I proof read this twice and if I end up reading it again tomorrow and I see spelling errors after proofing this twice I will scream. Anyway, enjoy!


Monday came around quickly and at three that afternoon the two baristas walked through the metal detectors at the Smithsonian, Linda with a notebook and pen under her arm along with her own purse and phone, while Alba was equipped with a pamphlet about the exhibit and all her personal belongings tucked away in her purse.

Linda rambled on as the two walked through the large building to the Captain America exhibit, going on and on about how the Captain had broken in to take his uniform months before during the helicarrier attacks.

"Did you know he sometimes comes here to look around in disguise? Yeah! Some kids have gone on and on saying how they saw him and he told them not to say anything until he was gone. What if he's here today? What if I meet him? Oh my God, Alba, I'm gonna meet Captain America!" she squealed, gripping the brunette's arm tightly and jumping up and down in excitement.

Alba rolled her eyes, an amused smirk on her face before pulling her arm back, "Calm down, don't let your hormones and excitement get the best of you. I'm sure Captain America has better things to do than spend his Monday afternoon at an exhibit all about him. Sounds a bit conceited, don't you think?" she asked.

Linda huffed, the two of them stepping on an escalator leading to the lower levels of the building, "Don't go crushing all my dreams there, Ali."

Alba chuckled, turning her eyes down to the pamphlet and skimming over it. It explained that first walking in there's a long hallway of photographs before leading into the main room, taking them on a journey from the beginning of the Captain America process to the aftermath of Captain America's "death."

They walked past a large painted mural of the Captain saluting and the two of them stopped in front of the picture of him before the serum, Alba insisting Linda write down his pre-weight and height as well as his post-weight and height.

Alba stood next to the photograph of pre-serum Steven Rogers and found herself smiling that she was about the same height as him, while Linda was about two inches taller.

They kept walking through the exhibit, Alba pulling her along to the historical parts of it instead of letting the blonde stare at the many photos of the blonde captain.

"Look, it's his motorcycle." Alba said, pointing to the old vehicle, watching the black and white clips of the Captain and his Commandos play on the screen next to it.

Linda's eyes were drawn to the video instead of the plaque with the details of the bike, causing Alba to roll her eyes.

Alba quietly inched her way away from the blonde as she went to explore a few glass cases holding some small artifacts that had meant something to the teammates, as well as weapons they had used during the war.

She leaned over the glass, inspecting every inch of the small devices curiously; there was a gun used by James Montgomery Falsworth, a metal case that held Jacques Dernier's hand rolled cigarettes, and a number of other different memorabilia.

She tapped her finger against her chin as she looked away from the cases and around the large room for her next location to visit. She had read in the pamphlet that there was a media room located somewhere off the main room, playing nonstop film reels of the Captain and Commandos, along with interviews with surviving members from back in the sixties.

She looked back down at her pamphlet, wondering if it had a map, when someone bumped into her roughly and grabbed her arm.

"Hey!" she grunted, only to be met with Linda grinning ear to ear, "Oh my God, remember when I said Captain America broke in to steal his uniform a few months ago?"

Alba rolled her eyes, nodding along, "Yes?"

"Well," Linda drawled out, linking her arm with Alba's and leading her towards the back of the room, "He sent it back with an apology note a few days later, isn't that the cutest? It's back on display with the others and everything!" she said, pointing to the back of the room.

Alba looked past the heads of the crowds and saw seven mannequins standing intimidatingly on a small stage, all wearing the uniforms of each Howling Commando, with Captain America in the middle. There was even a large mural painted behind the mannequins of each member, letting the sightseers know which uniform belonged to whom.

Alba didn't pay too much attention to the mural and instead elbowed her way through the crowd to get a better look at the clothing.

Linda went straight for Captain America's uniform while Alba walked down to the end and looked over Jacques Dernier's uniform, before moving on to Gabe Jones, Timothy Dugan, Steven Rogers, James Barnes, James Falsworth, and Jim Morita.

By the time Alba was done, Linda was waiting near the wall with her arms crossed, staring down her nose at Alba.

Alba gave her a look when she saw the impatient look on her face, "What? I'm not here for just Captain America, I actually want to learn about all of them, which is what you should do too if you want a good grade in your history class."

Linda huffed, flipping open her notebook and pulling out the pen, "Fine, fine. I'll start with," She tapped the pen against her lip as she looked around the room. A large grin appeared on her face, "Captain America's involvement with the USO!" she said before pushing her way through the crowd towards the other side of the room.

Alba smirked, shaking her head in complete amusement at the blonde before pulling open her pamphlet once more.

She finally figured out if she walked towards the area with the information about the scientists who had worked on giving Captain America the serum, Dr. Abraham Erskine and Howard Stark and a number of others, there was a door leading to the media room.

She grinned happily to herself and starting pushing through the crowd when something caught her attention.

"Bucky was really lucky! His best friend was Captain America!" the voice of a little boy rang behind her.

Alba glanced over her shoulder at two boys, no older than ten, walking past her and sharing a pamphlet as well.

"Captain America and Bucky aren't better friends than us, though." One of the boys grinned, causing the other to shove him playfully, "No way, take that back! If the Cap hears you, he might not let us join the Avengers!" he said fearfully.

Alba grinned, happily reminded of her nephews at the two boys' conversation, before she remembered why their conversation caught her attention in the first place.

She looked down at her pamphlet and leafed through the pages before falling on the one with information on each Commando.

Her mouth formed an 'O' and she nodded understandingly.

James Barnes had the same nickname as the Bucky she knew. She hadn't honestly thought it was such a common nickname to have in the first place, but apparently it was if he shared it with the famous James "Bucky" Barnes.

She smirked, looking back down at the pamphlet as she kept walking, not bothering to look up as she walked slowly through the crowd and continued to read about the fallen commando.

"Whoa there, missy!" a voice called, gently gripping her forearm and stopping her in her wake.

Alba stopped, snapping her head up and coming face to face with a glass mural with a face etched into the glass, along with a paragraph of writing. She was shocked to see she knew the face very well, before looking to her right to see who had grabbed her, her face still covered in shock.

An elderly man in a security uniform grinned at her, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes and a grey mustache hung under his nose, his body small and thin, reminding her of Captain America before the serum.

"You almost walked into this display, ma'am. Better watch where you're going in the future." He said, nodding towards the mural dedicated to the fallen commando.

Alba nodded wordlessly and watched as the security guard walked away before slowly looking back at the mural for James "Bucky" Barnes.

"Whoa,"


It was six o'clock Friday evening. Steve had just sent Bucky to the grocery store with a long list of a number of different odd things, which meant Steve had bought at most an hour of time.

As Bucky exited the apartment building a black sports car sat parked across the street down the block, and two different people sat inside watching while two more stood near the bus stop, hats and sunglasses on as they looked away.

Once Bucky was a block away the four of them all hurried across the street and towards the apartment building, one of them hold a small leather briefcase.

The woman holding the briefcase rang the buzzer next to the apartment's front door three times before the door buzzed open and one of the other three grabbed it and held it open for the lot of them.

Steve already had his apartment door opened and waving everyone in hurriedly as they climbed the stairs, looking around the empty hall to make sure no one was watching.

"Did he see you?" Steve asked as he closed the door.

Natasha smirked, placing her briefcase down on the coffee table, "Relax cap, we made sure he was a reasonable distance away. How much time do we have?"

"Less than an hour." Steve said, looking amongst the group.

Sharon and Sam were both pulling off their hats and sunglasses and tossing them onto the coffee table, while Clint was adjusting something on his watch, his iconic sunglasses still on his face.

"I didn't know you were coming, Agent Barton." Steve said, walking over and holding out his hand to shake.

Clint shook it, giving Steve a curt nod, "Just got back from New Delhi and Tasha invited me on a night of drinking. I didn't think it would also be an undercover mission as well."

Steve grinned, shaking his head, "Just for me and Nat, don't worry." He turned and looked towards Natasha, "You did bring it, right?"

Natasha rolled her eyes, unlatching the suitcase and flipping it open, "Relax, Steve." She said, pulling out a wig with short, brown hair, "This isn't my first undercover operation."

Steve nodded, and moved to sit in one of the kitchen chairs in the other room while Natasha brought over the wig and a small glass box.

"You really think Sergeant Barnes going to go for this?" Sharon asked, crossing her arms as she watched Natasha pull a small skin colored chip from the box. "He can be very paranoid."

Steve nodded, "I already asked if he was free tonight, he said yes, and I called and told his friend that I was gonna surprise him with this and we'd meet her at her apartment. When Bucky gets here he won't even recognize me, which is exactly what we want. If he can't recognize me, Alba won't, and his cover remains intact."

"Is it really that bad if she knows who Barnes is?" Clint asked.

Steve gave the agent a solemn look, "From what I've gathered, yes. He still feels guilty for everything he's done and he doesn't want Alba knowing, because she'll probably be scared of him."

"He needs to grow a pair." Natasha muttered, as she tapped a small button on the chip.

Steve glared at Natasha and she shrugged innocently, "We all have a past, Steve, and we all need to face it and accept it otherwise it will eat away at us. I have accepted my past, it's awful and terrible but I accept that that's what I did and now I'm trying to make up for it. Barnes needs to learn to accept what he was made to do and man up so he can work to make up for it. He can't be scared some girl will think he's a monster when he was, in fact, a monster."

She leaned in closer to Steve and pressed the chip in place next to jawline near his right ear; a small golden rush of color and pixels swept across his face, changing it completely. His nose grew larger and wider, with an arch in the bridge. His eyes changed from blue to brown and his eyebrows were bushier, and almost connected in a unibrow. A small goatee appeared on his chin and Steve reached up absently to touch it.

Natasha swatted his hand away as she did some last minute touches before grabbing the wig from the table.

"What Barnes fails to understand is that there are demons and monsters inside all of us, but what makes us different," Natasha said, waving her hand around the room to the group of them, "Is we don't hide from it. Sam runs a support group for Army vets, Clint has a dart board in his office at headquarters with Loki's picture in the center,"

Clint smirked, "I never miss either." He muttered, causing a few chuckles from Natasha and Sam.

"Sharon's in the CIA and puts up with all the crap they say to her there since she's a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," Natasha rolled her eyes, giving the blonde a small glare, not completely over the agent leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. for the other government agency. Sharon rolled her eyes, ignoring the redhead's obvious distaste for her career choice.

Natasha moved in front of Steve and snugged the wig onto his head, "The whole world knows who you are and you don't hide it like this," she motioned to his disguise, "the whole world knowing you killed HYDRA agents in the 40s and aliens in New York and you brought down the hellicarriers in September and you don't let it get to you. While I go on as many missions as I can, making up for all the shit I did in the past. We face our demons every damn day, we meet people, and after uploading all that information everyone in the world knows who we are and we see if that person will still want us, the person, and not us, the assassin. If they do, fantastic; if they don't, there's billions of other people in the world well worth our time." She explained.

She patted Steve on the shoulder and gave him a serious look, "If Barnes really likes this girl he's better off telling her now and finding out if she'll stick around. It's like pulling off the band aid to a cut you don't know is healed yet. He can either pull it off and find everything is good, or pull it off and see it's still gushing blood."

Steve gave her a look, "I don't think I've heard that one before."

She smirked, "Made it up on the spot, just for you." She flicked his nose playfully before walking back over towards the briefcase.

There was a blonde wig in her hand and she placed it on her head, tucking the red strands under the cap.

Sam walked over to Steve and waved at him to stand up, "Come on, gotta practice your walk."

"My walk?" Steve asked, pushing himself up from the chair.

Sam nodded, a grin on his face, "You aren't Steve Rogers tonight, right? You're just your regular average Joe, and average Joes don't walk so professional."

Steve gawked at him, "I don't walk professional."

Sam gave him a look, before turning to look at Sharon. "Shar, does Steve walk professionally?"

Sharon cringed, staring at Steve as he gave her a pointed look, before slowly nodding her head.

Steve gawked at her with Sam grinned triumphantly.

Sharon gave Steve a look, "I'm sorry, you just have this air about you, you probably got it from being Captain America, I'm sure you didn't walk so Captain-like before the serum, but yeah, you definitely walk with a type of professional air about you."

Sam moved to stand next to Steve and gripped his shoulders, rolling them for him, "Don't stand so straight. You can walk with your shoulders hung or with your back hunched a bit,"

"No, it looks like he's trying to make himself smaller when he does that," Clint interrupted, walking over towards them.

Natasha and Sharon stood in front of the boys, arms crossed and examining them with calculating eyes.

"Maybe I should have brought him the clothes he wore when we were hiding from those HYDRA agents," Natasha mused.

"No." Steve said seriously, giving Natasha a look. "My feet almost fell out of those shoes, and I could go without fake glasses for the rest of my life."

"You're just upset I looked cuter in them." Natasha smirked triumphantly before noticing the doorknob jiggling.

The entire room froze and their attention turned to the front door as Bucky pushed the door open, his left arm holding a large paper bag of groceries and the other holding his keys.

He looked towards the group and stared at their blank faces with confusion before landing on the disgusted face of Steve.

"Why are you wearing that?" he asked finally, nodding at Steve.

The super soldier groaned, Sam and Clint stepped away from him dejectedly, "You can tell it's me?" he asked.

Bucky shrugged, closing the door and walking down the hall towards the kitchen, placing the grocery bag on the counter.

"Well, you live here and you were the only one missing from this little group. Not hard to figure out you and Romanoff are in disguises, although yours is a lot better than Romanoff's. Got another mission?" he asked, boredly unloading the bag.

"Nope." Steve said, grinning. Their friends all proceeded to back away, knowing what was coming and not wanting to be in Bucky's line of fire. They found their way into the living room, leaving Steve and Bucky in the kitchen.

Bucky gave him a look, "Then…you just enjoy dressing up on Friday nights?" he asked, smirking.

Steve shook his head again, "I was invited out; actually all of us were. But the person who invited us can't know who we are, and Natasha and I are dead giveaways since we've been on the news the most and, well, I'm, you know," he trailed off, waving his hand in the air dismissively.

Bucky gave him a confused look as he placed a carton of milk on the counter, "Who invited you all out?"

"Us." Steve corrected. "You're going too. You're sort of the guest of honor since they said they're curious in seeing you drunk, even though you can't get drunk anymore, but I didn't tell them that." He rambled.

Bucky was still lost, giving Steve a blank look.

Steve grimaced, glancing towards the clock above the stove before turning back to Bucky, "We've expected at Alba's apartment in twenty minutes."

Bucky's eyes widened and the apple he had grabbed from the bag in his left hand exploded under his grip and splattered in every which direction of the kitchen, juice dripping from his fist onto the counter.

Steve didn't flinch, but stared Bucky down.

His eyes were wide and his jaw was set, before his shock turned to a glare and he let out a low growl, "I told you I didn't want you meeting her,"

"She called me." Steve interrupted. "She called after you stormed out the other day. Remember, I told you she just left a message? I actually answered and we talked for a minute. Don't worry; she didn't know who I was, just that I was Steve. She said she wanted to meet me and go out and get some drinks at a bar with the two of us and any other friends of ours. She sounded really excited to meet us all, and I am wearing a disguise." he explained, waving to his obviously costumed-self.

"I understand you're mad but if you punch me in the face the holographic mask Natasha took from S.H.I.E.L.D. will possibly break and then she'll definitely know who I am. Trust me, Buck, this'll work, and after tonight I swear I won't ever agree to join you and Alba on your dates-,"

"We don't go on dates!" Bucky interrupted quickly, his glare never leaving his face.

Steve smirked just slightly before nodding his head, "Right. I swear I won't agree to join you and Alba when the two of you are…enjoying each other's company. Deal?" he asked, holding out his right hand.

Bucky kept his glare, looking between Steve's right hand and his face.

After nearly a five minute stare down Bucky gripped Steve's right hand tightly, giving it one rough shake before pulling his hand away. He pulled the pony tail from around his wrist and tied back the top strands of his hair.

"Let's go." He muttered angrily, turning on his heel and walking towards the door, not bothering to put away the rest of the groceries.

Steve grinned triumphantly while the group all followed Bucky out of the apartment towards Alba's.


Bucky rang the buzzer for her apartment roughly; his glare had become a permanent fixture on his face since Steve's explanation.

"I'll be right down guys!" Alba's voice rang through the small speaker above the buttons, her voice fuzzy.

"She sounds cute." Natasha muttered from behind Bucky, a small smirk on her face as she glanced at Steve.

Bucky ignored her comment, closing his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts. It would be a quick night. They'd go to the bar; he'd have a beer or two and then insist going home early. Alba didn't seem like the type to be a heavy drinker so she'd most likely agree, and if the others don't, then Bucky would just leave them and bring Alba back home, before returning home himself.

When he opened his eyes again he saw the door to the stairwell opening at the end of the hallway through the window in the front door and he suddenly felt a knot rise in his throat.

An emotion pumped roughly into his body, an emotion he hadn't remembered feeling in a very long time, an emotion he wasn't prepared to feel tonight, an emotion he had no intention of sharing with Dr. Carver at Tuesday's appointment.

In that moment Bucky Barnes, for the first time in over 70 years, was aroused.

Alba was grinning ear to ear when she stepped through the front door, her eyes looking over each and every face of Bucky's friends while Bucky's eyes were looking her over.

Her hair was down and hung over her shoulders and along her back. She had on a white tank top and a black leather-like sleeveless vest buttoned across her stomach, the tightness of the vest pushing up her chest just slightly, showing off a bit of cleavage. She had on a tight, plain black skirt that stopped just a few inches above her knees and a pair of calf length black boots. The skirt and top highlighted her hourglass figure much more than her usual attire did. And, as always, her eyes and lips were donned in flattering makeup while she refused to cover the two scars on her face with the cosmetics.

Bucky's jaw was set as he looked at her, a master in hiding his emotions on the surface but inside, he was itching to tell someone how…attractive she looked.

'Not that she doesn't always look attractive; she's just…showing off for some reason tonight. She's highlighting every good quality she has; which is just about everything.' He thought dismissively, glancing towards Steve who stood directly behind him.

Steve smiled at Bucky before nodding towards Alba, who was staring at Bucky expectantly.

Bucky quickly looked back at her and she gave him an encouraging look, nodding slightly towards his friends. "Are you…going to introduce me?" she asked.

Bucky grunted, before glancing over at them once more.

He waved his right hand indifferently at Alba, "This is Alba Donoghue." He muttered.

Alba smiled at the group and waved at them, before everyone took it upon themselves to do their own introductions.

"Sam Wilson, great to meet you Alba." Sam said, stepping up first and reaching out to shake her hand. Alba eagerly took it, a large grin on her face as she nodded her head.

"Sharon Carter," Sharon went next, grabbing Alba's hand just as she let go of Sam's. Clint stepped up next, his sunglasses still on and shook her hand as well, "Clint Braxton."

Natasha stood back a moment, her arms crossed as she looked Alba over, sizing her up.

Alba gave the blonde a smile, fidgeting slightly under Natasha's intense gaze before she gave in and nodded her head at Alba, "Natasha Rushman. How long have you known Bucky?" she asked, glancing between the two.

Bucky glared at Natasha while Alba shrugged, "A month and a half, I think. How long have you known him?"

Natasha smirked, glancing at him, "Oh, we go way back."

"I'm Steve!" Steve quickly jumped in when Bucky's glare grew darker, stepping in front of Natasha and extending his right hand. "Steve Richards, great to finally meet you in person Alba." He grinned.

Alba paused for a moment, staring at Steve before a look of realization hit her and she shook her head slightly, a large grin on her face as she shook his hand, "Oh, you're Steve! It's fantastic to finally meet you. Funny, I had this completely different picture of how you looked in my head." She chuckled.

Steve hesitated, his stomach knotting while Bucky's whole body seemed to stiffen.

"Really?" Steve asked.

Alba nodded, "I didn't take you for a goatee guy." She smiled, pointed to her own chin as she nodded towards him.

Steve's mouth formed an 'O' and he let out a relieved laugh. "Y-Yeah," he started, glancing towards Bucky, giving him a small smile, "I get that a lot."

"Well," Sam said after a moment, breaking the tension, "Let's go get hammered."