Winter's Soulmate | Winter Soldier ✔

Chapter Nineteen

~Winter's POV~

It wasn't silent.

A bird was on the windowsill, separated from us through glass and a thick curtain, but I could hear it's quiet noises.

Water was travelling through this building in pipes. I hadn't figured out the layout of this place as we hadn't been let outside yet, but we were high off the ground.

And a man was pacing the floor outside the door.

Amelie was oblivious. There was a lamp beside a chair in our bedroom and she had curled into it, tucked her feet under her legs as she read from a book.

It was definitely a man. The sounds were too heavy to belong to a woman.

A curling strand of hair fell from behind Amelie's ear. She ignored it, her eyes narrowing before she smiled to herself and turned the page.

The footsteps stopped, but there was a laboured sigh from outside.

Amelies finger tapped the back of the book as she read. Her mouth parted slightly as her eyes slowed across the page.

A shadow fell under the door.

My heart was thumping slightly harder than it had been.

Amelie sneezed, blessed herself and picked up a tissue from a box nearby.

"You need to get in the bathroom." I whispered.

"It was only a sneeze?" My eyes were fixed on the door but I could see her confusion pull her eyes to the side of my head.

"There's someone outside."

I could see her pause, body still.

"Amelie-"

"Winter, its probably not-"

"Amelie." Her name was a warning, a threat that I wouldn't repeat, but I would get her to the bathroom myself.

She hesitated, lowering her book to her lap, but before I could move, she stood up and walked into the bathroom.

I shut the door behind her, and waited to make sure she wouldn't open it.

She didn't.

The man outside hadn't moved, but he was quiet.

The sound of his breathing gave him away.

I grabbed the small desk lamp, unplugged it from the socket by the door, and held it up.

Armed and ready, I inspected the door.

It opened into the room. If I stood on this side then I would have the first attack.

I rested my hand on the handle, noting that it wasn't shaking. I had destroyed HYDRA. A stray man would not take long to kill.

I pulled the door open, timing the swinging of the lamp for maximum impact.

The shade broke, the glass of the bulb shattered against the side of the mans head.

"Bucky! It's me! I'm Steve-"

I swung again, pushing him further down the hall, away from my Amelie, but he threw back a solid punch that I wasn't expecting.

I took a single step back, analysing him. He held his hands up in surrender, although one dropped to cover the cut I had made on his scalp.

"Winter!" Amelie was shouting, her feet slapping against the floor as she ducked out of our room. I held a hand back, stopping her from reaching around me, seeing the man.