Well, I don't like this chapter this much, but I've put it off long enough and it's barely changed within the past week or so, so it's going up. From that point of view, I'm sorry I didn't put it up sooner.

Chapter Twenty Four - Winter, Part Three

"Ugh," I collapsed in a chair next to Tony.

He stopped his tinkering. "That bad?" he asked.

"I need a hug," I said, avoiding the question.

He wiped his hands off on a towel (not that it got rid of much of the grease) and put his arms around me. I squeezed him back.

"That bad?" he repeated.

"Worse." My voice was muffled into his shirt. "Ugh, I haven't been that emotionally exhausted in years. What they did to him…"

"He should get better, remember?" he asked.

"God, I hope so," I muttered. "I'm going to ask him about magic tomorrow, see if he'll let me speed it up more now that he's awake."

"You think he won't?" Tony asked.

"I think he's a scared PTSD vet who's been tortured for decades and probably doesn't know what to do with weird mystical lights," I said dryly. "Or, I think he might let me do it anyway because he's scared of my reaction otherwise."

Tony gave me another squeeze before backing out. I reluctantly let him go.

"Well, if anyone can help, I'm sure it's you," he said, reassuringly. "You haven't been in my life a week, and look! Better already."

I sadly smiled at him and gave him another quick hug. "Thanks, Tony. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed with the cats. Do you want anything to eat?"

"Not really," Tony said.

I raised an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes. "I dunno, just whatever."

I sighed. "I'll see if we have leftover pizza. Goodnight, Tony."

"Goodnight," he said absently, sitting back down on his chair and returning to a half-structured arm.

I shook my head and went upstairs.

The Asset stared at the door where Its Handler left.

No. Not its. His.

His?

His.

He had had a Handler like this before. Once.

He had been a scientist, not an agent, and while usually he feared the scientists the most, this one was different. The scientist had claimed that the Asset was his experiment, and stopped the other scientists and agents from experimenting and abusing the Asset.

For a small amount of time, it wasn't so bad.

Until, of course, Hydra found out, and they had used his trigger words to make him kill the man.

But he wasn't at Hydra anymore, that was obvious. Hydra didn't give him a bed, or warm clothes, or toys or food.

He was scared to go to sleep. Scared that he'd wake up in Hydra, that this was all some sort of fever dream from his cryostasis chamber caused by bad chemicals. He'd had one before, where a blonde man saved him from an experiment. He wasn't supposed to have dreams in cryostasis, but if something went wrong with the freezing process, it was possible.

At the same time, he wanted to sleep. Wanted to see if in the morning, he'd get better, if he understood what was happening and recognized the boy.

Wanted to help his new handler.

After heating up pizza for Tony, who barely noticed that I put food in front of him, I went upstairs, drifted through a shower, and curled up with the cats, who mostly wanted to play, not sleep. Marie especially liked batting at my hair.

Eventually, I got them to settle down and they curled up around me on the bed. I made sure the door was cracked so they could leave. "Hey, Jarvis?" I asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Dreyar?" Jarvis asked.

"Let me know when Bucky starts to wake up, please?" I asked, a yawn escaping.

"Yes, Mrs. Dreyar."

"Goodnight, Jarvis," I said.

"Goodnight."

I woke up the next morning with a cat in my hair. Marie had decided to curl up next to my head on top of my locks. She mewed sadly as I pulled them out from under her, and I sighed as I requipped a hairbrush to try and straighten it out. Sighing, I realized I'd have to either take a shower, or use magic, and made my way to the bathroom.

After running some water through it and combing it out with Saturn, I finally went downstairs. It still wasn't that presentable, but I was tired and didn't really care. My only company were cats, Tony (who probably wouldn't even notice), and a brainwashed assassin who didn't have the most cared for hair, either.

To my surprise, when I hit the basement, I actually found Tony asleep. On his keyboard. When he finally woke up, he'd have letters pressed into his cheek.

I ignored the sleeping genius and made my way to Bucky's room.

"Jarvis, is he awake?" I asked him. I had slept in pretty late; it was past noon. Guess I was more emotionally exhausted than I thought.

"No," Jarvis intoned. "However, I believe it would be beneficial to wake him up. He has been sleeping for over seventeen hours."

I winced. I wasn't the best sleeper; hell, I didn't even have a decent cycle. But I knew that sleeping too much wasn't considerate for health, either.

I grabbed the water bottle and opened the door, which reacted to the energy my magic gave off. The reason why? While we do have fingerprints, apparently me and the rest of the Fairies don't register on a fingerprint scanner. They're not distinct enough.

So far now, the door unlocked if I raised my magic level enough to spike certain readings.

I settled down in the chair next to Bucky's bed.

I still really didn't want to use magic on him, but since he was asleep...

"Jarvis, you have a scan?" I asked him.

A few seconds passed before… "Yes."

"Good," I murmured, bringing up Venus's Cleansing Light and Saturn's Healing Winds and running them through his mind. I could tell that Bucky was still asleep enough that he wouldn't awake.

The magic died down and I sat back down in the chair, rolling the water bottle in between my hands before I realized what I was doing and put it on Bucky's pull-over tray. The empty bowl of soup was still there from the previous night.

I used a bit of Eris to slowly pull Bucky out of REM sleep, and then waited.

I watched his eyelids, in particular, as the eyes darted underneath him, before they blinked twice, and he shot up.

"Shhhh," I said, my hands out, trying to reassure him. "Shhh, it's okay. It's okay. You're safe."

He didn't look like he believed me about that, but I wasn't surprised.

"Good morning," I said softly, with a smile.

Bucky looked around the room, his eyes with a sliver of disbelief in them.

I still didn't know how to refer to him, so instead, I cleared my throat. "Are you alright?"

"It's real," he whispered.

I slowly reached out a hand, and took his flesh one, the one closest to me, in my own. "Yes," I said firmly. "It's real. And I won't let you ever go back to HYDRA again. I'd die first, understand?"

His eyes widened and a flash of panic showed in them, before he deflated a bit and nodded. "Understood."

There was something off with his response, but I couldn't really figure out what it is, so I leaned back a bit. "So, how did you sleep?"

A look of frustration crossed his face, and I rephrased the question. "Did you fall asleep easily?"

His face relaxed a bit and nodded. "Very easily."

I smiled. "Good. That's good. Did you have any dreams?"

He hesitated, before shaking his head.

"That's fine," I said soothingly, trying to smush down the anger that had been steadily rising as the conversation continued. It wasn't anger at Bucky, just the HYDRA agents who had done everything, but he wouldn't know that.

"You don't have to have dreams," I told him. "You probably will though, eventually. Once you catch up on rest."

He nodded.

The silence was thick.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat and tried to continue, gesturing to the water. "You should drink some water."

He gazed at it before he slowly took it off of the tray and held it in his hands.

"Is the Asset required to?" he asked.

"No," I said, wincing at his word choice. "But your body needs a certain amount of water a day."

Bucky blinked, staring at the lid for several seconds, before breaking it open and taking a small sip.

I smiled at him encouragingly, trying to get the impatient part of mind to shut up while he adjusted.

Bucky gave the bottle an odd look before he took a few gulps this time, chugging the water down.

"Not too fast," I said, slowly reaching a hand up to put on the bottle. I lowered the tilt a bit so the water wouldn't rush down as fast. Bucky obliged obediently, and I wanted to hit something.

Well, that's not true. Hitting something wouldn't do it. I wanted to blow something up with magic.

Preferably Hydra, or the Triskelion.

Bucky put down the water and raised his right arm (the flesh one) to his bare chest.

"Is' cold," he grunted.

"Do you feel the cold, traveling down?" I asked him, gesturing a hand at my throat and lowering it to my abdomen.

He nodded.

"That means that you're not getting enough water," I told him. "That you've been dehydrated for a while."

He took this to mean that he needed to drink more water (which wasn't what I was going for, but okay) and took a few small sips before putting the mostly empty bottle on the table.

He was silent and mostly watched me.

He didn't say it aloud, but I could practically hear him think, Now what?

"We could play a game," I said. "If you'd like."

"What type of game?" he looked at me warily.

I wondered what else Hydra had fucked up.

"We could play cards," I told him. "Or Go Fish."

"The Asset does not know how to play these games," he said.

"I," I stressed. "Not, 'the Asset' but 'I'. I don't know how to play these games."

He stared at me for a bit before I nodded to him, and he got it.

"I don't know how to play these games," the Soldier repeated, a look of confusion on his face.

I smiled at him and nodded. "Good. And that's alright, I can teach you. I'm going to go get some toys, I'll be right back." I jerked my head over to the red button. "Remember, the button still works. You can hit it and alert me if anything happens."

He nodded, but only looked at the button warily.

I held in my sigh and left the room, closing the door behind me quietly. A glance over to the work desk showed that Tony was still out like a light.

I requipped a few things into my hands, including cards, a more official Go Fish, and a Cat's Cradle instruction booklet. A glance back through the one-way window into Bucky's room revealed that the Rubix Cube was still on Bucky's tray.

I walked into the room and settled back down next to Bucky, putting the cards and the string on the tray.

He looked at them questioningly, wanting to ask what it is but afraid of the reaction I might have.

"You won't be punished for asking questions," I said softly.

He stared at them. The look on his face was giving me a bad feeling.

"…Is the game killing someone with these items?" he asked, looking up.

"No!" I cried, immediately throwing my arms around him, which was a mistake.

Logically, I knew I couldn't hug Bucky (yet) and I had to be careful of sudden movements.

Illogically, Bucky said something sad while looking like a beat-up puppy, and triggered what some of our guildmembers referred to as the 'Momma Elle' instinct.

Bucky though, immediately moved. And I can understand why; everything has been soft and warm and quiet since he had arrived and now he was being attacked. He was probably on edge the whole time.

When people are abused and end up with…others who care about them, they might cross the line. A lot. Generally, the survival instinct of abuse gives the person a set of rules to live by. Even if they're in a different house, with different people, they'll test their limits so they know what the rules are, and what the punishments for disobeying are.

But that needs to be something that they choose to do. It's usually a step forward in adjusting to the new environment, after they accept they won't be punished for every single thing.

This didn't occur to me until later, however.

In the moment…

Bucky acted instinctually, grabbing my arms and flipping me onto my back on the floor with his hand on my throat.

His eyes widened at his actions, but he didn't back off, possibly even more afraid of what would happen if he let me go.

My arms were still free now, though, and slowly I put one on the wrist around my throat. "It's okay. I'm not gonna punish you."

He stared into my eyes, his own wild and his body shaking.

I wasn't duped though; he could probably snap my neck before I did magic. I didn't do anything more than let out some Venus and Saturn. Any active magic he'd probably sense. For now, I just relaxed and stared into his eyes.

"I promise," I said, stressing the word. My arm finished reaching up and slowly went on his shoulder.

Most (most, not all) of the tension left his body, and he allowed me to sit up.

"I wasn't trying to hurt you," I told him. "I was trying to hug you."

His mouth opened and closed, and he seemed confused.

"It's when you put your arms around another person."

His mouth closed and he tilted his head, thinking. "Why?"

"Why what?" I asked.

"Why…do that?" he asked.

"Hug?" I responded. "It makes people feel better."

He was quiet.

"I did it because I was going to teach you how to play with those toys. I'd never ask you to kill someone. Ever. And hearing you think that, because that's all you've done for years, made me sad. So, I wanted to cheer us both up."

Still quiet.

"I should've asked to hug you, and I should have given you a warning. I'm sorry."

Not a word.

"Are you okay with a hug now?" I asked him.

His eyes moved to the floor.

"If you don't want to, that's okay," I said, as soothingly as I could. "I'm not going to make you. I won't punish you for not wanting to do it, either."

To my surprise, at hearing that, he instinctively darted forward to hug me. His arms sneaked around me and he tensed as he realized what he did. I spread out my arms and reached around him to hug him back.

"It's okay," I said to him, slowly rocking him back and forth. It was a bit awkward with us both still on the floor, but it worked.

I continued rocking and rubbing his back.

"Do you feel better?" I asked him quietly, by his ear.

"A bit," he admitted.

"You can hug me a little harder," I said. "It might make you feel better, and your super strength won't bother me."

He stayed as he was, before his arms tightened more.

We stayed there peacefully for a few seconds until we were rudely interrupted.

The door barged open and Tony ran in, looking disheveled (probably from how he slept) with his eyes more than a little crazed.

"Get away from her!" he shouted, holding a gun.

"Where did you get a gun?" I asked him, pulling back from the Soldier and moving in front of him. "And it's fine."

"I'm a weapons designer and I haven't detached my gauntlet," Tony said, tension alleviating a bit. The hand holding the gun remained steady. "Jarvis said he attacked you."

"He flipped me when I moved to quickly," I told Tony. "I'm fine. We're good now. Do you want in on the hug?"

Tony just gaped at me, before shaking his head. "You know what? I'm gonna go back to sleep."

"That's fine," I said cheerfully, waving him out.

The door closed behind him. The Soldier was still next to me, silent.

I turned to him. "That was Tony, he's a friend. He's just a bit wary because of your past as an assassin. And I wouldn't have made him hug you without your permission, I knew he was going to say no. It's just fun to mess with him."

"Mess with him?" he asked quietly.

"I'll explain more on that later," I said, getting up off the floor, popping some joints. We must have been sitting longer than I thought.

He followed my lead and moved over to the bed, which we sat on. I pulled the string over first.

"This is a string," I started.

The look he gave me had sass in it.

I smiled at him. "There's some feelings," I nudged his side a bit. "The thing is, even though it's just a string, you can still have fun with it."

"…How?" he asked.

I put the strings between my fingers, and stretched it out. I had tied it in a circle earlier. "We can play something called Cat's Cradle. But it's also a fun thing, where you can make images." I moved around the strings until I was left with what I wanted. "It's a ladder, see? It's called Jacob's ladder."

He reached out his flesh hand and moved it over the net-like ladder I had created.

"You can make other things, too," I said, switching around some things. "Like a witches' broom. Or a cup and saucer."

"So, what's Cat's Cradle?" he asked.

"It's a string game with two people," I said to him. I started out at the beginning, passing him the instruction book. "You see the Xs'? You're going to pinch them and pull them over the edges and underneath."

He slowly listened to my instructions and looked over the book as I let go of my string. The pattern reformed in his hands. "Then, the second person pinches these, and pulls them around here…"

We sat there, trying Cat's Cradle for a bit, before the string snapped on Bucky's fingers. The joints on the metal hand had worn away on the string until it was too weak.

"We can tie it and start it again," I suggested. "Or we can try cards now."

His gaze drifted over to the deck of cards. I pulled it in front of us.

We had moved completely onto the bed now. Bucky with his back to the wall (so he could survey the room), and I sat with my back to the door (because it was the only other spot). We crossed our legs (criss-cross applesauce) and sat directly across from each other.

"First, let's start with something simple…" I started, shuffling the cards. "You ready?"

He nodded. Something seemed a bit different now. There was less tension in the air. I don't know if it was the lack of consequences earlier, or just pure confusion, but something in Bucky had relaxed a bit.

Whatever the cause, that was good enough for me.