Chapter 19
"Winter Soldier," Michael Burnow called out.
The Winter Soldier walked into the lab, face placid as usual. His eyes shifted from the table where the man was working on another one of his bugs and what looked like to be a batch of random chemicals. Most likely another attempt at perfecting the super soldier serum. He then turned to the man himself. He stood in the middle of the room, awaiting whatever orders he was about to receive.
Michael stayed silent as he tinkered with the robot bug. After a couple more minutes the scientist finally put his tools on the table and turned to the soldier. "I have an assignment for you."
The soldier stood up a little taller, ready to receive his orders. "Sir?"
"I need you to go to a certain location. Specifically in Maltese. There's something there that I need to complete my plans," Michael said. He gestured to the machine behind him. "It's important that I get it."
The soldier's face remained placid. The Winter Soldier nodded his head. "What is it that I am getting?" he asked in his monotone voice.
"It's called Gravitonium. My friend Ian Quinn has it and I need you to get it from him. You'll know exactly what it is when you find it," the scientist said, a dark smirk on his face. He turned back to the robot bug he was working on. "Get going. Now."
"Yes, sir," The Winter Soldier said, turning sharply on his heel and heading out of the lab.
Once he reached the hangar of the base he loaded onto the jet that he used for his missions. Typing in the coordinates into the GPS he was soon on his way. After a good ten minutes he put the jet on autopilot and stared out the front window. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes as he did so. He pulled out a phone from his pocket after another few minutes. He placed it to his ear, listening to the ringing as he waited for the answer. It rang four times before he heard a voice on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Steve? I'm coming home."
ooOOoo
Steve looked at his friend next to him. The dark haired man's leg was bouncing as he stared straight ahead. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he and Bucky rode the elevator up the tower. "You look nervous."
"I am…" Bucky admitted. He turned to his friend, worry all over his face. "She's going to hate me."
"She won't hate you," Steve said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "She'll be mad at you, but she won't hate you." He grinned as the second soldier rolled his eyes.
"That helps a lot," the ex-Hydra assassin said. He froze when the elevator stopped at his floor. He felt Steve's hand pat his shoulder once more.
"Everything is going to be okay."
Bucky turned around, stopping in the doorway. "Steve…how was she? While I was gone, how was she?"
The blond soldier pursed his lips, a sad look on his face as he stared at Bucky. "She was sad. She's been quiet and kept to herself basically every day. I've seen her crying a couple times. But you know how she is, doesn't like crying in front of everyone so she was in her room every day. We barely saw her. The day we got back after leaving you I had to help her to your floor. She blames herself, Buck… She thinks it's her fault that you lost your memories. Whenever I came to check up on her I'd find her on her computer searching for you. You saw how she reacted towards you in the streets. She was determined to bring you back."
Bucky's eyebrows arched up, his heart aching. He could already picture Tracey curled up on their bed, crying. He could see the tear streaks down her face, eyes blood shot and puffy with dark circles under them with lack of sleep. He squeezed his eyes shut and slowly nodded before looking at Steve.
"Thank you for looking after her…"
"I'll always watch out for her for you. 'Til the end of the line pal."
"'Til the end of the line," Bucky said with a sad smile. "G'night, Steve."
Bucky stopped in the middle of the main room. The lights were out, nothing looked touched. There weren't even dishes in the sink like there would be whenever Tracey was caught up with work. He wondered if she even ate while he was away. He smiled lightly down at Dexter as the dog came up to him, wagging his tail.
"Go lay down, bud," he said, scratching his head.
The dog obeyed and trotted back to his bed in the corner of the living room. Bucky smiled at the golden retriever as he watched him circle the large pillow before settle down. The super soldier looked down the long hallway that led to his and Tracey's room. His chest tightened. He didn't want to imagine what state Tracey would be in when he walked in. He already could take a guess, but he hated to think about it. Just knowing she blamed herself for him losing his memories killed him. He would never blame her for something like that. It wasn't her fault. It was part of the plan he, Steve, and Coulson came up with. It was to protect her. Not because of her.
Gently pushing the door open he was met with a dark, silent room. He crept in, doing his best to not make a sound. He glanced at the bed and sure enough there was Tracey curled up on top of the sheets. Looking down at her, he smiled lightly. He was going to get an earful tomorrow morning. He chuckled. He was honestly looking forward to it. He wanted to hear her voice again. See her get mad. Kiss her to make her stop yelling knowing full well she hated it when he did that. He wanted to pull her in his arms and stay with her like that for hours.
He quickly changed out of his uniform, tossing it to the side of the room (he'd pick it up tomorrow, right now he didn't care), and changed into a pair of sweatpants. He went back to Tracey and picked her up, tucking her under the covers. He brushed her hair out of her face and placed a kiss on her cheek before climbing into his side of the bed. Once he was situated he grabbed her waist and pulled her too him. God he missed this! Lying in bed with her after a long day, holding her in his arms and wrapping themselves in the blankets. He missed it so much. He missed her so much. He sighed closing his eyes and placed a kiss on her forehead before resting his head against hers.
He was nearly asleep when he felt Tracey move. He looked down at her and saw her slowly waking up. Looked like he was going to be explaining himself a lot earlier than he thought.
"Bucky?" Tracey gasped as she stared up at him with wide eyes.
He smiled at her, brushing a hand across her cheek. "Hey, doll."
Tracey's mouth fell open and her eyes grew wider. Tears were forming in them. "Oh my god…" she breathed. "Oh my god, Bucky!" she exclaimed jumping on him and wrapping her arms around his neck. She buried her face in his shoulder, her body shaking as she began to sob. "You're back. Oh my god, you're back."
"Yeah, I'm back, darling. Shh, I'm back," he said, stroking her hair. His metal arm wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly to him as she continued to sob.
"It's all my fault. If-if I hadn't gone to see him you wouldn't have gone to rescue me and you wouldn't ha-have lost your memories," she said, hiccupping between words. She tried to take some deep breathes, but they only came out as sobs and resulted in her burying her face in his shoulder.
"No, no, baby. It's not your fault. I went to protect you. I will always protect you. He threatened you and your family. You wanted to protect them. It's his fault. It was never your fault," he whispered, shushing her as he rubbed her back. He buried his face in her neck as he held her closer. He held back his own tears. He was relieved to be back, but he hated seeing her cry.
"H-how?" she hiccupped, lifting her head up to look at him. "How are you…do you…how do you…"
Bucky chuckled and lightly kissed her. "Shhh, it's okay, Tracey."
"How…how do you remember me?" she asked, breathing heavily as she tried to stop her sobs.
He smiled and wiped her tears away with his thumb. "I never forgot you. I could never forget you, baby."
"Bu-but you…you had your memories erased. I saw it happen," she argued.
"That did happen, but the first thing I saw when it was over was you. My memories flashed through my head when I heard you talking to me. You helped me remember. Don't blame yourself, darling. Please, don't," he said, kissing her again.
Tracey buried her face in his chest as he rubbed her back. "That sounds like something from a cheesy romance movie," she said with a laugh.
"Yeah, it does," Bucky laughed, making Tracey vibrate against his chest. He picked her head up and smiled at her warmly. "But as cheesy as it sounds, it's the truth," he said with a light chuckle at the end.
The hacker laughed again, wiping her eyes. Her smile fell and her face slowly grew to one of contemplation. Her brow furrowed as she sat up in bed and punched his chest. Bucky stared at her in shock as she punched his chest a second time.
"Tracey!" he said, grabbing her hands, sitting up with her. "What are you doing?"
"If you remembered why did you attack me and why didn't you come back with Steve, Coulson, and I?" she yelled, glaring up at him. "Why did you attack everyone in the street that day? You shot at me!"
He saw that coming earlier. He was hoping she wouldn't be mad when he explained, but it was too late now. He kissed her forehead only to receive a glare. He sighed and released her hands.
"I didn't do all that to hurt you. I wasn't trying to hurt you. I knew exactly what I was doing when I was 'attacking' you. I knew Steve would come when he did every time," he explained.
"What?" Tracey said, scrunching up her face. "What are you talking about?"
"When you were kidnapped by Burnow, Steve, Coulson, and I came up with a plan to rescue you. We planned for me to offer myself up to join him in exchange to let you go. But obviously he asked me to join instead of me offering. I was going to join him in order to get more information on what he was planning and I was hoping that he didn't have the chair, but it was unavoidable. I had to lose my memories."
"Did you even think of how you'd get them back? Didn't he wipe your memories after each mission?" Tracey asked.
"I was going to fight to keep them. That was all I could do. It worked though. And I think you're forgetting that when Steve busted into the room he kinda destroyed the control box. Burnow never got around to fixing it so he just thought I never got my memories back. I just played the part," he said, a grin growing on his face at the end. But it slowly fell as he frowned when saw the hurt look on Tracey's face. He could tell she still blamed herself for everything that happened to him. That was Tracey though. She worried about every mission and about everyone. He kissed her forehead, hoping to reassure her. "But I fought to keep my memories. I just thought of you, Steve, everyone. It worked," he said with a soft smile. It fell when she punched him again. He quickly grabbed her hands. "Tracey, I'm sorry!"
"You couldn't have told me?" she yelled, yanking on her arms to get them out of his grip.
"Darling, Steve, Coulson, and I were the only ones who knew. We didn't want to risk anyone else getting involved," Bucky said, doing his best to stop Tracey from struggling in his grasp. Which was pretty easy for him.
"I'm your girlfriend! You could have at least told me!"
"I'm sorry, Tracey, but I couldn't. I wanted to, but I couldn't."
"I saw you on the streets twice! You could have told me then," she said, glaring up at him. "I'm not a helpless girl. I'm a part of the team."
"I know, Trace, I know. But I couldn't tell you. I just couldn't. We couldn't take the chance of Burnow finding out."
Tracey finally stopped struggling, leading to Bucky letting her hands go. She glared up at him and laid back down on the pillow, turning her back to him as she laid on her side. "You're sleeping on the couch. Good night," she huffed.
The metal armed soldier blinked. "Are you serious?"
"Yes I am," she said, sitting back up. "You had me worried to death every damn day you were gone! I searched every street camera, every Hydra data base, Burnow's computer systems hoping to find you!"
Bucky leaned towards her and smiled. "You did all that for me?" he said, wrapping his arms around her.
She pushed him off. "Of course I did, you idiot!" She grabbed the comforter and pulled it over her as she laid back down. "You're sleeping on the couch!" she restated.
Bucky stared at her before sighing. He climbed out of bed, padding to the door. He looked back at her and bit his cheek as he watched her curl up under the blankets. "Tracey, I'm sorry. I really am," he quietly spoke as he headed out the door.
ooOOoo
Bucky gently pushed the door open and lightly walked into the room. Looking at the alarm clock he saw it was three in the morning, two hours since he came home and spoke with Tracey. He chuckled when he reached the bed and saw her. She was asleep with her body spread across the bed. The blankets were kicked off of her. Half of them were hanging off the bed and the other half covered only her legs. It was the usual position he found her in when she was having a fitful night. He couldn't blame her for having one tonight. He climbed into bed, pulling her frame to him and pulling the blankets over them. He held her close, making sure she was fully covered in the blankets before settling down on his pillow.
"I thought I said you were sleeping on the couch," came the mumbled voice of Tracey.
Her boyfriend looked down at her and chuckled when he saw her with her eyes still closed and her face half buried in her pillow. He kissed the back of her head, placing his chin on the top of it.
"I'm sorry, baby," he whispered.
It was silent for a few seconds before Tracey finally spoke.
"You're lucky enough I love you," she said, turning around and wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.
The super soldier chuckled, wrapping his arms around her frame and nuzzling his face into her hair. "I love you, Tracey."
"I love you too, Bucky. Just don't ever do that again," she said, tightening her hold on him as she laid her head on his chest.
Bucky smiled and lightly ran his fingers up and down her back. "I promise I won't. Without telling you at least."
"Good," Tracey said quietly, her eyes slowly closing.
Bucky smiled down at her. His fingers skated across her back as he watched her slowly fall asleep. When he could feel her even breathing against his bare chest he knew that she was finally sleeping. He pulled her closer to him, placing a kiss on the top of her head as he pulled the blankets over them. He finally got to sleep in his own bed again. He finally got to hold her again. He was finally home.
And thus answers the question of how they will get Bucky back. Yeah I had this chapter typed out for a LONG time. Like months. I didn't know when it would happen but I finally figured it out. I hope you liked it!
If you'd like to ask the Avengers, Madison twins, and anyone else any questions, feel free to leave a message on my tumblr. If you have a prompt for Life at the Tower (AUs), feel free to message me on my tumblr, PM me here, or leave it in a review.
My tumblr is winter-is-ending
So I mentioned I had two ideas for the Madison twins-verse. One is for after this story and the other I had gotten the idea while I was talking to Mistra Rose. I have the idea where I will write a story set in the First Avenger story line and have Barry and Tracey in it. I've actually been coming up with random ideas here and there for it they ever were in that story line and I kinda have an idea of how I want it to play out, but I'm still thinking things over. Let me know what you think of the idea :)
Thank you to AtLoLevad for beta reading this chapter! You're the best girl! Go check out her work! She's an amazing writer and her stories will make you smile non-stop until your cheeks hurt! I'm not kidding that's how I feel whenever I read her stuff! Go check her out!
Thank you everyone for the support! You guys are the best people ever!