A/N: heyyyyy everyone! Another delayed chapter but at least it wasn't 8/9 months like last time amirite? :p I think I'm over the hump now of the part of story that was giving me such a hard time, so here's to hoping that I can smash updates out in a more timely manner now. Thank you guys again for your patience and continued interest, it never fails to blow me away and I hope this is worth the wait! My undying thanks to midnightwings96 for her irreplaceable help every step of the way - without her none of this would exist and without her help getting me un-stuck constantly I'd probably be stuck at like... chapter 2 LOL. Also thank you to MorningGlory2 for her incredibly sweet support and excitement for this update, I hope you likey as well :D and to the readers, reviewers, lurkers... I love you all so much and you're the best. I look forward to hearing from you guys and I'll do mah very best to update again soon!

A few days later, Summer was alone in the manor's gym and up far earlier than she would have ever chosen to be normally. But sleep was hard to come by these days and she preferred being up and moving to laying in bed staring at the ceiling and watching horrible, traumatic images flash behind her eyelids every time she closed them. So instead, with her hair thrown up in a messy bun and her hands wrapped up, she decided to take out her anger and frustration on the heavy punching bag she typically avoided if she could.

Shock over her father's death had now turned to anger, right on track with the five stages of grief, and while punching and kicking a bag full of sand could only do so much, it allowed her the only kind of release she knew how to get. She was much stronger physically than she had once been, all of her jabs and kicks proper and in good form, reflecting very well on the training she had received since her life had turned upside down. She didn't find much joy or pride in it, though. Normally she did but now... now she just didn't know what to feel.

She'd been trying to process for days now but it was all over her head. Her dad hanging from the the ceiling, his apparent suicide a sham, watching Bucky nearly murder Scott right before her eyes, watching Lukas and Thor nearly rip Pietro apart when he was revealed to be the true rat among them... and hers and Lizzie's loyalty being questioned all the while.

It was too much. Too much grief, too much confusion, too much pain, and now too much anger. What was she supposed to do with it all? What could she do?

She couldn't do a damn thing. But she could keep punching, so that was exactly what she did until a familiar raspy voice from behind startled her and made her still and whip her head around.

"You know, maybe you'd feel better if you were hitting a real person and not a bag. I mean, what's that bag ever done to you?"

Breathing hard from exertion, Summer sighed at the sight of Natasha and gave a small shrug. "I don't know. But nobody was up yet, so..."

"Well, now I am," Natasha replied, reaching back to tie up her own hair. "And you can hit me instead if you want. You probably want to after the other night."

Summer shook her head, wiping the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand. "Not really. I get it."

Natasha simply looked at her knowingly and gently replied, "Summer, you're not... hardened like all of us. All of this is still very new to you and you just lost your father. I questioned your loyalty. I know it hurt."

Summer paused and looked away, giving a weak shrug. "You... you have to be objective. I understand."

Natasha nodded. "Yes I do. But I'm also your friend. And just so you know," she added softly, "I'm very glad it wasn't you. Might have killed my last sliver of hope for humanity if it had been."

The genuine fondness that colored her words left Summer surprised. "... Really?"

"Yeah. You're so... normal. Guess I don't know a lot of normal people," she chuckled faintly. "All of us, we've lived lives that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I'm sorry that you and your family were brought into all of this. You shouldn't have been."

Swallowing down a lump of emotion, Summer fought to keep the threat of tears at bay and muttered, "No we shouldn't have. And it's so... weird... because if it hadn't happened, if my dad hadn't messed up so bad and then handed me over I wouldn't have Bucky and I wouldn't have all of you and I love you guys. I love you all so much. But then I... the thing with Rumlow wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have had to shoot that guy and then Aemilia wouldn't have been shot and... my dad would still be alive. I don't know what to think or how to think."

"It's all a mess," Nat replied in her matter of fact but yet not cold way. "But it is what it is. We can only control so much. And all of this was beyond your control. You couldn't have stopped what happened."

"I know," Summer replied shakily, a rogue tear fighting its way to her cheek. "In my head, I know that. But..."

"I know. I do," Natasha assured her. "We've all lost too much. Most of us are orphans. We're all damaged and we feel like monsters because we have to act like monsters to survive sometimes. But at the end of the day," she looked down and clenched her jaw, one of the most overt displays of emotion that Summer had ever seen from her despite how subtle it was. "At the end of the day we're together. That's what's important." She looked back up and added softly, "And you're one of us now. For better or worse. You're not alone."

Summer nodded, tears now clouding her vision and anger dissipating for a little while. She hesitated only briefly before stepping forward and hugging the smaller woman, not giving her any chance to complain or escape the embrace even though she was pretty sure she wouldn't. And she was right.

"Thank you," she mumbled into Natasha's shoulder, squeezing her as Nat sighed and patted her on the back.

"You're welcome," Natasha replied, glancing over Summer's shoulder towards the doorway where Bucky was standing, quietly watching the scene unfold with a sad but fond expression.

He had woken up alone for the first time in ages and had immediately panicked a bit, barely stopping to throw a pair of pants on before tearing out of his room to search for her. He had checked absolutely everywhere including the gardens and Lukas and Aemilia's room before finding her where he least expected to, in the gym with Natasha.

He was grateful that he could count on the others in his family to take care of her and look out for her when he couldn't. Knowing that she was in good hands, he took a breath and slipped away. It was gonna be a rough day for her with Michael's funeral scheduled to take place at noon, and he wanted to be as present and supportive for it as he possibly could be. That meant getting any and all business finished and out of the way well before they had to leave.

Meanwhile, after Summer pulled away and wiped at her eyes, Natasha smiled and gave her shoulder a tap. "Ready to hit me now?"

Summer smiled and let out a huff. "As long as you don't let me win just because you feel bad for me."

Natasha grinned back and tilted her head. "All right. You asked for it."

Summer hated funerals. There was nowhere on earth she would have rather been less than a crowded Catholic church full of people there to mourn her father, but she knew she didn't have a choice. She had to be there for Lizzie and couldn't have lived with herself if she had skipped her own father's funeral, no matter how badly she wished that she could have.

It was difficult to pick which aspect of it that she hated the most, but she had plenty of time to mull it over as she suffered through the event. It might have been the way that everyone looked at her with pity, all the former work colleagues that had happily thrown Michael under the bus when he went under and were now pretending to be some of his closest friends and in deep pain over his passing. They offered her empty words of consolation and some of them even tried to make her feel better, telling her not to blame herself and that suicides were tragedies that could rarely be prevented. She had to nod and thank them while inwardly boiling over the fact that she couldn't scream the truth from the rooftops.

But Bucky stayed at her side and kept her grounded, taking her hand when he could see her starting to reach her limit and pulling her away to take a break whenever she needed one. And even more stunning than his devotion to her, everyone from the manor came to show their support and pay their respects. Everyone, aside from Pietro whose absence didn't need to be explained.

She was most definitely far from alone, just as Natasha had told her. She clung to that support like the lifeline it was and it carried her through to the end, through Mass and all the way to the burial at a cemetery just outside of the city.

As the closed casket was lowered into the freshly dug grave awaiting it, Summer watched quietly and without tears, anger resurfacing and temporarily shielding her from the hurt that she needed to ignore to get through that particular day. On her right was Bucky, his arm wrapped around her and holding her close, and on her left was Aemilia and Lukas. Aemilia held her hand, her silent but profound support every bit as strong as that of Lukas, and Summer could breathe easier with the three of them at her side.

Next to them, Lizzie wasn't able to keep her tears at bay quite as well as Summer and she cried silently but freely, flanked by Tony and Frieda. She and Summer were all Michael left behind, no other family left but them, no real loved ones aside from the women he'd let down over and over in his too-short time on earth.

But Summer would always love him regardless and treasure what few good memories she had of him. And as for Lizzie, as much as she knew that divorcing him had been one of the best things she had ever done, she also knew that marrying him was the also one of the best decisions she'd ever made because it had brought her and Summer together and made their bond possible. She had never stopped loving Michael and never would, and she would never regret the years she had spent with them since they had led her to where she was now.

Once the casket was in the ground, laid there gently and respectfully, Summer closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Bucky kissed her hair and Aemilia squeezed her hand, and when she opened her eyes she asked in a small but steady, deceptively calm voice, "We're gonna kill them, right?"

Bucky's arm tightened around her and his warm breath washed over her ear as he quietly gave his answer. "Every last one of them, sweetheart."

If Summer had hoped she'd have time after the funeral to process her grief and work on the anger that ebbed and flowed but never seemed to leave her, she would have been sadly mistaken. The very next day was the busiest and most eventful she'd had since the day of Michael's death.

Viktor was flying in that day to play babysitter and auditor to the family in the wake of the mess that had been made, and that meant giving him a proper welcome whether they wanted to or not. As event planner and wife of the Captain, Summer was well aware that she was supposed to be a central part of that welcome despite the fact that Aemilia and Frieda took it upon themselves to begin preparing the manor without so much as a word in Summer's direction. She knew that they were doing that out of care and courtesy, but she didn't want to sit on the sidelines and cry uselessly while others carried out her work on her behalf.

She was grieving, after all, not dead herself. And perhaps throwing herself back into work and duty was the best way to start feeling vaguely human again.

She had been planning that night's dinner with Frieda and the main chef when Bucky had interrupted and asked her to join him on a trip into the city to meet Director Carter at SHIELD. Summer had been surprised for all of five seconds until she remembered how central she was to the whole ordeal, how inextricably linked she was to all of these horrible things that kept happening over and over. And even if she hadn't been, she was Bucky's wife and, just as with matters of the manor, she had a role to play in the war, as well.

She found herself on autopilot throughout the meeting, annoyed by everyone who greeted her at SHIELD and looked at her like she was either useless or some poor soul caught up in something she knew nothing about. Director Carter looked at her a bit like the latter, shaking her head at her but greeting her surprisingly warmly even if the look in her eyes said you should have listened to me while you'd had the chance. But even more unexpected was the brief but genuine hug from Steve after, and condolences that weren't pitying nor irritating but were real and offered from a place of understanding that could only come with knowing the same loss.

If nothing else, those interactions and Bucky's constant presence at her side gave her the strength to get through the meeting and listen to her father's death and all of the consequences and complicating factors be discussed around her in grave detail. They sat at the same long table in the same conference room they had during Summer's first visit, Sam and Natasha there to help discuss strategy and Tony there for tech reconnaissance while the group dissected Pietro's betrayal and how it had happened, and what they could do about it going forward to use it to their advantage.

"I don't like this," Peggy sighed, though she never seemed to particularly like anything that had to do with the Bratva or her agency's partnership with it. "He's already betrayed you once. I have very little faith in his value as an asset."

"Frankly," Bucky replied, "so do I. But it's our best move. And Pietro's not... he's not loyal to anyone but his sister. He did what he did because of her. If I thought he had the slightest loyalty to the Triad I wouldn't entertain this as an option."

Peggy worked her jaw, neither objecting nor endorsing his judgment. "And what of the sister? Is she aware of all of this?"

"Not yet," Natasha replied. "She works for Summer at the office. She's been holding down the fort there while Summer's been on leave. Unless Pietro's told her and I highly doubt he has, she doesn't know a thing."

"Best if we change that," Peggy sighed. "Bring them both in tomorrow and we'll go from there."

Having been staring down at the table for most of the conversation, Summer's eyes snapped up and landed on Bucky next to her before flying to Peggy. "No."

And just like that, with one word, every single pair of eyes present were fixed upon her. She swallowed with sudden anxiety but didn't shrink, even when Peggy asked curiously, "I beg your pardon?"

"I don't think..." Summer paused and then cleared her throat, taking a deep breath after. "I don't think she should know."

"If she's going to be under my protection going forward I want her to be as aware as possible of the danger she's in so she knows not to take any unnecessary risks," Peggy replied, firmly but not unkind.

"She's young," Summer argued, calmly but steadily, even though her heart was pounding in her ears. "Younger than me and innocent and... if she knows she's had a gun on her for months it's gonna change everything. She'll never be the same. The toll it takes on a person who's never been through anything like this, knowing there's people out there who want you dead... I know how hard it is and what it does to your head and don't wish that on anyone, especially not her. I'm sure you guys can protect her without her knowing you're there. That's kind of your thing, right? Covert ops?"

The room was silent for a few seconds until Steve, sitting at Peggy's right as usual, looked from Summer to Peggy and said, "She's right. She doesn't need to know. We can protect her just as effectively with her in the dark and living life normally. Might even be easier that way."

Summer's confidence suddenly shooting through the roof, she looked with wide eyes from Steve to Peggy and watched as the director eyed Steve in a way that was both exasperated and maybe just the slightest bit affectionate before she sighed, "I don't know why I'm surprised. But I reserve the right to inform the girl if and when I feel it becomes necessary."

Steve nodded. "Absolutely, ma'am."

And with that, Peggy moved on to the question of their next tactical move, and Summer only realized her hand was shaking when Bucky reached under the table and took it in his own. She looked up at him and found a proud little grin on his face, clearly impressed with how she had spoken her mind in a room full of people infinitely more experienced than her and had succeeded in making them see her side of things. She squeezed his hand back and exhaled with relief now that it was over, glad to have made a difference and hopefully spared Wanda the kind of anxiety that Summer herself had been struggling with for months.

She missed the way that Bucky glanced at Steve with that grin stuck to his face and raised his eyebrows as if to say she's something, ain't she. Steve smiled back, well aware by now of how much Bucky loved her and how constantly impressed by her that he was, incredibly happy that Bucky had finally found someone who made him smile like that again. Then he turned back to Peggy as she asked him a question, and Summer refocused on the conversation as it picked back up.

It was the best and most useful she'd felt in days. It was short lived, but she savored it while it lasted.

Later on, Summer was alone in hers and Bucky's room and sitting down at the vanity that had recently been moved from her old room into his, staring blankly at her reflection and holding a tube of mascara that she'd all but forgotten about actually using. Having been going all day and staying as busy as possible, this was the first bit of downtime she'd gotten since her early start to the day and it all crept up on her so sneakily and out of nowhere that she didn't even notice what she was doing until she heard a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in," she called automatically, blinking a few times and looking down at the mascara in her hand. She twisted it open and sighed, making a mental note to make sure that she got more than a couple hours of sleep that night as the door opened and Aemilia quietly stepped in.

"Are you nearly ready?" she asked, looking particularly radiant in a lavender dress that hugged her very pregnant body in all the best ways. Her auburn curls were down and magnificent as ever and Summer felt an immediate sense of comfort in her presence.

"Yeah, sorry, just kinda... I don't know, zoned out for a minute," she shrugged, leaning forward to look at her reflection more closely and apply the finishing touches. "What time is it? Is he almost here?"

"Viktor is on his way from the airport," Aemilia confirmed, one hand resting on her belly out of habit as she strolled towards Summer. "Everything's ready. Bucky was asking after you, so..."

Summer nodded, going over her lower lashes and making sure she got them all before closing the mascara and setting it down. "I wish this was happening another day. I'm so tired I feel like I could sleep for a week." She paused and added miserably, "Not that I can sleep for more than 4 hours these days."

"It'll get better," Aemilia assured her, standing behind Summer now and smiling gently at her reflection in the mirror. "Everything gets better with time."

"Yeah," Summer agreed as Aemilia ran her fingers through her wavy hair. "Time takes forever though."

Aemilia chuckled, grabbing the hairbrush from Summer's vanity and running it through her hair. "That's true even of pleasant things. I feel like I've been pregnant my entire life by this point, for example."

"You mean you haven't been?" Summer joked, trying to find her sense of humor amid her dreary state of mind. It worked, making Aemilia giggle as she began working Summer's hair into an updo that Summer hadn't had the energy to bother with herself.

"I haven't," Aemilia replied, "just as you won't be grieving like this forever."

"You know," Summer sighed, "at SHIELD today, Director Carter gave me this look... not quite like I told you so but more like I wish you would have listened to me, and it made me wonder... maybe if I'd taken her deal and done witness protection... my dad would still be alive. If I'd just -"

"Don't do that," Aemilia earned her, eyes turning a bit more sharp and determined in the mirror. "Once you start blaming yourself you'll never stop."

"But what if I could have stopped it? What if I'd taken that deal and then -"

"You didn't, darling," Aemilia said gently, carefully pinning her hair into place. "You can't change the past, you can't take back your decisions. Don't do that to yourself. And to be frank... your father is the one who decided to do business with the mob in the first place. He's the one who created the mess that led to all of this. Ultimately the responsibility for that falls on his shoulders, Summer. Not yours."

Summer couldn't argue with her logic, but she also couldn't quiet the nagging voice in her head telling her that she could have done more and could have changed her father's fate. She chose to try to ignore it for the time being and focus on the problem at hand. "You're right," she said quietly, watching Aemilia seemingly effortlessly work wonders with her hair. "So... any advice for tonight? Like for how to act around this douchebag?"

"Yes, actually," Aemilia nodded. "Do you remember my advice on your wedding day? About playing a role to get you through?"

Summer nodded. She'd never forget that advice, nor how petrified she had been on that day and the ones that followed. But it had been very good advice and had indeed helped get her through the day.

"You may have to do a bit of that tonight," Aemilia told her with a mild grimace. "Viktor is quite representative of the leadership that ordered your marriage to Bucky. His thinking is stuck in the Dark Ages and he doesn't respect any of us. I'm not telling you to change who you are or be a doormat, but you may need to bite your tongue a bit."

"So," Summer sighed, recalling something another old Russian man had called her at a party awhile back, "like if he calls me an American whore, just ignore it?"

"Well," Aemilia chuckled, "he likely won't go that far. Just don't let him get to you. He's nothing more than a necessary evil we must endure for a little while."

"Okay," Summer nodded as Aemilia pulled her hands away and admired her work. "God, how did you even do that?"

Aemilia held up her fingers and wiggled them with a grin. "Magic. What else?" Then she giggled and patted Summer's arm. "Now get up and let's go. Your husband misses you."

Summer took a deep breath, nodded and stood up. On the bright side, maybe the remainder of the night would be so thoroughly exhausting that she'd sleep like a baby once it was over.

Once they made their way downstairs, Aemilia led Summer outside to the front steps of the manor, where Bucky, Lukas, Frieda and Thor were ready and waiting for their guest. Summer and Aemilia made it there just in time, several cars pulling up along the winding driveway as Summer took her place next to her husband.

"There you are," Bucky smiled, his tone gentle as he looked her over and slipped his hand into hers. "I was starting to worry."

"I'm fine," she assured him, soaking up his affection when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Sorry I took forever."

"It's okay. You look great," he grinned, eyes sweeping over her elegant hair and sleeveless, knee-length deep blue dress and black heels. The fact that she still managed to blush a little when she felt so numb inside was a testament to how much she felt for the man.

"... You too," she replied, taking note of his black suit and combed back long hair, the gray at the sides prominent the way that she liked. "You look very... Captain-y."

That made him chuckle and press a short, sweet kiss to her lips, interrupted by Lukas clearing his throat next to them. "Useless relic of an old bastard, 12 o'clock."

Summer pulled away from the brief pleasant moment and took a deep breath, turning her gaze towards the car before them and the man she didn't recognize stepping out of the backseat. At first she assumed that he was an assistant or handler, but when the shorter-than-expected, mostly balding man began striding their way with all the haughty swagger of an old mobster who thought that he was better than everyone and wasn't afraid to throw his power around to prove it, she blinked and realized that was Viktor.

He walked up to Bucky first, greeting him with a firm handshake and Russian words that Summer understood well enough by now, having witnessed enough greetings between Bucky and his Russian comrades. Then Viktor turned to her and switched to English as he shook her hand and said in a thick Russian accent, "Viktor Orlov, very nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Barnes."

She nodded, the heels she was wearing resulting in her actually looking down just a bit to make eye contact. "Nice to meet you too, thank you for coming." She even managed to utter the sentiment in a mildly believable tone.

"You have my condolences for the loss of your father," he added with a somber nod, and Summer thanked him quietly and let out a breath of relief when he released her hand and moved on. That was when things got a bit more interesting.

Standing toe to toe with Lukas and looking up at him with an expression as if Viktor wasn't almost comically small next to him, he opened his arms and greeted him with the Russian word for nephew. Lukas accepted the hug as woodenly and unenthusiastically as his manners would allow, but when they pulled apart, Viktor looked at him with very poorly hidden disdain and said, "If only it didn't take such dire circumstances to bring our family together."

"If only," Lukas replied with a fake smile that he didn't particularly try to mask.

Viktor then moved on to Aemilia, shaking her hand and congratulating her on the little one on the way before subjecting her to mutual cheek kisses, which Summer was happy to have avoided herself. Then he moved down the line to Thor, at which point he broke into a big obnoxious grin and pulled the much larger man into a hug, exclaiming something in Russian that Summer didn't understand but figured was just a much more sincere greeting than what Lukas had gotten. Thor patted his uncle on the back and glanced over at Lukas, verbally returning the sentiment in the same language but rolling his eyes at Lukas in a way that made the younger brother barely hide an amused grin.

After Thor, all that was left was Frieda, whom Viktor appeared most pleased to see of all. She maintained a perfectly neutral, politely pleasant expression as they exchanged greetings, extending a hand to him before he could try for a hug. When he took her hand and tried to pull it in for a kiss instead with a few possibly slightly inappropriate Russian words, she smoothly snatched her hand back and interrupted in English, "We are honored to have you here as always, Viktor. If you don't mind following me inside and out of the chill..."

She turned and began to walk inside without any further prompting, and Viktor followed along with his security detail with a nodded, "Of course, of course." The others turned to do the same, Summer glancing questioningly at Aemilia who gave her an eye roll crossed with a cringe in reply.

There was clearly some odd dynamics at play, but one thing was unmistakable - not a single member of the family liked the man or particularly wanted him anywhere near their home. Summer was equal parts interested and worried for how the evening would go, and still inexplicably surprised by her height advantage over the man. Then again, douchebags came in all shapes and sizes.

The manor was immaculate thanks to the efforts of Summer, Aemilia and Frieda, the scent of the equally perfect and extravagant dinner that was ready and waiting filling the entire lower floor as the group made their way past the foyer. The others greeted Viktor along the way, Sam and Natasha and Tony and everyone else present all affording the man the kind of respect that was expected and enforced within this kind of organization. It reminded Summer of royalty and the ceremony such figures stood on, the way that politics dictated such interactions and made them so tedious to deal with. She was starting to see why Bucky hated his job so deeply at times.

Nonetheless, everyone gathered at the table like civilized adults and sat down for the grand dinner, Bucky at one end of the table and Frieda at the other as usual. Viktor chose to sit between Thor and a suddenly nervous-looking Scott, whom Summer wasn't sure had actually been introduced to Viktor yet, and Summer sat at Bucky's left hand with Aemilia and Lukas next to her. Nat, Sam, Tony and Lizzie sat to Bucky's right, in that order.

The meal kicked off to an uneventful start, Viktor complementing the food and the decor and the general state of the manor, addressing most of his compliments to Frieda who accepted each one with a polite smile and thanks before refocusing her attention on her plate. Then he made brief small talk with Thor, looking at him as if he was the one bright spot amid a sea of disappointment, and Summer was starting to think that was exactly how Viktor viewed the family. She didn't know whether to be impressed or horrified by how blatant Viktor displayed his favoritism in a situation that didn't even call for any.

Still, everything was remarkably mundane up until Viktor struck up a conversation with Bucky, asking how the meeting at SHIELD had gone. Bucky gave him a rundown of the meeting and the gameplan as it stood, using Pietro as a sort of double agent and ramping up the offense on the Triad with SHIELD's backing and resources. Viktor nodded, then set down his fork on his plate and cleared his throat before looking around the now-quiet table.

"I fear it is all too little, too late," he said, addressing the family. "Ever since Alexander passed the mantle of Captain, I've seen a slow but steady decline in this American division and this... this weakness, this crumbling from within, is the proof. You people think that you can cling to your way of life and methods of leadership and regain the upper hand, but... deep down, at least some of you must know better than this."

"All due respect," Bucky began, "but none of this is a result of bad leadership. Not on my part, or Lukas', or -"

"Of course you think that," Viktor interrupted, and Summer's eyes widened a little - nobody ever interrupted him like that. "You are the problem."

Bucky's gaze narrowed and he set down his own fork then, leaning back in his seat and actually grinning a little bit, as if he was more than happy to see this turn into a fight. "Please, enlighten me."

"You know full well already, Barnes," Viktor grinned back. "You don't belong here as I do, as my brother did, as Thor does."

Lukas didn't dignify the remark with any sort of acknowledgment, instead sipping his wine quite calmly and enjoying the exquisite dinner despite the hideous circumstances.

Bucky rolled his eyes at Viktor's remark. "Yeah, I'm not fuckin' Russian, I get it. If I was, everything would magically be different, huh?"

"Perhaps you wouldn't be so weak," Viktor shrugged. "Perhaps you wouldn't be drowning in betrayal and scrambling to secure the people you pretend to call your family. Perhaps... death would not follow you like a shadow."

Summer's heart dropped. She stared wide-eyed from Viktor to Bucky and was surprised to see Bucky completely calm, still grinning as if they were discussing things of no consequence. "I know what you're doing, and it's not gonna work."

Viktor continued to smirk back. "Isn't it?"

"It is not," Lukas chimed in, still refusing to look Viktor's way. "You can try to goad us into losing our shit and behaving like animals, but we are not quite so dim as to fall for such an obvious ploy. You'll have nothing to report back except our full and complete cooperation and hospitality."

Viktor stared at Lukas in amusement, then Bucky and, a moment later, Frieda. She merely smiled at him with a false sweetness, the same dangerous sort of smile that Summer had caught glimpses of from Lukas before, and said, "You're going to love dessert. I made sure to have your favorite prepared. Would you like more wine?"

Viktor chuckled, nodding to the wine question then resting his chin on two fingers as a staff member refilled his glass. He surveyed the group and their smug faces, the way that Sam was grinning quite openly and Natasha eating nonchalantly, seeming rather bored by it all, and Lukas and Aemilia smiling at each other while the former rubbed a gentle hand over the latter's belly. Lizzie and Tony were chatting quietly amongst themselves, and Viktor took a moment to grin to himself before picking up his wine glass and deciding that now was time to cut the games.

"You people," he said with a ghost of a laugh, flaunting his dominion over the subordinates he held in such poor regard, "think that you are so clever. And maybe in some ways you are. After all, you're here, in this manor, the home that was meant to be the Orlov family crown jewel before my brother's untimely death," he glanced briefly and pointedly to Lukas, "ruined all of that. But none of you will ever be worthy to even stand in his shadow."

"I stood in that exact shadow that you speak of long enough, Uncle," Lukas replied. "It's a cold, barren place that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. But please, do go on. Your attempts at rewriting history are always amusing."

"You speak as if you have ever left his shadow," Viktor laughed.

Lukas grinned back. "You speak as if I would spare my glass of water if you were to catch fire at this very moment."

Summer choked on her wine. She coughed and glanced at Bucky, who winked at her and was back to eating now, watching and waiting for the whole ordeal to wrap up so that he could take his wife to bed and finally be done with the day.

But he would have to keep waiting, judging by what happened next. Viktor turned his gaze to Bucky following Lukas' blisteringly dismissive words, remarking casually, "Every chain has a weak link. I've had my suspicions all along, but now I see the true chink in your collective armor."

Bucky waved a hand and muttered, "You just gonna speak in cryptic fuckin' riddles or are you gonna -"

"Your wife, Captain," Viktor interrupted.

With those three words, the atmosphere in the room shifted and Summer's heart stopped beating for a moment. Her eyes widening and ears suddenly on fire as all eyes turned to her, including Viktor's, and she could suddenly barely swallow the mouthful of food she'd been chewing.

"I'd stop there if I were you, Viktor," Bucky warned him, eyes turning dangerous for the first time that night.

All it took was one glance around the table for Viktor to know that he'd just struck exactly the nerve that he was looking for. Everyone from Frieda to Thor to Sam to Aemilia were glaring daggers at him, and it only served as further confirmation to his theory, which he was rather excited to share.

"Tell me, Barnes," Viktor said with his eyes fixed squarely and unnervingly upon Summer, meal all but forgotten now. "When did everything start falling apart? It was when she arrived, was it not?"

Aemilia spoke up before Bucky could. "And why did she arrive in the first place, exactly? Was it not the archaic ideas of you and the other men like you within the leadership?"

Viktor shrugged. "The marriage was the right call. But that isn't my point."

"Of course not," Frieda rolled her eyes as Summer sat there and watched it all unfold, anxiety twisting low in her gut. "God forbid you accept a shred of responsibility."

Victor pretended not to hear her, smiling at Summer now and increasing her anxiety tenfold. "Funny, isn't it, how one little girl can lay waste to something so much bigger than her."

Summer blinked once, twice, and then spoke before she could think better of it, just as Aemilia gripped her hand comfortingly under the table. "I'm - you're kidding, right? I know that I caused this whole... war when I shot that guy - when I shot Xu's son - but what else was I supposed to do? He was about to kill Lukas and I couldn't just... stand there and watch it happen."

"No, no, of course you couldn't," Viktor replied in a falsely soothing tone. "Because you are a sweet little girl who has come to care for the monsters you were sold to, aren't you?"

"She's not a fucking little girl," Bucky spat, to Summer's surprise. "If you're gonna run your mouth at her you better damn well show her some fucking respect."

Viktor's eyes flickered from Summer to her indignant husband before settling back upon her. "My apologies, Mrs. Barnes. My intentions aren't to insult you, or any of you - I mean that. My job is only to identify the problems at hand and present ways to solve them. And it astounds me that the answer to all of it, the end to this silly, costly war, is sitting right in front of all of you and yet none of you have the balls to do it."

This time it was Natasha who spoke up. "Enough riddles. What do you propose, Victor? In English."

Viktor leaned back in his seat and shrugged. "We should give Xu what he wants. Give him the girl who killed his son, as an olive branch of sorts. An eye for an eye and the war is over."

It was difficult for Summer to comprehend quite how it felt to hear someone in a position of leadership so casually and lightly advocate for her to die a brutal and merciless death at the hands of the Triad. Shock and nausea were the first things she registered, the urge to be sick nearly overwhelming her until she sucked in a deep breath and heard the sound of a chair leg scraping against the floor and a blade being quickly unsheathed. Her eyes flew to Bucky just in time to see him stand up and, eyes chillingly dark but deadly calm, stride straight to Viktor's chair and grab him by the back of the collar of his shirt, then slam him down face first into the table with the sharp tip of his knife pressed directly to his jugular. Viktor's security men, posted at both of the dining room exits, tensed and reached for their guns but didn't draw them.

Summer watched with almost comically wide eyes as Bucky leaned down over him and growled menacingly into his ear, "Another fucking word out of your mouth like that and I'll send you back to Russia without a tongue. Last time someone tried to hurt my wife I sent him home with half his dick cut off, so you wanna call my bluff, be my fucking guest you piece of shit."

Every jaw in the room was on the floor, including even Lukas who had previously thought that nothing Bucky could ever do would shock him. Summer felt like the world stood still for a moment, having no idea what to expect next and feeling a strange surge of both fear and incredible love from deep within. Bucky was possibly out of his mind and definitely the most terrifying man she'd ever met, but he was willing to burn the world down for her and she didn't think that she could possibly ever love him more than she did in that moment.

And if that made her a sick, twisted monster, then so be it, she decided.

Viktor nodded carefully and lifted his hands in surrender. Bucky then removed the blade from its place pressed to his throat and sheathed it, casually running a hand through his hair and out of his face as he strode back to his seat.

Viktor straightened up and avoided eye contact with anyone, fixing his now rumpled clothing as Bucky sat back down and Summer stared at him with her big blue eyes a little watery and full of love and mild terror. He simply looked at her like she was the very center of his world - because she just might have been - and took a moment to rub his palm over her knee under the table, the touch soft and sweet and the exact opposite of what he'd just displayed a moment earlier.

God, she loved him.

A moment or two of pure, deafening silence later, Viktor cleared his threat and said, "I have to make a call." He then excused himself and stood up to leave while everyone else tried not to grin or burst out giggling at his sudden need to get away, heading upstairs while his men followed along.

"Take all the time you need, darling," Frieda smiled after him as he walked away.

Once he was gone, the table remained silent for a moment until Lukas let out a quiet little chuckle and said, "Not to quote an old, silly meme, but... mark me down as scared and horny."

Bucky rolled his eyes and picked his fork back up. "Fuck off."

"Ah, family reunions," Thor laughed, digging back in himself. "Just like Thanksgiving as children."

"Your uncle used to being held at knifepoint over a plate of prime rib?" Natasha asked lightly.

"More or less," Thor smiled.

But even as conversation turned light again and the shock of the previous moments wore off, Summer couldn't quite shake the discomfort and unease she felt following Viktor's questionable definition of an olive branch. She tried to push it away and just continue eating but she realized that it showed on her face when she felt a gentle kick at her foot from under the table. She looked up and found the culprit to be Sam, smiling gently at her and knowing her more than well enough to know by now when she wasn't okay.

"Hey Marshmallow," he nodded. "Don't let that old dumbass get to you. If he wants to hand you over to the Triad he's gonna have to go through me first, and I can guarantee you that guy hasn't landed a punch since, like, at least the Nixon administration."

That made Summer laugh. Frieda chimed in with a chuckle of her own and replied, "Oh, that man can barely open a jar of pickles on his own. I'd have him bleeding out with this buried in his throat," she held up her steak knife for emphasis, "before he could so much as lay a finger on her."

"I might be officially waddling as of this week but," Aemilia added, "I can still pack quite the punch as well. My thighs have never been so enormous - I could suffocate him in seconds."

"You'd never get the chance," Thor replied, waving his fork. "I'd punch him once and he'd immediately lapse into a coma."

"Well," Lizzie piped up, "I might not be some super skilled crazy ninja like the rest of you are, but I'd totally take off my high heel and jam it into one of his little beady eyes before he even managed to look at my little girl the wrong way."

"Wouldn't let that happen," Tony shook his head. "I'd just drag him into my lab and start testing random prototypes on him. Eventually one would blow up and he'd be toast."

"Excuse me," Sam interjected, "I'm her damn bodyguard so if anybody's gonna be bringing the pain, it's me."

"You'd all be wasting your time," Natasha shook her head, "because I'd just take off my shirt and flash him, and he'd have a stroke on the spot. Probably hasn't seen a real life pair of breasts since the moon landing. If ever."

Summer couldn't help it - she cracked up laughing. Natasha laughed with her, glad to see her words have the intended effect, and while Viktor may have seen Summer as the weak link whose arrival had set off a snowball effect that was now threatening to crush them all, those moments showed her for what she truly was. She was an ordinary woman thrown headfirst into an extraordinary and brutal new world full of death and danger and mayhem, but she had found her place within it and was now one of them. And if someone threatened her, they threatened all of them.

"And might I just add," Lukas said after Summer's laughter had subsided, "none of you would ever get the chance to dispose of him first because I would have him laid out and dismembered before you could so much as draw a weapon. This woman," he nodded to Summer, looking her in the eyes, "is the reason I'm alive today. I don't take such things lightly."

Summer smiled at him, another swell of emotion rising in her chest and filling her with a strange sort of relief. She'd felt nothing but anger and sadness and confusion since her father had died, but now with her adopted family rallying around her and saying things to her that she knew she'd never forget for all of her days, she felt a little more human and more like herself. And how on earth could she repay them for that?

"... I love all of you," she smiled, trying not to cry and make a fool out of herself. "I just... you guys have no idea."

"Oh yes we do," Aemilia smiled back, hugging her with an arm around her shoulders. "And I have no problem speaking for everyone when I say the feeling is mutual."

Summer let out a sigh, hugging her back and nodding, trying to hold it together. She glanced at Bucky after she pulled away and found him watching her with a small, affectionate smile on his pretty face, and the warmth within her only grew.

She had no idea how a place so frightening and intimidating could feel like home, and yet it did. She'd never felt like she belonged somewhere so much as she did in that moment, or more loved and cared for. It was crazy, but damn if she wasn't grateful more than words could express.

"So... dessert, anyone?" Frieda asked, gesturing to the staff to go and fetch it. "No use in letting it go to waste, hm?"

For all the fuss over the dinner party from hell, by the time it was over the clock had barely struck 8:30. Summer couldn't believe it, thinking initially that it might have been pushing midnight for how tired she was, but instead the night was barely over.

Physically she was even more exhausted now but mentally... she knew she was in for another night of fitful sleep, and if she knew herself at all, she'd bet money that she would lay awake replaying Viktor's threat until her stomach was an aching, anxious mess.

But at least until then, she had Bucky to keep her company.

"So," he said as he led her up the stairs towards their room, "I've got a surprise for you."

Her eyes flashed up to his in curiosity. "Really? A surprise? What kinda surprise?"

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" he chuckled, sliding an arm around her waist as they walked down the hallway. "Don't get excited, though. It's nothing big or anything, s'just... I don't know. You'll see."

"... Okay," she smiled, having no idea what to expect but enjoying the anticipation while it lasted. Whatever it was, she had no doubt that she would love it. And she wasn't wrong.

"All right, so... I had the staff take care of a few things for me while we were busy downstairs," Bucky explained when they reached his door. He opened it and led Summer inside, and a smile broke across her face as she when she saw what Bucky had arranged for her. "Thought you could use a night of just..." He paused and raised an eyebrow and decided on, "Cuddling."

His bed was piled high with extra pillows and a fuzzy blanket she'd never seen before. Next to the bed was a literal basket full of goodies - she spotted cookies and chocolate just upon a quick glance - and there was a huge stack of Blu Rays on his dresser waiting for her to choose from.

"When you're ready to watch something I'll call down and have Aemilia's hot chocolate sent up, she made a shit ton in advance," Bucky explained, scratching behind his neck as if he was nervous. Summer looked up at him with a silly smile on her face and he responded with one of his own before gesturing to the bathroom. "But... first I thought maybe you'd wanna take a bath, so..."

"Are you... like... is this operation spoil me?" she asked, a little flummoxed because as amazingly as he treated her on a daily basis... this was new.

His smile lingered and he nodded. "... Yeah, that's the idea. You've been through hell, sweetheart - even worse after dinner tonight, and I wasn't even banking on that. So yeah... guess I just... just wanted to... take care of you?"

The way that he said it like a question made her heart melt. This was all still so new to him, the very concept of a relationship and taking care of another person like this, but he was doing an incredible job regardless. She was sure he'd gotten advice from Lukas or Aemilia, but that didn't take away any of the credit, either.

She stepped up closer to him and kissed him softly, not a passionate, consuming kiss but the longest and sweetest one they'd shared since before her father's death. "I love you," she told him quietly when she pulled away, and the way that he smiled at her words made her melt all over again.

"I love you too," he replied, briefly cupping her face and brushing his thumb over cheek. "Bath now?"

She nodded. A bath in his ridiculously luxurious tub sounded like the best thing in the entire world, and once he got her in there, it pretty much was.

It was the first time she shared a bath with Bucky without it turning any degree of sexual, which she hadn't thought was possible but to her surprise, it was. Instead of their kisses and touches inevitably leading to more they simply provided her comfort and a much needed distraction, his affection and light, pleasant conversation working wonders on her frayed nerves. He didn't try to coax her into more, didn't let his kisses linger for too long or let his hands drift where they usually did. His respect for her and her state of mind was something she'd never take for granted.

After the bath, he helped bundle her up in a robe that felt like nothing short of heaven on her skin and didn't even let her walk to bed, insisting instead on picking her up and carrying there. She tried to protest but she not-so-secretly loved it, adoring his every last attempt to spoil her and make her feel better after the hellish week that she'd had.

Once they were snuggled up in bed together knee deep in the best hot chocolate in the world and snacks that would probably wreck their diets for a solid few weeks, watching The Proposal because Summer couldn't bear to watch anything with heavy themes, it started to hit her just how simultaneously lucky and unlucky she was. It was the strangest thing, to endure so much and lose so much and to utterly hate it but then to also feel so damn lucky to have the husband that she did, warm and caring and everything she thought he wasn't when she had first met him.

She certainly wouldn't have believed anyone back then had they told her that one day she'd be cuddled up with him in a sea of pillows in his bed, watching a cheesy romantic comedy and giggling softly whenever he'd lay sweet, gentle kisses along her neck. The same man who had graphically threatened to cut out a man's tongue at the dinner table just a few hours earlier on her behalf being also capable of such tenderness and sweetness that it made her head spin in the best way.

Nobody else could ever love her like that, she was sure of it. Fate might have utterly wrecked her life and taken more from her than she knew how to handle, but it had also given her him and... well, she didn't know where she'd be without him.

"Hey, Bucky?" she asked during a quiet point in the movie, glancing at him over her shoulder as he played big spoon to her little spoon.

"Yeah, baby," he murmured, his arm around her waist and breath tickling the shell of her ear.

"That thing you did to Viktor... is that... are you gonna get in trouble now? I mean... I know he's technically above you, so..."

"Nah, don't worry about it," Bucky assured her. "This is the Bratva, Summer. Sometimes shit like that's the only way to get your point across. And he respects brute force. That's part of why I did it."

"... It's so weird," she sighed. "We go through all this trouble to welcome him and make a big deal about it, and then he just ends up being a jerk who hates Lukas and puts Thor on a pedestal and then you threaten to kill him over dinner. Like... just... what?"

Bucky chuckled. "Yeah. Viktor's a lot like his brother, Thor and Lukas' dad. Same outdated beliefs and ideas. Just as big of a fuckin' dick. Well, not literally, since he's short as fuck."

That made her giggle again. "I was expecting this big, tall, intimidating guy, and then..."

"That was their dad. Viktor got the short end of the stick." He paused. "Literally. I think that's part of why he hates Lukas so much. Everyone's always thought of Lukas as the weaker brother and Thor the natural heir, but then Thor didn't want to lead and Lukas did. He achieved what Viktor didn't, so... even more reason to be a bitter old bastard."

"... What a waste of time," Summer muttered. "To have family and take it for granted and hate them for no reason."

"Yeah," Bucky agreed, holding her a little more closely and kissing her under her ear. "We know better. Unfortunately."

She closed her eyes took a breath, knowing exactly what he meant. They'd both lost so much - too much. They knew just how precious family was and how easy it was to lose it, and how important it was to protect it.

"Thank you for all of this," she told him, shifting to lay more on her back so she could face him. He smiled at her and she smiled back, her hand on his scruffy jaw as she added, "You're amazing."

"No, you're amazing," he murmured sincerely. "So fucking strong."

Her brows inched up he forehead in genuine confusion. "... Me? God, I've been a mess all week. Are you kidding me?"

"Not even a little," he shook his head. "Just trust me on this, sweetheart."

"I..."

"Shhh," he hushed her, pulling her close and resting her head on his chest. "C'mere. No questioning your Captain."

She grinned at that, relaxing into his embrace and closing her eyes, sleepiness sneaking up on her in an incredibly welcome way. "Yes sir," she replied through a yawn. "Roger that."

"Good girl," he murmured, running his fingers through her hair and catching her yawn a moment later.

The sleep that had been eluding her for so long finally came at last, dragging her off into a blessedly peaceful slumber but not before a subtle but significant shift took place within her mind. All week she had been fighting what she'd seen at her father's apartment, either seething with anger or wishing she'd done something to prevent it, and in other moments, trying to simply pretend that none of it had ever happened. But each of those were stages of grief, natural reactions to suffering such a terrible loss and in such a graphic way, and they couldn't last forever.

It hit her in those quiet moments between wakefulness and sleep. Her father really was gone. He was gone and there was nothing she could do about it. He had made his choices and so had she, and both had led them here, for better or worse. There was no changing it. No amount of anger or bargaining or denial could bring him back. There was nothing left to do but accept reality, learn from it, move on, and try to remember Michael at his best.

Acceptance. The word floated through her mind and set her heart at ease as she drifted off. She slept for ten hours straight without waking that night, Bucky never leaving her side once.

She was gonna be okay. She wasn't yet, but she would be in time. And that was all any survivor could ever do.