Taming The Ghost

Chapter 15

"What the hell is going on?" Came the booming voice of Steve from the door. I poked my head to the side of Bucky's muscular frame tentatively, my arms still wrapped around his torso to take a glance at a furious, yet worried, Steve. Natasha was stood behind his right shoulder, looking emotionless as usual, and Sam was stood on his left, bruises beginning to form in the shape of fingertips on either side of his throat. The guilt I felt looking at them and the carnage that had been created made me gulp audibly. I knew I'd get the blame for this, or at least some of it, and, to be fair, I deserved it. After all, I was the one hell-bent on building a relationship with Bucky, and with relationships came emotions. If it weren't for that, the chances of this actually happening would have lessened considerably.

Not looking forward to my punishment but seeing no point in postponing it, I stepped out from behind Bucky, who watched me as I moved around him and then proceeded to hang his head, still with his back to everyone.

"Look, Steve..." I started, wanting to jump to everyone's defence, but I didn't see how it would make the situation any better. There were armed guards packed into the corridors, waiting to take Bucky, and no doubt me, back to our cells and never let us out again.

"Save it." the Captain said, more serious than I'd ever seen him. "My office. Now."

"But, what about-" I tried to ask about Bucky but Steve beat me to it.

"Bucky will be taken back to his cell where he will stay until we reach a decision on what to do with him. One of the guards will deliver his meal for the night." My line of sight followed four heavily armed guards, of the many that surrounded the room, as they walked with purpose to place hand cuffs roughly on Bucky's wrists and haul him out of the room, his head still hung, heavy with shame. I could feel tears begin to fill my eyes as I watched him go. It just hurt me to know that, even though he would gladly explain what happened and take any punishment they deemed necessary, nobody would give him the chance. If he opened his mouth to talk, he'd probably get a chorus of guns aimed at his head within seconds. They saw him as the lab result of a HYDRA experiment, not as a person, and that killed me. "Jones. My office." Steve barked and I followed his command before he fired me on the spot.

When we got to his office, Cap slammed the door so hard I was worried that it was going to make the wall crumble. I faced the back of the room, unable to look my boss in the eyes.

"Explain." he demanded

"Explain what, sir?"

"Why were you getting so cosy with Bucky after he destroyed the gym and almost killed Sam?"

"I wasn't getting cosy with him, he initiated the affection and he didn't almost kill Wilson. He did strangle him but he was far from dying."

"What I want to know is what caused him to do that, so tell me the whole story from the start. What happened?"

"Me and Sam were training, he had me in a choke hold and that's when Bucky came in. He broke down the door and dragged Sam away from me to pin him against the wall . That's all I remember apart from trying to get him off of Sam." I said truthfully.

"Did he tell you why he did it? You two seem pretty close, I would have thought he'd have told you what happened to cause this. Surely something happened to trigger him."

"Yeah... It was me."

"What?!"

"He said to me that seeing Sam with his arm around my neck made him angry. He wanted to stop him from hurting me." At this, Steve seemed to relax slightly, which, in turn, calmed me, but the fear was still there.

"Buck never did like seeing men hurt women. Usually, he'd kick the guy's ass and then ask the girl out for coffee." the Captain smiled reminiscently at the memory of old times before his face became stony and serious again. "Laura, I'm sorry but I just can't risk the safety of my team, and if your relationship with Bucky is going to compromise that then I can't allow it to continue." My heart began to pound in my chest

"So- so what are you saying?"

"I'm saying," Steve began as the sound of my pulse resonated in my ears, "that maybe it's best if you sit the rest of this project, mission, whatever this is now, out."

"Steve..." was all I managed to say. I'd never been kicked off of a team before. I had a perfect track record. Most teams couldn't afford to kick me off because, not to sound vain, but, I was the best agent they had.

"I'm going to call Tony after this meeting and arrange for him to take you on until we're done here. I'm sorry, Laura, I really am. You're one of our best agents, but I have to put the safety of my team above the feelings of one person, especially in a situation as dangerous as this one."

"I know, and I understand, but Steve, I'm the only person Bucky will talk to and listen to. You'll get nowhere if he won't talk to you. He needs me." I was trying everything I could to desperately cling onto my job and my connection with Bucky.

"Laura, trust me, I'm sorry to have to let you go, you're one of my closest friends and one of the best agents on this team, but I just can't risk this." he said sadly, but with the tone of the leader that he was. "You're dismissed. Go and pack your bags, I'll send you details of your departure when I've spoken to Stark." And with that, I choked out

"Thank you, sir." before turning on my heel and leaving swiftly before Steve saw me crying.

Out in the hallway, Sam was leant against the wall, waiting to be seen. I caught his eye for a brief moment and he tried to say something to me but I was sprinting down the corridor and back towards my cell before I could hear him out.

Once back in my cell, I slammed the huge metal door shut, sat on the edge of my bed, and cried. My tears were now a mixture of anger towards myself for not standing up for my position more, sadness at having to leave this team and Bucky, and pain at the thought of having to break the news to him. Then, as if he knew what I was thinking about, there was a knock on the wall that adjoined mine and Bucky's cell.

"Laura? Are you okay?" Came a very faint, worried Brooklyn accent from the source of the knocking. This just made me cry even more. I was going to have to tell him, no-one else could, and it was going to break both our hearts.