Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel. Just Anna.

Chapter 21

Training Day

Anna's steps were careful and calculated, her eyes never leaving the man in front of her as they circled one another, she did observe the area in case she could use it to her advantage. She was attentive, in her fighting mode. Nothing else mattered but the task at hand.

"Are you sure about this?" Bucky asked, moving around the circle with her.

"I need someone else to practice with," Anna explained. "I've kicked Marcus's butt too many times. It's getting boring."

"Oh, so you think you can kick my butt?" Bucky asked, smirking tugging at his lips.

"I do, Sergeant Barnes," Anna replied, smirking as well. Oh, this is gonna be fun. "No more talking."

Anna kicked out, missing Bucky as he stepped backwards. But Anna left him little time to react otherwise, as she charged at him, grabbing his hips to push him back. Her hands shifted up, one grabbing one of his wrists and keeping it stretched up to use, and the other arm was pressing up into his neck.

"Ow, okay," Bucky coughed. Anna just chuckled.

Bucky was the first to react this time. He twisted his wrist in just a way that he could grab Anna's wrist. He pulled her close, spinning her so that her back was pulled against his chest, her beck wedged between his crooked elbow. He held her in a headlock.

"If that's how you want it," he laughed. "I'll play along, little Annaconda."

Anna rolled her eyes and let go of his arms. She had been trying to get out of the headlock, but she had been going about it all wrong. She swung her elbow back and jabbed him harshly in the ribs. He huffed and backtracked, his hold no longer on the tiny brunette. "I hate that," she told him.

"Aw, come on," Bucky laughed. "I think it's cute."

"No, Doll is cute." Anna grabbed Jern Slange and swung out. Bucky dodged. "Babe is cute." She swung again, he ducked back again. "Sweetheart, honey, those are cute," Anna said, she flicked her wrist and the weapon went limp, whipping out to snap around his ankle. She pulled back and out went Bucky's footing. He landed on his back with a huff. Anna climbed over him. Jern Slange now shrunk, she pressed it flat against his neck. "Annaconda? Not so much." Though she did these violent acts, she leaned over him and gently kissed his lips.

Bucky was glad for the distraction, and not because he wanted to use it against her during their fight. Any change he got to kiss her was a great moment. He kissed her back, hands going to her hips. She moved the weapon away from his neck, and instead replaced her hands gently on either side to make sure he didn't pull his head away.

"Okay, enough of that, you two!"

Anna and Bucky broke the kiss, but Anna made no move to get up off of him. A few feet away was Steve and Dugan. Steve smirked curiously at their antics, while Dugan laughed. Steve had his hands hooked into his belt as he shook his head. It had been he who called out and broke up the moment.

"Boy, you're in deep," Dun laughed.

Bucky rolled his eyes and got up as Anna climbed off of him. He just shrugged and slung his arm over her shoulders and lead her over to the group. "That's not really an issue," Bucky said.

"Come on," Steve said with a smile. "We're going to grab dinner if you guys want to join."

Bucky looked to Anna to see what she wanted to do. Anna shrugged, her arm snaking around his waist in return. "Sure, sounds good," Bucky said.

Grabbing dinner just meant sitting around the campfire eating crappy army k-rations. But it was food nonetheless. As of that moment, it was just Steve, Dum Dum, Bucky and Anna, but it wouldn't be too long before the rest of the Commandos returned from patrol of the area they were scouting out that night.

"So, Anna," Dugan said. "I've always wondered what makes a good spy."

"Oh, well, you have to be adaptable," Anna said. "You have to be anybody at any moment. And you have to be able to read people. Profiling."

"Are you any good at it?" Steve asked innocently. He didn't mean that to come out as insulting as it had.

"I'd like to think so," Anna said. "Then again, I got people that fooled and betrayed me so…"

"You're only human," Bucky assured her, bumping her shoulder sweetly with his own.

"If you're so good at profiling, do one of us," Dugan said.

"What?" No, thanks," Anna shot down.

"Well, that dog just ain't gonna hunt, Sweetheart!" Dum Dum said. "You can't tell us your skill and then not show us what you've got!"

"I don't know," Anna said. "People don't always like what gets pointed out."

"It's okay, you can do me," Bucky said.

"What?"

"Profile me," he said. "I'd like to see what you see. I think I can handle it."

Anna wasn't so sure, but she knew they wouldn't stop pressing. "Well, if you insist..." Anna set down her container and turned to look at Bucky in the eyes. "You favor your right side. You naturally have creases in the folds of you jacket at you elbows because of the way you have to hold your rifle, but it's the creases here…" she pointed to the chest and shoulder where the butt of the rifle would sat, "...indicates that is the side you favor. It also means that's the side that's dominant. You have calluses in your hands from years of hard work, which means you're not afraid to get the job done or to get dirty, but with the calluses here shows that this is your trigger finger for your gun."

"Aw come on, that's easy stuff," Dugan said. "Plus, you've seen him in action.

"Yeah. Go ahead, try something a little harder," Bucky encouraged.

And took in a deep breathe and let it sigh out. "...you're terrified of being alone…"

"...What?"

The hesitance in his voice worried her, but she went on. "You hate the thought of not having someone. It's shown in a lot of you. Not only by how protective you are, but by just how many girls you've taken out. Obviously, for Steve, you're terrified that one day, his heroic heart will drive him to do something that will get him so hurt he won't survive, or that he'll get sick and won't make it through with all his health problems. Or past health problems."

"What about the girls?" Dugan asked.

"Oh, that's for the companionship," Anna answered. "After all, even if Steve lived, he will find love and he would have a life of his own. You want someone to confide in and love, but you're scared to do it because you're scared they'd leave you once they see exactly who you are. Because who you are isn't this macho guy that's so confident in himself that nothing can touch him or his feelings. Because they can, and you try to hide that. But what you really want is to find someone that's interesting, and that can see you for who you really are without needing to go out of your way to tell them, or show them. They should see you for you. You: who isn't confident, that wears a mask and is scared, terrified, of not being loved and alone...

"Or, at least," Anna said, taking his hand. "You were...because now you have me…"

Bucky stared at her for a moment before he softly smiled. "Yeah, I've got you. Now I'm just worried about losing you."

"Hey," Anna said, peering up at him to make sure he was looking into her eyes. "I'm your's, Buck. For the good, the bad, all of it. You're my guy."

"And you're my girl."

"Aw, get a tent."

Anna turned to Dugan and smirked. "Gladly."

So another short chapter, but I think Bucky really needed to see what Anna's seen of/in him. It thought it was cute that she saw some of his biggest fears, and he knows she still likes him anyway. So that he knows that she's there. And he wants her to know that he really does care about her.

Well, if there's anybody that's interested, my tough time last week went from rough to absolutely terrible. So now I'm REALLY gonna have a lot of time to try and right, so fingers crossed. If anybody wants details, feel free to pm me. I'm an open book. ;) Time for me to move on and focus on myself, and that involves writing. (And shame on me, I started rewriting a story I haven't published, at least I've gotten my writing muses back)

Thanks go to the following for their reviews on the previous chapter:

zikashigaku - Not yet. Two more and you'll have to get ready. Then I think two more after that for more. So you'll have time to stock up on tissues. From then on though things are going to be an emotional roller coaster. Hopefully I won't go dark, I have a lot of time on my hands now. (after my own emotional roller coaster for the last two weeks).

abstract0118 - Lol I try to make it that way.

FelixFelicis02 - Fluff is good in moderation. And these fluff pieces, sadly, will go away for a while in exchange for an emotional roller coaster. Things didn't necessarily get better, but it's best that it happened now than later. I'll be fine. :/

Jedi Jelsa777 - Aww, emotions! So many more feels to come too. And hey, now that all this shit went down, I'm more in the mood to write. I'm using personal experiences in that story I mentioned above to help myself vent, like therapy. lol You're more than welcome to read it if you like, and see if you can tell where the person experience comes into play. But I really appreciate the support. Honestly. It's been rough, like my anxiety from it all made me physically sick so...I'll be okay.