Chapter 36- Making Plans

Bucky held Steve by his shoulder with his metal hand as he dragged him through the water. His daughter had her arms wrapped around his neck and he had wrapped his flesh arm around her shoulders. He reached the bank and put Steve down gently. He then put his daughter down as well and Elizabeth's blue eyes met his. "Dad?" Elizabeth asked. Bucky felt tears come to his eyes as he touched his lips to her forehead and she didn't pull away from him

"Elizabeth, you are so beautiful," Bucky said, crushing her to his chest tightly and kissing her through her dark hair. Never mind that her hair was a wet tangled mess. He actually kissed Diana's head when she would wash her hair and Diana would push her face into his chest. Much like what their daughter was doing now, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Daddy, please, stay," Elizabeth whispered against his chest.

Bucky fisted his flesh hand into her hair and pulled her face back so he could look into her eyes again. "Do you want me to, Malysh?" (Russian for baby) Bucky asked.

"Yes, I want you to, Dad. I need you. Let's get Mama and stay with me and Uncle Steve," Elizabeth said, petting his scruff gently with her hands that she had moved from his shoulders to his face.

"All right. I have to go get your mother. Can you stay here until I get back?" Bucky asked, gripping her wrists gently in his hands.

"Can I come? I can get Natasha and Fury to pick up Steve and take him to a hospital," Elizabeth said.

"No. I need you here Elizabeth. Steve needs a doctor and you need to have this looked at," Bucky said, gently tracing the scar on her hairline when he had knocked her out.

"Dad, I don't want to lose you again," Elizabeth said. Bucky's heart soared. His girl still loved him as much as he loved her. Diana was right. Her running from him wasn't because she hadn't cared. Elizabeth did love him. Bucky pulled her to him in a tight hug and kissed her forehead again.

"You won't, doll. I promise I will find you at the hospital when I go get your mother," Bucky said, running his fingers through the dark, wet strands of her hair.

"You really promise?" Elizabeth asked in a small voice as she burrowed her head against his chest.

"I really promise," Bucky said as he lifted his daughter's head from his chest and placed a kiss on her forehead before extricating himself from her arms. He hated leaving her, but at least he had an idea which hospital she would go to.

Diana looked up when the door to hers and James's cell opened and her husband stood on the other side. "Diana, we have to go," James said, gripping her hand tightly in his flesh hand and pulling her out into the corridor. The HYDRA base was oddly quiet.

"James, where are we going?" Diana asked, practically running to keep up with her husband's long strides.

"I'm taking you to see our daughter. She's waiting for us at a hospital I told her to stay at," James said.

"She's not hurt, is she?" Diana asked anxiously.

"Not seriously. I did hit her in the head and she scarred, but it was nothing serious. But we have to go now," James said as they ducked into a doorway. James wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his firm chest. The sound of James's heart beating against her ear soothed her as it always had. His flesh hand ran clumsily through her hair as footsteps sounded outside the door.

"James?" Diana asked. He covered her mouth with his lips in a lingering kiss that she had no problems giving him. James's kisses were addicting since HYDRA had kidnapped her almost a year before their daughter's birth. At first she hadn't wanted to love him as he had been the one who had taken her, but over time he had proven that he hadn't wanted to and that neither one of them had a choice as he forced her to kiss him. HYDRA would force them to marry just so they could breed a Winter Soldier. Diana nearly started to laugh as she remembered that first kiss. It had been after her kidnapping and she had come to. James had crushed her to his broad chest and pressed his lips to hers. At first she had wanted to hit him, but she found herself liking the kiss and she found herself kissing him back.

"Be quiet. We can't let them find us," James whispered softly as he bit down on her lower lip. It was another order that Diana didn't mind obeying as she buried her fingers into James's long dark hair as they kissed. James broke apart from her as the footsteps faded away and he opened the door a crack. He tightened his grip on her hand as they left the room and the bank.

Yelizaveta sat outside Steve's hospital room. The bullet wound her father had given him wasn't in a life-threatening area, but he had lost more blood than the doctor would have liked. Yelizaveta opened a book she had bought in the hospital gift shop. The doctor had taken a look at her forehead as well and had given her some stitches. Yelizaveta looked up as two figures came down the corridor.

"Elizabeth!" Her mother's voice came out strangled as she hugged her tightly, running her fingers through Yelizaveta's dark hair.

Yelizaveta looked at Bucky who stood behind her mother. "How is he, doll?" Bucky asked.

"Well, it's a good thing you only shot him once, Dad. The slug did take a lot of blood, but it hit in an area that wasn't life-threatening. Soviet slugs are no joke. I should know. I got one myself once or twice," Yelizaveta said as she looked at her father's choice of clothes. Bucky didn't look like the Winter Soldier as he had changed his clothes and not really an improvement. He looked as if he had been raiding a church's mission box or the nearest dumpster.

"Uh, Dad, where did you get those?" Yelizaveta asked, indicating Bucky's clothes with her hand.

"Your father fished those out of some room at the HYDRA base," her mother supplied, a flash of humor in her eyes.

"I see. Trust HYDRA to keep clothes that smells as if someone died in them and never washed them," Yelizaveta said, rolling her eyes.

Natasha then came out into the hallway and sat down. "How are you feeling, Nat?" Yelizaveta asked.

"Considering I tried to burn a hole in my chest so I wouldn't go with Pierce, not that bad," Natasha said.

"Pierce is dead, right?" Yelizaveta asked.

"Unless Fury missed, he's dead, Vet," Natasha said.

Yeah, Fury has pretty good aim from the last time I ever saw him shoot a gun. Did Pierce really kill the World Security Council?" Yelizaveta asked.

"Yeah and I nearly killed myself with that pin," Natasha said.

"So now that Pierce's secrets are all over the internet, what next? I think my cover and yours are all blown seven ways to sunshine," Yelizaveta said.

"Yeah. I need to go figure out a new cover," Natasha said.

"What about Stark? He did say that he was going to turn his tower into a base for us as Avengers. We could all go there, regroup and go after HYDRA bases all over the world as I'm pretty sure the only one wasn't the bank. With HYDRA not all the rats go down with the ship. Call in favors and Clint, Thor, Banner and Jimmy might be able to help. Dad, can you help us with that?" Yelizaveta asked, going to Bucky and touching his flesh arm gently.

"Yes. For you I will. HYDRA took you from me and your mother and lied to us and let us think you were dead. Only right that I return the favor and I don't want to let you out of my sight again," Bucky said, running his fingers through her dark hair gently. His eyes took on a feral gleam as he spat the words out venomously. He pulled her to his chest, folding his arms around her shoulders as he hugged her tightly, resting his chin on top of her head. Yelizaveta buried her face in his chest, feeling safe for the first time since she had left Clint's house. Clint and Coulson had hugged her after freeing her from the Red Room and her father's gentle hug felt the same as that.