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With a heavy sigh, I hauled her back onto the roof. "Do not jump off. If you want to go down, tell me. I'll carry you."

She mostly pouted but gave a nod. "...Okay."

With a flourished flick, Valeriy tossed the blanket, laying it down flat on the flattest part of the roof. Getting on her hands and knees to smooth out each wrinkle. She motioned for me to join her in the middle. To lie down and stare up at the sky without all the dust and bird shit.

"You knew we were going to be lying down...?"

"Nope. I brought this out in case you got cold."

"...." A warmth heated my face from the center of my chest.

Valeriy propped up on one arm, reaching across my body and pulling a bit of the blanket atop of me.

"I'm fine with the cold," I mumbled. "And it's only covering half of me."

"Ha," she laughed, throwing an arm and a leg on the half of me closest to her. "There. Problem solved. All covered."

"How did you come up with some complex plan to cross the border when your problem solving skills are like this?"

"Hey!" she huffed indignantly. "This is an apt solution." She couldn't keep the seriousness in her voice for more than two syllables before breaking into random chuckles.

A content sigh later, Valeriy shuffled to the side until she slipped off my arm. Took only a small movement of the wrist for my hand to brush against hers, still hidden under that damn sleeve.

She pulled way, flopping the sleeve in the air again until her hand popped out. Delicate fingers holding onto mine.

"...I've seen the sky like this before..." I mused. A memory floating just out of reach. "...I'm... I'm not sure where... or even when.... Have you seen the sky completely filled with stars? More than this.... Without a moon."

"More often than most people think I have?" Valeriy responded. "I'd say... the most stars I've seen is tied between somewhere in the middle of an ocean and...waiting for the elephant to finish fucking the truck when I was with Auntie Irene?"

Something tugged in my chest at the name, but something else bubbled at the image her words weaved.

"Irene.... I found her online."

"Her Wikipedia page is probably a mile long," she giggled.

All three of them had articles on that site.

Someone out there knew them better than I do....

My own sisters.

And none of what I read rang any bells.

Didn't manage to shake any memories lose.

I couldn't even recognise their faces.

There was a page on who I was before all this. Something I couldn't find when at the D.C. safe house.

Sergeant James Buchannan "Bucky" Barnes is a former soldier of the 107th Infantry Regiment and the childhood best friend of Ste –

A shake to my hand pulled me out of the spiraling thoughts. Valeriy's head landed against my shoulder with an audible thud.

"Whatever it is, we'll figure it out," she stated softly.

"...I might... have brain cancer...."

"...You've been trolling about WebMD, haven't you? It's unlikely you have brain cancer, Bucky. Leave that diagnostic stuff to Amber, 'kay? We should hear from her when she gets back from her trip...."

"...She can tell what's wrong with me from a video conversation?"

"No? But the hair strands and blood will say quite a bit?"

"You... you never took blood from me."

"Eh, I had a bloody ass shirt... or two? You kind of bled a lot at the house.... From the first night at the house... and when you cut yourself...."

"Hydra will recognize me through the results. Your friend is in danger."

"All precautions are taken. She'll be working on machines that are completely offline. Eve won't let Hydra get their hands on Amber. Neither will I."

Her hand let go of mine, reaching up around my head and messing up my hair.

"You've got beautiful hair, Bucky. Strong and healthy. So your health should be about the same? It's a good thing your hair is long, more info."

"You could have told me that you were doing all this."

She shrugged. "Never crossed my mind? And... I'm starting to realize that I should have asked you first...."

The thought of which felt so very foreign.

"We've been looking into a way to do a brain scan? Without you having something put over your head or being immobile."

"Like an M.R.I.?"

"Yeah...?"

"I... I can try...."

"Nah, no need to put you through that. Something popped up in my search, and if that doesn't pan out, I can trick Gramps into making something that would do. It'll work out. One way or another. Especially if we make a mint off it."

"...You don't have to do all this."

"Eh, it's fun. Much better than the shit I've been doing."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I could use another hug," she laughed jokingly.

But I wrapped my right arm around her anyways, pulling her closer. Valeriy snuggled in, head resting on my shoulder. A content sigh left her.

Under the joking there was something else. She'd been off since we met up at the H.M.V.. Just the slightest. Her smile not quite the usual carefree curve. Her huffs of irritation. Her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

It could have been dealing with those men after her.

Or whatever it was that the A.I. ghost had her working on.

If a hug could help, it's something I could do.

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

"...No.... I don't want to even think about it," she mumbled into the side of my neck.

I couldn't help but shift a tad.

"I forgot you're actually ticklish," Valeriy chuckled out.

When she tried to move away, I held my arm still for just a second and then relaxed, letting her decide what she wanted to do. Which was to curl into my side with a content sigh.

'This much, I can do.'

Something that didn't involve blood, pain and death.

Something simple.

Something warm.

I could even enjoy the moment.

There wasn't a nagging need to finish something. To hunt down a target.

I could just stare up at the stars... and relax.

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Author's Note:

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