"It's my fault."

"Bucky, stop that."

"It's true, Steve," Bucky snapped and my heart ached. "If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be in this situation. Tony wouldn't have found out what I did to his parents, he wouldn't have thought to pass that goddamn act, he wouldn't have thought that I killed those people, and we wouldn't be holed up in my old apartment with million dollar bounties on our heads!"

"Jesus Christ can you stop saying that!"

He stopped pacing the small room and looked over at me. I had started shaking when they began explaining what had happened, and it wasn't getting any better. Bucky struggled to find something to say to me, but gave up and buried his face in his hands stressfully.

"Bucky, stop," I muttered.

"I'm sorry, Cara," he snapped. "I'm a little stressed right now!"

"We're all stressed."

"Yeah, well this isn't all your fault."

I stood up and quickly walked over to him. "And it isn't your fault either!"

"Stop fucking patronizing me!" He snarled.

I folded my arms and shook my head at him. "You're overreacting."

"Overreacting?!" Bucky repeated. "Cara, you just used a tranquilizer injection on your own brother. The fact that you are standing in this room right now means that you'll never be able to go back to the way things were before. I'm sorry if I think that's a big deal!"

"My god, Bucky, you-"

"Stop, both of you. Stop," Steve cut me off angrily. "You're disagreeing, I get that. You guys both think you know what's best for each other."

"I don't-"

"Alright, people. I have known about this relationship for less than an hour and I can already explain what is happening here," Clint sighed. "Bucky, you're worried that Cara has ruined her life for no reason. Cara, you don't care about ruining your life you just want to be with him."

I locked eyes with Bucky and swallowed the lump in my throat. He pushed his hand through his hair again and exhaled loudly.

"I'm sorry," he said lowly, touching my shoulder gently.

"Me too," I whispered.

I wrapped my arm around his and rested my head on his shoulder briefly. My eyes wandered around the room, and I starting wondering how they'd survived here this long.

"So how is this whole...situation working?"

"There's, uh, two bedrooms back there. We've got a few sleeping bags in there. Then we take turns taking watch at night," Steve started. "Right after we refused to sign the act and left, Wanda went and bought a load of food and stuff so we've got that. Before we came here we took pretty much all of our weapons and such with us and that's all hidden throughout the apartment. It's not ideal, but we make it work for now."

"And what's the plan?"

Steve hesitated and glanced towards Sam. "We're still thinking of one."

"Okay. Alright," I nodded slowly. "So we have us, who refuse to sign the act. And Tony has Natasha, Rhodes obviously, and Bruce-"

"Uh no, actually," Wanda interrupted me.

"What?"

"Bruce left. We have no idea where he is," Sam said quietly.

I furrowed my eyebrows together. "So then we have the advantage."

"He's back, Cara," Steve said suddenly. "And he's with Tony."

"Who's back?" I asked loudly. "Thor?"

"No," Clint replied. "Vision."

"Shit," I hissed. "That's just perfect. So Tony has a thing with a goddamn Infinity Stone in its forehead AND the entirety of the United States Armed forces backing him. Jesus Christ we're screwed!"

"I have an idea," Steve said quietly.

"What?"

"We could do what you've been wanting to for almost two years. We call him in and-"

"No way in hell," I cut him off sharply. "He's a kid, Steve. I don't care how desperate we are. I'm not dragging a kid into this."

No one dared to ask who we were discussing. We all stood there in silence for a few moments, until Steve sighed loudly.

"It's getting late. Sam and I'll take first watch," he said. "You guys go get some sleep. We'll reconvene in the morning."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Clint muttered. He stood from the couch and disappeared down the short hallway.

"Nor me," Wanda stood up as well. As she passed me, she smiled softly at me. "See you tomorrow, Cara."

"Sam, you sleep," Bucky said once they had left. "I'll stay up."

I looked up at him and bit my lip slightly. I didn't want him to take first watch. I wanted him to come and be with me. But I wouldn't say that. That's selfish.

"No, Bucky, you go spend time with Cara," Sam said, seeing my face. "But remember, these walls are paper thin."

Bucky and I both rolled our eyes. He put his hand on my lower back and guided me towards the room Clint and Wanda hadn't gone into. It was a very tiny bedroom, empty aside from a few sleeping bags and pillows strewn around it. Bucky dragged a few together and turned around to face me again.

"You okay?"

I nodded quickly. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Good."

"What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you?"

He hesitated. "Honestly, I wasn't doing so well until I talked to you."

"I'm here now," I whispered.

"I know."

I threw my arms around him suddenly, and his instinctively wound around my waist. He buried his face in the crook of my neck as I ran my fingers through his hair.

"I'm sorry all this is happening."

"Yeah," I muttered. "Yeah, me too."

He pulled back slightly. "You should get some sleep. You've been on a mission for three weeks, you're probably exhausted."

I smiled a little and nodded in agreement. I sat down on top of one of the sleeping bags and patted the one next to me. Bucky chuckled and plopped down, putting his head down on the pillow. I moved closer to him immediately, and put my head on his chest.

"I love you, Cara."

My eyes fluttered closed as I cuddled into him further. "I love you, too."

****

"Tony, we know where they are."

Tony whipped around in his chair and stared at Natasha.

"Great, let's go."

"There's something you should know," she said faintly. "She's there, Tony. If you send people in there you're going to ruin your relationship with her forever."

Tony turned and looked out his window. The sun was rising over the city like a bright ball of fire slowly setting the building aflame.

"She should've thought about that before she went with them," he said, standing up and walking to the door. "Tell everyone to suit up. We're going too."

"Tony-"

"Natasha, I don't give a damn about my sister and her feelings or our relationship," he snarled. "We're going in there with everything we've got and we're arresting those little bastards. That's final."

Tony pushed past her and left the room. She stood there helplessly for a moment, then reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She dialed a number quickly before holding it to her ear.

"Yeah it's me," she muttered. "You need to give it up. He knows."

She waited for a moment as the person on the other end answered. Her eyes darted down the hallway as if she was scared to be caught.

"I know how much Bucky means to you, I do. But you need to stay out of this..... No, I'm saying people are going to get hurt, or worse a- hello? Hello? Dammit."

She hung up and shoved the phone back into her pocket.

"Jarvis, tell the team to assemble in the conference room," she called as she walk out of the room. "We leave in twenty minutes."

****

I woke up with a start, my heart going a million miles a minute. For a brief moment, I didn't remember where I was, and thrashed around trying to escape the sleeping bag. My eyes landed on Sam sleeping across the room as the past day's events came back to me. The sleeping bag Bucky had been occupying was empty; I assumed he was on watch. Sunlight streamed in through the blinds as I stumbled toward Sam, who I proceeded to kick in the back. He groaned loudly and slowly turned over to face me.

"Wha?"

"We need to get out of here, now," I snapped, searching for my backpack. "Where are Steve and Bucky?"

Sam rubbed his eyes and sat up slightly. "What the hell at you talking about?"

"Sam, I'm serious, get up!" I yelled, finally finding my bag.

I rushed out of the bedroom and exploded into the living area. Steve was in the middle of putting his phone in his pocket, and looked up at me concernedly. I almost told him what I had just dreamt, but quickly decided I needed solid evidence. He began asking me a question, but before he could get it out, I was in the hall.

It was identical to one I'd seen in a dream less than week ago. A dream in which I was being chased by members of SWAT.

"No," I muttered to myself and went back into the apartment angrily. "No, no, no."

"Cara, what's the matter?" Steve asked.

Sam, Clint, and Bucky had joined him in the living room and all looked at me like I had sprouted an extra head.

"You were just talking to Natasha," I stated shakily. "Weren't you?"

Everyone looked at Steve now, who was incredibly caught off guard.

"How did you-"

"She told you to stop. She told you that because they know where we are," I interrupted. "We need to get out of here now."

"Cara," Bucky stepped forward, his eyebrows furrowed. "I think you had a bad dream. We're fine here. We can't leave until we have a solid plan."

"I'm not crazy!" I cried. "Tony is coming and he's bringing everything he's got!"

"And how do you know that?"

I hesitated and ran my hand through my hair. The moment I told them what had been going on they would think I was losing it. Sirens suddenly sounded from somewhere in the distance, and my stomach dropped.

"Buck, you have to believe me," I pleaded, putting my hands on his chest. "Please, I know I'm right about this. We need to get out of here."

"Cara," he said gently as he put his hands on my shoulders and rubbed them comfortingly, "I think you're a little paranoid. You've been through a lot."

I pushed him off of me, getting more and more frustrated. "I'm not paranoid, I-"

"Steve!" Wanda suddenly burst into the room from the other bedroom, her eyes wild. "We need to leave!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Clint cried.

"Wanda, what are you talking about?" Sam asked calmly.

"Turn the television on."

I quickly picked up the remote and turned the small set on. It was still on the same news channel as it had been the night before. My brother was holding a press conference, donning the suit and all. I gritted my teeth in anger and folded my arms over my chest tightly.

"It is my pleasure to tell you all today that we have located the group of people we've been searching for over the past few weeks," he announced. "My team has traced them to this building in Brooklyn."

The image changed, and began to show flyover footage of the building inside. I thought I was going to pass out. Bucky must've seen my legs wavering; he put his hands on my waist to steady me.

"I was right," I breathed, my eyes glued to the screen. "Oh my god, I was right."

"Y-yeah. You were," he muttered. "We're leaving. Everyone grab your shit, let's go."

Everyone sprang into action, seemingly pulling backpacks and guns out of nowhere.

I didn't move.

"What's happening to me?!" I whispered, my entire body shaking.

Bucky stopped strapping a gun to his back and walked over to me. "Cara, what are you talking about?"

"I-I knew that was going to happen."

"Yeah, you had a gut feeling. Your gut is usually right."

"No, you don't get it," I cried. "I didn't have any gut feeling. I saw it; I've seen all of this!"

His face twisted with confusion and he began to say something. But, he was cut off by sirens blaring outside. I snapped back to reality, and ran over to the window. There were more police cars zooming down the block towards us, along with a few SWAT trucks. Steve peeked out from behind me, and I practically heard his heart stop.

"Shit," he muttered, "that is not good."

I bent down and picked up his shield from the ground, pushing it towards him.

"Watch your mouth, Capsicle," I said quietly. "Let's go. We're getting out of here."