Without You

“To hell with it, we can’t run all day,” I rasped as we rounded yet another corner. It was tiring, ducking into the dark streets as the sun rose and now trying to blend in with the crowds out shopping, but we were seeing agents everywhere we turned.

“I don’t know what to do,” Bucky admitted, his face stricken.

A building caught my eye, and so did the sign on its door.

“Go in there, I’ll be right behind you,” I said with a gesture to it. Bucky frowned as I reached under his jacket and unholstered a pistol. “I promise.” I kissed him and then hurried across the road, dodging cars and being rudely tooted at until the drivers spotted my gun.

Across the road I found a woman’s clothing store, rather expensive but what I had spotted in the window was perfect. I strode in and raised the gun to the middle-aged woman behind the counter.

“That dress in your window, the red one,” I said as she raised her hands in surrender. “I need it in my size.”

Two minutes later and I was walking out of the store, pistol in hand and wearing a brand new dress with heels to match. As much as I felt uncomfortable, my reflection had told me that I looked otherwise once I had pulled my hair from its ponytail. Car drivers once again became frustrated with my ignorance, but I didn’t care. I had my sights set on the building Bucky was in, and getting there was all that mattered.

I pushed the door open and spotted Bucky sitting restlessly a few tables away. Instead of approaching him, I turned to my right and rested the pistol on the bar.

“I’m going to need two glasses of your best whiskey, on ice, and make it a double. You have twenty seconds,” I instructed the bartender calmly and he immediately obeyed. While I waited, I placed the pistol on the table Bucky was seated at, then brought the pair of glasses over.

“Wow…” Bucky breathed as I took the seat across from him. “You look… incredible…”

“Thank you,” I said with a smile that quickly faded. Everyone was giving us the most peculiar looks, and I could tell that some were itching to make a run to the exit for their own safety. They had a right to, but it wasn’t us who were dangerous; it was the SHIELD or Hydra agents on our tail.

Bucky picked up his glass but hesitated.

“Does this still count as me getting you a drink? I feel like you’ve organised this, so I would still owe you,” he pointed out but I shook my head.

“I’ve waited seventy years to sit down and have a drink with you. I think this counts,” I replied. I didn’t want to wait for a better moment and end up missing out completely.

He raised his glass.

“Well, cheers. Here’s to winning the war, to being survivors, to friendship, and to love,” Bucky toasted and I clinked my glass against his.

“Cheers.” I wanted to down the whole glass in one go but decided that one swallow was sufficient. “That was a beautiful toast.”

“You’re beautiful,” Bucky countered with a grin. I was only given a few seconds to smile at him and become lost in his kind eyes before we were both snapped out of our connection.

Cars were screeching to a stop outside, and boots thudded in the back room. We both instinctively finished our drinks in attempt to make the following events a little easier on ourselves.

“I can’t thank you enough, Evelyn. There is no way to put a price on what you’ve done for me, especially during these last few days,” Bucky said, rushing his words as his body stiffened. “I can honestly say that I can die happy now, with my memories intact, and with you…”

I gulped, trying to shoo away the tears that were forming.

“And thank you, James Barnes, for being the first man to look at me differently, to accept who I am,” I replied. “Because of you I found hope that there might be someone out there who wouldn’t force me into the kitchen, who would let me fight the battles instead.”

“I would gladly slave away in the kitchen all day for you,” Bucky said and I laughed as my tears fell.

“Well I guess I’ll see you in another seventy years for that date, then,” I teased.

The front door of the bar burst open. Every part of me froze aside from eyes, which tracked the four men who walked in and pointed their guns straight at Bucky’s head.

“We could take them,” I whispered, slowly reaching for the pistol on the table.

“There’s many more behind you,” Bucky commented and I discontinued my attempt to grab a weapon.

Instead, I raised my hands in defeat and Bucky followed suit. The agents took advantage of our surrender and rushed in, placing a small device on Bucky’s metal arm to disarm it before cuffing us both.

We were dragged out into daylight and ushered towards different prisoner vans, unmarked so I had no idea who was now holding our lives in their hands. I didn’t want to be without Bucky again, but I had no choice.

But in a way I felt at peace. I knew Bucky did too. We had healed each other, which was kind of ironic.

I stared at Bucky as we were pushed forwards, sharing one last smile before we disappeared from each other’s view.

As I took a seat across from a pair of guards in full-body armour, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. At least we’d finally gotten that damn drink.