The Captains Granddaughter (Bucky Barnes FanFic)

Trust Your Gut

~~Maggie~~

I closed my eyes trying to remember anything about those times. I was too small to remember much from the first time. I had my bunny, and grandpa got me. The second time, I was blindfolded for most of it, what I could see was sterile and white. I don't remember anyone being there. Why can't I remember this? It was important but it was all white and pain. "I'm your prisoner for the third time. You won't let me leave. I should never have gone to that dance."

I could hear James moving closer and sitting on the floor near me. He wasn't touching me.

"Then they would have taken you from somewhere else. From your home. From your job. Your friends or Steve could have been hurt in the process." I couldn't look at him. I wrapped my arms around my knees trying to make myself disappear. "I need you to hear something." He said. I opened my eyes to see him sitting across from me with his back to the back of the chair, hands on his knees. "For the worst part of the century, I was the Winter Soldier. I was a Hydra Agent. Between missions, my memory was wiped or I was frozen. I was brainwashed into following orders." He went on to explain the Hydra Super Soldier program that he lived through and some of the crimes he committed. I listened. "I'm not trying to excuse what I did. I'm trying to explain I had no control then and I am not the Winter Soldier anymore, I'm just James Bucky Barnes, now."

I stopped looking at him when he said his name. I don't know what to do. How do you come back from this conversation? How does Grandpa trust him? How can I trust him? I laid my head down on my knees and looked away from him and stayed like that for the rest of the night. He stayed watching me. I must have fallen asleep at some point in the night because I woke up to the smell of coffee, bacon cooking, and toast burning. My muscles and body ache from being here like this. He didn't move me. 

Sam and James were talking in hushed tones in the kitchen. James was filling him in on what happened last night.

"Bucky. I never met someone who fucked up so royally that it's comical. At least we know that she won't have a problem making the plan look real." Sam said.

"We can't expect her to go through with it. She's going to run the first chance she gets." I didn't move. I just needed to listen. Be smart Maggie.

"Then we take that into account. If she's going to run, cabs can only go so fast and she still has to deal with traffic." Not if I take a bus a few blocks to the subway and switch. They'd expect me to switch subways at the first chance, so I go to the second. Keep to crowded areas. They continued to talk about how I could run trying to plan accordingly. So I planned around their plans. They were right, I was going to run. If I can get to the airport, I can get to the LIRR and backtrack that to Penn Station. Someone continued to cook. The sound of eggs frying filled the air as they took the bacon off the heat. "Go wake her up. She needs to eat before we start this."

I heard footsteps come closer and I continued to pretend to sleep until I felt a hand on my shoulder and I flinched looking up. "Hey," James had bent down in front of me. "I'm sorry." I looked away. "It's time to get up. Sam's here, we've got breakfast ready. It's not much, just eggs, bacon, and toast." At this point, he handed me a cup of coffee made to how I liked it. I took the coffee.

"Before everything happens today. Can I call grandpa?" I asked.

James nodded. "Anytime you want." He got up and headed to the kitchen. I slowly unraveled myself. The soreness that I thought I had was nothing compared to how sore I actually was. When I sat down in the kitchen Sam put a plate in front of me, I picked at it more than ate it. It tasted fine. The bacon was overcooked and the toast was burnt. At least the coffee was fine. Not the first time breakfast was Coffee with a few bites of food.

Sam pulled out a case and put it on the table. "As promised, we have the tracking for you." He opened the case. "Since you had old Nikes, I'm hoping this works. Do you know if your sneakers were compatible with the pedometer that Nike put out a few years ago?"

"Yeah. I think so." Sam put a small flat oval on the table.

"Next, we have an earbud for you. We'll be able to talk to you and hear you. Don't make it obvious." I nodded as he put the small box on the table. "We also have a ring for you. Not a tracker, but something to fidget with. I had them engrave the inside with Peggy and Steves's anniversary so you can claim that it's a family heirloom." I was expecting a plain gold band but the band was actually a Claddagh ring. "I had the team get you a few other things as well. In this messenger bag, you'll find a cellphone with a lot of fake numbers programmed into it. Bucky is under George Bucks." James glared at Sam. "I'm under Paul Falco." I nodded. "Get changed, I'm going to activate the trackers and set up the one in your shoe."

"I'm going to call Grandpa while I change." I grabbed the fresh clothes and cellphone and headed into the bedroom to change. I dialed grandpa's house number. It's still morning, he's reading the newspaper next to it.

"Hello, this is Steve." He answered.

"Grandpa?" I don't know why I questioned it.

"Cupcake? Are you safe? Are you with Bucky?" I started crying and filled him in on everything. That his Bucky had been the one to kidnap me when I was a child and as a teen. He listened. He wasn't surprised about any of it. I told him how scared I was and how I didn't know what to do. "Maggie. I know you don't want to trust him. Know that I trust him. I know he'll keep you safe. Listen to your gut." My gut told me to run at the first chance I got. "You're going to be OK. He's going to be there with you. The last thing he wants to do is let you down."

I tried to get myself together. "I don't know if I can do this. I just want to run."

"I know Cupcake. Be smart."

"I'll try." I heard a knock on the door. "I have to go, Grandpa. I love you."

"Love you too. I'll see you when you get home." I hung up and tried to get myself together, but needed longer. I have to get through this to get home to grandpa.

There was a second knock on the door. "Just a minute!" I called back, trying to clean myself up and finish changing. I open the door to see Bucky there with the gadgets.

"How's Steve?" he motions for me to take a seat on the bed, I do.

"He's fine."

James moves my hair to access my ear. "These things can be pretty uncomfortable. But when they are right, they can't be seen without looking for it. May I?" I nodded. I felt the skin on his right-hand brush across my cheek before feeling a tug on my ear and pressure as he inserted it. "Let me know how it feels." Once he moves his hands away it feels like it disappeared in my ear. Nothing felt unusual.

"Fine."

He handed me the ring box next. It didn't fit my ring fingers or middle but fit well enough on my left thumb, I had it pointing in. "Dumb question and you don't have to answer." he started, "Are you?" he motioned to the ring.

"What?" He stepped back from me.

"Claddaghs are worn in very specific ways. Married and engaged are on the left hand. Single and in a relationship on the right. Outward means you are open to love, whereas inward you have your love."

I moved the ring to my right thumb pointing outward. "No one really wants to date someone that's been kidnapped twice and is hyper-aware of her surroundings, just waiting for it to happen again. Not to mention, sometimes my strength gets the best of me." I explained. The ring fit better on the right and didn't feel like it was about to fall off.