Chapter 16 (this chapter is dedicated to season 4 Elena Gilbert)

"How was therapy?" Bucky asked her as she walked into her house.

Well, Bucky had moved in with her so, their house. After their long talk, Brooke told Bucky she loved him, but she couldn't stay at the compound anymore. He understood and when she said she was going to move into her mom's home, he sighed as a flood of warm memories overtook him.

Her making breakfast and their first time together. Some of the best memories of his life were in that house. It's where he restarted his life. The only downside was, that it was outside of the city and hours away from the compound.

He had grown nervous when Brooke had taken a shaky breath and avoided his eyes again, seconds before she asked him to move in.

Bucky had pulled her body under his on the couch and made love to her as an acceptance to move in with her. Of course, he wanted to be with her wherever she went. He talked to Steve the next morning about making a schedule for work and figured out how he could still be a part of the team.

Brooke found a vet clinic 40 minutes from the house and applied. Her skills and compassion for the animals had her hired on part-time, once she passed three months with them she could transition into a full-time worker.

"I hate that our options are so limited, it's not exactly like I could tell government secrets to any random therapist and mines pissing me off." She huffed, throwing her jacket down harder than needed.

Bucky frowned. Fury had approved the end of her probation, but he mandated therapy as a way to keep tabs on her.

"I'm sorry, Baby."

"I don't want to talk about me. How was your assignment?"

"Fast and easy, just like I said."

Brooke snorted. "Good, it's creepy out here all alone."

"We still have a room at the compound, you can always stay there when I'm away."

"They don't need me, and I like the quiet out here. There is always someone watching there, always the sound of fighting. Even if it is just training."

Bucky dropped his chin to his chest, "I'm sorry I did not see how much how much it all bothered you."

Brooke shrugged, "Not like you could have done anything about it then, my Fury-mandated probation kind of made it mandatory I live there. It never really bothered me until recently anyway, and now we live here so there's no reason to worry about it."

"I'll always worry over you." She shook her head.

"Gonna give yourself a heart attack. Guess this is a bad time to tell you that Tony said Vince has put out a bounty for me. For whoever finds and brings me back to him."

His jaw clenched, he had seen Tony not four hours ago, and he didn't say a word.

"Stark didn't say anything about it to me."

"He probably didn't want to deal with the backlash. Look, I'm not worried. I just wanted to let you know in the interest of being honest."

His blue eyes looked her over. "You're not worried after the year you just had?"

"I live out here in the woods where there is no record of this house or me attached to it. And I didn't run away remember, I was 'taken' from a gala party. Even if he did manage to find me, I didn't run away. That has to count for something, and I can play the victim if I need to."

Bucky started pacing; it was never simple with them. "Being isolated with backup hours away isn't ideal."

"Neither is living at the compound." Brooke licked her lips, "Speaking of- If you have a couple of days off, I wanted to go to the bank, finally see what's inside that lockbox."

"We actually recovered it when you were 'away'; it's at the compound."

"What's inside?'

"I wanted you to be the first to open it," Bucky wrapped his arms around her waist, "But after you went missing, we had to check to see if anything in there could help us find you."

"And did it?"

"No. According to JARVIS, it's a bunch of home videos and some other personal things. Nothing Hydra or Red room related."

Brooke buried her head in his chest, "I'm not sure I want any of it. Not after this last year, I- Even if it was just stuff to do with mom... I think I've had enough family secrets revealed for a lifetime."

Bucky kissed the top of her head, holding her tighter, "It'll be there for you if you ever change your mind. Do you want to make some supper?"

"I already mixed the waffle batter."

Bucky laughed, "You have a problem."

"Waffles are delicious."

"They're a breakfast food."

"You are telling me you've never done 'breakfast for dinner'?"

"That's not a thing."

"... It is too a thing."

Bucky pulled Brooke back into him as she playfully pushed him away. His lips hit her shoulder first, teasing her neck on the way up to her lips. His fingers played with the helm of her pants, popping the button of her jeans open. He turned her around with a tug on her belt loop.

Brooke gasped as her back hit his chest and Bucky's fingers pressed into her lower belly, sliding into her underwear. His mouth was hot on her neck.

"I missed you." He muttered into her neck, "And the pretty little noises you make."

Biting her lip to try and hold back the moan she was about to release, Bucky laughed. Bicep across her chest to hold her body to his, his metal hand grabbed her face and turned her so he could claim her mouth.

"I already turned on the waffle maker." Brooke's hips rolled softly against him.

He could smell that, the light smell of warm grease, from the last time she had used the machine. They still had some time before it would be a problem, but he did not want to risk a fire. Pulling his hand from her pants, Bucky lightly slapped her ass.

"Go make your waffles." Brooke turned, giving her an exasperated look.

"I didn't miss you." He snorted at her glare.

She disappeared into the kitchen, coming back a few seconds later, having unplugged the waffle maker and put the batter in the fridge. Walking right passed him, she made a beeline for the stairs, stripped her shirt and threw it at him.

Smiling happily to himself, Bucky waited until he heard her reach the top of the steps before jogging after her. Brooke squealed loudly when he picked her up, carrying her to bed.

.

"Don't stop till you've cum." Brooke was trembling as she rode him.

Hips jerking and limbs burning. She had pushed Bucky back after he had his fun between her thighs and climbed on top of him. She knew he liked to be on top, and usually, she let him have it but not today. She missed him and she knew he was tired despite the smile he wore when he came into the house.

She road him, even though he topped from the bottom and fucked up into her. Unlike him, she did not have the strength to hold his hips down like he usually did hers. But god did she love the way he fucked her. He was so damn good at it and she hated herself for the half a second she saw his lips on Tess's in her mind. They had talked it all out, and she believed it was only once and only for a second, but it had still happened. That imagine, that moment of doubt was a bitch.

Bucky shocked her back into the moment, pulling her down against his chest and rolling them.

Her eyes flicked up to his, and she saw the narrowing of them, knew he was about to ask her what had taken her attention, possibly stop altogether. Brooke rolled her hips up into his, dramatically rolling her body along his. Letting him know she was back.

She reached between them and cupped his balls, playing with them softly. She moaned as his breath stuttered and laughed when he grabbed her arm and forced it away from him up beside her head.

"Sensitive?" She teased him like he always does her.

With a flick of his eyebrow, Bucky pressed his hips to hers, thrusting deep inside her barely pulling out.

"Fuck" Brooke whimpered. "Yes, yes, yes."

She came fast and hard, Bucky kissing her as he joined her, grunting into her panting mouth. He softly bumped his nose against hers. With his arm securely around her, Bucky rolled them to lay on their sides. Her forehead scrunched as he slid out of her. Bucky leaned forward to press his lips to her wrinkled skin.

He had noticed Brooke disappearing into herself since she had been back. This was the first time she had done it during sex, and he, more than anything, wanted to know what had caused it. But before he could ask, he felt his senses sharpen.

"What?" Brooke tensed up in his arms at his reaction.

"Stay here." He rolled from the bed and pulled on his jeans.

Brooke scrambled out of bed after him, grabbed Bucky's shirt and her underwear and ran downstairs. Bucky's arm wrapped around her waist when she caught up to him in the kitchen where there was a stack of waffles waiting for them.

"Bucky-?"

"Someone was here. Get upstairs and get dressed; I'm going to check outside."

Brooke grabbed for his arm and held on tight, "Wait, let me come with you."

"Let's get dressed and pack a bag." Her death grip on his arm telling him how scared she felt with the idea of being left alone. "I'll have the team come out and take you to the compound."

"We can just take your bike."

"No, I want the team here for backup in case we are ambushed. They'll take you home. I want to stay behind with Steve and Sam and figure out who was here."

Brooke's breath stuttered as she looked at the large stack of waffles. "They were in here for a while."

"I know," Bucky growled. He pressed his hand into her back, "Let's go pack."

He had wanted to go see if he could catch up to whoever was in here, but they were probably long gone, and he didn't want to risk leaving Brooke alone.

They threw some clothes in a bag while Bucky called Steve to get the team out to them. Brooke went to look out the window, but Bucky pulled her away and shut the curtains. He didn't want her in sight in case the person was still out there watching. He didn't know who it was or what their intentions were.

"They'll be here in twenty minutes," Bucky told her, loading his gun.

Brooke dropped down onto the end of the bed, playing with the elastic on her wrist.

"It'll be ok, Doll, we'll figure out who it was."

"We already know, don't we? It's them, always Hydra. This house is fortified with so much security, no one should have been able to get in here without us knowing."

Bucky moved to kneel in front of her but Brooke shot to her feet, she was so fucking tired of this shit. Looking around for anything else she cared enough to keep. Brooke grabbed her bag and stormed down the stairs. Throwing it down by the door, she pulled on her boots and marched into the kitchen, aware of Bucky following her in patient silence.

"Come back upstairs, We should stay out of sight until the guys get here."

He did not like being on the ground floor with so many windows. The bedroom upstairs was a lot easier of a space to control.

Brooke climbed up onto the counter, and Bucky's memories flashed between this moment and another, her bare legs and fuzzy socks.

"Baby, what do you need?"

Grabbing a bottle from the top shelf and jumped down, shoes smacking the tile loudly. She turned and pulled open one of the drawers and rifled around in there until she found the lighter she was looking for.

When she spoke, she was defeated, calm. "Abby told me they knew where I was. The entire time I thought I was free, they had eyes on me. I bet they even knew about this place. It's all a game, and I am done losing."

Brooke walked around him into the living room as soon as she got to the couch, she popped the top off the lighter fluid and soaked the cushions. Bucky grabbed her wrist, taking the container from her.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"They don't get to take anything else from me." Lighting and locking the lighter, she dropped it onto the lighter fluid-soaked couch.

"Where is the fire extinguisher?"

Brooke grabbed his shirt to keep him in place, "Don't."

Wide-eyed, Bucky looked at her and saw the resigned look on her face. The heat of the building fire licked at them, and Bucky had no choice but to get them both out of the house before they got stuck inside.

The jet landed as they walked a safe distance from the burning house.

"Are you guys ok?" Steve asked, running toward them.

Tony started pressing buttons on his phone. "I'll get a water drop out there; firefighters will be here in five minutes."

Brooke walked through the group headed for the jet, "Let it burn."

Natasha wrapped her arm around hers and kept pace with her; the boys all looked at Bucky for answers.

"Is she serious?" Sam asked, startled.

Bucky cleared his throat. "She lit the fire."

"She what?..." Tony looked toward the jet, "Maybe we shouldn't have let Miss crazy pants off probation."

"She's not crazy." Steve stepped between the two as Bucky advanced on the billionaire, snapping. "She's tired. Someone was inside the house long enough to cook waffles; neither of us knew they were there. I thought you had set up a security system. Why the hell didn't it go off? What if she had been here alone?"

Steve crossed his arms over his chest. "We only just got back; maybe they did think she was alone."

Sam eyed Bucky as his chest puffed at the thought, "Let's be glad she wasn't and focus on right now. You didn't see anyone?"

"No, I smelled the waffles cooking and thought I heard the gravel shifting, like someone was walking around. When I got downstairs, whoever was there was gone. I was going to go look around but I didn't want to leave her alone."

"Sam and I will get in the air; you and Rodgers search around the house. We'll call the firefighters once we leave. The house will be mainly burned by then, and they can stop the forest from catching."

"Why did she start the fire?" Steve asked, once alone with Bucky.

"I think she couldn't watch them take one more thing from her, so she's getting rid of it before they can."

"How are you?"

"I don't want to lose her man this last year without her. Was hell, and this feels like we are headed back in that direction. I still don't even know half of what she went through. She won't talk about it, but I was see she still thinks about it, often. She's been going to her therapist but she hates her."

"We're going to look after her; nothing like that is going to happen again."

"She's being forced back to the compound, a place she doesn't want to be. Yeah, I'm worried about them getting to her. Even more than that, I'm the reason she stuck around, and I'm starting to think I might not get so lucky this time."

"You think she'll leave?"

Bucky's stomach revolted at the thought. "I'm not sure what she'll do."

Steve clapped his shoulder, "You'll be there for her, whatever she needs."

Brooke was 'asleep' by the time Bucky got the the compound. There were heat signatures from the person's footsteps, only one set. Then there were tired tracks on the other end of the forest, so they know how they got away.

Bucky shower and slid into bed pulling Brooke close. He had been worried that she may not be there when he opened the door. Even after Natasha texted him to say she had gone to bed as soon as they landed. She also said that Brooke sent an email to the vet clinic where she had been working, and she quit.

He couldn't sleep that night, so he held her and watched over her. The growing pit in his stomach told him that this might be the last time he gets to do this, god he hoped that feeling was wrong.

.

"Sorry, Steve. I will do a demonstration when I get back." Natasha threw her bag over her shoulder and left for a mission with Clint.

"I'll help. I'm sure Nat's moves are the same as mine, and I recently had that review, so it's fresh."

Everyone at the breakfast table stopped to look at her. Brooke had been quiet the two weeks she had been forced back to the compound. She was on her laptop all hours of the day, she typed furiously and didn't let anyone get a look at her screen. Earbuds always in.

Bucky tried to be patient, giving her space and watching her from afar. The only time he was close to her was at night once she had fallen asleep, which she tended to do on the couch or kitchen island. He could collect her and carry her to their bed.

Steve looked at Bucky then back to Brooke, "You want to help me train?"

"Nat was supposed to help with sparing, right? I know how to spar."

"Great." Steve broke off another chuck of omelette. "I'll see you on the mats in twenty minutes."

"Ok." Brooke stood, food once again untouched and went to change.

"Anyone else thinks this is a bad idea?" Sam asked quietly.

"She wants to help; let her." Steve shrugged.

Bucky's blue eyes trailed Brooke from the room. Natasha had been trying to get her back into the gym for days, and she had always refused. But without a thought she had offered to fill in and help Steve with the cadets.

.

Brooke took her space on the mat for the third time. She showed a couple of takedown moves on Steve, then offered to be the testing dummy for them to practice on. No one was able to take her to the mat even Tess.

They worked for three hours until Steve announced the end of hand-to-hand training.

"Thank you for your help today."

Brooke shrugged. "You needed someone to fill in for Nat. I'm the next best thing."

"Did you want to get lunch?"

"I'm going to shower. maybe another time?"

Bucky was waiting for them when they got inside. Brooke passed his with a small smile, and Steve stayed to tell him how training when, knowing it was why he had come to meet them.

"It was great, they learned a lot from her."

"Huh..."

"Were you expecting another outcome?"

"I just don't get it. She's talked to no one for the last two weeks, and all of a sudden she wants to spar with the recruits."

"She was helping me out by filling in for Nat. I don't know if you need to think too hard on this one. Maybe take it as a good sign; this could be her coming out of that shell."

"I don't know if that's what this was." It was just a gut feeling.

"You think she had an ulterior motive?"

"I think she's lost."

"Still not talking to you, huh?"

"Nope."

"Give it time, man. We know more than anyone how hard it is to keep losing to Hydra."

"She's giving up."

"Not from what I saw out there today."

"I hope you're right, Steve."

When Bucky woke up later that night, alone to cold sheets, he wanted to hit Steve for making him drop his guard. He trusted Steve with his life and as smart as steve was sometimes he was still a little too optimistic for this life.

"JARVIS, where is Brooke?"

"She is on the roof-."

"What?" Forgoing his boots, Bucky ran out of their apartment.

He heard her voice before he was able to lay his eyes on her.

"No one knows anything about it, relax."

"Are you sure? Because I want to say Sterling would have liked to spend more time with you on top of him today."

Bucky came around the corner to see Brooke lying on her back, a bottle of vodka in her hand and four recruits lounging around too. Tess, Marc, Tyler and Stephanie.

"Cerfew was several hours ago," Bucky said to announce his presence.

Brooke didn't acknowledge him, but the other three sure did. They scrambled to get onto their feet and hide the fact that they had all been drinking from that vodka bottle.

"Sargent."

"I suggest you all get back to your rooms and sleep it off before training in three hours."

"Yes, Sir."

He waited for the rooftop door to close before walking over to Brooke, who couldn't care less about his presence.

"How long have you been up here?"

"What time is it?"

"Five."

"Since two. I can see why you like her; she's great."

"I don't like Tess."

Brooke frowned up at him, "I was talking about Stephanie, but good to know."

When he was training their group, Bucky had told her about Stephanie. How she was the weakest link but she worked her ass off to get as good as the others. That she had a good attitude, and he was happy he wouldn't have to cut her from the program.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed."

"I miss the stars. It's hard to see them with all this light, but it's darker before dawn. It's the best time to see them."

Brooke lifted her head to take another pull of vodka into her mouth, gulping twice.

"How often do you come out here?"

"This is my first night."

At least there was that: "Why did you offer to train with Steve today?"

"I was just filling in for Natasha."

"That the only reason?"

"What else is there?"

The image of her kicking Tess's ass came to his mind. Brooke had more than the ability to do so, and she was definitely still angry over everything that happened to her and with him while she was away.

"How about, what have you been looking up on your laptop?"

"My family photo album."

That gave him pause. "What?"

"I've been looking through every home movie, every picture, and I just don't see it."

"See what?"

"When Abby turned into an unfeeling psycho who didn't care about her own son. When we became objects to my father, something to breed, to use for science. I did find something, though. Right about November 2006, Mom tried to kill herself that winter. I remember her being in hospital, not being allowed to see her. She came back different. In all the pictures of her from October, she looked joyful, resigned to her fate. In December, she looked beaten down, numb... I'm hardly in any of the photos."

Now Bucky felt bad for pushing, but she was clearly drunk and sue him for hoping she would give him some honest answers.

"Tess is nice."

"Ok." That felt like a trap.

"She's science-level smart like Tony. Went to MIT. Not the best fighter, but she does learn from her mistakes. With more training, she'd be good enough."

"I'm sure that's good feedback for Steve to have."

"And you. You only stopped training her-them because of the kiss. But you did love teaching them, You should tell Steve you want back in."

Why was he entertaining this conversation right now, when his girl was drunk and struggling? He should throw her over his shoulder and get back to their bed. There wasn't going to be anything productive to come out of this. Since they were talking about Tess, it felt dangerous.

"She was unprofessional, and I removed myself from the position because I wasn't going to let her interfere in our relationship more than I already had."

Brooke sighed. "Because you would have wanted to kiss her again."

"No-"

"Vince never tried to kiss me. He protected me. I think Abby would have let them break me, even if it meant killing me. I always wanted a sister, and I never knew I had one."

"Okay, this isn't productive. Baby, let's head inside."

"I'm good out here. You can head in."

"I'm not leaving without you."

"Why not?"

"Because you are drunk and upset on top of a very high roof. Since you've been back, you've been isolating-"

"Researching-"

"Torturing yourself. For two weeks and I've left you alone because you've been through a lot, and I thought you just needed a little time to deal with things. I'm not happy with where that's gotten us. You can be as mad, sad, or anything else you need to be-"

"Thanks for your permission."

"But now I'm telling you. You can be as sad as you want to be, but you wouldn't let me be alone when I was at my lowest. I've been failing you leaving you alone in this, but that ends now, too. Because it's you and me, Brooke. It's always you and me."

"I have an Aunt who lives in Savanah. I saw her in one of the home videos. I looked her up, and I had FRIDAY comb through her life. She has no connection to Hydra. I'm going to visit her, see what she can tell me about my mom."

"When were you going to tell me about that?"

Brooke shrugged, dropping the vodka bottle beside her, "Now. I already asked Tony, and he said his jet was fueled up whenever I wanted to go."

Huffing out his frustration, Bucky sat down in front of her. He pulled Brooke up so she was sitting, her eyes did swim a little before focusing on him.

"What do you need, Brooke?" She blinked at him, thrown by his question. "Like I said, I'm not going anywhere. No matter what you're trying to pull here, either to make me angry or push me away. It's not working on me. You're going through hell right now coming back from what you've experienced. And I am going to be here every second to keep you safe while you figure things out."

Tears wheeled in her eyes, and Bucky watched on sadly as she blinked to keep them from falling. Fighting off the emotions she had been suppressing.

"I hear you."

Bucky's hand pressed under her chin, lifting her gaze. He had heard that from her before.

"You don't, but I'm not above reminding you tomorrow," he said as gently as he could.

"She was going to let them rape me." her voice steady.

Flashes of that security video played in his head, hand falling back to his lap. "I know."

"The red roo-." Brooke looked down at her fingers. "My father would have forced me to if I hadn't agreed. I'm related to these people."

"You. Are NOTHING- like them." He pressed, grabbing her hands, "Think of what you did for me, for Daniel. You are brave and selfless; as much as I would rather it if you had a little more self-preservation, you would give up your life- have risked your life to protect someone else. Strangers."

"I feel numb."

Bucky's tongue wet his lips, head nodding in understanding. "You think pushing deeper into your family is going to help?"

"I don't know." She said honestly, broken.

"I'm concerned about what's going to happen when you get to the end of this and maybe don't get the answers you need."

"I don't know if I can stay here." She swallowed. "I helped Steve train. I went to their therapist. I'm trying to be normal. It's not helping!"

He hushed her, keeping her hands clasped in his as she tried draw into herself.

"Okay, ok. I hear you. Do you really want to go see your aunt, or are you just looking for somewhere to go that isn't here?"

"I need to go, see if she'll see me."

"Ok, give me two days. Let me double-check everything FRIDAYs pulled related to your aunt. Just hang in for two more days and we'll go, please."

"I already looked throw it all," she said, frustrated.

"It also gives me a couple of days to make sure we can travel safely. Whoever was in your house is still out there, and I don't want them following us to your aunt's."

"Two days."

"Yes."

"Fine. When we find my Aunt, I want to meet with her alone."

"Fine."

.

She was so sweet, is all Brooke could think while she sat across from the woman who resembled her mother. After they had tea together, Brooke smiled and promised she would come back and visit, which she had no intention of doing. She shouldn't have come here in the first place, no while she had people after her.

Climbing into the passenger side of their Tony-fortified SUV, Brooke couldn't even look at her boyfriend.

"This was a mistake."

"What happened?" He shifted with unease.

"She was sweet and kind. She looked like Mom. Has no idea what her sister had gotten into. I shouldn't have risked her by coming here. Not when I can't keep her safe or have a relationship with her."

"Why can't you?"

"She deserves way better than all of this. Can we stay in town a couple more days, just to make sure no one turns up here to hurt her?"

"Of course we can." He grabbed her hand and pulled away from the curb.

Brooke and Bucky drove by the house and followed her aunt all over town, but found no one tracking her. With the knowledge that she would be fine, they felt town and headed home. The compound was busy and they slid right back into rytham. At least Bucky did.

Brooke continued to isolate herself, despite everyone bugging her over and over again. She refused to bite. She gave up her job; she had nothing going for her at that moment and so she slept, and when she was forced from bed, she sat outside in her chair and didn't move until it was time for bed again.

Bucky had told her he was going to be there and he was, annoyingly so but Brooke wouldn't talk about anything of importance. She didn't talk much at all, whoever sat next her her ended up carrying the conversation. Bucky talked to Sam about it, and Sam warned him about pushing. She was struggling through her PTSD, but she was still here, still getting up and showering every day. She was fighting, and as long as she kept fighting, there was hope.

So they went along with her, moving at her pace. Bucky was getting dressed while Brooke was in the bathroom drying off from her shower when there was a knock on the door.

"Tess..." Bucky's hand squeezed the door. "What are you doing here?"