Flowers in the Darkest Parts: Bucky Barnes X OC

Retreat

My head throbs. My eyes are heavy. My thoughts slowly start trickling back to me. I remember the music, the lights, slipping into the VIP section. Dark, angry eyes piercing daggers into me.

Rumlow.

My eyes fly open. My fists fling out in front of me, waiting to connect to anything within my reach. Waiting for them to connect with Rumlow.

"Rose."

Someone grabs my wrists and I scream. Alarms blare in my head. My senses are on high alert, needing to be ready to either fight or run. I pull back and forth against them, desperately trying to get them off of me.

"Rose!"

I stop when I recognize the voice. I blink, looking around at my surroundings, and see the person in front of me. Bucky's got me by the wrists, looking at me with concern. I blink again, clearing my head.

"You're okay, he's gone." Bucky slowly releases his grip.

We're back in Natasha's car. Bucky sits in the back seat next to me. Nat and Steve turn around from the seats in the front.

"Good to have you back, kid." Steve gives me a smile, and I can tell there's relief behind those eyes.

I relax a little. "What happened?"

"You were drugged." Natasha sounds pissed. She looks at me through the rearview mirror. Her eyes soften, "They put something in your drink. I knew that was a bad idea ordering those." Her eyes flick back to the road, then back to me. "I'm glad you're okay."

I wince at the pain in my head, "I was roofied? How could I be so stupid?"

Bucky grabs my hand and squeezes, "Don't say that. It's not your fault."

"They set you up, Rose." Steve turns his head around toward me again. "They probably targeted you as soon as you walked through the door. There was no way of knowing Rumlow and his guards would be at the same location twice and in such a short time."

I close my eyes and rub my temples, "Where is he now?"

I'm met with silence. Then Steve finally speaks. "He got away. He was set up for a quick escape."

Fuck.

"He got away?" I lean my head back against the window, "Damn it."

Bucky squeezes my hand again. "Let's just get back. We need to re-group."

I keep my head propped against the window and shut my eyes, brewing in my frustration. I let Bucky keep holding my hand, it's warm and comforting, and I don't have the strength right now to fight it. We ride in silence the rest of the drive. There's nothing more that needs to be said. We failed the mission and probably lost any connections we had. We were so fucking close, literally in the same facility as him, and he still managed to slip past all of us. Who knows how long it will be until we get another lead on him.

We pull back into the compound and I'm surprised by how relieved I am to be back here. I try to ignore the fact that it feels like I'm coming back home. Home. It feels like home. It's been the only place, in I don't know how long, that I've felt safe. I can't believe I wanted to run away from it only a couple of nights ago. I didn't even have a plan, I was solely acting on impulse. I've been acting on impulses since I woke up here which is so uncharacteristic of me that it scares me. It scares me because the source of the impulses is the man sitting next to me. The man holding my hand, rubbing his thumb against my knuckles.

Bucky does something to me that I can't explain. He makes it hard to concentrate, not just concentrate, but think clearly about anything. I don't know if it's better to stay as far as I can from him or be completely immersed in him.