Something snapped between them, an unfamiliar force locked them tighter together. Bucky's arms looped round her back, pulling her against him. She felt his hands fan out across her back, felt his heart beating against her chest. His mouth was desperate against hers ad he pushed her back, too hard, to the wall behind them. Nancy let out an auditable gasp as her head hit the wall. Bucky jumped back.
"I'm sorry," he stammered.
"It's okay, that was intense," she caught her breath. She moved forward to join him, but he took a step back.
"I don't want to hurt you." He whispered
"You won't." He let her join him this time.
"Sometimes I don't know my own strength. It's been such a long time Nancy, I don't know if I know how to treat you right." He admitted, swiping a finger over her cheekbone.
"Then I'll show you." She whispered taking his hand and leading him into the bedroom. She sat him on the edge of the bed then straddled him carefully. She traced her fingers over the contours of his face, ran a hand through his hair before pressing her forehead against his. She kissed him softly then, hands exploring the expanse of his back. He followed her lead, gentle kisses, softly striking her back, one hand found itself in her damp hair. She lowered her hands on his back, attempting to hitch his t-shirt up.
"Wait," he said drawing back.
"It's okay, we don't have to." She said holding her hands up.
"Believe me, I want to, it's just it's not a pretty sight." He gestured to his chest and shoulders. Nancy felt her heart drop.
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." She jested. Bucky's brow creased in confusion. Taking a deep breath, Nancy pulled her vest over her head. Now sat in her plain black bra she gave Bucky full view of her abdomen. It was littered with small round scars beneath her rib cage and the side of her waist. They were evenly spaced, clean and tidy. Bucky ran his fingertips over a few of them.
"What happened?"
"Explorative surgery." Nancy shivered under his touch, she struggled to meet his eyes. "When the blip happened and half of everything disappeared, I got sick, really sick, the doctors couldn't work out what was wrong. I was so weak I was so weak, I couldn't walk, I could barely stand. I spent a year in my hospital bed being fed from a tube." She indicated to the scar at her waste. "I was losing weight like crazy and the doctors couldn't find a cause, and so they resorted to surgery,"
"Did they find anything?" Bucky asked.
"No, eventually they declared although I was weak, I was stable. They sent me home after some rehab work. I was still always so tired though, most days I'd be sleeping 20 hours or more. I recovered slowly, built my strength back up. It took a few years, but I managed."
"So, you never knew what happened?" He skimmed his hands up her side now, finding her shoulders and squeezing the tension he felt there away.
"No, I found out, Bucky the blip took you away, when that happened you took part of me with you. I've never felt stronger than the day everyone came back."
"Nancy, I'm so sorry." He gasped out.
"It's okay, it's all going to be okay now." She reached forward for him, finding his lips again. He drew back briefly to remove his own t-shirt. Baring the mangled flesh of his left shoulder to her. She looked at it briefly, the point where metal met flesh in a seam of scar tissue. She pressed her palms flat against his chest.
"Does it hurt?" Nancy whispered, Bucky silently shook his head, staring at her hands against him.
"Nancy," he breathed.
"Yeah," she looked up, locking her eyes to his.
"Thank you." He said softly, capturing her lips in his before she could question him. She giggled appreciatively in response.
Later they lay together in a tangle of sheets and limbs. Nancy's cheek rested on Bucky's chest whilst he ran his fingers through her hair. Nancy shifted slightly and Bucky noticed her wince slightly. He paused his ministrations.
"I didn't hurt you did I?" He fretted. Nancy pressed a kissed to his sternum before pulling herself up onto her elbow.
"No, you didn't." She smiled sleepily at him before laughing softly, biting her lip.
"What is it?" he couldn't help smiling when she laughed, he could listen to that sound all day.
"It's true what the movies say, it is different with your soulmate." She blushed profusely.
"It certainly is." He agreed stretching out and pulling her close into his side, kissing the top of her head. "Sam and I talked and we both decided, we are going to go after these terrorists, we'll get to the bottom of all this and we'll get you safe."
"Okay, where do we start?"
"No Nancy, me and Sam, you should stay here, they can protect you."
"No, I'm coming with you."
"You can't, I owe Wakanda an un-payable debt. Whoever those men were, they mean to harm this place as well as you, I can't allow that. And I won't risk you either, I need to know you're safe." He rolled to face her. "I'll need your help though, we need to find out who they are and what they want."
"And you think I can help with that because?" Nancy raised her eyebrows at him.
"Because you're as stubborn as you are beautiful," he kissed the tip of her nose, "you won't give up till you find the answers."
"I still don't want you to leave me."
"I'll never really leave you," he traced one of the scars by her ribs, "not again."
"you'll carry my compact with you." She said suddenly, "and you'll see me, whenever you need me text me and I'll be waiting by a mirror for you."
"hey, hey, I'm not going yet, but soon, and of course, I already look for you in every window I pass, every puddle on a wet day, everywhere."
"I've been doing the same thing." she laughed.
They stayed in bed the rest of the evening. Bucky briefly got up to find food and brought back a small picnic of bits he'd found in the fridge. They ate together whilst Bucky told her stories from his childhood, speaking of his sisters and Steve, then he listened to her tales of boarding school and the exploits that she had got up too. She told him about the friends she'd had who'd gone on to bigger things whilst she'd been left behind. He told her what he knew of his captivity and what he remembered of the first time he'd seen her, how he hadn't know what was going on the winter solider had tried to shoot her reflection. He tried apologising again but Nancy wouldn't hear of it. She told him about her great-grandmother whose necklace Bucky had admired. The old family story of how she'd eloped to marry Nancy's great-grandfather, how they had been soulmates from different classes. She joked that Bucky could have met her back in the 40s and not remember it. They ended the evening curled round each other again. Bucky humming softly whilst Nancy slipped into sleep. Bucky watched her, he couldn't move without disturbing her, but sleep evaded him. He watched her instead. The gentle rise and fall of her chest, the way her toes twisted in the bed sheet as she shifted to get comfortable, and the way she burrowed tight into his side.
He didn't know when he fell asleep, but his dreams were full of Nancy's laugh, her smile and the colour of her hair in the sunlit car. It was the best night's sleep he'd had in 70 years.