We Can't Go Back

We Were Young

Given the option of anywhere in the world, she was surprised that Bucky chose a small coastal town in Northern Ireland. They managed to buy a small piece of farm land with some cash Tony had laying around. Only Tony Stark would have enough cash around to buy a house. She knew he wouldn't miss the money anyways.

She left a note for both Tony and Steve when she left. She asked them not to look for her but knew that at the very least Tony would. She left a burner phone with Steve and said he could call her if he needed anything. She knew her leaving would hurt him but she also knew he would understand.

She could always visit them but she needed space to figure out her new relationship with Bucky. If she visited, they'd dig for information or try to convince her to stay. They might even try to push her to bring Bucky to the tower.

She didn't have confidence that the US government wouldn't immediately seize him the minute they realized he was on American soil.

The farm land they bought was from an old widow who no longer afford to pay for help on the lands. Lizzie paid her handsomely and knew that she'd be able to live comfortably for the rest of her life.

She planned on selling or giving away the livestock but Bucky insisted they stay. She knew he needed something to do with his time or he'd go crazy. He tended to the animals and helped Lizzie tend to the large garden. They were pretty self sustainable so they only needed to take the occasional trip into town which Lizzie took alone.

Lizzie was dying to put up security precautions but she figured that a large technical presence in a small town in Ireland could raise some flags for the intelligence agencies of the world. The only connection to the outside world was a landline.

They ditched phones and computers which was driving Lizzie crazy. It was ridiculous that she lived 28 years without advanced technology and now she had trouble adjusting after 4 years.

Now she read books to fill her time. She forgot how much she missed reading. Her old favorite hobby fell to the wayside to work in these past few years. The only ones she did read was ones that related to professional fields.

She missed so many books in the 65 years she was frozen. Some were better, some worse but she had so much to read. To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Shining and that was just to name a few.

Luckily the town had a small library with the classics so she hadn't run out yet. She even had Bucky reread The Hobbit though it felt like the first time to him. He even seemed excited when she gave him the sequel series.

She was reading one night while Bucky was sitting across her in companionable silence. He was doing his nightly ritual of cleaning the small arsenal of weapons that he had available. Though she had ditched her form of security, he had not.

She didn't know why he cleaned them every night. The only gun he ever used was a rifle he used to kill predators come after the livestock and the occasional butchering of an animal. Still, she didn't begrudge him his process.

He stopped midway between cleaning his handgun and leaned over with his hands on his head. This happened occasionally and she knew he had a memory coming through. She put her book down and waited patiently. He usually had questions after his episodes.

Eventually his breath evened and he straightened up. He saw her watching and tried to mask his pain but they both knew she saw through him.

"You almost died?" He asked pained.

"Which time?"

She could instantly see this was the wrong thing to say.

"There was more than one time that you almost died?" He said through gritted teeth.