[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]

"The intel from Thessaloniki?"

It's been... hell, it's been almost a year since that mission with Bucky, but she can still remember with perfect clarity the way he'd taken apart the lab. She also remembers watching as he sorted through the data, and she'd spent the evening after he'd left looking through it herself.

What had they called that program? Extremis. Was that it? "I thought that trail would be cold as hell by now."

[marvel_npc]

"Yeah. That intel," he drawls. "Looks like cold might be just hibernating. Turns out it connects to a couple of other things - anyway, you know me, Thirteen, I hate loose ends. Before I send someone to check it out I wanted to see if you could shed any more light."

He's careful to keep his tone nonchalant. "Sorry to have bothered you for nothing."

[from_the_outside]

"Wait."

It snaps out of her like a reflex. If HYDRA's gene manipulation intel is still out and about... well, they never did get to that next location. Maybe if they had, the trail wouldn't have gone so cold. "Who will you send?"

[marvel_npc]

He shrugs, and puts it into his voice. "Giulietta, maybe. It wouldn't be a far stretch to reach from Italian Base Ops."

[from_the_outside]

"Giulietta's a technician," she points out, her frown audible in her voice. "If she runs into trouble, she's not going to be able to get out of it. What exactly is this all connecting to, Nick? You have some other leads?"

[marvel_npc]

Come on, Thirteen. Take the bait. You know you want to. She's sharp, though, and he's already being way more obvious than is safe.

"Then she better not run into trouble. It's old information anyway, both this and the other bits and pieces I've cobbled together," Fury informs her. "If this 'Green' was still active, though, that might have been different. Looks like they were a trader of some kind, like Gray, but working mercenary markets."

[from_the_outside]

Mercenaries are way above Giulietta's skill set and pay grade, but it's not like Nick has his pick of agents right now. 19 is retired, and she'd have been Sharon's first pick after Nat.

Or herself. There's no doubting she, herself, would have been the clear choice for this mission. "I still have a copy of that intel," she tells Nick. "Before you send Giulietta off, let me run through it again and see if Bucky or the War Dogs know anything about this Green."

[marvel_npc]

"If you're offering, sure," he says. "Appreciate it. I won't tell her to pack a bag just yet."

It's enough, for now. The seed's planted.

"I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."

[from_the_outside]

"I'll call when I have something," she promises, and hangs up before she can let what she really wants to say past her teeth.

Send me.

Still, her steps are a little faster and her thoughts are a good deal more preoccupied as she makes her way along the path toward the hut by the lake.

[nerves_of_ice]

Crack. The sound rips through the air as the log splits in two, followed by a couple of thuds as the pieces fall to the ground. Bucky blows his hair out of his face and sets up another chunk of log, then picks up the axe and focuses.

Crack.

At this rate, they won't be short of firewood any time soon.

[from_the_outside]

She follows the sound of the axe splitting wood, smiling as she strolls towards him. "Hey there, Paul Bunyan," she says.

For a moment, all thoughts of Fury and missions and intel vanish from her mind. He looks healthy and content and her heart squeezes to watch him shake that long hair out of his face. "Expecting to get a cold snap soon?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He chuckles. "You never know. No, it was more for something to do. I figured on carting the extra over to the village, take a load off supply for some of the senior citizens there."

Bucky looks her over. "Did you have a good session with Ayo?"

[from_the_outside]

"What a good boy you are."

She sets her tote down on the grass and takes out a water bottle from inside it, then comes over to hand out the bottle to him. "Yeah, really good. I think she might start letting me try the spear, soon."

[nerves_of_ice]

He shrugs off the compliment, but accepts the water with a nod of thanks and raises it to his lips for a quick swallow - then lowers it to give her a delighted grin.

"Really? That's great!" Sharon's been working so hard, she's got to be pleased with this.

[from_the_outside]

"We'll see," she says, but she's grinning back at him. His pride in her and her abilities fills some hollow inside she hadn't even known was there. "A lot of my improvement's down to you, coach."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I just helped a little." Bucky hands the water back and uses the proximity to sneak his arm around her shoulders for a quick hug. "You're the one who put in the work. That's what matters."

[from_the_outside]

"This is a team effort, Barnes."

She goes up on her toes to sneak a kiss to his cheek. Both of them are sweaty and mussed, and she doesn't care at all. It's worth everything to see the light in his eyes instead of the worry that had been there for so long. "Speaking of, do you want a hand with the wood?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Team effort, huh?" he teases. "I'll toss, you stack, how about that?"

He nods to the side of the hut and the cleared space there. "We'll just get enough for the next little while set up, and then tomorrow I'll take the cart over with the rest."

[from_the_outside]

"Sounds good to me."

She puts away the water bottle and takes up position by the space he'd cleared, then holds out her hands. "Whenever you're ready."

[nerves_of_ice]

He'd thought to toss the chunks of wood to the ground near her feet for her to pick up from there, but as he eyes her he reassesses. This'll be less lifting, good dexterity practice, and might help her stretch out from the session too, as long as he keeps the pace slow.

"Alley-oop," he warns, and tosses the first over. "So what else do you have planned for this evening, once we're done playing catch with wood?"

[from_the_outside]

She catches the wood, hands soft, and sets it down, then turns back to him for the next one. "A shower sounds like a good idea," she says. "Dinner sounds like an even better idea."

It's finally too cool at night to go swimming. "Maybe we could even put some of the firewood to use."

Not this batch; it needs to dry out and season before they can use it, but he'd collected plenty over the long, hot summer. "Is there anything you planned to do tonight?"

If not, then she'll broach the topic of Fury's phone call, and they can spend part of the evening talking through it.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I like the way you think." He waits for her to deal with the next piece, then lobs the next over. "I hadn't settled on anything in particular."

Bucky shrugs, then picks up another chunk of wood. "I'm still working through that book of Wakandan myths and legends." In the native language, although he doesn't think to mention it. "I could always read one or two aloud."

[from_the_outside]

"That sounds great," she tells him, and sets down the next chunk of log. "It's a date."

She's not picking up the language as quickly as he is, but she still likes hearing him speak it, or read it. After a third log, she turns back to him with her hands ready and a thoughtful expression on her face. "Baby, I got a phone call on the way back here."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh?" He pitches the next piece of wood to her, even as a slight frown appears as he takes in her expression. "Who from?"

There's not many people who have her number, after all. Natasha? Worry spikes, and he does his best to subdue it. If it were serious, she'd have mentioned it first thing.

[from_the_outside]

"Fury."

She catches the next piece and sets it down, then turns back to him in the rhythm they've started. "He and Hill are following up on the intel from the auction. He made some connections between Kwan and the intel we took from Thessaloniki; remember?"