Chapter 26

Summer in Prague was really fucking hot. Sweat was running down his neck and one look at Sam told him that he didn't handle the heat any better. They had been looking for Bucky for five months now and found nothing. All leads turned out to be cold. They helped take down three HYDRA facilities in East Europe and his hope that they would find get intel about the Winter Soldier was crushed every time. Apparently only a very small circle knew about Bucky and Pierce was dead,Rumlow disappeared from the hospital and Rollins went after Fury and got killed. Natasha's contact could give them a location where he used to be stationed in the late nineties but when they went to that place it was only ruins.

And according to Sam he was moping. Was that really a surprise? Their search was so far pointless and his girlfriend was on another continent the last time they talked. Natasha called him once a week pretty much only to tell him that she was still alive, asked about any progress about finding Bucky and then she had to hang up again. He maybe talked to her for one hour in total in the last months. He missed her so much. He thanked his eidetic memory so he couldn't forget how she looked. He hoped that she was soon done with dealing with her enemies and would be soon by his side. He and Sam were both soldiers, they had no idea how to track someone that was trained to be shadow but Natasha did. She went through something similiar and they could really ues their expertise. He was so thankful to Sam for coming with him but he'd rather have Natasha with him.

And he owed Natasha so much. She got him the only good intel on Bucky and told Tony about his parents' death. He was dreading to talk to Tony about Bucky's involvement because what could he have said to him? My brainwashed best friend killed your parents and your dad was his friend so that's double fucked up. He was prepared to tell him about it when Tony contaced him and told him that he was searching for specialists to help Bucky and his mind. And then Tony suddenly said that Natasha told him the truth about what happened when his parents died and after some thinking he came to the conclusion that Bucky was a victim too and that his parents would want Tony to help him. He was speechless and he would never be able to show this gratitude to Stark. He was a good man, Howard would be proud.

He and Sam were in Prague because during the Cold War the Winter Soldier killed the Czech leader of the opposition and they hoped that maybe Bucky was tracing his kills back and they would run into him. There was a sighting of him in DC at the Smithsonian shorty after SHIELD fell and they had the theory had he was walking down memory lane. Tony, well JARVIS monitored Brooklyn if Bucky showed up there. Natasha told him that she did the same after she deflected. She went back to Russia and other places of her past to find her peace and to remember. Natasha also suspected that once Bucky had enough of his memories back he would go after HYDRA to get revenge. That's what she did. So he took down HYDRA facilities in hopes of running into Bucky there. It wasn't the only reason but it was one of the main reasons.

They raided on old and abandoned HYDRA base outside of Prague today but they didn't find anything besides rats and spider webs. Sam drove them back to their shabby hotel and he wondered how long he could ask him to tag along. Sam had a life in DC. A family, a job. The veterans needed him. He knew that he had to send him back to the States soon. He had to do this alone for a while until Natasha could be with him. She would probably be more successful in tracking down Bucky. But what if even Nat couldn't find him? They couldn't do this forever. He couldn't do this to Nat. He couldn't force her to put her life on hold for someone she didn't know and who put two bullets in her. He had to set a deadline and if he didn't find Bucky by then he would stop looking. Maybe Bucky would come to him in the end.

They walked up to their rooms and Steve tried his best to hide his shield. Tony sent him a new suit but he didn't wear it when they were out tracing leads because they tried to get as less attention as possible. It was 10 pm and it was getting dark and they were both tired. They would crash at the hotel and then leave for Romania where another potentially still active HYDRA base was. They needed to find out who the new leader of HYDRA was because he or she definitely knew all there is to know about the Winter Soldier.

He and Sam shared a suite with two bedrooms while suite sounded like it was some fancy hotel but it wasn't. They chose this one because no one asked for IDs and they could pay with cash. They didn't want to tip anyone of that they were here. He just wanted to wash the sweat and dirt off and then go to sleep. Maybe he would dream about Natasha.

Sam opened the door to the suite and turned the light on. They both stopped in their tracks. A woman was stitting on the shabby couch and smirking. She had brown hair but he took a second look and recognized the green of her eyes and the hint of amusement in them.

Sam aimed his gun at her because he didn't recognize her. But he would recognize those eyes everywhere.

"Natasha!" He breathed out and ran to her. He lifted her up from the couch and before she could say something he pressed his lips against her.

He could hear in the background how Sam huffed a huh out but he was too busy kissing his girl to answer him. She opened her mouth and let him explore it. She tasted like ice cream and vodka. A weird combination but right now it was his favourite taste in the world.

He had his arms wrapped around her waist and she looped hers around his neck and Sam yelled something like get a room before a shower was turned on. They only stopped kissing when Natasha pulled away to catch her breath. He realized that he was still lifting her off the ground and gently placed her feet back on it.

"I missed you." She admitted and smiled at him.

He pulled her against his chest and kissed her again. "I missed you so much, doll." He knew that she liked it when he called her that. God, being away from her was hell. He couldn't believe that she was finally back in his arms. "I love you so much." He whispered against her swollen lips.

She gave him a beautiful smile. "Feeling's mutual." She still hadn't said it in the traditional way but she found ways to say it back to him.

He sat down on the couch and pulled her in his lap. "Are you just dropping by or-?"

She brushed her fingers through his hair. God, it felt so good to be finally touched by her again. "I'm staying if you want me to."

"Of course I want you to. If it were up to me you're never leaving my side again." He grinned happily at her and played with her brown hair.

"I know it looks weird. I have to wait 'til my roots are grown out so I can match the color."

"So you're done?" He asked hopefully.

She nodded and kissed him. "I dealt with everything so far. There'll always be people after me but the immediate threats to me and you are elimated." She had guilt in her eyes and he wondered how many people she had to kill in the last five months.

He cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb over it. "Hey, whatever you did, you did it to survive. There's no shame in that." He kissed her hoping it would push the dark thoughts out of her mind. Maybe he should care that his girlfriend had killed but he didn't. She did what she had to do and he knew that the people who were after here weren't the good guys or they would have left her alone.

"Any leads on Bucky?"

"No" He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her heavenly smell.

"You'll find him. I know you will." She said it with so much conviction that he believed her.

The bathroom door opened and Sam got freshly showered out. "It's good to see you, Natasha."

"Likewise. Thank you for looking out for him."

Sam smiled. "No problem. But I'm glad you're here now. Dude was moping the whole time after his girlfriend."

"Really?" Nat looked with an amused expression at him.

"Don't sound so surprised." He pecked her lips. "You know I'm crazy about you."

She beamed happily at him and there was a light blush on her cheeks. "I know the feeling."

"Do I smell food?" Sam sniffed around the room.

"Yup." She pointed under the coffee table and there were three McDonalds bags. "I thought you boys might be hungry. But it's probably cold by now."

Sam grabbed a bag and stuffed a burger into his mouth. "Who cares."

They ate and told Natasha about their failures of tracking down Bucky and she sat the whole time on his lap. It was insane how much he missed being physically close to her. He brushed his hand over her back and shoved fries with his other hand into his mouth.

"So we're going to Romania next?" Natasha asked with the straw of her coke still in her mouth. Watching her suck on it did things to him. He cursed himself for having joined rooms with Sam, there would be no way that Sam wouldn't hear what was going on if they had sex in Steve's room.

Sam nodded and flushed his food with his soda down. "I hope you're better at this than we are. I don't even think we could find Waldo."

Natasha laughed and her finger tips danced over the back of his neck. He would probably be a bad friend to Sam if he hauled Nat over his shoulder and carried her to his room to fuck her senseless. Funny how tired he was half an hour ago and now he had the energy to make love to her for hours.

"Bucky is probably confused and it's more likely that recently wiped memories are coming back before the ones he made as himself. Maybe we should go to Odessa if we won't find anything in Romania. I was the last one who saw the Winter Soldier before DC. Maybe he'll go to Odessa." He moved his hand over her hip where Bucky shot her.

"Okay, I'm heading to bed now." Sam announced and got up. "Please try to keep it down. I don't want to hear Captain America's sex noises."

Steve felt how his cheeks got warm and looked at Natasha who had an innocent expression on her face. She pulled something out of her duffel bag and held it out to Sam.

Sam grabbed it and laughed. "Noise-cancelling headphones. I'm impressed, woman." With that he left to go to his room on the other side of the living lounge.

"You think about everything." He slipped his hand under her shirt and she shivered.

"I hope you're not too tired. We have to make up for five sex-less months." She gave him a dirty kiss that went straight to his groin. "You have no idea how horny I am, Rogers."

"Believe me I know." He had been craving her for months. "But I have to shower first. I probably reek."

"Then let's shower together. " She whispered huskily in his ear and bit his earlope.

He was pretty sure that they broke some kind of record with the amount of sex they had that night. He really hoped Sam's headphones worked because they weren't exactly quiet with their screaming and moaning and the bed banging against the wall. Sated and deeply satisfied they fell asleep in the early morning hours in each other's arms.

A loud bang on the door and Sam shouting that he would get breakfast woke her up. Natasha was a bit disoriented but when two strong arms tightened their hold on her she remembered that she was with Steve again and would stay with him now. She hunted those down who would want her dead for what she did when she worked for the KGB and took care of them. She probably added more red to her ledger but she knew that if they woud find out that she was in a relationship with Captain America, they would come after him to hurt her. And she would do anything to protect him and keep him safe.

She snuggled closer to him and Steve pressed soft kisses on her neck and shoulder. "Morning, Nat. I can't believe we're finally in the same room again."

She turned around in his arms and kissed him deeply. "I know. It was like a part of me was missing in the last months. I never felt like this before." She straddled his waist. "How long do you think Sam will be gone?"

Steve laughed and grabbed her ass with his hands. He would never admit to her but he was such an ass man. "Not that long. Half an hour tops."

"Well, then we better get this show to the shower." She leaned down to kiss him before she got out of bed and walked to the door. "You coming or not?"

He got so fast out of bed that she laughed and by the time Sam was back with breakfast they were both showered, dressed and satisfied.

After breakfast they left Prague and got on their way to Romania. She knew from contacts that HYDRA was active there and influenced Romanian's financial crisis to gain control over the country. There were rumours about human guinea pigs for enhancement research both in Romania and its neighbour country Sokovia. Maybe if they didn't find Steve's friend there, they could at least find more info about his brainwashing and his arm. Romania wasn't that far away from the Alps, there was a chance they brought him to that HYDRA facility to "treat" him.

She didn't tell Steve all about this because she didn't want to get his hopes up. Stark got them transport to the country and Steve gripped her hand tight during the whole flight. She looked at Sam and could see how worried he was. She was worried too. She knew how much the guilt ate Steve up and she prayed that it wouldn't destroy him.

"Kate's real name is Sharon." Steve suddenly said into the silence. They were currently over Hungary.

"And her last name is Carter." He continued.

Oh boy. She didn't know that any of Peggy's relatives had worked at SHIELD. "Is she her granddaughter?"

Steve shook his head. "No, great-niece. I ran into her when I visited Peggy to tell her that I would go after Bucky." He looked at her. "I don't think it's a coincidence Fury chose her as my bodyguard."

"Man, that's weird." Sam commented.

"Fury probably wanted to set you up with her." She wouldn't put it past him.

Steve smiled at her sheepishly. "Well, he could have saved himself that energy. I was pretty much into you from the moment you jump off my shield in New York."

She rolled at her eyes at him but was secretly pleased with his answer. There were still voices in her head that told her that Steve deserved someone better than her. Kate, no Sharon probably didn't kill 31 people in the last months.

The HYDRA base in Ploiești was indeed still active and the three of them managed to take it down within an hour. She missed fighting along side Steve. And he looked so good in the suit that Stark designed. It looked so much better than the spandex version from Coulson's wet dreams (did Coulson know that she was banging Steve? He would be so jealous!) but she had to admit that she missed his SHIELD stealth suit a bit.

There were prisoners who HYDRA experimented on and they alerted local authorities to help those people. There were even a few teenagers, it was horrible. Barnes wasn't here but the files about him where gone. HYDRA had everything catalogued and when they went to the file cabinet where the Winter Soldier files were stored, the drawer was empty. Every other file was still here.

"Do you think...?" Steve gave her a hopeful look.

"It's possible. It appears to be the only thing missing and so far you are the only one looking for him. And if you don't have it..."

"He might have it." He concluded. "How long do you think the file is gone?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Hard to tell. Bucky knows how to sneak in and out without anyone noticing. And since the Winter Soldier isn't an asset to HYDRA anymore, I don't think they were very interested in the files." She took a closer look at the file cabinet. "There's dust on it. He was probably here at least a week ago."

Steve's face fell. "And now he could be anywhere." He smashed his fist on the cabinet and left an impressive dent. "Sorry."

"Shh, it's okay." She took his hand and carefully slid his glove off to check his hand. Nothing seemed to be broken. She kissed his knuckles and gave him his glove back. "I'm sorry we're too late."

He looked at the ceiling and sighed. She wrapped her arms around his middle and rested her face into his chest and the star on his uniform pressed into her cheek. "At least I know that he's out there and looking for answers. This is the closest we got to him so far."

They left the HYDRA base with Sam when the local police arrived and watched hidden in the woods how they arrested the HYDRA agents.

They spent a few days in Bucharest and seached the internet and dark web for sightings of the Winter Soldier but nothing came up. Bucky was good at what he was doing. Steve had the suspicion that he knew that he was looking for him. Natasha suggested going to Odessa again and while he didn't want her to go back to a place where she almost died, the hope of getting closer to Bucky outweighed that.

Sam's sister was getting into labor and he flew back to DC to be there for the birth of his nephew.

He and Natasha drove the eight hours to Odessa and Nat hacked into the security cams of the city to run facial recognition. But it didn't look like Bucky had been in Odessa in the last months. They asked around but no one knew anything that could help them.

"Sorry this was a bust." Natasha said to him after they went to bed in the small hotel they were staying at.

He pulled her against his chest and let his finger run through her brown hair. "It was a good hunch. He might still come to Odessa."

"So where are we going to next?" She kissed his chest. "Or do you wanna stay here for some time?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "I really don't know what to do."

Both their phones rang at that moment. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and checked it. It was a text from Tony.

Banner and I might know how to locate Loki's scepter. Come back to New York as soon as possible.

"I think we got the same text." Natasha looked up from her phone. "I guess that answers the question about where we're going next."

"Yeah."

Hopefully tracking and retaking Loki's scepter would be a success. He could use a win for a change. Bucky would still be there after this mission.