Brooklyn 1943
Bucky was waiting for me in front of the recruitment office; it was a big day for me, the one true moment that will define my life. Once I told him the news; he insisted that we went drinking for the night. It was official I was going overseas as a PA for Colonel Phillips, and I was to be deployed to Denmark in a matter of weeks...It was a lot to take in, but all I could think about was how I wanted to take my stockings off. It was unorthodox for me to be in the bar without any pantyhose, but after a long day and four drinks I pulled them off in delight as my head buzzed from the alcohol.
"Can't confine a dame into being a lady!" Bucky jokes, as I throw the god awful things into my purse.
"No longer am I just plain old Annie! I now have a job, one with A Colonel! I'm serving my country!"
"You're answering phones." He insists "You should be able to do more, I told you to apply for Red Cross"
"You just want me tending your wounds." I joke
"You could be saving men." Bucky says while staring at his drink.
"That doesn't matter; I will be making so much dough from the government that I can pay for Steve to go to any art school he chooses! Me, Annie Rogers the main provider of the house hold! What a time to be alive. Mark my words Steve is going to become the next Botticelli or something."
"Botticelli was known for his tempera paintings, Steve draws those little funny cartoons… he would be like Leonardo Da Vinci…" Bucky points out
"I'm surprised you know that." Bucky was what most woman called all meat and no brains, back in the day he didn't have a stellar set of grades. So I was surprised he remembered that much from school. Not that Bucky was in any means slow, but Bucky was just hardwired to people instead of academics.
"You remember Rachel McLeod?" He asks
I did, she was in my grade... and if I remembered right she had a lovely smile.
"Oh yes, the one with the smile, her mother worked at the garment factory." I say causally
"Yes, well I thought she was a total doll, she was in Art class with Steve and Rachel wanted to become a painter. So I read a whole bunch of books to impress her on our first date."
I faintly remembered her; Bucky went steady with her for almost four weeks, which was a record for him.
"She was the blonde one right? The girl you pined after for like a month?"
"Oh no doll, she isn't the blonde, you are."
"Of course, how could I forget such a high regard?"
"Like If I know." He was too busy smiling at his drink to even notice the blush on my cheeks.
Washington DC 2015
His hands were laced in his hair; he pulled on the strands so hard that I was sure he would develop bald spots from the action. He paced around the kitchen as I mixed carrots, water, and chicken broth to make vegetable soup. I found some potatoes that looked alright and threw those in as well. Bucky wasn't paying any attention to me until I took out the kitchen knife and carefully cut a root.
He was staring at my grip, and at the way my muscles flexed as I cut the starch into quarters, it was unnerving to be stared at, and I would bet all my money that he was preparing for me to attack.
"It's for kitchen use," I insist "The knife is too big to attack someone, especially a super solider."
"Not that you have much use for one." He comments.
I almost forgot about what he was referring too, my gift the ability to control one's free will.
"I don't like using it." I say, "The gift...It repulses me, there was a time long ago when I used my voice to bring joy and entertainment. Now I can send a whole army of aliens away with just one command. No one should have that kind of power."
He looked at me with that same icey expression, except his forehead was crinkled in confusion.
"But you still sing" He says quietly, "That is using your gift."
I look away from the soup and at him, as far as I knew my gift only worked when I was giving verbal commands.
"I'm sorry?" I say
"The night I shot Nick Fury, you were taking a bath and you sang, when you did I felt hypnotized. In your HYDRA file they called it the Siren song."
"I had no idea." I was feeling the need to freak out, but it was a really awkward time to do so, "I am sorry?" I wasn't sure I should be saying sorry, it was not like I was given a guide to the freak enhancements HYDRA gave me.
"Thanks to Natasha Romanov, your file, along with mine is all over the internet." He says, "Thankfully yours never states your name, it refers to you as patient 2B457R so the public cannot make any correlation to you."
"What about you?" I ask, "Do they know who you are?"
He nods,
"My file was translated some time during the 60's for Alexandre Peirce when he first became head of HYDRA. He also uploaded my personal file to his database so my identity was leaked as well."
Bucky was looking at me again and I was staring back for the first time. I noticed how his face was thinner, stubble covered his jaw, and his hair was longer. If I didn't know his face so well I wouldn't recognize him.
"When you sang that night, I just remembered how safe I felt around you." He says quietly, "And I knew I could trust you."
"You can trust Steve." I point out
He looks at me, doubt in his gaze,
"Where is he?" he asks, "Will he be home soon?"
"He is actually in New Jersey looking for you right now." I say, "I won't call him, but he is going to eventually show up."
He nods briskly and I go back to making my soup, I sprinkled some salt, pepper, and even a little sage.
"What are you plans Buck?" I ask, "I know you want me to help you, but I have to know at least where you are staying."
He doesn't answer, and judging by his smell, I knew the answer.
"You on the streets" I mutter
When he doesn't respond I cut up a loaf of bread and I dig in the cabinets for our soup bowls.
Taking a ladle I fill up the bowls with the broth and give him a slice of bread to go with It. Bucky looks at the spoon as if it were foreign.
"What?" I say, "Is it the soup? Back in the day you ate like a truck driver."
"I don't remember the last time I ate." He mumbles, "It was such a long time ago."
"Well, don't eat it all at once; I don't want you getting sick." I say worriedly
Bucky takes a spoonful and I watch with unblinking eyes, he places the spoon down and grabs the bread, ripping off a chunk and eating that as well.
"Thank you." His tone is quiet and he doesn't meet my gaze.
"You are welcome Bucky." I say, "You can stay here, I will call Steve in the morning and find out what time he is coming home, by then we can get you in a motel or something before he gets back."
"You wouldn't tell him?" He seemed confused,
"No, it's not my secret to tell, and If you're not ready…then that's all there is to it."
"You're to kind Annie." he mumbles, "That's what I mainly remember, you were always too nice."
"Why?" I say, "Being nice is a good thing."
"But people would take advantage of that, same thing with Steve he was too trusting as well, I had to break a lot of noses because of it."
"In some ways you are kind Bucky."
"I am not kind." His voice was bitter
"Yes, you are" I insist, "You have compassion, mortality, and a killer smile." My eyes where misting up, It was a strangely emotional moment, "That doesn't go away, I swear."
"All that is gone" He looks down at his metal arm; I reach across the table and touch his bicep.
"Well, let's get it back" His eyes seemed less dull and more familiar. It made a spark of hope light up in my stomach, "together."