Savage

by awalkerlifeforme

She was everything people feared. She wanted to defend the world but also wanted revenge on those who wrecked hers. The ones who forced her to leave Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Now she's back and while Steve attempts to get back the woman he's always considered his sister, Bucky hopes to thaw the ice that has formed around her heart. A heart that he had always believed was his.

27. Chapter 27

Big Ben began to chime out in the distance of London and I smiled. It was signaling that it was now midday. Steve and I glanced at each other and smiled. Even though we were down in the Army base, underground and inside one of the large office buildings, we could still hear it. It also meant that we were officially late. After everything that had happened with the Hydra Weapons Facility, the world had finally learned of the truth of Captain America and Savage. It also meant that Brandt - who loved any chance to be in the papers - had worked with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Queen to award the both of us the Medal of Honor for saving four hundred men.

Not that we were planning on attending. Mostly because we wanted to embarrass Brandt. But also because Steve wanted to be off of the press circuit, and I had made the decision to stay out of the public eye for a while. One of the soldiers that we had rescued must have taken a video of me during the explosion of the Hydra facility. Because just mere hours after the men had returned to the base, newspapers had been printed about everything that I could do. The world had gone into a sudden panic.

Knowing that there was nothing that I could do to change the fact that the truth of mutants had been revealed, I'd merely sat with a reporter and explained everything that I knew about them. The man had promised me that he would make me out to be a hero rather than a creature to fear. And the article had done well explaining the science and history behind our existence. I had appreciated it. The newspaper had been received with quite a bit of bad backlash. We had all been smart enough to know that I needed to stay out of the spotlight for a while, to give the world time to realize that there were things like me that existed. And, despite what so many people thought of me, the men stood by my side, as did the Army. I was officially Sergeant Victoria Phillips, and the Omega mutant, Savage.

In the meantime, Steve and I weren't the only ones with changing lives. While he had become a real Army man, and I was becoming a respected member of the Army, the men that had been rescued from the Hydra facility had gone through a change, too. They had been released from active duty after everything that had happened to them. Most of the men had taken the news better than I'd heard them take any other news. I was happy that so many of them weren't going to die in battle. They would get to go home.

All of the four hundred men that Steve and I had rescued had been fixed up from their experiences. We had lost only a few men that had been killed during the escape. Once they had gotten back to the base, all of the men had been shipped off to London with us to have blood tests done, while we began planning the attack on Hydra. No one came back with any concerns in their blood tests, thankfully. I was extremely glad to see that Bucky was getting back to health. He'd gained back the weight that he had lost and the bruises and cuts had healed. He still looked tired, but he looked better. Some of the men had gone home to their families while others had elected to stay in London and wait it out to see if they would return to active duty. Bucky was one of them.

We had been spending quite a bit of time together since his rescue a little over a week ago. We'd barely left each other's sides, only to sleep, for the first three days after he had come back. He made sure to tell me everything that had happened to him during deployment. I noticed that even now, he still wouldn't tell me about the hard battles or the incidents in the Hydra facility. I spent much of my time explaining to Bucky and the other soldiers everything that they wanted to know about mutants and mutation. We had also spent a few days bouncing conversations off of each other about everything that they knew of Hydra and their plans.

Standing down in the bunker that the S.S.R. was using for their plans, Steve and I were pointing out the other Hydra bases that we had seen to Peggy. Another man was off to the side, watching and listening to us. I knew that he was one of the cartographers. He would draw up an edited map. Bucky was in the background, watching us. He wasn't originally going to come with us, but I'd wanted him to be involved with the planning. I knew that he felt like the odd man out right now, and that wasn't what he needed after everything that he had been through.

Steve was leaning over the map and marking where the Hydra bases were. "The fifth one was here in Poland," he said as he marked the map, "and there was one in the Baltic. And the sixth one was about... here." He made another mark and leaned back, motioning over the page. "Thirty, forty miles west of the maginal line. I just got a quick look."

Peggy sighed and nodded at him. She was sitting on the edge of the table, watching him closely. I noticed that she hadn't really been paying attention to the map, more to Steve. "Well nobody's perfect," she finally said, as the other man took away the map.

"I am," I said, bringing the man back to me.

He laid out the map once more as Steve, Peggy, and Bucky laughed at me. "Humble," Peggy told me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I leaned over the map and began to look back over it. "It was thirty-two point eight miles off of the maginal line," I corrected, crossing out Steve's marking and rewriting my own. My hand traveled over the map as I realized another one of the bases were off. "And you're off three point six miles for this one."

Once I had corrected that one, I allowed the man to take the map. He nodded at me before rolling it up and walking off. Steve turned to me and rolled his eyes. "Leave it to the mutant to show off," Steve said.

"Leave it to the super-soldier to be wrong," I shot back.

Steve narrowed his eyes at me. "You're hilarious," he said.

"I like to think so."

As we turned to head over to the main map, Howard passed us, walking the other way. I smiled at him. "Hey. Aren't you two supposed to be picking up a medal right now?" he asked Steve and I.

"When have you ever known me to like the public?" I asked.

Howard shrugged his shoulders. "Fair point," he said.

"I think we've both decided that I am officially off the press circuit," Steve said, exchanging a look with Peggy and I. We both smiled at him.

"Rogers. Victoria," Chester snarled off in the distance. Everyone turned back to him as he walked up to stand in between Howard and I. He did not look happy. "You two just embarrassed a United States Senator in front of a room full of reporters and ten members of Parliament." His lips turned upwards and he began laughing as he handed us the medals. "You deserve a medal just for that."

Smiling at him, I handed my medal to Bucky. If anyone deserved it, it wasn't me. He smiled at me and tucked it into his pocket. "Thanks, old man," I said to Chester.

Steve was smiling brightly as Chester turned back and glanced at Howard, who was spinning the trinket that Steve had taken from the Hydra facility. "You figure out what that is yet?" Chester asked him.

Howard was holding it up in front of his face. "Well if you believe Rogers and Victoria, it's the most powerful explosive known to man," Howard told Chester.

"If?" Steve asked, affronted.

"Excuse you," I bristled.

Howard gave me a sweet smile as he looped his arm over my shoulder. I let off a soft blast of flames and Howard hissed in pain as he wrenched his hand back. I noticed that Bucky and Steve were smiling brightly as Howard brushed the char marks off of his suit. "Well either you're wrong or Schmidt's rewritten the Laws of Physics," Howard finally said.

Narrowing my eyes, I grabbed it from Howard, looking it over. I had no idea what it was. "Kruger told me about this when we captured him. He said that it was some type of ancient power that had been hidden in the earth. Brought here by the old gods. It's not from Earth. Immeasurable power. They're developing weapons with this. Schmidt fired a weapon at a force field that I had up and it knocked me straight out of the air. Nothing does that," I explained to him, handing the weapon back.

We both stared at each other. I had no idea what it was, but I knew that it was powerful. It was the only way that it could knock me out of the air. "You said that this wasn't from Earth?" Howard asked curiously.

"I can run a scan on that thing just by looking at it. It's not made up of any kind of technology or element that I recognize," I said.

"You're sure?" Howard asked.

Staring at it for a moment, I nodded. "It draws some type of cosmic energy. It emits a radiation level very similar to Gamma levels. This is only a very small part of it. If I'm right, this acts almost like a gate," I said. Howard gave me a questioning look. "Kruger told me that Schmidt wanted to find a great power. And what better power than to be able to cross from one part of the universe to another?" I asked.

Everyone started to exchange looks, wondering if that was possible. "You can pick all of that up by looking at it?" Chester asked me.

Glancing over at him, I nodded. "The same way that I can look at you and tell you exactly how you'll move. Yes. All I need to do is look at something. I can feel the energy that it emits," I explained to him.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Bucky watching me curiously. "You believe that it can do that?" Howard asked, drawing my attention back to him.

For a moment I merely stared at him. I wasn't sure if I could believe that it could open portals, but I believed that it did something strange. "Science and legend typically tell us two very different things. But sometimes they coincide. In ancient times, the god Odin spoke of a creation called the Tesseract. Immeasurable power that allowed them to travel from our dimension to theirs," I said.

Howard scoffed at me. I assumed that he'd heard these stories before. "Those are old Norse legends," he pointed out.

Turning towards him, I narrowed my eyes. "Don't legends stem from the truth?" I asked.

The two of us stared at each other before Howard nodded. "We'll have a chat about this later," he said as he turned back, pocketing the weapon.

"Don't go poking at that thing without me around!" I shouted after him,

He turned back to me and gave a quick salute. The five of us that remained walked back over to the larger map. "You're very much in your element around here," Bucky said, walking up to me.

I shook my head at him. I didn't like all of this planning. I just wanted to go out and have a good fight. "No... I don't like all of this planning and chatting. I'd much rather just go straight for them and attack them. Faster and slightly more effective," I said.

Steve walked up to my other side. "That's what someone who works alone does. You're part of a team now. We work together," he told me.

"Right on, Captain," I teased.

The five of us walked to stand at the edge of the map. This one had all of the Hydra facilities raised on the map. "These are the weapon factories we about," Steve said. Chester was watching him, nodding. "Sergeant Barnes said that Hydra shipped all the parts to another facility that isn't on this map."

Moving off to the side slightly, I allowed Bucky to walk up to the map and look it over. "No. It's not on here," he said after a few minutes.

"What were you building?" I asked.

Bucky looked surprised that I had asked him that. He shook his head at me. "It looked like an airplane. But it was huge," he said. I raised my brow, wondering just how big this thing was. "Bigger than anything that I've ever seen before. Looked like it might have been a bomber. They just told us that it was called Valkyrie."

My hands started to knit together. "Well that's unnerving," I muttered.

"What is?" Bucky asked.

I realized that I had drawn everyone's attention to me. "Valkyrie. It's something else that's from Norse mythology," I said. Obviously no one knew what I was talking about. "They're hosts of female figures - usually warriors - who choose those who will die in battle and who will live. Definitely sounds like a bomber. Choosing who lives and dies?" I asked, hoping that they would realize what I was getting at.

It appeared that Chester understood what I was getting at. He nodded and turned to one of the men that were standing with us. "Learn as much as you can about this unknown base," he said. The man nodded and walked off. "Helps to have a mutant sometimes."

"Sometimes?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Chester rolled his eyes at me. "You drive me out of my damn mind," he said. I smiled at him and nodded. "Agent Carter, coordinate with MI6. I want every Allied eyeball looking for that main Hydra base," Chester said as he walked off.

The rest of us quickly make a move to follow him. "What about us?" Peggy asked.

Chester stopped walking as he turned back to us. "We are going to set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass," Chester said. I smiled at him as a woman walked up to his side and handed him a file. It took me a moment to realize that it was Lorraine. I noticed both Peggy and I narrow our eyes at the woman. "What do say, Rogers? It's your map. You think you can wipe Hydra off of it?"

The men were oblivious to the tense exchange. "Yes, Sir," Steve said, glancing backwards.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Lorraine send Bucky a small smile. My hand immediately shot over to his arm, gripping him around the bicep. I sent Lorraine a deep scowl, warning her to watch herself. She gave me an uncomfortable look before turning to look at Steve. I rolled my eyes at her. She just went from one man to the next. My grip on Bucky's arm tightened slightly.

"Vika," Bucky said, sounding strained.

"What?" I asked through my teeth.

"You're going to break my arm," he said.

Starting slightly, I realized that I was increasing the pressure on his arm. "Sorry," I said, releasing his arm quickly.

"I'll need a team," Steve said.

Chester was glancing down at the papers, only looking up for a moment to speak to Steve. "We're already putting together the best men," he said, looking back and the paper once more.

Bristling slightly, I cleared my throat. "Pardon?" I asked.

Chester glanced back up at me and nodded. "And woman," he added.

We both knew that I was going to be a part of the team. I would be able to keep the men safe while they were destroying the bases. "With all due respect, Sir, so am I," Steve said.

Chester gave him a long look before nodding. "Gather your men, Captain," he said. Steve nodded and we all turned to go about our business for the day. Before we could get too far, Chester called back to us. "Sergeant Barnes. A word."

Bucky looked very surprised. "I'll see you in a few minutes," I told him.

"Okay."

I walked back over to Chester and narrowed my eyes at him. "Be nice," I snapped.

Chester glared at me. "When have you not known me to be nice?" he asked. I laughed and nodded, leaving the two men to their devices.

Bucky's P.O.V.

Bucky found himself unsure of what to do. He was simply awkwardly shifting on his feet as Vika, Steve, and Agent Carter walked off. Bucky was hoping that whatever Colonel Phillips wanted was something to do with the Army. He really didn't want to have to discuss Vika with him. He loved her, and it was very obvious that Colonel Phillips did, too. Even though they weren't technically related. All he knew was that he was very nervous. He had only spoken directly to Colonel Phillips once, after attacking a few of the recruits for what they had said about Vika. And he had been dismissed with only a warning to treat her well.

They stood in silence for a few moments as the three left the building. Once Colonel Phillips was sure that they were gone, he nodded for Bucky to follow him away from everyone else. "How are you doing, Sergeant Barnes?" Colonel Phillips asked.

The comment shocked Bucky. He wouldn't have thought that the Colonel would have cared. Especially not to take him in private to ask him. "Better, Colonel, thank you. Sometimes I forget that I'm not in the Hydra base anymore," Bucky said, knowing that he needed to answer.

"Victoria went through a lot to get you back," Colonel Phillips said.

Bucky nodded, knowing that Colonel Phillips would have brought up Vika at some point. "Yes, Sir. She did," he said carefully, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

"And she showed you what she is," Colonel Phillips continued.

"Yes, Sir."

"That doesn't matter to you?" Colonel Phillips asked.

Bucky had had a feeling that Colonel Phillips might have asked that. "No, Sir. I've been terrified of Victoria since the day that I met her," Bucky admitted. He was glad to see that Colonel Phillips might have thought that it was a little funny. The edges of his lips turned upwards. "I've always known that there was something different about her. To finally know the answer... I'm glad that she told me. It's unnerving to know everything that she can do, but I trust her with my life."

And Bucky meant every word that he had said. He would always trust Vika with his life. He'd shown her enough reasons to trust her. Colonel Phillips nodded, seemingly pleased with that answer. "I hear that you were told to write letters before you went to the battle at Azzano," he said, staring at Bucky.

Bucky felt his heart jump into his throat. Had he read the letter? Had he gotten the letter? Vika had never mentioned it, so Bucky had just assumed that the letter had never gotten to her. "Yes, Sir," Bucky said slowly.

"If the letters are not able to be sent directly to the recipient, they're sent to the next of kin," Colonel Phillips said. Bucky nodded nervously. "Victoria had left New York and had no permanent mailing address. So the letter was sent to me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the thick letter. "I did read it," Colonel Phillips admitted.

"Yes, Sir," Bucky said, swallowing a lump in his throat.

He was positive that Colonel Phillips would give him a good talking-to for what he had written. "I did not give it to Victoria to read. I wanted to know for a fact that you were dead before giving it to her," Colonel Phillips informed him.

It felt like a lead weight had been lifted off of his chest. Bucky had not wanted Vika to read that letter. They were all things that he wanted to tell her face-to-face. "Thank you, Sir," Bucky said.

Colonel Phillips nodded and handed the letter back to Bucky. "I think that you should have it back. The things that you've got to say to her shouldn't be said in a letter," he said.

"I've never wanted to say them in a letter. It was just in case," Bucky said.

Colonel Phillips nodded and released his grip on the letter. "Here you are." Bucky took the letter and gently slipped it into his coat. "She's in love with you. Take it from an old man. Remind her of why she loves you all of the time. It'll work," Colonel Phillips said. Bucky nodded and made his way to leave, but before he could, Colonel Phillips added another thought. "And take your time with the ring."

Bucky was sure that he turned slightly red. "Yes, Sir," he said, sounding much less confident than he had before.

For a moment the two men just stood and looked at each other. "You should know, Sergeant Barnes, that you're not going to have a normal life with her. She'll never age. She's going to look like that for all of eternity. You don't get to grow old with her. I'm not sure how she feels about kids, but I know that she's not willing to potentially bring another mutant into the world. Not after everything that she's been through," Colonel Phillips said seriously.

Those were all things that had occurred to Bucky. He'd already thought about all of those things. He knew what it meant to be with Vika. He knew that being with her meant that he might have to give up things that he had always wanted and things that he had always thought that he would have. Bucky had always wanted to have kids. He hadn't been ready - and he still wasn't ready - but he had thought that he would want them. He had always imagined growing old with the woman that he loved. But he knew one thing more than anything else. He knew that he wanted to be with her. And he didn't mind giving up the life that he had thought that he'd wanted for the one that he knew that he wanted.

He knew that he would give up everything to be with her. It did feel a little strange to know that she would look the way that she did right now, even when he was old and in a wheelchair. But he didn't care enough to walk away from her. He had told her more than once when they were growing up that he would always be there for her. The fact that she was a mutant did unnerve him, and everything that she could do did make him nervous, but it would never make him walk away from her. He knew that she would go to the ends of the earth for him, and he felt the same way when it came to her.

"I know what a life with her means. And I know that I want it," Bucky finally said.

Colonel Phillips had been watching him closely. Bucky could see an almost impressed look in his eyes. He turned to leave but stopped himself at the last moment, turning back to Bucky. "One last thing, Sergeant Barnes. She heals from bullet wounds." Bucky nodded, grimacing at the memory of her being shot. "You hurt her... and we'll see how well you do," Colonel Phillips warned.

Bucky would never hurt her. Not after everything that she'd been through. "I'd rather die," he said fiercely.

Colonel Phillips nodded. "I know," he said.

The two men started at each other for a moment. Bucky saluted Colonel Phillips, who nodded at him, before turning to catch up to Vika and Steve. It made him smile, the thought that maybe Vika's own parents had been horrible people, but at least she did have someone that loved her deeply. She had quite a few people that loved her. She might not have been a normal person, and he might not have a normal life with her, but he didn't care. He had her. And that was all that mattered. As he walked out of the building, spotting Vika off in the distance, laughing at something that Steve had say, Bucky smiled. Life wasn't too bad.

Victoria's P.O.V.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Bucky walking back towards us. I turned back to him and smiled. He didn't look too freaked out, so I could only assume that Chester had taken it reasonably easy on him. "What'd he say?" I asked.

Bucky waved me off. "Nothing of importance. Threatening me again," he said.

Raising a brow at Bucky, I narrowed my eyes. I was absolutely positive that there had been something more said than that. But I knew that it was a conversation meant to stay in between the two of them. So I nodded. "Right..." I trailed off, turning back to Steve. "So who do you want to put on the team?"

Steve motioned in between Bucky and I. "The two of you. Do I have you?" he asked.

Grinning at Steve, I nodded. There was no chance that I was staying out of this fight. "You know me. I'm always looking for someone else to fight with," I teased, nudging the boys.

They both smiled, standing at my sides, throwing arms over me. Bucky sighed and stared at us for a moment before finally nodding. "What the hell? Why not?" he asked, sounding very exhausted.

"Who else?" I asked, knowing that the three of us were not enough.

If we were going to put together a team, we needed at least three others with us. Plus I knew that Chester wouldn't approve of the team unless there were at least five of us. "The guys from the Hydra base. Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, James Montgomery Falsworth, Jim Morita, and Jacques Dernier," Steve said.

My eyes brightened. They had all seemed like good men when I had spoken to them. We hadn't talked often, but I had chatted a few times with the men, and they all seemed very sweet. "They're good guys. Good choices," Bucky said.

"They'll be at the bar tonight. That's where they always are. We can talk to them then," I pointed out.

That's where the men that had returned from the war liked to frequent. It was a good place to drink and relax with each other. It was nice after everything that had happened to them at the Hydra base. Bucky and Steve nodded their agreement. "They're all idiots. They'll go back into the fighting. That's what they do," Bucky said.

Knowing that the boys needed their time together, I decided to depart for a while. Perhaps I'd ask Peggy what she was doing tonight. She might like a dance with Steve. "I'll meet you boys at eight," I said.

They both looked at me and nodded. I pressed a small kiss against Steve's cheek, and a quick one against Bucky's mouth, before turning to leave. There was nothing to be concerned about. The men would say yes. I made my way into the room that Peggy and I were sharing to get changed for the night. There was nothing wrong with the outfit that I was wearing, but it was too hot. Even though we were getting towards the winter months, it was still warm in London. Warm enough that the long pants and long-sleeved shirt were too much. I walked into the room that we shared and smiled at Peggy. She was reading, perched on the edge of her bed.

Peggy glanced up at me and placed the book back on her bedside table. She stood as I closed the door behind me. "What are you up to tonight?" she asked curiously.

Glancing over at her, I smiled. She was hoping that she could come along with me wherever Steve was. "Heading to the bar in town," I said. She looked very surprised at that. "Going to recruit some of the men from the Hydra base onto a special operations team to hunt out and destroy the rest of the Hydra bases. They know how they work and they've already proved themselves."

She nodded at me, but still looked very confused. "You're doing this at a bar?" Peggy asked.

Shrugging my shoulders at her, I nodded. It would probably be a little bit better to do it at the bar. "Get a few drinks in them and it might be a little easier to persuade them," I told her.

Peggy smiled at me and nodded. "Perhaps I'll drop by for a bit," she said softly.

It was so obvious that she wanted Steve to ask her to dance. But the question was whether or not either one of them would actually do anything. "I'm sure that Steve would like to see you," I said slowly, teasing her.

Peggy smiled but otherwise ignored my comment. "Do you have something to wear?" she asked me.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I glanced down at my clothes before looking back at her. "The last that I checked, I was already wearing clothes," I pointed out, ignoring her pointed look.

Once more, Peggy narrowed her eyes at me. "It's a bar, Victoria," she said. I raised my brow, wondering what that had to do with anything. "You can't wear something like that."

"Why not? The men are wearing their Army clothes," I said.

Peggy rolled her eyes at me. "They're men." I raised my brows again, not understanding what that had to do with anything. I knew that they were men. "You should dress up for a change," she said. I laughed loudly, thinking that she was joking. "You never get to do anything where you wear anything but those clothes. Take a chance to change."

Grinning at her, I walked towards my dresser, where the rest of my very small clothing choices were stashed. "I'll wear the uniform," I teased, grabbing the Kevlar material.

Gasping at me like I'd just suggested to go to the bar naked, Peggy ran after me and yanked my hand away. "Absolutely not!" she barked. She shoved me out of the way and started going through my clothing. It didn't take her long to get through it all and decide that she liked nothing. "Did you not bring anything professional? Dresses or skirts?"

Narrowing my eyes at her, I crossed my arms over my chest. "Do you know me at all?" I asked her.

Peggy rolled her eyes at me and closed my dresser, walking back to her own. I assumed that she'd already come up with a plan that I would have no say in. "I'll get you one of my old dresses that are too short on me," she said.

"What?" I snapped.

Peggy was already rifling through the clothes in her closet. "Barnes will like it," she told me, turning back with a little wink.

Rolling my eyes at her, I walked over and planted myself in the chair at her desk. "I can't believe that I'm letting you do this," I groaned. Peggy walked towards me with her makeup bag in her hand. Rolling my eyes at her, I nodded, letting out a little breath. "Alright... Fine. Take it easy on me!" I shouted as I spotted her pull out red lipstick.

"Oh, don't worry. It'll just be a little different," Peggy said.

But somehow I didn't believe her. And it turned out that it was a very good thing that I didn't believe her. The two of us spent nearly an hour getting me ready, chatting back and forth the entire time about everything that was happening in our lives. We spent a long time talking about how I knew that she had a crush on Steve, and how I was going to get them together. She didn't seem to really appreciate that, but I didn't care. I knew that she wanted to at least go dancing with him. She had turned the conversation around easily, chatting with me about how things were going with Bucky, and asking whether or not we would go dancing together.

The thought had definitely struck me as funny. I was not a dancer. Peggy finally allowed me to look in a mirror. She had already put on my makeup and done my hair. I was currently in a robe; the dress that Peggy wanted me to wear was hanging over the chair. My jaw dropped when I saw the makeup. My eyebrows had been filled in with a very light brown pencil, making them darker than normal. My eyes had a light line of eyeliner around them. The eye-shadow was a very light golden color, almost appearing brown, making my yellow eyes stand out even more than they normally did. There was a light coat of mascara on my eyelashes. There was even red lipstick swept across my lips.

As Peggy helped me step into the dress, I glanced at what she had done to my hair. Peggy had curled my hair up with victory rolls. It was something that I never did. Mostly because I didn't know how to do them, and I was too impatient to do it myself. My bangs were pulled up onto the side of my head and curled. The hair that normally laid flat down the middle of my back now was in soft curls down to just below my shoulders. Peggy had pulled them over onto one shoulder.

My eyes finally settled on the outfit that she had picked out. It felt like my heart had stopped. At least I felt comfortable in Howard's suit, despite the fact that it showed skin. This was a dress and it showed skin. It was a deep blue; the color was actually quite nice. It stopped just below my knees, a little too short for my liking. It was tight all the way down my body. It almost reminded me of the way that Howard's suit stayed on me. It must have been years since Peggy had been able to fit in this. It had sleeves that went about halfway down my bicep. Only making things worse was the neckline that went halfway down my bust, showing the cleavage that I usually tried to hide.

Whipping my head over to her, I noticed that Peggy looked very proud of her handiwork. "Peggy!" I barked. She jumped, obviously not understanding the issue. "I don't even look like myself."

"Shut up. You look nice," Peggy told me. I rolled my eyes as I walked over to get my coat. It was black and wound go down to underneath my knees, covering the neckline and dress. "Don't wear that," Peggy barked.

"Just for a little while. I'm not going to wear it the entire time. I just don't want to walk in like this," I told her, motioning to myself.

She scowled for a moment before finally nodding her consent. "At least you put on the dress. Fine," Peggy told me, rolling her eyes, knowing that another fight wouldn't work. She had gotten me to do enough. "Wear those heels!"

"Alright, alright, shut up!" I shouted at her.

There was a pair of black heels sitting in the corner that I slipped on my feet. I wobbled for a moment unsteadily. I really was not a fan of walking in heels. But after a few minutes I'd gained my balance and managed to walk properly once more. I waved to Peggy, who would be meeting us at the bar a little later - once she'd gotten herself ready - and walked out of the room. It was just coming up on eight and I knew that the boys would already be waiting for me. As I walked around the corner, Bucky and Steve's conversation died. Even with the coat over the dress, Bucky and Steve were staring at me like they'd never seen me before. The previous conversation had been forgotten.

Rolling my eyes at them, I awkwardly dug my heel into the tile floor. This drove me nuts. This was why I dressed like a man. So that things like this wouldn't happen. "Take a picture. It'll last longer," I snapped.

They both jumped into action, realizing that they were standing very stupidly. "You look nice," Bucky said, coming forward to meet me.

"Shut up," I growled.

He looked shocked that I had said something like that. Obviously he thought that I should have blushed and giggled at him. "I was complimenting you!" Bucky said through a laugh.

Sighing softly, I nodded. "I know that. Thank you," I muttered.

Steve smiled and walked forward. I noticed that both boys were wearing their military uniforms. "Come on. Let's go talk to them," Steve said, tugging Bucky and I with him. He seemed to finally notice what I was wearing. "Why are you wearing that coat?"

"I'm cold," I said quickly.

Not that being cold made any sense. The coat wasn't designed to keep me warm, only to cover me up. "You can burst into flames," Bucky pointed out.

"Stop talking," I ordered the boys. Anything to get them to quit questioning why I was wearing the coat. Their jaws snapped shut and I smiled. The both jumped upright as they tried to peel their jaws apart. Not that it would do any good. They were both looking at me, trying to speak, but it wasn't going to work. "Much better."

The entire walk over to the bar, Steve and Bucky were trying to get their jaws apart. But the order had been given and it meant that they weren't going to speak until I let up on them. It had gotten to the point that it was just amusing, watching them try to communicate with each other with their hands. Too bad that they didn't know sign language. It would have made things much easier. We walked together for a while before finally arriving at the bar. It was already loud in the bar, the music and chattering echoing through the street. Smoke was billowing out into the streets and I smiled. They were having fun.

Finally, I allowed Bucky and Steve to speak again. They seemed very shocked when all of a sudden, they began shouting at each other. They shut their mouths immediately and glared at me as we entered the bar. I smiled at the boys. The five men that we were looking for were all at a table in the front room of the bar. We were about to go over to them when Bucky stopped us.

"Let me know how it goes," Bucky said.

I'd had a feeling that he was going to go straight to the bar, considering that he didn't really have anything to say to them. This was for Steve and I to take care of. I nodded at Bucky as Steve and I walked over to the other men, taking a seat across from them. "Gentlemen," I greeted.

Their eyes darted to my face and they smiled at me. I sighed at them. Even just a pretty face was enough to distract them. "Victoria. Captain. What can we do for you?" Dum Dum greeted as we took a seat.

Steve turned back to the bartender. "Round over here," he called.

A moment later, a waiter came over with seven beers. I traded mine off with a glass of scotch. The waiter hesitated when he placed mine down, looking like he might have wanted to give me a wine instead, but I took the glass and immediately drained a quarter of it. The men were laughing. "Sounds like you want something," Dum Dum said as we cheered each other.

I decided not to beat around the bush. "We do," I said. The men nodded for me to continue. "When we were in the Hydra Weapons Facility, when we won't down to the solitary confinement room and found Bucky, there was a map on the back wall of the other Hydra facilities. We memorized them. They've been written down since then. We're forming a team to go after those facilities and destroy them," I explained, hoping that they would catch on.

It was obvious that they knew what I was talking about, but they stayed silent. So Steve took over the conversation. "Taking down Hydra is a key factor to winning the war. We've been putting together an elite team that will help us take down these facilities. We'd like you all to be a part of it," he said, motioning around to the five men.

"Who's on the team so far?" Jim asked.

"The two of us and Bucky," I said.

"You're on the team, then?" Dum Dum asked me.

My eyes narrowed into little slits. They had better not suddenly take issue with a woman being around them. "Got a problem with a woman coming along?" I asked sharply.

Dum Dum realized that he had offended me almost immediately. He glanced at me and shook his head. "Hell no. I feel a lot better with you coming," he said. The men all began to laugh, and even I found myself cracking a little smile. "So let's get this straight," Dum Dum continued once the laughter had gone down.

"We barely got out of there alive, and you want us to go back?" Gabe continued.

Steve and I exchanged a look with each other. "Pretty much," Steve said, seeing no point in lying.

Glancing back at the men, I shook my head. "Well not back to that one. It's destroyed," I said. The men all smiled, seeing as of course we had all been there to watch it explode. "But if we want to win this war, we have to get rid of the other Hydra bases. We need a team of the best men. Hence why we're here."

"You can't go out there and destroy them yourself?" Dum Dum asked me.

Smiling at him, I shook my head. That was possible, but not a wonderful idea. "Helps to have a team. And Colonel Phillips still wants to do it the old-fashioned way. We're waging a war against Hydra, not Germany. Not anymore," I told them.

James was drinking from his beer. He placed the glass down and smiled at us. It looked like he was ready to join the team. "Sounds rather fun, actually," James said, letting out a short burp.

We both smiled at him. Jim sat back in his chair and nodded. "I'm in," he said.

Once more, Steve and I smiled at each other. That was two out of the five men. We were on our way. And I had a feeling that Dum Dum would definitely join the fight. That left Gabe and Jacques. They were currently having a rapid conversation with each other in French. Steve was watching confusedly. I smiled, hearing their conversation. It sounded like they were going to say yes. Gabe and Jacques finally came out of their conversation and nodded. Steve was still staring at them.

"We're in," Gabe clarified, pointing between himself and Jacques.

Dum Dum sighed and placed down the mug of beer that he was holding. "Hell, I'll always fight," he said. Steve and I smiled. We'd gotten our team together. "But you gotta do one thing for me."

"What's that?" Steve asked curiously.

"Open a tab," Dum Dum said. Steve and I both smiled and nodded. Steve rose to get them another round as I grabbed the scotch off of the table. "Well that was easy."

It was rather funny that Steve and I were thinking the same thing. I tilted back the glass of scotch and drained it, saluting the men. "Thank you for your cooperation, gentlemen," I told them.

They were all staring at me like I'd lost my mind. "God damn," Dum Dum said.

Smiling at them, I placed my empty glass off to the side. "My metabolism burns ten times faster than the average human being. Means alcohol doesn't process in my system. It's like drinking water," I explained to them.

"Can you give me that mutation?" Dum Dum asked.

The men all began to laugh, and I did, too, as I stood to join Steve at the bar. The men all rose to their feet to say goodbye to me. It was something in their upbringings that I knew that they couldn't change. They would always be respectful to a woman. Dum Dum gave me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. Gabe hugged me quickly and told me to hustle someone in a drinking contest. I laughed softly as I exchanged a goodbye with Jim and James. Finally I exchanged a few words in French with Jacques before moving towards Steve. He was hovering over the bar, ready to get the men another round.

"Another round," Steve told the bartender.

The poor bartender looked shocked. I could tell that he was having a hard time keeping up with their orders as he leaned over the bar and stared at them. "Where are they putting all this stuff?" he asked, a thick British accent accentuating his words.

"Here, too," I added.

The bartender nodded at me and handed me another glass of scotch. "Ma'am," he said.

"Thank you." Steve and I got up from the bar and headed into the back room where Bucky was waiting for us. My scotch was in my hand as the piano started to play, the men singing along happily.

"There is a tavern in the town, in the town
And there my true love sits him down, sits him down,
And drinks his wine as merry as can be,
And never, never thinks of me.
Fare thee well, for I must leave thee,
Do not let this parting grieve thee,
And remember that the best of friends
Must part, must part.
Adieu, adieu kind friends, yes, adieu
I can no longer stay with you, stay with you,
I'll hang my harp on the weeping willow tree,
And may the world go well with thee.
He left me for a damsel dark, damsel dark,
Each Friday night they used to spark,
Used to spark,
And now my love who once was true to me
Takes this dark damsel on his knee.
And now I see him nevermore, nevermore;
He never knocks upon my door, on my door;
Oh, woe is me; he pinned a little note,
And these were all the words he wrote:
Oh, dig my grave both wide and deep, wide and deep;
Put tombstones at my head and feet, head and feet
And on my breast you may carve a turtle dove,
To signify I died of love."

They repeated the song over and over again. I assumed that someone had requested it. Each time that they played a line, the men were getting louder and happier. I rolled my eyes at them. They were having quite a good time. But it was nice to see, after everything that they had been through. Steve and I walked into the back of the bar, a room just off of the dancing hall, and I spotted Bucky up at the bar. We all grinned at each other as we took our seats. Steve was on one side of Bucky and I was on the other, slowly nursing my drink.

"See, I told you. They are all idiots," Bucky said, swirling his chair around as Steve seated himself.

Bucky took a sip of his own drink and I smiled. I'd never really seen him drink. "What about you? You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?" Steve asked, glancing over at Bucky.

His head was aimed down to the desk. I watched him closely. "Hell, no," Bucky said. Steve and I looked at him curiously. "That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight." Bucky smiled fondly, glancing over at Steve. "I'm following him." He took another drink before looking over at me. "And that girl who always wanted to be something more than a housewife, I'm following her." I smiled at him, placing a small kiss on his cheek. "But you're keeping the outfit, right?"

Bucky and I both howled with laughter. That uniform was my favorite thing that I had done in a long time. "Ask the idiot who designed it," Steve said, looking around Bucky to glare at me.

Giggling softly, I rolled my eyes at him. "For the last time, it was a joke," I snapped.

"You know what?" Steve said, glancing back at a poster for the Captain America USO Tour. It had a large sign stamped across it saying, Tour Canceled Until Further Notice. "It's kinda growing on me."

"I knew that it would," I told him.

We were all smiling at each other as the men in the main room sang along to Tavern in the Town happily. But it was just after that that their voices began to drop off. The piano continued to play. Steve, Bucky, and I all looked backwards to see what had happened. It was Peggy. She had just walked in. She was wearing a deep red dress and looked very nice. I smirked and hid my face in my drink. Why did she get to wear a longer, higher cut, dress with longer sleeves? We'd have an argument about that later. The two boys jumped up from their chairs. I merely swiveled around in mine and crossed my legs, smirking at her.

"Captain," Peggy said, walking to stand in front of him.

"Agent Carter," Steve said.

"Ma'am," Bucky added as she walked by him.

She completely ignored him, other than the slight incline of her head. There was only one person in the room that she cared for right now. She hadn't even glanced at me. "Howard has some equipment for you to try. Tomorrow morning," she told Steve.

"Sounds good," Steve said.

As Peggy glanced back at the men, I noticed Steve give her a good once over. I cleared my throat and Steve glanced back at me quickly, sending me a warning look that told me to keep my mouth shut. "I see your top squad is prepping for duty," she told Steve. I snorted under my breath as Steve stayed silent. Why was he so terrible at speaking to women? Peggy heard my snort and glanced over at me. Her eyes narrowed and I cringed, remembering the coat. "What are you wearing?"

Play it off, Victoria. "Clothing, last time that I checked," I answered her.

The boys both smiled at me as Peggy glared at me. "Take that off. We got dressed together so that I knew that you wouldn't wear something like that," she snapped.

"No. It's cold," I said.

"It's eighty degrees in here. And you tend to have flames running through your veins," she argued.

I waved her off flippantly. "Details," I said.

She glared at me once more. Steve and Bucky were watching us closely. It was obviously a long time since they had been around women. "I thought that you liked dancing?" she asked me.

"I'm a warrior. I don't dance," I snapped.

Peggy rolled her eyes at me. "Everyone dances. Give me the coat," she ordered.

If I'd really wanted to, I could have ignored Peggy or gotten her to turn around and leave me alone. But I wasn't that kind of person, and I knew that she was trying to help me out. So I groaned and hopped up from the chair. Bucky and Steve were watching me closely. They must not have been thinking that I was wearing anything special under the coat. I undid the knot and slipped the coat off of my shoulders. The music briefly halted as everyone stared at both Peggy and I with wide eyes. Even the men were staring at us. I shifted awkwardly, well-aware of all of the eyes suddenly on us.

Handing Peggy the coat, I cleared my throat and spoke loudly for everyone else to hear. "I do like being looked at as a piece of meat," I called out through the bar.

That was all that it took. Everyone went back to whatever they were doing before. No one wanted to get in a fight with the mutant. I sighed, rubbing my arms awkwardly. I was used to people staring at me. But I was used to people staring at me because I looked like a freak, not because they thought that I was pretty or anything of the sort. It also didn't help that I was well-aware that Bucky's eyes were traveling over me. It really didn't help that I could hear what he was thinking as he looked me over.

Peggy was smiling at her handiwork. "Much better," she said.

"Wanna trade?" I asked her.

"Why?" she asked.

The boys were trying awkwardly to look away from us to give us a moment of privacy. It was obvious that it wasn't working very well. "Yours shows less," I said.

"Go dance," Peggy said.

"I don't dance!" I hissed.

That was Bucky's cue to come in and take over the argument. "Tonight... you do," he said, grabbing my hand and gently tugging me with him. I groaned as he gently pulled me along. "Come on."

As we walked off, myself finally giving into Bucky's demand to go dancing with him, I turned back to Peggy. We brushed past Steve and Peggy and I grinned at her. If she was going to make me look like a fool tonight, I'd do the same. As we passed, I gave Peggy a very rough shove into Steve. She stumbled over herself and into Steve's arms. The two of them laughed very awkwardly as they tried to brush off the impact. They were both muttering stupidly and smiling at each other as Peggy backed away. It looked like she was about to leave. I rolled my eyes, hoping that Steve would ask her to dance.

Interrupting my thoughts, Bucky pulled me into the dancing hall. Considering there weren't too many women in the middle of the battlefield, there weren't many people on the dance floor. There were only about ten other couples. Bucky grabbed my hand as his other went around my waist. I laid my hand on his chest as we began to sway together. The song slowed slightly as we spun together. I was smiling happily up at Bucky, feeling completely at peace, as he grinned down at me. As we spun past the bar area, I could see that the men were all watching us, laughing and smiling at the two of us.

"Your friends are watching us," I pointed out.

Bucky smiled at me and turned us so that he was facing them. He sent them a little wink before glancing back down at me. "They're your friends now, too," he said. I nodded at him, knowing that they had become my friends, too. It was strange. It was the most amount of friends that I'd ever had. "And can you really blame them?"

He was looking down at me and I smiled, my cheeks coloring slightly. He had only really seen me dressed up once that I could remember. Another time that I'd been in one of Peggy's dresses. "So you like the dress?" I asked him.

Bucky nodded, glancing down at me once more. "I like the dress," he said.

A slightly uncomfortable feeling seeped into my stomach. If he wanted to see me like this all of the time - like a proper housewife - he was with the wrong person. "Well don't get used to it. It's not mine," I said lowly.

He seemed to know that I was a little uncomfortable. Bucky smiled and pushed his hand under my chin, pushing my head up to meet his eyes. "Don't worry. I like the uniform better," he teased.

Laughing softly, I shook my head. "I can't believe that you're okay with all of this," I said.

"What? You?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah."

Bucky shook his head at me. "I'm not okay with you," Bucky said. My head snapped over to look at him. This might have been the wrong time to talk about this. "I'm in love with you," he continued, smiling at me.

A small smile fell over my face as he leaned down to me. The heels put me just a little bit closer to Bucky's height. We were normally eleven inches apart. But right now we were about eight. I liked being a little bit closer to his height. He still had to lean down to press a kiss behind my ear. I felt him breathe out a little laugh, the breath tickling the back of my neck. I blushed and pressed my head into his chest as the men all began to whistle. It would take me some time to get used to that.

After a moment, I leaned backwards and smiled up at him. "I'm glad that you're back," I said as Bucky pulled me into a spin. "It was terrible having you gone. I don't think that I realized just how slow letters were up until I actually had to wait for them."

Bucky smiled down at me again. I noticed his arms tighten around me a little more. "Being gone was terrible. I can't believe that I missed so much time," he said. I sighed and shook my head at him, placing the hand that had been on his chest onto the side of his face. He had come back. That was all that mattered. "And I kept having dreams about you. I would swear that I'd see you everywhere."

Giggling softly, I leaned into him, giving him a gentle nudge with my hip. "Miss me that much?" I asked teasingly.

"Always," Bucky said, gently nudging underneath my chin. "I think you got even prettier."

"I think that you want something," I said.

Bucky laughed at me. It was so nice to have him back. Just for the moments like these, teasing each other; not even to be romantically involved. "You think that I want something?" he asked me. I nodded at him. He shook his head at me. "Nah. I've got everything that I could ever want."

His stare was piercing as he looked down at me. I blushed as he pressed a small kiss against my lips. "Happy to be back in civilization?" I asked after a brief silence.

Bucky shrugged his shoulders at me. "We went into the cities from time to time. It was always nice to be out of the woods, but it wasn't that great. Didn't have you and I didn't have Steve. It got lonely," he said.

That was rather depressing. "You've got someone to keep you warm now," I told him.

Standing up against him, I allowed the flames to come up to right below the surface of my skin. It wasn't going to burn him but I knew that he could feel my body warming. He smiled at me and looked down. Underneath my skin began to glow a soft golden hue. Bucky smiled at me. With the hand that he was holding, Bucky turned it over and pressed a kiss against my wrist. The song had slowed once more, into a romantic ballad. My eyes turned pink at his actions, but I didn't bother looking away. Bucky placed my hand back as we continued to spin, looking very surprised when he spotted the pink tinge.

"Is that why you never looked at me after I would say something like that?" Bucky asked.

I blinked a few times, desperate to get rid of the pink tinge. They took a few times to fade back to yellow. "Yellow eyes are hard enough to explain," I answered.

"I think that you should keep them pink," Bucky said.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I rolled my eyes. "I think that I should electrocute you," I said.

"You won't," Bucky dared. I smiled at him and took the challenge. Through our linked hands, I gave him a very small zap, like he was touching cold metal. Bucky jumped slightly as his hair stood on end from the small electrical current. "That was unnecessary."

He was glaring down at me and I smiled, reaching up and gently pushing his hair back into place. "I like it like that better," I told him, laughing softly.

Bucky took my hand away from his hair and I smiled. He grabbed one of the curls that was falling over my eye and gently pushed it back into place. "We'll do whatever you want with it," he said.

The two of us continued to twirl around the dance floor. I smiled as the lights shone down on us. This wasn't what I was used to. I was much more comfortable in a uniform and fighting, but even I had to admit that it was nice to hang up the uniform from time to time and pretend that I was a normal woman. Bucky leaned down and pressed a small kiss against my lips. His hand made its way up my back to hold our heads together for a moment as I relaxed into the kiss. This was what I had been looking forward to for so long. We finally backed away from each other as we passed the men. They were dancing and singing happily. I smiled at them.

At least they still had a good spirit about themselves, even after everything that had happened to them. "They look like they're having fun," I commented, watching as Dum Dum spilled some of his beer on Gabe as he laughed.

Bucky laughed and shook his head at me. "Can't believe you managed to talk them into going back out there," he said.

I hesitated, glancing up at him. It had just occurred to me that maybe it wasn't fair to ask Bucky to go back to war with us. He had already spent almost two years on the battle field. "You don't have to go with us," I said softly.

Bucky looked surprised that I had said something like that. "You think that I'm going to let you two have all of the fun?" he asked me. I smiled at him and shook my head. "No way. Besides, I've got to give Hydra a piece of my mind."

A lump formed in my throat. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

Bucky smiled at me and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I was fine," he said.

But I had a feeling that he wasn't fine. Schmidt had said that he'd gone through a lot for me. I wanted to know just what that meant. I wanted him to know that he never had to protect me. I could do that myself. "Bucky... What Schmidt said back in the Hydra facility... What did you do for me back there?" I asked him.

"It doesn't matter," Bucky said.

"It does," I said quickly, raising my voice slightly. I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down slightly. "What did you do back there?"

Bucky glared at me. I knew that it was his warning to get me to stop asking him about it. But I wanted to know. "They wanted to know about you. I refused to tell them. That was it," he told me quickly.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I shook my head. "Lying to me is not effective," I said.

Bucky's hand tightened around my back. "Vika... You gotta understand something," Bucky said. I nodded for him to continue, feeling him relax his grip slightly. "I know that you think that you're the one that needs to protect me. With all of this junk about how you can't die and whatnot. But I don't care. You're still my girl. And sometimes that might mean that I'm the one who protects you."

Immediately I shook my head. He couldn't risk himself to protect me. I would manage. "It's not in my nature to let someone else protect me. I've spent my entire life knowing that I had to protect myself. And I found people to protect. You and Steve, you're both still just people. If there's anything that I can do to protect you, I will," I told Bucky sharply.

We both wanted to protect each other. But someone would have to give in. "That goes both ways. You aren't in Stryker's lab anymore. You don't need to close yourself off. You always did, even when we were kids," Bucky said.

"I guess it feels like I still need to protect myself," I muttered softly.

Bucky shook his head at me. I felt his thumb gently running over my back. "You don't need to. I've got you. Always will," he said softly.

Smiling up at him, I allowed him to rock us back and forth to the music. The bar was slowly starting to clear out, as was the dance floor, but the rowdy Army men were still laughing and howling at their tables. Bucky gently raised his hand and brushed the hair back off of my face once more. I would definitely rather have it falling flat down my back. But this was nice, too. I leaned up onto the tops of my toes and pressed a gentle kiss against his mouth. I felt his hands tighten around my back once more, his fingers gently gripping into the material of the dress. I smiled into the kiss and wound my hands over the back of his neck.

The two of us stayed together for a few minutes before I backed away, smiling at him. "It's getting late. We should head back to the dormitories. Got a long day tomorrow," I said.

Bucky nodded at me and backed off. But the moment that we turned t leave, Steve came up to my side. "Can I have a quick dance?" he asked me.

"Sure," I said. Bucky and Steve nodded at each other with a small smile. Bucky stepped back with the other men as I began to spin back and forth with Steve. He felt a lot more confident on his feet than he used to be. "You used to be terrible on your feet," I teased him.

"You still are," Steve responded.

My eyes narrowed at him as he grinned. "You're such an ass," I snapped. We both stared at each other before breaking out into laughter. We swayed back and forth as a thought occurred to me. "Did you ask Peggy to dance?"

"No."

"Why not?" I snapped.

Steve looked very surprised with me. "Because I'm not asking her to dance, Vic. She said when all of this is over she was thinking about going dancing," Steve said. I nodded at him, not understanding how he didn't pick up the hint that she wanted him to ask her to go dancing. "Probably with Stark."

Groaning softly, I shoved my face into his chest. He was such a moron. All men were morons. How they had managed to survive this long was beyond me. "How are men so stupid?" I muttered.

Steve stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "What?" he asked dumbly.

"She wanted you to ask her to dance, you idiot," I barked.

Obviously he was as stupid as he looked. He really didn't know that Peggy had no interest in Howard. The only person that she was interested in was Steve. "Did you read her mind?" he asked me.

Rolling my eyes as Steve brought me into a twirl, he caught me back around the waist and pulled me back to him. "No. But I know women and I know that she wanted you to ask her to dance. Why do you think she walked past all of the men and didn't speak to any of them? She came straight to you," I told him, hoping that he would understand.

"To tell me that Howard Stark has weapons that he wants me to try in the morning," Steve told me slowly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Letting my hand drop off of Steve's shoulder, I whacked him on the chest. "Don't be daft!" I shouted, drawing some attention. I dropped my voice and continued speaking, softer this time. "She could have easily just popped in to tell you that. She was all dressed up and hung around longer than just to tell you that you were needed in the morning."

Steve shifted awkwardly. I knew that he felt like a moron for not saying anything to her. "Do you think it would be too late to ask her if she wanted to dance?" he asked me.

Once more I let out a little sigh. "Considering that she's gone back to the barracks, I'd say yes, it's too late," I said. I'd spotted her leaving the bar as Bucky and I had been dancing. She must have gotten sick of waiting. Maybe they'd manage a dance before they died. Steve looked very defeated. "Don't worry Casanova, we'll get you another chance with your girl."

Steve smiled as he spun me again. "Thanks, Vic." I nodded at him. "Who's Casanova?" he asked me after a beat.

Leave it to Steve to have no clue who Casanova was. I was sure that he and Bucky had never picked up a book before. "Have you ever read a book?" I asked him. Steve glared at me. "Giacomo Casanova?"

Steve was still staring at me like I was speaking Greek. "Buck!" Steve yelled. Bucky walked over to us, standing on the edge of the dance floor as we swayed next to him. "Do you know who Giacomo Casanova is?"

Bucky's eyes widened as he stared at us. "Who?" he asked dumbly.

Rolling my eyes at them, I let go of Steve and tugged him with me. We both walked off together as I grabbed Bucky, bringing him with the two of us. "Time for bed. Come on." The boys followed me out of the bar as we wandered into the cold street. "For future reference, Casanova was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the eighteenth century. He became so famous for his often complicated and elaborate affairs with women, so that his name is essentially synonymous with the term 'womanizer'," I explained.

Steve and Bucky looked at each other, probably to try and figure out if either one of them knew who he was. Obviously they didn't. "What's the name of the book?" Steve asked me.

"Histoire de ma vie. Story of My Life," I said.

Bucky was looking at me like I'd lost my mind. "How do you know all of that?" he asked.

"I read," I deadpanned.

Both boys laughed at me as we walked. I wished that I hadn't worn the heels. They were a little tricky to maneuver the cobblestone streets with. "So what? Was he handsome or something?" Steve asked me.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I shrugged my shoulders. "Considering he lived in the eighteenth century, I'm not quite sure," I said. Steve paled slightly, knowing that he now looked like a fool. Not that they ever didn't look like a fool. "But imagining that his romances were the way that they were described, I'd assumed that he was quite handsome." They both nodded at me and I glanced back and forth between them. "Honestly. How did you two pass high school?" I asked, laughing softly.

"By not wasting time learning about Casanova," Bucky quipped.

Glaring at him, I shoved him off to the side. "Ha-ha," I said, a bland tone to my voice. Both boys smiled. "Whatever... I'm still stronger and smarter than both of you."

"What about both of us?" Bucky asked.

I raised my brow, not understanding what he meant by that. "What?" I asked.

"Could you beat both of us?" Bucky clarified.

"Yes."

A moment later, Dum Dum, Gabe, Jim, James, and Jacques came up to our sides. They were all laughing and chatting happily. I could assume that they'd had a good time at the bar. "How about all of us?" Dum Dum asked.

Seven of them against one of me. It didn't matter. I would still be able to take them all without a problem. "Yes," I said quickly.

"Without all the... weird stuff," Gabe said, making me smile. I knew that he meant without any of the mutations other than the strength. I couldn't get rid of that one. "Just good old fashioned fist fight."

But even without the other mutations, beating them wouldn't be a problem. "Yes," I said evenly.

Jim laughed at my other side. I noticed that he was carrying a beer with him. "Cocky," he said.

Shrugging my shoulders, I nodded at the men. It was hard not to be cocky when it was almost impossible to lose a fight. "When you have the powers and abilities that I do, you'll find that arrogance comes with it," I said honestly.

"So would you fight all of us?" James asked.

If they gave me a reason to, I would fight them. But I really didn't want to be responsible for having to find a new team. "For your own health, I'd suggest that you don't get into a fight with me," I said.

The men all burst into fits of laughter. But I was serious. They wouldn't enjoy getting into a fight with me. "I've been fighting with her for a year and a half and I've never once won a fight," Steve said. The men all glanced over at me and I nodded. He'd only managed to hit me once. "I hit her once and got kicked through a solid brick wall for it."

Laughing at the memory of the fight, I nodded. The men stared between us for a moment before laughing. It was a few moments before they stopped laughing. "How do you do all of that... flippy stuff?" Dum Dum asked me.

I immediately started to laugh. I didn't really have a name for it, but I knew what he meant. The counter-balance moves. They were enough to stun the men into submission, making it very easy to finish them off. "When I was... trained..." I muttered awkwardly. Bucky's arm went around my shoulders. "I was taught how to use my strengths and weaknesses."

The men seemed a little surprised at my comment. "You have weaknesses?" Jim asked me.

Smirking slightly, I nodded. "Not many, but I do have some. I'm not that heavy," I pointed out. Bucky and Steve both nodded. They'd picked me up before. They knew how light I was. "Even though I pack quite the punch -"

"I'll say," Steve interjected.

"- my weight doesn't help me much during a fight," I said, turning a smile on Steve. "So I have a very effective method of using men's weight against them. That 'flippy stuff' is using their weight against them. Ever heard of the saying 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall'?" I asked Dum Dum, grinning proudly.

It felt good to finally have men recognize that women could be just as good, if not better, fighters than they were. "Could you teach us to fight the way that you do?" James asked me.

"Bear in mind that I fight like a woman," I pointed out.

Dum Dum smiled and patted me on the back. "That seems to be a little more than effective," he said.

Laughing softly, I nodded. He was right about that. The way that I fought was definitely effective. It was the reason that Hydra had quite a few dead soldiers. But did the men really want me teaching them to fight? I really didn't want to hurt them. There was a good chance that I would hurt them, even if it was just during a sparring match. And I didn't want them to start laughing at me. I didn't think that they would, but I didn't want them to think that I was some fighting machine, only to be let down. Bucky seemed to notice my hesitation in training them as he walked up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

Glancing up at Bucky, I shook my head. "Come on, Vika. They want to learn. Why don't you teach them?" he asked me. I was about to argue why I shouldn't teach them when he spoke again. "You're teaching Steve. Teach us."

We walked into the lobby of the building that we were staying in during our time in London. We all hesitated, hanging around in the marble entry. "He's a super-soldier. He can take the hits," I pointed out.

"So can we," Gabe said.

Looking between the men, I sighed, knowing that they weren't going to let this drop. So I would give them a reason not to fight with me. Or at least to show them what they were getting into. So I smiled and nodded. "Alright. We'll start tonight then. One demonstration. I'll watch you all fight tomorrow night and we can figure out fighting techniques," I told the men. They all nodded excitedly. I knew that they were ready to get to fighting. "Who wants to help?"

"You're wearing a dress and heels," Steve pointed out.

I raised my eyebrows, wondering what that had to do with anything. They might not have been the most ideal things to fight in, but it wouldn't hinder me. "Won't make a damn bit of a difference," I said.

My head turned towards Steve and he started shaking his head at me. "Absolutely not. I've spent a year and half getting thrown around by you," he said sharply, stepping backwards.

He must have been excited to watch someone else get thrown around by me. So I turned back and grinned at Bucky. "How about you, Bucky? You wanted me to show you what I can do," I offered.

Bucky nodded, not understanding that this wouldn't be something that he would like. "Alright. What do I do?" Bucky asked me.

Smirking at him, I said, "Stop the attack."

His face fell slightly, realizing that I was giving him no instruction. He just had to stop the attack. Bucky nodded at me. "Right. You're gonna take it easy on me, right?" he asked, smiling at me.

My smirk widened. "Sure," I said slowly.

Bucky stood across from me and nodded. I watched as he took a ducked down fighting stance. Exactly the way that the Army taught them. It was a good way to fight. But there was never a good way to fight against me. I ran straight after Bucky, giving him no time to react. I sprinted so that I was standing on his side and used his bent knee as a step. I pushed myself up onto his shoulders, almost like a father holding his daughter up to see over the crowd, as I pulled one leg over his arm. I swung my other leg off of his other shoulder before moving it under his arm so that his bicep was trapped in between my thighs. I leaned backwards, throwing Bucky off balance, as he tumbled to the ground.

He was thrown into a backwards roll and I smirked. The men were all howling with laughter as Bucky came back to a wobbly stand. I raised a brow, rather impressed. But I wasn't about to let him show me up. So, as he stood across from me, I pulled myself into a hand-free cartwheel. Using my second leg as I was halfway through the cartwheel, I sent my foot straight into Bucky's head. That time he went flying backwards onto the tile floor, groaning at the impact. As I landed on my feet, I tugged the dress back down my legs. The men laughed as they walked over to me, patting me on the back. Steve was smirking at the fact that it was someone else getting thrown around.

In the meantime, Bucky was trying very hard to get himself back to his feet. "Dress and heels and still better than you," I said, standing over him.

Bucky coughed and let his head fall back on the tile. "That hurt..." he moaned.

"That was nothing," I said.

And it really was nothing. Fighting Steve was definitely more work than fighting Bucky. But it was similar to the way that Steve had fought when I'd first fought with him. "I really like your girlfriend, Bucky," Dum Dum said, still laughing.

Finally Bucky managed to get back to his feet. "Yeah. I do, too," he muttered.

Turning back, I saw that Steve was still smirking at Bucky's misfortune. I didn't want to make Bucky looked like the only idiot tonight. "And what are you smirking at?" I asked Steve sharply.

He jumped and looked over at me. "Finally someone else is getting thrown around," Steve said.

Grinning at him, I motioned for him to join me. "So show me what you've learned, super-soldier," I called out. Steve nodded and walked into the middle of the entrance hall. The other men smartly backed away, giving us a little bit of room to fight.

Facing me, Steve ducked down and waited for me to make my move. As per usual, he forgot that I tended to move a lot faster than he did. I moved into a front flip and wrapped my legs around his neck, hooking them behind his shoulders. I brought myself up and watched as he tumbled to the ground at the movement. I rolled forward off of him and watched as he weakly stumbled back to his feet. I ran after him and sent a roundhouse kick into his jaw. He stumbled backwards again as I swung the other leg around so that it hooked over his shoulder and placed my hand behind his neck. Jumping forward, I sent Steve onto his back. He hit the ground as I went into a roll, springing back up.

He was lying on his back, coughing as he tried to get air back into his lungs. Once more, the men were howling with laughter. Even Bucky was laughing at Steve's misfortune. "How many more of those do you have?" Steve asked as he got back to his feet.

"Quite a few," I answered honestly, fixing the dress once more. I turned back to the six others. "Don't laugh, gentlemen. Tomorrow that's going to be you."

"You gonna wear a dress?" Gabe teased.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I shrugged my shoulders. "Won't make a difference. I'll still beat you," I told them.

There were sounds of surprise exchanged throughout the men as they laughed at the look on Gabe's face. Dum Dum walked over and threw an arm over Gabe's shoulders. "Ho-ho! She makes a point, Gabe. We all know that she could beat your ass," he told his friend.

But the laughter was cut off by another voice. "Wait a second," Jim said, shattering the excitable air. "What about if he tries to hit you back? He was just standing still."

Grinning softly, I noticed that Steve had backed away, looking very unhappy that Jim had said that. "Oh, please don't make her do that," Steve groaned.

I ignored him. "Very well then. Steve. Over here. Now," I barked. He nodded at me and walked to stand across from me, sighing softly.

Steve stood across from me and I smiled. I launched after him and threw a punch. Steve very closely managed to block it, throwing my fist back to my body. I swung out my other leg and kicked Steve in the stomach. He stumbled backwards and threw out a punch to my head. I ducked underneath the hit before reaching out and swinging my fist into his jaw. Steve stumbled back again as I ran up to him and jammed my knee into his stomach. He breathed out as he grabbed my shoulders, shoving me backwards. He sent a kick towards my head and I ducked underneath the kick. As Steve came towards me again, I stayed down on one foot, spinning on it, as I sent the other leg upwards and into Steve's jaw. He groaned and stumbled back once more.

As I straightened out once more, I threw my leg backwards and hit Steve in the side of the head. His head snapped off to the side and he threw another blind hit as I turned back to him. I stepped out of the way of the hit as Steve grabbed me around the back of the neck, keeping me against him, just the way that I had taught him. He jammed a knee towards my stomach, barely missing as I grabbed his knee and shoved it back down. I brought up my elbow and jammed it into Steve's, making him drop his arms from my neck.

Steve made a move to swing at me across the face. I grabbed his arm, turning away from him, used my other arm to lock over the back of his neck, and swung my legs upwards. They carried both of us up and over in a hand less cartwheel, Steve smacking onto the tile floor as I landed on him. I moved sideways off of him and kicked back upwards, landing on my feet. I flipped my hair off of my face and smiled at Steve, who was getting shakily back to his feet. The men were all laughing, Bucky the most amused of them all.

Staring at the men that were watching, I narrowed my eyes. Steve managed to very shakily get back to his feet. "I wouldn't laugh if I were you all. That'll be you tomorrow. And bear in mind, he's a super-soldier. How do you think that you'll fare?" I asked them, effectively ending the laughter.

They weren't going to be able to walk for a week once I was done with them. If they wanted to fight, we'd fight. "You'd better never piss her off," Dum Dum warned Bucky.

Bucky nodded at Dum Dum. "I try very hard not to," he said, smiling at me.

Knowing that it was time to go to bed, I rearranged my outfit before turning to leave. "Goodnight, boys." They all waved me off as I prepared to head back to the room that Peggy and I shared. "Steve!" I shouted, remembering what we needed to do tomorrow. He was still trying to shake out the stiffness in his limbs from the brief fight. "I'll meet you at the base in the morning. Some ice should take the pain away," I told both Steve and Bucky. Bucky smiled at me as I walked over to him and pressed a small kiss to his lips. "Sweet dreams."

"You can dream of beating me up," Bucky teased me.

"I'll think of ways to train you all tomorrow," I called.

It looked like the men weren't sure whether or not they liked that plan. But they nodded anyways, knowing that they had asked for this. I waved the men off as I turned to head to bed. It was already pushing midnight and we would need to be back in the offices, first thing in the morning. I headed towards the room that Peggy and I had been placed in as the men headed to theirs. They got rooms to themselves as the women had to share. It didn't really bother me. I had missed having Peggy around all of the time. I walked into the room and immediately started to get changed.

Once I had my pajamas on, I walked into the bathroom and started to wash my face and hair free of the products that Peggy had used on me. "What were they all laughing about?" Peggy asked.

She was sitting up on the vanity, looking at maps, as I cleaned up. "The men have officially decided that I'll be training them before we start going and attacking the Hydra bases," I told her.

"We're not going to have anyone left if you train them," Peggy told me.

Laughing softly, I shook my head at her, swatting her knee. "Oh, stop. I'm not going to kill them. I'll take it easy on them." Not that I really wanted to, but I also didn't want to kill them. I would just have to be careful when I was training them. "Hydra are the ones that I won't hold back with." Peggy nodded at me. I washed off my face before looking back up to Peggy. She was trying to work, but I could tell that something was bothering her. "I told Steve that he should have asked you to dance," I said.

Peggy's hand stilled and the pencil that she was using dropped to the floor. I smiled at her, walking out of the bathroom. "Why?" Peggy asked, following me into the main room.

"Because you wanted him to ask you to dance," I told her, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it sort of was.

Peggy scoffed and plopped down onto her bed. "He's hopeless," she groaned.

All men were hopeless. It was something that came with being a man. They had to be hopeless. That was why they needed women. "He's a man. Of course he is," I told her.

She looked up at me and smiled. She pulled herself underneath the blankets, turning to face me. "Maybe we'll go out again sometime soon," Peggy said, smiling at me.

The thought sent a horrible panic through me. I was not a fan of going and dancing. I liked fighting and sparring. "Absolutely not. This my annual promise to go out and do something. I dressed up and went dancing. So I've fulfilled my duty. Now it's time for me to be a soldier," I told her, ignoring her eye-roll.

She leaned over and grabbed a book, chucking it at me. I ducked out of the way and let the book clatter to the ground. "You're such a brat," Peggy snapped at me. I winked at her. "What are you going to do when you get married?"

Run far away. "Wear my uniform," I suggested.

But I knew that Peggy would have a cow if I tried to wear my uniform to my wedding. She would ensure that I didn't walk out onto the aisle looking like a soldier. That would probably be one fight that I would lose. "Barnes might have an issue with that," Peggy said. And I could tell that she was including herself, silently.

Grinning at her, I settled back against the wall. "Good thing that I can beat him up," I mentioned. Peggy rolled her eyes but I could see that she was suppressing a laugh. "How many weapons is Howard building?"

"Quite a few. Mostly new age guns and the likes," she said.

Humming at her, I glanced down at my lap. I had a feeling that Steve didn't want a gun. He seemed to really like his shield, but it wouldn't hold up against strong enemies. "I think Steve's gotten a little attached to the shield. The problem is that Schmidt was able to bend it just by punching it once. It isn't bad, but it won't hold up against most enemies," I mentioned.

Peggy looked very curious as she looked at me. I raised a brow, wondering what I had said. "Howard did make a Vibranium shield. But it's just a prototype," she said.

I remembered the Vibranium that I'd seen at Stark Industries two years ago. He had mentioned that he was going to build a weapon with it. I hadn't known what he was going to do with it, and I'd figured that he hadn't even known what he was going to do with it. It was nice to see that he was doing something with it, considering that it cost so much money.

"So that's what he did with the Vibranium. I was thinking that he would make bullets," I muttered. Peggy glanced at me curiously. "Howard brought me by Stark Industries two years ago and showed me the Vibranium."

Peggy nodded. "It's Howard. He doesn't make normal things," she said.

Both of us started to laugh. We knew just how insane Howard was. "Tell me about it."

Peggy sighed and laid back on her pillow. "We have to be up early tomorrow. We should get to bed," Peggy said, flicking the light off, plunging the room into darkness.

"Night, Peggy," I called into the darkness.

"Goodnight, Victoria."

It didn't take long for Peggy to fall asleep. She had always had an easy time getting to bed. It took me a little bit longer to actually manage to fall asleep. So I laid awake, waiting to actually manage to fall asleep. But things were too loud. I could hear the few remaining people at the bar laughing and singing. I could hear Peggy breathing softly. I could hear Big Ben ticking in the distance. But nothing was worse than the dreams that I could hear. Someone, just a few rooms away from us, was having a very intense dream. It was like listening to a concert. I tried to push back the noise, but I couldn't. So I sighed and gave in, listening to the dream.

My heart fell slightly as I realized that the person was dreaming of being tortured. It was one of the men. They had clearly been through a lot at the Hydra facility. It sounded like the dream was more of a memory. I realized with a start that I knew the person that was dreaming. It was Bucky. He was just two rooms down from Peggy and me. Batting the idea back and forth for a moment, I allowed myself to enter the dream, knowing that he would never realize that I'd seen his dreams.

We were standing down on the factory floor. Bucky was working on what I assumed was the Valkyrie, and he looked extremely sick. I walked towards him, wanting to reach out and touch him. "Sergeant Barnes?" I turned back and saw a German man, wearing a Colonel's clothing. Bucky turned back. "I'd like to speak with you."

"I wouldn't," Bucky said.

Despite myself, knowing that it would earn him a punishment, I smiled. The German man smiled and moved towards Bucky. I gasped as he grabbed onto his hair and ripped Bucky's head off to the side, slamming his head down onto the table. Bucky groaned in pain. My hands began to buzz at the sight. This wasn't just a nightmare. It was a memory.

"I think that we're going to talk, Sergeant Barnes. Come," the man hissed in Bucky's ear.

The man yanked Bucky upwards and began to drag Bucky with him. They marched down the hallway and I followed them quickly. It looked like he was about to fall. Bucky was taller than the German man, so he had to lean down from the older man's grip on his hair. They crossed the building into a room where Colonel locked the two of them in a room. I walked in with them. Bucky was thrown into a chair as a guard proceeded to tie him up. The man stood on the far side of the room with a small metal table.

He waited until the guard had tied up Bucky and moved to stand in the corner. "Let's start easily. Where did you meet Miss Davies?"

My knees quivered slightly. He had suffered to protect me. His nightmare was because he had been too busy protecting me. "How do you know her?" Bucky asked sharply.

The Colonel grinned. "I don't think that's what I asked you, Sergeant Barnes," he said.

He turned back to the table and Bucky watched closely. I followed the Colonel over to the table and watched as he looked over it. My stomach turned when I realized what it was. A pair of brass knuckles. I reached out to stop the Colonel, but my hand went right through him. It was a dream, and a memory at that; there was nothing that I could do. The Colonel smiled as he turned back to Bucky, walking up to him, rearing backwards, and punching him dead across the face. I gasped as he doubled over, spitting out blood.

How could this have happened? How had I not known that this was happening? The Colonel rubbed the brass knuckles. There was a little streak of red on the metal. "Where did you meet Miss Davies?" he asked.

"Go screw yourself," Bucky growled, spitting out more blood.

No... "Wrong answer."

Just as I expected, the Colonel moved closer to him again. Bucky tensed as the Colonel punched Bucky directly in the stomach. Bucky bent over double, wheezing for breath, trying to suck as much air as he could back into his lungs. I very nearly turned back as he began to cough up blood. I was no fool. I knew that the man had ruptured something.

As Bucky recovered, the Colonel began pacing impatiently. "You know not of what she is," he hissed at Bucky.

"I know what she is. And I know what you are," Bucky said, barely able to breathe.

But he really hadn't known me. Not at that moment. The Colonel scoffed at Bucky and shook his head, wringing the brass knuckles. "You think yourself brave, Sergeant Barnes. How will Miss Davies feel when she knows that you died to protect her?" he snarled.

"I'd die for her. Any day," Bucky said.

He couldn't do that for me. He couldn't die. "Would she do the same?" the man asked.

"Yes," Bucky said, without hesitation.

And if I could die, I would. I would do anything for him. "Let's see how far we can push her," the man said, moving towards Bucky once more.

Barely a beat passed as he reared back and struck Bucky across the face again. But it didn't stop there. He was hit over and over again, never slowing down. Lohmer's brass knuckles hit against every inch of his body. His stomach, his chest, and his face. My eyes watered as I watched the skin and bone break. I turned back, hearing the pain in his grunts. It must have been nearly five minutes before the man ceased his assault on Bucky. Both men were breathing heavily. The Colonel from frustration and Bucky from the excruciating pain.

The man shifted the brass knuckles on his hand. It looked like bruises were forming on his hands. "Have we had a change in heart?" he asked Bucky.

"I'm not telling you a damn thing."

The man sighed irritably. "You really won't speak?" he asked. Bucky shook his head, blood dribbling from his chin. "Not even to tell me where you met her?" Bucky stayed silent. "When you met her?" He still didn't speak. "How much do you really know about her past?"

"Screw yourself," Bucky sighed.

"Did you know that she murdered her own parents?" the man asked.

The shook in his eyes was evident. He hadn't known. He didn't believe that I was capable of something like that. Bucky shook his head. The Colonel smiled at him. "Sergeant Barnes... You know not of the woman that you care so deeply for. You have no idea just what she is capable of," he said.

"I know that she's ten times the person that you could ever have the potential to be," Bucky snapped.

"Funny wording," he said.

It was obvious that the Colonel had gotten to his wits end with Bucky, who still seemed to be contemplating the previous comment. The man reared back and clocked Bucky across the jaw. It was so hard that I was sure that his jaw had been broken. He leaned over and I forced myself to stay in place. There was nothing that I could do to change this. Bucky groaned and straightened up once more.

"One last time, Sergeant Barnes. Tell me about Miss Davies," the Colonel demanded.

"Not a chance in hell."

And that comment was the final straw. Bucky was hit so hard across the head that the chair went flying. The legs were lifted up from the ground and Bucky hit the ground as it toppled over. He was coughing at the sudden impact, blood running down over his eyes. The man dropped the brass knuckles and marched over to Bucky, carelessly cutting him out of the chair. Bucky hissed as the knife slashed into his limbs. I gasped softly as the man yanked Bucky off of the floor. He was thrown to two guards that held him carelessly between the two of them. His legs were barely touching the ground, and Bucky appeared to be very close to passing out.

"Bring him back to the cell," the man ordered.

Jumping back to my own mind, I shot up in the bed, panting softly. There was a tear on the side of my cheek and I wiped it off hastily. Had he really gone through something like that? Should I go and try to stop the dream? I batted the idea back and forth for a while before deciding on going to wake him up. I didn't want him to have to dream about something like that. He deserved to have happy dreams, not something as terrible as that. I slowly got up from the bed and slipped on my robe. I was very careful not to make noise and wake Peggy up. Slowly, I slipped out of the room and gently closed the door behind me.

There was no one out in the hall to question me on what I was doing. It was the middle of the night. No one would actually spot me doing something that probably didn't look very good. Walking down the two doors to Bucky's room, I gently opened the door and slipped into his room. He was in the bed, thrashing back and forth. I watched him for a moment, starting when he shot upright, leaning over and putting his head in between his knees. He was wearing a pair of long beige sleep pants with a white t-shirt over his torso. He glanced up after a few moments and I noticed the thin veil of sweat on his forehead.

He glanced at me and jumped, surprised that someone was in his room. I blushed as Bucky relaxed, realizing who it was. "You scared me," he said, leaning back against the wall.

"I - I'm sorry. I was just coming to wake you up. I could hear your nightmares. You were thinking loudly. I wanted to try and shake you awake so that you could sleep better," I told him awkwardly.

For a moment I thought about admitting to him that I'd seen his dreams, but I knew that he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. "Thanks, Vika. Sorry about dreaming too loudly," he said softly.

"It's fine. Are you alright?" I asked.

He ran a hand over his face and wiped off a few beads of sweat. He swallowed before looking back at me and nodded. "Yeah. I'm good. Might take me a few weeks to get back to normal. They warned us that it would take a while to get used to being back in the real world," he said, still panting slightly.

"Can I sit?" I asked, motioning to the edge of the bed.

Bucky nodded, scooting over and making room for me. "Of course," he said.

Taking a seat at his side, I glanced down into my lap. "You know," I started, making him look over to me, "I never talked about what happened to me in Stryker's lab. Not with anyone. I've never talked about it to Peggy or Howard. I've briefly mentioned it to Chester. Never talked to Steve about it. When I showed you and Steve just the few little... bits of my life there... It was the first time that I'd even mentioned a little bit about it in three years. Talking about it is hard. Thinking about it is worse.

"You try to keep it to yourself because you feel like you don't want to burden anyone else with it. But what they don't tell you is that the other people... they'd rather you talk about it. Because even though they can't change anything that happened, they can at least know what happened. They can try to help you live with what happened. I've been so silent about being a mutant and everything in Stryker's lab for all of my life. I'm still trying to get used to people knowing about it. It's been weird to get used to the questions and people asking me all about what it's like. It's probably going to take me a long time to get used to it.

"But I've got people here to talk me through it. To be here with me. There are hard days and there are easy days. Just like in life. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that no one can talk you into discussing the things that happened to you, and no one can force you to tell them what happened, but when the time comes that you're ready to talk about it, I'm here to listen," I said, pressing a hand on his knee.

Bucky had been watching me the entire time that I spoke. "You're right," he said, making me glance over at him. "I don't want to put anything on my mind on yours. I don't want to ever make things harder for you."

Smiling at him, I shook my head. "Things are already hard for me. They're always going to be hard. But there are things that make it easier," I said, wrapping my hand around his.

Bucky smiled at me, tightening his grip on my hand. "How did I get someone like you?" he asked.

"You just happen to be very unlucky," I teased.

Bucky shook his head at me. "No. I'm not unlucky. I think that I'm the luckiest guy in the world," he said, gently nudging me.

"I think you've got a funny understanding of the word lucky," I said.

Being with me was definitely interesting, but I wasn't so sure that it was lucky. "Come on, Vika. I know that I'm lucky. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. Because I've got you," he told me.

"Lucky you. You've got yourself a girl that can kick you clear across a room," I joked.

Bucky smiled at me. "And I'll let her do it for the rest of my life," he said. I smiled at him, pressing a small kiss against his shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too," I said.

Bucky grabbed me around the side of the neck and I smiled at him. His hand pulled me towards him and I smiled, leaning into him. It was so good to be back with him. I pulled my legs up to my chest as I turned slightly towards him, leaning into the kiss. He kept his hand behind my neck, keeping me against him, as I laid a hand on his chest. We were together for a long time, just enjoying being back together. I never wanted him to leave. I never wanted to leave this moment. It would have been perfectly fine for us to stay like that for the rest of our lives.

Finally we had to pull away so that I could breathe. "Come here," I told Bucky. He raised a brow but nodded anyways, moving towards me. I gently pressed my fingers against his temple and sent a short blast of electricity into his brain. He jumped slightly but looked otherwise unharmed.

"What'd you do?" Bucky asked.

He was probably concerned that I had done something to him. "Hopefully stop the nightmares. Dreams are part of the brain's default network - a system of interconnected regions, which includes the thalamus, medial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex - that remains active during comparatively quiet periods. That includes rapid eye movement sleep. The blast dulled those reactions. It might not stop them, but it should help them," I said softly.

"Thank you," Bucky said.

"You're welcome."

We stared at each other for a moment before Bucky grabbed my hand. "Come here for a minute," he said softly.

For a moment I hesitated. This wasn't anything close to being appropriate. But we weren't exactly the two most normal people on the planet. So I decided that it wasn't that big of a deal. I nodded and leaned into Bucky. He gently laid back on the bed and I jumped over his body, laying between the wall and Bucky. My head was tucked on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around my waist as I laid a hand on his chest. I could feel that it had gotten harder with the training. But as my hand slipped down his torso, I felt his ribs. He'd lost weight at the Hydra base. We laid together for a long time. Bucky nodded off to sleep quickly, and I eventually felt myself starting to drift off, too.

So I begrudgingly leaned up, knowing that it was time for me to leave. "I should go. I'm going to fall asleep," I told Bucky, startling him awake.

His arm was still wrapped around me. "You can stay," he said, sleep riddling his voice.

"I - It's not appropriate," I said softly.

It was my only argument against falling asleep with him. Because I did want to stay here. Bucky looked over at me. "When have you ever cared?" he asked me. We both laughed, knowing that it was the truth. "I want you to stay," he added softly.

My heart gave a little flutter. "Alright. I'll stay," I said softly.

The two of us relaxed back into the bed. Bucky laid on his back as I curled into his side. It was not the first time that I'd ever fallen asleep with Bucky. When we were kids, the two of us and Steve had spent plenty of nights together. But we were kids. And there was the night before he deployed. But we'd still had Steve. This was the first time that we'd ever been alone at night. But it felt so right. Bucky leaned down to me and pressed a small kiss against my forehead. It didn't take him long to fall asleep, his arms never once leaving my waist. And, to my surprise, I followed not long after him. I'd barely noticed that he didn't have another nightmare with me at his side.

A/N: Another sweet chapter! I really enjoyed writing this last scene. The next one will probably include Victoria finally going over those papers that she stole from Schmidt, Steve getting his shield, and Victoria training the boys. I've got a question! How many chapters would you like to read about the Howling Commando's missions? It spans about fifteen months. Thanks so much for all of the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

rebelforcauses: I'm so glad that you think that it's cute and amazing! I'm trying to make these coming chapters super happy. I hope that you liked this one!

SupernaturalSmiles: Thank you! I'm glad that you loved it!

Ebrithme: I'm glad that you love it! Thanks so much! Hope that you like this one!

racefunhorse: I'm glad that it was your favorite chapter! I was so excited to finally have Bucky know what Victoria is. I'm glad that I surpassed your high expectations! Wow, four times? That definitely makes me happy to hear. At least you can finally move on to a new chapter lol.

kuppcake: It hurt my heart to write the moment that Bucky gave the locket back to Dum Dum. But at least he's got it back now! Bucky did react fairly well. He's unnerved by her and knows that it won't be a normal life, but he loves her too much to walk away. I'm glad that they're back together, too! Hope that you like this one!

.2017: Bucky is in some ways a little bit upset. He doesn't love the fact that he won't get to grow old with her and he doesn't really know about kids with her. But, to him, it doesn't matter. He loves her so much that he's willing to have a different kind of life with her. I'm glad that you love it!