The training room was filled this morning. Steve, Buck, and Sam were taking turns sparing. Clint was practicing his archery and per usual Bruce and Tony were playing in the lab.
"Anyone seen Natasha this morning?" Clint asked looking at the ring. The guys in the ring shook their heads and continued sparing.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y. where is Natasha? She isn't still in bed is she?'' Clint finished laughing because he was sure she was up before everyone; well maybe not Bucky - he never slept.
"Miss Romanov is currently assisting Miss Evelyn to get dressed and start physical therapy" F.R.I.D.A.Y announced. Clint sighed - Natasha was going to kill him.
"Wait did F.R.I.D.A.Y just say Natasha was helping the new girl get dressed?!" Sam asked stopping mid-punch only to take one in the gut by Bucky.
"Calm down Sam; how else is she supposed to get dressed?" Steve asked while using the punch bag
"Steve, man you gotta stop just announcing you're a virgin all the time. There are three single men here who could help her shower," Sam finished looking mischievous at Bucky
"You need a cold shower Sam - badly. You haven't even seen this girl," Bucky said smacking Sam in the back of the head.
"Neither have you," Sam said circling the ring and then looking at Bucky and then Steve. "Wait am I the only one who hasn't seen her yet?!"
"In all fairness, I haven't seen her either," Clint said taking a break to work on his bow
"You're married Clint it doesn't matter," Sam says "Where would Natasha be taking her to work on physical therapy?" He asked the group
"No," the three men answered in unison.
"Come on Steve, help me out," Sam begged
"No way in hell Sam and that was before the virgin comment. The poor girl has been through enough without being hit on her first day out of bed," Steve said shaking his head
"Why do you and Bucky get to flirt?" Sam asked leaning on the corner of the ring
"Woah man there was no flirting. I only saw her when Steve was helping her to her room from the elevator and waved," Bucky said lifting his hands in front of him
"One - you have Super Soldier eyes for all I know you can see through clothes and two - Steve helped her to bed?!" Same said exasperated
Bucky laughed hard at the x-ray vision comment. While Steve explained Tony and Natasha were there too helping Evelyn.
"This is your fault Steve not putting me and Bucky on the mission. I have no chance now against the Knight Shining Armor and the Mysterious Brooding One," Sam said gesturing at the two men
"Wait, which one am I?" Bucky asked laughing
"Screw you Bucky," Sam said pouting
"Excuse me, gentleman, Miss Romanov is on her way in," F.R.I.D.A.Y announced
All the guys acted casually while Natasha walked in. "Idiots," Clint laughed to himself.
"Hey guys I need the training room to train some new recruits," she said looking professional
"Nat, they know you are here to help the girl you rescued do physical therapy," Clint said
"And how?" she started while Clint looked away guilty. "Okay, guys, out before I make you get out." She looked and all the guys were making their way out.
"Let me know if you need any help, Nat," Clint said looking at his friend
"Just make sure that this room stays empty - she's been through a lot Clint. I think even more than we realize," Natasha finished sadly
Once the guys were out of the room she went to the small room she had left Evelyn in. "Sorry about that I had to make sure the guys were out of here - way too much testosterone in this tower," she ended laughing
Evelyn was thankful that they were taking her request seriously about not wanting to meet everyone yet. She felt guilty that she may be inconveniencing people in their home. She was safe here, she didn't need to worry about the same things she did before.
It's okay - were they upset? She wrote on the board; that surgery couldn't come fast enough.
"No. They are all great guys who just want to make sure you're doing okay; well all except Sam, he probably wants you to fall in love with him," Natasha teased and Evelyn smiled
It's okay if they want to meet me. She writes knowing her life would be a lot different.
"Okay but at your pace and after we get some physical therapy done," Natasha said while wheeling you to the balance boards. You had done alright in the shower but Natasha didn't want to risk you walking too much too fast.
She helps you get to the bars and walk back and forth. It takes you some time but you feel comfortable. Your legs weren't hurt after all your body was just weak. After about 45 minutes Natasha helps you into your chair to head to see Bruce to get checked out.
Can I get something to eat first? Evelyn wrote on the board
Natasha inwardly smacked herself. "Of course Evelyn, I mean Evie," she corrected after Evelyn gave her a raised eyebrow. "The common area is on our way up. There isn't food on the Medical floor."
Evelyn took a deep breath and wondered who would all be in the common area. Surely it would be pretty empty since everyone had their own apartments.
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"Gentlemen, Miss Romanov is bringing Miss Evelyn up to get some food. She has requested you all be on your best behavior," F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced.
"Wonderful Princess Ariel is up and about," Tony said, clapping his hands together and getting up from the counter to see them get off the elevator. "Good Morning, Your Majesty," he says, flourishing into the room.
Evelyn gives him a kind smile but sighs when he bows. She looks around the room and sees Steve at the counter with a handsome man who waits no time to jump up and make his way over. She jumps a little; started by his quick movement. Shaking her thoughts out of her head she smiles when he extends a hand; you can tell from his stature he is another military man.
"My name is Sam, Miss. Sam Wilson," He says leaning down "Pleasure to finally meet you," he finishes she sees him give a look to Steve
Hello, my name is Evelyn She writes on the board.
Steve and Clint get up and walk over.
"Hello Evelyn, my name is Clint," Clint introduces himself shaking the woman's hand. He can see even though she is giving them a kind smile that Natasha is right and this girl has been through hell.
"Good Morning Evelyn," Steve says, giving her a smile "Would you like to join us for breakfast?"
Evelyn nodded and Natasha started to wheel the chair to the kitchen. Evelyn looked at her and shook her head.
Natasha understood; she didn't want to look weak. She locked the wheelchair and watched Evelyn stand up bracing the arms of the chair. Clint and Steve stood close by but she knew Evelyn wanted to do this on her own. Natasha gave them a head gesture to head to the kitchen.
From the doorway, Bucky was watching the blonde woman stand and when she stood up to her full height he saw the authority she held in herself; even in a room full of Avengers, she looked commanding. Her blonde hair fell to her mid back and flowed like waves. Bucky noticed when she took a step she was slightly grimacing under her smile. Man, this dame was strong; not many people can go through physical therapy and then try to walk into a room. He saw it a fraction of a second before she noticed what happened. Bucky saw her knee give out when she was almost to the table.
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.