The next few weeks were quiet. We kept up with the news, we maintained the perimeter around the house, we attempted to make plans. Much to my chagrin, the guys and Wanda had banned me from doing anything that could cause potential physical harm until my shoulder healed, thus reducing me to desk duty. All day, every day, I sat in the lab and busied myself by running the face of the man from the UN video against any facial recognition software I could hack into. But everything went back to Bucky.

It was exhausting.

What made it even worse was that Bucky was forcing me to wear a sling until my shoulder healed, which meant I could only use one hand to type. It was infuriating, only being able to work at half my usual pace.

One evening, almost three weeks after my little adventure to Stark Tower, I was the most aggravated I'd been since starting my work. I'd stopped running the guy's picture through facial recognition; I knew that wasn't going to get me anywhere. Instead, I had decided to take a different approach. I started running Bucky's picture against SHIELD's old database, which was even more extensive than the FBI's or CIA's because it also contained..gifted people.

I wasn't working anywhere as fast as I knew I could, and I found myself getting more and more frustrated. After messing up my code for the fifth time because I couldn't type fast enough, I cried out in frustration and grabbed at the strap of the sling. I ripped it off angrily and whipped it across the room before collapsing forward and burying my head in my arms. I heard the elevator open but didn't react, just kept my head down.

"Oh my, someone's having a rough day."

"Fuck off, Clint," I grunted.

"Oh, a very rough day."

I groaned in response.

"Alrighty, lets slide out of this angst," he said calmly, sitting down next to me. "What's wrong, Cara?"

I turned my head and glared over at him. "I'm bored, Clint. I'm bored out of my goddamn mind," I sighed. "It's just dead end after freaking dead end, I-I don't know how much longer I can just sit here staring at a computer."

"How's the shoulder? I see you've taken the sling off."

"Yeah," I muttered, sitting up and touching my arm softly. "It was getting in the way."

"Does it hurt?"

I shrugged. "Not too bad anymore."

"Good, that's good."

"I guess."

"You know you're just as much of a help in here as you could be out there," he told me after a moment. "You're smart, Cara, really, really smart. If anyone can create a kick-ass plan and instruct us on how to carry it out without lifting more than a few fingers, it's you."

I sat there silently, staring down at my feet. "Thanks, Clint."

"No problem, kid," he sighed, clapping me on the shoulder.

The elevator opened again, and Bucky walked out this time, two large mugs in his hands.

"Hey, guys. Cara, I brought you some- hold on, why aren't you wearing the sling?"

"Relax, Romeo, she's fine," Clint said, standing up and walking to the elevator. "Alright, I'm going upstairs. Have fun you crazy kids."

Bucky came over and took Clint's spot as he entered the elevator, handing me one of the mugs. "I made you some tea, thought you could use it."

"Thanks, Buck," I smiled and took it from him happily. "That's sweet of you." I propped my feet up on his legs and took a long sip.

"It's the least I can do. I know you're not very happy being stuck down here."

I shrugged as Bucky ran his hand up and down my calf lightly.

"What else would I be doing? I went and got myself shot."

"You're doing good work, Cara," he assured me. "Really."

"Thanks."

We were silent for a few moments as we sat there drinking and looking at each other.

"Let's do something tonight," Bucky said suddenly.

I rose an eyebrow at him. "Like what? We're stuck in here."

"Oh, come on, you know that doesn't mean we can't have fun," he teased, squeezing my ankle slightly. "Let's watch a movie, you can pick."

I grinned and sat up, leaning over so I could type on the keyboard in front of me. Bucky moved his chair closer to mine and watched me type, a small smile on his face. I scrolled through the library of movies downloaded onto the house's server, taking my time in picking one.

"Oh this'll really be your speed," I grinned and clicked on Roman Holiday. "Old fashioned, just like you."

"So you've got jokes now huh?" He smirked.

I nodded triumphantly.

"Alright, get over here."

He grabbed me by the waist and dragged me into his chair, making me laugh harder than I had in days. The moment I was in his lap his mouth was pressed against my neck, his stubble tickling my chin. I laughed again and swatted at his chest as he sucked at the skin under my jaw lightly.

"Buck, stop, you're gonna miss important parts of the movie!"

He sighed and settled back into the chair, moving my legs so they were draped over his and pulling me as close to himself as possible. I cuddled into his chest and played with his hair absentmindedly, twirling strands around my fingers softly.

Towards the end of the movie, I glanced up at Bucky and noticed him staring at the screen intently. He noticed me looking at him and shifted slightly.

"Do you ever think we could do that?"

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Do what?"

"Disappear, run away," he mumbled. "Get away from all this shit and start over, just you and me."

"You think we should leave?"

"No, no, of course not...I-I mean maybe, I don't know, Cara. But we could do it."

I hesitated. "I guess it's nice to think about. But you know we can't do that, Buck. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else."

"I know, I know," he muttered. "I like to think that we'll be able to live somewhat normal lives one day. You know, travel, get to live wherever we want, get a dog, get married... But I don't think that would be a reality."

"Just because we have this life doesn't mean we can't get married," I said quietly.

Bucky knit his eyebrows together and stared at me for a few moments. My heart started pounding as he stared into my eyes; I felt as though there were elephants stampeding in my stomach.

"Let's do it, then," he said finally.

My eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

"Let's get married."

"You're not serious."

"I am."

"James Buchanan Barnes, do not fuck with me."

"I'm not fucking with you," he said seriously. "Marry me, Cara."

My heart stopped in my chest, and my answer escaped my mouth before I could even process it.

"Okay."

"Okay?!"

"Yeah...yeah," I said, the importance of my reply settling in. "I want to marry you."

Bucky cupped my face in his hands and kissed me hard. I kissed him back, suddenly realizing that there were tears streaming down my face. He pulled away a little, brushing my hair out of my face and holding it behind my ear.

"Happy tears?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. Very happy tears." I nodded and laughed a little, but the tears didn't stop. "I love you, Bucky. So much."

"I love you too."

I lurched forward and hugged him tightly, squeezing my eyes shut as I did so.

"I wanted to have a ring, I wanted to do this right," he whispered into my hair, "but I didn't exactly have time. And I didn't exactly plan on doing this tonight."

"When did you plan on doing it?" I asked, sitting back up.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Whenever it felt like the right time. I didn't expect the right time to be tonight."

"Well, I don't need a ring. All I need is you."

Bucky brushed his thumb across my cheek gently and grinned. "We'll go somewhere as soon as this shit is all over. We'll go to a courthouse in the middle of nowhere and take Steve as a witness and we'll get married and then we'll run away and it'll be just you and me."

"Just you and me," I repeated quietly. "I like the sound of that."

Bucky leaned forward to kiss me again, but was cut off by a loud banging noise. The power shut off suddenly, and for a moment we were plunged into total darkness.

"What the hell?" I muttered as the emergency lights flickered on.

"The power went out," he replied uncertainly.

I shook my head. "No, no, if the electricity goes out because of nature or downed lines or something the backup generator kicks in instantly and all the normal lights come back on. T-the computers are set up to run even when we don't have power, they're on their own underground grid," I said, climbing off his lap and turning back to the computer. "No, this is like someone cut the power because these are still working and the lights aren't. But it's like someone..."

I trailed off as I read what was on the screens. I felt the color drain from my face.

"Like what?" Bucky asked, suddenly standing next to me. He looked down at the lines and lines of code on the screen and furrowed his eyebrows. "Cara, what does all this mean?"

"Like someone's inside," I said faintly. "Someone's in my server."

"What?!"

I instantly began to type as fast as physically possible, trying to block out whoever was already in. Bucky ran over to the elevator and slapped the button multiple times, but nothing happened. He started trying to pry the doors open, but they didn't budge. I looked back at him and saw that he was pulling so hard that his bicep was practically bursting out the bottom of his shirt sleeve.

"Buck, stop! It's not going to open!" I cried helplessly, still typing furiously.

He stopped and slammed his hand against the elevator door angrily.

"What are you doing?"

I swallowed lump in my throat and struggled to respond to Bucky's question. "Okay, well all hackers have a code and its evident in how they hack-"

"It's Tony. It has to be Tony."

"No," I shot him down quickly. "I know Tony's code, it's not his. A-and there's no way he could've recreated it so quickly, this is too good and he wouldn't have had enough time. I've never seen anything like it."

"Well what are they trying to do?"

"I-I don't know, I can't tell! He's not shutting us down, but every time I try to block him out he goes right around me. He's fucking taunting me."

Suddenly, the screens went black, and my heart dropped into my stomach. Bucky's hand found mine, and I held it tighter than I ever had before. A loud ringing noise began to emit from the screens, and I winced at the sharpness of it.

"Good evening, soldier."

The ringing was all of a sudden replaced by a cool Russian accent. Bucky tensed at the sound of the man's voice. I looked up at the screens, and saw that they were no longer black. Now, there was a man sitting in a dark room, his hands folded and a small smile on his face.

"I've been searching for you for a long time," the man continued. "I'm glad to have finally found you."

"Who are you?!" I yelled, my voice cracking slightly. "What do you want?!"

He laughed lightly. "I want to help you learn something."

"What do you want us to learn?"

"I want you to know how it feels," he replied shortly.

I hesitated before asking my next question, selecting my words carefully.

"Sir, what's your name? We want to know how it feels."

Bucky started to protest but I shut him up with a quick glare before continuing.

"Please, tell us what you're feeling. Tell us what to do."

"Miss Stark, you are wasting your breath, I am afraid. I am not stupid enough to believe your fake interest. Besides you do not have to do anything, I'm not interested in you."

"What do you want?" Bucky growled, stepping in front of me slightly.

"Ahh, there's our Soldier." The satisfaction in his voice made me feel nauseous. "I'd just like to play a game."

"What do you mean-"

"желание."

Bucky froze suddenly, his eyes widening. For the first time since I'd met him, he looked genuinely frightened.

"No, no, no, shut up," he breathed, screwing his eyes shut.

"Bucky, what's happening?"

I reached out to touch his arm but he jerked away suddenly.

"Cara, you need to get out of here."

"What do you mean get out?!"

"You need to leave!"

"проржавевший."

Bucky wailed as if he was in pain and put his hands over his ears. "Stop!"

"Bucky, look at me!" I cried, grabbing his arm as he sank to the ground. "Please, tell me what's going on!"

"семнадцать."

He groaned and buried his head in his arms, his entire body shaking.

"Bucky, let me help you!" I pleaded, feeling my heart break with each cry he made.

He looked up at, his breathing ragged and eyes wild. "You wanna help me?"

I nodded.

"Kill me, please, kill me."

"No!" I protested, flying to my feet.

"If you love me you'll do this!" He yelled.

"рассвет. печь."

"Shut the fuck up!" Bucky roared at the screen from the ground. "Shut up!"

"Bucky, you're going to be okay, just listen-"

I stopped talking as he cried out again, scratching at the skin where the metal met flesh and convulsing out of pain. He started muttering in totally incoherent Russian, flinching every few words.

"девять."

"Jesus Christ, make it stop, make it stop," he whimpered, rocking back and forth.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked up at me. There were tears rolling down his face.

"Cara, please, please, either kill me or get out of here," he whispered.

"No, no, I won't leave you!"

I dropped to my knees and brought him as close to me as I possibly could, trying to calm him down.

"доброкачественный."

Bucky trashed away from me and covered his ears again. "I'm going to do things. Things I don't want to do. Things that'll make you hate me."

I stood again, tears starting to form in my own eyes. "I can never hate you, Bucky."

"возвращение домой."

He winced again and looked over at me, his chest heaving. "Cara, you need to know I love you. I love you so much and I'm so sorry."

I ran forward and wrapped my arms around him so tightly that he couldn't move.

"I love you Bucky," I cried softly. "Nothing is ever going to change that."

"один."

He tensed in my arms but I didn't let go. Instead, I lifted my head up and kissed him fiercely, pouring every ounce of emotion into it. He kissed me back, his mouth synchronizing with mine instantaneously. The moment it began I knew that it may never happen again.

"грузовой автомобиль."

Bucky's lips suddenly stopped moving against mine. His entire body froze. I stopped kissing him and slowly drew my head back, the tears that had been in my eyes streaming down my cheeks. I looked up at Bucky and my life fell apart. I barely recognized him.

His eyes were hollow. The usual light behind them was totally nonexistent. I didn't recognize him because he wasn't Bucky.

"добрый вечер, солдат. (good evening, soldier)" The man from the computer spoke again.

"готовы соблюдать (Ready to comply)." Bucky replied smoothly, his face and eyes totally blank.

"Fantastic," the man said happily. "Kill her, soldier. Kill the woman standing in front of you."