The maps lines were beginning to blur and all she could see was a few distorted words laced together. For the whole day she'd been mulling over some maps that Peggy had given her, trying to figure out where another Hydra base. Hoping that a memory from her history classes would remember the names where the Hydra bases. Steve had probably told her and she hadn't been listening. Now she was paying the consequences of it.

The dingy basement was beginning to make her skin go grey. Tiredly she rubbed her eyes, trying to focus when a slap of heels sounded from the door. She looked up, surprised to see Peggy standing there. A gasp caught in her throat. Peggy was wearing in a beautiful red dress that went down past her knees. Her hair spun up in deep curls and she donned the classic red lipstick.

"Wow. You look amazing." Bea uttered, finally looking away from the maps.

Peggy clutched her purse tightly, "Yes. Well, I wish I could say the same to you. A bit of sunlight could do you good. Are you sure you're not going to join us?"

Bucky's offer of asking her to join him for a drink tonight rang through her skull. Sharply, she shook her head, "no. It's best I don't join, I might accidently cause world war three."

"So world war two does end then?" Peggy raised a hopeful brow, "I don't suppose you could save us the time and tell us how it ends…or how to end it sooner rather than later?"

Bea clucked her lips. She had known this question would come up eventually and now that she'd seen the war first hand, she couldn't blame her for asking. At night, Bea could hear the screams of men being treated by nurses only a few tents away, and saw a man freeze when a rifle was shot in the air.

There was still nothing she could do.

"Every war ends one way or another," She settled for, knowing it wasn't the answer Peggy was looking for.

"Yes. Usually with a lot of deaths."

"I really wish I could tell you. After being here and seeing everyone suffering knowing I probably have the power and knowledge to stop it – but, I know what happens in the future and I know it all turns out okay. So I have no other choice but to stay focused on my mission."

"it turns out okay?"

Bea paused, "Yeah… yeah it does."

Peggy needed a moment to process this information. But with a smile slowly making it's way onto her face, helped Bea search through the maps. Neither of them had any idea what they were looking for, but it filled the space of silence between them.

"Shouldn't you be going?" Beatrice said after ten minutes of silent shuffling through paper.

Peggy brushed a hand down her dress, "Yes, I suppose I should."

If Beatrice didn't know any better, she would think Peggy was actually nervous about going.

"He's going to think you're beautiful, Peg."

Peggy's head shot up. "What- who?"

Beatrice sent her a look that read; you know who.

In an attempt to keep her dignity, Peggy slapped her heels on the ground and stood, "good luck with your search, Richardson." She called over her shoulder politely, feeling the room as quickly as you could.

"And good luck with your date!" Beatrice hollowed back.

"it's not a date!"

She didn't think angering the agent would be in her best interest, so Beatrice bit her lip to keep herself from retorting back another sarcastic remark. When the door was left empty, she breathed out the laugh she'd been holding in for Peggy's benefit. If only the two of them could have admitted how they felt before everything went wrong.

With nothing to do but the maps in front of her, she leant back over them with a heavy sigh. As she stared at them it felt as if her head would fill with mist and fog, acting like she was doing something progressive towards finding the tesseract. She'd asked multiple times if anyone had any energy detectors but she'd been met with a crazy eye – except Tony Stark's father, Howard, who lit up with glee at the idea. She'd stopped asking since then.

Throughout the next few hours, the base suddenly became quieter. The unnatural silence tickled her ears. Silence in a busy base like this didn't make sense and she struggled against overthinking that Hydra was coming to attack, and reasoned that most of the men had probably gone down to the local bar to celebrate. She sung to drown the unbearable quite out and continued to scan the documents before her and when soldiers on patrol did eventually walk past, she asked them if any of them had a cigarrete. The quite drumming in her head was overbearing.

"Now you're askin' too much," The soldier chuckled, but lit one for her and passed it. She puffed it in breathlessly as the soldiers left her alone again.

The maps were useless. The Hydra base that had been identified; she knew Red Skull wasn't hiding. Steve didn't come across him until the very end. What else was she supposed to do-

Struggling to breathe, she sucked at the end of the cigarrete. Each puff she licked her lips, the tar calming every nerve in her body until the drumming in her head beat to a stop.

A whole night and day had passed and she felt like she'd been away from home for a decade. Careful not to tear it, she pulled the only photo she had of Brooke from her purse. She'd brought it with her, just in case she missed her, but never did she imagine she'd be here this long and completely alone.

"I'm going to pretend not to be offended that you'd rather spend your evening in this dank room than having a drink with me."

The cigarrete dropped from her hand, only just missing her picture of Brooke.

"Holy shit, Bucky!" Bea exclaimed, clamping a hand to her chest when she noticed him standing by the door, "You scared the bajesus out of me!"

"Sorry." He chuckled, "If you want me to leave, I can-"

"No." She said quickly, "please stay."

Bucky nodded and invited himself into the room. His eyes scanned the maps that were messily spread out, but his focus was soon captured by the picture in her hands. On impulse, she curled it towards her, protecting it from the world.

"Whose the kid?"

Her lips quivered, "My daughter." Your child. She suddenly wished she hadn't dropped the cigarrete.

"You've got a daughter?"

"I know, I don't seem old enough, right?" she chortled, knowing wrinkles were spreading out under her eyes more from stress and tiredness than age. Subconsciously she wiped under her eyes as if wiping them away, catching a few falling tears.

"Honestly, you don't," He said, "How old is she?"

"She's five. I just can't believe how quickly she's grown." She bit her lip. Tempted to keep rambling about Brooke; how bright she was, how funny she was, how she carried around her Bucky Bear like a safety blanket. Her heart clenched, "Bloody hell. I miss her."

"It's stupid how long this wars gone on for," he shifted, "I don't even have a decent picture of my mom anymore – nor my sister."

She pried, "no special someone then?"

He breathed out a laughed, "Why? Are you curious-"

"- No. No not at all," somehow it was easier to flirt when you already knew the other person was attracted to you, so she played along, finding the tapping in her skull disappeared the more she spoke to him, "not curious at all."

"You're an awful liar."

"I've been told."

"Whilst we're on the subject of not being curious," Bucky quipped, "What about you? You've got a daughter but I don't see a ring."

"You've been looking?" she had had her hands covered the whole time by the picture she was holding.

"Looking, but… not curiously."

She giggled and snorted. She covered her mouth to shut it up. She hadn't laughed like this in, well… years. The realisation of that sobered her up immediately.

This was not her Bucky.

Looking from him to the picture of Brooke. She could see the perfect similarities she'd been avoiding all these years. It got to the point where Steve had stopped commented on how 'much she looks like Bucky' because it would only upset Bea. Now, she had the real thing in front of her and could tell Brooke was a smaller female version. She wondered if he saw the similarities. Probably not – and she probably shouldn't ask. Probably.

"Her father disappeared before I found out I was pregnant. She wasn't planned."

"What an arsehole," he scowled.

"He could be."

"So, you raised her all on your own?"

She now all of a sudden wished they weren't in a claustrophobic room where there could be distance between them. She leant further down on the table, her hair dipping down in her face as she pretended to get a closer look at the maps, "I had friends. I wouldn't have got through it without them."

"So, what are you doing here?" Bucky asked out of nowhere, "I gotta ask why you're all the way out here with a daughter at home, when you don't have to be. Don't get me wrong – I respect it. You helping in this war when you don't need too is brave. I wouldn't be so."

He didn't give himself credit. Somewhere close was Steve Rogers, who she knew Bucky would travel down to hell and back for and wouldn't even consider whether it was brave or not. He was the bravest man she knew.

"Truth is I didn't think I would be out here this long. I told my daughter I'd only be a few days and I've been away much longer than I wanted to be. She'll be waiting for me." – was she crying for her? Did she think she had abandoned her? – No, she needed to remember no matter how long she was here. No time moved there… she just wished time wasn't moving for her and the constant reminder she was failing her mission wasn't tapping into her skull.

"Why'd you come then?"

"I need to make sure everyone gets back home safely."

She needed to make sure he got back home. To her and their daughter.

Suddenly, a question barged into her mind, "Do you like the name Brooke?"

"Me?" Bucky raised an eyebrow, "Why's it matter what I think?"

"Oh – No, don't worry actually. Silly…"

"It's nice."

"She's named after Brooklyn," Bea continued, half aware of how stupid she was sounding but whenever had Bucky judged her before for being honest. She didn't think this time would be any different, "It's where she was born."

"You live in Brooklyn?"

"Yep."

"No kidding!" exclaimed Bucky, "Where do you live there?"

"Uh-" She thought of all the places she knew in Brooklyn that were old enough to have been around now, "Next to the Cobble Hill Theatre?"

It was a lie, she lived no where near the old theatre, but couldn't think of anything old enough that would still be around today.

Bucky shook his head, "No idea where that is – My folks live by the New York Aquarium." So did she -why didn't she think of that place first, "I'm hoping to get my own place further in the city after this wars over."

"You were?"

Her voice wavered. Bucky was never going to make it out of this war and only she knew this. She'd never considered that there had been a time Bucky had had dreams about coming home – seeing his mother, father and sister.

"I am," Bucky vowed determinedly,

"What would you do?"

"Whatever. Just as long as it doesn't involve another war. I'll be happy." He nodded with content. He looked at the picture of Brooke again. Her hand shook trying to keep the picture steady in her finger tips. He had no idea he was looking upon his own daughter.

"That's a really good quality photograph," He edged closer and she gripped the photo tighter. She'd forgotten that photographs weren't this good today, "She looks like you."

"Does she? I can only see her father."

Bucky nodded slowly. Tentatively, her fingers gripped the edges of the photograph thinking of their last conversation. She'd been so worried about Alex. Still – somehow - it was a pressing issue on her mind. No matter how much the universe was in danger, her baby's safety still came first. There was nothing she could do about it here though.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure. Anything?"

She twiddled with the ends of her dress – what was she doing? How was she supposed to bring this up with him without it seeming weird… but she'd been dying to talk to him about it. To hear how Bucky would handle Alex. She suspected everything would have ended a lot more violently.

She really wished she could – tell him anything – tell him everything. The future. The snap. Thanos. Brooke. Alex. Steve. The tesseract… a million things… a million memories transpired in her mind like they had an axe and were hacking at her skull. She wanted to tell him.

"My daughters got a stalker," She tapped the table, trying to distract herself, "I'm not sure what to do about it."

"A stalker?"

"A guy," she mused, trying to think how to explain this, "it's all my fault, he was my co-worker and he didn't have anywhere to live so I let him sleep at mine for a bit. Thing is he lost his daughter a few years back and I think he got this attachment to Brooke… he started to pretend she was his. He, uh- started following her around." She sighed, infuriated with herself that she was even bringing this up, I- I just don't know what to do and now that I'm here I can't do anything."

"Did you tell the police?"

The Avengers were basically the same, right? She nodded once, recalling Steve's angry face when he found the tracker had been hidden inside one of Brooke's toys. "and what have they done about it?"

"They've helped," She shrugged, "But then other things took priority-" such as saving the freaking universe! "The war… you know." She quickly rushed to add when Bucky frowned deeply with creases between his eyes.

"Sounds like Brooklyn needs to set their priority straight when there's a little girl in danger."

"Yeah…" She hugged herself, feeling incredibly stupid. Why had she brought this up again? "I don't like the fact I'm not there. I just… I just…"

"want this war to be over so you can go home?" Bucky finished for her. It wasn't quite what she was going to say but she supposed it worked anyway. "Do you want to… Do you want to go for a walk? It might help to get out of this room."

"You're probably right." She sniffed away a few tears she didn't realise had fallen, "I'm just being silly."

"I wouldn't say that. You're kids in danger, I think that's an acceptable reason to get upset - Hell, if it was my kid, I'd have killed the bastard."

She smiled to herself, having no doubt that that was true.

"Anyway, Milday…" he offered her his arm, giggling at the cute gesture she took it. As they walked out of the room, her whole body felt light as if all her problems had been shut away in the tin room. The hallways were still relatively empty apart from a few drunk men who had come back early and were swaying on the spot. Bucky commented lowly how they were going to get told off if they continued to act like 'punks' in the middle of the bunker.

When they reached the top, the cold dark air was a pleasant surprise. It was much better than the murkiness the tin room offered.

Still no one was around and she wondered why Bucky was here, "Why did you come back early? Were you not having fun?"

"Yeah," Bucky nodded vacantly, "Then I realised how incompetent I was compared to Steve now – in a good way. I just… I can't believe how different he is. If I'd know he's have gone off and done something so stupid."

"He wouldn't have saved you if he hadn't."

"It was you that saved me," Bucky added, "I mean… what kinda of punk goes and gets injections from a German scientist to join the war."

"Steve."

"Yeah… Steve," he rolled his eyes, "I'm never letting him outta my sight again. He's gonna get himself killed."

They walked around the edge of camp. Beatrice's legs cried out in celebration about being able to finally stretch. She was aware of their looped arms that hadn't dethatched since they'd left the room. The natural feel of his arms around hers jarred her for a moment and all thoughts left her head. The impulse to seize him and kiss him there took everything in her not to move closer towards him.

She needed to get out of here.

"Thank you, Buck, for going on this walk with me. I really needed it," Bea hummed quietly, fearing her voice would break, "And for what it's worth you're not incompetent compared to Steve now – you're braver than you think."

"What makes you say that?" Bucky smiled naturally, "I thought we hardly knew each other."

"You survived Hydra."

"Brave? I wept like a baby when I was dragged to be experimented on," He joked, but she could hear the pain seeping through his voice.

She shrugged, "you still got through it."

"Yeah…" his eyes became vacant as if he wasn't truly there, "Just as long as I don't have to go back."

Zola, the Hydra scientist who experimented on him, was dead in modern times but she had a feeling if she saw him now, there wouldn't be anything that could hold her back from killing him.

Feeling the need to comfort him, she clutched his arm.

"Hydra won't get their hands on you again Bucky."

Whilst this Bucky was years behind hers, it seemed they still had the same fears. Hydra.

"Just as well I've got an angel watching over me then," He winked mischievously and Bea felt a chuckle scratch past her throat.

"Believe me. I am no angel."

Bucky stared at her doubtfully, "doesn't matter. You're an angel to me."

A/N sorry for the long update. This chapter needed to be edited before I posted it and I just didn't know how to do it. I'm still not happy with it, I think in reality if Beatrice had just started rambling her life story to Bucky, he'd have ran in the other direction.

Reviews:

sofiarose613: Thank you for finding this story! Hope you continue reading

LunaEvanna Longbottom: Yeah, I didn't like how in Endgame Steve spent all that time trying to get Bucky back but then as soon as he was, instantly dipped out without making sure his friend was okay. Also wasn't okay with the fact there's still a Steve in the ice, in the timeline he went too. Like is... is he okay with this? lol. What did you think of Steve's ending?

NeoMulder: Thank you for saying you love my chapters. I'm a little worried that my fics boring at the minute because of how many chapters it's been since we've got any decent Beatrice/Bucky interaction. and yes, i'm going by the time travel logic that they told us in the film that going back in time is like going to a completly different timeline so no, Beatrice's future won't be affected.