Within a day of the meeting we received a packet of paperwork from the Smith family. It explained, in excruciating detail, what our role in the branch would be. Along with the packet was an invitation to the gala Fury told us about. It's to take place tomorrow. Our timetable has been moved up, so we have to start working more quickly and efficiently.

Yesterday the family insisted on giving us a tour of their facility. They had covered our heads before driving us to the building. They didn't take the hoods off until we were inside the facility and even then, it was a very limited tour. They led us down the cleanest hallways they had, which were absolutely pristine, and even then they only showed us the office space. They explained the computerized side of the operation and didn't even take us anywhere near the labs or the lower levels. I know they're here and I know they've got powered people locked away somewhere.

Our visit at their base was brief, but Bucky and I managed to plant all of the listening devices we had been given for that specific building. All in all, it was a strangely successful day.

Today Caroline and Oliver invited us to go out with them. They showed us around the immediate area, never straying more than seven blocks from the hotel. Bucky and I assumed that they would do something similar to this to get us out of our room so they could search it. We made sure to hand off all of our sensitive materials and weapons to Johanneson the night before.

Everything is progressing much faster than was predicted by Fury, but somehow it's all falling into place. It almost seems a little too easy and it's making me feel anxious.

–

"Hey, food's ready." Bucky says. I don't even hear him, as I'm engrossed in the new files Johanneson gave us. He places a hand on my shoulder, startling me.

"Huh?! What?" I look around, scared, only to find Bucky looking at me with concern etched into his features.

"Are you okay?" He asks, sitting in the chair beside mine.

"No." I shake my head and close the file I'm reading. "I'm not really."

"What's wrong?"

"It's this mission. It's messing with my head. Everything's moving so fast, it just feels..."

"Off?" He offers.

"Yeah. Especially with Rosalind in the picture." I run a hand through my hair before turning my head to look at him. "I choked up the other day when she introduced herself because I killed her husband."

"You what?" Bucky raises his eyebrows at me in surprise. "He was Hydra, right?"

"Yeah, he was." I nod. "After they managed to get the knockoff serum through my system I had full control for about five minutes. I knew who I was, what was going on and I went berserk." I close my eyes and shake my head to try and rid myself of the memories. "I went full walking campfire and burned everyone in the room to death. Mr. Smith was one of the unlucky men who got turned into a hyper realistic Halloween decoration."

"Oh,"

"I don't feel terrible because he was the worst person in the lab. He was really harsh with the needles and always seemed to take pleasure in our pain." I grimace at the thought of him. "He helped kill a lot of my friends, and I'm glad he's dead, but looking her in the eye the other day was terrifying. And if her husband was bad, then this woman has a reserved seat in hell and it's right beside the devil himself."

"Okay, that's enough evil for tonight, time for food." He rises from his seat and takes the files with him.

"Hey!" I exclaim, reaching after him, trying to get the files back.

"Nope," He hides them behind his back. "You need to eat, and you need to sleep. We've got a huge day tomorrow and you've been reading these stupid files and giving yourself anxiety attacks for the past five hours."

"James," I say quietly, my tone deadly serious. "I-we have to be as prepared as possible for this gala tomorrow night. I have to make sure we have all the information straight. I can't mess this up."

"I don't fucking care, (Y/N)." He frowns at me. "You can't revert back to old programming. You're better than that."

"I...I-"

"You're going to eat something, and then we're gonna watch a stupid movie like real fake couples are supposed to do." He says, placing one hand his hip, popping his hip out for emphasis. I snort at the sight, trying not to laugh and give him the satisfaction.

"Okay, fine." I sigh. "What's for dinner?"

"I am very glad you asked. " He smiles toothily, placing the files on the counter and coming back with two dishes in his hands. "We're having chicken fettuccini."

"Wait, when did you get the stuff to make chicken fettuccini?" I ask.

"Carla brought it by while we were out with the family yesterday." He shrugs, setting the dish down in front of me. "I don't know how good it'll taste. I'm not really great at cooking yet."

"Then we can find out together, huh?" I take the fork stuck in the pasta in hand and twirl some of the food onto the tines before stabbing a piece of chicken. He grins at me and we eat in silence. The food is good, regardless of how rusty Bucky's cooking skills are.

After dinner we end up watching some weird straight to T.V. movie that was on. After that was over, Bucky convinced me to just go to bed. He hovered while I brushed my teeth until I shooed him away so I could actually get ready for bed. He obliged and left me to myself. When I came out of the bathroom he was waiting for me in bed, warming up the blankets. When I climb into bed, he pulls me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me and tucks my head under his chin. He falls asleep quickly, and with our combined body temperatures, I follow suit soon after.

–

"What's your name?"

"Zane Turner."

"Where are you from?"

"Lacey, Washington."

"Where did you go to college?"

"University of Washington. I studied English language and literature."

"Favorite Shakespearean play?"

"Is this even in the file?" He laughs and grabs for the folder in my hands.

"Answer the question!" I grin at him, pulling the file out of his reach.

"Fine! Othello."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I had some downtime at the tower and Starks got books all over the place."

"No, it's not that. Othello's kind of super dark."

"Eh," He shrugs. "What can you do." I laugh and hand him the file before rising from the couch and heading to the bathroom. "Where are you headed?"

"I have to start getting ready for the gala." I explain.

"But it's not till eight and it's..." He trails off, craning his neck to see the clock on the microwave. "Five right now."

"Well I have to shower, do my hair and my makeup and then get dressed. It's gonna take a while and I don't want to be late."

"It really takes that long to get ready?"

"If I want to look nice it does."

"Well, then I bet you're gonna look gorgeous then." He says, seemingly absentmindedly as he rises from his seat and heads to the kitchen. I stand there for a moment, confused and not sure how to take his comment. "What's wrong? You look like you swallowed a live spider."

"Huh? Oh, nothing." I quickly brush it off and head off to get cleaned up.

–

It feels like it took forever, but I finally managed to get made up and dressed in just under two and a half hours. Last thing I remember after leaving the bathroom is brushing past Bucky as he went in. It's been about twenty minutes and he still hasn't come out. I'm starting to get a little worried.

"You okay in there, Buck?" I ask, gently knocking on the closed door.

"I need some help." He sounds frustrated.

"With what?" I open the door to find him trying to pull his hair back and failing miserably. I clap my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing.

"Please." He whines. "I'm terrible at this and I know I can't wear my hair down."

"Okay, I'll help, don't worry." I grab the brush from the counter and slowly pull it through his hair. He sighs quietly and his eyes close as I brush through his hair and I look at myself in the mirror, eyes wide. This is definitely... different.

"Thank you, (Y/N)." He says as I quickly twist the hair tie into his hair.

"No big deal." I smile at him as he turns around to look at me. I gently tuck a few stray strands of hair behind his ears.

"You look amazing." He comments, dragging his eyes up my body, taking in my full appearance.

"And you look very handsome." I grin at him. "Are you ready to do this thing?"

"As I'll ever be." He offers me his arm and I readily take it. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just wanna get this over with."

–

When we arrive we are quickly ushered in and handed flutes of champagne. The family soon catches sight of us and Carla is quickly at our side, guiding us to the small gathering of people. Everyone around us is dressed to the nines and, even in my gown, I feel underdressed.

"You look absolutely ravishing, Adeline." Someone whispers in my ear, their breath hot on the side of my face and their voice sending an uncomfortable chill down my spine.

"Hello, James." I say quietly. My grip on Bucky's arm tightens and I feel his muscles tense in response.

"As provocatively dressed as you are..." He draws his finger down my back, stopping right before my buttocks begins. "Are you sure you're this clod is your fiance?"

"Certain." I growl. I hear him chuckle dryly, still really close to my ear and I try to pull away.

"James!" Rosalind chastises the young man and he groans in response.

"Grandmother!" He whines.

"Leave the poor girl alone, she's had just about enough of your perverted flirting and, frankly, so have I!" She glares at him and shoos him away. "Go find Albert or George. They should be able to keep you occupied."

"Fine." He huffs and stalks off.

"Thank you." I sigh. "I'm afraid I would have pummeled him if you hadn't stepped in."

"Looks like I spared a life tonight!" She laughs lightly. I laugh quietly, trying to shake myself of the skin crawling feeling James caused.

"James really should thank you." I pull myself closer to Bucky.

"Mmm, yes." She hums. "For more things than I can count, but, no matter." She deftly maneuvers her way between Bucky and I, taking our elbows in each of her small hands and leads us towards an entirely new group of people. "There are some people that I would like you to meet."

"Alright."

She greets a group of about nine people and introduces us to them as the new recruits and everyone smiles at us warmly. Rosalind releases our arms so that we can shake hands with everyone in the group. They quickly introduce themselves. They are Allan, Timothy, Rosina, Tom, Christopher, Agatha, Anne, Eva and Christine. They all seem quite nice and they are pleasant to speak to.

After a short while of chatting amongst the group, Anne, Eva and Christine pull me away from the group and drag me over to a rather large group of other women. They pull me along, giggling to themselves and I look back to Bucky, begging him to get me out of this. He just looks back at me as he's pulled away by a few of them men we were talking to, my expression mirrored on his face.

I try my best to make polite conversation with the women, all the while keeping an eye out for Bucky and looking for an opportunity to peel myself away from this group of gossips. They keep talking about their husbands and all the good they're doing and it sets my teeth on edge. What's worse is when a group of security officers, though I don't exactly think they're security, starts to make their way through the crowd towards the group of women I'm in. I look around, hoping they're looking for someone who isn't me. Sadly that isn't the case as they all have their eyes trained on me the entire time.

"Excuse me, ladies." I say, trying to keep my voice as even and gentle as I possibly can. "I think I need go go find my finance. You know how it is, can't leave him alone for too long."

"Oh, darling, trust us, we know." Christine says, her words are followed by a nasal laugh. The rest of the women join in and I quietly slip away from the group to find Bucky.

I weave through the crowds, shaking hands with people as they say "Rosalind has told me so much about you!" before sliding past them and deeper into the room. It's starting to feel like I'm never going to find him, and I can feel myself begin to panic like I've never panicked before. When I finally find him I almost breaking into a jog, but I decide against it.

"Zane!" I call, trying not to draw too much attention to myself. "Zane!" I reach out to grab onto his sleeve and a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me away.

I struggle to get out of their arms, but someone else pulls me away and pulls my hands behind my back, binds them, and continues to drag me from Bucky. I look around the room, frantically looking for someone to help me, but everyone seems to be completely oblivious to what's going on around them. I squirm and pull against the restraints before realizing they haven't covered my mouth. I'm about to yell to get Bucky's attention when a hand moves in to muffle my voice. Before they can fully cover my mouth I sink my teeth into a couple of his fingers, causing them to yelp. A couple of heads turn in response to the man's cry, but they go right back to talking as if nothing is wrong.

Without wasting a moment, I snap the ties binding my wrists and make a run for it. I don't get very far before the men grab me around my waist once again, but this time they've got two men on my arms to keep me in place as they drag me away. Another's hands are closing in to quiet me entirely and I know I have to make this last shout count.

"BUCKY!" I scream. His head whips around as he tries to figure out where my voice came from. We lock eyes as the last man clamps his hands over my mouth.

"(Y/N)?!" He yells in response. He drops the flute in his hand and rushes to me.

I feel a sharp pinch in my neck and the last thing I see before the world goes dark is a sea of people seeming to swallow Bucky whole.