So...I wrote this one last night at 1 as well, but I decided sleep was important and that I should probably work on shutting my brain off. So here. Enjoy the evil.

Tiphanie: Things are starting to unravel! She's going to make up her mind, and hopefully she makes the right choice. And yeah, things got steamy! Very steamy! And yeah, my brain wouldn't shut off. So I wrote instead.

Enjoy!

Her phone rang, waking her from her deep sleep. The arm around her waist tightened and she froze for a moment, before remembering what had happened over the past few hours. She'd slept with Sam. She hadn't meant to, but she did it anyways. It went against everything she had been taught, everything she knew. Everything she thought she believed.

"Sorry." She whispered, grabbing the device from the nightstand. Sam groaned, rolling over as she got out of bed, grabbing his shirt as he left the room.

'Is everything in order?'

She froze for a moment. The doubt was beating against her skull. "No. I need more time."

'For what? We've given you more than we promised.'

"I know. But things are…" She looked back at the bedroom door. "Complicated."

'Fine. Forty-eight hours. Then we make our move. If things are not in place, you will be another casualty. We will find more of you. That is not a problem.'

She stared down at the phone for a while, replaying the words in her head. Forty-eight hours. Two days. She felt so conflicted. Her head hurt...her chest hurt. She sucked in a breath, closing her eyes, trying to breathe for a moment, before turning and going back into Sam's room. She stripped from his shirt, finding her clothes around the room.

"Where do you think you're running off to?" She jumped, not expecting Sam to wake up. Panic filled her, wondering if he'd heard.

She fought for a moment, frozen, in nothing but her underwear and her shirt. "I'm sorry." She sounded as pained as she felt. But she knew she had to do it. "I can't do this Sam."

He was out of bed, grabbing his briefs from the floor, before approaching where she was slipping on her pants. "What do you mean?" He looked hurt, even in the dim light.

"I'm sorry." Her hand was on the doorknob. She couldn't look him in the eye. "This was a mistake, Sam. It should have never happened."

To say she was distracted during training was an understatement. She couldn't even count how many times she'd taken a kick, a punch, or been flipped to the mat. But she couldn't bring herself to care. The pain of rejecting her soulmate was too harsh to bring her to do more than run on autopilot. She barely remembered to blink.

"What's gotten into you?" Natasha asked, sitting next to her head where she lay on the mat. "I was sure HYDRA had taught you at least how to defend yourself."

"I slept with Sam." She wasn't sure why she said it. Why she was admitting it to Natasha. Maybe because she was the closest person, and saying it out loud relieved some of the pressure. "And then I rejected him."

"What?"

"I just...I can't. I can't get close to people. Everyone around me gets hurt. And I can't lose Sam too."

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter to Sam."

"Yeah, he's told me that. Many times. But I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me."

"Did it occur to you that you're hurting him more by pushing him away, than you would by letting him in. I know it's scary, letting someone in. Letting someone see the real you. But, when you do, you realize how much you need it. Clint was sent to kill me, the first time we met. Then I found out he was my soulmate. And suddenly everything bad that had happened to me came back. I was terrified. I didn't want to let him close. I wanted him to kill me. But he changed his mind. He knew he couldn't. So he brought me to SHIELD. And eventually, with a little work, I was able to let him in. And it was such a relief. I thought that pushing him away would keep him safe. But the safest place for him is right beside me. Just keep that in mind while you hit the showers." She stood up, heading over to grab her water.

Anna laid there for a while, contemplating Natasha's words. Had she made the right decision? Was rejecting Sam the right move? No, her heart told her. Maybe she should start listening to it, instead of her head like HYDRA had told her. Maybe….maybe things would be easier...maybe she could stop…

She was on her feet in a second, nearly running out of the training room, Natasha's knowing smirk following her. Well...she thought she knew. But she had no idea.

Anna stared at her reflection in the mirror for a moment. She had 32 hours to make this decision. But she had already made it. It wasn't much time, but she had to believe she was doing the right thing. Was she? What was the right thing? She pulled her hair back, fingering the mark on the back of her neck. She knew it like the back of her hand.

She pulled the scalpel from the bag on the bathroom counter, staring down at it for a moment. Her hands were shaking. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, calming herself. It would hurt, but it was worth it. She just had to keep telling herself that. She straightened, opening her eyes, looking at her reflection again. This was the right thing. She reached back, guiding herself blindly as she brought the scalpel to the back of her neck. She cut down the center of the red star, her eyes screwing shut in pain. Pain was temporary. Pain was temporary. She could feel the blood dripping down her neck, sliding down her chest and soaking into her tanktop. Thank goodness for black.

She whined, biting her lip as she dropped the bloody scalpel into the sink, gripping the edge, breaths shaking as she dug her fingers into the cut, widening it. Blood poured down her back, dripping to the floor as she reached for the tweezers, nearly dropping them from the slick blood on her fingers.

Sam was hurt. Being rejected last night after making such a huge leap had nearly broken him. And he wasn't broken easily. Anna had made nearly a 180. He had sensed the pain in her words as she'd rejected him. He knew she didn't want to do it. Which made him more curious about the phone call that had woken them. Had it been the cause of her switch. Had it been the reason for her rejection. Who had called? What had been said, that had caused such a reaction. It took a lot for him to be able to get out of bed that morning. It still smelled like her. Like what they'd done just a few hours earlier. How they'd consummated their relationship. If he could call it that. Well, he couldn't anymore. Not since she'd rejected him.

He decided, after trying, and failing, to work, that he should confront her. Ask her what was going on. Get answers as to why she'd rejected him so quickly, when she'd been so willing a few short hours earlier. He wanted to know. He needed to know. And he was going to get answers, even if he had to force them out of her.

Anna took a deep breath before reaching into the wound, finding it with her finger first. She went in with the tweezers, gripping it firmly, biting her lip as she started pulling. Pain rippled through her. Pain is temporary. Pain is temporary. She couldn't help the cry that left her as she tugged harder. She breathed for a moment as there was a knock on the door. She hadn't locked it.

She screamed as she tugged hard, pulling it free. She collapsed to her knees as the door flew open, leaning against the cabinets. She was shaking, blood still pouring from her neck as she held the tracking chip in the tweezers.

"Anna?" Sam stood, frozen in the doorway. She looked like a nightmare.

Anna turned, looking up at him, white as a sheet, and covered in blood. "I lied. I lied about everything."