Whiskey | 18+ {Bucky Barnes}

Chapter Three

Hey loves!
Just a warning in this chapter, there is talk of anxiety/panic attacks. Please tread lightly if you are sensitive to such things.

It was dark when the quinjet landed at the Avenger's Compound. Exiting, Erica noticed a slender woman with beautiful red hair braided and resting on her shoulder, her arms crossed. She tried to hide her smile. Erica stopped in front of the woman; the woman looked her up and down before speaking in Russian, "You look like shit."

Erica scoffed, "I missed you too, Natasha."

Natasha gave her that beautiful Romanoff smile, "Come on, let's talk; we have a lot of catching up." Wrapping her arm around Erica's shoulders, the women walked into the building together.

Sam and Bucky trailed behind them; Bucky didn't hate the compound per se. He just intensely disliked it. He doesn't like people that much; that's not entirely true. There was Sam and his family. Sarah and the boys were like family to him; now, Erica was thrown into the mix. She was mysterious, and if he was being honest, he was a little ticked at Sam for not telling him she was trained. Bucky Barnes does not like surprises; call him a bit of a control freak if you must. He needs to control his surroundings; his therapist assures him this is a symptom of PTSD. He needs to be more 'flexible,' probably why she encourages him to hang around Sam.
On the other hand, Erica feels the need to steer clear of him. While she was cautious of her words and actions, she often left them speechless, and he did not like that one bit. He was also unsure how he felt about her being so friendly with Natasha; for some reason, it worried him a little. He didn't dwell on the reasoning much.

"I work for a privatized security agency."

And who pray tell was that exactly? FBI? CIA? She had training for sure.

Should he even be worried about her being a liability? Sam doesn't seem to be.

"What's going on in that cyborg brain of yours?" Sam nudged him as they walked into the building.

Bucky shrugged, "Trying to figure something out is all."

"We won't stay too long, Buck; I know it makes you uncomfortable being here. Don't think too hard; we don't want you to freeze."

Bucky scowled at Sam, making Sam laugh as they walked into the building. Even though Sam was a pain in his ass, he was a good guy ... a good friend. He trusted the man with his life. However, he wouldn't say it out loud.

They walked down a long hallway of the dorm wing, stopping at two doors across from each other.

"Run tomorrow morning?" Sam asked.

"Run tomorrow morning.", Bucky confirmed, then walked into his room.

In the safety of his room, which wasn't much, just a single bed, desk, and dresser. Bucky never stayed here, not that he was into interior decorating anyway. He just needed the basics, which was more than allowed over fifty-odd years. He instructed FRIDAY to lock his door and turn on the soundproofing. Opening the desk drawer, he pulls out a laptop; he checks to ensure it's charged and ready to go.

---

"So?" Nat said, taking a seat on the sofa. "How have you been? Where have you been? Why are you with Thing One and Thing Two?"

Erica laughed, taking a seat across from her mentor. "I'm good, you know that is classified, and I'm consulting."

Natasha sat forward; she eyed her carefully, her green eyes scanning over Erica's entire body. Erica kept eye contact with Natasha, not moving a muscle.

Natasha suddenly sat back, "You're lying." Her arms are resting on the back of the couch. "Spill it."

Erica shot up off the couch and paced. "Damnit! I hate it when you do that...that thing!" she grumbled. "I can't, Nat, I can't talk about it because if I do...if I do, it becomes real. And I don't want it to be real because it means I hurt someone I love very much and withheld the truth from another."