The sound of one of the bedroom doors opening caused them to break apart. Steve ducked his head, smiling at her before turning to the noise that had interrupted their enjoyable reunion. Sharon returned the expression, but it faded quickly as Barnes appeared in the doorway, looking haggard. It was clear that Steve had the same reaction because he started forward.
"I'm fine," Barnes insisted.
One of the more surprising things she'd found about the Winter Soldier was his voice. It always caught her off-guard to hear it, maybe because of how soft it was, or how it always sounded a little hoarse – like he'd just woken up. Not something to be expected from one of the most feared assassins on the planet. Of course, Natasha could be considered in that boat, and her voice was similarly unlikely for an assassin. Perhaps it was just a surprise to hear someone in that line of work talk at all. In any case, she'd heard Natasha speak far more so it was less of a surprise when she did so.
Steve stopped in his tracks, glancing back at Sharon briefly. "Did you find anything?" he asked his friend.
"Yeah." Looking like he had no intention of continuing, Barnes headed for the couch and dropped onto it heavily after setting her laptop down very carefully on the table.
Sharon and Steve exchanged a look before heading toward the other couch. Steve didn't let go of her hand which made her cheeks warm. "Can you tell us?" she asked gently.
"Sorry for interrupting," was the only response as Barnes stared intently at his hands, which were clasped in front of him.
It was irrelevant but she couldn't help wondering if the self-comforting gesture was limited by the fact that one of his hands was (presumably) cold and metallic. "It's not a problem," Steve insisted, putting his free hand on Barnes's shoulder.
"Particularly if you've found any leads for me," Sharon added smoothly, predicting that giving him an immediate option to do something good might lessen the weight of having to dwell on the bad things he'd done. Barnes didn't answer right away and she felt Steve tense beside her. His jaw was clenched in that way of his and she was concerned that she'd taken the wrong approach.
"We can talk about it in the morning." The tone Steve used was possibly more commanding than he'd intended, and she glanced at him sharply.
Barnes snorted. "You two can take the bedroom if you want. I'm sure I won't be sleeping."
That quickly diminished Steve's intensity, and she would have been amused by his embarrassment if she weren't feeling it herself. They looked at each other for half a second before both looked away, blushing and uncomfortable with the suggestion. He released her hand to fold both arms over his chest, looking at the ground. She liked him, certainly, a great deal. And he was... very handsome. But she didn't know she was ready to hop into bed with him. He clearly felt the same way, which was something of a relief while still being vaguely insulting.
"Maybe next time," she managed to say.
It occurred to her that Barnes looked like he was suppressing a smile, and she frowned with the thought that he'd brought that up on purpose. To distract them. Well, it had worked quite effectively. She had expected that kind of gentle manipulation from Natasha, but not from him. Clearly she was wrong to think he was just a lost boy from the forties with a sordid history. She reminded herself that he was HYDRA's best resource for years and that couldn't only be from his sharpshooting skills.
"Alright," Bucky conceded, watching Steve, who was apparently speechless.
Sharon reached for her laptop and opened it, seeing a handful of files were still open. "These are the ones?"
"Yeah." The amusement was gone from Barnes's eyes and he looked down at his hands again.
"Thank you, Bucky. It means a lot," she told him sincerely, reaching out to pat his shoulder after a brief pause.
He shrugged.
"Do you want to take a walk or something before bed?" Steve suggested. "It might help," he added when Barnes looked like he would protest.
"It's a nice night. Light exercise usually helps me sleep," she offered.
Possibly seeing that arguing with Steve would be pointless, or maybe just unwilling to do it in front of someone else, Barnes nodded and stood up. The weather was pleasant for fall, but still required them to put on a few more layers before leaving the house. Sharon looked uncertainly at Natasha's door, but decided not to bother her. They wouldn't be gone long, she was sure.
The brisk air definitely woke her up and she smiled at Steve as they walked along. The sidewalk wasn't wide enough for the three of them, and Barnes dropped behind without commenting. After a few paces, Steve took her hand again and she thought the walk might go on a bit longer than she'd initially intended.
"You ever been here before?" she asked conversationally after a while.
"I'm afraid not. It's a nice city," Steve replied, appreciating the scenery.
They paused to let Barnes offer his view but he didn't say anything.
"I would think you'd be extremely well-traveled, especially lately."
Steve smiled slightly. "Yeah. I have been making the rounds. But Barton usually sends me to abandoned warehouses or old castles. We try to avoid the cities."
"Why?" She could guess but liked hearing him talk.
"Well, there are a lot more civilians there. And we try to avoid them as much as we can."
She nodded, thinking of their botched mission in Lagos. "That's a good plan, especially if you're fighting dangerous people."
"Yes, exactly. They tend to stay away from population centers as well, so there aren't any nosy neighbors. We don't want anyone recognizing us and getting a picture of what we're doing, either, so it usually works out."
"How does Barton know where to send you?"
Steve shrugged. "He has a lot of contacts. We all do. There are still HYDRA agents out there, other dissidents who just want to hurt people. We try to stop them."
He looked uncomfortable so she didn't pursue the matter further. It was clear that he was trying to do what he'd been made to do, and hated any inaction caused by the current political climate. Since she understood very well what being benched felt like, she knew it wasn't something he wanted to discuss at length. He and his people were trying their best, and that was all they could do right now.
"How many safehouses do you think she has?"
Steve shook his head. "Nat? A lot. Probably one in every major city around the world."
"And I'd imagine some that are in the middle of nowhere. For when she wants to get away," she added.
"A bunch in Russia, for when she gets homesick."
"She wouldn't do that," Barnes broke in, much more serious than they had been.
Glancing back, Steve raised an eyebrow. "You don't think she misses where she's from?" he asked, his tone making it obvious that he understood the sentiment acutely.
Barnes was silent for a moment, considering how to answer. "I don't think... I don't think it's somewhere she'd want to be reminded of."
It would make sense for Barnes to have had some experience with feeling that way about locations. Which might be why he didn't want to say if he'd been here before. If he had, it wouldn't be like she or Steve, saving people. Or at least getting intel to aid in saving people later. He would only be there to kill them. It wasn't unreasonable to think Natasha might have the same sort of history.
"What makes you say that, Buck?" Steve asked, clearly assessing his friend.
"If she felt that it was home, that she was Russian, don't you think she'd go by the Russian version of her name?" he said with a shrug.
That was a good point. Steve nodded then met Sharon's gaze. Barnes apparently had some insight into their friend that they did not share. Which was interesting. It was unfortunate that Natasha seemed much less comfortable with his presence than Sharon would have expected. She was a professional, after all, and had certainly needed to work with people who had hurt her in the past. Not that Sharon had any intention of pushing her – she'd been through enough lately.
They had come full circle and made their way back upstairs to the apartment. Barnes disappeared without a word back into the bedroom, while Sharon and Steve lingered outside. "You think he'll be alright?" she asked softly.
Steve pursed his lips. "I've been wondering that for a couple years," he admitted.
She reached up to touch his face gently. "We'll figure something out," she promised.
His answer was nonverbal but very pleasant, and it was few moments before they came up for air. "Good night," he whispered, kissing her cheek.
"Good night, Steve." She watched him go, smiling to herself. This all might be a mistake, but God, was it a nice one.