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Chapter 16

It was early morning, the sun was just starting to come up revealing a dazzling new day, when Jemma and The Winter Soldier exited the warehouse out of those rusty, red metal doors.

He opened up the door for her, looking happy, sated… for now, and she, for the life of her, could not stop smiling.

He was smiling too, a little hopeful, a little nervous. He was watching her lovingly.

They took a couple steps out onto the broken concrete. It had stopped raining, and the morning was cool.

He slid his hand into hers.

She turned and kissed him on the cheek.

He cracked a smile, and returned the kiss playfully on her lips. And then, what started out as a playful kiss turned a little more serious, a little more passionate.

"Hi Bucky."

Jemma spun around.

Captain America was sitting on the roof of the warehouse they'd just left. His clothing rumpled, his hair sort of flattened to his head, as if he'd been rained on and then just dried out by the air.

"Oh, hello Steve." The Winter Soldier's voice sounded a little sheepish.

"Captain Rogers, what are you doing on the roof?" Jemma asked.

"Nothing."

"Wait," she said starting to put things together. "How long have you been up there?"

He looked down a little and blushed.

Please tell me you were not up there all night. "Oh… oh… well, I appreciate that you decided to remain outside."

"Yeah," he glanced at The Winter Soldier. "Well…"

"You were outside?" She felt blood rushing to her face.

"Yes." He answered immediately, maybe a little too immediately.

"Mostly," The Winter Soldier said.

Jemma looked at him. "What?" her voice pitched.

"I'm… I'm sorry about that."

"He opened up the door at some point," The Winter Soldier said softly into her hair. "Didn't stay too long though."

"What?" her voice pitched again. Mortified. If I wasn't so head over heels with Bucky I'd probably slink off to die right now. She looked at Steve and covered her face with her hand.

"Sorry." Steve took a deep breath and then met The Winter's Soldier's eyes. "Okay, I have to ask, where are you going?"

The Winter Soldier seemed to be weighing his options. "Back to the base, but not as a prisoner. I don't want to fight you Steve." And then as if in afterthought he added, "after all, look what I did to your eye."

Steve seemed genuinely shocked. He touched his swollen cheek, black and blue from where The Winter Soldier had nailed him in the head the night before. "Bucky?"

"Sometimes," he muttered.

"Bucky has agreed to accompany me back to The Playground but only under certain conditions. Number 1) No prison cell. 2) No more interrogations. 3) He is free and can come and go as he pleases."

"And, has Coulson agreed to these conditions?" Captain America said.

"Not yet, but he will. After all Deathlok is out there roaming the streets, a former mind-controlled Hydra agent- completely dangerous. But, we're trusting him to do the right thing. I think we can extend that little courtesy to a war hero like Bucky. Don't you Captain Rogers?" Wow, it was incredibly hard to talk to a celebrity like that, but it had to be done. She had to stuff that thinking about Steve as an icon down and pull herself together.

"Who's Deathlok?" Steve asked.

"I thought everyone knew…" she stammered. "I'll tell you about him later."

Steve jumped down.

The Winter Soldier flinched but didn't step back. He put one arm around Jemma protectively.

"War hero huh?" Captain America smiled a little at The Winter Soldier.

He stared at Steve.

Jemma knew exactly what he was thinking. He didn't deserve that recognition, not after all the years fighting against the very same people he'd been fighting for.

"Yes," she answered for him smiling. She squeezed The Winter Soldier's hand and looked up at him. "Stunningly handsome too."

His eyes met hers, he seemed a bit thrown by that statement.

"Ah yeah, Bucky was always a hit with the ladies."

"What?"

The Winter Soldier now looked back at Steve. He seemed pretty lost.

"Bucky, it's all right," she whispered against his cheek.

"I, I don't remember that," he hissed.

"Don't worry about that. You'll probably be getting bits and pieces for a while." She turned back toward Captain America. "Do you remember Steve?"

Steve seemed to be very interested in that question. He had a bit of a hopeful look in his eyes.

The Winter Soldier grinned all at once. "Of course I do. I have had all of these different flashes of Steve getting beat up, at first I thought it was the same memory but then I realized he was wearing different clothes every time, although the locations were pretty similar. Alleys… parking lots…" He looked at Steve. "You got beat up a lot."

Steve's mouth quirked a little. "Yeah, I did."

"Really?" Jemma said surprised.

"All the time," The Winter Soldier chuckled.

"Well, not… all the time-"

"Yeah you did."

"Thanks Bucky," Steve grumbled.

"Anytime pal."

Steve paused and then met The Winter Soldier's eyes, it was as if he'd seen a ghost. His eyes teared up.

"I, I've said that before?"

Steve nodded. "Many times."

After a phone call to Agent Coulson explaining the conditions in which The Winter Soldier would be returning Agent Simmons, The Winter Soldier and Captain America began their trek back to the base. It was broad daylight so keeping The Playground a secret base was going to be difficult for, well, the guys. With everyone on the look-out for superheroes these days, the two of them were pretty noticeable, especially Cap.

Jemma hadn't been outside the base at all, except through the cave, that was the only entrance she knew of. Luckily Steve knew of a more discreet way in. She was envisioning some sort of red telephone booth via Harry Potter, but no… they just went into a regular looking brick office building in the city (what city? No clue.) And down an elevator to the basement level, and then through a secret, hidden entrance through an old subway. This opened up to a room with a receptionist's desk and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sitting around in a lobby carrying guns.

Back inside the base again.

Jemma could feel The Winter Soldier tense up. She gazed up at him in his black leather. His longish brown hair just touching his collar. He was so striking.

He must've felt her eyes on him, because he looked at her.

She smiled at him, trying to be comforting and mouthed, 'everything will be all right'.

He didn't seem to have any idea what she was saying.

Steve was leading them down more stairs and soon Jemma recognized where they were. The team was standing at the hangar waiting for them.

"Fitz," Jemma smiled at him.

"Well, speak of the devil," his eyes flew to The Winter Soldier who was right behind her.

He was clearly suspicious about this new situation between Jemma and The Winter Soldier and she wasn't going to press the issue, given his feelings toward her.

"Well, here they are," Steve said waving his hand in front of the two of them as if presenting them, and then he walked over to a parked forklift a couple feet away, and leaned back against it facing them.

"Simmons," Coulson said.

"Hello Sir."

"I take it you're fine?"

She looked herself over briefly to see how much it was apparent that she'd been in a warehouse rolling around on a dirty tarp all night. "Yes. We're both fine. It was a bit of a misunderstanding you see, Bucky thought that you would think I was helping him to escape, and that I'd end up being punished for that. So, he took me with him to avoid that, but now that things are straightened out The Winter Soldier is looking forward to working with us on a voluntarily basis. Right Bucky?"

"Yes," he said softly still seemingly wary of Coulson.

"And boy am I ready to get back to work," Jemma rubbed her hands together.

"Not so fast Agent Simmons," Coulson said. "I'm not so sure we should let you come back."

"What?" Her voice pitched. "Why not?"

He pointed at the file in her hand. "You broke into my desk and stole a file."

"Well… it's only one file, and I didn't steal it from your desk."

"No," Trip stepped up. "You stole it from me when I bought you a coffee."

"Oh, that does sound very impolite doesn't it?" Jemma said.

"A bit," Coulson said.

"But, we're going to overlook that," Steve said folding his arms.

The team looked over at him, and then back at Jemma and the imposing Winter Soldier. Who was really not so imposing when he was flat on his back gasping her name… but she put that out of her mind… for the moment.

"Right. Yes. We're going to overlook it, after all, if you'd just asked me if you could borrow it I would've let you. It's not as if you haven't read it before," Coulson said.

"That's good news." A smile quirked at the side of her mouth.

"Hi," Skye proffered her hand for The Winter Soldier to shake. "I'm Skye."

He regarded her hand uncertainly, took a breath and shook it… something he probably hadn't done in seventy years. "Bucky."

"Bucky Barnes. I remember your name on the wall at The Hub. I never thought I'd be meeting you in person though." She turned to Jemma and whispered, "Reasonably handsome?"

"Well…" Jemma shrugged and smiled.

"Are we really going to give him access to our base? Do we really know he's no longer working for Hydra?" Fitz complained to Trip.

"We're really going to," Steve said.

The Winter Soldier nodded appreciatively at him. "I'm not with Hydra," he said softly. "I'm not with anyone…"

"He just needs some time," Jemma said stepping forward, "to adjust to the 21st century."

"I'll help him," said Steve. "I know some great restaurants."

"Good to have you back Agent Simmons," Coulson smiled at her and then he turned to The Winter Soldier. "We will need to debrief you."

"Is that like an interrogation without handcuffs?" The Winter Soldier asked.

"Something like that."

"Wonderful. Exactly what I was hoping for."

"It will be all right," Jemma squeezed his arm. "Director Coulson is going to be friendly, aren't you Sir?"

"Yep."

Jemma continued, "After all, just think of all the inside information Bucky has on Captain America."

Coulson perked up.

"Great," Steve said.

The Winter Soldier flashed an adorable broad smile, at Captain America.

"Wait, what was all that about?" Skye asked, looking from one to the other.

"I don't know…" The Winter Soldier said. "Something… about a dog, and your pants hanging on the line to dry?..."

Steve stood up and pointed at him, "Don't you dare tell that story."

The Winter Soldier grinned. "Yeah… it's starting to come back to me now."

Captain America moved toward him swiftly while The Winter Soldier hid behind Jemma. "Bucky-"

"That mutt that lived around the neighborhood… and your only pair of pants," his face seemed to widen suddenly, and he added quickly, "and that dog got a hold of them and you had to chase him down Court Street in your-"

"Buck!" He made a grab for The Winter Soldier.

He dodged around the side of Jemma chuckling. "And you never did catch him!"

"Oh, my word," Jemma said as she was now the only divider between Captain America and The Winter Soldier.

"Yeah, debriefing will be fun." Coulson smiled.

They'd spent the day wandering around The Playground getting him set up in his own apartment, and introducing him to some of the agents. They hadn't really had much time to talk to her team because they were busy doing their own work, and The Winter Soldier needed so much consideration, being back in the world and in a new century. He was free to come and go as he pleased and the debriefing had been postponed because he just wasn't ready for that yet. He needed time.

Jemma lay on her back beside The Winter Soldier on the roof, somewhere, in some big city far, far above the base, staring up at the moon. The moon was sort of magical looking, partially hidden behind dark clouds, and there was a smattering of stars glittering here and there.

She turned her head to look at him. "I'm glad you're here."

He smiled at her and gently caressed her face.

"Are you glad?"

He leaned over her on his elbow. "I'm glad I'm with you."

She searched his eyes. "What are you thinking?"

The Winter Soldier smiled at her playfully and then he blushed deep red from his neck into his face. "Oh man…"

"You're blushing!"

"I'm… not."

"Good heavens, I'm not sure I want to know what you're thinking!" she laughed.

He pinned her underneath him, and whispered into her ear, "You want to know." And kissed her tenderly.

"Not really sure how to feel about it.

Something in the way you move

Makes me feel like I can't live without you.

It takes me all the way.

I want you to stay."

~ Rihanna

The End

I want to thank everyone who has been reading along with this story, all the favorites and follows and kind reviews have meant the world to me. It's really been wonderful to bring this little story to you. I've basically been living in this story for the past two months and boy, I'm going to miss it.

I might write a little more. A sort of part 2 followup to this story. I'm a little pressed for time at the moment but we'll see. I completely enjoyed myself and hope you did too.

Yours,

Doc