Katherine and Bucky were once more in the small clearing not far from the cabin. They were sparring again; since starting her training he had taught her how to throw punches and kicks, as well as different ways to block attacks, get out of pins and fire a gun with a modicum of accuracy. She knew that she was by no means proficient, and still no doubt utterly hopeless against him if he were to actually try in their sparring matches, but she felt like she could now hold her own against a mundane attacker, should the need arise. She was still hitting dead ends with her computer code and she found that the training sessions were helping her to work through her frustration.

As always, Bucky was controlled and careful with her, never attacking unless he warned her first, only blocking her own clumsy attempts at hitting him. "Underhanded fighting techniques, give me two," Bucky ordered, testing her verbally as he blocked the punches she sent towards his face and kidneys with ease.

"Obscure my opponents vision," she replied, panting slightly from the exertion of their sparring.

"With what?" he pressed, dodging a kick she sent his way.

"Sand, dirt, clothing," she rattled off obediently, having been paying close attention to his lessons. She then darted down and scooped up a handful of snow to throw up into his face to prove her point. "Snow," she added with a breathless hint of cheekiness, not that the snow she had thrown had done anything to slow him.

Nevertheless he nodded his approval. "And another one?" he wanted to know, pressing her to continue.

"Wound their advancing leg," she replied, trying and failing to kick his right leg to make her point.

"Good girl," he rumpled in his deep, rasping voice - and, as always, the compliment made her belly flip slightly. "Here's a new one for you. Sometimes you can take a hit in order to see what your opponent's got, or to let them think you're weak," he continued as he ducked a punch with smooth grace. "They'll get overconfident, 'specially with a tiny dame like yourself."

She nodded her understanding, still focused on trying to get a hit in.

"Or you can fake an injury. Like dragging your leg to lull a predator," he added. "So you give a little to get a lot."

She froze with her fists still up and ready to punch, her mind suddenly whirring with possibility. "Oh my God, that's it!"

Bucky frowned at her suddenly freezing, halting himself and lowering his hands. "What's it?"

"My code - how to identify foes from friendlies," Katherine said, quickly thinking it through. "Give a little! In quantum cryptography no measurement or detection can be done to a two-party dialogue without disturbing the system, thereby giving the outsider away..."

Bucky was looking at her in confusion, evidently not understanding the technical jargon she was spouting, his brow furrowed deeply. "Uh, yeah?"

"If you know the hacker's there, you let him in! Layer the code! You let him take information! He'll get more aggressive, then come with BFC, and you shut them all down," she said, putting her hands in her hair and gripping it as she spun around in a circle, overwhelmed by ideas. "You don't have to have an unbreakable code. I … instead of having a shield I can have a trap! I can infect my own data, designing it so that when it leaves my system's environment, it can't survive. It will wipe itself out, along with everything around it."

She darted forward and seized him by the front of his jacket, positively dragging him down to her level so that she could plant a kiss on his rough, stubbly cheek, not even noticing how utterly bewildered he was by this or how his gloved, metal fingers came up to lightly touch his cheek. "Thank you!" she said quickly, before running full tilt back towards the cabin to get started on writing her code once more.

For the next several hours she was frantically typing away at her laptop, inputting the new layered code and setting the system to infect her own data with the antivirus that would then track and attack invading malware. The solution was so simple, so brilliant - there was no way for an attacker to tell that her own data was infected until they had it in their system, by which point it would be too late.

Without realising, she worked through Bucky returning to the cabin as night was falling, holding a freshly caught grouse. Sat at the coffee table with her back to the door, she was unaware of him looking at her for a long moment before moving through to the small kitchen of the cabin and getting started with cooking dinner for the two of them.

Eventually the smell of cooking roused her from her work; she glanced up to find Bucky in the kitchen, plating up two portions of game and vegetables, the table already set and ready. "You cooked?" she asked, slightly bemused as she got up from the sofa and padded curiously towards him.

He glanced up and nodded at her before wordlessly passing her a plate.

"Thank you," she replied as she took it; she then hesitated, glancing between her laptop that still open on the coffee table and the dining table set for two - she wanted to keep working, but also knew that it would be highly rude not to eat with him, especially after he'd gone to the trouble of catching and cooking dinner for them.

"Nuh uh, doll," Bucky said, evidently reading her desire to return to her laptop and taking her elbow to lead her over to the table instead. "You can go back to it after you eat."

She smiled and allowed him to guide her over to the table without protest. The meal was spent with largely her talking - or rather, babbling excitedly as she tried to explain exactly what she was doing with her code. She got the distinct impression that he only understood part of what she was saying, but nevertheless he listened with one corner of his mouth occasionally twitching ever so slightly upwards, as if he was amused by her chatter.

True to his word, he let her carry on with her work straight after eating, even insisting that he do all of the clean up while she got back to it. She eagerly returned to her laptop and continued to type frantically; she may have had something of a breakthrough, but there was still an awful lot of work to be done and she was busily typing lines of code until late into the night, absently nodding her thanks to Bucky when a cup of tea (overly milky, but she had to give him points for effort) appeared at her elbow several hours after dinner.

After a long while, late into the night, Katherine became aware of Bucky watching her once more; she looked up and over her shoulder to find him leaning casually in the doorway of the bedroom, his eyes intent and fixed upon her. He had his arms folded across his chest and was already dressed in his customary nightwear of a tight black t-shirt and dark blue pyjama bottoms. The ends of his long hair were damp, he had evidently had a shower while she had been working.

"What is it?" she asked a little self-consciously, blinking at him behind the lenses of her reading glasses.

"I like watching you work," he confessed quietly, apparently unaware of the effect his rumbling voice had on her. She gave him a shy smile and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, suddenly feeling overly warm beneath his gaze. "Nevertheless, it's late," he added, still leaning in the doorway and jerking his head pointedly back towards the bedroom. "Come to bed."

Katherine bit her lip, returning her gaze to her laptop screen; the small clock in the bottom corner told her that it was nearly three o'clock in the morning. "I want to get this done," she said half-heartedly, knowing she still had a long way to go before she was anywhere near finished and that she could do with getting some rest.

"Your work will still be there in the morning," Bucky pointed out from where he stood.

She hummed slightly and chewed her lip once more, her gaze still fixed on the lines of code on the screen.

There was the sound of faint creaking from the floorboards as walked slowly towards her; raising her gaze, she blinked up at him from where she sat as he towered over her. Wordlessly, he crouched down to her level. She made no move to resist as both of his hands reached out to gently, carefully, tug her glasses from her face, brushing her cheeks as he did so. He placed them on the coffee table before leaning forwards and when he spoke his mouth was inches from her ear, his warm breath on her skin making her heart stutter and race. "Come to bed, Katya," he rasped softly, both the sound of his voice and the implication of his words (did he even know how what he said could be construed?) making her lower stomach flip and clench once again.

She met his eyes and gave him a shaky smile, hoping that the super soldier serum he had been injected with didn't give him enhanced hearing because her heart was galloping in her chest. "Ten more minutes," she promised; Bucky looked at her for a long moment, his wintery eyes moving over her face, then nodded, got to his feet and vanished into the bedroom, leaving the door open for her.

The next few minutes were spent glancing over the work she had done already that night and pulling up another window to note her place and what her next steps in writing were going to be so that she would be able to get started straight away in the morning. Then, by habit, she pulled up the decryption program to check its progress with the SHIELD and Hydra files, as she normally did several times a day; she was unsurprised to find that it was still crunching through combinations.

With that done she put the laptop into sleep mode but left it open on the table and headed through to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and put on the creamy silk nightdress, which she had left hanging on the back of the door after her shower that morning. She looked briefly in the mirror, taking the time to finger comb her long dark hair before leaving the bathroom.

When she entered the bedroom she found Bucky already in bed; he was sat up against the headboard on what had become his side, his flesh arm folded behind his head and his metal hand in his lap as he waited for her. It was unusual for him to be in bed before her; more often than not he joined her once she was already asleep and so having him waiting for her, joining him in the bed, felt strangely more intimate. His light blue eyes watched her intently as she turned off the light, leaving the bedroom illuminated only by the fire that he must have built up. She approached the bed, slipping in beside him.

Instead of laying down she sat cross-legged, facing him with the covers bunched around her. Their eyes met and she took a deep breath before reaching out and taking his metal hand, covering the smooth, metallic fingers with her own and squeezing slightly as he frowned down at her. "Thank you for today," she said quietly.

"I didn't do anything," he replied, still frowning deeply at their hands though he had made no motion to move his own from her grip.

"Yes, you did," she said firmly, still holding his metal hand. "You helped me passed a block that had been bothering me for days." She grinned at him as she absent-mindedly played with his metal fingers. "I might even give you … five percent of the profits, if I market the code."

Bucky made a small huffing sound that might have indicated amusement, but his gaze was still fixed on the metal hand that she held in her own like he was debating whether or not to pull it back - she had very rarely touched his metal limb, on the few times that she had he had drawn back almost instantly.

Silence fell between them. She too looked down at his hand in hers, examining the tiny plates that made up his fingers and marvelling at the technology before her. Her fingers slipped between his as she traced the lines where the plates met, turning his hand over so that his palm was facing upwards.

Bucky eventually raised his eyes to her face. "Doesn't it bother you?" he asked quietly, a deep crease between his brows as he stared at her intently.

"No," she replied honestly, laying her hand flat against the metal to measure it against her own; it positively dwarfed hers in size and strength and she remembered how he had used it to deflect bullets as they had fled the Hydra safehouse. " I don't like what it represents … the pain, what they did to you, but the arm itself …" She slowly moved her hand as it lay flat on his so that their fingers were interlocked, feeling the cool metal between her finger tips. "It's kind of beautiful."

He shook his head, still scowling. "I hate it," he admitted bitterly, biting out the words. "It's a weapon."

"Only if you use it as such," she pointed out pragmatically as she allowed their fingers to disenterwine, slipping her fingers through his; he tilted his head thoughtfully at her words.

No doubt guessing that she was not finished with her exploration, he obediently kept his palm upwards for her perusal. With one hand cupping the back of his hand, she used her other hand to slowly draw a circle on his palm with her middle finger. His metal fingers twitched and curled slightly in response to the touch. She looked up at him, surprised at what had appeared to be an involuntary movement on his part. "Can you feel this?" she asked, a note of wonder in her voice.

Bucky's gaze had lowered to their hands once more, watching her trace patterns on his palm. "Pressure, but not sensation exactly," he told her, as she drew the circle inwards so that she was drawing a spiral on his palm. "I can feel that your skin is there, but not its softness, its warmth."

"Hmm …" she hummed quietly, marvelling anew at the technology of his arm; she would be lying if she said that his arm hadn't fascinated her from the start, and she was now appreciating this opportunity to examine it closer, somewhat surprised that he was letting her.

There was another long silence between them as her fingers started to move slowly, curiously, up and over his wrist, still tracing the plates and watching how they interlocked with each subtle shift he made. She was aware of Bucky's gaze fixed on her face once more as she lightly trailed her fingers up his forearm and bit her lip, wondering if she should stop her exploration, but he made no move to dissuade her and so she continued.

Her hand ghosted over his elbow as she moved on to his upper arm, noting how the shape and design of the metal prosthetic was almost a mirror image of the defined muscles in his flesh arm. Her fingers paused as she met the sleeve of his black t-shirt and she looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "May I?" she asked quietly, holding his gaze.

Obligingly, he reached over with his flesh hand and raised the sleeve of his t-shirt up high, his eyes never leaving her face; part of his arm was still hidden by the fabric, but his shoulder and a small part of raised, red scar tissue where metal met flesh was exposed to her gaze as she lowered her eyes back to his arm once again. She slowly traced the lines of the red star that was embossed high on his arm and then moved upwards once more. She felt where smooth metal met warm, rough flesh, her fingers lightly touching the ridge of scar tissue on his shoulder.

She was startled when his metal arm suddenly moved, watching the plates shift; the backs of cool, metal fingers touched her cheek, turning her gaze to his face once more. Their eyes met and held for a long moment and she became aware of just how close the two of them were - it felt intimate, like she was exposed to him, and she was aware of her breaths coming quickly.

A quiet thud from outside the cabin caught the attention of both of them.

Faster than she could even follow, Bucky was up and out of bed, alert and ready, with a gun that he had apparently pulled from beneath the bed in his hands. He gave her a highly stern look. "Stay here," he ordered firmly in a tone that brooked no argument, then slipped out of the bedroom on silent feet with his gun poised.

Katherine's heart was pounding in abject fear as she sat in the bed, wondering what could be out there - it could be Hydra, SHIELD, who knew? She bit her lip, staring at the bedroom door and wondering what she should do. She heard a faint noise - it sounded like a huff, or maybe a snort.

"Katya," Bucky called suddenly from the living room, almost making her jump out of her skin.

She scrambled out of bed and cautiously followed him into the living room of the cabin. He was stood at the open doorway, freezing cold air rushing in and making her wrap her arms around herself instinctively. He no longer looked tense and watchful, rather his gun was lowered by his side. She looked at him curiously and he jerked his head, indicating that she should come look outside.

She padded over towards him on bare feet and fearfully peeked past him, her arms still wrapped around herself for warmth.

Her breath exhaled in a rush as she saw the most humongous moose outside the cabin, evidently the source of the noise they had heard. The large animal's breath was steaming as it peacefully explored the trees in front of the cabin, snuffling in the snow with its large nose. She grinned widely up at Bucky, relief flooding through her. "Do you think he's with Hydra?" she asked him playfully.

And then something amazing happened - he laughed, an honest to God laugh. The sound was brief, more of a quiet chuckle really, but a small, sideways grin lingered around his mouth as he met her gaze with his eyes sparkling.

I am so screwed, Katherine thought to herself, staring up at him in surprise as her heart fluttered in her chest.

Oblivious to the butterflies that were swarming in her stomach, Bucky handed her the gun while he pulled on his snow boots and put his thick jacket on over his pyjamas. "Go back to bed," he told her, his tone uncommonly light as he took the gun back, tucking it into the waistband of his blue pyjama bottoms. "I'm going to scout the perimeter just in case."

She nodded and left him too it, heading back into the warmth of the bedroom, where the fire was still burning merrily. She slipped back beneath the covers and curled up, though it felt odd to be in the bed without him.

She turned onto her back, looking up at the ceiling as she thought about her enigmatic companion. She hadn't been afraid of him for quite some time now, but she still hadn't expected these feelings that had surfaced. She knew about Stockholm Syndrome, even knew that people could form strong bonds when they were isolated together, but this still felt like more than that.

She liked him, plain and simple - moody, complex, sullen and occasionally silent though he was, she couldn't help her feelings.

She didn't, however, have any idea if he felt - or was even capable of feeling, after what Hydra had done to him - the same way.

Her mind was occupied thus for the long minutes that he was gone, her thoughts chasing themselves round in circles. As such, she was still awake nearly an hour later when Bucky slipped silently back into the bedroom, pausing when he found her awake; she turned her head to look at him. "Still up?" he rasped as he got back into the bed beside her, sliding the gun beneath his pillow.

She gave him a half smile, not wanting to divulge what it was that had kept her awake and waiting. "Any Hydra threats lurking out there?" she asked instead. "Maybe a fox?"

"A few suspicious looking rabbits, nothing else," he replied dryly, settling beneath the covers on his side facing her, his metal hand beneath the pillow, no doubt still touching the gun.

Katherine spluttered out a small laugh. "Was that a joke?" she asked, unable to believe just how light hearted he seemed.

One corner of his mouth tugged upwards in what was now unmistakable as a half smile. "If you have to ask then it clearly wasn't a good one," he pointed out, his voice a Brooklyn drawl.

"You're getting there," she said with a smile of her own.

He rumbled slightly and then reached out, wrapping his flesh arm around her and pulling her closer as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "You're freezing," she complained half-heartedly as she settled in his arms, feeling his chilled skin against hers.

He didn't reply, tucking her tighter against him, his flesh hand firm on her back as he held her to him. They were on their sides facing each other, her head tucked beneath his chin. She closed her eyes, settling in against him despite how chilled he was.

She realised it was the first time they had gone to sleep like that, consciously moving into each others arms rather than shifting in the night. It felt comfortable, peaceful, she thought as she let her eyes drift closed, listening to the sound of his breaths in her ear and feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath as they both dropped off to sleep.

But she should have known that this peace wasn't going to last; unbeknownst to either of them her laptop whirred back to life from where he had been in sleep mode in the living room, a pop up appearing on the still open laptop screen indicating that the Hydra and SHIELD files had finally decrypted.

Dun dun DAHHH!

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