FAMILY
Elizabeth sat at the edge of the bed as she pressed the phone closer to her ear. The soft blanket of her bed shifting as she crossed her legs on the bed. She looked around the room as she listened to Bucky speak. The picture frame on the side of her bed that showed Sam and her smiling widely into the camera.
"Had another nightmare while you were gone," he told her anxiously over the phone.
She frowned at his words as she chewed the inside of her cheek. "You feeling okay now?" She asked worriedly while picking at the end of her cuffed jeans.
"It's been a couple of hours so I'm fine," he lied for her sake. Not liking when she fussed over him too much. "Just don't like the thought that I'm still what they made me to be," Bucky continued sadly. Knowing that what he said was true, that he still had everything they put inside him there.
Usually he would try to hold back on telling her what he was thinking. But when she was thousands of miles away from him he felt as if he would say anything to have her on the phone for a little while longer.
"Come on, you know you're not." Elizabeth tried to persuade him. "You're Bucky Barnes. Alpine's Bucky Barnes," she added with a smile when she heard him laugh lightly over the line. "And my Bucky too."
"But all they have to do is say those words," he argued with a glance at his cat that sat beside him. "Then I'm theirs again." Bucky cringed at the thought of going back to being their puppet and hurting the people that he cared about.
She shook her head at his words, mentally cursing herself for not being right there beside him. "How many times have I told you, I won't let that happen." Elizabeth assured him.
"As much as it pains me to say this," he began and Elizabeth heard the fear in his voice. "I don't think that's up to you," he continues.
Elizabeth had opened her mouth to respond when there was the rapid sound of knocks on her door. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the noise. "I have to call you back," she told Bucky quickly, not wanting anyone to hear.
"Okay," he agreed, hearing the loud knocks over the phone. "Love you," he added softly.
"Love you too," she muttered just in time for her bedroom door to open.
Pietro opened the door and looked at her cautiously as she hung up the phone. "Who is that?" He asked with a hand on the door.
"A friend," she replied curtly before pocketing her phone. "What's up?" She asked before standing up to make her way towards him.
"Didn't know you had any friends," Pietro commented under his breath before they both made their way out of her room, Elizabeth closing the door shut behind her. She rolled her eyes at his comment, asking him to get to why he called her.
The two of them walked down the halls of the compound as she spoke. "There is some people asking for you," he told her as they passed the training room. Seeing Sam and Wanda inside training together.
"Who?" She asked in confusion as she raised a hand to wave at the two in the training room. Everyone she knew was in this building right here, besides Bucky of course. So it confused her when she thought of who else could be looking for her.
Pietro merely shrugged at her question as he continued to lead her through out the compound. "They wouldn't say," he stated. "Only told me that they had to see you."
They came to a stop at the kitchen, where Pietro opened the refrigerator and took out some leftover pizza that they had. Elizabeth looked around the empty room expecting to find her guests somewhere around.
"Um, where are they?" She asked while Pietro put the now plated pizza slices in the microwave. He pressed a few buttons on the machine before turning to look at her.
"Oh they are in the library," he said nonchalantly before turning back to watch his food rotate in the microwave.
Running a hand over her face, Elizabeth let out an exasperated sigh. "And you brought me here why?"
"Just for fun," Pietro answered without taking his eyes off his food with a small smirk. Happy that he managed to get her somewhat annoyed.
"Okay, I'm gonna go." Elizabeth muttered in annoyance before making her way out of the kitchen, not bothering to wait for whatever he had to say.
Elizabeth made her way over to the elevator, her mind running a million thoughts per hour at who could be waiting for her. She pressed the button of the arrow pointing up and waited for the elevator. She tapped her feet nervously as the metal doors slid open.
"Fancy seeing you here," Natasha greeted with a smile as Elizabeth stepped into the small space. She was wearing a black skirt that stopped at the knees with a matching black shirt.
Smiling at the red head, Elizabeth leaned over to press her floor. "Where you headed?" She asked out of curiosity at the womans fancy get up.
"Remember when Steve left for London?" Natasha asked and Elizabeth nodded in response. A few days ago, right after they had gotten news of the Sokovia Accords, Steve had taken the jet and left straight for London. Not giving anyone any explanation.
"Well, I found out he left cause Peggy Carter just died." Natasha told her with a grimace. Elizabeth shut her eyes tightly as she thought of what this meant to Steve. "Thought of going to check on him, then head straight to Vienna after," Natasha added.
Elizabeth clenched her jaw at Natasha's next words. "There's some more room on the jet, and a seat with your name on it in Vienna." Over the past few days, the team had split into two. One half -Tony, Rhodey, Vision and Natasha- all for signing the accords.
The remaining wanting to keep what little freedom they had, chose not to sign. Elizabeth being on their side. Not liking whatever change would come with them signing. Tony had let them all choose by themselves, despite the tug in his heart whenever someone told him they weren't signing.
"You know I'm not gonna sign," Elizabeth said with her eyes ahead. "I don't think it's the right choice and you know it too." Everyone had been touchy around the subject over the last few days, not wanting to acknowledge the change they all knew was coming.
"But it's the best choice we have," Natasha tried to reason with the person beside her. When she saw Elizabeth's face didn't so much as twitch at her words, Natasha gave up. No matter how badly she wanted them all on the same side she knew it was impossible.
They waited in silence for the doors to open at their respective floors. Elizabeth had stepped out the metal doors the minute they opened but hesitated with a hand on the side of the elevator. "Say hi to Steve for me," she requested. Natasha simply smiled with a nod of her head and Elizabeth watched the metal doors slide close.
Walking through the empty halls, Elizabeth focused on feeling whoever's emotions she could, wanting a little bit more insight into who was waiting for her. The closer she got to the library the clearer she could feel it. Two people, both nervous and somewhat anxious.
Elizabeth had her hand on the large doors to the library before puling it open. Stepping inside the place, the yellow lights of the room hit her harshly. The rows of books on the shelves sat in its familiar place that lined the dark walls. In the center of the room, with their backs faced to her, she saw two people.
Both of them admiring a row of books as they talked quietly amongst themselves. She tilted her head at the unfamiliar heads of hair before making her way over to them. Her shoes making a light tapping sound on the hardwood floor.
"Guys," A heavily accented voice came from behind, startling her. Elizabeth whipped her head around to the source of the voice.
A pretty dark skinned lady stood by the door with her hands clasped in front of her. She looked at the people behind Elizabeth then back to her. Elizabeth felt a little twinge of embarrassment from the unknown lady.
She fiddled with the ends of her dark dreadlocks as she spoke. "Hi, I'm Emilie," the older lady spoke, Elizabeth could pin point her french accent. "And I'll uh, wait outside," Emilie added when she caught eyes with someone behind Elizabeth.
Elizabeth didn't get a chance to stop her before Emilie was out the door. Feeling more confused as ever, Elizabeth tried to think long and hard if she knew the woman outside. Coming up empty, she remembered that she wasn't alone in the library.
"Who are-" She stopped herself short when her eyes landed on the two in front of her. They looked older for sure, but she instantly knew who they were. "Oh," Elizabeth said in surprise as she looked at her brothers for the first time in ten years.
Of course, it would be lying to say they looked the same as the last time she saw them. Sure, Luke had the same brown hair and the same green eyes. But he looked so much older and so much like their father. In the way he stood and the way he still looked at her as if she were a little kid.
Forcing her eyes away, she moved to look at Leo with a tilted head. He looked more like the brother she remembered. With his dark hair and kind eyes, it almost made her want to hug him. But then she let her eyes trail down to his left arm.
A scar drew a thin line from his elbow to his wrist, making her remember the hallucinations that Wanda showed her back when they were fighting Ultron. If this was true she wondered what else she'd seen that had been true.
"Who was that?" Was the first thing she decided to ask the two, not liking that someone she didn't know was in the compound. She cleared her throat subtly, not wanting them to hear the shock in her voice.
"That's my wife," Luke's answer surprised her and her eyes went wide. The way he said it was so casual, she doubted it was a new thing. He didn't have time to call but he had time to get married, typical.
Realising that they were looking at her expectantly, she took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest. "If you two are expecting a hug, I've got news for you," She spat out.
"I wouldn't expect anything else, little sister." Luke answered with the same smile that made her want to punch him when they were kids.
Elizabeth scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She waited for either one of them to speak up in the empty silence. "Well?" She asked as she tapped her foot on the hardwood floor impatiently. "What are you doing here?"
Leo sighed, knowing this was going to happen. He knew there was no way she would welcome them back not after what they had done. "We decided it was time," he told his sister.
"What the hell does that mean?" She asked, trying hard not to let them know how much it hurt her to see them again. "Time for what?"
"Time for us to see you again," Luke explained with a gesturing arm between the three of them.
Yeah, she definitely wanted to kick the crap out of them. "You just decided it was time?" She asked in between scoffs. "After ten years?" Elizabeth shook her head at them.
"We saw you on the news," Leo tried explaining, "In Sokovia, so we thought we'd come find you."
"Sokovia?" Elizabeth repeated through a clenched jaw. "That was nearly a year ago! You didn't think to find me sooner? You didn't think to come find me while I was still back at the old house?"
Elizabeth winced when she heard the desperation in her voice. She knew it was all a long time ago but she didn't care, they're the ones who brought it up by coming here. She was more than happy to go about the rest of her life without having them in it.
Luke nodded at the mention of their old family home. "We did," he informed her as she scoffed, not believing him. "Imagine our surprise when we saw another family living there," he accused.
"Oh no," she sneered, "You don't get to turn this on me, no. Not after you two just come waltzing in here, in my home, pretending that nothing happened," she said sharply as the two kept quiet.
"What do you even expect from me?" She asked, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "A place to live? A homecooked meal? What do you want from me?" Elizabeth asked tiredly. It pained her that they only just thought to come find her, when they had so much time to do so. It just made her feel even more unwanted than before.
Neither of them made a move to answer her, not expecting her to react the way she did. They expected a punch and maybe even a hug. But they were proven oh so very wrong when they saw the look on her face.
"Tell me," Elizabeth repeated her question, "What do you want?"
Leo shrugged, struggling to find the words. "We just wanted to see you," he tried to make a move to embrace her but Elizabeth quickly stepped back, out of reach. Her actions struck a nerve and he felt his heart break at how fast she moved away from him.
"Well here I am," she held her arms wide open before letting them drop to her side. "I'm here in the place that I call home with the life that I built all by myself. The life that you two decided that you wanted no part in," she continued her rant. Years worth of anger piling up inside her just waiting to be let out.
Luke stayed as still as a statue as he let his brother spoke. The reality of their bad choices catching up to him. "Come on, you know that's not true," Leo tried to convince her sadly.
"Well it sure as hell felt like it," Elizabeth admitted sadly. "You said you'd call, you said you'd write," she repeated the words that they had told her all their years ago. "Then you just stopped and I-" she broke off, no wanting to finish her sentence.
When her brothers made no move to say anything else, she shook her head at them in disbelief. "Now I'm sorry, but I need you to leave," the words left her mouth sharply. "You know where I am if you want to see me again, though I won't be surprised if the next time you two check in is in another five years."
"Lizzie-" Luke tried once more only to be cut off by a sharp pain in his head. He gasped in pain and brought a hand up to the side of his head. He expected to feel the stickiness of blood but all he could feel was his hair.
He looked up at his sister to see her glaring at them. The pain stopped in his head at the same time she saw the corner of her mouth twitch. It dawned on him that she was the one doing it to him, yet he never remembered her being able to do that. But then again she had changed so much.
"I am not going to ask again," Elizabeth repeated slowly. "Get out of my home," she said through gritted teeth. She didn't want them here, not anymore.
Seeing that Leo was going to continue to try and persuade her, Luke put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "We're leaving," he told her, seeing that she was serious.
Hesitantly, they both walked past her and out the doors. Not sparing her a second glance. Elizabeth heard some faint talking outside before the sound of their receding footsteps. She was sure they were finally gone when she felt her hold on their emotions go slack.
Sighing, she made her way over to a nearby table. She pulled out a chair and slumped herself in it, placing her head in her hands. She tried to calm her heavy breathing and the bouncing of her leg that hasn't stopped since the moment they had arrived.
As Elizabeth gripped her hair tightly, she heard the sound of the door opening before someone entered, their footsteps echoing inside the empty library. The sound of the chair scraping the floor rang out as the person stopped beside her and pulled out a chair.
"You okay?" She recognised the voice as Sam's as he sat in the chair beside her. She lifted her head from her hands and looked to the side.
Sam looked at her with a sad smile, still in his training clothes. He opened his arms for her wordlessly and she leaned into his embrace. Elizabeth didn't know how much Sam knew of what had just happened but he still hugged her tightly. One thing she did know, was that Sam was all the family she needed.
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