Chapter 20
Stirring awake, he slowly opened his eyes. He groaned and flung an arm over his eyes, blocking out the sun that was peeking through the blinds on the windows. He rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow and pulled the blanket over his head. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to fall back asleep. It was impossible. Especially when he heard a soft groan coming from next to him.
Bucky peeked his eyes open and smiled at Tracey as she laid curled up next to him. Hands clutching the blanket to her and her face partially buried in her own pillow. He chuckled when she subconsciously pulled the blanket closer to her and away from him, initiating him to pull not only the blanket, but her as well, to him.
He placed a kiss on her cheek and smiled when she curled up into him. Placing one last kiss on her forehead he rested his head on top of hers. He held her tighter to him and sighed. God it was great to be back and away from the mad man!
He smiled and placed another kiss on the top of his girlfriend's head. He missed this so much.
"Stop kissing me and let me sleep," Tracey mumbled, lazily swatting a hand at his arm. She turned over and wrapped a leg over one of his.
Bucky laughed and kissed her cheek. "I think it's time to get up," he said, smiling down at her as she buried her face in his chest.
"No, it's time to sleep," she said, rolling onto her stomach and moving out of his grasp.
The super soldier laughed and grabbed her waist, dragging her back to him. "I'm pretty sure it's time to get up," he said, kissing her neck. He chuckled when the blonde woman began to squirm in his arms.
Continuing his assault of kisses he wrapped his arms around her, placing kisses along her neck, cheeks, anywhere he could kiss. He smiled as Tracey giggled and laughed, trying to push him off.
"Stop! You need to shave," she said, pushing his face away as she laughed. "And I mean it this time. Did you not take care of yourself while you were gone?"
"I was supposed to be a brainwashed soldier working for a mad scientist. I don't think grooming myself was necessary for his plans," Bucky laughed, kissing her cheek.
"Well it should have been," Tracey giggled, pushing his face away again. She smiled up at her boyfriend as he laid next to her, but held his upper body over her. Continuing to stare up at him, she chewed her cheek. "Is Burnow expecting you to come back?" she asked slowly.
"Yeah, he is," the super soldier answered. A smile pulled at his lips. "But I'm staying. You're stuck with me," he said, leaning down and kissing her.
The hacker smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Good," she said, kissing him back.
Bucky's arms tightened around her, holding her as close to him as he could. God! He missed being himself again. He missed being back where he belonged. He missed her so much. He missed holding her in his arms. He missed falling asleep and waking up with her next to him. There was no way in hell he was going to leave her in the dark like that again.
He kissed her lips once more before trailing kisses along her jaw and to her neck. Memorizing every curve of her face as if it was the first time. He ran his hands through her hair, feeling the soft locks through his fingers. He breathed her in, loving how she smelled. He missed her so much. The thought of her seeing him as the Winter Soldier broke his heart. Having the orders to kill her angered him. Then there was the moment in the street with Tracey where she threatened him with a gun. He was heartbroken when he saw the look in her eyes. The fear. The worry. The determination. He wanted to pull her into his arms right then and there.
"Bucky," Tracey said as Bucky continued to kiss her neck. She gently pushed on his chest, trying to signal him to get off. He didn't budge. "Bucky," she said with a bit more force. She was quickly silenced with a kiss to her lips. This one felt harder than normal. A bit more possessive. She shook her head free and to the side. "Bucky!" she almost shouted. "Stop!"
The super soldier didn't seem to hear anything the blonde woman was saying. He only held her tighter In his arms and continued to kiss her.
He nuzzled her hair before he placed a kiss to her ear. "Я так по тебе скучала дорогая," he mumbled against it.
Tracey blinked. He had just spoken Russian…
"Bucky?" she repeated as she pushed his head away. "Bucky!" she shouted.
The metal armed man took in a sharp breath as he blinked, coming out of whatever state he was in. He lifted his head up and looked down at Tracey, who had a worried look on her face. Bucky's eyebrows arched up as he looked at his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I…I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No," his girlfriend said, shaking her head. She sat up as he backed away. "Bucky…what did you say just then?"
"What?" the super soldier asked, turning his head back to the blonde.
"You were speaking Russian."
Bucky's eyes widened. "I did? I've never done that…only when I lost control on missions."
"Can't control yourself around me, huh, Sergeant?" Tracey said as she grabbed his hand, a smirk on her face, hoping to lighten the mood.
"Guess so," Bucky chuckled.
"What did you say?" she asked after a moment of silence. She grabbed his arm and hugged it to her as she kissed his shoulder. "You said something that I remember you saying to me when we were on the streets."
Bucky thought over all the words he said to her in Russian before he smiled. "дорогая," he said, kissing the top of her head. "It means 'darling'. I missed you, darling."
"Darling?" Tracey repeated. "Then what did you tell me?"
"I was telling you to run. The two times we were on the street I wanted you to run. I wanted to tell you so badly, but I couldn't. I'm sorry," he said, frowning as he stared at her.
The hacker shook her head and kissed his cheek. "Just as long as you don't do it again without me knowing, I forgive you."
Her boyfriend chuckled, nodding his head. "Alright. But I'm going to need to teach you how to shoot. You're a horrible shot!" He laughed when Tracey pouted and punched his arm. "Where were you aiming? Because it looked like you were aiming at my chest."
"I was…" Tracey mumbled, looking the other way.
"And you shot my arm?" he laughed. "You're not allowed to use a gun now!"
"What happened to teaching me?" she scoffed, glaring at him.
"I'm starting to think no amount of training will help you," he grinned, kissing her cheek. "Plus," he said, wrapping her up in his arms, "I don't like the thought of you having a gun. You're too nice for that."
"I can't be mean?"
"Oh no, you can be mean. I know firsthand. You're mean to me," he chuckled.
"I'm pretty sure you're the one being mean," she grumbled, turning away from his grinning face.
Bucky held her against his chest and kissed her temple. "God I missed you, doll."
Tracey slowly turned back around in his arms and wrapped hugged his waist. "I missed you too, Sergeant," she said, curling up against him.
ooOOoo
Tony stopped in the middle of the floor, staring at the super soldier who was sitting casually on the couch next to Tracey and Steve. He looked from one person to the other, brow furrowed. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to register what was going on. He looked at all the others from the two teams as they sat around in the living room.
"What the hell is Jack Frost doing here?" he basically shouted. "Did I miss something?"
"Glad to see you finally decided to come up from your man cave," May said with a very small chuckle.
"Yeah yeah," the billionaire said, waving a hand dismissively. "Alright, so can someone explain why Jack Frost is here?"
"That's what I was about to explain," Coulson spoke up. "When Tracey was kidnapped, Steve, Bucky, and I had the idea of having the Winter Soldier working with Burnow."
"Okay," Tony said, elongating the word. "Keep going."
Coulson rolled his eyes good naturedly, a small smile on his face. "Bucky would work for Burnow and get the needed information on what he's working on."
"Did you find anything out?" Bobbi asked, turning to the metal armed soldier.
"He's been working on the super soldier serum and the bugs the whole time," Bucky answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "But he had me hunt down a Hydra scientist to get information from him. He knew something about an object that Hydra had information on. Something called Gravitonium."
Silence filled the room as Coulson and his team stared at the soldier before looking between themselves. The Avengers and Madison twins looked around the room, checking to see if the others were as confused as they were. They looked back at the second team, brows furrowed as they waited for someone to speak up.
It was Sharon who broke the silence. "What's Gravitonium? Clearly you have dealt with it before."
"They have," Lance said, motioning to everyone, but him, Bobbi, Mack, and Trip. "We've only heard about it from a report on that mission."
"It was Dr. Franklin Halls work," Jemma spoke up, a solemn look on hers and Fitz face. "He was our mentor in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy."
"I remember hearing about him," Sharon said, nodding her head. "I never got the chance to meet him."
"He was a man," Jemma said, staring at her lap.
"But he um got mixed up with a man named Ian Quinn," Fitz added in. "He created an element called Gravitonium and Quinn wanted his work for himself."
"It turned out that Dr. Hall wanted to destroy the Gravitonium so that Quinn wouldn't be able to use it. In the process he was going to destroy Quinn with it, himself as well," Coulson said. He took a deep breath. "In the end the Gravitonium consumed him and he was killed. S.H.I.E.L.D. took custody of the Gravitonium, but because of Hydra's infiltration they now have it."
"So Bugs for brains wants this new element for what?" Sam asked, raising a brow.
"Gravitonium possesses the ability to control gravity," Jemma informed, looking from one Avenger to the next. "Whether it's reversing gravity's pull or increasing it, we won't be sure what Burnow's exact plans are."
"Basically we just need to stop him," Clint said, a stone cold face as he registered the new given information.
"Exactly," Coulson said. "We need to get the Gravitonium from Hydra before Burnow gets a hold of it and stop him before he can do anything else."
"Yeah, but now that Buckaroo's left his little pity party won't he realize what's happened and won't he move bases?" Tony asked, folding his arms.
"He technically doesn't know where I am," Bucky said, a smirk growing on his face as he looked at the billionaire scientist. "He thinks I'm in Malta getting the Gravitonium from Quinn. I can retrieve it from him and bring a small team back to his base."
"That's not a bad idea," Steve said, placing a hand on his chin. "I can go with. I've been to the base already and can find my way through it pretty well. Coulson and May can go with you to Malta, they've dealt with Quinn before so they'll know his tricks and can take him down fast. Then Skye or Tracey can go to Burnow's base as well and shut down any security and extract any files from him so no one else can recreate the bugs and serum or anything else he has in his database."
"I can go," Tracey spoke up, looking from Steve to everyone else.
"No," Bucky said, his brow furrowed. "I'll take Skye with me."
"Excuse me?" Tracey said, raising a brow at the soldier. "I think it's better if I go. I've already been at Burnow's base and I've been through his database a couple times. I'd be able to break in again easily."
"I don't care. You nearly got hurt last time, I'm not letting that happen again," Bucky said, glaring at the blonde.
"She's got a point though," Skye said slowly, watching the couple warily. She didn't know what would happen if she argued with the super soldier, but she took the chance. "She's been in his database already when he had her help him get information. She can access it again a lot faster now that she knows how to get past the firewalls and such. I think she should be the one to go."
The metal armed soldier remained silent as he looked at Skye then at Tracey. Turning his head, he stared down at his lap. "Alright," he said after another moment.
"Alright then," Coulson said, turning back to look at everyone. "It's settled. Everyone will keep in contact with the teams and continue to keep watch over the city, make sure Burnow doesn't send out anymore of his super soldiers. We still need to get those men away from him. If he does send them out into the city, help them. Make sure you get the bugs off them. The rest of us, start getting ready for the mission. We need to leave as soon as possible. We don't know if Burnow expects Bucky back by a certain time."
Bucky quickly stood up from his seat and followed some to the elevator. He took a look at Tracey as she talked with Sharon, Skye, and Jemma. He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Steve stared back at him with a smile as he squeezed his best friend's shoulder.
"She'll be fine, Buck," the blond soldier said. "She's strong and she can handle herself. You and I both know that she's the one who's able to get into Burnow's systems at the pace we need."
"I know," Bucky said, running a hand through his hair as he and Steve walked to the stairwell. "I just wish she wasn't mixed up in this business like all of us."
"Well, as much as I hate to say this, pal, but I think she's been mixed in this for years without even knowing it. Burnow was the reason for her dad's death and her brother was a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Steve said, pursing his lips. "She's been mixed up in all this without even trying."
The brown haired soldier sighed. "Right…"
Hey everyone! So sorry for the late update. I had a bit of writer's block for this chapter. I had the first half in my head, but second half took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say.
Speaking of the first half. I revealed the hints I had given throughout the chapters that Bucky was undercover the entire time. That was the reason why I didn't put translations in the author's notes at the end of the two chapters that had Bucky speaking Russian. I always make sure I put a translation, except this one because I can't give away the secrets ;)
But again, I am sorry for the late update. I've been busy the past couple weeks. I got into the sorority I wanted and I have so much to do as a new member before initiation so that's been taking up a bit of my time. Along with that I have Econ that I am trying to incorporate studying time with my dad in between all the sorority stuff. But I'm really excited about the sorority!
I also would like your thoughts on something. I have this idea for a new story where I incorporate the Madison twins into Captain America the First Avenger. I'm currently brainstorming how it will start out and how it will play out with the inclusion of the twins. I'm horrible at taking movies and inserting characters into them, so this idea I'm more nervous about writing than Falling Again. Let me know what you think :)
Another apology to all the people who have sent in prompts for Life at the Tower (AUs), I have had MAJOR writer's block for those and I'm doing my best to work on them. I'm currently working on one right now and I'm trying to figure out how it will play out. So, I'm really sorry for the extremely late update for that one.
If you'd like to ask the Avengers, Madison twins, and anyone else in the tower any questions, feel free to leave a message on my tumblr. If you have a prompt you'd like to see me write, leave a message on here, on my tumblr, or in a review.
Also I am doing MCU imagines on my tumblr, so feel free to leave a submission for those. It can be from any Marvel movie ever made. Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy, either of the two Spiderman franchises (because I know people prefer one over the other), Avengers, and any movie I may have forgotten. Heck if you want, feel free to make it any character or group that haven't had a movie yet in the comics. Feel free to send them in!
My tumblr is winter-is-ending
Thank you guys so much for the love! I can't wait to read your reviews! They make my day all the time. I reread them whenever I am having a bad day and they always make me smile! You guys are the best!
UPDATE:
Okay, so I just realized that I said I always put translations and just realized I'm an idiot because I actually forgot to put the translation for this one. Sorry!
Translation is "I missed you so much, darling."