April 3rd, 2014
Outside Washington, DC—classified base

When Steve woke up after only three hours, Quinn was already wide awake; she'd never fallen all the way asleep. He went to the washroom and when he returned, with a bottle of water in each hand, he stood over Quinn's cot, looking down at her, one corner of his mouth lifted in a weak smile.

"You're turning into me," he whispered. The others were all asleep, so they had to keep their voices down; one of the many alarms set up would wake them if anyone got too close to the base. "You're going to be exhausted tomorrow."

Quinn sat up, put her back against the wall next to her cot, and crossed her legs before she accepted the water; she'd taken her brace off earlier to massage her leg and hadn't bothered to put it back on. She rubbed the crusted sleep from her eyes and adjusted her blanket so it covered her lap. "That would have been true even if I managed to fall asleep for more than like forty minutes," she said. "I haven't been sleeping well since all this started."

Steve sat down beside her, pulling half the blanket over his legs. They'd set up his cot next to Quinn's, and the foot or so of space between them felt cavernous after so long apart, so she was glad to have him close; she wished the cots were big enough to share. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in Steve's arms, with her head against his chest. Maybe then she'd sleep soundly.

He opened his water bottle and took a long drink. "Me either, but I think that has more to do with being attacked and/or on the run."

"That'd do it." Quinn took a drink and then dropped her head back against the wall and rolled it to one side to look up at Steve. For a moment, she just studied the details of his face in the dim light of the room, and then she asked, "How are you doing?" even though she knew the answer, had lived the answer. Asking still felt like the right thing to do.

"I don't know," he said simply. "I'm not sure I'll even be able to properly process Bucky being alive until we deal with SHIELD's mess."

"That makes sense. I don't know what I would have done if Coulson had reappeared in the middle of some world-altering event."

"How about you?" Steve asked after taking another drink. "How are you handling everything?"

Quinn snorted mirthlessly before she remembered everyone else was asleep. She paused, eyes wide, and listened, but thankfully, no one seemed to wake up. "Poorly," she whispered once she was reasonably sure their conversation was still private; when Natasha Romanoff was in the room, one could never be entirely sure she wasn't listening. "SHIELD has been my life since I was eighteen. Joining SHIELD brought me Coulson, Nat, Clint, Maria, Trip, Peggy… you. To think that the thing I've built my life around is rotten at the core, infested with evil…" Quinn's eyes filled with tears once again, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew her lack of sleep wasn't helping her emotional control. "I'm not sure how to handle it."

Instead of saying anything, Steve lifted his arm, a silent invitation Quinn readily accepted. She shifted down the cot and tucked herself against his side, as if they were at her apartment, on the couch, watching a movie. Exhaling a long breath, Quinn felt herself settle, felt some long-tensed part of her relax.

"What happened to your cheek?" Steve asked.

More than happy to roll with the slight change of subject, Quinn reached up and touched the butterfly bandage on her cheekbone. "Some asshats tried to stop me leaving the New York SHIELD HQ after the bulletin for your capture went out. Took some hits, but Tony got me out of there before anything too bad happened. Lucky punch split my cheek, and my ribs are bruised, but those are things I can handle."

Steve dropped his water bottle in his lap so he could reach over and brush his fingers feather-light across her cheek. "I'm sorry knowing me got you hurt."

She huffed and snuggled closer to his side. "Please. I got myself hurt. I could have just gone with them, but I chose to run—obviously. Like most of the injuries I've sustained throughout my life, these are my own damn fault."

"Still."

After a swift two-fingered jab to the ribs, Quinn frowned up at Steve and said, "Still nothing." She settled against him again and abandoned her own water bottle so she could, somewhat awkwardly, wrap her arms around him. "Steve, I would have done and gone through almost anything to get here, to get to you," she said, voice barely audible.

An almost imperceptible tension slid through Steve's body, but it was gone as fast as it appeared, and he tightened his hold on Quinn. "You shouldn't have to."

"Maybe after this is over, I won't. Maybe after this is over, we can get some time together, like we said. Time we can be together and figure out how we're going to get Bucky back."

"What if we can't get him back? What if whatever HYDRA's done is permanent?"

Quinn didn't have to be looking at Steve's face to know that haunted look was back. His voice had changed. He sounded like he was giving voice to his worst fears, which, knowing what she knew, was very likely. She sat up so she could look Steve in the eye, but kept her hands on him, to remind him she was there and to keep him from getting swept into a current of worst-case scenarios.

"It might take a long time, but we will get him back. We will find a way to help him, and if we can't—if somehow Tony and Dr. Banner can't find a way to get HYDRA out of his head—we will find someone who can." She kept her voice quiet, but made sure it was firm as well. Quinn had some reservations about getting Bucky back, and about Bucky as he might be now, but she couldn't let Steve know that. "We won't let him vanish again."

Even in the low light, Quinn felt the pull of Steve's eyes as he looked at her. She leaned closer and he put his forehead against hers, the tip of his nose brushing her cheek.

"Thank you," he breathed, the words tickling her skin.

Quinn wanted, more than anything, in that moment to kiss Steve, to lose herself in his touch, but she knew she couldn't. Not until this was over and they were alone and safe and could just… be. She laced her fingers through Steve's as they sat there and tried not to think about everything going on with SHIELD and Bucky, tried not to think about their world falling apart. There was only her and Steve in that moment.

And as that moment passed, Quinn started to feel sleep tugging at the edges of her consciousness. Without a word from her, Steve moved back to his cot, but moved it until it was as close to Quinn's as he could get it. They both stretched out, facing each other, also lying as close as they could get. Quinn reached across and took Steve's hand again, holding it against her chest.

"Tell me something about Bucky, something I couldn't know from the files," she said.

Recognizing the request for the opening it was to unburden his mind a little, Steve smiled a small smile—an expression awfully close to the private smile he reserved for Quinn—and said, "He was… is my best friend, but he's also the most infuriating person I've ever met." A few beats of silence followed, as Steve's mind wandered through the past. "He pushed me out of my comfort zone, made fun of me when I did something stupid—which was a lot—and teased me about being small and sickly almost as much as the bullies did. But," he went on, "he also always had my back, stood up for me when me standing up for myself wasn't enough, and always wanted the best for me in a world designed for what felt like everybody but me."

Quinn found more tears in her eyes, but this time, they were tears of warmth. She rubbed her thumb over Steve's hand. "I wish I could have known you both back then."

"Me too."

"The love you two had—have—for each other is something special."

Steve pulled their hands across the space between them. His lips brushed her knuckles. Quinn could feel the heat coming from his cheeks and knew he was blushing the way he did when he was caught off guard. "I never thought I'd be able to think of him in the present tense again. It's… surprisingly not difficult to flip that switch in my mind."

"It's not that surprising. He was, and is again, the most important person in your life. The chance to have more time with him is a gift."

"Was it easy for you to think about Coulson as being alive again?"

"Not really, but I was right there when he died. I saw it happen. That's not easy to overcome, and it's not an image I'll ever forget." Quinn pulled her hand free of Steve's and put it against his chest, over his head. "And while I love Coulson, he's older than me, and part of me expected him to die before I did. That's the way it's supposed to go with parents and kids. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me," she added hastily.

"It makes sense."

"Good. Okay, well, what I was getting at is that Coulson is my family. Bucky is your family but he's also, if I'm not mistaken, more than that?" Quinn knew her own face was flushed now too. "He's your soulmate."

"He is."

"So you're getting part of your soul back along with your best friend, your brother. It's not surprising at all that you're eager to go from 'was' to 'is.'" Quinn believed the words she was saying wholeheartedly, but a small voice in the back of her mind was already asking And what's going to happen to you once you get Bucky back? She did her best to ignore it. She did not want to be that person. "Were you two ever more than best friends?" she asked after a momentary hesitation; if it was anyone other than Steve, she never would have asked, but they trusted each other.

If Steve was put off by the question at all, Quinn couldn't tell, though his heart might have beat a little faster. "No, but… Well, we might have been, but by the time we were old enough to really understand what we were feeling and that it wasn't… wrong, the war had started, and any thoughts of that nature didn't seem important anymore. At least not to me. And then there was Peggy, and I loved her immediately. I realized how important those thoughts were."

The emotion in Steve's voice as he spoke took Quinn's breath away. The selfish part of her, that little voice, wondered if he ever talked about her that way, because he hadn't loved her immediately. Because they didn't have the history and bond he and Bucky did.

"And then I… went into the ice."

"Thank you for telling me all that," Quinn said when it became clear Steve was finished. "I know it's hard for you to talk about back then."

"Not with you."

Quinn smiled and sleep pulled at her harder. "I wish we had more time to talk about it now."

"We will after. I want to tell you everything. I want to figure out a way to save Bucky. I want to ask you all the questions I've been dying to ask."

"We have to survive first."

"We will."

"You sound so sure."

"I am." Steve shifted so he could lean over and kiss Quinn softly on the lips. Her fingers tightened around his shirt and she once again wished she could fall asleep curled against his warmth. "Get some sleep, Quinn."

She wanted to say goodnight, but for the first time in days, sleep found her easily.


April 4th, 2014
Outside Washington, DC—classified base

Steve stepped out of the base, onto the dam walkway, and into a beautiful sunrise. The morning was peaceful: birds singing, wind softly blowing through the trees, the water gurgling along its path. It was almost easy to believe it was a normal day, to forget they had to rob a museum and stop thousands of people from dying today.

Almost.

Steve had tried to run over the plan in his head, but the more he dwelt on the possibility of having to face Bucky again, and on what would happen if they failed, the more suffocating he found the air inside. He'd come in search of fresh air and, thanks to the secluded nature of the dam and this side of the base in particular, he could safely get some.

He leaned on the railing, overlooking the water, but seeing only the past. It was remarkably easy to switch from thinking over their plan to thinking of the past; his conversation with Quinn from the night before was likely to blame, if he needed to look beyond his own tumultuous emotions. He hadn't let himself think about Bucky as anything other than his best friend and brother lost to the horrors of war—risks they both had been aware of and prepared for going in—for such a long time. It had felt… freeing to tell Quinn the truth, to speak of things he'd bottled up.

It had also felt good to know she would do everything she could to help free Bucky from HYDRA and whatever they'd done to him.

If they could.

Steve's mind jumped back to that moment on the street, when Bucky's mask had been knocked from his face, he'd looked up, and his eyes had met Steve's. He would never forget the look of confusion, the sound of Bucky's voice as he'd asked, "Who the hell is Bucky?" The hostility and pain that had warred on his face a heartbeat later.

No, they would find a way to help him.

They had to.

After all the times Bucky had been there for him, had gone out of his way to help him and make him feel safe and protected without making him feel weak or helpless, the very least Steve could do is figure out a way to free his best friend. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were two of the smartest people in the world—if they knew nothing else, they would know who else to ask.

But did he want to pull them into this mess? Dr. Banner had a lot to deal with on his own, and Tony…

HYDRA had ordered Bucky, the Winter Soldier, to kill Tony's parents, Howard and Maria. Would Tony be able to get past that? Could Steve even tell him?

As his mind started to spiral down that line of thought, the door to the base opened, drawing his attention. Though he didn't need to look to know who it was.

Quinn was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, both black. Her leg brace was back in place, though he could see she was limping slightly—she must have been in some pain—and her long hair was unbound, which was a rarity and certainly temporary. She gave him a sleepy smile as she walked over and leaned on the railing beside him. Steve was struck both by how beautiful she looked in the rising sun, and how much more worn out she looked than the last time he'd seen her in person… seven months ago.

"Did you get any sleep?" she asked, voice still rough with disuse.

"Some. You slept like a rock after we were done talking. Did you know you snore?" he asked, allowing the teasing tone that so easily came to him around Quinn to enter his voice.

"As a matter of fact, I did. And yes, I did sleep like a rock." Her face lit up as she smiled. "I always sleep better when you're around." She said it simply, just stating a fact, but something in Steve ached in response. He'd thought about her falling asleep against him, next to him, countless times since September. "You know, we're going to have to find a new routine once this is done. I've sublet my apartment and your rooms at Avengers Tower aren't across the hall anymore."

Steve was grateful she wasn't talking about the plan or anything having to do with the day they were facing. He wanted these moments of peace, of talking about the after with her. He wanted to have something to look forward to, because today was going to be hard. "I'm sure we can figure something out. From what I've gathered, it's not like we have anything to hide."

Quinn winced. "That's true. Apparently we weren't as subtle as we thought. Though I don't think everyone knows… everything," she added a little salaciously.

The memory of the snowy night drenched in intimate darkness and candlelight flashed through Steve's mind. "Good."

"Natasha asked me if I was your first kiss since 1945 this morning though."

Steve chuckled. "When Rumlow was following us through a mall, she kissed me to keep us from getting spotted, and after she asked me if that was my first kiss since I woke up. I said it wasn't, and though I didn't say who was, I should have known she knew."

"You can't get much past Nat." Quinn watched the water for a minute, then said, "I don't know if I've ever been as scared as I was before you guys come back to the base."

The shift in her tone told Steve it cost Quinn something to admit her fear. He turned to face her, studied her profile. "I was scared too. After we surrendered on that highway, I knew we weren't going to come out of the Triskelion again."

Quinn turned to him. The wind blew strands of hair across her tawny eyes. "I don't want to be that scared ever again, though I'm sure I will be." She stepped into him, and Steve lifted one hand to cup her cheek, his thumb skating across her skin. "I don't want to lose you," she whispered.

"I wish I could say you won't."

Her arms slid around his neck as she pushed herself up on her toes. "I wish you could too."

Steve brushed the stray strands of hair back from her face and tucked them behind her ears before he wrapped his arms around her waist and lowered his lips to hers. "You won't lose me easily," he whispered against her mouth. Not that long ago, it would have been impossible for such words to leave his mind, but they came without issue now. The months they'd been apart had been enough to show him he wanted Quinn around regardless of the complications.

"Good."

Quinn kissed him then, much deeper than she had the day before, but that had been a moment about him, and this was a moment about them.

"Well good morning, you two!"

They didn't jump apart, but Quinn did pull back, a small groan escaping her throat as she did. Steve laughed, and kissed her temple before she stepped away.

"Good morning," Quinn said, her frustration blatant.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked with a not-so-subtle eyebrow wiggle.

Quinn punched his shoulder playfully once he was within range. "You know you are, Wilson, thank you very much."

It made Steve happy to see Quinn and Sam hit it off so well so fast. He hoped Sam would be hanging around after this was all over. He was an easy man to like and he put everyone around him at ease, made everyone laugh. Sam was the kind of person most needed when things seemed bleak. He made everything brighter.

"You ready for today, Scottie?"

"Which part? Robbing a museum? Flying a helicopter? Stopping the master plan of an evil organization?"

"Take your pick."

"I'm ready. Though I wish I was going to see you and your wings in action."

"I'll take you for a ride once we've won."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Quinn beamed at Sam and then turned back to Steve. "I'll let you two talk. I've got to finish getting ready." She squeezed Steve's hand and kissed him again, quickly. Her eyes found his and Steve felt himself smiling before the thought had crossed his mind. She gave him a small smile, and then headed back inside.

Steve was very aware of Sam watching him watch Quinn. Sam was grinning.

Against his will, Steve felt his cheeks flush. "Shut up."

"Hey, man, I didn't say a thing."