The Beginning: Ready to comply

Chapter 1- Plums

Bucky's perspective
Ever since Y/N's death I've been on my own. Trying to cope with the ghost of her in the compound, wasn't helping me. Everywhere I went, she followed with the memories of her. I had to leave, there was no way I could heal with all these reminders inside the compound. Steve tried to convince me to stay, but in the end he couldn't persuade me. I feel bad for leaving my best friend, but I just couldn't deal with the heart break. He's been tracking me now for a year, trying to bring me back because he knows what might happen if the public discovers me.

For two months I've been keeping a low profile, living in: a big city, a small apartment, and a bad neighborhood. No one has recognized me yet, so I've been doing well. I've spotted Steve a few times along the way, but he's never done anything. It seemed like he was keeping an eye on me, like a parent. But, since I moved, I haven't seen him. He usually checks in by now, but maybe he's not following me anymore? Maybe he has enough faith in me, that I won't get caught?

I flushed the thought from my mind and went to the market. I've been craving plums lately, and they just came into season. Luckily the markets only a few blocks away, so, I'll get there in no time. I was briskly walking, when out of the corner of my eye I saw, what I thought to be Steve. I took a second glance to find out no one was there. I thought I was going mad, I started asking myself if I was seeing things or if he was actually there. I quickly tried to forget it and carried on with my walk. I was only a minute away and all I could think of were those plums, how juicy and sweet they must be. That beautiful purple exterior and that yellow flesh dripping with liquid gold. My mouth started to salivate just by the thought of them.

I quickly walked to the produce section and looked for the plums, I scanned every part of the area, searching for the fruit. I finally found them and ran to get a bag to put the plums in. I could smell them, they were so dark in color that they were almost black. I picked the best ones I could find, making sure they weren't too soft or too firm. I made sure to stuff the bag full with plums, once the bag was completely filled, I walked over to the cash register and put the bag of plums in front of the market employee. As they were scanning the plums, I glanced around to see my surroundings. I looked out of one of the windows, and once again, I saw Steve, but this time he was with Natasha.

I turned back to the employee and paid for the plums, then I grabbed the bag and rushed outside. I walked over to the window, where they were standing, but they were gone; I scoured for them, and was unsuccessful. I put my hand up to my head, to see if I was running a fever. But, I wasn't, my forehead was at a normal temperature. I kept my hand on my head thinking that maybe I have gone crazy. I sat on the ground and took out a plum, then kept thinking of other possibilities.

After a few minutes I got up and went home, with my plums in hand. I didn't realize that I had eaten half of the bag until I got to my apartment door. I sighed and grabbed my keys out of my pocket. I walked in and put my plums in the fridge, so then I'd have nice cold plums when it's hot. As I closed the fridge door, I could sense someone was behind me. I pretended they weren't there and moved to the left, where I had placed a hidden gun under the countertop. I quickly grabbed the gun and turned around to see Steve and Natasha. I sighed in relief and lowered my weapon. "Am I seeing things or are you guys really here?" Steve replied in a serious manner, "we're here." I put my gun on the counter and asked, "So, why are you guys here? I thought I was going crazy."

I walked over to my dining table and sat down, Steve and Natasha followed. "We've heard rumors that Y/N's alive and we wanted to see if she's gotten in contact with you or maybe you've seen her." Natasha said with her arms crossed and looking concerned. I sat back and started to wonder if she was alive, because we never found the body, all we knew was that she disappeared. Natasha snapped me back to reality by asking if I was ok. "No- no I'm fine. Um, no I haven't seen her." I looked at the table upset about Y/N, then looked back at Natasha. "Where did you hear these rumors? Do you think that maybe they aren't true and are just coming out of someone's ass?!" I scowled and put my arms on the table, intertwining my fingers.

Natasha put her hand on my wrist, trying to comfort me. "I know it's difficult to hear something like this, but we're just trying to see if she is alive, that's why we're asking you if you've seen her. We have other leads, but we just wanted to check with you first." My face softened and I started to relax a little bit. I looked over at Steve and he seemed upset, I didn't want to read too much into it, so I asked Natasha if I could help them. Steve quickly responded before Natasha could get a word out. "No. You should stay here, I don't want to get you anymore involved than you are now, I don't want to get your hopes up."

I understood why Steve didn't want me to help, but that wasn't going to stop me from coming with them. If my girl was out there, I wasn't going to just sit around and hope for the best. So, I packed what I had and followed Natasha and Steve out the door. "So what other leads do you have?" I asked, walking quickly behind them, Steve responded while Natasha powered the ship with a control on her wrist. "We heard that a few people have seen her in Baltimore, Pennsylvania, so we're going to try there first." As Steve spoke to me I could feel a coldness in his tone.

We walked down the stairs and headed to the back door where the jet was sitting in all its glory. Once we got on the jet it was pretty quiet, which I don't mind, but for Steve not to say anything to me was strange. "Did I do something wrong Steve?" Steve looked at me with his cold blue eyes, "Yes, you did. You left me to deal with the pain of Y/N's death alone. Did you stop and think for a second how that would affect me? I'm your best friend, we're supposed to support each other. Why couldn't you be there for me when I was there for you?"

I didn't realize that when I left I would be hurting Steve, I thought he could heal with Natasha, but I guess not. "I'm sorry Steve, I should have been there for you. I just couldn't stay there any longer, all I could see was her. Everywhere I went to try and escape, she followed like a shadow. I had to leave or I'd go insane. You have to understand that I didn't want to leave you, I just needed to get away." Steve's face softened into sadness and replied. "Then why did you cut me out." I froze and couldn't answer, all I could do was look down and try to find an answer. Steve shook his head and looked away from me.

I got up out of my seat and moved towards the front to talk to Natasha while she flew the jet. "So... how have you been since umm the incident." I gestured my hands trying to find a way to ask this question as best as I could. Natasha turned her head and gave me a look. "Well since the "incident" I've been really crappy, I lost the only daughter I had and I felt like there was nothing to live for after that. I've missed her, and now I heard this news that she's alive, I don't want to get my hopes up but it's really hard not to. I've been staying up most nights to get the latest news on her and figure out where she is, or might be. I hope she's alive, but I really just don't know."

I could see Natasha's eyes filling up with tears, so I tried to comfort her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Natasha, it must be really hard to go through something like that." Natasha wiped a tear off her cheek and cleared her throat so she could respond in a clear voice. "Hey you and Steve went through it too, you lost the only girlfriend you've had since the nineteen-forties, and she's the only person, besides Steve, that you had gotten really close to. You may not have gone through the same grief as I did, but you still went through some pretty tough stuff."

I did another hand gesture and looked down, nodding my head. "I guess that's true." I gave a quick grin and Natasha returned it. I then moved back to my seat, that was right across from Steve. He was still ignoring me and giving me glares. "Steve I'm really sorry, I don't know how many times I can say it. I shouldn't have cut you off, that was wrong of me and I should have helped you just as you helped me." Steve's face relaxed and he dropped his crossed arms. Steve sighs," Apology accepted. I'm sorry for getting so worked up about that, it was just a lot to process, I felt abandoned, so I just kind of went off." Steve grinned with his head tilted down. I smiled and told him it was ok.

"Alright fellas we're getting close!" Natasha said while messing with the switches on the jet. Steve and I buckled our seat belts, getting ready for landing. "Steve? Have you ever thought about starting a life away from war, away from everything?" Steve chuckles while looking at me. "Yes actually, I've been thinking about it a lot recently. But, I don't think that will be for a long time. What made you ask?" I closed my eyes and shook my head," I don't know, I've just been thinking about doing it myself, and I was just wondering you were thinking the same." Steve was about to respond, but Natasha started dipping the jet. "We're landing boys." Steve, Natasha and I braced ourselves for landing as the jet shook vigorously.