Time to go

Ice Cold Budapest

(Steve's story is in the italics, because I'm too lazy to make it actual dialogue with Natasha. So imagine that Steve is saying everything in italics.)

It was the first December after my mother died when a huge ice storm hit New York. Wind seemed to howl through the alleys around my apartment as the temperature dropped 35 degrees below zero, like Mother Nature was saying: Take that you wimps! to everyone in New York.

If you've ever seen pictures of ice storms usually you see these beautiful cities of ice, images that are almost magical, like if Jack Frost had gone way over board on the streets of Brooklyn. The truth is that that image is a complete and utter lie. Ice storms are deadly, trees get some much ice on their branches that they get too heavy and fall on power lines causing blackouts, roads become literal skating rinks, cars are turned into ice sculptures and if you listen carefully you can hear the collective noise of people breaking bones as they slip on the ice.

All these things are horrible, but me the worst thing was that you were trapped in your house and that meant I was all alone, without light, heat, phone or water. Being the sickness prone, short bean pole I was, I did knew if I got cold I was going to get pneumonia and without being able to walk to the hospital to get antibiotics I would die. Plain and simple, people would find my frozen body in my apartment once the streets were cleared.

So the first thing that I did was find all the blankets and candles in my apartment then did a food check. After ten minutes of digging I found a grand total of five blankets, twelve candles and more than enough food, but that would mean nothing if I froze. There was really nothing I could do, it was getting dark and the only place that I knew that maybe still had power was the hospital with its backup generators, yet with my luck then walking there would be suicide.

I wish I could tell you I did something really heroic or used my ingenuity to save the day, but I'm not the hero in this story and saying anything else would be lying. Instead of being awesome and using my nonexistent survival skills, I did the only thing that seemed reasonable at the moment; I wrapped all of my blankets around me, lit the thickest candle I had, ate half a can of beans, sulked in the corner and waited for hypothermia to set in. I think I must've sat in my own little world of self pity for hours, my brain felt like lukewarm sludge. None of my thoughts followed any kind of pattern, most of the time I was drifting in and out of consciousness, expecting one time my eyes would fall closed and never open again.

Then a voice pierced through all the blackness, someone was calling my name. Someone was outside my door.

"Steve!" The voice was beginning to sound frantic. "Are you in there? Say something or I'm going to break the door down you little punk!"

Steve knew that voice, he knew that the voice wasn't going to leave ever. So he answered.

"Bucky?" His voice was raspy and cracking.

"Steve!" Bucky sounded both relieved and even more frantic. "Open the door!"

"Door locked, too tired." Steve rasped. "Cold, so cold."

There was no response, only a loud grunt and the sound of the flimsy door slivering into a thousand sharps.

Standing in what was left of the doorway was a red faced Bucky dressed in three coats, two pairs of pants, a toque, mittens, a scarf and a pair of insanely heavy boots. For the first couple seconds all Bucky did was cough like he had run the entire way here, but when he saw Steve huddled in the corner he stopped instantly and bolted over, wrapping his arms around him in a huge bear hug.

"You punk," He said into Steve's tiny shoulders. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't come sooner the roads were icy. The police were turning people around, I had to walk here." He seemed like he literally thought it was his fault that Steve got trapped.

"Buck, I'm fine, I promise." Steve said but he didn't let go of Bucky. "Are you alright?"

"I'm good now." Bucky said with a slight smirk.

Steve smiled sadly up at Natasha, "I didn't realize it then, but he hiked through a half mile on his own in the middle of an ice storm to make sure I was okay. He could've just hunkered down in his apartment and left me alone, but he came to find me. That was how it always was, before the serum he watched out for me and stopped me from being beat up, usually getting a black eye himself for his troubles."

Steve's face began to darken.

"Then after the serum, I didn't need him to stick up for me, I strong enough for the both of us. But I couldn't save him, I thought I was so invincible but when I had to watch him fall I never felt so weak. The serum only have me physical strength, on the inside I still needed Bucky and when he fell I went back to that scrawny little boy. Sometimes I still feel like that."

Natasha was staring at the wall. "The Bucky you talk about rinds me a lot of Clint. You ever heard of Budapest?"

"Yah, I remember you saying something to Clint and him saying something about remembering?" Steve didn't exactly know where this was going.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently." Natasha said her voice almost nostalgic. "What happened in Budapest reminds me a lot of your memory."

"What happened in Budapest?"

Natasha frowned. "I'm not sure that's a story for tonight, but eventually I'll tell you. I'm not exactly a hero in it. Budapest isn't really a good bedtime story."

Steve snorted, but he was feeling suddenly very tired. "And my story was happy? Lay it on me."

"I remember a traitor and Clint remembered a mistake, an accident, a lapse in judgement. He was always so quick to take the blame off someone's shoulders, to put it on his own even when his back was already crumbling. Sorry Steve, it just isn't a story I'm ready to tell, ask me again sometime and maybe I'll share. I think it's time I go back to my room, goodnight." Natasha's gaze bore farther into the wall and Steve was sure she was going to burn a hole through it with sheer will power.

He didn't argue. "Okay, I'll see you in a hour."

Natasha turned to the clock to see that Steve wasn't joking, it was six in the morning and they were leaving at seven.

"Okay then, good morning Captain." She said as she closed the door behind her, letting it click shut.

Steve sighed then lied down. "Good morning Natasha."

A/N) Okay so I know it's not the best, but it does build up and will link to future chapters so yah. In other news, who else saw the Civil War trailer and it excited as I am!! I can't wait, even if Hawkeye will probably have less screen time then he did in the Avengers. Anyway please vote and comment if you enjoyed and see if you can guess what happened in Budapest!

-Brokenrook