Till the End of Time {Bucky Barnes}

chapter eleven

"Pick up, pick up," I tapped the wall impatiently as I listened to the annoying rings while I waited for Steve to pick up the phone on the other end of the phone. I let out a shaky breath as I began to pull the phone away from my ear, but I heard the click of it being picked up and I completely froze.

"Steve Rogers."

My eyes widened as I heard his voice through the other end, and I felt my eyes begin to immediately tear up at the sound of his voice. I let out a shaky breath as I leaned my forehead against my arm with my eyes closed.

"Hello?"

The words were stuck in the back of my throat as I chewed on my bottom lip.

"E -- Eliza?" he stuttered.

"H -- Hi, Steve," I whispered not being able to hold back the sounds of my voice breaking. "I'm sorry, Steve .. I'm so sorry for running away," I whispered as a few stray tears ran down my cheeks.

"Eliza," Steve sighed that brotherly sigh of worry and disappointment. "Eliza, come home, please. We can take care of this if you just come home, and we can handle Bucky. I know you're with him."

"You're not taking him from me," I sobbed.

"I don't want to do that to you, Eliza. You know I would never take him away from you after losing him for seventy years. I'm not focused on Bucky right now, anyway. I am focused on my little sister and wanting her home and safe. Where are you? I'll fire up the quinjet --

-- I can't tell you that, Steve," I whispered as I ran my hand over my face as I caught Bucky in the corner of my eye from across the store. He was giving me a worried look but I gave a gentle smile hoping that would tell him everything was okay.

"Eliza, you need to be here at home. You know why you should be here," he whispered protectively as I imagined his shoulders straightening out in frustration.

"Bucky might be dang —

— He's not dangerous, Steve."

"You won't let me finish — he might be dangerous because of Hydra, Elizabeth. You and I know they're looking for him and if they get you, too they'll use you to their advantage as leverage, not only for Bucky but for us."

"Steve, I know you're worr — "

" — She's a big girl, Steven she can handle herself," Bucky had snatched the phone from my ear then hung it up after saying his piece.

"Seriously?" I looked at Bucky with frustration.

"I could have handled that better. Don't turn around, someone has been staring at you, and they don't look so nice," Bucky held a face of anger as he kept his eyes over my shoulder. My heart dropped at the sight of anger on his face. "I remember that face, it's a disfigured face, but I remember it," he tilted his head slightly.

"Bucky, you're staring," I whispered.

"It's one of Hydra's men," his eyes widened slightly. "One that hurt you," his fists clenched as he gritted his teeth.

"Older or younger," I grabbed Bucky's human wrist in hopes of calming him down.

"Younger, brunette."

"Rumlow," I whispered. "We don't need to cause a scene, and that would be a lot easier if you hadn't have been staring," I yanked his arm lightly and his eyes reverted to mine. "There's those eyes," I gave a small smile. "Listen to me very carefully, we don't need to bring any attention to ourselves, okay?"

"What do you think we should do?" he looked between my green eyes forcing his gaze into mine as I felt a hole being stared into the back of my head by Rumlow.