You never asked. There was a brief pause. Might I direct you to a slightly larger workstation, Captain? Some of the information you requested is best found in the main database.

I'll be back in a few minutes.

Steve jogged after Bucky, because this was important, more important than his phone call.

Bucky was still on the phone.

"I signed everything. Yes, I'm sure. Kathy, that's not-- No, don't you pin this on me. I didn't object, but you left first. This isn't on me." He sighed, and then grimaced. "No, Kath, that's not what I--" He made a face and lowered his phone, wiping the screen on his jeans quickly. "Just when I thought this couldn't get any messier..."

"Well, I got something that'll cheer you up," Steve said with a grin. He knew how messy things were between Bucky and Katherine, and he knew exactly what Bucky needed.

Or rather, who.

Bucky raised an eyebrow.

"What could you have possibly gotten your hands on in the last ten minutes?" he asked.

"The girls work at SI, and Jarvis has access to all their information." Steve let that sink in for a moment. "We just have to get back to the tower to get to a proper computer."

"What?" Bucky asked. "How did you find them so fast?"

"I asked Jarvis," Steve said with a bit of a grin, tucking his phone away and grabbing Bucky. "Come on, let's go."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Bucky said as he was pulled away. "Careful with the arm, that's valuable stuff." The joke was habitual; he was just covering up his anxiety at finding Alissa again.

"You can handle it," Steve said, although he was always a little careful. Not because of the arm (because that could handle everything Steve could dish out, they'd sparred enough times to know this), but because sometimes too much touch was just too much for Bucky.

But it didn't take them long to get back to the tower and to a decent spot. "Jarvis?" Steve prompted, pulling the tablet closer to them.

"Welcome back, Captain, Sergeant," Jarvis greeted. "If I may, I took the liberty of consolidating the information you requested into one location. If I might direct your attention to the screen...?" Lines of information filled the tablet screen, alongside a pair of photos.

Steve moved the tablet so Bucky could see too, going through the information correctly. They lived together, though he already knew that, and they lived in Brooklyn. Not far from the apartment he and Bucky used, actually. He blinked at that, surprised.

And then his cell phone rang and he swore when he looked at it. Inventively.

"Guess we're popular today," Bucky muttered as he took the tablet so Steve could take the phone call.

"Yes," Steve said, both to Bucky and to the person on the other end of the line. "Agent Coulson. I--now? Really?" He made a face. "Fine. Where?" He paused, and then said again, "Where?"

Well, that was an interesting expression.

"Where're we headed?" Bucky asked. He wasn't pleased that a mission was coming up now, of all times, but he had no choice in that.

"Australia," Steve growled, shaking his head. He headed back up to his room to get ready to go, grumbling.

"Oh come on," Bucky said, making a face. "Really? That's as far away as it's possible to go and still be on-planet."

"At least it's not Antarctica again," Steve grumbled. "Estimated time, about a few weeks. Not sure, though. Pack appropriately."

"Goddamn it," Bucky muttered. "Why now?" He grumbled under his breath a bit as he went to go prep for the mission.

Steve grumbled the whole time as well, and all too soon, they were gone.

Alissa went back to work on Monday, although it took her a few days to really settle back into her routine. But she was quieter, and less happy, and she kept mostly to herself. Sudden time changes were not good for her mentality.

Especially not when she couldn't get a certain blue-eyed soldier with a killer smile off her mind.

Taylor went back to work on Monday as well, just as subdued as Alissa. She settled into her job again easily enough, but she couldn't help but miss Steve keenly every time she got a troubleshooting call.

Three weeks passed in a semblance of normalcy, and Alissa was ready to scream. She needed time off, she needed things to change, she needed--

She needed Bucky back.

Which, coincidentally, was right about the time Steve and Bucky got back from their mission.

Taylor seemed to wither as the days passed. She desperately wanted Steve back, and had no idea how to do it.

Bucky was hopping out of the quinjet even before the engines turned off. He was done. He needed to see Alissa, he didn't care how.

Steve was pretty much in the same space as Bucky. He needed to see Taylor, he needed to make sure she was alright. They'd had just enough contact with Jarvis while they were on mission that Jarvis had alerted them when the girls returned to work, but they hadn't been able to do anything about it.

Besides finish the mission in record time, anyway.

"Jarvis, are they still in the building?" Steve asked, glancing around. It was Friday, that meant they should still be at work, right?

"I believe so, Captain," Jarvis replied. "Records show that their identification numbers have not clocked out for the day yet. Would you like me to send an alert?"