I rolled over and my body hit something warm and hard. Caught in between sleep and waking it took me a while to register where I was. This bed felt unfamiliar. With my eyes still closed I reached out and felt skin, I could feel the contours of musculature and eventually where warm skin met metal. My eyes slowly opened. So last night wasn't a dream, I was in his bed. The memory of the evening flooded back to me and I couldn't stop the smile that appeared. Bucky was still sleeping, his bionic arm resting lazily over my hip, he must have held me all night. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. I needed to pee. I slowly tried to disentangle myself and slip from the bed. The movement disturbed him and he groaned in complaint; pulling me back towards him. I didn't protest. He opened his eyes and for a beat looked confused.
"Hi", I said quietly.
"Hello", he whispered. I decided to test what he had said last night and brushed the wild bed hair back off his face and dropped a kiss on the corner of his mouth. I half expected him to recoil but he didn't. He kissed me back and I sighed in relief. He hadn't forgotten then.
"I have to use the bathroom", I admitted awkwardly. He reluctantly released me; I threw on his discarded t shirt on the floor and tiptoed out of the bedroom. The drapes were wide open and sunlight was streaming into the apartment. Steve was in the kitchen, pouring coffee into a mug with a huge grin on his face.
"Good morning", Steve greeted me amused.
"Hey, morning. Sorry", I said mortified at being caught.
"Bucky is…uh…?" He trailed off and picked up a tea towel.
"Still..." I blushed and pointed to the bedroom. Steve flung the tea towel over his shoulder and flipped over a pancake in the skillet. "So, I'll just go and uh…" I said and disappeared into the bathroom. I peed, washed my face and tried to flatten my sticking up hair. I saw some mouthwash on a shelf and had a rinse. I could hear voices in the lounge. Bucky was awake, he and Steve were talking. I pressed my ear to the door to eavesdrop.
"I thought she'd be here. Tasha filled me in on Rollins. I figured I might have found you on the couch though, what with you two just being friends", Steve said.
"Don't be a jerk Steve", Bucky replied. I heard Steve laugh.
"Come on Bucky, I'm not even saying I told you so. But I did tell you so".
"You don't know anything", Bucky retorted.
"The woman you pretend you are not in love with wanders out of your bedroom in your t shirt at 7am. I've got a pretty good grasp of the situation".
"Shut up, she'll hear you", Bucky hissed and I heard a snap of a towel.
"Seriously Buck, I'm happy you've stopped fighting it. She's good for you, I mean it".
"Thank you. It's just I..."
I didn't want to know the end of that sentence. What's that they say about eavesdroppers, listen long enough and they'll hear something bad about themselves. I opened the bathroom door and stepped into the living area.
They stopped talking immediately, Bucky was sitting at the breakfast bar holding a mug of coffee between his hands. He looked as embarrassed as I felt. Steve however was clearly enjoying the moment.
"Do you like pancakes?" Steve asked, when he saw me exit the bathroom.
"Sure I like pancakes", I answered and hovered awkwardly by the kitchen counter watching him dish them up onto plates. Bucky rolled his eyes and I smiled.
"I hope you don't mind me staying over last night", I apologised as he handed me a plate with a stack of blueberry pancakes.
"No of course not, it's absolutely fine", he shook his head and smiled, looking from me to Bucky. "Syrup?" He offered, holding the bottle near my plate. I nodded and he squeezed some amber liquid over my breakfast. I sat down next to Bucky at the breakfast bar and broke a piece of pancake away with a fork. I had to admit it tasted amazing.
"Mmm, this is delicious", I told him. Captain America could save the world and cook; he was a hero.
"Thank you", he said. "Bucky used to make them, it's his recipe actually..."
"Coffee?" Bucky asked quickly, preventing Steve from saying anymore. I nodded, my mouth full and he poured me some and passed me the mug. I swallowed my food and took a sip.
"You guys breakfast like this every morning?" I asked.
"No", Bucky replied shortly.
"That's a shame, a girl could get used to this", I laughed nervously.
"But you'd get them everyday", he added gently and he put his mug down on the counter next to mine, our hands touching. I caught him looking softly at me and he glanced away quickly, embarrassed. Steve was smiling so hard I thought he would burst.
We ate the rest of our breakfast together, the mood switched from awkward to relaxed. Neither Bucky or Steve would allow me to clear away or fill the dishwasher. I got dressed in yesterday's clothes and watched TV as Bucky showered and dressed for the day. They were dropping me home to shower and change before taking me to the lab. Despite my protestations, Bucky insisted. I got the impression now I had spotted Rollins in the city my calls to the SHIELD protection team would be much more frequent. I shivered, I thought I was done with all that. I didn't know if he was back to eliminate me. I was a nobody to HYDRA, an electronics technician they duped because I was unremarkable. Their secret was out, I knew nothing that could hurt them anymore. The most damage I could do to them right now would be to re-wire their plug wrong. I had to believe Natasha, that Rollins was back for some other reason. Steve joined me on the couch.
"Don't worry, we'll find Rollins", he said confidently.
"I know", I agreed.
"Thank you, by the way", he said warmly.
"What for?" I asked confused.
"For making him smile", Steve clarified. I felt my cheeks go pink.
"I can't take credit for that", I brushed it off.
"Bucky is my family, it's hard to watch him struggle with his past, to come to terms with it but you; you make him happy, give him hope and I'm grateful for that".
"Thank you", I whisper.
"Are you ready?" Bucky appeared behind us and interrupted the conversation.
The three of us drove to my house. Once there Bucky went in first to make sure my own home was safe enough for me to enter. I stayed in the car with Steve. I thought the whole thing was ridiculous but I didn't argue, I mean these two guys knew more about threats and danger than I could imagine, I would have to trust their judgement. Once Bucky had deemed it safe he waved me inside. I trotted out of the SUV and into my house. Bucky closed the door as soon as I had crossed over the threshold. As I squeezed by him in the hallway he grabbed my hand and pulled me back towards him, enveloped me in his arms and lifted me off my feet to kiss me. It was a longing kiss which left me breathless.
"Wow", I said as he dropped me back to the ground.
"I've been waiting to do that all morning", he confessed wickedly and licked his lips.
"Wow" I repeated, dazed.
"You better get ready for work, Steve and I have to meet with Natasha and Sam soon". I didn't like the sound of that. The team meeting together usually meant an operation.
"Do you guys have a mission coming up?" I asked in a small, concerned voice. Bucky placed his hands on my shoulders.
"It's a briefing that's all", he reassured. "We're you ever this concerned when I left the vault?"
"They never told me when you were deployed. I only knew there'd been a mission when you'd gotten back. But yes, I suppose I did worry about you. I worried I might not see you again and that we never really knew each other. And you'd never know how sorry I was", I explained.
"Lucy, you were the only person I really knew back then. I didn't even know myself".
I stood on my tip toes to kiss him lightly on his cheek. He could be incredibly sweet for an ex super-assassin.
I showered, brushed my teeth, threw my semi wet hair into a bun on top of my head and dressed for work. I clipped my ID badge to my blouse and grabbed my bag. Bucky was hovering by the bedroom door as I came out.
"What time do you finish at the lab?" He asked, taking my bag for me and I followed him to the hallway.
"Uhh, about 6pm", I replied. "Then I'm off to our lab, there are still about a hundred files I haven't even opened on the flash drive. Fogal put every little idea he had on to that thing".
"Call me when your finished, I'll come pick you up".
"Yes, Sergeant Barnes, sir", I said as we reached the front door.
"Very funny", he chided and turned to me. He let my bag fall to the floor as he pressed me against the wall, taking me in another kiss that made my insides fizzle and my blouse rumple. He broke off the kiss and I straightened my clothes. But Steve knew what took so long, he didn't even have to say a word. It was written all over his face.
They dropped me off outside the lab. Nothing about the building suggested it belonged to SHIELD, since it was declared and then undeclared a terrorist organisation, SHIELD kept all of its bases, labs and departments secret from the public and hopefully safe from HYDRA attacks. The electronic communications lab I worked at was called 'YuTel Communications'. As far as the rest of the world was concerned we researched and developed equipment for cellular networks. I buzzed to get in the building and turned to wave off Bucky and Steve once the door opened for me. I said hello to the security guards as I was cleared to enter the lab and grabbed a coffee from the machine. I don't think I managed much work, I spent most of the day curling copper wire round my fingers as my colleagues bounced ideas off each other. I was too busy thinking about last night. How wonderful it had been. I recalled James' every touch, every caress, the way he looked at me; it made me burn inside.
I managed to get away earlier than planned to the other lab. Located on the fifth floor of the building, the floor was accessed by fingerprint and retina scans. Officially this floor was used as a drop point visiting field agents to collect tech, not really for lowly techs like me but unofficially my lab was tucked away in the corner and people like Natasha, Steve and importantly Bucky could come and go without too much suspicion being aroused.
In my own lab I kicked off my shoes and turned on the computer. I kept the flash drive Bucky gave me in a small safe here. I keyed in the combination, retrieved it and plugged it in. I was ready for a few hours of sifting through the unchecked data. Most of the files were results on EMP testing, I cringed when I saw my name listed there. I clicked on an unread file called PRGRM, it was password protected. I tried all the passwords I had been privy to when working on The Asset. Nothing. No file had been barred to me before. I was puzzled. There were things on this flash drive which I thought had to be at least level 7 clearance and yet I had been able to access them all. But not this. What had Fogal been hiding here? PRGRM.Weapons program? I rubbed at my temples. I already knew that right? I thought about asking Bucky to help, he was trained like a spy, he could probably hack a file. But what if Bucky had protected the file, he had been through the flash drive already surely? Was there something on here he didn't want me to know?
A knock at the lab door startled me. I turned around and Bucky was standing in the doorway.
"Hi" I greeted him closing the laptop and disconnecting the flash drive.
"You ready to go?" He asked smiling, his hands tucked into his jean pockets. I nodded and carefully replaced the flash drive in the safe. "Find anything useful?"
"Do you know anything about a file called PRGRM?" I bit the bullet and asked him outright. "Its password protected and its the only file I can't access".
"No", he replied and I found myself examining his face for any trace of deception. There were none. I visibly sighed in relief. "Hey, are you alright?"
"I want to go home", I said quietly. "Looking through all this stuff, it's hard you know". I admitted and leaned into his chest, resting my forehead on the solidness of his frame. He gently wrapped his arms around me and I felt him drop a kiss on the top of my head.
"Tasha asked me if you'd like her to arrange a SHIELD security detail outside your house?" Bucky asked tentatively.
"No. I want you, I only want you", I said wrapping my arms around his waist.