A/N: All rights to "Rebel, Rebel" belong to David Bowie (rip).

"You sure you can do this?" Sam asked as they walked back into Kat's apartment.

She simply rolled her eyes, dropping her keys in a bowl by the door. She wandered over to a dog cage with a young golden retriever bouncing around happily at the sight of her. She chuckled and let the anxious dog out.

"Hi, Rufus. Yes, I'm happy to see you too," she laughed as the happy dog licked her face.

"Katty," Sam said in that parental tone that made Kat roll her eyes as she spun to him with her hands on her hips.

"What do you want me to say? Oh, god I can't do this even though I have enough experience and personal knowledge to do this job with my eyes closed?"

"You know it's beyond just personal experience, right? He's violent. He was trained to kill people for decades. He's not going to be the easiest person to help," Sam reminded her as she headed into the kitchen and he followed stubbornly. "He could attack you and you're 5'3. How do you plan on defending yourself?"

"By helping him before he can attack me?" She offered with a small smirk, getting out a tub of Ben & Jerry's. She sighed when he raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "Alright, I'll think of something. If I have to I'll ask Steve or somebody to stand outside during sessions, but I can do this."

"Oh, I never said you couldn't. I know when you set your mind on something, there's no stopping you. I remember when you were in the ninth grade and the teacher said nobody in the class could do quadratic equations. You stayed up all night studying everything and had three cups of coffee before proving her wrong. You didn't get a wink of sleep," he chuckled.

She grinned. "It was worth it to see her jaw drop and the whole class laugh at her though."

He smiled. "Just promise you'll be careful and if he hurts you, you won't pull that 'I've had worse' act and at least take a break or something."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine."


Bucky's screams pierced the air like a bullet as the waves of heat burned through his skull.

The men merely chuckled at his expense as he cried. Cried for them to stop. Cried for it to be over. Cried for death.

Every memory he had burned him. Things that were once joyful now burned to even consider.

Occasionally, it would stop only for another wave of heat to engulf his body.

When it was over, the soldiers grabbed his numb, useless body roughly.

"Put him on ice," the man spat.

The men laughed cruelly and dragged his limp body to the cryo chamber.

He woke up screaming. He had to remind himself of what the girl said. He was safe. He didn't feel safe. Not anymore.


"You've got your mother in a whirl

She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl

Hey babe, your hair's alright

Hey babe, let's go out tonight

You like me, and I like it all

We like dancing and we look divine

You love bands when they're playing hard

You want more and you want it fast

They put you down, they say I'm wrong

You tacky thing, you put them on

Rebel Rebel, you've torn your dress

Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess

Rebel Rebel, how could they know?

Hot tramp, I love you so!" Kat belted out in the shower to Sam's amusement.

He pet Rufus as he listened to his best friend sing David Bowie awkwardly in the shower.

He heard the water turn off and got a drink from the young girl's kitchen before walking out and finding her in nothing but a towel.

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know we were back at that but okay give me a minute and I'm game."

She rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, her hands on her hips. Her tone screamed that she was already getting ready to kick him out.

He seemed slightly amused by the question. "Did you just magically forget you don't have a car?"

She rolled her eyes again. "I was gonna Uber it but thanks. I guess."

"No, need to spend your money. Best Uber in all of New York right here. All it costs is some of those really good pancakes you make."

"They're in the fridge. Microwave them for a minute and by the way I'd hardly consider you the best."

He chuckled and she was about to head back to her room when she froze in her tracks. "What is that I smell?"

"Oh, sorry I-"

Kat winced. "No! Gross, I mean I smell- Pies 'n' thighs!" She exclaimed, running to the living room to find a box with food from her favorite restaurant inside.

"Yeah, I passed them this morning, and you know what your dad said."

"'Every time you pass a Pies 'n' Thighs you gotta step inside'," they quoted together with a laugh.

She smelled it and moaned. "Ugh, I haven't had their food in forever! I'm gonna go get dressed then devour this! Be back in a jiffy!" She called, running to her room.

"God, you really are old fashioned. Steve is the only guy I know that says 'jiffy' anymore."

She opened her door a crack and tossed him a wink.


Tony smirked as peered over the shoulder of his close friend Steve Rogers who was currently flicking through Kat's file.

In it was a sweet picture of her smiling for her med school I.D, followed by all the information about her they could find.

Steve seemed to be digging through it tirelessly.

"So, you're hot for the new girl aren't you?" Tony said, sitting down beside Steve.

"What? No, I mean she's cute-"

"And she's helping Sergeant Screams A Lot back there," Tony offered.

"But she's not my type," he finished lamely, his fascination with her photo screaming otherwise.

Tony didn't seem to notice and flipped through the photos of her across Brooklyn. She was cute enough to grab his attention and intelligent enough to keep him from moving on.

"What? Seriously? Hell, I'd go for the girl. She's gorgeous. Put her in one old 1940's nursing outfits and send her in there with the tin man we might have something," he smirked.

"Tony, she's not just an object." Steve snapped. "She deserves respect."

Tony raised his hands in surrender. "All I'm saying is I've never seen you hire anyone that fast," he reasoned, smiling at the way Steve stared at one of her pictures.

Steve rolled his eyes and grabbed his coffee. "She's good with Bucky. That's it."


Kat had her head on Sam's lap and her bare feet out the window as she ate her food.

"Y'know sometimes I think that I should get a car. Then, I look at the traffic here and remember that I don't like being convicted for murder so best not."

He chuckled. "This is why I moved to D.C."

"And you came back for me?" She asked sweetly, grinning up at him.

"I came back because I met Steve."

She rolled her eyes. "I've been friends with you since I was in third grade but the red, white and blue boy toy takes precedence."

He laughed. "Boy toy?!"

"If the shoe fits," she shrugged, laughing at Sam's pure shock as she took another bite.


Bucky struggled against the restraints. He was angry. He wanted to punch something, to make something bleed.

Everything in him was screaming and it felt like his limbs were on fire. He needed something to feel the pain he was feeling.

He needed something to feel the agony that was eating him up inside.

He wasn't quite sure who he was angry at. Maybe, himself for all he knew.

He was probably angry at himself. I mean, why wouldn't he be? Everytime he got a flashback it was usually of some new innocent person he murdered.

He hated himself.

The world would be a better place if they just killed him.

It would be safer.

The woman from the other day walked in and sat down beside him. She smiled kindly and Bucky wanted more than to choke the life out of her so she couldn't smile again. What was there to be happy about?

"YA khochu zaglushit' zhizn' iz vas i kazhdogo proklyatogo vracha zdes'," he told her.

"Oh, that's nice," she muttered sarcastically. She sighed and looked at him "So, I'll take it you're feeling hostile today. Do you wanna talk about it?"

He shook his head. He didn't want to talk. He didn't even want to be there and yet he was sitting on that bed putting everybody there in danger. He lunged towards her, fighting against his restraints and smirking when he heard the tough metal groan under the pressure.

However, when he looked up, he saw the woman sitting there, completely unfazed. He frowned. Why wasn't she afraid?

"I could kill you. I could kill you right here."

"You could," she nodded. "But you won't."

"What makes you so sure you can trust me?" He muttered bitterly. He couldn't trust his own mind, so why was this strange woman so sure that she could?

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "But if you want to recover from this mess I know you won't."

Bucky rolled his eyes. That was bullshit. He didn't even know what he would do. This woman was fooling herself if she thought otherwise. "You can't help me. Nobody can. You should've just left me where you found me."

"Well, you're right." She said and he looked at her in surprise. That's not what doctors are supposed to do. Times had changed, sure but he was fairly certain they hadn't changed this much." Not with that kind of pessimism. You've given up before we even started. It's kind of hard to help someone who spends the whole time thinking the help is not working."

"Why do you care?" He spat.

She wanted to tell him everything. Tell him everything that he had helped her with throughout her life. Every little word on the tip of her tongue, but dissolved as she looked into his ghostly eyes.

"You are owed better than what you got," she said simply.

He seemed surprised by his response. He didn't believe he was owed anything except a first class ticket into hell itself. The things he had done. The universe didn't owe him anything. He deserved death and it seemed he couldn't even get that.


"I think it's going well," Sam remarked as he and Natasha watched the camera footage of Bucky and Kat's session.

"You just think that because she's your best friend," Natasha reasoned.

"No… Well, yes and he keeps looking at her like he's just noticing she's there and not hurting him for the first time so that's good right?"

"That just means he's getting used to not getting beat every five minutes. Don't get too hopeful."

"Oh, Nat, you're such an optimist," Sam said sarcastically, turning off the monitor.

"I'm a realist. There's a difference."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say."


"What did you dream about?" She asked. She knew if she could work out his dreams, maybe she could help him. Once her dad talked about his dreams after the war he always said he felt a bit better.

His eyes narrowed and grew wary of her. "Why?"

"If I know your dreams I might be able to help you better. You don't have to tell me-"

"Good, because I don't want to."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh-Okay," she signed as she leant back in her chair and glanced down at her notes. She shot Bucky a tentative glance. "Do you just want to sit here in silence until I have to leave?"

"Please," he muttered.


Kat walked out of Bucky's room and groaned as she closed the door behind her. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Internally, she kicked herself for assuming he would just tell her everything. Sure, she idolized him but he had no idea who she was.

"How did it go?" Sam asked.

"Depends. Is sitting in silence for two hours with only the sound of the air conditioning to keep you sane good? Because if so it went fucking fantastic."

He sighed. "He just has to warm up to you."

"He's been frozen, beaten, and treated like nothing more than a weapon for seventy years, Sam. He's going to need a lot more than just liking me to be able to tell me all his deepest darkest secrets."

"Well, what are you suggesting? You said he didn't even want to see Steve, so you don't really have a lot of options here," Sam reminded her. "I would just wait it out if I were you."

"No, no, no, that's not it," she frowned, raking her fingers through her hair. "There's something I'm missing. Something, something…," she mumbled.

"Oh God, you've got your Einstein face on again. What is it?"

"Picture Bucky as a puzzle. A completed puzzle with all the pieces in place, and each piece is a moment in his life. Like, for example, one piece can be him hanging out with Steve when they were younger and another is him completing a mission for Hydra."

Sam nodded. "So far, I'm following."

"Bucky can only see a few pieces of that puzzle and I know just a bit more. First, I need to make him see the whole puzzle and in order to do that I need to know the puzzle, but after that… he'll still have all the bad pieces. So, I need to add more good pieces!" She exclaimed before running off.

"Okay, I lost you!" Sam announced.

She ran back and grabbed his hand. "Come on!"