It'd been a week since that day, the faithful day when Fury had told you everything he had known about you, and for that whole week no one had brought it up. Everything had been back to 'normal' after that day, everyone treated you the same—everyone but Clint, Natasha, and Fury acted normal around you. Your relationship with both Clint and Natasha had changed in your point of view, you hadn't talk to them since the that day, unless it was work related. You managed to keep away from them by submerging yourself with searching for Bucky, but it wasn't going anywhere. It had become impossible to find him, no trace of him could be picked up. He had disappeared from your radars, like he always seemed to do.

You were staring at your computer, eyes hurting from barely blinking, the screen blinking with words reading 'no match' brightly. It was getting tiring; you were failing at finding clues of his whereabouts. You looked at your watch, it was lunchtime. With a sigh, you got up and decided to walk to a little diner not too far from the tower. It was nice outside, and you felt better, inhaling some much-needed fresh air. You took your time, enjoying being outside after a long period of being encaged in that place with a computer mocking you.

You were a couple of blocks away from the diner when you felt eyes on you. You decided to walk close to a store, so you could see who was walking behind you. There was not a lot of people which was kind of weird because it was lunchtime in Manhattan. Ignoring the lack of pedestrians, you were able to see the reflection of a guy in a brown jacket, boots, shaggy looking jeans, glasses and a cap. He was the odd one out, everyone else around him were in suits. He wasn't far behind from where you were.

You got to the diner, and as usual, you were greeted by Nancy. "Hello, dear. It's been a while since I last saw you here, want me to bring you the usual?" said the woman, carrying the smile you had come to get used to.

Smile on your face, just like hers, you replied, "you already know, Nancy."

Once she had gone back to the kitchen, you let out a sigh, thinking how stupid it was for you to think someone was following you. You didn't get to dwell much on that thought, the next client came in, making the bell ding, thus breaking you from your thoughts. Your breath hitched up, the same guy that you had believed was following you had come in and taken a seat at the booth that was almost hidden from view—dark from being situated at the far corner of the diner.

You could see him, and he could see you too, but he wasn't looking at you. There was no need for you to freak out, he could've just decided to eat her just like you. You were just being paranoid about it all, he wasn't even looking at you, you were the one staring at the man.

"Here's your drink, sweetie. The food will be out in a minute," said Nancy. Your eyes snapped up and you gave her the sweetest smile, "thank you."

She made her way towards the man, and you immediately snapped your head down, he could look at you staring while he gave his order. Sneaking a peek, you saw him talking to Nancy, face barely raised to talk. Once Nancy had moved to place his order, his eyes landed on you just as you had looked away. His face was hidden by the cap and the lack of light, making it impossible to see him clearly without full on showing your intentions to identify him. Throughout your meal, you could feel eyes on you, but you were not going to look up, there was something about this man that told you to not look. But you knew that sooner or later you were going to mess up and look at him, on purpose or not.

By the time your food had arrived, you came to the conclusion you were just being paranoid, and the reason for that could be easily blamed on your more than present dreams. They had become merciless, and now they had turned from restless, vivid dreams, to painful, dark, too real to bear dreams. You could swear they had done things to you, experimented on you but nothing came from it; or at least that's what life and the dreams told.

You were done eating your delicious meal, ready to leave, and head back to the uncomfortable chair and the mocking computer. You paid for your meal, leaving a nice tip for Nancy, and with your things put away on your pockets, you stoop up. Heading out, you glanced at Nancy who had said 'bye, dear' and while you replied, your eyes landed on the man. A reflection of his wrist almost made you stop on your tracks. He had extended his arm to set the money down, and by accident he had showed some…metal. Your heart was racing, trying to escape from chest, you wanted to see his face, you needed to be sure it was him. Before you had the chance to do anything else other than work your brain, you had walked out of the diner, and you knew he was soon to follow your lead. Once outside of the diner, you didn't stop to see if he would follow or not, but something in you told you he would. You walked past a store, and when you glanced at its window, you saw the same man not far behind you. This time around there was no doubt of the identity of the man, he was closer than before, so it was easy to confirm that he was James Barnes.

You kept on walking, steady pace, trying to act as if you hadn't noticed him following you.

You were now close to the tower but decided to go to the parking lot behind the tower instead of the main entrance. It was a wrong move because now on the reflection of the windows it was obvious that he knew that you were being followed but he didn't care. He was walking rather fast and it wasn't helping with the ever-growing anxiety within you. The parking lot wasn't full nor empty, there was too much space for you to try to hide. You stopped on your tracks and so did he. You turned around hesitantly, and there he was, James 'Bucky' Barnes, standing in front of you. The man was in front of you, he wasn't close, but he wasn't far either. There was a sharp silence between the two of you, and it was making your heart beat too fast for a woman your age.

"Why are you following me?" your voice broke the silence. You'd intended to sound confident, no trace of fear on you, but because you're you, it came out rather shaky.

"I don't really know. To be honest, sometimes I act without really having control of myself." His eyes never left you while he spoke. While his stare was intense, his voice was rather soft.

Before you could stop yourself, you said, "do you even know who I am, or do you remember me from the day we tried to bring you in?" Your eyes widened at that. You shouldn't have said things that would make him reconsider his actions and run as far away from you. Too shocked at your words, you hadn't realized that he hadn't bolted, in fact, he hadn't moved a muscle.

"Yeah, I remember that day. You and the red head, seen her before too, but you are the one who is more like a memory than a regret," said Bucky, words coming out softly. For a second your heart swelled at his pain—his regrets. His words confused you at first but then they had clicked. He knew Natasha from that mission where she got that scar, she carried on her lower stomach and when he had tried to kill her when she was in the run with Steve.

"I've come to remember memories that I didn't know I had with you. I guess we are both fragments of a life we ceased to know," you said with a small voice. "You and I have known each other since I was a little girl for all I know, you trained me when we were under…under HYDRA."

The back of your eyes started to sting, you were talking to him about this, the person who had been part of a life you hadn't known existed until a couple of weeks ago.

"You have a tiny scar on the back of your shoulder," he blurted, your eyes going wide at the knowledge of that. "you were seven when you got it. You had been running through the forest trying to get out. That had been your first day in training outdoors, and you were so scared, but you didn't show it until you were alone. I had been told to look after you without you knowing.

"You ran until you couldn't, and in your state of exhaustion, you tripped and fell backwards right onto sharp rocks. One of them pierced through and left that scar you now have; saw when you got it stitched." He was closing the gap between you two. You were rooted to the floor, while he spoke, pictures of what he told flashed through your mind. He was helping you bring memories back without his knowledge.

"Have you been having memories of me?" you said, voice barely audible.

"Of you, your training, mine, and who I was before it all." He looked down at you, eyes gleaming with something you couldn't place. "Most of the ones with you are from when you were little, a lot of them I find myself training you and being told not to be easy on you, but not too harsh either. Toughen you up, I believe they wanted. There are some where you look older, your early and late-ish teens," he said, his voice never higher than a whisper now that he was closer to your form.

"I can't believe you've been having these flashbacks, just like I have. These means all your memories are coming back, you're starting to remember all of just now?" Your mind was racing, clouded with so many questions, all the while your body seemed to be filling with hope, happiness, and understanding.

"It's been almost two years or maybe more since I was last wiped by them." The thought of who "them" implied seemed to make him angry, his voice coming out almost a growl at the remembrance of those monsters.

"You remember enough to know who you are, where you come from, how long they kept you?" All he did was nod his head, his eyes showing emotions his face refused to show. Your eyes were on his face, your eyes admiring the unfamiliar yet familiar man's face.

"Bucky, do you know what my job is and for who I work for?" This was your chance to offer him a chance to feel safe, for him to be helped be free from the chains HYDRA still held him with.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. Why? Are you trying to take me in again?" He said, slight smirk on his face. He could read you so easily, and that idea alone made you blush lightly.

"Yeah, you know enough. We can help you, and you can help me," you said. That last bit was said with a hopeful voice.

"What do you mean 'help you'?" he said, a brow arching as he looked down at you. The closeness making the height difference noticeable.

"I just found out who I really am. I can tell you everything if you come with me," you said to him. Hopefully the raw emotions within you would make his heart swell, and willingly come with you.

"How do you know they want to help me? For all I know they could just make me their killing machine. I am an assassin after all, I've killed a lot of people. I'm not going to do that again. I hate them for doing this to me," he said with a voice raw with emotions—anger, fear, and exhaustion.

"They won't, I won't allow Fury to do that to you." There was an anger surging through you, hatred to those who had hurt him. That same flame you had felt when you confronted Fury during the meeting wanted to come out. You sighed, calming yourself before deciding your next move. You grabbed his metal hand slowly while looking at him. You wanted to let him know that you were saying the truth.

He looked down to his metal hand, and then looked at you, "I'll hold you to that, милая."

"What?" Your head snapped up so fast; he had called you the nickname that had been resonating in your head. It was Russian for 'sweet' and for some reason coming from his lips, it sounded right.

"Sorry, it slipped out," he said not looking at you. A rosy color adorned his cheeks, it only made your heart pound all the louder, and now not from the anxiety from earlier. It seemed almost weird to see this man blush, but a tiny smile graced your lips knowing that you had caused this man such reaction.

"No, it's fine. It sounds right coming from you, it sounds as if you are the only one who can call me that." The blush you had previously sported, now, it was a couple of shades darker.

His eyes shone a little, unspoken emotions were starting to pour but you had yet to understand them. You two stood there, eyes just gazing at the pair in front of them. The once stiff, almost awkward tension was gone, it was now replaced with a sense of safety and an unspoken love.

"We better get going," you broke the silence softly. "Steve is probably going to cry. You are about to face quite the emotional man." You hadn't wanted to talk and go back to face problems, you wanted to be selfish and soak on the raw emotions that were surrounding you both, it had been a while since you had felt this happy and you wanted to bath on it until it was pouring out of you.

"I remember that punk. Still foggy, but it's getting better," he said smiling to the memories a little.

"We are going to be bombarded with questions. If it's too much, I'll stop them. Although, I feel like at first, we'll have to deal with them trying to attack you. Don't worry, I'll kick their sorry butts." You made your way to the elevators, Bucky right next to you.

Things were going to be interesting once you convinced the team that Bucky meant no harm to anyone. You knew things weren't going to be forgotten easily, you knew he had to fess up everything he'd done under HYDRA—at least what he remembered. It would take time, patience, understanding, and much love for the man to be able to put back the pieces that had been thrown around for him to aimlessly find. There was always the possibility that there were things he didn't know about his training, there could be an unknown way for him to be triggered into the man he was trying to erase. Nevertheless, he'll have you there along the way and you were going to make sure he could be comfortable with the scarred skins we wore.