Chapter VI

Nobody wants me,
I'm mighty blue somehow,
Won't someone hear my plea and take a chance with me,
Because I'm nobody's baby now.

-I'm Nobody's Baby, Judy Garland, 1940


4741′11″N, 154′31″E

Austrian Alps

Late October 1943

This was definitely the absolute worst time to test her fighting skills.

Was it necessary? Of course.

Was she ready? Unfortunately not.

She only knows how to throw a few good punches and kicks, on a good day when strength is on her side she can twist out of Bucky's grip.

Today however, is not a good day. Zola's last treatment left Daniela weaker than ever.

She forces herself to stand upright as the guard advances. Her balance wavers, the guard pulls her chin up, she tastes blood along her tongue. Daniela spits it into his face. He deserves that, pinning her to a wall with hungry eyes and rough hands, she barely broke out of his grasp with her knees and elbows. The least she can do is spit in his awful face.

She stumbles back, rough brick bites into her shoulders, Daniela clamps her fingers into a fist. Bucky's voice echos in her head, one good punch and she can make it to her cell or Zola's lab. Anywhere was better than here, with the guard's greedy eyes and disgustingly hot breath. She isn't a skilled enough fighter to take on this guard. Boots scuff along the floor and shouts echo down the corridor. Hazel eyes widen as the guard grunts, slamming into the wall. Daniela looks aside to see Bucky.

With a tight jaw, Bucky grabs the guard by his collar and begins to pound his fists into the guards head. "Don't," a crack echo's off the walls. "Ever," a gurgle of spit and blood. "Touch her," another crack against the brick. "Again."

The shouts increase as a couple of HYDRA soldiers hold Bucky back as he pushes forward towards the guard coughing blood resting on his elbows. Someone restrains Daniela, although she shakily stumbles towards the hands holding her up. Bucky's eyes widen, "are you okay?"

"Y-yes."

The guard on the ground pulls himself up, a purple bruise beginning to outline his eyes and nose. Blood dribbles along an oddly crooked nose and lips as Zola rushes from the opposite corridor, "what has happened?"

The guard holds his nose and winces. Zola looks to the other HYDRA soldiers, "well?"

"Bucky left to the latrine. After he left, this guard pulled me from my cell." Daniela's voice shakes almost as much as her body, "then he," she motions to the man with a purple bruise. "attacked me."

Bucky growls under his breath and tries to break free from the restraining hands of the guard holding him back. Zola frowns and looks at his bruised guard, "you fool! She is valuable! She is to be treated delicately, we are at a very crucial stage!" Zola's face colors red and spit flies from his mouth as he begins to yell in such rushed German Daniela can barely keep up.

Zola turns to the guards restraining her and Bucky, "escort them to their cells. And get this man out of my sight, he could have ruined all my hard work...They at least knows that now is not the time for such...such foolishness!"

Daniela stumbles into the cell as Bucky is pushed in beside her. The door slams shut and Bucky immediately takes her in his hands, holding her up, turning her face and surveying her neck and shoulders. "Let me see your arms."

"I am fine."

"It wasn't a suggestion." Bucky frowns and turns her hands over and lifts her arms.

"Bucky," Daniela looks at the man's worried eyes and frowning lips. Setting a hand on his shoulder Daniela makes herself soften her voice, "James."

Bucky looks into her eyes and sighs, "I'm sorry. When I saw you in the corner and that guard standing over you...are you okay?"

"I am fine, I used my knees and elbows to get him to loosen his hold on me. I don't think it did as much damage as I hoped, but it stunned him for a moment before he started to beat me."

"Started to beat you...what was he trying to do before?"

"It does not matter. I thought he was taking me to Zola. I figured you'd be brought with me soon after."

Bucky takes her face in his hands, "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"Bucky, there was nothing you could have done-"

"I could've been there! From now on, I'm going with you."

"That is stupid," Daniela rolls her eyes. "We already go to Zola together, is that not enough?"

"If I had been there...I'll make it work. When you go, I go."

"Nothing happened."

"That isn't the point, Daniela!" Bucky slams a fist into the brick behind him, jaw drawn tight. "He was a big guy who could have..."

"I know..." her voice is softer, "I did not know you cared so much."

"You're my friend, Daniela. Of course I care. Look, we've been trapped in here for what? Three weeks? Didn't you say I'm your best friend?"

"Yes, I did".

Bucky smiles, "so I think we can agree that best friends protect each other. So, as annoying as I can be, I'm going to be by your side. Got it, Princess?"

Daniela scoffs and eases a fake smile onto her lips, "okay, Charming. Thank you...I appreciate your care."

Bucky nods and looks at her before sitting down and leaning his head against the wall. "Did he try to touch you?" The meaning is not lost on her, his voice has a rough edge to it.

Daniela stays silent, the ghost of the guards warm breath against her cheek makes her stomach roll and she turns her face from Bucky.

"Daniela?" There's silence and she can feel the tension in Bucky's shoulders, "I'll kill him. The second we get out of here, I'll kill him."

She gathers herself, forces the tears in her throat to settle back. "I am okay, he didn't get very far. I didn't let that pig's hands even get to my waist." Her voice wavers at the admission. His hands got far enough to make fear pulse in her throat and blood pound in her ears. She sits beside him, her shoulder brushing his arm. I have to get stronger, I will protect myself. The guards gruff hands and acrid smell flash in her mind making tears pool in her eyes. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Daniela," Bucky's voice is soft, "look at me."

Daniela keeps her eyes trained on the flood, blinking back tears. Bucky nudges her arm and she slowly looks up and makes herself smile widely. "Mhm."

"It's okay, to not be okay. You know that right?"

She swallows and stares at him, her voice drops to a low whisper. "I..."

Bucky puts his arm around her and tucks her against his shoulder. Daniela leans into him and tears begin to burn into her eyes and throat. She digs her nails into the rough fabric of his shirt and screams into Bucky's shoulder. Sobs rumble through her, Bucky's grip on her shoulders tighten, "it's okay to not be okay."


Bucky turns hoping the weight on his shoulder will ease, instead it shifts closer to his chest. He frowns and blinks open to see the dark hair and swollen eyes of his cell mate.

Bucky smiles and leans his head back against the wall. Daniela has never cried in front of him and if it wasn't for the fact that he has a little sister who he loves with all his heart, he wouldn't know that the girl under his arm needed a good cry.

He could always see it in his sisters face, when she just needed to let out some emotions. It was always in the eyes, the sad way they dropped down, the pursing of the lips, the fluttering lashes blinking away tears. It helped Bucky get plenty of dates, women seemed to love that he could read their emotions. That was until they realized that he can only read when they need to cry, the second he needed to understand anything else he was lost. He wasn't a mind reader, as a matter of fact, women were (and still are) a complete mystery to him.

Daniela groans and pulls herself from under his arm and wipes her eyes, "I apologize. I did not mean to fall asleep."

"Don't mention it, doll."

She stretches, looking out the window at the sun stretching its rays into their cell. "I want to become stronger."

"Daniela...I don't think-"

"Bucky, what happened yesterday will not happen again. I knew how to break free and if I was stronger I could have fought for myself. How do I become stronger?"

Warm blue eyes meet hazel and Bucky is the first to look away. "Eat all your rations, drink everything they give us, and I'll teach you some of the training I went through to build muscle and strength...You're stubborn, you know?"

"Yes, my mother often told me."

Bucky watches the woman he's spent the past few weeks with stand tall and look down at him with a piercing gaze and a small frown. She baffles him, she's warm and inviting just as often as she's cold and distant. He never has understood women, and Daniela is the most intricate mystery he's ever met. Her mood doesn't change radically, it's like he says something and she just changes. It's like there's a switch between the warm and friendly Daniela, and the colder, distant Daniela. The part that confuses Bucky is that he never knows when he's flipped the switch between the two. Bucky shakes his head, women are so confusing.

Daniela looks out the window, "I hope we escape before the snow comes."

"Do you like snow?"

"Hm," she shrugs "I don't think much of it."

Eyes widen as Bucky's mouth falls open, "how? I love snow! When we were kids, Steve and I, we'd play in the snow for hours."

She rolls her eyes, "you are odd, Bucky." A small smile graces her lips, "children in my neighborhood played in the snow, but it never interested me."

"No baseball, no snow, I mean did you do anything fun? Come on, when you're home, what's fun?"

Bucky watches her eyes harden and he realizes he flipped the switch; sometimes she talks about home with a smile other times she gets distant and cold. "I have no home, American. I don't know if I ever have."

Bucky knows its bad when she just calls him by 'American'. "Look, I didn't mean to bring that up."

"Well, you have." Daniela crosses her arms, "I have no home, no family. Just one friend who..." Her voice dies off.

"Who what?" Bucky assumes she is referring to him with the way her eyes shift from his face to her shoes.

She shrugs, "never mind, American."

The cell darkens as clouds pass over, Bucky frowns. "Tell me."

"You will leave me behind, no?" She turns towards the window, "eventually, even if I manage to fight..."

Bucky thinks of the possibilities for a woman like Daniela. She can't go back to Germany, at least not right now. Not to mention she seems to have no desire to return. If she fights, he isn't sure how he can convince his superiors to allow her stay with him and what's left of the 107th. If she was a nurse or serving in some capacity, maybe, but she's not trained. No one will have the time to train her on the front lines, her hand-to-hand combat skills are mediocre at best. He scratches his head, if he can manage to teach her better fighting skills and he promised to teach her how to shoot...an idea blossoms in his head and Bucky grins.

"I'll make you a deal, doll."

She turns with raised brows, "I am listening."

"I know I promised to teach you how to use a gun, and I will." Bucky throws his hands up at her narrowed eyes. "But, I'm going to teach you how to be a sniper. It'll take some smooth talkin', but I think they have some stuff in place for non-citizen volunteers to the military. However, you are a woman, nothing is wrong with that, but it's not gonna be a popular idea. But... I think we can weasel you in."

Daniela's face splits into a grin, she rushes forward and wraps her arms around Bucky's waist, "thank you, James... It's a good place to start. I will find a more permanent home once I end HYDRA." Her lips move against the rough fabric of his shirt, her forehead pressed to his collarbone. She steps away and leans her forehead against the bars of the window.

Bucky feels warmth along his neck and ears, a smile falls onto his lips. He hasn't ever seen a woman smile so wide in his life.


4741′11″N, 154′31″E

Austrian Alps

November 1943

"Look, doll, you don't seem to be getting then point."

"Which is?"

Bucky digs the heels of his palms into his eyes with a groan, "pizza isn't the kind of thing you just...don't want to try."

"But I don't, it sounds odd. A giant slice of bread with tomato juice and cheese."

"It's not tomato juice..." Bucky presses his nose between his fingers, "goodness, princess, we gotta get you to Brooklyn."

Daniela laughs under her breath, "maybe I will, I have no other place to go if I survive the war."

Bucky frowns and looks at the woman beside him, her eyes shut and head tipped back to the light of the setting sun, "we'll find you a home. I promise."

She nods and they both turn to the sound of their cell door and the beam of light cast inside. "Come, we have routine check-ups. Should not take long." Zola smiles tightly and motions them out.

Bucky stands and stretches before taking her hand, Daniela looks up with furrowed brows. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, princess."

She nibbles at her lip and nods, tightening her grip and following Zola into the corridor.

Bucky keeps his grip tight even as they reach the lab and doesn't let go until they are pushed to the other sides of the room and strapped into the tables. The curtain goes up, cutting of Daniela and Bucky, but she gives him a reassured nod. Bucky looks up and starts counting the ceiling tiles while Zola begins the first of his tests.

Bucky drifts in and out of sleep with Zola shuffling around murmuring under his breath, sounds echo outside and Bucky starts to slip back into slumber until he hears Zola yell and gunshots echo outside the door. He swivels his head around, however he only catches the retreating forms of Zola and the HYDRA soldiers as they shove vials and tubes into bags and rush out the room. Hopes of freedom surge in his chest, excitement bubbling through his veins. Bucky pulls against the restraints again and looks towards the curtain where his cell mate is. They have to get out in the confusion, he just hasn't figured out how yet.

Hushed voices from near Daniela's curtained off table make Bucky squirm more against the leather binding him to the table. Whatever tests Zola did left him feeling weaker than he anticipated. The shadow of the man he knows to be Daniela's father shakily runs away and looks back before finally leaving the room with the door slamming shut.

Just great, leave us here strapped to the table. A+ Parenting there, bud.

The door swings open again and a man in blue looks around and settles his eyes on Bucky. The man seems familiar, Bucky squints and stares into the blue eyes and something in his gut makes his heart tug uncomfortably. He knows those eyes, Bucky isn't sure if it's a trick of the light or if maybe he's finally dying, but the man in front of him has Steve's face and his voice. Shaking his head, Bucky blinks wildly at the man and his thoughts rush to how in the world this is happening.

"Steve?" The Steve he knows is a scrawny kid who got beat up in every back alley in Brooklyn, this guy wouldn't be the one getting a trash lid slammed on his face.

"Hey Buck. It's me." Bucky's eyebrows go up and he opens his mouth before slamming it shut. Steve pulls him up and starts talking in his ear, but Bucky's attention has shifted. Daniela is strapped on the other side of the room and he can't leave her.

"Wait, Steve. Daniela...she's over there. Behind the curtain. I can't leave her."

Steve nods and heads to the other side of the lab and swipes the curtain back, Daniela is unstrapping her legs as she whips her head around and frowns, "you are not Bucky."

Steve frowns too, "no ma'am. He sent me to get you." Bucky appears from behind Steve with less then stealthy footsteps.

"You can trust him, Daniela. He's here to break us out. Come on." Bucky pulls her off the table with what little strength he has and stumbles back. He takes her jaw in his hands and looks over her, "no bruises. That's good." He looks at her neck and arms, "they didn't-"

Daniela shakes her head, "they didn't lay a hand on me."

Bucky breathes out a heavy sigh, "thank god. I would have-"

"It's fine. I know." She silences him once again.

Steve clears his throat, pink tinge on his cheeks. "We have to go we won't have enough time if we don't leave now." Steve was always nervous around girls, Bucky almost snickers at the blush on his best friend.

Daniela follows them into the next corridor, Bucky keeping her close. "When did you get so big?"

Steve laughs, "I joined the army."


I did some research on noncitizens joining the military, there was a lot more information than I thought. It's a pretty interesting read, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. We're finally getting into some plot. :)