"Buck, where are we going?" Lucy asked for the third time, her hands feeling the air in front of her.
"Don't take it off yet, that's cheating!" He warned when he saw her reaching for the blindfold covering her eyes. Lucy heaved a sigh, and he envisioned her rolling her eyes at him like usual. "Relax, we're almost there."
"You know I hate surprises." She argued. "Just tell me where we're going and why it has to be so secret."
Bucky just laughed. "Well that would defeat the purpose of it being secret, now wouldn't it? Besides you'll find out soon enough."
A minute later she piped up again, "I feel like an idiot walking down the street like this. I can't even see where I'm walking."
"Fine, you can take it off now, you made it." Joking, he added, "Only a dozen people gave you strange looks.
Lucy playfully glared up at him after pulling the blindfold off and handing it back to him. "So are you going to tell me where we are now?"
"Look for yourself." He said, stepping aside. She glimpsed up to see the Smithsonian building towering before her. "I had to get dressed up so we could go to a museum?" She asked unenthusiastically.
Bucky grabbed a hold of the door handle and swung it open. "It will make more sense once you get inside." Lucy remained skeptical, but agreed to follow him through the doorway.
Soft lights of different colors illuminated the room as the sounds of a jazz band filled the hazy air. Lucy glimpsed around the room to see an array of people milling about, some dancing, and some watching from the sides of the room. Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing, "It's like it's straight from the forties." She marveled. Shaking her head she added, "What—how—"
Bucky smiled and gently pulled her arm to move her out of the way of another couple coming through the door behind them. Lucy turned to see an elderly man, she estimated to be in his late eighties, if not nineties, guiding his wife over the threshold. He was outfitted in a long outdated military uniform from World War II, and she in a faded blue dress, her gray hair pulled up into large curls. Lucy couldn't help but catch their infectious smiles.
"The Captain America exhibit is being rotated to another museum at the end of the week." Bucky said into her ear. "This was the museum's way of having one last hoorah before it gets moved."
"How did you know we were going to be in D.C. at the same time as this?" Lucy asked with a smile.
He shrugged, "Just a bit of luck, actually. I happened upon the announcement by chance, but seeing as Robin was already directing us in this direction so she could finish up her research with the cipher, I figured it was some sort of sign."
Lucy just shook her head, still not knowing what to think. "I don't know what to say, Buck. I used to dream about going to one of these when I was a girl. It's a beautiful as I had imagined."
Bucky couldn't help but smile at the awestruck wonder in her eyes as she tried to take it all in at once. "Better late than never, right?" He said, waiting for her to take his arm.
She laid her head on his arm, following him to the punch table, "Definitely."
Lucy held the glass of red liquid steadily in her hands as they watched the couples drifting about the dance floor. She couldn't help thinking what things would've been like if circumstances had been different, if the war hadn't happened and she and Bucky had met in their own time. She wondered if they would've attended a real dance similar to the one they were at now.
One of the exhibits had been moved to make room for the stage, and the band of white suit clad musicians all sat to one side. They finished a song and a woman in a long glittered dress appeared to provide vocals for the next song. Lucy closed her eyes and slipped her hand into Bucky's as the band started up again.
"Chicago, Chicago that toddling town. Chicago, Chicago I'll show you around." The woman's smooth voice reverberated alongside the upbeat tune of the song.
Lucy's eyebrows furrowed, the familiarity of the song triggering something in her mind. "I love it bet your bottom dollar you'll lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago." She turned to face Bucky who just gave her a knowing grin.
"This song." She muttered, "M—my mom used to have this on a record." She raised her hand to her forehead in disbelief. "I can't believe I totally forgot about that. She spent a few years going to school over in Chicago and said she kept it as a memento of her time there.
"My dad would always groan and complain whenever she brought it out, warning us that the Fuhrer had outlawed jazz music and that we were surely going to get caught." She smiled, reminiscing of her father parading around the house, the three of them all in their pajamas. "He claimed he hated to dance and that he was no good, but my mother and I knew deep down that the times she put it on were his favorite."
Lucy looked back up to Bucky who was still grinning, as though he had known this all along. "What are you smiling at?" She asked.
"I saw it on the side table while we were at the apartment." He informed. "I put in a request before we got here." With one hand he motioned towards the dance floor.
"Oh, I don't think so." Lucy protested, realizing what he was implying.
"What, you just said yourself, you used to love dancing." He said, not backing down.
Lucy blushed, "Yeah, when I was six! I'm not actually any good!"
He simply chuckled, refusing to take no for an answer. "Well then I suppose it's a good thing you've got an experienced partner. I was quite the ladies' man back in the day now, don't you forget." Lucy just rolled her eyes and begrudgingly followed him out into the center of the room.
"You don't get to complain now when I step on your feet;" she warned, "you asked for this."
Bucky took her hand in his, the other resting on her hip. "I wouldn't dream of it." He replied simply. Lucy closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest as they swayed to the music.
"Do you think we're really going to be able to get these kids out?" Lucy asked as the band dove into the chorus once again.
Bucky exhaled slowly before replying, "We've got as good of a chance as anyone. We've made it this far, there's nothing to say we can't."
"I know, I just keep thinking what if we're too late?"
"Then at least we know we gave it everything we had."
The song came to a close and the musicians all exited the stage as a speaker climbed the steps to the platform. He motioned for everyone to gather in front of the stage before beginning his announcement. "I don't believe our next guest needs any introduction, however, the board was adamant I come up here anyway." The man said and laughter echoed around the good sized crowd. "It is only because of Captain Roger's selfless generosity that we are able to present to you tonight such a wonderful and authentic experience." Lucy raised an eyebrow quizzically at Bucky who seemed to be just as in the dark as she was. "So join with me in giving a round of applause for our very own, Star-Spangled Man!"
Lucy and Bucky watched in puzzlement from the back of the crowd as the speaker exited the stage and a line of chorus girls clad in shining red, white, and blue filed onto the stage. "No. Way." Bucky breathed, his mouth gaping incredulously.
"I thought he was off gallivanting with Natasha and Clint?" Lucy whispered.
Bucky's eyes followed the familiar figure of his friend as he scaled the steps to the stage, outfitted in his USO outfit from many decades prior. "Apparently he took the night off." He said trying to stifle a laugh.
Steve took his place in the center of the chorus line and waited for their music to begin. He tried to act natural but it was obvious to the two of them that he was extremely uncomfortable as he tugged nervously on the skin tight uniform. The music began and they all sprang into action, Steve trying to hide the embarrassment and shame from his face. Bucky couldn't help but laugh, and he did his best to stay quiet.
"Stop it, what if he hears you and finds out we're here!" Lucy said punching him in the arm. "That would defeat the purpose of us being undercover with no contact to S.H.I.E.L.D." Bucky took a deep breath, trying to hold it in.
"I'm sorry, but just look at him, he looks ridiculous!" He said, not able to hold it in any longer.
Lucy watched as Steve unenthusiastically fake punched the man dressed as Hitler and delivered his line. She turned back to Bucky, her body shaking with the laughter she was struggling to contain inside. As soon as their eyes met she busted up, raising her hands to her mouth in an attempt to quiet herself.
"Shhh!" Bucky said fighting laughter of his own. Seeing an entrance to one of the walkthrough exhibits nearby, he grabbed her arm and they ducked out together heading for it. Once inside, away from the crowd they were finally able to let out their pent up laughter, Lucy wiping away the tears running down her face.
"We're horrible people aren't we?" Lucy said as she took deep breaths trying to compose herself.
Bucky stood with his hands on his hips. "He apparently agreed to it, so I don't think we can be blamed."
They both looked and realized they had walked into the Captain America exhibit. She sighed and leaned against Bucky's shoulder, "You know, the first time I met him I thought he was half out of his mind."
He chuckled and replied, "So did I. Though I'm still not entirely sure he's not."
Wordlessly they strolled through, looking at the different pieces of memorabilia displayed under the glass. Slowly they came to a stop in front of the wall dedicated to Bucky, both already knowing what it said.
"Do you ever wonder what it would've been like if the war had never happened?" Lucy asked, her arms hooked around his waist, his arm draped over her shoulder.
"All the time." He answered somberly. The both turned at the sound of someone entering and saw that it was the elderly couple they had run into earlier at the door.
"I've seen that fool dancing around on stage enough times in my life, what's one more going to do." The woman in the blue dress said waving away her protesting husband. Lucy smiled, her mind unconsciously envisioning her own life down the road.
The couple shuffled their way towards Lucy and Bucky who smiled and waved politely. "You two are such a lovely couple." She crooned, approaching the two of them. "You're a lucky man." She added. Lucy blushed and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear.
"That I am, ma'am." Bucky answered. The old woman nodded in satisfaction. She stared a moment before her countenance changed to one of contemplation. Shuffling around, she looked up at the picture on the wall, then back to Bucky.
Lucy nudged Bucky, worrying their cover was about to be blown. "You know, you look an awful lot like him." She commented thoughtfully.
"Gladys, stop bothering the poor kids." Her husband said, joining them.
She looked back and forth between him and the picture a few more times before announcing decidedly, "No, your nose is too big. And the chin isn't quite right."
"Come on Gladys, leave them alone." Her husband pleaded and ushered her away.
Bucky and Lucy watched as the couple hobbled away, Bucky's mouth agape. "Ouch." He said feigning hurt. "I take offense to that."
Lucy couldn't help laughing at his expense. "Hey, at least she didn't find us out. Come on, I think they're done out there." She said heading for the door, leaving him behind. "And bring your big nose." She added with a big grin.
Outside in the foyer the staff was working at getting the projector and chairs all set up. "Oh this is a good movie." Bucky noted.
"The Great Dictator." Lucy read. "What is it?"
"It's a Chaplin film, one of Steve's favorites. Then they started using it as propaganda for the war, which he hated, but somehow it only made him want to go fight even more." Bucky chuckled, reminiscing. "He forced me to go to the theaters with him three different times just to watch that thing. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one who picked it."
"I've never seen a Chaplin movie." Lucy commented, and Bucky looked at her in shock.
"How dare you." He said sarcastically.
"What?" She asked defensively, "I've been kind of busy with a lot of better things to do." He simply shook his head disapprovingly as they picked their seats.
"Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost..." Chaplin's character bellowed from the screen, passionately giving his speech, the movie nearing its end.
Lucy felt her throat tightening as she listened to the words, not so much because the speech was moving, though it was. Rather, it was because the words were familiar and she had just placed where she had heard them before.
"You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure." Lucy felt overwhelmed at the deluge of emotions and memories swimming in her head. Quietly she slipped out from under Bucky's arm and scurried her way to one of the side doors, thankful that it lead outside.
Once out in night air she took several deep breaths, feeling her head clear a bit. "Mind if I borrow one of those?" She asked the lone man leaned against the brick, a pack of cigarettes in his hand.
"No problem." He said, offering one to her. "You look like you could use one. Rough night?" He asked as she took the first puff, letting it out with a sigh of relief.
"Something like that." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "You?"
""Something like that." He said with a forced smile, echoing her words.
"Lou, there you are. I didn't know where you went." Bucky said, opening up the door to find her standing under the glow of the streetlights.
"Hold the door." The man said as he put the end of his cigarette out on the brick and let it fall to the cement below.
"Good Luck." He said as he passed Lucy.
"What are you doing out here?" Bucky asked after the door latched shut. "Everything alright?"
Lucy didn't reply, but took another puff off the cigarette, letting the smoke billow from her lips. She hadn't smoked in years, but this time she was making an exception. "Do you remember the time we first met?" She asked finally, her eyes meeting his. His chest tightened at the pain he saw in them. "I don't mean on the Bus with S.H.E.I.L.D., I mean the first time we met."
Bucky took the cigarette from her hand and drew in a deep breath of his own, allowing her to continue. "I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't, you were pretty out of it for the most part. They had just brought you in, and you still had your Howling Commandos uniform on, though it wasn't in the best shape. I remember they strapped you down and all we could hear echoing through the room was your agonizing screams. They dragged me in and started shouting at me to fix you, but when I looked at you and saw that your entire arm from the elbow down was missing I knew there was nothing I could do.
"I tried to explain to them that I could only heal injuries, I can't just regrow an entire limb, but they wouldn't have it." Lucy could see it playing out before her eyes and she paused to take a long drag of smoke before continuing. "I couldn't have been more than thirteen, I was scared out of my mind. I was scared of what they were going to do to me if I didn't succeed, afraid of what would happen to you if I didn't try. They forced me to attempt it anyway, but of course it didn't work, all it did was prolong the suffering of everyone involved. Finally someone couldn't take your screaming and my crying anymore so they dosed you with morphine and threw us both in a cell together, hoping that somehow I'd get it to work."
Bucky sighed, the memory foggy and in pieces, but still there. "After a few minutes I heard you mumbling something through the haze of all the drugs they'd given you. The only English I knew was from what my mother had taught me, but the words you said stuck with me. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress." She said.
"And I began to realize you were quoting something, something beautiful and profound that I had never heard. I didn't think hope even existed anymore, but there you were telling me it did." Lucy closed her eyes, his words still committed to memory word for word. "The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people.—"
"And so long as men die, liberty will never perish." Bucky interjected, finishing for her. Finally he understood why the movie had hit her so hard. "Steve had us all memorize it—to keep us fighting when we felt like giving up—to remind us why we were fighting."
She lifted a hand to brush away a tear that had managed to escape. "I vowed then and there that regardless of what happened, regardless of what they did to me, I would fight to save those that couldn't fight for themselves. Clearly I followed through on that real well."
Bucky tossed the nearly finished cigarette aside and pulled her into his arms. "We didn't have a choice in what we did then, but we're making up for it now. Speaking of which, that's probably Robin now." He said, drawing the ringing cellphone from his pocket.
"Any luck with the cipher?" He asked, waiting for her reply. "Sounds good, we'll be back in just a bit." He said after a moment.
"She get anything?" Lucy asked after he hung up.
"The testing facility is in the Arctic, leaving as soon as we can." Bucky answered.
"Of course it is." Lucy said with a sigh. "I guess I better get the parka out again."
I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter up, I've been really busy! I hope you are all enjoying, there are only a few more chapters left! Let me know what you think, you guys who review are the literal best!