It's movie night again. Steve is home. He's missed the last several movie nights on account of Bucky. I'm not sure if he's planning on coming over tonight. To be honest, I'm not sure if I want him to. If I give him space, maybe it'll be easier to think of him as just a friend. Absence keeps the heart platonic, right? Yeah, that's how the saying goes.

So I don't text him.

≈o≈

"I was actually planning on staying in tonight." Understatement. I'm already in my pajamas.

"Oh," Carson's disappointment rings through the speaker on my cell phone.

"But maybe later this week?" I offer. This is the second time I've turned him down and it's only because he's had poor timing. I do, in fact, want to hang out with him.

"All right, how about Thursday?" he asks, a bit more hopeful.

"That'd be great! Do you want to meet-" There's a knock at my door.

"Oh, I have to go. There's someone at the door."

"That's fine. We can work out the details later. Bye, Anne!" Carson hangs up before I can say anything back.

"All-righty-then."

I open the door to see Steve and James - who is in a sweater and gloves again.

'I thought he was a master assassin, shouldn't he know what "suspicious" looks like?'

"Hiya boys." I greet them with what must look like a constipated expression.

"Hi Anne," Steve pauses and then nudges James.

James just nods.

"Would you mind if he joins us for movie night?"

'Gee, since I'm not put on the spot at all'- "Of course not! Come on in." I step out of the doorway to let them in. I really didn't mind if he joined us, but more than no notice would've been nice. Glancing down, I curse my choice of jammies.

Appa onesie = classy.

Totally no reason for me to feel weird that two super soldiers have seen me wearing this. Nah.

"Did you guys have any certain movie in mind?"

They're standing by my purple paisley couch, looking out of place.

"It's your turn to pick. I ordered Thai. That work for you?" Steve asks with a polite smile.

"Oh, sure. Let me check my collection and queue and see if anything jumps out at me."
'Hmm. The Fugitive' is really good...

Um, no. Literally, the killer is a one-armed man. Best wait on that one.

'Man of Steel'?

Really funny.

How about 'The Lion King'?

Nope. Mufasa falls to his death.

Hmm...but thinking along the lines of Disney...'

A wicked smile crosses my face. "I have a possibility." I pull out my DVD and get it all set up while we wait for our dinner to be delivered.

"'Frozen'?"

I'm nothing if not deeply passive-aggressive.

"Isn't that a kid's movie?" Steve asks in confusion.

"That's what you thought about 'Tangled' before you saw it."

He looks sheepish and glances to James who just raises his eyebrows.

'Yeah, I got Captain America to watch a princess movie. He loved it. I even heard him humming "At Last I See the Light" a few days later.' *Polishes nails on invisible lapels*

"Do you have any objections, James?" I ask.

He looks surprised to have his opinion questioned. "No," he shakes his head.

"Excellent." I fight the urge to steeple my fingers and grin maniacally.

There's a knock at the door and Steve goes to answer, mumbling that it's "probably dinner".

James and I stand in silence. "So did you have any luck with the cookies? Find one you like, I mean?"

He glances over to me, startled by my words.

'He's like a little abandoned baby wild animal. It's adorable and sad all at once.'

Slowly, he nods. "The sugar cookies. They, were familiar," he says haltingly.

"Oh, that's good..." Maybe he remembered having some before. "Did they taste okay though?"

James nods again. "So far they've all been good."

'Yes! Suck it, Hydra! Who's the superior baking force now?

What is wrong with you?

Too many things to count.'

"Good-"

"Here we go," Steve interrupts, putting an almost obscene amount of food on my coffee table.

"Steve. Why? How many other people are coming over tonight?"

He looks to James and then to me. "We eat a lot."

Thinking back, Steve did eat more of our meals than I did whenever I've been with him. I just never noticed how much more.

"I usually pick up on things like that," I mutter to myself before grabbing plates from the cupboard.

≈o≈

It's been a week. Since then, they came over again for just dinner and I went to Steve's apartment for another movie night. James is still very quiet, but I'd like to think he's warming up to me. I have no reason to think this, I just want to.

Steve has been taking time off of work to stay with him and work on his memory; occasionally taking him out to specific places where they used to spend time together. He says it's helped. But he isn't ready to tell the others about James yet.

'I know. I want to smack him too.'

I've just finished my lunch break at the library when Mrs. Harrison tells me that there are some very handsome patrons at the front desk who are asking for me. I wonder which of the Avengers it is.

"Steve, James, what's up?"

Steve looks nervous again and James looks stoic- except for his eyes. His eyes are raging.

"Hey Anne. I was wondering...I have to go in to t-the office." He lowers his voice. "I thought Buck could spend the afternoon here? Maybe you could show him some things in the history section or on the microfilm reader?"

I look to James. No wonder he looks so mad. "Steve," I reprimand him quietly. "James is a grown man. He doesn't need a babysitter."

"I know, and I'm not asking you to babysit. I just don't know how long I'll be gone and I thought he might enjoy the library as much as I have. It's gotta be better than sitting around the apartment."

"Seriously? I'm sure he's perfectly capable of entertaining himself."

He looks completely serious.

"Fine. Just shoo. You're being ridiculous."

"Thanks Anne." He gives my shoulder a squeeze and pats James on the back before making his way quickly out of the library.

I huff and turn to James who now looks mad at me.

'Great. Just what I needed - a master assassin plotting my demise.'

"I get off work at 6."

He doesn't say anything.

"The library is a big building," I hint. "I might not be able to find you later. This way you can meet me at the doors when I go home."

The shift in his eyes is immediate as he catches on. There's almost a smile on his mouth.

"Well, I'd better get back to work. If you need anything, I'm sure you can find me." I smile and leave him at the desk.

≈o≈

By the time 6 'o'clock rolls around, I'm a nervous wreck. My hands are sweaty, my eyes are darting and I'm having heart palpitations.

'What if Steve was right? What if James wandered off? What if I lost him? Steve would never forgive me. I think I'm gonna puke.'

I don't see him anywhere. I glance at my phone.

6:13pm

'Bad. Bad. Bad. Steve is going to kill me. I am going to be dead by this time tomorrow. Farewell New York, it was...I don't know. I don't really care for you, to be honest. Too many people squished together. And what is with all the-'

A tap on my shoulder scares me half to death. I jump and whirl around to see-

"James!" I throw my arms around him. "Steve isn't going to kill me! I can finish the fifth season of 'Chuck'!" I pull back and smack his chest. "You scared me!"

He remains unmoved, if slightly amused. "I couldn't find you inside and I didn't see you until I came looking for you out here."

That is the most I've ever heard him say all at once.

"You were inside?"

He nods. "I didn't want you to miss your bus."

"Thank you." I smile gently at his thoughtfulness. "Please don't tell Steve I lost you..." I try to plead with my eyes, but I probably just come across as a weirdo.

"I won't," his eyes glint a bit mischievously. "If you tell Steve you think it'd be good for me to spend more time 'at the library'."

My eyebrows rise as he turns to start walking with me to the bus stop. Someone is wilier than I gave him credit for.

"Since I was planning on saying something similar to him anyway, you have a deal." I hold out my hand for him to shake.

He eyes me warily for a moment. "Why would you tell him that?"

I drop my hand. "Because as much as I respect Steve and his opinion, he's wrong in this. He's clearly terrified of losing you again and I'd bet he feels like it's his turn to take care of you like you took care of him. But it's making him distrust his teammates and even you; which is something he would normally never do."

James studies me out of the corner of his eye as we walk. "You know Steve pretty well, don't you?"

I shrug. "It's been a couple of years since we met, but he doesn't share a whole lot. I just try to extrapolate from what he does share and what I see."

"Well it would do you good to listen to him." His tone has sharpened. "You don't know the situation like he does. You don't know the danger-" he stops himself.

"I don't know the danger I could've been in, letting you out of my sight?" I finish for him.

He nods, looking at me with hard eyes and disapproval. James is going to give me whiplash.

We find seats on the bus and I hum, "you're right. I don't know you, not very well, at least. But I do know a bit of who you were - before Steve thought you died and when you found each other again."

James looks at me with surprise that I know anything about after Steve lost him. "What do you think you know?" It isn't quite a sneer, but it's close.

"Like I said, just a bit." I repeat quietly. "You guys would've done absolutely anything for each other. Your bromance was on par with Frodo and Sam," I murmur. "But then..." I gesture to his metal arm beside me, not wanting to say it out loud. "You were captured, brainwashed, made to forget everything; forget Steve and forget yourself. Made to do some horrible things that maybe you still can't quite remember, but you know they're there, in your mind, somewhere. That's what I know. But I can guess more than that."

He looks at me with guarded eyes. "And what do you guess?"

"You can't forgive yourself for almost killing Steve, no matter how many times he tells you it wasn't your fault. You don't think you'll ever be able to look at him without feeling guilty. You flinched when he called you 'Buck'- my guess is because you aren't who you were and you don't want him to forget how much you've changed- probably to keep him from letting his guard down around you. You think you're a monster, dangerous to everyone whether you love them or not. You'd rather isolate yourself, maybe even run away again, than put Steve in the situation of choosing between his life or yours again. After this conversation, you probably won't talk to me. And I understand that." I glance up to see him looking incredibly frustrated, like he's battling himself, trying to decide what to make of all of this. "But, you know, if you push Steve away you'll just hurt him and he'll just follow after you again. He doesn't care if you hurt him. If you stay with him, at least you can help keep him safe from everything else instead of leaving him on his own."

I let him sit in silence. I'd be surprised if he talks to me again anytime soon. No idea if what I said was right - if it wasn't, he has every right to be mad at me. If it was, he has every right to want to avoid me.

------------------------------------------------

A/N: Again, I'm terrible at titles and this chapter is not my favorite, so sorry if you find it dull.

But, you know, yay for some psychoanalysis of Bucky? That's super light and fluffy, right? Yeah.

The next chapter will have lighter Bucky moments. I think. I might be misremembering.