"As of this morning, these are the two men we are looking for." Secretary Reid stood at a press conference, in front of a microphone.

Two photos were projected behind him. One of Steve and one of Bucky. I tried to scream. I wanted them all to know that whatever they thought my friends had done, they hadn't. But I couldn't. All I was able to do was watch, like it was a movie.

"Steve Rodgers and James Barnes are wanted for treason and attempted acts of terrorism," he continued. "They are both armed, unregistered, genetically modified humans, and should be considered extremely dangerous. If you hear or see anything that may be related to these men, call the hotline on the screen. Anyone found harboring these men will be treated as equal. A few questions."

"How will you obtain these superheroes?" A woman called.

"These men are not heroes. We have our own special task force." His answers were perfectly practiced. "It is headed by Mr. Tony Stark and his colleagues that are on the right side of the law. We are confident that with his help, we will bring these men to justice and end their unsupervised, reckless scheme. These boys and anyone working with them will get what's coming to them. No further comments."

***

I woke up with a loud cry, realizing it was a dream. I was sitting up in bed, my entire body shaking like a leaf. An intense pain throbbed throughout my skull, but went away quickly.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Bucky murmured next to me and slowly sat up.

I drew my knees into my chest as my eyes stayed glued to a random spot across the room. Bucky furrowed his eyebrows and moved closer.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

I looked over at him, completely unsure of what to say. He put his arms around me and brought me onto his lap gently. I curled up into a ball and buried my face in his chest, Reid's words repeating in my head.

"Cara, what happened?" He asked again quietly.

I shook my head repeatedly and grabbed fistfuls of his shirt to try and comfort myself. "It was a dream. It was a dream. B-but, it was so real."

"Shh, it's over," he whispered into my hair. "You're okay."

No matter what I thought of, I couldn't stop shaking. I'd had nightmares my entire life, but nothing ever as real as this. I suddenly felt sick, and squeezed my eyes shut to try and make the feeling go away. Bucky kissed the top of my head and I took a shallow breath.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, moving away towards the other side of the bed. "I'm being stupid. It was just a dream, goddammit."

"No, you're not being stupid," he insisted. "Now get your ass back over here so we can cuddle and you'll feel better."

He tried to get through the sentence without smirking, but failed.
A small smile crossed my lips and I pulled the blankets closer to my chin.

"I like it when you get all soft on me," I said, moving back into his arms.

"I'm not soft."

His face hardened as he draped one arm over my shoulders and the other across my waist. He pressed his face into the side of mine so his nose was smashed against my cheek and I smiled over at him.

"Bucky Barnes is strong like bull," he growled.

I smirked and turned so our noses almost touched. "Soft like pillow."

"Strong. Like. Bull," he repeated.

"Hmm, whatever you say."

Bucky smiled and closed his eyes again. I moved even closer to him and hung onto him like a koala on a tree, which I had a habit of doing when he fell asleep before me. After several minutes, I was still awake. I lifted my hand slowly and poked his cheek.

"Hey, Buck?"

His eyes opened halfway and he took a deep breath. "Mhhhm?"

"Thank you," I said quietly. "I'm lucky to have you."

He shifted his body so that our legs were intertwined. "I do it because I love you," he mumbled.

I grinned and kissed the side of his face. Bucky closed his eyes again, and I did the same. And after a short minute, I was fast asleep.

***

"This is stupid."

"Shut up. Keep going."

I sighed and put my hands on my hips as I glared at Natasha. "I'm fine. This. Is. Stupid."

She kicked her leg up and her foot connected with my cheek, knocking me to the training mat. I groaned and rolled onto my back, glancing up at her. I'd been called down to the training facility early that morning, and confronted by Steve and Tony. They sat me down, and told me that if I wanted to be an acting team member, I would be required to pass the field test given to people wanting to be spies. Apparently, after a week-long coma, people are hesitant about letting you jump back into your job like nothing happened. I objected, of course, but they had put their feet down. I either took the test, or I wasn't allowed to go back in the field.

So now, I was stuck with Natasha beating my ass for the hand to hand combat portion. She dropped her hand down, and I took it. Natasha hoisted me up and I sighed.

"This sucks," I said decidedly. "Like majorly sucks."

"Come on," she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at me. "You can do this."

"Natasha, I've literally beaten you like twice in my entire life. I've barely done any training in the past few weeks."

"And if you fail this test you won't be allowed to come into the field with us and we all know how pissed that'll make you."

I pursed my lips together and adjusted the gloves on my hands. "Alright, okay. Let's do this."

Natasha nodded, and swung her fist at me. I caught it and kneed her in the side, but she quickly grabbed my leg and twisted it. With a loud grunt, I wrapped my arms around her waist and flipped her onto the ground, then pinned her down by putting my foot on her chest. She grinned up at me, and I helped her to her feet.

"So, did I pass?" I panted.

She nodded. "With flying colors."

"Thank god," I said, walking over to the bench and picking up my water bottle. "What's next?"

"Steve's at the simulator waiting for you," she replied. "You know how that goes."

I nodded and ripped my gloves off, tossing them on the ground. Natasha waved goodbye to me, and I walked over towards the staircase down to the simulator. Steve stood in front of the artillery shelves, looking down at the tablet in his hands, his eyebrows furrowed. Behind him was a glass wall, and beyond that was a large, dark room. He looked up and smiled as I walked in.

"Hey, Cara."

I waved and hopped up onto one of the counters attached to the wall. He unlocked the cage like contraption in front of the shelves and turned back to me.

"Alright, I'm gonna turn on the simulator, you'll go inside, and shoot at the um, red stuff. You've done this a million times before, you know how it works," he explained. "Of course, the guns are loaded with the uh, electronic bullets, and, uh, those make the um, stuff, the red guys are made of disappear? I'm not really sure how it all works."

I laughed slightly and cracked my neck. "Okay, let's do it."

Steve nodded and started tapping away at a small screen on the wall. In the room behind the glass, red and blue figures appeared in the darkness, then evaporated. I walked over to where Steve stood and picked out two small guns from the wall, strapping them to my waist.

"Hold on," he said as I headed for the simulator door and held up a small arm band. "You'll have to wear this, and I'll track your vitals and such."

I smirked and took the band from him. "And why are you running the test that has the most technology associated with it?"

"Honestly," he sighed, "I have no idea."

I laughed at him and went back towards the door after putting the band on my bicep. Steve rose his eyebrows at me, and I nodded. He pressed the last button on the screen, and the door to the simulator opened. I walked inside, and it slid closed behind me.

"Ready?" Steve's voice projected from the intercom.

"Yes, let's get this over with," I sighed.

Something started whirring, and small lights illuminated the small hallway in front of me. I put my hands on the guns on my waist and started walking forwards slowly, my eyes adjusting to the darkness surrounding me. Suddenly, there was a popping noise, and a bright reddish figure appeared in front of me. Without a moment's hesitation, I whipped one of the guns from my waist and shot at it. It exploded into a cloud of pixels, and I exhaled slightly.

"Would you look at that, I can shoot at a target fifteen away from me!"

"Funny, Cara."

"Thanks, Cap," I smirked and kept walking.

The red figures kept on appearing for about ten minutes, along with the occasional blue one, signifying a civilian. They popped up behind me, in front of me, to the left and right, everywhere. But, I still hit every single one of them. There was a dinging noise, and the door slid back open. I walked out, and placed both of the guns back on the wall.

"Great job," Steve grinned, shutting down the simulator.

I sat on one of the counters and crossed my legs. "Thanks, I-"

"Hey, Steve! Natasha told me you were down here and I- oh, Cara. Hi."

I turned towards the stairs, and smiled when I saw a very surprised Bucky. I almost ran over and kissed him, but quickly caught myself.

"What's up, Bucky?" Steve asked shortly.

"Oh, um, I was just going to ask you if you was that book you were telling me about last week," he said quickly. "I forgot to ask you about it earlier."

Steve nodded and put the tablet down. "Yeah, sure. I'll go get it."

"Thanks," Bucky replied.

He disappeared up the stairs, and I grinned over at Bucky. He smirked and walked over to me, putting his hands on my waist.

"Hey," I muttered, draping my arms over his shoulders.

"Hey back. How'd the field tests go?"

"I don't wanna talk about the field test," I frowned. "We can do that when Steve's in the room. It would just be a waste of time."

"You're right, but this wouldn't be."

He pressed his lips against mine, and I grinned into his kiss. I grabbed his shirt by the collar and pulled him even closer as his hands traveled up from my waist.

Suddenly, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat. My heart stopped, and I stopped kissing Bucky. Steve stood near the stairs, his face red and a small, paperback book in his hand.

"Steve, I-"

He put his hand up and I stopped talking. It felt like I was looking at a disappointed father.

"Well, I guess this makes everything real, now," he sighed after a minute.

I pursed my lips together and stared at my hands. Bucky avoided Steve's gaze and ran his hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry, Steve."

"I've told you both this in private, and now I'm going to say it to both of you together," Steve said quietly. "Be careful. And if you don't want this to get even more complicated than I imagine it already is, I'd advise against..." he trailed off and the tips of his ears turned even pinker. "Ahem, doing that in here. Anyone could walk down those stairs and see."

He tossed the book at Bucky, who caught it, and quickly walked up the stairs. Bucky exhaled loudly and turned back to me.

"Well, on the bright side, that could've been much worse."