Three days later, we gathered in the living room so that I could give Bucky, Shuri, and Peter the debrief on Operation Copycat Tracker, a name which Steve had dubbed our mission. Tony and I had argued about whether or not to let Peter be involved. My vote was a solid no, but he reminded me how much Peter had already found out for us regarding Kristina Sokolov. I finally agreed to compromise. Peter could be involved but he would use his skills from base and not in the field. But Tony had to be the one to tell him.

After the night that Peter had given me the name Kristina Sokolov, I'd searched everywhere to find out more about her. I came up empty-handed each time. It was almost as if she didn't really exist.

"Ok, here's what we know so far," I said, clicking a button on the remote to forward the screen we'd set up. "Alexei is our target. We have surveillance teams out looking for his location, and Emery is still playing her cover as the girlfriend during the investigation. She is staying between here and her own apartment in order to keep things as normal as possible. Our most recent conversation indicates that Alexei may have gone underground. Emery is monitoring his apartment, but it's been quiet the last few days which is concerning."

"We should start there, then," Bucky said.

I shook my head. "Too risky. We need to see if we can figure out the source of whatever it is that was injected into my ankle and go from there. If we start with his apartment, we risk the whole operation."

"There's risk no matter what the approach," Bucky argued. "The apartment could be the source of the what. We already know the who. And if we find the what, maybe we can find out the why."

He had a point, I wasn't going to deny that. I considered the information for a minute.

"We'll circle back to the plan of action in a minute. First, we need to clear up a few other loose ends. Tony, you've been working on analyzing the tracker they pulled from my ankle."

Tony nodded. "Yes. I've created copies so that I can do the analysis I need without compromising the original device."

"Good. The sooner we figure out what the device was intended for, the better off we will be. Peter, I want you to help Tony. I have a hunch that the face we saw on the security footage is connected somehow to the device."

Peter nodded. "I can run some tests on the device to find any connections."

"Now, Clint and Sam—you two were working on the device that broke the perimeter the other day?" I asked.

Clint nodded. "Yes. We're reviewing the security footage to see if we can pinpoint any details out of place. Tony is working on the device."

"Great. Any questions?"

"How much do you trust Emery?" Bucky asked.

I glanced at Steve. "I'm wary of her situation but I trust her as much as I need to in the present moment," I replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." Bucky locked in on my gaze, and we shared a silent acknowledgment to continue this conversation when we were alone.

"Ok, well, the last thing we need to do is formulate a plan," I said. "As of right now, Tony is working on the tech properties. Peter, I want you to offer him any assistance you can. We need to know the function of that tracker ASAP. Clint and Sam, you two are working on the surveillance cameras and security measures. Shuri, can you help them with that?"

"Yes, I can," Shuri said.

"Wonderful. Steve, I want you and Wanda to do a drive-by of Alexei's last known location. Be on alert. If he's there, things could get ugly. And remember, he may recognize you from the bar, so you have to retain your cover from that night."

"Got it," Steve said.

"Bucky, you and I will continue going over the case details since you and I know Alexei best out of everyone. Does that all sound good?"

Everyone nodded and we separated to go on our individual missions. I caught Steve's attention before he left.

"Hey," I said. "Be careful, ok? I want you to come back to me in one piece."

Steve smiled. "Don't worry. I can handle myself out there. Plus, I don't think Wanda will let anything happen to me for your sake."

I didn't dare hug him knowing that Bucky was watching, but I gave his arm a squeeze instead. "See you tonight."

Once Steve had left with Wanda, Bucky found me and we started talking.

"Nat, is there somewhere we can go to talk that's secure?" he asked.

"The whole compound is secure," I told him. "But we can go down to the lab if you feel that would be better."

Bucky nodded. "Yeah. I have to talk to you about something important."

"Ok, then let's go to the lab.

We walked down the stairs to the lab room that Tony was not using. I closed the door behind us and turned on the computer.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"You're sure we're secure in here?" Bucky kept glancing at the door.

"No one is going to listen in or disturb us, I promise. Is everything ok?"

Bucky sighed. "Yeah, sorry. Ok, so here's the thing: I've been helping Shuri develop a new technology that can save memories to be watched in playback."

"That's amazing. How far into development are you?"

Bucky held up a flashdrive. "This is only a small portion but it covers the time frame we're interested in."

"Wait, are these your memories?" I asked.

Bucky nodded. "Yes. Ever since the rehabilitation program, Shuri has been looking for new ways to help with my memories. This way, I still have the memories in my head but I can also recall things by pulling up the drive."

"So what do you have on this drive?"

"Let's take a look." Bucky stood up and moved to the other side, lightly touching my waist as he maneuvered around me.

Bucky clicked on one of the file folders and opened up a video that depicted a familiar scene. It was eerie to watch what had once gone on inside of his head now on a computer. On the screen, it showed me and Bucky back when we were together during the era of Alexei in Russia. This was one morning that Bucky had stayed the night with me because Alexei had been out and we were just getting comfortable together sneaking around.

"Are you going to tell him about us?" Bucky asked.

"Soon. He hasn't been in the best mood lately and I want to make sure I tell him when he's not distracted."

"Why wait? Isn't distraction the perfect opportunity to tell him the engagement is over?"

I shook my head. "It's more complicated than that, James. You know that."

"If we're going to make this work, he needs to know soon."

"I'll tell him tonight. Over dinner."

The scene shifted. Instead of me and Bucky, it showed him hiding behind a column in the apartment complex Alexei and I lived in. Alexei was talking in Russian to someone we couldn't see.

"I had some of these translated to make things easier," Bucky said.

"I remember my Russian, Bucky."

Bucky nodded. "I know." He clicked on the screen and the audio began.

"She has become suspicious of our plan, Alexei. She and the soldier must be terminated."

"No. She is our leverage. Once we are married, she won't be able to defy me."

"And the soldier?"

"I have other plans for him." Alexei picked up a device from the table and inserted a small blue vile.

"Is that...?" I asked when Bucky had paused the screen, referring to the infamously familiar device.

"Yeah."

I touched his shoulder gently. "Are you ok?"

He nodded and turned to face me. "Yes. I've gone over these files many times so the initial shock has worn away. Did you recognize the girl?"

I scrolled back over the scene. It was not possible.

"It sounds like Emery. But it can't be her," I mused. "It's not possible."

"Well, I'll know for sure once I meet her officially," Bucky said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Nat, come on, are you serious right now?" Bucky stood up and started pacing.

I couldn't believe that Steve may've been right about Emery all along. But I still had to give her the benefit of the doubt. Something about it didn't seem right.

"Buck, she is the last person you should be seeing right now. If she really is double-crossing us like we did to Alexei all those years ago—"

"I don't even want to think about that. But all I've seen is a photo and the memories I have. The only way I can know if it's truly her and not someone else is if I meet her." He started to leave but I blocked his way.

"Listen to me. If it is her—if she recognizes you, we could be right back where we started."

"Then why bring me here at all? You said it yourself—we need to know the why and Alexei is going to give us that answer. If Emery is involved, she could be the key."

Or this could be a trap. "I'm not going to stand by and watch you get taken from me again," I said. I realized there was more emotion in those words than I intended, so our signals may have been crossed after that.

"Nat, you're not going to lose me again." He touched my cheek lightly then quickly pulled away. "But we need to know these details. Plus, it's not like she can do anything to me while I'm here, right?"

"She's not going to stay here while you're visiting. At least for the time being."

"Doesn't she have full access to the compound?"

I shook my head. "I'm not fully convinced the whole shed explosion was an accident. And I know I said I trust her enough, but there might be something else here, like you said. Steve thinks so too. It's just hard to wrap my head around. I've been double-crossed before in the field, but never on my own turf. I don't want her feeding him information from our side. I think the best thing to do is limit her interactions here and maybe put another agent on her tail."

"If she really is a trained agent, won't she see right past the tail?"

"We have to be careful with the way we handle this. But if we do it right, she won't suspect anything."

"You sweep the compound for bugs, right?"

"Every time Emery leaves the compound, I do a sweep. Like I said, I trust her enough but especially now that I know she may have a connection to Alexei that goes way farther back than what we originally thought, we need to be even more cautious." I thought about the name that came up on the facial recognition scanner. Kristina Sokolov. I still wanted to know why her name showed up. Could it have been her on the video file?

"Do you recognize the name Kristina Sokolov?" I asked.

Bucky snapped to attention at the name. "She knew Alexei. I remember hearing her name thrown around. But I never met her."

"Did you ever hear her voice?"

He shook his head. "No, never. It was like she was a ghost. What are you thinking about?" I stared at the screen, wishing we could get a better angle on who the girl was.

"We need to find out who she is. Maybe...maybe there is a connection that we're missing."

"I still think it's worthwhile for me to meet Emery. All I need is one face-to-face and I'll be able to tell if she's the same girl from our past."

"I don't know, Buck. I need to think about it," I said.

We left the conversation at that and continued to go through some of the memory files. I needed to see if I could pick up anything on the device Alexei used on me recently. It wasn't new technology—he'd had the device on display in our apartment way back when.

But I came up empty. No information anywhere to explain what the device did. It figured, though, since these were Bucky's memories and not my own.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Do you have dinner plans tonight?" Bucky asked me once we had grown tired of staring at the computer screen.

"Um, no not at the moment. Why?"

"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? Nothing fancy, just to catch up."

I smiled. "I would like that. How about I meet you downstairs at 6?"

Bucky nodded. "See you then."

We walked back upstairs together. I went to change for the pool and Bucky went to the training room to get in a workout before dinner. I met up with Pepper outside on the pool deck.

"Hey, how was it going over case details with Bucky?"

"It was...interesting."

Pepper lowered her sunglasses. "Interesting how?"

"We had a...moment...of sorts." I bit my lip.

"Does Steve know?" Pepper asked.

I slipped into the water. "He's still out on his assignment. But I don't think I need to tell him. It's not a big deal."

"You had a moment with your ex. Don't you think Steve deserves to know?"

I put my arms up on the pool deck. "If you had a moment with your ex, would you tell Tony?"

"You have a point. Continue." She gestured toward me. "What was your moment?"

"So we were working on one of the computers and while he moved around me, he touched my waist. It was so light, I almost wasn't sure it happened."

"That's it?" Pepper asked.

"Not...not exactly." I paused. "We were sort of reminiscing—I'm not going to get into the details—and I sort of touched his shoulder."

"His shoulder? You totally flirted!"

"I was comforting him! It was not flirting." I played back the whole situation in my head. "And then he touched my cheek."

"Nat!"

I dunked my head under the water shamefully then came up for air. "What?! He started it."

"It doesn't matter who started it! You just proved my point. You totally flirted with him."

"I did not!" I scoffed. "If I flirted, then he started it."

"You know what he's doing, right?" Pepper asked, sitting up in her lounge chair. "He's trying to see if you still have feelings for him."

"How do you know that's what he's doing?"

Pepper shrugged. "Seen it. Done it. It's a classic move."

"Well, I'll clear the air with him tonight," I said.

"What's happening tonight?"

"We're going out to dinner together. It's honestly not a big deal."

"You're going out with your ex, his best friend."

"I'm going to dinner with a friend. That's all there is to it. Steve doesn't need to know my every move, just like I don't need to know his."

"I'm just saying...you talk to me about Steve all the time. And guys do the same thing. They talk about us. So believe me when I say, Bucky is gonna tell Steve something about either his potential feelings for you or  that you're going to get dinner together tonight."

She was right. And I knew Bucky would be able to see past Steve's poker face if he said anything.

"Ok, fine. I'll tell Steve about dinner. Honestly though, he has nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, but this is you—Steve just spent the last six weeks trying to build your relationship back up. You don't want to do anything that will tear that down."

"First of all, Steve has nothing to worry about. And second of all, I'm not going to do anything that will destroy our relationship. I would never do anything like that."

Thunder rumbled in the distance, which was my cue to leave the pool. Pepper and I gathered our things and headed inside just as it began to pour. Not even five minutes later, Steve and Wanda came in soaking wet.

"Well that was an adventure," Wanda said, laughing. "I'm gonna go change into something dry."

I walked out of the kitchen to say to Steve. "Hey you, what happened?"

Steve ran a hand through his wet hair, making it stick up. "Well, we did our surveillance—Wanda and I will debrief the team later—and then we got caught in the rainstorm heading back here."

"You wanna go upstairs?" I asked, biting my lip. My eyes zeroed in on his abs showing through his soaked shirt.

"Now? Are you sure?" He looked around.

"Well, yeah. I need to change and so do you. Unless you want to go with the sexy wet t-shirt look?"

Steve laughed. "Let's go. My room or yours?"