"Bucky!" Victoria screamed as she woke from her dream.

She had been dreaming about the first time she laid eyes on Bucky, she had been saying a prayer over the bodies being sent to be buried. As a Valkyrie, her prayers went to Odin, praying these souls would be welcomed into the halls in Valhalla, all the lives lost in this war deserved to be there. When she turned, she had run straight into him. He had been coming to say goodbye to a fallen comrade. As she had hit him, he grabbed her arms. She remembered looking into his blue eyes and watching as a smirk slowly played across his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise anyone else would be here."

"Hey, no problem at all. I wish more beautiful women would just fall into my arms." Bucky remarked, looking her up and down.

"Wow, used that line, often, have you?"

"Once or twice." His smirk grew a little.

"Does it work?" She said, stepping back from him.

"You tell me?"

Victoria stared into his eyes again, that grin, he was incredibly good looking. "It does."

"Can I take you for a drink? Tomorrow night?"

"Yer, soldier you can." Victoria started to walk away, however Bucky turned and grabbed her arm.

"I never got your name?"

"Victoria, Vic for short."

"James, but everyone calls me Bucky."

He let her arm go and she walked away. That had been the start of their life together.

Now it was 2012, she was away on assignment for S.H.I.E.l.D. Her and Natasha were on a fact-finding mission. When she turned in her bed, she noticed the red head looking at her from her bed across the room. Nat gave her friend a soft smile, she had grown used to Vic waking up from dreams or rather nightmares.

"You ok?"

"Yer, nearly 70 years and it doesn't get easier. I miss him every day."

"You lost your husband, there's no easy way to get over that."

Vic played with the wedding band she still wore on her finger; Bucky had saved up every spare penny to buy it for her. She loved it and had never found the right time to take it off. A few hours later the two of them were woken yet again, it now being morning. Both of their phones pinging crazily. They were being recalled, Vic was to go to New York and Nat back to base. They packed their bags quickly and left the small hotel they had been using.

When she arrived in New York two black S.H.I.E.L.D jeeps were waiting at the airport for her and Fury was walking towards her in a way that clearly meant business, Shit what was she in trouble for this time.

"Barnes."

"Fury."

Fury noticed the look in her eyes, she thought she was in trouble.

"Calm down, this time you haven't done anything wrong. I do need your help with something though."

"You're not gonna make me train the newbies again, aren't you?"

Nick laughed at her as they walked towards his car. "No, hell no. You made 4 recruits cry last time. We work them up to you now."

Vic smiled to herself, training the recruits to fly the quinjets had seemed like a good idea at first, she was the best pilot they had, but teaching was not in her skill set.

They had driven for a while, before Fury turned to her again. "I'm going to tell you something, but I need you to keep breathing and keep a level head."

"You sure I'm not in trouble."

"We found someone in the ice. A friend of yours. He's ok. Should be waking up anytime now."

Vic's heart raced for a minute. The first person she thought of was Bucky.

He noticed the hope in her eyes and decided it was best to nip that in the bud straight away, save her as much pain as possible. "It's Rogers." He noticed the look in her eyes, the small tears that threatened to fall. He had known that her first thought would have been Bucky. He reached over and squeezed her hand.

"I know you wanted it to be him, but Roger's is as good as I can get you."

"Thank you, Nick."

They were heading to where Steve was being held, they were told he was on the run, they descended upon Times square, Steve was standing in the middle of the road looking around completely lost.

"Stay here, for a minute."

Vic just nodded her head. Fury got out of the car and walked towards Steve, she watched them talk for a few minutes before Fury finally motioned for her to get out of the car. As she walked towards them Vic looked Steve over, he looked just the same as he had done nearly 70 years ago. He was clearly wondering how she was still alive. He reached his hand out to touch her cheek.

"Hey Steve." She said with a slow smile placing her hand over his. "I'm guessing you've got a lot of questions? I promise I'll answer as many as I can, but right now let's get out of the middle of the road, yeah?" Vic held out her hand to the soldier in front of her, he took, and they walked back to the car. Fury started driving back to the building they had housed Steve in, Vic looked in the back at Steve and then back at Fury.

"What are you thinking agent?"

"Take him to my house. I can keep him safe and fill him in on everything."

"You sure, this is alot for you too." Nick looked across at her to find her looking out the window. The ride to her house was quiet, Steve didn't speak till she opened the door to let him out. He looked at the house in front of him, he remembered seeing a picture of this house. Bucky had kept a picture of her leaning on its fence, in his pocket. Vic had come back to New York to find them a house for when the war was over. The seller had taken a picture of her in front of it. Bucky had carried it everywhere; he'd been so proud of the house they would start a family in. He watched as Vic opened the door and stood waiting for him to follow her. Stepping inside he saw pictures of her life. The one above the fireplace was the one that made his heartbreak a little. It was of him, Bucky, Vic and Peggy, on their wedding day. Vic noticed his gaze.

"That was such a special day." She said after quietly locking the front door and walking over to stand by him.

"It was, you were both so happy."

"We were." She sighed. "I miss him."

"So do I, but I have to know how are you still alive? That bloke in the black coat said it was 2012."

Victoria signed. She placed her jacket over one of the chairs and let her bag drop to the floor. How was she gonna explain this? Steve watched as she moved across to some books on a shelf, she lifted one off and handed it to him, 'Norse mythology' he looked at her confused.

"This is a story book."

"I know. All stories come from somewhere however and let's just say there is some truth in some of them." Vic noticed that Steve was still confused. She touched his hand and moved him to the sofa. "Page 29. The Valkyrie, it might explain a few things." She left the room, to get out of the combat gear that she was still wearing, she pulled on a pair of shorts and an oversized shirt. She looked at Steve still reading the book and went to make them both a coffee. She sat on the coffee table in front of him. He closed the book and she handed him a coffee.

"So how many questions do you have?"

"How old are you?"

She laughed slightly, of all the questions she had thought he would have for her, she hadn't seen this being the first one. "Around 2000. Give or take a few years."

Steve stared at her. He had always thought she was his age, a year younger than Bucky. Vic noticed the look on his face, she placed her hand on his leg. "You're nearly 100 yourself now."

"I suppose I am. Did Buck know?"

The mention of his name made her eyes lose their brightness slightly, Steve watched as she played with the wedding band on her finger. "He knew I was different. But we never got to have the whole discussion about it."

It was Steve that reached for her this time. He took her left hand in his and ran his finger over her wedding band. They had been so happy, so in love. They had only been together 4 months before they got married. Everything back then had been rushed due to the war. No one had wanted to take anything for granted.

"Have you ever taken it off?" He was unsure he wanted the answer but at the same time he needed to know.

"No, well only for missions, but then I have always worn it on a chain or on my other hand."

"And you have never found anyone else to share your life with? He wouldn't want you to grieve him forever."

"2 days out of the ice and you're already wiser than I am. I know he wouldn't, and I've tried to find a way to move forward but I just never seem to find the right person."

They chatted into the early hours of the morning. It was nice to go over old memories with a friend that had actually been there at the time. She had also started to fill him in as the world had changed a lot. He had started to look lost again, so she had headed to the desk draw and got out a small notebook she mostly used for shopping lists and a pen. "Here you can write in this if you want?"

When Steve finally looked over at her after copying down what he could remember, she had fallen asleep, he couldn't let her sleep on the sofa. He stood and walked around the house to find her room and pulled back the cover before heading back down the stairs to the living room and scooped her up. He laid her in the bed, pulling the cover gently over her shoulders. He leant forward and kissed her forehead, he noticed that she smiled in her sleep. As he made to leave, her hand caught his.

"Stay?"

He was frozen for a minute. To him this was his best friend's wife, and although for her it had been nearly 70 years since she had lost Bucky, the loss was still fairly new for him.

"Steve please."

The pleading in her voice broke him. He moved and laid on the other side of the bed, he pulled another blanket over himself and looked over at Vic. She had gone straight back to sleep, the moment she had felt the bed dip beside her. He promised himself at that moment, he would look after her.

End of chapter 1