Infatuation | Bucky Barnes

Chapter Nineteen

"Thank you." Catherine told Rhodey as he pulled the chair out for her at the restaurant.

He took his jacket off and put it around his chair before sitting down. "You're welcome."

The two of them looked over the menu and ordered their drink and food. Each of them opted for water and Catherine got salmon with fries while Rhodey got a burger and fries.

"So what are you doing after this? I know Tony is going to Europe for some race." Rhodey asked.

"Whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. wants me to do. I heard they found something weird in New Mexico, but I don't know much. They sent me parter Phil Coulson there since I had to help Tony." She answered. "What about you?"

"Work. As usual. Seems like all we do is work." He told her. "Do you do anything besides work?"

Catherine smiled. "Nope. My work is kind of a full time thing. Plus, baby sitting my older brother."

"No hobbies? Art? Yoga?"

Catherine shook her head.

"I'm going to crack your shell one day Cat. You're my best friend's sister, so I think that makes us friends." Rhodey teased.

Catherine fell quiet. While she loved her work, it was a distraction from her past life. When she was working, she wouldn't think about James.  Of course, she thought about him every day. She wondered where he was? Was he okay? Was he even alive? She never told anyone about him. Not even Natasha, Coulson, or her own brother. Natasha knew him, but she didn't know that she had fallen love with the soldier.

"You okay?" He asked interrupting her thoughts. "Did I say something wrong?"

Catherine shook her head. "No, I-I'm sorry. I was just thinking about work. Let's talk about something else. D-Did you notice, or have you noticed Tony acting a little strange. A little more carefree?"

"Tony has always been carefree. But I've been noticing a few more spur of the moment decisions. He's probably stressed with the government trying to take his suit." Rhodey answered. "Are you coming to his party?"

"I promised him I would. I've never been to a party though. Any idea what I should get him? I mean he has everything." She asked.

Rhodey chuckled. "Tony's parties are different than a normal party. I'm not sure honestly. Maybe a picture of you guys?"

"I'll think of something hopefully. Thank you." She said.

The two of them ate the rest of their lunch and kept talking. She find Rhodey the easiest person to talk to. He was kind, smart, funny. She didn't want to get close though. She was already scared HYDRA would hurt Tony, she didn't want them to hurt anyone. She didn't want to betray James either. If there was ever the chance he would remember her.  The waiter brought out their check and Rhodey paid for both of their meals.

"You didn't have to do that." Catherine told him. "Thank you."

Rhodey shrugged his shoulders. "I invited you. Do you need a ride back to your car?"

"I think I'll walk. It isn't too far. Seriously, thank you for lunch and talking." She said giving him a smile.

"Of course. I'll see you at Tony's party." He told her.

SHIELD Headquarters New York

Catherine sat at her desk while going through mission reports and leads on other cases. The office was too quiet in her opinion. She hadn't heard from Coulson about New Mexico and Natasha was working undercover to keep an on Tony after Catherine told Fury about his erratic behavior. After she finished her reports she opened up a website that sold dresses for Tony's birthday.

"Hot date?" She heard the voice of Dr. Wynter say causing her to jump.

"What? No. Tony's birthday is in a couple days and I don't really have anything to wear. Where did you get the idea of date?" She asked as Wynter day next to her.

"You haven't seen?" Wynter asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Wynter." Catherine said confused.

Wynter pulled her phone out, typed something, and then showed her. "There's like a hundred reports that you're dating that James Rhodes guy. They have photos of you guys hugging, in his car and eating."

Catherine groaned and leaned back in her chair. "Great. It's not like that. He's Tony's best friend. We were talking about work and his birthday."

Wynter smirked. "Whatever you say. He's cute though and I do love a man in uniform."

"Good bye Wynter. I have-" Catherine was cut off.

"Holy shit. Have you seen this?" She asked and quickly turned the TV on catching the attention of other agents.

It was a video of the race that Tony was at. It first showed Tony driving and then panned to a man in an orange jumpsuit standing on the track. The unknown man produced a whip that appeared to have electricity and starts hitting cars. She watches as Tony's car get hits, sending him flying. Catherine couldn't help but gasp. She watched as the man continued to hit Tony's car. Suddenly, Tony appeared out of nowhere and hit the man with some metal.

She saw flames and a car came out of nowhere and hit the man into the fence. For a moment, he wasn't moving and then he did and started slicing the car again just as Tony was trying to get in. Something came flying out of the car and Tony's iron man suit appeared.

"Thank God." She whispered. "Is this live?"

"It's probably delayed by a couple of minutes." Wynter said as the phones in SHIELD started going crazy.

Catherine continued to watch the TV as she watched Tony beat the crap out of the man. Eventually he was able to pull the arc reactor off his chest which shut off the man's device. The news station cut back to their anchors just as the police were arriving.

"I want everything we can find on this man and how the hell he got an arc reactor." She heard the booming voice of Nick Fury.

Catherine walked up his platform while everyone around them started working. "I'm going to call Tony. Maybe he has some information he could give us."

"Good idea. The world just got a lot harder for us to keep safe. Coulson figured out what's going on in New Mexico. There's something called an Asgardian among us now. He comes from Asgard. He's a God, well he calls himself a God, named Thor." Fury explained.

"I thought Asgard was a myth?" Catherine asked confused as she tried to call Tony.

"So did I. Nothing surprises me in this job anymore. He escaped though. We did manage to get our hands on a weird cube though. We have a scientist working on it." Fury added.

"You lost a God? Okay..." Catherine trailed off as she attempted to call Tony again.

"Hello?" She heard Tony's voice.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Catherine asked.

"A little banged up. I'll be okay." He answered.

"What the hell were you thinking driving a race car? What has gotten into you?" She scolded.

Fury gave her a look.

"We'll talk about that later. Fury wants to know if you have any information on this guy?" Catherine added.

"A little bit. His name is Ivan Vanko. He claims his father created the arc reactor." Tony explained.

"I thought dad created the arc reactor?"

"Me too. Let me go through some of dad's things and I'll get back to you. I'll talk to you later." Tony says and hung up.

"We have a name. Ivan Vanko. Other then that, we don't have much. I'll see what I can find." Catherine told Fury.

"Director Fury, we have the United Nations on the phone." An Agent told Fury.

"This isn't good. Tony pretty much promised the whole world that no one would be able to replicate his technology. And someone just did. In their basement."  Catherine rambled.

"Like I said, this world just got a whole lot more dangerous." Fury said.