Are You In or Are You Out?

Part 7

AN: all mistakes my own. Enjoy

Chapter 7

The following day she exercised with Nat again, deciding that she liked it and pushed herself more on the running matching and then weights. She had avoided all conversation, pretending that Nat wasn't asking her questions about Steve and Bucky. Soon after Nat, Tony, Steve and Bruce had to leave. Steve told her that they were talking down another Hydra base. He said that she wasn't alone, Bucky was there and everything would be ok. He had hugged her and kissed the top of her head, she had willingly disappeared into the huge embrace of his strong arms, letting him comfort her and calm her again. The kiss had left her feeling speechless and more confused than she already had been. She still hadn't managed to touch him back, letting her hands stay by her sides. She had spent the day wandering about, absently picking up a book or magazine, then dropping it again.

She had soon discovered that the Avengers were actually really boring. They went on their missions, had countless meetings with world officials and heads of this and that, but when it came down to it, they did nothing. Nat and Bruce spent time together, Tony went home at the ends of his days, Steve read and trained like his life depended on it and Bucky did much the same. There were a few people in and out of the compound on a daily basis, but they did their lab or admin stuff and didn't really interact with them or their part of the facility. TV, Movies and music were important to all of the team as it kept them connected to the world, but aside from the very odd night out, nothing ever happened. She found it so hard to find things to do around the compound and you couldn't help being repetitive.

Emma ran again after they had left, using the treadmill for over an hour trying to work out her frustrations at the last few days.  

At lunch time she had run into Bucky in the kitchen, literally. She trotted barefoot into the kitchen space, her mind a million miles away, somewhere in the middle of trying to imagine how she could get away with eating all the pastrami in the fridge and no one noticing, and why hadn't she touched Steve back, when she walked into Bucky's chest. The fresh cold scent of pine needles hitting her too late. She clashed into his chest, her vision out the window instead of in front of her. His hands short up and caught her bare arms and she let out a little yelp, jumping back out of his grasp. "Fuck!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump Em!" His hair was wet and flopped in front of his face a little, she almost reached to push it back across his head.

She nodded at him. "S'ok." She turned, food forgotten to leave as he grabbed her wrist with his flesh hand to stop her.

"What have I done?" He pulled her back towards him.

She looked down at where he was holding her, his skin warm on her's, searing in fact. She clenched her bottom lip between her teeth as her whole body responded to his touch, warmth spreading from her cheeks to her neck, down her chest and further south. She licked her lips not realising he had spoken, her breath caught in her throat as the growling started and she panicked wrenching her wrist away. "DON'T" she held it to her chest like it was glass.

He put his hands up. "I'm not, I'm sorry. I don't mean to piss you off!" He looked so so dejected at her actions.

"What?!" She was still reeling from the contact, her mind racing to remember how his skin felt against hers, how the metal of his arm had sent chills through her that his other hand had chased away immediately and all the time her beast threatening to break free. "You don't." She sighed heavily and looked at his face, his eyes pleading for a reason why she was so horrible to him. "You don't. Look, she..."

He smirked. "She?" His scent changed a little, becoming syrupy or sweet, she was momentarily lost in the Christmasy smell.

Chuckling nervously at him and she tried carried on. "Bruce's acceptance-of-who-you-are meditation thing..." she trained off and took another step back from him to try and quiet her beast, maybe also to try and stop herself from reaching for his skin again so she could feel it and smell him more deeply. "She...it, just freaks out. Okay, it's not you per-say." She looked at her feet and rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand the noise in her own mind rising, she knew he was talking, but couldn't focus. "Sorry." She turned on her heel and practically ran back to her room, trotting into her bathroom, locking the door and sinking to the floor with her back against the bathtub.