A/N: At the beginning and at the end of the chapter, you should listen to "End of the Line" by Henry Jackman from the CA:TWS soundtrack. It basically helped me write this chapter and get the feel of things. Hope you enjoy! Favorite, follow, and review!

Amelia despised funerals. She hated the suffocating atmosphere. She hated the looks people would send her. She hated the condolences she would receive from people that didn't even know Bucky. They were all empty promises and apologies from people that came to keep up appearances. Apparently, a death of a person didn't matter to them but their social lives did.

Bucky's funeral wasn't exactly an official one. Since there wasn't a body to bury and they were currently in a different country than their own, they decided they'd do a remembrance instead. Steve would be the one who was going to take care of the arrangements back in New York. He knew way before Bucky left for England, Bucky would have wanted to be buried back in Brooklyn. It was his home, and he was damn sure that he didn't want to be buried anywhere else.

It's a shame how that turned out.

By the time the remembrance was over, Amelia couldn't wait to get home and slip back into her bed. She would pretend Bucky was on the other side, snoring away like a freight train. But Amelia knew that she would be met with silence. Steve tried to reach her before she drove away in her car, but she was gone before he could find her. She had ignoring him the whole day which prompted Steve to believe that she blamed him for his death. It was a farfetched conclusion but by the way she acted today, he had reason to believe.

Her fingertips brushed the glossy side of the photo strip delicately before picking it up with both hands. Amelia settled herself on the edge of the bed, removing the annoying black gloves from her hands. She smiled weakly as her teary eyes examined the sepia-stained photos on the white strip of paper.

A few weeks ago before Bucky's last mission, Amelia took Bucky for a night downtown. It had been a while since she had time alone with him, and she was happy to take advantage of his temporarily free schedule. After they had eaten dinner and watched a film at the movie house, they continued down the sidewalk with her hand intertwined with his.

"Oh Bucky, look!" She exclaimed excitedly. Before Bucky could comprehend what was happening, Amelia dragged him by the arm and ran to the photo booth that was stationed against a family diner.

"Please?" Amelia pouted, fluttering her eyelashes and folding her hands together. Bucky rolled his eyes and laughed but fulfilled her wishes by sliding into the photo booth after her.

"You're lucky I love you." He scrunched his eyebrows together as she entered some coins in and pressed the button.

"Cheese!"

The photos consisted of mainly silly poses: Amelia sticking her tongue out and Bucky making a disgusted face in the camera. They had stopped the weird expressions to take two nice photos and saved the best for last. At the last second, Bucky pulled Amelia closer to him and pressed his lips against hers. Amelia was surprised for a moment but just before the camera flashed, she relaxed and coiled her arms around his neck.

"I miss you so much." Amelia whispered, blinking back a few tears. A stray drop rolled down her cheek but she was too tired to wipe it away.

Sniffling, she tucked the photos into her jewelry box and placed them back on the top of her drawer. She smoothed out the soft fabric of her dress and stood up, walking into the bathroom to freshen up. Her eyes were rimmed with red, her hazel irises appearing predominately green than brown. She cupped her hands underneath the cold running water and lightly splashed her face in an attempt to erase her fatigue.

"You'll be fine." She reminded herself. "It'll be okay."

No matter how many strong faces she pulls or words she says, she couldn't lie to herself. Shaking her head, Amelia pushed away from the sink and headed towards her closet to change into comfortable clothes. The dark material of her clothes reminded her of death, and that was the last thing she wanted to be reminded of today. She decided on a long-sleeved forest green top with silky brown pajama shorts. She pulled her hair out of her elastic and brushed through the tangled curls with her fingers. After removing the remnants of her makeup from her face and eyes, she wrapped a fluffy blanket around her body and dropped like a rock onto her bed.

An hour had passed, and Amelia was still awake. She could hear loud honking of cars and the faint playing of jazz music in the distance. She tried shutting her eyes and waiting for sleep to take over, but nothing worked.

There were faint footsteps outside of her room but Amelia ignored them and squeezed her eyes shut again. The footfalls were getting closer to her door and when they finally stopped, Amelia heard an exhausted sigh. Oddly enough, there was a second set of feet shuffling across the floor.

"Is she awake?" Amelia heard a soft, masculine voice wearily ask. She recognized the voice as Steve's.

"No." Peggy's voice answered. "She's had a rough day too." Steve didn't respond.

"Just tell her that I said sorry. For everything." Steve muttered, the words struggling to sound even. Amelia felt a tear drip across her nose and onto the pillow, thudding quietly.

"You can tell her that tomorrow. For now, how about you head back? You need all the rest you can get." Peggy suggested, her hand grasping the door handle and soundlessly closing Amelia's bedroom door.

Amelia waited until their voices became nonexistent and she was sure that Steve had already left through the front door. Carrying the blanket around her body, Amelia waddled to Peggy's bedroom and gently knocked on the doorframe.

Peggy was at her vanity removing her makeup before turning back to discover the cause of the knock. She sighed in relief when she noticed it was Amelia. Peggy could have laughed at the sight of her friend whose body was drowned out by the massive weight of the blanket but when she looked up to see her reddened eyes, she knew it wouldn't be right.

"Hi." Peggy breathed, trying to remove her makeup and pay attention to Amelia at the same time. Amelia stood at the doorway, sniffling imperceptibly and swaying back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Are you feeling?" Peggy asked. Amelia answered with a sniffle and a lazy shrug.

"Did you need something?" Peggy's voice sounded nurturing, as if she were a mother speaking with her child after they had a nightmare. Amelia relaxed her shoulders and shuffled across the room. She perched herself on a chair, pulling her knees up to reach her chest.

"Can I stay in here for the night?" Amelia asked in a low tone. She didn't want to start crying again but the pain across her chest made it difficult. "I don't want to be alone."

Peggy sent her a slanted smile. "You'll never be alone."

"Johann Schmidt belongs in a bughouse," Colonel Phillips retorted, briefly examining a map on the wall before turning back around. "He thinks he's a god and he's willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA."

"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities." Howard stated, walking into the meeting and taking a seat to the right of Steve. "He gets across the Atlantic; he will wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in an hour."

Amelia was lingering in the background with slight hesitation. It had been a while since she was in headquarters. Everything around her reminded her of Bucky. Peggy sent her a fleeting glance before shifting back in her seat to pay attention to the group.

You can do it, Amelia. Amelia sucked in a deep breath and moved to join the rest at the table.

"How much time do we have?" Her voice cracked a little from not being used in a while.

She could sense their surprised stares but she ignored them and focused on Howard who was wearing a similar expression. Instead, Colonel Phillips replied.

"According to my new best friend, under 24 hours." Amelia felt her headache worsen as the bad news kept coming.

When is it ever going to stop? She thought irritably.

"Hydra's last base is here," Colonel Phillips informed, pointing to a picture of a group of snowy mountains. "In the Alps. 500 feet below the surface."

He tossed the picture onto the table which provoked Amelia to grab it and examine it shortly before handing it to Morita who was seated in front of her.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Morita asked, sounding emotionally and physically tired. "I mean it's not like we can just knock on the front door."

"Why not?" Steve spoke up. Everyone pivoted in their seats to face Steve who was still staring hard at the files in front of him.

"That's exactly what we're gonna do," Amelia exchanged a weary look with Peggy who donned a similar expression.

Something bad was going to happen again.

"Well, it's your call, Cap." Colonel Phillips nodded, signaling the end of the meeting.

Everyone simultaneously stood up and resumed their original jobs while Steve remained at the table, staring blankly ahead. Amelia motioned for Peggy to wait for her and grabbed the chair Howard was originally in. Steve glanced up at her for a moment before looking back down.

"It wasn't your fault." Amelia whispered, her eyes avoiding Steve's.

Steve scoffed sullenly but didn't say anything. Amelia was slightly worried that he was angry at her for even mentioning it. But regardless, it was the only thing they could actually talk about.

"I could have saved him." Steve finally said lowly. Amelia noticed his eyes were still puffy and red around the corners. Without hesitation, Amelia reached her hand out and clasped onto one of Steve's fists.

"For the past few days, I kept blaming myself for his death. I kept thinking to myself that if I had just stalled him for a minute or something that he could've avoided the mission and…" Amelia gritted her teeth and tried to control the waterworks from starting up again. "But then I realized that if I keep blaming myself for something out of my control, it would eventually drive me crazy." Steve sniffed but finally linked his fingers in between Amelia's.

"He was my best friend," Steve croaked. "He didn't deserve this."

"I know." Amelia whispered. She tried to smile for Steve's sake. "Then make it up to him and kick Hydra's ass." Amelia joked feebly. Her weak smile became more genuine when she saw Steve's lips curl up.

Without another word, Amelia stood back up and pulled Steve into a tight embrace. He was surprised at the sudden action but instead of questioning it, he returned the favor and wrapped his arms around her. It had been a while since they were this close, and Steve wasn't going to screw it up this time.

Amelia pressed a gentle kiss against Steve's cheek before heading back towards Peggy who held a proud look on her face. She was obviously happy that her two friends finally made up, even if it was because of horrible circumstances. But nonetheless, they were okay again.

"Everything's alright?"

Amelia turned back to look at Steve who pushed himself off the chair and went to join the others at the other side of the room.

"We're working on it."

Amelia watched as Steve situated himself on his motorcycle in his Captain America uniform, complete with the Vibranium shield. She held her breath as he started up the bike and drove off, his figure disappearing into the thick fog.

"Are you ready?" Peggy's voice cut through the prolonged silence. Amelia nodded, taking her eyes off of the road and back to Peggy who held the door open for her.

Amelia exchanged her regular SSR uniform for a pair of trousers, a dark leather jacket, and military boots. She enfolded Bucky's dog tags in her hand, staring down at them with a conflicted look.

"This is for you, James." She whispered and slipped the chain around her neck, tucking the chain beneath her shirt. Peggy handed her a gun which Amelia placed in the holster attached to her leg.

They were now waiting in the forest with their bodies hidden behind shrubs and thick tree trunks. Before they could swarm the Hydra base, they needed the signal from Morita that they were able to get inside.

"We're in! Assault team go!" Amelia heard Morita's voice through the telephone Colonel Phillips had pressed against his ear. Her grip on her gun tightened but she stood her ground next to Peggy as the soldiers raced through the forest.

"Is it too late to go to the bathroom?" Amelia jested nervously. The British agent shook her head in amusement and started following Colonel Phillips and the rest with Amelia trailing behind her.

When they reached the base, they were immediately bombarded with Hydra agents. Amelia crouched down behind a tank, holding her gun up and waiting until the gunfire ceased to twist around and send bullets into the Hydra agents' chests. She watched in horror as soldiers were blasted with a blue light and were instantly vaporized.

"What the hell?" Amelia whispered to herself. She shook the dreadful image from her mind and started crawling across the ground in search of a possible entrance into the base.

A string of explosion went off, sending Amelia flying into a tree. She hissed in pain and held her stomach with one hand while propping herself up against the tree with the other. Spitting out chunks of dirt from her mouth was now officially her least favorite pastime. As soon as she stood up, streaks of pain shot up her body, and Amelia knew there was going to be bruises on her back later.

"Amelia!" Amelia sighed in relief at the familiar voice calling for her. She tried to mask her pain with a blank expression but her friend saw right through her disguise.

"Are you okay?" Peggy asked worriedly. Amelia tried to shrug but the throbbing bruises on her shoulders and back made it hard to do so.

"More or less but don't worry about me." Amelia grunted and grabbed Peggy by the arm. "Come on, they're already inside!" The two agents hurried inside, avoiding the ricocheting bullets and the mysterious blue vaporizing lights.

"Cut off one head, two more shall—" One Hydra agent shouted as he approached Peggy and Amelia. Before he could finish the sentence, Amelia sent a bullet into his head.

"Let's find those two other sons of bitches." Amelia grunted, pulling her gun back.

The two agents met up with Colonel Phillips and the others and started searching the hallways for Steve. In the distance, Amelia heard something metallic thud against the walls.

"Down there!" She shouted, motioning for the others to follow.

When Amelia skidded to a stop, she pulled out her gun and directed a chain of bullets at the Hydra agent. Some bullets made their way into the man's pyroweapons, and they effectively burst into flames. Amelia sighed in relief when the agent fell dead to the floor.

"Move out!" A soldier commanded and one by one, the soldiers disappeared into another hallway.

"You're late." Amelia rolled her eyes as Steve approached her with a tired smirk, stopping mere centimeters away from her. Amelia glanced awkwardly from side to side before meeting Steve's intense gaze.

"Weren't you about to—" Amelia asked, motioning in the direction where Steve was trailing Schmidt. Steve seemed to shake out of his trance and nodded shortly before grabbing his shield from the door and vanishing from Amelia's sight.

They weren't close to finishing off Hydra, and Amelia was almost out of bullets. She concealed herself behind some cargo boxes, occasionally eyeing someone from Hydra and shooting them in the head. She knew it wasn't going to be long until she was left with an empty gun and a box as a shield.

Then as if God had answered her prayers, Amelia heard her name being called in the distance. The lingering anxiety had simmered down when she noticed Colonel Phillips and Peggy in one of Schmidt's cars, frantically motioning for her to get into the vehicle.

As if her life depended on it (and it literally did), Amelia shot up from her hiding spot and darted for the backseat of the car, attempting to dodge the blue strobes of light that missed her by an inch.

"Drive!" Amelia yelled as she threw herself into the back, her feet still dangling outside the car when Colonel Phillips floored it. She swung her legs over the edge and held onto the car for dear life as they sped towards Schmidt's airplane.

"There's Steve!" Peggy tapped Colonel Phillips. He nodded and stepped a little harder on the gas pedal. Just as Steve's running came to a halt, he slammed on the brakes and stopped right next to Steve.

"Get in!" Steve obeyed and as soon as he was in the passenger seat, the car raced down the runway to catch up the colossal Hydra plane. The doors at the exit of the hangar began opening and Colonel Phillips felt like it was the right time to turn on the turbo speed. Amelia's stomach disagreed.

"Keep it steady!" Steve lifted himself on the seat, preparing himself to leap onto the plane. Amelia's eyes widened in fear and instinctively, she grabbed onto Steve's arm.

"Wait, Stev—" She began to say but was interrupted by Steve spinning around and connecting his lips with Amelia's. The kiss ended as soon as it started, and Amelia was left with an erratic heart and permanent look of shock.

Steve gave her one last look before latching his shield on the back of his uniform and carefully leaping onto the wheel of the plane. Colonel Phillips gave the car a sharp turn but the car continued speeding backwards. Amelia let out a scream as they progressed closer to the end of the runway. Her heart felt as if it could jump out of her chest at any moment, and her breathing became heavier and heavier.

Suddenly, the car jolted to a stop and Amelia can feel the back of the car teetering on the edge of the cliff. Warily, she and Peggy turned around to watch the airplane descend into the sky, Steve nowhere in sight. Amelia took in a deep breath and looked on hopefully as the plane faded into the cluster of clouds.

"Morita said we'll be able to access a connection with the airplane upstairs. We'll talk to Steve that way." Peggy informed her once they headed safely inside.

This time, it sounded like Peggy was trying to assure her rather than tell her the mission plan. Amelia was shaking like a leaf; not only because it was freezing cold and she left her jacket in Schmidt's car, but because she was terrified for Steve.

"Okay?" Peggy said again, earning a small nod in return. She guided Amelia up the stairs and into the control room.

It felt like forever until they were able to get a connection but Amelia was relieved when Steve's voice came through the receiver. Amelia couldn't help but hear Steve's nervous tone.

"Come in, this is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?" Morita was about to answer but Amelia rushed over and nudged him out of the way.

"Steve!" She asked worriedly, running a trembling hand through her hair. "Are you alright?"

"Amelia, Schmidt's dead." Amelia closed her eyes at the sound of the good news, but she knew there was more to it than that.

"What about the plane? Can you make a safe landing?" Amelia rambled, staring down at the receiver expectantly. There was a slight pause before Amelia heard Steve's voice again.

"That's a bit tougher to explain." Steve answered hesitantly. Amelia could hear buttons being pressed and switches flipping.

"Give me your coordinates. We'll find you a safe landing site." Amelia stammered. She could feel her heart beating through her chest, and she was surprised no one else could hear it.

"There's not going to be a safe landing." Steve said with finality.

"What do you mean? A-a-are you alright?" She tried to remove the negative thoughts that were prodding at her brain.

Amelia glanced over at the others who were no longer in the room. Peggy was waiting uneasily at the door while the rest were settled outside.

"I'll try to force it down." Amelia shook her head briskly, staring at the controls nervously. Her hands hovered over some controls and switches but soon fell limp to her sides.

"This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York."

No.

"I gotta put her in the water." Amelia blinked away the heavy tears that fell from her eyes.

"Please, don't do this." Amelia pleaded. "We still have time. We can do something about it." She could almost visualize Steve shaking his head in defeat.

"If I wait, a lot of people are going to die, Ams." Amelia squeezed her eyes shut, balling her hands into fists. This can't be happening again.

"I can't lose you too." Amelia cried. She didn't even try to mask the sobs from her voice.

Steve dug through the pocket on his uniform and pulled out his compass, lifting the top to reveal a grainy photograph of Amelia. He stared sadly, his eyes scanning each detail of the photo.

He tried to remember the way her lips would curve into a smile even when she didn't mean to.

He tried to remember the way her eyes would look green one day and brown the next.

He tried to remember what she told at him the night after basic training that stuck with him through it all.

Listen to me when I tell you that physical strength isn't the most important. It's strength of heart and the choices you make.

"Amelia…this is my choice." He said, each word laced with conviction.

Steve took a hold on the control wheel and pulled the plane downwards. He could see the ocean glistening below, the sun rays reflecting off of each wave. This was it.

"Amelia." He could hear her sniffling on the other end.

"Yeah?" Her voice shook as she spoke. Steve gulped back his fears, glancing back to her smiling face on the photograph in the compass.

It's now or never, Steve.

"I haven't been completely honest with you." Steve stammered. Amelia let out a humorless laugh.

"Are you serious? That's what you want to start off with?" Steve allowed a tired smile on his face. His breathing became more labored as the ocean and ice were getting closer and closer.

"Ever since that night at Camp Lehigh, I haven't stopped thinking about you." Steve took in a deep breath, trying hard not to imagine the horror on her face. "I know it's wrong of me to say this to you but I can't die knowing that I never told you."

The weight on Amelia's chest was growing heavier. "Steve, what are you—"

"Amelia…I—" Amelia's ears met with static.

She stared down at the receiver in shock. "Steve?" Her voice seemed lower than a whisper.

Nothing.

"Steve?" She said more urgently.

Nothing.

"Steve!"