El Mañana

by silverspacechameleon

James Buchanan Barnes was on a hell path for revenge and answers. The girl with the impossible dark eyes being held prisoner by HYDRA was an unexpected reunion, unexpected being he didn't remember her. Will he trust her to help him recall his past or is she another clever manipulation of HYDRA. Bucky X OC. Rated M for language and Smut. Somewhat Sequel to The Abridged Meeting.

69. Operation RPC: Part One

I know I took forever to release this chapter, a thousand and one apologises but if life responsibilities have caught up to me. I initially wanted this to be one chapter, but due to its length I had to divide it to two. Much needed context into Joanna's & Bucky's past. Enjoy! Rate and Review please

xx

- SSC

---

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning, I sleep alone

Sweep the streets I used to own

- Viva la Vida, Coldplay

---

May 1st 2015

Bucky recalled the first time he went to the laundromat. He had spent the first half of the hour, sitting at a bench within the facility, before a row of white, boxy washing machines with a bag of clothes to wash. He was overwhelmed by the wall of machines that bordered every sparse of the room, mesmerized and terrified by the well-like faces, tumbling with clothing inside, intimidating him further.

He had spent a great deal of time, trying not to have a nervous breakdown, till he spotted a figure from the corner of his eyes, approaching a machine to his left. An older woman, bundled up in grey winter wear that was far too baggy on her fragile form. She was hunched over one of the circular, dark windows which Bucky discovered in the next moment, to be the portal for the clothes.

He had studied her raptly, as the woman started the machine with a coin and then presumed to use the apparatus rather carefreely. She was greying and Bucky guessed to be in her late sixties but maneuvered the machine with expert ease.

He had taken many notes, and when he felt comfortable enough he stood up to use the washing machine and since then, Bucky has been a pro.

Joanna on the other hand was not.

Bucky stared at Joanna with his usual exasperated glances. The woman was grinning from ear to ear rather sheepishly, Bucky had chastised her moments ago that leather was not machine washable.

"How do I know more about this than you?" He demanded considering the woman had no excuse to be this, inexperienced at adulthood. She was from the era she was born in and Bucky had assumed been far more independent than him.

"I never wash my clothes unless it's got blood on them," Joanna explained blamelessly, with a casual one-shoulder shrug. "Even then I make sure to wear black, I'm sure you can relate."

Bucky rolled his eyes heavenwards, yet had no real comeback. Of course, he could relate, it was the most convenient shade for their line of work. He also knew it was very Jo, to pay for a chore she rather not undertake. However, things were different and Bucky knew if he could operate a washing machine without breaking a sweat, then he can damn well teach Joanna basic labours.

"First, separate the colours, then we use the washers and then we dry them over there," Bucky instructed pointing to the machine and then the other in the furthest corner of the room. Thankfully Joanna was good at listening to instructions and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay seems simple enough." She mused and then turned back to their trash bag of clothes on the floor, to organize her attire for washing. Bucky smiled privately, his blue eyes gleaming in roguish delight at the sight of his girlfriend's back, as she so innocently bent over, exposing the curves of her behind and toned legs against tight-fitted denim.

Bucky was tempted to pinch her ass, but he was also aware they were in a public setting, even if the space had only five other customers at the time. Clearing his throat discreetly, he turned away to tend to his task of preparing the machine.

---

Joanna mildly regretted accompanying Bucky on his errand. She knew he had taken on the task of their laundry in the first few months of their living in Romania. However, the realization that it was the one chore that Joanna had yet to accompany him to, she was curious.

But washing clothes was tedious and Joanna hated the waiting, even her phone had run out of juice at this point. She begrudgingly noticed how her boyfriend seemed rather fond of the task, in an almost therapeutic way. She hoped he was high on the fumes of detergent to enjoy such a boring task.

However, Joanna knew, it was mainly the silence he enjoyed and also a certain pride in being able to tend to such a simple chore, without a care in the world. Plus, it was rather delectable watching the man as he pulled out each item of clothing separately, and took turns to sniff the scent of the new softener he wanted to try out.

From his happy little smile, she knew he was thrilled with the results.

Joanna wanted to make a witty remark, that his clothes weren't the only things that have gone soft. But she held her tongue, knowing she loved him this way, such a huggable gentleman.

"Oh, my back." Joanna was distracted from her smitten observations when she heard the distressed muttering from an older male. She looked past Bucky, who had turned having heard the same whisper of words.

They looked to find their laundry neighbour. A senile male, pale in complexion, dressed in a heavy, black woollen coat and head of thinning grey hair. His droopy features were scrunched up in pain, his shoulders hunched over and his arms trembling and clutching tightly to the edges of his laundry basket piled with dry clothes. Joanna figured the imbalance of weight caused the man's back issue.

She disregarded her sympathy and palmed her knees to stand up and assist, only Bucky had beaten her to it.

"Let me help you with that, Sir." He insisted kindly in Romanian, easily transferring the plastic basket from the older man to his grip.

The senior citizen was dumbstruck, his back pain momentarily forgotten from the stun of Bucky's compassionate assistance and quick movements. The man wasn't given a chance to protest. Bucky had already dumped the clothes in for him, including the coin into the slot to start the machine and turned the appropriate dials.

"Oh, thank you, son." The senior man uttered in dazed gratitude. Joanna watched as Bucky smiled, with so much charm that her insides seemed to tighten with want as a mere spectator.

"No problem." He insisted with a gracious recline of his head and returned to their machine, with Joanna staring after him. Eventually, he sensed her gaping attention and their eyes met. Joanna instantly grinned and Bucky sighed dully, knowing she was about to tease him.

"You always so sweet to the elderly?" Joanna asked with a sly tilt of her head.

"Oh wait, that's more your posse huh?"

"Most would just leave it at the compliment," Bucky grumbled turning away to tend to his washed clothes. He began to purposefully drag and drop their laundry basket at his feet, to fend off Joanna's taunting.

"Yeah, but I love teasing you." Joanna drawled pressing her side into his back and earning his attention once more. Bucky glanced over his wide shoulders down at his impish girlfriend.

"Speaking of, my back is acting up too." She mumbled, her pretty face scrunching up in feigned ache while rubbing at her tailbone.

"Nice try."

"Ageist."

The two lovers were caught in a common occurrence between them, where they both glared at each other with a sparkling fondness. A connection rooted in requited love and prolonged in the serene silence. However, the moment was fleeting when suddenly hushed mummers around them dragged them out of their dazed staring.

Bucky looked to his left and spotted the older male he just assisted, staring flabbergasted up at the centre top space of the wall before them. Bucky followed his stare and met the bright, flashing panel of the store television screen. The former soldier had noticed the apparatus before, but it always played the same music channel. But this time, it was presenting a news broadcast, Bucky knew from its blaring red banner at the bottom that alerted it was breaking news.

Joanna had noticed the bulletin as well and stood beside him as they silently watched the footage, their stares hardened in banked anxiousness. At first, Bucky took a moment to recognize the scenery he was looking at. It was somewhere in Europe, he knew from the snowcapped brown mountains that bordered the outskirts of the buildings. People were running past the dusty camera, screaming in panic and then abruptly the footage changed.

They were presented a distant shot of the land and Bucky instantly recognized the place to be Sokovia, at least where it should have been, instead, there was a giant crater of a hold, bordered with rubble and clouds of sand.

The camera abruptly panned up to the sky, and before the blue canvas was a speeding rock of blazing fire, heading straight towards the remaining city below, with the speed and trail of a shooting star. Then suddenly, the rock exploded dispersing debris into the sky and within the chaos of it all, he spotted several Quin-jets hovering close by, the loud jets muffled by the deafening screams.

His gaze skimmed down to read the bulletin banner below the screen explaining the footage in Romanian.

Sokovia is destroyed, and Avenger's rescue ends in chaos.

Bucky and Joanna immediately exchanged frazzled glances as the whispers around them began to rise into bewildered panic.

---

More than a hundred deaths and seventy missing, the rubble of the destroyed city is still being searched for survivors. Crowds gather as…

"You wanna call him?" Joanna spoke up, distracting Bucky from the stereo sitting on top of their kitchen window. He looked up and the sight of her pretty face, soft in concern from across the island table, was a welcomed diversion.

"What good will that do?" He mumbled unsurely.

"I don't know, show support I guess?" Joanna mused, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. He doubted the last thing Steve needed was his friend who was purposefully isolated, contacting him to offer his support.

"No, I—" Bucky hesitated, struggling to admit his true reason to Joanna, being his shame for what he had done to his best friend.

"I don't want to risk it." He added quickly not leaving the sentence hanging for too long, but he figured Joanna noticed his hesitation.

"Besides, he has his girl."

At the mention of Steve's girlfriend, Bucky noticed a sparkle of fond reminiscence in Joanna's dark eyes.

"Ah yeah, what was her name—Octavia?" She mused with a gentle upturn of her lips.

"Olivia." Bucky corrected with a musing smile, recalling the spectacle-wearing, short woman with wide brown eyes.

"She's nice." The man added fondly, earning Joann's interest. She leaned over the counter, with a coy smile that she rested on the tops of her interlocked hands.

"Bet she had a lot of questions." Joanna speculated correctly. Bucky grinned and nodded in concurrence.

"She did, but she didn't pry too much," Bucky explained, recalling how mousy the woman was around him, but it didn't come off scared, but more respectful. "She seemed to know him, and I'm assuming she must be patient and supportive, given all that comes with Steve."

Olivia wasn't reserved in her frustrations over his best friend being Captain America. Bucky was eased by the revelation, even though he didn't express it at the time, he carried similar concerns.

"Well, it's always great to have someone who you can talk to." Joanna mused leaning into the counter for support, despite not using the actual chair beside her, for its intended purpose.

"I have recently come to find, that having company is quite nice." She added, directing her boyfriend to a soft smile. Bucky's brooding face immediately relaxed in smitten fascination, returning the beam with ease.

"Ditto." He murmured causing her grin to lengthen and him in turn, happy over being the cause. It did help his psyche greatly to have company during such chaotic moments. Bucky recalled the rush of panic in the laundromat and how the customers were hurriedly packing up their clothes, washed or not, to race home.

Considering they were neighbouring lands to Sokovia, the population was familiar with routine curfews that could be placed in the rural areas and within the city. Bucky was on the urge to panic himself, but Joanna was calm and collected despite the seriousness on her face.

Eased by her resilience, his nervousness faded and he had begun to think rationally again. They left the laundromat after the initial rush of exiting traffic. James wanted to drop by the local grocery store on their way home, which was luckily not as crowded as he predicted it would be. He quickly grabbed what was needed to be restocked and exited with Joanna and they were soon safe behind the door of their apartment.

They were both familiar with the repercussions of such a catastrophic event happening so close to home. The next week wouldn't be the most productive and he figured several stores would shut down in respect for the tragedy, and the streets would be lined with traffic. Bucky had a feeling it wouldn't be crowds of just the mourners, but more vengeful uproars too.

"This incident is going to open up a large can of worms." He voiced heavily, leaning back into the weight of his hips with his bare arms crossed over his broad chest. He had dressed down to just his white tank top and blue boxer shorts. Joanna had chosen to remove her jeans and walk around with just her underwear and white t-shirt

"I was thinking the same thing." Joanna acknowledged in the charged silence. She had been lost to her thoughts similarly to him. "None of this is going to sit right with the public and the next thing you know…"

"There are rules and regulations all established in a discussion among the United Nations." He concluded her open-ended sentence with a grim frown hanging on his taut lips. Joanna seemed more amused and was smiling to herself as if she noticed something comical in the forlorn prediction.

"Ah the United Nations, truly the UN in Unbothered." She remarked with a haughty laugh and sardonic twinkle in her dark eyes. Bucky smiled in acceptance, thinking she was right to make such a critical observance of a committee that is meant to assist such issues, not make it worse. But Bucky felt it was wrong to judge, considering he was also once a hero that was turned into a weapon of destruction, against his people.

"Tale as old as time isn't it?" Joanna spoke and James was stunned, thinking the woman was reading his mind. He observed her for a silent moment, a cynical smirk was tugging at the corner of her full mouth, but her dark eyes were aimed down at the creases of the wooden platform. Bucky discovered she was digging the tip of her thumbnail into the textured slab, in a vexed tick.

"What is?" He asked curiously.

"You are a hero till you are the villain, it's going to end up being another mutant war." Bucky wasn't expecting the edge to her tone. Usually, when Joanna stated a fact, there was a bit of scoff or jadedness to her voice, as if she was repeating a bulletin she happened to glance over. When it was something emotionally triggering, she was a bit miffed.

"You sound personally invested." He said soundly, earning her attention. He expected her to deny his observance.

"I am." Joanna accepted his regard, surprising him once more. But then, his attention was snagged by the shadow of sadness that hung heavy around her almond eyes. Joanna was avoiding his stare again, still picking at the table.

"I thought HYDRA was cruel, but the world is just as bad, especially to those who happen to be a little different." She continued as Bucky listened intently. "My powers haven't affected my appearance, I can easily pass as normal, but there are so many that couldn't and struggled to survive in the process."

James was moved by the glittering compassion in her jewel-like gaze. Her soft lips curved down in a tense frown that he hadn't seen in a while. She was always smiling and when she wasn't, it seemed to catalyze a deep protective instinct within him. He reached for her, quietly and quick as a cat, his fingers steadying over her fidgeting hand.

Joanna stilled, surprised by the suddenness of his touch, but her tension eased the moment she met his kind, blue eyes. Bucky could see the world of love she held for the place she always spoke so fondly of, and allowed him into, Charles's school for the gifted.

James had a high regard for the institute as well, after all, it was also a place that blossomed his reconnection with Joanna and he learned a great deal in the short time that he was there.

One main thing was, that Joanna wasn't as apathetic as he assumed she was.

"You must have seen a lot of that in the school," Bucky whispered holding her gaze and squeezing her soft hand in his grip. He understood her sadness, she pitied some of them in a way she couldn't fully relate, considering she took great pride and advantage of her appearance. However, Bucky recalled her toothless adolescent self being teased quite mercilessly by Brock and Frankie, but he supposed that was an easier cosmetic fix.

"The stories are heartbreaking, but there is also inspiration to be found, for example, Hank."

"Which one of them is he?" Bucky asked unfamiliar with the name.

"You haven't met him yet, because you would remember if you did, he drops by on occasion, a senator now, but the man truly is beastly."

"Politicians," James grumbled distastefully, with a wry nod of acknowledgement, knowing full well of government workers and their rather cut-throat mentality. Joanna laughed surprising him and he blinked at her, confused by her adoring glance, the way she would look at him when he reminded her, how old he was.

"No, I mean like his nickname was the Beast because he is big, blue and hairy," Joanna explained as her lover nodded with wide amazed eyes, comprehending the misunderstood context.

"He is fighting for mutant rights, and I think that's pretty fucking cool."

Bucky smiled at the sight of Joanna's beaming grin returning, her dark eyes shining in pride over a man he hadn't had the pleasure to meet yet. He understood her admiration, he knew she would never admit it, but Bucky could see the appeal. HYDRA would call her rebellious, but Bucky always knew Joanna had a fire to her, not just to help herself but her burning sense of morality, it was what he found most attractive about her.

"That school was a haven. I thought it was all a joke at first, but I ended up getting the insight I needed." Joanna continued, earning his attention once more. He was amazed by her humility, considering it was quite rare.

"What did you discover?" He asked shifting closer.

"That doing the right thing is a lot harder than the wrong." She uttered quietly, gaze lowered once more. Bucky was dismayed by the lack of eye contact, considering how much he loved to just aimlessly stare into the depths of her eyes, drowning in the glittering darkness. But then, he felt the warm brush of skin, she was stroking the bends of his knuckles with her thumb, transfixed by his alabaster flesh, comforted by his presence near her.

"Sometimes, it makes me wonder if it's worth it, but then I think about our life here and now I know, it is," Joanna said with such soulful ease that Bucky felt the words hit his heart like a sledgehammer. Despite the aching in his chest, his mind was buzzing, deliriously happy with her affirmation.

He did wonder a lot if Joanna regretted him at times and searched her eyes at that moment for an indication of deceit. But he found none. She was simply gazing back at him, smiling sweetly, her obsidian eyes shimmering with unstinting love.

James was speechless and struggled to even breathe through the tightness in his throat. His mind was racing with cries of devotion, but he was bewitched by her pretty face and gorgeous smile. But then, that saccharinity in her gaze, simmered to a haughty stare.

"It's a harder path, but you know I love a challenge." She added with an arrogant lift of her chin before winking at him playfully. Bucky smiled and leaned closer, hovering over the wooden slab between them.

"I'm sure that's not all you've learned." He mused eyeing the shape of her generous pout.

"Well there is more…" Joanna droned, and having been paying so much attention to her mouth, he noticed a glimpse of a frown that she quickly concealed, with a tight-lipped smile.

"But we can pin that in for another time."

Her dismissive words doused his delight over their open conversation. He frowned, disheartened to sitting back on his chair as Joanna straightened back to her full height, a physical act to show her disinterest in his inquisitiveness. He tracked her movements with a hawk-like stare which he knew she was aware of, but trying to seem unbothered. He watched as she turned away, towards the front of their fridge.

Bucky figured, earlier on he would have bitten his tongue, allowed her retreat, but today was not such a day.

As much as he enjoyed being submissive to her, in that moment, he was armed with the courage to voice his dismay.

"Is every conversation we can have about your past, pinned for another time?"

Joanna stilled, her back tensing simultaneously with the male who uttered the question, with such a stern tone that masked his true nervousness. She rotated slowly and met his gaze, Bucky didn't know why he was so terrified to press on when get dark eyes continued to glitter at him lovingly. He noticed the slight smirk on her lips, impressed by his outspokenness.

"I walked into that one, didn't I?" Joanna mused with a raspy laugh, rubbing the back of her neck bashfully. Bucky rolled his eyes, thinking the woman was being purposefully adorable to manipulate him yet again.

"Fine." Joanna huffed irritably, leaning back into the sink side of their kitchen and crossing her arms defensively, across her chest. Bucky held her dark, challenging stare with ease, smiling whimsically and determined to win the battle of silence.

"What would you like to know specifically?" Bucky grinned, pleased that she caved first.

"Operation R.P.C." He answered fast.

"Damn, that's specific," Joanna grumbled, disappointed by the speedy answer.

"You told me you went looking for me a year after we parted, so I'm guessing that sometime around April of that year, you were imprisoned for three years." Bucky pondered out loud. "Ororo's last memory of you before you two met again, was mid-spring, before you left to find me, and I'm assuming a few days later you contacted Doc."

Joanna's dark brows raised, amazed by his deduction. Her lips parted in gaping awe and Bucky smiled, pleased to have flabbergasted the woman with his skills of deduction.

"First of all, I can't believe you chatted with Roro about me to get information, you are obsessed with me." Joanna pointed out arrogantly earning another sardonic eyeroll from the former mercenary.

"Secondly, fair deduction, but it was the twentieth of May." She corrected with a coy smile.

"So, we are on the same page." He questioned, lifting his arm and resting the scruffy bend of his chin on his palm and slanting her a doe-eyed look. Joanna grimaced even though the apples of her cheeks immediately heated at the sight of his handsome face, looking so dear with his dishevelled head of sable hair and piercing blue eyes.

The man made her deeply vulnerable, and she knew the territory they were about to enter would only make her feel further exposed to her insecurities. She needed something to numb the nerves, being drunk helped her fight her natural survival instincts and the effects his soulful eyes seemed to have on her.

"If we are doing this, I need liquid courage." She proposed as stiff as the drink she was eager to have. However, Joanna was grimly reminded that they only had beer in the fridge. She didn't mind the taste after the first three chugs, but the buzz wasn't as refined as she liked.

"Top cupboard, behind the oatmeal," Bucky spoke up, startling her out of her thoughts. Despite being perplexed by his revelation, she followed his instructions and turned to face the top cupboards of their kitchen. She recalled their oatmeal being located somewhere behind the first door, which she frequently avoided. The pale white flap creaked open and Joanna peered inside, reaching past the silver, bulky sack of dry oats, to feel a cool brush of smooth glass against her fingertips.

"What the fuck." Joanna whispered, marvelling at the bottle she pried out. It was a Chivas Regal, amber to the red-topped brim, curvy tough glass and weighty in her hands. Shutting the cupboard door, she whirled around to face her lover.

Bucky was grinning from ear to ear while leaning back in his chair, his hulking arms crossed firmly against his broad chest.

"How long have you had this?" Jo demanded, her stunned stare honed in on her boyfriend, but her right arm lifted towards their wire dish rack close by.

"I bought it for a special occasion," Bucky explained with a lackadaisical shrug. The special occasion he had in mind was a long weekend at home with his beloved. However, considering the unexpected events of the day, he predicted an extended leave of absence, for safe measure.

"Smart, hiding it behind the oatmeal," Joanna commented dragging him out of his thoughts. She was approaching him, carrying twin blue mugs for their whiskey in one hand with the bottle tucked between her other arm and side.

"I wonder what else you've hidden behind things I don't like." She mused, taking a solemn seat on her bar stool before placing the jugs between them.

"Clean up the dishes, see if you can find something in the bottom of the sink." He suggested sardonically, his blue eyes glistening in haughty fascination directed at her. Joanna was in the middle of uncapping the bottle, she stilled in her task and gripped at the neck of the decanter for balance as she laughed at his witty remark.

"Cheeky devil." She murmured, casting him a tender look from beneath her inky lashes. Bucky was momentarily mesmerized by the depths of her eyes once more, and that pretty face was always so expressively beautiful.

He saw her cheeks flush once more, abashed by the intensity of his stare but never voicing it. He watched as she equably turned her attention to pouring the whiskey into their mugs. She pushed the mug towards him, the ceramic glided effortlessly across the wood to him.

The light fragrance of spice and spirits reminded Bucky of the recent fruity bitter Joanna had made. His eyes glided to the left where he spotted the jar within an arm's reach, tucked beside their stove. The smoky magenta colour of the brew was filled to the brim and his mouth salivated with thirst. He eagerly picked up the mason glass and uncapped the silver lid before pouring himself the mixer and doing the same for Joanna.

The woman didn't seem to notice his gesture, seemingly lost in her thoughts. Bucky glanced up at her as he set the bitter aside, noticing the way she was nervously pinching at her lower lip.

"Why do you want to know the specifics of this particular operation?" Joanna asked cautiously as he reached for his drink.

"Is it important to you?"

James contemplated her question deeply. He cupped the cool ceramic between his hands, his right thumb tracing the rim of the goblet musingly. He understood her nervousness, cautious about their can of worms that could spill and contaminate their peace. However, his mind drifted back to a time when he had similar concerns, but in the chaos, he found clarity and he wanted the same again.

"I think it's important to us, Jo." He stated gently looking at her. "I know it is difficult, it wasn't easy for me to share the worst I've done with you."

Bucky recalled a few nights ago when they had a similar deep conversation and he confessed an important sin to her from his past, one in particular that he knew would garner a reaction from her. He was afraid of her possible rejection, he remembered how tense his body was and the strange pins and needles sensation he was experiencing within that numbed him internally.

He wasn't sure about how she would respond, considering it was regarding her former lover, Tony Stark and the demise of his parents. But from the way her dark eyes softened as her gaze lowered in despair, he figured she already knew and that fact had washed him with a wave of relief. But then it brought on a deeper concern, was Joanna's loyalty to him so blind that she was willing to overlook everything he did, even to someone she cared about?

It was funny to him how unconsciously transparent he was to her because, in the next instance, Joanna had rolled her eyes as if she knew exactly what he had been thinking.

"Look hun it's not my place to judge." She had said at the time. "I was shocked when I found out, but I get that it was a mission and yeah, it's complicated, so how would my emotional reaction help?"

It was a diplomatic answer, he was impressed at the time, but he accepted that maybe the poignant reaction that he expected, wasn't needed. Yet, he worried, that even when it came to her issues, she chose to process them with rationality instead of accepting them for what it was, trauma.

The thought always hung over his head, he knew it wouldn't be easy to crack into her shell, but Bucky wasn't someone who could live in ignorance. Dealing with issues was exhausting, but there was a cathartic relief that helped him keep going.

"I appreciate that you shared, I know that wasn't easy." Joanna insisted with a heavy, compassionate sigh. Bucky could from the tension in her body, in the way her shoulders were bunched tight. Her face was just as taut, unconsciously nibbling at her lower lip as her eyes skittered in thought.

He wanted to reach out and thumb her pretty mouth, soothe her quivering lip and pull her closer. But he restrained his need for intimacy and waited patiently for her response.

Then after what felt like forever, Joanna relaxed in submission, casting him a wane look.

"If we are going to talk about this, you need context, from the beginning." She expressed hesitantly.

"The beginning?" He echoed shifting closer to the edge of his seat.

"Well not the very beginning, 'cause believe me that first three months after we parted, was pretty fucking dark." She explained, picking up her glass and taking a swift swing of her drink. He was momentarily distracted by the adorable way her nose wrinkled, not expecting the sudden burst of tangy sweetness from the fruit juice he had added. But then her crinkled features softened as her inky brows slanted upwards, impressed by the tastes of her brew.

"How?" Bucky asked stiffly determined not to be so continuously distracted. The space between his brows furrowed in focused concern to further express his concentration.

"Drugs, alcohol and murder committed both simultaneously and separately," Joanna uttered carelessly and Bucky dead-panned, not shocked by her confession.

"Sounds on brand." He murmured mainly to himself, he didn't want to even think about the chaos that entailed Joanna's misdeeds in an inebriated state. Judging from her paling reaction, she didn't seem too proud of herself either. He had a vague idea from his first interaction with Kumar, the woman had a lot of repressed anger.

Thugs was a worthy outlet, yet he wasn't about to voice that appreciation.

"My tally went up, but my methods were…questionable, not that anyone said anything they just figured I was getting accustomed to tyranny with my soon-to-be title."

"Like they care what's beneath the surface as long as the mission is completed," Bucky added with a deep grimace, his blue eyes flashing with disdain over HYDRA's forbidding negligence.

"Didn't expect much coddling from them anyway, or anyone for that matter," Joanna uttered empirically, but then her cold expression warmed with a sudden fond reminiscence.

"But the Professor." She whispered, smiling at the memory of her older mentor.

"I knew he could read minds, I was briefed on every single major player in the school before I was sent in. Even when I controlled what I thought, the man could see right through me. I cannot tell you how stressful it was to keep up that lie, and to this day I don't know if he was just humouring me."

Bucky liked the way her pretty face softened in tender recollection. He realized that Charles Xavier was the only older advisor that Joanna respected. Considering everyone else she had either derided or murdered.

Then he disparagingly realized, chronologically speaking, he was also technically, another older male that Joanna took fancy to.

"Start from there then." He suggested quickly, dismissing his internal derailment to focus his attention on his girlfriend.

"The mission at the school."

Joanna felt a strange pang in her chest, and not the good kind when Bucky usually graced her with such a delicate, attentive smile. Her mind was already brewing with blurry recollections of her dark days, a truly cold time in her life which was ironic at the time, considering she was missing her Winters. She remembered how tormented she was with longing and regret. Unable to escape her heartbreak without some toxin to numb her mind.

She had allowed herself to fall into the void, uncaring of the pain and suffering she caused to hide from her problems. Joanna knew there would be a time when she would have to face her past, she never expected Bucky to be the source, but she was in a way relieved by that fact. Staring into his crystal blue eyes, so wide and accepting, a silent reassurance that she was safe to unburden her issues.

"Well, for that we gotta start from two weeks earlier." She stated, bringing the heel of her foot to the edge of her seat and hugging her thigh to her side. Bucky had noticed how she took on that particular Jungle queen pose when she had a rather lengthy story to tell. The male was all ears, eager to know every detail of her exploits at the school, Joanna was nothing if not entertaining.

"Whight's bright idea was to send me in as a transfer teacher like anyone is going to buy bullshit like that." She scoffed and Bucky rolled his eyes as well, finding the plan juvenile and basic.

"So, I had to play it by ear, and the Whispers told me Logan liked to frequent the local bars, so I started there. Trying to spy on Logan was the most boring part of the job, the man drank in complete silence, the one time I found that misery did not like company."

Bucky wasn't surprised by this fact; the clawed individual did glower at the soldier the entire time he was on the property. He hoped Logan didn't hold any grudges and accepted his apologetic note.

"Even the women that approached him got bored, so I knew my usual charm would go unnoticed." Joanna continued on sheepishly, extremely aware of Bucky's deadpanned expression. He was well aware of Joanna's charm, being on the receiving end of most of it.

"But his daily demeanour and mannerisms gave me insight into what entailed behind those large walls. This was a group of similar individuals that lived in a strong community that was like a family almost, they weren't going to let any outside threats slip through, I had to present them a problem, that only I could fix."

Joanna wiggled her brows while taking another hearty swing of her drink. Bucky shook his head in amusement while sipping his beverage, his eyes glittering like the sea, knowing exactly the type of devious strategy his enchantress hatched.

---

She enjoyed telling the story to Bucky who listened eagerly with the occasional scrunching of his features in judgement.

She laid out the foundations of her plan, explaining that in her time spying on Logan and researching the X-men, she gathered mutant affairs were the top priority for them, which included rescuing ones from harm.

Joanna loved it when her plans turned out to be multifunctional, and she had happened to receive intel from her underground source that a group of extremists were holding several mutant children captive. She usually would have reported such an incident to her superiors at HYDRA. However, since she found a loophole to avoid submitting to HYDRA law that added to her pile of shame. She decided to use the information to kill two birds, with one stone.

It ended up being three birds, considering she needed a scapegoat to distract the X-men long enough to recuse the children and be seen in her Smartian acts. Joanna could almost laugh over the recollection, especially since Brock the fool had thought she had called on him for the type of sexual exploit he was hoping for.

"You need my help doll face?" Joanna turned to acknowledge her colleague, wearing his usual apparel, a tight-fitted black shirt and olive-green cargo pants. The man had arrived to meet her on the outskirts of a farm in Louisiana, neighbouring a cornfield.

Joanna was adorning a casual pair of blue denim and a long-sleeved black shirt. She needed not to be affiliated with an organization of any kind for this particular mission, and Brock's militant wear was the perfect prop for her stage of deceit.

"Wanna play a game?" She asked discreetly securing her gun into the back of her pants, unseen by Brock.

"Like old times?"

The man's brows lifted in intrigue, clearly not expecting the woman's flirty nature. Joanna was more interested in the stretch of blue sky behind him, trying to spot the jet approaching and being relieved that it wasn't.

"That's what you called me out here for?" Brock demanded suspiciously. Her dark eyes darted back to her companion and she aimed him a flat look.

"If you are busy I can—"

"No, I'm not." He insisted hastily, clearing his throat and grinning dashingly. Even if this was a time when Brock's looks were marred by a building toppling over him, Joanna felt oddly nauseous every time the man attempted to make a move on her. She usually would have said something demeaning, but for her plan to work, Joanna had to bear a false grin and narrow her eyes in sultry focus.

"What game are we playing?"

"Hide and seek." She answered inching back slowly with a rakish smile on her lips.

"I'm great at that." He murmured trailing her cautiously.

"Me too," Joanna stated and abruptly stopped forcing him to halt in his spot.

"Now stand right here." She ordered, glanced back at the sky and presented him with a gun.

"Here, hold this." Brock mindlessly accepted the weapon into her arm, not that he had much of a chance to resist, considering she practically tossed it to him.

"Come find me in five minutes." She insisted turning away and towards the tall stretch of corn stalks, having spotted the blur of black heading in their direction. She guessed the mutants would be kept busy by the unsuspecting Brock soon enough. After all the man matched the description of the X-men's adversary to a T, Joanna was the one who fed them the information after all. This gave her plenty of time to get her act in order.

"Sure thing, babe." Joanna internally winced at his honeyed nickname for her and thanked herself for turning her back to him, so he would see the tight grimace on her lips.

---

"So, you could be the mysterious saviour." Bucky mused with a knowing, irresistible smile.

"How typically diabolical."

Joanna grinned not remorseful in the slightest for her drawn-out ploy.

"Hey it worked like a charm and sending in Brock as the unfortunate villain was the best part, they didn't pull any punches, and the man got the most confusing beat down of a lifetime."

Bucky watched with a warm twinkle in his eyes as his girlfriend laughed, quite uproariously over her private memory that she found wickedly entertaining. Joanna still recalled witnessing Brock's bewildered screaming as he barrelled out of the cornfield, trying his best to escape an enraged Wolverine.

"Haven't laughed that hard since that time you tried wasabi." She added aiming her wickedly shrewd regard to him.

Bucky was frowning instantly at the recollection from years ago. He still recalled the sensation of the unexpected spice. It had seemed like a harmless condiment, light green with a texture similar to a paste. However, the kick of the heat was mild at first, followed by a ghostly blow to the head that he could only compare to the sensation of getting clonked in the cranium.

"You could have given me a warning." He grumbled irately while reaching over to the bottle to top up his drink. The sensation of the hot burn that rushed down his nose still lingered in his memories, like a spice phantom.

"What's the fun in that?" Joanna countered from across the table, earning a perturbed narrowed-eyed glance from the male.

"Alright, you wormed your way in, then what happened?" He inquired, mid-refill and chivalrously replenishing Joanna's mug as well.

"The finest performance by yours truly, Miss Molly Lowell, B.S. in Social Sciences."

"Heavy on the B.S." Bucky scoffed returning the bottle to the table, earning a tickled laugh from his beloved companion. He flashed her a smile, contemplating the thought of Joanna passing her devious wisdom to naïve youths.

"I can't believe you taught those kids."

"I honestly didn't do much teaching, it was mostly the fundamental physics of pranking Logan which was hilarious by the way, kids are creative, especially the mutant ones," Joanna explained with a whimsical smile. "I think I started something I shouldn't have because they were too terrified to do anything to Logan before."

"That man is unsettling." Bucky mused thumbing the rim of his mug.

"You know he is probably your age."

"What?" He exclaimed staring in shock. Joanna nodded excitedly as if she had been waiting her whole life to dispense that particular information.

"Yeah he has rapid healing, so he doesn't age like us—well me." She quickly corrected, realizing despite being some form of a mutant, she didn't possess certain unique abilities like the Wolverine, or a Super Solider. Bucky, on the other hand, was contemplating a different fact, one that had his insides wrought with jealousy.

He disliked the emotion, but he had his suspicions. Bucky wasn't a fool and he had noticed Logan's subtle flirtations towards Joanna and protectiveness when it came to the brooding Soldier's intentions.

Bucky had questions, but he didn't want to be too obvious about it.

"You know a lot about him." He proposed evenly, veiling the cunning speculation in his clear eyes by glancing down at the amber liquid in his mug.

"You two have a lot in common, missing memories, bioengineered to be a weapon, served in the military—" Joanna paused to asses Bucky's plain expression studying her.

"Honestly I could keep going."

As comparable of a back-story Bucky seemed to have to Logan, he wondered if that was all Joanna found familiar, and painfully thought that maybe, she had used the male as a means to replace Bucky.

James knew he was entering a dangerous territory in his mind, one that was brewing with assumptions he did not wish to jump to.

"Did anything happen between you two?" He decided to ask clearly, cautiously ready for the truth. He knew it was human to feel some form of envy if his lover found solace in another, but he knew he couldn't judge her either if she had.

"No," Joanna answered without hesitation, posture steady and staring right at him.

"Could have but—I couldn't."

Bucky was relieved, Joanna on the other hand seemed quite abashed by her mental recollections of a time he is a stranger to. He watched as she averted her gaze, and took a composed sip of her drink before regarding him again.

"As similar as you two are, he wasn't you…and I know what I want." She stated factually and Bucky grinned elated by her response.

Joanna was feeling strangely nervous, she didn't know why, she had said bolder things without a care in the world. Her brazenness was usually paired with guarded steel, however in this particular moment, she hoped he could see she was sincere. Joanna noticed his sudden elation in mood, especially the confident swagger he seemed to present with a slight upward tilt of his stubbly chin.

"Good." He affirmed with that same wily smile, his murmuring voice rich with decadent sensuality. Joanna stared, stunned by how easily he accepted her truth, without an ounce of insecurity.

She was thwarted and aroused by his carefree conceit, her feelings doubling as he wordlessly picked up his mug of whiskey, and took a languorous swallow. She stared, mesmerized by the bobbing of his Adam's apple. The man was too attractive for his good, Joanna knew anyone would eyes would notice, she wondered if anyone had since her.

"What about you huh?" She countered petulantly, leaning back and crossing her arms defensively across her chest.

"How do I know you didn't find some fling to flung?"

James abruptly snorted, so appaled that a bit of whiskey dribbled down his chin. Then it was followed by him laughing uproariously, Joanna was startled by the rich sound of his chortling, full of mockery as if what she suggested was pure lunacy.

"Yeah right, any possibility got flung out the window." He snorted while swiping at his chin.

Pierce had wiped any memory of Joanna from his subconscious the minute he had discovered their affair. Bucky recalled being confused as the Winter Solider, being given an entourage of men to monitor his every move, he was never sent on lone missions since then, always followed or handled by a detail of stony veterans just like him, that he wasn't attracted to in the slightest.

"They didn't let a woman near me since you—how did you put it?" He mused scratching the cleft of his chin, feigning incredulity as he slanted her a devilish glance from beneath his dusky lashes.

"Checked my oil?"

Joanna gaped not quite sure what to do with this information, or respond to the man's newfound confidence, boldly reminding her of a quip she made in anger, years ago. Even though her mind was at a loss for a reaction, her body however was utterly aroused by the man's cheek.

She rose in a magnetic attraction and needed to feel bodily dominant in a situation where the male was taking the upper hand. Her blood was twinkling with delight, not just over his sass, but the fact that he could recall memories between them with such ease now, even use the moments to tease her.

Bucky watched her every move, silent and thrilled by her predatory focus on him. Her impossibly dark eyes seemed to gleam down at him as she gently flattened her palms on the tabletop, and bent at the elbows towards him.

"You are unreal." She breathed in warning, through her soft parted pout that immediately grabbed his attention. He licked his lips as they curled up into a wider smile, honing in on her gaze, he leaned up ever so slightly while freeing his hands of his mug.

"Don't you mean unmatched?" He countered with an innocent slant of his head. He witnessed the sudden heat that sparked in her eyes, like a flare that shot up into the sky in warning. In the next moment, their mouths met, hungrily tasting each other as their hands searched blindly for the warmth of skin.

Bucky cradled her head in his hands, eyes closed as he kissed her with a passion that thrummed through her. Joanna returned his enthusiasm, almost punishingly, fisting his hair in her small hands and tugging with need.

James was brought out of the dazing passion by the biting edge of the table pressing into his diaphragm, constricting his air further. He groaned, reluctantly wrenching his mouth off hers and panting from the breathless kiss. Joanna hovered close, bent over the slab between them, suspended inches above the rims of their mugs.

He was mildly relieved that their passionate interlude was momentary. He didn't want to break any more appliances, their wooden shelf, table and lamp had already suffered the impacts of their explosive hunger for each other.

He watched as she strained open her eyes, still hooded over from the zealous kiss and his heart galloped at the vision of her innocent beauty.

Bucky couldn't help but smile fondly at his lover, stroking the bends of her jawline, and pulling her nearer as he placed a sweet, chaste kiss on the tip of her nose. Joanna enjoyed his nuzzling affections greatly, pressing into him and simply relaxing into the serene moment with him.

It took a great deal of restrain for him not to hoist the woman over his shoulder, and carry her to bed so they could surrender to the electric heat between them, achieve gratification they both craved. But Bucky reminded himself that there was a lot more to learn about her past, and sex would just prolong the story and he didn't want any distractions.

"Where were we?" Joanna asked dazedly, fascinated by his soft hair that she combed her fingers through, splitting any knots that hindered his path. Bucky was enjoying the petting, so much so that he almost missed her inquiry.

"Molly Lowell." He reminded pressing a faithful kiss to the dimple of her left cheek.

"B.S. at life."

Joanna laughed at his comment and conceded with a wry nod and breathtaking smile.

---

August 10th 2009,

Xaviers School for the Gifted

Joanna had exceptional hearing, that had gotten her out of predicaments when she usually found herself in one. Her comrades used to taunt her for aloofness or her tendency to have a pair of earphones plugged into her ears. But truth be told, Joanna didn't care much about their quips or company and her aloofness always helped her have the upper hand.

Especially when she leaned coolly against the frame of the large oak door to the infamous professor's office. She could hear the boisterous voices of the arguing staff within the closed entrance.

"You expect me to believe she just walked in and helped?" She heard the feminine voice of the white-haired woman that Joanna recalled, she had glared at her shrewdly the entire time Logan made introductions. Joanna wanted to scoff over the beastly man's lazy recollection, Joanna did more than just "walk-in" and "help".

To fortress of a basement facility disguised as a simple barn above, wasn't an easy feat. Joanna had managed to infiltrate their security in secrecy, strategize a false alarm to lure the fleet of mercenaries to the outside, as she slipped in and freed the captured mutants without collateral. The distraction was Brock, screaming as he ran to shelter towards the base, chased by a rabid male with claws, alerting several of the armed men.

When she had successfully freed the children and guided them out, she met Logan mid-brawl. Joanna had displayed her prowess at handling militia, revealing her powers just in the right moments in between ducking punches and kicking abdomens. The Wolverine had been marveled and she smugly knew it was over more than just her gifted abilities and trained agility.

The mutant captives had been very vocal about Joanna's efforts, calling her their saviour which she cringingly accepted. Joanna loved praise, but not when it felt undeserving. So, she supposed Logan's vague recollection of her superior abilities, was just karma from the universe.

"That is what happened," Logan responded in his usual gruff tone that made everything he said appear peeved for no reason. Joanna bit her tongue, reclined her head and accepted the subpar review.

"It's coincidental, and she happened to have the qualifications we needed in a history teacher?" The woman bit back and Joanna was rather impressed. The silver-haired femme was a lot more cautious than the rest of them seemed to be. Joanna was amazed by how simple the mission was and she was already within the school walls.

She did however have a moment of hesitation when stepping through the entrance, when she spotted several children in the premises. Mutant or not, they were still innocents, unaware of her malicious motives.

"You are just impossible." Logan countered.

"I'm just saying—"

"If it's not her then it's the last person who didn't meet your standards, I'm starting to think you like whining about your workload when I'm trying to kick back with a cigar."

"Maybe it has nothing to do with my workload at all, Logan."

Joanna snickered at Ororo's all-knowing tone, full of feminine awareness of Logan's heterosexual preferences.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The Wolverine had countered, but even Joanna didn't buy the man's weak rebuff.

"We aren't blind, just mutants." Storm pointed out earning another cynical shaking of the head from Joanna.

"Did Scott count as blind?" She heard another male, but younger voice counter from within the room. Joanna blinked, unaware of the context and also wondering just how many others were within the room, discussing her circumstances.

She had concluded at that moment that offing the professor in his own office wasn't a safe option. The man enjoyed having company among him. He wasn't as recluse as Joanna expected him to be, considering the male could read minds, she assumed the man would be tired of being around chattering psyches constantly.

"Nah he just saw red."

"Around Logan or generally?"

"Why don't we not make the young lady wait any longer and provide further conversation for eavesdropping and simply interview her?" The deep commanding tone of the only senior male that Joanna knew was in the room spoke up, and she immediately stricken over being caught in her covert ways.

There was a lengthy silence and she knew it was her cue to make an appearance since she wasn't as stealthy as she previously thought. Suddenly the large doors swung open and Joanna had to quickly sidestep to the middle of the threshold, away from the frame of the door, to appear unscrupulous.

Joanna found herself to be the centre of scrutiny, standing at the entrance with her hands tucked casually into her black, leather jacket pockets. She observed the other faces in the room, two teenage males, Ororo, Logan and the Professor himself, idling on either side of his desk and staring directly at her.

"Come in Miss Molly." Charles insisted from behind his mahogany desk, crowded by the council around him. His clear blue eyes were glittering warmly in her direction, but Joanna saw a spark of something else, an age-old wisdom that Joanna was nerved by.

Trying to seem as composed as possible, Joanna beamed brightly in the most charming way she knew how and stepped past the threshold.

"Sup." She greeted with a slight recline of her head. The condemning party seemed to glare at her for the longest time, but Joanna didn't see how she was the one under scrutiny when one of the teens was the literal shade of midnight blue.

Overcoming the initial unexpectedness, Joanna scrutinized the adolescents and realized she recognized them from her information docket. They were also mutants, the Caucasian male named Bobby, could manipulate and form ice, while the other was some form of blue-skinned, teleporter.

"Oh, I see Ororo's point now." The elfin-eared teen commented with a jeering smirk directed at Logan. The Wolverine scoffed and rolled his eyes as the two teens absorbed Joanna's appearance from head to toe and then back again, enchanted by her.

"Don't you two have some studying to do?" The burly male retorted, snarling at the teens who immediately looked at him and smiled sheepishly.

"Scram twerps." Logan barked again and the teenagers were instantly inching towards the exit.

"Yes Sir." The blue-skinned adolescent exclaimed before grabbing his friend by the wrist and tugging him behind.

"Good luck Ma'am!" They simultaneously called racing past Joanna who watched them leave, bewildered by the entire exchange.

"Thanks?" She mumbled unsurely, but her focus was more on the dark-skinned boy, who passed her and almost whipped her with his pointy, black tail. Then suddenly, a burst of starlight swallowed up the two youngsters, they disappeared right before her eyes and Joanna gaped in shock.

Ororo, Logan and the Professor didn't share her bewilderment and Joanna had to remind herself that this was a school intended for such, strange occurrences.

"I feel like I should have expected that, yet I am still surprised." Joanna mused rubbing her chin in thought.

"Why were you expecting that?" The other female in the room voiced, earning the spy's attention.

She looked to Ororo, the woman's snow-white hair cascaded down her tough, tan shoulders. Her arms were crossed guardedly over her mid-drift, and her bronzed skin contrasted heavily with the cerulean tank top she wore, paired with a denim pencil skirt. Joanna's attention immediately honed in on the winking gold by the woman's left ear. She saw the trace of a hoop and found the accessory to be a grand, appealing statement.

"Read the sign, school for the gifted isn't subtle by the way." Joanna expressed calmly, still wearing her infamous smile while withstanding the intensity of the woman's glare. Storm didn't seem convinced, Joanna gathered as much from the way she continued to stare at her with a slight narrowing of her eyes.

"Heard a teaching position is open?" Joanna countered nonchalantly, ignoring the white-haired woman's hostility and averting her attention to the professor.

"Please have a seat," Charles suggested graciously, with an extended hand towards the vacant chair in the centre of the room. Joanna approached with a minor stiffness in her walk. She grabbed the armchair by the head of its grey upholstery and rounded the left side, before calmly sitting down.

"So, Miss Lowell, where were you previously employed?" Ororo asked without hesitation, leaning away from the edge of Charles's desk and striding towards the female in question.

"Well this is a little smidge on my resume but, I was in with some bad people." Joanna expressed. She remembered how quiet she had to keep her mind, knowing that the professor was most likely reading her motives. She intentionally imagined moments that fit her story in her mind, playing the part of the rogue mutant without a place to belong, hoping with all of her, that they bought her lie.

Joanna knew she couldn't rely on her former roles for this particular deceit. She had to seem genuine and play her character as close to her own as possible.

"Bad how?" Logan inquired, except he sounded more concerned than judgmental.

"The usual, grand larceny. I have a set of very useful skills."

"The woman can manipulate electric fields and has a hell of a left hook." The Wolverine chimed in with a proud smirk and Joanna gritted her teeth in annoyance, bearing a tight smile, thinking the man was once again insulting her, by downplaying her lethal prowess.

"Fascinating." The professor mused, leaning back into his chair and pressing the tips of his fingers together, in a triangular posing of his arms. "Logan didn't you know, someone of that nature?"

"Grumpy has never met anyone like me." Joanna scoffed surprising the others with her arrogance.

"I've met dozens like you, honey." Logan sneered with a taunting grin. Joanna held his stare with an unwavering, silent confidence that seemed to shake the man's arrogance. She lounged back coolly into her seat slanted her head in baiting candour and aimed a wide, charismatic smile at the male.

"Wanna bet?"

Joanna spotted the dilation of the man's clear pupils and knew that moment, he was rather compelled by her suave magnetism.

"How do we know you won't use your special skills on us?" The Professor abruptly countered, not yet to be dissuaded by Joanna's charm. The agent continued to smile and turned to address the senior male. He stared back awaiting patiently and Joanna relaxed into her chair, despite placing all her focus on keeping her mind completely clear.

"Something tells me it would be a little difficult." She mused with a lackadaisical shrug despite the coy narrowing of her eyes at the professor.

"You are the mind reader, can't you just read my mind?"

"I could." Charles pondered out loud with a pleasant grin that disarmed Joanna, his smile was so pure and candid, that she remembered being uncomfortable over the foreignness of such kindness in a man's eyes, directed at her. The last time she had seen such soft blue hues, full of openness and honesty, was taken from her. She had quickly dismissed the vague image of his handsome face that threatened to breach her subconscious. She was determined to keep her head in the game, and not on him, definitely not in that particular, tense moment.

"Do you have any more questions Ororo?" The Professor proposed regarding the white-haired female beside him. Storm had been silently watching the exchange, but Joanna could tell from the way she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, that the woman was eager to commence her interrogation.

Joanna flattened her arms on the rests and straightened her posture, ready for any inquiries.

"How's your knowledge of history?" The woman asked without hesitation.

"Vast." Joanna saw the way Ororo's thinly sliver brows lifted, not expecting the woman's candid response. Joanna knew she came off arrogant, she was fine with that, she was merely playing a role close to home, keeping the lies tighter.

"Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, he was the third Roman Emperor ruling from AD thirty-seven," Ororo spoke up, cutting into the woman's reflective thoughts.

"What do you know about him?"

Joanna held Storm's challenging stare for a few seconds as the other two men waited silently, but anticipant Joanna's counter-response.

"Little Boot?" Joanna uttered out loud, her voice clear and just. Logan's nose crinkled confused by the answer and glanced at Storm to assess her response.

Ororo was gaping, in apparent shock.

"Didn't he plug his horse?" Joanna added earning their interest once more.

"He didn't…plug his horse," Ororo murmured unconvincingly grimacing like she sucked on a sour lime. Logan's brows furrowed further, confused by the topic and strange context.

"I'm pretty sure he did, why make him a senator of Rome?"

"Wait—" Logan exclaimed causing all heads to turn in his direction.

"A horse was a senator?"

"Yeah, Incitatus." Joanna continued, oblivious to the highly entertained look Charles directed at her in his glittering blue eyes and smiling lips.

"But I guess with Caligula being stabbed, the horse had to bale."

Joanna paused to snigger softly to herself and then aimed a twinkling stare at Ororo who was still struggling to process the delivery of the correct answer.

"A little horse humour there," Joanna explained with a flirtatious wink. Logan smirked and glanced at Ororo again and instantly recognized the quirk at the corner of her mouth, dimpling her cheek. The woman was charmed too and Logan was surprised by how quickly the mystery woman managed such a feat.

"Seems like stalling to me." Storm's rebuttal was something none of them was expecting, and Joanna was the first to laugh, immediately easing the constricting tense air around them, with her rich sultry laughter.

"Oh, we are vibing." She remarked slanting a kittenish smile at Ororo was rather immune to it, except for the slight smirking of her lips, amused by her candour. Logan on the other hand was positively engrossed by the strange new beauty and the senile professor was quick to observe.

"What will it be Ororo?" The professor questioned out loud, grinning at his fair-haired faculty.

"Yay or neigh?"

---

"Horse humour?" Bucky questioned with an incredulous scrunching of his nose, which Joanna found thoroughly adorable.

"I believe the correct term is, horsing around?" Joanna mused with a fast tittering laugh. Bucky deadpanned.

"Stop." He insisted.

"Neigh." Joanna bleated with a stubborn yet cute, lift of her chin. Bucky rolled his eyes, not entirely bothered by her lame sense of humour at times. He has gotten quite used to it at this point in their relationship.

"So, what happened next?" He asked eager to know more about her friendship with the infamous X-men. Their first introductions were entertaining enough and considering all the other stories Joanna told him, he was eager to put the timeline together.

"I got a room for myself in the teacher's quarters, and I started taking on Ororo's shifts and the rest is…history." She responded in that same witty way Bucky loved. Yet, as he watched her take a leisurely sip of her drink, he noticed the strange dark cloud that brewed within the murky depths of her eyes.

"There is that B.S again." He was quick to point out.

"You are hiding something."

Joanna stilled mid returning the base of the mug to the table top. With her hand still cupped firmly around the cool ceramic, his narrowed, noticing how she was not meeting his stare.

"What? You want a long drawn-out tale of all my exploits at that school and gush about how adorably annoying those brats are?" Joanna grumbled with a wide eye-roll that tried to mask the soft smile that ached to curve up at her lips.

"There isn't enough time in the world for that."

Bucky was hyperaware of every subtle emotion Joanna expressed, she was deflecting again but not with her obvious attempts at humour this time. James knew he had to choose his wording very carefully.

"I'm sure I'll hear about it in more parts, you love talking about them." He said regarding her with a thoughtful gaze and leaning further over the table.

"I know you, Jo." He murmured smiling tenderly. "There is something you are holding back."

Bucky expected her to deny his deduction and he was prepared to be disappointed by her dismissal. But surprisingly the flash of fear in the dark depths of her eyes told him otherwise. He was immediately concerned by her reaction, his throat contracted with words of assurance when Joanna suddenly spoke up.

"You are going to think I am crazy." She argued averting her gaze sharply to the rim of her mug again, thumbing the ceramic with her crooked thumb.

"I already think that." He countered earning a rueful smile from her. Bucky was eased by her response and gently placed his warm hand over hers. He felt her tense instantly under his touch, her woeful gaze returning to meet his.

"Tell me regardless." He insisted kindly, holding her shivering stare.

"I…" Joanna hesitated, pausing to nibble on her lower lip. Bucky continued to wait, patient and attentive, even releasing her as she took another nervous gulp of her drink. Then finally, after a deep healing breath, Joanna began to speak.

"Like I said I was in a dark place I wasn't…"

"Stable?"

"Was that a—"

"Don't change the subject." Bucky dismissed in stern vindication before Joanna's sheepish smile could take full form. She pouted disappointed by his humourless tone, her usual banter wasn't going to help her worm out of her predicament.

"Not stable how?" James pressed on and Joanna cringed, knowing she had to be honest. Usually in such scenarios when she had to divulge information which she rather not, Joanna felt defensive, like a scared dog backed into a corner.

However, when she looked at him, admiring the softness of his handsome face, the shimmering glimmer of his wonderous blue eyes, that always carried a wise hint of sadness, she felt compelled to confess her secrets. Joanna found it rather fitting, considering he was the root cause of her despair at the time.

"When HYDRA tortured you… have you ever escaped into your mind?" Joanna asked, unsurely as if swimming through murky waters, careful of where and how she ventured. Bucky was surprised by the question and absorbed the inquiry with wide blinking eyes. It was not the candour that stunned him, but the familiarity, he instantly understood what she meant.

"Yes." He answered shocking himself and her with his smooth response. "There is a moment, after the initial pain where it's just a disassociation…but it doesn't usually last long."

Bucky felt a tight churning in his gut, it was odd to admit his defense mechanism considering he never had before. Joanna didn't show any pity like he expected and he was relieved for it. She was nodding in empathy as if she too was familiar with such methods of survival.

"Since I was a kid I used to create worlds in my head." She expressed pausing to take another chug of her drink, liquid courage Bucky assumed. Joanna didn't like talking about her childhood.

"During my first few years of being experimented on, it helped when I could escape to a place where they couldn't reach me."

"What happened in these worlds?" He asked curiously leaning closer, eager to know the inner workings of his girlfriend's mind. He knew Joanna had a wild imagination, something that brought him great entertainment on the daily.

"A different role I played, but not the way HYDRA wanted, honestly it was just to keep my ego alive, ultimate freedom and all that." She said with a wane smile as her eyes rolled up to the ceiling, in a reminiscing habit. "And it's especially fun when I am at that right peak of dazed, just to close my eyes and be wherever I wanted to be."

Bucky watched as she mimicked her spoken actions, her eyes fluttering shut for the briefest of seconds with a soft smile playing at her full lips. But then, her expression sobered, and when she opened her eyes, Bucky was struck by the sadness brewing in her obsidian gaze.

"But then everything changed after we parted." She uttered grimly and lowered her attention to her mug of alcohol, frowning at the realization that she needed a top-up.

"How?" He asked taking the initiative to pick up their bottle and refill her mug. The act may have seemed chivalrous but Bucky was being tactful. He didn't want her attention to derail from the progress. She was opening up and James wanted to be supportive.

"It became more than just recreational." She explained with a lazy shrug as he returned the bottle to its base, within arm's reach. "Every time I missed you, I closed my eyes, and you were there. The drugs helped with the visualization, and at times reality was hard to distinguish."

Her words were concerning, even if she said it with such charismatic ease. Bucky saw the gritting flexing of her jaw and the haunting darkness in her gaze, that she sheathed away determinedly with a jaded expression. She had never looked more lonesome to him, hunched over the table, the epitome of preferred solitude.

"Jo—"

"Anyway, I had to sober up." Bucky's enthusiasm for tenderness dissolved as she leaned back, cutting his pity with her dismissive words, rejecting his care.

Joanna leaned back, crossing her arms oversensitively over her chest and forming an invisible line of defence that Bucky tried his best not to take personally. He caught the way she eyed her jug as if it was the only thing she could focus on at the moment, herself proclaimed pillar of distraction.

"Couldn't be wasted thinking about you when the whole reason I wanted to succeed in the mission was to eventually see you again." She continued on unbothered by the silent focus her boyfriend had on her. Joanna knew she was retreating, she couldn't help herself, but her brain also hurt trying to fight this natural need in her to flee from divulging her woes.

She was fighting, hard, she wanted to tell him everything but at the same time, she needed to do things her way, treat it like any ordinary debriefing. She knew she was coming off rather stand-offish and it was probably hurting his feelings, yet he was quiet, and she found comfort in that.

"I thought my infamous focus while having to forcefully sober up would help things," Joanna added monotonously. "I had to be particularly tactful and alert in the mission so I knew it would help silence my…issues."

Joanna would have preferred some form of retaliation from him for her cold manner, and judgmental quips over her past. It would be the perfect excuse to avoid the matter entirely, but she knew better. Bucky wouldn't ask her to dwell into her darkest moment without arming himself beforehand.

A devious part of her wished that his patience did crack. She looked expecting to see those hurt eyes staring back, but to her shock, his stare was lowered. Joanna thought he was avoiding her gaze at first, annoyed by her, but he was watching her hands.

Joanna didn't realize how tightly she was gripping her mug till that moment. The sharp bends of her knuckles were turning a little white and her fingertips were practically glued to the icy, damp surface. She relaxed her hold and noticed his hand move closer, slanted horizontally across the table, reaching for her but hesitant to grasp.

Joanna couldn't resist the temptation of seeing his waiting hand. The length of his strapping alabaster arms and wispy thin hairs goaded his strength, but his palms seemed soft and plush. Joanna ran a wandering caress up the tips of his fingers to the centre of his hand. His digits flexed as if tickled by her touch, but he didn't recoil his arm.

Feeling his warmth beneath her skin, how real he was and the moments they shared, armed Joanna. The issues she spoke of couldn't simply be summed up into a word, and it certainly couldn't be numbed with drugs, just like she couldn't avoid telling him everything.

"But I was wrong." She murmured. Bucky had been so distracted by the way she traced patterns into his palm, that he had forgotten she was in the middle of divulging a secret.

"Wrong how?" He asked in haste, so he didn't seem obvious in his diversions. Her touch stilled and Bucky waited on baited breath.

"I—" There was a catch in her voice, another thing Bucky wasn't expecting. She quickly cleared her throat, rolled her eyes as if annoyed by her nervousness and then began again.

"It first started as a voice." She said firmly, practically forcing the words out, still refusing to look at him. "Things you would usually say to me, or I would see someone that looked like you in the neighbourhood. But then as the months passed and the more stressed I was over my objective at the school—you just appeared."

"What do you mean I appeared." He questioned, marvelled at the revelation. He tried not to question the validity of her statement too much, especially expressing it on his face. Truth be told his heart clenched at the idea of it being true, even in delusion, when the reality was far from it.

Joanna hesitantly met his gaze, it was brief, a hasty glance before she gestured vaguely to the space between them with her other arm.

"You were there." She expressed quietly, knowing how insane it sounded. "As you are here now, just not quite you."

"Not quite me how?" He wondered softly, abruptly their eyes met.

"You were smiling." She uttered as a slow, languid smile stretched across her pretty face. Her troubled gaze had transformed into a dreamy, faraway look, reminiscing the moment as if it was playing right before her eyes.

"I like it when you smile." She mumbled mostly to herself.

Bucky stared still as stone, but his heart was thundering so loudly he thought it would burst. The wave of warmth she had sent through him with her lonely admission, reminded him that she had expressed such sentiment before, in a drunken haze of sleep.

It was a treasured memory for him, and Bucky had made an active effort to not suppress his smiles around her. Not just because he knew she liked it, but he felt comfortable too and over the passing months it was as natural as breathing.

He was smiling again, his sharp eyes hooding over in besotted affection as he clutched her hand in his. His gripping touch snapped the woman out of her dazed musings. She tensed realizing she had placed herself in a position exposed to teasing.

Bucky's grin widened at the obvious reddening of her face, framed by the inky curls of her hair. Her smile fell, constricting to a delectable pout as she turned her attention back to her drink.

"Okay cheers, no eye contact," Joanna exclaimed, retracting her arm to grasp her drink.

She tapped the side of the ceramic clumsily against his on the table and then chugged the liquid down. Bucky gaped, watching the bobbing motions of her throat as she swallowed the entire drink and slammed the mug back onto the table.

He rolled his eyes at her antics, thinking the woman was being rather dramatic.

"Joanna." He called lovingly, lowering his head, trying to meet her eyes.

"It's okay."

His words of devoted reassurance fell on deaf, burning ears. Joanna was reaching for the neck of their liquor. Bucky sighed in deflated frustration as she poured herself another serving of the amber whiskey.

"Yeah, right after this I'm going to be right as rain," Joanna grumbled sardonically, returning the bottle to its spot beside the edge of the stove. The bridge of Bucky's nose crinkled in mild disapproval, his lips curling up in slight amusement over her need to always seem unbothered when she was.

"Jo." He voiced again, soundly and as soft as a caress. He saw his success at reaching her, from the way her hand stilled over the handle of her mug, reluctantly curling around the gleaming ceramic, not eager to drink anymore.

He waited patiently as she slowly regarded him from beneath her long, dusky lashes. Bucky looked into the deep wells of her eyes and was struck by the shimmering uncertainty she expressed in her wide-eyed gaze.

"It's not a deal breaker?" She asked her voice barely above a whisper. Bucky was flooded with such a wave of protective instinct that consumed his entire being.

"Nope." He answered swiftly and with ease, wondering how she could think such an endearing, yet concerning admission could ever scare him. Joanna didn't seem entirely convinced but Bucky was pressed by his need to be closer to her.

He stood up, surprising her but then turned away to pick up his bench stool as well. He could feel Joanna stare at him the entire time, watching the corner of the table in his approach, like wary prey.

"This…other me." He addressed while placing the legs of the chair next to hers and calmly bending to sit down.

"What did he say?"

"Annoying shit as per usual," Joanna answered while dragging over his mug from across the table, to his new position beside her. "I couldn't control the dumb shit that came out of your mouth."

Bucky wondered what kinda of things this alter ego of him, projected by her own delusions, had said to her, but he didn't have to wait long for an example.

"Do the right thing, make smart choices." Joanna continued, her voice an uncharacteristic deep tone, with her pretty features scrunched up in an expression he knew was to mock him.

"Don't be a brat, brat."

Bucky laughed over her theatrics, as taunting as she was, her observational humour did echo true sentiments he had uttered to her. Joanna was eased by his laughter and was smiling again, watching him in a way that had him blushing.

"I thought you said you made things how you desired them to be." He mused his voice still raspy, unable to resist the urge to run a doting caress up her arm. Joanna didn't resist his touch and instead, leaned closer, desiring the warmth of his body beside hers.

"Well, I guess I desired your quick wit." She mused watching the movements of his fingers, trailing down to her forearm, resting on the table. "I know it sounds like some crazy-girl fantasy."

"I know what a fantasy is Jo, I've had plenty about you."

"Oh?" Joanna purred slanting against him with a sheepish smile.

"Go on." She insisted with a coy lift of her dark brows.

Bucky blushed, abashed by the easy slip of his confession. He contemplated telling her about all the naughty fancies he had about her, but now nothing ever had to be left to the imagination. James was quite certain they had made love in every position he ever wanted.

"I was a manifestation." He decided to state instead, and his observation surprised her.

"How do you mean?" Joanna asked while taking a slow, deliberating sip of her drink. Bucky thought his deduction was rather obvious, but his girlfriend's soulful gaze, desperate for a rational solution made his heart bleed with pity, for her.

"You were struggling between deciding to save me or do the right thing." He reminded gently, dazzling her with a loving smile.

"I was your voice of reason."

The observation was sound logic to Joanna. It suddenly made sense, why she had gravitated to such a fantasy of him. He was, after all, the only thing beautiful and pure that she ever received from her time at Hydra. Despite the man's questionable, immoral past, their love was a treasure that tormented her, shook the very foundations of her being, and awakened a fire in her that she thought was dead, not dormant.

As eye-opening as the clarity was, Joanna couldn't help but notice how Bucky seemed unsure of the words that left his lips.

"You sound surprised?" She pointed out. Bucky blinked, not expecting to be noticed in his quiet contemplations. He never felt silent and invisible around Joanna with her hawk-like stares, he sometimes wondered if she could read his mind.

"I figured, in your head, I would tell you my usual stony, militant jargon." He confessed abashedly. Joanna beamed up at him, in a way he thought she was agreeing with his statement.

"Yeah but then you told me you love me." She said sending his heart into a galloping frenzy.

"And that pretty much changed everything."

Bucky stared, stunned and speechless by her reminder. Her last moments of him were those defining words and he understood why it had changed any preconceived notions she had of him. Bucky had told her exactly how he felt, he may have been a little dramatic with the timing, but he didn't want them to part without her knowing how much he cared, enough to separate them for her to be safe.

James was shaken out of her thoughts by her touch, dancing up his human limb. Joanna was petting the thin hairs of his forearm, rubbing at his skin with the flat base of her palm as her dark eyes brewed in thought.

"I just wish I could have reciprocated at the time." She murmured in a heart-breaking sigh. Bucky smiled besotted by her as he cupped the side of her face. He was momentarily distracted by the sparks beneath the alloy of his fingertips when they caressed her sun-kissed skin. Joanna turned into his touch, eyes reservedly meeting his as he leaned close.

"You did." He said soundly. "Not in words, but your actions, every day. It's what I love most about you."

Her eyes flared in stun, not expecting him to utter such devotion so smoothly. Bucky gazed back, blue eyes half hooded infatuated by her, the smallest smiles playing at his lips that drew closer and closer.

Joanna's eyes fluttered shut, melting into the soft caress of his mouth on hers. Her lips parted in practised subjugation as he kissed her with drugging depth.

Her mind which was buzzing from the memories plagued with alcohol, immediately quietened. She barely noticed how easily he plucked her onto his lap, holding her in an astride position over his legs. Her focus was on the delicate explorations of his tongue, meeting hers and mating in zealous passion.

Bucky felt dizzy and he knew it wasn't just the liquor. Joanna's kisses had him melting every time, unable to care about anything else, but just that moment. He knew their interlude had arrived and he didn't resist in the slightest, cradling her face in his hands and tasting her eagerly.

Armed with need, Bucky stood up, lifting her with him. Joanna clung to him, still connected at the lips, she locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his middle. It was like a practised dance between them. Bucky remembered several nights from before when their passionate meetings would result in bumping into corners of furniture or accidentally toppling over their limited homeware.

The former soldier was a lot more accustomed to their home now, knowing how to navigate easily with her in his arms, straight to their bed.

James released her to set her down on the mattress, but the moment Joanna's back met the supple surface, she reacted. Bucky wasn't given a moment to settle, she pushed him down mid-bend and rolled them over so she was the one in the dominant position.

Bucky was dumbstruck at first, the back of his head meeting the soft cushion of their pillows, his arms flattening by his sides. Joanna was already straddling his waist and in the middle of removing her top.

He stared in wonder as she dragged the clothing over her head, ruffling her hair and exposing her naked torso to him. He admired her sun-kissed skin and seductive curves with blue eyes teeming with desire. When he managed to turn his attention away from her breasts, up to her face, their eyes met.

Joanna was smirking down at him pleased by his lust for her, judging by the lustrous glow in her eyes. Bucky smiled back, feeling no shame in being caught, but only need as he pushed up into a seated position to tilt up and capture her lips with his.

His clothes were soon off and Joanna was having her way with him. The woman kissed her way down from his mouth to his neck, leaving little love bites on a trail to his pelvis. His body writhed beneath her caresses, his chest rising and falling in rapid succession, utterly aroused by her.

But then Joanna decided to torture him further by taking his hard-erect cock into her mouth. Bucky groaned, his human hand fisting her hair, holding on for dear life as the woman worshipped him with deep strokes of her hot tongue.

He watched bleary-eyed as her head moved up and down his shaft, taking great care to lather every inch of his silken skin with her affection. Just when Bucky thought he would burst, Joanna stopped and sat up.

James didn't have enough time to process the sudden pause in his ecstasy when it followed immediately after. Joanna straddled his waist and rubbed her damp core experimentally over his cock before taking him in, at a slow, measured pace meant to torment him.

Bucky was on cloud nine and trying very hard not to float up to the endless abyss. They felt so right together, from the way her long arms were wrapped around his shoulders, down to the press of her soft breasts against his chest. He could feel her pulsing welcome over his hard cock, wet and wonderful. He gathered her even closer, slouching forward, lips pressed to the smooth bend of her right shoulder, hands gripping the curves of her sweet hips and waiting for her to take control.

However, when the wait dragged on for a minute longer, Bucky was compelled out of his dazed bliss, wondering why she was so still in his hold. Joanna wasn't raising her head from its secluded spot, buried into the nape of his neck. He pulled back a small space, to see her face past the obstructing mess of her dark hair, but Joanna squirmed and burrowed herself deeper into his chest.

"Jo?" He called, stilling in wary concern, confused by her behaviour.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She grumbled against his throat, her words jagged and damp against his skin.

"I just need a minute."

Her rebuttal wasn't reassuring in the slightest. He didn't know how to react to being buried balls deep in his girlfriend, who was refusing to look at him. He worried he had hurt her and she was hiding it from him, but when he tried to move back, he realized how tightly Joanna was holding on to him as if he would disappear.

Still turned away, Joanna trembled, it was the slightest tremor that Bucky knew she wanted to suppress, but he felt it. He stopped fidgeting and relaxed into her hold, his hands that were on her hips, flattened and smoothed up her back. His touch was like a balm to her, he felt the tension she carried in her shoulder melt away the further his hands climbed.

Joanna began to slacken her tight hold over him, her arms hanging loosely over his shoulder as she slowly raised her head.

"Jo," Bucky called softly, nudging his nose against the side of her face, still turned away from him.

"Look at me."

Bucky knew her defiant nature would take her longer than most to follow an order, but he had said it pleadingly and he wondered if that's why she did listen. Slowly, Joanna met his gaze and Bucky was shocked by the sight of her large, tear-brimmed eyes.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" He breathed cupping her face in his hands and forcing her closer for inspection. Joanna rolled her eyes to the ceiling as if exasperated by his doting nature, but Bucky realized, it was to keep her tears from spilling.

"Nothing is wrong." She grumbled her chin trembling in his hold lowering her gaze again and smiling to mask her woes. Bucky studied her quietly, wondering why she was trying so hard to hide her emotions from him. He had seen her cry before, sure it was usually in frustration and once in happiness.

"I just…" Her whisper trailed off in a wet sigh, Bucky continued to wait still cradling her face in his hands. He saw the way the dark wells of her eyes skittered in thought, but her indecisive silence continued, concerning him even deeper.

"It's nothing I'm fine." She insisted quickly, her voice a lot primmer and more collected, but she was slouched over his lap, unwilling to meet his gaze yet again. Bucky was determined not to be frustrated. His hold on her softened as he gently swept aside a few curling locks, away from her starred lashes.

His touch seemed to melt her defences, he could feel it in the way her tense jaw softened beneath his fingertips. He curled his touch down, in a trailing caress to her chin. Then, gently, he lifted her face to meet his gaze.

Joana reluctantly looked at him, her full lips pressed down in a serious pout, but her eyes betrayed her attempts at seeming composed. Liquid pools of black, swarming with uncertainty guarded the weight of the world. Bucky didn't understand why she was so scared to unburden her worries to him, trying his best not to seem deterred by her lack of trust, he decided maybe she just needed a bit more reassurance than most.

"I can take it." He vowed softly, thumbing the width of her round chin while gazing deep into her eyes. Joanna smiled, amused by his words and understanding that he was being rather witty, considering she had expressed the same sentiments to him long ago, when he wasn't willing to burden her, in the literal sense.

Joanna stared at him for a long moment, but Bucky could tell, she was reassured by his confidence. But then, her face coloured in a heavy blush surprising him even further.

"I guess all the reminiscing got me thinking about those years we lost." She mumbled her attention lowering to his chest, in a shy manner that he wasn't expecting. Then she began to trace circles over his pectorals, chewing her bottom lip in nervous thought.

"Makes me appreciate things more now."

Bucky felt his chest tighten in that painful yet wonderful way it did when Joanna did or said anything endearing. Everything made sense in that moment, why she had been embracing him so tightly, her face buried into his neck, asking for a minute to compose herself. The bliss of their lovemaking, combined with the alcohol and reminiscing of her time without him, triggered sentiments in her that she would usually avoid confronting.

Their intimacy had warned her that nothing was permanent and Bucky felt relieved by her confession, considering it's what he worried about every waking day. That their wonderous time alone together, living a life they always wanted, could crash and burn in an instant.

"I feel the same way." Sadness crept into his voice as he spoke, slanting even closer to his beloved and cradling her face in his hands again. Joanna looked at him without hesitation, her dark eyes glowing in unstinting love that Bucky wished he could bask in all day.

His heart galloped under her besotted regard, one hand crept up from his chest to support the side of his face and Bucky practically melted into her soft touch. Pressing his lips into the soft skin of her palm, amazed by the warmth of his woman, Bucky thought about the time when he wasn't so quick to appease her.

"I wish I had been kinder to you." He mumbled against her wrist looking at her with a sudden remorse in his glittering blue eyes. Joanna's smile softened in pity, thinking the man looked too damn adorable for his good.

"You were pretty on brand to be honest, your mistrust for everyone is something I find incredibly sexy." She insisted generously, with a jaunty wink as she combed her fingers through the thick strands of his sable mane.

"I thought it was my eyes." He breathed, raising his chin a notch in a subtle request for a kiss.

"That too," Joanna whispered, easily comprehending his request, mesmerized by his mouth hanging so close, she kissed him; and with that, the two of them simply picked up right where they had left off.

Melting back into the rhythm of their coupling was alarmingly easy, so much so that the former soldier hardly noticed, or cared, paying close attention to guiding her hips beneath his hands, up and down his thick shaft.

Joanna quivered, breathless from the pleasure that continued to climb as she rode his hard cock. She relished in the sensation of her gentle solider, all taut muscle and kid leather skin, hers to touch and hold. She kissed him with great prowess, cupping his wide face in her hands, thrilled by the tickling ends of his stubble against her palms, bewitched by his delicate tongue swirling around hers in eager return.

Breathing was practically an afterthought when she kissed him and her lungs only burned in protest. Bucky gasped when Joanna released him from her hot kiss, but he continued to gape up at her in dazed focus, needing more.

Bucky couldn't get enough of her. Utterly captivated by the sinuous movements of her body as the waves of pleasure hit him again and again in keeping with the rhythm of her hips. His hands caressed her golden body, pressing into her damp, hot flesh and wanting her impossibly close.

His pale hands stood out in stark contrast to her bronze skin. The sight of her riding him, the bouncing of her breasts, nipples erect with desire was utterly erotic. He had to taste her glistening skin and did just that by leaning forward, lips parted as they planted over one turgid crest.

Joanna sucked a breath and then moaned loudly in response and Bucky ran his tongue over her nipple, winding his arms around his body and not allowing her any room to deny him.

Joanna's hands were buried in his hair, clutching on for dear life as the pleasure intensified. She was practically screaming his name, in panting breaths as he continued to bask her breast with the utmost attention of his mouth. He released her with a lewd pop, eyeing her in wicked fascination from beneath his dusky lashes, as he moved on to the other tit.

He loved that her breasts were sensitive to his caresses, he could feel her pussy walls coil around him, throbbing in encouragement. His hands roved up, stroking over the plane of her soft stomach until her sensitive skin prickled and tingled with every touch.

Joanna felt both tense and languid all at the same time. It was a strange sensation that she only experienced with him, being so wrought with indulgence that all one would do was simply bare it, with a dreamy smile and arching back.

She could feel the heat of his mouth move to the middle of her chest, down her sternum, as her hips pumped over him in mindless subjugation. She could only feel the intense pleasure of his warmth, kisses and touch as she fell helplessly.

Bucky followed the weight of her body, slanting forward while simultaneously pushing her down, still joined at the pelvis.

Joanna's back met the length of the mattress and he immediately caged her beneath his broad body, arms planted by her shoulders, demanding full surrender. Joanna wasn't defiant in the slightest, flinching and sighing in pleasure as he continued to drive into her, raw and throbbing deep within her.

Her hazy vision admired his alluring body, moving above her, hard and masculine in all the right places and tense with pleasure. Her attention trailed down, along with her touch, fingers untangling from his tresses. The blunt end of her nails dragged over his kid-leather skin. He shuddered and panted, her caress seemed to flare his enthusiasm, rutting into her in longer strokes that had her seeing stars.

She looked at him, their eyes met and Joanna felt her heart flutter under the glow of his heavenly blue eyes. Joanna was close, unable to keep her eyes open and find peace in the darkness as ecstasy neared. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging on to him desperately as he fucked her again and again.

"Bucky I'm—"

"I love you, Jo." He gasped out weakly, stunning her momentarily. Wide-eyed she studied his face, hanging above her, wrought with pleasure but his gaze was tender, looking to her as if she was his salvation.

"So much." He murmured slanting even closer, his hair curling their faces from the ceiling lights. Joanna stared speechless and mid-orgasm, thinking this was the best and worst time for him to say something so beautiful. Her lips trembled desiring to speak but it felt impossible. But then Bucky pinched his eyes shut, his head dropping, almost bumping against her forehead, as a whimper escaped his lips. Joanna immediately felt the shuddering bliss of his cock, throbbing and near release inside her and she simultaneously, caved into the pleasure.

Bucky groaned above her, slumping into her arms, his face buried into the nape of her neck. They were consumed by the waves of bliss that thrashed through in an invisible force, from the beat of their racing hearts down to their toes.

Joanna couldn't recall anything more comforting than the weight of her gentle soldier crushing her. Smiling dreamily, Joanna hugged her lover with greed, trapping him in her long winding limbs.

Bucky was surprisingly calm in her embrace. Usually, the man would be scrambling to get off her, worried that he was harming her with his heavier form, without any prompting.

Joanna liked the extended intimacy, stroking the back of his head as he curled deeper into her hold, his breath hot and jagged against her throat.

After a moment Joanna felt him squirm in her hold, she lightened her grip and Bucky shifted his weight onto his side. But he was still holding on to her, forcing her to roll slightly to face him.

Smiling in amusement, Joanna shimmied down to meet his gaze, resting the side of her face on his outstretched bicep, and Bucky immediately regarded her. His face was always so breathtaking to Joanna, the softness in his blue eyes, his sharp alabaster cheekbones, the taut sides of his face shadowed by the growing bristles of his hair. Her gaze drifted down the sharp bridge of his pristine nose to the bend of his cupid's bow, pink and utterly tempting. His pout was slightly parted and Joanna realized he was still trying to catch his breath.

She couldn't help but feel rather smug about it, not realizing her body could have such a powerful effect on such a lethal assassin. She wanted to make a teasing comment, however Bucky snuck his free hand up between them and cupped the side of her face, before gently raising her head, to meet his gaze.

Their eyes met, jet black to clear blue and Joanna lost all train of thought.

"I never want us to be apart." He avowed in a cautious longing. His despondent words and soulful eyes pierced her heart to a flinching intensity. Joanna was immediately compelled to reassure him.

Joanna slid her palms slowly up the muscled length of his chest to his shoulders, then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.

"So, do I, babe." She breathed pressing a loving kiss to the side of his pouting lips. She felt his scowl lighten instantly under her skin, nuzzling back a lazy kiss before diving his face into the crook of her neck. Joanna smiled in besotted amusement, cradling the back of his head while her other arm rubbed soothingly at his big back. Her comforting caress seemed to move him, in a literal and emotional sense. Bucky cuddled her back fiercely, their roles reversed from earlier, him being the one overwhelmed by their intimacy.

Joanna sighed in contentment, but her gaze glided over the top of his head to the kitchen counter, relieved by the sight of their whiskey bottle only half its volume. Joanna knew the story wasn't complete yet, this sweet moment between them was a much-needed interlude.

There was more to tell, Joanna realized in paling silence, and she wondered if her sweet solider could bear her point of view during operation R.P.C

---

Stay Tuned for Part 2, what exactly happened during operation RPC, find out next time on El Mañana!

Rate and Review, please.

xx

- SSC