Hero Rehabilitation and Placement Center (HRAP)

Evelyn chewed on the end of her pen. Her nose wrinkled, and she scrolled down the website's page. Ever since her encounter with Barnes a couple of days ago, she had gone on a search to find answers for him.

For herself, as well, if she was being honest.

She had bloodwork done, but the results had come back just as expected. No traces of the serum in her system. Hydra's records held no evidence of her either, so that option was checked off. She even checked her family records to make sure she hadn't been adopted. That also was checked off the list of options. So far, it looked like it was just some historical anomaly.

Currently, she was digging into the family and history of the O'Hara's. Evelyn O'Hara had lived in the 40s, though not much could be found about her. She was a student and a journalist who had written several small columns in her local newspaper. Her older sister, Olivia, was a prominent figure in the higher classes of the era, married a rich young man and had two lovely children together. O'Hara's death was completely natural, as far as she could tell. Died in the comfort of her own home, surrounded by her family and Steve.

She leaned back in her chair. A frown wrinkled her forehead. The only similarity between her and O'Hara was that both their parents had died when the girls were in their teenage years.

One similarity out of everything was not enough to warrant any suspicion.

The only thing that made Evelyn question it further was Bucky's insistence that they were, somehow, the same person. If that were true, wouldn't Evelyn feel a connection to Barnes? She only saw him as a broken-down man in search of something to hold onto.

She felt horrible for him. Nothing in her experience could ever compare to the pain he must have felt when O'Hara died.

Knock knock!

Evelyn glanced up, then smiled at her co-worker, Jennie. "Hey, Jen."

The older woman nodded, holding a box of files that she set down with a solid thud on the corner of Evelyn's desk. "Hi! Boss wants you to go through this. It's the files on the radical group One World. They're getting a little bigger, and Boss wants you to place a specialist on the case. Sam Wilson has been tracking them, so he figured you could give Wilson a call and see what kind of magic you could work."

"Yeah, sure! I'll look into it. Thanks, Jen!"

With a wave of her hand, Jennie left the office. Evelyn sighed and popped her neck, pushing her personal project to the side as she dragged the box toward her. With a heavy sigh, she removed the lid and looked inside.

Oh, goody.

'*•.¸♡ ♡¸.•*'

A couple of weeks later, Evelyn stood in a hangar, waiting patiently for Wilson to join her. Lots of things happened. Wilson had given away Captain America's shield. A new one had been named. Evelyn didn't like John Walker, but so far, he hadn't messed up too badly, other than being a prideful asshole.

"Evelyn?" a smooth voice called out.

She turned, looking over her shoulder at Sam Wilson.

He wasn't alone.

Bucky stared at her, blue eyes flickering over her before they darted away and focused solely on Sam. She swallowed, cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"Wilson," she said with a smile, deciding to ignore Bucky for his own sake. "Glad you could make it."

The soldier seemed to notice the tension, glancing between them. "Yeah...so, what exactly do you want?"

"We know you've been following the rising terrorist group One World," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "We also know that you're going after them."

"And?" he asked, his eyebrows lifting. He didn't have time for this.

"And I know there's no stopping you when you have your mind set on something," she glanced at Barnes. "I'm joining you."

Bucky's eyes widened, mouth opening. "No! Out of the question. She's not joining us, Sam."

Startled, Sam looked at Bucky. "Now, hold on, Bucky."

Like hell she was letting Bucky get a say in this. She looked him directly in the eyes, jaw set. He met her stare evenly, eyes sharp and pleading. She had half a mind to respond in argument but drew in a breath. She needed to remember that he had lost her before. While she was a trained agent, she could provide no real help on this mission. She physically forced herself to relent to his badgering with a heavy sigh.

"Very well," she nodded, hands sliding into her pockets. "I will not be joining you directly on this mission, but I will meet you both at the next checkpoint. I expect you, Wilson, to keep me in the loop."

Bucky gave her a very small glare, but she could see some of the tension fall from his shoulders. She couldn't imagine how difficult all of this was for him, but she couldn't allow his personal issues to get in the way of her job. He needed to think straight in order to stay safe and make the right decisions. She pointedly avoided making eye contact with Bucky.

Sam nodded, an amused look on his face as he observed them. "Sure thing, Evelyn. Thank you for coming down. We've been having some issues with new people. It's nice to have someone on our side."

She gave him a warm smile and nodded. "No problem."

The man gave the two one last suspicious glance before he smirked and spun away, heading towards their plane. Bucky's narrowed eyes followed him, chiseled jaw ticking as he ground his teeth.

"I don't mean to intrude on your business," she said after a pause. "It was not my intention. If I had known you would be here..."

"You wouldn't have shown up," he finished, dragging his gaze upward to meet hers. "I know. It's frustrating. This week. This month. It's been very," he paused to think of the right word, "stressful."

"Understandably," she murmured, and the conversation trailed off.

She watched Wilson, gnawing on the inside of her bottom lip. She couldn't think of anything to say. She screamed inside her head, trying to think of something clever to say. Apologize to him. Apologize for stirring up dreaded memories. But the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't conjure up anything to say.

After a couple of minutes, she turned to him with a small smile. "Well! I don't want to hold you up for longer than necessary. It was nice seeing you again, Barnes."

He opened his mouth to say something, then clamped it shut. Blue eyes stared at his gloved hands, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. With a sigh, he finally looked her in the eye and offered her his hand. "See you around, Ms. O'Hara."

"See you around," she shook his hand firmly and tried to ignore the warmth of his hand.

Turning on the ball of her foot, she walked away from him. A nagging voice in the back of her mind told her she needed to go back to him and talk. Talk about what? There was nothing to discuss. She didn't know what else to say. She needed to dig more, find something, anything, to help him out.

She couldn't just leave him hanging anymore. Not when he seemed so sure.