Wow, yay! I wanna thank each and every single person who's taken the time to read this and seem to be enjoying it so far. And I've made my mind up.. The winner of this is... BUCKY YAY! Something just clicked while writing this. I decided that maybe if I show the human side of him, not just the Winter Soldier side, that could make things hella intense and really interesting, especially when she finally gets released? -bites lip-

I'll definitely keep working on this one because so far (fingers crossed) you guys seem to actually like it, and I'm not screwing up royally.

Thanks again for all the support and reviews, I love you guys so much!

CHAPTER 07

She'd fallen asleep again, in the car, on the way to this new safehouse. The car came to a stop just behind the house and quickly Bucky got out, walked around and grabbed her out of the passenger seat, carrying her in his arms up the stairs. It was just beginning to get dark, and they'd driven 3 days so he was pretty much exhausted at this point.

And confused, very confused. If he'd thought her avoiding him was problematic before, if he'd thought she was skiddish and distant before, then whatever happened during the standoff at the other hideout they'd left behind a few days ago only proved to worsen that skittishness and distant vibe he got from her. Fumbling with the lock on the door, -which was a harder task than normal because holding her like he was really did a number on him- he finally got the key into the lock and kicked the door open quietly with his foot.

"We're home." he joked, though it was dry, humorless, as he sat her down on a couch, let her sit up and stretch, look around. She rubbed her eyes and stood, stretching, rubbing her neck. He chuckled and said "Sore neck?"

"Little bit." she muttered as she walked around the small mid century house nestled in the middle of 'retro' suburbia. "Wow.. Did you drive through a time warp too?" she asked, her voice trailing off as she bit her lower lip and fell silent, managed to mutter "Sorry.. I keep forgetting.. I mean it's nice. I always wanted to live in a little neighborhood like this.. My mom.. She actually moved us to one once, it was in Anaheim.. Nevermind.. You probably don't care or wanna hear about it." she muttered before falling silent again, staring out the window.

He stood in the arch that seperated the living area from a short hallway that held 2 bedrooms and one bathroom, watched her quietly. She seemed to just fit here, which in itself was odd. "Bedrooms and the bathroom are down that hall. I'm gonna go out and check the outside of the house." he said quietly, turning on his heel and making a hasty retreat out the door, through the gate that lead to a small backyard, a patio and a pool.

Okay, so he actually owned this house, or he would've, had he actually been able to be James Barnes, had he not been turned to a monster by Hydra. But he'd managed to get his hands on all the paperwork to make the small house they stayed in this time his own house. Which was taking a huge risk on his part, because he had to know that if Hydra had found him once, then chances were they'd probably found out about this house too and might be coming again soon. But something just snapped once he'd started driving and he'd sort of just migrated this way.

Because nobody would dare look for a Hydra operative that had escaped, with a hostage, in the middle of suburbia.. Right?

Especially not if he caught up with one of his old buddies, another Hydra defect that'd managed to make it out of the life a long time ago, and he got rid of the biggest thing that was keeping them from blending..

His arm.

Inside the house, Natalie sat on the seafoam colored sofa and leaned back, shutting her eyes, rubbing her head. She had a massive migraine, and the events of the past few weeks had no doubt taken their toll on her. She kept going back over the whole stand off from a few nights ago, and his kiss the night before that.

Something didn't quite make sense, she was missing something.

'No, Nattie, you weren't missing something. He actually meant it.. God, did you really think he might want you? That's a fucking laugh if I've ever heard one. Guys like that only go for girls like your sister.. Or really, really hot supermodels. Not to mention, he's not exactly a good guy.' her mind argued as her heart argued in response 'Hello, remember A Cinderella Story? Or what about Pretty Woman? An Officer And A Gentleman? All of those girls were nothings.. You're not exactly a nothing, Nattie. I mean granted, you're not drop dead gorgeous, but.. And if he didn't care, why the hell didn't he just let the Hydra men take you?'

'Because, you stupid girl, you're a bargaining chip. He just can't decide what he wants to bargain you off for. Which is a laugh, actually, because you and Tash weren't ever actually close thanks to your parents. So she's probably not even trying to find you. And every time you have tried to call the number she gave you for emergencies, Nattie.. He catches you. This guy might not be a bad guy, but he's not a saint either. Just because he used to be a freaking war hero.. Doesn't mean he's still a hero now.'

'But you have to admit it. You feel sparks.. Something about him.. The way he looks at you, the way it felt when he kissed you..'

'It's called horomones, Nattie, damn.'

The clearing of his throat as the door to the house shut had her head shooting up, she looked at him a moment and then said quietly, "Think I'm gonna go shower."

He nodded, turned on a tv, found a news channel and tried to get involved in watching the news, baseball scores, anything. She slunk out of the room and the door to the bathroom shut and he sat there going over anything that might have happened to make her clam up all over again. He came up empty until he thought about what she said to the men who had her, and what he'd said.

"Damn it. Women." he muttered as he stood and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge, digging around in it's contents. He had a buddy that lived around here, if he were going to be in the area and staying in the house, he normally got the guy to buy food.

He dug around and found a soda, popping the tab on the aluminum can, taking a sip as he leaned against the wall in the kitchen, trying to figure things out. 'There ain't no happy ending to this, Barnes.. There won't be an American flag flying from the carport, 2 kids playing under a waterhose in the front yard. If you keep her with you much longer and Hydra finds you again? She's as dead as you are. And that really, really bugs you.' he thought to himself, biting his thumb as he added to that thought 'What bugs you more, though, is she's in your head. you can't think of anyone or anything but her and it's driving you insane. You cannot lose focus. Because eventually, you know what's gonna happen.. And it's not likely she even feels the same way..'

'If she didn't, genius, why the hell is she down there in the shower, why's she been like ice since the night of the standoff? What you said was taken the wrong way, and she thinks she's nothing to you, which is a lie. But if you try and make something happen, it's only gonna wind up going badly.'

She wandered into the living room and sat down, the t shirt she wore stopping about mid thigh. She had a bright red nail polish bottle in her hands, and she propped her foot up on the edge of the table in front of the couch, started painting her nails. Every now and then she'd look up and steal glances at him through the curtain of damp blonde hair, and the last time she did, she nearly jumped back when she realized he'd moved and he was now sitting right beside her, watching her with a raised brow.

"Feel better?"

"Yeah. It was nice to get a hot shower. Hope whoever owns this house doesn't mind.. I borrowed some of the girl's clothes in the closet." Natalie admitted as she bit her lower lip, looked at him. He shrugged and said quietly, "Pretty sure it's not gonna matter, Blondie." leaving out the fact that he actually owned this house, and he'd actually gotten his 'connection' to pick up some things.

He figured she was p robably getting sick and tired of wearing the same clothes day in and day out. Most girls he'd known back in his old time hadn't ever been fond of wearing the same outfit for nearly 3 weeks, only washing it in laundromats between hideouts when they moved around. And they definitely would've raised more hell about not having makeup and hot showers, bubble baths and stuff.

The fact that she hadn't kind of intrigued him.

"What?" Natalie asked, noting that he was still staring at her intently, leaning in closer like he might kiss her again. She backed away a little and said quietly, "Just don't.. Please?" as she got back to work on painting her toes, putting all of her focus on that and not on how she'd almost went right to his lips, almost let herself climb into his lap..

This was getting far too complicated and now that she knew just where they stood as captor and captive, she wasn't sure if she liked it. She couldn't shut off the damn feelings for him either, and that really upset her. She always seemed to pick the guys that she 'couldn't have' for some reason or another. A shrink her mom sent her to a long time ago said that it was something about her knowing she couldn't have something or someone, knowing they were off limits, it made things easier for her because there was no real risk of her being hurt because she 'couldn't have them'.

If that made any sense. It hadn't to her then, it still didn't to her now.. Then again, her mom was screwing the guy, and she'd just gotten kicked out of a school for setting all the frogs in the science department free to keep them from being dissected. And then there were the fights with the other girls in the schools she went to, various other troubles.

"So we're back to this, huh?" he asked as he looked at her intently. She looked at him a moment and then said quietly, "Look.. I'm just a means to an end. I'd be an idiot to think anything else, right?" as she bit her full lower lip, looking up at him, her hair falling into her eye. He reached out, brushing her bangs back and away from her eyes as he said quietly, "Not sure how guys do this crap now.. But I don't just kiss girls for no damn reason. I mean I know that much about myself."

She looked at him a moment, thinking about what he said, and what he'd said that night. He shifted around in his seat, leaned in a little more and said quietly, "And you have to admit one thing, Blondie... You loved it."

She glared at him and said "My name is Natalya, not Blondie."

"Your name, Blondie, is whatever I wanna call you." Bucky said as he eyed her and then smirking said "But I am right. You did love it.. If you didn't.."

"What?" she asked, brow raised as he leaned in closer, wondering what he was about to do. He pulled her into another kiss and the human hand tangled in her damp hair as she groaned and tried to stiffen herself, back away, anything.. But she eventually couldn't fight it anymore and that's when he stopped the kiss to shrug and say "See? If you didn't like it, Blondie.. You definitely woulda slapped me then. I mean girls back in my old time, they wouldn't have let me get by with that first one."

She pouted, turning to look out the window, angry with her inability to resist her captor, her lips tingling with the force and intensity of the kiss he'd just basically stolen from her. He chuckled and then said quietly, " The guy had a needle to your neck. If he'd have thought killing you would hurt me, he'd have done it. I had to do something." before standing, walking out of the room, letting the door shut behind him.

She grumbled and sat there, thinking about what he just said to her. 'Guys will say anything Nattie. Now that he knows you can't resist him, he's gonna use that to control you, dumbass. Run now. What the hell are you still sitting here for?' she thought to herself as she leaned back against the couch and palmed her forehead, looked up at the ceiling.

Bucky sat on the secluded back patio, cigarette pressed between his lips as he stared at a hibiscus plant and fumed. He'd practically spelled it out for her just now, but he somehow got the feeling that she was sitting in that damn house right now trying everything to convince herself that he was lying, that she was just some prize or something, that he was going to trade her for his life or whatever else he might want.

To begin with, yes, that had been his idea, very much so. And he'd made no attempt to hide that from her. But then he'd started to feel things towards her and now he..

The night they'd almost gotten away with her, he'd actually had a good 10 seconds of panic before his soldier's instincts and all the damn spy movies he and Steve used to watch in the theater as kids kicked in and he stole a play from one of the old spy movie stars play books and pulled the 'the girl means nothing to me' con.

Luckily, it'd worked. He just didn't want to think about how he might have felt had things not went down the way they had that night. He'd been just about to stand and go back inside after stubbing out his cigarette when he turned, found himself chest to chin with her. She looked up at him in curiousity, her hand in her long blonde hair, biting her lower lip nervously. "This is some kind of bizarre con."

"If it were a con, Blondie, I wouldn't waste the time." he said as he looked at her. She pouted a moment, sort of irritated that she hadn't called him out on anything.

"Why do you think everything's a con or a joke anyway?" he asked as he looked down at her, curious. She looked at him and with a small shrug she said quietly, "I had a really, really messed up childhood. It's kind of hard for me to believe anything unless I've proven it myself or I know it's true already." which made him nod and say quietly, "Yeah. Kinda feels that way to me too. Don't know what's real or not anymore."

She nodded and then asked "Do I smell smoke?"

"I'm a grown man."

"But that shit kills you." Natalie said as he looked at her and laughing said dryly, "Doubtful.. If it did, Blondie, really don't think I'd be sitting here right now. Steve though, he used to say the same thing." as he shook his head, slid his arms around her and propped his chin on her shoulder. "So... Heard all the swearing in there. Did you figure anything out?"

She grumbled and turned to look up at him, shrugged.

He grumbled and then said with a smirk "Going inside." before turning and walking into the house. She followed him in and said quietly, "So which were you lying about? I mean were you telling the Hydra guy that, or were you telling me that?"

"You said it, first of all.. I just went along with it. You're still standin here, so why's it matter?" he asked as he grabbed a soda from the fridge in the kitchen, held one out to her and asked "Wanna talk about something else?" which was his hint to her to drop it. She studied him quietly for a few moments and then took the soda he held out to her as she said quietly, "You confuse me."

"Ditto." he said as she leaned against him a little, looking up at him. She shook her head and he asked her with an amused laugh "Something wrong?'

"Freud would have a freaking field day with this one." she muttered as she took a sip of her soda and then said quietly, "So.. That's twice you've saved my ass."

He shrugged and sat his soda down on the counter and said quietly, "So it is.." as he looked at her. She held his gaze and then said quietly, "Thanks for that." as she stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek then added in a much softer tone, "This isn't right. Like, I'm supposed to be scared to death of you."

"Are you?"

"Truth? Not really. I mean I am, but I'm not." Natalie said as she bit her lower lip and thought about everything they'd said and the things he hadn't said but he'd hinted at when they'd been outside. "Who's place is this anyway?"

"Truth?" Bucky asked as he looked at her and then said with a shrug, "It's mine.. I got a few places I can go that Hydra and SHIELD don't quite know about. Couldn't tell who to trust back then, it's even more difficult to do that now."

She bit her lower lip, tempted to ask him who the women's clothes in the closet were, but the surge of jealousy she felt at the answer she might get was more than enough to stop her. Instead she nodded and said "It's nice."

"It's a roof." he said as he shrugged and then reaching around her, he grabbed his soda from the counter, walked into the living room and sat down. Maybe when he'd dropped that hint a few moments ago, he'd sort of pushed her in the right direction as to how he really felt. Because he wasn't really good at saying the words. He never had been, even before the war, before all the experiments, before he 'died' and came back as a Hydra killing machine.

He seemed to do better with showing than telling.

The thunder and lightning crackled and flashed outside and she shrieked as the power flickered. He jumped up, ready to run into the kitchen but she raced to the living room, jumped over the back of the couch and said sheepishly, "I hate bad weather."

"So I noticed. Thought somebody mighta come in on you." he said as his eyes gave way momentary concern and worry. She noticed he looked at her oddly, but she kept it to herself. "Let's just watch tv?"

"Good idea." he said as she nodded and shuffled into place beside him, cautiously. The tv was turned on and fortunately for both of them, that momentarily killed the need to converse, to pick apart what might have just happened, what they both knew was happening between them. Because neither of them were really good at handling emotions, and this situation alone was enough to make someone certifiable.

Adding a potential romantic relationship to it was only going to make it blow up right in their faces sooner or later.. Or would it? Both of them were sort of too afraid to really find out.