Winter's Lost Gem - A BuckyBarnesxOC Story

Chapter 2

Steve glanced for the millionth time at Bucky that morning. He seemed off, lost in his thoughts. Even the drive to the facility was relatively silent. Lucky for them, they had managed to run into Tony and his old friend even ignored the quips from the billionaire as he got his arm fixed.

"You alright, Buck?" Steve finally spoke up while they waited around for Haleigh to return to headquarters. When he hadn't answered about how funny it seemed that Sarah switched two wires on purpose in order to see how the arm would react, he realized something must be on Bucky's mind.

Bucky hummed an answer, gaze falling on his friend. "What?"

"I asked if you're alright. You're doing it again. Staring into space."

"Oh. Uh, yeah, I'm fine." He nodded.

"More memories?" Steve cocked a brow.

"Yeah.. About someone I met not long after getting my arm."

"Do you remember anything about him?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to trigger an attack.

"Her, actually."

"Ooo, a 'her.'" He teased. "Good memories then, I hope."

"For the most part." Bucky smirked. "I can remember everything about her and what happened between us except her face."

"Yeah? How'd you meet her? What's her name?"

"I called her Gem but that wasn't her real name. We never exchanged them. I was originally sent to kill her by HYDRA. Something about getting her before she gets me? I'm not really sure. I don't remember much of the fight. I just remember waking up severely injured. Huge gash on my right arm and a puncture through a kidney. I had clearly lost the fight yet she saved me."

"So she stayed and what? Nursed you back to health?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she did. It's strange. I can remember it all. How mean I was to her, how annoyed I'd get when she was gone. But I can't remember Gem's face."

"Maybe talking about her will help you remember."

"Would it even be worth it? No way she's around now. Happened in the 50s. Maybe they're false memories anyway."

He shook his head. "Don't forget, you remember those that you loved, right? This woman is no one ordinary, even if it was for a few weeks. Talking about her is a good thing. Working through them."

"Right." Bucky nodded, leaning back in his seat, tapping his foot on the floor agitatedly. He proceeded to go into further detail about what he had already skimmed over. "Then one day we ended up kissing. It was so soft and tender. I felt like such a pup because I hadn't been with anyone since I was wiped. I wasn't sure if I even knew what to do with a girl."

Steve couldn't help but chuckle. "You? Not know what to do with a girl?"

"Oh shut it." He glared. "I think given the circumstances it was understandable."

"Alright, alright. Go on."

"Well, turns out it's like riding a bicycle. " he rolled his eyes at Steve's laughter. "Which means it slowly led to more intimate things when I was closer to healing. We talked about running off once. I knew it'd never work because I'd just be tracked down again. She said the same about her. That she was important to the U.S. Funny, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, resting his chin in his hand.

"That we talked of a future when I couldn't even remember my past. Everything was a number. Every face, every target. She was suppose to be number one hundred. My hundredth kill as The Winter Soldier. But instead I laid there with her making love and acting like we were going to get married, have kids." He scoffed.

Steve frowned slightly. "Everyone has dreams, Buck."

He shook his head, blowing him off. "I suffered from an attack and she somehow managed to talk me down from it. I recall being mostly healed by that point. We made love and when I woke up the next morning, she was gone. She left a note. Said that it was easier for her to disappear so I wouldn't have to keep coming after her. She said maybe in another time the situation would be different. Even signed it 'Forever Yours, Gem.'" He sighed, fidgeting with his fingers. "I had lost my Gem."

Steve took note of how agitated Bucky was getting and nodded. "Alright. Well, she sounds like a nice girl. Wonder what she was up to that made her so important here."

"Tell you one thing that woman was far too intelligent to be a regular government agent. She spoke English, Russian, and Romanian while we were together. Who knows what others she knew. She was strong and resourceful but had a gentle touch."

"Maybe she was part of the early SHIELD group Peggy started. Sent to be a spy in Russia. Sounds like something she'd do." Steve mused. "That was during the Cold War, if I recall my history lesson properly."

"It's possible. We didn't really talk about our work." Bucky chewed on his lip.

"So you liked her a lot then?"

He nodded a bit. "Enough to feel lost when she left. At least until I was caught by HYDRA again. Even after they tried to erase the entire mission from my memory, I still remember her voice. What her touch feels like. And that she was my Gem and no one else's. They couldn't take that away from me."

There was an awkward silence, neither wanting to discuss that particular subject. Eventually Bucky cleared his throat. "So, uh, where's Haleigh suppose to be?" He asked in attempts to change the subject.

"She's on an extraction for a new recruit."

"An Avenger recruit? Haven't gotten a new one of those since, well, me."

"Yeah.. Something about a lost personnel that had gone dark a while back and suddenly appeared at a safe house requesting an extraction with a top secret code. Normally SHIELD would handle it but the task was handed over to Haleigh."

"What for?" Bucky asked curiously. "Are they that high profile?"

Steve nodded. "Seems so. The moment Agent Carter was mentioned, it was reassigned to us. Haleigh volunteered to take it when she got a call late last night. Said she wanted to handle it personally so Tony told her to leave first thing in the morning."

"Strange. She tends to avoid anything involving ol' Peggy."

"Yeah I know. Even more strange because generally SHIELD handles everything involving her. Maybe we've met 'em before?"

"I guess it's always a possibility." Bucky sighed. "More so you than me. After all, I haven't been around in a long time." He began to fidget again. He wasn't generally one for so much talk of the past, choosing to ignore it than relive it most days.

Steve was about to tell Bucky to take a deep breath when an alarm sounded, meaning a quinjet was in the process of landing. He started to panic, looking to the already agitated Bucky. Sure enough, just as he feared, Bucky's face had darkened in the telltale sign of an attack. "Bucky.." He shouted over the alarm in a reassuring tone. "It's just Haleigh returning, you're safe."

It was like a switch had flipped and Bucky was long gone, reverted to his instincts with no return. He flew from his chair, flipping the table.

Steve jumped out of his seat and moved to block the only exit. Last thing they needed was for the attack to hurt others. He'd been doing so well too. "Easy there, Buck, everything's fine." He frowned unable to understand his interjections of mixed Russian and Romanian as his friend lunged for him. "Hurry the hell up, Haleigh.." He cursed under his breath.