A/N: So this is just a short transition between Book One and Book Two (the first chapter of which I will (hopefully) post either today or tomorrow). Hopefully I'll see many of you guys for the first chapter of the next story, which will be called Freedom Is Life's Greatest Lie. Until then, ENJOY!

Big thanks to: zainy. abdi, SuperWhoLockGirl222, SplicedEyes88, EverRose808, puppylover8392, ktdym and hrodenhaver for following/favouriting. This is encouraging ;)

Review Response(s):

NESSAANCALIME6913: Heh, me too ;) Thanks

sarah0406: Yeah, Silver can be a bit strange sometimes :3

Erudessa-gabrielle: THERE IS A SHIP NAME! I cannot express enough how happy that makes me XD

Brazilwolf: Yeah, that would have kinda sucked. I'm not that mean, don't worry ;)

Epilogue

James and I were stood in front of the temporary, makeshift S.H.I.E.L.D. facility with large bags full of clothing and other essentials in our hands. That's right - he was James now. Not Bucky, not the Winter Soldier. His reason was that he didn't think he was good enough to be Bucky again. So he went for James. And I went back to my old name, too - Daphne. I still called him Shadow from time to time though, just like he still called me Silver every now and then.

Fury, Hill, Sam, Natasha and Steve had all come to see us off, and Fury had even been kind enough to hand over a spunky-looking SUV to use. I didn't know how to drive (having been kidnapped by Hydra at 16, I was never given the chance to learn), however James knew what he was doing, which was good. With the others was a woman with almost-waist-length, dark purple hair. She was dressed in S.H.I.E.L.D. clothing, so I could only assume she was an Agent of some kind.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Steve asked, and I could tell from his tone that he really wanted to tag along and get to know his best friend again.

I shook my head. "No, this is something we have to do alone, I think," I said, and glanced to my right to see James nodding his head in agreement. I smiled. "We'll keep in touch, though."

Steve frowned. "How?"

I grinned and held up a brand new phone. "You're the only contact I have on here," I told him. "And don't worry - I've already added my number to your phone. Just... don't share it with anyone, okay? I think right now we want to stay as far off the grid as possible. Even with everything we did to help out with the helicarriers, we still have more than fifty years of blood to make up for."

"Well, we're gonna be busy taking down the rest of Hydra for a while," Steve said with a soft smile. "So, if you ever feel like giving us a hand, it'd be appreciated."

I chuckled. "Oh, I promise we'll be back. The world'll always need saving from someone, am I right?" I winked. "See ya, Steve. Look after yourself." I paused, turned, then smirked, "And for God's sake, go out for once. I know Nat's being trying to hook you up with someone. It wouldn't hurt to let loose."

Beside me, James snorted. "This punk could never get a date," he said.

"Jerk," Steve retorted, and the two shared a grin that told me this was clearly something from their previous friendship (although, having gotten many memories of my pre-Hydra years back, I already knew this). He smiled at us, nodding.

We nodded back, then moved to shove our large bags in the back of the car. James then climbed into the driver seat, while I hesitated, hovering with the door open. I turned back to the others. "I don't know how long we'll be," I said, before turning to the stranger, who was watching me with a blank face. "I like your hair by the way." I saw her lips twitch upwards in a slight smile, winked at Steve, and then ducked into the car.

As soon as I was comfortably settled, James put the car into drive and moved away from the new S.H.I.E.L.D. building.

"So," James said at length. "Brooklyn?"

I chuckled. "Well, Brooklyn's a lot closer than England, so it's probably best to do it in that order."

"And what do you think the chances are of us getting through this road trip of ours uninhibited?"

"Oh, practically zero," I answered quickly, and we both laughed. "But that's alright now," I reminded him, "because we've got a lot of time to kill, and there's no one breathing down our necks anymore to get thing done in a certain amount of time."

"It's weird," James said, frowning.

I hummed. "Very," I agreed. "But it's a good weird, I think."

"Oh, definitely. It'll still take some getting used to, though."

"That's a good thing," I said. "I'm looking forward to just taking things slowly for a while."

"You know what?" James glanced at me, smiling. "So am I."