Loving The Captain

Chapter 36

It had been three days since Bucky, Steve and Cora had arrived at Cora's house. While it was no secret where they had gone, and it wasn't a good place to lay low, Steve figured it'd be a good place to make plans. He had been in touch with Sam, and so far, nothing had come up. But Steve knew that it was only a matter of time until the World Security Council issued a warrant for Bucky's arrest. He and Bucky had both been spending all of their time making plans as to what they were going to do. Bucky refused to be taken into custody when the time came, and Steve couldn't blame him.

At least, for now Steve didn't have to worry about Cora. Since Bucky technically wasn't a fugitive, yet, she couldn't be brought in for being an accomplice. And Steve planned to be far away from her when that time did come. His time with Cora was coming to a close, Steve could feel it.

Their relationship had taken on the same sense of urgency that his time with Peggy, no matter how brief, had felt. It was like an electric current running just under his skin, setting his nerves on fire.

"Steve?"

Steve was pulled from his thoughts, and he turned from where he stood looking out of the living room window at the night. "Yeah, Doll?"

Cora went over to him and wrapped her arms around his middle. "Are you coming to bed?"

Steve placed his arms around her, the silk of her robe brushing cool against his hot skin. "Yeah. I was just...thinking."

Steve allowed Cora to lead him by the hand up the stairs and to her room. Glancing at Bucky's door, he saw that the light was out. Hopefully he was getting some much needed rest. Or maybe he was texting with Natasha. He had picked up that habit recently, staying up in bed conversing back and forth with the fiery red head.

Steve closed the door behind him, and allowed Cora to pull him to the bed. She kissed him and ran her hands under his shirt, lifting it up and over his head when they broke apart.

Moving to the bed, they both sat and Cora looked at him in concern. "Steve, is everything all right?"

He took a deep breath. "Just...it's like waiting for a storm to hit. You can see the clouds building, hear the thunder and see the lightning. It keeps moving closer and closer and there isn't a thing to be done about it."

Placing her small hand against his left pec, Cora could feel his heart beating beneath her fingertips. His skin was hot, almost feverish. "Sometimes, our actions can make the storm seem worse than it is."

"How so?"

"Well, you can charge into the full of the storm head on, running right into the center of it, or you can wait it out. Take shelter and wait for morning."

"This isn't something I can just wait out." Steve took her hand in both of his, causing her to look up at him.

"This may be something that you have to. You know I care about Bucky. He reminds me a lot of Riley, and you know I don't want anything to happen to him. But, Steve, this technically doesn't involve you. This is not your fight."

This made Steve angry. He frowned and pushed back, putting distance between the two of them. "You expect me to leave Bucky to face this on his own?"

"You may have to Steve."

"I can't. And I won't. It's my fault this has all happened to him, and I will be damned if I'm just going to sit by and let them have at him like starving vultures on a fresh corpse." Steve stood from the bed, breathing angrily.