Chapter 20: Under A Spell, You're Hypnotized...Darling, How Could You Be So Blind?

A/N:

Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, violence, abusive relationship

I'm excited for this one guys, and I got to post it on my birthday! I've had this one in my head for awhile and I hope you like it!

Title song: Snap Out Of It by The Arctic Monkeys

Chapter 20: Under A Spell, You're Hypnotized...Darling, How Could You Be So Blind?

Chanel had allowed herself one night to cry over her broken heart. After that, she tried to put Bucky out of her mind. Eventually, she would call Sam and work things out with him, but Bucky was a lost cause.

She tried to slip back into her old life with Stephan and be happy, she had been happy with him before, and she was determined to make it work. She really tried, she doted on him, she did what he said, she fucked him. It worked for a little while, but Stephan was not Bucky, and she couldn't get his blue eyes and sweet smile out of her head.

It was noon and she had barely been able to drag herself out of bed and into the shower. The only reason she forced herself to get up was so she could cry in the shower, where she thought Stephan couldn't hear her. Her eyes were red and puffy as she stared at herself in the steamy mirror, and she tried to put on a happy face. But as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom and saw Stephan's frown, she could tell he knew—he was losing his patience with her.

"Steph, I'm sorry." Chanel tried to reach out for him, and he moved out of her reach. "I'm sorry, I'm trying."

Stephan took a deep breath, but it didn't do much to calm his mood. "Am I not enough for you? I've done nothing but love you, take care of you, protect you!"

Chanel flinched back as Stephan yelled. "I know," she whispered, her head bowed. "I know, I'm sorry."

Stephan sighed frustratedly as he put his shoes on. "I've got to go. I'm sure you'll be in a better mood when I get back. Yeah?"

Chanel nodded but didn't speak.

"And you'll think about the serum, yes? It's for your protection, Schatz."

"I'll think about it—but Steph, I really don't want to take it. You don't let me leave the house anyway; I'm not in danger."

"If you want to leave, then take the fucking serum."

Stephan slammed the bedroom door behind him as he left the room. Chanel waited until she heard the front door open and close before she crawled back into bed and sobbed. She wasn't happy here with him, but she had nowhere else to go. More than once, she had thought about swallowing a bottle of pills—letting Stephan find her lifeless and cold. Instead, she got up and grabbed a bottle of vodka from the bar, and then got back into bed. She drank and tried not to think about Bucky.

What is he doing now?

She had watched the news every night just in case there was an update on the Flag Smasher case—there wasn't.

It wasn't fair, but she couldn't help being disappointed that Bucky hadn't tried to contact her in any way.

He really doesn't want me.

The day sped past her, and she was startled when Stephan came into the bedroom.

He appraised her, still in her robe, her face flushed from the bottle of vodka that sat on her nightstand, her eyes still rimmed red from crying.

"Jesus," he muttered. "Get dressed."

The alcohol had restored Chanel's usual demeanor, and she sat up defiantly. "Why are you being such an asshole?! Can't you see that I'm in pain?! Would it kill you to show some fucking empathy?"

Stephan rubbed his face and stared at her. He never meant to hurt her, too; she just frustrated him. He sat next to her on the bed and patted his leg. Chanel tentatively moved into his lap, and Stephan brushed her hair out of her face.

"I apologize. I just want you to be happy. And you have to know how much it kills me to see you crying over him every fucking day."

"I swear I'm trying. I just—I need some time. Okay?"

Stephan nodded and kissed her gently. "I love you."

Chanel didn't answer, kissing him again instead. She still didn't love him; she couldn't say it. But his apology made her think that things might eventually be okay.

She smiled, feeling hopeful for the first time in a while. "Are you done working?"

"I'm all yours." Stephan kissed her again, deeper this time, his hands moving under her robe.

Chanel pushed his hands back and broke the kiss. "Steph, I really just want you to hold me. Can you do that?"

"Of course, Schatz." Stephan let her go so she could lay back down, quickly joining her side.

Laying there against Stephan's chest was the best Chanel had felt in a while. When he was like this, she could pretend that he hadn't changed, and she felt the old comfort that he used to provide so easily.

"Did you change your mind about the serum yet?"

Chanel groaned. "Not now; I don't want to argue."

"So that's a no." Stephan sighed, frustrated that she was pushing him toward doing something drastic.

Later that night, Chanel woke up alone but feeling better. She finally got dressed and went out into the house to find Stephan. She paused in the hall when she saw him in the sitting room with his two super-soldiers. The men looked at her menacingly, and a chill went down Chanel's spine as Stephan turned and held his hand out to her.

She took a step back, "what's going on?"

"Come here, Schatz," Stephan commanded.

When she didn't move, Stephan rolled his eyes and turned back to his soldiers. He jerked his head in her direction, and Chanel turned to run back to the safety of the bedroom. The men were too fast; two strong hands wrapped around her biceps and drug her into the sitting room where Stephan still stood.

Chanel struggled and yelled to no avail. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

Stephan ignored her and motioned for the men to follow him into his study. They lifted Chanel onto a table and held her down as Stephan went to his safe.

"You've forced me to do this, Schatz." Stephan turned around, the last vial of the serum he had stolen from Karli in his hand.

"Let me go!" Chanel screamed.

"Shh, it's going to be okay. I'm just trying to protect you." Stephan moved the sleeve of her shirt up her arm. "Now, this is going to hurt, but it'll be over soon, I promise."

"Fuck you," Chanel whimpered through her tears.

Stephan administered the serum into her veins and shooed the men away as Chanel writhed in pain. Stephan leaned down and whispered in her ear, "it's okay, Schatz. Now I'll never lose you again."

Chanel hadn't said a word to Stephan since she stopped screaming. Despite now being stronger than she ever had been, all the fight left her body. She was a possession and nothing more—something pretty to look at and pull out during a special event.

She was currently sitting across the dining room table from him, wearing a crimson silk gown that Stephan dressed her in. A new set of diamonds—Stephan's attempt at getting her to talk to him—rested on her chest.

"You haven't touched your plate, Schatz." Stephan stared at her as if she had committed a sin.

Chanel slowly picked up her fork and twirled a piece of pasta around it. She ate it and put her fork back down. Her eyes never left his face.

"I think I will call it a night," she said as she stood up from her chair.

Stephan didn't stop her, he watched her go, and when he heard the bedroom door slam shut behind her, he slammed his fist on the table in frustration.

Manfred came in and cleared the table. "Give her time to forgive you, sir."

"Forgive me? For what?!"

If Manfred wasn't so professional, he would have laughed in Stephan's face. He had grown increasingly uncomfortable with the dynamic between Chanel and Stephan. It was different than before; love didn't form the foundation anymore. There was an evil, a viciousness behind their interactions that hadn't existed before.

"Excuse me, sir." Manfred left the room, leaving Stephan to brew in his anger alone.

To Bucky's relief, Sharon had come through for them. She had given them schematics for the villa and information on the security system. The group, minus Sharon, was in position around Stephan's villa, about to put their well-thought-out plan into motion.

"Yelena, are you sure you can do this?" Sam asked over the comms.

"Don't worry, it's a piece of cake." Yelena crept through the darkness outside of the gate surrounding Stephan's house. There were two guards in a black car sitting outside of the gate. Yelena chucked a rock at the windshield to get their attention, and the angry guards burst from the vehicle. Before they even drew their weapons, Yelena had attacked them from behind.

"How was that?" She asked, staring at the two guards unconscious at her feet.

"Okay, now I see the resemblance to Nat," Sam laughed.

"Okay, Ayo, you're up." Yelena moved to the gate to wait.

Ayo, accompanied by Zemo, appeared out of the darkness. Using a machine Shuri had sent, Ayo quickly deactivated Stephan's security system.

"Done. We have about 5 minutes before they realize something is wrong." Ayo pulled out her spear and led Zemo and Yelena through the gate; they were followed by several other Dora Milaje.

"Sam, are you in position?" Yelena whispered as they neared the armed guards surrounding the front entrance of the house.

"Yeah," Bucky's voice answered her, sounding strained. "We're flying over now; guards are crawling all over this place."

"Let us worry about that; you go get Chanel," Ayo replied.

"Sam, can you slow down at least?" Bucky squeezed his eyes shut as Sam flew through the air.

"Calm down; we're landing." Sam touched down on the grass outside of the master bedroom. "You're heavy as fuck, you know that?" Sam massaged his arms, sore from carrying Bucky through the air.

They heard the fighting begin at the front of the house. "That's our cue," Bucky said as he forced the French doors that led into the master bedroom open.

"What the fuck?!" Chanel yelled, dropping the bottle of pills in her hand to grab her pistol from under the bed. She was still in her gown, barefoot, breathing hard as she tried to make the image in front of her make sense.

Bucky and Sam in their superhero gear, busting through her bedroom door while she was contemplating if swallowing pills would even work now, had not been something she expected of her evening.

"What—what are you doing here?" She threw the gun on the bed but took a step away from them.

Sam picked up the gun and handed it back to her. "We're rescuing you. You might want to hold on to this. Where's Stephan?"

Chanel couldn't answer, her mind not catching on.

"Chanel, where is Stephan?" Sam placed his hands on her shoulders to make her focus.

"He—he was in the dining room, but I don't know."

Sam turned to Bucky. "I'll do a sweep of the house; the others should be close to getting inside by now. Get her out of here."

Bucky nodded as Sam left the room. Bucky and Chanel stared at each other, he had rehearsed what he wanted to say to her so many times, but now that he was in front of her, he couldn't speak.

Chanel was trying not to cry. This wasn't fair; she had already been struggling enough to get over him and seeing him in person made the pain so much worse. She was angry, and she stalked toward him, tears running down her face.

"Rescue me?! What the fuck gives you the right to show up to my home and—"

Bucky grabbed her shoulders—more gently than Sam had. "Chanel, I'm so sorry, so sorry that I did this to you." He pulled her closer to him and rested his forehead on hers. "I was stupid and scared, but Chanel," he stepped back to look her in the eyes, "I love you. I am so in love with you I don't know what to do with myself. I've been in love with you, I think, since the day we met."

Chanel stared back into his pleading eyes, not trusting him, not trusting herself. "But—but you know now...Stephan told you about everything, about the man I killed—you called me a monster." Chanel broke away from him and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. "I think you should leave."

Bucky closed his eyes in frustration, scared to finally tell her the truth. "I didn't mean it; I was pissed off at Stephan for using you, filming you—I wasn't thinking about anything other than snapping his neck when I said that." Bucky took a step toward Chanel, and his heart sank when she moved away from him again.

"Chanel, I swear—okay, yes, he did tell me what you did, but doll, I already knew."

Chanel finally looked at him again. "What?"

"I overheard you tell Helmut that night in Madripoor. I know I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but I did, and I accidentally told Sam too; I assumed he knew already. Again, I've been stupid." He tried to reach out for her, and she moved away again. "Please, I'm so sorry I hurt you. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I'm sorr—"

"Shut up, I can't think." Chanel paced around the room, and Bucky fell silent, anxiously watching her.

She started to yell at him a couple times, her finger raised accusingly, but stopped herself, pacing again. Finally, she paused and stared at him from across the room, her head tilted and eyes shining with tears.

"You knew, and you still loved me that whole time?"

"Of course I did doll. More and more every fucking day."

Bucky slowly approached her, and she fell into his arms, wrapping her body tightly around him.

"I wanted to tell you, but I didn't think you would want me and—"

Chanel scoffed against his chest, not able to stop herself from crying. "You're so stupid," she hiccupped through her tears.

Bucky pulled her away from him. "I know, I'm sorry." He leaned down and kissed her, his hands in her hair and his lips moving frantically.

"I love you too, Bucky—"

Bucky kissed her again, lifting her off the floor so she could wrap her legs around his waist. Chanel had to gently push his face away to get another word out.

She licked her lips, the taste of him making her dizzy. "I was going to tell you that day I left—I let Stephan get in my head. I'm so sorry. I've been stupid too."

Bucky grinned, his heart threatening to explode. "Yeah, Helmut said we're both idiots."

Their moment of bliss was interrupted by several gunshots inside the house.

"Sam!" Chanel jumped out of Bucky's arms and moved to open the door but froze when she found Stephan already standing there, his hair hanging messily in his face, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows.

"I shot your friend," Stephan shrugged, pushing his hair back, smearing blood through it. "I had to." Stephan slowly entered the room.

Chanel stood protectively in front of Bucky, who tried to push her out of the way. She held his wrist back, and he winced from the pain, shooting her a confused look.

Stephan laughed shortly. "Did she tell you yet? About her little upgrade?"

Bucky looked between Chanel and Stephan, and his vision went red. Chanel pushed him back as he tried to lunge for Stephan.

"Bucky, let me handle this; go find Sam."

Bucky started to argue, and she insisted. "You promised."

Bucky clenched his jaw but nodded his agreement.

Chanel turned around; she emptied the magazine of her gun, throwing it on the floor, and pulled a dagger from under her pillow. "You always knew I could fight better than you, Steph. Do you want to test that out finally?"

She didn't give him time to answer; she landed a blow to his chest, knocking him across the room.

Bucky ran from the room to find Sam. He was lying at the bottom of the stairs, trying to sit up.

"Sam! Don't move; I got you." Bucky rushed to his side and assessed the damage.

The kevlar in his suit would leave bruises but protected his chest from the bullets. His leg, however, was bleeding profusely.

Bucky carefully propped him up against the stairs. "I'll be right back; I gotta find something to tie this off with."

Sam nodded weakly, and Bucky quickly ran to the kitchen to grab a towel. As he returned to Sam, Yelena and the others entered the house, and Bucky knelt down to tie off Sam's wound.

"Where's Chanel?" Zemo asked from behind him.

Bucky pointed toward the master bedroom, "go, go help her, please!"

Zemo took off, but Yelena held the others back. "We have to secure the rest of the house, split up."

Zemo ran to the master bedroom, finding it in utter disarray but not finding Chanel. He followed a trail of blood through the French doors that led outside. Once in the night air, he could hear their grunts and yells. As he started to make his approach, he noticed Manfred following behind. He pulled his gun and turned off the safety.

Chanel's adrenaline was through the roof. The biggest mistake Stephan made was giving her the serum. Now that she had tested her new abilities, she felt power and aggression coursing through her, and she liked it. Stephan was already bleeding profusely from the multiple cuts and stab wounds she had inflicted, but she wasn't stopping. Every horrible ugly thing he had done to her, said to her, made her do, it all flashed through her mind every time she sliced the blade against his skin.

"Schatzi—" Stephan tried to reason with her.

"I hate you!" She sliced him again.

"We both know that's not true," Stephan swept her feet out from under her and quickly climbed on top of her, holding her wrists down. "Stop it!" He screamed at her as she struggled.

"I hate you," she repeated, quieter, her breathing ragged. "You made me a monster, and I hated you."

Stephan laughed in her face, "oh Schatzi, I didn't make you into anything. All I did was love you exactly as you were."

Chanel shook her head, angry tears spilling down her face. She forced him onto his back and straddled his chest. She was vaguely aware of footsteps quickly approaching behind her as she raised the knife in her hand.

"Do it then. Kill me."

Chanel paused, the smirk on his face making her stomach sink.

"I know you want to. You want to feel my flesh give way as your blade sinks into my neck, don't you?"

Chanel was still frozen with her knife in the air; he was right; she was practically salivating for it.

She was aware of Zemo now standing behind her, but Chanel didn't turn to look at him, her eyes fixed on Stephan's as he continued to taunt her.

"Do it!"

Chanel dropped the knife in the grass. "No, that's not who I am anymore. I'm not yours to control."

Stephan tried to hide the disappointment he felt as she quit fighting him.

"You were right; I did love you. But I was broken," her voice wavered on the last word. "I don't want to be broken anymore."

Stephan sat up as Chanel stood and backed away from him. He reached out to her—her admission everything that he had wanted since he met her. He scowled when she stepped behind Zemo, out of his grasp. She was still never going to be his.

Stephan smirked when Zemo pulled his gun and cocked it, taking a few steps forward.

"So you then, you'll do it. But, you'll have to kill her now too," Stephan grinned as Zemo's gaze flicked to Chanel, anger clearly simmering.

"Helmut—" Chanel grabbed his arm, "you don't have to do this."

"Yes, he does; it's his mission. Eradicate all super beings. Right, Zemo?"

"Helmut, please," Chanel begged, "you don't have to be that person anymore. Please."

Zemo's hand was shaking, his face tight with anger as he pointed the gun at Stephan. In the distance, he could see his wife's lovely face watching him, his son running through the grass; they needed him to do this.

"Helmut, please!"

Chanel's yelling sounded far away, even though she was right next to him. Her begging buzzed around him like an annoying fly trying to distract him from what needed to be done. His finger started to apply pressure to the trigger, his breathing growing heavy.

Is it worth it, Helmut?

It was his wife's voice in his head, and his eyes snapped up as if she was really there in the grass with him. He could see her as clear as day, their son on her hip. He saw them often in his dreams, but they were always alone. Now, as he looked out into the field, he saw others—all of his new friends, Chanel—he had a life beyond this rage, beyond this mission.

He took his finger off the trigger and lowered his weapon. Zemo turned to Chanel, but a loud bang made them both jump before he could say anything.

Time seemed to stand still as Chanel stared at the bullet hole in Stephan's forehead. It didn't feel real. Zemo tugged on her arm, trying to make her move, and something in her brain snapped, and suddenly everything was moving too quickly.

"Steph!" Chanel wrenched her arm out of Zemo's grip. "Stephan!" She ran to him and dropped to her knees.

Her hands frantically ran over his face, her tears dripping onto his skin. "No, no, no. Stephan—" She looked up, her vision blurry with tears as she looked for the culprit.

"I'm sorry, miss."

Chanel whipped her head toward Manfred's voice.

"He wouldn't have let you go. He wouldn't have stopped."

Chanel sobbed, clinging to Stephan's shirt, her tears staining the fabric. She knew Manfred was right, but it didn't make her heart stop shattering.

Zemo watched uselessly, but he quickly moved to get Chanel on her feet when he saw Bucky approaching.

"Chanel—draga, come on, we have to go. Sam's hurt; we need to get out of here."

Chanel nodded and wiped the tears from her face. "Just give me one second," she cried.

She closed Stephan's eyes and gently caressed his face before kissing his cheek, a whispered goodbye on his skin.

Before she could get to her feet, Zemo was on top of her as gunshots rang out from all directions. Dirt and grass flew in the air as the bullets rained down from the sky. Chanel screamed as she watched Manfred fall to the ground.

Zemo grabbed her face and made her focus on him. "We need to move now. Go! Go to the tree line!"

They both scrambled to their feet and dashed to the trees; Bucky met them there, immediately wrapping Chanel in his arms. "Are you hurt?"

Chanel shook her head, the adrenaline kicking back in as the gunshots continued.

"Who is shooting at us?" Bucky yelled as they all ran toward the house.

Yelena's voice shouted through the comms, "it's the Power Broker's men!"

"Shit, come on, we gotta get out of here." Bucky grabbed Chanel's hand and made her run faster.

Yelena and the Dora had barricaded the house, holding off the attackers for at least a few minutes. Once inside, Chanel ran to Sam; he was standing, using the staircase railing for support.

"Sam, are you okay?" Chanel carefully hugged him.

"I'll be fine," he winced. "We have a jet waiting; we just gotta figure out how to get to it."

Chanel looked around the room at the people who had put themselves in danger to rescue her. Her priority had to be to get them all out of there alive.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do. They want me; they don't care about any of you. All of you," she pointed to Ayo, Yelena, and Zemo, "get out now and get to the jet. Ayo, I assume you have your own jet, yes?"

Ayo nodded, a bit taken aback by the directions being thrown at her.

Chanel turned to Bucky. "You gotta get Sam to safety. Carry him if you have to. Just get him out of here."

"And what exactly are you going to be doing?" Bucky didn't want to know the answer.

Chanel ripped the bottom half of the skirt off of her bloodied gown. "I'm going to distract them. Once Sam is safe, come back for me. Got it?"

Bucky was panicking; he had come this far he wasn't going to lose her again. "Doll, I can't—I'm not leaving you here."

"I'm going to be fine. Just get Sam safe, please? Maybe it'll be faster if you use the wings…."

"The what now?!" Sam yelled from the stairs.

Bucky was already laughing as he made his way toward Sam.

"No, nobody uses those except me." Sam put his hand up to stop Bucky from coming closer.

"Come on, Sam, it'll be fun. Give you a taste of your own medicine." Bucky winked at him as he picked up Sam's wings and placed the straps over his own shoulders. He was going to enjoy this.

"Only for you, Chanel. You better come out of this alive," Sam grumbled as he handed Bucky his goggles.

Even Ayo snickered when Bucky picked Sam up bridal style.

"You're not very light either," Bucky teased.

Sam crossed his arms with a huff.

"Come here, doll," Bucky called to Chanel. "I love you; I'll be right back."

"I love you too Buck, meet me on the roof." Chanel leaned forward over Sam and kissed Bucky, ignoring Sam's gagging noises.

"Okay, all of you, go. And thank you for saving me."

"Wait," Yelena took her backpack off and handed it to Chanel, "if you're going to insist on doing this alone, at least take this."

Chanel unzipped the backpack, and her head shot up to look at Yelena. "Why did you bring bombs? And why are they just stored in your fucking backpack?!"

Yelena was already walking away, "they're timed; see you on the other side!"

Ayo led the Dora, Yelena, and Zemo out through a side door. Bucky went the opposite direction, flying off into the night sky with Sam.

Chanel lept into action, running to Stephan's study. She grabbed two guns that she stuffed into a thigh holster and an AR-15 that she slung over her back. She started planting the bombs around the first floor of the house. As the front door busted open, she ran upstairs, placing more bombs as she went. Once on the third floor, she hid around the corner from the stairs, her pistol in her hand as she waited for her first victim. When he walked past her, she fired and quickly spun around to hit the others as well.

She heard someone yell, "she's up here!" and she quickly ran down the hall and into her guest bedroom; she left the door open and waited, hiding behind the clothes racks.

She saw their boots first, all of them crowding into the room to search for her. They didn't notice the end of her rifle poking through the clothes until she fired. The spray of bullets sent pieces of fabric flying through the air as they pierced through her designer clothes before landing in the bodies of the men in the room. Before more men could run through the door, she ran onto the balcony and started climbing to the roof. Bullets whizzed past her, and she cursed, pausing to shoot back and then continuing her climb.

She hauled herself over the ledge and landed on the roof, surprised that she wasn't out of breath. She checked her watch.

Bucky better hurry.

She waited anxiously, shooting over the ledge at the men trying to climb to the roof.

Finally, his voice came through the comms. "Doll, I'm coming. Are you okay?"

"Yes! Hurry, this place is about to blow up, and I'd rather not be on the roof when that happens."

Chanel ran to the other side of the roof, balancing on the ledge as she prepared to either blowup or jump from the building.

"Bucky—" she called nervously. "20 seconds."

"I'm almost there! Just hold on!"

"10 seconds!"

"Hold on!"

She could see him in the distance, the wings gliding through the air as fast as they would go.

"Fuck it! Catch me!" Chanel yelled as she leaped from the roof just as the house exploded.

She closed her eyes as the air rushed past her, the heat from the explosion singing her skin. The air was knocked out of her, and her eyes flew open when Bucky grabbed her out of the air and soared upward away from the flames.

Chanel laughed; all of the adrenaline and emotions were so overwhelming, that's all she could do. She clung to Bucky and watched as the villa and all parts of her past life were consumed by fire.

"Don't ever do that to me again; I almost had a heart attack."

"I promise I will try to not blow up a building and leap from the roof at the last second ever again."

Bucky rolled his eyes as they landed near the jet Sam and Yelena were waiting at. Chanel hugged both of them tightly, thanking them again for saving her.

"There might be someone else you want to say a last thank you to," Ayo said as she approached with Zemo following behind her.

Chanel ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, Helmut."

Zemo pulled away from her with a smile. "Just promise me you're not going to make any more stupid decisions like this again." His eyes flicked up to where Bucky was watching them. "You deserve each other. You deserve to be happy."

Chanel nodded and kissed his cheek. "Goodbye, for now."

"Goodbye, draga."

Bucky quickly approached his hand on Chanel's back and the other reaching out for Zemo.

"You weren't going to say goodbye to me?" Bucky asked, his brow furrowed.

Zemo shrugged, "I didn't want to make things awkward for you," he glanced at Ayo.

Bucky nodded but pulled Zemo into a hug anyway. "Thank you for everything."

Chanel smiled as she watched them and stepped away to give them a moment.

Zemo returned the hug, not letting Bucky step away. "Thank you for restoring my faith in—heroes."

"You know, you're basically a hero yourself now," Bucky laughed.

"Don't push it." Zemo let him go and playfully rolled his eyes. "Can I offer some last-minute advice?"

Bucky nodded.

"Take a break. Try and enjoy yourself for once. You're a good man, Bucky; you deserve it."

Bucky blushed and looked at his feet. "That might not be the worst idea."

Zemo smiled. "I have plenty of properties around the world, all you have to do is ask, and they are yours."

Bucky looked up and saw nothing but sincerity in Zemo's eyes. "I still can't believe we're friends now. I'm sorry things couldn't have ended differently."

Zemo noticed the flash of sadness that passed over Bucky's face. He stepped forward and placed his hand on Bucky's cheek. "I took the liberty of crossing off my name in your book. I hold no grudges for what you thought you had to do. Go be happy."

Bucky looked into Zemo's deep brown eyes and let his guilt wash away. "Goodbye, Helmut." Bucky cleared his throat to hide the fact that he was on the verge of tears.

"Goodbye, Bucky." Zemo let his tears fall before offering Bucky and Chanel one last smile.

Chanel wiped the tears off her face and turned to Ayo. "Thank you. You've been more kind and understanding than we have deserved."

Ayo gave her a small smile before leading Zemo back to the Wakandan ship.

Chanel went back to Bucky's side, intertwining her fingers with his as they both watched Zemo leave.

"You okay?" Chanel asked Bucky after the ship disappeared.

Bucky nodded. "Yeah, you?"

Chanel looked up at him and truly had never felt more okay in her life. "I am now that I'm with you." She ran her hand through his hair and pulled him down to her lips. Both of them muttering I love yous between kisses.

"Oh Jesus," Yelena yelled from the jet. "A man is bleeding to death in here! Can we get a move on!"

"He's not bleeding to death," Bucky rolled his eyes as he led Chanel to Yelena's jet.

"Yes, I am!" Sam yelled from somewhere inside.

"Thank you, thank you, sit down." Yelena ushered Chanel and Bucky on board and then sat in the pilot seat. "Where are we going?"

"How fast can this thing get us to New York?" Bucky asked.

"Not fast enough," Yelena said as she looked at the blood-soaked towel wrapped around Sam's leg.

"Closest hospital then."

"Got it." Yelena eased the jet into the sky and was at the nearest hospital in a matter of minutes.

Bucky carried Sam inside, Yelena and Chanel on his heels.

"He's out of surgery, everything went well, but the doctor said it'll be another several hours before he's awake." Bucky sat down next to Chanel and Yelena in the hospital waiting room.

Chanel sighed with relief and laid her head on Bucky's shoulder.

"Doll—we really need to get you to Bruce to get the antidote before too much time passes."

"Antidote?" Yelena asked.

"I didn't tell you? I'm a super-soldier now." Chanel smirked at Yelena's excited expression.

"We can't leave him here alone, Bucky. It'll have to wait."

"I can stay with him and fly him home when he's awake." Yelena shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Great, I'll go call Bruce." Bucky jumped up before Chanel could even give her opinion.

She stared after him, exasperated.

"It's going to be fine; go get yourself sorted out. I'll keep you updated." Yelena rubbed Chanel's shoulder.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Yelena."

"Before he gets back," Yelena fixed Chanel with a serious gaze, "are you okay? A lot happened back there, and Zemo said you were—not okay."

Chanel sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "I mean—yes and no? I didn't love Stephan, but I used to—I—I never wanted him to—die." Chanel paused to steady her voice. "He was horrible to me, I know that, but, I don't know, my heart just shattered when I realized he was actually gone. Some part of me liked the comfort of knowing he would still be out there somewhere. Just in case."

Yelena nodded, and they sat in silence for a few minutes before Chanel sat up again. "I have a question. I'm wondering why on the same night you all came to rescue me, the Power Broker's men also happened to show up. Who knew you were going there tonight?"

"Just us," Yelena shrugged, "well and the woman Sam got his intel from, Sandy—something like that."

"Sharon?"

"Yeah, just her and us."

Chanel hummed thoughtfully as her mind raced. Bucky interrupted her thoughts when he sat back down next to her.

"So, Bruce still has the antidote; he's been trying to make it more effective but wasn't making much progress. He's going to meet us in Wakanda so he can talk to Shuri and I can pick up a package."

Chanel's eyes went wide. "We're—you're taking me to Wakanda?"

"Right now," Bucky smiled and kissed her forehead. "Let's go; we don't have a lot of time."

Chanel stood up and thanked Yelena again for staying with Sam. "Call us the second he's awake, okay?"

"I will, now go," Yelena shooed them out of the waiting room, "and don't have sex in my jet!" She called after them.

"No promises!" Chanel yelled back over her shoulder.

A/N: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! I still have a lot in store for you 😉