Scarlet hated mornings the most.

She preferred to keep the last watch, so that she wouldn't have to wake up in her tent alone. She liked to already be awake and moving, instead of lying in her bed, all too aware of the loneliness she was feeling.

She missed Bucky.

She missed being pulled against his chest, and feeling his breath tickle the hairs at the top of her head. She missed the sound of his heartbeat; feeling it radiate throughout his body and give her warmth.

She missed knowing that he was alive.

Mornings these days were always cold.

She was always cold.

Bucky and Steve had taken the warmth with them.

Scarlet pushed the memories aside and forced herself out of her sleeping bag. She rolled it up, changed her clothes and went out to the camp.

The men were already gathered around the fire, Pinky was stirring something in a pot, Dum Dum and Happy was looking over a map and Junior was beginning to clean up camp. Gabe, Jim, Monty and Jacques had all left the unit and gone home in order move forward with their lives. They all kept in touch, but it wasn't the same to have them not present on missions.

"You're never going to guess who I heard from just now," Dum Dum said, looking up when she approached.

She sat down and accepted the bowl of food from Pinky. "Who?"

He grinned at her, "Peggy."

That got her attention. "Peggy? What did she want? Is she okay?"

"Apparently she needs a tact team. She's asked us to meet us at the Polish side of the Russian border. The SSR wants to bring Howard Stark in for questioning."

"Stark? For what?"

"I guess he's selling weapons to the Russians."

"No. Absolutely not. Howard wouldn't do that."

Dum Dum raised his hands, "hey. I'm just relaying what Peggy told me."

"I'm sure it's all just a misunderstanding," Happy said.

"Well let's get going so that we can find out," Pinky suggested.

_________________________________________________________________

Scarlet could hardly wait to see Peggy.

It had been nearly a year since they had gone their separate ways, and a day hadn't gone by that Scarlet didn't miss her. She missed having another female around. A practical voice of reason. It was getting exhausting to be the practicality in the tact team. The guys were constantly jumping into situations, guns blazing and blowing things up. Lives were being risked nearly every second of every day.

Scarlet wasn't opposed to her own life being risked, but she couldn't stand the idea of losing another person that she loved.

"I hear someone," Junior whispered.

Sure enough, Scarlet could hear the sound of a group of people approaching. She was fairly certain that it was Peggy and her team, but they couldn't take any chances.

Dum Dum brought his gun up and cocked it.

One of the approaching figures cocked their own gun, and brought it up, pointing it in the direction that Dum Dum was standing.

"Don't move," Dum Dum ordered. "Emu."

"What?" The lead figure with the gun whispered.

"Ostrich, man." Pinky whispered loudly. "Ostrich."

"Shut up!" Dum Dum whispered back, just as loudly. "Emu."

"Oh my gosh," Scarlet groaned. "The password is eagle, you idiots."

"Eagle! That's right. We would have gotten there eventually."

Peggy stepped out, pushing her team members' gun down. "You lot, except for Scarlet, are a bunch of apes."

Dum Dum emerged from his hiding spot and approached their old friend. "Oh hi, Peggy." He greeted in a light and friendly voice. "Fellas," he acknowledged the team behind her in a more gruff voice.

Scarlet stepped out into the clearing, taking in the group of strangers that had come.

"Thompson," one of the men spoke up. "That's Dum Dum Dugan."

"Jack Thompson, Mike Li, Rick Ramirez," Peggy nodded her head slightly to each member of her new team. "This is Junior Juniper, Pinky Pinkerton, Happy Sam Sawyer, you seem to know Dum Dum Dugan, and of course Scarlet Silverthorne-Blake-Barnes. The 107th, our tactical team."

"You guys are the Howling Commandos," the man, Peggy had identified as Rick Rameriz, said. He was looking around at them all in shock and awe.

"I hate that name," Happy groaned.

"I came up with that name," Junior responded defensively.

"That you did."

"This is incredible," Ramirez was looking around, his expression full of excitement. "You guys fought side by side with Captain America, didn't you?"

"Yeah. But not as long as she did," Dum dum looked down at Peggy, who smiled.

"And no one fought by his side longer than Scarlet."

Scarlet gripped her gun slightly tighter as she found herself at the center of attention of the entire group. She hated the way they looked at her, the way they always expected something from her; a story, token or fond memory of her world famous partner.

"You're Captain America's partner, right?" Mike Li asked.

"I'm Steve Rogers' partner," she corrected, not even attempting to keep the annoyance from her voice.

The man frowned, "What's the difference?"

"Okay. Let's not get into that," Dum Dum said with a nervous laugh, before Scarlet could say anything.

The lead man stepped forward and offered his hand to Dum Dum, "Agent Jack Thompson. I'm running point for the SSR. We head due East until we hit the border."

"We'll hit a wall of Reds before we reach the border," Dum Dum replied. "Let's head up into Lithuania, cross over into Russia at Ashmyany."

"You planning on walking halfway across Lithuania?" Thompson asked.

"Well, you can if you want."

Dugan cut through the group and through the trees, leading the others to the trucks that they had. "But me, I'm taking these. Peggy, Scarlet, let's go."

"It's good to see you, darling," Peggy said, as the two of them walked to the truck.

Scarlet smiled, "it's good to see you too. I've missed you."

They loaded into the trucks and began down the road.

Scarlet settled on the bench perpendicular to where Peggy and Dugan were sitting.

"Did you bring what I asked for?" Dugan asked after the trucks were moving.

Peggy reached into her satchel and pulled out a glass bottle. "From my own personal stash."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. Of course the man had requested Peggy to bring him alcohol.

Dugan laughed and took the bottle, "atta girl." He pulled out three metal cups. "See, the Germans are geniuses when it comes to beer. But nobody makes bourbon like the US of A." He poured the liquid into the three cups, and handed two to Scarlet and Peggy. "Cheers."

Peggy chuckled, "Cheers."

Scarlet clinked her glasses against theirs, feeling herself smile. It felt normal to have Peggy around again. Almost like a piece of her that had gone missing, had finally been returned.

Dugan sighed happily into his cup and took a long drink. "Alright, so tell me," he looked at Peggy, "what's the story of Stark and these Leviathan jerks?"

"The SSR is convinced that Howard is trying to sell technology to enemies of the United States," Peggy explained. "And they think Leviathan is a potential buyer."

"That's ridiculous," Scarlet said. "Howard wouldn't do that."

"I agree. Howard isn't selling weapons to adversaries of the United States. Not to Leviathan, not to anybody. He may be an utter wanker, but he is one of us."

"So you think the whole deal is a trap?" Dum dum asked.

"Isn't it always?" Scarlet pointed out.

"That's why we bring the guns," Peggy agreed. "Question is, if Leviathan is trying to lure us in with promises of capturing Howard, then what is it that they really want?"

Dum Dum reached into his vest and pulled out a thick cigar. "Maybe it's just the pleasure of your company."

Peggy snatched the cigar from Dugan's mouth and threw it out the window.

"Hey!"

"You smell bad enough."

"And you used to be fun," Dum Dum pouted, folding his hands in his lap.

"Yeah, once upon a time," Peggy reminisced.

A heaviness settled on them.

Scarlet knew that they were all thinking the same thing. Or at least about the same person.

"Yeah," Dum sighed heavily and clicked his tongue. "I miss him too."

Scarlet looked down at the bourbon in her cup, and downed the rest of it in one swallow.

They sat in a heavy silence for awhile.

Scarlet was willing herself not to fall into the trap of memories. She didn't want to remember the old times. She didn't want to see Steve's face or hear the echoes of his laugh. She didn't want to feel Bucky's phantom touches or feel the brush of his breath on her neck.

"How's New York?" She blurted out, in an attempt to get her mind away from the path it was heading down.

Peggy thought for a moment, "it's good. It's full of life. It's good to see the business of it again." She looked at Scarlet. "How have you been? Have the guys been taking care of you?"

Scarlet shrugged. "As well as they're able. They certainly keep life interesting."

"Hey, we've been taking great care of her, don't worry," Dum Dum said.

"I do worry, though. I worry about you guys all the time. I worry about the trouble you're getting into."

"I wouldn't use the word trouble. I mean, yeah we're constantly running from the Soviets, and yeah we blow a bunch of stuff up on a daily basis, and sure Scarlet rolls under a tank at least twice a week. But we're staying out of trouble."

"Oh, clearly," Peggy turned her gaze on Scarlet again. "You should come home."

Scarlet shook her head, "No. I can't do that."

"Of course you can. You deserve to come home. You've given enough of yourself to this war."

Scarlet shifted and looked down, unable to keep Peggy's gaze as she said her next thought. "If that were true, I'd be with Steve and Bucky."

She heard Peggy sigh, but nothing was said.

Scarlet leaned her head back and refused to look at the two. She had an idea that Dugan was aware of the dark desires that rested in her heart, but he never said anything.

After all, what was there to say?

_________________________________________________________________

They settled into their camp pretty easily, and Pinky set to work making a meal of canned beans, while Thompson and Juniper scouted the area.

Scarlet mostly just listened to the conversations going on around her, chiming in a laugh when everyone else laughed.

She used to love nights like this. Nights when the unit would all stay up late to talk. They were mostly trying to keep each other's spirit's high and not think about what was going on around them.

"Coast is clear," Thompson reported, walking towards the group with Junior close behind.

"Li and Ramirez are on the night watch. We should be good to go at first light."

"Which means," Junior unstrapped his rifle and sat down, "we stand relieved."

"You see any abominable snowmen like the one in Tibet?" Peggy asked.

"I...I never said abominable snowman," Junior responded matter-of-factly, accepting the beer and can of beans from Happy.

"In fairness, he did specify Yeti," Pinky said.

"Yeah."

"Sorry, it was a little hard to make out words in between all the sobbing," Dum Dum remarked with a chuckle.

"Shut up. It was scary," Junior looked away from them and took a drink of beer.

"So, what's the difference between a yeti and an abominable snowman?" Thompson asked after getting comfortable.

"One's real and one isn't," Junior explained in the same matter-of-fact tone.

"Why would you even ask such a question?" Scarlet asked, getting a chuckle from the group.

"So, I hear they have, uh, mermaids in Japan," Peggy said when the laughter had died down, looking across the fire at Thompson. "You see any of them when you were out there?"

"Yeah," Junior crossed his legs and angled his body towards Thompson. "Story time."

Thompson shook his head, "I got nothing you guys ain't heard before. Did a lot of groundwork, dug a lot of trenches."

"They don't give out navy crosses for just digging trenches," Peggy stated, clearly not willing to let the matter drop.

Scarlet looked across the fire at the man. He had a look in his eyes that she had seen a million times before. A look of being haunted by the past. Ghosts were clinging to him. Ghosts that he couldn't let rest.

A solemn feeling had settled on the group as they waited for their fellow soldier to gather his thoughts.

Thompson nodded, "the Navy Cross." He sighed and looked at Peggy, before leaning forward. "Alright. 1945, Tsuken Island. Nothing detail. I fall asleep on the night shift. I wake up...six Japanese soldiers walking into my camp, just waltzing in in the dark. One of them bends over my sleeping CO. One more second, he'd slit his throat." He wasn't looking at any of them. Instead, his gaze had gone distant. He was reliving it as he told it. "Snapped too, shoot him in the back. I shoot them all. Before they even knew I was there," he shook his head. "Before my last man was even awake." He cleared his throat, shook his head and chuckled. "Truth be told, I like the kid's yeti story better."

Ghosts that wouldn't be put to rest.

Scarlet knew what it was like to be followed by those types of ghosts.

_________________________________________________________________

"How is she really?" Peggy asked Dugan, looking across the fire at Scarlet who was curled up with her back to them.

Dugan looked at the woman and shook his head, "She has good days and bad days. Days when you can tell that she's stuck in the past and days when she refuses to acknowledge the pain. Let me tell you, though, she can kick ass on any day. She throws herself into every mission and every situation."

"At the risk of her own life."

He nodded slowly, "yeah. She's not as unstable as that sounds, though. She toes the line every now and then, but she's not going to up and end her life on a whim."

Peggy took a few minutes to simply look at her friend. "I understand where she is. Emotionally, that is. I know the pain of losing both a brother and a..."

"Lover?"

"Essentially."

"You knew, then, about her and Barnes?"

"I think the question is who didn't?"

"Steve."

"Yes, well, that makes sense. The man didn't know how to flirt."

Dugan chuckled, but it tapered off after a few seconds, "I think she needs to go home. She needs to face Brooklyn. It's the only way she'll get closure."

"I agree. But I think we both know that we can't force her to do anything. She has to go on her terms. She has to face the ghosts on her own timing and on her own terms."

"Don't we all..." Dugan leaned back against the log and took off his hat. "Get some sleep Peg." He put the hat over his face and settled in for the night.

Peggy kept her gaze on Scarlet for a few more moments, before leaning down and closing her eyes.