AN: Whoa! It's been ages guys! After seeing Captain America: Civil War I really got some inspiration and some drive to get back to working on this. So, here's a new chapter, I hope you guys enjoy! And sorry for the long absence from this fic.

Playlist:

Aqualung & Lucy Schwartz-Cold

Chapter 9 Til' the End of the Line

Bucky pulled Mackenzie onto his lap on the bed and began kissing her again, letting his lips linger over hers. He pressed a kiss behind her left ear and the scratch of his stubble made her giggle. Bucky pulled away and laughed as well. He was grinning from ear to ear just looking at her, at having her in his arms, getting faint whiffs of her favorite berry and rose scented perfume.

"What are you looking at?" Mackenzie smiled at him, brushing his short hair back and running the pads of her fingers from the top of his ear to his earlobe, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

"I am looking at the most precious thing I have ever held in my arms," Bucky said, his eyes saddening as he looked at her.

Kenzie blushed before leaning into him.

Their hour long visit was almost over as Mackenzie lay next to Bucky on the bed, cradled comfortably into his right side.

"When do you think you can come home?" Mackenzie asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

Bucky smiled, liking that Mackenzie considered her place his home and he realized that he could certainly get used to that. But his smile faded. "It's safest for you, for everyone, if I stay here."

"You can't stay here forever."

Bucky sighed and sat up. "I'm dangerous. I already put you in the hospital." He laughed a bitter half-laugh at the memory of seeing her bruised and battered after he'd become the Winter Soldier for a moment. He remembered all of it of course, tossing her around like she was nothing, jerking her wrist until it fractured, the fractured ribs. It made him sick, even more so when he knew how she'd been treated by her ex. He still couldn't forgive himself for hurting her like that, but Mackenzie had reassured him she forgave him multiple times. He sighed and took one of Kenzie's hands in his.

"The guy standing outside that door, he-he used to look up to me I think. And now look at me. I forget more often than you think Mackenzie. There have been nights where I woke up in bed and had no idea who you were, where I was. I didn't want to hurt you though, I mean I wasn't The Soldier, I'd just draw a blank. I'd have to get up and walk around, sometimes leave the house for a while and get some air to remember."

Mackenzie moved so she was in his lap once again and placed her palms on either side of his face. His eyes looked haunted and heavy and she wanted to look away from what she saw in them. "I may not have known you all those years ago, but that guy that Steve looked up to is still in here. I'm sure I've seen him myself. That cocky grin you get when you beat me at chess, when you carry me to bed because I fall asleep reading on the sofa, your smile, and your laugh on those rare occasions that I can get one out of you. The Winter Soldier doesn't regret all those things he did, but you do. They eat you up inside. I've seen it, the looks you get when you zone out sometimes and forget I'm there. The old Bucky, who you were before the war, is still here no matter how changed you are because of what HYDRA did. I know this all probably sounds ridiculously cheesy, but in a lot of ways you are still the same person you were before the war, before the Winter Soldier. You're still brave, you still care about Steve, about others. You want to do the right thing, protect those around you. Steve knows that. I know that and we're both here for you, no matter what and anytime you forget Steve and I will be here to help you find your way back."

"Til the end of the line."

Mackenzie gasped and turned to see Steve standing in the doorway. She got off Bucky's lap and stood up, smiling as she smoothed down her clothes out of habit.

"Times up," Steve spoke again, moving into the room.

Bucky, now standing as well, pulled Mackenzie into his arms and held her against him for a moment before kissing her cheek. "God I love you," he said, a few tears escaping down his cheeks.

"I love you too," she said. She could feel the pinprick of tears and a tightening in her throat as she spoke, "Take care of yourself James. I'm going to visit you as often as I can."

Bucky nodded and smiled at her use of his first name.

~O.o~

That evening Kenzie was in the shower rinsing the conditioner from her hair when she heard a crash. Her eyes opened and her heart started to race. 'Perhaps it was just Bucky?' she thought as she turned the water off and moved the shower curtain aside to get a towel.

With another loud crash the door to the bathroom swung open and several unfamiliar men entered. Two of them immediately went for her. She started screaming as they yanked her up and over the side of the tub. She fought back, their hands slipping on her soaked skin, but they did not let go as they carried her, feet off the ground, kicking and screaming through her house and out the front door. She was tossed roughly into the back of an all-black van and she cried out as she caught herself on her hands. She immediately pulled herself up and screamed out for Bucky, but before she could move or say anything else the same two men that had been carrying her climbed in and locked the doors. Kenzie instinctively crawled away from them into a corner where she curled herself up, trying her best to cover the most intimate parts of her body. She didn't close her eyes though as she kept the two men in her peripheral while she tried to calm her breathing and her heart rate. These men were definitely not from S.H.I.E.L.D. But then…her eyes widened. HYDRA. Who else could it be? Bucky had warned her about this, told her all about them. And of course, because of the very man she loved, she knew exactly what they were capable of. She steeled herself then and there. If this was about HYDRA trying to get their Soldier back, she'd be damned if it was because of her. In that moment, as she recalled Bucky's smiling face from just that morning, she knew she would take whatever they tried to do to her. She wouldn't give in, no matter what. The last thing Bucky deserved was to be used as HYDRA's puppet again. She wiped her eyes as she realized just how much she loved James Buchanan Barnes. She would die for him if it meant he could be free.

~O.o~

After only a short ride the van came to a stop. There was a knock on the door and the two men pulled her up and carried her out. They were on a tarmac and there was a sleek and menacing looking jet in front of her. The men hurried her onto it and once inside they continued to carry a screaming and unrelenting Kenzie through a corridor before stopping before a door. They tossed her inside and she landed on the cold floor. The door slid shut with a whoosh and locked. Kenzie looked around her to see a small cot. She stood up and went to sit down when the door opened again. A different man appeared and tossed some clothes onto the floor. In a flash he was gone again.

Kenzie snatched up the garments and pulled on a pair of black underwear, black sweatpants and a black t-shirt. She moved back to the cot and pulled her feet up, resting her forehead on her knees. She let out a sob.

~O.o~

"Bucky?"

Bucky jerked awake, eyes frantic, but he calmed when he saw it was only Steve standing next to his bed. "What is it?"

"There's something you need to see."

Anger coursed through Bucky's veins like molten lava as he and Steve watched the video footage from the surveillance cameras that had been placed outside Kenzie's home. Bucky watched as the men entered Kenzie's home and re-emerged moments later with a very frightened, very naked, Kenzie in their bruising grip. He grit his teeth as he watched them toss her inside a van. But none of those things hit him like how she cried out his name in desperation before the two men climbed in after her. His metal hand nearly tore the armrest off the chair he was sitting in but Steve's voice from beside him calmed him a little.

"We'll get her back Buck."

Bucky rose from his chair and stormed out of the room.

Steve followed, keeping pace with Bucky. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving."

Steve moved in front of Bucky to stop him and he didn't miss Bucky withholding the impulse to grab Steve and force him out of the way. "We can't just go after her with no plan, not knowing where they've taken her. She's probably not even in the country anymore."

"I knew this would happen."

"How could you?"

"Because I'm me!" Bucky roared, causing Steve to take a step back as he put his metal fist through the wall.

"Buck-"

"Don't. I warned Mackenzie to stay away from me, to not get too close. I tried to not get close. I promised to protect her when I knew I couldn't keep that promise." Bucky looked at the new hole in the wall instead of at Steve and Steve found it hard to look at the sheer unhidden guilt on Bucky's face.

Steve placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "We will get her back."