Barnes was a little disconcerted to realize that he looked forward to the girl bringing pastries and chatter each day. He wasn't sure when he had become so starved for contact, but he knew it wasn't right. He wasn't supposed to want contact with others, but he found that he did.

Doreen was quite happy to provide him cookies and contact. She brought in cookies one afternoon and sat down in front of him like she normally did.

"You know, you haven't indicated any preference. I know Steve likes the oatmeal cookies, and Clint likes the comfort cookies. But you haven't said a word of preference." She raised an eyebrow at him, pushing the plate closer to him.

Barnes just shrugged and reached for a cookie. He had no real preference. Assassins couldn't afford preferences.

Doreen huffed. "Really? No preference at all? Chocolate chip? Peanut butter? Anything?" She didn't really expect an answer, but she wasn't giving up hope that one day he'd respond with words.

Barnes was about to just shrug again when something nudged at him from the depths of his fragmented memory.

"Snickerdoodle," he finally said, sounding a bit puzzled.

Doreen looked absolutely delighted. "Snickerdoodle. I can make those!" She grinned at him. "I'll make some a little later. Snickerdoodles are pretty good."

"Why do you care?" Barnes asked carefully, watching her. It was something that had been nagging him ever since he realized she was making a habit of visiting him.

Doreen blinked. "It's... kind of what I do, I guess. I like making sure that people are comfortable."

"Why?" Barnes asked. "What's in it for you?"

"The satisfaction of knowing I make people happy?" Doreen shrugged. "Nothing other than that, not really."

Barnes settled back as he considered that. That couldn't be it, people didn't just do things to do them. There had to be an ulterior motive.

Doreen let him fall quiet again, munching on a cookie. She was watching him, though.

Barnes let her. He didn't mind the silence. At least he wasn't being gagged.

Doreen paused when her phone pinged at her. "Alright, looks like I need to get going before the others notice. I'll bring you some snickerdoodles later."

Barnes nodded once and watched her go. Then he settled in to contemplate things a bit more.

Doreen managed to not get caught at it for another week. And when she did get caught, things blew up.

"How did you get in there?" Tony asked as he pulled her out of the room. This was drastic enough to have him summoning the rest of the team.

"I picked the lock." Doreen shrugged.

"Oh of course you--you picked the lock?!" Tony scowled. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

Doreen was quiet for a moment before she pointed at Clint, who had dropped out of the vents.

Clint held up his hands.

"Hey, in my defense, she wanted to learn way before any of this happened," he said.

"No more teaching her things," Tony said, pointing at Clint. "And you, no more going in there." He scowled fiercely at Doreen.

"Why not? Give me one good reason." Doreen crossed her arms over her chest.

"Because he's a dangerous psychopath," Tony retorted. "In case you don't remember, he tried to snipe Natasha in the head."

"Yeah, but I've also been in there every day, and you'll notice I don't have a single scratch or bruise on me." Doreen spread her arms. "See? Fine. No harm done."

"Every--" Tony sputtered. He looked at the ceiling. "What the hell, Jarvis, I said keep everyone out! How'd a geek with a bobby pin get past you?"

"I don't have control over the locks on this floor, sir," Jarvis reminded him. "That was disabled five months, twenty-eight days, four hours and six minutes ago, after the Nerf Sniping Incident."

Tony grumbled under his breath.

"And you didn't think to tell me that someone was sneaking the locked-up Soviet assassin cookies?" he asked.

"There was no harm done, sir," Jarvis said. "She has been able to talk to him, after all."

Doreen gave Tony a very smug look.

That made Tony pause.

"He's talked to you? We can't get him to say a word, the son of a bitch won't even respond to Natasha," he said, looking at Doreen.