Hey all sorry for the delay. it was the first week of the quarter and was adjusting to my classes. Besides that, this chapter was a bit hard to write. I like watching action movies but never realized how hard actions scenes were to write. Anyway here it is. Please read and review and let me know what you think.
The next morning I woke up in the exact same position I was when I knocked out. My head was on Steve's chest and Bucky and I were holding hands as he was spooning me. I didn't want to get up but I was sweaty and sticky from last night and really needed a shower. I slowly moved Bucky's arm off of me and started moving down the bed trying to not wake them up. I found my uniform in the trunk at the foot of the bed. I grabbed a towel and jumped in the shower.
By the time I was done, I found the guys sitting up on the bed. They saw me come out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around me.
"Morning." I said with a smile. I walked over to the nightstand by Steve.
"Morning, Doll." Said Bucky with a smirk.
"Morning Beautiful, sleep well?" He asked.
"Very well, thank you." I said leaning down and kissing him. I jumped on the bed and rolled over to kiss Bucky. "You two should get moving, the plane leaves at 8."
"We still have plenty of time Doll." Said Bucky kissing my shoulder.
"Not if you want to actually have a good breakfast. Go hop in the shower, I'll get started on the French toast." I said getting up. I took of the towel and started putting on my undergarments and clothes. Steve and Bucky just stayed in bed and stared at me. I turned around and saw them staring at me. "Guys now. I haven't changed at all since last night so get going." I said with my hands on my hips. They both just gave me a smile. They got out of bed and kissed me as they passed by, on their way to the bathroom.
I got dressed and started on breakfast. I started with the coffee first and then started on the batter for the French toast. By the time the first slice of toast was in the pan both Bucky and Steve were out of the shower. We ate breakfast and then grabbed a cab to the airport.
We arrived early, before the rest of the team. Gramps and Peggy were already there. When Gramps saw us get there together he just smirked. I walked up to him and Peggy. He handed me a coffee and I handed him a ten-dollar bill.
"Not a word." I said looking over my medical kit.
"Wasn't going to say anything." He responded casually.
"Sure you weren't." I said not being able to keep a smile off my face.
"So, I'm guessing this means you'll be moving back in with them." Gramps asked.
"Uh, yeah. You're getting your spare room back. You can finally bring your conquests back to your room." I said with a smirk.
"What makes you think I haven't been bringing them in since you moved in?" He asks avoiding eye contact.
"Since I moved in you would leave for work at 7:45am and got back at 5:30 on the dot. You had breakfast brought up and dinner half an hour after you got back from work. You never left the suite. You stayed in the living room listening to the same record and probably doing work until it was time to go to sleep. Then in Dublin you were babysitting me in my coma. Not once did you flirt with anyone or have a date." I said.
"How did you notice that? You were always asleep when I checked in on you." He said.
"I actually wasn't asleep. Couldn't sleep mostly just crying in silence."
"Oh"
"Yeah, don't make plans for when I get back. We need a night out in town. If we end up in a different country then so be it." I said smirking.
"Sounds like a plan kid. Hey we can end up in Paris now" he said chuckling.
"Wouldn't that be nice." I answered before I heard Steve and Bucky call me telling me it was time to board.
"Time for me to go. See you in a few months Gramps."
"See you then. I'll be waiting." He said with a tense smile. He had a hand in one of his coat pockets. I turned around and started walking to the plane.
"Nora," I heard Gramps call out to me.
I turned. "Yeah?"
"Be careful out there." He said.
"Always am." I said before turning around and boarding.
Third Person's POV
"You alright Howard?" Peggy asked.
Howard hadn't moved from his spot since he said goodbye to Nora. His hand was clutching the drawing Katya had drawn while she was still connected to the stone, the drawing where Nora was dead in the arms of her soul mate. As much as he would like to say he didn't believe in oracles and superstitions, he couldn't deny what he saw. All the drawings had been confirmed to come true and there was a big chance that one would become reality as well.
"Nothing, just glad everything worked out." Howard said.
"Yes, I'm glad as well. Those three are made for each other. Quit worrying they'll look out for each other and you two will be off painting the town red before you know it." Peggy reassured him.
"Yeah I'm sure you're right." He answered but couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Six Weeks later- French Countryside
The flight to Paris was uneventful. Besides a bit of turbulence and a heated game of cards nothing happened. We were in Paris for a few days coordinating with the ground forces before we were finally sent out to the front lines. There weren't any solid leads so we helped out where we could. Most of the days were quiet but other days were hectic, especially for me.
In the beginning all I would do was give soldiers stationed at the camps check ups or redress bandages, but other than that I had nothing to do. Then there were days I would be up running around for over twenty-four hours straight, with the occasional break for food and water.
One day it all changed. There had been rumors of unstoppable tanks shooting blue rays that turned whatever it touched into dust. We were sent behind enemy lines without support to gather Intel before going back and regrouping to come up with a plan. It did not work out that way.
As we were making our way through the forest we took a break to look at the map and figure out where we were exactly.
"We've been moving north through here," Steve said pointing at the map "there's a town a few miles northeast. That's probably a good a place as any to start."
"You want us to sneak in and have a look around?" I ask.
"No, that's too risky. We need to scout the area, see how many Germans are in the town and see if they're Hydra." Steve explained.
"A town that size, it be easier to cover the entire area if we spilt up." Dugan pointed out.
"He's right, it would be too obvious if we stayed together." Falsworth mentioned.
"Two teams. Buck you'll find higher ground and cover us. Each team needs to have someone that speaks French in case we find any civilians who might be able to help us so Nora you're on one team and Gabe and Dernier are on the other. Morita you know first aid plus everything else Nora's taught you so you'll go with them. Dugan and I will be on a team with Nora while Falsworth is on the other team. By the looks of the map one side of the town is mostly homes while the other is shops and markets. We'll split it in half. Buck the highest point in the city is the bell tower. We'll start there. Make sure its clear and then branch out and circle back." Steve said. "Any questions?"
Everyone was quiet.
"Let's camp out here for the night and head out at sunrise." Steve said. With that everyone started setting up their tents.
Steve volunteered for first watch so Bucky and I were lying down next to each other. Bucky was sleeping peacefully next to me with his arms around me but for some reason I couldn't sleep. I had this really bad feeling something was going to happen. After lying down for a while I realized I wasn't going to get any sleep so I decided to get up. As I was getting up, Bucky tightened his grip on me and kept me at his side.
"Stay." He mumbled.
"I thought you were asleep." I whispered.
"I was for a bit but could hear you thinking. What's wrong?" He asked opening his eyes.
"Nothing just couldn't sleep. I just feel strange. Like something's wrong, I just don't know what." I said.
"It's probably nerves." He said sitting up.
"I don't think it's that. I've had nerves before but this feels different. I don't know how to explain it, I just have a really bad feeling something's going to happen."
"Everything's going to be fine Doll. It's just a simple recon mission. We'll take a look around and then regroup. Easy in and out." He said.
"Yeah, you're right. Probably just anxious." I said.
"Everything will be fine. Let's get back to sleep, Tomorrow's going to be a long day." He said lying back down. I laid next to him using his chest as a pillow and draping an arm over his chest. I really hope he's right. I just couldn't shake this feeling.
The Next Day
Just as planned we left at sunrise. The walk to the town was uneventful. There were a few times we got close to a road that a truck passed by that we had to duck to avoid being spotted but other than that the walk was quiet.
When we were finally up a hill about a mile outside of the town, it was time to start getting ready. We spotted the bell tower at the edge of the town that would give Bucky the perfect position to cover us. As we got closer we noticed that there were trucks passing through the outskirts of the town in timed intervals. There weren't any clues as to whether it was Hydra or just an average German army supply truck so we decided to keep the element of surprise and watch for a bit before trying anything. A truck would pass by approximately every fifteen minutes, giving us plenty of time to get into the bell tower.
We waited for the next patrol to pass before finally making our move. Getting into the bell tower wasn't hard. It only took Steve one kick to get the door open. The bell tower was connected to a two-story warehouse. By the amount of duct collected and the labels on some of the boxes I assume it had been years since anyone had set foot in there.
"Everyone get your weapons and anything you think you might need. We leave in five minutes." Steve said.
Everyone quietly grabbed their guns and checked that they had enough ammo. I grabbed my pack and looked through it. I grabbed a basic medical kit and the spare.
I walked over to Morita and handed him one.
"You're going to need this." I said.
He looked confused as to what I was talking about until he saw what I was handing him. "Oh, I already have a first aid kit." He said.
"I know you do but this is a bit more specialized for any injuries you might have to treat." I said making him take the pack."
"I don't think I qualified for this." He said.
"Why do you say that?"
"I'm not a doctor. I know you still haven't finished med school but you have more experience than I do." He argued.
"Let me see your hands." I said.
"What?" He asked confused.
"Your hands. Hold them up."
He gave me a skeptical look but did what I asked. I looked down and said. "Not a single tremor. You have steady hands and a level head in stressful situations. Sometimes that's all you need. And as for the qualifications you can go to medical school after all this is over." I placed the pack in his hands.
"That's not going to happen. How many Asian doctors do you know?" He retorted.
I couldn't help but laugh. Most of my professors at Medical school were Asian. Hell my GP was Asian. "You'd be surprised. You should think about it."
I walked back to make sure I had everything before going to check on Steve and Bucky. They were upstairs at the top of the bell tower. Bucky was getting set up. When I got up there they were both kissing.
I was standing up leaning on the wall waiting to see how long it took them to notice I was there. I love watching them like this. It was so sweet to see how in love they were with each other.
My thoughts were interrupted by Bucky saying, "Nora, How long have you been standing there?"
"Not long, just wanted to say we're ready and tell you to be careful while we're out." I said with a smile.
"Better start heading down. Need to grab the shield." He said patting Bucky's shoulder and walking down.
I walked towards Bucky and hugged him. "Be careful and watch your back." I said.
"I will." He said before kissing my forehead. "Stay close to Steve. If you even feel anything's off even if you don't see it, get out of there okay?" The uneasy feeling from yesterday still hadn't gone away. I told Bucky it was just nerves but this felt different. I wonder if this was how Katya felt when she lived through what she had foreseen?
"I will." I kissed him and then let him go. "See you later." I said smiling. I walked down the stairs and met up with the rest of the team.
They were all ready and standing by the door. As it was decided before we split up and went our separate ways. Steve, Dugan, and I started at the outskirts of town and worked our way in. The patrols we saw earlier only focused on the perimeter but once inside, most of the town was empty. We hadn't seen any civilians around. We hadn't even seen any soldiers around.
"It's too quiet." Dugan pointed out.
"This place is a ghost town." I pointed out.
We went down a street and still didn't see anything, just more houses.
"Lets take a look inside, might find some clues as to where everyone is." Steve said leading us inside a small two story house. This house was as deserted as the rest of the town but whoever lived here left in a rush. The house was a mess like they were trying to pack anything they could. There was still food on the dinner table so whatever made them leave interrupted their meal.
"Nora, can you tell me what this says?" Steve said handing me a paper.
It looked like some sort of flyer. It was written in French but had a very distinct Swastika at the top.
"It says, 'To all citizens of the town of Oradour-sur-Glane. You are to pack one bag each and report to the town hall at once. Disobedience will be punished by death. Order has been given by the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler of the Third Reich, carried out by Sturmbannfuhrer, Adolf Deichmann'" I read out to him.
"So the town was evacuated?" Dugan asked.
"Why would they evacuate a town they invaded? Strategically it's a bad idea. You want to keep the civilians captive, use them as hostages in case anyone tries to take the town back." I argued.
"She's right, something else is going on. We might be walking into another Camp like in Poland." Steve said. That's not likely. If I remember correctly there weren't any concentration camps this far south. They weren't uncovered until towards the end of the war.
"We should try and get a closer look at the town square, we might run into any civilians that are still in the town or at least find out where they were taken." Dugan suggested.
"Sounds like a plan." Steve said.
We left the house and made our way closer to the center of the town. As we got closer we noticed that there were more patrols and soldiers around. Apparently they were housed in the houses and apartments closer to the center. It got harder and harder to get closer. There were checkpoints at throughout the road and patrols on foot and by car.
"Definitely not Hydra." I said
"Really isn't but we should still look around see if we can find any information on the next base." Steve said.
"The notice said everyone had to go to the town hall. I bet that's where we'll find any clues we can." Dugan said.
"Lets go, we're a small group. We go in and out with out anyone noticing." Steve said. "Then we head back to the bell tower and figure out our next move."
We found our way through the main barricade by climbing up on the roof of a nearby building and jumping roof to roof. Dugan was not particularly happy doing it but it got the job done.
Eventually we got down and ended up in yet another alley.
"Do either of you think this has been too easy?" Dugan said.
Why did he have to say that? And just when Steve started to answer him we heard a loud boom sound.
"What was that?" I asked.
"I don't know but it didn't sound too far away from here." Steve answered. "Come On this is our chance to get in there."
Steve was right, we needed to take advantage of the distraction to get in and then get out. We walked out of the alley and found that they were all distracted just as Steve had predicted. We managed to get into the Town Hall through a side entrance. There were Nazi banners decorating the halls.
It felt strange having to deal with regular German soldiers instead of our usual Hydra grunts but it was part of the job. To make matters worse, since Dugan had mentioned how this was all too easy, the weird anxious feelings from last night were back.
We made it through the first corridor and started looking through all the rooms to see if we could find anything. So far all the files were just census information. How many people lived in the town, how long they had lived there, and what their occupation was. Nothing out of the normal there.
"What you doing here?" We heard someone ask from behind us.
We turned around and standing there was a woman. She was a bit tall yet very thing. She was wearing a simple flower print dress. She looked tired and at a closer look I could tell she had a black eye that was still healing.
"Ma'am, we're here to help. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to know what happened to everyone else." Steve said, keeping his arms up so she could see he meant no harm and didn't have any weapons in his hands.
"What do you think happened?" She responded angrily. "That monster, he killed them all. Woman and children, he burned the men alive."
"Who did?" Dugan asked.
"That would be me," We heard a voice answer in a thick German accent.
We looked over to the doorway and standing there was a tall man dressed in uniform. From all the embellishments on the coat, it was easy to tell he wasn't your average foot soldier. He was a middle-aged man, with dark brown hair, with a bit of grey starting to come out.
"Who are you?" Steve said taking a step forward probably to shield me in case he tied anything. It was sweet of him to try but I think he kept forgetting about my habit of making force fields.
"Strumbannfuhrer Adolf Deichmann, and you must be the elusive Captain America." He said standing at the door.
"I am," Steve said in his patented Captain America voice.
"There were rumors you were in France, tracking down Schmidt and the rest of Hydra. I hate to disappoint you but you couldn't be farther from them if you tried." He said humorlessly. He then turned to the woman we found there earlier and grabbed her by the arm, "You are not supposed to be here."
She screamed. She was terrified of him. "Do you want to join the rest of the town?" He asked, more like threatening her.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Steve exclaimed.
"I'd be more worried about myself Captain." And when he said that the door burst open and armed soldiers rush into the room with their guns aimed at us.
"Shit." I heard Dugan say in a low voice.
"Our superiors have ordered any soldier of any rank to shoot you on sight. Any one who has a confirmed on you or any of your commandos gets promoted to the Fuhrer's inner circle." He said with a smirk. "It will be nice to return home."
He gave his soldiers a nod and they took aim. As soon as the trigger was pulled I managed to make a force field around the three of us.
"Great timing kid." Dugan said.
"We need to get out of here now. I can't hold this up much longer." I said starting to feel the strain of holding it up this long. The size of it wasn't helping either.
"They're blocking the exit." Dugan said, shouting over the sound of gunshots.
"It's blocked I have a better idea." Steve said, "Dugan, window. On the count of three let down the force field and run, I'll cover you."
"One, Two, Three!" He said and I let the force field down and got a running start to jump out the window. We were only on the second floor so besides a few bruises we were okay. Dugan landed first and then I did. Steve jumped a minute later.
"We got to move now." He said right before soldiers started shooting out of the window we had just jumped out of.
We ran but all the soldiers were on high alert and not as oblivious to us running away as when we were getting there. We ran until somehow we ended up running into Morita, Falsworth, Gabe, and Dernier.
"You three don't want to know what we found." They said just before another group of soldiers found us and started shooting at us.
"Talk later move now." Steve shouted. I managed to block the first few bullets but I couldn't keep the force field up and run at the same time.
I started running but we couldn't loose them and we didn't want to lead them back to the bell tower.
"They're still on our tail." Dugan said as we ducked into an alley.
"We need a distraction something to get them to go the other way." Falsworth said.
Dernier then took off his pack and showed it to Gabe. He said, "Les explosions font de bonnes distractions."
"What is he saying?" Steve asked.
"Explosions make good distractions." I answer as Gabe pulls out some grenades from the pack Dernier had handed him.
"There are three smoke bombs, six grenades, and one pack of C4" Gabe said.
"We time the C4 and lead them away from it. Half of us split up to go set it up the rest of us draw them away. Same groups as before." Steve said.
"Sounds like a plan." I said as everyone else agreed.
We split up and went to go grab the attention of a few soldiers. We led them a block away and lost them when the explosion went off. Most of the group of soldiers went to go see what was blown up while the rest of them kept going after us. We were a little over block away from the bell tower when they started firing at us again. Luckily they had really bad aim and in that moment someone started shooting at them. We took advantage of the commotion and ran to the rendezvous point. The other group was going in just as we got there. We barricaded the door, we stood around the room catching out breath.
"That was quite a work out." Falsworth said breaking the silence.
Everyone in the room just started laughing at that poor attempt of trying to lighten up the situation.
I was chuckling a bit when I felt a sharp pain in my side. I put my hand on my side out of instinct when I felt the pain. I started to feel a bit lightheaded. I moved my hand and I saw it stained in blood. My blood.
"Shit" I said right before I fell to the ground.
"Nora!" I heard someone probably Steve say. This shouldn't be happening. The stone should have healed this by now. It's healed any other bruises or cuts I've gotten. Hell I haven't even had so much as a cold since I got it.
"Nora what…" He started before he looked down and saw the blood. "Shit, Morita, she's been shot."
"Move her over here." I Morita say. Everything was getting really fuzzy. I felt cold. Not like the cold I felt when I jumped through time but different. I'm guessing it was the blood loss and my body slowly going into shock.
I felt Steve pick me up and I couldn't help but cry out in pain.
"Hold on sweetheart everything's going to be okay." He murmured.
He put me down on an area the guys had cleared and let Morita look me over.
"The bullet went in on your left side but there is an exit wound. You shouldn't be bleeding this much." He said worried.
"Internal… bleeding … must've nicked an artery or hit an organ." I said having a really hard time breathing.
"How do we…" Morita started to ask before he was interrupted.
"Hey is everyone, Nora!" I heard Bucky shout.
I just groaned, the pain was starting to dull a bit but that wasn't good.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Bullet wound to the left side. Through and through but nicked and artery or something." I heard Morita say.
"Why aren't you doing something? You need to stich her up." Bucky said sounding worried.
"Stop." I said softly. I couldn't really raise my voice. Steve heard and came to my side and held my hand.
"Nora, it's going to be okay." He said.
"Stop… guys, you need to listen." I said. "The bullet nicked an artery or maybe even hit an organ. Stitching me up isn't going to help."
"Then what do we do?" Bucky said standing on the opposite side as Steve.
"Nothing, there's nothing to do." I said starting to get really drowsy.
"No, there has to be something." Steve said.
"Internal bleeding, you have to go in and operate." Morita tells them.
"Then do it." Bucky exclaims.
"He can't… not enough… time, don't have… the equipment." I said out of breath.
"I'm sorry" Morita said.
"It's okay, it's not your fault." I murmured.
"This isn't supposed to happen." Bucky said. Steve just held my hand as he cried quietly. Tears were streaming down his face.
"It… is… what… it is." I say.
Bucky came up and held me as Steve put an arm around his shoulders and put his other arm around me
"I love you Doll." I heard Bucky say kissing the side of my head.
"I love you beautiful." I heard Steve murmur leaning his head against mine.
"I love you too, and I'm sorry, I wanted more time, with you guys." I said starting to cry. "I wanted to visit Brooklyn and see all the allies Steve got beat up in. I wanted to try a cannoli from that place you kept mentioning. I wanted a life with you guys." I said sobbing.
The rest of the team had stepped away to give us some space.
"I wanted a life, the three of us, after the war." I heard Steve said. "Meeting you was one the best things that's ever happened to me."
"I was terrified being captured by Hydra even worse when I got strapped to that lab table, but if I had to go through it all over again just to meet you, I'd do it in a heart beat. I love you Nora." Bucky said leaning his head on my shoulder.
"I need you guys to remember what you promised me. You go on with your lives like you would have if you never met me. Promise me you'll do it. Please."
"Promise." I heard Steve.
"I promise, doll." I heard Bucky struggling to say it.
"Thank you." I said getting sleepy. "I'm tired," I said as I closed my eyes.
"Nora please don't stay awake." I heard Steve shake my shoulder trying to get me to open my eyes but I just couldn't, I didn't have the strength to do it.
It got harder and harder to breath until finally I stopped and everything ceased to exist.
Side note, I need advice. If anyone could PM me I would like a second opinion on what I'm planning for the next chapter. Thanks :)