A/N: Would like to thank AlexShah, Adela, and Regin for the reviews! Glad you guys are enjoying the story, hope you like this new chapter!

Chapter Eleven

They drove seamlessly through the quiet streets of Gotham. It was still dark out, still a few hours before dawn. Bucky shifted in the back seat. He glanced up at Madeline who looked lost in thought. "Can I ask, how actually old are you?"

She glanced in the rearview mirror at him, meeting his eyes, "Twenty-two, why?"

Bucky knew his eyebrows shot up, "Pretty young for all the stuff you've done, all the stuff you are already."

"Oh yeah, I am aware." She looked forward out the windshield, keeping her eyes trained on the road.

She didn't seem to want to elaborate and Bucky knew that feeling so he didn't push her, "Did you honestly think I didn't want to come to your place because I am from the forties?" He suddenly found himself asking.

She looked back at him, Maddy rolled her eyes, "Well, I dunno, it was a simpler time... and so on."

Bucky shook his head, "Not that simple." He looked out the window, allowing his brain to wander over fragments of life that felt so far removed from where he was now, it was hard to believe it had ever been his. A sarcastic smile pulled at his lips, "Women living alone never stopped me from visiting, would say it almost encouraged it." Suddenly, one significant brunette appeared before his minds eye, he could remember a red dress, he couldn't remember where they had been or the context, he remembered disappointment...feeling invisible? Bucky blinked, shaking his head slightly, he forced himself to listen to the sound of Madeline's voice, so he could ignore the frustration in his chest.

"Huh," Madeline turned into another parking garage under an enormous sky scraper. "Here I was thinking it was a more chivalrous time." She pulled into a parking spot marked PH1 on the wall.

They got out of the car, "Yeah, I had a friend who covered that part." Bucky said looking at his feet. Madeline looked over the roof of the car at him, barely, she was so short, and looked away with sad eyes; he figured she assumed the friend was long since dead...if only she knew. Bucky figured soon she would. Keeping secrets from her seemed slightly ridiculous at this point. She cleared her throat and turning, she walked towards the elevator doors and Bucky fell into step with her. "Sorry to have kept you so late." Why he was talking so much was beyond him.

Being with Madeline was strange. She was almost like the security blanket he carted everywhere when he was four. She just calmed him, made him feel almost human. Maybe the fact he had told her multiple time he was a skilled unaging assassin and yet she still treated him like a normal human being was why.

Madeline glanced at him, she didn't specifically look tired, almost keyed up actually. "Oh," she glanced at her watch which looked like a man's wrist watch. "Not really that late, usually end up coming home from the lab around this time anyway." She shrugged, putting her key in the lock and pressing the penthouse button making the elevator doors close.

He looked at her. Twenty-two was literally almost two lifetimes ago for him, yet he could still remember that the only thing that would have kept him out this late was a dancehall and a nice pair of legs. He found his eyes drifting down, and even found himself vaguely wondering what her legs looked like under those baggy scrubs.

He blinked. He hadn't had a thought like that in... Decades? What was it about this girl? What she brought out in him, made him remember...

The elevator came to a seamless stop and the doors slid open. Bucky blinked. Stretched out before he was what could only be called a great room, a beautiful large expansive space with floor to almost twenty foot ceiling windows that gave you an eagle eye view of the city. A rounded grand staircase lead to a second floor, and enormous veranda was visible out the windows...was that a helipad?

"Home sweet home." Madeline said meekly. Bucky became aware his mouth was open. He shut it and looked at her.

Without changing his expression he said, "It's nice,"

She laughed at the understatement, "Yeah, right..." She shook her head running a hand over her hair, "Come on," She playfully slapped his chest with the back of her left hand, "I'll give you the tour."

By the time they reached the bedrooms Bucky's head was spinning. The place was literally a mansion in the sky. Madeline seemed self conscious about the excessiveness of the apartment but she moved around it like she was comfortable in such grandeur. She opened the final door.

There was a king size bed in the very middle of the bedroom, a door on the wall on the right side of the room and again, floor to ceiling windows covering the left wall. Very simplistic, modern, clean.

"This can be your room, the bathroom is over there." Madeline pointed at the door on the right. She strolled into the room with Bucky following a couple of feet behind looking around. Madeline absentmindedly pulled the tie out of her hair, letting a thick curtain of bright blonde drop around to jump past her shoulders.

Bucky looked away before she looked back him, not wanting to get caught staring. "My bedroom is down the hall, if you need anything. Just knock, and you remember where the kitchen is right?" She looked at him but Bucky was looking at the windows with his brow furrowed. "What's wrong?" Madeline asked coming over the stand beside him.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, "Big windows," he said pointing unnecessarily at them.

Madeline glanced at the windows, and blinked. Bucky didn't know how to describe the growing tension in his chest at the thought of sleeping in a room with such big windows. He felt exposed... Vulnerable. Maybe he would sleep in the bathroom once Madeline went to bed.

She put her hand on his arm and his head swivelled around to look at her. It was so strange to be touched... "Bucky, what's up?" She asked concern in her eyes. Those eyes, they weren't anything like Maria Stark, the only part of her that wasn't almost a complete double...they were perfect, warm, engaging. "Bucky?"

Bucky blinked, shaking his head, he cleared his head, "It's the windows..." He trailed off pointing to them.

Madeline glanced at them, "Oh, ok, come here." She gently took his right hand in hers and pulled him towards the bedroom door. He noticed shimmering on the wall, almost invisible, was a panel. "This controls the bedroom." She put her thumb up to it, "Room, for Bucky."

An omnipresent voice spoke softly in a female British accent, "Hello Bucky,"

Bucky looked at Madeline and she smiled at him, dropping his hand, "Put your hand there." She pointed the panel and Bucky obliged.

"Nice to meet you Bucky, if you need anything please let me know."

Bucky looked at Madeline and she nodded him on, "Uh...curtains?"

"Certainly sir, please let me know if there is anything else you need," a dark shade dropped over the curtains soundlessly and soft lighting overhead came on.

Bucky looked at Madeline, "This is some place."

She shrugged looking around the bedroom, "My dad lived here." She said almost longingly, "The panels were a house warming gift from my uncle." She raised her eyebrows. "Anyway, you should get some sleep. I am gonna make you do a lot of talking tomorrow, so rest up."

Madeline looked up at Bucky and smiled warmly. Like he hadn't murdered hundreds of people. Like he wasn't one of the most wanted men in the world. Like he wasn't a hundred years old. He looked down at her, "Thank you,"

Her smile just became more brilliant, she really was breathtaking, he could admit that from a completely unbiased stand point. "Well, don't thank me yet." She patted his metal arm, with no hesitation Bucky noticed, and then walked around him and out of the room.