A lazy smile formed on Amelia's face as she slowly woke up the next morning, remembering what had happened the night before. She moved her hand out, eyes still closed, expecting to make contact with Helmut's arm, but it fell flat against the duvet. She opened her eyes, brow furrowing and smile falling from her face as she saw that he wasn't there. Propping herself onto her elbow, she looked around the room, hair tumbling down her shoulders in a messy nest. She saw that the bathroom door was still open. There was no sign of him.

"Helmut?" she called out anyway, hoping to hear him answer. But there was nothing.

Pushing the duvet back from the bed, she grabbed hold of a fresh set of underwear from her opened suitcase on the floor. She pulled on a robe the hotel provided and tied the sash around her waist, padding bare foot through the hotel room and seeing that he was nowhere to be found. The light was streaming in through the curtains, meaning that it had to be morning.

Amelia guessed that he was probably in his own room. He was an early riser after all. Picking up her key card, she held onto it as she left her room. He was only next door so hopefully she wouldn't bump into anyone, but she held the robe tighter around her body anyway as her door snicked closed behind her. She moved over to the room next door and her mind began to grow with even more confusion at what she saw.

The door was wide open, a cleaning trolley outside of it. Amelia peered in and saw a maid stood by the foot of the bed, grabbing at the duvet and worming the sheet off of it. Amelia knocked once on the door.

"Excuse me?" she spoke to the woman.

"Yes, hon," she responded, chewing on gum loudly as she turned to look to Amelia, a smile on her face.

"The man who was in this room…he…I thought that he would be here…"

The woman looked at Amelia sceptically then, clearly wondering if she was alright. The room was quite obviously empty with no one in it. There was no sign of his possessions anywhere. Amelia shook her head slowly. This couldn't be.

"Well, they sent me up here to clean it so I guess he must have checked out early," the woman told Amelia. "Sorry, honey, I don't know anything about that. I just clean."

"Yes…right…sorry," Amelia said to her, holding up an apologetic hand and then moving back to her own room. She unlocked it once more and began to search for her phone. It was on her bedside table where she had left it to charge the night before.

Picking it up, her hands shook as she unlocked it and found his number. Calling him, she pushed the phone against her ear and it went straight to voicemail. He didn't even have his phone switched on.

"Helmut, where have you gone? Your room is empty…did you check out and go somewhere? Just…call me, alright?" Amelia asked from him and tossed her phone onto her bed, ensuring she had turned the volume to loud so that she would hear it if he did call her back.

It was another moment before she got her brain into gear and shrugged out of the robe, leaving it at the bottom of the bed and finding something to wear from her case. Picking out a navy jumpsuit, she pulled it over her body and pushed her feet into white sneakers. Grabbing the key card and her phone once more, she left the room and took the elevator down to reception.

Treading over the plush beige carpet, Amelia came to the large, white reception desk where a man in a suit was sat behind it, typing away at a computer. Standing in front of him, Amelia folded her arms on the counter. "Hi," she said to the man, not waiting for him to greet her. "I was wondering if you could tell me if the man who was staying in room twenty has checked out already?"

"Ah…room twenty," the man responded, not lifting his gaze from his computer as he continued typing and Amelia drummed her fingers against the surface impatiently, waiting for him to tell her what was going on. "Yes, Mr Zemo…he checked out quite early this morning, actually, about eight hours ago. He did pay for his bill and he also paid for room twenty-one for the next three nights for…Ms Baker, is it?"

Amelia could only just nod at him, confirming that was who she was. What was he playing at? What was going on in that mind of his? She took a moment to compose herself, her head spinning and stomach churning. He had left her. He had checked out and left her.

"Is everything alright, Miss?" the man asked and Amelia forced a fake smile onto her face, nodding her head.

"Everything's fine," she promised him. "Thanks for your help."

She turned around and went back to the elevator, picking her phone out of her pocket to see if he had called. But there was nothing. She took a moment to compose herself and gather her breath as she called his number again, but there was still no answer. She didn't bother leaving a message, simply returned to her room and knew that whatever had happened, he had left her.

He had walked out on her and she didn't know why. She had told him everything last night and he had stopped her from leaving. Why would he do that if he intended on just leaving her anyway?

Sitting on the jet over the Atlantic, Helmut knew that he was going to have to check his phone eventually. He had been in a foul mood ever since Oeznik had picked him up from the hotel, but he had to leave her. He should have let her go last night instead of being selfish and giving her hope that he could give her more. He should have just let her walk out the door because now he knew he was the one who had broken her heart.

Picking his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, he turned it on and noted that he already had four new voicemails. He inhaled a sharp breath and pressed on the earliest one, listening to it intently, her voice filling his ear and almost making him long to turn the plane back around.

"Helmut, where have you gone? Your room is empty…did you check out and go somewhere? Just…call me, alright?"

He deleted the message and waited for the next one.

"You've checked out? Why have you checked out? What are you doing, Helmut?" It was short and sweet. He pressed to delete it again.

"And you stole my passport? I know you've taken it because it isn't here and I know it was in my bag. I know that it was there because I put it in there yesterday…why the hell have you stolen it? How am I supposed to get back home now?"

He looked at the offending document that he had laid out on the chair across from him. He knew that by taking it then it would buy him some time. She would have to apply for emergency documentation to get back home and that wasn't a quick process. It would take a couple of days at least and by then Helmut would be well on the way with his plan and she wouldn't be able to find him or catch him up. He knew that last night was the final night he would be with her and had made the most of it.

He deleted the third message and then listened to the fourth, hearing her clearly trying not to cry on the phone to him.

"Is this because of last night? Is it because of what I said? Because I thought…I thought that you felt the same. You stopped me from leaving, Helmut. You stopped me from walking out of that door when I was prepared to go. I was prepared to give you up because I knew you couldn't give me more. You'd told me that from the start and I was fine with it…I was fine with knowing that and it was my own damn fault for getting too involved," Amelia sniffed loudly and Helmut's grip on his phone increased, eyes closing and head bowing low. "But you stopped me from going. You told me not to go. You told me that you wanted me…why would you tell me that if you didn't mean it? Because this…leaving me…after telling me that…that hurts more. You gave me hope and then snatched it away…and you…I thought you cared, Helmut. I thought you cared more than that."

"I do," Helmut whispered, knowing full well that she wasn't on the other end of the line.

There was a loud sniff in her voicemail before she continued talking. "Just…if you don't want this…me…then fine, but don't lead me on like you clearly did last night because I'm not doing this, Helmut. If loving you means this then I don't want it. I can't do it…because I care too much. I'm just not doing this."

The voicemail ended and Helmut heard her words in his mind, going round and round numerous times. "If loving you means this then I don't want it."

Loving him. Did she love him? Did she really true love him? He looked down at the screen, his thumb hovering over the delete button once more. But he couldn't press it. He let it save to his phone instead and turned it off once more, placing it in his pocket. He straightened himself up and sniffed, looking out of the window and onto the water beneath. He continued sniffing loudly for a few more moments, his thumb and middled finger pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stop his nose running.

What had he done? Why could he not just let her go the night before? Why could he not just leave her? He'd created a mess out of her now and he could almost imagine her sat at the end of the bed in the hotel suite and crying into her phone.

"Sir, you haven't had anything to eat since I picked you up."

Oeznik stood to the side, a plate with a croissant in his hand. Helmut looked to it and knew that he couldn't stomach eating it, but he took it from his butler's hands anyway. Nodding in thanks, Helmut watched Oeznik turn away, but he spoke before he could get too far.

"Oeznik," he said to his friend. "I need you to do me a favour."

"Of course, sir," Oeznik said to Helmut with a gentle nod.

"Once you have left me in Vienna, I need you to go back to Norfolk and then to Cleveland."

"Sir?" Oeznik questioned from him and Helmut looked to the man who was one of the only remnants of his old life in Sokovia. Helmut nodded to the chair next to him and Oeznik sat down, Helmut placing the plate on the arm of his chair and turning it to give his full attention to Oeznik.

"I cannot tell you what I intend to do," Helmut said. "It would be for the best if you didn't know anyway. But, I need you to go to Norfolk. I will give you the address…there are papers there…documents and a laptop. I need you to destroy the documents and the laptop…buy a new one. Clear my things from the place."

"I see," Oeznik said.

He didn't question Helmut. In fact, he said hardly anything, seeming to be more interested in watching the younger man with an intense stare.

"And then I need you to go and bring Amelia back from Cleveland. Take her back to Norfolk," Helmut said and he reached for her passport. "She'll need this, of course, but I'm certain you will give it back to her."

"Of course," Oeznik nodded his head and he took the passport from his hands, placing it in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. "And Ms Baker, is she aware that I will be coming back for her?"

"I will ask the hotel to inform her."

"Why not call her yourself, sir?" Oeznik questioned and Helmut didn't want to get to into that. How did he admit that he was acting like a coward in not talking to her? But he was doing this to protect her. He was doing this so that she could go on and have a normal life. The Avengers would have been dealt with. Helmut would see to it and then they'd have their revenge. She could keep going after that, but he knew that he couldn't.

"I do not think that she would want to hear from me," Helmut confessed. "Just make sure she is safe, please?"

"Of course, sir," Oeznik said to him with a nod. "But you, will you be safe?"

Helmut shifted in his seat and looked out the window. "I'll be fine," he opted on telling him and he knew that Oeznik was watching him still. He didn't look back to him, knowing full well that he was no fool. He knew there was something going on, but by the time he figured out what it was, it would be too late.

Amelia had been doing everything in her power to get back home, but without a passport, that proved to be quite difficult. She could apply for an emergency document to get her back home, having to go to the Embassy, but they had told her it would be a couple of days before anything would happen. Shaking her head, she threw her phone onto her duvet and wondered just where Helmut was and why he had taken her passport.

Her mind began to whirl then. It made no sense. He could tell her that he didn't want her and that they were over, but why take her passport? What gain would that have? She shook her head as she reached for her phone once more, but before she could call him again, the phone on the desk began to ring. Amelia's brows knitted together as she cautiously went to pick it up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Ms Baker, this is Aiden from the front desk," he informed her. "We've just received a message from Mr Zemo informing us that his driver will pick you up in two day's time to take you to the airport."

"He called you?" Amelia asked.

"Yes," Aiden responded. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Ms Baker?"

"No, thank you," Amelia hung up the phone and picked her mobile back up.

She tried calling him again, but got nothing once more. She left a voicemail, trying to be calmer and more collected as she spoke. "You couldn't even call me yourself? You had to leave a message with the hotel? Seriously, Helmut?" she took a deep, calming breath. "Anyway, I know that you're up to something. Why would you steal my passport? This isn't about last night, is it? Well…I mean…it might be as well…I don't know because you won't talk to me, but if it was solely about last night then I'd like to think you'd be brave enough to stay back and talk to me, not run off."

She stood up and began pacing, a hand going through her hair nervously as she tried to guess what he was doing. Then again, guessing what Helmut would do was almost impossible sometimes.

"You took my passport to stop me coming with you because you're going to do something and you don't want me there. Is this out of some deep place inside of you that is trying to keep me safe? Because I told you that I could handle this. I told you we were in this together so whatever you're planning…just…tell me…tell me and we can work through it together."

She hung up and placed her phone against her chin, fingers tapping against the back of it as she looked to the window and onto the street in front of her. "What are you doing, Helmut?" she asked in a whisper. "What are you doing?"

Helmut knew that he had been devious. He knew that he could have told her what he was thinking, but she would only have argued with him. He thought about all of the missions they had gone on before, remembering how she had always insisted no one getting hurt. Well, no one who was innocent in her eyes. As he sat in his hotel room under a false alias, he knew that he wouldn't be able to promise her that wouldn't happen. That was why he had left.

He listened to her previous voicemail, hearing her slowly piece everything together as to why he had gone. He deleted it before his phone could automatically play the voicemail of her confessing that she loved him, unable to take the heartache of hearing that again.

"I knew you'd work it out, Amelia," Helmut whispered once he had hung up. "But I'm doing this for you."

Setting his phone down, he picked up the red book with the silver star on it. He had been practicing his Russian once more, recognising that he could pronounce some of the words in the book that he needed to activate the Winter Soldier and get the mission report. Checking the clock, he knew that it would only be twenty more minutes until his plan came into action.

He'd made connections while they had been in Madripoor, recalling how he had gone out and left Amelia in the hotel with a hangover. He knew that they would come in handy to get him the things that he needed, from guns to a bomb. All they cared about was money and Helmut had plenty of that. He had hoped that he wouldn't need to use those connections, but he knew the type of people who could prove useful in their quest.

Picking up the phone once more, he saw that Oeznik had text him and told him that the apartment in Norfolk had been cleared out. All of the paperwork had been destroyed along with Amelia's laptop, a fresh, expensive new one now sat in its box on her dining table. All of Helmut's possessions had been packed up too, Oeznik taking them with him. It was like he had never been there. He owed her that much, at least, erasing himself from her life completely.

Closing his eyes, he could almost remember the night before. He could feel her warm breath against his neck as he kept one hand holding the back of her head, his other hand gripping her hip firmly as she grabbed hold of his back and moaned against him, chanting his name over and over again. He shook his head and knew that he couldn't get distracted.

Looking at his wedding ring on his finger, he turned it around slowly and wondered what Heike would say. Would she have wanted him to move on and be happy without her? Would she have wanted him to admit that he cared deeply for Amelia? Did he love her? He didn't know if he did. He knew that he had feelings for her, but he didn't think it was love. Love was what he had with his wife.

Helmut glanced up as he heard the news presenter's voice change pitch on the TV that he had kept on a low volume in the corner. He watched on as 'breaking news' flashed across the screen and informed him that there had been an explosion at the meeting of the United Nations just a few minutes ago. Looking to the screen as it panned live to the scene of the explosion, Helmut pursed his lips and bowed his head, knowing that it had begun. There would be no turning back now.

Amelia had seen the news and her stomach had dropped, blood pumping into her ears. She knew what this was. She was no idiot and the timing was far too convenient. She had sat in the hotel room and watched the news on repeat, seeing the images of injured people running away from the scene. Firefighters tried to put out the blaze. Over seventy people had been injured and twelve had died, including the King of Wakanda.

Shaking her head as she packed her things, her hands were shaking and she was trying not to cry, knowing that she had to hold herself together. What would be the point in tears? What would be the point in crying? She had seen the image on the screen of the Winter Soldier being the one to, supposedly, plant the bomb.

She knew that there were no such things as coincidences like these. The Winter Soldier came out of hiding at the exact same time they had run of road to find him? No. She didn't believe that in the slightest.

She remembered what she had said last night. "So what? Do we go back to the drawing board? Do we try and get him to come out of hiding? I wouldn't even know how to do that."

He'd shaken his head and replied. "Nor would I."

"Lying asshole," Amelia grunted, recalling the conversation as she finished packing and grabbed her suitcase. The hotel reception had called to tell her that a car was waiting for her outside.

She wheeled her case down, satchel swinging against her hip. She had on her grey sweatshirt and jeans, sneakers on her feet as she contemplated just what she was going to do. She checked out of the hotel and went to the car, but it wasn't Oeznik waiting for her. The driver informed her that he was taking her to the airbase as he placed her suitcase into the trunk and then pulled out her passport from his pocket.

Gritting her teeth together, she snatched it from him and cursed Helmut. She spent the entire journey to the airport wondering just what it was she should do. She knew what she should do, of course. She should tell the police everything. She should tell them that the bombing wasn't done by the Winter Soldier. But what if it was? How could she know for certain that Helmut had done this? How could she be one-hundred percent positive?

But surely it was the right thing to do. She knew that it would be the end then. There would be no going back for them. She'd be arrested for her part in it and so would Helmut. Then again, there was no going back now. If he had done this then she would never forgive him. She wouldn't be able to. She thought that they had an agreement for no one innocent to be hurt.

As they approached the airbase, Amelia looked out of the window and saw Oeznik stood by the steps. Climbing from the car, she moved towards the butler, forgetting her case in the trunk that the driver was dealing with. Looking at the butler with a gaze of thunder, he almost shrunk back, worried about the onslaught that was coming his way.

"Where did he go?" Amelia demanded, forgoing any pleasantries. She had no time for that, nor was she in the mood.

"He…Master Zemo…he went somewhere I do not know."

"You're a terrible liar, Oeznik," Amelia said to him with a firm shake of his head. "Just tell me where he's gone because I think that he could be in trouble. He's gotten himself into something so deep and I don't know if he can get out of it."

Oeznik shook his head. "He told me to take you back to England," he said and climbed the steps to the plane with her case that he took from the driver with a nod of thanks. Amelia followed him up, close on his heels and not backing down.

"Listen to me, Oeznik," she demanded from him as he placed the luggage in the storage cupboard. "I know that your loyalties lie with Helmut. I understand that because he's your friend…you've known him since he was a boy and so you care about him deeply. I get it. I do."

He began to falter then as Amelia continued to push him.

"And I know you have no reason to trust me over him, but I care for him too," Amelia said and flapped her arms by her side. "I even told him that I loved him on a voicemail, Oeznik. I told him that I loved him and I…if he has done what I think he has done then he's in serious trouble and I need to work out what to do because I need to protect him from doing something even worse. I just want to talk to him and help him. Please, Oeznik, just help me. Don't take me back to England…take me back to him."

Ozenik gulped and looked to the woman, seeing that she was being honest. The tears in her eyes and the way her voice wavered was enough to make him see that easily.

"Vienna," Oeznik finally confessed. "He went to Vienna."

Amelia nodded, her fears becoming true as she sank down into a chair, her knees wavering beneath her and turning almost to jelly. He had gone to Vienna. She almost had all the evidence she needed to know that it was him who had planned to bomb the UN. Who else could it had been now?

"He won't be in Vienna now though, will he?" Amelia asked from Oeznik.

"I don't know, Ms Baker," Oeznik admitted and Amelia nodded, taking a deep breath. "But I have to take you back to England for your own safety."

"Oeznik, it's not my safety I'm worried for now," Amelia told him. "I don't know who else could get hurt, including Helmut, so we're not going back to England and don't even think of telling the pilot to take us there."

"Then where are we going?"

"I haven't worked that out yet," Amelia said to him. "Just…back to Europe…give me some time to figure out where specifically."

Pulling her phone out of her satchel, she began researching. He needed the Winter Soldier. He needed him to find out if the Mission on December 16, 1991, had been what they thought it had been. So, it would stand to reason that he would be wherever the Winter Soldier was going to be. She just hoped that she could get to him before he got in even deeper.

A/N: Thank you to tuckerjnp1 and guest for reviewing and to micrographia - sorry for making you cry on your lunch break! As you can tell, we're into the film now and so things are going to get a bit more intense for both Helmut and Amelia! Also have plans for how to continue after the film if people are still interested by that stage too!