She picked up some hamburgers with the sudden thought of making them for Bucky, as she passed them behind her absently to Bucky's outstretched hands. She refused to get a basket, knowing she'd end up spending way much more than she needed. This way it meant she would only be able to get what she could hold – or rather, what Bucky could hold (in her defence he had volunteered, and she wasn't going to turn down the offer of someone holding her shopping for her)

The months had passed by for the two of them, and Charley was happy to report that she hadn't seen a sight of the Falcon since her last cross with him. Maybe they really were in the clear.

She guided Bucky through the aisles, putting everything chocolate she could see into the basket as the super soldier's arms became considerably lacks, his muscles giving way as he shifted his arms to make it more comfortable.

"You alright there," She observed over the freezer after she had ducked down to get a couple of pizza's, "You seem to be struggling"

"No, it's fine. Just a lot of food," he replied, looking down at his hands with an eyebrow raised humorously.

She wagged a finger at him, "don't judge. I've figured since I'm putting all this exercise into training then to make up the weight I'm losing I need to eat more," she came up with the excuse on the spot, spotting Bucky roll his eyes after she picked up some frozen chocolate cake to weight him down further, "I'm compensating"

"Is that how you're seeing it?"

"I said no judging," She humoured him; "anyway it was you that said I needed to put one hundred percent into training and I am, am I not?"

"You're doing alright."

"I'm doing brilliantly." It was a little bit of an exaggeration. She still hadn't managed to take down Bucky yet but he had seventy years' experience on top of her so she wasn't holding that against herself, but she could at least last a good five minutes before collapsing on the ground in a sweat after Bucky had pinned her down. Not that she complained, "Just wait. Soon enough I'll be kicking your arse"

"You're right. I should be scared," Bucky raised his hands in mock surrender. Satisfied she'd made her point she turned around another aisle leaving Bucky following after her. She regretted instantly turning down this way as rows and rows of TV's lined the shelves, it was as if they were mocking her for the lack of money in her bank account. She really could do with an upgrade on a new television but she really didn't have the money to make that kind of investment. She moved passed the screens quickly before she stayed too long to tease herself further but didn't make it until the end of the aisle before she realized Bucky wasn't following.

He was staring straight ahead perplexed at the screen that was playing the news. The red bar flashing 'Breaking news' was what brought her attention. The news report wasn't on some presenter but rather taken from a very shaky camera, the images blurry as they showed flashes of what looked like a large piece of land flying upwards in the air, rising higher and higher. Flashing of red and green whizzed past the screen.

"Is this live?" Charley asked to no one in particular, knowing Bucky wouldn't know the answer.

Soon enough every person who walked onto the aisle was standing next to Charley and Bucky (Bucky was growing more and more concerned with the lack of personal space, moving closer and closer to Charley until he took her hand for support). Everyone around them was only just seeing the news for the first time.

Sokovia was under attack.

And not from anything human.

The camera seemed to be trying to zoom in on something particular. It wasn't a very good camera but what she could make out was a round thing that was red white and blue. She moved her eyes over to Bucky who shifted where he stood, shuffling from side to side now looking for somewhere else to look.

The store went into a state of panic as it exploded into chatter. It was a thunderous noise as everyone tried to get their say and talk over one another. Charley focused on Bucky who remained motionless and by the end of the new clip it seemed everyone who had been in the store had crowded around the TV's.

"Do you think they're coming here next?" Someone mentioned next to her as they looked around the others in shock.

"No the avengers will stop it"

"Will they?" another person put forward, "My bet is they started this"

Charley posed them a glare but stayed silent, not wanting to draw attention to herself and Bucky but someone who had been trying to reach the front for a better look knocked into Bucky,

His cap was knocked off of his head, along with the food Charley had been collecting fell aimlessly onto the floor as he accidently knocked into Charley who caused a domino effect, knocking into each person as she went. There was a moment of silence as Charley gathered herself back onto her feet before spotting the hat hastily thrown on the floor. Her eyes caught Bucky as there was a momentarily intake of breath. It was like a Mexican wave. The closest went quiet first as it spread further back until all that could be heard was the thumping of Charley's heart that felt like it was going to explode from her chest.

"Is that the winter soldier?" Someone whispered from within the crowd. It was the loudest noise anyone had made in minutes.

"From the fall of Shield?"

"The Hydra agent?"

"Someone call the police!"

"STOP HIM!"

A few people were trying to get through. Charley saw someone out of the corner of her eye grab a stick like object and wield it above their head like a sword, prepared to attack. Bucky may have no choice but to attack them if it got further out of hand.

Bucky flashed a look at Charley, something flickering in his eyes that seemed to scream that he was intensely debating something. She didn't have time to figure out how they were going to get out of this situation before he sprung at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and spinning her around so that his metal arm was around her neck. She screamed in panic as the crowd cried out.

"Everyone back!" Bucky growled as he held Charley. She clutched onto his arm for dear life that was shaking considerably for a solid metallic material.

The crowd quickly dispersed, making a gap where Bucky was able to pull Charley through. She really had no idea what was going to happen. Had the winter soldier cracked through? Was he brainwashed? Should she be scared for her life right now? The answer that came to her immediately was; no. There was something strangely safe about it. As safe as you can feel with a metal arm around your neck, anyway.

Bucky quickly pulled them from the store. No one tried to 'help' Charley but a few dove for their mobile phones at the bottom of their bags.

He got them both outside and pulled them into the alley way right next to the store which they used to dispose of their bins. It was a dead end, however.

As soon as no one was around, Charley jumped away from his grasp, feeling for her neck to make sure it was definitely still there. Her hands rubbing it where she could feel a pulse charging through it.

"Are you alright?" he turned to her, quickly darting his head around the corner to make sure no one was coming.

"Bucky! What the hell?" She cried, finally removing her hands from her neck only to slap him on the arm with as much force as she could muster in her current state of panic, "I thought you'd fucking gone insane and turned all winter soldier mode on me!"

"I'm sorry," he pleaded, his arms reaching to hers to calm her down, "I didn't know what to do. I had to get us out of there"

"By pretending to take me hostage?! They have CCTV in there, Bucky. How could you be so stupid?"

"How the hell was I supposed to get us both out of there?"

"I don't know. Not chocking me would be a start!" Her voice reached a new octave.

"I'm really sorry," he said, "I panicked"

"So did I when I had a metal arm around my bloody neck!"

"I wouldn't have hurt you," he told her clearly, breaking the gap between them so he could wrap an arm around her. For a moment she considered rejecting him and pushing him away. She was really pissed, and really couldn't see what a hug would do to reconcile her anger but the store alarms began to rhythmically beep and a whimper escaped her lips as she collapsed back into him.

"Just don't do it again"

"I don't plan on it"

The lights of blue and red began flashing around the corner and soon enough followed the whirring buzz of police sirens. Alarmed, Charley faced Bucky for instructions on what to do next. If he was panicked he hid it well as he calmly told her, "I'm going to go, the police are going to question you. Just stay calm and make it look like I took you hostage"

"I can't do that," She hissed through gritted teeth as he turned to leave, "Why can't I go with you?"

"Because then they'll be a man hunt for you and you won't be able to return back to your apartment tonight," he rolled his eyes at her arguing, as if it was obvious.

"Will you be coming back to the apartment tonight?"

"I'll try," he went to turn again but Charley placed a firm hand on his hand, barely preventing him from leaving as he could easily shrug her off but the sudden touch of flesh to flesh stunned him.

"So I have to paint you as the villain to the police? Is that what you're saying?"

"I can't think of any way out of this," he frowned, "I'm sorry for getting you into this"

She smiled sadly. She really hated him for this but knew he felt bad too. She could tell he had been trying desperately to hold her as loosely as possible whilst still making it convincing. Otherwise she was sure her neck would be covered in bruises by now. Bucky gave her a quick peck on the cheek before dashing off, jumping up the building roof leaving her left on the floor. The building suddenly seemed a lot taller than before. They dwarfed her, as Bucky swiftly disappeared just as the police appeared from the ally way entrance. They held their guns straight and prominent, looks of fear coating their eyes.

At the sight of the guns, Charley jumped, raising her hand in the air.

"Where's the winter soldier?"

"He left"

"Which direction?"

Panic began to settle as she looked in every direction he could possibly have gone other than the one he actually had gone. Before she looked too suspicious she pointed in the first direction that her brain brought her to and ended up firing a thumb behind her.

"Are you the hostage?"

"Uh… yeah, I guess," she hated this. Her head was spinning like crazy as police dashed towards her. Most of them went past her in a wild rush to find Bucky (or the winter soldier, as they preferred) who was probably long gone by now. Something was draped around Charley's shoulders and with a slight nudge of the shoulders she was guided forward. She realized a police officer had stayed behind to assist her.

"Miss, are you alright?" The officer asked, but Charley's concentration was focused elsewhere to notice anything of what he was asking her. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine what she was going to say. She would have to make it out she had no idea who Bucky was, that in itself was an impossible task and then she would have to give details into how Bucky was the villain of the situation.

"You're just going to take a seat in the ambulance," the officer told her, guiding her to the ambulance where sure enough he turned her around and pushed on her shoulder slightly until she slumped on the ambulance doors edge. She was half trying her hardest to act like a shell shocked victim, acting off of the panic that was beginning to bubble up within her. She almost gagged when the officer pulled out a notebook, "you don't need to answer anything yet, but I will need to ask you a few questions eventually."

She gave a slight nod of the head for him to continue, knowing if she waited any longer the panic of not knowing what they are going to ask her would kill her.

"What happened?"

"Haven't you been informed already?"

"I need your perspective I'm afraid"

She gave a large gulp, took a deep breath, before finally preparing herself to answer, "I was just shopping."

"And then what?"

"I stopped at the TV section because of the news about the avengers?" the officer wasn't looking at her but rather bent over scribbling notes furiously. Charley was glad.

"Then what happened?"

"People noticed Bu- The winter soldier was there?" She began saying slowly, realizing she was entering the dangerous territory as she began making up the rest of the story in her head, hoping it would flow together nicely, "I think he panicked and just wanted to get out of there, so he grabbed me-"

"Why do you say that?" The officer finally looked up.

"Oh…" she wanted to be swallowed up by the ground. She wasn't religious, nor did she believe in any god but in her head she began repeating a prayer to someone, anyone, that they'd help her out right about now. She didn't want Bucky to be the villain here, but she didn't think they'd be anyway out of this, "as soon as we got to the ally he had let go and apologized"

"So you talked to him?"

"Not really, that was all, he left after that"

"Are you hurt?"

"No. He wasn't holding tightly"

"What did he look like?"

Handsome. Sexy. Hot. She thought inwardly, her lips tempted to smirk as she brushed past the thoughts away. She didn't think this would portray her as the scared victim if she answered as honestly as that.

"I didn't get a good look at his face but I guess long brown hair, about shoulder length, he had stubble," she tried hard to keep her blush under control as she remembered how his stubble scratches her when they kiss. For some reason he was attached to it and refused to have it shaved. The officer waited for more, she didn't really know how much further she could go into detail about him without it looking weird. Could she go into description about the colour of his eyes, the shape of his lips… until she remembered something quite obvious, "oh and a metal arm"

The officer nodded, satisfied. If she was honest she forgot about the metal arm, it had become second nature for her to see it.

"That'll be all for now," The officer flipped his note book shut, "they'll be a few more questions at the station later."

She was taken to the hospital first, where, after hours of unnecessary medical examinations she was finally driven to the police station. She was glad for the detour however, as it gave her time to concoct a well-crafted story that explained why she had been shopping with Bucky beforehand, for she knew they would have checked CCTV to prove it.

What she wasn't glad about was the doctor passing her a note detailing free three month sessions of therapy in order to help recover from her' traumatic' experience.

"What's this for?"

"We give it to all patients who have gone through an experience that could effect them mentally in the long run," the doctor explained as he was escorting her out of the doctors room back towards where a police officer was waiting.

"But I don't need it."

"From my doctoring experience, you do seem very unaffected by the situation," he said, "This either means you do truly not need the therapy or you're still in shock and the effect of the events today haven't hit you yet and therefore you are repressing it. It's a requirement for you to go I'm afraid, just so we can get a thorough examination"

She wanted to scream in frustration but ended up accepting the free therapy sessions just to get out of there and go home, but she still had the worst part to face. The interrogation.

"Are you comfortable, do you need anything else?" The officer asked her as she was sat down in an interrogation room. She'd never been in one before, and had only ever seen them from TV shows and movies. It was a lot brighter than she would have imagined, a large window was beside her, letting the room swim with light (despite the cold steel rails around it). On the table in front of her where her hands were resting were handcuffs wrapped around a metal bar. Trying not to look nervous, she gulped and slid her hands off of the table; afraid she'd be found guilty of something and chained up.

"No. I'm fine"

"Okay," the officer said, sliding into the seat opposite her., "From your time at the hospital we've reviewed the footage in the store-"

"Have you found him?" She asked quickly before she got into the intense questioning.

"No. I'm afraid not, but you can be rest assured we are doing our best," he said with a smile trying to sooth her worry, however they both were worrying for completely different reasons, "Washington is in lock down for the next six hours. No one can get in or out"

"What happens after the six hours and you still haven't found him?"

"We will have to resume our search with much less task force."

"Meaning you'll be less likely to find him?" she asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, yes," he frowned at the unsatisfactorily answer, "but we're doing the best we can." They stand no chance, Charley thought; this man had been able to hide from everyone for the past seventy years. Granted, then he did have Hydra backing him up, but he would still be fine.

"Right," The officer sighed, gathering together his documents, "We've reviewed the CCTV footage within the story. Unfortunately the stores CCTV hasn't been upgraded in the last decade so we only managed to see this shot here," he clicked a button on a remote control and the screen behind him, that Charley hadn't previously noticed, lit up showing the CCTV footage of Charley and Bucky walking into the store. She smiled to herself, this would make it ten times easier. Bucky was a little way behind her as he did a little wobbly jog to catch up to Charley who had already quick walked off of the camera in search of food. She had to pretend to cough as she pulled a hand over her mouth to 'catch it' when really she was trying to suppress a smile. She hadn't noticed he had jogged to catch up with her before.

"Can you explain what happened before you entered the store? Had he approached you?"

"No. I don't even remember him being behind me," She lied, "Probably because I didn't know who he was"

"Okay," he scribbled down some notes, "If you can, tell me what happened in the TV section. We've asked eyewitnesses but I need your account"

She took a deep breath, "I think I happened to be there at the same time as him when the news came on about Sokovia and the avengers. Everyone else gathered around and at the end of the report someone noticed that the winter soldier was there. He grabbed me and used me to get out of the store and then took me to an alleyway where he quickly left"

"Did you interact at all?"

"In the alley he told me he was sorry before leaving," it wasn't exactly untrue, she was just missing out some minor details.

The questions continued, most of them she had answered before. It ran smoothly for the most apart until she accidently referred to the winter soldier as Bucky. Luckily, the officer didn't seem to notice the difference.

Just as she thought they were wrapping things up, a more older, senior officer entered the room with a laptop.

"What's this?" Charley asked as the laptop was placed in front of her.

She almost fell off her chair from the sight that was suddenly placed before her, as a hand slapped over her mouth to cover the gasp that escaped her.

On the screen there was a mini box of a grainy web camera. There, sat in the centre of the screen was none other than Captain Steve Rogers. The background was mostly black but every now and then she would catch the glimpse of something glistening.

"Sorry, I know this is a bit of a surprise"

"You're telling me…" Charley muttered but then came to her sense, "Hang on, I thought you were dealing with the Sokovia business"

"That ended two hours ago. We're just trying to get everyone back to safety, Right now I'm on a shield helicarrier," Steve told her, looking around him just as three women limping walked past him. Steve looked back at the camera, frowning, "I asked the police if there was any new updates in the winter soldier case to let me know, I just got the call about you and wanted to ask you a few questions. I'd be there in person if I could be"

Charley half glanced up at the officers in the room with her, wishing they would leave. Now might be the best opportunity she'd ever have to come clean. Bucky needed Steve now more than ever.

When the officers didn't look like they would be shifting anytime soon, she looked back down at the camera, "Sure… ask away"

"They're telling me he spoke to you?" Steve asked, his eyes lighting up at the slightest information that Bucky was still alive. It was a lot harder to retain her eye contact with the captain and answer with lies than it had been the officers. Steve just wanted to know where his best friend was, and she could understand more than anyone the agony it is of not knowing where someone as incredible as James Buchanan Barnes was. She felt just as helpless right now, knowing he was running from the law without her beside him.

"Yeah, he told me he was sorry after he had used me to get out of the store"

"He said he was sorry?" Steve's eyebrows furrowed together.

"I think…" she cast an eye to the officers standing in the corner watching her closely. She moved closer to the computer and lowered her tone as if she was about to tell him something only he could hear, even though the officers could still hear her loud and clear and she knew it, "I think he was just scared and reacted on impulse. Everyone was looking at him and he just wanted to get out, he saw me as an escape root"

"You never told us that's how you felt," one of the officers piped up. She chose to ignore them as Steve opened his mouth to speak.

"You think?"

"Yeah"

Steve slouched back in his chair, a tilt of a smile curving onto his cheeks but he quickly dropped into a frown, "And he attacked you?"

"Not really. It was pretty obvious he didn't want the attention on himself"

Steve debated this, "It's just a bit odd he's stuck around in Washington all this time. Wonder what's keeping him there?" he said more to himself. Charley's lips thinned as she tried not to give anything away. Thankfully, Steve quickly pulled himself out of this internal monologue before Charley broke, telling him everything, "Thank-you," he said earnestly, "I'll let you get back to your day"

"You too Captain"

"Please, call me Steve," he waved it off, pressing a button beside him as the camera switched off.

"Is that all?" She asked the officers who gave her a curt nod, swiping the laptop from underneath her nose.

It wasn't all, as after she escaped the interrogation room she had to fill in numerous forms full off information about her until she was finally free and completely worn out.

She must have missed so many red lights blindly as she rushed home as Charley managed to reach the apartment building within ten minutes of leaving the police station. She ran out, forgetting to lock her car and having to rush back out before dashing back up the apartment's steps, desperate to know if she'd beaten Bucky home.

However, something was amiss as her door lay ajar. Pausing she evaluated the situation. The lock wasn't broken, meaning they must have had a key. Perhaps Bucky had simply forgotten to lock the door… but that wasn't like him.

Carefully she pushed the door open but found a much bigger force was needed to make way for her body to squeeze through the sides, the door stuck behind something. Once she managed to fit through a tiny gap she gasped at the state of her apartment.

It was a mess. Everything was overturned and her table was smashed in two, one half of her Stark edition laptop lay at her feet, the other cascaded far across the other side of the room. Her curtains had been torn to pieces, the strands of material dangling off the edge of the window sill and her window had a single crack slicing through it.

The worst part was the smell. The horrid stench of blood and guts made Charley almost run out of the apartment again to be sick as she forced herself to hold back the gagging.

Mabel came pouncing over to her as soon as the door slammed against the table leg, stroking up against the side of her leg like a magnet unable to unhinge itself. Charley knelt down to pick her up and hold her close, more as a comfort blanket for her own needs as she gathered up the courage to venture further into her apartment.

"Buck?" She whispered, "Please say you're here"

A male grunt made her scream as she spun around, finding a corpse like figure lying mangled on her floor. She dived towards them, thinking the sound was Bucky but retreated quickly when the bloody face was a complete stranger. The man's face was covered in blood, cuts and scars layered all in one, so much so that he was almost inhuman. She was surprised he was still alive. He was clutching onto his rib where a large gash ran through, blood seeping through his fingers. He seemed to be in some kind of uniform. Charley tried to read the logo on his arm but it was rendered unrecognizable from all the crimson blood having stained it.

"Oh my god. Are you alright?" that was a stupid question, "what can I do. Just hang on, let me call an ambulance or something"

She went to get up and reach for her phone when the stranger seized her arm. His grip unnervingly strong for a frail, dying man.

"Hail Hydra," the man whispered sinisterly, releasing her from his strong grip and inching his hands down lower towards his pockets with slow and steady movements. Charley gasped, eyeing the logo one more time and identifying the black head of the hydra symbol, almost completely covered in crimson blood.

Heart beating double hard she retreated back but as his hand curled around something within his pocket she reacted on impulse, jabbing him in the side as he dropped whatever was in his pocket to clutch his rib in agonizing pain.

With the distraction she reached into his pocket and swiped a gun from him, throwing it across the room,.

"Who the hell are you!" She growled, anger seeping through every word as she dove for his collar, gripping it fiercely. If he truly was a hydra agent he had found a way into her home and discovered who she was. These were the people who had put Bucky through so much hell, "How does hydra fucking know where I live!"

She was quite impressed, even in the face of death the hydra agent managed to force out a chuckle, "We never lost him. We were simply observing his movements"

Taken aback she retreated, "That's a lie. You only know from the stuff on the news about him today. You can't have known."

"Hydra knows more than you think it does," He laughed, his cackle piercing her ears, "Charlotte Anne Weller. Twenty two, works at Target Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday on a eight hour shift. Sometimes picks up a Sunday shift if you really need the money and with only thirty dollars in your bank account I understand why. You like to take your Tuesday lunch at the park-"

"How do you know how much money I have?"

"Hydra knows everything," the man whistled but lurched back in pain when Charley kicked him in the side again.

"I know you're just trying to intimidate me," Charley hissed, "but it won't work." Even though she already knew he had won. She wondered how long they'd been watching her. Quite a while in order to figure out her shift patterns. Her eyes skimmed the apartment, almost expecting to see a camera watching her.

"Charley, get away from him," A rough familiar voice said from behind her. It was like music to her ears. She turned and rose slowly, facing Bucky who looked no better than the hydra agent. His clothes ripped in parts, his face a bloody mess as he supported a large blackened eye which was puffing it. The worst of his injuries, however, seemed to be in his right shoulder where he was holding a blood soaked tea towel.

"He knows stuff about me, how does he know stuff about me?" her voice shook as she moved towards him, never happier to see him. Even though the hydra agent was practically dead on the floor she couldn't wait to get away from him, creeped out and feeling a lot less vulnerable with Bucky by her side.

"They've known I've been here all along," Bucky growled between gritted teeth. Charley wasn't sure if it was because of the pain or anger, "This man was planning on attacking you. Luckily I got home before you did"

"You don't look much better? What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"it's just a bullet, it'll be fine-"

"Bucky!"

"I'm fine"

"Wha-"

"I said I'd be fine," Bucky hissed, silencing her. His face was twisting menacingly into the image of the winter soldier as he stared at the hydra agent. The more Charley thought about it, the more she realized he hadn't even looked in her direction since she'd seen him enter the room.

"Buck, what are you gonna do to him?"

"Depends on how he answers my questions," Bucky snarled, limping forward on an apparently dodgy leg.

"My apartment isn't sound proof. Look, I'm all up for you getting revenge on a hydra agent. Probably one responsible for what they made you into, but I can't let you torture someone in here," She begged, taking a step forward, placing a hand on his other shoulder, "If my neighbours hears screams coming from my apartment, they're gonna ring the police. I'm surprised they haven't already and It won't exactly be a good sign, considering I've just come from the station where I was interrogated by none other than Captain America himself" she gorged desperately for a reaction, as the threat of him snapping this man's neck right in front of her was becoming a real possibility.

As if right on cue, Bucky's face softened and he faced down to look at Charley in the eyes.

"You spoke to Steve?"

"Yeah… he'd just battled hundreds of those evil robot things in Sokovia only to take a break just so he could have a video chat with me simply to find out where you were," She said desperately trying to hold back tears, "I almost told him everything because I was so scared. I knew he'd be able to help you but I didn't and I would really appreciate it if I could just have my Bucky back because I'm still really scared right now"

Bucky inhaled a breath and she dared to move her hand away from his shoulder feeling as if she was in safe territory again.

"I'm sorry," Bucky apologized, "Come here."

He wrapped his good arm around her, and pulled her close. She nuzzled into his shoulders, feeling his warmth, so that his chin was resting on her head.

"Thank you" She mumbled not realizing she had been shaking quite so intently beforehand as Bucky's touch suddenly made her calm down, "What do we do no-"

"Hail hydra," The man said again, interrupting their moment as they pulled apart quickly the sound of fizzing could be heard. White froth erupted from the hydra agent's mouth as it dripped down his cheek onto her floor. He began to shake, his wobbly hands going towards his neck where he hurled upwards coughing and wheezing in desperate attempts to catch some air. Charley let go of Bucky and ducked down beside the agent.

"What the hell happened?" She exclaimed, trying to turn him onto his back but with his remaining strength the hydra agent fought her off before he finally, with a heavy gurgle, collapsed lifeless on the floor. His eyes still madly open, "Oh my god…"

"It's an old technique employed by Hydra agents. They have a poison in their which can choke them to death if activated. It keeps them from spilling any secrets"

"They must really believing in this hydra crap to do that," Charley mumbled still taking all the information in, "I just watched someone die…"

"Charley, it's okay. I'll clean it all up," But he took one step and ended up collapsing onto what remained of the couch, his leg having giving way, "agh!"

"Shit, Buck! Just stay there, let me get some bandage or something to sort this out-"

Whilst she really didn't want to see the sight of the dead agent on her floor, Bucky's needs were greater than her own as she had to jump over the agents sprawled out legs to get to the kitchen. Here she rummaged through the cupboards, her mind having forgotten where the bandages would be. Everything seemed foreign all of a sudden.

She finally found what she was looking for in the back of the cupboard before she grabbed some frozen peas in the fridge that she thought would help to numb the pain. Rushing back into the living room, she almost tripped over her cat who was tracing her every footstep.

"Here," she said, siding onto the couch by his legs. The leg he was holding was positioned in a crooked and stiff way. He held onto it, biting his lips to stop any sound escaping, "Let me just…" with her own hand she held onto his and moved it away from his leg so she had room to place the bandage over it. Carefully she unravelled it, placing the white cloth over his leg.

He didn't complain once. Charley tried to keep her eyes on his leg, afraid if she turned her head even a fraction, she'd catch sight of the dead agent.

"This'll just support it a little better until it heals," she said quietly, "You should probably just rest here and I'll…" she looked over at the dead body, her stomach dropping. How on earth was she supposed to get this out of her apartment without raising suspicion.

"No. I need to get rid of him," Bucky pushed himself up from the couch with a hefty effort, "I also need to find all the people this man was supposed to report to. He won't be working alone"

"Bucky, you can hardly walk," She tried to reason but he was already forcing himself up.

"I've got no other choice," he replied, "and I need to get rid of the body"

"You've been bloody shot in the shoulder, Bucky, you can't lift anything let alone a body!"

"Well it can't stay here and there are still hydra agents out there. I need to find them"

He finally got onto his feet where he stumbled a bit and had to use the chair for support as he hopped towards the body.

Charley watched as he carefully ducked down and lifted the man's arms over his shoulder and with a great heave (mostly using his metal arm) managed to pull him over his shoulder, "Where are you gonna put him?"

"I'll find somewhere"

"You're not gonna come back are you?" as she suspected, he didn't answer but continued to steadily walk towards her door, "I'll come with you. Let me just go get a few bits-" she got up and began to look around for a large bag where she could fit a few things into. Her phone. A few changes of clothing. Toothbrush.

"Charley, you know you can't come with me"

She frowned, "The hydra agent just told us that they've been watching me and you think now is the best time to leave. I don't even know if I could have taken on that dying man on my floor, let alone a fully able one. You can't just leave like this!"

With a struggle he managed to prop up the hydra agent against the wall before pulling something out of his coat pocket.

"When you first came in I was getting this. I was planning on leaving before you even saw me and leave this behind," He held it out to her. Charley snatched it suddenly angry that he had been originally planning on leaving without saying goodbye first.

"What's this?" She hissed harshly. It was a small flimsy sticky note with a phone number scrawled messily on the back.

"It's Steve's number. I managed to find it. Call him and tell him everything, he should protect you"

He seemed to think that he'd satisfied her with this bit of information as he continued to limp out of the apartment, picking up the agent as he went. In a way she was sort of glad he was injured, it made his movements much slower meaning she had more time to convince him not to go.

"Hold on a minute, you're leaving me and you're just going to get your ex-best friend to look after me like a babysitter," She dove forward, "No. I don't want Steve here, I want you"

"But I can't stay!" Bucky spun around on a single leg, "I want to stay but I can't! Do you know how close tonight was? What would have happened if you'd have come home first? I would have come home to find you dead. I don't know if I could…" his words phased out as his voice broke. Crackling on each word. He managed to mutter, "holy hell. I can't even think about losing you"

Slowly she took a step forward, "and I was saved because you were here. What'll happen next time when you're not?"

"You're only in this situation because of me," he reasoned, "And that's what Steve'll be here for. In case you need help"

She felt they had hit a dead end with the conversation as Bucky turned around to leave again. Tears pooled around her eyes. With a croaky voice she managed to ask, "Is there anything that will keep you from leaving?"

"I love you," he said before the door shut behind him.

If she knew running after him would make him come back then she would, but he had already made up his mind.

A/N I am so sorry for the long update. It's been such a busy month. I'll reply to reviews tomorrow because I want to update before I go to bed. Thank you so much to all of those who review and stuck with this.