I want to apologize for how much later this chapter is than the others. I have been very busy, and didn't have any time to finish this chapter before tonight. Thank you for all the favorites and follows. Every time I receive an email informing of another favorite/follow, I get a big doofy grin on my face and my heart gets sappy.

Roberta, despite her hopes, did not sleep well. The bed, while much more comfortable to what she had been used to, was not what she was accustomed to. The sounds the building emitted while mundane were unfamiliar in their patterns. The fact that she was supposed to be safe did not negate the truth of the situation she found herself in, her new environment was completely foreign to her.

Add to that she could not shake the worry that accompanied her knowledge of what Bucky Barnes had been for the last several decades. All she needed was for her other soulmate to be another Hydra agent. Her life felt like all it ever did was spiral out of control. If there was a God out there assigning these soul mates he must really hate her.

Instead of lying in the bed and feeling sorry for herself, Roberta made her way over to her discarded cargo pants from the night before. She dug out her media player and ear buds as she made her way out of the room she put the buds in to listen to the one thing that gave her mind solace. Nothing worked like music to calm her raging thoughts. After every kill, even the justifiable ones, she had turned to music to soothe the rampaging guilt that would threaten to consume her.

Leaning on the wall opposite her door, with arms crossed was Skye. Roberta turned down her media player and removed one bud from her ear for the sake of politeness. Skye moved from her casual position to stand straighter and quirked one elegant eye brow up, "On your way to see your soul mate?"

How high ranking was Skye that Coulson felt the need to share the nature of Roberta's relationship to Ward with her? "Actually, no. You can back down from whatever warning you felt the need to give. I promise I am more than aware of what kind of man he is. I won't be pursuing a bond with him."

This seemed to surprise Skye. That eyebrow rose even higher; there was a very serious danger it would disappear into her hairline. The surprise though quickly turned to disbelief as she scoffed, "Do you expect me to believe that? I have a soul mate, I know the pull is irresistible."

"Maybe for you it was," Roberta began, "but I grew up knowing my soul mate would be a killer. I was prepared mentally and emotionally for how meeting him would affect me, and I know what all the current research has to say on dealing with it. There is a whole branch of psychology dedicated to treating people who find themselves in soul mate pairs such as this one. You can drop the hostility. I am on your side."

The look on Skye's face was amused as well as chastened, "That wasn't very fair of me." It would appear that that would be all the apology Roberta would get on the matter. That was fine with her, she had known what she might be faced with from others looking in when she had made her decision not to even consider bonding with Ward as he was now. For those mated her reluctance would seem unnatural. For those unmated it might seem ungrateful.

None of that mattered though. Roberta knew what she had to do, and it was stay away from Ward until he was cleared by a mental health professional after many years of rehabilitation and therapy. Even in that case it was not unheard of soul mates to reject the bond if they were already committed or in love with someone else. Skye was unavailable to Ward, but he might feel being alone was better than being with someone who was her. Ward might even have a problem if their third turned out to be another male. Even with the perceived guarantee of the marks people still made their own choices. Sometimes people just didn't agree with what the soul marks had to say. It could be hard to override the pull, but sometimes a person was either that stubborn or that in love with whoever they rejected their soul mate for.

Skye seemed to regret her earlier tone, but she was still curious, "How will you handle the pull? It's been about ten hours since you last touched or saw him, aren't you at least uncomfortable yet?"

"I do have the beginnings of an itch right under my skin. I had planned to find the gym and blow my eardrums out with some very loud rock music. Care to direct my steps?"

Skye's face opened into a real smile at that, and she gestured for Roberta to follow her. They entered an elevator and began to make their way down. Halfway to their destination it stopped, and in walked Barnes. He was only a couple inches taller than Roberta, but he practically towered over Skye's five foot five and change frame. Her face lit up like every romance novel description depicted of one soul mate catching sight of the other. For his part, Barnes didn't really smile; but he had stopped scowling when he saw her. Skye reached a hand towards him, and he took it without thought. Something in Roberta's chest hurt at the sight of their two hands joined together by the lacing of their fingers. When had she ever had the chance to hold any one's hand? It must have been the home she was in before fifth grade when the foster mom helped her to cross the street. Fifteen years? Maybe. Did it matter?

Barnes chose then to interrupt her thoughts, "So word is that the ass hole is your soul mate. That's bad luck, what deity did you piss off?"

Roberta actually chuckled at that, "I have been asking myself that for close to twenty years now. Doesn't matter though since I am not going to bond with him. Your mate was actually just directing me to the gym so that I could start distracting myself from the pull."

"Started already," he asked succinctly as the doors of the elevator dinged open.

"Bucky, it's been about ten hours. That's not 'already', that's pretty on time," Skye gently reprimanded him as they made their way down the corridor at a leisurely pace.

"I wasn't keeping count," he replied sardonically.

"I was surprised to feel it this soon actually. I had intended to already be making myself miserable before it had started. I should have woken sooner, I guess. It's not bad though. All I read on it said it would hurt, right now it's just an itch I can't scratch," Roberta said perfectly innocently.

Skye chuckled and said, "That's what battery operated boyfriends are for."

The dark expression on Roberta's face sent Skye into a full bellied chortle, "it's true!"

"It's not that kind of itch! My God, don't you have a filter," Roberta exasperatedly queried.

"No, she doesn't. You should see what my soul mark says," Barnes supplied much to Skye's further amusement. Her laughter was such that they were forced to pause in their pursuit of the gym as she rested her hands on her knees.

"Well that sounds unfortunate, big guy. Listen, Skye, I'ma need you to get a hold of yourself so you can get me to a treadmill. I need to run," Roberta instructed the incorrigible girl. Skye stood up straight and wiped a tear from her eye as they continued on their way.

When they reached a door twenty feet from the elevator they entered. The gym was bigger than any Roberta had before seen. There were easily twenty treadmills in here and then all of the other equipment as well. Skye began explaining that this was only one of the gyms located at the base, however it was the closest one to Roberta's room so it would likely be the most convenient to her.

Bucky and Skye left Roberta to herself in the gym. She began by setting a grueling pace on the treadmills and then progressed to strength training. All the while the barely there itch she had been chasing progressed to a slow burn emanating outward from the words on her chest. Every time the pain ratcheted up a notch she bumped up the volume on her media player. After several hours of what seemed fruitless labor to Roberta's frustration she left to hobble to the showers. She leaned her head on the shower wall trying to breathe through the pain. Her eyes fluttered shut as she became centered on the mark.

All research showed that even the brushing of their fingers would be enough to relieve Roberta's pain. Ward was most likely in as much discomfort as herself, and that was all the motivation she needed to stay where she was. If denying him comfort meant punishing herself then she would. Ward would most likely only punish her for not being Skye in whatever way he could even as he sought to use her to assuage his own pain. He was after all not mentally stable and more than capable of abuse.

Despite Roberta's eyes being closed, her vision began to black out. The muted pinks and yellows of the fluorescent lights shining through the thin veil of her eye lids began to dance and then to fade as the world receded into the blessed quiet of the dark.

Upon waking in a medical unit Roberta groaned. Fainting in the showers was going to absolutely ruin whatever reputation she may have garnered over the years. Roberta was to say the least, excruciatingly embarrassed by her fleeting weakness, made all the worse by her nude state during the time. Whoever had found her would have gotten eyeful of her birthday suit.

Roberta felt like she had been hit by a mac truck. Damn! The pull was definitely not something to play with. Those who had resisted must have been very stubborn, or immune to pain. Both! Both sounds good.

As Roberta gingerly sat up, she moaned some more. Hell, if fainting didn't ruin her rep, a moan here and there couldn't do much damage either. She lifted her hand to her forehead to examine a source of pain separate from the pull, to find the ridges of neatly executed stitches marching their way diagonally toward her hairline. No matter how neat or masterful the surgeon had been there would be a scar. Good thing Ward already finds me off putting, the scar will make no difference. Har dee har. I crack myself up, she thought sarcastically. As she took inventory of herself and her surroundings she was pleased but unsurprised to find she had been put into a hospital gown. Not the epitome of modest attire but much better than nudity. Now the question was, who has found her and did they see the soul mark on her left leg?