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 09

She sat up in bed, gasping as she rubbed her eyes, tried to shake the panic she'd felt, the terror. The nightmare just now had been much too real for her, all she could hear was screaming and she could smell gunpowder, she could vaguely make out shapes, as if she were hidden from sight but watching the whole thing from her hiding spot. She'd seen them, the men in black, the Hydra operatives, kick down the front door to this cozy little bungalow they were hiding out in currently, and she'd seen James fall to the ground. The dream, or nightmare, rather, felt entirely too real and before she realized what she was actually doing, she was sliding out of the bed big enough for two but only inhabited currently, by her, and slowly creeping down the hallway as her throat closed up and her stomach twisted into a thousand tiny knots.

Her mind screamed at her the entire time, "This guy is bad for you, toxic. You shouldn't give a flying fuck in space whether he lives or dies. Yet here you are, stumbling towards him in the dark. When exactly are you going to try and escape? Because girl? From where I stand? Doesn't look like you're trying too damn hard. Looks like you're happy here." while still another part of her brain argued back 'Exactly. The heart wants what it wants.. And Natasha's never gonna come rescue your ass. So why not enjoy being trapped and on the run with a white hot stud? Especially one who actually treats you worth a crap.. No, he treats you like a princess, actually. He hasn't deliberately tried to hurt you, at all. Everything he's done, Nattie? It's been to save you.' as she got closer to the den, where he was sleeping on the couch.

She stood in the doorway, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, fighting back a giggle when he started to snore louder than she'd thought was humanly possible. Her heart rate slowed, returned to normal and she moved closer still to the couch, in the dark. "Only way I'm gonna know that doesn't happen is to camp out in here. It's the least I can do. He doesn't know who's the good guy or the bad one anymore, that's why he is the way he is. And he's in a whole lot of trouble, most it because of me." she thought to herself as she tentatively sat down on the couch just as he rolled over, facing her direction. She leaned downward, pulling up a throw blanket on the end of the couch over him, over herself and he muttered quietly, "You okay, Blondie?"

"Yeah, just had this dream or something creep me out." she admitted, omitting of course that the dream had been vivid and scary, and it'd been about him dying and it'd scared the living hell out of her, and now that knowledge was scaring the living hell out of her too. Her mind was spinning a mile a minute and he asked in the dark, in a husky and sleepy whisper, "And ya came in here.. With me.." smiling in amusement to himself in the dark.

"Yeah, I did, okay? I just don't wanna be alone. Not right now." she admitted, her skin heating all over as his rough and very human hand brushed through her hair and he asked casually, "This happen a lot?" while moving so that there was a little more room for her in front of him. She wiggled into place and he grunted, tried to ignore the way it felt as she wiggled and soon snugged her body against him, how his hand felt moving slowly over the smooth and warm bare skin. How his lips grazed the back of her neck by accident.

He'd been having a nightmare too, but of course he'd never admit it, it'd mean he wasn't as masculine as he thought himself to be. And right now, he had to keep his shit together internally. He already had enough going on with the way she managed to make him feel, the way she stirred longings in him that he'd thought left when the Hydra agents turned him into something a lot less like human and a lot more like monster.

She laced her fingers through his where they rested on her hip and looked up at him, asked quietly, "Are you okay, Bucky?" biting her lower lip. He noticed, of course, she'd slipped, she'd called him by his nickname and not his real name like she'd s tubbornly insisted on doing until now apparently, but he didn't comment on it. Instead he looked down at her and nodded, careful to keep any trace of doubt, fear or anything else hidden.

The last thing he wanted was for her to worry any more.

Especially when she was obviously the one with the nightmare problem and not him. Even as he lie there knowing he'd just had another nightmare, one in which Hydra burst in and took her and there was nothing he could do about it because they immobilized him by shooting the serum they'd had him on directly into his heart and he'd collapsed into a heap on the floor.

He'd been useless in the dream and that alone was more than enough to frustrate him. His nagging conscience spoke up and said with a taunting laugh, 'She's supposed to be your girl.. Or at least that's what you keep tellin yourself she will be when this is all done.. But you know what's gonna happen, man.. Nobody's gonna make it out of this alive. Not you, probably not her.. You're a damn idiot if you think there's any shot at happiness anywhere for you.'

Her other hand trailed slowly across his cheek and rested there as her leg swung over his hip. "Make yourself comfortable, Blondie." he said with a chuckle as she looked up at him and nodded, her eyes sort of dancing as she locked them on his and held his gaze intently. She looked like she were trying to work up the nerve to say or do something, but he pulled her against him and then smirked at her in the dark as he said in a teasing tone of voice "Since you're gonna make yourself comfortable.." which made her cheeks darken a little. She kissed him and he deepened the kiss, groaning a little as he muttered quietly, "So.. This nightmare.. Feel better now?"

"Much better." Natalie admitted as he nodded and said simply, "Then it's going to be okay. Let's get some sleep."

Natasha bit her lower lip as she watched the computer screen. If the tracking algorithm worked, she'd be seeing exactly where her sister was in a matter of seconds. And if they could get a positive id on the address, she'd have her sister home in a day at least. Her breathing hitched nervously and she tried to hide it but Steve gave her shoulder a firm and friendly squeeze as the computer screen filled with what looked like her sister..

Sleeping on a couch, in the arms of the Winter Soldier.

Eyes turned to her and she looked at them. "Did he know her already?" Fury demanded. Natasha couldn't actually answer that question because of course, until the night her sister supposedly got abducted, she hadn't seen her in quite a few years. She sighed to herself and said calmly, "This wasn't a set up, Fury, she didn't help him escape. I was there, I saw it."

"Hydra is good.. Maybe you saw what they wanted you to see, Natasha. Shut the screen down. Natasha? Come with me. We need to have a serious talk now." Fury demanded as Natasha bit her lip and fell in behind Fury.

If he thought Natalie was part of Hydra, that she was working with Winter Soldier somehow, chances were she'd never see her baby sister again. She had to do something.. Her mind was racing, she was frantic, desperate.