"I will not kiss you
'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you"

The last three days had gone by in a blur for Charlotte and yet every second of every minute of every hour seemed to go on forever. She felt as though she was living in a catatonic state – there but not quite all there. She felt sick and she felt tired but despite all of her attempts at sleep, it never came. She was too scared to fall asleep, now. Scared of what could happen – both to her and because of her – and scared of seeing those two dead men haunt her every dream.

Three days ago, she had killed two people and though it hadn't been done deliberately, the guilt and shame and utter confusion was still there. But what truly scared her was the way it happened. She hadn't killed them with a gun or a knife - hell, she hadn't even touched them and yet something shot out of her lethal enough to kill two Hydra agents.

She was a killer. A freak. A monster.

It was only after that night that the events that had been plaguing her made sense. The blackouts, the accelerated healing, the strange feeling in her stomach – all of it had been on account of her newly found power.

And all of it was because of Hydra.

Her blood ran cold at the thought of how close she had been to losing herself to those bastards. They had come for her that night with the intention of abducting her and despite not knowing why exactly she had been chosen, that reminder alone was enough to make her nervous as all hell.

How long would it be until another agent showed up? He would undoubtedly bring more backup considering how their previous plan had gone and if that was the case, could she handle it? Sure, by some happenstance, she had managed to fend off two of them – but what if more showed up? She'd passed out cold after only two, how on earth was she going to manage a hoard?

And then there was the issue of the man that had come after the two agents. The tall, broad, dark-haired man with the lost eyes and a familiar face.

He had quite literally appeared out of nowhere and not only disposed of the two dead agents but had also warned her to get out of dodge to avoid a repeat attack. But who was he? Despite being almost certain she had never seen the man before, she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity upon seeing him and she hadn't been able to shake it since he left.

He'd known her father of all people but that was just another unanswered question. He didn't look a day older than thirty, if he was that, and considering her father had died seven years prior she didn't understand how that was even possible. He would have been awful young even by SHIELD's standards to have fought alongside him, so what did that mean?

There were far too many unanswered questions and as the days wore on and her frustrations grew, Charlotte grew restless and antsy. She was a sitting duck in her apartment but being outside of it made her feel too exposed. She felt as though all eyes were on her nearly every second of the day and it was slowly driving her to the brink of insanity.

She needed answers, though, and as she walked along the bustling streets of London towards the one place she felt safe, she was determined to get them.

Rain poured down from the heavens above and soaked Charlotte to the bone as she hastily walked out of the tube station and towards the hospice that housed her Uncle Gabe. Her hair was drenched along with everything else on her, but she paid no mind. She was hell-bent on getting some answers from the one person she knew she could trust and a little rain wasn't going to stop her.

With every step she took, she felt as though she needed to glance over her shoulder to ensure she wasn't being followed. If anything further happened to her, that was one thing – but if any harm came to Gabe on account of her, she'd never be able to forgive herself.

Gabe was the only family in the world that Charlotte had left and soon enough he too would be gone if the cancer had its way. That thought alone was enough to make her eyes well up in tears as the rain continued to pour down.

She'd never felt so alone in her life.

Thankfully, she reached the hospice in record time and as she walked through security clearance, she was grateful they had such precautions. Maybe she'd be able to relax – something she hadn't done since the strange man left her apartment three days prior.

She rounded the final corner that lead to Gabe's room and felt a sense of ease spread through her bones that she hadn't felt since the accident but despite being happy to see the older man, Charlotte felt her stomach plummet as she took in his considerably weaker frame.

His face was gaunt now, eyes sunken in and cheekbones quite visible. He looked sick and Charlotte felt her heart break in two at the sight of him.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite girl." The old man said as she stepped into view. She couldn't help but notice his smile hadn't changed all that much – it was still big and full of life and she prayed to God that she would remember this image of him and keep it with her forever.

"Hey, Uncle Gabe," she pushed out a smile she hoped didn't look as forced as it felt. "How are you feeling?"

The man winced slightly as he sat himself up but that smile never left his features. "Oh, I'm still kickin'. Cancer ain't killed me yet."

Her smile fell flat as the C word came tumbling from his lips. She wished like hell she could help him in anyway but she wasn't a naïve little girl, she had been told first-hand by the nurses that it would only be a few months before she would have to say her goodbyes and seeing him this way made it all the more real.

She swallowed hard but shot him a watery smile as she took a seat by his bedside. For a moment, neither of them spoke but she could feel Gabe's eyes soaking up the obvious scar she had that ran along her jaw. It was an ugly looking thing and she couldn't blame him for staring, but she found herself covering it up with a sheet of wet hair regardless.

"You got some nerve askin' me how I'm doing when you've got a scar the size of Atlanta on your face." Gabe pressed, his smile fading away instantly. "What the hell happened?"

And so, she told him. Everything. Every little detail from the night of the explosion down to the night three days prior with the two Hydra agents and the unknown man that had dropped in only moments later. By the time she had finished, that nervous feeling was back and she felt sick to her stomach.

"I just can't shake the feeling that I knew him." She admitted, running a shaky hand through her long, blonde hair. "But it's not possible. And I know in my gut that if he did know my dad it wasn't in the normal sense of knowing someone." She felt awful unloading everything on a dying man but she trusted him with her life and if there was anyone who could offer her some solace, it was Gabe.

"Your father worked with a lot of different people. We all did – but he would've been a kid if he was as young as you're saying and that wasn't something that happened all that often." Gabe sipped at the juice the nurse had brought in and shrugged. "And you didn't get a name?"

"I didn't get anything." She thought back to the night that had been haunting her. "But when I mentioned Slovakia something seemed to register with him."

Gabe's brows rose in concern. "Slovakia? Honey, Clay was the only SHIELD agent captured when he was in Slovakia. If something registered on that boy's face it wasn't good news."

Something sparked to life in Charlotte's gut as Gabe hinted at the idea of the man possibly being on the wrong side of things in Slovakia. If he was Hydra, she'd be in their hands right about now – or worse – but all he did was ask her questions she had absolutely no answers to. That didn't exactly scream Hydra agent to her.

"I asked him if he was one of them, though, and—"

"You expect him to come out with sparklers and fireworks announcing he's one of the bad guys." Gabe shook his head. "Don't work like that, honey. I'm telling you, there were no other SHEILD agents in Slovakia when you're father passed. If something registered with him and if he was there – I can guarantee you he wasn't one of the good ones."

Charlotte was at a loss as she slowly leaned back into the stiff chair, her mind was a million miles away. She didn't know what to believe anymore. Hell, she didn't even know who she was anymore. This was all so much.

She heard Gabe shuffle beside her and immediately focused back on him and him alone. He was looking very serious in that instance, and he seemed deep in thought as he stared across at her. Once again, she felt his eyes sweep over the ugly pink scar marring her jawline before he opened his mouth to speak.

"Whoever the man was, he was right." His eyes found hers and an immediate sense of dread clouded Charlotte's entire body. "You've got a target on your back now, Charlie. You're not safe here."

Charlotte blinked. "I've got nowhere to go, Gabe. I can't lay low somewhere and even if I could, I'm not leaving you here. Not now, not when you're going through all this." She gestured to the number of machines he was hooked up to. "You're not doing this alone."

His chilled hand enveloped hers in an instance and she couldn't fight the onslaught of tears that threatened to spill. "If you staying here on account of an old man dying of cancer is what gets you killed, I'd never forgive myself, Charlie." He squeezed her hand. "I vowed to your father from the time you were a baby girl that I'd protect you if and when he couldn't be there and I've done just that, I'd like to believe." That big smile returned to his features and broke her in two. "But I ain't doing much of that in here, Charlie. And right about now is when you need it the most."

Fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she took in the man's every feature. "I won't leave you in here, Uncle Gabe."

His smile never wavered, not even for a second. "Yes, you will." He told her sadly. "You aren't going to lose your life trying to be here for the rest of mine."

Her shaky hand brushed away the tears that poured from her eyes as she hastily shook her head. "I'll get a new apartment and get some fake ID's," she tried to reason. "They won't find me."

"These aren't amateurs, Charlotte. These people killed your father, killed my comrades and they were trained for these sort of situations. A twenty-seven year old woman with a fake ID isn't going to slip pass their radar and you know that yourself."

Charlotte grasped his hand as if it were a lifeline. "You're dying, Gabe. I can't stand the thought of you dying alone."

Gabe only raised his hand and cupped the woman's cheek. "I've lived a good, long life, honey. And if I can die knowing I've done all I can possibly do to ensure your safety, then I'll die a happy man." He allowed his hand to fall back down on the bed. "Besides, you've got questions that need answering and you ain't gonna find those answers here, Charlie. Go to Slovakia. Your father had a lot of enemies and I'm more than willing to bet the reason you're sitting here with that power right now is on account of that. Maybe they finished what they started with Clay, I don't know, but you and I both know you'll find more answers there than you will here."

Charlotte was gob smacked. She'd never thought this trip to Gabe would be one of the last she'd take – she wasn't prepared for that. She was prepared to be here with him as he took his final breaths but she'd never expected to walk away from him when he needed her the most.

And yet, here she was.

"How will I know you're alright?" She swallowed hard. "Gabe, I can't do this."

"You can, honey. And you will. You've got your father's inheritance and that should be enough to last you for quite some time. It's more than enough to get you to Slovakia to get the answers you need."

She was crying again and the throbbing pain in her chest was enough to cause the lights above them to falter. For a brief moment, she panicked. The last thing she wanted was to cause a blackout and mess with the machines that she knew were keeping the man she cherished so deeply alive.

She needed to get her emotions in check for him if nothing else.

"Pack what you need when you get home and be quick. It's been three days, I wouldn't be surprised if they're ready for a second attack now. They've seen what you can do now and they're going to be looking for their weapon." He searched her eyes. "Get yourself to Slovakia and lay low. Those journals I gave you have a lot of information in them and there's some evidence I was able to scrounge out at the time of your father's death in Slovakia but it's not much."

Charlotte shook her head. "Gabe, I—"

"I need you to do this for me, Charlie." He held her hand again and it took everything she had not to break down in tears again. "Promise me that you'll do this."

She wanted nothing more than to scream her protest but as she stared across at the man she considered her second father, she didn't have it in her. He looked so determined and if his dying wish was to keep her as safe as humanly possible, who was she to go against him?

Slowly, she stood up to her full height and leaned down to kiss the crown of his head. The throbbing in her chest was almost overwhelming and as he reached up and held both of her hands in his own, it took everything she had not to break down and cry. This was the man who had played such an integral part of her life and here she was walking away from him.

"I love you Uncle Gabe." She whispered as a sob tore through her throat. "You're one of the best men that I've ever known and thank you so much for being in my life."

Her hands shook as she pulled away from him and when she noticed the tears in her eyes she had to cover her mouth to muffle the sobs emitting from her throat.

This wasn't right, nor was it fair.

"I love you, too, Charlie." He rasped out. "Never forget that."

All she could do was nod as her feet carried her towards the door. She was leaving a piece of herself in that room with her uncle that she would never get back.

"Be safe, Charlie." Were Gabe's last words to her.

All Charlie could do was nod her head once and grip her chest as a pain so extreme shot through her body. "You too, Uncle Gabe."

And with that, she turned on her heel and left the one remaining family member she had.

A/N: SO, I know Buck was not in this whatsoever but this chapter still broke my heart. This chapter also signifies the beginning of everything to be honest – so stay tuned. (Also THANK YOU to everyone for all of the love on this story, it means a lot!)

Lots of Charlie/Buck from here on out.

Please review!