Steve froze in his study of the map Falsworth had found for him when he heard a gunshot. Just the one? No, there came another. He dropped what he was doing and ran out front. The freed prisoners loitering outside seemed not to have a clue as to what was going on, but he spotted Dum Dum looking out towards the western treeline and headed for him.

"Any idea what's going on?"

"Was hoping you did, Cap."

Falsworth, Dernier and Jones joined them. Morita, he knew, was resting inside on a couch that was more comfortable than anything they'd slept on lately.

"Where are Bucky and Hermione?"

The team shook their head in unison, and he cursed himself for a fool. Why had he put off looking for Hermione when he knew she was upset? The damn map could have waited.

"Where did you last see them?"

"Bucky was cleaning his rifle on the steps about… fifteen minutes ago?" Jones said.

"Dix," Dernier added with a nod.

Ten minutes then.

"What about Hermione? Anyone?"

"Last I saw, she was with you," Dum Dum said.

Except that had been at least half an hour ago. No one had a better answer to offer however. She had led Morita to the entrance of the factory where everyone was gathered and she must have been around for at least ten minutes after that while he and Bucky talked, closer to fifteen until her levitation spell broke, so she had still been around by then because she needed to be close by for it to work. In sum, in the last fifteen minutes, she had disappeared off somewhere. Same for Bucky but five minutes later, and with his rifle…

Steve made a strangled sound as he put the pieces together. Hermione was still a target for Schmidt. Maybe he'd sent men after his team to capture her, maybe a strike team had been lying in wait here. In the forest? No, or someone would have seen them approach. But maybe…

"Jones, Falsworth. I want a headcount on the prisoners. See if any have disappeared in the last fifteen minutes. Dum Dum, Dernier, with me."

He headed in the direction Dum Dum had been staring, glad he'd had the forethought to bring his shield with him. They had just made it a few feet into the woods when another shot rang, but this time they heard the strange woosh sound of a Hydra gun retaliating, followed by another gunshot.

"Cap! What's going on?" Dum Dum asked as he jogged next to him.

"I think Hydra captured Hermione and for some reason, Bucky went after them alone."

"Fuck! Really?"

"I hope I'm wrong."

"Ha! Jamais!" Dernier said.

Never? Oh, he'd been wrong before. Otherwise, this situation would not have happened. How could he just let Hermione wander around on her own when he knew from the horse's mouth that Schmidt had plans for her? Her magic didn't make her unbeatable, for God's sake. Hydra had even managed to capture her when she'd had her wand and a squad of men at her side. Now that she was without either, it must have been a piece of cake to subdue her. No new detonations of any sort sounded in the last few minutes and Steve didn't know what to make of it. They had to slow down, tread lightly and keep their eyes peeled.

"Là," Dernier whispered, pointing North and sure enough, Steve glimpsed the glow of a Hydra gun through the dark, gnarly trees.

Next to it, they found a man dressed like one of the prisoners, in a worn US army uniform. Whether he really was or not, they couldn't know for certain. Not yet at least, but he'd get to the bottom of this. The neat hole in the middle of his forehead was pure Bucky however. They followed that direction for a few minutes before Steve spotted another dead prisoner further down with a similar wound, his own weapon having tumbled downhill, and there, between the bushes and tree trunks, a very familiar blue coat.

"Bucky!" he called and ran downhill towards him.

Bucky's head swivelled around at his name. He was alright! Alive. Worried, too, because there in his arms was a very pale Hermione.

"What happened?" Steve asked, looking from one to the other.

He itched to cradle Hermione in his own arms but she looked comfortable where she lay and Steve was afraid he might hurt her if she had any injuries. For that matter, he wanted to hug Bucky too. For a moment there, he'd thought he'd lost them both again and it had been agony to even consider it.

"She fell," Bucky said in a bit of a daze as he waved towards the top of the hill. "Hit her head I think. And they must have given her something before that because she wasn't even defending herself."

"Ed?" Dernier asked as he pointed at Hermione's head.

Steve nodded and moved aside for the Frenchman to look her over. As a resistant, he was a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades and knew how to check for such things, even if they had to look for a real doc after his diagnosis when necessary to get the actual treatment. His fingers disappeared in her curls and Steve held his breath.

"No cut," Dernier said in his thick accent. "Just a leettle bump. And là," he pointed at a large needle mark on her neck which had swollen red. "Drugged. Know more when she up, but okay, yes?"

Steve nodded. Her being unconscious could as well be because of the drug as her fall, maybe even both combined. For now, it was better to head back to the factory and regroup. Stay together and be weary of the other prisoners too, just in case there were more Hydra spied hiding amongst them, especially since Phillips wouldn't arrive until the next morning to take them off their hands. Good thing they hadn't blown up the place so they had enough food, water and shelter to go around for the night.

"Bucky?" Steve asked, arms outstretched.

Bucky sighed, but shifted Hermione from his arms into his own before they headed back. Dum Dum and Bucky detoured only long enough to haul back the two dead Hydra prisoner-impersonators back to the base for the Colonel to I.D. when he got here. They wouldn't be moving until Hermione was up for it anyway.

When they returned, they kept a weary distance from the other released prisoners, not knowing who they could trust or not. Steve was glad he wouldn't be dealing with that particular mess. Spies were always going to be a part of any war, but Steve despised the underhandedness of it all, especially if it meant wearing your enemy's uniform and attacking a lone woman.

Having scoured the building in search of the map, Steve knew of a spacious bedroom with a large bed in the upper levels. Well out of the way too, and no doubt belonging to the person who had been in charge here. He settled Hermione on the deep red coverlet, grimacing when it made her appear even paler and as if she was lying in a pool of blood.

"They really have terrible taste, eh?" Bucky remarked as he stared down at her with a frown of his own. "I'll go help the guys disarm the prisoners and come back later with something to eat, alright?"

Steve nodded and forced a smile.

"Sounds good. Thanks Bucky," then he caught his arm before he could leave and pulled him in a hug. "And I'm glad you're alright. Had me scared for a moment there. Why the heck did you hare off on your own?"

Bucky mumbled something unintelligible against his shoulder, so Steve eased off on the hug.

"Fucking hell! Those muscles aren't just for show, are they? And to answer your question, I didn't think those two jerks were Hydra. I thought they were just off to bother a dame and I was gonna teach 'em a lesson, you know, like in the good ol' days. Course I would have called for backup if I'd known. I'm not an idiot."

Steve nodded and felt properly chastised for having doubted Bucky. He probably would have come to the same erroneous conclusion as Bucky if he'd seen two of their prisoners in allied uniforms stalking a woman, especially because she was the only one around.

"We need to keep a better eye on her," Steve said.

"Four eyes are better than two," Bucky agreed.

It was only then, looking down into his friend's steely blue eyes that he realized he was still half-hugging him. Bucky had always been very tactile, so he really shouldn't be surprised that he didn't shrug him off.

"You gonna hang on to me all night, buddy? Because dinner isn't going to bring itself and I'm pretty hungry," he said with his usual cheek.

Steve gave him one last squeeze, tight enough to make him yelp before he let him go with a laugh.

"Go on, then, you big baby."

"Jerk. I'll make sure to find you some beans for dinner."

Steve grimaced but he was hungry enough that he would eat a couple cans of the damn things if Bucky made good on his threat. In the meanwhile, he checked on Hermione, and since she only appeared to be sleeping off the drugs she'd been given, he walked into the adjacent bathroom. It was the biggest, most luxurious he'd ever seen and, when he realized he could keep an eye on Hermione from the shower, decided now was the perfect time to wash off the last couple of days of travel and battle.

A moan escaped him when the hot water hit his back. This was without a doubt much better than the basin of cold water he'd made do with in the last house they'd stayed at, and he felt like a new man when he reluctantly stepped out. He really didn't feel like putting his dirty uniform back on however so he neatly tied the large white towel he'd found around his hips and started shaving. They should think about using the Hydra bathrooms more often before blowing everything up in the future, but that wouldn't scare those nazi-zealots half as much.

There, he thought as he inspected his clean-shaven face once more, he looked more like his old safe. To think he couldn't even grow a moustache before and he was now fighting a losing battle against a full beard. He'd look like a bear soon enough though.

Finally, Steve returned to the bed and lay next to Hermione, only now realizing how exhausted he was. Might account for why she hadn't woken up yet either. They had just waged battle before she was kidnapped.

"Made yourself pretty for the lady?" Bucky asked from the doorway.

Steve would have hurled a pillow at him if his friend didn't have his hands full with the promised dinner, so Steve got up instead and helped him put everything down on the desk.

"What?" Steve asked defensively when he noticed Bucky's stare.

"I still can't wrap my head around the fact that you look like that now. You were so…" Bucky trailed off, gesturing with his hands how small and skinny he'd been.

"Yeah, well, I was lucky," he replied with a shrug. "I mean, you've seen Schmidt."

Steve gestured at his face. The Red Skull had really been something awful to uncover and it regularly made an appearance in his nightmares.

"Sure you don't have one of those under your face?"

"You can try pulling it off if you don't believe me."

Bucky took him at his word and pinched his cheek hard with a shit eating grin. Steve deflected his next attack and it soon turned into semi-serious sparring right up until they were interrupted by delighted giggles.

"Don't let me stop you," Hermione said with a fond smile as she waved towards them, but before she could say more, they were crowding her to ask how she felt.

"Like a flobberworm."

Bucky raised his eyebrows at him, but Steve could only shrug. It was hard to tell if that was a good or a bad thing, because it didn't make any sense and she still had a strange, dopey smile on her face. Bucky narrowed his eyes and peered more closely at her, tilting her chin up so he could see her eyes.

"She's still high. Whatever they gave her must have been good stuff. Ain't that right, doll?"

"You speak funny, Buck," she replied and giggled before pushing herself upright and off the bed despite their protests. "But you saved me from those… those…" she frowned as if she'd lost her train of thought, then threw her arms around Bucky to hug him. "Thank you, Bucky."

"See what I mean?" Bucky asked him, doing his best not to laugh as he held up her limp form. "Did she fall asleep again?"

Steve walked over to his side and she did have her eyes closed.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen anyone fall asleep standing before..."

Her eyes snapped open suddenly and he almost staggered back in surprise.

"Steeeeve," she crooned, letting go of Bucky to throw herself at him, doing a fair imitation of Bucky's friendly octopus. "Hmmm. You smell good," she said against his skin, then started rubbing her face against him.

Bucky was sniggering, but if Hermione didn't stop soon, he and his towel were going to have a disagreement about keeping parts of his anatomy covered. Fortunately, her face rub didn't last because something new caught her attention.

"Ooooh! A shower! I'm going to smell good too!"

"Is she just going to… ah, never mind. She is," Bucky muttered as Hermione undressed on her way to the bathroom, dropping her clothes on the floor as she went. He turned around. "So… this is weird."

"I guess we now know the real reason she doesn't get drunk," Steve agreed. "I better make sure she doesn't fall in the shower and hit her head again."

"You're just using that as an excuse to join her in the shower."

Steve's cheeks flamed. That really hadn't been his intention, but now that Bucky had put the idea in his head… No. Hermione was obviously not in her right state of mind and he would not take advantage of her like that.

"I'll just keep an eye on her from here. How about that dinner? Found any beans?"

Thankfully, he had not, and Hydra's larder was nothing to sneer at. The rest of the team were having a feast of their own downstairs and Steve was glad to have Bucky to himself because they chatted over dinner like they had done a thousand times before the war. Steve glanced now and then at his girl showering just a few feet away. He caught Bucky glancing at her too, but honestly, he couldn't blame him. She was right there, it was hard not to look, and Bucky was Bucky, might as well ask a fish not to swim. But at the same time, Steve knew he wouldn't tolerate such behaviour from one of the other guys. He was about to bite the bullet and ask Bucky about the "special" relationship the three of them had formed, even since the beginning, but he was interrupted just then by Jones' musical knock on the door.

"There's a situation, Cap. Not sure you can help, but we're at a bit of a loss."

Steve glanced at Bucky, then at the steam rolling out of the bathroom in waves.

"Take care of Hermione for me?" he asked and left before Bucky could object.

Maybe if he could give them a nudge towards each other, the tension he could feel running between their tight knit group would finally resolve itself.