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.

40. Chapter 39

As time passed after my latest argument with Bucky - and strange personality change - I had slowly begun to feel better. A few months had passed since I had blown up at him and his siblings had refused to see his side of our relationship. Things were getting better. Most of the time, at least. I was happier and more relaxed. But that was likely mostly because we had been extremely active in the battlefield lately. We had been utilized in a number of other countries to defend them from the ever-growing threat of Hydra. But things were beginning to slow down again.

At the end of April, we had gone on a mission in the Danish Straits. We had all invaded a castle buried deep in them that had been controlled by Hydra forces since just before the beginning of the war. It wasn't just Hydra that controlled the Danish Straits. It was a Nazi territory itself. Even miles before we got to the castle we had been forced to ward off the Nazi Wehrmacht. It was so heavily-occupied that none of the other soldiers had been able to invade it without sustaining heavy losses themselves. So we had gone by ourselves.

The trip hadn't been an easy one. We had gone through some extra precautions to keep the boys safe in the event that I wouldn't have been able to constantly watch them. They had all been in prototype metallic suits that were bulletproof and powered by what appeared to be a massive battery. All Howard's idea. Something he wanted to call an arc-reactor. It wasn't there yet but I knew that with time - and technological advancements - the suits would get there. If it didn't happen in his lifetime, maybe he would need to pass down the project to someone else.

The guys had stayed in the suits for the first few minutes as I had leveled most of the German and Hydra soldiers. The arc-reactors powering the suits hadn't lasted much longer after that. We had just briefly been able to see Schmidt at the castle. We had known that he was hiding out in there for weeks ahead of the attack. The only reason that he had managed to escape was because he had set an explosive in between our team and himself that had blown up just as we'd reached him. I had saved the boys but we had lost Schmidt again in the meantime.

Later, on May 11th, we had been deployed to disarm a Hydra submarine, Leviathan. Just as we had known it would, the Leviathan attempted to sink an Allied merchant freighter with the experimental thunder lance torpedo in the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately for them, we had been on that Allied freighter. We had been manning it ourselves, baiting the attack. The moment that the Leviathan had tried to sink our ship, Steve and I had swum over to board Leviathan. Between Steve's hand-to-hand combat and my ability to flood the compartments, the Leviathan had gone down within minutes.

On June 6th, things had taken a turn for the worse. We had been deployed to assist on Operation Overlord. The Western Allies had launched the largest amphibious invasion in history in the assault on Normandy. Everyone had known just how dangerous it would be. The expected amount of casualties on both sides was over two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. Without even thinking about it, Steve and I had jumped forward to offer our assistance. It turned out that everyone was more than grateful for our help.

We had deployed in with one of the first waves at Omaha Beach. It was one of the most brutal fights I had seen. Our mission - rather than fight alongside the men - was to protect our Allies and lower the death toll in any way possible. At the end of the sixth day, after many force fields and large scale attacks on the German soldiers, the Battle of Normandy had finally ended. With our presence, we had saved nearly twenty thousand men. That didn't stop the hurt from the nearly ninety thousand we had lost. There were no thanks and no celebrations. It was a hard-fought win and not very pleasant.

In the weeks that followed, I knew that all of the men had a hard time sleeping. It didn't bother me so much (I had done and seen worse) but they hadn't handled it well. I'd done everything I could to calm them down. They seemed to be doing better as time passed, but I knew that seeing things like that changed someone. What we did was on such a grandiose scale that it almost didn't seem real. But to be down there, in the trenches of the war, was different. To see all of those people who died fighting for something they believed in was traumatizing.

It was why we were currently not doing much. The war was swinging in our favor. The Allies hadn't been so rushed to keep us moving against the Hydra bases. Everyone was taking a step back to observe their losses and work toward what would come next. Things for us had quieted down. My team had been working hard to try and figure out where the remaining Hydra bases were and where Schmidt was now hiding. It was almost impossible. He was well-protected and constantly moving. Even I had a tough time tracking him. By the time we would get to his hideout, he would be gone.

The only thing of even moderate interest that had happened lately was Steve's birthday. We had spent much of the day hanging around in the tavern. Much to my surprise, even Chester had joined in on the celebrations. I could tell that Bucky was happy to finally be back with his best friend on one of their birthdays. What Steve hadn't been happy about was that I was annoyed with him for not kissing Peggy at the end of the night, something that he had been begging me to forget about since. It was too bad that I didn't forget about anything.

With the sudden stillness in our lives, I had found myself getting antsy again. The pressure building up like in a shaken soda can as Peggy had once described it. Sometimes it almost felt like I was depressed. I really did want to stop fighting after the war was over and try to build a normal life but I was beginning to fear that it would be impossible. Maybe Bucky's siblings were right. Maybe I wouldn't even be able to calm down. Of course, that kind of thinking was just making me angry and irritable all over again and I knew it.

Nearing the end of July, I walked through the halls of the base. I was currently debating on whether I wanted to sit in on a war room conversation, train with Steve, help Bucky with our attack schedules, or drag Peggy away from her work to come gossip with me. In the meantime I was walking through the hallways aimlessly, flipping a knife around in my hands. I could tell that most people were keeping at a slight distance. Not that it would really help them if I wanted to skewer someone. Which I kind of did.

"Victoria!"

I turned back to see Howard darting up to me, looking as put-together as ever. "Morning, Howard," I greeted. There was a wide smile on his face. I raised a brow. "You look awful chipper."

"How do you feel about using a bow?" Howard asked.

Of the many things I had been expecting him to say, that definitely hadn't been one of them. "Like a bow and arrows?" I asked dumbly.

"Yeah."

"Old-fashioned. Never used one before. Why?"

"A few days ago I found an old one in storage," Howard said. What the hell did we even have a bow and arrow set for? Most of them had been tossed or repurposed years ago. "Took some time messing with an explosive arrowhead. I wanted to see if they actually worked."

"And you assume that I'm the only person who would know how to use it?" I asked.

"I assume you're the only one I could trust to hit the target," Howard answered.

It would be something interesting to do that wouldn't involve a lot of brain power. "Yeah, what the hell? Want to give it a try?" I offered.

"Oh, good," Howard said, clapping his hands together. "I thought that would be harder."

"To get me to try a new weapon?" I asked. "It's like you don't know me at all."

One of my absolute favorite things to do was try out a new weapon. Even if it was just something to goof around with. Howard grinned at me as we walked off toward his office. Even looking straight ahead, I knew that he was staring at me and wondering what was wrong. It wasn't too hard to figure out that I wasn't okay. I had been unwell for a long time now. I could even hear Howard wondering about what was wrong with me. I ground my teeth together in annoyance. I knew that it wasn't his fault that I could read his mind. But I couldn't take his concern anymore.

Eventually, I lost all patience I'd had. "Just say what's on your damn mind," I snapped.

Howard turned to me curiously. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," I snapped immediately. Howard didn't look the slightest bit convinced. "I don't know."

"Victoria. What's wrong?" Howard asked quietly.

Unwilling to answer him when I didn't even know the answer myself, I stayed silent. Howard tolerated it for a few seconds before grabbing my arm and turning me toward him. I stared at him for a moment before deciding to just answer him. He wouldn't have left it alone either way. "I've always had nightmares. Always," I admitted. Howard stared at me curiously. "They're usually images of what's happening in other parts of the world. Things that I'm connected to. Sometimes they're something else, though. Kind of like warnings."

"Warnings?" Howard asked.

"Warnings," I confirmed.

We both stood in silence for a while. I knew that it wasn't something easy to process. Finally, Howard seemed to manage to find his words again. "What are they warning you about now?" Howard asked.

"That something's coming. Something dangerous that's somehow related to me," I told him. The consistent dreams seemed unconnected but I knew that there was one common thread. Danger. "I don't know what they mean. But I know that it's got something to do with what's hidden in my past. There's something there. Something that I think I have to confront."

Howard thought on that for a while as we continued walking down the halls. "What do you think it is?"

"Not the damnedest clue," I said, hating myself for admitting it. I'd never liked saying that I didn't understand anything. "If I had to take a guess I'd say that it was something to do with either my parents or my time in Stryker's lab. Those were the two times in my life that I... I don't know. They were the pivotal and sometimes secretive parts of my life."

Howard started nodding. "I know that you don't want to go back and explore those understandably painful parts of your life but I think that it might be important for you. If nothing else, perhaps it's finally time to get closure."

"I'm not sure that I could ever face any of those moments again."

"Didn't you once say that you wanted to?"

Even if I wanted to do it, I wasn't sure that I could actually bring myself to do it. "Wanting to do something and actually going through with it are two completely different things."

Howard gave me a sad smile. "Victoria… I think you owe it to yourself to face that part of your life."

But I was already shaking my head. "You don't understand what that part of my life was like," I snapped. My words and stories of those days would never do it justice. They would never genuinely understand what it had been like. "It wasn't like this. I didn't have friends or a family. Facing that again… I don't know. Maybe it'll put me right back to that time in my life."

Howard nodded understandingly. I had once been that terrified little girl. If I went back there, there was a chance that I would become her all over again. I couldn't go back to that. "Or maybe you'll be able to finally face what happened and move on from it. You can finally find some peace in your life. The peace that you deserve," Howard said gently.

"Maybe you're right," I admitted.

"Do you need someone to go with you?" Howard asked.

"No. I think I'd need to do it alone."

"I'll be here to talk if you ever need to."

"Thanks." I reached out and grabbed Howard's arm, dragging him along with me. "Come on. I can't think about this," I said, shaking my head clear of my depressive thoughts. "Show me your newest creation."

Howard grinned and pushed me through a closed door at the end of the hall. As I walked in he motioned to a table at the far end of the room. "Take a look."

My gaze turned to the table. There was a pure black bow laying across it. It was shaped like a traditional longbow but appeared to have been altered to take on a more tactical look. It was about four feet long and strung tight. I hummed curiously as I reached for the bow and picked it up. It appeared to be made of a type of fiberglass - odd considering that bows were normally made of yew wood. There were two red-ripped arrows sitting to the side of the bow. I picked up the one closest to me and nocked it.

Just as I made a move to draw the arrow, Howard jumped forward. "Wait! Wait!" he yelped, placing a hand on my shoulder and carefully pulling the arrow off the arrow shelf. "Not in here. In there."

Howard was pointing through a door just to the side of the table. I glanced up and realized that it was a firing range. Right... If this was an explosive arrow, firing it in here would have been a bad idea. I walked into the firing range with Howard and watched as he placed a set of headphones over his ears. He handed the arrow back to me and I nocked it again. Drawing the string back and placing my hand against my mouth, I took a breath and aimed at the target resting about a hundred feet away. As I released the arrow, it soared into the heart of the target, blowing it to pieces.

Howard and I both laughed as I placed the bow down on the ground. Howard pulled his headphones off. "Nice," I told him, motioning to the flaming target.

"Good aim for someone who's never fired a bow before," Howard said, motioning with me.

I shrugged. "Not too hard to figure out," I said honestly. As long as someone had relatively good aim, a bow really wasn't that hard to use. "I'm not sure how popular these would be in mass production, but I'm sure that someone would enjoy it."

"Oh, I know," Howard said sadly, giving the bow a longing look. "I just couldn't take working with the Hydra weapons anymore and needed something else to occupy my time."

"It has my seal of approval," I told him.

Howard smiled. We stood together for a while before he placed his hand on my shoulder, gently nudging me back toward the door. "Let's get dinner tonight," Howard said.

"Okay," I said easily.

Almost every night I would spend it with Bucky or Steve and the boys. Sometimes I took a night with Peggy or had dinner with Chester to catch up. But I hadn't had dinner with Howard in a while. I knew that Bucky wouldn't mind. He liked his alone time with Steve and the guys. I knew that they loved having me around but sometimes they needed to have their guy time. Just like I needed the occasional girl time. Right now, I needed to spend some time with a guy who I hadn't known since I was a little kid.

The two of us walked out of the lab together and out into the city. There were numerous stares. Some because of Howard and some because of me. But Howard was wonderful for making me forget about the stares. He was always able to pull me out of my thoughts. We walked arm-in-arm together back toward Criterion. The waiters were more than happy to have us there. In fact, they seemed almost overly-friendly. Mostly considering that Howard was the one dining there, I assumed. It calmed me down spending a night with him. Things were quieter and more relaxed with him.

Perhaps because he was one person who never let anything bother him. He was always able to laugh and look on the bright side of things. He didn't take anything too seriously - save my own happiness. The dinner was easy. We laughed about the possibility of him learning the bow. It would likely be an impossible feat. He could design weapons but not use them. We ate far too much. With my supercharged metabolism, I was back to normal in no time. Howard looked like he would be sick. Or maybe that was because he had definitely drunk way too much.

When we finally finished dinner - hours after we had first entered Criterion - the two of us headed back to the base. It was extremely late at night. More than likely, everyone would already be in bed by now. It was very likely that Bucky would already be fast asleep in our room. I would have normally broken off from Howard but I wanted to walk him to his room to ensure that he didn't fall asleep in a ditch somewhere. At his door, I leaned up on my toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as a goodbye.

"Thanks for tonight," I told Howard.

Howard grinned drunkenly. "My pleasure," he replied, staggering back and forth. I smiled at him as I opened his door and gently pushed him inside. "Let me know if you ever need to talk."

"I won't," I said.

"I know," Howard said, grinning. "But just in case."

We smiled at each other again as I shoved Howard back into his room. Still fully clothed, he dropped into his bed and instantly fell asleep. I laughed under my breath and backed out of his room, gently shutting and locking the door behind me. I quickly moved down the hall and slipped into my room down on the other end. The lights were off and Bucky's soft breathing instantly alerted me to the fact that he was already asleep. I quickly changed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth, and gently slipped into the bed, trying not to wake him. Naturally, he jolted awake slightly.

"It's just me," I said quickly, trying to calm him down.

"Vika…" Bucky breathed, looking over at me. He ran a hand over his face to wake himself up. "Where were you?"

"Went out for dinner with Howard," I told him. He nodded. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you."

Bucky shrugged off my concern. "That's okay." He glanced at me, his gaze slowly turning suspicious. "You alright?"

Was my depressive state really that obvious? "Just tired," I lied.

Bucky hummed quietly. "You sure that's it?"

"Yeah."

Bucky stared at me for a while longer before nodding his agreement. "Okay. Come here."

He opened his arms to give me a place to lay. I smiled at him as Bucky gave me his arm. He allowed me to pull myself up against his chest, which I did immediately. His hands tightened around me. I knew that he had a slight suspicion that something was wrong but I really didn't want to concern him. He didn't need any more on his plate. I breathed out deeply as I rested against him, slipping my hand up underneath his shirt, feeling the blood pound through his veins. It would have been kind of gross to the normal person, but I enjoyed it. It reminded me that he was alive.

"How's Howard?" Bucky asked after a long silence.

"Drunk," I answered. "I put him to sleep and locked the door. He won't be able to open it again until he's sober."

Bucky laughed. "That was nice of you."

"Just don't need him embarrassing himself or the rest of us," I said.

Bucky grinned. "Awful kind of you."

We both smiled at each other as I wrapped my hand tightly around his shirt. We both began laughing as he grabbed me quietly and pulled me into him. His hands wrapped around my shirt and yanked me so that I rolled over him. We rolled around together for a while, kissing and laughing, chatting and sitting in silence, never quite going further than that. But that was all that I really needed right now. Just to be with him. Just the two of us. It was moments like these that I had a slight feeling that I might have really been able to calm down and live in peace after the war.

When I finally managed to get to sleep, I was almost immediately launched into one of my nightmares. This one was playing out in muted colors. It took place somewhere that I was laid out on an operating table. For a moment I thought that I was back in my childhood home. I could feel something sharp digging into my arm. Someone was standing above the table, speaking to me. It was someone that looked vaguely familiar. But I was too weak to process who it was.

"You will be the first of a new breed."

Who was it that was speaking to me? Their voice was vaguely familiar. I knew it from somewhere. I had heard him speak before. I was sure of it. Was there a chance that it was Stryker? Some part of me thought that it might have been him. I tried to force myself to get off of the table and kill him but I was unable to do it. I couldn't pull myself off of the table. I couldn't force myself up. But I had to. I needed to kill him for everything he had ever done to me. But I couldn't move. I was being held down. Things were too fuzzy.

At that same moment, I started from the dream I'd been having before. Those nightmares were getting worse and worse. They had always been bad but they seemed to have become even worse in the past few months since Bucky's siblings had come to visit. That first nightmare about his death had started the chain of nightmares that I seemed to have gotten looped into now. The nightmares weren't always about his death but they were getting worse. More intense and realistic. I was slowly becoming more and more unstable. I knew that much.

With that thought in mind, the word escaped my mouth before I could stop it. "Bucky."

Bucky immediately leaned up. He blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up. "What is it? Are the nightmares getting worse?" Bucky asked, sounding very tired. I didn't respond. I just stared at him for a long time. Bucky leaned into me and grabbed my hands, pulling them up to his chest. "What was this one about?"

For a second time, I ignored his question, instead thinking on Howard's words from earlier. "You asked me if I would show you my past," I said, looking at the wall behind his head. "Once the wedding was over."

Bucky looked stunned at my words. "Vika..." Bucky whispered. "I promise that it was only if you were okay with it."

"I don't think I'll be able to do it after the wedding. I think that, after the wedding, I'll be ready to put it all behind me," I told him honestly. "If you want to see it, I need to show you now."

"You can't go back to New York," Bucky pointed out.

"You think that I can't control them?" I asked him. Bucky let out a little laugh, shaking his head at me. "Bucky..." I breathed heavily for a few seconds, watching the concerned look on Bucky's face. "My powers are beyond anything that they can imagine. They can't stop me. As much as they think they can. Your siblings were right. I'm not what you think I am. Before you do this, I need you to know."

"I know. You showed me already," Bucky said carefully.

"No. I showed you a very filtered version of my life," I said, shaking my head at him. He hadn't seen even a fraction of the life I'd lived before he had become such an integral part of it. "There's so much more you're missing. You didn't ask me on a whim. You want to see it. I need you to see it."

Bucky stared at me for a long time. "You know something? I don't think this is about wanting me to see it," Bucky said. I stared at him, unsure of what he meant. "I think that this is about you, finally needing someone to know everything. In a few months, I'm going to be your husband. If you want to trust anyone with this, trust me. I can arrange a flight out to New York tomorrow morning."

"No flights. They can track flights," I said quickly. "They can't track me."

Bucky nodded. "Okay. When do you -?"

"Now."

"Now?"

"Before I change my mind," I said.

There was another long silence. "Okay," Bucky finally conceded. "Let's go."

His gaze was something that looked almost sympathetic. I knew that he was concerned about my happiness. Something was definitely wrong with me and I hated that it was now affecting him. He reached over and grabbed me, pulling my body into his. My arms wound up around his shoulders as his tightened against my back. We stayed together for a few minutes before pulling out of the hug, jumping to our feet and quickly changing out of our pajamas and back into our regular clothes. I changed into my uniform. I finished before him, staring out into the darkness through the window.

Bucky eventually walked up behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to do this."

"I do," I countered. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah. Come on," Bucky said.

We had to go before either one of us got the chance to back out of it. We shared another long look before turning and slipping out of our bedroom. I engaged the lock before we left, just in case someone came looking for us. I didn't want anyone knowing about New York. We wandered through the halls and up to the roof. I looked out into the pitch black distance and sighed, turning toward where we would have to fly to reach New York. Bucky watched me from a slight distance. He was shifting nervously. I knew that he had never been overly-fond of flying.

Eventually, once I was sure that I wasn't backing out of this one, I turned back to him and smiled. "You ready?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah," Bucky said nervously, wiping the sweat off of his palms. "Take it easy on me?"

"I promise," I said untruthfully.

Unfortunately, he would never be used to flying. It wasn't exactly fun for someone who couldn't fly themselves. I grabbed Bucky by the hand and began manipulating the wind columns around us. I built up the pressure behind us before releasing it, essentially catapulting us up into the air. Bucky screamed as we launched at near supersonic speed. I smiled at his terror as I pulled the oxygen from the air around our heads to ensure that he would still be able to breathe. I shot us up through the clouds to ensure that no one would see us.

Bucky was trembling from head to toe from our flight. He looked as though he was about to puke. I knew that I should have taken it easier on him but I wanted to just get to New York already. So, I whipped us through the air and over the Atlantic Ocean. I could tell that he was even more frightened being out over thousands of miles of open sea. But I knew that this was the fastest way to get there. We would arrive in New York in a matter of minutes. Which was probably good, since Bucky looked petrified.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed before we finally flew over land. We had just managed to arrive in New York. We flew into Brooklyn within a minute, arriving at the woods that my childhood home had been located in. Bucky gasped with pleasure as I began our descent into the woods. I almost smiled at him. It was always fun to watch him attempt a flight. I eventually dropped us just a few yards from where my home had once been. We gently hit the ground and I released Bucky, who was quite shaky on his feet.

Bucky only stood for a moment before collapsing to his knees. "I thought you said that you were going to take it easy?" he asked me sickly.

"I was," I said.

Bucky laughed. "Right." His gaze shot around the clearing we were in. His brows knitted curiously. "This is... it?"

"No," I told him. "It was just up that path."

Bucky grabbed my hand as I stared up the drive to my old home. "It's not too late to turn back."

"Yes, it is," I whispered.

We were here. I needed to do this. Without saying anything else to him, I began walking up the path toward the home I thought I would never see again. The crunch of mulch a few feet behind me told me that Bucky was following at a slight distance. He never touched me. He stayed back just the slightest bit, merely watching my face. I marched up the path that eventually let us out onto a gravel driveway that looked incredibly familiar. Too familiar. But there was something even more familiar to me just a few yards beyond it.

Bucky's P.O.V.

Vika's face had fallen into a straight line of horror. He could only assume that it was because they were staring up at a recreation of her childhood home. He could tell from the memory she had shown him. It looked just as the day it did that she had burned it to the ground. Bucky stared at it with her, watching as she walked up to the front door. Bucky stared up at it. The house was nicer than he had originally imagined it to be. Her parents were clearly incredibly wealthy. Bucky could have never even begun to imagine being able to afford something like it.

"I thought that it burned down?" Bucky asked her carefully.

She nodded blankly. "It did. But they rebuilt it a few years later," Vika said quietly. Her hand gently laid against the chain-link fence that surrounded the home. "As a testament to the loving family - so full of promises - who lost their lives here." Her voice was cold. Emotionless. "People used to come to pay their respects."

"What about the fence?" Bucky asked quietly.

"It didn't take long for people to start figuring out that I was the child who had 'died.' It didn't take long for them to figure out that I was the one who had killed them. It didn't take long to figure out how many people I murdered here that day. People started coming to the house to try and... I don't know. Learn more about me? Hope that I would come here so that they could pay me back for what I'd done? Who knows?" Vika said irritably. "All I know was that it was a security concern."

Bucky didn't know what to say to make her feel better. There was nothing to say right now. So, Bucky said the only thing he did know right now. "It's a beautiful house."

"You'd never begin to imagine the horrors that happened inside of it," she replied.

"Vika -"

"It's okay. I know how beautiful it looks. Evil things tend to have the prettiest facades."

Bucky knew that she meant herself. He walked forward and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Not all pretty things are," he told her.

"Yes, they are," she said.

Just as before, there was no emotion in her voice. Bucky felt terribly guilty for what he had said. He shouldn't have said anything to her. He should have just let her handle it. So, that was what he did. He watched as Vika walked forward. His hand fell from her shoulder and she walked off without another word. Her fingers wrapped around the chain-link fence and ripped some of the links apart with what appeared to be no effort. She tore a hole in the fence as large as they were and pulled herself through.

Bucky followed her, trying to keep from saying anything. She couldn't talk right now. He knew that just from looking at her. She needed someone to be with her, but she needed to be in her own head. She pulled the door open, breaking the hinge that had been locked. Vika walked in and Bucky followed her at a slight distance. He glanced around at it with her, absolutely horrified at the sight of it. Everything was white and pristine. He couldn't have even imagined living here. It was so secluded and clinical. But he supposed that had been the point.

The two of them walked through each room. Vika would briefly stop and explain what each room had been used for. There were numerous extra bedrooms that the scientists who would stay with them would use. A state-of-the-art kitchen that she wasn't allowed to set foot in. Her parents' bedroom which was strictly off-limits. The studies and offices which had always been filled to the brim with studies on her. A dining room that was used for dinners to discuss her and what to do with her. A massive library that she used to sneak books from.

It didn't take long for the two of them to wander into the back of the house. As Vika had claimed, it was her childhood bedroom. It didn't look at all like a place for a little kid to live in. There wasn't a single toy in sight and the walls were barren. There were no posters of singers she liked or movies she wanted to live out. Nothing. Bucky stared at the room sadly. It was no wonder that Vika had come to his apartment with no idea how to be a child. She had never gotten the chance. Even her bed looked about three sizes too small for an eight-year-old to sleep in.

"This place was... awful," Vika said. Her voice had actually managed to startle Bucky. He glanced back at her. She looked so depressed. "It always felt like I was bound to this room. I'd be yelled at for hours if I was caught outside of here."

"You always kept your room at Steve's so neat," Bucky said. He could remember nothing ever being out of place. "We always thought that you were just trying to keep Mrs. Rogers' cleaning down. Was this why?"

She smiled wryly. "The first time I was ever hit by my mother was because I had left a pair of dirty socks on the floor," Vika explained. Bucky twitched slightly. "I was three."

"How could someone do that to their own child?" Bucky asked, disgusted by the idea of what her own parents had once done to her. "Just because they were different."

"It's a question that haunts me to this day," Vika said. Bucky shook his head at the room. Was she ever concerned that he would do something like that to their child? No matter what they were like, Bucky would have never hurt his own child. "No..." Bucky glanced back to stare at Vika. "I don't think you would ever do that to your own child." Bucky laughed, grinning at her. "Sorry."

"That's okay," Bucky said, smiling at her. "I'm glad you know that."

If the day ever came that they had children, Bucky would have never laid a hand on them the way that her parents had done to her. He wanted to be there for them. Love them unconditionally. He loved her and he would love any children they had together. Bucky watched as Vika turned on her heel and moved into the back of the bedroom. She walked over to a closet and threw open the doors. Inside there were a number of designer clothes and shoes. Enough to make any of Bucky's old girlfriends swoon. Vika scoffed and closed the door again.

"They would have never given me a closet full of clothes," Vika explained, noticing the odd look that Bucky was giving her. "I had three outfits that rotated. One pair of pajamas. No shoes. Their money was spent on themselves."

Bucky glared at the closet. "They didn't deserve you," he snarled.

Vika glanced back up and smiled at him sadly. He didn't care what anyone else thought of her. She deserved a much better childhood than she had gotten. Vika kissed Bucky briefly before turning and stalking past him, heading off into the hallway. Bucky followed her again as she waltzed down a few stairs and headed into what looked like the basement. It looked to him like a standard basement, which was why he was so confused. Wasn't her basement some kind of laboratory that her parents had used to torture her in? Vika looked around disbelievingly.

"Protecting their reputation even in death," she scoffed.

Bucky stared around the room. "I thought that this was -"

"It was," Vika interrupted. "This is what it looked like."

She raised her hand and showed him what he had almost gotten used to. A telepathic illusion. A gentle glow erupted from her hands as the room devolved into what it had once been. White-tiled walls and floors, metal tables on each end, with vials and test tubes laid out everywhere. Bucky was horrified to realize that she was now showing him a memory. Vika appeared to be about five in it. She was being dragged into the room, kicking and crying. Bucky began moving toward her but stopped, suddenly remembering that it was only a memory. There was nothing he could do to help her.

"Make them stop!" the young Vika screamed.

"Shut up!" her mother hissed at her. She turned toward one of the scientists, throwing her arm back to Vika. "What is this thing?"

"As far as we can tell, it's mostly human," an older white-haired man told her, staring at Vika. They seemed to be looking through her rather than at her. "But there appears to be something... different in the structure of its DNA."

"That much we figured," her mother growled.

"Is it really yours?" the man asked.

"Yes," Vika's father responded regretfully.

"I've heard tales of others like it. Seeming humans being capable of so much more," the man said.

Both of her parents looked shocked. Even the young Vika's head rose from the table she had been placed on. "There's more of these monstrosities?" her mother asked.

The man nodded. "There are rumors that there are. This one only proves the theory that these curious creatures do exist. This is only one," the man said, staring at her. His gaze shifted down to the vitals that were plastered across a screen over where she was seated. The scientist looked fascinated. "Granted, this one seems to be powerful."

"What do you mean?" her father asked.

"Levels are off the charts," the man said. His fingers traced up and down each one of the readings. "It shouldn't even be alive. These vitals could never sustain a normal person. And there's... an energy source coming from it. It's something I've never seen before."

"What does that mean?" her mother asked.

"It means that we might be learning about other lifeforms much sooner than we initially anticipated," the man told her.

Her gaze almost immediately fell into a nasty snarl. "This thing will be long gone before we ever get there," Vika's mother snapped.

"I wouldn't hurt her if I were you," a second man said.

They all turned back to see the new voice. The current day Vika's face fell. Her childhood form glanced up. The man was younger. Maybe just a few years older than they were now. "It," her mother corrected him. "Not her."

Bucky's jaws ground together. "What are you talking about?" her father asked.

"You're talking about a little girl who's this powerful already. She's barely five-years-old. Given some time to develop her powers and learn from them and you could have a real defender for this planet," the young man said. Bucky almost smiled. That was what she had always wanted. That was what she was doing right now. Acting as a defender of the innocent. "She's proof that there's something else out there. Train her. Show her that she has a reason to help people. She could keep this entire planet safe."

"No one will ever know about this thing. It'll be long gone," Vika's mother snapped.

"Let me take her, then," the younger man insisted suddenly.

The current day Vika's eyes had glazed over a long time ago. But Bucky had suddenly perked up. Someone had offered to take her? He had never known that anyone had wanted to take her. She had always made it sound as though her childhood home was filled with people who hated her. Save this one man, that appeared to be holding true. Bucky looked at Vika again but her face betrayed nothing. It took him a moment too long to realize that this part of the story - like many others - would not have a happy ending.

"So you can tell someone where it came from?" Vika's mother finally snapped at the young man. "Absolutely not."

"I'll never repeat it," the younger man swore, looking between the young Vika and her parents. "She can be mine." A spark of life erupted in young Vika's eyes. "I'll compensate you for her."

The older scientist, Vika's mother and father, and the younger scientist all looked between themselves. There was a very long and very awkward silence. Bucky almost wished that he could read minds. He would have loved to know what those people were thinking. He almost wanted to lean over to Vika and ask what was going on, but he was smart enough to know that she would have ignored him. She wanted him to see this. It was a long time before her mother finally nodded her consent. Bucky raised a brow curiously. Something was going to happen. What was it?

"All right," Vika's mother said carelessly.

"Mommy?" Vika whined.

Her mother turned a cold gaze on her. "Get it out of here."

The younger man walked up to her, giving just the slightest smile. "Come on," he whispered.

Bucky shifted slightly, afraid of what was going to happen. The moment that the younger man held out a hand to Vika, she reached up for him. Her eyes had brightened a little bit. She looked afraid but hopeful. Just as they were about to meet hands, Bucky saw one of the security agents press a metal bar against her spine, clearly with an electric current going through it. It must have been painful as Vika tensed and accidentally blasted a shot of lightning through the man's chest. It appeared to have instantly stopped his heart. He fell to the ground, dead. The young Vika stared at him, horrified.

The Vika sitting on the table stared at him, as did her older counterpart. "That is not a defender," the older scientist said, nodding at the security agents to remove the body. He glanced back at Vika. "That is a villain."

Before any of them got a chance to say anything else, Bucky was thrown back to reality. He found himself staring at Vika. She was just staring blankly toward the area where she had accidentally killed the man. A place that was now covered in board games. The longer that he looked at her, the clearer it became. He had finally realized what her problem was. Exactly what it was that had been upsetting her so much over the past few months. She couldn't stop wondering if she might have really been the villain. Bucky wrapped a hand around her own. She leaned her head down on his shoulder.

They stood in silence for a long time. "That was the first man I ever killed," Vika finally said, her voice stony. "I refused to believe that he was dead for years. Now that I'm older, I know. There's no way he could have survived the blast straight to the heart. It was one of the worst things I'd ever done. He offered me a home. His own home. He was willing to take on everything that would have come from having me live with him. Be his. I thought... I thought that maybe he wanted to help me. For about ten seconds, I was hopeful."

"He knew that you were grateful," Bucky told her. Vika shrugged. "I'll bet you that he's looking down on you right now, so happy that you finally have the good life you always deserved."

"Maybe."

"You're not a villain," Bucky said. She didn't seem even slightly convinced. He pushed her head off his shoulder and pulled her chin so that their eyes could meet. Her eyes were misty. "Hey. You're not."

"That's what you think," she said.

Her voice was breaking slightly. Bucky let out a deep breath as he reached for her hand. "That's what I know," Bucky corrected her. "You were scared. You reacted. But I know you. I know that you would never hurt an innocent person."

"Isn't everyone innocent in their own minds?" she asked, smiling bitterly.

Bucky couldn't think of a response quickly enough. Vika smiled at him again before grabbing his hand and leading him on through the house. They worked their way back up to the living room and Bucky glanced around. "Is this really what it looked like?" he asked.

"Close," she answered.

Bucky watched for a moment as she stood in the dead center of the room. "Then our home won't look anything like this," he said determinedly. She turned back to him. "No basement. A wrap-around porch. I've always liked that idea of having a porch swing to sit on while we watch the sunrise. Rooms with real hardwood furniture. Nothing manufactured. Fireplaces and stone. Not clinical and clean - not like this. A library with every book you want. Most of which I won't be able to understand." She cracked the slightest smile. "Maybe even a nursery. A real one."

"That's a nice house," Vika said.

"It's a home, Vika," Bucky told her.

Her smile widened slightly. Bucky loved the idea of a real home with her. A life that they would get to live together. They would get it. He knew that they would. It looked like she was about to lean in to kiss him when her eyes suddenly darted off to the side. They widened for a moment before hardening. Bucky was about to ask her what was wrong when she walked off, clearly obsessed with whatever it was that she'd just found. Bucky walked after her, realizing that she had grabbed something sitting on the side table. He stared at it in confusion. Was it really what he thought it was?

There was no way that it could have been. Vika was holding a picture of herself with her family in her hands. It looked to be a normal family portrait. But he didn't understand. They would have never taken a picture like this. Bucky watched, heartbroken as Vika began tearing up. She sniffed slightly as he saw her grip on the frame become tighter and tighter. He stared down at the three smiling people. He couldn't even imagine when the picture would have been taken. He had thought that her parents were always horrible to her.

Eventually, Bucky could no longer stop himself. "When did they take this?" he asked.

"It was for a science journal. They were doing a profile on my parents for the work they'd been doing. They wanted to show that there could be a balance between work and life. They took a photo and promised that, without color, no one would be able to tell that I had white hair and yellow eyes. My parents threatened to stop feeding me if I didn't stand there and smile and not say a word," Vika explained. Bucky twitched slightly. Her gaze turned back to the frame. "The one family picture that I have... and it's a sham."

Bucky reached over and worked the picture out of her hands. "That's not a family picture," Bucky said, glancing down at the frame. She had cracked it right up the middle. "That's a lie."

Vika stared at the frame for a long time. "Why have a child when you could never love them unconditionally? Did they just - Did they just never think that something like me could exist?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"It should never have mattered," Bucky told her quietly. Her yellow eyes had turned a deep blue. He grabbed her and forced her to meet his eyes. "Look at me. When - if - we have a kid, I hope they're like you." She merely stared at him. "And if they're not, it doesn't matter. I'll love them so much. I'll love them more than I've loved anyone else. Except for their mother."

Her eyes slowly began to return to their normal yellow. But they seemed muted. Not as bright as normal. Vika never responded to him. He sighed at her evident sadness as she slowly moved forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. Bucky let out a deep breath as he pressed a small kiss against her temple. For someone so immensely strong, it was always shocking to him to find out just how weak she could be. But everyone, even a mutant, had to be weak sometimes. And he would always be there to help her through it.

The truth was that he loved her so damn much. He loved her so much that he would have never genuinely known how to tell her that. He just wished that she could see it. That he would always love her, no matter what happened between them. She meant more to him than anything else ever had. Bucky knew that no matter how many years passed, he would always be there for her. His love for her would never fade. That was the reason that he would always be there for her. Even if she wanted to tell him everything, if it was what she needed, he would listen.

The two of them stood together for a long time. Bucky could vaguely hear the clocks around the house ticking away the minutes. But he never even thought to push her away. After all, he could feel her shuddering slightly in his arms. He kept his head on top of hers, staring at the white walls behind her. He didn't bother to look at her face. He knew that she was crying which meant that the last thing she would have wanted now was for him to see her. A long time passed before she pulled herself together enough to pull apart from him.

They stayed connected by their linked fingers. Bucky took his free hand and traced her jaw. "My turn now," he told her suddenly. She needed to know that someone had always loved her. "Can I show you something?"

She looked surprised at his words but said, "Yeah."

Victoria's P.O.V.

The look on Bucky's face told me that whatever it was he wanted me to see was important. So, I decided to just go along with it. Bucky grabbed my hand and pulled it up to press against his temple. My eyes glazed over as we were thrown back in time to one of his memories. I glanced around at my surroundings, almost expecting us to be in his apartment or at training. We weren't in either one of those places, but it was just as familiar. I was standing in a school. Not just any school, I realized, but the one that had once been mine.

"Is this…?" I asked slowly.

"Yeah," Bucky said. I didn't understand what we were doing back in our old high school. "This is the day I graduated high school."

I'd never even seen one of our graduation ceremonies. No one had ever liked me enough to invite me. "Well, I'm proud of you, Buck, I really am," I told him, grabbing onto his arm. Bucky smiled at me. "But I don't understand why we're here."

"Watch," Bucky said.

What could have been so special about this day? I loved that he had actually managed to graduate high school but I couldn't understand what we were actually doing here. What did this have to do with anything? I stared in confusion as kids walked past us in the memory. I recognized many of them as students who I had known and hated. Many of them the same people who had once made me so miserable. Eventually, not far from us, I caught sight of Bucky and Steve, the latter of whom looked quite upset.

Bucky eventually threw his arm over Steve's shoulders. "Cheer up, man!" Bucky said loudly, shaking Steve slightly. He barely cracked a smile. "One more year left and you're out of here. Maybe you'll actually have a shot at getting a date now that I'm gone."

"Jerk."

"Punk."

They both smiled at each other. They remained silent for a few seconds before Steve said, "She'd be really proud of you, you know."

Obviously meaning me. Bucky frowned. "Wish she was here to see it."

I wished that I had been there to see it too. "She always had faith that you'd graduate and make something of yourself," Steve told Bucky, who smiled at him. "I'll bet that she still has faith."

"She does," I whispered to my Bucky.

He turned to me and smiled. "I know."

The Bucky in the memory shook his head. "God, I miss her," he told Steve.

"I know you do. I miss her too," Steve said.

After a few second, Bucky started laughing. "I had this dream last night that she showed up today," he told Steve. He glanced off toward the entrance of the hall. "She just… walked through those doors like nothing had happened."

"Could happen," Steve said.

If I could have been there, I would have been. I would have much rather been celebrating with them than going through whatever hell Stryker had decided I was in store for that day. "I've learned not to get my hopes up. She's gone," Bucky said. My stomach tightened slightly. He sounded so upset. "Just gotta learn to appreciate the time that I did have with her."

"You could find her again, you know. Search for her," Steve suggested. But it had never worked. It would have never worked. "I'd be willing to bet that she's out there somewhere. Maybe hoping we'll try and find her."

Bucky looked hopeful for only a brief second before shaking his head. "Where would she have gone? The police looked, we looked, everyone did. No one even knows about her. No one knows who she is or where she came from. She's a ghost story. She was when we met her and she is now," Bucky pointed out. And he was right. I'd always been a ghost story. "You just have to wonder what got her there. Why don't we know who her parents are?"

"You heard her. It didn't sound like they had a great relationship," Steve pointed out.

Bucky shook his head, looking quite aggravated. "I don't get how anyone could have hated her."

"Neither do I," Steve said. I glanced up at the current-day Bucky and smiled. He grinned back at me. "But look around. No one in here was ever particularly fond of her."

"They're nuts," Bucky said.

Just as Steve opened his mouth to respond, an overly-familiar voice shouted in the distance. "Barnes! Rogers," Johnathan Harper said, walking up to the boys. He was grinning devilishly at them. He slapped Bucky jovially on the back. "Congratulations, man."

"Yeah, thanks," Bucky said, pushing his hand off of his shoulder.

"Yellow Eyes planning on making an appearance today?" Johnathan asked, grinning madly. Both Steve and Bucky's gazes fell into a thin line. Their relationship clearly hadn't gotten any better once I had left. "Haven't seen her in forever. They finally lock her up in the loony bin where she belongs?"

Even before it happened, I could see the way that Bucky's body tensed. It was enough to tell me that he was planning on attacking Johnathan, who really should have seen it coming. Bucky pushed off of his toes and lunged forward to attack Johnathan. It looked like Steve was getting ready to do the same thing. I watched the scene impassively. I shouldn't have been - and wasn't - surprised that he had said something like that. Even in adulthood, we had never gotten along. The real Bucky was watching the memory with fascination.

"Mr. Barnes!" Principal Sanders yelled, stopping the fight before it really got the chance to start. Johnathan and Steve backed away. "If you'd still like to collect your diploma today, I suggest that you step away from Mr. Harper."

Bucky was the only one who hadn't walked off. Steve stepped forward and pressed a hand against Bucky's shoulder, pulling him away. "Bucky… Let it go. Vic wouldn't want this," Steve said.

Bucky eventually stepped back and Principal Sanders walked off. Just a moment later, Bucky stormed back up to Johnathan and wrapped his hand around the edge of his shirt. "You ever say something like that to me again, after today, there's nothing stopping me from hitting you," Bucky threatened him. "Got it?"

Johnathan looked slightly nervous as Steve tugged Bucky away. "Come on," Steve muttered.

It looked as though Bucky would have rather swallowed his tongue than walked away from Johnathan. The two of them evidently had never repaired their relationship even long after I had vanished. Not that they had ever really been friends to begin with. Steve wrapped his hand as far around Bucky's shoulder as it would go and gently pushed him ahead. Bucky shot Johnathan another nasty glare before finally stalking off. The two of them walked through the halls before finally coming to a stop near Steve's seat, where he would be watching the ceremony with his family.

"One more day, Buck. Just one more day that you can get expelled. Try and make it," Steve teased.

"I know. It's just a jerk reaction," Bucky huffed.

"I know. It always has been."

"Used to think that this was the day I would tell her what she really meant to me."

"She always knew. You know that."

"How much I really cared? Doubt it."

He would have been right about that. I'd always thought that he had looked at me like a little sister. "Somehow I doubt that," Steve said. I smiled at his memory. "She's out there somewhere. If you can't stand the thought of living your life without her, let's go find her. It won't be easy. It might take a long time. But I think we can do it. What was it that you always used to say?"

Bucky's lips tilted up in a smile. "I'm going to marry that girl one day."

"Has that changed?"

"Course not."

He had finally proven his own words true. "So, go up there. Put a smile on your face," Steve said, pointing up to the stage. "Because one day you'll be able to show her this and she'll know that you've always cared about her."

I'd always known that he cared about me. But these moments made my chest swell. To know just how much I had meant to them even when I had vanished without a trace. Much like I had never forgotten about them, they had never forgotten about me. I watched as the memory of Bucky puffed out his chest and walked over to greet some of their other friends - including a pretty girl he'd been seeing. In the meantime, Bucky and I were sent back to my childhood home. I realized that we were standing right in the hallway where I had once heard my parents say that no one would ever love me.

Bucky was smiling guiltily about the girl in his memory. But I didn't care about that. "I never even thought about you graduating high school. But I'm glad you did. I'm really proud," I told him honestly.

"I knew you would be. That's why I always kept it up. My schoolwork. Because of you."

"You were always willing to do anything to impress me. To be with me."

"Whatever it takes," Bucky said. "Now and then and for the rest of my life."

What had I ever done to deserve someone like Bucky? Nothing. I was a terrible person who didn't deserve him. But somehow I had ended up with him. I smiled weakly as Bucky wrapped a hand around my hip and gently pressed me back against the wall. I leaned up and pressed a kiss against his mouth. He wrapped a hand around my hair as his hands wrapped around my back. Maybe my parents were right that there was no way they would have ever loved me. But they were wrong about the other part. Someone did love me - and always would.

We stayed together for a long time before finally pulling apart. I stared blankly at Bucky for a moment. It was so strange to be here with him. He must have known that I didn't know what to do next because he grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. I wasn't sure where we were going, so I let him lead. I laid my head down on his shoulder, looking around the old house. If I could have told that little girl something back then... I would have made sure that she had known that things would get better. They would get worse first, but one day they would be better than she could have ever imagined.

As the two of us walked out of my childhood home, hand-in-hand, I stopped on the porch. Even now I knew that this would be the last time I ever saw this place. It was the last time I ever wanted to see this place. My eyes remained firmly locked on the wooden door. It was almost like the house was taunting me. Teasing me that my nightmarish childhood would never truly leave me. I eventually broke my grip on Bucky's hand and walked back up to the front door, simply staring at it. Bucky watched me from the next step down.

"Vika? Do you need some time?" Bucky asked quietly.

I ignored him. "They never should have rebuilt this house."

"I know."

This house had never been anything but nightmares. They hadn't even rebuilt it to tell the real story. Like everything else, this was done the way that they wanted it to look. It wasn't even close to the way that I had known it. Looking at the house right now, I knew that there was only one thing to do. I walked up to the wooden door and placed my hand on the frame, tracing up and down the grains, burning a large X into the door. I stepped back and allowed the flames to spread over the wood, moving through the front portion of the house.

"It's time for this part of my life to die," I said.

"And a new one begins," Bucky continued.

"So it does," I agreed.

We both watched as the flames began to spread over the house, quickly sending it up into a blaze. Pieces of the house cracked off and collapsed as the windows began exploding from the heat. Bucky watched me as I watched it. The stony stare I'd become so accustomed to giving when I didn't know how to otherwise react spread over my face. I wouldn't regret this. This house deserved to die. This part of my life deserved to die. This recreation was nothing more than a lie. This was just a horrible beginning to a life that deserved to have a good ending.

Eventually, a long time after I had begun the blaze, we both took a step back. I extended my hand to Bucky who took it. I began whipping the wind around us, shooting up into the air. Bucky tensed as I hovered just over the house, looking down into the ruins. Maybe this time they would learn never to rebuild it. I gave the house one final look before turning in the wind and shooting off into the distance. If they ever did choose to rebuild it again, I would be the first one there to destroy it. But I had a feeling that I would never be here again.

In the meantime, we shot over the woods and rocketed past the northern border into Canada. I spun us toward Alberta and Stryker's lab. We arrived within a few minutes and I slowly dropped us to the ground just a bit from the lab. Bucky didn't talk as I began walking through the woods. I ensured to keep him well behind me. Just in case these woods weren't abandoned. I had a feeling that they were trying to keep the lab a secret. They couldn't ever admit what had really happened out here. Just as we passed a section of trees, I spotted a handful of guards watching over the half-melted laboratory.

Bucky's P.O.V.

Horror would have been the best word for what he was seeing. The building that she had once called home. It looked like it had been hit by what Vika had called a nuclear bomb. A weapon in test phases right now, apparently. This building looked the way it did likely from what she had done to it when she had escaped. There were a number of men standing around who appeared to be watching over it. Bucky stepped forward and wrapped a hand over her wrist. He didn't want them to be spotted. Of course, that was probably exactly what she wanted.

"We should leave, Vika. There's a lot of people," Bucky said.

"I know."

She didn't even turn to look at him. Instead, Vika continued to walk. She brought up a force field in front of Bucky's vision to ensure that no one would hurt him. Bucky hesitated a moment before following her at a close distance. By now, some of the guards had started noticing that she was approaching. They had to have known who she was. Vika gave the slightest smile as her eyes faded to black. Bucky hated to admit that his palms began sweating. He loved her to death, but she did scare him. He simply let her do this as he knew that she needed this.

The guards all raised their weapons, shouting at her and to each other. "Stop!"

"Shoot her!"

"Shoot the man!"

Bucky swallowed thickly. He knew that he was safe behind her force field, but he didn't particularly like hearing someone threaten to shoot him. "Walk away and you live," Vika called to the men.

They all stared at each other, probably wondering if she was telling the truth. He knew that she was. But they didn't believe her. One of the men closed his finger around the trigger of his gun. Vika let out a deep breath and raised her hand, apparently heating up the gunpowder in the bullet. It built up so quickly that when he pulled the trigger, it exploded, blasting off his hand in the process. Bucky jumped and stared at him as his hand erupted into a million pieces, splattering onto the ground. The man dropped to the ground, cradling his now-stump in his remaining hand, howling in pain and sobbing pathetically.

A few of the men he had come with ran over to help him, covering his bleeding stump and pressing their hands over his wound to staunch the blood flow. The rest of the men looked up at Vika, seemingly furious that she had hurt their friend. She barely gave them a second glance as she raised her hand again and flicked it off to the side. Bucky was momentarily confused by her actions until he realized that every man standing in the clearing had had their necks twisted so hard that they snapped. The men fell to the ground in a collective unit, already dead.

"I warned you," Vika muttered.

At the same time, the purple glow faded from Bucky's vision. She had dropped the force field. "Were they the only people here?" Bucky asked.

"Yes."

"How did you do that?"

Bucky had seen her do a lot of interesting things but he had never seen her break someone's neck just by looking at them. "Telekinesis. Psychokinesis. Whatever you want to call it. The ability to move objects with your mind," Vika explained. "I've got telepathy and I'm working on expanding it into telekinesis. So far it's been easy enough. Manipulating bones. Snapping a neck without a second thought."

A disgusting thought, but also quite useful. Bucky glanced around at the men on the ground. Some of them looked as young as they were. "Did you know them?"

"No," she admitted. "But they're no better."

She hadn't needed to say that. Bucky already knew the truth. She was innately good. These people were the monsters. Bucky reached out and grabbed Vika's arm, turning her around to face him. Much to his own surprise, her eyes were blazing red. She was angry. It must have been horrible for her to be back here. Even from a few feet away, Bucky could feel her skin burning. The flames in her skin were near the surface. Bucky stepped forward and pulled her in for a hug. She merely laid against his chest as he pressed a kiss into her hair.

It didn't take long for him to start sweating from her flames. "I'm proud of you for coming back here. But if you're not ready, we'll turn around and leave right now," Bucky offered.

She ignored him and instead said, "Come with me."

Her voice had grown stony again. Bucky followed her at a slight distance as they wandered into the building and through what appeared to have been the dining hall and entryway. Much of the building had collapsed over the years with no one to care for it. As they walked in, Vika raised her hand to show Bucky what it had looked like during its days of operation. There were people waltzing back and forth all over the place. It took Bucky a moment to realize that Vika and the man he assumed to be Stryker was walking ahead of them. She looked to be about fifteen.

The real Vika had her fist clenched as she stared at the memory. The two people in the memory walked for a bit before Stryker turned to her. "Would you like to hear what I found out about your friends?" he asked her.

She looked exhausted, but her head almost immediately whipped over to him. "You promised that you would leave them be," she growled.

"And I will. As long as you continue doing as I say," Stryker replied.

Her face fell into a hard line. "What did you find out?"

"They're looking for you."

"Good."

It was a comment that wasn't appreciated. Stryker reared back and punched her dead across the face. Bucky lunged forward but his Vika wrapped a hand around his arm to stop him. He couldn't help her. Bucky tried to relax as he stepped back, watching the young Vika pull herself back to her feet. He tried to think back to his own childhood. He and Steve had tried so hard to find her. But one day they had just... stopped looking. He'd thought that it was because they hadn't found any leads. But now that memory seemed a little... clouded.

Bucky watched in horror as Stryker grabbed Vika by the collar of her jumpsuit, lifting her and shoving her back into the steel wall. But that wasn't enough. He grabbed a thick knife from his sheath and slammed it through her throat, into the wall, pinning her there. Vika tried to fight back but she was too young. Too untrained. Too afraid. She was gasping for air, Chronicle pouring from the wound as it desperately tried to heal itself. Bucky had to force himself to keep watching. She wanted him to see this... Stryker continued to hold her there, laughing the entire time.

Eventually, Vika finally managed to raise her hand and electrocute two of the guards around her. Stryker continued to laugh, releasing his hold on her. She collapsed to the ground and tore the knife from her throat, throwing it into the heart of a guard nearby. She rose to her feet, looking fully intent on killing Stryker, who was watching her. He raised a gun to her forehead and Vika hesitated for a brief moment. Bucky realized at the same time she did that she shouldn't have hesitated. Stryker grinned and pulled the trigger.

The bullet shot out of the gun and through Vika's head. In reality, the adult Vika didn't even flinch. Bucky stumbled back in horror. She went through this, every day, for seven years. The memory of Vika hit the ground in a slump as her head quickly began to piece itself back together. The bone crunched back together as the brain rebuilt itself, ultimately appearing as though nothing had even happened. After a few seconds, she rose to her feet again, staggering back and forth, staring at Stryker, tears in her eyes. Bucky felt tears welling in his own eyes.

"You can survive it," Stryker said, holding a firm grip on the gun. "But I don't think your friend can."

"Whatever you need. Just leave them be," Vika said immediately.

Stryker grinned. "What I want is for you to leave the two of them alone. I want them to leave you alone. You go into their minds and make them give up. Tell them that it's impossible to find you. If you do anything else, trust me when I say that your friends will pay for it."

This was what had happened. Why she had stopped fighting. Stryker walked off and showed Vika a screen that was mounted up against the far wall. It was currently displaying a video of himself and his family in their old apartment. Steve and his parents were with them. They were all laughing and playing together. They had never known that there were shooters on them. Likely for years... If she had done anything to Stryker or those men, it wouldn't have mattered. There must have been hundreds more who would be able to pull the trigger before she could save them.

Vika began slowly nodding. "Whatever it takes."

"Throw them off," Stryker warned her.

Vika's eyes turned white. Bucky could hear her thoughts and see through her eyes as she invaded his and Steve's thoughts from that night. It appeared to be midsummer, just after he had graduated from high school. Steve was sitting on the couch with him as they discussed their plans for the future. Vika's voice then echoed through their heads. Forget about trying to find her. Victoria Davies is only a ghost. You'll never see her again. A long silence passed afterward. But please don't forget about me. Bucky's throat tightened as Vika backed out of the memory, himself and Steve shaking their heads clear.

And apparently giving up on her... Vika's eyes returned to their normal yellow as she nodded at Stryker. "It's done."

"Good," Stryker said. "Move it."

Without missing a beat, Stryker swung up and whacked Vika over the back of the head. She stumbled forward, straightening up as some of the men standing around them began to laugh. As Bucky looked into her eyes, he saw it. That burning desire that he had only seen a few times before. A hatred that very few people were capable of. But it was one that he had seen in her eyes more than a few times. In reality, Vika was staring back at the wall where Stryker had once pinned her. There was a green stain just beyond her head. The Chronicle that had leaked out that day.

The two of them stood in silence for a long time. Bucky felt his stomach churning in knots. "Vika..." he whispered.

"I'm sorry..." Vika whispered, turning to meet his eyes. "You stopped looking for me because I ordered you to."

"It never even occurred to me that we had stopped looking for you," Bucky said, shaking his head guiltily. He should have known. He should have kept looking for her. "I missed you and I loved you but... I didn't even think about the obvious fact that we had stopped looking."

"You would have never even understood why. I just - I had to do it. I should have made you just forget about me -"

"No," Bucky interrupted. He could have never imagined his life without her. "I'm glad you didn't. I couldn't imagine my life without you."

"Even after everything?" Vika asked.

"There's nothing wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with us. This entire relationship is perfect."

"Perfect?"

Bucky smiled, nodding at her. "Of course. I have the love of my life at my side. Or standing in front of me. Talking over me, as you so like to do," Bucky teased. Vika laughed. Bucky savored the brief moment of happiness in her eyes. "You always know what to say. You make no apologies for who you are. You're a special person and I am honored that you've chosen me."

Her golden eyes were glittering. "I would have spent the rest of my life with you if I could."

"I know."

They might not have been able to be together forever, but he knew that she would always hold him in her heart. That was all he needed. Bucky grabbed her hand and pulled her into him. He could feel her breath coming out shakily as she leaned her head down on his shoulder. Bucky pressed a kiss into her hair as he looked around. This place... it was half the reason that she was as cold as she was. He knew that it should have bothered him, but it was too late to be bothered. All he could do was spend the rest of his life trying to undo the damage to her that they did.

When Vika finally pulled away from him, she didn't speak. Instead, she reached out and pulled him along through the ruins of the building. Vika showed him the room where she was once kept in. It looked more like a small closet. It was made of all steel paneling. Not a bit of comfort. She then walked him through the training labs. She showed him what it had looked like during her teenage years. It looked almost like a place that a mutant could have learned in. She could have become a real hero here. Instead, they had nearly killed her. The very idea disgusted him.

Both of them made their way through each room slowly. Vika didn't speak and Bucky didn't push her to say anything. He knew that this was something that she had to see. The static on the end of her hands damaged the remaining electrical platform as she walked, but she didn't bother to stop it. She simply wound her way through the building. Eventually, they made their way into an area of the building that was oddly hot. Bucky noticed that there were decaying bodies lying all around them. That was also when he spotted the purple glow in his vision. She was holding up a force field.

Of course. This was where she had detonated her bomb all those years ago. Bucky stared at the pools of blood and tissue matter along with the decaying bodies. The walls were warped and charred and completely melted down in some parts. The room where she once let off her blast was no longer. There was no roof and barely any walls. The entire building had caved in on this end. The ground and air appeared to still be radioactive. There were ripples of radiation through the air. The grass and plants were dead. There were no animals in sight. The water appeared to be boiling.

He could see straight out toward the waterfall she had once jumped to her freedom from. "It's been years," Bucky commented, looking around them. "The radiation still hasn't gone down?"

"That's how powerful this blast was," Vika said. He glanced back at her and jumped in surprise. Her skin was glowing golden. It almost appeared like cracks were in her skin from the areas where the radiation was leaking from. He assumed that she was likely radioactive right now. "It was the first one. Twenty-one years of built-up energy."

"Will it always be this way?" Bucky asked.

"Probably not always. But it'll definitely be like this for a lot longer," Vika admitted. Bucky hummed. At least it would keep people away from here. "I think about this place sometimes. I like destruction. I've always found some beauty in carnage."

"I can see why. There is something beautiful about this," Bucky said honestly.

There was something about the destruction that was beautiful. Bucky would never know what exactly it was. "One hundred and nine men died here that day. Some at Logan's hand. Some at mine," Vika whispered.

"None of them were innocent," Bucky growled.

"No, they weren't. You're right."

Bucky found himself shifting nervously. "Is this helping?"

"Yes," Vika said. Bucky stared at her, unsure if she was really telling him the truth. "This reminds me of just how much things have changed for me. I'm not that beaten-down little girl anymore. I've grown up. I have a job I love and best friends and a father and a man I love very much. A soon-to-be husband." Bucky smiled at her. That was a day he couldn't wait for. "This was just a blip in my past. Who knows? Maybe, eventually, when I look back on my life I won't even remember this. There will be only good memories. Of us and the people we love."

Bucky smiled, brushing the hair back off of her shoulder. Her force field followed. "You will. I promise."

All he wanted was for the two of them to have a good life together. He knew that it was possible. She just had to let this part of her life go. Vika smiled slightly and turned away from him, heading back into the main sector of the lab. Bucky followed her. It took a few minutes for him to be able to blink away the purple glow from her force field once they were out of the danger of the radiation zone. They wandered back into the center of the lab - the very center of what had been one of the worst times of her life. Bucky smiled weakly and placed a hand against her back.

Victoria's P.O.V.

It was strange being back here. I half-expected Stryker or Jefferson to appear, ordering me to nearly kill myself for their own amusement. But this place was long dismantled. So, I stood ramrod still and stared at the remnants of Stryker's lab. I never thought that I would set foot in this place again. It brought back so many bad memories. Maybe this was my time to fix things. Maybe it was time for me to permanently bury this piece of the past. After all, this was mostly a myth. The people who came here were the ones who called me a villain.

For a long time, my gaze remained fixed on the part of the ceiling that hadn't caved in yet. Finally, I looked back at Bucky. "Do you think that I helped the mutants?" I asked.

Bucky stared at me sadly. "Honestly, Vika, I don't know. I think you'd have to ask another mutant. What I do know is that you changed things. For the mutants and for the rest of us."

"What do you mean?"

"I can only theorize based off of what you've told me. But mutants seemed to be content to hide among the humans. But when you came out, you revealed that they weren't alone. There were people… like you."

"They should have kept hiding," I said determinedly.

"Vika, think about it. There's a good chance that they tried. I listened to those documentaries. Some people thought that you were a one-time fluke. But others started coming out of the woodwork. Those who couldn't hide or wanted to finally come out. You set the path for those mutants. After that, people started recognizing the signs and symptoms. I would assume that it didn't take long after that for mutants to have to start hiding even more," Bucky reasoned.

We remained in silence for a long time. I didn't really know how to respond to that. All I knew was that Bucky was right. I hadn't done anything for the mutants. I'd forced them to come out of hiding - somewhere that they, like me, had been completely content. Why hadn't I tried to help them? Because I had been too obsessed with what had been happening in my own life. I hadn't made things better for the mutants. If anything else, I'd made them worse. They had been forced to reveal themselves.

"I didn't think about how I might negatively affect the mutants. I didn't even think about revealing myself when I went after him," I admitted.

"I'm sure that everyone knows that. But -"

"But then I moved to London and left the world to its own devices. I haven't worked on human/mutant relationships at all since. People hated me and I just accepted it, not thinking how it might affect the others."

"More than likely. But you can't blame yourself."

"Why not? They were hiding. Things were good for them. Then I changed things. I made it known that we were real and now they can't hide. Then I left them to defend themselves."

"Maybe not forever. You said that you didn't want to fight anymore after this," Bucky pointed out. I arched an eyebrow, not understanding what he was getting at. "What about something else?"

"Something else?"

Bucky smiled. "What about a school? For mutants."

Somewhere to learn... A safe place... Somewhere that I had never had... "A school for mutants. That would be interesting. It's so hard for us to be accepted. No one's there to teach us. There could be normal academics and classes to teach them how to use and control their powers," I said thoughtfully. "Half of the reason we're so dangerous."

"Unpredictability," Bucky said.

I turned to him, surprised but quite pleased. "Precisely."

Bucky smiled at me again, brushing the hair back off of my shoulders. "That sounds like a beautiful idea. I bet a lot of kids would love that."

"I'd like that. Maybe at that house in the woods," I said hopefully. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Having a place to help the mutants. A real purpose in the world. "Would you be okay with that?"

Bucky nodded. "I would love that."

Perhaps this was one more step forward for me. "Come with me," I told him.

The two of us walked back out into the hallway. My hands were buzzing with unreleased energy as I walked. It was so strange to be back here. It was almost like being back in my recurring nightmares. I led the two of us out of the building and into the yard out front. I remembered walking in those doors so many years ago. I remembered getting to blow up the building so many years later. I would never be able to get back those seven years I'd lost here and I couldn't make up that one mistake, but I could begin to move forward. It all started with today.

"Stand back," I told Bucky, staring at the building.

The moment I raised my hands, Bucky pulled them back down. "Isn't there something in there that you want? Paperwork? Some kind of answer with why they took you?" Bucky asked.

"They wanted me to make better weapons. Any other reason... I don't need that answer. They're monsters. That's the only reason I need. It's time for me to move on. I want to focus on this part," I said, smiling at him. "Eliminating Hydra from the world. Having a real life. It's time to enjoy that part of my life. I don't need anything else."

Bucky smiled back. "Good. Time to close this chapter."

He released my hand and took a few steps back. I turned back to the building and stared at it for a moment before raising my hand again and pushing massive air columns down onto the building. Since its structural integrity was already so compromised, it came as no surprise to me when the building finally gave way. I watched as the wall panels and roof collapsed around themselves, slamming into the ground. I smiled at the sight of it. It was finally time to forget about Stryker's lab. This wasn't even me who had been here. It was another person. Another life.

Once the building had completely collapsed around us, I stared at it. Gone. Finally, it was gone. Stryker's lab was never coming back. I would never let it. No one would ever be subjected to what I was. Once the dust had settled, I raised the flames over the ruins and melted the steel into the dirt. As the flames died out, I drew water from the waterfall and soaked the ground where the lab had once stood. Where there was death, life would always follow after. As the water splashed over my boots, I turned back to Bucky and nodded. I was done here.

"It's nothing but a memory now," I whispered.

"You deserve to move forward," Bucky told me.

"I'll never forget being here. This will never not be a part of me. Because this is one of the things that shaped me as a person," I admitted. Stryker's lab would always be a part of me. But what happened here didn't have to run the rest of my life. "I can't take it back but I can learn to move forward."

Bucky and I shared a long look before he finally said, "Will you show me something else?"

"What do you want to see?" I asked curiously.

"Colonel Phillips' home. Your home."

"Why?"

"Because you've shown me two of the places that you hated the most. Show me one of the places that meant the most to you."

That was as good of a reason as any. "Okay."

Maybe we needed to go there. A peaceful night. Just as I wrapped a hand around Bucky's back to bring us back into the air, there was a sudden rumbling of trucks approaching from our side. My head snapped back as I realized that we weren't alone. There were some people there who appeared to be soldiers. Probably a new enemy. They certainly weren't any of the people who had been protecting Stryker's lab. These men were working for the government. I rolled my eyes at the newcomers. The others must have alerted them that I was here before I got the chance to kill them.

It didn't take long for the trucks to pull up near us. "We have to leave, Vika," Bucky said, tugging at my arms. "They're coming."

"I can see them," I answered.

Bucky likely wouldn't love this, but I didn't care. They were the ones who were always hunting for a fight. The tires squealed loudly as the trucks pulled up near us. The men instantly disembarked their vehicles, holding up weapons and staring at us, each daring the other to make the first move. The men yelled loudly for us to surrender. But their voices quickly dropped off upon spotting the bodies of the men laying around us. Their guns slowly lowered as I grinned, holding a force field in front of Bucky, standing mere inches from him.

"Do you really want to do this?" I asked the men.

"Leave," Bucky called to the men. "Please. Don't do this. You won't win."

How right he was. "Sergeant Barnes!" one of the older men yelled. A general, if I was correct. "On behalf of the United States -"

"Okay," I interrupted irritably, "I've had enough of this."

We weren't going to do this all day. They were either going to live or they were going to die. There wasn't going to be an in between. I raised my hands and the guns instantaneously whipped out of the soldiers' hands. There were shouts of horror from around the circle. The men screamed and lunged for their weapons as I raised a massive tidal wave from the river and pounded them with the water. If they were careful, they would survive. Although they would likely have a fear of water for the rest of their lives. I rushed the water down the mountainside, taking the men with it.

Bucky watched with his jaw hanging open. It was almost comical. "Time go to," I told him, wrapping an arm around his waist and smiling at his shock. "Hang on."

"Will they be okay?" Bucky asked, watching where the tidal wave had just swept the men away.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Depends if they can swim or not."

Bucky laughed quietly as he wrapped an arm around my waist. "I'm getting the hang of this whole flying thing, I think."

"Good," I said, grinning. "So we can move it a little faster."

"Wait. What?"

He should have known how I would handle that. I didn't give Bucky a second to continue before I blasted us off the ground at well over three hundred miles an hour. Bucky let out a horrified shriek as I shot through the air, passing birds and planes. I spun over myself in circles as I flitted through the trees, barely missing them as I flocked to Chester's house. I could feel Bucky shaking in my arms. My eyes glazed over white as I shot further into the air, ensuring that no one could see us. We flew through the air for a few minutes when I suddenly allowed the wind to fall away from us.

We weren't far from Chester's home now. Bucky gave me a panicked look and began screaming as we went plummeting to the earth. I grinned at his terror. Every now and again I couldn't help but mess with him slightly. I warped us again as the wind picked up around my waist and I shot us overheard of the farm where Chester had nearly shot me. I soared down slowly and released Bucky against the dirt. He immediately collapsed. I hit the ground a moment later and straightened up at the sight of my real home.

"Welcome home," I told Bucky.

He didn't respond. He was still hugging the ground. "Ground. Sweet ground," Bucky panted.

I grinned at him. "Thought you were getting used to flying?"

"I changed my mind," Bucky said, looking up at me. He looked slightly greenish. "I'll never get used to it."

Bucky still looked extremely sick as he managed to pull himself to his feet. He looked like he might collapse at any moment. I smiled at him as a smile gradually spread over his face. I assumed that he was just grateful to be back on the ground. I smiled at the sight of the field. It looked just as it had when I had left it almost two years ago. Bucky slowly walked forward at my side. He must have recognized it from the memory that I had shown him back when Steve and I had first rescued him from the Hydra facility.

"This is Colonel Phillips' house?" Bucky asked.

"This is it," I said.

"It's nice out here," Bucky said, looking out to the woods. "Peaceful."

"That's what I thought."

"You were right that this would be a good place for a wedding."

"You know as well as I do that I can't come back to New York."

"You're here now," Bucky pointed out.

And I had already killed about twenty people in the last few hours. I laughed at the smile on Bucky's face. He wanted to get married out here. "It's a bad idea. You saw what we had to do just to get out of Stryker's lab. The same thing will happen if we come back here," I told him. "Getting married on the base wouldn't be too bad."

"Is that what you want?" Bucky asked.

"No."

"That settles it, then," Bucky said, taking my hands. "We'll get married here. A small wedding. Just us and the people from the base. If you don't need anyone else here, neither do I."

"There was a list of people you were going to invite. I saw it," I said.

Bucky shook his head. "There's only one person that I need here."

At least we were on the same page with that. It would likely be very odd to get married here. There could only be a select amount of people. We couldn't raise any concern that I had returned to New York. That was a surefire way to get everyone I loved killed. I smiled weakly as I leaned into Bucky, pressing a long kiss against his mouth. Maybe he was right. Maybe we didn't need anyone but the people that we both loved. After all, how many of his friends would want to come to the wedding once they realized that they would have to face me?

When we finally pulled apart, I began striding up to the house. "I had a dream a long time ago..." I told Bucky, not meeting his eyes. "When I was five I found a picture of my parents on their wedding day. She looked beautiful. He looked so in love with her. Honestly, they didn't even look like the same people. I had this dream that maybe one day we could get over whatever our problems with each other were. I thought that my dad would walk me down the aisle. I thought that my mom would be there to help me get ready and tell me that I was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. I thought maybe I'd have a brother there too... I don't know. Talk to me before it started. Keep me from getting too nervous."

"You're going to have those things," Bucky said, grabbing my waist and pulling me back into him. "Colonel Phillips is going to walk you down the aisle. Peggy will be there with you, helping you get ready and telling you just how gorgeous you are. Steve will be there to tell you that you're doing the right thing. You'll have even more. The guys to make you laugh. Howard to give some horrible speech. Maybe officiate. I think he wanted to do that."

"He does," I said. Howard had been asking me if he could officiate for weeks. I smiled at my fiance. "You're right. It's the wedding I always wanted. Just different people. Actually, you're the people I wanted."

"And you got me," Bucky said, pressing a kiss against my forehead. He stayed there for a moment before pulling back and staring up at the old farmhouse. "I can't believe Colonel Phillips lived in a place like this."

"He always said that he liked the seclusion. He wanted some time to be alone when he wasn't at the bases. It's why I came here and wanted to stay for the night. I didn't think anyone would find me. Turned out that I was wrong. The one thing that I was glad that I was wrong about," I told him. Bucky smiled. Because of my connection to Chester, we had found each other again. "I think he misses it here. I don't blame him. I miss it here too."

"We'll have a house just like this one day," Bucky promised.

"A porch swing," I said suddenly.

"What?"

"I want a porch swing."

Bucky smiled. "We'll tell Howard. I'm pretty sure he'll give you whatever you want at this point."

"That's true."

Whatever I wanted, I was pretty sure that Howard would have complied. I smiled at Bucky as he stepped onto the front porch. "Want to give me a tour of the house?" he asked.

"A tour of the house or a tour of the bedroom?" I teased.

Bucky laughed, extending a hand for me to take. "You know me well. On second thought, scratch the tour."

He walked back down the porch and immediately pulled me into his arms. I laughed madly as he picked me up bridal style and carried me back up the steps into the house. Bucky followed my directions through the old house as I pointed him up the stairs and toward the old bedroom that had once been mine. Bucky walked in and kicked the door closed behind us. He held me tight in his arms as he crossed the room and threw me down onto the bed that was about twice the size of the one we shared at the base.

Bucky threw himself on it a moment later. "Oh, I could get used to this," he hummed, leaning back.

I looked up at him and smiled. "Me too."

"I didn't mean the bed," Bucky said gently. "I meant this. Just being with you with nothing else to worry about."

"So did I," I replied.

We both smiled at each other again. This was exactly what I had wanted for so long. For it to just be the two of us. To be a married couple with nothing else to worry about. Bucky leaned down and pushed me back against the bed. I smiled at him as he laid over me. We spent a long time just bonding together without having to worry about a neighbor hearing us or anyone seeing us. It was the most relaxed I could remember being in weeks. We were finally able to act like a real married couple. I was finally able to see what the rest of my life might have looked like.

It was well into the evening hours when we stopped goofing around long enough to head downstairs for dinner. Neither one of us had gotten a chance to eat today. We walked into Chester's pantry and took out some grains and canned foods from the pantry. The only things that hadn't gone bad during my absence. It wasn't much of a dinner - mostly consisting of vegetables and beans - but it was something. And we weren't very concerned about eating anyway. We both had things that we would have much rather done.

Later that night, we both sat in white fluffy bathrobes that we had found in storage. After having a shower, of course. Bucky had gotten a good laugh out of the argument we'd had over how hot the water was. A fight that I, ultimately, had won. We had even picked some apples and eaten them by the candlelight - as no one had paid any bills for the house in well over a year. We laughed and talked and ate as we reminisced about our childhood together - the simpler times. Those conversations were followed by the ones talking about how much we were looking forward to our future together.

It took us some time, but eventually, we headed back upstairs. We read for a while and talked about both everything and nothing, splayed out in the bed together, laughing madly as we got ourselves into a wrestling match. Needless to say, I had won that fight. When the time came that we were finally ready for bed, I was more relaxed than I had been in a long time. As I drifted off to sleep on Bucky's chest, I was more than happy with the way that the day had proceeded. Getting rid of all the things that had haunted my past and moving into the future.

In the morning, I yawned and stretched in the oddly-large bed. Much to my surprise, Bucky wasn't in bed with me anymore. It was something that was rather shocking, as he usually waited for me to wake up before getting up himself. I rose from the bed and threw on his white t-shirt before making my way downstairs. Bucky was standing at the stove wearing his boxers and apparently making breakfast. It smelled like eggs. I smiled at the sight of him, leaning up against the door frame with my arms crossed. I had never seen him cook before.

"Good morning," Bucky called without turning to me.

"Morning," I called back.

Finally, Bucky looked back at me. He had an entire spread laid out in the kitchen. I raised a brow. Apparently, he could cook. "There's a farmer's market not far from here. Got up early and picked a few things up to make breakfast," Bucky explained. I nodded at him. Chester had brought me there a few times when we had lived here. "We never get a chance back at the base. Always wanted to make my wife breakfast one morning."

"We're not married yet," I pointed out.

Bucky shrugged. "Might as well be. I wish that I would have married you years ago."

He left the stove to stand in front of me. I moved the last few feet, resting a hand against the side of his face. He pressed a small kiss against the inside of my palm, just as I had done to him after the first time we had kissed. I smiled as I leaned up to him and pressed a kiss against his cheek. He grinned at me as I backed away. I was about to kiss him again when the phone on the side table began to ring. I realized suddenly that Bucky must have turned the power back on. Apparently, Chester had been paying the bills... I pulled away from Bucky and leaned over to answer it.

Bucky grabbed my arm to stop me. "Don't answer it," he said.

"Why not? I still technically live here," I pointed out. It could have been someone looking for Chester. I could pass along a message. Bucky sighed as he released me and I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"What the hell are you doing at the house?" Chester's grouchy voice called from the other end of the line.

Oh no... Bucky was actually right about something. "Uh... tidying up?" I offered.

"Get your ass back to the base right now," Chester snapped. "And tell your pet that I'd like a word."

"Yes, Dad," I said quickly, hanging up the phone and turning back to Bucky. He must have heard the conversation, as he was now pale in the face. "Well, I've really enjoyed our past few months together."

Much to my surprise, his mouth spread into a smile. He strode up to me and wrapped a hand around my hip, yanking me into him. "If I'm going to die anyway..."

"I think I am a bad influence on you," I giggled.

"Oh, trust me, you are. And I wouldn't have it any other way," Bucky said.

We both laughed as I ripped Bucky's hand off of my hip and jumped up into his arms. He was strong enough to catch me and not even take a slight step back. Sometimes I underestimated just how strong he was. We both began laughing as Bucky walked us back, pressing me up against the wall. We didn't linger there long before Bucky brought us back up to my room, slamming the door behind us. We were very careful to enjoy every second of our last moments together since we both knew that Chester was going to kill Bucky as soon as we got back to the base.

When the time came that we were finally ready to go back to the base - hours after Chester had first called the house - it took me a long time to force Bucky to realize that it was the right thing to do. Chester would kill us both if we waited any longer. That didn't stop us both from whining softly as we cleaned up the house and took off back to London. I was more than a little amused at the look on Bucky's face throughout the journey. He looked like he would have rather flown around the world like this twice than face my father.

Bucky's P.O.V.

Once the two of them had landed back in London, they headed back to their room. They were quick to change as it wouldn't look good if they met the others when they were still in their clothes from the night before. They gave each other a somewhat awkward smile and kiss as they went their separate ways. It was probably better that they weren't together when Colonel Phillips came to find them. Vika had gone to hunt down Howard in the labs or Peggy in her office. Whichever one she thought Colonel Phillips stood less of a chance of finding her in.

As soon as Vika had gone, Bucky headed off to find Steve. They ran into each other down in the planning room. Steve was at a large map of the Hydra bases. They smiled at each other as Bucky launched into an explanation of what had happened last night - as their absence had definitely been noticed. Bucky had barred some details - as Steve definitely wouldn't want to hear about them and Bucky didn't want to recount those details - but Steve was glad to hear that she had destroyed her childhood home and Stryker's lab.

The two of them had been together chatting for a long time when the door finally opened. All color faded from Bucky's face. He had been hoping to put this off for a while. Steve coughed awkwardly. "Sergeant Barnes. Let's have a word," Colonel Phillips demanded.

It might have sounded like a request but it certainly wasn't. "Of course, Colonel," Bucky said.

"Good luck," Steve whispered as Colonel Phillips walked off.

"Shoot me. I think it'll be faster," Bucky said.

Steve laughed and patted Bucky on the back before walking off. Bucky had always been good with parents. But none of his old girlfriends' parents had intimidated him the way that Colonel Phillips did. He had frightened Bucky the moment they'd met and he frightened him now. Especially now. Colonel Phillips threw his head back and motioned for Bucky to follow him. They did so, wandering down the hallway together. They walked into Colonel Phillips' office and the older man closed the door behind them. Colonel Phillips brushed past Bucky and took a seat behind his desk.

"Sit down," Colonel Phillips ordered.

"Yes, Colonel," Bucky said quickly.

He took a seat in front of Colonel Phillips, positive that he looked extremely awkward. "Have a nice trip back to New York?" Colonel Phillips asked sharply.

Bucky's face drained of any remaining color. "I'm sorry, Colonel Phillips. Victoria woke up in the middle of the night rambling on about how she needed to show me something. She brought us back to New York to show me the ruins of her old home - the one that she lived in until she was eight and then she brought me to Stryker's lab where she was kept for all of those years. I think that she just needed to finally tell someone everything. I asked her to show me your house and we just stayed for the night. But it was your house and it was wrong. I'm sorry."

Colonel Phillips looked nothing short of surprised. "She showed you all of that?"

"Yes. I think she's wanted to show someone for a long time."

"She has. What did you think?"

Bucky thought about it for a while before saying, "I think that she's the single strongest person I've ever met. Going through all that she has, even with her powers, she's got to be tough to make it. That would have killed most people. Having a family who hated you so much that they would try to kill you. Having adults and children despise you just because you were different. Being locked away for years, tortured beyond human endurance. Living through it all, just because you refused to give in. She's living proof that people are innately good. We're not born as monsters. No matter how different we are."

Colonel Phillips was silent for a long time. He stared at Bucky who found himself sweating nervously. When Colonel Phillips finally spoke again, Bucky was surprised by his words. "You genuinely do love her."

"Did you ever doubt it?" Bucky asked curiously.

No one had ever doubted that Bucky loved her. He had always made it obvious. "No. But I always wondered if she could ever do something - if anything in her past - would ever drive you away," Colonel Phillips said.

"Nothing," Bucky said truthfully. "She's not just my childhood crush. She means everything to me."

Colonel Phillips nodded thoughtfully. "I hear your siblings aren't too fond of her."

Bucky let out a deep breath. "They aren't. That choice is their loss. They can't see how incredible she is. If they don't approve of her, I don't approve of them," Bucky told Colonel Phillips, who looked a little surprised at the blunt statement. "They're still family. I'll always love them. But the family that I chose, they're right here on this base."

It looked like Colonel Phillips might have been about to smile. "You know that you've got yourself a hard-ass father-in-law."

That time it was Bucky who smiled. He had always expected to have a tough father-in-law. "Whether or not I've ever said it, Colonel Phillips, I'm very grateful that you're in her life," Bucky said. "I love her and there are so many people here that do too, but we can't be a parental figure to her. She went most of her life without them. She's never truly had them. Not until you, at least. She deserves someone who loves her. Someone to call a father."

He knew that as long as Colonel Phillips lived, Vika would always have someone to call her father. "Losing you would destroy her," Colonel Phillips said. Bucky swallowed nervously. One day she would have to learn to live without him. "That's what keeps me from killing you most of the time." Bucky smiled slightly. "She's not normal. She doesn't hide what she does. She's unapologetic."

Which was Colonel Phillips' way of telling Bucky that he knew what they did in the night. Bucky's heart dropped into his stomach. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice sounding oddly high-pitched.

Much to his own surprise, Colonel Phillips nodded, his face still pressed in a hard line. "Just know that if I ever catch you, I will kill you."

Bucky nodded immediately. "Understandable, Colonel."

"That being said, you can call me Chester," Colonel Phillips - or Chester, apparently - said. Bucky's jaw dropped open. "Not while we're on the base or on active duty, but whenever we're out, feel free to use it."

Bucky had to force himself to speak again. "Thank you, Col -" Bucky stopped speaking when he saw the glare that he was getting. "Chester."

Chester nodded. "You're welcome." Bucky was about to get up and leave when Chester stopped him. "Come here. There's something I'd like you to have."

As long as it wasn't a gun he had tucked away in his desk that he was planning on shooting him with, Bucky was more than happy to take a gift from Chester. Particularly since Chester had never liked Bucky before this. Perhaps they were moving in the right direction. Bucky rose from his chair and walked over to Chester's desk. The older man reached into a drawer and pulled something out, handing it over to Bucky. It was an old-fashioned pocket watch. It was absolutely beautiful. It seemed to be very old and made of gold.

"This belonged to my grandfather. He gave it to my father when he married my mother. He gave it to me when I became a Colonel. It's been passed down to each man in my family at a pivotal moment in their life," Chester explained. "Obviously, I have no children. Victoria is the closest thing I have. Like as not, since she is my daughter, one day soon you'll be my son-in-law. All I want is her to be happy. You've given her that and more. I'd like for you to have it now."

"Thank you, Chester," Bucky said, wrapping the chain around his hand. "I'll guard it with my life."

"Guard her with your life," Chester demanded.

"Of course," Bucky said.

No matter what happened, Bucky would always protect Vika. Even when she didn't need it, he would be there for her. He loved her more than anything and would always be there to watch out for her. There was a soft knock at the door and Chester called for it to open. They both turned back to see Vika walk in. Her gaze shot between them. She didn't speak or smile but she did look quite surprised to see the two of them speaking to each other and standing so close to each other. Especially since it was quite evident that she had walked in on an almost-friendly conversation.

"I didn't hear any screaming so I'll take that as a good sign," Vika teased.

Although she still looked just the slightest bit concerned. "We were just having a little chat," Chester told her.

Vika nodded disbelievingly. "Alright. The boys are going to the bar. Want to join?"

"Sure," Bucky answered.

"You two go. I've got work to do," Chester said.

"Night, old man," Vika said, kissing Chester on the cheek.

The old military man almost smiled at her. "Goodnight, Victoria." He glanced at Bucky and nodded. "Sergeant Barnes."

"Colonel Phillips," Bucky replied.

Maybe this was one secret that Bucky would keep from Vika. Maybe he would get to be friendly with Chester and maybe she didn't need to know. Bucky and Chester nodded at each other as Bucky gave a slight smile. It would definitely help to have Chester on his side. He turned and walked off as Chester went back to work. Bucky wrapped an arm around Vika's back as they headed back through the door. She smiled up at him as they walked out toward the bar. They didn't get far before Vika caught sight of him slipping the pocket watch into his pants pocket.

"Since when did you carry a pocket watch?" she asked.

"Since your father gave me one," Bucky answered.

Her grin dropped as she pulled his hand over to hers. She briefly ran her hand over the pocket watch, staring down at it. "He gave you that?" Vika asked, her voice becoming weak.

"Yeah."

Vika suddenly stopped walking as she raised her voice and shouted, "I knew you liked him!"

It took Bucky a moment to realize that she wasn't talking to him. "Get out!" Chester's voice shouted from his office.

"I'm impossible not to like," Bucky teased her.

She smiled. "Unfortunately, I believe that much is true."

Just a moment later, Steve joined them. He looked a little surprised that Bucky was still in one piece. His gaze slowly dropped to the pocket watch. "Nice watch," he said.

"Chester gave it to him," Vika explained.

Steve's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding?"

"Somehow, I'm not," Vika giggled.

They all laughed as they walked in tandem over to the bar together. Bucky let out a soft breath as they walked. As much as he loved everyone else that they worked and lived around, this was the way that he preferred it. The three of them against the world. The way that it had always been meant to be. Bucky spent much of the walk over just watching Vika as she harassed Steve. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind. Not now and not ever. He had never loved someone as much as he loved her. And he knew that he never could.

It wasn't long after they arrived at the bar that the guys began drinking, as they so often did. The sight of it made Bucky laugh. He had never met anyone who drank as much as they did. Save Vika, although the alcohol never affected her. As she had said, it was like drinking water to her. It didn't take more than a few minutes for the boys to challenge Vika to a drinking contest, which she obviously had no problem winning. Bucky barely even spoke to anyone. He just watched her from across the bar. She was completely oblivious to his gaze, but he watched every one of her movements.

"That's the look of a man who's in love," Peggy teased, taking the empty seat opposite him since Steve had gotten up to join in on the game.

"They say that the initial love and infatuation is supposed to fade with time," Bucky answered her numbly.

Peggy shook her head. "Not always. Not with you two."

"And how about you?" Bucky asked, wanting to divert the conversation.

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Your friend is quite oblivious."

Bucky laughed. "It's a trait that he and Victoria share, unfortunately."

Not even a second later, Vika fell into the seat next to them. "Are we talking about Peggy and Steve?" she chirped. He and Peggy both jumped. He sometimes forgot how fast she could move. "I love that conversation."

"You were on the other side of the bar. How did you even hear us?" Peggy snapped.

"Supersonic hearing," she answered, turning her gaze on Bucky. "I'm not that oblivious, asshole."

"Damn," Bucky groaned. He knew that he would hear about that one later. "How about a dance?"

"That's not getting you out of trouble," Vika teased.

Peggy nudged them both out of their chairs. "Go."

The two of them smiled at each other as Vika allowed Peggy to push her from the chair. She giggled as Bucky grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor. Vika followed him bashfully as most of the people in the bar stepped back to watch them. No matter what she was or how afraid people were of her, everyone liked watching a couple in love dance together. Right now, she was no different than they were. Bucky watched her with a smile as they swayed together. He didn't understand what she had done to him, but he was so grateful for it. It was a feeling that everyone should have.

As they swayed back and forth, Bucky stared down at her. Her gold eyes were lined with a tint somewhere between pink and red. Bucky smiled at her. As in love as he was with her, she was with him. He knew that he never had to fear her falling out of love with him. They were each other's. Bucky raised a hand and placed it behind her neck. She watched him with a curious smile as he leaned forward and kissed her gently. There were hoots and howls from every inch of the bar. Vika laughed and pulled away from him. Bucky was still smiling at her.

"What?" Vika asked, turning red from embarrassment.

The words that he had for her, what she meant to him, he was saving those for their wedding day. So, he said, "Howard showed me the plans to our house the other day."

Which was the truth. Vika raised a brow. "He already has them drawn up?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't know that."

Bucky smiled at her. "There were a few surprises that I wanted to save for you."

"Ah. You just automatically trust that I'll like it?"

Bucky laughed. "You'll love it. I know that you will. Wait until you see the plot of land we found. Secluded, just the way you like. It's on a hill that overlooks the woods. The way the sun rises… there's nothing like it," he said dreamily.

Her eyes glittered slightly. "I can't wait to see it then."

That was the life. That was the life that he was looking forward to. A life with her and nothing else. A time where they would both finally be happy with nothing between them. They could finally be at peace. As the two of them spun together for a while longer, Bucky continued watching her. She was blind to his stare, too focused on smiling down at her feet to ensure that she didn't fall. Their relationship was anything but normal, but Bucky wouldn't have traded her for the world. She was everything that he never knew that he wanted but now knew that he couldn't live without.

A/N: We are so close to Avengers: Endgame you guys! I could scream and cry, I'm so excited. Sorry about the long wait for this one. I'm just lazy. And, honestly, I was binge watching Game of Thrones before the new season. Any watchers out there? Thanks for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

lovingvamp346: There were definitely a lot of feels in the last chapter. I appreciate the opinions. Obviously the writer and readers don't always agree. But that's part of what makes a story. And there's still time for them to come around. Right now, they're afraid. You know what they say - fear makes people do stupid things. Hopefully you liked this one a little more!

Go2 Tamaka: I'm so glad that the last update made you happy! I do always update, I just suck and I'm lazy and I take forever. I should really have fewer stories going on. Oh well. I'm glad that you liked the last chapter! I know, Bucky and Vika are, again, getting the short end of the stick. But that's what fear does. They're terrified of her as so many other people are. I'm really glad that you like the story lines! The First Avenger jumps through time so much that I really wanted to slow it down and give some time to develop characters since their arcs move so quickly through the modern day movies. Oh... I definitely won't like writing Bucky's fall. I will be sobbing as hard writing it as you all will (hopefully) reading it. Trust me! They'll be reunited in time. Good luck with any writing you may be doing! Mine wasn't that good when I started either, so don't get discouraged. Practice definitely helps. I hope you liked this one!

.witch: Thank you for reading! Bucky's brother and sisters are definitely concerned for him. Like you said, that was life back in the day. But they both have people who do support them, thankfully. I hope you liked this one!

badtzumaru: Well those are two good things to hate! Sorry to make you ignore your real world responsibilities! I've done that with writing before. I'm also sorry about the long wait for this chapter! Bu I'm hoping to have the next one out faster. I'm really glad that you like my writing style since I know that it's not for everyone. Thanks so much for reading! I hope that you continue to enjoy!

.2019: Glad you thought it was cute! Hope you liked this one!