Status: in progress and will be finished this year wohoo and will probably get a sequel

Unravel

X

Waiting until it was dark had been agonizing to her. The longer Elizabeth sat around, the greater her anger became. She was furious and restless and couldn’t concentrate long enough to find something to make her keep her mind off of everything that had happened.

On top of that she had found blood at the back of her head. The impact had not only left her with a splitting headache as she had initially thought. But she didn’t want to take any painkillers, she wanted to be completely aware of her surroundings. Any dimming of her senses could have negative consequences for her.

The moment the sun had set, she was on her way, patting Vito’s head on the way out. Dressed all in black she blended just that more easily into her surroundings. Having no gun, she had opted for a small butterfly knife to help her feel more safe in these circumstances. It didn’t really help.

Going back to that old abandoned building with his name smack in the front was a shot in the dark but the only shot she had. She couldn’t very well go looking for him all over New York. No, she had been lucky there once before, she might be again. Of course she could have also left him a note. He would have found it eventually on one of his raids through her kitchen that had seemed to become more frequent in the last week but it wouldn’t get to him fast enough. So she had taken matters into her own hands.

She didn’t wait in front of the building. Hydra probably knew of his past and kept their eyes on this area, too. So standing off to the side in an alley with a clear view of the building, she positioned herself and waited.

It took two hours before anything even happened. Holding her breath and straining her eyes to see what was going on, she sighed in exasperation when she realized that ones causing the noise were only a bunch of teens breaking into the old abandoned house.

This had been the last straw and she was just about to cave in and go back home when she felt hands snake around her waist that suddenly hauled her farther into the alley yet again.
This time however she almost wanted to sigh in relief. Almost.

“Why does everyone feel the need to drag me into dark alleyways today?” She hissed, trying to throw his arms off of her body, struggling when it came to his left one. He furrowed his eyebrows but instead of replying, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her farther into the alley, shoving her into one of the abandoned buildings that littered this part of town, despite her protests. “Hey!”

“What do you mean, everyone?” His question was quiet but forceful and Elizabeth was taken aback for a second before she reminded herself why exactly she was there.

“Hydra,” she started, trying to make out his face as good as she could in the dark, “I think- no, I’m pretty sure they know. That’s why I’m here.”

“Then you should’ve left the city as soon as possible.”

“No, I- I’ve got a proposition. For you.” As soon as she had told him, he stood up straight.

“A deal?” He asked in what she thought could be considered disbelief.

“You’re looking for Hydra and they’re after me,” she told him, trying to carefully gauge his reaction. “I can’t deal with this on my own.”

“Are you asking me to protect you or to take you as bait?”

Elizabeth hesitated. She had thought about both aspects of her proposal but ultimately, for her, only one aspect was of importance. She still didn’t agree with his way of dealing with Hydra.

“It’s… Both,” she finally told him.

“Not interested,” he said to her, starting to move towards what probably used to be the backdoor.

“Are you sure?” She asked, a glint in her eyes. She already had an idea what to say if he didn’t relent.

“Yes,” his voice already sounded farther away,

“It’s just a shame, you know? According to history you always worked quite well within a team,” she then said, keeping a straight face as she heard his footsteps come to a halt.

She knew he hadn’t left the building but it was so quiet, it might as well have been empty. However there was a possibility that he had frozen. She didn’t know whether he even knew his name, let alone something about his past. The chances were good he was feeling confused, so she spoke up again. “Do you remember anything about who you are, Sergeant Barnes?”

He let out a breath before he hesitantly answered. “Pieces, nothing... solid.”

Elizabeth nodded although he probably couldn’t see it. “I know I probably sprung this on you out of the blue, so I’m just going to ask you to listen to what I have to say, then I’ll let you decide. Okay?”
She waited for his affirmation to continue.
“I’m not going to exploit you. I wouldn’t ever do that to anyone. We would both benefit from it and if you want I can help you in other ways, too. If. I’m not going to force you to do anything, I’m just... putting the possibility out there. I’m also guessing that you’ve probably been living in these old, moldy buildings and I have a guest bedroom. If you want. God knows you’re already eating all of my food anyway, so there wouldn’t be too much of a difference, at least to me-”

“What about Hydra?” He interrupted her. She had thought about that.

“My apartment’s not rented under my name and the FBI doesn’t have my current address. It’s as safe as any,” she explained. It was true and they probably didn’t think she would take to harboring an assassin. Hell, she wasn’t even sure herself but all in all, it would be the perfect deal. He would get help and a place to sleep and eat and, if someone were to attack her, he could take care of the Hydra members. It was exactly what he had been doing, only with Elizabeth added to the equation.

“You’ve been thinking this through,” he said, coming closer again.

“I had a lot of time before you showed up.”

“What if I don’t want to remember?”

“That’s okay, too. Just... think about,” Elizabeth told him with a sigh. She had said everything that she had wanted to. Now it was up to him, her persuasiveness hopefully having done its part.

“Okay,” he then said.

Elizabeth perked up, confused at the meaning of his answer.

“Okay as in ‘I understand’ or as in ‘I’m in’?” She rushed out, hopefully.

It took him a second to answer. “The latter.”

His answer made her lose the breath she had been holding but she caught herself before he could see how relieved she was. “You probably don’t need a key, right?”
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whew it's monday again which means I'm officially on three weeks of spring break *YEEEEEY*

I'll probably be able to update more than once, probably even twice a week so look out for that! Also, I'm really super grateful for the nice feedback and I'm super stoked that you guys like my story :)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and let's just say you're in for a bit of domesticity before shit hits the fan again lol

Let me know what you think!