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-Ecorley

EDEN POV

It had taken two days (two very long and frustrating days) for Bucky to finally stop trying to coddle me and asking every five minutes if I was okay. It's not that I didn't understand his worry because I absolutely did. I realized after that intense training session on Monday that Bucky knew something was up with me. I had seen the look in both his and Clint's eyes after I had finished sparring with Roland. Bucky usually only showed two emotions after watching me fight somebody: anger or pride, sometimes both.

The anger stemmed from seeing someone trying to hurt me. It wasn't easy watching your loved one taking hits from someone, even if you know the person doing the hitting isn't intentionally trying to hurt them. It was a type of anger I always managed to deal with though very quickly. I knew how to keep Bucky in control.

The pride came from seeing his girl take down a much bigger and more experienced opponent. He may not ever want me to need to use those skills but knowing I had them, and could use them if necessary, made him a very proud man indeed. I loved seeing this particular emotion in his eye. He would always pull me into his arms and tell me "that's my girl" before giving me a kiss on the cheek.

When I had caught his eye after my fight with Roland, I hadn't seen either of those emotions in his face. What I saw in his eyes was something much different. It wasn't the same worried expression I had seen him give me that morning. It was something else...something worse. Whatever it was, I hated seeing it in his eyes, especially when I knew it was because of me and how serious I was taking my training now.

Clint had declared our training over for the day after that last round with Roland. I had wanted to argue and insist we continue but after seeing the looks both of them were giving me, I had agreed that enough was enough for the day. Bucky had looked absolutely relieved at my answer and I knew I had made the right decision. After giving him a kiss and promising to see him at home later, he and Roland had left to head back to their training room. Clint and Bucky didn't realize it but I had caught that last fleeting look that they shared with each other before Bucky had closed the door behind himself.

Clint had insisted on keeping his promise and taking me to lunch to make up for trying to follow me, Brooke, and Jill the previous weekend. Clint didn't try to ask me what was up. He didn't even bring up the events of the last couple of days. It was just a normal lunch between two friends...it was exactly what I needed. We had talked about the fun we'd had the weekend before and about how Clint decided to attend the wedding. After giving him the information for the hotel Bucky and I would be staying at so he could reserve himself a room, we had left the restaurant and Clint had driven me back to my apartment. Before getting out of his truck that afternoon, I had leaned over and given him a quick kiss on the cheek. I couldn't help but busting out laughing at the shocked expression on his face.

"What was that for?" he said.

"For being a good friend, for not stopping my training..." I said with a smile, "...and for not spending the entire day asking me what's wrong" The smile slowly turned into a frown as I thought about how Bucky had looked earlier in the day when I fought Roland.

Clint had noticed and let out a sigh, "He's just worried about you Eden. Be patient with him"

I had nodded my head, "I'll try"

I was surprised when he reached over to slide one arm around my shoulders and pull me in for a side hug.

He held on to me for several moments before he started looking around, first in one direction and then the other. The way he was acting put me immediately on edge and I felt my heart begin to race.

"What is it? What's going on Clint?" I asked, my voice suddenly sounding tense. I looked around too, trying to figure out what it was that Clint had seen.

"I'm looking around for Bucky. I'm sure he's going to drag me out of this truck at any moment and beat my ass for touching his girl" he joked, finally letting a smile slide across his face.

I pushed him away from me, laughing so hard that tears started to slide down my cheeks. It felt good to laugh again.

"I told you Clint, I'll always protect you from big, bad Bucky" I chuckled, gathering my purse and bag from the back seat and opening the passenger side door. I had given him another thankful smile before climbing out of his truck and waving goodbye.

Those first two days passed very quickly...I was trying to stay busy to keep my mind off everything. After our intense training sessions Monday and Tuesday, I had immediately started working on my clients. I started to panic when I saw exactly how far behind I had gotten over the last week or so in my work. The next few weeks were going to busy, first with Jill's wedding this weekend and then my trip to Colorado to see my family for Christmas. With so much going on, I had decided that after this week, I would take the rest of December off since I had to cut short my vacation a couple of months ago. Because of that, I wanted to spend as much time as I could finishing up some last minute requests from clients before I sent out a notice that I was closed until after the New Year.

I decided late Tuesday night, after spending most of the evening working at my computer, that I would make it Wednesday my last day training with Clint until after the holidays. It was a tough decision to make because it was the exact opposite of what I really wanted to do. A voice in my head was screaming that taking a break was the worst idea and that I should be focusing on nothing but training right now. But deep down in my heart, I knew it was the right thing to do. I had set out to learn how to protect myself (and if necessary, Bucky). Taking a few weeks off wasn't a bad idea and I figured it would make him happy...at the end of the day, that's what I always wanted to do for Bucky. I let Clint know before we began training Wednesday morning and he had agreed that taking some time off would be a good idea.

Bucky came home Wednesday evening to find me hard at work at my desk, typing away at my computer. I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I didn't even hear him enter our bedroom. In fact, it wasn't until I felt a warm breath and soft kiss on the back of my neck that I even realized I was no longer alone.

I jumped at his touch at first but a grin had quickly spread across my face and I tilted my neck more to give him better access. I could feel the smile on his lips against my skin as I let out a breathy moan of approval.

"Hey there" I purred at him, glancing at my clock and seeing it was 5:45pm. "What took you so long?" He gave me one last kiss on the neck before I felt him step away.

I heard him drop something and I spun my chair around to see his gym bag now lying on the floor next to the bed. Bucky was kicking off his shoes while simultaneously pulling his black t-shirt off. I leaned back in my chair to admire the view and pulled my glasses off before setting them down on my desk and rubbing the bridge of my nose.

"Steve dragged me to the gym" he said, turning around and tossing his shirt in the laundry basket, "He said Brooke has been asking about you..." he continued, looking over his shoulder at me.

I quickly turned back around in my chair to face my computer and began wrapping up what I was working on. I hadn't spoken to Brooke since everything had happened on Sunday except for a couple of text messages she had sent asking if I was okay. I had replied to them that I was fine but didn't elaborate any further. I knew she felt guilty for what had happened that night. I wasn't mad at her...or at least I didn't think I was. I was still having some very mixed feelings about it. The rational part in my head knew there was no reason to blame her...just a case of wrong place, wrong time. There was, however tiny it may be, a piece of me that still held some resentment about the whole situation. Not that I would ever wish that on Brooke...I definitely didn't want her there in my place. I just didn't feel like it was fair that I had to be the one to go through it all alone. I knew I was going to eventually have to face her. I was just scared that when I did finally see her, I wouldn't feel the same way about her anymore. I didn't want to resent Brooke. She had been my best friend since I was five years old and that was a friendship I didn't want ruined.

"He was saying that when you felt up to it, maybe we could all get together and watch a movie..." he said, coming up behind me to rest his hands on my shoulder.

I hit the save button on my work and shut the laptop slowly but kept my back to Bucky while I sorted through each of the emotions flooding through my head at that moment.

It's not her fault Eden...

...but she was the one...

No! She's your best friend...

Bucky gave my shoulder a light squeeze before spinning my chair around so I would face him. He knelt down in front of me still only wearing his sweat pants and cupped my cheek gently.

"I know you've got training tomorrow morning and that you're trying to get caught up on work but maybe we could invite them over and..."

I cut him off, "I'm not training tomorrow" I said.

Bucky looked both shocked and relieved at the same time, "You're taking a day off" he asked, trying not to let his obvious approval show.

"Actually, I'm taking longer than that off" I said, leaning back in my chair, "I'm taking off the rest of the year. With so much going on the next few weeks, it just seemed..."

"...like a good idea?" he said, finishing my sentence.

I nodded my head, giving him a half-hearted smile. I could see how happy hearing that bit of news made him.

Well, I'm glad it makes one of us happy...

"You can always start back up after the holidays and this will give you time to work on your clients" he said, motioning to my laptop.

I shook my head, "I'm taking off from work too. After tomorrow, I'm shutting down for the holidays. I never really got to finish that vacation I started a couple months ago...you know, because of the accident..." I said, letting my sentence trail off. I saw Bucky's eyes darken at that last part and his jaw muscle twitched with anger.

They had never found the person responsible for stealing the truck and running into me and I know that bothered Bucky. We might never know what really happened that day and to Bucky, that just wasn't acceptable.

The anger in his eyes suddenly faded and he let a small smile slide across his face, "So you're saying that I have you all to myself for the next 3 weeks? No work? No training? Just you and me?"

I let out a laugh and nodded my head, "Yes, yes, yes, and yes" I said, answering each of his questions with a grin on my face. The idea of taking some time off from training and work suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea. In fact, I felt myself growing a little excited about it. One of my best friends was getting married in a few days. I would get to see my family in a little over a week. They would finally get to meet Bucky! How could I not be happy about that?

I felt my spirits instantly lifted, even more so when Bucky suddenly stood up and yanked me to my feet. I threw my hands around his neck and buried my face in his chest when he suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist to spin me around in a circle.

I was still laughing when he finally put me down, chuckling to himself and looking down at me with a grin.

"Let's have Brooke and Steve over tonight" I suddenly blurted out.

Bucky's grin widened even more, "Yeah?"

I nodded, "Yeah...call Steve, see if they can pick up something to eat and head over in..." I looked at the clock to see if it was nearly 6:00, "...an hour" I finished.

Bucky leaned down to give me a quick kiss before picking his phone up off the dresser and stepping out of the bedroom. I could hear him talking on the phone, his voice low so that I couldn't hear exactly what was being said. I'm sure thought that he was telling Steve about my decision to take time off.

I shook my head and smiled to myself before heading to the closet to grab a pair of jeans so I could change out of my yoga pants. I was clad only in my bra and in the process of pulling my jeans up over my hips when Bucky opened the door to the bedroom and walked back in.

He let out a long whistle and came up behind me, grabbing my hands and placing them at my sides before I could button them.

"Who said you could get dressed?" he said, letting his fingers trail along my stomach before easing down to the top of my panties. He slid one finger along the inside of them, toying with the band but never letting his hands go any lower. I felt his warm breath on my neck and then the barest touch of his lips at the space right behind my ear. The bare flesh of my arms was instantly covered in goosebumps and I leaned back further, pressing myself more firmly against him.

"I didn't realize I needed to ask permission to get dressed" I said coyly.

I felt him nod his head, his lips curling into a smile against my neck once again, "Yes ma'am. For the next three weeks..." he whispered, moving his hand further into my panties and letting one finger brush over my sex before slowly slipping it inside, "...you belong to me Eden Nerys Page"