We deplaned, gathering everything from the jet, and piling it into the car that was waiting for us at the Budapest hangar. Fury had put us in contact with one of the agents stationed here, who met us at the hangar. We knew them as Agent 23.

"How was the flight?" Agent 23 asked as she helped us with our bags.

"It was good, no issues getting here," Emery replied.

"The hotel is expecting your arrival. And Fury asked me to acquire your tickets to the gala held by the casino annually in Belfast, happening tomorrow night," Agent 23 informed us, handing an envelope to Emery.

"Thanks, Amelia," Emery said. She turned to us. "Amelia trained with me at the SHIELD academy."

Amelia nodded. "I'll be in touch as needed."

We got into the car and drove to the hotel. Emery spoke to the front desk, ensuring that we each got a key. We took an elevator up to our rooms to settle in with a plan to meet in the suite I was sharing with Nat in 10 minutes.

"First mission in a while," Natasha said. She closed the curtains and pulled out a fresh outfit. "How are you feeling about that?"

I took off my shirt and pants, choosing an all-black attire for the rest of the day. I felt Nat's gaze on my back and when I turned around, her eyes lingered on my chest before meeting my eyes.

"Well, at least we're on this mission together," I told her.

She smiled, leaning up to kiss me. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

We sat down on the bed and Nat leaned over my shoulder as I looked through our cover IDs.

"Who'd we get this time?" she asked.

I passed over her ID. "James and Laura Abbott. Apparently, we're married."

"Fun," Nat said. "I've never been married on a mission before."

I turned to look at her. "Really?"

Natasha nodded. "It had never really made sense. Usually, I'm single on my missions so I can seduce the bad guys to extract information."

I smirked. "You know, sometimes I enter through the exit door."

Natasha laughed. "Oh, you are so bad." She kissed me, leaning me down on the bed.

"Uh, do we have ti—" I started to say.

"Don't care," Nat breathed.

She continued to kiss me, deeply. I wasn't going to complain. I rolled us so I was on top. But, alas, it was still too good to be true.

Apparently, we just had really bad timing, even on missions. I had barely gotten my shirt back off when the adjoining door—now I know how Sam felt—burst open.

"Hurry it up, slowpokes—Oh my God!" Emery said. "Not again." She turned and ran back into Bucky, who grunted.

"Sorry!" Nat and I said at the same time. I rolled off of the bed and retrieved my shirt.

"Normally, I'd be all for the two of you going at it, but we have to go check out the warehouse," Emery said, smirking at the two of us.

Nat pulled her hair into a ponytail, straightening her top. "You're right. Let's go." She kissed my cheek. "You boys behave yourself now."

I waved as she and Emery left the room. We were gonna monitor the video feed and  sound from the hotel. I mentally thanked Tony for sending us with all this surveillance equipment, although I wasn't sure how smart it was to leave two guys from the 1940s in charge of it.

Bucky set up a laptop on the desk and we synced up the comms units.

"White Wolf and Capsicle checking in," Bucky said. "Can you hear us?"

"We got you. Black Widow and Amethyst checking in," Natasha said. "Engaging video feed."

The screen changed, and we could now see out the windshield of the car from Nat and Emery's perspectives.

"We have eyes and ears. All set." Bucky clicked some keys on the keyboard, pulling up the tracking coordinates for the girls.

We watched as they pulled up a little bit away from the warehouse, stashing the car under some brush, so they wouldn't be spotted.

"How exactly are you two going to get into the warehouse?" I asked.

"Steve, you've known me long enough to know I have my ways and not to question them," Natasha said.

I watched as she took her batons and zapped the lock on the door of the warehouse. It opened with no problem. Inside, we hit the jackpot. The walls were lined with weapons of all different kinds—none that I'd ever seen before. Except for one.

"Nat, on your six," I said.

"Copy that."

She walked over to the weapons, pulling on a pair of gloves. She picked up one of the dart shooters. "We're bringing this back to the hotel."

"Negative. Nat, we can't risk that," Bucky replied.

"We have to. It's the only way we can figure out more about the device. You and I haven't seen anything like this for a very long time, and Alexei has made improvements," Nat argued.

Bucky switched to Russian. He and Nat went back and forth before I noticed guards approaching.

"Um, I hate to break up this little argument, but you got company," I said.

Nat and Emery prepared their weapons. We watched as they attacked the guards, avoiding anything that could be traced back. I heard a grunt as I saw Nat swing her leg at one of the guards, knocking him to the ground.

"Nat, behind you!" I warned her.

"I'm handling it!" Natasha yelled back.

She said something else—this time in Russian—that  I couldn't quite understand, and Bucky smirked.

"What?" I asked. "What did she say?"

"She called you a sexy pain in the ass," Bucky said, trying to cover up a laugh.

"Love you too, babe," I said.

"Get us out!" Emery yelled. She shot her gun at the guards. "How many more do we have?"

"Two more."

"On it!" Emery and Natasha said at the same time. They each took out a guard with synchronized grunts.

"Heading back to the car with the evidence," Natasha told us.

"Damn it, Natasha! I said no on the weapon!" Bucky yelled.

"Deal with it, Buckaroo." The car engine started and I heard Emery laugh at Natasha's comment.

I smirked, turning to Bucky.

"Don't even think about saying it," he said, shaking his head. I saw him smile out of the corner of his mouth.

The girls arrived back at the hotel a little while later. Bucky was still fuming, although I couldn't figure out why it was such a big deal that Natasha was bringing back one of the weapons.

"Mission accomplished!" Natasha announced as she and Emery flopped down on the bed. She pulled out the dart shooter and set it next to our other equipment.

Bucky glared at Natasha, getting up and storming out to his room.

"Is he really that upset that we took the device?" Nat asked.

I nodded. "I'll go talk to him." I got up from the bed and went over to Bucky's room.

"Hey, man. You wanna talk about it?" I asked, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest.

"She really thought that bringing that device here was a good idea," he fumed. "It's what got us into this mess in the first place."

I wrinkled my nose. "You mean the Alexei incident at the bar?"

Bucky shook his head. "No, I mean what happened to me and Nat all those years ago." And he proceeded to tell me exactly what connections he had to the device.

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

I sat next to Bucky, stunned. He shakily told me everything: from his former clandestine relationship with Natasha—that I already knew about—while she was technically engaged to Alexei, to how Alexei had forced him to use the dart shooter on targets when he needed to extract information.

"There was nothing I could do when I was...you know...under his control and all of that. Natasha knows all about the device. She knows what it's capable of. And she knows that stealing it was how we got into that mess in the first place," Bucky told me. He was referring to their attempt to bring down Alexei in Russia which ultimately resulted in Bucky getting taken away and Nat having to embark on their escape plan alone.

"Buck," I said, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Natasha doesn't do anything unless she has a reason for it. I know that's not what you want to hear, but...I trust her."

Bucky sighed. "I know you do. And I do too, I just...I didn't think we'd ever get this close to that weapon ever again. And now you know why."

Emery poked her head through the adjoining door. "Hey, boys. Mind if we come in?"

"Go ahead," Bucky said. He locked eyes with Natasha.

She tugged at her ponytail and took a seat opposite of him. "Buck, can we talk?"

He nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

Emery and I shared a look. "Uh, Steve, why don't we go for a walk?"

I stood up. "Love to."

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

Emery and I walked outside, leaving Natasha and Bucky alone to talk. We passed the shops that lined the streets by the hotel and took in the warmth of the afternoon.

"So, how much do you know about what's going on with Bucky?" I asked her.

"I know enough. He's a very private individual which I can understand. I just wish sometimes he'd be less stubborn, you know?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I get it."

Emery turned to me. "So, you and Nat. How's that going?"

I smiled. "It's great. And for the record, we already had the 'where is this relationship going' talk. Plus, Clint gave me the 'if you hurt her, I'll kill you,' speech before we went to the lakehouse."

"Well, then that makes my job easier," Emery said, laughing.

"What about you and Bucky? Are you two officially an item or what?" I asked.

"Actually, that's something I wanted to talk about." She stopped so we could sit down on a bench. "Bucky and I were never officially dating. We were never unofficially dating either. We just...it's a cover. Don't get me wrong—Bucky is a great guy, but I sort of have been seeing someone else."

"Oh? Who?" I asked.

Emery looked down at her hands. "Wanda. We were just talking one night and things just kinda happened." She turned her gaze to me. "Bucky knows. He supports me and everything. So we've decided that I'm gonna explore my feelings for Wanda and...Bucky and I will just be friends. You're the only other person I've told."

"Nat doesn't know?"

Emery shook her head. "I haven't had the chance to tell her yet."

I stood up, reaching out my hand. "Thank you for telling me, Em. And for the record, I support you too."

She smiled and kissed my cheek. "Thanks, Steve."

We headed back to the hotel after that to catch up with Natasha and Bucky again.

----

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it was kinda a lot all at once but I wanted to add a little bit of some backstory and explore Emery's character a bit more towards the end. Let me know your thoughts :)

~Han