A/N. Hey guys! Okay... so I know its been MONTHS since I last updated this but I have a legit reason I promise. I think I mentioned it before but I finished with my last job and left the UK to travel, and writing and updating whilst travelling is near impossible - fast forward to me now living and working in Wellington, New Zealand. It's only now that I have had a chance to sit back down again with this story, I had to re-read through it all again and try and make sense of the direction I was taken this story in as I left all my notes at home. So with this chapter I *think* I have got back into the swing of things again. I do recommend people re-reading the story again because if I couldn't remember what happened then you guys definitely won't!

My deepest apologies once again that I abandoned the story, a lot of people had sent me PM's asking me to please update - it is 4,500 words long so at least its a decent one! Enjoy!

~Ladieesailor

P.S. This chapter is marked Mature as precaution.

CHAPTER 10

.*.

"That was alright for somebody who's been out of action for the last 70 years."

.*.

The minutes ticked by, Isabelle couldn't tell if her body had slipped into shock, or if her brain had just shut down all communication between itself and her limbs to stop her from seriously injuring someone. Fury had left minutes earlier, giving no information as usual other than declaring the test was a success and now their focus could turn back to Sokolov.

"What did he mean it was a test?" she asked once more through gritted teeth. They had ignored her the first time, but she hoped her face conveyed it would not be wise to ignore her a second.

"We had to Iz, you know that field agents have to be tested before they go back out on operations." Natasha stepped around Bucky, who had stood anchored to the ground in-between her and the Avengers from the moment they left the lift. At one point she was concerned that he had morphed back into the Winter Soldier with the way he glared at Fury, but when he caught her staring the corner of his mouth turned up in a pained smile. She had also considered the potential that he was in on it with the rest of them, but that was cleared up quite abruptly when he lunged for Tony the minute the lift doors had closed on Fury. Once again Steve was Tony's saving grace as he intercepted Bucky and pinned him to the wall until he calmed down. She could only imagine that Bucky felt as betrayed as she did right now, he had clearly been left out of the loop on the fake dead Fury situation. A faint touch on her shoulder brought her back to the current situation, Natasha had sat next to her and placed what Isabelle was sure was meant to be a reassuring hand on her, but it didn't feel that way.

"I don't recall any other Agent being forced to process the death of their boss and then process his miracle respawning all within a matter of hours as a means to prove their fitness for the field." Isabelle shifted herself away from her, ignoring the hurt on Natasha's face as her hand to drop away.

"But you're not just any Agent, are you Iz?" Steve stepped forward, angling his chin up in confrontation. "In Fury's books you're on par with Natasha and Clint, of course you're not going to be tested like any regular Agent. This situation with Sokolov is going to take everything we got to deal with him, we couldn't take any chances, we needed you fit both physically and mentally, we needed to make sure you could handle the conditions." He took a step back so that he could look at both her and Bucky with ease, clearing his throat. "We didn't expect what happened between you two down there to happen – we knew there was something, but from what we saw in the apartment we didn't think it had gotten past an infatuation."

If Isabelle's blood wasn't boiling before it undoubtedly was now. "I knew you had more camera's in my apartment!" she lunged for a oddly calm Tony, but was stopped mid-air by Steve, who gathered her against his chest, binding her arms by her side. She struggled and kicked against him to no avail - he wasn't budging.

"Let her go." Bucky moved to step closer, but Steve stopped him with a look.

"Izzy calm down. Now. You passed the test, it was a dirty test but it's what Fury wanted, and we just wanted you back on the team so we were willing to allow anything to happen." Steve growled into her ear as he dodged each well-placed kick with ease.

She stilled at those words. She had been so mad over the deception that she had forgotten the whole point in this was upgrading her. It was all she wanted and now she had it, so why was she creating a fuss? Her shoulders sagged with the exhaustion of it all. Detecting her deflation, Steve cautiously loosened his grip enough so that she could turn to face him, her mind whirred into overdrive. "So, let me get this straight," she raised her eyebrows more in question than of surprise. "You kill my boss to test whether I'll have another break down or not, and when I go down the other route of locking myself away and being void of all emotion and end up making out with your best friend you still decide that I've passed your test." she looked around the room as she shook her head. "After the way I've acted for this past week how could you possibly want me back on the team."

"You put your emotions to one side and focused purely on your knife skills so that you would be capable of helping in the field." Tony stood up, a small grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. "That's why you passed, you're a grown adult Izzy, if you want to suck face with Capsicle 2.0 that's your choice. We would be hypocrites to object when we've all had our fair share of distracting relationships through the years." Isabelle knew he was talking about Natasha and Bruce, but that had fizzled out months ago, with Bruce feeling safer alone. If Natasha still harboured feelings she kept it to herself.

"What so that's it, no objections, no lectures, no telling us we are doing the wrong thing?" she found that hard to believe.

"Only if it gets in the way of our operational capabilities." Steve spoke with a hint of warning. "You both deserve to be happy, more than anyone else I know, but if this thing going on between you both starts causing consequences for the rest of us, I'll end it myself." The significance of Steve's words was mirrored by everyone else in the room as they silently pledged the same. The safety of everyday humans was paramount in their operations and she had no problems believing they would put her and Bucky on opposite sides of the planet if it meant the safety of others.

"And as for your little temper tantrum this last week, I suppose we can let it pass, you did nearly die after all." If his smile had reached his eye's Isabelle would have believed Tony – she knew fine well that she had a lot of making up to do for her behaviour, the thought of her argument with Steve caused her to grimace.

"Just forget about it Iz, it's in the past. New Chapter." Clint had remained quiet the whole time, but he clearly knew what she was thinking, she welcomed the arm he placed around her as he guided her to the couch. "I'm sure a crate of beer will be enough of any apology for this lot."

As the rest of them laughed at Clint the tension slowly dissipated in the room, Clint sat them down so that she was between him and Natasha whilst Steve and Bucky took the other couch.

"If everyone is done being sentimental can we get on with forming some kind of plan?" Tony threw himself into the corner of the couch, pulling out a bag of blueberries from the side of it like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Isabelle watched as Steve perched on the edge of the couch beside Bucky, a few unspoken words were exchanged between them as he nudged Bucky's arm with his own. She could only hazard a guess that that was the 1940's version of a high five. She rolled her eyes inwardly. Men.

Placing her hands down on Natasha and Clint's legs she beamed. "So Mom, Dad, what did you find on your secret mission?"

o.0.o

Isabelle rolled her shoulders under the piercing hot water streaming down from above her. One of the very few advantages of staying in Stark Tower was the impeccable facilities: including her own waterfall shower, gym and throwing practice room. They had debated well into the night, Clint and Natasha hadn't learned much in their mission, they knocked on every door of Sokolov's hometown and not one person recognised the name Viktor Sokolov. The elusive wife was nowhere to be found and they failed to locate a gravestone attached to his name. Which lead them to their next enquiry, was the information they had on him accurate? Or had he falsely planted it himself to make them waste time checking out his background – he had shown he was more than capable of taking information with ease, who was to say he couldn't fabricate believable intelligence and put it out there as well? Tony reported that there were no further sightings of Sokolov on any security system throughout the city, not even from the night at the bar where the exit was conveniently in a blind spot. Everything seemed to be working out well for Sokolov and it was frustrating the Avengers, now that their only lead had ended with his hometown and they couldn't find any new surveillance on him they were stuck. Isabelle had suggested they pull him out into the open by baiting him, but that idea was shut down immediately, with no other suggestions on the cards they decided to get some shut eye and re-think things over in the morning with clearer heads. It had been a long day for everyone. Grabbing the shampoo, she lathered it through her hair, enjoying having the full use of her arm with no pain as she scrubbed her scalp - getting rid of the faint smell of smoke that still lingered on her skin. She stayed under the hot water for a while, allowing herself the time to empty her head and just enjoy the warmth and the relaxing pressure of the shower until she built up the willpower to turn it off and step out.

"Shit." She muttered as she realised her towel was still lying on her bed. Wringing her hair out as much as she could, she made her way across the heated floor and opened the door through to her bedroom, making a beeline for the towel on her bed, which just so happened to be sat right next to an impatient looking Bucky. His eyes turned to horror as he took in her naked body.

"Shit, Iz, I didn't expect you to come out naked!" he threw his metal arm up in front of his eyes, averting his gaze.

"Don't bother covering your eye's you've seen it all now, throw me the towel!" she squealed.

Comically, he felt around the bed until he grasped the towel and lunged it at her, Isabelle caught it and wrapped it around her body in one fluid motion.

"What the hell are you doing in here Bucky?" she scurried to the edge of the bed beside him, hugging the towel tight against her in sheer embarrassment.

"I wanted to talk about earlier." He spoke as she tapped him on the shoulder to make him aware it was okay to look, he dropped his arm slowly, looking anywhere but at her. "About what happened between us in the training room before…" he trailed off, evidently deciding not to mention the fact that the Avenger's and her newly resurrected boss - Nick Fury - had witnessed their passionate whim.

"What would you like to discuss?" she inched closer to him, her embarrassment from earlier slowly dissipating. His words had stirred the memories of their passion in the elevator, and in that moment she found herself wanting to be as close as possible, she watched him until his eyes finally rose to meet hers.

"Is this what you want Iz, or was it the emotions of everything that happened with Fury?"

Isabelle answered him by taking his lips with her own, softly at first, not wanting to push him – after a moment's hesitation he reciprocated, his hands snaking up her arms before cupping her neck as he deepened the kiss. Isabelle let out the whispers of a moan as Bucky pulled her right leg across him so that she was straddling his body. Instinct took over as she broke off the kiss and pushed him back onto the bed, hands resting on his ribs to keep him down.

"Is this what you want Bucky? You've seen me at rock bottom, you've seen my broken side, my worst side. Do you want all this trouble?" she used one hand to gesture to herself, a small part of her wanting him to say no and make their lives easier. If they carried on there was no going back. Not for her anyway.

"Iz, I've spent the last 70 years killing people with my bare hands-"

"That wasn't you though." she interjected but he held a hand up to silence her.

"And one day I will come to terms with that, and possibly even forgive myself. But the Winter Soldier is still a part of me Iz, the question is do you want to be around me whilst I deal with my regret, my worry, my shame?" He pushed her hand aside with ease and sat up straight so that their faces met. "Do you want to be with me knowing I could turn and kill you in an instant?" As if to make his point he wrapped his metal arm around her waist and flipped her over so that he was now on top, holding himself above her body by his elbows, their faces still close enough that she could feel his hot breath tickle her chin. "Do you want to be with the broken man that I am?"

She lifted her hand up and cupped his face, her thumb absently stroking his cheek. "I'm more offended that you think you could kill me in an instant." She smiled against his lips as she went to kiss him, but he pulled back.

"I'm being serious Iz, this could be dangerous for you."

Exasperated, she gripped his chin. "Bucky, everything is dangerous, I could step out of Stark Tower tomorrow and be hit by a bus or have a piano dropped on my head – the point is that we don't have to plan this or make promises, we can take this one day at a time and if it gets too much for either of us we can deal with that when it comes." She ran her hands through his hair and pulled him closer once again. "Steve said it himself, we both deserve to be happy, if that's each other then why wait?"

"But Iz-"

"No buts Bucky, we have the injections to keep you at bay, I only have to scream to have 4 of the Avengers in here within seconds and no offence but your going to need more than 'oh look at me I'm Bucky and I hurt people' to scare me away fr-"

Bucky's lips silenced her as he pressed his body against her own, kissing her long and hard. She released her body from the constraints of the towel and wrapped her legs around his waist, gripping his hair tighter as she pulled him as close as physically possible, his evident enthusiasm once more growing against her groin. Isabelle pulled at his top, grinning with delight when he got the hint and sat back up to pull his t-shirt off. Impatiently, she set to work on his trousers, but just as she was fumbling with the last button his hands came around hers and forced her to stop. With slight annoyance she looked up, only to raise her eyebrows at his expression. Bucky's eyes were roaming across her body, she could feel him take in every inch of her before looking her straight in the eye's.

"Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?" his breath hitched in his throat as he traced a faded scar on her hip, and another just under her breastbone. "Do I even deserve you?" he muttered so faintly Isabelle only just caught his words.

Tightening her grip with her legs she used her momentum and the fact he was distracted to flip him back over so that she was back on top. Batting his hands away she finished unbuttoning his trousers as he sat up in protest.

"The last man I was with almost destroyed me Bucky, he took everything I loved and made it disappear. I have no one Bucky – absolutely no one in this world outside of the Avengers, and I am choosing you, for the first time I am choosing someone who is making me happy." Isabelle could feel the tears coming but she didn't care, in this instance she knew that she wanted Bucky Barnes in every way, past and all – if that meant dealing with the Winter Soldier then so be it. "So yes, you do deserve me, but if you decide otherwise then stop teasing me and just get out." she pulled her hands away from his trousers and went to wipe the tears that had formed on her cheeks, but Bucky beat her too it, wiping with his thumbs before replacing them with his lips, showering kisses across her cheek and down her neck until he rested his head against her breastbone. She dropped her arms onto his shoulders, holding him against her as his fingers glided along her back.

"I want you so badly Iz it hurts, but all I can think about is the fact I nearly killed you after my last nightmare." His breath danced across her nipples, ripening the ache now developing in her groin, despite the topic of conversation. "I have one condition." He brushed his lips across her chest, Isabelle bucked forward in delight as the corner of his mouth caught her nipple.

"Anything." She breathed as he pulled them both into their original position, his back against the headboard with her straddling on top.

"If I attack you as the Winter Soldier and the injections aren't around, you kill me with no hesitation, with whatever you got." He kissed her so deeply and abruptly that it sent the argument crawling up her throat plummeting back down. "I don't want to wake back up with you in a coffin, my life wouldn't be worth living." He breathed against her lips.

"Only if you promise not to compromise anything or anyone for me, if I ever get captured you don't go offering up yourself in my place, I can happily die knowing I saved you from being forced back into the Winter Solider." She retorted, avoiding a straight answer.

"Then we have a deal." He wheezed as her hand wandered down between his legs.

He had her on her back within seconds, their groins aligned and his lips caressed every part of her body that he could reach, causing her so much pleasure that her argument against his quick acceptance of the terms died on her lips, her brain instead choosing to enjoy the pleasure. Within seconds they were one, a euphoric explosion of fervour ripped through her body as they connected on all levels, the steady pace of Bucky matched with their hands and lips - exploring each other's bodies and mouths until it was too much.

"Bucky." She breathed hard against his beaded lips, the elation slowly rising through her body.

"It's okay my love." he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tighter against him as his metal arm gripped the headboard. "I've got you."

o.0.o

"Fuck." Ernie scrambled for the abundance of napkins on his desk, scrubbing at the hot chilli sauce that he had just spilled down his white shirt. Deborah was gonna kill him, this was his third white shirt this week alone and his loving wife had threatened to end him if he brought another food stained one home in the morning. Since the fire in the apartment block where he worked as a security guard had emptied out all of it's residents until the smoke damage was dealt with, his job had become a whole lot easier. His normally cash-strapped bosses had bought him a nice little portable cabin to rest in outside the block, with a working tv and radio - he was sure the extra money was down to the generosity of Mr. Stark, who had turned up at the scene with his bots - but who was he to worry about the details? He had a comfortable last few months in this job before him and Deb packed up and explored the world. He was only required to do rounds of the building twice an hour – but he only went once, no one was about at 2am to tell him otherwise.

A sharp knock at the door startled him, causing him to spill even more sauce. "Oh for god's sake, WHAT." He snapped.

A man entered the cabin, clad completely in black with his greasy limp hair hanging over his face. Ernie crinkled his nose, great he sighed inwardly, another homeless person wanting him to bend the rules and let them sleep in the building. Not on his watch.

"Look, I'm sorry buddy but I can't let you into the building, your gonna have to sleep elsewhere to-HEY!" the man moved at an impossible speed and pinned Ernie up against the wall by his neck, disgust clear on his face.

"You saw me leaving Miss Sullivan's flat a few weeks ago." The man spat it out like a fact more than a question. Ernie's memory raced as he struggled to place the man and more importantly who the hell Miss Sullivan was.

Sighing with impatience the man growled. "The woman whose flat just nearly burned down."

Now that his heart rate had slightly lowered from being caught off guard, Ernie actually focused on the man. Black messy hair, even blacker eyes, a scattering of scars across his face that had him wondering if this man had a nasty run in with a shaver. His heart rate rocketed. He did remember this man.

He had been doing his final security check of all the floors in the building, he was just about ready to clock off and hand over to the day shift security guard when he heard a rustling coming from old Ms Jennings flat, the poor lady had died of natural causes at such a young age, he knew the flat was passed onto a niece, but he had never set eyes on her. The noise had caught his attention of course and he had presumed it was the infamous niece, but on inspection he found a hooded figure strolling out of the flat and turning to lock it again with a set of picks. Ernie had yelled at what he thought was a silly youth taking his chances, but when the figure turned he was met by this man in front of him now. He had frozen on the spot that night, not sure what to do without his baton or gun on him. So they had stood at an impasse, until the man moved almost as if he was floating towards him, raising a single finger to his lips before carrying on past. Ernie wasn't afraid to admit the experience had unnerved him, he should have reported it to his superiors - but it hadn't looked like the man had stole anything and Ernie was so close to retirement, if he had got dismissed for letting him go he would have said bye bye to a nice pension. But then the dawning realisation hit him. "i-it was you!" he fought against the man's grip but he wouldn't budge, he only let out a mirthless laugh. "Whatever you done that night in that flat you caused the fire!" Ernie kicked and fought harder than he had ever done in his life but it was no use, with one arm this man had him pinned.

"A smart man would have feigned complete ignorance at that question." The man cackled.

"P-Please I have a wife and two kids-"

"Oh save it." The man cut Ernie off. "You were dead the minute you let me walk away, I can't afford to have any loose ends causing me bother."

The last thing Ernie saw was the hideous twisted smile of complete joy before everything went black.

o.0.o

"That was okay for somebody who's been out of action for the last 70 years." Isabelle giggled as she climbed back under the covers, they had stayed wrapped around each other for ages, chatting and giggling about all the little things, but she had needed the toilet and no amount of begging from Bucky to stay in bed could come between her and her bladder needs.

"I believe it's called muscle memory nowadays?" he countered against her lips as he gave her a soft peck when she settled back against him.

"Oh?" she squinted her eyes at him, still smiling. "Should I be jealous?"

Her comment was met with a snort. "Absolutely not, I wasn't even sure I had it in me until you stomped out of the bathroom completely naked." He joked, catching her hand as she went to hit him.

"I do not stomp!" she protested.

He answered her with a kiss.

They lay like that well into the night, Isabelle asked every possible question she could think of about his childhood, they seemed to be the only untainted memories he held and she didn't want to risk upsetting him by talking about later on in his life before the war. She was ecstatic to find plenty of stories to use as ammunition against Steve next time she had to blackmail him into doing something. Their conversation tapered off and they lay in silence, content with the touch of each other. Bucky had taken to stroking the side of her face, planting a kiss every so often on her forehead – it had been a long time since Isabelle had felt this content with her life - had felt this loved.

"Who was he?" Bucky interrupted her musings.

Isabelle glanced up at him, they were tangled together amongst the sheets in the dark, his metal arm protectively wrapped around her as she rested her head on his chest. "Who?"

"The man who almost destroyed you, who took everything." He kissed her forehead softly once more. "Who was he, and does he have anything to do with what happened to you in Oslo."

"I have one more condition." Isabelle spoke quietly but with absolute certainty. "I'm not hiding things from you I promise but when I'm ready I will tell you, until then you don't go asking Steve or Natasha or anyone else, you wait until I'm ready."

Bucky was quiet for a few minutes, his arm squeezing her at odd intervals as if to remind her he had heard her and was thinking it over.

"Okay."

"Okay?" she clarified.

"Yes, but just answer me one more question." He tilted her chin up with two fingers so that she had no where to look but him. "Is he still alive?"

"No." Isabelle kissed him once – hard – before placing her head back down against his chest. "Natasha erased him from the Earth."

"Then I agree to your condition."