A/N: Hey, everyone! Now that winter break is nearly upon us, I will be updating Aspie and beginning to cross-post to AO3. However, to keep the wait from bugging everyone, I'll be doing drabbles and one-shots from now leading to Christmas. There will be some Hanukkah stories, and some plain old winter ones, as well. Some stories will be AUs, and still others will be canon divergent.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Steve POV
Bucky.
The mere thought of the name gives me chills now.
James Buchanan Barnes was the man I trusted with my life-and was the one man I lost.
But now, Bucky has been found. He refuses to spend Christmas with me; he says his latest HYDRA target is only available that day.
I can't help but think back to the first Christmas we shared in Europe. There was a target that day, too: a high-ranking SS officer Bucky had been specially called in to kill, because their snipers weren't willing to shoot at a vehicle moving forty five miles per hour. Bucky practiced the shot with decoys for two weeks.
On Christmas day, he was sick from his time in the cold. He had to take the shot from an interior window, at an angle he hadn't been prepared for at all. He missed the first shot, which I had almost expected, but the second hit the man in the head.
Christmas dinner, that night, was hot soup. Peggy sent us real chocolates, which we melted and mixed with hot water before distributing the drink among the Commandos.
That was the first Christmas mission, and I can only hope this will be the last.