Savage

by awalkerlifeforme

She was everything people feared. She wanted to defend the world but also wanted revenge on those who wrecked hers. The ones who forced her to leave Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Now she's back and while Steve attempts to get back the woman he's always considered his sister, Bucky hopes to thaw the ice that has formed around her heart. A heart that he had always believed was his.

23. Chapter 23

August, 1942
San Francisco, California

The speakers blared all around me and I grit my teeth together. I couldn't understand how the shows becoming more popular also meant that they had to be louder. Of course, as the auditoriums became larger, it meant that the speakers had to blast the music out to the back. It also didn't help that everyone would cheer throughout the entire show, so that meant that the music had to be loud enough to hear over it. We were now even including fireworks at the end of the show. At least during the outdoor ones. Since we were in California and the weather was so nice, we were at one of the outdoor stadiums.

As Steve had done more and more shows, he was starting to learn the lines. He now didn't even need the shield with the lines plastered on the back. But he kept it, probably because he was getting rather fond of it. It hadn't taken Steve long to become a national hero. Even though he hadn't done anything himself, it gave people hope. The shows were something nice to get the general public's mind off of everything that was happening overseas. And I knew that Steve was happy feeling like he was doing something. If nothing else, funding for the war went up drastically with every state that we visited.

But I knew that he wanted to be doing something more. As nice as this was, the public being in love with him and all of the newfound fame, I knew that he wanted to be out on the front lines. I really couldn't blame him. I wanted to be on the front lines, too. Not that they would have let me do anything. But it meant that I could have at least been looking over plans and helping work out attacks. And I did miss being able to speak to everyone whenever I got the chance.

Unfortunately it was a little tough to get a chance to speak to Howard, Peggy, and Chester. With the time change and everything that they had going on, and the long touring schedule, it was almost impossible for all of us to get the chance to speak. I had gotten a few chances to speak to Howard, Peggy, and Chester since the last time that I was on the phone with them a few months ago. They were never that long of conversations, considering that someone would almost always be pulled away. But it was nice to even get to say hello - if just for a few minutes. I just wished that I could call Bucky.

They all were continuing to do their jobs overseas. Howard was busy building and fixing any of the technology that was broken overseas. It meant that he spent a lot of time in the work yards. He was constantly fixing the planes and tanks that were being destroyed in the fight. When he wasn't doing something that was for our own Army, he was trying to decipher the technology that Hydra used. They had managed to pick up a few things that Hydra used as weapons, but Howard didn't understand what it was. And that meant that it had to be something terrible, if even Howard couldn't figure out what it was.

In the meantime, Peggy was doing everything in her power to help the war efforts between England and the United States. Despite the fact that the two countries were allies, it became hard when the war continued to get more and more vicious. She was doing anything in her power, but she was just one person. And a woman at that. She also had to follow anything and everything that Chester told her to do. As she said, he was getting less patient. She had a feeling that it was because he was sick of the war, and he missed me.

It did make me feel a little guilty for not coming with them overseas. But I couldn't. Not while Steve was here. My promise to Chester still held out. The moment that Chester would let Steve come out and fight on the front lines, I would be out there, too. Chester wasn't budging for the moment, not that I was really surprised. He still believed that Steve was better off back home, keeping the super-soldier serum safe and out of Hydra's hands. In the meantime, Chester let me know about their victories overseas and the basic plans. He was also keeping an eye on the 107th infantry, so that I could have a general idea where Bucky was.

It was something that I genuinely appreciated. Not that I ever told Bucky that I actually had a general idea of where he was. I didn't want him to think that I was babysitting him. I knew that he wouldn't really appreciate that. Bucky and I had been exchanging a few letters back and forth. He let me know about everything that he had been doing. I knew that things had happened overseas. I could tell. But he was trying very hard to keep all of the sadness in his life away from me. It didn't matter. He could have been writing me the routine of how he brushed his teeth. I didn't care. It just made me happier every time that I heard from him.

At the moment I was watching the show come to an end. The audience was cheering loudly as the Star Spangled Singers held their end note. Steve let down the motorcycle with the three girls on it as the fireworks went off in the background. He was waving happily out at the audience for nearly ten minutes before he was finally allowed to head backstage. He gave me a quick smile and I nodded at him. He had to go say hello to all of the adoring fans that were waiting to speak to him. So I backed off and waited. We would be here for at least another hour. It gave me enough time to grab a flute of champagne and watch bemusedly.

As much as Steve did like the attention, he would always be extremely awkward when someone came up to speak with him. Particularly when one of them had a baby with them. That was always one of my favorites. It was barely ten minutes before one of the dancers came up to me. I merely glared at the woman, trying to chase her off. I hadn't had a conversation with them before, and I wanted to keep it that way. She was typical-looking for a woman. She had curled, blonde hair that fell over his shoulders. It was pinned back. As like most women, she wore a corset to give her a shape. I merely glared at her once more.

She was giving me a sweet smile. My teeth only set together. Obviously she would need me to actually tell her to get away from me. "If you need to speak with someone, find Brandt or Martin. I'm not in charge of this," I hissed at her.

"Victoria? Victoria Rogers?" the dancer asked me.

My head snapped over to her. It had been a long time since I had heard someone call me that. "What?" I asked her, giving the dancer a scrutinizing stare.

The dancer merely smiled at me. "You don't remember me," she said.

"Don't take it personally. I don't remember lots of people," I snarled at her.

In all reality, I did remember her. Some part of me had recognized her the second that she had walked over to me. Her name was Christina and we had gone to school together. She had been everything that men loved. A cheerleader, someone that had wanted to stay at home and take care of the kids, and very popular. I could remember her laughing with all of the football players about me. I could remember her barely passing her classes because she thought that they weren't important. I could remember her only ever excelling in Home Education. She had purposefully made me look like a fool when I'd messed up the cooking lessons.

But obviously she remembered none of that. Because she was still smiling at me. "Victoria, it's Christina. Christina Winters. We went to school together when we were kids," she told me.

Forcing myself to look like I was trying to remember her, I was jarred back in time. She looks even worse this year than she did last year. Maybe she spent the summer in a mental asylum. Yeah. I remembered her just fine. She was one of the people that had liked to stand and watch as everyone would make me feel like a creature from the swamp, rather than an actual human being. I placed the champagne flute on the table near me so that I didn't snap the stem.

"Right..." I trailed off, unsure of what I should say. "No. I remember you."

Christina smiled at me and moved forward to hug me. I took a step back from her and forced her to keep still. She did so, obviously not even noticing that I had done it. "Oh it's so good to see you!" she chirped happily.

"Is it?" I asked her sharply.

Her smile faltered for a moment. "Pardon?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

There was a hint of fear seeping into her. There was no one to protect her now. "If I remember correctly - and I tend to have a very good memory - I do remember that you didn't like me that much. Something about the first time that I spotted you, I tried to smile at you, in high school. You thought that I looked even worse than I did the year before. You thought that I'd spent the summer in a mental asylum," I sneered at her, advancing slightly.

We stood barely two feet apart. Christina had always been a taller girl. She was nearly five and a half feet tall. And that meant that she towered over me, with the heels on her feet as well. But that didn't matter to me. If there was ever a fight in between us, she'd be dead before she even understood what was happening. She backed off of me slightly, trying to force a smile onto her face. I could feel her regret that she had ever walked over to me. She had no idea what regret felt like.

Christina sucked in a breath and gave me a small smile. "Oh... Well - Come on, Victoria. We were just kids," she attempted to justify.

My jaws set together. "I was never a kid," I sneered at her. Walk away, Victoria. Don't do something that you'll regret. "If you'll excuse me," I said, turning to leave and head over to where Steve was standing.

Before I could get too far from her, Christina's arm shot out and grabbed my own. "Wait!" I yanked it away from her, nearly ripping her off of her feet. "Look... I'm really sorry about everything. I was just jealous because Bucky always paid so much attention to you," she told me. I narrowed my eyes but nodded at her anyways. I'd known that she had a crush on him. They all did. "But of course he did. I mean, you were his best friend's little sister," she said through a laugh.

My eyes narrowed at her. Any hope that I'd had that she might have grown up a little bit went flying away. "Good apology," I sneered at her.

The moment that I turned to leave, Christina seemed to have realized that she'd made a mistake. "Come on, Victoria, you have to know that everyone had a crush on Bucky," she told me with a little laugh.

That was the truth. Every girl in the school did have a crush on Bucky when we were in school. I knew why. He had a wonderful sense of humor, he was certainly a good-looking man, and he was one of the friendliest people in the school. Girls had loved him. He was the person that everyone either wanted to be friends with, or be with. And to be one of the few people that he had really been close to... It hadn't gone over well with the people that had thought that I was nothing more than Yellow Eyes.

"Yes. I'm well-aware of that fact," I told her. There was never any doubt that people hated me because of how close I was to Bucky. "Did that justify attacking me because you were dissatisfied with your own commiserable life?" I asked her. Her eyes widened. She was clearly uncomfortable with my words. "Should I bring you a dictionary?"

Perhaps my last comment was not needed, but I couldn't stop myself. She was one of the worst person that I had ever met. And she deserved to know just how little I thought of her. "And you always thought that we were the bitches..." Christina snarled at me.

"You'll find that I've earned my attitude," I told her before turning to leave. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

But I didn't make it many steps before Christina's voice called me back to her once more. "You broke their hearts, you know?" she asked me, her stance showing strong irritation.

"What?" I snarled at her.

Christina did not sense the danger of what she'd just said to me. "Bucky and Steve. You broke their hearts when you vanished." I twitched slightly. I knew that I'd broken their hearts. I felt bad enough for it. "They thought that you were dead. Maybe it would have been better if you were." I'd already thought about that before. But there was no chance for that to happen. "Steve was so distraught that his sister was gone. And Bucky... Oh man. He wouldn't speak to anyone for weeks." Once more I twitched with guilt. "He was in love with you, you know? No one could ever understand why," she told me.

I was well-aware that he was in love with me. It was why I intended to spend the rest of his life making up the mistake that I'd made by hurting him. "Thank you for letting me know," I told her, forcing myself to walk away so that I didn't kill her.

"You didn't even care. You just walked away," she continued.

My entire body was tensing. "You don't know why I left. I'd recommend that you walk away before you say something that you regret," I gave her a dark warning.

Christina merely scoffed at me. She was afraid, but she wouldn't let me see it. "You always did like to pretend that you were tougher than anyone else," she snapped at me. I rolled my eyes at her. I was much tougher than anyone else. "You're not. Come on, Victoria. You're just like every other woman."

"I'm far from it," I said through a laugh.

Christina nodded at me. "I suppose that you are," she told me lowly. I went to turn around and leave when Christina's voice stopped me dead in my tracks. "Don't worry. I kept Bucky company when you were gone."

Every bone in my body tensed. Despite the fact that I wasn't facing Christina, I could feel the victory seeping off of her. She thought that she had won. But she had not. The darkness in the backstage area kept her from seeing it, but the red tinge had flooded into my eyes. The electricity was running through my hands as I turned back to her. Was there really a chance that Bucky had gone for her? Staring at her, looking through her mind, I could actually see them together.

They were sitting together on one of the bleachers outside of the school. Bucky's aura screamed that he was incredibly depressed. The scene was from just a few weeks after I had vanished. I could see her leaning into him. She was pretending to be sorry for his loss. They sat together and chatted as Christina promised that she would be there for him. She wanted him to know that he would eventually move on from my loss. They were together for nearly an hour before she leaned in and pressed a small kiss to his mouth. My hands clenched together as he gently pushed her away from him, with the promise that he would take her out, just in time. It was the same day that I had been shot full of the nanite bombs, being forced to rebuild myself from scratch.

My mind slammed back into the present. He had been with her... Not that he'd known who she really was. "What did you just say?" I snarled at her, the electricity jumping off of my fingers.

They hadn't lasted long. He hadn't been in the right mindset to be with her. But that didn't change the fact that I was furious about the short-lived relationship. "Does that bother you?" Christina asked.

Before I got the chance to say anything back to her, a man that appeared to be just a few years older than us walked up to her. He gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, doll. Easy on the eyes, love," he told her. He must have been drinking. Christina looked repulsed at the sight of him. "You do a private performance?"

The fury settled into her. The man had yet to notice that I was here. Christina obviously wanted to hit him, but that was not appropriate. So she settled for the next best thing. "No, I don't. Please let go of me, sir," she said.

The man merely smiled at her. "Come on now. How about we go dancing?" he asked her, his hand slithering around her waist.

"No, thank you. Please let go," Christina said, trying to pull away from him.

His grip was obviously too tight on her. She was struggling to get away from him as the man began to pull her away. She wasn't screaming but she didn't look happy. My gaze followed her in her desperation. I took a step towards them but forced myself to stop. Don't do it, Victoria... She wouldn't do it for you... Remember all of the terrible things that she ever said about you...

Rolling my eyes at myself, I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop myself. As much as I really did hate her, and as much as she probably deserved something to happen to her, I knew that she didn't deserve this. No one deserved for a man to touch them when the touch was uninvited. So I walked over to the man that had his hands on her and grabbed his wrist. His head whipped back around to me and smiled when he realized that I was another woman. But it didn't last very long. I wrenched his arm off of her and began to constrict my grip on him. He cried out in pain and dropped down to his knees.

He was crying out in pain and Christina was watching in shock. I merely stared at him. "Two bones are grinding together. The ulna and radius. Pulling away from me will only crush the lunate and scaphoid together. Your hand will become stuck and cause a break that will take anywhere from two months to six to heal," I told him. He merely stared at me like I had lost my mind. "I'm going to let you go and you're going to leave."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the man asked me.

"A woman that will not tolerate violence to other women, no matter how much I may dislike them. Go find someone else to bother," I warned him.

Without giving him a chance to say anything more, I squeezed his arm. He cried out in pain as I yanked upwards, dragging him back to his feet. He stumbled and shouted in pain as I shoved him away from me. His arm wasn't broken, but it would definitely be sore for a few days. His hands went around the bones, rubbing at them gently.

"Freak!" he cried out.

Rolling my eyes at him, I stepped backwards. "I've been called worse. Keep your hands off of other women or I'll rip yours off."

He moved away from me, knowing that another move towards either one of us would not end well. I turned back and saw that Christina was watching the scene with close eyes. She was stunned. "T- Thank you," she said weakly.

"You're welcome."

I turned on my heels to head towards Steve, but she called out to me before I could get too far. "Victoria! Wait!" Christina called after me, running back up to my side. "Would you like to come to dinner with us?" she offered.

"No."

Christina knew that she had made a mistake with everything that she had said earlier. As I made my way to leave, she walked up to me once more, laying a hand gently on my arm. "Please. I mean it. I'm done fighting with you. Why don't you come with us? I want us to try and be friends," she said.

And I knew that she was being honest. But I didn't care. "I know that you do. But I don't have friends. And the ones that I do have, I trust with my life. I will never trust you like that," I told her. She nodded, unsure of what she could say. "Be careful around the men. Scream if one of them ever does something like that again."

She merely smiled weakly at me. "Thank you, Victoria. And I really am sorry about everything," Christina said.

"I know."

"Aren't you mad?" Christina asked.

It was very hard for me not to laugh. I shook my head at her. I was always angry about something. This wasn't something that really mattered to me. "Not particularly," I admitted. She looked shocked. "Because at the end of the day, when Bucky comes home from deployment, it's me that he's coming back to. Enjoy the shows."

Without waiting to see if she would say anything else, I turned my back on her and headed away. Even as I walked away, I could feel the shock radiating off of her. Clearly she didn't know that the two of us had managed to reconnect. I grinned brightly and walked off, a little more swagger in my step than there normally was. I made my way over to where Brandt and Martin were watching Steve at one of his meet and greets. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Christina make her way back over to the dancers. It was very obvious that she was still bothered by my previous comment.

Obviously my happiness was very evident, because both Brandt and Martin had asked what I was so happy about. They were both so used to seeing me scowl and constantly snap at them for everything. The three of us waited for Steve to finish speaking with the people that were standing in line to meet him. I was positive that it must have taken another three hours for him to finally get through the entire line of people that were waiting to meet him. As they finally finished, Brandt moved Steve away from the small meeting area, promising that there would be another chance to meet Steve after the show tomorrow.

Instead of walking over to Brandt, who obviously wanted to speak with Steve, he made his way over to me. "Did I see you speaking to one of the dancers?" Steve asked me curiously.

"Her name is Christina Winters. We went to school together," I told him.

Steve glanced backwards and followed my line of sight to Christina. She was standing with her other friends and laughing. Steve slowly started to nod. "Wow... Yeah. I barely recognized her," he muttered.

Glancing up at Steve, I smirked. "I somehow doubt that she recognizes you either," I said, patting his chest.

"Things were okay?" Steve asked curiously.

Shrugging my shoulders at him, I didn't want Steve knowing that the things that Christina had said to me had actually gotten to me. So I lied. "Surprisingly things went okay. Finally got a few things off of my chest that I've been wanting to say for so long," I told him. Actually, that wasn't really that much of a lie.

Steve smiled, but didn't look completely sure. Either way, he only wrapped his arm over my shoulder and tugged me with him. "I'm glad to hear that. Come on. We need to go back to the hotel. Brandt said that he wants to talk to us about something," Steve told me.

Of course Brandt wanted to talk about something. I couldn't imagine what he actually wanted to talk to us about. Probably nothing that I really wanted to think about. I was sure that he'd found something else stupid for Steve to do. He seemed to always be coming up with some new thing that was either dreadfully boring or stupid. We headed back up to the hotel and into Steve's room. It was a little odd walking inside. At the table in the corner of the room sat Brandt and Martin. They were pawing through a few different sheets of paper. I raised my eyebrow, curious as to what this new thing was that they were planning.

At a small motion of Brandt's hand, both Steve and I took a seat. Brandt cleared his throat and looked over at Steve. "So, Captain America is going over very well," he told us.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair. We had already talked about that. "I thought everyone already knew this?" I asked him.

As usual, Brandt ignored me. Probably because whenever we did actually speak, I managed to make him look like an idiot. "They want to make a film about Captain America's adventures in the war," Brandt said with a bright smile.

Steve and I exchanged a look. I wasn't sure that doing something like that was a great idea. "Don't you think that's a little insensitive?" I finally asked, sensing Steve's hesitance to speak.

"I could have sworn that it was your job to listen and not speak," Brandt told me.

Bunching my hands together, I made my way to move over and choke the life out of Brandt. Steve wrapped a hand around my thigh and forced my back into the chair. "You ever say something like that to me again and I'll -"

"What do you mean about Captain America movies?" Steve interrupted, knowing that I was about to do something that couldn't be explained easily. Brandt glanced over at Steve and went to speak. But Steve spoke again. "And never speak to her like that again. She's the best person sitting at this table. And also the strongest."

Martin and Brandt exchanged a look. "You're a woman," Martin pointed out.

My grip turned upwards. "Exactly," I snarled.

"Enough," Brandt snapped, effectively ending the little argument. "The Captain America movies will motivate people to sign up for the war. The guys up in Washington... They're loving you. You keep working with us like this, you're going to be out on the front lines in no time," Brandt told Steve, playing to his weakness.

"When do we go?" Steve asked.

Brandt grinned, knowing that he was only going to make more money off of Steve. "We're organizing a few weeks of a break from the tour for you to go and make the movie." A smile almost turned up on my mouth. I could use a few weeks off from hearing that stupid song. "We'll be filming in Los Angeles. We're heading there next month after this leg of the tour is done," Brandt explained.

Both Steve and I groaned. I knew that we were both getting sick of doing all of the shows. They were a little repetitive. "But we're going back to the shows?" Steve asked.

Brandt nodded. "By October we'll have Captain America touring again." Steve and I exchanged a little look. I'd been hoping that by October, Steve would have been out on the front lines. "I'm telling you, Steve, this is the best thing that these people have seen since the beginning of the war. They're starting to see hope," Brandt said excitedly.

"Hope or dollar signs?" I asked, unable to stop myself.

The corners of Steve's mouth turned up in a smile. Brandt and Martin both glared at me. "I can remove you from this tour," Brandt said.

Snorting at him, I shook my head, kicking my feet back slightly. "You don't have the legal authority. I'm here on the order of Colonel Chester Phillips to keep our project safe. That means that I go where he goes. Removing me is not an option," I told Brandt.

Knowing that he had lost the fight, Brandt nodded and turned back to Steve, not wanting to admit that he was wrong. "We leave in a few days to start filming. Get some rest. You've got another show tomorrow," Brandt told us.

Brandt and Martin stood from the desk, reminding Steve to get some sleep. We both smiled at each other as they left. There was never a better time of my day than when Brandt and Martin left us alone for the night. Once the door had closed, I stood from the table and made my way over to Steve's bed. I sat at the head of the bed, keeping one of the pillows in my lap. He followed a moment later, sitting at the foot of the bed. We exchanged a long look with each other.

"What do you think?" Steve asked me.

I grinned at him, shaking my head. "I don't think that you want to know what I think," I said.

This was the stupidest thing that I had heard in a long time. I couldn't understand why Brandt thought that this was such a brilliant thing. "If this is really making the people happy..." Steve said, letting out a long breath.

But it wasn't making people happy. Not the men that were overseas, anyways. "It's making kids happy. Do you know what the men overseas are thinking if they see this? I can tell you. 'Why does that asshole get out of doing any real work? Why do we have to lay down our lives?' That's what they're thinking," I told him.

Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I sighed and leaned over to him, laying a hand on his arm. I swore that it kept getting larger. "Phillips still doesn't want me on the front lines?" Steve asked.

"What do you think?"

"I figured," Steve muttered at me.

Smiling softly, I kicked out at him with my foot. "That's why we're training you. The day is going to come that you're able to really fight and hold your own. I promise you that," I said. Steve smiled weakly at me. "And the second that I can prove that to him, we're heading overseas. You get to be a real soldier," I continued, knowing that being a soldier was what he really wanted.

But there was still the issue of what he had to be doing in the meantime. The one thing that no one really wanted to do. "In the meantime I can be a performing monkey," Steve muttered.

Knowing that I shouldn't make this an I-told-you-so kind of moment, I did anyways. "I warned you, to be fair," I said.

Steve glanced at me and nodded. "I know," he muttered. The two of us sat together with our legs crossed, smiling at each other. I reached over and popped a peppermint in my mouth. "But I wanted to feel like I was doing something."

"And this is better than just doing nothing. I understand that," I told him, patting him gently on the arm. After a few moments, I began to nudge him on the arm. He turned back to me with a small smile, knowing that I wasn't going anywhere good with this. "Come on... You can admit it. You kind of like this fame thing," I teased.

Steve gave me a guilty smile. "It's kind of hard not to," Steve said guiltily.

"You just like the girls that keep coming up to you," I said.

"I do not!" Steve shouted, affronted. I narrowed my eyes at him, letting them briefly flash the same white that they did when I was reading a mind. Steve smiled at me, knowing that he was not going to get away with this. "Well... That's an added bonus. Come on, Vic. There's only one girl that I want in my life," he said, wrapping an arm over my shoulder.

Raising my eyebrow, I shook my head at him. "And Peggy," I added.

Steve rolled his eyes at me. "Right. And Peggy," he muttered. "You are so determined."

"I really am."

"You miss Bucky that much, huh?" Steve asked me.

Groaning, I nodded at him. I laid my head back on his shoulder and sighed. I really did miss him. "Come on, Steve. I don't have my own relationship to focus on so I'm bored. And that means that I'm going to irritate you until you and Peggy go on a date," I told Steve.

He was like my brother. And that meant that I was going to find him a girl that I liked. Good for him, I already liked Peggy. "I'm really going to enjoy when Bucky comes back. Maybe he'll keep you busy," Steve said.

Grinning at Steve, I shook my head. There would always be time to bother him. "Don't worry, buddy, I'll always have time for you," I said brightly.

"Lucky me."

Hopping up from the bed, I held a hand out to Steve. "Come on," I chirped.

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Where are we going?" Steve asked.

"If you're going to be in a movie, you are not going to embarrass me by not knowing how to fight. Up and at 'em, Soldier!" I shouted, waiting for him to stand up. "We're going to teach you how to be in a battle."

Steve groaned at my determination. "Can this wait until tomorrow?" he asked.

As I walked out of the room, I called back over my shoulder. "War doesn't wait." And with that Steve stood, following me out of the room, complaining the whole way down to the ballroom that I was worse than any of the Drill Sergeants.

September, 1942
Los Angeles, California

Despite the fact that everywhere else in the country was starting to turn cold, Los Angeles was still nice and warm. I knew that Steve and I were both enjoying the weather. We were both used to spending our winters in the cold air of New York. Los Angeles was the film capital of the world right now. That meant that it was the place for us to be to film the Captain America movie. We were spending a few weeks here so that the entire movie could be filmed and we could eventually make our way back to the touring schedule.

During the past few weeks I'd been working very hard to teach Steve how to make a battle look real. If anyone knew just how to make a fight look real, it was me. Of course now that he knew how to make a fight look real, it turned out that the directors didn't like it. They thought that it looked too brutal. It had made me furious. They had no idea just how brutal a fight could be. They always were. Because there was a loser and a winner. And sometimes neither one got to walk away. Or other times, the winner that got to walk away, wasn't really the winner at all. It was something that Stryker had taught me.

But that wasn't the problem right now. I had managed to explain how guns worked and Steve had definitely gotten better with at least making shooting look real. Although the director liked to overplay how shooting really worked. He hadn't used them for extended periods of time, either the exception of the moments that he used the plastic ones on set.

We were on the studio lot again today. It was the tenth time in two weeks that we had spent most of our day milling around. Steve was filming a marching scene with men that were supposed to be a part of his platoon. The screen in the background was showing scenes of a forest that they were supposed to be marching through. There was a large treadmill that the men were walking on. Two cameras were moving back and forth, capturing every moment of the scene that they were filming. The director was up in the chair, watching everything happen. Brandt and Martin were grinning at each other, pointing to Steve.

The actors were just walking back and forth, not looking at each other and not speaking. I rolled my eyes at them. That wasn't the way that a real team worked. They didn't have to speak, but they should have looked at each other. Nodded. Done something to indicate that they knew each other. But they simply walked forward. There were four men in the background, two that were standing right behind Steve, and another two that were spread out on the sides. There was a black actor on Steve's right and a man that bore a striking resemblance to Bucky on Steve's left. My heart gave a painful twinge at the sight of him.

"Cut," the director called. The treadmill stopped moving and the men up on it stopped walking, all looking at each other. The screen that was playing footage of the woods stopped. "All right, don't look at the camera," the director said.

It wasn't much longer before they were given a break from filming. Most of the actors walked off to go get themselves something to eat, complaining about the long training schedule. I rolled my eyes at them. Like you have such a hard life. I snagged a doughnut off of the table and seated myself at the table. Thankfully no one else was near me. I didn't want anyone else anywhere near me. With the exception of one person. And that exact person came to sit with me a moment later. He was eating an apple and I smiled as he passed me a bottle of water. No one was paying us any mind as they walked back and forth.

"How do I look out there?" Steve asked me.

"Like an idiot," I said honestly.

Steve smiled at me and laughed. "Thanks for that," he snapped.

Shrugging my shoulders slightly, I leaned back into the chair, boiling the water in the bottle. Steve watched me in amusement. "I'm honest. How do you feel being out there?" I asked him.

"Feels like I'd much rather be fighting a real war," Steve said softly.

We exchanged a smile with each other, ignoring the funny looks of the actors that were listening to us. "Well at least this is something. Don't worry, Steve. We're going to get you out on that battlefield as soon as we possibly can," I told him. He smiled softly as I let the water stop bubbling. "Until then, I'd play nice with the people that are signing your paychecks," I teased.

He smiled at me. We both knew that this was the wrong time to be fighting with each other. "Rogers, you did well out there," one of the actors said.

Glancing up, I realized that it was the one that reminded me of Bucky. I straightened up and stared at him. "Thank you," Steve said.

The actor then turned to me. "And Miss..." he trailed off when he realized that he didn't know me.

"Sergeant," I corrected.

"You're playing a Sergeant in the movie?" the actor asked, surprised.

Shaking my head at him, I shifted slightly. "No. I am a Sergeant. Specifically tasked to watch after the world's first super-soldier. Sergeant Victoria Phillips. Strategic Scientific Reserve for the United States Army," I said.

The actor raised his brows and smiled at me. "That's way too good to be acting," he said.

"Trust me, I'm a miserable actor," I said.

"Carter Dollies."

Carter extended his hand and I took it, giving it a small shake. I noticed that his grip was not that strong on mine. He probably didn't want to hurt me. "Good to meet you," I said, not completely honestly.

"You just hang around here then?" Carter asked.

Shrugging my shoulders, I nodded, glancing at Steve and motioning towards him. "I go wherever he goes. That's what my job is," I said.

I noticed that Steve was watching our conversation very closely. "That can't be very entertaining," Carter laughed.

"No, it's not."

"I'd imagine that you at least get to meet some interesting people on the road," Carter continued.

Steve was very clearly uncomfortable with the conversation. He wanted Carter away from me. He obviously knew that his intentions were not pure. "Yes, but I do miss my friends and family that are overseas," I mentioned, hoping to end the conversation soon.

Carter looked surprised at that comment. "You have people overseas?" he asked me.

I nodded at him. "Yes. Some of my best friends are overseas. My father is a Colonel in the Army," I admitted. Carter gave me a sad nod. A moment later I heard his thoughts wondering if there was a significant other somewhere in my life. So I decided to answer him. "My man is overseas right now, fighting the war."

Carter's face fell slightly. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I had first pegged him. The look on his face told me that he really was sorry that my significant other wasn't with me. "I'm genuinely sorry to hear that. I hope that he gets back to you," he said.

And I knew that he meant it. "Thank you. I hope that he does, too," I said softly.

Giving Steve and I a friendly smile, Carter rose from the table and turned back towards the set. "Enjoy the movie," Carter told me.

"I'll certainly try," I said. A moment later, Carter turned on his heels and headed back onto the set. As he walked off, I heard a thought that nearly made me shock his heart. My gaze set as I looked over to Steve. "Do me a favor and never become an actor," I told Steve once Cater was out of earshot.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?" he asked.

"Because actors are morons."

Steve laughed at me. "Now that's not nice. You never know. Actors could be really smart," he told me.

"You didn't hear what that guy was thinking," I commented.

Steve straightened up. Anger began to roll off of him in waves. I smiled. Despite the fact that Steve and I were both only children, we were each other's siblings. "What was he thinking?" Steve asked snappily.

Grinning at him, I reached across the table and grabbed his hand, keeping him from moving and doing something that he would regret. "Let's put in this way... If he had said it out loud, he'd be unable to walk for months," I said. Steve made a move to get up from the table. "Sit!" Steve was unable to disobey the order, taking a seat and looking at me like I had lost my mind. I'd never really ordered him to do anything before. "You might be a super-solider but you still can't read minds."

"Cap!" the director shouted. I rolled my eyes as the corners of Steve's lips turned upwards. And the head continues to grow... "We're continuing! Get on back here."

Steve gave me a quick look and I nodded. "Go on. I'll be watching," I said.

"Think you can stop making faces at me?" Steve asked.

I grinned. I'd been standing in the background making faces at Steve the entire time, hoping that I could get him to crack. It was rather funny watching Steve get yelled at for not keeping a straight face. "Never," I promised.

It didn't take long for the actors to get back into the routine. It was rather amusing watching the grand fight scene. As buildings that were supposed to be around them would apparently be blown up, it was our job to throw foam bricks at them. I had a good time tossing the foam bricks at the actors. But it didn't take long for me to be shouted at to throw the bricks around the actors, not at them. So I merely settled for watching from a distance. I couldn't imagine that the movie would actually look good. It was probably going to look more like a joke than anything else. But if the kids liked it... I supposed that was what mattered.

Still, it would have been more fun if they had actually let me blow something up. It would have been much more fun. For me, at least. It was hours before we were finally told that filming was done for the day. We were allowed to go back to the hotel together and on the car ride back, Steve and I spent much of the time discussing which one of us was the better actor. We ended up deciding that neither one of us were very good actors, and we were both probably better off staying on the battlefield.

We were back to the hotel by the late afternoon. We walked back in through the bright lobby and I smiled as we went to head upstairs. We'd already had dinner. I was planning on going upstairs and passing out. I hadn't been sleeping well lately. Not that I ever really slept well. Steve and I were walking side-by-side, hanging back slightly from where Brandt and Martin were walking. We were nearing the staircase when a man stopped us. I glanced at him and raised a brow. He very obviously worked for the hotel. I found myself hoping that there was a letter from Bucky. It had been a while since I'd gotten one.

"Victoria Phillips?" he asked, staring straight at me.

"Phone call?" I asked.

He nodded at me. "Yes, Miss. Shall I forward it to your room?"

"Please. Thank you."

The man walked back over to the desk and picked up the phone, speaking into it for a moment, before hitting a button and placing it back down on the desk. Steve and I turned to the staircase and headed to the rooms that we were staying in. "Do you know who it is?" Steve asked me as we walked.

"Chances are that it's Peggy, Howard, or Chester," I said. Steve nodded at me. There really wasn't anyone else that would be calling me. "I'll let you know. Head to bed, alright? You've got to be back on set bright and early in the morning," I teased.

Steve nodded at me. "Lucky me," he said, making both of us laugh. "See you in the morning."

Giving each other a hug, we both went into our respective rooms. It wasn't long before I could hear the music drifting out of his room. I smiled at the sweet tone of the music. It was much nicer than the irritating happy tune of the Star Spangled Man. The moment that I walked inside, I closed the door gently and walked over to the telephone, which had a light blinking on it. Call waiting. As I walked over to the desk, I spotted that the wicker basket had a letter in it. Someone must have delivered the letter at some point during the day. I smiled. I'd have to take a look at that the second that I got off the phone.

Picking up the receiver, I could hear the chatter in the background. It was the Army base. I could hear all of the shouts and orders being given in the background. "Hello?" I called into the receiver.

"Victoria," Chester's voice called out.

I smiled at the sound of his voice. "Hey, old man," I said, settling back in the chair.

"How are you doing, kid?"

"Oh, you know, I'm not overseas where I could actually be useful. Instead I'm here in Los Angeles doing a stupid movie for the great Captain America with second-rate actors hitting on me," I told him, hoping that I would make him feel even the slightest bit guilty.

He let out a sigh that told me that he did feel bad about the way that everything had happened. "Say the word and I'll have a plane out there in a matter of hours. You'll be in England by the time that the sun comes up," Chester said.

"You taking Steve?" I asked.

There was a beat of silence. "I am not taking the Star Spangled Man with a plan," he finally snapped at me.

Rolling my eyes at him, despite the fact that he couldn't see me, I prepared another argument. "You're annoying as hell. I've been training him. Chester, he's getting good. He can almost hold his own in a fight with me. You know what that means. If he can hold his own with me, he'll have no problem holding his own with anyone else," I tried to argue in Steve's defense.

Even from here I could tell that Chester was shaking his head. "Not a chance in hell. He's a science experiment. Abraham's experiment worked. But the only chance of replicating it is in Rogers's DNA. We're not risking him out here," Chester snapped at me.

Snorting under my breath, I tucked my legs underneath myself. "Don't tell me that you've actually come to care for him," I said.

"I care about where all of those tax payer dollars are going."

Of course he didn't care about what happened to Steve. "Until you take him over there, I'm staying here," I said determinedly.

"I'm not sure whether you're punishing me or yourself by doing that."

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. "I think that it's a little bit of both," I muttered.

We were silent for a long while after that. We were both right. It was punishing each of us. Neither one of us wanted to be the one that was wrong here. So I supposed that it was kind of a good thing that neither one of us was wrong. As much as I wanted to stay here and be with Steve, I also wanted to be on the front room and feel like I was doing something right in my life. It felt like I was doing nothing out here. I knew that we were raising money, and that was a good thing, but it wasn't like we were putting an end to Hydra. And that was what I really wanted to be doing. Not sitting here and making crappy movies.

Chester's thoughts were going through my mind and I smiled. It was hard not to hear them. It was everything that he was thinking, but the things that he couldn't bring himself to say. "I miss you, too, old man," I said softly.

"I didn't say anything."

Smiling to myself, I shook my head. He never needed to say it. I would always know. "I know what you meant. You might just realize that I'm right about Steve, one of these days," I said softly.

Chester scoffed into the phone. "I'll believe that when I see it," he said.

"How can you see it? You're nearly blind. Won't be long before you need a cane just to walk," I teased.

Even though we were talking about something reasonably serious, we both managed to laugh. One of my favorite things to do was tell Chester how old he was. "You're hysterical," he snapped.

"Sorry about that. I just miss everyone," I said.

And that meant that I missed teasing everyone. "Barnes, too?" Chester asked after a few beats.

That definitely surprised me. Not that I was really surprised that he'd asked about Bucky. But I would have thought that he'd just ask if I was getting letters or something. Not if I actually missed him. "I'm not having boy talk with you," I told Chester.

"I'm not asking you to have boy talk!" he shouted at me. The line was silent for a moment and I raised my brow. What had happened? "What the hell are you looking at? Do your damn job!" he shouted at someone that must have overheard the boy talk comment. It was silent for a moment before Chester spoke again. "I just want to know how you're doing. It's been almost five months since Barnes was deployed. That's a long time."

It was a long time. But it was something that we had known was coming. It was just something that I had to learn to get over. He would be back soon enough. "I knew what I was getting into from the beginning. I knew that he was going to be gone for a long time. Honestly five months has gone by slow, but I've had things to keep me busy," I said, trying to keep the sad tone out of my voice.

"That's good."

Before I could stop myself, I asked the question that had been bothering me since the moment that he had left on the train. "Do you know how long he'll be gone?" I asked softly.

Chester let out a sigh that I could only assume meant that he didn't know. Not that I'd been expecting him to know. "I'd only be taking a guess. Most men are gone somewhere between a year and three years." I sighed. We hadn't even made it halfway to the shortest point. "I'll keep my eye out for his division and let you know if I see them heading home anytime soon."

"Thank you," I said, smiling softly.

As much as Chester might have liked me, he would never like Bucky. And there was something that I liked about that. It was nice to have a father that was protective of me. "I still don't like him," Chester snapped.

Smiling to myself, I nodded. "I know. Is there a chance that you're ever going to like him?" I asked.

"No."

"Is there a chance that you could get to know him?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because he likes you."

Another smile fell over my face. It was nice to know just how much I meant to Chester. He would refuse to be friendly with Bucky or even try to get to know him just because he meant something to me. "Yes. How dare he actually show some form of interest in me," I said.

Chester growled lowly on the other end. "Shut up. You can read minds. Tell me that he's not thinking about something unsavory whenever he looks at you. I can't even read minds and I know what he's thinking," he told me.

A hint of color fell over my cheeks. I knew exactly what Bucky was thinking every time that he looked at me. I knew everything that he had thought about me when I'd worn something mildly low-cut or short. I knew everything that he thought about me. And it was rather funny that Chester knew, too. I supposed that he had been a young man once upon a time as well. He knew what men thought about when they saw a woman that caught their eyes.

Smiling fondly at Chester, I twirled the cord of the phone around my finger. "You would have made a good father, old man," I said softly.

"I am one."

And he was. My father... He was just someone that happened to donate a few strands of DNA. Chester was the father that I'd always wanted and always deserved. "Yes. You are," I said.

We were silent for a while, neither one of us comfortable with all of the sweet comments. "Look, Victoria, I've got to go. Things to do. And you need to get to bed. We'll talk again soon, okay?" Chester told me.

As much as I would have loved to talk for a long time, I knew that we both had things that we needed to be doing. We would get a chance to talk again, soon. "Okay," I said.

"I'll call you on your birthday. I'm sure that Stark and Carter will want to talk to you," he said.

It was almost a month before my birthday, but at least that was a promised conversation. I could manage that. At least I had Steve to keep me company in the meantime. "Where are they?" I asked curiously.

Normally Howard and Peggy would be fighting over control of the phone. This was the first conversation that I hadn't heard any of them fighting over control of the phone. They were always trying to be the one that got to speak with me the longest. "Busy. But they're safe," Chester said. I was glad that he had confirmed that they were alright.

"Tell them that I said hello," I said.

I could imagine that Howard and Peggy would not be happy to hear that Chester had been on the phone with me and hadn't let them talk to me. "I will. I'll talk to you in a few weeks," Chester promised.

"Stay safe, old man."

"Love you, brat."

"Love you too," I said through a laugh.

The both of us laughed as I hung up the phone. I sighed softly as I gently placed it back down on the receiver. It had been nice to chat with Chester, even if it hadn't been for that long. Gently pulling myself from the bed, I crossed the room and sat down at the desk. As usual, it was sealed with Bucky's writing across the front. It must have been raining when he'd written this. The lettering was smudged slightly. I slit the letter open and went back to the bed, plopping down on it and pulled out the paper.

Vika,

Surprise, surprise, it's me again. I can only assume that you're getting sick of getting letters from me. Please don't be getting sick of the letters. I'm sorry about that. I just get bored out here. There's literally never anything to do. I mean, we've got our friends and our jobs to do, but there's always something more fun to be doing.

What have you been up to? I hope that everything is doing alright with the project that you're working on. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do anything that you put your mind to. You can do anything. I know that. Just keep pushing, Vika. You do that back home, and I'll do that out here.

Things aren't too bad out here. We've got a lot to do to keep ourselves busy. We're going out on another mission pretty soon. They aren't that bad. I just keep reminding myself that the more missions that I run, the more points that I get, and that means that I'm that much closer to coming home. It wasn't too bad for a while, but they warned us that this would happen. After about half of a year or so we'd start to miss home. And that's what's happening. It's just the familiarity of being back home. Seeing the same buildings, the same people, and eating the same food. I miss all of that.

How is everyone on your end? How's Steve? We write from time to time but I think that we're both a little too busy. And, honestly, what would we have to write about? Guys don't write to each other.

In the meantime, I hope that you're still having a good time wherever you are. You know what I think that we should do when I come back home? I think that we should go to Coney Island. I think that you, me, and Steve all need to go. Just like we did when we were kids. Wasn't that fun? Going to Coney Island when we were kids was always one of my favorite things to do. And, who knows, maybe we can convince Steve to go on more of those roller coasters that Steve always liked so much.

You know that you want to see Steve on the Cyclone again.

We're going on a mission shortly. I'd write even more if I had time, but I'm already getting shouted at and threatened to have points deducted. So I've got to go. I'll write again as soon as I can. I think that we're going off the grid for a few weeks. I'll be careful. And I'll write as soon as we get back to civilization.

Love you forever and always,
Bucky.

As usual, the letter from Bucky made me smile a little bit more than I had since the last one that I'd gotten. It always made me feel better, knowing that at least Bucky was still alive and trying to push forward. I could even tell through the way that he was writing that, while he was depressed about not being home, he was managing to find things to smile about on the war front. I was glad that he had someone to keep him company out there. Quickly I scrawled a letter back, but upon feeling sleep beginning to take over, I placed the half-written letter on the desk and collapsed into the bed. It was the first night in a while that I had fallen asleep with Bucky's Army jacket over my shoulders.

September 30th, 1942
Los Angeles, California

It had ended up taking us about a week to film everything that they'd needed for the movie. It had taken another week to edit the scenes. It wasn't really going to be a long one. Steve had told me that it was just about thirty minutes long. It wasn't that long for something that was going to be charged as a full-length movie. It made me roll my eyes. They were having quite a good time promoting the movie. They had been promoting it for all over the country. People were coming in from all over the place to watch the premiere. I knew that it would be a successful feat. People loved Steve.

Actually, no one loved Steve. People still didn't know who Steve Rogers was. They knew, but they didn't really care. To them, he was always going to be Captain America. It was something that I knew bothered him, but he didn't regularly tell people that it was really bothering him. Not that he needed to tell me. I already knew. We were currently at the premiere for the Captain America movie. It was already late at night, but that didn't stop people from coming out. Everyone wanted to see the 'adventures' that he'd been going on.

On Steve's request, I had dressed up for the event. Apparently it was a formal event. Not that I could really understand why. It was just like going to the movie at any other time. It was red silk that draped down my body. It was slightly too long on me. Mostly because Brandt had gotten it for me without bothering to ask what my size was. The straps were relatively thin and the neckline was plunging. I kept nervously moving it around, hoping that I wasn't showing anything too much. It tucked in at the waist and I sighed. I was a mutant. I shouldn't be wearing shit like this.

But I had done this so that no one would ask me. If I went with Steve, it meant that I didn't have to find a date. Since, apparently, women were too incompetent to escort themselves to a cinema. Cameras were flashing everywhere and I sighed, knowing that within a few hours, everyone in the country would think that I was going steady with Captain America. I supposed that it could have been worse. But I didn't like all of the cameras. It was evidence by how tight my grip on Steve was. We were walking into the theater together. We were both laughing at all of the excitement of the people that were standing around.

The glittering sign at the entrance to the theater read: Captain America: The Movie

Glancing up at Steve, I gave him a gentle nudge. He was such a gentleman. His eyes didn't once stray from my face. Of course, that would make for an awkward conversation between Steve and Bucky. "Ready?" I asked him.

"Are you going to laugh at me?"

"There's about a one hundred percent chance that I will," I said.

That didn't seem to bother Steve. In fact, he looked happy that I had said something like that. "And I wouldn't have it any other way," he said, pulling me into him tightly.

The two of us could never be left in peace for that long. It was just a few seconds before Brandt came up in between us, shoving the two of us apart. "You're gonna be a star, kid," Brandt said to Steve.

"He wants to be a Soldier," I snapped at Brandt.

He glanced back at me and I felt the sparks fly off of my fingers. Brandt's eyes had strayed from my face to the dip in my dress, and I did not like his thoughts. I noticed Steve's grip around my waist get a little tighter as he gently pushed me a step back. "Who would want to get away from all of this?" Brandt asked, motioning around us.

Unable to stop myself, I moved past Steve and glared at Brandt. The heels that were on my feet put me a little closer to Brandt's eye-level. "Anyone with a shred of self-decency. There are men fighting and dying on the front lines. Or have you forgotten about all of that with those dollar signs floating in front of your eyes?" I sneered at him.

That comment obviously did not go over well with Brandt. A little fury shot through his eyes. Martin was watching with wide eyes at a distance. "Listen to me, you ungrateful little -"

"Hey!" Steve shouted, stepping in between us. For a moment I was sure that Steve was going to break Brandt's neck. "Speak to her like that again, and watch what happens," he warned Brandt.

The threat went unnoticed by Brandt. "Remember who signs those paychecks. Remember who's going to get you overseas," he warned us.

Knowing that this was the wrong time for any of us to fight, I tightened my grip around Steve's arm and gently began to pull him away from Brandt, who was already busy speaking to a promoter. "Forget it. Come on. Let's go take our seats," I muttered.

"You shouldn't let him speak to you like that," Steve said between his teeth.

It made me smile. He was always the kind of guy that wanted to protect women. And he would protect me. Even when I really didn't need it. "I have to. If I reacted the way that I'd like to, Brandt would be missing most of his limbs. Most people would be dead. Steve, I just have to get over it. Whatever he has to say, I've heard and felt worse," I told him.

"When this is all over, no one will ever speak to you like that again. I'll make sure of that," Steve told me.

I smiled softly at him, lifting up as high as I could, and pressing a small kiss to Steve's cheek. "I don't need you and Bucky watching out for me anymore," I told him.

"We're always going to watch out for you," Steve said.

"Which one of us is the one that can die?" I quipped.

"Don't care."

The two of us smiled at each other as we took our seats together. We were in the middle of the theater with people on every side of us. I wasn't rather fond of the placement. But I knew that it was Brandt's idea. He wanted Steve to be in the center of the theater so that there could be a standing ovation on every side of him. It was all for fame. We took our seats together and I crossed my legs, staring at the empty screen. All around us I could hear kids, begging their mothers to come and see Steve, women that wanted to keep him some company, and men that were looking straight down my dress. I hated each one of them more than the next.

We were waiting for a while before a thought occurred to me. I glanced over at Steve with a bright smile on my face. "Is there a musical number in this?" I asked him softly.

"Please don't tell me that you invited the Star Spangled Singers to be in the movie?" Steve asked me.

Smiling brightly, I shook my head. The curls that were gently falling around my shoulders began to whip around my face as I pushed them off of my face. "No. But damn, I wish I had," I said wistfully.

The theater darkened a moment later and we watched. It started with a sequence where Steve was picking out the men that he wanted to be on his team. They went through a few minor missions, getting closer and closer to Hitler's headquarters. At least, that was what I thought was the climax of the movie. I even saw the scene where the men were marching and I smiled, spotting the actors all looking very proud of themselves. There wasn't very much dialogue in the movie, and the little bits of dialogue that there were, were very cheesy. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the climactic battle sequence with Steve firing his rifle rapidly at some Nazi's.

As the women and children gasped at all of the action that was playing out on the screen, I glanced over at Steve and saw that he was smiling at himself. "Proud of yourself?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

"Maybe just a little bit," Steve muttered.

I knew that he felt guilty because I didn't like all of this. "Hey. I don't love this... but... I'm proud of you. I really am. You've come a long way from that little punk that used to get beaten up in little back alleys," I told him, grabbing his hand, letting it rest in his lap.

Steve smiled at me, running his fingers over the back of my knuckles. "That's right. Now I get beaten up by my best friend. A five-foot-tall blonde girl," he told me, gently tugging at my curls.

Smiling to him, I gently pushed his hand away. "Mutant," I pointed out.

"Doesn't make a difference to me."

The two of us were smiling at each other until a blonde woman sitting at my other side leaned over and snarled at me. "Be quiet!" she hissed, seemingly enthralled with the movie.

"Like you don't know how this is going to end," I snapped at her.

Steve was smiling at me. "Never change, Vic," he said.

Settling back into my chair, I watched as the end of the movie came quickly. Captain America and the rest of his men managed to catch Hitler and arrest him for all of his crimes. Not without another good punch to the face, though. They celebrated together as the end of the war came, and, of course, Captain America was the national hero. It made me roll my eyes at them. They were all so excited for this. They had no idea just how terrible the entire war was. People died every day. And no one was really shown to die in the film. They didn't see just how dangerous the war was, and how brutal the deaths were.

Finally, after the entire thirty minutes of the movie had passed, and the few credits had rolled, the audience began to clap and cheer happily. Everyone was on their feet so that they could all clap at Steve. I noticed a few of the younger girls were all cheering at Steve, probably hoping that he would notice them. I glanced over at Steve and noticed that he was smiling brightly. He was very pleased with himself. I rolled my eyes as we stood to leave the theater.

Of course I should have figured that we would not be able to leave straightaway. It was a long time that we were stuck, allowing Steve to get everything done. He spoke with some fans and took pictures with the kids, allowing them to pretend that they were the super-soldier. It was rather amusing to watch the women trying to flirt with Steve. He did respond to some of them. Not that he really knew what to say. He just smiled at them awkwardly. He had to answer questions for a long time before we were finally ushered off by Brandt and Martin. It was the first thing that I had been thankful for them for since I'd met them.

We were ushered back to the car that was heading to the hotel. The moment that the door closed, drowning out the sound, I relaxed and sank back into the seat. "So what'd you think?" Steve asked me.

"I can slowly see your head actually growing," I teased.

There was a hint of mischief in his eyes. I raised a brow at him, wondering where this was going. "Don't worry, Vic. I'll always have time for the little guys," he told me, patting my leg patronizingly.

My jaw dropped. "I'm going to break your neck," I said.

The two of us stared at each other before breaking into a small smile. We both knew that we were teasing each other. I would never break his neck, even for all of the moments that I might have wanted to do just that. I knew that this was something that he really did need. People had been so awful to him that he had had a very low self-esteem. He was mildly happy with all of the attention that he was getting, but I knew that it wasn't getting to his head. It never would. That wasn't the kind of person that he was. Plus I knew that, as always, the one place that he would rather be was on the front lines.

October, 1942
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

It had been just a few weeks since the movie had premiered. But it was now in mass production. It was one of the most successful movies that I had ever seen. It made it very hard for either one of us to get anywhere. People were thrilled whenever they saw Captain America. Of course, it was mildly funny that no one knew who Steve was when he wasn't in the Captain America uniform. But it had made the shows even more popular. After seeing the scene that Steve had made in the movie, it now meant that the shows were even more popular.

Just last week, we had returned to touring. It was obvious that Steve wasn't thrilled to be back on the stage, he obviously liked acting a little bit better since he didn't always have to keep up the facade, but the days were shorter with the stage shows. And we didn't have to do them every single night. That was a definite added bonus. And, considering that we were in Wisconsin, we were only doing a show every two nights or so, considering that it was a long trip in between the major cities. We would do each city for two or three days before moving onto the next one. We were in the middle of our Milwaukee stop.

A few hours ago we had come back from the biggest show that we had ever done. It had been terrifying for everyone involved. During the first show, we had had about a hundred people in the audience. There were two thousand people in the audience for this last show. It had made everyone nervous that it was such a large show. I could tell how nervous Steve had been. I felt terribly for him. He was the person that had to get up there and make an idiot out of himself. But at least the people seemed to be enjoying the shows.

Currently it was the middle of the night. I'd harassed Steve to come with me to train once the show was over. We'd waited three hours for everyone to fall asleep before coming down to the hotel ballroom. It was just past one in the morning as Steve and I engaged in another move. I was showing him all of the ways to escape from someone coming after him with a knife. He was dripping with sweat. He didn't look like he was about to drop from exhaustion, but he definitely looked tired. He had a much higher tolerance for exhaustion, but fighting me was not particularly fun, seeing as I never really got tired, and my punches never weakened.

The two of us were standing close to each other. Steve reached out to try and grab my hand, but it didn't matter. I raised my leg, sweeping it over his head. He dropped backwards, barely managing to miss my kick aimed to his head. It was probably a good thing. He had very nearly just had his head crushed in. Holding up my hand to get Steve to relax, he nodded, dropping backwards. He was staggering slightly, back and forth, probably hoping that we were ready to go back to bed. I grinned. We were not going to bed. We were just getting started out here.

"I think that you're ready to fight me," I told him brightly, very excited for this.

Steve looked like I had just asked him to jump from the roof. "I thought we've already been fighting?" he asked me, breathlessly.

Snorting under my breath, I shook my head. We weren't fighting. We had never really done a real fight, because I hadn't wanted to fight him. "No. I've been teaching you techniques and whatnot. We haven't actually done any real fighting. So tonight I want to go out there and fight you tonight. Show me that you've learned something," I told him.

Steve shook his head at me, taking a step back. "I think I'll pass on fighting you," he said.

"You're such a baby," I told him. He rolled his eyes at me. I brought up a gust of wind and shoved him backwards. He groaned and flew backwards, hitting the ground. "Get up. Come on," I called out.

"Vic, you just nearly kicked my head off of my shoulders," Steve said.

"I'm going to kick your head off of your shoulders if you don't stand up and get over here," I threatened.

He groaned once more as he peeled himself off of the ground. He sighed and shook his head free of the fuzz as he came a little bit closer to me. I noticed that he kept a slight distance. "Take it easy on me, alright?" Steve asked.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I shook my head. "You're a super-soldier," I argued.

"You're one of the most powerful mutants in the world," he pointed out.

A wide grin fell over my face. "Yeah. You're screwed," I said. We both laughed as Steve got down into the fighting position that I had showed him when we'd first started training. "Don't worry, I won't use any of my mutations," I promised. And I never did. Not the ones that I could turn on and off. The analytical reactions and pure strength I could do nothing about.

It didn't take longer than that for the two of us to begin fighting with each other. Steve kept up an arm and I rolled my eyes at him, deciding that I would be the one to make the first move. Steve put up his arms to block a punch, but that wasn't what I was going for. I slid underneath his legs and kicked out to the side, knocking him to the ground. Impressively enough, this time Steve didn't just lay there. He rolled back over himself - something that I had taught him - and straightened up. I grinned at him, proud that he was learning.

We fought back and forth for a long while. I made a point not to do any moves that I knew that Steve would have a hard time recovering from. I ran after him once more and threw a punch aimed at his head. He caught my arm and shoved me backwards. I took a step backwards and aimed a kick at his head. This one connected. But he managed to recover. He caught my leg at his neck but I used my other leg to throw my leg upwards and catch him around the back of the neck, throwing him over himself to the ground and tightening my legs around his throat. He was gasping for air before finally tapping my legs. I loosened them and stood back upright, Steve following a second later.

This time he was the one that made the first move. Unfortunately it was not a move that he should have made. He threw a punch and I ducked out of the way, catching his arm, and wrenched it backwards. Steve went to throw another punch to my face, but he was too slow. Using my grip on his arm as my leverage, I swung over myself, using my free hand to support myself, and wrapped my legs around his neck, hanging upside down for a moment. Using my weight, and Steve's, I went down onto my back and hopped back up. Steve was thrown over himself and splayed out heavily on his back, trying to get air back into his lungs from the heavy impact.

Standing back upright, I looked at Steve to see if he was alright. He was breathing in and out heavily, his hand over his stomach. "Jesus... That hurt," he muttered, sounding a little breathless.

"It wouldn't be a fight if it felt good," I pointed out. He nodded, a small whine escaping his mouth. "You alright?"

Steve nodded and stood back upright. "I'm fine. Let's go again," he said.

He was wiping his legs off. "You're sure?" I asked him cautiously.

"Yeah. I want to be able to stand up against you."

A small smile crossed my face. That was one of the many things that Steve said that made me proud of him. Most people would have given up the second that I'd taken him down like that. A woman would have never fought me again. Of course, she'd probably be dead already. And most men would have died the second that they realized that a woman could beat them. But here he was, getting thrown to the ground over and over again, with moves that would have broken bones on a normal person, and he was back up again. I watched him for a moment, debating on what I wanted to do. I supposed that I'd figure it out.

We stood still for a few moments. I nodded for Steve to move first. We began working on moves for Steve to try and stop an attack. I wasn't sure how fell he'd do, but I wanted him to try. Steve was standing facing me as I ran forward. He moved to throw me backwards, but a quick step to the side made him miss. I hopped up onto his torso and used my weight to throw him downwards. He hit the ground and fell backwards as I rolled forwards off of him, jumping back up to my feet.

Waiting for a moment, I watched Steve. I was very impressed when he managed to throw himself back to his feet. He gave no hesitation as he threw out a fist towards my head. I was rather surprised that he had done that. I could feel his desperation to win the fight. I ducked underneath his fist and watched as he threw out the other. I grabbed it before turning so that my back was facing his torso and threw my elbow into his face. He groaned and stumbled backwards as I released his arm and turned backwards, kicking him in the stomach. He stumbled backwards once more as I dropped to my hands and swept out his leg.

Steve groaned but flipped back up to his feet. I grinned. He was getting stronger and lither. It came from fighting me, who moved fast and struck hard. Steve and I fought back and forth, the two of us both moving as fast as we could. As Steve backed away from me, I sprinted towards him and used the leverage of a table to jump upright and grab Steve around the shoulders, throwing him to the ground. He grunted as we both sprang back up. As he ran back towards me, I grabbed his arm, holding it steady, wrapped a leg over it, and yanked him back to the ground. I flipped over myself, straightening back up.

"That was actually pretty good," I told him.

Steve was still laying on the ground. He ran his hands over his face, looking extremely exhausted. "I'm on the ground. Again," he groaned.

Smiling at him, I walked over and took a seat beside him. "If it makes you feel any better, these are attacks that a woman would use more than a man. Men will come straight at you. They focus on strength rather than acrobatics," I said.

Steve lifted his head off of the carpet and stared at me. "So why am I training in acrobatics?" he asked.

"Because a man won't be expecting that. These tend to throw off equilibrium. And that makes it a whole lot harder to win a fight, no matter how good you are," I said.

"I suppose that's a good point."

He would manage to win a fight at some point. And maybe the day would come that he could even beat me in a fight. "Trust me when I say this. If you can hold your own in a fight against me, you'll have no problem fighting against anyone else. I promise you that. You're getting better Steve. I can see it," I said. He smiled at me as we both got back to our feet. "Show me your kicks."

Nodding at me, Steve took a step backwards and took a deep breath. He was ready to keep moving, but he wanted to think first. He went back and forth, trying to kick at me over and over again. His kicks were strong and definitely hard to actually block. Not for me, at least. But it would be hard for an average person to block them. Steve gave a roundhouse kick that I very nearly missed, having to drop to my knees to avoid being kicked in the head. He looked very proud of himself as he continued to show me the kicks that he had learned. Every time that we fought I could see that he was getting faster and stronger.

As we continued to fight, Steve spoke to me. "What about weapons?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

He would get a gun when the time came to put him out on the front lines. "Shouldn't I have a weapon or something like that?" Steve asked as he aimed a kick to my stomach.

"We can get you a gun once you're out on the front lines," I suggested.

But he didn't seem overly interested in having a gun. "Something else. I don't know. Shouldn't a super-soldier have something other than a gun?" he asked as he aimed to sweep out my legs. I flipped over myself, easily missing the sweep.

"Getting a little bit fond of that shield?" I teased.

Steve shrugged his shoulders. "Could come in handy," he said.

The two of us were now kicking back and forth. Some of mine had hit Steve and I almost felt bad, knowing that my kicks really didn't feel good. Steve threw out another kick and I flipped over myself to avoid it before straightening out and aiming a kick directly into Steve's abdomen. It was a little harder than I'd meant to kick him. He was ripped off of his feet as he went flying backwards across the ballroom floor. I cringed as I realized that he had landed in a heap in the far corner.

"Yes. I suppose that it would come in handy," I said, referring to the shield.

Steve lifted his head off of the carpet to glare at me. "You did that on purpose..." he muttered.

"Of course I did," I told him. "Up! Let's go again."

It took him a little while longer to get up again. He dropped back his head and groaned, obviously not very happy to have to fight me again. I did feel a little bit bad for him, knowing that he really didn't love this. He liked being about to fight someone and hold his own, but I was the wrong person to do that with. He couldn't beat me. It was why I frequently told him that he was doing a good job. I didn't want him to think that we were spending all of this time fighting for nothing. He really was improving. I could see that.

Finally Steve pushed himself back to his feet and I nodded. Knowing that Steve wouldn't like the move that I was about to show him, I decided to go for it anyways. It would probably hurt him a little bit, but it was enough to show him that there was more to fighting than just throwing a punch. That was only a very tiny part of it. Running towards Steve, I ducked past him and hopped back up, standing just a few feet behind him. Steve didn't have the chance to turn back. I ran after him and used his shoulder to flip myself around so that my thighs were wrapped around his throat and I was facing the ground. Using my body weight, I turned Steve in a circle before releasing, using my foot to throw him as I landed in a tuck and roll. Steve was thrown over himself and across the ballroom.

This time, Steve didn't immediately get back up. He was on his back and breathing out slowly. I could hear the pain riddled in his voice. "What the hell was that?" he asked me.

"It's called a head scissor take down."

It was something that I had learned from one of the trainers in Stryker's lab. They had shown me the moves to throw off larger fighters. "That's the worst thing that I've ever seen," Steve groaned.

"And we've got worse. Up!" I called out, not even close to being done with him.

October 21st, 1942
Chicago, Illinois

As much fun as it had been to fight Steve a few weeks ago, Brandt had not been happy with him for it. He wasn't sure how, but he did notice that Steve had been limping around a little bit the next day. It had resulted in a show where Steve hadn't moved as much. It was rather funny having Brandt ask Steve if he had picked a fight with a truck. We had smiled at each other before heading back into the hotel. We had decided to put training on hold for a week or two to appease Brandt.

Not that he knew what we were doing. He ignored us if it didn't have anything to do with making money off of Captain America. It didn't matter to me. I knew that Steve was good enough to hold his own in a fight and that was all that mattered to me. So the next few weeks passed without another incident. Steve and I did some minor sparring, but nothing major. In the meantime, we had inched closer and closer to my birthday. And the day had finally come. It was my twenty-second birthday. It was the first birthday that I would be spending with one of the boys in quite a few years. It was rather odd.

The hour was still early. I had been intending to spend the morning with Steve before we had to go do the show. I was slowly getting changed and pulling my hair up into its usual tie. There was a knock at the door and I shouted for the person at the door to wait just a moment. I buttoned my shirt up the rest of the way and tugged on the jacket that was Bucky's. Once I was sure that I looked appropriate enough to answer the door, I walked over and swung open the door, coming face-to-face with one of the hotel employees.

"Here you are, ma'am," he said.

"Thank you."

He handed me a very small box that had a letter taped to the front. I smiled at the man and gently closed the door behind him. Once I had the door closed, I walked back over to the desk and gently set it down. I wasn't sure what was in it, but now I was curious. I took the letter first and smiled. It had Bucky's handwriting on the front. Had he somehow gotten me a present? I wasn't even aware that he could have sent me something. On the front of the letter was a note.

Deliver on October 21st

Vika,

Happy birthday! See? You thought that I would miss it. We got back from our last mission just a few days ago. I don't have a ton of time before we deploy on our next mission, but I wanted to get enough time to write you this letter. We're going off of the grid again soon, so I'll try and get a letter to you as soon as I possibly can.

So, what are you going to do on your twenty-first birthday? Do me a favor. Do something fun, alright? You work so hard all of the time. Take a day and go do something that you want to do. See if Steve will do something with you. You two used to always love doing things on your birthday. I'm sure that there's something that you can do other than a bunch of science junk or beating up Army recruits. Do it for me, alright? I'm really sorry that I couldn't make it home. I wish that I could have. It's been a long time since we spent one of your birthdays together. Next year, Vika. I promise.

Enclosed is your birthday present. I wish that I could be there to give it to you in person. Here's hoping that it made it to you in one piece. I don't know how careful they are with the things that we send.

Have a wonderful birthday. We'll spend the next one together. I love you. Don't waste that wish.

See you soon,
Bucky.

Smiling softly at the letter, I took a breath and placed it to the side. It was always nice to get a letter from Bucky. It was something that had always made me smile, knowing that he still thought of me. I opened the box and saw that there was a small photograph on the top. Bucky was in the middle of the photograph, smiling at the camera. On the left was a man with a handlebar mustache and a bowler hat. He was in the middle of a hearty laugh. On the right was a black man that was rolling his eyes at the man on the left. I assumed that these were some of the friends that Bucky had made during his deployment. There was a note with the photograph.

On the left is Dum Dum Dugan. On the right is Gabe Jones. We're in Venice right now. This was taken by one of the local kids.

Shaking my head fondly, I placed down the photograph. These were the men that Bucky shared a tent with. They must have become some of his closer friends during deployment. I was glad that he had people to keep him company. I could imagine that deployment got a little lonely at times. I put everything off to the side and opened the box that held my present. There was another note that came with it. I picked up the note and read over it.

This is called Murano Glass. It's a special glass made on the Venetian island of Murano, which has apparently specialized in fancy glass wares for centuries. That's what they told me, anyways. I just thought that it was pretty. Hope you like it.

And, indeed, I did like it. The Murano glass was shaped like a tiger's head. Bucky had gotten off very lucky that it hadn't been broken so that I'd been able to tell what it was. It was flat and mostly black and orange. But there was one thing that I spotted. The eyes were a bright yellow. Smiling softly to myself, I took a deep breath and slipped it over my neck, tucking it underneath my shirt. Even though it had probably been weeks since Bucky had touched it, I felt like I was touching him. Swallowing a lump that was in my throat, I took a deep breath and gently wrapped my fingers around the pendant.

Sighing softly, I started to put everything away. I had a bag that I was always bringing with me from one place to another. All of the letters that Bucky sent me went in there. I placed the letters into the box and tucked them into the bottom of the bag. I wasn't left alone with my thoughts for very long. Something that I was grateful for. My thoughts tended to make me feel even lonelier. The phone began to ring and I stood from the chair, plopping into the chair by the bed, and picking up the receiver.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Miss Phillips," a man that I had never heard before called into the phone. He obviously worked for the hotel. "There is a phone call for you. Would you like me to connect you?"

"Yes, please," I said.

There were a few clinks on the line before I could hear it connect to the person that was trying to call me. "Victoria?" Howard's voice called into the phone.

I smiled, glad to hear Howard's voice. "Good to hear from you, Howard," I chirped.

"Happy birthday, darling."

"Thank you."

"We can't chat long, but everyone wants to say hello," he told me.

That was fine by me. The only thing that I wanted was just to chat with everyone for a few minutes. Just to know that they were all still okay. "Alright," I said.

"What are your plans for your birthday?" Howard asked.

There weren't really any plans. I wasn't the kind of person that made a big fuss over my birthday. Not when I would have an immeasurable amount of them. "Oh, I'm not sure. Probably nothing. Train Steve for a while and do another show tonight. We're back to touring now that the Captain America movies are over," I said.

Howard was silent for a long while before he finally scoffed at me. I could practically see him rubbing his temples in frustration at me. "Those are the most pathetic birthday plans that I've ever heard," he said.

Narrowing my eyes at him, even though he couldn't see me, I shook my head. "I'm not exactly a party person," I pointed out.

Besides the few little dinner parties that we had had together, I had never been to a party before. "Next year we're going to have to give you a real party. You need to learn to actually have some fun," Howard told me.

"I can always electrocute you. That certainly puts a smile on my face," I said.

Both of us laughed at the thought. I would never really electrocute him. Not seriously, anyways. I just thought that it was funny to think about charring Howard. "Charming as ever," Howard said, making me smile. We both sat in silence for a little while before Howard spoke again. "What do you want for your birthday?"

"For you and everyone else to come home safe and sound," I said immediately.

That was the only thing that mattered to me right now. I had learned not to obsess over material objects a long time ago. "We're working on that. Alright, Peggy is bouncing back and forth and keeps smacking me to let her talk to you," Howard said. I laughed at the thought of Peggy irritating him to give her the phone. "Should I give the phone over?"

"Please and thank you. We'll talk soon, Howard," I promised him.

He was always a good person to put a smile on my face. "Alright. Love you, Victoria. Happy birthday. Do something fun," he said.

"I'll work on it. Love you too, Howard."

There was some clicking on the other end before things went quiet again. "Vicky?" Peggy's voice called.

"Hey, Peggy," I chirped.

"Oh, happy birthday, love!" she cheered.

I smiled at her. She did make me laugh. Birthdays were not a big deal to me, but it was nice that the others still thought that they were a big deal. "I'm not sure how much birthdays really mean to me anymore, Peggy. It's not like there's only so many that I'll be able to celebrate," I pointed out to her.

She scoffed at me. "Stop being such a downer. It's your birthday, Victoria. No matter how many of them you'll have, they're something to be celebrated," she snapped at me. "What are you doing today?"

"Nothing. You know, we have some promoting, I was thinking about training Steve for a little while. I don't know. Maybe I'll watch a movie in the hotel room. Everything that I do gets charged to Brandt," I said.

"In that case, buy something extremely expensive." Both Peggy and I laughed at the thought. I knew that she liked Brandt about as much as I did. "Sorry that I couldn't be there," she said softly.

"It's alright, Peggy. Hopefully on the next one."

"I hope. How are things?"

Shrugging my shoulders, even though she couldn't see me, I started to twirl the phone line in my hand. "Things could be worse. I can tell that Steve is having a good time. He likes all of the attention. It's stuff that he's never gotten before. Plus he's getting better with fighting," I said, smiling softly.

"Can he hold his own against you?"

Depended on what we were talking about. There were times that he could manage to hold his own. "In a fist fight? He'd be alright. He might not die." Peggy laughed at the way that I'd worded it. "But in a real fight? No way. I'd crush him in seconds. Doesn't matter though. He's not fighting me. He's fighting actual men," I said.

"That's the important part. Hopefully the two of you will be out here soon."

"I certainly hope so. Most people leave me alone, so I like that. But I miss seeing you all," I said.

"We'll be seeing each other soon enough. Did Barnes get you a letter?"

Twisting the necklace slightly, I smiled. "Yeah. He wrote a note on it asking the deliverer to wait until today to send it. He had a letter, a picture of him and some of his friends, and even a necklace that he bought overseas," I told her. She made a happy noise and I rolled my eyes at her. "Something called Murano Glass. It's pretty."

Even though I didn't really know what it was, it appeared that Peggy did know. "Wow," she breathed into the phone.

"You know what it is?" I asked her curiously.

Peggy gave me something akin to a laugh. "It's expensive," she said. My heart gave a funny lurch. He didn't have money... Only what he'd made. "Most of it is fake but there are some real ones. And if he was over in Italy, it's probably real."

"How much is it?" I asked her, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer.

"Probably everything that he's made since being enlisted."

"Oh..." I muttered.

We were silent for a moment, terrible guilt wracking through me, when Peggy spoke again. "You know what that means?" she asked me.

"That he's terrible with money management?" I quipped.

Even from here I could tell that Peggy was rolling her eyes at me. "That you obviously mean quite a bit to him. Victoria..." I sighed, knowing that I meant a lot to him. "You know what he's going to buy you on your next birthday when you see him?"

"Hopefully nothing. I don't like presents," I muttered.

"Don't be stupid!" Peggy snapped. There was a beat of silence for a while before I heard Peggy snap, "What are you looking at?" to someone that must have been staring at her.

I waited a few beats before asking, "What are you talking about?"

"A ring, you monkey."

My heart gave a funny surge. There was no way that Bucky would ever propose to me. I wasn't that kind of person. I would never be that kind of person. And he... he didn't care that much about me. "No. No way," I muttered.

Peggy sighed on the other end of the line. "You tell me honestly that you don't think that he's going to propose to you at some point or another," Peggy said, very bullheadedly.

Unable to stop myself, I spit out the thing that kept bothering me. "And how about once he knows what I am? How about once he knows the only type of life that he's going to get with me?" I asked her sharply.

"He won't care."

"We'll see."

And we would see. This wasn't exactly something that people could just get over. Despite what Steve said, I knew that I still unnerved him. And he hadn't seen what I could really do. "Look, Victoria, Chester is standing here and definitely wants to speak to you," Peggy eventually said.

"Okay. We'll talk soon, Peggy."

"Have a good birthday, Victoria."

"Thanks."

The phone began to click a little bit as they traded off. It was a few beats before Chester's scratchy voice called through the phone. "Victoria?"

"Hey, old man," I chirped.

"Happy birthday, brat."

Smiling at him, I nodded. He had forced me to ignore his birthday last year. I assumed that he didn't like thinking that he was getting older. "Thanks, old man. Think your old ass can manage to make it to the next one?" I teased.

"You're hysterical." I really thought that I was funny. "What'd your pet send you?" he asked after a beat.

My jaw dropped. It didn't take a genius to know that he was talking about Bucky. "That's so rude!" I exclaimed.

Chester obviously didn't care. "I don't like him."

Shaking my head at him, I laughed softly. "I know that you don't. He sent me something called Murano Glass," I said. The line was silent on Chester's end and I smiled. He must have known what it was. That would have been why he was staying silent. "Ah, nothing to say to that?"

"I suppose that's alright."

"It's a good present, old man. But there's one present that I'd rather have."

"He'll be there on your next one," Chester consoled me.

Raising my brow at him, I was definitely curious about his comment. He didn't like Bucky. Why would he want him back? "I thought that you didn't like him?" I asked.

"I don't. But I do happen to like you. And whatever makes you happy... I suppose that it makes me happy that you're happy."

It was one of the rare times that Chester said something like that. "That might just be the sweetest thing that you've ever said to me," I teased. There was a knock on the door to Steve's adjoining room. I knew that it was him. "Come in!" A moment later Steve popped through the doorway. I motioned for him to be quiet for just a second. "Look, old man, Steve is here. Can we talk soon?"

"Sure thing. Enjoy your day. We'll talk soon."

"Love you, old man. Thanks for the call," I said sweetly.

"Not a problem. Take care of yourself."

"You, too."

Placing the phone down, I sighed and glanced over at Steve. He was standing by the door and smiling at me. For a moment I was reminded of that little punk that got into fights in back alleys. "Happy birthday!" he called to me.

Laughing softly, I got up from the chair and moved over to Steve. He wrapped an arm around me and easily lifted me from the ground. The two of us both laughed as I tucked my head into the crook of his neck and shoulder. I knew that I must have weighed nothing for him. It was why during our fights, I had to use his own weight against him. We stayed locked in our hug for a long time. It was the first birthday that we had spent together in a long time. He placed me down after a minute and I backed away, pulling him to sit on the bed. I noticed for the first time that there was something in his arms.

Raising a brow at him, I looked at the wrapped present. "You actually got me a present?" I asked.

"Of course," Steve said.

"Can I open it?" I asked.

Steve gave me a teasing smile and I rolled my eyes. "Actually I was expecting you just to sit here and stare at it. I never thought that you might want to open it," he said.

"Shut up."

Steve laughed and handed me over the package. "Here. Go for it."

He gave me the package and I slowly pulled the brown paper off of it. There was a black photograph album and I glanced up at Steve with a small smile. I flipped open the book and began to slowly move through it. It didn't take me that long to place my hand over my mouth. It was one of the sweetest things that someone had ever given me. Some of the photographs were of us from childhood, some were from the USO Tour, and there were some that seemed to be from Bucky's deployment.

My hands were shaking as I flipped through the book. Steve came to sit next to me. "Had to have the neighbors go into the house to get those," he said, pointing to the pictures of us as kids. "And those were some of the ones that I've taken on the tour." There was rather cute picture of me miming the dance backstage. "And Bucky even sent me some in a letter a few weeks ago when I mentioned that this would be your present. Lots of room to add more over time."

There was a picture of Bucky winking at the camera that I found my hand hovering over. "I love it... Thank you, Steve," I muttered, closing the book and smiling up at him.

"You're welcome. I didn't have a lot of money -"

"Money means nothing to me," I spoke over him quickly. I'd rather be dirt poor than be a terrible person. "Trust me. My parents were some of the wealthiest people that you'd ever meet. But they were also some of the worst. It's what's on the inside that counts. Remember that, okay?" I asked, remembering Abraham's final request.

Steve nodded at me. "Do yourself a favor and remember that. It's what in here that means the world," he told me. He tapped me gently on the sternum with his pointer finger and I nodded sweetly at him.

We weren't in silence for long before Brandt's voice echoed. "Come on! Time for the show," he called.

Both Steve and I came to a stand. Before I could get to the door, though, Steve held out a hand to stop me. I raised a brow, wondering what his problem was. "Why don't you stay here tonight? You don't have to go out to the shows every single night. You can stay here and watch the television or something," he suggested.

I'd much rather be with him. That was all that I wanted for my birthday. "And miss you make an ass out of yourself? Yeah, right. That's the best birthday present that anyone could get me," I teased, nudging him gently.

We both laughed. "Hurry up!" Brandt called.

The two of us weren't standing far from the door when Brandt flung it open to yell at us again. It came very close to whacking Steve and I in the face. We turned towards Brandt, who was waiting very impatiently, and I glared. This was a day for the two of us to enjoy. So I brought up a force field that Brandt couldn't see and slammed the door in Brandt's face. He cried out as it whacked him in the nose and I laughed. Steve was clearly enjoying himself as he opened the door once more so that we could leave.

Walking past Brandt with a smile, I noticed that he had a little bit of a bloody nose. "Watch out for those doors, Brandt. Very vicious," I warned him.

Despite the fact that Brandt was shouting at us to not be late to the show, and trying to find a way to blame me for the door slamming closed in his face, it didn't matter. Steve and I made our way out of the room and to the show, his arm looped over my shoulders. It wasn't exactly the day that I wanted and it wasn't the day that I had been expecting, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. I had people that loved me and vice versa. It was the first time in a long time that I'd had that luxury.

Bucky's P.O.V.

October 21st, 1942
Venice, Italy

As people walked back and forth across the camp, Bucky did the same. But there wasn't enough to keep him busy. He had too much to think about. Not just everything that was happening at the camp. He was thinking about her. Just as he always was. It was almost impossible to keep her out of his thoughts. He missed her desperately. It had been over a half of a year since he'd last seen her. Almost like she had head his greatest desire, Bucky spotted her. She was standing at the edge of the wood line, beckoning him to her.

And that was when he realized that, as usual, he was dreaming about her. He always seemed to be dreaming about her. "A dream... You keep coming up in my dreams..." he muttered to her as he met her near the trees.

"I can leave if you'd like," she teased, turning away.

Even though it was just his dream, he didn't want her to leave yet. He wanted to see her. Even if it was just a few seconds in a dream. "No! No. Don't leave," he told her softly.

"You miss me that much that you're already dreaming about me?" she teased him.

Her personality was exactly the same in dreams as it was in real life. Teasing. All of the time. "Believe it or not, you've been in my dreams for a long time. You were in my dreams quite a bit during all of the years that you were gone. Sometimes I'd think that you were back," he told her.

Even in his dreams, whenever he brought up where she had been for all of those years, she turned sad. "I want to tell you what happened to me for all of those years," she told him softly.

"Tell me when I'm back home, okay?" he offered.

She nodded at him. "We can make that deal." She looked him over and the frown on her face quickly turned up into a smile. "Look at you. You look so professional out here. You look like you really know what you're doing," she said.

"Are you proud of me?" he asked her.

"I'll always be proud of you. Look at the man that you've turned into," she told him.

Her hand gently laid on his chest. It was ice cold. "God I miss you," he muttered to her, reaching up to touch her face.

Just like the rest of her, it was cold. He gently brushed her hair off of her face and she smiled. "I'm right here. Whenever you want to see me, you can just close your eyes. Close your eyes and I'll be right here. And when the time comes... You won't even have to close your eyes to see me," she said, her voice echoing softly.

"I wish that I didn't have to close my eyes to see you. I wish that you could just be right here," he told her.

"I'm here now."

"But I still can't touch you," Bucky said softly.

Sure, he could touch her right now, but it wasn't really her. She wasn't the same person that he had left all those months ago. "Maybe not right now. But when you get home..." she trailed off, her yellow eyes sparkling.

Bucky laughed at her. "You're quite a bit more daring in my dreams," he said.

She shook her head at him and motioned to his chest. "This isn't me. This is all you. You're the one that's not thinking anything proper about me," she said through a laugh.

Bucky shrugged his shoulders at her. "So I miss you, sue me," he said. She smiled and nodded at him. All of the men thought the same things about their women when they were alone. "It's your birthday today," he said after a beat.

"You get me a present?"

"I didn't think that I'd be seeing you today. I'll get you a present next year. How's that?" he said.

"You're gonna be back next year?" she asked.

There was a jolt in his stomach. It wasn't her saying that. It was him. But he needed to be back. He would be back. He had promised her. "I'll try my hardest," he said softly.

"What are you gonna get me?"

He had never really known what to get her for her birthday. She didn't like materialistic things. "Anything that you want?" he offered. She shook her head. "No. You've never been very materialistic. How about a ring? That finger looks a little lonely."

She smiled at him. "Are you ready for that?" she asked.

"I've been ready for that since the moment that I met you," he said.

"Good."

His hand was still on the back of her neck. She was standing pressed against him when he gently tugged her into him. He smiled as their lips met. It had been such a long time since he had kissed her. He missed it. He missed everything about her. His free hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him, as her arms wrapped around her neck. He gently began to press her back against a tree, his stomach giving a little flip. Her hand tugged at the collar of the brown knitted shirt that he was wearing. As he pressed a little harder against her, he felt the tree give way and he began to fall.

And he didn't stop falling until he hit the rough ground as he toppled out of the cot that he had been asleep in. Bucky punched the ground irritably. "Damn it," he muttered.

"The hell were you dreaming about?" Dugan asked as he flitted back and forth through the tent.

"The same thing that we all dream about," Bucky muttered.

Both Jones and Dugan laughed at his misfortune. He wasn't the first person to fall from bed after a dream like that. "Can't say that I blame you, man. Half a year we've been out here," Jones sighed.

Dugan sighed and smacked Jones on the back. "And we'll be out here longer than that," he said. And he was right about that. They would be out here for a long time. "You alright, Barnes? You look more out there than normal," Dugan said.

"Today's my girls' birthday," Bucky muttered.

Both of the men shared a look with each other before looking back at Bucky. Some of the men had already missed their girls' birthdays, and it always hurt. "That's nice. Sorry that you had to miss it," Dugan said softly.

"How old is she?" Jones asked, trying to distract Bucky.

"Twenty-two."

Dugan raised a brow. "I didn't know that your girl was a few years younger than you," he said.

They all knew that Bucky was twenty-five. He was one of the younger guys in the infantry. "Yeah. Three. Doesn't matter. She's ten times smarter than I'll ever be," Bucky said with a little laugh.

"We never doubted that," Dugan said.

They were all pleased to see Bucky laugh. "What's she doing for her birthday?" Jones asked.

Bucky shrugged his shoulders. She never had really been the type of person to go to parties. She used to always tell Bucky to go to the school functions while she stayed at home, not wanting to see anyone. "I'm not sure. I asked her to go and do something to try and have a good time on her birthday, but she's not really a normal person. She doesn't want to go out and have a party," Bucky told them.

The thing that might have sounded a little weird to some people merely made Dugan and Jones smile. "Barnes, I think you've got yourself a good girl. If I were you, I'd never let her go," Jones said.

Bucky smiled at the thought. He didn't care about any of the weird things that surrounded her. The only thing that mattered was that he loved her. And he always would. There was nothing that would ever change that. "I'm never letting her go. Never," Bucky said. It was one of the few things that he was absolutely positive of in the world. He would always be with her.

A/N: Another sweet chapter! There are some darker ones to come in the future, so I'm trying to write nicer ones for now. I hope that you guys are liking the USO Tour chapters. They're obviously nearly all original content so it can be a little hard trying to get a long enough chapter. Of course I say that as I had to cut this chapter short as it was getting too long. But there are just two more before Steve and Victoria go overseas! Thanks for all of the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

Moniquita2:You're welcome. I'm trying really hard to catch up on some chapters so that we can get Bucky back into the picture. I adore Bucky, I can't believe that people exist that don't like him. There will be a good moment where Steve realizes just how dangerous she is. I can't wait for her to show everyone exactly how good she is! Unfortunately that's the way that men were. Even when a woman would do something incredible, they hated it. They really hated being shown up by a woman at anything. So they would put them down in any way possible, even if they had no good reason. Thanks for caring so much! Makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

.2017: Thank you!