A/N" Sorry this one took a while longer than the others, last week was crazy. Anyhow here it is I hope you like it, grab some water, you may need it.

**TW**Smut ahead nothing too out of control yet 😅😏 

I was right, I was always right, and I was fucking pissed off. It didn't take Strange to answer Steve's text message this time, not when he mentioned portals, demons and Mordo. After a brief phone conversation between the two we found ourselves heading to 177A Bleaker Street.

Strange met us outside of the doors and ushered us quickly inside with a grim look upon his face. He didn't ask too many questions at first as he had James carry me though the elaborately antique looking rooms to a rather plain room on the second level, where they placed me on the neatly made bed. There he helped James slide my leggings down my legs to examine what he found there.

Even my breath was stolen from me when I saw the angry black bruise and venomous looking veins that were spreading outwards from the long deep gash at the centre of my leg. I was certain that through the blood you could see the white of the bone beneath. My heart skipped a beat as I too realized that it had not begun to heal whatsoever.

My eyes shot to James where I found that he was already looking at me, looking for the answers that I was looking at him for.

"What the hell did this?" Strange said looking to Steve.

"We don't know," he said stepping closer to look his face grim, "It was some kind of demon, it came from a portal."

A deep line etched between The Doctor's eyes, "A portal?" his moved his hands over the wound I could feel the heat of him so close to my thigh I flinched from it even though he had not touched it.

"Mordo," I hissed out through the pain, "Mordo opened a portal to a hell dimension."

He took pause, "I have no idea who you are, or what attacked you, but we will take care of this first then you all have a lot of questions to answer." He looked up from my leg to Steve again, "Is this what you left me a voicemail about?"

'Yeah," Steve said his face set in anger, "It would have been nice to have heard from you before something like this happened."

Strange hummed under his breath, "Who cast the spell?"

"Spell?" James echoed back.

"The shield of the Seraphim." He clarified.

"I did." I replied as I tightly grabbed onto James' forearm my nails digging into his metal arm.

"Who showed you how to do this?" he asked his hands moving closer, the magic at his fingertips burning as he twisted into the spell.

"For lack of a better explanation right now, you did Stephen."

He balked for a moment his eyes flashing to mine before moving back to his work, his shoulders stiffened even more than they were in their perfect posture. "Well, then I taught you very well, if not for this spell I'm sure you would already be dead."

I grit my teeth when there was a sudden and awful pulling sensation, it felt as though he was trying to pull my bones from my body. I could barely contain the scream crawling up my throat.

"What are you doing?" James stiffened ready to tear Strange away, "You are hurting her."

"I am trying to save her life," Call off your guard dog Captain or he will have to leave."

I wanted to strike him, but the tearing sensation became too much and all I could do was pinch my eyes closed and grit my teeth.

"I am just pulling the venom from her wound. The Shield managed to create a thin barrier between her and the dark magic, but it was not able to stop it completely." Strange explained as he tugged at the spell.

A whimper slipped from my lips, "Just hurry up," I hissed, "It fucking hurts."

Strange didn't say anything else but his focus intensified and the next time I felt the pulling sensation my back arched off the mattress. Darkness edged my vision and this time I was unable to hold the scream back that was pushed from my lungs. I felt Strange's hesitation, but I grasped his hand, "Keep going."

I saw Steve step forward and come to the other side of me. So now with James on one side and Steve on the other I grasped onto both of them as though they were my only tethers through the pain. It took the both of them to hold me down when Strange once again began to break the spell that was holding the venom at bay. Sweat formed on his brow and a dark piece of hair fell across his forehead.

"Almost there." He said, "Just a little but more." And as he pulled one last time all I knew was blackness.

Bucky POV

She passed out and that was all I could hope for, it was taking all of my strength to hold her in place as she arched off the bed in pain and were I not concentrated on that task it would be Steve holding me back from punching the sorcerer right in the face.

I tried not to look at the wound on her leg, I had seen a lot of things in all my years but the state of that leg... I hoped I would never see anything like it again.

"Come on Evie," I whispered under my breath, I didn't think she heard me, but I felt helpless, and I hated it. Her hair was falling from the half-hazard bun she put it in earlier and she was covered in black sludge and dirt and grime. She smelt of blood and ash and fear.

I hazarded a look to Steve who had made his way to the other side of her, I hadn't noticed when that happened, but I was glad for it because I didn't think I could have held her on my own.

Steve took a snap intake of breath, and I followed his line of sight, "Strange had broken the spell and with it he managed to pull the black that was clouding the veins around the wound with it. In a set of masterful hand motions all of it was gone in a swirl of sparks.

Strange sat heavily on the bed the intensity of the spell removal exhausting. He didn't look away from the wound, his hands moved over it again, "Even with what I've done her wound is extensive, I can't see her healing very well if you don't get her to a hospital."

Steve spoke before I could, "She had the serum, she will heal fast."

Strange raised one brow, "I didn't realize that serum could regenerate flesh and muscle."

Then there was a heavy silence and the pair of them stared one another down and for a moment, I was surprised by the anger flooding out of Steve in waves. I spoke up trying to break the pissing contest, "I've healed from worse looking wounds, we just need to stitch her up and the serum should do the rest." I looked to Strange hopefully.

He shook his head, "I am not that kind of Doctor anymore."

"It doesn't need to be pretty," Steve said, looks like she has worse scars than this one."

I once again followed his line of sight and Strange did the same thing, he was not wrong, all over her body were the signs of a battle warn soldier and I couldn't help but frown. I had the serum to, and I had my share of scars but none of them as intense as the one down the right side of her torso. It started underneath her sports bra and disappeared under the hem of her underpants the tail of it falling down to her hip ending mid thigh. A super soldier didn't scar like that unless it was a very grave injury, and generally we would bleed out before it healed. Especially something like that.

Strange' jaw clenched, and he waved his hands in the air opening a portal, "I will get some supplies, for now he tossed me a t-shirt he had fished from a drawer, "Hold this over the wound to staunch the bleeding a bit, I will be back as quickly as I can.

Once he disappeared through the portal it closed behind him and I looked up to Steve, "How did this happen."

Steve sighed putting a hand though his hair, "I don't know Buck, this woman is shrouded with so many unanswered questions I don't know what to think."

I looked back down at her. Long dark lashes were fanned out over her cheeks, "I care about her more than I should, and I can't explain it."

Steve drew near placing his hand over mine where it was pressed into her thigh, "I don't know what to think. Part of me wants to hate her and the other part just can't seem to."

I looked up into his eyes and a saw a vulnerability I don't ever remember seeing there before. "Steve, she isn't like anyone else, she knows what it was like for me with Hydra, she remembers what it was like before the war and all of this," I motioned at the both of us and he knew I was talking about the serum and the death. He knew that I meant when we were just two kids from Brooklyn. "It's only been a few days, but it is the first time in longer than I care to remember what it was like to be normal."

Steve looked at her now too and I could tell from the expression on his face that my words had pushed under his skin, but I could also see the fight in his eyes. Steve Rogers was never one to let anyone change his mind or change his course of action and this woman had done all of that already. I knew he didn't hate her, but he might resent her for forcing his hand.

"Nothing will ever be normal for us here, with or without her." He said and he stood, "I have to get in contact with Fury and let him know what's going on."

My stomach dropped, "Is that a good idea?"

He shrugged, "I have to do something."

"Can't we just let this happen why involve him, why involve any area of the government." I couldn't help the dread washing though me.

Steve stopped near the door, "What do you want me to do here Buck?" His jaw was set, "What happened today put more than just our lives in danger, the world is still in chaos from the blip, from Thanos. I can't let another threat nudge its way in."

"Evelyn is not a threat." I couldn't stop the edge in my voice.

"Isn't she?" His eyes fell to her again before he shook his head, "I'm sorry I can't just let more people get hurt."

"What if you end up hurting her in the process?" I countered my voice filled with accusation.

"She has already been hurt Bucky."

I frowned and looked away, my eyes falling on the scar on her side and when I looked up again Steve was gone.

Evelyn POV

When I woke, my body felt heavy, even the act of opening my eyelids felt like a chore, I had been through so much in my life, but I couldn't ever recall this bone deep aching weariness that filled me to the brim. I groaned and attempted to move but a dull pain shot down through me.

"Hey," a sleepy voice spoke from beside me, startling me by its proximity. It was James, his warm body was next to mine in the bed, maybe I should have been surprised at his presence but then I recalled how swirly he was at my side after the demon attack. How he had stayed there when Strange was pulling out the venom. I was glad he was here "You should go back to sleep. You need to rest."

I peeled my eyes the rest of the way and turned my head to look at him, he had dark circles under his eyes and his hair was messy, "James," I croaked my throat was so dry, "water." Was all I could manage.

He sat up and in the dark, I could hear him reaching for something on the table beside the bed, a glass. He flicked on the lamp illuminating my room back at the apartment. I tried to sit up, but he stopped me a warm hand lain across my stomach. He moved closer helping me sit up and passed me the glass which I gladly drank down.

I thanked him, rolling my shoulders to ease the stiffness.

"You've been out for a few days." He offered and I balked surprised I had been out that long but with a grin he spoke softly, "You didn't miss anything, I promise. We just took you back here and you slept."

"Have you been here the whole time?" Warmth filled me at the thought of this and I couldn't help but meet his eyes in dim light.

"I did." He didn't even look embarrassed. "Strange stitched you up, he said it was a terrible job, but it's all healed now the serum is doing what it does," he frowned for a moment then schooled his features, "take a look for yourself."

James put a few pillows behind my back to help me sit my muscles protesting and I could see the outline of the scar on my leg. "Another one to add to my collection," I sighed as I ran my fingers across the smooth skin that had healed. The scar was still dark against the rest of my skin an angry red and only mildly sensitive to touch. I flexed my foot testing the pain, which to my surprise was only minimal the muscle groaned only mildly in protest as it was knitting itself back together.

"Evelyn," James' voice was still thick with sleep, but it carried with it an earnestness I didn't expect, I turned my head to him, "I'm glad your ok."

I gave him a lazy grin relaxing into the pillows, "Were you worried Barnes?"

He shook his head in disbelief at the joviality of my tone, "I told you," his face moved closer to me now, his hand reaching up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear, "you are important to me, I care about you."

It was my turn to swallow thickly, a shot of adrenaline burned in my blood, and I felt my heart pick up speed. "James?"

He did not pull his hand away, it lingered on the side of my face, his thumb traced over my lower lip, and I tried my best not to lean into his touch but the warmth of him was something I realized that I truly wanted. I wanted this closeness.

His eyes flicked down to my mouth, and he did not look back up.

I found myself desperately wanting him to lean in and kiss me, a thought that surprised me and frightened me more than I would have admitted.

"Evie," he groaned my name before he moved his hand and pulled me into him, his arms wrapping around me, the metal of his bionic arm surprisingly warm against my flesh. "Don't scare me like that again."

I fisted my hands into the material of his t-shirt at his sides and I took a deep breath the familiar scent of him filling my nose, the peppery amber smell of him made my insides begin to simmer. He buried his face into the hollow of my neck, the warmth of his hot skin pressed into mine felt sinful and I could not pull away, I did not want to pull away. His hands slid down my arms to wrap around my waist pulling me even closer to him on the bed. His lips felt like embers where they brushed against the skin of my neck. I wrapped my arms around pulling him into my own embrace burying my face into him as well.

Despite the protesting ache of my muscles, I allowed him to pull me onto his lap my legs falling on either side of his own as he leaned against the pillows my hair falling all around us. Neither of us able to get close enough to the other and for a minute all we did was hold each other and that was enough.

It should have been enough.

I couldn't really speak for James, but my body wanted more, I wanted more. I wanted to be wrapped up in him, I wanted to fall back into his familiarity, I wanted to forget about all the awful things that had happened and fall into him.

I wanted him.

I wanted all of him.

The thought rang through me like an alarm, and I expected it to douse me with icy cold, but it did not, it only spurred me on, heat blooming, arousal building.

His hands fell onto my hips, and I found myself pressed into him all the more, I could feel all of him just as he could feel all of me. I could have been dressed in full combat gear and felt just as bare as I did now dressed only in my sports bra and underwear, because despite everything, despite the short time we knew one another, despite me crashing into his life I knew him and he knew me.

And it was like coming home after a long trip.

His steel like eyes were molten silver, burning through me like liquid flame. There was something akin to pleading desire in them, almost as though with just his eyes he was begging for me not to turn him away. In that moment I couldn't think of a single reason why I should. Or even if I could.

"Tell me to stop," his voice was breathless and heavy with the same heat I felt coursing though me.

I couldn't speak so I just shook my head.

"Tell me to stop and I will." He repeated his right hand sliding up from my hip to drag over my torso and cup my breast his thumb moving over my pert nipple.

"I don't want you to stop," I surprised myself with my own breathless tone.

He groaned closing his eyes for a moment. "I should be a gentleman."

"You've never been a gentleman James," I leaned into his touch, my face so close to his again no hint of jest in my expression only a look of returned want, "Why start now?"

His hand moved again to trail up over my collarbone causing chills of anticipation to spread over me. Then he moved to my throat and around to the back of my neck threading his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck. Every breath I breathed I could feel the anticipation build, his eyes never leaving mine, but I let mine trail over his face then lowering to his lips. I felt the blood warmed under my skin like lava and it pooled between my legs leaving me aching with the need for his touch. When the tip of his pink tongue dragged across his lower lip I shivered. Everything felt as though it was moving in slow motion.

He pulled me to him, and when his soft lips brushed against mine, I couldn't help the breathy moan that parted my lips. His mouth was like silk against mine as he placed kisses upon me, a groan left him as he pulled me yet even closer to him. When I opened for him, he did not need anymore an invitation than that and he devoured me like a starving man. His tongue slid across mine, the kiss was like none other that I'd ever had, it was filled with aching anguish yet the most unimaginable adulation all at once. It felt as though he was worshiping me and mourning all at once and yet it was somehow still so perfect. I wanted to laugh and cry and do it all over again for the rest of time.

My hands slid down his body moving under the soft fabric of his shirt, I let my needy fingers trail across the hard muscled skin beneath. His mouth left mine and he began trail blazing kisses down my neck and across my collarbone his mouth moving over my breast when I arched against him. He kissed me through the fabric of my sports bra teasing the taught nub beneath the fabric.

I rolled my hips against him feeling his impressive length pressed right against me, wetness building fast between my thighs. I gasped his name, "James," he stilled his eyes rolling up my body to meet my eyes. My breast felt cold with his mouth gone the fabric wet from his ministrations there. His lips swollen from our kiss; his hair messy. He looked perfect.

He moved both of his hands up my body to cradle my face between his hands, "You came to me at just the right time Evie," his eyes darted to my mouth again, "I know you have had to deal with a lot, but know you have me, you'll always have me no matter what."

The ache at the back of my throat was there again and I had no more words that would fall from my lips without tears falling too so I just leaned into him a pressed my lips against his again unwilling to think of anything else other than him and the feeling of his heat beneath me.

After that everything else seemed like a flurry of motion and maiming and desperate touches, the shedding of clothes and hot flesh pressed into hot flesh. His t-shirt shed. My sports bra gone; his chest now pressed against mine. His mouth only leaving mine to take a nipple playfully between his teeth kissing me wherever my skin was bare. Hands explored everywhere.

He then laid me against the pillows, needing more, wanting more just like I did because his touch was everything his desire was my desire. His body was now between my thighs, and he hovered over me as if he was waiting for me expecting me to push him away. My hands moved to the hem of his sweatpants, and I was certain that I felt him tremble beneath my touch. I slid them and his down his hips bearing him to me and all that lay between us was the thin fabric of my panties.

The hard press of his thick cock against me was heady and I ached for him, the smell of him pure male and pure perfection. I looked up to find his eyes were on me waiting for me to make the next move, fear within them. Like he was afraid that I would turn him away.

Something I realized just then that I would never do. I would not lose him again, not for anything.

I hooked my thumbs beneath waistband of my underwear and slid them down my legs tossing them to lay beside his forgotten sweats. He stilled, his eyes taking all of me in for the first time. From head to toe his eyes wandered my body lingering on my breasts and between my thighs where I was spread wet and wanting. The pure adoration in his eyes was enough it made the heat simmer low in my stomach butterflies swirling just as eager as I.

"My god," he whispered.

I shook my head reaching up for him to pull him down to me, my mouth falling over his again. His cock brushed against my clit and a heady moan fell from my lips.

"You already feel like sin and I'm not even inside of you yet." His voice shook pressing his forehead against mine he took a deep breath through his nose his hair tickling my face as it hung around him.

I moved my hand between us and grasped him, the sheer heat of him made my heart pound the size of him made me clench eagerly in anticipation and I lined him up to enter me.

The door opened light from the hall filling the room and we froze a voice spoke angry and commanding.

"I see you're feeling better."

Steve.

I froze.

James moved off of me grasping for his shirt he passed it to me, and he went for his sweatpants. All heat draining from me as my eyes met with Steve's.