Chapter 8:Seirēn
"Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,..."- The Ink Spots
...oOo…
Howard Stark was In desperate need of an assistant, organizing his cabinets alone would take several hours. Annie was okay with the work because she was desperately trying to distract herself from that near kiss with Bucky in the bar.
Howard was constantly talking. It was so much of a distraction she didn't even think of Bucky until he left to meet some officers. Annie was now alone with her thoughts.
James Barnes is my friend Annie thinks, It would be awkward for Steve... and Bucky goes through women like a human drinks water, therefore I should not be attracted to him at all.
Annie knew it was all feeble thoughts, but she couldn't sort through them she was never more unsure in her life.
To her luck, Peggy and Howard walked in, Peggy holding a cup of coffee and some aspirin.
"I heard you sang last night." Peggy winked at me and Annie groaned and accepted the pain killers
"I barely had anything to drink" she insisted
"Did Miss. Liberty make a guest appearance last night?" Howard jokes
"Maybe" she mutters "Do you want be to check on Steve? He is coming in today to try on the shield right?"
"I told him last night, i will go and check on him."
"Of course you will." Peggy shoots her a look that sent daggers down her spine almost immediately she hears Peggy's voice.
"Captain! We're ready for you. If you're not otherwise occupied." That didn't sound good
"Agent Carter, wait.!" Steve starts to run after Peggy and Howard sends me a look that says Oh he is in deep trouble.
"Looks like finding a partner wasn't that hard after all." Peggy spits at him venomously, what the hell did he do? Annie thought
The two were now in the lab, Peggy was red at the ears and Steve looked very embarrassed. Taken into context she was guessing he was doing who the hell knows what with another woman.
"I don't think anything, Captain. Not one thing. Always wanted to be a soldier, and now you are. Just like all the rest."
"Well what about you and Stark? How do I know you two haven't been...fondueing." Annie fights the urge to laugh and finally buts in, "Steve did you just say that?"
"You still don't know a bloody thing about women!" she was practically foaming at the mouth.
"Fondue's just cheese and bread, my friend." Howard pats his back
"really?" he asks
"Mrs. Barnes made it for us when we were spending Christmas with them." One year her mother was stuck at the factory during the holidays and they had Christmas dinner with Bucky instead.
He nods his head in understanding and then a deep blush is formed once he notices his mistake.
"The moment you think you know what's going on in… a woman's head. Is the moment your goose is well and truly cooked. Me, I concentrate on work. Which at the moment, is about making sure you and your men do not get killed." He tosses Steve the fabric she made last night, "Carbon polymer,Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although, Hydra's not going to attack you with a pocket knife."I took the liberty of coming up with some options." Stark is rummaging around the lab , "Annie where is my…."
"What about this one?" Steve holds up our latest project, his new shield, a perfect circle that took all my geometry skills to the test.
"No, no that's just a prototype." I say, "I just finished shaping it."
"What's it made of?" he asked
"Vibranium. It's stronger than steel, and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent." Stark pipes up
"How come it's not standard issue?" he weighs the shield in his hand, admiring the craftsmanship
"That's the rarest metal on Earth. What you're holding there. That's all we got." Annie tells him.
"Are you quite finished, Mr. Stark? I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business." Peggy crosses her arms cold and distant still upset about earlier.
"I had some ideas for the uniform…" Howard says
"Whatever you want pal." Steve walks out of the room, giving Annie's arm a squeeze on the way out.
...oOo...
She still hadn't talked to Bucky in the last two weeks. Captain America and the mighty Howling Commandos were preparing to take out the last known Hydra base and the buzz was that they were leaving soon.
Peggy, who seemed confident in the ordeal, had taken her spare time to invest in a side project with Howard. There goal was getting her together with Bucky.
"What's holding you back?" she asked that morning, "Because it's not attraction, so what is it?."
While Annie admitted to Peggy that she liked Bucky, she never told her why she was afraid to try a relationship
"Its so many things Peggy, but mainly it's because he only liked me after he found out I was , He saw potential in me when my hair was all curled and i was wearing your dress.!"
"That's just feeling sorry for yourself."Peggy says, "And you know that's not true because is is very much in love with you."
"But he never said that." Annie says, Peggy takes a deep breath and moves to sit on her cot.
"Actually he did, not to me of course...But to Steve."
"What when we were kids?" Annie laughs, "He told me about that, but I hardly trust a hormonal attraction from a twelve year old."
"After you left the bar Steve talked to Bucky about why you left in such a hurry… he told me, and I quote Steve 'Bucky said he never stopped loving Annie, and I believe him he always would look at her and was so keen on scaring every boy that ever liked her..'"
"Bucky did that?" she asks breathlessly her head whirled at this new information, but it still wouldn't mean he truthfully loved her. Bucky could be delusional, or confused, he spent months being a lab rat and he used her as a string between HYDRA's world and his own.
Yet her heart was telling her it was solid proof, and to go for it to trust the information.
Annie grabbed her suitcase,rummaging through the things she found her favorite picture of the three of them, It was there senior ditch day and they could only afford one coke and a box of popcorn. It Was her favorite photo, but Annie knew Bucky should have had it despite the situation, If he was going to wistfully look at there photo, she wanted it to be them, not Captain America and Miss. Liberty
"I gotta go!" She says
Annie was in her military skirt and blouse, in record time she slipped her jacket on. Annie sprinted to the jeep at the other end of the camp where she saw Steve start to load in his men into the car.
"Wait!" she threw her arms in the air like a banshee "Bucky!"
A few of the Commandos nudged him and gave him a dorky grin, the man (who's name she was forgetting..) That was hired to make the Howling Commandos' documentary started to film her.
"Annie?"Bucky looked at her frantically scanning her face, "Is everything alright?" she nods, and the proceeds to shake her head no
"What's the matter? are you hurt let me get you a nurse…"
"Bucky, for god's sake I am okay, I was talking about us!"she looks at Steve, "I will make this quick, I promise." he nods and gives her a joking wink.
"I was afraid to kiss you because I thought you only liked me as Miss. Liberty, this sexy, fearless, and flirty character, I didn't think you could possibly care for me, the factory girl anymore than a friend I thought you were delusional and in a phase and your feelings wehre superficial."
"They were never fake Annie, I meant every word."
"I know that now, but I am really sorry about how I handled it I was selfish in the last two weeks you could have died and that would have been how you would remembered me..."Bucky cuts her off
"Annie, are you going to give me one of these speeches every time you think I might die?"
She nods, and grips his hand, before she can think otherwise he places another hand on top of hers.
"I wanted to give you this" She hands him the photo, removing his hands to accept the gift, he grins at the sight of post serum Steve and frizzy haired girl.
"Thank you Annie." He meant it, She had found a photo that captured their friendship perfectly.
"If you insist on remembering me,...I want you to remember me like this okay? As Annie Rodgers not as the Burlesque pin-up girl."
"That's easy, she wasn't the girl I fell in love with."
Before she could even respond Bucky closed the distance between the two of them engulfed her lips in his own. She smelled like lilacs, but her lips tasted like cherries it was intoxicating, and he kissed her harder to see what else he could discover. His mouth moved quickly against hers, as if to make up for lost time.
If we weren't always fighting imagine what else we could have shared… He pushed the dirty thought away when her arm suddenly snaked up into his hair, while her other hand cupped his neck. Shivers ran down his back at the feeling of closeness. He was about to pick her up when….
"Down boy!" The Commandos, who were listening keenly gave a bunch of hoots and patted him on the back.
"Nice one sarg, but we got some Nazi's to gank." Dum Dum said, "I can't imagine what it's like to watch your sister kiss your best friend."
Annie blushed the brightest shade of red and Bucky shot daggers at the man for making such a crude comment.
Steve groaned and looked at the two, his childhood friend was lightly holding hands, with his sister the concept was not really something he was use to yet.
"Dum Dum, that's not making it any better,,." The men laughed and Annie helped Bucky into the Jeep, Still holding his fingers in her grasp and lightly kissed his palm lingering only a second too short for Bucky's taste.
"Come back to me Barnes." she said her voice steady but eyes full of tears.
"Always Annie." He quickly reaches to wipes a tear, but then the car started. missing her face by inches. Bucky kept direct eye contact with her as the jeep fades away, the last thing she saw before it turned behind the bend of the road was Bucky pulling out her photo, and giving it a kiss.
AN: I am sorry, but this is where it gets sad...Poor Bucky, Poor Annie...
