Though Bucky wasn't much more than a silent bodyguard, Jak still enjoyed being around him. She didn't expect their romance to pick up where it left off if she was able to get him back, but she still found comfort in his presence and hoped, somewhere in his head, he felt the same. Besides, there was another reason, hidden in her memories that she couldn't quite grasp, that told her not to strike up a relationship with him.

Hadn't there been someone else? Hadn't there been cunning green eyes and a voice that called her elskan mín? She couldn't remember anything else, but she knew she had someone out there waiting for her. At least, she hoped he was waiting. It had been nearly two months since she'd been taken, she wouldn't blame whoever it was for giving up on her and moving on.

Regardless, before she could find out more about her green eyed mystery, she had to save Bucky. Since she didn't yet have access to her magic, she was doing her best to try and reach him by spending as much time as possible with him instead.

On that particular day, she was doing so by cleaning his arm for him. It was amazing how much dirt had built up in the grooves in the time that he'd been in her father's house. She was using a toothbrush and a kitchen sponge to clear out the debris, sitting on her bedroom floor while he stood by the doorway, one-armed and silent.

"I remember when they built this," she told him, though she knew he wouldn't respond, "All of the Hydra scientists were patting themselves on the back about how ingenious it was."

He said nothing, didn't even look over his shoulder.

"We should paint over this red star. Clearly you're not the property of the Soviet Union anymore. Not that you ever were property," she scratched at the red star with her fingernail, "You're a person. What would you like to paint over the star?"

"Leave it," he grunted.

"Right, I forgot," she sighed, "You aren't really much of a person right now. I'll ask again when you are less of a killing robot and more of a human man."

She continued to chatter at him, with the occasional grunt in response and made her way down all the groves in the arm until she got to the hand. Feeling nostalgic, she twined its fingers with her own and enjoyed the feeling of holding a hand, even if it was a hard metal one.

"Don't…" Bucky said from the doorway, his brow furrowed. He'd turned to look at her. "Don't do that."

"Can you feel it?" She asked curiously. "Is it linked to your brain?"

"Not when it's disconnected," he shook his head, "It's clean enough. Your father ordered you to sweep out the cells in the basement. Let's get to it."

"Right," she gave the arm one more wipe down before handing it back to him. He clicked it into place and rolled his shoulder in a way that made Jak stare and wonder why she found the motion so attractive.

"Come on," he grunted, taking a step toward the staircase.

"Hold on a moment, Winter Soldier," Uriah's voice called from the end of the upstairs corridor, "I have something I'd like to discuss with my daughter."

Bucky stood to attention, eyes glazed over.

"Yes, Father?" Jak bowed her head and folded her hands, imagining taking Bucky's arm and hitting her father over the head with it.

"You've had your pet for a week now," he looked at Bucky and then back at her, "And you've done an exceptional job taking care of him - though he is getting a little scruffy, perhaps a shave soon, yes?"

She nodded, though she liked his facial hair.

"As a reward for your good behavior, today I am going to give you access to your magic," Uriah beamed at her, "You can use it however you like for today and tomorrow we'll begin your real magic lessons. What do you think?"

"Thank you, Father, that's wonderful!" She smiled at him and it was almost real. If she didn't know that this was a test, she would be actually happy. She knew he was just giving her magic back to see what she would do and if she would try to escape. He wouldn't do it unless he had contingencies to keep her on the property. And she knew he'd be watching her too closely for her to even attempt getting in Bucky's head.

"Isn't it?" He chucked her chin and patted her cheek, "I'll turn off the dampening cuff and then you are free to do whatever you like for the day - I still want the cells swept out, mind you, but whatever else you want to do with your time is just fine. Sergeant Barnes will accompany you to keep you safe."

"I'll practice some of my disguise spells," she told him, "Like changing my hair color. Now that I'm Jessica Fenice, I probably shouldn't have bright pink hair, right?"

"Speaking of, there is a second part to your reward," he flicked his wrist and conjured a clothing hanger into his hand. A moment later a velvet, plum colored evening gown formed on the hanger. It was a floor length gown with excess fabric in the back that would trail behind the wearer just slightly. It had a high, halter neck, but no sleeves and the back swooped low. There was a copper colored chain belt to go with that draped over one hip and looped around the waist. Velvet wasn't really to Jak's taste, but she supposed it was pretty.

"A dress?" She asked, realizing she'd been staring too long without saying anything. "Thank you, it's beautiful."

"A dress that you will be wearing to a charity ball this week," Uriah told her, handing her the hanger, "I think a nice auburn for your hair would match the belt nicely, practice that color when you work on your disguise spells."

"I'm going to a ball?"

"We are," he glanced at Bucky again, "All three of us, as a matter of fact."

"Where?"

"At the headquarters for my company. The charity we shall be supporting is for some rare endangered bird. I only hold these things for the tax write off and the social connections."

"You're sure you want me to go?" She asked, wary of what he had in store for her at the event. Surely he wouldn't risk her escaping just to show off his daughter to his business associates.

"Of course," he began to walk away, "You said that you wished I had married you off years ago, didn't you? Well, this will be a good opportunity to make progress on that front. We'll find some wealthy boy with no ambition of his own and bring him into the family. He will be your consort when we are, one day, on our thrones. Perhaps I can even look forward to my first grandchild, hmm?"

Jak felt her stomach drop as she watched her father leave her standing in the hall with the purple dress and the Winter Soldier. She pressed her free hand to her gut and did her best not to scream with rage.

"There will never be grandchildren," she muttered to herself, barely a whisper, "And even if I ever change my mind, he'll never spend a moment with them. I swear it."

"Let's go sweep the cells," Bucky said calmly.

Enraged more than ever at the prospect of having a husband thrown at her, Jak tossed her dress in her room and then hurried down to the basement dungeon. She angrily slammed cell doors open and attacked dust, dirt, and cobwebs mercilessly with her broom. Bucky stood by in the corner, watching her without a hint of emotion. The state of his brain made her even angrier, to the point that she began hitting the cell bars with her broom. She growled in frustration and threw the broom just as she noticed the lights on her power dampening cuff turn off. The broom glowed purple and then flew through the air like a javelin, straight toward Bucky.

"No!" She yelped, her hair beginning to glow as she pressed her hands to her mouth in horror.

Bucky caught the broom just before it impaled his chest and tossed it aside.

"Was that intentional?" He asked, sounding bored.

"Shit. No," she took a deep breath and smoothed down her hair, "I'm so sorry, Geez Louis, I didn't expect him to let me have my magic right away."

Bucky didn't say anything else. Jak took a few more deep breaths and got her hair to stop glowing and floating. She slowly picked up the broom and finished her chore before running up the basement steps and out the back door. Bucky was hot on her heels, ready to catch her if she ran for it, but she wasn't planning on escaping just yet. She only needed to be outside.

She stopped at the new flower bed, the one where nothing would grow and waved her hand over it, channeling all of her magic toward the dirt. Dozens of phlox stems burst from the earth and exploded into purple flowers. Jak barked out a harsh laugh as she watched them and then turned her attention to the vegetable garden. A watermelon, which was the size of a baseball, swelled until it was half as tall as she was and then cracked open. A juicy, sweet smell filled the air and she grabbed a fistful of the pink fruit and bit into it.

"I've got my magic back," she said, still shocked. Her father had told her he was giving it back, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon, and she certainly hadn't expected the rush of power she felt bursting from her fingertips. She could foggily remember using her powers at the Avengers Compound, but she thought they'd been weaker. Hadn't she been struggling? Or was it just that she was afraid of hurting someone?

With no one except Bucky and her father nearby, she felt that she could let loose. Of course, she'd almost impaled Bucky on a broomstick, but he'd been fine. And he hadn't seemed to care. He didn't look at her like he was waiting for her to mess up the way the Avengers had when she'd used her powers around them. She felt in her unreachable memories that she liked the Avengers. And she thought that they liked her too, but she was realizing that she had also been afraid to slip up around them. She'd been on her best behavior for so long, tiptoeing around the fact that she'd tried to kill them, that she'd boxed up her confidence. She didn't want them to be afraid of her or scold her for going too far.

But Bucky wouldn't scold her for using her magic. Even if he were himself, he already knew what she could do and some of the horrible things that she had done, and he didn't care.

And neither did the green eyed man that she couldn't quite remember. He'd encouraged her, hadn't he? She grasped at a scene in her head of a rooftop and of broken air conditioners. He'd wanted her to be powerful and told her to stop holding back.

Now, in her father's garden, with rage toward that same father, she was not worried about holding herself back. She could have set the whole forest around them on fire. She could rip the house apart with her magic and fling the bricks miles away.

But, instead, she grew some more flowers and changed her hair color to auburn. Then she cut the flowers with a slice of purple light and put them in a vase she transformed from a piece of firewood. She took the bouquet inside and presented it to her father.

"Thank you for trusting me with my magic," she told him, unable to hide the way her eyes glowed a smoldering orange color as she looked at him. "I hope you like what I've done with it."

"Lovely," her father nodded, eyes glued to his laptop, "Thank you. Now run along. I have work to do."

She nodded and left the room. She wanted to tell someone that she was angry and happy and powerful, but powerless and frustrated, but she couldn't risk fixing Bucky's brain on the first day she had her magic back. It would have to wait a day or two so her father wouldn't get suspicious. So, in the meantime, she tried to sort through the complicated feelings herself and came to the conclusion that she would use her magic to kill any man her father tried to set her up with and, even if it was a trap, she would try to escape during the charity ball.

A note from the author: Two chapters in one day! Hurray! Thanks for reading this far! I will hopefully have another chapter posted some time this week! :D