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The last thing I remember before falling asleep was the warmth of Bucky's body against my back and his arm wrapped securely around me. I had fallen asleep quickly...feeling safe and secure in my bed. The nightmare that followed destroyed that happy feeling.

Deacon Lister was standing over me with a sneer on his face, the knife in his hand waving back and forth in front of my eyes. I tried to scream but the tape covering my mouth only muffled the sound. My legs and arms were securely restrained against the chair. I was at the mercy of a mad man…unable to call for help, unable to get away. My eyes scanned the room, searching for some way out. I struggled against the tape wrapped around my wrists and legs but stopped when I felt the cold metal of the knife against my throat.

"It's time Eden…time for you and I to finish what we started that night" he whispered in my ear.

I felt hot tears slide down my face as he stood over me with a wicked smile.

"Eden" I heard my name being called over and over again. It was Bucky's voice, far away at first and coming closer from the sound of it…I suddenly felt relief…he would find me and he would save me.

"Ahh, the boyfriend has finally arrived…now the fun can begin" Lister whispered.

The evil smile that spread across his face made my heart sink. He backed up slowly, disappearing into the shadows of the room…waiting.

Bucky suddenly ran through an open doorway in the room, a look of relief spreading across his face when he saw me. He rushed forward, kneeling down in front of me, "Don't worry Eden…I found you" he said "I'm here baby, no one is going to hurt you now"

I saw Lister behind him, his finger over his mouth in a shushing motion…he was creeping out of the shadows and making his way towards Bucky, the knife held tightly in his hands.

I screamed beneath the tape, my eyes darting from Bucky's face and then back to Lister. Bucky was caressing my face with his hand, trying to calm me down…he was completely unaware that Lister was behind him. He started to gently pull the tape away from my mouth and as soon as I was able, I screamed, "Bucky…behind you!"

It was too late…Lister had already reared his arm back and I gasped when a look of pain suddenly appeared on Bucky's face.

"Eden" Bucky said softly before he slumped forward into my lap, Lister's knife still sticking out of his back.

"Bucky! No!" I screamed. The sound of Lister's laughter echoed throughout the room as I felt the warmth of Bucky's blood pool into my lap.

I sat up from bed quickly and tried to steady my breathing…grateful that I didn't wake up screaming. I looked over at Bucky and saw him sleeping with his back turned to me. I reached over and smoothed down his hair and felt relieved when he stirred slightly. Part of me wanted to wake him up that second so he could wrap his arms around me and tell me that everything was fine…tell me that no one could ever hurt him. The other part of me, the rational half, knew that would only worry Bucky…he would insist on me telling him about my nightmare.

It was just a dream Eden! Bucky's fine! Lister is dead!

I glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw it was only 3:00 in the morning. I crawled out of bed and headed to the living room to sit in my chair next to the window. The nightmare had my heart still racing...the image of Bucky slumping forward into my lap brought tears to my eyes and I closed them and willed the image away.

Bucky is a trained killer…no one can hurt him…he can take care of himself.

I remembered the way Bucky had been caressing my face in the nightmare. He hadn't been paying attention to the danger that lurked in the shadows behind him…all because he had been worried about me. The last thing I wanted was for Bucky to get hurt or worse, killed, because of me….I would never be able to live with myself if that happened. I was Bucky's weakness…his love for me could get him hurt one day.

I knew Bucky would always do whatever was necessary to keep me safe…to protect me…without regards to his safety. I had to toughen up and learn how to take care of myself…I didn't want him to risk his life to save mine. Bucky and I had talked once before about me learning a few defensive moves to keep me safe. I knew he wouldn't mind showing me a few things…he would probably actually insist he be the one to do it.

I also knew that I didn't just want to learn a few self-defense moves though…I needed to be able to do more than just fight off an attacker. I wanted to learn how to use a weapon and that is something that I wasn't so sure Bucky would approve of entirely. I sat in that chair for almost 2 hours before I finally came up with a solution that I thought might actually be possible. I rose from the chair and walked back into my bedroom and made my way to Bucky's side of the bed. His phone was right there where he had put it before rolling over to pull me close to him.

I picked it up and tip toed back out into the hallway before scrolling through his contacts to find the one I was searching for. Once I had the number programmed into my phone, I crept back into the room and placed his phone back on the nightstand. I glanced down to see how peaceful he looked as he slept before heading back to my side of the bed and crawling back in.

It was now 5:00 in the morning but I still found it hard to fall back asleep. I kept replaying the nightmare over and over again in my head. I must have eventually dozed off but it only felt like it had been a few minutes before I heard an alarm going off.

I heard Bucky growl and begin smacking the nightstand in search of his phone. He must have knocked it onto the ground because I heard him mutter a curse and get out of bed. I was exhausted and I rolled over with a groan, "Ugh, make it stop" I begged as I pulled the covers over my head to drown out the annoying beep.

"Sorry" I heard Bucky say softly. The terrible nightmare I had earlier was still fresh on my mind but hearing his voice made me feel better. I reached out for him and felt him scoot towards me before leaning over to kiss me on my forehead.

"Good morning" he said as he brushed some hair out of my face.

Just feeling his touch seem to relax me, "Mmm...Morning" I said with a yawn, "You're up early…it's still dark outside" Bucky never got up this early…he always slept until at least 7:30 so he could be at work at 9:00. Now that I was awake, all I wanted to do was snuggle up to him and have him hold me tightly.

"I have to meet Steve at 8:00…go back to bed" he told me. I felt him get off of the bed and head into the bathroom. The sound of the Bucky taking a shower and the warmth of the bed was oddly reassuring and I felt myself start to doze off again.

My own alarm went off at 7:30 and I had just gotten out of bed and was stretching when Bucky came into the room.

"I'm getting ready to head out" he said as he made his way over to me.

I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and kissed him on his cheek. He smelled like my shampoo and I couldn't help but smile, "Have a good day….I love you" I told him as I stepped back from him.

"Love you" he told me before leaving the room. I listened to him open and close the front door…for one second, I seriously thought about calling him back and begging him to stay home with me today. I shook the thought from my head and went to take a shower. As I was drying my hair, my eyes settled on my phone sitting on the counter. I remembered the number I had programmed in there last night and I tried to figure out what I would say...how I would ask for help from this person that I barely knew.

I shook my head and quickly braided my hair before snatching up my phone and laying it on my dresser as I put some clothes on. I ate a quick breakfast and the entire time I kept finding myself looking at that damn thing. I put my dirty dishes in the sink and grabbed my phone to slip it into my pocket as I made my way back in the bedroom to get my work started for the day.

After checking my email, I realized I only had a couple of things that needed to be done so I quickly set to work on them. The phone felt like it was burning a hole in my pocket…I looked at my clock; it was 8:45 in the morning.

Is it too early to call? No, just do it…stop being a chicken shit!

I finally pulled it from my pocket and scrolled through to look for the number that I had programmed in there only a few hours ago.

I sat staring at it for a moment before hitting the call button. I put it up to my ear nervously and listened to it ring.

He answered after the 3rd ring, "Eden…is that you? What's wrong?" I heard Clint ask quickly.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked. I knew I had never called him and I didn't remember giving him my number the night I spoke with him in the apartment.

"Steve gave it to me after the incident with Lister…just as a precaution….he gave me Brooke's too. " he explained, "I didn't realize that he had given you my phone number…not that I mind you calling. Now tell me Eden…what's wrong?" His voice was still firm but gentle and oddly comforting.

"Nothing's wrong Clint, I'm fine. Steve didn't give me your number…I…I uh…I went through Bucky's phone and found it actually" I admitted. "Clint, I know you barely know me and I have no right to ask this of you, but I really need your help"

I heard Clint hesitate for a second before asking, "Help with what Eden?"

I told him about the nightmare I had last night and I had to admit, it made me feel better to tell someone else about it. I told him what I needed from him…I told him I wanted him to teach me to shoot a gun.

"Please…I have no one else to turn to. I can't ask Steve…I don't want to put him in a situation that requires him to keep something from his best friend" I told him.

I heard Clint, "…I'll help you Eden…but don't you think you should tell Bucky….I'm sure…."

"I don't want Bucky to know. He was okay with me learning to defend myself but I don't know how he would react to me wanting to learn to use a weapon. I know it was just a nightmare Clint but I need to do this…I want to do this. If the situation ever arose and it was Bucky's life on the line, I don't want to helplessly sit by and watch him die…not for me" I insisted.

"Bucky would gladly die for you…he loves you…." Clint started to say.

"…and I love him…that's why I have to do this" I cut in.

"He will be furious when he finds out you kept this a secret from him…and I can assure you Eden, he will find out" Clint said.

"Let me worry about Bucky…when the time is right, I promise I will tell him. For now, can we keep this between just me and you?" I asked.

A few moments passed before I heard him sigh deeply, "Yes. But if we are going to do this, we are going to do this right Eden. I'll show you how to shoot a gun but I'm also going to train you how to defend yourself"

I smiled wide and tried to sound too excited as I gushed into the phone, "Oh thank you Clint…you can't imagine how much this means to me"

"We do this my way Eden….Every day for two hours…10:00 to noon. We'll have to do it here at SHIELD headquarters….." I heard him saying.

"What about Bucky? What if he sees me there?" I asked nervously.

"There is another training area…it's separate from the one he uses for his recruits. I can get you in and out each day with no one seeing" he said softly.

"When do we start?" I asked, eager to begin learning right away.

"Tomorrow morning…meet me at the side entrance at 10:00am" I heard Clint say quickly, much quieter than before "I have to go Eden" he said before hanging up.

I sat my phone down on the counter and smiled to myself before heading back in my bedroom to finish working…tomorrow I would start learning to take care of myself…and Bucky.

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Clint POV

I was surprised when I pulled my phone from my pocket and saw it was Eden calling me. At Steve's request, I had programmed her number into my contact list the night she got attacked. He wanted me to have it in case anything ever happened to him or Bucky. I remembered the look in his eye that night he had handed me the slip of paper with both Eden and Brooke's number on it. These two women were people he cared for deeply…enough so, that he wanted any bad news regarding him and Bucky to come from me and not some stranger they had never met.

I was even more surprised to hear what she wanted from me. Knowing what I knew about Milton Kaine, made it much easier to tell her yes. If Kaine did manage to make it to D.C., it was a good idea for Eden to be able to protect herself. Milton Kaine would kill anyone that stood in the way of him getting what he wanted, women included. I knew he would not hesitate to do whatever it took to get his "weapon" back…even if that meant using Eden against Bucky.

I knew Steve had told Bucky not to tell her about Kaine…to keep it a secret from her. I didn't blame him though…there was no need to worry her, at least not yet. I also couldn't blame Eden for wanting to keep her desire to learn to fire a weapon a secret. She felt vulnerable and if I could give her the skills to make her feel safer and stronger, than I would do what she asked.

I had admired the pretty blonde right from the start…she had been through a traumatic event the night I first met her and had held herself together well. She was a tough one…and I knew once I taught her to fight and fire a gun that she would be even stronger.

I was down the hallway still talking to Eden when I saw Bucky walk out of the conference room…I heard her say, "When do we start?"

I turned my back to Bucky quickly and quietly said, "Tomorrow morning…met me at the side entrance at 10:00am. I have to go Eden" before hanging up.

I turned around and saw Bucky approaching me, "Everything okay?" he said, looking at my phone.

"Yeah, everything is fine…just a friend requesting a favor" I replied vaguely.

Bucky was distracted by the information he had just found out so he didn't bother to pursue it any further than that. I saw him frown and I reached out and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry Bucky. We aren't going to let Kaine get to you"

He shook his head at me, "That's not the only thing I'm worried about. If Kaine makes it here, he will go after Eden first Clint…he will use her against me and it will work. I don't want to become his weapon but I won't let her be hurt because of me either. If her life is on the line, I will do whatever it takes to keep her alive…even if that means sacrificing myself. "

I nodded my head in understanding, "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that"

He nodded and then turned to head down the hallway towards Dr. Peters office. I watched him go, his shoulders slumped down as he walked. The guy had been through hell the last 70 years and now, just when he had found a semblance of happiness, his past was trying to destroy him once again.