Set after Captain America: Winter Soldier, follows the Winter Soldier as he attempts to regain his memory and hopefully a semblance of a real life. Sadie Tanner, enters the picture right when he can't seem to take one more step. Why does he think she knows him, and how did he know to find her?
Chapter 1
Sadie couldn't identify what woke her first, but what kept her up was Ace's incessant barking somewhere outside. A weight seemed to settle in her stomach, as after hearing the pitter-patter of the rain on the tin roof the horses then started in on the chaos. She ran down the stairs, hastily pulling on her long rain boots at the door and burst out in to the rain. Running down the walkway to the barn, she could just see Ace's curled tail bouncing back and forth in front of the door over the small hill she had left to cover.
"Shhhh…" she tried to tell the frantic mutt as she reached the door. Reaching for the handle she yanked it open, expecting the worse. In her mind she worried that the horses had all gotten sick and were dying or that a wild animal had gotten in. Pulling back the door she quickly flicked on the lights to see all the horses contained and accounted for but definitely agitated, pacing back and forth in their stalls. Sadie wiped the rain off of her face as she went from stall to stall calming them.
"There, there Violet. It's just the storm, nothing's wrong." She cooed to her favorite, while stroking her white nose. Looking in to Violets widened eyes, Sadie saw the horse glance to the empty stall at the end and her ears perk up and around searching for noises. Sadie turned around and saw that Ace was there at the stall door, growling softly.
"Hello?" Sadie asked, feeling stupid for asking such a silly question. If it was a murderer he wouldn't very likely answer her back. Steeling her courage, and knowing Ace and the other horses were around she looked quickly through the grill of the stall. There was nothing there, except she couldn't quite see where the stall doors shadow fell. Ace's growls continued, and grew in volume.
"Okay Ace, get ready." She warned the dog. She took a deep breath while thinking, "God, why didn't I bring the gun, Idiot."
She found a horse shoe close by, and holding it aloft she threw the door open. A pair of dark brown eyes stared up at her from underneath a layer of grime, hay, and blood. Ace lunged, but then a hand shot up from the mass.
"NO!" Sadie screamed, thinking this man was going to try to hurt her dog, just to see him hold it up in surrender to Ace and her. Ace sniffed along the hand up the arm and finally licked just once on the face before turning back to Sadie with a smile, as if to say, "look who I found, aren't you proud?" The man turned his eyes back to her, and she couldn't look in to them without feeling his sadness pour off of him. She had never seen such a confused and overwhelmed expression on any man, the hand holding the iron horseshoe fell.
"Do you," He spoke, croaking the first few words before trying again after a series of coughs and deep breaths, "do you know me?"
With his question asked, all the strength he had left in his body seemed to leave him and he fell back on to the floor. Ace quickly attempted to revive the man with kisses and nudges of his wet nose, while Sadie took a second to collect herself. When she had opened the stall she had expected an animal; a possum or at worse a raccoon. Not a man, and not a banged up, nasty one to boot.
"Oh my God," she whispered before getting her bearings back. "We've got to get him inside."
Sadie would later look back and wonder how in the world she was able to get his body up and in to the main house. He had to weigh at least three times as much as her, and being passed out didn't help either. Maybe it was the adrenaline flowing through her veins from the whole experience, or maybe she had latent super powers, but somehow she made it through the back door with him in tow. The door led from the mud room to the kitchen, which once inside she laid his body down on the breakfast table. She quickly looked him over; his once black sweats were battered and torn in multiple places. Sadie wondered if maybe he was a burglar, since based on his outfit he obviously didn't want to be seen. He was also wearing thick gloves, even though it was still late summer, not nearly cold enough. She hesitated, and then leaned down moving his matted hair out of the way to place her palm on his forehead.
"God, he's burning up," she mumbled to herself, then started removing his outerwear. She started with his boots and socks revealing the first semi-clean bit of him. She then reached up to take off his gloves, starting with the right one. It was obvious that he used his hands a lot; his hand was calloused and had a few faded scars that would probably never completely go away. His hand reminded her of her Grandfathers, worn from hard work. Reaching for the other glove, his right hand shot up grabbing her jaw making her scream before he forced her head up to look in his eyes. His face had completely transformed from the sad, confused man she had seen to one of a man possessed. He looked ready to kill.
"Your okay, your okay. I'm trying to help you." She spoke through her clenched jaw, soothingly as she would to one of her animals. "My name is Sadie, I won't hurt you so let me go."
His grip did not lessen, instead he brought her head closer to his, staring deeply in to her eyes. What he was searching for she didn't know, but she did not back down or avert her gaze. His grip was tight but not enough to hurt, just enough to keep her immobile. She felt every bit of his rough hands as the held her captive, causing a shiver to run down her back. Her anger rose as he kept her in place. Here she was trying to help him and all he could do was be aggressive. With narrowed eyes she spoke slowly but firmly, "Let me go now." His head tilted to the side, before he slowly released her jaw.
"Thank you." She lifted herself back up, dusted her hands on her pajama pants then told him in a clinical manner," You have a high degree fever. I need to get you out of these soaked clothes, and I have to tend to your wounds. Since you are not well enough to do it yourself, I will be helping you. So, if you would be so kind as to let me remove your clothes."
She heard a gruff reply in the affirmative before reaching once again for his left hands glove. She slipped it off while glancing at his face, he grimaced and thinking she had hurt his hand she quickly looked down.
Sadie released a soft, "Oh!" His hand was completely metal, she initially thought it was a prosthetic, but it certainly didn't move like a prosthetic. Her eyes darted back to his face, her mouth half open wanting to ask what had happened to him. But the man had turned his head away, looking through the kitchen window and out into the distance. Once again she could see the tortured soul inside him and deciding that the best course of action was to march on, instead of asking questions. She started pulling his sweat shirt off of him.
"Let me know if I hurt you," she whispered. With the shirt off she could see that it was much more than just a prosthetic hand, his entire arm up to the shoulder joint was in the same type of metal, with a single red star on the outside of what would have been his bicep. She quickly looked away in an attempt to make him feel more comfortable. She instead focused on his chest where he had severe bruising and what looked to be a broken rib. Her hands softly touched the purpled and yellowed skin, hearing him suck in a breath of air and holding it the moment she touched his ribs.
"You've broken a rib maybe two, tough to say without an x-ray." It helped her to continue speaking in her clinical voice. She wasn't used to seeing human injuries, in a way it was harder to keep her emotions separated.
"Let me grab some dry clothes real quick, don't go anywhere." She laughed sardonically in her head, as if he could. She ran upstairs to the door to her Grandfathers room. She stopped short just before bursting through, this was the first time she had been in there since the funeral. But no matter how painful it was for her, she knew this was the only chance of finding something that would remotely fit the man. Everything was exactly as he had left it, and luckily she knew exactly where he kept everything. She grabbed a button down flannel pajama shirt, a pair of boxers, and matching flannel pajama pants. As she was leaving she noticed the room still even managed to smell like him, and with a smile she ran back down the stairs and in to the kitchen. The man was right where she left him, with the only difference being his real arm was now hanging down and stroking Ace on the head.
"Okay! So let's get you dried off and warm, then we can work on your head. I'll have to give you a few stitches on that cut over your eyebrow." She started rambling as she worked on his pants, for the first time starting to get nervous about seeing him naked."Don't worry, I'll make sure it's clean and I'm really great at stitches." She then added as an afterthought, "Although you'll be my first human."
At this point his sweat pants had been added to the pile of clothes. He was left in a pair of black boxer-briefs, and she wondered if he wore any other color. Looking at him now, she was able to notice just how fit he was. His body seemed like it had been worked on for ages to achieve the perfection she saw. His legs weren't nearly as beat up as his torso and chest, just some light bruising around the knee. Her gaze drew ever upwards, to where she rested her eyes on his hips and just below.
"Ahem." She cleared her throat before looking up in his face and away from all the distracting stuff. His eyes were once again trained on her face, looking for something.
"If you could lift please," He did so with a raise of an eyebrow and she quickly shed his boxer-briefs without looking and placed his legs in to the boxers she had brought down. Through her periphery she could barely make out his thin hips, and the generous member between them. Her face flushed as she struggled not to actually look. He lifted his hips again without being told, and she thanked her lucky stars she didn't fumble that up and accidently touch him. With the worst out of the way she continued with her ramble.
"Oh, so as I was saying. You will be the first human I have ever given stitches to. I'm a licensed vet tech. so I've only ever stitched up animals. You know dogs, cats, a few squirrels, oooh and a tiger once." By this point she had put the pants on and was starting to button up the shirt.
"But I doubt that stitching a human could be that much different. Don't worry; I won't let a nasty scar ruin that pretty face. Hmm, at least I think its pretty can't really tell with all that muck on your face." She tried to get a smile from him, but failed.
Sadie walked over to the kitchen sink, grabbed a clean dishtowel and started to wet it with warm water and soap. With a glance over her shoulder, she saw the man staring down at his new clothes in awe. He slowly touched the fabric on his thigh and scrunched his eyebrows together, as if trying to remember something. She turned around holding the damp cloth and just watched him. 'What has happened to him?' She couldn't help but wonder. He seemed to feel her eyes on him, and quickly dropped his hand and stared back at her. He cleared his throat, and Sadie waited for him to speak for the first time since finding him.
"Water," he muttered throatily. Sadie's eyes widened to saucers, feeling like a complete dunce.
"Oh! Of course, I'm so sorry. I should have offered you some immediately," She hastily drew him some water. She handed him the full glass and continued, "It's just not every day I have strange men hiding in my barn, I wasn't thinking."
He chugged the whole glass with her watching, and let her fill it up once more before he seemed sated.
"Thank you." He whispered, while handing it back to her. His voice sounded better now, softer and less raspy. Sadie smiled in reply, and after putting the glass down beside him pushed his hair aside and started softly wiping his face off. He continued to stare at her, but by now it didn't bother her. With each pass of the towel, more of his face was revealed to her. She started to see his under his short beard a defined jaw line, his cheeks were slightly hollowed showing he hadn't eaten lately, but as always his eyes kept drawing her attention. He had spoken so little since she had brought him in, but it felt as if his eyes were pleading with her.
"Don't tell anyone, keep me safe." They seemed to say, and with a nod of her head she answered his voiceless plea.
"To answer your question from before, I don't know you." He looked confused for a moment, as if he had forgotten his first words to her. "But don't worry, you will be safe here. I'm not sure what's happened to you, but it seems like you need a place to lay low. I won't tell anyone you're here. I'll keep you safe."
For the first time she saw him close his eyes and let out a relieved sigh. He almost smiled, but stopped himself, opened his eyes and said, "Thank you, miss."
Sadie nearly laughed at being called miss, but instead asked the one question she had been dying to ask since he landed at her feet.
"What's your name?"
He stared past her now, thinking hard, and it took him a few long moments before finally saying,
"James. I think my name is James."
