Chapter 22

Bucky looked down at both of his hands as he contemplated what Ella had just said. Without looking up he asked another question. Slightly afraid that his questions were becoming too probing.

"Are you keeping me at arm's length?"

There was silence on the other end of the line which caused him to look up from his joined mismatched fingers.

Ella was studying him closely and in a very cool and calculating way. Bucky was not a fan of this side of her and desperately wished that the walls that she had built would come back down. As he continued to look at her, he noticed a small spark ignite in her almost dead gaze.

"Do you want to play two truths and a lie?" She asked with a hint of her old self in her voice.

"Yes."

"Yes, I am keeping you at arm's length. I definitely do not have a few extremely good reasons why I should not let you get close to me. And I really think it's going to stay like this for a long time."

Bucky looked down at his interlaced fingers, deep in thought. Not wanting to meet the eyes of the wall that had sprung up between them.

He thought he could easily figure out the truth and the lies. Obviously, keeping him at arm's length was the lie. Ella was talking to him and telling him far too much for that to be the case. Then what were the two truths all about? What were her reasons for having to keep him away? Did she really think that this was going to last?

"Which side of you am I seeing now?" he asked without looking up.

It was only when he heard the distinct sound of a small chuckle that he looked back up at the screen. Ella had a smirk playing across her lips, the fire was returning to her eyes as the wall behind them began to crumble.

"I believe you are seeing the baker side of me at the present moment."

Ella gave him half a smile before she started rummaging through her tip box again. Replacing the tip on the bag with another one she had selected.

"What about the butcher and the candlestick maker? I heard those were a packaged deal with the baker."

The fire that had returned to her eyes hardened when she turned them back to the camera. Her gaze simultaneously burned and froze Bucky in place. Then she smiled.

The humor evaporated as his blood ran cold again. That familiar sensation ran down his spine. The one he got when she looked at him a certain way. The one he avoided thinking about.

Bucky's mind was numb, but the voice in the back of his head whimpered.

This time her chuckle pierced him like a knife rather than the ringing like a bell as it usually did.

"I don't know how to make candles, so that part is out. You will never see the butcher side of me. I will make damn sure of that."

Her demeanor suddenly changed back as if nothing had happened.

"Now, I need you to be quiet while I finish this. If I mess up now it will cost me another hour of work to fix it. So shhh."

She put her finger up to her lips and smiled warmly at him.

Bucky thawed at the sight but was still reeling from the look Ella had given him. He just nodded, barely perceiving what she had said. He remembered the group of men from the bar. If she had looked at them anywhere near the same way, from the glimpse he himself had seen, no wonder they had reacted the way that they had.

The memory triggered another chill down his spine and a shudder to shake through his body. The voice in his mind growled a very familiar sound. What was most surprising was that it was a growl of genuine alarm. Rather than anything predatory or otherwise instinctive that he was growing used to experiencing.

This reaction, along with this new voice, is what floored Bucky the most. How many times since Ella had first laid eyes on him had he had this reaction? He could not deny that ever since that first time, what he thought was The Winter Soldier inside his mind, was actually replaced by something else. Something he had yet to identify.

Bucky watched Ella finish. She had determination etched into her features as well as a steadiness to her hands that would make a surgeon proud. He took note of the fact that she was sticking her tongue out slightly in concentration. The more and more he looked, the less it all bothered him.

He could, and would, deal with these seemingly random reactions to her. Because seeing her, talking to her, being with her was worth every instance of meaningless and temporary discomfort.

When Ella straightened up it brought Bucky out of his thoughts. He watched her spin the turntable as she assessed her work.

"Do you want to see what it looks like?" She asked, looking over at Bucky.

"Yes, yes I do. I want to see how much of a mess you made. Of the rest of the kitchen as well as the cake."

Bucky grabbed his phone from the nightstand and held it up in front of him so he could both see and be seen. Ella threw him a playful scowl as she picked up her own phone and switched the cameras. Then she spun the cake stand.

The cake was beautiful. The boarders were elegant, the draping pearls were perfectly even, and the roses seemed to cascade down the side of the cake. The 'Happy Birthday' on top was also perfect. Whoever was going to receive this should consider themselves lucky.

"Well, that's it. It's not much, but at least it will taste good."

"What are you talking about!? That is a work of art! And it didn't even take you that long! I don't think I would be able to eat it. It's too beautiful."

Ella flipped the camera for a second to speak.

"You're talking to someone who has done many, many complicated wedding cakes and even more specialty cakes in her time. I'll have to show you my workbook sometime."

As Ella switched the camera again Bucky retorted.

"I will hold you to that, Peach."

Ella panned the kitchen slowly, ending with the sink.

"As you can see, not as much of a mess as you would expect. I work cleanly. Back at the Swiss bakery I barely had any room to work in. I had no room for mess. Ordnung was required. It is also drilled into my head and hardwired into my DNA."

Bucky laughed and quickly covered his mouth with his hand to stifle the noise. Germans and their Ordnung, or order. They were notoriously obsessed with rules and order. Something that was even true today. A prime example would be their recycling programs.

Ella switched the camera back to face her as she propped her phone up again.

"Now, I have to clean up what little mess there is. And you should probably be getting to bed if you have a business trip in a few hours. I also have to be in the office first thing to do something I forgot to do this afternoon."

Bucky looked at his alarm clock, it read right around 2 AM.

"It's 2 AM, Peach. Do you ever sleep?"

Ella theatrically acted like she was thinking about it.

"No, not really. I have too much to do. But you should. So, get your butt to sleep. That's an order."

Ella gave him a heartwarming smile before they said their goodnights and disconnected.

Bucky only slept for an hour or two before he got up and headed to the gym. The whole time considering the night's events.

Ella had seen his arm. She was not repulsed or disgusted. Or at least she didn't seem like it, or she hid it well. He thought about the new information about her past, a few mysteries solved as a dozen more surfaced.

During his workout, he was on autopilot as he went over a variety of things about what she had told him the night before. Ideas, theories, possible ways this could go. Or end.

He thought about her real name and the nickname he had given her. He liked them both. Peach fit her perfectly. Both from her government-issued name and otherwise. After all, she was indeed one hell of a peach. Her vast language knowledge and abilities were still sinking in. He would have to get her to speak more than just English.

He had never met someone outside of the Winter Soldier program that knew as many if not more languages as he did. Then again, he didn't know that many people outside of that for many, many years. Yet, he was still unbeaten in that category. Until now it seemed.

Bucky briefly thought about those looks she gave him on occasion that sent him almost into a panic mode. But he brushed it off as fast as it came to him. He did not want to think about or address that right now. Nor did he want to consider the new voice that had come along with it.

Her comments about keeping people are arm's length hit close to home for Bucky. He understood where she was coming from when she said people put expectations on her that she could not live up to. That was something he personally struggled with on a daily basis. He knew that she was not keeping him at a distance. He reveled in the thought, but another one worried him.

If that had been the truth then there were reasons why they shouldn't get, or be, close. That Bucky and Ella were not meant to be. This thought distressed him exponentially more than the feelings he got when she looked at him sometimes. It even trumped the new voice that had made its presence known to him since their initial interaction.

Then there were her hobbies. Photography and modeling were something that was completely out of Bucky's depth, but he understood tinkerers. The part that he found most interesting was the fact that she was interested in broken antique clocks and fixing them. For some reason, it was something more to him than just Ella learning how to read Witness Marks.

Also, all that weapons training? He just had to see that in action one day. And soon.

A second date had been scheduled. When this little fact came back to Bucky he almost shouted in triumph. The fact that they were going dancing, at a Jazz club, on a swing night, had his spirits soaring. He could not wait to literally sweep her off of her feet.

Bucky soon finished his workout, as well as his mental musings, and headed back up to the apartment.

Where Sam was waiting for him.

"Soooo… I heard you had a late-night last night."

"What exactly did you hear?"

Sam's face fell immediately.

"Some muffled talking and some laughing. I'm not about to eavesdrop either. I'm guessing a certain green-eyed bombshell was on the other end of the line. I heard another voice. Did you have it on speakerphone? That was rude considering how late it was."

Bucky went to pour himself a cup of coffee. Wanting this interrogation to be over with. He pondered not answering any of Sam's questions, but he knew how persistent Sam was. Instead, he decided to keep the information to a minimum.

"Yes, I was talking to Ella. And no, I didn't have it on speakerphone. We were video chatting."

Sam's eyes opened wide in disbelief.

"That seems a little technically advanced for you. I am assuming she initiated it. But the question I have is why?"

"She was finishing decorating a cake and needed her hands free."

"She decorates cakes? I thought she worked for the government. Why?"

"Yes, she does. Makes cakes and works for the government. Long story. It's a coworker's birthday today so she made them a cake. I did find out how old she is and how she managed to achieve her rank."

Bucky baited Sam and it worked like a charm. Sam set his own coffee down with a tilt of his head. Urging Bucky to go on.

"She is 32, although she Blipped out like we did. She went to West Point, graduated at 22, and was awarded the rank of Captain upon graduation due to her services before and during her tenure there. They also took into account her academic achievements, among other things."

Sam leaned back in his chair and gave Buck another disbelieving look. Before Sam could launch into a new thread of questions, Bucky beat him to it.

"Look, Sam. I'll tell you everything later. We need to head out to HQ here soon. And both of our heads need to be in the game. We cannot afford to mess this one up. This gossip needs to stop. At least for the time being."

Sam agreed and they both went to change. As they were heading out the door something Ella had mentioned the night before resurfaced. Bucky turned to Sam as they were putting their coats on to ask a question.

"Hey, Sam."

"What's up, Buck?"

Bucky was hesitant. Somehow, he knew that Ella had set him up and that he would not hear the end of this. Sam sensed Bucky's trepidation.

"Ask away, man. I don't know why you look so nervous."

Bucky decided to just go for it and pay for it later.

"What's caking?"

Bucky had no idea what was going through Sam's mind. Sam just stared at him with his mouth open. Bucky thought that Sam didn't know what it was either.

Until Sam started laughing so loudly Bucky was afraid that he would wake the entire complex. Bucky immediately regretted his decision on asking Sam that particular question. Ella had set him up.

"Fine. Laugh all you want. Ella brought it up and told me to ask you about it. That you would get a kick out of it. I should have known she was setting me up."

Sam wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at Bucky from his position. He had hunched over and put his hands on his knees, gasping for air.

"I really need to meet this woman and personally thank her for that. Of course, you wouldn't know what that is. But she wouldn't know that. Makes me wonder if she has ever participated considering she bakes cakes."

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

"I'll do you one better. I'm going to show you. Prepare yourself, old man."

Sam proceeded to pull out his phone and opened Google. He typed away for a moment before handing Bucky the phone. On the screen were a variety of photos and some moving and looping images.

Bucky paled and then blushed beet red. He got an eye full of what was on the screen of Sam's phone and then quickly handed it back.

That's why she didn't want to explain it to him.

As they made their way out the door Bucky could still feel the red in his face.

The entire walk to HQ Sam randomly kept bursting out in fits of laughter. Bucky was beyond mortified. He knew he should have been mad at Ella for setting him up like that. But then again there was that part of him that kept thinking about Sam's earlier comment about whether or not she ever got up to anything like that.

From that point forward he did his best to push her, and everything about her, from his mind.

It would end up being easier than he had been expecting.

Sam and Bucky went through another briefing. This one was a little more detailed than the one the day before. Apparently, they had received new information since they were last briefed on this assignment.

They were to be focusing on a warehouse complex that was located in a mostly abandoned industrialized area near Lake Michigan on the outskirts of Chicago.

Sam and Bucky were implicitly instructed to not burn anything down this time and to preserve as much as was possible.

The new information that had been obtained was enhanced satellite images of the cluster of buildings in Chicago that they were looking at infiltrating.

The images were dated the day before and showed obvious activity in and around the complex. Infrared scans, which they had not obtained for the Washington state location, showed what looked like a cellblock full of captives. It also showed the location of a possible headquarters and other areas where most of the activity was.

The scans and satellite images, although significant, were still inconclusive, but every piece of evidence pointed towards another HYDRA medical testing facility. The analysts had suspected that it either was the same facility that had evaded them previously or was closely related to it.

This information changed their entire strategy. The observe and report assignment changed to a gather and destroy mission. The game was set.

After their rather long briefing, Sam and Bucky headed to get their gear. It had taken most of the morning getting them both up to speed on what had changed. By the time they were geared up, it was early afternoon.

Both men were silent, contemplating what they were about to do and how they were going to go about doing it.

Sam and Bucky worked well together, but they each had their own ways of doing things. Rarely did they have to coordinate beforehand. When they needed to work together it was seamless. Like they had rehearsed the whole thing instead of pulling everything out of their asses at the spur of the moment.

On their way to the hangar where their quinjet was, they were met with a breathless Agent Cooper. He seemed to be in one hell of a hurry to get to them before they left.

Tyler took a moment to catch his breath so he could speak. He had a manila envelope clutched tightly in his hand.

"I was instructed to give this directly to you. And only to you. And that my life depended on it." Cooper puffed at Bucky.

Agent Cooper handed Bucky the envelope. Bucky just stared at him with a look of complete and utter confusion on his face. Sam beat him to the punch on asking what was on Bucky's mind.

"Who instructed you to give this to him? And why?"

Cooper just shook his head vigorously. His eyes going wide as he regained his normal breathing patterns.

"I can't say. Fury would have my ass."

As Agent Tyler Cooper walked off, clutching a stitch in his side, Sam and Bucky exchanged looks of suspicion. Bucky looked at the envelope front and back. There were no indications of who it came from or where it came from. It was pristine.

Bucky unsealed it and looked inside.

He shot Sam another look as he tipped the envelope over and a black USB drive came sliding out.

Sam looked at the drive in Bucky's hand.

"Now what the fuck is up with that?"

"I have no idea, but there's something else in here with it."

Bucky pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. When he unfolded the note and read it to himself, he became even more confused.

"It's instructions."

Sam snatched the piece of paper from Bucky and read them aloud.

Instructions:

Connect to any computer or device that is connected to the mainframe. Only connect if you have AT LEAST 90 seconds. Follow on-screen instructions. Return to Director Fury and NO ONE ELSE. If you must lose this drive, destroy it first. Read #5 again.

Sam turned the piece of paper over looking for more. There was nothing. It wasn't signed by anyone nor was there a header. No sign or indication of where, or who, this had come from.

"What in the world is that all about? They have never given us hardware like this for missions before. Who do you think this is from? Fury?"

Bucky took the paper back, folded it, and put both it and the USB drive back into the envelope.

"I don't think this is from Fury. Remember how Coop said Fury would have his ass if he told us who it was from? This is from someone else. But Fury certainly knows about it."

Sam rolled his eyes as they started walking towards the quinjet again.

"Fury knows everything. Compartmentalization my ass. Only when it comes to everyone else, but him."

Bucky knew Sam just couldn't stand not knowing where the drive came from, and who was responsible for it.

"Fury is the director. Of course, he knows everything. That's his job. Now let's do ours."