Chapter 15

"I don't believe you." Brooke snapped, looking away from the video playing on a loop before her.

"I have never lied to you, have I?" He hadn't, "If my boyfriend were kissing other women, I'd want to know."

She tried so hard to keep her expression blank but the longer the video played the more convinced she was of its authenticity. When Bucky's hand reached out to touch Tess's face, the way he used to touch hers, she wanted to gag with the familiarity.

Tess was one of the agents that he and Steve had been training. She recognized her because Tess was always looking at Bucky. Brooke knew the girl had a crush, she could not fault her for that. But she could fault her husband for kissing her... While she was in here, suffering.

Brooke also noticed that the footage was taken from outside the locker rooms of their training facility. So Hydra had eyes inside, somehow. Tony had so much tech set up, how did they get in?

"Please turn it off." She finally requested.

Vince listened, closing the laptop. "I have a meeting tonight. You are not required to be here but after there is a charity gala and that I will need you by my side for.

Brooke nodded, happy she would have the night to herself. It had been almost another month since Brooke had met up with Bucky and she had gotten a phone call out to Natasha once since. Things had relaxed and Vince was taking her to more and more things. She was beginning to gain 'friends' within his circles. She hoped the wives would be able to supply her with information.

After a couple of dinners and events, it was clear the wives were oblivious to their husband's dealings.

Her boyfriend on the other hand... She was having a hard time believing what she was shown, but the video was clear and time stamped and the way he- uck she did not want to think about it. Bucky had been on hold his whole life, and in a couple of months will be half a year that she's been gone... Maybe he was tired of waiting. No, there was no way Bucky would do that to her. Not after he fought so hard to get her back.

.

Natasha picked up her phone after the first ring. The device had been attached to her since Brooke left. Any moment she could get a call from her and she would not miss a single one.

"FRIDAY TELL BUCKY BROOKE'S ON THE PHONE, I'LL MEET HIM IN THE OFFICE.! Brooke, how are you?"

Natasha jogged down the hallway to take the stairs. She knew after two weeks of nothing Bucky would want to hear from Brooke, even if he could only listen and they weren't able to have a real conversation. The poor guy was taking what he could get right now.

-Hey, I have a couple of minutes, so I need to get this out. I'll be in Vienna this weekend. I know that it was a place you were monitoring. If you still are or if you have agents out there, I need you to steer clear of the event. I'll be there with Vince and I can't run into any of you guys.-

Natasha nodded, "Understood. Sam was supposed to head up there and do some networking, but I will make sure he is pulled and we will send a ghost agent in his place."

-Good, okay. Make sure they know not to engage with me or Vince. The last thing we need is someone trying to win points with Fury by going after him-

Natasha slowed to a stop as Bucky threw open the training room doors and ran at her. Eyes wide and zeroed in on the phone at her ear. Natasha pressed speaker phone as she and Bucky walked into a little office to keep the conversation.

-That event is too important to Vince and my mission to have an over-eager agent mess it up. I have to get back soon but, Vince pulled some video footage recently... From the compound. Are you guys aware of that? He showed it to me yesterday.-

The two agents look at each other, concern bounding between them.

Bucky leaned closer to the phone, "Do you know how long he's had access for?"

The line was silent for a moment, Bucky thought maybe she had not heard them when she cleared her throat and signed into the receiver.

-I don't know how long he's had access or even if he really does, he only showed me a clip from one of the video feeds near the training rooms.-

"Well what did you see maybe that will help us narrow down a timeline, I'll have Tony look into it either way. He can't have Hydra's eyes inside home base." Natasha told her and again the phone was met with an uncommon silence.

"I can't remember, just get Tony to look for spyware. But maybe give it a couple of days, so if Vince gets a notification he won't assume it was me who got you that information.

Natasha shook her head, "Yes, but it would help us to have a point to jump off from..."

Brooke's call was starting to make the spy a little suspicious. Usually, she was flooding her with information. And she had been until Bucky joined the call and then Brooke seemed hesitant, unsure. Like she was withholding information.

-Nat can you take me off speaker?-

The spy looked up at the soldier, starting to follow through with the request when he stopped her.

"Brooke?" Disturbed by her request, what did she not want him to hear?

They listened as she was silent on the other end of the line, Bucky called out to her again afraid she might have been caught using the phone to contact them.

It may have been the words that stunned him, but it was the flat not emotional way Brooke spoke that had Bucky's stomach flip violently.

-Whatever day Bucky and Tess were kissing outside the locker rooms-

.

The dead air after Brooke confessed what she saw on the recording was all the confirmation she needed. The video was real and her boyfriend had cheated, it stung so fucking bad. But she was not going to let him know that, and she could not get distracted right now.

-I have to go, I've already been gone too long.-

Brooke slammed the phone down and closed her eyes. Two deep steady breaths and a heavy sigh later Brooke threw a smile on her face and walked out of the room. She did not know what she was going to do about her relationship if she ever got out of here, but she knew she was done playing it safe. She did not have a death wish, but she had to admit to herself she had been taking fewer risks because of Bucky.

Now, what did she have to lose?

"Vince," Brooke politely greeted him as she came back from the 'bathroom'. She sat without fuss in his lap and let his hands play at her waist and pull her in closer. It was time to really start playing the game. She was tired of waiting for the Avengers to figure out how to get her out of here. She was trained, dangerous and more than capable of getting herself out of this mess.

"You took a long time..." He said in her ear.

Brooke fidgeted in his lap and looked down at his mouth, purposefully not meeting his eyes. He leaned back and grabbed her chin making her look at him. Brooke wanted to gag. Bucky used to pull this move with her a lot at the beginning of their relationship.

"Chris Sawyer... He followed me into the bathroom..." She muttered lowly like she was ashamed. "He-"

Brooke went quiet and dropped her gaze again as Vince reacted, "He touched you?"

"I'm sorry, I told him not to." Brooke blinked quickly as if she were trying to fight off tears, "It's not a big deal, someone else came in and he stopped."

After a couple of quiet moments, Vince tapped the side of her hip a sign for her to get up. He slid out from behind her and lowered her back into the seat with a hand on the shoulder.

He rubbed the apple of her cheek and told the men in the room 'he would be right back' leaving his security there with her instead of following after him. There was a gunshot not two minutes later followed by the sickening thud of a body hitting the floor. The men in the room didn't flinch and Brooke lowered her head to hide her smile. Boys were too easy.

Brooke continued to feed intel to the team but even if she had access to a phone she only took the time to call in the morning when she knew Bucky was training the cadets and even though she heard Natasha calling for him, Brooke always hung up before he got here. She spewed information and then hung up, much like she had when she first got there, no phone call lasted more than forty seconds.

Vince is where she put all her focus now. He had killed three men for her in the last week and she knew her word would not be enough for him to start killing off his allys. So she got creative, she would brush up against the men, or shoot them flirty looks. Course them into taking things too far. After the third one, Vince yelled at her on the ride home, obviously upset about his recent kill, she knew the man was close to Olive Roy and that was exactly why she had targeted him.

If she could isolate him, he would be that much easier to manipulate.

"This isn't new."

"What?" His cold eyes landed on her.

"They've touched me before."

He spoke through clenched teeth. "You never mentioned it to me."

"I thought you approved it," Brooke mumbled, playing the part.

She allowed herself to jump when Vince laid a hand on her knee, "I don't stand for assaulting women, especially not one that to the public eye is mine."

Brooke's frown was real this time, she looked up at him confused, "But, you came to the red room to watch-"

"I didn't stop you from killing them all, did I? I didn't come to watch you get raped, I came for you."

Not quiet knowing what to say to that, Brooke looked down at her lap. Vince confidently took her hand.

"I am sorry what happened to you under my watch, I assure you it will not be happening again, not without punishment. When I take you out I will accompany you the entire time, and if I am called away Andrew will personally keep you company."

Andrew was Vince's personal bodyguard, he was tall and quiet and as much as he was 'Hydra scum' Brooke did trust him.

"Ok." Brooke nodded, "Could I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"The necklace has been malfunctioning for a couple of days now and the burn is really starting to hurt."

Vince pushed Brooke's hair over her shoulder to bare her neck to him, "Show me."

For a week now Brooke had been pulling and messing with the collar, the shocks were painful and the burn she was creating in her skin even more so, but it would be worth it if she could get him to remove it.

"Fuck." Vince hissed, pulling the collar lightly off her skin and seeing the skin of her neck come off with it.

Brooke shuttered feeling the drop of blood roll down her back and into the silk of the dress she was currently wearing.

"I know you don't trust me, but it is really stating to hurt. Could you give me a new one or take it off, just while I'm in the apartment?"

Vince pulled his gun into his lap and aimed it in her direction while he pulled the necklace off of her. Brooke's breath shuddered as she fought the urge to kill the man beside her, but she was not done with Hydra and if she played her cards right, he may never put the collar back on.

"Andrew hand me gauze from the first aid kit."

Vince handed the medical fabric to her, clearly not willing enough to take the gun off of her. She held the pad to her neck, soaking up the blood.

"I will have my doctor come to treat that once we get back."

"Ok." Brooke agreed.

"This tech should not have misfired like this. Next time you are hurt I expect you to tell me as it happens, not hide it."

"Ok."

The ride was a little tense after that. Brooke kept quiet and Vince kept his weapon trained on her and watched every move she made like a hawk.

.

Brooke could not stop smiling in the shower. It was three days and Vince had come to visit her to tell her the 'necklace' was working fine and they could not figure out how it burned her so severely. He also said, he would not risk it sending a lethal shock through her system so until further notice, she would go without.

Their activities continued as previously scheduled. She went on missions and attended events by Vince's side without issue. We'll a few more men were killed for their advances, but Brooke played the perfect Spy? Soldier? Fake Girlfriend? She played her part to a T, never pushing back, always returning having completed her missions. And Vince never spoke of the collar again.

He did however start coming to see her every Sunday night with dinner in hand. They never talked much, a couple of polite exchanges, but he always left asking what she wanted to eat next time. Always pulled her chair out for her and never looked anywhere that wasn't her eyes.

She felt more like a daughter than an object of his affection and it was not till a couple weeks later she figured out why. Vince was not into women.

.

"Look at this!" Bucky threw the newspaper at Steve.

"What am I looking at?" The blonde asked, turning the page to look at the pictures.

Bucky runs his hands threw his hair pulling the strands, "This is the eighth time she's been photographed at an event without that shock collar. The surveillance footage Tony found of her in Mexico, she wasn't wearing it then either!"

Steve and Sam were in one of the meeting rooms prepping for an upcoming mission when he blew in, late to a meeting he was supposed to be at ten minutes ago. But Bucky had been analyzing the picture, looking for any sign it had been tampered with, photoshopped.

Sam leaned back instead of forward to check out the picture. He had seen the last seven Bucky had shoved in their faces. Instead, Sam was more interested in watching Bucky.

"He probably has her wearing a necklace, ring or something else to control her. She had been wearing that necklace for almost a year now, it was bound to break."

Bucky glared at him, "She hasn't called Nat since she stopped wearing it. What if Vince is controlling her some other way."

"You mean like how they controlled you." Sam offered gently.

"It's not far fetched, he's still Hydra even if he's 'new aged'"

Steve put the paper down, "We don't know that he's done that."

"How do you explain this?" Bucky pointed roughly and stabbed his pointer finger into the photo.

Steve looked at Sam then back to his best friend, "She also hasn't called since she told you she saw you and Tess kissing."

Bucky felt the ache in his teeth as he clenched his jaw, speaking through his teeth, "I explained to you what happened when she kissed me."

The blonde cadet had been on probation ever since. And Steve had taken over training her class.

Holding up his hands the blonde's eyes softened, "I know. But Brooke doesn't know what I know. From what you told me, all she saw was you kissing someone. So, it's possible she'd be mad enough to stop reaching out?"

Bucky rubbed his forehead, "She's called Nat twice after she told us about the hack. Even if she was pissed as me, it's getting in the way of the job. I don't want it to be mind control, I have thought of every other option and it is the only one that makes sense."

Steve looked back down at the matter of photos, he frowned picking the paper back up. "Maybe she hasn't called because she hadn't been able to get to a phone."

Leaning forward Sam looked at the photos to try and see what Steve saw, "Why do you think that?"

"In every photo that Vince isn't in, this man is in the background of. He looks like a bodyguard. If she has someone on her at all times, she's not going to be able to sneak away and make phone calls. "

"You think Vince put a bodyguard on Brooke?" Sam asked, "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, but it's just something I noticed. Along with the fact that Vince seems to not touch her anymore. He used to always have a hand on her, but he's not touching her in any of the photos."

"What message do you think he's trying to send by doing that?"

Bucky scoffed, "That he doesn't need to touch her to control her. She's standing by his side all on his own, because she was ordered to."

"Maybe you are right about that." Steve validated, "That just means we can get her now. Once we get her away from him, we can help her."

Bucky was practically vibrating with the idea. "Then let's get Stark and Nat in here and figure out where he is sending her next."

.

Europe was cold this time of year but Brooke couldn't feel it. Not in this gala ballroom full of bodies. She was in a simple gold number tonight. Vince had given her a credit card and sent her and Andrew to the mall to buy a couple things. This was more of a party than a formal event so Brooke decided to go with a shorter dress that had some shine to it.

Vince was busy in backroom meetings most of the night, which meant Andrew was by her side. She had started talking to him this last month. While he was a steal trap, she was lonely and if she did not get specific he would talk to her about general topics.

"You know if you had a glass of whiskey I wouldn't tell the boss." Brooke sipped on her third glass of champagne.

Andrew shook his head, "I don't drink while I'm on duty."

"Or you are more of a beer guy and they don't serve beer at these types of events." The corner of Andrew's lips turned up, letting her know she was right.

Brooke jerked forward as someone bumped into her. Andrew stepped forward to sturdy her and Brooke felt someone press something small into the palm of her hand. Brooke pulled her thumb back to hold what she could next tell was an inner ear com.

The young women who she did not recognize blushed and stepped back, "Oh my goodness, did I get any champagne on your dress? I am so sorry I was not watching where I was going."

"Don't even think about it." Brooke smiled, "Really."

The woman had spilled her drink, and Brooke knew it was on purpose. Just like how she knew who's voices she would hear as soon as she put the coms in.

"Andrew could you hand me a napkin." As soon as he turned his back on her, Brooke made a play like she was ruffling her hair and pressed the small device into her ear.

-Whatever the hell you have planned, don't. I'm not done here.-

-Fury approves it, we have the jet eight miles west of the front door waiting to take you home- Natasha.

Before she could retort that she didn't care what Fury approved Andrew was back and handing her dry napkins.

"Thank you." She made a play to whip the drying liquid from her leg, "I need wet napkins, I'm going to go to the bathroom."

Andrew held out his arm for Brooke to lead the way. Like usual he went into the bathroom, made sure it was clear and then left Brooke alone to do her business.

-Who's the girl?- Brooke turned on the faucet to drown out her talking.

-A candidate, we needed a fresh face they wouldn't recognize-

-Tess was busy?- Brooke snarked with no heat behind her words.

-We couldn't risk you recognizing them either, in case you had been compromised-

Clearly, she was running lead on the extraction, but no doubt the whole team was here quietly listening. She bet at least a couple of them had eyes on her right now.

-Well I'm not. I would have warned you I would be going no contact, but Vince but bodyguard on me, I haven't had a minute alone. I'll keep this coms on me, and use it to reach out if I need to get in touch.-

There was silence on the line for a moment.

-We didn't give it to you for communication, we gave it to you so we can help you find the safest way out of the house.- Natasha told her.

-There is a meeting with a lot of important people coming up next week. I need to be there, these men, they're careless with their words in front of me.-

-You've done enough Brooke. It's going to take more than a year undercover to break this organization down. Fury wants you out. You aren't being contained by the collar anymore and if there are no other devices keeping you from leaving, it's time to go.-

Andrew knocked on the door, calling for her. "Just a few more minutes, I'm trying to get this stain out of my dress!"

She had given up too much, played this gave for too long to just walk away now. It couldn't all be for nothing. Not when all she had gotten was a couple of names and places to check out.

-I don't think you're hearing me. I'm. Not. Done. Nat.- Turning off the faucet Brooke grabbed one of the towels to dry off with.

His voice is the one who responds, -I have eyes on you, you are alone. We can have Sam to you in under a minute, you'll be out that window before the bodyguard notices.-

-You can see me?- Brooke continues before he can respond, -Can you see this?-

She faced the large floor-to-ceiling windows, and with a blank face, she threw up her middle finger at him before turning abruptly and walking out of the bathroom.

-Brooke! You walk back into that party and you'll force our hand- Bucky warned sternly.

Brooke froze at the door, she stormed back over to the window knowing he could see her.

-Unless I am compromised you have no grounds to pull me, Sargent. I'm still in this and I'm going to finish it.-

-No, you are not.- Steve interjected, -You've done great work Brooke, but the mission is over. Open the window, Sam will be to you in twenty seconds.-

Brooke scoffed, -Respectfully Captian. Eat me.-

Pulling the coms out of her ear she threw it into the toilet and flushed, walking out of the bathroom.

"Sorry that took so long, I still couldn't get the stain out."

"You can get it dry cleaned or if you really love it so much I'm sure Vince would buy you a new one."

Brooke flashed him a sly smile, "Maybe I'll get it in gold And silver this time."

Glass shattered loudly behind them. Brooke turned and knew it was Sam coming through that window in a blur. He adjusted his weight and kicked Andrew in the back of the head as he was turning, drawing his gun.

"Time to go." Sam grabbed her around the waist and flew out of there. The cold air and fast speed sent goosebumps all over her body, "I've got her. Meet you all back at the jet."

"Sam, you need to take me back." She shouted over the high winds.

"You've been under a long time. It's time for you to come home, Brooke."

She could not help but disagree. Her home had been Bucky. He was the reason she stuck around, that and her probation. But that time had passed while she was living at Vince's, she was free now, and she was not quite sure where she was going to go.

They were the first ones in the Jet, other than Cint who was their piolet.

"Hey, kid." He pulled her into a hug, and Brooke let him.

She had really missed him. Even though he wasn't her dad, he always treated her like a daughter.

Steve and Bucky made it back to the Jet first, Natasha and the candidate following in 20 seconds later. The door closed abruptly behind her and Clint was in the cock pit launching them into the sky. Natasha and the girl going to join him.

"Well congratulations guys, you just pulled your inside man." She angrily sassed them, arms splayed wide party dress shimmering.

Bucky stepped toward her, "Are you out of your mind? What the hell happened to the girl who called me looking for an out?"

Ripping the clips out of her hair, Brooke started chucking them at her feet. The clink on metal deafening in the heated silence.

"She decided sitting on her ass waiting for you all to figure things out was getting old. She got proactive. I got Vince to remove the collar within weeks of trying! If I'd waiting for you, I'd still be getting shocked every damn time I took a shower."

"How?" Bucky asked, the energy changed as his implication rang through the space.

"How. What?" A lethal look came over her face "You mean what was my mode of persuasion?" Sex dripped off every syllable of that last word.

Bucky waited, his hands balled up into tight fists. He knew she was mad about being forcefully removed from the mission, she was lashing out at him because of what she saw on that video. But yelling was getting them nowhere and he had no idea what she had to go through this last year. There was no way it had been easy and he wanted to make things better for her, not worse.

"Yeah." He challenged.

"Men are easy to manipulate given the right motivations. I already knew he saw me as a possession, but I had to make him care. So, I cried wolf. Made him think this entire time we've been at events his partners and investors had been taking advantage of me in secluded hallways and dark corners, with the collar on I couldn't exactly fight them off. Said I thought he had been encouraging their behaviour. I learned his mother had been killed in a brutal rape-murder, they never found the guys. Vince started dropping his own supporters for me.

I started tampering with the collar, trying to remove it made it shocked me. I did it enough to let it burn through my skin, second-degree skin damage. It burned through some tissue and rebleed when you pulled the chain and the attached skin away. I told him it had been malfunctioning for days, made it seem like I was too scared to tell him. He took the collar off, and never put it back on.

Bucky's nostrils flared, she had promised when she'd left that cabin that she wouldn't hurt herself again.

"Holy hell, B." Sam crossed his arms in shock, clearly uncomfortable during her retelling. "We couldn't figure out why he kept dropping those bodies."

"It's smart." Natasha rejoined them, "Breaking all his relationships until he has no one left. That's-"

"Something you would do?" Brooke supplied dryly, "I know. The red room trained me to remember. My recent refresher course was very educational. And if you had let me do my job I was two days away from chopping the head off one of Hydra's most powerful players!"

Natasha shook her head, "I doubt Vince would have killed someone that high up, even for you."

"I didn't expect him to. I needed him to trust me enough to win an invite to that table," Brooke held her hand out and spit a white pill wrapped in hard plastic into her hand, all the fight went out of Bucky as he saw what she had been sorting in her mouth. "I stole this bad boy when Vince took me to one of the labs. I figured 'You never know when you'll need a cyanide capsule on hand'."

Boots thudded against metal as Bucky walked across the jet, he held his hand out when he got within a foot of her. He silently waited. The fact that a small part of her may have taken it to use against herself shattered him, and the horror that the collar may have shocked her and caused her to accidentally clamp down on the plastic releasing the poison. He would have never known what had happened and would have concluded the worst.

"My spits all over it." She lightly protested.

"Give it to me."

"What if I have more on my person? You gonna frisk me just in case?"

Her teasing had a bite to it where just a year ago it would held a flirty wink and an uncontainable smile behind it. He ached for that.

Bucky's eyes softened, he asked earnestly, "Would you let me?"

Everyone knew they were no longer talking about the issue at hand but about their fractured delicate relationship.

Only able to hold his gaze for a moment Brooke looked down at his hand, dropping her saliva-covered cyanide capsule into his waiting palm.

"Do you have more?" Sam asked, Bucky had confided in him what Brooke had done in the bathtub.

"Don't worry Sam," Brooke patted his shoulder as an excuse to get space from Bucky. "My probation is over, I am no longer your responsibility but no, I only had the one."

She knew she was acting childish, but Brooke was mad about a couple of things and they were in her firing range.

"You aren't a responsibility, you are someone I- we all care about. And you are five minutes removed from one hell of a traumatic year."

He hit her with such sincerity she didn't know what to do with it. For the better part of the year, she shut down her feelings to survive. No love, joy or friendship. None that wasn't fabricated. She knew anger, envy and pain.

"And in 48 hours I'll be blackout on a beach somewhere, completely out of your hair."

"You're leaving after the debrief?" Bucky asked, clearly thrown by her flippant announcement.

"Why would I stay?" She asked honestly.

Bucky shook his head, his tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip, "K, we need to talk about a few things."

Brooke stepped back when he reached his hand out to rest on her bicep. Leaving inches between his outstretched limb and her bare shoulder.

"I'm buzzed, I'm tired-" I woke up from a week-long coma to my psychopath sister. I got the shit kicked out of me daily and was almost raped, I killed said, sister. I was trafficked into Hydra, I spent the better part of a year so lonely I'm pretty sure it cracked my psyche. I have since killed and been the cause of someone's death out of necessity. My boyfriend cheated on me with his cadet, I risked my life to bring down the organization that hurt so many people, Steve, Bucky and Natasha included, only for it to amount to nothing! "and I don't want to talk here."

He swallowed, "Don't leave before I get the chance to explain things."

She knew he meant in the next coming days but she couldn't help but look around the interior of the jet and ask him, "S'not like I can go anywhere."

Bucky huffed out a half-hearted laugh in disbelief. He backs away from her, going to sit beside Steve, even though putting space between them is the last thing he wants after being separated after all this time. He wants to hug her, kiss the crap out of her then take her home and hold her all night so she knows she's safe. But he can't because of a kiss with someone who wasn't his girlfriend.

(FLASHBACK)

"Good work today, Natasha will be joining us tomorrow to help with fight variation." Bucky dismissed the candidates.

"Sargent Barnes, can I have a word?"

Tess was a moderate fighter but a better shot. She was dedicated, but he saw her hanging back in a fight and covering everyone's back, looking for snippers or straw attacks.

"Sure." He moved out of the way of the locker room doors and took a seat offering for her to do the same, then he waited for her to share whatever was on her mind.

"As I'm sure you've seen I've been having a little trouble with the combinations you've shown us." She giggles tucking her hair behind her ears.

Bucky nodded, it was his job to notice weaknesses in the group, "I have. But your artillery skills are advanced, and with time and practice so can your hand-to-hand combat. You just have to work at it."

"I want to work at it." She scooted to the end of her seat, toward him. "Do you think you could help me? With a little one-on-one support, I'm sure I can get it."

A warning bell went off in his mind, but not the kind he was used to. At least not since before the war, but it was familiar, possibly invited back then. Now it was uncomfortable and unwanted.

"Fighting styles are different for everyone. The team will rotate through and demonstrate. After that, if you are still having trouble picking it up we can add extra time to the schedule for anyone who would like a little extra practice."

She placed her hand on his knee, "That is so generous of you."

As Bucky looked down to politely remove her hand from him, she leaned in and caressed her lips with his. His flesh hand came up in a defensive move to push her away. Making contact with the side of her face he pushed her back. Brushing her hand off his knee, getting to his feet leaving her sitting staring up at him.

"I think you are aware that that was inappropriate. If it happens again you will be transferred to another class." Bucky turned walking away.

His hand came up to rub at his mouth, he needed to find Steve.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

As he looked at the girl sitting across from him, in a sparkly party dress, in the back of the team jet. He wanted to kick himself for ever allowing Tess to get that close. He had unknowingly given her the chance to infract upon his relationship. It did not matter that she kissed him or that he technically did not chat, he put himself in the position for it to happen.

He knew she was being flirty when she giggled, but thought it could be nerves too. Then she leaned in and he felt uncomfortable and was planning on a nice way to excuse himself from their conversation. But then her hand was on his knee and before he could react her mouth was pressed against his.

Brooke had found out, and not from him. He hurt her which is not something he ever wanted to do. As much as he wanted to spew his guts right here and have her listen with no place to escape, she asked to not talk here, in front of their friends.

He really did not want to have this conversation in front of them either. So he settled for staring at her, tried to be happy with the fact that he got to do that now. At least for today, while she was still here.

Her walls were built up so high. When she first come back into his life, she had walls, but they were climbable. What she had up now, what she needed to fortify to survive this last year, was solid flat vibranium.

Just like last time, he did not plan on going anywhere. But if they did break up and she left, if she told him she wanted nothing to do with him, he'd have to respect that. The thought of it damn near cracking his heart open in his chest.

.

The debrief was long and Bucky was not the only one who noticed how Brooke only shared the facts relevant to their work and never went into detail about her time in the bathtub trying to remove the collar, or any of adjacent situation. The team did have moments of trying to probe and asked for more information but Brooke was playing the hard stuff close to the vest.

She had admitted to having hurt people while under orders from Vince. And what she had made Vince do in her name, and Tony thankfully did not think Fury was going to be hung up on a couple bad people biting the dust.

After the meeting, Tony told Brooke she needed to stay until Fury officially approved her end of probation by reading her debrief and not finding her guilty of any actions taken on 'mission'. So they all filed out of the office, Brooke being the first one to leave.

It made him want to climb out of his skin, but Bucky would wait a little while longer before going after her. To distract himself he headed back to his room to change into gym clothes. Maybe if he ran until his limbs gave out, he would not obsess over the fact that his girlfriend might leave him. Because while the 'kiss' was an innocent minor cheat on his part. It's compounded upon by the fact that Brooke was in hell while he was here.

He knew she as in his apartment, having heard her breathing before he saw her. Brooke was sitting at the kitchen counter.

"Hi." He said cautiously.

She had come to him, that had to be a good sign, right?

"Thanks for not spilling the things I told you when we met up in that cabin."

"You shared something with me in confidence. While I did tell Sam, I never shared that with anyone else, and he would never."

"Neither of you were exactly subtle about it on the jet. Did you flush the capsule?"

Bucky frowned, why would she care what he did with it?

"You kept it in your mouth, you know how easily you could have accidentally bit down on it?" She shrugged, immediately pissed him off.

"Where should I have kept it? Up my ass?"

"That's not helpful."

"This conversation isn't helpful." Brooke stood grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. "We aren't getting anywhere."

"We need to start somewhere." Bucky paused, "When you left that cabin you said you'd 'heard me'."

Brooke nodded, "I'd heard what you'd said. I also know you weren't with me the following five months. You don't know what it was like to be whored out like a my little show pony at events. Then to be shipped off to different countries to do the exact thing my mother died to keep me from. The only thing that kept me from killing Vince and myself with that damn collar in the process was you, then I didn't have you. The way I figured it, if you didn't have to keep your promises why did I need to hold up mine."

"You have me." He swore.

Brooke squinted her head cocked to the side, "Not what it looked like in that video. I figure if you're kissing each other in public, it must have already happened behind closed doors."

"What you saw, was the one and only time we were ever alone together. I am sorry that I let her get close enough to kiss me. I hate that you found out by having to watch a video of it-"

"Would you have told me?"

"Yes." His resolve was solid as stone. "I don't know if I would have told you over the phone, while you were so far away from me. I would have waited till we were able to meet up again or when you got home. I would not have kept this from you Brooke."

"Tess is pretty and she was here. It's not like I don't get it."

"No." Bucky shook his head, his face scrunched up. "Do not downplay the seriousness of our relationship, to fit into whatever reality you've had to create and live in the last few months. There was no affair, no ongoing anything. I can explain it, tell you what happened. I know this broke a part of our relationship, do you trust me enough where you could accept what I tell you as fact?"

"Does it matter when I'm leaving tomorrow?"

Bucky looked at her, "We had talked about you staying once your probation was over. It was the option you were leaning towards. Can you tell me you wanting to leave doesn't have to do with the kiss?"

Brooke groaned dropping her head into her hands, she grumbled, "I shouldn't have done with now."

"You're leaving tomorrow, this is not other time for this. And I'll be damned if you don't hear me out before you do because I think we are both worth that much to not leave things like this."

"I don't want to leave here feeling like this."

"Ok." At least they agreed on that. "Let's talk on the couch."