Chapter 4

When I woke up the next time, I was still in the hospital, much to my relief. It hadn't been a dream. I looked over at the chair that had last been occupied by Ranger, and I was completely shocked to see my father sitting there watching the TV above the foot of my bed on mute.

The Rangers were playing.

I found the remote with my left hand and pushed the button to come to sitting.

"Hi, Dad" I said with a small smile.

"I'm so sorry, Pumpkin," he replied.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"This happened because you were doing a favor for your old man," he grumbled. Then much to my horror, I saw tear in his eye as he cleared his throat. "I never meant for you to get hurt."

"It's not your fault, Dad," I reached out with my right hand and grabbed his when he returned the gesture. "You didn't know. If anything, it's my fault for not taking the case seriously enough. You said they thought something happened to Jason, and I didn't believe you."

"You didn't know," he responded in kind, offering me a small smile. "I'm glad you're okay."

"How long," I trailed off, unsure of how to ask. "Eddie took my statement earlier, but I didn't have a chance to ask any questions of my own. How long was I missing?"

"Eleven days," he told me. "Longest eleven days of my life."

"Are you sure?" I tried to joke. "Grandma Mazur does live with you now!"

"Don't remind me," he grumbled, offering me a pained smile. "You've been here at the hospital for two days."

"Who found me? Or how was I found?"

I looked up hearing a rap on the doorframe, and breathed out a sigh of relief when Ranger walked in. I'd been half afraid it would be Morelli, and I'd just dreamed of breaking up with him.

"A man dropped you off in the middle of the night during shift change when there was a lot of shuffling around happening and not a lot of paying attention. He left you in the ambulance drop off area in a camera blind spot." Ranger told me. "I've personally watched all the hospital surveillance videos as well as all of the camera angles we could get on any business in a two block radius. There's no sign of you, no suspicious or stolen cars, nothing. No hint of who the man was other than one shot of his outline from across the driveway of the hospital, and you can't see anything other than that it appears to be a large man carrying a smaller form. Didn't catch him on the way back."

"Must have been the man that saved me," I told him. "He was big."

"Do you know who it was, Steph?" My dad asked a little too eagerly. I had a feeling Ranger had asked him to ask me that question.

"No," I calmly replied. "As I told Ranger and Eddie, I couldn't really see him and I was still feeling the effects of whatever my kidnappers had me on. All I know is that he was big."

"How do you know he 'saved' you?" Ranger asked. "Maybe he worked for them and was in charge of making you go away."

In my mind, I flashed back to that moment. Only this time I was surprised to find that it was clearer. I could actually clearly see the man in my mind, and I was absolutely convinced I knew who it was. If I closed my eyes, I could practically feel his metal arm under me again.

But I didn't tell them that. Instead, I kept my eyes closed in memory and I sniffed. Opening my eyes I told them forcefully, "he smelled like gunpowder. Fire. Blood. And it was so quiet. He killed them all, and he took me out of there. He saved me."

Ranger went on alert, "you remember more. What else do you remember? Forget the man for now, we'll leave that be. Do you remember anything else about where they had you?"

"Did you not find it? How many explosions could there have been in Trenton that night?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"None that were reported," Ranger explained. "No gun fights other than the usual gang activity either."

"So then, I wasn't in Trenton?" I asked.

"You tell me," Ranger prompted.

I closed my eyes and thought on it really hard. Finally I admitted, "sorry, I have no idea. I don't remember anything outside my little room, and all I could really see there was the table I was on."

"That's okay," Dad reassured. "If that changes, you'll let the cops know. But it's okay."

Much to my surprise, my father fixed Ranger with a glare pretty much daring him to disagree. And Ranger kept quiet.

"Stephanie probably needs more rest now," my father insisted.

Ranger inclined his head toward my father and left with nothing more than a quick, "Babe" to me.

"That was impressive, Dad," I said when I heard the door click shut.

"I heard about Morelli," he told me. "Wanted to make sure nobody was trying to pressure you into anything you don't want."

I winced a little at Morelli's name, but to my dad, I said, "I appreciate that. It's not like that with Ranger though. He's a friend."

My dad looked at me highly skeptical, but what he said was, "I took care of paying your rent for the next month." He wouldn't make eye contact with me as he said, "since I know you didn't get paid while your leg was broken, and you didn't get any work done before you did this favor for me and got kidnapped so you weren't making any money then."

"Oh, you didn't have to—" my father just shot me a look I hadn't seen since I was a kid that told me in no uncertain terms that he didn't believe me. So I smiled slightly and simply said, "thanks."

He stood up and said, "now, how would you like to get out of here?"

I startled a little and looked around. "I can go?" I asked. "Just like that."

"The Doctor was here right before you woke up and signed the discharge papers. I can call them back if you'd like, but they said there was absolutely nothing wrong with you when you came in. A little dehydration, which they've treated, and you were clearly drugged but that's worked its way out of your system enough. You might be extra sleepy for a couple more days, so you should be careful driving or operating heavy machinery, but that's it. I came in the cab, and you can come home or I'll take you to your apartment. There's clothes for you in the bathroom."

I stood, and he said, "I'll get the car and bring it to the pick up."

I knew where that was. I'd been here before. So I walked into the bathroom and changed. When I came out, a nurse was waiting with a smile and a wheelchair. I was too excited to be getting out with so little fuss that I didn't even argue about the chair.

As I settled into it, I asked, "what about my leg? Did you take off my cast? Do I not need one anymore?"

"What?" She asked, looking puzzled and going through my chart. "We thoroughly X-rayed you and ran a bunch of tests when you first came in. I don't see anything here about a broken leg. Does your leg hurt?"

Thinking about it, I was surprised to realize it did not.

"No," I told her truthfully. Then because I did NOT want to stick around and do more tests or risk them putting me back in the cast, I said, "must have finished healing then!"

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, glad when she seemed to buy it and started wheeling me to freedom.

It wasn't the craziest thing ever, it had been almost two weeks since I'd been moved from the cast to the brace, and that was right when I could be re-evaluated by the specialist. Not that I'd been planning to pay for another doctor's appointment I had figured I would just take the brace off and see if my leg hurt or not.

At least now I knew for sure it was fine, and I didn't need to worry about that anymore! I needed to remember to call and cancel my follow-up appointment.

It was late when we went outside, and I was pleased to see my father waiting with the cab as promised. The nurse helped me in to the passenger seat, and then set a bag with my personal effects at my feet. As my dad started driving, I pulled it open.

Inside was my messenger bag, which Ranger had recovered. A quick check told me that he'd charged my stun gun and loaded my gun, and both of those were in the bag. I was all ready to go.

I had my dad drive me to my apartment, and after giving him a quick hug, I hopped out. I was glad to be home. Hopefully someone had fed Rex while I was gone.

I noticed a black Jeep parked in the parking lot, and when I pulled my keys out, I clicked the lock button on the fob attached to them. The Jeep honked its horn in acknowledgement.

Rangeman valet car service.

I took the elevator up to my floor and walked up to my door. I carefully undid the locks, and I pulled my taser out just in case. I was sure Ranger had made sure it was secure while I was missing and probably again once I was found. But he might not have been by in the last two days— I wasn't sure he knew I'd been discharged.

And I'd just been kidnapped. A little caution was probably warranted.

I opened the door and walked in, allowing it to shut loudly behind me.

I stood frozen for a moment, brain trying desperately to catch up with what I saw in front of me.

There was a man in my apartment. He was naked, except for a towel around his waist. A quick look around told me he'd made himself at home, and a second look at him told me he was gorgeously built. Even with the scars all over one side of his chest and up to where his metal arm attached at the shoulder.

He unfroze first and tried to shift to look unthreatening.

"It's okay; you don't have to be scared. I'm not here to hurt you." He looked so apologetic. "Sorry! Let me just get dressed, and then I'll get out of here. I didn't think you'd be back. At least not this soon. Don't be scared."

It was the second plea for me to not be scared that got me out of my stupor.

"It's okay," I rushed to tell him. "You can stay. I'm not scared of you."

The only way to describe the look on his face was haunted as he asked, "you're not?"

"I know who you are. I've read the SHIELD files that were released on the Internet. I know what was done to you." The hope I'd seen in his eyes was gone in a blink until I said, "plus, you saved my life. You can stay."

He stared at me for a few seconds, face carefully blank, then apparently saw whatever he needed to see in mine to know I was serious and nodded. He reached over onto what was definitely not the same couch that had been here when I last visited my apartment to grab a pile of clothes.

When the bathroom door shut behind him, I let out a shaky breath and stumbled my way over to the couch and flopped down.

No big deal. It was just the Winter Soldier, aka James Buchanan Barnes (my favorite of the Howling Commandos when we'd studied them in school) turned assassin by HYDRA. In my apartment.

"It's not okay," his voice said, causing me to jump because I hadn't heard him come back at all. "You are afraid!"

I cracked an eye open and said, "surprised. Not afraid. I was not expecting you here when I walked in."

He nodded to where I still had my stun gun clenched in a death grip in my hand, and I looked at it then immediately released it with an apologetic smile.

"You were expecting someone," he said simply.

"Oh this?" I said, putting the stun gun in question away in my bag.

He frowned and took my bag from me, then walked over to the charger on my kitchen counter, retrieved the stun gun, and plugged it back in. It would definitely still be charged the next time I left.

He turned back to me and was clearly waiting for an explanation so I shrugged and said, "people break in ALL the time, and I was just kidnapped. Figured I should make sure nobody dangerous was here when I got back."

The look on his face clearly said that he considered himself dangerous, and I just waved him off with a, "you're a good guy, so you don't count."

He stared at me again, and I knew I'd surprised him again. Finally he said, "not a lot of people would agree with you. In fact, I don't think there's anyone in the world who would agree with you."

"Not even Captain America?" I asked.

His face went stony again, and he asked incredulously, "you know Steve?"

"What?!" I was baffled. "Of course not. Just. You were his best friend, right?"

"If you know who I am, you know what I did. He of all people knows just how dangerous I am."

"I dunno," I argued, turning my back on him and walking over to the fridge out of habit. Opening the door, I continued, "there's a lot of people on the Internet who say that nobody but you could have pulled Captain Rogers out of that river with all those flying aircraft carrier things crashing down and gotten him out safely."

The fridge was, predictably empty, since I hadn't lived here in weeks. But — "What am I supposed to call you?" I asked.

He looked startled by the sudden change of topic, "Bucky works for me if it works for you, Doll."

"Sure," I agreed. "And it's Steph."

Bucky was pointing to the spot Rex's cage usually sat. There was a note from Ranger saying that Rex was at Rangeman until I was ready to pick him up. That was all the note said, but under it was a few hundred dollars in cash. I sighed, but picked it up and walked over to shove it in my bag.

"Boyfriend?" Bucky asked.

"Friend," I answered. "Ish. It's complicated. A few times he's been more, but it's not really anything. He cares about me though, and he knows I was basically out of money before this happened."

"I didn't take any. That's all of it," he reassured me.

"I didn't really think you had, but if you did it would have been because you needed it and that would have been fine. You staying?" I asked. He looked awkward, so I said, "you are more than welcome to, I'm just trying to decide how many pizzas to order."

"Three," he said. Then went over to a backpack on the floor and started pulling out fucking STACKS of cash. "I can pay."

I waved him off, though I was sure I was looking at him with bug eyes because he chuckled a little.

That chuckle should have been sexy, and I mean, I'd seen him basically naked and he looked GOOD. But I didn't feel anything sexual toward him, and it was honestly freaking me out a little.

Had my kidnappers somehow… damaged… me?

I shook my head and blinked back into focus when Bucky snapped his metal fingers in front of my face.

When I looked up at him, he ran his hand through his long hair and said, "I can find somewhere else to stay. I just hadn't found anywhere in Trenton yet, and when I checked on you at the hospital, everyone was talking about how you and some guy named Morelli were engaged and you'd been living with him. So I figured your apartment would be vacant for a little while. I was just going to stay long enough to make sure you were safe."

"Why do you care?" I asked. "Do you know who had me? Why were you there?"

Once the questions started, they just kept popping into my head.

His mouth twitched into a crooked grin, and I realized that the kidnappers definitely hadn't killed it. I just wasn't super drawn to him, but I could still appreciate his aesthetic and see it.

"Why don't you order the pies," he said. "Then, once we've eaten, we can put our heads together and see if we can figure out what's going on."

I called in the pizza order then took a quick shower while waiting for it. When the delivery man showed up, Bucky stashed his stuff out of sight and took up a position just around the corner from the foyer, presumably ready to spring into action in my defense if necessary.

We ate in silence, and I figured he must be hungry at the rate he plowed through slices. Then again, he'd been living on the run, and meals might have been infrequent.

I managed to hold my tongue when I was done eating until his pace at least slowed down.

"Soooo…" I started. "Were you following me?"

Bucky shook his head and around a mouthful of pizza said, "nah. I have ears in a few locations of interest. I can't listen to all of them real-time, plus I was trying to dodge other interested parties. Took me a few days to realize they had a prisoner on site at that location. Though I'd eliminated their last location, so it wasn't a surprise. Figured I should go in and see if I could get you out."

"Thank you," I replied automatically.

I didn't get the impression that Bucky usually talked very much, and I was surprised with how forthcoming that was. Still I had more questions I figured I should ask while he was feeling chatty.

"Who are 'they'?" I asked. It seemed like the obvious next step.

"Not sure," he told me with a shrug. "I was not terribly interested in them. I was following a supplier, trying to find a lead on a different customer of theirs. Got ears in that location because it was convenient at the time, but I didn't check all that often because they weren't my primary target."

"I'm confused," I told him. "You're being all vague and mysterious. This supplier. What do they supply and to who? For what?"

"People," he said bluntly. "I don't think they care what they are used for. They just fill orders. Though they do seem to specialize in specimens for experimentation."

I pushed my chair back and put my head between my knees as everything went fuzzy.

"Was I experimented on?" I asked him.

"Do you not know?" He asked, curiosity peaked.

Shaking my head I said, "I don't remember anything really between getting taken and you finding me. Just some people in… lab coats…"

I trailed off and went back to hyperventilating.

"This isn't good," I said. "I was experimented on? What did they do to me?!"

When I just received a blank stare and shrug, I freaked out more.

"Chocolate, I need chocolate," I declared. "Or ice cream. Doughnuts! Cookies!"

I stood and grabbed my bag with the cash Ranger had left me and my car keys in it. Then I stormed out of the apartment leaving a baffled former assassin behind.

At least I was pretty sure it was former...