pov. Andrea
Still fuming, I stomped up the stairs. Just before I opened the door to my room, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down because I didn't want to take my anger out on the two people in my room, neither of them deserved that. I ran my hand through my brown hair again. I wanted to hit myself, how could I have been so naive and believed that Leila would leave me without a single word. I opened the door a little harder than I should have, but then closed it provocatively with a bang, knowing exactly how much Mum hated it when I did that.

"Don't slam the doors!" came from below not a second later, as if nothing had ever happened. I snorted in frustration and then looked into my room. Leila sat on my small couch and kneaded her hands nervously, the other redhead sat cross-legged on the floor next to the couch, but stood up when I entered the room. "Okay, I have to go now." she looked back and forth between the two of us "I think you have a lot to catch up on, but" she looked at Leila and blatantly grabbed a block and a pen from my desk and scribbled something on it before putting the block back on the desk " If you ever need anything or just want to hang out, just call." She grinned briefly at Leila as she said goodbye and then walked towards the door.

Just before she could walk out the door I stopped her. "I don't know how to thank you." I spoke so quietly that Leila couldn't understand it. "If it weren't for you, I would still think Leila had left me."

"You don't need to thank me," she looked briefly at Leila, who was staring somewhat absently into the air, and then back at me, "give her time, she's been through a lot." With this sentence she finally slipped past me and I heard her boots clattering on the wood as she quickly went down the stairs.

But I no longer focused on the strange girl but on my girlfriend, who was still sitting on the couch. If she was still my girlfriend after what I had done, I would understand it well if she didn't want to be my girlfriend anymore. I took two big steps to the couch and knelt down in front of her. "Leila, I... I should have... I'm so sorry." I searched for the right words and lowered my gaze , I just couldn't manage to look her in the eyes.
She just looked at me blankly. "Andrea, that was your mother's fault, not yours." I felt her carefully take my hands and raised my eyes again.

Only then did it occur to me how exhausted she looked, she had deep circles under her eyes, her cheeks were sunken and here and there I could see a bruise that hadn't completely faded yet. But the biggest change could be seen in her eyes, they used to be filled with joy for life and a thirst for adventure so sparkling, they were now dull, almost lifeless. "Leila, I understand if you don't want me anymore after what I said, but..." I didn't get any further because she clung to my hands with such strength that I wouldn't have believed her visibly exhausted body was capable of. "No, please don't..." tears welled up in her eyes. "Don't do this to me, you were the only thing that kept me alive in there . Without you..." she looked at me desperately. "What else is left for me?" she whispered and a silent tear ran down her cheek.

My heart broke when I saw her like that. I sat down next to her on the couch in one fluid movement and took her in my arms "I won't go anywhere, I promise." I murmured. I carefully placed my forehead on hers, holding her face with my hands. Something wet ran down my cheek, a tear I suddenly realized. All my feelings boiled up again, the endless love for the girl in front of me, the terrible pain when I thought she had left me. I leaned forward, bridged the last millimeter between our lips and kissed her. We literally melted together, Leila's lips tasted of salty tears. I wrapped one arm around her waist, with the other I supported myself on the couch. I could feel her fingers digging into my hair. We both put our mutual longing that we had felt since we were separated into that kiss.

Suddenly the door flew open with a crash. We pulled apart, my eyes darted to the door and I saw my mom looking at us in disgust. "This is wrong Andrea!" she snapped.
I furrowed my eyebrows in anger, while Leila lowered her gaze and almost seemed to shrink. I jumped up angrily. "Mum, you can't tell me who to love!" I shouted.
She put her hands on her hips. "As long as you live in my house, you live by my rules young lady!"

I just laughed. "That's exactly why I'm moving in with Dad!" I glared at the woman in front of me and fished out my motorcycle key and the notepad with the cell phone number from the desk. "Have fun spending your life alone with Patrik!" I looked gently back at Leila, who was standing anxiously a few steps behind me, and held out my hand. "Come on, Leila, let's go." She hesitantly took my hand and let me pull her out of the room.

My mom stood there frozen for a moment, then she started running after us. "Andrea, wait a minute, let's talk about it!" She came running down the stairs as I was already putting on my shoes. I spun around to her, still holding Leila's hand. "What do you wanna talk about?! About you dancing the tango on my heart after ripping it out of my chest? That you don't accept me as I am? You can't even stand it when I hold her hand!" I shouted and turned around abruptly and held the door open for Leila, which she went through so quickly that it almost bordered on running away.

I wanted to do the same but my mother's hand placed on my shoulder. "Andrea, you can't do that!" her voice broke a little, but I didn't care. I turned around and looked her coldly in the eyes. "Oh yes," my eyes narrowed into slits. "Watch me, mother!" I shook her hand from my shoulder and ran after Leila.

pov. Tony
"Rhodey!" I shouted accusingly as he ran a red light for the fifth time and almost caused a pile-up. I slumped back in my seat and thanked everyone and everything that we only had to drive a little bit of country road and that Rhodey couldn't cause a big accident there.
The person who was responsible for the traffic chaos and angry drivers behind us just laughed, "Relax Tony, it turned out perfectly."

I slapped my hand against my forehead. "Why am I friends with someone like that?" I mumbled and then looked over at Stephen who looked like he was about to jump out of the car just to avoid having to subject himself to my best friend's terrible driving skills. "Now do you know why I didn't want to let him drive?" My boyfriend just furrowed his eyebrows, "Next time he won't!" I looked at him worriedly, I had been so busy screaming at Rhodey that I had forgotten that Stephen still had a problem with high speeds. I reached out a little and grabbed his hand that was in his leather glove. "Hey, you okay?" I murmured so quietly that only he could understand, because I knew exactly how much he hated his past and didn't want everyone to know it.

He waved his hand. "It'll be okay." he grumbled, reflexively holding on to the headrest in front of him as Rhodey jerked to a halt in the driveway. I was too slow and was thrown with full force into my belt, which dug into my skin. Annoyed, I looked at the worst driver I knew. "Was that necessary?"
Instead of answering me, he turned off the engine and jumped out of the car. Shaking my head, I followed him. A slam of the car door told me that Stephen had also gotten out of the car and was breathing a barely noticeable sigh, but I noticed it. I walked over to him and laced my fingers with his "Sure you're okay?"
He just nodded "Just promise me he'll never drive again." he looked at Rhodey reproachfully.
I laughed as the dark-skinned man jutted out his lip in offense. "Absolutely." I gave Stephen a quick kiss on the cheek and pulled him to the twins' door.

On the way there we passed Clint's van, Seven's Harley and Nat's motorcycle, which meant we were the last ones. The closer I got to the door, the bigger the lump in my throat became, almost cutting off my breath. Because I was afraid, afraid that we wouldn't come up with a solution and that Bucky and Sam were suffering there and because of me.
Stephen squeezed my hand reassuringly. "No one blames you, so don't blame yourself." I took a deep breath, "I know." I mumbled and rang the bell. Even though I knew that no one in there blamed me, the guilt couldn't just be put aside. It didn't take a second until the door was thrown open and Wanda stuck her head out. "There you are at last." Her eyes remained questioningly on Rhodey, but she didn't say anything, just held the door open for us, "Come in."

We followed the Russian woman into the living room. Clint and Pietro were sitting next to each other on the couch. Nat had apparently squeezed between them as an afterthought. Steve, I still had problems trusting him, sat on the large living room armchair, Wanda collapsed onto the second couch. Stephen let go of my hand and sat down next to her. "Hey guys" I looked around once to make sure everyone was listening to me "this is Rhodey, we've known each other for ages and he wants to help." I sat down next to Stephen and curled my legs up on the couch.

Rhodey ran his hand down the back of his neck and raised his other hand. "Hi, so how exactly are we going to burn this place down?"
For a moment everyone just looked at him in horror, I slapped my hand against my forehead. Rhodey sometimes had his own way of expressing himself "What he wants to say" I looked at my best friend exasperated "what are we going to do?"
Rhodey plopped down on the couch next to me. "That's another way to put it." he muttered.
The face he made made me wonder if he might have actually meant what he said literally. Pietro ran his hand through his hair. "If you're really friends with Tony, where were you when he got stuck there?" "Pietro!" Wanda and I shouted at the same time and Nat hit the Russian on the back of the head.

Rhodey trailed off "It's okay" then looked Pietro straight in the eyes "If you really want to know, I was in Afghanistan because my dad got drafted."
Pietro briefly opened his mouth as if to say something, but he couldn't think of anything and closed his mouth again. "We have to tell their parents." Nat ran a hand through his hair and looked pretty desperate. I bit my bottom lip, "I'll do it." "Tony, you have to..." Stephen started, but I interrupted him forcefully. "Yes I have to, Stephen, they're there because of me, I'll do it and no objections!" I was already dreading looking these people in the eyes and having to tell them what had happened to their children, but I still wanted to do it. Steve wiped his eyes "But that's not going to help us get her out of there!" Stephen just shook his head. "It's not enough to just hollow them." he looked at me. I knew exactly what he meant "We have to shut this place down, once and for all." I looked around. Pietro was still rubbing the aching back of his head, Nat must have gone through a lot beforehand. "And how exactly are we going to do that?"

"I gave an idea," Clint cracked his knuckles "as soon as it becomes apparent that something illegal is going on there, this place will be closed right?"
Steve nodded "Yes, but in all these years no one ever noticed anything, why now? "
Like a madman, Clint started grinning. "Bucky's mom is a lawyer, and as soon as she gets a court order for a search, they'll done!" out of sheer euphoria, Clint jumped up and clapped his hands. It took me a moment as if frozen, it can't be that simple. "It can't be that easy," I voiced my thoughts. Steve put on a brooding expression. "Yes it can, because we have something that no one has ever had before." his eyes moved to me.

Slowly the others also seemed to understand what he was getting at. It was Nat who made his suggestion: "Someone who has been there before and is willing to testify."
I swallowed. I would have to tell everything, everything about me I had driven there again. Rather unconsciously, I pressed myself against Stephen, who put his arm around my body reassuringly and protectively. I cleared my throat, "What are we waiting for?" my voice didn't sound as firm as I wanted it to. But I was determined to do that to go through with it, even if I was afraid of what would happen if I allowed all the memories that I had successfully suppressed up until now. If that was the price to save Sam and Bucky then I would pay it.