Chapter two
"Bucky?"
The man looked up at Steve before looking down again. "I know you…your…your name is Steve…"
Tracey saw Steve's shoulder's slump as he finally relaxed from his tensed position. She watched as Steve pulled his best friend into an embrace while Bucky tensed, not sure what to do. She moved out of the way as Steve lead him to the couch where, like before when he stood outside, stared at the ground.
"Tracey," Steve spoke up catching the blonde's attention. "Can you grab the extra towels and blankets from the hall closet?"
"Yeah," she said as she rushed over to said closet.
She came back with her hands loaded with white blankets and towels and a large comforter that she figured would be helpful. Steve thanked her as he wrapped Bucky up in a large towel and started drying off his hair with another. Tracey stood to the side still holding onto the rest of the towels and blankets, not entirely sure what to do. Her face lit up slightly when an idea came to mind.
"Hey, Steve, I'm going to make some soup for Bucky," she said, making the super soldier to look at her and Bucky to snap his head up when he heard her say his name. She offered him a warm smile. "I'm pretty sure he's starving and it will help him warm up."
Steve nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Tracey."
Tracey smiled and set the bundle in her arms down and went to the kitchen. She busied herself as she searched around the kitchen for a pot and a can of soup. When she finally found them she set to work on heating up the can's contents on the stove all the while Steve sat in the living room with Bucky. It was silent for a long time until she heard Steve speak up.
"How did you find my apartment?" Steve asked.
"I…I remember this place the night you chased me," Bucky replied, looking down at his hands trying to avoid looking at the man next to him.
"Oh right," Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That."
It was silent again. The only sound coming from the patter of rain on the windows and the flames coming from the stove as it heated up the soup. Tracey grabbed a wooden spoon from a drawer and started to stir, trying to not seem like she was eavesdropping. Although it was a bit of a challenge considering that the space between the two rooms was open and didn't have a wall to block out the conversation.
"Bucky, do you remember everything?" Steve questioned. Tracey could hear the hesitation in his voice knowing that he wasn't sure what he wanted the answer to be.
"No…"
Tracey frowned staring down at the soup. She knows Steve was over joyed that Bucky was back, but the fact that his best friend didn't remember everything, all the times they spent together growing up, she could tell it was breaking his heart. She peaked over at the two and saw that Steve's mouth was set in a firm line as he sat next to Bucky. Looking at Bucky she saw that his head was down casted. He was probably still a bit confused and lost, not sure what to do or say now that he's here with Steve.
Once the soup was done, Tracey grabbed a bowl and spoon (after searching for them for a good minute and making a mental note to ask Steve where everything is) and walked over to the two men. Slowly she reached out to Bucky with the bowl. Bucky looked up from behind his bangs at her and she offered him a warm smile as she coaxed the bowl closer to him. Bucky took it without a word and was soon eating the soup ravenously.
Steve watched with sympathy and looked up at Tracey whose eyebrows were arched up in concern. Catching his eye, Tracey smiled at him and took her seat over at the arm chair, taking her tea in hand again and stared out the window.
She didn't know when she had fallen asleep, but the next thing she knew Steve was shaking her awake. She looked past him and saw that Bucky had fallen asleep on the couch. He looked peaceful, Tracey noticed. His brows weren't furrowed in confusion and he didn't have a lost look on his face. He looked younger when he slept.
"Tracey, why don't you take my bed for the night. I'll sleep out here," Steve said, stifling a yawn.
Tracey noted that the dark circles under his eyes had gotten worse and he looked pale. She bit her cheek as she stared up at Steve as he fought to keep his eyes open.
She shook her head. "You need the bed more than me, Steve. You need to sleep and this arm chair is way too small for you."
"Are you sure?" Steve covered his mouth as a yawn finally broke free, proving that the super soldier needed all the sleep he could get.
"Positive. I'll take the chair. It already looks like Bucky made a bed out of the couch." She looked over at the sleeping ex assassin which brought Steve's attention to him as well. "I'll text Pepper and let her know that we're going to need a plane for tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, Tracey," Steve said as he set a blanket on his friend. He walked back over to the female handing her a blanket and pillow of her own; she took it with a small thanks. "Good night." He yawned once more turning off the living room lights and made his way over to his bedroom.
Tracey yawned through a smile. She placed the pillow behind her head and curled up in the blanket. After finding a comfortable position on the chair she laid awake for a few minutes listening to the sound of the rain - that was still tapping on the window - before her eyes started to get heavy.
ooOOoo
Her eyes snapped open when she heard screaming. Sitting up straight she looked all around her through the darkness before her eyes landed on the form of Bucky on the couch. He was thrashing around, the blanket askew and nearly kicked onto the floor. The screaming was coming from him. His eyes were closed, proving that he was still asleep.
Tracey jumped off the arm chair and rushed over to him. She grabbed his shoulders, in hopes that she would be able to hold him down and stop him from thrashing about. She was wrong. She nearly fell over onto her butt from the force of his moving form.
"Bucky, wake up! It's a dream! Wake up, Bucky!" she called out over his screaming.
She placed her hands on his shoulders again, however, just as she moved to do so his eyes shot open. In a split second he stood up and had his metal hand around her throat. She coughed trying to get air into her lungs. She clawed at his arm, but his grip only tightened. Looking into his eyes she didn't see the vacant look he had earlier that night. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were not only vacant, they had a murderous look in them.
"Bucky…" she choked out as tears formed in her eyes. She was slowly losing consciousness and the edges of her vision was fading to black.
Not a second later after grabbing the blonde by the throat, Steve came barreling out of his room, obviously having heard Bucky's screams. However, he was not expecting to see Bucky with a vice grip on Tracey. Charging over to the two, Steve grabbed Bucky's arm, yelling at him to let go of her.
Bucky's face slowly relaxed and his eyes widened. His grip on Tracey loosened and she fell to the floor with a loud gasp, coughing as air rushed into her lungs. Bucky stared down in shock and horror at the woman on the ground. He looked from her to Steve, who had a look of concern across his face. The ex-assassin quickly backed away from the two into the wall.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Bucky said in a terrified voice as he slid down to the floor. He clutched the sides of his head and his face was contorted with fear as he looked from Steve to Tracey, who was panting as she regained air
Steve looked on heartbroken at the fear all over his best friends face as he cowered in the corner. Tracey had an equally hurt expression as she watched the man shake from his position across from them. She couldn't recall seeing any one looking as terrified as Bucky was at that moment. She turned to Steve to see him slowly approach the man, his hands up showing he wouldn't hurt him.
"Buck, it's okay. It's okay," Steve said as he crouched in front of him. He reached out a hand only to have Bucky flinch away.
"I'm sorry," Bucky whispered.
"Hey it's okay. Everything is okay," Steve reassured.
"I'm fine," Tracey spoke up in a soft voice. "No harm done."
Bucky looked at her with scared eyes then back up to Steve. He thought he was going to be punished for attacking the woman. He thought Steve was going to hit him. He couldn't stop thinking back to the punishments that were inflicted upon him when he was with HYDRA. He couldn't stop thinking about the nightmare. No. It was a memory. He saw himself, after he fell off the train. He was being dragged. Then the memory flashed to him in the lab. He remembered those times. That's what made it more of a nightmare. He constantly had flashes of those moments. But what was worse was when the memories flashed to him when he attacked Steve on the helicarrier back in DC. He didn't want to fight him. He may not remember everything, but he knew that Steve was his best friend. He didn't want to be controlled anymore. Forced to fight for HYDRA.
He lowered his head, hiding his face behind his hair. "I'm sorry…" he whispered.
Steve slowly wrapped an arm around Bucky's shoulders as he sat next to the defeated man. He went slow, not wanting to scare Bucky any further. It was only when Bucky didn't flinch away Steve put his arm around him pulling his friend into a hug, hoping to comfort him.
"I'm sorry, Steve."
"Everything's going to be okay, Bucky."
ooOOoo
It wasn't until Steve looked at the clock on the wall that he realized it was five in the morning. He knew that none of them were going to get back to sleep any time soon and Tracey had said that Tony was sending over a plane in the morning. That was back before they all went to sleep, he wasn't sure when the plane would arrive. Neither did Tracey. That was Tony Stark for you, always full of surprises.
With that in mind Steve got up from his spot on the floor next to Bucky – he never left after the small incident – and made his way over to the kitchen.
"I'm making breakfast," he announced. He turned to the two in the living room, Bucky sitting against the wall looking at his lap and Tracey sitting in the chair looking out the window. "How does eggs sound?"
"Sounds good," Tracey responded through a yawn. "Um scrambled please. If that's alright."
Steve smiled and nodded at the woman. "Bucky?" he asked, turning to the dark haired man.
Bucky only nodded slowly after staring at him for a solid minute. Steve smiled and went about the kitchen preparing the simple breakfast. He kept stealing glances over at Bucky, his brow furrowing with concern seeing as his friend never moved from his spot. He was still as a statue as he continued to stare at his lap. He pursed his lips together as he turned his attention back to the eggs.
Once he had set the table he brought the plates over to the two, urging Bucky to take his plate. He took it hesitantly and said a rushed thank you. Steve smiled at him as he led him to the couch. No one made a sound as they ate, the only sounds being the clinking and scraping of their forks against their plates.
Tracey had informed them at some point that Pepper messaged her saying the plane had arrived and was in a back runway at the airport. In less than an hour Steve had gotten Bucky some clothes to change into from his closet, Tracey had called a taxi and then the three of them made their way through the city to the airport. The ride over was quiet, just as the majority of the day had been, and fortunately the taxi driver wasn't the chatty type.
At the runway the three were greeted with two people standing in front of the Stark Industries plane. Sam turned away from the man, who was on the phone and had his back to them, and greeted them with a smile, but quickly turned to a look of shock when he saw Bucky standing next to Steve. He smiled lightly at Steve, who returned it.
"Looks like your searching is over, huh?" he said, clapping Steve on the back.
Steve walked over to Sam. "Yeah, I'm taking him to New York. Show him around. Hopefully he might remember some memories from back when we lived in Brooklyn," he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched Tracey try to talk to Bucky, smiling at him to try and ease his tension. Steve could tell that Bucky remembered him from DC. His guess was that his friend wasn't sure if Sam was as forgiving as him.
"I'm glad he's at least okay," Sam said. "Hey," he greeted Bucky, walking over to him. Sam took notice of the ex-assassin's hesitance. "Hey, man, it's cool. I'm not mad about the whole helicarrier incident." He offered a smile to Bucky, only to have him look down. He nodded understandingly before turning his attention to Tracey.
"So your brother is-"
He didn't get to finish what he was going to say as the man who was on the phone a moment ago pulled out a gun. Everything happened in a split second. The man had pulled Tracey behind him and pointed his gun at Bucky. Steve quickly placed himself between the man and Bucky; Sam stood to the side with his hands up in defense, not expecting the man with the gun's action.
"Barry, what are you doing?" Tracey yelled at the man in front of her.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing? Do you not know who that is?" Barry yelled back over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of Bucky.
"Yes I do," Tracey shot back as she stepped out from behind her brother. She grabbed his arm, trying to lower the gun. "Put the gun away, Barry."
"Are you serious?" Barry said, glaring at her. "Tracey, I love you and all, but right now you're being stupid."
Tracey threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. "Barry, he's James Buchanan Barnes. Steve's best friend."
Barry's eyebrows rose slightly at the statement. "Wait, seriously?"
"Yes," Steve said as he tried to calm Bucky down, who had been tense and ready to attack Barry if the need arose. "He came to my apartment last night. He's slowly regaining his memories after whatever HYDRA did to him. I'll explain everything on the plane."
Tracey narrowed her eyes at her twin. "Barry George Madison. Put. The. Gun. Down."
Barry held his hands up, taking a step back. "Hey, chill. I was just looking out for my sister."
The group had finally relaxed, but Bucky had frozen. He stared at the siblings as they spoke with one another. His eyes glazed over as an image passed through his mind.
A little girl with brown hair in pigtails was standing in a small kitchen, staring down at her feet as tears ran down her cheeks. She was standing in front of a young man with brown eyes and similar facial features who was crouching down to her level. The man's brows were furrowed as he watched the little girl sob.
"What's wrong, Rebecca?" the man asked, rubbing soothing circles on the little girl's back.
"Jamie Harrison pushed me down today," she sniffed.
"He what?" The man's voice rose a tad, anger evident in it. "What happened?"
"I was playing with Mary and Ashley in the school yard. We were playing tag and then Jamie came along and started calling us names and saying we had cooties. I tried to get him to stop, but then he pushed me," Rebecca said.
The man chuckled. "Oh so he's afraid of cooties huh?" Rebecca nodded. "He's just being a boy, a not so smart one too. Boys don't like cooties, they think they're gross and girlie," he said, tickling the little girl's sides causing her to giggle.
"But I don't have cooties." She gasped and her eyes widened when she looked up at the young man. "Do I, Bucky?"
Bucky laughed. "It's just an old tale to scare boys. Boys your age think that girls have them and try to avoid them. So the next time Jamie bothers you and your friend you can just chase him around saying you'll give him your cooties if he doesn't leave you alone."
Rebecca smiled and giggled at that. "Really?"
Bucky smiled as he picked her up. "Really really. And if that doesn't work you can tell him that he'll have to deal with your older brother if he hurts you again."
Rebecca grinned and threw her arms around her brother's neck. "Thank you, Bucky. I love you!" She kissed his cheek.
"I love you too, Becca," he said, kissing her on the top of the head.
"Bucky? Bucky?"
Bucky whipped his head up and looked around at the four people standing in front of him, all staring at him. His eyes landed on Steve. He had his brow furrowed with worry as he stared back.
"What's wrong, Buck?" he asked.
Bucky opened his mouth and closed it. His brow furrowed as well as he thought back to the vision he saw. No a memory? He looked back up at Steve. "I had a little sister?"
Steve smiled. "Yeah. Her name was Rebecca."
Bucky looked down at his feet, a small smile playing at his lips. "I just remembered something…with her."
"Really? That's great, Bucky." Steve grinned, eyes lighting up.
"See," Tracey said, smacking Barry on the shoulder.
"Okay, okay." Barry said, rubbing his shoulder as he glared at her. He ran his hand through his light brown hair before rubbing the back of his neck. He turned to face Bucky. "Hey, man, uh sorry about pulling a gun on you."
Bucky eyed him warily before finally nodding quickly.
Sam clapped his hands, grabbing everyone's attention. "Okay, so how about we get to Stark's then? I'm not sure how long this plane has been waiting so let's not keep the pilot waiting."
"Right," Steve said. He turned to Bucky and put a hand on his shoulder. "You ready, pal?"
Bucky looked up at the plane, his eyes scanning every inch of it. Part of him expected it to be a trap, but if Steve was there with him, keeping him calm and safe just as he did with what just occurred with the man named Barry, he was a bit less wary. He looked at Steve, who was smiling at him, a reassuring smile that proved that nothing would happen to him. He nodded his head at the super soldier before facing the plane again. He was hesitant on moving, but he felt Steve give his shoulder a small squeeze.
"Nothing will happen, Bucky. And I'm sure Tracey has Barry in line." He chuckled when he saw Tracey give him a wink while Barry rolled his eyes. "Everything will be okay I promise."
Bucky nodded his head again. He swallowed right before he started walking with Steve onto the plane.
Hey everyone! I hope you like the story so far. I'd love to hear what you think of it so far and if you have any critics or I'm messed up on anything to do with the movie or characters please let me know. Thank you!