Chapter 14

Her body ached, and Oakleigh groaned stretching on the comfy cushions under her back, frowning once she remembered that she should be on the floor.

Oakleigh rolled, looking for Owen but finding another man sitting on the stairs across from her.

"Larson."

He nodded to her left, "You asked for help. Now fix him."

Testing her limps Oakleigh rolled into a seated position so she could look over the edge of the couch. Kenny. The door to the basement was opened.

Kenny's lifeless body was slumped, his top half on the floor and his legs down on the stairs. Getting to her feet Oakligh ran over to him, falling to her knees.

"Kenny?" She checked him for a pulse, it was rapid.

Looking to Larson for help, he looked back at her with a 'what do you want from me?' raised brow. She was going to have to do it herself. Getting to her feet, Oakleigh pulled Kenny across the floor until he was fully laying flat.

Seeing the blood streaking his shirt, Oakleigh pulled it up his sternum to get a look. She nearly puked as the foul smell hit her nose. The puss was a nasty dark yellow-green, Oakligh's hands shook as her mind took her back to the war, men dying under her hands.

The stench the blood, the moans and screams as injuries were treated. Then she heard Donna's voice in her ear. "Focus on the wound, not the person."

Her first tip of advice she had received from Donna, certainly was not the only one. Getting to her feet Oakleigh ran to the kitchen, wetting a couple of towels and keeping some dry, also grabbing a couple of spoons.

She turned the stove top on and laid a couple of spoons on the burner, taking the rest with her.

She needed to scoop the infection out and then cauterize the wound close to keep it from getting another infection.

Clenching her jaw, Oakleigh started scooping. All the puss was discarded onto one of the dry towels. She worked quickly to get as much out as she could with what tools she had. She had worked with less in the army.

When she got it all out, she rubbed the wound with one of the wet cloths, hoping to clear the rest of the dirt out of there. When she felt like the wound was as clean as it would get She went back into the kitchen for the hot spoons. Using one of the wet towels to protect her hands from the heat.

Lining up as many of the spoons as she could Oakleigh lowered the metal down onto the skin to melt it together. Kenny screamed, eyes flying open.

"Shhh, I'm sorry, but I need to do this." He flailed trying to throw her off, his first getting her chin.

Oakleigh did not lose focus, holding the spoons down until she had counted to ten. Removing them she dropped them to the floor. Kenny's eyes were barely open, but he was looking at her, cheeks red from the fever the infection caused.

The guild crept up her thought. But he was going to live as long as he kept clean and rested, he should be alright. Kenny reached for her hand and Okalegh offered it to him, nodding.

Larson walked over to them, "Nice work."

Oakleigh screamed as a loud bang sounded in her right ear. Warm red droplets scattered her face and clothes, and Oakleigh sputtered as her tongue tasted iron. Eye taking in the bullet hole in Kenny's forehead, his brain and part of his skull having exploded onto the surrounding area.

Blood swelled from the new wound. Oakleigh felt the slack in Kenny's hand, her mind catching up to all the evidence she could see around her.

Larson just killed Kenny. Falling into her butt Oakligh looked up at Larson, expecting to see the gun pointed at her head. It wasn't. Larson was already opening the front door to leave.

"What. Why? Why let me save him?" She asked, in shock.

"You asked me to." He closed the door.

Oakleigh stared at the door for hours, the weight of Kenny's hand the only thing connecting her to reality.

.

"Where is Oakleigh Blake?" Natasha asked her and Tony in the interrogation room the rest of the team watching from the outside.

"She's getting nowhere."

"Buck."

"It's been over two hours."

Sam nodded. "Bucky's right. I think it's time someone else got in there."

"Thank you." Bucky and Sam never agreed on much, but Bucky was happy to have his support on this.

"Tony and Natasha are leading this, we have to let them."

"Steve, we are wasting time."

"I know it seems like that Buck but they are doing what they are supposed to do."

"Sargent Barens, I'll talk to him."

"The Sargent isn't here right now, he's off on official business." Natasha lied.

"Oh, I don't think so. I've read all Hydra's logs on the two of them, he's here."

"Maybe, but you're dealing with us." Tony snarked. "Where is she."

Ozwalds gaze goes to the clock on the wall, then back to Tony, and he smiles.

"You know you can't go in there, Buck."

"He's asking for me."

"And why do you think that is? He's not telling us where O is, and he isn't going to even if you do go in there. He only wants to see you so he can say upsetting things and work you up enough so you kill him."

"Then I won't kill him."

Steve shot his friend a knowing look, "You know you can't promise that right now."

"Oh, Sargent?"

Steve grabbed his friend's wrist. "Don't play his game."

"You wonder what your girl was up to while you were in cryo all those years? She had no super serum so she couldn't go on missions or take out hits on people, but she did help our clients out. Ou damn did she, help. them. out. Took them to her special room in the back of the facility and worked them over, got them to spill all kinds of secrets. Why do you think I was so interested in her, huh? I've seen the way those hips wither on a man."

"Romanoff!" Bucky growled, pounding his fist down onto the glass two-way mirror.

Mind on a similar track to Bucky's Natasha took three steps forward and punched Ozwald right in his mouth. He chuckled, choking on his blood. Leaning forward he spat blood and teeth onto the silver table in front of him.

He smiled, clearly happy with himself. "I'm just pulling your leg, Sargent. You are the only one Hydra ever allowed to touch her, they just liked to watch."

Bucky clenched his fists, he and Oakleigh had been sure of that at the time. that there were cameras in Hydra's bedroom. They had sex but Bucky always made sure she was covered by clothes, blankets, or him. They could watch all they wanted, but those moments were for them.

"Though we both know I've stolen my own little taste of her."

Bucky hit the glass this time shattering it. Bucky was forcefully escorted from the room and thrown into one of the nearby offices to watch from the tv screen instead of being in the room.

Steve and Sam joined him, not wanting to leave the raging man alone.

Ozwald remained silent as Tony and Natasha tried to get him to say anything. Sam and Steve were pacing while Bucky stood in place staring down at the TV.

"What does he keep looking at?" Sam snapped.

"The clock." Steve and Bucky say at the same time.

"He's waiting for something." Bucky rumbled.

"What do you think that is?" Sam asked.

Bucky flexed his jaw, "He's about to tell us."

Ozwald smiles as the time read 6:40 AM, and he slowly rattled off coordinates. As the last number passed his lips everyone was moving, all moving toward the plane.

"I have supplies," Bruce informed them, carrying a large duffle bag.

They were hoping Oakleigh was going to be who they found, but they were not sure the shape she would be in after almost a month captured.

"Where are we going?" Clint asked.

"Montana."

.

Oakleigh sat with Kenny's body all night. Too in shock to move, think or change out of her solid clothes. All her "medical" tools were still strewn about. It was not until the sun was high in the sky that she thought to move.

"Ok." She muttered to herself. "Yea, ok. It's going to be ok Kenny, I promise."

Getting up Oakleigh looked down at herself, stripping she left her clothes near Kenny. Next, she went down into the basement, Kenny said that the basement had a dirt floor. She would bury him down there and when she figured out how to get outside she would pick flowers to lay on his grave.

After scouring downstairs and finding no shovel Oakleigh started digging with her hands. The dirt was hard, packed down from being walked on. So she ran back upstairs and grabbed a big silver mixing bowl, using it to dig and move the dirt around.

Her sweat-covered body was shivering with the cold temperatures of the basement, but she would not stop, everyone deserved to be buried. The digging was slow, and tedious, as she moved the solid around all Oakleigh could see what the bottle whole weeping with blood.

She did not hear the door being breached on the main level and did not hear her boyfriend and the others calling out to her. She did not see Bucky and Steve descend the stairs followed soon after by Natasha, Sam and Bruce while Tony and Clint continued to clear the house and then stand watch.

"O," Bucky called out to her softly, approaching slowly. "Baby?"

"Everyone deserves to be buried." She muttered to no one in particular.

.

The home was built in the middle of a forest, the group landed a couple hundred years away and made their way on foot. They were at the house in under ten minutes. It took another eight for entry after Tony disabled the electrical element.

The first thing they saw was Kenny, the smell of infection hitting them seconds later.

"That is foul." Sam gagged.

Bucky took in the scene as his eyes and nose were assaulted. Noticing the man first, he quickly scanned for a more feminine body. If Ozwald had sent them all the way here just to find Oakleigh's body, Bucky was going to rip the nazi's tongue from his head.

"O!" Bucky yelled onto the quiet house.

Natasha knelt beside the body. "He's been dead for at least twelve hours, shot at close range."

"These are women's clothes, there is blood on them," Sam said, spotting the pile.

"Oakleigh!" Steve called, against there was no answer.

Bucky started to panic, Where the hell was she?

"Steve." The blonde turned to look at his friend, "You hear that?"

"Someone in the basement."

They moved in unison, taking the stairs two at a time. Bucky could have cried when a frizzy head or curls came into view.

"Oakleigh." He sighed in relief, she was alive, he zeroed in on that fact.

When she did not acknowledge them his relief ebbed. He tried again as the others came down the stairs. She never stopped digging. Bucky assessed from afar, she was pale and shakey, she wore a bra and panties but nothing else. He also spotted the blood on her hand's arms and face, and the dirt that also covered her hands and legs.

"She's in shock," Bruce told them, pulling out a blanket and handing it to Bucky.

"O," Bucky called out to her softly, approaching slowly. "Baby?"

"Everyone deserves to be buried." Her gravelled voice muttered, breaking his heart. "I saved him."

Bucky kneels beside her, dripping the blanket over her shoulders, she does not notice. Continuing to dig the shallow grave.

"Sweetheart, he didn't make it."

Oakleigh looked at him for the first time, "No. I. Saved. Him." She insisted.

Bucky looked to Sam, then back at his girl. "Ok."

She turned back to digging while Sam approached them on the other side of the dirty pile looking to steer the conversation in a helpful direction.

Natasha and Bruce went upstairs to update Tony and Clint.

"Hey, Oakleigh. Can I help?" Sam asked.

They watched as she paused, after a moment she handed him the metal bowl and started digging with her hands. Steve and Bucky watched as Sam and Oakleigh dug, listening to the body being moved and the scene getting cleaned up upstairs.

After ten minutes Oakleigh started talking, her voice monotone showing no emotion. Bucky hung on to every syllable. He had seen guys in his until in shock, had experienced it himself after his first capture. He knew Oakleigh was in a fog, and he was happy Sam was here to talk her through it.

"I was mad, Kenny lied to me. He told Ozwald where I was, he was there that day at the cafe. He was locked down here, the door wouldn't open so I didn't know if he was lying again. I left him on his own. His infection was bad, I tried to break down the door, but I couldn't. I tried. They wouldn't come. I electrocuted myself so he would. The basement door was open, I cleaned and colourized the wound. I. Saved. Him. But he shot him." Her voice wavered.

From the blood spatter on her face, Sam was certain Oakleigh had been close to Kenny when the shot went off.

"That must have been awful to watch."

"His brains on the floor."

Sam nodded, watching as Oaklighly slowly stopped digging, looking up at Sam. "I wanted to bury him."

"That's kind of you."

"Everyone deserves to be buried."

"Yes, they do."

"He was sorry." Oakleigh started to suck in shallow breaths, her eyes darting around the space, the grave, and her dirt and blood-soiled hands. "Shot in the- he shot him in the head."

Sam shoved the bowl into her hands as Oakleigh puked. Bucky entered her space grabbing her hair to keep it from falling into the bowl. Oakleigh's body shook as she broke from the fog.

Abandoning the bowl on the ground Oakleigh whipped her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked across the space at Sam, then Steve, then Bucky beside her and she crumbled.

"Bucky."

His eyes welled with tears too as he pulled her into his lap. "It's ok, O. You're safe."

She grabbed onto him dropping her head to his shoulder, tears soaking through his shirt immediately.

Natasha stuck her head down into the basement, "We're all set."

Letting the group know the scene upstairs and been moved and cleaned up.

Getting to his feet Bucky held Oakleigh tight to him, walking swiftly up the stairs and directly out of the house. They made quick work of their track through the wood and got settled on the plane.

Natasha brought Oakleigh water and a secondary cup to wash her mouth out in. She also had a large pair of sweats but Oakleigh shook her head, she did not want to put fresh clothes over her dirty body.

"Where's Kenny?" Oakleigh muttered into Bucky's chest.

Bucky looked to Steve, unsure what that been done with the body.

The blonde walked slowly over to them kneeling in front of them, "We have him with us O, so we can bury him with his family."

She nodded her agreeance, pulling the blanket up under her chin and crashing. She was a dead weight in Bucky's arms before Steve could move away.

The scene reminded Bucky of when he found Oakleigh the first time around. He had been unsure at the time if she was even alive. Now he counted her heartbeats as she slept, shutting out the world.

The flight from Montana to New York was long, but they made great time on the plane. Oakleigh startled awake in the last 20 minutes.

"Where was I?" She muttered.

"First you were in Nevada, and the house you were in was in Montana. I'm not sure if you were anywhere else."

Bucky looked down to make eye contact, but Oakleigh kept her eyes downcast.

"How's you know where I was?"

Bucky's jaw clenched, "Ozwald is in our custody, he gave us your location."

"He's still alive then."

"He is."

Oakleigh licked her lips, "I want to talk to him."

Bucky clenched his teeth to stop himself from blurting out a 'fuck no', "We can talk about that later."

Sam had advised him to keep things slow, calm and honest with Oakleigh. She was still experiencing some shock and other than watching the death of Kenny, and what they saw on the Nevada tapes, they were not sure what else she had survived.

"Kenny said Owen took his fiance, do you know if that's true?"

"It is true." And he brutally murdered her.

"She's not alive is she."

"No O, she's not."

"Poor girl. She must have been so confused and scared." Bucky was not sure how to respond to that. "If we can, we should make sure they are buried together."

"We can look into that."

"Okay."

"Hey, guys." Bruce sat next to the couple. "How are you feeling Oakleigh?"

"I'm good."

"Yea? You said you were electrocuted." She nodded, and Bucky tensed. "I know you probably just want to have a nice warm shower and sleep, but if it would be alright, I would really like to stick a heart monitor on you to make sure there was not any damage to your heart."

"Would I need to sleep in the lab?"

"No, no. Once you've had a shower and gotten all cleaned up, stop by the lab for a few minutes and I'll stick a couple of LEDs to you and a little box you can clip onto your pants, it will monitor your heart for the rest of the day and then through the night. Make sure there are no irregularities."

"Ok, sure."

"No rush, but if there is a problem the sooner we can catch it the better."

"I understand." She smiled at him, "Thanks, Bruce."

"Alright then." He got up.

"Wait. Could you do a whole lab work too? Make sure they didn't do anything to me while I was knocked out."

"You bet." He smiled, walking away.

"Just in case." She offered to Bucky, feeling his tense up under her.

He nodded, looking up at his best friend and approached taking Banner's seat.

"We're landing in five."

Oakleigh sat up, moving to stand from Bucky's hold. The man frowned looking at her.

"I should put on those clothes Nat found, it's the middle of the day, and I'm sure there will be trainees and other people walking around."

Bucky nodded, watching her blanketed form walk over to Natasha.

"How are you holding up?"

Bucky sighed heavily shaking his head and looking at his lap, "Fucking tired of feeling like this."

"I know man." He got it, he really did.

.

"Thanks for the clothes." Oakleigh walked out of the bathroom, dressed in sweats.

"No problem. You'll be able to put on your own clothes soon enough."

Oakleigh nodded, building up the courage to ask something, Natashsa waited, noticing.

"Would you train me? Like full out."

Natasha looked her over, "I thought you didn't want to be an Avenger."

"I had a lot of free time to think over the last month. I want to be able to defend myself. I thought about taking self-defence classes in the city, but we don't go up against regular people. Hydra trains their soldiers, I just want to level the playing field."

"I can understand that. But you don't only want to learn self-defence, do you?"

"No. I want you to teach me everything."

"Ok-"

"Starting tomorrow after the briefing."

Natasha frowned but was not going to insist on Oakleigh taking some time off. "Alright, tomorrow after the briefing."

Oakleigh nodded and made her way back to Bucky, sitting beside him as they landed.

Bucky was excused while the rest of the team went to debrief their rescue mission. They would get Oakleigh's side the next day.

She and Bucky had gone to their room, so she could shower and get into some of her own clothes. Bucky hung out in their room pulling himself together. Oakleigh was back. The day she was taken rushed through his mind, his fear, anger and disgust. Disgust with himself and Ozwald. Oakleigh had said that she forgave Kenny, but Bucky did not.

"Buck?" He turned, having been too deep in thought he stopped listening in on her shower.

Standing Bucky smiled, pulling her into his arms. Oakleigh had thrown on a fuzzy pair of socks, a black pair of shorts and his navy blue hoodie that hung past her butt.

Oakleigh pushed up onto her tiptoes, and Bucky leaned down to accommodate her, humming when their lips met. She kissed him slowly her hands fisting in his shirt.

"What were you thinking about?" She had noticed his clenched fists when she came out of the bathroom.

Bucky's arms wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her to him. "Nothin' baby."

Their foreheads rested together, "You look sleepy."

The dark circles under his eyes were prominent. "I couldn't sleep not knowing where you were or what you were going through."

"Don't be mad when I tell you that all I did was still around a house and read for weeks." She teased.

Bucky's face remained troubled, "Ozwald taped what he did to you in Nevada."

Oakleigh sighed, "What did you see?"

Oakleigh stepped back from him, going to sit on their couch. She had not known that Ozwald had tapped her during their time in Nevada, no doubt the only reason he did was taping their interactions was to have Bucky find it.

"You were unconscious for a lot of it, strapped down to a chair. You hit your head on the day he took you, and got a concussion. He took a kiddy pool worth of blood from you. Before we found the Nevada sight the cops alerted us to your DNA being found at a crime scene. Your blood was all over, he wanted us to think you were dead. Either to torture you or to throw us off long enough that he could move you. That's our working theory."

"Anything else?" Bucky shook his head.

"Doesn't mean there wasn't something that happened off camera."

Oakleigh brought her knees up to her chest, "I was unconscious until he brought me to the house, but other than some lingering looks, he didn't do anything else."

"We should get you to the lab, I want Banner to check you out, and make sure you're ok."

"I let go of the window as soon as it shocked me," Oakleigh explained to Bucky and Bruce. "I woke up on the couch and sometime after, I don't know if my heart stopped or if I just was knocked out."

"It's possible your heart stopped, but it wouldn't have started beating again on its own. Did you get to ask Kenny?"

"Kenny was already in shock because of his injuries, he wasn't very lucid."

Bucky crossed his arms over his chest, "On the couch? We've had Ozwald in custody for longer than 24 hours. O, when we found you, you kept mentioning someone else, a man. I assumed you were talking about Ozwald. Was someone else in the house with you and Kenny?"

"I-Umm." Oakleigh rubbed at her forehead. "I don't- The gun... he, ah."

Bucky dropped to his knees in front of her, the telltale signs of a panic attack taking over her. Her breath was fast and shallow, the tunnel vision.

"Oakleigh." He spoke firmly in a calming tone. "You are ok. Listen to the sound of my voice."

Bruce had rushed to grab an ice pack and bring it over for Oakeigh to hold, giving her something to focus in on when she listens to Bucky's voice.

"I didn't clean up, his brain was- it's on the floor."

"Sweetheart, you brought Kenny home. He's with his fiance now."

She hummed slamming her eyes shut, moving the gel around in the ice pack. Bringing the cold object to her forehead, rocking back and forth slightly, humming to herself. The vibrations in her chest calmed her and allowed her to focus.

Bucky kneeled in front of her, reassuring her. A cotton ball and tape stuck to the arm where Bruce had drawn blood and a couple of stickies and wires ran down her stomach to the box clipped to her shorts. The heart monitor.

"O."

She dropped her hands back to her lap, ice pack and all. She locked eyes with him, breathing having slowed, body shaking slightly.

"I'm ok."

Bucky nodded, "Let's head back to our place."

Oakleigh got to her feet, Bucky's hand on her back leading her out.

"Larson." She turned to look at Bruce, making sure he was listening. "He was at the house. I think he's running Owen."

"I'll let Steve know."

With that taken care of Oakleigh and Bucky walked back to their room.

"How did you guys catch Ozwald?"

Bucky shut the door to their place. "He gave himself up."

Oakleigh frowned, getting a cup down for the cabinet and filling it with tap water.

"Why would he do that?"

Sighing Bucky shrugged, "We don't know yet. He wouldn't talk." Oakleigh sat on the couch and Bucky shook his head. "Let's go to bed, you need sleep."

"It's only three in the afternoon. Let's watch a movie or something. We were just at the end of season 3 of Bones when I left, let's watch a couple of episodes."

Bucky licked his lips but gave in. If she wanted to watch some TV who was he to stop her?

Grabbing the blanket from the chair he had spent most of his nights awake and restless in, Bucky sat next to Oakleigh, throwing the soft material over both of them. She snuggled against his side. She stayed awake long enough to put on the episode she left off at before falling asleep.

Bucky let the episode play in its entirety, indulging her. When the credits rolled he turned it off and carried Oakleigh to bed. Not having anything else calling for him that day, Bucky shucked his jeans and crawled in beside her. Instead of pulling Oakleigh into his side, he turned on his and stared at her until he fell asleep. He held out as long as he could but he was being honest when he told her earlier he had not slept much since she was taken.

They both slept until Steve came and woke them the next morning. He brought some breakfast foods up from the kitchen and hung out with the two while they took turns in the bathroom getting ready.

"Looking good Steve. You've clearly added a couple more squats to your workout, what are you trying to steal my boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend, huh? Are you still turning down the guy's proposals?"

Oakleigh snorted, "Maybe I'm waiting for you to ask me."

"I think Bucky may kick my ass if I did."

"I'm not worth a little ass-kicking. Good to know your feelings are easily tempered, Rodgers."

Steve smiled, "I'm happy you're back."

"Me too. Did you guys start looking into Larson?"

"I can tell you more at the debrief, but we did put JARVIS on it. They'll show us what they found."

"Good. This is just a never-ending cycle of crap, huh?"

"Starting to feel like that, yea."

Oakleigh nodded sadly, Yep, it really was. Bucky came up behind her, sliding his arm around her waist, Okaleigh flinched. It was so small and slight that maybe other people would not have noticed, but they did. Oakleigh pretended not to notice when they gave each other a look over her head.

"Should we get going?" Steve offered.

Oakleigh nodded moving into the living room so she could put on some shoes. She had put on her activity shorts, and a sports bra on under her sweater that morning. SO she put on her running shoes, in case Natasha wanted to leave for the gym from the meeting.

The three of them were the last to arrive. Natasha, Bruce, Tony, Sam and Clint were all seated and standing around the room. They all turned taking in Oakleigh, offering hi's and nods of greeting.

Bucky and Oakleigh sat together near the front of the long table, Steve stood near Tony by the screen.

"What do we have?" Steve asked Tony.

"JARVIS said they found something but they were still analyzing, they'll speak up when they have it."

"Ok, O. If you're ready, can you tell us what happened?"

Oakleigh blinked playing with the ring on her pointer finger. "You guys saw the tape from the cafe. Kenny helped Owen find me." Oakleigh gasped and sat up straight a look of horror on her face. "Oh my god, Devin! Did he-"

Bucky's face said it all and Oakleigh felt numb. Devin died protecting her, for what? So she could go to school, learn some new things so could have a real job. She would be working under the Avengers, she could have just learned from Bruce or just not and done her best. She was the one who pushed for school, it wasn't a requirement.

Oakleigh recounted her story to the group in an even voice. She went over what she remembered from that day at the cafe to her time in Nevada till she woke up in that house. She told them how she was left alone and how Owen had only been with her for an hour or less before leaving her alone. She glossed over her and Kenny's back and forth for weeks.

"I didn't have a key and I wasn't strong enough to break the door down. I called out for Owen, thinking he would come help, but then I remembered Kenny mentioning Larson, so I begged for him to come help. While we were in Nevada I remember Owen seemed weirdly relaxed, like this was just the begging, like he'd have more time with me. There were cameras everywhere, someone had to be watching, so I went over to the window and touched it. I hoped I was important to them enough for them to come."

Tony stared at her, "The electoral current running through the house should have killed you."

"It worked." she shrugged. "Larson showed up. Watched me patch up Kenny, clean out the infection, clean the wound, and colourize. I put him through all that just for him to die anyway."

"When we arrived Kenny had been down for around ten hours." Oakleigh noticed Bruce using alternative language to avoid triggering her.

"I-" Oakleigh tried to remember without having to be back in the moment. "I couldn't move, I just sat with him and held his hand. I think I was there all night."

"I can confirm," JARVIS told them. "I have downloaded the video footage from the house Miss Blake was held hostage in."

Everyone was quiet, Oakleigh sat forward elbows on the table. "I want to see it."

"O." Bucky leaned in, talking lowly to her. "I don't think that would be helpful."

"I want to see it." She repeated in an even voice.

Bucky and Steve looked at each other, Tony waiting for Steve to nod giving him the go-ahead.

"JARVIS play the footage."

Oakleigh was no longer indifferent, afraid, or upset. She had locked in on deep seeded rage, and anything new she learned or this video she was about to watch would just continue to build her white-hot anger.

JARVIS started from the beginning, It showed Ozwald carrying her into the house, placing her in bed and tucking her in, then waiting around for several hours until she woke up. It showed them talking and moving around the kitchen, then him leaving. JARVIS fast-forwarded through the two weeks of Oakleigh reading and talking at Kenny through the door.

They watched in fast-forward as she tried to break down the basement door, watching her yelling at the ceiling. Then watched the calm decision wash over her face when she walked over to the window and dropped to the floor. Larson entered the house about forty minutes later. He checked her pulse and moved her to the couch before walking across the room and opening the basement door.

Kenny's upper body flopped into the living room, just like she remembered finding him. She woke up sometime later.

Bucky went back and forth between watching the screen and watching Oakleigh's real-time expression.

They watched as she stumbled around the main floor of the house, trying to find supplies. They watched her work on Kenny, and only too in the sen see Larson preparing his gun, and walking over to the pair.

Oakleigh and Kenny were talking, neither seeing the shot coming. They watched Oakleigh flinch from the bang and drop down on her butt. After a small exchange, Larson was gone and she was alone.

JARVIS fast-forwarded through the rest they clocked nine hours Oakligh just sat there.

"Are there any leads on Larson?" Oakleigh asked.

"We think Larson isn't his real name. That or he's not connected to Hydra. Maybe just an associate of Ozwalds, someone he picked up along the way." Tony explained.

"Is that all you needed from me?"

Tony looked at Steve and then back at her. "If this is everything you remember, then you're free to go. I've been in touch with your professors, you are a bit behind but they're going to accommodate you. If you are ready by then, you can start back next week."

Oakleigh stood, "Thank you for going to the trouble but I'm withdrawing from NYU."

"What?" Bucky exclaimed. "O."

"What would you do that?" Tony asked her.

"You should take some time, get reacclimated and think this over." Steve tried to reason.

Oakleigh raised her brow at them, pointing to the screen where they just watched the last two weeks of her life. "I had nothing but time to think while I was in that house. Tomorrow is Thursday, the professors have office hours. I'm going to go in and formally withdraw from the program."

Bucky frowned, standing and taking her hand. "O, that's a really big choice to make off the back of what you just went through."

"But it is my choice to make. So, that's my plan. Speaking of plans, Nat and I have plans this morning."

The redhead stood up, "Yes we do."

"Where are you going?" Bucky asked, confused by this whole morning.

"Downstairs to work out."

Sam pipped up having been watching and analyzing Oakleigh. "That sounds like a great idea, I think I may join you guys, run off some of this energy."

"Is Owen still here?" Oakleigh asked Steve.

Steve looked like he did not want to answer and Bucky looked like he wanted his friend to lie to her.

"He is."

"I want to see him."

Tony spoke up. "He's being moved on Friday."

"Either this afternoon or tomorrow then." Oakleigh nodded.

"This isn't a jail, we don't have a pay phone and a glass barrier for you to sit behind. He's being kept in a cell." Tony exclaimed.

Natasha cleared her throat. "If it's too touchy for you boys, I'll accompany her."

The girls left after that, leaving the men behind.

"Steve." Bucky turned to his best friend for answers.

The blonde turned to Sam, this was his field of expertise. Dealing with PTSD and men and women experiencing trauma.

"She's angry. And she's grieving. Be there for her, but don't smother her. Let her take the lead on this. A lot is happening internally and she needs control of her life. Let her have it and catch her when she falls."

.

"Buck you have a job, things to do. Tony already said Happy was free to drive me to campus."

The soldier crossed his arms over his chest, planting his feet.

"Why don't you want me to take you."

Oakleigh who had been facing away from him, making a smoothie stopped.

"I don't not want you to take me. I know Steve wants to get back out there and you've been pushing it off because of me. You shouldn't, I'm fine. I can do things on my own, you know there was a point in my life when you weren't there with me every second and I functioned just fine."

Bucky frowned but chose not to get into her past with her father right now.

"Yes I want to be there for you, I'm your boyfriend. Did you stop to think that maybe I want to stay close for me? Once again you were taken from me by dangerous people, and your life was threatened. I didn't know where you were for over a month. What you shared with me before, about how you felt when I was a POW and then again after I fell from the train. I'm feeling some of that right now. Not the unable to openly love you part, but the fear of losing you forever and being crushed by it, part."

Oakleigh stopped and gave him her full attention, her heart aching at his words.

"I have loved you for almost a century, O. You've been back here less than 48 hours, and you are already itching to get back out there. All I want to do is lock you in here with me and block out everything else. If that's annoying to you, I'm sorry but tough." Bucky grabbed her hands.

"You're right, I wasn't thinking about how everything had affected you." She looked down then forced herself to look back up at him. "My whole life, starting before the war. I've pushed myself to keep going to not linger too long on the bad. When you've gone through as much trauma as you and I have, the only way for me not to drown and let it take me under is to not face it, to keep my eyes forward. I know it's not the healthiest, but it's me."

"It's always been easy to do, a routine. It's not that this time. I don't have perspective and focus. I have tears and scrambled thoughts. I am quiet and can only speak in facts because my emotions are choking me, if I try to say anything else I'm going to melt into a puddle of tears. And I know you're going to say that it's ok, that crying it out isn't a bad thing. But it's not how that feels to me and not what I'm looking to do. I know what I want, I want to withdraw from school and I want to talk to Owen. Other than that I've got nothing because anything else is too much."

Bucky listened intently, watching the blank look on Okaleighs face. How she keep all emotion from her voice and chose words that emulate the emotions she wanted to keep back. Bucky always knew that Oakleigh held back a lot and that she tried her best to be everything for everyone. It hurt him to hear her talk like this, that she was thought that if she wanted to be taken care of the only person she could trust was herself.

"Then trust me to think passed those things. Let me take care of you." He saw emotion swell in her throat.

"I do trust you." She said with as much feeling as she could. "I just don't know how to let go in that way."

He pulled her in to hug her, kissing her head. "Slowly, while you let me prove to you that I'll be here to take care of things."

Needing to make a joke to elevate the building feelings in her Oakleigh joked. "That's very 1920s of you," Bucky smirked his charm shining through.

"I'll email my teachers, and ask them to set up a virtual meeting."

"I would appreciate that." Bucky thanked her.

Looking over at the clock on the wall Oakleigh sighed the stress from her body. "I'm late to meet Nat in the gym. You're going to have breakfast with Steve?"

"Yea, he wants to talk before we go down for training."

"Ok." She kissed him pulling away. "I'll see you after then."

"You bet."

Oakleigh looked at him. "I still want to see Owen before they take him off sight."

Bucky's jaw clenched, "Tony's still looking into making that happen."

While there was truth to that, they both knew Oakleigh only needed one of them in the room with her. They did not need special permission for her to see Owen, this was Bucky's way of pushing the encounter off as long as he could.

Sam had advised him to support her but give her space, he was trying hard to follow that advice. When it came to Hydra and Owen Ozwald, logic and reason were done away with and all Bucky wanted to do was put distance between them.

While Oakleigh needed to work on trusting him. He needed to work on being more trusting of her and her decisions when she wanted to do something he did not agree with or like.

For now, his girl was going to work out with Romanoff and he needed to meet up with Steve before the blonde thought he had been forgotten about.