21

"Just give him a chance, OK?" Rosalie Joy looked at her family sternly. She'd been dating Bucky for a total of six months, and he was going to meet her family for the first time—again, that is; he'd been acquainted with Rosalie Joy's family from when they were just friends, but with them dating, he was getting to know them all over again. She was aware of how late it was in their relationship to be meeting her family for the first time, especially since Rosalie had already met Bucky's, and they loved her. It had mostly been Bucky's fear of meeting his girlfriend's family—accompanied by her stubborn Irish father, Anthony—that made the delay in the meeting, but she convinced Bucky that it'd be just fine, and made her father promise not to do anything he'd regret.

"It'll be just fine," Katherine said, trying to sound reassuring. "You and Bucky seem happy together, that's important."

Rosalie Joy threw a thankful smile her mother's way.

"It's going to take a lot more convincing from me," Anthony muttered, his words heavily accented.

"Da, come on," Rosalie exclaimed. "He's a nice guy!"

When a knock came from the front door, Rosalie Joy perked up, threw a quick glare her father's way before she hurried to answer the door. Bucky stood at the other end, fiddling with the collar of his shirt before he looked at his girlfriend anxiously.

"You look great," she exclaimed, giving him a quick kiss. Rosalie Joy said he didn't have to worry about dressing too over the top for her family, but he went and dressed as casually formal as he could.

Letting out a shaky laugh, Bucky grabbed Rosalie Joy's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Can't help but feel a little nervous," he murmured.

"You'll do fine." Rosalie squeezed Bucky's, giving him the most reassuring smile she could muster. "I'll be with you the whole time, OK?"

Bucky chuckled, lifting her hand up and kissing her knuckles. "God, what would I do without you?" he murmured.

"I have no idea," she giggled. "Now c'mon; let's meet the family!"

—Mad World—

By the time Rosalie and James made it to the airport, they decided to go over the plan to make it to Bucharest. From what they could tell, it'd be a one-fight trip from Maine to their destination, which was something they were thankful for.

"If you have second thoughts about this...," Rosalie murmured, glancing up at James.

James shook his head, looking down at Rosalie with a solemn frown.

"Do you have everything ready?" he mumbled, leaning down a little so they could talk without being overheard. Rosalie nodded. She made sure that not only did she have the right identification for herself and James, but the right amount of money for the flight. He carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, unconsciously giving it a comforting squeeze.

"If we do this, how long do you think it will take until HYDRA finds us?" Rosalie looked up at James, her big hazel eyes looking almost fearful. She didn't want to go back to HYDRA, that much she realized. She remembered so many things—she didn't want to forget. Not again.

The hand that was on her shoulder went to her back, between her shoulder blades. "They won't find us," he murmured. "We'll be fine. I'll protect you."

Rosalie's lips turned up into a small smile. "I think I'll be fine," she murmured, a heat rising on her cheeks. Was she...blushing? It was foreign, but familiar at the same time. The smallest hint of a smile came across James' face. "I'll buy us the tickets," she mumbled, her hands tightening on the proper information she held.

Leaning down, James carefully brushed his lips against hers. "I'll be right here."

"This whole thing is insane," Sam sighed, looking at Steve exhaustedly. They had checked themselves into a hotel for the night. After leaving Gregg, which was a heartbreaking experience for Steve, the two men decided to try and go over as much information as they possibly could on their missing persons.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this," Steve sighed. "I don't want to put you at risk."

Sam rubbed his face, taking a deep, calming breath. "It's OK," he said. "I signed up for this, didn't I?"

Steve didn't respond.

"Look, we got a little more info on your other friend," Sam said, leaning forward a little from where he sat. "She tried poisoning her brother, but couldn't quite get the job done."

Steve nodded wordlessly, his eyes casting downward. In all the things he'd seen in the time since he'd been defrosted, he never expected anything as heart-wrenching as that. Steve had fully expected to die the day he crashed the plane into the ice; but when he was brought out, into a new world he knew absolutely nothing about, he gradually came to accept that he was really alone. He'd have no one to understand what it felt like to be someone out of their time. Until he saw Bucky...

Sighing, Steve ran a hand through his hair. He knew Peggy was still alive, but she was suffering from Alzheimer's. When Steve had been filled in on what Alzheimer's does to its victims, it felt like that final little piece of his world had finally crumbled away.

"If I knew any better, I'd say they probably left the country by now," Steve sighed, sounding almost defeated.

Sam nodded solemnly. "You have any idea on where they'd go?" he asked.

James made sure to keep a close eye on Rosalie, but also made sure to inspect every single person surrounding them. He had to make sure he kept not only himself safe, but Rosalie, as well. She was more important to him than he could have ever imagined.

There were moments where he chose to take in every inch of her features. He wasn't doing so in a sexualizing manner, he just wanted to remember. His memories were starting to steadily piece themselves together; there were still holes where important ones should be, but the ones he'd gathered so far were good enough for the moment.

Some of the memories were of him and Rosalie; others were of people he was starting to—hesitantly—understand were his family; a good portion of them were of him and Captain America.

His eyes went over the area for a brief moment, quickly inspecting each face that passed by. From what he could tell, they posed no threat. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to be careful.

Any of them could be HYDRA agents, he thought bitterly.

His fists clenched. Somehow they managed to only run in with HYDRA a small handful of times, but it was still too often in James' opinion. His eyes flickered to where Rosalie was—she was getting close to the front. James' eyes flickered to a woman standing a couple feet away; something about her seemed off. Narrowing his eyes a little, James tensed his muscles, ready to jump in at any sign of movement.

The woman's hands were stuffed in her pant pockets, but occasionally she'd look at Rosalie before glancing around at the other people in the room. She wasn't exactly being discreet on the matter.

James started walking forward, making sure he was going to be between Rosalie and the woman. He was determined to not let anything happen.

Author's Note:

Hey-yo, everybody! Here's the newest chapter! Let me know if there's anything I can do to improve it, OK?

I own nothing in the MCU. All I own are my characters and the headphones I use to listen to my music.

I've decided that, within the next four or five chapters, depending on how I feel on the story's development, I'll be concluding this story. I don't entirely know yet; I feel like maybe I could go a little deeper into Rosalie Joy's and Bucky's backgrounds and memories, but as of right now, I'm still figuring things out.

If you've got any thoughts on the matter, let me know.

Also, as a side note, I'd like to say I hope anyone who celebrated the Fourth of July had a wonderful, and safe, time!

Leave a kind and helpful review, please.

Thank you.

Susan Strong