I'm back! Sorry for the long breaks between chapters, I'm still getting used to uni work. Sorry for any typos or mistakes beforehand, I'm editing it slowly.

Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America but I am so on his team for Civil War! Team let Bucky free!

Chapter 29

It was cold. A chilling, dreadful darkness surrounded her but it soon was flooded with conflict as Annie found herself in a curved metal train carriage filled with carnage. A scream of terror ripped through the compact space. She darted in the direction of the cry to find the side of the train messing and bitter frost thrashing through the opening and nipping her exposed skin.

She ran to the gaping hole, another distressed shout causing her to throw caution to the freezing wind. The voice familiar. Her head peeked out from the shredded side of the train carriage, her eyes straining against the powerful, angry wind. The force of the gale stinging her eyes told her that they were moving at an extreme speed.

A new icy chill ran through her spine as she located the owner of the urgent, pained cries. Bucky. He struggled to maintain his grip on the torn side of the carriage. Fear evident in his eyes as he spotted her and yelled out for her help. Without a second thought she gasped what she could of the train's edge and attempted to make her way towards her tittering friend. He made grunts of effort and strained calls of urgency as she could see him losing his grip. It was all a blur to her as she scrambled across the train's debris, endeavouring to ignore the biting of her fingers and following numbness. She felt as though the cold was freezing her limbs making their movement increasingly difficult and exerting.

But the blur of urgency stopped as the crack of metal ripped through the deafening blizzard. Wide eyes meet each other with twin expressions of shock and horror. A second grunting of the metal that Bucky clutched desperately to had Annie forgetting about the instability of the shredded side of train as she rushed hazardously to him. She stretched out her hand to the point where she felt it would dislocate frantically trying to reach his own extended hand.

With the third crack time froze, Annie wasn't sure if it was her terror or that the temperature had finally reached that extreme level of cold but she was unable to move or breathe as the metal supporting Bucky gave way. The blizzard now absent from her consciousness as Bucky's distancing scream followed its falling owner, the sound piercing her core and shifting it to another location. A location that felt wrong and emptying. She could not feel anything other than her hollowness as his horrified expression left her vision to be consumed into the icy white that mountain sprang from.

"Annie! Run!" the authoritative voice of Peggy Carter screamed behind her. Annie whipped around from Bucky's deadly fall to see the running Brit with a large gun positioned to fire. Unsure with the sudden change of surroundings Annie started running, catching up to Peggy with her own gun settled in her hands. She did not question the events but searched for enemy threats.

Blue light whizzed past her, unsettlingly close followed by a wail of pain from behind. Her breathing grew sharp and felt as though it never truly entered her lungs. She could not see the enemy but knew they were there as the man in front of her was eclipsed in unnatural blue light that faded to reveal nothing. No evidence that the man ever existed.

Another blast barreled towards them and she glanced to her right where she thought it was directed. Her breath stopped as she saw Steve here in its path. Not Captain America but the small, fragile Steve she knew too well was surrounded by the horrid blue. She opened her mouth to scream but the sound was absent, replaced by the pained cry of her brother. Nothing was left as the blue dissipated but Annie ran to the spot she had last seen him anyway, illogically hoping he was somehow still there.

"Steve!" Peggy cried rushing towards her and the disappeared Steve. As Annie turned to her she too was encased by the blue fire and her cry gone along with all trace of Peggy Carter. Breath refused to enter her throat as her chest constricted and her eyes stung. Everyone she loved was dead.

There were no more sounds of battle, only Annie's struggled breathing could be heard in the empty field that had no bodies to mourn. No stench of death. Between gasps for breath a heavy footstep could be heard crushing the grass beneath.

Finally pulling her gaze from where Steve had last been she twisted to the approaching individual. Covered in sleek black with dead eyes the man that stood above her was Bucky but also was not.

"Bucky?" her feeble voice hoped.

No recognition showed on his partially covered face.

"Please Bucky!" she screamed as her voice broke at the seams. She needed someone.

She still couldn't breathe as he removed his mask to expose an emotionless face she no longer recognised. She stared up at the stranger as she lifted his sickly blue weapon and positioned it at her head.

Blue invaded every edge of her vision and pain consumed her sensations before her eyes snapped open and she shot up.

Air finally entered and exited her lungs as they should. Electric blue fading from behind her eyelids. She studied where she was discovering that she was still in Clint's house in a bed that had all of the blankets kicked off. She supposed she had done that. She still had her clothes from the previous day on. She raised her knees and rested her head and hands on them, gathering herself up.

Since the war she had had a few of those dreams but this one was one of the worst. War had not left her unscaved but others were worse. She always tried to convince herself that it didn't happen but she knew some of it did, what stopped the rest from following suit. That man in front of her when charging the HYDRA base really did dissolve to nothing along with numerous others. It could easily happen to Steve.

She often wondered if that man had a family and children or even a sweetheart he promised to return to. What would have happened if he had survived instead of her? She shook her head not wanting to depress herself with what ifs.

The most unsettling part of that dream was that Bucky was a frequent character. She had had nightmares centered around his death but she had never dreamed of him killing her. She didn't think it sparked from her fearing him but instead was a product of her fear of HYDRA. They had already taken him from her once and with the evil organisation searching for the pair she was afraid they would repeat the past. She couldn't survive that again especially now knowing the capabilities and lack of humanity of the group.

Her breathing had returned to normal but she still felt uneased. She needed to be sure, to know that he is safe and himself. She crept from the bed to the door, ignoring the pile of discarded blankets. Turning the handle with painful slowness pleading with the door to remain quiet she peeked into the hallway and to the door across from her that signaled the entrance to Bucky's given room.

She cautiously pulled the door open enough to fit her body through and entered the hallway.

She had to cover her mouth to smother a surprised squeak as, "Annie?" rang through the darkness of the hallway.

She lowered her hands and searched for the owner of the question. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of moonlight in the mostly windowless hallway she saw Bucky sitting beside her door, his back against the wall watching her curiously.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a hushed tone with slight concern.

She relaxed at the sight of the Bucky she knew and reassured, "No I'm fine, just a little trouble sleeping." Her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows lowered to meet them as she registered that Bucky was sitting beside her door instead of in bed sleeping as he should be. "Bucky what are you doing out here? You should he sleeping." She lectured him wondering when he had last had a proper rest. Annie knew that Bucky was incapable of putting his health above her safety, so she would do it for him.

He stared at her as if it was a ridiculous question, answering evenly, "I'm standing guard."

Annie released a sign running her hand through her bed-riddled hair. She knew he was going to get even more protective but she didn't expect him to refuse to sleep. "Stand guard for what?"

He turned away from her surveying the hallway for threats, "HYDRA."

She sat down beside him on the cold timber rubbing her tried eyes, "HYDRA doesn't know where we are – wait they didn't put a tracking device on you?"

He shook his head, "No. The scientists were so sure that the wipe would work completely that they thought they wouldn't need one."

"Are you sure?" Annie enquired worried about the accuracy of Bucky's recollection of his time with HYDRA due to the memory wipes.

"Yes. I overheard them boasting about how sure they were about the wipes. No need for 'precautions' ", Bucky reassured almost grinning at HYDRA's mistake. Their overconfidence made their escape a lot easier for which Annie was glad. She did not particularly like the idea of fiddling with Bucky's prosthetic arm in search for a tracking device she wouldn't recognise.

She felt her eyes begin to droop before she forced them wide straining the muscles in her face. The second she relaxed them her eyes gradually lowered and the process repeated. She did not want to fall asleep, Bucky a tool for HYDRA was not an image she wanted to see again.

Bucky seemed to notice her struggle with sleep and stated more than suggested, "You should get some sleep."

Annie shot him a glare through the darkness as she argued, "What about you? I have had double the amount of sleep you have had in the past week. You may be some sort of enhanced human but I'm sure you still need sleep."

Bucky did not move. "We don't know these people, someone needs to keep watch," He explained with an even tone.

"Then I will."

"No. You're already half asleep anyway," He added with an almost undetectable amusement.

Annie shook her head hoping to knock out some her drowsiness and stubbornly stated, "I am not falling asleep until you do." She hoped the threat to her health would be enough to convince Bucky to get some rest.

The man beside her sighed in frustration and exhaustion, strands of his hair falling on his face. She was sure he hadn't sleep for more than 7 hours since they had escaped HYDRA almost a week ago. How was he still awake?

Bucky breathed deeply as he search for a way to get this stubborn woman to go to sleep. She was barely staying upright in her seated position as it was. He focused on his breath again as fatigue crept into the corner of his mind.

Yes she was right that he hadn't slept in a while but what if HYDRA found them in the night and took her away again. What if they repeated their offenses against him on her? Bucky could not stand the thought if Annie losing who she was. In his limited amount of memories he could not recall ever needed someone, an independent tool for the whims of HYDRA. But now that he had grown dependent on the woman with the golden curls and stubborn nature he was unsure what he would do with himself in her absence. Unnerved by this dependence, he tried to recall when it had ensued.

"I dreamt that you weren't you," her voice echoed through the rippled blackness that covered nearly every edge of the hallway. Her voice was weaker than he had ever heard it. It seemed out of place on the usually determined woman. He then realised she had become dependent on him as well.

"You were HYDRA and you stared at me as if we had never meet," she breathed, clearly distressed. He didn't quite like where this 'dream' was going either; knowing that if he was the Winter Soldier he likely would have hurt her without remorse. He had already he recalled guiltily. Bucky was at a loss of how to comfort her as he watched her sunken eyes through the dim light that barely reached through the singular window at the end of the hall. He mentally cursed himself as he lamely patted her shoulder.

Annie graced him with a small smile as she realised his intent. "I'm just worried I'll wake up and find you gone with him in your place and this time you won't come back," Annie deflated even at the thought.

She was voicing his own fears. After their last encounter with the criminal organisation Bucky realised there were worse things they would do than wipe his memory, many of the involving harm to Annie. HYDRA wouldn't even bat an eye at such an act.

Annie didn't really care for the idea of attempting to sleep again alone. She supposed she had gotten used to having Bucky near, never separated by more than an open single door. Two doors seemed like miles to her. She thought it was strange that she felt safer around a highly trained assassin but she had never really viewed him as such. Even after HYDRA he had remained Bucky in her eyes. If she were her own strategy consultant she would have advised herself to steer away from the quiet towering man. Though strategizing required a healthy amount of objectivity and when it came to Bucky Annie's objectivity was thrown out the window and run over by a truck.

Annie concluded that a restful night's sleep was out of the question for both of them unless they remained in each other's company. So Annie pressed her lips together and took a hearty breath in hoping it would reignite her stubbornness because when it came to Bucky she needed it.

"Fine then. If you are going to keep guard then you can do it from my room. I won't be able to get any sleep knowing you're here on the hard floor." Annie added the last section grumpily hoping it would convince him.

He stared at her incredulously as she determinedly stood up and moved to her room pausing halfway through the door frame to watch him.

He stood up but refused to follow after her with a confused expression clear on his face even with the lack of light. Annie grinned at the thought that he may be rejecting her solution due to 40s morals deep set in him as much as they were in her. Even HYDRA couldn't take away the chivalry her mother nagged into him and Steve as boys. Her mother always did have a wonderful way of laying on guilt to make sure her children (and Bucky) grew up 'proper members of society'. Annie was never sure if Bucky had stuck to the etiquette her mother had drummed into him but it was clear that some of it still remained in odd, inconsistent portions.

She offered him a reassuring smile teasing, "HYDRA could always come in through the window." She couldn't help it. His face threw her a deadpanned look but his eye twitched. She knew she had got to him and he defeatedly trod into the room behind her.

Bucky surveyed the hall one last time before closing the door with a soft click. In the much more moonlit room she could see his eyes scatter about the room. She didn't miss the hint of concern when he saw the mess she had made in the confines of her nightmare. She gathered the pile of twisted blankets and laid them across the bed similar to how they were before she destroyed them.

She watched Bucky grow stiffer, unsure what to do now that the room had been deemed safe. His exhaustion seemed to creep up on him as his body dipped slightly before he noticed and straightened determinedly.

"Bucky you get some sleep. You had first watch and now it's my turn," She instructed softly directing the assassin as he struggled with sleep. Her order a lot less refutable now that she had regained some alertness while his was slipping.

"No I-" Bucky attempted to debate but stopped short when Annie shot him the look she reserved for when he or Steve were doing something stupid. Eyes stern and mouth uneven and warning. Even with memory loss he seemed to know that the look meant 'Don't argue. You won't win'.

She guided him to the bed where he all but collapsed, his body obviously siding with sleep. She perched herself on the parallel side of the bed reserving herself to stay up for as long as she could for Bucky's sake.

She wanted to sneak a peek at Bucky to check if he was as unconscious as she thought but the dark haired man spoke up as her light eyes landed on him.

He didn't know why but the softness of the bed pulled at his nerves, unused to softness of any form. He was still getting used to Annie. Though at the same time it was as if he had never been without her. To be honest he had refused to sleep because he was sure he wouldn't get any with her all the way across the hall. His mind firing questions about how she was that drove away any thought of sleep. So he had just decided to keep watch to ease his mind. Now that she was there with him he felt the sleep creep in and make his limbs grow heavy and sluggish.

He felt her circle the bed and the mattress shift slightly as she sat down on the other side. He pondered on how strange it was that this woman knew him better than he knew himself. Without her he would probably still be HYDRA's mindless slave with no memory. This lack of knowledge frustrated him. He wasn't sure if he simply wanted to be his own person once more or if it was because the man he once was was loved by Annie. Whether it was both reasons or none he wanted to remember

He sighed tiredly and asked, the words feeling foreign on his tongue, "What was I like before?"

Annie seemed startled by his question. Had she not expected him to so openly inquire about his past or had she thought he was asleep.

Her voice came quickly, surprised but more than willing to answer, "Oh!? Um… Before you were pretty different but some things are the same. You were cocky back then," she added amusedly, the word sounded odd, as if she did not say it often. "It was annoying and you got into a lot of trouble because of it. But you were also quite charming and that got you out of most situations." She chuckled lightly. "You got lots of dames because of that too. You had a date almost every Saturday night." Bucky lowered his brows unconvinced. He couldn't imagine himself as charming or chasing after woman. Where had Annie been? Why hadn't he spent those nights with her? For the first time since he had begun to remember he started to not quite like or understand the man he heard about.

"How did we meet?" He questioned, curious about how their lives first intersected.

He rolled his head to glance at her. Her eyebrows her raised but a subtle smile had plastered itself onto her face. "We met because you were friends with Steve."

"Steve? Your brother?" He questioned. The name did seem natural rolling of his tongue. The name accompanied itself with a vague image of a scrawny, fair haired boy who wore an embarrassed smile. A bruise darkening his cheek. The small boy had very similar features to Annie but held himself with much less confidence than the sure-faced woman.

She nodded her head happily before continuing, "He brought you home one day during middle school, both covered in bruises and dirt. I assumed you kept coming back because Mum kept shovelling you with pie. She made Steve apple pie whenever he had a rough day and you always got a few pieces too. You were both pretty skinny so I assumed Mum was trying to fatten you both up hoping it would stop you getting beat up all the time." She seemed to drift off into the memory with a nostalgic grin. He frowned at the knowledge that he had been beaten up as a child wondering how the bullies would fare now.

"I didn't like you at first." Bucky's face dropped at this. He probably made as bad of a first impression as he did a second. He guiltily thought about how he had shot her when they had first met this time round. He certainly wasn't charming anymore.

"I guess I just couldn't figure out why you were hanging out with Steve. You were healthier than him and much smoother and he kept getting you both into trouble. I didn't want him to get hurt if you stopped being his friend. You didn't really like me at first either," she laughed. This story was getting more and more confusing he thought gruffly.

"You avoided me and when we did interact we often ended up fighting. Which I usually won," Annie added cheekily. He could recall a similar smug expression on a much younger Annie. Her face bright with victory and her wild curls pulled back in a ponytail. "I only started to like you when I saw you purposely run to defend Steve against some bullies two times your size. You could have left him and he would have never known but instead you were as stupidly loyal as Steve, which is an achievement, and you both ended up with busted lips. After that we got on a lot better although we still fought. Eventually we became friends too. And when you joined the army of course I had to follow you and get caught up in all this," She tiredly gestured to her surroundings with an affectionate grin.

Bucky offered a few more questions which Annie answered with as much detail as she could manage in her tired state. Her hushed voice and the thought that if he were to ever meet 'Steve' he would have to thank him were the last things he could remember before being engulfed in sleep.

The next couple of chapters are going to be along the same vein with a more relaxed atmosphere as the two get to know each other better so sorry if there is not enough action for you.

Please Review/Fav/Follow - This chapter was motivated by a lovely guest review so they really do make a difference!