CHAPTER 7

.*.

"Her eye's flew open, in one swift, fluid movement she grabbed his outstretched hand and flipping him onto the floor"

.*.

Bucky glanced at his phone as the sharp ray's of the morning sun reflected on the screen, 07:32 was displayed in the top right hand corner - they had only gone back to bed two hours ago. He reckoned his nightmare must have happened around about two in the morning, as they had returned from the bar just before five. His mind raced as he remembered their kiss again, she had been so confident, so alluring - she had taken him in her stride and rendered him speechless. He could of happily kissed her all night - a feeling he had long forgotten about in his years as the Winter Soldier - but in her drunken state she wanted more, and he could never, ever have done that to her when she wasn't of her own mind. It was probably wrong of him to accept her offer to come into her bedroom - even though he had no intentions - but he couldn't refuse her, not when she looked so worried - so scared. But it turned out he had nothing to worry about, the minute her head hit the pillow she curled up away from him and was fast asleep, leaving him alone with his thoughts, the memory of her in his arms and the taste of her on his lips. He shook his head - best to forget it all, he fully expected her to wake up and want to forget about the whole thing, which he could understand - but deep within him he didn't want her too.

He contemplated getting up and shutting the curtains to prevent the morning glow from waking her up, but he reasoned with himself that it didn't make a blind bit of difference - she had remained curled up in a tight ball beside him, her chest rising and falling in her deep, soundless slumber. A small part of him admitted to himself that he didn't want to move from her side either - as simple as it sounded, he enjoyed the feeling of not being alone. After the fiasco that ensued from his nightmare he thought it best that he remained awake whilst she slept, the fall out from it had proved to be disastrous. It had caught him off guard - as well as Steve and Tony - when Izzy had spiralled out of control, just when he thought he was beginning to get know her, to help her, her past had loomed up and consumed her with terrifying ferocity and speed. He wished that Steve had at least given him some information on her to prepare him - if nothing else, at least warn him - for living with her, but then again Steve had been right, it was Izzy's story to tell.

Looking down at her he studied her face - for someone who was most certainly going to have a hangover this morning she looked very relaxed. His smile faded as his eyes rested on her bruised neck, the finger print marks much clearer in the morning light, he had done that to her. There was an undercurrent of worry in the back of his mind that had been consistently nudging his self-conscience through the early hours of the morning as he mulled over everything. Izzy had been right last night, he had felt something as he calmed her from her panic attack. In fact, he had felt something about her ever since Steve had raced them down to the Medical Wing the night he had received the phone call from Natasha to say that Izzy had been hurt. It was one of the clearest memories he had.

o.0.o.

"Shit, fuck!" Bucky watched Steve as he ran forward to meet the gurney that rolled out of the lift into Stark Towers Medical Wing, taking the hand of the patient and muttering words he could not hear.

As it rolled closer to him Bucky could see that the patient was a young woman, her chocolate brown hair flayed out in all directions, caked in the blood that also swamped her entire left side - she was unconscious and a worryingly pale colour. A more peculiar site was the flame haired woman he recognised as Natasha Romanoff sat on top of the comatose woman, placing all of her body weight through her hands onto the woman's shoulder, barking orders at the young female medic that greeted them.

"It came out of nowhere, I tried to yell for her to duck but it was too late." a slightly shaken older man with a crossbow clinched in his right hand stepped out of the lift with Tony Stark - from the files Steve had given Bucky to read he recognised him as Clint Barton, or 'Hawk Eye' as his files declared he liked to go by.

"It's alright, I've got the best team available to fix her, Dr Cho has been working on something new, she's headed over here with it right now." Tony spoke with a grave urgency, a side of the man Bucky had never seen. He watched with surprise as Tony placed a hand on Clint's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly before they both followed the gurney - Bucky soundlessly fell in step behind them, not wanting to get in the way. This was obviously someone Steve cared deeply about, and if Steve cared then it had to be someone important. They gathered around the now stationary gurney, perplexed as to what they should do with themselves.

"Here, Nat let me take over." Steve went to replace her hands with his but she nudged him away with her shoulder.

"She's my responsibility!" without looking up she asserted more pressure on the wound, but Bucky could see it wasn't working as the blood seeped out between her well-placed hands, if they didn't act soon she was most certainly going to die. "She was my responsibility and we let her walk unarmed into a death trap, like hell is she dying on my watch." It was as if Natasha had read his mind.

No one said anything as the medic worked at her fastest pace to get the dying woman into the correct state, allowing Natasha to keep holding down pressure whilst she connected all of the various machines, placed an oxygen mask on the woman and cut away what little clothing she did have on. If Bucky didn't know any better he would say she was prostitute. Finally, when the medic was ready she went to move Natasha.

"If you move me are you actually going to do anything to help her or are we all just waiting for Dr Cho." she snarled, causing the young woman in front of her to stammer.

"W-we are waiting for Dr Cho, strictly o-on her orders."

Bucky chuckled inwardly, from the small fragments that he remembered, Natasha put up a good fight against him as the Winter Soldier, he was absolutely positive that as his plain old self he did not want to cross her.

"In that case then, I'll stay right here." Natasha sniped, daring someone to try and make her move - Bucky certainly wasn't going to try.

There was a strange period of silence as the chaos settled down around them before Steve spoke - asking the question on everybody's mind. "What the hell happened?"

Bucky could see Clint and Natasha glance at each other, obviously trying to figure out how much they could say - it must have been a mission, which meant that the girl on the table was an Agent. Interesting. It was Clint that spoke first, the emotion still racking his voice. "We were tailing someone, it seemed like an easy mission to begin with, he done nothing for three weeks but then tonight suddenly he had plans at this bar." Ah. That explained the clothing. Apparently nowadays there was only one way to grab a man's attention, this little detail made Bucky miss his own era - whatever happened to being a Gentleman?

"We watched from above as she went in, within ten seconds of her sitting beside the target the barman had pulled a gun and blasted her at point blank range. We tried to warn her over comms..." Natasha trailed off, her emotions getting the better of her.

"We tried to warn her but it was too late." Clint took over. "By the time we got down there she was blacked out on the floor, a knife embedded in her arm and the target no where to be seen, I tried to follow his trail but there wasn't one, the minute his footprints left the bar there was nothing to go on." he was pacing now, shoving off Tony's arm as he attempted to calm him.

"Sounds like you were sent in blind." Bucky spoke quietly, surmising all the facts.

"No shit, Sherlock." Clint spat at him before turning to Tony. "Who's this guy?"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Bucky looked over to see Natasha glancing between himself and Steve. "I expressly said not to bring him in until my mission was complete Steve, what the hell? We had a plan."

"Nat, we didn't have a choice, he started remembering. Fury told us to bring him in-"

"Do NOT get me started on Fury." she growled. "If Izzy dies I'll kill him myself."

Ahh, so that was her name. Izzy.

A bucking movement below Natasha caught her off guard and sent her flying from the bed, the wound that she was just about in control of bubbled to life as blood spurted up freely at an alarming rate. Steve was on it in seconds as Clint and Tony each took a flailing leg and pinned it down.

"Is she having a seizure?!" Natasha called over everyone's panic as the medic inspected the woman's eyes.

Bucky's stomach dropped slightly as the medic looked up, the horror clear on here face. "No, sh-she's awake!"

As if on cue, a blood-curdling cry of complete agony emanated from Izzy as she fought hard against those holding her down.

"WHAT?!" Natasha grabbed the poor medic by the scruff of her coat. "Why is she awake?!"

"Dr Cho said no sedation until she arrived, her body has gone into shock, I-"

"Screw Dr Cho, put her under. NOW." Natasha raised a menacing fist, although Bucky was quite sure it was for threatening purposes only. Speechless, the medic grabbed Natasha by her raised arm and pulled her to the other side of the room, showing her something on a clipboard.

"Bucky, a little help?!" Steve called out to him, signalling down at Izzy's flailing head. Bucky cautiously stepped forward - this was way out of his league. He had been the Winter Soldier for so long that he didn't think he could even remember how to be of help to anyone - unless they needed someone murdering of course. Walking around the table, he placed his metal arm on her forehead and held it against the bed as softly as he could under the circumstances of her trying to break free from them.

"Iz, Izzy, can you hear me? Your okay, we've got you, just hold on okay, hold on!" but Steve's words didn't make a blind bit of difference, her petrified, un-adjusted eyes just wandered the ceiling as she continued to scream in agony.

"She's in shock, she can't hear us - WHERE IS THAT DAMN SEDATION." Tony screamed just as Natasha and the medic came back.

"We can't administer anything, her mind has to be completely clear to go into the regeneration cradle, and only then can we help her." Bucky somehow knew those words pained Natasha to say, he was sure that if she was offered the chance to swap places she would. He could see just from a glance around the room that it wasn't just Steve that cared deeply for this woman, which only intrigued him more.

"Dr Cho's chopper is three minutes out." the medic blurted as a small black box attached to her hip gave off an annoying bleeping sound.

"Good, let's go meet her." without another word Natasha grabbed the medic once more and raced off towards to the lift.

Izzy's ear-piercing cries conquered the air around them, Bucky marvelled that she had the strength to scream when she had lost so much blood and her arm was hanging on by a thread - but nonetheless her anguished cries vibrated up his arm, coercing him into action. He had to do something, many a time he had sat in a chair and screamed, pinned down by metal braces with no one to help him - he could at least attempt to help her. Moving his hands carefully so as not to alarm her he encased the sides of her head as he lent down so that his face blocked the bright lights above her - which probably weren't helping with her shock. He could see clearly now that her eyes were completely unfocused, Tony was right, the shock had truly taken over her body. He would be surprised if she even remembered any of this - with haste, he spoke to her.

"I know this hurt's, I know it feels like your body is burning itself from the inside out and you want to escape that pain, but you gotta hold on another few seconds so that we can help you." he whispered so that only she could hear, leaning down closer to her ear. "It's all going to be okay, I promise, just hold on." he brought himself back up so he could look into her face again, he was surprised to find her body had stilled slightly and her eye's had adjusted so that they were staring straight at him. Her free arm came up and gripped his metal arm, another strangled cry burst from her throat as she pulled at him, instinctively he lent forward so that her mouth was at his ear.

"Kill... me." the words were barely audible, but she had certainly spoken them - he was caught off guard, glancing wordlessly up at the rest of them.

"What did she say?" Steve cocked his head.

"She-" his words were cut out by another long, spine-chilling scream.

"Right, she's coming out of shock, screw it I'm sedating her." Tony moved to a drawer next to the bed, readying a needle with a clear fluid.

"STOP!" Bucky sighed with relief as the owner of the voice - a young, serious looking lady - appeared, nudging him out the way as she shone a small torch in each of Izzy's eyes as she slumped back into unconsciousness. "We got here just in time, bring it in Natasha."

Still a little disturbed from Izzy's words, Bucky decided to remain of use and walked to the entrance to help Natasha roll in a large metal coffin with two glass doors on top. He stared in wonder at the box, faint beeps and flashing lights whirred it to life.

"We have no time to lose." Dr Cho barked as she began to rip all of the wires off of Izzy as she indicated to Steve. "Pick her up and get her in it. Now."

Steve, not one to disobey an order cradled her close as he walked over to Bucky and Natasha, carefully placing her down into the box.

"Everyone out, I don't want any disruptions." Dr Cho spoke with authority as she pushed a select number of buttons on the side, signalling the doors to close over the lifeless body inside. Everyone remained where they were, not saying a word. As if sensing it was an argument she was going to lose she looked around each of them. "She's going to be in here for at least three hours, if you want to stay then you can but you will just be torturing yourselves, why don't you all-"

"We're staying, and that's final, my tower - my rules." Tony crossed his arms, daring Dr Cho to argue with him, but thankfully she did not. So they all stayed, and watched - hoping for a miracle to happen.

o.o.o

Bucky swallowed hard. Kill me. Izzy had had only one brief encounter with him - on the bridge that day that the Winter Soldier met Steve. He had next to no memory of the event but he knew he had caused a lot of damage, he had only found out he hurt her when she had woken up and demanded to know why he was there in Stark Tower. Although, it explained her reaction.

His face was the first thing that she saw as she fought the shock, and the first thought that came into her head was that she had a man in front of her that was capable of putting her out of her misery. Her shimmering, hazel coloured eye's had almost compelled him to do it, to release her from her pain that was tearing her apart - literally. Her screams had vibrated through his metal arm, each fresh scream had pounded into his own memory - his own recollections of being pinned down and in agony, with no one to help him escape - or to put him out of his misery and just kill him.

After she had successfully survived the regeneration cradle she had been placed in a soft warm bed, all the comforts provided to her whether that was through an IV drip or Natasha's constant stroking of her head. He had remained in the room along with the rest of them, not taking his eye's off of her sleeping form. It was rather selfish why he had stayed really - he wanted a new memory of her eye's, he couldn't bare the fresh memory in his head of her eye's pleading him to kill her. He wasn't a killer anymore - he wasn't that person, and for some strange reason he wanted her to know that.

She had of course awoken to the collective gasps of relief from everyone surrounding her, Bucky had stayed in the background as they all caught her up on what had happened and she in turn enlightened them on Sokolov. Tony was right, the shock had prevented her from remembering her spasm, either that or she just didn't want to talk about it. It didn't take long for her eyes to rest on him, questioning his presence. The eyes that had stared him out that morning were cold and unyielding - but at least they were better than the 'please kill me' eye's. Anything was better than being asked to be a murderer.

Izzy stirred below him, pulling him from his thoughts as she turned herself over in the bed so that she now faced towards him - he was horrified to see that the bruises were even worse on that side of her neck. Without thinking he reached out with a finger and brushed the bruises lightly, wishing he could take them away.

Big mistake.

Her eye's flew open, in one swift, fluid movement she grabbed his outstretched hand and flipping him onto the floor before landing herself with a thud on top of his chest.

"Iz, Iz its okay its me!" he called out breathlessly - her entire body weight landing on his chest had winded him quite badly.

"Bucky? What are you doing in my room?" she looked down in confusion, he offered her a puzzled stare back as her eyes adjusted from her sleep. He could see the memory of last night play out on her face, ranging through the emotions - confusion, terror and horror before settling on being completely mortified.

"Oh shit." she dropped her face into her hands, shaking her head from side to side. He felt like he should comfort her, but was unsure on the best practice for that when someone had you pinned down by your chest. Instead, he gripped her waist and shifted her weight to allow himself to slide out from underneath, he was learning that 'head in hands' was the international call sign for 'I'm just going to shut down and ignore my surroundings.' Best to remove himself now before he passed out from lack of oxygen.

"Wow, was I that bad?" he joked, although regretting it instantly as she shot up on her feet and gaped at him.

"Did we...?" she glanced towards the bed.

Realizing what he had just alluded too he jumped forward to calm her now panicked eyes, mentally slapping his forehead. "Oh god no, no Iz, I meant the kiss."

"The kiss?" he watched her bite her lip as her eyes flitted from side to side, searching for the memory as she sat down on the bed, looking awfully sick. "Oh god, we kissed." her eyes bulged out of her head. "I massaged you and then sprang on you like some desperate whore, oh god." He could only stare as her head fell into her hands once again. "This is so embarrassing!" she admonished herself.

"Hey c'mon, its okay Iz, and your not a whore." he sat on the bed next to her, placing a hand on her back, ignoring the slight hum as his skin brushed hers.

"What, that I practically forced myself on you?" she gave him a sheepish glance. "Thanks for stopping it when you did. I'd rather not do something we would both regret."

"Would we have regretted it?" the words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

She looked up at him, thought turned into confusion, confusion turned into a glint of something else. Just as her mouth opened to speak her phone rang, stirring them from their conversation - throwing herself across the bed she scooped her phone off of the bedside table and answered it after the third ring.

"Natasha? Oh thank god." Bucky pricked his ears at that name, contact from Natasha and Clint meant that their mission was complete, and judging from Izzy's face it wasn't a good result.

"Yeah, give me an hour and we'll both be there." she ended the call as she looked over at him. "They're on route to Stark Tower, they have an update."

"Is it bad?" he couldn't gauge from her puzzled face.

"I couldn't really tell, it can't be too bad otherwise she would have told me over the phone, but her voice..." Izzy trailed off into thought, crossing her arms over the middle of her torso, something he noticed she done when she wasn't confident about something.

Wanting to avoid the conversation returning to the kiss he spoke quickly. "If we have to be there in an hour we better start getting ready." he stood up, picking his phone up off he floor, desperate to make a hasty exit.

"Bucky wait!" she ran around the bed, stopping in front of him. "About last night, I really don't know what came over me, if we had gone any further whilst I was drunk I think we definitely would have regretted it." she looked down at her feet, embarrassed.

His heart sank, he only realised now how much he was hoping that she wouldn't regret it. "It's okay Iz, if you want to forget-"

"Oh, what? No, No!" she waved her hands in front of him. "Bucky, I don't regret what did happen." her eyes returned to the floor as she picked at the skin around her left thumb, her cheeks tinged with pink. "Am I embarrassed and confused? Yes of course, I really don't know how this has all happened, I mean obviously I know how it happened, I mean the science of alcohol being the cause of stupid actions is historically accurate - not that I'm calling our kiss stupid, I mean, well, y'know." he smiled as she stuttered away. "Hey!" she punched his arm, glaring up at him. "Clearly I should just be embarrassed and forget about it." she snapped as she turned away.

"No, Iz wait!" he grabbed her arm gently and pulled her back towards him, but he pulled her far closer than he meant too - causing her to stumble against his chest. She rested her head against his as she steadied herself, her eyes staring up into his own - without thinking he leaned forward and took her lips in his. For a split second he felt her freeze beneath him, leading him to think she was going to pull away, but instead she brought her hands up and tangled them through his hair like she had done last night, pulling herself closer to him as she reciprocated. Warmth oozed from the points that his skin met hers, setting off a burst of elation in his gut as it spread through him. He ached to deepen the kiss but didn't want to push her too far, so instead he just held her there as he enjoyed the sensations coursing through his body.

"Um... wow." she breathed as she broke the kiss off - much to his disappointment. Dropping her hands from his hair, she rested one on his shoulder as the other covered her mouth, he just about understood the muffled words that she spoke through her fingers. "Oh god, I've got alcohol breath." She backed away, reluctantly letting him go. "I need to shower - well we both do - and then we better get over to Stark Tower, we can talk about all this later." she indicated between them both as she backed up more towards the door.

Bucky couldn't help but grin as she turned and ran from the room, his body still flared in a range of emotions from her simple touch. Turning to the bed he picked up his phone once more and made his way out her bedroom, just as he reached the door, his phone began to violently vibrate in his hands, a flashing red light and piercing siren emanated from it, causing Bucky to drop the phone and cover his ears. Izzy raced out of the bathroom, tackling him to the ground and into the living area as the doorway to her room exploded in a flash of white, a thick, dark cloud of smoke engulfing them both.