The Forgotten ❤️

Chapter 4

Victoria woke up still wrapped in Bucky's arms. She took the time to really look at him for the first time since she got there. He had cut his hair short, probably trying to regain some sort of control of himself since leaving Hydra. He had whispers of grays on the sides of his head and on his chin. He had aged more than she had. She brought her hand to his face, softly stroking it until he woke up, his steel blue eyes looking into hers.

"This was a normal thing? Sleeping together."

"Yes James. Every night. They tried to stop you, but they eventually gave up trying to tell the Winter Soldier no."

Bucky laughed as he brought his hand to her hair. "Nothing could ever keep me away from you. Not even my lack of memory of you. I knew as soon as I saw you, I felt something. We were in love, yeah?"

Victoria felt her eyes start to well as she nodded, "yes James."

Bucky's own eyes were wet with tears as he pleaded, "show me your memories, please."

Victoria sat up, holding her knees to her chest, "I'm not sure it's a good idea. You don't remember, maybe we should just leave it there."

He sat up, rubbing her back, "but I love you, remind me why."

She put her head down, "just go, please. I have training with Steve in a bit." She hung her head down until Bucky eventually left. She dried her tears quickly before getting dressed, heading to Steve in the training room.

When she entered she found Bucky with Steve, both of them waiting for her. She avoided looking at Bucky, "what's going on Steve? I thought we were sparring."

"Um, we are. I thought maybe you could try sparring with us both."

"I don't know Steve." She looks from Steve to Bucky and back.

She turns to walk away but Bucky grabs her arm, "please, you can't avoid me forever doll." The words hit her right in the gut. She hadn't heard him call her that in so long. Was he remembering? Or was it just instinct?

She looked back at him, grabbing his arm and flipping him to the ground. "Don't call me that!" Her eyes find his on the ground as they both laugh. She reaches her hand to him to help him up. "I'm sorry. But please, don't call me that."

Steve watches the interaction between them and sensed what everyone could sense. There was more to them than she wanted to talk about. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous of his friend and his apparent bond with Victoria. Even if Bucky couldn't remember why they had one, it was obvious they did.

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After sparring, Bucky runs off quickly leaving Steve and Victoria alone. They showered separately in the locker room. She stepped out of the shower in her towel and saw him standing at the sink, shaving. He wore only a towel around his waist. He didn't notice her watching him for a minute.

He wiped his face and turned around, making her laugh. "What?"

She stepped towards him, running her thumb across his cheek next to his ear, wiping away some shaving cream he had missed. She rubbed the cream on his towel as he grabbed her hand.

"Sorry. Reflex." He dropped her hand, not being able to move from his spot. Not wanting to move from his spot. He didn't want to ruin whatever was happening between them at that moment.

He brings his hand up to her face, making her back away at first before stepping back towards him. "Sorry. Reflex." They both laughed as she saw the dimples in his cheeks, the light dancing in his eyes. She hadn't been this close to him before. "Steve." She leans into his hand as his thumb brushes across her lips, parting them slightly. He leans forward, his lips barely brushing hers. She can feel his breath on her face, just about taste his lips on hers, making her heart stop. But he pulls away when they hear someone come into the locker room.

They turn to see Natasha, "you guys should go to Wanda's room." She's gone as quickly as she was there as they turn back to each other.

Victoria grabs Steve's hand, "can we pick this up again?"

"I'd like that, yeah." He smiles at her as she lets go and they both get dressed quickly and head to Wanda's room. As they approach, they hear Bucky screaming.

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After they finish sparring, Bucky decides to try and seek out the help of Wanda. He finds her in her room, "I need your help. Please." She motions for him to enter her room as she shuts the door behind them.

"What is it Bucky?" She asked the question already knowing the answer. She had been waiting for him to seek her out, but she knew he had to do it himself when he was ready.

"I need you to help me remember her. Please Wanda. Can you?" He sits in her chair as she kneels in front of him.

"I can try, but I can't promise anything."

Bucky grabs her hands, "I know. Please, anything at all."

He lets go of her hands as she brings them up to his head. She lets out a deep breath. "Okay. Try to stay still." She starts search his head for the missing pieces. He hadn't had any trouble remembering anything since he had been stripped of his conditioning during his stay in Wakanda, so she wasn't sure why he couldn't remember Victoria. She watches as he kills Tony's parents, and she sees a spark of something wrong. It was like a shadow, a filter. There was something missing there. Victoria had said he had taken her that night so why didn't he remember that? She tries to pull them memory out of his head as he grips the arms of the chair. She tried to break the filter as he started to scream out in pain.

"Buck?!" Steve and Victoria both yell out in unison as they enter Wanda's room and see him in the chair. Wanda stops what she was doing when they enter.

"What are you doing to him?" Victoria kneels down in front of him where Wanda had been just seconds before. "Buck?" She grabbed his face to make him look at her.

When she did, she saw the tears streaking down his face. "I can't remember. I want to remember. I'm sorry." He hangs his head down and Victoria looks at Wanda.

"There seems to be some sort of filter when it comes to you. You can think of it as a sort of parental lock on a computer. Certain things are hidden. You have been erased from his mind, I don't know why, or how."

Victoria hugs Bucky, still recovering from the pain of having his head invaded. "Can you help him? Can you remove the filter? Can you find me in there?"

Wanda shakes her head, "I don't know. Maybe with Loki's help I can. We may have to put him in a coma to do it. That way he can't fight against it, and he won't feel it."

Bucky looks up at her, "then do that. Please." He looks back at Victoria, running his fingers through her still wet hair, "I want to remember. I know there's something there." Victoria places her hand on his cheek as he leans into it and sends him some calmness, taking away some of his pain as her own as she does.

"It isn't that easy. It can be difficult to go traipsing through someone's head like that. You might not wake up."

Victoria stands up, looking at Wanda. The thought of him not waking up, of something happening to him made her feel sick, "then don't do it." She looks back into Bucky's pleading eyes, "don't do it. You don't need to remember. Please." She looks back at Steve, almost forgetting that he was there. "Tell him not to do it Steve, please." She grabbed his hand and felt the jealousy and pain he was feeling watching them. She tried to send calmness to him but Steve pulled his hand away from her, looking at her.

"Don't do that!" His eyes were full of fire and anger for the first time since they met, "you don't get to dictate how I feel."

"Steve, I'm sorry." She reached for him again but he moved away from her towards Bucky.

"She's right, don't do it Buck. It isn't worth it. Come on." He holds his hand out to his friend and helps him help. Steve leaves, taking Bucky back to his room.

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Victoria finds herself drawn to the roof, again unable to sleep. This time it was not empty, Steve was standing, leaning his arms against the parapet of the roof. She turns to leave but he heard her. Steve turns around to face her. "We should talk Victoria."

"I'm sorry Steve. I didn't know anyone was up here. I should go to bed." She had promised him she wouldn't use her powers on him, but she did and he was angry. She didn't have to touch him to feel it. She felt herself frozen in place as he closed the distance between them.

"You said you wouldn't use your powers on me." He wasn't just angry, he was hurt.

"Steve, I'm sorry." She hangs her head down, looking at their feet but he grabs her hand, making her look at him again.

"And in the locker room? Was that you?" Now she understood why he was hurt. He had thought she made him want to kiss her. He thought she invented the moment.

"No. That wasn't me. I would never do that." She placed her hand on his cheek. "May I?"

He nodded as she projected the memory of them standing in the locker room. He felt how he had felt then. The hunger, the need he felt. And then it was multiplied, it took everything for him to not act on how he felt right then. He knew what she was doing. He was reminding him of how he felt, and confirmed that she felt the same way. She wanted it as much as he did.

She lets go of him and backs away, them both breathing heavy. "I'm sorry for Wanda's room. For Buck. For trying to calm you down. I promise I won't affect your emotions anymore. Not without permission. Okay?"

Steve nods, "okay. It's fine." He turns away from her, looking back over the compound, his arms crossed in front of him.

"Why were you jealous Steve?" She steps up next to him and waits for his response even though she already knew.

"I don't know. I'm sorry." He just shakes his head, not looking at her.

She steps in front of him, making him look at her. "He doesn't even remember me. There's nothing to be jealous of."

He uncrosses his arms and runs his fingers gently across her shoulders and down her arms. "Of course there is. Everyone has seen it. There's something there between you. Even if he doesn't remember, there's a bond there."

"I'm sorry Steve, I can't change that. That doesn't mean that I don't feel something here with you as well. It doesn't mean that I don't want to pursue whatever is going on here. It doesn't make me want you any less than I do."

Her words seemed to be exactly what he was waiting to hear because he brought his hand up to her face the way he did earlier. Her heart started to race again as he parted her lips with his thumb as he leaned down, this time pressing his lips softly on hers. Her hand found his hair and she tasted him as his tongue just teased hers lightly before he pulled away, making her groan. She wanted more. She didn't want him to pull away, but she didn't want to push it.

Steve laughs as he grabs her hand, "come on, we should go to bed. I'll walk you to your room."