[Leipzig AU] a means to a necessary end

[nerves_of_ice]

It's a long flight from Berlin to Novosibirsk and the secret location far beyond it, even in a Quinjet. They spend the time planning and coordinating. Bucky describes the structure and security of the facility itself as best he remembers. Tony calls up plans and blueprints from god knows where and throws them into the middle of the plane for all to see. They're not the same as what Bucky remembers, they figure out fairly quickly, but they're better than nothing.

Tony also takes over the back of the plane and snaps at anyone who comes close, doing something that involves shifting screens and models of buildings and wave patterns and a human skull, and the eventually the low humming grind of a machine. Soon after, he stalks back up to the front of the plane and shoves a set of custom-fabricated earplugs at Bucky, who stares at them and then at Tony.

"Noise-cancelling all the way to total sound blackout. Tap the end of the earpiece to deafen yourself," Tony informs him. "Last thing we need's for you to be his puppet." Bucky starts to stammer a thanks, but Tony growls something under his breath and stalks back to the back of the plane again to work on something else. Steve catches Bucky's eye and shakes his head, and Bucky decides to leave well enough alone.

Sam advises everyone to rest in shifts; Bucky knows he's not wrong, but neither he nor Steve can do it, and after a while Sam stops trying to convince them. Natasha sits with him for a while, her eyes dark with concern. They don't say much, but there's no need to.

A Snowcat is parked outside the door of the facility when they land. Bucky's jaw sets in hard lines at the sight of it, and he trades a look with Steve.

They're already here.

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[nerves_of_ice]

He shivers at the sensation of her fingers on his skin, then kisses her again. "Let me," he asks, softly. "Let me take care of you."

He leans on his hip beside her and braces his weight with his left hand as he trails the fingers of his right lightly along her throat to the first button of her shirt and undoes it.

[from_the_outside]

She tips her head back into the pillow and rolls it so she can watch his face, exposing her throat as he traces his fingers along it. "Yes," she murmurs, her eyes dark and warm as they trace his face, her hand light on his arm as it moves.

She's Sharon Carter. She was an agent of SHIELD. She's never allowed herself to be this vulnerable with anyone.

Not until she found this haunted, hunted, jaded, deeply caring, sweet-hearted man in a little town in France.

[nerves_of_ice]

With painstaking care, he undoes one button, then the next, then the next, working his way down until her shirt lies loose against her and he's able to draw it open.

Bucky leans up and kisses her again, then begins to trace the same path with kisses, along her throat and across her collarbone, across her chest and down to her belly. Each kiss is deliberately placed and lingering. As he paints her with kisses he strokes her skin lightly with his right hand, his fingers warm against her, petting her with slow, soothing strokes.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon breathes deep and relaxes under his touch, his sweet ministrations, even as shivers race over her skin and warmth licks along her nerves. "Baby," she murmurs, sinking her fingers into his hair as he kisses along her body, his mouth as gentle over the spots where Zemo had hit her as it had been when he mapped out the bruises he'd remembered from Thessaloniki.

She tugs lightly on the back of his shirt, her voice a bare whisper. "Let me touch you."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'm still taking care of you," he murmurs, his breath warm over her skin. Bucky looks up and smiles at her, heartstoppingly sweet.

"Just relax, baby."

[from_the_outside]

She reaches up, curving her hand at his cheek so she can touch the corner of that smile with the pad of her thumb as her heart turns over in her chest. "That smile," she murmurs, caught on its curve, and smiles back, sweet and utterly trusting.

"Okay, baby."

[nerves_of_ice]

He holds himself immobile until she lifts her hand away, then dips his head to press a lingering kiss to the center of her belly, just above the waist of her pants.

"Stay here," he tells her, and shifts back to kneel beside her on the bed. Carefully, delicately, he unfastens her pants and coaxes her to lift her hips so he can draw her clothes from her.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon huffs a small breath of laughter and shifts her hips as coaxed, letting him peel away the fashionable dark jeans Nat had brought her that morning, leaving her long legs bare against the blankets. A frisson of tiny goosebumps runs across her thighs as the air touches her skin.

She watches him through it all, an amused sparkle in her eyes despite the darkness of the room, but only rests herself back on the bed once he's finished removing her clothes, as requested.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Cold?" he asks. Bucky strips off his own shirt and tosses it aside, then gets to his feet and takes off the rest of his clothing. He picks up the blanket folded at the foot of the bed and shakes it out over her, then crawls in under it beside her and strokes his hand up and down her thigh.

"I was going to take the rest of your clothes off next," he murmurs. "But I don't want you to be cold. Let me warm you up first."

[from_the_outside]

"That won't take long," she tells him, laughter bubbling up in her voice as she turns towards him. "You throw heat like a furnace."

Never one to pass up an opportunity, she presses her body against his, stroking her hand down over his chest to his stomach and side, then back over his hip. Under the blanket, with him lying beside her, she soaks up his warmth like she's lying on the beach in the sun. "And you set me on fire," she murmurs, leaning in to kiss him. "Every time you touch me."

[nerves_of_ice]

He hisses in a sharp gasp at her hand moves over him, desperately clinging to self-control as he kisses her back. Bucky runs his hand back up her thigh, then down her other thigh and back again as he keeps kissing her, slow and teasing and deliberate.

[from_the_outside]

She bites at her bottom lip, her eyes dancing with laughter, as he makes that sound and as his body presses against her, then kisses him back, deep and wanting.

"What was that about the rest of my clothes?" she wonders, teasing him back, trailing her fingers up along his side and down to the small of his back.

[nerves_of_ice]

"You're still wearing them," he points out, reasonably. He runs his hand along her inner thigh, then shifts to do the same to her other inner thigh without touching her center, teasing her with delicate caresses.

"Maybe we should do something about that."

[from_the_outside]

She shivers at his touch, her voice a breathless laugh.

"Then you should probably get on that, don't you think?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Guess so." He lifts his hand away from her and reaches for her wrist, then unfastens the button at her cuff with excruciating slowness.

[from_the_outside]

This time her laugh bubbles up like champagne.

"Remember when I said you were ridiculous?" she teases, and threads her fingers into his hair before deliberately fisting them in it as she kisses him again.

[nerves_of_ice]

He chuckles against her mouth, only to have the sound turn into a deep groan as she tightens her hand in his hair.

"God, baby, the way you make me feel," he whispers, when the kiss breaks.

[from_the_outside]

"It's only fair," she murmurs, shivering now for entirely different reasons than a slight chill in the air as she pushes at her shirt.

"Help me get this off, please – "

[nerves_of_ice]

All teasing aside, he undoes one cuff then the other, then helps to ease it from her shoulders and reaches behind her to unfasten her bra.

"You're so beautiful." He licks the hollow of her throat, then kisses her there. "In every possible way."

[from_the_outside]

She gasps and puts her arms around him, rolling towards him beneath the blanket.

"I'm glad you think so," she says, trembling at his mouth on her skin. "You know I think the same thing about you, don't you?"

His handsome face, yes. But his sweet, deeply caring heart. His dedication. His tenderness. The way he teases her; the way he laughs when she teases him back. "I can't get enough of you."

[nerves_of_ice]

He sets his hands at her waist and rolls onto his back, supporting and lifting her with him until she's lying on top of him. He runs his hands over the swell of her hips, cupping each sweet curve, then gently up her back, afraid of pressing too hard on any bruise or mark.

"Have anything you want of me," he tells her, voice roughened. "I'm yours. Have all of me."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon shifts along his body to kiss him again, her hair spilling around them in a cloud of dark gold.

"Okay," she says, her own breath coming fast and shallow, her pulse racing, her blood a spring river running joyously free in her veins. His hands paint every inch of skin and the nerves beneath it into life, send lightning racing through her system. "Take all of me in return. And we'll keep each other."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes," he whispers, acceptance and affirmation at once, the single word filled with longing he can't articulate. "Yes, baby. Yes."

He draws his hands up her sides, caressing her, then down again and over her curves, coaxing her to part her legs, teasing her with his fingers.

[from_the_outside]

She slides her knees to either sides of his hips and presses herself up on her hands to look down at him, gasping at his touch before she nudges back, teasing him. Her hair spills in a rumpled mass over her shoulders and her eyes are blown nearly black with want.

"You're so sweet," she murmurs, rocking her hips, sliding against him. "You're so sweet to me."

[nerves_of_ice]

"How could I not be?"

He traces his fingertips over the shape of her body, from thigh to hip to side and up, then cups the weight of her breasts in his hands and circles her nipples with his thumb as he rolls his hips, slow and deliberate, pressing against her, silently promising more if she'll take it.