[oom] the rest of you, the best of you, honey, belongs to me

[from_the_outside]

It's been a little over a month since Bucky brought her to that training space and told her he was making good on his promise; a little longer since she's met Ayo for an hour a day to spar and train and meditate and learn. In that time, Shuri's updated her suit and Bucky's prototype arm, and Nakia's successfully launched the first of her outreach centers in the place where a young N'Jadaka had once had his whole world shattered.

Ayo prefers to train with her either early in the morning or late in the cool of the evening. Today was the latter, and steam is lifting off Sharon's shoulders as she walks back from the Citadel, her hair a sweat-damp mess in a ponytail, her muscles aching pleasantly. 

She's back on top. Between Bucky and Ayo, she's faster now than she ever has been; more adaptive, more thoughtful about her approach. She still can't beat Bucky one on one, but Ayo had tested her against Aneka, another Dora, recently, and she'd more than held her own. She's flexible and strong and her cardio hasn't been this good in years.

More than that, she's happy, the way Bucky wanted her to be. She has some direction, and that's all she really needed. What she'll do with it is the next step, but she's not quite there yet. For now, she strolls down the path toward the hut by the lake where she's been more or less living with him, the sunset light just now dying from the sky. She's so lost in her thoughts it takes her a second even to realize that there's a buzzing coming from the pocket of her tote bag.

And it's not like she was expecting a call, anyway. Who would it even be from?

Comments

[from_the_outside]

"I know you will."

She watches him from across the little space, her expression open and understanding. "I also know you don't like the idea much."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I think what I really don't like is that I ..." His words trail off for a second, but he makes himself draw a slow breath and continue.

"That it's more than likely I won't be able to be there with you."

There. It's out, hanging in the air between them, and he waits to see how she reacts to that.

[from_the_outside]

"Maybe not," she agrees, but her voice is soft. "But we'll still try to find a way."

There might not be one, and in the they may both need to come to terms with that. "Plan A, you come with me. Plan B... maybe you're at a secure location nearby. Plan C, maybe I'm in contact with you here."

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods. They'll have to see. Himself aside - and even as he thinks it he can see Shuri's expression - himself aside, he owes too much to everyone who's done so much for him to put them at risk.

Any of them. Sharon included.

"Anyway, I just... needed to say that," he murmurs. "But I'm not going to stand in the way of what you need. Or want."

Or both.

[from_the_outside]

"I know you won't."

She comes over to him, setting her hands lightly on his chest. "You never have, you've always had my back. Just remember I need and want you, too."

[nerves_of_ice]

The corner of his mouth quirks up in a half-smile as he sets his hands at her waist. "You have me."

[from_the_outside]

"You have me back," she promises, and smiles up at that quirk of his lips, then leans up to kiss him as the water starts bubbling.

[nerves_of_ice]

He kisses her back, slow and sweet, then pulls back and goes to rescue the water before it can boil over.

Bucky pours it into the press and eyes it critically.

[from_the_outside]

She takes a seat at the table and watches as he makes the coffee, leaning her chin on her hand, her eyes bright. If nothing else comes of this phone call, she'll have this, and him, and that's more than enough, no matter what, she reminds herself.

"Maybe I should give you another trim," she says, eying his hair critically. "You're looking a little shaggy, there, White Wolf."

[nerves_of_ice]

"That's the thing about hair." He blows it out of his face and gives her an amused look. "It grows."

[from_the_outside]

She wrinkles her nose up at him, amused and charmed by his teasing.

"Yet another excellent use for that great invention, the scissors."

[nerves_of_ice]

"If you say so." He finishes fixing her coffee and brings it to her, then pours a cup black for himself and comes to join her at the table.

"Ready?"

[from_the_outside]

"Ready enough."

She picks up her mug in one hand, then dials Fury with the other, putting the call on speaker as it rings through.

[marvel_npc]

His phone buzzes. Fury pulls it out and notes the time as he answers. Still mid-morning there in Wakanda; less than twenty-four hours since he'd contacted her. Good.

"Morning. Is this who I think it is?"

[from_the_outside]

"Probably," she says, drily. "I've got Bucky on the line with me here, Nick. We went through the intel from Polygyros last night and didn't find anything else on Green."

[marvel_npc]

He keeps his sigh internal. Too much to hope that she'd not have involved him. It's probably also too much to hope that he could get Barnes as an agent as well; he's not sure anyone but Rogers himself could manage that, since the king of Wakanda decided to take an interest. He'll just have to see how things play out.

"Sergeant," he says aloud, pleasantly. "It's been a while."

"Director," Barnes returns, neutral. Good enough.

Politeness dealt with, he returns his attention to Carter. "Thanks for checking, Thirteen. I'm not going to say I'm not disappointed, but we play the hand we're dealt."

[from_the_outside]

"I also checked with Nakia," she continues. "The War Dogs haven't heard anything about any 'Green,' either. Just how old is this intel, Nick? Did something other than the Polygyros data pop up recently?"

[marvel_npc]

"It's old," he agrees. "But the message that came in for the ex-Mister Kwan on the channels we've been monitoring is new."

[from_the_outside]

"There was a message for Kwan?"

Sharon's coffee halts a few inches from her lips, and she turns a startled glance on Bucky. "What message?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky listens intently as Fury tells them, "Looking to make a purchase. Said 'Green's my verification.'"

He frowns at that and shakes his head the slightest bit. "Could be anything," he mouths.

[from_the_outside]

She nods at him. "That's not much to go on, Nick," she says. "So what are you planning to have Giulietta do? Make contact with this buyer?"

[marvel_npc]

"Potential buyer," Fury reminds her. "We don't know anything about them yet. That's why I was hoping you'd have some additional information on Green."

He leans back in his chair, eyeing his phone, trying to calculate the angles. Carter's more of a known factor than Barnes, who strikes him as the suspicious kind.

"Giulietta'll just have to try to sell the deal with what she's got."

[from_the_outside]

"Nick – "

He can't actually mean to send Giulietta, can he? "You can't send her, she'll get eaten alive. She's never been UC before."

Sharon frowns at Bucky and sets her coffee down, shaking her head. "It's just a meet, this mission?"

[marvel_npc]

"She was talking about trying to manage it as a strictly remote contact." He lets the doubt he feels show in his voice at that. "I have to try something, Thirteen. Otherwise I'll lose the connection."

[from_the_outside]

She gives the phone a skeptical look. "I've never known you to be a man with only one plan, Nick."