That made Bucky pause. For a moment, he'd felt the bond connect, but he had no idea what she might have seen.

"What was it?" he finally asked, watching her cautiously.

"Just a vantage point," Liz said dismissively. "Up on a building somewhere. No big deal. I've seen worse."

"Sorry," Bucky said after a moment. "If I could keep a lot of it from you, I would." And he meant that. Nobody else should have to suffer because of his trauma.

"Don't worry about it. I've seen worse. Hell, I've done worse." Liz shook her head. He wasn't the only one with trauma, after all.

"Oh really?" Bucky said. He looked at her. "You know who I am, right? Who I was?" He knew it was pretty much public knowledge at this point, so it wasn't ask if he was asking if she knew anything classified.

"Yeah." Liz shrugged. "Far as I'm concerned, you were mind-wiped and manipulated and controlled. Different from making the choice yourself with all your faculties intact and all the information."

"It was still my hands that did it," Bucky pointed out. "And I still have a working knowledge of all of it, even if the specific memories are a bit spotty."

Liz shrugged. "Well, sugar," she said, getting to her feet, "guess we've both got knowledge we'd rather not have, then."

Bucky raised an eyebrow.

"What's your story, then?" he asked. "Clearly, you've got one."

"My story you'll have to do a bit of research on first," Liz said, scribbling her number and one word on a piece of paper. "Call me or text me when you know more." She set the paper down, slid out of the booth, and headed back to the apartment.

In slightly scrawling writing under her number was written "Extremis".

Bucky raised an eyebrow, but didn't protest. He kind of liked research, when it was interesting, and this seemed like it would prove very interesting. He'd heard of Extremis before, once or twice, around the peripherals of some past missions. He had a pretty good idea of where to start looking.

Liz could have kicked herself for telling him so much, but if they were supposed to be soulmates or whatever, she figured he was better off finding out now so at least he could still tell her no without other complications. She sighed a little and trudged straight into her room, flopping over for a while.

Hillary was already home, and she peeked into Liz's room.

"Hey," she said. "Wasn't expecting you back so soon."

"Yeah. I was at the coffee shop when the guy came in again." Liz paused. "The one I'm supposed to be connected to, or whatever."

"Really?" Hillary asked. She went in and sat down next to Liz. "How'd it go?"

"Fine. We chatted. He's nice enough, also knows what's going on. Said he's willing to give it a shot." Liz paused there before she sighed. "I figured if he wants to try, he should know who and what he's trying with. I told him to go research Extremis and let me know when he's done that."

"Already?" Hillary asked. She knew it was a delicate subject for Liz. "We'll see what happens, then." She looked down a bit. "You're braver than I am, though. I met up with the guy I'm connected to, and he asked about what was going on when I was shedding, and I just couldn't bring myself to tell him."

"I'm not braver," Liz said with a scoff. "I figure he better know now, so that when he freaks about it he's not tied down to anything or obligated to me in any way. So he can run off without feeling bad."

"At least you told him," Hillary pointed out. She was quiet for a second or two. "I'm afraid. I can't help but think he'll leave if I tell him, and I kind of like him. He's nice."

"I know." Liz sighed. "Maybe he will stay. I mean, everything I've seen and read says that he's a genuinely nice guy. Maybe he won't mind."

"Maybe," Hillary said slowly. She had a little hope, though it wasn't much. "We'll see. Maybe after seeing each other a couple more times."

"Yeah. Well you guys are having dinner, what, tomorrow night? Or the night after?" Liz looked at her.

"The day after," Hillary said, nodding. "I'm hoping it goes well."

"Me too. I haven't seen you this happy in a long time, or looking forward to anything like this." Liz smiled. "I think you two will be good for each other if everything goes well, so everything better go well. Or I'll have to go thunk him upside the head."

"Yours had better be good to you, too," Hillary said, looking at her. "Or I may need to bite him."