Chris had been at the compound for a couple of days after the shooting, leaving Tony's office when she fell in behind Steve, Bucky, and Sam heading up to their apartments from what looked like a hell of a workout.

It was odd to be up and whole after taking a bullet to the gut. It wasn't the first time she'd been shot, but she had to admit it was the fastest she had healed by a long shot. Instead of creeping around in loose-fitting clothing, she wore her customary jeans and tops, heading back to her room and thinking about taking advantage of the room's fabulous hot-tub.

Sam held the elevator door for her and she joined them, the room she'd been given on their floor.

"How are you doing today, Chris?" Sam asked with a big toothy smile.

"Good," she told him. "How are you guys? How did training go?"

Steve burst out laughing, Bucky shook his head and tried not to. Sam was fuming.

"I've had better days," Sam said, exasperated. "I need to stop training with these two dumbasses."

"Hey," Steve held his hands up, "it was your idea to upgrade the obstacle course." The last part he put air quotes around.

"Why are their air quotes around obstacle course?" Chris wanted to know.

"Don't ask," Bucky warned her with a grin. "You don't want to know."

She looked from one of them to the other. "Fine, I'll wait. Things don't tend to stay secrets long here."

"Will you be staying on with us for a while?" Steve asked her, the sincerity of his interest taking her off guard.

"I'm here until Saturday," she told him. "Some of the data we intercepted needs to be reviewed while I'm here. But my bosses are pleased, considering how this went."

"Meeting with Tony went okay?" Steve pressed on.

Chris nodded. "He offered me a job."

"Are you going to take it?" Sam asked now, still grinning.

Chris didn't have an answer for that one. Before today she would have told anyone who had asked that she'd never leave her beloved bureau. The terms and salary Tony offered? Damn. She was tempted.

The elevator came to a stop and that was a good thing. She got attraction vibes from all three men, Sam's far less serious than the other two. Steve? She'd figured out he was interested in her when they'd gone running. She was flattered to be sure but there was something… something holding him back. Hesitation was as much a shield he had up as the physical one he carried on missions.

Then there was Bucky. What he felt for her went in a different direction. Need, desire, longing. The loneliness that hovered heavily the others puzzled her but maybe she'd figure it out along the way. She was first out of the elevator, making her way to her room.

"I'll catch up with you for dinner, guys." Letting herself into her room, Chris sighed and closed the door.

Time for hot-tubbing, Chris decided, feeling more than a little worked up after riding the elevator with three gorgeous men. It had been a while since she'd been laid. That was likely her problem.

Just as she went to head for the hot tub, someone knocked on her door. When Chris opened it, she found Bucky standing there, his gaze so intense on her. She was pretty sure she knew what he wanted.

She motioned him in before closing the door, locking it behind her. Those amazing blue eyes of his drank her in and he licked his lips.

Christine pulled off her blouse, surprising him. "I was just going to get in the hot tub. It's helped the soreness I do have from being shot immensely. Want to join me?"

He pulled off the sweatshirt he wore and dropped it to the floor. Chris got an eyeful of that vibranium arm of his, impressed after seeing it in action. Where the metal met flesh was ugly and twisted but it was barely noticeable when you considered the muscled wall of his chest, the perfection of his flesh arm and the rest of him.

She made the first move, smoothing her hands over that chest as his hands landed on her waist. There was no question he wanted her, desire radiated from him in waves. It was just the sadness wrapped around the lust he put off. It made her sad he didn't consider himself her equal but that he was begging for the scraps from her table.

What the hell made a man that beautiful like this?

Chris pressed her lips to his chest, then his neck. He shivered, and she grinned against his shoulder.

When she pulled back, he lowered his head and claimed her mouth in a scorching kiss, hands lifting to work on the back of her bra and pull it off her body. Bucky hummed as he let his flesh hand skim up over her ribs to cup her breast. He was an incredible kisser, but she had to breathe so she pulled back again.

"Do you have… anything?" she asked, wanting to get business out of the way. "I didn't bring anything in the way of protection for this trip."

Bucky nodded, the metal arm dragging her against him so she could feel how hard he was for her. Chris smiled. He was going to feel so good.

Taking his metal hand in hers, Chris led him to the bathroom, turning on shower and getting the water nice and hot. Then she got the hot tub started.

"Shower first," she told him, working off her jeans and panties with them. "We'll get you cleaned up and then get in the hot tub. Sound good?"

Bucky's grin was wicked as he took in all of her. "Sounds very good."

His shorts, socks and shoes were off in an instant and he climbed into the shower, adjusting the water to cool it off just a little.

Chris slid into the shower behind him, lathering up a loofa with her own body wash and cleaning him up while he washed his hair. Watching him rinse the shampoo out, she handed him the conditioner next. He hesitated but did as she wished, squeezing some into his flesh hand and working it through his dark hair as she worked on cleaning the lower part of his body.

Bucky seemed to be in a hurry to rinse off and that was fine. He could be in as much of a hurry as he wanted to be, she'd decided. She had plans that involved abandoning the loofa at his feet and smoothing her hands up those beautiful thighs. Her action stopped him cold, when her lips pressed to the inside of one thigh, he hissed above her. Chris ran a quick chain of quick kisses further up until she'd reached her target, wrapping her hands around that cock that was as beautiful as the rest of him, loving how small her hands looked as she stroked him.

"Is this okay?" Chris asked him, grinning at his darkened eyes and the way those plush lips were slack.

"Very okay," he whispered, his flesh hand sliding into her hair. "You going to suck it, baby? You going to wrap that pretty mouth around my cock?"

To answer his question, she sucked the head in, swirling her tongue around the sensitive skin there and loving how he leaned back against the shower wall to ground himself. Since he enjoyed that so much, Chris slid him further and further back, wrecking him with her mouth. When he hit the back of her throat, what she couldn't fit in, she worked with her hands.

"You look gorgeous," Bucky muttered, those beautiful eyes riveted on her, "so fucking gorgeous with my cock in your mouth."

Chris moaned deeply around him, swallowing him down as far as she could. The way his body tried to curl in on itself as a result had her smiling. She loved that he was letting her do what she wanted, letting her take him apart. His hand tightened in her hair though not enough to hurt. Chris doubled her efforts, enjoying the way he fought off his orgasm, so he could enjoy it just a little longer.

He tapped her shoulder, and Chris knew he was close. She was counting on it.

Moving a slender hand to his balls, she played with them, squeezing gently as he whimpered above her.

With a deep groan, Bucky came and Chris swallowed everything, hanging onto his beautiful thighs as she worked him through it.

The sound of him breathing above her, eyes closed as his head leaned back against the shower wall had her smiling. The fact that he looked happy, that he radiated happy, made her want to shout it from the roof of the compound after feeling the sadness that was his constant companion for days.

Considering she'd showered before her meeting with Tony, she was okay in climbing out of the shower, leaving him to recover.

"Where are you going?" Bucky's voice was intended to sound playful but edged with worry.

Chris smoothed back the wet strands of her hair, smiling back over her shoulder as she added some of her favorite scented oil to the bubbly warmth the hot tub offered.

"Just here," she said gently, wanting to put him at ease. "I really do need the hot tub. My side still kind of aches."

Grabbing the rail, she eased into the water, sighing happily as she found a perfect seat, the perfect position. The heated bubbling water came up to just under her breasts.

She watched him turn off the water in the shower, walking out to the hot tub as comfortable in his skin as she was in hers. When his gaze met hers, she held out a hand to him because he wanted to feel invited, wanted, desired. And she definitely wanted him.

Bucky took a seat next to her, looking content.

"Feeling better?" he asked after a few moments.

Chris nodded, reaching over to wind a lock of his hair around her finger. "Much better. Thank you for the company."

"I'm the one who should be thanking you," he admitted. "Especially since you invited me in after getting shot on my watch."

"Hey," Chris told him, drawing his gaze back to her. "How is that your fault? We went into quite a hornet's nest that day. I don't see action like that normally. I'm more… technical. If you hadn't been there, I might be dead right now."

"So, what do you normally do?" Bucky asked, tipping his head closer to her as she continued to pet him.

"Watch the world on computer monitors from my girl cave," Chris explained. "Analyze data they send me. The best part of my job is that I can work from home, tailor my own hours."

"What's the worst part?"

"That I work from home." Chris laughed. "There will be weeks I barely leave my place, hardly see anyone."

"Sounds lonely," he told her.

Chris shrugged. "I guess if I looked at it that way, it could be. I don't enjoy being around most people for very long. Present company excluded. And to answer that question, no, I don't do this often."

"I wasn't going to ask," he said, grinning.

"But it crossed your mind," Chris told him, impressed when he didn't deny it.

"I'm just… grateful," he said. She believed him.

His sadness, loneliness, crept back in.

She wasn't surprised when a hand skimming over her thigh in the water. The metal one.

"Hmmm, that feels so good," she told him.

"Yeah? It doesn't bother you?"

She hated the worry in his voice. "Why would it bother me?"

"It bothers a lot of people," he told her.

"Their loss." Chris spread her thighs open, practically purring as his flesh hand came across and slid in between her legs, softly touching her where she needed it most. His hands were big, his flesh hand rough and he knew just how to tease her and make squirm on her seat in the water. He bent to take a nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it.

Okay, then.

Moving to straddle him, Chris made out with him, letting him finger and tease her until she could barely breathe. She loved the way he kissed and the way those gorgeous lips traveled up and down her neck, feasted on her breasts to drive her absolutely wild.

His cock strained against her, hot and large as she ground down on it.

"I really, really want to be inside you right now, doll," Bucky whispered against her lips. "Can I?"

"I'd love that," Chris told him, running her hands through her hair.

"Want to do it here? Or bed?"

"Bed," she admitted, kissing him deeply.

"Hold on," he said against her mouth, effortlessly lifting her out of the warm tub, grabbing a towel as he went. More gently than she would have thought possible, he set her on her feet on the soft carpet in her bedroom before he began drying her with the towel like she was a child. His lips tickled when they kissed the faint scar that was the only proof that she'd been shot at all.

When he pressed those plush lips to her bare lips, his tongue delving into her folds, she cried out. He made himself smaller, working himself in between her slim legs, devastating her with his mouth in ways that had her hanging onto his hair, whimpering in desperation. Where the actual fuck had he learned to do that?

His mouth moved against her so hungrily that her legs weakened. She suspected he'd placed her so close to the edge of the bed for a reason. She was startled when her back hit the mattress, her hips barely hanging off the edge. Bucky spread her legs wide enough to fit his broad shoulders in between, shoving her up the bed just enough to position her at its edge.

Holding her open for him, his large hands pressing her thighs apart, he dove in with his mouth and tongue on her most intimate flesh. Chris could only hold on, her hands clutched in his hair as he devoured her with his mouth, using the flat of his tongue on her clit and fucking her with it wildly at turns.

"Bucky," she pleaded, writhing wildly on the bed. "Please."

"Want you to come, doll baby," he whispered, "all over my face. Wanna hear you scream."

Bucky was relentless, not slowing down until she gave him what he wanted, screaming as the orgasm hit her hard and fast. The world went black around her for a couple of moments as she tried to recover from that.

She had the wherewithal to realize he was gently pulling her up the bed, still wet from the tub. She didn't care in the least. She came back around to the feel of those lips moving over her face, her lips, her breasts. When she finally opened her eyes, he hovered above her, beautiful and dangerous looking.

And there was something else in those deep blue eyes, something so easy to miss except that she felt it. The need to belong, to be touched. God, she knew his story. How long had he lived with no one to love him, to touch him with a gentle hand?

Those lips moved up the column of her neck as she sank her hands into his hair.

"Can I have you?" he whispered in her ear, his breath hot and making her shiver in the best way.

"Yes," she whispered, noticing that he was extracting a condom from a wrapper, rolling it on faster than she could think.

Chris laughed even though she hadn't gotten her breath back. "You really are stealthy."

"Yeah?"

Chris gasped as he lined himself up and gently began to sink into her. "You've gotta tell me if I hurt you," he whispered against her lips. "I don't want you to hurt. I want you to feel good."

It did burn. Gasping, she hung onto him as he pushed further into her until he couldn't go further. Chris took a deep breath and he stayed completely still. She'd never felt anything like it before.

His finger slid down, skimming over where she'd been shot.

Her heart clenched in her chest at his caring expression.

"I'm okay," she told him. "Move."

Using the metal arm to support his weight, he moved above her, a storm of kisses and caresses all over her as he established a rhythm inside her that had her toes curling. Chris felt dazzled, besotted, beautiful. All she could do is wrap herself around him and hang on and what a ride it was.

When those talented fingers slid down to tease her clit, Chris couldn't fight him long. She felt her release coming, causing her to clench around him.

"That's it," he whispered. "Let go. I want to feel you come on my cock. Come."

Almost as if her body was his to command, she did come, and the orgasm was so much stronger than the one before it. He fucked her through it, moaning above her as he pushed on towards his own release.

When his movements quickened, his thrusts losing rhythm, she knew he was there. She tightened her legs around his hips, raked her nails down his back. When he found his release, he shouted above her, his arms shaking as it claimed him.

Rolling off to her side, he collapsed next to her, his lips teasing her shoulder as his gaze moved over her. "Are you okay?"

Chris smiled, thinking she could become addicted to looking into those deep blue eyes.

"Well, I'm wondering how I'm going to be able to walk down to dinner, but…"

The smile almost made him look boyish. "Yeah? That bad?"

"That good," she admitted. "I feel ridiculously happy right now."

His flesh hand reached for hers, his fingers twining with hers. "Your side's okay?"

Chris nodded. "I don't feel a thing there."

They held each other for long moments until she finally blew out an exhale, looking at the clock on the bedside table. "Not long until dinner."

Bucky nodded, sitting up on the bed, stretching his good shoulder. "We should probably get going."

Chris threw her legs over the side of the bed, considering what to wear. Behind her, she felt him get off the bed. She didn't miss the chance to ogle his ass as he made his way back to the bathroom to take care of the condom and grab his clothes.

"What are you doing after dinner?" he asked almost shyly.

Chris couldn't help but smile. "I was going to binge watch Stranger Things on Netflix. Want to watch it with me?"

Again, that heart-stopping smile. He nodded.

"If you wear pajamas, and I'm kind of hoping you don't, bring them. We'll have a sleepover."

Again, that feeling. Happy. He was happy. It reached her in waves. She loved that she was the cause of that.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes." He pulled his shorts back on. "I reserve the right to talk you into doing more than sleeping and TV, right?"

"No promises," she told him, chuckling. "But I'm guessing you can be pretty damned persuasive."

"Oh, I can be."