I'm back and sorry for the only wait. I really try.

How is excited for Civil War! I have already bought my tickets and have a marathon day all lined up. If you guys pay attention there are little hints to it. Review if you figure them out!

Chapter 30

The world had regained its sunny tinge that hinted the perspective of an innocent child to whom the world was still filled with wonder and potential. Bucky could fell another minuscule section of his mind unravel to reward him with insight into his past.

His memory or dream seemed to have mimicked the tales depicted to him by Annie as sleep took over. His unconscious mind unable to separate them. The world seemed smaller and more daunting yet this added to the excitement of it. He puffed as he ran down the leave littered streets of an urban town. Homes were compact and slim but no one seemed to mind.

Beside him he heard wheezing pants that belonged to a skinny, pale boy with his blonde hair still neatly parted despite his obvious physical exertion. They slowed and the young boy had leaned on his trouser short covered thighs and regained some of his breath. The boy grinned excitedly and they continued to their mystery destination at a more leisurely paced. With his face more visible Bucky could see a recent bruise forming and two parts of his fair face. This observation drew his attention to his own stinging cheek and throbbing temple. Boy grinned at him as if they shared a secret or a bond. He wondered if it had anything to do with their matching bruises.

Through one last rubbish riddled alleyway the two came out onto a pleasant but humble street of tightly squished buildings. Each followed a yellow coloured theme, the soft colour making up for the rough texture of the concrete and wooden houses.

As the petite youth guided them towards one set of structures his face grew more sheepish and his frame grew anxious. Effortlessly striding up the few stairs of the conjoined house he paused for his companion's next move. The unknown house sent a small twist in his stomach that he ridded by examining himself in the window that jutted out to his side from the somewhat protruding room at the front of the apartment.

His was disconcerted to find that he himself could be no older than the 12 year old boy beside him. His short hair had once been neat but now tangled atop his head. His face had yet to lose all its baby fat leaving his defined jaw non-existent. His eyes were large and his nose was still straight and strong making for an odd combination of features.

In his examination of his younger self he had not noticed that the boy had knocked cautiously on the faded white door. His wiry frame searched for the right position to stand in as he waited for the person on the other side of the aged wood to reach them. He could not see the character on the opposite side due to a dainty curtain that hung over the window built into the door.

Light, hurried footsteps echoed through the thin material but paused for a moment. The lightly painted door was pulled back giving Bucky full view of a young girl. His eyes widened as she realised that the child no older than 10 was Annie.

He wasn't sure if it was the odd lighting or the house, this world or if light really did radiate from her blonde head. Her hair was even more of a hopeless tangle of mismatched curls and her eyes were disproportionately large for her rounded face. A pale blue, simplistic dress hung from her tiny frame. Though she still remained plumper than the weedy boy beside him.

For some reason childish nerves began to build but all positive feeling toward the adorable girl disappeared as she scanned the boy's face and her threatening eyes snapped to him. She lost her glow and the freckles that scattered about her face randomly grew more obvious. They must have faded with age he assumed.

She remained oddly intimidating yet falsely hospitable as she stared him down. "Who is this Steve?" her squeaky voice directed the question towards Steve but her alert eyes never left him.

Of course! The boy was Steve, Annie's brother. He supposed the boy was also meant to be his best friend. Were they best friends? It was hard to imagine him having a 'best friend'.

The much smaller girl unrestrictedly leaped in front of her brother as Bucky's eyes fell on him; interpreting the action as hostile. Her hands held up, prepared for any karate chop that she might need to dish out. "Who are you? Did you hurt Steve?" She yelled at him.

Steve flopped his head into his hands in embarrassment of his baby sister attempting to fight his battles for him. It did not help that Bucky burst out laughing at the action. She looked so serious in her defence.

"What's going on out here?" a calm voice called from within the home. The tone holding a light warning and authority. A slender woman appeared through the door, dusting her hands off on the mint green dress. Her misty eyes lit up as she laid them on the dark haired boy with matching bruises to her son.

She quickly shot him a please smile, "Well, are you Steve's friend?"

"Mummm!" Annie whined at her mother's welcoming behaviour to her still potential threat.

The slender, older woman sighed, "Annabel, honey stop trying to ninja chop the poor boy." Annie begrudgingly lowered her hands and shot him a glare which he childishly returned.

The chestnut haired woman turned to her son; who he guessed got his as well as his sister's light hair from their father.

"Steve?" Steve perked up at the acknowledgement.

"Oh! Mum this is… Bucky!" Bucky squished up his face at the pause. Had Steve forgotten his name and called him Bucky. Is that why Annie gave him the nickname as she attempted to restore his memory? All because Steve couldn't remember his real name?

The woman seemed a little off put murmuring to herself, "What a curious name." She returned to her friendly expression, welcoming, "Well Bucky… I'm Sarah, Steve's mother. Would you like to come inside so I can clean those scratches and dirt?"

Bucky couldn't argue knowing he was decently roughed up and followed Sarah and a still apprehensive Annie. The further he walked into the apartment the less detail he could perceive. The colours fading to emptiness as if his memory did not reach this far, leaving a void. He spun around and the young family had vanished along with the surroundings.

His eyes weaved through the absolute darkness; the lack of items to focus on warped his concept of distance and dizzily tingled his pupils.

"Bucky!" a female scream of torment ricocheted through the never-ending space. He knew that voice.

"Annie!" he called desperately. His confused eyes darting through the blackness hopelessly. He erratically choice a direction to run and search as another screech of pain resonated. He couldn't take the urgent uncertainty.

After a few steps he was stopped by a curved steal door with a single window placed perfectly in his line of sight. His already radically beating heart speed up as he frantically twisted about the tight pod for escape. As always there was none. He didn't want to be frozen again. People needed him.

His suddenly full developed body thrusted around in the compact pod as he felt it grow colder. His metal arm recklessly smashed into the door but left not a single dent.

He couldn't breathe. Or move.

The ice crept up his legs, eclipsing his limbs before tightening around his neck.

Bucky shot awake studying his surroundings hoping they weren't the cryogenic chamber. Relief flooded as the mint coloured walls and scattered blankets of 'The safehouse' came into view instead. The relief did not last as further surveying of the room revealed that he was alone even though he recalled Annie being present when he had fallen asleep.

"Annie?" He called anxiously. Where had she gone? He cursed himself for falling asleep, hating the weak state the natural function left him in. He frantically dashed out the door and to the stairs searching for anyone with answers to her location.

He almost flew down the stairs and turned to search the living area to be stopped by the panicky hushes of the child he had been introduced to yesterday, Lila or was it Layla? Something with an L. She huddled behind the corners of the door that led to what looked to be the kitchen. The boy whose name sounded more like a surname than first lounged in a plush chair staring intently at a small device in his hands.

The youngest seemed to be happily listening to a familiar voice that flittered through the quiet house.

Annie was singing which meant she was safe. He peeked over into the kitchen to see the blonde haired woman flurry about the green and off-white kitchen with ingredients for various breakfast foods. She now wore a deep blue long sleeved shirt and light brown pants with her air loosely tied back.

As she waltzed around the kitchen she seemed to have already familiarized herself with she sung the same tune he could now easily recall from their past. It must be her go-to song, he wondered if she did it consciously. Her song varied between proper singing and inaudible humming of notes.

He now realised what the small girl was doing. She was secretly listening to Annie as she prepared breakfast. She seemed quite relaxed by the sound as she happily leaned against the wall. The male child did not seemed to be bothered by it either.

The small girl, he was sure her name was likely Lila, clasp her hands over her mouth to contain her giggles as the singing abruptly stopped with a clang of a pan falling and Annie exclaiming, "Darn it! The toast!"

Bucky now noticed the charcoal smell wafting from the kitchen. He supposed that in the past Sarah monitored the cooking food to ensure Annie did not reduce any of it to ash. Annie could juggle multiple potential threats but cooking numerous foods at once was out of her reach.

He strolled through the doorway, his head only ten or so centimetres from hitting the top of the frame, to check on the frantic woman attempting to replace the destroyed bread.

"How long are you supposed to put the toast in for? How did it burn at setting three?!" Annie mumbled frustratedly to the toaster fiddling with the dial. Her back turned to him as she studied the appliance.

She didn't seem to notice his presence or the angrily popping bacon in a saucepan above the stove. "Are you going to take the bacon off the heat?" Bucky questioned concerned when another pop of oil flung into the air.

"Bucky!" Annie darted around surprised at his sudden appearance. "You're awake. How did you sleep?"

Bucky decided to turn off the heat himself, clicking the stovetop dial back to zero. "Fine," he responded plainly opting not to mention the end of his dream. The majority of his dream had been pleasant. He had a friend and Annie was there even though she didn't particularly like him and tried to fight him. At least she liked him now or at least smiled at him instead of glaring.

She grinned at him before moving to monitor the eggs cooking on the hotplate beside the now cooling bacon. "I'm just glad you slept for more than a few hours. I was beginning to worry you would just pass out somewhere after a while."

Deeming the eggs were cooked to the point that the egg white had solidified but the yolk still remained googy she shovelled them onto a plate. Bucky flicked off the hotplate as she turned to place the plate of eggs on the bench. How had she not already burnt the house down? He wondered incredulously.

She turned back to him, her face still expressing her pleasant mood. "I like your shirt. You never wore many red shirts but they suit you. Though it would be hard to find something that didn't look good on you," she muttered the last bit to herself.

Bucky looked down to at his deep red shirt with three small buttons lined up to the collar. "I was wearing this yesterday", He stated in confusion at her compliment.

She endearingly shook her head, "I was a little too tired to notice your attire yesterday Bucky."

The shirt was comfortable Bucky thought. If Annie liked it then he would wear it.

"Bucky can you carry some plates to the table for me?" Annie asked as she pointed to the wobbling eggs. "Breakfast is ready! Who wants burnt toast!" Annie shout to the other occupants of the house, picking up her own set of food filled plates.

The children happily sat at the table that was now decorated with numerous savoury breakfast items, not used to having breakfast cooked for them. He even saw the male child smile for the first time staring at the bacon.

Just as Annie took her seat next to Bucky Laura stuck her head through the door frame, phone resting on her shoulder. "Annie, Clint wants to talk to you."

Annie's heart pounded anxiously. What if Clint asked them to leave? Where would they go? What if he told Steve she was alive!?

She nodded and slowly raised to collect the phone and exit the room that was now filled with the noises of children excitedly stuffing their faces. Bucky's eyes watched her anxiously as she moved to the door. His eyes having never left her since he entered the kitchen. She nodded her head and he rose to follow but kept a respectful distance.

Now in the hallway she leaned against the photo frame covered wall and breathed deeply before bringing the plastic phone to her ear. "Clint?" She called nervously.

His frantic voice instantly boomed from the communicative device "Annie! What the hell are you doing! We all thought you were dead! I'm supposed to go to your funeral on Sunday. Steve said that you were shot by HYDRA and then you show up at my house with some strange man. Are you eloping?"

"What!? No I am not eloping Clint and can you calm down. You're going to deafen me if you keep shouting into the phone."

"Real nice! Bring out the deaf jokes for the guy letting you stay at his house," Clint replied crossly.

Annie signed running her hand through her hair, not realising it was tied up and tugging a few strands out of the loose ponytail. "Clint that wasn't what it meant." Bucky sent her a questioning look from his position on the adjacent wall. "Wait you're going to let us stay at your house?"

"Annie I gave you that address for a reason and I get that you wouldn't left Steve believe you were dead without a good reason. So let's hear it."

"What?"

She could hear Clint sigh from other side of the line, "Why did you pretend to be dead and show up at my secret house with some mysterious man?"

An idea popped into Annie's head suddenly causing her to paranoidly question, "Is the line safe?"

"Annie I'm Hawkeye, ex-spy! Like I let HYDRA listen in on my conversations. Now explain or I'm telling Steve."

Annie was relieved that he had not yet revealed her to Steve and attempted to gather out the jumbled mess of the past weeks into the facts needed to be known by Clint, "Steve was telling the truth, I was shot but it was by Bucky."

She noticed out the corner of her eye Bucky's head drop slightly. "Bucky?!" Clint exclaimed in surprise. "Your friend from 70 years ago that is now a killer assassin for HYDRA? Steve said he was there but he didn't say he was the one who shot you. Wait! Please don't tell me he is the guy you took to my house?"

Annie cringed and at her silence Clint groaned tiredly, "I want a good explanation Annie!"

"Yes Bucky did shot me but he was also the one who saved me. He's saved my life multiple times. He detached himself from HYDRA and we had been on the run from them ever since. He is slowly getting his memories back," Annie defended.

"Why haven't you contacted Steve? Annie he's starting to lose it without you. Nat's been going on his crazy goose chase looking for Bucky trying to keep him under control."

Annie's heart ached knowing Steve was in pain and it was her fault but in the long run this was better for him. "Clint we are on the run from HYDRA, I've almost died twice now. I don't want Steve to have to go through all this again. I'm sick of causing him pain. I was the reason he got stuck up in this SHIELD mess in the first place."

"Annie you know he doesn't think that way. He's just trying to protect you. If he finds out your alive, he won't stop searching," Clint informed wearily.

"I know that's why you can't tell him. Please Clint," Annie begged.

"Why can't you just live in Avengers tower? It's safe!" Clint reasoned

"Do you really think Stark would let an ex-HYDRA assassin live in his oh-so important building?" Annie hated referring to Bucky as such but that was the likely view that Tony Stark held of Bucky.

"Why did you think I would?" Clint argued grumpily.

"Because you're more understanding than Stark. And in the first place it didn't even know that this was where you kept a secret family! Yes you're not getting off so easy Clint! But now I am hoping that you'll understand what it's like wanting to move on from a difficult past. Clint I wouldn't stay here with your children if I didn't completely trust him."

She could almost hear him rubbing his eyes in frustration, Clint never liked complex situations, he preferred: here is your target and shoot. She assumed he was only okay with the complicated secret family thing because it got him a tonne of vacation time. And their safety Annie added as a side note. "Okay you win but I still think that you should tell Steve. And can you both help Laura around the house? Make sure she doesn't do any heavy lifting."

"Sure Clint," Annie smiled in relief.

"Oh and don't break anything, I just finished the renovations last month," Clint added.

Annie chuckled at Clint's nagging, "Now you're starting to sound like Steve."

Clint gasped dramatically, "Don't say things like that"

"Bye Clint", Annie laughed before she pressed down on the end call button.

"Who was that?" Bucky questioned with skepticism.

"A friend from SHIELD, he now works with Steve. This is his house so don't worry, he wants it to stay a secret as much as we do."

"So Bucky, how do you feel about chopping up some firewood?" Laura asked hopefully as she gathered up the crumb-covered plates with assistance from Annie.

"Sure", Bucky answered with a stern expression before moving from his seat.

Annie hurriedly set her dishes down beside the sink before scampering behind Bucky who was waiting for her anyway. "I'll help too, I need a bit of an arm workout. Are you okay with the dishes?"

"Oh sure! Thanks. Coop! No videogames before 10!" Laura relied happily before scolding her child.

Bucky's heavy boots that cracked with dried dirt thudded loudly on the oak floors as he quickly moved to the door. He twisted his head every few moments to check she was still following. She wondered if it was a relief to get away from so many people in that small space.

Bucky easily located the chopping block and heaved up another for Annie to use. He shuffled through a lanky nearby shed and returned with two axes in hand.

He directed the smoothly sanded, wooden end to her but hesitated as he asked, "Have you used one of these before?"

Annie assertively gripped the slightly curved handle, "I'm not a child and I'm a fast learner anyway."

Bucky's face dropped as he concluded, "So no."

"What did HYDRA teach you how to chop wood with perfect symmetry?" Annie countered as she leaned against the axe that now rested against the chopping block.

"They taught me how to use an axe," Bucky corrected with a wearing tone.

"No, I'm fine. I can figure this out," Annie encouraged more to herself as she tightened her ponytail. Bucky had saved her numerous times from HYDRA, she could at least cut a log. She just wanted to be helpful for once whether it be in a fight or on a farm.

She set down the axe and moved to remove her shirt but paused as she caught sight of Bucky's horrified face. "What are you doing?" he asked cautiously.

She shook her head at his ridiculousness and lifted her blue shirt over her head to reveal a clean white singlet. She inwardly laughed as she noticed Bucky relax. Tying the long sleeved shirt around her waist as she explained, "The shirt is nice but not really suited to chopping wood." She tried to ignore his eyes drifting from her face.

She propped up the closest log into the middle of the chopping block. Bucky watched minutely amused as she ever so slightly fidgeted with the log. She carefully held her axe, which was surprisingly light, to the log anticipating where the axe would split it. Deliberately pulling the axe above her head, eyes never leaving the log. She suddenly thrust the axe down as straight as she could manage.

She heard the sound of splitting wood and reeled her eyes up from the grass for her face to drop. Her axe had cleanly sliced through the log but not through the middle as intended. Her throw had only chipped of a fragment of the log's edge.

And strange huff came from Bucky followed by another. It took Annie a moment to register that the movement of his shoulders was actually him laughing. His metal hand hiding his face from view as he struggled to control the small chuckles that escaped him. It was not obvious or a lot but it was nice to hear him laugh again even if it was at her.

Quickly he settled and moved behind Annie decided she did need his help, setting his hands on her shoulders to position her a meter away from the log. "When you hit the log your arms need to be straight. Feet need to be a foot apart," He instructed as his foot nudged hers wider. Annie tried to listen to his direction but his breath fanning on her exposed neck made it increasingly difficult.

Her grip on her attention began to dwindle even more as his hands rested on hers positioning them on the axe's handle. She almost didn't hear he say, "Spread your hands out and use the top hand to control the direction."

He twisted her upper hand slightly before lifting the axe up, her hands still locked underneath his as he guides the motion. "Face the axe head forward and bring your hands back together on the down swing", Bucky said moving Annie's hands to obey. "Use the momentum" Bucky instructed lastly as he extracted himself, slowly removing his strength to make sure Annie could hold the weight of the axe.

Now that he had distanced himself Annie could finally focus. Going through a check list in her head she carefully positioned the axe and her hands and drove down the axe with all her strength.

Annie was surprised to find that the axe had hit its target but also almost cut through the entire log. She stared at the axe that rested three quarters down the log, a large split resonating from the sharpened metal head. When she finally registered what she had done she turned her head to a stunned Bucky with an enormous satisfied grin, "I told you I was a fast learner."

In response Bucky shoved his sleeves up his forearms and lifted his axe above his head with ease. Annie tired not to stare at how the muscles of his chest and arms shifted with the movement. Annie heard his bionic arm shift for added power as he thrust the axe downward slicing right through the log and into the chopping block. He tugged the axe out from the large wooden stand and sent Annie a challenging look.

"How is that fair! You have a super robot arm and you're genetically enhanced," Annie frowned. Her look of outrage broke as she saw his attempt to stop his hair from obstructing his vision as he placed the split logs into a pile. "You might need a haircut", She informed , her arms crossing over her chest.

Bucky's head suddenly flicked to her at the advisement before his eyes darted to examine his hair out of the corner of his eye. Annie couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable action. She dug through her pocket and fished out a small band of elastic, holding it out to him.

Bucky reluctantly took the elastic and lazily tied his hair back. Annie shook her head in disbelieve as the shorter strands of his hair fell out of the knot creating a perfect yet masculine looking bun. How does one even manage that? As she admired Annie concluded that if Bucky couldn't look good in something than the laws of physics would cease to exist.

"What?" Bucky frowned at her staring.

Annie responded with a begrudging, "Oh just go cut your wood."

After Bucky had swiftly cut through several logs he decided to be the one to break the silence for once with something he had been contemplating, "So you said that we were in the army? I can remember boot camp and a few fights but not signing up."

"That's because you didn't. We were both drafted. We weren't really given a choice," Annie answered disinterestedly before throwing her axe halfway into another log. It was an impressive slice for a woman of her size.

"Drafted?" Bucky parroted, the word foreign to him.

Annie nodded with a smile now gracing her pressed lips, "Yeah, the army couldn't wait to get a strong young man like you. I've heard it's illegal now though so that's good I guess. A person shouldn't be forced to fight in a war they don't believe in." With a second try her axe sliced right through the log and she paused to admire the precision of the cut.

"You didn't want to join?" Bucky inquired. This topic had stared to reach beyond his current knowledge of Annie.

Her cut log was replaced with a fresh whole one and yet didn't move to chop it. She huffed before fully turning to the curious man a few feet away with an ashamed tug in her brows. "Bucky, I'm not like Steve. He was always so ready to help anyone in need despite the risk to his own safety. It always annoyed the hell out of me," She breathily chuckled before losing the humour. "Bucky, I'm not selfless like that, I don't go out of my way to help strangers if it means sacrificing something I love. If I was falling off a cliff and so were ten other people Steve would do everything in his power to save all of us even if it killed him. But if you or Steve were the ones on the cliff I wouldn't even give a second thought to the ten people. I didn't want to join the war because I was scared to be without Steve but I was also scared I'd lose you. That's why I hated the drafting because it stopped me from keeping you both safe. I saw that as more important that defending our country or the greater good."

Annie kept her head lowered as she fiddled with her axe. This was all strange to Bucky. He had imagined Annie to be the kindest person in existence but maybe he was wrong. He didn't think less of her but instead the confession of her disregard of others for the safety of her loved ones just brought her down from the pedestal he hadn't realised he had put her on. She was still kind but she wasn't perfect, she had selfish wants, shame and guilt like him. Bucky at first hadn't realised it was something to be ashamed of. He would kill anyone that tried to hurt Annie without regret and as long as it kept her safe he wouldn't stop for morality. But Annie was clearly troubled by it.

He strode to her and gently took the axe that she had been tightly wringing throughout the silence. He looked down at her seriously, attempting to communicate his sincerity, "I don't really know Steve but I know that you're not him. All you're doing is looking after the people you care about and if Steve thinks that's a bad thing then screw him."

Annie rolled her eyes but smiled in relief, "Steve's not like that he just doesn't realise how annoyingly righteous he's being all the time. You used to hate it too." She pointed her finger to his chest.

"I probably still would," Bucky smirked lightly knowing the goody-goody act would get old quick.

"A smirk and a laugh. It must be my lucky day" Annie grinned widely as she snatched her axe from his hand and moved back to her chopping block.

Bucky's face instantly dropped at the comment, Annie laughed at the reaction.

"How did you get drafted", Bucky questioned, changing the subject.

"Well I was drafted about a month after you. I had somehow managed to get into a college despite how little money we had, mostly rigorously saved paychecks and scholarships. Anyway I came second in a degree in tactical planning which caught the army's attention. Even though they weren't too pleased about enlisting a woman they drafted me after another strategy consultant got polio. When you heard you were not happy. You found out from Steve and came barging into the house. You only calmed down when I told you that I wouldn't see any combat," Annie recounted amusedly.

Bucky tried to imagine how the event played out but all he could recall were feelings of frustration, fear and confusion tied to the event.

"At least that way I was able to look after you from a distance. I knew the only thing Steve would've had to defend against was all the single women during the war", Annie snickered to herself. "I liked my job anyway and the army paid well. It was stressful being indirectly responsible for people's lives but it was so satisfying when a plan laid out perfectly," Annie reasoned smoothing out her hands.

From what Bucky could recall of the war the only part he had liked was kissing Annie and hanging out with Steve but those memories were rare. At least Annie had enjoyed some part of it. It seemed she enjoyed cohesiveness and clever planning. Why would someone sign up to a course to learn about it if they didn't? He wondered how she would be at chess.

"I think you may win biggest firewood pile", Annie confessed breaking Bucky from his curiosity. Annie was gesturing to his quite significant pile and then to hers that was half in size. "I still say it's unfair", She complained with hands resting on her slanted hips.

"I say you're a sore loser", Bucky retorted to which Annie gasped dramatically.

"How rude!" She exclaimed with a poorly delivered pompous British accent. He wasn't sure if the horrid imitation made the line better or worse. All he knew for sure was that Annie was awful at impressions.

Annie filled the rest of the day with chores. Partly because she felt guilty for relying on the generosity of a pregnant woman and partly because she wasn't ready to relax and think about her new life situation. Bucky continued to follow her like a duckling seeming to only be able to relax when she was in sight and no other possible threats were present. Annie had noticed that when they were alone Bucky was more prone to talk, ask questions and tease her (as small as the teasing was). The only significant amount of time they were apart was when Annie had taken a shower that night, intent of using their new access to hot water as much as she could. Bucky had still remained outside the bathroom waiting in her room. She had made sure to bring clothes with her into the bathroom.

Annie wringed, pressed and squeezed her damp hair in a hopeless endeavour to dry it. Giving up she twisted it to one side and exited the now misty bathroom. Bucky waited on the edge of the bed with his arms resting on his spread knees. His head jolted upward as she entered.

"Did you want to have a –"

"No, I'm fine", Bucky shot with certainty.

"Ok but your eventually going to have to shower or I'm going to start avoiding you on purpose," Annie forewarned.

"I remembered that you take a really long time in the bathroom", Bucky provoked.

"My showers were nothing compared to yours," Annie argued amusedly. "Oh! That reminds me!" Annie shouts excitedly.

Bucky watches her inquisitively as she scurries to the other side of the room where the small dirtied backpack rests that she 'collected' on their trip here. Bucky tries to see what she is looking for but her form blocks his view.

Abruptly she whipped around with a dark blue book in her hand. She almost runs back to him, placing herself beside him on the plush bed. "Here I got this for you when we stopped for gas on the way here", she thrust the paper cover book into his hands.

He swiftly flipped through the book confused by the blank lined pages. Annie was quick to explain its purpose, "It's for you to write your memories in. I can't really imagine what it's like to have to re-remember all of your memories but I can bet that it's confusing and chaotic. I thought that if you have a book you can write what you remember and hopefully gain some clarity in the chaos. And if you lose your memory again, which I will do everything in my power to stop, you don't have to start from the beginning again."

Annie was trying to help him again. She had gone out of her way to make his life a little easier. It give him some reassurance.

Bucky's grip tightened on the chubby book, his eyes never leaving it. How did she know exactly what he needed? What he feared would happen again? What frustrated him? She had never experienced what he had and yet she knew what he needed. What baffled him the most was that she continued to help him when most people would have cut their losses.

He couldn't look at her. He could only continue to stare at the deep blue of the paper cover with a confused draw of his forehead.

"Goodnight", Annie spoke softly leaving him to crawl into the bed most likely exhausted from her constant housework.

Before long her even breathing settled throughout the room easing Bucky to dare move his sight from the book.

He scoured the room for a pen, hesitantly going through Annie's bag to find one. He settled into a fabric seat in the corner of the room at the ready if Annie were to have a nightmare. Bucky opened the book to the first page, careful not the cause any lasting damage.

Annie had intended the book to be a collection of his recalled memories but Bucky did not want to forget the present. So pensively he wrote neatly on the first of the hundreds of identical lined pages:

Your name is Bucky.

You are broken but Annie believes you can be whole again. That is why she gave you this book today. I almost believe it too.

You were the Winter Soldier but you don't have to be any more. You have a choice even if it doesn't feel like it. We aren't good but you can choose to do good things. To try and be the man Annie believes we are.

If you don't remember Annie – don't hurt her.

Hi again! I hope your liking the calm Bunnie time! I think this is the longest chapter I have written yet so I'm hoping for extra long reviews! Tell me where you hope/think this is going to go.

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