A/N Thank you for the way you've supported this story - even if it's just clicking on to this chapter!
"This is gonna be great," Bucky said enthusiastically. He expertly weaved through the crowd without paying too much attention to where he was going; leading Steve to believe he'd made the same journey many times before – or at least he'd pictured it frequently enough. "You're going to love her."
"Yeah, you've already said that," Steve pointed out, wryly amused with his best friend's behaviour, just as he had been ever since Bucky had first mentioned his girl, Hermione.
When it came to members of the opposite sex, Bucky and Steve's experiences couldn't be more different: while Steve had been fortunate if he could even find a girl to look at him twice back in New York, Bucky seemed to be able to charm any woman he pleased, so it was hardly surprising that the sergeant had gotten some girl's heart aflutter. What was unexpected was that Bucky had similarly fallen hard – something that Steve had never witnessed before. Sure, Bucky loved taking a girl out but it would always be a different girl each night. As far as Steve knew, Bucky had never even been on a second date – and now he swore he was completely in love and totally committed to her! It was quite a change.
Steve was looking forward to meeting Hermione: he was curious to see for himself the qualities she possessed to make his best friend fall so uncharacteristically head over heels, but he was also hoping that Bucky's reunion with her would cease the sergeant's irritating need to talk about her endlessly. It had only been a handful of days since Bucky and the other soldiers had been successfully rescued from that HYDRA factory, but it hadn't even taken half of that time for everyone to get thoroughly fed up with practically every sentence that came out of Bucky's mouth being related to Hermione in some way. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that all of Bucky's personal effects had been removed from him during his captivity and he complained frequently about the loss of her photograph.
"I wish I could show you her picture, Steve," Bucky had muttered for the tenth time during their crossing back to England. "Then you'd see what I mean. But it's not only that she's beautiful – she's the smartest woman I've ever met! I think she read more books in the first two weeks after I met her than I've read in my entire life."
"That's not saying much, is it?" Steve replied and Bucky laughed.
"I guess not," he admitted before pressing on, "But just the way she talks! I swear I don't understand what she's even talking about sometimes because she's, like, on a whole other level of intelligence than me."
"Again, that's not particularly saying a lot," Steve teased, earning him a shove in response.
"She'd put you to shame too, wise guy," Bucky claimed, "You just wait."
"Hey, Barnes!" Dum-Dum Dugan (one of the soldiers who'd been imprisoned with Bucky) called over to them. "Tell me something: if this broad's so smart, what in God's name is she doing with you?"
Steve didn't even try to repress his bark of laughter at Dugan's comment and the offended look on his best friend's face. When Bucky had rather colourfully told Dugan where he could go, he turned back to Steve with the briefest hint of insecurity present in his expression – as though he really did wonder why Hermione was with him. It was gone in an instant and Steve pretended that he hadn't seen it. "She's pretty fiery too," Bucky said, as though they'd never been interrupted. "Did I tell you that she slapped me the first time we met because she thought I was going to assault her?" Steve glanced sharply at his friend and Bucky quickly elaborated, "It was a mix-up; I was trying to help her."
"I never considered you'd be doing anything else, Buck," Steve said honestly.
"But there's also this, this almost fierce compassion in her – she wants to fix everything and help everyone so badly," Bucky continued. "I've never met anyone like her before."
Steve affectionately slapped him on the back. "I'm pleased for you, Buck – I really am."
Unsurprisingly, Bucky had now taken the very first opportunity that presented itself to seek Hermione out.
"Not much further," Bucky muttered, though it wasn't clear if he did so to reassure himself or to inform Steve.
He didn't mean to bring any doubt to Bucky's mind but Steve couldn't stop himself asking, "Are you sure she's going to be there?" A couple of women walked past, clutching thick bundles of blankets against their chests as they hurried to get out of the chilly, November air.
For some reason, this made Bucky grin over at Steve. "She's there."
They turned a corner and promptly knocked over a walking pile of blankets with legs – or, more accurately, what turned out to be a young boy.
"Oi, watch it!" the boy cried angrily from where he'd fallen to the floor. He looked up, no doubt intending to give them a further piece of his mind, but he gaped at them. "Bucky!" he gasped, "You're back!"
There was another gasp and squeal from someone Steve couldn't see properly because she was moving so quickly to throw herself into Bucky's arms. He spun her around, clutching her tightly, and Steve looked away to give them some privacy.
"Here," he said, pulling the boy to his feet and picking up some of the fallen blankets. He was very surprised to find they were warm to the touch.
"She's just taken them away from the fire," the boy said, seeing the shocked look on Steve's face. "But they don't 'alf stay hot for long the way she does it." The boy glanced up at the pair and wrinkled his nose at the way Bucky was whispering quietly to the woman whose face was buried into his neck. "Tell 'er I'll be back once I've dropped these off," the boy said before scampering off with the big pile of blankets.
Steve stood awkwardly, uncomfortable to be alone with the reuniting couple.
"Hey, come on," Bucky was muttering lowly, "Why are you crying? Aren't you happy to see me?" Hermione mumbled something into his neck that Steve was unable to decipher but it made sense to Bucky. "I know," he soothed, "But I'm fine, I promise." He held his arms out and took half a step backwards. "Look for yourself." Steve watched from behind as she cautiously loosened her grip on Bucky and her curls fluttered in the wintry breeze as she looked him up and down. "See," Bucky emphasised, ducking his head down to kiss her.
Steve looked away again, feeling… something. He was happy for his friend, honestly he was, but he couldn't deny he also felt a twinge of envy at the way Hermione so obviously cared for Bucky. It was a trivial concern with the war still raging, he knew that, and he was fully prepared to do whatever he could to bring it to a close. But, still, it would be nice to have someone. An image of Agent Peggy Carter flashed briefly into his mind but he shook his head, feeling that particular aspiration was hopeless.
"Steve," Bucky called, breaking him out of his musings, "this is Hermione."
He turned, smile already in place to greet the woman who meant so much to his best friend.
But as soon as he looked on her face for the first time, the smile dropped away in astonishment.
It was her. The woman from the Austrian HYDRA factory.
"You won't even remember me," she'd said to him.
The problem was he did – he remembered everything about her.
A/N Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it!
