Chapter 5

The first thing Kelsey was aware of was that the sun was already bright when she woke up. That thought led her to the second thing she was aware of, which caused her to sit up abruptly in confusion. The sun was warming the left side of her face as some of the rays made it through the curtains, but in her bedroom the window was on the right side of the bed. Looking around the room, she took a second to examine her surroundings. The bed she was in had a simple blue comforter, the iron bed frame and headboard creaked slightly as she shifted on the mattress. Across the way was a large chest of drawers and near the window was a cushioned chair with her backpack perched on it and a small table with a stack of books.

The memories of the last few days came flooding back to her as she stood up from the bed. Looking at the oversized hoodie she was wearing, a small smile formed on her lips as she pushed the sleeves up so her hands weren't covered by the extra fabric. The last thing she remembered from the night before was watching a movie on the sofa with Bucky. At some point she knew she must have fallen asleep, and she could only assume Bucky had brought her into the bedroom so she could rest comfortably.

Ducking into the bathroom, she took a moment to release her hair from the pile on the top of her head, running her fingers through her auburn locks. Pulling it back into a loose braid, she took a moment to check her appearance in the mirror. She had always been a fast healer, and the bruises on her neck were already starting to lose their purple hue, as a green color appeared along the edges. Her cheek however was still a dark purple, and she sighed as she pressed her fingers against her skin. She was slightly relieved however to find it didn't hurt quite as badly to the touch as it had the day before.

When she was satisfied she didn't look like a bedraggled mess, she made her way towards the kitchen, hearing the sound of voices coming from that general direction. Pushing open the door carefully she was greeted by the smell of coffee as she spotted Sam at the stove with Bucky leaning back on the counter nearby.

"Good morning," she said, drawing their attention.

"Morning," Bucky greeted, giving her a small smile. "Coffee?"

"Please," she said softly, "with just a little milk and sugar."

"It's such a relief to see you," Sam said, and Kelsey let him wrap her up in a warm hug. "You scared the hell out of us."

"I know, I'm sorry," she said as he pulled away and she glanced over at the pan on the stove. "Can I help with anything?"

"Nope," Sam said as Bucky handed her a cup of coffee, "go sit and drink your coffee. Figured I'd save you from his cooking this morning."

She saw Bucky give Sam a glare and she had to fight the urge to snort as she took a sip of her coffee. Sam seemed unphased by it and turned back to the stove, his attention going back to the eggs he had been working on.

"That's probably good information to have while I'm here," she responded as she sat at the table. "It would be unfortunate to survive my house blowing up to be done in by breakfast."

"My cooking has never killed anyone," Bucky grumbled from across the way, causing Kelsey to smirk at him.

"There's a first time for everything," she retorted, earning a laugh from Sam.

She watched Bucky for a moment as she took another sip of coffee. His eyes darted away from hers for a brief moment, and she waited for the retort. However, she choked on her sip of coffee when she noticed the subtle twitch that caused his eyes to squint.

"What?" he asked, and she noticed Sam glancing over his shoulder.

"You were making that face again," she said when her coughing subsided.

"I am not."

"What face?" Sam asked as he put eggs on the plates that had been set out to accompany the toast that was already on them.

"I don't make a face," Bucky said, grabbing a mug to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"The one where his face kind of twitches and it makes his eyes squint," Kelsey told Sam, smirking when she heard Bucky sigh across the way.

Sam looked over at Bucky and said, "You do make that face."

"Are you two done?" Bucky asked, looking between the two of them, clearly exasperated.

"For now," Kelsey told him, laughing as he shook his head.

Sam placed a plate of eggs and toast on the table in front of Kelsey and she smiled appreciatively at him as she picked up the fork that had been previously laid out. After two days of eating fast food and whatever she could find in rest stop vending machines, a home cooked breakfast was a very welcomed sight. It made her appreciate the fact that she had both Sam and Bucky to rely on even more as they both grabbed plates and joined her at the table.

"I brought over a laptop for you," Sam told her. "It's been wiped so you should be able to start fresh."

"Perfect," Kelsey told him. "I'll get it set up this morning...I was thinking I should be able to hack into the security cameras in my neighborhood without too much trouble. Maybe one of the neighbors got a clear image of the guy who attacked me. I'm assuming he got away since I hadn't seen anything in the news about him."

"There's no mention of him in any of the reports that Sharon was able to access," Sam told her as she took a bite of toast. "Any idea why he was sent after you?"

"No," she said after she swallowed the bit of toast. "One of the texts said something about knowing my secret, but I honestly don't know what they're referring to…"

"Given who your grandparents were and your line of work, that could mean anything," Sam responded.

"Exactly," Kelsey said. "I'm hoping if I can track down the guy who attacked me and figure out who he's working for, it might help me figure out what they want or what it is they think they know about me."

"I'm going to postpone going up to DC for a few days," Sam told them. "See if we can come up with something more substantial before then."

"Sharon will be disappointed," Bucky said, smirking at Sam.

Kelsey looked from Bucky to Sam, raising an eyebrow as she regarded him. Sam gave Bucky a glare before taking a bite of toast and Kelsey felt a grin form on her lips. It was crystal clear what Bucky was trying to imply, and she rested her chin on her hand as she leaned towards Sam.

"So you and Sharon then," she said, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"No, there is no me and Sharon," Sam told her. "She's a friend...ignore the bionic man."

"Well, regardless, I'll see what I can dig up in the next few days," Kelsey replied.

After breakfast, Kelsey got to work in the living room setting up the laptop Sam had brought over, trying to ensure she would be as invisible as possible as she worked. Bucky and Sam had left her to work in peace and had retreated outside. Through one of the open windows she could occasionally hear them talking, but she focused on the task in front of her. An hour later she was scanning videos from security cameras from various locations around her house, looking for any sign of the mystery attacker in the footage.

Shortly before the explosion, the house across from hers caught a figure moving in the shadows towards her house. Slowly she worked her way through other cameras as she determined the direction from which he had approached the house. Eventually she found the footage from a shop about two blocks from the house that caught her attention. She watched as a car pulled into the parking lot and a man emerged from within. He had been careful to park in such a way that the plates were hidden, but something had caused him to look towards the shop and for a brief moment the camera clearly captured his face.

"Bucky, Sam," she called, and she heard their footsteps on the porch a moment before the front door opened. "I found him. The image is a little grainy, but I should be able to clean it up a bit."

She turned the laptop around so they could see the image as well. His face was etched into her memory, and she had known in an instant it was her attacker staring at the camera. She watched as Bucky and Sam examined the image and noticed the tension had returned to Bucky's jaw. He hadn't said much directly about the attack, but she could see the shift in his body language whenever attention was brought to it. She had a feeling that if he ever crossed paths with the guy in the image it would end with more than just a broken nose and a bump on the head.

"If you can get that downloaded I can send it over to Sharon," Sam told her. "She can run it through the databases she has access to and see if we get a hit."

"Already done," she responded with a smile, handing over the laptop to Sam and standing up from where she had been sitting on the sofa. "I'm going to go get dressed...also I probably need to go shopping. Having just two outfits of my own is going to get old really fast."

"There's a couple shops in town," Bucky told her. "We can head over there whenever you're ready."

"You sure you don't want me to just go myself?" she asked. "This way you don't have to wait around for me so I can try stuff on..."

Sam had gone to pack up the laptop and gather his things and she could have sworn she heard him snicker from across the way. She saw Bucky glance over, glaring at the back of Sam's head, but she didn't comment as she waited for his answer.

"It's fine," he responded, his eyes rolling at Sam as he turned his attention back to her. "I don't mind."

Kelsey sighed, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her face. She knew he was being protective, and part of her found it sweet. Still, she knew how boring it was going to be standing around a store while she tried to figure out what she might need over the next few days or weeks.

"Until this is over I'd rather you not go out alone," he said. "Just humor me, Kels."

His eyes had softened again with concern, almost as if he was begging her not to argue with him. The part of her that valued her independence wanted to remind him that she was capable of taking care of herself, that she had fought off her attacker alone and gotten herself to safety. However, when he looked at her like that she knew she would do almost anything he asked of her.

"Okay," she told him softly. "But I warned you, so no complaining when I want to try on everything in the store."

"Everything? There is something slightly evil in you," he quipped as she turned with a laugh and headed down the hall to the bedroom.

A few hours later Bucky was leaning against a wall near the dressing room in one of the shops, hands shoved in his jacket pockets while he waited. Kelsey had disappeared inside a while ago with a large pile of clothing over her arm, a smirk playing at her lips. He had wondered to himself if she really meant to try on every article of clothing she had brought with her, or if she was just trying to test his patience as some sort of retaliation for insisting he go with her.

The past forty eight hours had been a whirlwind, and he was still trying to work through everything that had happened. When the image of the burnt remains of Kelsey's house had flashed on the television screen he had felt as if his heart was being crushed in his chest, the emotions nothing like he had experienced before and it had surprised him how strongly he had reacted to the possibility of her being gone. The loss of someone close to him wasn't a new occurrence in his life, but nothing compared to that moment as far as the intensity of what he had felt.

To say he had been relieved to see her standing on his porch the night before was a massive understatement. At first he had been in shock, thinking his mind was playing some sort of joke on him as he looked at her. The moment she had started to say something his body had acted on instinct, pulling her against him. It hadn't been a conscious decision, merely one driven by the need for reassurance that she was real.

It had nearly been his undoing though when she fell apart before his eyes when her emotions finally caught up with her. He had been expecting it, knowing eventually the shock and adrenaline would wear off. He had held her through her tears, the sound of her sobs had been gutrenching and had awakened a desire to protect her from anyone or anything that might hurt her further. When she had wrapped his arm around her during the movie he had sat there in a stunned silence at first, but as her head came to rest on his chest he hadn't been able to deny the fact that it felt right to have her there pressed against his side. He hadn't said a word as she relaxed against him, afraid she would suddenly realize what she was doing and pull away.

At some point during the movie he had noticed she had fallen asleep and it gave him a chance to ponder the unexpected position he had found himself in. He had always felt at ease with Kelsey. She knew his past, the hell he had been through, and yet she never made him feel judged. He was more than aware that it was Steve's influence, but it had still caused a soft spot when it came to Kelsey. There were probably a hundred reasons he could think of to keep her at an arm's length and not allow her to get too close, yet one smile from her and he knew he wouldn't be able to resist giving her whatever she asked of him.

Checking his watch he realized she had been in the dressing room for nearly twenty minutes. He had known he was in for a long afternoon, but that didn't stop him from sighing and running his hand over his face.

"Kels," he called out, "you alright in there?"

"Yeah," he heard her call back. "I'm almost done…"

He smirked not really believing her. However a moment later the door to the stall she had been using opened and he glanced over expecting to see her walking out with an arm full of clothing. Instead she wandered over in a fitted dark green dress that hugged nearly every inch of her body.

"I can't get the zipper," she said, turning around when she reached him and pulling her braid over her shoulder. "I've been trying for the last few minutes. Could you help me?"

"I...sure," Bucky responded, trying to keep his hand steady as he reached out and plugged the zipper up the last few inches that she hadn't been able to manage on her own.

"I know it's kind of a frivolous thing to purchase," she said as he worked on the zipper, "but I kind of liked the color."

He could feel his pulse quicken as he couldn't help noticing how the dress accentuated the curve of her hips and his eyes seemed to travel over down over her hips and long legs on their own. He was vaguely aware of the fact that she was watching him over her shoulder, and when he looked up he saw a smirk playing at the corners of her lips.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, turning around when he had released the zipper.

"I...It's nice," he said, leaning back on the wall, trying to not act as if he had just been clearly ogling her.

"Just nice?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him. "I mean...you were staring…"

It felt like a trap. Nice was not the word she had been looking for and he knew it the moment it left his lips. However, the last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable and there were several descriptors for how she looked in the dress that would likely do just that.

"I wasn't...does it really matter what I think?" he said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Come on, Bucky, I know you can do better than 'nice,'" she told him, giving him a sly smile.

He looked over at her, and she was looking at him, patiently waiting for a reply. When she saw him finally looking at her again she made a point of posing, turning sideways a bit, hands on her hips as her eyes twinkled mischievously as she watched his reaction. There had been plenty of times on the phone that it had been very obvious that they were flirting, but with over a thousand miles between them it had seemed relatively safe. However, with her standing right in front of him and staying at his house it had the potential to end in absolute disaster.

"I think you'd stop traffic in that dress," he said, taking a chance and giving her a smile of his own.

He saw her smile turn into a victorious grin and she said, "That's more what I was going for." She turned her back to him again and added, "If you could start the zipper for me I'll go get dressed."

Bucky reached out and pulled the zipper down a few inches to approximately where it had been when she came out of the dressing room. He found it difficult not to imagine unzipping it the rest of the way and having the green fabric slip from her shoulders and pool on the floor to reveal what she wore underneath. Blinking though, he returned to reality as she started to head back into the dressing room stall, watching her as she walked.

"You're staring again," she said, stopping in the doorway to the stall and giving him a smirk before disappearing into the dressing room.

"Jesus, Kels, you're going to be the death of me," he mumbled, thinking he had been quiet enough that only he would hear it, but her laughter from within the dressing room told him otherwise.

By the time they returned to Bucky's house Kelsey had managed to find about a week's worth of clothing and all the necessities she would need while they worked through figuring out who was after her. She had also convinced him to stop at the grocery store so she could stock the refrigerator with something other than beer and left over take out. There had been some debate over sleeping arrangements on the ride back, and he had let on that he tended to end up sleeping on the sofa most nights anyway. Kelsey had tucked away that bit of knowledge for another time, agreeing to just take the bedroom.

Kelsey had gone into the kitchen and was working on making dinner when she heard the front door open and Bucky's footsteps as he crossed the living room area towards the kitchen. She gave him a small smile when the door swung open before returning her attention to the potatoes she had been chopping. Somehow she had managed to find the cooking utensils she needed to make a meal even in the sparsely furnished kitchen.

"Was Sharon able to get any hits from that image?" she asked, knowing he had been outside talking to Sam on the phone.

"Unfortunately no," he told her.

"Well, shit," she said with a sigh. "Did Sam leave that laptop by any chance? There are a few things I could try, but I'm not sure I'll have any more luck than Sharon. Or maybe I could find an image of the license plate on the car..."

"Laptop's in the living room. Do you need any help?"

"No, I'm good. It's actually kind of therapeutic...having just a little bit of control over some aspect of my life right now."

In a month nearly everything she had known had been ripped away from her, and she often found herself having to fight the urge to feel like she might drown in a sea of uncertainty. Since the explosion she had often come back to what Bucky had told her the day after the funeral about taking it one step at a time. Most of the time it was a mental step, focusing on just one thing and not letting all of the other emotions and thoughts interfere. Other times though, like when she had been making her way south, it had taken everything in her to just take one physical step forward at a time and not given into the darkness that had so often crept into her mind.

"Eventually we're going to figure out who's behind this," he told her, leaning back against the counter not far from where she was working.

"Yeah, I know," she said. "They didn't get what they wanted and eventually they'll try again. I just hate the waiting." With a smirk she added, "On the bright side, I get to drive you crazy for the foreseeable future."

"You're off to a good start," he retorted with a smirk of his own.

Her mind flashed back to the dressing room at the shop they had visited. When she had exited the stall she had just wanted help with the zipper, but the moment she noticed his eyes traveling over her body she had been unable to resist torturing him a bit. There had been a brief moment when a voice in her head told her it was a bad idea and that flirting in person was very different from flirting on the phone from a completely different part of the country. She had ignored that voice and the look on his face when she mentioned that she had caught him staring at her backside as she walked away had been completely worth it. She knew she needed to be careful though, she was playing with fire and the last thing she wanted was for either of them to end up hurt.

"Just think how much you'll appreciate the simplicity of your life here when this is over," she told him, putting the potatoes on a sheet pan next to the chicken she had previously prepared. "At a certain point you'll be able to get back to your life and not have to focus on picking up the pieces of mine."

"Kels, you're welcome to stay here as long as you need to," she heard him respond as she opened the oven she had been pre-heating. "I mean that."

"Thanks, Bucky," she responded, grabbing the sheet pan and carefully placing it in the oven before closing the door again. "Well...that has to cook for a while, so maybe I'll get started seeing if I can come with an angle Sharon didn't."

"I'll leave you to it," he said, giving her a smile before pushing away from the counter and heading back out of the kitchen.

His smile had the ability to make her knees feel weak, and she took a deep breath after he left the kitchen to collect herself before going to retrieve the laptop. Sarcasm was a defense mechanism. Everything in her mind told her she needed to maintain clear boundaries for herself when it came to Bucky, but one smile from him and she could barely remember her own name.

Shaking her head, she grabbed the laptop bag from next to the sofa before returning to the kitchen and settling in to try her hand at figuring out the identity of her mystery attacker.