His Saving Grace

After I had composed myself, I went into the small area that was my room, Bucky following me quietly. I curled into a ball on my bed, arms wrapped around my knees, holding them to my chest.

I hadn’t been able to take a kill shot whenever we were up against Hydra. I tampered with Bucky’s arm the moment he was out of commission. I got away twice, once without Bucky’s help. My contact that was going to expose Hydra was nearly caught by them merely minutes after I had left.

Hydra made a good show of hunting me down, but I never saw them until Bucky had started to look for me. Because they were hunting Bucky. But why would they have just let me go? What use was I out here?

I didn’t know, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed until I heard Steve’s voice from behind me.

“Bucky?” He asked, and I heard a small shuffle of someone standing and turning. “What’s wrong?” Steve continued, and I could nearly feel his eyes baring into my back.

“Nothing, she’s just not feeling well.” Bucky lied so effortlessly, even I wouldn’t have been able to tell he was lying.

“Okay… is there anything we can do?” Steve whispered.

“No but it should pass soon.” Bucky said quietly and I heard another shuffle of feet.

“Let us know if we can do anything. We’ll plan some more in a few days. I think we could all use a break.” Steve offered, his voice soft.

“Okay.” Bucky said just as softly, and then I heard Steve walk away. The curtain that was hanging between the two dividers that made up the walls rustled, and I felt a slight pressure against my bed. “Are you okay?” He whispered, his breath hitting my back. I didn’t answer him.

He didn’t say anything for a while, but I felt him beside me, sitting on the floor again with his back pressed against my bed. He didn’t say anything for a moment, and I enjoyed the silence. I could hear slight shuffling from the other side of the dividers, heard Steve and Sam talking quietly, though I couldn’t hear what was said.

“When I was a kid, I would spend most of my time at Coney Island.” Bucky’s voice was soft, gentle. I felt him shift into a more comfortable position. “I remember it so clearly now. The rides, the people, the food. It was awful, but it was… it was the best, actually. When I met Steve, I dragged him there every day it seemed.” Bucky chuckled softly. “There was this one time… I convinced him to ride this rollercoaster, I still can’t remember the name, but I remember when Steve threw up.”

Bucky’s quiet laugh made a small smile appear on my face, imagining Steve throwing up because of a ride.

“It went everywhere, all over himself, on the back of the heads of the couple in front of us, all over me.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and I felt him tip his head back to rest against the bed. “I remember most of my life. A few details are missing. I can’t remember what the couple in front of us looked like. I can’t even remember whether it was overcast or sunny that day. But I remember the look on Steve’s face. I remember our parents, Steve’s mother’s funeral. I remember this expo the night before I shipped out. I had set up a date for Steve that night. It didn’t go well.” Bucky’s voice dipped slightly, the smile in his voice gone. “He enlisted that night. The next time I saw him was in Italy.”

I rolled over, facing him. His face was solemn, blue eyes sad. Damn those eyes of his.

“Buck, why aren’t you telling Steve this?” I asked softly, eyes downcast. If I was betraying him without even knowing it, why was he telling me things that would let Hydra know just how much their brainwashing hadn’t worked?

He looked up at me, his fingers tilting my chin up so he could look into my eyes gently.

“I remembered nothing of my past before I met you at that club. I remembered my last mission, to kill Steve. I remembered a glimpse of a conversation I had when he was just Steve Rogers, a five foot four stick of a man.” He said, his fingers still on my chin. “I don’t know how you’re doing it, but I remember things when I’m near you.” His voice and eyes were sincere, but he was wrong. I wasn’t doing anything. I couldn’t fix anything other than physical injuries.

“It’s not me doing anything.” I spoke softly, shaking my head. His fingers fell away, resting on the bed beside me.

“You don’t think you are. But I can feel it, Grace.” He moved closer to me, knees up close to his chest, his blue eyes glued to mine. “You’re not working with Hydra. They’re resourceful enough to find us without any help. I chose that diner. They were trailing you before I got there. They only attacked us because they knew that together we could bring them down. On your own, you were keeping your head down. You weren’t a threat to them.”

His voice was firm, unmoving. He was convinced I wasn’t calling them. That he trusted me that much sent a weird feeling through me, something between gratitude and relief.

“Bucky… I.” I started, frowning as I tried to find the words. “There’s no proof that I haven’t been working with them all this time.” Bucky frowned at me, hands grabbing my own.

“There’s no proof that you are.”

I was going to respond when I heard the large warehouse door slide open, the sound echoing through the large space. I shot up, less than a second later than Bucky, who was already on his feet and ready for a fight.

“Woah, hold on guys!” Sam’s voice beat him to the doorway, his face had a small smile on it. “It’s just Natasha.”

Bucky and I shared a worried glance, quick enough that Sam missed it. Sam turned and left, his footfalls falling silent the further away he got. Bucky squared his shoulders, still tense.

“Stay behind me, just in case.” Bucky’s voice was soft, and I frowned.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s go.” I said, slipping out of the room, arms around myself. I was already on edge, but now I was worried. If Sam was this happy to see this Natasha person here, I wasn’t sure what it meant for Bucky. The more people stuck with us meant more chances of Hydra getting ahold of him again.

Bucky didn’t say a word as he fell into step beside me. We walked to the other side of the warehouse, the many dividers maneuvered into a string of corridors. I could hear Sam and Steve speaking, but couldn’t hear anyone else. As we stepped into the entryway, I froze, eyes wide.

Natasha was a tall woman, thin with red hair and a black suit, braces on her arms that had lines of blue running through them. It wasn’t her appearance that made me freeze though. It was the look in her eyes, the recognition sparking there that made me falter.

“You.” Her voice was filled with shock and disbelief, her eyes wide.

I knew where she recognized me from.

Nearly a year ago, when I met with a tall man with an eyepatch, giving him everything I knew of Hydra in an attempt to free Bucky. This woman had been with him at the time.

Natasha’s gaze grew cold, and she looked to Steve and Sam in concern before she addressed me. “What are you doing here?”