So what are you going to get when we have breakfast? - Dinosaur

Charlie rolled her eyes as the message popped up on her monitor. It was nearly midnight on Wednesday evening, meaning she only had six more hours of this persistent messaging. Across the room from her, Barney shot her a grin. She smiled back shyly, before telling him she was going to have waffles.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard before she pressed enter. It was only breakfast. It wasn't like he was asking her to marry him and move in and share life stories. Thank God it wasn't that.

Charlie's eyes drifted to the scar on the back of her hand. The thin white line that ran from the valley between her index and middle knuckles to the centre of her hand. She closed it into a fist and hit enter, wriggling her fingers and so she could watch the scar move.

That scar was (thankfully) the only mark she bore from her time at Hydra, and her experiences with the Winter Soldier. With everything that had happened there, she was lucky she hadn't come out seriously disfigured, or worse, dead. The whole time she'd been at Hydra she'd lived with the niggling fear that one day Pierce would tell her that her services were no longer required, and turn the Soldier on her during one of their sessions. Ever since the crisis at the Triskelon she'd escaped from Hydra, disappearing along with most of the scientists, but only after checking that no the Soldier wasn't coming back in.

Charlie realised she had no idea what had happened to the Soldier since she'd left, and with a pang of guilt thought back to their last meeting. He'd been so compliant and passive with her, more so than most of the meetings they'd had over the four years she'd worked for Hydra.

"Who are you?" He croaked as she crouched beside him, taking his pulse. It was erratic, which she decided was quite a good way to describe the Soldier himself. She undid the Velcro strap from around his arm and unwound it, dropping it onto the table beside them before moving to check his temperature.

"My name is Doctor King. I'm here to make sure you're fit for your mission." She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead, and felt her eyebrows raise. He didn't have a temperature - if anything he seemed a little cool - but when her hand met his skin his eyes slipped closed. Tentatively, she flipped her hand so her palm was against his forehead, and was surprised when he moved into the touch, pressing his forehead into her palm a little more, and tilting his head so that he was nosing at her hand, almost like he was nuzzling it.

For a few seconds she was completely still, watching as the Soldier tipped his head back down, so that her fingers were resting in his hair. Slowly, she ran them through the dark locks, before pulling away. He looked confused - his blue eyes widened and his mouth hung open a little. Why was he looking at her like that?

"Have we met before?" He asked quietly, and for a moment Charlie forgot that he was supposed to be an assassin. She forgot that he was the Ghost story that plagued the intelligence community. Because right now, for the next thirty minutes, just like in every session, he was scared, and innocent. And he was hers.

But she still stuck to Hydra's lie. "No. This is the first time. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." He touched two fingers to his forehead, close to the temple, and Charlie had to control the urge to place a kiss there. During every meeting with the Soldier after he'd been wipe Charlie had the almost uncontrollable desire to mother him. She wanted to hold him and stroke back his hair and tell him he was going to be alright.

"I can get you something for that. Any nausea? Dizziness? Visions? Memories of anything?"

"No." God, those big blue eyes would be the death of her. "Should there be?"

"No."

There was a pause while he stared into middle distance. "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Where am I?"

She smiled sadly, sliding her fingers back into the oddly soft hair. "Where you belong. I'll go get you something for your head now."

His eyes had slipped closed at her touch, and when she spoke he nodded. "Okay."

She stood up and left the room, almost walking into Pierce as she did. "Sir!"

"Doctor King. How is he?"

"He's got a headache, but other than that I think he's fit to be briefed. No memory of Rogers."

"Good. This is an important assignment for us all. We need him to be healthy."

"I'm sure he'll perform fine. Do you need me to brief him?"

"Yes. He's headed to the Triskelon. We think Rogers and Romnoff might be headed there."

"Of course, Sir."

She watched as Pierce left, and felt the same pang in her chest that she normally did before things like this. They were going to take her Soldier and make him back into the killing machine Hydra needed.

Another IM alert shook her out of the memory. Hey, do you have the revised notes on that Georgia case? - Flippy

She glanced over to Felipe's desk. He was watching her, waiting for the reply. She sent the file across, and he gave her a thumbs up before returning to work. She couldn't. Not now that she was thinking about the Soldier.

She wondered if he remembered her.




Sam woke up to Bucky's screams. He was almost thankful for the rude awakening - he'd dreamt of Riley again. The memory of his best friend, his wingman, dying was bad enough, but Sam kept replaying it over and over, each time feeling more guilty that all he'd been able to do was yell Riley and watch.

He didn't have time to think about that now though. Bucky's terrified screams had been joined by Steve yelling over him, trying to calm him down. When Sam got into Bucky's room he found the two of them together on the floor, with Bucky rocking back and forth, his breath coming out in short, panicked gasps and Steve crouched beside him, trying to calm him down.

It took both their efforts (and two complaints from the neighbours), but finally Bucky was coherent. Still hugging his knees to his chest, and not quite breathing properly, he started talking.

"Doc... Doctor... Doc?" He stared up at Steve, eyes clouding with confusion. Over his head, the other two men exchanged worried glances.

"Bucky, we aren't doctors." Steve soothed.

"Doc?" Bucky gripped Steve's forearms desperately. "Where is she? Why isn't she here? She's always here. Doc... Where's the Doc? Steve... Where's the Doc?"

Notes