"Um…" Talia blinks in shock, looking from the unconscious captain to the redhead beside her. "Is he going to be okay?"

Natasha reaches out a trembling hand and cups Steve's cheek. "I think he's just in shock." Her eyes are soft and tender as she cradles his face. She lifts her other hand and slaps his cheek gently. A little harder when he doesn't wake up. Steve shoots up, eyes scanning the room before he lands on the Russian spy's.

"Nat, you won't believe the dream I just had," he says, "but Talia was…" His voice trails off when he sees said girl sitting on her knees by his side, her eye wide with wonder.

"It wasn't a dream," the young mutant whispers. "It's true."

Before Steve can respond, JARVIS interrupts them. "Sir, I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but Bruce has requested both the captain and Agent Romanoff in the medical ward."
"Thank you, JARVIS," Natasha speaks up. She helps the still shocked Captain to his feet. Talia stands to the side, still looking unsure of herself around the two senior agents.

"She's our…" The blonde's face is pale. Natasha, still in shock herself, just nods her head. She rests her head on his chest and closes her eyes, breathing in the smell of Army regulated soap, sandalwood, and the particular scent that seems to belong only to Steve. The Russian spy can feel his heart racing, but at her slow breathing, he seems to calm down.

"Come on," she says as she pulls on his arm. He follows her, smiling down at the small redhead that has captured his head. "Let's go see what Bruce needs us for." Talia pretends to gag loudly behind them, earning her a glare from the spy and a chuckle from the star-spangled hero.

---

"He woke up," is the first thing Bruce says when they step onto the medical floor of the tower. He gestures to the one-waymirror of the isolation room which is the only room strong enough to hod the Hulk since Loki escaped the previous one in the Helicarrier.

Steve watches with a tortured expression on his face, mouth pulled down into a frown as he watches his friend-turned-assassin thrashes inside the room. His eyes had been glazed with the calming drug Bruce pumped into his unconscious body. Now Winter looks like he's trying to fight the drugs, still wants to escape his prison. The flashes of his metal arm makes Talia shiver, but she swallows her fear as she looks to her captain.

"Let me out!" the Winter Solider howls. "When I get out of here, I will kill you! All of you!" As he says this, his eyes meet the blonde's through the partition, as if he can see through the mirror. Steve looks like he wants to go in there and calm his friend down, but he knows it won't be a good idea. Beside him, the spy looks shaken up, one hand clutching Steve's ad the other on the gun at her hip.

"I want to talk to him," Talia's voice shakes slightly as she steps forward, her wings flapping slightly. She looks to the blond hero when he tries to argue.

"That's not—"

"I know it's not safe." The mutant sighs and shakes her head. "But he doesn't remember you… if he was even your friend."

"You don't have to do this, Talia," Natasha puts a hand on the younger redhead's shoulder. She bites her lip. "We just found you. We can't lose you."

"And you won't lose me." Talia puts her other hand on top of the spy's/ "I remember, back at the Facility, when I was able to sometimes break through to him. Maybe I can do that now."

"I won't risk it!" Steve argues. "Nat's right. You could be killed… easily. I won't lose anyone else."

"Fine." Talia crosses her arms and glares at the man. "Just don't risk yourself either. You're too important for that."

"So are you, Talia, he squeezes her shoulder, a warm smile on her face. "So are you."

---

She sneaks back in after the rest of the tower is sleeping. So is Metal Arm, but he jumps up at the sound of the door opening. Talia knows is the most subdued just after waking, so she hopes that they can talk like they used to in between the times she he didn't remember her.

What she hasn't told Steve is that sometimes, in between the memory wiping at the killings, Metal Arm was her only friend. They'd become close—share secrets, little jokes, and even flirty banter. Every time he was wiped, she'd lose her best friend to the darkness and hate, but he would always come back to her. He told her of the past her remembered, about his underdog friend Steve and how they both were in ta squad to once Steve became Captain American. He taught her how to defend herself against both himself and others, instead of just using instinct like the scientists wanted her to.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Talia gets herself back on track and walks up to where Metal-Arm is sitting up in bed, eyes glaring at the darkness. "Hello," she whispers, reaching out for the light switch. "Hello, Metal-Arm." She doesn't know if he's regained a bit of himself and she doesn't know how recently he's been wiped.

"What are you doing here?" he snarls, blue eyes wide and searching. "Haven't you done enough damage?"

She stiffens, stealing herself. "Do you remember anything?" she asks, then shakes her head. She needs to ask him the secret question that he can only answer if he remembers. "If I have fifteen watermelons and eight hot dogs, how many pancakes will fit on the roof?" The question is completely nonsensical, but it is one the Facility scientists would never guess the answer to.

The brown haired man blinks for a second before a wide smile breaks out on his face. Both of their eyes sparkle with tears as he holds out his metal hand to take hers. "Purple," he whispers with a cracked voice, "because aliens don't wear hats."

Talia chuckles, tears streaming down her cheeks as she wraps her arms around him, making sure to put her head on his right shoulder so she won't short out his left arm. "I can't believe you remember," she breathes into his skin.

"You were acting like you were going to kill us."

He shrugs, a smirk on his face. "Had to keep up appearances. I remember them from when I was the winder solider. They didn't know that I haven't been wiped since a little after you left." He rubs her arm with his metal one, the cool touch soothing her. "You weren't around to "compromise" me, so they didn't feel the need to keep wiping me. So I started to remember."

"I'm glad you did." She sniffles, wings shifting to wrap around them both.

"I missed you , Little Dove," he whispers into her hair.

"I missed you too, Bucky."

Notes