BURNT EDGES ☆ BUCKY BARNES

FORTY

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AUGUST 26TH, 2017

CYNTHIA HAD GONE out to visit Jamie.

Just to make sure he wasn't being followed either, along with Rylee. These three kids meant so much to her, Bucky, and Millie; none of them could imagine life without their kids. Once she arrived at his and Rylee's apartment, she walked right in, seeing Jamie busy in the kitchen and Rylee sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"Hello, hello," Cynthia happily said, coming over and kissing Rylee on the cheek, earning no response or acknowledgement, and hugging Jamie. "She's in a mood," Jamie whispered to Cynthia, "So if she doesn't talk much today, that's why."

"Do you know why?" Cynthia asked, and Jamie made a face, shrugging as he skinned the potatoes. "You know girls. Of course I don't know," Jamie whispered back, and Cynthia had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing. She leaned against the counter, making casual conversation with Jamie, when a knock came to the door.

"I'll get it," Rylee said briskly, flying past them as she went to the door. When she opened it, she lowered her voice, and stepped towards the door more, making it hard for Cynthia to see who she was talking to. Cynthia crept towards the door, making out, "I said I was done making business with you," "She writes letters to you all the time," and "You kidnap her, you'll practically kill Cynthia."

"Who are you talking to?" Cynthia asked, making Rylee jump, and look behind her, replying, "No one, Cynthia," Before returning to her conversation.

"I don't think it's no one if you're angry," Cynthia said, pulling the door open, and then furrowed her eyebrows, feeling like she had just gotten a kick to the stomach. "What are you doing here, Sasha?" Cynthia asked, a headache starting to pound in her head.

"I had unfinished business, was all," Sasha replied coolly, "but I might want to check your apartment if I were you."

Cynthia's heart sank.

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Screw the bus, the train, the taxis, or cars. Cynthia was running back to her apartment, Sasha trailing behind her.

Cynthia's heart pounded as she dodged people, pushed through crowds with apologies in hand, hoping to get to her apartment to find Bucky and Maisie safe and sound, and they would all be able to smile and laugh.

But that didn't happen when she rounded the street corner, apartment complex full in view . . . With three police cruisers parked out front, with two ambulances, and a firetruck. Thankfully, it didn't look like there was a fire, but Cynthia recognized most of the residents talking to the police officers, and Cynthia's mind screamed as she ran over to the scene.

"What happened? What happened?" Cynthia cried out to many different officers, who attempted to assure her of her anxiety, yet failed when she finally spotted Bucky sitting in the back of one of the ambulances. "BUCKY!" Cynthia ran over, practically screaming his name. His right arm was in a sling, a police officer was questioning him.

"—She was dressed in all black, and green, like camouflage green. She threw some small device at my arm, which disabled it, before going in for Maisie. I tried to stop her, I tried so hard to get her to drop Maisie. I was fighting with only one arm, and my legs, yet she twisted my elbow and then went running off into the hallway." Bucky explained to the cop, his cheeks stained with tears, and his hair tucked behind his ears.

I never should have left, I never should have left, Cynthia mentally cursed herself, and the cop said to Bucky, "Thank you for giving us a good description of her. Most people were in too much of a shock to say anything."

Bucky faintly nodded, and he didn't give any response as the officer walked away, and Cynthia walked over, putting her hands on Bucky's shoulders, and asked, "Is Maisie gone?"

Bucky nodded, unable to give a verbal response. "It's not your fault," Cynthia wrapped her arms around him, bringing him close to her, her voice thick with tears as she said, "We'll get her back."

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Down at the police station, Millie was livid.

"You better find my daughter!" She screamed, a police officer trying to restrain her back.

"Millie! Millie, Millie," Cynthia repeatedly called out to her, running across the police station to take her out of the cop's arms. "I'll take care of her, I can calm her down," Cynthia said to the officer, who nodded respectfully, letting Cynthia take Millie into another room.

"Someone has my baby," Millie quietly said to Cynthia, her voice thick with tears. "Someone took my baby, and was planning it so well that even Bucky couldn't have saved her."

"I know, but we'll get Jamie to help us," Cynthia assured her, and then pressed herself against Millie, hoping a hug would be returned as a response. "I haven't told anyone this, not even Bucky, but I was considering turning Rylee in as a suspect. She was talking to my sister, who I can't find anywhere, but I'm going to turn her as well. Before I left Jamie and Rylee's apartment, Rylee was having a quiet argument with my sister."

Pulling away, a stray tear falling down Millie's cheek, Millie shook her head, saying, "There's no way Rylee could have been involved in this."

"But she was, in some way," Cynthia replied, telling Millie about the responses Rylee was giving her sister. "I don't think we truly know Rylee, Millie. We . . . Might have been wrong about letting her into the family and trusting her so much."

"Oh, god," Millie pulled away, putting a hand over her mouth and turning away from Cynthia. She cried some more, sitting down in one of the chairs that was set out in the room. "We trusted her so much, Jamie even fell in love with her. Oh god, what is Jamie going to think, when he finds out that his fiancée is one of the prime suspects that helped in the kidnapping of his best friends, his sister?"

Cynthia sat down next to her best friend, her own sister. Her true sister. "I don't know," Cynthia admitted, putting a hand on her forehead. "Bucky's staying with Steve right now, and I have no idea what's happened with Jamie and Rylee."

"I guess we should call him down here," Millie said, shaking her head. "We should have him bring Rylee as well, so then she won't try and run away."

Stretching out her legs, and squeezing Millie's hand, Cynthia said, "I have no idea what caused us to get to this point in time."

"I don't know either," Millie replied absentmindedly, staring at the floor by her outstretched feet. She squeezed Cynthia's hand, taking a deep breath. "I'm just scared about what will happen to my baby while she's gone."

The only response both of them could emit were cries that echoed through the police station.

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this next chapter will have a HUGE bombshell mid way through, so prepare yourselves!!!

( edited 8/22/19 )