Divided

Chapter 1

A/N: Hello again, and welcome to the third installment of Alex and Bucky's story, Divided - building up to my own take on Civil War :D exciting!

Alex could hear her heart hammering in her chest as she breathed  heavily, thankfully she had a momentary respite while Natasha was called  away by Fury. Lying flat on the mat, Alex stared up at the ceiling -  it'd been at least a month now and Natasha had insisted that she train  for at least four hours every day - suffice to say, super soldier or not  Alex was exhausted.

"Why is it whenever I leave you alone, I come  back to find you on the floor?" She could practically hear the smirk in  Natasha's voice.

"Because I find the ceiling very interesting."

Footsteps got closer and before long Alex could see her trainer's face looming over her, "Get up, Lockhart, we're not finished."

"Five more minutes," Alex groaned, throwing her arm over her face dramatically.

"There's no breaks when you're out in the field."

"I think that's something they should introduce."

"Come  on," Natasha laughed, grabbing Alex's hands and trying to pull her up,  as the trainee played dead, "Don't make me do something I'll regret."

In  the short time she'd been working with Natasha, they'd become good  friends - it wasn't like that from the start - naturally, the agent had  been somewhat wary of the newcomer, but the more time they spent  together, Alex felt that Natasha had warmed to her. In a way it seemed  as though the agent was happy that there was another woman around to  help counteract all the testosterone.

"Fine!" Alex huffed, getting to her feet.

"Oh, don't give me that face - you knew what you were getting into when you agreed to this," Natasha smirked.

Alex's  brows shot up, "Excuse me - no one told me just how much training there  would be. I'm basically a super soldier and even I'm completely spent.  How do you do it?!"

Her eyes turned sad for a moment, "Train as  long as I have, and there's no limit." It was the same thing that  happened to Bucky every so often, as if the conversation had triggered  some kind of memory of a time they wanted to forget. And as she had  reacted to Bucky in the past, Alex didn't press the issue.

"Tell you what - drop and give me twenty and we'll call it a day."

"Ten?"

"Fifteen."

"Done."

Muscles  sore and just about ready to drop, Alex finally made her way back to  her room, in desperate need of a shower. Not long after agreeing to join  the Avengers, she and Bucky had joined Steve at the tower in New York -  captain's orders. She also had a feeling that the captain had a hand in  sorting out their living arrangements, as out of the 93 floors in  Stark's building, Alex and Bucky were sharing a floor that basically  resembled a fairly roomy apartment.

And though the two of them  were civil, friendly even, it was still a little awkward between them.  Stepping into the elevator, Alex pressed the button for the 54th floor  and sighed heavily, leaning back against the wall, eyes closed as  tiredness hit her like a wall. As she came down from the endorphin high  it felt as though the gentle hum of the elevator would lull Alex to  sleep if it weren't for the mercifully short journey.

Hearing the  ping of the elevator's arrival, her eyes, like the doors, opened to find  Bucky stood on the other side. He seemed a little taken aback to see  her, real hand reaching quickly to run his fingers through his hair,  almost as though he was nervous. Alex suppressed the smile that came as  she saw him subtly straighten himself up a little.