The next day seemed to come too soon, yet still not near fast enough, for Bucky's taste. The next night it was next to impossible for him to sleep. He kept finding himself on the verge of sleep, as a million and one questions swam through his head.

The questions that plagued him at the abyss of sleep were multitudinous. Everything from 'why do I feel this way?' 'What caused this?' 'Why now since we've been passing her on a regular basis for a year.' 'Why I am being so paranoid.' To 'This probably will amount to absolutely nothing but my fractured mind's imagination. Then I will look like I'm looking for something to be wrong.'

These and many other questions buzzed around his head like angry bees for hours. Bucky only managed to fall asleep for a short period of time before it was time to get up and start training for the day.

Sam watched Bucky take his frustrations out on a punching bag after they completed their training for the day. If he kept up like this that bag was a goner. Sam knew SHIELDs gym facilities were meant for every agent of every skill level. But he seriously doubted whether they could handle a frustrated super-soldier and his vibranium arm.

When Bucky was finally done beating the shit out of that bag, Sam hopped off the treadmill. He had been using it to get his running in for the day. Assuming that Bucky would not be up for their customary jog through the streets of D.C. considering it would probably mean seeing Miss Mysterious. Which Sam would bet money on was the reason why he was so angry this morning.

Sam followed Bucky into the changing rooms.

"Ready for a run?"

Sam looked wildly around at Bucky. Not expecting that question. Or any other question for that matter. In the last 24 hours, Bucky had spoken more than three times his weekly quota. Sam was already surprised.

"I thought you wouldn't be up for it. You seem kind of angry this morning. I can probably take a guess as to why."

"I didn't sleep last night. And I am angry."

"Why are you so angry? Are you going to Hulk out on me?" Sam asked offhandedly, nonchalantly, not expecting an answer.

Just more brooding silence and a stare that he was so used to receiving from Bucky.

"I am angry because I will not let someone ruin something that I genuinely enjoy. Just because I am having a moment of paranoia that will most likely amount to fucking nothing. I am annoyed and irritated at myself that this is even an issue. I am upset that after all this time and hard work I am still having issues like this. I do not like the fact that my broken mind has so much control over me and the simple concept of a jog in the park has become a serious obstacle."

Sam took a drink from his water bottle in order to gather his thoughts and prepare a proper response. Bucky was never candid about what was bugging him, or his problems, at all. He never talked about anything personal. Nothing. The fact that he was talking about his issues so openly meant something was either seriously wrong or it was seriously getting to him.

So, this little moment of honesty threw Sam off his game. Hard. He needed a moment to adjust.

"I appreciate your honesty, Buck. I think it would be best for both of us to not let Miss Mysterious get in our way. If anything, we can use this as a means to take a closer and more direct approach to this whole ordeal. Who knows, maybe exposure therapy, and exposure in general, will help you figure out what makes her so special. The more you see her, the more likely you are to figure it out on your own. Without SHIELDs help."

Bucky contemplated the nickname Sam had given this woman as well as the point he was making. Then he looked up at Sam from his place on the bench in front of the changing room lockers.

"Besides," Sam continued, "she isn't always there. And last time I checked this was still a free country. Your best friend helped keep it that way."

Sam saw the sadness at the mention of Steve in Bucky's eyes before he had a chance to turn away. But in the end, Sam was right, again. Bucky agreed and they soon found themselves on one of their favorite jogging routes.

This particular route had a bunch of cherry blossom trees along the way. All of which were threatening to bloom any day now. The smell of them was in the air already.

Bucky remained silent the whole trip. After his little confession in the changing rooms at SHIELD, he seemed to not want to use his voice anymore. And this did not surprise Sam in the slightest. He was actually still reeling from Bucky's openness and honesty.

Maybe Miss Mysterious was someone that needed to be vetted and checked out. If she had gotten under Bucky's skin so easily and so quickly, something had to be up. Then Sam's mind went to another possibility. One that made sense, but seemed just as unlikely.

What if Bucky had forgotten what it was like to be attracted to someone? How long had it been since he was genuinely fascinated with someone in a romantic or sexual way? What if this thing he could not put his finger on was actually just attraction? What if this fascination had nothing to do with a threat? Maybe Miss Mysterious reminded him of some lady friend he had been with in his life before… well, before everything? Anything seemed to be possible and on the table of options now. Only this particular option Sam was going to keep to himself for the time being.

As Sam contemplated this new possibility, he found that they were getting closer and closer to Ground Zero. As they did, he could almost feel the stress and anxiety radiating off of Bucky. He could almost see him get more and more physically tense.

Then they had entered the park. At around the halfway mark, Sam realized that at some point between then and them entering the park Bucky had practically stopped breathing altogether.

When they neared the bend in the train that would reveal the tables Sam thought Bucky just might actually combust. At this moment he was way more concerned for his friend than the possible Person of Interest that may or may not be seated at the tables.

As they rounded the bend it was revealed to both of them that Miss Mysterious was indeed there.

Only today there were no papers strewn everywhere. Just an open laptop and a notebook.

She had her hair up in a high and messy bun as she worked feverishly quickly on the keyboard of the computer.

Both Sam and Bucky did not take their eyes off of her as they passed. Once again, she didn't even look up. Once again, she was the only one in the park. And once again, she was not wearing any kind of earphones so they both knew that she knew that they were there.

But she still did not even flick her eyes up at them. Not even once.

When they had passed her and were on their way out of the park Bucky took a deep breath and began to breathe normally again. Only now it was obvious he was so lost in his thoughts that Sam thought he would have to battle a minotaur in order to escape them.

Weeks went by. Spring had officially come. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, they had come late this year, and it seemed everyone was out enjoying them and the welcomed change of season.

Sam and Bucky had been sent on another two assignments in the time that had passed. Both of them were just intelligence gathering and reconnaissance missions, so neither of them kept them away from D.C. for more than a few days.

Apparently, they were scouting areas of interest and collecting information the analysts could not obtain solely through satellite images and the various other means that they had at their disposal. Bucky had been more of an active part of these missions due to the fact that even Redwing had its limitations on its abilities.

Now both men were waiting for the information they had gathered to amount to something they could go off of and do something with. Now, everything was all a waiting game. However, to their knowledge, all signs seemed to be pointing to a major HYDRA hub of some kind somewhere on the west coast. One even bigger and more important than the training facility they had taken down sometime before.

This was where their analysts came in and neither Sam nor Bucky ever really had any dealings with any of them. They rarely saw or interacted with any of the other active field agents, let alone any of the people that did the work behind the scenes. The director called this 'compartmentalization'. As to what kind of hub, and where exactly it was, remained a mystery. The analysts were bound to figure it out or make a break sooner or later.

They always did. It's how the relationship went. The analysts gave the field agents the information in order for the field agents to go out and gather more information to bring back and give back to the analysts to work with. There was never any direct contact between analysts and field agents. Only with the agents that conducted the debriefings, documenting everything, after each mission or assignment. Then those agents passed along the official paperwork and information to the analysts. It was an effortless cycle that worked very efficiently.

Now, on the Miss Mysterious front, she remained as such. Nothing really seemed to change. Bucky talked to Fitzpatrick about it and the good doc thought it would be better for him to hold off on any formal investigation until it could be determined that there was something other than Bucky's gut telling him that something was wrong.

Both Fitzpatrick and Bucky assumed this was all related to the traumas of his past that his mind was still manifesting. Manifesting as a threat in the park. Which was to be expected in someone who was on the long road to recovery. It was completely normal. Especially for someone like Bucky who had been through so much. However, the good doc also instructed them to be vigilant because he could never know. Letting his guard down was not exactly the best of ideas either. Bucky may be on to something. Or it could be absolutely nothing.

They just needed more evidentiary support either way.

Most days Miss Mysterious was there in her spot. Some days she wasn't. Sometimes she was there every day for a week straight, other times she would be absent for a more than week straight. There was no rhyme or reason to her presence or lack thereof.

Only a few things seemed to change. Some days she was surrounded by a mountain of paperwork. Other days she had just a notebook and a laptop. While other days all she had was a book.

One thing never changed. She never looked up.

She continued to act like there was no one else and nothing else going on around her. Both Sam and Bucky found this the strangest part of the whole thing. Of all the things to find strange.

However, it was getting easier and easier for Bucky. Strange as this woman may be. Every day they ran through that park he would unintentionally hold his breath when they were in sight of the tables until they were just out of range. As the days passed it was getting easier to brush his initial thoughts as paranoia and fear with no reason behind it, and nothing else.

Though his unconscious actions and thoughts still kept telling him otherwise, he was doing his damndest to quash those thoughts and feelings and to keep thinking logically. Every day that she was there was getting easier for him to stand. Sam had called it exposure therapy. And it was working.

Day by day things started getting better. Soon he was not holding his breath anymore. Soon he wasn't a ball of physical stress and anxiety the moment they entered that park. Soon he began to feel a sense of normalcy returning. His thoughts did not immediately go to that strange woman and whether or not she would be sitting there at the tables or not. Things were beginning to change. The thoughts and feelings he did have were beginning to feel a lot less suspicious and Bucky could finally see the light at the end of this tunnel of paranoid obsession.

And then came the day that everything changed.