Slight malfunction last night when I went to edit and upload this, but it's here now, folks!

The next three days Abigail had holed herself up in her room, thinking things over as much as possible. The only people she had let in were Clint and Natasha. During that time, she thought a lot about what Natasha had told her.

"Don't think too hard or long. Sometimes it's better to go with the flow."

Maybe she was speaking from experience? Bruce had been the first man she was willing to let in and know her, possibly better than Clint or herself did. But then he was gone. Lost to her from Sokovia. Was Natasha giving her advice she herself wished she had followed?

The rest of the memories filtered in after the kiss with Bucky. Natasha watched her friend's face in the mirror as she played with her hair.

"New memory?" she asked. Abigail's eyes met hers in the reflection.

"Not really," Abigail answered. "Just thinking." Natasha waited. "I'm trying to connect to whatever emotion I was feeling when I gave Tony those files." Natasha nodded, moving to Abigail's left and sitting down next to her so she was facing her in a different chair.

"Do you know what emotions you were feeling when you did it?" Natasha asked. Abigail shook her head. "Maybe you felt guilt for never approaching Tony before?"

"Only a little," Abigail said. Natasha thought a moment before saying her next thought out loud.

"Selfish maybe?" Abigail's eyes flickered to her, slight anger in them. "Don't get mad, just listen," Natasha told her. "You had feelings for Bucky to the point that you didn't even want him to know what he did to you and your family. You hid that. Then, Fury pulls you out of the mission and back here, away from the team. Away from Bucky." Abigail's eyes went back down to her hands. "You did what you did to help him, to help Tony, but to also help yourself." Abigail stood up, turned away from Natasha, and walked away from her.

"I think I need to be alone," she said.

"Abby," Natasha began, but Abigail just shook her head.

"Please." Natasha stood up awkwardly and left the room as Abigail threw herself on her bed, burying her face into her pillow.

Bucky had approached her bedroom door multiple times during those days, but couldn't bring himself to knock. She left him there in the middle of the dance floor for a reason, he just didn't know why, and pushing her to talk to him may not have ended well. She didn't know he had though, she just assumed that he didn't want to talk to her.

"Are you sure you'd be up for this?" Tony asked Abigail who sat across from him, whiskey glass in his hand, his one leg crossed over the other. Abigail nodded.

"I know I could be useful for King T'Challa and the many missions he sends the Dora Milaje on," she told him. "I can get into different places they may not be able to." Tony raised his eyebrows at her slightly, waiting for her to continue. "Also, I don't want to return to SHIELD. I spent enough of my life working with them. It's time to try something new." There was a small pause.

"No other reasons?" he asked her. She didn't respond and he sat up, putting his drink down on the coffee table between them. "I could always just have him removed-"

"Tony, come one," she groaned out. "Don't. This is on me, okay? This is what I want, it's what I need. A fresh start."

"A fresh start," he repeated. "Sounds more like running away."

"It isn't," she told him. "All my life, I've let my decisions be made by men. My father, Dr. Getz, Fury... I'm not doing that anymore. This, this is for me." Tony nodded, satisfied with that answer, and stood up.

"I'll contact T'Challa," he told her. "But you may want to pack just in case." She stood up, nodding. She didn't have to wait long for an answer though. That evening, she was told to be ready to go the next morning.

"She isn't going to tell him," Clint said, leaning against the wall in Abigail's bedroom, arms crossed as Natasha sat on her bed and she packed some of her clothes.

"She better tell him," Natasha said, annoyance in her voice. She looked at Abigail. "You will tell him, right?"

"Tell who?" Abigail feigned ignorance.

"Bucky," they said at the same time. Abigail stopped rolling her clothes up and spread a glare between her two friends.

"He's been pining over you," Clint said. "For days." Abigail looked from Clint to Natasha.

"Ditching him without a proper goodbye would be a little cruel, even for you," Natasha quipped. Abigail glared at her.

"Fine, I'll say goodbye," Abigail said and she went back to rolling her clothes up so more would fit in her suitcase.

"Good," Natasha said, standing up to hug Abigail. They gripped each other tightly. "It sucks that you don't wanna stay and be an Avenger with us."

"Does it really suck?" Clint said with a smile.

"No comments from the retired jerk in the room," Natasha said, not letting Abigail go yet. Clint just chuckled. Natasha finally let Abigail go and Clint came forward, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be a stranger, Beatrix," Clint told her so sincerely that she didn't even groan or get annoyed at his nickname for her. He pulled her into a hard hug, squeezing each other gently. She would keep her promise and say goodbye to Bucky.

Abigail stood outside Bucky's door, biting her lip, contemplating not doing this. She sighed, putting a fist up and knocking. She heard some shuffling before the door opened and Bucky stood there for a moment, confused and slightly surprised.

"I didn't know if you were doing anything right now?" she asked him, slightly nervous and trying not to show it.

"Uhm, no," he said, recovering from his confusion quickly and stepping out of the doorway to let her in, he closed the door behind her. "I wanted to see how you were feeling, but I didn't want to push it," he told her. She looked around his room a little before looking at him.

"Probably a good idea," she told him. "I'm still working on connecting feelings to memories."

"How much do you remember now?" he asked her, taking a step towards her. She didn't back away from him now, so he took that as a good sign.

"Uh, everything really," she answered. "I'm just trying to make sense of it." She paused for a second. "It's a little confusing," she said with a chuckle.

"Which part?" he asked. She stared at him, she couldn't tell him that it was the parts that involved him, her eyes roaming over his face for a moment, ending at his lips and she dragged her eyes away quickly.

"Actually, I had some questions myself," she told him as she looked away, hoping that he hadn't noticed her staring at his lips. He did, but he waited. She looked back at him and pointed to the bed, signaling for her to sit down as he pulled up a chair to sit across from her. She did so. "Nat was telling me that when I died in England, you carried me out and didn't let go until we got to Wakanda." He nodded. "Could you tell me why?" He thought about it for a minute. He wasn't even sure if he knew why, but one thought came to his mind: guilt.

"I felt responsible for what happened," he told her honestly. "Finding out that I killed the woman I was sleeping with's parents wasn't really fun. So I felt guilty for that because I feel that's what it all came down to, to what I had done in the past coming back again to hurt you." She took it in.

"You know, that wasn't your fault, right?" Abigail said. He gave her a disbelieving look. "I'm serious." She realized he wouldn't believe her, so she changed tactics. "You do know Fury sent me specifically, right?"

"Obviously," he said, unsure as to why that mattered.

"He knew the Winter Soldier had killed my parents, I knew it too, I knew exactly who you were," she told him. "I was to help you guys, but I was told to also make sure that you were no longer a threat and eliminate you if you were." There was another surprised look on his face. "If you thought for even a second I would harbor any ill will towards you over something that was out of your control, you're wrong." She stood up, his eyes followed her. "I'm sorry if you thought I would hold it against you. That wasn't my intention." She headed towards the door but never made it.

Bucky came up behind her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to him, his lips crashing against hers as her body slammed against the door as he pressed his against hers. She returned the kiss as his tongue licked her bottom lip, her hand going to the back of his head, deepening the kiss as much as she could. She moaned softly as his flesh hand moved her top slightly to touch her flesh just above her pants.

They broke away for only a second to take a breath, Bucky looking at her to make sure what he was doing was really okay, but he got his answer when she pulled him back in for another kiss. He broke away from her for a moment to pull her shirt off over her head, coming back to kiss her as he undid her bra that he soon discarded to the side as well. He trailed kisses down her neck as he cupped her breasts in his hand, gently massaging it. She undid the button on her pants and the zipper before Bucky bit into a sensitive spot on her neck causing her to moan out and clutch at him.

"Bucky, bed," she breathed out.

"I know," he said, voice husky. He came back to kiss her again before putting his hands under her thighs, lifting her so she could wrap her legs around him. He moved them to the bed, laying her down gently as he leaned over her. She kicked her shoes off and pulled his shirt over his head once they got there. Her hand went to the back of his neck and she pulled him down to kiss him again, his hands roaming down her, he was happy to find her pants were started, and all he had to do was take them off her body. He moved away from her to finish it, noticing she was slightly annoyed that he left her mid-kiss. He pulled everything off at once, her pants, underwear, and socks, pulling her by her now naked thighs to the edge of the bed. She squeaked in surprise, looking at him from between her legs. He kissed her thigh slowly.

"Bucky," her voice was barely a whisper. He made eye contact with her.

"I was really hoping this would happen again," he told her, kissing her thigh again, inching closer to her core. He watched her bite her lips as he trailed kisses closer before finally getting to his destination and the amount of pleasure that washed over her was immense. Her head fell back onto the bed as she moaned out his name. He let his hands roam over her legs up to her hips to keep her anchored closely as his tongue did the work. It didn't take too long for her to come undone, which he was fine with. He wanted her fully and realized that he had even missed this intimacy with her. He felt her stiffen before going limp as she sucked in a deep breath, trying to be as quiet as she could. He undid his own pants fast as she was slowly coming down from her orgasm and before she knew it, he was on the bed, pulling her on top of him. She went down slowly onto him, still reeling from what he had just done to her.

"No need to be gentle," he told her with a smirk.

"My legs are jelly right now, Barnes," she told him, wanting to smack him. "So I'm sorry if I -" but she was interrupted by him flipping her again so he was above her. Moving though had pulled him back out of her, he remedied that easily.

"Let me take care of you the rest of the way then," he told her. She opened her mouth to protest but he stopped her with a kiss as he slid in and out of her. She moaned into his mouth as he picked up the pace but found that she was matching his movements with her hips. He pulled away from her for a moment. "Legs are jelly my ass," he whispered out. She smiled, and they did another flip, but he stayed inside her during this time and they adjusted so that he was slightly sitting up so he didn't have to move far if he wanted to touch her, which he did. His hands roamed her body as her hips moved, grinding into him with intense friction. He knew he wasn't going to last with her movements, but he wanted to take her with him. He wrapped his arms around her slightly, pulling her towards him as his mouth met one breast and a hand went to the other. He licked and sucked, listening to her moan a little more before stopping. His eyes went up to her face and he saw that her eyes were closed as she bit her lip, her hips moving a little faster now. After a few minutes, he moved both his hands down to her hips, pushing up slightly as het met her movement.

"Oh, God," she breathed out. He did it again and again and again, getting closer to his own orgasm each time. Her own hands moved to his shoulders, nails digging into his skin.

"Oh, God, Abby," he breathed out as well, finally reaching his peak as she did the same again, his flesh hand went to the back of her head, pulling her into a fervent kiss, both of them breathing heavily as they did so. Soon, they pulled away from each other, Abigail still on top of him, their foreheads resting against each other.

"So," she began with a slight smirk, "you were hoping this would happen again?"

"Yes," he told her. "I really was." She stopped herself from asking him why. She didn't want to know. She didn't need to know. Soon, she untangled herself from him to lay next to him in his arms. He fell asleep and she got up, got dressed, went back to her room to get her things and left when she was scheduled to. Clint had been right, she didn't tell him.