Code Name: Untraceable

Chapter Forty-Two: Regret and Red Cheeks

Frankie was still leaning back, arms folded, pretending she hadn't just said what she said.

Bob was sipping his coffee like it might help him process being "hers now."

Neither of them looked at each other.

Then the door opened.

Yelena walked in like she lived there.

She plopped into the chair across from them, uninvited and absolutely unbothered.

She looked between them once, slow.

Then grinned.

"So... can we all be yours? Or is it just Bob who gets the VIP treatment?"

Bob immediately choked on his coffee.

Face: red.

Frankie blinked. "No."

"Sure?" Yelena teased. "Because the whole 'you're mine now' speech was very intense. I felt things."

"I will throw you through a wall," Frankie said calmly.

Yelena snorted. "I'd prefer the emotional wall you just threw him through."

Bob coughed again, trying to hide the fact that he absolutely could not look at Frankie now.

Frankie, for her part, rubbed her temples and muttered something that sounded a lot like, "I hate all of you."

⸻

Meanwhile... elsewhere in the compound

Bucky's phone buzzed.

He stepped out of the hallway, answered without a word.

Val's voice came through the line, crisp, irritated, and very Val.

"Update. Now. Where the hell is Bob Reynolds?"

Bucky glanced down the hall toward the control room.

He could hear muffled laughter.

Bob's voice.

Frankie's very specific brand of threat.

He turned back toward the call.

"He's here."

"Doing what?"

A pause.

Then Bucky smirked just a little.

"Recovering. From being hers now."

"He's what-"

Bucky hung up.