Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Forty: Stefan & His Friend-The Constant

Stefan & His Friend: The Constant

You are both at the meeting. Caldwell is droning on and on about figures, and you have switched off. You look across at Stefan to find he is studying you and you don't know why. He realises you are staring at him and he smiles as if he has been caught out. You smile back and look down at your note book and start to doodle, thinking about the Winter Soldier.

He is always on your mind.

You wonder how the mission is going. You have been told he will be back later today, and then tomorrow you will both spend the day catching up on things before finally returning to cryo-freeze the day after. Your catching up will be supplies needed and then closing down your quarters. His will be any training or recovering from injuries, if he has been unlucky. At least during these days you get to see him and you hope he remembers you to the point where he will allow you to share his bed tonight.

Stefan has known her for a long time; they are friends, but he has taken the sight of her for granted. He doesn't know what made him first notice. Maybe when Caldwell started to recite figures and Stefan's mind started to go numb and he looked at her, really looked. She is bruised but that is nothing new; the Winter Soldier has only been out of cryo for three days, not enough time to know who she is...but then he noticed her clothes. It is the stitching that caught his eye. Her blouse has two lines of stitching that are not part of the pattern and now he thinks about it he has realised her clothes are always shabby, always stitched together and, blushing, he realises why.

The Winter Soldier is never gentle.

The next day Stefan makes an effort to look at her, at her clothes, and they are all damaged and restitched in some way. Everyone is so focused on making sure the Winter Soldier has what he wants, but who looks after Freya? When did she last have new clothes? When has she ever had new clothes?

A memory slides into his mind. Freya is always stealing Caldwell's secretary's elastic bands when she is not looking so that she can tie her hair up. He once saw her rooting about in the bins and pull out an old tablecloth the chef had thrown away and guiltily walk away with it curled in a ball in her hand. Stefan wondered why at the time, but never put two and two together. He is sure now that one of her nightdresses looks remarkably like the same pattern of the table cloth. When he and Jakobs have had to attend her after the Winter Soldier has been too violent, her clothes have always been ripped to shreds. What does she even do for new underwear?

It bothers him. The whole treatment of her bothers him. He and Jakobs try to keep an eye on her between them and they have even been able to recruit a few of the guards to keep watch, but he has never thought about the mundane things of everyday life. How does she cope? Where does she get the things she needs?

There is a system in place for the Winter Soldier...but what about his Constant?

Three Months Later

Stefan has been sent on a mission of his own; nothing glamorous, they just need to pick up supplies from a black market dealer in America. A quick in and out. They use him for all sorts of quirky things now.

He is always sent with a bodyguard, named Gregor, who acts as a driver. Stefan is not sure if it is because he needs protection or they don't want him to defect; it is the last thing on his mind. Where would he go?

The meeting goes well, and they are driving back to the rendezvous point when he sees something in the distance.

"Go left...go left," he shouts at Gregor, and the driver obeys - not quite knowing why they are driving into a shopping mall car park. In America they are all over the place; you can't seem to go a mile without passing one.