Return to Sender {bucky barnes/winter soldier}

001 : Message Not Received

"Stay where you are. I will send Barnes to meet you." Shuri ordered the 100 year old fossil from the screen.

"You told him?" Steve questioned her methods.

"No, but you should. S.H.I.E.L.D. will be after you, so I will send you some tech. But after that I can no longer help you." Shuri briefed him.

"Okay, okay." Steve took a breath as he tried to organize his thoughts. "We'll be waiting."

Ending the call, Shuri walked down the mountain to meet Bucky who was doing some labor work on a goat farm with the other kids. She saw him smiling as the children wove through him, helping him with the work.

"I'm only going to do this on two promises." She spoke loudly as she walked towards him.

"I'll be safe." He looked up at her, setting a pack of feed on the ground.

"Not that." She rolled her eyes. "One. Do not tell my brother about any of this. Two. You have to come back after so I can finish the arm." 

"I promise." Bucky gave her a small smile before following her up to where she kept his new arm.

"It's not done, but it can do the job." She pointed at the open case where his new arm laid. "No more tacky red."

Bucky's heart filled as he looked at his arm, polish and shiny, no longer branded. After putting on the arm, he turned back to Shuri for guidance. "I have a jet waiting for you. It is already programmed to bring you to Steve. Once you leave, I will not be able to contact you after."

"What are these?" Bucky pointed at the gadgets that we piled in a back pack. 

"Just a few things you might need." Shuri spoke cryptically as she secretly led him out towards the jet. "You better come back or I will come get you myself."

"I promise." Bucky laughed before getting onto the jet. His face dropping as soon as the doors closed behind him.

-

"Willow! Can you meet me in my office?" The manager of the Lowes store shouted through their walkie talkie system.

"Coming." She alerted him.

Everyday seemed to be the same for Mila. She'd wake up, go to work, then go to school, to class and her research assistant position, and then come back home late, only to do it all again. Day after day, with the same California sun beating down on her.

"What did you need to see me for?" She politely asked her boss.

"It's sir, now. Management says I need to be a bit more 'authority-like'," The manager used quotes as he kicked back in his spinning chair. "Anyway, they totally are like gunning for me man."

Mila awkwardly laughed out of courtesy as she patiently waited for him to finish speaking. "So, I'm in kind of a bind, you know, 'legally'. I guess 'financially'. Apparently my taxes didn't go through on my place." He shrugged, pulling out a bong from underneath the desk. "Totally a misunderstanding though because I had no idea the IRS even paid attention to that."

He took a quick hit off the bong before offering it to Mila. "No thank you, sir." She gave him an awkward smile.

"Well, anyways, I like need you to take more hours because I have to go to 'court'. They said they're totally gonna 'sue my ass'. But I wouldn't worry about it. My lawyer said that all I have to do is show up and they'll like totally get me off man." The manager nodded as he explained his life's story. "So, is that cool?"

"Um, actually, I have school after work. I can't take any more hours." She tried to explain.

"School? So you aren't prioritizing work?" He guilted her.