Sorry for the delay but I have a little trouble with this chapter but its up! And get ready for some attack next chapter! I don't know if some of you will be sad that Annie and Bucky's time at the Clint farm is coming to an end up that is the nature of plot. I'm looking forward to more amazing reviews from you guys. And thank you for all the new followers and favorites (I still love my older ones).

So just found out that when I post a chapter they delete all my time skip/ break thingys that I put in there so I'm going back and fixing it all. Sorry if it got confusing. It's a lot clearer with all the breaks separating the scenes. If they're not there it means is messing it up again.

P.S. HYDRA Steve will not be canon in this story. I can't really imagine Steve doing that so in my mind it's not happening.

Chapter 33

Annie grunted discontently as sleep lifted and pushed her back into the world. She felt horrible, her limbs were heavy and her head just didn't feel right. She tilted her head towards the clock on the nightstand noting that she had slept in much longer than usual. With the movement she felt Bucky's arm tighten around her waist. She nestled into him hoping that the act would somehow relieve her head of its gunky feeling. Bucky made a please noise at this and shifted them into a more comfortable position.

"Shouldn't you be up already?" He queried drowsily.

"You act like I have control over when I wake up," she muttered back. She rubbed her hand roughly against her face answering, "I feel off today, I don't know what it is."

"I'll make breakfast then. You go have a shower okay?" Bucky suggested.

Annie couldn't deny that the offer sounded nice. She lazily nodded but then concerned, "Do you know how to make breakfast?"

"I guess we'll find out," He shrugged before removing himself from bed and quickly changing in the on-suite.

Once he had exited the room to prepare breakfast, whatever the result may be, Annie trudged into the tiled room and cranked the knob to start the hot water hoping the heat would lift her from the strange drowsiness that had overtaken her this morning. Bucky was right, all she needed was a good shower and then some breakfast.

The moment she had removed her clothing she felt an unbearable chill and hurried to turn on the shower to the hottest temperature it allowed. She sighed as the steaming water rushed against her skin and fogged up the room. After a minute under the heated water she felt the need for more heat, the chill returning to her skin. With the heat as high as it would go and the cold to a minimal Annie finished off her shower feeling her drowsiness gone.

She collected the towel from the narrow holder hanging from the wall and wrapped it around her. She realised in her discomfort she had forgot to gather clothes to change into. The worry was dismissed as she recalled that Bucky was busy making breakfast. She was curious about the end result. He hadn't cooked much since they met but he had offered to help many times and had inquisitively watched her cook. He surely had taken in something though she probably wasn't the best teacher. She was hoping he had better luck with favour that she did.

She rubbed an extra towel roughly against her damn tangled hair promising to brush it after she had gotten dressed. She didn't want to try and wrangle her curls when they dried. She finally exited the now overly foggy room after she had gotten her long locks dry enough.

She enter the clearly liven-in mint bedroom to find something she had not anticipated. Bucky stood in the middle of the room mid-step coming to knock on the bathroom door. She must have taken longer in the shower than she thought, breakfast must already be finished.

Bucky's deep blue eyes widened as his thick brows shot up and his jaw loosened. She was perplexed by his reaction before she remembered she was only in a towel, one that did not cover as much as she hoped. Her hand shot up to clutch the towel to her chest to stop it from revealing any more than it already was.

She suddenly felt warmth pool in her cheeks as Bucky continued to stare at her, his cavernous eyes rapidly darting from one part of her to the next. She noticed Bucky's breathing sharpen and his hands fist causing the muscles of his arms to protrude. He took a step towards her.

His eyes had darkened a shade, watching her every subtle movement. His rounded eyes dilated. The intense look igniting something inside her. An odd feeling of twisting organs and molten lava running through her veins.

He continued to deliberately step towards her. The closing proximity between the two causing Annie's own breathing to hitch. All she could register was the overwhelming heat that radiated underneath her skin. Her mind flashed it the dangerous image of Bucky doing- no she needed to stop.

He stood right in front of her and Annie couldn't conceive the possibility of moving; all she could do was watch him as his eyes burned her. The air felt too thick to breathe and her heart thrashed about her chest as he lifted his hand and ghosted it over the exposed skin of her shoulder. It was as if he was afraid to make contact but couldn't resist it. Nevertheless the feather-like touch left a blazing trail in its wake.

She couldn't define what was happening behind the cloudiness of his eyes as he stared at her with instinctual wonder. "Annie," a soft call escaped his mouth. His eyes then clenched shut and features turned to those of strain.

He drew away, his gazed avoiding her, "Annie." He said again with a new distance. "Breakfast is ready. You should eat."

Annie nodded dazedly still caught out in what had just occurred, "Ah, yeah. Okay."

Once Bucky had heard her answer he stormed into the bathroom. The door slamming behind him.

Annie shook her head but still the intense heat circulating her face made clear thought a challenge. Why had he looked at her like that? What was he thinking? Why is he so damn hard to read?

Annie had to leave the room to clear her head and get off this topic. She threw on the first pair of clothes she could find and scuffled down the stairs.

"What are you so energetic about?" Clint muttered tiredly as she entered the kitchen. Annie shook her head at Clint. She knew he wasn't great with mornings but it was closer to noon now.

"Do you act this way on missions too? Does Nat have to throw water on you?" Annie inquired mockingly.

"No, she just fires her gun to wake me up," Clint clarifies with disinterest.

That sounded like Natasha. The woman knew how to get things done. Clint took another sip of his coffee and nibbled on a misshapen pancake, "You know your boy actually makes a decent pancake."

Annie's heart warmed at the plate of pancakes. I was clear that Bucky had spent a lot of time making them.

He finished of the small piece and once again sipped his coffee before examining the time. "I was worried that you might be dead because you we're up before the crack of dawn."

"That's an over-exaggeration Clint," Annie grumbled. The tired banter ended as Clint released a string of violent coughs. "Are you okay Clint?" Annie asked with concern for the aging man.

"Yeah, yeah. Actually no. I feel like crap," He confessed.

Annie sighed at the clearly unwell man. She realised what she had first categorised as tiredness and really sickness. "Clint go get some rest, you look like your about to pass out right here."

He smirked groggily, "You're the boss." He emptied the coffee realising it was powerless to help his current situation and slowly made it up the stairs. Annie was relieved, Clint was much easier to convince when it came to sleep than Bucky.

Now that she had a moment to herself she observed that her temperature had not gone down since the towel episode. She tried to look for a reason but her thoughts became fuzzy and difficult to interpret. The ache and drowsiness from before gradually returned making it increasing challenging to stand.

One thought finally get through causing a rising panic. Clint must have the flu which means she must have caught it which means… This was bad. The heat radiating underneath her skin continued to grow raddling her thoughts. It was lulling her to sleep and her rational thought was not accessible enough to warn her against it. She closed her eyes feeling the relief as her body went numb.

Bucky tugged on his favourite red shirt, his muscles now relaxing under the thick fabric. Luckily the cold shower had calmed him down. He wasn't sure what had happened before. One moment he was getting Annie for breakfast and the next she was in a towel and everything looked so tempting. He just needed to reach out and touch her. He needed to know what it felt like. Fortunately he had snapped himself out of it but his mind still reeled wondering about the overwhelming sensation. He couldn't get it out of his head that Annie had felt something too.

He glared at his reflection his the misty mirror. Cold eyes met his own. He needed to get these thoughts out of his head. He should leave the room and see how successful his first attempt at independent cooking had gone. Yes that was a good plan.

He trudged down the narrow stairway with less haste than usual. He felt more nervous to see Annie than his usual anticipation.

"Annie?" He called wondering if she was eating in the dining room for still in the kitchen. When he heard no answer he tried to calm the dark thoughts that started to raise in his head. Every other time it had been a false alarm that left him feeling like a fool.

He reserved to calm down and check the kitchen. Maybe she was just busy eating he hoped. Once he entered the pastel tiled room his eyes instantly fell on the unconscious form sprawled out on the floor.

His head ran into overdrive as blood painfully pulsed rapidly through his too small veins. Her form facing away from where Bucky was, gold hair concealing her face and torso from his view. He desperately hoped there was no blood as he dropped urgently beside her limp form and twisted her carefully.

Bucky finally let out a breathe seeing no sign of injury. But what was wrong? People don't just collapse without reason. The panic started up again but he desperately tried to suppress it, even tapping into some HYDRA training. He needed to be focused to help Annie, not fret over the possibility of losing her when something could actually be wrong. On closer inspection he noticed that her face was an alarming shade of red and a light sheen of perspiration had begun to cover her forehead. He needed to get her off the floor then he could figure out what was wrong.

He cautiously lifted her into his arms, carefully supporting her head. With her closer Bucky could observe how her breathes came out in strained huffs. This motivated him to figure this out as fast as he was capable.

He sprinted up the stairs, three steps at a time completely ignoring the distressed cracks the wood made beneath him. He had made such a ruckus on the way to their room that Laura had come to investigate.

She entered the room as Bucky laid Annie down on the queen bed and drew multiple blankets over her. "What happened?!" Laura exclaimed in confusion.

"I don't know," Bucky responded frustrated. "I found her like this on the floor," He tried to explain without giving in to the irritation of how little he knew about the human body outside of where to hit to maim or kill.

Laura leaned over the clearly pained, unconscious woman and examined her. On a hunch she pressed her hand against Annie's forehead and pulled it back after a second.

Laura turned back to him with a serious expression, "She has a fever. A bad one. Clint came down with the flu this morning, she must have caught it from him yesterday."

"Is it normally this bad?" Bucky questioned anxiously.

"No But…" Laura paused to think for a moment. "Has she had the flu since she was revived from the crash?" Laura fired quickly, an answer forming in her head.

"I don't know. Not since I've known her," Bucky tried to help.

"Bucky the flu virus changes every year and if she hasn't had it since the 40s than this is going to hit her hard, even if she's been vaccinated," Laura explained. She wasn't a doctor but it didn't take one to know that Annie had a severely weaker immunity to the virus. It was likely that SHIELD had had her vaccinated which was most likely the reason that she didn't show any other flu symptoms. But the fever seemed to have remained with a vengeance. "Bucky put more blankets on her while I get a damp cloth and the thermometer.

Bucky nodded obediently and hurriedly gathered the discarded throw quits scattered about the room. He piled them on Annie until they were mounding.

Laura quickly returned and offered a reassuring smile at Bucky's worried expression. She placed the soaking cloth on Annie's sweating forehead and positioned the thermometer in her agape mouth. She had to wait a moment and noted how tense Bucky was. His eyes never leaving Annie. On the surface the troubled man seemed cold and distant but Laura could see that Bucky really cared about Annie.

She took the thermometer out not wanting to torture Bucky for any longer. She frowned as it read 103.8 degrees. That was not good but it wouldn't kill her. She tried to give Bucky as warm a look as she could as she reported, "She's going to be fine Bucky but it's not going to be easy."

Bucky acknowledged her conclusion with a nod. "I'll look after her." Annie was clearly safe in the attentive hands of Bucky, Laura settled before leaving to check on her whining husband. The man didn't even have a real fever and he was acting like he was on the verge of death.

As Annie returned to consciousness she felt a wave of discomfort crash over her. She felt absolutely awful, like she was freezing to death in a furnace.

"Annie?" She heard a muffled voice call.

She groaned in response before cracking open her dry eyes. She started to form shapes but her eyes never truly focused. She could see Bucky leaning over her with a concerned tug in his brows. She could now register the pressure of his human hand on her own and she couldn't help but smile.

"Annie?" He called again, not satisfied with the lazy response.

"Yeah Buck. Ah. Wo-what happened?" She questioned disorient, trying to manoeuvre her tongue over the words.

She lifted her free hand to her head, clumsily rubbing it in a hope to rid it of the constant throbbing.

"You have a fever. I found you unconscious," Bucky recounted with a frown, obviously not remembering the event pleasantly.

"It was Clint wasn't it?" Annie mumbled with a chuckle. She knew she shouldn't find that funny but right now her judgement was not working correctly.

Bucky seemed agitated at her amusement before realising that she was not completely in control yet. He decided to humour her, "Yes it was Clint. He has the flu."

She stopped herself from laughing this time feeling her control and thinking capability improving.

"How do you feel?" Bucky asked as he observed her condition.

With a restless sigh she answered honestly, "My head hasn't really stopped aching since I woke up and I fill like my face is being burnt off but my body is freezing."

"Do you need more blankets?" Bucky asked with an expression that gave away how anxious he was to help. She did laugh at the huge mound of blankets that already cocooned her body. She realised that no matter how many blankets her stacked on top of her she wouldn't feel warm and that didn't help at all with her fiery face. She would just has to deal with the constant discomfort.

"No Bucky, I'm fine blanket-wise. Thank you for looking after me."

Bucky offered her a small pressed smile unsure how to respond. He revolved for holding her hand that poked out from beneath the multitude of blankets with both hands.

The slight shiver from his metal hand sparked a far-fetched yet ingenious idea in Annie's boiling head.

She avoided eye contact as she asked, knowing she would never find comfort until she did, "Buck can I ask you to do something for me?"

"Anything," he responded confused.

"I need you to hold me," Annie blurted unsure how to phrase the odd request.

"What?" Bucky sputtered with pink tinging his cheeks.

Annie cringed at how weird that sounded. "Sorry! I mean I just need you to get into the bed to share warmth and put your metal hand to my head."

"My hand?" Bucky was getting more and more confused by Annie's request. She huffed at how difficult this was to explain without embarrassing herself.

"I'm not explaining this well. Bucky I have no idea how bad my fever is but right now I can't stop shivering and my face is burning and I want nothing more than to but your hand against it. I know it's a lot to ask and you don't have-"

Annie's rant ended abruptly as Bucky began to pull away the layers of blankets and insert himself closely beside her on the mattress. She was dumbfounded by his actions as he continued to wrap his arms around her pulling her shivering form against him.

"W-What are you doing?" She questioned still confused.

"I said anything didn't I?" Bucky stated as if the answer was obvious.

Annie nodded not in a position to argue as she finally stopped shivering and felt warmth leak into her artic bones.

Bucky offered his metal hand to her somewhat hesitantly, still cautious if its strength. She gave the robotic limb a reassuring touch before placing the cold metal against her cheek. She couldn't restrain the sigh that escaped her lips at the relief. It was like running cold water over a burn.

The combination of warm and cold seemed to balance out her body temperature and with the new-found contentment she felt the familiar tug of sleep.

"Thank you Bucky. You're always looking after me," She mumbled happily as sleep started to slow her thoughts. She always felt so content and safe with Bucky. She instinctively burrowed deeper into his arms, pressing right against his chest. She could feel his breath steady on her shoulder and allowed her eyes to close, fever forgotten.

He felt Annie nuzzle closer to him a sign he now knew meant that she was descending into sleep. It wasn't long before her breath came out in deep, even puffs, a sign that she was now slumbering. He could leave her now. Sneak off now that she was unaware of her fever symptoms. But he didn't. Bucky instead held her tighter. He could leave her but he didn't want to.

Annie had actually invited him to hold her. He couldn't believe his ears when she had asked. Yes the request was a messy jumble of words but he was still surprised she had voiced a want to cuddle up to him while conscious. Though the degree in her feverish state was questionable. She had then done the impossible. She had transformed his arm, previously a weapon to snap necks, into an opportunity to comfort her. He was still weary of using his bionic hand for more careful tasks but she had in complete confidence held it to her cheek. For once it had not hurt someone but brought them relief.

He stared at the marvel of a woman resting her head just in front of his; her hand still clutching his metal one to her cheek. She had made him feel like a real person again and had made one of the worst parts of him good if only for a moment. The thought of leaving her was unimaginable.

Annie awoke from her much more enriching sleep in a haze. Her mind still refused to properly function she noted as the shapes of the room shifted in the blurry vision. She felt half-awake, half aware. As if the slightest close of her eyes would thrust her back into the dream realm. She could feel Bucky's warmth still beside her and his metal arm gently extinguishing the heat emitting from her face.

She lifted her free hand to test her vision. The forms of the digits shook and weaved unsteadily. She turned the hand to face the palm and narrowed her eyes at the strange glowing blue strings that darted up the little veins in her wrist. The thin, almost life-like whizzing lines grew more vibrant as they zapped through the veins that lay closer to the surface. They dispersed across the span of her palm until they dissipated.

She wanted to watch the strings dance along her hand more but her eyelids grew too heavy to fight and she once again slipped away from awareness.

Annie heard humming. It was light and off tune but she could hear it move around her. She stretched her back out, the action making her aware of the sleeping body coiled around her. She dared to open her eyes, braving the onslaught of natural light that streamed through the ajar window.

"Annie?" A female voice questioned.

"Yeah?" Annie answered groggily before looking over to Laura who smiled down at the couple entangled in the blanket-infested bed. "How long have I been asleep?"

"A day and a half. But I think you woke up a few times in between," Laura informed Annie who was still regaining control of her body. "Open your mouth."

"Why?" Annie quizzed but Laura took the opportunity to stick the thermometer into her mouth. She responded to Annie's glare with a satisfied grin. Annie was left to lay in silence waiting for the small device to lightly beep signalling it had measured her temperature.

Laura made a pleased noise before turning it to Annie for her to read. The blonde sitting up, careful not to wake or move Bucky, squinted to read the small numbers 101.6. "Your fever's going down," Laura commented happily.

"How high was it before?" Annie asked in disbelief.

"Almost 104 degrees," Laura replied.

"No wonder I felt so horrible yesterday," Annie mumbled to herself.

A silence fell between the two but Laura interrupted it with a sly grin, "You guys look very sweet you know." Annie was thankful that the constant red hue of her feverish cheeks hid the blush rising. "He hasn't left your side since you got that fever," The older woman smiled at the oblivious sleeping Bucky who still held onto Annie's waist despite her upright position. "I'll let you two sleep then," she quickly excused herself.

Annie knew that Laura was too clever to be oblivious to the odd relationship the two shared. Annie was just glad Laura was not one to tease relentlessly. The same could not be said for her husband.

She looked down at Bucky who lightly tightened his hold around her waist in his sleep. She didn't notice the light smile that formed on her face as she brought her hand down to brush some hair away from his face. His head leaned in the direction of her hand causing her to continue to run her hand through his shortened tresses. He made a soft sigh at that motion. A breathy laugh escaped Annie's lips at the adorable noise. Who would have thought the Winter Soldier was so endearing in his sleep.

When Bucky awoke he was stunned to find how long he had slept for. The last time he had woken was in the afternoon but now it appeared to be late morning the following day. He was also surprised to find Annie not beside him. His attention was directed to the open window that was positioned in the middle of the opposite wall to the one the bed head pressed against.

He heard a distant slice and aggressive grunt sounding from outside. He shoved the pile of blankets off of him and trode to look out the window to see Annie with rolled up sleeves angrily attacking logs of wood with an axe below him on the front lawn. What was she doing?

Bucky dashed down the oak stairs and into the kitchen for answers. He found Laura trying to convince a sniffily Clint to eat some toast, complaining that he was worse than the kids.

He gave the two an odd look which Clint, when he noticed Bucky had entered the room, responded in a creaky voice with, "Morning sleeping beauty."

He understood that reference but that wasn't important now. With a cautionary tone asked them, "What is Annie doing out there?"

Laura was surprised that he had chosen to ask them instead of running straight out to question Annie. "Her fever is gone but why she is destroying all of our wood you have to ask Clint," Laura informed glaring at the man mentioned.

In response Clint gave a guilty expression, "How was I supposed to know she would react like that?!" Clint attempted to defend himself.

"What happened?" Bucky asked as his patience grew thin.

Clint dropped his head into his hand as he made another sniff at his clogged nose, "I was just arguing with her about coming clean with Steve and then she just snapped."

"Snapped?" Bucky parroted. Why would she react so extremely? Annie usually responded to conversations with logic and reason. That was the reason that she won most arguments. He searched his mind for an answer and for once found one that was directly related.

He could recall this happening before. The memory was vague and scattered but he could remember finding Annie aggressively scrubbing at some plates to the point that it was damaging in the sink of her old house. It had been sometime after he had told her that he had been drafted.

Bucky felt an overwhelming sense of comprehension as he realised that he knew what had caused Annie's drastic reaction. Too absorbed in his new sense of understanding, he exited out the front door without another word to Laura and Clint.

Bucky approached Annie without any hesitation although she did seem somewhat dangerous as she hurled a large axe deep into the cylindrical wood. The slices weren't careful and calculated but were jagged and violent. As if the purpose of the movement was not to separate the log but to simply destroy something.

He had to take a moment to just survey her to the rare state. Her breathing was ragged and her hair stuck out of the pony tail it was held in. Her cheeks held a more intense red hue which made Bucky worry for a moment that she wasn't really over her fever. He comforted himself by recalling that her face reddened with most excessive physical activity.

To any person who did not know Annie too well, the extreme change in demeanour would be confusing. It made complete sense actually.

The slight woman had a habit of bottling up her emotions in an attempt to maintain reason but when it came too much, the smallest thing would set her off and turn her wrath on an inanimate object. The cathartic destruction used to defuse all the pent up emotion and frustration.

And with all Annie had been through in the past two months it was bound to happen soon.

"Annie?" Bucky approached carefully.

"Yeah Buck?" Annie asked with suppressed irritation as she tossed another log carelessly onto the chopping block. He knew why this was happening but he was still unsure why her conversation with Clint had set it off.

"Why did talking to Clint upset you?" Bucky outright asked.

Annie harshly thrust the axe into the log with a restrained expression, her eyes locked on the wood. "I'm not upset."

He sighed at her act, this wasn't going to get anywhere if she doesn't tell him what's wrong. "Don't act dumb. We both know you're not. Annie I know that you're so busy trying to be logical all the time that you bottle up your emotions until you explode. I need you to tell me what's wrong so I can help you figure it out."

She paused with the axe limp in her hands and a weak, nostalgic smile on her face, "You remembered that?"

"I remember you trying to reason through everything after I found out they were drafting me. You ignored how you felt until you cracked. I can remember you scrubbing so hard at a plate that you snapped in in half." A small grin formed on his face as he recalled, lost in the memory, "When I asked you what was wrong you stared at the plate and cried. I had no idea what to do. I ended up just holding you as you cried and asked me not to go."

"All had had was you and Steve. It felt like half my world was falling apart and I couldn't find a reason good enough for you to risk your life," Annie admitted in a pensive tone.

"How about protecting my country?" Bucky teased. He was getting better at joking. Though he only felt comfortable enough to try around Annie.

Annie quirked up the corner of her mouth at the joke but it some fell back into its frown. "You're starting to sound like Steve."

"Is that why you're upset. It is Steve?" Bucky probed.

At the question Annie's knuckled turned white as she tightly gripped the handle of the axe and her shoulders tensed. Bucky knew he hit the nail on its head.

"Yes. I-I mean no- I just- ahh!" Annie growled in frustration as she tried to sort out the whirl wind of anxieties and anger and frustration. She decided to attack the log again for good measure before shouting, "It's everything!" her hand tightened around the axe even more if possible. "I hate this whole situation. I hate that we have to keep looking over our backs, I hate what HYDRA will do if they find us and how much that terrifies me. I hate how much pain they put you through and how I contributed to it. I'm worried that if I'm alone with my thoughts for too long I'll start to think about what they did to you for so long. I hate being suddenly thrown into the future where I don't understand how any of this God-forsaken technology works. I feel like a child. Grown men used to come to me for tactical plans on a war and now I can't even figure how a telephone works. And-and I miss Steve! I miss his constant optimism. I miss looking forward to when he came home from a mission. I miss how he would compliment my food even when it was burnt. I even miss that stupid Captain America costume."

Bucky was speechless. He had thought he had a lot to deal with but apparently Annie was taking on his burden as well as her own. He couldn't think of anything to stay that would ease her worries because they were valid. And he couldn't replace Steve.

Bucky decided to do what he had done that day over 75 years ago. Bucky guided the axe out of her hands before wrapping her up in his. He wasn't that proficient with emotions but at least he could do this for her. It wasn't long before for hands tightened around his torso. The small woman clung onto him as if her life depended on it. He was a little startled when he felt a dampness against his chest but realised that Annie was crying. He just smiled down at the vulnerable woman in his arms and embraced her just that little bit tighter telling her he was there. He promised he would always be there for her.

He smiled knowing that the second she yelled at him for shooting her and refused to rest like any normal person would she had sealed her fate. She was now forever stuck with him.

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