SAM

“No, I don’t care what it sounds like, John, do not rush in there until the task force have done their thing,” I sighed into my phone, rubbing my fingers in a circle over my temple.

“You know Bucky would have-”

“Would have busted in there and messed up protocol, forced Indy to save his ass, then we’d all be out one more cell for questioning. But Bucky and Indy aren’t here. And Fury gave me the authority to make these calls until the two of them are back. So hold your position.”

I heard a sharp sigh and then a gritted-out, “Fine,” before the line went dead.

I tossed my phone onto the counter, barely flinching at the smack it gave against the granite. It had been about two months since Indy had been targeted. Two months since I’d been stuck with half of Indy’s responsibilities and neither Bucky’s familiar frown nor Indy’s easy jokes to break up the monotony. I was feeling overworked and drastically underpaid.

Of course, beneath my irritation at the situation that had driven out two of my best friends, was worry. Fury’s orders were for Indy to hide the two of them away using whatever outside resources were necessary. Fury didn’t know where they were. I didn’t know where they were. We could only hope that meant Hydra didn’t know where they were, either.

Reconstruction on the compound had taken a surprisingly short amount of time, so we were all back on the fourth floor. Indy and Bucky had packed light; most of their stuff was still here. But there was an emptiness to their rooms that went beyond the few things they’d taken with them.

I know Kate and Yelena were missing them just as much as I was; I could see Yelena get visibly grumpier every time she walked past Indy’s darkened and refurbished office. Or Kate grow morose whenever she pulled her keys out, the ring adorned with a tiny ninja Bucky had given her. Even John was, in his own way, missing them; he and Bucky shared a certain element of impulsivity that I don’t think either of them would ever admit to. And Indy certainly made things much smoother on the back end of our missions. I was a pretty sad replacement.

“How did she do this?” I sighed, leaning over on the kitchen counter.

Dinner was simmering on the stove. With Indy gone, I was now the sole cook of the residential floor. A laptop was open on the other end of the island, running a program that would detect relevant chatter from the few bugs Yelena was able to plant for us.

I glanced out of the window, recently replaced after the last one was blown to shards. I missed flying.

For the last two months, I’d been stuck mostly in the compound, tracing calls and tracking suspicious activity. Keeping up with the “super people handler” stuff like feeding and facilitating everyone’s needs. Running intel from Fury to the task force and back. Analyzing risks and reports. It was all very… Indy.

She’d managed it with a wry smile and a barely a sign of stress. I was coming apart at the seams.

“Forget it, Sam,” I told myself, turning back to the stove and stirring the soup. “They’ll be back before you know it. And then, you’ll be wishing they were gone again because Bucky will probably have all new reasons to keep himself miserable.”

I chuckled to myself, but the thought of Bucky’s hopeless crush on Indy made me wonder… just what were they doing wherever they were? Bucky was stubborn, sure, but even a military man wouldn’t be able to hold up in such close proximity. They were in hiding together. Had he told her how he felt yet? I hoped he had… the two of them out on the run… they needed each other.

I could only trust that they’d protect each other if they were found by our enemies before we were able to bring them home.

BUCKY

“Bucky,” Indy whined sleepily, eyes still closed. “Stop. You know what that does to me.”

I grinned into the side of her neck, pressing another kiss just below her ear as she wiggled her ass back into me. “Yeah, I do.”

“Not all of us have super soldier stamina, you know,” she chuckled half-heartedly, reaching behind her to scratch her fingers through the front of my hair.

Despite her words, she rolled over and smiled up at me that way she did every morning now — with desire and affection and awe that I never thought would be aimed at me, of all people.

“I love it when you look at me like that,” I found myself saying. Once I started telling Indy how I felt about her, it started getting easier to speak things I used to shudder just thinking. Now, I practically had no filter around her.

She smiled wider. “Like what?”

I poked the tip of her nose. “Just like that. I never thought you would look at me the way you are now. I never thought you’d want me like this.”

Her eyes grew sad and confused for a moment, but she slid closer to me, pressing her bare chest against mine. She gave me a soft, sweet look that slowly morphed into something a little more suggestive. “I want you every way.”

When her leg wrapped around mine and drew it to her, I narrowed my eyes at her, grinning in return. “What happened to not having the stamina?”

She pushed me back and rolled up over the top of me, staring down at me with a smile more sinful than sweet as she shifted herself into position.

“I can take it,” she said in a soft voice, eyes wide and deceptively innocent.

She lowered herself down slowly, my jaw dropping silently with each inch that disappeared into her. I didn’t even pause to consider the condoms in the drawer next to me — this was…

I tried to speak, but it came out as a growl, my hands guiding her hips rhythmically on me.

Hot. Wet. And so. Goddamn. Tight.

I hadn’t done this without protection before. Part of me was terrified, screaming at me to either shove Indy off of me before I did something stupid or snatch the drawer open and quickly slip one on. But I was already chewing through my lip and sweating to keep from busting at the way she rolled her hips over mine. The air was rattling in and out of my throat like I was a teenager having his first orgasm.

“Indy, you should probably-”

Her eyes met mine lazily — hair mussed in a wild cloud of gold-touched brunette around her flushed face and thick, parted lips — and the words died on my tongue.

Fuck it.

I grabbed her hips and lifted her off of me, barely catching the dismayed pout she gave me before I lifted myself off my back.

“Hands and knees, Doll.”

Her eyes widened, but she looked pleased, a bit of a smile on her face as she turned and faced away from me, bending down slowly while I lined myself up behind her. I let out a shallow breath as I gathered her wetness on the head of my cock.

“That’s my good girl.”

She whimpered softly in reply, letting her elbows fall until her cheek was pressed against the mattress. I drove smoothly into her, watching the way her fingers curled into the sheets instead of worrying about the ramifications of what was about to happen. She let out half-muffled moans as I snapped my hips into her, my grip tightening until I was sure she’d have bruises on her sides.

No matter how many times we did this, she always felt so perfect. I’d never felt more right in my life than during the moments when I was completely buried in her, feeling every small pulse of her body around me. It was hard in those moments to remember we were separate people, that our souls were our own and not each other’s.

“Indy, baby,” I panted, trying to hold off long enough to spit out my question. “I’m about to-”

“Do it,” she begged, reaching a hand back to cover mine, threading her fingers between mine. “Please, Buck. I want it.”

“Oh fuck-”

At her needy words — and the sudden vortex of suction from her own release — I found myself leaning over her, spilling into her in a way I never had before. Wave after wave rolled through me, into her, our bodies shuddering together. A drop of sweat dripped off my hair, down the bridge of my nose, and onto the back of her shoulder, just above the leaf of her flower tattoo. We stayed stuck like that for a few moments, both of us panting.

“I can’t believe I just-”

“It’s okay,” she said faintly, eyes shut, and a satisfied smile on her face. “I’m on birth control. We didn’t have to use the condoms, but… I figured you probably needed something familiar to ease you back into sexual activity.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“We could’ve been doing this the whole time?” I chuckled, squeezing her gently around the middle.

“We could’ve been doing it longer if you weren’t so damn stubborn,” she grumbled, peeking an eye open to glare at me.

I love you.

The thought popped up so often now it was a wonder I hadn’t let it slip out yet. It was the one thing my filter still caught. This relationship was pretty new. And one of my main reasons for not pursuing anything with Indy was how woefully under-prepared I was for this era’s casual stance on dating. I was still terrified of the idea of telling her how deeply I felt for her in case I scared her off.

She was willing to be with me this way, but how willing would she be if she knew the man with death in his shadow had given his heart to her a long time ago? If she knew that every night she went to sleep against my chest, I imagined her taking my real last name and wearing my ring? Surely the fact that my relief was tinged with just a bit of regret when she mentioned birth control would have been enough to make her rethink this.

So I smiled at her and said, “Fair enough,” and we started disentangling ourselves to head to the shower.

INDY

Time started flying by much quicker with sex to fill our days. Of course, around the three month mark, Bucky was still fighting against restlessness. So, he went out and got a job — or rather, Jeff Thayer did — with a construction crew. One of the perks of Texas (or drawbacks, depending on your position) was the never-ending road work. I started working the state park’s stand for mini golf, renting out putters. It wasn’t a popular job, or a busy one, but it afforded me the time off I needed for my own private work back at the cabin.

Through some of the other park employees, I learned about the jukebox dance hosted at the concession building on summer evenings. Apparently, it had been a tradition since the 40s. What better to drag Bucky along to? It was closer than Uvalde, anyway.

The other women who worked the various stands and counters of the park gave me approving thumbs up and jaw-dropped looks when they saw me walk in with the "husband” they’d heard me talk about in passing. Bucky, adorably oblivious, kept his hand glued to my lower back the whole night. I was sure I’d never seen him smile that widely while we were back in New York.

Things were scarily close to perfect. When I’d get off from work, I’d tinker in the shop for a while before cooking dinner. By the time it was done, Bucky would be coming home from the roadside, sweaty and dirty and gorgeous. He’d smile at me and lift me onto the counter by my waist while I grumbled at him about tracking dirt into the cabin. But I’d kiss him enthusiastically anyway, wiping away his grime smears once he’d gone to the bathroom to clean up.

And when the nights came, we crawled into Bucky’s bed, which we now shared. He’d wrap his arms around me — one warm and one cool — and I’d fall asleep with my head on his chest, his genetically altered heart pumping beneath my ear.

No surface in the cabin was safe from us. Nearly every table, countertop, dresser, and wall had been used for our… escapades. He liked the noises I made. I liked the names he called me. He really liked birth control. I really liked when he finished inside me.

It was a little embarrassing to think, but I’d never been with someone like him — someone who I genuinely admired for more than romantic reasons. He had something in him that shined in a way only I seemed able to see. And I wanted to take some of that for myself. So every time I felt that telltale pulsation, then the fullness of him leaving some of himself within me, I smiled.

There were nights, however, when we both laid awake, staring at the ceiling together and talking about our lives back in New York. Whether Sam had gone gray from stress yet. How Yelena was holding up. If Kate had had any more contact with her mother. Then there were the harder things. Like Hydra.

“Think they’ve given up yet?” I asked one night, four months into living life as our new identities.

The lights were off, but I could still see the tightness near his eyes. “They don’t give up.”

For a while, there was just the sound of us breathing and the light tracing of our fingers against each other’s skin in the dark. Then he spoke again.

“What-” he broke off, his body tensing as he gave his words forethought. “What were you doing that got you Hydra’s attention, anyway?”

I frowned. I’d been wondering when he was finally going to ask.

“Fury said something about a ‘side project’,” he continued, his voice rumbling under my ear.

“I’m Tony Stark’s protégé,” I offered weakly. “If you didn’t expect secret projects from the jump, you haven’t been paying attention.”

He shifted up higher in bed, reaching over to turn the bedside lamp on. His face was serious, eyes narrowed on me. He hadn’t looked this sternly at me in months.

“What was it?”

I sat up as well, pulling the sheet up around my bare breasts as I leaned back against the headboard.

“I have a team of geologists who regularly send in feedback on potential operation sites. Before you guys go in, I have them run scans for things like sub-level IEDs or the integrity of underground caverns that could make any of the explosions and things that typically come with your missions have unforeseen complications.”

“In English, Indy.”

“Scientists check rocks for bombs or potential fall hazards.”

He rolled his eyes at me, but let my snark slide.

“Anyway, the team came back with something a while back. We got some confusing readings from way below ground in Ohio. There are mineral deposits 41,000 feet below the surface that don’t match any other mineral known to man.”

“And this mineral?”

“We don’t know. Its applications could be non-existent. Or… who knows, it could be the next Vibranium.”

He watched me seriously for a moment and I felt a stirring of panic. Was he about to change his mind about this? About us? I’d kept something from him. Something big enough that Hydra was interested. Would this be the thing that made him turn his back on me?

“You should have told me,” he said quietly.

“I know.” I looked down, taking his hand in mine.

He squeezed my fingers gently. “Tell me more.”

I looked back up at him and nodded, relief flooding me as I scooted in closer to him. He lifted his arm and wrapped it around my back. His hand settled in the dip of my side while I gave him the details.

The Kola Superdeep Borehole was opened in Murmansk Oblast, Russia in 1965, while Bucky was on ice. Historically, it was listed as a simple project of curiosity by the Russian government; just a test to see how deep the Earth could be drilled into. Of course, knowing their very behind-the-scenes hand in most historical events, I wouldn’t have put it past Hydra to have had some kind of stake in it.

They stopped drilling the same year, at 40,230 feet. Political turmoil and a shortage of funds didn’t help, but mostly they stopped because the heat at that depth was higher than predicted. The heat began melting their tools. Their stopping point was named SG-3 — the deepest man-made point on Earth’s surface.

After the project was stopped, moral issues were raised. Would this amount of digging have any planetary repercussions? Some scientists believed too much digging could essentially split the planet in half. I don’t know if I believed that, or the other popular theory that the planet’s core would ooze to the surface and cause untold havoc on the European continent. But I wasn’t eager to test it, either.

The deposits were growing at a dangerous depth. Nearly a full thousand feet deeper than the Kola Superdeep SG-3. Hence my nickname for my hypothetical project. SG-4.

These unidentified minerals had many implications. The discovery of a new scientific element, for one. For another, who knew what this new mineral could withstand? What it could create?

Naturally, this is where I assumed Hydra’s interest stemmed from — first dibs on an all-new resource.

I’d mostly buried the info when it came across my desk. The mental image of the Earth cracking open like a big egg, spilling yolky magma into the cosmos, was so viscerally bone-chilling that I’d decided not to go glory-seeking and set up a dig team or requisition the tools necessary for their extraction. I had simply outlined a plan. One that was supposed to have been for my eyes only.

I’d wondered, in the beginning, whether any of those on my geological team might have been the mole. Snatching that opportunity away from them in the name of my own morals seemed motive enough to me. But all the way down here, I had no way of actually finding out. No way of participating productively in the hunt for our snake in the grass.

“You did the right thing,” Bucky reassured me, pulling me closer. He smirked at me. “Maybe not keeping it from me, but not going forward with the project.”

“Well,” I fiddled with his dog tags around my neck. “You were kind of… avoiding me around the time it all happened.”

The corner of his eye twitched, a motion that looked almost like a flinch by the way his eyes dropped to my fingers on the tags. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you away so much. But I’ve done it so many times, I can’t even tell which time you’re talking about.”

“Doesn’t really matter.” I shook my head, kissing his shoulder. “I’m done with SG-4. And you’re done pushing me away.”

I said it with such a firm tone that he laughed, squeezing me closer and nuzzling my neck. “Am I?”

“Yeah,” I said, trying not to giggle at the way his stubble tickled me. “You can try. I’m just going to cling to you. I won’t let it happen.”

He looked down into my eyes, suddenly focused very seriously on my face. “Do you really mean that?”

I felt my face grow warm as I stuttered and struggled for an answer. I didn’t want to scare him. Guys were pretty jumpy about things like that. We were already living together, skipping God only knows how many steps in our relationship. Wasn’t it too soon to be admitting that the idea of him leaving me felt like tar suffocating my thoughts and leaving only the physical sensation of heartache? Besides, he’d been caged and muzzled for a good chunk of his life. The last thing I wanted to do was smother him.

“I’m just teasing you, Buck,” I said sheepishly.

He gave me a long, inscrutable look before he nodded. He still kissed me deeply and stroked my face like I was the beautiful doll he liked to call me. But I couldn’t help feeling like some small part of him had been shut off from me in that moment. And it scared me.