He'd wanted to stay in bed a little longer, but she'd insisted they take a shower before she fell asleep. Although the water pressure was amazing, the shower in her bathroom only consisted of a curtain that enclosed the claw-foot tub in the corner of the room. She wasn't one to turn down shower sex whenever the opportunity presented itself, but there was no way they were going to make that work without potentially flooding the bathroom or falling and breaking their necks. With that option off the table, she decided to make the best of the situation and insisted on washing his hair for him. She could tell it was a new experience for him from the skeptical look in his eye when she first broached the topic and then later from the almost-obscene moans of pleasure he failed to contain.

Once they'd stepped out of the tub and began to dry off, she felt his eyes on her. Looking over her shoulder she noticed that he was staring at her the same way he'd been on the plane from Prague to New York. Even now, she couldn't figure out what the look in his eye meant, and she was hesitant to ask.

Bucky had no other clothes than the ones she'd helped him divest of earlier in the evening, and she hadn't thought to bring any into the bathroom herself. Settling for a towel wrapped around their bodies, they headed back into the bedroom. She searched through the drawers for something other than a nightgown, but she stopped when she heard the sound of a zipper.

Glancing back at Bucky, she was surprised to see him getting dressed. "What are you doing?"

He'd slipped his shirt back on and was just about to start buttoning it, but he paused to answer her. "I'm heading back to my room."

"Oh," she said, a little crestfallen. "You don't want to stay?"

His fingers were frozen over the buttons and for a moment he had no idea what to say. "I think it's. . .I mean, I can't possibly. . .what will the others think?"

She gave him a devious smile as she sauntered across the room in nothing but a towel. Untucking the edge just above her breast, she let it fall to the floor. She saw him swallow hard as his gaze traveled down the length of her now naked body. She slipped her hands into the sleeves of his dress shirt and slowly drew it down his arms. Sliding her own arms into the sleeves, she met his gaze as she began buttoning the shirt from the bottom up, stopping well below her neck so that the oversized shirt gaped a bit.

"This is much better than a nightgown," she said with a grin as she grabbed the waistband of his pants and pulled him closer to her. "You, however, are way overdressed for sleeping. Why don't we get rid of these pants and you can just sleep in your boxers."

"YN," he said, his voice taking on a cautious tone. "I know you may not care about your reputation, but I do."

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "No one cares, Bucky. We both know that Howard is a womanizer – Jarvis and Ana are probably used to him bringing home a different woman every night. Besides, we won't be here too much longer." She could see him start to waiver and she knew all he needed was one more little push. Taking his hands, she placed them around her waist and played her ace in the hole. "Besides, if Howard knows that you're sleeping in my room, he'll stop flirting with me so much."

He couldn't help the involuntary reaction he had to the thought of Howard with his hands on her. His arms wrapped a little tighter around her as his gaze narrowed. "If he touches you again, I can't be held responsible for my actions."

She leaned in to kiss him. "I'm glad you're finally starting to see things my way."

The fingers of his right hand began trailing up and down her spine as he held her close to him. "Dance with me?"

"What?" she asked, completely taken off guard by his question.

"You asked me to dance with you this afternoon, and I stupidly refused," he explained. "Does the offer still stand?"

One corner of her mouth turned up in a smirk. "You've already danced with me this evening – multiple times if memory serves."

Sometimes he hated that smart mouth of hers, but he couldn't deny that he enjoyed the other ways she'd learned to put it use. Sliding a hand up to the nape of her neck, he held her still so he could brush his lips across hers. Kissing her was an effective, and exceedingly pleasurable way to get her to stop talking. While she was focused on the kiss, he began to slowly sway. When he felt her pick up the rhythm, he pulled back to look in her eyes and began to lead her around the room to a tune that had been stuck in his head all evening.

For once, she was quiet and let him take the lead. He was surprised at well she picked up dancing, but she was extremely graceful when she fought, so it really wasn't that hard for her. The clouds had dissipated completely and the moon was shining brightly through the window, highlighting every contour on her face for him. She had the most expressive eyes, and he'd been subjected to their fury on more than one occasion, but now they were soft and dreamy. A surge of possessiveness swept through him as he thought about the way Stark had treated for the better part of a decade. Couldn't he see the amazing woman that had been right in front of him all those years? His heart ached for her, but secretly he was glad Stark had ignored her, or he might not be the one holding her in his arms right now.

She reached up and ran her thumb along the spot between his brows. "I can tell you're overthinking something again. Stop it."

His face relaxed and his scowl was replaced by a smile. "I'm just trying to figure out how we got here."

She let out a deep sigh. "Well, you were stupid enough to try to touch the Eye of Agamotto and when I tried to stop you, we were both hurled through time and space to 1942."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

She laced her fingers behind his head and pulled his forehead toward hers. "I know what you meant." She gave him a long look before continuing. "If anyone had told me a few weeks ago that you and I would be dancing half-naked in the middle of Howard Stark's guest bedroom after the most mind-numbing sex of my life, I'd probably have called them a liar."

His eyes grew wide as his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "The most mind-numbing sex of your life?"

"Don't let it go to your head," she warned with a half-hearted glare. "All that dancing earlier this evening was basically foreplay, and then I come back here and you pull out the sexy murder strut with those angry bedroom eyes. I didn't stand a chance."

He froze, causing her to look at him in confusion. "You only slept with me because of him?"

She closed her eyes as she let out an angry breath. "For the last time, you two are the same person. Why is it that I can grasp this concept, but you can't?" She pulled away from him and threw out her arms in frustration. "I mean, c'mon, Bucky. The only reason you knew about me dancing with you, and kissing you, was because you remembered it happening."

"You'd rather be with him though, wouldn't you?" he asked as he took a step away from her.

She reached out to stop him, making sure to grab his vibranium hand. "What do you want me to say? The man I met tonight was charming, and yes, he swept me off my feet, but he's bit overconfident if you ask me." Pausing to take a breath, she weighed her next words carefully. "Since I've met you, you've been nothing but broody and sullen. I completely understand why, and I'm not holding it against you, but for the past couple hours, you've been more like the guy I met tonight than the one I met in Germany last year. Even you have to admit that. So that begs the question, what changed?"

He looked down at the hand holding on to his and then back up at her. He didn't want to admit that she was right, but she was. When he was with her, just the two of them, he felt more like himself than he had in years. But it scared him. Did he have any right to be happy after the atrocities he'd committed while he'd been the Winter Soldier? Was it fair to burden her with his sins when he could barely breath under the weight of them?

She could see the wheels turning in his mind and she was sure she wouldn't like the conclusion he was about to come to. Still holding his hand, she brought her other one up to cup his face. "Your past doesn't have to define you, Bucky. You get to choose who you want to be from here on out." She rubbed a thumb over his cheek. "I don't want you to pretend to be someone you're not, but I don't think for one second you want to spend the rest of your life brooding like some goth vampire in a crappy young adult novel. People always call you Sergeant Barnes, but you insist on correcting them. You want to be Bucky Barnes again. You want to be that carefree, charming guy with a smile permanently etched on your face. "

He started to laugh in spite of himself, and she let out a sigh of relief when the smile returned to his face. She'd never denied that he was a good looking guy, but when he smiled – really smiled – it completely transformed him. She felt her stomach flip when he directed that smile at her and the breath caught in her throat for a moment.

"I don't want to be the Soldier anymore," he told her as his free hand went back to her waist to pull her toward him again. "But I don't think I'll ever be like the man you met tonight." He dropped her hand and placed one metal finger against her lips to keep her from interrupting. "He's still a part of me – you're right about that – but I've seen too much and done too much in the past seventy years to ever be that innocent and naïve again. I have to live with those demons for the rest of my life, but I don't have to let them control me anymore."

When he removed his finger, she took it as a sign he was ready to listen to her again. She was peeved that he kept trying to shut her up, but she was glad he was finally starting to see reason, so she let the matter drop. "I want to help you, and not just because I find the more confident and charming version of you completely irresistible." She gave him a wink and took it as a good sign when he dropped his head to try to hide his smile." I spent a good deal of my life trying to find happiness, and it took me a long time to realize that it had always inside of me. Once I pushed my own insecurities out of the way, I was finally free to be the person I'd always longed to be. I'm no expert in the matter, but if you'll let me, I'd like to try to help you find your happiness again."

"Do you have a plan?" he asked, looking at her skeptically. "Or are you going to handle this like Steve would and just wing it?"

She gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about? Steve always a has a plan."

He shook his head with a sigh. "You haven't figured it out yet, have you? Steve's plan always consists of him finding the biggest, meanest guy in the room and picking a fight with him."

She thought back to some of the missions she'd been on with Steve and realized that Bucky was right. "I don't see how that's a problem – who else would take on the biggest guy?"

"You don't get it, doll," Bucky said with a grin. "You met the real Steve Rogers tonight. The serum he took didn't change his personality one bit – it just gave him the ability to defeat the other guy."

YN imagined the ninety pound asthmatic she'd met tonight taking on the Chitari and she finally realized the point Bucky was trying to make. "Oh my God, he doesn't ever have a plan." Her eyes were wide when she focused on Bucky's smiling face again. "We put him in charge of the Avengers."

Bucky started laughing. "I know. At least when he was leading the Howlies, he had me and the other guys to talk him some sense into him. You guys see him as this wise, old soul, but he's nothing more than a loose canon with a heart of gold."

"Wow," she said with a nod of her head. "This trip has been extremely informative." She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a thoughtful look. "I guess I'll be taking a page out of Steve's book then because I don't have a plan. I say we just wing it and see how it goes."

He leaned in and lightly brushed his lips across hers. "Winging it has worked out so far – we should probably stick to what we know is working."

"You won't hear any complaints out of me."

Not wanting to talk anymore, she effectively ended the conversation with a kiss that was intended to make him forget his train of thought and focus solely on her. She knew she'd succeeded when she felt him guiding her back toward the bed.

When she felt him trying to slip out of the bed without waking her, she smiled, but it was no use – she was already awake. "Where are you going?"

"I didn't mean to wake you," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I'm going to go change before I head to the training room. Do you want to join me?"

She gave him a long look. "Are you going to fight dirty like you did yesterday?"

He stepped into his pants and zipped them up as he gave her a wink. "Probably. Are you going to give me my shirt back, or do I have to walk down the hall like this?"

"I think it's a good look on you," she teased. "Besides, I like this shirt so I'm keeping it."

Shaking his head, he grabbed his shoes and headed for the door. "Meet me in the hallway in ten minutes."

She lay in bed for a few moments after he'd left as she thought about the difference between last night and the night before. He'd been alone with her in her room both nights, but it was like she'd been with two different men. The only thing she could think of to account for the difference was her interactions with the younger version of him. She'd told him she didn't have a plan to help him get back to the man he'd used to be, but that wasn't exactly true. She had a theory she wanted to test out, but she knew he'd never go along with it. Somehow she would have to enact her plan without anyone figuring out what she was up to.

With a sigh, she realized that she only had about five minutes left before Bucky's time limit was up. She had no doubts that he would barge back into her room and get all broody again if she were late, so she slid out of bed and quickly donned her tactical gear.

When she opened the door to her room, she found him waiting for her across the hall, one shoulder leaned against the doorframe opposite hers with his feet crossed at his ankles. His posture seemed relaxed enough, but it was impossible to miss the annoyed look on his face.

"You've got to learn to lighten up," she told as she breezed past him and started down the stairs. "It's not like we've got a set schedule or anything."

"The longer we stay here, the more we risk changing the future," he reminded her as he followed her down the stairs. "Are you going to try to talk to Steve again today?"

She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked back up at him questioningly. "Do you know where he is this morning?"

Bucky started to say something, but then stopped. "I haven't gotten my orders yet, so I'm still working. Steve doesn't really have a set schedule, but I know some of the places he might be."

"I don't think anyone has ever told me what you did before the war," she said as she squinted her eyes in thought. "Where did you work?"

"It's nothing glamorous," he told her with a shrug. "I worked down at the docks helping to load the ships heading to England for the war."

"And then you got drafted," she said, already knowing how that part of his story played out.

"I get drafted and Steve decides to volunteer to be a guinea pig for Howard Stark," Bucky lamented with a sigh. "I've always wondered what would have happened if I hadn't gotten drafted."

"You can 'what if' yourself to death if you're not careful," she said as she laid a hand on his arm. "What's done is done and you need to work on moving forward." Turning away from him, she started back down the hallway toward the set of stairs that led to the basement. "You're sure you don't remember Steve telling you where he was going today?"

"That was over seventy years ago," he reminded her as they continued down the second set of steps. "I doubt I was paying much attention to him back then anyway."

She stopped in the middle of the stairwell and turned back to face him. "Did you tell him about me last night?" The smile on her face faded a bit as she realized something. "You never did tell me how the whole memory thing worked. Did you remember me last night as it was happening, or after I'd left the dancehall?"

"Does it matter?" he asked, evading her question.

She shrugged. "I'm just curious if you two will have the memory of what it was like the first time and then another memory where I'm there. You're only remembering it as it happens because you're living through this part of your life again, but Steve is probably going to have a whole new set of memories pop into his mind. . ." She stopped and thought for a second. "Well, it'll probably hit right after the Eye transports us back here."

"What are you talking about?" Bucky asked, confused by her train of thought.

"Think about it," she said as she met his eye again. "We're stuck here until Strange and Steve come back to get us, and that could be at any time. The second we came back in time, Steve suddenly remembered meeting me and he's probably already working with Strange on a plan to get us back to the present day."

"And if they can't?" Bucky asked, not really wanted to give voice to the doubts he knew they both had.

"Don't underestimate the Eye, or the sorcerer who wields it," she cautioned. "I guarantee that Steve already knows exactly when to come back for us. . ."

"So we don't need to do anything else?" he interrupted, trying to figure out her reasoning.

She shook her head. "Just the opposite. I need to keep talking to Steve so I can drop hints for him to decipher in the future. I didn't get to talk to him long enough last night, so it's doubtful that he'll even remember meeting me. I can try to go looking for him today. . ."

"He'll be at the Three Deuces tonight," Bucky said, interrupting her.

She gave him a skeptical look. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I will drag him back there hoping to see you again," he admitted with a pained expression.

A slow smile turned up the corners of her mouth as she took a step closer to him. "I already know you like me, Bucky. Why does it bother you that the younger version of you likes me, too?"

He wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned in to kiss her. "Because you need to talk to Steve, not flirt with me. I know myself well enough to know that I won't give you a chance to talk to my best friend – not when I can have you all to myself on the dance floor."

"I can see how that will be a problem." She stepped away from him and started back down the stairs to the training room before throwing one more comment over her shoulder. "I just can't find it in me to be upset about it."

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