"No no," Erin pushed her black locks out of her face and behind her ears, allowing a slightly larger area to frantically look around. "You can't, Winter. Dammit, not when we're so close!" Twisting and turning her head across her basement, Erin immediately began to panic. "What do I do? Jesus, what the hell do I do?!" It took her longer than she cared to admit to actually reread the instructions in her book. She skipped the paragraph about how to perform the technique and went straight for the footnote. "If the patient commences to unconsciousness, substantial action must be taken to increase pulse," she read out loud. "What does that mean?" she shouted in frustration.
Throwing the book onto the couch, the frantic girl sat close to the assassin. She kept two fingers pressed against his upper neck. "Calm down, remember what happened last time things didn't work out," she took a quick deep breath, silently reminding herself of her hometown incident. Erin had lost control once, and killed seven hundred and eighty eight people; she would be damned if Winter was added to her body count. "Hell no, not today," she vowed.
Rather than continuously reading the footnote, she thought back to what she learned years ago. Qlifhat's native language was definitely not English, that was obvious. She had taught herself the difference between what he wrote from what he meant. Substantial action, I've had to do that before. Didn't I have to use CPR? But, that was to maintain the pulse, not increase it. "Well, how do I jump start his heart?" she spoke aloud.
Her mind was spinning and her hands were twitching with an endless supply of nerves. Erin created an incredibly short list of things that made her own heart beat erratically; sudden scares, confrontations, impending danger or fighting. Although she was in a frenzy, she still had enough wits about her to know that there wasn't a hope to scare Winter out of comatose. Besides, she didn't have the slightest idea how to scare a trained assassin anyway. Confrontations; that was a joke. There was no way she could pull him back with that. Her book had said "action," which usually meant physical activity. Maybe she could stimulate a fake fight to wake him up? I better make it fast.
Keeping Winter leaning on the back cushions of the couch, The Shadow Stranger awkwardly positioned herself, holding her tiny balled fists at chest level and bending her knees. "You better not hurt me," she whispered, hoping that he would listen. She wasn't a fighter, so when she threw her fist across his face, the only thing it accomplished was drawing back an aching hand. Quiet swear words escaped her mouth while she regained her composure enough to check his neck for his pulse; barely there. "You're not dying. Not today," she bit her lip and jumped to a fresh idea in her mind. Scooping Qlifhat's book, and holding it tightly with both hands, she swung the heavy literate against his cheeks. Erin was hoping that the added weight from the book would kick start his heart more than her inadequate punch. Placing two fingers back under his chin, she could just feel small throbs; but it wasn't enough. The tome even said "substantial action." However, she felt that there should be an easier way to bring him back, rather than beating him awake. What else makes my heart race? Racking her hair back again, she glanced around the basement, hoping to find something to aid her. A small stack of her criminal novels was stacked next to the workbench; the top one was The Count of Monte Cristo. "Could that work?" she wondered to herself. The book was about a man being framed and sent to prison. Upon breaking out, he finds his fiancee married to the man who framed him; he became obsessed to murder the man and win back the love of his life. Love and passion increases pulse.
"Oh God, please let this work," Erin hopped onto the cushions next to her comatose friend and leaned in close to him. Using delicate hands, she turned his head to face her. Leaving two fingers pressed against his right wrist, she kept her free hand to cradle his weak head. Before she could over think, Erin applied steady pressure from her lips to his. Once their lips were interlocked, out of habit, she closed her eyes. There was a jolt in his pulse; she was able to feel it slowly working its way back to a conscious level. Substantial, she reminded herself. A simple kiss would not suffice. Erin resorted to her minimal experience in making out in order to further increase his heartbeat.
After a short moment of moving her lips, she could feel Winter's breathing quicken. According to her fingers to his wrist, his pulse was picking up as well. She didn't want to take the slight chance of ending too soon and he slip into a coma, so Erin kept at it. Winter's mechanical arm caused her body to flinch when it shot around her waist and drew her in closer. She never expected that to happen. Strangely enough, she found herself to like it, being lead by him. His large hand rested on the small of her back, keeping a steady tension to keep her leaned on him. Erin couldn't help but take notice of her own heartbeat, only because it was beating out of her chest. She was sure he could feel her rapid throbbing through her locked lips.
Once she was certain she had brought him back from the threat of oblivion, she lightly pushed her face away from his to check to see if he had his eyes open. At first, they were closed, however, after he realized that her lips were absent, Winter forced his eyelids apart in confusion.
Erin was immediately relieved, expressing so with a loud sigh and pushing her black hair completely out of her blushing face. Winter held his brows pinched forward as he removed his arms away from Erin and readjusted himself to sit more comfortably. She did not move; for the sole reason that she secretly want to stay close to him. But she soon realized that he was bewildered, to say the least. Rather than acting on her newly found desire to continue her previous actions, she altered her facial expression to one of anger.
"Do you remember what I told you before we started?" her loud tone snapped his attention back to her, still confused. "You couldn't consciously think of anything while I was in there. Your mind couldn't understand why there were two separate entities in your head, so it began over compensating for me. That's why there were those copies of you." Winter was straining his eyes to replay the events in his head; if he couldn't remember what happened, Erin sure as hell jog his memory.
He didn't vocally reply.
"So," she said, resuming her scowling without his reactions, "What was so damn important that couldn't wait?" Crossing her arms over her chest, to display further disapproval and to better conceal her racing heart, Erin pushed herself away from him.
"I-" he couldn't seem to speak his questions clearly, however that didn't faze Erin. She wanted to know and she was more than willing to wait. "What was that?" Winter spoke quietly and avoided Erin's cold green eyes.
"You not listening."
"No, the, uh," he began to stammer and paused to think of how to better phrase his question. When words failed him, The Winter Soldier finally glanced at her, using his hand to quickly indicate the two by pointing at himself and her. "What was that?" he asked again while gesturing to them.
"Oh," she realized what he was asking. She still sounded harsh, so she softened her voice, in an attempt to prevent him getting embarrassed when she explained. "Well," she swallowed her anger and lightly cleared her throat, "It's called making out, it's what couples do to express their affection for one another." She felt her cheeks get touched with pink again; she never imagined having to clarify what making out was to someone. However, it was understandable; he was HYDRA's secret weapon, only using him when necessary to assassinate someone they couldn't handle. Expecting someone like him to know actual human affection was just preposterous. "When a couple does that," she continued, feeling the need to explain her intentions, "It makes their heart race. And, according to the book, I had to perform 'substantial action' to 'increase pulse.'"
"Is that why my faces hurts?" he asked while rubbing his right cheek.
Erin couldn't help but chuckle. She had forgotten that she hit him with the book before figuring out a better solution. Her soft chuckle escalated to a heartfelt laugh, as she relived her ridiculous actions from the past ten minutes. He turned to her, wondering why she was laughing at him.
"Actually, before I starting kissing you, I thought that if I simulated you in a fight, you would wake up. So, I uh, used my book to hit you across the face," Winter snapped his head in shock at Erin. She honestly felt bad for hitting him, but she laughed it off. Holding a hand to cover her goofy grin, Erin couldn't remember the last time she had gave a genuine smile to anyone. Winter was silently staring at her, giving her the impression that he didn't find it very amusing. "I'm sorry," she said, holding back more laughter, "I was panicking and I didn't want to lose you." She defended against his emotionless eyes. When he still didn't answer, Erin dropped her smile a little. "Please, I'm sorry. Really. And I won't do it again."
"Do what again?" he inquired, still blank face.
She shifted under his uncomfortable gaze, "The memory thing. Entering your mind. Honestly, I don't feel comfortable trying again. And, I'm sure you don't want me in there again." What did he think I meant? "And," she continued when he didn't seemed to be pleased with her explanation, "I won't use my book to hit you across the face." Her cheerful smile and laugh died away completely as The Winter Soldier remained silent, staring intently at her. "I'm sorry, please, forgive me?" She wasn't sure if he would answer, but she couldn't sit in the harsh stillness anymore. Erin would give anything to just hear him accept her apology.
The Winter Soldier never answered her; at least, not right away. He stood from the couch and rolled his shoulders, easing away the stiffness in his joints. Erin suspected that he no longer wanted her help; if he wouldn't forgive her, then she would be damn sure to break him away from HYDRA. She jumped up right next to him, with one final question lingering on her mind.
"You said you were going to give me a distraction with your mission," she didn't necessarily wanted to change the topic, but she was incredibly curious about what she saw while in his head, "Was your mission to kill Nick Fury?"
He glanced at her, still with a blank stare. Although she didn't appreciate his immense control of facial features, she wasn't letting up. She never got a good look at the man who was speeding down the street in the SUV, but she had a nagging suspicion that the director of SHIELD was under The Winter Soldier's scope.
"I don't know," he shrugged his muscular shoulders. "A level 10 SHIELD agent. That's all I know."
Level 10? That vaguely sounds like Fury. She didn't push the fact that Winter had a lack of knowledge for his intended target. Maybe it was easier for him to eliminate someone if he didn't know their name. He was human after all, no matter what HYDRA tried to instill in him. Erin nodded and allowed her thoughts to drift around the idea of Director Fury severely injured; had he called her while she was attending Winter? She should check the cell phone he had given her once she remembered where it disappeared to.
Winter was apparently done discussing anything with Erin. He scooped up his black mask from the table and began walking to the step ladder out of the basement. Erin couldn't let him leave; not yet.
"I will get you out," she called after him. He stopped in his tracks, facing the ladder, but glanced over his shoulder at her. Erin took the opportunity to run up to him; with a dead serious expression and genuine concern in her tone, she continued, "This was a hiccup, but I don't care. I will get you away from HYDRA. No matter what. No more excuses. I'm getting you out." Her stern green eyes piercing through Winter's dark ones to ensure he knew that she was determined to free him from that horrible origination.
Surprised at his next movement, Winter reached for her head, gently laying his hands on both of her ears. He leaned her head down a little and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Erin eyes shot wide open for the affection from the trained assassin. She never expected him to show such a tender side. Leading her head back up to his eyes, he held a softer gaze.
"Don't follow me," he said, more as a request than a warning.
Without Erin answering, he turned and step upstairs. She stood, filled with mixed emotions; most of which were pleasantly surprised. It didn't matter, once she had regained her senses, she attempted to chase after him. She must have remained unmoving for a while, either that or Winter had disappeared into the dusk around her doughnut shop unexpectedly fast. Retreating back to her basement, she leaned against a wall, replaying their last moment together. Her heart would flutter and eventually sank into her feet, causing her to sink to the ground under her. Just as she hadn't smiled since before Mountain Pass, she couldn't remember a time when her heart danced in her chest. What was she feeling? It was strange, but she liked it. Of course, she had had boyfriends in her teen years, but none of which actually made her weak at the knees. Erin couldn't understand why she began feeling such strong emotions towards Winter, and she doubted she could stop them. She only hoped that she could free him and he got a chance to live a life; with or without her. Erin had already swore that she would get him out, even if it was the last thing she would do. Now, she wished to continue to live. More or less with The Winter Soldier.
So, I hope you all enjoy the little intimacy between the two! However, I'll just clarify some things for a few people.
To the guest review about the distraction: The Winter Soldier knew he was going to attack level 10 SHIELD agent, and since that's the "highest" level of clearance anyone can get, he figured it would provide her a decent distraction to sneak in and get her book. I did my best to mention that throughout this chapter, but I just wanted to make it as clear as possible for the future.
I'm trying to keep it along the timeline of the movie, but of course this will go past the movie. So sorry for any confusion and I'll try harder in the later chapters!