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AUGUST 6TH, 1984
THE MACHINE AND it's wires made Bucky feel a bit uneasy.
The fact that he had agreed to this; agreed to help Cynthia burn out her hormones to age, to grow. Would it even work? Bucky had thought a million times.
"God, I'm making such a stupid choice," Cynthia mumbled under her voice as she leaned onto the chair. Bucky chuckled, and replied, "Hell yeah, you are."
"Thanks for the moral support," Cynthia rolled her eyes. Jamie was currently at one of the nicest day cares in the city—Funds supported by David—which gave Cynthia and Bucky the time to rent out a building and perform this burnout.
"This will pinch, so don't tighten up, alright?" Bucky said, and Cynthia nodded as he gave her a shot, that injected poison into her veins. Poison for her hormones. Doing this also meant losing the ability to have any more kids . . . And Cynthia was fine with that. Though Jamie had been unplanned, he was the best thing that had happened to her besides her close bond with Bucky, and the freedom that she had been granted since her father's death.
Bucky worked in silence as he hooked her up to the machine, and then flipped the switches, looking back and forth between the neatly-written but crinkled paper and the switches and buttons and knobs. "Are you . . . Sure you want to do this?" Bucky asked, and Cynthia nodded in response.
"I'm sure."
Bucky's metal hand clutched the final switch, and he lifted it, and Cynthia screamed, and seethed, and writhed in pain. Gut-wrenching sounds came from her mouth, and before his eyes, that held a horrified look in them, Bucky was truly seeing her being burnt. But her healing power was healing it all over, and Bucky looked back at the paper. According to Cynthia's calculations, they had to keep the machine going for two minutes before they could stop. And as of right now, they were thirty seconds away from stopping.
But Bucky hadn't moved his hand from the switch, oh no, he was clutching it was his dear life, afraid something would go wrong, afraid he'd lose the one good thing in his life: Cynthia.
When their timer went off, Bucky brought the switch down before turning the timer off. Because he could have killed her if he went for the timer first. Gently unhooking her, Bucky quietly asked, "Cynthia? Can you . . . Can you talk?"
Cynthia flinched and whispered hoarsely, "My tongue is a bit numb."
Once she was completely detached from the machine, she took a deep, shaky breath and closed her eyes. Floating, she felt like she was floating, and it was relaxing, so, so, relaxing. Bucky sat in a chair beside her, waiting for her to wake up. Every few minutes or so he would check her pulse to make sure she was still alive.
When she did wake up, she looked over at Bucky and grinned. A big smile, and she felt stupid, but whatever. Even before she had Jamie, she'd wanted to try and attempt to achieve immortality, and with her healing power it was now possible. Now she would be forever young. "I'm glad I have you. Who else will help me achieve my goal of staying young forever?"
Bucky smiled this time, looking down and then looking back up at her. Yup, he officially knew he had romantic feelings for her. "And I'm just glad you didn't die." Bucky responded, and Cynthia gave out a little laugh, and said, "Unfortunately, you're gonna have to try harder."
"So I was talking to David a few days ago . . . And he agreed that you and Jamie would be safer out of state. Out of country, really." Bucky started explaining. "He found a cottage for you in England, over in a small town. It has a really nice, small school, and it's surrounded by a neighborhood and a town."
Cynthia's smile faltered then sprung back up. "And is it protected?"
"Not protected, but in such small population that most of England doesn't know it exists." Bucky explained. "David wanted to suggest it at one of your dinners, but I knew you would want to hear it from me."
"What, so then it sounds like you found it?" Cynthia joked, making Bucky chuckle. "If everything is already set up for us, then I don't see why not."
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The tiny, two bedroom cottage was nestled into the trees, a pond in the front yard.
One look at it, and it met all of Cynthia's needs and expectations. Clutching Jamie to her chest as she stepped out of the car, she was grinning wildly like a little child at an amusement park. Bucky had not been able to go—Having to go back to HYDRA the second they called, so David had taken her on a small plane, flying the three of them over the sea.
In a few days, Cynthia would get her dearly beloved car, because she had made a big fuss about it, and refused to have left without it coming too. They had rented a car to drive them from the airport to the small, bustling town.
"Some of your neighbors will come by to greet you," David said, "When I was checking out the house, I told them that you might come and live here. They were very excited, so hopefully this will give you a chance to actually make friends." David paused, his panic rising when he realized what he had said. "Not that there's anything wrong with you and the Winter Soldier-"
"No, no, it's okay. I do need some friends, after all. And Jamie needs a good school to be in while he's growing up. I don't want him having any threats while he's growing." Cynthia replied as David walked her up to her front door.
Everything in this house would be new. All her old belongings would be covered up by blankets, waiting for dust to cover. A complete and total fresh start. Start from scratch, to build a new life—That could possibly involve Bucky. He never did tell her if he would be able to stop by, but she hoped he would. Or else, when Jamie was at an old enough age, she would go off to find him.
And she would make sure he would be free from HYDRA.
