Chapter 8


As Cassidy slipped on her gym shoes, she felt a new found sense of confidence. Although a few good years out of practice, she couldn't not admit that at one point, she had been pretty good at the whole spying and kicking butt thing. There was no doubt in her mind that tonight would be rough, physically and mentally. The last time Cassidy went to training was the last time she saw her partner alive and actually enjoyed doing field work.

She tied her shoestrings and stood from her bed.

She placed her hand on the bed and stretched her legs out. Just in case, she decided to stretch before meeting Clint down in the gym. Who knows, maybe they did all their pre-stretching in their rooms.

Cassidy paused and shook her head, 'or maybe you're worrying yourself about stupid little things to distract you from the big thing.'

Yea, that actually sounded about right. Sitting in a now empty suitcase under the bed was the huge file with The Winter Soldier scribbled on the front of it in messy handwriting. She decided she was going to tell Steve about the file tonight. Maybe, if he knew that she had it, he would trust her a little more. Especially, since she decided to share it with him. On the other hand, he could be upset and demand to know why she didn't say anything before now.

She stood upright and let out a sigh. It was now or never. She grabbed her water bottle off of the dresser and a towel for sweat, and made her way towards the training gym, a place she once told herself she was never going to go near again.

At first, it was hard to enter through the doors. It took a moment of nagging herself for Cassidy to go in. For a slight second, she even considered the possibility that she wasn't ready to train again. But, then T'Challa's words from last night played through her mind.

"You can't go wondering what 'if', Cas." she mumbled to herself before taking a deep breath and pushing into the gym.

"Hey," she was greeted by a sweaty Sam Wilson. He raised a hand at her as he padded over to the sidelines to grab a swig of water. "Cassidy, never see you in these parts." his tone was light and filled with amusement.

"Thought, I'd burn all the energy that's bottled up while I work." she replied going over and setting her things down beside her. "I'm meeting Clint," she paused. "And Steve, I think. I didn't know you worked out down here in the evening."

"Not usually," he replied wiping his brow with his forearm. "But, Steve said he wanted to spar so-" he motioned to the gym. "Here I am."

She nodded and wondered if Steve invited Sam because of her. As her eyes scanned the gym, they fell on Steve who was unwrapping his hands and walking away from the sparring area.

"Who won?" she asked turning back to Sam.

"Who do you think?" Sam scoffed going for another drink. "I did," he said.

Cassidy let out a small laugh at that and began to make her way towards the punching bags. "Hey, Steve." she said nonchalantly as she picked up the white tape and attempted to wrap her hands.

She tried to recount how to properly wrap her hands as she pulled the loose end and started at her palm. She made it once around her hand, but then stopped unsure on what to do next.

"Do you want some help?" Steve offered from behind her. She jumped slightly, a bit surprised and embarrassed.

"It's just been a while, that's all." she tried to explain, but it came out sounding pathetic. Steve nodded and with a moment of hesitation grabbed her hand. They were silent for a moment, as he undid what she wrapped and started again. "Where's Clint?" she finally asked after a moment.

"I think he stopped to check on Wanda," Steve mumbled as he motioned for her other hand.

"Wanda?" Cassidy asked raising an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

Steve paused, "You haven't met her." he said before continuing on. "She-she just isn't really a mingling person at the moment."

"Oh," Cassidy said with a slight nod. "I get it. Sometimes I just like being alone too."

"All done," Steve said ripping off the end piece and securing it.

"Thanks," she said grabbing back her hands. She looked up at the punching back and grimaced. Hopefully, she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked after a few moments of watching her.

"Yea," she said placing her hands around the punching bag. "Like I said, it's just been a while."

Steve nodded and sighed. "If you need any help, um, I could help." he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again. "I just mean that- don't be afraid to-" he paused.

"I can totally come to you, if I have any questions." she finished for him with a small smile. "Got it."

"Yea," Steve said and made his way over to where Sam was.

'Maybe that's why he doesn't talk to you,' Cassidy thought to herself as she took a step back and began to work.

Her eyes flickered to Steve every so often. How was she going to do this? After a few minutes at the punching bag, she heard the door open. She glanced over her shoulder to see Clint entering the room and remembered Steve said something about 'Wanda'. She kind of wanted to meet Wanda now.

"Hey," she greeted Clint as he entered.

He gave her a raised eyebrow as she placed her hands on the punching bag to keep it from swinging back and forth. "You need to work on your form," he muttered walking over to where she was standing. Cassidy creased her eyebrows together in confusion. He seemed up set about something.

"Uh- yea, it's just been a while." she explained taking a step back from the bag.

"Keep you shoulders set," he said stepping in front of her and falling into stance. She nodded and emulated his position. "Good," he said relaxing. "I have to talk to Steve, can you manage on your own?"

"You know once upon a time, I used to be able to kick your butt." '

"You and I remember once upon a time very differently," he muttered the corner of his lips turning upward slightly as he turned to walk away. She eyed the two men out the corner of her eye as Clint pulled Steve to the sideline and began to talk to him quietly to him. She curious as to what they were talking about, but kept to her own. There were far bigger things on her mind.

This training was turning out uneventful. She had one lousy conversation with Steve and then the two remained on their respectable sides of the gym. She let out a tiny huff and stopped punching. She began to unravel her hands and discard of the tape. If she wanted some one on one time with the man, she would have to get one on one.

"Anyone up for sparring," she asked breaking up the two men's conversation. They both looked up at her mildly surprised.

Steve looked apprehensive to be stepping onto the sparring mat with Cassidy. She felt the same way, but a girl has to do what she has to do. Clint originally offered, but Cassidy turned him down by reminding him when they used to spar, he wasn't very fair or forgiving.

"Neither were you," he defended with a slight scoff. Steve tried his best to find a hole to bury himself into, but Cassidy wasn't having it.

"How about it Steve?" she asked. "Captain America's all about fairness, right?"

"Just tell me when your-"

"Don't worry, I can handle myself." she said lightly. She really couldn't though, but admitting that would have Steve refusing.

"Are you ready?" Steve asked as Cassidy fell into position. She offered a slight smile and nodded.

"Are you?" she asked jokingly.

Cassidy hit the mat with a hard 'thud' within a matter of seconds. Clint whistled from the sidelines as she forced herself back up and fell back into her defense stance. "Again," she said rolling her neck to stretch out the kink forming.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked breathing heavily.

"I'm fine," she reassured him. "Let's go again."

"That's not such a good id-"

Cassidy cut him off by attacking first. She spun and kicked him the side only causing him to stumble back, but he didn't offer a counter attack. She followed with a sharp punch, that was sloppy but did it's job. Steve rubbed his jaw and then caught the next punch she threw his way. The spar ended shortly after that with Cassidy once again on her back.

"That's enough," Steve said in an authoritative voice. "I'm done." he quickly stepped off the mat before she could say something.

"Not bad," Clint said to Cassidy as he stepped onto the mat and offered her a hand.

"What's up with him?" she asked pulling herself up. They both turned to see Steve leaving and Sam going after him.

"I don't know," Clint said turning back to her. "But don't take it too personally, we've-"

"Been through a lot," Cassidy finished. "Yea, I know. Trust me, I know."

Clint silently looked at her for a few minutes before speaking. "What happened to you Cassidy? I mean- you just left and I get your partner- but you aren't the type of person who just up and leaves, at least you weren't.

She looked up at Clint and sighed. "Hydra happened."

She gathered her stuff from the sidelines and exited the training room. She wasn't giving up on Steve just yet, there was one other thing up her sleeve.

Cassidy entered her room in a fit. She pulled off her sweat soaked shirt and kicked off her shoes. She was over heated, figuratively and literally. She placed her hands on her hips and began to pace the room. Thinking back to her talk with T'Challa, Cassidy huffed. She couldn't force Steve to talk to her, but she couldn't deal with this tiptoeing.

She dropped to her knees in front of her bed and pulled up the suitcase. Unzipping the bag, she pulled out the thick folder and stood once more. It was time for plan 'b'. Cassidy placed the folder on her nightstand and entered the bathroom. But, first she needed a serious shower.

As Cassidy walked the halls, she held the folder close to her. There was no solid plan 'b'. In fact, she was kind of making it up as she searched for the blonde; who had made himself scarce.

She ended up in the labs after being unsuccessful in finding Steve. Cathy hadn't made any real headway in her theory today. In fact, the more she worked on it the more it seemed like some delusion sleep derived self just made up to compensate for all the nothing she had done to improve 'Bucky's' situation.

Cathy stopped in front of the cryo tank and sighed. Hydra wasn't built in a day and neither was the winter soldier. She knew somehow, someway, all the messed up things done to the poor man could be undone. But, she somewhat questioned if she could actually be the one to do it. Maybe Coulson really only sent her because there was a small chance she wouldn't be harmed. She set down the file and placed a hand on the tank. No person deserves to be treated the way he was and she truly wanted to help him, ulterior motive or not. He deserved a life. He deserved the ability to choose.

The moonlight was caught in the reflection of the cryo glass and as Cassidy's eyes focused on the picture bouncing off of the tank she felt relief wash over her. Cassidy spun around to actually look out of the window overlooking outside and sighed deeply. Steve was sitting beside the panther statue that overlooked the jungle. Cassidy quickly grabbed the file and hurried outside.

She slowed as she neared him not wanting to too seem to overeager. A twig snapped underneath her shoe causing Steve to look back. Cassidy offered him a weary smile clutched the folder closer to her.

"I always thought this was a strange place to put a Panther statue," she said lightly. She hesitantly took a seat next to Steve.

"I was just about to go inside-" Steve said trying to stand.

"Please," Cassidy said quickly gently grabbing his arm. "Just- hear me out."

He hesitated but settled back down with a sigh. "The Panther God," he glanced up at the statue. "According to T'Challa the panther is very sacred."

Cassidy silently nodded and they fell silent. She picked at the end of the folder before taking a deep breath and handing the file over. "Here," she said quietly.

Steve looked down at the folder and then up at her. He took it from her and cracked it open. "This is all-"

"About the Winter Soldier," Cassidy finished for him. "Coulson slipped into one of my suitcases, I guess."

"How would he have this?" Steve asked a bit defensively.

"My guess is he picked it up while infiltrating a Hydra base, because I haven't seen this file since Shield fell."

"You've seen this file before?"

"The first report is written by me," she said quickly glancing up at him. She looked down at her fingers and sighed deeply. "The other ones I've never seen before. My guess is they were strictly written files so never were leaked or at least I've never seen them before."

Steve was silent.

"You can read them, I mean obviously that's why I'm giving it to you," Cassidy paused and sighed. "What I mean is- I know you don't trust me, but I need you to because I'm trying to help- Bucky," she motioned to the file. "I met him when he was the Winter Soldier and it wasn't the best first meeting, but because of him I'm alive. So, I guess in some strange way this is a chance for me to repay him."

She looked up at Steve hoping for some kind of response, but he didn't offer one. "Just, wait until I leave- to read it I mean." She stood and dusted herself off. "I don't blame him for anything, just so we are clear. I couldn't blame him even if I wanted to because it isn't his fault." She turned and left him with the file.

As Cassidy stepped back into the facility she took in shaky breath. She glanced back to see Steve staring out into the jungle. Her words still rang in her head. This wasn't a matter of what she could do for Bucky, Cassidy quickly realized. She had to do something for Bucky. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.


A/N: I could apologize for not posting in such a long time, but honestly I'm sure you all are used to it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't be afraid to tell me what you think.