The news hit later that week of an attack on the American embassy in Australia. The initial attack amassed multiple deaths and after the news coverage started rolling on a 24-hour cycle, the news that there were hostages taken came out. Then the cyber attack hit, disabling computer networks throughout the country, taken their entire infrastructure down.

Steve accompanied Tony and Nick Fury to the FBI field office in DC. Because of the sheer magnitude of the attack, they had no choice but to coordinate with the bureau on efforts to restore order to the allied country.

Director Crenshaw shook hands with each of them, motioning for them to have a seat. Each side reviewed what they knew with Tony having the best intel on the cyber attack.

"Even if we can retake the embassy, there's still their control of the infrastructure," Crenshaw told them.

"Our strike would have to be coordinated," Tony added. "If we have them busy on both fronts, we have a chance to retake the grid."

Crenshaw nodded. "What do you need from us? I'm trusting you on physically retaking the embassy and the hostage situation though you certainly have our backing there. We can lend as many tactical teams as you need."

"Good to know," Fury told him.

"I could use help on restoring the infrastructure," Tony told him.

"I'm assuming you want Danforth," Crenshaw said, "and a couple others from our cyber team?"

That got Steve's attention. Chris.

"Yes, I definitely want Danforth on this one," Tony replied. "Your top cyber agents would be great,"

Crenshaw nodded again. "I'll call Danforth and Jennings in."

They worked out a strategy, Steve and Tony coming up with most of it. Their meeting over, they shook hands. And as soon as Director Crenshaw was out of hearing range, Nicky turned on Tony.

"Is it a good idea to bring Danforth back in?" he asked intently. "Given the situation with Barnes, I don't want any drama. Especially drama that will impede our efforts."

Tony didn't even look at Steve. "Nah, it's all good. I don't think Barnes will be a problem. Do you Steve?"

Steve shook his head. If Nick thought it was odd he had nothing to say to that, he didn't say as much.

As they followed Nick back up the hallway to head out to their car, Steve's thoughts drifted to Chris. It hadn't been a week yet but he'd nothing from her. Not a word. Yeah, he knew that wasn't a lot of time, but he couldn't help thinking that if she really felt that strongly for Bucky, she would have reached a decision by now.

He even thought about requesting a car, so he could go and talk to her before this mission but talked himself out of it. He didn't want to push her. And she'd be arriving at the compound the next day with the other cyber intelligence agent.

Bucky didn't know what Steve had proposed. Bucky had been a little more talkative the last few days, almost like he knew Steve had talked to Chris, but he didn't ask.

How was Bucky going to react to seeing Chris? Would he give her the cold shoulder too? He had no idea how this would go. If this would go. He just knew he didn't want to continue on with things as they were.

The trip back to the compound was without incident and he ended up going to bed early, wanting to be well rested for the next day. Steve ended up unable to sleep, hoping Chris would call him. Text or something. What he wouldn't give for her to message him and tell him, yes, she wanted to try a relationship with him and Bucky. He hoped and prayed that she could at least give it a try. Between the two of them, he knew they could make Bucky happy. Even if she didn't want Steve, she could still maybe help him to a place where he could have Bucky back. They could have an arrangement.

The next morning there was a meeting in the conference room. Most of them were already in place and Tony advised them that they would get started in just a moment.

Then Chris walked in wearing tactical gear, followed by a younger man with large, dark eyes who looked more than a little intimidated by the occupants in the room.

Bucky's eyes stayed on her as she picked a chair across and down the table from him and Steve, but his expression was closed, careful.

Chris took a seat, glanced around until her gaze met Bucky's and she smiled, nodding. Bucky's gaze didn't move from her, he nodded. Her gray eyes found Steve, she nodded to him too. He didn't want to read too much into it, but he hoped it was a good sign. Bucky wasn't giving her the cold shoulder then. He looked so happy to see her, that she acknowledged him.

Tony explained the plan. They would hit the embassy in three waves.

Tony has allowed him to coordinate his own participation in the events coming.

"Agents Danforth and Jennings will work on getting the infrastructure secured," Tony told them. "Glad to have you back, Agent Danforth."

Chris' gray eyes locked on Tony and she nodded.

"I'll assist with that from the embassy," Tony told them. "Cap and Barnes will shadow Danforth and Jennings, watch their back while they get systems restored. That work for you two?"

Chris kept her gaze on Tony. "Yes, Mr. Stark."

After covering the rest of the aspects of the plan, Tony sent them off in their respective directions.

Chris rose from where she sat, Jennings behind her, and headed out of the conference room. Bucky was right behind Steve, Chris and Jennings coming up behind them.

"Are we ready?" Steve asked the three of them.

Chris nodded, Bucky and Jennings remained silent.

Following him to the third jet, Steve was amazed by how silent his team was. When they were all strapped in, the pilot and co-pilot in place, Steve took his seat next to Bucky, across from Chris and Jennings. Chris pulled out a tablet, letting Jennings watch what she was doing. Another FBI agent named Wills came on, taking a seat with his coworkers.

"Danforth, you ready to take these motherfuckers?" Wills asked with a grin.

Chris swung her gray eyes at him. "Always."

"How've you been, Chris?" Bucky finally spoke up, his tone sounding cautious.

"Fine," she told him, without looking up. "How are you?"

That earned Bucky an alarmed look from Jennings.

"I've been better, doll," Bucky told her. His tone held a note of bitterness. "Haven't heard from you in a while."

Now she did look at Bucky, her gaze intense. "I'm sorry. I've had a lot on my mind lately. I'll try to do better."

"That a promise?"

Steve's brows shot up at Bucky's saucy tone.

Chris cocked a brow at him and Steve inwardly cringed, not knowing Chris well enough to know how she was going to take any of this. He had no idea how this would impact her decision or even if it would.

"Maybe," she told him.

When they arrived at this site in Australia, Steve led the group off the jet, followed by Chris, Jennings, Wills, then Bucky. Natasha and Clint's team were already waging battle in the embassy, trying to free the hostages. Their target was a huge data center beneath the embassy, Steve looked in the door to see what they were dealing with.

"Chris," Steve whispered. "Can you give me any intel on what we're going to run into in there?"

Holding up a finger, he watched her type furiously into the tablet, pulling up a view from the security cameras from the security chamber – just what they needed to breach.

"There are 4 technicians in there," she reported. "Two armed guards on the south side."

Steve blew out an exhale. "Wills, with me. We'll take the guards."

The eager young agent smiled.

"Buck, stay with them until you get word from me," Steve said.

Bucky nodded, his gaze landing on Chris as Steve ran off to take care of the guards with Wills on his heels.

Chris's heart pounded a fierce rhythm as she waited with Fred Jennings, a harmless young man of twenty-three, and Bucky, who she was struggling to read right now. At least he was speaking to her. Considering she'd blown him off for months, she was grateful for that.

She knew Bucky was gathering intel in the comm he wore. He frowned at what he was getting from Natasha. "Nat, wait, slow down. What was that again?"

Chris couldn't make out what came on his comm though she did hear the low buzz of Natasha's voice.

"They are targeting Athena?" Bucky whispered harshly back to Nat. "Who the hell is Athena?"

More from Nat she couldn't hear. The throbbing of her heart was harder, louder.

"A hacker? Who has what to do with this?" Bucky wanted to know. "And is wanted in how many countries?"

"Sergeant Barnes?" Jennings said carefully. "Athena is…"

Chris elbowed him sharply, drawing Bucky's attention back to her.

"Is?"

Chris blew out a frustrated exhale. "Athena is an international pirate of information, intel. She's been wanted for years by several countries."

"What the fuck does she have to do with this?" Bucky asked, trying to listen to Chris, listen to Nat. "Aside from them wanting her dead?"

Jennings caught Bucky's gaze. He spoke so quietly, Chris barely heard him. "Athena…"

He pointed to Chris.

Bucky's eyes widened. "The bureau knows?"

Chris nodded. "Athena is their creation. As a pirate, I can access intel we wouldn't get through legitimate channels."

Bucky's face darkened. "They sent you here knowing you could be targeted? Killed?"

"There's no reason to believe I've been compromised," Chris explained to him. "That's why Jennings is with me. If I tell him how to access things, with his own signature, we win and I go undetected."

His face became a mask of determination. He killed the conversation with Nat, seemed on edge as they waited.

"Buck, it's clear," Steve said on their comm. Chris and Jennings didn't have comms this trip, so she had no choice but to rely on them. "Head down."

Bucky silently moved over to her, towered above her in a way that had her feeling sexually thrilled and intimidated all at the same time.

"You stay with me at all times, do you understand?" he said low in her ear.

Chris just nodded.

She and Jennings followed him down into the security chamber. Sure enough, the guards and the technicians were all gone. Steve watched them filter into the room.

"Chris, go," he ordered.

Chris watched Bucky grab Steve by the arm, whispering furiously to him.

She couldn't worry about that at the moment. She and Jennings scrambled until the got access to the mainframe, working on different coordinates and codes until she began to worry about their gaining access to anything. Finally, she tried a very old solution to the get in and access was granted.

"We're in," Jennings said, excited.

The two of them worked together to find the code to restore everything and break the infrastructure free of restraint. Steve came up behind her, lingering close.

"Tony's on," Steve said quietly near her ear. "He's telling me that you need to check out the Cuckaburro system."

Chris didn't turn her head, just focused on her keystrokes. "Okay."

Going into those files, she shook her head, flying blind. "What am I looking for?"

"He says an executable file," Steve told her.

Chris sensed rather than noticed Bucky take a position on the other side of the chamber, in her line of vision. He was watching Steve and herself very carefully.

Chris scanned until she found a lone .exe file in thousands, called hydracomplex and pointed to it.

"Is it hydracomplex – Okay," Steve responded to Tony. "He needs you to undo anything that file did."

Chris blew out a frustrated exhale. "Because that's easy," she grumbled. "Jennings, here's what I need you to do."

Together they reviewed the file, reviewed what they think its processes were. She and Jennings scrambled to reverse everything while Steve hovered close by and Bucky watched silently from the other side.

Chris looked up once, her eyes locking with his. Getting Jennings to run the commands they needed so they wouldn't know "Athena" was involved, Chris watching him but reached out with her feelings. Trying to read the two men who'd basically turned her mind upside down.

She started with Steve because he was closer and it was easy. Steve was trying very hard to stay focused on the mission, but he was concerned with her.

Curiosity. Fear. Hope. Desire.

The last one made Chris hesitate a little. She knew Steve had been attracted to her and for a while, in the week since they'd talked, she'd chalked it up to his desire for Bucky. Now she understood that maybe that desire was aimed at her also. It felt like it.

When she reached out to Bucky, it felt like she'd run up against a brick wall. He had that iron grip on his emotions right now and she wasn't able to get a thing from him. Well, one thing, but it wasn't from his emotions, just his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes moved back and forth from her to Steve and back.

He was curious. He wanted to know what was going on.

Well, hell.

"Crap, something's wrong," Jennings hissed. "What do I do?"

Will stepped up curious but unable to help. Chris studied the code her partner was talking about, reading through it pretty easily.

"Tony said hold up," Steve told her.

Tilting her head to the side as she studied him, she waited.

"He's taking that one remotely," Steve whispered. "He thinks it was a trap set for…"

Chris swung her gaze up at him, surprised when he was closer than she thought. "Athena?"

Chris nodded curtly.

"When were you going to share that bit of information?" His tone was angry.

"When it became important which was this mission," Chris told him.

"You should have told us," he said.

Chris nodded. "I'm sorry. You're right. I wasn't trying to endanger anyone else and I should have thought about that. You guys, Jennings, and Wills are in this too."

Steve waited for her to gaze at him again and held her gaze. "Not it," he hissed, moving to speak into her ear. "You potentially have very dangerous people after you and you didn't say anything? What if you'd been assassinated because we didn't know?"

"What if I had?" she challenged him.

"Do you have any idea what that would do to him?" He nodded to Bucky.

"He'd still have you, right?"

"Maybe you matter to me too," Steve grumbled, stepping back then and watching the perimeter in a way that had engaged Bucky's interest.

"I think we're there," Jennings said, pointing to one last file he wasn't sure of.

Chris nudged him. "Let me."

She could feel both Steve and Bucky's gaze on her as she executed the final order and then all at once, the chamber sprung to life around them.

"It's back," Jennings said. They'd restored the grid to the country.

Chris heard Tony on Steve's comm before he repeated the word. "Go."

Bucky dashed across the chamber, insinuating himself between immediately behind Chris who was closely following Steve, looking like he was ready to end anyone who looked at her wrong.

Wills and Jennings followed while Chris just felt crowded. They faced several pirates on the way out of the security chamber, on the way out of the building. They saw Sam flying overhead, aiding Clint and Natasha in getting the rest of the hostages out.

"Captain, I can get them back to the jet if you'd like to help them," Wills offered.

Bucky turned and glared at the agent, didn't answer him. Steve led them directly back on the jet they'd arrived in. They all returned to their seats, Chris strapped herself in, doing her damnedest to avoid two pairs of blue eyes that were studying her very closely.

The emotions were even more intriguing.

Anger. Frustration. Hostility.

Lust.

Well, if they made it back in one piece, it was going to be an interesting night.

By the time they'd returned to the compound, they'd learned that the hostages had been freed and were safe. The entire nightmare has been reversed for Australia but that did little to soothe her nerves right now.

Chris had been with Bucky and that had ended when Steve's jealousy of both of them interfered. She'd then talked to Steve who wanted to know if they could share the mutual object of their affection, the man he loved. He also put the possibility out there that perhaps the three of them…

Chris was an open-minded person, truly. Steve's proposition had been preying on her mind ever since.

Bucky was gorgeous, very good in bed. Even though they'd been together less than a week, she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss that, didn't think about the handsome brunet often.

Steve was just as beautiful, light where his former lover was dark. He was America's perfect hero, a picture of strength and justice. Inside, he was like Bucky, broken and seeking comfort. Only where Bucky had been looking for the love he wasn't getting from Steve, Steve was punishing himself and now looking for any way to fix it, even if it meant being with her.

Chris shook her head at herself as she removed the straps from her seat, hauled her bag upon her shoulder and headed off the jet right past both of them. It had been a week. How hard of a decision was it to make? What living, breathing woman would pass up the chance to give that a try?

Chris was so consumed by her thoughts she half waved to Jennings, not knowing where they'd placed him and Wills for rooms in the compound. She headed straight for the elevator, headed for the top floor. They'd put her in the exact same room she'd occupied before. She had some serious thinking to do.

Before she could press her thumb to the door panel, her bag was pulled from her shoulder and the breath was knocked from her as she was hit and scooped up, faster than she could blink.

"Bucky?"

Chris was being carried over a shining metal shoulder, watching Steve who'd removed his helmet scramble after them.

"Buck, what are you doing?" Steve looked alarmed.

Once his own door was open, he stopped and turned to face Steve. "In here. Now."

Bucky strutted into his apartment dropping her bag and his own heavily to the floor. She saw Steve close and lock the door as she was carried into Bucky's bedroom and slung unceremoniously onto his bed, struggling to keep up, to breathe.

"Buck," Steve approached him cautiously.

Bucky paid him no attention. He crawled up the bed to linger over her and in the Kevlar suit, even with the heat she read in his eyes, it was intimidating.

"Now, which one of you is going to tell me what is going on?" Bucky asked carefully, his intent gaze daring her to say the wrong thing.

"What?" Steve asked, coming to a stop right behind Bucky.

"Don't 'what' me, Stevie," Bucky said still staring at her. "Something's happened here between you and her. What's changed? What did you do?"

"How do you know it was him?" Chris asked quietly, trying to provoke him because this didn't seem like the lover she knew before. This was a man on the edge. She didn't believe he'd hurt her and he was sexy as hell, but she couldn't begin to guess what he'd do next.

"I've been this punk's best friend for ninety years, doll," Bucky told her. "I know him a lot better than you do. So how 'bout it, Steve?"

After a long pause, Steve said, "We've talked."

"When you went to D.C. with Tony," Bucky added, guessing correctly.

"To apologize," Steve admitted. "To try and undo what I caused."

Bucky lifted then, turning to face his lover. Chris was afraid to move too much. She stayed where she was, watching intently.

"I know you, Stevie," Bucky said in a softer tone. "I saw how you were looking at her in that security chamber back there. You didn't just go to try and get her back for me, did you?"

Steve helplessly looked from Bucky to Chris and back again. "If I have to get her to admit it, it won't go well for you."

The look of sheer craving in Steve's eyes made Chris pause. Steve knew the answer, but he didn't say it. And she didn't feel fear from him. She didn't feel regret or worry. Steve was excited right now. Chris had no idea what this was between them, but she could feel Steve wanting to go in that direction. He needed whatever he hoped to provoke Bucky into doing.

Chris was captivated. While she didn't have a lot of sexual experience, and none at all when it came to certain bedroom games that she'd read plenty about, she was game to play along for the moment just to see what would happen.

Bucky turned back to her, seeing she hadn't moved. Planting a huge arm on either side of her body, Bucky loomed over her.

"How about you, doll?"

Chris felt his hesitation but stronger was his desire for Steve and her. Bucky was so hopeful right now about how things were going, aroused. All she had to do was play along…

"Did he touch you, Chris? Did he have you?" Bucky asked, his tone calm and even.

"No," Chris whispered.

"What was that?"

Shit. What was she supposed to say?

"No, sir." Oh, those blue eyes lit up. "Sarge! No, Sarge."

Bucky's grin was absolutely beautiful.

"But he came to see you why? Tell me the truth."

Chris nodded, feigning fear. "He came to me with a proposal. He somehow knew how much I'd missed you and blamed himself for what happened," Chris told him. "He blames himself for a lot of things it seems. He was, well, he was hoping you would punish him, Sarge. For everything. He was hoping I would help… convince you of that."

"Really?" Bucky's emotions in that moment were ones of joy, gratitude. He still did a nearly unbelievable job of keeping control of them. "How did he want you to help with that?"

Chris's mind spun. She nearly laughed at what she thought of immediately to say. She was enjoying this way more than she thought she would.

And besides, the truth was best.

"He was hoping that we, the two of us, might be enough to… make you happy."

His gaze flew to Steve, who was barely managing to look contrite. Hope was radiating off him in waves and he was so close to getting what he wanted…

Bucky's attention was back on her. "And how do you feel about that, doll?"

Chris had pretty much made up her mind by now, more turned on by the sheer chemistry in the room than she could say.

"I'd really like to watch you punish him if you don't mind, Sarge," Chris tried to sound as small and timid as she could.

Bucky chuckled at that.

"Is that right? Are you just going to watch? Or are you going to help me punish him?"

Chris couldn't fight the smile that took over her face.

Offering her a hand, he pulled her up from the bed. Just as quickly, Bucky grabbed Steve by the front of his uniform and tossed him easily on the bed.

"Don't you dare move," Bucky warned him.

Turning to Chris, he said, "First we're going to secure him to this bed."