Hello! Just a note and some background for where this is going. This follows the events of "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" as the GRC tries to clean up the mess they and John Walker left behind. \

There will be some ties to the show, the comics and "Agent Carter" (Man I miss that show...). Leave a review if you're into that sort of thing! I could use some feedback since "enemies to lovers" and slow burn is pretty new for me. Thanks! Enjoy :)

~Alice

CHAPTER 1.

Jenny swiveled at her desk, turning circles in her chair. Her head was full. In the last month, she'd taken on eleven new Global Repatriation Council cases, and hardly had a break. She pulled her strawberry blonde hair back into a ponytail, blowing out a deep breath.

"Hey, you," said a voice behind her.

She swiveled to find her coworker Nicole, stomach slightly swollen, three months along.

"Hey," she said back with a forced smile. Nicole was a welcome break, but she had to remember to smile nowadays. "How's baby?"

"Baby's hungry. All the time." She held out her hand.

Jenny smiled and reached into her snack drawer and pulled out a packet of almond butter.

Nicole ripped it open and squeezed it into her mouth. "So, this weekend. Margaritas at El Toros? I'm buying," she said with a sticky tongue.

"Um…" Jenny pointed at Nicole's stomach.

She patted the bump. "Don't worry. I'm your designated driver. You get drunk, I'll live vicariously through you."

"I'd like to, I've just got so much paperwork. And I've got an early case visit Monday…"

"Come on, I need to coax you out of your funk. You've been grouchy for a week."

Jenny bit her lip. She'd tried not to show it. This was the anniversary of her grandfather's death, and it weighed like an anchor around her neck.

"Please?" asked Nicole sticking her bottom lip out. "I'm going to get you sauced, and then you can tell me what's been going on with you. I'm a good listener." She propped her elbows on the mountain of paperwork on Jenny's desk and fluttered her long black eyelashes.

Jenny smiled. "Sure, that sounds nice actually." She couldn't tell her everything. People tended to run for the hills when she told them the truth. But she could give her a modified version, which meant only one margarita.

"Good. I'll text you later. Oh! And Stuart wants to talk to you."

"Stuart? Why?"

Nicole shrugged and left.

…

"Jennifer, come in," said Stuart. Jenny's boss's boss was a tall, by the book sort of man. The kind of man who didn't want any kind of argument from his inferiors. But he'd always been kind to Jenny.

"Sure," she said. She closed the door and sat on the other side of his desk. "What's up boss?"

He leaned back and tossed a file at her. "I heard through the grapevine you have combat training," he said casually.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, um. You heard wrong."

Stuart shifted and narrowed his gaze.

"I have training in martial arts, but I've never fought in a war, shot a weapon or stormed a fortress. That specific enough for you?"

He smirked. "Ah, that makes more sense."

"Why on earth would that be of use to you in the slightest?"

Stuart sighed. "I have an assignment for you," he said. "If you want it."

Jenny bit her lip. A particularly violent case? She'd been able to handle herself in some crazy situations in the past, but she wasn't sure if she was up to actually defending herself while trying to help someone.

"You know with the recent Flag Smasher debacle, and the vote being postponed, that we've had our share of… press," he said, folding his hands over his stomach.

"Sure."

"Well, this is a peacekeeping op. A sort of, liaison to the people job."

Jenny's pulse sped up.

"I recommended you. You're personable, you can mediate between people like no one can. You can get people to do things they would never do."

"So I'm a master manipulator?" she asked, a laugh in her voice.

"I only mean that you know people well. You anticipate what they're going to say and meet them where they're at. It's a gift. We need someone like that while we clean up this mess the senators left us internally."

"What about my cases?"

"I'll see that they're properly distributed between your coworkers. I'm sending you overseas. This is highly prestigious Jennifer. If you take it, it could open huge doors for you."

Jenny's heart was beating harder. This sounded amazing. Just the thing she needed. But it also sounded all wrong. "I'm not an ambassador Stuart. I don't have any kind of media training."

He leaned forward then, his eyes boring into her. "I'm not this honest very often, so let this mean something. I recommended you because you believe in what's right and doing the right thing. While you know how to talk to people, you don't bullshit them. If something's wrong, you say it in a really gracious way. And that's why I turned down all the other applications and went straight to you."

"I'm flattered." Embarrassed heat rose up her neck.

"You want this, I promise. It's right up your alley, and I need you."

"Is that a command?"

"A strongly worded request."

Jenny drew in a deep breath. "Alright. Pushy bastard."

"Don't tell me you're not leaping out of your chair for this."

She grinned then. "I am. Thanks Stuart." She was leaping inside, but she was still nervous. She'd managed to bury her former identity so far in to the ground no one could find it. At least that's what she told herself. It someone really wanted to know who she was, they might be able to dig it up, and a high profile assignment like this might be too much attention.

"Great. Sign this, and this, and I'll send you down to media for some training. How to look good on camera, that sort of thing. Oh! One more thing before you go."

Jenny pulled out a pen and signed, not knowing if she was doing the right thing, but powerless to stop it. She wanted this.

Three more signatures.

Jennifer Wallace.

She pushed the NDA and waiver back to him after inscribing her signature on the dotted lines.

"I'm sending you out with protection. Sort of a partner."

"Good. If you're sending me into the heart of things, I'd like some security."

"Glad to hear it." Stuart leaned over his phone and pressed the intercom to his assistant. "Kelsey would you send in our guest?" Stuart started to gather the forms together. "He was a controversial choice, but he seems to be on our side. Appealed to his sense of latent altruism. If the rumors are true, then his brain is fixed."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, her curiosity piqued.

The door opened and her protection walked in. His presence took up the whole room. The black leather jacket he wore, the smell immediately earthy and overwhelming. Jenny's heart dropped painfully into her stomach. His hair was shorter and he had a beard now, but she'd never forget those eyes.

She lurched from her chair. In front of her, staring straight into her, was the figure of her childhood nightmares. James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, The Winter Soldier.