Rain drummed down upon the window of Peggy Carter's retirement home room. It was dark somewhat, the quiet TV casting flickering light over the bed where the old woman lay. Somewhere outside, a cart rumbled by, a nurse pushing it on to somewhere else in the building.
Peggy's eyes blinked open. Even now in her old age she could tell something was amiss. She wondered if her old eyes were playing tricks on her, or if there was really a man standing in the darkened corner of her room. At first she thought she must've died and gone to heaven, because the man looked an awful lot like James Barnes, the man who died in 1941.
No, she must've been alive. He must've been alive. She recognized the face, but it was different now. The same eyes stared at her, but they were haunted and broken. Long, shaggy hair framed his face and his left arm glinted oddly in the light of the TV.
"James Buchanan Barnes, is that really you?" she croaked.
Bucky stepped forward slightly, staring at the old woman in the bed. One month ago he had pulled the man from the river and failed his mission. He had gone in search of answers, and he found one right here in DC. When he had first seen her picture, a surprising sense of familiarity had washed over him, and he had been even more surprised to learn that she was alive. So, he had come, memories of this woman and the man he had pulled from the river drifting through his mind in a foggy haze.
"Yeah…" he said finally. "It's me." I think, he added silently.
"You're alive, Steve's alive," the woman—Peggy—said. "How many more I thought were long dead have come back from the grave?"
"It's just me and…me and Steve." Bucky managed, stepping closer to the aged woman. Memories were beginning to become clearer.
"Have you seen Steve?" Peggy asked hopefully. "Does he knows w you're alive too?"
"Yeah…I think he does."
He tried not to flinch back when Peggy reached out and took his metal hand. "James, what happened to you?"
Bucky swallowed thickly before answering. "I lost my arm when I fell. They…" HYDRA, "…fixed me."
"Oh, I'm just so glad you're alive," Peggy said, a smile making its way over her worn face. "Steve must have been so overjoyed."
"He must have," Bucky paused. "Look, if you see the mi—Steve again, don't tell him I was here, please don't tell him I was here. I'm in some trouble and I have to lay low for a while. I'm glad I got to see you, though. It was…helpful."
Memories were slowly surfacing. He only vaguely remembered a much younger version of this woman, but he figured he shouldn't upset her by letting on just how confused and clueless he really was.
"Oh, that was always like you," Peggy said fondly. "Always in trouble. Don't worry. I can keep a secret."
/
Peggy never told Steve that Bucky came to visit her, but she never forgot. She died, taking her secrets with her. Bucky never told either, and Steve never knew.