Ok, so I wound up changing a major mistake in my fanfiction. The note is in chapter three, as are the changes, if you want to know what's up. I know it isn't Sunday, but I had this typed up and I am weak... so here it is :)

I am drawing Dani both as a normal girl and also in her guy disguise. The drawing of her as a girl is in my biography, I will post the other one with the next update.

-Stax

Disclaimer: I own nothing exept for my oc, everything else belongs to Marvel.

Chapter 5

Bucky's POV

Bucky knew something was up. What specifically, he wasn't sure, but he would bet his bottom dollar it was big.

It wasnt that he didnt trust Danny, but...

He didn't trust Danny.

What kind of friend dissapears for six years and claims that they just forgot to show up? No real explanation, just the statement that he was "busy". Something else bothered Bucky as well. Danny had not gotten taller, in fact, he looked just as he remembered him looking. Yeah, his voice was a bit deeper, but it had the tendency to crack and get pichy when he laughed. Steve loved to tease Danny about his "feminine" laughter.

Bucky was worried about Steve. He wasn't questioning Danny's motives. He just seemed happy that Danny had returned at all, that he wasn't the only short and scrawny one. In the few years since his return, Bucky had only confronted him once about his suspicions, asked him what he was hiding. He had denied that there was any secret, and for a while Bucky let it be. But one day it clicked.

Bucky thought Danny was a girl. It all added up... the voice cracking, the lack of real stubble, and the fact that his shoulders were too narrow to be male. Steve had surprisingly not picked up on that. He just seemed so happy that he had a second friend that he was not questioning anything related to Danny.

Now was the worst time to be questioning Danny's motives and gender, however. Bucky had just been drafted... Steve would be dissapointed and probably mad. He would be alone exept for Danny, Bucky didn't want to scare him/her off just as he was leaving. He would be able to have more peace of mind knowing that Steve was safe and with someone who would keep him out of trouble.

The immediate problem was how to tell Steve. Bucky set off to find him.

Dani was getting a little sick of saving Steve. In the last four years, she had saved him from an asthma attack with an inhaler that had appeared in her purse. Each time, she had had that "vision of the future" flash before her eyes, showing her that Steve would have died at any one of those times if she hadn't helped him. She had to deny that she had stuck the inhaler in his mouth, because it was from the future and might tip him off that something wasn't right. Steve was surprisingly gullible but Dani suspected it was intentional.

Bucky, on the other hand, was catching on. He would be overseas soon, though, and so would Steve... Dani wished she knew what was going to happen to her.

But her mind was wandering. Steve was getting beat up in front of her, after he had called out a guy in the theater. She wasn't getting the visions, so she knew she wouldn't get her "super powers" if she helped. Nevertheless, she couldn't leave him to get pounded alone.

She jumped up on the man's back. In the five months since she had left her universe, she had gotten some nice muscles from saving Steve two or three times per week. She got a death grip on the guy's neck, wrapped her legs around his chest, and hung on as he tried to slam her against the walls. Her attempt at a choke hold on the brute's neck was proving ineffective, but Steve's weak attempts to punch him in the gut were at least distracting him long enough for her to free one arm and start punching him in the side of the face.

Steve stumbled back as the man got a clear shot and came up with the garbage can "shield". Dani smiled; she loved that scene in the movie. She quickly lost her grin as the guy bent over and pulled her off that way. She landed on her head, hard.

"Aaaauuuuoooch" came the strange noise from deep in Dani's throat. Steve lost his shield as the man ripped it away and began focusing his attack on him. She couldn't get up. Bucky, where the heck are you!

Right on cue Bucky walked into the alley and pulled the guy off Steve. Dani managed to roll over and sit against the wall to get a better view.

"Sometimes I think you like getting punched" he joked.

"We had him on the ropes" Steve joked back. Bucky looked at Dani.

"You ok? He said, noting the way she was holding her head.

"I was born ok!" She enthused, with a disoriented tone and a lopsided smile. Bucky did not look convinced.

"It never fails to amaze me how one day you can take down five guys and the next you get pounded by one looser." Just then he saw Steve's enlistment paper on the ground. "How many times is this" Bucky asked, clearly not happy. He read from the paper. Steve asked

"Did you get your orders?"

"The one-o-seventh. Sergeant James Barnes. Shipping for England first thing tomorrow." Steve looked noticably depressed. Dani made a pathetic attempt to stand up and both men went to help her.

"I should be going" Steve said to Bucky over her shoulder.

"Come on man, its my last night! I gotta get you two cleaned up!

"Why? Where are we going?"

"The future" he said, handing the two an ad for the Expo. Dani laughed uncontrollably- they had no clue how true that would actually be one day.

"You two are about to be the last eligible men in New York" Bucky grinned as they walked towards the center of the expo. "You know, there's three and a half million women here." He looked at Dani out of the corner of his eye, a subtle motion she didn't notice.

"Hell, I'd settle for just one." Steve deadpanned.

"Good thing I took care of that" Bucky stated, turning to wave some women over. Dani realized in shock that there were THREE girls. There had been two in the movie! She glanced at Bucky, who was looking seriously at her behind Steve.

Holy crap does he know!? She worried.

"What did you tell her about me?" Steve inquired of Bucky. He broke the eye contact with Dani and turned to Steve with a smile.

"Only good things." The girls came up and greeted Bucky enthusiastically. Bucky introduced them to Steve and Dani.

"Mary, Victoria, Nancy, these are my friends Steve and Danny" he said, turning and making eye contact with her again. She cursed silently. The blonde girl, who was about Dani's height, sidled up to her and asked

"are you Steve?" Dani could feel her face turn beet red. She shook her head, pointed at Steve and said

"Sorry, that's him." The girl looked disappointed.

"Oh... alright" she said with a fake smile. Poor Steve looked humiliated. Suddenly the other girl was up in Dani's face. She was at least three inches taller, had horse breath and a huge chunk of light brown hair coming out of its pinnings.

"Hello then Danny, I'm Victoria! Pleased to meet you" she said eagerly. Dani got the impression that she didn't get out much. She glanced at Bucky-

That little shit! He was trying desperately to hide a smirk... Dani knew in that moment that Bucky knew she was a girl and he was trying to force her to come out with the truth with this annoying, foul odored girl. Two can play at that game.

"LOVELY to meet you, Victoria. Glad you could come to the expo today, I just know it will be fun." She flashed a dazzling smile at the girl, who seemed pleased that a "boy" was taking such an interest in her. Dani offered the girl her arm and winked. "Come on, gang, we're missing the expo!" She took a moment to enjoy the unadulterated shock on Bucky's face at this display. Steve was trying to stand near the blonde but not TOO close and apparently hadn't noticed her gushing.

The expo was enjoyable. She had to use money from her bag to buy them all snacks, nobody else had any cash on them. Victoria had purchased a whole bag of candy, god knows from where, and was getting taffy stuck in her teeth noisily. The flying car was really impressive, considering that the technology was not even close to being invented in her home dimension. The only part she didn't appreciate about the two hours they spent there was when Victoria leaned in for a taffy-flavored kiss. Honestly the girl was desperate. Being straight and NOT desperate, she would not have actually kissed her exept Bucky was watching. She would get him for this somehow.

Bucky, still looking shocked that Dani had gone through with the kiss, turned to talk to Steve and noticed that he was gone.

"He went to the enlistment office" she said, still trying to QUIETLY gag. She pointed to the sign urging people to join. The two headed over with the now obviously lovestruck Victoria trailing along behing, munching taffy. Dani spotted Steve.

"You really gonna try this again?" Bucky asked Steve.

"Nah, he's walking back in a building to get some fresh air" Dani said sarcastically. Victoria let out a high pitched giggle and hugged Dani's arm with sticky hands. Bucky shot her a look.

"I'm gonna try my luck" Steve stated.

"As who, Steve from Ohio? They're gonna catch you. Or worse, they'll take you!" Bucky fussed. Victoria reached a finger up to her mouth and started to pick taffy out of her teeth. Dani gagged again, which didn't bother her leech at all.

"Look, I know you don't think I can do this" Steve frustratedly ground out.

"This isn't a back ally, this is a war!"

"I know it's a war, you don't have to tell me!" A huge pink chunk of taffy fell out of Victoria's mouth and landed on the back of Dani's hand. Both men turned as she started violently gagging and pulling away from Victoria. Bucky took pity and addressed the girl.

"Uh, Victoria, how about you go find the girls? We'll catch up in a second." Victoria looked discusted with the notion.

"But Daniel is sick, I should stay with him!" She said, sounding more like she was worried that Dani would get away.

"I'll be fine" she rasped. Daniel, my ass. She leaned against the wall and tried not to focus on the smells. Victoria hesitantly left after a few words from Bucky. Dani nodded in appreciation but got a strange look in return. He turned back to Steve, who seemed to find the situation funny.

"Why are you so keen to fight? There's so many important jobs!" Bucky asked him. Steve shook his head.

"What am I gonna do? Collect scrap metal?"

"Yes!" Came the reply.

"...in my little red wagon."

"Why not?"

"I'm not gonna sit in a factory, Bucky. Bucky, come on! There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me." Steve grumped.

"Right, because you've got nothing to prove. Don't do anything stupid until I come back."

"How can I, you're taking all the stupid with you." Dani gagged again just then. "Well... maybe not all of it..."

"I resent that!" She groaned. The taffy smell was NOT dissipating. Bucky shook his head.

"You're both punks." He gave Steve a farewell hug.

"Jerk. Be careful" Steve joked. Bucky looked at Dani.

"You keep him safe, understand?" Dani nodded. And then, he was gone.

"Steve, good luck. I... have some news... I have to go out of town for a few months for work." Steve looked crestfallen. Dani knew that he would be off on his own journey shortly, it would be better if he didn't think he was leaving her alone.

"Well... I'll see you again, I hope" Steve said as he hugged her. She gagged over his shoulder, making him jump. He graciously didn't comment on that.

"Ugh... you too... I'm gonna leave before Victoria gets back."

As she left, she looked over her shoulder at him one more time. Could this be the end of my mission here? Will I ever see either of them again...? She caught one last glimpse of Steve as she walked around the corner. She pulled out her phone... only five short months. Five months and they were already her best friends. The other timer still had years on it, however. Maybe it was a glitch... she walked out of the expo, feeling sadder than she had been in a long while.

Dani was jolted awake by a voice in her head and a glowing light. It was early in the morning and she was on concrete, a far cry from the blanket under a bush she had fallen asleep on.

"Wake up you are going to be late" urged the voice in her head. Shocked, she turned around-

"I took the liberty of dressing you as you were running late." IT WAS THE SPHERE.

"WHAT." Dani half-yelled. She looked down at... a uniform. "WHAT AM I LATE FOR. WHAT IS GOING ON." She demanded. A paper fell in front of her. She picked them up and read-

It was an enlistment paper... with her name... for the one-o-seventh. She looked up and the sphere was gone. A crowd of men in uniforms were by a train. And in the middle was Bucky, a shocked expression on his face as he recognised her.

Steve missed Danny. He hadn't been this lonely since the time she left for six years. Darn it, he was a soldier now and he might never see him again. This serum buisness Erskine was preparing to inject into him was terrifying, frankly, and he wished he could have talked it out with Danny beforehand. There was so much he wanted to tell him- this Peggy dame actually talked to him like he was a person, and he wanted advice on how to talk BACK to her without sounding like a moron.

And... he felt like he was missing something. Something big, something obvious. His time away had made him realize that something was off about Danny. As the metal case closed around him, Steve resolved that he WOULD see his best friend again someday and find out what was up.