Author's Note- I've decided not to reiterate the entire plot of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" in the following chapter. I'm assuming that most people have already seen the movie and I don't want to repeat what you've already watched. If you haven't seen the movie and/or you'd like some clarification, please PM me. I can explain anything that might be unclear.

Ch. 3

"Secure channel seven," Steve said into his mic.

"Seven's secure. So, how's Stacy?" Natasha asked as they began cross-checking their equipment for the rescue mission. There was a group of hostages they needed to save on a S.H.I.E.L.D. ship called Lemurian Star. "I bet she didn't like the fact that you got called away right after you got back from your trip."

Steve grinned as he put his comm device in his ear. "Yeah, she was a little upset."

"Coming up over the drop zone, Cap," the pilot announced over the intercom.

"How was the honeymoon?" she asked.

"Great," Steve said vaguely. He didn't want to go into too many details in front of the other operatives. He already saw Agent Rumlow laughing and joking with another agent about what Natasha had said so far.

Steve secured his helmet and got ready to make the dive into the ocean.

"Did you even leave the hotel room?" Natasha teased.

Steve gave her a wink. "Most days," he said before jumping off the plane.

0000

Once he had cleared the deck of all hostile targets, the rest of the operatives and Natasha landed on the ship. "So, what about kids?" she asked, disengaging her parachute and walking beside him.

"Nat, we literally just got married," Steve said, shaking his head.

"You're not getting any younger, Steve."

"First secure the engine room, then sort out my domestic life," Steve said, but he couldn't keep the smile out of his voice.

"I'm multitasking," Natasha protested before leaping down to the next level.

0000000

The next few days sped by. The revelations about the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D. rocked Steve to his core. After getting out of the hospital after his last confrontation with the Winter Soldier, he tried calling his wife a dozen times, but he still couldn't get ahold of her. Once he was released, Sam drove him to the coordinates that Fury sent them.

While waiting to speak with Fury, Steve just sat there, his head in his hands, still reeling from all that had happened, finding out that Hydra had been a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long, the true purpose of Project Insight. They had taken down the hellcarriers and uploaded all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets onto the internet. It was all over.

He leaned back on the couch, an oppressive exhaustion coating his body that wasn't physical at all. No wonder they had such a hard time pinning down the Hydra informant in New York last year. How many agents had been working against them, thwarting them at every turn? And which traitor had helped Richter kidnap Stacy?*

And then, there was Bucky.

The shock of seeing his best friend turned into a ruthless assassin was almost more than Steve could handle. The guilt had settled on him like a blanket. They should have searched more, tried harder to recover Bucky's body after he fell from that train. At the time, there had been a huge uproar about putting more enlisted men at risk to find a lifeless corpse. In the end, Steve had reluctantly agreed, not bearing the thought of having a soldier die in an attempt to bring back Bucky's body.

Because no one could have survived that fall.

But Bucky did.

"You okay?" Sam asked next to him.

Steve nodded. He was surprised at how much he had grown to trust and rely on Sam in such a short amount of time. Steve didn't dare try to contact Tony or Bruce or anyone else during their takedown of Hydra, fearful of tipping off the organization and putting his friends at risk.

A door opened and Natasha walked out of the main office in the compound. "You guys want to come in? Fury wants to talk to you."

Steve got up and followed Natasha into a large, well-appointed office, Sam trailing behind him. They were in one of Fury's secret bases. Steve had the feeling that there were dozens of them scattered around country. Before, he would have said that Fury was paranoid. Now, he was just grateful that they had somewhere to lie low for a while.

"How you holding up, Cap?" Fury said, leaning back in the chair behind his desk. For some reason, he seemed older to Steve now. He realized that Fury had to be well into his sixties and what he'd been through in the past few days was more than most men could bear at any age.

Steve thought about lying. Instead, he shrugged. "Not so good."

"That's to be expected. So, what are your plans now?" Fury asked.

"I'm going to find Bucky," Steve said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"We're going to find him," Sam said and Steve had to smile. Sam's offer to help him find Bucky had been unexpected and more than welcome.

"I see. Well, that kind of loyalty is to be commended. Especially now," Fury said.

"What are you going to do, sir?" Steve asked.

"I'll be honest. A part of me wants to just stay dead. Wander the earth. Start over again. But, I swore an oath. An oath to follow the legacy of a Miss Peggy Carter. So, I'm going to weed out every single disloyal, Hydra-loving traitor from this organization and rebuild it again. To me, the best way to honor the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be make sure it was the kind of agency that they'd be proud of. And I'd like you to be a part of that rebuilding project, Rogers," Fury said.

"Sir, I've got to find Bucky. I've got to find him before Hydra does. He saved me from drowning. There's still a part of him that remembers who he is. If Hydra gets ahold of him again . . . ," Steve said.

"I kind of thought you'd say that. Natasha decided to do a little digging," Fury said.

Natasha stepped forward. She handed Steve a file written in Russian. "This is every scrap of information I've been able to find about The Winter Soldier."

Steve smiled. "Thanks, Nat."

She gave him a little grin. "No problem."

"So, you're staying?" Steve asked her.

"I thought of going. I did. Everyone can now see every drop of red in my ledger by just logging onto their computer. I wanted to run away and hide. But, Fury's right. I've got to choose a side. I've got to finally make a stand. So, Clint and I are going to help Fury get S.H.I.E.L.D. back on track," she said.

"How about this? Take a leave of absence," Fury suggested to Steve. "Hell, it's not like we have any funding to pay you anyhow," Fury chuckled, shaking his head. "When you find Bucky, your job will be here waiting for you."

"Thanks, sir," Steve said.

"You're welcome. And good luck. You're going to need it. Something tells me that he's not going to want to be found," Fury said.

00000

A few days later, he received a frantic call from Stacy.

"Steve!?" she yelled into the phone when he picked up.

"Yeah, it's me, sweetie," Steve said.

"What happened? I just got back from the camping trip and there are reporters all around the Tower. I saw on the news that there's no more S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Hydra had infiltrated it and that you were in this horrible battle in D.C. Are you alright?" she asked desperately.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. Really, I am. Stacy, the person I fought in D.C. It was Bucky."

"Your friend from the forties? How is that even possible? I thought he died in the war."

"So did I. Hydra brainwashed him. Used him as an assassin. They froze him and periodically took him out and programmed him to kill for them. He didn't . . . he didn't know what he was doing," Steve took a shuddering breath and for the first time, he allowed himself to truly cry over what had happened to his friend.

Stacy didn't say anything for a while, letting Steve grieve. After a minute or so, she asked softly, "Steve, where are you? Why aren't you here?"

"I've got to find him, Stacy. He took off and I don't know where he is, what kind of condition he's in. I've got to save him. He could have killed me, but he didn't. In the end, he saved my life. I need to help him."

"Where are you?" she asked again.

"Texas. Austin, actually. We got a lead that he might be out here."

"We?"

"There's another veteran, Sam. Sam Wilson. He helped me and Natasha do what we needed to defeat Hydra's plans. He's helping me find Bucky," Steve explained.

"Okay. Um, I'll find the next flight out there. We'll find him together," Stacy said.

"No. Stacy, you can't. I don't know what kind of condition Bucky will be in. If he's violent . . ."

"You're my husband. We're in this together," she said in a determined tone.

"No . . . Stacy, you don't understand. You are the last good thing in my life. Everything, S.H.I.E.L.D., Bucky, everything has been stripped away. If anything happened to you . . . I couldn't bear it," Steve's voice broke.

"Alright. I understand. I do. Go. Find him. And then, come back to me."

"I love you," he said.

"I love you more."

"Not possible," he replied. "Thank you. For being there when . . . when I needed you."

"Always."

000000

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Steve and Sam crisscrossed America, always a step behind, always just missing Bucky. You'd think a man with a metal arm would stand out, Steve thought bitterly as he came to yet another dead end.

From the few leads that they did find, it seemed as though Bucky was going from one homeless encampment to another, living at the edges of society. It broke Steve's heart to see the wretched conditions some people were living in, bringing back to mind the harshness of The Great Depression. He began donating thousands of dollars to local food banks and homeless shelters as he went along, desperate to find some way to alleviate the suffering he saw as he and Sam searched across the country for Bucky.

Steve kept in touch with his friends and family via Skype, calling Stacy every night and everyone else at least once a week. His niece and nephew, Daniella and Mateo, were always excited to get a call from him. Steve was shocked at how quickly they changed. Mateo was starting second grade and little Daniella was beginning a local preschool three days a week. The baby, Esteban, was starting to recognize him, his little eyes lighting up whenever he saw his "Uncle Steve" on the screen.

Tony yelled at him for not calling him when S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed, but finally understood when Steve explained that it was for his own safety and the good of the mission. Tony promised to watch over Stacy. Steve felt nervous leaving her for so long, but at the end of every call, she pushed him to keep looking, to find his friend.

00000

In late September, he tried called his friend, Josh, once again, but it just went to voicemail. He shook his head, frustrated that he couldn't get ahold of him. He'd been able to maintain contact with the rest of his friends, but for some reason, Josh hadn't returned his calls or emails.

The next day he asked Stacy about it, but she just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It'll be fine."

Steve hadn't been married for long, but he had learned that "it's fine" usually meant anything but.

"Tell me," he insisted.

"You don't need to be worrying about that now. Just focus on finding Bucky."

"Stacy," he said sternly.

"Alright. You know how S.H.I.E.L.D. had files on me and all of our friends?"

"Yes."

"When you uploaded that information, it all became public knowledge. Our social security numbers, our backgrounds, everything," Stacy explained.

"Oh," Steve said. He hadn't even thought about that. Monica, Erica and Michael hadn't said a word when he called them.

"So, everyone's been dealing with identity theft left and right. Tony's been really good at helping us sort through everything, but it's still been a pain. And, Josh, well, I guess he told his employer he was working on some financial documents when he was really out with you and Michael watching baseball games last summer."

"Oh, no," Steve said, the ache in his stomach growing stronger.

"There's a guy at his work who's been angling for his job. He sifted through hundreds of documents to find out what Josh did. He told Josh's boss and Josh got fired." Stacy took a deep breath. "Then, there was the fact that he had cheated on me when we went out years ago. His new girlfriend found that S.H.I.E.L.D. report on-line and broke up with him the next day."

"No wonder he's mad at me."

"Look, Steve. It's fine. Tony got him a new job working at one of his subsidiary companies with better pay. As for the girlfriend, to be honest, I really never liked her anyway. She was really shallow and mean-spirited. My guess is that she was just looking for a reason to break up with him. Just give Josh a few more weeks and I'm sure he'll turn around."

"I hope you're right," Steve said. He'd seen all of the fallout from the S.H.I.E.L.D. information that he'd published on-line nearly every day when he turned on the news, but this was the first time the ramifications of what he did hit so close to home.

00000

It was early December when Steve almost gave up the search. He called Stacy at his usual time and noticed that she wasn't there. She had been upset, but understanding when he had missed Thanksgiving and he was worried how she'd take the news that he'd probably miss Christmas.

Finally, about fifteen minutes late, he noticed that she had finally connected to Skype. He called her and saw right away that something was wrong. She seemed agitated and most of the lights were off in the apartment.

"Doll, could you turn some more lights on? I can barely see you."

She nodded and his eyes widened when he saw her properly. There was a red mark on her cheek and it was clear that she had been crying.

"What happened?" he asked urgently.

"It's nothing," she lied.

"What happened?" he demanded.

She took a deep breath. "Things are just a bit . . . rough," she said evasively.

"What happened?" he repeated.

"It's my own fault," she said.

"Stacy, you've got to tell me."

"There was some T.V. pundit. He was going on and on. Saying that you were Hydra," she explained.

"That's ridiculous. All that information that I put on the internet . . . it proves I had nothing to do with Hydra."

"He said that you scrubbed your involvement in Hydra from the files. He's just a crazy conspiracy theorist . . . but . . ."

"But what?" Steve said urgently.

"He stirred a bunch of people up. They'd been protesting at the Tower for days. Normally, I just borrow one of Tony's cars from the underground garage and avoid them entirely. But . . . today I decided to take the subway. When I came back, a group of them surrounded me. They were yelling and screaming. One of them threw a bottle. It hit me," she said shakily.

"That's it. I'm coming home right now," he said.

"No . . . you can't. If it were my sister, Amanda, or Monica or Erica, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't find them. Bucky is your brother in every way but blood. You can't give up now."

"I'm not putting you at risk," he said.

"You aren't. Tony came out in his Iron Man suit and they scattered like flies. He said he'd track every single one of them down if they ever came within a mile of the Tower again."

"I should come home. I should be the one protecting you," Steve insisted.

"No. Please don't. You'll regret it the rest of your life you don't find Bucky now. Please, please promise me that you'll see this through."

Steve stared at Stacy for a long moment, his emotions warring inside of him. "Alright. But, I'm going to talk to Fury. See if he can put some full-time protection on you."

Stacy tensed. Steve knew that she hated being shadowed by a bodyguard, but he couldn't bear to have her unprotected.

"No, no way. I can't live like that, Steve. I just can't. I put up with it for months when we were engaged, but I can't do that again," she insisted.

"Stacy . . . " Steve began.

"I felt like a prisoner, Steve. Do you have any idea what it's like to be followed every moment of your life? I know you want to protect me, but please, please understand that I can't live that way again."

"Alright, but please be careful," he said.

"I will. JARVIS is keeping an eye out on me and Tony's here at the Tower at least two or three times a month."

"I love you. You know that, right?" he asked.

"I do. And I love you, too. I miss you, sometimes so much I can barely breathe, but Steve . . . . if you don't keep looking for Bucky, you'll never forgive yourself," she said.

"You really are wonderful."

"Right back at you," she said before logging off.

Steve stared at the blank screen. He didn't know how much longer he could do this. If it were just him, he would search for Bucky for years. But, despite all her protests, he could see the toll it was taking on Stacy. He knew he should be there, with his wife.

As he laid down in bed, he sighed. One more month. That was it. He couldn't keep doing this to her. He had made a promise, a vow to be her husband and he had abandoned her. He could see the strain of their separation on her face, hear it in her voice.

One more month and then, no matter what, I'm going home, was Steve's last thought before falling asleep.

Author's Notes-

*Now, I had no idea about the whole Hydra plot in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" when I started writing this story in December of 2013. It was just a happy coincidence that the movie lined up so well with "The Captain's Bride".

1. So, as you can see, there are a few changes from Captain America:The Winter Soldier to fit into the confines of this story.

A. The events in the movie happen in early July to line up with the timeline of "The Captain's Bride".

B. Natasha doesn't try to set Steve up, since he's already married. For those of you who were wondering, this also means no kiss between Natasha and Steve while trying to avoid suspicion.

C. Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury stay and try to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of leaving.

2. Remember the roof scene with Agent Sitwell? I rewrote that scene, but the chapter ran long and I cut it. If you'd like the tiny bonus scene, let me know in a review and I'll PM it to you.