GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART

{Author's Note: I am so sorry. You guys are just incredible for reading/adding to favourites/reviewing. I've just been recovering from illness, and that's why I've not been writing for a while. It's getting better, so I'm back, hoping that this chapter is a start to saying sorry for my absence :). Thank you for reading my lovelies.}

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character(s) you don't recognise.

NEXT UPDATE: Rosie meeting Sam, and Nat wants to get to the bottom of what happened to her friend.

A HUGE thank you to: PatheticPisces: Hi, hun! I loved the elevator scene too! I literally watched that scene over and over until I got it just right as to how Rosie would fit into all of it. I'm so glad that you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing *hugs*. LilyMayRose: hey, hun! Awww, I love Sam too! He's so cute...poor man has no idea what he's getting himself into ;). CrimsonBlade13: hey! I have revealed what they have done to Rosie...got to love how evil HYDRA can be ;). FireChild24: I don't know what that means? But thank you for reading :) *hugs*. sPaRkzZz: You are very welcome. I'm so glad you enjoy reading this story x

I know I always say this, but thank you for reviewing. You guys just make me smile :).

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{ESCAPING THE TRISKELION| WASHINGTON, D.C.| NOT LONG AFTER…}

STEVE'S P.O.V.

As I held her delicate body to me so that I could swerve my motorcycle to try and avoid the gun ships, I just hoped-prayed-that she would be able to internally fight whatever it was that was inside her at that moment.

It had brought back memories of Rosie coming down with influenza when she had been fifteen, and had spent weeks in a comatose state.
Bucky had been beside himself with worry, constantly spending days by her bedside and reading stories to her that he knew she had loved as a child.
I just had no idea how to make things easier or better for them both.

During times when my illness had taken over, Rosie had made me chicken soup and done everything within her power to make me laugh.
In all honesty, she had revealed to me that the soup was the most horrific she had ever made, but she told me that it was needed as an excuse to visit me in hospital.
I never told her how much that meant to me, to have someone who would spend their free time with a guy like me.

If I let myself think about those times, two things always jump out at me and stay stuck in my mind: number one is how much I miss those simple days, and number two is how I had always been in love with her.

I knew that I had to get Rosie to safety and to someone who could tell me what exactly is going on with her.
Seeing the woman I love convulse and whimper in my arms, tore apart my heart from within; I wanted to make them pay.

Just as I had managed to successfully hide my motorcycle somewhere safe so that I could quickly walk the rest of the way to the hospital with Rosie in my arms, I felt her stir.

"Steve?"

I glanced down, stopping mid-stride so that I could give her my full attention, "Rosie-"

"Where…we need to find Nat…"

"Not yet. I'm taking you to the hospital-"

"No!" She widened her eyes in fear before struggling against my grip, "Steve, we can't involve anyone else in this! The Doctors and Nurses would be in danger!"

My eyes softened as I sighed, "Rosie, if I don't get you help, then-"

She cut me off to say brokenly, "They won't be able to diagnose whatever HYDRA have put into me. I just need to make sure that Nat is safe."
Pausing to bring a shaky hand to my cheek, she urged softly, "She would do the same for us…"

'Would she?'
The question wasn't one that I had ever wanted to dwell on too much.

After the fiasco of what had happened aboard the Lemurian Starr, I wasn't too sure who I could fully trust, and who was actually on my side.
Even Rosie-who I trusted above anyone else-was hiding secrets from me that I knew were eating her up from inside.
I couldn't help but feel that I was failing as not only her lover, but also as her partner and team mate.

"Sweetheart…" Rosie had cut off my train of thought to smile up at me lovingly, "Don't blame yourself. Please, don't. It's not your fault, and you already have so much on your shoulders."

A sheepish smile accompanied my shocked tone, "Was I speaking my thoughts out loud?"

"No. I just know you too well; I can read you like a book." She sighed lightly before guiding my face down towards hers so that she could say softly in between tender kisses, "As long as we have each other, nothing else matters."

She punctuated the last three words with quick, chaste kisses that made me smile, "Are you trying to distract me?"

"Me? Distract you, Captain Rogers? I wouldn't dream of it!" Laughing tiredly, she then placed both of her hands on both sides of my jaw line, "But if I were, then it would be working."

I chuckled, "No man alive would be able to keep his sanity if he had you in his arms."

Rosie giggled at my cheesy line, "That will most definitely score you some brownie points later…"

Seeing a genuine smile on her beautiful face had me beaming in response before looking around, "I need to pick up something that I had left here for safe keeping earlier."

"We should be quick; it isn't safe to be out in the open like this." She then carefully placed both of her feet on the ground so that she could try to stand up without my help.
Nearly stumbling, I made a move to pick her back up, but she waved me away, "Steve, we are already attracting enough attention. If you carry me, sweetheart, then people will definitely notice us."

Knowing that she was right, I nodded before indicating to a laundry room that was to my right, "We need to change out of these clothes if we are to stand a chance of evading HYDRA."

A cheeky grin lit up her face, "Wow, you know, I've always had a thing for Doctors…"

I laughed whilst taking a hold of her hand to lead her into the room so that we could rummage through the pile of clean laundry to find two plain hoodies and pairs of jeans.

As I turned to ask her if she needed any help changing, I caught a glimpse of her face twisting into a grimace, causing my heart to clench painfully, "Rose-"

Almost immediately after the word had left my lips, she had jumped and forced a smile onto her face, "Done!"

"Rosie, we could try to get you to Bruce or-"

"Steve, I'm fine! I'm just tired…" She took a hold of my hands, "We need to get whatever you had left here earlier."
Smiling, she then stood on her tiptoes so that she could lean up and pull down the hood over my head, "We are now incognito. Shame about the Doctors uniform though."

I knew not to push it anymore or it could cause her to shut off and not want to tell me anything.
I just wanted to make everything alright again for her.
Smiling in return, I pulled her in to my embrace, resting my chin on top of her head so that I could say, "Thank God you're back with me."

She wrapped her arms around me so that she could bury her face against my chest, "I am not going to leave you alone to deal with this. Anyway, we are both wanted fugitives…"

I sighed with a nod, "Let's get the flash drive before anyone knows that we are here."
Reaching to pull up her hood too, I then took a hold of her hand as we both made our way to the vending machine where I had hid the flash drive just hours earlier.

As we approached the machine, I gazed in confusion as where I had hidden it now had empty slots.
"What-" I had started to ask under my breath.
From the reflection in the glass I could see Natasha's face watching me as she chewed on the gum I had hidden the flash drive with.

Anger and frustration had then overpowered my emotions, as I grabbed a hold of her arm and marched her backwards into a private room.
After everything that had happened, I wasn't up for playing one of her many games.

As her back hit the wall, she broke free of my grip and narrowed her eyes at me as I asked her furiously, "Where is it?"

"Safe."

Rosie had then joined us, hastily closing the door to shield us from prying eyes and ears, "Steve! What are doing?!"

Natasha's eyes then softened as she turned her head towards Rosie, "Where were you? I had spent days trying to track your movements but every file was classified."

"It's a long story, one that shouldn't be told here." Rosie then put her hand on my arm, "Tell me what is going on."

I didn't dare let Natasha out of my line of sight as I explained, "I had a flash drive that I hid here for safe keeping-"

"Well, it wasn't the best place." She spoke simply, adding to my rage at being toyed with.

"Do better!"

"Where did you get it?" She watched me closely as she questioned me, before glancing over at Rosie too, "She doesn't know?"

"Right now, I only know as much as you do about this." Rosie replied back with her brows furrowed in concern.

Guilt was setting in over dragging Rosie into all of this, but I still stood my ground as I said to Natasha, "Why would I tell you?"

"Steve…"

Natasha studied my reaction before raising an eyebrow in realisation, "Fury gave it to you. Why?"

I paused as the room went silent, "What's on it?"

Rosie watched us both as Nat answered back with, "I don't know."

"Stop lying!"

"Steve!" Rosie had come to push me away from Natasha, "We need to remain calm! Nat, you have to be honest with us. As right now, I'm unsure on who to trust and who we can turn to for help!"

Natasha went quiet as a look of guilt passed on her face before she once again donned a blank expression, "I only act like I know everything."

I briefly glanced at Rosie before returning my attention back to her, "I bet you knew that Fury hired those pirates, didn't you?"

"Well it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in. So do you."

"I'm not going to ask you again!" I shook her, getting more agitated as to how she had this way of answering my questions, yet telling me nothing at the same time.

Nat widened her eyes slightly before saying darkly, "I know who killed Fury."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Rosie had whipped her head around from where she had been guarding the door, to look at Natasha, "What?!"

"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do, call him The Winter Soldier."

[THE HOSPITAL| WASHINGTON D.C.]

ROSIE'S P.O.V.

I stiffened the second his name had left her lips.

'No…'
My heart refused to believe that my brother-this 'Winter Soldier'-had anything to do with Director Fury's death.
'He's no longer James…'

A gasp was barely audible, as I flew my hand to my mouth and turned away from them, struggling to comprehend the crimes that were now piling up against him.
I was still in pain. Still remembered the awful fight we had on the streets as I had tried in vain to make him remember me.

"He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years." Natasha was continuing as she then glanced over me.

"So, he's a ghost story." Steve answered, his tone still wary and distrustful.

Natasha breathed deeply before explaining, "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tyres near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but The Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him…straight through me."
She then lifted up her top to expose a nasty scar, "Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."

I kept my face turned away from them, still trying to mull things over in my head.
What would Steve, Natasha, or even the government do, if they found out who The Winter Soldier used to be?
Steve would never hurt James, but Nat?
She had every right to want justice for what had happened to her in Odessa, but…I couldn't let go of the niggling feeling that he was still my brother.
Love can make us all selfish.

"Yeah, I bet that you look terrible in them now."
Steve's sarcastic and wry comeback had jolted me back to reality, forcing me to finally turn my attention towards them.

Natasha glanced at me before saying, "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." She then lifted up the flash drive, "Like you said, he's a ghost story."

Steve took the flash drive from her hand, "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."

[THE TRISKELION| WASHINGTON D.C.| MEANWHILE…]

"So, tell me, Alexander; how did she manage to escape again?"

It wasn't often that Alexander Pierce felt true fear or anxiety.
He had thought that such feelings were reserved for lesser men, men who couldn't talk or think their way out of situations.
Then again, he was positive that those men had never been in a meeting with Doctor Klara Weismann.

"It was a mistake. I will admit, perhaps I should have put more men-"

"Ah! You see, there is a certain word you said which bothers me, Alexander. You said, mistake…I do not tolerate mistakes. Nor do I tolerate incompetence."

Frowning, his brain worked ten to a dozen to try and find the right words that wouldn't be picked apart.
"Maybe Rumlow should have been more vigilant. But we did not bet on Captain Rogers finding out Agent Barnes had been kept here! Perhaps that had been a slip-up with our field agents or-"

Klara rose from the couch she had been lounging on to stand to her full height in front of him, as she leant her face in close to his to sneer, "Why must you pathetic excuses for men, always blame others? It was your mistake! You let her go! You let her find Captain Rogers! And you are now in charge of dealing with the repercussions!"

"I…understand. Of course I will see to it that Agent Barnes is found and dealt with-"

"No!" Klara raised a hand to silence him, "We must let the drug work its way through her system before making a move to apprehend her! She's stronger than what I had originally given her credit for. Nonetheless, we must get Captain Rogers out of the picture."

He nodded, "Of course. I am currently working on it."
Pausing to evaluate whether or not he'd get away with asking, he decided to take the plunge and inquire, "If I may ask, what was in that toxin we injected Agent Barnes with?"

A tense silence engulfed the room, the only sound being from the various agents running around outside the office.
"She is special."

"I gathered. "

Klara nodded to herself, "The toxin attacks a certain…target. We needed to make sure that her body wouldn't be able to fight back against the drug. She has a strong defence, she can heal faster than what most can. In fact, I have not seen another like her apart from a mutant I had come across. He was created in a similar way too."

"So, you wanted to weaken her in order to dull her senses for other factors to be able to take over?"

"Correct." Klara smirked as she turned to face him, "She won't be able to stop what is happening to her. Captain Rogers will either die by your hand, or by hers."

I have no idea if any of you still read this story, if you do, then thank you so much!
Please let me know if you want me to still continue writing this story; your reviews make so much difference to my confidence :).