Thank you everyone for your kind words and reviews, they really are encouraging and spur me on to write more of this delicious story. I am enjoying the telling of it very much and am glad to hear that some of you are enjoying reading it as well. Thanks again.

Lu.

James could not help the smug look on his face when he left the broom closet. He kept it on his face when he returned to the training room following Natasha by about five minutes. Picking up his jacket, he threw it over his shoulders before reaching for his still warm coffee. Taking a sip, he scanned what Steve was doing, expecting him to be with the recruits. Their eyes met and he knew then that he had given away everything that they had been doing. Damn! It was supposed to be secret! There was simply a raising of an eyebrow and that was it. There would be much more of that later. However, if he thought he was going to have a quick escape, he was made to think again.

Steve was training by the door and the clock said that it was almost one; the recruits would go to lunch and he would be trapped in the room with his best friend. Natasha had already made her excuses and was nowhere to be seen. Bucky hoped that she would be able to get by without a drug attack without him there to help her out. He smiled all over again and looked down into his coffee. That particular round in the cupboard had been hot; he could feel the marks her teeth had made on his skin under his shirt still and he knew he would have marks.

The clock on the wall struck and the recruits were dismissed. Steve made a line to his best friend and picked up his notes, "So, lunch?" he asked.

"Sure," he replied.

They made their way through the halls and to the cafeteria. Bucky found he wasn't overly hungry so grabbed a simple sandwich and some juice before finding a seat on one of the couches. Steve joined him a moment later and smirked, "How long have you been seeing Nat?" he asked.

"How did you know?" Bucky replied as he opened the pack of sandwiches.

"About two seconds…" Bucky gave his friend a flat look and Steve laughed.

"I remember seeing that smile on you before, you show up here for the first time in an age with her… give me some credit Buck," he said.

He shrugged and bit into the sandwich as his friend explained his suspicions, "It's new and it's not exactly uh-"

"Hey fellas," Natasha said sitting herself down in a third seat, effectively cutting their conversation short. Bucky found he was glad about that, he wasn't comfortable with lying to his best friend but he knew the truth wasn't something he could talk about either. Natasha has effectively saved him from that particular embarrassment. She tore into her own pack of sandwiches, "What're you talking about?"

"You two," Steve replied.

"Yeah," Bucky nodded.

"Oh," she said, her cheerful demeanour not leaving her face. She ruffled his dark hair and offered Steve a smile, "Brand new," she said. "Would appreciate you keeping it to yourself too," she added, stating what Bucky had struggled to say earlier on. Steve smiled at them both and nodded.

"Of course," he said. There was nothing else to say on that matter so the conversation turned to the recruits and how they were faring, who was succeeding, who was progressing and who was slipping behind. The chat involved a lot of names he had no idea about but he listened anyway, finding it rather interesting. The regime they were going through was similar to the one they had been through for the war, however there was a lot more fighting and combat involved, as he had seen earlier.

Their conversation was once again cut short when they were approached by a young recruit, who informed them that both Natasha and Bucky were wanted in Fury's office as soon as possible. They looked at one another before excusing themselves from Steve. He gave them both a nod and so they abandoned their lunch and headed directly to his office.

"I hope this isn't about earlier," Bucky said as they approached the elevator.

"He doesn't have cameras in the broom cupboard," Natasha said as the elevator pinged and they stepped in. "He just wants an update."

The elevator took them to the right floor and pinged, announcing that they had arrived. They both stepped out and into the warm office. The Director was sat behind his desk, fingers steepled in front of him, eye looking at who it was. "Sit down," he said, his voice firm. They both did exactly as they were told.

"What is this about?" Natasha asked, her voice as calm as always.

"I want an update," Fury replied. Bucky let out a breath he had no idea he had been holding and nodded.

"I think it's best if you speak," he said to Natasha.

"It's a lot better than it was sir," she said, "It seems to have lessened after the first seventy two hours as we thought it would. I can still feel it, however the urge is a lot lighter than it was," she said. She spoke without embarrassment, which was a relief.

"No other side effects at all?" Natasha shook her head.

"What about you?" he said turning to Bucky.

"I find I warmed to the task soon enough," he replied. Natasha smirked at that and he shrugged. "What, I was reluctant to start with, you know that already," he said. Fury looked from him to Natasha and back again. She nodded and he shrugged, not knowing what else to say on the matter. Being forced to have sex with her was no longer a chore, he found he was rather enjoying it, enjoying her and when the drug wore off, he was going to miss her.

"The choice I made, I made for a reason," Fury said. He saw the flicker of a frown cross over her face when he said that and Bucky made a mental note to ask about that later on.

"Steve knows," she said. Fury nodded.

"The man knows you both, took sooner than I thought it would but there's no harm." Fury said with a nod.

"He doesn't know why," Bucky added.

"Keep it that way."

They both nodded at that, unable to do anything else and besides, that would be a little on the uncomfortable side, telling his best friend that he was sleeping with his other friend because she was under some sort of lust curse. No, Steve wouldn't understand that so much.

"Was there anything else sir?" Natasha asked.

"Just one more thing," Fury said and this time there was the trace of a smirk on his lips too.

"What was that?"

"Stay out the broom cupboards." Bucky flushed a brilliant red at that, felt his ears burn but remained silent, "I'll ensure there is a place for you to use should that happen again," he added. He could see the blush on her cheeks too and they both nodded together. There was nothing else left to say so they left the office, although he thought the word fled would be a better description…