I've come undone

But you make sense of who I am

Like puzzle pieces in your hand

Then I see your face

I know I'm finally yours

I find everything I thought I lost before

You call my name

I come to you in pieces

Seconds ticked by as though time had frozen, all that they knew was each other, and they were going to hold on to that for as long as they could.

Bucky felt as though he was high on the feeling of Rory on him, her hair tickling his neck and fingers tracing patterns along his chest transported him far away from the metal bed in the cell the Hydra had kept him locked up in on the other side of the world. If he just closed his eyes, he could imagine that when he opened them, they'd be nestled in their small bed in Brooklyn. The sun shining down on their faces. But he couldn't bring himself to close his eyes. To look away from his Rory. He pulled her even closer, chasing that high as far as he could.

Sighing as James pulled her close, Aurora pressed her lips to his chest. Content to stay wrapped up in his arms forever, safe and loved and entirely wrapped up in him.

"James," She murmured into his chest, her hand trailing along the edge of the gauze wrapping his arm and shoulder. She waited until he hummed out a response before taking a deep breath "What happened to you? How are you alive?"

She lay with her head on his chest, waiting for him to answer. She was almost sure he had either fallen asleep or was ignoring her by the time he heaved a breath and spoke; "I was on that last mission with Steve... we hijacked Zola's train in the Alps but they had these guns that vanished people whole. The kind that blew a hole in the side of the train in one shot and I... I fell." His voice broke and Aurora pressed another kiss to his chest, her heart aching. "I thought I died, Rory. I woke up and thought I must've died, because who could have survived that?"

Bucky sucked in a shaky breath and pulled Rory closer, tangling his right hand into her hair. He didn't want to make Rory hear the horrors he went through, but he could never deny her. She was the first person he'd seen in over a year that offered him a soft touch and whose gaze held no malice or promises of pain.

And so, he pushed forward. "I was waiting at the bottom of that ravine for almost two days, my arm was crushed under a rock that had fallen and pinned me." He felt Rory move her head and he met her chocolate brown eyes, he used to tell her that her eyes were bigger than the moon and looked like melted chocolate. Even now as they shimmered with unshed tears and held all of his pain, they were so enchanting. He had to look away so that he could continue, "I woke up and realized that I was being dragged... It was so cold, I couldn't feel anything, but I could see..."

Bucky clenched his jaw tightly, only speaking again when he felt Rory reach up and hold his cheek, he could still feel her eyes on his face. "Zola was there... I don't know what he said, but he looked almost happy to see me. I watched them drag me, and I saw a trail of blood. My blood. When Hydra found me, they couldn't get that damned boulder off my arm... maybe they just didn't care to... they hacked it off." He bit out, out of the corner of his eye he watched Rory look to his arm and for the first time, Bucky realized it was completely wrapped. All of it. Shoulder to fingers. His brow furrowed but assumed Hydra wanted to make him show her for whatever sick reason.

He heard her murmur his name, and felt her hand reach for the gauze again, so he finished his story "Zola experimented on me during my time as a prisoner before Steve found me. They injected me with something that must've been what kept me alive after the fall, I think it's also what let me survive what came next. I'm so sorry, Doll." He whispered and pushed her up so he could start unwrapping his arm. Bucky didn't know what she would say or do when she saw it... But she deserved to know.

Aurora stared at James, her cheeks were warm with the tears she let fall as she knocked his hand away and started working on the bandages, furiously wiping at her cheeks and eyes when she couldn't see in front of her. She only paused when James spoke again, his hand moving to wipe her tears for her. "Please don't be scared, Rory... It ain't pretty." Aurora sniffled and nodded her head feverishly. Her throat felt like she'd swallowed a thousand bees when she tried to tell him that nothing about him could ever scare her away.

She felt like screaming at just how many layers there were. Maybe it was only a few but it felt as though they would never end. When she was almost to the end, she could see an odd gleam from under the wraps; she looked up to James, knowing her confusion read plain as day across her face.

Bucky swallowed grimly as she started on the final layer between her and the truth of what he'd become.

He watched her start at his fingers, heard her gasp as the metal digits reflected the sickly light. He pulled his hand from her face and let it drop by her side. His eyes followed as her fingertips ran up the hard metal as inch-by-inch, the wrappings fell away.

Aurora bit her lip, hard. The more she revealed, the more she hurt. She was beginning to wonder if it would ever stop.

As she pulled away the last few scraps, she felt all the air in her lungs escape her as she took it in; the whole arm was metal, from fingertip all the way past his shoulder. The skin around the area was raised and red, not quite healed. She couldn't stop staring at it. Not until her head began to throb and she realized that she hadn't taken a breath yet.

Forcing herself to pull her gaze from his arm, Aurora looked at James and found that he was already staring at her, tears in his eyes. So, she took another deep, deep, deepest breath and raised an eyebrow; "If you think for even one moment, James Buchanan Barnes, that this changes anything about us, then you are completely wrong." She could feel herself slipping into a frown as James looked away from her to stare at the wall. Not a pout, but a true, ugly frown that only appeared when trying to push away tears that threatened to fall. She willed herself to not let them fall. To not give any reason for James to think she wouldn't accept this. She didn't know what to do with the information about this mechanical arm, but she knew that it didn't matter to her as long as James was still alive and breathing and in front of her.

She looked back to the junction where skin met metal; the angry puckered flesh glared up at her and she could only wonder if it hurt still or if it was mostly healed. "James, look at me. Please." When her only answer was a shake of his head, Aurora leaned over and pressed her lips to the scars. "I love you so much, Cheri. This is a part of who you are now and doesn't change anything about how I feel."

Bucky finally met her gaze, he almost didn't believe her words, but one look at her told him the truth. She'd always been an open book, every thought and emotion readable like letters on a paper; even her frown assured him, reminding him of all the times she would make that exact same face when overwhelmed with emotions. And her eyes always told him what those emotions were; love and sympathy and he knew she wanted to take his pain away. He could only shake his head and look away again, so entirely overwhelmed by her.

"Don't. Don't do that, darling. Do not be ashamed of this. This is a battle scar. You survived a fall that would have killed any other man." Aurora clasped either side of James' neck, her thumbs resting against his cheeks as she forced him to face her. To look into her eyes. "I am proud of you, I could never be scared of you, James. It doesn't matter what happens, I will always stand by your side, I will always love you." Leaning forward, she pressed her forehead to his, her words dwindling to little more than a hoarse whisper. "I have experienced a life without you once, and I will not return to it ever again. So please, James; please don't turn away from me."

Bucky tilted his head to press his lips to Rory's, reaching up with his right hand, he once again tangled it in her hair. His heart feeling lighter than air when she melted against him and let out a sigh against his lips.

With James, Aurora was finally home again. She couldn't imagine how painful it must have been for him; to have fallen so far and survive, only to be taken and experimented on... But he was alive and here and with her and she was happier than she'd been in over a year because of it.

Her relief, however, was short-lived, as the sound of the door opening reached them. Aurora could feel James tense, his right arm curling around her as he sat up straight, trying to pull her behind her with his weak arm as Zola stepped into the room, a guard on either side of him.