Winters War

Chapter 24:

~Bucky's POV~

         I am at a loss for words. She doesn't love me anymore. Never in a million years did I ever think I would hear those words. I never thought I would feel this way. I push the back doors open as Zemo pulls up with one of his cars. "Supercharged."he says as he stops. "You're going back to jail."Sam snaps. "Do you want to find Karli or not?"Zemo replies. "He's right, we need him. And there's two of us and at least 20 of them."I say as I open the door to the car. Sliding the seat forward Blue gets in first.

       She doesn't say anything as I help guide her while making sure her dress doesn't slide up. I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be protecting her. She doesn't love me, but I can't help it. I clench my jaw and try to hold back the tears that I so desperately want to shed. She slides along as the other climb in after her. I put the seat back and sit up front. "You're not going to move your seat up are you?"Sam asks. "No."

        "Can you move your seat up?" I ask Sam as nicely as possible. With an annoyed tone he replies "no.". I try to slide over to attempt to get comfy but it doesn't really work. My leg brushes against hers making me look at her. Something seems off about her today. Gently I shake her to get her attention. "Blue?" She only hums a response. "You okay?" She doesn't look like she's knows how to prepare an answer. "I'm fine, just mentally preparing." I nod slowly, not sure if I fully believe her.

       That was the day I left her behind. That was the first time I broke her heart. "Donya Madani. She's a refugee."Sam says into the phone. I sit quietly as I wipe of the dirty and whatever else is on my hand. Blue sits in the seats furthest away from us, her eyes looking out the window of the plain. "You okay?"I ask Sam. "Yeah. Just thinking about all the shit Sharon had to go through, and Nagel referring to the American test subject, like Isaiah wasn't even a real person. Just makes me wonder how many people have to er steamrolled to make way for this hunk of metal. Then to find out about Blue."

        I just ignore the comment about Blue. "Well it depends on who you ask. That hunk of metal saved a lot of lives." "Yeah, I get that. All right. Maybe I made a mistake." "You did." "Yeah. Maybe I shouldn't have put it in a museum. I should have destroyed it." I pause for a moment, my mind processing what he just said and if he actually said it. "Look, that shield represents a lotta things to a lotta people, including me. The world is upside down, and we need a new Cap, and it ain't gonna be Walker. So before you go and destroy it, I'll take it from him myself."

         The conversation is then interrupted by Sam's phone buzzing. Zemo kindly brings us plates of food before offering a plate to Blue. "No thank you."I hear her say softly. "I haven't seen you eat in a while."Zemo tells her, "you should keep up your strength." Her eyes meet mine making me look away. "Thank you."she says as I hear her hands grab the plate from him. He comes back and sits beside me but my focus is on her.

      "They found Madani.....dead. She died in Riga, a city near the Baltic Sea." "I have a place we can go. I, for one, am looking forward to coming face to face with Karli. Oeznik, we're changing the course."Zemo says. For the most part the flight is quiet. No one really speaks until Zemo hands me a pile of clothes. "Can you give theses to Blue please? Figured she might want to change out of that dress." I just take the clothes not bothering to say another word.

        I gently knock on the door of the bathroom causing the running faucet to turn off. Slowly the door creaks open, barely revealing her. She doesn't say anything as I try to look at her. "Here, Zemo gave me these clothes to give to you. Thought you would be more comfortable in this." She still doesn't say anything as she opens the door a little wider. "Your going to need to open the door to get these." I say. She rolls her eyes and slowly opens the door.

        It's then I see how bruised to truly is. My eyes look her up and down. "Crazy what a little make up can do."she says. Quickly she grabs the clothes me tries to close the door but I push it back open forcing my way in. "How did I not see this the other night."
"Most of it was water proof make up so." I can hear her breath shake the closer I get to her.

"Who did this to you?"I ask. "Didn't we already establish that?"she says sarcastically. "Blue, can you be serious for 2 seconds please." "No." I just roll my eyes at her as I step closer to her. She backs up, pressing herself to the sink. "Blue I really can't begin to imagine what you went through."I say. "You're damn right you can't!"she snaps. Her back is fully pressed against the sink. She sighs and grips the marble as she looks down.

"You and I went through two different types of torture. They could wipe your memory and you wouldn't remember a damn thing. Me on the other hand, they wanted me to remember. They used my mind to break me over and over again." Her voice begins to shake. I watch as she takes her lip between between her teeth. "I begged for you, screamed for you, but you weren't there. You were never there! You swore to me that you would never let anyone hurt me again, and look at that another broken promise."

"I'm sorry for that. I truly am." My hands find their way to their way to her waist. Her body tensed the moment they touch. "We will get through this though."I tell her, my right hand now moving to her cheek, gently cupping her face. "I'm here now, you're safe. I'm not going anywhere." "Yeah I've heard that before."she says. "I'm being serious. I still love you so much Sapphire, I'm sorry I wasn't there but please don't shut me out. Let's get back to where we were." "What you drinking and leaving me alone all the time?" "I'm not going anywhere. I just want to be with you all the time, I want to be like how we were before Steve died, I want you to love me again like who you used to."

Her eyes scan my face. I try to search for some sort of hope in her eyes. "Yeah well don't get your hopes up."with that she grabs her clothes, pushes my hand aside, and leaves me alone in the bathroom.