Love Without End

Chapter Forty Two

"How was your brother's birthday?" Aaban Aadil asked when I returned.
"Quite nice. The whole family was there." I said simply.
"That's good. Are you ready to get back to work?"
"Of course."
"I've gotten you a new room, with an actual window."
"Thank you, I appreciate it."
"Where are the hostages?" I muttered in Russian.
"Three rooms over." Bucky replied.
"Tell me when everything's ready."
"All I have to do for my part is press a button. Do you want to try tonight?"
"Okay."

"Where are you going?" The man standing guard outside my room demanded in Arabic when I walked out.
"On a walk. Problem?" I raised my eyebrows.
"No." He scowled.
"No ma'am." I corrected.
"No ma'am." He glared.
"Thank you. I'll be on my way then."
There were new guards around every corner.
"We're just gonna go ahead and do this." I said in Russian.
A guard looked at me like I was crazy.
"What? You don't talk to yourself?" I snapped, and he looked away.
"Are the bombs in place?" Bucky asked.
"Not yet. But they will be." I stuck one to the wall.
"Hey!" The guard yelled, so I shot him.
Other people were running towards us, though, so I ran. "Three minutes." I said. "And you press the button."
"I will when you're out."
"Three minutes!" I snapped.
"When you're out."
"Three minutes, Bucky. You'd do the same."
"Fine. Three minutes."
I shot the hands of anyone who tried to stop me. As I put my bomb on, I got shot in the arm, and said several choice words.
"What? What's wrong?" Bucky demanded.
"Nothing. I just got shot." I took off towards the hostages. "If anybody leaves, shoot them." I said.
"Who are you talking to, my dearest?" Aadil said in the doorway.
I held my gun at him. "Partner in crime. Get out of my way."
"I'm coming in." Bucky said.
"No." I snapped. "Out of the way, Aadil. Hands up."
He put his hands up and stepped away. I tried to doorknob, but it was locked. Eyes on him, I shot the lock, and the door flew open.
I brought the gun back to Aadil, and he had one too.
"Yours may be big, but mine's bigger." He smiled.
"But my friend has a metal arm." I said as Bucky came up behind him.
"Excuse me?" Aadil began, but he soon found what I meant.
I ran into the room. "Come on, follow me." I told the hostages.
There was an old man, a young woman, and a child. The woman was sobbing, and the man had his arm around her. The kid was screaming. I picked up tue little girl. "Let's go. Now." I said sternly. They didn't move, so I fired into the ceiling. "Do you want to blow up?" They shook their heads vehemently. "Good. Then let's go."
As we ran down the halls, Bucky was explaining to the man and woman where the car was and how to get there under his breath.
"Take them." I pulled Bucky's gun from his holster and shoved the little girl into his arms.
"Um, no. You."
"Go!" I snapped, irritated, shooting a terrorist.
"Amelia--"
"If you don't go, we're all getting blown up. I'll be right there."
So Bucky ran off with the people.
The explosions started at the back of the building. The thing was, I never intended to get out. Nick had told me to, of course, and I told everyone I would, but we all knew I wouldn't.
"So this is how it will be?" Someone asked in French. It was Aadil. "You will die blowing us up?"
"Yes, that's how it'll be." I agreed with a smile, but there were tears in my eyes.
Bucky can take care of the kids, though. Bruce can take care of Tony. Sam can take care of Bucky. I'm sure Nat and Wanda will keep everyone in check. It'll be okay.
The second to last bomb blew, and everyone fell at the blow. An arm grabbed me, but it was metal.
"Bucky!" I shrieked, but he had already pulled me out and closed the door.
"Shut up and run!" He yelled at me, grabbing my hand and pulling me.
"Damn you!" I yelled as he pulled me behind a vehicle and covered me, just as the last bomb went off. Bucky's hand was squeezed around the bullet wound in my arm, which I'm sure was intentional. The car we were behind was tipped onto it's side. I would have been crushed if Bucky hadn't been on top of me. "Bucky?" I yelled over the pounding silence in my ears.
In response, he pushed the car off of us and stood. He held out his hand to me to grab. I took it and stood. We looked around us. Body parts and debris littered the ground, and ashes rained down on us. Aadil's head fell on the top of the car and bounced off, hitting my shoulder. Disgusted, I jumped aside.
"We did it." He said.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious." I said, and hugged him. "Don't tell Tony." I pleaded as he hugged me back. "He'll kill me."
"Okay." He agreed.
"All right, let's get out of here."
We went to the car. The man, woman, and child were waiting in it, all crying. "Everyone okay?" Bucky asked.
They nodded. Well, the kid didn't, but we assumed someone would say something if she wasn't okay.
We drove away.
I wondered how these people had been chosen. Had they just been at the wrong place at the wrong time? Had they 'known' one of the members? Had they been chosen, meditated upon?
I didn't ask.
We were under strict orders to bring them back to the UN. Last time we had just returned hostages to their lives, they had turned out to have been decoys, and actually part of the organization. We weren't taking that chance again.
We watched Swayze movies on the flight home. Bucky still had some catching up to do, and when better to do it? We were almost done with Dirty Dancing when we landed. "We'll finish this tonight." I promised.
Tony was waiting impatiently at the airport, tapping his foot. He was dressed sharply in a suit and tie. He was looking down at his phone.
"Hey, Amy?" Bucky asked. "How do you call your lover boy?"
"Come here, lover boy!" I answered.
"And if he doesn't answer?" He asked when Tony didn't look up.
"Oh, lover boy!"
"And if he still doesn't answer?"
"I ain't doing this shit." I laughed, and Tony looked up.
"Oh, thank God." He said, hurrying over and hugging me. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Yeah. I missed you too." I hugged him back.
"Thanks." Tony told Bucky, looking kind of pained.
Bucky nodded.
"Did you miss our whole drama?" I asked. "Because we just put on a show and you didn't acknowledge us."
"I missed it. Do it again."
"Nope." I smiled.

Ten Hours Ago

"Hey, Tony? Can I talk to you?" Bruce asked.
"You finally need advice on women? Yes, I'm your man. What is it?" Tony grinned.
"You aren't gonna like it..." Bruce was already wincing. His heart was racing, and he wasn't sure if this would work without Hulk slipping out.
"'Course I will. I'm full of advice. Get her flowers. Don't be so awkward when you talk to her. I mean, you can be a little bit awkward, if you think she'll find it attractive, but maybe tone it down a bit, yeah? Call her--"
"It's Amelia." He said bluntly, and it was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.
Tony laughed. "Oh, don't worry about that. We have an open relationship."
Bruce was taken aback. "What?"
"I'm just kidding. Now's the part where you say you're kidding too."
"I wish I was."
Tony sat down and ran his hand over his face. "So... You're... In love... With... My wife?" He closed his eyes for a moment.
"God, it sounds even worse out loud. I'm sorry. I tried to leave but she already knew what I was doing and made me stay, and--"
"You don't have to leave. Just... You're... In love with my wife?"
Bruce brought his hand to his forehead. "Yeah. I know."
"How long has this been going on?"
"Hey, Dad?" Imani asked, coming in.
"Not right now, Imani. Yes to whatever. Go buy yourself ten books. I don't care. Get out for a minute." Tony said calmly.
"Did something happen to Mom?" He sounded panicky.
"No, not that I've heard. Bucky said they were both fine less than five minutes ago. Go out, please."
The door closed, and Tony turned back to Bruce. "Does she know?" Now his heart was racing. Why was he telling him this? Was it because Amy decided she loved Bruce more?
"I'm not sure. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not in touch with my emotions. I think... About... Twenty... Ish... Years?" He winced. God, this sounded terrible. "But I don't think I... Noticed... Until a year or so ago. And no, she doesn't know."
"Is that why you've been acting strangely?"
Bruce nodded. "I just don't want to be alone with her." He added hastily, "Not that anything would happen. It just makes me uncomfortable to be near her, much less alone with her. I swear to God nothing will ever happen, and I won't tell her if you don't want--"
"Do you think she loves me?" Tony asked.
"Loves you?" Bruce was confused for a moment. "Of course she does. Don't you see the way she looks at you?"
"I just wanted to be sure. Not that I feel inadequate or anything, I'm a perfect person." He added.
"Even I see that bluff."
"You should tell her. She'd want to know."
"I don't want her to be uncomfortable though."
"You're uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable. Might as well make her uncomfortable too."
"Not the time."
"Sorry. This is gonna sound rude, but I'm glad you didn't say anything before we got married, or she wouldn't have said yes."
"Of course she would have."
"No. You have best friend perks. She won't do anything that would hurt you in the slightest. Just... How much do you love her?"
"More than anything."
"Would you look at that. We have another thing in common."
"Tony."
"Well, if you tell her, she'll either treat it like you're a little kid and it's adorable, or like you're a pervy old man in the grocery store. It's up to you if you want to take that risk. If you don't, you'll have to stop acting weird. She's not gonna stop asking till you tell her."
"God." He sighed, sitting down.
"I have to go see what Imani wanted..." Tony said awkwardly. "Uh... I'll see you later. I'm going to wait for Amy and Bucky at the airport, if you wanna come..." He didn't want to offer, but he did.
"No, I'm good."
"As I said, either tell her, or suck it up, buttercup."
"I know. Hey, Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. It isn't your fault. Anything else?"
"No." Bruce said, and Tony walked out.