Author's Note: This chapter title comes from House of Light by Mary Oliver.

Chapter Thirteen - Is the soul solid (or is it tender)

After five days—at least, that was her best guess of the timeline—Rumlow returned her to the room with painfully healing bones and fewer fingernails than before. They opened the door and she walked calmly in. But the moment the door closed, she let out a shaky sob and her legs gave out.

"Whoa." Arms came around her, catching her. Danielle brought her hands up and thumped her fists weakly against his chest. "Walk. I'll get you to the bed."

She couldn't quite see, but she knew that voice and she trusted it. So she sank into his arms and stumbled along to his orders. When he helped her onto the bed and wrapped the scratchy blanket firmly around her shoulders, she almost cried in relief. Bucky pressed the back of his flesh hand against her forehead. "Take a deep breath. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." She forced a long breath.

"Good. Follow my finger," he said, holding a finger up and moving it from side to side. Danielle turned her head to follow it and he frowned. "How do you feel?"

"Please don't make me answer that," she whispered.

"I won't. Have you eaten?"

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten in a couple days."

He moved away and Danielle let her eyes closed, resting her head back against the wall. A cold hand touched her chin. "Open up. Toast."

Danielle took a tentative bite and her stomach immediately rebelled. She hunched forward, clapping her hand over her mouth. Bucky took her left hand in his and arranged it into a fist, pressed her thumb in the middle. "Squeeze," he urged. "That will get rid of the gag reflex. You need to eat."

Danielle squeezed her thumb until she thought it would break and was able to get the rest of the toast down. Then she obediently sipped at the water he provided her with too. When he set the bottle aside, she gave in to the exhaustion and leaned her head forward against his shoulder. She felt a heavy hand settle on her head.

"Nell, I need you to listen to me," he murmured. "Are you listening?"

"Yes," she whispered, clutching at the blanket.

"Don't give them an inch," he said quietly. "Not even an inch. Do you understand?"

She frowned and moved to pull back so she could look at him. Bucky tightened his grip so she couldn't move.

"Do you understand?" he repeated again, this time a bit harsher.

"Yes," she rasped. "Yes, I do."

She wasn't sure how long they'd had her, but however long it was it hadn't been long enough for Rumlow to actually think she'd be able to beat him. But he moved in to sweep her foot and she slammed the heel of her hand up into his nose and caught him up in a taitoshi, flipping him over her leg and to the floor. The scientist in her mind made a note of surprise but the soldier in her head propelled her into following him down and trapping him in a triangle choke.

His hands scrabbled against her knees and she squeezes her thighs into the side of his neck, watching as the color in his face changed. Then his fighting turned to a constant tapping against her leg. The soldier didn't let go, but the scientist reminded her of the consequences.

Danielle released him and scrambled to her feet, falling into a defensive position. But Rumlow just rolled up to his knees, hacking until he could breathe again. Fear curled in her gut as she started to wonder if she'd get punished.

Rubbing his throat, Rumlow climbed his feet. He eyed her for a long moment. Then he glanced to the side. "Asset, front and center."

Danielle swallowed hoarsely and watched as Bucky got to his feet and obediently stepped out. Rumlow turned him and then pointed at her. "Five minute match. No surrender. It's time you have a different type of opponent."

"Wh-what?" She bit down on her lip, eying the blank look in Bucky's eyes.

"Five minutes," Rumlow said again, repeating it slowly as if he was speaking with a dumb child. "No surrender." He stepped away and took the stopwatch from one of the guards. He clicked it. "Begin."

Danielle hesitated and turned her attention back to Bucky just in time to avoid the metal fist aimed at her face. The soldier snapped to the forefront. She was distantly aware of pain being noted—twisted wrist from clumsy grab, sore ribs from failure to protect while throwing a punch, wrenched ankle from swept foot—but for the most part she lost herself to the fight.

She found herself on the floor, arm twisted behind her back as she pleaded for him to accept her surrender. Rumlow barked out a command and the pressure on her arm increased and she felt her elbow about to give. She drew up on the small slack in her collar and shoved it to the wrist he was gripping. His hold relaxed in surprise and pain and she scissor-kicked onto her back, where she caught her legs around his head and flipped him. He landed on her leg and she bit back a cry. Tasting iron, Danielle subdued a growl and launched herself at him.

She ducked and blocked and hit and eventually found his metal arm around her throat. Danielle scrabbled up against the hold and reached for the shoulder. Just a little power, just a little power. A shock of blue energy ripped the skin on her finger and she hear a slight click. She was starting to gain black spots in her vision and she snatched at the metal panel, ripping it aside. Danielle struggled and twisted until she got her fingers in the arm and ripped at the wires.

The arm spasmed and jerked away before falling limply to the side and she heard a pained grunt leave his lips. She kicked back and used that to push herself away from him. But the moment she turned, he was close and she felt pain in the side of her head and the world tilted.

And then the world was black.

The world returned to her slowly at first, but then it seemed to grow impatient and her senses burned at the sudden impact of wakefulness. She groaned and lifted her heavy hands to her head, opening her eyes to a dark room.

"Careful," a voice said. "You have a concussion."

"Winter? What-"

"Rule one about waking up: always piece together what you know and what you can learn from observation."

She stilled and threw her mind back. "Rumlow made us fight. I disabled your arm. You . . . knocked me out?"

"Good. What else?"

She dropped her hands back down to her sides and curled her fingers in the scratchy blanket. "This is the blanket they gave me. We're in the room." Danielle shifted. "My ankle is wrapped. I was out long enough to get medical care. The lights are off, so it's night. Minimum . . . four hours?"

"Good. It's been about five."

"Oh. Okay." Danielle frowned. "Wait . . . . I disabled your arm. Oh, god, Winter, I'm sorry, I—"

"It's fine."

"But the sensors— It had to hurt— Still hurt— I built it where— Oh my god—"

"Stop. It's fine. We were told to fight and we did. Remember what I told you?"

She forced a deep breath. "Don't give them an inch."

"Good. I won't apologize for being harsh in the fight; if I go easy on you, then you'll be unprepared for whatever they throw at you later. Or whatever they throw you at. Understand?"

"I— Yes." It was logical. She understood logical. "Thank you."

"They brought in tools."

She reached out and felt around for him. When her knuckles bumped against his arm, she slid her fingers down and clutch at his warm hand. "I'll fix your arm in the morning, then."

"Okay." His hand tightened around hers. "Get some more sleep."

As soon as she'd fixed his arm, they took Bucky away while spouting something about a mission. She tried to ask how long he'd be gone, but they refused to tell her anything. Instead, Rumlow made her train until her mouth was wet with blood and Sunil had her call upon the Tesseract until she passed out.

When she woke up screaming, she found that she'd been returned to her room.

And she was still alone.