Chapter 23: Conversations

It was a short walk from the SSR base to the apartments where the others were staying. I managed it in under fifteen minutes which, unfortunately, didn't leave me much time to come up with a logical, convincing, tightly woven argument. Before I was ready I found myself staring at the door to Bucky's room, my hand raised to knock.

I tapped twice and heard Bucky call, "Just a second!" I heard shifting and then Bucky opened the door. "Hey Steve, I – Josie." He grinned when he saw me. "Sorry, I figured you were Steve."

"Ah… I'm not," I said weakly.

Bucky was not, in fact, wearing a shirt.

I was not prepared for that.

Certainly I'd seen shirtless guys before. I came from a small, rural town – shirtless farm boys were a weekly occurrence. I'd even drooled over their large shoulders and defined arms on more than one occasion, along with all the other girls in town. However, none of them had ever made my tongue tie itself in knots.

Bucky wasn't as bulky as the men I was used to seeing. That wasn't surprising, he was a city boy after all. But basic had done real wonders for his physique and even though he was still a little skinny from his time in HYDRA, the back-breaking work they'd subjected him to kept him in shape. He wasn't so much bulky as he was lithe, lean muscle coiled under smooth skin.

I tugged my eyes away from his chest and met his gaze. He was smirking slightly, blue eyes glittering with amusement. I'd been caught, which wasn't surprising. I wasn't exactly being subtle. Bucky leaned against the door frame on one arm.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked huskily.

"I, uh, yes," I floundered, mentally smacking my feline side that was purring in pleasure at the sight and sound of him. "I had something I wanted to discuss with you."

"Sounds serious," Bucky said wryly, moving away from the door and gesturing for me to enter. He shut the door behind me and beckoned me over to a small, round table with two chairs, not unlike the one Yori and I had occupied in Steve's room. The remains of a lunch were still sitting there.

Bucky snatched a shirt off the end of his bed and tugged it over his shoulders, buttoning it up. He left a couple buttons at the top undone, allowing a peek at his collarbones. Again, I had to bite back a purr.

I seated myself at his table, forcing myself to look out the window until I heard him sit down across from me.

"What's this about?" Bucky asked, leaning one forearm on the table. I looked away from the window and back at him.

"Steve's team," I began. Bucky nodded.

"Yeah, he's asked me and a couple of the other guys from the factory to join him at a bar down the road tonight to talk. What about it?" Bucky asked, that perpetual lazy grin of his tugging at his mouth.

I took a deep breath and braced for the explosion. "Yori and I want to join you."

The grin dropped so fast it was like a switch had been flipped. "You can't be serious," Bucky said, his eyes practically begging me to burst out laughing and say it was a joke. I didn't. I just stayed quiet, my hands folded in my lap, and looked at him. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration when he realized I was serious.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Bucky demanded. "Belle, I know you were there at the factory, but that wasn't… that was just a taste of what combat is like. It's ugly, it's messy, it's dangerous… Why would you even want to put yourself through that?"

"For the same reason you do," I replied earnestly. "To serve my country."

Bucky shook his head, reaching out and placing one of his hands over my knotted fingers. "Then stay in the lab with Howard and help him with his projects."

I smiled faintly. "Bucky, I'm not an engineer. I don't know the first thing about weapons or inventing. I'm a chemist, a geneticist." I shook my head. "The team working on recreating Erskine's serum won't let me anywhere near the project. The only reason I'm still here is because Howard took pity on me and hired me as something like his assistant. That, and he likes having a drinking buddy who comes with their own liquor," I admitted with a smile. "Without him fighting to keep me here, I'd be back in the States slogging my way through job applications for dozens of labs that will take one look at my name and toss my resume in the trash because I'm a girl. I'm sitting on my hands here," I said earnestly. "I need to do something, I need to help, and I can do this," I insisted. "Yori and I, we can take care of ourselves."

Bucky sighed, his head dropping. "But you shouldn't have to." He shook his head. "Josie, I don't like thinking about you running into a firefight. What if you got shot?"

"I'd heal," I said with a shrug. "Besides, it's not like that hasn't already happened."

Bucky's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "What?"

I blinked. I'd assumed he'd heard all about the drama after the experiment from Steve. Then I cursed myself. No, Steve would have left that part out, because he wouldn't have wanted to worry Bucky. "I… I thought you knew," I said quietly. Bucky shook his head frantically, his grip on my hands tightening. He swallowed thickly, his eyes roving all over me like he was looking for a sign of the injury.

"I'm fine," I told him earnestly, pulling one hand out from under his and placing it on top, squeezing. "I was fine within seconds. It was after the serum, when Erskine was shot. I tried to knock him out of the way and I took one in the shoulder," I said, nodding to the shoulder that had been hurt.

Bucky's hands tightened almost painfully. He gritted his teeth. "I don't like thinking about you getting hurt," he grunted, staring at my face. "It makes my stomach knot up."

I shook my head. "I'll ask you the same question I asked Steve when Yori and I approached him-"

Bucky looked vaguely hurt. "You talked to Steve about this first?"

"He is the team leader," I reminded him gently. "But putting aside my gender, putting aside… whatever relationship we have…" I felt a little presumptuous bringing that last bit up. "If I was some random person who walked up with my abilities and wanted to help… would you hesitate to say yes?"

Bucky closed his eyes and a muscle in his jaw tightened. I knew I had him. "No," he admitted grudgingly. "But Josie," he shook his head. "I can't just put those things aside. You're asking me to make an objective decision and I can't."

I knew I was going to have to do something drastic. Bucky was so focused on the idea of me getting hurt that he couldn't think about the fact that even if I was hurt it wouldn't slow me down for more than a few minutes. I needed to remind him of that.

I tugged my hand out from under his and grabbed the knife from his lunch. Bucky's eyes widened.

"Belle, what are you- don't!"

I placed my left hand flat on the table and raised the knife in my right. I slammed it down. The knife was dull, but I had enough strength to shove it all the way through my hand and into the table beneath. I bit back a hiss of pain – just because it would heal didn't mean it didn't hurt – and tugged the knife free.

"Shit, Josie," Bucky cursed, standing up so quickly he knocked his chair over with a clatter. He cradled my bleeding hand in his own. "You're crazy, you're crazy, we need a bandage, we need-"

I laid my uninjured hand on his arm comfortingly. "Bucky," I said gently. "Look."

I pulled my injured hand free and brought it to my mouth, licking away the blood with a few quick, cat-like flicks of my tongue until you could see the wound clearly. I offered Bucky my palm again. His eyes widened as he watched the muscle knit itself back together, then the skin.

This time I held his hands between mine. "Nothing can hurt me," I said, staring him intensely in the eyes.

"I think you gave me a heart attack," Bucky said shakily. "Please, Belle," he begged. "Don't ever do that again."

I smiled. I was Belle again. He was starting to relent. "I'll try to contain myself," I chuckled. I looked up at him. "I'll make you the same deal I've made Steve and Howard. If any of the other men on the team have a problem with Yori and I being there, even one, then we'll back out. Is that acceptable?" I asked earnestly.

For a moment Bucky just stared at me, like he was reading my desperation from every feature. He sighed, reaching back to set his chair upright. He sat down again.

"I suppose that's not a bad deal," he allowed. "You know you're probably going to have a fight to get them to accept you, right?"

I nodded and smiled. "I know. That's why Yori and I have a plan to convince them."

"And what that?" Bucky asked. "I assume you're going to tell them about what you can do."

I nodded. "But more than that we're going to show them." I smirked slightly. "You've never really seen me fight before, Bucky."


Yori was remaining at the base for the evening while I went to meet with the men. While people who had just been rescued from a factory might not question a woman in an oni mask, the general public definitely would. So I'd prettied myself up, donned a light grey-blue dress with a small black bow at the collar, and headed out.

When I entered, Bucky was lingering by the bar with a scotch. He was midsip when I walked in, and I smiled when he sputtered slightly, flattered.

"Josie," he greeted as I stepped over to him. He offered me a hand. I took it and he spun me, a crooked grin on his face as my skirt flared slightly.

"You look even prettier than usual," he said, pulling my hand to his lips and kissing the back of it. I smiled, my cheeks going pink.

"Thanks. You're looking much better yourself," I said, referring to how much he'd improved since we busted him out. Bucky's grin leaned a little more towards a smirk.

"Well, regular baths and meals will do wonders for a guy." He nodded knowingly towards a table in the next room. I could see Steve's gleaming blonde hair and broad shoulders sitting at one crowded table with a group of men. I recognized some of them from the factory – the one in the bowler hat, the Asian man, the Brit.

"All of them," Bucky reminded me sternly. I nodded, smiling.

"I know, I remember."

Bucky grinned and gently pulled my hand in the direction of the table. "Go ahead, you're going to be late for your meeting, Miss Ealum."

I was still grinning and blushing slightly when I approached Steve's table. I snagged a chair from an empty table and dragged it over, squeezing into the group on Steve's right.

"I remember you," said the Brit, his eyes widening slightly. "You're the woman who was at the factory."

I nodded. "I am. Josie Ealum, it's wonderful to see you all again."

"And under much better circumstances," the black man replied, lifting his glass.

"Hear hear!" chorused the men as they each tossed back gulps of whatever they were drinking. They went around the table, introducing themselves to me. I shook hands and turned down the offer to buy me a drink from a couple of them. I didn't need to be drinking if everything went according to plan.

"Where's your friend in the monster mask?" asked Dugan, wiping froth off of his moustache with the back of his hand.

"Yori's still back at base. She doesn't really like crowds," I replied delicately.

"Clearly," Falsworth said drily.

"Has Steve made you his offer yet?" I asked, looking sideways at the blonde. He nodded.

"Yeah, he has," replied Falsworth. Dugan took another swig of his beer and set the mug down heavily.

"So let me make sure I've got this straight. We barely got out of there alive-"

"-and you want us to go back?" Jones finished for him.

Steve shrugged. "Pretty much."

Falsworth grinned cheekily. "Sounds rather… fun actually."

Morita let out a loud belch. "I'm in," he said bluntly.

Dernier let out a rapid stream of French, smacking his hand down on the table for emphasis. Jones replied in equally rapid French, grins covering both of their faces. The pair of them shook hands and laughed. Those at the table who didn't understand French looked at them quizzically. Jones gestured between himself and Dernier.

"We're in," he explained.

Everyone turned to look at Dugan, who was the only one who hadn't given an answer yet.

"Hell I'll always fight," Dugan said over the top of his mug. "But you've gotta do one thing for me."

"What's that?" Steve asked.

Dugan drained the last of his mug and slapped it back down on the table. "Open a tab," he grinned.

Steve chuckled along with the rest of us. "I think I can do that," he said, gathering up the empty mugs from the table and rising. "I guess I'll turn the floor over to Josie while I handle that," he said, moving towards the bar.

I shifted slightly as all eyes fixed on me curiously. I quickly scolded myself. I had to be confident, any uncertainty could blow up in my face.

"You have something you want to talk to us about?" Dugan asked, looking a little surprised.

"Yes," I nodded sharply. "My 'friend in the monster mask,' her name is Yori Tsukuda. She and I, we've both had combat training. And we want to join your team."

Expressions around the table ranged from incredulous to disbelieving to confused.

"So you and your friend want to walk into an active war zone?" Falsworth repeated skeptically.

"As I said, we both have had training. We know how to fight," I repeated. "We can take care of ourselves."

Dugan was obviously uncertain about the idea. "I dunno ma'am. I know you came with the Captain to rescue us, but how much action did you actually see?"

"Quite a bit," I replied coolly.

"Why would you even want to?" Morita asked incredulously. I shrugged.

"The same reason you all want to. To defend our country. Yori in particular, she was held captive by HYDRA and experimented on. She wants payback."

"You're some kind of scientist though," Jones recalled. "A scientist and some girl in a mask?"

I narrowed my eyes slightly. "As I said, we can handle ourselves. And we're perfectly willing to prove it. As soon as you gentlemen are finished here, come to the gym at the base. Yori and I are ready to spar and show exactly what we can do."

Falsworth winced. "I'm not entirely sure how I feel about watching a couple of ladies hit each other."

"It wouldn't be the first time we've gone at it," I admitted ruefully.

"Steve's okay with this?" Dugan confirmed, nodding to Steve, who'd stepped into the next room and was talking to Bucky at the bar.

I nodded. "He's made a deal – if even one of you gentlemen isn't comfortable with having Yori and I on your team after you've seen what we can do, then we'll put it aside and stay out of it. There's…" I hesitated. "There's one more thing you should know."

"What's that?" Jones asked.

"You're all familiar with Steve and his serum, correct?" I confirmed. They all nodded, clearly wondering where I was going with this.

"You telling us you and your friend took a dose?" Dugan asked drily. I shook my head, smiling slightly.

"No, we didn't. But that doesn't change the fact that we could both go toe to toe with Steve if we had to. For… other reasons."

I glanced around the table. I'd piqued their interest, that was for sure. That was my main goal here tonight, to get them curious enough to let Yori and I fight for them. I was hoping that after seeing that – and hearing the accompanying explanation for why I sprouted bones and Yori had a tail – they'd be open to having people like us on the team.

Once again, I was opening myself up for rejection because of my mutation, but this time I wasn't as afraid. I was sure that any men Steve had picked would be good men. And now that I had so many normal people who had accepted me I was coming to terms with the fact that while yes, rejection was a possibility, it was worth it to have people in my life.

Falsworth looked at the others around the table and shrugged. "I mean, if they're willing…"

Jones looked at me. "I want to know how come you think you can take tall, blonde, and pretty?" he said, nodding to Steve.

A round of chuckles circled the table at the nickname. I laughed lightly. "That's probably better to wait until after Yori and I have showed off," I explained. "But I will explain, don't worry."

"Well, clearly you've got more backbone than most dames, coming into the factory like you did," Dugan admitted, looking me over. "And now that I've got this great mental image of you throwing the Captain around like a ragdoll, I'd like to see you in action."

I smiled. "I can't promise any Steve-throwing, but I can promise that it will be quite the show."

"Then I'd say we can give you a shot," Morita said carelessly, tapping the table loudly to get the bartenders attention and raising a finger for another drink. "When do you want us there?"

"Finish your drinks, enjoy your night," I insisted. "But when you're done, come to the gym. I need to go and get ready. It'll be very hard to kick in this," I said, standing and smoothing down my skirt pointedly. The men waved and called their goodbyes as I turned to head for the door.

Bucky and Steve saw me coming and stopped talking.

"How'd they take it?" Steve asked as I approached, nodding to the table behind me where they had taken up a rousing chorus of 'There is a Tavern in the Town.'

"Well I think right now they're more concerned about their drinks," I admitted, watching them in amusement. "But I think I've got them intrigued at least. They've agreed to come see us fight."

"I'm still not sure how I feel about this," Bucky admitted sheepishly, ruffling his hair. "I don't picture your friend pulling her punches."

I shook my head. "Oh, she won't," I said certainly. "Yori always aims to hurt in a fight, even if it's practice."

Bucky blinked at me. "You're not filling me with confidence here, Belle," he pointed out.

I shook my head. "I know, and I'm sorry. But I heal quickly and Yori's durable, so it usually doesn't matter."

"At this point even I'm a little curious to see what you two can do," Steve said, leaning back against the bar.

At that moment the singing stopped. We all turned to look and see what had caused the disturbance. It was Peggy Carter, standing there with her hair curled and wearing a gorgeous red dress and heels. I grinned at her and slid my eyes from her to Steve's puppy-dog expression.

"Captain," Peggy greeted politely.

"Agent Carter."

Peggy approached us, her eyes never leaving Steve. I nudged Bucky and nodded to the pair of them. We shared grins, both of us assured that we wouldn't get caught. Steve and Peggy were too focused on each other to pay us much attention.

"They're adorable," I muttered, resisting the urge to squeal girlishly.

"Don't let either of them hear you say it," Bucky chided, draping an arm around my shoulder casually and tugging me closer to his side. I tilted my head towards his hand, inhaling deeply. I felt Bucky begin to shake with chuckles and looked up at him like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Sorry?" I said half-heartedly, even though I really didn't regret it despite the fact that my cheeks were burning.

Bucky just shook his head and grinned and we both turned back to Steve and Peggy.

"Howard has some equipment for you to try," Peggy was saying. "Tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds good," Steve replied quietly. There was a moment of awkward silence as Steve glanced nervously at the floor. Bucky and I both exchanged knowing looks as Peggy cast around for a new topic.

The singing started again and Peggy glanced into the other room, smiling slightly. "I see your top squad is preparing for action," she said drily.

"You don't like music?" Bucky countered.

"I do, actually," Peggy said, looking up at Steve warmly. "I might even, when this is all over, go dancing."

"What are you waiting for?" I asked Peggy leadingly, nodding to the room full of singing men. "I'm sure you'd have takers."

Peggy's eyes never even wavered from Steve's face. "The right partner," she said meaningfully. "Oh eight-hundred," she added to Steve, before turning to leave.

"Yes ma'am, I'll be there," Steve called after her. Bucky stared at Steve pointedly.

"Now I know how you felt all those times," he grinned cheekily. Steve turned around to face the bar, leaning on it with one arm.

"Yeah, but you're still the one with your arm around a pretty girl," he reminded Bucky, nodding at me. I flushed.

"Can't argue with that." Bucky grinned at me.

"Well, I hate to talk and run gentlemen," I said. "But I have a fight to prepare for. You're both coming?" I asked sternly.

"Wouldn't miss it," Bucky promised, pulling me closer to plant a kiss on my head fondly before letting me go.

When I walked out of the bar I was smiling like a ditz.