Winter's Sunshine

9. Stalker Alert

Bucky was lying on the bed, still unconscious. Sam and Jen were by his side, making sure that he was Ok. Dr.Cho was going through his reports once again. Bucky's reports and all his vitals were normal. The doctor said that he was completely fit and fine, so could be shifted to his room.

Sam and Jen were now sitting opposite Agent Hill in her office. They were filling her in on the details of their mission.

"How could a simple test take such a drastic turn?", Hill asked, furiously.

"They were our trusted soldiers, they have been working with us for years and they went rogue on us!", she continued in disbelief.

Jen just zoned out during the conversation, she was thinking about how her first mission was to test her. She felt a little betrayed but was satisfied with her performance. She was happy that she was selected to become a Shield agent. Her only goal is to became one.

But then she remembered how the whole thing went downhill, nothing went as planned. The shield soldiers going rogue on them, many losing their lives in the mission and most importantly Bucky almost getting shot; so much had happened in a day. It was a lot for her to process.

Sam noticed that Jen was no longer paying attention to the conversation. He cleared his throat drawing back Jen's attention. She glanced at him and tried to focus on Agent Hill.

"You did a good job Jen", Hill remarked, looking at her. "You have cleared this level, be prepared for the next one.", she notified her.

"-and Sam we need to find out who tried to take control over Bucky. Also both the soldiers are dead, we have no leads to move forward with. start looking into it.", Sam nodded approvingly.

"Agent Hill? What will be the next level?", Jen questioned.

"Physical test. You have 2 weeks to prepare for it."

Jen nodded this time. 2 weeks. Ample of time.

"We are done here. You may leave now.", Hill dismissed them, going back to her phone.

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"Sputnik? Sputnik? What does that even mean?"

"Will you please lower your voice, Sam. You will wake him up", Jen spoke in a hushed voice.

"Don't you want him to wake up?"

"Yes but not because of your loud voice."

Jen sat on the bed Bucky was lying on. He looked so calm and peaceful as he slept. His chest rose slowly up and down, his hair rested on his face.

"So? How did you know about it anyway? I didn't know about it, no one did, not even Cap!", Sam exclaimed.

Jen gave a stern look to Sam which made him roll his eyes.

"Well?" Sam urged her to answer his question.

"I was going through his profile and found it there. It was buried deep in the server."

"So you stalked him?", Sam smiled smugly. Love is in the air

"No!", Jen faked offense. "I researched him.", she said correcting him.

"Oh and why exactly did you research him?", Sam was having fun with this.

"Um- you know. Just-", Jen felt short of words. It seemed as if she lost the ability to form sentences. The fact that she wanted to know everything about Bucky would make her sound like a creep. She would never let Sam know about her little crush on Bucky. Oh no, I have a crush on Bucky

"Just-?", Sam pressed more smiling knowingly.

"Look I mean- I was just curious Ok!", Jen defended herself.

"Were you curious about me?, He asked her. "Why only him?"

"You were next", Jen said winking at him.

"Oh really now?", Sam laughed and Jen chuckled too.

"So found anything interesting? Anything we could use in an emergency?"

"Nothing unusual. This word sputnik was last used by the Red skull, Bucky kept resurfacing every now and then. Hydra had to make sure they got him back under control. So they conditioned him to use it against him.", Jen admiringly looked at Bucky.

"He fought them all alone for twenty whole years.", she said stroking his hair. "It took them twenty years to break him."

"Sometimes I forget how strong he is.", Sam said admiringly. He noticed Jen's affection towards Bucky, the way she looked at him.

She sees him as a victim; not a monster, like everyone does. He realized that she knew everything about him, even though he attacked her in order to kill, she still didn't pushed him away. Maybe she saw what no one sees. Jen not being scared of Bucky made her unique. Bucky deserved someone like her. Someone who he can start a new life with. Jen was perfect for him, or at least that's what Sam thought she was.

Sam's phone beeped in his pocket,an urgent message flashing on it's screen.

"Anyways, I need to go now.", Sam announced. "You coming?", he asked Jen walking to the door.

"No, I think I will stay with him for a while."

Sam wiggled his eyebrows at Jen teasingly and glanced at Bucky before leaving. Jen then moved more towards Bucky. She made herself comfortable as she pulled out her phone from her back pocket.

She clicked a picture of him cautiously and saved it in her phone.

Bucky. She added it to her favorites.