Steve considered it a miracle that he had found Bucky. He had single handedly charged into the HYDRA camp expecting to find out from the other POWs that Bucky had been killed in action or missing. It had been sheer luck that he had been running down that hallway after Zola and had just happened to hear his best friend's pained moan. If he hadn't heard him, well, Steve didn't want to think about that self destructing factory coming down around Bucky while he laid helplessly strapped to a metal table.

Regardless, Steve had saved him, considered it a miracle that Bucky was more or less fine, and moved on to the mission of taking out the remaining six HYDRA factories from his map. He surely wasn't counting on any more miracles.

Which was why, when the Howling Commandos stormed into the HYDRA base just north of the Italian border, Steve prepared himself for the very real possibility of fatalities. They were few in number and relied greatly on stealth, sneaking in through the back of a carrier truck in a fashion similar to the way Steve had originally done so when it had been only him. By the time Hydra realized that they were there it was too late and Dernier had already had the place rigged to blow.

According to scouting reports there were no POWs at this base, the man power that ran the factory fueled by HYDRA alone, so it was once again by pure chance that Bucky was in hand to hand combat with a HYDRA soldier who happened to get the upper hand on him and trip him up so both of them went crashing through a otherwise locked door. Luckily for Bucky the fall jarred the piece of shit and he was able to quickly and efficiently get his hands around his skull and twist hard, hearing the telltale snap before the HYDRA scum slumped dead to the ground.

And it was just pure luck that Steve happened to be close enough to hear Bucky's terrifying yell as he screamed out for him. Captain America had never run as fast in his life, heart pounding as he expected to find Bucky dead, or dying, as he flew through the door, coming to a screeching halt as Bucky stood there, holding something – no, someone, murmuring softly to the person. Steve approached slowly, a frock of curly blonde hair blocking his view.

When Bucky's head snapped up to meet his gaze, the person's head lolled and Steve's heart stuttered to a stop, his breath caught in his chest as his mind struggled to believe what his eyes were seeing.

Steve had thought that he was out of miracles when he found Bucky, he was wrong.


Well, this is a bit of a feeler story I have a couple of chapters (that are much longer than this one) written and if I get some interest I will continue posting.