Resilient

Chapter 5

Evelyn felt her knee buckle, shit. She reached out her hand to hopefully grab the table or even Nat who was walking to her left. Before she hit the ground she felt an arm around her waist holding her back up. She realized the arm was wrapped around her opposite side from Nat and it was a metal arm.  Evelyn leaned her hand on the table and turned to look into the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. The pale blue/green seemed to darken under her gaze and her heart caught in her throat when he steadied her and she realized everyone else in the room had rushed forward at the same time. Wow, he's quick if he was here before Nat realized I was falling.

"Evelyn, are you okay?" Natasha said smacking herself because she let Tony distract her and not even realize she was falling. Thank goodness for Barnes. Evelyn gave her a stern look "Sorry I meant Evie," Natasha laughed and smiled when the young woman nodded to herself she was okay.

"Thank goodness the pastries are here!" Tony said, grabbing the box from Bucky's free hand "I think the Princess is okay now Barnes; you can probably let her go."

Bucky helped Evelyn to a chair at the table and helped her sit down. He backed away so she could get comfortable in the chair. He didn't want to let her go; she didn't flinch when he caught her with his metal arm and he couldn't stop looking at her eyes; he could stare into them forever.

"Buck, this is Evelyn. Evelyn this is James Buchanan Barnes or Bucky for short," Steve introduces them and sees that their eyes are locked. Even after all these decades, Bucky gets all the dames; he chuckles.

Evelyn blinks realizing she's still staring at the poor man in front of her and extends her hand with a smile. The man takes her hand slowly and shakes it slowly nodding as he says "Miss" and she thinks her heart just exploded in her chest.

"You're the guest so you get first choice," Tony offers the box to Evelyn and quickly grabs it back "Wait, where is your Iron Man shirt?"

Evelyn looks at Nat and smiles fighting hard to not laugh "I knew you did that on purpose, Tony! Every shirt had a different picture of you on it. Thank goodness I had something for her to wear," Natasha says smacking the conceited man in front of her

"It was a good try," He shrugged and looked at Evelyn, her eyes lifting in the corner he sighed as she mouthed thank you. "No problem kid, listen once you're up for it we can get you some normal clothes. Pep would kill me if she knew I did that to ya."

It's okay - I thought it was funny Evelyn wrote picking apart the bear claw she had grabbed and putting it in her mouth. Her eyes closed as the sugary goodness filled her mouth. She almost made an audible sound but caught herself before she embarrassed herself. She took a drink of the orange juice offered to her by Steve and smiled looking around the room and observing her saviors.

Steve was definitely the caregiver of the group refilling people's coffee while talking to each of them. Who cares for you, Soldier? Clint and Nat were talking and smiling. He was showing her his phone and she was flipping through it and almost tearing up. They must be really close. Tony was drinking his coffee absentmindedly flipping through a folder in front of him. She looked to the other side of the island and saw Sam and Bucky talking quietly and Sam kept looking over at her finally smiling. Out of habit Evelyn discreetly wipes her face. Oh please don't let there be anything on my face.

"Dibs," Sam said to Bucky after waving at Evelyn

"You've got to be joking," Bucky looks at him eyebrow raised

"Nope, not even a little. Bro code - I call dibs. She digs me; you didn't see the smile she gave me before you came in." Sam said nudging Steve who was looking at pictures on Clint's phone. "I call dibs so you two have to back off."

"Sam," Steve said disapprovingly "No woman is any property of a man."

"She has been through hell Sam, at least wait until she has a voice to tell you she's not interested," Bucky says taking a drink of his coffee and peering out the corner of his eye to look at Evelyn. His heart jumped as she licked icing off her finger absentmindedly.

"Fine, no dibs but that doesn't mean I'm backing down. Hope you boys brought your A game," Sam finished and walked over to the blonde.

Steve rolled his eyes laughing but noticed his friend's mouth was in a tight line and he was chewing the inside of his cheek. No way Steve thought as Bucky followed Sam to the table. Steve followed behind, there was no way he was going to miss this.

Evelyn smiled at Sam when he joined her and grabbed a donut from the box. She was thankful for the company and someone to eat the pastries. She was worried she'd eat them all without supervision. She felt her smile widen as Bucky and Steve joined them. She noticed something in the three of their body language she didn't quite understand. They are being polite but the looks between Bucky and Sam make her pause feeling the tension in the air.

So what's your SuperHero name? Evelyn writes looking at Sam who smiled

"I'm the Falcon, " he gives his best SuperHero pose making Evelyn smile "It's not as glamorous as Captain America or The Winter Soldier, but I have a RedWing and they don't." Sam finished laughing.

Evelyn takes a quick breath. She heard those names before while being captive. Captain America saved The Winter Soldier from Hydra and then he saved her; she smiled at him. Her story was a fairy tale compared to what the Soldier had been through while captive. Knowing what he had gone through made her heart break; 5 years was nothing compared to over half a century. She was thankful she was still weak in her legs otherwise she would rush to give them both hugs and embarrass herself.

I think it's a pretty cool name she wrote making Sam smile and she saw him gently nudge Bucky who rolled his eyes.

"Okay gang we have a mission," Tony says, finally closing the folder in front of him. "Evelyn, I think Banner is ready to check your vitals to see about surgery."

"I can take her to the lab," Sam says smiling at her "I gotta grab my stuff from my room anyway." He got up and put the wheelchair next to her locking the wheels.

"Sam-," Natasha began walking over to him but Evelyn gave her a look like it was okay. She held onto the back of the chair to make sure it stayed in place while Sam helped Evelyn keep it balanced. "Sam you better behave yourself or Clint and I will hide your body where no one will find it." She whispered to Sam who gulped

"Okay gang see you in the conference room in 10," Tony said, grabbing a last cup of coffee. And the team dispersed.

As Sam wheeled Evelyn out of the room Steve looked at his friend who was slowly putting everything away.

"I haven't seen this part of you since that girl our Junior year wore another guy's letter jacket," Steve said laughing

Bucky stopped and shook his head remembering the memory "I just don't think Sam has to put it on so thick. Poor girl hasn't been here for a week yet."

"Don't worry too much Buck, she didn't look at him the way she looked at you," Steve said grabbing his friend by the shoulder and walking with him out of the room towards the conference room.