It had been a little over two weeks since the eve that his nightmares began. We had settled into a routine of sorts, we never stayed anywhere for very long.. He was constantly moving us around, making sure we stayed ahead of Hydra and anyone else that might be looking for us. He had an uncanny ability to find abandoned and vacant locations.

Our sleeping arrangements stayed relatively the same, he wouldn't sleep until he had been up for a few days, or had pushed himself a little too far. And even then, he'd only sleep if we 'compromised'. Which always ended up with my wrist tied to his, that way if I tried to escape, he'd know.

Two weeks and some change had not helped his distrustful nature.. If anything, it seemed like it was making it worse. His over-protective tendencies were getting more and more frequent. It didn't seem to matter to him that I had, for the most part, behaved and not tried to run from him...

He hardly ever took his eyes off me, and rarely did he let me wander more than few feet away from him.

His nightmares hadn't stopped. Whenever he slept, they plagued him. Some nights were worse than others. No matter how many times he had demanded that I stop getting so close when I woke him up, I never listened. I knew he felt guilty when he reacted negatively some of the times he woke up, but I had no other way to wake him.. When he screamed.. he couldn't hear me yelling his name. Touching him was the only guaranteed way to rip him out of a nightmare.

So I took each bruise, each tumble with danger as best as I could..

Thankfully, I wasn't dead yet.

Each time I blatantly ignored his orders and woke him up with my touch, he got angry with me.. His manhandling the next day would be more aggressive, his stares a lot harsher.. But he no longer waited for me to hug him after each nightmare.. He just pulled me into his arms until he calmed down enough to go back to sleep.

It was the least I could do.. offer that small bit of comfort to him when he needed it. He kept me alive, kept me fed, I could hug him during those vulnerable moments after a nightmare. Whenever I tried to ask him what he was dreaming of, he'd close off instantly and ignore me for the rest of the day. Whatever he dreamt.. it was bad, and he didn't want to share.. I did my best not to push the matter.

Part of me wondered if it was because he didn't want me to know, or because he didn't want to give voice to what was haunting him. He seemed to play everything very close to the vest, so to speak.

It was a bitter-sweet situation with him, honestly. My hormones hadn't died down any in his presence.. if anything they had only gotten much, much worse. His proximity was really starting to affect me.. I suppose it was only natural though, he was the only person I was able to interact with.

I knew I was lying to myself though.. I would have been drawn to him even if he wasn't the only person I was around twenty-four-seven. I couldn't help it. Everything about him drew me in. His voice, how he looked, how he moved... Even if for the most part, he was completely unapproachable.

It's not like he was a chatter-box or anything. I wasn't even sure how he was able to tolerate me. The man had to have a ridiculous amount of patience built up to deal with my constant rambling about anything and everything. The only time I was able to aggravate him quickly, was when I started to argue with him, or didn't listen to a direct order. He was quick to anger. I knew he tried not to be, but it was just who he was.

After a couple days, he started giving me books to read and electronics to take apart and play with. I was thankful for the distractions, it was oddly considerate of him.. I noticed that he kept doing stuff like that.. making sure I had food I liked, even if for the time being we were stuck with packaged food. He tried his best to make sure we had a comfortable place to rest, and get clean.. Which I knew was entirely for my benefit.

He was surprising.. in a good way.

Adjusting to life with him was difficult, but not overly so.. I missed basic things the most, like being able to cook a real meal, and sleep in a nice bed. But he had been right about me.. I was a loner with no major attachments. The only person my gut twisted thinking about was Autumn.. she had to be worried sick about me by now.

I tried not to think about it.

It wasn't like I could get word to her to let her know I was okay and safe... ish. Bucky didn't allow me to leave his sight, and he certainly didn't let me near any communication devices. I just had find comfort in the fact that Autumn had several people around her to comfort her about my disappearance.. she'd be okay.. I hoped.

- x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x -

I watched him out of the corner of my eye, his back was to me as he went through the bags. He was wearing a tantalizing shirt again, one that stretched across his broad torso teasingly.. Mocking me to have even more less than appropriate thoughts. He was crouched on his heels, proving once again just how graceful he was.. he was unfair.

His muscles tensed in his arms and he let out an aggravated sigh before turning his head to look at me, his forearms balanced on his knees. He didn't seem the least bit surprised to see me looking at him already, almost as if he knew I had been watching him the entire time.

His facial expression was dark, moody. His eyebrows were furrowed, his lips in his usual frown.

"What's wrong?" I questioned curiously.

"We're running low on supplies." His deep timbre never ceased to send delicious tingles up my spine. I hated it.

"Oh." Well that certainly wasn't good.. "What do we do?" I was out of my depth with shit like this.

He watched me for a moment, just scanning my face. He was contemplating something in his head, I could almost see the gears turning around in his brain as he stared at me.

"I remember a Hydra safe-house.. Not too far from here." His voice was quiet, unsure. "We could clear it.. and restock some of our supplies there."

Unease fluttered in my stomach.

He wanted to.. he wanted to go into the heart of the beast? After we had spent so much time running from them?

Something clicked then.

He remembered a Hydra safe-house.

"You.. remembered the Hydra base?" He nodded, his eyes not leaving mine.

We hadn't exactly talked about his amnesia.. I knew he couldn't remember much of anything.. and if he had started to remember anything, he certainly hadn't shared it with me. I knew how much he struggled with the frustration of not being able to remember his old life, and even his second life with Hydra. I couldn't even begin to imagine how he felt..

So the fact that he was remembering anything.. it was progress.. and I was weirdly proud in that moment.

"Have you.. remembered anything else?" I inquired tentatively.

He swallowed hard then, shifting his gaze away from me. There it was again, that vulnerable look in his eyes. It was a rare thing to see his eyes look like that. I hadn't seen his eyes look like that since the night his nightmares first began. He had been careful since then, to not let his emotions flutter across his face when I woke him up from his nightmares..

He clenched his fists.

"It's like I have two people in my head." He whispered. "There's the man I was before.. James Barnes, and there's The Winter Soldier. They clash in my head.."

I tried to keep the surprise off my face, had that been what he was called while he worked for Hydra? I tucked that information away for later.

"Hurts." He grunted, pressing two of his metal fingers against his temple roughly.

My heart twisted in my chest at the information. He hadn't let on about any pain.. not once.

"I remember him sometimes..." He clenched his jaw. "Steve." He clarified. "But he was.. smaller?" He shook his head in confusion then, cringing. As if the memory felt wrong and weird to him.

His hair fell in front of his face.

"Why is he smaller?" He asked, almost brokenly.

I got up and moved towards him then, making sure I kept my movements slow as I approached. I stopped and sat down at his side, leaning my head back to get a good look at his face. He was already watching me, as he always was.

"You and Steve were friends before he was injected with the Super-Soldier serum.. At least that's what the exhibit at the Smithsonian said.. Of course you'd remember him smaller than he is now." I reached forward and laid my hand on his forearm.

His eyes slid to look at my hand on his arm intently, he seemed almost puzzled.

I almost took my hand back.. Almost.

"You'll remember it all in no time, I'm sure of it." I smiled softly and squeezed his forearm gently.

His eyes found mine then, there was a flicker of surprise there.

"Thank you.." He muttered. This time it was my turn to be surprised.. he had never thanked me before. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.. I flushed under his gaze.

"Uh.. no problem.." I cleared my throat and looked behind him at the bags. "So, about this Hydra safe-house, or whatever.."

"We'll leave tonight." He confirmed.

I nodded my head, accepting the information. I wasn't happy about it, but it was needed.. and he had remembered it on his own. That was really good.

"Look at me."

It wasn't a request, I heard it in his tone. He had gone from zero to sixty again, all the tenderness in his voice was gone. I moved my head to meet his stare again.

"Stay close to me the entire time, do you understand me?" His eyes were fierce as he stared me down, imploring me to understand the importance of what he was asking. His jaw tick was back as he waited for me to respond.

"I understand." I mumbled.

"Good girl."

- x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x -

We left our current location under the cover of darkness, night had fallen and Bucky had moved us out. We had driven for a long while, passing many towns on our way.

When he had mentioned the 'safe-house' was nearby, I thought he actually had meant nearby.. But apparently to James, within one hundred miles was 'nearby' enough.

Thankfully he let me fiddle with the radio to calm my nerves, I ended up flipping back and forth between two stations.. one was playing classic rock, and the other electro-swing. I had noticed he had perked up a bit at the sound of the electro-swing.. He seemed, curious almost.. His gaze a bit clouded.

When he finally stopped the car we were in a rather large town, but not one I had ever been before, it was old fashioned almost. The streets were empty, the shops all closed up for the night. James turned to look at me, eyeing my form.

"Put your hair up." He ordered suddenly, his fingers tapping lightly against the steering wheel.

"Why?"

I played with the hair-tie I always kept on my wrist. His lips were in a firm line, he arched his eyebrow slowly. Ugh, this man... Why couldn't he just ever explain his thought process for once?

I pulled my hair up into a high, messy bun. A few strands escaped and fell down near my face but I didn't move to fix it. I turned back around to see him eyeing me with approval.

"Happy?" I muttered sarcastically.

He didn't respond, instead he moved to pull his mask out from the back, the one that only covered half of his face. I tensed, but said nothing as he secured it on.

At first whenever he put that mask on, I wasn't sure what it was about it that unsettled me so.. But ever since earlier today when he had confessed a little about his mind to me.. I understood. Whenever he put that mask on, his eyes would empty, he removed his emotions out of the equation. He was primarily goal driven, he had a mission and he had to complete it, by any means necessary.

He became that one side of him.

The Winter Soldier.

He didn't look at me as he exited the 'new' truck and went to the back of it to pull out his arsenal, I waited several moments as he armed himself to the teeth with his 'tools'. Then he was at my door, looking as formidable as ever.

My stomach twisted at the sight of him... He really did look good dressed to kill.

Fuck, something was definitely wrong with me.

"Out." His voice was back to that growl of his, the one that sent my brain spiraling in lewd directions. I did my best to ignore my obviously fucked up thoughts.

I climbed out of the truck, he shifted to stand directly in front of me, only a couple inches separated us as he stared me down.

"Remember what I said, you move when I move. Do not leave my sight unless I say so."

I nodded. He reached forward with his gloved hands and grabbed onto the hood of my sweatshirt, pulling it up and over my noticeably red-orange hair, concealing it.

I could only hope that this 'mission' went as smoothly as all the others.

Another of the 'calm before the storm' chapters.. Just a fair warning however, this is about to get a bit darker. I did promise some escalation of his behavior after all... wonder what sets that in motion? Hahahaha! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well as the pace I'm setting for the story, the plot is slowly going to unfold more and more as the story continues on.. I have some wonderful things planned for you guys! Read and Review! Reviews make my world go round and the next chapters to come out a lot faster! Hope all of you are well and happy, until next time! ~