Bucky grinned as he helped Evangeline take blood from the Howlett brothers. The camp medic was busy patching up Hodge and his buddies, and the nearest mash was a two days away by truck, so there weren't any nurses to help his pretty doctor. That was fine though. He'd been on the receiving end of her needles enough times to learn how it went. He'd been able to get over the last lingering trauma from being on Zola's table too, it happened that often.

Of course, she was aware of his trauma, and had been sure to reinforce the experience with her as positive, generally by feeding him her home (tent?) cooking once she'd collected the very small samples she'd needed at the time.

The Canadians would be leaving the area in less than a month. Actually, the Howling Commandos would be going with them when they went. The Commandos would be back two months after. The Canadians would be pressing on. This was essentially Evangeline's only chance to collect blood from these two.

Which meant that she was feeding them beef broth to keep them happy while she set up a drain from each of their arms. She might be collecting excessive to her needs, she might not, but better to have a little more and not need it, than run out and have to track these two down while the war was going on – or after it ended, which would likely be harder.

"Don't know what you're gonna do with it all," Sergeant James 'Jimmy' Logan Howlett complained lightly when, after the general (if thorough) physical, she told them how much she wanted.

"Well, I promise I'm not going to use it to perform any dark rituals to control you," Evangeline said with an amused smile. "Mostly, I'm going to see if it's possible to recreate your ability to heal, and study the extent of it, if I can."

"Mostly?" the sergeant repeated, having caught the word.

"I want to see how your healing reacts to various toxins, drugs, and medicines as well," Evangeline explained lightly. "But I've got to recreate it first, and I don't know if that will be hard or easy to do."

"Right," Corporal Victor Logan Howlett growled.

Evangeline held in a sigh at the recalcitrant attitudes, and started questioning them on their own experiences and observations of their ability to heal and a comprehensive list of injuries suffered to date.

The most interesting was a story of a time that the sergeant had tried to cook, and sliced off the end of one of his fingers. At the joint. It had taken half an hour, and it had been painful, but the tip of his finger had grown back, whole and complete and like nothing had ever happened. There wasn't even a scar left behind.

They weren't prepared to test against loss of whole limbs, which was only sensible really, but there hadn't been anything yet that they hadn't recovered from, one-hundred percent, no medical attention needed beyond a shot of alcohol to distract from the pain. Apparently painkillers didn't work, but their pain-receptors did. Even being shot a dozen times in the chest, mid-charge, wasn't enough to do more than just slow them down a little bit.

"Then again, the new stuff might," the sergeant hummed thoughtfully. "Haven't really bothered with the stuff since, what?"

"Eighteen-twelve I think," the corporal supplied, but he didn't sound sure. "For us, anyway. Think you were carrying some for our squad-mates still when we were in the first World War. Getting your hands on the drugs to carry around just in case got too complicated for us for this war."

The sergeant nodded.

They'd been soldiers for over a century, Evangeline realised, and they were like this without any medical intervention like Erskine's formula. Their healing ability was completely natural.

"Is it just healing?" she asked curiously as she changed out the jars again.

"Nah," the sergeant denied with an easy shake of his head. "Me an' Vic, we generally get put on tracking squads once the initial charge is done. We can literally smell out the enemy, hear 'em coming better than anyone else, and then there's these," he revealed, and closed a hand into a fist. A fist from which three jagged claws, each one as long as his forearm, slid out from between his knuckles. The sergeant retracted them a moment later.

"I can't do that," the corporal admitted freely. "Just make the claws I've already got grow a little," he said, then flexed his fingers and, yes, those nails did grow to look like a respectable, if not exactly clean, set of claws. He also flashed a cocky smirk that showed off a full and proper fang where a regular canine tooth ought to have been.

Evangeline and Bucky both stopped to stare at that.

"Why the hell did we actually tell you that?" the corporal demanded suddenly with an infuriated growl.

"Doctor Potter's just special like that," Bucky intervened easily.

"None of what you have told me will be going into your official medical files," she promised them both earnestly, then checked the levels of the jars they were bleeding into. "Time to switch out the bottles," she said softly to Bucky.

"Pretty sure taking more than a pint a blood is supposed to be unhealthy," the sergeant commented as Bucky passed Evangeline the empty pint jar, which was promptly connected by a hose to the needles that dug into each of their right arms.

"Do you feel dizzy or light headed?" Evangeline asked as she swapped out first one jar, then the other.

"No," the corporal admitted for the both of them. "With as fast as we heal, I don't think we should be, really. On the other hand, could be there might be something off about that, like with why we told you all that other stuff."

"It's only a couple of pints of blood," Evangeline promised. She didn't want to taint any results with blood replenishing potion, but the healing factor might kick in a bit more for that second pint, and she wanted to see as much of that as she could. Chiefly because that strange and miraculous ability to heal was completely unstudied. A matter she intended to rectify. Medical school had really instilled a scientific curiosity in her. Okay, she'd always been naturally inquisitive, but medical school had honed and directed that curiosity, and this sort of curiosity was a lot safer than poking her nose into the mystery of what a giant, three-headed dog was doing on the third floor of her school. Or chasing after voices whispering murder from inside the walls while students were being petrified. Or confronting a crazy man who had very recently escaped a prison and was rumoured to be after he life, and demanding answers of him while unarmed.

Yes, medical curiosity was much, much safer. As she also had a strong moral compass and wouldn't experiment or test on people until it was the absolutely last option, and made sure they were fully briefed and willing, then she was ahead of the curve for a lot of the scientists that seemed to be kicking about at the moment. Certainly miles and leagues better than the people who worked for Hydra.

~oOo~

"Doctor Potter."
"Colonel Philips."

"You going to pick one of these men to turn into another Super Soldier for me any time soon?" the old soldier demanded shortly. "You've picked one of them, I can tell from the way you're always lookin' back and forth between them and the clipboard you're holdin'."

"Yes," Evangeline agreed, but her mouth twisted as she watched the soldiers who were running drills. "But something else has come up. There's a problem with one of them. I think they'd be just about ideal otherwise."

"I'd guessed from your frownin' there was somethin' wrong. What might that problem be? You've already proven missing limbs is no obstacle, not that any of this batch have that problem, and Rogers is proof that being ninety pounds wet and asthmatic isn't an issue either."

"One of these soldiers lied on their enlistment form," Evangeline illuminated grimly.

"Lied how?" Philips demanded. That was illegal, after all. He didn't all that much care if they'd lied about where they were from, but... rules. "And what difference does it make?"

"Lying in general is classified as 'bad', Colonel. Bad becomes worse," Evangeline reminded the older man with a vaguely amused huff. "That's not the real problem though. If they'd just lied about their age or where they'd come from, I wouldn't be troubled. Rogers lied about where he was from five times, apparently. Very keen to join the army, do his part to serve and protect, to bleed and die and sacrifice himself for the cause. So's this soldier. They're just about ideal. Very self-sacrificing, selfless, they're even smart too. Caring, humble, all the things Erskine looked for."

Colonel Philips chuckled at the reminder of how skinny and useless Rogers had been when Erskine first brought him onto his army base at Lehigh. How he'd personally been convinced as to Rogers' suitability for the project by throwing himself onto a grenade (a dummy one, but one that everybody else had believed was real) that everyone else had thrown themselves away from.

He could look back and laugh now, but that was now.

"Alright," Philips said. "Apart from the lying, what's the problem with him?"

"He's a she," Evangeline answered flatly. "That's the detail that Private Danvers lied about on their enlistment form, though how they got through their physical, I have no idea. Not unless the doctor was bribed, a family friend, or stupidly desperate to meet some sort of quota for recruits they passed, or something."

"Are you telling me that the most promising candidate you have in this little group is actually a woman who somehow sneaked her way into a regular company full of soldiers?" Colonel Philips demanded softly.

"And I have no idea how the serum will react to the biology of a female subject," Evangeline added with a confirming nod. "It's been geared to work for men, not women. I could tweak it to work, but I don't know how long that would take. There are a few fundamental differences in our biology and internal chemical balances to take into account."

"You mean apart from the things that should be damn obvious to anybody lookin' a person up and down," Philips grumbled, and swore under his breath. "You picked someone else?" he asked. "I'm not going to ask you to turn a woman into a Super Soldier. That would look bad for the whole Allied forces for one thing, and if the stuff reacted badly because she's a woman, then that would look even worse."

"Corporal Parker," Evangeline supplied at once. "He volunteered on his birthday, the very day he was old enough for the army to take him."

"A kid?" Colonel Philips repeated, not liking the prospect much more than he'd like the idea of a ninety-pound asthmatic.

"He volunteered for the same reasons that Rogers did," Evangeline said, ignoring the question. It was war. No one lasted a month in the field and stayed a kid. Depending on the day, childhood could be completely ripped away in an hour. Then again, so could a person's very life. "He's been in the war for a couple of years already, but he's still as keen as ever to do his part. He's done all his growing, so there's no concerns there. Corporal Parker is the best option in this group to put through the program."

Colonel Philips nodded in satisfaction.

"Make the offer," he instructed shortly. "He agrees, we'll put him through it. I'll let Stark know to make sure he's got enough generators ready and in working order."

~oOo~

"Nice to see you again, Evangeline," Howard greeted with a smile and a warm handshake. "I'd say it's been too long, but the longer I have between meetings with anyone, the better the prospects are for the war ending, is my understanding."
"You're a friend, Howard," Evangeline countered. "You shouldn't be a stranger."

"Lonely, are you? I know Barnes is off somewhere with Rogers right now, doing things you can't be told are happening," Howard commented sympathetically.

"I've kept myself busy," Evangeline evaded skilfully. "I've almost got the prosthetic plans completely figured out, but I'm a medical expert, not an engineer."

"You should swing by the hotel where they've put me up," Howard suggested. "When we're done looking over the plans, we could have some fondue."

Evangeline laughed, having been treated to the story of The Fondue Misunderstanding by Agent Carter shortly after Bucky and Rogers had left with the Canadians. No, it was Peggy now. They had finally gotten around to asking the other for first-name terms.

"Or maybe you could try slumming it with the soldiers once in a while, they know how to have a good time too," she countered, feeling better already. She had been feeling a bit (okay, more than a bit) lonely.

Bucky wouldn't be back from his mission for another month, but then... that was only if everything went to plan. Evangeline knew from experience that no plan ever really survives contact with the enemy. She was admittedly a bit more used to covert guerrilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics, but it still held true.

If Bucky and the others came back alive and on time, then that would probably be the best birthday present of her life. She'd kind of forgotten about her birthday the year before. She'd been too busy with everything else, but she wouldn't be this year. This year, when the date rolled around, Evangeline fully expected to be sitting, waiting, and counting the hours until Bucky walked back into camp.

She could actually remember looking up from her work, spotting the calendar, and making an off-hand comment about having forgotten her own birthday the year before. It was probably so clear because Bucky had heard her absent soliloquising and (in a very polite, gentlemanly manner) reprimanded her for not telling him the date before it had passed. Before the week was out, he'd somehow managed to get her a bar of chocolate for a late gift.

"I'll think about it," Howard allowed with a chuckle. "If it will keep you from moping, I even promise to take you out once a week until your man gets back."

"And start the rumour that you've stolen his girl while you're at it?" Evangeline questioned pointedly, one dark eyebrow arched pointedly.

"No, never!" Howard objected, a grin on his face. "But you're not the sort of lady to let yourself mope, if I'm any judge, so you shouldn't hole yourself away like a nun while you wait for him to come back. After all, he's definitely coming back."

Evangeline took a deep, bracing breath, and nodded. Yes, Bucky was definitely coming back. He was a Super Soldier. He wasn't alone. He had the medallion she'd given him that was laced with various protective spells. She'd spelled his regular dog-tags to be a portkey that would bring him to her – not base camp, but actually lock onto her magical signature and land him within a foot of her own person – when he recited his service number.

He would be coming back to her.

"Thanks Howard," Evangeline said softly. "I needed to hear that."

"No problem, Doc," Howard agreed easily. "I'm definitely interested in looking over what you got for the prosthetics though. I was completely serious about that."

"I'll bring them here tomorrow for you to look over. Is everything ready?" Evangeline asked, moving on into a more professional mind-set.

"Just ran a last check over the generators yesterday," Howard answered freely. "Everything is A-okay. Just need the serum and the soldier."

"Well, here's the serum," Evangeline said, and pulled a small case from her pocket that held the all-important half-dozen vials of glowing blue formula. "And this -" she gestured for the young man who had been waiting just inside the door to step forward, "- is the soldier. Howard Stark, meet Corporal Owen Parker."

"How d'you do," Howard greeted the young corporal with a polite, perfunctory nod.

"How d'you do," Parker replied, a little nervously. Just three years in the army, and he had already forgotten how civilians interacted with each other. He was the only soldier in the bunker. Every other person present was a civilian, not that there were a lot of people present.

"Are we prepared with new uniforms?" Evangeline questioned next, all friendliness gone from her tone in exchange for clinical preparedness.

"We've got something that should fit, based on the recorded physical changes of the previous two times we've gone through this," Howard supplied, all joking gone.

"You mean that I'll really -?" Parker asked, and raised a hand above his head to indicate the possibility of his gaining height. He wasn't as short as Rogers had been when he'd gone in, but he wasn't quite six-foot tall either.

"Growth is kind of the point of this procedure," Evangeline said. "You'll need to strip down to just your trousers, and then lie down on the bed of the machine."

"Yes Ma'am," Parker agreed at once, and began by taking off his hat.

A few minutes later, it became clear that seventy percent was where the pain would consistently hit all subjects. Parker screamed at that point just the same as Rogers and Bucky had.

"Can you keep going, Parker?" Evangeline asked. "You're allowed to say no, we can kill the power and get you out right now if you want!"

"No, I... Just get it over with quickly!"

"Can we do that?" Evangeline snapped out in Howard's direction, eyes sharp.

Howard swallowed nervously and turned the dial smoothly up, just a little bit faster than he had before. The generators couldn't take the added strain of reaching one-hundred percent just that bit sooner than the steady pull had prepared them for. They gave up in a shower of sparks a half-second after the dial hit the top number, whereas the reactors had held for a solid ten seconds after hitting the same point previously, when the levels were increased at a steadier, slightly slower climb.

The pod was opened.

"Looks like Rogers did when he popped out," Howard noted softly.

"Glad I missed that then," Evangeline quipped back. "Call me odd or old-fashioned, but I don't think a man's pectorals should be large enough to fill a brassiere."

Howard choked at that, but was quick enough to follow her up to help Parker down that first step, and then to a chair for the medical check-up that the lady doctor insisted on while someone fetched a new uniform for Parker to dress in.

He and the others that had been transferred in for assessment would be shipped out again in two days. Even Private Danvers. She'd be reassigned, but she'd been a good soldier, so the MPs weren't going to make a big deal about her lying about her gender on her enlistment form. There were definitely questions being asked about how she'd got through the physical though.