Chapter 1. Peace and Quiet
Ever since Colonel James Rhodes was named Director of the new incarnation of the Avengers he and Bucky had a somewhat uneasy relationship. Part of it was that Bucky, and to a certain extent Sam, still felt somewhat responsible for the spinal injury that ended Rhodes career as an Avenger. Part of it was that even though Rhodes was officially retired from the U.S. Air Force he still acted like a military man. Both Bucky and Sam respected that. They both still wore their dog tags but felt that military style discipline didn't work well with what was essentially a civilian agency. So when a complaint was made that they didn't follow the military chain of command when they were on a joint mission with an elite task force Rhodes felt he had no choice but to pull them from the mission. At their debriefing both men were angry.
Bucky turned his head in that way he did when he was frustrated or irritated. "So we make a spur of the moment decision to act and the Captain is pissed at us for not clearing it with him first?"
"You know in the spur of the moment you have to trust your men," said Sam. "He didn't trust us from the get go. He kept calling Bucky World War II guy."
"I know," replied Rhodes trying to sooth their egos. "It was a mismatch from the start and that's my fault. I thought he would respect your military backgrounds but he didn't. He's one of these guys who got his promotion through connections. You're not being replaced. Our cooperation with them has ended."
"So what are we supposed to do for two weeks?" asked Bucky. "I don't want to sit around here waiting for an emergency to happen."
"I don't blame you," replied Rhodes. "Take a holiday. Go somewhere nice."
Bucky looked at him with daggers which Rhodes ignored. "It's not like I can blend in," replied Bucky. "Maybe a cabin in a remote place but they don't exactly advertise those."
"I know one you can go to," interjected Sam. "It's in California, at Lake Tahoe. I know someone who inherited it and needs some maintenance work on it. Loose deck boards, sanding, that sort of thing. Everything is there. You like keeping busy, it's perfect for you."
"Why don't you do it then?" asked Bucky, not willing to give up his aggrieved air just yet.
"Because Sarah has a bunch of things for me to do on the boat," he replied, "and you know she won't let us work on it together."
That was true. The last time they worked on the boat they took apart the pump without knowing exactly what they were doing. Bucky sighed but accepted Sam's offer. By the end of the day he had the address, the code to get in the door and the code to disable the security system. All the tools would be there as well as wood to replace the deck boards. The owner was even going to order and pay for groceries for him that he could pick up on the way from the airport. Rhodes gave him a military pass so he didn't have to pay for the flight to Reno, and a military discount code for the vehicle rental.
Early the next morning Bucky was on a flight to Reno and even got his seat upgraded to business class because he smiled at the counter attendant. When it landed he picked up the truck at the vehicle rental, figuring if he had to buy more wood he should have a vehicle that could hold a load. Plugging his phone into the CarPlay screen he inputted the address of the grocery store and set out to pick up his groceries. After picking up the food he entered the address of the cabin and started driving, stopping at a liquor store on the way for some beer and scotch. When he reached the road that encircled Lake Tahoe he began having second thoughts as it looked to be developed everywhere and not with what he thought of as traditional cabins. Many of the homes were expensive looking. As he got closer to his destination on the California side he noticed that the stretch he was on did have older looking buildings and the CarPlay voice told him his destination was the next left. Pulling into the driveway he was happy to see it was an older cabin, perhaps a little rundown but at least in what appeared to be a quieter part of the lake. He entered the code for the door, then the code to turn off the security and opened the curtains to a beautiful view of the lake. Smiling he went back out to the truck and brought the groceries in, loading the fridge and cupboards. Then he opened the sliding glass doors and went out onto the deck, seeing right away the boards that would need replacing. He went down the stairs to the ground, noticing the hand rail was loose, another thing that needed repairing. The pathway to the lake was short and there was a dock that he walked out on. Looking down into the water he could see it was pretty clear. Bob, Sam's friend who had inherited the cabin from his parents, said there were fish there and Bucky was free to use the tackle in the shed. The key for that was in the kitchen.
He heard a sound and looked up to see a woman on the next dock. Like him she was checking out the deck and looking down into the water. She looked up and their eyes met. Hesitantly she waved and Bucky waved back, then she turned and hurried off the deck back into the house next door. He smirked and went back to the house, entering the garage to see the wood stacks with notes on top indicating which part of the house it was meant for. There was also every power tool imaginable that he would need to do the work. Picking up his bag he carried it into the bedroom and saw that he would have to put sheets on the bed. He opened several doors in the hallway until he found the linen closet and pulled out queen sized sheets, pillow cases, pillows and a duvet. Just as he got to the bedroom with them he heard a woman scream. Dropping them he ran down the stairs, out onto the deck and heard the screams again from the house next door, the house with the woman who waved at him. Leaping over the deck railing he ran to the house to meet the woman coming out of the house upset.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked. "I heard screaming."
"Ugh," she grimaced. "He put it on my head and I just freaked out. Now it's in there and I don't have any mouse traps."
Bucky started laughing. "All this for a mouse?" he asked. "Did your boyfriend deliberately scare you?"
She glared at him. "No, the cat," she said. "I laid back to close my eyes because I'm tired after driving here from San Francisco. He dropped a mouse on me and it ran down my body. I swear he does it to piss me off. Stop laughing. My heart is still pounding."
Bucky stifled his laugh as best he could and took another look at her. She had golden brown hair with hazel eyes, came up to his shoulder, and definitely had a nice figure.
"Listen, I saw some mouse traps in the garage," he said. "If you have some peanut butter we can put that on them and set them around your house. It should catch any more mice you have around. Where's your cat?"
"He's fucked off somewhere," she replied looking around for him. "I don't know why I brought him. I swear he hates me."
"Actually, he probably wanted to help you develop your predatory skills," said Bucky. "It's what they do with kittens, bring them a live mouse or bird to teach them how to catch their prey."
"What are you, Encyclopedia Britannica?" she asked, looking him straight in the eye.
"No, just curious," he replied cooly looking down at her. "I'll go get those mouse traps. Peanut butter?"
"Right," she smirked. "Come right in when you return."
Taking a deep breath she went back inside while Bucky returned to the house and took out some mouse traps for her. He returned to her deck and as she instructed walked right in. The peanut butter was on the counter and he could hear her upstairs calling her cat, Jasper. Taking a knife out of the drawer Bucky loaded peanut butter on the mouse traps and put a couple in the kitchen, a couple in the living room and a couple in the dining room. He stood there waiting for her to come back when he heard a meow and looked over the counter to see the biggest orange cat he had ever seen.
"A ginger," he noted. "You are a naughty cat, aren't you?" He moved to the stairs and looked up. "Hey, miss? Your cat is down here, a big ginger cat, right?"
"That's him," she yelled down. "Be right there."
He heard several doors being closed upstairs, no doubt meant to keep the mice out. Then she appeared at the top of the stairs and came down. Jasper was sitting at the base of the stairs calmly licking his paws and rubbing his face with them. Then he looked up at the woman and lazily got up rubbing himself against her legs. She rolled her eyes and picked up him.
"Jasper, meet …?" she paused.
"James," Bucky replied, unsure why he said that. "Barnes."
"James Barnes," she repeated. "I'm Julia Devin, recently divorced and hiding out at my parent's cabin while the dust settles. Why are you hiding out?"
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
"Well, you're not the Johnsons," said Julia. "Mr. Johnson just died and I know he left the house to Bob, his son. You're not Bob either. So I'm guessing he roped you into doing some repairs so you could stay here free. Bob's not the most handy guy. Let me guess, he bought you groceries as well?"
"You're good," said Bucky. "What gave me away?"
"You're wearing gloves and a long sleeve shirt," she said. "You're not used to the cool air which means you've probably never been here. You're too handsome to be a Johnson but you do look a guy who knows his way around a power tool. You have a rental truck which means you flew here so you're either from the east coast or the south, but the fact you're not used to the cool favours you coming from the south, which is funny because you have a New York accent. You're alone, so you're either that by choice or you also have just recently ended a relationship, which now that I've talked with you I'm discounting that option. You're alone by choice."
He looked at her and licked his lips nervously. "Do you always dissect a person when you meet them?" he asked. "Is it a hobby or a profession? You know nothing about me and yet seem to have already discerned that I'm alone by choice and that I'm originally from New York. Well, you're right on both. Bob Johnson did buy me groceries and asked if I would do some repairs around the house. For the opportunity to stay in a quiet cabin in the mountains I thought it was a good trade. Now stop analyzing me and good luck catching the mice."
He turned around and left by the deck then strode back to the Johnson's house and took the stairs up to their sliding glass doors as she watched him the entire way. Then she went back inside her cabin and walked back and forth.
"Why do you do that?" she asked herself, then looked at Jasper. "Why do I do that to people, Jasper? Why do I … analyze their lives and invade their privacy. He heard me scream, came to my rescue, brought me mouse traps and set them up and I just went on and on about what I figured out about him. I'll be alone forever if I keep doing this. Shit."
She noticed she was wringing her hands and she stopped, breathed deeply and centred herself. Then she pulled out two cookie sheets, flour, sugar, salt, butter and chocolate chips. At the least she could bake James some chocolate chip cookies to make up for offending him. No one ever refused one of her chocolate chip cookies.
Bucky stormed into the living room of the Johnson's house. He wasn't pissed off so much as disturbed that the woman read him almost perfectly. He knew of no one who could read people like that except for himself, when he was the Winter Soldier. For him, it was a skill forced on him, to observe people in the process of tracking his quarry. All the minute things a person did in the course of a day that betrayed their routines, their past, and their likely future choices so that he could be in the place he needed to be to take the shot, or step out from the darkness with the garrotte, or cause an accident with their vehicle so he could complete the job without being noticed. He could feel the anxiety just hovering in his stomach. What was she? A HYDRA agent? Now, so many years after he escaped? No, that wasn't likely. If she was she certainly didn't project the arrogant confidence that most HYDRA agents did. He racked his brain going over her tells. Her wave at the dock then her quick retreat. Her obvious discomfort at the thought of the mouse touching her hair. The cat liked her even though she thought Jasper hated her. She trusted him enough to allow him into her house while she was upstairs and she introduced herself readily, no hesitation. Bucky picked up his phone and phoned Avengers HQ, inputting the extension number for the IT department. He asked for Zoe. She owed him a favour.
"Zoe?" he asked. "Bucky. Can you do a rundown on a person? Julia Devin, recently divorced, estimated age of 30-35. I don't know if that's her married or single name. She's living in her parent's cabin at Lake Tahoe. I'm staying next door at Bob Johnson's cabin. Yeah, he inherited it. I just want to know if she's really who she says she is. Text me. Thanks."
Bucky went back to the bedroom and made the bed, then changed into his running gear. The best way to deal with the level of anxiety he was feeling was to sweat it out with a good run. He locked the sliding glass doors and then entered the security code for the inside of the house, followed by the code locking the door as he stepped outside. Then he stretched and began his run, keeping it to a reasonable pace so as not to attract attention. As he was running he received a text from Zoe that Julia Devin was on the level. Divorced a month previously in a high profile case in California, Julia was known in police circles as a bit of a savant with her observational skills. She was on the higher functioning end of the autism spectrum and was considered a genius. Her divorce was high profile because her husband, a San Francisco police detective, testified in divorce court that she was a fraud, that she had lied from the beginning of their marriage about her skills. If she had them she would have known he was cheating on her because he left all sorts of clues for her. He cheated on her for four and a half years before she finally caught him in bed with his girlfriend. Bucky slowed down and stopped, re-reading the text.
"What an asshole," said Bucky, out loud. "He cheats on her for that long and because she was in love with him and likely didn't recognize the signs of cheating due to her autistic tendencies that makes her a fraud in his eyes?"
He turned around and began running back towards the Johnson's house. It took him an hour to get back to the driveway and as he ran up he could see Julia Devin and Jasper sitting on his steps. She was eating a cookie. She stood up uncertainly and looked at him with a somewhat apologetic look on her face, holding out the plate of cookies.
"I made you cookies to apologize for invading your privacy," she said quickly. "It is something I do, or did professionally. I kind of notice things and can make the connections in my mind. I'm sorry I offended you."
He stood there looking at her for a moment then reached out and took a cookie, biting it and chewing.
"Chocolate chip," he said. "I accept your apology as long as you accept mine. My name is James Barnes but everyone calls me Bucky. I don't know why I said James."
"I know why," she said, as the light of recognition hit her eyes. "Because Bucky Barnes brings up the Winter Soldier and you didn't want me thinking of you that way. I didn't recognize you because I've only seen pictures of you with the long hair and beard. I don't think of you as him because I think you're a good man who was tortured and forced to do terrible things. You came to my rescue when you heard me screaming and bad men don't that sort of thing. Good men do."
She shrugged and Bucky finished the cookie then reached for a second.
"Will you have dinner with me?" he asked impulsively. "I had you checked out because for a moment I thought you were HYDRA come to get me again. I'm sorry for thinking that."
She smiled and Bucky smiled back. "Okay, I'll bring a dessert," she said. "I eat pretty much anything, except creamed corn or tapioca. Can't stand the texture of those."
Bucky looked at his watch. "6:30 okay?" he asked. "I have to shower and marinate the steaks. Just come in the deck doors but watch out for that handrail on the steps. That's on my list of things to fix."
She smiled again and handed the plate to Bucky, picked up Jasper and returned to her parent's house, looking back once. He watched her leave, ate another cookie and unlocked the door and the security system. Putting the plate on the counter he pulled out two steaks and made a marinade with some vinegar, soy sauce, mustard, crushed garlic, honey, salt and pepper. Whisking it together he found a plastic bag, put the steaks inside, then poured the marinade over the steaks, making sure they were completely covered in the liquid. Then he poked some potatoes, rubbed oil over them, wrapped them in foil and put them on the barbecue, firing it up on medium. Quickly he ran upstairs, took his usual five minute shower, dressed and came back down to make a garden salad, putting chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, cheese, and croutons into the bowl. He had several choices of salad dressings so he brought them all out. Bob had ordered sour cream but there was nothing else to put on the baked potatoes so Bucky crispy fried some bacon and crumbled it, draining it on a paper towel. He shredded some cheese for it as well. Better to have choice and if they didn't use it he could use them both for an omelette in the morning. He heard the glass door slide open and Julia walked in wearing a blue dress with her hair in a loose ponytail, wearing sandals and holding a plate of brownies. Smiling at her he asked if she wanted a beer and she nodded.
Reaching into the fridge he brought out two beers. "Glass?" he asked.
"Bottle is fine," she said and he opened both, handing her one of them.
"To new friendships," he said and tipped his beer to her. "Excuse me while I check the potatoes."
He went out to the barbecue, feeling the potatoes with his vibranium hand and decided they were soft enough that he could put the steaks on. She sat out on the deck with him as he put the steaks on the grill.
"May I see your arm up close?" she asked. "I've seen it in pictures but there's not much published about it. The Wakandans keep their technology under wraps."
"For good reason," said Bucky, coming over to her. "It's made from vibranium, with circuitry inside. My titanium one weighed over 40 lbs which affected my back, neck and my gait. This one was made to weigh the same as the average male arm, about 6 lbs. I can sense heat and cold, can feel pressure, and touches. It's very strong and I can punch through a concrete wall with it. One of these on the wrong person can cause all sorts of havoc."
She touched it and ran her fingertips on it, tracing the gold design at times as Bucky described it. He watched her face as he talked noticing how she took in the information he shared with her, another thing he didn't normally do. It usually took longer before he was comfortable with someone touching his arm, other than the Wakandans, and kids but her touch was light and respectful.
"How wonderful," she said, when she was finished. "They must have known you were a good man as well to build you such a marvel and to deprogram you. No one said anything about that. I kind of deduced it as no one else has the technology to undo brainwashing."
They both took another sip of their beers and Bucky looked at her again. "You said you noticed things professionally then put it in the past tense. What happened?"
"My husband accused me of being a fraud," she said, looking out the window as she said it. "I worked as a consultant for police departments, visiting crime scenes or going over cold cases. I notice minute things and can make connections that others don't catch. I was good at it and I liked it. He said if I really could do that then I should have known he was cheating on me for most of our marriage because he dropped clues all the time."
"That's not fair," said Bucky. "You loved him, right? You wouldn't necessarily notice clues that made your husband look bad."
"After Mason's accusations during the divorce the seed of doubt was planted," she said. "Suddenly all the cases I had been involved in were subject to review to see if I had missed evidence, which I didn't. But most of the police departments were spooked enough to not employ me anymore as a consultant so Mason had his revenge on me in the end. He didn't get alimony from me because he's the one who cheated but he made sure I was mostly unemployable after. I'm still on contract with the San Francisco PD so there is that."
"No offence, but your ex-husband sounds like an asshole," said Bucky, flipping over the steaks. "To cheat on you then, because you were not attuned to discovering his clues about his cheating, to publicly accuse you of being a fraud, well that's just wrong."
"I guess I made him look bad professionally more than once," said Julia. "Why he didn't call it quits then I don't know. But you're right. I didn't recognize the signs of his cheating. Maybe it was too personal or I was lying to myself but it never occurred to me that he was cheating on me until I found him in bed with a beat cop. Why did you think I was HYDRA?"
Bucky licked his lips and scratched his eyebrow. "Well, the only other person I know of who had the kind of observational skills you had was me, back when I was the Winter Soldier, except mine were programmed into me," replied Bucky. "I still have them for the most part but not to the extent you have yours. For a while I thought you might be a HYDRA agent sent to bring me back in. You surprised me and frightened me a little."
"Until you did your research on me and found I was on the level," she replied. "That's fair. I'm not offended. In fact, I'm kind of glad because it changed your view of me quickly. I knew because you took the cookie."
"I took the cookie," repeated Bucky, then he took another drink of his beer. "Do you like books?"
She nodded beaming. Then she rattled off a bunch of titles that included some of his favourites. Bucky beamed back at her. This could be the beginning of an interesting friendship.
