[Virginia AU] we rose up from the falling waters

[nerves_of_ice]

A little over a week goes by, and as it does Bucky falls into a pattern, slow but sure. He wakes with Sharon in the mornings, shares coffee and something that suffices for breakfast, then works a little on searches and checking contacts and sources from other time zones and locations. Mid-morning finds him at the Task Force offices with Riley and his team. Early afternoon finds him meeting with Ross, if there's any reason to; mid-afternoon he checks in with Steve, with Tony, or with Natasha before he goes back to tracing rumors and hints.

Today's different, though. Today is Sharon's first day back at work after her suspension, and Bucky's determined not to do a single damn thing that might possibly make it difficult for her.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

She barely slept last night, her mind on everything she needs to do in the morning, and she'd only eaten breakfast because Bucky watches her like a hawk if she doesn't. For the first time since he'd arrived, she goes in with him to HQ, grimly pleased to think of getting her things back from HR.

"Do you know where my office is?" she asks him, as they head into the building. "I need to go get reinstated, and then I'll be heading up there until Ross calls me in."

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods. He'd had no official reason to know, but he'd ferreted the information out anyway.

"I'm working out of Riley's space," he reminds her. "I'm usually around there unless I'm called to a specific meeting somewhere."

It hasn't been long enough for people who specialize in terrorism response to forget the Winter Soldier. He's pretty sure that a hundred years won't be long enough. As a result, Bucky's trying to stay under the radar when he's not actively representing the Avengers in some way.

[from_the_outside]

She nods back. "Okay," she tells him, and smiles, bright and pleased and a little teasing. "Then have a good day, dear."

She won't lean in to kiss him here – they might be doing this aboveboard, finally, but there's a time and a place – but she reaches to squeeze his fingers, brief and fond. "See you later."

[nerves_of_ice]

He presses her fingers and gives her a small, quick flash of a smile before he lets go. "See you later, Agent Carter."

Bucky goes on in, heading for one of the strangely-laid-out staircases, the one near the food court which goes all the way to the roof and which also brings him out not far from the analyst team's workspace.

[from_the_outside]

Between her reinstatement and her relationship with Bucky, it takes an annoyingly long time to wade through the paperwork at HR. She does, however, get to watch that one HR clerk cringe every time Bucky's name is brought up.

Poor guy's probably having nightmares about Bucky's paperwork.

Finally, she makes it to her office and can open her laptop to start wading through emails. She skims most of them, filtering them for later, only paying attention to those from Ross, any of the Avengers, or Ingrid and Riley. She's on her second cup of coffee and her third round of email maintenance when a message pings onto her screen, from Ross.

Come see me. Details on new assignment.

He hadn't emailed them to her, which is interesting. Sharon gives her computer a last glance and shuts it down, then heads out the glass door of her office, heading for Ross's without delay.

[nerves_of_ice]

He's frowning over what looks like an emerging pattern in rumors of sales when his computer flashes at him. Report, says the message with Ross's ID. My office.

Bucky gives an internal shrug, closes operations, and heads out with a nod for Avis on the way. He thinks she appreciates it that he doesn't push her to talk, but of course asking would defeat the purpose.

[from_the_outside]

She greets Marta as she heads into Ross's office, and the woman waves her through with a smile. "Welcome back, Agent Carter," she says, and Sharon smiles back before knocking on Ross's door.

A terse "Come!" sounds from beyond it, and she rolls her eyes at Marta before pulling the door open and entering. "Sir," she says.

He glances up at her from his pile of paperwork. "Take a seat, Carter," he tells her. "We're waiting for one more."

[nerves_of_ice]

Nothing's on fire when he gets there, and no one's running around in the halls with more tension than usual, all of which he figures is a good sign. "Hi," he tells Marta, who smiles at him and waves him to the door.

Bucky raps on it, opens it at Ross's sharp response, and manages not to do a double-take or outwardly react as he spots Sharon sitting there, too. "Deputy Commander," he says, neutral, shutting the door behind him. "Agent Carter."

[from_the_outside]

"Sergeant," Ross says. He sounds annoyed, and Sharon pushes down a smile. Seems her gruff old boss still hasn't been won over by Bucky's charm. "Join us."

He looks at her and she lifts her eyebrows, keeping her expression neutral. "I invited Barnes here because I've had him chasing down some leads which pertain to your next mission."

"Cool," Sharon says, and ignores his exasperation. "What've we got?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“Rumors and hints that add up to a pattern,” Bucky says, and raises his eyebrows at Ross. He’s not going to be the one to prove either that he’s said anything to Sharon already or that he doesn’t know how to keep secrets.

Ross eyes him back and looks at Sharon. “Illegal weapons trade. Vibranium.”

[from_the_outside]

"Someone's taking advantage of King T'Chaka's death, huh?" Sharon observes, glancing between them.

"Not just someone, Carter," Ross tells her. "Klaue. There's chatter that he has a load of vibranium to sell to the highest bidder."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Again,” Bucky drawls. “While I’m happy we have Vision, the entire mess with Klaue before…better to avoid a repeat.”

[from_the_outside]

"Let's hope that this time he doesn't have something like Ultron on his side," Ross says, terse, and looks at Sharon.

"Carter, you're heading this mission up. If we have to bid for the damn stuff, so be it. No one else can get their hands on that vibranium."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Not likely,” Bucky says. “Tony’s not in the habit of repeating past mistakes.”

He ignores the look of disbelief Ross shoots him - the irony’s not lost on him - and continues, “But that doesn’t mean there’s any shortage of people we don’t want to get their hands on that kind of thing.”

[from_the_outside]

"Then we'd better start making a list of everyone else who'll be interested," Sharon says.

"And we'll need to find a way to contact Klaue, set up a meet."

[nerves_of_ice]

“I can put some feelers out through my contacts,” Bucky offers. Ross just leans back and listens, watching them.

[from_the_outside]

"Good idea, Sergeant," Sharon tells him. "Be careful not to burn any of them, but see what they can find out. Along with any competition, we'll want to know his asking price and timeframe."

She looks back over at Ross. "He's going to want to move it fast if he can."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Then we’ve got to move faster,” Ross snaps. “Carter, commandeer whatever resources you need. I want to know your plan by this time tomorrow.”

Bucky nods to Sharon. “I’ll share everything I’ve put together. Obviously.”

[from_the_outside]

She nods back to him. "Send me whatever you have. I'll brief Riley and Avis, too."

Sharon turns back to Ross, hauling back on her desire to get up and go, go, go. It's time to chase some bad guys. "Anything else before I get started, sir?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"You know the drill," Ross tells her. "Get to it. Barnes, you too."

Bucky nods and rises, then steps outside to wait.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon follows him out, lifting a hand in farewell to Marta as she goes, then pauses in the corridor with him. "Is Riley in this morning?" she asks.

"He's got a number of contacts we might be able to use, too."

[nerves_of_ice]

"He is," Bucky confirms. "Although I think he had a few meetings. Avis has been helping with data analysis, once we got the whole set from Natasha, plus what I had."

He glances down the hall toward her office, then nods in the direction of his workspace. "Your call."

[from_the_outside]

"Bring him and Avis over to my office when he's back," Sharon tells him. "I'll go through everything you can send me and everything Ross has until then."

She grins at him, vibrantly pleased. "Time to get to work."

[nerves_of_ice]

She's delighted and practically glowing, happy to be back at work, and he knows how good she is at what she does. Bucky swears to himself that he won't do anything else that could put her career at risk, and smiles back as he nods. "You got it. See you soon."

[from_the_outside]

Her main takeaway, from reviewing Bucky and Ross's intel and going over Avis's data, is that Klaue wants to be found and to make a deal. Bucky's contacts report that Klaue is being anything but coy, and Riley's offer the same intelligence.

It's not a surprise, maybe. Klaue has sold to governments before. If he wants to make a deal for his vibranium, it behooves him to be available.

She's going over Avis's most recent report at the table after dinner, a half-drunk cup of coffee at her elbow as she scrolls through the pages. "I thought it went pretty well today," she says to Bucky, off-handed and half-distracted. "Even with HR."