my collarbone gently guiding me back into the pillows, and I let him. I moved my hands into his hair as his removed the shirt in one fluid motion and his lips traveled down to my breasts.

I moaned out his name, my toes curling as he began to grind himself against me.

"Fuck..." I groaned, pressing my head back into the pillows. "I... supposed breakfast... can wait... ah."

His hand had found its way between our hips, and his lips swallowed my moan as he began to make love to me once more, gently and slowly, as the sun rose and streamed into our bedroom.

"I love you," he whispered into my ear.

And I believed it with every part of me.