Chapter 11

When he was certain Solace was asleep again, getting some much needed rest, Bucky quietly knelt down next to the bed and reached underneath to pull out his backpack. It was the one he had packed for emergencies if he had to leave at a moment's notice. He figured he could give Solace some extra time to sleep while he went through his things and decided what else he wanted to take.

He carried the bag out to the dining room table, where he unzipped it and looked inside. In addition to a few basic travel necessities—spare cash, one change of clothing, and some fake identification—the only other things in it were several notebooks, similar to the one he kept on his nightstand, and a set of pens and pencils. Bucky pulled them out to make room to pack, but as a second thought, he picked up the top one and flipped through it, with a contemplative expression. The other notebooks were still blank, but this one had already been filled out with his tidy handwriting and scratchy sketches.

While the current notebook he was working on was organized by person, with neat sections and little tabs so he could find things easily, this particular one had no sense of organization at all. Bucky had dumped every random thought he had into it after leaving HYDRA and going on the run. Broken thoughts, disembodied quotes, dreams that woke him up in the middle of the night… all of those things had gone into the notebook, resulting in a jumbled, disturbing mess. Some of the memories were pleasant, but others… not so much.

As Bucky flipped through the notebook, he recalled that a large section of pages in the middle had been dedicated to a sudden moment of clarity several months ago; he'd somehow remembered every single kill mission he'd ever been on, and recorded the details with almost-surgical precision. He had spent several hours each day for a whole week dutifully penning what he remembered. Once he'd finished the last entry, he reread everything he wrote, sat there for several minutes, then immediately went to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. By the time he was finished and his throat was raw, he'd forgotten nearly everything he'd written down. He still remembered the moment of each and every death, what each victim's last word or action was in life, but everything leading up to each kill—or even when they'd occurred, or why they had to die—was a foggy blur again. As if his own mind was fighting hard to protect him from the realization that he was the soldier as cold and unfeeling and brutal as the winter itself.

Even just scanning through the pages and glimpsing a word or two here and there made Bucky feel nauseous, so he slammed the notebook shut. But as unpleasant as the memories were, they were still his, and he'd have to reconcile with them eventually. That was why he guarded them so desperately. He didn't want the fragile, shattered fragments of his mind to be taken away and used against him.

He quietly went back into the bedroom again, going through his clothing and trying to decide what he wanted to take, and what could be left behind. Most of what he ended up selecting was clothing that reminded him of Solace and their time together. Things he wore on dates with her, and the like. Bucky folded everything he wanted to pack as tightly as possible and placed them in the bag. It was hard to wrap his brain around the fact that he'd only been acquainted with Solace for almost three months, and that they'd only been dating for two weeks. So much seemed to have happened in that time, and he surprised himself with how fast and hard he'd fallen for her. Now he just wished he could have just a little more time with her. One last date, one last dance, one last everything before he said goodbye.

Reminding himself of all this was upsetting, so Bucky left the room before it got to be too much. He needed to focus on something else that wouldn't make him sentimental. He tossed his bag on the floor and headed to the kitchen to start dinner.

Bucky started by familiarizing himself with the ingredients in the kitchen, most of them items Solace had purchased earlier. It looked like she was intent on making some kind of chicken noodle soup from scratch, along with sandwiches. He deliberately set the ingredients out one at a time and pondered what to do with them. On the back of a soup starter package that Solace had purchased, he found a recipe for soup and found the ingredients matched what she had purchased. It wasn't very often that Bucky chose to cook meals from scratch, but he felt determined for some reason to try it now.

Prepping everything was a slow, but relaxing task; he carefully and awkwardly chopped up all the vegetables and chicken into appropriate pieces, before readying a pot on the stove with broth ingredients. Forcing himself to slow down and commit to such a mechanical task was soothing, in much the same way his job at the auto repair place was. Bucky realized, regrettably, that he would miss the routine of the job, despite how dirty and difficult and low-paying it was.

Once the soup was assembled and all the components were bubbling merrily away, Bucky turned his attention to the sandwiches. These were much easier for him to assemble, and he set the finished plates in the refrigerator to keep them chilled until soup was done and Solace was awake. He cleaned up his mess, washed up, and breathed in deeply. The scent of the cooking soup on the stove made him happy for some reason; maybe it proved he could have a normal life if he really wanted to. If the world decided to give him a chance.

Leaving the kitchen, Bucky eyed the items crowded on top of the dining room table and decided to clear them off in preparation for dinner. He picked up Solace's bag and the poster tube and set them against the nearby wall; unfortunately, the open bag tipped over anyway and the top few items spilled out. Bucky was startled to hear something hard clang against the floor, and he kneeled down to investigate. A heavy item wrapped in a dirty cloth seemed to be the culprit, and when he unwrapped it to see what it was, he was shocked to see it was his combat knife. It had been cleaned of any blood, but somehow Solace had recovered it from the fight last night and brought it back.

"Kitten… what are you doing?" he hissed, as he put her other items back in her bag again. Solace would have been in big trouble if the police had found this on her. Why would she keep it? Did she think it had some sentiment to it?

…To be fair, he realized, as he gazed at the blade in his hand, the knife was no ordinary combat knife. It was a World War II era weapon, a knife standard issued to soldiers in the U.S. Army. Why HYDRA had allowed him to keep such a thing, he wasn't sure. But he knew they were no strangers to manipulating his thoughts and memories with items from his past. Subconsciously, the Winter Soldier must have made a personal connection to the item over the many decades, because he still had it after all this time.

Bucky carefully carried the knife back to the bedroom, rummaging around until he found the sheath for the knife still attached to his bloodied uniform. He was in the middle of putting it away when Solace rolled over in bed and groaned.

"Can't sleep anymore… too hungry…" she whined. "My tummy feels like it's eating itself."

Bucky snorted at her cute complaint, tossing the weapon haphazardly into the half-open case still lying nearby, along with his crumpled-up uniform. "Well, dinner is ready. You can go ahead and eat," he said.

Solace sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Did you really make dinner? I thought you were just joking or something."

"Oh, come on. I'm not that great at cooking, but I can do it. You're not scared or anything, are you?"

"Never," she giggled.

He rolled his eyes at her before looking back down at his weapon case. "I was cleaning off the table… Why did you bring this back, anyway?" he asked, indicating the knife.

"Oh, you found that? Sorry. I… noticed it on the way out before I left the construction site," Solace explained, sounding awkward. "I think Crossbones like… threw it aside or something. I felt like maybe you'd want it back for some reason? I don't know; I wasn't really thinking straight at the time. Sorry I couldn't get anything else."

"It's fine. I don't know if I'm taking it with me, anyway."

As soon as the comment left his mouth, Bucky sucked in his breath and bit his lip. But it was too late; Solace's eyes looked down immediately, her whole body slumping. He basically just reminded them both of what they didn't want to think about—him leaving.

With a sigh, Bucky got up again and held out his hands. She slowly, reluctantly took them, letting him pull her to her feet. When Solace looked up, he gave her a quick, yet meaningful kiss on the lips, one that made her gasp softly and let her eyes flutter closed.

"Smile for me, kitten," he growled in her ear.

At that, Solace had to comply, beaming up at him even as a small shiver went through her. "No fair," she purred, leaning up to kiss his chin. "I can't say no to that face."

Bucky laughed at the idea and kissed her again. The face she supposedly liked so much was currently black and blue and covered in bloody wounds. "I didn't realize you were attracted to me getting beaten up," he teased, before grabbing her hips and pushing her out of the room.

The two sat down to their dinner soon after. Eating seemed to reanimate Solace, and she seemed incredibly pleased with his treatment of the food. "I can't believe you did such a good job with this! You should have been cooking for me a long time ago," she teased.

"You're just trying to make me feel good," Bucky retorted. "I don't know how to cook all that well. I just followed the directions on the box."

Solace smiled sweetly and blew him a kiss across the table. "You still pulled it off," she reminded. "Not everyone can do that!"

He grinned. Even if she was just patronizing him, it still felt nice.

As the two ate, Solace questioned Bucky about his life. Not the specifics of how he'd become the Winter Soldier, or what he'd done since then; no, she was far more interested in learning about his childhood, what it was like growing up in the 20s and 30s. Bucky tried his best to come up with answers, but a lot of his responses were a helpless "I don't remember." Finally, after what must have been the ninth time he'd said that, Solace finally sat back in her chair and stared at him.

"Do you have any pencil and paper?" she asked.

It was a bit out of the blue, so Bucky at first wasn't sure how to respond. "Uh… pencil and paper…? I… Oh, wait, I do." He leaned over to grab his backpack where he'd thrown it on the floor, and pulled out a pencil and one of his blank notebooks. He passed it to her across the table. "You can use that."

Solace examined the notebook, before turning to the first page. As always, she was curious about anything he did. "Do you journal or something?" she asked, as she began to write.

"Yeah… I try to record all my thoughts. Things I remember. You know, so I can come back to them later and try to figure them out."

He thought Solace would try to press for more detail, or ask for examples, but thankfully she did not. She simply looked at him for a moment before nodding, and looking back down at what she was writing. Her handwriting was nice, although somewhat slanted as she wrote on the blank page. "That's a really good idea," she mused. "That's actually what I was thinking, too. Here." She held up the open notebook to him, and Bucky saw she had written a series of questions. He realized they were the questions she had just asked that he didn't have an answer to.

"Oh. You want me to keep the questions in case I remember the answer later," he said.

"Yeah, exactly!" she exclaimed, seeming proud of herself.

Bucky watched her with amusement as she continued to write in the notebook, in between bites of food. He wasn't sure what else she was adding to the list of questions, but he wasn't about to peek over the table and find out. He liked being kept guessing when it came to her.

"If it's ok to ask," Bucky ventured, after they'd both finished their dinner, "I'm curious what that thing is. Is it yours?" He pointed at the poster tube he'd laid against the wall, next to Solace's bag.

She gave it an inquisitive look along with him. "I'm not sure what it is," she admitted. "When you left the construction site last night, I didn't know what to do. I honestly felt kinda… frozen. Alec had to get me to move again. Told me I should leave. When the police arrived, Alec went out to meet them and distract them while I hid behind the truck. I was about to slip out another entrance to the site when I noticed… that in the driver's seat. I reached through the window and snatched it up before I ran away."

"Any… particular reason?"

Solace shrugged and got up from her seat, to pick up the poster tube and bring it back to the table. "Not really. I mean, I figured if Crossbones had it… it must be important," she reasoned, studying it for a moment before opening one end and shaking out the contents. Bucky reached over to help her pull out what looked like several large, thick sheets of paper rolled up together into the tube. Solace tossed the tube aside, before grabbing their empty plates and rushing them off to the kitchen. While she was away, Bucky unrolled the papers and tried to smooth them flat against the table.

"So what is it?" she asked, coming up next to him. The top sheet appeared to be some kind of blueprint, with technical drawings and diagrams laid out across the page. Solace frowned and leaned in closer, running her hands over the paper. "Plans for some kind of machine…? It looks like the instructions are written in Russian, though. Can you understand it, baby…?"

Bucky didn't respond right away, his eyes transfixed on the diagram in front of him. He absolutely understood everything on the page, and he could feel himself breathing faster as the Cyrillic letters blurred together. His teeth ground together hard and his whole body tensed; he could practically feel the agony that coursed through him and hear his muffled screams all over again.

"Bucky, Bucky…!" Solace's voice was urgent and firm in his ears, and he felt himself grasping for it, trying not to not drown in the agony that was his memory. He felt her touch his arm, and he had to steady himself against the table so he wouldn't grab her and potentially hurt her.

"Baby, shh… Breathe. Look at me," she insisted.

He stared at her, desperately, and felt her voice wash over him as she began to whisper soothingly. This time, he was actively aware that she was trying to use her power on him, and he could feel himself struggling not to give in. But she was humming something soft against his ear, her lips moving as she sang and touched every segment of his heart, every corner of his mind, until at last he could catch his breath and see in front of him without the room spinning.

Solace's expression was serious as she touched his face, and he felt the haze lift from his vision. "What is it?" she asked, gently but insistently.

Bucky let his gaze travel over the plans again, taking a deep breath. "Mашина Промывание Мозгов,"(1) he muttered, finally able to focus on what was before him without panicking. "I-It's a Memory Suppression Machine. HYDRA developed it to torture an individual so… so their memory would be wiped. They could then be reprogrammed—given orders that they would have to follow without question."

"W-Wait, you mean…" Solace's eyes were wide as she looked at him again, and she suddenly looked pale. "Was this what they—?"

"Used on me? Yes. It was at least part of the control process. How they kept me in line if I ever… started remembering things they didn't need the Winter Soldier to remember." Bucky swallowed, and tentatively recalled the one HYDRA had set up in the bank in Washington, D.C.

She looked away, obviously upset. "W-Why would he have this…?" she asked, trembling. At first, Bucky thought she was asking him what he thought, but then he realized she was talking to herself. "Would he really have…? No… No, he wouldn't…"

"What?" Bucky asked, sharply. When Solace didn't reply immediately, he grabbed her arm and shook her. "What are you talking about? Why would Crossbones have this?"

Solace stared at him with an almost terrified expression, trying to yank free of his grip. But Bucky wasn't letting her go anywhere unless she answered the question. "Maybe I should… just explain everything," she suggested, timidly.

He glared at her, unimpressed. "Go ahead."

She looked away from him as she began. "The first night Alec was kidnapped… I went out to track down the criminal who did it. I… had an idea of what he looked like; the police had a composite sketch they made based on Alec's description of his dad's murderer, and I took a picture of it when they left me alone in the interview room. I eventually found Crossbones… and we fought. I was in way over my head… and that's… where I got the black eye. Among other injuries I tried not to let on."

Bucky nodded slowly, remembering his own anger when he found out Solace had been hurt. He always had the hunch she was lying about what really happened… and now it made sense why.

"I thought maybe I could bide my time for a while and see what Crossbones did next. The next time I encountered him, I found him attacking that bus with his sidekick—or that's what I thought at the time. When he saw me, he immediately broke away from the bus and started chasing me. We got into another fight, but… again, he was way too strong. It took all I had to hold him off. And when I discovered Alec was actually his accomplice…" She trailed off, helpless and frustrated.

Bucky nodded, trying not to show his impatience. He appreciated Solace's explanation, but he was still more interested in why Crossbones would have these HYDRA plans. "Go on."

"Well… Crossbones threatened Alec's life. Told me to stay out of his business. I think he thought I was working with the authorities," she continued. "We made a deal at the time—I'd let him carry out a robbery he was planning without tipping off the police or trying to stop him, and he'd release Alec to me unharmed. He said he had another plan set up anyway, and Alec wasn't cut out to be a good accomplice. I… I can't believe I was dumb enough to think he was telling the truth."

"He didn't plan on releasing Alec at all."

Solace nodded, looking angry. "Anyway, I planned on holding up my part of the bargain, but Crossbones stopped by my apartment the next day just to remind me of it. He kicked in my door to intimidate me and show he somehow figured out where I lived. I was… afraid, but at the same time, not? It was just… so surreal. I don't know if I would have been able to go out after him even if I wanted to; I was so… paralyzed."

Bucky remembered that day well, when he had found Solace's door smashed in. He realized that if Crossbones had wanted to, he could have tried to kill Solace in her own apartment. Bucky could have walked in on that and… and…

He bit his lip, fighting back the helpless fury rising in him. Who knew what kind of murderous rage the Winter Soldier would have mustered if Solace had been harmed then. He finally let his hand loosen around Solace's arm, and she quickly tugged herself free, rubbing the area ruefully.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

She didn't respond to the apology except to glare at the table, her expression a little hurt and upset. "I left him alone for a few days, assuming he was going to carry out his robbery. He said he just needed to rob a parts store, and no one had to get hurt. But… when I showed up at the meeting place and time last night, ready to take Alec home, Crossbones instead accused me of hiring you and ruining the whole robbery. And… I suppose you know what happened from there."

Bucky digested the information and nodded absently, trying to piece together everything she had just said with how he remembered the events. Solace had made a deal with Crossbones to let him steal that truck full of parts, but Bucky had interfered. Furious with what he perceived as Solace's reneging on the deal, Crossbones attempted to kill her before leaving the city with Alec. Thankfully, Bucky had interfered with that, too.

But from what Solace had explained, it seemed like the botched robbery had angered Crossbones the most. The loss of the parts… These plans…

"You can make anyone do what you want, with the right leverage."

"The parts he wanted to steal… I think they were for this machine," Bucky realized. "That's why he wasn't concerned about Alec resisting his orders. He was going to build this, and…"

From the stricken expression on Solace's face, he knew she had already come to the same conclusion. "Right… He could… wipe memories… and then train Alec to only ever listen to him…"

Bucky gritted his teeth and fought the urge to crumple the papers under his hands. To rip the plans apart into a million pieces. "He might have been inspired after seeing it used on me in Washington, D.C.," he reasoned. "I'm also going to guess he stole the plans from HYDRA at some point after Project Insight failed and HYDRA's chain of command fell apart. It probably wouldn't take much to wipe a child's memories and make them completely obedient to Crossbones. Then he'd get the little protégé army he wanted without having to worry about them defying him."

"H-How could he do that…?"

"I suppose he has contacts with HYDRA agents still—or if he doesn't, he could probably find somebody able to translate and implement the plans," Bucky replied, assuming she was asking about the logistics of the plan. His mind was going through everything Crossbones had done, and suddenly everything made a lot of sense. "That bank robbery… I bet he stole enough money that he could pay anyone off to build the machine for him—"

He trailed off when he looked at Solace, and realized she was crying.

She had her hand over her mouth and nose, trying her best to hold back her sobs, but the tears fell down her face freely as she stared at the blueprints. Concerned, he reached out and brushed his hand over her shoulder; she finally looked up at him and shuddered.

"H-How could anyone do that to a child…?" she asked, her voice cracking with emotion. "To kidnap and force Alec to experience all those terrible things was bad enough… B-But he… he wanted to… t-to torture him and make him lose his memories too…?"

Bucky pulled her close as she began to cry again, letting her bury her face against him and hug him tight, like he was the only thing left to hold onto. But it was ironic and sad, Solace having to cling to the Winter Soldier for such comfort. Alec had escaped such a terrible turn of events. Bucky had not.

"Crossbones didn't care. A child, an adult… no life was worth his respect. All he wanted was to succeed in his plans," he tried to explain. "There's no understanding that, Solace. Just defying it. That's what you're here for. To fight against people like that."

Solace shook her head against him, sniffling. "I'm no good at fighting, though," she whispered. "He would have won if it were up to me. I don't know what I'm doing…"

"Don't say that… That's not true—"

"Yes it is!" Solace exploded, suddenly pushing him away and covering her face. "I-I mean, it was bad enough I wasn't a match for him in a fight… But then I had to end up making a deal with him? What kind of hero has to bargain with the bad guy? I basically promised him I'd look the other way while he committed a robbery." She lowered her hands, and her eyes were red and puffy with tears. The bruises on her face suddenly looked a lot more obvious, too. "I'm a horrible hero. I thought that… you know, since I had these abilities… I ought to try and use them for something more than just cheering up people. I wanted to save Alec… and keep the city safe. But I couldn't do either of those things… I mean, not without your help…"

Bucky sighed and moved towards her, taking both of her wrists in his hands and pulling them away from her face. He kissed her forehead before speaking against it. "Listen… maybe you weren't ready to take on someone like Crossbones," he said. "But you at least tried. You told me that you believed those who have the means to help others should, and… I believed you. That's why I went out to try and find Alec, too. I thought I was the only person in the city capable of standing up to that guy, and even though it was risky… I decided that I had to do it."

Solace seemed startled by the admission, enough that her tears subsided again. Bucky let go of her so she could wipe her eyes with the bottom of her t-shirt. "You did it because… it was the right thing to do?" she asked.

The question made him chuckle, and he shook his head. "No… I don't really care about that," he said. "It wasn't to make the city safer for everyone, or anything like that. I did it because of you. That's it. I just wanted to see you smile again."

She looked a little mystified at his reasoning at first. But as she let her eyes roam over him again, taking in the sight of his broken, battered body and his cybernetic arm, she seemed to finally understand. "…That's enough of a reason, then," she relented, touching his arm in what felt like a pitying gesture.

Bucky took her gaze and the tone of her voice and the attempt at consoling him all as signs that she was disappointed, and he sighed. He didn't blame her, of course. She thought he was her hero, but if he'd ever had naïve dreams of saving the world, they'd died along with Bucky Barnes's old life back in 1945.

"I'm sorry it's not much," he said, quietly, just a breath above ashamed.

He expected Solace to give him a sad look, or maybe a disappointed one, or at the very most, sigh deeply over his self-depreciation again. What she did was none of those things; instead, a look of shock flashed across her face, before her eyes narrowed. She reached up and grabbed his face, her fingers tangling in the long strands of his hair and tugging on them firmly. Bucky gasped, somewhat in discomfort, but he was mostly shocked at her sudden aggression, and found himself gazing into her fierce eyes.

"I wish you could see what I see," she whispered, holding his face steady while she brushed her thumbs gently over the bruises and stubble on his cheeks. "I don't like it when you say things like that."

Bucky's gaze tried to dart away, but her fingers tightened in his hair, and he winced and looked back at her. She obviously was serious, and didn't want him to escape her gaze just because he was taller than her. "I-I know," he mumbled, embarrassed, "but it's just… I'm not the hero you want me to be."

"I don't want you to be anything. And you don't have to live up to my expectations," Solace replied, her expression softening. "I just want you to be you."

He shook his head against her, despite her assurances. "That's not good enough," he said, bitterly. He didn't understand how she could possibly accept the Winter Soldier for all that he was, or how she could gloss over his past so easily. "You deserve—"

"I deserve nothing," she snapped, a hint of fury in her expression again. "What I want is what you choose to give me. And you've given me everything you can. That's all I need, because I know you're not holding back, not anymore—"

"I'm not," Bucky said, with more than a hint of desperation. "I'm really not. I just wish we…" He clenched his jaw hard, against the wave of sentiment he knew was building in his chest.

I wish we could have more time together.

"I-I don't want to leave you, Solace… I can't. I don't think I can do this…"

She pulled him even closer, so that their foreheads were touching. He was so close that he could feel the tears brimming in her eyes, and her shuddering breath light on his lips.

"Don't be afraid," she whispered, and this time, there was no hint of her power in her voice, no fuzzy, pleasant feeling in the back of his mind when she spoke. It made him tear up too, because he realized everything he felt for her now was the same as everything he had ever felt since they'd met. Her power had nothing to do with him falling for her.

Solace stroked his cheeks and pressed her lips to his, feather-soft and gentle. "It doesn't matter what happens next," she assured him. "Where we go, what we do… I don't care about any of that right now. Just… look at me. Tell me we're going to be ok."

Bucky didn't know if he believed it himself, but he wanted to. In that moment, he wanted so badly to believe it. "We're going to be ok," he breathed.

"That's right," she smiled, sniffing back her tears. "You know why? Because we're here right now, we're alive, we're together, a-and God, Bucky—I love you. I'm so sorry I never said it before…"

His eyes squeezed shut at the words, a last weak attempt to defend himself against sentiment, but then he felt her hands on the back of his head, guiding him into a kiss he never realized he needed until now. His hands rested on her hips, keeping her close, but Solace was the one who pulled him in and took his breath away. She kissed him with equal parts passion and desperation, a sadness just at the edges of her excitement, and finally he could welcome it without hesitating.

"Don't be sorry," he panted, tearing himself away from the warmth of Solace's mouth just for a second. "You know I love you too."

Bucky wondered if her heart felt as full as his did, at the realization that finally—finally—their feelings were out in the open. He'd finally told her to her face that he loved her. She had told him, tearfully, that she felt the same. He wasn't sure what he expected to happen after that; he had the sense, perhaps from old movies, that she would swoon emotionally into his arms, he would kiss her, joyous music would play in the background, and everything would turn out just fine.

But certainly none of those things occurred, save for Solace giving him a tearfully elated smile and pulling him in for another kiss. He couldn't hear anything but their heavy breathing, the soft sound of their lips parting in between kisses. The firmness of her hand on the back of his head and the way her other hand clung tight to his shoulder gave him a heady feeling, making him feel like the weaker of the two. And as she guided him closer, pulling him in for more, he felt how his lip stung when she nipped it playfully, only to recoil in surprise as they both tasted copper; she'd accidentally reopened a wound where he'd been punched in the mouth during the fight.

"Sorry," Solace whispered, laughing nervously.

Bucky laughed as well, pulling her close. "It's ok," he assured gently, hiding a wide smile.

Whatever he had thought would happen… this was far better.

I regret nothing.

Translations:

(1) Mашина Промывание Мозгов [Mashina Promivaniye Mozgov] – "Memory Suppression Machine"

And finally we figure out what was going on throughout the story with Crossbones, Alec, and Solace. :)

Unfortunately, it seems we're coming down to the last few chapters of this fanfic! As always, I am super honored and happy that so many of you have been reading, reviewing, and following it. Please feel free to review with any thoughts you have, and I hope you will continue to enjoy the rest of the story!

Bit of a spoiler—the next chapter is going to have some mature content, so I'm bumping the rating of this story up accordingly with the next update. Please keep that in mind!

Thank you again~