"𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓."

Charlie stared at the picture in her hands, her fingers curling over the edges.

A grainy photo in a parking garage. Bucky Barnes face fully exposed, underneath a hood and a hat- in Vienna, with a time stamp that didn't make any sense.

But it was Becca in the photo that she really didn't understand.

"Something's not right," Charlie repeated, running a hand over her face.

Tony sighed. "You're not even supposed to be looking at that."

"Dad, seriously," Charlie thrust the picture at him, standing up. "It doesn't make any sense. Look at her hair."

Tony groaned. He glared out of the glass walls of the room, across the bunker, where Charlie could see the form of her Pops. "Charlie..."

"It's her hair," Charlie insisted. She jab her finger at the photograph. "Look. It's way shorter now than it is in this picture. You think she blew up the convention, somehow got back to Bucharest, and then... what, just cut her hair?"

"I don't think anything," Tony groaned.

Charlie growled and flopped back into her chair, staring at the photo intently.

"He's being questioned right now."

Charlie looked up, seeing the strange expression on Tony's face and following his gaze to the screen with the live feed of Bucky's cell. Sure enough, a man Charlie didn't recognize had entered the room, sitting at a table far away from him.

Charlie looked back at her Dad. He looked like he was in pain.

"Dad," she said softly.

Tony's head snapped back to her. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

Tony ran a quick hand over his face, lacing his fingers together in his lap. "Always. You don't need to be worrying about this, kiddo."

"Bruh," Charlie groaned, throwing her head back. "It's my fucking family, Dad, how am I supposed just 'not worry about it'?"

"You've got a swearing problem, oh child of mine."

"Yeah?" Charlie shot back. "Looks at the environment you raised me in, father of mine."

Tony snorted.

Charlie gently smoothed down the gingham dress on Becca's doll for a moment.

"What's gonna happen to us?" she asked, voice quiet.

"What do you mean?"

"Us," Charlie waved her hand, gesturing towards Steve across the bunker. "Pops. You. Me. Bucky and Becca."

Tony made an aborted moment with his head. Quick, jerky, not making eye contact. "I don't know what the Barnes have to do with it, but your father and I are- I mean-"

"Dad," Charlie repeated.

Tony sighed. "I don't know, bubs. I- I wish I could tell you I've got an answer, but I don't. As for Bucky..." He shook his head. "He'll be perfectly fine. El Capitan will make sure of that."

Charlie nodded slowly. Then- "He and Bucky were in love, weren't they?"

She already knew the answer. She just needed Tony to acknowledge it.

Clearly, Tony did too. He smiled bitterly. "Pretty sure they still are."

Ouch.

"He didn't tell you," Charlie said quietly. "That they were together."

"Nope. Kind of left me to figure that out on my own." Tony tilted his head. "How do you know this shit anyway? Did he... talk to you about it?"

"God, no," Charlie made a face. "I just... figured. At the Triskelion, Pops was talking to him- to Bucky- and..."

"Yeah."

Charlie shook her head. "He's gonna pick Bucky. He always picks Bucky. We were just... placeholders."

Tony sucked in a breath. "Don't say that, honey. He's just..."

He didn't finish.

"I want them to be okay," Charlie said. "But I don't understand why it has to be at our expense. We're Pops family- if Bucky is his family too, wouldn't he be treating us the same?"

"He cares about us," Tony said sharply.

Charlie wanted to tell him, you sound like you're trying to prove that to yourself, but she wasn't cruel.

"You seem to care a lot about Becca," Tony said after a long pause.

"Of course I do, how could I not? You do too."

"I do." Tony said simply. "But you don't get as angry as you did downstairs unless you care about someone a lot."

Charlie stared at him. There was a tiny smirk spreading across his face.

"What?" She demanded.

Tony held us his hands in surrender. "If I recall, you have a history with crushes on redheads. You were quite smitten with Wanda when you first saw her."

"Don't..." Charlie shook her head, suddenly feeling sick. "Don't talk about Wanda, not right now."

"So no crush on the redhead?" Tony nodded. "I don't believe you."

Charlie shot him a look, feeling heat creep up into her face. "I'm not- I'm not gonna talk about my crushes with you, that's gross!"

"Why not?" Tony pressed. "It's a bonding experience. That's what dads do. Give their kids advice on girls."

Charlie aggressively shook her head. "No, no-"

"And- or boys," Tony said quickly. Then, brows furrowing, "are you?"

"Am I what?!"

"Into boys?"

Charlie whined, burying her face into her hands.

Tony loosened his tie, gleefully amused. "Are you? "Cause I wanna know just how much tormenting material I have here. Guys, or girls, or both-"

"I don't know," Charlie groaned into her hands. "I think I like both. Or more, I dunno."

"Hey, same." Tony said happily, flopping down next to her. "Pops does too."

Charlie lifted her head, brows furrowed in thoughts. "Huh. I thought Pops was gay."

Tony waved his head dismissively. "Everyone's a little gay. Pops is bi as hell, though- he figured out that label when I first pulled him out of the ice, and he liked it."

"Hm." Charlie nodded slowly. "I think I'm bi too."

Tony grinned. He held out his hand for a fist bump. "Congrats, kid. And thank you, 'cause I can tease you time as much now. I thought you were only into girls, to be honest."

"Nah. Guys are attractive too." A sudden short, curly-haired boy with soft brown eyes popped into her head, and she forced away the smile threatening her lips.

"You're thinking of a boy right now, aren't you," Tony said, unimpressed.

"No. Shut up."

"I say go with that one- whoever he is. I feel a lot better threatening some scrawny white kid than an actual child assassin."

Charlie glared at him suspiciously. "How do you know it's a scrawny white kid?"

Tony shrugged. Then the smile on his face faltered, and he reached out finger, brushing gently along the burns on the side of her Charlie's face. "Those still hurt?"

"You changed the subject too quickly," Charlie noted, "but yeah... only if you touch them."

Tony snatched his hand back as Charlie snickered. "You're a punk. But seriously, how did that even happen?"

"At the convention, my nano-mask glitched. It burned me, but Pepper pulled it off my face before it could do too much damage."

Tony nodded distantly, staring at the burns on her temples. "They shouldn't scar too badly."

"Good," Charlie snorted,  reaching over her shoulder to run a hand along the scars snaking across her back. "I'm never wearing one of those masks... again..." Her voice faltered.

Wait.

"What?" Tony asked through narrowed eyes.

Charlie eyes flickered back to the photograph of Becca and Bucky, her lips slightly parted.

"What?" Tony demanded.

"Nano-masks," Charlie breathed. "They were wearing nano-masks!"

"Kid, you've lost me."

Charlie stood quickly, almost knocking her chair backwards. She grabbed the photograph. "Why would the Task Force release this photo in the first place?"

Tony looked at her, something slowly dawning in his face. "To get as many people looking at the Winter Soldier and the Asset as possible."

"They really weren't in Vienna," Charlie said in horror. "Someone just wanted to make it look like they were."

"They were framed," Tony murmured.

Charlie spun around towards the wall of screens displaying Becca and Bucky's cells. "Oh, fuck."

"Who's in the cell with Barnes?" Tony muttered, running to the door towards a couple of passing agents.

Suddenly the lights flickered making everyone stop in their tracks- and the entire bunker was plunged into darkness.

"Oh my God," Charlie gasped.

She glanced at her Dad in horror. She could make our the features of his face in the flickering blue and red lights from sensors and alarms, giving the room a dizzying feel.

"Great," Ross said loudly, from the front of the room. Charlie hadn't even noticed he was back on this floor. He waved his hand exasperatedly at a crowd of security guards. " Come on, guys, get me eyes on Barnes. Go!"

"J.A.R.V.I.S," Tony said into his watch, face deathly pale. "Get me the source of that outage."

Charlie whirled around, just in time to see her Pops and T'Challa take off towards the stairs at superhuman speeds.

"Pop!" She cried.

Familiar panic, creeping up into her chest.

Charlie gripped the edge of the table, trying to steady her breathing.

A voice crackled over the intercom, sounding winded and panicked. "The east wing is compromised! I repeat: the east wing is compromised!"

Her heart stuttered.

"Charlie!" Suddenly Tony was there, gesturing wildly at her. "Stark-Watch! Activate your Stark-Watch!"

Charlie glanced down and swore, frantically tearing off the bandaging on her thumb. There was the familiar feeling of metal sliding smoothly over her skin before a thruster built itself over her palm.

"Evac all civilians. Get me a perimeter around the building, and gunships in the air!" Ross barked.

Suddenly Natasha was there, grabbing Tony's elbow-

And then they were all moving, walking towards the other entrance of the bunker.

"Barnes escaped," Nat said to Tony. "The bastard inside, questioning him- he did something. Barnes is the Winter Soldier again."

"Shit," Tony said breathlessly, jogging alongside her.

"Please tell me you brought a suit."

"Sure did. It's a lovely Tom Ford, three-piece, two-button. I'm an active-duty non-combatant-"

"Wait," Charlie stopped cold. "Becca."

Tony and Natasha didn't hear her. They kept running towards the commotion, Sharon meeting them along the way-

"Becca," Charlie repeated, panic settling into her bones, as people sprinted past her.

Becca had been separated from Bucky- which meant she was still in her cell.

And if the Winter Soldier was active, he could take out everyone in this facility- including Steve.
The only person who could placate him was, consequently, the only person he would never hurt- his little sister.

"Shit," Charlie gasped, before turning on her heel and towards the basement.

It was completely silent when Charlie kicked open the door.

"Becca?" She called out, voice almost faltering.

There wasn't a response- she didn't really expect to get one, anyway- and she stepped forward, gauntlet outstretched.

The room was flashing red, just like the rest of the building. Charlie's eyes darted around the room, searching for any sign of agents or guards.

But the cell was abandoned.

They'd left Becca down here alone.

Charlie stepped closer, slowly walking towards the pod.

Becca stared at her through tangled hair, face flickering red with the alarms. Her eyes were narrowed, but there was something soft and aware in them as she looked at Charlie.

"Becca," Charlie whispered.

Breathless, now that she was up close.

"Are you okay?" She asked, heart pounding. She put her hand up against the glass. From here, in the dark, she could make out the blood matting Becca's jeans to her leg.

Alarms continued to ring through the room, loud and blaring.

"Charlie," Becca said thickly.

Words caught in Charlie's throat.

She looked a little bit older now. Healthier.

And she was looking at Charlie like she'd brought the sun and the stars.

"You came. To help me," Becca said quietly. It wasn't a question. If Charlie didn't know any better, she'd say that Rebecca Barnes was almost smiling.

"Of course I did," Charlie said breathlessly. Then, "Something happened to your brother. He escaped, but he's..."

"The Winter Soldier?" Becca tilted her head. Her speech patterns were so much more confident.

"Yeah," Charlie nodded, heart pounding.

Becca nodded. She looked at Charlie's Stark-Watch gauntlet.

Charlie started to back away, holding it up to aim. "Duck your head. I'm going to break open the lock."

Becca turned her face away, tucking it against her shoulder. Charlie steadied her feet and felt the repulser heat up against her palm-

Bang.

The door fell off its hinges.

Charlie ran forward, shoving the door to the floor with a strained groan. She stumbled into the pod and dropped to her knees to she could see eye-to-eye with Becca.

She had a few freckles sprinkled across her nose, now that Charlie was up closer. The sharp Cupid's bow of her lips matched Bucky's, and her cheeks were flushed.

Charlie's heart was pounding so fast that she could barely breathe.

"Uh," She stammered intelligently.

Becca looked a bit flustered too, but her jaw was clenched. She glanced down at restrains holding her wrists to the chair, then back at Charlie. "Help me?"

"Yes!" Charlie shook her head, hard, and looked down quickly. "Um- oh, shit, I've got to blast these too."

Becca leaned the rest of her body away from the first cuff, giving Charlie plenty of room.

Charlie grunted, falling onto her ass from the impact of the repulser as it went off, frying the corner of the cuff and releasing Becca's wrist. She quickly moved to the other side and Becca let out a noticeably relieved sigh, rubbing her wrists.

"Are you okay?" Charlie shifted into a better position, kneeling in front of Becca again.

Becca looked at her, cheeks flushed again. "Yes."

"Your leg!" Charlie almost jumped at the realization. "Holy shit-"

"There is a bullet inside of it," Becca said, her lisp heavy. "I need to heal. I must stop my brother. There is little time."

God, her speech had improved so much. Charlie nodded vigorously. "I'm so sorry. God, I'm so sorry- how can I help? Do you need me to take it out for you?"

Becca looked stumped. Then, slowly, confused- "You would do this?"

"Of course I would," Charlie said softly. "I'll always help you."

Becca stared at her for a moment longer. The flashing red lights made the shadows on her face flicker.

Then she nodded hesitantly.

Charlie took a deep breath. She could smell the blood from here, violently metallic.

Being as gentle as her shaking hands could allow, she reached forward and pulled dup the leg of Becca's jeans, careful not to jostle anything.

"Fuck," she breathed out. The skin was covered in blood, but it was easy to tell where it was coming from. There was a mass of flesh- moving, trying to heal itself- and Charlie could see a large portion of the bullet trying to extract itself.

Becca's eyes were closed. Her head was leaned back, fingers white as they clenched into fists.

And God, Charlie hated that she'd been conditioned to deal with pain like this.

"Okay," Charlie said, partially to psych herself up. "I- I can see it. If I squeeze the skin, I think it should come out."

Becca didn't respond, but she gave a slight nod.

Feeling nauseous, Charlie placed her hands around the wound, gently pushing the skin inwards, and the bullet immediately began to move.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Charlie stammered, voice high pitched as Becca flinched, but didn't make noise. "It's coming out, just a little bit more-"

Then the skin gave way, and there was a tiny ping of metal falling to the ground.

"Oh, thank God," Charlie squeaked, sinking to the ground, holding her bloodied hands against the wall of the containment pod.

Becca had let out a small noise of relief, rotating her ankle. Charlie watched as the mangled flesh of her calf began to close in on itself. "Fuck."

The alarms seems to have gotten even louder.

"We need to go," Becca said. She blew her rust-red hair away from her face.

"Wait," Charlie looked at her, standing shakily at the same time as she did. "Are- are you okay? Do you need a second?"

Becca shook her head, moving to walk past Charlie. "There is no time."

Charlie grabbed Becca's wrist, stopping her from leaving. Becca seemed startled for a moment, eyes flickering between Charlie's. "Hey."

Becca's skin was warm. Charlie's voice was soft.

"You're allowed to take a second. You just had a fucking bullet in your leg."

Becca stared at her. Her lashes were long, barely a foot away from hers.

Charlie wondered when they'd gotten so close.

Her eyes flickered, almost against her will, down to Becca's lips.

God, Charlie, what the fuck is wrong with you?

Charlie snapped back to Becca's eyes. Her mouth was dry, words coming out scrambled and stammering. "Are you sure you're oka-"

Becca moved forward, and suddenly Charlie was backed against the wall.

Then Becca's lips were on hers.

Something electric spiraled through Charlie's stomach as her hands fluttered near her sides. Becca's were on the wall on either side of Charlie, caging her in.

A small noise escaped Charlie as she kissed her back, stumbling, her nose bumping Becca's, and her hands found Becca's waist, fists curling around the sweatshirt that hung far too big on Becca's frame-

And then all at once, just as unexpected as it happened-

Becca pulled away.

She moved a weak-kneed Charlie out of the way with a hand on her hip, and sprinted out of the room towards the staircase.

Charlie gripped the doorway of the containment pod, her lips tingling.

"Fuck," she gasped.

That fiery feeling in her stomach had dwindled into something giddy as she tried to find the shards of her brain that had been scrambled by her first kiss-

Holy shit, she'd just had her first kiss.

And she... hadn't hated it. At all, actually.

For a long time, she'd wondered if it was even possible to enjoy something like that, after Afghanistan.

But God.

Rebecca Barnes never failed to amaze her.

Suddenly a distant, loud yell came from upstairs.

"Oh, fuck," Charlie hissed, very quickly sobering up.

She stepped out of the containment pod, snapping a rubber band from her wrist and pulling her short hair up into the world's messiest, most useless half-ponytail.

Her hands were still bloody as she reactivated her Stark-Watch-

And it was kind of terrible, wasn't it, how quickly she snapped from a giddy teenage girl to an unwilling superhero.

A/N:

HAHAHHAHAHA GIRLS KISSING they're so cute
I needed them to be each other's first kiss. it was so important to me. They're both still gonna end up with their respective Parker Twin, but for now...

Anyways. Tony and Charlie bonding. Trauma. Coming out. I love it for her.

What did y'all like?

Charlie and Becca are my favorite dumbasses. If you hate them, you're wrong.

drink some water and go to sleep. i'm
going it bed rn goodnight