|1| Promise Me ✦ {Bucky Barnes}

Chapter 15: Amnesia

A/N: Hey guys! Apologies again for the late update. University is... time-consuming, to say the least.

I did want to give an update on this story and where it's headed- it's almost over. After this, I have only one more chapter to write. But I promise you, this storyline, as I said in a previous update, is FAR from over. A second book will be coming very soon, as Promise Me is going to be a trilogy series! We've got a LONG way to go before this story is over.

For those of you who have stuck by this story since its beginning a year and a half ago, I want to thank you for your patience. You guys have endured slow updates, procrastination on my part, and some serious writer's block, and yet, you still managed to support me throughout writing this story. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Okay, now that my sap is over, on with the story! Enjoy chapter fifteen!

- Harper E. Pierce

BUCKY:

Five hours earlier:

Thank god she was okay. After seeing all the footage from Somalia, and seeing how much damage had been done, I thought for sure she was hurt. But her text around noon letting me know she was okay made me feel a lot better.

I spent most of the previous night tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. For once, it wasn't the nightmares waking me up every hour. I didn't even get that far. The bed just felt empty without her in it. Knowing she was in danger awoke a deeply rooted anxiety that I couldn't shake no matter how much I tried to clear my mind. The tightness in my chest wouldn't go away.

Around six am I just gave up on trying to fall asleep and started my day. I went down to the gym first and for the first hour, I mainly just used the punching bag. I needed to get her off my mind for just a second, because I knew that the more I thought, the more I'd worry. I quickly found the silence in the gym all-consuming, but I didn't know a lot of music from after the forties and fifties. Then I remembered a suggestion Natasha gave me- someone named Britney? Anyway, I put on some of her music and managed to distract myself for a couple of hours.

After that, I had a shower, got dressed and had breakfast, before turning on the nine o'clock news. When I saw Bruce's big green monster jumping all over buildings in the city on the television, I immediately understood why everyone always said he was the last guy in the room you wanted to piss off. From what I could see, Tony was fighting him in a giant Iron man suit- clearly, the mission had gone very wrong. From then on, all I could do was worry. Worry about if she was hurt, or worse... or if somehow HYDRA got involved and took her.

I called her four times, but there was no answer. I had to stop myself from jumping straight to conclusions, knowing that not answering a phone in this line of work didn't really mean someone was hurt. If she was okay, she'd call me back when that mess was over. So, instead, I kept my eyes on the news, waiting for the moment the whole situation calmed down, so I knew when to expect her to call me. And within half an hour of the whole thing on the news ending, she sent me that text.

Again, after finding out she wouldn't be home with me that night, the text did little to calm my nerves. Especially after what she said to me before she left.

It was the exact same thing I said to Madeline the night before I left for the war. The empty promise I made to comfort her in a time of need. What if Briar was doing the same thing? Did she not think she'd make it back? That couldn't happen. She needed to be here, be safe. I didn't know what I would do without her.

But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered about her response to that question. It was the exact same thing I said to Madeline the night before I left for the war. And Madeline said the exact same thing I said to Briar before she left. That was one hell of a coincidence.