It's after midnight and I'm pounding away at a punching bag. I'm in nothing more than old pair of shorts and a sports bra. I'm so lost in it all that I don't even hear him enter. "What's wrong?" Steve asks, startling me. I turn to him panting, eyes as wide as a doe. He studies me a moment, eyes suddenly falling on my stomach. He steps forward, gingerly touching a nasty scar. I close my eyes. "Where'd you get that?" he breathes.

"I took a bullet protecting someone when SHIELD fell," I pant, grabbing my water bottle.

"Did you save them at least?" Steve inquires. I flinch.

"No, the bullet went through me and hit them," I mutter. Steve steps forward and hugs me.

"I'm sorry to hear. So, what brings you down here all of a sudden?" he whispers in my ear. I rest my head against his chest.

"You're not the only one who gets nightmares," I mutter. He rubs my back.

"I always wondered about you, you know. You left so suddenly, and I never could stop thinking of you," he tells me. I pull back.

"Steve, you're my boss now. What happened is in the past," I remind him. We both just look at each other. "How's Peggy?" His eyes dart away.

"She finally went," he mutters. I rest my hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry. I know how that feels," I sigh. "I'm going to make those calls in the morning. I know how much Bucky means to you."

"He doesn't even remember me," Steve growls, sitting in a nearby chair. I walk over to him.

"I don't know if it will help, but maybe when we do find him we should send him to Helmsworth. I have friends there. They can help him. One of them specializes in memory recollection. If we can get Evynne, then we can also keep him calm," I suggest. He looks up at me.

"That might be our best shot," he muses. "Evynne is the key to finding to him." I nod in agreement. "What are we going to do? We can't forget what all went on between us."

"Steve, I don't know what we should do. I just know that we are working here together. That means that we need to be coworkers," I muse.

"You don't want things to even go near where they were," Steve growls. I shake my head.

"That's not what I meant. Things happened, Rogers. Time went on with us. Stuff came in the way. I just can't be near anything like that, no matter who it is," I argue. He stands back up.

"Talk to me then. Tell me what happened. I tried calling after New York. I tried calling again after SHIELD fell. I almost gave up the idea of calling you after Ultron until Fury mentioned he wanted you to join the team. I wanted to be open with you. So be open with me since I'm here," Steve pleads. I tense.

"I want to. Fuck, I need to Steve, but I can't. I told Fury I wouldn't mention anything. I even said too much telling you how I got that damn scar," I sigh. Steve turns away.

"Then until you're ready to say something, I think we're done," he mutters, walking away. I turn back to the punching bag, hitting even harder than ever.

I make my call around seven in the morning. I don't even wait for Lys to say something. "Tell me about Carper," I demand. Lys sighs. She's a doctor at Helmsworth, an ex SHIELD agent. She quit after going undercover in what ended up being Hydra.

"What do you need to know?" Lys asks. I rub my shoulder. I never went back to bed.

"Where would she be now? We need her," I answer. I can hear Lys typing on the computer, looking through files.

"There's a town in Maryland. It was a Hydra hot spot. She'd be there if anywhere. I'll send the coordinates. How's Avengers life treating you?" Lys explains.

"One day in and Steve is already asking all the right questions to hit at Jason," I sigh.

"How do you respond?" Lys asks.

"I tell him there are some things he's not allowed to know, and that it's not my call," I tell her.

"Now to be the doctor… How are the nightmares?" Lys inquires. I bite my lip.

"They're nightmares. They come more often than pleasant dreams. What else can be said?" I reply.

"Just keep holding on, Annie. You're strong. If you ever need to talk, know that I'm here. I'm still your doctor," Lys reminds me. I hang up the phone and get dressed. I run into Nat in the hall.

"Steve seems tense this morning," Nat points out.

"That's his problem," I mutter. Nat stops us.

"What happened? I know something did. You're both avoiding it," Nat pushes. I look around.

"I had a nightmare and went to blow off some steam in the gym. Rogers found me and we started talking. It all hit around Jason and I refused to answer," I explain quietly.

"You need to tell him. I get TAHITI and I get SHIELD, but you have to talk about Jason. You won't move on otherwise," Nat advises. I shake my head.

"I can't, Nat. Let's go. I have information on Carper," I reply. We go back to the conference room. Steve glares at me but neither of us says anything. I pull up the email Lys just sent with Carper's file and I pull it up on the screen. "I talked to the doctor who worked with Carper early on. She gave me coordinates to a place where Carper most likely is," I explain.

"Why did they call it the Mate Project?" Sam asks, reading the words on the screen.

"Hydra saw Carper and the Winter Soldier as a bit less than actual human, a different breed. Using their logic, they decided that mate was a fair term to use," I explain.

"So they gave him someone to love," Nat points out.

"In a way," I confirm. "They gave him an anchor. She allowed them to have complete control over him. If he finished a mission, they allowed him a few hours with her before he was sent back."

"That's torture," Steve mutters."We'll leave for the town after Wanda gets here. It'll be a good first mission."

"When will the Vision join us?" Nat asks, leaning back in her chair.

"He's helping Stark at the moment. He'll come afterwards," Steve replies. "Do you have anything else, Annie?"

"No, I don't. I'll do what I can to figure out more about the town. Until then, we just wait for Wanda," I sigh, crossing my arms.

"Alright, everyone read the file. We'll need to be ready to act fast with Carper," Steve instructs, standing up. I send the file to the others, looking up at Steve. So this is our life now. I guess I had to make that decision. Now it's time to live with the consequences.

A/N: Back with chapter 2! We learn a little more about Annie. When SHIELD fell, she got shot trying to save someone. We also meet a new character! I (looking ahead another like 12 chapters) have not mentioned Lys' full name. So, here it is. Dr. Elysia "Lys" Lockland. She is my first OC for the Marvel universe, and she's changed a ton. She is the head of Helmsworth, which as I have not really talked about it is basically an asylum for Avengers, SHIELD agents, Enhanced, etc. I'll go more into detail on them later. I will also go more into detail on Lys much, much later. Let's talk about Carper. Evynne popped into my mind around the time I watched Winter Soldier. She also has grown and changed over time, leaving us with this. What is Mate Project? If any of you are familiar with Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe, you have some idea of how the Evynne/Bucky thing will probably work. I can go into more detail as we see this go into play, but consider Carper the overall GPS tracker to Bucky. Final bit here, Jason... You will soon figure out what's going on with that. You might be able to have some idea of what is going on, but probably not too much a clear idea. Hopefully it'll be something to spark your interest. Thank you all for reading. We are slowly gaining views here, and I have high hopes for this story. If you feel like you don't want to continue it, I would suggest you to give it some time. Next chapter will have some pretty heavy emotions, and we will actually see Wanda, because Scarlet Witch is freaking epic. I hope you enjoy this chapter though, and please leave a review! I love to know what you all think. It not only brightens my day, but it allows me a chance to see what works and what doesn't within a story. That helps me to write better, and to give you all as my readers what you want. So, as it's very important and has in the past decided the fate of fan fictions, please consider leaving a review, even just a guest review. Thank you all again!