Code Name Alpine

Chapter Three

When Bucky and Charlie returned to the house, clammy from the evening air around the lake, they found Sam sweating and trying to pull one of the twin beds from the guest room, grunting and cursing under his breath.

"Sam" Charlie laughed,
"What on Earth are you doing?"

Sam stopped, standing up straight, with the bed jammed halfway through the door, seemingly stuck and stared at her, red faced, in disbelief.

"Getting the bionic staring machines bed where it should be" He panted and gestured towards Bucky.

Charlie laughed again as Bucky pulled a face, shaking his head as he went to help Sam pull the bed out of the room.

"Sam leave it where it was" Charlie stopped them both in their tracks.

"What?" Sam asked dumbfounded as he and Bucky turned round to look at her in confusion.

"I said leave it" Charlie chuckled as she walked towards the bed and gave it a quick shove back into the room, where it slid with ease.

"It's past the boys bedtime and I've bunked with worse" She smirked at Bucky's offended face.

"Man, I wish you'd said earlier" Sam shook his head and wiped his face on his sleeve.

"Sorry Sammy" Charlie patted his shoulder.
"I've got it from here, go grab yourself a shower, it looks like you need it" She grinned at a very warm looking Sam.

"Uh huh" He nodded looking at her from under his lashes, breathing heavily, hands on his hips, before heading to the bathroom.

"Hey Buck, I'm gonna be wrapped in a towel when I head to my room too, just so you got some warning" Sam called back as he entered the family bathroom, laughing.

"Jerk" Bucky muttered and scowled in Sam's direction as Charlie giggled.

"Let me help you get this thing back where it was" Bucky gestured to the bed.

"It's ok Buckaroo" Charlie smiled sweetly as she walked passed him and into the room,
"I've got this" She finished as she grabbed the head of the bed with one hand, twisted it smoothly on to all four feet and dragged it with ease back to where it started.

Buckaroo?
Bucky though to himself,
Where's that come from?
He didn't mind though.

Bucky just gaped, either she was really strong for her size or Sam was really weak, and he knew the later wasn't exactly true, no matter how much he teased him for it.

"I can sleep on the couch downstairs tonight and we can sort all this in the morning" Bucky began to collect the light blue pillows and the matching covers to head downstairs.

Charlie pulled them from his hands and threw them on the bed.

"Like I said, I've bunked with worse Sergeant Barnes, and my conscience wouldn't let me sleep if I allowed you to take the couch when there is a perfectly good bed there for you" She smiled that God damn smile again.

"Ok" Bucky found himself smiling back.
Stop grinning you idiot,

Bucky quickly changed his expression
"So you've bunked with worse than me?" He asked carefully, raising his eyebrows, and moving to help her make the bed.

Charlie looked up at him from where she was tucking the cream fitted sheet in.

"Yeah" She smiled standing back up,
"Him" She gestured towards the bathroom where the faint sounds of Sam singing off key to Marvin Gaye floated through the house.

"Yeah..." Bucky grinned back at her.

"I simply can not put you through that torture, I don't care what you've done" Charlie laughed and sat down on her own bed.