[AU] it's about the doing

[from_the_outside]

Sharon wakes up too warm from a dream she wishes didn't have to end: in it, Bucky came to Madripoor and promised to stay, to get her home. Bucky, and Steve, and Nakia, and Sam and Nat and –

It's a second before she recognizes why she's too warm, and just what that solid weight next to her means, and she scrubs sleep out of her eyes and stares, drinking him in like she can't get enough.

She can't. She's not sure she ever will. "Bucky," she says, her voice rough with sleep and relief. "You're here."

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[nerves_of_ice]

"I'm here." True to his word, he hadn't slept. Not after the first time he tried it, arms locked around her, and woke up from the yawning black pit of nightmare.

He's lying beside her now, one arm draped over her side, watching her face.

"And so are you."

[from_the_outside]

She nods, unable to look away from him. It's dim in the room and quiet outside; Madripoor is nocturnal. It must be morning, or close to it. "You look so tired," she says, reaching to trace the line of his cheek.

"Did you sleep?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Enough." He closes his eyes as she touches him, then opens them again almost immediately so that he can see her.

[from_the_outside]

"Hi," she says, as soft and reassuring as she can as he opens his eyes again. "I'm right here."

She shifts a little closer, slings her arm over his hip. "It's going to be a crazy day," she tells him. "But there's still time for you to get some more rest."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'll be fine." He doesn't move; if he does, she might move away, and he doesn't want that. At the thought, his arm tightens around her.

"What are we facing?"

[from_the_outside]

She thinks it over, running her thumb over his ribs in long slow strokes as she does.

"Whatever Selby can throw at me," she says. "If she made it through the night. And she might have; she had some boltholes of her own. I need to consolidate her assets, finalize the takeover. That means going back to the Bronze Monkey, and it could be dangerous. And people are going to want to test your loyalty. See if you can be bought or coaxed away."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I can't." Flat and level. "But you know that. And yes, it's going to be dangerous. You know that too."

He meets her eyes. "Whatever you need."

[from_the_outside]

"I know," she says. "But they don't."

The last thing she wants is for him to do anything at all. She'd give anything, everything she's got to transport them both back to the hut by the lake, where he can smile and his eyes can be warm instead of cold, where she can soothe this grim weariness away.

But they're in it now. And the only way out is through. "Selby will probably send an assassin," she tells him, her voice low. "If she doesn't, whoever's next in that ravening pack will. Try to use the chaos to their advantage."

[nerves_of_ice]

"They'll learn." It's just as flat as before. He goes quiet, considering.

"More than one, if she can manage it. Or her, and the next in line both. The question is if they need to make it spectacular or if quiet will be sufficient for their purposes."

His tone is cool and detached. "They'd probably prefer the former for the proof alone. The latter would work, especially if they were able to assume your identity. We'll also need to think about how to handle the question of why you left Selby alive."

[from_the_outside]

"I always planned to, if I could," Sharon tells him. "She's useful; she knows almost everything. But I needed to find a way to win or buy her loyalty, and I hadn't figured it out yet. It's still possible, but harder now."

She looks wry. "She liked me. She'll send one of the better ones she can afford, I think. But she's pissed. So she'll want it to be public."

[nerves_of_ice]

"She'll have to act fast, if she wants to reclaim her position. The longer you're in power, the worse she looks."

He flicks a glance around the room, checking it, then looks back at her.

"I want you to wear the armor. Under your clothes."

[from_the_outside]

"Okay," she says, peaceably. She's not going to fight him on security; not now. Maybe not until they're home. Maybe not even then, all things considered.

"Selby knows I can handle myself, but she'll know it'll be hard to get to me with you around. So she'll try to separate us first."

[nerves_of_ice]

His eyes narrow. He knows exactly what that means, what she's not saying, how she must have been tested.

He fucking hates Madripoor.

"She'll try, sure."

[from_the_outside]

"I think," she says, careful as someone stepping onto translucent, cracking ice.

"I think we should let her."

She keeps her hand firm on his side and her gaze firm on his face. "To draw out the threat."

[nerves_of_ice]

There's no hesitation.

"No. Next suggestion?"

[from_the_outside]

"Baby – " she says, and stops.

He hasn't slept. He's probably been watching like a hawk all night, just to make sure she's still right here with him.

It would work. But she can read the stubborn signs all over him. "Okay. Okay. We'll think of something else."

[nerves_of_ice]

The faintest hint of tension bleeds out of his muscles, and he nods.

"It wouldn't make sense," he offers. "For one thing, the threat level's highest right now. It'd look like you were trying to set a trap by sending me away. Or else it'd look like I was incompetent, or you were. None of those are winning scenarios."

[from_the_outside]

"She'd know it was a trap," Sharon tells him.

"I couldn't have gotten as high up as I did without being able to play the game. So you're right. And that means whoever she's sending will use distance or some second-hand way of getting to me, because they wouldn't risk engaging with you. Sniper, or explosive, or poison – those are my guesses."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Or they'll try to take me out first," Bucky points out. "Or engage me in enough of a fight that they can get to you. The Bronze Monkey's likely to be a target location, since they know you'll need to go there."

[from_the_outside]

"And Selby knows it well," she agrees. "I think that's a pretty likely guess."

She considers, running her fingers lightly over his skin as she does. Not even two months and she feels as touch-starved and desperate for him as she ever has. "I don't know that she has the funds to send a big enough pack to try and engage you with," she says. "But if I were her, I'd ally with the people who are scrambling to make their move, on the supposition that I'd be clever enough to get rid of them once they helped me."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Who else is in play?"

A faint shiver runs over his skin him as she traces patterns on it, but he remains perfectly still otherwise.

"Both the ones scrambling and any allies you have."

[from_the_outside]

She makes a soft, thoughtful noise. "A few scrambling," she says. "Fenec. Anders. Lin Chao – he hates me because he wanted Selby's number two spot. And he's rich."

The last she considers for a long, careful moment. "There's a new one," she says, finally. "Mateo Esparza. I don't know which side of the line he falls on, it could be either. But I would hope... ally."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Chao'll be a problem, then. One with resources and with an axe to grind? She'd be a fool not to approach him, and he might think he could use her to take you out, then eliminate her and step in."

He focuses on the last name. "What do you know about him? Esparza."

[from_the_outside]

"He's a weird one," she says.

"Nothing about him seems like Madripoor at all. He's still... alive. Do you know what I mean? It hasn't poisoned him yet. Oh, he's smart and ambitious and he'll climb the ladder easily enough – he's getting sort of a reputation for his precision strikes – but he still seems to have his soul."

[nerves_of_ice]

He's quiet for almost a full minute, thinking.

"Have you been in contact with him yet?"