Kayla groaned as she began to wake up, feeling pain radiating from the base of her skull. She stretched her leg, finding herself laying against a hard, rough surface. She slowly pried open her eyes, and looked around, realizing she was on the floor of a garage.

The sound of heavy footsteps told Kayla she wasn't alone, and she sighed, thinking Steve had rescued her after all. "Steve?"

A huff was her only response, and she turned to see who was there with her, but her neck stung as she moved and she whimpered. She curled into herself, slamming her eyes closed to focus on breathing through the pain. Her neck hurt, her head hurt, and her chest ached in a different way from the rest of her. She slowly massaged the spot on her sternum that itched, feeling her skin raw beneath her shirt. Carefully, she opened her eyes and pulled her blouse away, realizing the pin she'd once worn had singed a hole through the fabric and burned her skin.

"Here."

She looked up slowly at the gruff voice, seeing the Winter Soldier hovering over her, holding out a dirty cup. Kayla tried to recoil from the man, but when she moved everything hurt and she hissed loudly, leaning on her elbow as she clenched her jaw. The soldier didn't move, and eventually Kayla tentatively looked at him again, seeing him watching her patiently. "What is it?"

"Water."

"Only water?"

"Yes."

Kayla carefully pushed herself onto her ass so she could sit up, taking the cup and looking down at it nervously. It looked like water, but she couldn't be sure. She eyed the drink, then the man who gave it to her, thinking his stance was almost as anxious as hers. "Thank you."

"I didn't know if you'd wake up. It's been two days." He answered, sitting himself down on the ground to sit across from her with his legs crossed. She drew her brows and studied him, noticing how uncomfortable he looked, like he knew this wasn't the correct stance but decided to try it anyway. "What is your name?"

Kayla raised her chin defiantly, narrowing her green eyes at the assassin who watched her with his intense smoky eyes, "Why should I tell you?"

"I don't know my name." He answered, never breaking his eye contact with the woman. "That man on the ship said my name was James Barnes. Is that true?"

"Yes." Kayla answered quickly, wondering what had happened to Steve, "What happened to the man on the ship?"

"He fell."

"Did he die?"

"I don't know." The Winter Soldier answered, blinking once, and that was the most change Kayla saw in his expression. "He fell into the water before we crashed."

Kayla considered this for a moment, the way he said we, as if she was there with him. She tried to replay what she remembered of the incident on the helicarrier, and she thought she remembered grabbing something metal before she was knocked out. "Did you save me?"

He shifted his jaw and his eyes darted to the side for a moment, as if in deep thought before he looked back to her, "Yes."

"Why?" Kayla pressed, raising the drink to her lips. She sipped it slowly, thinking it tasted like water, but she didn't really know.

"Because you were falling."

Kayla laughed, and the man across from her looked almost alarmed, "That's it? You saved my life because I was falling? You tried to murder Steve."

"His name was Steve?"

"Yes, he was your best friend. You grew up together. You fought together." Kayla explained quickly before taking another long sip, reveling in the way the water soothed her dry throat. "You don't remember him."

"No. I don't think so. Maybe a little." The Winter Soldier admitted, clenching his metal hand thoughtlessly. Kayla caught the movement though and tried to back away a little, but he instinctively reached out and grabbed her ankle, causing her to gasp and cower in his grip. He released her as quickly as he captured her, pulling his metal arm away slowly, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that."

He looked so lost and confused that Kayla wanted to reach out and touch him, comfort him and thank him for saving her life, but she'd seen the damage this man could cause. She didn't want to be another victim of the Winter Soldier. "What are you going to do with me?" She whispered, the sound barely leaving her lips, but he heard it and seemed perplexed by the question.

"I don't know." He admitted, reaching forward and grabbing the cup before thrusting it at her, "Finish it."

"Will you take me back?" Kayla asked, louder this time. "Take me back to Steve."

"No."

She clenched her eyes closed, knowing that would be his answer, "Are you going to kill me?"

There was a long pause, but when he spoke again his voice was softer, "No."

She looked up and tilted her head, her messy hair falling out of its ponytail, "If you don't want to kill me, why won't you take me back to my family?"

"I don't know."

"You're going to keep me as a prisoner, then?" Kayla dared and he narrowed his eyes and she wrapped her arms around her knees, "Sorry... I'm sorry..."

The Winter Soldier seemed to consider her for a moment, then he silently pushed himself to his feet and looked down on her, "You're going to help me."

Kayla looked up and swallowed, "Help you what?"

"Figure out who Steve is."

"You know who could help you? Steve." Kayla snapped, immediately regretting it as he reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet. "He-he remembers you! He cares about you, he misses you! Now that he knows you're alive, he'll come looking for you. Save us all the trouble and take me back to him."

"No." He answered, shifting Kayla from his metal hand to his real one. "I want you to help me."

"Why me?" Kayla asked, feeling small and defeated, "I just want to go home."

"Help me, and I'll let you go." Bucky offered quietly, and Kayla considered this before nodding.

An idea struck her, and she smiled, "I know where to go. The Smithsonian has an exhibit on Captain America. They have information about you."

He shoved her forward and she stumbled a bit in her broken stilettos. When she looked up, she saw an old, flowered dress strewed across a folding chair, and a pair of boots below it. "Change. Then we'll go."

Kayla nodded slowly, taking a few steps away to see what he'd do. She half expected the Winter Soldier to shoot her in the back, but Bucky just watched her warily as she picked up the dress and turned to him. "A little privacy, please?"

"No," was all he said, standing straight and emotionless in the middle of the garage. Kayla looked at the tools lining the side, and a kiddie pool near the door. They appeared to be somewhere in suburbia. She wondered if the dress belonged to whoever lived in the house. She wondered if the woman was still alive.

Kayla pulled her blouse over her head, dropping it to the floor as the man stared at her. She unzipped her slacks and dropped them around her ankles, wondering what was going on in the soldier's head. Against her better judgment, her question tumbled from her lips, "What are you thinking?"

"Did Steve love you?"

Kayla stood straighter at that, holding the red dress to her chest, "Yes."

He nodded, but didn't say anything more, which made Kayla sick to her stomach. She considered what this lonely, confused man might do to the woman he kept. Kayla would admit, not all her sexual partners had been savory, but she'd never been scared of being raped before.

Something in the Winter Soldier's eyes said he needed companionship, and she was it.

"Did I love anybody?"

Kayla pulled the dress over her head and looked at him as she settled it over her bra. "I don't know."

The soldier dropped his gaze and Kayla felt a pang of guilt for her prior assumptions about the man. Maybe, if she played along, she'd make it out alive. She slowly latched the boots, occasionally glancing up to her captor. She realized he'd changed too, wearing jeans and a black jacket over a light grey shirt.

"You ready to go?" Kayla asked quietly and he just nodded once. She looked around the garage, "I have to use the bathroom."

He grunted and turned to head out the side door. Kayla rushed after him, pushing open the door to the outside world. The hot summer air embraced her aching body, and she was instantly thankful for the light dress she'd been given.

"I have to pee." She whined again, but the Winter Soldier responded by climbing onto a motorcycle next to the driveway and staring at Kayla expectantly. She placed her hands firmly on her hips, the way Steve always did, but all she got in return was a view down the barrel of his gun. "Okay!" She yelped, climbing on behind him, "I'll go at the museum."

She wished she had a helmet. Steve never let her ride without a helmet, even if they were going somewhere nice. His friend Bucky didn't seem to care much about windblown hair and scrambled brains should he crash. Perhaps that was his plan all along. Kayla felt her stomach flip uncomfortably as she wrapped her arms around his stocky frame.

Kayla missed her Steve, and she was realizing she should have forgiven him and kept the ring. She'd be in a lot less trouble if she had.

Bucky pulled a black baseball cap over his head to hide his identity, but it was Kayla who drew the whispers, not him.

"Is that Kayla Ellis?"

"It's the First Daughter."

"She's been missing for days."

Bucky kept his gloved hand tight around her wrist as he drug her through the building to the escalators, ignoring all the chattering around them. When they got to the top floor, Bucky pulled her toward the restrooms and pointed, "Go. I'll be in the exhibit. If you try to run, I'll catch you and I'll kill you. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Kayla breathed as he pulled open the door to the companion restroom. She locked herself in and washed her face with cold water from the sink as she gazed at her own reflection. She was surprised anyone could recognized her as terrible as she looked with her tangled locks and bloodshot eyes. Her contacts were dry, so she took them out and rinsed them, knowing they'd hurt like a bitch after being washed in water, but it was better than being blind. She hoped maybe someone would realize she was being kept against her will, and they'd send for help. If nobody did, she had to leave some sort of message behind.

The Winter Soldier was smart. He'd sent her into the companion stall, because there'd be no one around to speak to, nobody to ask to use a phone or leave a message. There was no window to crawl out of. It was just her locked in a box with an armed assassin waiting for her. Kayla considered ripping up pieces of toilet paper to leave a message, but he'd probably check. She'd either have to be terribly subtle or obnoxious if she wanted to let someone know she was being held hostage.

Once she was done, Kayla took a deep breath while she washed her hands, taking as much time as possible before reemerging into the world. She carefully pushed open the door and noticed Bucky was gone. She looked toward the escalators, thinking about sneaking away, but his warning hung in her mind. After seeing what he could do on the helicarriers, she had no doubt that he'd just jump from the second floor and shoot her then and there.

Kayla moved toward the Captain America exhibit, holding back her whimpering as she approached the mural of Steve's face. When she looked to the left though, and saw the quote from her father reading "Welcome back, Cap" she noticed flowers placed at the base of it. She looked deeper into the exhibit, seeing no other signs of mourning. A Smithsonian employee appeared to pick up the flowers and Kayla surged forward, grabbing her hand, "Excuse me, why are people leaving those here?"

The woman looked her up and down with thinly veiled confusion, "The President was killed when the SHIELD building fell. Authorities think his daughter did, too." The woman tilted her head, her voice lowering as she began to ask "Are you..."

Kayla shook her head back and forth and fell to her knees, letting out a devastated wail as the people around her stared. She didn't care if they watched her mourn. She leaned over and sobbed into the floor until a rough hand pulled her up and yanked her away.

"Excuse her." He said gruffly, but the employee shared a nervous look with some of the patrons. Bucky pulled Kayla deeper into the exhibit near Steve's motorcycle and backed her against the wall, leaning his elbow on it and dipping his head low so his words would reach only her, "I will eliminate you."

"My father died." Kayla gasped, holding her palm to her mouth, "Have some compassion-"

"You're alive, but you won't stay that way, unless you shape up." He snarled, looking over his shoulder as security appeared, "Now people have to die, because of you."

"What?" Kayla looked up as Bucky turned to the security guards with his stoic expression, but he didn't say anything.

"Is there a problem here, Miss?" The security guard did a double take, squinting his eyes, "Miss Ellis?"

In the moment he pressed the question, Bucky pulled out his gun and shot the three guards through the chest, then scooped Kayla up over her shoulder as he began to stalk through the museum.

"I'm Kayla Ellis and I've been kidnapped by the Winter Soldier! Tell someone, anyone! Tell the Avengers, tell Steve Rogers that the Winter Soldier has me!" Kayla screamed as Bucky reached the escalators, and to Kayla's horror, jumped off the side of the ledge with her over his shoulder. He nailed the landing harshly and raised his free hand to shoot several more security guards as the tourists ran for their lives around the atrium.

Bucky shattered one of the glass doors with his heavy boot and carried Kayla through the shattered door out into the street where more cops had arrived with their guns raised. He dropped her to the ground and wrapped his metal arm around her neck, the crook of his elbow pressing against her throat as he raised his gun again. Several of the officers put their hands up as he stalked forward, eventually shooting one of the cops and tossing Kayla into the back of the police cruiser before sliding into the driver's seat and driving through the crowd of people.

Kayla sobbed loudly as Bucky drove them away, wishing he'd just end her suffering. Her father was dead. Her mother had been shot, was she still alive? And Steve. What had happened to her Steve. She'd been so cruel to him, but he'd left her to die. If he was alive, would he even bother coming to rescue her?

The Winter Soldier slammed the car to a stop, causing Kayla to jolt forward against the plastic barrier. She massaged her aching head as Bucky exited the car, pulling a cloth out of his pocket as he flung open her door. She cowered as she tried to back away, but he simply grabbed her ankle and yanked her forward, pressing the cloth to her mouth until she slumped into his arm.

Sam was signing papers with the hospital and NDAs with the government officials who came to see Steve off. The soldier stayed in his hospital room as long as possible, sitting in a chair now that he was finally free from the wires and tubes and confines of his bed. He watched the television lazily, fiddling with the sapphire ring between his fingers. As soon as Sam finished up, he was heading straight for the Potomac. He'd swim every inch of it himself until his found his girl.

He shifted his aching legs, leaning forward to press his palms against his jeans. Steve averted his eyes when the news showed a shooting at the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian. He figured there'd be more of that. He wasn't much of a hero anymore. He looked up to Sam as he barged into the room though, pointing at the television wildly, "Cap, look."

Steve stood at the shaky cell phone footage, encasing the ring in a fist as he saw Bucky scoop up Kayla and carry her over his shoulder as she screamed.

"Tell the Avengers, tell Steve Rogers that the Winter Soldier has me!"

He clenched his jaw, not looking away from the television, "Let's go."

Sam followed behind as Steve stormed out of his hospital room, stomping down the hall toward the stairs as people stared at him. He flung open the door to the stairwell and began sprinting down four steps at a time as Sam followed behind at his own pace. Sam was still two floors above him when Steve burst through the door into the lobby of the hospital, hearing Sam's voice call behind him, "Steve, wait up!"

"There's no time to waste, if Bucky has Kayla and they were at the museum, that's a clear sign for me. I have to track them down before-"

"Before he kills her?" Sam asked as he finally reached Steve and they continued side by side. "Steve, you know he's a deadly assassin and he has your ex-girlfriend, who happens to be the former President's daughter. What are the chances of her getting out of this alive?"

"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to her." Steve felt the ring piercing into his skin as he clenched it tightly, "I pushed her away because I was focused on Bucky, and now he has her and he doesn't know who I am."

"How are we gonna find them?" Sam said as Steve began to pick up the pace again, seeing several ambulances speed off as they reached the parking lot. "Steve?"

"I don't know, but we will. We have to." Steve said as he turned to look at Sam, "I have to fix this."

The sound of honking stirred Kayla from her slumber. She blinked, finding her contacts dry again, which meant she'd been out for quite some time. She looked around, realizing she was in the back of a car somewhere dark and loud. Slowly, Kayla rose in her seat, finding Bucky driving the car. She looked out the window, not recognizing anything.

"Where are we? What happened?" Kayla cleared her throat, surprised by how dry and raspy her own voice sounded. Bucky tilted his head a little, but didn't respond right away as Kayla took in the dark alleyways and people yelling in the streets. They all had dark features, European. Kayla began to think her surroundings didn't look American, "Where the hell are we?"

"Novi Grad. Sokovia." He answered quietly, pulling up a large apartment building, "There's a Hydra base just outside of town. I've been here before. I made a deal with an old colleague to get us a place to stay."

"Humph." Kayla crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as he shut off the car, looking up at the tall building, "What could you possibly offer to get us a place to stay?"

"You."

Her eyes snapped back to the man, but he just stared ahead. In the rearview mirror she could see his expression was conflicted, but definitely not joking. He'd sold her for room and board.

"How dare you?" She hissed, opening the door and climbing out of it as quickly as her heavy limbs could take her. Kayla smacked her lips together, realizing he must have used chloroform to knock her out. How the fuck did he get an unconscious celebrity to Sokovia? The Winter Soldier was impressive, she'd give him that much. Kayla tried to run, but collapsed as her legs gave out from beneath her, weak and worn after a trying week. She looked over her shoulder as Bucky stared down at her with what she'd almost call a smirk, "Go to hell, Barnes."

"You first."