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 08

"So you think they're hiding in plain sight? Like we did when we were helping Fury?" Natasha asked hopefully. If she were hiding in plain sight, like the team thought, it'd be a matter of time and Winter Soldier making a mistake and they'd get Natalie back. Natasha bit her lower lip thoughtfully and then asked "What about that last location he left you, Steve?"

"We went there and nobody was there. Nobody had been there. But I've been to the place a time or two before with Bucky. I think he's.. Nevermind, it's stupid. I have no clue what he's doing at this point, actually. Do you think he's remembering who he used to be? That maybe the locations aren't hiding places, but his way of trying to show me he's not Winter anymore?" Steve pondered for a moment, biting his thumb as he walked around the room, pacing. He'd been doing that a lot lately. It grated his nerves what Bucky was doing, it was almost like the former friend turned Hydra weapon was baiting him.

He didn't like being baited. He'd never responded well to it and he definitely wasn't now. What was the purpose of leaving Steve the locations he knew Steve would recognize from their time as friends, but not being there when Steve went to check them out in the hopes that maybe he was hiding there? He focused on the slip of paper they'd found at the last definite place that Bucky had taken Natalie and furrowed his brow, a slightly angry look on his face.

"Get a drink or something. You're not going to figure anything out, Capsicle, if you keep on like this." Tony Stark spoke up as he stared at a similar board with Pepper's picture on it. Two days ago, after a press conference in Washington, which she'd been doing to put the bad press where it belonged, on Hydra, someone had thrown a smoke bomb or two into the crowd and taken Pepper quietly and quickly in the middle of all the ensuing chaos.

And like with Natalie, there hadn't been a call yet.

"Back to you, Tin Can." Steve grumbled as he focused again and asked Natasha, "Your sister.. Do you think she'd escape him?"

"Doubtful, Steve. She's not like me.. She's.." Natasha trailed off as she looked at Steve and said quietly, "She's not geared to think like this. Until 4 weeks ago, her biggest worry was waking up late for class."

Steve nodded and then said "So that rules out her escaping him on her own." as Natasha nodded and pacing said "I just wish he'd let her call.. I mean he spared you.. That shows there's something human left.. Right? How do you even tell?"

"I don't know, Natasha." Steve said as he bit his lip and focused on the picture of Natalie on the board in front of him, smiling with a Guiness Dark in her fist, sitting with friends at the campus bar. She was a pretty enough girl, and he found himself thinking that he might have liked to meet her under different circumstances. "What'd you say she was majoring in?"

"She's got 3 majors, why?"

"Just trying to rule out every possible other reason Hydra might have sent him to grab her, if they even did to begin with.. As of now, I'm actually not sure about Hydra even authorizing him to grab her like Fury thought in the beginning." Steve admitted as he looked at Natasha who shrugged and heaved a sigh of near defeat.

"It's been 4 weeks now, and not a word from either, no demand for ransom, nothing. This just feels weird." Natasha said quietly as Steve nodded and said to Tony, "Has anyone called you about Pepper?"

Tony shook his head without tearing his eyes away from the board in front of him before remarking seconds later, "There's something about all this Steve. I feel like we're missing something huge."

"Me too." Steve admitted as he looked at Tony, wondering what he suspected.

-
She'd just gotten out of the shower and nearly screamed when she caught sight of him standing in the mirror. "Jesus Christ, James, give me a heart attack." she said as she held her hand over her chest, clasped at the towel wrapped around her. He chuckled and didn't bother averting his eyes. They'd shared several kisses by now, he kind of figured the point in covering his eyes was a moot one, really, because he wanted her.

And he suspected, she wanted him. No matter how 'cool' she tried to play it, how neutral, the fact remained.. She had kissed him back. And she had enjoyed it.
"Came to make sure you didn't try escaping again, Blondie." he said as he coughed and looked at her. She held his gaze a few moments and shrugging said calmly, "What's the point? I mean obviously, if my sister wanted to find me, seeing as how she's working for a goverment agency an all, she would, right? No sense in escaping. Maybe this is the escape for me.." as she held his gaze and licked her lips.

Like she hadn't been just standing beneath the almost boiling hot water fantasizing about how his lips felt on hers, how his hand felt when it touched her, how she loved the way he could be rough and forceful yet still remain at least partially a gentleman about it.

She knew, or thought she did, of course, that he was only interested because she was a girl, he was missing certain aspects of being a member of the human race and not just a goverment killing machine, and he just wanted those things from her. But she also knew that whatever she was feeling for him wasn't going away anytime soon.

It actually seemed to be growing. No matter what she did to stop it.

"What's that mean?" Bucky asked as he leaned in, grabbed the towel's edge and held it shut for her just as it was about to slip, his eyes dancing as he fixed them on her.

"It means, James, that this is probably the biggest adventure in my entire life." she said as she closed her smaller hand over his large rough one and then managed a sheepish smile, her skin flushing at how close she'd almost come to losing the towel just now. He chuckled and then said quietly, "I can imagine." while holding her gaze.

She raised to tiptoe and brushed her lips to his stubbly cheek, wincing as she told him quietly, "And you, soldier.. You need to shave. Stubble burn is a pain in the ass."

"Stubble burn?" Bucky asked, brow raised as she said "When you kiss me and that prickly stubble where your beard or whatever is brushes my skin. That is stubble burn." while trailing her finger along his lower lip which curved into a pout.

She bit her lower lip and then said quietly, "This isn't right. It shouldn't be happening. But I'm sick of fighting it."

"Then don't, Blondie. For once in your life, do what you want to do." Bucky challenged her, even as he reminded himself mentally, 'You fucking insane, Barnes? This is not gonna end well for you. And leading her on, even if you really do care and you want her more than you've wanted anything in a really, really long damn time.. It's not fair to her. When Hydra catches you, they'll kill you. If SHIELD beats them to it? There's no telling what that bastard Fury will have his little Avengers do to you. But nothing ends with you two being happy, riding off into the sunset, making love on a beach under the sunset.'

"Earth to James.. You zoned on me." Natalie said calmly as he shook his head and said quietly "Gonna go out for a smoke."

He turned and walked out, she pouted to herself and let her heart rate go back to normal. Things were really starting to heat up and she knew she should s top it, but she didn't really have the willpower anymore.

She didn't actually WANT to fight it anymore.